After Annan sealed his spellcasting ability, the atmosphere indeed relaxed.
After the atmosphere calmed down a bit, everyone subconsciously agreed with Annan's previous idea: why not sit down and have a good talk.
After all, Annan took the initiative and suffered the loss in front of everyone.
Although no one will benefit, people will always feel that they should feel guilty at this time.
The level of this guilt is not deep. If Annan really made any request to them that harmed their interests, they would probably reject it immediately.
But Annan just made a proposal that was good for everyone at this time...at least there was no harm to everyone.
Then at this time, they will subconsciously obey Annan's harmless command.
This is an opportunity.
If Annan can seize the initiative in the next conversation, then Annan's words will still have weight in the next step.
Although "Gerald" has no fighting power, is not of high status, has a bad background, and his appearance is not easy to attract attention, people will still subconsciously follow his orders.
This is because of human nature's tendency to be lazy.
An instinct that cannot be realized unless specifically pointed out.
Because it takes a lot of energy to discern "whether a new leader is trustworthy" in a group and to stand up against authority, and risks being isolated.
Especially when this leader doesn't actually have so much power that it can shake their fundamental interests. It's even less worthwhile.
This model is somewhat similar to class committee elections during student days.
Students can often find that in most class committee elections, although adjustments are allowed in principle, often everyone will not choose the best answer, but will continue with the original choice.
Therefore, before encountering huge setbacks and temptations that shake the authority of the temporary captain, people tend to continue to follow the command of the temporary captain...even if everyone is convinced that this person is not the best choice.
What Annan has to do is to be this "useless temporary captain" and let them form a habit of thinking.
If they are used to following Annan's instructions, then when they hear an instruction that is harmless to them, they will subconsciously think about "is it good to do it" instead of questioning "can it be done".
Then Annan would mix some private work into the decision-making, and they would not be able to detect it.
Under the leadership of Uncle Ghirlandaio, everyone came to a teahouse.
Although the disciples have all been dismissed, the tea leaves in the teahouse will obviously not be taken away... They have not fallen to this level yet.
With the help of the transformation wizard Benjamin, they quickly made black tea and followed Annan's words. They sat down and decided to talk calmly.
"Ugh..."
Claire took a sip of the warm black tea and breathed a sigh of relief.
She lay lazily on the table, as if she had melted into a ball.
Maria's emotionless ice-blue pupils were still scanning the crowd quickly.
"Speaking of which," she suddenly faced Benjamin and asked, "I remember you are the famous mentor of Zedi Black Tower..."
"You want to question why I was selected, right?"
Benjamin easily saw through Maria's intention and directly started talking to her.
He looked at Gerald with a complicated expression, and was silent for a while, as if he was trying to form words.
On the other hand, the wizard of the Idol School, Eugene Melvin, spoke for the first time after entering the White Tower:
"Because four of his students died cleanly.
"They were all killed by this... dark wizard David Gerald."
His voice was distant and ethereal, as if it had some kind of divinity.
But his words once again made people look at Annan.
There are many wizards who know about this. But there are also some who don't know, or who only know roughly.
Annan also touched his nose and thought about what expression he should use at this time...
——So he just smiled bitterly and lowered his head without saying anything else.
I see.
He was thinking in his mind.
Is this the reason why Gerald must be killed as Salvatore was talking about before?
According to the time, Salvatore should have entered the Black Tower of Zedi by this time, but has not yet become Benjamin's disciple. And it was precisely because Benjamin's disciple was killed by Gerald that the dark wizard Gerald
Removed from the Black Tower and wanted...
But looking at Benjamin like this, it seems that there are other stories here.
Seeing the strange looks of the two people, the other wizards also had a look of interest on their faces.
——I want to hear stories.
——But it would be too unreserved to say it directly.
"Speaking of which," Claire raised her head from the table, looking at the thin old man with sunken cheeks, deep eye sockets, and a lack of energy with some confusion, "If Her Highness Maria is a wizard of the Order School... then this person who has always been
Those who don’t speak…”
"His name is Merlin Manning."
Maria glanced at him and introduced softly: "He was... our country's 'Hand of Winter'."
...Hand of Winter!
Hearing this title, everyone's eyes shivered.
The legendary disabled wizard who completely freezes his inner feelings, the emotionless monitor... the secret intelligence department of the Principality of Winter - or in other words, the elite thugs of the spy agency.
When he heard Maria introducing himself, the old man raised his head, stood up slowly, stood up awkwardly, and bowed deeply to everyone.
He pointed to his mouth and shook his hand.
Maria added: "Of course... he retired five years ago because of a leg injury. He has no tongue, so he can't speak."
Without a tongue, it means it is difficult to reveal secrets.
After all, the old Winter Hand knows too many secrets.
Even if the new generation of Winter's Hand can prevent documents and envelopes from being sent back and forth, the oral transmission of information still cannot be prevented.
Information can be encrypted, cannot be written down, and can only be communicated verbally a limited number of times. But there are soul-stealing wizards in this world... When the mind can be directly controlled at close range, cutting off the tongue is a simple, convenient and low-cost way to keep secrets.
.
Of course, they don't have to cut off their tongues, but then they can only live within a designated area.
Consciously cutting off your tongue will also reduce the work pressure of your descendants. You will have fewer people watching over you, and your retirement life will be easier.
...But even the retired Hand of Winter, no one dares to underestimate him.
This is a wizard who can hunt wizards.
Many spies are soul flayers.
It is very difficult to defeat the soul-stealing wizard in a one-on-one battle. Although there is also the premise that they are extremely resistant to mind control... The Hand of Winter, which completely freezes the soul, can almost be said to be the soul-stealing wizard.
kill.
But being able to work until retirement without any obvious disability is enough to illustrate the terrifying fighting ability of this mute old man named Merlin.
"Now that everyone knows each other."
Eugene Melvin, a white-haired boy with a calm but divine voice, said: "I just had an idea that I wanted to share with you.
"I think everyone may not have noticed before. There is a detail in the master's suicide note...that is, 'The murderer cannot kill.'
"——Have you ever thought that the place of death of Master Michelangelo might not be inside the White Tower? If this is the case, then the murderer should be able to kill because he did not trigger the curse.
"But if Master Michelangelo died in the tower, then there are only two possibilities... The first is that the murderer has taken away the master's curse, so he should have advanced to gold; the second is that the murderer has taken away the master's curse, so he should have advanced to gold; the second is that
yes……"
When he said this, he paused slightly.
Everyone already understood what he meant.
In the silence, Annan was the first to speak.
He looked directly at this white-haired, white-eyed young man with a strange and divine look on his body: "You mean..."
"All of us, now in Michelangelo's nightmare?"
As soon as Annan said these words.
Everyone's eyes changed immediately.
"...It's entirely possible."
Miss Claire said slowly.
The red-haired boy Jin also nodded silently.
Maria's brows were still furrowed, her arms folded across her chest and she was lost in thought.
Ghirlandaio scratched his hair in confusion.
Benjamin looked sad and sighed deeply.
The mute old man Merlin suddenly raised his head, his eyes first aimed at Annan, and then at Eugene Melvin.
Melvin's words gave everyone two directions to think.
As we all know——
The dead extraordinary person will turn into a nightmare if no one collects his body.
Well, if Master Michelangelo has become a nightmare.
Now, how can they be sure that they are not in a nightmare?
If only Master Michelangelo hadn't become a nightmare in the Tower...
This shows that there is something wrong with the method of verifying innocence by killing someone.
Because Master Michelangelo died outside the tower.
So the murderer was not cursed.
And if they are indeed in a nightmare...
Then killing people and dying in nightmares... wouldn't be a problem, right?
Annan frowned slightly.
These two directions of thinking lead to the same result:
They have no sure way to win.
One has to think about who might be the murderer...