Capture Target

There, that’s all of them.  Are you done?

…Tch.  Fine, let me open them up and show you… mmmmmph -- aaaaah~

There, see?  The horns are machines.  They’re disguised the same way that my tail is.

No I’m not going to tell you how to get something to interact with them!  That ruins half the fun of being outsmarted!

…

…I stand by what I said.

Moving on, storytime!

---

So!  The plan was --

Ugh.  Really?

Why?!

No, I don’t get it!

Takeo is -- uuuugh.  Fine, fine, I’ll cover what he was doing first.  Happy now?

Geeze…

Shimizu, Sumiko, and Omori were each a public face, presenting themselves as officials from the Kingdom without explaining the Land Grab.  There was a big gap in information between us and the third landmass locals, and the two kings had advised us to keep it going.  Shimizu was the Kingdom's first representative to Kaiser, Sumiko to the Empirical Empress, and Omori to Big Bull.

Takeo, meanwhile, was an independent troubleshooter.

There were plenty of valuable materials out there that we needed, and couldn’t easily get while fulfilling our current duties as ‘kind of sort of diplomats’.  Things that could be sold for a mint, things that needed to be examined for our ‘Kingdom-Official’ claims to go through, and things that were needed for some alchemy recipes.

We wanted to upgrade all of our gear to the year-three standard as soon as possible, after all.

So Takeo was doing things like grabbing some Nano-Steel from the Robolands, harvesting the rare Giant Corn Cob from the Farmlands, and swiping some Processed Scales from the Wildlands.

Sumiko had improved the Atlantean rifle to the point where it didn’t need to be repaired after every use, and with that, his shield, and his time-shenanigans knowledge, he was a one-man army.

Of course, there were some things that he just couldn’t get to.  Not that he literally couldn’t, but it wouldn’t be safe and couldn’t be done reliably.  Like, for example, the Pure Lotus from Kaiser’s pond.

Could he?  

Absolutely.  He just needed to sneak into the pond while Kaiser was busy.

Can he do so reliably?

Absolutely not.  

Kaiser is an ambush predator, and that is his literal home base.  It doesn’t matter if you know he’s halfway across the jungle; with the time slot system, you can’t guarantee that he won’t return before you’re done.  And if he does, you’re probably dead.

Takeo was strong, but not that strong.

Satisfied now?

Good.

---

Now.

As I was saying.

The order of the plan was important.  I could predict what the three rulers could do if I followed the script closely enough, and did so in the correct order.  I had to get Big Bull interested, then get Kaiser tempted, and finally get the Empress to lay a claim.  That was the order.  I didn’t understand why when playing the game, but living through it and meeting them in person filled in the gaps for me.

Big Bull wouldn’t be interested if I was being chased by somebody else.  He was too polite for that.  

Kaiser wouldn’t be interested if I hadn’t managed to tempt somebody else, somebody he respects.  Because, uh.  He’s Kaiser, and demands the best, basically.  

And neither would be interested if the Empress claimed me first, because she was more trouble than anybody is worth.

Idle interest is fine, but actively pursuing me?

No, no, that wouldn’t work.

So I needed to go in that order.  Farm animal to broodmare to perfect cybernetic host.

And on top of that I needed to get into Kaiser’s pond near the end of the month.  That was when the full moon would shine down, and thus was when I could harvest the Pure Lotus’s.

But first, becoming a farm animal!

There were two main things that I needed to start producing to get the [Human Cattle] blessing.  Milk and eggs.

It had to be both, not just one, and I had to spend about a week producing massive amounts of both.  Thankfully, the eggs didn’t count as a pregnancy, so I wouldn’t get [Broodmare] early, but still.

I was going to be spending an annoying amount of this year pregnant.  I mean, it was fun and absolutely worth it, but I’d have rather spread it out over a few years, you know?

This was all going to require me spending a lot of time in the Farmlands, which was actually kinda nice because… um… w-well, Big Bull was going to be there, quite a lot, so, that was nice.

Wh-what?

He’s so hot!

I remember one day -- yes, you’re going to hear this!  Shut up and listen!  One day I was with Omori in the Farmlands.  She was using her [Nature Magic - B] talent to help with some of the crops, and I was making sure everything fit into the guidelines Big Bull had given us.

I really don’t get why she was having trouble doing so.  There were only twenty or so rules, and they were all very clear.  Don’t make a single plot too large.  Don’t grow these two plants next to each other.  Rotate crops in this order.  Leave fields with this sign to rest.  Ensure there are enough worms in every square meter.  Don’t grow too close to the buildings, and don’t grow too far from them, either.  Make sure a standard humanoid can reach every plant, unless it’s the kind of plant that can be harvested with machinery, in which case make sure it’s built for that.  Another ten or so rules like that, really basic.

…Why are you looking at me like that?

Hrmph.  

Well, I was helping her, and we got onto the topic of Big Bull.  I was trying to avoid gushing about him, but Omori seemed to be having a riot of a time getting me to babble.  Apparently it was ‘nice to see me be so easy to tease’.

Apparently she had the impression of me as a ‘cool beauty’?  Somebody who didn’t get flustered over anything, and was always focused on the goal.  Her precise words were, “You do realize that everybody in school knows about what happened on the first day of school, right?  When you returned covered with tentacle goo?”

…My face started burning then, but she wasn’t done!

“Not to mention how you’ve turned the entire Land Grab into a farce.  More-so than it already is, anyway.  You’ve claimed about half of the first two landmasses, and you have the other top three performers as your vassals.  Nobody gets to see you normally, they just see you selling goods, filing paperwork, or moving to claim another area.”

…I’m getting off topic here, but I had to say, “...At least they don’t think that I’m regularly raped, right?”

Now that, uh.

That made her laugh a bit.

She said, “After that first day?  And how Yuu whored you out for a good third of the first year?  Ambrosia, half of the school thinks you make this much progress because you fuck your way to gaining the knowledge you need and permissions the administration has granted you.”

My groan echoed across the orchard.  “Nooo, come on!  I’m trying really hard to only fuck people consensually!”

Her response was legendary.

“You mean like how you fucked half the school during the last festival?”

Remember that?  When I had so many parasites latched onto me that I couldn’t think straight, and I needed to feed them?  So I just, uh, fucked… literally everybody I could get my hands on?

Yeah.  My face turned a hot red and I made -- some kind of high-pitched, squealing noise?  I’m not sure what it was.

Of course there was only one thing she could say in response to that.

“You’re getting off on this, aren’t you.”

…I remember saying something; I’m not sure what.  She just laughed in response and said, “I was worried about helping you with your little power grab, but you’re so easy!  I mean, if Big Bull came over now and asked you to fuck, you’d just lift your tail, bend over, and say ‘please’, wouldn’t you?”

I mean, uh.

She wasn’t wrong.

But I had a perfect counter!

“Says the girl whose tits grew a cup size in a week.”

Omori was on a ladder, looking at one of the tree branches that she said was ‘feeling odd’.  She was working it with her magic at the time that I said that, and she nearly fell down, much to my cackling laughter.  I, naturally, didn’t stop there.

…You know, I just realized that I might have trouble ‘stopping’ when I’m in the zone.

…

Eh, I’m sure it’s fine.

So!  I said, “Having fun with those milkers, are you?”

Remember, Omori wanted help making her skinny body less -- well -- skinny and stick-like.  And more curvy like mine.  Well, I say ‘wanted help’, I more mean ‘was coerced into admitting her desire for’, but same difference, right?

I know it’s not the same, that was the joke!

Anyway!

The point is, one of the easiest places to gain curves in the entire Kingdom is the Farmlands.  I mean, sure, you could go to the minotaur tribe that cropped up during year one, but that’s less ‘gaining curves’ and more ‘becoming a literal cow’.  And while Sumiko was happy with that, Omori wouldn’t be.

But the Farmlands have ways to induce temporary lactation; the only downside, if you can call it that, is that if you don’t get milked, it can result in a permanent breast size increase.  With Omori’s body, which changes more easily when it’s due to ‘natural’ causes, the effect is even more dramatic.  …Up to a limit, at least; the growth slows down the bigger you get.

Unless you get pregnant while taking them…

…A-anyway, I knew from Omori’s chest that she had clearly induced lactation, and more than once, in only the first week.  I wasn’t around with her every day as I had to bounce between the three areas, so she had plenty of time to do it when I wasn’t around to notice.

Her defenses were hilarious.

“It’s not my fault!  Look, the bulls are just -- they’re hot, okay?  And they’re interested in me when I agree to work with them for a bit!  They compliment me on self improvement, and they help me set everything up, and they remember my name… and they feel really good…”

I kept on teasing her, and she kept on defending herself, but I eventually realized something.

I asked, “...Wait a moment.  Have you been having sex with them?”

The look on her face!

Well, uh, not that I know what her face looked like.  She refused to look anywhere in my vicinity, but the tips of her ears were as red as the apples on the tree she was working on.  I had to warn her about her [Angelic Womb Tattoo]; remember, it made the sensation of people cumming inside of you, of trying to get you pregnant, feel much better than normal.

She, uh.

She kind of waved me off, though.

Something like, “So long as I keep myself in moderation it’ll be fine.  It’s only happened once, anyway.”

Which, okay, yes, but I could already tell she was sliding down a slippery slope.  If she didn’t get a firm grip somewhere soon, it would only accelerate.

…But she seemed firm in her confidence, so I just offered my help if she felt she needed it, and let it go~

Eh?

Mmmm… 

I hear what you’re saying, but I don’t really think of it that way.  

No, really, let me explain.

Omori was a friend, sure.  Not a close one, but we were on good terms.  But, I had warned her about what could happen.  Repeatedly, actually.  I had told her what would happen, what could cause it, and offered my help.

It wouldn’t harm or hurt her.  Sure, becoming, uh, a broodmare, was a pretty big change in overall life trajectory, but come on.  This world has existed with the chief god as its chief god for generations.

There were plenty of traditions and policies in place to allow broodmares to find work and live comfortably.  

I could try to bug her into not falling down that slope, but… she really didn’t want me to.  Like, I did ask her.  If she wanted me to bug her about it.  Not then, but later, when it became more obvious, and she said ‘no’.

So, sure, I could have done more, but that feels… disrespectful?  She was old enough, enough of a peer to me, that I didn’t really have any right to ignore her choices.  So… I didn’t.

If she chose to make stupid choices that resulted in her becoming a broodmare, well, those were her choices, they only affected her, and she had the right to make them.  I warned her, I offered my help, I asked if she wanted more, and she doubled-down.

I could tell that she didn’t really take my warnings seriously until it was too late, but I made everything very clear.  As clear as I could without becoming a pain.

So I don’t really feel like I didn’t do my due diligence with her.  You know?  I had my own stuff going on that I needed to focus on, and I couldn’t really manage stopping somebody else from sliding into --

…

…Okay.  Yes.  I couldn’t stop anybody from sliding into slutdom, myself included.

…Okay, yes!  Fine!  Myself most of all!

You really need to stop working me up during storytime!  I mean, unless you want to just accept my offer, and we can have sex until it’s time to fulfill your end of -

…Ugh, fine.

So.  After Omori and I teased each other and worked ourselves up into twin messes of arousal, Big Bull himself came by.  It was a hot day, so he wasn’t wearing a shirt, and he had clearly been working on the field.  He came by to check up on us, and we were both… uh… rather distracted by his appearance.  Omori hadn’t expected it and had had a taste of pleasure, and I was -- well, yeah.  I was me.

He complimented us in his deep voice that made my face heat up, on our due diligence, and then even complimented Omori on her work in the barn in general.  Omori!  He said, “Oh, by the way, Omori, I’ve heard you’ve been working with our cows.  Thanks for that.  We never have enough milk…”

So.  Naturally.  I had to say, “Oh, um, I was hoping to help with them soon, too!”

I wasn’t really thinking straight.  I mean, I knew I had to anyway, but I just really wanted Big Bull to look at me, instead of Omori.

And it worked!  …Ish.  He seemed surprised, but pleased, in that ‘I’ll be happy if you actually do it, but I’ll wait until then’ kinda way.

I felt my face burn a bit at the lack of belief, and the moment he was gone, I all but ordered Omori to take me to the milking barn.

The milking barn was… well, I say it was somewhat similar to an office’s cubicle farm, but it was actually quite pleasant.  Countless ‘stalls’ were up and down the building, and each of them was full of soft pillows, various forms of entertainment like books, a milking station and food.  Most of them had a cowgirl in them, some of them had a bullman fucking a cowgirl in them, and some were being cleaned.  Omori knew the place well, so she easily directed me to a small working station with a few bulls working there.

None of them were as hot as Big Bull, but, uh.

They were.  Basically minotaurs.  Like in the minotaur village?

And I was already feeling wet and distracted, so I was having an even harder time concentrating.  I remember them asking… it was something like how much I wanted to do, or how long I wanted to stay… something like that, at least.  I needed to be asked twice before I realized everybody was quiet and looking at me, Omori fighting a desire to snicker.

So I just said, “Um, as much as I can!”

I knew that I needed to get the [Human Cattle] blessing, and I wanted to impress Big Bull.  And the night of the full moon was a few weeks away.

So, I, uh, said.  That.

And then insisted on it.

Which was… okay, look, hot guys can make me go stupid, okay?  Blame the hormones!

Look, it, I didn’t know that I was asking for a permanent change!  It was such a small chance that they didn’t even think it was possible!

Why are you so surprised?

…Oh, um, right.  I never mentioned it.

Uh, yeah.  Given the right stimulation, I can just start.  You know.  Leaking milk.

Um.

…Surprise…?