Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 428 - 286: Before the End of the Competition (Part 2)

Chapter 428: Chapter 286: Before the End of the Competition (Part 2)

When Malin returned to the villa, he noticed the mouse maids were busy cleaning: "I remember we just cleaned it yesterday."

Then he saw the sand on the carpet, some dirty footprints, and some men’s clothing thrown in front of the bathroom door.

It was not the man of this villa, but another man.

So Malin pushed open the bathroom door, and before he could see what was in the mist, he heard the voice of a boy in the midst of puberty: "Who is it, didn’t I say not to come in?"

"Who are you?" Malin was curious. Beside him, Lorrin worked the pump of the shotgun, Fio stood with Blood Roar ready, and Melo gripped two revolvers.

"Of course I’m the master here! Who are you!" A head emerged from the mist, and Malin was taken aback—this half-grown lad looked pretty tall.

Thinking this, Malin looked down... was he really just a child?

"Malin Gaiate."

"Joe Mowish."

They declared their names at the same time, and Malin raised his eyebrows: "You’re Faye’s brother."

"You’re that Malin!" The youngster shrieked: "No way! How can you be so short!"

Lorrin pumped the shotgun once more, Fio pointed Blood Roar’s blade at the lad, and Melo drew another pair of revolvers from subspace.

Malin waved his hand and three saplings of the World Tree languidly laid down their arms: "Don’t underestimate me."

"Hmph! You’re even shorter than me!" The lad said this, puffing out his chest: "How could my sister possibly fall for a shorty like you! Are you even grown up?!"

After speaking, the Sydney gorilla looked at Malin with a face full of defiance.

Malin chuckled, starting to undress.

It was a bit warm, and it was time for a bath.

.........

As soon as Faye entered, she felt the low pressure in the hall.

First, she glanced at the mouse maids and found them happily watching Lorrin clean the corridor, who had transformed into a broom, doing household chores that a World Tree Sapling shouldn’t be doing.

Then she glanced at Malin slumped on the sofa, with Fio feeding him snacks, while Melo held a small fan to cool down their master.

Noticing Faye’s gaze, Malin smiled and raised his hand to wave: "Welcome back, dear."

"Mm, I’m back." Faye was a little happy. After greeting Malin, she noticed her brother sitting at the long table: "Ah, little brother, you finally came back."

She happily walked over, looking at her brother who had grown taller than her, Faye reached out to pat his back: "What’s wrong?"

Her brother, who had been anxiously clutching his head since his sister entered, mechanically turned his neck to look at her.

"How could it be so big!"

Faye was full of question marks.

Then she watched as her brother wailed and held his head as he went upstairs.

It probably wasn’t a mutation, otherwise, this dumb little brother would have been killed by Fio when he passed by its side.

"What’s wrong with my brother." Faye decided to ask Malin—asking her beloved was never wrong, he should know something.

"Nothing much, just that the two men compared sizes, and he lost quite badly at that game." Malin said while gesturing for Faye to come over.

So Faye walked up to Malin and sat on his lap: "You men are really boring."

"Men, they are beings who have a competitive spirit in every aspect. Whether the wife is beautiful, whether there’s money in the pocket, whether the house is big, even the tools in hand, all must be judged in size and caliber," said Malin, slumped on the sofa with gravity, while Faye, keeping a straight face, reached out to twist his little face.

Malin puckered his mouth in a way that had been long absent.

This petulant display of discontent eventually made Faye laugh, and she leaned down to kiss Malin’s forehead: "You should teach Little Nine and the others a new recipe tonight."

"Sure, by the way, has the time for the finals been set?"

After the quarterfinal matches were over, the last four semifinal matches would finish today, and after the final two teams were decided, the tournament would give a long break to let both teams compete in the best condition.

Of course, if there were injuries, this break wouldn’t accommodate the injured players—after all, an arm reattached wouldn’t return to its former state in less than half a year.

"In ten days, for the lower grades, it’s the Church of Justice versus the Church of the Goddess of the Night, for the middle grades it’s the Church of the War God versus the Church of Justice, and for the higher grades, it’s the Church of the War God versus the Church of the Goddess of the Night. This time, our higher grade team has become famous, as the Church of Justice’s high-grade team misses the finals for the first time in two centuries," Faye said, then turned and sat beside Malin.

The room door was pushed open, and the two ladies of the house walked in.

"Mother, Mom." Faye stood up to greet them.

Malin also got up, "Madam, welcome back."

"Ah, I must admit that our little corner indeed has a talent for Spiritual Energy," Faye’s mother said, puzzling the young ones with her words before heading towards the bathroom, noticing the clothes in the laundry basket: "Sister Manli, you’re back."

"Ah... right, where’s my child?" Manli glanced around.

Saya and Malin raised their hands and pointed to the ceiling.

"Tired from the train ride and went upstairs to rest, my poor child." At this, Manli turned to look at Faye and said, "Mr. Malin, I am very sorry about the last time."

"It’s nothing, Madam, but I would rather not have a next time."

Once Manli’s mother had left, Faye turned her head, "What happened to her again?"

"Nothing much, just hasn’t learned to keep a secret, that’s all."

Faye listened to the response, tried to discern if there was any special meaning, then shook her head in resignation.

Speaking of which, it had been some days since she had last seen Manli’s mother’s young maid. The young girl instinctively felt there was an issue but ultimately decided against pondering further—like Malin said, this matter is none of my business.

With that thought, Faye turned her head, only to find Malin slowly collapsing on the sofa. She paused, unsure of what was happening, then watched as the boy slumped over the armrest... and started snoring deeply.

Finally, Faye smiled and sighed, leaned down, and kissed his face.

Sweet dreams, my love.

.........

After bathing, Mother and Mom left—they said Father was hosting a banquet at the Royal Palace. Although Mother wanted to wake Malin, seeing him sleep so soundly, she eventually allowed Faye and Malin to stay behind.

They, of course, didn’t forget about Joe, who seemed to have overcome his recent defeat. As he left with Mother, he hugged his sister.

"I will definitely rescue you from the clutches of this devil! Sister!" he said with a serious face.

Then he was sent flying out the door by Faye’s Psychic Palm.

Don’t disturb your sister’s world of two, get lost!

In the kitchen later, Jessica returned with Maya, Lillim and Clovis were back, and the last to return was Matilda bringing good news—the Church of Justice had commissioned her as a purchaser to order a thousand high-precision rifle-barreled Sharpshooter rifles from Malin’s workshop.

The Church of Justice is the most reliable trading partner in this world, praised by both the Eastern Kingdom and devils—although the former might fight the Church, they have to admit that without it, at least seven famines would have swept through the kingdom in the last century.

As lawful evil beings, the latter cannot trade directly with the Church, but their representatives in Mark City have traded with the Church’s extraplanar believers. They say that as long as they don’t foolishly alter the contracts, business can be done.

But devils not modifying contracts... that’s basically impossible. There might be an odd one or two who value life more than alignment, but most devils will try to cheat in these deals.

Thus, it’s usually the devils who tamper with the deals who end up being killed en masse.

On hearing this, Faye immediately said that once Malin woke up, he should prioritize this order.

"By the way, has Brother Malin been very busy lately?" Maya hadn’t seen Malin much recently and was curious about his sleeping posture, which resembled a Thainese Cat with half of his body hanging off the armrest and cushion and the other half outside the couch, with his head resting on the floor.

"Yes, he’s either at the research facility during the day or being dragged to various meetings and parties. When the church troops were still around, he even had to find time to discuss tactics with the apprentices, and at night, he writes novels until late, sometimes even pulling all-nighters." Faye’s expression showed her heartache, "I want to tell Malin that writing novels should only be a hobby, but he is eager to advance sooner."

"Don’t let Malin write novels tonight, let’s carry him to bed," proposed Lillim.

"Won’t that make Malin unhappy?" Jessica worried.

"If he’s unhappy, we’ll just tie him up."

Then the girls heard the sound of something falling to the ground; they turned their heads and saw Malin sliding off the couch.

"He still didn’t wake up?" After a while, Jessica kept watching Malin continue to sleep in a twisted pose, shook her head helplessly, "I agree with Lillim’s method now."

The girls nodded in agreement.

Then they watched as Maya pulled out a rope from her Spatial Bag.

Faye frowned and asked, "Maya, what are you doing with that rope?"

"Didn’t you say we were going to tie Brother up?" Maya looked curious.

Her sisters all covered their foreheads with their hands.

Embarrassed, Faye smiled and said, "I think your brother won’t be unhappy; after all, we’re all here with him, so there’s nothing to be unhappy about."

Maya thought for a moment, "That makes sense." She nodded, then went over and picked up her brother.

"I’ll take Brother back to his room first."

After saying that, Maya carried Malin off towards the second floor.

Leaving behind the stunned girls.

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