It's me, Risha.

"Master, what shall we make today?"

Morning came, and Risha asked. Mira stood beside her, looking at me the same way.

This routine’s gotten pretty natural by now.

"I'm thinking of bringing more people into town today."

"So we're going to look for that monkey—Schreivij?"

"Yeah."

"Um, Master!"

Mira leaned forward, practically shouting.

"Can I come too?"

"You want to tag along?"

"Yes."

I thought it over, then looked at Risha.

She lowered her face slightly. Wanting to go, but too shy to ask outright.

"Does Risha want to come too?"

"If Master allows it..."

"Hmm. Well, Schreivij’s not exactly dangerous, so I suppose it’s fine."

That monkey’s really weak, though.

So weak it’s almost tempting to test just how weak. My guess? A flick—just a regular person’s flick—could knock them out.

So fighting’s not really a threat. Even taking the two along won’t be dangerous.

“Alright then, let’s start making things.”

“Things?”

Risha tilts her head, puzzled.

“Risha, Mira. What kind of weapon do you two feel most comfortable with?”

“I’m best with a bow.”

Mira answers first.

“I’m the same. A bow.”

Huh. Looks like elves, all right.

“Menu open… yep, bows and arrows are here.”

I step outside the house, DORECA in hand.

Only one type of bow and arrow. More’ll come later, but for now, just one.

Lay down a bunch of arrows and two bows on the ground, then draw the magic circle.

“Risha, Mira. Those are your weapons. Try making them.”

““Yes!!””

They shout in unison and sprint toward the warehouse.

She pulls out material after material, flinging it into the magic circle.

Arrows pile up like a mountain.

Just as one bow is finished, Mira arrives with the last material—and stumbles.

The material flies off, plunging straight into the magic circle… right into her face.

“Hey, you okay?”

“H-hot, I’m fine—”

The moment Mira starts to rise, her hair glows—then the magic circle flares.

In an instant, part of Mira’s hair is ripped away, and in its place, a bow forms—different from the one Risha made earlier.

The string is golden—just like Mira’s hair.

“T-this…?”

“What’s going on?”

I open the menu, scan the list of possible creations.

Two bows now. The old, plain one, and a new one—something called an Accelerator.

I think. Then it clicks.

“Nice work, Mira.”

“Huh?”

"I've been thinking—maybe there's a pattern like this. Not just using the basic required materials, but adding something else, customizing it, making something different. I was wondering if that could work. And Mira just proved it."

"Did I... actually help my master!??"

"Ah."

"...I'm glad."

——Magic power charged: 3,000.

"But Mira. Failure is still failure."

"...Yes."

"Being useful by accident after failing isn't the point. The real way to help is to follow orders exactly. You understand, right?"

Risha lectured Mira as the senior slave. Mira nodded, silent, accepting it without protest.

Once that was done, I spoke to the two of them.

"Risha, Mira. The hunt for Schreivju is yours."

I drew a magic circle, turning it into a radar for tracking Schreivju.

"Master, what about you?"

"I just got a few ideas I want to test out now."

“O-oh, I’ll help too…”

Mira leaning forward, voice shaky. Just got scolded for messing up—probably wants to make up for the mistake.

“No, I’ll handle this. It’s more important to grow the town’s population. I’ll leave the two of you to it.”

Not a lie.

““Yes!””

Hearing that, the two of them lit up, grabbing their bows and heading off to track down Schreivju.

Left behind, me? I started doing… nothing.

Opened the menu. Started crafting a magic array for the fur dress.

The one Risha’s wearing. Glanced at it in the menu—immediately picked the best one.

I wanted to improve it. Wanted to make the version above what’s unlocked on the Frond Card.

The fur dress is made from that rabbit’s fur.

But not that. Something else.

Pulled out materials from the warehouse. Threw them in, one after another.

First, I added Abnoi grass. The moment it touched the array—*crack*—it exploded.

"Is this what failure looks like?"

I didn’t learn my lesson. I pulled out another array and tossed in a different material.

From bushino stone to shrebej’s claw—whatever I could find, I tried.

Fail. Fail. Again, fail.

Every time, the array shattered, magic flaring uselessly into nothing.

I’d tested every single material in the warehouse. Nothing worked.

I pictured the two slaves’ grins.

"Guess it didn’t work."

Would’ve liked to have made it work, but if it’s not meant to be, well… that’s that.

I turned to leave the storage.

"Huh? What’s this?"

At the far corner, I spotted a dead scorpion.

That ridiculously strong one. The one we finally killed after running out of healing potions and exhausting our magic.

Its corpse.

"...Menu open."

I spent 950 mana to craft the array for the fur dress.

Place the scorpion's corpse there.

The magic array... turned into light.

The light wrapped around the scorpion... and slowly became a dress.

A green-glowing dress. Perfectly elf-like.

"Kitaa!"

A voice came out. A victory pose, too.

Check the menu. The fur dress was gone. The light dress had increased.

Undeniable success.

"...Good."

I set the light dress inside the house, gripped the Eternal Slave tightly, and stepped out of town.

☆

"Welcome home, Master."

"Welcome back!"

The two slaves returned in the evening.

"Welcome. How did it go?"

"We found three."

"Right over there."

"Ah, got it. I'll meet them later."

"Mira, get that wound fixed fast. There's a healing potion Master prepared in the storage."

"Okay!"

Mira headed for the storage. A small scrape marked her cheek.

Somehow got hurt, huh.

Mira came back right away.

"No universal remedy? Not even one?"

"Wait— that can't be—"

"Yeah, I used it. Don’t worry, I’ll make a new one."

"Is that so?"

She opened the menu, pulled up the universal remedy’s magic array.

Mira, already used to it, grabbed the ingredients, dropped them in, and applied the finished remedy to herself.

After checking it, I stepped back inside, fetched my dress, and brought it out.

Two of them— (,,).

I handed one to each of them.

"Master, what’s this?"

"A gift for both of you. Green suits you."

"Really? For us?"

"Try it on."

"Yes!"

Mira immediately started putting it on.

Risha alternated glancing between the dress and me.

"Master… is this the universal remedy—?"

"Never mind. Just put it on."

I stopped her, urged her to get dressed.

Risha was sharp. She connected the missing universal remedy with the dress almost immediately.

Yeah, I’d gone hunting for a scorpion, spent every last drop of my stock of universal remedy, and made the second dress that way.

Risha and Mira both changed into the dresses.

They looked good.

Both were Eternal Slaves—species that looked exactly like elves.

Their appearance matched the green dresses perfectly.

"Exactly as I expected. Looks great."

"Yes, it feels… right."

"Thank you, master!"

Risha blushed. Mira beamed.

——Magic power charged by 50,000.

They both seemed happy.

Then good.

Happy ones.

I thought I’d check how much magic power I had after the charge.

When I opened the menu, I found something new there.

Eternal Slave Re:form.

I looked at it. Looked at the two of them.

Excitement rising.