Fairy Tale: Little Red Riding Hood's Wolf Mentor

Chapter 193: Kingdom Ruins
"The story about the fallen princess of the Bell Kingdom is a bit unpopular, that's it."

The Poro shrugged.

"Yeah, and the princess's personality seems completely different in reality and in the fairy tale? She seems more three-dimensional in reality?"

In the carriage, after listening to Poro's story, Lake thought about it and expressed her own opinion.

//Grimm's Fairy Tales·The Clever Tailor, it's boring to always have a little tailor, I just modified it and deleted awa
"However, this return to the ring feels very suitable for us."

A page of book appeared in Poro's hand.

The painting on it shows a princess with gold and silver hair, staring at a fox through several iron rods.

[Return of the Circle: The Clever Little Tailor: The Bear and the Princess]

[Fairy Tale Power: Animals are humans' best companions. Of course, you can also communicate with your best companions.]

[Description: The bear roared and chased, but his princess was getting farther and farther away with the wedding carriage... The bear finally stopped. He realized that he was just a bear, just a bear, and like the princess, he couldn't change anything.]

After activating this page of the book, both Lake and Poro were stunned.

"Lake, do you feel it?"

Lake looked at the Poro with wide eyes.

The Poro didn't speak, but through some kind of...telepathic connection that had just appeared, Lake heard what the Poro wanted to express.

Lake nodded in disbelief.

"You didn't say anything, but I could hear you, and...quickly?"

Lake didn't move her mouth, but Poro quickly heard the "voice" that she wanted to express.

This kind of "inner voice" is far more hidden and rapid than verbal communication.

Although this ability came from a relatively unknown fairy tale, both Lake and Poro were keenly aware of its power.

Although the information it conveys is limited, there is no doubt that it will be able to play a greater role, whether in combat or more secretly, in communicating in public.

"Not bad, Lake."

Poro looked at Lake and gave her a sly smile, "From now on, if you have any little secrets in your heart, you can tell me right away, okay?"

"Ugh?"

Lake's cheeks flushed when she heard this, but she soon realized something and pouted, "I told you it's a little secret, so I won't tell you!"

"Can't you just tell me quietly in your heart?"

"You lied to me again. As long as I don't want you to hear it, no matter what I think in my heart, you can't hear anything!"

As Lake spoke, she reached out and pinched Poro's face:

"Also, why do you look so regretful?"

"Huh? How did you tell that? No, I'm a wolf, how do you know what my expression is?"

"Hmph, Poro, you admit it, don't you?"

"I don't--"

Poro was pinned down in the carriage, allowing himself to be bullied. But soon, he saw the front of the carriage, "But, Lake, we should be arriving at our destination tonight soon."

Following Poro's gesture, Lake turned her head to look.

Not far away, the afterglow of the setting sun illuminates a city, but this city is deserted.

Lake and Poro's carriage passed over knee-high weeds, and the body of the carriage shook slightly. Lake looked over and saw a bulge on the ground, which was rusty, and half-buried armor was exposed on the ground.

An ancient battlefield.

"The direction is correct. This city should be the capital of Shadi that was destroyed by the Kingdom of Weiser."

Lake looked at the map in her hand and spoke.

"Then the New Shadi Kingdom should be somewhere behind this abandoned city, right?"

Poro nodded. The carriage passed the battlefield. Looking through the collapsed city walls, he could already see the situation inside: a ruin full of scorch marks.

Obviously, this once prosperous city suffered a huge blow.

The bombing from the sky swept every corner, and the raging fire obviously burned most of the wooden buildings in the city, leaving only some broken stone walls.

There are still many cities and refugees in the land conquered by the Kingdom of Weser.

After hearing from the fallen princess of the Bell Kingdom about the possible plans and truth of the Sri Kingdom, Lake, Poro, and the Happy Prince all realized...

The threat will not disappear easily with King Weiser's defeat.

Whether it is the Goethe Kingdom or the various forces on the remaining lands of the Wei Kingdom, everyone should unite and be prepared.

Otherwise, once the Sri Kingdom really launches a military offensive.

No single country or force will have the power or possibility to resist this empire that has just annexed Bru with overwhelming force.

Except for the resistance army led by Princess Bell.

The second country whose stance is somewhat ambiguous is the Shadi Kingdom—

Compared with the Kingdom of Bell, the Kingdom of Weser, and even the Kingdom of Goethe, this kingdom is older, and its territory is also more vast.

But even so, under the attack of the Weiser Kingdom, the capital of the Shadi Kingdom was burned to ashes within a few days.

The people among them were also slaughtered in the week-long sweep.

Whether it is the royal family or ordinary people.

The people in other cities of the Shadi Kingdom formed a new Shadi Kingdom. After the demise of the Weiser Kingdom, the Shadi people regained power.

And their leader is a prince——

He was not a prince of the Shadi Kingdom, but a prince from a foreign country. Before the Shadi capital was destroyed, he was engaged to the princess of the Shadi capital.

It was also for this reason that the other few remaining lords of the Shadi Kingdom agreed to obey this prince.

"Damn war, King Weiser, this place has been completely destroyed..."

Looking at the black scorch marks all over the ground, even after so long, the ashes of the house were still mixed with the soil.

"We're still some distance from the capital of the New Shadi Kingdom. It's getting late today. Perhaps we can rest for a while in the Shadi Wasteland?"

Poro looked at the sky. The setting sun not far away had begun to be blocked by the distant mountains.

The light was extinguished and darkness covered the sky.

On such cloudy nights in ancient times, there were no lights anywhere. It was pitch black, so dark that one could not see one's hand in front of one's face. If it were an ordinary diurnal creature, there would be no possibility of moving freely.

Although Lake and Poro could see the road clearly, the two horses in the carriage obviously did not have such night vision capabilities.

What's more, if the two horses fell on such uneven ground, they would inevitably break their legs.

That would be even more troublesome.

"Hmm? There seems to be someone over there?"

Just as Lake and Poro were about to drive the carriage over the collapsed city wall, they suddenly saw a tiny flame at the base of the wall.

As they got closer, Poro and Lake saw that next to the flames was an old man in a gray coat.

In front of him, there were a few wooden boards and a small hill, forming a low grave.

The old man recited the eulogy in the accent of the silk flute, and burned a piece of paper covered with scriptures in front of the low grave.

This is a way for the Shadi people to commemorate the dead.

Poro immediately thought of this. Before coming here, Poro had read some books related to the Shadi people.

In such "missions", it is crucial to understand the customs of the target kingdom.

This is not that difficult.

[Spiral Beacon: Sage] grants Poro a near-photographic memory. "Sir, my condolences."

The memorial service of the old man Shadi was coming to an end. When the last scripture was burned, he stood up and noticed Lake behind him.

Seeing that Lake was a little girl, old man Shadi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Well, thank you, but that was a few years ago."

The old man shook his head and took a look at Lake's clothes. "Little girl, you must be from another place, right? How did you get here? This place was destroyed by the Sri Kingdom a long time ago."

"I'm going to the new Shadi capital to meet the Shadi prince. I happened to be passing by here and plan to rest here tonight..."

Unexpectedly, after hearing these words, the old man who was packing up frowned and showed a look of surprise:

"Rest? In a dead, abandoned city?"

As the old man spoke, he lifted his belongings and placed them on the horse he had tied to a wooden stake. Then he turned to look at Lake and continued, "However, I advise you not to spend the night in the abandoned city. If you want to spend the night, it's much better to stay in the wilderness than in the city!"

"Huh? Why?"

Lake was a little surprised. Although the place was covered with weeds, the surrounding trees did not grow lush after the fire. The long wind howled along the ancient battlefield, bringing with it a chilling chill.

In this kind of environment, outside the city without any windbreak, it shouldn't be any worse than in the city, right?

"Little girl, you don't understand—"

The old man, Shadi, looked at Lake quietly. A hint of depth flashed in his eyes. He said softly, "In the abandoned capital, the wronged souls of tens of thousands of Shadi people wander in the shadows..."

"what?"

Both Lake and Poro were stunned for a moment. It was not that they did not believe the old man. After all, this world has magic, God, and the devil, and wronged souls are not some imaginary things.

But if every person who dies unjustly will turn into a vengeful spirit.

Would there still be so many evildoers in this world?

Seeing Lake's expression, Elder Shadi knew that the girl in front of him did not believe what he said, so he shook his head:

"I grew up in this city. My only luck was that when those beasts slaughtered the city, I wasn't there. I was doing business elsewhere. However, when I returned...

Everything has changed. The city has become a ruin, a ruin filled with corpses, blood and charcoal."

As he spoke, a look of sadness flashed in his eyes. He jumped on his horse, pulled the reins, and turned his horse in the direction where Lake and Poro came from:

“Those Weisers said they didn’t kill everyone in the city, and some people escaped—ha, but there were only a few survivors who actually escaped!
The Weisers gave up on occupying this ruin because the unyielding Shadi people, even if they turned into ghosts, would appear in the shadows of the night and kill the invaders.

As the old man Shadi said this, he was about to ride away on his horse, but after taking a few steps, he turned back and looked at Lake. His expression faded and became a little solemn.

"Child, don't doubt what I say - because I saw it with my own eyes."

Old Shadi's eyes grew deeper, as if lost in a long recollection, his voice blurred, as if in a dream, "That night, I wanted to die along with this ruin.

But at that time, in a trance, I saw the city when it was complete. There, I saw my dead parents and wife. They stood in the shadows and talked to me...

In the end, they let me live well in reality.

They pushed me back into the shadows, and I awoke from the rubble. I opened my eyes and saw... the dawn.

From that moment on, I gave up the idea of ​​seeking death. I decided to live on, carrying the memory, hatred, and the last bloodline of the Shadi Kingdom, and continuing in this world..."

After saying the last sentence, old man Shadi fell silent. Without saying any more words of persuasion, he turned his horse around and disappeared into the thick night.

Lake and Poro also looked at each other. They looked at the collapsed city gate in front of them and hesitated for a moment.

"Puro, you know a lot about magic. Are there really undead in this city? And the ghosts of the dead?"

"I don't know. I studied magic, but I don't have the kind to check for the undead."

Poro shrugged, held his breath, narrowed his eyes, and looked at the streets in the city through the city gate. "Besides, there is nothing special here that has anything to do with magic."

"Then, do we want to go in?"

"I think we can go in. Didn't that old man just say he saw the ghost of the wronged and came out alive? This means that even if there are wronged ghosts, they can still communicate - and we are not invaders from the Kingdom of Weser."

Poro thought for a moment and continued, "Besides, I'm a little curious—"

"Besides, I think..."

"Do you think there's a small chance that the old man was just dreaming?"

Lake blinked and heard what the Poro was about to say in her heart.

The carriage drove into the city, carrying gravel and charcoal.

Everywhere you look, you can see charred walls crumbling and rubble piled up like mountains. Going further in, you can see that the once magnificent cathedral has also collapsed for the most part, with its stained glass windows blown to pieces and glass shards scattered all over the ground.

The wind whistled past the broken pillars, making a mournful wail.

Further away, the palace in the center received "special attention". The degree of damage was even worse than that of civilian houses. The fragments of carved beams and painted buildings were blackened by the flames, like a mountain of stones.

Further away, on the hill behind the ruins of the palace complex, the only thing still standing intact is a gray-black tower.

It doesn't look like a royal building and there are no carvings on it.

There are no doors or windows, no decorations, just bricks and stones, standing silently under the night.

"Where is that intact tower?"

In Poro's mind, he came up with the information he got from the book:
It was cast by King Shadi, who was killed by the Weiser people, about seven years ago, but its specific function was buried in the ruins along with the destruction of the Shadi capital.

Now, the lonely tower has become the tombstone of this abandoned city.

"It seems that there are no wronged souls in this city?"

Lake and Poro found a house that was still intact enough to block the wind, went in, and lit a bonfire.

Outside, night had fallen, and for some reason, the sky in the abandoned city was much darker than anywhere else at night.

Whether it is the stars or the moon, they all seem to be covered by an invisible curtain, dim and without any light.

However, this phenomenon was not found to be affected by magic, and Poro could only regard it as an obstruction caused by clouds and fog.

"Well, maybe you guessed it right. That gauze flute merchant must have had a dream?"

Lake also answered, took a piece of steak and started to enjoy dinner.

Behind him, the shadows of a man and a wolf, illuminated by the dancing flames, danced and stretched, extending towards the stone wall with cracks repaired.

But at this moment, there was a "creaking" sound of a door being pushed open behind him!
"Um?!"

But at the door, there was a man dressed in a gauze flute costume standing.

"Where are you from? Why are you in my house?"

A hint of surprise appeared on the man's face.

While the man was speaking, Lake and Poro looked around and found that the surrounding environment had changed at some point.

The cracks and scorch marks in the room disappeared, and the tables and chairs were fully furnished.

It looked like a civilian house that had never been damaged at all!
"How is this going?!"

Poro's pupils shrank, and through telepathy, he knew that Lake was as horrified as he was at this moment.

This time, the change completely bypassed Poro's perception, as if it came suddenly -

Without further communication, Lake and Poro rushed out of the house, wary of the suddenly appearing Shadi people. Outside, the city that was previously in ruins disappeared.

In its place, there is an intact city.

A complete Shadi Kingdom.

"why is that?"

Poro's eyes widened. This time, his special soul did not give any warning. All his senses told him that this was not an illusion or a dream.

But a...real world? !
(End of this chapter)