Shadow Slave

The main hall of the mighty castle was grandiose and majestic in appearance. The gentle light of the morning sun was cascading through the tall windows and reflecting from the white marble walls, filling it with a bright radiance. The walls were decorated with intricate carvings that span dozens of meters, creating a regal tapestry.

At the far end of the hall, a set of stairs led to a dark alcove. The back wall of the alcove had numerous small holes cut through it, and with sunlight shining through them into the deep darkness, it seemed as though a fragment of the starlit night sky was somehow locked within the castle.

Beneath that light stood an empty white throne.

Sunny stared at the throne for a few moments, then lowered his gaze and glanced at the several hundred people that were looking at them.

Long wooden tables were placed along the length of the grand hall, with a motley crowd of Sleepers sitting on crude benches behind them, busy consuming their food. There was some sort of hierarchy in how they were grouped, but Sunny couldn't understand it yet.

Currently, most of them were staring in his direction.

Sunny gulped.

It took him a couple of seconds to realize that all these people were not, in fact, looking at him. They were all looking at Cassie, clearly startled by her loveliness.

'Crap.'

Just as he had thought, this smelled like trouble.

The blind girl, meanwhile, was oblivious to the commotion her appearance had caused. Sensing the sudden tension in his muscles, she asked:

"Sunny? Why did you stop?"

He narrowed his eyes, gave the crowd of Sleepers his most menacing scowl, and answered in a flat tone:

"Just taking in the view."

Then, Sunny walked over to the young women rationing the food, received two plates of steaming monster meat stew, and guided Cassie to a relatively empty spot at the end of one of the tables. He even got two cups of something that closely resembled tea.

Sitting down, he put the crudely made utensils into Cassie's hand and stared at his plate.

He didn't like all this attention one bit.

"Look at that, Cas! They even got vegetables. I swear there's at least two pieces of a… uh… tomato in my stew. Or is it a carrot? What's that thing that looks like a red potato?"

Sunny had only seen vegetables in the Academy's cafeteria, so he was not well-versed in differentiating them. Teacher Julius had also only mentioned them in passing, since the chances of encountering a vegetable from the real world in the Dream Realm were not very high.

To be precise, he had briefly showed Sunny pictures of the most common Earth vegetables and said that if he ever was to find something that makes him think "huh, that thing looks familiar!"... he should turn around and run.

Cassie smelled her stew and said with a smile.

it's a

Sunny blinked.

"...Never heard of it."

Sleepers through his

pretty soon, they

rough-looking young men suddenly rose from their benches and headed across the hall toward them with unpleasant excitement burning

'Here we go.'

Cassie's beauty, of all things? Usually, it was

even once, had it been

shouldn't

apparent from their armor and the fact that they carried their weapons in actual sheaths, like a pair of idiots. Memories could be

detail after

Gunlaug's people, remember that these guys carry a heavy burden.

other words,

with vulgar smiles. They were clearly undressing Cassie with their eyes. Sunny turned his head and looked up

turned away with heavy

they just want

Sunny opened his mouth...

'Respectful… remember… be respectful…'

...and said:

are you degenerates staring

***

Once again,

actually staring at him instead of

'I… guess that's better?'

few seconds earlier lowered

pair of young men who were currently towering above him, a dark and dangerous light dancing

by surprise. The anger had taken the better of him for a moment, forcing the words out of his mouth. But

instincts were not only

hell with this. They want to see dark and dangerous? I'll

idiots, knowing that, at this point, there was no way back. Beside him, Cassie turned her head, an alarmed

the

politely introduce ourselves to this lovely little doll, but hey, we

who was looking at Sunny with no humor in

Cassie frowned, then said:

"Why are you…"

at that moment, the second young man took a step forward