Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 400 In the Name of Castel

"Lina? Lina!!"

Hodge sat up in bed, grabbed his gun, and prepared to fight the monster in front of him.

But when he looked up, there was no monster or his sister in front of him. This was Castel's church, the dormitory of the Guardians of the Church.

Another nightmare.

Even the religious guards stored their guns together while sleeping, since it wasn't wartime.

The dormitory door opened a crack with a hiss, and Kyle glanced at the still-shaken Hodge before slowly closing the door again.

After a while, Hodge put on a coat and came out.

He sat beside Kyle's post, quietly looking up at the moon.

"Having a nightmare again?"

Hodge nodded, seemingly unwilling to discuss the topic further, and asked, "I remember you're not on night duty, are you?"

Kyle is the squad leader and usually doesn't have to be on duty, but he needs to be there immediately if something happens.

"Isn't that the mobilization meeting today? Everyone's on holiday. As usual, the team leader is on duty."

Kyle poured a cup of hot tea and handed it to Hodge, then placed the kettle on the stove, opened the lid, and stuffed in two sweet fruits.

The two tacitly avoided discussing Lina's matter. Going to the Rhine was now impossible, as the Empire and Castel were separated by two entire war zones.

"What do you think of today's mobilization?" Kyle asked after thinking for a moment.

“I don’t know.” Hodge’s eyes showed confusion. “We were originally Rhine people, exiled to Castel, and Nora… she had already left when we arrived here. None of us had even seen her.”

"So you're not planning to join the expeditionary force?" Kyle poked at the fire with boredom. "I can understand. Going to fight in a place you've never been before for someone you don't even know, especially since the registration office for the expeditionary force is so crowded that the door is broken, and you can't possibly get a spot."

Hodge didn't speak; he lowered his head and sipped his tea, his face hidden in the shadows.

"I do not know."

"I don't know why, even though they weren't people I knew and the place wasn't familiar to me—damn it, the North, that place sounds so cold just from the name."

"But I just wanted to go. I couldn't control myself. When I saw those reports, I felt like my chest was on fire. When the lord placed Nora's head on the Tombstone of the Dead, I felt nothing but anger!"

“I want to go to the North and hang those damned nobles on the city gates. I want to avenge Nora, even though I only met her for the first time today.”

"I must have gone mad, I must be possessed."

“I wanted to talk to the political commissar, but I didn’t dare. What if he thought I wasn’t firm enough and refused to let me join the expeditionary force?”

Hodge cursed a few times in Rhine, but still felt unsatisfied, so he spat hard on the ground.

Kyle didn't say anything, he just watched quietly.

Hodge was a short, thin worker who was always trying to shirk his duties. The factory owner had tried to fire him several times, but fortunately, his fellow workers vouched for him, saying that he would not work less, and thus saved him.

He often brought over some pastries made by his sister to thank his coworkers—though they were just baked dough that had become brittle, and you had to chew them carefully to taste their sweetness.

Later, Hughes got into trouble, and they were exiled here. Hodge almost collapsed on the road; it was a miracle he survived.

Instead, he recovered his health in this place of exile, and the supervisor of the steel mill, seeing that he was ill, even invited Sister Chloe to treat him.

Chloe cured his illness and said he owed her a large sum of money. This is understandable; medical treatment always costs a lot of money, and often the money is spent without saving the person.

Hodge was grateful to have survived.

He worked hard to save every Leo he could, hoping to give the money to Chloe as soon as possible, but he never got to see that day.

Chloe's name was engraved on the stone tablet.

Hodge didn't care whether she was a Candlelight Sisters nun or a cultist of the Flame-Chasing Moths; all he knew was that Chloe had saved his life.

Despite being the most timid person, he dragged Kyle along to join the Guardians of the Church.

Kyle carefully examined Hodge. The man was no longer as thin as before. He had recovered his health in Castells, and his military career had straightened his back. Now he was a strong young man, and there was little trace of his former self.

"Why did you sign up for the Missionaries of the Church, Hodge?"

Hodge paused for a moment, then subconsciously raised his teacup and poured it into his mouth, not noticing that it was already empty.

"I don't know. Is it because of that nun? Because of this lucrative job? Because of the subsidies Leo receives in the army? Maybe it's a bit of all of those."

"At that time, the war situation was urgent, and they were constantly recruiting people. It was said that the front line was about to collapse. I thought: Hey, these are such good days. I can work during the day and go home at night. I can also eat fish and chips and sweet fruit wine. I don't want to lose these things!"

So I went.

"When I saw those monsters, my legs went weak, but then I remembered the fries and liqueur, and my hand involuntarily picked up the gun, pulled the trigger, and killed three monsters with one shot!"

"Three! I remember them all. Which recruit managed to get three kills on his first shot?"

Hodge couldn't help but puff out his chest.

Kyle couldn't help but laugh out loud.

For fries and liqueur? What a ridiculous reason. Why did I even join the Apostolic Nation in the first place?

Hodge lay on the ground, hands under his head, legs crossed, looking at the moon.

"Kyle, I still want to join the expeditionary force."

"To be honest, I don't know why. I was born in a village that didn't even have a name. Later, I fled to the Rhine with my sister and then came here. I haven't been here for very long."

"But I love it here. I love the fish and chips, the liqueur, the steel mill, the Bible, Castells."

“I don’t know who Nora is, but she also stayed in Castel, shed blood here, and stood on the same land as me.”

"Then I am willing to avenge her."

"I can't explain this feeling. I only know that if I die out there one day and someone cuts off my head, there will still be people who fight for me."

“I don’t know them, and they don’t need to know me. We are brothers and sisters simply because we belong to this land and are willing to shed every drop of blood for it.”

"This feels so fucking good, Kyle."

"So why not? I'm going to the North to see what kind of bastards dare to kill us Castel people. I'm not one to talk about reason, and I have no interest in any kind of trial. All I know is that they made us bleed, and we'll make them pay with their own blood!"

Hodge looked up at the sky, the bright moonlight reflecting in his eyes like a quiet, burning flame.

"Go to sleep early. We'll register tomorrow. Hopefully, we can still snag a few spots in the expeditionary force." Kyle picked up the teapot from the stove.

(End of this chapter)