As time passed, quite a few figures came and went from the room.
A passage through the spirit world was torn open. First, a mature and beautiful blonde woman came to visit. She stayed with Sharon and talked with her for a while, gently stroking her head with heartache.
That day, Sharon's eyes reddened for the first time, revealing a vulnerable and sorrowful expression.
The blonde woman stayed for quite a few days before leaving, and the days returned to a brief period of calm.
Then another passage through the spirit world was torn open, and a small fiery, red bird flew out. It chirped repeatedly before landing on Sharon's shoulder, seemingly comforting her.
The inconspicuous little phoenix appeared differently in Hastur's eyes. It was a phoenix with majestic wings and an enormous body, and atop its head sat a dazzling golden crown.
The Phoenix Ancestor Gregrace, the spirit world messenger who had once signed a contract with him.
Even now, that contract remained in effect, and he could easily command Her.
But he no longer seemed to have any need for Her. Wherever his gaze could reach, he could easily descend there himself. There was no need to rely on another existence to deliver messages for him.
Still, Hastur did not unilaterally tear up the contract. He merely continued to watch quietly, allowing time to flow by.
Soon, December 1st arrived, bringing another gathering of the Stars.
During this period, even more people had called his name.
In a city called Backlund, a man named Leonard had privately muttered his name. Maric, Greg, Glaint, Xio, and Fors had also mentioned his name.
A Miss Audrey was the one among them who mentioned his name most often. There was also the Beyonder dog Susie by her side. They were still writing letters to him, but those letters ultimately ended up in the empty room guarded only by Sharon.
From their private whispers and conversations, Hastur gradually pieced together the past interactions he had once shared with them. However, those memories remained blurry, and he had already forgotten many of the specific events.
The fragmented memories were slowly coming together. As time passed, his memories became increasingly complete.
He recalled many things from the past, yet he still merely watched in silence before quietly convening another gathering of the Stars.
During the gathering, no major matters were discussed. They mostly chatted about ordinary, trivial things. The only relatively interesting matter was that the Primordial Hunger also wanted to send an avatar into the real world.
According to Him, it was so He could throw the Magic Wishing Lamp that imprisoned the Son of Chaos into a filthy gutter and make Him suffer a little.
Regarding this request, the High-Dimensional Overseer expressed His willingness to help. Hastur also nodded in approval and lent Him a hand.
As long as the requests of the Great Old Ones attending the gathering of the Stars were not too presumptuous, he was willing to fulfill them.
It was a form of exchange. The more he gave now, the more he would gain in the future.
The return of the Stars to their rightful positions was not merely an authority.
The gathering of the Stars, held once every two months, came to an end once again. Hastur found himself feeling even more bored. His heart felt empty, needing something new to fill it.
These days, apart from staring blankly at everything, all he did was wait for the next gathering of the Stars.
Over and over again, monotonous and repetitive.
He should go down and walk around instead of remaining in the Hall of Stars all the time.
His gaze overlooked the real world as he began searching for somewhere relatively interesting. Puning Harbor and Backlund flashed through his mind, but he ultimately chose not to go to either place. Before his memories of the past had been completely pieced together, he did not want to create too many new memories involving those people.
In the end, he chose a vast ice field. The scenery there suited his current state very well.
With merely a thought from within the Hall of Stars, he appeared upon the vast ice field. Spatial distance did not exist for the Hall of Stars.
Moreover, back when he was Sequence 5, he had used the Hall of Stars to establish corresponding rules, granting himself the Beyonder abilities of the Apprentice pathway.
Anything a Traveler could do, he could do as well, and he could go even farther than they could.
The vast ice field was covered in falling snow. Within it, it was difficult to distinguish the transition between day and night, and even the passage of time seemed to lose its original meaning.
When his footsteps carried him out of the ice field, an icy lake appeared before him.
The lake had not yet completely frozen over. In the distance, faint patches of tender green grass could be seen sprouting from the ground. This was the border region of the ice field.
Standing at the edge of the lake and gazing into the crystal, clear water, his mind suddenly became tranquil.
There were quite a few large fish in the lake. Their bodies were long and slender, neither fat nor thin. Having lived year-round in such clean waters, their flesh should be very delicate. Perhaps there would even be a lingering sweetness after eating them.
As he continued staring, Hastur gradually began to feel a little hungry. He had even forgotten when he had last eaten.
After quietly watching for a while longer, Hastur gently swept his right hand across the surface of the lake. A fish nearly as large as he was suddenly leaped out from beneath the water and crashed down beside him, lying there completely motionless.
Before long, the aroma of grilled fish drifted along the lakeshore.
From the entire large fish, the finest belly meat was sliced into small pieces and eaten raw. The head and tail were set aside, while the remaining portions were grilled.
Hastur ate very slowly. After finishing the entire fish by himself, apart from the head and tail, the feeling of fullness in his stomach dispersed much of the confusion in his heart, and his mood improved considerably.
Continuing south from the lake, he soon arrived at a seaside where chunks of floating ice still drifted across the water.
There were quite a few people here, and they were fishing for seals living nearby.
Seal fishing was a traditional festival that had been preserved here to this day.
Hastur's arrival did not cause much of a stir. Every year, quite a few people came here to participate in the seal, fishing festival.
However, his thin clothing, which provided almost no warmth, still drew many envious gazes.
The temperature here was extremely low, especially at night. Even urine would freeze.
Most people wore as much warm clothing as possible, such as the warm pelts of various animals.
The lively atmosphere here did not make Hastur stop. However, just as he was preparing to leave, someone called out to him.
It was a middle, aged gentleman with bronze, colored skin, an average build, black hair, brown eyes, and gentle facial features. Beneath his right ear was a small black mole.
"You're from Loen, aren't you?" The middle, aged gentleman walked over and struck up a conversation. "Your clothes have a very obvious Loen style. I also lived there for many years. Aside from the somewhat poor air quality, it's quite good in every other respect."
"Are you Mr. Azik?" The name of the person before him naturally surfaced in Hastur's mind.
"You know me?" Azik curiously examined Hastur, finding him increasingly strange the longer he looked.
He had come here alone to fish for seals and had not expected to encounter someone who knew him.
Hastur's gaze passed over Azik and fell upon the people enthusiastically preparing to fish for seals.
"Is life here good?"
"If you don't mind the extremely cold weather. It's very quiet here, perfect for someone who wants to clear their mind and spend some time alone. Did you come here because something is troubling you?"
After their brief exchange, Azik had already noticed the confusion in the young man's heart. It seemed as though he had lost something and was now wandering aimlessly in search of it.
At night, light snow drifted through the air. Stars hung across the skies, sparkling brightly, their radiance impossible to conceal even beneath the wind and snow.
Hastur and Azik sat together beneath the open sky, gazing up at the stars while talking.
"A place where the heart belongs. That's truly a good question. I once lost my memories of the past as well, and I spent a long time actively searching for them. In the end, I recovered those memories, only to discover that they weren't as wonderful as I had imagined."
"Did you regret it?"
"No. Whether painful or beautiful, memories only truly belong to you once you've recovered them. Memories, everything from the past, are proof of the traces a person leaves throughout their life."
Hastur did not respond further. He merely looked up at the starry sky above.
"You should recover your memories of the past as well. There shouldn't be a blank space in the heart."
Azik patiently counseled the young man before him and told him many stories about his own experiences.
Late at night, when the radiance of the stars faded away, Hastur disappeared as well.
"A Traveler?"
Watching Hastur vanish without warning, Azik briefly fell into a daze. Just moments earlier, the young man had been right before his eyes, listening to him speak. Yet in the brief instant his attention wavered, the young man had suddenly disappeared without a trace.
Azik sat alone for a long time. When dawn arrived and the voices of the crowd began growing noisy, he smiled and joined the group fishing for seals.
...
In the Hall of Stars, Hastur continued sitting quietly.
His gaze swept over those who had once mentioned his name as fragments of memory continuously emerged and reorganized themselves.
December 15th.
Only half a month remained until the new year.
In the room at Puning Harbor where Hastur had entered seclusion to advance, Sharon stood before the window, quietly gazing toward the harbor streets.
With the new year approaching, the people living here had begun preparing for the celebrations early. The atmosphere was far livelier and more festive than usual.
Especially this year. The pirates had been driven away, commerce had flourished, and as long as the people living here were diligent enough, they could earn quite a bit of money.
"Meow..."
The listless Ariella lay on the windowsill. After glancing at the bustling street, she withdrew her gaze. Even though many stalls were selling fragrant dried fish, they could no longer attract her attention.
Knock, knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door, but Ariella could not even be bothered to raise her head.
After a while, the knocking stopped. Several letters from Backlund were neatly placed outside the door.
The unopened letters piled together had already exceeded fifty.
Caius, who had delivered the letters, glanced at the still tightly shut door, sighed in disappointment, and left.
It had already been three months since the Earl departed.