Super Righteous Player
Chapter 661 - 202: The Winter Principality Plagued by External and Internal Troubles_1

Chapter 661: Chapter 202: The Winter Principality Plagued by External and Internal Troubles_1

——Great Calamity Curio.

In this world, only six treasures remain, far more powerful than the God-Naming Curios, as their name suggests.

Simply knowing their name is tantamount to being part of the ritual.

The current distribution of Great Calamity Curios is one each for Noah, Winter, and Dennisiowa, with The Holy Nation possessing two. Another lies sunken at the bottom of the Great Maelstrom... the sages of the underworld are said to be attempting to salvage it.

One might even say that the current nations are all rebuilding after the disaster, relying entirely on the Great Calamity Curio. Without control of the Great Calamity Curio, it is unlikely that any gods would choose them as the center for reconstructing their barriers.

——It is precisely because the Great Calamity Curio must not be lost that divine authority and the newly reborn royal authority have reached a degree of compromise.

And this Great Calamity Curio that Winter holds...

Is it really the tricolored scepter that Ivan uses as a walking stick?

He initially thought, it was a symbol of the power of the Duchy of Winter... Unexpectedly, it indeed was, but not quite in the way he had imagined.

Annan couldn’t help but take a closer look at the scepter.

It was composed of silver, black, and deep blue, entwined like hard vines. At the bottom end, the three colors untangled and extended in three different directions, forming a non-slip support like a tripod.

At the top end, it formed a handrail-like structure—made of interlocking silver rings, a black cross, and a large, deep blue, octahedral gem placed at the very center of the pattern.

When Ivan wanted to stand up, he would reach his hand into the rings and grasp the segment of the cross to lean on. While standing, he would rest his hand on the ring as though holding a steering wheel.

This allowed Ivan to stand very steadily.

Rather, it was because its function as a "walking stick" was too perfect that Annan had not suspected it had other uses...

"...But isn’t this too dangerous?"

Annan still couldn’t help saying, "I remember other Hands of Winter have touched it. What if word gets out and the tricolored scepter gets stolen?"

"It is precisely because no one can be trusted that it must be held in hand; and precisely because there is no safe place to hide it, it should be placed under the sunlight," Ivan said slowly, looking deeply at Annan.

"It is because both the Grand Duke and the scepter must not be lost that it serves as the symbol of the Grand Duke’s power—thus eliminating the need to consider the consequences of one of them being accidentally lost."

This was a clear departure from other nations.

Winter’s difference lay in having "fewer people."

Just a feast in Noah’s palace often exceeds two hundred attendees; the joint kingdom of Dennisiowa and Feld Archipelago has even more—just counting the royal family members living inside the palace, including concubines, servants, and eunuchs would total over three hundred.

Turning to look at the Duchy of Winter.

In the current Grand Ducal Estate of Winter, there were only so few people. Ivan no longer had a wife, nor did he have any elder relatives—the only child at home was Annan.

Besides the two of them, there were only four people in total. All of them were leaders of the Hands of Winter... and even then, there were only six leaders, two of whom were not at home.

Yes.

In the Duchy of Winter, there were no servants to attend to the Grand Duke. That’s why a separate department was drawn from the Hands of Winter to handle the Grand Duke’s internal affairs.

On one hand, this was because the Duchy of Winter lacked everything—remember, one of the responsibilities of the Hands of Winter was to watch over the local nobles, to prevent them from being too wasteful; and in order to naturally achieve this, the Grand Duke also had to set an example.

On the other hand, it was also to ensure their safety. In case of an attack, the Hands of Winter might protect the Grand Duke, but to expect them to protect the servants... that was impossible.

Although monitored by the Hands of Winter, and despite the survival of Winterblood being vital to suppressing the Frost Beasts, theoretically making the Duchy of Winter the most solidly ruled duchy, in reality, the Grand Duke of Winter and his direct descendants have been the most frequently attacked leaders among all countries... without exception.

This curious phenomenon has also attracted the attention of scholars from other nations.

According to one sociologist’s research, this should be related to the mechanism of the "Winter Years."

During the Winter Years, the people of Winter had to rely on the protection of small barriers to avoid freezing to death in the cold winds... which resulted in Winterfolk primarily living in city-states. As the connections between cities became looser, the common people’s reverence for Winterblood and the duchy’s laws greatly diminished.

Replaced instead by the direct control of the local nobles and a profusion of local laws. The Grand Duke’s ability to monitor and control the local nobles was also effectively weakened.

But ordinary people don’t care about that—their discontent with the lavish and willful local nobility ultimately still reflects directly upon the Grand Duke. This has to do with the conscious efforts of the local nobles to attract the attention and hatred of the people toward "The Hand of Winter," who are actually in charge of overseeing them.

Grand Duke Ivan’s achievements are undeniable. Nevertheless, the nobles have other tricks up their sleeves.

One claim is that The Hand of Winter restricts the Grand Duke’s access to information, much like the royal court of the Dennisiowan kingdom when it was dominated by the eunuchs—but only the somewhat cultured could understand this claim.

Another more widespread belief is that they blame it on Grand Duke Ivan’s poor health.

Why are taxes so high? Because many resources are needed to sustain the Grand Duke’s life; why do The Hand of Winter or the nobles act so recklessly? Because the Grand Duke’s ill health means he cannot leave Frost Speech Province.

This leads to Grand Duke Rinfrost often being the target of various types of attacks.

Of course, the totally mindless "avengers" are indeed rare.

The majority of attackers know for certain that The Hand of Winter protects Ivan.

They all hope to achieve their goals by kidnapping the Grand Duke’s offspring, wife, or other relatives.

Some demand the release of an important political prisoner (usually a spy from another country or someone with connections to the Icebreaker Army); others have the wild idea of asking the Grand Duke to pass one or several laws; some hope the Grand Duke will punish certain local nobles. Of course, their kidnappings are almost never successful.

But some smarter ones would impersonate a local noble and attempt to assassinate the Grand Duke directly, hoping that after the Grand Duke investigates, he would retaliate against a certain noble.

This is why even though the Northern Union had assassinated Annan, Annan still needed to carefully investigate further.

Annan and Ivan did not want to be used as pawns by others—they had to clear things up before taking action. Because in the history of Winter, there indeed had been incidents where political enemies were framed.

In addition, they had to beware of their food being poisoned by spies from other nations, or the possibility of servants being bribed to eavesdrop and steal important documents. For the Duchy of Rinfrost, which can be considered "in the middle of nowhere," it is all too easy for someone of a servant’s status to be bribed.

Even if protected by the True God, this does not mean that relations between nations are good.

Let alone border frictions, the starkly different cultural atmospheres lead to a lack of communication.

Then there was the previous king of Noah—who claimed he intended to unite the five kingdoms and rebuild the Great Barrier.

Although Annan knew that in reality it was because his life span was locked by the "Curse Binding," and so he deliberately intended to make enemies for Noah to retaliate against the kingdom that gave birth to him...people and high officials of other countries wouldn’t know that.

As a result, the revenge of this "child of the cup" not only hurt Noah but also stirred up trouble—his declaration of war against Winter inadvertently made Dennisiowa and The Holy Nation wary, forcing them into an arms race.

After the increase in power of The Holy Nation and the United Kingdom of Dennisiowa, Winter had to keep its guard up as well.

The peace that could, at the very least, be maintained after the bloody battles now also grew increasingly unstable.

On top of that, the actions of the Winter Reverser also served as a reminder to the Rinfrost family—that even The Hand of Winter, who were like birds in a cage under the "Curse Binding" and utterly unable to disobey Grand Duke Rinfrost’s commands, could not be entirely trusted.

As a result.

Grand Duke Ivan not only had to find ways to lead the nation through the harsh winter years.

He also had no choice but to strive to maintain deterrence at the diplomatic level externally, suppress the rebellious Northern noble alliance internally, and court the transcendent noble families to the south.

Apart from this, he also faced the mess left by the Icebreaker Army and the Winter Reversers—the Frost Beast troops were always restless, and they had recently lost a very important Frost Beast. It was suspected that some were still conducting Frost Beast experiments.

Turning back to Annan, he too had just been targeted in an assassination attempt... Based on the information Annan provided, it seemed that it was not just an attempt to sideline Dmitry. If the "Blood of Grianznuha Rinfrost" had been found by others, then the situation would be even more complicated.

Exactly how the Winter Reverser managed to break the "Curse Binding" of The Hand of Winter and escape with other Hands from the Grand Duke’s control remains a mystery.

In such a situation, the embezzlement of taxes by local nobles and their reckless actions under the guise of "local laws" were already the simplest of problems.

—All of them are troublemakers.

With so many troubles converging together, even Ivan’s body could no longer bear it.

"...The situation facing Winter is very complex. I’m glad you returned."

Ivan spoke slowly, "I must first hand over the position of Grand Duke and the curio to you. Only then can I investigate... and take action as I have planned."

"Come with me, Annan. I will teach you how to wield the power of the scepter."

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