At last, it was Jessica, the wolf girl, who entered the room today wearing a windbreaker, long pants, and little leather boots. As she took off her scarf, she leaned down and kissed Malin on the forehead, then furrowed her brows, "Malin, haven’t you grown taller?"
"Mr. Malin has gotten taller," Lillim, who was drinking apple juice, promptly responded.
Upon hearing this, Jessica smiled, "That’s great. My dumb old dad was worrying about what we’d do if Malin couldn’t grow taller."
"If Mr. Malin got taller, he would certainly look very handsome," Clovis, who was eating snacks, chimed in.
"My brother is always the best," Maya said, very proud.
"If he couldn’t grow taller, that wouldn’t be so bad, right?" Faye suddenly spoke up from aside.
Malin was all question marks — what was this silly girl so happy about if he didn’t grow tall?
The girls seemed to find the topic very interesting and started whispering among themselves.
But the little bell in the kitchen rang, and Malin went over to lift the lid of the oven, taking out the pizza he had just baked — since the girls all said it was delicious, Malin naturally catered to their tastes.
"Time to eat!" Malin called out loudly, looking at the cluster of girls.
So, the girls got together for the meal, and Faye, out of reverence for Malin’s cooking skills, carefully scooped up a meatball with her spoon. Before even taking a bite, she saw Maya next to her already spear a large piece of rib with her fork and bite into it.
"Is it... that delicious?" Jessica, with a face full of curiosity, skewered a piece of pork elbow with her fork and bit into it... then wolfed it down.
Lillim quietly passed her spoon towards the custard in front of Clovis, then halfway there, it collided with the spoon the Bunny Girl was extending towards the thick soup.
Then the situation got out of control, Malin watched as the girls completely abandoned any ladylike demeanor, sweeping through everything, and Clovis even ate a piece of pork elbow... weren’t you supposed to not eat meat?
Harboring such doubts, Malin picked up a slice of pizza and looked at the lively scene at the table, feeling somewhat joyful and satisfied. He said to himself, "Happy New Year."
After the meal, Jessica and Maya were in charge of doing the dishes, while Malin and Faye began discussing the recent situation — the previous assassin had not been caught, yet after that event, this assassin had not made any more moves. Boone and Dak, not wanting to be on the assassin’s radar, simply chose to leave Carterburg.
And Faye’s parents had also left recently; Faye once again became the actual master of the manor — this time, she took over the keys of the manor from her father’s hands, signifying that she was now the owner of the building.
According to Faye, that assassin was really strange. Despite her mom and mother kindling all kinds of relationships, they couldn’t catch him. The Dark Guild also hadn’t placed any bounties on her two unlucky brothers.
And as the daughter of her father and mother, she had not become the target of the assassin during this time. It seemed like the assassin was specifically targeting her two brothers.
"I’ve been thinking the same thing, Faye. The assassin didn’t come after me for revenge, nor did he choose to assassinate you. Combining this with the previous murders in Carterburg, I suspect this assassin seems to be picking off certain targets. As for why your brothers became targets, that’s not something I can understand," Malin said honestly, having made a bold decision to link this assassination attempt to the previous murders after much analysis. "His targets appear to be the families that are still in existence today from Carterburg’s thirty brave soldiers of the past, as to why your family is among them, I have no clue."
"I feel the same way; according to your analysis, it’s the most reliable one at present. Starting from the assassination of Mrs. Mischael to the attempt on my brothers... why he’s doing this, none of them have bounties. If we say my brothers have enemies from other countries who want their heads, how were these noble families chosen? It’s not like they were selected as bait to lead us in the wrong direction," Faye pondered.
"I don’t think that’s possible," Malin disagreed with Faye’s idea, "The assassin should be the same person. If they wanted to find some decoys, why not choose easier targets to assassinate? If the victims come from all walks of life, it should be more convenient to mislead us."
The discussion reached this point, and Faye sighed, "If only I were Holmes, Malin, you don’t know how oppressive it has been at home lately."
"I know, you’ve had a rough time." Malin of course understood; his elder brother had been hurt by an assassin, and the whole family was under a tense atmosphere. If it were Malin, he wasn’t sure if he could keep from going crazy.
But no matter what, that incident had finally passed.
"Don’t worry, although we are not the Divine Detective, you and I will still pursue this event, until everything comes to light... I swear." With these words, Malin drew Faye into his arms, "Malin, thank you."
"We agreed to support each other, no need for thanks," Malin said, and then noticed someone was knocking at the door. Lillim ran over, opened the door a crack, and took a letter from inside, "Gaiate, Malin, it seems to be from your father."
"Ah, yes, it’s from my father." Taking the letter, Lillim went to the kitchen to replace Maya, the little Leopard Girl ran over, wiped her hands, and then sat in Malin’s lap—this was Maya’s happy time. Every time her father sent a letter, she would sit in Malin’s lap and listen to him read the letter.
"Malin, boy, your father is doing alright lately."
"Mr. Gaiate has a sense of humor," Faye said, smiling as he saw the content of the letter.
"Recently I’ve been at the North defensive line, working to earn travel money and gathering information. You said last time that you could earn your own money now, so this time I won’t send living expenses for you and your sister, but if I come back and find that you let Maya go hungry, I’ll skin you alive." As he said this, Malin noticed Faye’s hand reaching for Maya’s waist: "You’ve got some extra padding here, Maya."
The little Leopard Girl shrieked with embarrassed indignation, much to Faye’s delight.
"Alright, listen to me continue," Malin struggled against his own desire to pinch and continued reading the letter.
"Boy, you wrote to me before, saying there’s trouble in Carterburg. Here’s my warning, don’t get yourself involved no matter what. Your strength isn’t enough to protect you and Maya. If I come back and find even a scratch on Maya, you had better pray you can escape my wrath."
"Dad’s worrying over nothing, clearly Maya is perfectly fine," Maya, with her arms around her waist protecting her ’extra padding’, said somewhat perplexedly.
"Dad is warning me not to go looking for death," Malin sighed, "Honestly, Faye, this matter is still too dangerous for us."
"I know that, Malin, which is why I’ve never insisted. After all, that assassin who can move through the shadows must be very formidable. Confronting him directly, we only have a path to death, I understand that." Faye leaned against Malin, "Let’s wait until we’ve grown up and become more formidable, then we can make plans."
Malin nodded and then continued with the letter.
"By the way, you mentioned that your Frost Giant bloodline had awakened, so I’ve brought you a little local specialty. It’s definitely going to be something you’ll love, as it’s something big. It’ll probably arrive a day or two late, but don’t forget to sign for it when it does."
This gift made Malin very happy—although the old man wasn’t home all year, at least he fulfilled his responsibilities as a father.
However, thinking of his mention of earning travel money made Malin very worried about his living situation.
If only he could cut down on playing that Kun-something-or-other card game, not spend his days drinking in the bar, and especially not go out demon hunting every midnight, that would be better.
Unfortunately, no one should expect a Demon Hunter to live a regular nine-to-five life, and as for curbing the desire to gamble... that’s even more impossible.