[Would you like to introduce Eleonora to this pen? (※You can move her to other pens later!)
YES / NO]
"Yes, please."
The moment I pressed YES, the greatsword that had come within a hair's breadth of splitting my skull stopped dead in its tracks.
"W-what is this…?! Why can't I move…?!"
In a split second—maybe even less—Eleonora, who had been about to slice me in half, froze mid-swing. Her body refused to obey her, and she glared at me with a mix of confusion and rage.
"What did you do to me?! Tell me! What kind of trickery is this—"
[Keeper! Set the rules for the pen!]
Pen rules?
As I muttered in confusion, the pen where Eleonora and I stood began to glow. The light started from the ground and spread to the walls, reminding me of the animations in mobile games when you buy land.
[I apologize for not explaining this earlier due to the emergency.]
The light coalesced into a screen in front of me, and the message window appeared again.
[Normally, I wouldn't act without your consent, but given the unexpected situation and the threat to your life, I took the liberty of setting some rules for the pen. My apologies.]
The SD character—a pink-haired, winged figure in an elegant dress—bowed its head apologetically. Just moments ago, it had been teasing me, but now it seemed genuinely remorseful.
"Hmm, we'll talk about compensation later."
[What?! I just bowed my head to you, and you're already demanding compensation?! I saved your life!]
"Nope, not happening. I'm not letting this slide."
I almost died, after all.
The SD character, which had been so polite moments ago, now fluttered around angrily. But it didn't argue further, as if it knew it was in the wrong.
"Anyway, about the pen rules…"
[Eleonora the sow cannot harm the keeper, Shin Seon.]
This was the first of five lines of hastily set rules. Just this one sentence had been enough to restrict Eleonora's actions.
[By the way, what a violent sow! She actually broke mithril chains with sheer strength!]
"Mithril?"
[The hardest metal in the world. It becomes stronger the more mana it absorbs, making it incredibly effective against mana users. And she shattered it with brute force…]
So she basically said, "Screw magic, I'll do it with muscle!"
I was starting to like this knight—no, this sow.
"So, today's her first day in the pen, and I was trying to be considerate since she got kidnapped unintentionally. But she tried to kill me?!"
"Ugh… just a little more…!"
But at the same time, she was such a brat!
The sword was so sharp that even a slight movement made my hair fall and my skin sting. I didn't need to check to know it could cut through anything.
And the fact that she could swing a greatsword as big as a child with such ease…
Could any hunter in our country do something like this?
The thrill of escaping death's shadow—without any warning—was enough to make me taunt her naturally.
"Hahaha! So close, Eleonora! Just one more millimeter, and you would've split my skull, my spine, and even my manhood clean in half!"
"What did you do to me…?! What kind of trickery is this?!"
Eleonora demanded an explanation, her voice filled with frustration and disbelief as she watched me sit down and stand up repeatedly beneath her sword.
"Should I tell you?"
"Who are you?! What kind of monster are you?! I've never heard of a strongman who could humiliate me like this!"
Huff…! Huff…!
The fierce lioness roared at me, but I wasn't scared. The sweat on her well-defined abs and her ragged breath showed how hard she was struggling to move.
"Maybe it's not that I'm strong, but that you're weak?"
"What?! You just got lucky this time, but do you think that luck will last forever?!"
She pulled back her sword, likely aiming to slice me in half this time. A gust of wind blew as she swung, but by the time I regained my senses, the blade was already at my side—yet it couldn't touch me.
"What is this…?! What is this?!"
"You want to kill me…"
"Huh?"
"You want to kill me, don't you? You're thinking, 'I need to kill this man who's humiliating me with some unknown sorcery.' But can you?"
Was I being bold because I was taunting someone who was desperately trying to kill me? Or was it the blood dripping from my forehead to the tip of my nose, filling the air with its metallic scent, that made me so excited?
"You're a pig. A sow. I don't know where you came from, but one thing's clear: you're a sow, and I'm your master."
"Shut up!"
Stabbing, slashing, swinging—
I couldn't see the exact movements of her sword, but I could guess based on where it stopped just before touching me.
Ignoring the gusts of wind and the sword swings, I continued.
"To be honest, you're the first sow pretending to be human that I've dealt with… but congratulations! You get the honor of being my first sow to tame!"
"I'll rip your mouth apart…!"
I was planning to be gentle at first, but seeing this arrogant sow repeatedly threaten my life made me want to teach her a lesson.
"Rip my mouth? With what? Your hands? Or your sword?"
"I'll leave that to you. Choose. Sword? Or hands?"
The hierarchy—
In the wild, animals establish dominance through strength. Among humans, it's wealth, education, or age. It's a relationship everyone experiences at least once in their life…
"Hands? Sword? But what's the point of choosing?"
"Are you scared now? Well, even if you don't choose, I… huh?!"
—THUD!
Eleonora's sword fell from her hand as her body collapsed to the ground. She tried to stand but ended up on all fours, her hands gripping the dirt as if denying her human evolution.
"What is this…?! My body… again?!"
"What's wrong? You were going to choose between hands or a sword, right? But where are a sow's hands or sword? All you have are front legs and hooves."
"Grrrr…?!"
[Sows must remain on all fours in the pen (knees not touching the ground).]
At first, I thought I'd need a pen to write the rules, but as soon as I thought about it, they appeared on their own.
"My body… won't get up…?!"
No matter how hard she struggled, Eleonora couldn't rise. She looked up at me in disbelief.
"Youuuu…!!"
"Tsk tsk, look at her still acting all high and mighty. A sow who doesn't know her place…"
"I'll kill you! I'll kill youuuu!!"
"I've been hearing that since earlier, but when exactly are you going to kill me? Huh?"
I leisurely circled Eleonora before plopping down on her back. The vibrations of her deep rage were palpable. Even with a fierce wild boar in front of me, my life was guaranteed.
'…Taming a sow might not be so bad after all.'
[As expected, Keeper! I told you! You act all innocent, but you're actually a huge pervert and a schemer!]
"Shut up."