Blaming the Wrong Person

Mass production of cake—there are two ways to do it.

One is to charge up massive amounts of magic power and brute-force it through DORECA for mass production.

Even the smallest, shortest cake needs 3,000 units of magic, and the reserve is in the millions.

Even if you emptied it all, you’d only get about a thousand cakes.

That’s not going to cut it. Need another method.

I stared at DORECA’s menu, unblinking.

I scanned the list from top to bottom, eyes locked on the items that could be crafted with a gold card.

"...There it is."

My gaze settled on one item.

Food Printer.

Hmm. Maybe this could work.

☆

The Food Printer’s magic circle—materials follow the arrows pointed by the ingredients, walking across the wasteland.

We need fifty units of a material named Madrika. I’ll go look for it now.

Left the whole town in the hands of the slaves.

The slaves with 100 loyalty—now even holding slave cards (normal)—should be fine while I’m gone for a bit.

Guided by the arrow, walking, walking, walking for about half a day, I arrived at a rocky mountain.

Going further, a cave appeared around mid-slope.

The arrow pointed inside.

“Should’ve brought a torch or something…”

Wasted time, but I made one using DORECA.

Holding it, I stepped into the cave.

Eventually, I hit a dead end.

“This far? No—arrow’s pointing deeper. …So dig, huh?”

I pulled out Eternal Slave Modified and slammed it into the wall.

Dust flaked off, and then—clunk—stone tumbled out.

The magic array arrow pointed at it, so I picked it up.

In short, it’s a stone with a colored gem embedded inside a crystal.

The arrow points at it, and it glows with the light of a material.

"Seriously, you want me to dig?"

Muttering to myself, this was a bit unexpected.

I’d been sure we’d run into some strong monster again.

Dragons, or trolls, or lamias. Or maybe, just maybe, demons or angels—though I haven’t met them yet. God forbid they’d send me to fetch some abomination of a minor god, too.

Most of the time it's been like that—slaying strong monsters to get materials, sometimes needing to kill them dozens or even hundreds of times just for a chance drop.

I’d prepared myself for that, but mining? That was unexpected.

I’ll do it, but...

Unexpected, but no choice—gotta do it.

I gripped the slave sword tighter and slammed it harder into the cave wall.

Crack. Plop, plop, plop.

Digging through the earthen wall with her sword.

"Hard to handle, huh?"

Annoyance prickles. Digging with a sword was just plain tedious, honestly.

"Menu open... pickaxe... was there..."

Waste of time, but she decided to properly gather tools before going back out.

But the pickaxe's magic circle spat out a dozen arrows.

Twenty of them—more than ever before.

Checking the menu, it demanded twenty different mundane materials.

Stuff you’d find wandering around aimlessly.

"Annoying... fine, I’ll just use the sword."

She decided digging with the blade was faster than gathering tiny scraps.

She dug deeper with the slave sword.

Crack. Clatter, clatter, clatter.

At least it wasn’t *too* hard to find—some small comfort.

On average, one maddra every three minutes.

Crack. Clatter, clatter, clatter.

"Fifteenth... sixteenth... seventeen... ugh!"

Withdrawn. Not easy at all.

Dig, dig, dig—just dirt, nothing but dirt. Comes out only by sheer luck.

The awkwardness of digging with a sword only piles on the frustration.

A quick glance at the pickaxe magic array from earlier. Should I make a pickaxe now?

"...ah, keep going."

Decided to stick with the current plan.

Digging will eventually turn something up. If I can't find any material for a pickaxe and waste more time, I’ll only get more irritable.

Grit my teeth and push through the tedious mining.

Just keep digging. Keep digging.

"Ooooooh!"

Every now and then I snap, channeling magic into a furious swing.

"Madrika... cracked."

Broke the material instead. So I’m back to digging slowly, no choice.

Crack. Crumble, crumble, crumble.

"Forty-nine... fifty! Got it!"

A face emoji zipped through my head.

After roughly five hours of digging, I finally finished gathering the required fifty units.

If it weren’t enough, I’d be furious, so I counted them again.

“Yeah… fifty, exactly.”

Relieved, I stepped out of the cave, arms full of maderica.

Night had fallen completely outside.

I followed the path back the way I came, guided by the magic array’s arrows.

Just as I descended the mountain, I ran into the dragon.

The same one I’d targeted when I’d forged the currency.

The dragon was sleeping far off. Didn’t notice me.

……

I set the maderica carefully on the ground.

Not a single piece would fly off.

Then, gripping the Eternal Slave Re: tightly, I moved toward the dragon.

It woke as I approached—opened its eyes, lifted its head, and roared at the sky.

“Have it all, you damn bastard!”

Pouring in magic—roughly a hundred thousand units of magic—I charged straight at the dragon, cleaving it clean down the middle.

“Phew, feels good.”

Felt better after taking it out on something, so I grabbed Madrika and headed back to Rebec.

The other materials had already been gathered, so I dropped in the Madrika and finished it.