Super Righteous Player
Chapter 639 - 180 "Pinky Finger of the Left Hand" Zolgen_1

Chapter 639: Chapter 180 "Pinky Finger of the Left Hand" Zolgen_1

After ending the "video call" with Salvatore, the Hand of Winter, who had already been standing at the door for quite some time, finally knocked and entered.

He was an old man with an exceedingly frail figure.

He looked tall and thin, resembling a withered scarecrow, or a shadowy specter elongated in form.

The old man wore a light gray robe, his complexion deathly pale, devoid of color. His white and fine hair was so sparse it was almost transparent, and one could see the subtle liver spots at his temples and the corners of his eyes.

His pupils were silvery white... as if completely shrouded in mist. At a glance, it seemed like the eyes of a man blind, pure white.

The most striking feature was not the ice ring on his left ring finger but the scarf around his neck.

The elderly man was wrapped in at least seven or eight dark gray wool scarves. They covered him from his nose to his jaw and even ensnared his shoulders. Apart from those silvery gray eyes, none of his facial features were exposed; nothing else could be discerned.

"Your Highness, the results of the interrogation are in,"

he said with a deep, exceedingly soft voice, muffled under the scarf, "May I present them to you now?"

"Of course, Uncle Zorgen,"

Annan nodded slightly.

His voice carried a touch of respect.

Although he had completely lost his memory, in truth, it was the Hand of Winter who had watched over Annan as he grew up—even overseeing Ivan in his childhood.

Within the Hand of Winter, the "Ring Finger" was responsible for internal affairs, and the "Thumb" for management tasks.

The "Little Finger," known as "the Finger least needed," or "the Secret Finger," was tasked with "jobs that need not be seen"... such as espionage, interrogation, assassination, and the fabrication of false evidence.

Typically, the Hand of Winter was advanced from wizards of the Disabling School. However, the position of the Little Finger additionally required the skills of a stealth operative.

It is said that before Annan turned eight, Zorgen had intercepted at least more than ten assassination attempts on him; and before Annan was born, his mother, Anya Rasputin, was also under Zorgen’s protection.

The reason Annan encountered assassination attempts was simply because he had been separated from Ivan.

The senior ranks of the Hand of Winter were not fully staffed—because of the immense power; they preferred a vacancy over filling it carelessly.

This was a new rule established after the defector, Winter Reverser Vladimir, turned traitor... Before that, the "Ten Fingers" were always at full strength. There were even many reserves for each position, which led to infighting within the Hand of Winter.

Thanks to the "Winter Reverser" sounding the alarm,

he reminded Ivan that the real power of the Duchy of Frostwind lay not in the hands of the ministers... but in the hands of the Hand of Winter’s "Ten Fingers."

The former Right Hand Little Finger was also among the defectors. Since then, all his disciples were purged... until now, the faction of the "Right Hand Little Finger" has been managed by Zorgen temporarily.

In general, the rule of the Hand of Winter was "the left hand inside, the right hand outside." As the left hand blocks attacks, protecting the vitals, while the right hand wields the weapon to strike at others.

Currently, the right hand of the Hand of Winter still had four vacant rings—besides the most crucial one, as the commander, the "Thumb," was kept by "Victor," personally assigned by Ivan. The other four rings were left empty, their powers consolidated into the left hand.

The spies previously planted abroad, those who had not been activated, would no longer receive any orders, living out their normal lives; those who had started passing intelligence to the Duchy of Frostwind were also instructed to find ways to go back undercover... like "Old Daddy" for example.

A lot more personnel were used for internal surveillance and management. So in reality, the Duchy of Frostwind’s counterintelligence personnel abruptly doubled in number. Because of this sudden abundance of manpower, every spy from Noah was pinpointed and captured without exception.

They were utterly unable to pass the intelligence back.

——This was the real reason behind Darry Garden’s bakery’s curiosity about "Frostwind suddenly reducing its intelligence range." In essence, it was due to the shift in power of the "Ten Fingers," transforming from ten to six... not because of any major changes within Frostwind or secret information that couldn’t be disclosed to outsiders.

This was the hidden truth that the people of Noah could never possibly know.

"... With all that said, I believe it is necessary to arrest Yury Frosthail immediately."

Zorgen pressed his hands tightly against his trouser legs, his abnormally slender body standing straight as a shadow. He did not refer to any notes but recited fluently the intelligence gathered from the interrogation directly to Annan.

Simply put, the operation was indeed the handiwork of the Northern Union. To be precise, it was an unauthorized act by three of its members—Viscount Peter, Viscount Osthoff, and Earl Yury.

But their goal was not just to assassinate Annan.

After cross-referencing with previous investigation information from Winter’s Hand, Zorgen keenly discovered that there was an odd expenditure in the Frostwind Territory. It was ostensibly for the purchase of "living green fire", but a thorough investigation revealed that the funds ended up in an Underground City known as Saltpeter Ranch.

The rulers of this town, "Bloodhand Brothers", also had an unclear relationship with Noah Kingdom’s Nata County—"Mushroom Eater", a gang that produced a large amount of demon’s blood, with only a small amount finding its way into Noah itself. The rest was sold to Saltpeter Ranch.

Subsequently, that batch of demon’s blood was funnelled from Saltpeter Ranch into the Frostwind Territory of the wintry north.

"Earl Yury Frosthail was previously prosecuted for researching forbidden rituals. He paid a hefty sum in compensation and surrendered three of his estates to avoid imprisonment. However, the forbidden ritual he was involved in was related to ’communicating with dream-realm creatures’... For this ritual, Hermes’s venom dust was necessary, hence requiring a ’pure yet fallen heart’ as one of the ingredients.

"Looking back now... those ingredients must have just been the residue from failed attempts at creating demons. They likely never produced any venom dust, nor did they communicate with dream-realm creatures."

The old man’s eyes were cold and emotionless: "Considering they might have successfully created a demon, I believe it is necessary to deploy the Frost Beast Troops for a search and seizure operation. Anyone involved with the forbidden ritual should be arrested."

Deploying the Frost Beast Troops requires authorization at the level of ’Index Finger’ or higher. By making such a declaration, he was actually overstepping his bounds.

And if the action was so significant, it might agitate the already sensitive nerves of the Northern Union.

After a moment’s thought, Annan asked, "Have you spoken to my father about this?"

"Grand Duke Ivan instructed me to prioritize reporting to you from now on, Your Highness Annan,"

Zorgen answered.

"...There’s no rush,"

Annan fell silent for a while, his eyebrows slightly furrowed: "You mentioned that the assassin’s weapon was... venom?"

"It’s a standardized cursed object, ’Venom - Cardiac Failure’. Once struck, the blade will break off and remain in the muscle, while inflicting the ’Cardiac Failure’ spell on the victim every three seconds,"

the old man replied calmly: "This technique belongs to the Roaring Fang family of the Union Kingdom."

His words were devoid of any emotion, as if Annan’s previous response didn’t exist—there was no counter-question, nor any further inquiry.

Like a cold, emotionless puppet.

"So—let’s start the investigation from here,"

Annan’s index finger tapped the tabletop as he spoke slowly: "We must know who is involved in this, so we can understand who our real enemies are and what their possible motives might be. After that, we can find out who can be persuaded, and who cannot be trusted."

"We have few operatives available in the Underground City, making it difficult to conduct an efficient investigation at Saltpeter Ranch,"

the old man replied unemotionally: "However, we have three spies in the Underworld who have become ’Diggers’. Activating them might expose their identities and cause them to lose their privileges. It’s not a guaranteed outcome, but ’Wise Ones’ are hard to handle, and you’d have to treat them as expendable chess pieces."

"...No, that won’t be necessary either."

At this thought, a slight movement touched Annan’s heart.

After all, Lin Yiyi and her group were currently at Saltpeter Ranch.

It seemed possible to have them conduct the counter-investigation from the other end...

At this, the corners of Annan’s mouth curled up slightly, revealing a smile of someone holding a winning hand.

The silver-haired youth squinted his eyes.

He spoke slowly: "Regarding this matter, I should be able to get quite accurate information very soon."