Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 397 She Has Not Been Forgotten

Looking at the girl's beautiful face, Hughes felt everything fall silent.

Galahad was saying something to Hughes, but he didn't notice. His mind was empty, and he felt as if he were sitting in an old movie theater. The sound of film reel rolling and the noisy static of cheap speakers filled his ears, and memories of the past began to play on the screen.

Nora, a girl with a serious expression, is short in stature, but when she looks up at you earnestly, her aura is anything but small. She is someone you won't forget once you see her.

She always works quietly and treats everyone with sincerity.

Being around her gives me a sense of security.

She wore a pure white heavy armor of the ice plains, covered with tiny scars, but thanks to the girl's careful maintenance, it remained neat and dignified, like a rock weathered by time.

Hughes really liked the armor; the full-body heavy armor worn by the banshees was modeled after it. He had planned to show it to Nora when she returned.

Clad in heavy armor, she looked up at the heavily armored banshee; the two, one large and one small, must be quite amusing.

Hmm, the heavy armor on the ice plains will get stuck when she looks up, and the armor that Hughes designed for the banshee is really tall. She'll definitely take off her helmet awkwardly and glare at him angrily.

On the screen, Nora stared at him with wide eyes, and Hughes couldn't help but laugh out loud.

The memory in the video suddenly stopped, and the film began to rewind, clicking away.

Nora also had a flail, or rather an incense burner, like a meteor hammer, with several hammerheads tied together to the handle; in fact, Hughes couldn't quite tell them apart.

On the yellowish curtain, the white-haired girl stood in front of him again, holding up a flail and introducing herself to him.

"This one is responsible for exorcising evil spirits, this one is responsible for healing, and this one is responsible for..."

"Smash someone?" Hughes asked instinctively.

“No, all three of them can hit people.” Nora’s expression turned serious. “This one is in charge of proselytizing.”

Hughes later learned that smashing people and proselytizing were the same word in the Northern language of the White Raven Duchy.

Jeremiah was a pirate at the time. Nora commanded his ship and took him to the North. Along the way, Nora preached to him, and from then on, Jeremiah would recite the Proverbs of the Silent Church when he had nightmares.

It's unknown whether he will feel anger or fear when he sees Nora again.

Jeremiah later went to the North but was unable to bring her back.

The image lost its color once again, like an old photograph, gradually becoming blurry.

The memories begin to rewind once again.

Nora, clad in heavy armor, stood before the enormous monster, her fingers clenched so tightly they turned white as she held up her tower shield.

"The moment of death is the strongest moment for the buried one. Although there were some twists and turns, we still made it to this point."

She gritted her teeth and suddenly turned to look at Hughes: "Hughes, I need you to promise that Castells will accept the refugees from the North!"

“In return, I will save Castel for you.” She turned to face Monica, blood gushing from between her teeth.

Her long white hair moved on its own without any wind, slowly floating in the air.

Her eyes turned bloodshot.

"Let me bury you!"

Nora's figure froze in mid-air, and the memory blurred and yellowed once more.

Hughes looked up at the old screen, as if that figure was blocking his way once again. The rewind speed increased, clicking sounds rang out, and countless images flashed back, some of which were now blurry.

Snowflakes appeared on the screen, like the endless snowstorms of the North, refugees in the North, devout prayers, people lying on the road, and corpses covered in frost.
The memory stopped, and the girl's face appeared on the screen. Her eyes were closed, her white hair looked as if it were covered with snow, and the signs of hardship were faintly visible between her brows and eyes.

Hughes blinked; he was still in his office, with the girl's head before him.

There was no movie theater. The girl's figure in my memory gradually blurred, but her resolute face gradually became clearer. The face in my memory gradually overlapped with the one in the box in front of me.

"The wind and snow bury the past, but the sanctuary will never forget." Hughes murmured unconsciously. He had never heard of the doctrines of the Silent Sanctuary, but he could never forget this sentence.

She was a fearless warrior, yet the Silent Sanctuary abandoned her.

The people of the North cherish their homeland most, but Nora had long since lost her home. Her head was sent all the way south to Castel, a place thousands of miles away from the North.

Hughes stood up, his gaze lingering on the box for a moment before settling on Galahad.

“Mr. Galahad, thank you for informing me. I am aware of His Highness William’s position. I will probably be quite busy soon and may not be able to entertain you. Later, one or more ships will be heading to Blood Harbor, and you can leave on them.”

Hughes rang the bell, and Connor went into the room. He gave Connor a few instructions and then left.

Galahad opened his mouth as if to say something, but looking at Hughes's back, he swallowed his words back.

Finally, he spoke in a low voice: "Did he hear me?"

"I don't know." A muffled voice came from the box. Nora blinked and looked in the direction Hughes had left with a puzzled expression.

"Come see him later."

Galahad nodded: "You're in charge."

Connor stood in the doorway, watching their conversation with a strange expression.

Feeling the strange gaze Connor was giving him, Galahad sighed and explained, "Nora is the buryer of the Sanctuary, bearing the heaviest price—she is immortal, and even if her head is cut off, she cannot die."

He shook his head.

Connor thought for a moment, then asked somewhat strangely, "Didn't Earl Bazel know?"

Nora must know a lot about the North, and sending her head here might be detrimental to the war in the North.

“It’s hard to say. The Silent Sanctuary abandoned the Rebels, but they may not inform the Grand Dukes in the North. Besides, perhaps they already know.” Galahad shook his head.

Galahad's face darkened.

The three grand dukes of the four northern lords and Count Bazel did not have many troops, and their overall strength was relatively weak due to the chaos in the north.

This is why they were willing to ally with the prince, with the prince's Duchy of Tis as the leader.

This provocative response is somewhat strange, and the timing is perfect, just when the prince should have started dealing with the empire.

If it weren't for Castel, the prince should have started preparing for war by now. This should be the time when the Duchy of Tis is at its strongest, and those lords in the north chose this time to provoke us.
If they intended to rebel, they should have done so after the war began. If they did not intend to end the alliance, why provoke them?

It can't just be simple stupidity, right?

Galahad felt as if an inescapable dark cloud had enveloped everything.

(End of this chapter)