Surviving a Cruel Fairy Tale

6 – Act 1. Red Riding Hood’s Forest – Prologue (3)

After finishing the meal with the help of the hunter, we were escorted to the guest room.

A small room with futons.

From a modern experience, it was a fairly simple bed, but since I entered this fairy tale world, I hadn’t been able to prepare a proper bed, so even this was a good thing.

At least there are blankets and there are walls to block the wind.

I almost forgot the concept of the word cozy after entering this world.

“…… Ha.”

It took me a while to catch my breath as the accumulated fatigue melted away.

First of all, this town and Little Red Riding Hood. Then he closed his eyes, remembering the information about the Tin Hunter that the hunter alluded to.

The fairy tale I encountered for the first time in this world of fairy tales was like seeing a messy twisted skein of thread.

Then, how should I solve this?

Little Red Riding Hood became a witch and the Tin Woodman roams the forest.

For that reason, the inhabitants of the forest whose right to live is constantly being threatened by the distorted fairy tale characters.

That’s right, I want to lead in a positive direction.

Because the fairy tales I saw as a child were always warm and colorful.

The story of my mother, who made me dream of becoming a children’s story writer, is always full of dreams and hopes, and I began to walk this path, longing for such things.

Then, where should I start?

Is that Red Riding Hood?

So far, it seems that the one who practically threatens the human right to live is the existence of a wolf called a witch.

But how?

Anyone can deal with a wolf to some extent.

If a hunter with a wolf-hunting tradition were added to it, he wouldn’t struggle with the beast, but what are the characteristics of the most important red cloak?

I don’t know.

If you are called a witch, you must have a story, but how did a girl who went on an errand to find her grandmother turn into a witch?

I’m sure I’m in a cozy bed, but I can’t sleep.

There are many things to worry about, but the situation where nothing was clearly revealed brought a bit of frustration.

It would be a little better if the moonlight shined on it, but this thick forest covered even the village with tree branches as a ceiling, so even the proper light couldn’t come in.

It is a truly gloomy forest.

A human trying to survive in a forest that doesn’t feel alive, and Little Red Riding Hood who is hostile to them.

It was the moment when I forcibly closed my eyes thinking about that.

“aaa!!”

From far away, but not far away, a human scream was heard.

First of all, I raised my upper body in a sudden situation.

It was a sleepless night in the first place, so I didn’t feel sleepy. It was only a little bit of accumulated fatigue, but it wasn’t so deep that I couldn’t move immediately after hearing a person’s scream.

So, first of all, I opened the door through my sight accustomed to the darkness and went out of the room, and I just ran into a hunter coming out from the opposite room.

“Did you hear the sound just now?”

“…… First I’ll check the situation, so you stay inside.”

Looking quite flustered, he nodded at the hunter’s words and let him go.

Originally, did this happen often?

I wanted to ask if there was a corner where I could get caught, but I know that my daytime curiosity is not as heavy as the steps of someone who sets out to save people.

After I let him go, I thought as I heard screams coming from around me.

Should I stay at home like this?

First of all, there is a wall, so if you stay here, your safety will be guaranteed, but this is nothing more than a one-dimensional protection.

Safety is the most important thing.

That is certainly true, but was the purpose of my touring this world of fairy tales just to take care of this one body?

If you want to change something, start by facing it.

What Rumpelstiltschen presented as a condition for returning reality to me was a change in the world of fairy tales.

In a situation where I knew nothing about this forest, I felt sure that nothing would change after that if I just hid after seeing the sudden change of situation.

So let’s move now.

It is important to keep one’s own safety, but since it was able to deal with wild wolves without much difficulty, there should be no great danger as long as it is not overdoing it.

In that case, the first thing to do is to figure out the identity of the attacker on this village and figure out the situation.

After organizing my thoughts, I immediately light a torch and go outside.

The first thing I felt after going out was the noise that stimulated my ears more realistically.

People’s screams and moans.

And even the howling of wolves.

I wanted to be a wolf, but it was hard to understand that wolves would attack human villages openly.

No matter how many wolves there are, it’s not uncommon for them to regularly light fires and raid villages where many live.

If you think so, I wondered if the culprit behind this situation would be Little Red Riding Hood.

A woman serving wolves.

A witch wearing a red cloak that hunts people like her.

According to the information I’ve heard so far, no other suspects come to mind besides her, but the question of why remains unanswered.

Why is she against the human village?

There is a causal relationship in the world.

It’s just a distorted fairy tale world, so it’s not too late to conclude that there’s no reason after everything is revealed.

The hunter pointed to Little Red Riding Hood and called it a human.

Then, wouldn’t it be reasonable to think that she has her own reasons for threatening the right to live of human beings like her?

“…… Write.”

Despite several hypotheses, conclusive information is lacking.

I could understand the situation to some extent just because it was the wolf that attacked the village at night and caused confusion, but that was really all.

If the wolf is your opponent, is the only relief that there is a way to deal with it even at night?

Mystery of the fairy tale world.

If the attack on this village had been something surreal beyond the realm of cognition, they would have fled without looking back.

But if that’s not the case.

At least, if it’s something I can see and understand with my own eyes, I can deal with it, and furthermore, I can save the lives of the village that is currently under attack.

It’s not a pleasant thing to see someone die right in front of you, no matter how foreign you are.

So, first, holding a torch, I ran in the direction where the scream came from, and there I saw a wolf trying to pounce on a person, even knocking down the wall of a wooden building.

In an imminent situation, it first kicks off the ground and kicks the beast’s head straight out of its mouth.

“Are you okay?”

“Uh, uh uh…… ?”

The man blinked at me as if he didn’t understand the situation.

“What about the others?”

“That… ….”

Hey, there’s no way they knew that when the whole village was suddenly attacked.

Then would it be better to move while chasing away wolves than to find a place where people are gathered?

“Oh, hey, hey!! Where are you going!?”

“First of all, I’m trying to chase away the wolves I see.”

“Then what about me?”

I thought about that for a while.

Certainly, it would be dangerous to leave a person behind in a situation like this, but it is not right to stay here only to protect this person.

It’s hard to even ask them to come along, it’s true that they don’t have the energy to take care of the people around them while dealing with wolves in this darkness.

“Let’s evacuate to the hunter’s house first.”

“He, to his house? I?”

A very flustered voice.

I had a moment of doubt about the title of person, but first I grabbed his shoulder and calmed my breath before continuing.

“I wouldn’t say anything bad about visiting without permission in this urgent situation. If it’s that house, there won’t be any wolves breaking in, so you should hide there right now.”

“No, but… ….”

A man who can’t answer as if hesitating about something.

But as soon as he heard the howl of a wolf, he let out a shrieking scream and started running toward the hunter’s house.

He took some time, but he seems to have saved one person anyway, and now all that’s left is…….

“Stupid.”

I even thought about it for a moment. The clear female voice stimulates the ears.

A uniquely clear voice even in chaos.

From what I heard, it was just a beautiful voice, but the problem was that the voice came from right behind me.

I didn’t feel a single presence.

I tried to turn his head after realizing that I was being caught too naturally, but as if refusing to give him a chance, the strong force pulled my shoulders and I fell to the ground.

“Why are you walking around in this situation?”

Across the shaky sight, she asks me a question.

Shaking her head, she managed to come to her senses, and then she showed her thin legs wrapped in tights. Since the bottoms are almost missing, it is a bit malevolent that the line of the pelvis is exposed as it is.

From there, I raised my gaze a little higher.

Then what I see are golden eyes.

His black hair, wrapped in a bright red cloth, cascaded down his shoulders and slender fingers gripped the handle of the axe.

Little Red Riding Hood.

The first protagonist of this fairy tale world, a distorted witch.

“…… Are you Little Red Riding Hood?”

“You know it when you see it, right?”

“Yes.”

As expected, the mastermind behind the attack on the village.

She held her arms against me with her knees against me as I fell, and sat with her hips on her chest, meeting her gaze.

A subtle tension flows.

The Red Riding Hood seen up close was certainly beautiful.

It was the same with the flawless skin, but above all, the golden eyes that reminded me of that gold.

But beautiful flowers have thorns.

The ax in her hand was still dripping with blood.

“I have a question for you.”

“In this situation?”

“Now that it is, I have some questions. So I ask you, is it your fault that you released wolves in this village?”

At that question, she calmly nodded her head.

“Right.”

“Then why? Why are you against humanity?”

“Humanity, la.”

Little Red Riding Hood laughs.

It was clearly close to ridicule.

“It might seem that way to you.”

“No?”

“The people of this town. Is that hunter all of humanity? Isn’t that right?”

In short, do you mean to say that you are not against humanity, but against this village?

Then it’s even more questionable.

Why is Little Red Riding Hood hostile to this village? She had to have a reason to unleash a wolf against them and threaten their lives, but she couldn’t find that reason at the moment.

“Then… ….”

“Listen to your silence.”

As she was about to ask more questions, her slender fingers covered my mouth.

“I don’t have time to explain. She eluded the hunter by cheating, but the man would soon notice.”

“Genus… ….”

“I just told you to listen.”

My lips pressed harder.

“I am on your side.”

After that, she whispers softly.

The witch of the forest, a being who commands wolves.

In this fairy tale world where distortion exists, a being called a witch was talking to me out of the usual position.

“I know you won’t believe me even if I tell you this. There is no reason.”

Of course.

How can we trust a woman who led a wolf to raid a village and cause casualties?

“I won’t ask you to go with me now. You will have to start by getting to know this world.”

She spoke so naturally, as if she knew who I was.

“Just call my name when it’s really dangerous.”

“…… Little Red Riding Hood?”

“That is fine, anything is fine. Just the act of calling is enough. Whenever and wherever you call, I will come to you.”

Afterwards, Little Red Riding Hood took out her own book from her waist, tore a page, and carefully poked it into the front of her chest, continuing her words.

“Don’t forget. You must call me before it is too late.”

“…… What do you know?”

She didn’t answer.

Just staring at my face.

The wind blows.

A wind blows through the dreary forest where even the flow of air seemed to have stopped.

Her hair was blown away by the wind, and then she rose from my body and disappeared into the darkness without looking back.