Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

“Lina? Lina!!”

Hodge sat up from the bed, grabbing for his gun as if to fight to the death against the monster before him.

But his hand grasped only air. When he lifted his head, there was no monster, no sister before him—this was the Church of Castel, the dormitory of the Holy Guard.

Another nightmare.

Even for the Holy Guard, firearms were stored in a central place while sleeping, for it was not wartime.

The dormitory door creaked open a crack. Kyle glanced at the frightened Hodge, then slowly closed the door again.

After a while, Hodge draped on a coat and stepped outside.

He sat down beside Kyle’s sentry post, quietly raising his head to look at the moon.

“Another nightmare?”

Hodge nodded, seemingly unwilling to dwell on the subject, and asked, “I thought you didn’t take night shifts?”

Kyle, being a squad leader, normally had no watch duties. But if something happened, he had to be present at once.

“Isn’t today the mobilization meeting? Everyone got a day off. Old rule—the captain takes the watch.”

Kyle poured him a cup of hot tea, handed it over, then set the kettle back onto the stove, opening the lid to drop in two sweet fruits.

The two tacitly avoided speaking of Lina. Now that going to the Rhine was impossible, with two whole war zones lying between the Empire and Castel.

“What do you think of today’s mobilization?” Kyle asked after a moment’s thought.

“I don’t know.” Confusion welled up in Hodge’s eyes. “We were originally Rhines, exiled to Castel. And Nora… when we came here, she had already left. None of us in this group even met her.”

“So you don’t plan to join the expeditionary force, then?” Kyle poked idly at the fire. “I can understand. Fighting for someone you never met, in a place you’ve never been… besides, the sign-up lines for the expeditionary force have already smashed the doors down. No chance of getting a spot.”

Hodge said nothing, bowing his head to sip the tea, his face hidden in shadow.

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t know why. She wasn’t someone I knew, and the land isn’t one I’m familiar with—damn it, the Northlands, even the name sounds cold.”

“But I just want to go. I can’t control it. When I see those reports, I feel like fire burns in my chest. When Lord Castell placed Nora’s head upon the memorial stele of the dead, all I felt was rage!”

“I want to go to the Northlands, hang those damned nobles from the city gates, avenge Nora—even if today was the first time I ever saw her.”

“I must have gone mad, fallen under some curse.”

“I wanted to talk to the political commissar, but I didn’t dare. What if he thinks my thoughts aren’t firm enough, and denies me a place in the expeditionary force?”

Hodge swore a few words in the Rhine tongue, then, still unsatisfied, spat fiercely onto the ground.

Kyle said nothing, simply watching quietly.

Hodge had always been a small, thin worker, often sly and shirking. The factory owner had nearly fired him several times, but thanks to his workmates’ guarantees—that he would still pull his weight—he had been kept on.

He often brought snacks his sister made to thank his workmates—“snacks,” though in truth only baked dough hardened to a crisp, which one had to chew diligently to taste the faint sweetness.

Later, after Hughes’s incident, they were exiled here. Hodge had nearly collapsed along the way; surviving was already a miracle.

Yet in exile, he regained his health. The steel mill supervisor, seeing his illness, even called Sister Chloe to treat him.

Chloe cured him, and told him he owed her a great debt.

That was normal. Healing always cost money, and often the money was spent while the patient could not be saved.

To survive, Hodge was already grateful.

He had saved every single Leo, hoping to repay Chloe, but never got the chance.

Chloe’s name was carved onto the stone stele.

Hodge did not care if she had been a nun of the Church of Candlelight or a cultist of the Moths Chasing Fire. He only knew Chloe had saved his life.

Always timid, he had nevertheless dragged Kyle along to join the Holy Guard.

Kyle studied Hodge closely. This man no longer looked as weak as before. He had regained his health in Castel, and army life had straightened his back. Now he was a sturdy young man, with little trace of his past frailty.

“Why did you enlist in the Holy Guard, Hodge?”

Hodge froze, instinctively tipping the tea cup to his lips without noticing it was empty.

“I don’t know. For that Sister? For this job that paid wages? For the Leos as military subsidies? Maybe a bit of all of it.”

“At the time, the situation was urgent. They were recruiting nonstop, they said the front was about to collapse. I thought: hey, life is good now—work by day, go home by night, eat fried fish and fries, and drink sweet fruit wine. I didn’t want to lose that!”

“So I went.”

“When I saw those monsters, my legs went soft. But when I thought of fries and sweet fruit wine, my hands picked up the gun of their own accord, I pulled the trigger—and killed three monsters with the first shot!”

“Three! I still remember. What recruit gets three kills with his very first shot?”

Hodge puffed out his chest.

Kyle couldn’t help but laugh aloud.

For fries and sweet fruit wine? What a ridiculous reason. Why had he himself joined the Holy Guard again?

Hodge lay back on the ground, hands under his head, legs crossed as he gazed at the moon.

“Kyle, I still want to join the expeditionary force.”

“Honestly, I don’t know why. I was born in a nameless village, fled with my sister to the Rhine, and later came here. I haven’t even lived here that long.”

“But I like it here. Fried fish, fries, sweet fruit wine, the steel mill, the Holy Text—everything in Castel, I like.”

“I don’t know who that Nora was, but she lived here too, bled for this place too. She once stood on the same ground as me.”

“So I am willing to avenge her.”

“I can’t explain this feeling. I only know, if one day I die out there, and someone cuts off my head, then others will fight for me too.”

“I don’t know them, and they don’t have to know me. But as long as we share this land, and are willing to shed every drop of blood for it, then we are brothers and sisters.”

“This feeling is so damn good, Kyle.”

“So why not? I’ll go to the Northlands, and see what kind of bastards dare to kill our Castel people. I’m not one of those who likes reasoning, nor interested in conducting some trial. I only know, they made us bleed, so we’ll repay with their blood!”

Hodge looked up at the sky, the bright moonlight reflected in his eyes like a quietly burning fire.

“Get some sleep. Tomorrow we’ll go sign up. Let’s hope there are still a few spots left in the expeditionary force.” Kyle lifted the kettle from the fire.