Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 642: Section 452: Dominoes (2)

Chapter 642: Section 452: Dominoes (2)

By noon, news about the Lord of Love had arrived. Malin’s new book did indeed "explode" the Chaos Evil God into the open—the desire of mortals for plot twists had drawn its attention. In the final twist of the narrative, the Evil God ultimately became contorted into an incarnation—when love within the story turned into the past, and when two characters let go of one another, the Evil God, in the midst of distortion, manifested an individual consciousness, and was then pinned to the ground and beaten silly by an assault group comprised of Legendaries.

Evil Gods also have levels, the four peddlers in the Chaos Subspace are considered Evil Gods, and locally, Transcendents who can pull off small tricks can also be labeled Evil Gods—there is absolutely no comparison between the two.

After sealing the Lord of Love, these Legendaries ultimately handed over the Sealing Stone with it to Nameless—he would purify this nascent, weak Evil God.

Malin didn’t mind writing that book, which was criticized by countless young people, in order to lead this Evil God to destruction. And after the discussion with His Majesty Mowish, he also agreed to Malin’s idea of setting up a new city—in his view, all these things were like possessions in the bag for his daughter’s descendants.

Of course, he wouldn’t think that Malin had long since planned a future for every single possible child of his.

To be prepared is to have no troubles; those who always feel that everything is within their grasp always die quickly when the unexpected strikes.

Besides, there was no new news from the widow of the new district. She seemed to be quite wealthy, and had joined a local women’s Salon, the hostess being the wife of the Old White-Haired Man. The lady and the widow sat together, gossipping about each other’s husbands and lovers, a refined and common interest for them.

To Malin, however, this was very problematic.

It was still the same principle; for a widow, what could be more important than finding a new husband or lover? Even if she loved her deceased husband deeply, she should at least show some semblance of mourning for him.

She can’t possibly be an emotionless elf.

However, since she hasn’t revealed any flaws, Malin couldn’t let his subordinates make a move—the boy named Laiyale possessed qualities that Malin greatly appreciated, and his Illusion Technique Transcendent Sequence was something Malin wanted to acquire. Malin could offer a safe new identity, a large sum of money, and a brand-new life in exchange—surely the nomadic couple on the run would appreciate that very much.

This Transcendent Sequence was something Malin planned to give to the child named Mars—his nature wasn’t bad, and his troubled childhood should be blamed on his father who was a bottom-dweller. At the same time, while being hunted, Mars did not forget his desire for revenge, which Malin greatly admired. It was what a child of Malin should do.

Return kindness tenfold, and take revenge a hundredfold.

Malin hoped his next deep dive wouldn’t come too soon; otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to prepare a new gift for him.

Aside from the performance-loving widow, Malin had many other things to do—starting with the orphanage in Carterburg. Colin always liked to pile more work on Malin, like this time when nearly forty children of reading age at the orphanage needed the talent testing. It was something he should do, but since he had to report to the Capital’s main Church district, he had to leave this task to Malin.

"Couldn’t you leave it to the Assistant High Priest to do it? I remember when I did the test, you were an Assistant High Priest," Malin said.

"I raised these children with my own hands," Colin looked at Malin with an expression unwilling to part with them, "The orphanage is partly yours as well, can’t you help me just this once? Margaret is already nine months pregnant."

"Alright, I’ll do it." With Colin putting it that way, what could Malin do but send his elder apprentice away quickly.

Luckily, the military campaign was coming to an end. Malin opened a teleportation channel, brought back those who didn’t want to enjoy the scenery by train to Carterburg, and then began conducting the tests.

Just like when Malin was young, a small cup of potion for each brat.

Two-thirds of the children didn’t vomit, and the rest were around six years old. Regardless of whether they couldn’t stand the bitterness or were defeated by that damn taste, Malin didn’t think there was anything wrong with it—children always have their privileges.

More than half of the children demonstrated talents, which surprised Malin—normally, a fifth or even a seventh would be considered normal.

If half the children show talent, it means that the Spiritual Energy Tide of this world is steadily increasing.

The era of the Spiritual Energy Tide is usually also the era of Chaos invasions.

"Too soon, within a decade at most, the invasion will come," Clovis concluded pessimistically after some calculations, but it was still too conservative.

Because Malin had already received intelligence that only five years were needed before the invasion of Chaos would arrive; by then, the oldest of these children would barely be thirteen. To fight a forty-year war... these children’s youth will be spent in bloodshed, sacrifice, and pain... Sorry, children, we adults could not keep this war under control.

Malin could not share about these matters of the future, because according to theory, if the stories of the future were leaked, the efforts made to change everything, might one day alter the original course of history, resulting in even more terrible suffering.

So all Malin could do was make a record of all the children’s talents—the talented ones would be absorbed into the Church’s Apprentice classes, and those without talent, Carterburg’s First Elementary School would take them in to teach them very normal knowledge—like addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and accounting.

Malin’s corporation would take in these children; they would work for Malin.

After completing these tasks, Malin still had work to do—as the High Priest in Red Robes, spirits were showing up in the countryside of Carterburg again.

Now, when Malin kills these Spirits, he always lets Salis scout in the air first. After finding the target, he chases them down with Mrs. Spotty, and the Spirits complain that they have never encountered such an outrageous hunting method before.

What would normally take a whole month to complete, Malin finished in just three days.

The Spirits were either killed or surrendered; this time, one bear that surrendered was made into Malin’s backup food supply, his underling (Backup Food No. 2), and was put in charge of management.

Another elk Spirit was hunted down for eating too many crops in the fields, but because it surrendered quickly, Malin decided to use it as a sleigh deer—it was a female elk, after all, good for the orphanage children to play with.

As Mrs. Spotty’s children grew bigger, she became more and more impatient.

Perhaps it was time for them to leave the nest.

Just as Malin was considering who to give the children to, Mrs. Spotty chose to leave on her own.

She licked Malin’s hand, conveying her thoughts and views to him.

Then she walked toward the outskirts of the city. Malin accompanied her to the edge of the woods, where Mrs. Spotty rubbed against his pant leg one last time, then headed alone into the depths of the forest.

Maya was with Malin, watching as Mrs. Spotty finally disappeared over the top of the hills deep in the woods.

"She was a good mother," Malin mused, looking at the collar that had once belonged to Mrs. Spotty.

This mother had done everything a mother could do, from risking her life jumping onto vehicles to hunt for her children, to ultimately deciding to leave them. She could have stayed by Malin’s side, enjoying a life free of hunger, and Malin would have prepared a new home for her children.

But in the end, she chose to leave.

Whether it was an instinct of a Spirit or the last glimmer of her maternal nature, Malin had witnessed the greatness of a mother.

"If you’re ever hungry, remember to come back!" Maya had said this to Mrs. Spotty before she walked away.

Malin didn’t know if Mrs. Spotty had taken those words to heart, but he could feel the sadness in Maya’s heart.

When they got back home, Malin saw an old Demon Hunter with graying hair; he was standing in front of the gate of the new home named Gaiate Mansion. His weathered face full of confusion until Maya ran towards him, which caused him to turn around, belatedly realizing.

Then a smile blossomed on his face. The old father opened his arms, embracing his daughter.

"Dad, you’re finally back," Maya choked, hugging her adoptive father with Malin.

"...I’m back," he patted Maya’s back, making the no-longer-small Cat Girl let go, and the old man walked toward Malin.

"Welcome back, Father," Malin took off his flat cap.

"I am back, if it weren’t for your information, I’d probably be dead," the old father sighed, "But in the end, I could not complete my exploration. I’ve returned, and I don’t plan to leave again. The most I can do is die at home."

"Isn’t that wonderful? To pass away surrounded by one’s children and grandchildren at the end of life; in this wretched world, it’s the bliss many people yearn for but cannot have," Malin approached the old man and extended his hand.

"It is indeed a beautiful end..." The old father also reached out and took Malin’s hand, "You’ve grown up, my child. I could lift you with one hand back then. Now, you’re even taller than me... Time is like that, one generation follows another. Some become history, some forge the present, and some... are painting the future."

"Father..." Malin felt the weariness on the old man’s face.

He reached out, patted Malin on the shoulder, "I’ve heard the story of old Hoffman. You gave the mutant creature a release. Now, can you do the same for me?"

"Father, you can still live a long time," Malin shook his head.

"Don’t be foolish, my child. I’ve lost my thirst for knowledge; I no longer seek my Truth and realness, so my Sequence is breaking down. I will inevitably mutate... All of this damned stuff will become my regret and pain," the father finished, pointing to Malin’s house: "May I go inside?"

"Of course, Father; come with me, I have always kept a bedroom ready for you."

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