Super Righteous Player
Chapter 616 - 157 Dorin and Bella_1

Chapter 616: Chapter 157 Dorin and Bella_1

Although Annan had considered many things,

he still decided to bring the werewolf Dorin with him this time when he returned to the Winter Duchy.

To this day, Annan still had not figured out why Dorin looked so much like Bella. According to the identity and background Dorin had given, her place of origin was quite far from Bella’s hometown, so they obviously could not be relatives.

Moreover, their ages did not match at all.

If Bella were still alive, she would be around twenty-four years old now.

Let’s sort out the timeline for a moment.

Bella the betrayer had joined the "Hand of Winter" on December 30, 1496, eight years ago, at the age of sixteen. A year and a half after she joined the "Hand of Winter"... that is, six years ago from now, she betrayed Dmitry during a gamble and indirectly caused him to lose his fertility.

After that, Bella turned herself in, made merits to compensate for her crimes, and exposed that Vladimir was about to betray the Winter Duchy. The Icebreaker Army, in control of one-third of the military Frost Beasts, could only brace for a hasty battle.

After three years of rebellion—that is, three years ago from now—Bella’s tactic triggered the "Frostbite Calamity" and recruited werewolves to form the "Wind Walkers." At this point, Bella must have made contact with Professor Wolf.

—But Dorin is only just thirteen years old now.

Even if they were mother and daughter, it wouldn’t make sense... because Dorin indeed has a biological mother, who certainly couldn’t have been only sixteen at the time.

However, there was indeed some connection between them.

Because it was just eight years ago, when Bella entered the "Hand of Winter"... that Dorin met Professor Wolf.

At that time, Dorin’s mother went berserk, killed a child from another place, and was imprisoned along with her father who covered up for the murderer. Dorin, who lost her parents, was only five years old.

It was from that time that she met the self-proclaimed "Nicolas Flamel"—Professor Wolf—Frederick Wolfheart.

At that time, "Frederick" had already been replaced by Tricino Seti. As to why Professor Wolf would call himself "Nicolas Flamel" at that time, that is a point worth noting.

For an idol wizard, the name is a very important thing.

If a coincidence happens only once, perhaps it could be a real coincidence.

But the fact that they looked exactly alike, both knew Professor Wolf, and both suffered major life changes in the same year that completely altered their life trajectories is too coincidental. Moreover, Dorin’s father happened to be an idol wizard as well.

So many coincidences piled up together—if Annan were to forcibly ignore them, he would not be sharp enough.

There must be some kind of connection between them, even if he couldn’t yet identify what it was.

If Annan left Dorin in the Underworld, Professor Wolf might detect Annan and Dorin’s separation. By then, Dorin might be assassinated by the other werewolves to silence her.

To protect this important witness and clue, Annan took Dorin with him all the way back to Frost Speech Province.

This time, he merely brought three players to activate the teleportation point in Frost Speech Province.

They would not act simultaneously with Annan. After leaving the subway station with Annan, they would part ways. After the teleportation point was opened, they would return to the Underground.

Annan had already informed the silver-tier players—should there be any danger, they would certainly notify him.

Before that, the players, as "Eyes of Secrecy," were still engaging in not-so-secretive expansion maneuvers in the Underworld.

I’ll just insert a teleportation array here for now.jpg

Just like the expansion maneuvers of the Insect Race... Even the sages would definitely not be able to detect the players mining a teleportation array without any evidence.

After all, they didn’t touch anything.

They just arrived at a place, booked a hotel room for a month, then went out to purify nightmares. Once they purified enough, they would leave directly, not seeking wealth or fame.

If one didn’t know in advance that this itself was the "ritual to create a teleportation point," how could anyone perceive the significance of these peculiar actions of the players?

And in fact, the players indeed were purifying nightmares in the Underworld—those dangerous entities that no one wanted to touch but actually affected their lives.

Even if there were a true sage who could see through the future and knew the purpose of all this, he would also see what Annan and his "Eyes of Secrecy" had brought to them.

Then he would definitely keep silent.

By then, he would become an accomplice to Annan.

This was also Annan’s overt plot—

Only the prophet wizards who truly cared about the Underworld could care about and thus come to know the purpose of the players’ actions; they would also see the results of these actions, and so they might instead become Annan’s friends, choosing to condone or support Annan’s endeavors.

Through countless movies and games, Annan had long been on guard against those charlatans from the School of Prophets. As Arthur Burnfang once said, no secret can hide from a Prophet.

As long as they "will know" it in the future, they can find out about it now.

Therefore, Annan had been prepared with strategies to deal with these prophets from the very beginning.

——That’s right.

One only needs to ensure they are on the path of justice, that their cause is right, beneficial to the people and to the world in the long run, then at least the neutrally positioned Prophets would not choose to be hostile towards the players... even if a few Prophets wanted to stop Annan, they would be intercepted by more Prophets before taking action.

Stopping something wrong is not that difficult, for unity creates strength; whereas stopping something right is thousands of times more challenging... because their inner strength is dispersed.

Now Annan had gradually mastered this technique.

Compared to the technique of Heart Control, this was a technique of controlling people. It was a more advanced skill... the power of "momentum".

This was also a capability Annan had honed in advance for inheriting the position of Duke Winter.

He did not wish to be an incompetent duke.

Nor did he wish for everything Ivan had protected to end with him... he was even less willing to see the people of the Winter Duchy suffer more under his rule than under Ivan’s.

If one wants to do something, they must do it to the best of their ability.

This had always been Annan’s way of doing things, for a very long time.

Before long, Annan had returned to the Ducal Mansion.

Although he was somewhat anxious that bringing the werewolf Dorin back with him might cause Dmitry to reminisce about Bella and worsen his mood... fortunately, Dmitry was very busy.

He was not usually in Frost Speech Province, so he did not see Annan and Dorin.

It was somewhat unexpected for Annan.

Even though he brought a werewolf back to Winter and entered the Ducal Mansion, there were no members of the Hand of Winter stopping or questioning Dorin’s identity.

He had even prepared a set of excuses in advance, but in the end, they were unnecessary...

But then again, that made sense.

After all, Annan was not Dmitry.

His actions had always been such that they did not require others to worry.

Annan’s status at home and in the upper echelons of power had always been high — this was perhaps due to the first incarnation of Annan’s highly prescient decisions and his keen strategic vision.

Now that he was about to inherit the position of Duke, those Hands of Winter could at any time become his subordinates. Perhaps they already regarded Annan as the new duke... naturally, no one would dare to express unilateral opinions in front of him.

If not necessary, maintain silence — this too was one of the dogmas of the Hand of Winter.

They were different from the Three-Eyed Crow; they could not probe the secrets of the entire country from a place of safety. They had to do everything personally, and naturally, they would see many things they were not supposed to see.

But they were just the "hands" of the duke.

Hands do not need to have their own thoughts. That would only add unnecessary burdens to the brain or lead to errors.

They only needed to trust.

The young Hands of Winter would force themselves "not to see"; they compelled themselves to complete the tasks assigned to them and cared about nothing else.

And as the use of the Spell of Disabling became more frequent, their hearts grew colder. These mature Hands of Winter would usually choose to "maintain silence"... because the duke might occasionally need their eyes, having them recount everything they saw.

Except for the Duke of Winter himself.

Even the duke’s wife or the duke’s children were also under the silent surveillance of the Hand of Winter.

That is to say...

From now on, do I actually count as the Duke of Winter?

As he just pushed open the door to the Ducal Mansion, Annan felt a bit bewildered.

"Let’s go, Dorin."

He fell silent for a moment, then said in an indifferent tone.

He took off his hood, and the following Dorin, who was quite nervous, mimicked Annan’s action and took off her own hood.

She had not yet recovered from the fact that "Giralda was actually Annan Winter".

——"The duke is waiting for you in his room."

Without a sound, a female voice arose behind Annan, startling Dorin. Her grey fur instantly stood on end, and her tail hung low and tightly between her legs, trembling even as she walked.

But Annan simply nodded silently.

Within the Ducal Mansion, he walked forward without looking back.

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