Shadow Slave

After welcoming the Fire Keepers for a few short days, the Nameless Temple had grown silent once again.

However, the silence was not going to last long.

Soon enough, the dark realm that Sunny had built in the heart of Godgrave would become a hive of activity. Due to the deal he had made with Morgan, his Citadel was to be made into a secondary staging ground for the Sword Army during the war. A relatively small, but elite contingent would be stationed here, using the temple as their operation base.

But the peace and quiet would be gone long before that.

After all, the soldiers had to live somewhere. They needed beds, places to cook and consume food, storage space to keep a large amount of supplies, an infirmary... and so on. All of these things had to be built before the war started.

There were so many things that went into waging a war. A military conflict between Awakened was different in many ways, but still fundamentally similar to any other war in human history - it demanded an unfathomable amount of logistical preparations.

Sunny felt dejected.

It had taken him a lot of effort to restore the Nameless Temple to its present state. Now, however, it would be turned into an actual Citadel - a place that existed to serve as a safe haven for the people in the Dream Realm. There would be a small army of workers coming here to perform all the laborious tasks soon.

Which was not a bad thing.

However, he had grown used to the peaceful silence.

Todady, there were only two humans under the roof of the ancient temple. One of them was Sunny himself. The other was Cassie, who had arrived as the Seneschal of the Great Clan Valor to assess the state of the Citadel and collect all the necessary information to launch the construction.

At least that was the official reason.

Sunny had thought that Nephis would come personally. He was a little relieved that she was not here - his mind was burning in anticipation of their upcoming date, so seeing her before that would have been somewhat embarrassing.

It was nice to see Cassie outside the context of their deal, as well.

"...The temple itself must be off-limits to the soldiers, unless it is to use the Gateway. Of course, they can retreat inside if we are under attack, and the outer perimeter is breached. Even then, I will not allow them to venture into the inner sanctum and the underground level."

Cassie turned her head slightly.

"There is an underground level?"

Sunny smiled.

"Don't pretend you don't know. Nephis saw it, which means that you saw it, too."

The young woman coughed in embarrassment.

"Right... sorry. It's a habit of mind to act appropriately oblivious. Otherwise, people get uncomfortable around me."

spared her a long

the two of them in the temple, Sunny had dismissed Weaver's Mask. It felt strange, to walk

He shook his head.

is anyone in the world who knows the extent of your abilities and the depth of your foresight better than me, Cassie. So, you don't need to worry about making

who knows me better than you, now. There is really no other person either of us can trust

She smiled faintly.

keep that

few moments, then

all the necessary facilities around it. My Shadows will help protect the perimeter. You should know how powerful they are... the base will

She shook her head.

After all, you are expected to

for a moment,

"You are right."

inevitable war... realm war...

delicate face,

stands the better chance of

her

will arrive to Godgrave before the Queen of Worms. With him here, the forces of Valor will venture into the Hollows sooner, and conquer local Citadels faster. lіght\nоvel\world~c`о/m. It's hard

for a

if anything, they should be scrambling to avoid it due to how disadvantaged they are - and yet, they are as eager as the rulers of the Sword Domain. Which means that they are hiding something. Well... of course

expression darkened a

they have brokered some kind of deal behind the scenes. There are other possibilities, as well. But at the end of the day, none of it

Sunny raised an eyebrow.

"It doesn't?"

silent for a moment,

nor Valor will win

He laughed.

Supremacy without the help of the Spell? And there is no saying if she will, least of all if she'll do it on time,

him and smiled

But so was every other step along the way. Yet, here

little, then added in a quieter

not entirely

then led her back into the

"It's not?"

answer. Eventually, she said in a

us those who came back from the Tomb of Ariel - all have strange gaps in our memory. But my memory has been affected the most. Sorry... I haven't revealed that secret to anyone before you, Sunny,

a deep

when my memory was intact, and I could learn a lot about the future from my visions. That version of me must have known that there

her