Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 621: Section 436: Road (4)

Chapter 621: Section 436: Road (4)

"Why must I be called upon?" Colin had an instinctive resistance to leaving Carterburg, because he now truly had a great household to manage, with dozens of orphans needing his care. Even with several priests from the Benevolent Church coming to help, both Colin and the priests felt overwhelmed by the more than sixty mouths to feed. "Get the children together, too; Carterburg is too cold. Don’t just let the kids huddle around the stove. Let them enjoy the last bit of warmth from the autumn sun. We’ll hunt in the game fields, and then I will showcase to everyone the legendary leadership skills of His Excellency in cooking." At this point, Malin turned to look at the excited little ones in the hall, "Lads and lasses, would you like to experience the double-legendary barbecue feast?""

The children raised their hands in wild joy, absolutely delighted.

"See, Colin, the children are looking forward to it. Look at them; can you bear to let them have a regrettable autumn?" Malin turned back to Colin and smiled at Margaret, who was heavily pregnant: "Dear Sister Margaret, won’t you say something too?"

"Colin, look, our little Malin has already said it. Is it so hard to nod? Those children are also waiting for your decision. They’ve never seen the world outside since they were born. Take them out for some fun. Our Mornin and Nate can walk by themselves now. It’s time for our big family to go out and enjoy ourselves," Margaret started her persuasive pitch.

Facing his wife, Colin no longer resisted and nodded, "Alright, we’ll go together. Children, get your luggage ready. Let our Mr. Bear carry it."

"It’s Mr. Emergency Rations!" the children laughed and some of the mischief-makers had already climbed onto the bear’s back.

...........

Since it was decided to go to the Shelton family’s game fields, Malin decided to bring the orphanage children along. The House of Brice was very welcoming of Malin coming to play with his wives, and of course, that included Colin—after all, he was a Bishop, and the fact that the children from his orphanage were coming was just seen as an added bonus by the Brice family.

After all, Malin, as the High Priest in red for the Goddess of Harvest Church, along with his elder brother Colin, had already made a name for themselves by protecting homeless children.

The Duke of Brice even made a point of meeting Malin personally. He was a towering giant, and fueled by competitiveness, he dueled with Malin. It was one of the rare occasions Malin could fight with all his might, and their strength was evenly matched.

Malin ultimately won with agility that surpassed that of the Duke.

"My goodness, kid, how old are you? You haven’t even unleashed your full strength yet, and your sword dance gives me a headache. I have no idea how to beat you; your lineage is too superior."

"The strength of the heart is countless times more important than the excellence of the bloodline," Malin smiled. "In any case, Your Grace, I thank you for your hospitality."

"Don’t be too polite. Shelton has received your help... Go and enjoy yourself, I’ve got things to attend to," the Duke said as he left the training grounds.

Shelton came to Malin’s side: "Father still remembers my sister’s incident."

"Speaking of your sister, I’m sorry that we’ve still been unable to find the real culprit. If it hadn’t acted, my messenger would have intercepted them..."

The death of Shelton’s sister and her friends was one of the rare regrets in Malin’s heart. Even after all these years, Malin still wanted to help them get their revenge; he was determined to find the killer.

"It’s alright. Even though my sister is gone, at least she and her lover rest together. Without you, none of this would have been possible, so... I don’t think my sister would blame you, Malin."

"Thank you," Malin nodded.

"Hey, you two gentlemen over there, what are you chatting about? Hurry up and help with the game!"

Margaret’s call from afar had Malin and Shelton running over to help.

Clovis and Lillim had hunted several fallow deer, and Malin and Shelton brought the deer over to Maya, the shamaness. Having grown up by Malin’s side, even when she was making pinky promises in the basement, she had long since learned the art of dissection.

The boys were now running around on top of the reserves of spare food, while the girls preferred the adolescent snow leopard cubs. They were surrounding the cubs, grooming them. Malin had already soothed these cubs and even bathed them and straightened their fur to prevent them from going crazy when the brush hit a knot.

Lady Spotty followed Malin around as he fed her, happily biting into the chunks of meat that Malin tossed her way.

"Can I touch her?" Shelton’s half-brother asked Malin, a big fellow who didn’t look anything like the eleven-year-old cub he was. His giant lineage had made an explosive growth during the summer, and he was now as tall as a normal adult human, but after all, he was just an eleven-year-old child.

"Alright, but don’t hurt her; Lady Spotty is a Spirit, not an ordinary snow leopard," Malin said as he glanced over at the Duke, noticing that he and his ladies were just observing the situation here.

Seemingly unconcerned.

So the lad started to pet Lady Spotty, then began slapping her paws.

"This is great, I want a Spirit pet like this," he said.

"Brother, I want to play too," the little half-brother of the lad came over and reached out to grab Lady Spotty’s whiskers.

Don’t get yourself killed! Malin reached out to stop the little one, but it was too late; the kid had pulled a whisker right off.

Lady Spotty screamed, turning around and knocking the little nuisance to the ground with a swipe of her paw.

Shit, I hope this doesn’t lead to a fatality!

Just as Malin thought this, he heard all of Shelton’s brothers laughing, then saw the bloodied boy get up again. He didn’t blame Lady Spotty; instead, he turned to his brothers. "Didn’t you guys say the leopard doesn’t bite?"

"It indeed didn’t bite you," another half-grown lad replied.

"Shelton, is this the norm in your family?" Malin turned to look at his old friend, thinking that the youngsters of House Brice were truly brought up in a simple and unpretentious environment.

"You bet. I’m actually itching to thrash these little bastards right now. I’ll go first," he said, picking up a stick and chasing after his brothers.

Lady Spotty seemed to realize that it was wrong to hurt someone and sat down beside Malin with an aggrieved expression. Malin rubbed her head and called the bloodied boy over, casting a Healing Spell on him.

"Don’t pull Lady Spotty’s whiskers; it hurts a lot."

"Mm, my brothers tricked me," the child said, a bit unhappily.

"I know, they’re naughty. Do you want to get revenge?" Malin asked.

"Mm, but I can’t catch up with them," the child said, a little dejectedly.

"That’s easy," Malin said as he slapped the child with a watery Blessing Spell, then ordered Fio and Lorrin to make a stick resembling a baseball bat. "You’re strengthened now, go for it."