Annan sighed, “It seems that we can’t leave for the time being.”
He looked around and asked, “Should we find a place first, sit down and talk?”
With that, he looked at Ghirlandaio along the way.
His intention was simple.
This cheerful, dark-haired, dark-eyed uncle should be the only one among them who recognized the path in this place.
After all, he was originally a student of Master Michelangelo.
“Wait a minute, everyone. Don’t be in a hurry.”
Upon receiving Annan’s hint, Miss Claire was the first to react.
She looked at Ghirlandaio suspiciously and pressed her lips together.
“I was a little skeptical, and I felt embarrassed to voice out before I walked in.
“Should we candidates be people who have ‘no teacher, no classmate, no apprentice’?
“But when you were outside, you once said that your teacher is Master Michelangelo.
“We all sent the letter here after we got the letter. There is no doubt that your suspicion is the biggest.”
Hearing Claire’s words, the others who hadn’t listened to these words previously also reacted one after another.
They also looked at Ghirlandaio.
Ghirlandaio didn’t panic either.
He just shrugged and said in a deep voice, “I did know that the teacher is dead. But I didn’t kill the teacher.”
With that said, he took out a letter he was carrying with him and showed it for everyone else to see.
The letter read: “I will die soon, and I will dismiss all the disciples here.”
Below the letter, there was Michelangelo’s signature.
“This is an Edict letter.”
When Maria saw the letter, she explained to everyone, “This is the Edict spell used by the high-level wizards and the high-level military forces of various countries. The words written in the Edict letter will be preserved after death and regarded as official.”
While speaking, she cautiously pressed her hand on the letter’s signature.
“Answer: Your name.”
She reprimanded with a cold and tender voice.
Soon, the embossed head of an old man appeared on the letter, and he answered, “Michelangelo Buonaro.”
“Answer: Written time.”
“June 30, 1498.”
The voice was the same as the old man.
Subsequently, the head was submerged back into the letter again.
Maria nodded and confirmed, “It’s true. Master Michelangelo wrote this. The time of student dismissal was five months ago.
“This letter is indeed legally valid. Therefore, all his students have been dismissed.”
Annan blinked.
Wait…
Isn’t Maria Austere-Winter the wizard of Energy Falteration School? Now, she is in Edict school?
He realized that he might have made a preconceived judgment.
Fortunately, it was not too late for him to realize.
But his guidance was still effective.
At least everyone realizes that Ghirlandaio is Master Michelangelo’s disciple. That’s enough for me.
So, Annan had a gentle look on his face again.
He smiled bitterly and persuaded softly from the side, “Okay, okay. It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t mention it at this time.
“Let’s find a place to sit down and talk?”
“Speaking of,” Maria said suddenly, “You should be the most dangerous among us, right?”
Maria was referring to Annan. Or, more accurately, David Gerald.
As a wizard of the Soul Snatch school, he was almost always invincible in one-on-one battles.
While no one could wake the controlled person, Gerald even carried a powerful curse vessel stolen from Swamp’s Black Tower.
To say that among the Silver Rank wizards, who were most likely to kill Master Michelangelo approaching the Truth level, it could only be Gerald.
This guess was naturally also in Annan’s expectation.
Rather, this was the reason Annan was the first to speak. The purpose was to make others doubt him and address the doubt.
“I understand what you mean, Your Highness.”
Annan smiled bitterly, his expression gradually becoming serious.
He raised his left hand and turned the ring around.
In the vigilant gaze of everyone, Annan solemnly swore,
“I’m here to establish a curse.”
He chanted in a low voice, “I will give up using all spells before this incident is over!”
When the voice fell, an illusory rune appeared in front of him and then disappeared.
Annan felt his heart entangled in something.
Because of this, his heart pumped faster. Thus, Gerald, the weak wizard physique, could finally be regarded to keep up with Annan’s plan.
After that, Annan smiled apologetically to everyone, “Is this alright? I just want to get a share of the inheritance and live on. I don’t intend to fight with you.
“I know that being in the same room with a Soul Snatch wizard will make you uneasy. You just can’t think calmly, so I banned my spell usage. That way, you can rest assured, right?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
Maria looked at Annan with a complicated expression.
She also didn’t expect her probing word to make “Gerald” give up his spell directly.
Soul Snatch wizard was unlike the Destruction wizard and Edict wizard. No spells were required, and the body or words alone was enough to be lethal.
The Soul Snatch wizards also unlike the Falteration wizard with some perks in the melee profession.
They were not even as good as the Prophet wizard – not being sharp enough to sense danger.
Soul Snatch wizard banned his spellcasting ability, which almost meant utterly giving up resistance. He couldn’t check the emotions and thoughts of others. It was hard even to deceive others.
As a matter of fact, the rules said, “murderers can’t kill.” But the Soul Snatch wizard could easily control the situation without committing the murder.
This curse was an advantage for the four wizards, Gerald, Ghirlandaio, Maria, and Eugene Melvin, who were not good at attacks, but was proficient in control.
Even if they committed a murder in the White Tower, they could still control the next enemy with spells.
Anyway, the curse only said that no subsequent killing was allowed.
But it didn’t say not to “attack” others.
Of course, let’s not ignore the fact that Gerald had a powerful curse vessel.
But, if Gerald had it, won’t the others too?
In short, “Gerald” was equivalent to voluntarily giving up this battle for inheritance rights.
After Annan set the temporary curse, the other people’s vigilance toward him gradually disappeared.
This was precisely Annan’s plan.
As the Soul Snatch wizard, he must be the one that everyone was most wary of.
No one would let go of a dangerous person who could control their mind with one sentence. Once someone decided to kill, especially in the beginning with the least meaningful clues, dangerous people like Annan were usually the first to sacrifice.
There was the mentality where since you don’t know who to kill, let’s rule out the most dangerous one first.
After all, a person can only kill one person at a time.
What if he lives to the end?
This was just better to be safe than sorry.
A typical train of thoughts would go on like this.
Annan had roughly guessed Maria’s character.
She was the kind of person who would say what she thinks and did what she thinks. Annan led the flow of events with words, which would inevitably arouse people’s suspicion. Maria would voice out the doubt.
At that time, Annan could borrow the opportune moment to inhibit his spell casting in front of everyone.
Anyway, he had no spellcasting ability.
In this way, even if someone still suspected that he was the murderer, they would also tend to wait for the “most dangerous person” to be killed before they set their target on those who “can be killed anytime.”
After all, Gerald was already the helpless livestock in their eyes. If he was the murderer, then he, who was forbidden to kill and unable to cast spells, couldn’t fend for himself and couldn’t escape at all.
Gerald could be killed at any time. There was no need to rush.
This rhythm allowed Annan to be safe from dying on the “first night.” [1]
Annan had everything planned out.
No matter who the murderer was or whether or not to kill the murderer, Annan needed to drag the ritual into the “only four people” situation.
Then, his tackling method was to mix in the crowd and secretly help the murderer. It was the “traitor [2]” in the werewolf game.
If Annan wanted to clear this dungeon at perfect grade, he would need to back-stab the real murderer when five people were left.
Because of the need to avoid conflicts.
So Annan could only use the curse imbued in the hammer to murder the murderer without anyone knowing it.
Under this circumstance, Annan’s positioning was the “traitor” in the Legends of the Three Kingdom [3].
No matter what, Annan needed to make his “teammate” (murderer) first realize his existence.
[1] Reference to the party game “Werewolf.”
[2] In the Werewolf party game, the traitor role knows who the killer is and needs to assist the killer in winning the game. More info here.
[3] Another social deduction game like Werewolf. More info here.