Malin brought the girls back to the Church and immediately went to look for Old Hoffman, but the guardian of the Church told him that Old Hoffman had left the Church with a team of Punishers and the Great Divine Master from The Great Forest Land just ten minutes ago.
This truly was a fatal answer. Malin asked the guardian where his mentor had gone, but he couldn’t provide an answer either. However, the groom beside them did give an answer—City Hall.
"They said they were going to City Hall. It’s not good to spread what one overhears, but since you are Apprentice Hoffman, you have the right to know your master’s whereabouts," the groom made a point of saying.
Malin nodded, then turned and left, returning to Faye and the others. He relayed the situation and Faye and Clovis were baffled: "Why would His Excellency go to City Hall? We haven’t even returned to inform him."
"The only possibility is that my mentor got the news about that Chaos from some other channel, and he took the Punishers to City Hall." In Malin’s view, the intentions of his mentor were clear as day—he had rushed to City Hall with a team of Punishers and Madame Ollie, the Great Divine Master, without a word. Other than killing that Chaos, would he really be going there to fetch his dear apprentice back to the Church?
How could that be possible.
My mentor is already old, only Chaos could spur him to action.
Earlier, we encountered Colin; he and Knight Camilla went to Mischael’s house, and since I wasn’t at the Church, otherwise, knowing my mentor as well as I do, he would have surely sent me with a group to kill that Chaos.
"Let’s do this—you all wait here at the Church. I’ll go to City Hall," Malin decided to hurry over. Without talking about a grand contribution, at the very least, he could pass on a message to his mentor—aside from that Chaos, there was even more astonishing news: "You must stay at the Church. I don’t want to have to search the entire Carterburg for you after the action at City Hall is over."
"Be careful on your way," Faye stopped Jessica from wanting to follow suit, then agreed to Malin’s request: "We won’t go anywhere."
"We will wait for your return," Maya said to Malin, standing beside Faye.
Malin nodded, "I’ll be back soon." After speaking, he turned to the groom: "Prepare a horse for me."
"No problem, Your Excellency. Please get ready, your warhorse will be waiting for you at the front door," the groom turned and ran towards the passage to the stables.
A guardian pulled over the weapon rack, Malin unwrapped his coat, took his revolver from his waist, then unbuckled the holster belt, swapping it for another with a single holster filled with 12-gauge shotgun shells. A guardian handed him a sawed-off double-barreled shotgun.
Malin tucked it into the holster.
"My four-barreled one," Malin said to another guardian dragging over another weapon rack, tilting his head while the guardian helped him don a breastplate—a light Mithril Breastplate, always a reliable synonym in the fight against Chaos, and this time would be no exception.
Only the front breastplate was used, secured at the back with tough Earth Dragon leather straps. Malin took his four-barreled shotgun, loaded four hollow point bullets into it.
"His Excellency Hoffman took Holy Water with him when he left." A guardian came over carrying a flask of Holy Water, and from it, Malin drew out a type-five vial and placed it in the pouch on his chest.
Next, he took a silver-inlaid dagger from the third weapon rack and tied it, sheath and all, to the shoulder pouch on his breastplate.
"The horse is ready, Malin," Margaret called out to Malin from the front door.
"That’s enough." Malin declined the demon-slaying sword handed by another guardian. With the tender branch of the World Tree, he didn’t have much need for such weapons anymore, and besides, he still had Blood Roar. Detaching the axe handle, Malin placed the axe head into his bag and turned to leave.
Passing through the door, Malin took a backward glance at the hall; his girls were watching him.
He hesitated for a moment, probably just a second, Malin smiled and lowered his head, then stepped into the sunlight-bathed streets.
The groom had already led the horse over, assisting Malin onto the horse: "Sorry, the smaller horses have all been taken by the apprentices."
"It’s fine." Malin patted the Sydney warhorse with a few Blessing Spells, then pulled the reins: "I prefer them bigger."
Before he had finished speaking, the warhorse sped off, carrying Malin away.
The groom watched his Church’s star youth skillfully maneuver the warhorse to leap over the stalls, weave through the crowd, and finally, while rounding a corner, knock over a bag-snatching hoodlum to the ground.
"Has Mr. Malin really ridden a horse before?" he asked the guardian beside him.
"How would I know?" the guardian shook his head.
The half-human gazed at a moving stall not far away, waiting for his order to be completed at a Thanan’s shop. Having just devoured two savory meat buns with thin skins and ample juicy filling, he was very satisfied with the salty and rich meaty juice, killing time by turning his attention to the stall that caught his eye.
That stall was also run by a Thanan, but... to be accurate, calling him Thanan wasn’t entirely correct—it would be more apt to say he belonged to the Thanan Spirits.
Yes, Spirits from Thainan. Speaking of which, the Spirits from the Eastern Human World of Thainan and those from the Western Human World were completely different matters. The former were like a completely mutated beastly form of an Orc, but the Thain Spirits retained their consciousness and personality. So after the initial Chaos, Thanan Spirits came to be known as Thainan Orcs, distinguishing them from the Orcs of the Western Human World.