Chapter 19

Suddenly, a talking pig came running to us asking for help. The guy was an adult pig, much larger than me. He looked like he hadn’t slept properly in days, with heavy dark circles under his eyes. His eyes were crusted with sleep gunk, and judging by his scruffy appearance, it seemed like he hadn’t bathed in ages.

“What is this? A pig blocking my way? Should I turn you into minced meat?”

Elise’s eyes gleamed as she lifted her massive staff with one hand. The sight of Elise hoisting the enormous weapon made the pig panic and bow his head.

“N-No! Honey! I’m not here to block your path! I just need your help, honey!”

He immediately switched to honorific mode.

I felt sorry for this pig for some reason. Especially since his expression and eyes were filled with injustice and the strong desire to survive.

“What’s wrong?”

“Honey! You’ll help me, honey!”

“Haha, let’s hear your story first. If I can help, I will.”

As soon as I said I’d help, the pig’s sinister face lit up like sunshine. Ariel grabbed my sleeve and whispered.

[Wait, Prince. Helping too much makes you a sucker!]

“Keke, yeah. Normally, taking one arm as payment is standard.”

“G-Gulp! My…my arm!?”

At Elise’s creepy statement, the pig turned his plump arm behind him. After pondering for a moment, I spoke.

“We won’t take your arm, so don’t worry. By the way, have you seen any black rabbits or white rabbits around here?”

The pig’s eyes sparkled at the mention of rabbits, and he nodded frantically.

“I saw it, honey! A black rabbit, honey!”

“Which way did it go?”

“That…I can’t say, honey!”

Elise placed her hand on my shoulder and grinned menacingly.

“There’s a good method for cases like this. When I wanted to find out where the white rabbit went, cutting off a hand and roasting it nicely made them talk so honestly.”

“Eww, that’s too cruel…”

“G-Gulp!? M-Mine!? Nooo, honey! I-I was going to tell you! It wasn’t that I didn’t want to say it, honey! I was about to make an offer! If you help me, I’ll tell you about the black rabbit, honey!”

I exchanged glances with Ariel, who nodded approvingly.

[But Pig, if you lie, be prepared to die.]

Ariel’s warning made cold sweat trickle down the pig’s face.

“It’s not a lie, honey! I really saw the black rabbit, so please stop saying scary things, honey!”

“So what do you need help with? Earlier, it sounded like you’re being chased by wolves or something.”

“Yeah, honey! Wolves! They’re coming after me, honey! Sob…My brothers were all eaten by the wolves, leaving only me, honey.”

The pig began sobbing while complaining.

“Our trio got independent from Mama, honey. While looking for a place to live together, we got caught by a vicious wolf, honey. The bastard drooled while waiting for us to let our guard down. In the chaos of escaping, eventually…my older brother and second brother ended up inside that beast’s stomach, honey.”

“Wow, how shameless to survive alone, huh?”

“Grrk, I didn’t want it to turn out this way…honey.”

Though the pig snapped at Elise, he quickly backed down when he saw her staff. He seemed worried that he might upset her and get hit with the staff.

“So I need a safe house, honey. Somewhere to protect myself from the wolves, honey…”

A safe house-seeking pig. Two of his brothers already eaten. This sounds familiar. The Three Little Pigs.

In the original story, the older brothers were eaten too, but unlike this pig, the third one built a brick house and survived the wolf. Plus, the wolf even fell into boiling water through the chimney and got a proper scolding.

Here, however, there’s no baby pig, no brick house, and he’s just running from the wolf.

Meanwhile, Ariel questioned the pig.

[A safe house? Why not just buy one in the village?]

“T-That’s impossible, honey. I’m broke, honey.”

[How old are you?]

“35 years old, honey. People often tell me I look younger despite my age, honey!”

The pig confidently touched his face while speaking. Despite trying to act cute like a baby pig, the sight of yellow teeth reeking of bad breath, falling eye crusts, and saggy cheeks made me furious.

Elise stared at the pig’s face blankly before smirking and hitting his head with her fist.

“KYAAAAAAAAAAAH! My…my skull is breaking, honey!!!”

“Hmm, try again. Next time, I’ll grind your head into pieces and send it to the wolf.”

“Waaah! I understand, honey! That’s too mean, honey!”

The pig clutched his head while crying. Though I feel bad, it was oddly satisfying.

[You’re 35 and broke? Definitely a bum. No hope. What have you been doing all this time?]

“Waaaah! I didn’t choose to be poor, honey! My family was poor and jobs are hard to find, honey!”

[Bullshit. Extreme dislike. Clearly, you’ve been slacking until you’re 35.]

Ariel glared at the 35-year-old unemployed and penniless pig with disdain. Even though I offered help, seeing the pig suffer mentally and physically made me feel sorry for him.

“Alright, calm down. There are reasons, so let’s settle down. But pig, we don’t have money either, so we can’t lend you cash to buy a house.”

“If…if there’s no money…”

The pig’s eyes darted around. He scanned Elise, Ariel, then finally me, before lighting up with what seemed like a brilliant idea.

“Nearby, there’s a ruin, honey! We can use its materials to build a house, honey!”

We decided to accept the pig’s proposal. Although Ariel thought he was trash for being 35 and not trying to earn money, she agreed to follow my decision. Elise tried to whisper devilishly about cutting off the pig’s trotters to force him to reveal the rabbit’s whereabouts, but I kept refusing, which left her quite disappointed.

The pig, witnessing this scene, was terrified but relieved by my final decision.

Following the pig’s lead, we strolled through the forest. The warm sunlight filtering through the lush leaves felt gentle and cozy, like a caress on my head.

“Here, honey!”

While enjoying the warm sunlight, we arrived at the ruins the pig mentioned. His words were true. Crumbling remnants of old buildings were scattered everywhere. Most of the debris consisted of bricks.

“Hmm~.”

Elise smiled eerily as she surveyed the area. Ariel picked up a brick, examining it closely before speaking.

[There are lots of bricks. We could probably build a house with these?]

The pig agreed.

“Right, honey! There are plenty of bricks, so building a house with them should keep me safe from the wolves, honey! Help me construct a small, secure home, honey!”

“Alright, let’s give it a shot?”

We rolled up our sleeves and started carrying bricks. However, the more we laid the foundation and built, the more it felt off. In the fairy tale, the third pig built the house effortlessly like a pro. But real-life house-building is a different story.

It requires specialized knowledge and architectural plans. None of us had any expertise in construction. I wondered if the pig might have some innate talent like in the original story, but surprisingly, he struggled to even carry a single brick and carelessly stacked them.

If we built the house this way, it would surely collapse if someone strong and large rammed into it.

Surprisingly, Elise was using sticky sap squeezed from trees to bind the bricks together in an attempt to make the house sturdy, but I doubted how effective that would be.

Even if the house didn’t collapse, living in a furniture-less, food-less house deep in the woods, especially in such a spooky ruined area, seemed strange.

Also, as shown in the original story, the wolf didn’t give up just because the house was solid. Its determination to enter through the chimney proved that it wouldn’t easily quit. If the wolf chasing this pig has the same tenacity, it will surely find a way into the house. Or it might simply wait for the pig to starve and rush out.

No matter how I thought about it, this method seemed wrong, right as I was about to voice my concerns to the pig…

[What? Where did this guy go?]

Ariel, who was diligently carrying bricks beside me, suddenly flared up. Her fiery gaze darted around as she searched for the pig.

I followed her gaze but couldn’t find the pig anywhere. He had vanished, despite repeatedly resting after moving just one brick.

“Seriously gone? Did he go to the bathroom?”

“Kek kek kek, really think he went to the bathroom? Come on, buddy. Way too soft.”

Elise appeared from behind, slinging her arm around my shoulders, grabbing my hand, and pointing in a certain direction.

Through the dense foliage where sunlight couldn’t penetrate, a shadowy grassy area lay beneath the towering trees. And within it, I locked eyes with something.

Gleaming yellow eyes. Several of them.

“Auuuuu~”

Out of nowhere, a howling sound echoed, and they emerged from the darkness. A group of wolves dressed in suits, walking on two legs.

What’s going on? The pig claimed he was being chased by wolves. But now the pig is gone, and a pack of wolves has appeared.

Before I could process the situation, Elise rested her staff on her shoulder and said,

“So that’s why I said we should’ve cleanly cut off a leg.”