After thinking for about ten minutes, Audrey finally began to write.
"Mr. Hastur, thank you for your invitation. I've also been wanting to go to a country estate to relax recently. Susie is also very happy about going to play at a country estate."
At this point, Audrey glanced rather guiltily at Susie, who was lying on the ground resting. Seeing that it wasn't looking in her direction, she continued writing.
"Actually, Susie isn't particularly interested in going to the country estate, because Glaint will also be there. It's normal for her to be wary of and dislike a beast tamer. It's not because Susie dislikes you."
Although Susie doesn't really like you either.
She certainly wouldn't tell Mr. Hastur something like that, otherwise it would be far too disrespectful.
Aside from herself, no one else knew that Susie was a golden retriever that could read minds, and even talk.
"Our family also has a large estate in the countryside. Every autumn and winter, Father always likes to take us there to live for a while, saying it's to let us get closer to nature. But Hibbert and I both know that he simply enjoys bringing his hunting dogs into the forest to hunt. It gives him a feeling of returning to his youth."
"Whenever I stay at the country estate, I like to sit by the window and look at the ginkgo trees dyed yellow, watching leaf after leaf turn golden, breaking free from the branches and spinning through the air as they fall in sheets."
"It's very quiet. I think this is when the forest is the quietest and the most beautiful, silent, yet everything before my eyes seems to be swaying, as if reminding me that time is slipping away little by little."
"Besides admiring the tree's leaves, strolling along paths piled with fallen leaves is also a wonderful experience. Every time I see mushrooms quietly poking their heads out from the undergrowth by the roadside, each in a different color, it really feels like stepping into a fairy tale world."
"If one could build a forest cottage made entirely of pea vines deep in the woods, I would truly like to live there, and at night I could gaze up at the starry sky."
"The starry sky in the forest is pure and vast, without too many heavy clouds to block it. This is completely different from Backlund. Only in the wilderness can one truly appreciate the brilliance of the stars."
Audrey wrote in fits and starts, and by the end she herself was slightly stunned.
The purpose of her reply was simply to thank Mr. Hastur for the invitation. It should have been a bit more formal, so how had she ended up writing so much without realizing it?
And it even seemed a little naive and childish, leaves, little mushrooms, pea vines, gazing at the stars, just like a girl who hadn't grown up yet.
Audrey slightly pouted her lips, but she really hadn't come of age yet.
She would only be considered an adult in the social sense after December 31 this year, once she completed her coming-of-age ceremony.
Anyway, Mr. Hastur had already seen her acting spoiled toward her parents. Saying a few heartfelt things to him once in a while should be fine, right?
Audrey held the middle of the pen, lightly pressing the top against her cheek. Tilting her head slightly, she thought for a moment, and in the end did not revise this part.
There always had to be someone she could speak honestly to. Otherwise, living would be far too stifling.
Near the end of the letter, Audrey finally mentioned that Count Hall had accepted the invitation and would go to the country estate this weekend.
"Hibbert and Greg seem to be going to the countryside as well."
After finishing, Audrey read it through from the beginning. Her handwriting was very beautiful, more steady and elegant than Mr. Hastur's, though lacking a bit of freedom and ease.
"Maybe it has something to do with personality," Audrey murmured.
She looked at Susie, who had already woken up and was reading, and advised, "Susie, you've been a bit mentally strained lately. You should stop reading so much and go out for walks more, otherwise you're going to get fat."
"Audrey, you've also put on a bit of weight lately."
"How could that be! Impossible!" Audrey stood up and reached out to grab her own waist. It was still so slender, she hadn't gained weight at all!
There was no way she could get fat!
"A relaxed mind leads to a fat body. I read that in a book. Audrey, haven't you been in a pretty good mood lately?"
"..." Audrey fell silent for a long while before shaking her head and saying, "Susie, you're wrong. Recently, because of your matter, my mood hasn't been good at all."
"Woof?"
....
At the nursing home, after several days of painstaking observation, Klein and the others finally received a notice from the church:
"No forced intrusion into dreams. If it won't cause any contamination, continue observing. Try not to take any extra measures using violence."
With the stance of the church's higher-ups made clear, Leonard also let out a sigh of relief.
If the church had insisted on going head-on against Chief Reed's dreams, he would have had to keep risking himself to spy on them.
Ever since he last dreamed of the sea and smelled the salty stench, he had understood that this was not something people like them could resolve.
The church had sent them here to handle the matter in order to confirm the specific situation and whether there was any possibility of spread.
Choosing to observe from the sidelines, this was the church's real position.
The three major churches were quite tacitly aligned on this matter, as if they wanted to observe something through the changes in Chief Reed.
"The one who claimed he could see the future has already gone mad and died, just last night," the Beyonder from the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery suddenly mentioned after Klein had arranged everything.
"He's dead?" Leonard leaned over curiously.
He had also heard that person's future prophecies, especially when the man said that five people would come to deal with the nursing home issue. His heart had skipped a beat at the time.
If you counted the old man inside him, their group really did number five.
But could that person truly see the old man's existence? He didn't believe it.
If the old man were that easy to see, he would have been captured and put on trial by the archbishops of the Church of the Evernight Goddess long ago.
Klein frowned and asked, "Were there any Beyonder factors involved?"
"According to my investigation, he likely saw too much that he shouldn't have, which is why he went mad and died."
"Did you record his prophecies about the future during that period?"
"Only part of them. We didn't collect everything."
Klein asked him to recount the future prophecies he knew, to see if there was any meaningful intelligence.
Soon, that Beyonder handed Klein the compiled documents and said, "Most of what's in here is rambling nonsense, especially some of the later statements. Be careful not to be affected."
After nodding, Klein began flipping through the documents together with Leonard and the others.
"I saw a great fog sweep across Backlund. So many people died, died, all dead!"
"I saw a ghost ship pass through the obstruction of a storm!"
"I saw meteors falling from the sky!"
"I saw a massive explosion happen at the nursing home!"
"I saw someone hiding behind the shadows!"
....
"Ah! My eyes saw it, saw the sun burning fiercely!"
"I saw the stars filling the sky, flashing with light!"
"I saw the firmament crack open!"
After reading it all, Klein and the others exchanged looks, each with a different feeling.
Although it seemed like mad ravings, it also felt as if these were things he had truly seen with his own eyes.
But no matter how mutated his eyes were, he couldn't possibly see so many future events, let alone make prophecies.
These so-called future scenes were more like hallucinations produced by someone on the brink of collapse.
When people are close to death, sometimes they do see a different world.
"From his description, the future world sounds really full of disasters," said the Beyonder from the Church of the Lord of Storms with a chuckle. "Even the sky cracks open. Wouldn't the people living on the land be nearly wiped out?"
He clearly didn't believe these so-called prophecies.
Anyone capable of accurately predicting such events would be far beyond their imagination. A half-Beyonder whose eyes had merely mutated simply didn't have that ability, even if he paid for it with his life.
Leonard thought the same. Peering into the future was never easy, let alone making precise prophecies.
If even one of these statements turned out to be true, that would already be impressive.
"He said there would be an explosion at the nursing home. Whether it's true or not, we still need to remind the director here to make appropriate preparations, just in case anything happens."
Klein merely gave a few simple instructions, without placing too much faith in these so-called prophecies.
In an era where Beyonders existed, there were always people who spoke strange, mysterious words. Occasionally, when one or two of those words came true, they would be called prophecies.
From a probabilistic perspective, as long as you make enough predictions, one or two are bound to come true.
After leaving the nursing home, Leonard wanted to slip away, but Klein blocked him.
"Leonard, we haven't seen each other in a long time. I heard there's a bar called Braveheart Bar that's pretty good. Let's go have a drink tonight."
"..." Leonard was stunned for a moment and subconsciously said, "How do you know about Braveheart Bar?"
"I heard it from others. They said you used to go there often to drink."
"That was before. The current me has no interest in that kind of place at all."
Klein sighed and said, "Alright then. I'll go take a look there by myself. I'm sure the patrons there would know some of your glorious deeds."
"..." Leonard's face fell. If Klein really went there to investigate, someone would definitely tell him about how he pursued Miss Seraphina at Braveheart Bar.
If it went any further, he'd have to consider wearing a mask whenever he went out in the future, because he really wouldn't have the face to meet anyone.
"What do you want to know?" Leonard chose to compromise.
"About the matters between you and Baron Hastur Campbell."
"Why are you suddenly interested in Hastur?"
"I think he's not simple. I want to know a bit more."
"Sigh, alright."
....
At night, Hastur carried Ariella to the second-floor window, pointed at the dark and unfamiliar world in the distance, and gestured for it to go there and take a stroll.