Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

“The Star Killer Sword came from… a girl?”

Leike and Polo were both a little puzzled when they heard this. After all, when guessing the origin of such a weapon, most people would think of craftsmen, or that it was directly bestowed by a god.

“So, this girl is an angel? Or a god?”

Leike thought for a while and asked.

“No, not at all. Although many parts of our family's story are missing, the story very clearly states that the girl was not a god or anything close to an angel.

She was just like an ordinary person and didn't have much power.”

The young hunter continued, “In our family's legends, that girl was blessed by the stars because of her kindness, and the starlight gathered into a dress on her body.

So, she was surrounded by starlight.”

The young hunter paused, looking at the Star Killer Sword in Leike's hand. He felt like he could see the flowing starry sky on the smooth blade.

Just like he had imagined in his family's legends.

“This girl would take off the star-condensed petals from her body and give them to the poor. She was very kind and would try her best to use what she had to help everyone she saw who needed help.

She was a very selfless person, as I'm sure you can tell.”

The young hunter spoke calmly, but then his tone shifted, “But most of the time, when darkness comes, surging in from all directions, when malice and slaughter become difficult to contain—

merely possessing kindness and wealth can only bring such fragile light.”

“She didn't have the power to dispel that malice, did she?”

Hearing this, Leike thought of the bandit-like villages and bloodthirsty giants they had encountered on their journey, and the witches and warriors who killed for their own desires…

In peaceful countries, kind people can use unlimited wealth to save the poor from misery.

But in this era of fallen paradise and cloudy skies,

without power, one cannot even protect oneself!

“Yes, when she repeatedly witnessed the people she saved dying under swords, innocent humans being devoured by giants, and those stars turning into silver, unable to redeem even a single life from the slaughter…”

The young hunter said in a deep voice, “She found my ancestor, the most outstanding blacksmith in the Kingdom of Boren at the time.

She used the blessing of the stars, the dress made of starlight silver leaves on her body, as the raw material to forge a sword—

that is, the Star Killer Sword.”

The young hunter's eyes fell into reminiscence, his lips moved slightly, and he continued:

“Integrating the stars into the blade, using a pure heart, the virtues and wishes of all living beings, to gather the sword's light of the Star Killer Sword, she transformed those blessings into a sword, a sword for saving the world.

And the power of this sword is destined not to be used for selfish desires.

Because only those with love and compassion in their hearts, who seek to protect, and communicate with a selfless heart, can truly use it… a hero's sword.”

As the young hunter spoke, the Star Killer Sword in Leike's hand seemed to understand his story.

As if to say hello, the sword's body flashed with starlight, then quickly faded.

“When I was little, after hearing the story of the Star Killer Sword, I would always have a dream.”

The young hunter looked at the sword in front of him, which seemed to be covered in a thin layer of light fog, and a gentle smile appeared as the sadness on his face gradually faded. “In my dream, I used my hunting rifle to shine in the battle against the giants.

I obtained the Star Killer Sword in the Boren Royal Palace, killed the giants invading the royal city one by one, and then the king rewarded me and married the princess to me…

At that time, I really thought I was the destined hero.”

The young hunter said with a smile, but at some point, his eyes had become red and swollen, and a strand of crystal tears flowed down.

“But now, I understand that dreams are just dreams—I am far from being your equal.”

The young hunter said, letting out a long sigh, “My pursuit of fame has surpassed my reason, and I have committed an irreparable mistake.

The moment my eyes were blinded, I no longer had any right to touch the Star Killer Sword.”

The young man said, breathing a sigh of relief.

He looked at Leike, composing himself:

“Thank you for fulfilling my wish, and… use it well. The stars in the sky are shining for every swing of your sword.”

After saying this, the young hunter bowed slightly, declined Leike's offer to help, and limped away, supporting himself with a tree branch.

Watching the young man's figure disappear into the forest, the Star Killer Sword in Leike's hand dispersed its light.

That bit of light was just like saying hello to a descendant of an old friend.

“The origin of the Star Killer Sword?”

“Kindness, compassion, protection, virtue…”

Leike's hand holding the sword hilt trembled slightly, and she felt that the long sword in her hand seemed to have become a little heavier.

“Let's go, Polo, we should leave here too.”

Leike sheathed her sword and walked towards the carriage.

“Yeah…”

Polo also nodded, looking at the disappearing figure of the young hunter, his eyes thoughtful.

He seemed to have thought of something, but it was still a bit hazy.

……

Above the clouds, on the edge of a floating island.

Around the giant's castle, there were still some remnants of plants, the withered corpses of dead angels, and the eyeballs of monsters strangled by the Giant King's cloud and mist magic, lying horizontally on the ground.

Although the gates of the fallen paradise had closed, the remaining dead air and remains had not completely dissipated.

On the edge, a pool of black flesh and bones suddenly wriggled.

Among them, a golden egg was revealed, and a crack appeared on the surface of the egg, with some golden substance gushing out from it.

That pool of flesh and bones absorbed the energy from it and began to grow rapidly, turning into a human form.

It devoured the withered corpses of the angels on the ground, and its body gradually grew larger, swelling up, becoming a rotten giant that was neither human nor ghost.

“Ho… ho…”

The resurrected strong man stood up and walked towards the edge of the floating island.

In his mind, mixed with hatred and frenzied consciousness, gradually returned, and along with it, he perceived the weakness and fear of his body.

“I am… the king chosen by God, I cannot die…”

The strong man staggered to the edge of the floating island, looked at the sea of clouds below, and a vine extended from the ground and rested on the ground.

“As long as I leave here first, I can, I can take back everything that belongs to me in other places! As long as I leave first…”

As he spoke, his swollen body grabbed the vine and slowly moved downwards.

He didn't have time to think about it. Most of the floating islands had disappeared. How could there be a vine on this floating island where the castle was located?

Confusion and madness had occupied his thinking space.

Gripping the vine, step by step downward, his distorted, corroded and swollen body, step by step downward.

“Leave here… I carry the power bestowed by heaven, I am destined to be the terminator of this world…”

The strong man said this, until… he saw on the ground far below.

A somewhat familiar boy was standing at the root of the vine.

He was holding an axe in his hand—the very one that the strong man had lost.

“You brat, what are you doing?!”

The strong man wanted to roar and threaten, but in the state of mutation that had not yet recovered, what came out of his mouth was just a vague, beast-like howl.

Below, the boy did not say a word.

He just swung the axe and struck it on the root of the vine—

“Crack!”

The axe blade split the vine, and the debris from the vine turned into a piece of fine cloud.

The entire vine instantly trembled under the weight, and the strong man on the vine swayed along with it.

At this height, the strong man, who had not regained his extraordinary powers, would probably have no chance of survival if he fell.

“Stop—brat!”

“Don't move, or you're dead when I get down!”

“I will kill everyone you know, everyone!”

The strong man roared, but the boy's movements did not stop, and the sharp axe struck the root of the vine again and again. The huge vine began to slowly collapse and fall.

“Crack!”

“Crack!”

Until this time, the only remaining sanity in the strong man's mind began to panic and return.

From his mouth, he began to beg in a rambling manner:

“Wait, stop, we can talk—”

“You can't do this!”

But the boy's axe swung faster and faster, and the cloud gas escaped from the gap cut by the vine, and it could no longer stand on the ground.

Finally, at the same time that the last strand of vine was cut off.

The entire vine, thousands of meters high, instantly fell down and fell to the ground, along with the swollen and collapsing strong man hanging in the high air. In mid-air, the vine began to collapse and turn into a cloud of mist that was difficult to capture.

“Bang!”

The strong man's body slammed onto the ground.

The height of hundreds of meters instantly smashed him into a foul-smelling pile of minced meat!

The boy Jack stepped forward, his arm trembling slightly.

Perhaps it was because of the strength consumed by using the axe, or perhaps it was because of some emotions he didn't understand.

“Pa—”

Jack threw the axe in front of the minced meat formed by the strong man.

The mass of flesh and blood tissue melted and turned into black thick juice, just like the world's death, leaving behind truly useless, difficult-to-remove remains and spots.

Now, it no longer had any trace of being alive.

“How do you feel? This is revenge. I thought about it for a long time before I understood this feeling of human beings—”

Clusters of mist rose from under Jack's feet, obscuring his vision.

When it dissipated again, Jack was standing on the floating island again, and in the mist in front of him, the looming huge figure lowered his body and said to him in a low voice.

“I… I don’t know.”

Jack said in a low voice, and then he raised his head and looked at the hazy face behind the cloud and mist, “But, thank you, Mr. Giant.”

“No need to thank me, on the contrary, I want to say… I’m sorry.

I don’t know that the power I bestowed would lead to such a thing—

but even if I knew it at the time, perhaps the result would not change much.

The legends are right, I have done many such things, and I have never begged to be forgiven by humans. Only when I see some tragedies with my own eyes can I be touched…

Maybe my heart is really as hard as a stone?”

The Giant King said, laughing as if mocking himself, and continued to say to Jack, “I will give you the power of the giants that many people desire, which will be considered compensation.

I can also send you away, and then, if you hate me, I will allow you to take revenge on me…”

“No need.”

But the boy Jack shook his head.

“What?”

The Giant King was stunned for a moment.

“No need, I don’t want such power. I don’t want to kill like that robber with such power. I don’t want to become that kind of person, and I don’t hate you that much now, Mr. Giant.”

As Jack spoke, he put a hand on his forehead and pinched out a trace of red light.

On it, the blood-colored rune symbolizing the Giant’s Chosen was grabbed by him and thrown back to the Giant King, “I feel that there is no killing intent in this trace of power.

What really killed my mother was the evil in the hearts of those evildoers, not the power purely from you.”

After saying these, Jack turned and left, walked towards the old orphanage behind the castle, and walked in.

“But if you refuse the power I gave you…”

“You allowed me to stay here, did you forget? Mr. Giant, you said I can stay until I want to leave.”

The Giant King’s voice stagnated, and he was silent for a while, then suddenly laughed.

Just like many years ago, when he first saw the child appear in the garden.

“I almost forgot that children like gardens very much. The clouds and mist are still spreading, and my garden will grow again… Really, I have changed a lot after all.

At least, I’m not so lonely.”

The Giant King looked into the distance, the clouds and mist were blown by the long wind and deposited on the edge of the floating island, continuing to form the ground and extending further away.

The tender buds of plants broke out of the ground.

……

The carriage passed over the withered grass on the ground, and the dead air spread.

Ahead, there was a withered forest, with layers of fallen leaves on the ground. As far as the eye could see, it was a scene of withering and desolation, with no birds and no insects chirping.

The setting sun in the distance cast a dim yellow light.

In that dead forest, the shadows became more and more dense.

“Is this the forest shown on the magic mirror?”

Leike and Polo hesitated slightly, then waved their whips and continued to move forward. The golden bird hovering above Leike’s head also flew back gently and landed in the carriage.

“Nothing can be seen in the sky, or rather, from above, this forest doesn’t seem to have anything unusual.”

The golden bird hesitated for a moment and said, “I didn’t see any buildings, as for other abnormalities, I didn’t find anything more specific, I just felt a little wrong…

I don’t dare to get close to that forest, but I can feel that there is indeed some kind of threat there.

It should be the maze you mentioned.”

“Understood, Miss Bird, please rest first. We’ll go together. Polo and I have been to many forest mazes, and we should be able to crack them soon.”

Leike smiled, and the golden bird hopped down, fluttering its wings to the back of the carriage. It stood beside Poro and, from a pouch on its chest, pulled out a few pine nuts, beginning to peck at them slowly.

As it ate, it looked up at Poro and nudged a pine nut forward with its claw.

"Don't you eat? I didn't see you bring any food."

"Uh, it's not that we didn't bring any, but... well, I can conjure food out of thin air."

Poro looked up at the golden-black bird that had hopped over. He thought for a moment, then opened his paw. A magical light shone from his palm, solidifying into shape.

The light formed a cake, a delicacy he had recorded from the Fertile Plains.

The jam, cream, and other decorations were exquisitely crafted, exuding a fresh, sweet aroma.

"Here, like this. You can think of it as magic."

Poro thought for a moment and pushed the cake toward the golden bird. "Want to eat it? Consider this cake my treat."

"Eh?"

The golden bird stared at the cake that had appeared from nowhere, and the pine nut fell from its beak.

"Really?!"

It looked at the cake, bringing its eyes close as if to verify its authenticity, but it couldn't detect anything amiss.

"Then I won't be polite, okay?"

It asked cautiously. Poro smiled and with another wave of his hand, a plate of grilled steak appeared beside it, as the light flashed—

Various drinks, wines, and dishes emerged from the light, leaving the golden bird dumbfounded.

"You... really have nothing to do with Heaven? Even the Giant King's magic can't do this, right?"

"Nothing to do with it, but saying that, have you been to Heaven?"

Poro asked.

"Yes, I've been there, but my memories have become blurred. I can't remember what's there, the details, and the series of events surrounding the fall of Heaven. I can't remember any of it.

Or perhaps, it's because of those things that I survived Heaven."

The golden bird replied, beginning to nibble at the cake.

Its eyes lit up slightly. Clearly, the taste of this court cake made the bird, who hadn't eaten such delicacies in a long time, feel its mouth water.

"Poro, isn't dinner a little early today... and won't it attract something in the forest?"

Leike smelled the food and crawled over, familiarly picking up a pastry and eating it in small bites.

"It's okay, consider it a treat for our new friend."

Poro smiled and began to eat a pork chop with a knife and fork. Since mastering 【Dessert Banquet】, he hadn't hunted at all.

After all, with such court chef-level food, why bother doing it yourself?

"By the way, Leike, want to hear a story while we eat?"

Poro suddenly said while eating.

"A story? Of course, I want to hear a story!"

Leike's eyes lit up. She sat cross-legged, stuffing food into her mouth, her eyes shining. "What's it about this time?"

"It's about the Star-Slaying Sword, and... that young hunter from before."

Poro placed his eyes on the Star-Slaying Sword at Leike's waist, thought for a moment, and then continued, "The name of this story is... The Skillful Hunter.

Once upon a time, there was a capable young man who learned his father's trade as a locksmith and wanted to see the world..."

//Grimm's Fairy Tales·The Skillful Hunter

My computer had problems yesterday. It was just fixed today, so I'm taking a day off on Friday QAQ. Sorry, brothers, I'm a lazy dog. I originally wanted to make up for it, but I have writer's block. I'm sorry, I'm guilty TAT