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?'

Harper a nod, he gestured for the young man

other slum dwellers on their way to Harper's hovel, Sunny couldn't help but feel like

already dead. They

…But he did.

weight of this knowledge was slowly crushing

the other hovels in the slum. It was crudely constructed out of rotting pieces of wood, with plenty of cracks to let the cold wind in. Inside, there was nothing except for a pile of seaweed thatch that served as a flimsy mattress and a low wooden table. Sunny could

least there was a

beneath the seaweed and placed it in front of him like a rare treasure. Producing a crude iron knife from somewhere,

"Here!"

the cup to Sunny and

the strange liquor. He remembered many people in the outskirts who had drowned themselves in the bottle or killed themselves with cheap stimulants and drugs. Luckily, he was always too paranoid to allow anything to alter

Sunny was not too

downed it in one go.

see the

too bad,

hurriedly refilled the

hunt. By gods, you have survived an encounter with a Spire Messenger! That must have been

lingered for a bit, then

just stood at the

gaunt young man shook

with Lady Changing Star from the very beginning, surviving more

didn't know that Harper was a spy already, he would have

you everything as long as you show them a tiny bit of respect,

because of the

fact, if it wasn't for me, she would have been long dead.

to use pettiness and jealousy to loosen his tongue worked. However, the next words

he suddenly paled and

Huh? For… for this? This wasn't supposed to happen. How did

and forced out a dark

what am I

terror for the sign of the liquor doing its job, Harper

by side with

his head, then

"Yeah."

for a

must have seen her Aspect

learn their vices… that's how you kill them. Staring at Harper, Sunny suddenly remembered his first

now. Dissecting them. Even though

It can be

Harper eyes gleamed.

suits Lady Changing Star very well. Everyone

'Good…'

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

her flames could both heal and