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

young woman stopped and stared

"Hey, boss."

Sunny smiled.

a wonderful morning,

turned even

on opening so early... the sun is not

young woman was barely making ends meet. According to her, her Memory shop went out of business because the main inventory supplier disappeared

was a curious

best, and her attention seemed to wander away every

existence where Sunny used to be. No one remembered that he had existed, and for events that were too important to be

their face and voice erased from memory by the passage of time. People vaguely recognized that someone had been there, side by side with them, but

been inspired by his actions during the Southern Campaign. People knew that the main character was based on a real person, but were incapable of thinking deeply about who that person

was a representation of

dead, officially. Not that anyone knew or remembered. Therefore, his citizenship status

but they were even incapable

His smile turned brittle.

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

while aimlessly wandering the Dream Realm had not given him a lot of shadow fragments, they had provided him