(Audun's POV)
Without hesitation, I transferred the golden longsword to Stev, the humanized swine beaming in genuine delight.
With honestly surprising speed, the bumbling triglyceride mass located the other ring, and with a small electric jolt shot through my body as Stev transferred the pair of memories over to me.
A familiar, cold mechanical voice whispered in my ear.
[You have received a memory: Oath of Return.]
[You have received a memory: Oath of Patience.]
Nodding quietly, I moved on, continuing my shopping spree.
Moving to a different table, I utilized my naturally acute intuition, alongside starlight-enhanced senses, to cherry-pick what I thought would be useful memories, and while I was in the midst of my shopping spree, Stev shadowed me quietly, providing me with details and his own opinions.
"Ah, this one's quite nice. It grants you noticeable resistances to soul and mental attacks without any tradeoffs."
[You have received a Memory...]
"Oh-ho! You have quite the eye, my dear friend! This charm memory allows you to levitate and maneuver in the air. Though not nearly on the level of Night's aspect, the charm does grant a useful amount of aerial mobility!"
[You have received a Memory...]
"If I may, this bag is quite practical. The enchantments on it allow it to hold far more than it would normally."
[You have received a Memory...]
For all of the insults and names that I had called Stev, he was incredibly good at his job.
After amassing a respectable amount of charm and utility memories, I made my way to the weapons lining the walls, specifically towards the swords.
Though I had the midnight shard and made good use of its seemingly unbreakable blade, my swordsmanship was best utilized with longer European-style blades.
Unfortunately for me, with how taxing transcendant quality aura can be on a blade, few swords with a blade thin enough to align with my preferences could actually withstand the torrent of aura I usually used.
Unluckily, after scanning the racks lining the walls, I found that none caught my eye.
Stev noticed my slight frown.
"If there isn't anything on the racks that suits your tastes, perhaps you'd be interested in some of my 'off-catalogue' items."
I raised a brow in interest.
"Do you have any specifications?"
I nodded, summoning the [Thought Quill].
I'm looking for an estoc with a blade about 90-95cm long, and if possible, I'd like it to have enchantments that enhance its durability.
A noticable frown crossed Stev's face as he thought for a moment before it contorted into an apologetic look.
"I apologize, Audun. I don't possess any memories that fit that description."
Letting out a slightly disheartened sigh, I waved dismissively, moving away from the weapon racks.
I continued shopping around a bit more, collecting a few more Memories that caught my eye.
Eventually, though, with a pouch of shards noticeably emptier and an inventory considerably larger, I departed with Kai, leaving a very satisfied Stev in the windowless Memory Market.
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Before long, I parted ways with Kai, returning to the Tower of Dusk on my own.
Nephis and Cassie were still out, and since I was still quite bored, I decided to visit Sunny.
With three sharp knocks to his door, I waited patiently as the sound of footsteps echoed quietly behind the solid wooden door.
The door swung open, and a familiar face stood in the doorway.
"Did you just come back?"
I nodded.
It didn't take as long as I thought.
The [Thought Quill] continued to scrawl in the air.
Do you know when Cassie and Nephis are coming back?
Sunny shrugged.
"They'll probably be back before dinner time. Why?"
I bought some stuff I thought you guys might like.
Sunny raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
An awkward silence fell between the two of us before Sunny coughed lightly into his fist.
"Do you, uh, wanna come in?"
He gestured towards the inside of his room.
I nodded briskly, following Sunny as he retreated into his room.
The inside of his room was noticeably darker than the halls, the only light source being a small flickering candle on his desk.
Sunny let out a sigh and drew the curtains blocking his window open, allowing some sunlight to flow into his residence.
I quietly took a seat in a chair in the corner as he sat comfortably on his bed.
Trying my hand at conversation, I wrote out a question.
Find out anything new?
Letting out a dry chuckle, Sunny spoke bitterly.
"Nothing important. A few dating scandals and some unsavory conversations exchanged between guards, though every now and again, I'll get a nugget of information that's somewhat worthwhile."
I shot him an amused smile.
Sunny shrugged, flashing me a teasing look.
"What about you? How was your date with Night in the Memory Market?"
Rolling my eyes, I waved casually.
It was nice, but everything was pretty expensive. I ended up using a majority of the shards I got yesterday on top of trading a bunch of weapon memories to pay for everything.
Sunny tilted his head curiously.
"What'd you get anyway?"
You wanna see?
Sunny nodded without hesitation.
Getting up from the chair, I sat on the floor at the foot of his bed.
One by one, I began to summon memories, covering the wooden floor in a diverse spread of accessories and trinkets.
By the time I finished, a total of 12 memories covered up a vast majority of the limited floor space.
Not even bothering to ask, Sunny began picking them up, inspecting them closely with an intense focus.
Smiling faintly, I stayed silent, occasionally answering a question or two he'd ask about the enchantments.
We chatted for a while, but eventually, we were brought out of our stupor by the sound of footsteps and a few gentle knocks.
I dismissed the memories spread across the floor while Sunny answered the door.
It was Nephis and Cassie; they had just come back from their little information-gathering trip and wanted to regroup to discuss
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(A/N: Sorry for not uploading that second chapter yesterday, I ended up dislocating my knee during practice and had to get it fixed up at an urgent care.
I was tired after the whole fiasco and had no energy to write, and even now, I'm feeling exhausted as hell, hence the shorter chapter.
I've been getting hit with so many inconveniences this week that it's lwk starting to get annoying.
Moving on to a more relevant topic, I'll probably be wrapping up the Bright Castle arc within the next few chapters, and if anyone was paying attention to the timeline, they might be able to guess how it's gonna end.
Regardless, there probably will be a 2-3 month time skip, so I can still follow the SS timeline somewhat faithfully and have the characters still go through their respective arcs.
Sorry if the chapter ended a bit abruptly, but I didn't want to drag it on when my brain cows were milked completely dry.
Anyway,
Thank you guys for the continued support and leave a comment or review if you haven't already!
See you guys tomorrow!)