Red Riding Hood - Chapter 1
I. Red Riding Hood
In this village, Mindie, there were no humans. Instead, other things lived here.
Cinq was walking down the street with her red hood on.
The street was entirely gray, as though draped in ash. The roofs and walls, once painted in different colors, were now a dreary gray, as if covered in soot.
The dirt-packed walls, the withered trees, and even the emaciated stray dogs roaming the streets all shared the same dull hue.
Cinq tightly wrapped her arms around the basket she carried, as if shielding its contents from the grotesqueness of the outside world.
But what was inside the basket was nothing special: a bottle of warm milk, a jar of buttercream, a bundle of carrots and snap beans, and pork and ham wrapped in cloth.
As Cinq looked over the items, a faint smile tugged at her lips.
It was a lucky day to have found fresh meat. Roasted whole in the oven with a sweet fruit sauce, it would make a fine dish.
How delighted Six would have been.
(T/N: Six pronunciation (french) = sees)
Unfortunately, it seemed Six’s favorite cream stew would have to wait until tomorrow. The ham and buttercream could keep for a while, but the pork would spoil quickly.
Surely, Six would have agreed with her reasoning.
But… what kind of expression would she have made?
Suddenly, a memory surfaced, trapping Cinq’s consciousness like a bird caught in a cage.
The last time Cinq saw Six’s face, it had been the color of rotting pig liver. She had sprinkled dirt and tears over that cold face herself.
Realizing this anew, Cinq came to a halt in the middle of the street.
Ah, that’s right.
Six was dead.
The brief happiness she felt burned away in an instant, like a piece of paper consumed by flames.
In this village filled with other beings, Six had been the only one like Cinq—a human. Six had cared deeply for her and, even as she lay dying from illness, had worried about Cinq until the very end.
As Cinq made her way to the fish shop, her heart burned and blackened further, until, by the end, it had turned into gray ash, leaving ashen footprints in her wake.
Standing before the fish shop, Cinq peered inside.
As expected, the owner of the fish shop was a fish.
He had a human body and wore clothes like a person, but where a human head should have been, there was a large fish head.
The dried-out scales of his skin, cracked from being out of water for so long, were gray, and where his eyes should have been, there were only hollow voids.
Yet, the movements of his hand, chopping meat with loud, vigorous strikes, were strong, and his voice was piercingly vibrant.
“Welcome, Cinq! What will it be today?”
Cinq tore her gaze away from his wide mouth, lined with small, sharp teeth, and looked at the display.
On the counter, gray fish sprinkled with salt lay side by side, their mouths open as they stared up at her.
Their cells, shriveled from being out of water, oozed moisture, creating a slimy mess and a foul stench.
In this village, isolated by high mountains and dense forests, it was rare to find fresh fish to begin with. But today, their condition seemed particularly poor.
When Cinq hesitated for some time, the fish finally asked,
“What’s wrong, Cinq? Nothing catches your eye?”
Cinq nodded slightly.
Then, the fish suddenly grabbed his lower half with his filthy hands and shouted loudly,
“Red Riding Hood, how about I give you my cod instead?”
Cinq flinched as though splashed with cold water. Fleeing the shop in a panic, she heard the fish’s fishy laughter echoing loudly behind her.
Stumbling as she ran, she nearly collided with the cart parked outside the shop.
The coachman stepped in front of her, blocking her path. He stood beside the cart, chewing on a piece of straw. Like the fish, he had a human body, but where a human head should have been, there was a horse’s head turned sideways.
“Playing innocent, are we?”
The horse spat the chewed straw over Cinq’s head and shouted in a rough voice,
“Cinq, you can only keep this act up for so long! Now that Six is dead, Old lady Vinya is going to sell you off. We’re all just waiting for that day.”
Cinq shoved his hand away and ran.
Pulling her hood low over her face, she quickened her pace down the street.
A pig in a tattered coat subtly extended a leg, as if trying to trip her. But Cinq, well-versed in these tricks, quickly halted her step and avoided it.
She passed the pig, another horse, a cow, and yet another pig, enduring their crude jokes and mischievous pranks.
Cinq wished they wouldn’t notice her, but her red hood stood out too much.
She hurried across the muddy streets, now sullied with insults. Even the slightest delay would have her falling into the muck and covered in filth.
At last, she reached the gray temple.
The temple, built of gray bricks, loomed like a massive castle.
Multiple tall spires jutted out from the building, and the steeply pitched gabled roofs seemed to pierce the sky.
