Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

Arrows rained down from the flagship of the Skyfaring Fleet, along with fire oil and explosive bombs, detonating in mid-air.

Goth soldiers flew upwards into the deadly rain, some struck by shells and blasted apart in the sky.

But more pressed on, cutting into the flagship to engage the swarming soldiers within.

"What? They've boarded us?!"

King Wither, upon hearing this, raised his sword and roared, "Useless! All of you are useless! The first time, the very first time, and they've already broken through! They want to die? Then kill them!"

The messenger, drenched in sweat, hurried away, while King Wither eyed the two guards stationed at his door.

"You two, guard my door well. Don't let any Goths inside, understand?"

The two soldiers nodded in agreement, gripping their swords and closing the door.

Both guards were champion warriors selected from the Wither Kingdom's arena. Thus, King Wither wasn't worried about anyone breaking through; under the airship's assault, not many soldiers could have made it this far.

And even if they did, they couldn't possibly defeat his two guards.

Just as he was thinking this, the sharp clang of swords echoed from outside, followed by the muffled thud of a body hitting the ground.

"Hmph, ground-dwelling ants. Even if you come, don't even think about entering my room."

It must have been some foolish Wither soldier, instantly killed by his guards.

Such a brief sound—it must be a testament to the difference in strength!

King Wither mused.

But the next moment, his door was flung open.

"What are you doing here? Didn't I tell you to guard—"

King Wither's words caught in his throat as he was horrified to see that it wasn't his two guards who had entered, but a girl in a red cloak, wielding a silver-white longsword.

His two guards, meanwhile, lay collapsed on the ground.

"Who are you?!"

King Wither demanded in a deep voice.

"Why do you do this?"

But Lyca did not answer, instead slowly advancing while posing a question, "You are already the ruler of a nation. Why not work to improve the lives of your people, instead of initiating wars and killing even more?"

"Why do I do this?"

King Wither sneered. "Because I am a conqueror. I desire to rule, and they must submit!"

As he spoke, King Wither arrogantly raised his head, drew the sword from his waist, and pointed it at Lyca:

"I am undefeated in battle, invincible. I am the radiance of the sun and moon. The Goth Kingdom and its ilk are but fireflies before me. Why follow him?

You are strong. I forgive your intrusion. Come to me, and your strength will be enough to conquer more lands. I will allow you to lead Wither's armies, granting you the glory of conquest—"

"I refuse."

Lyca shook her head without hesitation. "Compared to the King of the Goth Kingdom, you are unworthy to be a king. Your conquests bring only suffering to humanity—"

"Impudence!"

Upon hearing this, King Wither slammed his hand on the table and rose to his feet. "My conquests have made the kings of kingdom after kingdom kneel before me like dogs.

Do you know who you are facing?

I am the King of Conquest, the King of Kings—do you really think that you, an assassin, can kill me?!"

In the next moment, he flicked his hand, and hidden throwing knives shot out from his sleeve towards Lyca, while his other hand swung his sword forward!

The throwing knives flashed through the air, but the next moment, they struck empty space.

King Wither swung his longsword, but the next moment, his hand holding the sword fell to the ground, severed. The cold, gleaming blade pressed against his throat.

"Give the order. Tell your soldiers to stop and surrender."

Lyca said sternly.

"Impossible! My conquest will never stop! The soldiers of my Wither Kingdom, like me—are all conquerors. Even if you kill me, you cannot stop our conquest!"

King Wither roared, completely unconcerned.

"Do you want your people to die needlessly? To die in the infighting of humanity, started by you?!"

"It is their honor!"

Hearing this, Lyca was silent for a moment. She understood that she could not make this madman change his mind.

"Very well, I understand."

Lyca said softly, and with a stroke of Star Killer, a drop of blood fell.

King Wither's heavy body thudded to the ground, his mad eyes still wide, but unable to move even a fraction.

On the ground, the meat-grinder battle continued, the golden Goth army almost completely surrounded by the black-clad soldiers of the Wither Kingdom.

Like a candle in the dark.

The Wither Kingdom soldiers charged and fought under coercion and command, until... a voice rang out from the Goth army:

"All soldiers of the Wither Kingdom, your king is dead, and your resistance is meaningless—surrender!"

At first, the Wither soldiers were still doubtful, until they looked up and saw the Wither Kingdom's flag, which had originally fluttered on the giant Skyfaring flagship, lowered and replaced with the flag of the Goth Kingdom.

"Clang—"

The weapons in their hands fell to the ground one after another, and the fighting stopped.

Contrary to what King Wither had thought, most of the soldiers did not want to be executioners who slaughtered their own kind. Their goal was not killing.

Humans were not born for killing.

…

Deep within the Skyfaring flagship, inside a room.

An officer who had surrendered led Lyca, Poro, and the Happy Prince inside.

The room's layout was bizarre, almost dizzying. The tables, bookshelves, and even the murals painted on the walls all had a twisted quality that defied normal aesthetics.

Like a grotesque form of abstract art.

"This is Grand Scholar Gio, the actual designer of the Skyfaring Fleet and all its floating airships."

Following the officer's pointing finger, Lyca and the others saw that in the deepest part of the room, a similarly bizarre man sat at a crooked desk.

He wore a long robe with a star and moon pattern, and with his head tilted and eyes askew, he was sketching and calculating something on the desk.

He was extremely focused. Even though Lyca and the others did not hide their footsteps or conversation and had already reached behind him, he seemed completely unaware.

"Scholar Gio, the Wither Kingdom has been defeated. The King of Goth has come to see you."

The officer walked to Grand Scholar Gio's side and said loudly.

But the grand scholar still seemed deaf, concentrating intently on sketching complex formulas and abstract runes on the paper.

"I apologize, Your Majesty. The grand scholar's hearing is somewhat impaired. I need to use a special method to bring him back from his thoughts…"

The officer said to the Happy Prince with some embarrassment.

"How long will he think? I can wait for him to finish thinking before asking."

The Happy Prince looked at the strange grand scholar. He could feel that the grand scholar had indeed not reacted to the officer's words.

"Uh... the grand scholar will keep thinking like this as long as he is awake..."

"Hmm?"

The Happy Prince was stunned for a moment and had to say to the officer, "Then use the special method you mentioned to bring him back to his senses."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Having received the Happy Prince's confirmation, the officer no longer hesitated.

He raised his hand and gave the grand scholar a resounding slap!

By the time the Happy Prince realized what the "special method" referred to, the grand scholar had already snapped out of his calculations and looked over with a blank expression:

"Oh, oh, I'm sorry, I was too engrossed in my thoughts. And this is..."

He paused, and like most people, his gaze was drawn to the golden, statue-like Happy Prince, and he became somewhat confused. "A moving statue?"

"King Wither is dead. I am the King of the Goth Kingdom, and I will also be the new owner of the 'Skyfaring Fleet'."

The Happy Prince replied. While the grand scholar was examining him, he was also observing the strange man in front of him.

"I heard that you are the designer of the Skyfaring Airships and that you can find the location of the Gates of Paradise through calculations—can you tell me how you did it? Where did you get this knowledge from?"

At this time, Poro, disguised as a soldier, also shifted his gaze away from the scholar's calculations.

"Why are so many of the theories and processes in your calculations... wrong?"

Poro also raised a question.

As a wolf possessing the [Spiral Beacon: Sage] and [Spiral Beacon: Witch], Poro had reached an extremely high level of understanding in calculations and the mathematics and geometry required for some magic.

In other words, he could understand many of the formulas in the scholar's manuscript.

But these formulas... had many strange aspects.

Like the geometry that violated aesthetics, the logic in these formulas seemed very unpopular and obscure, and many of the demonstration processes were unclear.

Even many theories were completely wrong!

At first glance, Poro almost thought it was a con man's nonsense—

But upon closer inspection, he found that these formulas were pieced together with some strange logic and framework, which seemed very rigorous—except that it conformed to the laws of another world.

"You say my calculations are all wrong?"

Upon hearing this, the scholar's eyes widened in anger, but then turned into a kind of inexplicable arrogance, and he glanced at Poro with a contemptuous expression. "This is why I am a scholar, and you are just mere mortals."

As he spoke, his gaze was once again drawn to the golden Happy Prince, and he shuddered, his expression stiffening, and he said:

"Uh, this... Your Majesty, I didn't mean you."

The Happy Prince was not angry, but asked again:

"Can you tell me where your knowledge comes from? Especially the part about 'Paradise'."

"You people on the ground probably haven't heard of it—I come from the Flying Island Nation."

Scholar Gio once again revealed an arrogant expression and said bluntly, "Our country is thousands of times larger than this airship. We use wisdom to make us fly in the sky.

Every one of our country's citizens is a born musician or mathematician—and I am the most outstanding of the mathematicians!"

As he spoke, Scholar Gio pointed to the strange geometric arrangements inside the room and shook his head. "Our kingdom is filled with such aesthetics that you mediocre people can never understand, but unfortunately, I can't go back."

"Why can't you go back?" Lyca asked curiously.

"Because our Flying Island Nation's greatest academic breakthrough occurred when—I was on the ground."

Scholar Gio said, and his eyes revealed undisguised annoyance and regret. "Our Flying Island Nation's academics have always been belittled and slandered by stupid outsiders, just like you, saying that our research is wrong, absurd, and meaningless!

But that day, the world proved our correctness—truth is only in the hands of us few."

The scholar looked at an abstract painting on the wall, and his eyes revealed a hint of fanaticism. "We found the meaning of our academics!

Our music and mathematics allowed us to calculate a new coordinate—that world is in the upper layer of our current world!

We are absolutely certain—

That is the legendary Paradise, a realm that those mediocre people can never reach!"

As he spoke, the scholar's tone became dim again. "But at that time, I was not in the Flying Island Nation. I could only watch helplessly as my homeland flew to the realm of academic heavenly light!"

Hearing these words, Lyca, Poro, and the Happy Prince were somewhat silent.

After all, they were among the few who knew the truth about Paradise. In such a situation, it was difficult to say whether those Flying Island Nation people who had reached Paradise were lucky or unlucky.

But even so, these Flying Island Nation people were indeed geniuses.

After all, even the Happy Prince and Cyparre, who came from Paradise, could not clearly explain the current state of Paradise.

Not to mention returning to Paradise.

"Why are you not talking?"

Sensing the silence of the others, the grand scholar raised his eyebrows. "Are you feeling sorry for me, right? After all, an excellent scholar like me—should have been the first to rush into Paradise."

Lyca and the others were stunned for a moment and did not expose the misunderstanding.

And the grand scholar's expression gradually calmed down:

"But it doesn't matter. Just by myself, I can calculate the location of the Gate of Paradise—

By that time, our fleet will be able to pass through the sky and reach Paradise."

Speaking of this, the grand scholar suddenly realized something and looked at the Happy Prince. "Uh, Your Majesty, you should also yearn for Paradise, right? No king doesn't want to go to that place.

You know, becoming an angel, or having power, immortality, and so on."

"Yearn... for Paradise?"

The Happy Prince's face showed a somewhat strange expression, but after a little thought, he nodded. "Yes, one day, I will return to Paradise."

As he spoke, he patted the grand scholar's shoulder. "So, calculate well, not only the location, but you also have to calculate more, more information about Paradise!"

Hearing the Happy Prince's words, the grand scholar revealed a "as expected" expression and did not notice the strangeness in the Happy Prince's words.

"Of course, Your Majesty—I am also looking forward to stepping into the Gate of Paradise!"