Chapter 12: Planting the Flag

Chapter 12: Planting the Flag

This was a profound lesson. Bran re-examined his current situation. No matter what, he was still a minor trapped in this weak body. He should not be impatient. He needed to accumulate the resources to run away from home bit by bit, not just take a single practice Wooden Sword and rush out to brave the world. In that sense, his parents still loved him very much. Thinking of this, Bran rubbed his bottom. He knew that once something like this happened for the first time, there would be a second and a third time. From today on, he had to be careful, or he would be the one to suffer.

Rice must be eaten one mouthful at a time, and things must be done one by one. So, he went to assert his sovereignty over his own Territory outside the Castle. First, he needed a symbol, a flag. Looking out the window at the snowflake flags fluttering around the Castle — a simple hexagonal snowflake in the center of a blue field, the family crest. Bran decided to keep things simple. He got two family flags and wrote two large characters above the snowflake on each flag — “Bran.” Afterwards, Bran, Danny, and Black Cat Huahua, watched by a crowd of onlookers, braved the biting cold wind, shouldered the two large flags, and walked bleakly out of the Castle gate.

This was the first time Bran stepped out of the Castle gate on his own two feet. The wilds of the Northlands were not safe, teeming with all kinds of beasts and birds of prey. The boundary between inside and outside was just a wall, a row of fences. Step out, and it was the wilderness; step back, and it was home. The Northlanders would constantly clear away beasts that approached their homes, but even so, it was hard to guarantee absolute safety near home. So, children were strictly limited to a very small area of activity.

Outside the Castle, heavy snow had covered everything. Bran and Danny struggled along the main road for a hundred meters. Then, Danny planted the two large flags along the edge of the main road, several dozen meters apart, roughly marking the boundaries of the Territory. Danny returned to Bran’s side and lifted him onto her shoulder. This gave Bran a deep sense of dissonance. You should pick me up, not hoist me onto your shoulder like a man would.

The two of them quietly looked at this small piece of land. The terrain here was fairly good: a not-so-small hillock, with the branches of several tall trees at the foot of the hillock shading half of the road.

Holding onto Danny’s head, Bran asked, “Danny, how many days would it take us to chop down these trees?”

Danny had the urge to drop this troublesome kid. She retorted, “Us?! It’s just me, okay!? What can you do? And where do we get the tools? Can you magic an axe and other tools out of thin air for me?”

“Danny, don’t worry. Let me see your weapon . I have a plan.”

“No. I know your ability. Don’t get any ideas about my weapon.”

“The old must go for the new to come. I can give you a better one.”

“You little liar, give me the better one first.”

Bran and Danny gritted their teeth at each other, but eventually reached a preliminary agreement: they would discuss it after winter. Right now, in this freezing cold, any good idea was useless. The reality was that the two of them were dirt poor. Aside from Danny having brute strength and the utterly useless Idiot Bran, they really had no other resources to use.

On the way back, riding on Danny’s shoulder, Bran silently calculated. Turning things over in his mind, an idea uncontrollably surfaced — deception. Thinking of the happy prospect, he couldn’t help but hum triumphantly: “We all have a home, with many brothers and sisters, and the scenery is not bad either…”