The person standing before me now was unmistakably the man from Dasrote's first interview photo. This didn't seem like a situation where he should be greeting me with a smile like this.
He scrutinized me with the look of someone examining a strange creature, then tilted his head in confusion.
"But... what brings you here? There are no restricted zones or bustling areas nearby. You've come quite deep in."
"...I have a personal matter to discuss. Could we talk for a moment?"
"It's not something strange, is it? Don't tell me magical beasts have come this far..."
He thinks it's not something strange? Seriously?
It was absurd, but starting off emotionally wasn't a good choice.
"Well, I think Mr. Belter would know more about that matter."
"Me?! Did I do something wrong?"
"..."
For some reason, I felt a headache coming on and smiled.
Beside me, Narke let out a short sigh and tapped my arm.
"Your Grace."
"Yes..."
Narke smiled and flicked his finger.
—
"Come to think of it, I'm not sure what to call you. I suppose I'll just call you Lord Nikolaus?"
"...!"
It wasn't his words that startled me.
It was the delivery method that was shocking.
Just as Fai's words didn't travel through the air but were planted directly in my mind, Narke's words were transmitted in the same way.
'Did he do this with divine power too.'
This would be good to learn for future use.
I nodded.
Narke laughed and spoke again.
—
"Haha, it feels a bit unfamiliar. I'll call you that for now. And... does that person really not know? From what he's thinking right now, Dasrote itself doesn't exist."
He doesn't recall Dasrote?
Even after seeing me...
'...Wait.'
That's entirely possible.
This could be an even bigger opportunity to screw over Dasrote.
Having assessed the situation, I soothed him with a gentle tone.
"No. I came because there's something I need to investigate. I need your help, Mr. Belter."
"My help? Is there an area where I could possibly inform Your Grace?"
"Of course. I'm in desperate need of information right now. If you have time, I'd like to speak with you briefly."
He looked at me and Narke alternately with a puzzled expression, then swung the door wide open.
"I still don't really understand the situation, but... please come in."
We sat at the table he indicated.
"I don't really have anything to offer you right now. I'll step out for a moment to buy something."
"No, our schedule is a bit tight. It's fine."
It was already nearly 4:30.
We had other places to visit after this, so we couldn't linger here long.
"Is that so? You came all this way... I'm sorry."
"It's really fine. We're the ones asking for help."
"Ah, right. What did you come to ask about?"
"Have you by any chance heard about me?"
Beside me, Narke snorted at my words.
Saying it like that makes me sound incredibly self-important.
Suppressing the urge to explain, I waited seriously for his answer.
"You're Lord Nikolaus, right? I saw the Imperial newspaper a few days ago."
"You saw it. Do you have any other information?"
"Well... just that you did something truly unexpected with Duke Elias... Is there anything else besides that?"
He sank deep into thought, furrowing his brow and stroking his chin.
It seemed nothing came to mind no matter how hard he thought.
I took out a copy of yesterday's Dasrote from my bag and handed it to him.
"Oh."
He frowned at the cover, then nodded.
"Impressive. Yesterday's issue is a special feature on Lord Nikolaus."
"The contents probably aren't that impressive."
He flipped through a few pages, then laughed with an awkward face.
"Haha... really now... it truly is. Did you read this yourself?"
"Yes."
"Really? Are you okay?"
He narrowed his eyes and cautiously continued.
"You're not this composed because it's all true, are you...? Like really meeting seven people at age seventy-seven..."
"No. That couldn't be."
I took out today's magazine and pushed it toward him.
"Read this too."
He nodded and turned the first page.
The smile vanished completely from his face.
"Huh?"
With a flustered expression, he grabbed the magazine with both hands, flipping it back and forth rapidly, then skimmed through from the front page.
'As expected...'
I let out a hollow laugh.
They hadn't used the photo with permission.
They had just grabbed any face they could find.
A handling method that makes one very fearful of future repercussions.
Whether the person who sourced the material made a mistake or what, it's truly surprising that a place like Dasrote operates this sloppily.
'Well... they're all like that, I suppose.'
If even the Imperial family operates carelessly, what can you expect?
The man, now pale, opened the page with his photo again and pointed at it for us.
"What is this? This isn't me?"
"Even if you ask me that..."
"R-right. It looks like me... no, it is me. It is me. But why is this here?!"
Narke stared straight into his eyes and asked.
"Mr. Belter, you don't know anything about this?"
"No. An interview like this... no, I never even received an interview request in the first place! And I'm seeing Lord Nikolaus for the first time today, why would I say such things? What on earth are you people talking about?"
"Hmm, I see. The truth."
Narke spoke while looking at Mr. Belter, as if to reassure him.
In reality, the words were meant for me.
"Of course. No, I'm so shocked I can't even speak? How could they use my face in a place like this?!"
Not 'why is my face here' but 'how could they use it in a place like this'.
Anyway, this guy isn't completely unrelated.
Narke sensed that point too and immediately questioned him about the full story.
"What exactly happened?"
"Some people before offered five thousand phel for five photos, asking if they could take some pictures for use in a newspaper... I guess this is what they took then."
"Five thousand phel."
Narke repeated, pressing down the end of his words.
They bought them for 100,000 won per photo.
If it were me, I'd dislike selling my face more than the utility of 500,000 won... but that's different for everyone.
"They asked me to make a serious expression while looking at the ocean over there, things like that. They kept talking about the ocean, so I thought they were people who came to promote the region. They introduced themselves that way too... I had no idea they'd use it in a place like this..."
Mr. Belter grabbed his head, looking quite heated.
I leaned forward and asked.
"They didn't tell you exactly where it would be used?"
"They just said it would be used to establish the concept for an article. If I'd known it was for this, I wouldn't have done it."
"I see."
I smiled and checked my watch.
The other two will probably finish faster than expected too.
* * *
He flew into a rage, saying he should sue Dasrote immediately, then exchanged contact addresses with us.
After calming down briefly and thinking, he recalled the lawsuit costs and backed down, but since I could cover those, he only needed the willingness to participate in the legal fight.
And, the other two were the same case as this guy.
These two were also at a loss for words upon learning their photos were used that way, but seemed to want to cover up the matter appropriately, likely tired of getting involved in a lawsuit that would clearly drag on for years.
Still, after persuasion, we managed to obtain testimonies to submit to the authorities.
And... it's now 6 o'clock.
"Six o'clock!"
The moment I checked my watch and lowered my arm, Fai popped his head out from Narke's robe pocket.
He'd been sleeping all along, but he probably remembered the content I muttered when he was in the room with me yesterday.
Since I planned to set 6 o'clock as the inflection point for the impression score, checking the values from this time onward was important.
"Wow~ precise as a clock!"
Narke checked his wristwatch and marveled.
'But how did he know the time just now...'
Could it be even his master is learning about this ability for the first time...
It would be nice to carry Fai around when I don't have a watch.
Anyway, that's not what's important.
I opened the status window.
Lucas Rene Ascanien
Impression: -9.9 [+5.0003821]
Earlier, it broke past 10,000 and fell to 8931, right?
While I finished the investigation and came out, it dropped another 5000.
Considering the evening paper hasn't been published yet, the change is quite significant for the 3-6 PM period.
If this continues, now that we've entered the proper evening hours, it will drop even more sharply, falling to the 4000s before even an hour or two passes.
No, not 'will drop even more sharply'—it's already happening.
Impression: -9.9 [+5.0003789]
Right. Not surprising at all.
I blinked, and it's already been cut by 32 more.
We stopped by the Bavaria Investigation Bureau, then moved back to the academy.
After changing clothes in the dormitory, I warped to the meeting place.
Narke had already arrived earlier than me and was waiting with the other students.
After exchanging light eye greetings with the students and taking a seat, the students resumed their conversation among themselves.
"I don't know if it's true, but honestly, I hope it's not. Who are they blowing this up for anyway?"
"For Phloremah's benefit. Ah, they really can't read the situation. Even if they did those things, why blow it up now..."
"Come to think of it, isn't there Phloremah on that side?"
It's all Nikolaus talk here too.
But since they're all students who utterly despise Phloremah, they seem to blindly take Nikolaus's side regardless of the rumors.
After all, Nikolaus is the initial informant of this incident and the person who, along with Elias, dealt a major blow to Phloremah.
I stood before the blackboard with the prepared materials and opened my mouth.
"Alright, it's already 7:30. Let's start analyzing today's issue."
I took out the newspaper sheets by publisher that were kept here and cast a spell.
The characters forming today's articles gradually revealed themselves.
[[Hessen] Nikolaus Ernst Joins Purification Efforts of Grand Duchy of Hessen and Two Other Nations: "Will Help as Many Subjects as Possible"]
[King Leopold of Württemberg: "Sincerely Thankful to Nikolaus Ernst for Heeding the Request"]
[Guidance Period D-3... Württemberg, Hessen, Baden Succeed in Recruiting Mages Amid Labor Shortage]
"Wow."
The students who unfolded the evening paper with me let out short exclamations.
"This person really is going to multiple places, it seems."
"Bavaria alone has five restricted zones, and he's taking on three more countries here?"
"So he's making four rounds a week in Bavaria...? Does he have the strength for that?"
"Right, let's just bury Dasrote with this!"
I laughed at the last remark.
We're of the same mind.
This is one of the reasons the decline has moderated.
Yesterday, I moved to Bavaria to take charge of the investigation to attack Dasrote's false reports scheduled for release today.
Dasrote would have bribed people to create evidence, so catching and crushing that would solve many things.
'This alone should be enough to defend.'
But you shouldn't end things 'appropriately' with insane people like Dasrote who operate outside common sense.
They could bribe our witnesses or brazenly offer absurd explanations like 'it was just reference material,' then attack the public again, who are dazzled by sensationalism regardless of truth.
From the perspective of those claiming I had seven affairs without any evidence, it's a sufficiently considered path.
Then, the thing to do is to beat them down so they're exhausted and collapse first, so they don't think of getting up again.
To do that, I need to give them a pretext to attack me once more.
And these articles are precisely the pretext I gave.
"Wow, all seven newspapers have this story on the front page."
"At least they're not acting like Dasrote, that's a relief."
Various media outlets were reporting on the front page about the resolution of the purification issues in three nations.
From federal-level regional papers to empire-level newspapers, essentially all reputable papers showed the same tendency.
If they only cared about boosting sales, they would have copied Dasrote's report, changing only a few phrases, regardless of my purification decision, but they didn't. That wasn't a political story to begin with.
These reputable papers have consistently strongly criticized the actions of gossip magazines like Dasrote.
Unless specific interests are established, there's no reason for them to report on controversies manufactured over there and lend them strength.
The current time is 7:40.
Over an hour has already passed since the last check.
Around now is the time to gradually access the evening reports.
'Let's check once.'
Lucas Rene Ascanien
Impression: -9.9 [+5.0002829]
An hour ago, it was 3789.
It dropped by 960.
'Huh.'
960.
Earlier, 5000 points dropped.
If we evenly divide the amount dropped between 3-6 PM, that's about 1670 per hour.
But, between 6 PM and 7:40 PM, it dropped by less than 1000.
Moreover, we've entered the period where newspaper purchase rates increase, so the impression score should drop more than during 3-6 PM normally.
If the decline is this mild during the second most impactful period after morning...
'It's over.'
I raised the corner of my mouth and cleared the status window from my view.
This already means Dasrote in the morning sufficiently captured the public's attention.
It also means not that many people encountered Dasrote's news for the first time in the evening.
'The impression score didn't drop as much as expected.'
Considering the trend so far, it means people paid attention to that report but didn't greatly trust it.
It means that due to the live broadcast, the favorable impression of me has taken root more strongly than the gossip.
Dasrote's timing selection was a failure.
And on top of that, their growth momentum is completely cut off...
'They should be getting impatient around now.'
Now, all that's left is for them to attack me with a new topic.
It's already been nearly two hours since the purification report came out.
The Dasrote side has had enough time to modify their article.
Even if it can't match the morning, they'd be reluctant to give up evening sales, so if they get a bit more greedy, they'll try to attack me in this section too.
Perhaps they'll release a new report tomorrow morning.
I looked down at the newspaper and quietly asked.
"Anyone have Dasrote right now?"
"Dasrote? Me!"
A student took the magazine out of his bag, then froze stiffly, unable to take his eyes off the title. He showed the magazine cover to the students.
"Look at this... They're spouting crazy talk again."
The students' voices died down at the bright red letters covering the lower part of the cover.
Today's Dasrote title had changed.
[17.75 Million Phel in Tax Money, Illicit Funds? Lord Nikolaus's 'Sacred' Purification]
—-----------
T/N:
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