Chapter 12
Chapter 12: 【……A New Story Begins!】
Seeing the crowd's cold indifference, the middle-aged man grew increasingly frantic and agitated.
He swept his gaze across the crowd once more, then stepped forward and seized a tall, powerfully built young man—as though grabbing onto a final lifeline.
"Gaston, I know you've always had feelings for my daughter—and you're the bravest, most valiant man in our town……"
"I'm begging you, please go and save her now!"
The tall young man named Gaston's face shifted with alarm, and he quickly shook the middle-aged man off.
But he soon realized that reacting this way made him look rather cowardly—and didn't quite align with the image of bold heroism he cultivated in his daily life.
Gaston's eyes shifted, and he quickly turned to address the crowd in a loud voice:
"Though everyone who has entered that forest has disappeared, there absolutely cannot be any monster in there—otherwise our town would never have been this peaceful and safe!"
"Maurice must have discovered that his daughter wandered into the forest and went missing. Overcome with grief and unable to accept this reality, he's talking nonsense about monsters……"
The townspeople present reacted with varying thoughts, then quickly came around to Gaston's reasoning.
After all, compared to risking their lives to rescue Maurice's daughter, the conclusion of "daughter gone missing, causing Maurice to lose his mind and rave about monsters" was far easier for them to accept!
That way, they wouldn't have to feel any guilt or remorse in their hearts for failing to go and help……
……
Thanks to Gaston's line of reasoning, some people were already planning to first have the "deranged" Maurice locked up.
Maurice struggled frantically, his voice crying out over and over:
"Please, I beg you……I'm willing to offer 50 gold coins, plus all the patent earnings from every invention I've ever made as payment—I only ask that you save my daughter!"
50 gold coins was tempting—but not tempting enough to make anyone willing to risk their life to save someone.
As for Maurice's patent earnings from his inventions?
Come off it—his inventions had always been ridiculous nonsense. What patent earnings?
The bystanders remained unmoved and simply pinned Maurice down.
Maurice began struggling without restraint for the sake of his daughter, his behavior growing increasingly erratic—he truly looked like a madman!
At the edge of the crowd, Branny watched Maurice "losing his mind" for the sake of his daughter, and couldn't help but think of her own father—her heart swelling with compassion.
Perhaps she could ask Lord Kainan to speak up, so that people wouldn't be too hard on this poor father……
But Li Kainan, after hearing Maurice's account, felt a stirring in his heart and spoke up directly in a clear, carrying voice:
"I can go rescue her!"
The moment those words left his mouth, the townspeople all turned to look—and were astonished to discover that such a great noble had come to their little town……
Well, as for why everyone was so certain Li Kainan was a great noble—
Riding a magnificent tall horse, clad in splendid armor, with a beautiful, innocent young girl wearing an expensive silk cape nestled in his arms……
With that bearing, no one would believe Li Kainan wasn't a noble!
Even without any attendants at his side, not a single person doubted Li Kainan's identity.
Everyone's first instinct was to bow respectfully toward Li Kainan—and they cleared the way.
Li Kainan settled Branny comfortably in the saddle, then dismounted in one swift motion, stepped forward, and helped Maurice to his feet, saying in a steady voice:
"Tell me the specifics of what's inside—I can go rescue her."
Li Kainan naturally wasn't stepping forward out of sympathy and a willingness to risk himself for a stranger—he had no such savior complex.
The real reason he chose to act was because a system prompt had just popped up!
【The story of Beauty and the Beast begins. The hideous beast has imprisoned an important story character "Belle," intending to nurture feelings and find true love in order to break the curse upon himself.
Defeat the Beast Prince and successfully rescue Belle, and you will receive a generous reward—with a strong likelihood of greatly advancing the conquest progress with Belle……】
……
【********* begins. The hideous beast has imprisoned important story character "Belle," intending to ******** curse.
Defeat the Beast ****** and successfully rescue Belle, and you will receive a generous reward—with a strong likelihood of greatly advancing the **** progress……】
Just as expected—the cursed castle had triggered a mission after all!
Since Maurice had managed to escape from in there, Li Kainan could extract specific intelligence about the castle from him and make preparations in advance……
……
Maurice, who had already fallen into despair, now looked up at Li Kainan—clad in magnificent armor, noble and uncommonly valiant in appearance—and hope blazed to life in his eyes in an instant.
He was so overwhelmed with emotion he could barely contain himself, and swore immediately:
"Esteemed lord, as long as you can rescue my daughter, I will give you everything I own……"
Li Kainan wasn't particularly interested in whatever reward Maurice was offering—he was far more intrigued by the daughter named Belle.
A system-designated important story character was a special NPC who could be recruited, just like Branny.
What's more, this Belle had managed to rush into a monster's presence and successfully rescue her father—which showed she had both courage and mettle, making her almost certainly a combat-type recruit.
At this point, Li Kainan was already deliberating how he would put Belle to use once he successfully recruited her……
……
Having agreed to Maurice's request, Li Kainan still wasn't in any rush to go rescue someone—he began making preliminary preparations instead.
First, he gleaned details about the castle's interior from Maurice.
It was from Maurice's account that Li Kainan learned what exactly was lurking within the castle.
It was a grotesque monster with bull's horns on its head, long fangs, and a lion's mane—standing over 2 meters tall.
To anyone else, a monster like this would be terrifying enough.
But Li Kainan had already slain a werewolf standing 7 or 8 meters tall—a bull-horned, fang-bearing monster barely over 2 meters gave him no pause whatsoever.
In any case, with the physical strength Li Kainan now possessed, as long as the monster was still a creature of flesh and blood, he had nothing to fear!
Not to mention that Li Kainan had now obtained the new Trait "Evil-Breaking Force," granting him immunity to curses, poison, and evil powers.
When dealing with these strange creatures, he could naturally give far freer rein to his methods……
Learning from Maurice that the town had a blacksmith, Li Kainan immediately decided to go purchase several new pieces of equipment.
His original knight's sword was magnificently crafted, and forged with modern techniques—in this world it would absolutely qualify as a divine weapon.
But if the monster in the castle had thick hide and heavy defenses with maxed-out defense stats, or worse, if it was the type of boss with long reach that favored a kiting strategy, no matter how sharp the sword it wouldn't be enough.
Li Kainan clearly needed to equip himself with several secondary weapons as well, to increase his tactical options when facing enemies in battle!
……