Heart in Love

Night. The lord’s manor.

Everyone stood before me.

First Slave, Risha.

Second Slave, Mira.

Third Slave, Yuria.

Fourth Slave, Rirya.

Four women, collars fused to their bodies, standing before me.

Now, the evolution of weapons—evolution into the True Eternal Slave.

“Menu open.”

Holding DORECA, I select “Slave Heart” from the creation list.

Turn it into a magic circle. Four of them, total.

Same magic circle—but each arrow points to a different slave.

Red light on Risha. Blue light on Mira. White light on Yuria. Black light on Rirya.

“All in one… meaning only you four?”

“Does that mean… we just have to enter here, Master?”

Risha asks.

“Probably.”

“Um… does that mean… Rirya and the others will be used as material?”

“That’s right.”

“You don’t like it?”

Mira asks Rirya. Risha and Yuria look at Rirya at the same time.

Rirya makes a face like she’s about to gag. Mira and Yuria scowl.

“It’s a bit of a problem. Rirya wants to stay her brother’s slave forever. Being turned into material? That’s a real problem.”

Rirya’s reasoning was, as always, thoroughly her.

“Isn’t that an honor? Getting to belong to your master?”

Risha says. Typical of her. The kind of thinking only an Eternal Slave could love—treating exhaustion like a badge of pride.

“I’ll pass, thanks. I want to live. I want to outlive my brother. I want to stay a slave forever.”

“Either way, I get it.”

“Yeah.”

Mira and Yuria say it together.

In the end, both Risha and Rirya are saying the same thing—slavehood comes first. That’s why they’re so easy to understand.

“Anyway, I just wanna be useful to my master!”

Risha said that, and stepped into the magic circle.

No hesitation at all.

“…Huh.”

But despite her bold entrance, nothing happened.

Just a red light enveloping Risha from head to toe—nothing else changed.

“Why… is this?”

“…Maybe it only works when everyone’s in?”

I thought for a moment, then said.

“Could be.”

Yuria nodded in agreement, and stepped into the circle too.

A white light wrapped around her small body, just like Risha’s.

No other change, as before.

“I’ll try it too.”

Mira said that, and stepped into the circle.

A blue light flared up the same way.

Risha, Mira, Yuria.

Three of them stared at Rirya from inside the magic circle.

“Ugh… w-what’s with that look? You’re staring at Rirya, aren’t you?”

The three say nothing. Just stare.

A strong look, as if saying it’s your turn now.

Rirya thinks a little differently than the others. Mira and Yuria might say they understand, but their thinking is closer to Risha’s.

So they step into the magic circle without hesitation.

But Rirya, who asks for so much, who says she wants to live and be useful—she doesn’t go so easily.

At least, not by her own choice.

“Rirya.”

“Y-yes, big brother…?”

“Come in.”

Staring straight at her, he says it.

Not a command. But close.

And there’s a plea in it too.

“Uuu….”

Rirya groans.

Her face says she can’t refuse now that her master has spoken.

“No… wait.”

I correct myself.

It’s needed, yes—but more than that.

“I want this.”

That’s it. I want this.

I have a feeling about it.

When the Eternal Slave was upgraded, I could absorb one slave into the blade.

That connection felt strong—closer than before.

The next step was the True Eternal Slave.

"True" came after "Revised."

I felt certain I could go even further, bind myself even tighter.

I wanted to feel the slave closer.

To love the slave more.

More, more, more, more, more, more.

I wanted to feel this delicate creature near me, to cherish it.

This had to be the way.

It had to be possible.

I was certain.

So I stared.

Stared straight at Rirya.

"...I understand."

At first, she groaned, then her expression changed.

Calm. Resolved.

"As a slave, I have no choice but to obey my master..."

"Thank you."

"You're too wonderful, onii-chan."

Rirya said that, and stepped into her own magic circle.

Black light wraps around her.

Red, blue, white, black.

Four lights emerged from the slave, merging, blending together.

The Eternal Slave Mod I was holding also started to glow.

The light of the slave. The light of the slave sword.

Light resonated, swelled, blended.

Eventually—enveloping everything.

☆

When I came to, I was somewhere I didn’t know.

A place that couldn’t possibly belong to this world—just emptiness.

If I had to pick one thing, it’s the place where I met that Goddess—kind of like the spot I was in when I got transported to this other world.

So there I was, completely naked.

...Why?

—My lord.

The moment doubt crossed my mind, a voice called from behind.

She turned around. There they were—slaves.

Risha, Mira, Yuria, Rirya.

They were all naked, just the same.

She wore no green dress—only a collar fused to her body.

Slaves, completely naked, collar-bound.

The moment I saw them, it clicked.

Ah, so this is where it happens.

I said nothing. Just walked toward the four of them.

Reaching out, I touched each collar.

Risha’s red gem.

Mira’s blue gem.

Yuria’s white gem.

Rirya’s black gem.

I ran my fingers over them, one by one.

They thrilled like they’d been petted on the head. They sighed like they’d been caressed on the chest.

When I’d traced each one to the end, the same light swelled up again, wrapping us once more.

☆

After the light faded, no one remained in the room.

Just me. The slaves—gone.

But I didn’t look.

I already knew.

I drew my sword.

Slave’s sword. Four gems nestled between hilt and blade—each glowing, all at once.

All four, simultaneously.

“Risha.”

(Yes, my lord.)

“Mira.”

(Here.)

“Yuria.”

(Here.)

“Rirya.”

(Yes, sir.)

One by one, calling their names, getting replies.

All of them inside the blade.

This is the True Eternal Slave.

I stepped out beyond the manor’s gate, sword in hand.

Imagine fire—blade turns to flame. Imagine ice—blade becomes ice. Imagine light—senses sharpen, every breath, every shadow, every pulse. Imagine darkness—then—

“What’s Rirya’s power, anyway? Come to think of it…”

(Rirya doesn’t know herself.)

“Huh. Well, doesn’t matter. There’s got to be something. Anyway—”

I thought it. All of it. At once.

The four gems blazed in unison. I was certain it could be done.

And it was.

The true slave sword had transformed into a blade that seemed forged from fire and ice, its edges humming with latent power.

It had evolved into a weapon capable of binding slaves together.

“This should… be enough to beat Maxim.”

I was certain. This time, I could win.

I returned the four of them.

The light faded from the gems. The glow seeped out of the sword. The four women returned to their original forms.

“Ah, we’re back.”

“Good, you’re all back safe.”

Mira says to Rirya.

“It felt strange.”

“Yeah… but now I know I can serve my master even better.”

Risha and Yuria say, nodding in unison.

Just as I had felt something certain, so too had the slaves—something had shifted when they were all drawn into the blade at once.

The one who felt it most strongly—

“Onii-chan, again, please!”

“Again?”

“Yes! Again, make Rirya and the others into the sword!”

“Didn’t you hate it last time?”

“I’m not refusing at all. I just… I want to be yours right now, to be useful, to feel like I’m helping you, like I’m needed!”

Rirya insisted, her voice sharp with urgency.

It was so very much like her—begging like that, so utterly herself.

The other three didn’t say a word, but their eyes were locked onto me, just as fixed.

Same thought, same hunger.

“Alright.”

I gripped the True Eternal Slave tighter, touching the four gems.

The slaves turned to light again, sucked into the blade.

Instantly, a deep, satisfying fullness surged through me.

(主人様…)

(主人様!)

(主人様…)

(おにーちゃん!)

Their voices echoed in my head.

Like their own longing.

Like my own.

The longing to love them.

“Sleep. We’ll stay like this tonight.”

(((((Yes!))))

— Charged one million units of magic.

That night, I kept loving the hearts of the four, long past midnight.