Super Righteous Player
Chapter 948 - 6: Annan’s Fishing Plan

Chapter 948: Chapter 6: Annan’s Fishing Plan

Annan’s first reaction after pondering,

was to seek out the head of the Rasputin family... "Beauty of Imbalance" Vasily Rasputin.

For Annan trusted Ivan.

Ivan had once said to Annan, "Although the Rasputins are odd, once you succeed as the Duke of Winter, the Rasputins will become your best allies."

Because the Rasputins are a secret-keeping family, there’s no need to worry about them leaking secrets.

Annan planned to attribute the discovery of this ore vein to the Rasputin family. As a pure-blooded ritualistic family, it wouldn’t be strange for them to be privy to some exceptional secrets and to master some inexplicable rituals.

It would be perfectly reasonable for them to discover a gemstone vein—and, fearing their inability to monopolize such immense profit, offer a substantial share of the benefits to the Duke of Winter in exchange for the privilege of mining the gems.

In this way, the other nobles would not only be unable to approach Annan to "demand half" upon meeting.

Instead, they would seek collaboration with the Rasputin family, then turn around and demand that Annan sanction the Rasputins.

This was the art of balancing power.

If Annan’s side became too imbalanced, the nobles would worry for themselves. They would subconsciously attempt to contain the Winter family—after all, during the years of winter, the Winter family was just a regular noble family.

But by pushing the Rasputin family forward as an openly "self-interested ally who divided profits with Annan,"

—it would no longer be Annan, but the Rasputin family that was unbalanced.

And what the nobles had to do was to try and drag the Rasputins down.

Like crabs in a basket.

Whoever tried to climb out would be pulled back by their peers.

"Your Majesty, have you ever considered... that I might disagree?"

"Beauty of Imbalance" Vasily said with a smile, "This is like placing our Rasputin family on a spit over fire."

Vasily Rasputin in May remained female. According to the moon’s phase that day, her form was the purest of human shapes.

Her pupils had returned to an ordinary brown, and the dark chestnut ponytail at the back of her head was still divided, draping over her left chest and tied on the right side.

Her slightly browned skin appeared much darker compared to her cat-like form. Her nail color and eye shadow also looked much faded, and apart from the strong asymmetry that remained visible, she seemed much more modest than her cat-like form.

"I have never considered this problem."

Annan shrugged and replied with a similarly smiling expression, "Because I plan to sell three-tenths of the shares to you."

"That much?"

Vasily was somewhat surprised.

She initially thought that if she could receive just ten to twenty percent, it would be more than enough to actively take responsibility. Two-tenths was her ideal expectation.

After all, she had done nothing in this affair. She was merely being used as a shield... and to receive three-tenths?

Of course, these shares would require an initial investment... but that was a trivial matter. The Rasputin family, as an ancient lineage with elven blood, surely had savings.

As long as Annan allowed them to invest in the soon-to-be-established "Winter Mining Company," it would be tantamount to directly conceding a considerable part of the profits.

But these three-tenths...

Vasily, after all, was the head of a family.

She quickly caught on.

"Are you planning to target the Melvin family?"

Winter, Melvin, Rasputin.

These were the top three families of the Winter Principality.

One generation controlled the Tower of Storms and ruled over the Winter Principality; another had at least one Gold-rank Transcendent and produced at least ten Silver-rank Transcendents per generation; another produced numerous Ritualists, accounting for over forty percent of the official Transcendents of Winter.

In reality, most people had no concept of the most important thing about the Winter family, the Winterblood that could command Frost Beasts.

After all, for most people, Frost Beasts were a legend—they wouldn’t idly venture beyond the small barrier to see for themselves. Nor was it likely for Frost Beast troops to come beat them up.

It was the same as how the people of Noah could hardly see a Transcendent.

In fact, a significant part of the population of Winter would never see a living Frost Beast in their lifetime. Only during the annual Frost Beast hunt, when the opportunity arose to see the hunting caravans passing through the city, nearly the entire city would come out to watch.

It was for this reason that they believed "Frost Beasts do exist."

So, to them, the Winter family wasn’t necessarily much stronger than the Wizard or Ritualist families.

After all, the Winter family was sparsely populated.

In the Winter Principality where "victory means being prolific," that sounded rather weak. But since they were ducal family and dukes from generation to generation... there shouldn’t be any problems.

Therefore, at this moment, Winter and Rasputin divided the profits of the new ore vein.

The people’s first reaction would not be "Winter has joined forces with Rasputin."

But rather, "Has the Rasputin family become stronger than the Melvins?"

Because the Winter family has never been included in the "strength theory battle."

After the Rasputin family grew stronger, Ritualists of Rasputin origin naturally started to seize a portion of the ministerial positions.

They were already more prolific than the Melvin family, and now they had money on top of that.

This meant that the power of Wizards of Melvin descent would be greatly diluted. And since Annan’s biological mother was from the Rasputin family, "it sounded reasonable for the Rasputin family to be willing to share benefits with him."

In the eyes of "Beauty of Imbalance" Vasily.

If this mining company really came into existence,

then for the first few years, the Rasputin family would definitely be pressured and successively suppressed by other nobles.

But this suppression was only superficial.

Because they themselves knew that the Rasputin family was bound to gain a lot of fresh blood. So they would no longer support "Melvin."

In the following years, it is feared that the court would face successive battles of theory.

Rasputin would continue to lose face in public, but in reality, they would feast—meanwhile, Melvin’s "friends" would curse Rasputin while quietly cutting ties with Melvin.

At this time, the Rasputin family could not possibly rebel.

Because the longer this situation lasted, the more they stood to benefit.

Other nobles would begin to isolate themselves even more.

Because their growth rate could never match the resources Rasputin gained from the gem trade—not even when combined. So they could only start to conserve their strength and retract their influence.

Melvin would suddenly find themselves isolated.

"I plan to make Melvin either rebel or submit within half a year,"

Annan nodded and explained to Vasily in a deep voice, "You come and help me, try to pressure them.

"This thirty percent share is just a down payment."

The real benefit that Annan promised was to turn the Rasputin family into a super-large family "second only to the Winter family" in the future!

This surprised Vasily greatly.

...How could His Majesty Annan dare to do this?

Although she was indeed loyal to His Majesty Annan for some reason... but this didn’t mean that future Rasputins would also stay loyal to Annan’s descendants.

It was as if the Winter and Rasputin families had diluted the shares of other shareholders of the "Winter Duchy" company on a large scale.

This would allow today’s Winter Duchy to return to a single voice. After the Melvin family receded, there would be no power in the entire Winter Duchy that could prevent the union of Winter and Rasputin opinions.

Not even the semblance of opposition was possible.

It meant that Annan would regain dictatorial power over the Winter Duchy.

And the price... would be that Rasputin’s voice would become very significant in the future Winter Duchy.

Moreover, this plan itself might drive some nobles, already diluted to the edges of the power circle, desperate. They might even openly rebel with the Melvin family!

As long as they don’t take up arms, Annan couldn’t use the military to suppress them. And if they were determined to oppose the Winter and Rasputin families, then it is feared the Winter Duchy would fall into chaos.

Unless...

Vasily’s pupils suddenly constricted.

"...Is Grandmother about to awaken?"

She asked, somewhat uncertain and a little fearful.

If the Grandmother awakened, then there would be no problem with this plan.

In lean years, the Winter family was just an ordinary noble family, with the advantage of controlling the Tower of Storms — but in plentiful years, they were the greatest priestly family, with a status higher than the Pope.

Annan nodded slowly.

"Grandmother has entered a light sleep state. If nothing unexpected happens, she should awaken around October this year, in about half a year."

The young Archduke said, "After ’spring arrives,’ Winter will enter an unprecedented period of development. Sitting on this cusp, even pigs could fly.

"As long as Grandmother is awake, no one will dare oppose my opinion. But Grandmother also wouldn’t agree to me attacking other nobles at will...because that would be the act of a Tyrant. They are also Grandmother’s ’descendants,’ and we are ’a loving family’.

"——But if they show their true colors and start opposing me openly, it will be different. That would undoubtedly question the authority of the family head... and I do not wish those who have opposed me before to enjoy the benefits of this dividend,"

Annan revealed an innocent smile, interlocking his fingers in front of his chest, "I don’t have any bad intentions. Nor do I hold a grudge for the troubles they’ve caused me before.

"I just hope those who disapprove of me will express their true feelings earnestly and soon."

"Five months, huh..."

Vasily pondered for a moment.

She suddenly spoke up, "Then why not... take another trip abroad?

"In June or July, find an occasion to leave the country. If you trust me, bring along Prince Dmitry and Princess Maria...

"I have a way to make them start harboring ill intentions."

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