"Ugh,"
I opened my eyes to see a ceiling unfamiliar to me, I'm wearing comfortable clothes instead of the ones from the Hannes that I have to wear. Oh man, this is so comfy, I'm still not used to that fancy outfit even now.
"Young master."
I didn't notice Dominic's presence until he spoke, it seems I relaxed too much that I didn't notice. He was wearing a new set of clothes of the same design as the old one; it was probably a bloody battle that happened last night...
"Wait, how long am I asleep?" I immediately asked.
"A whole day, we'll be departing as soon as you get better." The butler replied, looking at the night sky through the room's window.
Dominic didn't waste any time and summoned his cube. He took out pages of paper and handed it to me. I recognized the seal on the paper as soon as I saw it.
"This is a report regarding the incident that happened to the port."
"Crescentia Merchant Guild...?"
"Indeed, the guild was the one that took care of most of the trouble. They, however, recognized our assistance during the event and promised to reward the three of us accordingly." He explained.
I skimmed the documents—apparently, the thieves guild surrendered 50 minutes after the initial explosions. The main problem was many rouge groups and individuals took advantage of the confusion and started making trouble.
"Pfft, and they were all subdued once the irregulars and Silver Shields entered the port." I couldn't help but chuckle at what happened while I was unconscious.
"That's right." Dominic remained indifferent. "One of the irregulars, Miss Raiah, left me a message for you."
Dominic recalled the events that happened last night.
...
"It seems that I wouldn't be able to visit Silvan's brother, I have to leave the port soon."
"Why leave so early, Sister Raiah?" Elvrett asked her as she was about to leave.
"I wasn't even supposed to be here, you know." She chuckled "The irregulars always have an issue to solve and our numbers are slowly declining so we're in a rough spot right now."
Raiah is a member of the Minerva Crescentia's Irregular Corps—the Crescentia Merchant Guild's most competent individuals deployed for the most dire and dangerous missions; It's an honorable but a perilous position to fill for most hence many consider them as prestigious as the Silver Shields or the 1st Imperial Militia.
"Ah, before I forgot. I wanna hand this to Simon Hannes." Her cube appeared and took out something.
Elvrett was visibly shocked, Dominic flinched but tried to remain calm, Raiah found their reactions hilarious.
...
"This is her reward for you, young master." He handed me a piece of paper sealed with the Emblem of Minerva.
Even I, who doesn't belong to this world, was awed by the seal's design. The three stars represent the three cities that Minerva united during the first war against corrupted, the upside down crescent symbolizing the Crescentia with another huge star above it for Acrilla, The Goddess of Wisdom, making it look like a sailboat symbolizing its merchants.
'Hold up, what the hell?'
I opened the letter and it was what I expected—a letter of invitation to the merchant guild examinations, one with a high-ranking member's signature.
"Ha ha," I'm utterly confused receiving this early, what did I even do—
"Young master, have you awakened your abilities?"
Memories suddenly flashed through my mind—I saw myself chanting something and a monstrous abomination kneeling as if it can't move, I killed it. I couldn't believe it happened, was this also the reason why I feel much more different after waking up.
"I... think I did."
I really have awakened, and I didn't even know. Gosh, I did it while I was unconscious? I'm impressed with myself.
"This has no worth at all. Silvan would probably give me a letter too once he heard of the news." I jokingly commented.
"Yeah, probably." Dominic chuckled.
'Dominic... chuckled?'
I tried to hide my shock and the butler soon realized it. An awkward silence then followed.
'Awkward...' both thought.
"Um, I want to apologize for my impulsive actions, Dominic." I broke the silence first.
"No need, sir." He shook his head "I let you go because I trust you, though I wouldn't recommend that you do that again."
"Yeah, I'll try not to."
We laughed at each other. I always thought Dominic was a cold and pragmatic person, it's nice to see this side of him.
"Since I awakened, could I request you to train me—"
"LITTLE SIMON!"
Someone barged in the room without even knocking, it's Elvrett wearing pajamas, and holding a stuffed animal?
"What—"
I wasn't able to finish my sentence as Elvrett ran towards me like a dog that hadn't seen his owner for months. Meanwhile, Dominic who was sitting on a chair has gone back to his indifferent state in an instant once Elvrett entered the room.
"We were so worried about you!" Elvrett said while shaking my body.
He asked me about my current condition. "Are you okay?", "Did that corrupted hurt you?", and so on.
"I'm okay now, shut up." I pushed him off me after the barrage of questions.
"Did Dominic infect your personality? our Little Simon is becoming cold now wahhhh-!"
'Dominic, help!' I gestured to my butler to help me deal with this guy.
'I'm sorry.' He shook his head.
We spent the night catching up with each other and planned to continue our journey to the capital the next day.
...
The next morning, I found myself looking in the mirror once again.
'Who am I?'
The one who awakened this body, the one that defeated the thieves, the man behind the mask—It wasn't me but him.
"Simon Hannes..." I muttered.
'Even before I wore that mask, he had been whispering. Then why did he only appear when I wore it?'
Where did the mask come from? Did it help the original Simon to get his body back? Did it even do anything?
"Think of it as a key to awaken me."
'Huh-?'
I looked around to see who was speaking. There was no other person in the room except me.
"Over here, fool."
'The shadow?'
My shadow was moving on its own. Since when?
"Figure it out yourself. Even I couldn't understand all of it."
"Isn't it uncomfortable that somebody else is possessing your body?"
"A bit, I'm already dead?"
"What do you—!"
Knock! knock!
The door opened, it was Dominic who had just finished preparing.
"Young master, the carriage will be ready soon."
"Hurry and don't make ashamed of my identity."
My butler doesn't seem to be hearing Simon, This makes it complicated even more.
"I will."
Dominic closed the door after that. I was left alone, with this bastard annoying me even more.
"Why?" I spoke first.
"What?"
"Why did you help me? You could've just let me die right there."
"Are you really that stupid? I thought tactical skills are your speciality." He couldn't help but mock me "If you die this early, I won't find a way to get it back."
The room became tense as I argued with no one but my shadow, I would look mentally ill if someone saw me right now. But I couldn't help but argue back...
"Then try it."
"Huh...?" The shadow was the one confused.
"I'll live, not just because I want to survive. I'll live just so I could prove to you that if I lived your life, I wouldn't end up as miserable as you." I spoke coldly.
"You dare challenge me. Ha ha, this is exhilarating."
"I will be the one who will laugh at the end, watch me."
As I was busy arguing with him, I forgot that we're supposed to prepare to depart from Port Rucefina.
"Little Simon! Are you done dressing up?" Elvrett's shout from outside was heard.
"Y-yeah, I'll be there!" I responded as loudly as I can.
I went downstairs to meet up with Elvrett and Dominic. Too bad that Elvrett wasn't coming with us, we really just came here to visit him anyway.
"Little Simon, I have something to give you." He handed me a little box.
"Hm? What is this."
"It's an artifact I've created recently. Sorry, that's all I could give you right now..."
"No, this is helpful, thanks."
I handed it to Dominic and he stored it in my cube.
"Hehehe. Anyways, I know this would be helpful for you if you get in trouble."
"I wouldn't."
"You're totally lying!"
We spent our time bantering even when we're about to part ways. I wanted to stay longer and relax, but time is essential right now.
"Bye Simon!" He waved goodbye as the carriage headed to exit the port.
I looked at the port for the last time, it was still the same—me, however, is not the same Simon Hannes that entered it. With my newfound strength, I would deal with the capital incident much easier...
I hope.