Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 563 Adding a Cover to Blood Harbor

"How much steel would that take?"

Alvarez looked up and muttered to himself.

"Ha, can't figure it out, can you? I can't figure it out either, so I did a serious calculation, and the result is unbelievable even to myself—you know what? The steel used for just these infrastructures alone is enough to cover Blood Harbor."

"This is not a description, nor a metaphor, but the literal meaning: if you melt this steel and forge it into iron plates, it can cover the entire Bloodharbor, and its thickness will definitely be no less than the plate armor of your knights."

Alvarez stood speechlessly on the street, the bright sunlight shining on him, the silhouettes of steel pipes falling around him. He looked up at the sky, imagining it to be a steel dome.

"No, that can't be right. Although there are many gas pipes and they are thick, it shouldn't require this much steel."

"That's because all you can see when you look up is the gas pipe. Do you know how many pipes are under our feet?"

"Feet, feet?" Alvarez was startled and quickly took a few steps back.

"See that round thing over there on the street? That's a manhole cover. You can crawl in after you open it. Blood Harbor looks huge from above, and the sewers below are also very dense. It is said that a great disaster happened here before, and a large part of the ground in Blood Harbor collapsed. When the lord rebuilt it, he also repaired the sewers."

"It is said that the sewers were built exactly according to the streets above, with each street's drainage outlet corresponding to the pipes below. There are densely packed pipes for rainwater, sewage, steam, and even for transporting special supplies. The area beneath Blood Harbor might be even larger than this city."

Alvarez stared blankly at the ground beneath his feet. He suddenly had the feeling that he wasn't standing on the ground, but on a building. What he thought was the ground was just the rooftop.

"Why...why build so many pipes?" Alvarez stammered.

"Of course they each have their uses. You know, the ocean next to us is called the Storm Ocean, where torrential rain is commonplace. Have you ever seen a road covered in puddles?"

"No, it doesn't rain much in the North. The cities in my territory are often flooded."

"This rainwater is discharged into the sea through the sewers."

Alvarez was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"Uncle, besides that, have you noticed how exceptionally clean these streets are?"

Alvarez hadn't really focused on this matter. There were too many shocking things about Bloodharbor. The clean and tidy streets seemed like a given, just as the divine kingdom in the Holy Scriptures wouldn't be covered in excrement and garbage. He thought it was normal, but the more he thought about it, the more alarmed he became.

You mean those filth?

"Yes, there are dedicated sewage pipes, and people clean them regularly to ensure the streets are clean."

Alvarez wanted to argue that he had just seen a horse-drawn carriage on the street—residents' excrement could be cleaned up by designated people, but livestock couldn't control their excrement, so surely no one could clean it up for them?
He turned his head and noticed that most of the horses had a bag hanging from their hindquarters.

“Dung bags. If livestock entering Blood Harbor don’t wear dung bags, they will have to pay a fine for cleaning them. There are many other things like this.”

"Everything you see, this industrial marvel called Blood Harbor, is not a creation of the gods, nor is it from a supernatural world. It was created by ordinary people like you and me with their own hands."

"It truly exists in this world. All miracles are built from small changes, not castles in the air. It's just that we've been lying in the mud for too long, and when we see someone stand up, we think they are a god."

Alvarez was stunned. A few streets away, steam locomotives roared past on the tracks like rampaging steel behemoths, but upon closer inspection, one could see a stoker with a pipe shoveling coal into the boiler, a driver sounding the whistle, and an engineer inspecting the pipes.

On the platform not far away, a switchman pulled the control lever, then raised his flag and waved it towards the platform. People went in and out of the concrete buildings.

It is the workers who maintain the operation of this intricate and complex city; ordinary people standing together constitute that indescribable industrial behemoth.

Alvarez was trembling all over. He felt as if he had returned to his childhood, when he first sneaked out of the castle and looked up to see the Milky Way and the sky full of stars.

These magnificent and bizarre creations were actually made by ordinary people like him.

For some reason, mortals filled him with more fear than gods at this moment.

He roared, threw down his cane, and turned to run. Hunter was stunned for a moment before he reacted and hurriedly chased after him down the street.

Hunter, being a scholar, was physically weak, but fortunately, his uncle was also a formidable opponent. Even when his massive body was running wildly, he couldn't shake off Hunter who was chasing after him.

The two continued until they reached the seaside at the pier.

"No! Uncle! No!" Hunter shouted, panting, but Alvarez ignored him and ran straight ahead. Hunter only saw a huge, exaggerated splash of water.

"Uncle, Uncle!"

Hunter rushed to the beach, almost losing control and falling in himself. He waved his hands several times to barely maintain his balance, then staggered a few steps and sat down on the ground.

He quickly scrambled to the beach, wailing and shouting, "Uncle! Someone, someone save my uncle! He's fallen into the sea!"

A moment later, a look of joy appeared on his face as a dark shadow slowly rose from the sea. But soon, his smile froze.

That dark shape was way too big.
Wow!
A burst of water exploded, and the enormous creature that suddenly rushed out startled Hunter. When he looked closely, he realized it was a golden-haired banshee.

The banshee glared at Hunter and picked up Alvarez from her hand.

"Littering will result in a fine of 500 Leo!"

"Oh, okay, okay. How much?!"

“Five thousand Rios!” Nini smiled with satisfaction as she looked at Hunter, whose eyes widened. “Unless… you two agree to be interviewed by me!”

“Okay! No problem!” Hunter immediately agreed, then looked up at his uncle.

Alvarez was pulled out of the water as soon as he fell in; he didn't even have time to choke on the water and is still looking dazed.

"Is that Grand Duke Alvarez? He doesn't seem very bright. Maybe we should just throw him into the sea? What use is he?"

"He, he's very rich."

(End of this chapter)