Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 359 - 242: I Have a Dream (1)

Chapter 359: Chapter 242: I Have a Dream (1)

Malin sat on the field for half an hour, during which no one came down to trouble him. The presence of the World Tree Sapling caused many people a great deal of headache—whether to enter the field to prove their innocence or to seek their own death was a very serious proposition.

Ultimately, Malin had no choice but to get off the field. Logan and Cohen looked listless, and upon asking, it was revealed that Malin’s first opponent had come too quickly, and as soon as an opponent entered, the betting pool would refuse further bets, allowing only those who had already wagered to raise their bets.

Thus, they failed to grasp the opportunity to win big, and as soon as the nature of Malin’s weapon was exposed, no one was willing to enter the field anymore.

It was said that the Eastern Kingdom’s prince had at least nine pieces of damning evidence against him, half of which were provided by the Church of the Lord of Justice, which greatly satisfied Malin—true to the Lord of Justice, when it was time to act, there was no hesitation.

"But it’s strange, if they knew what the prince was up to, why didn’t they just kill him with one strike?" Logan looked at Malin with some puzzlement. He had already felt something odd when the Church’s people came over.

"The relationship between the Church of the Lord of Justice and the Eastern Kingdom has been bad; over the past fifty years, they’ve had seven dukes, two princes, and a king fall to our Order of Purification," Matilda joined in.

The young lady had changed back into her Paladin’s uniform. Although she had not recovered her abilities, at Malin’s request, the Lord of Justice had still granted this little fox a decision that made her happy.

"Then shouldn’t you have already had his black material and neatly gotten rid of him?" Cohen asked the little fox.

"The problem is that we have a very good relationship with the Sydney Union. We can’t just casually kill the guy in a friend’s house; we’d then have to engage in a war of words. Those Eastern Kingdom nobles would then slag us in the newspapers. Our Church of the Lord of Justice cares a great deal about its image. There’s a large number of pan-believers in many areas of the Eastern Kingdom, and we can’t give the nobles the chance to smear us. But this time, with Malin using the World Tree Sapling to kill him, it fundamentally solved a big problem for us."

Malin blinked, finding such an answer somewhat exasperating, but, in any case, the World Tree Sapling did not kill the innocent, something universally acknowledged in this world. And with the World Tree Sapling having chopped down the prince in full view of at least a hundred witnesses, with the Church of the Lord of Justice and various victims supporting him, Malin wasn’t subjected to any repercussions.

After all, in this world, a well-behaved citizen accidentally killing a notorious evildoer was, no matter what, something no one would dare to dispute publicly.

As for the Eastern Kingdom’s folks wanting to trouble Malin, well, there was hardly any need for worry. The current King of the Eastern Kingdom had seventeen sons; one less today, Malin figured at least half of the princes would be secretly relieved.

Even if they publicly pronounced the need for vengeance, their assassins would first have to travel from the easternmost part of the Western Human World to the very west, then get hammered to death by the Church of the Lord of Justice’s Punishers, already waiting, due to their accents. The favorite preserved program among the Punishers of the Church was to send the assassins of the Eastern Kingdom straight to the lamppost.

This program was said to have a history of hundreds of years, being preserved ever since the Church of the Lord of Justice was established.

As the group left the arena, Malin also bid farewell to the two brothers from the Quasar family. Although the younger brother was once again thoroughly defeated, it seemed the issues between the brothers were finally resolved.

A reason for celebration, perhaps.

Back at the hotel, Malin began preparing reports for discussions with the various organizations. Whether elves or dwarfs, all were looking forward to the meeting, and Malin did not want to spoil this good fortune, so he wrote diligently all night, listing all the questions that might be asked, and then prepared the answers.

Malin’s core view was that all organizations should share intelligence and then try to produce their favored armors, afterwards sharing all data without reservation or secrecy.

Once prepared, Malin packed up the papers and placed them in a hard leather bag, ready to go to the Church of the Lord of Justice to have them summon everyone for a meeting.

Before leaving the room, Malin turned his head to look at the girls poking their heads out of the bed: "I’m leaving, and I might not be back for dinner tonight."

"Go ahead, I’ll take good care of little sister Clovis," Matilda said with a giggle as she buried herself in Clovis’s embrace, rolling into a bundle amidst her screams.

This damned fox, Malin sighed helplessly and closed the door behind him.

.........

Stepping into the Holy Hall of the Lord of Justice, Earl Roben, as a devout follower of this great being, stopped in front of the deity’s statue, drew the Holy Emblem on his chest, and then deposited a piece of paper money into the donation box.

It was the maximum single donation decreed by the deity.

"Good morning, Baron Messiah." A young Saint Heir approached, standing by Earl Roben’s side: "Whom do you represent today?"

"Your Highness, as you see, I’m dressed like a diplomat. Normally, this matter would be handled by Baron Charlie from the Foreign Office and his team," Earl Roben said while taking out a cigarette case from his suit’s inside pocket. "But my king has great faith in Malin. He says that this future son-in-law won’t let the country down."

"He’s quite confident, isn’t he? But speaking of which, what do you plan to do with that guy from the Eastern Kingdom?"

"What else can we do? Baron Charlie told me when he arrived that if you ask about it, just say that his death was in vain anyway, who let him be killed by the World Tree Sapling." To the end, Earl Roben also agreed with not taking action against Malin—with such a child trusted and favored by the Lord of Justice, wielding a weapon transformed from the World Tree Sapling, it was clear he had no intention of killing anyone. It’s just a pity for Prince Depp from the Eastern Kingdom who obviously had the habits of a scoundrel and dared to embarrass himself in front of the World Tree Sapling. Now well, his head was smashed by a wooden stick, and there was no place to argue.

Apart from the Church of the Lord of Justice who had long wished for his death, the local legal system also wanted to get rid of him, but unfortunately, the fellow had a diplomatic pass, which meant that even if he were captured, at most they could only expel him from the country.

In other words, both the judicial institutions of the Church of the Lord of Justice and the Sydney Union were waiting for someone to step forward and handle this matter for them. Previously, each side’s greatest hope had been the other, but no one had expected a zealous citizen named Malin to take care of it for them, so one way or another, this child was assured protection.

Whoever got entangled in this matter with him, would then become their enemy.

"It seems we agree on this matter," the Saint Heir said with a smile, nodding his head.

"Of course, Malin is one of us." The Earl said this with a smile and clasped hands with the Saint Heir.

And then they both heard the sound of the Holy Hall’s doors being pushed open, and heard the greeter announce the identity of the newcomer: "Your Excellency, the great master of the Dwarves’ workshop."

"Ah, dear Korchakin, it’s been too long!" The Dwarf who came in looked somewhat travel-worn, he came up to the Saint Heir and opened his arms wide. As the half-blood child of a human and an elf, the Saint Heir smiled and leaned in for a hug, "Welcome, my old friend, you’ve finally arrived."

"Me and my friends were deep in the mines when I heard the news. I took seven portals in one breath to get here, and after two hours of settling my uneasy stomach, I came straight over. Has Mr. Malin arrived yet?" After speaking, the Dwarf glanced around the hall, "Oh damn, Elves, Half-humans, Gnomes, how come even they are here?" The Dwarf said unhappily, pointing at Earl Roben.

"This is human land, Dwarf," Earl Roben said, looking up at the Dwarf in front of him.

"Damn humans!"

"Foolish Dwarf."

The banter between the two attracted an Elf who approached with a smile and glanced at them both, "This place belongs to the Lord of Justice."

"You’re not one to lecture me!" The Dwarf huffed and walked away with long strides.

"Excuse me," said Earl Roben, turning his head to leave.

The Elf sighed and then reached out for a hug with the Saint Heir, "My child, it’s been too long."

"It’s been too long, Father," the Saint Heir said with a smile to the Elf in front of him.

"I always thought you were a naughty child, running away from home, but I never thought you’d end up being this great person’s Saint Heir... Why didn’t you write back?" Looking at the Saint Heir, the Elf’s face was full of contentment and regret.

"Because no human postman can deliver mail to Eternal Night Island, ah, Mr. Malin has come." The Saint Heir pointed at the door, the Elf turned around and saw Malin walking in, accompanied by a Fox Paladin with large ears.

"Thank you for showing me the way, Dadapami."

"You’re welcome. I heard you pleaded for Matilda, thank you."

Their conversation was somewhat mystifying to the Elf, but that didn’t affect his ability to go over and shake hands with Malin.

"Hello, I am the plenipotentiary representative of the Elves’ workshop, you can call me Petrov, that’s the name I use in the human world."

"Hello, Your Excellency Petrov," said the child with a smile, shaking hands with him, "And your ambassador companion?"

"Over there, he will be the sole representative of our Elven side in dealings with you while I will show you respect on behalf of the workshop."

"Respect?" The young half-blood seemed not to fully understand, but the Elf understood—after all, many things were not known by this half-sized lad. However, as a new friend, it was only natural to give the child some hints.

"That Prince had ended up on our blacklist many years ago because of an incident involving the slave trading of our people. Hearing news of his death, some would surely be very pleased, thank you." After saying this, the Elf laughed and patted Malin’s shoulder. He was a good kid, although a half-blood, and even one with Frost Giant lineage at that.

But his appearance, his actions, they were all like those of a true Elf, a fine lad indeed.

Thinking this, the Elf smiled and made a gesture of invitation, stepping to one side, "I hope you bring a surprise for everyone in the upcoming meeting."

"I will," he replied with a smile.