Shadow Slave

Effie wisely chose that moment to disappear and join the dancing crowd below. Sunny ground his teeth for a few moments, then shook his head and walked to the table, landing on a luxurious lounge chair with a sigh.

Kai briefly glanced at him and smiled.

"Where are Effie and Lady Nephis?"

Sunny stared at him for a few moments, then looked away.

"Effie went to dance. Neph is in the bathroom. Also, will you cut it out with the "lady" stuff? The two of you spent months traversing the Forgotten Shore together, back when we were returning from the Hollow Mountains. She is also younger than you. That is more than enough to drop the formalities, don't you think?"

The archer coughed.

"Oh. Well… I'll try."

He didn't sound very convincing, forcing Sunny to roll his eyes.

"Anyway, what do we have here?"

At some point, a waiter had entered the lounge and placed a tray of various foods on the table... while trying very hard not to throw reverent looks at the distinguished guests. Knowing that there would be no chance for him to taste anything once Effie returned, Sunny used the opportunity to try a few.

As he chewed on a piece of cheese that had been dipped into a sweet, viscous amber liquid, Sunny smiled in delight and asked:

"Wow. What's that sugary syrup?"

Cassie turned to him, then smelled the air.

"I... I think it's honey."

Sunny blinked a couple of times. The word was familiar, but he usually heard it used as a term of endearment. Who knew that it had actually come from something this delicious?

"What is honey, though?"

tilted her head a little, then said with a bit of surprise

it is... a sort of liquid that special insects produce by ingesting and regurgitating floral

little pale, and slowly pushed the cheese

see. Good

that, he gulped a mouthful of champagne and tried to discreetly rinse

about his food. He had even sustained himself on

even he had

people… what are they going to come up with

Nephis returned. She was acting as if nothing had happened, and her face was

hesitated for a moment, and then

seem concerned. Did

lack of "lady" and simply

Apparently, there is a little snack here in the VIP lounge that

at the small bowl of honey

it. I have no objections. They are free to gobble

strange glance from Kai, Sunny took a sip of champagne and relaxed a little. That was the point of today's outing, anyway. After days of serving as a punching bag for an untrained Master,

The huntress was practically beaming with delight. She quickly destroyed most of their food,

is fun! We should go

looked at her in horror,

It's just a shame that they

looked around with a bit of curious

imagined living like this. I mean, my goal was

The archer smiled wistfully.

Forgotten Shore, I had a clear picture of what my future would look like. Then, for years, I tried not to think about the future at all. And now that I reached that future, it's not

out

on my younger self and think about what she expected from the future, I… I can't believe how naive and shortsighted she was. She... feels

on Sunny. He raised his

from the First Nightmare, I thought that I would soon be a full citizen, super rich, and have unlimited access to tasty food. So I don't know what you're talking about. For