Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

The Banshees gathered around, carefully examining the building and whispering among themselves.

"It really does look like a treasure vault—it's big, has no windows, and hmm, the walls are quite solid."

"Right? I thought so the moment I saw it. Look at the size of that door! There's even a guard post beside it."

"Would it be filled with gold coins inside? That's how it always goes in the novels I've read."

"Where'd you get a novel?"

"If you knock on Zoe's door at night, she'll tell you about the Church's secret library."

Ash didn't join in their noisy banter. She frowned and studied the structure for a while before nodding. "It does look like an important warehouse, but probably not one used for storing gold coins."

"Why not?" The clanswomen looked at Ash curiously. "Pirates should have plenty of treasure, right?"

"Pirates do have plenty of treasure—but it wouldn't be here. This warehouse is too large."

It covered almost the same area as an entire factory, which was probably why it had been the first building they discovered.

"If all of this space was filled with treasure, the pirates would have had to plunder the entire world. I think it's more likely storing some kind of important material."

"Important material?"

Ash stepped forward and knocked against the wall. "The quality of this building is far better than everything around it. And look at those guard posts—there must've been quite a few guards stationed here before. I'd wager this warehouse stores gunpowder, weapons, or other critical supplies."

"That makes sense. We should be careful opening it, at least don't blow it up right away."

A few of the Banshees reluctantly stashed away their bombs. To guard against accidents, they had brought quite a few of those, each sealed tightly in ceramic jars specially designed to survive the sea crossing.

After some discussion, several Banshees chose a spot and cast *Fossil to Mud* together.

The sturdy stone wall quickly melted into a fluid and slid down, leaving a large hole in the wall.

The building had no windows and was pitch-black inside, but the Banshees had dark vision, and they stepped in without hesitation.

"This is—"

"No way!?"

"It's *this* stuff? Why would it be in a pirate warehouse!?"

Ash's eyes widened too. What lay inside the warehouse was completely unexpected. Every single Banshee had guessed wrong. Inside, stacked neatly from floor to ceiling, was—

"Black stone?!"

The Banshees were no strangers to black stone. They had dealt with this strange mineral for a long time.

Back before they had reached the Abyss, before signing the *Symbiotic Contract*, when they were still enslaved by the murlocs, they had to toil day and night in forced labor.

And that labor was mining.

Mining an undersea ore—the very same black stone now before their eyes.

"Black stone" was what the Banshees called it. It was black, and looked like stone—that was all they knew about it.

What it was used for, why the murlocs mined it—they had no idea. All they knew was that the black stone they mined day and night was shipped off somewhere. And now, they finally knew where.

Was this material meant for use on land? And important enough to require specially-built storage warehouses?

Staring at the ceiling-high stacks of black stone ore, the Banshees were utterly shocked.

"Have the murlocs always been mining black stone for Gem Bay?"

"That can't be right… didn't the murlocs only start obeying the Pirate King after he turned into a monster?"

This didn't align with the intel they had. Ash's face darkened slightly. The deep sea, the murlocs, the black stone, Gem Bay—perhaps there were deeper secrets buried among these.

"Don't touch the black stone yet. Take a few samples back. We'll keep searching the rest of the area."

The Banshees exchanged glances, but in the end nodded and left.

The island wasn't very large. With the Banshees splitting up to search, it didn't take long to cover most of it.

Altogether, they found four similar warehouses.

Four warehouses filled to the brim with black stone—just a rough count already revealed that the quantity stored here was astronomical. Although no one knew how much black stone the murlocs had mined in total, it was likely that all of it was stored right here.

The realization left the Banshees silent. It seemed the pirates hadn't fallen simply due to the Pirate King's influence. They had long been entangled with the murlocs in various ways.

Aside from the conspicuous black stone warehouses, other storage buildings were gradually discovered too.

That brought the Banshees some relief. If the entire Gem Bay had been filled with nothing but black stone, that would have been truly terrifying.

A few Banshees were checking another newly found warehouse, one of them tallying the inventory with pen and paper.

"Small amounts of coal, steel… what else?"

"Hmm… wood."

"Wood?"

The Banshee scratched her head with the end of her pen in confusion. "What kind of wood are we talking about?"

"Really long, really thick logs." The Banshee raised all six of her hands to demonstrate. "There's quite a pile of them."

"Then they must be for shipbuilding," Ash interjected. "I've talked to the shipwrights before. The keel and masts of a ship both need entire, massive pieces of wood. They go through all sorts of complicated processing, so they need to be prepared ahead of time. This must be for that."

Ash paused for a moment, then suddenly asked, "Where did you find this?"

"Over there, near the shore."

"Is it near a dock? Is there a shipyard?"

The reporting Banshee blinked, then quickly realized something and nodded excitedly. "Yes! There's a huge shed near the coast there. We weren't sure what it was for, but now that I think about it—it must be the shipyard!"

Before landing, the Banshees had circled the island for a quick look and hadn't seen any fleets moored, not even at the docks.

The whole island had seemed orderly and well-maintained, but the sea around it had been eerily empty—clearly not normal.

Now that they had found the shipyard, it might still contain unfinished ships. Even without a ready fleet, if they had partially built ones, they could be brought back and modified for use.

"Take me there."

They quickly arrived at the shore. When Ash saw the wooden ship inside the shed—already fitted with its deck—she finally let out a sigh of relief.

Though there was still no sign of the Pirate King's treasure, at least this expedition hadn't been fruitless. The ship, aside from not yet having a mast installed, was otherwise in decent shape. For long voyages it might need serious redesign, but if the destination was just the Principality of Tis, then adding a steam engine and a few propellers would do the trick.

Ash, though not an exceptional student, had at least completed the basics of the advanced course. She had a general idea of how machines worked.

"You, take a few people and get this ship back." Ash glanced at the empty deck and sighed. "Tie a rope to it and tow it back."