Inside the manor, Lord Hughes slowly lifted his head.
Looking around, he noticed nothing unusual. He casually closed the notebook and walked toward the door.
Opening the door, he saw Zoe standing not far away.
"Zoe? Aren’t you supposed to be teaching?"
Noticing that they were in the manor, Hughes refrained from mentioning the Banshees’ name.
Zoe pointed to the study behind him. Hughes had been locking himself inside, preventing her from accessing the secret passage.
"...Forget it, it’s not important. Is the batch Alexei brought still here?"
"It is, but for safety reasons, we didn’t bring it into the manor. It’s stored in the chemistry lab."
By the time Connor and Alexei arrived at the lab, they saw Hughes writing notes.
"Alexei, you came at the right time. I need a report on both incidents. Be sure to mark the exact time these things were made."
"Huh? These things still have value?"
"They are incredibly valuable. Think about it, safely stored and transported nitroglycerin. But I suspect it’s not that simple. Otherwise, all the major factions wouldn’t have worked together to suppress it."
Alexei and Connor exchanged glances and let out a breath of relief.
They had worried Hughes was too shaken by recent events to recover.
"Alright, I’ll get to work on the report!"
"The soap workshop continues production. The craftsmen don’t know about this, right?"
"They don’t. As soon as I discovered the issue, I came straight here. The workshop remains unchanged. We just informed the workers to temporarily halt production, without alerting anyone."
"Good. I’ll find a way to have someone take over the workshop. Night school will be suspended for now, just say the soldiers spotted wild beasts at night and warn the islanders to stay indoors after dark to avoid getting mistaken for a beast and shot."
"Also, any worker who secretly ate the soap should be detained for now. Tell them it’s for treatment. Send a doctor to check their condition."
Recalling how the Church dealt with workers in his past life, Hughes suddenly felt uneasy.
Cognitive interference would definitely lead to more severe consequences.
Otherwise, that priest wouldn’t have killed him without even listening to his explanation.
"You didn’t eat any soap, did you?"
"Like you, I only took a bite to taste it and immediately spat it out."
"Take some purifying candy with you. Carry it at all times, and if anything feels off, eat one immediately, no, eat one now."
Though he felt Hughes was overreacting, Alexei obediently took the candy and placed it in his mouth.
"Do not let anyone know about the mutations in the soap or nitroglycerin. If anyone asks, say there was a manufacturing error and a batch of raw materials was scrapped. Understood?"
Alexei nodded and left with his orders.
Hughes turned to Connor.
"Separate and waterproof-pack samples of both the mutated soap and nitroglycerin. Have one group of Sirens take them to the Abyssal Trench, while another carries them far from Castel. Observe if there are any changes in their properties."
"And make sure they are careful. If anything seems off, dispose of them immediately. Who knows what dangers these things hold, especially the nitroglycerin."
Thanks to the Symbiotic Contract, as long as the Sirens conducting the experiment had a breath left, they could be saved. But extra caution was always wise.
He was exploring an entirely unknown field, there was no such thing as being too careful.
Connor nodded, took the box, and left.
Hughes kept some samples for himself and called a nearby servant.
Lately, Castel had been much livelier at night.
After work and dinner, workers would head to night school, joined by islanders from all around, while patrol teams escorted them.
Flickering torches lit up the dark nights, bringing a bit of vibrancy.
But today, everyone received an announcement.
Wolves had been appearing at night, supposedly drawn by human activity.
Lord Hughes had formed a special hunting team to ambush them.
Of course, with limited visibility at night, being mistaken for a wolf and shot would be unfortunate.
So, as night fell, every household shut their doors tightly.
Inside the manor, Hughes frowned as he looked at the two sluggish dogs.
Nothing seemed wrong. He couldn’t detect anything unusual.
The mutated soap remained completely normal, seemingly just an ordinary food item.
But why was his gut feeling of dread growing stronger?
"Think carefully, something must be wrong!"
The closest he had ever been to cognitive interference was in his past life, when he modified factory machines and was hunted by the Church.
Two things stood out to him.
First, the priest didn’t listen to his explanation at all, he killed him outright.
Second, he was almost certain that the priest was an Extraordinary.
"The Church didn’t send the Holy Guard but directly dispatched an Extraordinary. Even though I was just an ordinary worker, they executed me on the spot..."
Hughes paced rapidly across the room.
"No, I know too little about cognitive interference. Making decisions based on limited information could lead to a disastrous mistake."
"In this situation, my best course of action is..."
"To copy the Church’s response exactly!"
"They have far more experience dealing with this and know of risks that I don’t!"
Hughes’ expression turned grim.
The door swung open. The butler, who had been waiting outside, stood in the doorway.
"Find Alexei immediately. Have him take command of the island’s soldiers. All soldiers must remain on standby and are forbidden from leaving their posts without my orders!"
Connor took a sharp breath, nodded, and left.
Hughes closed his eyes. The Mind Link activated, and instantly, his consciousness connected with a cluster of glowing points.
At that moment, he was linked with the Sirens!
Beneath the manor, in the caverns, the Sirens had been busy repairing the tunnels. Suddenly, they all looked up simultaneously.
Then, in unison, they put down their tasks and turned toward the hall’s shelves, where rows of weapons were neatly arranged.
One by one, the Sirens entered, grabbed their weapons, and dove into the sea.
As the sky darkened, the setting sun cast a blood-red glow.
One towering figure after another emerged from the water, their serpentine tails swaying as they landed on the island.
They held long-handled axes, their cold, indifferent eyes scanning every living thing on land.
In Hughes’ consciousness, glowing dots spread across the entire island, like countless eyes watching over Castel.
Castel, was under full martial law.