I Thought She Was the Nicest Assyrian Around
"Ara ara~♡ It's been quite a while since I last breathed the open air."
Standing on two feet instead of four, Sayoko followed behind me with the graceful, measured steps of a refined lady, her kimono swaying gently with every stride.
"So you don't know your way around here, Sayoko?"
"Fufu, it seems like a wonderful opportunity for Sayoko to receive Master's personal guidance. I will study every nook and cranny very, very thoroughly under your care♡."
"Could you not wrap up 'I don't know' in such disgusting packaging?"
Jessica, dressed in her skimpy cheerleader uniform, bumped into Sayoko. To be precise, she shoved her aside with a cheeky knock of her hip.
"Ahhn—"
Letting out a dainty, pitiful cry, Sayoko threw herself into my chest, rubbing her body against mine in the process. Warm, velvety skin pressed close. Her sweet fragrance melted my senses, while the hairpins and trinkets adorning her hair caught the sunlight, glittering brightly.
"Thank you, Master. Your chest is so dependable and firm that this humble Sayoko's heart is pounding shamelessly above its station♡."
"Quit playing weak! I barely touched you, and you scream like that just to jump into his arms?! You're a hundred percent fake! Master, don't let her fool you! Hug me too! Hug me!"
Her golden hair and massive breasts bounced wildly as Jessica dashed up in front of me, practically begging for a hug. Her stride was overflowing with energy; she might have been barking mad a second ago, but she was visibly ecstatic now. It wasn't that she got off on being pushed around—she was an extroverted cheerleader from California, so getting out into the open air was pure bliss for her.
Come to think of it, being cooped up inside that cramped trailer must have felt suffocating, especially when forced to crawl around on all fours. But right now, things were different. They were walking upright on two feet through a wide, open space—Sayoko, Jessica, and Mirele alike.
And where were we walking?
Through something resembling a massive public parking lot dotted with dozens, if not hundreds, of similar trailers. It wasn't just residents here; plenty of regular visitors milled about as well. Most were fair-skinned folks clad in the flowing, elongated tunics typical of the Assyrians, though a few shared the familiar East Asian complexion I was used to seeing on the streets back in Korea.
Almost everyone looked young—college students, most likely—and true to the genre of this game, they were universally gorgeous. None of them held a candle to my devastating good looks, of course.
Strangely enough, men were in notably short supply. Assyrian men in particular—identifiable by their intricately braided beards—were practically nowhere to be found. Had all the young men been drafted into the imperial military or something?
Stranger still, I seemed to be the only person accompanied by sows. How one told a normal, free human beauty apart from a sow… beats me. To be more accurate, I was simply the only guy walking around flanked by gorgeous women radiating an aura of complete subjugation.
"M-Master... have you perhaps decided on a destination?" Mirele asked hesitantly, fidgeting as she spoke.
Her crying had stopped a while ago, and her tear tracks were gone, yet her delicate face looked so fragile she might burst into tears at the slightest nudge. Part of me felt the urge to tease her until she wept, but now wasn't the time for that.
"Just looking around," I answered casually. "You girls must have felt suffocated trapped inside that tiny trailer all day."
"Exactly! It was totally suffocating! You're the best, Master!"
Squish.
"Jessica, overflowing with vitality is admirable, but throwing such a heavy body at Master without warning is exceedingly rude, is it not?"
Soft squish.
"Oh, please! Master loves it! Don't you, Master~?"
"Nngh..."
Jessica shoved Sayoko aside to glom onto me, Sayoko acted fragile while clinging even tighter, and Mirele hovered nearby, stamping her feet nervously and staring at them with longing eyes.
Enjoying a harem life like this... might actually not be so bad.
By the way, none of them were wearing leashes. Since they were officially classified as sows, I had naturally assumed leashes were mandatory outside, but apparently not. I had felt awkward about the whole thing anyway, so I'd left the leashes resting on the vanity table before heading out. I could have put them on if I wanted, but leash play right out of the gate was a bit much for an ordinary citizen like me.
"...Have we really never gone on a walk together before?"
"No, Master. Never," Sayoko replied sweetly. "Unless one counts dreams, that is. This Sayoko dreams of Master every single night. Even last night, I lost myself in an intoxicating reverie, blissfully frolicking by Master's side until morning dawned."
"Uuugh, seriously? Creepy much?" Jessica scowled with blatant disgust—directed at Sayoko, not me.
"My, my. Could it be that Jessica simply lacks sufficient love and devotion toward Master?"
"I-I dream about Master a lot too!" Mirele piped up anxiously. "A few days ago, I had a dream where Master was stomping on a glass cup and shattering it!"
"Fufu, Mirele truly is like a pretty glass cup—utterly transparent and delightfully fragile," Sayoko murmured. "Master must take exceptional care when handling you, lest you break."
"...Sayoko-senpai sparkles gorgeously like shards of glass too," Mirele retorted in a small voice. "To my people and ancestors, shattering a glass signifies a joyous new beginning. Senpai is just like those lovely shards glistening beneath our feet, celebrating a fresh start."
"Fufu. Mirele, you truly have such a charming way with words~. I had no idea the Jewish people possessed such a delightful custom."
On the surface, they exchanged smiles and sweet praise, but every word dripped with hidden venom.
It was identical to the game: an endless catfight. Heroines constantly locking horns in a battle of nerves, scrambling to push rivals aside and monopolize their master's favor. A typical harem protagonist would step in to mediate for the sake of group harmony, but as a player in this messed-up world, I didn't need to bother. They couldn't survive without me; I held all the cards.
And honestly, watching gorgeous women bicker and struggle for my attention felt pretty damn good... Am I a little twisted?
Nah. If I were truly wicked, I'd be smacking their asses in broad daylight right here, but I hadn't laid a single hand on them. You asking if that's only because the game's age-twelve rating prevents it? Shut up.
Bickering aside, we arrived at the parking lot's sole exit, situated at the base of a rise. In truth, it wasn't a natural hill at all, but a sprawling architectural complex. Massive buildings loomed high like terraced bluffs, their borders either painted a vivid lapis blue or laid with glazed blue brick. Lush tropical trees filled courtyard gardens across the terraces, and even in broad daylight, urn-shaped braziers flared with red, torch-like flames.
That modern Assyrian megalith was Wirye University, the school I attended.
Rumor had it the empire had simply bulldozed the ancient capital of Wirye-guk—the historic Baekje site of Wirye-seong—and erected the campus right over its ruins. True to a barbaric empire still keeping slaves in the twenty-first century (probably), they had zero qualms about destroying cultural heritage.
Should I be glad modern-day Assyrians don't know this game exists, or praise the developers for historical accuracy in depicting an empire that painstakingly deforested entire sacred groves just to spite the locals? Besides, the only people with the legitimate right to desecrate Wirye-seong are the residents of Songpa District, the rightful heirs of Baekje!
At any rate, heading uphill from the exit led to the university campus, while heading downhill took you toward the commercial district, downtown, and the train station. At least, that was how I remembered the minimap from the game.
"Are we touring the university? How exciting~," Sayoko cooed.
"Ooh, I'm curious! This is my first time seeing your school since meeting you, Master!" Jessica chimed in.
"Master's school... Mirele is curious too."
Their eyes sparkled with genuine interest. Come to think of it, even in the game, players only ever kept the heroines inside the trailer or in the yard; they were never taken outside. It made sense why they had claimed this was their first walk.
"Mmh."
There was just one tiny problem: I had no clue where I was going.
I had a vague notion of what landmarks existed in the area, but that was strictly based on a simplified in-game map, which was hardly useful for navigating in reality.
"Oh, hey! Isn't that Hasu?"
Right on cue, a woman approached us. True to this subculture game world, she was a stunner, wearing an outfit you'd never catch dead in Korea. Enormous dangling earrings jingled with every step, and a bulky professional camera hung from her neck.
While this was technically my first time meeting her in person, her flamboyant attire and striking features jogged my memory instantly. An NPC from the base scenario, a fellow college classmate. Her name... was four syllables or something, right? What was it again?
"Where you headed?"
She wasn't a second-class provincial citizen from the Korean peninsula like me; she was a bona fide first-class Assyrian imperial citizen. Yet, she was an eccentric who treated the player character like an equal despite his provincial status. Just look at her casual demeanor right now—she was acting like a total bro.
If I recalled correctly, the dialogue choices with her in the game were strictly informal. Mind control... wait, what was the term? Whatever, get a grip and act natural. I am her friend... She is my friend...
"Just out for a walk. You?"
"Heading to campus. Booked the photography lab. If you've got nothing going on, wanna tag along?"
"Sounds good."
Talk about a stroke of luck.
"Great. Give me a hand with some stuff. Who're they?"
Sayoko, Jessica, and Mirele greeted her in their own distinct ways. Sayoko bent at the waist in a formal forty-five-degree bow, Jessica looked her dead in the eye, and Mirele offered a timid nod.
"I am Lord Eun Hasu's sow, Sayoko."
"Jessica."
"I am... Mirele!"
"Ah~"
She clapped me on the shoulder.
"So today's slaughter day? Perfect timing—the slaughter trailer just rolled onto campus. Heard they're offering a student discount."
"?!"
Choked gasps of sheer terror slipped from behind me. I shook my head vigorously.
"As if! Don't talk nonsense."
"Really? Well, call me when you do butcher them. Let me get a cut of the meat."
"Stop saying terrifying things."
"What's so terrifying about that?"
The fact that you consider this completely normal is what's terrifying, you psycho! Is she a sociopath?!
Wasn't she supposed to be an SSS-tier, peak-morality Assyrian in the game?!
I fought to keep my cool and tapped her shoulder.
"Hey. Why don't you introduce yourself to them?"
"Why would I tell them my name?"
Because I don't know it, damn it.
She gave me a baffled look, but yielding to my insistent gaze, she reluctantly parted her lips.
"I'm Esharra-hammat."
Wait, wasn't her name four syllables?
It was seven!
"It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Lady Esharra-hammat," Sayoko offered smoothly.
"What would you need to make my acquaintance for?"
She snorted dismissively and leaned her weight against my shoulder.
"You must really cherish them. I had no idea they were your favorite pet sows. If you cared that much, you could've mentioned it before. How come you never showed me a single photo?"
The camera hanging from her neck bumped against my side.
Now that she mentioned it, I hadn't seen any photos of them inside the trailer either.
"You have a point. Taking photos sounds great. Now that you brought it up, should we take some right now?"
It wasn't purely on a whim. If making a heroine cry for the first time unlocked an achievement, taking a heroine's photo for the first time was practically guaranteed to trigger one too.
"Huh? Here?"
She glanced around, peering up at the sky to gauge the light before pulling out a peculiar handheld device to check the exposure.
"Doesn't look like a great spot for shooting. Besides, don't you not even have a camera on you?"
"...Right. Lend me yours."
"Unbelievable."
Despite her scoff, she looked ready to hand it over. I turned back toward the heroines.
First, my eyes met Mirele's.
"Eep!"
A tiny whimper escaped her lips as her entire body trembled violently.
Huh?
Even Jessica and Sayoko were frozen stiff, their postures oddly rigid.
"You guys don't want your pictures taken?"
"I-If it is Master's will, Sayoko shall gladly obey, but... it is such an overwhelming honor, I know not if I am worthy..."
For once, Sayoko actually stuttered, and Jessica's face had gone deathly pale.
Esharra-hammat... my long-named classmate leaned in and whispered, "What did you do to them?"
"Beats me."
I genuinely had no idea.
"Didn't you take endless retakes every time you snapped photos because nothing satisfied you? You're secretly a perfectionist, you know."
Was I? In the game, I did have to retake photos countless times because the photography minigame was brutally difficult. But still, their complexions looked far too sickly for something so trivial.
Every time my gaze drifted across them, they squirmed in unbearable agony. Cold sweat beaded on Sayoko's strained smile; Jessica's shoulders hitched up like a cat backed into a corner by a viper; and Mirele looked so close to fainting that I was genuinely worried she might collapse on the spot.
Esharra-hammat shrugged. "If you're going to shoot them anyway, do it in the studio instead of out here. I'll let you borrow it for a bit."
"Ah, that's much better. Thanks. Girls, let's take your pictures in a little while. I'll photograph all three of you."
Right then.
"M-Master? You wish to photograph Sayoko? Ahaha. A joke... you must be joking, Master? Why would you ever need a photographic record of Sayoko's wretched, lowly form...? Master? D-Did Sayoko do something wrong? If you tell me, I will correct everything! So please—!"
"NOOOOO! No! I don't want to! Master, don't abandon me! My boobs are huge and my ass is so perky! If you turn me into meat, I'll just be a tasteless lump of fat anyway! Don't do it, just use me yourself, please!"
"Master, Master, Master, I was wrong! I'm sorry for startling you earlier and crying without doing anything right! But if you forgive me just this once, it will never happen again, so please don't discard me, please give me just one more chance!"
"H-Hey, girls?!"