Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 73: Castel Manufacturing

Josh was the first to rush out of the factory after work today.

As a result, he was also the first to see that the newly built shop had opened.

This was big news. Castel was only so large. Although the islanders hadn’t reached the point where everyone knew each other, they were quite familiar with the few shops on the island.

This newly built roadside hut had attracted attention ever since its foundation was laid. After some inquiries, they learned a surprising piece of news:

This was actually a store owned by the lord.

Lord? Store?

These two words together felt particularly odd. A lord should be associated with taxes and a town hall, not a shop for buying and selling goods.

Due to Castel’s distance from the mainland, even trade caravans rarely came here. The people’s understanding of shops was still limited to selling self-made goods.

For example, the Zorn family’s pottery shop or Mitch’s dried fruit business.

Would the lord also sell things here?

But Josh had a different thought.

He didn’t particularly like working in the factory, but he did like the olive oil and soap produced there.

Recently, the soap production line he worked on had given each worker a bar of soap and had thoroughly taught them how to use it, perhaps even too thoroughly, repeating the instructions many times.

Unlike other islanders who carefully stored away their soap, Josh didn’t hesitate to use his.

After trying it, he was amazed to find that this soap was excellent for cleaning just about anything, whether it was washing hands, bathing, or even doing laundry.

It was really good stuff. If only there was more of it.

Seeing the shop with the sign “Department Store,” Josh immediately thought of the soap they had received.

“Speaking of which, ‘department store’ makes sense, but why call it a ‘building’?” Looking up at the wooden sign above, Josh muttered as he stepped inside.

“Ken? What are you doing here?”

As soon as he walked in, before he even had a chance to look at the merchandise, Josh was surprised to see a familiar face.

“The construction site has had no work lately. I saw this place was hiring, so I came over. Didn’t expect to be a shop assistant.” Ken shrugged. “Looking to buy something, Josh?”

Shop assistant? The term was a bit awkward, but Josh quickly understood its meaning.

“So this really is a shop? What do you sell h—whoa.”

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Ken grinned, watching Josh’s stunned expression. He knew he wouldn’t have to explain further.

He had felt the same way when he first arrived here.

To be honest, the shop called “Department Store” wasn’t that big, but inside, against the walls, rows of shelves were neatly stacked with goods covering an entire wall.

One entire wall filled with goods. Next to it was another fully stocked wall. Shelves lined up, holding products stacked from floor to ceiling.

It was like stepping into a treasure cave from a storybook, filled with enough items to last a lifetime, all laid out before them.

For Ken, a fisherman’s son, the sight was overwhelming. The neatly arranged, uniformly sized products gave him an almost unreal sense of beauty.

It reminded him of a term the lord had mentioned when visiting the school: Industrial aesthetic.

Ken didn’t really understand what that meant, but looking at the colorful, neatly displayed goods, he felt he had a glimpse of it.

Even though he had personally stocked all these items on the shelves.

“What’s all this?”

Ken snapped out of his thoughts. Josh had already walked up to the shelves.

“Soaps. These here are for washing clothes, one Lio per bar. The wall to your right has scented ones, berry, grass, and floral scents, all three Lio per bar. The shelves behind you hold olive oil.”

The soaps were cut into square shapes and wrapped in small sheets of wax paper.

Even from a distance, their faint fragrance could be detected.

The wax papers were colorful, each printed with different designs. Ken picked up a few from the shelf.

Josh reached out to take one but stopped halfway, noticing his hands were dirty. He quickly wiped them on his pants.

“Hey, don’t do that. Just wash your hands with the soap and try it out.” Ken grinned, pointing to a basin of water behind him.

Several unwrapped soaps were placed by the basin, along with a large bucket of fresh water.

Josh hesitated at first, but the floral scent was too tempting. Before he knew it, his hands were covered in foam.

Ken scooped water from the bucket and poured it over Josh’s hands.

The foam and dirt washed away, but the delicate floral scent lingered on his skin.

Josh brought his hands to his nose, took a deep breath, and smiled foolishly.

It smelled amazing.

“How much is this one?”

“Three Lio. There’s more over there—”

“I’ll take one!”

Josh pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket, today was payday, and he had plenty of money on hand. Just a day or two’s wages.

In the past, he would have hesitated even over half a Lio, but now, most people have some money in their pockets. Thanks to the lord’s generosity, wages were always paid in full.

However, Castel was only so big. Even with money, there wasn’t much to buy, so life hadn’t changed much despite everyone having more coins.

So Josh barely thought about it before deciding to buy one. He had saved up plenty of Lio, his family had all perished in a storm when he was young, so he had no one to provide for but himself.

“You—uh, fine.” Ken took Josh’s three coins but handed two back.

“Isn’t it three Lio?”

“You work for the lord. Employees can buy three scented soaps per month at a discount. Just need to register it later.”

Josh nodded but didn’t take back the extra coins. “I still want one.”

“…”

Ken’s smile froze. He suddenly realized that all the sales techniques he had studied so hard last night might be useless.

By now, more people had finished work, and several heads peeked inside.

“What’s being sold he—Oh my god!”

Josh squeezed his way out of the shop, holding his newly purchased soap.

He walked against the growing crowd, holding up the soap and carefully examining the print on the wax paper.

It was a simple line drawing of an island. Josh recognized it as Castel, he recognized the towering volcano.

The difference was that the volcano was covered in blooming flowers.

Josh picked up two more bars.

The patterns were mostly the same, except one had berry trees and another had a grassy field, likely representing different scents.

Such exquisite packaging. Josh couldn’t help but admire them.

Flipping them over, he noticed something printed on the back of each bar.

A small torch emblem and a line of text.

Josh had learned to read in class, though he wasn’t the best student. Still, he stumbled through the words:

“Castel Manufacturing.”

Below it, the name Castel was written again.

Hmm, probably not a name. Remembering his spelling lessons, Josh realized it was the meaning of the word—

Fire and Light in the Storm.