Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 506 Hunter's Mission

"Hunter, the lord summons you."

"I don't have time to see any lord, damn it, I'm very busy. You step back and don't touch my calculations!"

The two guards looked at Hunter speechlessly. They were the ones who brought Hunter here last time, and they thought he was a bit crazy back then, but now it seems he hasn't changed at all.

Yami, standing nearby, gestured to the two of them and said in a low voice, "Don't take it to heart. He doesn't seem to work very well here; he learns things extremely slowly."

Yami reached out and tapped his head.

"But give him some time, and he'll figure it out himself."

A sudden exclamation came from inside the house.

"wrong!"

Hunter practically jumped out of his chair and rushed to the two guards: "You just said the lord summoned me? Good heavens, I'm coming right now! I was so engrossed in doing math problems that I completely ignored the lord's call! Good heavens!"

Yami gestured towards the two friars.

"look."

"So, my lord, you wish me to make a trip to the North?" Hunter solemnly put down the documents in his hand.

“Yes,” Hughes nodded. “You know quite a bit about the North. If you’re willing to do some work for us, your sentence will be shortened, and you can receive a salary like ordinary residents. If you make other contributions, you can also receive rewards according to the military merit system—of course, redeeming yourself through meritorious service will require an additional weighting factor.”

"No problem, I'm willing to go."

Hughes raised an eyebrow. He had heard that Hunter seemed to have a good impression of Castel, which was why he decided to send him to the North. He didn't expect it to go so smoothly.
Could it be that Castells syndrome has some of the effects of Stockholm syndrome?

Hunter's gaze was so intense that Hughes couldn't help but look away.

"Alright, since you're willing to help, then go report to the Expeditionary Force. Someone will take care of the paperwork for you. There's a train to the North tonight, so get some rest. The situation is urgent right now, and the ride might not be very pleasant."

“Yes, my lord.” Hunter nodded hastily, but after a moment, he hesitated and asked, “May I ask if the weapons that annihilated the Allied Forces are still usable? Will there be a huge cost?”

Hughes showed a somewhat interested expression.

“You should know that I will avenge Nora and hang Bazel’s head on the dome of Castel’s church.”

"Yes, but I would like to know Castel's approximate combat strength to help you make a judgment. Actually, I have some knowledge of the battlefield; my major is siege machinery manufacturing."

"I suggest you see it for yourself—language is somewhat pale in comparison to reality."

After leaving Hughes's office, Hunter was quickly taken to the expeditionary force. Bloodharbor already had a large number of expeditionary personnel on standby. Most of them were islanders of Castel who would teach classes at the school when there were no orders, and could be mobilized immediately if needed.

Hunter had spent a long time in the military, but the system of the expeditionary force was something he had never seen before.

The core of the armies of the noble lords in the North was always the nobles, but Castell's expeditionary force was the exact opposite. Hunter could sense that the soldiers were the most important part of this army.

This does not mean that the army has delegated command authority, but rather that the expeditionary force was of extremely high quality, with soldiers actively carrying out almost all orders, which is almost impossible in aristocratic armies.

Only by promising generous rewards before the battle can soldiers be motivated to fight. As for minor matters such as pre-battle preparations, officers usually have to beat and kick them to get them to do anything.

The soldiers before him were unlike any he had ever seen before. It was a feeling that was hard to describe; he felt that these people were doing everything seriously, with a genuine sense of initiative and responsibility.

Castells must have put a lot of effort into training these soldiers, but why?
Aren't soldiers expendable? Even elite soldiers are just better equipped and more trained, but they don't become so proactive.

As a scholar, Hunter had one advantage: he would ask questions when he didn't understand something.

He directly asked one of the squad leaders next to him, and the man smiled after hearing the question.

"This is called organizational level. As the name suggests, it refers to the proportion of people in an organization who can carry out orders from superiors. If they carry out my orders conscientiously, it means that the organizational level is high enough."

He patted the bolt-action rifle beside him.

"You think we fight wars based on weapons? Well, we can win with weapons alone, but organization is the key to an army's strength. You know, Castells refused to recruit those with criminal records."

Hunter's eyes widened. This was completely unexpected. Many lords even liked to bring prisoners to the battlefield. As long as they were given enough rewards and pardons, these prisoners would be the bravest cannon fodder.

Of course, there needs to be a sufficient supervisory team behind the scenes.

"You'll understand once you're on the battlefield. There's a line in the holy book that I really like: 'On the battlefield, the most important thing is always people.'"

Hunter nodded as if he understood, but not quite. He suddenly had a feeling that even though he had landed on the island, he still didn't know much about Castel. Beneath its seemingly ordinary appearance, this indescribable steel behemoth had its own set of operating logic.

Blood Harbor, in the slums.

The slums have now been renovated, and most people have moved into resettlement housing. Although these houses are somewhat simple in layout and not very spacious, they are at least sturdy enough to provide shelter from the wind and rain.

At that moment, two little girls were sitting cross-legged around a small coffee table, whispering to each other.

"Gwen, what about our food stall? Amy was taken away by the lord, and we're short one person!"

"What impact will it have if one person is missing?"

"Well, nobody keeps the books anymore. But I do. I got an A in math, and you should be fine with Gwen too. As for Yami, well, he sneaks some fish and chips and sometimes he'll stuff extra ketchup into the fries for the customers."

Betty muttered to herself for a while, somewhat surprised to find that without Yami, their food stall was actually—

No impact whatsoever!

“But, our stall is called Yami Fried Fish, it just doesn’t feel authentic without it.”

"Then let's just change the name to Delicious Fried Fish?"

Gwen responded casually, though she had been feeling somewhat uneasy lately.

"Let's not talk about this anymore," Bettis said mysteriously as she leaned closer.

"Gwen, have you seen this? It's Castel's official newspaper. There's some news in it about the resistance leader in the North who shares your name!"

Gwen looked at the newspaper in Bettis's hand in surprise, and soon her breathing became heavy.

(End of this chapter)