Night Ranger

Two sides, two stories, and both seemed so sincere.

Marvin naturally trusted the Truth Goddess.

In Feinan’s history, the Truth Goddess was known for always being fair. She was the wielder of the Truth Scale. Marvin felt like he couldn’t refute what she had said.

And on the other side, if they had only been the words of the God of Deception, Marvin could have just treated them as a lie.

But it actually involved another Ancient God.

The God of Wisdom!

Marvin had actually thought that it was a bit strange when he first used the Wisdom Chapter.

The Book of Nalu that couldn’t be suppressed by anything… was forcibly suppressed by those ancient runes. Even if the God of Wisdom was incomparably powerful, could his power overpower the God of Deception that much?

But now this gave him another explanation.

The God of Wisdom and the God of Deception were one and the same.

The Book of Nalu was an Artifact, but when it appeared alone, it was an item that could destroy the world.

Only the holder of the Wisdom Chapter could control it.

It wasn’t because the God of Wisdom could suppress the God of Deception.

Rather, it was because they were both the same person.

The Book of Nalu and the Wisdom Chapter were originally a pair of Artifacts that formed a set!

For some reason, the Wisdom God had made a special avatar, the fickle and treacherous God of Deception.

He was a very intelligent God, with wisdom to see through everything. He could easily become a well-known figure in the Domain of Deception.

But what he wanted to deceive wasn’t the people, but rather, Feinan’s Will!

He was on Lance’s side.

Looking at it this way, the Goddess of Truth was actually not totally wrong. Lance really was in the picture, and he truly had worked in the dark to execute a secret plan.

But he wasn’t necessarily the World Destroyer that the Goddess of Truth made him out to be.

Each side had their own version of the events.

Marvin had a huge headache.

Now, the two sides were obviously opposing each other. With all the information he now knew, Lance should still be alive.

He should be watching this world attentively.

But he had to hide. He couldn’t afford to be noticed by Feinan’s Will.

Feinan Plane and its God of Creation were already standing on opposite sides from each other.

Regardless of the final outcome, it would be an event that shook the entire Universe.

...

’In fact, if I ignore all this and focus on the root of the problem, it is quite simple, isn’t it?’

Marvin scratched his head while smiling bitterly. ’Regardless of which side wants to destroy this world, everyone here is facing a frightening calamity.’

’But the problem is that this calamity isn’t external, it’s coming from within.’

’Some might realize it and want to profit from it, but most people simply aren’t able to notice it.’

’Even if I understand, what use is it?’

As he watched the faintly flickering light on the Book of Nalu and those silvery white runes shimmering at his fingertips, Marvin felt powerless.

When he passed through to this world, he thought he had an opportunity to rise up again.

He grasped it with all his might.

He had the heart of a guardian.

He had been a hero before, and he could still stay in this world.

But when he looked back in shock, he found out that he was just a small piece on a huge chessboard. This feeling was really hard to swallow.

Just as that Hermit said, what is the meaning of this existence?

Quite uncharacteristically of him, a feeling of uncertainty appeared in Marvin’s eyes.

He was lost.

It was the first time he truly wondered whether his experience was real or an illusion.

Or was it all just a game?

His painstaking struggle, in the eyes of higher beings, was it just like an ant exhausting itself to try to change its path?

If it really was so, then what is the point of working hard?

He took a deep breath.

He suddenly felt that the air in the Night Walker Underground Palace was very cold.

He sat next to the bookshelf for no less than fifteen minutes.

His mind was blank.

Up until a graceful melodious voice echoed beside his ears:

”What’s wrong? Didja get dumped?”

...

Frankly, the joke wasn’t funny.

And it was very ill-timed.

But that voice successfully pulled Marvin out of his stupor.

His first reaction was to put away the Book of Nalu while simultaneously guarding against this person that had appeared so suddenly.

This was the Night Monarch’s Underground Palace!

He was the newly appointed Night Walker Leader, so he could easily get inside this place.

Who else could silently enter besides him?

But when Marvin saw who it was, he couldn’t help smiling bitterly. ”You are still so eccentric.”

”I thought that it would get better after you recovered your memories…”

”How should I address you? Your Majesty? Or… Butterfly?”

...

Butterfly was standing beside the icy bookshelf.

She was still wearing plain clothes, and the only piece of jewelry on her body was a pair of bracelets made out of grass, emitting a faint fragrance.

Her appearance was quite ordinary and her character was quite ordinary... In short, everything about her seemed pretty ordinary.

She looked like a common Elf from Thousand Leaves Forest.

Marvin couldn’t connect her with the famous High Elven Queen who ruled the entire land of Feinan in the 1st Era.

But sometimes, facts were like that.

No matter how ridiculous the truth sounded, it couldn’t prevent it from being the truth. Just like how people couldn’t imagine that the heroic Astral Beast who fought against the Gods to protect Feinan was actually just a countryside youth that wanted to stay where he had always lived in order to accompany his beloved. Or like how the Wood Elves selectively chose to forget that the king they respected and chose had run away from marriage in his youth, was then exiled, and ended up in an awkward situation when trying to slay a Dragon. Another example was the God of Dawn and Protection. His followers were always piously praying to him, but none of them knew that he had once been a young shepherd that later made a contract with Evil Spirits.

The eyes of mortals couldn’t reach far.

And the truth was usually hidden very deep.

This was why it was easy to misjudge things.

Considering all that, it shouldn’t be such a big deal that a seemingly ordinary Elf in Thousand Leaves Forest was actually the High Elven Queen of the 1st Era.

But Marvin still felt a bit reluctant to address her by that title.

Because in his mind, she looked more like that little Elf that was constantly fooling around, Butterfly.

...

”Things change as time pass, and my current name is Butterfly.”

”Although that damned old Dragon schemed against me, making me remember a lot of unhappy memories, I am still me.”

Butterfly stood there calmly as she watched Marvin.

”But what about you? What made you lose your way?”

Marvin remained silent, not knowing where to begin.