The Slave’s Wish

Nighttime palace, office chamber.

Mira comes in after finishing her work.

“Gave everyone the universal tonic.”

“Good work.”

“Threw them in the dungeon. Is that alright?”

“Huh? Why the dungeon?”

“Because they attacked the master.”

Mira speaks as if it’s the most natural thing.

Almost immediately after declaring ourselves a nation and taking the title of king, we enacted a law called the Kingdom Law.

It was drafted by Yuria and the town mayors, then finalized by me after a final review.

Incidentally, I had a lot of input—so it’s basically not too different from Japanese law.

Just codified what I consider acceptable and unacceptable behavior.

“That’s illegal.”

“I see. Yes, attacking another person is indeed illegal.”

“That’s not all. Attacking the master is a crime of disrespect.”

“Oh, I’ll cut that part.”

“Huh?”

Mira, stunned.

Disrespect. The law applied when someone shows disrespect toward a king or monarch.

It was placed first in the draft—naturally—because it was the slave-owners and the town leaders I helped who set it.

And it wasn’t “disrespect toward the king.” No. The wording read: “Disrespect toward Lord Akito.”

Of course I struck it out. We don’t need that.

“Why!?!”

“Can’t be helped. It’s unnecessary.”

Does it matter if it’s disrespect toward me or not? Not really.

There are two things that matter in this country.

The people. And the slaves.

To me, protecting Eternal Slaves through law is far more important than some petty crime of disrespect.

That delicate, sweet little creature—surely it’s absurd not to protect it with law.

And yes, I haven’t done it yet. I’ll leave it to the slaves, but that’ll probably go wrong. So I’ll just do it myself, when the time comes.

The law’s written so that the king can make new laws whenever he feels like it.

"Master, you’re too soft."

"Is that so?"

"It is."

"Then just sentence them to death already."

"Right. Well, if they’re still hot-headed after a night in the stocks, I’ll let them go."

"A night!?!"

Mira’s eyes widened further.

"A night’s too short."

"Is it? Seems reasonable. Without a charge of disrespect, what crime are we talking about?"

"…Huh?"

"Robbery? Then it’s an attempted robbery. Assault? Also attempted. Murder? Still attempted. No victim, so no crime at all. Therefore, they’re innocent."

"……"

Mira stared, stunned.

"Master, you’re too kind-hearted."

She was genuinely disappointed.

First time it’s happened. Being disappointed by a slave.

A little refreshing.

But she’s still a slave. My command is absolute.

Mira sighed, reluctantly accepting it.

"Got it. I’ll free you first thing tomorrow morning."

"Thanks. Oh, and—"

"Checking if you’re actually serious about working, right? I get it."

Mira snapped, her voice sharp.

I was stunned.

At the same time—happy. So happy. A slave who understands me this well? I can’t help but love her.

I called her back as she turned to leave.

"Wait."

"What?"

"How many medals do you have?"

"Eh? You mean these?"

Mira pulled a folded paper medal from under her dress.

Still pristine, despite being carried everywhere—clearly treasured beyond measure.

"Yeah, how many of those—no, wait."

I stopped myself, shaking my head.

I pulled out DORECA, folded ten sheets of paper.

Then folded each one into a medal, handing them all to Mira.

"Here."

"Eh?"

"Back when you said you’d get ten of these, I promised to do something, right?"

"But—this all at once?"

“Is there some law saying you can’t hand them all over at once?”

“That’s… no, there isn’t.”

Of course not. Even if there were, I’d just crush it.

No, actually, making a law that says, “Exceptions granted only when the master dotes on their slave,” might be kind of fun.

“But… why would I…?”

“Isn’t wanting to give it to you enough of a reason?”

It’s not really, but I’m not saying that.

“No, no, that’s not it.”

Mira flails her hands and shakes her head quickly, denying it.

“So, what do you want me to do? Anything at all. Just say it.”

“…Anything?”

“Anything.”

Except the ass. That’d be too boring.

Mira fidgets. She’s struggling to say it. Really struggling.

What’s so hard about saying it, anyway?

Wait—does she want a child right now?

Could be. She’s part of the Eternal Slave breed. Mother and daughter, both slaves. It’s not unheard of.

"Say it without holding back. I promised once—I’ll grant anything."

"Then I’ll say it."

"Go ahead."

"An offense of disrespect… I really want you to make one… like that."

Mira’s words trailed off into silence.

I blinked. Didn’t see that coming.

"…"

"Sorry, I—actually, I can’t—"

"Is that really important?"

"Huh?"

"I asked if it was important."

Mira stared straight ahead, expression unchanging, and nodded.

"Yeah! I can’t forgive anyone who defies my master."

…Seriously.

These people… no, *this* person…

Ugh.

"Got it."

I smiled, nodded.

"Tell Yuria to draft it."

"Really!?!"

"I said I’d do anything. Is my master the kind to back down on his word?"

"No! Not at all!"

Mira’s smile stayed bright.

"Hey, can I go to Yuria’s right now?"

“Ah.”

Nodding, Mira shot out of the office like a gust of wind.

About five minutes later.

——Magical energy charged: 2,000,000.

Yuria seemed genuinely delighted.