Steampunk Era: Mad Abield
Chapter 666: Section 465: Rongma Holiday (Part 4)

Chapter 666: Section 465: Rongma Holiday (Part 4)

Malin propped his chin, nodding at the young Chariot before him, "Yes."

Dorothy had already set up a private communication signal, and soon, a somewhat distorted voice of Mr. Chariot entered Malin’s mind.

· Mr. Malin, the border guard of the Eastern Kingdom needs your help. We have lost twenty thousand soldiers in the last week. Please forgive our ignorance and stupidity and give my soldiers a way to live.

The young man got straight to the point when he spoke these words. It did not surprise Malin; he knew the identity and power of the person before him, and this gentleman was undoubtedly a noble of the Eastern Kingdom. Interestingly, this prince is a wizard—then who could "His Excellency" be?

Was this young man a guide amongst wizards, or perhaps an elder of the royal family?

Although the aberration rate among wizards has always been high, it seems that some families rarely experience aberrations. Is it their bloodline, or do they have improved magic potions they have never made public?

Malin’s thoughts seemed like a silent rejection in the eyes of the young Chariot, who watched Malin nervously.

· Your Excellency, for the sake of the soldiers, they are at least innocent. They are also fighting for this world.

Malin ignored him and turned to look at His Excellency Power, who noticed Malin’s gaze and greeted him with an apologetic smile, comforting his chest.

· Your Excellency, if you are destined to see bloodshed, I can have my left hand chopped off after this meeting. That rubbish of an elder brother of mine won’t give you what you want, but I will.

The young Mr. Chariot once again put forward a bargaining chip that surprised Malin.

· Why?

Out of curiosity, and similarly out of a trace of respect, Malin finally spoke up.

· I am a common prince. My mother is a commoner, and I attended a commoner’s school. I...the person I love has enlisted. She became a healer, members of the Benevolent Church are always like that, treating their own lives as nothing. They believe they need to be on the frontlines to save lives and tend to the wounded. But Your Excellency, it’s too dangerous there. In just one week, two brigades were nearly annihilated by a newly emerged Chaos battalion... I want to save her, so I must save everyone.

Malin smiled. He had seen many young people who viewed love as more important than life; they naively believed that with love, they could have everything, never considering that hunger, disease, war, and accidents are something that mortal love cannot overcome.

But still... Malin wanted to help him.

Because he saw his past self in this young man.

However, Malin would not be deceived by the young man. He looked at His Excellency Power, who seemed to understand what Malin was asking and silently nodded.

With His Excellency’s promise, Malin finally turned to the young Mr. Chariot.

· I don’t need your hand. Like I do not wish to see the righteous bleed, you are willing to sacrifice your arm for love, and I don’t need it. What I need is your elder brother’s hand. Do you have your own legion?

· Yes, I have two legions. Those that were almost entirely lost this time, along with my father’s personal legions, were given to me to command. And I... to cover the central front and stop the Chaos battalion from encircling us, expended nearly all my personnel. My Elite soldiers fought Chaos with cold weapons. I have seen your battle records. If I could have the weapons your soldiers possess, we would not have suffered such a terrible loss.

· I can sell you the equipment at cost, but you must swear by the Proverbs. The owners of these weapons will never be my enemies. If they are directed at me by their owners, your family will face extinction. Believe me, young man, I can make it happen.

Malin’s words did not make the young man explode with anger. Instead, he looked at Malin with great pleasure and took the oath directly.

Matilda, as a Paladin of the Lord of Justice, was pulled into the conversation by Malin, who confirmed that the young man was not lying and had indeed committed with the most standard words of an oath.

With that, Malin agreed to supply and equip the young man’s legions. Of course, considering Malin’s own reputation—he couldn’t very well embargo one side while allowing another through—he gave the young man a new operation: find a relation to go to Mark City, where Malin would sell supplies and equipment through a leather bag intermediary.

The choice, of course, could not be Donald. Nowadays, this man who was influential in both the underworld and lawful circles would let everyone in Mark City know whose man Donald was, which would then lead to a lot of uninvited troubles in the future.

So, a new candidate was needed.

The matter wasn’t difficult; Malin picked a young man from Faye’s housekeeper system, one who was bold yet cautious, to go to Mark City with Malin’s mark and start an intermediary agency. Then it was just a matter of seeing how much money the young Mr. Chariot had in his pockets.

The arrangement was simple: he needn’t live in Mark City normally, only appearing when Malin needed to ship out goods. Safety wouldn’t be an issue, as Mark City, though a neutral city, banned the display of weapons. Even the various deities and Evil Gods gave some face to that lady.

So the young man didn’t have to worry about being stabbed to death on the street.

After finishing with the young Mr. Chariot, Malin expressed that he did not need his gratitude—Malin was helping not him or his royal family, but those soldiers who knew they would die yet still fought valiantly against Chaos.

Your Eastern Kingdom’s whelps are probably only worth a couple of bucks—the cost of a rifle bullet when mass-produced.

"My meeting with Mr. Chariot has concluded, is there anyone else who needs to complete a transaction?" Malin asked as he noticed Miss Hermit sitting across from Mrs. Teresa, looking as if she wanted to say something but hesitated, "Miss Hermit, do you have something you want to ask?"

"Star Observer Your Excellency... How... how old are you exactly?" The young girl frowned, asking a question that would be almost taboo for a woman to ask.

However, Malin was a man, so it didn’t matter and he gave an answer, "About 18 or 19 years old, I guess."

Malin didn’t have a very concrete concept of his exact age.

"Is that so... I see," Miss Hermit nodded her head, then turned to look at Lulu with a face full of surprise and confusion.

What’s up with her?

Malin wondered, but it was clear that pondering over a woman’s thoughts like this could continue to the next evolution of civilization and still yield no results.

So, upon noticing that nobody else had anything to ask, Malin declared that it was time for the attendees to have their free discussion.

Well, this job is actually quite simple. It wouldn’t matter if it was Malin or a janitor who sat here; things would get done either way.

With that thought, Malin beckoned, and the third of the three Snow Leopard cubs let go of the poor Hellhound and jumped into Malin’s arms.

Cats are easier to pet than dogs after all.

He also paid attention to several groups of Wizards who had started one-on-one conversations.

After a short while, Tim stood up, "Your Excellency the Star Observer, there’s been a fascinating rumor going around the wizards of the North recently. They say that in Carterburg, there’s a World Tree that exists in reality, one that can soothe a wizard’s soul... Could this be true?"

"Yes, I know all about it, just as you’ve said, there is indeed a World Tree that can soothe a wizard’s soul, and most importantly, there’s a wizard village there," Malin knew all this, of course, as that place was his territory.

"Could I still buy property there now?" The wizard’s question somewhat puzzled Malin—other wizards might ask whether they could buy a house to live in there, but it was rare for someone to outright ask about buying land.

So Malin shook his head, "There aren’t any plots available for purchase, everything there belongs to the Gaiate family."

The wizard seemed a bit regretful and a bit unhappy, "Then, can I make a compulsory purchase?"

Malin sighed, lamenting that this gentleman really had a problem with his thinking, "There are at least two powerful Shamans, the Divine Masters there, and two or even more Legendary Druids. Malin’s in-laws are both legends, and most importantly, he himself is a Rank 8 Mage and Sword Dancer, as well as being a high-ranking Psychic... Are you sure you can win against so many opponents?"

Mr. Tim fell silent for a moment, then smiled bitterly, "I cannot, please disregard what I said."

That’s great, with Mr. Tim pulling back from the brink, Malin didn’t have to deploy his security troops to slaughter this man along with his family.

"Tim, why do you want to buy land?" Young Mr. Chariot, noticing the awkward expression on Malin’s face, thoughtfully asked.

The latter snorted, "You wouldn’t understand; my household is large, and if we really had to move close to Carterburg, I’d need to buy a plot of land and build a residence."

"Your household is large?" Malin asked with a smile.

"He has six lovers and nineteen children," Christian suddenly spoke up.

"Then why don’t you buy a house in the Noble’s district of the new city? I remember that they’re building a new block there, and some of the houses are very large. Maybe you could give it a try."

Tim was persuaded, and then the wizard suggested just opening a gate and taking a look.

So Malin gave him coordinates, "These are the coordinates for the Carterburg Teleportation Center, you can connect to the center and they will guide you with the coordinates. That way, when the time comes, you don’t have to worry about flying to the wrong place."

"...Thank you, Your Excellency the Star Observer," the wizard expressed his gratitude, which made Malin smile and nod his head—in consideration of this rash fellow’s family, Malin could forgive his presumption.

And the news Tim had mentioned piqued the curiosity of the newcomers. In contrast to the old timers who understood things clearly, these young upstarts from the Wizarding community seemed eager to stir up trouble, discussing the potential uses of the World Tree Sapling.

"Youths indeed, the fearless young people," said Lord of Justice with a smile, upon overhearing the youngsters talking about how World Tree Sapling infused in water could be the material for the most premium Healing Potions.

And when they mentioned that the sapling might even reignite the desire for life in men beyond the help of any medicine, Fio could no longer resist the urge and picked up the wooden tray intended for tea cups, greeting Tim’s head with it.