Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 658 City of Dreams
Gaia's guess was correct; the three of them received an invitation to the banquet.

The previously dragging negotiations suddenly became efficient. The Mechanical Sanctuary finalized the transaction procedures at an extremely fast pace and requested that the items in exchange, namely the holy relics such as the steam rifle, be transported to them.

As for the information provided by the Mechanical Church, it is said that His Holiness the Pope himself will hand it over. This project will take place at the banquet to show the importance that the Candlelight Vigil and the Mechanical Church attach to it.

Gaia and Zoe's hearts skipped a beat when they heard about the procedure.

This process sounds a bit strange.

Could it be that the Mechanical Temple wants to hack these relics and take them over?
Erwin didn't even hesitate; he simply made up an excuse to leave, presumably to make preparations.

He was, after all, just a mortal, while Zoe and Gaia were superhumans; if they really got into trouble, he would only be a burden.

While Gaia was still worried, Zoe remained as relaxed as ever, continuing to attend the Gear Sage's lessons every day.

Finally, on the day before the banquet, Zoe was ambushed by Gaia on her way back to her room.

Zoe couldn't help but smile when she saw Gaia's anxious expression.

"what happened?"

Gaia was silent for a moment, then shook her head somewhat dejectedly: "Zoe, you were sent to Bloodharbor before the Church of the Mother Goddess rebelled, so you should have more experience, right? You still seem so calm and collected. Do you know what the Mechanical Temple is up to?"

"Not actually."

"what?"

"But I went to the square yesterday, where the airships are docked, and the supplies on the airships haven't been unloaded yet."

Gaia raised an eyebrow in surprise, then bit her lip thoughtfully: "You mean..."

"If the Mechanical Temple really wanted to seize our goods, they should have urged us to move them down long ago. But they only made the request and didn't follow up."

"Furthermore, Gaia, think about it: if you wanted to seize our sacred relic, what preparations should you make?"

Gaia's eyes lit up, and she slowly said, "Don't let us find out."

"Yes, but the Mechanical Sanctuary's request and invitation came together without any attempt to hide anything, so..."

"They're not coming for us?"

"Yes, I even think it's a reminder, after all, they've been too open about it, this banquet is probably not simple."

Gaia wasn't stupid, she just didn't have much negotiation experience. Hughes sent two people with her in the hope that Zoe could make up for this shortcoming.

She thought for a moment, then asked in a low voice, "Do you think it's between the two churches?"

"It's very possible that the Mechanical Sanctuary and the Candlelight Order theoretically govern the Rhine together, but all we've seen in Upper Rhine are the Candlelight Order's spires. We've hardly seen any of the Mechanical Sanctuary's churches. And this time, we're doing a deal with the Mechanical Sanctuary, but the person we're going to meet at the banquet is the Candlelight Order's Pope."

The Mechanical Sanctuary rose to power with the support of the royal family, but sided with the Candlelight Church when Queen Isabella was assassinated. It now appears that the two sides are not entirely united.

This banquet may well be the scene of infighting and confrontation between the two sides. If nothing unexpected happens, they should be able to witness a good show.

"Will this affect our deal?"

"It shouldn't be a big problem. Don't forget, according to the procedure, Beatrice personally delivered the technical data to us. This should also be the attitude of the Candlelight Society. We just need to watch the show. Whoever controls Rhine in the end, we will make a deal with them."

Gaia nodded, already having made her own judgment.

The Mechanical Sanctuary is insignificant compared to the behemoth that is the Candlelight Church. If nothing unexpected happens, this church will soon be completely reduced to a puppet state. This banquet is probably their last stand.

"No, the Mechanical Sanctuary doesn't have any extraordinary pathways or extraordinary combat power. Although they can barely contend with the extraordinary using their mechanical power, given the sheer number of their sacred artifacts..."

Gaia suddenly realized that she didn't know how many tricks the Mechanical Sanctuary had up its sleeve, but in terms of sheer combat power, they were still being crushed by the Candlelight Society.

The Candlelight Church, after all, controlled the entire empire, with over a hundred extraordinary individuals alone, and this was the Rhine, the church's most central city.

"So something's bound to happen... Elwin's back!"

Gaia turned around and saw Erwin open the door.

"Any progress?"

“There’s good news and bad news.” Erwin hung his coat on the hanger and tidied his hair as he said, “I tried to find Frey, but to no avail. However, my movements are restricted, so he may not be in any danger.”

Several people were silent for a while.

They were well aware of Rhine's situation; the entire city was almost entirely under the control of the Candlelight Society. Frey had disappeared as soon as he entered the city, and it was highly likely that he was dead.

"What's the good news?"

"I think I know why Isaac is missing."

"!!!"

Zoe and Gaia were startled. As the leader of the Ash Alliance and a dual-path transcendent, finding Isaac's trail would be very helpful to their current situation.

"I contacted the Ash Alliance, and they said there have been some changes in Zamorasem recently."

"Samo. What?"

"Samorasem, the name of a city, which you probably don't know, so I'll give it a different name—the City of Dreams."

"hiss"

The two of them gasped, exchanged a glance, and looked on in shock.

Zamorasem, a dream city from which there is no end, a scar on the empire, and the site of an anomaly that nearly destroyed half of the Papacy.

Even Gaia and Zoe, who had only recently become superhumans, had heard about this incident; it was one of the most dangerous mutations they had ever witnessed.

The reason why the two were so impressed by the so-called Dream City was because of the rebellion of the Mother Goddess Church in Blood Harbor.

During the rebellion, Mira, the high priestess of the Church of the Mother Goddess, sacrificed herself, almost all of the Mother Goddess's followers, and half the city's civilians to summon the evil god "Mother Goddess." If the Sky Veil Beast had not arrived in time, this infinitely growing evil god would probably have been invincible.

The Fire Moth's summary of this anomaly was that it was "an anomaly second only to the Dream City in danger."

As a member of the Fire Moths, Gaia personally participated in the discussion. Richard, Chloe, and others believed that if Castel hadn't intervened, the [Mother of Love] would have continued to grow, leading to the fate of Dream City—a fate that would require extraordinary beings to sacrifice their lives to fill.

"That incident happened decades ago. Almost all the superhumans who went there to provide support died. Only two survived."

“Isaac, and Jules.”

(End of this chapter)