Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Malin slurped his noodles while observing the love in Colin's eyes and couldn't help but sigh. Once a man becomes a simpering fool, he loses all sense of being human—you think no one knows because you don't say anything? In the entire Church, aside from you, the person involved, and Margaret, the sufferer, who doesn't know about your secret crush on Mowish's youngest daughter?

This look in his eyes, he must have already projected their married life into a future with a house full of children.

Malin understood; he had had such thoughts in his youth, too, but ideals were often too beautiful, and reality too harsh.

By his age, some dreams were no longer suited, nor did he deserve to have them.

Even if one regained their flesh, there was no use in thinking too much; sometimes it was better to just live on.

Why was he working so hard? Because without effort, there was no guarantee of life. Reality had told Malin more than once in the past four months that only he could truly save himself when disaster struck.

After finishing his noodles, Malin tossed the Banshee's Tear onto the coffee table, "How much money can this thing fetch?"

He had failed to mention it before, and Mrs. Cassan hadn't asked, which made him forget about it until now. It was better to bring it up now to avoid awkwardness later.

The three adults in the room looked at him as if he were a creature from another world.

After a long moment, Mrs. Cassan wiped her forehead, "I forgot about this. It's lucky to not be turned into a living person."

Mind full of question marks, Malin was.

Miss Margaret stuck out her tongue playfully, "Unsurprisingly a genius of cursing, do you know what this is called?"

"Banshee's Tear, it's in the textbooks," Malin insisted that he wasn't so useless as to not be able to apply what he'd learned.

"Banshee's Tear, a crystallization of blasphemy and death, typically transforms any living person who touches it into a new, invisible Spiritual Body within one minute," Colin pursed his lips, "Unless one's Curse affinity reaches six or higher, the power of blasphemy can still harm the body. I can only hold onto it for five minutes; any longer than that, and my body would suffer irreversible damage."

"Why doesn't the textbook mention this?" Malin felt a tingling on his scalp.

Mrs. Cassan suddenly laughed, drawing a revolver from behind her back while carefully locking the safety, "The fact that this kid can still ask that shows he hasn't been transformed."

"I told you he's a top student; this shouldn't be a problem for him," Margaret said as she pulled a black box from her bag, put on gloves, and carefully placed the Banshee's Tear into the box before closing the lid, "The Banshee's Tear needs careful handling. After the Church purifies its blasphemous energy, then it can be used. Do you want to sell it or plan on using it yourself?"

"Keep it for personal use? Didn't the textbooks say its biggest consumer group was old women whose beauty has faded?" Malin pointed out that he was far too young to use it for beauty enhancements.

"Yes, it can enhance a Professional's curse affinity, but generally speaking, human Professionals prefer a blessing affinity, so there isn't a huge market for it among them," Margaret tapped her head, "Oh, I forgot, you are a Terminal Producer, so it's basically ineffective for you."

"Then I'll just sell it," Malin decided. Since it was of no use to him, it was better not to risk letting Maya accidentally come into contact with it.

"Well, once we get back to the Church, let's deal with it at the market. Purifying the blasphemous power will take some time; let's leave that hassle to the market department to earn from," he suggested.

"Sure," Malin of course understood that profit shouldn't be completely controlled by one person. A Terminal Producer had it good, but eventually, they would not have a single person to talk to—with everything in the world of the Terminal Producer belonging to them, they resembled more a slave master than a normal person.

At this point, Maya also set down her bowl. The Cat Girl, who had eaten her fill, looked at Malin, "Are we going to the Church?"

"Yes, it's safer there," Malin nodded, then patted Maya's head, "Let's leave this place to the gentlemen of the Church. Spiritual Bodies attract each other. It's already lucky that I killed the banshee today; it's not like I can always correctly guess its attack patterns—any mistake would be fatal for me right now."

Then, Malin turned to Colin, "Colin, where do you think this Spiritual Body came from?"

.........

"You provided her portrait, so I'll arrange for someone to search at the police station. Her appearance and scars are distinctive, but it's still too early to get to the truth, so I can't confirm her identity just yet. However, if we find her family, we can ascertain her cause of death and origin," Colin said, then couldn't help glance again at his junior— at such a young age, to have killed a banshee, any child would have boasted about their bravery and wisdom, but this kid took a different approach, highlighting that luck was his true talisman in this victory.

The fact was, if the Banshee grew impatient with sneaking attacks and chose a direct assault, then Malin would be in deep trouble. The UV flashlight might not guarantee his safety, and if he failed to lure the Banshee near the trap, any encounter with her would be fatal for him.

Therefore, it was an admirable quality for Malin to be able to think this way—he clearly recognized his own strengths and understood his weaknesses, pointing them out without hesitation.

Even in the world of Demon Hunters, there were some unfortunate souls who, for the sake of pride, had thrown their lives away.

If this child didn't fall in an unexpected incident, he was bound to achieve great feats in the future, with honors and fame beyond imagination.

Colin eagerly anticipated his growth, looking forward to the day he could witness his student shining brilliantly. On that day, as his mentor's disciple, Colin felt he would be proud to have been this child's senior brother.

After a hearty meal, Malin carried his bowl to the kitchen, placed it in the sink with a pat of his hands, and left—it was not the time to wash dishes.

The group made their way down the corridor to the first floor, where they coincidentally ran into the landlady's grandson, who had been outside the security perimeter. Upon seeing Malin and Maya, the young man immediately waved, "Malin! Maya!"

"You know each other?" asked Margaret.

"Yes, he's the landlady's grandson," Malin introduced.

"Fellow believer, let him come over," Colin said.

The guards then opened up the cordon for him to come through, and the young man jogged up to Malin, "What's the situation?"

He was aware of Malin's circumstances, and had even begun to delve into these supernatural troubles, so Malin told him straight, "An invisible spirit invaded the house and I killed it, but it's still best not to inhabit the house for now."

"By the Goddess, I've just come back from the hospital, how am I supposed to explain this to my granny?" The boy clasped his head, at a loss for what to do.

"Hospital, which hospital?" Colin inquired.

"Mowish Community Service Hospital, my granny's joints are swollen again," the boy's response left Malin startled, and then he thought of a possible cause—gout.

Being a coastal city, Carterburg had plenty of fish and meat to feed its citizens well, and even some young people had this problem, let alone the landlady who was nearly seventy years old. She'd often thank the Goddess for blessing her with ten more years of life (her husband died at fifty-nine), so she didn't usually restrain her diet.

"If that's the case, then it's simple. We'll speak to the hospital director and have your grandmother stay in hospital longer. Once we've purified your house and informed you, you can then bring her home," Colin said with a smile.

"That would..."

"Don't worry, we'll arrange for a discount on the medical expenses," added Margaret.

"We'll also contribute some money," Malin felt he should chip in as well, being responsible for blowing up the downstairs door of the old lady's home.

"Thank you so much for that, but now I need to prepare dinner for granny. Is the kitchen available?" he asked, glancing at the damaged door.

After Malin's explanation, he had already assumed that a spirit was the culprit behind the smashed door—invisible spirits could manifest physically, otherwise how could they 'consume' people?

"Everything requires purification, so here's what we'll do: Since your granny's in the hospital and needs a lighter diet, come to the Church to receive some Communion, alright? You're wearing a school uniform, so you must be a student at a Church school, right?"

"Yes, I'm a student at Saint Carol Academy located in the southern part of the city," the boy quickly nodded.

"Since you're a child of the faithful, come with us," Colin said and then stepped onto the street and snapped his fingers. A Church coachman, already prepared, immediately maneuvered the carriage in their direction.

"Ladies and children first, lad, you and I will sit on the board at the back of the carriage," Colin opened the carriage door to let Margaret and Cass unt her, then helped Malin and Maya aboard, and finally settled with the boy on the suspended board at the back of the carriage.