The Child Hunter Little Red Riding Hood (2)
In Faelim, there was a hunter clan.
In this wondrous and brutal fantasy realm, one could hunt with nothing but guns and blades. But to become the greatest hunter of all, you needed something special.
Magic?
That didn’t sit well with me.
Instead, the hunters had analyzed their honed skills and physical abilities to create new powers.
What resulted was a technique that amplified energy through special breathing and refined it through proper movements.
The clan was thrilled with the power that let them perfectly control their own bodies.
The energy they created glowed red, so they revered it as “Red” and named their techniques Red Qi, passing them down through generations while wearing red clothing.
But because this power was so revered, the clan slowly reduced the number of successors and changed the rules so that only one person in the clan would inherit it.
When that happened, the sky rained down punishment.
The Red Qi that should have been passed to the successors lost its suitability.
Those without the proper aptitude would burst if they tried to learn the power of expansion and amplification.
Without successors to inherit the breathing and forms, the transmission was hopeless, and soon the clan would be wiped out.
But the clan, unable to abandon Red Qi, came up with a desperate solution.
“Red Qi. Hup!”
If their bodies couldn’t keep up, they would simply make bodies that could.
They created a tough physique that could withstand the wavelengths of expansion and amplification.
They stored the created Red Qi in their bodies and compensated for their lack of aptitude with trained life force and durability.
“Redstone!”
In this way, they were able to pass on the Red Qi without losing its essence, even if only partially.
It was a meaningful opportunity to reconsider the importance of external energy after their powerful Red Qi had made them neglect their bodies.
But the problem was this:
“Hah! Hah! Hah! Hah!! Your muscle condition is good today too! Red Qi is the power of life! You cheeky little brat. Just because your granddaughter was born doesn’t mean you’re getting senile!”
Was it that the bodies of the practitioners who directly endured the power of expansion and amplification had grown gigantic?
**
Well, this place doesn’t seem to be America.
It was the conclusion I drew after watching a woman in a bright red hood fire a red energy blast with her fist.
This was fantasy.
Or maybe hell.
Or perhaps I was just dreaming.
Die. If I get caught by that thing, I’m definitely dead.
She called herself Grandmother, but she didn’t look old at all.
Considering that her granddaughter, Little Red Riding Hood, was a small child, this woman was probably in her middle age.
Even so, there were no wrinkles on her face, her hair was wavy blonde, and her features were very distinct.
Instead of wrinkles, there were muscles.
Her face was tightly clenched, and her body was sturdy enough to feel no signs of aging, just as she said.
The power emanating from her gigantic body.
It was almost as strong as the power I had endured while climbing over the thick, dense forest that had nearly crushed me.
One punch from her had carved a path through the thicket.
That’s just physical strength.
She was a large canine beast, and if she caught me, she’d tear me in half with her bare hands.
I should run… but where…
“Grandmother!”
Damn it, that little one is here too!
On the other side of the thicket, Little Red Riding Hood was pacing around, sniffling with tears in her eyes.
She had followed me all the way here?
That’s impossible! I had run at full speed…
Wait. This is fantasy.
I needed to change my thinking.
I had just seen her fire an energy blast with her fist. Running fast was one thing.
If I clung to conventional judgment, I wouldn’t survive these people.
“Grandmother, I’m sorry… the focusing wave was successful, but I missed…”
“Oh my, oh my, our little one! It’s okay. That’s how it is at your age. Grandmother will catch the wolf alive for you, so let’s try again!”
From this crazy woman who was trying to use a live wolf as a target while holding a gun for her own granddaughter.
Did the world not have an animal protection association? I was just a dog. A very big dog.
…Still, they don’t seem to be bad people.
They gave a gun and bait to a kid and sent her off alone. I wanted to see their faces to figure out what kind of people they were.
Now that I’d seen them, they were scary.
But.
“Our little one. It’s okay, you did very well. The wolf got scared and ran away, so why are you crying?”
“But… Mom said I had to do it alone…”
“Aww, it’s okay. I’ll keep this a secret from your mom and tell her you caught it all by yourself. There, there.”
The woman hugging the sobbing girl whose face had completely relaxed, the muscles that had looked perpetually tight now gone.
The sight of the girl burying her face in the woman’s chest and throwing a tantrum looked, to anyone watching, like just a normal child and her protector.
…Though there was a big size difference. Emotionally, it felt right.
Sigh. Who’s worrying about whom. I’m the one who’s going to die if I don’t get close to these two.
Did I not have a grandmother? Ah, the lineage had been cut off.
Wait, no, that wasn’t it. Did this wolf not have a grandmother?
Originally, how had I become a wolf in this fantasy world? Was it reincarnation? Or a previous life?
When I came to my senses, I was in the middle of the forest, so I had no idea. I didn’t even have wolf memories, so I didn’t know how I ended up here.
If I got out of here, I’d have to find a way out. I didn’t know how, but.
Fortunately, it seemed these two hadn’t noticed I was hiding here.
Without superpowers, there was no way they could find me hiding quietly.
“Then, Little Red Riding Hood, shall we find the wolf’s location with Red Qi?”
“Yes…”
Little Red Riding Hood stepped down from Grandmother’s arms and took a deep breath.
“Suuu—”
She made a strange breathing sound, clasped her hands together, and held them up with the backs facing upward.
What was she trying to do?
She repeated the motion several more times, but it was too fast to see clearly.
Then, just like the first time, she lowered her hands.
Shua—
From Little Red Riding Hood’s body, something red spread out.
It was like ripples spreading across a pond.
Undulating red waves swept over my body.
Damn it.
This was fantasy.
So this technique was probably…
“Huh?”
My eyes met those of Little Red Riding Hood, who was hiding in the forest.
“Eek… hello?”
Bang!
“Waaah!”
She answered my greeting with a gunshot. What kind of rude little brat was this?
Where had the warm atmosphere from before gone?
Little Red Riding Hood didn’t hesitate for even a second and fired her shotgun.
“Auuu~! Isn’t it too much to be able to detect even from this distance!!!”
Now that I thought about it, that kid had found me hiding behind a tree earlier and shot at me too.
The little one was using hacks, and Grandmother was shooting energy blasts.
“Why are you here the moment you wake up? How are you supposed to escape from here!”
**
“Huh…?”
“Why are you like that, little one?”
“Grandmother. It’s strange. The forest wolf was said to be one, right?”
“That’s right. Your mom confirmed it when she entered the forest this morning.”
Little Red Riding Hood’s mother had a higher level of Red Qi than the young girl.
So the information her mother had personally confirmed couldn’t be wrong.
But as a young Little Red Riding Hood, she couldn’t think that the sensation in her hand was a lie.
“Just now… there were two wolves.”
**
I ran.
I ran at full speed, and before I knew it, no one was behind me.
It was as if no one had been following me from the start.
“Hey, but there’s no law that says you have to die in this world? I died and came here, but this is what I experience on my first day back after rebirth. That’s harsh.
If that’s the case, I don’t know why I was brought back to life.
And me.
“I seem to have lost my way.”
Where the hell am I…
In a forest I’d never seen before.
The visibility was low, the sky was blocked by trees, and I didn’t know how to find my way. I had just run around wildly while fleeing.
Sigh. I really just ran the whole day.
Being hungry was familiar, so I was still okay, but I couldn’t stay hungry forever.
I needed to eat something.
But I wasn’t even human anymore, and I had no money, so I couldn’t buy food.
Hunting.
Did I really have no choice but to eat a living animal?
A rabbit, a deer, or maybe a mouse?
If I had no choice, I’d eat it, but if possible, I wanted it roasted.
“But there’s no animal here at all. As I walk around, not even an ant appears, let alone a deer.”
They must have put up a barrier so that wild animals couldn’t enter.
Yeah, this forest was weird anyway. If I came in, I’d be startled and want to leave immediately.
Then I’d really have to starve until I got out.
In the end, the problem had come full circle. I couldn’t get out because I was lost.
“For now… shall I keep walking?”
Thud, thud
I walked slowly, not hearing any sound of pursuit behind me.
No matter how far I walked, there was only grass and trees.
Thud, thud, thud, thud
An area this size could be this quiet.
The sunlight was filtered through the high leaves, and there was no wind.
No sound of insects, only the sound of my footsteps in this world.
Thud, thud, thud, thud
My footsteps…
Footsteps?
Thud—
It was definitely footsteps.
Since there was no other sound, it felt even clearer.
When I stopped my feet, the footsteps of a fool who had taken one more step belatedly.
“…Who is it?”
Foolish. Who else would be in this forest? Of course, it was Little Red Riding Hood and her Grandmother in the red hood.
But was it the beast’s instinct, or had the survival instinct that had disappeared long ago in human form remained?
The thing hiding in the thicket over there was definitely not human.
Yeah. If it were, I would have shot it already.
Presence? Footsteps?
No. There was a more certain reason.
A thick, disgusting smell stimulated the sense of smell of the canine beast.
“Hello… friend.”
A deep, low voice whispered.
From within the thicket, black and red eyes appeared.
Not something that could be called human eyes, and positioned in a place that couldn’t be called standing on two legs like a human.
“Don’t be scared. I followed you because you looked big and trustworthy…”
After letting out a heavy sigh, the thing that emerged from the thicket was.
Red eyes.
Sharp fangs.
A skinny body.
Brown fur.
“Friend, let’s talk a little…”
“U-uwah! A talking wolf!”
“If you had… then what?”