Shadow Slave

Harper stared at him with that pathetic timid smile frozen on his lips. In his eyes, there was fake friendliness, worry, and desperation. For some reason, Sunny felt a violent urge to erase the smile of his face.

'You scum…'

In his rattled state, he was having trouble controlling his emotions. Something must have shown on his face, because Harper suddenly blinked and took a step back. But in the end, the desire to be allowed back into the Bright Castle won over his caution. He forced himself to stay still, hesitated for a few moments, and said:

"I… I wanted to thank you for inviting me into your home this morning."

Sunny looked at the gaunt young man. In the twilight of dusk, his pale face was hidden in deep shadows. Finally, he answered:

"Yeah. We can talk."

'Think, Sunny, think…'

But his mind was refusing to obey. Most of it was drowning in the sea of cold terror that had been summoned by the revelation of the future. What little remained was utterly disoriented.

Sunny raised one hand and rubbed his face.

'He's a spy. He's here to make it easier for Gunlaug to kill us. What should be done?'

In the morning… yes, back before everything changed, Sunny had seen Harper reporting to one of the Guards. He wanted to give the cowardly young man a beating and throw him out of the lodge… but that would be a wrong decision.

The best thing to do was not to expose the unfortuante spy, but to feign ingnorance and feed him false information. Yeah… that was the optimal way to deal with moles. As an aspiring spy himself, Sunny knew these things well.

But would he even able to deceive Harper? By accident, the failed informant had chosen a perfect person as his mark. Sunny knew a lot of secrets and was incapable of lying.

But he was also a master of deception. So…

"Sunless?"

Sunny flinched and glanced at the gaunt young man.

"Sorry. Uh… I'm a bit out of sorts after today's hunt. You wanted to talk?"

Reassured, Harper smiled again.

"You see, I wanted to thank you for everything that you had done for me, and for all the people here in the settlement. When I left the castle, I brought a very special item with me. I thought of sharing it with you!"

Sunny frowned.

"A special item?"

'I should see what his plan is exactly, feed him a couple of little truths along with the lies, and then report to Neph in the morning. R—right?'

Harper, meanwhile, was nodding energetically:

"It's a… a bottle of liquor. Every month, a few are sold by the Artisans working in the garden. Getting one is very hard, but I was lucky. Would you like to come and try? My hut is nearby."

Sunny got distracted for a few moments, but then forced hismeld to concentrate. What was Harper talking about? Artisans, liquor, luck…

'...Why not?'

the young man to

they passed other slum dwellers on their way to Harper's hovel, Sunny couldn't help

these people were already dead. They just

…But he did.

weight of this knowledge was slowly crushing

pieces of wood, with plenty of cracks to let the cold wind in. Inside, there was nothing except

least there was

he dug a glass jar from beneath the seaweed and placed it in front of him like a rare treasure. Producing a crude iron knife from somewhere, Harper then opened the wax seal of the jar, placed the knife on the table, and poured a milky white

"Here!"

the cup to Sunny and

or killed themselves with cheap stimulants and drugs. Luckily, he was always too paranoid to allow anything to alter his mental state. Plus, for a long time, he couldn't allow himself to die before accomplishing a certain

why Sunny was not too

cup to his lips, he held his breath and downed it in one go. A pleasant warmth immediately

can see the

wasn't too bad,

hurriedly refilled the cup and

about the latest hunt. By gods, you have survived an encounter with a Spire Messenger! That

for a bit,

stood at

gaunt young man

Star from the very beginning,

Even if Sunny didn't know that Harper was a spy already, he would have sensed something strange at this point. But it was easy to pretend not to

me will tell you everything as long as you show them a

the

been long dead. Do you know how many times I

to create a false sense that Harper's plan to use pettiness and jealousy to loosen his tongue worked. However, the next words came out of

he

This wasn't supposed to happen. How

head and forced out a dark

what am

liquor doing its

side by side with Lady Nephis a

lowered his

"Yeah."

gaunt young man hesitated for a few moments, then

must have seen her Aspect

you kill them. Staring at Harper, Sunny suddenly remembered his first battle after meeting Nephis. Back then, she asked him if he had ever dissected a dead carapace scavenger to learn its

now. Dissecting them. Even though

can be

Harper eyes gleamed.

healer! Of course. Such an Ability suits Lady Changing Star very well. Everyone knows

'Good…'

a misunderstanding, leading Harper to believe that Neph's Aspect was limited to healing. There had to be other spies in the slum, of course. With them collaborating on that statement by recounting how she had healed the wounded hunters today, Gunlaug and his people would

would ever assume that her flames could both