The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 575: There Is Only One Truth

Hearing Annan’s whisper, Nefertari on the side came over curiously, “Your Highness… Ghirlandaio…? Cough…”

Nefertari bowed her head in embarrassment and coughed lightly.

Although she knew Annan’s secret, she was not quite used to the fact that “Ghirlandaio is Annan·Austere-Winter”.

Ghirlandaio could also be regarded as a handsome uncle. However, his overly friendly and talkative demeanor did not match the image of the cool and aloof handsome young man that she had imagined.

Although she had never met Annan·Austere-Winter, nor his father, Grand Duke Ivan, Nefertari felt that the legendary Annan·Austere-Winter must be a handsome white-haired “Shouta” who did not talk much.

Her eyes wandered slightly, and then she put on a serious face, “What you just read? Could it be “Praise the Divine Transporter Book”?”

“Indeed.” Annan asked softly, “Have you ever heard of this poem, Miss Nefer?”

“Well, it’s quite common… The teacher likes this poem very much. Not only do we have to learn this book in class, but when we graduate and are ready to pursue our dreams, he will also cite a sentence from “Praise Divine Transporter Book” as a dictum of life.”

Nefertari replied, “Some people will see it as a prophecy.

“After all, this is a ‘prophecy’ made by the teacher individually for each person, with different contents! The teacher is also proficient in the Prophet School and Idol School magics… It’s the prophecy made by a Gold Rank Wizard of Idol School and Prophet School. It could guide our future life. Everyone believes in this.”

Hearing this, Annan’s heart moved slightly.

It seemed to have rung something in his mind vaguely.

He turned to ask, “Then, Nefer… Which sentence is your dictum?”

“It’s the lines spoken by the idiot saint whom the protagonist, “Divine Transporter”, meets on ‘Facial Features Island’ after realizing he is a mortal and he is destined to fail in his journey to seek the ‘light sealed in his pupils’ in this epic poem.”

Nefertari pondered for a while, then replied affirmatively, “I remember it should be…

**I sing for my own ears,

Listening only to songs that bring me cheer.

My tongue speaks only words of strength and power,

My hands create and work at my own leisure.

My feet are like wild horses,

Running free in the fields with my own choices.

I live for myself and no others,

My life, my rules, forever and ever.

But my eyes alone – they are not mine to keep,

The world they see is not for me to reap.

For they hold the light that others behold,

And so I am neither human nor light, but rather a peeper of light.

A peeper at the light that passes by,

A witness to the divine transporter in the sky.

Hearing this, Annan felt a chill up his spine.

It was not because of fear but excitement.

The intense excitement could not be suppressed. It was a sense of challenge when facing a strong enemy.

If Annan was only having speculation before, Annan was more certain about it now.

“Gray Professor,” “Bone Healer” Seti, is increasingly likely to be Pope Trisino. It is possible in his scheme… and it is getting more extensive and serious.

Nefertari might not understand the real meaning behind this dictum.

She didn’t know that Annan was the holder of “the Book of Divine Transporter”.

Otherwise, with Nefertari’s wisdom, she could immediately think of the fact that “her mission itself was to lead Annan to this place”.

However, this logic indicated Pope Trisino’s plan included “Annan and Nefertari forming a friendship”.

Yet what made Nefertari trust Annan was Annan’s cleansing of Nightmare: Sporeggar Mill.

Sporeggar Mill itself was related to Black Widow.

Did this mean that the Black Widow is also in the plot of Pope Trisino or rather the Tragedy Writer?

“Should I say that he is worthy of being the Deity of Conspiracy…”

Annan took a deep breath.

The most troublesome thing about Tragedy Writer was that he “did not expect anything in return”.

Whether ordinary people plotted murder or weaved conspiracy, they must have their own goal. In other words, the “motive”.

They must benefit from murder or conspiracy, or eliminate harm. Therefore, deducing their plans from their desires and goals became possible.

However, this rule did not work for the Tragedy Writer.

The Tragedy Writer only wanted amusement.

Supposed Seti was Pope Trisino. He had predicted the future decades later and even noticed that the Man in the Mirror and Black Widow were involved in the nightmare. Therefore, Tragedy Writer must have given Pope Trisino the power to achieve that.

Otherwise, as a mortal, how could he steal and plot against the future deity?

But, for now, Annan had gained a small victory.

He wasn’t sure whether “Bone Healer” Seti was really the Tragedy Writer’s pope, Pope Trisino. However, someone must know the truth.

That would be Pope Benjamin from the Man in the Mirror.

Annan would get something out of it by asking the Man in the Mirror.

Annan already had a hunch that he had captured the rough picture.

The Man in the Mirror did not personally take action to get back his power, probably because He did not want to have a battle with Tragedy Writer, an old deity. That was why He didn’t destroy Tradey Writer’s chess game and let Annan replace His will to fight against Pope Trisino.

Given the personality of the Tragedy Writer, it was unlikely that He would show favoritism.

As long as “Seti” was “Trisino”, Annan’s keen eyes had captured all his opponent’s motives and rules of all his actions.

All his conspiracies were based on “the inadequacy of information”.

Ingrid did not know that the earthquake was about to happen to her, so the quake killed her. Justice and Frederick also did not know that Ingrid would face an accident, so they did not save Ingrid. Justice didn’t know that Frederick knew that he had a crush on Ingrid, so he would bury his hatred in his heart and not tell his friends. Frederick did not know Justice had decided to betray him, so he did not talk much to him.

Austerians did not know the consequences of suppressing the volcanic eruption. The underground folks did know the Storm Tower’s actions or inactions might lead to the collapse of the underground world. Justice also did not know the Daughter of the Storm’s self-sacrifice was equally about protecting the world.

Nefertari did not know that another deity interfered in the formation of the Sporeggar Mill, so she thanked Annan, who contributed to Sporeggar Mill. Thus, she brought Annan to Cinder Barren.

She probably did not know how her brother inherited the sacred bone and the operations and taboos involved.

All because of “not knowing”.

The tragedy was written in the essence of “not knowing”.

People thought there was no need to make these things public and tell others; they were too lazy to seek information that was not readily available.

Why is the “Nightmare: Phantom Fever” labeled with an average rating, but it also gives the adaptability of the element, [Understanding]?

If Trisino were involved in this nightmare, everything would fall into place.

Annan did not forget.

In the secret that Nefertari handed to him, “Bone Healer” Seti had lost his original element.

What was his original element?

There was probably only one answer.

That was the [Understanding] element that Annan acquired from the nightmare.

Annan suddenly came to a realization.

The “Prophetic” ability that transcended karma was the strength of [Understanding].

His ability to reach conclusions so quickly, even beyond having enough evidence but intuition… It was not just because Ghirlandaio’s body had levels in Prophet Wizard.

It was related to the [Understanding] element he had just obtained and had not yet extracted.

Then, another question arose.

Why did “Bone Healer” Seti ditch his [Understanding] element?

Seti had probably already awakened it to perfection.

He even depended on the strength of the element to arrange his plots.

However, he abandoned it at this stage.

The subsequent “Seti” should have completely lost the ability to “arrange conspiracy”.

Before the plan was implemented, he abandoned this power early… What were Seti’s plans?

Was it about changing his elements?

Or it was to separate “Trisino” from “Seti” entirely?

No matter what, Annan had found the correct formula to solve things.

Destiny is the Wheel of Divine Transporter.

No matter how many things “Trisino” predicted, only Annan could not be predicted by him.

Then, finding a reliable player and bringing him into the nightmare would suffice.

Dying from this nightmare did not increase the erosion rate, nor did it have a lot of traps like the Sporeggar Mill. The hardest part was that the “key” to enter the nightmare was rare.

[A Silver Rank Idol Wizard], [A Non-wizard Profession], [Cinder Barren], [Three secrets].

After each failure, the key resets. The user had to re-exchange three secrets to re-enter.

However, how could there be so many secrets that ordinary people could exchange casually?

Consequently, the exchange of secrets might subconsciously develop a barrier between the two.

If another person entered, it would be difficult to form a tacit understanding.

However, the players would not care.

A world separated the player and Annan.

They were best friends.

Friends who would never have a conflict of interest.

“Nightmare: Phantom Fever” was also a nightmare formed by the “information gap” that “Trisino” was proficient at pulling strings.

However, Trisino must not know there were live broadcasts in this world.