Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 517 - 350: So Small (Part 4)

Chapter 517: Chapter 350: So Small (Part 4)

During the last two days, City of Galicano was like a still pond, so calm that Malin was bored. Other than discussing upcoming work with the girls, all he did was pet cats.

Speaking of petting cats, Malin felt there were differences, like with Spotty. This big cat was more fearful of Malin; even though it understood that Malin wouldn’t harm it, the pressure of his power and their class disparity still made it fearful when confronting Malin.

It was different with its kittens. Unlike their reserved mother, these little ones were lawless, climbing all over Malin’s body all day, hooking his coat full of holes.

Apart from Spotty’s family, Malin sometimes petted Maya as well. Though the little leopard had grown up, it still liked to nap on Malin’s legs, forcibly taking over the kittens’ living space.

Malin, after all, preferred petting Maya the most—the white, furry-eared, beautiful girl—right in Malin’s sweet spot.

When it was time to leave, the Old Lady Moriti brought her little granddaughter along. Malin left her to his girls to handle and then briefly discussed the situation with the Old Lady.

She mentioned that going further south, the capital administrative area would be fine, as her eldest son would provide them with cover, but beyond that was the South, where Baron Anthony Gallo’s family, the masterminds behind this scheme, lay in wait.

The Old Lady didn’t have much else to say—just a "wish you safety," then left through a door.

This piqued Malin’s curiosity—the lady did not seem as loyal to the royal family as he had heard.

What was going on?

Given her status, she should have done everything to prevent Rewo from entering Farole’s capital administrative area; after all, it was a place of mixed company, and anything could happen. What if Malin truly slipped and these people snatched Rewo away—could she still manage a smile?

And how could she have such confidence in Malin?

A real mystery indeed.

Finding he had no answers, Malin stopped caring about the old lady. As for her little granddaughter, Malin thought this little Vampire girl seemed to be afraid of him as well—after all, to her eyes, he was nothing less than a passionate hero.

As the train left City of Galicano, Malin’s life became extremely monotonous. During the day, he would pet cats and fish atop the open-air area of the carriage—the youngsters and children playing there always attracted hungry Spirits.

Like the canine Spirits this time, they initially intended to snatch a quick bounty and leave, following the train, then gathering in increasing numbers, and getting bolder, finally speeding up to try to jump onto the train.

By the time most of them had boarded, Malin could finally drop his disguise and knock them out with a swipe of Lightning Chain.

The backup rations then made their shining entrance, and the remaining canine Spirits naturally didn’t have the spirit to fight to the death. Seeing that the tide had turned, they all scampered away with tails between their legs.

The girls then giggled their way on top of the carriage, dragging the incapacitated Spirits to start processing—the back of the carriage’s top had been transformed into a slaughtering area for their prey.

They removed the hind leg meat and ribs, leaving the rest for the backup rations and Spotty’s extra meal. The bear and the leopard were quite satisfied with this arrangement. Spotty, the mother, had been worried about her cubs at first, but once she realized Malin could protect them, she immediately chose to wait for her extra meal—the recent way of life had left her very content; Malin could only say another Spirit had chosen to fall.

The leftover meat would be cooked well, part of it for the crew at the head of the train, the rest for themselves.

The Spirits’ skins would be cured and then either sold at the earliest opportunity or given to the orphans nearing adulthood in Colin’s orphanage, allowing them to have their first piece of Spirit hide armor.

Although the canine Spirits had insufficient defense, they at least provided insulation.

After tricking them for a week like this, the train reached the last transfer station before entering Farol Principality’s capital administrative area—Bologna.

The Half-human who was originally going to check the carriage looked at Malin getting off with a litter of leopards and quickly tipped his hat, "Hello, sir, these are..." "My pets," Malin said while petting the cub in his arms, which was the first one named by Maya, called Pizza.

"And what about those?" He pointed to the pile of hides stacked as high as a mountain.

"Do you have a way to help me sell them?" Malin looked at the hides with a headache—that was, according to his plan, after being fooled a few times, the Spirits should have learned not to get themselves killed in such stupid ways.

But what he didn’t expect was that the wilderness of the Farol Principality was too hard to survive in, and many low-level Spirits were living hand to mouth; the target formed by Malin and the leopard cubs was too tempting, attracting numerous Spirits to scramble aboard.

So, the number of hides kept growing.

"No problem, sir, I will definitely contact the leather shops in the city for you."

The Half-human patted his chest, and then nearly lost his breath when he saw the emergency rations crawling out of the back of the carriage. Luckily, he saw the Faye sitting atop the emergency rations the next moment: "A mount?"

"Yes, after all, our household provisions are good," Malin said very seriously—really, there’s meat every day, the emergency rations’ weight and size are increasing daily.

The Half-human wiped his forehead, completed the customs form, and once Malin had signed it, the man took the form and left.

The girl said she was going to the market to shop, while Malin took Spotty and family for a stroll around the station.

Then, when the leather shop’s carriage came to pick up the goods, he saw the changing expressions of the shopkeeper—who had not at all anticipated the correct amount. There were at least enough hides to fill two carriages from Malin’s side, and that was after being selective.

So, he had to stay while signaling his Apprentice to quickly arrange for more carriages, as he should have been able to tell where these hides came from.

Malin wasn’t too demanding about the price, and the two sides struck a deal right away, with Malin selling close to two hundred hides and making a neat profit of thirty-five hundred gold.

The shop owner also wanted to buy a leopard cub, but Malin refused—first, Malin liked to pet cats, and he also had money, so he wouldn’t sell the cubs.

Secondly, Malin was thinking of the shopkeeper’s well-being because Spotty could understand human speech.

Third, had Malin not called Spotty back, the shopkeeper would probably be counting down to the end of his life by now.

.........

"This gentleman really does seem to like leopards," a young man watching from a distance remarked.

His teammate nodded, "Don’t get too close, we’ll be discovered."

"No need to worry so much, we’re far enough away," the young man replied while adjusting the monocular in his hand: "I see him."

"...It really is like the rumors say, a Half-blood."

"I’m curious, in the territory of the Moriti family, why the Northerners haven’t taken down this child."

"That’s for the big shots to worry about, we just need to pass on the message, Duke Gallo will like this news."