Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

There were no Chaos believers pouring out of the campsite as Malin had imagined. Instead, he, along with the armed citizens and the Punishers of the Church of the War God, walked into the campsite only to find it deserted. Tracking down the Chaos cultists proved to be a troublesome task, as the Church had mobilized their entire families except those not skilled in combat, including trackers. The citizens of Carterburg, though honest and simple, were hard-pressed to immediately find a hidden entrance in a large campsite that housed hundreds, if not thousands of people.

So, after walking around the campsite twice, Malin realized he had come up empty-handed—he could sense traces of Chaos, but as he had mentioned before, there were too many people around, and the scent of Chaos was everywhere. It was impossible for Malin to pinpoint the exact location where these scents were coming from.

"Looks like the Chaos cultists got away, I thought we were in for a tough battle," the veteran said with a tinge of disappointment, but Malin could feel the sense of relief deep in his heart. It made sense; to have lived to such a ripe old age as a soldier, he clearly had no intention of dying at this age with any regrets.

In Malin’s view, dying from the last bullet on the last day of a war would be the most foolish way to go.

There was nothing more foolish.

"Tell everyone not to mess with things, dying from a booby trap or something of the sort over some trash is just too stupid," Malin said as he kicked a kid away from a tent he was about to enter. The kid turned around with an angry glare, but upon recognizing Malin, his face broke into a wide grin, "Your Excellency is absolutely right."

In the previous battle, Malin had led the charge with his huge axe, witnessed by almost all the citizens.

Malin nodded at him and tossed him a green badge—it was a pick-up token at a food processing plant, which could be used to collect a can of pickled offal. Although it was just scraps, the strong flavor was a hit, and customers from Carterburg and all over the Union praised the taste.

It so happened that Malin was planning to collaborate with Clovis to produce a very cheap type of glass—unlike the glassware used for experiments, this glass just needed to be translucent. It would be used to replace the metal cans for storing third-rate meats and pickled offal.

"Thank you, Your Excellency!" The boy was thrilled, the epitome of a stereotypical Carterburg countryman.