Super Righteous Player
Chapter 840 - 378: Shadow Substitute

Chapter 840: Chapter 378: Shadow Substitute

They had not spent a short amount of time in the nightmare.

Annan and Maria left soon—they were going to prepare for tonight’s banquet, and although Kafney was temporarily free, there was no need for her to stay after Annan had left.

The banquet would invite local nobles of Noah along with the royal family and cardinal bishops.

But the banquet itself had no significance.

No political issues would be discussed at this banquet, nor would any nobles be introduced to Annan—since now Noah had no new king, and the heir had no right to introduce "their faction" to Duke Annan.

This banquet was not even a dance—because anyone who had a better relationship with Annan, anyone who could dance with him, might influence the currently tense political situation.

Those lower nobles who were not well-informed were another matter.

High nobles and royalty were all too aware... how close Kafney’s relationship with Annan could be. As the hostess, the Eldest Princess naturally could not use this banquet to strengthen Kafney’s authority.

—Although confirming the relationship with Kafney in public would not be beneficial for maintaining her authority; if the relationship were a bit more ambiguous, merely at the level of "very good relations, love at first sight," it would be beneficial for Kafney.

Such was the curious nature of "distance" between people.

To not break the balance, the Eldest Princess could only place Annan in a "senior" position. The standards they set for this banquet were as if they were hosting a banquet for a saint or a Pope of the True God.

Attendees were divided into two levels: one included those who could sit beside Annan, the "royal" and "cardinal bishops" or higher ranks of clergy. All the nobles, ministers, and bishops had to wait around.

They were seated at least thirty steps away from Annan, with court guards in between to block them. In addition, isolation rituals were set up to prevent assassins from infiltrating.

—Like the audience of a stage.

Merely being in the same building as Annan... that counted as participating in the banquet.

And in such a public setting, it was impossible to discuss anything urgent.

Such as one of the main purposes of Annan’s visit... rebuilding the maritime routes, restoring the international trade agreement.

Obviously, these matters could not be discussed in this setting.

Walls have ears.

Those seeking to make a fortune, those wanting to create chaos for their own reasons, those wanting to help out, those wanting to gain an advantage—if such critical information were leaked before being finalized, the situation would likely turn chaotic immediately.

Similarly, at this semi-public banquet, it would be impossible for anyone to release any valuable information.

—The purpose of this banquet was merely to "demonstrate that the relations between the two countries are friendly" at this time.

Naturally, no one would cause trouble.

Because the Pope of the Silver Baron was also coming—

Annan last saw the Pope of the Silver Baron at the funeral of Henry VIII. They had looked at each other from a distance and nodded slightly; since the occasion was quite solemn, they hadn’t even gone over to exchange greetings.

Strictly speaking, this was their first meeting.

Annan was also curious.

And Salvatore’s role, at this moment, became rather awkward.

As a destined Gold-ranked Transcendent, the Tower Master of his country and holder of the rare ancient profession of "Alchemist," his status was not on the level of an ordinary wizard.

But on the other hand.

Hugo, the Tower Master, hadn’t resigned yet. After all, he was still the Tower’s Child, the "heir to the Tower Master".

The status of the Tower Master was probably slightly higher than that of the royal heirs — lower than the levels of the King and the Pope, but higher than that of the Eldest Princess and her likes. As for the Tower’s Child, they were lower than the Cardinal... even more so than ordinary district bishops.

After all, the title of Tower’s Child was a dynamic one. It belonged to the "most promising individual of the current era" in the Wizard’s Tower, but it could also be replaced at any time by someone more promising.

Therefore, from this perspective, he was even less reliable than the heirs of ordinary nobility — because his position could be abruptly taken away before he could succeed.

Given Salvatore’s current identity, it was impossible for him to reveal his friendly relations with Kafney or show close relations with Annan, the Grand Duke, in front of the nobles and bishops.

In personal terms, he could only at best be a spectator at the outermost fringe of the banquet — or if there were too many people, he might have to stand.

That would be pointless.

Therefore, Salvatore didn’t plan to attend the banquet... or rather, he planned to use the time to get some matters handled.

Previously, when Salvatore had entered into a nightmare, his thoughts had been chaotic for quite a while.

Of course, he wouldn’t remember such a thing himself — but his shadow had kept aware the whole time. This, she had told Salvatore.

And when he, as "Bella," had woken up in his room.

He saw a man with grey hair and grey eyes sitting in front of his bed, fingers interlaced in front of him, legs crossed watching him.

— Salvatore recognized him immediately.

That was the infamous wanted criminal, "Professor Wolf" Frederick Wolfheart.

"Did you remember everything I told you before?" Professor Wolf said to Bella, "Now, the time has come.

"Remember your mission — exchange Dmitry’s trust and love for you for the stability of the Winter Duchy."

— Are you teaching me how to handle my business?

Salvatore wanted to reply just as bluntly.

But before he could speak, his shadow quickly silenced him.

In the blink of an eye, the shadow took control of his body, showed a fake, timid demeanor to this clearly deceitful man, saying things like "Yes," "Okay," "As you command, my lord," "Thank you," which made Salvatore frown.

However, Salvatore knew that this was just role-playing.

So, Salvatore suppressed his discomfort and quietly observed as the shadow performed.

At that moment, an introduction to this nightmare also surfaced in his mind.

Having somewhat understood what exactly Bella had agreed upon with Professor Wolf... once the shadow had deceived Professor Wolf into leaving, Salvatore dismissed the agreement from his mind.

— He still remembered that his main purpose for entering the nightmare was to help Annan deal with the Rot Husband.

Although he didn’t know whether there was cooperation between the Tragedy Writers and the Rot Husband, at least Professor Wolf was in cahoots with the Rot Husband — the Rot Husband hadn’t communicated with Bella at all throughout the process, yet the content Professor Wolf had used to seduce Bella was advantageous to the Rot Husband.

This meant that the Rot Husband and Professor Wolf seemed to have reached some agreement outside of this nightmare.

This was probably to circumvent rituals and rules. To prevent Bella from participating in the gambling ritual because of her connection with the Rot Husband... Indeed, the Thousand-Faced Phantom Tower had such rules.

But at this moment, Salvatore had a completely unrelated thought about the nightmare.