Surviving a Cruel Fairy Tale

27 – Act 1. Little Red Riding Hood Forest – Evidence of Humanity (3)

It was quite high, but not scary.

The difference between jumping and jumping is obvious.

My body understood that it was not impossible at this level, and I landed without difficulty while feeling a bit of a shock.

In front of him, he saw the tin woodsman whose life had gone out.

“…… Thank you.”

I slowly approached him and touched his body.

It’s cold.

His body was made of cold tin, with not even a hint of warmth remaining, but he was clearly human until the very end.

That’s why it was even more regrettable.

The Tin Woodman asked me to talk, but he wanted me to talk too.

You were human even without a heart.

He should have said that.

“Oops, this one has a missing arm.”

It was around the time I closed my eyes for a moment and recalled the end of the Tin Woodman.

Inside.

A familiar voice is heard from beyond the darkness.

The woodcutter’s final blow sent the hunter flying far away with a vicious sound that made all who saw it go numb.

“Everyone is anxious to eat me.”

“…… Hunter.”

“Don’t you think so? Traveler.”

He smiles and shakes his left arm.

It’s a bizarre laugh.

“Yes, Traveler. Are you going to hit me too? You think I was so wrong?”

“Have you forgotten everything about the village?”

“A village? Oh, that’s what happened. I was sorry then. Little Red Riding Hood, because she is my daughter. If a man is seduced by her daughter, isn’t it natural for the father to get angry?”

I burst into laughter because I was dumbfounded.

Father?

Does that dare to use the word father? With that ugly look that he tried to covet her daughter with s*xual eyes?

“I’m sick of your bullsh*t.”

“…… Do you think I look like a monster too? Do you think i’m crazy Like that b*tch, that tin can said?”

At that question, I shook my head slightly.

The woodcutter affirmed human goodness until the end and disappeared.

But I am different.

If human beings have a good nature, he thought that there is a malignant nature equal to it.

In that respect, the woodcutter represented the goodness called humanity, and on the contrary, the hunter standing in front of me was like a model of human malice.

“You are human.”

I saw hunters as human beings.

Good and evil are only the difference between the heads and tails of a coin.

Even if it had a reverse side, it couldn’t have been a coin, so it couldn’t be denied that the hunter was also a human being just because he spread malice.

Just.

“Although he is human, he completely trampled on his humanity.”

Because he is a human being, he had desires, and he became obsessed with desires that exceeded his needs, and colored this forest with his inherent malignity.

Humanity is the good nature of human beings.

What is human is established through the social structure.

The most basic moral ethics of living by caring for others and pursuing the right thing represents the goodness of human beings.

“I have to pay for that.”

“You me? Ha, do you think that you can beat me just because I’m like this?”

That’d be impossible if we fought properly.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Tin Woodman.

It’s absurd for someone like me to personally defeat a hunter who couldn’t even finish them properly.

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But.

“Hunters are strong in the forest. He obviously said that.”

The reason is obvious.

Because hunters have the basic nature of a job, but before that, hunters in fairy tales appeared as solvers of many incidents in the forest.

Since fairy tales have been embodied in reality, the world is greatly influenced by such narrative aspects.

“You are strong in the forest not only because you are a hunter, but also because the story that takes place here is Little Red Riding Hood’s fairy tale. Is it wrong?”

“…… What do you want to say?”

“No, what. Just laying out the facts I guess my job is my job, so I like to organize things like this.”

Even Little Red Riding Hood couldn’t break free from that fairytale bondage.

Originally, Little Red Riding Hood, who can command that many wolves and wield magic freely, would never be defeated by a hunter.

If she fell like that, it’s because the hunter has the upper hand in the original narrative.

That’s why I thought.

This is a world influenced by narrative construction.

If the hunter was always a strong being in fairy tales because he was a being who saved someone, what would happen if the composition was twisted?

Big jobs are impossible.

My strength is still weak, even changing the stage setting of the forest was possible because I was a pupil in this pit.

It is impossible to adapt a fact that does not exist, and even the scope is extremely limited.

But what if it’s just maximizing the original anecdote?

“It may have nothing to do with you now, but in a fairy tale that symbolizes your origin, you played a role in saving people.”

At that, the hunter made a very displeased expression.

“What do you want to say, Traveler?”

“I am not a traveler. I am a writer Even though he failed, he was a human who constantly dreamed of becoming a fairy tale writer. So, look at this story and think about it.”

The origin of your salvation.

What would happen if we maximized it?

No Little Red Riding Hood.

Because the relationship between her and her superiors and subordinates has already been clearly established in the narrative of the story.

The same goes for the Tin Woodman.

I think of him as a human being, but looking at it from a broader perspective, there was no way to make the Tin Woodman in the fairy tale a complete human being.

But what if that target is me?

“You are Little Red Riding Hood’s hunter, a savior who saved humans by hunting wolves. He is a great forest keeper who protected humans and defended them from wild beasts.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Simple. I’m just making up a story in praise of the hunter.”

All the advantages of being a hunter in the forest have been removed.

His body was heavily abused in the battle with the Tin Woodman, and the gun he was proud of was also held out to block the Woodman’s blow, and it is nowhere to be seen.

Then what if you add the part about protecting humans?

“The hunter who protected that delicate grandson. A great watchman who protects humans and saves their lives. Don’t you think it’s contradictory for you to attack humans?”

Release all mysteries within the body.

Invent the story.

If it is not a problem that can be understood in theory, it is understood through the senses. Reinforcement of the story. It is to put a little more flesh on the twisted fairy tale story.

Rumpelstiltschen said.

Reorganization of the world.

That was a very difficult problem for me now, but what if it was just to flesh out the original story of the person in front of me, and that narrative?

It’s not about changing something big.

I just praise him.

His story, his activities, his achievements. For all of that, I’ll give you a round of applause.

“Since a while ago, I kept thinking… ….”

The hunter took a step towards me, and before long his face turned into an expression close to astonishment.

“…… What is this?”

“I told you.”

It’s contradictory for someone who protects humans to attack humans.

“As it is a world made up of stories, I thought there must be gaps in twisting it. How is it? Are you a little hesitant about attacking me?”

“…… What the hell have you been doing?”

“I just admired you as a greater hero. Are you dissatisfied with making me a noble sentinel who saved lives?”

I kept thinking about it.

While talking with Little Red Riding Hood, while plotting this plan.

I haven’t been able to look away in this way because I’ve thought I’m not going to step out, and even if I’ve used this way, it wouldn’t have helped Little Red Riding Hood and the Tin Woodman in any way.

This is a law that only applies to me, a pure human being, and a hunter.

It was the only trick the woodcutter could think of, since she dropped him into this huge pit, and the woodcutter claimed to be human while dealing with him.

“Did you put shackles on me?”

“Looking at the reaction, it looks like it was a success. I think it’s easy for you to become weak through stories because you’ve been strengthened by stories.”

As far as simple skills go, a hunter can’t compare to the two.

In addition to the terrible injuries left on his body.

All the boards of the story have been laid. Now, all that remains is the condemnation of the hunter who has been stirring up the forest and causing all kinds of evil.

“…… aaa!!”

As soon as I finished my words, the hunter ran towards me as if in a fit of madness.

“Die! Die!! Me, why me!! What crime have I committed! Why is everyone looking at me, with only me!!”

It’s slow.

Let alone the fight with the Tin Woodman a while ago, it was noticeably slower than I’ve seen in the village before.

The old middle-aged man wriggles his body and swings his fist with his intact right arm, but there is no reason to be hit by such a random fist.

There is a saying that “Fairy tales are good and punish evil. Don’t you know?”

“Cheer!!”

With one kick, he tumbles across the floor.

He put on all sorts of restrictions and walked again.

If he loses even after doing this, there would really be no answer at that time, but it seemed that this middle-aged hunter had already exhausted his resources.

“You only became stronger through stories. Know that it is nothing but that.”

“No, Ohhh!!”

Indignant at those words, I kicked his jaw again as he tried to get up.

I kicked him over and over again.

The chin, head and chest of a hunter trying to get up. I kept kicking him with the thought of thoroughly trampling him without covering his parts, and only then did his expression change a little.

“Look at this!!”

He raised his head with a desperate expression.

“Seriously. Are you really going to kill each other?”

“I don’t think you’re talking about eating people like you.”

“That’s because we had to live too! Didn’t you see the villagers? This damn forest doesn’t even have enough food for humans to eat!”

It’s not enough with only a few wild beasts.

A hunter who says that there is a limit to maintaining the village with the resources he has gathered somehow, and that having more mouths to eat is never a pleasant thing.

“We cannot accept people. Even if a foreigner comes, what will we do? Then, in the end, the outsider will just die after wandering through the forest!”

“So you killed him?”

“Isn’t it a life that will die anyway? If we didn’t reap it, we would just be killed by dogs without any meaning! Then at least we should fill our stomachs!”

It is sophistry.

I understood with my head, but I realized what his words meant.

“This damn forest had to sacrifice someone to protect someone. Don’t you understand? If you kill me here, what will all the villagers do!”

“…… Village, Ira.”

“Yes! Didn’t you see it too! All the villagers die without me! Didn’t you see that they are fragile and fragile things!!”

How do you want to live your life by relying on recognition?

It’s ugly.

If this was a human instinct, it would be an instinct, but I felt so ugly that I was begging for my life by mentioning others after taking away everything and trampling on it.

“To ask for help…….”

I caught my breath and raised the red cloak’s ax.

Of course I felt the reluctance to kill.

But now, displeasure or disgust preceded that natural rejection.

“You killed too many.”

Without hesitation, he slammed the ax down.

Perhaps.

The blade of the ax penetrates the hunter from the top of his head to his forehead. I got goosebumps at the horrible, alien sensation I felt from the handle.

A creature died without even screaming.

I killed him.

Raised an ax at the man begging for his life, he shattered his skull and split his head in half.

But why?

“…… Ha.”

There was very little emotional agitation.

It would be a lie if I said it was nothing, but it was just the discomfort that comes from a sensation that I wouldn’t normally feel.

The feeling I felt when I saw the hunter’s corpse was just futility.