"Only cowards cry, Halsan, look at and tell , why you wouldn’t believe in a champion of the Lord of Justice and chose to face the ever-uncontrollable negotiations on your own."
Malin’s questioning wasn’t loud, but this young man from the National Church still burst into tears.
This ti, Malin didn’t rebuke him further, for he had already paid enough of a price—the Chandler family was finished, his brothers, his sisters, his parents and elders all died in the negotiations a few days ago.
All this because he made a choice, a choice that left him with nothing.
When all was settled, Halsan raised his head: "Your Excellency, can I really stand up again?"
"Yes, I have healed many, including potentially you," nodded Malin.
"Then... what’s the cost? Your Excellency, your rcy, what do I need to give? What do you need to avenge my family?" The young man’s eyes were full of bewildernt as he looked at Malin, waiting for an answer.
Malin smiled: "Get better, beco my best subordinate, the best comrade to Sudel and the others, protect your world, and prevent Chaos from eroding it, can you do that?"
"Just, just like that? Your Excellency, you are... truly too kind to . I am so foolish, can I really be forgiven by you?" Halsan questioned, struggling to sit upright, continuing his monologue as he looked at Malin: "Your Excellency, do I, so foolish, really deserve your protection?"
"If it were just your foolishness, then indeed you wouldn’t, but you are a captain in my team of Sharpshooters, I am obligated to help you and them. I brought you into a world of killing, not to have you wail woefully before like a sissy. Halsan, you are a warrior, do you want to take revenge on that damned Chaos and unrighteous Nobles on the battlefield and prevent these atrocities, or will you cry like a woman?"
Halsan finally smiled: "If I can take revenge, that would be fantastic. Malin Your Excellency, please heal . I don’t want what happened to to happen to others. I want to help everyone, just like you assist all those you can help! I want to stand up! Your Excellency!"
Malin nodded, then, to Sudel’s amazent, he tore off the bandage on Halsan’s injured leg. Flesh buds grew on his amputated leg, and quickly, a new leg appeared before him.
The young man removed the eyepatch from his face and with regenerating eyes, located Malin and Sudel’s positions correctly, while his previously lost fingers had also regenerated.
"Rember your oath to today, train well with your new limbs and organs, and when the doctors of the Benevolent Church say you are ready to return to battle, I hope to see a Halsan Chandler ready to fight alongside his comrades at any ti, can you do it?"
"Yes, Your Excellency, you will witness my growth, by the na of the Lord in Black, I swear." Halsan’s voice was filled with resolute stubbornness.
.........
Leaving the infirmary, Malin cast a glance at Sudel who followed out: "Anything else?"
"Your Excellency... I don’t know how to thank you, these last few days, for the first ti I’ve seen sothing other than despair on Halsan’s face. Do you really forgive him and ?"
"Frankly, I indeed do not wish to forgive you two fools—one was almost killed to keep a secret, and the other trusted the exploitable royal laws in the na of justice. If you weren’t my subordinates, I, the Divine Champion of the Church of Justice, would not care for your lives or deaths, as humans have the right to foolishly kill themselves, and you are no exception, nor is Halsan." Malin said, his stern facade finally cracking.
"Will you make mistakes again, Sudel?" He looked at the young man who shook his head vigorously: "Your book says, young people have the right to make mistakes because they are ignorant, they are naive. But such a right is only once, Halsan and I have already squandered it, there won’t be a second ti, please believe in and Halsan."
Only then did Malin smile, patting Sudel on the shoulder: "I will rember everything you and Halsan said today, go and rest well. Halsan’s body is already improving, and you should also take care of yourself, look at the dark circles under your eyes, as dark as the bottom of a pot."
"Yes, Your Excellency Malin, I’ll go get so sleep now, and... when do we start our new operation? Although Halsan still needs to recuperate, I, Rhodes, and our teammates are already prepared."
"Then keep preparing, I will lead you into battle, but now is not the right ti, I can’t just conjure up a target for you." Malin finished speaking, waving the young man away to rest, so Sudel left, looking back three steps at a ti.
Watching his figure disappear into the snowfall towards the camp, Malin had Fio follow the lad, lest he get too tired halfway and die in the snow—a death Malin refused to accept, as it was even more senseless than dying from stupidity.
Indeed, Malin did truly care for these two young n, just as Sudel said, he was indeed forgiving them, just like Sudel ntioned, young people have the right to make mistakes, and they have already squandered it once.
The next ti they did the sa, Malin would not hesitate to kick them out of his army.
As for Rhodes... this cousin was actually more crafty than his brother, had he not co to plead this ti, Malin’s intention was to harden these two fools for another week, but the young man ca with both his rits and toils—Rhodes wearing his dal on his chest.
He never spoke a word, but Malin couldn’t ignore the dal on his chest.
Therefore, the boy Sudel was truly too foolish, unlike his brother; Rhodes may have been slow in other respects, but being the youngest child, he carried a much more seasoned way of dealing with others than Halsan and Sudel.
He knew Malin liked this approach, so this young man helped his cousin and comrade in a way that wasn’t disliked by Malin.
Moreover, this lad, although fond of slacking off, had been praised more than once for his shooting talent by Sudel and Halsan, especially Sudel, who claid that his younger cousin possessed a shooting talent even more terrifying than his own.
Young man, truly a promising talent.
As Malin pondered this, he decided to have the lad participate in the military sharpshooter competition hosted by Tuojin today.
It was ti to let those overly proud youngsters realize that there are always others better than them.
.........
"Our Lord Malin has rested in Koser Town for a week? This is probably the best news my subjects have heard this week," King Manheim put down the newspaper in his hand. Although the treasury was in crisis, logistics were in crisis, supplies were in crisis, and even the weather was in a state of ergency, King Manheim still felt this was the most reassuring year since he assud the throne.
In the current Chaos invasion, less than sixty thousand of his troops had died.
You should know, in previous invasions, at this stage of the battle, when both sides are desperately fighting, it’s not surprising to add a zero to the death toll. But now, removing a zero is the freshest news, and the entire North’s news industry is hyping the friendship between the Northern Kingdom, Sydney, and the Farol Principality.
The forr has recently sent a lot of supplies through a convoy of ships, and the Sydney royal bank has given the Northern Kingdom an interest-free loan of thirty million Sydney Union currency units, finally bringing hope to the Northern Kingdom’s treasury. With this money, King Manheim can finally stop worrying about not being able to pay his soldiers’ salaries, and his army can afford to replace their equipnt. Most importantly, he can sohow repay it all—after this invasion by Chaos, many serfs and freedn will inevitably struggle to survive. Sydney’s bank accepts serfs to repay debts, and every serf and freedman can be sent to Malin’s Carterburg, where Malin will pay per capita.
This is an option with no losers—King Manheim can repay the money, the bank can recover its loan, Malin can have more workers and farrs, and the bankrupt freedn and serfs who lost their lands don’t have to starve to death.
Compared to leaving their holand, everyone is more afraid of starvation, so this is the best solution.
As for the Farol Principality, although this principality is rembered by King Manheim as being very poor, this ti their fleet brought up a great amount of salted fish at—enough to cover forty percent of the Northern Union Army’s supply needs for a month. It was incredibly tily.
You must understand that nowadays, the entire North relies on Malin’s connections to maintain food supplies. More than once, King Manheim has wondered what would happen if there was no Malin during this invasion.
It’s completely unimaginable, so more than once, King Manheim has thought about granting Malin a noble title.
Although Malin is already a Prince of the Farol Principality and Marquis of Carterburg in the Sydney Union, the title of Earl Malin in the Northern Kingdom would be a fitting honor, even though King Manheim truly couldn’t spare any territory to offer Malin a greater reward.
But as long as the current friendship is maintained, Malin will certainly not mind.
This uncrowned monarch surely would not care too much about worldly status; he prefers tangible things—like a large number of new workers, farrs, sailors—in short, while not the type of entity King Manheim is best at dealing with, he is definitely not a difficult opponent to handle.
"Sir Hagelberry." Thinking of this, King Manheim spoke up.
"What is it, Your Majesty." His old Hagelberry cast a sowhat puzzled look from the fireplace.
"I have realized that the hardest thing for to accept in my life is not the lack of a son, but the lack of a daughter who could be of age with Malin."
"It’s , Your Majesty, I understand your thoughts, and I feel the sa," said the old man, grinning.
"Sir Hagelberry," King Manheim took a deep breath.
"Yes, Your Majesty, what is it?" His elderly servant raised an eyebrow.
"We need to provide Lord Malin with an earldom from the Northern Kingdom. Think about it, are there any titles or lands currently vacant?" Holding back a torrent of murderous rage at the old man, King Manheim said.
"There is." The old man’s reply took King Manheim by surprise, so he asked, "Where?"
"In the North, that Holy Lake. We could divide the lake and the village north of it for Malin, which would only require carving out the lake from your direct dominion, and a town from my territory," said the elder.
"All the deeds in that town are yours, right?" King Hagelberry said with a smile.
"Yes, Your Majesty, your wisdom sees through everything," King Manheim’s servant nodded in agreent.
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