Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 495 - 332: A New Journey (Part 1)

Chapter 495: Chapter 332: A New Journey (Part 1)

Stepping out of the portal, Malin saw Colin, this young man who had been waiting there. As Malin appeared, he opened his mouth as if wanting to ask something, but in the end, he just trembled with a faint smile.

Without speaking, he understood what it meant for Malin to return alone.

He and Malin were now the last descendants of this branch of the sect.

"I’ll cover the expenses for the orphanage. Do your job well as its director, and don’t let the instructor down," said Malin as he patted Colin’s back.

The man finally started to choke up.

"Stop crying. I witnessed him walking deep into the wilderness with a girl. The Nameless has apparently been protecting the souls of all uncorrupted sect members for a long time," Malin shared what he had seen and analyzed.

This provided a lot of comfort to Colin, who pointed to himself and asked, "Then what about me... will I be able to see the instructor again someday?"

"...Maybe on the day you die of old age, the instructor will come to see you," Malin consoled.

Actually, Malin dared not make such an assurance, but seeing the hopeful look in Colin’s eyes, he could only speak in this way.

"Before that, live a good life with Margaret. When you are too old to walk, and you look back on your life, you will realize that you have not lived in vain. Your life has been in service to the Secret Keepers. You have given those children, who otherwise might not have survived, a new path in life. When the instructor comes to see you, you will surely have many stories to tell him. By then you two could talk for so long, maybe even long enough to make Margaret jealous."

"...Thank you." Colin nodded vigorously, "I... I’ll go tell Margaret that my life has changed because of you. Thank you, Malin."

"Don’t thank me, thank my father. If he hadn’t taken me home, all of this, your lives, might have been a different story," Malin finished. Colin’s face broke into a smile, "You’re right. That’s why I need to thank you even more, Malin. What are your plans next?"

"To build more factories, make more money, train more workers, and ensure that everyone who serves me understands their mission in life as humans," said Malin. By now, he and Colin had left the hall of the teleportation tower. He glanced at the crowd in the streets, silently carrying on their mission with placards in hand, "Of course, I need to take care of some people first. Old Hoffman is gone, and some might think the sky has changed. I need to make them understand that the main fighter for the Benevolent Church of the Goddess of Harvest in Carterburg has changed, and the newcomer likes making people submit through virtue even more."

......

True to his word, the editor-in-chief of the Light of Carterburg newspaper fell into the sea a few days ago, and is still in the hospital of the Benevolent Church receiving treatment today. His newspaper office caught fire in the middle of the night; the blaze went from the first floor to the fourth, turning the entire building to ashes, though fortunately without any casualties.

Before dawn the next day, the police received a call that the most vocal cake shop owner in the Union’s sudden death of a dozen cows in the barn, the postmortem by the vet showed that they died from cerebral artery rupture.

Half an hour later, the Church of the Goddess of the Night received a tip that the Union’s local tool shop owner was suspected of dealings with Chaos. The assault troops found tools related to Sinspawn in his workshop cellar and also recovered a child who had previously gone missing.

After fifteen minutes, the newly appointed Bishop of the Goddess of Harvest, Malin Gaiate, caught a Chaotic Believer in the street, who confessed to being a survivor from the Chaotic Believers who were killed before. He admitted that Guda from the Union ushered them into the city.

Based on the testimony, the assault team of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest, in conjunction with the Church of the Lord of Justice, took action against the Union. The members of the city’s Union were caught in one fell swoop.

The Capital’s law firm serving the Union announced that its members had been killed by the forces of Chaos and an attempt was made to frame the workers. The Carterburg branch of the Union was shut down by the public safety action team.

The Malin Group resumed operations on the same day, and the workers dispersed and returned to their work.

As for how they dealt with the traitor, Malin turned a deaf ear—the Church acted without seeking procedural justice, but rather to ensure that the punishment fit the crime.

What differential treatment members of the commerce guild might receive in prison wasn’t something Malin needed to concern himself with.

And when people found out that Malin had slain a Chaos Evil God (although Malin repeatedly explained that it was due to home field advantage plus equipment superiority), they couldn’t help their wild speculations. A week later, even Lady Anna came by to confirm whether her son-in-law really had three heads.

How could that be possible?

Although Malin was extremely humble every time, Lady Anna pointed out that Malin indeed had slain an existence on the level of a Chaos Evil God—while this wasn’t a particularly powerful Evil God, as a recognized Evil God, the aura Malin carried with him was that of a godslayer.

Of course, since he didn’t kill a particularly strong deity, Malin’s aura would seem quite appropriate in the eyes of higher deities—after all, it was but ants fighting amongst themselves.

But in the eyes of those lesser divine forces, Malin’s presence held a significant warning, and these lesser divine forces would make choices based on their own alignments. For example, those of the same good alignment—lawful good and neutral good—would maintain a relatively good relationship with Malin, while chaotic good divine forces would try to keep their distance from him.

As for other alignments, they would likely keep a crazed distance from Malin within visibly discernible range, or come at him with the intent to fight to the death.

This would typically depend on the lesser divine forces’ alignments.

Malin felt that the more debts, the less worry; the more lice, the less itch—after all, he had already killed that Chaotic Evil God and fulfilled his promise to old Hoffman, ending the old man’s suffering.

Lady Anna affirmed Malin’s optimistic spirit and also visited her daughter in the hospital—Faye had suffered from an allergy to pollen and was still hospitalized, covered in red spots that made Malin incredibly pained.

For this, Lady Anna wasn’t overly concerned: "My daughter has been allergic since she was a child; I thought she wouldn’t have such troubles in a cold place like Carterburg."

You could certainly think that way, but fresh flowers blooming warmly indoors are hard to withstand.

Malin’s first thought was that someone wanted to harm Faye, as using allergens for murder wasn’t unheard of in his previous world. Later, he found out that Faye had been to the library that day, and the pot of flowers there had been blooming indoors for a week. For flowers that could bloom out of season in the dismal weather of Carterburg, everyone who came to read showed a delighted demeanor.

The flowers were grown by the wife of the library director, who reportedly had been obsessed with flowers all her life, a true flower fanatic.

Lady Anna saw no issue and didn’t test, but Malin felt it was inappropriate—the simpler the situation, the more he suspected there was something hidden.

Then, after examining the library director’s wife, they discovered her memory had been manipulated.

The chosen flowers had a long blooming period and a fragrant scent.

It turns out, the library director’s wife had purposely grown that particular flower this year, awaiting the day Faye, who owned a library card, would come to return books.

As to who might be the culprit, that was very hard to say.

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