Shadow Slave

A familiar road manager was leaning on the side of the wagon, drinking a cup of coffee and watching the sun rise. Noticing Rain, he spared her a crooked smile.

«Ah. It's you again, Rani.»

Rain almost stumbled.

«Damn.»

Rani is what she was known as on the road crew. Since she was hiding here, using her own name would have been silly… the problem was that Rain had not thought about that right until the moment she was asked to introduce herself.

So, put on the spot, she had failed to come up with anything and mumbled the first thing that entered her mind.

Which was why her teacher had mocked her relentlessly for a whole week.

«No, really? Rani? The best you could do was shift two letters around? I just can't… gods, everything I've been through, and I'll die of laughter…»

Rain had endured the mockery for as long as she could, and then kindly reminded her teacher that he went around calling himself Shadow.

So, he wasn't in a position to critique her naming sense, was he?

That, luckily, had shut him up.

In any case, by now, she was more or less accustomed to responding to «Rani.»

Which was not to say that she wasn't embarrassed every time she heard it.

«Good morning, chief.»

The man stared at her for a few moments, then sighed.

«Listen, Rani… I get it, the pay in the advanced camps is higher. But what's the use of having money if you are dead? It's quite dangerous out there, you know! A young girl like you should just stay here in the main camp. Actually, even the main camp is not a good place. If my daughter wanted to come here from Ravenheart, I would have locked her up.»

He took a sip of coffee and shook his head.

«Why don't you change your mind?»

Rain gave him her best smile.

establishing a

He grimaced.

already filled… it's a tough job, especially now that we are so far away from Ravenheart. We have strict orders to prioritize the

that her expression fall, the manager hesitated for a few moments,

I'll help you out. Just don't pout Rain

«I… I'm not pouting!»

The man laughed.

an advanced camp, but if you just want to get out of the main construction crew and make some extra money,

Her eyes glistened.

«Really?»

then leaned forward a

for the task. There's a new survey team being formed. The core of the team are Awakened warriors, of course, but they need mundane porters, as well as someone to tend to their

manager paused for a moment, then

staying at an advanced camp. Usually, I would still recommend strong men for the position, but this team is a bit special. It is actually run by a young lady from a Legacy Clan, so… I thought that having a girl of similar age there

at

might even end up as a retainer of the Legacy clan!

for a moment,

team? That's great! Thank you,

take. Of course, the nature of the job

scout out the Nightmare Creatures populating it. If there were especially dangerous abominations ahead, the road would

wavered a

but he clearly knew close to nothing about the Dream Realm. A survey team seemed like a safer bet to him, but actually, there

wonder they put an actual

of herself better than any other mundane person here. Plus, being on a survey team was even better for her than running to an advanced camp — the fewer people were around her, the lesser was the

opportunity was

the road manager

it! I'll treat you to something

The man chuckled.

one piece, girl… that will be the

that, he pointed her to a certain tent in the northern

and report there by the time the morning shift is

and turned to leave. As she was walking away, he called

Queen's grace

for a