Malin did not want to get involved in the subsequent actions because he instinctively felt that there was no essential difference between the wizards and the fanatics of the Arcane Fist.
If it weren’t for his presence this time, Jason Stansen would have faced the fate of his family being destroyed, yet even though Malin had intervened, in the end, the male infant was still left at the doorstep of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest.
The Stansen family had given up on this child just because he had a witch for a mother.
Malin could understand their thoughts, but not their actions, yet the reality was... he could only accept it all.
"My orphanage hasn’t opened yet, Malin," Colin said somewhat helplessly. Although inheriting the title of his mentor and becoming an instructor of the Secret Keeper sect was a certainty, he was, after all, just a man in his twenties who hadn’t had a child of his own yet.
"Learn to take care of children," Malin could only console him in this way, "In the future, you’ll have even more kids to look after."
That was the last sentence Malin said in the Church before a messenger from the Mage Tower insisted on having him and Clovis come out to the periphery of the North Suburb farm.
"We underestimated the numbers, I’m sorry." The person in charge and several teams from the Mage Tower were standing behind the carriages used as cover. He expressed his gratitude upon Malin’s arrival.
"If you’re going to have me come, remember, don’t fire at first sight. I’ll negotiate with my workers," Malin said, while signaling Clovis to hand him the bulletproof jacket.
The jacket was made of Earth Dragon skin, which had excellent bullet absorption capabilities. Bullets usually couldn’t penetrate its soft hide. And for those that could pierce the outer soft armor, the inner lining of spider silk soft armor was the perfect catch for the greatly reduced kinetic energy of the bullet heads.
Attaching the revolver to his waist, Malin turned his head to glance at the young butler standing by his side—this was the child of the Mowish family’s old butler, usually in charge of managing the North Suburb farm. Initially, both the Arcane Fist and the Mage Tower planned to let him take the stage, but he was sent back by the captain of the farm’s self-defense force.
They wanted to see Malin; only their boss had the right to order them to lay down their weapons, or else no one else would even think of charging into Gaiate’s farm with so many people and equipment.
To be honest, the term "Gaiate’s farm" brought some pleasure to Malin. He put on a farmer’s wide-brimmed hat over his head and then led his people out from the carriages.
"It’s young Master Malin!" An elder from the self-defense force was the first to recognize Malin, and so the motivated farmers opened the barricade, and some of the older self-defense force members came out, including the old soldier Malin had known before.
"Old soldier, you seem in good shape," Malin said with a smile to the old man.
The latter smiled back awkwardly, while a snot-nosed brat ran out from the crowd and grabbed the old soldier’s trouser leg.
"Your kid?" Malin noticed the resemblance in their eyebrows and asked in surprise.
"Yes, young Master Malin. Since you vouched for them, we believe they’re here to capture witches," the old soldier picked up his child and then directed the crowd to disperse.
Farmers might assemble easily, but with the old soldier’s explanation, they quickly understood their boss had arrived.
For the boss who had given them food and a new path in life, these farmers were clearly supportive, so they took their families and left the scene.
"Mr. Malin, they said they’re here to capture people. I thought this was no simple matter, so I had someone take control of those guys, right there on the square ahead," he said.
Malin turned his head towards the person in charge: "You’re saying they’re wizards?"
"Indeed, they are wizards. We’ve been pursuing them for a full half-year," the person in charge nodded vigorously and then looked toward the old soldier: "How did you manage to control them?"
"We have their four children in our custody, so they didn’t resist," the old soldier sighed, "I heard they were wizards, and I was truly afraid. Those are seeds of Chaos."
"You did right. Now take your kid and step back; we’re going to meet those wizards," Malin said, pulling out some money from his pocket: "Take this money and distribute it to the lads from the self-defense force who worked today. Tell them, ’Protect yourselves well to safeguard a mouth that gets fed.’"
"Thank you, sir," he said.
"Go on, and also, tell your wife not to peek from behind the window. My people are a bit allergic; if a fight starts and they mistake her for an enemy, you’ll be without a wife again." After saying this, Malin pointed towards a two-story building not far away.
"I’ll see to it right away," the old soldier nodded, then ran with his kid back to his house.
"You are truly a compassionate gentleman," the person in charge looked a bit mixed.
"I’m responsible for the people who work for me: their life, their aging, their illness, and their death. This might cost me additional profit, but their loyalty is my extra gain—is that different from your Eastern Kingdom?"
"Yes, over there, we only have serfs. Alive, each person is no different from the dead, so trying a little different belief doesn’t hurt, as it can’t get worse," the person in charge laughed as he spoke, waving his hand for the Arcane Fist members to spread out to the right.