Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 97: Eighty-fifth - : The Performance is About to Begin (Part One)

Chapter 97: Eighty-fifth Chapter: The Performance is About to Begin (Part One)

Colin felt he was rather unfortunate, although previously Margaret’s family had unexpectedly agreed to their relationship, which made the young man believe life was turning splendid. However, today’s events told him that perhaps the earlier incident was just the Goddess of Fate accidentally spinning the wrong thread. He was supposed to be on a hard-earned vacation, dining out with Margaret, only to encounter an assassination by cultists—not targeting him or her, but one of the failed assassins was now laying sprawled on the table before them, arms stretched out, looking every bit the innocent sufferer.

The exquisite food had fallen between the carpet, the tasty desserts had been crushed into a bloody mush, and with the one atop the table, it looked like some kind of post-modern art put together by those deranged artists from the Central Empire.

Invoking some unspeakable entities for sure.

"Sorry." The manager went around apologizing to the guests; although it wasn’t his fault, today’s mood had definitely been wrecked.

Colin’s mood was also terrible; it was supposed to be a beautiful time for just the two of them.

"It’s nothing, after all, it was an accident. But Mr. Mischael, looking at the dagger in your back, do we need to pull it out?" Margaret wasn’t too bothered by the interruption to their meal and looked at the victim sitting in the chair getting treatment, asking.

"I think it’s better not to pull it out; the position of the stab is very dangerous. Judging from the angle that the knife entered the body, it’s possible that it damaged the lungs. My suggestion is to wait for Master Ferreiro to arrive and then deal with the dagger accordingly." The Church of Justice member treating him shook his head — he was absolutely more skilled than Colin and Margaret in treating external injuries.

Mr. Mischael turned pale but nodded, gesturing that he indeed couldn’t speak, a typical sign of lung damage.

Colin rummaged through the assassin’s jacket on the table and finally pulled out a round badge from the corner of its pocket, emblazoned with a bloodied hand.

"Looks like it’s the same group of people who attacked your lady last time, Mr. Mischael." Colin handed the badge to Mischael: "The Church will definitely seek justice for you."

Mr. Mischael nodded, a look of gratitude on his face.

This time, Margaret walked over to the window, scanning the crowd: "Perhaps the assassins’ accomplices are still out there."

"But now they’ve lost their chance to strike again, and the Church of Justice will also help your church administer justice. The pagans have gone too far lately, it seems they’ve forgotten that in the hands of the God of Justice lies not flowers, but a lethal hammer of judgment." The member of the Church of Justice expressed anger — unlike Colin and Margaret, he had brought the children of the church to dine, only to be targeted by cultists; he fought desperately, but the lunatics still wounded several children.

Thanks to Colin and Margaret, there were no fatalities today — in terms of healing divine arts, Colin and Margaret’s combined efforts were certainly more effective than his.

What about the death of the cultist?

Colin felt that these lunatics couldn’t even be considered human.

"Hey, Colin."

Called by Margaret, Colin tensed up and hurried to his girlfriend’s side, just in time to see Malin leaving with the girls.

"My sister, Malin, and several other girls, why would they be together?" Margaret seemed puzzled.

Colin knew exactly what was going on: "You were on duty yesterday and went straight to bed when you got home today, surely you missed it. Yesterday, your sister and Malin went out and ran into some bad luck again."

"What kind of bad luck?"

"That is, Mr. Mischael’s sister was on a mission that involved them. Malin led the girls and raised their fists to help, but they encountered a squad of Chaos that had just passed through a subspace rift, eight warriors, two magicians."

"Goodness gracious, they survived with that setup? How many unfortunate mercenaries died?" The member of the Church of Justice exclaimed with a laugh upon hearing this.

"A mercenary squad of five, four dead, one gravely injured; your church lost one saint." Colin shook his head.

The member of the Church of Justice paused, then sighed: "So that was the calamity Brother Ron encountered... But I heard that the Chaos squad was annihilated, Colin, is your brother apprentice Malin really that strong?"

"Your fellow church member did more, my unlucky apprentice killed two warriors, but he fulfilled his Purification vow."

"Is that so... Well, I am thankful for that."

Upon this revelation, Margaret finally figured out the situation: "My sister didn’t tell me a thing!"

"Is there a problem between you sisters?" The Church of Justice member chuckled, true to the spirit of the Church of Justice, always bringing up the most uncomfortable subjects.

"Of course not! That’s it! I’m going to ask Faye about this." Margaret stated furiously.

Colin gestured to the member of the Church of Justice to zip it, which he did after realizing his gaffe.

.........

After the meal, Malin escorted the girls home one by one, then returned to the church with Maya.

A little sapling wriggled out from among Malin’s hair — previously, Malin had wanted to turn the World Tree Sapling into his own personal staff, but the lively curiosity of the little thing made it a poor choice. If it were to become a staff, Malin feared being dragged around Carterburg in a frenzy by the sapling.

So Malin turned it into a small elemental creature, akin to a treelike being from a certain movie. Initially, he wanted to keep it in the pocket of his coat, but it seemed to prefer Malin’s head.

That’s fine, as long as it doesn’t drag Malin racing through the city.

The little sapling leaped off Malin’s head quickly, ran a few steps on the hall’s reception desk, and issued a shrill laugh — it saw a little fairy on the other side of the counter and seemed to want to play with her.

Then, under Malin’s watch, the little sapling got hit with at least 12 layers of Web Spell.

That’s alright, the sparkle on the sapling signified its good alignment, and it was only then that the fairy put away the basin-sized Fireball in her hand.

"Miss Bubu, how come you’re free to visit today?" Malin greeted her—this was the fairy Bubu Haus, the Chief Apprentice of the Church of the God of Nature at Carterburg.

"I’m here to buy seeds. What’s this thing?" The fairy had dismissed the danger alert and, realizing the little thing rushing towards her didn’t seem to be attacking, she asked Malin.

"A twig given to me by the God of Justice." This item wasn’t a secret among friends, and since the twig could recognize its owner, Malin didn’t worry about someone stealing it.

As for why this thing seemed to have so much fun in the spider web... Malin figured it was probably because the little thing acted like a rowdy child, capable of playing and causing trouble.

"World Tree Sapling!" The little fairy was first shocked, then immediately screamed and pounced on it, apparently wanting to snap a small piece off to see if it could be grafted.

Then the fairy missus bumped her head into the web. Malin covered his face—was this really how the Chief Apprentice of the Church of the God of Nature behaved? Were their apprentices really okay?

...Having fished the two out of the web, Malin used a handkerchief to help Bubu clean off the spider silk, then had the twig revert back to sapling form. Miss Bubu was gnashing her teeth and struggled for a while, ultimately confirming that this thing couldn’t be broken by a fairy.

However, Bubu still had her gains. The World Tree Sapling seemed to really like fairies, and it produced a small vine on its own, which it handed to Miss Bubu.

"It gave me this! Amazing! Thank you, Malin!" Miss Bubu flew over to kiss Malin, then fluttered her wings cheerfully and flew out the church’s main door.

Malin turned his head to see the World Tree Sapling already collapsed on the floor, curling up like a mosquito coil.

"Brother, what happened to this twig?" Maya asked her brother, very curious.

"It’s nothing; it’s licking twigs, not Haus," Malin said, mixing English and Chinese.

Maya was full of question marks.

.........

Faye sat in the living room, the freshly bathed young lady wearing her robe and flipping through the latest edition of ’Holmes Detective Collection’, making the most proper choice between doing nothing and reading as a lady should.

"You seem very happy, miss," said the head maid. As always, she managed to clean the seemingly never-clean room while chatting with her mistress.

"Yes, very happy, for I have gathered my sisters and protected those I love. Like mother, I intend to become a legendary mage and help Mr. Malin and my sisters," she said.

"Then you shouldn’t be holding the book in your hands. The Mage Tower, spell books, and laboratories are the best tools to fulfill your oath."

Unlike master and servant, their conversation resembled that between friends. As it concluded, Faye and her head maid Lena turned their heads towards the door, from where loud footsteps were approaching. A tall man walked through the door, and upon seeing Faye, he immediately smiled and opened his arms: "Faye! My dear! Come, let’s hug."

"Don’t, you’re too stinky. I just had a bath," Faye said, shaking her head at the man before her, holding a book in her left hand and propping her chin on the sofa armrest with her right.

"I’ve always said, dear, you’re too stinky; why don’t you take a bath?" the woman who followed him in laughed, though to Faye, she looked just as odorous: "Why don’t the two of you take a bath together, big brother, and you too, Sister Tona."

"Oh my stars, my sweetheart doesn’t even mention my name, Tona! Sweetheart’s heart has changed!" the tall man wailed, hugging the woman next to him with greatly exaggerated melodramatic flair.

The woman rolled her eyes, "Dear, we really do stink. Let’s listen to our cute little sister and take a bath, shall we?"

"No! I want a hug from Faye! No!"

Faye laughed as she saw her second brother dragged away by his wife.

"Your brother is still as clueless as ever," Head Maid Lena said with a smile.

"He’s a good brother. Speaking of which, where’s my eldest brother?" Faye frowned—a rare occurrence not to find her two brothers together.

With this confusion, Faye saw his brother’s wife, her own Sister Rowena.

"Sister Rowena, where’s my brother Boone?" Faye asked the woman before her—not wearing mourning attire, which meant her brother was probably still alive.

But then again, her second brother didn’t seem like he had lost his eldest sibling either.

"Uh... well..." Rowena hesitated.

"What’s wrong?" Faye frowned.

"Your brother, he..." Rowena found it difficult to speak.

"What happened?" Faye put down her book—had he been seriously injured on the front line?

"Miss Faye, let me tell you, he went to duel with Malin," said Boone and Rowena’s eight-year-old son, Gene, running in: "Daddy will definitely take you back from the bad guys! Then he’ll make you Gene’s bride!"

The little rascal laughed heartlessly.

Faye laughed just as heartlessly.

I have three brothers; losing one is no problem, you little rascal only have one real dad, die and you’ll be an orphan!

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