Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 451: Section 305: LeParrain (5)

Chapter 451: Section 305: LeParrain (5)

As they drew closer to the massive oak grown from the World Tree Sapling nurtured by Fio, both wizards and mages could feel the pure Spiritual Energy emanating from it, which was particularly profound for the wizards.

The wizards from the Eastern Kingdom eventually knelt before the great tree, weeping bitterly. In front of this grand oak cultivated from the World Tree Sapling, they had finally fully rid themselves of the distortions and pain caused by their long-standing contact with the Subspace.

The person in charge of the Arcane Fist eventually decided to hand these wizards over to Malin—after detecting the wizards, they found no traces of Chaos corruption on them anymore.

"I am beginning to wonder who your Prophet might be," he said, "had he appeared before me earlier, I surely would not have allowed Selena to die in vain."

Malin felt terrible.

"I apologize, Mr. Malin," the leader of the Arcane Fist spoke as he knelt before the great tree, "When I was very young, I received help from an Assistant Priest of the Church of the Lord of Justice. He told me that far across the Golden Prairie, there was a divine tree known as the World Tree, which would protect the souls of the blessed from eternal calamity... You are one of the blessed, this must be a new sprout from the Sapling’s fruit, praise the Lord of Justice, our world now has a refuge in this present life..." he finished, then bowed his head, "I wish to become a guardian of the Holy Tree and at the same time keep watch over these wizards."

"Captain..." his team members approached.

"Victor, take everyone back," the middle-aged man addressed the younger members, "I have found my place. Tell his Excellency the Bishop that I am here, waiting for an assassin who could claim my life."

The latter shook his head, "Let’s stay together; we did not fulfill our mission for the Arcane Fist... My brother has always wanted to find a paradise... This must be it, right?"

These mages of the Arcane Fist ultimately settled down as neighbors to the wizards in a farmstead.

Malin, left with no other choice, grew curious about the Prophet the wizards spoke of, but the wizard named Semmi Mikhailovich indicated that the Prophet had never met any of them face-to-face—not just them, but all the wizards of this world had never seen the Prophet, they could only occasionally see him in dreams.

"It’s a world shrouded in fog, where the Prophet sits at a long table. During each meeting, only the wizards he selects are qualified to sit on either side of the table," he explained.

"Completely at random?"

"Yes, I’ve even seen a wizard from the East once. It’s certain that he must be a true deity, unrelated to Chaos. His suggestions are mostly systematic, and sometimes he would assign us tasks, sometimes asking for information about the mortal world, but more often it was prophecies," Mikhailovich elaborated.

Malin was confused by Semmi’s answer—just what was this Prophet really?

However... it seemed pointless to think too much about it. With that thought, Malin decided to go tell Colin that the orphanage’s address had been chosen—the north of the Holy Oak Tree had a plain, which Malin had previously claimed, and decided that the orphanage’s new address would be set there.

As for Selena, Malin didn’t quite know what to do; fortunately, the Tower Master of the Mage Tower had reached an agreement with Malin, announcing that all wizards and members of the Arcane Fist were taken away. Then they used a teleportation portal to send them to build a small village east of the Holy Oak Tree, where all adults changed their appearances with transformation spells to assume the identities of newcomers seeking refuge.

The wizards chose to place their children in the orphanage.

Malin was surprised by this decision, but considering the clear harm that their precarious conditions during their flight had caused the children, the wizards felt it would be better for the children to leave them.

In the end, Malin agreed to their request.

Meanwhile, these children, along with their wizard parents, became part of an experiment conducted by Malin—he intended to test the effects of the Holy Oak Tree.

Approximately a mile and a half away from the farmstead, the wizards could receive blessings from the great tree, alleviating the aberrations and distortions brought by Chaos. Selena’s deformities in the North City District were visible to the naked eye, nearly five miles away in a straight line from the Holy Oak Tree. Malin wished to see how far the Holy Oak Tree’s effects could reach and the extent of its attenuation.

The experiment was estimated to take about half a year. After setting up the tasks, Malin left it to the Mage Tower to handle, then sent a messenger to visit Jason Stansen’s house to inform them that the child would be placed in the new orphanage.

According to the messenger’s reply, Jason expressed his gratitude for Malin’s arrangements and sent back a sealed letter with the messenger.

After reading it once, Malin found that Jason expressed thanks for his arrangements in the letter. Out of trust in Malin, he boldly admitted that he would not give up on the child, but due to family reasons, he could only watch as the child was sent away—essentially handing over all leverage to Malin.

Malin admitted that he was startled by Jason’s boldness—in an era when mere mention of a wizard could cause fear, it was almost treacherous for him to so openly share his thoughts amongst the Nobles.

But because of this, Malin felt that the young man truly trusted him.

Since someone had placed such trust in him, Malin wouldn’t squander it. He sent word back to Jason via the messenger, promising to take good care of his child.

When everything had settled, Malin went to the rural burial grounds, not to bid a final farewell to Selena—the Mage Tower had cremated her, and since neither Noble family chose to accept her ashes, she was buried there.

As per his arrangement with Jason, Malin exhumed the urn and buried the unfortunate lady at the foot of the Holy Oak Tree.

As Jason implored in his letter, it was to provide Selena with the best final resting place.

And as the weather grew colder, Malin found himself more frequently in old Hoffman’s office.

Time had made the old man increasingly emaciated, almost skeletal, with the exception of his eyes that remained bright. The delight in his eyes was unmistakable when he saw Malin.

"I heard you took care of a wizard, right?"

About Selena, old Hoffman had also heard, and since he asked, Malin naturally responded.

"Yes, you should have already heard, I do not want to expose this before it matures. After all, the arrival of a large number of wizards may not only be beneficial for our city. Among the wizards, besides those who yearn for the light, there will certainly be those who are intoxicated with Chaos. Therefore, I plan to use these Eastern Kingdom wizards to let them notify other wizards with the same mindset through the conference of that Prophet, first to gather those who yearn for the light, and then, I hope those followers of Chaos will fall into the trap themselves."

"Child, your idea is good, go ahead and be bold,"

Old Hoffman subconsciously wanted to stroke Malin’s head. Seeing his trembling and withered hand, Malin knelt down, then placed his hand atop his own head: "My mentor, do you have any other wishes?"

"I want to see the child of you and Colin born, but it seems there’s no time left. So, Malin, my child... Can you come to that world, to see me one last time?"

Old Hoffman looked at Malin, waiting for something.

Malin nodded, "I will come to see you one last time, my mentor."

"Thank you, my child. Let us end this bitter path together."

......

By the second week, old Hoffman’s spirit had also started to deteriorate.

Things were ready on Ails’s side. At least one team of Legendary Paladins had visited his domain in the previous week. In his words, it was like a gang of robbers had entered his home. If it weren’t for the Lord of Justice backing him up, he feared he might never see Malin again.

To this, Malin could only chuckle—Not seeing me is false; not seeing the girls of Mark City is the truth, isn’t it?

To this, Ails could only laugh, then shift attention elsewhere.

Of course, Malin also had ways to pry news from his mouth—like how Mark City had seen a significant increase in wizard appearances recently. He personally saw several leaders of the more amiable wizard groups from the Eastern Kingdom sitting together, discussing something unknown.

This made Malin very curious—his group of Eastern Kingdom wizards had not yet joined the conference, it seemed the wizards might already know?

Well, then, that Prophet must truly have a worthy name, or else he couldn’t possibly know about such extremely secretive matters.

Of course, the screening among those in the know would also commence to avoid any impostors.

Meanwhile, Malin had exchanged some intel about equipment with Ails—this still happened when Ails saw Malin feeding Milani with an Acorn.

The Lich said, "As a blessed person, do you need to feed a pet with the fruit of the World Tree? Do you know how expensive this thing is in some places?"

"It’s not that expensive. The potions I make from these fruits only sell for around a thousand on the black market."

"...In Mark City, this thing could be five times as much. Something that can save your life at a critical moment is definitely a highly prized rarity."

"How about these bullets then?" Malin took out the enchanted bullets he had made.

"How much is your cost?" Ails asked after a long look, his soul fire changing as he looked back at Malin: "Do you know these can penetrate my Soul Box defense? Electrum banishing bullets."

"Yes, I made them myself; the cost is not expensive."

"But in Mark City, its weight in Electrum, because I can tell, the magic pattern is inscribed with the essence of the World Tree, right? For the Undead, this is truly the knell of doom." Ails shook his head: "I feel that compared to you, I’m starting to lose touch with the value of these things."

"At least I won’t use it to shoot you, rest assured."

"...You say it so dangerously, yet I feel indeed you’re not wrong. Life in this world is treacherous." Ails crossed his arms over his pelvis: "Trust me, my friend, if you really have to sell these things in the future, remember, trade with me, let me also earn a bit alongside you."

"You want to be a middleman?"

"Of course, I can say this, I can always find a new owner for the trash in your hands." Ails said this, glancing at the Holy Oak leaf on Bippo’s body: "That leaf..."

"Expensive?"

"In the hands of Clerics, it’s excellent Alchemy material. Your world doesn’t understand its use, and in many places, this thing is a material for Legendary potions, so, remember my words, trading is about finding a new owner for the trash in your hands who desperately seeks it."

Malin nodded, indicating he took the advice to heart.

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