Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 35: Contaminated Monica

"Monica's unconscious. We can barely summon our flesh magic to maintain her current state, but it can't deal with the contamination," a golden-haired banshee said. "And her awakening isn't necessarily a good thing. Back in the Abyss, she was struck head-on by a contaminated monster. I saw it enter her body with my own eyes."

As she spoke, a hint of sadness appeared on her face.

"Maybe she won't be Monica when she wakes up."

"Does your people have any record of this kind of pollution?"

The banshees shook their heads together. They had been linked together on this matter and had searched each other's records, but there was no clue at all.

Perhaps there were relevant books in the Banshee Kingdom many years ago, but those things have long been lost, and they only have some information passed down orally.

This was indeed very troublesome, and Xius was at a loss for a moment. He thought for a moment and asked, "How long can you maintain her condition?"

"Three days at most." Ash glanced at the banshees. "I'm the only one who can move freely here. They all need to maintain their flesh and blood magic to resist the lack of pressure."

Fortunately, Monica was the only injured person. In addition to maintaining their own flesh and blood magic, the banshees could still squeeze out a little magic power to help Monica maintain her life. However, this also trapped the banshees here, making them unable to move.

"and you."

"Lord Ash is now overdrawn." The blonde banshee stepped forward and said, "She single-handedly helped Monica maintain her flesh and blood magic from the depths of the Abyss, and she also fought off many monsters before leading us here, giving us a stable environment to cast spells."

"She hasn't been able to use any magic in the past week."

"Ash, you've done a great job. You should rest well in the next period of time. I will find a solution." Zeus said solemnly.

The other banshees needed to maintain their flesh and blood magic, but Ash alone fought off all the polluted monsters and successfully led the banshees to escape from the Abyss. This was simply a miracle.

You have to know that when the banshees entered the Abyss, they rushed forward one by one and blew themselves up to carve out a bloody path.

It’s strange to say, but the Banshees have not been stopped by the mermen in recent times when they have been traveling to the Abyss. Perhaps something has happened to the mermen.

Zeus suddenly felt his vision go dark again and he felt dizzy. When the blonde witch saw this, she quickly grabbed him with her four free hands.

"My Lord?!"

"Lord!"

"Are you okay?"

"What happened?"

Zeus shook his head before he came to his senses. He looked at Ash and found that she was also shaking her head. It seemed that she was in a trance just now.

Noticing Zeus's concerned look, Ash's face became even more guilty. "I'm sorry, I was a little weak and absorbed your life force through the contract."

Zeus rubbed his forehead. This feeling was terrible, as if he had a fever. He had a headache all the time and a feeling of weakness was always with him.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal. You rest first, I'll get you some supplies."

Xius returned to the study alone. After thinking for a while, he rang a bell on the table, and soon footsteps were heard from outside.

"Lord Hughes?"

"Send Connor over here. He can come alone. I have something to discuss with him."

Connor came very quickly. This meticulous old butler always gave Zeus the illusion that he was always available. Although there were many things in the manor that needed him to arrange or supervise, he was able to complete them with ease and could quickly come to Zeus's side when he needed him.

Professional, elegant, and loyal.

It perfectly fits Zeus's imagination, or stereotype, of the profession of butler.

Soon, Connor came to the study. After Hughes signaled him to lock the door, he started chatting with his butler.

"Pollution from the seabed?" Connor thought carefully, then shook his head. "I haven't heard of anything like that. Are you in trouble?"

"Indeed." Hughes nodded. He decided to tell Connor about the Banshee.

It had been fine in the Abyss before, but now that they were here, Connor, their butler, was needed to assist them in many matters. Furthermore, Connor had been Alexei's butler since he was a child, one of the few people he could trust. Alexei needed to help him manage the territory, so Connor was the perfect person to assist him with the Banshee issue.

Zeus briefly told Connor the origin of the Banshee, hiding some details, which made the usually steady old butler open his eyes wide. He staggered a few steps, sat in the armchair opposite Zeus, and took a few deep breaths before calming down a little.

"In other words, you have gained the loyalty of this alien race?"

"Yes, they are so looking forward to it, even though I have already told them that I am not a god." Zeus spread his hands.

"Incredible, incredible!" Old Connor took off his monocle and wiped it with a trembling handkerchief. "I've only heard of this kind of thing in legends. Aliens... There really are aliens."

"Is there no similar story in the church?" Zeus asked curiously. He didn't know much about Connor. He only knew that he had a history of working outside. He originally wanted to know the details, but he didn't expect that the other party was even more surprised than him.

"No, at least I haven't heard of it. I don't know much about the church, and the Candlelight Society hasn't been very enthusiastic about missionary work in recent years. There are only scattered rumors among some sailors about aliens, but..."

He shook his head.

"Most of the stories are self-contradictory and full of errors."

Sailor? Hughes did remember that Connor had been a sailor in his youth, but...
"Have you never seen a merman in the sea?"

Connor looked at Hughes deeply, his expression somewhat hesitant.

“It’s not like I haven’t heard of it at all.”

"It is said that there were many alien races in the sea before, but they all gradually disappeared."

"All disappeared?"

Zeus frowned. Something must have happened in the sea, perhaps it was related to the pollution.

"I'm going to go to the Candlelight Club and ask. What do you think?"

After hearing this, Connor seemed to be hesitant to speak.

"I already tested the church's attitude last time I went there. Sister Chloe doesn't seem to have much prejudice against the topic of alien races. I wanted to slowly try to win her over and see if I could make her our ally, but now it seems that time may not be enough."

"I plan to privately invite Ms. Chloe to the manor. Our last meeting was quite pleasant, and I hope this time will go smoothly as well."

"Where's Reverend Keschi?"

"He will respect Sister Chloe's opinion." Connor didn't know that Priest Keschi was not human, and Zeus didn't intend to tell him everything. The matter of the symbiotic contract was of great importance, so he didn't intend to reveal it.

"What if Ms. Chloe isn't willing to cooperate with your idea?" Connor asked with a frown. "If you want to ask for help, you'll reveal a lot."

Asking about pollution from the sea would at least let Chloe know that he had some connection to the sea.

This is indeed a big trouble.

"I want to know the general attitude of the Candlelight Society towards this kind of thing, or are they the kind of people who meddle in other people's business?" Hughes stared at the old butler and said.

Meddlesome? Candlelight Club?

"No, they rarely interfere in worldly affairs. You can rest assured about that. They are surprisingly tight-lipped. However, that's also their downside: they rarely respond to requests for help from the lord."

"You mean, they'll refuse to help me detect the contamination?"

"They will solve the problem in their own way." Connor paused. "I once heard the Duke say that there is a type of people in the Candlelight Society called 'Investigators'. They are the ones who will take the initiative to go out and find all kinds of strange things and investigate the truth."

"However, what they find out is not made public. This is the style of the Candlelight Society. When the lords encounter problems that cannot be solved, they seek help from the Candlelight Society and wait for their investigators to arrive. Then the problem will always be solved, but..."

"But no one knows what happened in it, right?"

"You are very clever, Master Hughes."

(End of this chapter)