50. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Pet Human (3)

How do you make a strong, violent puppy docile?

Simple.

You train it. But the discipline needs to be intense for it to sink in.

Like right now, if it tries to pull a violent stunt like gathering mana that's clearly about to blow up.

Pueok!

"Gah-ack!!!"

I punched Gwen hard in the heart while she was gathering mana.

I absorbed the mana that was about to explode in an instant. With her mana completely gone and having taken a heavy blow to the heart, Gwen hunched over, unable to breathe.

I need to imprint on her that this kind of pain follows such behavior.

If she were a real puppy, it wouldn't work in one or two tries, but since Gwen is a human, not a puppy, I think she'll get it right away.

I know this method takes time.

But anyone would want a pet that can communicate.

Imagine a dog or cat communicating like a friend and sharing a mental connection. How ecstatic would that be?

Of course, with a cat, you wouldn't be friends; you'd just be their butler.

"Gah-ack...! Im-impossible! How did you [absorb] the mana!"

Having absorbed all the mana gathered in her heart, I stroked her cheek and said,

"From now on, if you use mana without my permission, I'll erase one of your body parts. Got it?"

"Ptooey!"

Before I could even finish, Gwen spat at me. I wiped the spit off my face with my hand.

"I will definitely kill you."

Gwen is more violent than I expected.

Since becoming a Queen and a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠woman, I've had trouble controlling my temper.

The moment Gwen spat on my face just now, I almost slammed my hand into her head, crushed her brain, and turned her into a vegetable that only births creatures.

But what I want is a pet human, not a doll.

I want ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to interact with a pretty human, not play dress-up.

Besides, if it were anyone else, I would have killed them the moment I got spat on, but I am a very patient person.

If they were animals that couldn't understand, I could just hit them, but as expected, it was obvious that a human who is too smart would be hard to tame.

First, I need to break that spirit. She just charges at me whenever, so training is impossible.

What should I do to weaken a human's mind?

Simple.

I just need to drill into her brain that she is a useless, helpless human.

How do I know this?

I know because I was treated like that at work.

Gwen, having been punched directly in the heart, was still gasping for air, unable to recover.

Since I want to impregnate her with creatures using a body that has been trained for a long time and possesses mana, just taking away her mana isn't enough.

If I keep taking her mana, I can't do what I want. Even if her mana recovers, I have to make sure she doesn't pull any funny business.

In the end, I'll have to periodically take her mana until Gwen becomes a pet human.

"Yui."

"Yes, I understand."

==

'Where am I being dragged to?'

I knew I was being carried by Yui and walking somewhere, but since I couldn't see any light at all, I couldn't gauge where we were.

My body was completely drained of mana, making it hard to even move, so I couldn't even resist and was carried along.

After walking for about five minutes, we stopped.

"Put her down here."

Yui threw her roughly onto the floor, but Gwen immediately adjusted her posture and executed a breakfall.

"First, I'll keep it simple. This is a prison. So, why are you here?"

Although Lea didn't flick her hand or issue a verbal command, Dagos, having realized what Lea wanted through the Hive Mind, placed two cocoons hanging from the colony ceiling in front of Gwen.

As Dagos brought down the two cocoons from the warehouse ceiling outside the prison, Lea reached out.

She placed her hand on Gwen's eyes and activated healing holy magic using holy power.

Now, without any help from Erina, the healing holy magic activated naturally, restoring Gwen's ruined eyes.

"Ugh...!"

It hadn't been long, but as light entered her eyes, which hadn't seen light for several hours, Gwen squinted hard, then adjusted to the light piercing through her eyelids and opened her eyes.

What appeared in her restored vision was not a Ners, nor Lea, nor Yui.

It was two citizens of Medherun City, shedding tears.

They had been freed from the cocoons and were sitting in front of Gwen, with only their limbs bound.

As soon as the citizens were freed from the cocoons, they felt hope upon seeing Gwen.

They thought she had come here to save them. But that hope was shattered by Lea's words from behind.

"Gwen-nim. Kill one of the two. I intend to feed them to my children, and I want you to choose which one. You know who these humans in front of you are, don't you?"

As Lea said, Gwen knew the citizens in front of her.

Gwen always woke up at dawn to patrol Medherun City.

She didn't know every citizen, but if they had greeted each other even once, she knew their faces, even if she didn't remember their names.

"G-Gwen-nim, p-please save us!"

"Gwen-nim, please, let us escape from here!!!"

Gwen's gaze shifted from the citizens to Lea, who was sitting behind them acting haughty, and Yui, who was next to her.

"B-rank Adventurer Yui, Saint Lea. Do you think the Goddess will just stand by after you've done this!!!"

"Sorry, but I am a being chosen by the Goddess."

"Don't talk bullshit!!! There's no way the Goddess would choose a being like you... wait..."

A warm, cozy power was flowing softly from Lea's body.

There was no mistaking it.

It was clearly holy power.

"How do you think I was able to heal your eyes, Gwen-nim? Surely you know that was holy power, don't you?"

"That can't be... How can a monster possess holy power..."

"So, don't waste any more time."

Gwen closed her eyes and sat still for a moment, then opened them and said in a calm voice,

"I will never listen to you."

"Is that so? If you don't kill one, I'll just kill both. If you kill one, you could save the other, but you're saying you'd rather let both die? Understood."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not that weak. Besides, the fact that you kidnapped people here means you had no intention of letting them live from the start. Especially now that they've seen your face."

"As expected, you're not holding the Knight Commander position for nothing, are you?"

As soon as Lea finished speaking, small Ners swarmed into the prison like a colony of ants and began to devour the man wriggling on the floor.

"Aaaaaaaah!!!"

In just a few minutes, the man was eaten by the Ners, bones and all, and disappeared.

Gwen watched the process without blinking an eye. She knew that the life and death of these two people wasn't actually decided by her choice.

These were all situations planned by the monster that had been eating humans while pretending to be a Saint.

She knew it logically, but the person she knew had been right in front of her, reaching out and begging to be saved, only to die just like that.

Gwen closed her eyes for a moment to mourn the dead.

"N-No! Why! Why! The person next to me died!!!"

The Ners rushed at the human who was still alive right next to the one who had already vanished.

The remaining human wriggled like a bug, trying his best to escape the Ners, but even if he could sprint, escape was impossible.

"Aaaaaah! S-Save me! Please save me! Gwen-nim!!! S-Save... Ugh! Blegh!"

He retched, trying to spit out the Ners entering his mouth, but he couldn't stop them from pushing in, and he was devoured from the outside and inside.

==

In just a few minutes, the humans in front of Gwen disappeared without even leaving bones behind.

Regardless, among the captured humans, the men without mana were just food, so it was killing two birds with one stone: giving Gwen a mental blow while disposing of food that would be eaten anyway.

No matter how much Gwen claims to have strong mental fortitude and that she's fine, that's nonsense.

For a human, it's impossible not to have a mental change when seeing a fellow human die.

Even I, who possess a Hive Mind, feel my humanity slipping away little by little every time I see a human die, so it makes no sense that Gwen, an ordinary human, would be unaffected.

Of course, it might be different if she were a psychopath. But from spending about two months with Gwen at the orphanage, I felt that she is definitely not a psychopath.

On the contrary, she is someone who likes and loves people and sacrifices her own body to protect them.

If such a person keeps seeing the humans she tried to protect die right in front of her, her mind is bound to collapse.

"From now on, have all Ners eat humans here."

[ Understood. ]

If this doesn't work, I'll make Gwen kill and eat humans herself, and her mind will surely collapse at some point.

And then, I'll naturally have Narim cook the humans that Gwen eats.

As expected, I am smart.

==

Medherun City recovered quickly.

There were many casualties, but most of the damage was in the eastern district.

Since there were no corpses—the monster corpses had just exploded and vanished—the only thing that needed to be restored was the buildings.

Naturally, restoring buildings can be done very quickly if there is manpower.

Thus, Medherun City quickly returned to normal, but there was a separate problem.

It was the disappearance of Gwen, the Knight Commander of Medherun City.

The last known sighting of Gwen was meeting Albert.

Albert said she left after talking to him, but no one knew her whereabouts after that.

It was clearly strange to anyone.

Everyone suspected Albert. But even so, they didn't interrogate ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠him.

Because no matter how much Albert was a person of the shadows, he was someone who supported Gwen.

Although he disliked her, she made the Knights in this city stronger and protected the city's safety more than anyone else.

From Albert's perspective, Gwen was a very important resource.

So, even though he disliked her, he provided many resources and granted many of her requests.

He knew that was for the good of the city.

Of course, it was a bit annoying that Gwen kept trying to interfere with his own affairs, but even considering that, Gwen was needed in this city.

Did Albert kidnap or kill Gwen? No, was kidnapping even possible in the first place?

Absolutely not.

It's true that Albert is stronger than an ordinary person, but compared to Gwen, he's like a child.

He could try to kidnap her using drugs or something. But everyone knows that Gwen is more hostile, suspicious, and wary of Albert than anyone else in this city.

Furthermore, a human like Gwen can resist most drugs.

Gwen, kidnapped by Albert? It would make sense if Gwen killed Albert, but being kidnapped by him was nonsensical.

Still, just in case, they even interrogated Albert using the Lie Detector, the most important magic tool in the city.

Did you kidnap Gwen?

Did you harm Gwen?

Many conversations went back and forth, but one thing was certain: Albert only talked to Gwen and didn't lay a finger on her, and Gwen disappeared after talking to him.

Then where on earth did Gwen go?

Was Gwen kidnapped? No, who would she have been kidnapped by in the first place?

The scenario of her being kidnapped by someone didn't make sense at all.

Then only one thing remained.

Gwen disappeared on her own.

To be precise, she ran away.

But this also made no sense.

Gwen abandoned this city and ran away?

This also didn't make sense.

In the end, no one could find the answer.

But they hadn't given up.