Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 576: Section 394: An Unexpected Interlude

Chapter 576: Section 394: An Unexpected Interlude

"Seriously, what’s going on with this whole thing?" Aljom followed behind Ataf, feeling uneasy since the beginning—they had previously thought that this kid was just an assistant priest from the Church, someone whose name they’d heard, albeit someone who the Church and the Mowish family were likely just trying to gild. Such things were common these days, and over a dozen commanders of the defense legions had already agreed that if this kid didn’t act sensibly on the battlefield, they’d just kick him to the side—As a commander of the Guards Army, Ataf brought a division here, they were guarding both flanks, with several groups from the Western Province deciding to take the lead in the central army.

The division under Ataf couldn’t be completely worn down, they were heading north to fight the Chaos, dying in a battle with the Black Orcs would be a pointless loss.

Then things turned out to be somewhat unexpected—they got word that this youngster was leading an army for the first time.

This gave everyone a headache because leading an army among the young Nobles of Farole was the most important ’ritual’, where the leader of the army was typically the progeny of a Great Noble, unmarried, and they must have their fiancée present alongside them.

This was usually arranged for the fiancée’s family to confirm whether this marriage alliance was promising, and if the performance on the battlefield was not up to standard, then the woman’s family had the right to call off the engagement with no blame attached.

Vice versa as well: if the man felt that the woman could not help him on the battlefield, or even worse, hindered him, he too had the right to call off the engagement,

However, not following the ritual and not sending the daughter over in the first place was the fault of the woman’s family, and it would result in scorn from nearly all families. If due to this the man decided to start a war, the woman’s family’s allies would not join—their actions would betray the interests of the entire Nobility.

These commanders had no choice, nor did they know how to explain to Mr. Malin, and nobody could really understand what their sovereign meant by having Malin lead the army while not allowing his daughter to come.

Were they supposed to have him killed?

Not to mention whether the commanders had the heart to do so, just looking at commander Ataf made it clear it was impossible. He not only knew this kid named Malin but also seemed to have a very good relationship with him, making them suspect that this kid might be from some Major Noble family in the North.

Then, not long after, a Paladin of the Church of Justice joined them, riding a sacred warhorse.

One hundred twenty riders, which didn’t sound like much, but Aljom had already tossed his previous plans out of his mind—how were they going to manage this, with one hundred twenty Great Knights (at least level 15) led by Aljom’s known compatriot, Victor Razenov from his homeland.

He was the Saint Heir, and also a Legendary Paladin, who averaged the killing of two Great Demons or Princes each year, and it was said that occasionally he also went to other planes to slay a few nuisances.

This guy dismounted upon arrival, then shook hands with Malin and embraced him, saying it had been a long time.

They knew each other, too? Truly the favored son of the Lord of Justice.

That made Aljom’s headache worse. The Gendarmerie Major should have notified the sovereign by now... hopefully, they could arrive soon.

"Look, looks like someone is about to come through, our Mr. Malin has headed over there, seems like he’s maintaining the coordinates of the portal," commented Captain Fabien, who was an expert in Spell Formations.

"Maybe it’s for some matter, didn’t we just hear that our third prince took an arrow? As his sister, Princess Faye would naturally want to visit and check on him, right?" suggested Pado Joe.

At these words, Aljom nodded.

"Pado makes sense. Look, the portal’s opening. How do you think our princess will throw herself into Mr. Malin’s arms? Let me start the bets," chuckled Ataf.

"Ten gold, definitely a flying leap. My wife did just that into my arms back in the day. She was so nervous on my first day leading the army that she sent the wrong coordinates, almost ended up in the Western Wasteland. Brings back some funny memories."

"Twenty gold, surely it will be a slow and firm approach and embrace between lovers."

"I’ll bet ten gold that our Mr. Malin will definitely pick up our princess."

As they were speaking, the officers saw a cat-girl and a Night Watcher girl walk out of the portal.

"The hell?!" Mr. Ataf grabbed at his thinning hair, issuing a wail of despair.

.................

Europeans these days really know how to have fun, eh? Leading an army into battle and having to bring along girls, what are they playing at?

If Faye isn’t well, she should be resting. What are all you girls imagining, letting Maya join in on the excitement? If anything, and I mean anything, happens to one of you, I swear I’ll whip your behinds raw when I get back home.

"But why did you come here?" Malin asked Lulu.

"I’m the Night Watcher’s observer, here to see if things are as amazing as the stories claim," the girl replied with a smile, giving Malin a somewhat bittersweet answer.

That’s the limitation of the era, isn’t it? Everyone assumed Malin would be furious because Faye didn’t show up, but they never considered that their version of Malin came from a time completely devoid of such nonsensical issues.

"Forget it, since you’re already here, just follow me to Nobel City."

......

Faye learned from Clovis’ messenger that Maya had taken over, which comforted the girl somewhat—at least she knew that besides herself, Maya was trustworthy in everyone’s eyes.

Even if Mr. Malin got angry because of this, even if it meant their separation... Maya would take good care of Malin.

That was enough.

Thinking this, Faye sat in the wicker chair on the balcony, feeling a bit resentful—she had just fully grasped everything that had happened to her brother.

While studying at the academy in the North, he had fallen for a girl from the war academy, from the Holy Kingdom’s Hagelberry family... Yes, that’s Lulu’s family, supposedly even a little niece of hers.

It was fine that they fell in love, but the opposing family didn’t approve, since her brother had not used his real name while studying in the North—if he had, there wouldn’t have been so much trouble.

Then the two damn fools decided to elope... That too would have been fine; if they had escaped back to Farole, Faye believed that with the face of two legends, the Hagelberry family wouldn’t outright refuse, after all, the groom was from the royal family, and it would be prestigious for the Hagelberry family to marry off their daughter.

The trouble was, Manli was preparing to hold a coming-of-age ceremony for her son, and two elven butlers opened the door to the North, and the night before the lad was about to elope with the girl, they brought him back.

This little damn fool was all slogans and chest-beating before, with heartfelt declarations of true love that could shatter stones, but once home, when his mother Manli mentioned introducing him to potential matches after his coming-of-age ceremony, he was stubborn enough, yet didn’t have the guts to say he had a lover, and Mother Manli also felt it was just the restlessness of his adolescence—the woman indeed had insight, being the mother of a third son. In this respect, Faye really found her own mother utterly unconvincing.

So, the issue dragged on for a week, and now, the Hagelberry family had come calling—they too knew by now that Joe was of the Mowish family and had been captured by the family’s butler. The Hagelberry family, thinking the young man had feelings for their girl, sent representatives, hoping that if they struck a deal, marrying off their daughter would be a good thing—after all, as observers for the Night Watcher, the Hagelberry family were not as rigid as other noble families of the Holy Kingdom.

But as soon as the representative arrived, they heard about the third son of the Mowish family looking for a match.

Even then, there was still a chance to salvage the situation, if the representative could negotiate with Goethe. Faye felt that with her father’s temperament, he would surely drag Joe out for a beating, giving enough face to the Hagelberry family, and then both sides could step back and arrange the marriage without any issue.

But this time around, the old folks in the Hagelberry family were either busy or sick, so a group of youngsters was sent instead. The youngsters got angry, thought without using their heads, and directly hired someone from an inconveniently mentioned guild in the North, with the idea of teaching Joe a lesson, to punish the fickle-hearted brat.

Then the person sent by the guild met with an accident on the way—slain by people from the Evil God Cult.

Upon searching his soul, they learned the messy details of the situation and simply pretended to be assassins; afterwards, things got straightforward.

Honestly, the only thing Faye thought when she heard this news was that it was all a load of crap.

No wonder they talked about debts of passion; the initial intelligence was incomplete. Joe almost got killed, and the youngsters of the Hagelberry family realized that events didn’t unfold as they had anticipated. Taking initiative, they came forward.

And after hearing the testimony of the Hagelberry youngsters, Faye’s mother felt something was off, so she searched the assassin’s soul, and finally got the whole story clear.

Honestly, Faye really hated her damn brother to death. Although born of the same father and mother as her older and second brothers, why was this damn brother so annoying?

Could it be that they got the wrong baby at the Benevolent Hospital.

Even though she knew such a thing was impossible, Faye still maliciously entertained the thought.

The Hagelberry family... Although Lulu was familiar to her, Faye decided this time she would not forgive her brother.

The little bastard had to learn his lesson; since she couldn’t accompany Malin, that young girl shouldn’t think she could be with Joe either.

Just as she was thinking this, a messenger emerged from the spiritual realm and landed in Faye’s hands, leaving behind a note before disappearing.

Faye opened the note.

· I already know the sequence of events, and news from the front says that Nobel City is still in the wall phase. I will lead the troops to attack in the afternoon, leaving you a Black Orc head to chop, so be sure to come.

"Your loving Malin..." After reading the last remark, Faye happily collapsed into the wicker chair, then quickly stood up, snapping her fingers at the rat-man maid who was watching her from afar: "Prepare my bath water for me, I need to rest early today."

Faye felt extremely happy.