At seven in the morning, a prison guard appeared at the door.
Accompanying him was a senior officer wearing white gloves.
“I hope I haven't disturbed your rest, Lord Annor.”
His wording was polite and respectful.
The gaze directed at him, however, was ice-cold.
An Ruo knew perfectly well how terrible his reputation was among military female Zergs.
After all, he was the male Zerg at the center of a domestic abuse case, and the abused party happened to be a military General.
He had never expected military females to treat him kindly.
“I am Major General Uriel of the Third Legion. Prison affairs are temporarily under my supervision.”
The officer introduced himself with a smile that held no warmth.
Uriel...
The name sounded familiar.
Seeing the officer's signature silver hair and blue eyes, vague memories surfaced in An Ruo's mind and aligned him with a character from the novel.
This was the protagonist's superior officer.
The future “Lieutenant General Uriel” after the main story began.
One of the rare S-Class female Zergs in the book.
And also...
Ulysses's former adjutant.
What should you do if the male Zerg who abused your commanding officer fell into your hands?
—Naturally, you should give him a very warm welcome.
An Ruo suddenly felt his life might be hanging by a thread.
Twisting the hem of his clothes between his fingers, he lowered his head, his eyelashes trembling uneasily.
“...”
Apparently not expecting the male Zerg to be this quiet and withdrawn, Uriel lost interest in exchanging pleasantries and moved directly to business.
“You've presumably read the prison regulations already. You are required to complete psychic soothing sessions for ten military female Zergs. Would you like to conduct them in the treatment room, or... in your own room?”
“The treatment room.”
An Ruo answered softly.
Uriel shot him a surprised glance.
Military female Zergs were naturally vigilant, making their psychic domains difficult to open.
As a result, male Zergs usually preferred to soften a female Zerg physically first.
Under the influence of pheromones, resistance weakened and defenses lowered, making psychic soothing much easier.
The resulting treatment was often more effective as well.
Very few male Zergs chose to perform psychic soothing in treatment rooms.
It required considerably more effort.
Still, considering the male Zerg in front of him was newly arrived and had probably never entered a female Zerg's psychic domain before, it wasn't impossible to understand.
“Very well. Since that is your preference.”
Uriel escorted him to the treatment room.
The room was completely empty.
Only a table and two chairs occupied the space.
Uriel stood beside the table.
An Ruo sat in the chair farther inside the room and adjusted his sleeves.
Dressed entirely in white, he rested his hands on the tabletop and faced the doorway.
A ridiculous feeling rose within him.
It felt as though he had somehow become a doctor.
An unlicensed doctor.
He was about to meet his very first patient.
And there was a strong possibility he'd be exposed on the spot and immediately lose his job.
His professional experience amounted to 1 + 1.
One night spent searching for information.
Plus one morning of practice without any actual subjects.
Never in his life had An Ruo felt so lacking in confidence.
Soon, the first military female reported at the door.
Uriel allowed him inside.
He himself remained standing nearby, making no move to leave.
Being watched by an S-Class female Zerg only made An Ruo even more nervous.
Tentatively, he extended a thread of psychic power toward the female Zerg sitting across from him.
His psychic power was difficult to control.
It was nowhere near the effortless mastery possessed by the male Zerg protagonists he'd written.
It wasn't even as good as the examples shown in the StarNet tutorials.
Beep.
The collar around his neck suddenly sounded.
An Ruo felt his mind loosen instantly.
It was as if a tightening band around his head had abruptly fallen away.
Psychic power surged outward like a tidal wave.
A realization struck him.
The suppressor around his neck wasn't designed like the restraints female Zergs wore to limit physical ability.
Its purpose was to suppress the psychic power of male Zergs.
A male Zerg's physical strength posed no threat to military females.
Even if one ran around the prison causing trouble, any military female could easily pick him up and carry him back.
What they truly needed—and feared—was a male Zerg's psychic power.
So...
The problem wasn't that his psychic power was difficult to control.
Even while restrained by the suppressor, he had still been able to use it.
That meant his psychic-power level exceeded the suppressor's maximum limit.
An Ruo lowered his eyes and carefully hid any reaction from Uriel.
Following the instructions from the StarNet tutorials, he guided his psychic power into the female Zerg's mind.
“Every female Zerg possesses a different psychic landscape. Deep within their psychic domain lies their truest form. What male Zergs need to do is repair and maintain it.”
—Psychic Soothing Tutorial Even Younglings Can Learn, by a famous male Zerg who preferred to remain anonymous.
What An Ruo saw was a damaged spaceship.
It floated silently within a barren universe.
This female Zerg belonged to the expeditionary forces.
He carried severe psychological trauma from war.
The spacecraft was covered in scars left by artillery fire.
It was riddled with holes.
An Ruo spread his psychic power across it and began repairing it little by little.
【Mental State Evaluation: 25... 32... 40... 52... 62... 77... 80...】
Uriel stared at the constantly rising score on the monitor.
The mental-state indicator shifted from dangerous red...
To orange.
Then yellow.
Then green.
And finally reached blue—the maximum value.
【Mental State Score: 100】
Uriel's breathing stopped.
His pupils shook violently.
Even the military females standing guard outside turned their heads toward the treatment room when they heard the announcement.
As military females themselves, they understood exactly what that number meant.
Most military females hovered between 40 and 60.
Those who had just returned from the battlefield could easily drop to 20 or 30.
The lower the score, the harder recovery became.
If they had a Male Lord—and if that Male Lord was reasonably responsible and cared about the females in his household—they might have a chance to escape the danger zone.
Without one, they either had to spend their entire life's savings on professional psychic soothers...
Or wait for death.
To alleviate the problem, the Federation assigned criminal male Zergs to military service.
This treatment wasn't free in the absolute sense, but military females didn't need to hand over their savings for it.
The downside was the waiting list.
There were too few male Zergs in the military districts.
There were far too many female Zergs requiring treatment.
Many military females spent their entire lives waiting in line, hoping for a chance to receive psychic soothing.
An Ruo couldn't find anything else that needed fixing, so he withdrew his psychic power.
He wasn't sure how well he had done.
A trace of nervousness crept into him.
Everything that needed repairing had been repaired.
He had even cleaned the place inside and out.
That should be...
At least a passing grade, right?
The moment he opened his eyes, he found Major General Uriel wearing a strange expression.
Meanwhile, the huge military female Zerg sitting across from him was crying.
Tears streamed down his face.
Huh?
Had he caused a medical accident?
An Ruo froze in terror.
“Lord Annor...”
The military female's voice choked with emotion.
He rose from his chair, walked around the table, and approached him.
An Ruo immediately covered his head.
“Don't hit me! I'll compensate you!”
Even though he had no money.
“No, my lord, please don't say that.”
The military female crouched beside him, eyes shining like those of an overexcited puppy.
“I have absolutely no intention of harming you. There's no need for compensation. I should be the one thanking you. Please allow me to do something for you. You can have all of my savings. Or if you're lacking a male attendant—no, a slave would be fine too...”
Uriel had originally intended to stand aside and allow the military female to express his gratitude.
But the further the speech went, the more outrageous it became.
He quickly ordered someone to drag the female away.
After receiving psychic soothing, a female Zerg's affection toward the male Zerg naturally shot up.
Immediately after treatment, it could even temporarily rise to the level of infatuation.
And this had been a perfect score.
Combined with the military female's genuine gratitude, the irrational effects had become even stronger.
Uriel fixed a wary stare on the male Zerg.
“You don't need to take what he just said seriously.”
The military would not prevent female Zergs from expressing gratitude or offering gifts.
But giving away one's entire savings and volunteering to become a slave was going too far.
“Oh. Right, right...”
An Ruo nodded repeatedly.
An Ruo was still a little dazed.
“My psychic soothing just now... there wasn't any problem with it, right? It worked?”
Blinking his bright eyes, he asked in disbelief.
“...Of course.”
Uriel hadn't expected that question at all and gave him a strange look instead.
“More than just no problems... You did exceptionally well. A perfect score.”
There simply wasn't anything better than that.
For a Male Zerg, raising a Female Zerg's mental state to sixty points was already considered a highly successful soothing session.
Annor's performance had far exceeded all expectations.
Unable to hide his excitement, Uriel asked,
“Can you continue? Or would you like to rest for a while?”
He had become remarkably accommodating.
Remembering the way those military Female Zergs had cried tears of joy earlier, An Ruo checked his psychic power. He didn't feel tired at all, so he replied,
“Next one.”
...
In only two star-hours, An Ruo completed all of his assigned tasks for the day.
That was despite his lack of experience and his deliberate attempts to hold back.
Judging by how often Uriel asked whether he needed a break, he had probably done too well—far faster than an ordinary Male Zerg should have been.
So after soothing ten Female Zergs, An Ruo appropriately put on a show of fatigue.
Uriel personally escorted him back to his room to rest.
Along the way, he deliberately slowed his pace to match An Ruo's.
His attitude toward him had softened considerably, and the chill surrounding him had largely disappeared.
The way he looked at him could almost be called eager.
An Ruo could guess what he was thinking.
His commander's former Male Lord had already ended up in prison. Whether he was treated well or not wasn't all that important anymore.
Compared to that, a Male Zerg capable of consistently producing one-hundred-point soothing results was far more valuable to the military.
Meeting Uriel's gaze, An Ruo was convinced that the other man absolutely wanted to keep him locked in prison for the rest of his life.
Not that he could leave anyway.
“Please get some proper rest. If you need anything, call for me at any time.”
Uriel thoughtfully opened the cell door for him and stepped aside.
“...”
If one ignored the fact that this was a prison, he was so attentive that he resembled a professional butler.
After returning to his room and waiting for Uriel to leave, An Ruo threw himself onto the bed and collapsed into a human pancake.
He had finally made it through this hurdle.
At least for the near future, there was no danger of being forcibly sold off.
Remembering something, he opened his terminal and gave yesterday's instructional video a like.
The teacher really had explained things well—simple, clear, and easy to understand. No wonder it was advertised as something even hatchlings could learn.
The machine bug had delivered today's lunch early.
Besides the standard nutrient solution, there were also two tubes of stamina potion and several red fruits.
The difference between working and not working was truly enormous.
Taking a bite of the bright-red, juicy fruit, An Ruo sat at the table and browsed StarNet.
He entered a novel website, intending to read some Zerg fiction while eating.
The range of Zerg novel genres was painfully limited. They basically fell into only two categories: military warfare and male-female relationships.
An Ruo clicked into the military warfare section first.
A few moments later, he fled after being assaulted by endless pages of censored-but-still-horrifying gore.
He wanted something to accompany his meal, not something to make him throw up.
His appetite was completely ruined.
Setting down the half-eaten fruit, An Ruo entered the romance section, hoping to improve his mood.
Half an hour later, he exited in a state of extreme irritation.
Amid an endless sea of violence and explicit content, he had managed to find exactly zero romance.
Dear heavens.
Zero.
Not even a trace.
Zerg romance novels were filled with violence, explicit scenes, domestic scheming, melodrama, and abusive relationships...
No, scratch that.
There wasn't even romance.
There was only abuse.
The kind where the beginning made you furious, the middle made you furious, you kept reading because you wanted to see the protagonist rise up, get revenge, reclaim everything they lost...
And then the ending made you furious too!!!
The sort of story that sent your blood pressure soaring and made you want to call the authorities.
The kind that left you feeling as if reading it had been a complete waste of time.
Yet in the comment sections, the Female Zerg readers were crying while reading, feeling heartbroken while reading, wanting to forgive the Male Zerg while reading, and insisting that this was realistic literature, that relationships between males and females were simply like this.
An Ruo: “???”
Excuse me?
To hell with your realistic literature!
I want romance novels!!
Actual romance novels!!!
Even if it's a tragic romance, if there's only tragedy and no romance, then it's still garbage!!!
An Ruo was so infuriated by Zerg-style romance that anger rushed straight to his head.
His urge to express himself exploded.
He immediately opened a document and began furiously typing.