Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 68: Methodology

Early in the morning, the islanders of Castel opened their doors and went out to work.

It was said that last night’s hunt yielded a good harvest.

The lord had hung the corpses of a pack of wolves on poles for display, these were the ones Hughes had Ash hunt down.

Looking at the dead wolves, the islanders gathered to point and discuss before quickly dispersing.

The factories had fixed morning shifts, and being late would result in wage deductions.

Not long ago, most of them were just fishermen and farmers, but now they all had a unified identity, employees of the lord.

The islanders here were far from the mainland and had little contact with other territories, so they did not realize how strange this phenomenon was.

In this era, most lords still lived off taxation.

There was hardly any extra work available in their territories.

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Even when lords conscripted people for projects, wages were usually nonexistent, it was more akin to corvée labor.

Of course, farmers also had another obligation: when they were not busy with agriculture, they had to go to war with their lord.

—During peak farming seasons, even nobles would halt their wars. No one wanted a barren harvest the following year, especially with the royal family eyeing them like a predator.

Hughes had not yet appointed knights and had no ongoing battles, but he had hired a large number of islanders for work.

This situation was almost unheard of in this era.

Of course, his rate of spending wealth was also astonishing.

The money he had brought was almost entirely used up.

In exchange, however, factories were rising across the territory.

Groups of harvesters ventured into the woods to pick olives.

Cartloads of olives were transported to the factories, where barrels of olive oil were then brought out.

Recently, the surplus of olive oil had driven up the price of wooden barrels.

These illiterate islanders had little understanding of economics, but with their simple way of thinking, they couldn’t help but wonder: Can so much olive oil really be used?

Thanks to Hughes’ optimized factory production process, efficiency had reached terrifying levels.

The craftsmen were amazed to find that, despite still using the old oil-pressing methods, their efficiency had greatly improved.

They even felt their work had become easier. In the past, a single person had to handle many complicated tasks, from transporting olives to pressing, sweeping, and collecting oil.

Now, each worker only needed to perform one or two simple, repetitive steps. They even had time to chat.

This was one of the greatest advantages of industrialization, the more refined the division of labor, the higher the overall efficiency.

Having one person manage the entire process was a massive waste of productivity.

However, the newly built factory had recently stopped operations for unknown reasons, and the craftsmen inside were now under unified management.

Rumors spread that they had performed well and that the lord was considering assigning them to a new factory.

This made the other islanders envious. Most had attended night school for literacy lessons.

Though not everyone persisted, learning to read had broadened their perspectives.

Now, the islanders were eager to join the new factory. After all, given the lord’s generosity, the wages would only increase, never decrease.

What they didn’t know was that the administrative manager of the factories, Alexei, was currently full of worry.

"Lord, are we going to have to shut down our factories?"

"Why do you think that?"

Hughes leisurely glanced at the report in his hand and couldn’t help but yawn.

He had stayed up all night and now bore heavy dark circles under his eyes.

The Symbiotic Contract could restore his injuries, but it couldn’t refresh his mind.

So Hughes could only drink red tea continuously, forcing himself to stay alert as he handled affairs.

‘Something feels wrong. Before I transmigrated, I worked overtime every day. Now, after transmigrating, I’m still working overtime every day. Did I even transmigrate for a reason?’

Sigh.

Alexei cleared his throat and said, "Lord, last night’s contamination should be the result of cognitive interference. If we start making soap and nitroglycerin, contamination will continue to appear. Moreover—"

"Moreover, the locations are random," Hughes completed his sentence.

Before them lay a map of Castel, marked with numerous small circles, each labeled with notes. It was the result of his and Alexei’s research.

"Cognitive interference triggers contamination outbreaks. The contamination starts from the point of interference, then spreads in multiple locations. Its characteristic is the sudden appearance of a large amount of tangible contamination in the air, which rapidly corrodes any living creature it touches."

Hughes recalled the contaminated wolf, still confined in the cave beneath the manor, under the watchful eyes of a group of Sirens.

The outbreak locations seemed random, mostly near the soap factory, but there was no clear pattern.

Fortunately, most islanders lived in the northwest part of Castel, far from the soap factory, so the contamination had not reached them.

"Yes, my lord… so we may have no choice but to shut down the factory."

Alexei felt a bitterness in his mouth. These factories embodied the hard work of both himself and the lord. Must they be abandoned?

Hughes found it amusing and handed him a notebook. "Take another look. Think carefully. Cognitive interference may be strange and unpredictable, but it is not unknowable or uncontrollable. If it could occur randomly without limit, this world would have long been destroyed."

Alexei took the notebook and flipped through it. It contained Hughes’ compiled research on cognitive interference.

"I’ve explained scientific principles to you for so long. You should have a basic understanding of science by now."

"Yet you still hold a mistaken belief, that these bizarre and incomprehensible phenomena defy science. But I believe the opposite."

"Whether it’s the supernatural, gods, contamination, or even cognitive interference, these are all parts of the material world."

"As long as they can be recognized and understood, they are merely natural phenomena, no different from thunder and rain.”

Alexei’s body stiffened. He looked at his lord in shock. Such a perspective was groundbreaking.

He had never thought that these eerie occurrences could be equated with thunderstorms.

What was there to fear about thunderstorms? Yet supernatural phenomena were truly terrifying.

Seeing his thoughts, Hughes continued, "When humans first walked the earth, wind, rain, thunder, and lightning terrified them. These forces were incomprehensible and invincible."

"Doesn’t that sound familiar?"

"Yes, that’s exactly how we now describe cognitive interference and contamination monsters."

"Temples, rituals, and faith arose everywhere. Nearly every civilization has myths and deities related to weather."

"And now?"

"If it suddenly rains today, you would simply complain that the astronomers’ forecast was inaccurate."

"Your fear? You’ve long since discarded it."

Hughes paused and looked into his eyes.

"Fear stems from the unknown."

Alexei’s hands trembled as he held the notebook. Everything Hughes said was simple and logical, yet he had never thought from this perspective.

Ignorance, civilization, and history, all lined up along the axis of time, like beads on a string.

Hughes picked them up and displayed them before him.

Hughes stood up and paced the room, his voice rising.

"Science is the method by which we understand the world. We observe, summarize laws, and use experiments to verify our knowledge."

"You think cognitive interference breaks the boundary of objective reality, that it can be altered by subjective will. But to me, it’s simply part of the world’s rules. If we recognize it, we can understand, control, and use it."

"Fear of the supernatural is, at its core, fear of the unknown. The more you understand, the less you fear."

"Observe—understand—experiment—utilize—control."

"This is science—the methodology by which we comprehend the world."