Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf Mentor

Chapter 7: Strange Journey

"Well, it seems we're lucky. It looks like we won't be so hungry once we leave the forest."

The Poro leaned over, reached into a not-too-deep trap, and pulled out a wounded gray rabbit.

The rabbit was still struggling, but the Poro knocked it unconscious with one claw.

"Hold it tight. Dinner from now on... depends entirely on it."

"Uh, is this a...trap?"

Little Red Riding Hood was stunned for a moment. She took the rabbit handed to her by Poro and looked at the hole covered with grass and soil, a little dazed.

"Yes, I am a wolf. In order to have enough food to eat, I must have some skills!"

Poro shrugged and said, "It's a bit uncomfortable for the claws to do this kind of work, but if it's done well, it's better than chasing for a long time, right?"

"Uh...it seems like that?"

Little Red Riding Hood thought about it, and followed the Poro again to find the locations of several traps. By the evening, she had several strings of small animals tied with vines in her hands.

And...some dried meat.

"No, that's not right! That's not how wolves hunt, is it?"

Little Red Riding Hood finally spoke, looking at the Poro with suspicion, "If Grandma hadn't told me there's no trace of curse or magic in your body, I would have thought you were a wolf in clothing!"

"Ah? Can't I be a human?"

Poro, carrying some firewood he had picked up from the ground, looked up and shouted, "What your grandmother said may not be true, right?
What's more - she can't even see through a wolf in rabbit's clothing!

Do you believe that I will peel off my skin right now and put it on you?"

"I don't want your wolf skin!"

With Poro's teasing, the girl's depressed mood was relieved a lot.

She pretended to be scared and took two steps to the side. "You scared me, you big bad wolf!"

In short, the man and the wolf had already reached the outskirts of the forest when the sun was setting.

That is the boundary between the inner forest and the surface forest.

There is a rather special redwood forest here. When Poro walked here, he felt an inexplicable change in the environment. Although the changes in temperature and humidity were not very obvious, he still shivered inexplicably.

Ever since traveling through time, Poro has been living deep in this forest.

Apart from Little Red Riding Hood, her grandmother, and... that crazy hunter, I didn't see many people.

Therefore, Poro inexplicably felt that outside the forest, there was a fog called "unknown"!

What's outside the forest...?
He was silent. For the first time, he felt that he might not understand this world very well.

As a wild wolf, he knew very little about his abilities beyond his visual field.

Most of the time, all he could see was - could only see the uninhabited vegetation.

"Little Red Riding Hood, do you know what's out there in the wider world beyond this forest?"

Poro turned his head and looked at Little Red Riding Hood, but saw that the girl's eyes also revealed confusion.

That's true...

At this moment, this girl, like herself, was also forced to embark on the journey!
"Grandma told me that if we pass through the forest, we'll see a town... That's also where outsiders are most likely to pass by!"

Finally, we can see traces of human presence!
At least with Little Red Riding Hood here, we don’t have to move forward in the dark!

……

"laugh--"

A tongue of flame shot up from the darkness and the campfire burst into life and crackling.

The rabbit, with its fur stripped clean, was skewered on a wooden stick and roasted over the flame, making a sizzling sound and emitting a faint aroma of meat.

The two eyes sparkled in the light of the flames.

"Big Bad Wolf, your saliva is flowing."

"Hey, why are you looking at me instead of the meat? If you're not greedy, don't eat it!"

Poro's ears trembled slightly in the wind. Since turning into a wolf, Poro's hearing has become more sensitive.

There were faint sounds coming from the forest in the distance.

The first time he lay down at the junction of the inner forest and the surface forest, Poro clearly felt the difference between the two sides.

On the other side of the surface forest, the movements of living creatures are more obvious, while in the inner forest, all movements are as if covered by an imperceptible gauze, becoming hazy.

"So, what does the surface forest look like?"

Poro asked.

"I haven't seen it much either. I've lived in the middle of the forest for as long as I can remember."

Little Red Riding Hood recalled for a moment and continued, "But my grandmother told me that the forest we lived in before was "hidden" by magic."

For other humans, the entire forest they perceive is only the surface forest. Moreover, the hidden forest only accounts for a small part. The surface forest is much larger than the hidden part!

Little Red Riding Hood also looked towards the forest in the distance. Except for a few special redwood trees at the junction, she could not see any difference between the two forests.

"Oh, right. Eight years ago, a huge fire broke out in the direction of the forest. At that time, the sky was tinged with black and red. At night, grandma left the cabin and went to the direction of the fire."

Little Red Riding Hood paused, "I remember it very clearly, it's where we are heading now -

That human town, that's where it is!"

"So your grandmother put out the forest fire, and then..."

After hearing this description, Poro instantly thought of what the silver-haired old man had said before, about the past of the transformation spell.

"Then she turned the soldiers who set the fire into hares—just as she had said before."

Little Red Riding Hood added, "Before she left, she asked me what kind of small animals I liked..."

"Your grandmother is so kind."

Poro opened his mouth, and thought of something, "It seems that this destination has been confirmed long ago?"

Through Little Red Riding Hood's description, Poro has roughly determined his current location. If he wants to help Little Red Riding Hood's grandmother, there is only one destination for the two of them to go.

——It is the only human town close to the forest ahead!
Where do the arsonist soldiers and crazy hunters come from?

Why did the soldiers set the fire? Why did the hunters come to this secluded part of the forest?
"What a hassle... I have to go there no matter what. I originally planned to survive in the wilderness for the rest of my life, but now plans can't keep up with changes!"

The Poro yawned and stepped out of the glow of the fire.

But at this moment, he felt two pairs of eyes staring at him.

"Little Red Riding Hood, it's time to go to bed—we have a long walk tomorrow!"

Poro said as he laid on the ground and tried to close his eyes.

"I can not sleep……"

The girl's voice was soft, but it carried a hint of inexplicable grievance.

"What should I do? It's not my fault."

Poro could only stand up helplessly and walk back to Little Red Riding Hood.

The girl immediately smiled, and she stretched out her hands and put them around the Poro's furry neck.

"By the way, Big Stupid Wolf, I suddenly remembered the day I first met you!"

The girl held the Poro in her arms, lying on her side on the soft grass, as if she were holding a big doll.

"Uh...I kind of forgot."

Poro was stunned. After becoming a wolf, he didn't use his brain much, and he felt that his memory had faded. "What happened that day?"

"Hey, why are you getting dumber?"

The girl muttered, gently covering the Poro with a corner of her red cloak.

"I was in the forest that day, picking some wild fruits. As soon as you saw me, you pointed at my cloak and called me Little Red Riding Hood!"

"Yes, I remember now! That's what you said at the time—"

The girl's eyes flashed, and she raised her white and tender fingers, bending them like wolf claws.
"Hey, Little Red Riding Hood, you know right? There are always leopards, tigers, lions... and big bad wolves like me in the forest! Can you hear the rumbling in my stomach?

If you don't want to die, go home immediately and stay put! "

Little Red Riding Hood imitated Poro's words vividly and laughed a lot.
"What bad guy would remind others like this?"

"Ahem, how would I know your grandmother was a forest witch!"

After hearing this, Poro touched his nose awkwardly and said, "Besides, if you really knew the danger, you wouldn't still run into the forest alone every day!"

"I just don't want to stay in the house with grandma all the time - it's too boring!"

The girl puffed her lips and said defensively, "By the way, Big Stupid Wolf, what story are you going to tell me so that I can go home peacefully?"

"Yeah, you said at the time...you're not a child, so you don't want to listen to stories!"

"Can you tell me now?"

"what?"

"I can't sleep. I want to hear a bedtime story!"

Poro was stunned when he heard this and curled his lips:

"You're already eighteen years old..."

But looking at the expectant light in the girl's eyes, he still laughed and said,
"But it doesn't matter, fairy tales are for everyone to listen to—

Now, let me tell you about the late...

The story of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf!"

(End of this chapter)