Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 321 Mother Goddess Church
Mira hid in her shack, peering cautiously through the crack in the door at the cultists passing by outside.

They are followers of the Mother Goddess, a cult said to be a terrible one where joining requires even sacrificing one's life.
Mira's mother had repeatedly warned her to stay away from these terrible people.

Mira was a very obedient child; she kept the door tightly shut.

But suddenly, one of the cult members stopped and turned around to look.

It was a hooded figure, completely hidden in shadow; cultists all dressed like this.

He noticed Mira's eyes secretly observing him.

Mira quickly lowered her head, trying to curl up her small body and hide behind the door.

The cultist walked over and stood in front of the door.

"Mira, is your mother feeling any better?"

Mira covered her ears and remained silent.

"Here's some grain. Take it and cook some porridge. Don't let her go out to work anymore. Let her rest for a while, and she'll get better. When you're sick, drink plenty of water, and remember to boil it before drinking."

He rambled on for a long time, and when he saw that there was no response from inside the house, he turned and left.

After a long while, Mira cautiously raised her head and looked out through the crack in the door again.

The somewhat familiar figure was gone; a worn-out bag lay on the ground.

Mira hesitated for a moment, looked around, opened the door a crack, and then swiftly pulled the pocket inside.

She quickly closed the door, then turned around, sat on the floor with her back against the door, and looked down at her pocket.

In her pocket was a small bag of mixed grains, light as a feather, but enough for her and her mother to live a few more days.

A cough came from inside the room.

"Hey, Mira, is someone here?"

Mira looked at the bag in her hand, then looked up at her mother inside.

"It was Uncle Philip from next door. He brought some food."

There were no words coming from inside the room, only a violent cough.

"Mira, I brought you a can of goat milk this time. Heat it up and share it with your mother. She's been feeling better lately, hasn't she?"

"."

Mira opened the door, and several greedy eyes fell on the jars and bags in front of her door, eager to grab them.

A cold snort came from outside, and those gazes dispersed.

Mira hid most of her body behind the door, glanced at the hooded figure, then lowered her head, picked up her things, and fled as if she were running away.

A long sigh came from inside the room.

"Mira, I brought you a lot of food, enough for the two of you to eat for a long time."

"."

"I probably won't come here again in the future. You have to listen to your mother."

"Uncle Philip, where are you going?"

The man outside was stunned for a moment, then looked up at the door and realized that there was a pair of small eyes staring at him.

Mira tiptoed and peered through the crack in the door, meeting the man's gaze through the thin wooden panel.

"Uncle is going to find more food. The other believers also have mothers and relatives, and they also need food. Uncle may be gone for a long time. You need to take good care of your mother and make sure she doesn't get sick again. Also, take good care of yourself and don't let your mother worry."

"Mom says you are a believer of the Mother Goddess of Life. Will becoming a believer mean you will have food?"

The man paused, then his voice grew urgent: "Mira, listen to me, the Cult of the Mother of Life is an evil cult. Evil cults are deadly. You should leave here in a while, leave the North, go south. People there have enough to eat, there are no white disasters, and everyone can live under the sun." Mira stared at him without speaking. After a while, she opened the door.

But the hooded figure fled as if it were running away.

"Mira, be careful while you're home alone. Mom will be back soon."

Mila grabbed her mother's hand and shook her head: "Why do we have to go out? Uncle Philip gave us plenty of food, we can have porridge!"

The woman knelt down and gently smoothed Mila's dry, yellow hair from her forehead.

"Good child, good child, Mira, you are a good child, but Mira, the White Disaster is coming. Mother has to go and prepare more food so that we can survive. Mother promises you, I will be back soon."

Mila held her mother's hand and kept shaking her head.

"Don't worry, Mira, Mom is all better now, there won't be any problems."

"Be good, Mira. We have to survive. We can't be willful."

Mira slowly let go of her mother's hand and watched her leave.

Mira's memories stopped, and she turned to look at the shacks on the side of the street.

A pair of eyes were peering at her through the gap.

Mira walked over, squatted down, took off her hood, and looked into those eyes through the decaying door panel.

Those eyes did not look away.

She picked up a bag, shook it, and then slowly placed it on the ground in front of the door.

Then he stood up, turned around, and left.

But after taking only a few steps, they heard a sizzling sound of a door opening behind them.

Are you cult members?

Mira paused in her steps.

“We, the Church of the Mother of Life, are cultists.”

"I don't want your food, I only want revenge. I want those who killed my father to pay the price. Will joining you give me the power to take revenge?"

“We will die. We are cultists. If we want to gain power, we have to give our lives—and we may not even get much in return.”

Instead of the sound of the door closing behind me, I heard footsteps.

Mira strolled through Blood Harbor, her crowd growing larger and larger, filling every alleyway of the slums.

"The Church of the Mother of Life, they are the most dangerous cultists in Blood Harbor."

"They may not be that powerful, but their followers seem endless; if you're not careful, a large number of them will suddenly appear."

"Like weeds, they always grow out of nowhere."

“These cult members are completely irrational, even within the cult they are quite insane.”

"The path to transcendence in this church is very weak. Even if one successfully advances, one will not gain much power. Instead, it will consume a lot of lifespan. It is very rare for anyone to live for more than a month. In fact, they do not need to live any longer."

"Their greatest use for superhumans is as sacrifices."

"They seem to have no regard for their own lives, often sacrificing large numbers of superhumans to cause destruction. And these sacrifices are even more fanatical in their self-sacrifice. It is hard to understand why such a cult exists, and why anyone would believe in them."

"Of course, understanding cultists is a foolish thing; only a foolish person would choose to follow a cult."

"My suggestion is to send troops to annihilate them directly."

Galahad closed the report and looked up at the prince sitting behind his desk.

(End of this chapter)