Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 883: Section 581: Old Harlos (Part 2)

Chapter 883: Section 581: Old Harlos (Part 2)

After sipping tea on the sofa for a while, Malin saw a dwarf woman come in; she stood by the door, unfastening her cloak and handing it to the logistics staff passing by.

"Zem, we’re back. The scene has been processed for forensic evidence. Where’s our new member?"

She didn’t notice Malin sitting in the corner on the sofa. Malin took a glance at the dwarf girl and found she was slimmer than any dwarf he had known.

Um... Wait, haven’t I seen this dwarf lass somewhere before?

Malin hesitated for a moment, as he really couldn’t connect the shadow of the past with her current appearance.

Zem smiled and pointed towards the corner. The lady with the burgundy braided hair then turned her head and finally noticed Malin; the next second, she beamed the most joyful smile, just as she always had.

"Malin, it’s been a while." Her voice was still gentle and delicate as before.

Indeed, it’s Xingyan from the Anvil family.

Malin also smiled and walked up to the dwarf girl: "You’ve changed a lot."

"Yes, those World Tree fruits you gave me have sublimated my bloodline. I’m now one of the Silver Folk, so I’m different from ordinary dwarves. Even the dwarf runesmiths can’t explain why," Xingyan stretched out her hand, "Welcome to Harlos. My father lived here when he was young, so I guess I’m half a Harlos person."

Malin took her hand: "What are we having for lunch?"

"Come to my place. Bring Lulu over, and we’ll make griddle barbecue. Do you still remember the way you taught me?" Xingyan said, seemingly reminiscing about the past.

Malin nodded with a smile: "No problem, I will cook. Let Lulu rest a bit, and we two will go buy some groceries." Then, turning to the others who seemed a bit out of the conversation, he asked, "What about them?"

"A few more mouths to feed is not a big deal. We could just add the cost of barbecue to the budget," said Xingyan, hands on her hips and laughing.

"Let’s not do that, I’ll pay," Malin thought Xingyan was joking, but he didn’t want the cost being added to the budget; it would be too embarrassing for him.

So Malin and Xingyan put on their jackets and bid farewell to Zem.

Xingyan was more familiar with Harlos, so Malin followed her to the market. Located in the North, the deer here were so plentiful they even surpassed those from the South, making various kinds of venison the best choice. Xingyan picked out the meats while Malin made suggestions on the side, also having Mana come over to pick up the purchases. She and Melo formed a six-legged plant platform, helping Malin carry the large amount of meat.

"This is Uncle Diamond, an old friend of my father." When they reached a meat shop, Xingyan introduced Malin to the elderly dwarf butcher, who took a look at Malin and showed an excited expression that was hard to conceal when looking at Xingyan: "Child, is he your boyfriend?"

"No, we’re apprentices from Harvest Church. He is Malin," Xingyan said quite embarrassingly.

The old dwarf slapped the back of his head, "My apologies, sir."

"It’s nothing. You look like you haven’t wielded a hammer for quite some time, have you?" Malin looked at the old dwarf and asked.

"Yes, a souvenir from the last Tide of the Dead," said the one-eyed old dwarf with some discontent, waving his meat cleaver in his hand, "In my youth, I was the best blacksmith in Harlos, but now I can only be a butcher cutting deer meat."

After a moment’s thought, Malin cast a Spell Formation to repair the dwarf’s eyeball. As the Spell Formation took effect, the old dwarf removed his eyepatch and inspected Malin with his newly functional eye: "True Divine Arts, sir, your power amazes me."

"It’s nothing. I can see the unwillingness in your eyes. If you still wish to wield a hammer, head over to Carterburg. Xingyan’s father is working for me; I believe he’ll help you," Malin offered a path to the old dwarf who still harbored old dreams.

"That’s great, I’ll leave my meat shop in the care of my human friend, old Carter! Let your child come and watch my shop. I’m off to pack my luggage with my little Xingyan... Oh, and by the way, Mr. Malin, this piece of meat is for you. It’s the rib I’m most satisfied with over the past three months." The old dwarf tossed a rib into the self-propelled basket made by Melo and Mana, then threw his knife aside and left the meat shop.

"Your uncle sure handles things in a hurry," Malin said with a smile, looking at Xingyan, while the dwarf girl smiled back at him, "Uncle Diamond has always missed the days when he was a blacksmith. It’s great that you were able to heal his eyes."

"Speaking of which, why didn’t he undergo such a spell formation? Although it would cost a good sum of gold, I think a fine blacksmith like him would be worth it." Malin has always been puzzled; if the younger generation of the Hagelberry family did not get a good cost-benefit ratio from treatment, shouldn’t a blacksmith like old Diamond be even more deserving of healing?

"My uncle has undergone treatment, but it could not cure him. Not all healers have your kind of strength," Xingyan said to Malin.

Malin felt Xingyan’s explanation... made sense indeed. It got him wondering why he had such strong healing abilities himself.

Forget it. After all, the mystic arts are just like this. Let’s not talk about what’s reasonable. In Malin’s view, his power exists to help those in need.

And that’s all there is to it.

Having bought all the ingredients, Malin also specifically bought some winter mushrooms, which are the most common mushrooms in the whole North, usually used for making soup. Malin planned to try making this dish to let his Bunny Girl Clovis eat some vegetarian food she hadn’t tasted before.

And it would surely taste unique if it were basted with sauce and roasted, wouldn’t it?

Following Xingyan back to her place, Zem had already prepared everything with his team. In his words, Xingyan’s culinary skills were superb, and they absolutely had to try Lord Malin’s roast meat today, no matter what.

That being so, Malin handed the ribs over to these guys to handle, and then played with Lulu, who seemed still to be in a low blood sugar state. She hummed like a little beast and then expressed a wish to hug Spotty.

Malin fetched Spotty from the Semi-Plane, and so Lulu happily played with Spotty.

Thinking back to the last operation, this little creature’s acting was explosive. As a reward, cut some chicken breast for it this time.

Since it was promised, Malin cut some chicken meat for this little one and let Lulu feed it, then glanced at Xingyan, finding the dwarf girl acting like a foreman, overseeing everyone as they worked on various cuts of meat. These guys seem to have tasted Xingyan’s roast meat before, judging by their skilled handling.

Too bad, too slow though.

"Don’t you guys ever help out in the kitchen?" Malin asked, leaning on the doorframe of the kitchen.

"What, do you guys cook for yourselves?" Zem and the others asked in unison.

Malin rolled his eyes at these ironclad men, then looked at Xingyan, who smiled, "I learned today for the first time that even the Legendary Lord helps out in the kitchen. Faye and the others are truly enviable."

Malin shrugged – you see, these are the tears of the era.

Sighing at this point, Malin turned to Xingyan, "By the way, Xingyan, do you have the trace identification report at hand?"

"Yes, do you want to see it now?" asked Xingyan.

"You see, I’m not busy with anything," Malin explained with a smile.

Do you ironclad straight men also expect me to help you out? Keep dreaming!

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