Shadow Slave

Sunny remained silent for a while, then sighed.

He wanted to drink something with more bite than water… coincidentally, a familiar green palisade of soju bottles was looking at him invitingly from a nearby display, begging to be bought.

He raised an eyebrow.

’Since when do I crave alcohol?’

Sunny had avoided alcohol entirely for many years after the Forgotten Shore. He only allowed himself to enjoy it from time to time now because his Rank made him all but immune to intoxication — so, he could enjoy an occasional glass of wine without suffering the consequences of imbibing it.

But at the moment, as a mundane person, he once again wanted to stay as far away from alcohol as possible. It was just that the Devil Detective’s body, it seemed, had its own opinion.

…Maybe he was someone’s better twin, after all.

Looking away from the soju bottles, Sunny glanced at Effie.

”Lord of Shadows, Master Sunless… and the rest of me. I’d think that if anyone could understand my double life, it would be you.”

She arched her eyebrow.

”Me? I’m an open book, though. How come?”

Sunny shrugged.

”Well, everyone else is doing just one thing. Nephis, Cassie, Kai, Jet, me… we are all at war, and we live and breathe that war. But ironically, the War Beast herself — you — is a warrior, a wife, and a mother. Waging war and playing house are two different things, two different lives. Not that there is wrong with that, just… seems strange, to me.”

Effie stared at him for a few moments, then laughed.

”Gods. Aren’t you something… what is wrong with both being a warrior and having a life? I didn’t invent it, you know. People have been doing just that since the dawn of time. War, plague, famine, the Spell — nothing has ever managed to stop us humans from forming families and making babies. That is our nature. If anything, it is you guys who are weird.”

Sunny scoffed.

”I already said that there is nothing wrong with that.”

Effie remained silent for a bit, then sighed.

”I’ll admit, though… it’s not easy. Being away for long stretches of time is not easy. Not knowing whether I’ll get to come back is not easy. Thinking about what will happen if I do not is… hard. Walking out of the door and leaving them behind, though, that’s probably the hardest.”

She looked out the window.

”To the point that, sometimes, I feel like I am not brave enough to open the door and leave. But I always do.”

Effie looked back at Sunny and shrugged with a smile.

”A part of me always stays behind, though. Who cares if it’s hard? Life isn’t supposed to be easy, anyway. At least it has never been for me. However, it’s pretty sweet — sweeter than I ever imagined it could be. I bet you can understand what I mean.”

She laughed, and Sunny could not help but smile, too.

Indeed… the life he was living, despite all its hardships, was much sweeter than anything a lonely kid in the outskirts could have ever imagined.

But it wasn’t quite as sweet as he wanted it to be, just yet.

And to take the next step toward achieving his goals, Sunny needed to get to the bottom of Mirage City. He had to catch the Nihilist, learn what Mordret was hiding, recover the fragment of Weaver’s Lineage, and escape.

Looking at the watch, Sunny pushed the empty plate away and rose.

”Sweet life, huh? That’s you hinting that I should buy dessert, isn’t it?”

Effie grinned.

”I mean… if you insist…”

Sunny shook his head.

”Shameless… didn’t you say that you’ll pay the bill, this time?”

They did end up buying dessert. Not only because Effie’s stomach was a bottomless pit, but also because Sunny was curious about the baking arts of the bygone era. From what he had glimpsed so far, ancient cuisine was superior to what he was familiar with not only in terms of ingredient variety, but also in terms of nuance and technique. ɽá₦ȱ𝐁Ε𝓢

The Brilliant Emporium might have closed its doors, but Sunny still hoped to reopen it again, one day. In the meantime, he was determined to perfect his culinary skills.

Some time later, he said goodbuy to Effie and drove home. After spending some time in the evening traffic, he ended up back at the Devil Detective’s shabby apartment complex. The familiar drunk was once again loitering near the building, but got scared away when Sunny’s car pulled up. The heavy curtain of rain veiled the world and suppressed the sounds, making his paranoia act up.

Sunny wondered briefly if it was his own paranoia or the remnant wariness of his counterpart.

Entering the apartment, he shook the water from his jacket and went about taking care of his fragile, weak mundane body. This body needed a lot of things to survive and function properly, and what it needed the most was sleep — the interviews with Mordret’s staff were going to start early tomorrow, so Sunny needed to give himself enough time to rest.

Just before climbing into bed, he stopped and stared at the investigation map at the back of the Devil Detective’s closet. The shape of the city, the evidence, the victims of the Nihilist — Mordret’s former vessels…

Turning away, Sunny turned off the light and lay on the bed. The sound of the rain on the window was like a lullaby, but sleep still escaped him for a long time.

When he finally slipped into its embrace, his dreams were cold and restless, full of mirrors and breaking glass.

The sound of breaking glass…

Sunny opened his eyes abruptly, the sound still ringing in his ears.

’The bottle.’

The bottle that he had balanced on the door handle, following the Devil Detective’s paranoid habit, was broken.

Blinded by the darkness, Sunny rolled to the side.

In the next moment, a cold blade hissed as it cut the air, and then plunged into his pillow, missing his head only by a few centimeters.