NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

Chapter 4 - The Match Girl

I trod towards the narrow space between the dangling vines and listened to the wailing voice from afar. As I continued forward, the audible sound became more clamorous, still begging for any help from anyone that could hear.

I waved my hand and cut through the creeping emerald plants, hoping to make it in time to rescue the damsel in distress. Upon slicing through the last leaves obstructing my path, a monster and a young girl welcomed my sight.

"Get down!" I raced through the mushy soil and braced the girl in my arms and pushed our bodies on the ground.

The monster swung his arm. But we eluded its attack within point-blank range, using the twigs in our means to distract the being. Without a moment of rest, the two of us crawled to the other side and avoided the bombarding strikes of the ferocious boar.

Thousands of needles pierced through my skin as we pushed forward to the endless soil. We did not know where to go since the place felt uncharted for me. As we crept ahead, the hog lost interest in chasing us.

"Are we safe?" the girl behind me asked, while reaching out the end fabric of my clothes.

"We should be safe for now," I commented, tossing out false hope to our situation.

As I glanced back, the mammal had distinguishable features of a pair of demonic eyes and a raging obsidian cloak surrounding its body. My eyes discerned the boar's two horns attached to its head, making it look more like a mammoth than a pig.

Our breaths became heavier as we observed the boar's back disappearing through the extensive forest. After concluding its disappearance, the two of us exited the greenwood and snuck behind the ancient bark.

I glanced beside me and peered at the confused eyes of the little girl staring back at mine. The child latched her hands, still afraid of the event, before speaking her mind. "Thanks for saving me."

After expressing her gratitude, I observed a similar screen, warning the girl about her sudden actions. It was the same board from before when I ran forward to save my sister.

"Caution, you need to ask help from the knights or adventurers." I read the lines out loud and touched the words on the screen.

With a sudden spark, my hand retracted to me after feeling a searing pain on my fingertips. It had a similar sensation of a boiling water pouring on my skin as I waited for the sensation to subdue. As I returned my gaze on the blue panel, the words faded away and replaced it with myriad zeroes and ones in a lengthwise succession.

[Error!] My automated voice inside my head repeated the word as I resumed watching the screen in front of the girl.

Before I could even quiz the child a question, the young lass fell on my side. She did not feel cold as I trailed my fingers on her skin. I also did not see any pixels floating around her, showing that she would fade away. Fortunately for her, I prepared my arms to catch the unconscious body.

I perceived shadowy figures lurking within my vicinity, searching for wandering prey like us, in a deserted place. Upon heightening my senses, the growls of the hungry monsters reverberated through the forest, making my heart race gazillion beats per minute.

As I looked at the youngster in my arms, I knew I could not leave her alone in the open world, infested with horrible things surrounding us. Somebody must take her out before the beasts steal her life and eat her alive. And it had to be me.

I steeled my heart and carried the sleeping girl with me while finding a way out of this cursed woodland. Luckily for us, the sun was atop the clouds, bathing us in scorching heat waves all over the forest.

"I hope I can make it to a town," I mumbled to myself.

If I could find a cemented road, that would lead us closer to a town where we could ask for any help of some sort. But the problem arose like wildfire when the same species of boars roamed around before me.

I threw my body in the back of a boulder and hid for the time being, still with the mysterious girl lying in my hands. After controlling my breath to calm myself down, I stood by for an opportunity to escape.

The boars continued patrolling the area, with their eyes watching the domain. As if luck knocked on our front door, these two monsters brawled at each other without warning.

With furs as dark as the ashes, the boar on the right side slammed its horns and pincered the kin. In response to the attack, the victim blocked the ivory horns and thumped against the head of the other.

I used this chance for us to flee from the scene. My two little legs scurried outwards and eventually reached the ends of the woodlands, revealing the scenic view from atop of a mountain.

Upon glancing behind, I concluded the monsters were uninterested in chasing us down since the boars had their hands full battling against one another.

The body in my arms soon quivered like a baby. As the girl rubs her eyes and peered through her surroundings, I returned her gaze.

"You are finally awake," I exclaimed, while greeting her aroused eyes with glee.

The girl returned the expression, thinking that she recognised my face already. However, that was not the case after I heard such a declaration from the child.

"Is that you, sister?" The girl professed.

As she lifted her arms, I felt the smooth touch of her fingers sliding on my face. The girl's caresses reminded me of something dear as she carried on with brushing my cheeks.

I jolted backwards after hearing the girl's statement.

"I am not your sister." I gave her my reply, knowing all too well that I was a stranger who saved her from the brink of death.

With my words, I sensed a warm liquid trickling on my face and eventually hit the girl's eyelashes. The tear shook the girl and made her realise I was the person she was talking to all this time, not the person she knew.

The girl registered to her mind the occurrence happening between us and plonked on the ground, hitting her bottom first before tumbling to the side.

"I am so sorry. I just…" the lass narrowed her eyes and succumbed to a depressive state of mind, despite her shock.

Lost for words, the girl lashed out a stream of the river from her eyelids, forming a puddle beneath her face.

"I know how it feels more than anyone in this world," I said.

The image before me struck my senses like a shattered mirror. As I inspected the reflection, I saw myself from the girl and her woeful state, crying from the loss of someone dear.

My body froze like a statue, almost numbing my entire skin as if it was not for the cold gust of wind rubbing around me. The clear image of Clementine's upper body kept haunting me like an enigma in the back of my hand, telling me how powerless I was from that past situation.

I refused to shed a tear, knowing that crying would not revive her from the dead. There must be a way to reverse time and meet her again in this cruel world. But I pushed that thought aside for the time being. There are far-reaching things we need to do in this area.

We must survive the incoming beast before they could reach our tails.

"What's your name," I asked.

The girl responded. "My name is Match."

The two of us locked our eyes at the kingdom far away from the forest. Below ground, we noticed the countless and robust magnitude tearing off the trees. But we never saw their figures since the viridescent-coloured leaves obstructed our view.

[That metropolis is the principal city of the "Code", Master Rose.] Without raising a question, the system inside my head answered my query. It seemed the automated voice linked its database with my brain, saving us time before the beings could reach our site.

"Do you want to tag along with me?" I added, while directing my gaze and forefinger at the city.

I guessed her situation with the brief talk that we had. I hunched the girl was now an abandoned child, having nowhere else to go but to live in this world.

Like any other vulnerable villagers, the two of us did not have any arcane or abilities, unlike the adventurers and mercenaries. We could not summon elements, summon pets, and take quests seen from above the skies.

It was the mystery inside our world where these mysterious adventurers kept spawning in the cities, doing whatever they wanted to with the surroundings. Since we were on our own during our trip, we might as well take the route to the mainland and request some help from these adventurers.

I shrugged my head and felt dubious about the scheme, but we were running out of options. The monsters from behind found an entrance from the bushes and saw us staring at the cliff.

"This is not the place we should talk," I stated, and gestured to her to come with me to the castle.

With a nod, the girl stood up and followed my lead.