When Alger first heard the first half of the sentence, his expression nearly froze. He had an undiscovered primitive island in his possession, and that was his greatest secret.
After hearing the second half, he relaxed. He could be certain that there was no conspicuous, enormous black mausoleum on that island.
Mr. World's intelligence network at sea is already this extensive. He actually learned about what happened at sea even earlier than I did.
A sense of crisis arose in Alger's heart. The sea was the most important foundation of his position in the Tarot Club.
Now, the overall strength of the Tarot Club members had caught up. Ms. Justice in particular, before she had even entered the mysterious world, he had already been a Sequence 8.
But under the pursuit of Miss Justice's pound-powered advancement, the two of them were now both at the level of Sequence 6.
He even felt that Miss Justice might advance to Sequence 5 before him. This sense of urgency constantly pressured him to seize every opportunity to become stronger.
And now, even his crucial position regarding matters at sea was about to be replaced by The World.
If this continued, his position among the Tarot Club's first-tier members would be taken away, reducing him to a second-tier member like Miss Magician and Little Sun.
He absolutely could not allow such a thing to happen. Once he returned, he would thoroughly investigate this matter.
Mr. Fool, who had been sitting at the head of the table without speaking, suddenly chuckled. "An enormous black mausoleum. The last mausoleum Roselle left behind back then is somewhere on the sea."
Roselle's final mausoleum has been discovered?
The members of the Tarot Club were all shocked. Compared to the death of Jevington II, a legendary figure like Emperor Roselle carried far greater significance.
They weren't surprised that Mr. Fool knew about this matter. Among all the existences they knew, only Mr. Fool could read the contents of Roselle's diary without any difficulty.
"Someone is deliberately spreading this news everywhere. It seems they want everyone at sea to search for this mysterious island. There must be some ulterior motive behind this," The World added.
This was the reason Klein had revealed this secret in front of everyone.
Someone at sea was spreading this information everywhere. Although he had intercepted and killed one group, many others remained hidden in the shadows, continuing to spread the news.
The mastermind behind the scenes clearly intended to use the secret mausoleum of Emperor Roselle as bait to fish for those driven by greed into taking the hook.
As someone similar to Roselle, he didn't want too many ambitious people disturbing the peace of Roselle's death.
But for now, he could only learn more about this matter first before contacting Bernadette.
He had an intuition that perhaps Bernadette was the big fish the mastermind behind the scenes truly wanted to lure out.
Because of this, he had already written a letter to Bernadette and informed her of the possible conspiracy involved.
"Emperor Roselle's final mausoleum... If Mr. Hastur knew about this, he would definitely be very happy."
This was the first thought that surfaced in Audrey's mind. When she realized it, her face reddened slightly. She discovered that ever since meeting Miss Sharon, she had frequently found herself thinking about Mr. Hastur.
Clearly, she and him were only friends. Mm, only friends...
"After I return, I'll also do everything I can to investigate this matter thoroughly."
Alger appropriately displayed his authority over matters at sea, lest The World truly steal away the brilliance that belonged to him.
...
After the Tarot Gathering ended, Audrey stood before the window, gazing in the direction of the sea.
She also really wanted to go out to sea and see what the true mysterious world looked like. In particular, those legends of mysterious treasures hidden across the sea always filled her with excitement.
"How should I tell Mr. Hastur about this?"
While Audrey was still thinking about it, Fors, on the other side, had already hurriedly reported the matter to the Stars.
At the same time, she summoned Lord Sage's messenger and informed Bernadette about the matter.
Only after finishing all of this did she leave her room. Seeing that she had slept for so long during her afternoon nap, Xio, who had been eager to go out and have fun, couldn't help looking her up and down.
"You didn't drink that much last night. Why are you so sleepy today?"
"This is called delayed post-alcohol syndrome," Fors explained with a perfectly serious expression.
"Wait, what kind of post-alcohol syndrome did you say?" Xio looked confused.
"I'm always telling you to read more books, but you never listen. That's why there are so many things you don't understand."
Susie happened to overhear this as she passed by. She barked once in agreement, then quietly continued on her way.
"See? Even Susie is making fun of you for not reading."
"..." Xio froze for a moment, then couldn't be bothered arguing with Fors about such nonsense. She grabbed Fors and dragged her out to go shopping.
Before leaving, they passed by Audrey's room and discovered that Audrey was still taking her afternoon nap.
Xio quietly muttered, "Miss Audrey seemed to have a lot on her mind last night. She drank quite a bit."
"You sure talk a lot." Fors knocked Xio on the head and led her away.
...
January 4th.
The cold winds of Backlund had finally reached Southville County. News of Jevington II's mysterious death had already spread throughout the entire Leon Kingdom.
The Loen royal family had already begun preparations for a state funeral. As for the next king of the Leon Kingdom, the announcement would be made after the funeral.
Hastur had no interest in attending Jevington II's funeral. At present, he was only interested in Roselle's final mausoleum.
According to Fors and Audrey, the person secretly spreading this information across the sea was very likely acting under the orders of the Mother Goddess of Depravity. It was also possible that Roselle himself, after a long period of inactivity, had decided to make a move.
The Mother Goddess of Depravity's objective was easy enough to guess. But if it was Roselle, then the matter became much more intriguing.
After thinking for a long time, Hastur ultimately decided to take Audrey, who was wholeheartedly yearning for a Beyonder adventure, out to sea. Only by personally investigating the matter could he make an informed decision.
Upon hearing about an adventure at sea, Fors immediately declared that she still needed to remain at home and write. As for something like adventuring, it would be better to leave that to Xio.
Xio hesitated for a while before agreeing to accompany Audrey out to sea. There were many pirates at sea with bounties on their heads. If they encountered one or two, she could follow Mr. Hastur and earn a decent share of the money. That way, she would have enough money to purchase Beyonder ingredients and potion formulas in the future.
Susie naturally followed Audrey. Ariella clearly stated that she hated water, while Sharon wanted to seize the time to complete the final stage of her Puppet acting and had no desire to go adventuring at sea right now. She could also remain at home and take care of Ariella.
Besides Audrey, Susie, and Xio, Hastur also transferred two Sequence 4 demigods from the Yellow-robed Monks organization. One was a chef who wielded a butcher knife, while the other was a maid responsible specifically for sweeping the floors of the castle.
By now, he was no longer as wary of the Yellow-robed Monks organization as he had been at the beginning.
He himself was a Sequence 4 demigod, and coupled with his unique nature, he could easily suppress these two demigods from the Yellow-robed Monks organization.
After spending two days preparing and taking care of miscellaneous matters, Hastur led everyone out to sea on the morning of January 6th.
To guard against unexpected accidents, Hastur secretly arranged for the Vessel of Stars to be aboard the ship.
As the morning sunlight spilled down, Sharon stood before the window and gazed at the ship sailing into the distance. Ariella nestled obediently in her arms.
"Miss Sharon, why didn't you go out to sea with Master? That Miss Audrey is going with Master," Ariella, lying in Sharon's arms, said in a crisp voice resembling that of a young child.
Sharon lightly tapped Ariella's nose. "I need to think about something."
"Think about what?"
"About when I should tell your master that you can speak."
"Meow!"
Ariella's fur instantly stood on end, and for a moment, she didn't dare say anything else.
She also wanted to talk with her master, but her voice was far too childish, just like a little kid's. It would be better to wait a few more years.
If only her voice could become as pleasant as Miss Audrey's.
...
On her first adventure at sea, Audrey was clearly excited by everything about the ocean. Standing at the bow of the ship, she watched unknown fish occasionally leap from the surface and would always let out one or two exclamations of wonder.
Xio wanted to disguise herself as a mature, steady, and well-traveled adventurer, but she became seasick on the very first day aboard the ship.
Her already small and scrawny body seemed to shrink even further. It wasn't until the third day at sea that she gradually overcame the symptoms of seasickness.
Susie, meanwhile, stared curiously at everything about the ocean, matching everything she saw and heard with the knowledge she had learned. Because of this, Hastur specially equipped her with a pair of glasses that gave her a scholarly air.
The ship continued deeper into the sea. With the Black Emperor Card in his possession, combined with Hastur's own luck, as long as there was anything unusual about the island where Roselle's mausoleum was located, they could simply allow themselves to drift with the ocean currents and would eventually encounter it.
Compared to this, Hastur was more concerned about Bernadette's situation. No matter who had stirred up this undercurrent across the sea, she was a key figure.
Bernadette was confident and proud to her very bones. She wouldn't pray to the Stars the moment something happened like Fors did.
Only when she encountered genuine danger or found herself unable to make a decision would she request the Stars' help.
At night, Hastur entered the Hall of Stars through a dream. His gaze first swept over the Mother Goddess of Depravity and Bernadette. After finding nothing unusual, he descended upon the Vessel of Stars.
Hastur had yet to complete the acting for Sequence 4, Lost One, of the Stars pathway. But he already knew how to act effectively. The Vessel of Stars was his best choice.
Looking ahead from the Vessel of Stars, there was nothing. Looking behind, there was also nothing.
It was nothing more than an empty shell, a true lost one.