Backlund.
News of Leonard Augustus's death was transmitted from Southville County to the desk of the new king, Jevington II, at the earliest possible moment.
Jevington II was furious. He declared that the murderer who had killed his brother would pay the price and entrusted the three major Churches with jointly handling the matter.
Soon, the news spread throughout the upper echelons of the Loen Kingdom.
Even Audrey, who had rarely gone out recently, heard all sorts of discussions coming from outside.
The most widely circulated version at present was related to Hastur. It claimed that, in order to monopolize all power in Southville County, he had secretly caused the deaths of two successive Grand Dukes of Southville!
This version seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, but it quickly spread like wildfire among Loen's nobles and influential figures.
"Susie, there's something I need you to do."
Inside the room, after thinking it over, Audrey decided to send out her most capable assistant, Susie, to help investigate the truth of the matter.
"Woof!" Susie shook herself and stood up, looking as though she was saying, Leave it to me.
"Recently, many rumors unfavorable to Mr. Hastur have been circulating throughout Backlund. I want you to ask Fors and Xio to help investigate who's secretly spreading these rumors."
"At the same time, starting from today, try to follow Earl Hall every day and listen for anything related to Mr. Hastur, then come back and report it to me."
Audrey paused for a moment, giving Susie some time to process the information, before continuing to add a few minor details that required attention.
After arranging Susie's tasks, Audrey also began thinking about what she herself could do to help Mr. Hastur, who was far away in Southville County.
She didn't know whether the deaths of the two successive Grand Dukes of Southville had anything to do with Mr. Hastur, but given the current situation in Backlund, there was definitely someone secretly fanning the flames.
She wanted to help Mr. Hastur uncover these people.
"I have to write a letter to warn Mr. Hastur and let him know that someone in Backlund is secretly targeting him."
Audrey quickly finished writing a letter and had someone deliver it to Southville County.
Earl Hall noticed this little action of hers but didn't stop her. Instead, he summoned Audrey to his study and told her some deeper information.
The new king, Jevington II, had gradually accumulated prestige thanks to his victories on the battlefield against the Feysac Empire. There were even faint signs that his reputation might surpass that of George III.
With victories in wars, it was only natural that he would want to sweep away some of the disobedient nobles within the kingdom. Hastur, who had been sent to guard Southville County, was one of them. Even the Hall family and the Negan family were among those being suppressed, though it wasn't quite as obvious yet.
Emperor Roselle once said, "With each new king comes a new generation of nobles."
Naturally, a new king would promote some newly risen nobles while sweeping the stubborn old nobles who refused to obey into the garbage heap.
Audrey listened quietly, extracting and summarizing the key information within his words. After a while, she wrote another letter to Mr. Hastur.
She believed this was also what Earl Hall hoped she would do.
At an internal meeting of the royal family, Jevington II sat upon the throne, coldly sweeping his gaze over several important members of the royal family. The atmosphere was somewhat oppressive.
"Leave the matter in Southville County to the three major Churches. A prince, my own biological brother, inexplicably died in Southville County. Someone needs to take responsibility for this."
"Some of the old fellows in Backlund should also step down. The old and the new must eventually alternate."
"The Negan family, the Hall family, the Abbe family, Frank, Deaton..."
Jevington II slowly recited one family name after another.
More news of victories over the Feysac Empire had arrived from the front lines, further boosting his prestige. This was precisely the best opportunity to make a move against the old nobility.
"Wouldn't this be moving too quickly all at once?" A member of the royal family worried that it might provoke internal unrest.
"What could they possibly use to cause unrest? Beneath the barrels of firearms, noble titles are nothing more than shards of glass that shatter at the slightest touch."
"What worries me is the economic aspect. Both the Hall family and the Negan family have deep roots in commerce. If they're pushed too hard, it could easily provoke them into resisting."
After a long discussion, Jevington II dismissed everyone and sat alone upon the throne.
Before he had taken this position, the throne had seemed scorching hot. But after truly sitting upon it, it was cold, bone, chillingly cold.
"Sacrificing your own brother just to deal with a young earl, is doing this really worth it?"
"It's worth it." Jevington II's expression instantly turned cold. "Anyone who might overthrow our Augustus family must be strangled before they have the chance!"
Back then, the mysterious Zaratul had once predicted the futures of three people for him.
First was Grey Negan, then Audrey Hall, and finally Hastur Campbell. According to the prophecy, the person who would overthrow the Augustus family's rule over Loen was Hastur Campbell.
He had repeatedly asked Zaratul how that young earl would overthrow the Augustus family, but he had never received an answer.
Zaratul had also never appeared again.
According to information from the Secret Order, He had gone mad again, and His condition was even more severe than any previous episode.
Jevington II had no way of knowing the exact circumstances. He only vaguely felt that Zaratul's abnormal change was related to the three prophecies He had made.
This made him even more certain that Earl Hastur Campbell had to be eliminated!
At Saint Samuel Cathedral, Leonard once again received a mission to travel to Southville County to investigate, but he refused.
This time, the Church didn't force him. Instead, it respected his wishes and sent someone else to Southville County to investigate.
After returning to his room, Leonard began asking the old man for his opinion on the matter.
"Very good." That was everything the old man said to him.
No matter how Leonard questioned him, he received no further response.
Leonard finally sighed. "Hastur, how are you so good at stirring up trouble?"
Although there was no evidence, he firmly believed that Hastur was definitely connected to the deaths of the two successive Grand Dukes of Southville.
When someone was constantly entangled with trouble, it meant that he himself was a huge source of trouble.
...
Hastur, who was being thought about by many people, had already found the home of his soul. The Hall of Stars was now the home of his soul.
Ever since he was reborn into this world and entered the Hall of Stars, he had always placed his hopes in the Hall of Stars. Whenever something happened, the first thing he thought of was the Hall of Stars, and the thing most closely connected to him was also the Hall of Stars.
This was where he could place his soul, the sole place belonging to his heart.
However, all this time, he had never truly entered the Hall of Stars. He had only entered it through dreams and in spiritual form.
His physical body had always remained outside the Hall of Stars. In other words, his body and soul had never completely merged with the Hall of Stars.
He needed to truly enter the Hall of Stars and then consume the Lost One's potion. Only then could he truly advance.
Once the riddle was solved, things became much easier.
Entering the Hall of Stars wasn't difficult. He simply needed to pay attention to the various protective measures so that no one would discover that he was the true body of the Stars.
The Stars had quite a few believers, but there were only a handful he could truly trust.
Although Gregrace had performed quite well, he had never been able to completely trust her.
The same was true of the Yellow-robed Monks. Perhaps one day, with the appearance of the King in Yellow, they might suddenly turn against him and betray him.
The Vessel of the Stars was quite useful, but during his breakthrough, he wouldn't have the spare attention to control Him. Moreover, His existence might attract the True Creator's attention at some point.
It seemed he would have to trouble Sharon in the end.
Before that, following the method Will had taught him, Hastur refined the Worms of Time from Amon into time charms. He successfully created ten in total, costing him a considerable amount of energy and time.
In the end, the time charms he refined were somewhat different from the Yesterday Once More charms refined by Klein.
The Yesterday Once More charms were mainly useful for existences such as Will, Miss Messenger, and the old man inside Leonard, all of whom had once suffered severe injuries. They could allow them to temporarily recover their former peak strength.
The time charms he refined with the Hall of Stars, however, were also known as Time Reset Charms or Time Zeroing Charms.
When used against an enemy, they could reset the target's states related to the concept of time to zero. For example, they could reset enhancement effects the enemy had applied to themselves for a fixed duration. They could also reset the amount of time the enemy's various organs had existed, or even reset their remaining lifespan to zero.
Of course, the actual effect wasn't quite that absurd, but they did indeed possess the ability to shave away a person's lifespan.
When used on himself, they could reset his temporal state, giving them an extremely broad range of applications.
For example, when using a Sealed Artifact with severe negative effects, he could directly reset those negative effects. He could also reset an ability that could only be used once every few days, granting himself an additional opportunity to use it.
To put it in simple and easy, to, understand terms, it was a cooldown rune that reduced the cooldown to zero.
Hastur estimated that even if Amon personally refined the Worms of Time within His own body into charms, they still wouldn't possess such absurd effects.
The ability of returning to Zero was Sequence 0 of the Stars Pathway. This authority belonged exclusively to the One Who Returns the Stars.
There might also be some other effects that Hastur simply hadn't fully discovered yet.
After completing the refinement, Hastur began considering how to distribute these ten time charms.
In the end, he decided to first give two to Sharon and one to Ariella.
Originally, he had also planned to give two time charms to Audrey and Susie, but using these things might attract Amon's notice. It was better not to involve Audrey in these matters for the time being.
Besides, sending the items from Southville County to Backlund wasn't safe either.
As for Will, Hastur planned to directly give Him two Worms of Time. Perhaps He had other uses of His own for such things.
After making all the necessary preparations, Hastur began choosing a suitable time and place. To ensure that no accidents occurred, he specifically gave Miss Messenger, Reinette Tinekerr two time charms and asked her to help keep watch.
As for Madam Lisa and the members of the Yellow-robed Monks, they were stationed at the outermost perimeter. Closest to him were Sharon and Ariella.
Of course, on the surface, everything appeared normal. Only Sharon vaguely knew that he was preparing to advance.