Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 323 The Rebellion of the Church of the Mother Goddess

While Josh and the others were discussing, Gwen in the next room suddenly frowned.

She turned to look out the window, her ears perked up as if listening to something.

Her expression quickly turned serious. She then put down the half-finished bowl of porridge, stood up, and ran towards Josh.

"High Priest! High Priest! Something's happened!" Gwen shouted as she ran, passing through dilapidated houses. The doors opened, and believers came out of their homes upon hearing her cries.

Some people were still holding bowls of porridge, while others had already picked up sticks and stones from the ruins.

Inside the house, Josh was already quite tempted by his companions' persuasion. He was determined that even if he was banished by the lord, he would still return to Castel to take a look. After all, that remote island was his hometown.

Just as he was about to make up his mind, he suddenly heard Gwen shouting outside.

The group exchanged glances, immediately stood up, and opened the door.

The petite girl ran all the way, her expression anxious. Upon seeing Josh, she immediately exclaimed, "High Priest, the outside is teeming with cultists! A rebellion has broken out in Blood Harbor! It's those people from the Church of the Mother Goddess!"

Josh was startled. Before he could ask Gwen where the message came from, he looked at the believers pouring out of the houses and shouted, "Immediately notify the brothers and sisters still outside and tell them to come back quickly. Those who can carry weapons, come with me to guard the street corner. The rest of you, go and move supplies! Hurry!"

Bloodharbor had been in chaos for quite some time, and Josh and his group had made many preparations. He led a group of believers out, while the remaining companions each led a team to issue orders and gather people in an orderly manner.

The Church of the Mother Goddess, this cult organization, has just as many members as them, and its influence in the slums is extremely strong. If they were to launch a rebellion, the entire Bloodharbor would be dragged down with them.

"Damn it, what's gotten into these people? They think they can storm the Hong Kong garrison? Even with us combined, we might not be able to do it."

The prince's ability to establish himself in the chaotic Blood Harbor was not due to luck. The port guards he personally trained carved out a stable upper district within Blood Harbor, and any organization that wanted to provoke him had to think twice about the power of the musketeers.

Those soldiers, who were just a disorganized bunch a few months ago, have become so capable of fighting after his and Galahad's training.

That being said, if the Church of the Mother Goddess is determined to rebel, it's hard to say whether the prince can suppress it.

No one can say for sure how many evils are hidden in the streets and alleys of Bloodharbor. The various forces are deeply intertwined, and any move they make could have far-reaching consequences. It is very likely that the entire Bloodharbor will be dragged down.

Josh now only hopes to protect the followers of the Secret Order. There is not much he can do for them except a bowl of hot porridge. Now that they are willing to follow him, he does not want to betray their trust.

At this moment, the streets were packed with people.

The hooded priestess and the angry believers silently walked toward the upper city of Bloodharbor.

Josh, with a group of followers, stood on the street, which was simply fenced off with wood and stone, watching warily as the cultists walked past them.

Several priestesses of the Mother Goddess turned to look at them and took off their hoods.

Several gasps of surprise came from the followers behind Josh.

"Auntie Gary!? Little Brendon!?"

"Why are you here?"

"Damn it, do you know what you're doing? Come back now! You'll be killed!"

"Do you know how terrifying those Hong Kong guards' muskets are? One shot and you're a corpse!"

The esoteric followers urged her on. “I know,” the young priestess of the Mother Goddess suddenly spoke up. “My father was killed by them. He was shot in the stomach and bled for a long time before he died. They just stood there watching.”

“He only stole half a sack of grain, which was beans for feeding horses. A horse needs two sacks of grain a day, and as long as there was half a sack, my mother and my sister would not have starved to death.”

“I was hiding to the side when he died, so scared that I didn’t dare to move and didn’t dare to go out.”

He looked around quietly, his gaze sweeping across everyone's faces, then gently shook his head and pulled up his hood.

"Now, I'm going to find him."

The Mother Goddess's procession passed in silence before them, and no one spoke.

The old woman's figure moved swiftly through the alleyways.

Groups of cultists from the Church of Mother Goddess passed by her, but none of them noticed her.

She held a piece of paper in her hand. An address was written in slightly childish handwriting, followed by the words "Josh" and a circle.

This note suddenly appeared in the mansion where the group lived.

The news of the Bloodharbor rebellion was discovered by the old woman immediately. Castells and his men were about to send someone to inform the prince when this note appeared in the mansion.

Although it was very strange, the mother-in-law still decided to take a look first.

Josh was, after all, a Castelite. Although he hadn't contacted the others for some reason, Zoe and the others were actually quite concerned.

As a superhuman among the Moths of Fire, the old woman's greatest strength lies in concealment and escape. Even if it's a trap, she's confident she can escape unscathed.

So she came, and soon she met the group of people who were gathered together discussing countermeasures.

"Josh?"

"What's wrong? Is something the matter?" Josh turned his head in the direction of the voice, only to be surprised to find that it was an unfamiliar face.

He blinked, somewhat confused: "Who are you?"

“You can call me Grandma. I work for Lord Hughes. I am a superhuman.”

With time running out, the mother-in-law simply revealed her identity.

At this moment, the people in the room stood up in surprise. They were in the very center of the secret society. They had never expected that someone could sneak in directly past the sight of the many believers around them and only mistake the old woman for a believer.

"You say you were sent by the lord, how can you prove it?"

"You owe Hughes eighty-five boxes of soap, thirty of which are berry-scented, thirty of which are grass-scented, and twenty-five of which are floral-scented. You've secretly kept fifteen of those, all of them floral-scented, and there are seven more left."

"Alright, alright, we believe you now!" Josh quickly stood up, interrupting her mother-in-law. "Superhuman, are you... are you here to punish us?"

The old woman glanced around. She had sensed something was wrong when she came in. She had also heard a few of the prayers the believers had been chanting. Seeing Josh's nervous look, she knew what he was afraid of.

"No, punishing you is the lord's business. I'm here to take you home."

(End of this chapter)