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.

to

The wooden plank was swiftly removed, the mooring cables untled, and no more than

leaves of the sacred tree rustled as the Chain Breaker started to climb into the sky, Sunny looked up and studied it for a

happen if I fed these

the ancient people had followed, forging their fates in

rhetorical question. If Sunny simply wanted Rain to Awaken, he would have showered her with soul shards and been done with it. But what he wanted was to make her strong enough to

Legacy Clans kept sending their children to face the winter solstice instead of safely bringing them to the Dream Realm in advance, by gaining access to a

were

for a moment,

of the Chain Breaker, gazing at the breathtaking view of the castle, the lake, and the city sprawling along its shore. The atmosphere was quite romantic, but sadly, there was no time

above the lake, just shy of casting its shadow on the ancient walls of Bastion. It would only take the flying ship a few

indeed, the Chain Breaker landed softly on the waters of the smaller lake glistening among the

«Please, come this way.»

seem to be in a hurry. On the way, they toured most of the island, with her showing him around and explaining how the Citadel

just as 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

grass, the clear lake, the grove of ancient trees, the sun-bleached bones of the mighty dragon…

Immediately after killing the Winter Beast. Back then, he had been skulking in the shadows and in a hurry to leave, unwilling for anyone to notice his

grass in the open, and in Neph's company

way onto his face —

chambers on one of the higher floors. The blind seer occupied several rooms, one of them serving

of them entered the

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

a bit of a strange smell in

Sunny frowned in confusion.

why does it

Not that it mattered.

out of his mind, Sunny bowed courteously and said in a

«Saint Cassia.»

Cassie nodded.

Please, have

Nephis sat down in front of her desk, after which the blind seer handed him a stack of papers, with the clause

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

Cassie smiled.

to discuss… but,

gave her a long

day that I know

things before coming to the Academy. He

one had any

he looked over the contract and signed it. Nephis watched him with intently

paper, the corner of her mouth seemed to curl upward