Half-step Purgatory

For a long time, Malin always felt that Fate had been quite generous to him. Although he had to face that life-threatening job every day, as long as he had the lovely Leopard Girl cooking delicious food for him daily, and as long as there was meat to eat and cats to stroke, life wasn't too unbearable. Working a bit harder and facing some difficulties on the job weren't really an issue for a man.
Moreover, being able to live two lives meant one shouldn't have too high demands, right, Mr. Different-Kind?
Having said that, and without waiting for an answer, the young man snapped his fingers, and the white flame on his fingertip lit the tobacco in his other hand, then he flicked it towards the non-human entity on the stake.
Welcome to Abield, to witness the last splendor of the steampunk era.
And the madness.

Steampunk Era: Mad Abield

But precisely because of this, Malin was eager to change everything.


Having secured this knowledge, Malin began to establish more factories, recruiting capable individuals among the refugees. Those who had served as soldiers could be absorbed into the factory guard as soldiers, and these new troops would be responsible for the safety of the city and its streets in normal times.


The commercial guilds wanted to join in, and Malin could offer them distribution channels—the increasing number of goods required more and more smooth logistic channels. In this era, maintaining a country's logistics was very challenging, so Malin didn't mind granting benefits to the savvy members within these guilds. If the guilds didn't see Malin's presence as something that would ultimately oppress or even eradicate them, then what Malin needed to do now was to show everyone that he was willing to trade with them, that they were partners, not mortal enemies fighting to the death.


Section 454: A Toast to the Past (1)_2