Shadow Slave

Following Nephis, Sunny ascended the tall tower and found himself on a spacious balcony that served as a pier for the Chain Breaker. Neither of them had spoken about the duel, and it suited him Just fine.

In any case, he had to admit that his actions had been a little naughty. He could have defused the situation by groveling a little, but chosen to antagonize the pompous Legacy instead for no good reason. Explaining the sequence of events to Nephis would have been a bit embarrassing, and SO…

Sunny went ahead and shamelessly pushed that responsibility onto Cassie.

Some would call such a move unbecoming, but he preferred to call it… delegation!

The Chain Breaker was floating in the air a few meters away, with a wide wooden plank affixed between its deck and the stone balcony. Several Fire Keepers seemed to have just finished loading a bunch of wooden crates into the cargo hold of the graceful vessel, and were now resting beneath the branches of the sacred tree.

Noticing Nephis, all of them stood up.

Then, their gazes fell on Sunny.

The Fire Keepers — especially the two women — had a bit of a strange reaction to his appearance.

«What's wrong with these people…»

Considering how devoted the Fire Keepers were to Nephis, he would have expected a more intense version of the Jealous hostility the denizens of the Castle had met him with.

However, they seemed more stunned than unfriendly.

«M-master Sunless? Why are you here?»

He forced out a polite smile.

«Good day. Oh… I am here to sign a contract. I think we'll be working together often in the future., so please take care of me.»

The Fire Keepers slowly turned to Nephis.

Then, the two women suddenly broke into wide smiles.

«Lady Nephis… thank you!»

«Nice!»

He stared at them in confusion.

«Why are they giving her thumbs up?»

The Fire Keepers frequented the Brilliant Emporium due to their friendship with Aiko. Perhaps they really liked his cooking and assumed that he would be employed as a chef?

Was the food situation on the Ivory Island that bad?

Nephis coughed.

yes, I've invited Master Sunless to the Tower, Please get

was swiftly removed, the mooring cables untled, and no more than a minute later,

as the Chain Breaker started to climb into the sky, Sunny

would happen if I fed these fruits

essence and push her own toward Awakening. Such was the path most of the ancient people had followed, forging their fates in the crucible of combat. The fruits of the sacred tree contained essence, as well, so its existence was much more precious than the carriers

Rain to Awaken, he would have showered her with soul shards and been done with it. But what he wanted was to make her

safely bringing them to the Dream Realm in advance, by gaining access to a Sovereign's Gate, Sunny often clashed with Legacies, but he had to admit

the young Legacies were like Awakened Telle instead of

hesitated for a moment,

the lake, and the city sprawling along its shore. The atmosphere was quite romantic, but sadly, there was no

was drifting in the sky above the lake, just shy of casting its shadow on the ancient walls of Bastion.

Breaker landed softly on the waters of the smaller lake glistening among

«Please, come this way.»

the way, they toured most of the island, with her

beautiful and tranquil as Sunny had remembered. There had been a few changes in the past four years, with the island looking much better cared for and settled, However, the essence of the place remained

the sun-bleached bones of the mighty dragon… and the great pagoda of pristine white stone towering above it

almost Immediately after killing the Winter Beast. Back then, he had been skulking in the shadows and in a hurry

grass in the open, and in Neph's company on top of

way onto his face — this one genuine, not

they found their way into the tower and ascended its steps, reaching Cassie's chambers on one of the higher floors. The blind seer occupied several rooms, one

of them

wooden furniture placed sparsely on the stone floor. Cassie herself was sitting behind a desk, her hair a little disheveled. There was a serious

there was a bit of a strange smell

Sunny frowned in confusion.

why does it smell

Not that it mattered.

unnecessary thought out of his mind, Sunny bowed courteously and

«Saint Cassia.»

Cassie nodded.

Please, have a

desk, after which the blind seer handed him a stack

have asked one of the Fire Keepers to serve as her eyes while writing, because otherwise, that tidy handwriting would

Cassie smiled.

lot to discuss… but, please. Read and

gave her a long

day that

a proper education did, but Sunny had only ever known how to type things before coming to the Academy. He had learned cursive

one had

the contract and signed it. Nephis watched him

put on paper, the corner of her mouth