Red Hood (2)

I felt slightly taken aback by the words of the girl who had suddenly appeared-not exactly wearing a red hood, but something quite similar to it.

A girl in a red hood and a big, bad wolf. Characters from the fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood,” a story most people from my previous world would have heard at least once.

‘Well, since is originally a game, it wouldn’t be strange for there to be episodes inspired by fairy tales…’

The problem was that this was an episode I had absolutely no memory of and had never encountered before.

There was such an episode in ? I played it 25 times and never saw this once?

Thinking back to my past self, who scoured Korean communities, English forums, and even Indonesian discussions with translation tools just to find ways to romance Lilith, it was actually strange that I didn’t know about this episode.

Of course, I might have skimmed over it back then, thinking it wouldn’t help with Lilith’s route, but even so, such a memorable event should have come up at least once.

‘I’m curious. Just what kind of episode is this?’

Part of me didn’t want to get involved in troublesome matters, but what made me hesitate even more was the instinct of a hardcore player.

This was the first time I was experiencing an episode where I genuinely had no idea what was happening-not because I deliberately avoided looking into it, but because I truly didn’t know.

…And besides, unintentional as it was, I had already misspoken to this child before, so it wouldn’t hurt to at least hear her story.

“Just saying she was taken doesn’t really explain what happened. Could you tell me in more detail, little Red Hood?”

“Well, it was the night before last. My grandma…”

After listening to the girl’s story, the sequence of events roughly went like this.

First, the girl who approached Ethan and me, asking us to find her grandmother, was named Kate. As mentioned earlier, her parents had passed away in an accident, and she had been living alone with her grandmother-her only remaining family-for about three years.

Since she was still afraid of sleeping alone, her grandmother would always stay by her side until she fell asleep, telling her stories.

However, there were days-about two or three times a month-when her grandmother would leave the house. On those nights, Kate had no choice but to sleep alone. The fact that she could sleep alone at all suggested she wasn’t entirely incapable of it.

She didn’t know why her grandmother left the house those days. She had heard it was for work, but she had never seen what kind of work it was. Whenever she tried to follow, her grandmother would firmly refuse and leave without her.

The last time her grandmother left for work was about half a month ago.

And since her next departure was supposed to be a month later-on the next full moon-the night before last shouldn’t have been one of those days.

So, when she went to her grandmother’s room to call her before bed, what she saw was the big, bad wolf-or so Kate claimed.

“…Wait, the wolf was inside your grandmother’s room?”

“Yes!”

“Then where was your grandmother?”

“The big, bad wolf took her away!”

“…….”

…So, we’re back to square one, huh?

There were a lot of details that were hard to make sense of from a perpetrator’s perspective. It didn’t seem like she was skipping or omitting anything, though.

Of course, kids tend to ramble without much coherence, so that might be why it felt this way. But listening to this jumbled story from the beginning again was daunting in its own right.

“Hmmm…”

“You and your brother are super strong adventurers, right?! You can beat even a big wolf, can’t you?!”

“No, like I said earlier, we’re not adventurers-“

“It doesn’t matter! Even so, I’m sure you and your brother can save my grandma!”

“Well, we could handle a wolf or two, but… hmm…”

Yeah, Ethan and I could definitely take down a wolf or two without much trouble.

We’ve already defeated creatures far more dangerous and terrifying than wolves. In fact, Ethan had practically confirmed his mastery as a Sword Expert not too long ago.

He could probably cut down a dozen wolves on his own, and with my support, we could easily handle twice that number.

What worried me wasn’t whether we could defeat the wolf, but something else entirely. …Even if we found the wolf that took Kate’s grandmother, it might already be too late to save her.

After all, it had already been two days since her grandmother was taken.

Objectively speaking, she likely hadn’t survived more than an hour after being dragged away-and in a rather gruesome state at that.

I didn’t want to explain the brutal fate her grandmother must have suffered among the wolves to this child. It was already uncomfortable enough to make a girl who had lost both parents come to terms with her grandmother’s death.

‘Even if, by some miracle, she wasn’t killed immediately, two days is already too late…’

I didn’t know how old Kate’s grandmother was, but given the girl’s age, she must have been at least in her fifties.

In this world, a woman in her fifties was considered elderly. And even if she weren’t, being bitten and dragged away by a wolf would have left her with severe injuries-enough that, after two days, she would have died from them even if the wolves hadn’t eaten her.

No matter how you looked at it, Kate’s grandmother was no longer in this world. Unless some miracle happened.

‘…Did I speak too soon by offering to help?’

I had just assumed she was a little girl who got separated from her parents while visiting the market. I never expected her to have such a tragic backstory.

Glancing at Ethan, I saw him bowing his head, deep in thought. He must have also found it heavy to break the news of her grandmother’s death to this child.

Having lost his own mother at a young age, he might have empathized with Kate’s feelings more than I realized.

“…First, could you guide us to your house?”

“Huh?”

“If we’re going to look for traces of your grandmother, we should start by checking the place where she was taken. The last place she was seen might give us clues about where the wolf went.”

“Ed, are you really…?”

“…At the very least, we should recover her remains-or something that proves they’re hers. Then we can hold a simple funeral for her. That might help the girl come to terms with her grandmother’s death.”

Ethan whispered this to me quietly, out of Kate’s earshot.

Since saving Kate’s grandmother alive seemed impossible, he wanted to at least find some trace of her and honor her memory.

I somewhat agreed with his reasoning, so I could only nod in response.

“Kate, can you show us where you and your grandmother live?”

“Will you find my grandma, sis?”

“…I’ll do my best.”

For now, that was the best answer I could give.

I couldn’t bring myself to say anything harsher to this innocent little girl.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

“This way! Over here~!”

As soon as Ethan and I agreed to help find her grandmother, Kate led us with a bright expression to a house on the outskirts of the capital.

It was an old brick house showing signs of age, likely the home where Kate and her grandmother had lived alone.

A single-story house that would have been just right for three people but a bit cramped for four. However, as soon as I saw the house Kate introduced as hers, a question naturally arose in my mind.

‘…The outside looks surprisingly intact?’

Hearing that a wolf had broken into the house, I had imagined it would be damaged in one or two places.

No matter how clever wolves were compared to other mammals, they wouldn’t have politely opened the door and walked through the entrance to raid a home.

I expected broken doors, shattered windows, or at least a large hole in the wall-so the house’s undamaged exterior was the first thing that puzzled me.

‘Surely a wolf isn’t going to jump out at us the moment we open the door, right?’

That kind of mystery novel twist-“the culprit never left the room and was hiding inside all along”-would be a bit much.

Even I would be caught off guard if a wolf suddenly leaped out from behind the door. Adventurers and academy students don’t walk around in combat stance all the time. If a wolf really did ambush us, it could get dangerous.

“I’ll go in first, Lily.”

“…Okay, Ed.”

Ethan must have sensed the same unease I did, as he cautiously stepped forward, keeping his guard up while slowly opening the door and peering inside.

“……No one here?”

“…Seems like it.”

“I considered the possibility of a beast still being inside, but thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Kids’ stories aren’t always reliable, after all.”

…Well, if a wolf had really been inside, we wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

Kate said her grandmother was taken by the wolf the night before last, so if the wolf had stayed in the house, last night’s victim would undoubtedly have been Kate.

Besides, it would have been hard to mistake a wolf leaving such a small house. Even a child wouldn’t be so oblivious as to misremember whether the wolf had dragged her grandmother outside.

“So, the wolf definitely took your grandmother outside the house, right, Kate?”

“Huh? No?”

“No?”

“Yeah.”

…Is she messing with me on purpose?

Reminding myself once again that she was just a child, I rephrased my question about the wolf’s whereabouts.

“Wait, is the wolf still inside the house?”

“No.”

“Then what was that reaction just now, Kate? You looked at me like I didn’t understand the story.”

“…But the big bad wolf didn’t take Grandma outside the house.”

“……Huh?”

…I distinctly remember her saying earlier that a big wolf had taken her grandmother away.

If we were going to figure out what happened to Kate’s grandmother, we’d first have to clear up this misunderstanding between us.