I Thought It Was a Fairy Tale but the Genre Is Strange - Chapter 59
Episode 58 – The Dwarf Adel
“Hahaha! Look who’s here, our brave heroes!”
A figure only appears after things have calmed down. Adel approaches, grinning wide. Ugh, that guy was hiding the whole time? I thought he’d fainted, but no, he was just waiting for us to finish fighting.
“Hmm? A dwarf?”
[Who are you?]
“Ahahah! How rude of me, not introducing myself in front of these lovely ladies.”
Adel, suddenly switching to formal speech, and on top of that, dripping with cheesiness, strokes his beard a few times, then bows deeply, folding over his belly in a way that’s almost like a butler greeting a young lady.
“It is my pleasure to meet you. I am the 6th dwarf, Adel. I was held captive here, but thanks to you all, I was able to escape. I offer my deepest thanks.”
“Old man, drop the cheesy talk.”
“Hahaha! It would be rude in front of the ladies, wouldn’t it.”
Ladies, huh. I glance back and forth between Elly and Ariel.
[Dwarf Adel? Well, nice to meet you. You’d better be grateful since we helped you escape.]
Even though Ariel just woke up after everything was over, for some reason, she puffs out her chest and says it with pride.
“Haha, it’s an honor. You’re as beautiful as our princess.”
“A princess?”
The word “princess” made me flinch. Wait a minute. Come to think of it, Adel’s a dwarf. And they said he was the sixth dwarf. Also, he gives off the vibe of serving a princess. Dwarfs and a princess. There’s only one famous fairy tale that fits those conditions.
“I’m the sixth dwarf serving Snow White, actually. I was on my way back after finishing a mission the princess gave me when I got trapped here and couldn’t get out.”
Shit. It’s real? Snow White? A super famous fairy tale popped up. If I remember right, the stepmother threatens to kill her, she flees to the dwarfs’ house, and ends up eating a poisoned apple, right? In the end, she’s revived by a prince’s kiss and it’s a happy ending.
Just thinking about how twisted this story might be makes me dizzy. But this time, I’m definitely getting a proper happy ending.
“Hmph~ I don’t really care about that, but have you seen a white rabbit?”
Alice glared, stepping closer, and Adel, instinctively feeling a threat to his life, broke into a cold sweat and backed away.
“A, a white rabbit?”
“Yeah, a white rabbit with a hat, acting all cocky. He’s always got a watch, checking the time.”
Adel swallowed hard, figuring he was in big trouble if he answered wrong, and his eyes darted around while his mind raced. Then, his gaze locked on something.
“Ah! The, the Huntsman! The Huntsman said he saw it!”
“Huh? The Huntsman?”
“Yes! There’s a Huntsman among those who serve Princess Snow White! He mentioned it before. He said he met a weird black rabbit and a white rabbit.”
Even a black rabbit? Startled, I asked.
“Was it a black rabbit wearing a hat and a cloak?”
“Oh, yeah! That’s the rabbit. Hmm, let me see, when was that? It was before I was sent on my mission. A little while ago. Maybe a month?”
Alice grinned and stroked the dwarf’s beard as she spoke.
“And then?”
“So, the Huntsman said that the black rabbit left, saying things would get interesting, and the white rabbit hurried after the black rabbit, saying he was busy.”
Wait a sec. Something’s off. I met the black rabbit during the Rapunzel incident. It hasn’t been more than a few days since I met Rapunzel. But according to Adel, the Huntsman met the rabbits about a month ago, which means the black rabbit visited Snow White’s area first.
Why the hell would they do that? If they were going to tell me to end all these stories, why bother going to that region in the first place? And unlike the previous sightings, this time there’s a white rabbit too.
“Hmph, that’s it?”
Alice, with a chilling expression, tilted her head, giving silent pressure for more information. Adele nodded, his legs trembling.
“Y-yes, unfortunately, that’s all.”
“Well, that alone is a big gain. We finally found a lead on that damn rabbit.”
A deadly glint flashed in Alice’s eyes. In the meantime, Ariel brought back the luggage we had lost. Well, luggage was just Alice’s war hammer anyway.
[Stop making that creepy face and take this]
Alice grinned and secured the war hammer to her back. The sight of the monstrous weapon made Adele’s legs do a tap dance.
“So, shall we go to the area where Snow White is? I have a feeling there’s a reason the two rabbits went there.”
Yeah, it’s like it’s telling us which way to go. One story ends, another appears. I figured if we followed the stories the black rabbit had marked, we might encounter him again.
“Then I’ll guide you!”
Adele thumped his chest confidently. It’s strangely infuriating that he’s only casual with me.
“Then we’d be happy to have you.”
“Haha! Excellent! The mission is a success!”
From noble mtl dot com
“Huh? Mission?”
It seemed like the words slipped out unconsciously, as Adele was startled and flinched. He whistled, trying to brush it off.
“Mission? Did I say that~? Words just came out wrong. Hahahaha! Anyway, this way! Follow me! I still have a clear picture of the way back.”
“Ah, okay.”
[That’s a weird dude]
Ariel and I followed behind him with suspicion, while Alice, walking next to Adele, urged him to guide us faster.
So, Adele, he became our companion, briefly.
……………
The sun went down. We huddled around the campfire, chatting softly. Now that we were free from Gretel’s magic, finding food wasn’t a big deal. Alice was a fantastic hunter. She’d disappeared, saying she’d found boar tracks, and came back moments later with a boar big enough to swallow a person whole.
She was now expertly draining the blood and skinning it, preparing it on skewers over the fire. And, besides the boar, I still had plenty of the snacks I’d grabbed from the gingerbread house. Of course, those were for emergencies, to be taken out when we were really desperate for food.
“Ahem, ahem~”
“Ah, Alice, your hunting is excellent, but your meat-grilling skills are truly top-notch!”
Adele said, watching the juices drip from the skewers of meat as they cooked.
[I’m good at grilling too! And if I really wanted to, I could bring down prey bigger than that boar!]
Ariel spoke, her face screwed up in a pout, moving her own skewer of meat back and forth over the fire. But because she’d held it too close to the flames, the surface of the meat was pretty charred.
“Hehehe, are you planning to use your meat as firewood? Here.”
Alice pulled off a well-cooked skewer and offered it. Adele, thinking it was for him, salivated and reached for it, but the skewer zipped past him, landing in front of me.
“Thanks.”
Adele glared at me with envious eyes. Seriously, what’s with this guy? I had the chance to eat the first skewer. Food that I could safely eat without the risk of being poisoned.
I smiled gently and bit into the mouth-watering skewer of meat. The meat tore apart like tofu and as soon as I chewed, juice exploded in my mouth.
Boar meat could taste this good! Alice may not be good at cooking, but she’s a truly amazing grill master!
“Mmm! This is so delicious!”
“Oh my~ Thanks for the compliment, hun.”
As I devoured the skewer, Adele, unable to hold back, grabbed the skewer in front of him and bit into it. He closed his eyes and savored the taste, a blissful smile spreading across his face.
“It’s true! I’ve never had meat so delicious!”
Alice watched us eat with a happy expression, then, with a pout, handed a skewer to Ariel, who was still busy trying to grill her own charred meat.
“Little Princess, don’t eat that, eat this instead. You’ll get sick if you eat stuff like that?”
[Shut up! You eat all you want!]
Ariel stuck her tongue out, making a face at me, then shoved her own charcoal skewer at me, right after I’d devoured one of mine.
[Mine’s cooked too! Prince, eat this!]
The meat looked like a rock, charred stiff. I half-felt like I could use it as a hammer.
“Heh heh! You call that a piece of meat? Even boiled meat would be better than that, you little tyke.”
“Ahem, ahem. Princess Ariel. As Miss Alice says, your meat seems a little overcooked. Perhaps you would like to have one of mine, which I’ve grilled…”
[Shut up! I wasn’t asking for your opinions! I was talking to the Prince!]
Ariel shouted, puffing like an angry little kid after being teased. Alice grinned, while Adel, who was reaching out to give her a newly grilled skewer, hung his head gloomily.
Ariel’s eyes flickered, glancing at me, then she hesitated before speaking.
[If you don’t wanna eat it, you don’t have to. I can eat it, so it’s fine!]
As Ariel went to put down the skewer she was offering, I quickly opened my mouth and took a bite of the meat.
*CRUNCH* went my teeth, screaming in protest. Along with it, came a horrible bitter taste. But I forced a cheerful smile and swallowed the meat.
“You grilled it really well, Ariel.”
I shouldn’t have said that. After that, Ariel, truly believing she was good at grilling, happily kept serving me charcoal skewers, and I, internally weeping, finished every single one.
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