Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1094: Section 685: Let’s Count (1)

Chapter 1094: Section 685: Let’s Count (1)

With the authority of his words, this middle-aged man perhaps had a thousand reasons not to, but after hearing Malin’s question, under a shame he couldn’t control, he ultimately came before Malin, begging for judgment and mercy from Malin.

Therefore, when he took his own life by swallowing a gun, no one could truly understand what happened here, not even that audacious young man, who simply believed that the Earl had his mind shattered by Malin’s renown, ultimately leading to a self-destructive path.

The young man was puzzled, for in essence, this could not be blamed on Lord Malin—you say he incited the army, but he held the rank of Marshal; you say he forced the noble to suicide, but everyone present saw that the deceased willingly accepted death.

And Malin would not give them this opportunity, he walked toward the top of the collapsed wall.

The Chaos gave Malin no chance, they had already clashed together, and unlike his soldiers charging against those damn Chaos, Malin turned to look downward.

The young soldiers were parting to create a path, in Malin’s eyes, a young man covered in dust, smelling nothing like a Crown Prince, approached with his subordinates.

"Daniel, you failed to fulfill your promise to me." Malin greeted the young man calmly.

Even though the latter had bandages around his shaven head, with bloodstains on them.

Faced with Malin’s question, the young man lowered his head in shame: "I’m sorry, Your Lordship, I messed everything up."

"Now I have a few questions, and I want you, Crown Prince, to give me an answer." Malin stepped down from the ruin, coming before this young man, somewhat eagerly seeking answers.

"You do not have the right to question our Crown Prince." An old noble stepped forward.

This made Malin shake his head: "Where’s old Constantine, and Marshal Sergei, why haven’t I seen our two Marshals?"

"Marshal Constantine died in Słupsk, and Marshal Sergei along with the 13th regiment from his hometown, blocked the pursuing Chaos on the retreat to Merno...Our Sharpshooter team searched the battlefield and couldn’t find Marshal Sergei’s body...only his badge."

Daniel and his staff dared not answer, only Sudel stepped forward, handing a damaged badge to Malin.

Malin was silent, these two old fellows, though flawed in their ways, shared the same view with Malin in terms of military, which was that only a strong army could confront the Chaos invasion face to face, for which they had given Malin much leeway in training his troops.

They just died like that, unclear and unnoticed, dying in silence.

Malin sighed deeply, turning to Sudel: "Did the two Marshals leave any words?"

"Marshal Constantine said he was very sorry, that he couldn’t fulfill his promise to you." A voice from the perimeter made Malin turn his head, and he saw Link, this young man had lost his left arm, the wound just bandaged, followed by two soldiers wearing medical officer badges.

"Where’s your brother?" Malin frowned.

"...Killed in action, my brother and our regiment died on the front line a week ago." Reaching this point, no stubbornness remained on the young man’s face, he lowered his head, and big tears rolled down his face.

"...And Marshal Sergei, did he give any final words to anyone?" Malin looked around the crowd.

This time, it was the Crown Prince Daniel who spoke up: "Marshal Sergei wanted me to tell you...he wished to take all the blame on himself, he wanted me to tell you, that it was he and Marshal Constantine who failed to take care of us useless young ones."

By the end, the young man also shed tears: "I’m sorry, Your Lordship, I couldn’t fulfill Marshal Sergei’s final order."

"...Are you guilty?" Malin asked.

"Guilty, Your Lordship, I was indecisive, I listened to nonsense, I didn’t seriously consider the proposals from various regiment leaders and joint chief officers, if I could choose not to engage in a decisive battle with the Chaos at Słupsk, but to retreat while fighting, we wouldn’t have suffered such losses, I... I made too many mistakes, Your Lordship." The Crown Prince tried hard to control himself, and Malin did not pressure him—a Crown Prince, after a defeat, able to clearly recognize his own mistakes and speak coherently, and most importantly—he did not reveal which cronies gave him those bad ideas.

This point was very important, as a leader, he did not attribute his mistakes to his staff, nor did he shirk responsibility, which was his way to survive, thus, Malin ultimately did not convict him—the young man had the right to make one mistake, no one is born a military god, Daniel clearly realized his errors, thus for this time, his guilt was not capital.

But since he would not die, someone had to take responsibility for the deaths of so many soldiers, so Malin turned to look at that old noble.

"And you, are you guilty?"

The old noble knelt down: "I, during the harshest times of the battle, continued to lead a life of debauchery and excess, I am guilty, Lord Malin..." By the end, the old man looked up: "I, I am willing to enter the Atonement Camp, I will wash away my sins with the blood of Chaos and my own life."

"No problem." Malin nodded in agreement.

The sins confessed by this old man, in Malin’s eyes, were enough to justify shooting him, but considering the Atonement Camp was more suitable for a guilty life, and since he brought it up himself in public, why not let the guilty soul do as he said, let him wash his sins away with the blood of Chaos and his life?

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