After sending Colin and Malin away, Manli entered the hall and looked at Anna sitting there, feeling somewhat irritable without reason.
It wasn’t because Anna had told her why Sayer Kay, who had just gotten married, must die. To her, any warrior who didn’t cherish their weapons and armor was bound to die from that negligence.
It wasn’t just her who thought this way; her husband Goethe and most other Nobles would agree.
The God of Justice had declared for him, making it impossible for any Noble to become his enemy over this matter—because that would be making an enemy of the entire knightly Noble circle.
That fellow named Sayer Carter, who had betrayed the love of a Holy Emblem, deserved death for such a betrayal... to not punish him was inexcusable.
What troubled her was the power displayed by Malin; she didn’t want to see the Mowish royal family fall during her generation because the people needed heroes, and unfortunately, her own children didn’t look the part of heroes.
But Malin was different. According to the intelligence reports, he always led the charge, be it in Parol City or Carterburg, whether it was a Chaos invasion or the Evil God Cult; he was always on the front lines.
If he were to die randomly, he would be just another reckless man, but if he continued to live, standing firm like a beacon, then everyone would watch him, listen to him... and worship him.
Just like the ancestors of Mowish, who had survived great calamities to secure the throne.
It was too dangerous, Manli warned herself more than once; this child must not be allowed to stay—he had to be gotten rid of at the first opportunity.
She couldn’t kill him; that was Anna’s bottom line. If that line were crossed, regardless of whether this child lived or died, Manli was certain that she and her children would die.
In trivial matters, this elf woman was unconventional, but at the aspects she wouldn’t budge, her retribution would come fiercely.
Even though she had two elf butlers, they were simply common Wild Elves, whereas Anna was a High Elf from the top tier of Silverbloods. With the hierarchy working against her and Lena’s help, they would have no chance of winning; it was even highly likely that they would turn to Anna—after all, elves were kin.
Therefore, Manli could only drive this child away; she couldn’t allow him to appear within Noble circles. He was an infamous Adventurer and Tech Hunter, an impressive tech professor, a grand theological Bishop, or perhaps, just a very ordinary man.
The one thing he couldn’t be was a Noble, and it would be best if he were despised by the entire Noble circle.
That outcome would be for the best.
She hadn’t broken her covenant with Anna, and this young man wouldn’t become a Noble.
"Sister, I will go rest now," Anna uttered at that moment. Manli quickly nodded, agreeing to her departure.
Once she had ascended to the second floor, Manli finally sat on the sofa, feeling the warmth of the fireplace. The Lady of Mowish sighed deeply in her heart.
How to make her wishes come true...
With that doubt in mind, she noticed Jason walking in. The butler approached: "Madam, there is a small trouble."
"What trouble?" Manli knew that if it were really trouble, perhaps the butler had already taken care of it without his lady’s knowledge.
"My kin told me that someone had been purchasing explosives from the Dwarves yesterday and today."
Manli knew of these explosives; they were necessary for firing bullets. Lately, Dwarves had created more powerful explosives capable of injuring high-ranking Transcendents: "Who was it?" she asked, wanting to know who was buying these items.
"Engma Roben. He bought two crates from the Dwarves. I asked him in Mr. Malin’s name, and he said that Engma Roben wanted to use it for fishing," Jason added somewhat awkwardly, "It’s just too puzzling, such a poor excuse."
"Such an idiot to not even lie effectively. How did he come up with such a clumsy reason?" Manli frowned. "Although this thing isn’t a cannon, it has already become a threat to Transcendents, and even the Royal Family faces this opaque terror. We must find out what he intends to do with it."
"That is exactly what I wanted to mention, madam. I followed him to the cellar and found they set up a trap lure near staircase A on the fourth floor’s dead end."
"Ah, an unexpected turn of events, but with this the whereabouts of these little items are clear. Jason, I don’t think they will be a problem."
"Madam, with Engma Roben were Cohen Vanter, Liujin Mirong, Zhao Konghe, and Cassie Marim. According to what I know, Cohen Vanter was recently employing Mr. Malin for a promotion quest," Jason furrowed his brows, "Madam, what shall we do?"
Manli fell silent, her expression unreadable to anyone, but inside, her heart was exulting.
Anna and Lena must have noticed this; they had far more extensive information networks in The Capital than she did. If even Jason could discover such matters, they surely must have been aware long before.
Why didn’t they speak up?
Well, isn’t that obvious? They didn’t favor those young men or their families behind them either, as they were eyeing her daughter Faye. To her, these Nobles were no different than bandits, and the reason they didn’t say anything... they probably wanted to show Malin that this city wasn’t as wonderful as he had seen.
They had confidence in Malin, just as Manli did.
The children’s antics might fatally harm others, but as for an existence like Malin, to injure him with explosives when he had close ties with Dwarves? Maybe the very second after the Dwarves sold the explosives, they had already informed Malin of everything.
So, if these youngsters could complete their conspiracies just like that, then Manli wouldn’t feel like everything was just a farce.
Anna and Lena didn’t say anything, but they trusted Malin.
Malin didn’t say anything, it was pretty clear he had confidence in himself too.
Manli waved for Jason to leave, knowing her butler would keep his lips sealed.
Manli smiled, casting the matter from her mind with the same confidence she had in Malin—just by killing these children, the noble circle allied with Sydney would be openly torn apart.
How wonderful, Manli suddenly realized Malin, this kid, really had uncommon strengths unreachable by ordinary people.
She didn’t need to do anything, just remain silent.
Is there any method simpler than this in the world?
It must be so, Manli, patience is a virtue.
Colin drank a considerable amount of liquor, and Malin sent him on the Church’s carriage, preparing to return on his own—the girls were spending the night in Faye’s room, and Malin didn’t need to worry about anything. Even the two princes couldn’t stay overnight in the palace, His Majesty tonight will probably engage in a verbal duel with the Noble Parliament, and given the palace’s security, anyone daring to intrude would be making a joke of their lives.
So Malin decided to walk back on his own.
The city under nightfall held a different kind of beauty, where the darkness between street lamps always brought back memories of Malin’s childhood.
Standing on a bridge crossing a river, Malin leaned on the rail, watching performers juggling not far away. Perhaps due to some innate talent, he even recognized some tricks being applied.
It’s just that those with talents, yet not strong enough, always make up the majority in this world.
Kids ran past him, their faces beaming with smiles that naturally filled onlookers with joy, after all, a world where even children needed to cry seemed terribly sad.
With that thought, Malin continued onward, and in front of the Dwarf Commerce Chamber, a dwarf stopped him: "Mr. Malin?"
"Ah, you know me?" Malin curiously looked at the dwarf.
"Everyone is talking about what you look like, you seem familiar; could you please show me your Holy Emblem?" the dwarf merchant said.
After some consideration, Malin took out his Goddess of Harvest Church Holy Emblem; the dwarf nodded his head after checking it: "Indeed, it’s the real Mr. Malin. Welcome, your merchandise is always most popular here."
"Old steel is doing well."
"That being said, Mr. Malin, since you are here, could you tell that old guy to send me more explosives? I’ve sold out," the dwarf requested.
"Sold out?" Malin frowned, "Who’s been buying? I remember the quantity I gave you was five crates, right?"
"Yes, the Royal Investigation Department bought one crate to deal with some material Spirits; the military bought one crate to compare the effectiveness of the explosives made by their factory to those from our workshops, and the remaining three crates were taken by Mr. Engma Roben, who said he’d use them for fishing." The dwarf shook his head as he spoke, "I wasn’t at ease, so I sent someone to watch, and they saw the goods being moved into the Underground City."
Malin raised his eyebrows, realizing these folks really did have ways: "Right, did they pay the balance?"
"Of course, Mr. Malin. This stuff isn’t cheap, so I’ve always had a cash-and-carry deal with Roben’s young man." The dwarf looked puzzled as he spoke, "Is there a problem with that, Malin?"
"No, just thinking if the kid couldn’t pay the final amount, you might have been the one at a loss," Malin said with a smile.
Hearing this answer, the dwarf smiled awkwardly, "Us dwarves and humans don’t exactly see eye to eye, we never give them credit when doing business."
Malin nodded, "I’ve come recently to watch the games, so if there’s an issue, you can find me at the Goddess of Harvest Church’s inn."
"No problem, Mr. Malin, have a good one," the dwarf responded.
After bidding farewell to the dwarf, Malin walked for a while before turning to look back at the Dwarf Commerce Chamber.
These explosives were no trifling matter; since both the Investigation Department and the military sourced them here, it meant both departments were aware of the existence of these explosives. So when they found out someone had bought them all... would it affect their performance?
That truly was a deadly question.