The Carrot and the Stick
I already knew Arme would try something clever. Any player who'd grasped her personality from the original game could have predicted it — and even without that knowledge, a child could have guessed that in a situation like this, it was the only move she had.
Completely breaking Arme's spirit was never going to be easy. And I felt a kind of thrill at that. Precisely because she was difficult, putting her beneath my feet would mean something.
"Nnngh…!"
Arme let out a low groan. Not even an hour had passed since the sleeping draught had put her under. Poison resistance worthy of a member of the original protagonist's party. Under ordinary circumstances, the stuff should have kept her out for a full day.
The idea that poison resistance would grant immunity to a sleeping draught seemed a little off, if I was being honest. Strictly speaking, shouldn't that be drug resistance? Well — poison or medicine, chemically they're more or less the same thing. Not that I know chemistry. Close enough.
Arme's recovery had outpaced my expectations, but I'd already finished tying her down. I'd been planning to wake her myself anyway, so her coming around on her own was a favor, really. She'd walked into hell of her own accord.
"Buhihit! You've been a rather insolent little guest."
Even I found my own voice repulsive as it filled the room — a hideous sound steeped in meanness and malice. Arme's eyes fluttered open, groggy and unfocused. She scanned her surroundings with a dazed expression, still trying to piece the situation together, and then she understood. Fury bloomed across her face. It was a look I never got tired of.
"Damn it…!"
A single bitter word. That was all she needed to say how she felt.
"Cunning little sneak-thief. But I can see right through you, Arme. You will never escape my grasp."
"Fuck you, you piece of shit! I'll kill you! I swear I'll fucking kill you!"
Having failed her escape, Arme made no effort to hide the raw hatred boiling off her — though, to be fair, she'd been like that before the attempt as well. Watching her glare at me with eyes that burned with rage and venom, I was reminded of a cat with its fur standing on end. The actual cat, Sera, studied her with open interest and turned to me.
"Master. You know, if you want that girl, you don't have to go through all this complicated stuff, right? Just shove your cock in her and any woman would come around."
True to her nature as a beastkin — a people for whom polygamy was simply the default — Sera urged me to take Arme without the slightest hint of discomfort. Luna, herself a slave, nodded as if she agreed.
"Buhihit! You're not wrong. But this is a kind of game. I enjoy the process. Nothing in this world is as hollow as success without effort. Buhihit!"
"What the hell are you talking about?! If a pig like you ever touches me, I'll kill myself!"
Arme shouted until the veins stood out on her neck, but there was no sincerity in it. She was the type to claw and scrape her way toward her goal rather than die with her dignity intact. Even if I wrecked her thoroughly, she would live to kill me before she ever killed herself out of shame. Of course, she wouldn't be able to withstand the pleasure I gave her either.
"Anyway. You pulled a naughty little stunt, so you'll have to be punished. Luna. Bring the meal."
"Yes."
Luna set a tray from the inn's kitchen on the wooden table beside me. Fresh-baked white bread. A thick soup loaded with meat and vegetables. A salad of marinated chicken tossed with crisp greens. Bite-sized chunks of roasted pork. And a cup of warm milk sweetened with honey.
In Solari World, a commoner's meal was black bread of rye or oats, and water. A farmer of some means might eat chicken or drink milk once or twice a week; pork or beef was reserved for holidays. Arme, of course, had been a nighttime visitor who helped herself to the larders of the rich, so she'd eaten better than that — but the spread Sera had fetched was still the equal of a noble's table.
Arme hadn't eaten since the day before. The moment the smell hit her, her eyes all but rolled back in her head. No one in this world beats hunger. And even if someone could, it wouldn't be Arme.
"Gem>Gulp…! Kh! So you're going to torture me with food, you coward?!"
"Listen to you, little saint. Aren't you embarrassed saying that out loud? No matter how underhanded I am, I haven't fallen so far that I need moral lectures from a thief."
"Kh! You pig bastard…! Gulp…!"
Her body, at least, was honest.
"Buhihit! That swallow sounds like thunder. That hungry, are you?"
"I'm not… hungry!"
The bravado in her voice suggested she could still hold out. I'd been giving her water in small amounts so she wouldn't collapse, and she wasn't at the point of her eyes rolling back just yet. But she wouldn't last. I could see that much in her gaze alone.
"Then that's fortunate. I was planning to go about three days of torture with no meals at all. You've saved me the trouble. Luna. Throw it all out."
"Yes."
"W-wait! Kh! You're going to throw away something that precious? You'll be struck down by heaven for that!"
Arme shouted with her face gone scarlet. It was hardly the sort of thing a hostage was supposed to say. She seemed to realize it herself, because she ducked my gaze the moment the words were out. She was putting on a brave face, but she was at her limit. She was so hungry her mouth was no longer under her control. Hunger, in the end, is the finest torture there is.
"Buhihit! True enough. They say if you throw food away carelessly, you have to eat every last scrap of it in hell. All mixed together, too."
"Th-that's right. Can't have that. Absolutely not."
"In that case… I suppose I'll have to eat it all myself. Right here."
"!?"
Arme's eyes shook harder than they had when I'd threatened to throw the food away. Starving on its own, versus watching someone else eat while you were starving to death — I couldn't say which was worse. But if I had to guess, I'd put my money on the latter.
The sole advantage of this obese body was that I could eat with gusto. Back in the real world, I could have made decent money as a mukbang streamer. I decided to put that talent to full use.
I tore the bread in front of Arme with deliberate exaggeration. Soft white bread made of wheat alone — in this world, white bread was a symbol of wealth. I dipped it in the soup and put it in my mouth. The broth, loaded with meat and rich with umami, soaked into the crumb. Moist wheat bread and savory soup made a magnificent pairing.
"Buhihit! I can't help but laugh. This fantastical softness! They weren't lying when they said the innkeeper can cook."
It didn't compare to food from the real world, but it wasn't bad.
"Gu…lp!"
Arme's pupils tracked the food in my hand. I drank the soup. I stacked pork and salad on a piece of bread and ate that too. Every time I swallowed, she gulped down saliva.
"Wow… Master, you look like you're enjoying that so much. Now I want to eat too."
Even Sera was impressed. By the time I was about halfway through the meal, Arme finally broke into sniffling, hitching sobs.
"Hic…! Hic…! Hh…! Hh…!"
That Arme — that stubborn, sharp-edged Arme — crying. Her heart was beginning to give. I did not let the moment pass.
"Buhihit! This meal is too good to eat alone. Hey, Arme. Won't you have a bite?"
"Huh!? What!? For real?"
"That's right. There's too much for me by myself. And if I leave leftovers, I'll be punished by heaven, won't I?"
The key here was to leave her pride intact. Whip her too hard and her heart would only harden further. Sometimes the stick, sometimes the carrot. That was the whole method.
"Ahem. Right. Right you are. W-well… I suppose I wouldn't mind helping out…"
Minutes ago she had been glaring at me like a mortal enemy. Now she had her eyes down and was all but groveling. Hunger had bent Arme the way it bends bamboo. The venom and fury that had been burning in her gaze faded before my eyes. A good sign. I could feel it — the day I would have her was not far off.
"Buhihit! Thank you for cooperating. I'd love it if you stayed this obedient from now on."
"Hmph! Don't get the wrong idea. I haven't submitted to you! B-but leaving food uneaten gets you punished, so…"
She was already halfway broken. Once Arme becomes my cock-sleeve, what kind of play should I put her through? She's so petite I could keep her plugged onto me at all times, like a living case for my dick. With her stealth technique, I could even take her for a walk like that. The pleasant fantasy filled my head.
"Buhihit! Good. Luna. Lend me your mouth."
"Yes. This way."
I stood and received Luna's fellatio. Arme stared, bewildered, as I suddenly put Luna to work. Luna's technique improved by the day. At this point, if I didn't concentrate, I could barely last three minutes.
"Slurp. Slurp. Slurp. Slurp. Slurp. Shluuurp. Churrrp. Bweh—"
Luna hollowed her cheeks and applied a fierce, vacuum-tight suction, and she was lewd and beautiful doing it. I wanted to take a picture and set it as my phone wallpaper. Later.
"That's enough. I'm about to come."
I pulled out of Luna's mouth in a hurry and splattered my semen generously over the soup, the bread, the meat, and the salad. Thanks to a volume several times that of an ordinary man, I was able to drench every dish as thoroughly as if I'd been pouring tartar sauce. Luna looked at the result with open regret. Heh. Tonight I'd pour plenty into her stomach to make up for it.
"Wh-what are you doing!?"
"The food's all good, but it was lacking a deep, rich umami. So I personally added the sauce. Buhihit! You'll get to eat a meal even tastier than mine. I'm jealous."
"You bastard…!"
Arme trembled, but she no longer glared at me the way one glares at the murderer of one's parents. Proof that her heart had bent a great deal. Right now, she would be grateful for anything that filled her empty stomach.
"Sera. Feed this meal to Arme."
"Okay~ But I want to eat a little too."
"N-no! This is my food!"
Arme snapped at Sera, her voice gone sharp. Raising her fur like an angry cat to protect a plate of semen-sauced food — now that was progress. Sera made a disappointed face and fed Arme by hand. Arme ate the semen meal so readily I had to wonder if this was the same girl who had thrown up from drinking my piss.
"Mmph… mmph… gulp…!"
You don't disturb a dog while it eats. I waited quietly until she had finished every bite. The training was going remarkably smoothly.
After that, it was smooth sailing. I spent a great deal of time on Arme's training. Luna and Sera carved out a few hours each day to clean the mansion, and in those hours I walked Arme or fed her.
For the walks, I fitted her with a slave collar and then used a disguise item. It was a one-gold trinket from the Magic Tower, which was no burden to me at all. Being able to enjoy a pleasant walk with Arme made it feel cheap, if anything. That the Magic Tower sold things like this at all — the people here had a certain flair. Used properly, I suspected it would come in handy in a dungeon or on a battlefield.
Arme had to crawl on all fours like a dog. She refused stubbornly at first, but she soon realized that a walk was better than being locked in the inn, and she complied. The semen meals had taken her temperament down a peg, and that made the rest of the training considerably easier.
"G-good morning, Master…"
The morning greeting, when she woke, was starting to sound almost natural.
"Fuck. Calling you Master feels so goddamn awkward."
It wasn't fully in her mouth yet, of course. In truth, I preferred Arme's original way of speaking to the formal register Luna and Sera used. Forcing honorifics on her was only a lesson — a way of breaking her will.
"Buhihit! Good morning."
Arme slept in a doghouse. I had personally built her a small one in the inn room. Doghouse or not, it was large enough for her to stretch her legs — about the size of a single bed.
"Morning kiss."
"Ugh… fuck…"
She accepted the semen meals as a matter of course now, and she no longer refused the morning kiss. In less than a week, Arme had begun to accept her place. It was time to take full ownership of her.