Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 3: Border Earl
When he opened his eyes, Xius found himself lying on the bed.

The quilt cover is delicate and silky, filled with a thin layer of velvet, which is warm but not too heavy.

Not far away is a balcony. The windows on one side are not inlaid with expensive glass, but are still fixed with exquisite wooden grilles.

Xius got out of bed, walked over and opened the window. Bright sunlight poured in from the window, and the warm and humid sea breeze blew up the curtains.

A few seagulls flew past the window, circled a few times over the top of the mountain on the south side of the island, and then suddenly rushed into the shallow blue sea, picked up a small fish, and brought up a cloud of white waves.

Inside the manor, an old man was directing servants to scrub the floor. He heard the sound of a window opening and turned to look at the balcony of the second-floor building.

After seeing Zeus, he was stunned for a moment, then he put his left hand on his chest and bowed slightly.

"Good morning, Master Xius."

Hughes smiled and nodded, his gaze pausing on the servants and the carriage, then looking at the fishing boats on the sea in the distance, then turned and walked into the bedroom.

He needs to sort out the current situation.

According to the memories of this body, his background this time seemed good: he was the border earl of the empire - the lord of Castel Island.

Castel, meaning fire and light in the storm, is quite aptly named, as it is located in the Ocean of Storms and has a small volcano on the island.
Xius shook his head. None of this mattered. What mattered was—

Earl! A powerful nobleman with a title and land!
Although the Border Earl is somewhat special, he can still act tyrannically on his own land. No, the Border Earl even goes a step further. In his territory, the laws of the empire may not be able to restrain him.

All of this stems from the system of "border earls".

Zeus' eyes sparkled as he sorted out the memories in his mind.

He was originally the illegitimate son of a duke, and even if he killed more than a dozen brothers and sisters, he would not be able to get the inheritance right. It happened that the queen promulgated the "border earl" system, so he gave up his surname, swore allegiance to the queen, and obtained this title and land.

That is the small island in front of us.

What, you said this island doesn't fit the size of the earldom?
How could that be? In Her Majesty's investiture book, a vast sea area was marked out. Not to mention the earldom, it was no less than the territory of most marquises. The Queen even promised that all the territories opened up by the border earls would belong to them.

Xius recalled the sea chart in his mind and couldn't help twitching the corners of his mouth.

His territory is indeed not small, but...
Almost all of them were outside the empire's borders.

For example, the Martha Islands in his territory are the pirates' nest, and the Storm Ocean further west is full of endless storms, and the occasional wisp of storms can cause a lot of trouble to the small island under his feet.

What lies deeper in the ocean is not even marked on nautical charts. Legend has it that there are palaces buried deep in the sea, filled with treasures, and vast new continents where honey and milk flow like rivers.
These are all too vague.

At present, Xiu Si only has a small island, an old butler brought from his family, and a few servants. This is all his power.

What he has to face is the threat of pirates that is close at hand, the unpredictable weather on the sea, and the enemies across the sea.

Yes, there are enemies across the sea. The empire has never lacked enemies. The Queen has been on the throne for eleven years, and every step has been taken with blood and thorns.

And he, Hughes, a newly appointed border earl, was caught in the middle of this group of powerful enemies.

It feels like being thrown into water and turning into a fish before drowning.

Hughes sighed. The Empire's support was likely only verbal. The warehouses were filled with documents piling up like mountains of titles. Every day, countless border earls were appointed, and countless more titles became vacant.

There is no shortage of ambitious people in the empire, and the empress is never stingy. Titles, land, wealth, whatever you want, you can just reach out and take it.

The corpses paved the road and formed laurel wreaths, and now Hughes also set foot on this road.

"Why do I feel that even though I've become a noble, I'm more dangerous?" Zeus said to himself.

The servant outside knocked on the door. Xius searched his memory, then put on his clothes with the help of the servant and walked out of the room.

The butler who had been downstairs not long ago was already waiting not far away, leading Xius forward while introducing breakfast.

"This morning I prepared fish pudding, pea and bacon soup, omelet pie, and the red wine is from Bonnie's Cellar."

Xius looked at the food that covered half of the long table in front of him, then glanced at the six or seven kinds of tableware placed next to it and fell silent.

According to the original body's memory, this breakfast would last from one to one and a half hours, with ten minutes spent listening to the butler's report in the middle, and then a morning tea break would be seamlessly connected.

He would enjoy tea and read on the terrace in the morning sunshine, and would not ride around the territory until almost noon.

This kind of behavior can be regarded as a model of nobility and morality. After all, he neither whipped and abused civilians for fun, nor did he just find a piece of land as a hunting ground and let civilians drive wild beasts to be shot by him.

It was simply a matter of collecting 80% of the people's harvest as taxes.

Hughes sighed.

"There's no need to prepare so many dishes in the future. Prepare a horse for me. I want to go for a stroll in the territory."

After a pause, Hughes said to the butler next to him, "Also, build a house on the open ground of the manor. The area around it should be open and free of flammable materials. I want to use it as a laboratory."

Butler Connor looked a little surprised. Building a house was fine, his lord often had creative ideas, but why did the rules for cooking change? You know, as a bastard, Hughes used to pay the most attention to these noble etiquette, fearing that others would accuse him of lacking aristocratic manners. What happened today?
And you actually want to go out for a stroll so early in the morning?
Did I see something on the balcony this morning?
This place is not far from the pier, maybe you can see the commotion over there
The old butler showed a look of sudden realization. He had also heard the rumor in the morning that the fishermen had caught something extraordinary, so it was normal for his lord to be curious.

He nodded calmly, walked out of the room and asked the servants to prepare the horses.

Xiu Si searched his memory again, then his eyes lit up, and he walked to a side room, took off the necklace hanging around his neck, inserted it into the keyhole on the door and turned it.

With a click, the door opened. With the sunlight coming in through the door, Xius looked inside.

This is his treasure house and also his greatest reliance for coming to this island.

Documents, jewelry, and all kinds of strange instruments filled the shelves in the house.

But Xius's gaze passed over all these and fell on a box in a corner.

He reached out and opened the cherry wood box lid. A white flintlock inlaid with ivory and jade was placed on the velvet. It was only the size of a palm and as exquisite as a work of art.

Hughes grinned, took out his rifle and put it in his pocket.

　The daily update time is tentatively 10 am and 2 pm

　　
　
(End of this chapter)