Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 340 Changes in Blood Harbor
"Gwen, have your people made any discoveries lately?"

Josh, wearing a hood, approached Gwen, his eyes filled with solemnity.

When he first took in these homeless children, he didn't really care much about them.

Although surviving in Blood Harbor is an amazing feat, that's probably their limit; after all, they're just a bunch of kids.

Are you expecting them to gather intelligence?
Don't be ridiculous. What use are children if even adults can't do it?

I agreed to let them join because I felt sorry for them. The so-called mission was just talk; it was just an excuse to justify my kindness.

In Bloodharbor, kindness is a luxury, and Josh must carefully conceal it under his hood, which is one of the reasons he established the cult.

If he acts kindly, people will expect him to always be kind.

So even though Josh was very interested in Gwen, he didn't have much expectation.

But all of that is different now.

During the previous rebellion of the Church of the Mother of Life, it was this little girl with white hair who issued the first warning, even before her grandmother came to her door.

To be honest, Josh was a little surprised. He thought his friends would choose to leave. On one side was the chaotic and dangerous Bloodharbor, and on the other side was Castells, which he had left long ago. There was no comparison.

But in the end, everyone stayed here.

At first, they didn't think too much about it; it was mostly just a momentary impulse of young people. But when they saw the firm eyes of the believers, they could no longer bring themselves to say anything about regret.

And this feeling is not bad either.

Since the Mother Goddess's followers conquered the Upper City, the environment in Bloodharbor has inexplicably improved a lot.

Previously, the port area was home to many intricate gangs, backed by various nobles, but now they have all scattered like birds and beasts.

Of course, there were still many remnants, which were easily dealt with by the followers of the Steam and Deep Sea Secret Order.

The level of organization on both sides is completely different.

As for the Church of the Mother of Life, it has completely taken control of the port's underbelly. Although the people in Blood Harbor are not living very well now, at least they are no longer starving to death.

In other inconspicuous places, many changes are also happening quietly.

For example, some professions that were originally controlled by nobles gradually became more accessible to commoners.

For example, the officers of the port guards, ever since Rad was killed by the prince in the military camp, the prince stopped selecting officers from the nobles and instead introduced a whole set of promotion systems.

If someone were to examine these systems closely, they would find that they bear a striking resemblance to the Royal Army's recruitment system—but no one doubts that the prince is the empire's greatest threat and the leader of the rebels.

After the nobles in the upper city were massacred, the upper-level officials of Bloodharbor were almost completely purged. Most of the nobles were local lords, which also meant the highest-ranking officials, and they held most of the local power.

In other words, the prince was practically left without any support.

But to everyone's surprise, the order of Bloodharbor and even the Principality of Tis did not collapse, and the prince's decrees were successfully issued and implemented.

It was only then that people noticed something.

The prince's territory was governed by the thirteen-rank civil service system promulgated by the queen. This system, which had always been criticized as redundant and inefficient, was now showing surprising resilience.

Among the thirteen ranks of civil officials, ranks eight through thirteen were the lowest level. Promotion was based on seniority and they were mainly selected from commoners. They had virtually no power.

Those ranked seventh to fourth would be granted noble titles, but of course, they couldn't expect fiefdoms. Alexei was a seventh-rank civil official. This class was nominally open to commoners, but only exceptionally talented individuals had the opportunity to rise there. They were the de facto administrators of their territories, responsible for managing specific affairs.

The top three ranks were held by powerful nobles, who were truly high-ranking members of the elite. Most of those killed by cultists were nobles from this class.

It is clear that there is an insurmountable gap between the eighth and seventh ranks of civil officials, and there is no promotion relationship at all between the fourth and third ranks.

But now, these gaps and barriers are being quietly broken down.

Under the pretext of an "emergency," the prince granted a large number of civil officials of commoner origin real power to temporarily take charge of the work. Although they were still nominally low-ranking civil officials, they were gradually infiltrating the upper class of the Duchy of Tis.

Their original vacancies were quickly filled by newly recruited civil servants—the empire had been building orphanages continuously during its period of expansion, providing them with educational opportunities.

Alexei was born in an orphanage in the North, and the young people who left the orphanage at the same time as him are now gradually filling the civil service system.

Although the prince, under the banner of opposing the empire, expelled the Candlelight Church, the empire's state religion, these institutions were preserved intact.

All of these factors combined have led to the strange situation in Blood Harbor today: despite having just been ravaged by rebellion and war, the entire city is gradually becoming full of life again.

But this is just appearance.

Only a few people can sense the undercurrents beneath the surface of peace, such as
Gwen.

When the cultists of the Mother of Life launched their rebellion, she did not stay in the heavily guarded territory of the Secret Order, but secretly slipped out.

Of course, this was under the protection of her [friends].

With the guidance of these friends, she discovered even more interesting things.

For example, there's Miss Zoe, who's a bit older than Gwen and has beautiful brown hair, which Gwen likes very much.

Beautiful silk threads adorned her body, drifting into the sky, their destination unknown.

For example, that prince; it seemed as if two souls were crammed into his body, which was quite strange.

However, if we're talking about something strange, it's nothing compared to Tommy. That boy had four souls crammed into his body, which startled Gwen when she first saw it.

But he died soon after, well, I guess you could say he died.

After all, he was torn apart and swallowed piece by piece by the monster inside Mira.

"Gwen?"

Gwen suddenly snapped out of her daze, only then noticing that Josh was still staring at her, the high priest of the Steam and Deep Sea Order, the infamous cult leader of Bloodharbor.
Well, he seems to be one of the few normal people.

He had a frail body and a weak soul, completely lacking any extraordinary power.

However, he has a kind heart and will cook delicious hot porridge for everyone.

"High Priest, what did you just say? I was lost in thought."

"I asked if there had been any unusual developments or discoveries at Blood Harbor recently."

Gwen blinked.

"No, everything is normal, there are just some minor issues, I will take care of them for you."

(End of this chapter)