Shadow Slave

"Boss... are you okay?"

Alko's voice sounded a bit confused as she glanced at Sunny with a dubious expression. The petite girl was floating near the ceiling, taking inventory of their liquor shelf. He, meanwhile, was busy cooking and cursing under his breath.

There were a lot of customers today, but Sunny could not even manifest an avatar to keep up with the flood of orders.

‘That third guy! Selfish bastard!'

He gritted his teeth.

‘Where did all my essence go?!'

The gloomy shadow, left to its devices for once, was staring at him mockingly. Sunny glared at it back.

'What? I know we're the same person! It's a figure of speech, okay?!’

The phrase "you have no one to blame but himself had never been so poignant.

The last few days had not been easy on Sunny, and it was all because of his third avatar. First, there was the problem with Weaver's Mask... he had intended for the Lord of Shadow to wear it at all times, but in practice, it made having any kind of sensible conversation impossible.

Well,,, not impossible, maybe, But definitely way too frustrating.

So, Sunny had been busy crafting a special Memory for the third avatar ever since returning from the mirror maze beneath Bastion.

He could not really reproduce the [Mantle of Lies] - Weaver's Mask was a Divine Memory, after all, so making a copy of even a single enchantment was utterly beyond his ability.

He could create a knock-off Weaver's Mask, though, by using an alteration of the Nebulous Mantle's enchantments. He had even added a bit of the [Autumn Leaf] - one of the Memories he had lost-into the mix.

As a result, the Lord of Shadows could still remain a mystery. His voice, height, hair color, and mystical traits were either hidden or distorted. Of course, he was not immune to all forms of divination unless the real Weaver's Mask was summoned... but since Cassie already knew the truth and had agreed to hide it, there was no need for such a level of secrecy. For now, at least.

Until the forces of the Great Clans arrived at Godgrave.

In any case, creating this Memory, which Sunny lazily named [Definitely Not Me], had kept him awake for a few nights. It was imperative that he created it, though...

Awakened with affinity to shadows were already very rare, and if the humble shopkeeper in Bastion was discovered to not only share this rare trait with the mysterious Lord of Shadows, but also have similar height and build as the mysterious Saint... his peaceful life would be over.

Pulling a few all-nighters was a bit of a chore, but he could manage it.

But then, he had to go and waste an ocean of essence in Godgrave, as well!

But then, Sunny decided to transport the two Sleepers back all by himself... the ruins of the forgotten city were situated in the vicinity of the Nameless Temple, but only relative to the overall size of the region. In truth, there was close to

humans, and then come back the same way. The essence cost of such travel

So, now...

even allow himself to manifest an additional avatar, let alone do something more strenuous. Whatever essence he had left had to

Keepers,

but to suffer

Send it to

a beautifully plated dish into the dining hall, and he finally had a minute to rest. Sunny sighed, took a sip of water

[Sunny.]

suddenly resounded in his head, creeping him

was still not used

at the same time, it strangely

[Yes, Saint Cassia?]

later, her soft voice

send someone to your shop today to

He raised an eyebrow.

figuratively speaking. Was there really a need to send

was conserving

He shrugged.

I'm a

silent

else, Well... actually, I do

going on? Had she received a vision and wanted to hint at something? That couldn't be right... hadn't Cassle

He looked down.

[I'm all ears.]

enough, she lingered for a while this time. Eventually, though, her voice rustled in his mind once

the future, you might want to avoid using words like "heavy" and "burden" when speaking to women. You know,

His eye twitched.

polite and serious, but he couldn't

Sunny cleared his throat.

Almost as funny as the fact that I've lived peacefully on my own, but just a couple of days after the woman in question showed up on my doorstep, there was suddenly a Cursed Tyrant trying to gobble me up. A person with less decorum than me could

There was no answer.

a while, then took a deep

"Damnation."

the most terrible thing about Cassie's Ability was not that she could spy

in control of