Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

Dusk. The black tower appeared once more before Lake and Polo.

Not far off, the two guarding Shadi soldiers were still observing their surroundings from the constructed sentry post, the patterns on their breastplates glinting subtly in the twilight.

But if Lake and Polo were to deliberately sneak, the soldiers wouldn't be able to detect their presence at all.

"So, how do we get back to that… Shadow Capital?"

Lake stroked the outer wall of the windowless, doorless tower, but what she felt were still the hard stone bricks. "Do we just wait for dusk?"

The setting sun sank into the ground inch by inch, darkness spreading overwhelmingly.

The light of day also seemed somewhat obscure.

But Lake and Polo blinked, and the ruined capital in the distance still hadn't reverted to its complete form.

"What did we do last time to get to that city?"

"Last time?"

Lake thought for a moment. "We lit a fire in a house?"

A fire…

Polo pondered, then looked towards the two Shadi guards below the tower.

What were the effects of the magic array patterns on the two Shadi guards' breastplates?

Polo observed carefully, and discovered that the shadows beneath the Shadi guards' feet had become more blurred than during the day, presenting a vaguely scattered outline.

Shadows?

Thinking this, Lake and Polo quietly retreated, found a narrow room not far from the tower, and lit a bonfire.

In the room with no other light source, the shadows were stretched very long, with a clear boundary between light and dark.

It was like… a door formed by shadows.

"Indeed, there's something different."

Polo stared at the boundary between light and dark, his magical perception telling him that something in this world was changing.

But it was still not quite enough.

Polo recalled the shadow magic Princess Marlene had used at the end in the Shadow Capital, that feeling of being submerged by shadows like a tide…

Right, use magic to imitate that feeling!

It wasn't too difficult. When the boundaries between the two worlds were overlapping and blurred, even doing nothing could cause one to fall into the Shadow Capital. All Polo had to do was increase that probability.

"Lake, close your eyes first."

Polo prompted Lake. The next moment, a magical glint flashed in his eyes as he gently blew towards the flickering bonfire—

"Fu!"

The next moment, the shadows leaped violently under the drive of the flames.

When they opened their eyes again, the dilapidated room of the present world had been replaced by the intact room of the Shadow Capital.

Sure enough, they were back!

Lake and Polo exchanged a look. Like last time, the speed of entering the Shadow Capital was much faster than returning to the present world. Perhaps it was due to the capital itself?

They left the room and walked straight through the palace, heading towards the black tower in the deepest part once more.

"Hmm? I've seen you before, miss. Didn't you just come a few days ago?"

A guard of the Shadow Shadi Kingdom looked at Lake, his eyes widening.

"Yes, I shouldn't be disturbing you rashly, but this matter is of great importance, and I have to ask for Princess's help. Please help me convey this to Her Highness."

"Oh, it's rare for someone to come to the Shadow Capital seeking an audience…"

The guard muttered to himself, then smiled. "However, we all know about the fall of the Wither Kingdom, thank you.

Wait a moment, I will report to Her Highness immediately. She will be very happy to see you again."

Inside the tower of the Shadow Capital, Princess Marlene sat on the throne.

She blinked, revealing a hint of surprise:

"You mean, now, the ruler of the Shadi Kingdom is my fiancé? And… he's delaying you and hasn't agreed to an alliance?"

"So, could you…"

Lake said earnestly, "Help us?"

Afterwards, Lake told Princess Marlene about the ministers and Prince Peter in the New Shadi Capital.

Princess Marlene listened and fell into silence. She turned her head, and inside the room, although there was a window, there was nothing outside, or rather, there was no scenery outside, only a flowing shadow.

After a long while, she looked at Lake again and said in a low voice:

"As the only living person of the Shadi now, perhaps I should go out and lead a wandering kingdom, but…"

Her lips trembled slightly. "I don't know what I should do. After all, I really don't understand politics. I always listen to many people, which makes me not know what they want—

When I was young, my father didn't teach me those things. I was like an ordinary girl, yearning for love. A prince from a foreign country was… that one, Prince Peter.

He was very handsome and knew how to talk."

Listening to Princess Marlene's words, Lake recalled slightly that Prince Peter, although with a kind of inexplicable arrogance, as a prince in this world, their appearance would mostly not fall into mediocrity.

"But later, my father sent me to this windowless and doorless tower, and let me master these powers—this is the secret of our family.

However, my father, and grandfather… many generations have not mastered this power, until me, I have this talent."

As Princess Marlene spoke, she stretched out her slender, white fingers and moved them in the air.

The shadows beneath her feet swirled up like swimming snakes, and they followed the movements of Princess Marlene's fingertips, forming a blurry, rippling shadow.

"In the dark tower, I spent several years, and finally arrived here, this world located beneath the present world.

These blurry shadows, in my opinion, are clearer than this world."

Princess Marlene released her hand, letting the raised shadows return to the ground.

She took a deep breath, looked at Lake, and slowly said:

"In the shadows, my ancestors taught me many things. I don't know if I really have the potential to become a king, and I don't know if I'm really ready to change things."

She stretched out a hand to Lake, her fair white hand contrasting with the shadows, with a somewhat unreal beauty.

"Who am I? A girl who knows nothing? A forgotten princess?

I have been closed in the shadows for a long time. In these seven years, my understanding of the outside world has been limited to those who strayed here from the outside…

You came here, wanting me to make a decision and help."

Princess Marlene looked at Lake and said seriously:

"I will not make any rash decisions, so, can you let me see your shadow? It is always with you, has seen many things… some more real things."

"Shadow?"

Lake was stunned for a moment.

"This is like a kind of magic, it has no harm."

Princess Marlene explained, "I just look—that's all."

Lake thought for a moment. She could feel that this "Princess" had no malice. She didn't even have the arrogance of a normal princess, just like an ordinary girl.

"Okay, I believe you too."

Lake thought for a moment, then reached out and grasped Princess Marlene's palm. It was very cold, like holding a piece of ice sculpture, with a smooth and delicate touch.

"Thank you."

Princess Marlene said in a low voice. The next moment, a part of the shadow beneath Lake's feet detached from the ground and floated up. Immediately afterwards, Princess Marlene's entire body began to be covered in shadow—

Or rather, her body, clothes, and flesh, all began to transform into a shadow-like substance from this moment on.

The surrounding bedroom also began to twist and dissipate. All directions became complete darkness.

Without the slightest bit of light.

And in such a space, Lake and Polo found that, with Princess Marlene's help, they could see some things clearly.

Also shadows, that wisp of shadow from Lake.

The shadows began to spread. Lake saw in those shadows, her own and many others' shadows, above Goethe Capital, on that flying flagship.

King Wither was speaking, his voice sounding somewhat dull, but it was still possible to hear the meaning in his words clearly.

After that, Lake raised the Star Killing Sword and stabbed it into King Wither's neck.

Then, the shadows dissipated.

Lake looked at Princess Marlene in the center of the room watching the shadow of King Wither dissipate. She fell into silence, the shadows that made up her body even trembling slightly.

She waved her hand again, and some shadows flowed along her hand, forming other pictures.

On it, the shadow of the airship swept over the blurry city, and then, the city began to collapse and be destroyed…

"Thank you."

Princess Marlene's voice sounded somewhat weak. She said in a low voice, raised her hand, dispelled the shadows, and another scene quickly changed before her eyes, it was the capital city of the New Shadi Kingdom.

In the palace, Prince Peter sat on the high throne, saying something loudly.

Princess Marlene zoomed in on Prince Peter's shadow, reaching out her finger, as if to see the details of Prince Peter from that simple shadow.

But in the end, she withdrew her hand.

All the shadows disappeared. It was still that room, Princess Marlene's bedroom.

"Thank you, I have… seen everything, from the shadows of the present world."

Princess Marlene nodded, her eyes with a trace of thought, as if recalling some distant things.

"I don't know if Prince Peter still remembers me, but…"

Princess Marlene's eyes fixed, "I will help you. I think your Goethe Kingdom is right, to use power to protect more people and stop every ambitious aggressor.

It's just that, if I want to leave here, with my power, I still can't do it."

"Do you need us to help you?"

Lake asked with wide eyes, "Do you need magic or something?"

"My power comes first from my ancestors. I need his help to return to reality from the shadows."

"Your… ancestor? He's still alive?"

"Yes, he is not a human, or rather, I don't know how long he has lived in the shadow world, but he told me that he was also once the King of the Shadi Kingdom."

As Princess Marlene spoke, the surrounding environment began to collapse, and the scenes of those bedrooms began to disappear—

No, not only that, Lake saw the outlines of other things behind the disappearing shadows, like the true appearance of the interior of the black tower, the same as that Shadi Capital outside.

Curved walls, stacked with bricks one by one.

Without a single gap to let outside light in, narrow, restrained—only a bed, nothing else, nothing that could be used to light the darkness.

Like a prison, an eternal prison.

"Here…"

"If calculated according to real-world time, I have been here for seven years."

Princess Marlene said, looking up at the top, "This ritual is very simple, it just locks me in this tower without doors or windows, shadows, only shadows.

It is a kind of torture. I can't see anything. Even the only vent is at the top of the tower hundreds of meters away, specially designed so that not a single bit of light can shine in."

Listening to Princess Marlene's words, without more detailed descriptions, Lake could still feel the extreme coldness.

Alone, in the darkness?

Cold, deathly silence.

"However, after that, suddenly one day, I could see again, saw the world behind the shadows, from ancient times to the present, the oldest Shadi Kingdom, the city hidden in the shadows."

"The oldest city, is it Shadi Capital?"

"No, Shadi Capital was born because of me, but at that time, what I saw was in a deeper level of the world, a legend that every Shadi person would hear in childhood—

The story in the depths of the dream."

After that, in the shadow tide that felt like drowning, Lake and Polo saw that the shadows appeared again—a world that ordinary people could not see at all.

Even they only saw blurry shadows.

"You can see those things through my eyes."

Princess Marlene said. After that, Lake and Polo felt a shadow entangling their bodies. At the same time, they also saw more things—

The details in those shadows began to appear, and some colors also appeared.

But Polo knew that perhaps the shadow itself was the essence of this city, even purer than the previous Shadow Shadi Capital.

It was also a city, and the structure and style of the city were extremely ancient.

On the streets of the city, there were many figures walking back and forth. They only had shadows, but they also had many human characteristics. Their clothes were also in the style of the Shadi people.

"In the stories of the Shadi, there was once a king who governed the Shadi Kingdom from a small country to a strong country in the world. He seemed to know everyone's secrets, whether it was the enemy country or the lords of his own country—

But in his later years, he took the then royal city and disappeared. No one knew where that city went.

And now, you can also see it with your own eyes."

As Princess Marlene spoke, without taking a step, the city condensed by shadows moved quickly, as if here and the present world had two completely opposite laws.

"Here is the real Shadow Capital."

No, not only that…

The moment Polo entered the city, he felt an invisible pressure, as if being watched by a pair of eyes. This unseen gaze came from the depths of shadows all around.

The city's master discovered them the instant they entered.

It wasn't that they were moving towards the city center; instead, the shadows from all directions locked onto Reyk and the others' positions, and then—

With speed equaling light, Reyk and Polo barely had time to react before they found themselves inside an ancient palace.

At that moment, Polo also saw the owner of the gaze.

He sat on the highest seat in the palace, appearing as a young man, dressed in a magnificent king's robe and cloak, with a golden crown on his head—

But most importantly, this "Shadow King" was completely different from the humanoid shadow they had seen before.

Without needing Princess Marlene's eyes, one could see his body.

It was a reality more solid than shadow…

Like a completely real human shell.

And at the Shadow King's feet, he also possessed a complete shadow.