Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 627 Are you fake Moths of Fire?
Lina initially infiltrated the island but was captured by Chloe and Isaac. After leaving behind her physical body, she escaped and went to the North, where she persuaded Count Bazel to open the Bone Sanctuary, nearly triggering a catastrophe that would destroy the entire continent.

Lina claimed to be the leader of the Fire Moths, which was obviously a lie, and Hughes didn't believe her at all.

But how come this chief has now been recognized by the empire?

Did the candlelight association endorse Lina?
"My lord, did you call me?"

The office door opened again, and Richard walked in with a diary in his hand.

Hughes had just finished reading the letter when he called Richard over and asked him to bring Chloe with him.

"Chloe, are you the leader of the Firemoth?"

[It used to be Richard, now he's the chief.]

"Has Lina ever been the chief?"

〖 ？ ？ 〗

Chloe looked puzzled, while Richard adjusted his monocle, frowned, and asked, "The Lina you're talking about, is she the Lina who tried to assassinate you in court?"

"Yes, it's her. What is her role in the Firemoth?"

"Lina was someone I recruited. She was just a little girl from the Rhine slums. I saw she had a high aptitude for learning and a passion for knowledge, so after some observation, I hired her. In the Firemoth, she's hardly ever held any position; she's just a newbie who runs errands."

Hughes nodded: "So where are the members of the Firemoth now?"

"They're mostly here, with a few others in Blood Harbor. There were some scattered members of the Empire before, but they've all come to join us one after another."

"So, the Empire basically has no members of the Firemoth?"

“That’s right, except for a few of Isaac’s men who are lying in wait over there.”

"Okay, so are you really the Moths that chase fire?"

"???"

〖 ？ ？ 〗

Chloe and Richard were completely baffled.

Hughes pushed the letter in his hand over.

"Take a look at this. I just received a letter. The Empire wants me to assist in eradicating the Fire-Chasing Moths," Hughes said, pointing to a few words on the letter.

“Look at this, ‘Four Borders’. She said the Fire Moth is in the Empire’s ‘Four Borders’. I guess this letter wasn’t just for me. Isabella has appointed many border counts, so I guess they all received the letter.”

Chloe and Richard both read the letter carefully. After a while, Richard looked up with a strange expression.

"My lord, what does this letter mean? Lina impersonated the Firemoth in the Empire, and now the Empire—no, the Candlelight Society—is going to wipe out that 'Firemoth'?"

Hughes nodded.

This feeling was truly bizarre. Two former leaders of the Firemoth were right before him, and then the Empire approached him, asking him to exterminate the Firemoth.
"Moreover, this letter was signed in the name of the Empress. Although Beatrice also holds the title of Pope, she did not mention this." Hughes glanced at the signature on the letter. The entire letter was written in beautiful cursive script, probably a court document.

But the signature was written by Beatrice herself. Hughes recalled the slightly naive and shy girl; it hadn't been long since he'd seen her, and she was now the Pope and Empress.
Although he should only be a puppet.

"The border count is nominally a vassal of the Queen and must obey her orders, but what is the point of that?"

Now that the North and the Duchy of Tiss have openly declared themselves enemies of the Empire, and the prince has already completed his preparations for war, Hughes doesn't believe that the other border counts are not prepared.

It's somewhat laughable to suddenly produce the Empress's decree at this point.

"Could it be that the Empire is preparing to officially start a war with the Prince's side, forcing us to take sides?" Richard said uncertainly.

"What's the point?"

Richard fell silent. Hughes was right. Whether or not the letter existed, it wouldn't affect Castell's stance. Could it be that he would really submit to the Empire just because of a letter from the Empress?

Actually, there's another possibility.

Hughes looked at Chloe's diary: "You tell me."

[It's very simple. The Candlelight Vigil is really reminding us to be wary of the Moths of Fire, or rather, what they believe to be Lina and the Moths of Fire. Look at this sentence—"They even wildly claim that ashes can make the bones beneath the Shroud dance." This clearly points to Bazel and the Bone Sanctuary. Something's not right.]

Hughes nodded slowly.

"You mean, Lina is doing something that could endanger the entire continent again, and the Candlelight Society discovered it and is using this method to warn us and the border lords around us?"

Yes, the Candlelight Church's territory has actually shrunk considerably since Isabella's time. They've almost completely lost the east, Tiss is in the prince's hands, the north is under our control, and the southern continent is under the influence of the Sleepless Temple. Only in the western front do they seem to have won.

Most border counts reside on the outermost edges of the empire's borders, interacting with surrounding powers. If this letter reaches a border count, it's essentially reaching the hands of those surrounding powers. Whether they wish to eradicate the Firemoth or not, they will at least be aware of this matter.

That makes sense.

just
"That's not right. What did Lina do to make the entire Candlelight Society so wary of her? Even when the entire Firemoth was still on the continent, the Candlelight Society didn't react this strongly."

[Furthermore, the Candlelight Church foresaw that she would do even bigger things. Although they are unwilling to admit it, the Candlelight Church is the most powerful of the four major churches, and if they cannot solve something, perhaps no one else can.]

Hughes thought to himself that it might not be so. They wanted to kill the Queen, but wasn't it just that Isabella had used a magic trick to escape and changed her body?

“Perhaps we should ask Isaac; he’s supposedly built up some influence in the Empire. Oh, and Bazel too; he personally contacted Lina,” Richard suggested.

[Speaking of which, how's Bazel doing? Will he be coming to Castells to work overtime from now on?]

“Bazel has always been the same. He’s just waiting for Bloodharbor’s power supply system to be established. As for where Bazel will go, he should be in Bloodharbor.” Hughes curled his lips. “Overtime is a given, but his working environment may not be very good in the future.”

"It shouldn't be too cold, right? Speaking of which, Beatrice really did become the Pope and Queen? Could Nini's report be true?"

Hughes was speechless. It seemed like everyone had read Nini's report.

Zoe can forget about becoming a novelist; she's no match for Nini.

"I've vaguely heard some things about Beatrice, but the sources aren't very reliable, and their authenticity is unknown," Hughes said after thinking for a moment.

Some of these messages came from Isaac's intelligence network, others from others.
The threads originated from the worker Hughes, and Beatrice was one of the members.

(End of this chapter)