I Entered a Gacha Game That Had Been Abandoned for 10 Years

3 – Message (3)

She entered a game that had been neglected for ten years.

Episode 4

Message (3)

Come to think of it, the wolf was nothing at first.

No matter how well she played, it was just a common wolf tribe that could be found anywhere.

In retrospect, she was nothing more than a young wolf who, despite barely escaping from being captured by a slave trader who treated her like a wolf, could not receive the treatment of a wolf tribe.

Was that all?

Even after escaping from the slave trader, the young wolf had nowhere to go.

The reason she was captured by the slave trader in the first place was because her parents abandoned her, considering her instincts not wolf-like enough and too timid.

Therefore, the only option available to the girl was ultimately wandering in hunger.

For a young wolf who hadn’t even learned the basics of proper hunting from her parents, wandering was tough.

There were days when she couldn’t eat, and there were times when she had to engage in a chase to escape slave hunters lurking for her.

Thus, the young wolf grew increasingly weary.

As time passed, the number of days she had to endure hunger increased, and the relentless pursuit of slave hunters mentally pressured her.

At some point, she even began to think about death.

The prolonged hunger and the mental pressure from slave hunters became an unbearable burden for her.

However, just as she began to crystallize those thoughts, she encountered a man.

The man introduced himself as the lord of this territory and expressed his desire to recruit the young wolf.

Naturally, she was wary of such a man.

To believe those words purely, the young wolf had already encountered too many slave hunters.

Surprisingly, however, the man’s words were true.

He was indeed the lord of this still-small territory where she now stood, and he had acquired her by paying a contract fee that seemed a bit excessive for a young wolf.

She accepted his proposal at once because she was desperate for a place to go back to, but at that moment, she still harbored doubts and suspicions as she looked at the man, now to be called her owner.

For the young wolf, as much as she thought, she couldn’t understand why the man had acquired her.

The lord mentioned using her as a warrior, but he knew he could have hired a more capable fighter or soldier with the money he gave to the young wolf.

However, the skepticism and mistrust that filled the young wolf gradually began to fade.

The lord taught her how to fight, brought in a werewolf to instruct her in werewolf combat, and had her subdue a goblin.

Of course, the young wolf knew it wasn’t out of the lord’s consideration.

Goblins, when gathered, could be troublesome, but a single one was a weak creature that even an ordinary person could easily defeat with a weapon.

In short, having her subdue a few goblins did not benefit the lord in any way.

Nevertheless, the lord had her subdue goblins for a very long time.

He didn’t berate the young wolf who came back with injuries from just a goblin.

He merely treated her wounds with expensive potions and encouraged her, saying, “You’ll do better in the future.”

The same pattern continued afterward.

She increased her skills by subduing goblins that were of no real help to the lord.

Every time, the lord praised her excessively, even for tasks that an ordinary person could accomplish, and took care of her.

Taking the time to gradually handle more and more goblins, the young wolf, under the lord’s care, eventually grew to the point where she could single-handedly subdue a goblin lair that posed a significant threat to the territory.

On that day, as the man praised her with great joy for subduing the goblin lair, the young wolf couldn’t help but ask a question that had been on her mind since she first became the man’s owner.

“My lord, why do you go to such lengths for me?”

The question had been a curiosity about the lord’s irrational choice since the moment she became the man’s owner.

“I just wanted you by my side.”

With that statement, the young wolf felt it.

That she had found a place truly belonging to her.

A small, singular happiness had come into her life.

From that point, the young wolf began to grow even more.

At some point, she no longer needed the adjective ‘young’ to describe her.

Now, she had become a warrior that could be counted on one hand in the entire territory, which, over time, had grown so large that it could no longer be called a territory; it was more fitting to call it a kingdom.

The wolf took pride in all of it.

She considered this territory the result of the joint efforts between herself and the lord. As the territory prospered, the lord was pleased.

Because of this, she found all the changes happening in the territory delightful.

Except for one thing: the increasing number of other heroes around the lord.

Of course, she understood that as the territory expanded, it was inevitable for other heroes to emerge around him. Being a lord didn’t mean he could cover the vast territory alone, and she, too, couldn’t defend such an expansive territory on her own.

The more the territory grew, the more heroes around the lord increased, and the wolf wasn’t comfortable with that.

That seemed to be the reason she expressed her discontent unexpectedly.

But with just one outburst, she received a gift.

Objectively speaking, the gift the lord gave the wolf wasn’t something particularly impressive. It was just a small earring.

Yet, she was happy.

The fact that the lord gave her a gift itself was incredibly pleasing. Simultaneously, it felt good to think that it set her apart from the other heroes attached to him.

The wolf wished to be a special existence to the lord.

However, that joy was short-lived; her expectations were shattered not long after.

The reason was that the lord began giving gifts to the wolf just as he had done for the other heroes.

The wolf felt jealousy.

She, who thought she had become a special existence to the lord, now felt the sensation of being pulled down like any other hero.

Although she understood it in her head, from a certain moment, the wolf started showing signs of disappointment to the lord frequently.

To receive a few more gifts than the other heroes.

To become a slightly more special existence to the lord.

It became a burden.

What was once unexpected started changing into something expected.

At some point, heroes began demanding more than just gifts from the lord; the wolf was no exception.

Even when the lord made a troubled expression, the wolf, instead, persisted.

Eventually, despite the lord’s discomfort, looking at how he still cared for her, she couldn’t help but feel that she was being recognized as a special existence by the lord.

And as time passed.

The lord refused to give gifts.

Refusing to show kindness. Refusing to show intimacy.

It wasn’t just the wolf. It was all the other heroes included.

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The other heroes, including her, expressed discomfort. Perhaps it could have been a step into the realm of unease.

Nevertheless.

He no longer spoke to the heroes. As if there was no longer any need to do so.

Before long, the lord departed.

He vanished.

Despite the departure of the lord, the wolf, along with the heroes, initially exhibited frustration with all their might.

As time passed and the lord did not return for over a week, the heroes finally realized that something was amiss.

It might have been around then that a faint sense of guilt started to arise.

They began to think that maybe they made things too difficult for him and that an apology upon his return would be the right thing to do.

The wolf thought similarly, but once an absent lord did not return, the thought ceased to matter.

Continuing.

Continuing on.

A month passed.

Six months passed.

Until half a year had gone by.

The lord did not return.

It was then that the wolf considered that perhaps he had crossed a mighty river that he couldn’t return from.

Naturally, she snarled and denied it.

“No, it can’t be,” she habitually repeated, staring blankly at the lordless territory for another year.

The wolf, belatedly shaking off distorted senses and base desires, realized the irreversible mistake he had made, falling into self-reproach and despair as he surveyed the territory.

The territory he had helped build with the lord was now on a path of decline as he had vanished.

The walls, assaulted multiple times, had already crumbled, and the people of the territory were scattering even now.

The wolf did what he could.

He thwarted the incoming foes.

He eliminated the threats emerging around the territory.

…That was all he could do.

The territory continued to decline.

Buildings collapsed, and the walls vanished.

The Yeongji people departed, and the land became desolate.

The wolf, in order to preserve the memories built with the lord –

– Perhaps, in the hope that the lord might return, he did his best.

Three years since the lord left.

The estate had completely lost its original form.

What remained were a few ruins and the almost collapsed lord’s castle.

Nothing else was left.

The training ground the lord had built for her.

The house he had made for her.

Everything disappeared.

No memories with the lord lingered here anymore.

There was no place left for the lord to return to.

When the wolf realized this, no more tears flowed from his eyes.

She just stared at the empty estate with cold eyes.

…Silently lamenting to herself for her own foolishness and stupidity, for giving up something precious.

And so, for the fourth year.

The wolf, who had been sitting on the roof of the lord’s castle all along, stood up and left the estate, where nothing remained.

To create a place for the lord to return.

Of course, she painfully understood that the lord might never return.

Her milk had already been spilled, and she knew she couldn’t put it back.

Still, the reason the wolf moved was a kind of self-hypnosis.

It felt like something would go wrong if she didn’t do something.

So, the wolf, who left the estate, created a refuge in the best way she knew.

Simply by fighting and fighting, she established a makeshift pack.

Compared to the estate the lord had created, it was a very crude pack, but the wolf didn’t care.

In the end, she was just under her own spell.

…Creating a place for him to return, she just wanted to hold on to the hope that he might come back.

Six years have passed since then.

The wolf’s makeshift pack, which started quite rudimentary, has grown into a somewhat respectable group.

Despite her lack of interest, when she heard the Four Kings blabbering in the vicinity, it seemed her pack had become well-known to the point where people around here knew about it.

The growth of the cluster brought her no excitement.

Instead, she felt emotions dulling with the passage of time.

As the years went by, the flicker of hope she had hastily conjured faded gradually, leaving only ashes now.

Recently, she found herself growing increasingly lethargic, dedicating a significant amount of time to sleep.

Interestingly, occasionally, when she did fall asleep, she would have dreams about him.

Now, his face was blurred in those dreams, and the dreams about the forgotten lord barely registered in her memory.

So, today, she was forcing herself to sleep again.

Until just a moment ago, before a letter fell onto her head.

“…”

And…

“Ah…”

Her lips moved slightly, repeatedly opening and closing.

The hand that held the letter trembled.

To anyone else, it seemed like the manifestation of vivid emotions, a feeling akin to a wolf.

Her eyes scanned the small card inside the letter, reading the single sentence written on it over and over.

‘Your lord has returned.’

A set of letters that, for her, seemed utterly unrealistic.

However…

“…”

She stood up.

The wolf couldn’t determine where this letter came from.

Moreover, who wrote it, who sent it—she didn’t know any of that either.

Yet, the content written inside was a story that made her heart swell just by contemplating it.

So, she decided to confirm.

Whether this letter was true or not.

And…

Thud!

With the wolf’s paw striking the hard stone floor.

Roar!

The wolf shattered the rocky mountain with a leap.