NPC Code: Red Riding Hood

"Wolf, watch out!" Ryoshi shouted, but he was too late. He could do nothing to the magic missiles or the vines in front of me.

Throughout our exchange, a magic projectile hovered in my direction, almost hitting my head. My body was too slow to react to the beam of light aimed in my direction. I could only imagine how different would the situation become if I was using my main account.

But that grotesque thing never happened. No blood splattered before me, or throbbing pain spread across my skin. Thanks to the vines emerging in front of me, I got to keep my face intact with my body.

"Thanks, Olivia."

"Just shut your crap, Wolf. I want to hear more about Alice." Olivia growled at me, despite saving my life.

"What's there to talk about, Olivia? That player you're helping is an enemy to Alice! We should kill them before he kills you. And you know that we're the only ones helping the village!" Rumpelstiltskin replied.

"Again, if I want to kill you, I could've done that a long time ago," I answered.

I monitored the two puppets, checking if they schemed to strike me again behind my back. Despite Rumpelstiltskin's bloodshot eyes, he couldn't land a hit against us. That's the limit of shield type mages.

The only problem that I would face was that long-nose marionette, Pinocchio. He was the one who directed that projectile in my direction. And that puppet would do that the same if he sees an opportunity.

Pinocchio had done it once. He could do it again.

"Yes… but I know you have a different agenda. I'm not a villager in this place, but I hate to see them follow someone like you or Alice." Olivia answered, as she raised the vines from the ground. "My father told me to help Fenrir. He told me that everything Fenrir… Wolf says it would become absolute."

"You're going to throw everything away for the sake of your father's words!?" Pinocchio snarled.

Olivia closed her eyes and answered, "Because I'm a merchant. I also know the information about Alice. Even though I showed all of you my genuine emotions in helping the village, I cannot go back to my clan's words. I have to listen to my father."

"So this is how it goes, Olivia?" Pinocchio muttered, while raising his hands in our direction. "You will fight against us, despite saving the village. Just because you believed that guy's words, you will kill us?" Pinocchio asked.

Olivia gave them a nod. "Yes. I'm sorry."

After ending their conversation, Pinocchio charged up the magic circle, waiting for it to fire in our direction. But the merchant girl was quicker than that spell, as she locked the puppet's feet, disrupting their balance. The cast spell projected a beam, destroying the wooden ceiling. The light burst through the sky, diverging from the clouds forming above our heads.

Rumpel's spell was like a shield. It could only deflect and obstruct the incoming skill shot in their direction. The vines came from the ground. It was a place that the force field did not cover, so the barrier became useless.

The creeping plants reached towards the appendages of the two, constricting them from doing anything at all. Although the shield that Rumpel had was still in effect, Pinocchio could not conjure any spell. The vines restricted him to move or cast any magic while it was still wrapping around his body.

"Let us go, Olivia!"

"Free us, Olivia! You bitch!"

The two of them desperately squirmed, wishing to free themselves from the vines. However, no matter how hard they tried, the puppet was not strong enough to overpower the plants.

"Wiggle as you like, but those vines are indestructible. There is no way you can get out there without my help." Although Olivia told this to the puppets, her eyes were looking at the ground. "Come on, Wolf. I… don't like being here inside Goldilocks."

The sudden turn of events went on our way. Even Ryoshi, who was silently watching everything unfold, could not utter a word. How could he when that guy could not find the time to say anything, since we excluded Ryoshi in that conversation?

"Wait… you go on ahead, I'll catch up. Can you show Ryoshi around the place? If I knew what Ryoshi is, I would know the location of our hideout," I commanded Olivia.

That merchant girl acted loyally to me despite being a stranger that she met five minutes ago. Despite that timeline, Olivia still listened and sided with me. She was even ready to take down the two and fight the puppets.

However, I still wanted to do something behind Olivia's back. That plan involves the puppets in front of me.

"I will just have a quick chat with these two before I leave, okay? I won't be here long."

After our exchange, Olivia and Ryoshi took their leave and headed towards the village. The map in front of my system had finally included my best friend as a member of my party. I could know Ryoshi's whereabouts with a flick of a finger within this screen. So finding him would be a piece of cake for me.

"What are you going to do with us? Are you going to kill us? Once Alice revives, you will be the first one to die in this Code!" Pinocchio stated, while squeezing his limbs from the crushing vines.

The two puppets shook the vines, but failed to do so. I sat in front of them and made myself comfortable inside the house.

"I'm not afraid of Alice. I defeated her once. I can defeat her again. And besides, you two are just pawns at her disposal. Even if you died, Alice would find a replacement for the two of you," I exclaimed, while carving out a snicker.

The two puppets shook their heads after hearing my statement.

"You know nothing about Alice! She was the first one to unlock the potential of all NPCs! She wants freedom from you disgusting players! Look around you, Fenrir! There is a war happening between players and NPCs! We finally have the upper hand!"

"All I need to do is complete the game. I just want to go home and meet my sister. Once this is over, everything will go back to normal. That's the salvation you will get from Code…"

A twitching sound disrupted my train of thought, accompanied by a robotic voice. It came from Rumpelstiltskin, who acted silently throughout this talk. As I nudged my finger at the short puppet, Rumpel's eyeballs glared at me with intense killing intentions. It even made my body jerked a few centimetres away before coming into my senses.

"This feeling… I guess you're listening to our conversation, Alice."

There was no doubt about it. Despite being locked inside that damned tower, Alice had her ways of communicating to specific players.

And I was on her list.

"Even though you went all the way here to chase down Red, you still think of NPCs as mindless dogs created by game developers?" Rumpel said, which was the puppet, Alice, behind the scenes.

Even her voice resounded through that puppet's mouth as Alice desperately tried to communicate with me. However, I knew that this skill required her an immense amount of arcane for it to work.

After all, I was the one who placed Alice in that cell. I knew Alice and Wonderland better than these puppets.

"...."

I couldn't give Alice my answer, knowing that I still believed in that theory of mine. All these NPCs were all acting to their scripts. None of them were actual people on Earth. However, the only non-player character that proved me wrong was none other than Red.

She was the only one that showed me the strings. That girl wanted to live and avenge her fallen sister… It was like Alice when she was in her prime age.

The only difference between Red and that puppet was… Red was more gentle than any other NPCs. She regretted killing NPCs and players along the way. But for the sake of revenge, she planned on completing the game.

It was the same reason I locked Alice up in her cage. She was just like Red… but different… Something felt different about that girl.

"What do you want from me, Alice? If you plan to persuade me from taking you out of that prison, you're just wasting your time. I won't let you escape. Thousands of people died because of you."

Alice was the embodiment of hatred and vengeance. After the death of her father, she planned on taking everything down. It was all because of those experiments that the game developers did to her family.

"One way or another, you will come to me and beg for my power! The two of us can complete this game! We can even make you powerful enough to…"

Before Alice could finish her words, I slammed my feet on Rumpelstiltskin's face, destroying the puppet. I looked beside him and killed Pinocchio, too, with the same move I did with Rumpel.

"I had it with you, Alice… You're nothing but cancer in this game."

"You… will… come to… me… eventua... "