Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 652 Gwen's Confession

This time, Hughes obtained more information than all the previous connections combined.

First, I successfully connected with Beatrice.

Hughes was very interested in this Pope of the Candlelight Church and the new Empress of the Empire, but unfortunately, after their last connection, she had been uttering meaningless babbling, making it impossible to communicate with her.

Hughes thought something had happened to her and was about to secretly warn Zoe.

Surprisingly, it recovered this time.

As for what she said about becoming a "named person" through a ritual, and the great sage Bruno, we'll just have to try to verify that.

Castells didn't have this information before, but now the situation is different; the entire Silent Church is now located in the church.

Patriarch Ignati, in particular, spent his days visiting various factories and buildings, and even dragged Gwen and Nora along with him.

In the past few days, Hughes even heard that a priest from the Silent Church had asked the Guardians of the Faith for a copy of the Imperial Scripture of Truth to read.
In short, the Silent Church is one of the four major churches, and something like the "Named One," which once influenced the entire continent, must have been recorded.

Hughes felt a surge of excitement, as if he finally saw a solution to the problem that had troubled him for so long. He immediately planned to return, but just as he shifted to a more comfortable position and closed his eyes, a call suddenly came from his heart.

"etc!"

"Huh?" Hughes was taken aback. "You're... Gwen?"

"There's no need to add 'little' to it. I've always been Gwen. How did I become 'little' after that Gwen came along?"

"Alright, alright, Gwen, what's wrong? Is it...?"

Hughes' eyes lit up. Gwen hadn't communicated with him before, always saying she wanted to control the white mist and seize control of the Forgotten Temple. Had she finally succeeded?
"How could it be so fast! This is a White Calamity covering the entire Northern Territory! A White Calamity! The Silent Sanctuary has spent hundreds of years trying to resolve it, and even I wouldn't be able to handle it in less than a year or two."

"Oh," Hughes drawled, "So you've come here this time?"

After a moment's pause, Gwen's voice rang out with a hint of hesitation:

I ran into Lina.

"!?"

"She came to me from the North. She seemed to know I was here, and she also knew I was the [Named One]."

After Gwen finished speaking, she paused somewhat nervously. She didn't know how Hughes would treat her once he found out she was also a "Named Person".

Beatrice had heard what she said too. It seemed that the [Named Ones] were born to bring disaster to the world. She didn't know why the other [Named Ones] were like this, but...
Hughes was, after all, a lord, and he had to think about the future of his territory.

Castel is not lacking in military strength, and Gwen herself admits that she cannot withstand a volley of Gatling gunfire, so to Castel, she may just be a burden.

Gwen didn't want to be a burden.

But she couldn't get away right now, and all she could do was say it out loud.

"you"

Gwen suppressed her anxiety; she knew Hughes would be very surprised to hear the news and hoped she wouldn't lose a friend.

"Are you alright? Did you fight with Lina? Although Lina can't beat Big Gwen, she's still in danger. Where is she? Should I send an expeditionary force?"

Gwen: 『.』

"Uh, sorry, I didn't mean you can't beat Big Gwen. Little Gwen, you're pretty good too. Uh, I meant, Gwen, Gwen, not Little."

Gwen: 『.』

Hughes was a little troubled. He was never good at coaxing little girls. Although Gwen was always very well-behaved and often pretended to be mature, Hughes could still sense that she was still a little girl at heart.

"Aren't you worried I'll bring disaster? After all, Miss Wand said that the appearance of a 'Named One' has always been accompanied by chaos."

"If that were true, Castells would have been doomed long ago. You've been in Bloodharbor for quite some time now."

"But."

"If Castel can't even handle calamities, how will he face even more powerful enemies? Evil gods, the Church, even cognitive interference—aren't these all calamities? And which one can he possibly escape?"

"And more than the disaster, I'm curious about something else—how did you know what Miss Wand just said? Did my link pull you in?"

"Alas!"

Little Gwen's voice suddenly became flustered.

"Well, isn't that because you were in this white fog? Uh, I mean actually."

"I see. You didn't want to tell me. I'm sorry, I crossed the line. I thought we were friends." Hughes said in a disappointed and dejected tone, emphasizing the word "friends."

『.』

The connection between the two fell silent, and after a moment, Gwen's sigh came through.

"Alright, I'll tell you. I don't have complete control over the entire white fog, but the fog around here—around you—is under my control."

"you mean"

"In this white mist, the link you established was actually initiated by me; in other words, I am the central figure in this link."

"So you're in the same situation as me? Can you just click the link?"

"No, only you can create a link, but I can help you make it work even in the fog, like this..."

"relay?"

What is a relay?

"I'll bring you a copy of the Imperial Truth Codex next time, you can take a look. Anyway, based on your description, you're acting as a relay. This link is really starting to resemble radio communication more and more."

"Okay, fine, I'm the relay. Anyway, I can hear your link too. I'm not intentionally eavesdropping! I just want to relay for you, so you can't avoid listening even if you want to!"

"Okay, okay, what else did you say to Lina if you weren't eavesdropping?"

"Lina also mentioned the great sage Bruno, blaming me for not helping him when he was suffering."

"Then why didn't you make a move?"

"Wow, how am I supposed to help?! Bruno died a thousand years ago, or maybe a few hundred! I wasn't even born then! I only joined the link a year or two ago, I wasn't even as old as you!"

Gwen shouted angrily.

"And I don't even know how I became a 'Named One.' I don't even know how to become a superhuman. It's like suddenly all my friends could move, and I even startled myself. Anyway, I don't know much more about 'Named Ones' than you do."

"Okay." Hughes nodded. He didn't think Gwen was deliberately hiding anything, after all, he had seen her join the link with his own eyes.

"I'll try to investigate the matter of the [named individuals]. Yes, those Silent Church members you taught a lesson to; they should know something."

"The Silent Church? Oh right, they're one of the four major churches, aren't they?"

Little Gwen seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly stopped. After a while, she slowly spoke:
"Perhaps I also have some methods for acquiring knowledge."

Hughes paused for a moment, then realized what he meant: "The Temple of the Forgotten?"

"That's right!" Little Gwen's tone became excited as well. "I'm currently analyzing everything in the Forgotten Temple, and I'll soon have a basic grasp of it! Then I'll be able to freely access everything in the Forgotten Temple, especially its knowledge and secret history!"

"That's great. But I have a small question." Hughes sighed. "How long will it take you to master this knowledge?"

Little Gwen was silent for a while before speaking somewhat awkwardly: "Mastering the Forgotten Temple will take a year or two, then I'll have to search for this knowledge again and gradually absorb it."

"The ceremony for Beatrice is about to take place."

"Beatle? Is Miss Scepter's real name Beatrice? Oh, right, speaking of rituals..."

Little Gwen's tone became serious.

Lina once mentioned that [those with names] cannot advance through rituals, as for Miss Beatrice's ritual...

"I'm afraid there's a serious problem."

(End of this chapter)