Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 559 They can all read?
"No, it was just a simple mistake. Thank you for your help." Hunter smiled and accepted the parchment.

"You're welcome. Remember to continue the calculus lesson tonight; this part isn't covered in the scriptures."

"Ok."

Hunter handed over the parchment, casually pulled out a pen to correct the misspelled words, and pushed it into the hands of Alvarez, who was covered in sweat.

"Do you know?"

"We're not very familiar. I occasionally participate in the expeditionary force's study sessions and talk about some calculus. We might have met before."

"Then why did he become a soldier?" Alvarez couldn't help but ask. "With that kind of knowledge, wouldn't he be much better off as a tutor than a soldier?"

Looking at Hunter's ambiguous smile across the table, Alvarez suddenly had a shocking guess in his mind.

He turned to look at the expeditionary force on both sides of the carriage.

Most of these soldiers had applied to withdraw to Blood Harbor and were not on any missions. At this moment, they were chatting together, while some were dozing off in their chairs or reading books.

Reading a book?!
Alvarez then noticed that almost all the soldiers carried books, not as decorations or holy books used by the Silent Church to smash people, but books that showed clear signs of being read and were actually in use.

Are all these soldiers literate?
How many soldiers are here? Alvarez peered out of the train; carriage after carriage, and behind them, the number was impossible to count.

If all these carriages were filled with soldiers, and the soldiers were all literate...
After pondering for a long time with his poor arithmetic skills, Alvarez came to a conclusion that shocked him:

There are probably more literate people on this train than in the entire North.

Literacy was a luxury for commoners. If his ducal mansion wanted to hire a scribe, a better option would be to look among the impoverished nobles.

Thus, there might not be many literate people in the entire town, and some knights who rose to power through military merit were even semi-literate themselves.

Alvarez felt as if he were immersed in ice water, and he trembled as he confirmed the conclusion he had reached in his heart—

It wasn't that literate people chose to become soldiers; rather, everyone in the expeditionary force was literate.

How many people were in the expeditionary force? Alvarez didn't know, but he knew there were definitely more than just those on the vehicle.

Thinking further, would Castells have sent all literate people as part of the expeditionary force? There must have been many more literate people there.

Alvarez couldn't immediately see the use of literacy, but he knew that popularizing literacy would require enormous resources—resources he couldn't afford even if he sold himself.

Hunter couldn't help but smile as he watched Alvarez's fat jiggle and wrinkle, and he decided to add fuel to the fire:
“Uncle, I will be giving a lecture on calculus tonight. There are no more than five people in the North who can talk to me about this topic, but there are at least ten people in this carriage who can talk to me about calculus.”

Alvarez looked at Hunter with disbelief and even a hint of pleading in his eyes—he hoped it was all just a cruel joke, that the young man was making fun of him.

Unfortunately, Hunter shrugged and said, "I wasn't lying to you. Now you believe I can't beat the fried chicken shop owner, right?"

Alvarez glanced at the soldiers around him, then looked down at his own flabby body. After hesitating for a moment, he leaned closer and whispered, "How much can you make in a day running a fried chicken shop in Castel?"

Hunter was taken aback: "Why are you asking this?"

"Weren't you sentenced to many years of work by the court? What if I'm sentenced to a long time too? I'm not good at studying, and I'm worried I'll starve to death if I go to Castells in the future, but I'm pretty good at frying chicken."

It seemed he had really scared him. Hunter chuckled wryly. "Don't worry, surviving in Castel isn't difficult. Although I don't have much talent, they still allow me to participate in research. They have almost everything there. As long as you're willing to work hard, you won't starve." He paused, then lowered his voice and asked, "Are you really good at making fried chicken?"

"Extremely skilled!"

Hunt looked at Alvarez's triple chin and thought it was quite convincing.

"Then I can introduce you to that fried chicken shop owner. Although he's good at calculus, he's not very good at making fried chicken, and one of his employees recently ran away, so he's short-staffed."

"It's a deal, Hunter, you can't just watch your uncle starve to death!"

“You won’t starve in Castel,” Hunter thought about what he had seen and heard on the island. “But you might die from overwork. I heard there’s a lot of overtime there, and some people even have to work overtime after they die.”

"Is it...is it that scary?" Alvarez's face wrinkled up, and he looked miserable.

"But your crime isn't serious. You surrendered without even a fight, so you might not get a long sentence. I, on the other hand, was dug out on the battlefield. I mean, I was captured."

Alvarez nodded, then his gaze suddenly sharpened as he looked at Hunter's magnificent aristocratic attire across from him.

"Your treatment doesn't seem like that of someone doing hard labor."

"Of course, I sold the family business decisively back then. Archbishop Alexei let me keep a lot of things, and to be honest, I'm doing much better now than before. At least I didn't get such good treatment when I was in the family."

Hunter proudly raised his head.

Alvarez narrowed his eyes slowly. Could he do something similar, to atone for his sins?
This is something he's quite good at.

The major and minor powers of the Northern Territory quickly flashed through his mind.
The train, billowing thick smoke, stretched a long line across the northern wilderness.

It was already afternoon when they set off, and now the sun was gradually sinking below the horizon, and night was enveloping the world.

In the darkness of night, the train arrived at Blood Harbor station.

The expeditionary force disembarked one by one, and the soldiers responsible for Alvarez and Hunter's safety, as well as those guarding them, led the two to the car door.

Hunt was behind Alvarez and walked to the door, but suddenly seemed to remember something, took a few quick steps, and squeezed in front of him.

"What's wrong, Hunter?"

"It's okay, it's okay."

Alvarez glanced at Hunter with some confusion. He had already reached the car door and was glancing outside as well.

Then he stood there, stunned.

It was completely dark, but what did he see in front of him?
Countless lights lay ahead, as if the entire Milky Way had been pulled down and placed on the earth. Yet, the light was far brighter than the brightest stars. At first glance, the entire city was brightly lit, as if the night had never fallen.

Like that legendary city that never sleeps.

Alvarez stood frozen at the carriage door.

(End of this chapter)