Slave's Gift

Clang!

I slammed my iron sword into the monster before me—no resistance at all.

More like… odd resistance.

It felt like hitting a fluffed-out quilt, yet the sound was metal clashing against metal.

I kicked the monster’s body and leapt backward.

“Not gonna work with an iron blade!”

It looks sharp enough… but doesn’t feel like it’ll cut.

I muttered, scowling, and studied the monster again.

One word: giant. Covered head to toe in thick, white fur. Like a caterpillar.

Size of a car. Fur pure white, soft-looking. Shape—utterly, completely a caterpillar.

Eluka. That’s its name.

Its body glows faintly—meaning it’s the raw material for what I’m trying to make right now.

Eluka slowly turns toward me. In its wide-open mouth, savage fangs catch the light and gleam.

—Coming!

The next instant, the sluggish motion from before was a lie— it lunged forward with sudden ferocity.

A rush so violent it split the air with a scream.

I barely dodged sideways. Eluka slammed into a rock ahead and sank its teeth in.

Crack. Crunch.

The massive stone shattered to dust. Those fangs—sharp enough to cut through steel—combined with jaw strength that could crush bone.

One bite, and it’d be over. Human flesh? Gone in a second.

Just a scratch, and blood’s already spurting from my arm.

Damn monster— I thought, but then I spotted the weakness.

It followed me, rotating slowly, side to side.

Incredibly slow. Like it took ten seconds to make a full 360-degree turn.

Charge is fast, but turning’s weak.

I decided that, picked up speed, and spun around Eluka, circling, searching for a gap—then slashed with the sword.

Spin. Slash.

Got into a rhythm.

But no real feedback.

The actual sound when I cut was a metallic clang—but my brain translated it into a stupid, sticky *pech pech* effect sound.

Like I was poking a weak attack over and over. *Pech pech.*

*Pech pech, pech pech.*

*Pech pech pech pech pech pech—*

Repeated it for about an hour.

*Shzzz!*

Finally, the strike connected. The iron sword, chipped from too much force, pierced through Eluka’s fur.

“Ooooh!”

I threw my whole weight into it, driving straight through Eluka’s body.

Hard on the outside, soft inside. Even the chipped iron blade cut through like butter.

Eluka, severed in two, writhed and squirmed—then went still. Her body deflated, collapsing in on itself.

As if her body were melting away, shriveling up.

Eventually, a mountain’s worth of hair remained there.

...was a real pain.

Exhausted, I slumped down onto the ground.

☆

She returned to the town—her designated site—with hair in hand.

"Akito-san—what’s wrong with that?"

Yoshif looked surprised when he saw the injury on my arm.

"It's nothing special. Better to put this into the sigil."

Understood. I’ll take it.

Yoshif took more than half of Eluka's fur—white worm fur.

Take it to the four magic circles set before the house. A circle that uses only one type of material.

Parting the hair within the magic circle.

Light wrapped around the white moth’s fur, transforming the raw material into a finished product.

It was a garment. Just a garment.

Just a robe. Nothing special. A basic garment, made with fifty mana.

Truth be told, this plain robe had other ways of being made. One of them required less mana and fewer materials.

So I picked that one… but it was a trap.

Low mana, few ingredients—except the raw materials themselves were monstrously difficult to handle.

A robe made from something taken from an opponent who’d kill you on sight (though not doing so wouldn’t matter much)… and now it’s just a robe.

From now on, I think I’ll treat anything with low mana cost as a potential trap.

Anyway, the robes were done. Four of them, restored from monsters back to human form—Yoshif and the others.

Yoshif took his robe, handed it out to the group.

Left behind, I opened the menu.

I’d had enough of struggling. The iron sword was chipping at the edge. Time to make a new weapon.

Scanning the menu for weapons, one item stood out—absurdly, glaringly different.

—Eternal Slave.

A weapon named exactly after Risha’s race.

And the magic consumption? Shockingly, zero!

Materials: Iron sword ×2, Slave’s Gift ×1.

“…Smells like a trap. Seriously, this reeks of trap.”

After what just happened, I was on guard.

“…Well, consumption’s zero. Just don’t cast the rune circle if I don’t want to make it.”

Making excuses, I still drew the rune circle. I wanted to see what this thing actually was.

As usual, arrows shot out from the rune circle.

Two arrows. One pointed at the iron sword I was holding. The other…

“Master… my hair’s glowing… ah!”

Risha rushed over in panic—then froze, eyes widening as she understood.

The second arrow pointed straight at her. And her beautiful golden hair was glowing.

Seems her hair was the material.

"Really now, this is going too far."

Cutting off her hair to use as material—fine, but still... it’s hard to do.

She’s a slave, yes, but she’s still an elf with long, golden hair. To cut it—like this—

"Yes, my lord."

Without hesitation, Risha snipped her hair clean off.

She grabbed the clump and offered it to me.

"Hey! What are you doing?!"

"What? My lord needs my hair, don’t you?"

"Need… yes, I do need it…"

"Then here."

She handed it over with perfect calm.

I sighed. There was no stopping it now.

"Risha, give me that iron sword too. I need two swords."

"Yes, understood!"

I took the hair and sword, tossing them both into the magic circle alongside her own blade.

A new sword formed.

Gleaming, ornate, and utterly ridiculous in appearance.

"This is the Eternal Slave, huh?"

Swung the sword a few times. Weird—feels like it’s part of me already.

Zero required magic power. Just another piece of a human (slave) body.

Probably this is some kind of insanely powerful weapon, I thought.

Meanwhile, Risha—

"My hair… has become my master’s weapon."

She said it with sparkling eyes, like she’d just been moved to tears. And then—

—Magic power charged: 20,000.