Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 251: Section 185: Familiar Strangers (Part Three)

Chapter 251: Section 185: Familiar Strangers (Part Three)

After dinner with the girls, Malin discussed today’s intelligence with everyone in the living room.

Firstly, the chaos in the city council had been purified, which had relieved Malin and the girls. However, up to now, there had been no news linking this chaos to the series of violent cases.

They had already informed old Hoffman, who had said he would investigate thoroughly—after all, it was a matter concerning the followers of the Goddess of Harvest Church. In Malin’s view, such a matter would be unforgivable in any Church.

Then there was Elsa Moka. This news had also been confirmed by Faye, and Malin had even heard the name of the only heir to the Moka family now.

Rewo Moka.

Rewo means ’little river’ in the common tongue, a very poetic name, which piqued Malin’s curiosity. He wondered if the slight connection with Elsa was because she also hailed from Earth, only separated by time—she had arrived a century earlier, while he had come a century later.

So, Malin wanted to meet her, although this meeting might be very late. However, at least he wanted to see the last appearance of the Moka family.

Perhaps, once the child of the Moka family married, the entire family would thus vanish into the river of time... For some reason, when Malin felt Elsa was similar to him, he began to feel regret for her and her family.

There’s a saying that time spares no one.

"Speaking of which, when I heard something had happened in the Western District today, I was wondering if you might be there," Faye’s words drew Malin’s attention to her. The girl was wearing a robe, looking at Malin with some worry in her eyes. "I’m starting to understand my Leman mother, worrying about her loved one... even though I’m supposed to dislike her, every time I think about how she loved Father, I find her impossible to resent."

"Silly girl, don’t worry, the chaos that can take me down hasn’t been born yet," Malin said with a smile.

"I know... I just hope you’ll think of us more when you do things, Malin," Faye said.

Malin nodded, agreeing with a "sure," which finally brought a smile to the girl’s face. "Okay, it’s getting very late. Let’s rest for today. Clovis will keep you company tonight."

So the other girls left one by one. Malin watched them disappear into the corridor on the second floor, then turned to look at Clovis.

The Bunny Girl was blushing, seemingly a bit shy.

What’s there to be shy about? After all, they had all been so open with each other. Holding this thought, he led the girl back to the room. This time, Malin decided to hold the Bunny Girl in his arms while sleeping. Once he embraced her, Malin felt healed—hey, fluffy like a big plush toy, super comforting to touch, and warm. Malin thought it criminal that such a cute Bunny Girl might be unloved by anyone.

"Do you like this, Mr. Malin?" asked the Bunny Girl curiously.

"Of course," Malin buried his face in her fluff.

A true gentleman ought to be calm as a still pond, all of his faculties geared toward survival.

..........

Opening his eyes, Malin gazed at the familiar yet strange ceiling for a moment, then turned to look beside him. Clovis was gone again, the warm and soft Bunny Girl who had cuddled with him had once more lost contact after falling asleep with Malin.

Sitting in the rocking chair, it felt as if he had loaded a save file in a game. Malin shook his head and then stood up, walking to the window to look out into the night.

He sighed, beside him the fire in the stove was burning. The chimney seemed to have been modified later, because when Malin had been to the Mage Tower before, there had not been such a thing.

With this thought, Malin fell silent—come to think of it, how had he entered this world again?

This certainly wasn’t a dream. With that in mind, Malin glanced at the door on the second floor. The door was open, but Malin did not want to go up. Although Clovis was upstairs, that old Bunny Girl would clearly not be willing to be held like a bunny cushion as Malin was familiar with.

If he rashly went up, whether he would be bitten to death by Fio or blown away by that old Bunny Girl with a Shotgun, that really was a question.

The entire city still had no sound, except for the mechanical noises coming from afar, which bored Malin.

He walked to the bookshelf beside him and pulled out a book to glance at the spine, seeing the title "Forever Lost My Love."

It looked like a romance novel. Malin turned a few pages and found it was a story of love and hate between two boys.

He inhaled deeply, put the book back on the shelf, and then picked up another book.

"Neon Genesis Evangelion"—Malin paused, confirmed the title, and with some eagerness started flipping through, only to return it to the shelf with a sigh.

The number had increased.

With such regret and exclamation, Malin drew out the third book.

There was no title, and it looked like a diary. Malin flipped open a page and discovered it was the journal of Clovis’s foster father, many pages torn out. On the last page, Malin saw only two lines of text.

I couldn’t save my daughter, not even once.

I begged the God of Justice for help, if he really could hear, then please send an angel to save my daughter.

The room was silent, and the mechanical roar came from outside the window. Malin finally closed the diary and put it back where it belonged.

The sound of the door being pulled open came from behind, and Malin turned his head to see a fluffy old rabbit making her way downstairs.

She yawned, and then her open mouth couldn’t close as she stared at Malin, frozen as if under an Immobilization Spell, until Malin took out a bottle of hair regrowth serum from his Spatial Bag, "You’re losing fur, try this."

The old Bunny Girl screamed and returned behind the door, after a while, she appeared at the top of the stairs in a robe.

"You disappeared for a week," she asked.

"I’ve been living in my world for a while, it seems the passage of time is quite fair," Malin said, putting the medicine on the table. "Besides, you don’t need to be shy. I’ve already reached the stage with Clovis of my world where we warm each other, and the fur on her chest is both warm and fragrant."

"I’m not your Clovis," the old Bunny Girl blushed, then came downstairs and slipped into one of the bathrooms.

Malin glanced at the second floor, Faye’s compound eyes were shining in the dark. Thinking it over, he let Fio bear a fruit on his arm and then tossed it upstairs.

Though Faye was puzzled and cautious, the allure of the fruit to a Spirit was too great. Finally, Faye ate the fruit and seemed very happy.

Then Malin threw another fruit up, which Faye ate immediately this time.

If this were a game, Malin thought a line of text should pop up over that big scorpion’s head—"You’ve earned Faye’s friendship."

Too bad it wasn’t, so Malin eventually sat down and waited until Clovis came out of the room.

"Your one-week absence was actually a good thing for me. You being here has disrupted my peaceful life," the Bunny Girl said, looking unhappy.

Malin felt a bit awkward and scratched his nose, "Sorry, I just laid down with Clovis of my world and then I was here."

This made the old Bunny Girl fall silent for a moment, then she stared at Malin, "Did you do it?"

"What happened between us was innocent," Malin honestly admitted, feeling a strong desire to survive when it came to this question.

"...Of course, I guess you haven’t even grown fur," the old Bunny Girl said, seeming somewhat proud as she puffed out her chest, "You’re still just a kid after all."

Malin grinned, not minding the old Bunny Girl’s provocation, "True, but at least I gave Clovis of my world happiness. What about you?"

The old Bunny Girl fell silent, then looked down, and finally took a Shotgun off the weapon rack beside her.

Malin raised his hands in surrender, "It was you who provoked me first!"

The old Bunny Girl knew how this hurtful scene began; she snorted and put the Shotgun back in its place, "I think being single is quite nice. The Clovis from your world seems like quite the coward to me."

Malin shook his head, looking at the Bunny Girl before him, "Not at all, my Clovis is very strong, with courage and perseverance that you can’t compare."

In Malin’s opinion, his Clovis was the best.

The old Bunny Girl didn’t seem to want to continue the argument. She turned her attention to the hair restoration serum, "Did you make this?"

"No, you made it yourself. I was just responsible for putting in some funds, earning the status of an original shareholder," Malin said, picking up the bottle of serum and tossing it to the old Bunny Girl who, despite her age, caught it effortlessly, "I’ll give it a try. It’s still early; when the sun rises, I’ll go hunting. How long are you staying this time?"

"I don’t know. Maybe the next second I’ll feel tired and fall asleep. The last time, I returned to my own world after falling asleep," Malin said, watching the old Bunny Girl.

"...What a convenient way. It’s been a long time since I saw a Carterburg where people live..." As the old Bunny Girl spoke, she walked to a shelf, took down a box that appeared to be a camera, and handed it to Malin together with a small booklet, "Can you help me take a picture? This is the camera and the instructions."

"No problem, Clovis," Malin said with a smile as he took the camera and booklet, putting them into his Spatial Bag, "You should go to sleep. I’m going out to take a look."

"I told you, it’s very dangerous outside," the old Bunny Girl said.

And the two World Tree Saplings in Malin’s hands began to transform... Fio turned into a short bow, and the other became an arrow.

"World Tree Saplings, two of them... You’re really lucky, Malin," Clovis remarked while looking at Malin, this time with much less caution in her eyes.

"It’s because I have special survival skills," Malin replied with a smile, then opened the door and, before closing it, smiled at Clovis inside, "Goodnight, Clovis, may you have sweet dreams."

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.