Shadow Slave

Sunny spent some time in a crowded carriage of a public train. Since personal transport vehicles were rare, expensive, and demanded a special government license to purchase, most people in the city used public transportation to move around. Magnetic trains, usually simply called trams, were the cheapest and most popular form of it.

During his time in the outskirts, Sunny rarely had a reason to use one, but when he did, people didn't pay him any attention. Sometimes they even went out of their way to not notice him.

But now, things seemed to have changed. Sunny had his eyes closed, observing the carriage through the shadow in case there was danger. There wasn't… however, he was surprised to notice that people, especially young women, threw curious glances at him from time to time.

'Huh… is the Soul Serpent showing?'

But no, his sleeves hid the coils of the Shadow completely.

'Strange. Must be the clothes, then.'

Sunny had not ventured out of the Academy a lot during the past two months, but on one of those expeditions, he had bought himself some unassuming, but pricey civilian clothes. According to Kai, they were "understated" and "stylish", whatever that meant. Sunny basically just went for the only comfortable thing the store had in dark colors.

He sighed.

'That just shows how shallow people are. A simple change of wardrobe, and suddenly, I'm at the center of attention. Why are girls so materialistic?'

…To be fair, many guys stared at him, too.

By the time Sunny reached his stop, he was a bit flustered. Leaving the crowded train behind, he sighed with relief, hid his hands in his pockets, and walked out of the familiar tram terminal.

The part of town he came to was somewhat near its center, as far removed from the outskirts as one could imagine. It was peaceful, quiet, and green.

as fresh as that of

accustomed to — weirdly, they were all very low, no more than two or three stories high. The ground itself rose and fell in

as far as citizens went, they were not of the highest ranks. There were other, much more affluent districts in the city, and the real elites — as well as most

liked about this place. He could

could have reached it much faster by jumping through the shadows, but he preferred to not use his

going to be his, and

of him was two stories high, with grey walls and a slanting tile roof. It had a synthwood porch, a lawn, and a big window opening to the view of a spacious living room. There was even a garage for a PTV,

like something

'Extravagant…'

"Ahem… Awakened Sunless? Sir?"

a PTV had just parked nearby and that a man got out of it, approaching

glanced at the

was a short, overweighed man wearing a very expensive tailored suit and an antique luxury watch. Despite his outward appearance, the man was

stared at him with

"...Lanard, right?"

the agency responsible for outfitting

have remembered my name is very flattering,

to

you

feigned indifference and

"It's fine, I guess."