The black sun hangs high

Chapter 19 Emotions
A storm is brewing among the people of Seren.

Hugh spent some time quickly flipping through the newspaper in his hand, and soon he found the articles that the Seren Assistance Group believed to be problematic.

Just as Hugh had predicted, the Peace Newspaper and its editor-in-chief, Philip, had put a lot of effort into this matter. In today's newspaper, the headlines that should have been reserved for the major kingdoms of Vaan were instead occupied by several strange news items that were clearly not quite right.

"A Seren journey of an ordinary Tranquil man - the sorrowful years of leaving his homeland."

"Hidden hostility or false symbiosis? On the changing relationship between Walter and Delan."

"There are suspected cases of malicious exploitation of crystal miners in the crystal mines belonging to the Kingdom of Water."

"Who else is looking forward to the armistice celebration?"

"..."

Headlines and subheadings like these filled the newspaper, and an absurd quality that made Hughes frown permeated the text. The intentions of these articles were all too obvious: deliberately crafted special headlines, obviously biased text, events and cases that were difficult to verify, and a perfect grasp and incitement of the emotions of the readers...

Hughes even sensed a strong sense of déjà vu in it.

After all, the past he now reminisces about always manages to capture people's attention more quickly with similar articles, and those who publish these ambiguous articles often don't delve into the underlying issues.

In other words, the moment they are written down and released to the public, the truth is no longer the point.

Emotions are what matter.

Such a newspaper was destined to be unable to convey truly useful information. Hughes flipped through the entire newspaper before finally finding an article about the recent summit of the kingdoms of the Lovi Plateau in a remote corner.

This article is concise and to the point. Its author uses simple and easy-to-understand language to briefly describe some of the contents of this important summit. Just as Hugh had sensed before, the steam-powered arms reform initiated by the Kingdom of Wotel was affecting the entire Vaan at an astonishing speed. At this summit, the Kingdom of Wotel and several of its surrounding vassal states issued a joint statement.

They believed that the large-scale development of steam power would inevitably have a major impact on Vaan, a country whose technology is dominated by magic. If the kingdoms and the Legal Council wanted to minimize the losses caused by this impact, they should, like the Kingdom of Walter, focus on promoting the combined use of steam and magic.

The author of this article, writing under the pseudonym "Mayer," stated that making this statement at the summit demonstrated the Kingdom of Wotel's utmost respect for Vaan and the Legal Council. According to reliable sources, the Kingdom of Wotel has actually begun a new reform of its military and heavy technology, and a large number of new devices that can combine magic and steam power are being deployed to the Kingdom of Wotel's factories and army at an astonishing rate.

“I am very worried that the stable structure built by the Magic and Law Council in the past is under attack, and in fact, such an attack has been secretly working for decades... Those steel behemoths that spew smoke on the Love Plateau will not stop easily. If anyone tries to stop them in their course, tragedy will inevitably occur.”

At the end of the article, "Meyer" expressed his concerns: "I am just a scholar, not a prophet who can see into the future and destiny. I believe that rigorous logic and thinking are the important cornerstones for us to see the changes in this world. When the changes really happen, no organization, group or individual in Vain will be able to escape its influence. We should be prepared."

After reading the article, Hughes silently tore it out of the newspaper and then stuffed the rest of the newspaper into a metal waste paper bin by the street.

If he could, he really wanted to meet this "Mayer" scholar.

Currently, the level of information dissemination in Vaan is still limited by the development of the world itself. Although various magical and magical items can shorten the distance between the two ends of the world, it is still very difficult to collect a lot of information in the world by one's own efforts. The channels for transmitting various messages, news and important information are still firmly controlled by nobles and the Legal Committee.

The vast majority of people are the same as the people in the city of Seren.

Their only choices are to "listen" or "not listen".

That's it.

……

Perhaps because the latest issue of the magazine had already been published, Hughes attracted the attention of many passengers on the way to the Peace Newspaper Office, who all nodded to the famous "writer" of the city.

Of course, some people cast disdainful glances at him. Most of these people were engaged in education, art, and publishing in Seren, and they were full of hostility and contempt for Hughes, who used vulgar language to "please" the masses.

Hughes always greeted the former with a smile. To be honest, although he didn't like others discussing or critiquing his writings in front of him, he had no ill feelings towards the lower-class residents who liked this kind of writing.

Their daily lives are inherently dull and monotonous, so if their writing can add a touch of brightness to their leisure time, that would be enough to bring them joy.

And those latter, with faces full of disdain...

Hugh didn't even bother to expose them, since his manuscripts were always published in those "low-class" magazines. If he didn't read those magazines regularly, how would he know what he had been writing lately?

As for the oddballs who felt their behavior "insulted" their noble status, Hughes didn't bother with them. In his opinion, the title of "illegitimate child" alone was enough to desecrate him. On that basis, it didn't matter what he did. The Ernst family didn't care, so why should they care?

If you're not happy about it, you can write to the Kingdom of Walter!
And so, amidst all sorts of gazes, Hugh arrived once again at the southern square of Seren City, where the Peace Newspaper was located.

As soon as he stepped into the South Square, Hugh's brows furrowed involuntarily, because he couldn't see the entrance to the Peace Newspaper Office from where he was standing—it was densely packed with people, their voices restless and agitated, as if something bad had happened.

Hugh folded his manuscript and put it in his pocket, then moved toward the crowd. Before he even got close, he could already hear the heated argument emanating from within the crowd.

Miss Kiri, a heavily made-up clerk at the Peace Newspaper, was now surrounded at the newspaper office entrance by several simply dressed residents of Seren. Her beautiful face was filled with panic and anger, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get the people surrounding her to disperse even a little.

Why did you publish this kind of article?

"Madam, please answer me, what benefit does doing this kind of thing bring to the Peace Newspaper?"

"Withdraw the newspapers from the market and punish the relevant clerks..."

"And an apology! An apology!"

The excited crowd pointed at the gates of the Peace Newspaper Office and angrily denounced: "Your actions are a defamation and slander of the reputation of Seren! The armistice celebration is just around the corner, yet you allow such writings to be published... How despicable!"

Hugh stood among the crowd for a while, cautiously channeling his magic. As the magic disc slowly rotated, he was able to hear even the most subtle discussions among the crowd, and soon he understood what was happening.

The people who blocked the Peace Newspaper Office were the "Ceremony Assistance Group" in the city.

Hughes noticed that many of these angry people were still holding copies of the Peace Newspaper that had been published that day. They pointed at the text that filled the pages and vented their anger at the Peace Newspaper and its staff.

"Please disperse, everyone! You are disrupting the normal operations of the newspaper!"

As Philip's secretary, Miss Kiri was still trying her best to maintain order at the scene. She even brought up the police station and the legal committee of Seren City as threats: "We have notified the police officers and mages. They will be here soon to maintain order. If you have any complaints, go and talk to them!"

Upon hearing this, Hugh couldn't help but shake his head.

The female clerk, Qili, comes from a wealthy merchant family. She is naturally alienated from the miners, farmers, and workers in the workshops, and has never known how to truly communicate with these people.

Sure enough, the moment those words were spoken, the members of the Seren Assistance Group who were blocking the entrance of the Peace Newspaper Office were immediately enraged. They started making a ruckus, and some of the more hot-tempered members were almost ready to fight.

At this moment, a young man who was leading the group stepped forward. He had brown curly hair, wore a somewhat worn gray-black trench coat, and had a calm expression on his face, with a conspicuous bruise on the left side of his face.

“Madam, almost every family in Seren has received kindness and help from the Mutual Aid Group, and we have never wanted to have any conflict with anyone.”

The young man stopped the residents who were trying to further tighten the encirclement, and then said in his deep voice, "We have made our purpose here clear. If the editor-in-chief of the Peace Newspaper is willing to listen to our opinions, then everyone will disperse now."

"This is a threat, sir, this is absolutely a threat!"

"The Mutual Aid Group has no intention of threatening anyone. We just want to know why the newspaper allowed such words to be published... The members of the Mutual Aid Group present here come from different countries. I am from Walter, these friends are from Deland, and many others are free citizens from dependent kingdoms. We all believe that the words published by the newspaper are defaming and harming all those who live together in Seren!"

The young man was very polite in his behavior and attitude, but his voice and words were full of power. As an observer, Hugh couldn't help but applaud him in his heart after hearing his words—his attitude and ability in handling affairs even surpassed that of many minor officials who were paid by the two kingdoms.

The female clerk was speechless, her face turned pale, her lips trembled slightly, but she could only stammer and could not say a word.

Just then, a warning signal came from Hugh's mental world, so he decisively retreated from the crowd and quickly stood with the onlookers on the outer edge.

The police officers Miss Qili mentioned finally arrived. Accompanied by the sound of hooves, several officers rode into the South Square. These law enforcement officers, dressed in dark blue uniforms, waved their batons painted with red and black paint and emitted sharp warning whistles from their metal whistles.

The members of the Seren Mutual Aid Group were ultimately just ordinary people in the city. Although they had gathered here because of their anger and incomprehension towards the Peace Newspaper, they were still cowardly. Faced with these aggressive police officers, they scattered like birds and beasts in an instant. Only the young man, who was obviously a core member of the Mutual Aid Group, remained in place.

Faced with the police officers brandishing batons at him in a show of force, the young man sighed helplessly and was then roughly taken aside. His hands were bound by standard magical ropes. Without any other magical intervention, these crude and simple magical binding tools were enough to tightly restrain the "prisoner."

Among the onlookers, only Hugh noticed that after the police arrived at the scene, a member of the Tricolor Brotherhood who was leading the way pressed down his hat, turned around, and disappeared at the edge of the square.

"..."

Hugh narrowed his eyes, but he ultimately did not risk chasing after the Brotherhood of Three Colors member. After all, it was obvious to anyone that this group of young thieves and professional stalkers was very likely already involved in the matter, and it was not feasible to obtain key information by investigating such low-level members.

While the police officers were chasing and driving away the poor members of the mutual aid group, Hugh silently arrived at the alley next to the Peace Newspaper. Seeing that no one was around, he immediately activated his magic. As his magic power was depleted and the incantation was recited, the three-tailed rat reappeared beside Hugh once again.

Following its master's command, the magical creature quickly came to Hugh's feet and nimbly climbed onto his thigh, thus hiding in the shadow of the hem of his long coat.

After completing the preparations, Hugh immediately adjusted his demeanor and expression, and then walked with a smile toward the main entrance of the Peace Newspaper Office.

Under Miss Kiri's reproachful gaze, under the cautious observation of the police officers, and under the complicated looks of the members of the mutual aid group, Hugh, with the magical creatures he had summoned, walked openly into the Peace Newspaper Office.

(End of this chapter)