Chapter 1706 Memory Purveyor.

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!Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com

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.

«Ah... yes, I've invited Master Sunless to the Tower, Please get ready to ascend.»

They joined the Fire Keepers on the deck. The wooden plank was swiftly removed, the mooring cables untled, and no more than a minute later, the flying ship slowly moved.

The leaves of the sacred tree rustled as the Chain Breaker started to climb into the sky, Sunny looked up and studied it for a while, his gaze lingering on the golden fruits.

«What would happen if I fed these fruits to Rain?»

Currently, Rain was preparing to hunt an Awakened Demon in order to absorb some of its 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 of the Spell could ever imagine.

Granted, it was a 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 survive on her own, if need be... and so, cutting corners would do her more harm than good.

Everyone who received a proper education did, but Sunny had only ever known how to type things before coming to the Academy. He had learned cursive later, after returning from the Forgotten Shore and getting himself a position as a research assistant.

But, of course, no one had any way of knowing that.

Signing deeply, he looked over the contract and signed it. Nephis watched him with intently as he did.

The moment his signature was put on paper, the corner of her mouth seemed to curl upward slightly.

Sunny smiled.

«Well, as long as she's happy.»

«It's a pleasure doing business with you.»

And that... was how Sunny became the Memory Purveyor of the Fire Keepers.

—— —— ——

Unbeknownst to him, though, something else was happening while he was signing the contract.

The news of Sunny's duel with Tristan of Aegis Rose was spreading across Bastion with the speed of a forest fire. Of course, with each retelling, it collected embellishments and turned more and more outrageous.

People were talking about it all over the city.

«Have you heard? Some unknown Master defeated Lord Tristan. In one strike!»

«They say that they were fighting for Changing Star's affection...»

«There were several Valor Knights and dozens of Awakened in the courtyard, but no one even tried to stop the duel...»

«There were dozens of Valor Knights in the courtyard trying to stop him, but he defeated them all before striking Lord Tristan in the face!»

«There were a hundred Valor Knights in the courtyard trying to stop him, but he easily defeated them all. And then beheaded Lord Tristan with one strike!»

«That unknown Master is too scary! Too tyrannical!»

«What a monster!»

If Sunny had heard these whispers, he would have paled.

He would have also probably said something like...

«Oh, no. Oh, no! Not again!»

But he didn't hear anything until the next morning.

...When Aiko stormed into the kitchen of the Brilliant Emporium and tossed a newspaper on the table.

«Boss... what the hell is this?!»

Frowning, Sunny picked up the newspaper and read the title on the first page.

The title read:

«A Duel For a Saint's Heart! Wretched Mongrel, Master S, defeats the Noblest of Knights, Lord T!»

His hand trembled.