Slave Girl
"Menu Open"
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Akitto
Type: Common Card
Mana: 34/51
Magic Uses: 18/100
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From the opened menu, activate Encounter Up and Luck Up.
Mana drops by two. Two magic circles appear.
If my guess is right, they should show up soon.
Wait a moment in front of the approaching rocky hill.
"Here it comes."
A little too excited, I blurted it out before I could stop myself.
From behind the rocky hill, a scorpion emerged.
A familiar face, now.
It spotted me and charged straight ahead.
Just like the first time—aggressive. Always aggressive.
Creaking across the ground—then suddenly leaping!
It launched itself at me.
I ducked to the side—grabbed its tail at the same moment.
The scorpion writhes.
No pause—slamming the edge of my hand straight into its body.
A soft give, then a *pfft*—the sound rippling through flesh and into my ears.
The scorpion split clean in two.
"Amazing..."
A breathless gasp from behind.
Svetlana, the short-haired slave, stares at me with wide eyes.
"…One strike, and the so-called Demon of the Wilds—"
A grand title, but I didn’t bother correcting it.
I knew it was strong. A monster capable of leveling an entire village by itself.
"Besides… with bare hands."
"There’s a spot—about two fingers’ length up from the tail base—where the body’s absurdly soft. Looks solid from the outside, but the weak point’s always in the same place. Once you know where it is, even bare hands can take it down."
"No way. You can’t track a move that fast—accurately."
"Been taking down a hundred of these at a time, so their movements got optimized, you know?"
Even strong monsters with predictable patterns—those are the ones that get optimized easiest.
In games, you sometimes run into opponents that rotate their attacks, and it's usually something like that.
As for this scorpion specifically—well, you could knock it down even at one HP.
Mistake, and things go south fast. But I’ve gotten used to it, so it’s probably fine.
"Anyway, enough of that. Let’s do it. You remember the steps, right?"
I ask Sveta.
"Yeah, I remember."
"Good. Then do it."
I speak right away, bossing her around like a proper master.
Sveta pulls out her slave card.
Made it before coming here—her own personal card.
"Menu open."
She summons the menu the same way, selects from the list.
A magic circle blooms on the ground.
The arrow splits into two.
One is the material placed behind Svetlana, the other is the scorpion I’m holding.
Svetlana puts in the material.
Hands the scorpion over to her.
“Try putting it in yourself.”
“Ah!”
Nods, a little excited.
When the last piece—the scorpion—is inserted, the magic circle transforms into a dress.
Green dress. Looks just like my slave’s uniform.
She lifts it up, eyes wide with wonder.
“I… did it too.”
“As long as you have that card, you can do it. You’re borrowing part of my ability—same as me.”
“Same ability… as you.”
“One of them… yeah, try it on now.”
“Got it.”
Nods, immediately starts changing clothes right there.
She’s used to it.
Eternal Slaves, my slaves—they rarely show shame in front of me.
Just like how noble ladies—princesses, daughters of nobles—don’t feel shame in front of their servants, Eternal Slaves, my slaves, are the opposite: they don’t feel shame around their master.
Svetlana was the same. She stripped off her clothes without hesitation, slipped into the dress just as casually.
"Done."
"Light, huh?"
"Yeah... not light, exactly... more like..."
"No weight at all, right?"
Svetlana nods. She looks at me, puzzled.
"DORECA. And anything made by slaves using slave cards—people who carry the same card don’t feel its weight. You’ve never seen it? Slaves lifting houses they built with cards, just like that?"
"No, never."
"Didn’t think so."
I nod. Well, I haven’t seen it. Not surprising—most of the time, it’s foreign envoys who come here.
"Anyway, you should be able to do that kind of thing now."
……
“What’s wrong? Deep in thought?”
“Wasn’t there armor in the card?”
“Armor?”
“Yeah, thick plate armor. If it’s something you and us slaves can carry, weight shouldn’t matter, right?”
……Oh.”
He clapped his hand, surprised.
Just like Sveta said—when you’re holding something made by DORECA, you don’t feel the weight.
Even the battleship Risha? No problem. If there’s no human inside, I could lift it with one hand.
Armor? Forget it.
“Maybe we should just make an ultra-giant suit of armor. Have Nina develop it.”
“An ultra-giant suit of armor?”
“Like a robot… or a golem, maybe? That’s the only way to explain it.”
He wasn’t sure if golems existed, but “robot” was clearer than “golem” in this world.
“Ah, I see!”
She got it.
“That’d be incredible.”
Incredible? No—she sounded more excited than amazed.
And if we’re talking about it less as a robot and more as something weightless you wear—maybe “powered suit” would be more accurate.
Either way... fun.
I’ll have Nina develop it.
Looking at Sveta—gotta thank her for that clever idea.
“Menu open.”
Pulling out the DORECA device, channeling magic into paper.
Folding it into origami medals, handing them to Sveta.
“Do this.”
“Can I really take it?”
“Yeah. Ten of them—”
“Happy!”
Before I even get to explain I’ll do something nice once she collects them, she already hugs it like she’s won a prize.
—Magic charged: 150,000.
Sveta, usually so stubborn, was practically glowing with joy—like a girl in love.