'First I meet an old man who almost scared the shit out of me, then he sends me to a world that shouldn't exist... or so I think, then they force me to be part of a group, and all for what? To gather potatoes,' Finn thought, kneeling down, digging potatoes out of the ground. 'And my super OP powers? Where are they?'
"Ugh, it's so tiring!" Darwin complained, lying in the ground.
"Tsk, what are you complaining about? You were the one who chose the mission!" Finn yelled at Darwin. 'Why am I actually doing this?... Of course, I need money.'
Finn continued digging the potatoes out of the ground alongside Darwin, only to look up and see the vast field that stretched almost as far as Finn could see. Finn pouted slightly, wanting to cry, since they hadn't even gotten a tenth of the gigantic potato field.
"Why the hell is the field so big?!" Finn complained, starting to dig potatoes faster.
At dusk, Finn threw himself down tiredly on a mound of alfalfa in a barn. His arms ached, and he could barely stand the pain in his back from bending over for so long.
"I can't believe it! We're only a quarter of the way through the harvest" Darwin said tiredly, throwing himself down next to a cow. "At this rate, we'll be done in three more days!"
"If you hadn't spent half a day complaining, we'd have a lot more by now!" Finn replied angrily.
"How can I not complain? My hands are killing me!" Darwin replied.
"And they're going to hurt more every day if we don't finish this quickly," Finn said.
"Sigh, and I thought the life of an adventurer would be full of adventure, danger, and money" Darwin said.
"Why don't you venture out and gather potatoes faster?" Finn asked.
"No, I don't want to gather potatoes anymore!" Darwin complained.
The two argued for a while until they fell asleep in the barn.
The following days were exactly the same, Finn and Darwin spending the entire day in the field harvesting potatoes and occasionally talking to the farmer who had requested the mission. On the afternoon of the third day, Finn and Darwin finally managed to gather all the potatoes from the farm and complete the mission.
That same afternoon, the two decided to leave and were now walking back to the capital. Their clothes were covered in dust and dirt, but they were happy because they had managed to complete the mission in just three days.
"I can't wait to get back to the guild and get paid" Darwin said tiredly.
"I just want to shower and go to sleep" Finn said.
"Hey, Finn, do you really not remember anything?" Darwin asked, confusing Finn.
"You mean before I could speak?" Finn asked back.
"Yeah, I mean, before you could speak, you had done a lot of things. Did you forget all that?" Darwin asked, and Finn finally understood what he meant.
"Not everything… it's a bit confusing. I remember certain places; the guild, my house, the guild infirmary, some armor and weapons shops. As for people, I don't remember anyone; they're all like blurs moving from one place to another… although I can remember some voices from when I was sent on quests" Finn clarified.
"What about your quests? Do you remember fighting and facing monsters with your old companions?" Darwin asked, "I understand you used to fight monsters before, and you never failed your quests, too."
"No, I can remember seeing some monsters, but other than that, I don't remember fighting or even anything from my previous quests" Finn stated.
"That sucks, waking up one day and not knowing the slightest thing about yourself or what you've done in your life," Darwin said.
"Yeah... it sucks."
—
The two continued walking until dusk, finally reaching the capital. Without taking the slightest detour, the two headed straight to the guild. Upon arriving, they both entered and headed towards the reception.
"Hey, Damian!" Darwin called, leaning on the reception counter and calling Damian.
Finn watched intently as Darwin continued calling Damian, failing to notice how a girl slowly approached him from behind. The first thing Finn noticed about the girl was her curious curled horns sticking out of her head and her wavy white hair.
Amelia stood behind Darwin with a clipboard she used to help her write without a table. She then raised it and hit Darwin hard, making the board crack and surprising Finn with the force of the blow.
"Ugh, who the fuck…" Darwin turned to see who had hit him, but when he saw Amelia in front of him, he stopped in his tracks and began to sweat nervously. "A..Amelia…"
"You really have the balls to team up with Finn the day before I got here!" Amelia exclaimed angrily.
"Wait, wait, Damian should have already told you why!" Darwin said, backing away quickly in fear. "It all happened so fast, and I knew how much you wanted us to team up. Besides, Damian was supposed to give you our group, that's what he said!"
"Tsk, and you're lucky he did" Amelia stated angrily, turning to look at Finn.
'Sigh, you can't keep her happy with anything…' Darwin thought, touching the spot where Amelia hit him.
"Hey, Finn, how are you? Is the wound not bothering you anymore?" Amelia asked, changing her tone to a gentler one and grabbing Finn's face.
"I... I guess not" Finn replied, not knowing what to do or how to react to Amelia.
"That's good…" Amelia said, giving him a slight smile before starting to brush the dirt off Finn's shirt.
After a few seconds, Amelia's brow furrowed in confusion. She looked at Finn for a moment, then shook her head. She continued brushing the dust off his shirt for a few seconds before looking back at Finn, even more confused.
"Excuse me?" Amelia asked, looking at Finn.
"You're excused" Finn replied.
"Ha… haha… hahaha," Amelia started laughing, looking between Darwin and Finn. "I think… I think I don't feel well… did you hear him?" Amelia asked, looking at Darwin.
Darwin, seeing Amelia's reaction, approached her slowly, trying to calm her down.
"Amelia… just breathe. I know this is very sudden, but I swear this is true…" Darwin said. But before he could continue, Amelia's fist sent him slamming into the reception counter with great force, alerting Damian, who now came out.
'Shit, she's strong' Finn thought scare
"One mission… ONE FUCKING MISSION WAS ENOUGH TO YOU TO MAKE HIM TALK!!" Amelia yelled, upset.
Amelia grabbed her hair in frustration, confusion, and fear. She was so emotional at the moment that she couldn't express herself properly. Damian, seeing this, signaled Finn to back away slowly, but before he could do anything, Amelia grabbed his face again, pulling him closer to her.
"Did you really talk?" Amelia asked, seeing Finn's confused and scared face. "Is it really you? What's my name?"
"Amelia, I suppose?" Finn replied, upsetting Amelia.
"By Athena, you can talk!" Amelia exclaimed, even more upset. "How?!"
"Amelia, calm down. It was all so..." Darwin tried to explain, getting up, but was sent crashing to the ground by a hard slap to the head from Amelia.
'Shit, how strong is she?!' Finn wondered, seeing Darwin on the ground.
"What the hell did you do now, Darwin?!" Amelia asked.
"It wasn't me, I swear!" Darwin explained, being helped by Damian. "He woke up healed three days ago!" he tried to explain before Amelia hit him again.
"Curses can't be healed!" Amelia replied.
"He uncursed himself!" Darwin said quickly.
"How?!" Amelia asked, even more upset.
"With faith," Darwin replied.
"Faith doesn't remove curses, idiot!" Amelia said. Then she turned to look at Finn, who didn't know what to do. Looking directly at Finn, Amelia came to a conclusion. "You're not Finn!" Amelia said before attacking Finn.
"Wait!" Finn only managed to say.
—
"Ow, ow, ow, it hurts!!!" Finn complained.
"I'm so sorry, Finn," Amelia apologized, placing an ice pack on Finn's eye.
"So now you can not only talk, but also show emotions like the rest of us" Damian said, sitting next to Darwin and handing him an ice pack. "I knew it wasn't my imagination."
"That's what I was trying to tell you..." Darwin said, putting the bag over his face.
"I can do it myself, Amelia" Finn said, trying to grab the string bag, but Amelia swatted his hand away.
"Shut up, you don't know how!" Amelia said, refusing. "Is this even possible?" Amelia asked, looking at Damian.
Damian looked closely at a screen in front of him with Finn's image. From his perspective and the tests he had performed on Finn, Damian believed everything was perfectly fine with Finn.
"Well, according to the guild database, the Finn in front of us is exactly the same one we knew. The only difference is that his anima has increased exponentially, which would indicate that Finn has somehow recovered the missing part of his soul. This would explain how he can now speak and act just like us" Damian said, a little confused.
"But how is that possible? The curse supposedly consumed 90% of his soul. How are you supposed to recover something that no longer exists?" Amelia asked incredulously.
"No… according to what Merlin told us, Finn was attacked by a demon 15 years ago. That day, Finn was placed under a curse and lost 90% of his soul, leaving him almost an empty shell. But he could still move and think enough to understand what he had to do to survive" Damian examined, trying to come to a conclusion. "Until now, everyone who knows Finn believed that the demon had eaten that part of his soul through the curse, since the soul could never return to Finn before. But maybe that wasn't the case. Maybe the demon didn't put a consuming curse and was only able to put some kind of restriction on Finn's body for a certain amount of time, which kept the soul from accessing the body."
"Like a time seal?" Amelia asked.
"Yes, something like that. That's the only thing I can think of" Damian said. "We'll have to wait for the Master to get to the guild and examine it himself, or send a letter to Merlin to find out if this is possible" Damian said.
"Um, yes, that sounds good to me. I could also look in the guild library. There are many books on soul research, given the recent events of the last 10 years" Amelia said.
"Sounds like a plan to me. Until then, we'll have to keep an eye on him in case something goes wrong with his soul again" Damian ordered, seeing Finn sitting down. "Okay, I'll leave. I still have work to do."
"Okay, leave everything to me. I'll keep them under control" Amelia said, nodding.
Damian nodded and left Amelia's office.
"Okay, idiots, come closer!" Amelia said, taking Finn by the head and kissing him on the cheek, then repeating the process with Darwin.
"What? The pain suddenly went away!" Finn said, amazed that his cheeks were no longer sore and his eye was healed.
"That's because of Amelia's ability. Half-mytts usually have special abilities, and Amelia has the ability to heal minor wounds with a kiss" Darwin said.
'Mytt? is he referring to beastmen?' Finn thought.
"That's right, I'm half-sheep mytt" Amelia confirmed, placing her hands on her hips. "Mytts get traits from their related animals. Wolf mytts are fast and precise, as well as having athletic bodies; lions are strong and usually have muscular bodies and long hair; horses are fast and enduring, usually tall and with very defined bodies, and so on."
Finn nodded slowly at Amelia's explanation, then looked at Amelia's enormous legs and large butt.
"Tsk, yes, my ass is also part of the sheep mytt traits!" Amelia exclaimed, knowing what Finn was thinking. "Now come on, I'll give you your pay for completing the quest" Amelia said, leaving the office.
Amelia walked Finn and Darwin back to the guild, where she gave them their payment for completing the quest. She then followed them to the guild door to say goodbye.
"Finn, are you sure you feel okay?" Amelia asked, calling Finn. "Doesn't anything hurt... like your back, for example?" Amelia asked, confusing Finn, but making Darwin look at Finn seriously at the question.
"No, I feel fine" Finn said.
"Good, that's good" Amelia said, giving them both a hug before kicking them out of the guild. "Now, go away, idiots. I have to clean the guild" she said, closing the guild doors.
"Is it me or is Amelia a little bipolar?" Finn asked, looking at Darwin.
"You barely noticed? Just be thankful she doesn't have a more destructive third side" Darwin said, starting to walk away from the guild. "See you tomorrow, Finn."
—
Finn arrived at his room at the inn where he lived, taking a quick shower and then standing in front of the bathroom mirror, thinking about Amelia's question. Turning around slowly, Finn let out a sigh of disbelief. On his back was a large scar that ran from his right shoulder to the lower left side of his waist, along with several circular scars running along the long scar.
"What the fuck…" Finn said, looking at the wound. "That thing is so wide and deep… what the hell happened to the other Finn?"