Night Ranger
chapter-196

Chapter 196: Birthday

In the darkness of the night the Three Eyed Great Devil Head laughed strangely.

Marvin clenched his teeth and shut his eyes. The next second he opened his eyes only to find that the other side had already disappeared!

‘He was able to escape?’

Marvin silently checked his logs.

He had an instinctive reaction when the Great Devil Head appeared. This was most likely an illusion!

And the willpower check on the logs clearly confirmed that point.

This illusion was very similar with the one set in his grandfather’s secret room, but from the strength, it could be seen that the enemy had hurriedly cast it and it wasn’t as powerful as the one set up in the secret room. Thus, Marvin was easily able to escape from it.

But this magic also gave the foe the chance to escape.

Even if he couldn’t see through the target’s strength, Marvin could feel that it wasn’t his match.

This might be related to its form.

Marvin had a feeling that the other side had actually no substance.

It might be an existence similar to ghost.

It emitted great power, but it seemed suppressed by an even greater power.

This made Marvin feel very puzzled.

He once again used Night Tracking but couldn’t find the black clothed old man in the end.

He looked around nearby for clues, but in the end he could only choose to return to his path.

When he went through the Gnoll ravine, Marvin had spent half an hour massacring the Gnolls. His methods were very ruthless. He completely cut the weeds and eliminated the roots, not sparing even the youngest Gnoll children.

The Gnolls were cruel by nature. Since both sides already had this kind of hatred, and even though they wouldn’t be too much of a threat to the territory, they could still harm his people.

Marvin’s kindness was limited. He wasn’t a saint after all.

In a way, Gnolls were also a race possessing intelligence. They were also fighting to reproduce and survive.

But the world was this cruel.

Marvin wanted to open up a new territory, so these monsters would have to be killed sooner or later.

He wouldn’t leave any dangers behind because he needed to protect this territory, protecting the inhabitants so that they wouldn’t be injured.

For this, even if he ended up unable to wash off the blood on his hands, he wouldn’t care.

…

After the ravine was a hilly region, and beyond that was a sparsely forested area. Once out of that forested area, a vast open field extended in front of Marvin.

In the distance was the familiar White River slowly flowing, and on a tall hill, a castle could vaguely be seen.

White River Valley, finally.

Marvin accelerated and quickly returned to his territory.

But he was surprised after noticing that his territory was a lot more lively than he had thought!

There were more than three hundred low level adventurers rowdily gathered there, having hurried over from Jewel Bay.

Only about one tenth of those were people specifically recruited by Marvin.

The others joined on their own to get in on the action, coming to see if they could gain some small advantages.

Such a large number of adventurers wasn’t something White River Valley could accommodate.

Fortunately, there was enough food in the territory now. The chefs worked overtime to serve freshly baked bread which was instantly sold out.

Apart from the adventurers chosen by Marvin who were eligible to live in the specified area outside the castle, the rest had to build a camp around the White River.

Marvin had expressly stipulated that these adventurers weren’t allowed to disturb the lives of ordinary inhabitants, or else they would be severely punished.

It seemed that these guys knew their place.

But seeing them unrestrainedly making noise, Marvin couldn’t help but frown.

If that group of people didn’t have an outlet for their energy, they would do something sooner or later.

White river Valley’s inhabitants had never seen so many adventurers. Fortunately the guards were patrolling quite often, making them feel more at ease.

…

It was already noon when Marvin returned to his castle. Wayne and Anna were both pleasantly surprised by his return.

Both of them complained.

And they had the same complaint: those adventurers were really too difficult to manage!

“Because those adventurers who came for the job only listen to the one who sent the wilderness clearing order, we are unable to deal with them.” Anna helplessly spread out her hands.

“A few irascible adventurers caused some troubles. Even if they were stopped by Andre and me, it still affected a few innocent farmer families. Thus, I pushed them to the side of the White River.”

“But they are still out of control.”

“There was a big ruckus yesterday. A drunk adventurer tried to rape a girl in the territory. Thankfully, Sir Constantine acted and directly killed him.”

“When those adventurers found out that we had a Legend overseeing the territory, they exercised a lot more restraint.”

Wayne added, “But they are still very troublesome. They defecate and urinate everywhere, it’s very uncivilized.”

Marvin listened and rubbed his temples.

This was within his expectations.

With their explanations, he more or less figured the current situation in the territory.

…

Going to war was really like burning money.

In order to recruit those 2nd rank adventurers, Marvin almost used up the 200 Wizard golds he got from Black Jack’s body.

Not to mention that with so many adventurers converging to White River Valley, if they weren’t supplied with food, there would be an issue.

Marvin had promised to supply food to those adventurers he recruited, but apart from them, if the others wanted to buy food, White River Valley needed to have the production ability to meet the demand.

Fortunately, River Shore City’s goods arrived at that time.

Under Anna’s arrangements, these hundreds of adventurers’ needs were considered barely met.

With Hathaway as a witness, Marvin and Madeline’s deal was completed. River Shore City would be part of Marvin’s forces in the future, so receiving supplies didn’t bother Marvin at all.

‘Madeline is heartless enough. What wouldn’t she give up to become a Legend?’

‘But after she becomes a Legend… Hard to say…’

Marvin knew that woman’s character.

Once she became a Legend, the command contract would become ineffective. Who knew if she would hand over River Shore City to Marvin at that time.

But her delivering supplies at that time actually made Marvin quite pleased.

These supplies not only included food and drinks, which White River Valley needed at the moment, but also included simple clothes and second hand weapons of River Shore City’s guards.

These weapons shouldn’t be looked down upon, as they were army weapons.

After a bit of maintenance, their sharpness would be a lot better than what most ordinary adventurers used.

Apart from this, she also delivered fresh vegetables and fruits. These were a free gift to Marvin.

And this was only the first batch of supplies, with the second batch still on the road.

Madeline promised that River Shore City would become White River Valley’s strongest support when opening up new territories.

This also made Marvin very satisfied.

At least that page of the Book of Nalu wasn’t useless.

Marvin himself didn’t dare to read the 3rd page for now. Before becoming a Legend he wouldn’t touch it.

The [Destruction] chapter could twist people’s natures and make them lose their minds.

The Lich resting in the Scarlet Monastery was a good example.

Thus, he wasn’t too bothered about Madeline right now. He was worried about Hathaway.

Even though the Seers were wise, many people since ancient times had turned crazy from the Book of Nalu, and even a god died!

It showed that this book was very frightening!

Hathaway had relied on the 6th page of the Book of Nalu, [Rebirth], to advance to Legend rank. Marvin was afraid she would become dependent on the Book of Nalu.

But according to that 2nd rank Wizard’s message, Hathaway was recently developing a new spell and was too busy to bother with other things.

This made Marvin a bit more relieved.

Marvin was unable to see through that strong-willed woman. At that time, he also prayed she had enough Intelligence when reading the Book of Nalu.

…

“Oh right, the adventurers are constantly bored these days. They keep asking when we would start clearing the wilderness,” Anna reported. “I’m afraid that if this continues, a riot might happen in the territory.”

“Despite Constantine being here, there might be people injured.”

Marvin nodded.

He thought for a bit, before deciding, “Since these people have nothing to do, get them to prepare.”

“Since they want war, they will have war.”

…

In the blistering hot afternoon, half-naked adventurers were diving in the White River.

But at that time, major news suddenly spread through White River Valley.

A war mobilization order signed by Lord Marvin himself was released!

A knight from the guard read Lord Marvin’s mobilization order out loud at the location where adventurers from all over gathered.

From now on, they would begin preparing for the war!

East of White River Valley was a temporary gathering location, where a temporary camp would be built.

A week later, the army would be gathered there, and all who wanted to participate in this fight and have a share of the loot had to participate in building the temporary camp.

The camp’s construction was under the responsibility of Lady Anna and everyone must be registered.

In an instant, those adventurers were completely excited!

Why did they rush over to White River Valley from distant locations? It was for that war!

Furthermore, there would be countless valuables in the Ogre’s den, as well as the rumored gold mine!

…

Sunset, after the war mobilization order was initiated, most of the adventurers had already shifted locations.

They left for the area between the forests and the hills chosen by Marvin and started building the temporary camps under the orders of Gru, the Vice-Leader of the guard.

And in White River castle, there was a somewhat different dinner from the usual.

“Birthday?”

Marvin was looking at Anna and Wayne in shock. Furthermore, Constantine, the old blacksmith Sean and his daughter Jane, the Necromancer Fidel and the Alchemist who had lost his memory were also present, along with some other people.

“Yes? Don’t tell me you forgot?”

Anna felt sorry as she looked at Marvin. “Today’s your birthday.”

Marvin suddenly understood.

14th August, the final day of the Swimming Fish.

This night, the Swimming Fish constellation would be dominating in the center of Feinan’s starry sky.

Marvin was moved. Perhaps only Anna and Wayne in White River Valley remembered his birthday.

Wayne, well it was obvious, and as for Anna, this woman who silently had his back, helping support White River Valley, Marvin was very grateful.

This butler did everything she could, even putting her own strength aside to help Marvin supervise his territory.

She did very well.

“Thank you,” said Marvin sincerely.

A beautiful cake was carried over.

“Jane made it,” Anna softly mentioned.

Jane smiled. “There isn’t much to do in the castle.”

Marvin slightly nodded and expressed his thanks again.

Birthdays were very important in Feinan.

Because the constellations leading your life could respond to one request during that day. Although that request might not display too much effectiveness, they could get some good luck, or obtain their constellation’s blessings.

“Make a wish.” Constantine said with a smile, “With your luck, maybe it’ll be fulfilled.”

Marvin lowered his head, according to Feinan’s custom, and silently made a wish.

His wish was very simple. It was for the people at his side to be happy and safe.

“Well, like the previous years, the Swimming Fish still didn’t respond to me,” Marvin bitterly laughed half a minute later.

Everyone laughed heartily.

This was actually a normal situation. Only a few people might get an answer.

But suddenly, a bright light suddenly illuminated the dining hall!