After the girl’s shriek, there was a rumble.

‘Gnolls!’

Marvin shivered.

He used sneak and quietly entered the backyard.

A lady wearing expensive clothes was lying on the ground in the neighboring courtyard.

She was surrounded by six gnolls who were saying something angrily.

The rain had weakened into a drizzle.

The young lady was frightened, and it looked like her life was in danger.

‘It’s her!?’

But Marvin didn’t act right away.

He was startled because he recognized this woman.

Prior to the gnoll invasion, this woman had come to his territory wearing luxurious clothes and spending money extravagantly. She had asked to establish a long term business relationship with White River Valley.

She claimed to be the daughter of the White Flag chamber of commerce from Jewel Bay. She also had two strong bodyguards with her.

Marvin was almost convinced. White River Valley wasn’t suited for agriculture. There was a shortage of cereals every year in the territory, and as such, they needed to go out and buy some.

But the price of cereals in River Shore City marketplace was quite expensive. Marvin had been annoyed with this issue ever since he took over the territory.

And at that time, the young lady took advantage of the situation and offered to solve this issue for Marvin.

She said she could move some cereals over from Jewel Bay, on the premise that Marvin gave an advance payment first.

Even though that advance payment wasn’t a lot, compared with White River Valley’s critical finances, it was a huge amount of money.

Being cautious, this body’s former owner sent Anna on a trip to Jewel Bay to check the young lady’s identity.

He had let the girl live close by and pretended to hesitate while waiting for Anna’s news.

As a result, when a completely exhausted half-elf girl had come back five days later, she brought back the news that there was actually no White Flag chamber of commerce.

This girl was without a doubt a swindler.

She and her two so-called bodyguards were caught on the spot and thrown into the castle prison.

Even though Marvin didn’t mistreat her, if he didn’t punish her attempt to deceive the lord, it would be quite difficult to keep any prestige in the territory.

So she was sent to the prison.

Up until the gnoll invasion.

...

‘How did she escape? And what about her two bodyguards?’

Marvin was pondering while looking at that girl speaking with those gnolls.

This swindler girl named Lola had quite an original story, unexpectedly able to speak the gnoll language.

The gnoll language was relatively simple but because of their special vocal cords, even if other races wanted to emulate them, it would still be quite troublesome.

But that girl was able to imitate the gnoll language. She was unexpectedly talented.

Even if that kind of person was a swindler, she would also be useful at the right time.

At that time, one of the gnolls suddenly grabbed the girl’s clothes and put a tanto¹ on her neck.

The discussion quickly sped up.

The gnolls on the side were jeering one after the other, and a few even sent some saliva flying.

‘I don’t know how she tricked those gnolls into letting her out. But her current situation doesn’t seem particularly nice.’

‘Time to play the hero saving the beauty.’

...

Lola was extremely afraid.

She normally had a very swift mind, but now she was completely lost.

That damn noble, he threw her in the prison and fled on his own.

She had almost become a meal when she was found by that group of gnolls. If not for her proficiency in the gnoll language, a flower would have already withered.

But now… She had already managed to trick that pack of gnoll to release her with great difficulty.

Unfortunately, she just failed her escape.

Now, how could these angry gnolls listen to her attempt at appeasing them.

They wanted to eat her!

Thinking of that, Lola felt her limbs going soft. She almost cried.

‘Lola! Stay strong, stay strong!’

‘Don’t cry, you can surely find a way out. So many years, no matter how difficult some places may have been, I’m still standing!’

The girl bit her lips, trying to calm down.

But she instantly panicked when she saw the tanto on her neck.

A tear was forming at the corner of her eyes. The gnolls fishy stench was closing in. She opened her mouth and said in a tone as smoothly as possible:

"Listen, I really know where to find a precious mineral deposit…"

Plop!

Blood splashed, and quite a lot of drops flew in Lola’s mouth.

She opened her mouth wide and blankly looked in front of her, at that gnoll leader whose head was separated from his body.

A masked human-shaped shadow slowly appeared out of nowhere.

A pitiful shriek was heard.

The other gnolls were looking with shock at the human that had suddenly appeared, before swarming him.

Gnolls, kobolds, goblins and other similar creatures with inferior wisdom would just compare which side had more numbers when comparing their strength with their opponent’s.

They had five and the humans only had one and a half. That girl obviously could only be counted as half.

They counted, and their side would definitely win.

Unfortunately...

Marvin wasn’t the average human.

Level 5 ranger, 20 dexterity!

Facing a 2nd rank would be quite dangerous, but facing a group of level 2 gnoll fighters was still quite easy.

Woosh!

A cold light flickered and two curved daggers flew in Marvin hands. He nimbly traveled back and forth between the gnolls, his movements filled with self-confidence.

Even though though every single slash wasn’t necessarily deadly, they were still crippling.

Melee ranger technique focused on targeting the other side’s vitals, stabbing to kill.

These gnolls weren’t wearing any armor, only covered by rough fur that was unable to take on Marvin’s continuous stabs with his curved daggers.

In less than half a minute, the five gnolls were peacefully lying on the ground.

Marvin calmly took out a black cleaning rag and wiped his twin daggers clean before putting them away.

As for Lola, she had just managed to react.

She bent over… And started puking.

...

Three minutes later, inside the farmhouse.

"Gnoll blood smells quite fishy," Marvin calmly said. "But you get used to it after puking several times."

"Blargh!"

Lola who had just finished puking couldn’t help but retch again when she heard this sentence.

Her face was a serious blue, and as she originally hadn’t eaten much food in the prison, all that came out was bile.

She only felt dizzy now. But she was still able to made good judgements.

This was an expert, judging from the way he killed the gnolls.

The other side was wearing a mask. Experts were all peculiar. But what if it was because he looked ugly?

Lola thought of countless ideas in her head as she ended up saying pitifully, "Thank you for saving me. I am the daughter of the president of the White Flag chamber of commerce, I came to White River Valley to discuss business on behalf of the White Flag. But who would have thought that I would meet so many gnolls? I am extremely grateful for your help. If you could give me something to eat and then send me back to Jewel Bay, I would reward you handsomely."

She used that kind of innocent gaze toward Marvin.

To be fair, Lola’s looks were quite good: a beautiful and bright pair of eyes, particularly deceptive.

It’s a pity that Marvin only threw her a piece of hard bread.

"This is food." Because they were whispering, Marvin didn’t want to say much, omitting the fact that he already knew the girl’s true identity. "I saved you because you seem to be proficient in the gnoll language. I have a use for your skill. Finish eating and take a nap, we are moving out tomorrow morning."

Lola opened her eyes wide.

Unfortunately, Marvin completely ignored her and took out his curved dagger instead before lightly wiping it clean.

Her mind was simply falling apart.

This was just getting away from the world of suffering from the gnolls, to get into the hands of a demonic killer.

Looking at him wiping the dagger... what was he thinking?

‘He wouldn’t pick a fight with those strong gnolls defending the castle, right? I admit that you are quite skillful, but you are heavily outnumbered!’

Lola was eating the bread on the ground while crazily mocking him inwardly.

After she finished the bread, It was nightfall already. She was trying to look for an opportunity to escape, but the masked expert hadn’t given her any chance.

"I’ll give you a piece of advice if you want to escape. Run as if your life were on the line. If I catch you, the result will be a lot more frightening than those gnolls."

Marvin then began to take a nap, half leaning on the edge of the door.

...

Lola’s heart turned cold. After seeing Marvin’s skill, how could she dare to be rash?

She didn’t sleep well that night.

The girl was afraid that this quiet assassin’s inner beast would suddenly be unleashed and he would chop her up like he had done to the gnolls... Or even defile her.

Wait a minute, which of these two situations was worse?

Lola was at a loss.

Even when dawn had arrived, she still hadn’t figured it out.

At that time, Marvin opened both eyes and calmly said:

"Awake? We have work to do."

_____________

1- Tanto: Short japanese dagger (~15-30 cm)