Chapter 315: Castel Can't Return
Josh is a native islander of Castres. His parents may have other hometowns, but Castres is the only home in his heart.
Castel, Fire and Light in the Storm, has a nice name, but it is just an inconspicuous island in the Storm Ocean.
Josh has wanted to go out and explore the world since he was a child.
In fact, every child has this kind of dream. What makes Josh different from others is that he is too proactive.
When he was a child, he made a raft with dead trees and paddled out to the sea with great enthusiasm.
Fortunately, he was rescued by a passing fisherman and survived.
Later, a sudden storm left him an orphan. After dealing with his parents' funeral, Josh was completely free of worries and his heart began to gradually warm up again.
If Hughes had not come to Castres, Josh might have left Castres on a ship, or become a businessman, or a pirate, or become famous, or end his life in a hasty manner and be fed to the horse-faced fish.
But when Zeus came here, Castel changed, the Ocean of Storms changed, and the fate of countless people took a completely different direction.
Qiao Xi sighed secretly. He really didn't expect that he would become the chief priest of a cult.
Yes, a cult. The so-called "Secret Order of Steam and Deep Sea" is a cult, and Josh is very clear about this.
This was not his original intention, but unfortunately fate played a trick on him and he had to take this path in the end.
Let’s start from the very beginning.
Josh got off the ship with the goods he had bought on credit, and set foot on the unfamiliar land of Blood Harbor with several of his fellow villagers.
At that time, the prince was still a prince, and the crown on the queen's head had not yet fallen to the ground.
Blood Harbor is thriving. Although the Empire prohibits merchants from doing business with Gem Bay, merchants from the White Crow Principality and the Southern Continent still make Blood Harbor a pearl in the Storm Ocean.
Order and chaos coexist, prosperity and decay coexist, and opportunities are everywhere. As long as you are bold enough and have a little luck, you can make a lot of money here.
It's always full of life here.
Qiao Xi and his friends made their first fortune here with the soap they bought on credit.
Castel's soap is an absolute hot commodity, and more importantly, they are the only ones who currently have it.
For a time, Qiao Xi and his companions were very popular.
Normally, this is the time when rifts are most likely to arise among the group, but this was not the case with Qiao Xi and his group.
Perhaps it was because they had a long-term vision, perhaps it was because they valued friendship, or perhaps it was because they knew that soap was only a tiny part of Castel's output, and as long as they had the support of Lord Xius, they could achieve much more than that.
In short, Josh and his partners resisted the temptation, and they still united together to establish their own chamber of commerce.
They did not squander the money they earned, but put it together, preparing to return to Xius to exchange it for a second batch of goods to expand their business.
Josh and his companions gained a foothold in Blood Harbor and waited for Jeremiah and his Black Pearl to return.
This wait lasted a long time.
The Black Pearl has not returned yet, and the prince has gone to the Rhine to receive his reward. There are all kinds of strange movements in the sea, and undercurrents are surging in the Blood Harbor.
The Chamber of Commerce's business is becoming increasingly difficult.
After discussing with his companions, Josh chose to retreat temporarily. They knew that Castel was their real base camp. There was no need to force the business of Blood Harbor. Only Castel was important. As long as Castel was still there, everything would be fine.
Unfortunately, these expectations are nothing more than beautiful illusions.
The sea began to dry up, and Jeremiah and Ken stumbled to Blood Harbor.
With them was a boatload of refugees.
Josh accepted them. Although the Chamber of Commerce had lost its business, its previous foundation allowed them to barely survive.
But from then on, everything went downhill, with no turning back.
The Queen was assassinated, and the Prince suddenly turned from a joke into a hero. He became a hero, but Blood Harbor fell into darkness.
The evil that grew in the shadows began to walk under the sun. The dried-up sea made people despair, and the despair attracted cultists who took pleasure in this and turned Blood Harbor into a real hell.
Jeremiah insisted on leaving by boat, and no matter how Josh and Ken tried to persuade him, he wouldn't listen. His eyes were red, as if he was a madman who had put everything on the gambling table.
At the last moment before the Black Pearl sailed away, Ken jumped onto the boat. Josh knelt on the dock and struggled to reach out to him, as if this would help him win back his best friend.
The two were only a few meters apart, but they took different paths.
Ken got on the boat and went to the dry sea. Josh was left on the shore, watching their figures gradually go away.
He wanted to just jump on the boat and leave, but unfortunately he had his partners, the Chamber of Commerce, and a boat full of refugees behind him.
Josh gritted his teeth, brushed away the rain on his face, and walked towards the precarious Blood Harbor.
He is still a teenager, but he has already shouldered too much.
"Josh, what do you think Castel will think of us?"
Qiao Xi felt a pain in his heart, but he just shook his head expressionlessly.
"We have no other choice."
His companion, another hooded figure, also fell silent.
Blood Harbor had long since become a paradise for cultists. After the prince returned, he merely tidied up the upper city, leaving these merchants to fend for themselves.
It was as if they were suddenly pushed into the water and were about to turn into fish before they drowned.
They did it.
A few people gathered the refugees, and in order to resist the evil cultists who were eyeing them, they used the name of the secret order.
The doctrine was false, the prayers were made-up, and the believers were refugees in disguise. The only thing that truly filled the stomachs of many people was the holy water boiled in the pot.
It was not known when this united "Secret Order of Steam and Deep Sea" began to gain a foothold in Blood Harbor.
Even Qiao Xi adapted to this kind of life and even felt that it was not bad. At least everyone could have rice porridge to eat and the refugees could survive.
But at this moment, believers came to report that a strange steamship had landed at the dock of Blood Harbor.
Castel reappeared.
Perhaps it was fate. When Josh had fantasies about Castel, it disappeared from the sea, and when people despaired of it, it appeared instead.
Castel, how much Josh wishes he could return to being the boy he once was.
Unfortunately, he was now the leader of the cult. How could Lord Xius accept the existence of the cult in his territory? The goods that Xius had given him on credit were also exchanged for money, which turned into holy water and entered the stomachs of the refugees.
Josh pursed his lips, his mouth full of bitterness.
He hesitated for a long time, and finally asked someone to pass the message to Castel's team.
After all, he is also a Castel, no matter what he becomes.
(End of this chapter)
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