Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 107: Section 93: Joint Action_2

Chapter 107: Section 93: Joint Action_2

Colin accompanied Malin down the high tower, and while walking out, he offered Malin some advice, "Working for the Church of Justice, the most important thing is to have eyes in the back of your head. If you feel something’s not right, I suggest you run fast."

"Eh?" Malin wondered if his senior brother had taken the wrong medication today.

"Eh? You don’t understand. Back when I went on a joint mission with them, those apprentices stumbled upon a cultist gathering. Without a second thought, they charged in, forcing me to follow suit. It was with great difficulty that we won, and those fools even asked me why I followed them," Colin said, his face turning sour as he seemed to recall something he’d rather not. "I said, ’You all charged in, didn’t you? As the Thanan say, I risked my life to accompany gentlemen.’ Then they told me that I should have run away at that time. If we won, good for us, but if we lost, I could at least have brought a message to the Bishop and had reinforcements come to slaughter those bastards’ entire families, and possibly collect their corpses."

Malin was almost thrown off balance by this answer – how could everyone at the Church of Justice be so stubborn.

"This is just the standard operation for the Church of Justice. So make sure you’re careful when entering the mission area. I know you’re tough, kid, but those cultists are no charity workers," Colin patted Malin’s head and watched him board the carriage outside the great hall of the Church.

Only after the carriage disappeared into the distance did Colin finally let out a sigh.

Standing next to him, the half-human instructor Karlmo was curious, "Colin, why did you sigh?"

"Because I feel that no matter how much I say, Malin won’t listen to me. If there really is trouble, he will definitely charge in with the other madmen," Colin replied with hands on his hips, looking a bit helpless.

"Isn’t that good? I think Malin has learned very well. Even if he suffers a bit, he won’t lose too much. Ordinary cultists can’t hold him back anyway. Besides, we can’t be sure they’re cultists, right?" Karlmo looked at Colin and said.

To this, Colin waved his hand dismissively, "No, you don’t understand the Church of Justice. These guys are like fish to a cat when it comes to cultists."

......

Upon arriving at the Church of Justice, the Justice Maiden he had worked with before stood at the entrance. Malin greeted her — today, the girl was dressed in a beautiful leather breastplate and a thick cloth shirt, with a leather skirt tied around her waist and iron-clad boots that looked rather lovely. At a glance, she didn’t seem to wear many clothes, but from her bearing, she was likely already a Paladin of Justice — with rank ten in the Paladin hierarchy, one could ignore environmental temperatures; a bit of frost and snow meant nothing to her.

"Why am I here? I’ve come to pick you up," Malin replied with such an answer, and the maiden led him into the Church, "By the way, I heard you got a Holy Relic?"

To others, the sprout of the World Tree might be an artifact, but in the eyes of the Church of Justice, it was a standard Holy Relic.

Malin extended his right hand, and the small twig wrapped around his forearm extended a piece of itself.

"Interesting, it seems to have a consciousness of its own, doesn’t it?"

"Yes." Malin wouldn’t normally confirm this to just anyone, but if it was someone from the Church of Justice, there was no harm.

"Then our mission this time will be much easier, since you are quite capable," the Justice Maiden believed so.

"Hold on, what are we going to do exactly?"

"Mobick Manor to the north of the city. News came yesterday that the manor has been deserted for a while now, but according to the records of Carterburg, the Mobick family, the owners of the manor, had just returned from the North two months ago," the maiden explained.

"Have they gone mad? It’s so cold in the winter at Carterburg, can their family handle it?" Malin asked, following the maiden into the grand hall of the Church, unable to understand the family’s logic.

"They should be able to withstand it. After all, their family also lives near a port city in the North," the maiden replied over her shoulder.

"Matilda, who is he?" A young man looked over with displeasure.

"This is Mr. Malin, our reinforcement in the joint operation with the Church of the Harvest Goddess," the maiden frowned and turned to Malin with an apologetic look, "Some young people always like to have everything under their control, but they never consider that even kingdoms and legends may not have that luxury."

"I understand," Malin smiled.

"Malin?" Perhaps because Malin had spent too much time cooped up at home recently, or maybe for some other reason, the young man, failing to recognize Malin, huffed, "Has the Church of the Harvest Goddess run out of people, sending such a little kid here on a suicide mission?"

Without a word, Malin took out a white glove and threw it in the young man’s face.

"Kid, it’s time for you to see some blood, to experience the socialist iron fist from another world."

The glove flew halfway and then stopped, an old man caught it and then, chuckling, handed it to Malin, "Here, Malin, you dropped your glove."

Malin paused for a moment, deciding to give the Bishop from the Church of Justice some face. According to old Hoffman, the Bishop had grown up in an orphanage, had lost friends, lost a lover, and twenty years ago, he was the only one left of his group of Apprentices.

To a hero, Malin was not stingy with his respect, so he reached out and took the glove.

The kid finally reacted, "You’re challenging me to a duel!" he screamed, then pulled out a glove as well.

This time, the old man glanced at his own houseguard, who immediately reached out and grabbed the kid by the collar.

"Lock him up for insolence to a friend from a friendly Church, three days. Tell his father if there’s a next time, I won’t stop him from dueling with Lord Malin anymore."

"Yes, Your Excellency, your will." The guard dragged the kid away, who initially wanted to curse back, but had been silenced by a Curse Formula—don’t think the Church of Justice is too noble to use a Curse Formula, like the Silence Spell Formation, nothing could shut the little brats up more effectively.

Malin pursed his lips, nodded to the old man, and continued to follow Justice Maiden Matilda into the inner area, asking a small question, "Your suitor."

"No, just an Apprentice who has just entered the Church. He was learning at the Church of the War God, but for some reason, he converted to the God of Justice, and we are quite puzzled as well." Matilda said this, and her pretty big ears trembled, "I’m not his girlfriend, a little brat who hasn’t even grown hair yet."

"That’s what I thought, your criticism is a bit harsh." Malin said with a smile.

"You’re different, Malin." Matilda smiled back.

Malin raised his eyebrows and decided to take that as a sign of Matilda’s kindness towards him.

Speaking of which, Matilda’s tail movement was different from Jessica’s; Jessica’s was very casual, while Matilda’s swung as precise as a pendulum.

... Wait a second, is my sense of beauty really off?

With this doubt in mind, Malin followed Matilda into the side hall of the Church of Justice.

As soon as he entered, Malin saw a familiar face, "Hey, Jon."

"Oh, my God, why is it you!" Jon, who was preparing his firearm, looked up to see Malin and immediately exclaimed in surprise, "Now I’m starting to worry about the difficulty of this mission."

"What do you mean?" Malin was a bit confused.

"Now many people say you’re a walking disaster carrier, a troublemaker who can create problems out of nothing, killing a Spirit can provoke a procession of Chaos mourners. Jon said this and shrugged his shoulders, "The third title has just come out recently, it seems like it happened when you were on a mission with Shela and them."

Malin looked dejected.

What’s all this about? Am I that scary? If that were true, someone in front of me would have diarrhea on the spot.

Just as he thought this, a young man suddenly clutched his stomach, "I, I have such a stomachache!"

Malin watched him being helped out of the side hall, the air filled with an essence of awkwardness.

Malin turned his head and rolled his eyes.

When will I be able to stop mentioning the elephant in the room?