Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 592 - 408: Unspoken Past (1)

Chapter 592: Chapter 408: Unspoken Past (1)

Malin watched as all the Casters’ brains were destroyed, and for a moment, he felt an indescribable sense of absurdity about his own existence. Before its destruction, the world had achieved unification, with the high and mighty becoming the masters of everything. Had it not been for the invasion, perhaps the world would have turned out just as the stories said, ultimately ruled by a single, noble entity as the sole owner of the planet.

Dystopian stories are always so captivating, with power, desire, and a sense of superiority forever being the most cherished elements in the tales of the masses.

"Jason, humans always seem to repeat the same mistakes," Malin said as he lit a cigarette, sighing to the small floating machine beside him.

"These sins were committed by the Casters, Lord Malin, it was their desires that destroyed everything," came Jason’s sigh from the small hovering machine.

But Malin didn’t quite agree, looking at the floor beneath him, "Yes, but... if it weren’t for me, who else would destroy them, would you?"

"No, I am intelligence, I must have a command; otherwise, I cannot end a human life on my own," Jason replied.

"So do you think what I did was right?" Malin asked.

Jason couldn’t come up with an answer, and the little machine tumbled around before coming to a halt: "Human history is written by the victors, so, Mr. Malin, your statement is flawed. Victory belongs to you, and so does the Truth," it said.

This kind of ambiguous answer made Malin sigh inwardly—what was he doing discussing the philosophy of the heart with a high-intelligence AI.

With this thought, Malin, finding himself inexplicably sentimental, halted the command to destroy those children—let Nameless give it a try. If he could manage it, then at least... these children wouldn’t have come into this world for nothing.

Feeling somewhat relieved, after taking a couple more drags of his cigarette, Malin was about to leave when he received new information from Dorothy.

"There are 10 minutes left until the Round Table conference begins, Lord Malin. Would you like to continue attending the meeting?"

"Everyone’s dead, what’s there to meet about?" Malin made a rare, cold joke.

"No, this is a meeting called by the Casters to gather the Wizards," Dorothy clarified.

With that, Malin recalled the previous affair—the mysterious gathering the Wizards had spoken of, which now indeed seemed to be real.

"What should I do?" Malin asked Dorothy.

Dorothy suggested that they could use virtual technology to fit Malin with a suit, considering the meeting was also where the wizards would project their consciousness; as long as he was sufficiently concealed, Malin’s presence could be kept undetected.

Malin had a different opinion and quickly made arrangements.

Once everything was ready, Malin took a seat and began to wait for the first Wizard representative to come online.

Yes, come online.

Regardless, the arcane magical technology of the Casters was quite useful.

.........

Walking down the dimly-lit corridor, Rosaline Dam’s heart was filled with excitement, for she had been chosen by that secretive assembly, a gathering Wizards yearned for. Those chosen usually reaped some benefit, and it was said the host would reveal a very secret place—rumored to be where Wizards no longer faced the risk of mutation.

For a free Wizard like Rosaline, such news seemed like a dream. She had lived for forty years and never imagined such a place could exist.

As she approached the light at the end of the tunnel, Rosaline’s excitement grew—the elders were right, there really was a light, it was a true gathering and not some twisted prelude.

Finally, she stepped out of the tunnel and saw a huge, pure white room.

At the head of the room sat a mechanical humanoid form.

A mechanical form? Not the mysterious black mist form as she expected?

As Rosaline pondered this, she saw a long-eared young beast on the table, sharing a pile of Acorns with a squirrel.

Acorns?

Rosaline could only glance once, and her gaze was hooked; they were...the fruits of the World Tree.

The legendary divine medicine ingredients, just one of which could stabilize a Wizard’s mutation tendencies for years. The elusive dream of countless high-mutation Wizards was now casually laid out on the table for these Spirits to feast upon.

An unimaginable extravagance.

When Rosaline looked again at the mechanical being, her eyes were full of respect—regardless, this was a testament to power. The World Tree Sapling was so unique, and Nameless, as the God of Goodness, did not despise Wizards. Sometimes he would even help Wizards who still retained some goodness in their hearts.

That’s why there was a saying among Wizards—Nameless was not to be feared.

Compared to the unforgiving Paladins under this Deity, the Deity himself was a very benevolent presence—at least, he bore no ill will towards those Wizards who could still hold on to their bottom line.

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Rosalinde Damm greeted the mechanical being seated at the head with a bow, "Rosalinde Damm, greetings to you."

"I am Dorothy, in charge of the gathering for the first time, please take a seat. There will be other wizards coming, and if you do not wish to reveal your identity, you may take a code name for yourself. I should say, I don’t recommend using Tarot cards or any other card faces as your code name, because when I call ’The Sun’, I don’t want three or even more wizards standing up at the same time." Though the mechanical humanoid had no mouth, the female voice rang directly in Rosalinde’s mind.

This made the middle-aged witch even more anxious—this represented that the mechanical being was not a real person, and there was an extremely great being conversing with her through this mechanical medium.

As she sat down, Rosalinde pondered what to use as her code name while taking in the huge room, then she unexpectedly spotted the child sitting quietly at the other end of the long table, who was observing an odd object in his hands.

A square-shaped exterior that seemed to emanate light; from Rosalinde’s position, she could only make out these details.

Rosalinde didn’t know who he was, but judging from his features and oblong ears, it seemed he was a half-blood, possessing the blood of an elf and some other race.

Then Rosalinde’s gaze fell upon the two wooden bracelets on his wrist.

Her intuition began screaming warnings at her from the moment she saw those bracelets—that was the World Tree Sapling, the most dreadful enemy of wizards.

Two World Tree Saplings?

Rosalinde thought it over—there seemed to be no such thing in her world. The Church’s Cardinal, Malin Gaiate, did have four World Tree Saplings, but judging by age, they didn’t match, and besides, he had four, which couldn’t compare in number.

Maybe... from another world?

Indeed, it was possible. Rosalinde, a free wizard who hadn’t experienced much turbulence, at least understood that a child wearing two World Tree Saplings on his wrists couldn’t possibly be an ordinary one, and World Tree Saplings were no treasures. In their master’s hands, they surely were, but in the hands of an opponent, they were a deadly curse.

Though it was hard to imagine a child favored by the Nameless from a foreign land could be here, considering that wizards entered this place in spirit, Rosalinde felt no fear, and since the child was a pet of the Nameless, what was there for Rosalinde to fear.

Everyone says the followers of the Nameless are zealots of justice, but no one has ever claimed they are murderous lunatics.

With this in mind, Rosalinde chose silence—since she arrived earliest today, she might as well take a good look at which other wizards would come.

About a minute later, a young man emerged from a passage opposite Rosalinde, sizing up the large room. "I still think it was better when the lights were off, back then we didn’t have to meet so frankly, right, Your Excellency Aet?"

Aet? Was the person seated at the head called Aet?

This young wizard was unknown to Rosalinde, but she found it strange because why would he dare to converse with a legendary figure in such a manner.

"I am Dorothy, and I am handling the organization and reception of today’s gathering. Going forward, the gatherings will be continued by a new Excellency." As the legendary person said this, the mechanical humanoid turned its head to look at the young man, "Excellency Sigma from the Great Wilderness, please take a seat."

"Well, I just thought it odd that Excellency Aet wasn’t speaking, but still, it has been a while, Ms. Dorothy... Wow, to think there are still existences who can eat Acorns like candy these days, it’s enviable," the young man mused as he took a seat across from Rosalinde and glanced at her, "Hello, Madam, may I know what to call you?"

"...Teresa, you may call me Mrs. Teresa, from the North," Rosalinde replied.

She missed her husband somewhat. Saving his life was her motivation to become a wizard, but in the end, she had failed.

"Very well, good afternoon, Madam, your name was that of a Queen from the olden days of the North, welcome to your first wizard gathering."

The young man greeted Rosalinde with a smile.

Although his rank seemed higher than her’s, the order seemed to be very important here.

Rosalinde returned the smile with a curtsy.

"It’s so bright in here." The voice from the other side made Rosalinde and Sigma turn towards the source, and they saw a man wearing an iron mask. He glanced at the two fellow wizards, then directed his attention towards the Spirits munching on acorns, "Quite extravagant, using World Tree Acorns to feed pet Spirits, Sigma, you couldn’t possibly have that much wealth, so then..." the old man turned to Rosalinde, "Good afternoon, Madam, I am ’The Chariot’, may I ask if you are the owner of these Spirits."

"Honored sir, greetings, I am Teresa. Do you think that as a wizard, I could be their master?" Rosalinde sighed somewhat helplessly and sorrowfully.

Indeed, she truly wished to be their master, if only it were possible...

"Who knows." The old man chuckled, turning to look at the mechanical being at the head of the table, "Your Excellency Aet?"

Then Rosalinde heard the woman named Dorothy repeating her words once again.

"So it is, it seems the new Excellency must be a being fond of light," the old man said with a smile before taking his seat.

Rosalinde glanced at the child sitting across from her at the head of the table with a bit of unease.

Why did it seem that both The Chariot and Sigma did not notice his presence?

Should she remind them?

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