Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 337 The Prince's Flaw

"Is this really true?!" A look of shock flashed across Hughes's face.

“Yes, it was discovered by the shipbuilding researchers.” Alexei sighed.

Hughes didn't know much about shipbuilding and couldn't offer any guidance. The shipyard's researchers completely let loose this time, creating all sorts of strange and unusual ships.

In their chaotic experiments, they gradually discovered something:
The closer to Castells, the higher the efficiency of various steam engines and machinery, and the lower the failure rate.

Conversely, once they are far from Castel, the machine spirits of the machines on their ship become more silent and respond to them less and less.

Of course, the current impact is still very weak, with only a very small difference, but its occurrence itself is of extraordinary significance.

Hughes jumped up from his chair and paced back and forth quickly.

“Alexei, you know, the Guardians of the Faith are basically all superstitious believers in the power of quantity. They are always obsessed with quantity and it is impossible to stop them.”

"And I found that the bombs used by the apologists were more effective than those tested in the factory."

"That is to say."

Alexei's face gradually showed shock as he muttered to himself, "Personal cognition supersedes the world... Cognitive interference!?"

“It does resemble cognitive interference, but… it seems different,” Hughes said seriously.

“Serious interference is a mistaken perception interfering with the correct reality, while yield worship does not mean that they do not know how much damage a specific yield will cause.”

"They are not using their own perceptions to overshadow the real world, but rather their expectations."

"They were hoping for a more violent bomb explosion, and the engineers were hoping for a more stable machine soul that wouldn't have any problems."

"This expectation, or rather belief, seems to have a slow influence on reality."

"The problem now is that we don't know if this is a widespread phenomenon or if it's only happening in Castel."

Hughes sighed deeply. Castel was no longer just a remote island. Whether it was the soul of the sea god or the pollution that had drained the entire Storm Ocean, it had now gathered all sorts of miracles and could not be measured by ordinary standards.

If this phenomenon of "belief influencing reality" could gradually solidify and become a permanent physical law...
Hughes shook his head. The possibility was too small. If beliefs could influence reality at will, the Church would have long been a divine kingdom on earth, surrounded by millions of believers.

Hughes's intuition told him that there was likely a trap involved.

If cognitive interference is so dangerous, is this way of influencing reality really safe?
Moreover, this will bring many troubles. If the physical laws of this world are not stable, then the principles written in books will gradually be replaced by empiricism, experience will deviate, and eventually science will completely become metaphysics.

"In short, this is likely not a good thing. All researchers should be informed that any experiments using this phenomenon need to be restricted, documented, and reviewed. We need to be cautious when facing the unknown."

Alexei understood the gravity of the matter and nodded solemnly: "Understood, my lord."

“There’s one more thing, Alexei. I need you to keep a close eye on Galahad. Something seems off with the prince.” “The prince? What has he been doing at Blood Harbor?”

"No, it's not about what happened now, but about what happened before. I've spoken with Ken and Jeremiah. They both contacted the prince—the prince who went to assassinate the previous prince—but what they said doesn't quite match up with the current prince."

Alexei blinked, then said hesitantly, "That's normal, isn't it? After all, it's such a huge thing that it's understandable to completely change a person. Revenge made him abandon his past weakness—hasn't this happened many times before?"

Hughes shook his head: "If it's just a change in personality, that's understandable, but... how can the memories not even match up?"

"what?"

"Before setting off, the prince happened to summon Jeremiah, Ken, and Josh and promised them that he would go to the North to rescue Nora."

"So that's how it is. He's decided to break the contract?" Alexei's expression was somewhat dismissive. Nobles, after all, valuing their reputation is a virtue, but there are also many who break their word easily.

“No, he doesn’t remember it.” Hughes bit his lip. “Our people asked him about Josh when he was trying to get closer to Castell. There’s no need to lie about such a trivial matter, but he says he doesn’t remember.”

"Could it be that he really forgot?"

"First of all, it happened recently, just before the assassination. Secondly, this matter involves many things. According to the information I have, Nora is almost at the center of the vortex in the North. Whatever his reasons for deciding to intervene here, it is no small matter."

"In addition, Josh was the first merchant from Castells to come here, and according to him, he had a very pleasant conversation with the prince when they met before."

Hughes stared intently into Alexei's eyes: "If you were a prince, would you forget something like this?"

Alexei frowned and slowly shook his head: "It's impossible to forget. Something's definitely not right, sir."

“Actually, what concerns me most is something else,” Hughes suddenly said. “You know that Connor was imprisoned by the prince for a long time.”

Alexei nodded. Connor had gone to Blood Harbor several months ago and had been out of contact ever since. It was natural that he was imprisoned, but he didn't seem to have been mistreated or tortured. The prince was still rational after all.

“When Connor was imprisoned, he saw another prisoner.” Hughes sat back in his chair and squinted.

“Yuan”.

“Juan?” Alexei searched his memory but couldn’t recall anything.

“He was the prince’s former steward, serving him for many years. After the prince returned from the Rhine, Ewan disappeared and was replaced by Galahad, the knight who came to visit us. Coincidentally, he is also a superhuman and skilled in combat.”

"No one knows where this knight comes from—handsome, skilled in martial arts, and an extraordinary being; it's hard for someone like that to remain unknown, isn't it?"

"The prince did something to gain his loyalty and followed him all the way. He even accepted the offer to come to Castel. This is the sea, a forbidden place for the extraordinary. Only those who are desperate and have nowhere else to turn would consider trying their luck here."

"The prince suddenly replaced his old butler who had served him for many years, and then a new follower appeared out of nowhere. Don't you think that's too strange?"

(End of this chapter)