Night Ranger

The Great Duke’s words were very convincing.

His tone was very sincere, and Marvin could feel that he wasn’t using any spell to try to bewitch him.

His words came from the bottom of his heart.

[Diross Cridland].

This name seemed to be lingering in his mind like a curse.

The Great Duke solemnly asked, "Did you really see him?"

Marvin nodded. "In the Nine Hells."

The Great Duke was silent for a while. He held his forehead, thinking over the matter. "Over the past years, I’ve been working hard to find traces of him. But he was very crafty, and although I could feel a slight reaction from him, he could still block my ability to find him."

"I only knew that he was still in this world. In fact, I knew about his intention to take the Archdevil Diross’ head. We are linked after all."

"But I didn’t stop him. I felt that with my younger brother’s natural talent, he was qualified to possess it. But later, something seemed to have gone wrong."

Marvin shook his head. "Maybe the mind link faded with the passage of time?"

The Great Duke smiled but didn’t say anything.

Marvin felt awkward. He himself didn’t believe in this lame excuse!

If the Great Duke and his grandfather really had Gemini Souls, this innate mind skill wouldn’t fade until death.

But it was impossible for Marvin to completely believe that his grandfather had died just based on the Great Duke’s words.

If not for him helping out in the Nine Hells, Marvin and Ivan would have been in a serious predicament.

Moreover, he gave Marvin two things.

But these two things seemed more mysterious now.

If the Great Duke’s words were true... would he establish a temporary door when using the Hell Corps Contract, or would it be a permanent one?

Marvin didn’t know, but felt that this had become a lot more complicated.

Originally this Hell Corps Contract was one of his trump cards that might be able to turn the tides at a critical moment.

But it didn’t look as certain now.

He had to verify whether his grandfather was alive or not, and if he was, what were the differences between his current self and his past self?

This was something Marvin needed to figure out.

Thinking of this, he felt a big headache coming on. One of the reasons behind his trip to Lavis was to learn more about his grandfather.

He hadn’t expected it to become even more incomprehensible after talking to the Great Duke.

...

The Great Duke took a deep look at Marvin and then suddenly stood up.

"Seems like you still have some doubts. Let’s go."

"I’ll take you to meet someone."

The Great Duke led Marvin through the guest room toward the depths of the castle.

After they left the warmth of the fireplace in the guest room, the North’s cold attacked once again.

Marvin glanced at the time when he passed by a time stele and a water hourglass.

Wizard Era Year 819, Month 1, Day 10. 10 Hours and 8 Minutes.

It was an elaborate tool made by the Ancient Gnomes for measuring time. It was very old but quite accurate. He didn’t expect to see one here.

The 10th of January...

In six days, the Gods would be starting the Great Calamity.

Marvin took a deep breath.

It seemed that some had already heard about this information. The South Wizard Alliance remained mostly ignorant of it.

This was also the reason the South suffered the most during the Great Calamity and the South Wizard Alliance’s rule was almost completely overturned.

This was naturally due to Dark Phoenix’s actions.

Even the North’s Lavis Dukedom had already made preparations against the disaster, so there was no reason for all of the South Wizard Alliance’s Wizards not to know.

The only possibility was that the people who knew left silently since they weren’t Dark Phoenix’s match.

The remaining people were the wretches deceived by Dark Phoenix.

...

The two passed many ancient structures on their way and reached the deepest part of the castle.

Marvin noticed that although White River Valley’s castle was very simple, it was built in the same way as this ancient castle.

Perhaps Diross built his castle based on the place where he grew up.

In the deepest part of the castle, there was an ice garden.

Although the Great Duke seemed old, his footsteps were still steady.

He led Marvin step by step toward the center of the garden.

In the center, there was a large block sitting on the ground, covered by a great amount of snow.

Despite his fierce body, the flying snow made Marvin unable to stop trembling.

Cold Resistance didn’t mean you wouldn’t feel cold. What’s more, this place was colder than other locations in the North.

At the Great Duke’s prompting, Marvin took a step forward and gently wiped away the layer of snow.

The next instant, his pupils dilated!

This was a crystal coffin!

He hastily removed all the snow, revealing that there was a delicate-looking woman lying within the crystal coffin.

She seemed to be around thirty and was extremely beautiful, with a gentle appearance.

In that split second, Marvin felt an indescribable heartache.

As if someone used a hammer to beat on his heart.

Marvin didn’t need the Great Duke to tell him who the person in the coffin was.

"He hasn’t come to see her for a very long time."

A silhouette mysteriously appeared near them, walking pitifully beside the crystal coffin.

"Sir Owl!" Marvin’s body shook.

Shadow Thief Owl nodded.

He ignored Marvin and continued looking at the woman in the crystal coffin with a gaze full of affection.

To be honest, how could people feel good about a wretched old man looking at a beautiful woman like that...

But Marvin only felt sadness and pain.

He was a bit convinced by the Great Duke’s words.

Perhaps his own grandfather had truly been swallowed by the Devil. Or maybe both sides had already fused.

Regardless, how could he forget the wife that he loved so much?

"This is... My grandmother?"

Marvin quietly looked at the woman in the crystal coffin.

"She is still alive," the Great Duke said suddenly.

...

Back in the toasty guest reception room, the atmosphere was still cold.

After seeing his grandmother’s crystal coffin, Marvin had a lot more faith in the Great Duke.

For Sorcerers, that bloodline reaction couldn’t be faked.

The Great Duke didn’t need to deceive him, let alone with Shadow Thief Owl as a witness.

"Her name is Jade," Owl began.

"Ever since she became like that, Diross entrusted Sir Duke with her protection and began crazily looking for a way to restore her lifeforce."

"Diross was a genius, but when on the verge of despair, it is also very easy to become a lunatic."

"He used to come here every year to see her. In fact, I always hid to watch him."

"He would put a Thousand Paper Crane made of ice on her crystal coffin. It would only last three minutes before disappearing into the sky. Haha... I hadn’t expected that his attainment in Origami was far above mine at the time."

Resting near the warm fireplace, Owl took a large mouthful of wine and his expression blurred. "But he hasn’t appeared for many years."

"Later, Sir Duke told me that he couldn’t sense Diross’ soul imprint anymore."

"When I heard that, I sneakily went to White River Valley without your father or uncle knowing. I discovered something strange. He went to Hell but took neither the Archdevil’s head nor Ancestor’s Mystery with him. Instead, he set them aside for his direct descendants."

"But regardless, your grandfather already passed away. I know you might have met him, but that him..."

Saying this, Shadow Thief Owl seemed puzzled as to how to finish his sentence. "Might not necessarily be the real him..."

Marvin was silent.

He was also very puzzled. If his grandfather was truly bewitched by the Archdevil to do some crazy things, then why wouldn’t he release the Archdevil’s head?

Everything was a mystery.

The main thing was that Marvin was now aware that his grandfather might really have an issue.

He hesitated, before ultimately taking out the Hell Corps Contract and that potion.

If it was only his grandfather’s brother who he had never met before, he wouldn’t be this trusting.

But Shadow Thief Owl was completely different.

This guy had saved his life. Marvin was willing to believe in him.

The Great Duke examined the two things solemnly, carefully inspecting them for a moment before revealing a suspicious expression. "There is nothing wrong with these two things. There is no loophole."

"This potion can help you break through your current Sorcerer rank without any side-effects. As for the Hell Corps Contract, there isn’t an issue with how it would work either."

He returned those two items to Marvin without the slightest hint of greed.

The three people were confused.

Apparently, Diross had nothing bad planned for Marvin.

Or was he plotting something bigger?

They wanted to go to Hell now, but unfortunately, with the current situation, experts couldn’t afford to move freely from their land.

Besides Shadow Thief Owl being relatively free, Marvin still had White River Valley behind him, and the Great Duke had the reputable Lavis Dukedom whose bloodline had been passed down for generations!

Too many were depending on them so they couldn’t act casually.

...

"In fact, I already knew about the Archdevil’s head in White River Valley.

"But I didn’t want to destroy it."

After a while, they broke free from the mysterious matter of Marvin’s grandfather and began to talk about another topic.

"Later on, there were some issues with Lavis’ Dukedom’s inheritance, so I had no choice but to dispatch Daniela to look for you in White River Valley."

"We need the Archdevil’s head. To be precise, we need to use an ancient method to withdraw something from his head.

"Like it was for our ancestors, there might be danger there."

"But before we discuss this, I want to ask you. Do you wish to marry the most precious pearl of the Lavis Dukedom, your younger cousin Daniela?"

The Great Duke’s gaze focused on Marvin as he muttered, "She is a very talented child, and so are you. Your descendants would have unimaginable power."

"Answer me, Marvin. This is an important question."