Chapter 50: The Tremors of the Ocean of Storms

Rain began to fall near the grotto at the southeastern corner of the island, and gradually, the entire Castel was enshrouded in the downpour. Typhoons sweep across the Sea of Storms all year round, bringing rain with them; here, every season is the rainy season.

Yet today’s rain seemed somehow wrong.

Sailors on the sea always said that storms would eventually pass, and their vessels frequently sailed through tempests. As long as the sails were fully hoisted, the storm would always be left behind.

Today, however, vessels navigating the Sea of Storms would be astonished to discover that no matter how fast they sailed or where they headed, there was nothing but storm.

If one were to cast their perspective far away and watch from a higher vantage point, they would see that dark clouds were slowly gathering around a certain location across the entire Sea of Storms, unleashing a torrential deluge.

The location of that center... felt somewhat strange.

It was not the Eye of the Storm, where lightning raged year-round, but rather a bit further north and slightly to the west.

To its west lay the lands of the Empire, to its northeast was Gem Bay, and to the north was the sea outlet of the White Raven Duchy.

It was a small island named Castel, which meant fire and light upon the Sea of Storms.

At this moment, across the entire ocean, surrounding Castel, storms and lightning descended like divine punishment.

Meanwhile.

In Rhine, at the Underground Inquisition of the Candlelight Society, around the long table of the Keepers' Council, seven hooded figures raised their heads simultaneously.

In the Empire, within the Gear Academy funded by the royal family, several massive steam-powered machinery units suddenly chimed together in unison.

In the Sea of Storms, a migrating tribe of mermen suddenly halted. After a brief consultation, they turned around and swam back.

In Gem Bay, a man whose skin was entirely covered in tattoos suddenly opened his eyes, and then, amidst the horrified gazes of those around him, melted into a pool of black pus.

In Castel, inside the chapel of the Candlelight Society, a crack suddenly appeared across the chest of Keschius, who was kneeling in prayer.

......

In Nora's room, a gust of wind blew the window open, knocking the diary on the table down onto the floor.

The slip of paper pinned beneath the diary fluttered twice, caught in the wind, and landed in the muddy water, where the grime gradually obscured the handwriting upon it:

"......My successor, there is one more matter you must pay attention to. You must be cautious of Sister Chloe in the chapel."

"Though I do not know what kind of entity she truly is, I can be certain that she is definitely not a member of the Candlelight Society."

..................
............
......

In the mansion, Huse had already changed into a fresh set of clothes, sitting in an armchair and thumbing through the newly delivered report from Alexei.

He raised his head and cast an amused glance at the overcast sky: "It's actually raining. In the novels I read before, whenever a major scene happened, the wind and rain would start, and as it turns out, I've encountered it today as well. What a coincidence."

"Young Master." Connor gently placed a few documents on the table.

He wore hunting trousers, a white shirt, a black waistcoat, and the white firearm was holstered at his hip.

After last night's battle, Huse had gifted that firearm to Connor, partly to reward his timely assistance, and partly because Huse found that the weapon was even more effective when used by Connor.

Besides, most of the time when he went out, he brought Connor along, which was practically equivalent to bringing the gun anyway.

It was clear that Connor liked the firearm quite a bit; he would carry it even within the estate, bringing a faint smile to Huse's lips.

Another point was that Connor had started calling him "Young Master" again. However, Huse had no inclination to delve into such naming conventions; there were simply too many matters right in front of him.

"How is it going?"

Connor gave him a slight nod.

"Miss Nora has already left by boat. I tried to persuade her to stay, but she insisted on going to fetch the first batch of refugees first."

"Is her injury healed?"

"She said... this is a characteristic of the Burier; no matter how severe the physical damage, she can recover very quickly. As you know, she is not truly considered a living person anymore."

Huse nodded.

"Did she say when she would be back?"

"About a week."

"And Monica?"

"Monica was not injured. Madam Nora examined her body and said there was no residual contamination whatsoever, so please rest assured."

"As for the other banshees, they have been temporarily accommodated in the cave beneath the secret passage. They asked me for some tools and are preparing to renovate the place a bit."

Banshees were not yet suitable to be exposed to the public eye, and furthermore, having lived underwater all their lives, they might not feel at ease on land.

Therefore, Huse had them temporarily reside in the coastal waters near Castel. With him acting as the nexus, the pollution from the deep sea would no longer harm him.

"In addition, Sister Chloe came to the estate this afternoon. Seeing that we were not in, she stayed for a while and then left."

"Ah, I almost forgot." Huse nodded with understanding.

He had indeed made an appointment for Sister Chloe to visit the estate. As a contingency plan, just in case Nora was unable or unwilling to resolve the contamination for him, he would turn to the Candlelight Society for help at that time.

Yet, in the end, this contingency plan was not needed.

"She didn't suspect anything, did she?"

"No. The reason we prepared in advance was very reasonable, and the time of her arrival was staggered away from us and... our battle."

"That's good." Huse nodded with peace of mind. The location of that coastal grotto was meticulously chosen by him; although the battle caused quite a commotion, it did not alert others.

"I'll find time to visit her, then. Let's add it to today's schedule."

Hearing about the schedule, Connor took out a notebook from his pocket, glanced at the contents within, and spoke after some deliberation.

"Young Master, according to your request, I have divided your to-do list into four major categories."

"Important and urgent, important but not urgent, unimportant but urgent, unimportant and not urgent."

At this point, a hint of strangeness appeared on Connor's face.

This classification method seemed simple and crude, but it was unexpectedly useful. Under Huse's guidance, he used two horizontal and vertical axes to determine the priority of matters, effortlessly sorting a massive pile of tasks by order of importance.

"Ahem, based on this, I will come to brief you on the day's arrangements every morning."

"This morning, you need to meet with Alexei in the study. He is here to report on the progress of building the new workshop and recruiting craftsmen."

"Afterwards, you will inspect the territory together with him."

"In the afternoon, go to the chapel to see Madam Chloe."

Huse nodded. Organizing daily work this way would be far more efficient.

"Change the meeting location with Alexei to my chemical laboratory, and you come along as well. I'm planning to discuss the new products for the territory with him."

"Will you also inform him of the truth about the contamination?"

"Probably not. After all, this concerns his..."

"【Cognitive Barrier】"

Hearing this term, a flicker of light crossed Connor's eyes. 【Contamination】, 【Cognitive Barrier】, and even the truth of 【Transcendence】—all of these had brought him a tremendous sense of shock, making him feel as though his worldview was crumbling.

It all started from the conversation between Huse and Nora after last night's battle.