Super Righteous Player

After the mirror shattered, no shards of glass sprayed out.

The entire surface of the mirror began to show a multitude of purple-red cracks, from which something colorless and shapeless seemed to overflow.

There was also a faint whispering in my ears.

Annan barely caught a whiff of an extremely faint scent of spices in the air. But as to which spice it was exactly, I couldn't tell. After all, he had not studied the spices of this world… I could barely detect a smell that seemed to be between Sichuan pepper and charred wood.

Of course, if I encountered it again next time, Annan was confident he would be able to recall it.

Suddenly, a line of blood-red letters, somewhat hastily written, appeared before Annan's eyes:

[Sever the Curse—Tongue in Mirror]

In the next moment, the broken mirror above, where the cow's tongue was nailed, suddenly burst into purple-red flames. At the same time, it emitted a strong, foul odor, like a mix of dental plaque and blood.

The flames quickly rose and burned the cow's tongue to ashes.

Afterward, an extremely strong wind suddenly swept through the broken mirror, so powerful that it caused Annan to stumble, nearly stepping into the bloodstains in front of him.

But these bloodstains could not continue to exist for long.

The invisible hurricane swept through, and the blood on the ground was licked clean, leaving no trace of blood after a few moments. There wasn't even a hint of blood in the air.

...It was as if something Annan couldn't see was vigorously wiping the stains on the floor.

Soon, the hurricane subsided.

All the blood, filth, corpses, and ashes of the cow's tongue in the room were sucked into the mirror.

In the center of the room, only one mirror remained.

The mirror, with cracks like those in ice or a phone screen that had been covered with a film and then dropped, was badly shattered yet no piece of glass had fallen out.

Annan walked over and tentatively touched the mirror.

As expected, a light screen appeared before my eyes:

[Tongueless Mirror]

[Type: Material/Miscellaneous (Blue)]

[Description: A destroyed cursed object, it has lost its original function]

[Effect: The bearer will suffer the Curse Binding "Inhibited Speech"]

[Inhibited Speech: If the bearer is attacked before finishing speaking, the attack ignores defense]

Looking at the properties of the mirror, Annan was plunged into deep confusion.

"...What the hell is the use of this thing?"

Is this intended to provide a warning like "Please hold your complaints until after you've made the kill"?

Or… is the function that was damaged "an attack received while not speaking can be reflected"?

After pondering for a while, Annan decided to hide the mirror somewhere first.

It's still somewhat frightening to carry this thing around…

Then Annan found a place to put the mirror away and left the room with his sword in hand.

As soon as he exited the door, he saw the captain of the guard, Claus, bustling toward him, having just rounded the last corner.

As Annan saw Claus, Claus, sensing something, looked up.

He too saw Annan who had just come out of the room.

At the moment they saw each other, both stopped what they were doing.

Annan was silent for a moment, uncertain what to say, merely gripping the long sword in his hands tighter.

Strangely, Claus didn't attack directly, either.

As soon as he saw Annan emerge from the room, he immediately looked at Annan's mouth. Seeing that Annan's lips were sealed, Claus's pupils shrank, and he too became silent, standing motionless with his hand on the sword hilt.

This detail stirred something in Annan's heart, though my face showed no reaction.

Neither of us moved or spoke.

For a moment, the narrow corridor was enveloped in a dreadful silence.

The nearly solid air was thick and cold, rippling with unhidden intent to kill and malice.

After a few seconds of silence, the vague thought in Annan's mind became clearer:

...Why isn't Claus attacking me?

Does he not want to?

No, Annan was certain, Claus definitely wanted to kill me... The killing intent in his eyes was almost boiling, and his squinting eyes flowed with the cold indifference of a reptilian creature.

Merely by looking into Claus's eyes, I could hear indistinct whispering in my ears.

In my eyes, the figure of Claus grew increasingly distorted and exaggerated, steaming with purple-red fog… but upon closer inspection, it seemed just an illusion.

Captain Claus still stood where he was, silent and motionless.

Unless…

It wasn't that Claus didn't want to attack me; it was that he did not dare!

Annan suddenly realized.

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Perhaps it was because Claus couldn't see that the mirror had already shattered, or perhaps he didn't have a deep understanding of this knowledge. He might have assumed that Annan had acquired the same ability as him… the ability to reflect attacks back during silence!

For example, the act of removing Claus's cow tongue and replacing it with a prepared one of his own… such operations.

With a rough guess in mind, Annan felt more confident.

He was never a man lacking in courage to begin with.

What's more, he couldn't feel emotions like fear or panic at all right now.

Annan simply didn't want to give up without a fight.

Suddenly, he stretched out his hand and put his index finger to his lips, making a silencing gesture. The simple face that belonged to John gradually revealed an extremely proud and brilliant smile.

Seeing "John" suddenly make such a brazen expression, a sudden pang of unease struck the pit of Claus's stomach.

…Could it be true?

Did that rascal, John, really steal the cursed object?

"Don't come any closer."

As Annan closed the room's door, he slowly retreated to the other side of the corridor.

He extended his left hand to cover his mouth and uttered short, non-negotiable words: "Step back."

Of course, his tongue wasn't inscribed with that rune, and the cow tongue had been burned by him, the curse cut by him.

But coincidentally, in order to prevent others from discovering the ritual he had set up in the room, Claus had specifically chosen this fully enclosed windowless room. And now, he was the one ensnared by his own arrangement…

He had no idea that there was nothing left in the room now.

As long as Annan covered his mouth, Claus didn't dare to take the risk of attacking him—he couldn't see Annan's lip shape, and thus couldn't judge whether Annan was preparing to speak, rendering him unable to even launch a preemptive strike.

Annan could attack him, but he couldn't attack Annan. If he guessed the timing wrong, he would end up being killed by his own hand.

Seeing Claus still hesitating, Annan immediately laid down another card:

"—'Tongue of the Mirror,' right?"

This was a checkmate.

Upon hearing this phrase, Claus's expression finally changed.

Strong unwillingness appeared on his face, and he eventually let out a deep sigh, relaxing the hand that had been resting on the long sword at his waist.

"You've won, John. Although I suspect you have no idea what you have actually done…"

Claus sighed and stopped maintaining his pretense of silence.

Seeing Annan remain silent, he shook his head. He stuck out his tongue, showing Annan that his Curse Binding had been cut.

A deep, still bleeding cut appeared on his tongue.

The width of the bloodstain was very similar to Tan Juan's dagger… as if someone had pierced Claus's tongue with that dagger. Naturally, the rune that he had sewn onto his tongue was also split in two by the wound.

"Are you satisfied now?"

Claus snorted coldly: "Listen well, John. I might not kill you, but you must also keep our secrecy… it's for your own good as well."

"You might not kill me?"

Annan repeated Claus's words and couldn't help but laugh: "Is it your place to say such things now?"

Although his true strength was likely no match for Claus, Annan's advantage lay in his fearlessness.

Because he had no fear—his bravado seemed particularly convincing.

But as he looked at Annan's confident demeanor, the corner of Claus's mouth suddenly lifted in an unmistakable sneer:

"Who do you think we are taking orders from? On what basis do you think we dare to betray the Three-Eyed Crow? Do you think we are as stupid as you?

"The Geraint family are not the kind-hearted benefactors you think they are. The Earl who is a Crow only had four children and he is especially fond of them. He wasn't sent here as a punishment for his errors; rather, it was because the Earl wanted to save his life.

"If it weren't for the orders of that person, we would be insane to plot against the young prince…"

Claus's eyes brimmed with a pitying scorn: "But we had no choice, did we? I advise you to stand down now while you still can, foolish John. You killed all those people below decks, didn't you? You have skills, so work with us.

"'Tongue of the Mirror' might keep you alive on this ship, but if you dare to set foot on land, you'll be dead for sure. Besides, even if you stay aboard indefinitely, this ship itself will not withstand bombardment.

"You haven't seen what a cannon is like, have you? Let me put it this way... just one cannonball and this entire ship will be split in two. That's how frightening it is."

"Do you expect me to trust you after I've killed your men?"

"Even if you hadn't, someone else would've killed them."

Claus gave a scoffing laugh: "They were just trash who would never rise through the ranks... But you're different. Since you were able to steal my ritual, you must have the talent to become a Transcendent. You wouldn't have played dumb all these years just to remain a guard, would you?"

"…So, who is it?"

Annan narrowed his eyes and asked in a deep voice: "Who wants to kill the young prince? You can tell me that at least, or else how can I trust you?"

Given the craftsmanship of this ship, there shouldn't be too many powers in this world capable of deploying "cannons."

He was about to assume Tan Juan's identity, and he needed to know exactly who Tan Juan's enemies were. Otherwise, he would die without even knowing why…

Of course, if the enemy was too tough to handle, it wasn't ruled out that Annan might just slip away.

"Since I'm telling you, we obviously aren't afraid of you spreading it.

"I'll just tell you... it's the Prince. Not just the young prince, the old Crow won't survive either. It's only a matter of time... Only the eldest son of the Geraint family will live because he is a wise man."

The head of the guards' lips curled up: "After all, our respected King doesn't have much longer to live, does he?"

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