Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 139 I am actually a member of the Candlelight Society

For a moment, everyone's attention was focused on this thin man.

The worker next to him secretly pulled the corner of Hodge's clothes, but he remained unmoved. Although his calves were trembling, he still stood in front of the crowd.

He knew clearly that this was his only chance.

Although Hodge hadn't spent much time in the factory, he had already figured out these people's tactics.

These noble lords did not really intend to be nice to the workers. They just put on a gesture and said a few hypocritical words of kindness. On the contrary, the supervisors and other leaders below were extremely cruel.

In this way, when the people below are bullied, they will only hate the small bosses. When trouble breaks out, the factory owner will come up and say a few nice words to appease them, and then push the small bosses out to take the blame, so that the workers can calm down.

And now, the Earl is in the period of winning people's hearts. If he wants to advance his wages, there is a high probability that he will succeed.

Although he would inevitably be held accountable later, the money was indeed in his hands. As long as he sent it back, Lina's life might be saved.

Therefore, Hodge gritted his teeth and stood up. At worst, he would get beaten up, and he would accept being bullied in the future, as long as the earl could give him some money.

Hughes stopped, looked Hodge up and down, and said, "It's okay to advance wages. You workers will have a resettlement allowance, but I'm more curious why you're so anxious for money."

Hughes knew Hodge.

This is a very shrewd man. Every time he tells a story, Hodge is always the first to find the loopholes.

But this person is not the type to like to show off; on the contrary, he is even a bit taciturn.

He must have a reason to stand up at this moment.

Hodge took a deep breath and told his story as briefly as possible, emphasizing Lina's difficulties and efforts, hoping that the Earl would show some sympathy.

"So you need this money to send back to Lina to save her life?"

"Yes, sir, those gangs are quite trustworthy. As long as you pay back the money on time, they won't do anything to Lina. I will keep sending money back in the future, and she will be safe."

Hodge was a little excited. The Earl asked so many questions. It seemed that the advance payment was basically settled. Combined with the resettlement fee he mentioned before, it should be able to help Lina get through the difficulties, right?
It's just that he was two months late in receiving the money.
Thinking of this, Hodge felt a pang in his heart. He wanted to pray, but he didn't know who to turn to. He and Lina used to go to the Candlelight Church occasionally, but now he was no longer willing to believe in the church.
Hodge tried hard to calm his inner anxiety, but when he raised his head, his heart skipped a beat.

The expression on Xius's face changed and he fell silent.

It's bad. Although Hodge didn't know what went wrong, the bad feeling gripped his heart tightly.

"Your name is Hodge, right?"

"Yes sir."

"Do you know where we are?"

Hodge's eyes widened as he shook his head. He had just heard the lord mention Castel Island, a place he had never heard of. Wait, an island? They had just disembarked from the ship. Could it be...
"This is an isolated island in the Storm Ocean. The ship to the mainland just left a while ago, and there won't be any other ships for a while."

Hodge's face turned pale in an instant. He staggered a few steps and was supported by his fellow workers to prevent him from falling.

"How long will it take for the ship to return?"

"The fastest it will take is three weeks."

Hughes shook his head. He had assigned the Black Pearl many tasks, including opening up trade routes to various ports, searching for Nora in the north, and gathering refugees.
Let alone three weeks, it would be considered fast if I could come back in a month.

Adding the time for rest and returning to the empire, it would take at least a month and a half for Hodge to send the money.

And that's assuming everything goes well.

This was Castel's biggest problem—the inconvenient transportation. If Hughes wanted to sell soap to the Rhine, he had to organize his own caravan and find his own ship to send Beatrice back.

He has no boat now, so there is nothing he can do.

Homing pigeons? What kind of pigeons could cross the ocean? The albatross is probably close.

The Banshees can travel through the sea, but they are restricted by the symbiotic contract and cannot go too far away from Caster, not to mention that there are now murlocs in the sea.

So he could only sigh and remain silent.

Just as Hodge's face showed despair, a voice suddenly reached his ears.

"I might be able to help you with that."

People turned around and saw that it was Chloe, the nun of the Candlelight Society.

"Lina, right? Describe her appearance."

"Okay, okay, Sister!" Hodge nodded vigorously. "She is about five feet tall, with brown hair, brown eyebrows and eyes, and very thin."

"okay, I get it."

Chloe nodded expressionlessly, "I'll contact them for you, Mr. Hodge."

After saying that, she looked at Xius and said, "Shall we go to the factory first?"

Hughes blinked.

"Okay, Hodge, don't worry. I'll give you an advance on your wages. Come on, I'll take you there first."

A group of people walked out of the door and headed towards the wall not far away.

This is a specially built house, right near the steel plant in Xius, and it’s not far to walk there.

Along the way, Hodge kept thanking Chloe. He really didn't expect that he could get help from this nun.

It's not that he didn't seek help from the Candlelight Society. On the first day of his arrest, he asked the knights for help. Later, when he met nuns and priests, he also pleaded with them, but there was no response.

This also made him completely give up on the Candlelight Society.

He didn't expect that Miss Chloe today would be willing to help him. Hotch felt much more energetic.

After showing them around the factory, Xius sent the workers to the dormitory. It was not time to start work yet, so he planned to call more trainees to explain the new factory to the workers again.

There are dozens of workers in this group, and maintaining an entire steam engine production line is not a problem at all. It is enough to support the entire steel plant.

Several students came to take over this group of people, and Xius also built new student dormitories here. They no longer have to run back and forth every day, and there are still many empty houses.

After walking out of the test site, Xius turned to look at Chloe: "What happened?"

"What's going on?"

"Those workers don't know about Lina's situation, but I do know that you're not from the Candlelight Society, so do I need to contact the people from your Fire Moth Society?"

Chloe shook her head: "No, I am a nun of the Candlelight Society now. I can contact the church, but that's not what I want to say, but..."

"Lina is on the island now."

(End of this chapter)