4 – Yeongju System

Tap.

Tap tap.

“Why isn’t it working?”

Wolf ears.

Wolf tail.

A girl with white skin held stones in each hand and struck them together.

She was following something she’d seen a long time ago. When stones collided like this, sparks would fly and ignite dry leaves.

Tap tap.

Tap.

It didn’t work.

She had perfectly prepared the firewood to start a fire, but Wolf Girl didn’t know about the existence of flint, the stone that was crucial.

Still, she gave up quickly.

She had lived for quite a while.

This wasn’t the right stone.

She understood after a few attempts that it wasn’t a stone for starting fires.

“Whimper.”

“Did I make you wait? Let’s just eat.”

Wolf Girl stroked the wolf’s head.

The wolf was bigger than Wolf Girl just in the head, but in front of her, it whined like a mere puppy.

As soon as Wolf Girl gave her permission, the wolf ate the raw meat, and the other wolves followed suit.

Wolf Girl also bit into the raw meat with a regretful expression.

“I think I’ve become too accustomed to Human food. It was delicious, though.”

Wolf Girl had been eating food cooked by Humans.

They grilled the meat over a fire and seasoned it.

Eating only raw meat these days made her crave it.

She had seen it done, so she tried to start a fire and grill it, but she failed.

Cooking was one thing, but wandering through the mountain forest had torn her clothes, creating holes here and there, and they had become worn out. The rough texture made her want to wear new clothes, but there were no Humans to give her any.

Cooking was one thing, and clothes were another, but as night fell, she longed for alcohol.

What had amused Wolf Girl, who had lived for countless years, was alcohol.

Looking back at herself tearing into raw meat, Wolf Girl felt strangely pathetic with nothing.

She could just take in new Humans.

But she missed the conveniences Humans had provided in the meantime.

“Is it already a full moon?”

The moon in the sky.

A full moon had risen.

The shape of the moon signaled the passage of time.

‘Judging by how quiet it is, it seems to be over.’

Wolf Girl recalled what had happened a few weeks ago.

The land’s Magical Power had been taken away.

It had flowed somewhere without her permission as the Territory Owner,

and it had created lightning.

The presence of the opponent she had felt at that moment was so immense that, even though she was far away, she felt like she was within the range of that presence, a distance where she could be unilaterally reached.

Even thinking about it now made the hair on her body stand on end.

What on earth was that being that had gathered Magical Power from such a vast area?

And who was the opponent that hadn’t been defeated even after gathering all that Magical Power?

Wolf Girl felt a sense of mortal danger for the first time in a long time.

In the wild, survival was the top priority.

Wolf Girl had once been just a wolf.

She had been revered by Humans, received conveniences from them, and protected them. To receive those conveniences, she disguised herself as a Human and settled in one place for a long time.

She would have fought, risking injury, if it wasn’t for something extraordinary,

but it wasn’t an opponent she could fight while protecting something.

She left the slow and numerous Humans behind and took the wolf children to the hideout where she had lived a long time ago.

It was a large cave, and a bear Demon beast was using it as a hideout, but she ate it. The smell was so fishy that she couldn’t eat it.

Bear meat had been edible when Humans cooked it, though.

It was good to come to the hideout, but the conveniences that Humans had provided had permeated her life much more than she had thought.

Even the fact that she hadn’t released her Human form was like that.

Should she release it?

‘No.’

If she returned to her original form, the cave would become cramped.

Still, it wasn’t unbearable. She had lost two grown wolves who were in charge of protecting the Human village.

One of them had eaten something that fell from the sky and started rampaging with Blades sprouting from its body.

Even though it was her descendant and she had affection for it, she had intended to kill it,

but her claws had been cut off by the Blades covering its body.

In the end, she couldn’t kill it.

That lingered in her mind.

If she had fought, risking more injuries, she could have killed it and prevented it from wandering around in that unsightly state.

But she couldn’t do that.

She didn’t know when the being that controlled lightning would appear. She didn’t know when or how it would disrupt her Territory.

She had to prevent the Humans from being annihilated.

Because she had promised to protect them.

She hadn’t taken them out like the wolves, but the forest wasn’t suitable for Humans to live in, and if she had to choose the next target for that being, it was likely to be herself.

The owner of the land and rich in Magical Power.

High-ranking beings coveted high-ranking things.

It was a being that could threaten her life just with its presence, so if it wanted to devour her, it could do so at any time.

But Wolf Girl didn’t want to waste her life in vain either.

Even if bandits attacked and disrupted the Human villages, half of the Humans had survived, so that was enough.

Once Humans started to multiply, they would quickly multiply.

If the Humans wanted to reclaim the occupied villages, they could have reclaimed them.

Combined with her decision to avoid interfering in Human society as much as possible, she somewhat loosely judged that the situation could be handled by the Humans in the village alone.

This was a harm that occurred because Wolf Girl didn’t see Humans as individuals.

In fact, it wasn’t just Humans. She was looking at the wolves in the same way.

Wolf Girl, who had been living for a long time, didn’t realize that her efforts to remember individual Humans and wolves were decreasing.

Except for a very small number of Humans,

even if the Humans in the village were killed by bandits, she only recognized them as numbers.

The bandits’ invasion barely exceeded Wolf Girl’s standards.

Her standards were lax.

‘Where did it go?’

The culprit who made those standards lax.

Wolf Girl heightened her senses.

That being hid its presence strangely.

Whether it had left.

Or remained.

She couldn’t tell the difference.

She might have to live hidden in a forest cave for decades.

Living without Human help for decades made her shudder just thinking about it.

Cave entrance.

She looked up at the full moon.

At that moment, feeling the scenery.

Jiriri.

Her fur stood on end.

A subtle Electricity.

She had felt this before.

But it was different.

The last time she felt it, it revealed aggression, but now it was subtly and widely spreading out, gently scanning objects as if searching for something.

Someone flew down below the full moon that Wolf Girl was looking up at.

A Human landing lightly.

No, was it really a Human?

Wolf Girl looked at the Human who had come to find her.

The Human also saw Wolf Girl and was intrigued.

It was strange.

‘Why doesn’t it smell?’

The smell of Magical Power.

She could smell the substance that made up the body, but apart from that, she couldn’t smell the Magical Power that Wolf Girl used as a measure to recognize the opponent’s Strength at all.

It was the first time she had experienced this in her long life.

She glared at the Human woman who gave off a strange smell.

Amel came out in a drunken stupor.

There’s a saying in the world.

Do it while you’re thinking about it.

She did it in a drunken stupor.

You can do it most enthusiastically when you have the will to do it.

So she told Leki and jumped into the mountain forest in front of everyone.

She gathered Magical Power.

She was drunk,

but her body remembered.

She gathered [Electricity] into Magical Power and searched to the maximum range.

Wolves moved in packs, so there was a place where creatures of a certain size were clustered together.

She couldn’t find it until the full moon reached its peak,

but she finally found it.

She smiled brightly.

It was the image she had imagined.

Wolf Girl was Wolf Girl.

An petite Wolf Girl who only came up to her chest. It was the perfect height to hold her head in her chest.

The closer she got, the more excited she became about the height difference, looking down at her as if she were looking down at a child.

“It’s you.”

“Who are you, you?”

“You’re the Territory Owner here, right?”

“….”

Wolf Girl was Grand Wolf.

Territory Owner Grand Wolf.

Ominous black letters.

She was very wary.

She could see her claws extending and her fur standing on end. She was preparing to shed her Human-shaped shell by surrounding her body with Magical Power.

“I didn’t come to fight.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I wish you would. In that sense, can I stroke your head once?”

“…What does that mean?”

“You’re much cuter than I imagined. If you let me stroke you, I won’t fight.”

“….”

Wolf Girl’s reaction.

She relaxed slightly.

Amel noticed.

“You, you know me after all, right?”

“….”

The fur on Wolf Girl’s ears and tail lost Strength while standing on end.

She knew the difference in Strength.

Amel approached,

and the girl retreated.

But she stopped.

Amel took that stopping action as a sign of permission.

“I haven’t said it’s okay to stroke me yet.”

“Can I stroke you?”

“Aren’t you already doing it?”

“That’s right. If possible, I’d like to put a leash on you and take you around.”

“You…”

“If you don’t like it, that’s fine. I don’t have a hobby of forcibly taking around children who resist. But you’re really cute. Why do you have four ears? It’s weird~.”

Wolf ears and Human ears.

There was a pair of each.

It was strange, but judging by her reaction, the Human ears seemed normal too.

The wolf ears were real too.

She had four ears.

Grotesque.

Bizarre.

Adorable. Haha.

Wolf Girl explained with a seemingly sulky expression.

“The Human form is very weak. If you have four ears, it’s easier to detect stealthy approaches. There’s a reason for everything.”

“Is that so? You’re smart.”

“….”

Wolf Girl glared with an angry face.

Her angry face was also cute.

Amel stroked Wolf Girl’s head and tilted her head.

“But what should I do.”

What should she really do.

“I have to become the Territory Owner here.”

“…Is that what you want?”

“Yeah. But don’t worry. Even if I become the Territory Owner, I won’t kick you out. Rather, I’ll keep you by my side and adore you.”

“….”

A face with a lot to say.

Cute.

Amel’s smile deepened.

“I’ll return it someday. It won’t be longer than 100 years at most. If it’s short… 1 year? I’ll return it with interest by expanding the Territory. How about it?”

Amel touched Wolf Girl’s ears and her eyes fell on her tail.

Her tail wagged.

She didn’t seem to dislike the offer?

“If you let me hug you in addition, I can make you even stronger.”

“More?”

“Yeah. If the land gets bigger, you need to get stronger, right? You don’t think that having a lot of Magical Power is all you need, do you? That will destroy you.”

“…Why are you making such an offer? Is there any benefit to me becoming stronger for you?”

“Huh? You don’t like it?”

“I do, but…”

Wolf Girl glared ambiguously, as if she liked it and didn’t like it.

“Why are you making an offer to me when you can take it by Strength?”

“Well…”

The hand that was stroking Wolf Girl’s head slid down to her chin.

“Because I like you.”

“Me? My true form is.”

“That doesn’t matter. The fact that you’re in this form even in the middle of this wilderness means that this form is already one of your true forms, right?”

“….”

Ahaha.

She laughed.

Look at her not denying it.

“Look how soft.”

Adorable.

She cupped Wolf Girl’s cheeks in both hands and rubbed them like mochi.

Wolf Girl swung her hand and pushed her away.

Ah, she’s angry.

“I only allowed you to touch my head.”

“That’s right, I remember.”

Haha.

I see.

It means I can stroke other places if I get permission.

I heard something good.

“So? Will you lend me the land?”

“Do you think I can refuse after hearing such an offer?”

She grumbled that there was no choice in the first place.

“I have one condition in exchange for handing it over.”

“Let me touch your tail instead.”

“I haven’t said anything yet.”

“In exchange for listening, I want to touch it, can’t I?”

“…Okay.”

She got permission.

Wolf Girl stated her condition.

“Fight me in exchange for handing it over. Even if you are strong, you must show Strength that the children can follow.”

“Is that all?”

“That will be the justification for me to follow you. There are more who follow me than you think. If you tell them to follow you without showing anything, even if it’s my word, there will definitely be rebellious children.”

“Hmm…”

“If you want to reign over others, you must have dignity. Don’t act like a child either, you vulgar person.”

“What about me? There are few people with more dignity than me. I’m a 100-point person.”

Charm 100 points. Charisma and so on. She had maxed out the Stats that fascinated people.

No matter what she did, everyone was bound to follow.

If they didn’t follow?

It was their loss.

The battle was Amel’s victory.

There was nothing to it.

Amel easily revealed her Strength as Wolf Girl had wished.

A storm of Sword Aura.

The accumulation of Electricity.

A powerful blow.

It would have been clearly visible from dozens of kilometers away.

It was more of an assault than a battle.

She won that way and was transferred the rights to the Territory.

Owner Lord CoffeeAddict

Amel became the Territory Owner.

Thanks to becoming the Lord, the restrictions on the Lord System were also lifted.

Direct intervention in the village became possible.

But how?

The buildings that could be built in the Construction section were activated. How would they work if she built them?

There were many questions, but she would know if she actually used them.

But in fact, what she really needed to pay attention to wasn’t that.

The Territorial lord level floating at the top of the Lord System rose.

How much? The Territorial lord level was calculated by adding up the levels of the villages she owned.

All of the villages owned by Wolf Girl became Amel’s property, so the sum of all of them was converted into Amel’s Territorial lord level.

Level 41

Was it high?

But well, what was important was the Lord’s power that came from that level.

The Lord controlled the power of the Territory.

She could gather the land’s Magical Power.

“….”

Amel had originally been able to gather Magical Power from nature.

It was forced.

It was different now.

As the qualification of Lord was given, the Spirit Vein was connected to Amel.

The power of the Territory was Amel’s power.

A bonus was added to her Stats.

Magical Power 0+123

…Was this right?

Why did it seem like more?

Amel, who looked at the currently available Magical Power, felt much more Magical Power than 123 points of Magical Power.

Feeling doubtful about this, Amel would calculate it someday.

After figuring out the increase in Stats added by the level and calculating it,

limited to within the Territory, Amel could currently exert the power of 123 points of Magical Power at level 41.

Why was this phenomenon occurring?

The reason was simple.

It was bugged.

“Wow… if this happens…”

Amel, who didn’t know that fact yet, knew one thing.

Magical Power increased by as much as the Territorial lord level.

Without a limit.

And the Territorial lord level increased by as much as the Territory she owned.

“…Hoo.”

In her head, a beautiful queen became a giant and trampled the world with her feet.

The distance to that picture seemed like she could reach it if she stretched out her hand.