Upon arrival at the outskirts of Nuremberg, Germany, the Phantomhive group stood before a man in a cart, asking a question. However, the response they got was in a completely different language.
"Hey…Sebastian. What language are they speaking?" Ciel asked his butler.
"East Franconian. It is a southern German dialect." Sebastian replied.
"The dialect is too strong! My studies were practically useless! I can't even follow what they're saying!"
"The fundamentals are vital in everything, young master."
"So…what's he saying?" Red asked as she walked up to the pair, now dressed in a pistachio-colored long skirt with a matching coat, a long-sleeved white blouse, a brown tied belt, and knee-high black heeled boots. Her makeup was done in a natural look and her hair was tied back partially with a matching bow.
"Ach, I ain't gonna go bite it from the witch's curse. No thanks." Sebastian translated. "Dun matter how much gold you got, no's a no… So he says."
"Has he seen an accursed human?" Ciel asked before adding, "You don't need to translate the dialect into your interpretation!"
Sebastian then went to translate his master's question then translated the man's answer to that he has seen them and how grotesque their appearance was.
"Their faces were swollen to twice the normal size. And their skin looked like it'd melted into a thick mud. One died right off. The other lived, but word has it he went nuts from the shock." The German told Sebastian
"The other one survived?" Sebastian asked.
"Yep. He was all shook up with fear and kept screamin'…'The wolfman's coming!'"
"So where is he now?"
"He's the eldest son of the Briegel family, rich folk who live on the outskirts of this village…but he's gone now. The government came 'n' took him away to some big hospital in case whatever he had caught and they took the dead 'un away too." (IT'S ALWAYS THE GOVERNMENT!)
Sebastian then turned to his master and the red head and said, "There is a survivor, but he was intensely confused and kept repeating 'The wolfman's coming.'"
"So he's seen the wolfman?" Ciel asked.
"Government officials took him away to a major institution along with the other victim. Will you search all the hospitals in the country?"
"No need. There isn't any point in speaking to a madman-"
"Yet you always spoke to my father." Red smirked, interrupting the young lord who's eye twitched in irritation.
"We should go at once to this 'Werewolves' Forest' ourselves." Ciel continued.
"However, the man refuses to take us in his carriage no matter how much we offer."
Ciel then smirked and said, "Then ask him how much the carriage costs." (Total Batman move. Just saying)
Meanwhile, over in a town square nearby, a bunch of children were playing around while Mey-Rin, Baldroy, Finnian, Tanaka, and Snake were huddled together, waiting for their master and Sebastian to return.
"AAARGH, my ass hurrrts." Baldroy complained, rubbing his behind.
"Baldo, that's indecent, it is!" Mey-rin scolded the American.
"But I've been sitting for more than a whole day! But I wonder why the young master brought us servants with him?"
"Why, indeed!"
While Finnian had dozed off, staring down at his feet, a ball suddenly rolled right to him. Picking it up, he looked over to the group of children who were waving to him.
"Excuse meee!" One of the kids yelled to him. "Please throw us the ball."
"Sure! Here you go!" Finnian nodded happily before unintentionally flinging the ball a good distance away from the kids. He then bowed his head in apology as the children cried. "Augh! Sorry, sorry!"
"Do you understand German? …Asks Donne." Snake asked the young blond.
"Ah…yep. A little." Finnian grimaced.
"Everyone." Sebastian spoke, turning all the servants' attention to him. "We have secured a carriage. Load the luggage onto it, if you would."
As all the servants started loading up the carriages with the luggage, Red nervously looked at Sebastian.
"Are we really travelling into these woods? With werewolves in them?" she asked the demon.
"Miss Red, you have faced reapers, living corpses, madmen, and Jack the Ripper. Yet, you're afraid of the mythical werewolves?" Sebastian asked as he walked off.
"Haven't any of you read Grimm's fairy tales!?" Red shouted to the group.
"What is Grimm's fairy tales?" Finnian asked as both he and Snake looked at the red head in curiosity.
Red then grinned like Sebastian would when he was up to mischief as she then asked, "Oh? You haven't heard of them? Then do I have the perfect story to tell you two."
Some time as the group traveled on to the beginning of the forest…
"'Why, grandmother, what big eyes you have!' Red Riding Hood exclaimed to the wolf disguised as her grandmother. 'The better to see you with, my dear!' the wolf replied as his ears flicked in delight. 'Why, grandmother, what big ears you have!' the little girl exclaimed. 'The better to hear you with, my dear.' The wolf said as he grinned, revealing his shiny, pointy teeth, causing the little girl to tremble with fright. 'W-Why, g-grandmother! W-What b-big t-t-teeth you have!' Red Riding Hood yelled. 'THE BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH MY DEAR!'" Red told the story before laughing maniacally, scaring the Phantomhive servants, much to Sebastian's amusement.
"Enough already! Just finish the story." Ciel yelled over to the group in irritation, yet secretly enjoyed Red's storytelling.
"Haha, all right!" Red chuckled before continuing on with the story. "After that, the wolf chased Red Riding Hood all around her grandmother's house before catching her, and gobbling her up just like her grandmother!"
The servants gasped in shock and fright before the red head continued on.
"However, it just so happened that a woodsman nearby wandered to the cottage and saw the wolf gobble up the little girl. So, he waited for the wolf to fall asleep. And when he did…WHAM! He cut open the wolf with his axe and pulled Red Riding Hood and her grandmother out safely! They all lived happily ever after. The End."
"T-That was a morbid story, it was!" Mey-Rin exclaimed.
"I prefer Alice in Wonderland!" Finnian yelled.
"Oh, relax, you two! It's just a story meant to give children a lesson." Red chuckled.
"And what lesson is that!?" Baldroy asked.
"Children should never speak to strangers."
"Ohhhh." The Phantomhive servants said in unison with realization.
"You also forget that it is also in reference of a woman being pursued by a man." Sebastian added, looking back over his shoulder for a second.
"What do you mean?" Red asked innocently as her and the others looked over at Sebastian.
The butler smirked as he replied, "Oh, nothing you need to worry about for now."
The carriages rattled as the group started to enter the beginning of the Werewolves' Forest.
"S-So this is the Werewolves' Forest. It's creepyyyyyy!" Mey-Rin let out as her and the other servants, except Tanaka of course, looked around in fear.
"Man, I get why people say it's cursed…" Baldroy spoke nervously.
As the group continued on, Sebastian looked down at his compass and noticed the arrow begin to spin drastically.
"The compass has begun to drift." He commented.
"It may just be that mineral resources are buried around here." Ciel replied.
"It may just as easily be…a curse." Sebastian smirked.
"Or…THE WOLF!" Red cackled manically, scaring the servants again.
"Will you quit that!" Ciel yelled to her before turning back to his butler and sighing. "I can't believe-"
"It amuses me that you refuse to believe in curses when you have a devil for a servant and have come eye-to-eye with grim reapers. Moreover, that which binds you and I is also a curse of sorts."
"However, witches were humans falsely accused at ridiculous trials. They didn't fly in the sky or create storms. It's absurd to believe in supernatural entities…like a curse. That is why." Ciel replied.
"Well, now, I wonder."
"Hey, guys. Did you know during the Salem Witch Trials, and every other witch trial before and after that, that people with natural red hair were targeted as a witch?" Red asked the group.
"Really!?" Finnian asked.
"Yep! Over in Egypt, they burnt red heads as a form of a sacrifice. In Rome, they hunted them down. In Greece, they put cages over their graves in case they were to ever turn into vampires."
"How do you know all this? …Asks Goethe." Snake spoke.
"My father told me. There wasn't really a safe place for people with red hair except Denmark, Scotland, and Ireland."
"Huh." Ciel said before looking at his butler. "By the way, have you ever met a real witch?"
"Yes. I have met those who went by that moniker on several occasions before." Sebastian nodded.
"Hah! Did they summon you to the witches' sabbath and worship you?"
"Summoning devils and worshipping them…I do not believe sabbaths were held for that purpose…they were times of social interaction for depraved adults who wished to escape reality by sinking into debauchery, offering us their souls in exchange for their desires. One cannot summon us devils without that degree of determination."
"Are you…" Ciel started before going silent.
"Yes?" Sebastian asked, waiting for his master to continue.
"…Nothing."
"Oh-hoh. Young master, please see for yourself. There are buildings over there." Sebastian said, pointing to a village.
When the Phantomhive group arrived at the village, fog was spread around everywhere, giving a mysterious and creepy feeling to their surroundings.
"So there really was a village in this forest." Ciel said as he and the group got out of their carriages and wondered into the village entrance and into the village itself.
"No one's around…is it abandoned?" Mey-Rin wondered.
"No." Sebastian replied before looking at a well. "The houses have been kept up. I am certain people do live here."
"Heyyy! Is anybody heee-!" Finnian started to yell but was interrupted by the slamming of doors opening.
"Intruders!" a woman yelled as she banged a pan with a ladle. "Everybody come out and fight!"
Suddenly, more women appeared and ran to the group, surrounding them with pitchforks, rakes, and other gardening tools.
"Talk about a warm welcome." Baldroy and Red muttered at the same time as they and the group backed up into each other as the women of the village got closer.
"Who are you bastards!?" a woman in old German clothes yelled in German. "How did you find your way here!?"
The village residents are all women?, Ciel thought as he stared with his wide eye. Furthermore…how ancient are their clothes!?
"Tell them we would like to speak to their lord." Ciel whispered to his butler.
"Yes, sir." The demon replied back before turning to the women and began to speak in fluent German. "We mean no harm. We beg an audience with your liege lord."
"What?" the German woman asked. "Our liege?"
The German women began to mutter amongst one another, one of them asking, "Could they be targeting the honourable Sullivan!?"
"Sullivan?" Sebastian asked.
"Hey, what are they-" Red began to ask before some of the women started yelling in German.
"Witch! Another witch has come to attack the honourable Sullivan!"
"Uhhh…what?"
"It appears they believe you to be a witch, Miss Red."
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? AFTER THE HISTORY LESSON I JUST GAVE!?"
"Quiet!" the German woman yelled. "You villains must be betrayers-!"
"B-Betrayers!?" Finnian yelled in German. "We're not-"
"We will spare none of your ilk!" the German women shouted. "Don't let them escape alive! Death to betrayers! Death to the red witch! Death to betrayers!"
As the German women grew closer with their weapons, Ciel held Red's hand as the entire group became nervous before a young voice spoke up in German.
"What is the meaning of this!?"
The German women gasped and stepped back, parting a way for the person.
"Th-The honourable Sullivan!"
The women then bowed their heads in apology as the tall man walked by.
"We apologise for letting intruders enter the village!"
"Are you…the honourable Sullivan, the liege lord?" Sebastian asked in German.
"Indeed." A very young, feminine voice said, revealing the man to be in a butler's attire, holding a little girl with black hair, and green eyes in a fancy green and black dress. "I…am Sieglinde Sullivan! Liege of the forest!"
"…who is this tiny lost child?" Red whispered to Ciel.