Chapter 2
Chapter 2: "Little Red Riding Hood" Branny
Walking out from the depths of the forest, Li Kainan quickly spotted a man-made road.
After following the road for a short while longer, a typical medieval-style small village came into view ahead.
The small village was nestled deep within the forest. The wooden and stone structures in the distance, scattered across the landscape, had the look of many years behind them.
It was noon at the moment, and from each chimney, wisps of cooking smoke were rising, slowly gathering and dispersing above the village.
Looking at the surrounding farmland, this was not a busy farming season.
Yet the fact that cooking smoke could rise at noon showed that the residents here lived quite well, even enjoying 3 meals a day as a matter of course.
This was clearly a peaceful and prosperous little village. It might not be the most suitable place to recruit a team, but it was absolutely a place where one could earn some money……
……
And it was at this very moment that, up ahead on the narrow path, there suddenly appeared a petite girl wearing a vivid red velvet cloak, swinging a basket and walking along with a light, cheerful step.
And above the head of this petite girl in the bright red cloak, a conspicuous marker from the system had appeared!
The system prompt immediately popped up:
【Prompt: Contact made with important story character "Little Red Riding Hood Branny"!】
【To prevent the inability to conquer this important story character due to a language barrier, the system is now distributing "Trait: Language Mastery" (You can communicate freely with people from every country!)】
【Successfully conquering this story character and bringing her under your command will earn you a generous reward!】
———————
【Prompt: Contact made with important story character "******"……】
【To prevent ******** from making it impossible to ** this important story character……, the system is now distributing "Trait: Language Mastery" (You can communicate freely with people from every country!)】
【Successfully ** this story character and bringing her into **, you will receive a generous reward!】
The prompts on the system panel were still incomplete, but Li Kainan was convinced this was a "War System" and managed to piece together the rough details of this mission.
The little girl in the red cloak ahead was an important character with a built-in story mission—successfully winning her over and bringing her under his command would yield rich rewards!
It seemed that although this girl was young, she was one of the system's initial talents who could help him get through the early development phase……
With that thought, Li Kainan couldn't help but take a closer look at the petite girl not far away, still wrapped in her exquisite red velvet cloak.
The girl had fair skin and a small, delicate frame, with pretty features that carried an air of innocence and naivety—someone who clearly knew nothing of the ways of the world.
Yet her assets were far too prominent; as she walked along with a bouncing gait, they trembled like a pair of large rabbits tucked inside her cloak……
At the sight of this, Li Kainan raised an eyebrow ever so slightly.
Judging by her gait, this young woman had clearly never trained in any combat techniques—she was not a combat-type talent.
Right, and she truly wasn't suited to walk this particular path either!
With a petite frame but such overly prominent assets, she would easily lose her balance in a fight……
Perhaps she was a Special NPC with relatively high potential who would need to be personally nurtured?
Li Kainan activated the Eye of Insight from his Starter Gift Pack, intending to check the information of this red-cloaked young woman.
【Branny (?)】
The name appeared in green—a friendly NPC!
But this Eye of Insight only displayed the name!
Since she hadn't pledged loyalty to him yet, it was understandable that no Loyalty Rate would be shown.
But in principle, a skill like this should at least display her stats……
……
At this moment, Li Kainan was studying the little girl in the red cloak, and the girl had clearly also noticed Li Kainan standing at the side of the road.
Li Kainan, clad in his magnificent armor and draped in a great red cape, was simply impossible to ignore!
Branny stopped in her tracks. She glanced at Li Kainan, then quickly lowered her head, thinking to herself:
Even without a large retinue of attendants, this lord looks just like a noble prince from the stories!
After hesitating for a moment, the innocent and naive little girl still politely greeted Li Kainan with a bow:
"Hello, esteemed lord!"
It wasn't Chinese, yet Li Kainan could understand it perfectly—this must be the Language Mastery Trait at work, enabling seamless communication!
Even though she was just a young girl, she was still a Special NPC capable of triggering story events and completing the recruitment, so Li Kainan still needed to treat her with courtesy and respect!
Li Kainan raised his hand, removed his Face Guard, and revealed his face—already handsome and imposing by nature, now further elevated by the Trait into something of extraordinary charm. He smiled warmly and said:
"Hello there, little miss!"
The pure and innocent girl Branny was seeing a face this handsome and full of charm for the very first time……
Branny had always been innocent and naive, having grown up in a quiet, peaceful little village where she had been thoroughly raised as a sweet, guileless girl who harbored no wariness toward strangers whatsoever.
Now, bewitched by Li Kainan's face with its extraordinary charm, she completely dropped whatever psychological guard she had left.
How could a lord who looked this noble and this dashingly handsome possibly be a bad person?
Li Kainan wanted to trigger the story mission through her, so he proactively suggested that they travel together with young Branny.
Branny at this point had absolutely no resistance to Li Kainan whatsoever—her cheeks flushed red, and she nodded and agreed on the spot.
Along the way, Li Kainan took the initiative in making conversation with her, and this sweet, guileless girl answered whatever he asked, not the least bit afraid that Li Kainan might be some villain.
Without expending much effort at all, Li Kainan was able to fish quite a bit of information from her.
Both of Branny's parents were alive, and she had a grandmother who doted on her deeply—the whole family had always lived in this village nestled deep in the forest.
The village was small, with only a few dozen households. Because there was no lord overhead to collect taxes, they lived a rather comfortable life.
And the reason Branny had gone out today was because her family had entrusted her with the task of going outside the village to visit her grandmother, who lived alone and was ill in bed.
As for the world beyond the village……
Young Branny, who had grown up in the village her whole life, didn't know much about that. She had only ever heard her grandmother mention that this place was Reyp Forest in the Kingdom of Cape.
By this point, Li Kainan had more or less figured it out.
The reason this village appeared so prosperous and peaceful was precisely because there was no lord overhead to exploit them.
All these years they had hidden away in the forest, living a secluded life cut off from the world—unaware of the Han dynasty, let alone the Wei or Jin—and knew very little of events outside.
If he wanted to gather specific intelligence and information about the outside world, he would still need to find the grandmother Branny had mentioned……
Li Kainan's gaze unconsciously swept across the vivid, bright red velvet cloak Branny was wearing!
According to young Branny, it had been a birthday gift from her grandmother.
A red velvet cloak like that was hardly something an ordinary village resident could produce—it seemed Branny's grandmother was no simple person!
Right, she was most likely a Beginner Guide NPC who would help introduce the world's setting in the early stages of the game, or at the very least a key character for unlocking Branny's story mission……