"Hmm… then maybe just my last name—Li?" Li Shen suggested.
"Understood," Agares replied with a gentle smile. "In that case, I shall address you as Lord Li."
"Gah—!"
Li Shen nearly choked at Agares's polite response.
The way he heard it sounded felt weird.
In the end, they decided that anyone other than Somnus would call him "Lord Li."
Even the "Lord" part made him squirm a little, like someone was brushing cold fingers down his spine, but since Somnus said it was necessary, Li Shen agreed to it.
Also, Somnus had insisted that Li Shen didn't need to use formal language when speaking to the other three.
Somnus's reasoning was that since he himself held the highest authority, it would be strange for his subordinates to receive more respectful speech than he did.
That part made sense to Li Shen, so he went along with it.
Wait a second, Li Shen thought. Now that I think about it, I haven't used formal speech with Somnus at all since our first meeting. That's… kind of weird. Back in China, I was always super careful to speak politely with older people. But with Somnus, I've just… been talking like it's totally normal.
A strange feeling stirred inside him.
It was like there was a gap between who he used to be and who he was now.
He tried to make sense of that for a moment. But in the end, he just shrugged it off.
If he started using polite speech with Somnus now, it would just feel awkward and forced.
Better to leave things as they were.
And so, with Somnus no longer his only company, Li Shen's quiet recovery in this new world began to feel a little more lively.
He had three new people to talk to—people who were strange, yes, but surprisingly easy to be around.
However—at that time, Li Shen had absolutely no idea.
He had no clue what kind of being the Dominator of Arcane Magic, Del Delatia truly was.
As the days passed, during countless casual conversations with Somnus and the others, small details started slipping out.
Bit by bit, he began to understand.
And when he finally put all the pieces together and saw the full picture—
It had been about two weeks since that first garden gathering.
That's when Li Shen finally stood up and shouted, loud and full of panic, "THAT'S DEFINITELY NOT ME!!! YOU'VE GOT THE WRONG GUY!! I'M NOT HIM—I'M NOT!! OR THIS HAS TO BE A DREAM!! YES, THAT'S IT!! THIS IS ALL A DREAM!! I'M GOING TO WAKE UP ANY SECOND NOW—!!!"
The room Li Shen was staying in was apparently one of the bedrooms located inside the Deep Palace—a massive and luxurious building where Somnus lived on a daily basis.
Ever since Li Shen had woken up in this place, he'd been moving around like it was his own, and now, after growing used to it, he stood in front of a mirror for the first time in a while, staring at the face he knew better than any other.