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.

are running low on coffee beans, indeed. I'll have to visit NQSC

tea, and hot chocolate were Sunny's selling point. That was because he exclusively used the pure water from the Endless Spring to brew

cezve on the fire. The stove had been created by him by reversing the enchantment of a long-destroyed charm of his, [Memory of Fire], which made

on the fire. Ideally, he should have been using a pan of heated sand instead of open fire, but, oh well... there were

coffee was brewing, he ignited a second flame and put a pan on it. Then, Sunny opened the icebox and

owning in the past. In fact, it was more of a large cabinet than a box, made

he had lost, [Memory of Ice]. There was a luminous enchantment, too, activated when the door of the cabinet was open. A third

and putting butter on the pan with the other, Sunny mixed the eggs while slowly blending milk in and poured the resulting mass into the

effortlessly flipped and folded it, finally adding

a perfectly cooked omelette and a cup of fragrant coffee were ready. Putting them on a tray,

glanced at the book the old man was reading.

was The Exploration Report on the Tomb of Ariel,

the nobody in question, of

knowledge he had accumulated in the Third Nightmare go to waste. So, even knowing that it would

in the Estuary to himself, though, concentrating on the unique culture of the River Civilization, and especially on

There were very few people in the world who could withstand a mere

his report had

had caused a furor in some

the Great

were supposed to only be six people who had ventured into the Nightmare of the Tomb of Ariel, after all. And since none of them was

of scrutiny. Which was why even a respected professor like Teacher Julius chose to hide its cover under a jacket and read it in the Dream Realm, as opposed to

coffee, he got distracted from his book and looked

smell! Ah, I've been looking forward

smiled and pointed to the