Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 856: Section 568: A Corner of History (Part 1)

Chapter 856: Section 568: A Corner of History (Part 1)

After spending a week reviewing all the ledgers, Malin felt elevated—there were no errors in the books, every entry matched perfectly with the numbers in his mind, the so-called potential errors, or rats that might have crept in betraying the ladies, were nowhere to be found.

They were all nonexistent, all illusory, all empty talk.

What have I been doing this week, this was the question Malin was recently most adept at asking himself.

And he always failed to find an answer, how could he possibly find one? He had issued bonuses equivalent to half a year’s salary to the loyal old stewards, but these elders did not accept the bonuses, instead, they requested Mr. Malin to select some children of suitable age from his grandchildren to join the preparatory military academy.

This was a new benefit obtained by Malin from his father-in-law, His Majesty Goethe of Regensburg—establishing a preparatory military academy in Carterburg, entirely funded by Malin, to recruit children aged 4 to 8 for full-time military training.

That’s nonsense.

This is not the Royal Military Academy of Regensburg, that’s where military talents are truly nurtured; here at Malin’s, all students will join Malin’s troops after completing 8 years of education and undergo a major reorganization of his troops over the next twenty years, where young soldiers will be armed with the ideology of civilization—meaning, they are committed to protecting civilization, regardless of race or gender, sharing the same values that protect this planet under their feet.

Of course, they are also fighting for their families, each one having their own real faith.

They would be the guardians of the planet beneath them, warriors who would not retreat in battle for their families, and become good fathers, good mothers; their children, and their children’s children, will inherit everything they learned at that academy.

Perhaps such a future requires Malin’s generation to dedicate their entire lives to achieve or to contribute progressively towards such a splendid future.

Perhaps the future might not be as Malin imagines, because people change, everyone will experience different changes at different stages of their lives due to different things.

But at least, Malin has a clear conscience.

These children will stay true to human civilization, they will not fight for the nobles and kings of the current chaotic world.

That’s enough.

And this nearly hostage-like act of the old stewards was eventually accepted by Malin, not choosing himself but letting the stewards bring people over—naturally, their bonuses would be given as scholarships for these children.

Malin would do his utmost, not to let down anyone willing to serve him.

After handling the ledger matters, Malin went non-stop to the North, Nova had been sent to a legion in the North that had performed well in the previous battle, not only was the military of the Northern Kingdom awarding them medals, but their Queen as well, and Malin was invited as a special guest... no, as the award presenter.

In other words, after Malin spent a whole day from dawn to dusk awarding medals to a battalion, he once again found himself caught in a strange cycle.

And thinking that there were about twenty more battalions like this one, Malin truly felt it was going to kill him.

But thinking about the excited and joyful smiles of those soldiers, Malin felt—let it be, this damn world, if his efforts could make these soldiers feel valued, then Malin felt it was all worth it.

Besides, Malin felt fine at the end of the day, just a bit sore in the arms, unlike those holding the medal trays, like brother Svenson, who today helped Malin by holding the trays, whose arms reportedly couldn’t move anymore at the end of the day.

Such a poor fellow.

While Malin sighed for him, he hurriedly walked into a camp—these were the soldiers who had fought alongside Malin, now stationed outside Copenhagen.

Seeing Malin appear, the soldiers originally gathered around the campfire excitedly crowded around, Malin shook hands with them, greeted them, and eventually saw Carter Robinson.

"Hello, Mr. Malin, Mr. Antoine and Mr. Eric have told me about you," the young man said with a smile.

"I know, you were just telling them about something."

"About a bright future, once Chaos is defeated, we will have a long time to rest," the young man said with a smile.

Malin also smiled: "That’s great, now I’m your audience, please continue, won’t you."

"No problem, sir."

So Malin and the soldiers sat back down around this State Church chaplain, listening to his stories.

Overall, a very fine young man, his stories always filled with various beauties, camaraderie on the battlefield, loved ones and children waiting at home, familiar companions and friends, and for all this, how they need to face and defeat Chaos.

The young man’s speech was well-organized and not like the indoctrination of Nordicism that Malin had imagined, but rather in a subtly influencing way affecting every soldier.

The Nordicism of this era, with their romanticism typical of revolutionaries and their realist’s calm, remained loyal to their ideals and faced reality; they were not blindly opposed to anything, instead, they influenced everyone with their actions.

He was a good teammate and a very tough opponent indeed.

Malin raised his hand, clapping along with the soldiers, feeling a slight enlightenment within his heart.

...

Looking at the Carterburg Times sent from Carterburg, Rewo frowned, not knowing why, but she always felt the young man holding the medal tray for Malin had a helpless smile on his face. It was a faded printed photo, yet why was the helplessness on the young man’s face so vividly noticeable?

As she pondered this, she heard the curious exclamations of the apprentice behind her.

"It’s Lord Malin, the photo of him awarding medals to soldiers has made the front page of the newspaper."

It was the blonde girl, this child unexpectedly sensible, yet also unexpectedly bold. Sometimes Rewo thought if she had to choose one among these children, she would definitely pick this child.

Because she was too sensible, with a sensible smile, sensible astonishment, sensible boldness, and cleverness.

Her companions, none had even one-tenth of her acting skills... no, not just acting skills, this child had a knowledge of alchemy beyond the ordinary, able to deduce other principles from one taught by Rewo. If it weren’t for her passing Rewo’s observation and the Mage Tower’s appraisal, Rewo really wouldn’t know if this little thing was human or ghost.

"This is your mentor’s husband," Rewo said with a smile, passing the newspaper in her hand to the children in front of her.

Watching the children as they earnestly read the content on the newspaper, Rewo lay back in her rocking chair.

She had already contacted Malin; he said he would provide a list of potions later, there was no need to make them now to avoid the potions expiring.

What a good husband indeed.

Rewo looked at the ceiling, and in a trance, she remembered the first time she met Malin. Oh my, so many years have flown by; she too had transitioned from a child to a soon-to-be mother now.

The children over there were chatting; though they were kids, they had a very direct understanding of the opposite sex’s attractiveness, hearing them say Malin was handsome made Rewo happily squint her eyes.

Her magic pet, an owl, flew through the window and landed on the arm of the rocking chair.

Rewo took a scroll of parchment from the pouch on its leg.

It was a new order from the Northern Mage Tower. Glancing at the content, Rewo stood up, and the domestic fairy floating in the air snapped its fingers, "Ladies," she said loudly, shedding her previous shy demeanor.

Rewo, you need to work hard, Malin needs your help.

Her apprentices looked up at their mentor.

"Go tell the alchemists, there’s a new order. This time we will continue to assist our kind in the North; all willing to work overtime will receive double the pay!"

"Yes, ma’am!" The blonde girl was the first to respond.

"Good, my child, take your sisters with you," Rewo said, as a teleportation portal started to open before her.

"Ma’am, where are you going?" the blonde girl asked.

"In an hour, I need to prepare for the alchemy conference I’m in charge of." Saying this, Rewo saw the gleam in the girl’s eyes; she seemed to be looking forward to something.

What an ambitious young person.

Seeing her expression, Rewo smiled and beckoned, "Jasmine, child, come here."

"Ma’am, do you need something?" the blonde girl approached.

"I need an assistant; would you like to hand over your work to your sisters and come help me, or would you prefer to pass this opportunity to your sisters?" Rewo finished, watching the girl in front of her, waiting for her answer.

The blonde girl was excited, she turned to look at her own sisters — they too were excited.

"Jasmine, go for it," the dark-haired girl said. "I’ll take the sisters to spread the news."

"Thank you, Tara." The blonde girl’s eyes were filled with tears as she watched her sisters leave, then turned back to face Rewo: "Ma’am, is there anything I need to prepare?"

"Bring the file bag I left there."

Rewo pointed to her black file bag, which for a domestic fairy might seem quite ordinary, but for Jasmine, being a half-blood human and fairy, it was a bit too small.

So, the girl picked up the leather bag with both hands, watching as her lady magically manipulated her clothes and completed a change of outfit.

Finally, she followed her mentor, now dressed in a legendary mage’s robe, into the teleportation portal, one following the other.