Fourth Continent, Season of Rising Wind, Autumn · Dire Wolf Festival
In the ninth year of the Season of Rising Wind, this continent had passed the brightest period of the 'Blazing Sun'. The vitality of the 'Blazing Sun' carried by the wind allowed all things to grow. Over several years, animals in the mountains and forests multiplied greatly. The wolf packs, chasing after food, bathed in the forest breeze and grew stronger due to the abundance of prey. They no longer hid or dodged. After absorbing the vitality of the 'Blazing Sun' essence, their gray-maned fur became stained with orange and crimson, making them even fiercer and more unruly.
A breeze brushed through the forest, and a pale yellow, reddish-tinged leaf drifted slowly down from a branch, landing on the head of the girl beneath the tree.
The dry, hard edge of the leaf scraped against her snow-white, silky hair, then slid down with the wind and the strands, landing on the forest floor covered in withered leaves.
A girl was currently in a standoff with a vicious wolf.
Sylvia watched the orange-red vicious wolf in front of her, which was emitting low growls, with a nervous expression. One of her hands twisted the side of her skirt, while the other trembled slightly in the air. The corner of her eyes desperately searched for anything usable nearby.
Anything would do, whether it was a tree branch or a wooden stick; at least it would be better than dealing with this vicious wolf empty-handed.
She could no longer recall why the previous part of her memory was of sitting on a bus returning to her hometown, while the next moment she woke up in this deserted forest. She had walked for an hour without finding any trace of human habitation. If not for the fact that everything before her and around her was so real, she would have suspected she was dreaming.
"Wu..." the low sound came again.
Baring its mouth, the red wolf revealed its interlocking canine teeth and bright red gums. The orange-red mane on its back bristled slightly. It lowered its front body, its triangular eyes fixed on the silver-haired girl, seemingly judging the strength of its opponent. As a vicious wolf tainted by the 'Blazing Sun' Nature, it had gradually transcended the category of ordinary beasts and possessed a modicum of intelligence.
The other party's snow-white, tender skin and clean, soft scent all indicated that this was an extremely rare delicacy. Although it had never eaten a human before, the instinct in its bloodline told it that the creature before it would be the most delicious food in its wolf life.
Eat her!
The red wolf moved. The girl barely saw how it leaped, but when the wolf's head was no more than half a meter from her, she managed to react.
Turning her body sideways, she blocked her chest with her right hand. When the red wolf leaped into the air, her slender fingers from within her cuff nimbly rested on the wolf's head. Her ring finger happened to press onto the wolf's eyeball. The stiff eyelashes and moist eyeball made the girl's heart tighten, but she suppressed the fear in her heart, pushed the wolf's head aside, and made it miss, landing to the right of her body.
After dodging the first attack, Sylvia didn't have time to think. She stumbled forward, bending down while running to grab the wooden branch she had urgently spotted earlier, then turned around just as the red wolf pounced again.
Having fallen to the ground while grabbing the wooden branch, Sylvia could not get up in time. At this moment, she could only try her best to pull back her lower legs to prevent being bitten by the wolf.
Failing to bite its target and only gnawing on the girl's skirt, the red wolf released its mouth. With ferocious glints in its eyes, it pounced again at Sylvia's throat. Sylvia then extended the withered wooden branch she was gripping, aiming at the open wolf mouth, and thrust it inside.
The rough bark of the wooden branch pierced into the soft throat, causing the red wolf to have a strong urge to vomit. It recoiled, shaking its wolf head in an attempt to throw the branch out of its throat.
Violent struggling and shaking came from the wooden branch in her hand. Sylvia knew that she absolutely could not let the red wolf throw the branch out at this moment. With one hand, she gripped the lower end of the wooden branch inserted into the wolf's mouth, and with the other, she grabbed the fur on the back of the red wolf's neck, attempting to hold it steady.
The coarse, orange-red mane was somewhat prickly, and the neck flesh beneath the fur was also hard to grip. This guy is quite sturdy, the girl couldn't help but think.
To prevent the red wolf from breaking free, she was almost pinning it down with both knees. Several times it almost broke free, and the skirt beneath her was constantly torn by the wolf's claws, leaving burning scratches on her legs through the fabric of the skirt.
Time passed...
She didn't know how many minutes had passed. Just when Sylvia felt she couldn't hold on any longer, the struggle of the red wolf beneath her finally began to weaken. Blood-red foam spilled from the wolf's mouth, but the girl still didn't feel at ease. She continued to drive the branch deep into the red wolf's throat, and only after the opponent lay motionless and had no heartbeat did she finally relax her mind and calm down a little.
Slowly standing up, Sylvia realized that her back was already soaked with sweat, and some of her hair was stuck to her forehead. She breathed deeply, calming her rapidly beating heart, and finally had the leisure to look around.
Orange, crimson, and a little black. Sylvia observed the fur of the dead vicious wolf at her feet. Regardless of its shape or color, she had never seen it before. In her memory, it seemed there were wolves with orange-red fur in the Americas, but their shape was completely different from the one before her.
As her fingers slightly touched the coarse fur, an extremely subtle feeling of heat was transmitted. It was weaker the closer it was to the root of the hair, and strongest at the tips, even having a faint prickly sensation.
[Dire Wolf]
In the mid-to-late Season of Rising Wind, wolf-type beasts would have their fur turn orange-yellow due to being tainted by the 'Blazing Sun' Nature, becoming 'Dire Wolf'. When their entire body's fur turned a flame-like crimson, they became First Order: 'Red Wolf'. The vicious 'Red Wolf' would cause great harm to village residents and livestock, to the extent that the image of this type of creature often appeared in fairy tale books.
Every time this season arrived, hunters would organize to enter the mountains and forests to hunt them in advance. Some nobles also loved this activity; they would hang the fur of the 'Dire Wolf' obtained from hunting in their living rooms as a symbol of their own glory and bravery. This activity eventually became a tradition in many places, and this season was also recorded as the 'Dire Wolf Festival'.
Note: The fur of the 'Dire Wolf' and 'Red Wolf' contains a trace amount of 'Blazing Sun' Nature, giving it quite good warmth-retention effects in winter. If it can be preserved until the Foggy Season, its value will be further increased.
Blinking her eyes, Sylvia was surprised by the knowledge emerging in her mind. Why did she know its origin from the dead wolf, and even understand part of this world's history and customs?
It seems there are quite a few things she needs to figure out.
Slowly standing up, she looked around and reached out to try and drag the wolf corpse beneath her. The weight of it made her give up the idea of taking it with her.
She had no knives at hand, so she couldn't skin or dissect anything. Moreover, she had never killed a wolf before and had no idea where to start.
After thinking for a few seconds, Sylvia decided to continue walking out of the forest. She didn't know if the dead wolf corpse would attract other creatures, but since she couldn't utilize it at this time, she had to stay away.
After resting for a few minutes, Sylvia tidied up her messed-up skirt and hair and continued to walk along the forest path. Judging by the position of the sun, the time should be around 3-4 PM, past the hottest part of the day.
She didn't know where she could find food and a place to spend the night. The girl touched her stomach and felt she wasn't hungry yet.
This body was obviously not her appearance in the past, but moving in it felt completely natural, as if she were meant to be this way. Walking in the forest, Sylvia slowly sorted through her memories.
She remembered very clearly that this time it was because she received a call from her hometown, so she applied for annual leave from her company to go home.
Sitting on the speeding high-speed train, she left the big city where she had worked for several years and headed toward her hometown from which she had been away for many years. Since graduating from high school, going to other cities to attend university, and then going to work after graduation, the days she had returned to her hometown could be counted on one hand, probably just those few days during the New Year.
Come to think of it, she hadn't walked in the mountains and forests like this for a long time. The girl looked up, one hand lightly shielding her forehead, and gazed at the pale green and yellowing leaves overhead.
When she was a child, every summer vacation, she would go to her grandparents' place to play for a long time. Her grandparents' house was not in the city, but in a very remote mountain village, where there were rolling emerald mountains, small rivers, and all kinds of animals.
Her grandfather raised a flock of goats, which he would release onto the mountain to graze every day. When Sylvia was a child, she would follow along with several cousins. Everything in the mountains and forests was incredibly fresh to her, as someone who grew up in the city.
The spiky, split-open chestnuts, the bright red and appetizing snake berries by the mountain road, the clusters of green berries, the occasional peculiar bird calls, and the owls that were hard to distinguish from the leaves on the trees—the existence of these things was like a splash of vivid color in a barren life, making the young Sylvia exceptionally happy.
The childhood of city children is relatively boring. Recalling the past, most of her time was spent in school, cram school, doing homework, and taking exams. Only when she arrived at her grandparents' house was there no one urging her to read or study; she could play freely. Her uncle and aunt also pampered her, asking her what she liked to eat, and then trying their best to satisfy her.
Dragonflies, fireflies, caterpillars, butterflies, and even snakes in the woodpile—these things from books were all first seen by her in the mountain village of her hometown. Going there every summer vacation became the happiest time for her.
Sitting on the bus to her hometown, she leaned against the window, recalling the past. The sunlight outside the car fell on her through the trees by the road, making her vision somewhat hazy and blurred for a moment.
Going fishing at this time should be quite nice. If she could catch a few crucian carp to make soup, that would be even better.
Crucian carp are relatively small fish, and they were the only fish she had caught when she was a child. At that time, there were only bamboo poles, fishing lines, and hooks, far from having as much equipment as today.
After catching a crucian carp for the first time, she and several older cousins surrounded the bucket, not knowing how to handle it. Put it back in the water? The children were unwilling to give up the fish they had caught with such difficulty, but eating it? This fish didn't look like it had much meat.
The silvery scales were a bit slippery in her hand, and when looked at against the sun, they had a slight iridescent reflection. There was a row of small dots on the midline of the fish's body, which made the children particularly curious.
In the end, it was her aunt who helped process the fish they had caught and then made it into fish soup.
"It's a pity Grandpa didn't get to eat it..." The girl recalled the scene from when she was ten years old and sighed with some regret.
After that fishing trip, her grandfather heard about it and then laughed, saying he hadn't gotten to eat it and asking when she would catch another one for him. She and her older cousins promised readily, but after that, the adults, fearing the children would drown playing in the water, never let them near the river again.
Afterward, this matter was gradually forgotten until a few days ago, when she received the call, learned the news of her grandfather's passing, and then embarked on the return journey.
...
She didn't know if she could return to her former world. Perhaps even if she returned there, it would be a long, long time later. But she still felt a sense of longing for that hometown in her memory, and for those beautiful memories that warmed her entire childhood.
With her hands slightly spread to maintain balance, the girl's toes stepped lightly onto stones hidden by withered leaves as she walked down the mountain. After many years, that familiarity with the mountain terrain returned to her heart, allowing her to easily navigate through the rugged slopes and bushes, weaving through layers of forest shade.
Thus, just before the sun was about to set, after crossing over the last small hill, she saw the wisps of cooking smoke rising in the distance.
A quiet and ancient medieval village, surrounded by fields, appeared in her field of vision.
There were no familiar utility poles here, no smooth concrete roads, only houses built of stone and rough wood. An ancient windmill stood in the wheat field, turning slowly, and piles of straw were tied up and placed on the wild fields.
When a carriage with an iron outline slowly drove past the path on the ridge of the field, the shield-skinned exotic beast pulling the cart came into view. Sylvia finally realized that this was a completely different world, and if she wanted to return to her hometown, she was afraid she would have to walk a very, very long road.
Shouldn't the script have been about receiving a letter from Grandpa, then returning to her hometown to inherit the fields and ranch, and living a leisurely pastoral life far away from work?
The situation has really taken a sharp turn for the worse, the girl complained slightly in her heart, and then walked toward the village at the foot of the mountain.