Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

The two of them had both originally belonged to the Moths Chasing Fire and had worked together for a long time, yet how had he never noticed that Granny was so fond of fighting?

Perhaps, as a 【Chrysalis】 who had been beaten down by transcendent beings of other paths her whole life, now that she finally possessed combat ability, she wanted to make up for it?

It was just like a toy one could not afford in childhood—once grown up, one would stubbornly want to buy it, even if one no longer liked it that much.

Perhaps Granny had simply not killed enough people before, and now she wanted to make up for the regret by killing more.

“Cough, in any case, we’re already very close to Sleddinburg, and not far from the Koller River either. We can even receive nearby support from the Banshee squad. We can go directly to the Resistance Army.”

Once they reached this area, Isaac became noticeably more familiar with the surroundings. Although he had always operated within the Empire, when he had previously been with the Resistance Army, it had been in this region.

“How much farther?”

“At full speed, we’d arrive within half an hour, but it’s best if we make some preparations first.”

“What preparations? You’ve met Gwen before—why not just make direct contact?”

Granny asked with some surprise.

But Isaac shook his head and said in a low voice, “There have been too many transcendent beings in the Northlands recently. It’s abnormal. Previously, the Church of Candlelight sent people here to investigate the 【Investigator】 you killed, but it has already been half a year. Whether or not they discovered anything, they should have withdrawn long ago.”

“You’re saying something unusual is happening in the Northlands?”

“It could be a mutation, or perhaps the Church is searching for something, or maybe they’re trying to uncover the truth behind something—anything is possible. And you should know just how ruthless the Church of Candlelight can be, right?”

Granny frowned, contemplating for some time. Then she suddenly raised her head. “You mean, over on the Resistance Army’s side—”

“The Resistance Army no longer has any transcendent beings. The transcendent agents from the Tribunal can infiltrate almost however they want. With the Tribunal’s way of doing things, I’m worried—”

Granny’s expression darkened, and she said nothing more.

Isaac sighed. “So I plan not to meet them openly, but to make contact privately and secretly. At the very least, we must figure out—”

“Whether Gwen is still the same Gwen.”

Gwen was leaning over the table, seriously going through the ledger before her.

She had been a farm girl; not only had she never read a ledger before, she had not even been able to read at first.

It was Nora who had taught her many things in spare moments, allowing her to at least write her own name.

And half a year of harsh experience had transformed her from an ordinary warrior into a leader capable of charging in battle, fighting, handling logistics, and managing supplies.

There was no helping it—the Resistance Army barely had literate people. Many tasks simply had to be handled by her personally.

Battle had been difficult enough, but the problems with logistics were even worse.

Sleddinburg was a fortress. There was some land within the walls, but achieving self-sufficiency was impossible. Fortunately, they had stockpiled a good amount of grain, enough to hold out for half a year.

Distributing food, maintaining military organization, treating and settling the wounded—all of these required tremendous effort. Gwen had no idea how much strength she had spent over the past half year solving one problem after another.

And the trouble did not come only from within; there were occasional threats from outside as well.

Like right now.

Gwen’s finger paused slightly as she flipped the report. Then she suddenly set it down, pulled out the long sword placed on the table, and slashed behind her.

“Damn scout, your breathing is too loud!”

The long sword drew an arc through the air—swift and sharp. It was clear Gwen had long grown accustomed to sudden attacks like this.

But when she saw the face of the person behind her, she froze. Her sword lost force and was easily deflected by him.

“Long time no see, Gwen.” Isaac spoke in a low voice.

With a clatter, Gwen’s musket fell to the ground. Isaac’s eye twitched—when had she drawn that, and how had he not noticed?

“Your reflexes really—”

“Mr. Isaac!” Gwen said with visible delight and rushed forward to give Isaac a hug—causing him to bare his teeth in pain. She was still wearing armor.

“Why are you wearing armor while doing paperwork?”

Gwen was wearing nearly a full suit of plate armor, its form somewhat similar to three-quarter armor on Blue Star. It was suited for mounted combat and did not hinder her much while sitting.

Contrary to many people’s expectations, plate armor was actually quite flexible. The armor Gwen wore was clearly well-designed—while maintaining considerable defensive power, it did not interfere much with movement.

Who knew where she had gotten it? When Isaac had first met her, she had already been wearing this slightly old suit of armor.

But no matter the design, armor could not magically reduce weight. Although Gwen was not wearing the full set, the main protective plates were still on her body. This set had to weigh at least dozens of kilograms.

Wearing dozens of kilograms of armor in battle and wearing it for daily life were entirely different matters. Even knights trained long-term usually did not put on armor until they entered the battlefield. As for Gwen—

“Hehe, I’m pretty strong. I’ve been helping with farm work since I was little.” Gwen scratched her head with a silly grin, then spoke excitedly:

“Mr. Isaac, you’re actually alive! During the siege I didn’t see you anywhere—I thought, I thought…”

“At that time I encountered a transcendent being from the enemy side, and then afterward went through some complications. In short, I survived, and I’ve already reconnected with Castel. How have things been here for the past half year?”

Gwen’s eyes dimmed slightly. “We… lost many companions, but at least we held Sleddinburg. For some reason the Allied Forces retreated. We took the chance to go out and gather a good amount of food. Now we can last another half year. If everything goes well—”

Isaac nodded, then asked as if casually, “Have you run into any trouble lately? Assassination attempts, for example?”

“Mhm-mhm, yes!” Gwen nodded obediently. “The Allied Forces keep sending people to assassinate me every few days. They’re pretty skilled—they can slip past the guards.”

“And then? How did you deal with them?”

“Oh, at first I had no experience and things were dangerous several times. Later I began carrying weapons with me at all times, and I kept my armor on. After that, dealing with those assassins became much easier.”

Isaac’s eyes widened. “Wait—you handled them with your bare hands at the beginning?”

“Yes… oh, you misunderstand. Those assassins were indeed good at sneaking in, but they were very weak in actual combat and often made stupid mistakes. And since I live in a castle, one shout was enough for people to come help me.”

Isaac opened his mouth but held back his words. Only after a long moment did he finally say, “Alright then. Give me a full-strength swing with your sword. Don’t worry, you won’t harm—”

Clang!

A flash of swordlight swept across. Isaac’s gaze gradually lost focus as his entire body split cleanly down the middle. A moment later, the two halves slowly toppled to either side.