Night Ranger

”What on earth have you heard?”

Gru frowned.

He would always become very tense when it was about his daughter. He was a calm and steady man, but everyone had a weakness.

Obviously, that girl who was still lively a few months ago was this man weakness.

”I didn’t hear anything. I only heard that she was sick,” Marvin said simply. ”I am just asking about her condition.”

Gru hesitated, before finally replying, ”Her sickness is quite serious. The doctor said she might not last more than a few weeks. We went and looked for a silver church priest, but those low level priests were powerless.”

”The only way would be to seek a high level priest’s blessings. But those are quite expensive. We borrowed a lot of money but it is still not enough,” said Gru frankly.

Even though Masked Twin Blades was a strong threat, he still said things as they were.

”Her sickness appeared suddenly?” Marvin asked.

”Yes, that’s right.” Gru was surprised. ”Could it be that you are a doctor Mister Masked Twin Blades?”

”No way. I only saw a few cases while traveling.”

Marvin casually displayed an experienced attitude. Even a veteran adventurer like Gru was unable to see through it.

”What? You’ve seen this sickness?”

Gru became excited.

His daughter was his only worry. His wife died young so he considered his daughter his most precious treasure. He would do his utmost to satisfy her requests.

As thus, she had turned into a spoiled and willful girl, fooling around outside all day with some messy people. Gru was quite helpless about this. As an adventurer, being out all year round was a very normal thing. He could only keep making money to satisfy her materialistic needs.

But she was sick now… Gru felt as if his own heart was cut out. This kind of fatherly feeling, only those who experienced it could understand.

”Of course. That’s why I asked just now,” said Marvin unhurriedly. ”Is she turning yellowish and withering, while her eyes are shining? Does her neck have small black spots similar to smallpox?”

Gru was shocked!

”You… How do you know!?” He began to tremble.

”Mister Gru, you are lucky. Not many people in Feinan know of this thing,” Marvin calmly said. ”Don’t be shocked by what I’m about to tell you.”

”You daughter didn’t catch a sickness. It’s actually a plague.”

”It has only appeared three times in Feinan’s history. Each time it destroyed a few neighbouring cities.”

”[Dark Sweet Poison], I don’t know if you heard of it.”

Gru stood there, stunned.

...

The dark sweet poison was in fact a plague which came from the Plague God.

This evil god had wanted to join the fun in Feinan Continent a long time ago. A perfect world for him was one filled with terror, plagues, and death everywhere.

He spread the dark sweet poison everywhere. Everyone infected by this plague would look malnourished, but there would still be light in their eyes.

At this time, it would also bring about hallucinations, making victims think that they reached the heavens.

Their appetite would increase. What they ate would nourish those black spots on their neck.

Those black spots would continuously drain their vitality.

The dark sweet poison was very frightening. A lot of lives would be lost every time there was an outbreak.

The first outbreak of the dark sweet poison was during the elven era. At that time, mankind’s status was very low and the quality of life was obviously quite bad. When the plague appeared, almost one tenth of mankind got infected.

The Plague God’s strength increased tremendously.

At that time, a saint arrived. He brought with him the method of getting rid of the dark sweet poison, rescuing mankind from the abyss of suffering.

That sage’s surname was Brando, but his first name was unknown.

Some said that he was an incarnation of the Elven God, while others believed he was an incarnation of the Wizard God.

In short, after that saint treated the dark sweet poison, he disappeared from Feinan’s world. The name ”Dark Sweet Poison” had also disappeared.

People gradually forgot this terrible plague.

But Marvin remembered quite clearly.

The dark sweet poison outbreak was also one of the signs of the chaotic era. Although, its source was quickly suppressed by the legendary wizards.

But this was only a small probe from the Plague God, nothing more.

Feinan’s records were very clear: that saint emerging during the first outbreak wasn’t a god’s incarnation. He was in fact only a mortal, a master herbalist and master apothecary.

As for that plague’s true ending, it wasn’t a result of saint medicines. In fact, when the Plague God spread the plague, he didn’t pay attention and spread the plague in the West Forest. This directly angered the Nature God.

The Nature God erupted in anger and with his strong divine power, he beat up the weak Plague God more than enough.

The pathetic Plague God hadn’t had time to develop his own territory when his divinity almost got broken by the Nature God. Fortunately, the Fear God, Destruction God, and other evil gods helped him, or he would have been sealed in a bottle by the Nature God so he could play with him at any time.

Since then, the Plague God moved cautiously… Not doing anything to those gods.

He spent a lot of time to grow his own influence in another place, slowly recovering his strength.

And after the Nature God, Elven God, and other second generation Old Gods slowly became less active, he began to grow restless and wanted to try again.

That first invasion of Dark Sweet Poison in Feinan was only a small experiment, nothing more.

Now various gods were planning to attack the universe magic pool. It was quite obvious to every god, regardless of weak or strong divine power, that this was an opportunity.

An exceptional chance to increase their influence and get more followers.

The Universe Magic Pool, for wizards as well as mankind, was a great blessing.

However, it was a layer of shackles and restraints for gods. After the Wizard God Lance’s departure, they had already wanted to break it.

They only needed an opportunity.

...

”Putting it like that, isn’t my daughter incurable?” Gru’s lips turned pale.

Hearing Marvin’s introduction of the dark sweet poison, he started sweating all over.

His own daughter was in fact infected by a plague!

This was quite a terrible thing. Not even mentioning whether he could save his daughter’s life, if others knew about it, she might be burnt to death by scared people.

Right.

Even if there were wizards in this world, they were still as ignorant as those from Earth’s Middle-ages when facing something like a plague.

Caught the plague? Consider that person dead!

Fear spread even faster than plagues!

In a way, panic and plague were indeed the perfect match. Unfortunately the Fear God and the Plague God were both male, they couldn’t match. They could only occasionally meet and help each other out.

”If your daughter was incurable, I wouldn’t be sitting here,” Marvin said emotionlessly. ”I actually know of a method that could save your daughter.”

”What? Is that for real?” Gru suddenly saw hope.

Masked Twin Blades didn’t really need to deceive him.

Since he said so much, he should have some assurance. Gru felt a bit spirited.

”Don’t worry, dark sweet poison stays in hibernation for a long time. Only in that split second when someone dies, the infected would explode. At that time, the plague would spread through the air. We still have time.”

”The most important thing right now is to recover White River Valley. Because the method to rescue your daughter just happens to be in Baron Marvin’s castle.”

As Marvin stood to leave, he patted Gru’s shoulder. ”Relax, being this nervous won’t be good for tomorrow’s fight.”

Gru replied in a hoarse voice, yet smiling, ”Really… Thank you so much… Even if I don’t know what your relationship with Baron Marvin is.”

”However, we, the Bramble team, will certainly go all-out for this mission.”

...

Next day, at nightfall. Everyone finished preparing and quietly gathered at the sentry posts on both side of the forest.

Just like they planned, the garrison and Bramble team went one way, while the Lynx team and those three solo adventurers went the other way.

”Let the bait out,” Anna said indifferently.

On the side, Gru nodded.

One woman behind him suddenly leaned forward and started chanting a spell.

She soon turned into a beautiful sika deer!

The sika deer jumped twice before suddenly rushing along the big road and then back into the woods.

”Roaar!”

The six idle mutated aardwolves noticed the sika deer and started drooling. They all began to chase together.