Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

"Whoosh!"

A wooden arrow shot through the air, piercing a flying bird and sending it plummeting to the ground.

A dozen minutes later, by the roadside.

"Chh—"

A flame flickered to life, and the bird meat, skewered on a wooden stick, rotated over the fire, emitting an enticing aroma.

"How about that? Am I amazing?"

Leike stuffed the longbow into her backpack. The hunting experience granted by [Spiral Beacon·Hunter] ensured that Leike and Poro had enough food to eat even without carrying much.

"Yes, you're too amazing, powerful Little Red Riding Hood Hunter!"

Poro nodded. He never held back on praise, after all… he was eating her food.

"Hehe, it's not that great!"

The girl's eyes narrowed happily at the compliment, and then she held out a skewer of grilled meat to Poro. "Open your mouth, Poro."

Poro expertly opened his mouth and took a bite.

So delicious!

As a wolf, his hunting efficiency in cooperation with Leike was even faster than when Poro himself set traps in the forest.

He was mainly responsible for scouting and chasing wounded prey.

Hmm… not much different from what a hunting dog does.

The seasoned grilled meat was much tastier than raw meat.

As he ate, Poro looked at the bow and arrow on Leike's back.

Humans initially fought their way out of all things by relying on the leap in attack range.

From clubs and spears to bows and arrows.

Poro felt a little envious. It was better to be a human. Although his claws were powerful, he couldn't hold such a thing.

But… life wasn't bad now!

As they ate, at the end of the road ahead, a cloud of dust rose again, and a caravan emerged.

At the front were several armored knights, and in the center, several horses pulled carts with large wooden boxes, tied with ropes, colliding with each other as they swayed, producing dull thuds.

Judging from the size of the caravan and the emblem on the carriages behind, the leader of the caravan should be from a noble family.

There were also many people following behind, including the nobles' servants and guards, as well as old people and children in commoner's clothes.

But most people, whether nobles or commoners, wore as many thick clothes as possible.

Several lightly dressed commoners had bluish-purple frostbite on their exposed skin.

Poro looked around again, at the lush green trees.

Clearly, the current weather had not yet reached extreme cold.

"Poro, how many caravans… have we seen recently?"

Leike also stared intently at the caravan, a look of doubt on her face.

They had encountered several such caravans on the road to the Sino Kingdom, and most of them, like this one, were carrying their belongings and moving away.

"There have been more than a dozen. It seems that a large part of the region has been affected. They seem to be… fleeing?"

So many people, was it a natural disaster or… war?

Poro carefully looked at the people's clothing. They were in a hurry, and many people's eyes held the numbness after grief.

After this caravan passed, Leike and Poro had rested enough. They shouldered their luggage and walked onto the main road again.

Before long, another caravan came towards them.

Unlike the previous caravan, the people in this caravan did not carry many clothes.

Many commoners were naked.

Their skin was as dark as if it had been roasted by fire.

Many people had bloodstained bandages wrapped around their bodies.

Just as Leike and Poro passed the end of the caravan, a withered old commoner woman suddenly looked pained and swayed, about to fall.

Leike was stunned and subconsciously reached out to support the old woman.

"Ah, thank you, young girl."

The old woman's face showed pain, and she gritted her teeth to regain her balance. "My leg is badly injured, and I couldn't hold on just now."

Saying that, the old woman sighed and sat down by the side of the road.

Lifting her clothes, the white cloth on her leg had been soaked with red and yellow liquid.

Poro looked at the skin next to the wound, thought for a moment, and leaned close to Leike's ear and said:

"It's a burn, and it's already festering."

Leike also looked at the old woman's clothes. With such an injury, if there were no family members nearby, her fate would probably be sealed.

But Leike thought for a moment and took out some crushed herbs from her backpack and applied them to the old woman's wound.

"Thank you, you are such a kind child…"

The old woman looked at Leike, who was wearing a hood, and seemed to recall something sad, her eyes a little dim.

But then, she asked:

"Young girl, where are you going? Judging from the direction, you're not fleeing?"

"We are going to the Sino Kingdom."

Leike replied.

"Sino Kingdom?"

The old woman was stunned for a moment and hurriedly said, "If you are going to the Sino Kingdom, it is best to take a detour now. Recently, the road ahead is not very peaceful…"

"Auntie, what happened on the road ahead? I have seen many caravans passing by here these days."

Leike thought for a moment and finally asked.

"Alas, child, travelers like you probably don't know."

The old woman's words were even more bitter as she said, "It wasn't like this originally, but… the gods have gone mad."

"Gods?" Leike and Poro were stunned at the same time.

"Yes, it was a natural disaster—young girl, did you see that the caravans you saw were divided into two types?"

"Yes, I saw some wearing very thick clothes, and some… like you…"

Leike nodded and said.

"That's the evil created by the gods!"

The old woman's eyes were filled with some turbid tears, and she sighed deeply before recounting,

"In our place, there were originally two gods, one named Raging Sun and one named Northern Wind.

Originally, one of them controlled warmth and light, and the other controlled cold and airflow. We lived quite well, but until one day—those two gods went mad."

"Raging Sun… Northern Wind… went mad?"

"Yes, they began to release their power without reservation—

Those gods never cared about human lives!

There was no longer day and night.

Where the Northern Wind was, the storm would blow away everything on the ground, and the sand on the ground would be reduced by several inches! Extreme cold, no one could withstand it.

Where the Raging Sun was, the earth smoked, extreme heat caused rivers to evaporate, plants to spontaneously combust, and the light was dazzling. Even from several miles away, people dared not open their eyes. If the scorching sun was overhead, no matter what kind of man would be burned into a charred corpse!"

As the old woman spoke, she looked at the wound on her leg,

"My husband and two sons died under the Raging Sun. I hid in a deep cellar in a water tank and barely escaped with my life!"

"But… Raging Sun…"

Leike raised her head and looked at the sun in the sky, which was a little dazzling, but no different from usual. "Is He the sun? I see the sun seems… no different from usual?"

"You don't understand, young girl."

The old woman sighed, "The sun is good, it's always there, but in our place, the Raging Sun is the sun, only when the Raging Sun is not there, will there be the sun…"

Leike nodded, half understanding, perhaps they were two existences very similar to natural scenery?

She thought for a moment and asked another question:

"Then… why would two gods who have always been at peace suddenly go mad?"

"How would ordinary people know what the gods are thinking?"

The old woman smiled bitterly, but seemed to remember something, "However, it seems that a city, in the early stages of the disaster, found a wizard to communicate with the two gods."

"What did he find out from the communication?"

Leike asked curiously.

Poro also pricked up his ears. In his heart, he always felt a sense of inexplicable familiarity.

"The wizard said that the two gods were making a bet."

The old woman smiled bitterly, with a hint of inexplicable mockery, "Their bet was… who could more easily make people take off their coats!"