*Do you really believe that in this world, your past will remain buried?*
Leon froze.
This time he wasn't in a slumber that could conveniently hide the presence of this voice from his consciousness.
'Sarah doesn't appear to be perturbed,' Leon thought, stealing a glance at the girl only to grit his teeth and focus on his inner state. 'Who the fuck are you?!'
The lack of reaction from Sarah proved one point. Whatever this voice was, it didn't appear for the others. As such, speaking his reaction out loud would only serve to bring attention to the man, making it the reason why Leon opted to keep this encounter within his mind.
*Me? I'm you!* the voice replied, its tone oozing irony.
'What?!' Leon nearly yelled out, but thankfully, he managed to keep himself in check.
*That's right, I'm a reflection of your true self!* the voice continued.
Leon just gritted his teeth.
His first instinct was to tell this voice to fuck right off. And yet, he knew that it would just be a wasted breath.
'This voice is in my head,' he thought, trying to grasp the concept. 'I'm not crazy... there should be a reasonable explanation for this.'
Leon hoped for the voice to reappear... just so that it could give him some hints. Yet, as if reading Leon's intentions, the heavy voice refused to appear again.
"Sir?" Sarah called out, her expression turning weird as she looked at Leon's frozen face.
"Ah, don't mind me," he said, waving his hand at the girl. "I was just thinking about something," he then added, hoping to force the girl off the topic.
'There is only one entity that could act like that,' Leon thought to himself, putting forth the utmost effort to keep his face straight.
Leon's thoughts darkened as the realization struck him.
There was only one element of his being that he was never in full control of, save for the majority of his life that he spent bound to his master by the salve's collar. Yet, for all the limits it imposed on Leon, it didn't really affect his autonomy when it came to obediently solving whatever request Leon's master would push forth.
And this one element was the very curse that turned his life so miserable. His heroic spirit.
'To think that it would suddenly appear in this way,' Leon thought, struggling to put the pieces of the puzzle together. 'Is it the influence of the free mana all around?' he then turned his thoughts to the most striking difference between his old and new world. 'No, I don't know anywhere near enough yet to pass any reasonable judgment,' he then decided, shaking his head before raising it and looking at the girl by his side.
"Tell me, is there any water source nearby?" Leon asked. "I would kill to wash off my sweat," he then added, trying to strike up a small talk so that he could pull his thoughts away from the dark presence at the bottom of his soul.
Sarah's eyes brightened as she nodded. "Actually, there is! We have a small pond in the back," she then shot to her feet, almost bouncing on top of her toes as she turned around and started running towards the rear of the cottage.
"Please follow me!" she called out before disappearing behind a door.
'I hope this girl can be trusted,' Leon thought to himself, but he didn't linger on that topic for long as he followed Sarah away from the village.
It was entirely possible that she was still scared of him and thus wanted to be of any use that she could be. Yet, there was no denying the chance that it was actually all an act aimed at lowering Leon's guard.
"It's here!" Sarah announced a moment later, standing down and stretching her arm in the direction of a small lake connected to what appeared to be a mid-sized river.
"Good," Leon praised the girl only to move past her and push straight into the water, not minding his clothes at all. The touch of the cold water instantly wrapped around Leon. The temperature shock was the final push Leon needed to finally calm his thoughts down.
'If that voice comes from my heroic spirit, it only means it's starting to awaken,' he thought, internally voicing out both his realization but also the worst possible scenario at the same time.
The awakening of a heroic spirit was nothing more but a legend for Leon. An obscure piece of knowledge he read about in some books that didn't survive as far as he did in that broken world of his.
It was nothing more but a legend about a personification of a person's heroic traits making a physical appearance only to then alter its host, ultimately fusing with it at the cost of the original hero's psyche.
But what used to be just a silly legend, now became a reality Leon had no other choice but to face.
'I hope that thing doesn't try to take over me,' he thought as his body started shaking. It was not because of the cold water, but rather a feeling of unease that suddenly crept up on him.
"Are you cold?" Sarah's tone interrupted Leon's thoughts. Looking up, he found her standing above him with a small towel in her hand. Apparently, she must have fetched it while he was still immersed in his thoughts.
"I was wondering why you haven't come out yet," she continued, her eyes widened in surprise as she noticed the way Leon's body shook. "Are you okay?" she then asked, looking a bit worried.
Leon let out a deep breath before moving through the water to reach the shore. He then took his clothes off and started rubbing his skin vigorously with Sarah's towel.
"Thanks," Leon said, passing the wet towel back to the girl's extended hand.
"What would you want me to do now, sir?" Sarah then asked, obediently lowering her head before Leon.
There were still some hits of fear visible on her face. Her movements betrayed anxiety. And yet, Leon couldn't help but notice that she was slowly starting to relax in his presence.
'I guess she is learning that I actually mean my words from back then,' he thought, only to shake his head and pull on his shirt, ignoring the leftover moisture still sticking to his skin.
"For now, we are back to the usual," Leon then explained. "Food, booze, and time to sleep," he revealed his intentions.
Leon then moved forth, skipping past the girl as he rushed back to his newfound home. "Oh, and if the village's elder will come looking for me..."
Leon put his words at a pause, only to shake his head and wave his hand. "Well, whatever. If he comes, invite him in," he ordered before decisively heading for the bed.
Sarah's eyes followed the man as he spoke before her. But as soon as he left her, she turned around and rushed back to the cottage. Yet, by the time she arrived, Leon was already back on the bed, playing around with his fingers as if touching some sort of invisible object suspended right above his chest.
"Uhm..." the girl moaned a little as she looked towards Leon's chest only to quickly avert her eyes. "Excuse me..." she then muttered, only to twitch violently when Leon turned his eyes on her.
"What's wrong?" Leon calmly asked, seizing the girl up with his eyes.
"I'm sorry to bother... but could you maybe tell me what you are doing?"
Sarah's question completely threw Leon off guard.
He just stared at the girl for a moment, trying to put his current thoughts together. "Why are you asking?" he then asked in return, raising one of his eyebrows as a gesture of confusion.
"You've been doing that for quite some time now," Sarah explained, her eyes shifting from place to place like she felt really uncomfortable standing under Leon's gaze. "It just makes me wonder what exactly are you doing."
Leon let out a light sigh before nodding in approval and putting his right hand down on top of the bed covers before him. "That's fair," he said before parting his lips again and letting out a deep breath.
"I'm trying to figure something out," Leon then answered Sarah's question after collecting himself enough to actually start speaking again.
"Could it be..." the girl hesitated, only to suddenly face Leon's eyes directly and boldly ask out loud, "Are you a wizard?!"