Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 319 She had never entered the mansion.
“Josh?” The prince frowned and thought for a moment, then looked at Galahad: “Do you remember him?”

“I don’t have any either, Your Highness William, but the refugees from the North are easy to identify. We can also check the port records from that time.” After saying that, Galahad turned to Zoe: “What were the names of the ships the refugees were on?”

"The Black Pearl".

"I will send someone to check the recent ship entry and exit records, and I will notify you as soon as I have any news. Do you want to stay in Blood Harbor for a few more days?"

Zoe hesitated for a moment, glanced at Erwin, and said, "This... please allow us to discuss it."

"Okay, the results of the investigation will be sent to you later, Galahad."

Galahad escorted Castells and his men back to the mansion, and the friars who had been with Connor were also released one after another.

Connor and his companions were not tortured at all; on the contrary, they received a lot of preferential treatment—of course, this might be because he immediately stated his origins as a duke of Cohen.

As for their next itinerary...
Zoe actually preferred to return to Castel first, but a remark from Erwin changed her mind.

"Why wouldn't the prince know about the refugees from the north?"

Erwin stroked his chin and suddenly asked this question.

"You mean, he deliberately concealed the matter from Josh and the others?"

“No, it’s unlikely.” Erwin frowned. “Why would he hide it? Castell has already demonstrated his worth. What the prince wants most right now is to cultivate a good relationship with the Earl. What could Josh possibly be in the way?”

"Uh, maybe he persecuted Josh and is afraid we'll find out?"

“He detained Mr. Connor, but he’s released him now, hasn’t he? Even if there was a conflict, it can be dismissed as a misunderstanding now. I think the more likely scenario is that he really didn’t know about these refugees.”

Connor listened for a while and then chimed in, "That shouldn't be the case. A whole ship full of refugees from the North—as the lord of this place, he should know, unless..."

"Unless what?"

“Unless these refugees are deliberately hiding themselves. I’ve been under house arrest by the prince and know nothing about the current situation in Blood Harbor. Has something happened here that they need to conceal?”

Elwin and Zoe exchanged a glance and nodded in unison.

Blood Harbor is far from peaceful. It has been in chaos since the prince left, and the refugees arrived around that time.

“They’ve probably run into trouble and need to hide. With so many of them, they’re likely being targeted by cultists. But I’m a little curious, even if they were targeted by cultists, why didn’t we ask for help after we arrived?” Erwin said slowly.

“A request for help.” Zoe’s eyes lit up, as if she had just remembered something. “I remember Josh sent you a message?”

"Yes, he warned me to be careful of the prince, and then we lost contact."

Zoe scratched her head in annoyance, then suddenly clapped her hands: "Don't we have Grandma? We can investigate the situation in Blood Harbor directly, right?"

After she finished speaking, she turned to look at her mother-in-law, her eyes full of expectation.

As extraordinary beings among the fire-chasing moths, the nymphs are extremely adept at perception and concealment, and this intelligence has been largely revealed during the Deep Sea Wars.

After all, Castel had squeezed out almost all of its potential to deal with the ever-emerging monsters. Both the Banshee and the Firemoth had fought alongside the islanders in Castel.

Everyone looked at the mother-in-law.

The mother-in-law, who had been sitting quietly on the sofa listening, smiled. "You only think of me when you run into trouble? Gathering intelligence at the last minute won't work; you have to prepare in advance." Zoe was a little embarrassed. "Oh, I... I just thought of that. Could you please go and investigate?"

"Don't worry, I haven't been sitting idly in this room the whole time these past few days—"

As soon as she finished speaking, she collapsed as lightly as a piece of paper. Then the door opened, and a hooded figure appeared in the doorway. She lowered the hood, revealing her mother-in-law's kind face.

"—I do go out for a stroll occasionally."

"Oh, Grandma! You, you just went out!?"

The old woman shook her head: "I have never actually entered this mansion. I am the only superhuman in the group. If the prince were to harm you, wouldn't we all be wiped out here as well?"

Zoe was shocked. She exchanged a glance with Erwin and found that he was also very surprised.

As expected of a Moth of Fire, her stealth and caution were almost etched into her soul. Even they hadn't noticed that the old woman had been hiding in Blood Harbor all along.

"You...you've been in Blood Harbor all this time?"

"More or less. I mainly wander around the area. Many places in Blood Harbor are quite dangerous, and even as a superhuman, it's not easy for me to set foot there directly."

"Ah!" Zoe's eyes widened. "Is it... is it a cult?"

The mother-in-law nodded.

Zoe had long heard of the rampant cultists in Bloodharbor, but to her it was just a somewhat hollow warning. With the prince, the lord, sending people to protect them, the cultists naturally wouldn't bother them. They didn't really know what Bloodharbor was like anyway.

Cultists.
Zoe glanced back at the Guardians of the Church inside the room and suddenly felt a little uneasy. They had advanced bolt-action rifles, but could bullets fight against superhuman strength?

The "grandmother" on the sofa was still there. The group now knew it was a fake, but it had been interacting with them for several days without anyone questioning its authenticity.

The mother-in-law is their teammate, so for now the fake body is just laid out on the sofa. But what if she's the enemy? What if she's armed and wants to kill several people? What can they do?
What kind of bizarre methods will cultists use?

Zoe swallowed hard.

Even Erwin unconsciously loosened his collar.

On the contrary, the mother-in-law looked at the group with some amusement.

"What, are you scared already?"

"You just went to see that prince, didn't you? He wasn't interested in your weapons, was he? He asked a lot of questions about bolt-action rifles, didn't he?"

Zoe nodded. Although the prince didn't ask directly, he subtly inquired about many details, showing great interest in Castel and these advanced firearms.

"He's interested in your guns, but is he also interested in superhumans?"

Zoe paused for a moment, then shook her head.

The prince didn't ask any questions about the extraordinary, and even though he knew that monsters were attacking from the sea, he only asked about it briefly.

Erwin gave a thoughtful look.

(End of this chapter)