EP.3 Human Ranch - 3
Inside the pen, women were crawling naked on the floor. And without exception, every one of them wore a red livestock collar around their necks.
"How does it feel to see it for yourself?"
Sua looked at me as if she was genuinely curious.
"It's shocking... but it feels so natural that I'm oddly numb to it."
The women inside the pen were either rubbing their bodies against each other as if it were the most natural thing in the world, or looking at the two of us with curiosity.
It was like witnessing a scene where animal souls had taken over human bodies.
"I thought the same at first."
"But there's nothing else in the pen? Besides people, I mean."
"I think they used to provide balls or toys to play with, but due to accidents and management responsibility, now those are only allowed in designated play areas."
The space wasn't so cramped as to be suffocating, but seeing several women crawling on the floor really drove home the reality of humans being raised as livestock.
'I could have ended up like that if things had gone wrong.'
A human ranch for males probably wouldn't be much different. At least by my standards, it definitely wasn't a good place.
"So, what am I supposed to do now?"
"Oh... You don't really need to worry about these ones. They're already well-trained and follow the automated system's controls."
Just as I was having a relaxed conversation with Sua, a strange noise came from inside the pen.
"Hnnng...! Haa... Hnnng...!!"
Instinctively, I turned toward the sound. There, two women were tangled together. To be precise, one woman was on top of the other, and they were stimulating each other's genitals.
"Ah... they're at it again..."
As if it were a common occurrence, Sua opened the door to the pen and went inside. She tried to forcibly separate the two who were stuck together.
The two tried to cling to each other, whining, but eventually gave in to Sua's instructions and separated. Only after confirming they didn't try to cling again did she return to the entrance.
"Whew... this is the most annoying part of the job."
"Um... does that happen often? Clinging to each other like that..."
"You mean pleasuring each other?"
"It's a bit blunt, but there's no other way to put it."
"It's fine. I'm used to it by now. To put it simply, it happens a lot."
"So even as livestock, they still have sexual desire?"
"That's right. In fact, maybe because they don't get enough playtime, their sex drive seems even stronger sometimes."
As she spoke, Sua glanced at my erection.
A moment ago, it had almost subsided, but the erotic sight of the two women pleasuring each other kept it hard.
Reacting awkwardly here would only make things more awkward, so I kept the conversation going as if nothing was wrong.
"Can't machines handle that sort of thing? Seems like it would be a hassle."
"Unfortunately, AI isn't perfect yet. Even if you sedate them with machines, they just try again once they wake up, so it's pointless."
"So their sex drive is even stronger than I thought. If you could remove it, things would be easier."
Well... in a space with nothing else, it's only natural to crave pleasure instinctively. Especially if you're treated as livestock and reduced to an animal.
"That's... not quite it... Actually, sexual desire is helpful in some ways..."
"Helpful?"
"How do you think mana is extracted from people?"
Since the concept of 'mana' didn't exist in my old world, I had no idea. All I knew was that it was a highly efficient, multipurpose substance or energy.
"I'm not sure..."
"Well, here's how..."
Sua hesitated, looking a bit embarrassed, but eventually spoke.
"It's extracted from bodily fluids."
Bodily fluids.
Just hearing those words, I could imagine what she meant. They use sexual desire to extract mana.
When a woman is aroused, her body produces vaginal fluids. It seemed they extracted mana from those fluids here at the human ranch.
"I heard that vaginal fluids contain the most mana, so the system is actually designed to encourage sexual desire."
"So what happened earlier..."
"It's unavoidable to some extent. But if we just leave them like that, production drops, so we have to intervene."
"No matter how you look at it, managing people in three buildings can't be easy."
"As I said earlier, a lot of it is automated... The livestock are kept satisfied, so it's not that busy. Actually, it's about time now."
Ding-ding-ding-
As soon as Sua finished speaking, a chime sounded from a speaker mounted high on the corner wall. At the sound, all the women perked up their ears at once.
"What's happening?"
"It's the signal for mana extraction time."
At that moment, with a buzzing sound, part of the white wall lowered. As a passageway to somewhere appeared, the women all crawled toward it as if they'd been waiting.
"If you go through that passage, there's an extraction room for collecting mana. If there are any 'human livestock' who don't move on their own, we have to move them by force..."
Sua's voice was oddly shaky, tinged with a sensuality that made her seem almost excited.
"But that's never happened... They all go on their own. Some even ask to be sent in before it's time."
So they go to the extraction room on their own for pleasure.
It really wasn't wrong to say they'd been tamed as 'livestock.'
Before I knew it, the pen that had been full of naked women was now empty. They had all crawled off, eager for pleasure.
"That's it for here. Next is a place that requires more hands-on attention."
"There's more like this?"
"As I mentioned, not all humans here were born as livestock."
According to her explanation, not all humans here were born as livestock. There were also those who had been reduced to livestock.
In a much smaller pen, a naked woman was on all fours.
It wasn't much different from before, except for one big thing.
The woman inside glared at Sua with a rebellious look, but when she saw me, she flinched in surprise.
"Ugh...! What... what are you doing! Bringing a man here...!"
"This is one of the livestock we're currently training."
"Livestock? I'm a human!"
Despite her fierce protest, Sua ignored her. Instead, she calmly explained to me.
"This is a case where someone lost their legal rights and became 'livestock.' She's quite rebellious, so she takes a lot of work."
"Are there many cases like this?"
"Not really. It's a punishment reserved for serious crimes, like killing someone while drunk driving, or committing massive fraud that drives people to suicide."
In some ways, it was an even more terrible punishment than the death penalty-being forced to live out your life as livestock instead of a human.
"It's more about punishment than productivity, but since the body can still be used, it's a way of returning them to society."
"But isn't it hard to handle someone so rebellious?"
"Not really. Let me show you."
Sua swung the pen door wide open.
The woman inside immediately lunged.
"Ah...!"
Bzzzt!
But what I expected didn't happen. The woman, who looked like she was about to attack Sua, suddenly convulsed and collapsed to the floor.
"Aaaargh...!!! Ah... aaargh...!"
She screamed in what seemed like terrible pain, but Sua calmly pushed her back into the pen.
"If they show aggression, the chip in their collar delivers a powerful electric shock."
"It looks like leather, but can it really deliver that much current?"
"It's real leather, just with a chip embedded. It runs on the wearer's own mana, so it's permanent and convenient."
"That definitely makes things safer."
"Not only that, but if they use more strength than average, or stand up on two legs, the collar delivers a shock too."
"So they're literally treated like livestock."
Sua closed the pen door and gestured for me to follow her out.
"That's it for your orientation. Handling these cases is tough, so I'll teach you more as we go."
"Feels like there's a lot I'll have to learn."
"I'll help you adjust, so don't worry."
As Sua walked past me toward the door we'd come in through, I caught a glimpse of her pink genitals, which looked strangely wet.
'Was I imagining things...?'