Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 68 - Sixty-One: Enemies on a Narrow Road

Chapter 68: Chapter Sixty-One: Enemies on a Narrow Road

"Leon, is that kid named Malin really as formidable as you say?" Hiddell van Reynard asked cautiously, standing next to Leon.

He wasn’t a local; he was the eldest son of a powerful Earl from the eastern provinces. Just last month, he had arrived at the Church of the Goddess of Wisdom in Carterburg as an apprentice. Because of a recent minor overspill of undead creatures in the area, Hiddell had gone through great lengths—begging and spending money—to get a relative from out of town to pull some strings for his transfer to Carterburg.

But who could have imagined that, without having to venture into the wilds, a slight spirits outbreak would occur right in an abandoned factory? The local Church assigned him the task, and since plans can’t keep up with changes, Hiddell had to make another detour, eventually getting his friend to introduce him to an apprentice from the Church of the Goddess of Commerce, Leon Skete.

It was said that this kid was a well-known assistant organizer in Carterburg. When Hiddell mentioned his mission, the kid immediately recommended someone named Malin.

Rumors had it that he was not yet twelve years old, small in stature, and smiled at everyone like a child... Ah spit, not like, the brat was truly a genuine kid!

Hiddell consulted a friend because of this, and they nearly got into an argument. Then, a passing acquaintance who heard about it gave him some news.

"Malin, ah, I’ve heard of him. That kid just took down a zombie bride, turned by a giantess from the Church of the War God, the real deal."

At that, Hiddell was at a loss for words—the flying heads and wraiths in the mission report might indeed not be enough for him to kill.

But these were just stories told by others, and the tales grew wilder with each retelling. By this morning, there were even claims that Malin had slain the zombie bride with his sword formations.

That seemed a bit of an exaggeration.

With such confusion and doubt, Hiddell and Leon could only wait at the coffee shop.

"Relax, in my line of work, professional integrity is most important. You gave me five thousand to find the most formidable one in Carterburg, so I can tell you this, the most formidable one that can be found for four thousand is Malin." Skimming 20% was not a lot for this profession; generally, you’d need at least 30% or so. For Leon, taking 10% less for himself and giving 10% more to Malin was the best outcome—if the kid was satisfied, he’d come back for more business.

Just as he said this, the sound of a carriage stopping outside the coffee shop reached their ears. Hiddell and Leon looked up to see Malin pushing open the door.

"Hey, Hiddell, is that the assistant you mentioned?" The burly man at Hiddell’s side glanced at his own arm: "Truthfully, I’m afraid I might kill him with one punch."

"Someone said that last time too, and now they’re getting hammered three times a week by him." Leon rolled his eyes—the high grades at the Church of the Goddess of Harvest were having a tough time; the whole apprenticeship in Carterburg had heard about the thrice-weekly beatings starting at noon from fifth grade all the way to eighth grade, all it took was half an hour. Now, Malin wouldn’t even hit anyone below fifth grade anymore, as it was said to be too brutal. And indeed, the lower grades couldn’t even fight back—the sonic booms generated by his club swings were harmful enough to the young ones.

"He’s that tough?" The big man said, reaching out his hand towards the approaching Malin: "Hello, Carmen, friend of Hiddell."

"Malin." The little guy smiled shyly as he too reached out his hand, his small palm resting in the burly man’s.

The burly man grinned and squeezed hard.

Malin remained unfazed.

The burly man paused, then increased his grip.

Malin just smiled.

The burly man began to sweat at the forehead and to clench his teeth.

Malin shook his hand off, plastering the burly man’s hand to the table, flipping both the table and the man onto the floor.

"I told you, this kid has superhuman strength, they didn’t believe me." Leon snapped his fingers: "Waiter, put the cost of the cup and table on my tab."

"You’re rolling in cash lately, Leon." Malin said with a smile, then turned his head: "Come in, it’s done."

"Huh?" Leon was perplexed; who else was coming in?

Just as he was wondering, he saw an elf girl leading a Leopard Girl inside.

"Leon, it seems you’ve been living quite comfortably lately," the elf girl said with a smile to the dumbfounded Leon and Hiddell: "Oh, isn’t that Cousin Hiddell? So, you found Malin as your assistant."

"You’re relatives?" Leon looked at Hiddell.

"You’re friends?" Hiddell looked at Leon.

"Don’t overthink it, I came with Malin." The elf girl said with a laugh, holding Malin’s hand: "Since it’s you, I was going to charge a fee, but let’s call it free this time."

"How embarrassing. Getting help from Miss Faye herself, I could brag about it for a lifetime. I’ll pay your fee." As the son of a powerful Earl, Hiddell had plenty of money, and he could certainly use his family’s accounts—spending cash to hire a princess to lend him a hand could be touted sky-high back home.

"Forget it, I’ll give half of my fee to Faye." Malin suddenly spoke up.

"Eh, is that okay?" The elf girl seemed a little embarrassed.

"No problem, I brought Faye here, so it would be awkward to ask you for money."

Leon watched the two, appearing so affectionate with each other, feeling that Malin was an extraordinary presence.

...........

Although Malin and Faye had arrived early, not everyone was there yet; Hiddell mentioned that two more assistants were supposed to come.

One was a Bunny Girl from the Mage Association, Toby Rabbitfolk.

Another was a werewolf from the Church of the War God, eighth grade.

The burly Carmen sat up, the honest man no longer dared to challenge Malin in strength, settling instead to eat a bucket of ice cream.

Malin, Faye, and Maya were also happily eating their own buckets of ice cream—the manager of this coffee shop was a Transcendent of the ninth tier who, due to bad luck, realized he had hit his peak upon reaching tier nine, learning only zero-ring tricks and one-ring Spell Formations, specifically the freezing kind. After dropping out, with the help of his family, he simply opened a coffee shop and made excellent ice cream.

When Faye had walked in, he recognized her right away, so he specially prepared some desserts and free ice cream for Malin and the others, which made Maya very happy—ice cream was her favorite.

Faye had eaten half a bucket and stopped, then started feeding Malin. Malin certainly wasn’t about to refuse, eating a spoonful himself for every spoonful Faye fed him.

So when the last of the assistance entered, Leon immediately felt an all-encompassing drop in air pressure.

"What are you doing here?!" the newcomer, pointing at Faye who was feeding Malin, exclaimed.

"I should be asking you that!!" Faye replied, frowning at the young man.

"Who is he?" Maya asked Faye.

"My relative," Faye replied, pursing her lips.

"Oh, you’re Faye’s relative, hello, I’m Malin." Malin greeted with a happy smile.

Then Leon felt as if the brightness of the whole coffee shop had dropped several notches.

"You’re Malin!?" the young werewolf exploded.

"Yeah," Malin nodded.

Then they saw the werewolf point at himself and turn to Faye, "Am I worse than him?!"

"Much worse," Faye bluntly replied.

So, the werewolf pulled out a white glove from his pocket and threw it onto Malin’s head, "Be a man and come outside! I’ll beat you to death!"

"Hey, are you out of your mind?!" Seeing Malin stand up, Leon quickly tried to prevent the duel between the two, so he turned to the werewolf named Sigro.

The latter was stunned for a moment, then turned to Leon with a face full of rage, "You want to stop him! Don’t worry! Once I’ve killed him, I’ll come for a duel with you next!"

You’re sick, I’m trying to save you! Leon rolled his eyes, thinking how all the strong guys from out of town seemed to be so intense nowadays.

Malin smiled at Leon, "Relax, outsiders don’t get it, do you, a local, really need to worry about me?"

As the two left the coffee shop, Hiddell turned to look at Leon, "No, I feel like something’s off today, what about my mission?"

"First, tell me which family Sigro is from."

"Rheud’s."

Leon was silent for a moment, then turned to see that the faces of his clients had changed, "Damn, was it true that Faye was betrothed?"

"Absolutely not, Sigro has been chasing Faye for years, and my little sister has never even given him the time of day." Hiddell was clearly not pleased at the mention of the Rheud family, his grandmother on the Reinhardt side and his grandfather on the Mowish side were siblings, so in his view, the Rheuds were nothing.

"So, what’s his deal?" Leon asked.

"Maybe he’s just asking for a beating," Carmen suddenly commented.

Leon was quiet for another moment, then took out a bank card from the Church from his pocket, "Take your commission back for now, we’ll head out after the fight outside is over, but looks like you won’t be getting a peaceful end today."

"Can’t be that bizarre," Hiddell looked at Leon, feeling that this was too unbelievable. After all, this guy was a top fighter from The Capital, and he was here because he had volunteered.

No sooner had he spoken than a gnome was sent flying through the coffee shop’s large front window, landing on the floor.

"Who’s that?" "Must be a bodyguard sent by the family."

As they spoke, a human was flung sideways into the coffee shop, sticking to the wall like a painting.

Hiddell felt something was wrong, then he saw Faye feeding ice cream to Maya, the two girls chatting and laughing as if completely unconcerned about Malin’s safety.

"Aren’t you worried?" Hiddell asked the two girls.

At his question, a werewolf was sent flying into the shop, landing headfirst in the manager’s giant fish tank by the wall.

Hiddell began to have a headache—this was truly a very dangerous guy, seemingly so cute, but who could have imagined that more outrageous than his cuteness was his strength.

With that thought, Hiddell handed back the bank card to Leon, "Tell Mr. Malin, I can wait for him."

As Hiddell finished speaking, another werewolf flew into the shop—this time, it chose to smack onto the counter.