The girl was actually quite honest and nodded.
“I am Hathaway, Master Cole’s 27th disciple.”
“How long have you been an apprentice?” Marvin bluntly asked.
“Ah? Probably three months, give or take.” Hathaway seriously answered Marvin’s question.
“Have you been hired?” The exact time wasn’t that important, Marvin simply tried to get what he could.
He didn’t expect that Hathaway would actually shake her head, “The world is a harsh place, Sir. Originally, a person in charge of a chamber of commerce in Sail Boat City invited me to go to Sail Boat City to be their appraiser.”
“But he then died on the road. He got skinned. I heard it was the work of a Twin Snakes follower.” Fear was apparent in Hathaway’s eyes. “Who would dare to go out now? I’d rather be a clerk in River Shore City. I don’t want to meet one of those evil follower.”
“I’m very sorry.” Marvin soothed her, “It might get better soon.”
Hathaway shook her head, clearly taking Marvin’s sentence as a stranger’s kindness.
But actually, Marvin was really thinking of hiring an appraiser. Even if she was only at advanced level, he could slowly train her.
Even if White River Valley had yet to be recovered, Marvin had already begun to think of what to do after the seizing it back.
In this world, there was a very potent yet hard to control power. It was the adventurers.
If Marvin wanted to quickly strengthen White River Valley, he needed their help.
That was why he was working hard. Having no appraiser in the territory won’t do.
He chatted idly with Hathaway for a while.
After no less than an hour, Master Cole appeared.
…
In the ranger guild’s VIP lounge.
Marvin was sitting on the far end of the table while Hathaway was cautiously standing to the side.
“Deepwater gem.” Master Cole put down his magnifying glass and rubbed his eyes, “Boy, you are extremely lucky. This thing has deadly power in the hands of a wizard smith. It is said to be the main material to build a mechanical ghost statue. Without the deepwater gem, the dexterity of the mechanical ghost statue would be reduced.”
“A deepwater gem with this kind of purity could be processed into at least 8 sub-gems, and then used to make mechanical ghost statues. The South Wizards Alliance should have the mechanical ghost statue blueprint; you should sell this thing to them. It could be worth a lot!”
Marvin calmly nodded and put the gem away.
He already knew that this gem was very expensive, he just didn’t expect it to be worth that much. If it really was a deepwater gem, Marvin knew that wizards focused in clay transmutation would pay quite a lot for it.
Because it had another function apart from making mechanical ghost statues, which was strengthening spellcasting.
This information was almost unknown, as only a few a few talented wizards had found out.
But right now in Feinan’s world, only a wizard could find out about wizard stuff. The others, including appraising masters, were unfamiliar with the field.
Marvin was no doubt an exception.
He took out another item that needed to be identified.
It was that potion bottle he had gotten from the crimson monastery.
He could only rely on his rich experience to recognize that this thing was a compound potion.
He didn’t know if this master appraiser could give him the answer.
Cole took the potion with an extremely grave expression.
Appraising potions was always the most troublesome part.
“5 wizard golds,” Cole said. “Fixed price. Because I need to ask a friend proficient in potions to work with me. And he is actually a true wizard apprentice.”
Marvin decisively responded, “No problem.”
…
It was already night when Marvin came out of the ranger guild, two hours later.
He had spent 5500 silvers on the appraisals, but he didn’t feel bad about it.
A deepwater gem, that’s fine.
And then, the appraisal of that potion, it was actually a [Dragon¹ Strength]!
_____________
T/N: 1- As some of you might know, dragons are mostly represented by two types. The eastern dragon is often represented with a wingless, long snake-like body. The western is displayed as a huge winged lizard. In this case, it would be a western dragon.
Chapter 34: Gathering the troops!
Chapter 34: Gathering the troops!
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
In Feinan world, anything related to a dragon was amazing.
As the existence at the top of the food chain, every dragon had massively destructive power. For a legendary level or lower, getting rid of a dragon was extremely difficult.
And even if the dragon strength potion didn’t have anything to do with a dragon, it still had the dragon name. This meant that it wasn’t ordinary.
This kind of potion descriptor was in fact a generic term in the medicine ranking system.
Taking this potion could temporarily increase his attributes substantially.
It could definitely make the difference at a crucial time of a fight.
Under the conscientious appraisal of Master Cole and that wizard apprentice, Marvin’s five gold coins weren’t wasted. He got the potion’s description.
[Dragon Strength]: Strength +6, Dexterity +4. Lasts 10 minutes.
These kinds of attributes were nearly unmatched. Marvin couldn’t imagine how fierce he could be after drinking it.
His strength was relatively weak, at only 11, but it would reach 17 after drinking the dragon strength potion.
This was close to 2nd rank fighter standards!
Furthermore, there was also a 4 dexterity increase. Having 24 dexterity meant that he would be able to move as he pleased in the sky above and the earth below.
This potion was a priceless treasure.
Fortunately, the ranger guild still had some integrity. Master Cole and that apprentice wizard had appraised a lot of similar medicines together. Up until he left, Marvin didn’t sense any malicious attention from them.
That was the reason why Marvin picked the ranger guild, as major organizations weren’t too messy.
If it was goblin Bane… They also have an appraiser over there, but would he be able to not have any evil plans when seeing such treasures?
…
Black Horn Eagle Inn.
A list of names was handed to Marvin.
“Only fifteen people?”
Marvin was somewhat surprised.
He had given Anna instructions to recruit about twenty people.
“The fees of high level adventurers are too high, and the highest of the lower level were only there to cheat us of our money, we don’t need them.”
“These fifteen are more or less what we need.”
“Moreover, the idea that the more the better doesn’t really apply to adventurers,” Anna added. “Even if they all signed a contract, if our strength is weaker, we might not be able to suppress them.”
Marvin nodded, understanding Anna’s worries.
Relying on these adventurers to recapture White River Valley? It could actually end up being ruled by those adventurers.
The garrison’s strength was somewhat weak, so if they recruited too many adventurers and let them form a force, this could end up unfavorably for Marvin.
The butler girl had thoroughly analyzed the situation.
However.
“The gnolls have a Sorcerer.” Marvin said.
“What?” Anna was shocked, “A Sorcerer? How could this be?”
“I saw it myself. He almost discovered me.” Marvin forced a rare smile, “They also have a type of mutated aardwolves. Extremely hard to deal with. As for those gnoll fighters, they aren’t much of an issue.”
A hundred and fifty gnoll Fighters might sound like a lot
, but human adventurers levels were higher than theirs.
For one adventurer to fight two or three wouldn’t be a problem. As long as they could get rid of the leader, their morale would go down.
But that crafty Sorcerer would surely hide in a corner during the fight, not found by anyone.
Those mutated aardwolves were under his control. He needed to find a way to subdue those aardwolves or eliminate that Sorcerer.
Or else it would be quite difficult to win.
“About those aardwolves, when they raided us, I killed one.”
Anna frowned and seriously said her opinion, “They don’t have any vitals; my sword pierced their heart and they wouldn’t die.”
“This kind of…”
Marvin hadn’t fought with mutated aardwolves so he knew very little about them.
These things are really hard to get rid of. A large body, high speed, great destructive power and no weak points.
If a few were killed by those aardwolves, it would be fine on the garrison side, but the adventurers might get crushed.
As Marvin was thinking, he grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote something down.
Anna calmly stood to the side, looking more and more surprised at Marvin skillfully writing.
‘Young Master Marvin… Is a genius! He already found three ways to restrain those aardwolves in such a short time!’
‘It seems like that misfortune actually awakened his potential. Will his strong and wise side be forced out?’
Anna was deep in thought.
“Yes. Let’s go with this. We will set off three days later,” said Marvin firmly.
“But what about that Sorcerer?” Anna asked, worried.
Even if Sorcerer spells weren’t as strong as those of Wizards, it was still a powerful class.
“I’ll take care of it.” Marvin picked up the list of names of the adventurers and read it meticulously.
…
There were fifteen adventurers separated into two small teams of six and three solo guys.
The fifteen were all 1st rank adventurers with no advanced class.
Anna wasn’t wrong: even if Marvin had money now, high level adventurers cost too much. It wasn’t worth it.
And if a guy too strong joined, Marvin might actually have his leadership threatened.
What made Marvin surprised was that one of the six-man teams was relatively well-known in River Shore City.
[Bramble]
“This Bramble team has quite a bit of fame in the low level adventurers circle, their captain is a level 5 fighter.” Marvin’s gaze briefly stopped on the names of the Bramble members, as if he was taking notes.
“Seems like we have good luck,” Anna promptly responded. “Normally, based on the Bramble’s strength, the contract fees should be insufficient to hire this experienced team.”
“But it turns out that their boss’ daughter contracted some kind of strange illness, and they need a high level priest to save her. They are in urgent need of money and there are no big contracts lately, so as a result, they took ours.”
“This team sounds a bit trustworthy.” Marvin nodded.
Anna’s efforts could be seen in that list of fifteen people.
The other six-man team also had sufficient strength and reasonable equipment. Although they were a relatively new team, according to the records their mission completion rate was very high.
As for the three solo guys, they were quite strong. One was a level 4 ranger proficient with the bow, one was a level 5 druid able to shapeshift into a brown bear, and the last was a rarely seen pugilist.
All of them had a bit of fame in River Shore City. According to Marvin’s calculations, the portion of the fees for the three solo adventurers was actually the highest.
“There is no problem with that list of names. We will set off three days later. Notify Andre and the others to make their preparations.”
Marvin made his decision.
Three days later, they would recover White River Valley!
“Where should be regroup?” Anna asked.
“Night Tide Inn,” replied Marvin, indicating a surprising location. “When I came back, I found out that that small family inn was still open. Gather there.”
“You command this operation. I won’t go.”
Anna was surprised, “You won’t go?”
She was astonished.
Marvin smiled. “I definitely can’t, since I’m a weak and powerless noble. But Masked Twin Blades can.”
Anna relaxed and displayed a knowing smile.
Young Master Marvin didn’t conceal it from her. This was the happiest thing to her.
…
Three days later, in an area outside of River Shore City’s rule, Night Tide Inn.
This small family inn in decline was actually only made by an old crippled farmer who built an house in the surroundings to provide a place to rest.
After White River Valley fell into the hands of the gnolls, there was almost no one using the main road between White River Valley and River Shore City.
But Night Tide Inn was still open. The old cripple didn’t have anything else to do.
As for moving, he didn’t even think about it. He would only consider it if that group of wretched gnolls came over.
But he knew that they wouldn’t dare. This was River Shore City territory, and that group of gnolls wouldn’t dare kill here. They would be eliminated by River Shore patrols.
But tonight, Night Tide Inn welcomed a lot of guests.
His inn could only fit twenty people at most, but tonight, there were actually thirty six people!
And among them was a woman.
But that cripple actually recognized that woman. She was White River Valley’s Butler.
He hurriedly left the room. Entertaining these thirty guests actually made him a little happy.
But when he planned to go in the kitchen, he heard sounds of struggle coming from the living room.
‘Terrible! They won’t cut down my family tapestry, will they?’
The old cripple’s heart sank as he went to check. That was a group of undisciplined adventurers. Something must be happening.
He hurriedly put down the pile of steamed buns and limped toward the living room.
In the living room, thirty or so people were split into multiple factions, standing opposite of each other.
They seemed ready to fight.
Chapter 35: Causing troubles
Chapter 35: Causing troubles
Translator: Translation Nation Editor: Translation Nation
Adventurers had always been lawless, but they were rarely untrustworthy.
Because most adventurers relied on their fame to make a living. Even if the means of communication were rather undeveloped in this world, there were very few adventurers that would breach the most basic rules.
Abruptly asking for a raise before the fight even began for example.
Anna was angrily looking at that group of six.
White River Valley’s garrison of twenty already gathered behind her. Andre’s face was also red, and if it weren’t for Anna stopping him, he would have already argued with these adventurers.
The other nine adventurers, the Bramble team and those three solo guys, chose to watch.
They seemed to be following the rules… But Anna knew that if she was unable to restrain the other small team, she would have to compromise.
In that case, they would also request a raise.
This was reasonable.
“We already discussed the contract.” Anna tried to stay as calm as possible when talking to them. “You already signed it, you would lose reputation if you breach the contract.”
That troublemaking group was the second team along the Bramble team. That team rose up in the past half-year but they still had a decent reputation as they had completed a lot of missions.
Anna was extremely angry; they suddenly wanted to alter the contract and get a bigger reward!
And twi
ce the amount on top of that!
This was unimaginable. Low level adventurers wouldn’t do something like this. Anna was not an idiot. She already felt that there was something wrong.
The purpose of that adventurer team wasn’t that simple.
‘Seems like they want to slow down this operation.’
Anna felt it from this [Lynx] team’s leader eyes.
‘Could there be someone operating in the shadows? Deliberately making them accept our task? And then breaking the contract and not doing it, influencing White River Valley’s recovery?’ Anna was thinking.
…
“Miss Anna, our Lynx team is trustworthy.”
Lynx team’s leader was a ranger with serious albinism and his looks were extremely bad, but his skills were quite exceptional.
That guy was called Verne, but everyone called him Cat.
He was the leader of the entire Lynx team.
He narrowed his eyes and calmly said, “We didn’t have any objections toward the previous contract.”
“Then why do you want want to breach the contract?” Anna coldly asked.
“Because we recently learned that the contract was actually unreasonable,” said Cat. “A friend came to me with some information. He said that there was a Sorcerer in the pack of gnolls occupying White River Valley!”
“Doubling the reward when dealing with a caster is quite normal, right? Miss Anna? Thus, I suggest that we cancel the previous contract and sign a new one.”
Anna angrily said, “Impossible!”
Cat narrowed his eyes. The living room atmosphere turned stiff.
…
At that time, Bramble team’s captain started to talk and , “If there is a caster, re-doing the contract is the general rule. However, I do not know if this information is verified. So the Bramble team won’t pick a side for the time being.”
“My only requirement is that my team pay would also be doubled if Lynx team pay is doubled. Is this fine?”
The other three adventurers had the same stance.
If Lynx’s team fees doubled, their own pay should also be increased.
Else it wouldn’t be enough to motivate them.
Anna took a deep breath, a smile suddenly appeared on her face.
In fact, even if she was annoyed when the Lynx team asked for a raise, she wasn’t surprised. Young Lord had already guessed it would happen.
Night Ranger - Full Series - 735 Chapters Page 22
