Night Ranger

Fierce Horse Inn back alley.

The young Thief yawned, not paying attention due to boredom.

This assignment was extremely boring. The target was a half-elf Fighter apparently wanted by their employer. However, the boss had only asked them to keep a watch on her and report her whereabouts on schedule.

”Ah… Who would go out on the streets at this time of night? Encountering a patrol would bring a lot of trouble.” The Thief was struggling to stay awake.

Acheron’s boss was extremely ambitious, no longer satisfied with only collecting protection fees on a small scale. He was now trying to progress in the underworld. Every member knew that messing up this assignment would cost them their life.

‘Hmmm? What’s that noise?’

The Thief suddenly looked behind him, on guard. The dark alley was deserted, and he was alone.

‘Am I overthinking?’ The Thief frowned for a moment, before slowly turning back.

...

‘That guy’s perception is impressive.’

The Thief’s reaction startled Marvin and made him retreat by half a step.

A Ranger’s [Stealth] couldn’t be compared with a Thief’s [Stealth] when in the city because it would be weakened by 40%. His [Stealth]’s 24 SP when opposed to the Thief’s perception was somewhat low. As they weren’t in the wilderness, Marvin didn’t have the advantage.

Fortunately, he had perfectly guessed the Thief’s perception range.

Marvin’s heart skipped a beat. If he had tried to get closer, the Thief would have discovered him for sure. If that happened, he would have alerted the others and tonight’s matter would have been quite difficult to solve.

He hid in a dark place, pondered, and finally decided to use the 20 SP he had saved earlier. The 20 SP were all added to [Stealth] and though it didn’t reach 50 to get to the next stage, 44 should be good enough for now.

Once he was done upgrading his skill he leaned forward once again, taking a step toward the Thief.

As expected, this time the Thief didn’t react, still completely focused on watching the inn’s back door.

The rest was easy to take care of.

Marvin walked quietly with cat-like steps toward the back of the Thief and pounced on him. He skillfully covered the thief’s mouth with his hand and executed a [Cutthroat], causing blood to fly out.

Apart from a bloody smell filling the air, no traces of the attack were left.

Marvin quickly took care of the level 2 Thief’s body. He managed to get hold of a few trap materials and 30 silvers. These gangsters weren’t really wealthy as their equipment was still worse than Marvin’s common curved dagger. It was most likely used to scare the commoners. It would be quite worthless in a true fight between adventurers.

Marvin’s dragged the Thief’s body to the drain. Bodies of murdered people would be found there every day. Apart from those looking for corpses, no one was interested in these places.

Sneakily entering the inn and still using [Stealth], Marvin climbed the stairs and was about to enter the room.

But when the door opened, a cold light suddenly flashed out and stopped against his neck.

”Sneaky punk! What are you guys trying to do?” A woman coldly said.

Marvin quickly said while forcing a smile, ”Big sis Anna, it’s me!”

”Young Master Marvin?”

A candle was lit and the dark, quiet room brightened slightly.

Anna’s left hand was holding the candle while her right hand was holding a sword. She had an amazed expression on her face.

”Didn’t you say that you wouldn’t come back tonight? I thought you would spend the night at the Silver Church.”

Marvin shook his head. The Silver Church does provide a resting place for travelers, but that place’s rent was even more expensive.

”Listen Anna, we only have 15 minutes,” Marvin said quickly. His eyes swept around the room, checking every inch of the place and unexpectedly found the curtains completely covering the window.

”Did you find out something?” He looked at Anna.

Anna hesitated and then used her sword to point outside the window. ”Your words reminded me that I scouted a little and discovered people on the street staring at the inn, towards our room.”

”Acheron’s people.” Marvin nodded, adding, ”Two at the front door, one at the back.”

”Young Master Marvin! How did you suddenly…” Anna looked at Marvin with shock, as if she was looking at another person.

”No time to explain in detail,” Marvin said with determination. ”Anna, you have to trust me. When I was recovering from the fever, I became more clear-headed and became aware of what I should do. In addition, I obtained some guidances.”

”Guidances?” She was more and more confused as she watched the very mysterious Marvin.

Marvin made something up. ”When I lost consciousness, I dreamt of quite a lot of things including a man who claimed to be my teacher. In the dream, he taught me many things. And not long ago I followed his guidance and accomplished a few indispensable actions. Watch!”

When he was done speaking, he showed the sika deer badge.

”A Ranger badge? Young Master Marvin, how did you suddenly became a Ranger? How did you manage that?”

Anna was completely stunned, thinking, ‘When ordinary people wanted to become adventurers, they needed many years of training, but Young Master Marvin never endured battle training before. This Ranger badge wouldn’t be a fake, right? Did he meet another swindler?’

Compared with Marvin turning his life around and become a qualified Ranger, Anna was more inclined to believe the swindler theory.

Paying attention to Anna’s expression, Marvin knew she didn’t believe him. He quickly said with a heavy tone, ”Take the important stuff and leave the rest behind. Oh, right, leave a letter for the owner to help us manage our stuff. We will come back later to take it away.”

”I need your help, now!”

Marvin’s unquestionable tone took Anna’s breath away. She vowed that if she met with Young Master Marvin’s swindler, she would dismember him into thousands of pieces.

But for now, she could only nod and comply. She was prepared to handle all kinds of situations thanks to her training from childhood to be a qualified bodyguard and a competent butler, so she was the White River Valley Lord’s most precious assistance. When Marvin made a decision, she could only fully support him.

The two quickly packed and quietly departed through the back door.

...

In the quiet alley, Marvin whispered, ”I observed them earlier. Acheron’s sentries check on each other every 20 minutes by using chinese francolin chirps, and three chirps meant all was normal. Unfortunately, we don’t have anything to imitate that chirp. Therefore our time is quite limited.”

”I don’t understand what you mean.” Anna softly asked, ”You said there was also a sentry at the back door, so where is he?”

Marvin coughed, muttering, ”Back there, in the drain.”

Anna was speechless, her mind in chaos. She realized that the kindhearted Young Master Marvin she knew had killed someone with his own hands.

But she was unable to understand that kind of strange Marvin.

A wise man once said that humanity’s potential is endless. When a person was in a desperate situation, some changes would happen and whether good or bad, no matter how they changed, man will always keep on living.

These days, White River Valley and Young Master Marvin had both suffered a huge loss, overwhelming this 14 year old youth. It wasn’t entirely impossible for the kind-hearted Young Master Marvin to become firm and cold-blooded.

It’s just that she was somewhat concerned, worried that Marvin would plunge into the darkness.

Regardless, since the rear sentry had been dealt with by Marvin, how long could they have until the sentries noticed his disappearance?

That was why Marvin said that they didn’t have much time.

”I’ll kill them.” Anna exposed a hint of killing intent. Just a moment ago, Marvin explained that he had suffered an attack from the Acheron Gang and only by relying on the guidance of his dream mentor was he able to avoid the crisis and return to the Inn.

This made Anna both shocked and infuriated. Whoever dared to go after Young Master Marvin, she would definitely not let them get away with it.

”Nonono, Anna! If it was only about killing them, I wouldn’t have asked for your help.”

Marvin calmly continued, ”We need to keep one alive.”

”Alive?” Anna frowned.

”Because I want to know who wants to kill me. The Acheron Gang wouldn’t attack me for no reason, so there must be someone inciting them to do so.”

Marvin quietly said, ”In my opinion, there shouldn’t be anyone in River Shore City with hatred toward my family.”

”No!” Anna seemed to remember something with an expression of shock, before turning extremely angry.

”What’s going on? Anna?” Marvin asked.

”Young Master, I think I know who is going after you.”

Anna said while grinding her teeth, ”These past few days, I’ve been forced to do manual work at your uncle Miller’s place. Last time I accidentally heard something that showed he was close to the Acheron Gang.”

”Acheron Gang’s leader, Diapheis, personally visited your uncle’s mansion a few days ago and left with quite an amount of jewels! The cooking maid Tina saw and later told it to me as gossip. It didn’t seem relevant at that time so I didn’t care.”

”But now it’s safe to assume that the man behind the attempt on your life is your uncle Miller!!!”

”Uncle Miller?” Marvin had a blank expression on his face as he began to look through his memories.