Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 296: Workers of the Rhine
"One more thing. Zoe might be in danger going to Blood Harbor this time. There are quite a few cultists causing trouble there. Ash, you should personally lead a team to the waters near the harbor to provide support."

"Understood. To what extent do you need to respond?"

"In an emergency, you are allowed to fire your gun. If it's particularly urgent, you can rush into the dock to save people." Hughes said without hesitation.

This basically allowed Banshee to do anything. Zeus trusted Ash's judgment; she was the best at commanding battles.

As for the prince, although the new Grand Duke of Tis has a good reputation and many people praise him, for Zeus, the lives of Zoe Connor and the Crusaders are more important.

After all, the Blood Harbor cultists are rampant, and the danger level is quite high.

Ash took the order and left. The Banshee swam very fast in the sea and it only took half a day to reach Riften City.

But it would take several days to bring the Black Pearl back. It was just a wooden sailing boat and it could hardly reach a speed of 5 knots.

The banshees would continue to lose vitality if they left the range of the symbiotic contract, but it wouldn't be a big problem for a few days. Ash quickly finalized the candidates and set off.

On the other hand, Zoe encountered some troubles, not too big or too small.

A group of people came to the door, led by a big man who was as strong as a bear.

After seeing Zoe, he quickly took off his wrinkled hat, placed it on his chest, bowed slightly, and spoke in a flattering tone:

"Hello, Miss Zoe."

Not long after, there was another knock on Hughes' office door.

"Please come in."

Xius was selecting the extraordinary people who would be traveling with the team this time. When he looked up, he found that Zoe had walked in with a large group of people, and some people were standing outside the door looking in.

Judging from their appearance, they should be factory workers, right?
Xiu Si's expression became serious. If there was trouble or an accident in the factory, the supervisor should have come to him, but now a group of workers came over. It didn't look like a small matter at all.
Hughes once required that workers could report problems to higher levels if they encountered them, and if they encountered serious problems, they could come directly to him.

This is to prevent factory supervisors from abusing their power and deceiving their superiors.

Now that so many workers have come here, there must be something big going on. It can’t be for a pay raise, right?
"My Lord, do you need help?"

The banshee's voice was heard through the mind link. The banshee's duty room was nearby, which was a precaution. If anyone wanted to harm Zeus, the banshee could come over quickly.

It's really fast. Banshees usually go through the door, but that doesn't mean they can only go through the door.

The walls of the two rooms were deliberately not reinforced with steel bars, so the banshees could break in in the next second if they wanted to.

Sensing the movement in Zeus's room, the banshee on duty was ready and could provide support at any time if needed.

"It's okay. They're all workers. I'll find you if I need anything."

"receive"

Hughes raised his head and looked at the workers.

He still had a great deal of trust in these workers, who, regardless of their origins, had experienced the war together in Castres.

Whether on the battlefield or in the factory, they have all contributed a lot to Castell. Even if there were spies among them, they should be Castell people now.

So Xius stood up without hesitation and walked up to these slightly reserved workers.

"You. Huh?" Xius suddenly blinked. These workers looked familiar.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Kyle, Hodge, are you coming from the Rhine?"

The workers were a little surprised. They didn't expect that the lord could remember them, even though they had only met him once.

Of course, for Xius, these are the co-workers with whom he has spent a lot of time.

Xius's eyes softened a lot.

The short Hodge stepped forward and bowed respectfully. "Your Excellency, we are all from the Rhine. We heard that Miss Zoe is taking people to the mainland, so we want to go back and take a look."

He quickly added, "We're not all leaving. We know Castel is short of people right now, and we just want one or two people to deliver a message on our behalf. You know, we've been away from Rhineland for a long time, and we're a little worried about our families."

Hodge spoke very sincerely. He had practiced this line of speech many times. They had been staying in Castel for more than half a year, and there had been no news from the Rhine long ago.

Although some of these workers are orphans, some still have relatives who depend on them, but so much time has passed that no one knows what their situation is.

Originally, Zeus had planned to send a ship to pick up their families, but unfortunately, Castel was soon pulled into another space and only came out now.

Rheinius sighed secretly.

He called all the workers into the house. There were quite a few workers, and the house was a little crowded. People looked at Xius with some nervousness and expectation.

This made Xius feel even more depressed.

"Everyone, I already know your needs. Wanting to visit your loved ones is a very reasonable request."

The workers were a little agitated, and some of them looked happy. Did the lord allow this?

But the smarter ones felt a pang in their hearts. Looking at Xius's expression, they always had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, Hughes' next words took a sharp turn for the worse.

"But the current situation on the continent is not good. The Queen was assassinated, Tis County became independent from the Empire, and several major churches have united to control the upper echelons of the Empire."

The room fell silent. Every word of these sentences was like a bolt from the blue. These workers were young and had only witnessed the glorious era of the empire. How could they have imagined that such a change would occur?

"We need to visit the Principality of Tis this time. It is currently facing off with the Empire at the border. Even if you want to go to the Rhine, you can't get through."

Sensing the solemn atmosphere in the room, Hughes quickly added, "But there's no need to worry too much. Although the continent is in chaos, the Rhine is still very safe. After all, it's the capital of the empire, and the outside impact can't reach it."

Most of the workers are from the Rhine. Although they are just the lower-class people who die in a large number of places in the slums every year, they still benefit from the city.

The war cannot reach there.

"Kyle, I remember you served in the Skitarii?"

The sturdy man shuddered and quickly bowed: "Yes, sir!"

"You will be the leader of the accompanying Crusaders this time. Go and check out the situation across the sea."

Hughes's gaze swept across the crowd and lingered on Hodge for a moment.

It seems that Hodge has a sister named Lina, right?
(End of this chapter)