Hansel’s Enchanted Fairytale: Fill Me Up With Magic! - Chapter 4
When Hansel pressed the goggles onto her face, her eyes shrank into narrow slits.
With each step she took, she dropped a single gold coin onto the ground. Since it was an untraveled forest, there was little chance anyone would pick them up. She continued heading north for another couple of hours before something strange reached her ears.
“……?”
From deep within the forest came an odd sound. At first, it resembled someone groaning in pain, almost as if they were sobbing. Then, intermittently, the noise turned into low growls.
Hansel’s right hand, clutching her staff, grew damp with sweat. She held her breath and focused her hearing until she could identify the source. It was the sound of something in agony—switching between anger and despair, then growing weak and quiet again. The sound of an animal in distress.
Carefully parting the bushes, Hansel’s eyes widened in shock. She whispered to herself.
“What… a wolf?”
In the center of a clearing, surrounded by thickets, a black wolf lay sprawled on the ground. Its fur and the earth around it were soaked in blood, as though it had struggled violently.
Hansel clamped her hands over her mouth at the gruesome sight. Nausea churned in her stomach, and her vision swam. She had a weak constitution for gore. The most disgusting thing she’d seen in her life was a fish grill that had spoiled too quickly in the summer.
This was her first time witnessing fresh, gory blood.
“Ugh…”
As she stifled a retch, the wolf lunged at her.
“Grrr! Grrraah!”
“Ah, no!”
Hansel screamed and swung her staff reflexively. With her eyes squeezed shut, a flash of silver light burst forth. Whack! A dull thud echoed in the forest, accompanied by the wolf’s yelp of pain. Then came the sound of a heavy body collapsing to the ground.
“……”
Silence filled the space where the echoes had faded. The gentle rustling of leaves brushed by the breeze and the pounding of her own pulse in her ears created an oppressive stillness. Hansel exhaled shakily and opened her eyes.
The enormous wolf lay sprawled on the ground, glaring at her.
It was far larger than any normal wolf, with black fur that shimmered faintly with a bluish tint—an unusual and beautiful coat. But there was nothing beautiful about the cruel iron trap clamped around its hind leg, or the long chain tethering it to an iron stake.
The trap was so massive that, if its jaws had caught the wolf’s head, it would have been split clean in half. Was this some kind of siege weapon used by ordinary hunters during wartime?
Regardless, it was clear this was the work of non-mage hunters, not magic users.
“How awful. It looks so painful…”
Hansel muttered blankly, snapping out of it when the wolf let out a low growl.
“Grrrr…”
Hansel raised her staff pointedly toward the wolf.
“Shh. I’m here to help you, see? Look at this. It’s a staff.”
The wolf hesitated, as though it understood her words. Hansel seized the moment to continue talking.
“That’s right. I’m a mage, not a normal person. So I’m not here to hurt you. You’re one of the wolves raised by the Herodt family, right? Isn’t that true?”
“……”
“I even visited the Herodt family estate when I was little. I think I remember seeing you there. So don’t be too wary of me.”
It was a small lie.
Hansel had indeed visited the Herodt family when she was two years old—18 years ago. There was no way she could actually remember. Still, it wasn’t a complete fabrication, so Hansel decided it was harmless enough.
Besides, the wolf had calmed down, which was a good thing.
“I’m going to break this trap, but your leg might hurt a little while I’m doing it. Just bear with it until the trap is broken. It’s better than losing your entire foot.”
The wolf seemed to understand and lowered its guard. Hansel knelt near its injured hind leg. The limb was mangled and raw, its flesh and blood vessels exposed from its frantic struggle to escape.
Hansel tapped the trap’s springs on either side with her staff. Each time the staff struck, the springs creaked and bent downward with a metallic clunk! The wolf whimpered quietly with each jolt of pain.
The trap was so sturdy that Hansel had to strike it more than a dozen times. Finally, the springs were compressed, and the jaws of the trap sprang open.
The wolf immediately pulled its hind leg free. As Hansel let out a sigh of relief, her staff snapped in half. She dropped it to the ground and rummaged through her bag for a healing crystal imbued with magic.
“Sit still. Since it’s come to this, I’ll heal you too. You owe me big for this—”
Hansel swallowed the rest of her words. She pressed the crystal to the wolf’s injured hind leg. The crystal glowed faintly several times, and the wolf’s wounds began to close. By the time the leg was fully healed, the crystal had lost all its light.
