The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 658: Turbulence in Austere-Winter Dukedom

—Legendary curse vessel.

There were only six treasures left in this world, each vastly more powerful than the deity-named curse vessel. They were as legendary as their very titles suggested.

Just knowing its name was equivalent to being a part of a ritual.

The current distribution of the legendary curse vessel was one for Noah, one for Austere-Winter, one for Denizoya, and two for the Papal Kingdom. There was still one of them sank in the bottom of the maelstrom. It was said that the Wises of the underground world were trying to salvage it.

All of the current nations were able to rebuild after the disaster solely because they possessed these legendary curse vessels. Had they not had these curse vessels, it was unlikely that any deity would choose to rebuild the barrier around them.

Precisely because the legendary curse vessel was too critical to lose, a compromise was reached between the divine authority and the newly established royal power.

The legendary curse vessel Austere-Winter held was this three-color scepter that Ivan had always used as a crutch.

Annan thought it was a testament to the power of the Austere-Winter Dukedom… And indeed, it was, but it was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

Annan couldn’t help but scrutinize the appearance of this scepter.

It was made of silver, black, and deep blue, intertwined like sturdy vines. At the bottom end, these three colors unwound and extend in three different directions, forming a shape much like an anti-slip stand.

There was a structure like a ring handle at the top — it was made up of a silver ring and a black cross, intricately woven together. At the center of the entire design was a large, deep blue, octagonal gemstone.

Usually, when Ivan wanted to stand up, he would put his hand into the middle and hold the upper part of the cross. While on his foot, he would put his hands on the handle as if holding the steering wheel.

This allowed Ivan to stand firmly.

Due to its function as a “cane” being so perfect, Annan hadn’t suspected it had any other uses.

“…But isn’t this too dangerous?”

Annan couldn’t help but say, “I remember that other Winter’s Hands have touched it. What if the news leaks and the three-color scepter is stolen?”

“It is precisely because no one can trust that it should be held in the hand; it is precisely because it is not safe to hide anywhere that it should be put openly under the sun.”

Ivan said slowly and took a deep look at Annan, “It is precisely because the Grand Duke and the scepter cannot be lost that this item is used as a symbol of the Grand Duke’s power — so there is no need to consider the consequences of losing one of them.”

This legendary curse vessel was significantly different from other countries.

Austere-Winter was known to have a “smaller population”.

In the Noah Kingdom, a single banquet at the royal palace would involve over 200 participants; Denizoya & Fildes Archipelago United Kingdom had even more people — just considering the royal family members who resided permanently within the palace, the number would exceed 300 after including the harem, servants, and eunuchs.

In comparison to the Austere-Winter Dukedom…

There were only a handful of people within the current Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke Residence. Ivan no longer had a wife, and he had no elders left. The only child at home was Annan.

Besides the two of them, there were four other people in total. All of them were the leaders of Winter’s Hand. There were only six leaders now, and two were away from home.

In Austere-Winter Dukedom, there were no servants to serve the Grand Duke. A separate department was established in the Winter’s Hand to handle Grand Duke’s internal affairs.

One reason was that the Austere-Winter Dukedom was in short supply of everything. One of the duties of the Winter’s Hand was to monitor the local nobles so that they didn’t overspend. To achieve this goal, the Grand Duke had to set an example.

On the other hand, the Winter’s Hand’s main responsibility was the Grand Duke’s safety. If there was an attack, the Winter’s Hand might be able to protect the Grand Duke, but expecting them to protect the servants was out of the question.

One might expect Austere-Winter Dukedom to be stable and secured given the watchful eyes of the Winter’s Hand and the Austere Winter’s Blood’s crucial role in suppressing the Frost Beast. However, the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke and his descendants faced the highest number of assassination attempts among leaders of all nations.

This peculiar phenomenon also caught the attention of scholars from other nations.

According to the research results of a sociologist, this was likely to be related to the mechanism of the “Winter Year”.

During the Winter Year, the people of Austere Winter had to rely on the protection of small barriers to avoid being frozen to death by the chilling winds. This resulted in the majority of them primarily living in city-states. As the connections between cities became more tenuous, the average person’s reverence for the Austere-Winter’s Blood and the dukedom’s laws significantly decreased.

Consequently, local nobles held direct control, implementing a myriad of regional laws. The Grand Duke’s oversight and control over these local nobles were effectively weakened.

However, the common folk didn’t care about that — their dissatisfaction with the extravagant and reckless local nobles would inevitably reflect on the Grand Duke. This was partly due to the local nobles intentionally diverting people’s attention and resentment toward the “Winter’s Hand”, which was overseeing them.

The achievements of Grand Duke Ivan were undeniable. But the nobles always had other tricks up their sleeves.

One theory was that the Winter’s Hand restricted the Grand Duke’s access to information, just like the eunuch-ruled Denizoya Kingdom — but only those with a certain cultural understanding would get the reference.

Another more prevalent accusation was to blame Grand Duke Ivan’s poor health.

Why were the taxes so high? Because a lot of resources were needed to keep the Grand Duke alive. Why did the Hands of Winter or the nobles act recklessly? Because of the Grand Duke’s poor health, he couldn’t leave Frostwhisper Province.

As a result, Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke was often attacked by various types of people.

Of course, very few “of those conducting revenge” were utterly brainless.

Most of the attackers knew that Ivan must be protected by Winter’s Hand.

They all hoped to achieve their goals by kidnapping Grand Duke’s heirs, wives, or relatives.

Some demanded the release of some critical political prisoner (usually a spy from another country or had ties to the Ice-shredders). Others, more audaciously, wanted the Grand Duke to pass certain laws. Some hoped he would punish certain local nobles. Of course, their kidnapping attempts were almost always doomed to fail.

However, some clever ones would attempt to assassinate the Grand Duke under the guise of being local nobles, hoping that once the truth was uncovered, the Grand Duke would retaliate against the actual noble in question.

This was also the reason why Annan still needed to investigate carefully after the Northern Alliance made assassination attempts on Annan.

Annan and Ivan didn’t want to be played for fools — they always made sure to get to the bottom of things before taking action. After all, there were instances in the history of the Austere-Winter where people framed their political rivals.

Besides, there was always the risk of foreign spies poisoning their food or servants being bribed to eavesdrop and steal important documents. For a place as remote and isolated as the Austere-Winter Kingdom, it was all too easy to buy off someone of a servant’s status.

Even if countries were both protected by the same deity, it didn’t mean they got along well with each other.

Setting aside border conflicts, the sheer difference in their cultural atmospheres made communication between them scarce.

Plus, there was the previous King Noah — the one who vowed to unify the five nations and rebuild the Great Barrier.

Even though Annan knew the real reason was that he was a “Child in the Grail” with a predetermined fate, and he purposely tried to pit others against the Noa Kingdom out of revenge for his birth… the people and leaders of the other nations were none the wiser.

As a result, the Child in the Grail’s revenge hurt Noah and stirred up turbulence elsewhere. — his act of declaring war on Austere-Winter reversely made Denizoya and the Papal Kingdom vigilant, leading them to an arms race.

After the strength of the Papal Kingdom and Denizoya United Kingdom improved, Austere-Winter also had to be vigilant against them.

As a result, the peace temporarily maintained after the Sanguinary Battle ended was becoming increasingly precarious.

In addition, the matter of the Winter Insurgent was a wake-up call for the Austere-Winter family that even the Winter’s Hand, bound by a curse that made them as trapped as caged birds and unable to disobey the Grand Duke’s orders, couldn’t be fully trusted.

In the end, Grand Duke Ivan not only had to find a way to lead all the people through the brutal winter year.

Aside from that, there was also the mess left by the Ice-shredders and the Winter Insurgent. The Frost Beast troops were always restless. A crucial Frost Beast was lost some time ago. The suspicion was that someone was experimenting with the Frost Beast.

Looking back, Annan faced another assassination attempt again. It appeared that it was not just the desire to sway Dmitri’s forces. The situation would be more complicated if the “Grinznuha·Austere-Winter” bloodline were found.

In terms of how the Winter Insurgent overcame the curse of the “Winter’s Hand” and brought the other Winter’s Hands out of the control of the Grand Duke, the Austere-Winter family had yet to find out about it.

Under such circumstances, the tax withheld by the local nobles and the reckless behavior of relying on “local laws” had already pointed themselves to be the most straightforward situation.

They were all troublemakers.

With so many troubles intertwined, Ivan’s body couldn’t hold it.

“The situation Austere-Winter is facing is complicated. Fortunately, you are back.” Ivan said slowly, “I must first grant you the position of Grand Duke and the curse vessel. Only then can I carry out some investigations and actions I have planned.”

“Come with me, Annan. I’ll teach you how to use the scepter’s power.”

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