Sunny walked behind the three, glancing at Nephis from time to time.
'She will try to get the remaining shards...' That is something he was sure of.
The problem is what after—what she will try to do after getting the shards.
Clearly the current lord of the Bright Castle doesn't want to leave. If he did want to, then he would've supported Faraam to get the remaining shards.
Even if Faraam has got the remaining shards, it doesn't mean that escaping was easy.
True, getting the shards was hard, but it wasn't the hardest part, at least that's what he thinks.
The hardest part is sieging the Crimson Spire, and there is no guarantee that they will succeed.
So, if Nephis somehow got the remaining shards and Gunlaug refused to siege the spire...
'She will probably fight him for the seat of the Lord... or even kill him.'
Sunny knows very well how crazy that girl will be to reach her goal.
'Aghh! I'll just leave it to future me. Yeah, he will take care of everything.'
Now he just needs a good sleep.
Walking behind the three women, he watched as they talked to each other. Well, Nephis was asking Effie about something, probably the shard in the catacombs. As for Cassie, she remained silent all the time.
Now that he thought of it, she was mostly silent in that... interesting conversation. It might be because of her nature, but his guts tell him there is something else.
So he walked to her and asked, "What's wrong?"
Cassie was surprised a little, but she answered nonetheless.
"I don't know... I just feel there is something wrong with Faraam."
Sunny raised his eyebrows; he didn't think there was someone else who was suspicious of him.
As someone who was born and raised in the outskirts, he knew how the rats who lived there walk, eat, and their mentality in general.
And Faraam does inhabit signs of being a rat, but he also shows signs of someone who lived a normal good life.
But Cassie didn't know about these things, so he was curious why she thought of that.
"Why do you feel like that?"
"I don't know... he feels like a normal person."
Now that he thought about it, she was alright. Faraam was like a man who you would meet on a random day, help you, and then leave.
Although this is normal in the waking world, it is surely not normal here in the Forgotten Shore.
Take, for instance, the four extra soul shards; he said that he gave them to us for showing the Midnight Shard, but that is not necessarily true. It might be one of the reasons, but the main one might be to gain our trust.
"It felt like an act..." he muttered.
"Yes!" The three of them glanced at Cassie. She slowly lowered her head, embarrassed.
"What's wrong?" Nephis asked.
"Nothing." Sunny said with a smile.
Nephis looked at him for a second, then nodded her head.
She understood his message.
They continued walking until they reached a certain area, where sounds of screams, laughter, and shrieks of hell were hearable.
Reaching a gate, Effie walked toward it and opened it. Inside, men and women are sitting next to tables with either cards in their hands or screaming as a small ball is circling around something. There were different tables too with drawing on them.
On the other side of the tables there was either a woman or a man dressed in a... shameless clothes; a large amount of their skin was visible.[1]
In another part of the place there was a quite long line, ending with a reception. Most of the line was holding soul shards.
"Welcome to the casino! The only good place in this castle."
But no one cared about that, well, apart from Cassie, who couldn't see.
"Why are they naked?" Nephis asked, pointing at one of the dealers.
Effie frowned. "They aren't though."
"Most of their bodies are visible with nothing protecting them... I can stab them without any resistance."
Effie glanced at Sunny for a while, then asked, "Why do you want to stab them...?"
"I'm not saying that I want to stab them; it's that they aren't defending themselves."
Effie chuckled, "Relax, doofus. I'm just messing with you. It's their dresswork, and some need to work to live in this economy."
She walked inside toward the reception, and the three followed. She skipped the line and reached the receptionist.
There's a petite young woman with dark hair and brown eyes, wearing the same revealing clothes as the dealers.
The petite young woman looked up at Effie and sighed, "So... why did our dear worker, who hasn't come for work for two months, decide to return?"
Effie shrugged. "You know I'm busy, Aiko."
"You aren't. Stop lying."
"You work here?" Sunny asked.
"From time to time, yes."
"Why though?"
"Because she is a slut." It was Aiko who responded, "She likes to wear these clothes. Actually, she was the one who designed them."
"First that is rude; second you accepted it."
"Yeah, because it gets me more money."
'So she is the gold digger Faraam spoke about.'
"Anyway, I'm here because Faraam asked me to help these guys to replace their shards. Also, he told me to tell you not to try to steal them; he quite liked them, you see."
Aiko clicked her teeth and extended her hand. Nephis gave her three shards; Aiko took out thirty coins and gave them to Nephis.
After replacing the shards, they went out of the casino and out of the Bright Castle to the slums and said their goodbyes to Effie as they parted ways.
After walking for a while, they stopped alone, with no one near them.
"So what is the plan?" Sunny asked as he waited for the inevitable answer.
"We need to get the shards and escape this place." Nephis looked at the two, then gave the thirty coins to Sunny. "You two go to the castle and try to get as much information as possible."
Sunny frowned and asked, "What about you?"
"Don't worry about me; I've my plans to do."
Sunny didn't ask more; honestly, he just want to sleep on a bed.
So, the two parted ways with Nephis and went to the castle again.
[1] As for what they are wearing... that is for your imagination, dear reader.