Malin’s wait ended after ten minutes—the messenger from the Church gave Malin a reason he had to leave first.
"Excuse me, miss, I have something to do. Please keep the manuscript here and have your boss take a look when he’s free," said Malin as he placed the manuscript on the counter and smiled farewell to everyone.
After leaving the hall, he opened his umbrella and quickly left the restricted area. Then, he opened a teleportation passage and arrived at the Church of the War God’s armory with precise coordinates.
The Punishers of the Church of the War God were preparing their weapons. Malin saw Marian, who looked even more haggard than before.
"What’s happened, messenger? The report said there were creatures resembling rats sighted in the new district?" Malin asked, approaching the elderly man and noticing his left arm was broken, with blood seeping out from the bandages.
"Yes, the children stumbled upon giant rats coming out of the sewers while they were rat catching. A team of children, led by a tutor, went inside and encountered those creatures. Three children died, the tutor held them off, and of the remaining four, only one escaped," Marian, the Bishop, gestured to the child not far away.
Approaching the boy, Malin noticed he seemed terrified and was somewhat incoherently repeating words like ’Rat-man’ and ’monster that eats people.’ Malin frowned and turned to Marian, "You didn’t use a spell formation?"
"We did, but it’s like something has damaged her brain; we are powerless," a Church Healer quickly chimed in.
"May I try?" asked Malin, adding, "But let me say this first, this child may suffer more from what I do, but I must understand everything as quickly as possible."
The Healer looked at Marian, who nodded, so she too nodded, "If the sacrifice is necessary, please do it."
Without any need for recollection, Malin raised his hand and controlled the boy’s mind: "Child, what did you see in the sewer tunnels?"
"Rat-men." This time, the boy immediately answered, even though his gaze was extremely vacant.
"After entering the sewers, how far from the exit did you encounter them?" Malin peered into his eyes.
"Seventy-five meters in a straight line, approximately three hundred and forty-one meters west from Ens Court Avenue. We saw them in an open area at a sewage retention node, defending something big," the boy gradually met Malin’s gaze, and his ability to express himself became clearer.
"How tall were they, what weapons did they use, and how many were there?" Malin didn’t blink, tuning the boy’s mind, hoping to see something directly from it.
"About the same height as the tutor, hunched over, shields, spears, and some strange firearms. They wore armor, and there were many; I couldn’t make out the numbers." The boy started to bleed from his nose as he spoke.
"Last question, how did you get out alive?" Malin drew his firearm and pressed it against the boy’s head.
At that moment, a twisted smile appeared on the boy’s face: "Human thing."
Before he could finish, Malin shot the boy dead: "He was under control, a Psychic, a rat-man from the Outer Domain." As Malin spoke, he sent a message to Faye with his messenger, telling her to control the little rats.
Especially the one called Little Horn.
"Notify the Church of Justice, our world’s rat-people have relatives visiting," Malin looked at Bishop Marian.
The latter gestured for the messenger to come over, and he began to write a letter with his left hand.
Malin shook his head, silently invoking the name of Nameless; the next second, a teleportation passage opened, and a young man poked his head through and frowned, "I smell something familiar; is your city having a rat infestation?"
"You know everything indeed," Malin nodded and pointed toward the dead boy, "His brain was completely controlled by rat-men Psychics, the spawn of Big Horn from the Outer Domain."
"So you mean, when you’re killing the rats, you want my help to shield the battlefield?" Nameless inquired, looking at Malin.
"Yes, your Excellency, the rats are no match for us, but we need your help to control some eager fools," Malin responded.
"No problem, the rat-people of this world are my charges; I don’t want cute little ones twisted into ugliness by a deity of Chaos," the Deity agreed to Malin’s request. Before departing, he glanced at Marian, "Child, I see the unease and fear in the depths of your heart."
"...Your Excellency," the Bishop did not bow his head to the Deity, but instead, he bravely met Nameless’s gaze directly, "I am but a mortal."
"And that’s just right, but remember, never fear, fear is poison to the soul," With those words, Nameless stepped into the teleportation passage.
Malin turned to Bishop Marian, "Your Excellence, I will summon my factory guard squad; these unwelcome guests from the Outer Domain must be utterly eradicated."
"Then proceed, Malin, every head you sever will be the best repayment to this world," Marian nodded his approval.
"For this world, I will spare no expense," declared Malin as he took out his messenger to summon his factory guard squad, the Carterburg Worker’s Group—the first combat team established under Malin’s name, an officially sanctioned group by the royalty, although Malin was responsible for everything.