Super Righteous Player
Chapter 757 - 298: Bestowing You with the Title of Earl of the Frozen Winds_1

Chapter 757: Chapter 298: Bestowing You with the Title of Earl of the Frozen Winds_1

Thanks to the mass teleportation ritual of the Opener Jacob.

Annan and his company didn’t return to Osthoff Dolgorouki, Viscount, to deal with the meaningless aftermath; instead, they were teleported directly back to Frost Speech Province.

This indeed saved them the time of traveling back to the Duchy by carriage.

...Most importantly, it allowed them to find a tailor to quickly alter their clothes before Selicia and Saint Alfonso arrived.

The white robe that Annan was wearing was light and soft, and it was fine to reveal the Curse Binding tattoos on his shoulders and relax a bit when he was alone with the players.

The priority of the Curse Binding bestowed upon Annan by Endymion was very high.

Among all the Curse Bindings that Annan had, aside from "The Final Work: David" imposed by the Mirrored One, it was "The Unborn Endymion" that had the highest priority.

Even though Annan already possessed a Curse Binding that allowed him to disregard pain, he just had to get dressed properly, have Jacob teleport them back, and then personally arrange for Jacob to join the Winter’s Hand... and Annan started to feel a slight burning sensation on his left shoulder.

Fortunately, the intensity wasn’t too strong, about like the sensation of sticking one’s hand into hot water after coming back inside from the cold winter. In fact, the heat was quite comfortable and even warmed up his entire body...

But that was only after three hours had passed.

If it truly lasted for thirteen hours, it might become a genuine "burning pain."

That would definitely be unacceptable—it was similar to the Curse Binding "Eternal Eye" that Annan had previously refused. It would greatly interfere with Annan.

However, non-permanent Curse Bindings typically had methods for their removal.

For instance, the "Butcher’s Blade" Curse Binding that Annan first obtained no longer posed any obstacles to him. It was only in the beginning when he was at Frostwater Harbor that he worried about how to resolve the Curse Binding.

From Roth Fort onward, Annan no longer lacked enemies.

Although at first, Annan had made plans to use the players to dissolve curses, he never ended up needing them until the end.

Now that he had ascended to the position of a Grand Duke, his actions were even more convenient.

To publicly execute a death row inmate by the Grand Duke himself every month, while this might sound somewhat cruel and bloodthirsty, and seems like it could negatively affect the reputation of this young Grand Duke... That’s why Zoya didn’t immediately implement and execute this plan.

But Annan believed that, for his current need for a reputation, this scheme should actually be positive—

Grand Duke Ivan was renowned for his benevolent governance.

Of course, the benevolent governance of The North Lands was just that...

He indeed suppressed many conflicts, but these issues were not fundamentally resolved; they were only temporarily dissolved and mitigated thanks to Grand Duke Ivan’s personal charisma and his outstanding governance skills.

Now, it was Annan’s turn.

Annan had just turned fifteen a few days ago.

He didn’t need to follow Ivan’s path and continue with benevolent governance. He lacked the intimidation power that Ivan had; continuing on his path would only turn him into a puppet.

What he needed was sufficient deterrent force.

—After all, Annan was the "Tyrant."

Those who thought he was "cruel" were actually helping to build momentum for Annan.

Annan was very aware... A nation could not be managed by one person alone; even the wisest king would work himself to death.

These nobles and ministers had already been managing The North Lands, now entering their winter years, quite well; this proved without a doubt that they were capable. This already saved Annan a lot of trouble.

Annan didn’t need to cultivate a new foundation of personnel; he just needed to gain the at least superficial loyalty of these old men to restore the normal operation of the entire nation.

Seduction, deceit, conspiracy, intimidation... Among many methods, intimidation was the most direct and effective.

In other words.

It was to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.

Previously, Annan couldn’t find a suitable "chicken," but fortunately, this "chicken" delivered itself to his doorstep, and even brought its own knife for the slaughter—a service that was very considerate indeed.

With the "glorious sacrifice" of the Extreme North Brotherhood, and Annan’s decisive and ruthless handling of them, his casual control and command of the Frost Beast troops and the Winter’s Hand would surely shock the others immediately, preventing them from acting rashly.

Subsequently, Annan’s monthly public killings would become a kind of "ritual."

Under the influence of the winter years, the style of The North Lands trended towards that of the Earth’s Nordic countries... or perhaps the Russians. They did not like kings who dawdled in their actions and needed evidence to reason things out; instead, they felt safer with cruel, autocratic tyrants.

Annan planned to use this method to show the others, while satisfying the Curse Binding, that although this young Grand Duke might seem small and fragile, he was not to be trifled with—in fact, he was quite dangerous.

Only by alternating between the short and the long, the heavy and the light could he intimidate the nobles of The North Lands in the long term. To have them genuinely work for Annan.

...Then, once the players grew up, Annan planned to gradually place his own people among them, replacing them bit by bit.

——For example, the Brotherhoods of the Extreme North that are about to be raided by Annan.

Although the Frost Beast troops have just set out and have not yet reached their destination.

But now that the evidence of Earl Yury’s guilt has been obtained... the others are doomed to be guilty as well. For the crime of using Curse Binding, a frontier earl simply cannot withstand it.

And it’s not that some noble has to report their actions to the archduke with evidence that must be solid and credible—it’s that the archduke himself wants to gank them.

The evidence only needs to be convincing.

And coincidentally... the existence of the Brotherhood of the Extreme North is not something secret. Earl Yury played a leading role in it, while Viscount Osthoff was the target put forth to attract the fire.

Now that Viscount Osthoff Dolgorouki is in trouble, the connection to Yury Frosthail has fallen apart as well, and the archduke has obtained evidence... Can you still say that this is solely Earl Yury’s doing, completely unrelated to anyone else?

No one with any intelligence would believe that.

This is the reason Annan dares to leave Zorgen directly in The North Lands to clean up and raid as he pleases.

Earl Yury held forbidden rituals numerous times, deployed Curse Binding technology, attempted to assassinate the archduke... The entire North Lands were finished.

His plan was initially plausible.

If Annan was just an ordinary, newly arrived Transcendent at the silver tier; if he hadn’t brought along these players capable of infinite resurrection.

Even if he arrived with two of the "Ten Fingers," he would have been directly killed by the four Curse Binding users.

Afterward, the Curse Binding could extract the Winter bloodline.

They had already obtained part of the technology to replicate the Winter bloodline on the eve of the Frostbite Calamity.

Although both Annan and Ivan knew that they were indeed the direct bloodline of their grandmother, this very true statement was seen by those nobles as a unilateral claim to consolidate power.

After all, Archduke Ivan had been frail since childhood, and the deaths in the Winter family due to assassination and curses were not few. There were archdukes who had been killed in the winter years. If they truly were of the grandmother’s bloodline, would the grandmother really sit by and do nothing?

Since no one had interfered before, why would they care now if they plotted to kill Annan? Moreover, in the past few years, the Butcher had already made a visit, having directly attacked Annan yet still living well and alive.

The grandmother had been asleep for nearly a hundred years, how could she suddenly awake after killing Annan?

Decades would pass, and the truth of the past would become unclear.

Furthermore, the Winter family still had Maria and Dmitry, killing Annan wouldn’t mean the Winter line was extinct—after all, the news of Dmitry’s loss of fertility hadn’t spread.

This was a very clever misunderstanding.

One could say, it was the nobles’ cleverness gone awry.

However, Annan didn’t have the leisure to unravel it.

Kill them all.

He wasn’t without talents among his subordinates—players who were capable of complete surveillance and had exceptional personal abilities were a good choice.

These territories cannot be left vacant.

That someone... Four of a Kind is quite clever, and so are Longjing Tea and Delicious Wind Goose.

Why not later find a player and make them the Earl of Frostwind Territory?

Annan thought to himself.

If things go smoothly, then select a batch of players who aren’t too fond of fighting and deciphering, and let them go to The North Lands to change their profession and play city-building and economic simulation games.

...So busy, really so busy.

Having to plant people in the Hands of Winter, in The North Lands, and in the Underworld...

Someday, the whole of Winter will be thoroughly changed by Annan.

By then, there might be the possibility of unifying the five realms.

After all, Endymion seems to have the ability to rebuild the unified Great Barrier... although this is merely his own claim, and the details still need further verification.

But if Endymion really can do it... at most, Annan can coordinate with Noah and The Holy Nation. If the players’ layout goes well, the Underworld could also join their camp.

——By then, one cannot let those who have done nothing (specifically referring to the United Kingdom) reap the benefits undeservedly.

Thinking so, Annan walked into the reception room.

Selicia had already left the subway... that means she’s almost here.