Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Hughes was utterly shocked when he heard about it. He came to the atrium of the cathedral and was stunned to find that Monica was actually hanging up there, right next to Chloe. The two of them were chatting, and from the looks of it, they were having quite a pleasant conversation.

Hughes covered his face.

“Monica, what are you doing!? Get down quickly. In a few days, the Prince will be here. If he sees you like this, no matter how I explain that Castel does not conduct live sacrifices, he will never believe me.”

At the very top of the cathedral stood a monument. Chloe usually hung there daily, dominating the center position. Now she had moved aside a little to make room for Monica. The two of them hung side by side, like twin suns in the sky.

To be honest, with Monica’s tied-up appearance added to the monument, the scene really had a faint religious feel. If the ropes were replaced with nails—

Oh, then it would take six of them.

“Monica, as long as you come down now, no matter what you’ve done, you’ll be forgiven.”

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true. Now come down.”

Hughes walked back to his office to the sound of Monica’s wailing screams.

The Banshees were actually very good; their only flaw was that they were far too skilled at causing mischief.

On the other hand, the Moths Chasing Fire blew the test site sky-high every other day.

This was not an exaggeration. They really did blow the entire test site out of existence.

The Chrysalis Path, as an Extraordinary Power, was originally skilled in concealment, allowing them to use clones or similar abilities to deceive their enemies. That, in itself, was nothing unusual.

But recently, they had developed a new application for this ability.

Since clones were called clones, naturally they were distinct from the body. No matter what kind of damage they suffered, it would not endanger the real self.

So the Moths Chasing Fire began using clones to conduct dangerous experiments. Testing explosives was just child’s play. For example, Gaia had recently submitted a research proposal—

“Feasibility Study on Suicide Attacks After Consuming Large Quantities of Nitroglycerin.”

When clones were injured, they would vanish. But nitroglycerin could indeed be ingested; it could even treat heart disease.

Theoretically, this method was feasible—just a little absurd.

Take Tata, for instance, that engineer of the Moths Chasing Fire who had designed the Stellar Furnace.

Lately, he had been researching attack methods for the Airship. That, in itself, was not the issue. The problem was the direction of his research. He was pondering how to make the Airship crash down onto the enemy’s head to cause immense damage.

In his words, this would be “giving the Airship a final means of attack.”

This proposal was not entirely indefensible in theory.

But some other ideas were utterly indefensible.

Alexei had submitted a proposal on behalf of the Holy Guard to construct a warship, which Hughes immediately rejected.

What was the Army thinking, trying to build a warship? That was the work of shipyards.

Alexei had been adamant, saying that those lumps of iron from the shipyards were completely unreliable. That argument almost sounded reasonable…

Hughes hurriedly shook his head, as if trying to drive such nonsense out of his mind.

No, absolutely not!

Rejected at the same time was Nini’s proposal—she wanted to build an internal combustion engine.

The internal combustion engine was something Hughes had long wanted to develop, and the Banshees were indeed suitable candidates. They had significant advantages in scientific research. In theory, even if Nini was simply acting on a whim, Hughes would still have approved it to let her try.

At worst, it would fail.

When Nini submitted her proposal, Hughes had been overjoyed. That mischievous Banshee had finally decided to do something serious.

But after reading the details, he still did not approve—

The internal combustion engine Nini wanted to build used explosives as fuel.

Well, technically, nitroglycerin was also an “oil,” right?

But since petroleum had not even been discovered yet, Hughes immediately shut down the project.

Although there were many unreliable projects, some did succeed.

For example, Ash’s earlier research had successfully resolved Castel’s food supply problem.

Castel was an island, rich in fisheries and abundant with fruits, producing ample Sweet Fruit Wine. Originally, there was no food crisis.

But once Hughes began developing industry, he naturally looked down on such primitive agricultural levels. He pulled everyone into the factories, intending to rely on imports and Nini’s fish-breeding magic to handle food supplies. Once the industrial foundation was secured, they would build more automated farms.

That idea, in itself, had no flaw. But who could have expected the Deep Sea War to break out, almost strangling Castel’s food supply?

At that point, Hughes began taking food security seriously. He initiated numerous related projects, and Ash’s was among the least noticeable ones.

It was, in fact, Ash’s very first research proposal. Though she was the leader of the Banshees in battle, her personality was taciturn. She had little interest in research, no real hobbies, and sometimes the Banshees thought she was a rather boring person.

Still, she did have a life of her own—for example, keeping a pet: a coyote.

That happened during the first outbreak of Cognitive Interference, when the sudden descent of pollution brought no small amount of trouble to Castel. Una was completely buried in contamination, and some animals were struck as well.

This coyote was one of them.

When it was captured, it was sent to Monica for confinement. Out of curiosity, Monica almost killed the poor thing. Fortunately, Ash took a sudden interest and brought it back with her.

Ash had never really raised pets before. She had once tried keeping small fish, but they all died.

Still, she was diligent. She kept changing fish, and in doing so, she found joy.

Later, Hughes noticed how she spent her days busy replacing fish, and, puzzled, decided to visit her residence to see how she was doing it.

Hughes had some knowledge of raising fish. He might not have been an expert, but he would not make basic mistakes.

After watching for a long time, he found nothing wrong. From the fish tank to the water changes, Ash handled everything by the book. Yet the fish always died right on schedule.

It was practically a supernatural phenomenon. Hughes investigated for several weeks in a row but discovered nothing.

Finally, when he could not figure it out, he casually asked: “What do you usually feed the fish?”

Ash looked slightly puzzled. “The fish still need to be fed?”

Hughes: “.”

Most of the time, Ash was very reliable. But that did not stop her from being utterly unreliable when she was not.

At that time, Hughes had been extremely busy. By the time he remembered to remind Ash to feed the wolf, almost a month had passed.

As expected, she had not fed it.

After Hughes explained to her that “all pets need to be fed,” he thought nothing more of it. Ash might sometimes lack common sense, but she was not stupid. Once reminded, she would remember.

He never imagined the wolf would survive. After all, it had gone over a month without food and should have long starved to death.

But not only did the wolf survive—in the future, it even indirectly changed Castel’s food supply.