Shadow Slave

The new customer was a young woman wearing a sharp, but somewhat wrinkled formal suit. Her white blouse was buttoned up all the way despite the warm weather, and her dark hair was gathered in a bun. There were dark circles under her deeply intelligent, but tired eyes.

Unlike Teacher Julius, who visited Bastion in his sleep, she was a mundane human residing here permanently. It also seemed like she was visiting the Brilliant Emporium after burning the midnight oil and working through the night, instead of doing so first thing in the morning.

The young woman glanced at Sunny, frowned slightly, then gave him a curt nod.

"Master Sunless."

He hid behind a polite smile.

"Miss Beth."

"Ah, Chief Bethany! You've made it!"

Forgetting about Sunny's existence, Beth turned to where Julius was sitting and smiled brightly.

"Professor Julius! Of course, I have."

Sunny received her order and retreated back into the kitchen. As he started preparing a cup of hot chocolate for the tireless scientist, he sighed and shook his head.

"She doesn't change..."

Aiko, who had just finished running some calculations on a wooden abacus, gave him a curious glance:

"Oh? Do you know Chief Bethany, boss?"

few moments, then shrugged stiffly. "We had a

looked around

pass

but the salt shaker floated from the shelf into Sunny's hand. That was her Dormant Ability

that she

who was

finished making the hot chocolate, poured it into a ceramic cup with

he caught a part of the conversation between Teacher Julius and Beth. The old

doing?" Beth let out a long sigh

sides are hoarding information instead of sharing it. The guys from Valor are also tightening up security, as if they are wary of spies. Madness,

grimaced and shook her

of Bastion has been a titanic undertaking. Thousands of engineers have given it their best, but with how strange the Dream Realm is, there are countless challenges. That is

distant expression appeared on Beth's face for a moment. She took a sip of her hot chocolate and savored it for

gaze cleared

data we gathered during the Chain of Nightmares, shielding technology remains simply ineffective. Actually, the entire approach is flawed, but the bigwigs are too myopic to realize that we should not be concentrating on developing better insulation, to begin with.

appeared on her

very close to creating a working model of a power station. There is no reason for electrical power not to work in the Dream Realm, right? And yet, it doesn't... for now. But mark my words, I'll have the streets of Bastion illuminated by electric lights before the end of the year. And from there, all manner

raised his hands

are you using to generate the

Beth shrugged.

the waking world is still produced by steam-powered turbines. It's just the method of producing heat, and therefore steam, that differs. So, we are using heat. Granted, finding a way to produce heat from soul essence is the ultimate

became too technical for Sunny to understand. He had long retreated to the reception desk, of course, but his hearing was greatly enhanced when compared to that of mundane humans — he was a Saint, after all. If Sunny wanted, he could eavesdrop on

in the habit