Newspaper (1)
Newspaper (1)
"This is that thing?"
"Yes."
"Heeey, let's see."
The Saintess unfolded the newspaper Charlotte brought and savored its contents. Housewives' secrets you wouldn't know unless you lived paying close attention, the characteristics of demi-humans that people would be curious about.
And last night. The truth about the great fire that broke out in the slums.
Information too stimulating for medieval citizens whose lifelong intake of information was low.
The Saintess, having read the newspaper, began to smile.
"This is fun."
"Is it?"
"Haven't you seen it yet?"
"When I looked, it just seemed like ordinary stuff..."
"Hmm! Well, that's because you, Charlotte, probably already knew all this information, right?"
"...That's correct."
Of course, there was no way she would know something like "100 Essential Life Tips Housewives Must Know," but she wasn't even interested in such items in the first place.
No matter how stimulating the content and titles were, if there was no interest, people wouldn't look at it.
"Then how would ordinary people see it?"
"Ordinary people... I'm not sure."
"Has all your sensitivity died or something? Then later, will you be disliked by your husband?"
The Saintess began to tease Charlotte with a creepy smile. Doing this again, Charlotte let out a sigh and ignored her words.
"This will become a huge topic. That's how fun it is. Of course, we'll face many checks before that..."
But now, she is here. The Saintess of the Holy Kingdom.
"Whether it's coincidence or there's something else."
A massive power that holds interest in Dojin and is thus prepared to offer everything it has for him.
"Well, it has to be at this level for me to place a bet too."
As long as the Saintess's benevolent hand is present, he won't get hurt in this city.
Newspaper.
A new culture not present on the fantasy continent.
The reactions of people who encountered it were diverse.
"Mom! Look at this!"
"Is it kindling? Good."
A housewife happy to get free kindling.
"A demi-human's tail is like that..."
"Then if you stroke that area, they feel that way? Oh-ho..."
The type who feel interest reading the newspaper's gossip.
And...
"Hmm, this is..."
"What do you think, Father?"
The Lord let out a thoughtful hum after looking at the newspaper. He realized the influence this new culture could create.
Propaganda.
This small piece of paper contained the power to incite people.
For example, if one wrote the fabricated sentence "[The Saintess is a whore.]" in the newspaper and scattered it across the entire city?
The newspapers would be fully recovered, the person who spread them would be immediately caught by the Inquisitors, and anyone who even mentioned the fact would be dragged away and tortured.
Even if it lacked credibility and was an absurd claim. It would remain in a corner of people's memories.
Memories eventually fade and become subconscious.
The false memory that the Saintess was a whore would remain in the subconscious of several people.
There's no need to fool everyone. Even if only a few are fooled, inciting others becomes very easy.
'Thankfully... it's fortunate that they probably can't make it easily, and those capable enough to make a newspaper wouldn't abuse it in that way.'
This was a new power that could sway the populace.
"Who made this?"
"It's a place called the Earth Trading Company. Seeing they have the guarantee of the Adventurer's Guild, it seems the owner is among the high-rank adventurers."
"Ha, an adventurer of all things..."
The Lord frowned at those words. This could be seen as a challenge to power. And by a mere adventurer of all things...
"The Guild isn't directly operating it, right?"
"Probably not. What would they... It seems they also have headaches due to the recently changed dungeon."
"Then that's fine. This─."
A calculator turned in the Lord's head. Taking it over or destroying it was easy enough. But was there a need to do so?
Even if I take this over now, the existence of the newspaper already imprinted in the citizens' minds won't disappear.
So, leave it alone for now, watch them bleed money and suffer, and when they show weakness from exhaustion. That's when I'll strike.
"Leave it alone for now. Find out what's needed to make the same thing."
"Yes, understood."
The eldest son bowed his head and left the room. The Lord stared at the newspaper for a moment before soon turning his gaze away. The documents and duties he had to process were piled up like a mountain.
When the newspaper spread widely throughout the entire city and Deokgu secluded himself in his room to make the next week's newspaper.
I headed to the dungeon with the kids. To cover the magic stones Deokgu consumes to make the newspaper, we had to defeat more monsters than before.
Fortunately, since I reached level 3, procuring magic stones wasn't that difficult.
As I headed to the guild with a backpack full of magic stones, Pion approached me with a distressed expression.
"Dojin-niiiiiim..."
"...Pion? Why are you suddenly like this?"
"This, sob, what happened with this..."
She sniffled and thrust a newspaper at me. I received it and scanned the contents. It was the same newspaper we distributed yesterday.
"What's wrong with it? There's no problem..."
"It's full of problems! This part! Why did you praise the Guild so much!? Because of that, the complaints from the Guard Force, the Territorial Knights, and the Magic Tower are pouring in incredibly!"
"Pion."
I met her eyes. Her teary eyes evoked sympathy just by looking at them.
However.
"That's... not my concern, isn't it?"
"Dojin-niiiiim...!"
Pion clung to my pant leg and began to whine. But I smiled and ignored her.
"You shouldn't have given permission then."
"Ahhh! How can I refuse a high-rank adventurer's request...! And now I can't even take it back..."
"Is it that hard?"
"It's hard. I'm so hard I want to kill myself."
"Then direct them to us from now on."
"...Huh?"
She tilted her head as if she didn't hear my words and asked again. I repeated it to her.
"If complaints come, send them to us. What's the business address registered as?"
"Uh, that is... Dojin-nim's mansion."
"That's fortunate, we don't have to go far."
Pion swallowed her saliva with a gulp and was silent for a moment. Then she slowly reviewed the documents and looked at me.
"Um, are you really okay with this? No, of course I'd be grateful if you do. But this, it's no joke? Even the Guild side is barely holding them back..."
"It's fine."
Whether complaints come, or whatever comes. Right now, I am the strongest.
Why? Because the Saintess is behind me.
As long as I have the Saintess's backing, nothing is scary.
'Unless a Demon King appears or something...'
And unfortunately, no such thing as a Demon King exists in this world.
Pion processed the relevant documents with excessive cheerfulness.
She was excessively lively for someone who was just talking about quitting or suicide.
They say humans are animals that regret.
I regret my actions from yesterday.
"Earth Trading Company and its company head, come out here!"
The attendant of some noble shouting noisily. As if not tired of it, he kept squawking and shouting until I came out.
As if his throat was made of mithril or orihalcon, he shouted incessantly.
Eventually, I gave up and went outside, and he, with his nose high in the air, stiffly raised his head and recited the noble's words.
"I am the envoy of the Duke of Tua, Count Misdar, and Count Konyao, so my words are the same as his words! The Earth Trading Company is engaging in excessive activities, so you are ordered to stop those activities immediately and offer tribute regarding the related information!"
Duke of here and there, Count of here and there, to me who came from Earth where the aristocracy system has almost disappeared, it was nothing but ridiculous talk.
However, this place now is another world. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, in another world, there are naturally the laws and morals of this world.
"I am Kim Dojin, the company head and investor of the Earth Trading Company. You are the envoy of Duke Tua, you say?"
"Indeed!"
"Then you must also know about the special characteristics of this territory, right?"
I looked at him with a sly smile. Like modern laws, this world's laws also have all sorts of complex words, phrases, and difficult grammar, so citizens live lives far removed from the law.
Thus, ordinary citizens or adventurers would live bowing their heads to nobles from other territories. But I am not.
"...What nonsense is that."
"In the Dungeon Territory, no noble except the Lord can exercise power, and citizens who enter the city are guaranteed their freedom... I believe you're not pretending not to know this even after hearing it."
This is a city where all sorts of demi-humans and immigrants from various countries gather. In such a city, if all the titles or vested rights of every country were recognized, things would become extremely complicated.
Is the chief of an elf tribe higher than a Count? Lower?
To what status does a bishop of the Holy Kingdom correspond?
When beings with different cultures and societies meet, various problems inevitably arise.
So the Lord of the Dungeon Territory very simply severed all power except that of the Lord. A noble? Even so, it doesn't matter. Unless I insult him first or stab him to death with a sword, he cannot exert any influence on me.
"...I will leave today. However, I will definitely remember this matter!"
"Yes, please leave."
After sending the envoy back, I returned to the mansion. A sigh came out on its own. Did I make a mistake by asking them to send it to our mansion?
'No, they said it was just the Knights Order, Guard Force, and Magic Tower.'
When I heard Pion's words, I thought there wouldn't be much problem since they had already mostly resolved it.
I was thinking completely wrong.
This other world is not Earth. It's not the 21st-century information age where news from the morning spreads worldwide by lunchtime, but a backward other world where even sending communication to a location just tens of meters away is cutting-edge technology.
In such a world, news that's a week old isn't even considered late news. It's a world where a merchant traveling from village to village can pass off a story from several years ago as recent news, and people have no choice but to believe it.
In other words, on the first day, only organizations very close by and possessing excellent information-gathering power pressured the Guild.
The troublemakers who would come belatedly hadn't even started yet.
"Um... Dojin-nim."
"What is it, did someone else come?"
"Yes. So..."
"Roughly chase them away."
"That, that is..."
"Scared because it's a noble? Didn't you hear what I said earlier? Noble or whatever, in this city, they're nothing special, I said so."
"It's not that, they said they are an acquaintance of Dojin-nim."
"...Of me?"
I don't know that many people in this city. With a puzzled expression, I went outside.
In front of the mansion. A tiny little kid wearing a conical hat pulled down low was standing there.
The face wasn't visible, but I could easily tell who it was.
'Raize?'
The mage kid I met in the dungeon a few weeks ago.
The envoy of the Magic Tower, whom I thought I'd never see again.
Sniffle, Raize sipped the tea brought by the maid and savored its flavor. To Dojin, she only looked like a child's cheekiness.
But one can't act impatiently in front of a child. Dojin also slowly sipped his tea. Around the time the tea he sipped showed the bottom, Raize opened her mouth.
"Long time no see, Dojin."
"...Yeah, long time no see."
"Do you know why I came?"
"Well, why did you come?"
As Dojin feigned ignorance, Raize fluttered the clothes she was wearing. Following her hand, the robe proving she was a mage of the Magic Tower fluttered.
"I came as an envoy of the Magic Tower. Don't you know what that means?"
"What does it mean?"
"It means my one word decides whether the Magic Tower will treat you as an enemy or as an ally."
Saying that, Raize took out a scroll from her pocket. Dojin was wary for a moment but, sensing no hostility from Raize, relaxed his guard.
She unfolded the scroll and handed it to Dojin. Squinting briefly to check, it was a contract.
"Read it. If there's anything in the contents you're dissatisfied with, let's talk."
"This is... what is it?"
"A contract. The Magic Tower is very interested in the newspaper you created."
Dojin slowly read the contract. The Magic Tower's demand was simple. To include the magic circle they provide in a part of the newspaper.
'This... is an advertisement, isn't it?'
Even though less than 24 hours had passed since the newspaper came out,
forces that had already realized the power of this new medium were beginning to propose advertisements.