Chapter 867: Influx (2)
The events after the procession of Noark citizens were quite simple.
Newspaper companies scrambled to print headlines.
[Noark Citizens Attacked During Transport, Children Apologize for Their Sins in Tears…].
["I Did It Because I Wanted to Live," a Tearful Confession…].
[The Star of the First Noark War Criminal Trial is a 16-Year-Old Girl.]
[Sentenced to Death in the First Trial. However, Acknowledges Guilt and Will Not Appeal.]
[Exclusive Interview, On Being Born in Noark…].
Starting with the incidents at the Mage Tower Plaza, a flood of related news followed the administrative schedule.
Every morning, I gathered and checked all these news articles, and they ended up piled high like a mountain on the first floor.
Feeling the need to organize them, I was in the middle of arranging them in chronological order……….
“Tsk.” (Bjorn Yandel)
A particular headline caught my eye.
[The Royal Family Finally Breaks Their Silence. Labyrinth Portals Opened Two Months Ago, but All Were Wiped Out by a Dimensional Collapse.]
It was a news article from three weeks ago.
The Rafdonia Royal Family had officially disclosed the recent events.
Because my name was inscribed on the Stone of Honor, it had become public knowledge that the Royal Family had opened the portals, but this was the first time the full story was revealed to the public.
[Total Magic Stone Reserves Down 80% From Last Year. Is This Truly the Beginning of the End?]
[The Ranks of High-Level Explorers Have Been Decimated. The End of Another Golden Generation.]
[The Fall of a Giant, Most Members of the Anabada Clan Did Not Return Alive…].
[Inflation at an All-Time High, 1.7 Times Worse Than During the Iron Wall Rebellion…].
After the Dimensional Collapse event was revealed, the pattern of fear-mongering truly began.
The newspapers, seemingly without a care for the Royal Family's opinion, emphasized the national crisis every single day.
As a result, the ‘theory of the apocalypse’ became a reality among the citizens, and anxiety soared.
And when that fear reached its peak.
[Count Erdiang's Shocking Statement, Executing the Noark Citizens is a National Waste. They Should Be Sentenced to Hard Labor, Mining Magic Stones in the Labyrinth…].
Join Discord
That was the first time it was mentioned.
[Marquis Embererth, This is Absurd. To Comfort the Citizens Who Lost Their Families, All of Them Must Be Beheaded…].
Some raised their voices, calling it absolutely impossible.
[A Citizen’s Song Echoes in the Plaza. The Organizer of the Assembly Believes the Noark People Share Our Roots, and That It is Right to Give Them a Chance to Atone for Their Sins…].
And some fully supported the proposal.
It was quite amusing to watch.
A citizens' song?
A peaceful assembly, just singing in a plaza?
The fact that this was even possible was a comedy.
The original Rafdonia would never tolerate such a thing.
They would react immediately to any assembly and use force to disperse it.
But look at the pictures in the newspaper.
The soldiers lined up next to the assembly participants were just watching them, doing nothing.
‘It's really going just as those people said it would.’
I felt a tightness in my chest already, but I didn't want to call the citizens playing into this play uncivilized or anything of the sort.
This wasn’t their fault.
It was just the natural course of things.
No, it wasn't as if modern people would be much different anyway.
“… Sigh.” (Bjorn Yandel)
Still, I couldn’t help the bitter taste in my mouth.
Now I truly understood why all dictators control the media first.
The press is a tool for ‘persuasion.’
When the political sphere makes a unilateral decision, the press endlessly spouts words to ‘persuade’ the citizens, who are utterly powerless against it.
And in Rafdonia, there isn't even an ‘overseas press’ that could offer an objective viewpoint.
The news the Royal Family wants.
The assemblies the Royal Family wants.
The administrative orders the Royal Family wants.
These three things were all that happened daily in Rafdonia, but the number of people who knew it was all a grand play was extremely small.
“Ah.” (Bjorn Yandel)
I paused while organizing the newspapers.
It was a paper dated just yesterday.
It wasn't news related to Noark or the Royal Family, and it wasn’t even a headline, just a small article on the second page.
[Last Month, Number of Evil Spirit Executions Rises for the First Time in Three Years.]
I hope it’s nothing serious.
—
In a clearing in the forest, lit by flickering torches.
I looked at the haphazardly lined up young Barbarians and shouted.
"Congratulations, young warriors!" (Bjorn Yandel)
This was the very first process one experienced when choosing the Barbarian in [Dungeon & Stone].
The Coming of Age Ceremony.
Normally, this is where I would have them choose their weapons and send them off to the Labyrinth, but…
This Coming of Age Ceremony couldn't be like that.
The Labyrinth wasn’t even open yet, after all.
“From this day forward, you will find your own weapons and be reborn as true warriors!" (Bjorn Yandel)
Therefore, I slightly modified my usual speech to proceed with the event.
I couldn’t just skip the ceremony because they couldn't go to the Labyrinth, could I?
“Now, come forward one by one and choose a weapon that suits you!" (Bjorn Yandel)
Of course, leather greaves were provided as a basic item.
It was a revolution I had introduced after becoming the Tribe Chief.
Originally, I also gave out two potions along with the greaves, but I held those back for now.
They weren't entering the Labyrinth immediately, and if I gave them out beforehand, some of them would surely use them in strange ways.
It would be more reasonable to give them the potions when the Labyrinth opened later.
“Behel—laaaaaaaaa!!!" (Barbarians)
As soon as the ceremony began, the young warriors let out a unified roar.
In fact, this was a tradition I had deliberately created.
After the first revolution of providing leather greaves and two potions, I saw the young warriors roar in celebration, and it struck me that this method was quite good.
For weeding out the Evil Spirits.
“?” (Bjorn Yandel)
While everyone was roaring, I spotted several youths who were dazed and out of it.
Pretending not to notice, I concluded the ceremony as usual.
‘Four of them…’
It was a first.
Never before had four Evil Spirits appeared in a single Coming of Age Ceremony.
‘Is something really going on…?’
At this point, the newspaper article I had seen felt significant.
Recently, I had been leaving the ceremonies to Ainar or Karon, but I decided to conduct this one myself just in case after seeing that news.
And the number suddenly increased like this?
‘I need to check this out.’
But finding out right away was a bit of a headache.
Sure, I could just drag them away and intimidate them into telling me everything…
But then I would have to silence them myself.
The fact that the Barbarian Tribe Chief kept an Evil Spirit alive would become a huge issue if it got out.
‘The cleanest way would be to have them join the community and ask them there…’
But there was no telling when that would be possible.
So, I went to find the GM after a long time.
That's how it is with researchers, isn't it? You have to pester them periodically to get good results.
Thus, I left the Tribe Chief's tent and headed to where the GM was.
It took less than fifteen minutes to arrive.
He was practically living in the Holy Land now anyway.
"Ah, you're here." (Urben Havelion)
“Yes, anything new today?" (Bjorn Yandel)
"Haha……." (Urben Havelion)
Right, so no progress today either.
I gave the awkwardly smiling man a silent, pressing look before pulling up a chair and sitting down.
“But… what brings you here today…….” (Urben Havelion)
“Is life here treating you well?" (Bjorn Yandel)
"There's nothing to be treated well or not. I don't leave this place anyway.” (Urben Havelion)
In truth, it was the GM's own decision to set up a temporary lab here.
With the Mage Tower in a state of emergency over the ‘Fragment of Origin,’ he said he was a bit scared to take it there.
He had asked for a place, saying the Barbarian Holy Land would be more secretive than anywhere else for his research, and I had found him a spare house.
It was a quiet area with no other Barbarians around, as construction had been halted due to the economic crisis.
“So… what brings you here?" (Urben Havelion)
Tsk, do I look like someone who only comes when I have business?
I took out a newspaper I had brought with me and tossed it to him.
And…
[Last Month, Number of Evil Spirit Executions Rises for the First Time in Three Years.]
The man flinched slightly upon seeing the circled newspaper article.
“… Why are you showing this to me?" (Urben Havelion)
“I thought you might know something.” (Bjorn Yandel)
"…" (Urben Havelion)
Oh, I was right.
“Judging by your expression, you seem to have an inkling, don't you?" (Bjorn Yandel)
When I probed gently, the man seemed to ponder something for a moment before speaking.
“Before I answer, may I ask one thing?” (Urben Havelion)
“Go ahead.” (Bjorn Yandel)
“Viscount, how do you plan to utilize the Spiritual World created with the Fragment of Origin?" (Urben Havelion)
Hah, why is he asking this all of a sudden?
He hadn't asked before, so I had just let it be.
“I planned to use it as is. I was going to gather the Evil Spirits and observe them.” (Bjorn Yandel)
“Is it purely out of curiosity?” (Urben Havelion)
"No, of course not." (Bjorn Yandel)
I shook my head and gave a rational reason why I had no choice but to be interested in the ‘Ghost Busters.’
“The Royal Family, Noark, the Mage Tower, the nobles… This world has countless factions. I believe the Evil Spirits are also a faction with great potential, just one that hasn't been able to gather externally.” (Bjorn Yandel)
“Are you planning to control them?” (Urben Havelion)
“To some extent. It’s good to have a friendly faction.” (Bjorn Yandel)
“There’s no guarantee they will be unconditionally friendly to you, Viscount.” (Urben Havelion)
I let out a small laugh.
“Have you not seen how the city has been lately?" (Bjorn Yandel)
At that one sentence, the GM shut his mouth.
He seemed to understand exactly what I was talking about.
But did he still have a lingering question?
“… Is that truly the only reason?” (Urben Havelion)
I pretended to think for a moment before answering cautiously, as if letting him in on a secret.
In fact, I had planned to reveal this much.
“… There is an Evil Spirit in the Anabada Clan. And I plan to use that Spiritual World to try and contact him.” (Bjorn Yandel)
"Ah……!" (Urben Havelion)
“Is that a sufficient answer?" (Bjorn Yandel)
The man nodded with a look of relief, as if he finally understood all my motives.
It looked like he had been agonizing over this alone……….
"Alright, now it's your turn to answer.” (Bjorn Yandel)
"…" (Urben Havelion)
“Hmm, that sort of response is troubling.” (Bjorn Yandel)
As I rolled my shoulders as if to loosen up, the GM quickly yelped and spoke.
“It’s not that I didn’t want to answer, I was just thinking about how to explain this.” (Urben Havelion)
"Just say it, I'll figure it out.” (Bjorn Yandel)
“If you say so……. First, it is true that the number of Evil Spirits has been increasing rapidly lately.” (Urben Havelion)
At his words, I let out a quiet sigh.
Hah, so it wasn't a coincidence that four of them appeared at once.
“Do you know the reason?" (Bjorn Yandel)
“Well…” (Urben Havelion)
The man's story was quite long.
It was because he tried to translate modern terms into this world’s language to make me understand…
Something about how after Ghost Busters was shut down, the Evil Spirits who knew each other started holding offline meetings.
And how they rescued an Evil Spirit who was about to be executed.
And how he came to know this information.
I decided to hear the detailed circumstances later.
For now, the last sentence was enough for me.
“He said that because people disappearing left and right has become a global topic, everyone and their mother is starting to play 'the game'…." (Urben Havelion)
This is insane…….
‘Seriously, why would anyone play a game known for making people disappear?’
For some reason, I could already hear the wails of newbies trapped in a trash game echoing in my ears.
