Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 497 - 334: A New Journey (Part 3)

Chapter 497: Chapter 334: A New Journey (Part 3)

Malin’s first stop was the wizard village near the Holy Oak—now the village had a few more residents, some of whom had received letters from the first group of settlers. They arrived on-site, half in doubt, only to quickly discover that the facts were indeed as their friends had described.

This was not the whispering and temptation of the Evil God; even a blind man, if he had the slightest transcendent power, could feel the oak’s might and grandeur.

Some of the wizards were said to have attended a meeting and obtained some intelligence. Among them, those who believed in this beautiful story came from one end of the human world to the other and ultimately saw their hopes fulfilled.

The laws of the wizard village were simple—all matters were to be adjudicated by the leading wizard and witch-hunter who had established the village. Should their opinions diverge, Malin would make the final decision.

His visit today was also because a wizard in the village had once again entered that meeting and heard a very interesting story—an old wizard had casually mentioned during a chat with another wizard he was familiar with that Lady Anna’s offspring had been framed. It seemed the culprit had also fooled their adversary.

The wizard at the meeting naturally knew who Lady Anna’s offspring would be—she had only one, Faye Mowish, Malin’s wife.

So he informed Malin at the first opportunity.

After hearing this, Malin remained silent for a long time—the intelligence was too peculiar. He had already considered it an accident; why would such a message circulate among wizards at this time?

Ultimately, Malin passed the message to Lady Anna, hoping she could respond to the situation sooner.

Then he told the wizards not to spread this secret.

The wizards naturally did not disseminate the message.

At the same time, it reaffirmed the adage—sometimes, the more you know, the more pain you feel.

Then he stepped through the opened portal.

The second stop was the dock district, where Malin’s little entourage confirmed a somewhat strange ship—the ship came from the North and, by its appearance, looked like a vessel of the Northern Kingdom, with most of the sailors being Normans and some Mysians, inhabitants of even more northern archipelagos.

The children confirmed something was wrong with the ship, which had been in Carterburg for half a month. Although the winter return voyage might be hindered by frozen sea routes, their daily meal orders were far higher than the number of crew members they could account for.

Malin had three relatively tall buildings in the dock area, normally left for the children’s use. They identified all the crew members from the rooftops and assigned nicknames unique to each.

The child from the restaurant delivering their meals wasn’t a member of Malin’s little entourage, but he was a brat from the Church of the War God. With the face Malin had in the Church of the War God now, asking a small question about meal orders was easy, and the boy blurted everything out.

There were forty-two crew members, but meal orders for seventy. The entourage put it together, sensed a problem, and notified Malin.

Malin thought about it and decided to bring the Church of Justice to take a look. Matilda thus naturally became the commander leading the team.

The clumsy Fox Girl had grown a mysterious five centimeters taller recently. In her words, such regrowth was very rare in her family, which made her one of the tallest among the Fox Kin.

That made Malin somewhat sad—the Fox Kin’s growth was as surprising as that of his father’s bloodline.

Of course, today’s task was still about handling serious business.

Malin’s forces arrived, armored motorcycles roaring into line, and the Punishers and Paladins from the Church disembarked. First, they secured a few sailors on the periphery, then a team stormed onto the deck.

There was absolutely no resistance, far from the chaotic transformations envisioned. The sailors either jumped overboard or scaled the sides, their speed of escape was breathtaking.

Unfortunately for them, they met their match—the Punishers’ Immobilization Spells turned their escape into a disaster, as landing on the wooden docks or the sea was far from pleasant.

Then a team clad in blessed heavy-duty bulletproof armor started to enter the ship’s body. Matilda led the team personally and found twenty-seven elven children, eleven human children, and seventeen dwarven children inside the vessel.

According to the crew and captain’s confessions, they were running a slave ship. They had committed many crimes on their journey, initially intending to make their last deal in Carterburg. However, they hadn’t expected that the children here moved in packs, giving them no opportunities. They were no match for any who were alone—the slave traders were merely mortals; their best man was only a tier seven, whereas Carterburg’s Apprentices clearly surpassed those from other places. An Apprentice who dared walk the night roads alone was at least a tier seven; their tier seven couldn’t subdue an opponent instantly, so they dared not act rashly.

In the end, they decided to repair at Carterburg until February and then make a few cases on the return trip north. After all, a human child fetched a good few hundred, and capturing a few would cover their expenses.

The real big profits came from the dwarves and elves, the former valuable as craftsman slaves and the latter with a wide range of uses.

They had an Array in their ship that blocked sound, so they didn’t worry about the children’s cries for help attracting attention. However, they couldn’t produce food for the children on board, so they had to buy locally.

They still found it odd why the Church of Justice slapped them straight in the face.

Malin certainly couldn’t tell them why. He handed those guys over to the members of the Church of Justice to deal with and, holding the self-proclaimed Fox Girl, plunged into the portal.

The third stop was the City Hall of Carterburg. The mayor had either taken a bribe, was too soft-hearted, or there was the possibility that someone from The Capital didn’t want Malin to dominate Carterburg alone, but didn’t want to interfere too much, for fear of gaining Malin’s enmity.

In short, he wanted to plead for the members of the commercial guild.

Malin put forward two conditions—firstly, he had no right to release those who were involved with the Evil God Cult; if the mayor truly cared, he could make contact with the major churches.

Secondly, those unrelated to the Evil God Cult could be released from prison, but they had to apologize and show submission, while also guaranteeing that they would never again oppose Malin or plot against him ever again.

If these two points couldn’t be satisfied, and the mayor decided to release people without going through Malin, then whatever trouble the mayor brought upon himself was none of Malin’s concern.

The mayor was no fool either; he readily agreed, indicating that he would certainly have those idiots write a pledge of assurance for Malin to review before releasing them.

Given this, Malin would also give him some face.

As for the commercial guild, Malin’s goal was to eliminate the ringleaders, so most of them got a taste of the Church’s underground black prison due to their ties with Chaos—those with real problems wouldn’t get out, and those without wouldn’t be missing any parts. The Church was hospitable; a problem that a lie detection could solve didn’t warrant torture.

Those who were punished were none innocent, and the Church of the True God was not like those who would tie up a big-nosed man advocating heliocentrism to the stake at the slightest disagreement.

And for those who merely watched or didn’t go far on the road to joint celebration, as long as they showed submission, Malin wouldn’t relentlessly pursue them—even though they could escape a death penalty, they couldn’t avoid a life sentence. Business was settled in business terms, and if their factories and workshops went bankrupt due to poor management, that had nothing to do with Malin.

The visit to City Hall concluded with both sides pleasantly satisfied. Malin shook hands with the mayor, who congratulated him—The Church had publicized that Malin had just defeated another Great Demon. That Big Beard’s head had been of use to Malin, and as for the additional effort Big Beard needed to regrow his head upon resurrection in Subspace, that was no longer Malin’s problem. The mayor then mentioned that in a week’s time, a delegation would come from The Capital, intending to invest and expand the dock area, and he hoped that Malin would support him then.

Malin certainly wouldn’t embarrass the mayor over such a small matter.

He agreed on the spot and even said he’d bring his wives along.

This made the mayor repeatedly express his thanks as he escorted Malin out of City Hall.

Matilda didn’t think much of Malin and the mayor’s performance.

"You can actually speak to that guy; so hypocritically," the Fox Girl muttered discontentedly beside Malin.

"Don’t mind it. In life, you often have to act against your wishes for the sake of living or other matters. And we can’t possibly drive everyone who could be united with us to our opposite side," Malin responded.

"So you’re going to let those guys off? They’re bad. When your corporation wasn’t back in operation, they even wanted to cut the weekly wages by more than half. Their evilness and cruelty sometimes make Chaos seem humble because Chaos usually only wants people’s lives while they aim to suck their victims dry," Matilda said, then laughed happily, "I like the way you handle things, Mr. Malin."

"Is this officially falling for me?" Malin asked with a laugh.

"Yes, everyone who comes to pray says you are a good person. Although I think you’re sometimes cunning, if everyone says you’re good, they can’t all be blind," Matilda said.

After that, she reached out, wrapping her arm around Malin’s: "Let’s go back."

"You don’t need to go back to the Church?" Malin asked, curious.

"You’ve already self-proclaimed me; what Church do I go back to?" the Fox Girl gave Malin a sidelong glance.

Malin, laughing, led the Fox Girl back to the villa—a round trip taking forty-five minutes.

"Perfect timing, we’re just starting to serve the meal. I was wondering when you’d be back," Jessica, who had followed, immediately said with a smile as she saw Malin enter.

What Malin saw was a vibrant and beautiful she-wolf. Jessica had just completed a bloodline transformation, becoming more powerful, and her appearance had matured as well.

At one meter eighty tall, with long legs, the most important thing Malin noticed was that he really liked that anti-gravity effect... As he thought this, Jessica reached out and pulled Malin’s head into her embrace.

Well... let’s just say he was very happy, and leave it at that.

If a certain silly fox could refrain from bitingly acting on instinct and chomping on Malin’s arm, Malin would be even happier.

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