Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 797: Section 537: Bright Mirror (Four) _2

Chapter 797: Section 537: Bright Mirror (Four) _2

This statement struck a chord with Thomas, indeed, even he understood how perilous the battle against the Black Orcs was, yet Malin led his troops as if they were merely on a picnic, crushing the Black Orcs effortlessly.

This stirred a bit of envy in Thomas—Just consider Hagelberry, how come he’s so lucky, that his granddaughter could be assigned to serve alongside Malin as a Night Watcher.

"I really do envy you, old Hagelberry." A new member joined the conversation, it was Duke Ansel Messiah, whose legion was the first to arrive from the entire Western Province, a Duke highly favored by His Majesty. His family was one of the sixteen great Noble families of the Northern Kingdom, a stature that even strained Thomas’ neck just by looking.

"Ah, it’s Ansel, what are you envious about, you don’t even have a daughter," retorted Hagelberry with a laugh.

"Yes, that’s why I can only feel envy. By the way, I’d like to invite His Grace Malin to a banquet I’m hosting, Lord Hagelberry, could you introduce me, perhaps?"

"No problem, Your Grace, I’ll be meeting my granddaughter in a bit, I’ll have her put in a word for you, much more effective than if I did it," said old Hagelberry with a chuckle.

"That’s wonderful, you see, I’m neither a Frost Giant hybrid nor do I have any relatives in the south, I have absolutely no connections with Malin, so I can only come to you with such a bold request," the Duke lamented, extending his hand to clasp that of Hagelberry’s tightly.

Wow, even the Messiah family is trying to curry favor with His Grace Malin?

This realization deepened Thomas’ frustration—Damned old Hagelberry, isn’t this just a way to indirectly show off how favored your granddaughter is by Malin?

Thinking of this, Thomas grew even more bitter—Imagine, me being a Half-human, what use is having a daughter?

Everyone knows His Grace Malin has numerous lovers, each with distinctive flavors, and amongst them...a Half-human stands no chance at all.

Damn it, when will a Half-human girl rise above these varied breeds and become Malin’s new favorite?

......

When Malin got into the carriage, he noticed old Hagelberry standing with everyone, seemingly chatting... Hmm, how did Hagelberry, the military’s General Sergei, the Duke of the Western Province, and a Half-human Noble all end up together?

With this puzzlement, Malin shut the carriage door.

This mission was indeed a great success, the military had also helped, informing Malin about the connection between Sanders and Earl Sigran, which Malin further confirmed from Sigran’s eldest son about the former Prime Minister’s collusion with the Minister of Finance.

Hence, a plethora of evidence was found and arranged. Now these three families are doomed, aside from these three facing execution, their adult sons will be thrown into the Atonement Camp. Malin felt this was no different from being killed, given that even sandy black bread might not be present, let alone medical care. If they survived, Malin figured it meant their time was not up yet.

However, if they survive and seek revenge on Malin, he would not hesitate to kill them.

As for their daughters, most had married and were thus spared from proceedings, Malin wouldn’t argue further, as he had already mentioned to His Majesty Manheim that anyone seeking revenge for their grandfathers would face no mercy from Malin.

But ultimately, it’s all so tedious, Malin leaned back against the seat of the carriage. As High Priest, Malin found himself increasingly out of sync with noble sentiments. Previously, he thought Manheim His Majesty harbored a murderous intent, ready to dispatch an entire family swiftly with a blood eagle ritual, Malin, with compassionate intentions, decided to find a quicker death for them.

Yet, in the end, he realized it was King Manheim who was merciful, only punishing the direct culprits, and it was actually Malin himself who held such violent impulses.

Sigh, what are all these messes, better to steer clear of the noble circles in the future and let the Church find a reason to end them swiftly.

Thinking this, Malin contemplated his next schedule—heading back for lunch, then as usual, taking the young ones to experience the harshness of the battlefield.

Speaking of harshness, Malin thought of Keders, wondering if the old man had any illegitimate children—these days, many nobles had a few, some known to their fathers, some not.

If Keders had any unknown children, Malin felt it would be better to find an opportunity to take such a child as an Apprentice, certainly better than letting them fend for themselves.

Hmm...about finding the child, Malin decided to have the Assistant Priest from the Benevolent Church take a look if there really were any children brought over, Malin would personally test them.

The carriage took Malin back to the mansion, and as he alighted, Malin took off his longsword, walked into the hall, and tossed the longsword to Fio, who took it back to the shallow layer of the Rhizome Area in Subspace, stored the longsword, and then returned to Malin’s side.

Elise curtsied to Malin: "Welcome back, Your Grace."

"Ah, I’m back, by the way, where’s my Lulu?"

"Mrs. Lulu is bathing; she just came back with Ms. Meng from Thainan, saying she came back from the front line. The lady is feeling a bit down; you better go see her, Your Grace."

Hearing Elisa say this made Malin somewhat headache-ridden—why on earth, of all things, did this girl choose to go to the front line.

That place is the real hell; even as a Night Watcher, he had probably never seen the sight of tens of thousands of Chaos beings of different kind charging.

"I’ll go take a look." While Malin was saying this, he saw Lulu and Meng walking out of the corridor, both dressed in thick bathrobes, and indeed Lulu looked dispirited.

Thus, Malin hurried over to Lulu, reached out to hug his girl, and then asked, "Why did you go to the frontline today? Weren’t you frightened?"

"It was alright, the place we went to had your Lich friend, his troops held back the Chaos like a flooding tide." The War Witch girl said, placing her hands on her hips: "Speaking of which, that Lich is really strange, he’s clearly a Lich, but when I look at his faction, it’s not evil."

What, Ails isn’t part of the evil faction anymore?

Malin was somewhat bewildered—this environment really could transform a person.

He then looked at Lulu: "Miss Elisa said you’re feeling somewhat down, what’s wrong?"

"It’s nothing but having seen partings between life and death, young soldiers dying in their Benevolent Church Healer girlfriends’ arms; that girl almost went berserk, thankfully she was restrained. Lulu cried a lot in my arms about that."

In your arms? Malin glanced at Meng’s chest... I, I’m finding it hard to breathe... No, this is too much!

Still, hearing Meng say this gave Malin more of a headache; it’s all too common in war, this world facing separations and deaths every day, and battlefields are the most haunted places where these things happen, this is just seeking punishment for yourself, you two girls.

Thinking this, Malin could only comfort Lulu, until the girl buried her lips in Malin’s arms and wept.

"Malin, I have a question," she said.

"Go ahead, I’m listening." Malin patted the girl’s back.

"Do you think our generation can truly change everything, making Chaos never appear in this world again?" The girl lifted her head to look at Malin, as if trying to find the answer on Malin’s face.

Malin thought for a moment and finally shook his head: "I don’t know if we can truly accomplish all this, but to say it’s impossible without even trying, that wouldn’t be fair, would it?" As he said, Malin paused, then looked at Lulu in his arms, at her expectant eyes: "So, Lulu, would you like to try with me, to create such a world?"

Only then did Lulu finally show a slight smile.

"I would like that," she said.

Malin smiled and stroked Lulu’s head.

I would like that too.