Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1079: Section 678: Who Knows (3)_2

Chapter 1079: Section 678: Who Knows (3)_2

"...That is why we ultimately couldn’t find our mentor anymore." Lena began, holding the diary, she looked at the deity before her: "Esteemed Nameless, did you finally purify our mentor?"

"Yes, I was powerless against the corruption on him. I could only ensure that the forces of Subspace couldn’t corrupt me and my beloved, but your mentor... in his final hours, he was becoming more insane, more forgetful, like your fellow student here. Ultimately, as per his request, I purified his soul, sending his shell to that star," the seemingly young deity finished speaking as their ceiling turned transparent, letting the sunlight cascade down and illuminate the underground world.

"Then, Your Highness, may we know who Malin really is?" Anna looked at the Nameless before her, never before so urgently wanting to know the truth as she did today.

"He is Malin, a stubborn soul," Nameless’s answer was very simple.

So simple that it couldn’t really be considered an answer.

Lena shook her head: "Your Highness, you should know this child has issues. In the diary, my mentor mentioned he failed to protect his child, his child’s soul was replaced."

"The advancement failed, your mentor finally took an extreme path, and Malin was the best choice among all the failures and replacement routes. The Goddess of Fate chose different souls, but only Malin succeeded... at least in his view, he succeeded." The young man spoke with a smile: "I’ve seen the future the Goddess of Fate showed me, Malin made choices that puzzled even me, but... he should have succeeded."

Anna seemed to have understood something, she merely sighed in helplessness.

Lena didn’t understand, but she noticed the sadness on Anna’s face, so she too understood something and looked at Nameless: "Esteemed Your Highness, I wish to know, in the future shown by that woman, will my Lady Faye achieve happiness?"

"... Yes, the greatest happiness, that’s all I can say. If I say more, the woman you speak of will discover the conversation between us." Saying this, the deity walking on the ground approached the remains, and a young boy was rising from within them.

"Joe, are you awake?"

· Yes, my Lord, ah... and Anna and Lena.

This soul no longer in its previous madness saw Anna and Lena and recognized them.

"Joe, long time no see, how did you end up here." Looking at the young boy before him, Anna didn’t know how to greet him, but Lena, familiar with him, opened up, which eased the awkwardness on Anna’s face significantly.

The young boy didn’t notice her awkwardness but smiled and greeted Lena.

· My mage path reached its end, I finally had a misguided thought, choosing to become a wizard, and accidentally turned into this, fortunately, Nameless pulled me back, otherwise my soul might have reported to some Evil God.

"Nameless is compassionate, Joe." Lena sighed: "But you are not his disciple, you’ll soon return to the long river, right?"

· Yes, but at least in my final moments, I saw you and Anna.

The whisper of the soul reached here, the young man looked towards Anna, and after a while, the whisper resumed.

· Long time no see, Anna.

"... Yes, long time no see." Anna squeezed out a smile.

· I have so much to tell you, but... there’s not enough time.

This young boy smiled, sighed, and behind him appeared a mist and sea, in Anna’s eyes, there was a small dock, and a small boat behind the young boy.

"Joe... did you not believe in anyone?" Anna’s voice had a slight tremor.

· The mentor once said that one should believe in themselves, I chose the mage path because I trusted myself... but I was disappointed in myself.

The young boy spoke here, fell silent for a while, then stared at Anna.

· I ultimately chose to become a wizard, naively thinking I could achieve the legendary, but... I disappointed myself once more, I’m sorry, my failure is truly unsightly.

Saying this, he took one last look at the remains under his feet, finally turned and walked towards that small boat.

· I witnessed the last days of the mentor; he was very happy when he accepted the purification, saying that fate would repay him for his sufferings... At that time, I was in chaos and couldn’t understand his words, now... I understand.

· I failed more than once, but finally, with his help, my soul regained freedom... the Goddess of Fate at my last moment showed me her mercy, allowing me to leave this world with dignity.

He jumped onto the small boat, took up the oar, and looked at Anna and Lena.

· Farewell, Anna, and Lena.

He used the oar to push the small boat away from the dock, not looking back as he headed toward the distance.

Anna took two steps forward, watching the young boy gradually vanish into the mist, and when he was about to completely disappear, she reached out her hand.

The young boy seemed to sense something, turned around, but the young boy was no longer young, the mummified being had the most crimson Soul Fire in its eyes; the completely deformed soul in the distant mist seemed to be waiting for something.

But what he awaited was the power from the other shore dragging him into the mist.

It silently screamed, finally sinking into the sea along with the boat.

The mist and sea vanished.

Lena walked to her sister’s side, noticing the tear marks on her face... the owner of the already dry marks turned in silence: "Did you see, my sister? Joe’s soul had long been deformed; if I had kept him that moment, he would have turned into one of the most terrifying types of Chaos Demons."

"But you ultimately didn’t keep him," Nameless was already standing at the open passage, looking at Anna, the smiling deity spoke.

"Yes, because we are mages, and he had fallen into an irredeemable wizard; it is indeed a pity he did not live in Malin’s era, otherwise the World Tree might have saved his soul, but... his fate had long reached a full stop." Anna said, bowing to the deity before her: "Today, you have unraveled my doubts, allowed me to understand many secrets that people like me should not have known. I will be proud of my daughter, her vision far surpasses mine as a mother, few women on this world could recognize a savior before he becomes a savior."

"Maybe you’ll soon regret it, mortal," Nameless said, turning to the portal.

"I never will regret it, just as my daughter never complained in front of me." Anna said, watching the deity leave.

At this time, Lena walked to Anna’s side; her head maid looked at her mistress with curiosity: "I can tell you once had feelings for him."

"Yes, to quote a line from Malin’s book, I loved." Having said this, the mistress walked towards the exit.

Trailing behind her, the head maid raised an eyebrow: "Aren’t you worried about Malin’s issue?"

"What is there to worry about? Such matters of mending the heaven are not for me to comment on; I just hope my daughter won’t regret, though she probably never will."

Here, reaching the exit, the mistress turned to her head maid: "That is enough, Thainan has poets saying, one must seize joy in life, I think my daughter will never regret her life, even if her Malin is, in fact, an old man."

"You mean to say, they are truly in love... aren’t you?" The head maid walked in front of her mistress and said with a smile.

"Yes, this world has so many who share the same bed but dream different dreams, and so many who endure hardship together; compared to that, what does my daughter have to complain about?" The mistress finished, pushing open the door of the sanctuary.