Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

The grease was causing a lot of smoke, and considering the size of this living mass of fat, Malin’s backing off saved his respiratory system. Some who were legends in their own right tried to observe up close, only to be eventually supported away from the scene by soldiers in full trade gear and protective biochemical masks.

"Quite daring." Faye and Nova standing beside Malin commented on how bold these legends were.

"Did you see? Those are legends from noble families, oblivious to the ways of the world. Look at those who backed off further; they are legends who came from commoner backgrounds and rose through the Church." Malin was well aware of this dichotomy, and his explanation elicited knowing smiles from the two ladies.

Regardless, the death of the mother rat signified the total defeat of this invading Rat-man force. Malin didn’t know what losses the Great Horned Rat would suffer because of these Rat-men, but judging from the reward given by the Church of Justice via Nameless, they must be quite pleased—Malin received a gold leaf ribbon, symbolizing his victory over an enemy of the God of Justice.

Indeed, that was to be expected. Faye mentioned that her Rat-man maids had been acting oddly those days, which in hindsight proved that the Rat-men seemed to have been tampered with. Naturally, as the Skaven were vanquished, the God of Justice must have inflicted considerable damage on the Great Horned Rat, and the Rat-man maids had reverted to their normal state over the past few days.

The Church of the War God acquired the Rat-man heads as war trophies. Malin thought the War God might not be too pleased—after all, his garden would hardly appreciate diseased heads as fertilizer. Yet, in the end, the deity bestowed divine grace and gifted several Holy Artifacts—judging from the bloodstains, these must have been plundered from some neutral deity.

Well, it made sense. If the War God had to dig deep into his own pockets for rewards, probably half the hall of old and young nobles would be undergoing some sort of aberration while receiving their Holy Artifacts.

And the other half? They probably couldn’t escape either. I fear they’d already turned into Chaos units.

After the battle, orders from the elves gave Malin a headache—the elves had always adhered to the principle that making their own was better than buying, mainly because most of Malin’s workshop craftsmen were Dwarves, and elves didn’t appreciate Dwarven craftsmanship, deeming it too brutish and disrespectful to aesthetics.