Annan only began scavenging the man’s belongings after stuffing him into the wooden barrel filled with fish.
All he had in the victim’s pocket was a dagger, a lock pick, and two silver coins. At first glance, he wasn’t a decent man.
Aside from that, there was a piece of paper folded twice in the inner pocket of his clothes.
There were two commands written on the front and back pages.
[Take the Magnetic Stone to the kitchen at 10:00 in the morning. Enter the kitchen basement under the guidance of a “tall,” “black-haired and red-eyed” fat man. Give the Magnetic Stone to the person inside and leave the basement at 3:00 in the afternoon. Stand “impatiently” in front of the kitchen door with “crossed arms” and prevent any target from entering the kitchen basement.]
[There will be someone to replace you between 4:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon. He will come “alone” with “black hair and black eyes,” and you don’t know this person. If no one entered the basement during this time, just leave; if someone entered the basement, don’t let him go in and ask him to leave directly. You then leave after twenty minutes.]
The handwriting on the note was scribbled, and there were traces of repeated folding and opening of the paper. There were also double underlines to emphasize some of the words.
If not mistaken, this should be the so-called “feature”.
Fortunately, there was no need to remove his clothes.
Annan immediately stood in the position where the red-haired man stood before. He crossed his arms and looked impatiently at the passersby coming and going at the door.
In less than two minutes, Annan saw a man hurried over.
As the note said, black hair, black eyes, and alone… The only difference was that he seemed vaguely familiar to Annan. Yet it was hard to tell why he seemed so familiar.
The man saw Annan standing at the kitchen door impatiently and walked over quickly.
Annan frowned slightly and whispered, “Why are you so late? Her Royal Highness Kafni passed by earlier… We’re lucky she didn’t go in. Otherwise, what would I do?”
He revised the speech slightly and put himself out.
The man just chuckled, “As long as a stranger like you is standing here, Her Royal Highness Kafni will not enter.
“Okay, leave the rest to me.”
The man took out a pocket watch from his arm as he spoke and looked at the time, “It’s almost five… you should leave quickly, from the back door. Otherwise, you won’t be able to leave in a while.”
“Understood.” Annan nodded calmly and walked past the man.
His pupils contracted slightly.
Because at this moment, Annan had recognized the man’s identity!
Annan recognized that pocket watch.
It was an intricately decorated silver pocket watch with three-eyed birds with dagger-sharp feathers engraved on the case.
It was a silver pocket watch of the same style as Don Juan.
This was the Geraint family badge!
This young man seemed to be in his early twenties.
I’m afraid this man is Don Juan’s eldest brother!
After walking past him, Annan stopped silently and turned back quickly. He reached out his left hand towards the young man’s mouth like lightning.
But at this time, the young man seemed to have eyes at the back of his head.
He bent down and rolled forward quickly, at the same time taking out a delicate silver lady pistol from his top. He turned around and pointed it at Annan.
“Stay still, my friend. Just stand there.” The young man of the Geraint family asked in a calm and soft voice, “Tell me, why did you want to attack me?”
He didn’t want to make a scene.
Annan understood his subtext immediately.
This meant that these people might not have as many infiltrated guards as Annan imagined.
In the face of the young man’s accusation, Annan pressed his left hand down slightly, revealed the silver ring between his fingers, and countered with a vigilant expression, “Because you are a member of the Geraint family.
“And that’s not in line with what I’ve been asked to do.”
Seeing the silver ring that Annan deliberately revealed, the young man’s pupils shrank slightly.
He was silent for a while. Finally, he pointed the muzzle slightly downwards and tried his best to calm the situation with his tone, “That’s impossible— what is your mission description?”
“The mission says I don’t know you… but that’s not the case.”
Annan said slowly, “Because you are the eldest son of the Geraint family— I recognize you. You are then not the one I am waiting for.”
He wanted to see if he could manipulate him for some information.
It unexpectedly turned out to be successful…
The young man frowned slightly without denying, “I think there is a misunderstanding in this, my friend. I am indeed Ferdinand Geraint, but I have never met you. Like you, I’m a Rotten Man believer… Otherwise, I would have called the guards by now.
“Can you show me your list? Then, in good faith, I’ll show you mine too.”
As a sign of sincerity, Ferdinand put the pistol back on his waist.
He then took out the “mission list” from his arms.
Annan showed a hesitant look on his face and slowly took out a list that had been folded many times from his arms. The two exchanged it tacitly.
There were also two commands written on it:
[Go to the kitchen at 4:00 in the afternoon and meet a man standing “impatiently” at the door with his “arms crossed”. If the other party reports no one entered the basement, enter the kitchen basement; otherwise, stop the conversation and leave immediately to ensure safety.]
[Hide the linked Magnetic Stone on yourself and attend the banquet. Then, sit in the southeast corner of Table 3, and destroy the Magnetic Stone immediately after the explosion.]
Explosion? Annan was slightly startled.
He undoubtedly knew what a Magnetic Stone was. It was a standard component for more extensive rituals and functioned similarly as a remote control.
Its purpose was to enable the host of the ritual to control rituals that would become more dangerous once activated at a further, safer location.
In other words, Rotten Man wants to… cause a massive explosion? Annan jolted suddenly.
He seemed to realize something.
At the very beginning, Don Juan was sent to the border seemingly because he had provoked a certain someone. Yet, in fact, this was Don Juan’s father’s way of protecting him from political persecution encountered by the Geraint family.
At first, Annan thought the Geraint family was innocent.
The reason for persecution was that the Geraint family supported Princess Royal. That was why they were suppressed and persecuted by the Third Prince.
But according to Annan’s knowledge of Princess Royal from just now, she wasn’t the type to be weak and retreat. It was impossible that she would let Third Prince Philip attack her forces at will and be silent about it.
Unless…
She doubted the Geraint family’s loyalty hence keeping silent when the Geraint family was faced with discrimination.
What was the most likely reason when the Geraint family was being suspected? If the Geraint family was truly disloyal, would they only have encountered discrimination?
Annan previously did not understand the reason behind this.
But Annan probably knew it now.
If Princess Royal was in doubt of the Geraint family’s loyalty, then sending Don Juan away for protection and him then assassinated by Third Prince’s people on the way, and even the consecutive accidental deaths of other members of the royal family in these past few years… were all planned?
Annan had always wondered if this was part of a bigger conspiracy, a bigger game plan.
And now, it all seemed so simple.
Ferdinand said it himself just now.
He was a Rotten Man believer.
If so, what did the Rotten Man believers desire most? Where had the Rotten Man previously failed? How did the Rotten Man believers please their deities?
Annan looked up toward Ferdinand.
The answer was now self-evident.
Ferdinand was Third Prince’s follower from the very beginning. He had always been trying to kill his other siblings to gain immortality from this.
He was trying to kill other royal heirs to gain immortality for the Third Prince.
Immortality’s ultimate servant… This seemed to be Rotten Man’s biggest regret. If it could be achieved, they would obtain great power.
Looking back now, the Crow family’s position in Noah’s Kingdom was roughly equivalent to Winter’s Hand.
If there were frequent “accidental deaths” that had “zero evidence” in which investigations had always yielded no results…
The Princess Royal’s intuitive suspicion was indeed correct.
Ferdinand Geraint was a traitor!
It was just that the betrayer was not the entire Geraint family, but just one of them!
But this also seemed to be an opportunity now…
“Look, it’s mentioned above…” Ferdinand frowned after reading Annan’s mission list, then looked up and tried to explain to Annan.
But at that time, he suddenly noticed that Annan’s pupils had unknowingly turned dull grey.
As soon as he felt vigilant, an incomparably immense and irresistible feeling of lethargy injected his spirit. Since he wasn’t Transcended, he lost his defenses almost instantly.
In between Ferdinand’s half-awake state, he saw the middle-aged man with black hair and black eyes approach him, revealing a dangerous smile towards him.
“I’ll have some questions for you later.” Annan added softly, “Before that, please sleep with the salted fish for a bit…”
He immediately raised his mighty marble fist and punched Ferdinand’s temple!
Ferdinand blacked out immediately.
Fellow readers, thanks for editor MindMatrix in helping me out on improving the readability and overall my translation skillsets. Unfortunately, he has other commitment in life he needs to attend to, thus you have been seeing him missing for a couple of chapters. I will continue doing my best to uphold the translation quality ?. Good news is that I have managed to amp up the chapter buffers and thus launching new Tiers in the Patreon up to 25 chapters ahead of the website’s publishing schedule. If you would like to support us, please feel free to check the chapters out, and we will still continue the ongoing weekday publishing schedule. Thanks for the support! Click here to access our Patreon page.