Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord
Chapter 207: Armored Train

Kenn followed Josh all the way to the tavern. He wasn’t worried about the refugees; although Jeremiah had a bad temper, he was still a reliable captain.

He had only thrown the registration work to Kenn, but it wasn’t as if he ignored everything else. Coming ashore early must have been to find a way out.

Kenn followed Josh to a tavern called Herring Tail. By this time, the sky had darkened, and some people had already taken their seats inside.

Kenn was a little surprised to find that several people greeted Josh. He hadn’t been here long, yet he already knew so many people?

"No choice, if you want to do business, you have to interact with all kinds of people." Josh whispered, greeting the bartender. Without saying much, the bartender turned around and started pouring drinks.

Josh looked around, then led Kenn to a corner of the room, pulling out a chair in a secluded spot. "Quick, tell me everything that happened."

A candle burned on a nearby candlestick, and the somewhat old table and chairs wobbled slightly, creaking when sat upon.

Kenn didn’t mind these things. A trace of worry flashed in his eyes as he instinctively picked up the ale the bartender had delivered and began recounting everything from the beginning.

Josh’s expression gradually changed from a smile to seriousness, and in the end, his face was full of shock. His fingers trembled as he held the beer mug.

"Absolutely. My knowledge of navigation is newly learned, but I can still tell whether Jeremiah was lying or not. He measured it with a sextant right in front of me, and I double-checked the calculations multiple times. The fact is undeniable—Castel and Gem Bay have truly disappeared."

At this point, Kenn couldn’t help but feel sorrow welling up. He softly called out Gaia and Old Ivan’s names, holding his beer mug as he lowered his head.

When he boarded the ship earlier, the two of them had desperately waved at him from the shore. Gaia even climbed a tree just to stand higher and see him for a few more moments. At the time, Kenn only felt embarrassed and quickly ran into the cabin.

When he looked out from the deck again, all he saw was the ocean.

Josh opened his mouth, not knowing what to say.

They were both from Castel. Castel was not only their hometown, where they had lived for many years, but also their support.

Josh was an orphan with no family left on the island, so he had little attachment.

When he was on the island, he didn’t think much of it—the factories, the lord’s various policies—all were good, but he had grown accustomed to them and didn’t feel much. He only wanted to go out and explore the world.

But after coming to Tis and then to this Blood Harbor, after gaining more knowledge, he truly began to miss Castel.

All the details he had never cared about before now haunted him.

Now that Castel was gone? Had everything from his past really become nothing more than a dream?

Josh’s eyes grew determined.

"Kenn, we have to find the prince. Tis is so close to Castel, he might know what happened."

"The prince?"

Kenn raised his head in surprise.

"Yes, I know you Tis people hate him, but he is still the lord here. We can’t delay any longer. I’ll go back to the ship with you first—I need to talk to Jeremiah."

『The murlocs attacked again?』

『Yes, this is the third attack today.』 Ash’s tone showed no fatigue, but Hughes knew she had been on the front lines for nearly two days straight.

『What’s the situation?』

『The Holy Guard held the line. We didn’t intervene. They’re getting more proficient with their rifled muskets, and after implementing the rotation system, their manpower was reduced by half while their firepower actually increased.』

『How is the battlefield at night?』

『Night battles are still primarily handled by the Banshees. Humans lack night vision, so their shooting accuracy is extremely low. However, Mr. Alexei devised a strategy that barely solves this problem.』

Ever since the murlocs began their landing operations, they seemed to have gone mad, attacking day and night without ever achieving any success.

Night combat had always been the most troublesome part. Darkness had little effect on the murlocs, but it was a huge problem for the Holy Guard.

Enemies hundreds of meters away were already tiny black dots, and at night, they couldn’t even be seen.

Alexei’s solution was to set up markers on the battlefield, roughly estimating the murlocs’ distance and firing pre-aimed shots at predetermined angles.

This method was only moderately effective. The Holy Guard weren’t machines, and relying on their instincts to aim resulted in abysmal accuracy. Most of the fighting still relied on the Banshees.

『How is the new steam rifle performing?』

『It works very well, has great power, and the side effects are negligible. However, there hasn’t been an enemy that requires its use yet.』

After testing, Hughes assigned the steam rifles to the Banshees. The usual drawbacks of these heavy weapons—their bulk and difficulty to carry—meant nothing to the Banshees, while the immense firepower made up for their lack of direct combat strength.

As for the toxicity of mercury steam, the Banshees could quickly recover using the Symbiotic Contract. Hughes also had a batch of gas masks custom-made to further enhance safety.

But for now, neither the murlocs nor the arm monsters required these weapons; the Banshees could handle them easily with their longswords.

However, if the day ever came when Hughes decided to take the fight to the sea, these weapons might finally have their moment.

There were over a hundred sets of steam rifles, about the same number as the Banshees, and the ammunition supply was still sufficient. Hughes directly handed over these weapons to Ash.

In addition, he planned to order a batch of armor specifically for the Banshees.

Previously, he hadn’t made armor for them because steel production capacity was insufficient—just a few sets of armor consumed as much steel as a steam engine.

But now, with the rapid expansion of steel plants, Castel’s steel production was rising quickly. Hughes had even begun laying railroad tracks. Soon, the first railway between the mines and the steel plants would be built in Castel.

Because of the large area the mines covered, the church’s protective inscriptions could not fully encompass them, and building walls to enclose the entire site was unrealistic. Instead, Hughes constructed numerous watchtowers with densely packed shooting ports.

A substantial number of Holy Guard troops were stationed there. If the mines were attacked, the miners could immediately retreat into the watchtowers and bunkers to await reinforcements.

Unlike the underground railway previously planned, this railway for transporting ore was built on the surface, as the demand for ore was too high and underground transport was too inefficient.

For this, Hughes redesigned a steam locomotive powered by the Clamorer, equipping it with reinforced rams, cutting blades, and protective armor. The roof even had two full layers of shooting ports.

Today was the day this armored train would have its first test run!