Super Righteous Player
Chapter 807 - 346 The Mystery of Philip

Chapter 807: Chapter 346 The Mystery of Philip

"Speaking of which..."

Annan noticed that Maria seemed somewhat unhappy.

Then he immediately changed the subject, "I chose to send an envoy to Noah at this time... actually, it’s because I was worried about you running into trouble here."

"Are you worried about me?"

Kafney whispered into Annan’s ear.

Her long hair at the temples fell along Annan’s white robe onto his collarbone.

This made Annan feel a bit itchy, wanting to reach out and sweep it away.

But at that moment, Kafney hugged him even tighter—her right hand around Annan’s waist tightened slightly, causing his upper body to lean back a bit and lie on top of her. Kafney herself leaned back on the sofa in turn.

She pulled her hair to the front of her left shoulder, and Annan’s long hair to the right shoulder, burying her head into Annan’s neck, and took a deep breath.

In a trance, Annan always felt that Kafney’s tactic was more like a domineering CEO... or rather, like the motion he used to make when petting cats and dogs in the past.

And it was only at this moment that Annan suddenly realized... his strength attribute seemed to be only fifteen points?

Without the willpower boost of the Victorious Knight, his strength was less than half of Kafney’s, who practiced as a dragon-wrestler monk, to the extent that he could not struggle at all.

...Was this relationship misplaced?

Annan couldn’t help but cough lightly and whispered, "You are right... because my senior told me that you had encountered some trouble here.

"But I have already ascended to the throne, holding the authority of the Duke of Winter. If I were to sneak away from Winter, it would cause a lot of unnecessary trouble unless I took the official state visit route and submitted a diplomatic request..."

"Thank you, my lord."

Kafney whispered her thanks, her face showing a bit of disdain, "But Lord Salvatore really is quite busy... I was actually planning to come by myself."

"Does that mean that the problem isn’t really that serious?"

Maria asked with a frown.

Kafney shook her head, "That’s not necessarily so.

"Let him come here and explain it himself later—he has been living in the Royal Capital since last month. His house is not very far from the palace... Since it was me who personally invited him over, naturally I found the house for him, and arranged it nearby.

"When I went back to change clothes earlier, I had already sent someone to notify Salvatore. If he isn’t in the middle of an experiment, he should be here soon."

Kafney buried her head again, took a deep breath of Annan, and emitted a soft sound.

Annan asked, "Is the problem with the Eldest Princess? When I arrived, it seemed like she held an absolute advantage."

"Not really..."

Kafney shook her head, just about to explain.

Then from outside the room, Salvatore’s somewhat drowsy voice came, "No, it’s Prince Philip—the problem is with him."

As he spoke, he pushed the door and came in.

The first thing Salvatore did after entering was to lean on the doorknob and let out a long, big yawn:

"Wow~ah..."

"You look very tired, senior."

"Ah, I am always tired."

Salvatore lazily smacked his lips, glanced at Annan who was held in Kafney’s arms, and his face showed an ’as I thought’ expression. He bowed respectively to Annan and Maria.

But Kafney continued to explain to Annan, "In these past few months, I haven’t been idle. Being considered a contender for the throne isn’t just about shouting slogans.

"I gained quite powerful support—I took the army controlled by the Eldest Princess away from her."

"...How did you manage that?"

Annan wondered.

It was well known that the Eldest Princess came from a military background. The highest commander of the army now was someone she had personally promoted. This was considered the steadiest card in the Eldest Princess’s hand.

"It was peace, my lord."

Kafney answered without any hesitation: "And it was thanks to you.

"Exactly when His Majesty summoned you last time, I learned ’that’ secret. I realized... His Majesty has been forcefully conscripting people from all over the country, not because he really wanted to unify the five nations, but because he wanted to destroy Noah.

"Because conscription has been going on for quite a while, dismissing the soldiers en masse would cost a huge sum of money, and a large number of laborers who had undergone military training returning to the cities dissatisfied would destabilize society. But if unattended, sooner or later, those detached armies would drag Noah down... By then, we would have no choice but to fight."

Kafney spoke slowly, "But previously, the soldiers had waged war against Winter... The result was actually a failure.

"Even though they had captured Frostwater Harbor, they were completely unable to land on Winter’s homeland. The Frost Beast troops were too terrifying and dealt a devastating blow to morale... and crossing the great barrier of battle lines made logistical support incredibly difficult. Many veterans actually did not want to fight anymore after that war.

"Initially, they believed grandfather’s words, hoping to seize wealth and land from other countries. But when they actually left Noah and reached other countries... they saw for themselves that the lands of other countries were far less fertile than Noah, the climate was harsh and unlivable, and the never-ending blizzards prevailed.

"Such land was meaningless... They had been deceived."

"So, in fact, they wanted to leave the army."

Salvatore yawned again, smacked his lips, and continued, "But they didn’t want to leave just like that—"

"They wanted money."

Annan concluded simply, "Because they had spent a lot of time, it would be too wasteful if they didn’t get enough severance pay in the end."

"Exactly. But the Eldest Princess couldn’t possibly agree... While she also disagreed with His Majesty’s delusion of ’uniting the five nations,’ she also didn’t believe that invading Winter was meaningful. But she then set her sights on the United Kingdom."

Salvatore explained, "And the sunken elven capital—these troops, invading Winter might be pointless. But invading the United Kingdom might actually turn out to be a great victory.

"Because the so-called ’Dennisiowa and Feld Archipelago United Kingdom’ was still predominantly led by Dennisiowa. Many of the islands in the Feld Archipelago were dissatisfied with this arrangement. If Noah’s army directly targeted Dennisiowa, it might not face opposition from the Feld Archipelago and might even receive help.

"Once they had control of Dennisiowa, they could move eastward into the deep sea and salvage relics from the submerged elven capital."

"It is indeed a well-reasoned plan."

Annan agreed, "So her thinking is to transform the army into a navy?"

The army that was used to fight against the Winter Duchy, when faced with a country like Dennisiowa that was narrow, surrounded by sea, and had multiple satellite islands, didn’t make much sense. And it particularly offered no help in salvaging the most valuable ’elven age relics.’

"That’s right," Kafney said softly, "but there is a very high level of war fatigue among the troops. And my side has received assistance from the Silver Baron Church... they can provide some of the severance pay and help these unemployed soldiers find good jobs."

This was something only the Silver Baron Church could do.

They indeed universally lacked manpower... and if this plan went smoothly, not only could it supplement the cities with a batch of controlled youthful labor force, but the church’s power itself could also continue to expand. And the Noah army, like a ticking time bomb, could have this issue resolved.

Turn swords into plowshares—to clean up after Henry VIII’s militarism.

"...I understand."

Annan grasped Kafney’s thinking.

The first thing she did was "to gradually fill up the pits Henry VIII had dug." What Henry VIII wanted was to invisibly destroy the country... and all Kafney had to do was to reverse this, to fundamentally solve these problems from the root.

But the Eldest Princess couldn’t bear to do it. She couldn’t possibly bear to.

She had watched her father carry out these reforms, even partaking in them. Even if she was clear that most of them were not beneficial, she couldn’t just revert all of them... She didn’t have the courage for that.

She could only think of some way to mitigate.

"Transforming the army into a navy and developing the royal marine relics excavation industry—this idea is actually quite good. If there is still strength left after the mass dismissal of the army, it really could be done."

Annan commented, "Isn’t that great? If you get the army’s support, wouldn’t many nobles turn towards you?

"What about Prince Philip, then? What has he done?"

"He hasn’t done anything."

Salvatore seriously stated, "This is what’s most problematic.

"Because he hasn’t done anything, just idles at home indulging in pleasures—but continuously, nobles keep defecting to him, including some who were initially staunch supporters of the Eldest Princess. Princess Kafney suspects whether he has used any Soul Snatching Spell or concocted some mind-controlling potion, and has asked me to help investigate."

He took a deep breath, slowly saying, "But there is nothing."

"Nothing at all?"

"That’s right. At least as far as the current investigation goes, he really hasn’t done anything—he hasn’t used any taboo potion, hasn’t performed any forbidden ritual, hasn’t used Soul Snatching Spell to alter someone’s mind, nor has he used any spell to twist fate.

"He hasn’t conducted any preaching, nor has he bribed those nobles. He hasn’t even given them gifts... but groundlessly, people come to him continuously, and when questioned, they can’t provide any valuable information.

"It started with just two or three individuals at first. But just in this past week alone, four to five time-honored noble families have."

Salvatore, feeling somewhat headache, pressed his temples, frowning deeply, "I really can’t think of any solution... Even ’Vatore’ can’t understand why this is happening.

"Although no problem has been discovered, I feel we can’t keep dragging this on—this is just my gut feeling.

"So, although it might be somewhat rude, I still called you here..."

Salvatore moved to sit directly opposite Annan on an empty sofa, poured himself a glass of water, and drank it in one gulp.

"Annan... may I address you like that?"

He looked at Annan, seriously saying, "I think, perhaps only you can unravel this mystery."

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