The blind girl lowered her eyes.

"But that also means that the other side of the Flaw, your power, is equally as extraordinary. You just haven't found the way to grasp it yet. When you do… believe me, you'll remember this conversation and feel very embarrassed about how naive and foolish you were."

Wait… why would he stab a random stranger?

While she was describing the armor to Cassia and letting her touch the mysterious white metal it was forged out of, Sunny relaxed and rested by the fire.

Cassie softly chuckled.

Simultaneously, Nephis said:

Slowly, her voice turned raw with emotion. This was the first time Sunny had seen her mask of resolve slip a little, revealing the desperate, angry, frightened face beneath. He was silent for a long time. Then, he said:

"Do you really think so?" she whispered.

The blind girl shook her head. Sunny half-closed his eyes.

"Trust me. I'm the most honest person in the world. Two worlds, in fact."

Cassie was silent for a while. Then, she quietly said:

Sunny raised his eyebrows.

The blind girl turned to her and smiled:

"Hey, Cas. Guess what."

Cassie's expression changed to one of doubt and confusion.

"The sound of your footsteps changed."

Some time later, Nephis was busy preparing dinner. Sunny was once again lying lazily on the stones and staring into the sky.

"Aren't I? If I want to walk, I need to be leashed to you or Neph. If I want to eat, I need to wait for one of you to feed me. That's my life now. I can't do even the simplest of things without your help… let alone be of use to either of you in return."

"But here is a thing about luck. People usually speak about it as though luck is something that just happens to you. It's not. Luck is fifty percent circumstance and fifty percent your own ability to grasp it. Luck is something you have to make happen yourself. I fought with everything I had to survive. That's one of the two reasons I'm still here."

"I'm sorry."

There was a hint of desperate desire in her voice. However, the question itself almost made him laugh, for an obvious reason.

"For being so useless."

The sky, like always, was grey and unfriendly.

"You're not useless."

"I had more visions than I told you guys about."

The blind girl gritted her teeth.

"Nephis told me that you almost died yesterday."

At that moment, Cassie sat down by his side. Sunny turned his head, looking at the blind girl with a bit of surprise.

'Well, that'll just add to their surprise when I stab them in the back.'

If he was generous to himself, he would say that he looked like a young squire.

"But don't worry about it too much. It's not my first brush with death."

Then, with a silent sigh, Sunny added:

"My First Nightmare was as bad as it gets. To tell you the truth, the situation was pretty hopeless. I was a slave destined to die of cold or mistreatment. Chained, bleeding, defenseless. What's worse, my Aspect turned out to be completely useless. I mean, literally. If I remember correctly, the phrase the Spell chosen to describe it was "a useless wretch with no skills or abilities worth a mention."

With all three of them equipped with decent armor, they were finally starting to resemble a real Awakened cohort. In fact, Sunny thought that their group was rather eye-catching even by Awakened standards.

She bit her lip.

Chapter 55 Lucky People

Sunny looked at her with a serious expression.

"Gods no. In fact, they quickly turned worse. Much, much worse. But, what would you know? In a strange twist of fate, my useless Aspect turned out to be the only thing that could guide me through that mess alive. In that regard, I was incredibly lucky."

Although it was, as far as he knew, the closest. The memory still sent shivers running down his spine.

When they returned to the makeshift camp, the first thing that Nephis did was come up to Cassie.

…Sunny would actually love nothing more than to be less honest, but, sadly, he was physically incapable of doing so. Of course, she didn't have to know that.

"Then… how did you survive? Did things change for the better?"

Cassie turned her head slightly, visibly drawn in by his words.

Sunny frowned and looked away. A second or two later, he said in his usual careless tone:

He shrugged.

"Your Flaw is the most debilitating one I have ever seen or heard of. You are right, without help from someone like Neph, it would have been a certain death sentence. And people like her… well, I'm not even sure that someone else like that exists. But…"

But truthfully, he resembled a page boy a lot more — at best. If a random stranger were to see the three of them, that stranger would most likely assume that Sunny was either a lowly servant or a feeble ruffian that had been captured by the noble lady's guard.

"But what?"

"Sorry? What are you sorry for?"

"You've finally received an armor-type Memory?"

Changing Star blinked.

Saying that, Sunny remembered the cold, dark mountain and shivered. Then, pushing the chilling memories away, he continued:

"Ah. I see. Well… it's from the Carapace Centurion."

'Oh, so that's what this is about.'

Cassie's frown deepened. Sunny chose his next words very carefully. Eventually, he said:

Sunny smiled.

In her light tunic and sea-wave cloak, beautiful and delicate Cassie looked like a princess. Lithe and poised, Nephis was like a noble knight tasked with protecting her. Sunny, however…

Then she fell silent and stared at her smiling friend. Cassie laughed:

"Hey, have I ever told you about my First Nightmare?"

"The second reason is the Spell itself. I won't go as far as to call it reasonable, but it is fair… in its own, perverted way. The Spell takes with one hand and gives with the other. It was like this with my First Nightmare, and it is the same with you."

"Yeah."

"I found something decent to wear…"

He shifted a little and glanced at the delicate girl, noticing a thoughtful frown on her face.

Cassie was silent for a long time, lost in thought. It looked as though she was in the throes of some inner struggle. Sunny almost assumed that their conversation was over, but then she suddenly said in a low, raspy voice:

'Ah, who cares. I'm sure there'll be a reason.'