Chapter : 66
“Ah, this won’t all fit on the tray. Hey, rookie, come help me carry this.”
“Yes, senior!”
Flash!
Ashil lifted the heavy luggage with ease and carried it away.
Watching Ashil carry even their share of the load, the resort bellboys were impressed.
“He looks so scrawny, but his strength is ridiculous.”
“Of course, an employee personally brought in by the owner is different.”
“How admirable… really admirable…!”
“Hey, rookie~! Once we move all this, let’s take a short break! I’ll teach you how to swim in the sea!”
“Oh…! Thank you, senior!”
I smiled as I watched Ashil interacting with the staff through the window.
‘He doesn’t look like it, but he’s surprisingly clever.’
It wasn’t that Ashil was naturally strong enough to lift those bags so easily.
He had subtly lightened the bags with magic, and no one except me would know.
‘He seemed a bit clueless at first, but he’s not oblivious and is good at handling work.’
From that day, Ashil immediately unpacked and stayed in the resort staff quarters.
Worried someone might recognize him, he briefly altered his appearance and firmly refused my suggestion to promote him to an executive.
“My previous self just formed, so I’m still socially inexperienced. I want to mingle and gain diverse experiences.”
And then, he just dove straight into being a rookie bellboy.
I was initially concerned—wizards are usually arrogant, and I wasn’t sure if customer service would suit him.
“Hoho, young man. Thank you for carrying our luggage. And my daughter says you’re really handsome~.”
“Kyaa! Mom-! Don’t say that!”
“Thank you for the compliment. Hearing such words from someone as beautiful as you truly brightens my day.”
“Kyaaa!”
The female guest, blushing at Ashil’s pure smile, ran behind a palm tree.
The middle-aged woman, presumably her mother, repeatedly expressed admiration and then discreetly placed some gold in his pocket as a tip.
I smirked at the scene.
‘He might actually be well-suited for customer service, now that worries me~.’
Being a bellboy was just a cover; Ashil’s true specialty was magic.
The title of Archmage was not just nominal; his knowledge of magic surpassed mine by several levels.
His expertise shone when I showed him the magical core.
“This has slightly different characteristics compared to the Mage Tower’s magical core. Hmm, here—if we charge magic with attention to this part, it will accumulate more efficiently.”
“Wow, I didn’t notice that.”
“It’s an easy detail to miss. If you tweak the formula slightly, you can prevent wasted magic.”
“It’s reassuring to have a professional here~.”
“I’m glad to help. If we charge the magic together, it’ll accumulate even faster.”
His smiling face was so endearing.
‘With an archmage around, it feels like I can breathe again—freedom~.’
Information about the archmage was very scarce in the original records, so I didn’t know what kind of person he was.
I had wondered how I should respond if I ever met him, but it turned out to be pleasantly surprising.
‘The only concern is—’
His true identity.
I took my eyes off the window and returned to the documents I had been reading.
One was about Archmage Ashil, and the other concerned the second prince of this world, Beltnian Medio Arestan, a young man with golden eyes.
I alternated glances between the photos of Ashil and the second prince that the crow had sent me.
‘Looking at them like this, they’re quite similar.’
Though the finer details of their appearances differed, both Ashil and the second prince had delicate, androgynous features, and a similar aura.
Even their height and body type were the same.
‘At this point, I could even believe someone used an appearance-altering spell on one of them.’
Either turning Ashil into the second prince, or the second prince into Ashil.
I wasn’t particularly shocked, as I suspected some kind of possession connection between the two.
But I was curious about the sequence of events.
‘Did Ashil’s body get possessed by the second prince, or did the second prince’s body get possessed by Ashil?’
Ashil had mentioned that his body didn’t feel like his own.
This meant both possibilities could apply.
‘If I had to guess the more likely scenario, it’s that the second prince’s soul possessed Ashil’s body.’
Like my soul being in Eaeni’s body, with my black hair visible.
The second prince’s soul possessing Ashil’s body would explain why his golden eyes appeared.
‘But… if the second prince’s soul had possessed him, even without memories, his basic personality would likely be similar.’
Oddly enough, though they looked alike, their personalities were completely opposite.
Ashil was like flowing water, content with little worldly ambition, while the second prince was a man ablaze with ambition and fire.
‘Hmm, if Ashil is the second prince… could their personality really change this drastically?’
I checked Ashil’s and the second prince’s past in the documents.
‘Ashil appeared exactly one year after the second prince’s death.’
The Mage Tower suddenly announced Ashil as the new archmage, and people, thrilled by the sudden appearance of someone filling a long-vacant position, tried to learn more about him.
Of course, no information was revealed.
‘He seemed to have fallen from the sky out of nowhere.’
His hometown, age, family, how he became a mage—none of it existed.
Ashil left no traces of a past life, which a normal person would have.
‘Even he doesn’t know his own past…’
Initially, some critics speculated that Ashil was a fake archmage created by the Mage Tower.
But after he displayed extraordinary skills, people accepted that he really was an archmage, and his past didn’t matter.
‘Since then, Ashil has taken on all sorts of difficult tasks in remote regions.’
Tasks that should have been handled by the tower lord or elders, including both community service and extremely dangerous missions with high rewards.
He became quite popular with the public, though he avoided official appearances and showed little emotion, gradually diminishing people’s curiosity.
‘Hence, he became the continent’s most mysterious figure.’
“Ufufu! The sea really is salty, just like the book said…! The color was like refreshing soda.”
“Haha! You’re the first to describe the sea as soda!”
“Rookie, here’s some soda! Drink up!”
“Hot, this isn’t soda! It’s saltwater!”
By now, it seemed to be break time, and the bellboys were splashing around in the staff-only part of the sea.
I shrugged as I watched that clueless man interacting with the bellboys.
‘Hmm~. Right, Ashil now is different from back then.’
Compared to the scarce information about Ashil, there was plenty on the second prince.
I narrowed my eyes at the photo of the second prince.
‘The second prince was such a strong crown prince candidate that the Saint Duke couple went all-in with certainty.’
Thanks to his recording of conversations with the duke couple, I gained considerable advantage.
Moreover, he was an excellent mage and maintained friendly relations with the Mage Tower, which was usually proud and distant.
‘Among the royal family, only the second prince had active exchanges with the Mage Tower.’
The fact that he visited the Mage Tower often was naturally suspicious.
As I skimmed through his achievements, behavior, and attitude, I let out a small sigh.
My thoughts reached this point, but I kept pondering.
‘Above all… to what extent should I get involved with Ashil?’
I would tell him about the golden eyes someday, but the timing was still a big internal conflict.
If I got too close and my possession was discovered, it could be troublesome.
And what if…
‘What if my possession gets twisted?’
If I were no longer Eaeni Nasel…
‘I don’t want that.’
This body now feels like my own.
I’ve achieved so much here.
If things went wrong and I stopped being Eaeni…
“Eaeni.”
If that voice never called me ‘me’ again…
“Eaeni!”
“Ah…!”
