Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 1201: Section 733: Choice (1)_2

Chapter 1201: Section 733: Choice (1)_2

The list has gone missing.

Meanwhile, the first casualty among the middle management emerged; Carter Robinson’s friend from the same village, Kaldor Redon, was dead, killed by three shots fired by a drunkard.

Within the next twelve hours, nearly half of the people on the list met untimely deaths. Antoine decided to withdraw from Copenhagen overnight, and on the way south, he, Eric Wood, Todd Spencer, and Pinto Olsson were ambushed.

The ambushers were the Paladins of the Church of Justice, aiming at Todd Spencer, who was accused of being a Wizard. The Paladins intended to capture him. Todd prepared to sacrifice himself to let his two old friends leave, but when he surrendered, a bullet flew from somewhere and killed one of the Paladin’s Attendants. Both sides said they didn’t hear the gunshots, but it was later proved that the bullet that killed the Attendant differed from those of Antoine’s men. Both sides made mistakes in judgment over the night — Antoine’s men thought these Paladins were imposters sent to assassinate them, while the Paladins thought Todd’s surrender was fake.

In the brief gunfight that followed, Todd Spencer, standing in front, was shot seventeen times and killed.

Antoine was shot seven times and ultimately died despite rescue efforts.

Eric Wood took only one bullet, but since it hit his forehead, he naturally died.

Pinto Olsson, shot nine times, miraculously survived, but was later poisoned during treatment at the Benevolent Hospital.

At this point, the Church of Justice realized something was wrong. Facing the arrival of old Francis, the Bishop of the Church of Justice publicly declared this to be a vast conspiracy against the Church of Justice and the Northern ideology—old Francis, having heard the ins and outs of the event, no longer returned to the Harvest Church, instead choosing to reside directly at the Church of Justice.

His choice proved wise; the next morning, it was verified that robbers broke into old Francis’s home, killing two old servants and four adopted sons, leaving the place completely ransacked.

By now, the Svenson family twins, who returned overnight, stopped their plan to enter the city and directly went to the Sogn military camp, where soldiers leaning towards the Northern ideology shielded them.

Two divisions under Carter Robinson refused the orders from the capital’s military judges to execute Carter Robinson, and Carter Robinson himself went missing.

At noon, old Frans met the King with the Bishop of the Church of Justice, but what they discussed is still unknown. However, upon leaving the palace, old Francis publicly declared to the old Bishop of the Church of Justice that this nation had already rotten, and then shot himself dead.

At this point, Stein Mansheim, guarding the Merno line, sent out a public telegram questioning their King.

The King dismissed it, responding by telegram that the kingdom would not make any compromises with traitors.

Both sides argued for two days, and eventually, the Noble Council ordered the replacement of Stein Mansheim as the commander of his group army.

In response, all Infantry Divisions on the Merno line shot their military judges and, under the commissars’ command, declared they would accept General Stein Mansheim’s leadership.

Carter Robinson appeared in his camp, executed the military judges, and announced he was accepting General Stein Mansheim’s command.

The Svenson twins encountered their family member—military judge Kevin Svenson—who came to the Sogn camp and declared that the Svenson family would no longer recognize the twins’ family status and identity, issuing an order for their execution.

Eventually, the older brother Jon took the handgun from his younger brother Link, and shot Kevin Svenson before the enraged soldiers could hang their uncle from the gallows.

At this point, civil war was imminent, as both sides’ camps gathered at the Copenhagen line. Malin’s group adjusted their material transport in the shortest time, delivering the most urgently needed supplies to the Stein group.

Serfs inclined towards the Northern ideology and fearless freemen flocked in by the hundreds from all over.

Stein accepted the final mediation organized by the Church of Justice and the Harvest Church, but he and his officer group and the nobles ended the talks on bad terms.

The nobles declared that the Northern ideology, represented by Stein, was merely a group of traitors to the kingdom, and that everyone must be hanged.

And the remaining four completely abandoned their previous compromise.

After the meeting, the Church of Justice announced their withdrawal from Copenhagen and immediately joined Stein’s army—by now, failing to see who was responsible for that night would mean the Church of Justice’s people truly could no longer survive.

The Harvest Church also chose to leave Copenhagen after the meeting, heading to the most traditional Western province of the Northern ideology, where numerous towns and villages were already under the control of Northern ideologists—after the massacre in Copenhagen, surviving middle management directly headed to the Western province to start uprisings, and nearly all local noble forces were massacred.

This is a downside brought about by Subspace getting closer to this world—when transcendent beings appear among the serfs, when freemen no longer trust nobles due to previous massacres, Northern ideology naturally becomes a wildfire; transcendent people among citizens can even exchange blows with transcendent nobles in the most brutal ways. In reports, nearly every town’s battle has examples of transcendent serfs wielding explosives to perish together with more powerful transcendent nobles.

The people do not fear death, so how can one use death to threaten them? Humanity should have understood this a millennium ago, but their specialty remains failing to learn from history.

In Malin’s view, these transcendents, originally meant to die in battles against Chaos, now fight each other due to noble and royal foolishness.

"The Northern Group Army is now awaiting your orders." Tuojin Spencer, serving as the chief commissar, arrived at the palace that afternoon, looking at Malin, waiting for his command—Malin’s troops have not joined the civil war, as all soldiers are awaiting Malin’s orders.

This gave Malin a sense of mission—look, my soldiers are waiting for my command, everything happening in Copenhagen made Malin realize that it is no longer possible to smooth things over; he can only choose between the Northern ideology and the nobles and royal family.

If Malin chooses the nobles, it might make his soldiers dissatisfied, alienating the Northerners in the group, but he will become friends with all royals and nobles in Westland; his will, his orders will unobstructedly pass through between these noble children in the future.

This is a very beautiful future.

But from his heart, Malin despises such a future.

"If I cannot represent the people, if I cannot represent justice, then everything I have done in my life will hold no meaning." After saying this, Malin looked at Faye and Nova.

"I am Malin’s bride, and from long ago, you have been my lover; I am your wife, your follower, no longer Sydney’s princess." Faye immediately chose to side with Malin.

Nova sighed: "My husband, you really trouble me, for now I wonder, how long it will take for you to kill all the nobles in Farole." As she said so, Nova laughed: "It shouldn’t take too long, so why not choose to follow your footsteps, after all, between me and the nobles, there’s not much affection, as you know."

In Malin’s eyes, the two women most likely to oppose have already chosen to side with him, making the next steps simple.

"Tuojin Spencer, chief commissar, I have an order." Malin stood up, and nearby, the Marshal’s staff flew into his hand from its stand.

"Yes, sir, I am listening." Tuojin straightened his chest.

"You first go back and tell the soldiers that I will come before them tomorrow, when I will announce my choice; remember, keep a bit of mystery for me." After speaking, Malin watched the young man enter the portal opened for him.

Then Malin turned his head—Matilda draped the Marshal’s cloak over his shoulder: "Darling, at least let me grow bigger before doing this."

"No, you’ve said before, ambition doesn’t depend on height." Matilda responded.

Malin raised his eyebrows, finding it somewhat hard to argue.

Indeed, ambition doesn’t rely on height, but usually, such things should pair with small, adorable foreign country girls.

One cannot be without the other.