Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

Perhaps to give Malin an opportunity to prove himself, both mentors independently chose to let him explain to the clergy of Silent Hill.

So, Malin recounted everything in great detail, from the moment the train stopped at the station to climbing up the city walls, while also sharing his observations on the bugs’ habits and his suspicions about the ancient tomb.

Emet Selch’s mentor’s brother nodded, "We fully understood the bugs’ habits on the first night, but you just arrived this morning and have already grasped their behavior, which is quite remarkable. Perhaps that is why you’ve been able to reach The Temple district. Carterburg’s old Hoffman is quite fortunate to have such an outstanding apprentice."

His words garnered unanimous agreement from the bishops, and a dwarven bishop stepped forward, "I’ve heard your story. Old Steelhand was lucky, and I, a follower of the Master Smith of the Dwarves, offer you my personal, albeit modest, respect in my own name."

Malin hurriedly responded, "That’s very kind of you, but my dealings with the dwarves have been mostly trade-related. I’m not sure I deserve such respect."

"No, my respect is derived from my old friend. When he died, it was you who returned his belongings to his child," the old dwarf said before turning his head towards the wall outside. "There’s indeed a problem with that ancient tomb. We’ve been here almost ten days, from the first day onwards. For several days, none of us dare sleep until we later confirmed that the bugs were nocturnal creatures. However, too many bugs linger in the direction of that tomb. Three days ago, I led a team to take a look, and the bugs repelled us."

After speaking, the dwarf showed his bandaged left hand, "We want to mount another armed reconnaissance, but we’re short-staffed. We need to protect The Temple district. Many seemingly uninfected civilians have also come in," the old dwarf sighed, "If I don’t allocate people to watch over these poor innocents, it might only take a few mutated bugs to kill them all before we can react."

"The prison is now overcrowded. We’ve housed the civilians by family units inside, but there are too many people." A tall elf added, nodding at Malin, "From the Church of Justice, of the Clover family, welcome to Silent Hill. I apologize for showing you the ugliest side of this city."

"It’s not your fault. Can you confirm what kind of bugs these are?" Meckel asked, "We have two trainloads of apprentices outside the city. If we can’t solve this problem tonight, we will have to bring them into The Temple district."

"I suggest bringing them in. While we still have time, with a few hundred apprentices, at least we can have more bandages, potions, and healing spells. It shouldn’t be a problem for the kids to do this." A portly middle-aged man suggested, smiling and making the hand gesture of the Holy Emblem of the Goddess of Mercy to Meckel, "Good afternoon, my fellow believer, and to the two from the Church of the Goddess of Harvest."