Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

After that, Yami, still somewhat dazed, was pulled around by Miss Zoe to quite a few places and met many people.

Without exception, these people all raised a large number of coyotes, and each coyote had many ears—Heavens above, were the wolves on Castel Island all this terrifying?

But none of these people talked about their wolves. Instead, one by one, they gave him strange looks. Yami felt both fearful and confused, not knowing what was going on.

Eventually, when Miss Zoe finally stopped, a large crowd had already gathered around.

Yami became rather flustered. He had no idea what was happening or why these important figures from Castel Island paid so much attention to him.

However, after some discussion, these people did not take any further action. They merely handed him a small bag of food, saying it was payment for his help, and then instructed him to attend lessons.

When the day ended and he returned to his shack, he was still in a daze. He hardly knew how much of the lesson he had actually heard, but at least he had managed to remember some letters and spelling.

While lying in the shack for a while, a sudden knock came at the door.

“Yami, are you there?” An elderly-sounding voice called out. Yami rose from his bed and pushed aside the oversized doorboard.

In the slums, there were no proper houses. A shack that could block the wind and rain was already good enough. There were no locks at all—knocking was only a formality.

Standing at the door was none other than Granny Penny. Her complexion was much rosier now, no longer as pale as before.

In the past days, she had eaten little, leaving her rations to her granddaughter. But today, after attending the literacy class, she had actually eaten a free meal.

Although it was not an unlimited feast, everyone received some. It was proper food, with even a bit of fish and meat—though oddly large in size.

Still, once it went into the stomach, it made no difference.

“Granny Penny, you look much better now.” Yami scratched his head and greeted her.

“That’s all thanks to you for registering us. Without the food from the literacy class, this old woman doesn’t know how much longer she could have lasted.”

“Uh, the meals were provided by Castel. I only signed us up.”

“If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have even known about it. Of course, we must thank you.” Granny Penny waved her hand. “Today, this old woman heard some news—Castel is going to open a new factory in Blood Harbor, and they say they’ll choose people from the literacy class.”

“Factory? What is that?”

“It’s a kind of… Never mind, you don’t need to worry about the details. The work in a factory is tiring, but the pay is usually good. Judging by how generous these people from Castel are, their wages should be generous too.”

“Have you seen a factory before?”

“This old woman once traveled to Rhine and saw one there. It was a good place—everyone scrambled to get in.”

Yami nodded in surprise. Only then did he remember that Granny Penny’s family had only recently fallen into the slums, unlike him, who had never left Blood Harbor in his life, let alone seen such things.

“Young man, this old woman doesn’t expect much anymore—just being able to share a meal is already good enough. But you’re still young. Study hard. If you do well, maybe you’ll catch the eye of those important people. Perhaps you’ll even get the chance to enter the factory.”

Yami nodded quickly.

Although he had been pulled around in the morning and questioned endlessly, he still didn’t feel that he was anything special.

What use was being quick with numbers anyway? To help Castel’s big figures raise wolves?

Hmm, maybe that wasn’t impossible—at least it would be some kind of path.

After bidding farewell to Granny Penny, Yami lay down on his shabby bed, daydreaming about the future. He couldn’t help but laugh.

“I might even get into a factory someday.”

Not far away, in the shadows of an alley, several pairs of eyes withdrew their gaze.

“How’s the investigation going?”

“Basically complete. The target’s social relations are extremely simple. Let’s report back to Lady Zoe.”

Soon, Zoe held a report on Yami in her hands.

She was a diplomat of Castel. A diplomat was not merely someone who handled negotiations—negotiation, intelligence gathering, information release, even spreading rumors and conducting espionage—all of these were part of the work of envoys abroad.

As for recruiting talent, that was an even more proper duty.

Zoe had not taken Yami back to Castel right away.

Of course, she knew just how extraordinary Yami’s talent was. His mental arithmetic speed was simply unbelievable. Even if he possessed no further mathematical gifts, just this calculation ability alone would guarantee him a permanent place in Castel.

But Yami was not a native of Castel. He was a resident of Blood Harbor.

It would not be difficult to obtain him with The Prince’s authority. But Blood Harbor was a chaotic place. Therefore, after discussing with others, Zoe decided to first conduct a background investigation. Since the literacy class had to be attended anyway, it was the perfect chance to observe what kind of young man this Yami really was.

From the looks of it now, he seemed honest and dutiful—perhaps even a bit simple-minded. With such talent, even in Blood Harbor he should have been able to earn some money, enough not to still be living in the slums.

Personal character was not a necessary criterion, but investigations into ties with the Northlands certainly were.

Most who survived in the slums of Blood Harbor were more or less entangled with heretical churches. Even organizations as large as the Mystics had to borrow the name of a cult.

The common folk had little chance at survival.

This part of the investigation was more troublesome and required more thorough inquiries. That was also why Zoe had let him return first—to avoid alarming anyone.

After the destruction of the Life Mother Church, the Mystics had deeply infiltrated the lower levels of Blood Harbor. After some time, Zoe received the report in her hands.

But the contents of that report…

“Granny, are you saying that this young man has been to the Life Mother Church, the Doomsday Truth Church, the Blood Cup Society, and even the Mystics?”

Zoe’s eyelid twitched.

She had already been in Blood Harbor for a while and understood the situation here. These were all notorious heretical cults—aside from the Mystics.

No… even including the Mystics. Yami had even drunk some so-called holy water boiled by Josh.

Granny could only look speechless. “He stayed at each church for a while, but only to scrounge meals—he never joined.”

These heretical churches often lured followers by providing food.

The more generous ones, such as the Life Mother Church, would even directly distribute grain to the poor. Even if they wanted to cheat sacrifices out of people later, at the beginning they wouldn’t use overly extreme methods.

“So… he just scrounged meals all the way until now?”

Granny nodded. “Many cults extended invitations to him. For example, the Mystics tried to recruit him for work, but he never agreed. He only ate the free meals and slipped away. Hard to say if he’s clever or just foolish.”

Zoe recalled Yami’s blank, dazed look and for a moment couldn’t decide either.

Fortunately, the literacy class allowed for scrounging meals—and that was what had drawn him in.