Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 503 The Great Evacuation of Sladedinburgh
Then, the two halves of the body fell to the ground, scattering into a pile of threads.

Isaac emerged from the shadows, his expression complex.

The good news is that he's confirmed it; this Gwen is most likely real, and the Vatican's superhumans can't fake her appearance and power.

The bad news is that even Isaac can't quite see through her anymore.

"Gwen, did you undergo any rituals with Nora?"

"I've had it done. Nora baptized me several times, the traditional Northern baptism, it almost rubbed my skin off."

"No, no, no, I mean a ritual with extraordinary power."

"This is a ritual with supernatural powers; she used supernatural powers to rub me!"

Isaac questioned her repeatedly for a long time, confirming that Gwen had not been exposed to anything related to the supernatural, neither the supernatural rituals of the major churches nor the oaths of the knights.

Of course, if she wasn't lying.
Isaac lowered his head, looking into Gwen's clear eyes, and felt a strange sense of guilt. How could he have assumed such a thing about his friend?
"In short, I still have some suspicions that you are already a superhuman. If it's not due to what happened later, perhaps it's related to your childhood experiences? For example, before you left home."

"Uh, you mean I'm a superhuman? But I don't have any superhuman power. Could it be that my attack just now exceeded the scope of ordinary people?"

“You could say it didn’t exceed that limit,” Isaac’s expression became conflicted. “Your attack just now, including your reaction speed, was almost at the limit of human capability. I mean, it was comparable to half of a superhuman.”

“Half a superhuman? That’s an interesting way to put it. I hope I can complete the other half someday,” Gwen said with a smile. “By the way, are you planning to stay here for a long time? It’s very convenient for you to leave now that the Allied Forces aren’t here. Once they return, they’ll probably besiege the city again.”

"The coalition forces will not return."

Gwen was taken aback, her face lighting up with elation, but then a hint of worry crept in: "The allied forces are no longer besieging us? Could it be that Count Bazel's army is coming again?"

Although the Allied forces were numerous and powerful, they did not focus all their efforts on dealing with the resistance, a fact that Gwen could sense.

But Count Bazel was different. He hated the resistance to the bone, and once he took action, it would be a fight to the death.

And to be honest, after six months of fighting, Gwen still felt that Bazel's army was more elite.
“It would have been a good thing if Bazel’s army had come, but unfortunately they haven’t,” Isaac shrugged.

"I bring good news, Castells has arrived."

“Castel is here? Oh, you mean you’ve made contact with Castel, right? When I heard that, I almost thought the whole island had drifted over.”

Gwen chuckled.

“No, it’s Castel who’s here.” Isaac stood up amidst Gwen’s surprised gaze.

“Castel is now only a few hours away from Sladedinburgh, closer than you are to Grizzly Town—of course, it will take some time before the railroad is fully extended to our doorstep, but it is just around the corner.”

Gwen stared blankly for a while, then suddenly rubbed her eyes, her voice hoarse and trembling.

"You mean, we haven't been to Castel yet, so Castel came to pick us up?"

"Yes."

"Oh, you really love to joke with me. I'm sorry, I'm not criticizing you, I mean..." She rubbed her eyes, her face seemingly smiling yet also appearing to be crying.

“I’m so happy to hear you say that. Castells didn’t abandon us, that’s enough. Of course I know it won’t really drift over, but I’m still so happy.”

Gwen put down the ledger in her hand and focused on rubbing her eyes. She seemed to want to cry, but she was a little rusty and couldn't even remember how to cry.

Isaac didn't speak, but simply patted her shoulder armor, which felt cold and hard.

Without his persuasion, Gwen quickly composed herself and patted her breastplate: "Wearing armor makes me less weak, which is why I like to wear it all the time. I'm always too weak, and weakness can kill a lot of people."

She blushed slightly, at her momentary weakness.

But Isaac shook his head: "I'm telling the truth, Castel. That island will always surprise you. Its magic and power are beyond words. Go see for yourself. I hope you don't faint from fright."

“If I could really get to Castel, I wouldn’t care if I fainted from fright, but how is everything you’re saying possible? How could Castel possibly be here?”

"That's a long story."

Isaac pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Well, Alexei, isn't this really good news?"

“Yes, yes, I didn’t expect it to go so smoothly.” Alexei exclaimed as he opened Isaac’s report.

"To be honest, it's actually quite exciting that everything is going smoothly. We rarely have smooth operations in the North; there are always all sorts of mishaps."

Even Hughes was moved. He had actually come up with many ideas for the Northern Territory, but things always went awry due to unforeseen circumstances, which made the smooth progress all the more remarkable.

"Alright, let's not dwell on the past. Now that we've made contact with the resistance forces, we can start discussing the large-scale evacuation."

"The Great Evacuation?"

"Yes, we need to find a way to bring the resistance fighters and the residents of Sladedinburgh who are willing to come with us back to Castell. At the current rate, it will take some time for the railway to be built there. But the Allied forces have just been defeated, and Count Bazel has no enemies. If another conflict breaks out, it will be terrible. The best option is to organize their evacuation from the North before the news spreads."

"But the resistance forces are numerous, aren't they?"

“There are quite a few, and many of them are non-combatants. If you include the residents of Sladedinburgh, there are even more. The train's capacity is not a problem. We can send more locomotives over there. At worst, we can just derail them and leave them there as fixed fortifications to provide fire support. But the distance from Sladedinburgh to the railway, I'm afraid they will have to walk it themselves.”

"In fact, Gwen should have already started her journey by now, and I have just sent orders to Bloodharbor. The expeditionary force heading to provide support has already boarded the train and is ready to depart at any time."

Is it really necessary to be in such a hurry?

Alexei was somewhat surprised.

"Delay will only lead to changes, and this was Isaac's assessment when he was in the North. In fact, the situation in the North has changed drastically since then."

"The Church has officially intervened in the North, and the spies monitoring Bazel have sent word that he has left with all his troops."

(End of this chapter)