"You actually care about this?"

Hathaway’s eyebrow twitched, she flipped out once again.

Marvin hurriedly said, "No, no, no… I wanted to know if this could be used as another type of attack.

"Anyway, do you intend to keep her frozen?" Marvin took a glance at the frozen ice sculpture of Madeline and asked.

"Give it."

Hathaway didn’t say anything else and just extended her hand.

Marvin gave a hollow laugh and hesitated for a second, before finally giving that 3rd page of the Book of Nalu to Hathaway.

Naturally, he kept the extinct alchemy book.

Giving that page of the Book of Nalu to Hathaway was a lot safer than giving it to Madeline.

She had looked at the [Rebirth] 6th page after all and was enlightened from it. There shouldn’t be a problem if she read the 3rd page too.

Her Seer identity could help her see through the God of Deception’s lies. It would be a lot more secure in her safekeeping.

And Hathaway did help Marvin a lot. At the very least, her existence made many of those who coveted White River Valley give up on it.

While his strength wasn’t enough, Marvin didn’t have an issue with holding onto someone’s thigh.

...

Hathaway took the 3rd page and put it away without looking at it.

She coldly snorted and waved her hand, shattering the ice on the side.

"Hathaway!" Madeline was shivering, and upon seeing Hathaway she was shocked and angry.

"This is from Marvin to you, remember your promise."

"River Shore City is his," Hathaway coldly reminded.

She threw a yellow piece of parchment to Madeline.

The latter immediately froze.

"This is…"

6th page of the Book of Nalu!

"I’m temporarily lending this to you. With your innate talent and abilities, directly looking at the 3rd page might turn you crazy," said Hathaway arrogantly.

"Remember what you just said. When you become a Legend, River Shore City and your other forces have to be given to Marvin."

"Otherwise, the Three Ring Towers will come after you."

After saying this, she didn’t bother giving Marvin or Madeline another glance and directed her magic carpet to fly away.

Madeline was overjoyed as she held the parchment.

Marvin was completely frozen where he stood.

What the hell just happened?

He was clearly the one working his ass off to get the page of the Book of Nalu and it was claimed by Hathaway. She even decided his own dealings with Madeline on his behalf.

Why did it feel like she was managing his life?

At that time, a small voice echoed besides his ear, "I’m gone, I’m heading back to the Three Ring Towers. Be careful."

"Also, remember, you are mine…"

...

After Hathaway left, Madeline didn’t stay there much longer.

To become a Legend, she would give up everything right now.

But as for after becoming a Legend… Everything, might be very difficult!

With Madeline’s nature, Marvin actually wasn’t too convinced she would really give him River Shore City.

Those previous things were only said to convince him, all in order to obtain that page of the Book of Nalu.

But regardless, since Hathaway helped him settle this deal, when the time came for Madeline to renege on it, she would be welcomed with the Seer’s fury!

With Hathaway and Shadow Thief Owl’s relation, and Leymann... And Marvin could also be linked to Constantine...

This kind of lineup was certainly not something Madeline, a new Legend, could withstand.

‘If things go well, using White River Valley and River Shore City as support, I might be able to get a huge territory in the south.’

‘Opening up a few territories would create the possibility of establishing a country after the Great Calamity!’

That was what Marvin thought of.

Naturally, things wouldn’t be this simple. He also needed the strength to protect his territory to back it up.

Regarding the Rocky Mountain after the Great Calamity, the reason such a territory that could protect everyone was established was mostly because of the three Fate Sisters’ personal strength.

"Let’s go."

Marvin brought Isabelle along and returned to White River Valley, concluding this trip to the Scarlet Monastery.

...

It was already nightfall by the time his carriage, the gifts from Madeline, and the logistic team’s loot arrived at the castle.

Anna had already returned. Her advancement quest was a lot simpler than Marvin’s, and with her years of preparations, she successfully advanced to [Sword Dancer], one of the advancement paths for Fighters.

Her specialties were very well suited to swordsmanship.

It was worth mentioning that Marvin had noticed that after natives advanced, their level wouldn’t always be at level 1.

For example, after Anna advanced to [Sword Dancer], she directly reached level 3 Sword Dancer.

She was a Level 5 Fighter – Level 3 Sword Dancer, becoming a Level 8 2nd rank class holder in an instant. This might be related to her comprehension.

In short, Marvin’s Half-Elf butler was also quite talented in swordsmanship.

But she needed to split her attention on White River Valley’s affairs.

...

In the study, after finding out that Wayne was already sleeping, Marvin didn’t bother him.

He briefly asked what had happened in White River Valley during his absence.

Anna’s report was accurate and concise. She was already pretty good at doing something like this.

After all, White River Valley’s Overlord being out of his territory for long periods of time had already become a habit.

Marvin calmly listened to it, and couldn't help but frown.

This time, Anna left to advance in the nearby Moonlight Forest and brought that guard on the way.

According to Anna, even though that guard successfully went through the Spider Crypt, he was attacked by mounted bandits before arriving at Black Dock Harbor.

Although he luckily survived, his body was seriously hurt. He was about to die in a small village near Black Dock Harbor when Anna found him.

If not for her quickly finding a Priest of the Silver Church in Black Dock Harbor, this guard might have already died.

After that, Anna tried to look for Lola or the Old Tucker, but there hadn’t been any news.

Black Dock Harbor’s guards hadn’t seen that girl.

"That swindler probably ran away with the money," Anna concluded.

Marvin was noncommittal.

Did she really run away with the money? Marvin didn’t think so.

That talkative girl foolishly asked his own astrological sign before that fight. Could she really be unworthy of his trust?

His intuition told him that Lola might be in trouble.

But in any case, he couldn’t focus on this matter right now.

His energy was limited, he could only protect a portion of the people.

As for other matters, there wasn’t much that needed to be said. With fixed food distribution, the territory’s inhabitants were very motivated to work.

Wayne was naturally gifted to become an Overlord, and everyone loved and respected the Proxy Overlord.

Based on the current situation, White River Valley’s farming households could get some harvest before fall.

This season’s harvest should be more than enough to let them pass the winter and based on their past share, serve as taxes.

Marvin was very satisfied with this.

He wasn’t in lack of something like Wizard gold. Food was the most important matter.

White River Valley’s soil was very infertile. The land on the other side of the river was actually very fertile, but that was in the wilderness. Who knew how many monsters were residing there?

If he wanted to open up new territories, he needed to pay the price.

Even though Marvin wanted to quickly develop his territory, it still needed to be done step by step.

First was the eastern wilderness, since he knew about the eastern side’s situation.

For exterminating the ogres and setting up a harbor, he just had to apply for a wilderness clearing order from the South Wizards Alliance.

That way he could openly recruit qualified people from other regions.

Otherwise, privately using money to lure people from other territories to settle in White River Valley might be seen as a provocation by other Overlords and was quite likely to lead to a war.

With the wilderness clearing order, everything was different.

The South Wizards Alliance was encouraging people to open up new territories. White River Valley for example was a new territory that Marvin’s grandfather cleared after applying for a wilderness clearing order.

Before that, this land was inhabited by a huge amount of gnolls and wild goblins.

...

"The other things are more or less like this." Anna finished her territory report.

She then added, "But recently there are three people I think you have to personally meet."

"Guests?" Marvin was surprised.

"Yes. The first guest called himself Fidel and said he was your friend… I arranged for him to be in the basement… He said he loves the atmosphere in the basement. But I feel that he is a bit dangerous," Anna cautiously said.

She was quite at ease before because of Hathaway residing in the territory.

If anyone wanted to look for trouble, the Legend Wizard would act and would definitely not let that person get away.

Now that Hathaway left, she began to worry about these things.

"Fidel? He came?" Marvin was pleased. ‘Did that guy become bored in the Despair Hills by himself?’

Marvin had obtained the coffins from the Scarlet Monastery and still needed him to help remodel them.

"Be at ease, Fidel really is my friend. There won’t be an issue," Marvin reassured. "And the other two?"

"One is that man I told you about before." Anna was mumbling, as if she was trying to hide it.

"What man?" Marvin seemed at loss.

He was really busy recently, did Anna mention a man to him?

"It’s that one, the one who keeps yelling in the castle, saying he wants to marry me…"

"The one who claimed to be the Greatest Alchemist in all History…"

Anna felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"That peacock-like man?" Marvin suddenly understood.

He hadn’t really paid attention to that guy. He’d check later whether he is truly capable or not.

If he wasn’t and still dared to openly harass Anna, he would directly expel him from the Castle.

"Who is the final one?"

"The final one?" Anna’s expression became strange.

"She said she is your fiancée."