Night Ranger

South Wizard Alliance’s East Coast headquarters. Department of Finance conference room.

”Regarding Baron Marvin’s application for a huge loan, what does everyone think?” inquired one person in a low voice.

The other four stayed silent.

After a moment, someone sneered, ”10000 Wizard gold coins? Never before has such a huge amount been loaned since the alliance was established, right?”

”What did he use as a guarantee?”

The first person who spoke was a woman. She was the head of the finance department, O’Connor.

She took a glance at that sneering man and said, ”Mister Peter, could you not speak nonsense if you haven’t checked the assessment report?”

Peter felt speechless.

Everyone had a thin document in front of them.

This was an assessment report of Marvin and White River Valley’s development potential.

The South Wizard Alliance was very strict when providing a loan, and would always do a thorough investigation.

”As far as I know, Baron Marvin’s territory truly doesn’t have enough to repay the loan on a short term basis. But in this expedition, Baron Marvin successfully opened up a territory.”

”He annihilated an entire Ogre tribe. It is said that there were Legend Ogres among them.”

”And we discovered quite a few old acquaintances at Baron Marvin’s side.”

O’Connor just finished her sentence when Peter suddenly shouted, startled, ”How could this be!”

As he held that information in front of him and looked at each familiar name, he couldn’t help but blurt out, ”Demon Hunter Constantine…”

”Elven War Saint Ivan…”

”And even that unsociable O’Brien?”

Peter gulped in agitation. ”Tell me, is this information forged?”

The others looked at him as if he was an idiot.

The reason they were silent earlier was because they were shocked by those few names. They were wondering what kind of person could gather so many powerhouses in one place.

Not to mention the information, a few pages earlier, it also mentioned that Marvin, along with a few other Legend Powerhouses, got rid of the Crimson Patriarch, something which even Sir Anthony wasn’t able to do.

There was no doubt that simply from this report, Baron Marvin was someone with extremely high potential for growth.

The South Wizard Alliance already intended to confer Marvin a title of Viscount after the success of this wilderness clearing expedition. The corresponding rewards were also being prepared.

The South Wizard Alliance was always encouraging capable nobles to expand their lands, but not like those northern nobles who liked to fight against each other to the death for a bit of resources. Those people would rather start a feud that would last for generations than step out in the wilderness.

But what caught the alliance somewhat unprepared was that they had yet to send Marvin’s reward and this guy already asked for a loan.

And the loan amount was unprecedentedly high!

10000 Wizard golds!

This was equivalent to ten million silvers!

This amount was equivalent to half of the loan quota of the department of finance in the South Wizard Alliance’s eastern headquarters.

If they loaned that money to Marvin and the other territories asked to borrow from them, they might end up in a situation where they were strapped for cash.

From this point of view, Marvin’s request was a bit absurd.

But directly declining wasn’t a good way to handle it.

Because something very tempting was written on Marvin’s loan application.

10000 Wizard golds, six month return deadline. Collateral, two gold mines.

Immediately after the end of the wilderness clearing military campaign, Marvin promptly looked for someone to check the ore vein at the core of the Ogres’ mountain.

The outcome made him overjoyed.

According to his father, there was a gold mine there. But that wasn’t the result of the investigation. There wasn’t just one vein, there were two!

The two ore veins ran parallel to each other and didn’t cross paths, one south and one north. Marvin gave mining rights for one to the Silver Church as part of their business transaction, but he was still the owner of the gold mine.

According to the investigation, if they mined with a certain intensity, it would take about twenty years to fully mine.

Their entire value when added together exceeded 60000 Wizard golds.

It was the appearance of those two golds mines that made things difficult for the finance department.

The head of the department, O’Connor, already sent a group of people to check, and there was no issue with Marvin’s report. No one expected such a hidden treasure to lie in the vicinity of a barbarous place like the Shrieking Mountain Range. But it was too late to act, because that mountain along with the coastline already became the personal property of Marvin.

Moreover, the wilderness clearing order was still in effect. As long as he kept opening up new territory for the next half a year, the wilderness clearing order would remain valid.

Who knew what this ambitious young man would do.

In the eyes of the higher ups of the Alliance, Marvin was a very promising Overlord worth nurturing.

And his ability to repay the debt in the long term was very high. There was apparently no risk in lending this money.

But the amount was too large, so the finance department had to convene this meeting.

..

”Ladies and Gentlemen, everyone must have already grasped the information about White River Valley.” O’Connor looked at everyone and resolutely announced, ”Now is the time to vote.”

”Oh, that’s right. If anyone is worried about the guarantee, there was a piece of information an hour ago, Dame Hathaway of the Three Ring Towers is willing to vouch for this debt. But it was in a hurry, so there wasn’t time to formally send the vouching document. But Dame Hathaway’s reputation is flawless.”

O’Connor finished and then took the lead. ”I agree to provide this loan.”

”I agree.”

”I agree.”

Even Peter who was initially sneering shrugged. ”I agree.”

Only the last man was silent for a moment before sighing, ”I abstain from voting.”

The all gave him a pitying look.

This was a Unicorn clansman. They had heard about the small grudges between the Unicorn clan and Marvin.

It was said that the Unicorn clan was intending to deal with Marvin, but they ended up suffering from the disaster known as the Ancient Red Dragon Ell.

The Unicorn clan had already collapsed. As one of the few remaining clansman, even if this person had a high position in the South Wizard Alliance, he couldn’t create much trouble for Marvin.

4 to 0, perfect pass.

Half an hour later, Bass Harbor, in the lobby of the South Wizard Alliance’s eastern headquarters.

”Congratulations, Miss Anna, Lord Marvin’s application has already been approved.”

O’Connor personally handed a document to Anna and then looked behind them. ”As long as Baron Marvin shows his Baron Medal, he can sign it.”

Anna took out a medal and smiled. ”He didn’t come, but I brought the medal. Is that a problem?”

O’Connor froze. Such an important matter was actually handled by a butler?

She couldn’t help but ask, ”Where is Baron Marvin now?”

”He…” Anna signed while helplessly saying, ”I also don’t know…”

Lola behind her back also nodded. ”Lord Marvin is indeed known as the Wanderer. After giving us quite a bit of tasks, he slipped away.”

...

Indeed, just as Lola said, after Marvin completed the planning of the development of his territory, and gave everyone long term and short term tasks, he once again left his territory.

He was going west this time. He didn’t bring anyone along apart from Isabelle.

Acting as an overlord wasn’t his strong point. He would at most know a bit of basic management general knowledge, and only had a rough idea on how to quickly build a powerful territory.

It turned out that Daniela displayed breathtaking talent in this regard.

Marvin felt quite at ease in leaving the territory development to Daniela. Of course, during Marvin’s absence, the Proxy Overlord was still Wayne.

And the matter of River Shore City’s loan was very simple, just send a sealed letter and Madeline would send the stuff.

The 6th page of the Book of Nalu was still in her hands after all, and she was still in the middle of enlightenment.

Before she advanced, Hathaway could come and take back that page any time, thus she didn’t dare to go against Marvin.

And as for the South Wizard Alliance’s loan, he carefully considered and still sent Anna.

This was a huge amount of money. He wouldn’t trust the others with it. He only felt relieved with the butler who had always silently followed behind his back all this time.

As for Lola, he sent her to buy supplies and slaves.

He already officially appointed Lola as White River Valley’s Finance official. She was mainly in charge of purchasing and budgeting. The true financial power was still in the hands of Anna.

Daniela was mainly in charge of building the territory. She wasn’t meddling with the other matters.

But her existence was also considered as an insurance after Marvin left.

Even though the Dark Guards were always there to defend White River Valley, but if they met a powerhouse, they wouldn’t be able to contend against it.

Constantine and O’Brien had left White River Valley after all. The former because of the Red Dragon’s corpse. Apparently there was no one in the South who knew how to properly dismember a Dragon. In order to maximize the profits, Constantine intended to personally set out to look for an old acquaintance. That guy reportedly had dissected at least three Dragons! He had plenty of experience.

Fortunately the Red Dragon’s corpse in the Thousand Paper Crane wouldn’t have any issue. As for the matter of the Dragon Blood’s bath, Marvin once asked Constantine and was scolded by the latter for wanting to recklessly waste such a resource.

Dragon blood could make very powerful medicine. Using it to bathe would certainly increase one’s attributes, but it wasn’t very cost efficient.

After Marvin understood, he decided to wait for that butcher’s arrival while also asking Constantine to help with recruiting a few master-level Potioneers.

Apart from this, Ivan followed Anna and Lola to Bass Harbor in the north in order to guarantee the safety of the funds.

And the rest of the territory’s progress was carefully arranged.

...

Three days later, Marvin brought along Isabelle and climbed over the the mountain on the far west of the Deathly Silent Hills, northwest of River Shore City.

What spread in front of them was an endless desert.

The Saint Desert.

Marvin let out a breath and took the lead under the setting sun.

”Let’s go, we have a long road ahead of us.”