Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

The setting sun cast its rays upon the muddy ground, where ruts crisscrossed the earth.

In the distance, several caravans approached from the center of the dim road, most bearing tattered equipment and weapons, accompanied by ragged and wounded refugees.

But seeing the forest not far off, their bloodshot eyes revealed a hint of relief after surviving a disaster.

As evening approached, a group had already set up camp by the roadside not far away.

Seeing this, Lake and the others went forward.

As Lake walked into the crowd, the people in the camp showed some vigilance, but after carefully looking her over, they relaxed.

In their eyes, a small girl like her wouldn't pose much of a threat.

From the shadows in the corner came whispers.

Several gaunt individuals, gazing at Lake's delicate arms and the ornate hilt of the Star Killer Sword, revealed greed in their eyes.

But with the appearance of Poro, the greed in their eyes vanished completely—

After all, in the current environment, no one dared to face such a powerful 'hound,' as even a small wound could lead to disease and infection, claiming most people's lives!

"Sir, where do you come from, and what happened where you came from?"

A man who looked like the leader of the caravan, with relatively clean clothes, was sitting by the fire.

In this camp, such merchants always possessed more knowledge than others.

Lake stepped forward and handed him a bottle of fine wine conjured by Poro through [Ring Return: Dessert Feast].

The man took it with some surprise, took a sip, and his eyes lit up, revealing a delighted expression.

"Little girl, this wine tastes good, it shouldn't be from our side, you must be from the other side of the Vivie Kingdom, right?"

"Yes."

Lake nodded, although she still carried a lot of gold and silver coins.

But after many lessons, Lake had learned the principle of 'not revealing wealth.' In crowded places, using some wine as a reward for requests like asking for directions was better than exposing gold and silver.

"I was entrusted by a friend to deliver some things to the Goethe Kingdom."

Lake continued, the Goethe Kingdom being the one Jinnia knew she was going to.

"Goethe Kingdom…"

The caravan leader took a sip of wine, carefully recited the name of the country, then looked at Lake with some surprise, "That country is quite far away, are you going there? Or delivering things for a friend?"

The caravan leader took another sip, his somewhat cloudy eyes scanning Lake up and down, sighed, and then said, "Little girl, listen to me, don't go, now, if you are alone, don't go for any amount of money—it's like going to die!"

"Going to die? Why do you say that?"

Lake asked with some confusion.

"Look at these people, and those—"

The caravan leader pointed to the side, at some caravan guards resting by the carriages, many of whom were still wrapped in bandages.

Their armor was scratched.

Further in the shadows, some refugees following the caravan were even more ragged and emaciated.

"Is it because of war?"

Lake widened her eyes and asked tentatively.

"Yes, it's war, a huge war never recorded in history!"

The caravan leader shook his head, looking at the wine in his hand. Although he was the leader of a caravan, he had rarely drunk wine of this quality.

"The Central Continent is the most populous place, and in the past, one country after another prospered in commerce, with all kinds of goods, specialties, and delicacies… everything you could want.

But now, war has come, like a world turned upside down in a day.

All countries are fighting each other, and the more harmonious their relationship was in the past, the more completely they have broken apart now!

And the Goethe Kingdom you are going to is separated from where we are now by two warring kingdoms."

"Huh, so that's how it is."

Lake thought for a while and said, "Then I can just bypass those battlefields, can't I?"

"If it were that simple."

The caravan leader's words became a bit dazed under the influence of the wine, "Those defeated, fleeing, or even serving soldiers are no longer protecting anything.

With swords in their hands, they are driven by dark desires in the slaughter.

They are not safe, they have become wild wolves out of control, bandits and thieves—you know? They are robbers with armor, greatswords, and powerful crossbows!"

"Soldiers… have all become robbers?"

Lake was stunned for a moment, and then she thought of the Bo Ren Kingdom, those disciplined troops.

If they were no longer protecting but slaughtering civilians for personal gain, then the destruction they could cause would be even greater than that of giants!

"Yes, little girl, for the sake of your bottle of wine, I'll give you a piece of advice!"

The caravan leader shook the bottle, with half of it remaining, reluctant to finish it in one go, and naturally took back his hand, stuffing the bottle into his arms.

Then, he looked at Lake, shook his head, and said with some pride:

"I've been doing business in this hellhole for many years, and I've seen a lot of people, and I've seen a lot of little girls like you—"

As he spoke, he looked at Lake, and the green-eyed Poro beside Lake, and said:

"Let me guess…

You are slender, your clothes are made of fine materials, your weapon is flashy and impractical, and the skin on your fingers is white and smooth without any calluses.

You are of noble birth, you have practiced a lot of swordsmanship, and you think you are powerful, so you came out to be a mercenary.

And then, ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth, you want to prove yourself, you took an unwanted order, and you want to deliver things to a place you are not familiar with, right?"

The caravan leader said, taking advantage of the wine, wanting to see the fragile-looking girl in front of him show a frightened look of being seen through.

But Lake blinked.

Although the caravan leader's observation was strong, his very logical reasoning unexpectedly and reasonably led to an almost 'completely wrong' result.

"Uh, sir, I still want to know something about the Goethe Kingdom and the surrounding countries, of course, if you have a map, I can exchange something for it…"

"Hey, little girl, are you even listening to me?"

The caravan leader showed a somewhat disappointed look and said in a somewhat lecturing tone, "The current wars in the Central Continent are not comparable to the petty fights in your place."

"What are the wars like there? I've seen wars before, what's the big deal? Just stay away from them, right?"

Lake was a little helpless, but still asked along with the caravan leader's words.

"Heh, the little girl like you has only seen small-scale conflicts, I'll tell you—just yesterday, I just led this team out of a great battle.

If we were any slower, I'm afraid we would have been slaughtered along with that town!"

As the caravan leader spoke, he slightly got up and took out a shield he was sitting on, showing it to Lake.

The surface of the shield was covered with deep sword marks.

"See that? If I hadn't used my shield to block a robber's knife, my head wouldn't be here now—"

The caravan leader raised his eyebrows at Lake as he spoke, "Can your sword, which looks like a decoration, block such an attack?"

"If I can block it, would you…"

Lake didn't explain, just asked again, "Will you sell me a map?"

"Tsk, little girl, you still don't understand, those crazy countries, the wars they launch are even more terrible than you can imagine!

Now you should turn around and go back to your hometown and stay there, quietly be a young lady—that's the best choice."

The caravan leader glared, then raised his hand again, pointing to a man more than two meters tall in the camp not far away.

The man's upper body was muscular, and his lower body was still wearing armored pants.

He bent down, his fan-like palms gripping a rock, his arm muscles bulged, and with a roar, he lifted the huge rock, showing off his arm strength.

The other caravan guards on the side also shouted loudly, clapping their hands.

"See that? That's our caravan's strongest guard, one person can fight five or six fully armed experts!"

A trace of pride flashed in the caravan leader's eyes, and he looked at Lake again, "You are only as tall as his waist, how can you survive?

But our caravan has such strength, but we still decided to leave.

This is because those countries at war have gone mad, and the power they wield is absolutely beyond your imagination—

That is something mortals can never resist!

Don't think about seeing them, because when you see those countries unleash the power of destruction, you will find that even the hope of living has become very slim!"

"The power of destruction?"

Lake was stunned for a moment, and after hearing the caravan leader's last sentence, she asked, "What is that?"

"The king of the Swiss Kingdom, alone on horseback, slaughtered thousands of armored soldiers in less than an hour, without leaving any survivors, I witnessed how he did it.

And this Swiss Kingdom is one of the two warring countries you will encounter on your way to the Goethe Kingdom!

In the more distant other countries, most of those who are still alive now have mastered powers that are by no means obtainable by mortals—

Some kingdoms have built steel warships that fly in the sky.

Some kingdoms' kings drive hellhounds.

And magic is no longer such a mysterious thing to those powerful countries that have survived the wars!

Little girl, don't think that having a sword in your hand means you are strong!"

The caravan leader waved his hand, as if he was a little tired, beckoned, took out a roll of map from a servant on the side, and opened it to look at it,

"Ordinary people, even if you are fully armed, you are still ordinary people."

After the caravan leader checked the map in his hand, he slowly rolled it up again and handed it to Lake, "Little girl, I am advising you for the sake of your wine.

Don't lose your life for small gains, that is something that cannot be bought.

The map is for you, if you want to die, go yourself—"

Lake took the map and whispered a thank you.

The caravan leader's last sentence made her put away her contempt.

Although she now possessed power, she could never do something like slaughtering thousands of armored soldiers in less than an hour without leaving a living person!

Seeing Lake accepting the map and preparing to leave, the caravan leader thought for a while and still spoke out:

"Little girl, you can rest here in our camp tonight, and think about it again."

The caravan leader looked at the sky and continued, "If you go further in, it will be the war zone, and the night is not safe."

"Uh, then thank you, sir."

Lake smiled and stopped, she and Poro had not originally planned to stay in the camp, but now it seemed that the caravan leader, although he seemed a bit arrogant, was indeed a kind person.

"Well, if there were no wars, my daughter would probably be about your age now."

A trace of sadness flashed in the caravan leader's eyes, and then he said:

"Don't worry, my caravan's guards are all good men, you can rest assured tonight—"

But at this moment, a loud whistle came from the darkness outside the caravan, interrupting the caravan leader's words!

Lake and Poro looked in the direction of the sound.

In the woods not far away, a caravan patrol soldier on horseback was anxiously galloping over—

"It's the Blue people! It's the Blue people—alert! Al—"

The caravan guard waved his arms as he shouted loudly.

In the camp, those who were still resting just now, whether civilians or other caravan guards, had already grabbed their armor, knives, and guns after hearing the whistle.

Then, they began to put on their armor in a hurry.

"What? It's the Blue people?!"

The caravan leader, who was just about to return to the camp, widened his eyes at this time, and several guards stepped forward to protect him.

He also took his shield in his hand.

For a time, everyone was on guard, but Poro and Lake still keenly saw that each of them showed a kind of panic from the inside out.

Their hands holding weapons trembled, and they discussed.

"Those Blue people, shouldn't they be at war with the Swiss Kingdom?! Why… why are they here?!"

"Damn it, they must be rebel army of the Blue Kingdom!"

"God bless, they are just passing by…"

"Maybe they are mistaken, maybe they are just some wandering robbers, they don't dare to touch such a big caravan as ours…"

The caravan leader glanced at Lake, the carelessness of the previous chat had been put away, and he simply explained to Lake:

"The Blue Kingdom is the country at war with the Swiss Kingdom ahead on your way.

But they are about to be destroyed… If their army appears here, it must be a rebel army.

And such an army poses the greatest threat to us ordinary people!"

After saying that, the caravan leader began to stare silently at the dark forest not far away.

The torch-bearing caravan sentry was rapidly approaching—

The flickering flames illuminated his face, contorted with terror.

Closer!

The sound of hooves, even closer!

Everyone in the camp could clearly see the sentry's face, glistening with sweat.

"Ugh—"

But the next moment, the sentry suddenly let out a muffled groan!

Before everyone's eyes, his figure faltered, and he and his horse tumbled to the ground!

Blood spilled from his mouth and nose—

Everyone saw clearly that just seconds before, a black crossbow bolt had pierced the sentry's chest!

"What was that!?"

"Who is it—"

Under the horrified gazes of the camp, a patch of silver-reflecting outlines appeared in the shadows of the distant woods. Their figures became clearer; it was a troop of cavalry. The surface of their gray armor was covered with crisscrossing scratches and a thick, unyielding reddish-brown blood.

The leader of the group had no visor on his helmet.

His scarred, bloodthirsty face was exposed, and he sneered.

Behind him, more gleaming weapons cut through the shadows.

A tattered flag unfurled dejectedly, bearing a blue crown—the emblem of the Kingdom of Blue.