Fairy tale: Little Red Riding Hood's wolf mentor

The silence in the hall lasted only a few seconds.

Then came an explosion of utter chaos!

"Ah—"

"Duke—"

"Someone! Get someone!"

Instantly, immense pandemonium swept through the entire hall!

No one had anticipated this sudden change. The guards who had drawn their swords had no time to deal with Lek Poros and the others. They stared fixedly at the Duke, who was clearly dead!

Most of his close aides were utterly lost. Their faces were pale, unsure of what to do!

After all, they had never dealt with a duke suddenly dying during an ordinary meeting!

The Crimson Witch, sitting next to the Duke, trembled as she raised her hand, wiped a bit of blood and flesh from her face, and examined it.

Why?

How could he suddenly die?

Why did it have to be… today?!

The probability of the chandelier above malfunctioning was extremely low.

The probability of it falling when someone was present was even lower.

And the probability of it hitting the Duke on the head was almost nonexistent!

This is… some kind of magic?!

But quickly, the Crimson Witch adjusted her mindset, and her expression gradually turned cold.

Her wrinkled, skeletal hand tightened slightly.

The Duke is dead… that's a minor matter!

An ordinary person, no matter how high their status—is just an ant!

That's right, the Crimson Witch, although she served as the Duke's magical advisor, looked down on the Duke.

Wealth… power… what use were these to a witch?

At least to the Crimson Witch, they meant nothing.

She was the magical advisor—for other, deeper reasons!

"The Duke is dead, not fully controlled… tsk, the Queen might blame me…"

The Crimson Witch thought through gritted teeth, "But this death was an accident, and it counts as fulfilling part of the Queen's request—I must get the chance to ask that question!"

But as things stood, a sinister look appeared in the Crimson Witch's eyes—

That red magic cloak!

She had originally intended to use the Duke to obtain that magical artifact.

Even for a witch like her, magical items were extremely rare. Every witch specialized in different magic.

The Duke was dead, but this magical item—must not be given up!

"Someone! Seize that…"

She stood up and loudly commanded the Duke's guards.

But when she wanted to say 'seize Lek and the others,' she awkwardly discovered that the table opposite her was already empty.

Poro and the others, at the moment the chandelier fell, had already left during the chaos, as they had planned!

The Crimson Witch's old face twitched, and she said through gritted teeth to the Duke's close aides:

"How could the chandelier suddenly fall?! Someone must be plotting in the dark!

The Duke had seen through the identity of that evil witch in the red cloak and wanted to test her. Clearly, the witch was exposed and became enraged—using magic to kill the Duke!"

The close aides next to her also reacted.

How could a perfectly good chandelier suddenly fall? And hit the Duke?!

"That's right…"

"That makes sense!"

"Those guys ran away, they must be fleeing out of guilt!"

"Send cavalry to catch them and hang them!"

"…"

…

The sound of knights' hooves heavily pounded the streets.

The ground trembled, and countless armored knights rushed into the tavern, searching for Poro and the others with several portraits.

The tavern owner was a man who looked weathered, and next to him on a chair sat the dazed landlady.

The owner carefully examined the search warrant and shook his head.

But the knights still headed towards the tavern's second-floor guest rooms.

"Creak—creak—"

The old floorboards made a teeth-grinding sound, getting closer and closer.

"Bang bang bang—"

Violent knocking sounded, and heavy footsteps repeatedly trampled on the tavern's wooden floor.

"Open the door!"

Lek opened the door.

The red cloak had already switched to invisible mode.

The fully armed soldier outside the door looked down at the cute girl and was stunned for a moment.

"Uncle, is something the matter?"

Lek asked in a crisp voice.

"Ah, no—nothing—"

Seeing Lek, the soldier inexplicably thought of his own innocent and lovely daughter.

Such a child couldn't possibly be a bad person, right?

But just in case, he took out several wanted posters.

The first one depicted the appearance of the second-in-command of the bandits, with the following background description:

[Former Duke's Mansion knight, later turned into a robber, burning, killing, looting, plotting to assassinate the Duke, extremely vicious…]

The second one depicted Lek wearing a hood, but nothing was drawn inside the hood:

[Suspected female, evil wizard, wearing a scarlet cloak, slaughtered villages before becoming a bandit, extremely vicious…]

The third one depicted Hans' appearance, his messy hair covering half of his face:

[Robber, extremely vicious…]

"Little girl, have you seen these people?"

"No, uncle!"

Lek looked carefully and then shook her head, "There's only my brother in the room!"

The soldier didn't suspect anything else, nodded, and left.

Lek closed the door and looked into the room.

Hans was forced to shave his hair and change into a new set of clothes, becoming much more energetic, at least… even if the Duke from that day were to appear in person, he might not be able to recognize him.

Poro transformed into his original form, lying on the bed to the side, looking at a map he had bought.

"This isn't right…"

Poro frowned, his ears perked up slightly. His canine hearing allowed him to hear the sounds outside the tavern.

The capital of the Sino Kingdom was very large, and even the Duke's Mansion's forces would have difficulty searching the entire city.

When they escaped from the Duke's Mansion, they immediately changed clothes.

But for some reason, the Duke's Mansion's soldiers were heavily concentrated in the nearby area where they were located, and even some civilian houses outside were being checked by the soldiers.

"They may have a means of pinpointing our approximate location."

Poro made a judgment, "We can't stay here for long, we'll leave tonight!"

"How did they pinpoint us?"

Lek was also a little puzzled.

"If there's nothing wrong with our evacuation…"

Poro moved his gaze to Lek's cloak and slowly said, "Perhaps it's some kind of magic?"

He thought of the Duke, who had wanted Lek's cloak earlier. It wasn't necessarily the Duke who could tell it was a magical item, but it showed that—there was someone in the Duke's Mansion who understood magic!

That night, Poro, Lek, and Hans quietly climbed out of the window.

There were also soldiers patrolling the streets at night, but the night would still greatly obscure their vision.

"He's walking away—go!"

At every street corner, Poro would hold his breath and listen, waiting for the soldier's footsteps to fade away before walking out.

But just as the three of them had walked several blocks away.

In a room in the previous tavern, the gray-haired old woman suddenly opened her eyes!

"As expected, you couldn't sit still. Finally, I've caught you rats!"

An armored knight walked in and saluted.

"Flying Wing Street in the East District—hurry up and catch them?"

Instantly, a team of cavalry surged out of the surrounding streets, holding torches and chasing in the direction of Poro, Lek, and the others!

Urgent hooves, tearing the night's tranquility!

Swords and spears drawn, their sharp edges fully exposed!

Poro was the first to hear the slight vibrations coming from the ground. He turned his head and looked back, his dark green pupils revealing a dignified look:

"We… may have to change our route."

"Are the cavalry coming?"

Lek unfolded the map in her hand, took another look at the route markings on it, and recalled the plan Poro had made during the day.

"Yeah, we can't outrun cavalry."

Poro looked at the dark houses around him, "But they aren't omnipotent either!"