NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

(Okami Perspective-Continuation)

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The scarlet-looking girl pivoted from her seat and stared into my eyes. Her blond hair fluttered with the wind as she looked at me with despair. We exchanged looks while I saw her off to the charted road. Despite the dim forest, I saw the leaves brushing with the gale as the carriage hovered away from me. I knew she was heading forward to the ruined bridge, but I cannot pursue her any further.

However, our gaze did not stop there.

Players could see through information about anything in this world. Code gave us the prowess to know every history and background created by the game developers. If we allowed our eyes to focus on something, we would see the descriptions of the world. We used this to read and verify any data thrown at us during our journey. This ability includes reading all the information of skills, items, and even non-player characters.

Windows started flashing over me, showing me a scene of an eerie place. It carried me to a distant land that I did not know. My feet felt the moulded ground filled with ashes and dirt. I lifted my head and gawked around at the greenery surrounding me.

"Where am I?" I thought to myself while wandering the extensive forest.

A blaring sound coming from the north alerted my senses. I saw dozens of villagers running away from the origin of the growl, but they left two girls behind.

The older lass stumbled and fell while distracting the grizzly bear. There was even an adventurer at the side, but he took off and never looked back. An army arrived in the south, but the soldiers of Freiy were too late to rescue the two.

A brilliant ray of light discharged from the group and hit the villager. The young girl had her body cut in half after coming into contact with an arcane projected by the soldiers. A fountain of blood splattered from her body as the girl collapsed on the soil. The older lass stood like a statue while expanding her teary eyes.

"Red, I love you." Those were the words that escaped from Clementine as she breathed her last breath. After five more seconds, she ceased to puff out air, together with the rest of the villagers beside her corpse.

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"No, do not die on me, Clementine! You are the only one I have…"

The monster crept closer and stared at the unfortunate villagers. As if not tormented enough, the beast devoured the other half of Clementine. Her muscles stretched out from between her thighs and continued expanding until they snapped.

Red was also the girl riding the carriage. But now, she was lying on the ground, caressing her deceased kin. She refused to believe the scene in front of her and denied everything. With the last ounce of strength that she had, Red braced Clementine in her arms and showered her in tears.

"The knights and adventurers have arrived in the Freiy kingdom! Fear not, villagers, we will purge this town and collect the bounties from the monsters!"

I heard a deafening cheer echoing from the other side of the forest. But the army arrived too late. I saw an army of soldiers and fellow players armed with their staves and bows from afar. The person who pierced Clementine with an arrow was the same adventurer who ran away.

I immediately recognised his face from afar. That dirty-white armour, obsidian boots, and a sword as his weapon; I knew him without even batting an eye. He was my best friend, Ryoshi Futaba, who tried playing Code on his first try.

Ryoshi was a classmate of mine, whom I knew for years. We started playing this game for about a month now, but he was always busy with his student council agendas. He was a bright high school student and had my hands full with the debts left by my parents. But Ryoshi never failed to give me a sum of allowance, treat me to fancy restaurants, and gave me a job.

My best friend told me he planned on playing the game yesterday. Ryoshi never told me when, but he said he would go online and grind some levels. I did not tag along, and it had been a long time since I touched this game. I never expected to see Ryoshi accidentally killing an NPC with his hands.

Before my mind put my thought astray, reality bent once again, revealing Red directing the carriage. Red turned around and fixated her eyes on the road up ahead without ever looking back. I tried to stop her, but my voice never reached her ears. And then I remembered.

I remembered everything shown to me a while ago.

The splash of gore painting the forest was enough to terrify my orbs. My best friend ran away and killed Clementine. The grizzly bear that nearly killed her. The soldiers arrived late. And the event of the game that brought the monsters surrounding the kingdom; I saw it all with my bare eyes.

I felt the despair in Red's eyes when she hugged Clementine on the ground. She was powerless to stop the creature and did not know what to do.

Red kept cursing herself for how worthless she was. The tears from her eyes were genuine enough, leading me to think that Red was a human being, not a character in a game.

I knew I could not catch them at this rate, and if I did, the knights and the players would kill her and the king. The ruler was also my friend despite being an NPC. I did not want him to die, so I had to step up and prolong the event for now.

"You did not escape from me. I let you escape." I whispered, wishing that Red, the girl from the cart, heard me.

I prepared myself to fight against my long-time allies for the sake of saving her and the royalties inside. She killed the king, so Red must have had a reason for doing such an act. If the girl did not have a plan, I will kill her myself and take the bounty on her head.

"What are you doing?" The knight said, and pointed his sword at me.

I looked them in the eyes and answered, "I will not kill you, but I will not let the girl die."

The captain instructed his fellow knights in a formation that I recognised. It was a line to counter any rookie players new to the game. All four soldiers would position themselves surrounding me, while the two mages would stay at the back. The captain would remain in front and fight me head-on.

Any newbie players would experience defeat after clashing against these soldiers. But not me. I knew their attacks, defence, and their patterns like a book.

I dashed straight into them and took a sharp turn on my right. I schemed on doing the same thing I did to the players back there on the cliff. My feet glided behind and cut their legs before amputating their hands. Their limbs would regrow afterwards if they hired a priest in their group. After dealing with the two, I used [wolf walk] to increase my speed and clashed blades with the knights.

"He's too fast!" The knight ejaculated, but was too slow to react to my blade.

I did the same with the four soldiers and attacked them simultaneously. We crossed paths and swung our blades, hoping we could hit each other. I could effortlessly beat them all up like canned sardines, but I needed to monitor the captain.

The commander was a prodigy among the knights. My system told me his background and explained that he came from the Freiy village. They then assigned him to defend all monsters and threats of the mainland since the king drafted him.

It took me a while before knocking the four knights out, unconscious. But after ten minutes of continuous fighting, I won the battle by a thread. The captain clapped his hands and leered in my direction.

"I expected you to be a traitor, Fenrir." The soldier announced, "It was wrong of me to put my trust in you from before. And now, the king is dead because of you."

I shook my head and explained, "It was not me. I saw a girl from the carriage."

"Then why did you not let us through? Our army could chase her down through the endless road since we knew the exit better than everyone else."

The commander had a point to his argument. He was questioning me about my reason for stopping their chase. However, if they caught them red-handed, the kingdom would place Red behind bars, if not executed in front of the citadel.

There was something more about her actions. I just cannot pinpoint what exactly that was for me. I cast my [Wolf Walk] again and battered his head without even using my weapon. The captain allowed himself to be vulnerable to me.

The soldier knew I was not an opponent he could face, but swore to meet again after this skirmish.