Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

“But your condition is obviously different. A person who is completely corrupted cannot retain even the slightest bit of sanity — they would fall into permanent madness. I suppose this might have something to do with the excessive number of Symbiotic Contracts you’ve signed, so I can’t accurately determine your current state.”

Richard sighed softly and pushed up his monocle.

“Do you feel anything unusual?”

“Not at all.”

“Then there shouldn’t be a problem.”

The room fell silent.

Seeing Richard’s evasive gaze, Hughes couldn’t help but feel helpless.

“Perhaps that white bone is related to the contamination? You know, I do have the ability to purify pollution.”

“Yes! That must be it!” Richard nodded hastily. “Then shall I draft a report for you based on that?”

“Go ahead.”

Hughes said nothing more. He knew perfectly well how unreliable that explanation was.

If purifying contamination were truly enough to block a Transcendent’s attack, then the Banshees would have been invincible long ago — they too gained a portion of his purification ability through the Symbiotic Contract.

But they had tested this countless times in the Testing Grounds.

When facing attacks imbued with Extraordinary Power, the purification ability barely weakened them — at best, the effect was negligible.

That the Lord himself had blocked such an attack...

Richard quickly suppressed the terrifying speculation that had flashed through his mind and continued writing his report.

— Blood Harbor, Duke’s Mansion of the Prince —

After the destruction of the Upper District, he hadn’t bothered to expend effort rebuilding the ducal mansion.

He had simply cleaned it up and continued living there — as he put it, Blood Harbor would soon be rebuilt with new-style houses anyway, so rebuilding now was meaningless.

Galahad was cautiously peeking out the window. After confirming no one was outside, he swiftly drew the curtains shut with a swish.

Then he checked the door — locked. Only then did he turn toward the Prince, who was seated in the armchair, deep in thought.

“Your Highness.”

“Galahad, what do you think about this matter?”

“To be honest, I’m shocked. We all noticed that Bazel was acting abnormally, and I saw that all of the Transcendents beside Hughes were prepared — the moment the assassination began, they reacted instantly. Even if it had been me standing beside him, I couldn’t have done better than Nini and the others.”

“Go on.”

“Your Highness, I don’t know how to describe that attack. If it had been me, even with my sword already drawn and standing directly before Earl Hughes, I still wouldn’t have been able to block it. The attack was too fast — I’ve never seen anything move that fast.”

“Could Transcendents of other Paths do such a thing?”

“Absolutely not. That speed surpasses the reflex limit of any Extraordinary Path. Perhaps only beings like the 【Keeper】 or the 【Chrysalis】 could manage that — but as you know, they cannot violate the Taboo.”

“So, that was an attack completely beyond the level of ordinary Transcendents, yet Hughes managed to block it.”

“Yes.”

Galahad swallowed hard.

The Prince fell into thought again. After a long while, he finally spoke slowly:

“Could he be a 【Named One】?”

“Unlikely. Since the calamity a thousand years ago, no new 【Named Ones】 have appeared in this world. Surely you don’t believe Hughes is some ancient being who’s lived for over a millennium?”

“Hughes…” The Prince pondered his deeds — his inventions, the full-fledged systems and methodologies, the factories, the schools…

He had slain the Pirate King, annihilated the Church of the Sea God after it degenerated into monsters, and even killed the fully-grown 【Compassionate Mother】 head-on.

Across the Principality of Tis and the vast Wasteland, he had conquered the entire Northlands.

“Perhaps… it’s not impossible.” The Prince sighed.

“If he truly is a 【Named One】…” Galahad hesitated.

“Every appearance of a 【Named One】 has brought disaster to the continent.

That’s why all Churches move to exterminate them immediately and mark them as forbidden.

That’s all I know — there’s no further record in the Royal Library.”

“Then should we…”

The Prince didn’t respond.

He turned instead and took a gun from the decorative rack on the wall.

It was the one Hughes had gifted him — Galahad had fired it a few times during the Blood Harbor Rebellion, and afterward, it had become just a wall ornament.

“Galahad, can you dodge a bullet?”

“Barely, Your Highness. I might move enough to protect vital points, or block it with my hand — bullets aren’t very lethal to Transcendents, but they’re far too fast.”

“And that bone spike — compared to a bullet?”

“A little faster, but not by much.”

“What about the Gatling? You’ve tried their Heavy Machine Guns, haven’t you?”

“Well…” Galahad hesitated. “If I’m prepared in advance, I might find a way to escape, but on the battlefield, if several Gatlings locked onto me, I doubt I’d survive.”

“If the assassin who attacked Hughes was another 【Named One】, then that plot must have been planned for a long time — and the best attack they could muster was merely a faster bullet. That’s already the limit.”

The Prince patted the rifle on the table.

“This kind of weapon — Castel can produce plenty in a single day. Those heavy Gatlings, they’re shipping cartloads of them to the Northlands. So tell me, how many Gatlings could one 【Named One】 possibly rival?”

Galahad opened his mouth but said nothing.

“Just like Castel’s strength lies in its industry, not its Banshees. Even if Hughes is a 【Named One】— no, even if he were some God — it wouldn’t change the overall situation. No matter how many secrets he carries within himself, none are more important than knowledge and industry.”

“And besides—”

The Prince shifted in his chair, settling into a more relaxed position and smiling.

“If a 【Named One】 brings calamity to the continent in this fashion, that doesn’t sound too bad.”

“To be honest, I’m rather interested. This world— it’s been lacking a proper disaster for some time!”

—

Hughes was reviewing official documents at his desk.

Beside him stood a fully armored Banshee.

The assassination at the Tribunal had been too dangerous — if that attack hadn’t been inexplicably stopped, it might have succeeded.

As a result, his security level had been raised several tiers.

For the foreseeable future, he wasn’t allowed to go anywhere unguarded.

As Hughes scanned the papers, his eyebrow twitched slightly.

He glanced at the Banshee beside him but said nothing.

A few moments later, he exhaled deeply, set the document down, and turned toward her with a dark expression.

“I’ll say it one last time — I am not a God! And I can hear you talking in the Mind Link group!”

“...”

“Praying to me won’t work! I’m not granting your wishes! And since you wished to slack off, tonight’s shift is yours — stay here and work overtime!”

“No, I’m not a Heretical God either!”