Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

“What is this…”

The Banshees couldn’t help but set down the jewels in their hands and gather around the box containing the girl.

Ash’s tail loosened from the iron box. She hesitated for a moment before cautiously reaching out her hand toward the girl’s cheek.

The Banshees held their breath.

Her fingertip touched the girl’s face. The skin turned slightly pale under the gentle pressure, but as soon as she withdrew her hand, the blood color returned.

The skin still had elasticity and felt no different from real flesh. Inside the box was a soft lining, and the girl simply lay there, motionless.

She seemed as if she had just fallen asleep—quiet, like a painting.

The surrounding Banshees looked at each other in confusion.

Later in Castel, Hughes listened as the Banshees recounted their discovery in the underwater treasure vault. He looked at the blue-haired girl before him with some surprise.

“You found her in the pirates’ treasure chest? And in the deepest, most well-hidden part of their most valuable stash?”Ash nodded.

Hughes narrowed his eyes at the girl and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

He didn’t know what use this doll-like girl could possibly have, but if she was hidden away with such importance by the pirates, she was undoubtedly precious.

Moreover, the girl gave him a strong sense of déjà vu. He planned to ask someone from the Moths Chasing Fire about it later—it might be related to some form of Extraordinary Power.

“Besides her, did you find anything else in Gem Bay?”

Ash nodded again and handed over a sheet of paper densely packed with writing.

It was the inventory list compiled by the Banshees.

After finding the girl, they brought her back along with the final batch of supplies. With that, the exploration of Gem Bay was essentially complete. The most valuable and portable resources had already been brought back. As for the larger items, such as various materials and coal, they would require Castel to organize a fleet to transport them.

Ash had also brought back a good amount of the large quantity of Black Stone discovered in the warehouse. Hughes immediately handed it over to the researchers from Moths Chasing Fire, who would investigate its precise function.

If mortal pirates and the Church of the Sea God, even with their broken legacy, had managed to discover uses for Black Stone, there was no reason why the knowledge-seeking Moths Chasing Fire couldn’t do the same.

Their constant pursuit of knowledge in the Sea of Unawareness had equipped them with a complete and refined research process. Dealing with potentially supernatural materials was exactly their specialty.

Aside from these resources, the greatest gain from this expedition was the discovery of four ships.

These vessels were found in shipyards on various islands. Some were nearly finished, while others hadn’t even had their lower decks installed yet, but all of their hulls were intact.

Although the Black Sails fleet had vanished along with the residents of Gem Bay, these ships would be sufficient to deal with the current situation.

Hughes’s shipyard had already begun construction. With Castel’s efficiency, it shouldn’t be long before they could officially begin production.

Hughes had always intended to build steel ships. Even if someone gave him an entire Black Sails fleet, it would only serve as a temporary solution.

The first ship they hauled back had already been fitted with a steam engine. As for the underwater propeller and transmission system—since Castel lacked shipbuilding experience—Hughes and the engineers decided to first construct a paddlewheel steamer to gain practical experience.

A paddlewheel steamer used large waterwheel-like paddles mounted on both sides to push water and propel the ship forward. It was a very ancient type of vessel, dating back to ancient Rome, where it had been driven by human or animal power, often supplemented by oars.

Such ships were particularly well-suited to steam engines due to their simple and reliable structure, ease of installation, and the fact that the paddlewheels could even be made from wood.

By contrast, propellers posed many technical challenges. Wooden propellers eroded easily in water, while early cast iron blades were too brittle to withstand the stress of high rotational speeds. It wasn’t until smelting techniques improved and materials like brass and manganese steel became widely available that propellers gained practical value.

The relationship between a propeller’s blade shape, pitch, rotational speed, and thrust all required extensive experimentation to verify. Early propellers mostly had straight blades, with much lower efficiency than modern curved designs. High-speed rotation also easily triggered cavitation, where air bubbles formed and burst, corroding the blades.

So even though Hughes knew that propellers were the correct path forward, he still chose to build a paddlewheel steamer—for now, it was the fastest retrofit solution.

This would greatly reduce the time needed. Installation and testing could be completed in just a few days. Hughes wanted to send people to Blood Harbor as soon as possible to find out what was really going on over there.

After all, with such a massive event occurring at sea—the ocean drying up and then refilling—none of the nearby powers had even tried to investigate.

According to Kenn and Jeremiah, the Crown Prince had originally sent people to explore the sea, but after returning from Rhine, he seemed to lose all interest in it and instead focused solely on resisting the Empire.

Meanwhile, the ever-rising Empire and the Church of Candlelight behind it also appeared selectively blind—choosing to ignore the strange events that were clearly happening close by.

So much so that even after Castel returned to the real world, no foreign ships had passed by. Before the sea’s abnormal changes, Castel had been remote but still occasionally saw merchant vessels.

Let alone the fact that Gem Bay had been completely destroyed—none of the nearby powers had even come to look.

There had to be a reason for all of this. What Hughes could do now was hurry up and get a ship ready to explore the outside world.

In addition, Hughes had kept a zeppelin on standby, ready to respond quickly if another abnormal event occurred.

After returning, the Banshees also began contributing to production. Most of them were above the level of advanced classes. Castel was now bustling with construction and activity.

Not only was there a need to explore the outside world, but Castel Island itself had countless matters requiring urgent attention. Damaged churches needed repairs and further reinforcement. The newly recovered lands needed to be inspected to determine what the Murlocs had destroyed and what could still be used.

Though the new furnace at the main cathedral was already operational, it hadn’t actually been fully installed. It didn’t even have a roof. People walking through the cathedral now had to be very careful—if they accidentally fell through the open skylight in the middle, they’d plunge straight into the furnace.

So Hughes was incredibly busy. After barely organizing production on Castel, he managed to carve out a sliver of time. He quickly closed the door to his room, sat down in his chair, and chose to return.

The new ship was about to set sail for Blood Harbor. He had to quickly gather information—and find out where the *Black Pearl* had docked.