Mystery: The Stars Returner

South Wales, inside the castle.

Azshara is lying comfortably in her little nest. There is a pile of dried fish on the left, a pile of dried fish on the right, and a pile of dried fish under the small pillow.

During this time, Sharon was busy playing the role of a puppet, sometimes not moving for several days, and it naturally became the boss of the entire castle.

As long as it wanders around the kitchen, it can harvest a bunch of dried fish without anyone stopping it. They even specially prepared a small stove for it to cook some food for it.

Compared with cooked food, it feels that the original flavor of dried fish is the most comfortable to eat.

In addition to material comfort, it can sleep as long as it wants to wake up naturally every day, eat some dried fish when it wakes up, and then continue to sleep. There is no need to go out to exercise at night.

Sometimes when Sharon ends the puppet show, he will also please accompany Sharon to go for a walk in the meadow or forest.

The days are so comfortable.

Until someone pinched the back of its neck and picked it up from the den, which had obviously gained a lot of weight, it knew that its dream was coming to an end.

"Aisshara, your food is very good during this time."

There was murderous intent in these words, and Azshara hurriedly meowed softly to please the master in front of her who had returned from an outing.

Hastur glanced at the small dried fish divided into three or four piles in the den, and waved to the maids to clean up the den.

Azshara covered her eyes with her paws, feeling so heartbroken that she couldn't bear to look directly.

"Your belly has gained at least a few pounds."

"Meow!"

Azshara protested. It was obviously only a small circle, and it would disappear after a few days of exercise.

"It seems that we need to lock all the dried fish in the warehouse to prevent you from getting up in the middle of the night to eat them."

"Meow."

After scolding Azshara, who was about to turn into a big orange, Hastur came to Sharon's room. There was no one in the room, and there was no breath.

"Meow."

Azshara jumped out of Hastur's arms, ran outside a closet, and scratched it lightly with her little paws.

Hastur stepped forward and opened the cabinet door. In the dark environment, Sharon was acting motionless as a qualified puppet. .

Breathing, heartbeat, breath, if Sharon goes out to an exhibition at this moment, no one will think that she is a living person.

The whole person looks like an exquisite and beautiful dress-up doll or puppet.

Hastur didn't bother, just took a look and closed the cabinet door again.

After leaving Sharon's room, Hastur came to the study. Caius was already waiting with a stack of documents.

Hastur asked him to put the documents on the desk, leaned slightly against the back of his chair, and listened to him talk about the changes in South Wales during this period.

His trip to Backlund took thirteen days and back, and most of the time was wasted on the journey.

Over the past few days, the storms on the sea have become more and more intense, and the Storm Church is capable of setting off huge waves to purify the entire sea.

Except for pirate kings like Nast who could remain unmoved, many pirate groups have withdrawn to the southern continent, away from the waters where the Church of Storms is located.

As for the pirates near the coast of South Wales, they have basically been wiped out. During this period, there has not been a single incident of pirates robbing merchant ships, and the coastal fishing villages have not been affected.

As maritime trade in various ports became more prosperous, more taxes were paid.

Several big businessmen even came forward to donate money, saying that they were raising military funds for the navy's mission of eradicating pirates.

Everything is moving in the right direction, except for the increasing dissatisfaction of the Archduke of Southwell.

It was unbearable for him to watch him make a lot of money and gain an excellent reputation.

After all, these eight important ports were his pocketbook at the beginning.

So he sent two waves of people to invite him to discuss some matters.

Hastur had not returned at that time, so he naturally declined easily.

"It's just a matter of going back and forth. I'm not used to it and I need to rest at home for half a month, no, a month."

Hastur thought of any reason and asked Caius to send the invitation from the Archduke of Southwell.

Wait for a while, and if there is any change in the Southern Continent, the Grand Duke of Nanweil ​​will naturally stop.

"My subordinates will go and deal with it now."

After Caius left, Hastur turned his attention to the documents on the desk.

In addition to some important documents signed recently, there are also several bills related to eight ports.

Hastur first read all the data on the bill and murmured: "No wonder the Grand Duke of Southwell is so greedy. If I collect taxes at this rate for a year, I can earn at least one million gold pounds."

One hundred and twenty thousand gold pounds, this amount of money is the net profit after deducting various expenses. He can transfer it at any time to enrich his small treasury.

Once port business develops, huge profits will indeed be made.

This is more than what Earl Hall's bankers earn.

"It seems that we have to let the Southern Continent continue to cause trouble for a while, so that I can't afford to visit the north, so that I can earn more gold pounds."

Hastur was deep in thought, tapping his fingers on the table.

Now that the Mother Tree of Desire and the Super Star Master have left the Southern Continent with the members of the Rose School, the main operator there should be Adam, the True Creator, and the Original Witch.

As for the local forces, unless the God of Death returns, they are destined to become only pawns on someone else's chessboard.

Gray Carrie... let him continue to stay in the spiritual world.

Although he signed the contract, Hastur did not think that he could freely use the true god who was not known as the ancestor of the Phoenix or the Hades Emperor Salinger.

……

At night, the light of the stars shines on the sea, making the waves sparkling and swaying.

A ship is passing through the Sunian Sea at will.

It is said that the end of the Suniya Sea is the kingdom of gods. According to the classic records of the Aurora Society, the kingdom of the Lord is at the end of the Suniya Sea.

Unfortunately, there is a sea of ​​ruins in the middle, blocking all brave explorers.

Mr. A stood on the bow of the ship and carefully compared the route on the map with the stars in the sky to confirm that the ship was moving in the direction that would pass through the dangerous sea of ​​ruins.

It's a pity that Lord Ouroleus is not here right now, otherwise he would definitely know how to cross the sea of ​​ruins and enter the kingdom of the Lord.

Perhaps I will die in the sea of ​​ruins, because the Lord cannot allow a traitor who abandons his faith to enter His eternal kingdom.

Mr. A was in a complicated mood and glanced at the silent cabin.

He is not a fool. Lord Ourolyus's previous attitude said everything.

It's just that he never wanted to admit it, so he deceived himself and used lame excuses to avoid the truth.

But the closer he gets to the Kingdom of the Lord, the clearer he becomes and the harder it becomes to deceive himself.

The one lying in the coffin in the cabin was not the Lord, but a god who came from nowhere.

He chose Himself for a reason to be His mouthpiece in communicating with the Lord.

"You're upset."

A voice sounded, and Mr. A suddenly felt a pious belief in his heart.

"Yes, my heart is confused. Merciful Lord, can you answer my doubts?"

Mr. A was lying on the ground, raised his head slightly, and looked at the figure that he should have been chasing all his life.

"Being too sober will only lead to trouble."

"Lord, I can protect you until the end of my life." Mr. A showed a painful look on his face and said with a bit of sadness: "But I still just want to die as a believer of the Lord."

"Have you only learned how to seek death during this long journey?"

"..."

Mr. A was silent, looking at the dreamlike sea of ​​ruins in the distance, which was very beautiful and shocking.

Perhaps only such a terrifying and beautiful place can become the only way to the Kingdom of the Lord God.

"I really want to live, I really want to see the Lord, I really want to crawl at His feet, but I know I can't cross that sea safely."

Once the faith that has been shaken steps into the Kingdom of the Lord, it will be a kind of blasphemy!

The blasphemers will surely pay for their sins with death.

"You will see the figure you have been chasing all your life. This is my gift to you."

"but I……"

"You might as well end your life right here."

Mr. A remained silent for a long time before smiling and saying, "I will save my questions until I meet the Lord."

"This is the right choice."

"Lord, if you had appeared earlier, I might not have had to struggle like this."

“Does faith without inner struggle have any meaning?”

Mr. A felt inexplicably enlightened, and he seemed to have figured out something.

Along the way, he was struggling in his heart, and as he moved forward on the pilgrimage, he was gradually finding the right answer.

Under the moonlight, the ships moved forward leisurely, and a fleet of ships suddenly appeared in front of them, attracting Mr. A’s attention.

Before he could take a closer look, the figure in front of him had already passed across the sea and arrived on the flagship deck of the fleet.

On the Future, Cattleya in the captain's room was disturbed by someone saying that an unknown visitor had landed on the deck.

When Cattleya came out of the captain's cabin and rushed to the bow deck, a group of people had gathered around her. Her second officer was calming everyone's emotions so that no conflicts would arise.

Cattleya signaled everyone to quiet down. She took two steps forward and said in a neither humble nor arrogant tone: "I am the captain of the Future, Star Admiral Cattleya. Who are you? And why are you here?"

Hastur did not speak, but glanced around the crew of the Future. His eyes fell on Frank, who was still immersed in his hybrid research, and then moved away to land on Cattleya who was standing in front of him.