Shadow Slave

It was still very early in the morning, so the streets of Bastion were mostly empty. However, someone had already come to the Brilliant Emporium.

As the door opened, a melodious sound spread through the interior of the Marvelous Mimic. There was a beautiful silver bell affixed above the door, its soft and pleasing ringing welcoming the entering customers.

Of course, it was the Sonorous Silver Bell.

Sunny looked up from what he was doing, then wiped his hands on his apron and left the kitchen. There was an elderly gentleman standing at the door, dressed in a patchy enchanted robe. He had messy grey hair, absentminded eyes, and a pair of bushy eyebrows that seemed to have a life of their own.

Sunny suppressed a smile.

"Awakened Julius. You are here early."

The old man looked at him and smiled politely.

"Ah, Master Sunless! Well, I am a night owl. Plus, you know what they say, the early bird gets the worm. Wait... I am mixing metaphors..."

He hesitated for a moment, then coughed.

"Sorry. I seem to remember that you dislike birds. In any case, it is nice to see you on this pleasant morning."

Sunny nodded.

"Likewise. The usual?"

As the old man assumed his favorite spot near the window, Sunny returned to the kitchen. There, he went about making coffee for his former teacher, while at the same time preparing a light breakfast.

coffee beans, indeed. I'll

selling point. That was because he exclusively used the pure water from the Endless

and a little sugar into a copper cezve, then sent a wisp of essence into the stove and placed the cezve on

poured water into the cezve, and placed it back on the fire. Ideally, he should have been using a pan of heated sand instead of open fire, but, oh well... there were limits to how fancy Sunny

he ignited a second flame and put a pan on it. Then, Sunny

created and enchanted by him, in the best attempt to imitate the luxurious refrigerator he had greatly enjoyed owning in the past. In fact, it was more of a large cabinet than a box, made out of natural wood instead of

a luminous enchantment, too, activated when the door of the cabinet was open. A third enchantment created a dedicated

the other, Sunny mixed the eggs while slowly blending milk in and poured the resulting

and folded it, finally adding some mushrooms, vegetables, and ham. Well... monster ham, to be

cooked omelette and a cup of fragrant coffee were ready. Putting them on a tray, Sunny glanced at Aiko, who was still going over the

the book the old man was reading. Its cover was hidden by a

The Exploration Report on the

was the nobody

academic papers, it seemed like a shame to just leave all the knowledge he had accumulated in the Third Nightmare go to waste. So, even knowing that it

the existence of the Plagues and everything he discovered in the Estuary to himself, though, concentrating on the unique culture of

better left unsaid, but also because some knowledge was simply too dangerous to share. There were very

redacted parts, his report had

had caused a furor in some

the Great

into the Nightmare of the Tomb of Ariel, after all. And since none of them was the author of the report... then who the hell was? And how did that person know so much about

written by nobody, was under a lot of scrutiny. Which was why even a respected professor like Teacher Julius chose to hide its cover under a jacket and read it

coffee, he

smell! Ah, I've been looking forward to

pointed to