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

The caravan hadn't experienced any unexpected incidents on its journey, and Malin's face was well-known to the Northern Alliance troops—his portrait was on all the canned food supplied to them.


Although resembling a brand like Lao Gan Ma or Thirteen Spices wasn't Malin's intention, he couldn't argue with the packaging chosen by Faye, so when Malin appeared before the troops, his face was more useful than any identification the military could provide.


Soldiers from the lower ranks sang high praises for Mr. Malin's canned goods, even though the meat content had been reduced for cost reasons (a cost-cutting measure required by the military, which made Malin feel somewhat disoriented). For them, being able to eat meat every day was already extraordinary—after all, the troops from the other two kingdoms didn't even have this luxury, and only their officers had access to it, not even on a daily basis.


495: Elegy of the bygone days (3)