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...It's a story about the succession of royal power.
Upon just hearing this, Annan felt a stomachache coming on.
The old King was aging, and the new King had yet to be crowned. This almost meant that the kingdom would inevitably be in chaos during this period.
Moreover, in three days, the internal test would begin. Players would descend... this unknown kingdom was probably going to be utterly disordered.
...Speaking of which, Annan still didn't know the actual name of this kingdom.
But that was alright.
As long as it wasn't His Majesty the King himself who truly wanted to take Tan Juan's life, he could always find a way to survive.
Now was the perfect opportunity to also inquire about the political stance that "Tan Juan" should hold, to avoid accidentally exposing himself...
"Of course, I agree to join... By the way, which side does the Lord Earl stand on?"
"Obviously, on His Majesty's side. That is, on the side of the eldest princess."
Upon hearing this, the captain of the guards breathed a sigh of relief.
He thought that probably no one in the world would dare to joke about a Prince, a future King, so he relaxed a bit, and his attitude became much friendlier, "His Majesty was able to ascend to the throne years ago, and the Geraint family contributed significantly... But you also know that the old Crow won't support the third Prince's ascension to the throne."
Annan nodded solemnly.
No, actually, I didn't know that.
He thought for a moment and, in John's tone, tentatively asked, "But I still don't understand... why are they targeting the young Lord instead of going after the Lord Earl? If anything happened to the young Lord, the Lord Earl would go crazy, how could we escape?"
"The Lord Earl won't know about this."
The captain of the guard was still somewhat impatient about this matter, "This ship will be made to look like it was lost at sea, the sails burned by us, adrift on the ocean for a long time before being washed ashore. By then, we'll have long since fled."
But Annan pressed with two more questions, and Mr. Claus, the captain of the guard, reluctantly answered with an attitude of "I can't beat him anyway," "What the third Prince wants is merely the Geraint family's signet ring."
—To forge letters!
Annan immediately realized.
Claus and his people aimed to keep "Tan Juan" alive while taking the signet ring! That way, they could forge letters from someone of the Geraint family... Whether sent to the Earl or used as false evidence, it could serve the purpose.
But Annan suddenly felt his stomach ache even more.
How did he get involved in such trouble the moment he set foot here?
And, since their goal was to take the ring, there might not even be a ring to find on the ship by the time he exited the nightmare...
Suddenly, Annan paused.
No.
Claus lied—
In the previous loop, Annan saw Claus directing his subordinates, the traitors, to search Tan Juan's room.
He clearly remembered that they were looking for "a piece of paper." And that paper was sewn into the inner layer of clothes under Tan Juan's left armpit. The ring and seal were merely looked for "while they were at it."
Annan's heart chilled.
What if Claus was using a slightly less important matter to cover up another matter of even greater importance?
Then this piece of paper's value might even surpass that of a Prince's plot to seize power!
But Annan didn't startle the snake in the grass.
He just pretended to be concerned and continued to ask, "What about Lord Benjamin? How do we deal with him?"
"You don't need to worry about that, just follow my lead."
Claus was swayed by Annan's acting, let out a small sigh of relief, and answered cheerily, "The eldest Lord is with us, and without him, we wouldn't dare do such a thing. That's a business where you get silenced. The eldest Lord has the Geraint family's top-secret intelligence... including Benjamin's weaknesses."
"Perfect, let's go up together. With you there, the young Lord will relax even more..."
"One last request."
Annan hesitated for a moment, but still took the risk of exposure and asked, "I want the complete ritual of 'Tongue in the Mirror.'"
"Fine, but I need to know who your master is."
Claus agreed without hesitation, "The wooden-headed John I know wouldn't be so smart. You've been playing the fool for so long, was it just to blend in with Tan Juan?"
"Who sent you here?"
"Of course, it was the Lord Duke."
"...The Duke? Hmm... which Duke?"
When he heard the word 'Duke,' Claus's facial muscles suddenly twitched.
After hesitating for a moment, he still asked. But his voice was much softer, and he was not as aggressive, "Is it convenient to say?"
"A Duke with black hair and blue eyes... you know."
Annan answered vaguely.
He wanted to fleece more information out of Claus, the simpleton, and learn some news about the Winter Duke.
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But when Annan responded in that way, Claus's pupils shrank slightly. He fell silent, cleared his throat awkwardly, and did not dare to press on with more questions.
"This ceremony of mine comes from the knowledge of the Orthodox Church, and you must not spread it around. It wasn't obtained through regular channels."
Claus merely warned, "This is a copy of knowledge I traded with someone in the past... It's from the Orthodox Church, so it's less harmful to oneself and the effects are very stable. It's not like those ceremonies of the False Gods which are prone to problems. You better understand, once this knowledge is leaked, both you and I will be in trouble."
"The Orthodox Church?"
Annan made a perfectly timed questioning remark.
As expected, Claus couldn't help himself and began to explain, "It's not the church of 'Silver Baron'. Although our Kingdom of Noah does indeed welcome the priests of the Silver Baron... if you don't have money, those tight-fisted ghosts won't teach you any Divine Arts or ceremonies."
Annan immediately showed a disappointed expression.
At the same time, he took a deep breath in his heart and took note of the somewhat strange name "Silver Baron".
God damn it, at least now he knew the name of this country...
Claus clicked his tongue before he answered, "This is a ceremony of the 'Mystery Lady'... I don't know how much the Duke has told you, so let me start from the beginning. Pay attention, I'll only say it once—if I say too much, your mind definitely won't be able to take it."
As he spoke, his voice suddenly changed, becoming deeper and raspier. It was as if a recorder had been switched on in his throat, releasing someone else's voice:
"The materials for this ceremony are 'the soul of someone who knew about a crime in advance but chose to remain silent', 'the fresh blood of a male adult who has never killed', 'the tongue of a bull that died willingly from poison', 'shoes that have never touched the ground', 'a mirror no larger than one's own head', and a scoop of seawater that has not been away from the sea for more than a day."
"The ceremony is quite simple. Specifically, you need to carve or embroider any of the Mystery Lady's secret inscriptions known as the 'lock' on the bull's tongue, and similarly imprint its symmetrical counterpart on your own tongue as the 'key'."
"Then mix the blood and seawater together, place the bull's tongue on the mirror with the inscription facing up. Release the criminal's soul, put on the shoes for the ritual, and walk around the blood-covered ground clockwise or counterclockwise as you wish for however many circles but remember the number. That's 'opening the door'; with that, the ceremony is complete."
"Afterward, you can't stray too far from your ceremonial site. The specific limit is two thousand six hundred of your own steps—if you exceed this distance, you bear the consequences."
"To reverse the ceremony, simply walk the predetermined number of circles in the opposite direction while wearing the shoes, as if 'closing the door'. But you must reverse the ceremony before February first arrives, regardless of how long the ceremony has lasted; similarly, don't use this ritual before February has passed, or else you bear the consequences—"
At this point, Claus's strange "recounting" state came to an end.
He cleared his throat, directed his gaze towards Annan, and his right hand discreetly moved closer to the hilt of his sword: "That's about it. Well... can you handle it?"
"...I'm okay."
Annan put on a barely managing look, took a deep breath, and slowly nodded.
Claus seemed concerned as he nodded his head, but a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes, and his hand returned to its former position: "It seems you already know quite a bit about this ceremony... So you do have some wits, not demanding forbidden knowledge that your mind couldn't handle."
Annan said nothing, just kept nodding vigorously, showing a somewhat strained look.
But inside, Annan was utterly clueless.
Annan roughly knew what the other party was getting at.
In Claus's view, if he disclosed this knowledge, "John" would probably be rolling on the ground, utterly powerless to resist. He undoubtedly had sinister intentions.
But contrary to what Claus thought,
Annan didn't feel anything special at all.
There was no pain or itch, no dizziness. At most, he just felt a bit hungry because he had been moving a lot and it was getting close to mealtime...
So, he could only put on such a vague performance.
For someone with Annan's acting skills, this could almost be considered a disgrace.
But the problem was that Annan didn't know what he was supposed to act like.
What could he do? He was also in despair.
He didn't even know whether he should be feeling nauseated or headachy, whether to vomit or clutch his chest in pain... he could only make a face as if he were straining to defecate.
After all, no matter what sort of discomfort he was in, that expression was always applicable.
Watching Annan "digest the forbidden knowledge so quickly", Claus bit his lip and nonchalantly continued, "Also, remember to arrange for someone to guard the ritual site beforehand. Otherwise, if someone swaps out the cow's tongue, control over the ritual will be taken away, just like what happened to me. This obscure ritual itself has very low requirements, and it can be used by transcendent beings of the bronze rank. It comes from the Orthodox Church, so it doesn't involve any of those chaotic, random effects..."
At this point, his mouth turned up in a sarcastic smile, "But normally, this ritual can only be used by those favored by the gods who can inscribe inscriptions on their souls. And it requires a 'Reversed Inscription'. The only church that has mastered the Reversed Inscription, belongs to the Lady of Silence, the deity of veto and darkness, not the Lady of Mystery.
"Thanks to His Highness the Third Prince finding me a special cursed mirror, I was able to activate the ritual. It was made by the Church of the Lady of Mystery, specifically to substitute for the Reversed Inscription needed to initiate this ritual. And because it's not normally initiated, I still needed to compensate with a large amount of souls to barely maintain the ritual... Once the body decays, the ritual will end automatically and is completely uncontrollable."
Having said that, Claus laughed somewhat proudly, "So learning this doesn't really do you much good. Because you still need to figure out how to get such a mirror."
...That's probably why he agreed so readily just now.
Hearing this, Annan smacked his lips and sighed, following behind Claus without uttering a word.
This actually brightened Claus's mood quite a bit.
But Claus couldn't see the look of pity Annan was giving him.
This poor kid...
When he got his hands on this ritual, he must have been both coveting and despairing, not knowing how long it took him to find a "cursed" mirror that could barely serve as a substitute. It's like a kid who finally buys a huge triple-A title, only to find out his computer can't run it at all.
But we're different.
Annan remembered that "Reversed Inscription."
He seemed, perhaps, might have...
Actually had one.