Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 949: Section 623: Question (2)

Chapter 949: Section 623: Question (2)

Transcribing the adventures of Holmes as a scribe and being involved in detective work oneself are obviously two different things, especially when the murderer has come prepared. Just as Malin was clueless about how to solve the problem, he suddenly noticed a cub among the crowd.

It was a child who seemed out of place in this era, wearing clothes that were different from this time, with a neat buzz cut, looking as though he didn’t belong to the era Mars was in, but seeming to have some connection with the era from Nanaki’s time.

Malin turned his head towards Officer Goldhatch: "Officer Goldhatch, do you see that child?"

Officer Goldhatch turned his head, following the direction Malin pointed: "A child? I don’t see one..." Saying this, the officer glanced at Malin with a hint of confusion and incomprehension: "Maybe it’s because your intuition is too sharp?"

Malin nodded — people of this era couldn’t see the child from the future. Thinking it over, Malin walked towards the child.

The child seemed to notice Malin; his face showing confusion, then incomprehension, and finally, tension. When Malin pointed at him, the child turned and ran.

Malin subconsciously cast an Immobilization Spell, but upon seeing the child’s legs buckle, and then still manage to perform a perfect explosive start and run away quickly, he did not make it in time.

Malin had no choice but to chase after him.

.........

"Why did Lord Malin run off in that direction?" Confused, Officer Harold watched Malin disappear into the alley, looking perplexedly at Officer Goldhatch, who, in order not to make Harold think that there was something wrong with Lord Malin’s mind, explained Malin’s earlier discovery: "Lord Malin’s intuition is too sharp, which is bad, but his abilities are exceptional, so it actually turns out to be a good thing. He said he saw a child. I think it must be some harmless ghost that insensitive folks like you and I cannot see."

After hearing Officer Goldhatch’s explanation, Harold didn’t find it strange at all — after all, Lord Malin is a legend, a heightened intuition is not surprising.

"Kids, speaking of which, I also saw that fleeing child, really strange, I clearly have no intuition whatsoever." Halil said this, looking at his companions with skeptical eyes: "Really, I saw that child, wearing unusual clothes, with very short hair, and not wearing a hat."

Officer Goldhatch wanted to reprimand his friend, who supposedly had no intuition and thus could not have seen the target only Lord Malin was able to see. But upon reflection, he ultimately decided it was better to keep silent — after all, his old pal Halil from Copenhagen who used to be the town drunk had turned over a new leaf, so who was he to doubt in such circumstances?

So, Officer Goldhatch decided to ask his old friend: "You said it was a child, was it a boy or a girl?"

"With such short hair and just a kid wearing oversized clothes, how do you expect me to tell if it’s a boy or a girl? Mate, that’s asking too much," Halil replied helplessly to his old friend.

Officer Goldhatch was even more puzzled — Halil’s speaking with logic implied that he wasn’t boasting or speaking nonsense while drunk. So, could Halil really see the child?

Which led to the question — what kind of joke was this? Halil’s intuition was a measly 0.5, the worst score, half a point less than Officer Goldhatch’s, how could he see the child? It was a mystery for the ages.

.........

The Spell Formation had no effect on the child, forcing Malin to initiate a chase. To his surprise, the kid was fast, with only the sight of his round ears confirming he wasn’t any kind of elf. How could this little devil run a hundred meters in just over nine seconds?

With such doubts in mind, Malin leaped into a portal and upon reaching the other side of the corner, he reached out and grabbed the fleeing little thing.

The latter screamed, letting Malin realize it was a tomboy.

However... the solid feel, Malin touched the child’s ear with a doubtful gaze, there was indeed something off, it seemed like a human’s ear but felt like the softness only a Domestic Fairy should have.

So, using the language of Domestic Fairies, Malin asked, "Child, who are you?"

This single sentence made the struggling kid’s eyes go wide, hmm, judging by the pupils, indeed they were the large ones unique to Domestic Fairies.

"From which era do you come?" Malin asked a second question.

Totally confused by Malin’s questions, the kid observed Malin and finally asked a question that left Malin somewhat helpless, but also relieved: "You with the skeleton head, are you a man or a ghost?"

"Of course, I’m a man, otherwise you could start imagining how you got dead," Malin said, and then put the child down on the ground.

This child shouldn’t be Malin’s descendant, for the descendants of Malin could not see his appearance clearly, and a child with high intuition should have recognized Malin no matter what.

"You must be a Legendary... definitely a Legendary," the child pondered a bit and seemed to understand Malin’s identity. His question made Malin nod: "Yes, I am a Legendary, Malin Gaiate, do you know me?"

"How could I know you’re a Legendary, what’s your name, sir?" the child asked.

Malin chuckled, "Well, it looks like it’s not just his descendants who don’t know his name, even this kid from another family can’t hear it. Malin, oh Malin, the future me, what on earth have you done to shake the world so remarkably."

Thinking of this, Malin patted the little guy’s head: "Does my name matter to you?"

"Of course it matters, when I go back, I might be able to brag to your descendants, saying that I’ve met one of your legendary ancestors," the little guy replied nonchalantly.

Typical of a Domestic Fairy, with a quirky personality and an inherently optimistic nature, after all, grumpy oddities like Rewo are extremely rare.

"I am the pinnacle of both the Haus and the Gaiates families," said Malin.

This time the little thing understood, and she clapped her hands: "Wow, it seems I can go back and brag to my senior Nanaqi, but she definitely won’t believe it, after all, she has never met you."

"Do you just believe what I say?" Malin asked.

"I just feel that what you say indeed sounds like that pinnacle, only the joint pinnacle of both the Haus and the Gaiates families would have the trait of being legendary yet unable to have his name heard. And you know what, your spell formation just now nearly broke through my magic resistance. I am a natural demon-suppressor; not even legendary-level spells are likely to have such a terrifying effect," the child said. Looking at Malin: "Since you are a legendary sir, may I ask you to save someone?"

"Save whom?" Malin took out a cigarette case, and lit a cigarette for himself.

"Halil Duboa, my ancestor," the child said.

"I thought you were a descendant of Mendel," Malin said, surprised. He squatted down to take a closer look at the child: "You don’t look anything like Halil."

"That’s right, I’m at least 1600 years removed from this era. If every generation is 25 years, that’s enough time for a human descendant’s bloodline to change from human to Domestic Fairy and back again, not to mention... he’s only my external ancestor."

"Your mother’s surname is Duboa?" Malin nodded—so that explained it.

"Yes... Mother has always loved the autobiographical detective stories written by this ancestor in his later years. He wrote that his biggest regret was not being able to solve the assassination of Mendel, a case that caused him to lose two of his best friends," the child said.

"Wait, you’re asking me to save Halil?" Malin was puzzled.

"My ancestor was a man of deep loyalty. In this incident, he lost his colleagues and dear friends, Officer Goldhatch and Officer Harold. Unable to find the murderer and avenge them, this regret became the most painful Chapter in the second half of his life. He returned to alcoholism until he met his lover. Living in agony, he was half mad by the time he wrote those novels. My mother thought that if the ancestor had not been so mad, the Duboa family might not have had so many tales of being tossed about by fate," the child said.

At this, the child looked at Malin: "Sir, will you help me?"

"I’m thinking, if I help you here, it might change the future of you future people. Perhaps Halil would fall in love with another woman and never meet your esteemed female ancestor," Malin said to the silly girl.

"..." The Half-blood fell silent for a while, then scratched her head: "You’re right, but... who can genuinely understand all these things about the future? Maybe after saving the ancestor, there will be an additional timeline... Anyway, I think it’s quite sad for a man to live so tiredly. It’s not just about saving him, which might lead to two completely different futures for the Duboa family. I am me, they are them, and we’re all members of the Duboa family. Maybe we will meet someday in the future, perhaps we’ll even dislike each other, but I still want to help this old man. After all, it’s pitiable and infuriating to see him drunkenly crying on the couch, apologizing to his friends, while holding a vomit bag. And I happened to see such a visually and olfactorily devastating scene the first time I did a deep dive."

"...Your empathy is so perfect that I feel ashamed, child," Malin reached out and patted the little one’s head: "In that case, let’s go back. The assassination of Assistant Priest Mendel seems to have a lot of problems. Your ancestor Halil’s colleagues might have been killed because they were on the killer’s trail and discovered something. What we need to do is help them get through this predicament. You must have some information, right?"

"No, no information at all. I’m not interested in history, and I haven’t taken any history classes. My biggest memory of this era is that Link Svenson of the Svenson family eventually became the new Emperor after thirty-five years, and was then shot dead by two assassins from seven hundred yards away in the same year."

Damn, that’s quite an explosive piece of information.

A member of the Northern Eleven, sworn to kill Link Svenson, who is the current Emperor of the Northern Kingdom, eventually becomes the Emperor of the Northern Kingdom? Is this a twist of human nature, or the collapse of morality?

But... then again, as the child said, the future has many paths. In Malin’s eyes, just his current body’s past has been witnessed more than once with those numerous destroyed worlds standing as proof, and these timelines that have managed to survive are treasures to Malin.

"All right, little one, let’s go," Malin said, then started to walk ahead.

Then the little guy ran up next to him: "Sir."

"What is it." Malin looked down at the child.

"Thank you," the child said, bowing deeply... Such a well-mannered little one.

Malin felt somewhat envious of Halil.

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