Chapter 332: The Fool Has Not Yet Been Born!

Chapter 332: The Fool Has Not Yet Been Born!

"I should hurry up as well," Hastur thought to himself in his study, holding Aisala and gazing towards Backlund.

To advance to Sequence 5 Chaos Adept, he needed not only the potion but also a ritual. Just as Klein needed to consume his potion while listening to mermaid songs to become a Marionettist, Hastur required a corresponding ceremony. He needed to take the potion in a place dense with order and chaos, observed and acknowledged by many people. Backlund was the ideal location for this.

Even before fully digesting the potion, Hastur had sent several letters back to Backlund, including one to the King of Loen. The content roughly stated that he had been away from Backlund for half a year, missed life there greatly, and needed to report on the latest pirate eradication efforts and coastal defenses. 

Other letters went to Earl Hall's family and Grek, asking them to help arrange his quick return to Backlund. Additional correspondence was sent to Susie, Audrey, Professor Wayne, Butler Neil, and others.

By his calculations, replies from Backlund should already be on their way. If the king did not permit his return, he would have to sneak back secretly. However, this would make advancing to Chaos Adept more difficult.

Being acknowledged by the order represented by the Loen king and recognized by those under orderly rule would help him resist the immense chaos produced during his advancement. Otherwise, he risked losing his mind or, in the worst case, becoming an uncontrollable monster.

"Meow?" Aisalainquired.

"You don't want to go back?" Hastur asked.

"Meow," came the reply.

"You little thing, do you understand the hardships of travel?" Hastur chuckled.

Asia Remained silent, burrowed in Hastur's arms. It was simply lazy and found moving troublesome. Besides, with its owner away, it could eat more dried fish - it had nearly starved lately.

After just two days, letters from Backlund finally arrived. Hastur had already packed and departed for Backlund the day after reading them. Sharon didn't accompany him back, staying at the castle with Aisalainstead. In her words, it was easier to play the role of a dust-covered puppet there.

...

On June 1st, a steam train from South Welles County chugged towards Backlund. In a luxurious private compartment, Hastur lay on the bed, entering the Hall of Stars.

The Lamp God seemed to be in a good mood, likely due to his harmonious interactions with Bernadette lately. Following the advice of the Tarot Club, he had been focusing on genuinely helping Bernadette rather than causing mischief. Though still guarded, she occasionally allowed him to speak.

The Mother Tree of Desire and the overlord of the stars appeared silent, probably still troubled by the matters concerning their followers like Seah.

As soon as the High-Dimensional Observer arrived, he drew the Lamp God's attention. The Lamp God mocked, "I'm surprised you suffered a setback at the hands of the Lord of Storms."

"Is your mouth finally going to serve a purpose?" the High-Dimensional Observer retorted sharply, causing the Lamp God to snort and fall silent.

The Mother Tree of Desire turned her gaze towards them. "Given your usual methods, there must be hidden details about the Bansy Harbor incident that we don't know."

"Clever," the High-Dimensional Observer smiled. "Your mind is far more useful than certain others, whose brains seem to be mere decorations."

"Heh, yet you still got beaten by the Lord of Storms, and the pirate groups following you have nearly been wiped out by the Church of Storms," the Lamp God couldn't resist jabbing back.

The High-Dimensional Observer glanced at the Lamp God calmly and said, "I sensed the aura of the City of Calamity."

"What?!" The Lamp God instantly became excited, his tone rising.

If the City of Calamity had appeared, could his Kingdom of Disorder be far behind?

The Mother Tree of Desire's gaze also grew eager, equally concerned about the whereabouts of her Shadow World.

Only the complete overlord of the stars spoke in confusion: "Apart from the Chaos Sea of the Lord and the Fountain of Wisdom of the overlord of the stars, all other origin forces are sealed in the Western Continent. It's not yet time for those seals to be broken."

The High-Dimensional Observer deliberately maintained an air of superiority, ceasing discussion about the City of Calamity and instead conversing with the overlord of the stars about past deeds of the Lord and the overlord of the stars.

This infuriated the Lamp God, who was eager to hear more, but he knew it was the High-Dimensional Observer's way of provoking him into submission. Left with no choice, he temporarily yielded and quietly asked the High-Dimensional Observer about the specifics of what happened in Bansy Harbor.

In a good mood, the High-Dimensional Observer slowly explained, "Bansy Harbor was influenced by the power of the City of Calamity, but the Lord of Storms erased it in time."

"And then?" the Lamp God pressed.

"Then Bansy Harbor vanished, and all traces and influences of the City of Calamity were completely erased."

"Is that all?" The Lamp God barely contained his anger.

"What else did you expect? The seal hasn't been lifted yet; this was just a slight leakage of power from the City of Calamity."

Not hearing what he wanted, the Lamp God snorted coldly, his previously decent mood thoroughly ruined.

The High-Dimensional Observer clicked his tongue, as if saying, "Look at your useless reaction."

"If you can find the crack where the power of the Kingdom of Disorder is leaking, you might be able to break free from the Wishing Lamp's seal without returning to the stars," he added.

Hearing this, the Lamp God perked up hopefully, "Have you found that place?"

"No," came the blunt reply.

The Lamp God's rising hopes were dashed by the High-Dimensional Observer's curt answer.

Hastur chimed in with his own reality check: "Not all sealed origin forces can leak through cracks."

The Lamp God's spirits sank completely. It seemed he could only pursue the path of returning to the stars after all.

Moving past this topic, the Mother Tree of Desire began discussing recent movements of the seven orthodox churches. If not for the High-Dimensional Observer's previous warning, her remaining few followers might have been completely wiped out.

The seven churches were particularly united in hunting down the Rose School. The last time nearly triggered divine descents from the Goddess of Night and the God of Steam and Machinery. Fortunately, they had avoided it in advance, preventing a major incident.

The High-Dimensional Observer smiled, "They've started paying attention to us, but their main focus is still on the Fool and the Tarot Club."

His gaze fell on Hastur but he said nothing more.

Currently, the group most worthy of the seven churches' targeting was the Rose School, influenced by the Mother Tree of Desire and the overlord of the stars. However, what truly worried the seven churches were the hidden Tarot Club and the Fool.

His intelligence was always accurate. Except for matters at the level of the seven deities' oracles, he could easily spy on any information he desired.

Hastur calmly said, "No need to worry about it."

The Lamp God asked with slight confusion, "Who is this Fool organization?"

The High-Dimensional Observer gave him an odd look. "It seems you've been kept in the dark quite thoroughly."

The Lamp God was about to retort but quickly realized something. "Is the Fool related to the Lord of Mysteries?"

The Lord of Mysteries was an Old One of the three pathways, while the Fool was just the Sequence 0 of one of the non-orthodox pathways. This made it difficult for him to connect the two at first.

Thinking carefully, no Sequence 0 had appeared in the three Lord of Mysteries pathways for many years. The only one close to becoming a true god, Mr. Door, had fallen into the hands of the Mother Goddess of Depravity.

He had always believed it was the Lord's existence that suppressed the awakening of the Lord of Mysteries.

Even the birth of Amon, the Lord's son, was to check the awakening of the Lord of Mysteries.

That's why Amon hasn't advanced to Sequence 0 until now.

The Lamp God pondered further and said, "Has the Fool really been born? That Antigonus family's half-Fool is still alive, isn't he?"

The Lamp God leaned back in his chair. "Shouldn't you be the most knowledgeable about matters concerning the Lord of Mysteries?"

"Heh, there is no Fool at all right now!" 

This time, the Lamp God spoke with certainty. He was sure that the half-Fool Antigonus was still alive.

And as long as he lived, the Fool could not appear.

The seven churches understood this principle even better than he did, after all, it was the handiwork of the Goddess of Night.

So, only one explanation remained.

The so-called Fool was actually the Lord of Mysteries!

A cold smile appeared on the Lamp God's face. "He has finally appeared. I thought He would never be able to awaken again!"

"Tsk, trapped in the Wishing Lamp as you are, what can you do about it?" the High-Dimensional Observer's taunt once again silenced the Lamp God.

Since Bernadette advanced to Sequence 2, her control over the Wishing Lamp had strengthened considerably. He could no longer sense external events as clearly as before.

He hadn't even noticed immediately that the Lord of Mysteries had revived and returned under the identity of the Fool.

For someone who had always wanted to compete with the Lord of Mysteries again, this was quite a blow. Especially considering that the Lord of Mysteries was gradually awakening while he remained trapped in the Wishing Lamp, his feelings grew even more complex.

He couldn't help but cast a resentful glance at Hastur. If the Tarot Club had been willing to help, he could have already returned to the stars.

"Before the advent of the apocalypse, you will naturally be able to return to the stars," Hastur said, repeating the Lamp God's future once again in response to his look.

This was the first time Hastur had prophesied the Lamp God's future in front of the others, immediately drawing the attention of the Mother Tree of Desire, the overlord of the stars, and the High-Dimensional Observer.

The overlord of the stars sneered, "How unfortunate."

The High-Dimensional Observer nodded, "On this matter, I rarely find myself in agreement with you."

Faced with their mockery, the Lamp God's mood actually improved somewhat.