Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 311 Galahad's Invitation

The apostles opened the door, and there stood Galahad.

He had changed into casual clothes and was looking at Zoe with a big smile.

“Miss Zoe, I’m sorry to have to refuse your request today. The Vatican has its eyes on Tiss, and His Highness William has too many matters to attend to and is unable to spare the time. I apologize on his behalf.”

Galahad, with his old-fashioned chivalrous demeanor, handsome face, and tall stature, bowed slightly in greeting, making Zoe blush a little.

He... he seems like one of those tragic protagonists in a novel.
Zoe was just a maid whose greatest hobby was reading knight novels. When such an elegant and handsome knight actually stood in front of her, she was somewhat dazed.

But somehow, as Zoe began to fantasize about those novel plots, Erwin's words came to mind—"The stronger we are, the more passionate they become."

Galahad was very welcoming.

She suddenly remembered the first time she met Galahad; his cold, aloof expression was completely different from his smiling face now.

Zoe herself didn't notice that she subconsciously frowned.

"As an apology, I'll take you for a stroll through the streets of Blood Harbor. I'll go with you wherever you want to go—anywhere is fine."

Galahad slightly raised his head and stared intently at Zoe in front of him.

He came here on the prince's orders, and the prince nearly went mad when he learned that the new musket could increase its range to 700 meters.

700 meters, 700 meters! Even if the description on it is exaggerated by a factor of two, and it's still 300 meters away, this weapon could completely change the course of the battle.

The Imperial Army is still in the stage of queuing for executions. Muzzle-loading smoothbore muskets are no more than 100 meters away, or even 50 meters away, and the bullets just fly off somewhere.

Even within firing range, the enemy needs to be positioned close enough for the damage to be effective.

The prince could hardly believe how it was done; if the rest of the information in the booklet hadn't been correct, he would have thought it was a hoax.

The prince gave a strict order: they must get their hands on a gun.

Galahad did consider stealing one, just like he did with the pamphlet, but the Castel people were extremely strict about guarding their guns.

They almost always carried muskets with them, and at night they would arrange for people to stand guard, and there was more than one group. Galahad tried to send people in, but all of them failed.

As for taking it by force, that option never crossed the prince's mind.

Seeing a gun with a range of 700 meters and still not satisfied, are you ready to take some more bullets to experience it?

God knows how many more of these weapons Castel has. A powerful, distant, and relatively unthreatening island—isn't that a natural ally of Tiss?

Therefore, the task ultimately fell to Galahad.

He had no choice but to dress up and force himself to come here, hoping to seduce the team leader named Zoe.

Damn it, he had checked, Zoe was just an ordinary maid on Duke Cohen's territory!

Galahad held a title personally bestowed by the Queen. Although the Queen was no longer alive, noble blood still flowed in his veins. The thought of traveling with a commoner and having to try to please this woman made Galahad feel disgusted.

Disgusting as it may be, Galahad's performance was as perfect as ever.

With his handsome appearance, he has never failed to defeat any woman, whether she is a noblewoman or an unmarried young lady, as long as he takes action.

But this time, he had a vague feeling that something was wrong. Perhaps it was intuition, but he sensed a hint of... disgust in the eyes of the commoner woman before him?

No, how could that be? He must be mistaken. How could any woman resist his charm?

Galahad composed himself, smiled, and extended the invitation.

Then he saw Zoe's brows relax, then gradually lift, her eyes slowly widen, revealing a surprised expression.

"Are you telling the truth? We can go anywhere?"

Galahad blinked. This was actually a little trick, with a hint of ambiguity, giving the choice to the woman opposite him, making her anxious and uncertain in her fantasies—but why did she seem excited?

Galahad's intuition told him something was wrong, but since he had already spoken, he had no choice but to continue.

"Yes, anywhere is fine."

“That’s great!” Zoe glanced back, and Erwin nodded with a smile. “I’ll go with you. Let’s set off now!”

"Uh, okay."

"Wait a moment!" Zoe quickly ran back into the house and came out a short while later after changing her clothes.

She changed her dress into trousers and a jacket, with a brown trench coat over it, and wore leather loafers. Her hair was tied up haphazardly.

(I ran one test run, and this is roughly the result.)
The key point is that she was holding a charcoal pencil and a notebook. What was she planning to do?
Galahad's eye twitched, a crack appearing in his perfect exterior. But before he could say anything, Zoe excitedly grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the house.

"I've been wanting to visit the slums for a while now, to gather material for my novel, but Castells doesn't have any of those. So, you'll protect my safety, right?"

boom.

The door is closed.

Silence fell over the room. After a while, Erwin sighed, "I knew it."

After the lost book of the Imperial Truth, it was almost inevitable that the prince would set his sights on their bolt-action rifles; no one could resist such a powerful temptation—weapons that could completely change the battlefield.

Sitting opposite him was his mother-in-law, who was wearing round glasses and carefully looking at a book on "Simple Methods of Making Explosives" on her lap. She slowly moistened her finger with saliva and turned the pages.

"Do you think that prince is a smart man?" the mother-in-law asked.

Erwin narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then shook his head with a smile: "He's a smart man. You see, he only tried to find a solution through Zoe, without sending anyone to me, even though I directly manage the Guardians of the Faith."

"Oh?"

“I am an officer in a rising territory, leading a squad of elite soldiers. With this background and status, it would be difficult for him to buy me no matter what price he offered. As for Zoe—I’m sorry to say this, but in the prince’s eyes, she would only be a maid.”

The mother-in-law raised her head, adjusted her glasses, and slowly nodded.

So the prince is a smart man?

"He is indeed very smart, but the smarter he is, the more foolish he seems."

Erwin glanced at the bolt-action rifles the soldiers were holding: "He'll find out soon enough."

(End of this chapter)