Shadow Slave

Behind the door, there was a medium-sized hall that had no windows. It was illuminated by a strange lantern that levitated in its center, radiating a bright and stable glow.

Along the walls of the room stood various weapon racks, wooden mannequins dressed in full suits of armor, and tables with a wide assortment of beautiful and intriguing objects placed upon them.

All of it — the weapons, the armors, the objects, even the levitating lantern — were Memories.

Sunny felt a thundering thought explode in his mind. For a few moments, he was only able to think about one thing:

'Money! That is so much money!'

Inside this unassuming hall hid a fortune that could rival that of an entire corporation.

He was barely stopping himself from drooling.

"Uh… Sunny?"

Brought back from his covetous stupor, Sunny blinked a couple of times and glanced at Kai.

"Huh?"

The beautiful archer hesitated for a moment, then said:

"I was saying, this is Stev. He is in charge of this place."

Only now did Sunny notice that there was someone else in the room. It was a man that was old by the standards of the Dark City, nearing twenty-five or so. He had a round face and cheerful eyes, which were currently full of doubt and hints of disgust.

His gaze, of course, was aimed at Sunny.

'Have you looked in the mirror, bastard?!'

Apart from his extremely tall stature, there was one other special thing about Stev's appearance, and it was that he was… fat. He was the first obese person that Sunny had met in the Dark City. Having a belly like that in a place like this must have required a lot of work, talent and dedication.

He didn't know whether to be impressed or appalled.

In any case, Sunny decided to not get on Stev's bad side.

want to get eaten by this ogre,

nice to meet you,

glanced at

friend. Are you sure this dirty vagrant is… a

Sunny frowned.

'Be civil… be civil…'

vagrant won't break every bone in that fat

Kai and Stev stared at him

Stev leaned back and

good. Very good! If there's one thing I lack in this cave,

he shook his

shards, at least. Much more if you want something really useful. Are you sure you have the means to shop here in my emporium? How many shards can a slum rat like

Sunny blinked.

think there was a misunderstanding. Have you seen me? Do I look like someone who would ever be able to buy something from you? Of course not! I've never even absorbed a single soul shard, that should tell you how many of them I

gave him

that his companion was sufficiently powerful. However, now he suddenly learned that Sunny had never absorbed any

course it was. He absorbed

that misleading secret on purpose. He didn't want Night to start questioning the amount of soul shards he was about to spend. Letting the archer think that he was

shook

handing you the shards. I'm just here to point him at the right ones. I

were literally capable of peering into the very essence of Memories and discerning

back of his

around. Ask me any questions

he glanced at

for advice, you know? It's not

Kai smiled with embarrassment.

"Oh. Ah… yeah, sorry."

walked away, he

me is to pretend to buy a Memory and then give it to you,

Actually, it was a good theory. Having a weapon or

really know

Sunny shook his head.

you to buy a