To the inhabitants of the small village on the fringes of the forest, she was simply the girl in the red hood. Her mother's gift had become her identity, and the little girl didn't mind; she loved the vibrant color that contrasted with the green of the oaks. That day, the sun shone with a deceptive warmth. Red Riding Hood carried a basket with a freshly baked cake, whose aroma of butter and cinnamon distracted her from her parents' warnings.
"Don't stray from the main path" - they had told her.
But the main path was boring. The forest, on the other hand, was full of life. Red Riding Hood diverted onto a barely marked trail, fascinated by the fluttering of butterflies and the scurrying of squirrels. She stopped to pick wildflowers, imagining her grandmother's smile upon seeing the bouquet. It was in that moment of pure innocence when the forest went silent. An unnatural silence.
"What luck I have..." - a deep voice, like the grinding of stones, resonated behind her.
The girl turned. Her eyes widened with horror. In front of her was not a forest animal, but an upright nightmare. It was a beast with dark fur, with muscles that tensed under the skin and eyes that shone with a cruel intelligence. Red Riding Hood, who had always loved farm animals, felt for the first time that death was watching her.
The Big Bad Wolf walked toward her with terrifying slowness.
"What is such a little girl doing alone in such a lonely place?" - the wolf asked, showing yellowish, sharp fangs in a grimace that intended to be a smile. - "Don't you know it's dangerous? You could run into a big bad wolf... like me!!"
The girl backed away, her legs trembling so much that the basket almost fell. The air felt heavy, laden with the foul smell of the beast. But just as the wolf tensed up to pounce, a metallic sound cut through the wind.
A flash of steel passed just inches from the beast's snout. The wolf, driven by a superior instinct, leaped backward with astonishing agility, growling with frustration at seeing its meal interrupted.
Theo landed between the girl and the beast, with his two-handed sword steady and his breathing controlled. Looking out of the corner of his eye, he saw Red Riding Hood: her eyes were flooded with tears and her face was as pale as paper.
"Calm down" - Theo said to Red Riding Hood with a smile. - "I'll take care of this bad wolf. I won't let him touch you."
But although he turned to look at her, he did not lower his guard, still attentive to any movement from the wolf, with Enemy Detection active and his ears sharp.
The Big Bad Wolf, contrary to its appearance, did not attack immediately. It stayed crouched, analyzing the human. Its instincts, forged in years of fights and escapes, screamed that this boy was different. The aura emanating from Theo was not that of a human with courage, but that of another predator prepared to strike at any moment. The wolf internally cursed its luck; the village hunter was supposed to be busy—he had checked—and now this dangerous human appeared.
"Human..." - the wolf growled, its vocal cords vibrating with a human effort as it tried to negotiate. - "We can reach an agreement. I am only hungry."
"I have nothing to talk about with a beast" - Theo cut him off coldly.
In the world of Konosuba, most monsters were driven by basic instincts or pure but simple malice. This wolf, however, had a calculating gaze. Theo felt a knot of nerves. He was used to having Chris nearby, that invisible safety net that made him feel like nothing would truly go wrong. Now, he was alone.
Theo lunged forward, using Flee again to generate an explosive burst of speed. The iron sword traced an arc of silver, but the wolf was fast. The beast ducked and launched a claw swipe that Theo could barely deflect with the flat of the blade. The impact was brutal; the wolf's physical strength was immense.
The fight turned into a frantic dance. Theo used his thief skills for quick feints, but the wolf responded with precise counterattacks, using its low center of gravity and enhanced senses to predict the young man's movements. At one point, the wolf faked a lunge toward Red Riding Hood, forcing Theo to overextend to cover her. It was a trap. The wolf pivoted and tore into Theo's shoulder with a claw.
"Damn it, he's too smart" - Theo thought, gritting his teeth against the searing pain.
Theo changed his strategy. Instead of looking for a single lethal blow, he began working on accumulation. He consistently sought to make superficial cuts on the wolf every time it approached. Dark blood began to stain the beast's fur.
Of course, Theo did not emerge unscathed either; he also received a few cuts from the wolf's claws, but he ignored them. He was more concerned with ensuring the wolf didn't grab him, let alone bite him—otherwise, he would be lost and would have to use a skill he didn't want to use.
After a while, the Big Bad Wolf began to pant and its vision started to blur. Its speed was decreasing. The blood loss and the frustration of not being able to overcome Theo's defense were taking their toll. Its animal instincts began to cloud its human reasoning, and that was its final mistake.
"Damn you!" - Launching into a desperate attack, it leaped with its jaws wide open. Theo did not retreat. He ducked, letting the wolf's body pass over him, and with an upward motion of his sword, he pierced the creature's heart.
The heavy body of the wolf fell on top of Theo, letting out one last whimper before lying still. Finally pulling the sword out of the wolf's body, it fell with a dull thud onto the ground.
And with its death, Theo heard the sound of a ping, followed by the system's holographic screen appearing, showing that he had completed the mission.
Theo remained standing for a few seconds, the tip of his sword buried in the dirt and his chest rising and falling violently. The wolf's blood dripped from the blade, mixing with the mud and dry leaves. Everything hurt; the claw mark on his shoulder burned as if he had been branded with a red-hot iron, and he felt quite tired, his vision slightly blurred, but it was only from the blood loss.
"I almost didn't make it" - Theo thought, closing his eyes for a moment to dissipate the dizziness. - "In Konosuba, monsters are dangerous because of their strength or their numbers, but this damned wolf... he thought like me. Every movement was a possible trap, and if I fell for it again, I was going to have a bad time."
He forced himself to react. He couldn't just stand there with a traumatized child behind him. He shook the sword to remove the excess blood and sheathed it before turning toward Red Riding Hood. The little girl was sitting on the ground, hugging her wicker basket against her chest as if it were a shield. Her eyes, previously full of the curiosity of a child picking flowers, were now clouded by shock and fear.
Theo softened his expression, hiding his own pain, and knelt at a prudent distance so as not to scare her further.
"Hey... it's over now" - he said with the softest voice he could forge. - "The bad wolf won't hurt you anymore. You're safe."
The girl didn't respond immediately. Her lips trembled and her eyes remained fixed on the lifeless body of the beast behind Theo. After a few seconds, she let out a muffled sob and nodded slightly, though she remained as tense as a bowstring.
"I... I only wanted to take the cake to my granny" - she whispered between hiccups.
Theo sighed, feeling a pang of pity. "She's just a child, I can't leave her alone now." Although the mission was over, leaving this traumatized girl alone in the forest was not something he could do.
"Don't worry, I'll go with you" - Theo assured her. - "But first, let me fix this up a bit."
He moved away a little so as not to scare the girl with what he was about to do; he took off his armor and shirt, showing in all their splendor the wounds the wolf had caused him.
He grabbed a handkerchief and discreetly activated Create Water, wetting the cloth with clean water. Carefully, he began to clean the blood from his shoulder and the small cuts on different parts of his body. He ignored the minor wounds, but seeing the depth of the cut on his shoulder, he frowned.
"I need to learn a healing skill" - he reflected bitterly. - "Actually, I need to learn Priest skills soon, or an infected wound will kill me before any monster does."
With quick movements, he bandaged his shoulder firmly, tightening the knot with his teeth. Once he was minimally functional, he put on his shirt and armor, then stood up and approached Red Riding Hood.
"Where does your grandmother live?" - he asked.
"She's... she's just across the trees, past a stream" - she pointed, getting up carefully and wiping her tears with the sleeve of her red hood. - "It's not very far."
Theo nodded. He knew where it was and knew it shouldn't be more than five or ten minutes on foot.
"Good. Let's go then. We'll go slowly, but don't stray from me" - he offered his hand to calm the child, and Red Riding Hood grabbed it tightly. Her small hand felt icy, but the young adventurer's warmth seemed to give her some comfort.
They began walking through the forest, now submerged in the silence of dusk. Theo kept Enemy Detection active in the background, alert to any hostility, but the forest seemed to have gone mute following the fall of its primary predator.
As they moved forward, Theo glanced sideways at the girl's red hood. He felt strange. He was supposed to be in a fairy tale world, but the blood on his bandages reminded him that there was nothing "childish fantasy" about this. It was dirty, dangerous, and real work.
"First mission completed" - he thought with a hint of satisfaction. - "I can't wait to see what I'll get from the Gacha when I return to Axel."
Finally, the house made of wood and stone belonging to the grandmother came into view, with a small trail of smoke rising from the chimney. Theo was glad, as he could leave the girl and return to rest.
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I have a question—I'm not sure if you can answer this, but would you like me to include something in the chapter titles for mission chapters to differentiate them from normal chapters, or should I leave them as they are?
Also, I would like you to suggest some worlds to send Theo to, preferably worlds where he can be given quick missions—the kind where he doesn't have to stay in that world for long to complete them. I would truly appreciate it.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter.