Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Hughes slowly opened his eyes from the armchair, stretched lazily, and stood up.

He had just gained quite a lot from Gwen’s side. At the very least, he now knew that she had found some kind of method to avoid pollution.

He did not know what method it was exactly. If it really could isolate knowledge from pollution, then it would be best to tactfully ask about it. Castel was in urgent need of such technology!

That way, one could safely read knowledge, and perhaps even strip out some pollution to give the steam engines a little extra “meal.”

The only question was whether Little Gwen would be willing to help.

“Lord.” Ash’s voice suddenly came from outside the door.

Hughes was somewhat surprised. “What is it?”

“Please take a look at the mind link. There seems to be… a situation on Gwen and Nora’s side.”

“Hm? What did Gwen do again? Did she finally go mad? Let me take a look at the mind link… hss!”

“Lady Nora, is this normal?”

“Um, it should be fine, right?”

“But Lady Nora, why are more and more people watching us?”

“Maybe because we just arrived on the island?”

“Even the banshees are here. I… I still feel like something’s not right.”

Gwen’s current posture was extremely strange. She stretched one hand toward the vast sea beside her while speaking to Nora.

Not long ago, the two of them had leapt onto the ship in an extremely eye-catching pose. After the sailors verified their identities, they found the cabin that had been reserved for them.

Hughes had considered things quite thoroughly. Since Gwen was visiting Castel for the first time, he had specially arranged for Nora to guide and explain things to her. Unfortunately, this was precisely where things went wrong.

Nora was quite responsible. Although Gwen’s curiosity was a bit too exuberant, she still did her best to answer every question. Gwen listened to Nora’s explanations and asked questions from time to time, and for a while, everything was fairly harmonious.

This massive cargo ship truly amazed her. From the steel framework of the vessel to its steam power, she learned quite a lot.

Until they were close to Castel, Gwen pointed toward a somewhat chaotic lighthouse formed from piled-up steel in the distance and asked curiously, “What’s that?”

Nora glanced at it and did not pay much attention. “That’s the shipwreck zone. Many ships once sank here in Castel. It’s said that those wrecks occasionally respond to calls made to them.”

“Huh? How do they respond? Wait, why did so many ships sink here?”

“It was just that Castel’s shipbuilding industry took a few detours,” Nora replied. “Mm, these ships are probably the tears of the times. It’s said their resentment is quite heavy. Sometimes they even complain to passersby. Supposedly, Castel is a bit worried about whether they might attack other ships.”

Nora spoke seriously. Some of this she had heard from others, and some she had read in the newspapers.

Most of it was actually correct, but the part about attacking ships came from Nini’s unofficial gossip. Coincidentally, Nora had not been in Castel for very long, and her nature was overly earnest, so she failed to distinguish the authenticity of that accidentally mixed-in report.

This was precisely why Hughes had banned the spread of Nini’s newspapers. Someone might really take it seriously.

In any case, after hearing this, Gwen decided to demonstrate her value. Reading books was not her strength, but fighting certainly was. She prepared to go over and escort them.

Gwen immediately dashed out of the cabin in a flash, impossible to stop. Her execution ability had always been maxed out.

By the time Nora hopped along and chased after her, all she saw was a huge splash of water erupting beneath the ship’s side.

Well, that, and the sailors on deck standing there dumbfounded.

“S-she jumped down?” a sailor asked, eyes wide with terror.

Jumping into the sea from a large ship was extremely dangerous. To be precise, the survival rate was nearly zero.

Leaving aside the propellers hidden underwater that would slice apart anything passing by like blades, most people could not even handle the currents around the hull.

The propellers would form negative-pressure vortices within thirty meters of the stern, and similar turbulent currents would also form near the hull. Anyone who fell into the water would be swept in immediately.

Even if one wore a life vest and a lifebuoy, it was still nearly impossible to find them at sea—not to mention rescuing them; even locating them was extremely difficult.

“Um, it should be fine, right? She can swim,” Nora said.

Although the White Raven People had not seen ports very often, most of them could swim. When there was no food in winter, the White Raven People would go to rivers, break open the ice, and set nets underwater to haul up fish.

This required someone to dive into the freezing water beneath the ice and thread ropes and fishing nets between ice holes. It was extremely dangerous and required training from childhood.

As a result, they often had a habit of winter swimming. Gwen was no exception.

“No, Lady Nora, this isn’t about swimming. Human strength cannot fight against rapids. I don’t have time to explain this to you. I need to hurry and contact the sea patrol banshees!”

As he spoke, the sailor prepared to run toward the cabins. But just as he took a step, his entire body froze.

He stared blankly at the sea below. After a while, he raised a hand and rubbed his eyes.

“By Lord Hughes…”

Nora moved closer to the ship’s rail. Enduring her fear of heights, she carefully looked down at the sea below. Then her eyes widened as well.

Gwen had indeed jumped into the sea, but now, Nora saw her—not being swept by the water. To be precise, she was not even in the water.

Countless pitch-black abandoned steel structures were slowly rising from the deep sea, emerging onto the surface and forming a massive steel platform!

“Could this be… shipwrecks? Those… sunken ships from the deep sea?” The sailor’s voice trembled.

Gwen stood on the platform, looking around in confusion. Nora grew anxious. Gwen had always been under her care, and concern threw her judgment into chaos.

She made a rather bold decision—to jump down from the ship.

Nora traced an arc through the air, her silvery-white hair gleaming under the clear sky, and then fell into Gwen’s arms.

“Gwen, what’s going on!?”

“I-I don’t know. I just jumped into the sea, and suddenly there was a whole bunch of… um, a whole bunch of ships talking to me.”

“Huh?” Nora froze. “What did they say?”

“All sorts of things. Some said the water was too salty, some steam engines were cursing, some decks complained that no one had maintained them for a long time, and there were also ones cursing Tata—uh, this one was pretty common. By the way, who is Tata? Why is everyone cursing him?”

Nora was so shocked she could not speak.

Meanwhile, the steel beneath their feet, rising from the deep sea, slowly writhed. Several abandoned steel beams had already climbed onto Gwen’s arms.

“Lady Nora, what should we do? Th-this… is this normal?”

“Let me think…”

Nora desperately tried to recall what she had read in the newspaper that day. What did it say again?

It seemed to say that the resentment of ship souls in the deep sea was extremely heavy, but if their resentment were soothed, they would resurface once more and fight for Castel again?