Super Righteous Player
Chapter 736 - 277: Reckless Path_1

Chapter 736: Chapter 277: Reckless Path_1

After having his restraints removed and his wounds treated,

Jacob merely sat there, looking at Annan with a complex expression.

"...You trust me just like that? I had just set up a ritual against you... And I’ve only just defected to your side..."

It hadn’t even been a minute.

The middle-aged man with the straw-colored hair opened his mouth, hesitating to speak.

—You misunderstand. It’s actually because you don’t know how powerful I really am.

Annan thought to himself.

Even if Jacob had actually teleported them into an encirclement... it’s likely that it would have been Zorgen starting a massacre, and the Four of Darks wreaking havoc everywhere.

Only in a place where they didn’t have to worry about friendly fire or harming innocent civilians, would a Wizard’s DPS be particularly high.

And if a dangerous situation really occurred,

Annan could easily put down a teleportation point right there, then open up free teleportation with unlimited respawns, and get back to drafting the main quest narrative...

Oh no, not the main quest.

If there was an urgent need to summon players for protection, the strategy would be to start a timed event with confirmed target killing points and targets that couldn’t respawn, then open a limited-time points shop for redemptions... including things like invite codes, free teleport permissions, and temporary unlimited respawn rights.

Though player-established teleport points require three people to fight three nightmares for a week-long duration—that was actually a restriction Annan deliberately imposed on players. The purpose was to urge them not to forget about leveling up, incidentally purifying local nightmares to do some good deeds, and earn some reputation.

Setting up his own teleport points, like resurrecting players, had no restrictions for him. He could place a teleport point under his feet whenever he wanted.

And the setting where teleportation consumes experience was also an additional restriction by Annan. The purpose was to limit players’ frequent teleportation... to control the players’ long-term presence in a certain area and their integration into the local populace.

If Annan truly allowed unlimited respawns and arbitrary teleportation, even to the extent of unregulated and encouraged killing, the players would truly become the fourth disaster—like locusts fearlessly plowing through the earth. In this world, the dead do not respawn... If players truly went mad, even just six hundred of them would be enough to flatten the entire world.

Keep in mind, locusts are gentle, cute, and even edible when they live solitarily. But when their concentration becomes too high and they become gregarious, that’s when they turn into the swarming yellow locusts.

In a sense, players are much the same.

Annan has confirmed many times... this world should be grateful that it was Annan, the game designer, who got his hands on the Book of the Celestial Chariot, and not some apocalyptic overlord who knew nothing about players.

Just the four pages of the Book of the Celestial Chariot alone are enough to assemble an army of the damned that would necessitate the whole continent joining forces to resist.

Annan was naturally a support for the players.

But in actuality— the players were also Annan’s support.

In that sense, Annan was actually self-sealing the power of the Book of the Celestial Chariot. But he didn’t seal it with any rituals or Curse Binding... it was with his morals and conscience.

Allowing the unbridled players to run amok in this world would indeed allow for a rapid gathering of resources, encouraging their swift growth.

But this meant the deaths of countless innocents and would plunge the world into chaos in an instant.

Mass attacks on Wizard’s Towers, teaming up to assassinate Transcendents with no grudges, assaulting high-level Hunters guarding national borders, illegal smuggling, and even beginning a killing spree in a fit of embarrassed rage upon being discovered... Even resorting to looting villages to draw in regular troops, attacking ordinary people or destroying buildings as a provocation, directly entering others’ homes to rob, pillaging merchants, vandalizing railways, exhuming graves to seize the wealth of the dead—these are all conceivable "potential futures."

Just as one cannot expect players to follow traffic rules in a game.

It was by using his "favorability," "teleportation, and loss of experience due to death," that Annan constrained them, allowing players to gradually integrate into this world... and ultimately choose a path of glory and nobility.

Annan didn’t see himself as a good person.

—But he didn’t want to become despicable either.

It wasn’t the players’ fault that they committed evil acts without concern because they weren’t from this world in the first place, and the system allowed them to act that way... They were just role-playing. At most, it could be considered a sin of "ruining someone else’s gaming experience."

But Annan had the ability and authority to guide the players. There were ways to deflect this possibility—if he understood and yet did nothing, then the sin would belong to Annan.

Like a "shepherd of wolves."

The players... or rather, these souls called from the far side of Dreamland by the Book of the Celestial Chariot, these Otherworld visitors given simulated bodies by the Book of the Celestial Chariot, were just Annan’s flock.

Now they were constrained, simply because Annan "did not want to"... not because he couldn’t.

But Jacob obviously didn’t understand any of this.

He didn’t know about the Book of Truth, nor the dreadfulness of the players.

In his eyes, Annan was just a young Grand Duke who dared to step directly into the enemy’s nest with "merely five" followers.

On that premise... he began to worry about Annan’s safety:

"Otherwise, I can give you their addresses. Your Majesty, you could dispatch troops to station there first, then move in for questioning."

"—So, if we have their exact locations,"

Annan then asked Zorgen, "Could the Frost Beast troops defeat them?"

"No problem at all."

Zorgen replied in a low voice, "At a certain cost, it’s possible... the power of the Frost Beasts can’t be resisted, but there will be casualties among the soldiers riding them.

"If they don’t have any hidden traps or special weapons, under my command, the casualties could probably be kept under three hundred—of which, more than two hundred and eighty would be human soldiers... The war would end within two weeks."

What he meant was, the real loss would only be about twenty Frost Beasts.

An insignificant price.

Those who entered the Frost Beast troops were mostly convicts serving heavy sentences; they were merely expendable. Only a few brave youths would risk their lives to join the Frost Beast troops and come into contact with the Frost Beasts.

...But that’s too slow.

Two weeks’ time...

If the other party intended to destroy something or initiate something, they would certainly be too late.

"Let’s first open a breach from the inside,"

Annan said calmly, "The capable should do more—I’m not my father, don’t underestimate my combat strength.

"They shouldn’t die here. At least, they shouldn’t die in battle against their own kind... Although the Brotherhood of the Northern Territory conducted forbidden research, conspired with the corrupted, and studied Frost Beasts, violating multiple taboos. But before they truly raised the flag of rebellion... their armies, their staff, and their guards, were still my subjects.

"So, it should be I who personally kills them."

—This responsibility and experience,

I shall bear it alone.

Annan declared solemnly.

...To personally carry this sin?

Jacob’s pupils shrank slightly.

Such bravery, such magnanimity—it indeed stirred Jacob’s emotions.

He finally realized...

This ruler was completely different from the shrewd Duke Ivan, endowed with extraordinary political wisdom.

—He completely abandoned the idea of advising against it.

He saw in Annan’s eyes, a resolve that was steadfast.

...Whether this is foolish bravado, or the courage to lead by example, let my own eyes be the judge.

Jacob thought, showing a sincere smile.

"Have you wine, Your Majesty?"

He straightened up and asked softly.

"—There is Blood Thorn wine,"

the one answering was the silent Zoya, "It’s a specialty of Flannel Province, unavailable anywhere else."

Her words carried a trace of malice.

Blood Thorn wine was indeed a Flannel Province specialty, unavailable anywhere else. But that was not because it was in high demand... rather because it was incredibly hard to drink.

For Blood Thorn is not a type of fruit, but an herb that accelerates the heartbeat.

The last time Annan heard of Blood Thorn was in Salvatore’s gift of "Blood Impulse Tonic."

It was a tonic made from Blood Thorn as the main ingredient, combined with two curse materials "Madman’s Blood" and "Berserk Bull’s Blood" under the protection of transmutation spells, brewed for five hours in an iron pot.

It could temporarily increase one’s strength and fill them with a desire for blood. But if not crafted well, it could bring side effects—such as loss of sanity, hypertension, or liver damage.

And the Blood Thorn wine was just as damaging to the liver and difficult to drink.

It was incredibly sour, tasting like unripe kiwi, and after drinking, one’s body would briefly become stronger... If described in terms of attributes, it was about [Strength+0.5].

But the discomfort in the stomach and the dizziness that followed were not compensated for by this 0.5 point of strength. It was more commonly used as a strong liquor substitute for the people of Winter in regions with scarce food.

"Yeah, that will do."

Jacob did not hesitate to take the bottle of wine from Zoya’s hand.

He did not take a glass, but directly lifted the bottle and drank from it—wine spilling down his chin and soaking his chest.

It was a gulp that tasted hardly anything, as if he were swallowing bitter soup in one fell swoop.

Rather than savoring wine... it was more about bolstering his courage, seeking that slight intoxication.

No matter what. He thought.

Whether this operation succeeds or fails, it would surely make history.

Accompanied only by five guards, a young duke just 15 years old... he accepted the loyalty of a strange foreign spy who had just attempted to assassinate him and was willing to let himself be transported into the heartland of hostile nobles who wanted him dead.

There was no Gold-rank Transcendent to escort him, no cardinal. No Soul Snatching Spell to control Jacob’s will.

And all this, simply because... he did not want the Frost Beast troops, who were criminals, to slaughter his own people.

...What a presumptuous, foolish king.

Why not turn this into a grand sacrifice, first to honor the God of Wine in the valley. If they met with failure, then offer it all to the other side of the valley wolf—the tragedian.

This be the act of a drunken madman!

Jacob tilted his head back, high-proof alcohol pouring into his throat—causing his heart to pound vigorously.

A bottle of Blood Thorn wine, he finished in one go.

"I will accompany you,"

Jacob said with unwavering determination.

A hazy thought surfaced in his mind.

Ah, even after all this time...

the wines of Winter still taste strange to me.

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