Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Beatrice did not have to wait long in anticipation. The sea below soon grew lively.

All kinds of vessels entered her field of vision.

The large ones were cargo ships. They were like floating mountains—heavy, steady, slow yet resolute as they cut across the surface of the sea.

There were even more smaller ones. Ships of every kind dragged long, winding white trails across the water.

“Look at that—Black Pearl! Captain Jeremiah is racing again.”

“Where? Where?”

“Down there, the one with three smokestacks.”

“That’s the Black Pearl?!”

“Yes. Didn’t recognize it, did you? Jeremiah refitted it again recently. Now the Black Pearl is the fastest ship in all of Castel—except for the Assault Coffin!”

“That’s seriously fast.”

Gaia and Zoe also leaned toward the window, whispering excitedly to each other.

Beatrice gazed at the sea below, slightly dazed.

When she last came to Castel, what had it been like?

At that time, she had traveled on a ship of the Church. It had been a classic mid-sized sailing vessel, produced in Blood Harbor, already drifting on the sea for more than ten years. Though somewhat worn, it had been considered decent within the Empire.

The Empress had wanted to build a navy and had requisitioned nearly every ship that could still move. It was only because the Church of Candlelight had some influence that this one had been left behind.

Many planks on its deck had already rotted. They creaked underfoot, forcing her to lift her skirts carefully as she walked.

Together with the rats scurrying about in the cabin and the sour-smelling watered wine, that had formed her entire impression of the sea.

Barren. Filthy. Dilapidated. Without order.

Beatrice lowered her gaze to the ships below. No matter how she looked at them, their decks did not appear to be made of wood.

In fact, they resembled works of art—finely crafted metal ornaments. She had quite a few similar pieces on the desks of the Church.

Such things were delicate and beautiful, meant to sit atop tables.

And yet now, she saw so many of them before her.

Beatrice was a Transcendent. She could clearly see every detail of the ships below. Whether those steel colossi or the nimble fast boats, all possessed a kind of beauty.

Orderly. Seamless.

It was a sense of order and power that was difficult to put into words—something one could feel simply by looking at them.

Her fingers brushed the edge of her clothing. She had faintly encountered this feeling before—in the remaining industrial districts of Rhine, in the aged holy relics of the Mechanical Sanctum.

Unfortunately, most of those had been nothing but ruins, retaining only a trace of former elegance. They were far less impactful than real, tangible steel.

As she watched the ships below, she felt as if she could hear the Steam Engines singing their high, spirited chants even through the decks.

“Ah, we’re at Castel!”

Zoe happily patted Gaia’s shoulder. Turning back and seeing Beatrice standing there blankly, she smiled and extended a hand to her.

“Come quickly! The Celestial Behemoth has just taken off. You don’t get to see that every day!”

Beatrice was tugged forward and staggered a couple of steps. When she raised her head and looked out the porthole, the distant island suddenly burst into her sight.

Castel was still far away. Only a vague outline could be seen—an island beneath dark clouds.

The waves surged. The first thing Beatrice noticed was a towering volcano.

She still remembered that volcano. When she first arrived at Castel, it had been the first thing she saw. At the time, she had worried whether it might suddenly erupt. After all, Investigators never had very good luck.

A nostalgic smile curved at her lips.

But in the next second, her smile froze.

Since when had Castel had a second volcano?

Beatrice looked at Gaia and Zoe in confusion. Both wore expressions as if everything were perfectly natural, leaving her unsure how to begin.

Could it be that she remembered wrongly? That Castel had always had two volcanoes?

Rubbing her eyes, the Pope looked again at the shadowy island in the distance.

On the left was the volcano.

On the right was—

Oh. She had indeed mistaken it.

Looking carefully, the “mountain” was square and angular, and not nearly as tall as the volcano. It was merely a building.

Beatrice let out a sigh of relief and sat back down inside the Steam Engine.

After a moment, she suddenly jumped to her feet.

“That’s not right!”

Clang!

A crisp sound rang out. Gaia and Zoe were startled and turned around. Beatrice was clutching her head, tears almost falling.

She had hit it against the Steam Engine.

“W-what is that?”

Though teary-eyed, she still raised a trembling finger toward the distant island.

“The volcano,” Gaia replied.

Beatrice shifted her finger slightly. “And that?”

“The cathedral.”

Beatrice froze, forgetting even the pain, her eyes widening. “Don’t lie to me. I’ve been on the island before! That cathedral was tiny—how could it be that?”

She truly had seen the cathedral on the island. Back then, the nun there had been Chloe. After receiving funding from her and taking Leo from her hands, Chloe would reveal a sly smile.

She had heard that the nun later died. That had been their last meeting.

Wait. That wasn’t the point. The nun didn’t matter. That cathedral was the problem!

“Do you think I don’t know what a Church of Candlelight cathedral looks like? That is absolutely not one of theirs!” After saying this, Beatrice glared fiercely at the distant cathedral silhouette, trying to find evidence of its difference.

It was indeed completely different. The cathedrals of the Church of Candlelight had Gothic spires, whereas Castel’s—

Beatrice rubbed her eyes.

Had she just seen Gatling Guns mounted on top of the cathedral?

What kind of cathedral mounted machine guns on its roof?

And looking closely, it wasn’t just one or two. The entire cathedral was practically bristling like a hedgehog.

For a moment, Beatrice felt lost. Suddenly, she realized she understood neither Castel nor the Church anymore.

After a while, it dawned on her: the Empire and the Principality of Tis had been at sword’s edge for so long. How could the Church of Candlelight still hold influence here? Given Castel’s level of industrial development, they certainly would not have valued that small cathedral.

It must have been newly built.

But this newly built cathedral—

The corner of Beatrice’s eye twitched.

She suddenly had a bad premonition. Perhaps Castel was no longer quite the same as the one in her memories.

“By the way, where is the Celestial Behemoth?”

She knew it was a massive airship. Zoe had described it to her countless times.

Listening to Zoe describe how it could blot out the sky, Beatrice had honestly found it difficult to imagine.

With that thought, she looked toward Castel in anticipation. Yet after searching for quite a while, she still could not see the airship’s silhouette.

A trace of disappointment rose in her.

Castel was not that far away. If she could not see it from here, then it probably was not that large after all.

Of course. Her earlier expectations had merely been wishful thinking.

Zoe heard her and raised a hand to point.

Beatrice looked up, confusion filling her eyes.

Zoe was pointing at the dark clouds that covered Castel.