Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

“Oh, yes, sir.”

Lake paused for a moment, then hurriedly replied obediently.

Since Lake wasn't wearing a hood, the old soldier looked at Lake's face, his expression softening slightly, then fixed his gaze intently on Poro, but with a hint of doubt in his eyes:

“Haven't you two… stayed at my tavern before?”

The man thought for a moment, then continued.

“...Tavern?”

Lake and Poro thought for a moment. They had only stayed at a tavern once in the capital of the Sino Kingdom, and the tavern owner that time seemed to be… this man who looked like a retired veteran?

Moreover, that time, they seemed to have paid for a few days' accommodation, only to leave without saying goodbye in the middle of the night.

“We might have stayed there, but we had to leave due to an urgent matter.”

“Oh, I see. It doesn't matter. My tavern was shut down by the guards shortly after that.”

The old soldier nodded.

“Ah?”

Lake's eyes widened. She could roughly guess why the owner's shop was shut down.

However, she also knew that the problem stemmed from that unscrupulous Duke and the abusers around him.

But even so, Lake felt somewhat apologetic for the innocent being implicated.

“I'm sorry to hear that…”

Lake said softly.

“What are you sorry for? A child like you wouldn't be a wanted criminal, and all the taverns and accommodations in our area have been shut down anyway.”

The old soldier waved his hand, still staring intently at Poro, making Poro feel a little uneasy. “Is this dog… yours?”

“He's called Poro, and he's my closest family.”

Lake nodded.

“I see…”

The old soldier listened, stroking the stubble on his chin. A hint of hesitation flashed in his eyes, then he flashed a smile at Lake. “You must be from out of town, right? With such a disaster in Sino's capital, I doubt any taverns are still open.

If you don't have a place to stay, why don't you come and stay at my house for a while?”

“Really? I'll pay!”

Lake's eyes lit up. Even if this man had ulterior motives, with her and Poro's current strength, as long as they weren't facing Witch Hunters, the Queen, or Prince Boren-level opponents…

They probably wouldn't encounter any danger.

Moreover, this man had indeed run a tavern in the Sino Kingdom before.

“Of course, no one would have the heart to let a child like you get rained on outside alone.”

As the old soldier spoke, he led Lake and Poro towards one side of Sino's capital.

Fine raindrops scattered on the ground.

To prevent others from becoming suspicious during close contact, Lake stopped using the cloak's waterproof function, using a waterproof cloth she had brought before the trip to shield her head, resisting the rain falling from the sky.

Poro, on the other hand, walked on the ground to one side. As a wolf, getting rained on wasn't a big deal.

One building after another moved backward in the rain.

Some Sino residents were also walking in the rain, looking a little lost.

But at this moment, a strangely postured man walked over.

He hung his head low, unable to see his face clearly, and as he approached the others, his posture and movements became increasingly strange!

Although he was walking, he inexplicably carried an exaggerated movement!

It was like… he was performing some kind of incomprehensible performance art?

Seeing this scene, Lake and Poro both became more vigilant. If this guy wasn't sick or mentally unstable… then there was probably something wrong!

The man walked straight towards Poro and the others.

Even though there were people in front of him, he didn't dodge or avoid them.

Even when Poro and the others changed direction, the strange man also changed direction, walking towards them!

At this point, the others also knew—that guy definitely had a problem!

Sure enough, just as the two sides were about to collide head-on—

The strange man finally raised his head!

A flash of purplish-red light flashed in his eyes, and he actually bent over, almost to the point of touching the ground, with the inertia of walking, giving an exaggerated but smooth bow!

And the direction of this bow wasn't towards Lake or the old soldier, but towards Poro walking on the ground!

“New Prince, I've finally—found you!”

In an instant, a purplish light also lit up in Poro's eyes, and this faint purple light, at this time, actually revealed a trace of red light!

At this moment, Poro looked horrified. He finally sensed the abnormality in the strange man's body!

It was the same source of power as those dwarves!

Why!?

Besides the dwarves… there were others!?

The strange man didn't stop moving. He moved his gaze to Lake next to Poro, revealing a twisted, mad smile:

“This… is the dance partner you chose? But it seems she hasn't received the 'Mad Dancer's' blessing yet.

Has Your Highness not learned it yet? It doesn't matter, this time I, your old servant, will complete it for you—”

As he said that, he raised his hand, and a piece of faint purple light rippled on the palm of his hand!

“Careful! He's the same as those dwarves!”

Poro's pupils shrank. He couldn't care less about the tavern owner next to him and spoke directly.

At the same time, his front paw stomped hard on the ground—

In an instant, countless vines grew rapidly from the gaps in the ground bricks!

The blue and red vines instantly grabbed the strange man's legs, preventing him from moving forward!

But even so, the sound of bones dislocating came from the strange man's body, and his figure grew taller out of thin air. The hand emitting purple light still grabbed towards Lake in front of him—

Lake was already battle-hardened. She had already prepared herself when the strange man approached.

When Poro spoke, Lake took a step back and drew her sword to slash!

Prince Boren's demon-breaking longsword cut through a black light. The next moment, two severed hands with faint purple light fell into the mud!

And not only that, the longsword in Lake's hand stabbed again rapidly.

The strange man had been previously confused by Lake's [Ring Return: Little Red Riding Hood · Cute Girl] and was not wary of Lake. He instantly suffered irreparable heavy damage!

Blood flowers burst out in many places on his body!

The purple light in his eyes lit up, and the wounded part didn't seem to cause him any greater impact. The vines wrapped around his legs broke quickly. He screamed and wanted to turn around and escape—

But at this moment, a handgun pressed against his brow!

“Bang!”

In an instant, half of the strange man's head was blown apart!

His body convulsed and fell to the ground, and the purple light within instantly lit up from under his skin in an out-of-control manner!

But even so, he didn't die immediately. The remaining one eye still flashed with a gradually dissipating purple glow, and the lower half of the mouth under the shattered skull was still looking at Poro, opening and closing:

“No one who has received the Mad Dancer's gift can escape… New, Twelfth Prince!

You killed me, but your royal brother is coming—you can't escape!”

“Bang!”

With another gunshot, the remaining half of the strange man's head was also shattered.

The headless corpse finally twitched and died.

“This… Mr. Poro, right?”

The old soldier blew away the smoke from the muzzle of the handgun, put it back in his waist, and looked down at Poro, his eyes also flashing with a dark red light. “Perhaps, we should have an open conversation…”

“Yes, alright.”

Poro also nodded. The faint purple energy in his body was like a termite.

Although it couldn't control Poro's body in the slightest, Poro couldn't get rid of it either.

The guy who looked like an old soldier in front of him seemed to know something and didn't look like a monster.

More importantly… a day ago, Poro suddenly felt some changes in the energy within his body.

On the surface, it was that it started to change from purple to bright red.

According to the source of this energy…

Poro could confirm—it was definitely not a good thing!

“May I ask, sir…”

Poro opened his mouth, just about to say something.

But at this moment, the purplish-red light in his eyes suddenly flashed again, and he and the old soldier looked towards a certain direction in Sino's capital at the same time—

All of them looked horrified!

Poro felt a strangely huge energy fluctuation appearing in that direction!

The kind that only the same source of power could sense, undisguised, more like… announcing its arrival!

What shocked Poro the most was—

In the depths of that chaotic and restless aura, he sensed… the almost identical dangerous aura as the monster in the dwarf's bedroom and in the pillar!