Chapter 8 : No. I won’t change it. Go away

Kkaeng! Kkaeng!

The sound of a club striking something reverberated through the chamber.
Even without seeing it, the desperate echo alone hinted at its terror.

“Ugh, so noisy. Stop whining. Keep it up, and I’ll really hit you, got it?”

The wolf clamped its mouth shut at Lena’s threat—backed by real menace.
Its tear-filled eyes reflected the ground, cratered with a fist-shaped dent.
That was the aftermath of a punch that had just grazed its spine.
Had it landed squarely, the wolf wouldn’t have had time to scream.

“Much better. This place echoes a lot since it’s enclosed. Let’s behave, okay? Huh?”

Meanwhile, Lena sorted her thoughts.
She’d caught a sneaky thief pilfering her supplies behind her back.
The fact that it was a young wolf—cute enough to be a puppy—didn’t lighten its death sentence.

The wild is merciless.
What beast would pity a thief just because it’s young and weak?
They’d be lucky not to think, “Oh, easy target,” and eat it on the spot.

Sure, Lena was human, not a beast.
But she wasn’t naive enough to sympathize with a rotten thief and stomach her own losses.
That kind of softness wouldn’t cut it in the Great Forest.

Still… there were morals she couldn’t abandon.
Lena glanced at what the wolf was guarding.
There lay two massive wolves, their fur and features so similar they had to be its parents.
Amid the commotion, their faces didn’t twitch once.
Sunken bellies, dried blood—they’d already crossed into the afterlife.

Theft was a serious crime.
But beating the thief in front of its parents’ corpses felt excessive.
More than that, another reason made Lena pause.

If the wolf had stolen out of greed, she’d have chalked it up to bad parenting and not cared.
But the young wolf had neatly stacked the stolen food before its parents’ bodies.
It was a child’s filial piety—unaware or unwilling to accept their death—urging them to eat and rise.
The theft stemmed from a desire to care for its dead kin!

Lena rubbed her eyes for no reason.
Even beasts are tugging at my heartstrings.

“Haa.”

Punishing it for stealing suddenly felt complicated.
She had firm principles, but doing so would make her the villain—and leave a sour taste.
The fury boiling in her skull softened into compassion, pity.

“Hey, eat this first.”

The wolf eyed the jerky Lena offered warily, hesitating.
There’s no free lunch.
It’s a lesson learned without being taught.
Food from a stranger might make you sick—and in the Great Forest, sickness was a death sentence.
This human had tracked it to a secret, magic-hidden lair to catch a thief.
How could it trust there wasn’t poison laced in?

“Aish, so annoying. Ang! See? Happy now? It’s fine—eat it quick. I’m only doing this ‘cause you look like you’ll keel over first.”

Lena tore off a piece, ate it herself, then tossed the rest to the ground.
Only then did the wolf relax and gnaw at it.
The sound of its smacking lips revealed its ravenous hunger.
Its gaunt frame backed that up—it’d likely starved itself to feed its parents.

Admirable filial piety for a beast.
Alright, I’ll let it slide.

Lena made her decision.
Technically, it’s fair to lighten punishment for survival-driven crimes.
Honestly, she felt relieved.

“There’s more—keep eating.”

After tossing out all the emergency rations from her pockets, Lena approached the dead wolves.
The young wolf, distracted by its feast, growled as it noticed her movement.

“Tsk.”

It quickly lowered its tail and flattened itself at her sharp warning.
Lena pried open the parent wolves’ mouths.
Ugh, the stench of rot.
Her face twisted.

She’d let her guard down since they looked intact outside.
Inside, they were festering—a month dead, at least.
Yet no maggots crawled, and their forms held.
Fantasy world, whatever.
Lena shrugged it off.

She placed food on their tongues—travel fare for the afterlife.
Then she dug a hole and buried them.
No tools, just bare hands—but for Lena, a superhuman, it was no hardship.

She gestured at the small mound she’d raised.
The wolf, having polished off the rations, stood before it.
After staring blankly for a moment, it let out a short howl and looked up at Lena.
Its eyes—once teary with fear—now gleamed with trust and affection.
Panting, tongue out, tail wagging—it was every bit a puppy meeting its owner.

[Guardian of the Dragon Lair]
Trials come with rewards.
To plunder the dragon’s lair, you must defeat its guardian.
A crossroads of choices lies before you.
Whether to defeat the guardian, or…

[The guardian of the dragon’s lair wants to serve you as its new master!]
[‘Guardian of the Dragon Lair’ completed!]
[You have completed the quest in a unique way, so additional rewards…!]

The wolf flipped onto its back, belly exposed.
Its wagging tail kicked up dust.
The status window blabbered on, but Lena could guess its gist.

This is that thing.
In game terms, she’d tamed it.
The wolf’s eyes sparkled.

Taming wild animals is harder than people think.
YouTube videos of “modern druids” befriending beasts go viral because it’s rare and impressive.
Taming a Great Forest creature—hostile to all but its pack—was like plucking a star from the sky.
Lena, who’d lived among these beasts, could vouch for that.
So the wolf submitting first was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke.

“Shoo, get lost.”

But so what? Why should she care?
Sure, she’d forgiven its crime, but the grudge lingered.
Despicableness +1 stack.

It was stunted from starvation, true, but that didn’t excuse raiding her stash.
It couldn’t pull its weight right now.
Feed a freeloader?
Despicableness +2 stacks.

Experts say pet ownership demands responsibility—cleaning up poop, playing, ensuring they don’t starve.
Not as intense as raising a human, but close.
Impulse decisions just breed regret for both.
Lena wasn’t ready.
Hesitation +1 stack.

So, 2 stacks plus 1 stack equaled 3 strikes—you’re out.
Lena rejected the wolf.

[You have rejected the declaration of submission made by the guardian of the dragon’s lair!]
[Are you sure you want to reject?]

The system message doubled down on her shocking choice.

“Yeah, no way. Not changing my mind. Beat it.”

A man doesn’t speak twice with one mouth.
Though she’s a woman now.

Kkiing! Kkaeng!

The spurned wolf slumped and wailed.
Unlike the status window, which gave up after one prompt, the wolf was tenacious.
It was a survival-driven obsession.
Its parents were dead, and it wasn’t grown yet.
A strong human stood before it—naturally, it clung.

“Huh? You want me to follow you?”

Its persistence had a decent shot at working.
If she truly meant to ditch a dependent, she wouldn’t have hesitated.
Lena was torn.

She hadn’t turned into a beast just by living among them.
Assimilation had hardened her, but compassion lingered.
Can’t take it in, but maybe check on it sometimes?
That’s where her mind lingered.

Beasts outmatch humans at reading those emotions.
To sway her wavering heart, the wolf grabbed her clothes and tugged her along.

“…How big is this place, seriously?”

Lena’s voice dripped with exhaustion.
She’d thought the chamber was the cave’s end, but no.
The space sprawled further—twisting down, up, sideways, like an ant nest.
Passages varied in size, but it felt endless.

What if I get lost?
Worry crept in.
The wolf, though, strode confidently, like it owned the place.
Guess I’ll trust it for now.

Even beasts understand gratitude.
Plus, rejection aside, it had bared its belly in submission.
Soon, the wolf halted.

“A door?”

Unease hit her hard.
A door? In a natural cave?
A massive, weathered door barred their path.
Unmaintained but unmistakably man-made.
No other artificial signs around—just raw cave—made it jarring.

How’d they manage this?
“Uh, yeah, must be magic.”

Lena nodded, convinced.
A wizard’s workshop, maybe?
In novels, quirky wizards always set up in remote spots like this.
Details didn’t matter.

The wolf scratched at the door, urging her to enter.
Made of solid mineral, it didn’t budge under the pup’s efforts.
Even a burly man would strain to shift it.

Geeeeeung!

To Lena, post-meal, it was a snack.
With superhuman strength that humbled orcs, she ripped the mineral door open effortlessly.

“…!”

Inside, her eyes widened at the dazzling light flooding the room.