After carefully analyzing the intent of Eve's words, Marvin had Anna write an answer.

The albatross that had sent the letter was still in White River Valley. It had clearly been ordered by Eve to wait for Marvin's response and bring it back.

In the letter, Marvin expressed his support for the North's forces and also indicated that he would go to Deep Water City as soon as possible.

He didn't speak too much about the details of an alliance, though, because it was just an idea for now. It would be far easier to discuss such things in person.

But Marvin still reminded Eve in the letter that she should be extremely careful of the Gods' forces rising in the North.

Absolute belief was a very frightening thing. In this chaotic world, with the Gods added to the fray, it would be very easy for someone to betray their own ideals and willpower.

In contrast, the South was facing a lot less pressure from the Gods. But maybe that was because most of the South was still being devastated by the Wizard Monsters.

After all, the South Wizard Alliance had a huge number of Wizards.

...

After sending the reply, Marvin put the trip to the North on his schedule.

But he also had many other important things to handle, and White River Valley was a huge territory.

If Marvin wanted, he could even build a small kingdom and rule over it as the king. Surely no one would oppose him.

Anna had chosen many people with administrative talents from the refugees to become officials responsible for supervising the increasingly busy matters of the territory.

In spite of this, there were still many things that Marvin needed to check personally.

He spent a whole afternoon going through everything.

He also got a decent understanding of White River Valley's current situation.

With the influx of refugees, the territory's population was already approaching ten thousand, and this number was increasing every day. The food supply wouldn't be sufficient.

Marvin distributed the food in the eleven Golden Bulls to those that managed the various regions and had them handle it according to his rules.

River Shore City was in Madeline's charge. The City Lord could deal with her own people efficiently. The Adventurer Camp was temporarily being handled by the leader of the Lord's guards, Andre. As the original garrison leader of White River Valley, Andre was one of Marvin's first followers. His strength had risen up quickly, and many believed that it was related to Constantine's guidance. He was now already at the 4th rank.

As someone with Marvin's trust, Andre could suppress the lawless adventurers.

And there was no need to worry about the Shas. Aside from their leader, Constantine, they also had a very good-natured elder.

When Constantine wasn't there, the Shas' matters were handled by him. Marvin had met with him for a short time, and he seemed to be a very loyal and honest man. The Shas were very sincere people. They only wanted to defend their own territory and didn't have much ambition for more. Thus, Marvin had no issue with letting them handle their food.

White River Valley's core, as well as the northern mine and the eastern Ogre Hill, were naturally under Anna's management.

The only place that gave Marvin a problem was Sword Harbor.

The city had just been established, and the population was still low in number, only consisting of a few sailors and fishermen.

The person currently in charge was Sword Harbor 1's captain, Roberts.

Because Sword Harbor 1 currently wasn't going out to sea, he was temporarily managing this territory, but it wasn't a reliable situation.

First of all, Roberts lacked talent in management, and moreover, Marvin didn't feel at ease leaving the supervision of a harbor that occupied such a key location for White River Valley in the hands of a half-pirate-half-sailor commoner.

He hesitated before deciding to temporarily put aside the matter of who to put in charge of Sword Harbor.

After all, there weren't that many people there for now, so the food distribution and workforce allocation could be handled by Anna for now.

Anna, Lola, and the others would make proper arrangements for the duties and the distribution of power throughout the territory, so Marvin didn't need to worry about that.

Next, he had to deal with White River Valley's biggest issue.

Food, it was still food.

...

Arborea, at the foot of the snowy mountain.

The Shadow Shrine's ruins had long since been removed, and at the Queen's order, the people there were creating an artificial valley.

At the end of the valley was a sharp, 90° fall to the Ashes Plain!

Arborea had been lodged firmly into the Ashes Plain by the Plane Traction spell.

Madeline had set up a Teleportation Array here, but because of the cost of the Planar Teleportation Array being too huge, they had only used it twice.

Those two times, they had mostly sent gold, pearls, and other treasures. These treasures were used to support the construction of White River Valley before the disaster.

Princess Nana didn't break her promise. She had stored away half of the spoils gained from the destruction of the Shadow Shrine for Marvin.

She still admired Marvin from the bottom of her heart.

Even the unbeatable God that no one in Nottingheim could provoke was defeated by him.

And when Marvin left, he took her beloved older brother, Aragon, with him.

"When will they return?"

The new Queen, wearing a simple dress, was glancing down at the valley from atop a nearby mountain, as several guards were silently protecting her.

She seemed depressed and worried.

According to Orland's words, Arborea had already more or less synchronized with the Prime Material Plane, Feinan.

At the very least, the time flow was about the same.

But it had already been four months now. Besides the two times that the Planar Teleportation Array had been used, they didn't get any other news. This made Nana feel anxious.

How was it over there?

She was very curious, but she knew that no matter what the outside world was like, she might not have the opportunity to explore it in her life.

She belonged to Arborea, she belonged to Nottingheim.

The people here needed her. She was Nottingheim's queen. They trusted her and she had to revitalize the kingdom.

Thinking of this, she couldn't help but sigh.

Many days had passed and the kingdom was breaking away from the Shadow Shrine. Their land was gradually recovering, which made Nana very happy.

But then that troublesome matter caught up to her.

The nobles, even including her most respected Scholar Orland, were beginning to hint that it might be time for her to take a prince.

They had even put together a list that included the young talents from across the kingdom.

But Nana only glanced at it without interest.

She was a girl with high ambitions, as evidenced by how she became the Queen.

No one on the list attracted her eyes.

She directly vetoed everyone's suggestions, which was a rare arbitrary act.

But she knew that this matter would still come back later.

After all, as she grew older and Nottingheim continued to flourish, she would need a child to inherit the kingdom.

Thinking of this matter and how she couldn't consult anyone about it made her frown.

"Your Highness, it is getting late," a maid to the side reminded.

Nana nodded, preparing to end her walk. There was a court banquet that night and she had to attend.

Who would have thought that a bright purple light would suddenly shine from the other side of the valley!