Save & Load
Evening. Mealtime.
I led Risha down from the fourth floor.
I was wearing an open shirt and swim trunks. Risha had on a T-shirt and a swimsuit.
Incidentally, I’d made the swimsuit a regular bikini. If she were to wear a shirt over it, a schoolgirl swimsuit or a shell bikini would look awkward. So I went with the standard version.
“Sorry, Master, I can’t help much…”
“Don’t worry. You don’t know what we’re cooking, do you?”
“I’ll memorize it today. Next time, I’ll handle it all.”
“Hmph.”
Risha was fired up.
“Don’t get so worked up. It’s a vacation. Learning’s fine—but don’t forget to enjoy yourself.”
“Understood!”
Her nod was, as expected, way too serious.
Whatever.
I led Risha into the second-floor room.
The walls had been改造ed into a full wall of windows. It was open now, and the sinking evening sun was visible over the sea.
Inside, tables were laid out, piled high with a variety of dishes.
“What’s this… buh-fee, is it?”
“Yeah, buffet. Also called a Viking.”
She marched toward the back of the room, toward the window.
Sat down beside the table placed there.
Pointed to the chair across from her, set up for someone.
“Listen, sit down.”
“Yes.”
Risha sat down, a little awkwardly.
“Set it up like a resort hotel—buffet style. Grab whatever you want from over there, eat as much as you like, however you like.”
“However I like, huh?”
“Yeah.”
She stood up, walked to the buffet table, and picked up a white plate.
Piled a little of everything onto it, poured juice into a glass.
Carried it back.
“Like this. Take whatever you want, however much you want.”
“Y-yes.”
“You too, grab something.”
“Understood.”
Risha stood up, started walking, then turned back toward me and asked.
"Master, what would you like to eat?"
"Take it yourself. That’s how it works. Take whatever you want."
"Understood…."
Risha walked over to the buffet table, picked up a plate, and started hesitating over the options.
I picked at the food I’d already taken and looked out the window.
The place, the view, the clothes, the meal—
Perfectly like a resort. Almost completely a resort, if you ignore that I’d used DORECA to arrange everything.
Kind of fun, actually.
Risha came back, hesitantly starting to eat.
"Risha."
"Yes!"
She stopped eating, snapped straight up in her seat.
"No need to stiffen up. Eat. Did you enjoy yourself today?"
"Umm… yes."
Risha nodded. Her answer sounded like something was stuck between her teeth.
"Didn’t you enjoy it?"
"N-no! I did! It was fun!"
"Is that so?"
"Yes! I even got swimwear from you! It was fun, yes!"
Risha insists. If that’s what you think, then fine.
I stand up, grabbing a fresh plate to serve myself another round.
Take the food. Eat it.
Finish eating, then go back for more.
Take it. Eat it. Chat with Risha about nothing in particular.
Just your average vacation.
“Ah!”
Risha gasps, reaching for her dish.
“What is it?”
“N-nothing… I just noticed this dish is gone.”
“Huh? Oh—hold on a sec.”
I pull out DORECA, open the menu.
“You’re making it now?”
“Yeah. And while I’m at it, I’ll show you the new feature I added after becoming a Black Card.”
“—Yes!”
Risha’s eyes light up.
After becoming a Black Card, two new functions were added.
Save and Load.
I’d already used Save before, so now it’s time for Load.
A pulse of magical light wraps around the buffet table.
The food replenishes itself.
More like it went back—right to the feeling we had when we first walked into the room, exactly like it was when we saved it.
“W-what’s this?”
“An ability where DORECA stores what you’ve made and calls it back to restore it. We’ve tested it out—two ways to use it. Either refill the missing parts, or remake the whole thing from scratch.”
“Um… so…?”
“You can recreate entire sets of things at once. Like a palace. You could save and load it again, make another one. Same with that forest.”
“That’s amazing…”
“Yeah, convenient, I guess.”
This save-load function… honestly, I think we’ll end up using it like copy-paste more than anything.
“Anyway, here.”
I placed the food onto Risha’s plate.
The very dish I’d just tried to grab—now gone.
“Thank you.”
“Eat whatever you like, just keep eating.”
I poured wine into a nearby cup and said that.
☆
“Gozujin za maa…”
“……”
I was speechless. Speechless at Risha, her face a wreck of tears right in front of me.
A wineglass sat beside the stacked plates of food.
I’d offered it—just go ahead and drink, I said.
“Just one sip… this much?”
Yeah. Just one sip. That’s all.
And she was already like this after one sip.
“G-guus… Master’s a real monster…”
“Monster? What’s that?”
“Make me work!”
Suddenly, she snapped. Slammed the table, ranting.
“Work! Work! You’re a master who doesn’t make their slave work? That’s not a master at all!”
“Vacation’s the point, right now.”
“Then Master, be a real one!”
Fair enough. I get it.
“Kyahaha… ha… ha…”
Now she was laughing.
“Haha… haa…”
Then she let out a long sigh and face-planted into the table.
Busy little thing, aren’t you?
“Uwaaahhh!”
She started crying again.
Crying, angry. Crying, laughing. Crying, complaining.
More tears than anything else, all about why she wasn’t being made to work.
“Goojyujin za maa…”
“…Risha.”
“What now, huh?!”
“…Go get the cake over there.”
“—Yes!”
——Magic power charged: 10,000.
Risha stood up with a wide grin.
She wobbled toward the buffet table like a drunkard.
“Hyan!”
She tripped halfway, but scrambled up fast and grabbed a cake.
Then she staggered back, swaying.
“Master, here you go.”
“Ah.”
“How is it, Master?”
“Ah, delicious.”
“Good… good…”
She said that, then swayed again and face-planted into the table.
Was she down again? But—
“Munyamunyaa…”
Seemed like she was asleep.
A ridiculously contented smile on her face.
Gave the order, got to do the work—seemed satisfied with that.
A proper slave—sweet, brave, and utterly darling.
"Once the vacation’s over, you’ll be working again."
I muttered that, sipping at my drink like I was tasting it slowly, my eyes on the DORECA menu.
Magic power dwindling now and then—she kept watch on the slave’s labor through numbers, as if counting the hours of absence.
The vacation night slipped away in silence.