And so, somehow, time passed, barely slipping past noon, and my welding work was finished.
"I suppose all that's left is to pray it works out, right?"
From the start, I had no clue about blueprints or anything like that; I just followed the impulsive image in my head and cobbled it together roughly. The result was embarrassingly pathetic—a hunk of scrap metal barely better than junk iron.
[Hmm... It's just a piece of scrap metal patched up here and there with mithril chains? I can't grasp what kind of tool this is supposed to be... But since it's the thought of the zookeeper who's obsessed with the female knight, it's undoubtedly a perverted tool!]
The SD character's smug expression, as if it saw right through me, was irritating even without looking. I deliberately ignored its words and headed back towards the pigpen.
[So, what's this afternoon's training about? hehehe...]
Its tone seemed subtly expectant as it displayed the SD character again with the 'No lewd stuff!' speech bubble. Without even looking, I knew it was probably imagining me violently defiling the female knight's virginity.
[Gulp!]
"...Seems your imagination is useless."
I gave a half-hearted response to the creature, which instantly popped up a message window desperately denying it, and then I walked towards the brick house located a little below the pigpen.
I'd heard from my mother that this house was completed the year I was born and that we lived here until I was a few years old. But it was so long ago that I had no memory of it; it was just a brick house with no particular nostalgia attached.
[What's this? You said you were doing afternoon training, so why are you at the house? You're not planning to just leave her be and take a nap or something, are you?]
"I need to feed the sow, and I also need some other separate tools, so I came to get them."
[What about that hunk of scrap metal you made earlier??]
"I said I'd use that tomorrow. More importantly, what's the best food to give the sow..."
[Wouldn't it be fitting for a pig to give it food scraps?!]
Thinking about it, this guy is actually quite ruthless. How can it so brazenly suggest giving food scraps to someone it kidnapped?
[Well, you know! In that lewd novel you read when you were 15, they starved the captured female knight and then, when she was physically weakened, attacked her mentally, like...]
Weaken her mentally by using her hunger?
Actually, the easiest way to handle an animal is through food control.
Nowadays, it's automated, but back when I had to scoop and carry feed myself, I was an object of both love and hate for the pigs.
Of course, even now, if the equipment breaks down sometimes, I still go around feeding them myself.
Anyway, for the pigs, my presence meant getting injections or being sold off, so I was someone they should run from the moment they saw me.
But at the same time, I was the one and only being who gave them water and food, so I was literally their absolute ruler.
As time passed and the pigs gained some experience, some grew clever; when they saw me pulling the cart, they knew it was feeding time and would approach me, but if I came empty-handed, they'd run away.
But let's leave the stories of those who've already ended up on someone's dinner table for now.
For livestock, feed plays a major role in establishing a clear hierarchy and controlling them.
But if that method was likely to work, would I need to go on like this?
"You think you can control a female knight, of all things, with food? Is there any stupider idea than that?"
There are historical figures who starved themselves to death in prison rather than eat the food given by their captors.
She's not just any pig; she's a female knight I plan to make loyal to me. I doubt a childish threat like 'If you don't listen, you get no food!' would work.
Starve her? This isn't some kids' game.
"I'll just stir-fry some stuff from the fridge and give it to her."
Kimchi, green onions, a few cans of ham, and rice.
Stir-fried together, it's a fantastically delicious combination—it can't not be tasty.
Still, it's her first day, and she's suffered this ordeal, so I should show at least this much sincerity.
They say sincerity moves heaven; surely, a master who personally cooks meals like this might make even a sow feel grateful and willingly submit to training.
[Farmkeeper!]
What?
[If you overdo the bullshit, it becomes a sickness, you know?]
...Bitch.
A little time passed. After preparing the meal for Eleonora, I headed straight to the pigpen where she was.
I grabbed the pigpen door handle—the one that started my new day—and pulled it open. What caught my eye was the sight of the pigs all huddled together for some reason.
"What's that?"
Did they all gather to eat, and then something went wrong?
If they'd caught some disease, I'd be screwed, so I rushed over to the pen to check and isolate them if needed. Contrary to my fears, the pigs were all fine.
-Groooowl?!
-Kweeeeeeek!!
-Kwiiiiik!!
In fact, they were so healthy that the moment they heard my footsteps, they panicked and scattered instantly, like a bunch of ants.
As all the pigs fled, the center of where they had been huddled was revealed. There lay Eleonora, flattened against the ground as per the rule I'd given her before leaving: 'Walk on all fours.'
"Quite popular with the males, aren't you? Is living naked that great? Why aren't you wearing clothes?"
"Because of the trick you played on me—! Haah..."
It seemed the pigs had been drawn and gathered by the female scent Eleonora unconsciously gave off.
Like iron filings to a magnet, those impotent eunuchs probably gathered because they smelled a female and got excited.
"Release this trick you've cast on my arms at once! How dare you treat my hands like a pig!"
"Oh? You noticed?"
Our rule says [The sow walks on four legs.], but where would a sow's hands be? Of course, they'd be front legs.
"If she's a sow, wouldn't it be logical for her to walk on four legs?"
The killing intent Eleonora directed at me intensified.
But, true to her knightly nature, perhaps she was accepting her situation and preparing to overcome it. She stared intently at the kimchi fried rice in my hand and then suddenly spoke with a look of contempt.
"...I knew it. You filthy scum."
"Hey, what's sudden?"
I had stir-fried it perfectly, fluffy and delicious, and even used one of the few fancy-looking plates in the house, plating it nicely. The response I got from Eleonora was enough to knock the spirit right out of me.
"The psychology of lowlifes who treat slaves like that is obvious. Undoubtedly, you plan to feed me those food scraps and feel some sense of superiority, don't you?"
"No, hey!"
[Hehehe, she called it food scraps, keke kek!]
After all the trouble I went to make it, she calls it food scraps! It's the dish I cook best! I even rendered the scallion oil nicely while stir-frying it. Is it really that bad?
[It must be a cultural difference! That sow probably ate bread where she came from; when would she have encountered rice like this? Not to mention, food with this visual presentation inside this stinky pigpen. It's understandable she'd misunderstand!]
Well, that makes sense.
Judging by her armor, her cultural level is probably around that of the medieval West in the past.
If you asked her if the Earth is round or flat, she'd probably be more likely to say flat.
But even if she knew about rice, the fact that she was summoned specifically to this pigpen was also a problem.
I took it for granted that since I'm fine with the smell of pig poop, Eleonora would be too.
"But it's still somehow irritating. Very irritating."
"Hmph."
At first, I thought she might be wary, suspecting it was poisoned, so I was even going to eat a spoonful myself to reassure her. But to call my masterpiece 'food scraps'? I ought to immediately... punish this wicked woman...
'Wait, no?'
Maybe this is actually good?
"Kukuku, so you refuse the daily sustenance you're meant to eat?"
"Do you think I would eat that garbage you call food? Those who have reached my level feel nothing even if they fast completely for a month."
"Hoh... You can control your hunger?"
Is that another fantasy novel-like setting she's following?
While I was thinking, Eleonora, who was still hugging her armor—now a bit dirtied but still shiny—to her body like a brooding duck, seemed to think she had scored a point against me. She gave a cold, sneering smile.
"If you understand, then get lost. From the start..."
"? "
"It hasn't even been a day—no, not even half a day since you kidnapped me, and you're already trying to feed me food scraps? You're not even at the level to talk about 'training' or anything else, you third-rate among third-rates, trying to humiliate me, Eleonora Croft?"
I never intended to give you food scraps in the first place, you bitch.
But thanks to that, a good idea came to me.
"I'll have to punish you. It's utterly insolent how you keep forgetting your place and acting up."
"Brave words from a coward who can't even lay a hand on me without these tricks."
Eleonora turned her head away from me, snorting and provoking me. But did she know what I had written on 'Our Rules' while she was distracted?
"Is that so? Well then, I have no choice. I can't bear to see my cute sow starve to death, so I'm in a position where I have to force-feed you."
"As if I would eat that sort of—"
"What if I said I'd lift the restriction on your body and allow you to wear clothes?"
A flicker of uncertainty crossed Eleonora's face, which had been glaring coldly at me.