Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 530 - 361: Business (Part 1)

Chapter 530: Chapter 361: Business (Part 1)

Malin suppressed the urge to seek Nameless, and tried a bowl of sashimi said to be made from that kind of giant fish with thirteen eyeballs.

It was chewy, that was his first thought.

Is this fish? That was his second thought.

How is this flavored like milk candy! That was his third thought.

The bishop seemed to already know what was on Malin’s mind, as he began to introduce the origins of the fish to him, "This fish is the many-eyed giant eel that lurks near the ancient sunken structures nearby. It looks very dangerous, but is actually a very delicious food."

As the Sect Hierarch spoke, he ate his own portion of the sashimi.

"If this fish is so delicious, why haven’t I heard of it in Carterburg?"

"Because this fish can only survive in this region, and once it is out of the water, the flesh will spoil within three days. Therefore, besides feeding everyone here, this city still relies on various livestock businesses in the Eastern district to sustain itself."

Malin called over the girls.

After tasting the sashimi, the girls all agreed that the meat was absolutely delicious.

"The wealthy would probably like this thing, wonder what the production is like," Lillim was the first to offer her opinion.

"If it’s easy to catch, then we must start considering the breeding efficiency of this thing, after all, relying merely on capture, this area’s many-eyed eels may soon be fished to extinction," Faye added with a global perspective.

"I have never seen this kind of fish, is this really a fish? Not a spirit?" Jessica looked very curious.

So Malin turned to the bishop and asked.

"This creature is indeed a spirit, but very stupid. Set up traps in shallow waters, then use lights at night to attract them into the traps, and they can be killed relatively easily with harpoons," said the princess of the Church, who enthusiastically took Malin and his group to observe the traps.

"Spirits that are strong in the deep but become very weak in shallow waters, it’s truly pitiful," Matilda remarked with a sympathetic sigh.

"I think we can establish a canning factory, and transport the cans to Carterburg by train, and then sell them," Clovis suggested, calculating costs and profits as she spoke.

Malin turned to look at Maya, who had been silent all along, and found the little leopard devouring some marinated dried fish.

"Is it good?" Malin asked.

The little leopard tore off a piece and passed it to Malin, who took a bite.

Amazing, it tastes like beef, what kind of fish is this, can it be tested for radiation levels?!

After much consideration, Malin took some fresh sashimi and dried meat and opened a portal back to the Church, entering the orphanage, letting the little ones taste a little.

The reviews were overwhelmingly positive, and there seemed to be no abnormalities; the spell formation also showed no reaction, meaning that both adults and children had no issues after tasting it—this proved that even if there were any toxins, they didn’t cause immediate effects.

And as long as it wasn’t an acute poison, the spell formation could deal with everything.

Malin used the spell formation to detoxify the little ones, and out of the more than sixty children, only two had stomachaches, which seemed to be simply because they had eaten too much. A trip to the toilet and they were completely fine.

Feeling reassured, Malin handed over the remaining dried fish to the current manager of the corporate group, telling him it was time to pull a team to Farole to set up the factory, and then gave him the certification issued by the Farole princess.

Under his meaningful gaze, Malin opened the portal and returned to Latindro City.

Letting the old man bring the matter to Malin’s father-in-law was better than having that old fellow come to a frantic realization and confront Malin to the end—the manager gave the news to the old man early on so he could think it over. If his brain wasn’t up to the task, either Lady Manli or Lady Anna would help him think.

Having arranged everything, Malin took the girls for a stroll around Latindro City, which was by the sea. They had to face not just giant eels, so as Malin traveled, he noticed that the adults were generally strong, and occasionally, he could sense Transcendents among them.

Although the local customs were fierce, the same was true in Malin’s Carterburg. Nowadays, cities by the sea are like this—if not, how could they passionately dance with spirits that emerge from the sea?

Speaking of dancing, Malin actually saw a living member of the Sea Clan today.

It was a creature somewhat similar to a Naga, but without any extra arms, and they could also speak Farole language. Both Farole and Sydney language stem from the ancient Empire language, with minor grammatical differences, but sufficient for conversation.

Malin chatted with one of the Sea Clan for a while and found out that this individual was here to investigate the nearby ancient sunken structures.

"Thomas, what are you two discussing?" Malin’s conversation with the male Sea Clan member soon drew the attention of a female member, who swam over and sized up Malin, and upon seeing the figures of Fio and Lorrin transformed into a bracelet on Malin’s wrist, she said, "Ah, you are that lord’s Follower, good afternoon, may the light of justice shine upon you."

"Hello, ma’am, how should I address you?" Since the woman showed goodwill, Malin naturally responded with a smile.

"Call me Lady Martha, you really are a polite young gentleman," she was amused by Malin’s somewhat exaggerated bow, waving away the male member of the Sea Clan, then taking over the conversation with Malin: "Mr. Malin, you mustn’t be from around here."

"Yes, I’m from Carterburg in the Sydney Union; I just arrived here today."

"Then you’ve certainly tried the many-eyed eel."

"Correct, its meat is chewy; it doesn’t taste like fish."

At this point, the lady laughed: "Indeed, those from the land also find it odd, don’t they? We came here upon request from the former headquarters of the Sea Clan’s investigation team to conduct a survey, but the sea area has been in a furious state recently, and we haven’t been able to dive."

"Do your people, the Sea Clan, also get aberrantly mutated by this peculiar state of the Raging Sea?" Malin asked.

The lady nodded at this question: "Yes, so your people on land are actually reducing our many-eyed eel population by killing them off in the Raging Sea; these creatures are highly populous in the Western region of the Raging Sea and the Eastern Region of the Misty Sea, frequently invading our kingdom."

"There are many of these creatures?" Malin sensed a business opportunity.

"Yes, very many. They usually dwell near ancient submerged structures, and those areas I mentioned are filled with such ruins, so we cannot deal with them in terms of numbers. Fortunately, they don’t usually leave those places, though sometimes they are lured by light." Mentioning the many-eyed eels, Lady Martha expressed an unpleasant tone, but she quickly thought of another question: "Do you ask for any specific reason?"

"I have the technology to preserve fish meat and am planning to open a cannery here." Malin shared his business plan with the lady, then realized that he might have confused her.

So Malin had to simplify things: "The meat of the many-eyed eel is good. I plan to hunt them and make them into canned meat to sell to the rich and make money off them."

"Hmm... According to the treaty, you can freely hunt all fish and Spirits in the Raging Sea without having to report to us, the Sea Clan. We understand that," Lady Martha answered with a smile after listening.

Malin felt that the lady—or rather, the Sea Clan was straightforward: "No, I mean we also want the many-eyed eels from the Misty Sea."

"That’s not possible! Mr. Malin, even if you are a Follower of that great personage, you cannot break the treaty!" Lady Martha declared."

Malin was almost angered to death. He had to explain once more: "No, Lady, what I mean is that you can hunt them, and then hand them over to our eel-hunting ship fleet. We’ll bring them back for processing, and in return, we can trade goods for goods to complete this transaction."

"Is that so... I cannot make a decision on that, but I can relay your request to our merchant association. The head of our association will make the decision." Lady Martha finally understood, smiling somewhat embarrassedly.

"Thank you very much."

Seeing his request was entrusted to someone, Malin felt that there might be a possibility. He then discussed the ancient submerged structures with the lady, discovering that the Sea Clan was completely unaware of such structures. Malin even felt that the Sea Clan had no clear understanding of their own origins, which was a headache-inducing situation.

But that was to be expected, the world had been destroyed several times; if they really knew something, they wouldn’t be in this predicament.

After exchanging information about ancient history, Malin got the news that the local lord invited him to dinner. Considering it was getting late, Malin decided to say goodbye to the lady. This conversation gave Malin a rather high starting point in his understanding of the Sea Clan.

"Lady, until we meet again."

"Yes, farewell, Mr. Malin."

After shaking hands and parting ways, Malin returned to the station with the girls to see several unlucky fellows lying on the platform with Spotty sitting on one of them, sweeping the scene with an imposing aura.

Seeing Malin return with the girls, this mother ran over to him and sobbed a few times; Maya translated in unison: "Spotty says they were trying to steal the pups."

"They must have eaten the hearts of bears and the gall of leopards," Malin spit out and then turned to the approaching police officer: "What’s the matter?"

"Your pet hurt someone," the leading man said: "Do you know who it hurt?"

Malin spat, took out a messenger, and sent a message to the Elder.

"Do you plan to resist?!" The men began reaching for their weapons.

A portal opened beside Malin, and the Elder poked his head out: "I told you, you were going to regret it."

"Yes, I have regrets," Malin finished, glancing at the trembling officers as if stricken with ague: "Do you handle them or shall I?"

"My people will be here any moment, so please don’t bother yourself."

"You still have compassion," Malin teased.

"No, it’s just that if I let you do it, the scene would be harder to manage afterward," the Elder said.

Malin nearly spat out loud.

Am I, Malin, such a cruel man?!