LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 49 — In which they read newspapers. Yes there were newspapers here all along
Chapter 49 — In which they read newspapers. Yes, there were newspapers here all along
“What is it?”
Vern looked down at a suspicious bundle of papers, which was handed to him by a very exhausted looking Sangria.
Sangria blinked very slowly. His eyes were a bit bloodshot, when he looked down at the papers.
Vern started to wonder what Sangria went through during his short expedition to get the things of the Exchange Siblings (as Vern dubbed them).
It seemed like it was quite of an ordeal.
“Those are newspapers, Young Master.”
‘A what?’
Vern’s face jumped on a new level of expressive power and signaled complete and absolute confusion.
Sangria matched it perfectly.
The two men stared at each other for a moment.
Then at the ‘newspaper’.
Finally, Sangria asked:
“Young Master, you remember what newspapers are, right?”
Vern searched this body’s memories, and to his surprise, he discovered that there was indeed information about something called ‘newspaper’.
Apparently there were paper type news messengers, which could be easily produced thanks to the invention of the printing press some decades ago.
The old Vern had no interest nor energy for those, so he didn’t interact with them much and the new Vern had so many things to think about, it didn’t even cross his mind that something like that could exist.
He stared at the newspapers as if he discovered a new world wonder.
Sangria gave him a look of disbelief, but didn’t say anything.
… For about ten seconds. Then he coughed, as if he had something to say.
“Lord thought that Young Master may be interested what is the public opinion about his actions.”
“Very considerate of him… Where is he, by the way?”
In the recent days, Crimo tried to eat breakfast together with Vern… well, at least drink coffee. Vern rarely saw him pick up anything to eat.
But today, Crimo didn’t appear.
“He is swamped with work.”
“Because of the Exchange?”
“Because of the Exchange.”
The twenty four hours since Vern made his last transaction had yet to pass, but it seemed that some people were already moving.
‘What are they accusing him of again? That he didn’t catch a ‘dangerous criminal’ that ‘disturbs social order’?’
If the Yellow Throne was held by the one with the most military power and the Purple Throne was held by the one with the closest connection to gods and spiritual world, the Red Throne…
It would be the one with the most magical potential, right?
‘Well, that’s the theory. Knowing that bird, they could choose someone who they just think has the most magical potential, or foresee some kind of future where the person with the most magical potential is born into some family and just keep that family around until that happens.’
In other words, the Red Throne was held by ‘family’ rather than ‘individual’, as the throne was often passed down by family members.
‘The Archmage Belleder was an outlier in this case, as she didn’t belong to the Archmage’s family before her. They only had a master-disciple relationship… but that puts her descendant, Crimo, in a rather tough spot as he is accepted by the Throne and therefore a ruler, but has no real established power foundation in the society.’
Vern shook his head, putting those thoughts aside, and decided to take a look at that ‘newspaper’ thing.
What greeted him in a bold font was:
[The Bird of Heavens strikes again! What fires of hell did he bring this time?]
Vern blinked.
What Bird of Heavens?
Did some phoenix attack?
But why hell? If you’re from heaven, why did you come out from hell…
‘Oh, it’s about me.’
Vern skimmed through a few articles and got to the conclusion that if Am saw it, he would go burn down the newspapers… the newspapers producing …
“Master Sangria, who is producing newspapers?”
“… Newspaper publishers?”
He would go burn down newspaper publishers’ houses.
Some of those inaccuracies in the terminology would be able to cause war between heavens and earth.
Struggling to ignore the weird nicknames like ‘Dragon Bird of the Revolution’ and the implications of him being a son of an angel who fell from the sky and become a demon, and then fell in love with a vampire… No, where is that article even going?
Struggling to ignore all of this, Vern got a general idea what simple, non-mage people were thinking.
They seemed to be cheering for him.
‘Their life must be hard, huh?’
If they lived a safe and stable life, anything that threatened the status quo would appear dangerous and evil.
But if you were under the oppression, any means of change would look appealing.
Vern, who was flipping through the newspaper, lost in thought, suddenly froze.
A title caught his eye.
[Assassination of the Saint of Purplus. Truth or lie?]
Vern carefully read the article, scrapping for any clues.
The article talked about the rumors of the assassination attempt on the Saint’s life and Saint’s speech reassuring Purplus’ citizens that it’s all just a rumor.
It seemed that the writer tried to prove that the assassination attempt was real, but when they got to the Saint’s speech, the writing lost its edge and the sentences with the meaning ‘it must be some kind of evil sorcery, but his voice put people weirdly at ease…’.
In the end, Vern got nothing but speculations.
Still…
‘If I’m here, there is a high chance that Saf and Am are in the situation parallel to mine, but in Flavun and Purplus.’
Could Saint be Am?
‘No… The saint is said to be 19 years old this year and Am is younger than me…’
But even if the Saint isn’t Am, Vern should try to dig a bit around him.
And for that purpose…
“Those newspaper things may be quite useful…”
“… Darn it, I knew it! Young Master, you truly didn’t have an idea what newspaper was before I brought it to you, right?”
Vern just glared at Sangria.
Why is it a such a big deal that he didn’t know what newspaper was?
If Sangria lived most of his life 300 years ago, he also wouldn’t know what newspapers are…
*-*-*
In the secluded temple garden.
Amara who was writing down suggestions about the love letter, while referencing the description of the latest romance play published in the newspaper, paused.
*Huh? Am? Am? Did the letter demon get you?*
*Letter demon?*
*This is when you forget how the word is spelled.*
*Are you saying our Am is suffering from amnesia?*
*Or that a demon ate his letters?*
*I can fight demons, but I have no idea about hitting amnesia...*
Amara slightly shook his head and returned to writing.
‘Nothing. I just suddenly had a feeling as if someone is trying to drag me into his idiot circle.’
*-*-*
“Uh? My Lady, is the coffee not good?Do you need more ice?”
“Apric.”
“Yes, My Lady?”
“I think someone is talking shit about me.”
“… We’ll kill them, My Lady.”
Saffra looked at her glass of iced coffee for a second and then resolutely shook her head.
“No. No need. Hitting him with this will be more than enough.”
She raised a roll of newspapers she was reading.
She then turned to someone else, who was looking at the newspapers with a very curious eye.
“And what are you actually doing here, Sir?”
Citrie looked up from the article about the latest technology developments and said with a smile:
“Knight Captain said I need to take more breaks, so I decided to take charge of the escort during Lady Mimosa and Young Lady’s vacation.”
Saffra stared at him for a moment.
“I see. Sir Citrie.”
“Yes, Young Lady.”
“If I wish to press charges against you on a basis of workaholism, where do I do it?”
*~*~*