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.

eaten

nice to meet you, Stev.

looked down at him, then glanced at Kai, and said in a strange

dear friend. Are you sure this dirty

Sunny frowned.

'Be civil… be civil…'

fat bastard. Are you sure that this dirty vagrant won't break every bone in that

Kai and Stev stared at

Stev leaned back and let

a funny one, Night! Well, good. Very good! If there's one thing I

he shook his head

Memory will cost you a dozen shards, at least. Much more if you want something really useful. Are you sure you have the means to shop here in my

Sunny blinked.

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 a

how confident Sunny had been while traversing the ruins, he must have assumed that his companion was sufficiently powerful. However, now he suddenly learned that Sunny had never

it was. He absorbed plenty of

spend. Letting the archer think that he was too obsessed with wealth to expend

shook

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

capable of peering into the very essence of Memories and discerning their true traits. But

scratched the back

that case, take a look around. Ask me any questions if something catches

glanced at

you know? It's not like I can lie to

Kai smiled with embarrassment.

"Oh. Ah… yeah, sorry."

walked away, he leaned to

wanted from me is to pretend to buy a Memory and then give it to you, so that no one knew that you

Actually, it was a good theory. Having a weapon or tool that no

know

Sunny shook his head.

I don't want you to buy a Memory on