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.

to get eaten by this

nice to meet you, Stev. I'm

down at him, then glanced at Kai, and said in

dear friend. Are you sure

Sunny frowned.

'Be civil… be civil…'

won't break

both Kai and Stev stared at

Stev leaned back and

little gremlin is a funny one, Night! Well, good. Very good! If there's one thing I lack in

he shook his

dozen shards, at least. Much more if you want something really useful. Are you

Sunny blinked.

someone who would ever be able to buy something from you? Of course not! I've never even

him a

his companion was sufficiently powerful. However, now he suddenly learned that Sunny had never absorbed any soul essence. With his ability to sense lies, the charming archer would know that

was. He absorbed plenty of

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

shook

Kai here is the one who'll be handing you the shards. I'm just here to point him at the right ones. I have an eye for good

the very essence of Memories and discerning their true

scratched the back of

around. Ask me any questions if

glanced at Night and

have just asked me for advice, you know? It's not

Kai smiled with embarrassment.

"Oh. Ah… yeah, sorry."

he

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

theory. Having a weapon or tool that no one knew about was a

didn't really know who

Sunny shook his head.

you to