Super Righteous Player
Chapter 723 - 264 That’s the Annan Style_1

Chapter 723: Chapter 264 That’s the Annan Style_1

Under Zoya’s explanation, Annan swiftly understood.

...This was another plan devised by Annan during the first cycle.

His initial speculation was completely accurate—rather, it was precisely because it was his own plan that Annan could guess so accurately.

For no one understands "Annan" better than Annan himself.

Consider the situation faced by the Kingdom of Winter ten years ago.

The Polar Brotherhood had already been established by then, although they hadn’t started constructing the Curse Cellar yet, but it was estimated they had already made contact with the Fallen ones;

Looking at the composition of the top ranks of the Icebreaker Army, there were quite a few troublesome individuals mingled with ’the hands’ of Winter who were represented by the "Right Hand" at the time...

Annan remembered when he was in Noah, Old Bread mentioned that "Winter has sealed off information, and we can’t get any intelligence." But all external affairs were managed by the "Right Hand" of the hands of Winter.

That meant, the Kingdom of Noah could even obtain intelligence from the hands of Winter before. Either someone was selling intelligence, or spies had simply infiltrated them...

Add to that the fact that the inland nobles of Winter were up to no good—like the bone life curse circulating within the Melvin family, which no doubt was some sort of plan in progress; because of Ivan’s widespread anti-corruption laws, many local nobles were dissatisfied with him, and the Winter family had not taken action for a long time... indeed lacking a deterrent.

If Annan of that time discovered something akin to the "bone life curse" of the Melvin family... the covert intentions of various forces within Winter.

Then it was entirely possible for him to use "the thumb of the Right Hand" Vladimir to administer this strong dose.

—First, have the Winter Reverser gather all the hands of Winter who were suspected spies from other countries or those of inferior abilities, and then choose to defect. In turn, all these hands of Winter would be purged... and the Duchess would then have an excuse to consolidate power.

These duties were said to be merged into the Left Hand, but after all, they were powers taken back and re-granted by the Duchess, and they had to consult the Duchess before acting... This amounts to bringing back directly managed powers that had not been managed for a long time.

Afterwards, local nobles who had funded the Icebreaker Army could then be purged using this as a pretext. This was also a decision to massively consolidate power to the center.

And as a final "use of waste," Vladimir was sent into the Underworld to continue gathering anti-Winter forces... expanding influence while looting resources without regard for reputation.

Finally, by Annan defeating him, claiming these resources while simultaneously annihilating the anti-Winter forces.

—Indeed, it was a good plan.

And it was indeed Annan’s style.

Annan’s plans usually aim for multiple gains. Since the Heart of Winter had frozen Annan for nearly a decade, his emotions were deeply subdued... being a bit harsher in his methods than the current Annan is understandable.

"But two years after he went to the Underworld... The Winter Reverser suddenly stopped contacting us,"

Zoya said so.

The Winter Reverser was still active underground. Even though his presence wasn’t very strong, he indeed was gathering anti-Winter forces and constantly building and fortifying his own forces.

But then he suddenly stopped communicating with Winter’s side.

No matter how Winter’s side tried to change communication methods to find him, they either couldn’t find him or got no reply. In short, he completely cut off any contact with Winter... and Winter’s side couldn’t just turn around and claim "The Winter Reverser is actually our man" or "This was our plan from the start."

After all those purges, would you now say you were in cahoots with the leader?

That would start causing internal strife within Winter.

If the Winter Reverser disclosed this information, that would be most problematic—regardless of whether the Duchess of Winter admits it, as long as he made such a claim, and someone deliberately spread it, it would do considerable harm to the Duchess of Winter’s authority.

...But the problem is, the Winter Reverser did not do that either.

He held a lot of information and was aware of many secrets.

If he truly spilled it all, it would cause great damage to Winter... yet he kept it to himself, and Winter’s side couldn’t send someone to assassinate him nor dared to hire a Saint to stop him.

"Because he has not made any harmful actions against Winter, we cannot be one hundred percent certain he has truly defected. But for all these years, he has been accumulating power and never once contacted us... this is clearly not normal, nor reasonable,

"I must admit, Vladimir is the strongest hand of Winter. He is proficient in various spy techniques, tracking and countertracking, and could easily leave a sign if he was under surveillance... not to mention that no one can surveil him without leaving a trace,"

Zoya carefully said at the time, "This matter is indeed strange, but I suggest we leave it be for now..."

Her suggestion was to continue observing—at least not to push the "Winter Reverser" to the other side and make him a real "Winter Reverser."

Annan thought the same.

Compared to the ambiguous situation on the Winter Reverser’s side.

The Melvin family and the Polar Brotherhood on this side were much more tangible—

the former with the "Corpse Curse" and "Gold Alchemy", and the latter with "secret communications with the fallen" and "using sealed forbidden techniques".

This kind of defiance was truly refreshing to witness.

They certainly didn’t have that many tricks up their sleeves.

At least Annan didn’t have to hesitate when preparing to make a move, unclear whether they were friend or foe.

Annan always disliked waiting; his actions could be described as decisively efficient.

By the time Xitan Pulan and Four Dark Moments managed to get online around noon, Annan had them teleported over directly.

Accompanied by Xitan Pulan, Four Dark Moments, and the Wandering Child—three players—as well as "Left Hand Ring Finger" Zoya and "Left Hand Pinky" Zorgen—two of the high-ranking Hands of Winter, Annan and his group set out right away.

—This was just the second day after Annan’s succession.

Less than twenty-four hours had passed since he assumed the title of Grand Duke... and he had already dashed out of the Frost Speech Province.

At that time, Dmitry, having just left the province, had only just heard the news of Ivan’s transformation into a dragon and Annan’s accession, and was preparing to rush back... But before he could set off, Annan had already taken off.

And with him, he took the symbol of the Grand Duke’s authority—"The Tri-Color Scepter".

His was a vigor starkly different from the frail-bodied, gentle-natured Duke Ivan.

But at least Zoya and Zorgen didn’t dislike it.

Duke Ivan was the kind that no one could hate...

He usually acted with much consideration, preferring to mediate conflicts and diffuse disputes with "prosperity" as an overpowering argument... He was one of the Grand Dukes who handled the winter years best and saw the fewest young people fleeing Winter.

But this also meant that Ivan wasn’t likely to take a hard line in the high-level power struggles.

Annan, however, was different.

The people of Winter knew that Dmitry had been helping Ivan with state affairs for over a decade—but none of them knew that Ivan’s youngest child, "Annan Winter", had been offering advice since the age of four, and by six, had personally woven and unraveled many conspiracies.

When he was still unsteady on his feet, he was already capable of performing complex rituals; by the age of eight, he had already written timeless poetry and novels, and invented more than ten new inventions including the internal combustion engine.

While achieving these feats, Annan was even consciously hiding himself... Only the top-ranking Hands of Winter and his direct relatives knew what he had done.

Of course, in Zoya’s opinion, there was really no need to hide such things.

Because it sounded too fantastical—anyone would think that Ivan was building up his youngest son’s reputation.

In other words, they were just showing off.

Zoya and her associates had already carried out several "not so gentle" but sufficiently effective forceful actions under Annan’s command. It was precisely because of this mix of soft and hard tactics that Duke Ivan, who had to walk with a cane, was feared by the nobles.

But none of them could have imagined...

That this "soft and hard" approach was originally two people, one soft and one hard.

Now, from the outsiders’ view, Annan, who had just ascended to Grand Duke, seemed too young for such worries, and the Hands of Winter must have been harboring many thoughts.

But only those "Ten Fingers" knew... in reality, they had already been acting under Annan’s command for a long time.

Compared to Ivan’s decisions.

They much preferred Annan’s style of operation.

For instance, just before Annan and his entourage were heading to Flannel Province...

Annan had "Left Hand Index Finger" write a dispatch order.

To have the Frost Beast troops come over quietly and post them right at their doorstep.

Scary, isn’t it?

—Yes, it’s very scary.