Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 389 The Prince's Confusion

Maybe it's an illusion.

The prince didn't pay much attention to the lighthouse; Castells had too many things that interested him, such as the church in front of them.

“I had heard about the grandeur of this church before I came, but I was still amazed by it when I saw it in person,” the prince sighed as he looked at Castel Cathedral.

"It doesn't really have any commendable design; it's just a purely functional building. We urgently needed permanent fortifications during the deep-sea war, so we built this in a hurry. It's made entirely of reinforced concrete, something like cement. Its thickness is enough to withstand the bombardment of a warship's main gun—although we currently have neither warships nor main guns."

The prince nodded.

It's just cement; he's seen it before.

Architects in the Rhine often liked to use this kind of easily moldable material to decorate buildings.

It is simple to prepare and easy to pour, but its disadvantage is that it is too brittle. It is not suitable for building construction or even decoration, as it is easily damaged by sun and rain.

Can this thing be used for construction?
The prince was unaware that the cement he saw in the Rhine and the concrete that Hughes had described were almost entirely different things.

The cement that appeared in the Rhine was still quite primitive. It was used more as a binder between stones, somewhat like the mortar used by the Romans. Its main components were limestone, sand, volcanic ash, etc.

Aside from its decent plasticity, it is completely incomparable to modern cement in terms of strength and other properties.

The process used by Hughes is quite mature. The limestone, after being processed by calcination and other methods, undergoes a chemical reaction during the hardening process, and concrete takes this a step further.

It uses cement as a raw material, mixed with sand, gravel, and slag from the blast furnace of a steel plant, and reinforced with steel bars as a framework, to make reinforced concrete.

The prince's gaze fell on the outer wall.

Because the walls of the cathedral needed to withstand the head-on impact of the sea urchin monster, they were made incredibly thick. After the new stellar furnace was built, the walls were even thickened again to ensure they were absolutely safe.

All of these combined formed the monster before their eyes: the outer walls of the entire church were a horrifyingly thick three meters, with the core exceeding seven meters—it was practically a lump of concrete.

Castel's inner circle had no walls; instead, it was surrounded by a series of permanent fortifications, making each point a fortress.

Upon seeing its thickness, the prince's doubts vanished.

With this thickness, even a wall plastered with mud wouldn't collapse, let alone cement.

But why use something so fragile to build it?
"This is a life-size miniature model of the cathedral." Hughes took out a delicate little box and gave it to the prince. The prince picked it up and played with it for a while before putting it away.

The carriage was heading towards the gates of the inner circle, about to enter the fortress complex. Suddenly, the prince noticed that the banshee who had been traveling with them was nowhere to be seen. He looked out the carriage window, somewhat puzzled.

The road they came from was surrounded by plains, and they could see far into the distance, but they did not see the two banshees.

"They left through the net," Hughes casually remarked.

The network? Perhaps it's a facility similar to a sewer system. As a newly emerging metropolis, Rhine has a rather complex sewer system. The prince seemed to know a little about it and nodded as if he understood.

Before long, the two arrived at the church, where a great commotion was taking place. Several banshees had just untied Monica from the monument.

Hughes was a little embarrassed: "Well, these banshees are a bit too lively. They've been making newspapers and such lately, causing quite a bit of trouble."

The prince knew what newspapers were, of course. They weren't even exactly fashionable; they were only available in a few cities near the Rhine because publishing them required printing equipment. But that wasn't his focus.

"You allow them to access newspapers?" He carefully examined the different everyday clothes worn by the banshees, then looked at the people around him.

Some of these islanders are night shift workers, while others are taking a day off to enjoy their holidays; it's clear at a glance that they are just ordinary people.

They were gathered in a circle watching the spectacle, seemingly accustomed to the presence of the banshee.

The prince's eyes gradually narrowed.

"No, it seems I was wrong. These extraordinary beings from other races are not just warriors. You treat them as ordinary citizens, letting them interact with humans and pursue other professions, right?"

Hughes looked directly into the prince's eyes and nodded quietly.

"why?"

"What would you do if you were in my shoes?"

“Designate an area for them to live in, separate the banshees from humans, manage them militarized, grant them privileges free from the law, and train them into loyal warriors, the sharpest blade in my hand,” the prince replied without hesitation.

After saying that, he looked at the female demons who were playing around in the central courtyard.

"Newspapers? Production? Even if a banshee could produce as much as a hundred workers, it wouldn't be necessary. A hundred or a thousand workers are easy to find, but a banshee can change the entire battlefield situation."

He looked away and met Hughes's gaze.

"This is a huge waste."

"So, why?"

The prince was right; the banshee's greatest effectiveness lies on the battlefield.

As for scientific research, although many things were created by the Banshee, such as Ash's polluted plants, Nini's herding spell, and Monica's machine spirits and clamorers, in reality, the Banshee does not have many advantages over humans in scientific research.

On the battlefield, banshees can do things that humans simply cannot.

It's one thing to deal with monsters like the "Mother of Mercy," but on a human battlefield, the Banshees only need one charge to destroy almost any enemy line.

In fact, the Empire's setback in the Northern War was a similar situation. The priests of the Silent Church, dressed in heavy armor, sang hymns and managed to tear a gap in the battle line despite the barrage of musketeers.

Since then, there has been no more war in the North. The Empire and the White Raven Duchy signed a treaty of non-aggression, and instead turned the flames of war to the West.

The White Raven Kingdom didn't completely collapse until the White Catastrophe occurred, and the refugees continued to migrate south—but that's another story.

The prince still can't forget those heavily armed priests on the battlefield, and it could even be said that he still harbors resentment towards them. The moment he saw these banshees appear in Bloodharbor, old memories resurfaced in his mind.

He stared intently at Hughes, waiting for the border lord to offer an explanation.

(End of this chapter)