Shadow Slave

Before Sunny went inside, he lingered for a few moments and glanced at the magnificent castle one last time. Then, he slowly looked up.

Out there, high above the tallest tower of Bastion and slightly to the side, a beautiful island was hovering in the sky, bathed in the golden light of dawn. A great pagoda of pristine white stone rose from it, just as majestic as the colossal ancient fortress.

The Ivory Tower.

The wandering Citadel looked harmonious drifting above Bastion like a satellite. In recent years, its lady and her warriors had been sent to defend remote human enclaves on countless occasions, their fame and renown growing with each improbable victory.

The image of the immaculate white tower was slowly becoming a symbol of hope for those besieged by Nightmare Creatures in the Sword Domain.

Which was more than a little bit fitting.

Sunny looked at the Ivory Tower for a few moments, his expression remaining perfectly neutral. Then, he averted his eyes and sighed.

'She has been in Bastian for almost a month now. That is unusual... I thought Anvil would send her to some other godforsaken battlefield by now.'

With that, he went to enter the cottage. Before he could, however, there was a sound of unhurried steps approaching from further down the street.

Turning his head, Sunny saw a petite young woman with short dark hair walking over. She looked sleepy, covering a yawn with a small palm. Unlike most Awakened, the young woman stubbornly clung to wearing modern clothes. Her black slacks and white blouse, admittedly, did not stand out in the eclectic fashion of Bastion.

as a person clad in enchanted armor. The former was even more in vogue, considering that it

young woman stopped and stared at

"Hey, boss."

Sunny smiled.

It's a wonderful morning,

expression did not change, but her gaze turned even darker. A moment later, Aiko

understand why you insist on opening so early... the sun is not even up yet, for

happened about a year ago. Back then, the young woman was barely making ends meet. According to her, her Memory shop went out of business because the main inventory supplier

was a

the shop. However, her memories were vague at best, and her attention seemed to wander away every time she tried to concentrate on who that partner had been, exactly. She would even forget trying to recollect the details, switching to

used to be. No one remembered that he had existed, and for events that were too important to be entirely forgotten, a vague and abstract

A comrade who had perished long ago, their face and voice erased from memory by the passage of time. People vaguely recognized that

inspired by his actions during the Southern Campaign. People knew that the main character was based on a real person,

they just assumed that the main character was a representation of the collective heroism of countless

or remembered. Therefore, his citizenship

they were

His smile turned brittle.

case, Aiko had been reluctant to pledge her allegiance to the Legacy Clans or the government. She had lost her job as Kai's manager when he enlisted, and the Brilliant Emporium was on the verge of going bankrupt. That was when Sunny found her and purchased the ownership

all, although the countless Nightmare Creatures he had slaughtered while aimlessly wandering the Dream Realm had not given him a lot of shadow fragments, they had provided him