Chapter 135 – 135. The Duke’s Eighth Disruption (9)
– One –
The secret meeting room of the representatives of the media that Monohorn had invaded the other day.
There, once again, the representatives of the media gathered.
“… As long as I’m alive, today, this ripe spring day, seems like it will be the last time we get together as journalists, draw…”
“Huh, huh… Commander…”
“What are you crying about? Women’s tears are more valuable when they are strategically shown in front of a man who is having an emotional exchange with them. If you cry in front of such an old man, nothing will come out.”
To renew the atmosphere, Johnny jokes, but they show no signs of lightening their expressions.
“Huh…”
Representatives of 33, no, 31 media outlets, all had sad faces.
Some of them were devastated by a great disaster, and barely survived.
Jack Tennessee, the representative of Maeil Shinbo, the 6th largest media company in the empire and representing the lower income class, was also seriously injured and could barely move.
He had bandages covering half of his face.
The wound on his face was not small, and the bandage wrapped around the left side of his face was sparsely oozing ooze and blood.
“Have you sent two already… Even if you go, this old man has to go first, why did he send only young people who look like they were born first…”
Fast.
Someone goes for it
“This is, this is, it’s really nonsense…!”
“That’s right! They wrote critical editorials against them, and terrorized the media for covering their misconduct!”
Those who are seated there all condemn Regal.
But,
“Hehe, hehe…”
Jackman had a sullen grin and a satisfied grin.
Other people’s accusation against Regal is silenced.
Soon, the meeting room fell into silence.
Breaking the silence, Jack opens his mouth.
“Why are you so unfair?”
“That,”
“Ah. It would be unfair. There could be many. There are only two dead representatives, but there are already more than 520 dead journalists and officials, right?”
“That’s right…”
Despite someone’s somber reply, Jack’s sullen but satisfied smile does not fade.
“Hello. Did we take Jin’s advice and simply envision a rosy future?”
“…”
“After we accepted his advice, didn’t we also examine his opinion from various angles?”
“It did…”
“At that time, we all gathered together and predicted what would happen?”
“That is…”
“From the worst to the best, we predicted various situations, right?”
“…”
“Wasn’t the worst of them worse than this?”
“That’s right…”
Everyone couldn’t find the words to refute Jack’s words.
But that doesn’t make the pain go away.
“Worst case, bottomless, would not have been the Regal unleashing all their enlisted men and operatives, arresting us and putting us to death.”
“That’s right…”
“Is the situation worse than that? Or is it the worst like that?”
“Neither. Neither.”
“That’s right. Even though it’s not the best situation we’ve foreseen, I think the current situation is pretty close to the best?”
“Okay…”
Media representatives bow their heads.
They did not dare to meet Jack’s eyes.
The only ones with their heads up were Jack, Daniel, and Johnny, the thumper.
Even, Johnny was smiling faintly.
“Why should we whine about our bad luck when the best we foresaw did not come?
At Jack’s remark, even Daniel smiles.
“Look at me.”
Whoops, whoops.
Representatives raise their heads.
He makes eye contact with Jack.
“I am,”
Took.
Jack punches himself in the left side of the face.
“Ouch. Fuck, I’m going to get sore and die.”
And then frown.
Representatives of the media laugh bitterly at his foolishness.
“Anyway, I ended up being an asshole. My left eyeball was blown out, and the entire left side of my face melted in flames.”
“Uh, ugh…”
As he describes his wounds in detail, the faces of other media representatives turn pale.
“I’m lucky, though. Eighty of my staff, including reporters, editors, printers, printmakers, painters, and cleaners, were burned without a trace. Tens of years’ worth of manuscripts and books scheduled for next day’s publication. , 50,000 copies of the newspaper that were printed were all burned. It’s just that my workplace itself has become a cemetery for my children, my employees, that’s all!”
Representatives of media outlets shed tears.
It was because, among them, not one or two suffered similar damage to Jack.
Some were lucky enough to avoid defecation, or some survived by barely taking their bodies out.
Among them, the number of people whose company building was still in good standing could be counted on five fingers.
“What about Daniel? He’s become one-armed! And his right arm is gone! The right hand that holds the pen is gone! Okay, let’s see. How did you lose your arm, Daniel?”
Daniel lifts his left arm and wiggles his wrist.
“I’m ambidextrous, so I still have a hand left to hold a pen, so don’t worry about me.”
“So why don’t you ask why your arm flew off?”
“Hmm. It’s a memory I don’t want to recall… Well, I asked for it to be cut.”
“What are you doing?”
Daniel grows up.
His laugh was terribly cynical.
“Some madman smoked poison in the office building.”
“However?”
“Everyone who inhaled it, or left it in contact with the skin, died.”
“What about you?”
“In the chaos, only two survived, including me, right? The other was our editor-in-chief.”
“How has he been?”
Daniel giggles again.
He seemed to be hiding a cry behind a smiling face.
“It’s gone.”
“I heard he survived?”
“I couldn’t stand it, and it quickly passed away.”
“… That’s it…”
“Hehe. I got a little bit of bluish poison smoke on my fingertips, isn’t it that my arm is gradually numb and ooze is flowing? I asked for my arm to be cut off.”
“Is that why you became a one-armed person?”
“Exactly.”
All of them had their faces distorted, as if they had seen something terrible.
A female media representative was on the verge of vomiting because her face was pale, as if she herself had been subjected to a similar type of terrorism.
“Then, I have to amputate the editor-in-chief’s leg, but I only have my left arm.”
“…I was out of luck.”
“If I hit his leg now, I could hit him straight, but then one arm suddenly went missing, so I couldn’t keep my balance at all.”
“…”
“So I was messing around, and I missed the right time.”
“That’s…”
“I just had no choice but to sit there and watch the editor-in-chief melt away with a handful of blood. Then I passed out and woke up, probably from excessive bleeding, but as you can see, I survived like this.”
“Even though the saintess was there…”
“If that’s the case, I and my older brother will all be able to jump into this battlefield again in good shape.”
“I guess so…”
Silence lingered for a moment.
Representatives of the press did not express regret for the brothers.
It was because the situation of all the others was not that different from that of their brothers.
“Well, we’ve become such assholes. So, what?”
“…”
“Can’t we just write like this?”
“No…”
“Can’t you cover?”
“It’s not so.”
“Can’t you publish a newspaper?”
“No!”
The faces of the representatives of the media are full of turmoil.
They clenched their fists and trembled their arms.
“Are you running out of money for your activities?”
“Enough!”
“It’s full of tea!”
At first, only one or two people answered his questions, but soon many people joined in answering Jack’s questions.
“Isn’t there anything to cover?”
“It’s about to run out of space!”
“I don’t even have enough time to cover!”
It looked like a gathering place for fanatics.
“Did all the subscribers disappear?”
“When the newspaper is published, there are many subscribers snooping around the collapsed office building!”
“If they can, there are many people who come to buy the newspaper even if they pay more!”
Media representatives were feeding on their anger and regaining their strength.
The sense of defeat and desolation that had flowed between them had completely disappeared.
“Then what’s wrong?”
“…!”
“Are there any problems?”
“No, that’s right!”
“You’re right, Jack!”
“We still have pens to write on, readers to read, and events to cover, and we’re overflowing!”
“Then, it’s clear that there’s no reason for us to suffer and die like this, so why, frightened bastards, roll up our tails and smash our heads!”
The conference hall is overflowing with evil baskets.
Paper flutters, and the broken nib flies in the air.
This place has truly been reborn as a gathering place for fanatics.
“Now, quiet. Calm down for a moment.”
Daniel calms everyone down.
The delegates seemed to be not easily calmed down, and were gasping for breath.
But only their faces, their faces, radiated enough sharpness of life to see that they had regained both their confidence and their will.
Of course, it was clear that the vitality was springing from the source of anger against Regal.
“Don’t just focus on our damage, let’s focus for a moment on our performance, that is, their damage. If we sort these things out, can’t we come to an agreement on the direction we’re going to go?”
Hehe…”
Looking at the mess they caused, Johnny laughs heartily.
“Yes, the writer should have the taste of rebellion, but if he is too obedient, he won’t be able to use it. That’s right, isn’t that the shortcut to becoming a trashy that Mr. Jin talked about?”
“That’s right, Chief.”
“That bastard’s head… Yes, Jack and Daniel both made good points.”
Johnny looks around.
They meet the eyes of the surviving media representatives one by one.
In their eyes, which looked like dead fish, anger and firearms were young at the same time.
It was like seeing his younger days.
At the fact that he had so many successors of his own, Johnny couldn’t help but close his eyes right now.
Of course, I have absolutely no intention of dying right now.
If he only has the strength to hold a pen, if he has the strength to walk to the site for coverage, he will write an article to the end.
“Since Regal’s checks have been so savage and blatant, we won’t be able to gather like this in the future. This must be what Regal is doing to wipe out our council.”
“That’s right.”
“We’ll have to set the big direction today, at least until the fall of Regal, we’ll have to hide in the shadows and come back together.”
“At last…”
There is a spleen on everyone’s faces.
The last meeting held by the council.
The weight that it gives, it came to them so heavy that it can’t be explained in words.
“So everyone, pay attention and stick to the meeting until the end. You never know when we’ll get together like today, right?”
“Yes, Chief.”
Hehe…”
Daniel gets the say again.
He gets up from his seat, looks back at everyone, and continues talking.
“We’ve attacked the Regals, the Aristocrats, and the Papists all along.”
Everyone nods their heads.
“The immorality of the law banning interracial marriages legislated by the Regal was refuted and criticized based on the copy of the original Doctrine written by the Goddess herself. Both the Papacy and the Aristocrats issued refutation statements against this, but they did not follow the original Doctrine. It was in direct denial.”
“That’s right. In the end, in order to avoid the situation, after the saintess’ return, they took a step back to ask the goddess directly and ask for an answer.”
Jack elaborates on Daniel’s words.
Daniel nods.
“From then on, we started criticizing the Papacy. We constantly pointed out cases of distorting doctrine, cases of absorbing corrupt clergy from the Saint Women’s cult without discipline, and irresponsible attitude towards the disappearance of the Saint. .”
“And they are consistent with inaction.”
Johnny, who had been listening, nodded and offered his opinion.
“About this part, we will have to beat the papacy a little more in the future. The members of the church are not very upset yet. Most of the church members regard our claim as nothing more than rumors that are not worth responding to in the church. With substantial evidence , Disclosure must follow. Do you have any other opinions or comments to add?”
For a while, the representatives exchange glances.
Soon everyone’s opinions come together.
“Doesn’t exist.”
“Continue, Daniel.”
“Yes. Also, we constantly raised issues about another law enacted by the Regal. Godiva Tom, a former Imperial subject who is first married, is forced to mate, in the country. I don’t know what kind of benefit it is to my subjects to spend a lot of money for compatibility without any support. Of course, meeting a compatible spouse is a great blessing, but raising funds for compatibility Poor people who can’t do that, aren’t they in a position where they can’t get married because of this stupid law?”
“For that part, they just left an answer saying that they would consider policies to support the poor, and left only ambiguous answers about why they had to look at compatibility, right? You can’t even get the funds back. It’s a really grossly absurd policy.”
“I totally agree, Sinatra.”
Sinatra, the head of a female media outlet, responds with quarters.
Since she was about to get married, she was therefore a direct target of this policy, so she was up to date with relevant information.
“That’s right. I haven’t raised any questions through the article yet, but I have a suspicion that the decree compulsory viewing of this match is part of collecting information on the subjects of the empire, especially the prospective newlyweds who are about to marry.”
“…!”
Everyone’s expression hardened.
Because they have never had such doubts.
“Simply making all prospective newlyweds see a match, and legally raising political funds? This seems too one-dimensional. Do you know what information you must provide to Godiva Tom in order to see a match?”
“Name, race, date of birth.”
“That’s right. They unilaterally inform their clients about the compatibility level that only Godiva can confirm. For a large sum of money, the prospective newlyweds have to pay hundreds of silver coins in order to obtain such information that cannot be guaranteed. However, Godiva, and the person behind it, collects information such as the name, race, and date of birth of all prospective newlyweds in the empire in exchange for such a large sum of money.”
“Ah…”
“I think we must dig into where the information is being used and for what purpose it is being collected.”
Everyone nods.
Even Johnny seemed to agree with his point.
“Do you have any other opinions on this?”
“No.”
“Then, let’s move on to the next one.”
Everyone drinks a cup of tea.
They were increasingly concentrating on the meeting.
“I think we should criticize Regal’s secret pressure on the press under the pretext of donations, even more strongly than now.”
“I agree.”
“I heard that it was Regal who recommended the Crown Prince, who is in charge of the education of His Highness the Crown Prince. I heard it from the attendees at the ceremony, so the reliability of the source is certain. He is a person who went to exile after losing it. It is a problem that a commoner became the crown prince, but the fact that such an unethical person is in charge of the education of the Crown Prince is overly blatant with the intention of harming the empire. I think it’s necessary.”
“Regardless of whether or not he supports the imperial family, I think the criticism against him is justified, even considering the negative influence the army of darkness has on the subjects of the empire. Do you have any other opinions?”
“I agree with you.”
Their last meeting was more intense and serious than ever before.