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Chapter 2: Giant Slave of the Small Village (2)
The atmosphere inside the damp, dark cavern wasn’t much different from daytime, but the sense of unease in the middle of the night carried a completely different level of chill. It pierced through the skin like a physical force.
Rotem, without realizing it, rubbed the arm holding the lantern as he walked. Behind him, following the increasingly hunched giant, a shadow thicker than the cave itself rippled and shifted.
[At this point, it’s no wonder most humans wouldn’t last.]
Whether it had any physical form or not, even the shadow seemed to sense the black energy suffusing the cave. Its red eyes flickered as it scanned the places within the cavern where it had once been “sealed,” and Rotem let out a short sigh.
“I told you, this cave is dangerous. The villagers freaked out just hearing I come here to pick mushrooms.”
[And yet you seem to be holding up pretty well? You even went into my old hidden spot earlier in the day. That place must’ve been hard to even breathe in.]
“Maybe it’s because I’m a big giant.”
[Hmm. Is that really all there is to it?]
The shadow let out a faint, barely perceptible smile.
It knew.
It knew exactly what kind of “energy” permeated this place—and that even ancient dragons would struggle to resist being consumed by it.
“Oh, here it is. Is something like this fine?”
Guided by the dim lantern light, Rotem ventured deeper and pulled something from behind a rock.
When he lifted the lantern toward it, a mushroom came into view—its cap half-blackened and mushy, almost rotting.
[Doesn’t matter. Quantity is what counts. Gather even the completely rotten ones.]
“Got it, got it.”
Having already mapped out most of the mushroom locations during earlier visits, Rotem quickly filled his herbal bag.
Of course, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have even glanced at such poor-quality specimens, so doubts continued to linger in his mind as he picked them up.
“……”
“Hm? Did you say something?”
As Rotem lifted his head to find the source of the voice, the shadow shook its red eyes side to side.
[No, I didn’t say anything.]
“Really? I definitely heard something.”
[Maybe it was “that.”]
Following the shadow’s leisurely gaze, Rotem turned his lantern—and immediately froze.
“……”
A giant even larger than Rotem by a head.
A leather armor covering its upper body, including one shoulder.
A massive one-handed axe, rusted but still deadly.
And leather pants that had been torn off below the knees but still somehow remained intact.
It was the textbook appearance of a “giant adventurer,” and Rotem let out a relieved breath as he stood up.
“Phew, you scared me. Hello there? Working late, huh? Are you here for a field survey?”
The adventurer didn’t respond.
Instead, it took a single heavy step toward them.
“Uh… excuse me?”
[Rotem, that’s not an adventurer.]
“Huh?”
[More precisely… it was an adventurer.]
While Rotem turned toward the shadow, the “adventurer” closed the distance without hesitation.
And as its face finally entered the lantern light, Rotem understood what the shadow meant.
Eyes with no focus—or even visible pupils.
A dark red fluid dripping from a mouth half-open.
And most of all, the dark aura that completely enveloped its massive body.
“…No way—”
Before he could finish, the giant—once an adventurer—lunged forward with overwhelming force, swinging its axe.
“Ghk!”
Because of the sheer size of the swing, Rotem managed to grab the wrist holding the axe and halt its motion, but the difference in strength and the absence of rational thought made it impossible to hold it for long.
In the end, Rotem kicked the creature’s leg to break its stance, then clung to the axe arm, desperately trying to twist the elbow joint.
A normal person would have dropped the weapon in agony and screamed—but this being showed no intention of letting go, even if its arm bent the wrong way.
If he gave even an inch, his head would be split open.
“Hey, do something—anything!”
Rotem’s desperate shout was directed at the shadow that was simply hovering beside him.
But the shadow’s voice remained calm.
[What am I supposed to do?]
“Anything! Just do something!”
Crack—creak.
The monster’s elbow joint began to give way as it slowly freed itself from Rotem’s restraint.
[……Anything?]
“Yes! Hurry!”
[You said anything, right?]
“I did, so just—”
.
.
.
“…Huh?”
Morning sunlight seeped in from deep within the cave’s entrance.
The dreamlike gap in memory and time felt like waking from a deep sleep.
“……”
But Rotem knew.
What lay before his eyes was something that could resemble a dream—but absolutely was not.
“…What the hell did you do?”
[I just did what you told me to do. Anything.]
The shadow had already drifted casually beside him.
Its pair of red eyes stared at him, unchanged—ominous and unwavering.
Rotem stared at it for a moment, then sighed and stood up.
He dropped the axe he had somehow ended up holding onto the ground.
It struck the body of its former owner, scattering dark red droplets of blood.
“…I asked what you did.”
His voice wasn’t faint or trembling.
His mind was sharper than ever.
But the sensation still lingering in his hand—and the severed giant’s corpse that clearly caused it—left him with undeniable disgust.
[Just added a bit of equality to an unfair fight.]
“…What?”
[That wasn’t something that went mad or got consumed by rage. It was… something whose body and mind were taken by one of my kind.]
The “thing” the shadow referred to was the corpse, still oozing unnaturally dark blood.
“So its body was taken over? So you took over mine just now too?”
[I told you yesterday. I will never take your body. I just borrowed it because you told me to do anything.]
The giant’s corpse was now completely enveloped in a boiling, dark-red aura.
Rotem had seen this before—when traveling with a merchant caravan, he had seen it on the corpse of a frog-like swamp humanoid known as a Pogon by the roadside.
“…Your kind? Body possession? I’ve never even heard of a species like that. What the hell are you?”
Rotem stared directly into the shadow’s red eyes.
In response, the shadow let out a low murmur.
[Hmm. If you insist on defining us as a species… the humans who sealed me called beings like me “Black Spirits.”]
“Black… Spirits?”
An unfamiliar name.
[But to be precise, I’m a bit different from what they called Black Spirits. You could say I was… misaligned from the start.]
“…I don’t understand any of that.”
[You don’t need to. I don’t fully remember it either.]
The shadow drew a line—refusing to pursue what couldn’t be understood.
Rotem nodded, accepting the dismissal. Sensing his resignation, the shadow quickly changed the topic.
[By the way, how’s that thing?]
“That thing?”
Rotem glanced at the herbal bag at his side.
The same bag that had been crushed during the fight with the possessed giant.
“…It’s completely smashed.”
He sighed as he checked inside.
Everything inside—already low-grade to begin with—had been crushed beyond recognition. The mushrooms were mashed together into a rotten pulp.
“This is only good for soup now.”
[Good enough. Take it all out.]
“What?”
[Spread everything out on that rock.]
The shadow traced a large circle on a nearby stone near the cave entrance.
Rotem didn’t understand its intent, but followed anyway, dumping the contents of the bag onto the rock.
“Here.”
[Good. Watch closely.]
The shadow traced another large circle.
Then again—faster.
Again—faster still.
And again.
Rotem didn’t ask what it was doing.
Because something began responding before he could.
Just like the giant’s corpse, the mushroom pile began to bubble with dark energy.
But this time, the phenomenon wasn’t originating from the mushrooms themselves.
Instead, black energy rising from the damp ground, cave walls, and stalactites gathered around them—responding to the shadow’s movement as if in sync.
“What the—”
Rotem instinctively stepped back, unable to comprehend what was happening.
But soon, his breath caught.
Unlike the corpse, which had been dissolved by black bubbling energy, this time something flowed into the mushrooms.
The distorted mushrooms began to reverse their decay as if time itself were rewinding.
Caps flattened back into shape.
Mushy flesh hardened and regained structure.
Bent stems straightened upright again.
The process was gradual—but affecting all mushrooms at once.
Before long, Rotem could clearly see the result.
And it was—
“…Incredible.”
[Not bad, right?]
“It’s not just not bad. This is top-tier—no, beyond top-tier. I’ve never seen quality like this around here. Each one could fetch 300,000.”
As if already forgetting what had just happened, Rotem examined the mushrooms with admiration, ignoring entirely how they had been restored.
“How did you do it?”
[Even if I explained it, you wouldn’t understand. Just think of it as reversing the energy already present here.]
“So I could sell these, buy low-quality herbs again, and keep refining them here repeatedly…”
The Black Spirit had promised him a way to become wealthy.
And Rotem now believed that what had just happened was exactly that method.
But the shadow looked down at him with a faint, unreadable smile.
[Close. But things won’t always work like this. Herbs and mushrooms are just a starting point for capital—not the final goal.]
“…What?”
“You’re telling me this isn’t the end?”
[We’ll get to the final goal later. No point explaining it now.]
“For now, your job is to gradually reduce your slave duties while also finding steady buyers for mushrooms and herbs like these.”
“Buyers…”
Rotem’s mind searched through his memories.
“…Yeah. That won’t be difficult.”
[Good. Then let’s get to work, giant slave.]
The shadow drifted toward the cave entrance like smoke, grinning.
Rotem confirmed his bag was full and followed.
But a strange sense of discomfort suddenly brushed against his mind.
“…Hey, Black Spirit. I’ve got a question.”
[What is it?]
“Did you always have a mouth?”
The shadow paused, then turned back toward its slave.
And smiled—with a perfectly white set of teeth.
[Of course.]
Chapter 2: Giant Slave of the Small Village (2)
The atmosphere inside the damp, dark cavern wasn’t much different from daytime, but the sense of unease in the middle of the night carried a completely different level of chill. It pierced through the skin like a physical force.
Rotem, without realizing it, rubbed the arm holding the lantern as he walked. Behind him, following the increasingly hunched giant, a shadow thicker than the cave itself rippled and shifted.
[At this point, it’s no wonder most humans wouldn’t last.]
Whether it had any physical form or not, even the shadow seemed to sense the black energy suffusing the cave. Its red eyes flickered as it scanned the places within the cavern where it had once been “sealed,” and Rotem let out a short sigh.
“I told you, this cave is dangerous. The villagers freaked out just hearing I come here to pick mushrooms.”
[And yet you seem to be holding up pretty well? You even went into my old hidden spot earlier in the day. That place must’ve been hard to even breathe in.]
“Maybe it’s because I’m a big giant.”
[Hmm. Is that really all there is to it?]
The shadow let out a faint, barely perceptible smile.
It knew.
It knew exactly what kind of “energy” permeated this place—and that even ancient dragons would struggle to resist being consumed by it.
“Oh, here it is. Is something like this fine?”
Guided by the dim lantern light, Rotem ventured deeper and pulled something from behind a rock.
When he lifted the lantern toward it, a mushroom came into view—its cap half-blackened and mushy, almost rotting.
[Doesn’t matter. Quantity is what counts. Gather even the completely rotten ones.]
“Got it, got it.”
Having already mapped out most of the mushroom locations during earlier visits, Rotem quickly filled his herbal bag.
Of course, under normal circumstances he wouldn’t have even glanced at such poor-quality specimens, so doubts continued to linger in his mind as he picked them up.
“……”
“Hm? Did you say something?”
As Rotem lifted his head to find the source of the voice, the shadow shook its red eyes side to side.
[No, I didn’t say anything.]
“Really? I definitely heard something.”
[Maybe it was “that.”]
Following the shadow’s leisurely gaze, Rotem turned his lantern—and immediately froze.
“……”
A giant even larger than Rotem by a head.
A leather armor covering its upper body, including one shoulder.
A massive one-handed axe, rusted but still deadly.
And leather pants that had been torn off below the knees but still somehow remained intact.
It was the textbook appearance of a “giant adventurer,” and Rotem let out a relieved breath as he stood up.
“Phew, you scared me. Hello there? Working late, huh? Are you here for a field survey?”
The adventurer didn’t respond.
Instead, it took a single heavy step toward them.
“Uh… excuse me?”
[Rotem, that’s not an adventurer.]
“Huh?”
[More precisely… it was an adventurer.]
While Rotem turned toward the shadow, the “adventurer” closed the distance without hesitation.
And as its face finally entered the lantern light, Rotem understood what the shadow meant.
Eyes with no focus—or even visible pupils.
A dark red fluid dripping from a mouth half-open.
And most of all, the dark aura that completely enveloped its massive body.
“…No way—”
Before he could finish, the giant—once an adventurer—lunged forward with overwhelming force, swinging its axe.
“Ghk!”
Because of the sheer size of the swing, Rotem managed to grab the wrist holding the axe and halt its motion, but the difference in strength and the absence of rational thought made it impossible to hold it for long.
In the end, Rotem kicked the creature’s leg to break its stance, then clung to the axe arm, desperately trying to twist the elbow joint.
A normal person would have dropped the weapon in agony and screamed—but this being showed no intention of letting go, even if its arm bent the wrong way.
If he gave even an inch, his head would be split open.
“Hey, do something—anything!”
Rotem’s desperate shout was directed at the shadow that was simply hovering beside him.
But the shadow’s voice remained calm.
[What am I supposed to do?]
“Anything! Just do something!”
Crack—creak.
The monster’s elbow joint began to give way as it slowly freed itself from Rotem’s restraint.
[……Anything?]
“Yes! Hurry!”
[You said anything, right?]
“I did, so just—”
.
.
.
“…Huh?”
Morning sunlight seeped in from deep within the cave’s entrance.
The dreamlike gap in memory and time felt like waking from a deep sleep.
“……”
But Rotem knew.
What lay before his eyes was something that could resemble a dream—but absolutely was not.
“…What the hell did you do?”
[I just did what you told me to do. Anything.]
The shadow had already drifted casually beside him.
Its pair of red eyes stared at him, unchanged—ominous and unwavering.
Rotem stared at it for a moment, then sighed and stood up.
He dropped the axe he had somehow ended up holding onto the ground.
It struck the body of its former owner, scattering dark red droplets of blood.
“…I asked what you did.”
His voice wasn’t faint or trembling.
His mind was sharper than ever.
But the sensation still lingering in his hand—and the severed giant’s corpse that clearly caused it—left him with undeniable disgust.
[Just added a bit of equality to an unfair fight.]
“…What?”
[That wasn’t something that went mad or got consumed by rage. It was… something whose body and mind were taken by one of my kind.]
The “thing” the shadow referred to was the corpse, still oozing unnaturally dark blood.
“So its body was taken over? So you took over mine just now too?”
[I told you yesterday. I will never take your body. I just borrowed it because you told me to do anything.]
The giant’s corpse was now completely enveloped in a boiling, dark-red aura.
Rotem had seen this before—when traveling with a merchant caravan, he had seen it on the corpse of a frog-like swamp humanoid known as a Pogon by the roadside.
“…Your kind? Body possession? I’ve never even heard of a species like that. What the hell are you?”
Rotem stared directly into the shadow’s red eyes.
In response, the shadow let out a low murmur.
[Hmm. If you insist on defining us as a species… the humans who sealed me called beings like me “Black Spirits.”]
“Black… Spirits?”
An unfamiliar name.
[But to be precise, I’m a bit different from what they called Black Spirits. You could say I was… misaligned from the start.]
“…I don’t understand any of that.”
[You don’t need to. I don’t fully remember it either.]
The shadow drew a line—refusing to pursue what couldn’t be understood.
Rotem nodded, accepting the dismissal. Sensing his resignation, the shadow quickly changed the topic.
[By the way, how’s that thing?]
“That thing?”
Rotem glanced at the herbal bag at his side.
The same bag that had been crushed during the fight with the possessed giant.
“…It’s completely smashed.”
He sighed as he checked inside.
Everything inside—already low-grade to begin with—had been crushed beyond recognition. The mushrooms were mashed together into a rotten pulp.
“This is only good for soup now.”
[Good enough. Take it all out.]
“What?”
[Spread everything out on that rock.]
The shadow traced a large circle on a nearby stone near the cave entrance.
Rotem didn’t understand its intent, but followed anyway, dumping the contents of the bag onto the rock.
“Here.”
[Good. Watch closely.]
The shadow traced another large circle.
Then again—faster.
Again—faster still.
And again.
Rotem didn’t ask what it was doing.
Because something began responding before he could.
Just like the giant’s corpse, the mushroom pile began to bubble with dark energy.
But this time, the phenomenon wasn’t originating from the mushrooms themselves.
Instead, black energy rising from the damp ground, cave walls, and stalactites gathered around them—responding to the shadow’s movement as if in sync.
“What the—”
Rotem instinctively stepped back, unable to comprehend what was happening.
But soon, his breath caught.
Unlike the corpse, which had been dissolved by black bubbling energy, this time something flowed into the mushrooms.
The distorted mushrooms began to reverse their decay as if time itself were rewinding.
Caps flattened back into shape.
Mushy flesh hardened and regained structure.
Bent stems straightened upright again.
The process was gradual—but affecting all mushrooms at once.
Before long, Rotem could clearly see the result.
And it was—
“…Incredible.”
[Not bad, right?]
“It’s not just not bad. This is top-tier—no, beyond top-tier. I’ve never seen quality like this around here. Each one could fetch 300,000.”
As if already forgetting what had just happened, Rotem examined the mushrooms with admiration, ignoring entirely how they had been restored.
“How did you do it?”
[Even if I explained it, you wouldn’t understand. Just think of it as reversing the energy already present here.]
“So I could sell these, buy low-quality herbs again, and keep refining them here repeatedly…”
The Black Spirit had promised him a way to become wealthy.
And Rotem now believed that what had just happened was exactly that method.
But the shadow looked down at him with a faint, unreadable smile.
[Close. But things won’t always work like this. Herbs and mushrooms are just a starting point for capital—not the final goal.]
“…What?”
“You’re telling me this isn’t the end?”
[We’ll get to the final goal later. No point explaining it now.]
“For now, your job is to gradually reduce your slave duties while also finding steady buyers for mushrooms and herbs like these.”
“Buyers…”
Rotem’s mind searched through his memories.
“…Yeah. That won’t be difficult.”
[Good. Then let’s get to work, giant slave.]
The shadow drifted toward the cave entrance like smoke, grinning.
Rotem confirmed his bag was full and followed.
But a strange sense of discomfort suddenly brushed against his mind.
“…Hey, Black Spirit. I’ve got a question.”
[What is it?]
“Did you always have a mouth?”
The shadow paused, then turned back toward its slave.
And smiled—with a perfectly white set of teeth.
[Of course.]
