Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

The most important element of industry was population. Without people, everything else held little significance for Castel at its current stage. Although Hughes had instructed Ash to lead the banshees to scout ahead, the main goal was still to seize some ships.

Hughes did not have high hopes for Gem Bay. According to what Chloe had said, the Pirate King had pulled the entire Gem Bay into a "dream state." There was a high probability that no living people remained there.

Perhaps there might not be any survivors, but treasures were likely abundant.

The term "pirate" in the Pirate King's Court wasn't just for show. They must have accumulated an enormous amount of wealth. Moreover, the pirates of Gem Bay had been under blockade by the Empire—so even if they had riches, they wouldn't have had the means to spend them.

That was perfect.

It was likely that all the treasures plundered by the Dark Sails Fleet would end up benefiting Castel.

Hughes had gone through great lengths earlier to grease Beatrice's wheels, just to find a channel through Rhine to offload goods and earn some money.

Ultimately, Castel was still too small an island. The population was limited, purchasing power even more so, and it was extremely difficult to maintain a long-term economic cycle. If the war against monsters hadn't broken out and forced them into a rationing system, Hughes might have already begun issuing bonds by now.

These treasures could perfectly resolve those real-world problems.

Castel produced no coal before, nor saltpeter. Although they had recently discovered a rich saltpeter mine in that mysterious space, even that would be exhausted eventually.

But Gem Bay had natural saltpeter mines.

Saltpeter could be obtained primarily through biological waste. Inland, it could be extracted from pigsties and stables.

But on islands, there was an even more miraculous method: bird droppings.

Many islands served as seasonal resting spots for migratory birds, and over the years, massive amounts of guano accumulated.

Don't underestimate this bird droppings—it was actually an extremely valuable resource. The United States even enacted a "Guano Islands Act" to seize islands across the Pacific that were covered in bird droppings.

Many islands produced saltpeter, an essential ingredient in manufacturing explosives. More importantly, bird droppings served an even greater function.

After a bit of processing, aged guano became premium fertilizer. Often found in the form of phosphates, it could greatly enhance agricultural output. As long as Castel could control these islands, there would be no more food shortages.

Fertilizer brought a qualitative leap to food production. With ample supplies of high-quality fertilizer, large-scale farms could be developed. Coincidentally, Castel had reached a high level of industrialization, and producing agricultural machinery posed no challenge at all.

Castel's greatest weakness had been the lack of coal. Coal was the foundation of industry—without fuel, industrial development was out of the question. That shortcoming had been covered by pollution-based energy.

The other major shortcoming was food shortage.

Food was insufficient—woefully insufficient. Whether it was deep-sea fishing or farming, the efficiency was extremely low. Until trawlers and chemical industries reached the fertilizer stage of their tech tree, there was simply no good solution.

Even if Nini could feed thousands using her fish-taming spells, what would they do when the population increased?

There was only one Nini. Even if she had six hands, spells had their limits. And fish could never fully replace staple crops. Farming was still necessary.

Fertilizer, though simple in theory, was actually a late-stage product of the chemical industry chain. Fully mastering independent fertilizer production was a symbol of an industrialized nation. Castel's current industrial foundation was extremely weak and skewed toward a few areas. Solving that would take a long time.

But these bird droppings were different.

With these ready-made phosphates, fertilizer production required only the simplest steps. Combined with the mass deployment of agricultural machinery, Castel could soon achieve food independence.

With food freedom, fuel freedom, and an autonomous domain deep in the ocean, Castel would no longer be beholden to anyone.

Therefore, Hughes was determined to claim Gem Bay. Compared to that, the treasure was just a bonus.

In truth, ever since this war ended and Castel returned to the real world, Hughes knew—nothing could stop its rise anymore.

The hardest part of industrialization was going from zero to one. Once the path was set, any enemy standing in the way of this steel colossus would be crushed.

Ash had already received her orders and departed. These banshees could swim directly through the sea. Although Monica's severance from the Sea God's soul had caused the Mind Link's range to revert to its original form—no longer covering the entire sea—the banshees were inherently swift in water. A round trip to Gem Bay would take only a few hours.

Including scouting time, they would likely have a preliminary result within a day or two.

Aside from this, Hughes also planned to send someone to locate the *Black Pearl*.

Jeremiah and Kenn had followed Beatrice's suggestion and left Blood Harbor without stopping—they decided to head north instead. Hughes needed to dispatch someone to intercept them in advance.

In theory, this should not pose much difficulty. After all, banshees moved far faster than ships in the sea. But in practice, it was a logistical nightmare.

To put it plainly—the ocean was too vast.

Even if every banshee were deployed—one hundred in total—they would still be hopelessly insufficient to cover the entire Storm Ocean. Without a precise location for the *Black Pearl*, trying to find it was like fishing for a needle in the sea.

Therefore, Hughes decided to return first and then descend into the body of the worker Hughes to take a look. He would try to get a rough idea of where the *Black Pearl* might be.

With an approximate direction, it would be much easier to find them. He could even eavesdrop on their conversation—perhaps Jeremiah and Kenn would reveal their position on their own.

Hughes locked himself back inside his office once again.

Meanwhile, Ash led more than thirty banshees out of the sea near Castel.

This number was nearly one-third of all banshees. Ash brought so many for safety, but also to conduct a thorough exploration.

They entered the sea from the eastern cliff caves. Originally, banshees used the dark cave beneath the manor to enter the sea, but the net path leading there hadn't been cleared yet, so they decided to walk straight to the shoreline.

The banshees leapt one after another off the cliff, plunging into the sea with splashes like dumplings thrown into boiling water. Once submerged, they couldn't help but swim around, laughing and frolicking.

Ash didn't stop her clanswomen. Since the second half of the war, the banshees had been trapped on the island. The sea had been filled with pollution and monsters, and they hadn't had a chance to dive in at all. These Banshees of Mourning were nearly convinced they had become land-dwelling creatures.

After swimming freely for a while, the banshees followed Ash toward Gem Bay.

Curious and eager, these banshees couldn't wait to see what kind of treasures the Pirate King might have left behind.