As soon as Matilda returned to the pavilion, she immediately found her sisters, "Mr. Malin took me to see the bottom of the sea!" Full of the most sincere joy, Matilda, now a fox girl with one and a half (yi) tails, exclaimed, "It’s so beautiful there."
"We’ve all been there," the girls answered in unison.
"Eh, when did you go? Why didn’t you take me with you?" the Fox Girl expressed her confusion.
"Because at that time you felt like you had grown another tail," the girls answered in unison again.
The Fox Girl was stunned, then put on a woeful face, and Malin, following behind her, raised his hand to pat her head, "Alright, girls, next we need to start massively producing. Lillim, have our Astrologers received any new messages lately?"
"No, but a new rift has been detected in the Dark Zone by the Eastern Kingdom."
"It seems our guests can hardly wait," sighed Malin, and then he patted Matilda who had sought consolation, "Don’t worry, I’m just lamenting that Fate hasn’t granted me enough time. If I had thirty years, I could make the entire Western Human World stronger, I could have stockpiled more resources, we would have had more armies, more cannons, more machine guns, we could even try to let mechanical bodies fly into the sky, but we don’t have enough time."
"It’s alright, Malin, we won’t submit to Chaos," Faye said as she sat beside Nova, looking at Malin.
"I know, in the past without us, our ancestors persevered through Chaos’s invasions time and again. Just like in the future without us, our descendants will also repel Chaos time and again," said Malin, smiling at his girls, "Don’t worry, we just need to do everything we can. The rest, let’s break the cycle of Fate and completely block the tide of Chaos. I hope we can use our deeds to tell our descendants..."
Malin paused, then delivered a line that was very classic to him, "With great sacrifice, bold ambitions arise, daring to make the sun and moon shine in a new sky."
"A poem from Thanan, what does it mean?" Faye looked towards Nova, who shook her head, "I haven’t studied the poetry of Thanan."
"I understand, it means that only those with the courage to fear no sacrifice are worthy of changing the face of this world," Matilda said, "It’s a very... very powerful seven-character phrase. Mr. Malin is quite knowledgeable about Thanan culture as well."
"I did not write it; it was penned by an ancient I know of. He was a great person, he and his companions changed the course of a nation in that era, breaking the predestined Fate and creating a whole new future for countless lives... What’s most important is, he, like us, were Mortals."
"Just by hearing the story, one can understand he was a great person. He was a Mortal too?" Clovis asked, somewhat amazed.
"In ancient times, there were no Rightful Gods like Nameless and no Evil Gods like Chaos; that era didn’t have the kind of divine system we have now," Malin explained to the girls.
"That’s amazing," Rewo’s pair of black eyes widened in awe.
"Yes, very amazing," Malin nodded, "and so, this afternoon I need two girls to accompany me to the new district. I’m going to start planning for the new production site."
"I’m free," Lillim was the first to raise her hand.
"And I’ll join," Clovis raised her hand second.
"Don’t you have an Alchemy class today?"
"I’ve taken leave. For the past half-year, wherever I went, I had to teach Alchemy courses at the local Mage Tower. Now the sight of materials gives me a headache. The Tower Master has granted me a year’s vacation," Clovis replied briskly to Malin’s question.
"Alright, then the rest of you report to Faye where you’re going and don’t go out alone. Especially you, Rewo. What about you this afternoon?" Malin confirmed the whereabouts of his girls for the afternoon, looking at Rewo who had yet to respond.
"I don’t know, the sisters grabbed it too quickly," Rewo said, pursing her lips with a look of little frustration.
"Then let’s add you to the group," Malin said while reaching out to catch the happy little girl who was jumping into his arms, effortlessly lifting her.
"Is this some kind of ritual?" Nova asked.
"Not really, it’s just a simple lift," Malin answered, and then he placed the girl on his wrist—today, the 6’1" Malin found this quite easy and comfortable.
Matilda didn’t take a nap in the afternoon. As a Paladin, she had much more energy than her sisters, so while the mage girls were resting, she made it her duty to inspect whether the palace guards were slacking off.
This was the sort of thing a Nameless Paladin did most often—especially when bored.
Today the guards performed well, which pleased Matilda greatly. It seemed that yesterday’s whipping of the lazy ones had taught them the value of loyalty.
When she reached the main gate, Matilda saw Logan and Miriam: "How come you’re back? Didn’t you say you were going to the opera house to see an opera this afternoon?"
Speaking of operas, Matilda really didn’t like them, for some inexplicable reason.
"Did Malin leave?" Logan frowned, "That’s bad. Miriam and I went out for fun and when we came back through the city gate, we found our wallets, passes, and pocket watch were gone."
After saying this, he even tugged at his collar, "Damn, my collar is torn."
"Yeah, speaking of which, how did your collar get torn?"
"Who knows? But I must say, it’s terrifying how I can be robbed even in Rongma. I didn’t notice when the thief took my things," Logan said, turning to glance at his wife, "Strangely enough, they didn’t take anything from Miriam."
"Yeah, why didn’t they steal from me?" Miriam said, furrowing her brow, "I’ve been talking to Logan the whole way, and I have no memory of anyone getting close to him at all. It’s just like last time with that Night Watcher named Xing Chi; there’s no memory of it happening, it’s really spooky."
"How about this, I have some money here, I can lend you some," Matilda said, reaching for her purse—as a matter of fact, Matilda’s money was rent from family lands, her annual Paladin salary, and pocket money from Malin.
However, Matilda usually spent the rent money on various agricultural tools for the farmers serving her family. The Paladin’s annual salary would be d to a small foundation established among the Paladins, which provided compensation to the families of comrades who died in action.
"That’s not necessary, money isn’t the problem. Our current issue is that we’ve lost our passes. If it weren’t for the fact that we were with you when passing the city gate, the City Guard wouldn’t have let us through. Now, if we can’t get our passes reissued, we won’t be able to go anywhere," Logan said.
"Then why don’t you rest for a bit, and we’ll come up with a plan after Sister Nova wakes up?" Matilda suggested.
"Of course, now I need to rest well with Miriam. I’m so angry; the thieves these days are just too much," Logan said, storming off with Miriam huffing with him.
Matilda was left behind, feeling quite curious.
What was going on with Logan?