Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Hughes could accept having a Church of Candlelight on his territory, but it would be an entirely different matter if this church were to cover the whole of Castel.

Whether it was the Church of Candlelight or the Silent Sanctum, Hughes had no intention of allowing them into the power core of Castel, this applied even to the Moths Chasing Fire.

The conditions Hughes provided to the Moths Chasing Fire were quite generous, permitting them to live in Castel and offering them protection, but strictly limiting their ability to preach.

Chloe had privately paid a hefty price just to gain Hughes’s permission for Gaia’s inclusion in the Moths Chasing Fire, making her the first official believer since the group had joined Castel, and the only one.

Hughes had always treated churches with the utmost vigilance.

Regardless of the church or belief system, he never took them lightly.

Chloe had complained about this many times, but Hughes never relented; he even hoped she could steer the Moths Chasing Fire toward becoming more of an academic organization.

There was some disagreement on this point.

From Chloe’s perspective, the Moths Chasing Fire had survived until now precisely because of their tight organization.

If Hughes wanted them to abandon this structure, he would first have to prove that Castel truly had the capability to protect them.It was a reasonable demand, so for the time being, both sides set aside their differences and focused on cooperation.

The Moths Chasing Fire basically ceased active preaching, and Hughes also dropped any further requests.

Thinking of this, Chloe had no doubt that Hughes could indeed create a new Church if he wanted to.

She felt that Hughes was a bit too hostile toward other churches.

“It doesn’t necessarily have to be a church,” Hughes frowned and spoke slowly.

“To be honest, I don’t want to establish a new church, even if I’m the one leading it. Faith inevitably breeds blind obedience and fanaticism, this is not what I wish to promote.”

Chloe blinked and tilted her head in confusion.

“Is that so? I’m part of a church, yet I don’t feel fanatical at all.”

Hughes looked at her speechlessly. Sitting before him was the head of the Moths Chasing Fire, a cult repeatedly deemed the “most dangerous cult” and labeled as “utter lunatics” on the continent for consecutive years.

Not long ago, she had summoned an Outer God right on his turf just to periodically cleanse pollution.

When it turned out to be a dangerous Outer God, her solution was to lock it up and slowly study it.

In her last experiment, she didn’t hesitate to use herself as a test subject.

Even among cultists, Miss Chloe was notorious, her misdeeds were well-known from the White Raven Principality in the North to Duke Cohen’s domain in the South.

Expressionless, Hughes spoke. “You’re an exception.”

“…I feel like you’re secretly insulting me.”

“Ahem. Anyway, I have no intention of establishing a church,” Hughes coughed lightly.

“But I definitely need to build a chapel. The expanded church doesn’t need to display the Church of Candlelight, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t. The protective inscriptions are carved underground; nothing is visible from above. However, the building itself must still be considered a church, its appearance can differ, but it must be recognized as such in name.”

“I see. It’s about cognitive interference, right? You need the name ‘church’ to stabilize people’s perceptions.”

“More or less. The protective inscriptions will only safeguard the concept of ‘within the church.’ If enough people stop believing this place is a church, the definition will shift. When collective perception diverges from reality, cognitive interference naturally sets in.”

“So, I need to come up with a justification that allows this chapel, covering all of Castel, to exist without arousing suspicion from the Empire or the Church of Candlelight? Wait, what about that anchor point?”

Hughes remembered clearly that the Church of Candlelight were like beacons in the Sea of Unawareness, composed of various anchor points.

If the anchor points remained unchanged, no matter how he altered the church’s appearance, the Church of Candlelight’s members would immediately sense something was wrong upon their arrival.

At that point, if they asked why their anchor point was present in his church, Hughes wouldn’t have a clear explanation.

“Don’t worry, I’ve thoroughly modified the protective inscriptions. That anchor point is part of the protective runes themselves. Changing the inscriptions naturally alters the anchor point. The Church of Candlelight won’t recognize it at all.”

“And what if they come looking for the old anchor point? Should I just say the church collapsed?”

“More or less. I plan to stage a little chemical accident in the church and, oops, the whole building collapses,unfortunately, even the underground protective inscriptions are destroyed. Poor Chloe was so frightened she gave up being a nun.”

“Hold on! Wait a second!” Hughes rubbed his temples.

“How can you just stop being a nun? Can you resign from that?”

“Of course,” Chloe said with a smile as she wandered between the faded oak pews, her orange-red hair flickering between light and shadow beneath the stained glass reflections.

“Only when you reach the rank of First Assistant Priest are you no longer allowed to leave. Regular nuns can leave the Church of Candlelight freely, some even marry after leaving the church.”

“…And what if the Church of Candlelight holds you accountable for destroying the church?”

“It was Brother Kaeski who caused the explosion. What does that have to do with me?”

“…”

That’s some impressive blame-shifting, Hughes thought, utterly speechless.

Still, there wasn’t much to worry about for now. Castel remained on high alert for battle, he had to survive the immediate crisis first.

Given how the Church of Candlelight was barely holding itself together, they might not even last that long.

“Speaking of the anchor point, we could actually keep it. It might still be useful if I tweak it a bit, but the Church of Candlelight won’t be able to detect it anymore.”

Keep the anchor point?

That caught Hughes off guard. He had thought that removing it was already the best outcome.

It seemed that the Moths Chasing Fire understood the protective inscriptions even better than he had imagined.

Why did it feel like they were awfully skilled at using the Church of Candlelight’s tools?

“Does the anchor point even serve a purpose for us? We don’t have the ability to connect with other anchor points, do we?”

“For now, that’s true. But in the future, it might be invaluable. Every anchor point in the Sea of Unawareness is precious. It allows you to navigate within it, meaning we could explore the Sea of Unawareness with confidence.”

“By the way, have you thought of a name for this new chapel?”

“I have a bit of an idea.” Hughes grinned.

“I plan to turn the church into a place for academic exchange, weakening traditional faith as much as possible. In name, it will be about sacred texts and doctrines, but in reality, it will spread knowledge, closer to an academic institution. Hmm, I could even borrow the Empire’s authority to reduce their hostility toward us.”

“This belief shall be called Imperial Truth.”