The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 90: It Is What It Is

With Salvatore helping to guard Alvin’s corpse, Annan could go and search around without worry.

Whether it was Alvin’s money, jewelry, or other valuable items, all could be looted away.

Of course, this manor itself would still be left to Alvin’s grandson. Annan wouldn’t touch the furniture or any sort like that.

Annan had been guarding right at the dining place before leaving, just to prevent the corpse from disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Annan must safely transport the dead body to the city so that the Roseburg officials who obeyed Old Alvin’s orders could come over and see for themselves. It was to let them be sure that their former master was dead.

If the Rotten Man Church knew that Old Alvin was dead, they would try to snatch or steal the body.

After all, it was evidence.

Of course, it didn’t matter if the corpse was taken away by them after Annan’s purpose was achieved.

—Because the corpse itself was of no particular use to Annan.

According to Salvatore’s analysis, it could be used to report the Rotten Man Church so that they might be able to make a good deal of the royal family. Once it became concrete evidence of the ongoing “Offspring Bloodbath” ritual, the royal family would be concerned about public opinion and immediately stop fighting each other. Whoever chose not to put aside the hatred immediately would be the first to become “suspect of Rotten Man’s faction” or “befriended Rotten Man’s church.”

But Annan knew that it was impossible.

With Salvatore’s personality and character, he didn’t realize one thing.

For the king, there was no need for evidence to suspect a person or an event.

Swamp’s Black Tower was not a subordinate force to the kingdom, but the wizard tower could not be eliminated. Moreover, there was a certain degree in exchange of interests with the kingdom’s high-level leaders. Thus, the two parties maintained cooperation.

Swamp’s Black Tower, with limited information, could realize that something was not right with this heirs war. It happened too suddenly and looked abnormal. They could suspect that the “Offspring Bloodbath” ritual was involved, let alone the king.

If Henry VIII wanted to seize the “Rotten Man Church,” he had thousands of ways to do so.

Why would the king wait until the “intelligence department found the relevant personnel of Rotten Man Church” to be sure?

Just like what Salvatore said, he felt that His Majesty should know about this. But, could the intelligence department be inferior to Salvatore?

Didn’t they know how important this matter was?

So, why was no one there to investigate thoroughly?

There was only one answer.

Henry VIII acquiesced to this incident.

He did not “guess it vaguely” but knew the complete picture of the plan from the beginning.

But he was still hesitant and indecisive. He wanted to hold the ritual and hoped someone would stop him. That was why he had such a strange attitude to this incident.

However, no one would know his attitude toward the people who prevented it. Would it be praise or hatred?

If “Don Juan Geraint” stopped this incident and exiled the Rotten Man Church, Annan would be certain that Henry VIII would reward Don Juan; the king’s heirs must also immediately turn friendly to the Gerant family.

This was because of the special condition of being part of the Gerant family.

As the intelligence department head, Count Geraint represented the King’s will. If the Gerant family prevented Henry VIII’s eternal life, this meant that they didn’t want to see the birth of an eternal monarch… even if the person was their master.

This meant that the power in the king’s hand was not as reliable and loyal as he imagined.

In this way, the “smart” king would immediately stop, pretending that it had never happened before to leave a good reputation.

At this point, whoever dared to harm the Gerant family would be blatantly going against the king’s will, no different from attacking the king in person. It showed that the heirs were not innocents who fell prey to the conspiracy, but they wanted to attack their brothers and sisters from the beginning, seeking to seize the throne.

—Albeit these ill thoughts were initially their intention.

This was the intricacies of politics.

If everyone knew the truth and knew that everyone else understood it as well, they would form a solid consensus. When no one came to reveal the truth, everyone would pretend not to know it to maintain an equilibrium of power.

The person who emerged to speak the truth would stir up the whole situation and attract everyone’s attention.

If Don Juan Geraint did make such a decision, it meant that the Gerant family had received new political capital. They could re-enter the stage and pick a side. For a long time in the future, the king could not attack or oppose the Gerant family.

That was to say, the Gerant family made a comeback.

Even Princess Royal that the Gerant family previously supported, must give the family some benefits again. Otherwise, the Gerant family, who had returned to a high position of “justice,” could defect to other factions.

All in all, this was equivalent to revitalizing the entire Gerant family.

But the problem was…

Annan was not the real Don Juan Geraint.

He never forgot that he was just acting as Don Juan Geraint.

—In other words, he was Annan Austere-Winter who was “acting as Don Juan Geraint.”

Annan Austere-Winter would not do such a thing.

Even Viscount Barber could recognize him, not to mention the others.

Once Annan exposed the Rotten Man Church, he would be exposing himself for no reason. After attracting people’s attention, he would be discovered immediately for pretending to be Don Juan Geraint.

After all, the two of them look different.

It was just that age, hair color, and pupil color were somewhat similar.

Moreover, it might lead to other events.

Namely, if the existence of the Rotten Man Church were exposed to the public eyes, then the heirs’ war would stop immediately, and no one could fall into dispute again.

In other words, the previous victims died in vain.

For example…

Don Juan Geraint.

Annan had not forgotten that he once promised to avenge Don Juan as a “price” for pretending to be him.

There were no witnesses and no guarantor to this transaction.

This transaction carried no weight. Even the real Don Juan didn’t even know about it. Even if he knew, he couldn’t change anything.

But to Annan, those were not excuses.

A promise was a promise. Annan wanted to finish the job.

That was a habit he had in his past life.

At the same time, Annan needed a chaotic environment.

He aimed to take down Klaus, betrayers of the Gerant family, and the Third Prince.

If the king was involved, kill the king; if the bishops were involved, kill the bishops.

Annan believed that he could do it.

The more chaotic the environment, the sharper the conflict, the more doubts, and hatred rose between people. Annan’s innate talent that could penetrate the hearts of others could be maximized.

“I’m feeling a little excited.”

The corner of Annan’s mouth raised slightly.

He felt the joy, excitement, and thrill in his heart.

Perhaps, he didn’t want to live a peaceful life in his past life.

Undoubtedly, Annan hated and was afraid of who he was now. But, at the same time, he did find out more about himself. Hence, he was also worried that he might accidentally become someone different in a negative sense.

But now, Annan discovered a solution to this problem.

Intense thinking. Fierce battle. Intense survival will.

—Along with resourcefulness and courage.

This game is becoming exciting.

What a friendly game to me.

Annan liked to be more despicable than the despicable, deceiving the liars, hurting those who harm others, killing the murderers, and taking away the robber’s treasure. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. While the simple revenge mentality gave off a sense of happiness, Annan had to bear pressure on morality.

However, this line of thought would tend to reward happiness. It fitted what every player thought in their heart when Annan “sought justice.”

But the moral standards in his heart would remain to restrain Annan.

Annan would also like to treat the wounded, help the weak, punish the evil, and save the world.

Of course, he also wanted to be a hero and be appreciated by others. It was a child’s dream similar to every other child’s.

Just like a player.

But fortunately, both polarities would not overlap, no matter the contradiction of hurting others and helping others and the contradiction of fighting each other and saving the world.

Then, this doubled the pleasure.

“The wicked… I like the wicked.”

Annan murmured as he walked in the dark corridor. The dim blue light in his eyes flickered slightly like a young wolf under the moon.

“It’s better to have more of these kinds of people. The eviler, the better; the more selfish, the better; the crazier, the better; the more distorted, the better…”

It was like what Annan told the players before.

—Just because evil is present, everyone and everything else is righteous.

If I kill all the villains, then I am undoubtedly the incarnation of justice.

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