Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 605 The Hospitallers

As priests of the Silent Church, they had used flails to hammer faith into the skulls of many heretics, but this seemed to be the first time they had been struck by one.

It has to be said that the effect was indeed quite good. They all looked at Gwen with evasive eyes. The image of Gwen swinging the flail and leaving afterimages was very memorable to them. I wonder if they will have nightmares about it.

Ignati also gave Nini a deep look.

He had seen the Banshee from afar when he was in the North, but the situation was urgent at the time, so he didn't ask any further questions.

Here, the buried ones are merely guests, so it's not appropriate for them to interfere too much.

The people of the Silent Sanctuary knew little about the Banshees. Due to the limitations of their symbiotic contract, the Banshees were not numerous when fighting in the North and rarely participated in actual combat. Hughes did not consider them as the main force on the battlefield.

Therefore, although the Silent Sanctuary had learned about the expeditionary force, it was limited to the mortal troops and they knew little about supernatural beings like banshees.

This current understanding was all thanks to Gwen's hard work.

So when the Burialers saw Nini, besides their instinctive wariness, they also felt a bit of fear, perhaps stemming from Gwen.

"You are... well, a transcendent being from the deep sea, that..."

"She was not contaminated."

Nora interrupted.

"Not only is she untainted, but all the banshees are untainted. The contamination is in Castel. Well, see for yourselves."

The buried ones exchanged glances, then all looked at Nora, whose words were indeed rather strange.

Pollution is pollution. Does that mean there's no danger in Castel?

Or is Castel, like the Church of Poseidon of old, trying to actively embrace pollution and contact the extraordinary?

If that's the case, then it's quite dangerous. While actively coming into contact with pollution can certainly bring knowledge and power, it will gradually cause one to lose their rationality, which is irreversible. In other words, going insane is only a matter of time.

As for the extraordinary beings before them
“I am Ignatius, Patriarch of the Silent Sanctuary.” After a moment of contemplation, Ignatius clenched his fists, crossed them in front of him, and bowed.

This is the formal ritual of the Silent Sanctuary, but it is rarely used. When the priests of the sanctuary are not in battle, they like to wear armor and simply raise their flails as a form of greeting.

Nini doesn't seem like a monster who has lost her mind, and she's been behaving quite friendly so far. More importantly, there's Nora's attitude.

Ignati knew very well that Nora could not return to the Silent Sanctuary, but there was no direct conflict between the two. On the contrary, she was the link between the Sanctuary and Castel.

Ignati also trusted Nora's character; he admired her courage in breaking with the Holy See for the sake of the resistance.

Nini's initiative in greeting them earlier was also a gesture of goodwill, so the first encounter between the Banshee and the Burialers passed peacefully.

While Nini remained calm, the mind links between the banshees were buzzing with excitement.

"Damn it, the Silent Sanctuary has been tricked."

"It has to be Nini; she's a really good actress."

"I hope these priests can keep their composure when Nini's newspaper goes out in a couple of days."

"Hilarious! Two more days? Didn't you all see Nini holding hands with both hands while the other four are frantically writing drafts behind her back?" "Where's the lord? Save her! Letting Nini handle the reception will completely ruin the Banshee's image!"

"Does a banshee even have an image?"

Hughes was in his office, watching Nini's live stream with amusement, showing no intention of interfering.

He had only vaguely guessed that Big Gwen might be able to awaken these sleeping priests, but he didn't expect it to be so effective.

He had barely delivered the person and hadn't even sat down in his office when Gwen submitted her request for a helmet.

Hughes opened the mind link and saw Gwen swinging the flail so fast it left afterimages. If Nora and Richard hadn't been watching, he would have stopped her.

This wake-up method is way too simple and crude.

I thought it was about lighting incense and using the smoke to perform some kind of supernatural ritual, but it turned out that the incense and the smoke were being thrown at my head.

But speaking of incense
Hughes recalled the first time he met Nora, when she used incense to play a video introducing the North for him. Now that he thought about it, she was actually a bit too restrained; according to the tradition of the Silent Sanctuary, they should have played it while smashing things.

This method of transmitting information seems quite efficient. I wonder if it could be promoted. In the future, teachers could walk into classrooms carrying flails and hammer knowledge into each blank head.
I must say, it's pretty cool.

After noting the idea down in his to-do list, Hughes continued watching the live stream with great interest.

After giving Richard and Ignati a brief explanation, Richard hurriedly left the hospital. He had a lot to do at the test site recently, with many projects reaching a critical stage, and he didn't have time to take his guests for a leisurely stroll.

With Hughes's tacit approval, Nini volunteered to introduce Castel to them, along with Nora and Gwen.

Nora followed because of her status, while Gwen followed for safety reasons; in case anyone went crazy from fright, Gwen could use her flail to give them a quick fix.

As for whether Gwen would go crazy... Hughes sighed. It would be good enough if she didn't drive Castel crazy.

Thus, the strange combination of Nini and Gwen carrying Nora leading the way, followed by hundreds of Burialers, was born.

According to etiquette, the priests of these silent sanctuaries should have waited here for Hughes's audience, but Nora's words aroused their curiosity about Castel, so they disregarded all that and, after obtaining permission from Nini on behalf of Hughes, proceeded with the visit.

Ignati, walking ahead of the group, had a flicker in his eyes. In fact, there was another consideration behind this somewhat impulsive move—he wanted to see the real Castel.

If he followed the local lord's arrangements, he would only see what the lord intended for him to see. Ignati, however, truly had high hopes for Castel, which is why he was willing to act somewhat recklessly in order to see it for himself.

He couldn't quite explain where this expectation came from; perhaps, as Nora said, he was also tired of the sanctuary's repetitive fate.

The world is always in a spiral; there is no upward movement.

Nini led everyone out of the room and started making introductions.

"This is the Knights Hospitaller, a place for treating patients. Mr. Richard, who just spoke, is one of the acting directors here. He is also in charge of research and development on the island, and is one of the busiest people in Castel."

"One of them? There are other deans?" one of the buried men asked curiously.
"Yes, the other one is Ash, but her medical skills are rather average."

"Her medical skills are just average? Is she in charge of administration?"

"No, she's in charge of fighting."

(End of this chapter)