Chapter 291: Confidence
"The visual that you had witnessed just now was of one of the leaders of a cult that had been growing in the dark corners of the world without the authorities knowing about its presence. Such irresponsibility on the part of the organization that’s supposed to protect us raises several questions on the intentions of the major noble houses in the world who fund the operations of the authorities..."
"Many other similar recordings had been shared with us by several other cults, and each of them had warned us against supporting Syma or any institutions aligned with it. Such statements from the attackers raise questions about their motives. Are they really doing everything for the gods that they worship, or is there a broader conspiracy that’s being plotted against Syma... a business that has dedicated itself to the welfare of the public..."
"Some of our analysts had suggested this being the work of rival alchemy guilds and banks that want to eliminate Syma out of competition. Many of the top businesses in the world indeed have the financial resources as well as the required ground presence to orchestrate such attacks. But the larger question remains about the morality of these businesses aligning themselves with the cults that had already been declared terrorist organizations by all the major powers in the world."
"Suspicions are being raised against the Big Three amongst the banks and the Eloran Alchemists’ Guild, who are the only remaining businesses that have the power to challenge Syma."
"Some of our analysts have derived interesting theories of there being a single common mastermind... the one who has coordinated the attacks across the world using the manpower at the disposal of the cults. And maybe... the rivals of Syma had paid the mastermind to work with them."
Heh.
These news agencies had always been creative in their approach no matter which world I lived in.
Making conspiracy theories out of thin air had always been their prime quality, though I couldn’t help but commend their talent for being able to make theories that seemed far too real to be dismissed.
I could see the expressions on the faces of almost all the people around me shifting from their earlier panicked state to a more curious one.
Given the facts presented before them, it was only natural for the people to assume that the rivals of Syma might have been involved in the attack in some way or the other.
The people had already begun to whisper amongst themselves, as if forgetting all the terror that they had felt moments earlier.
Sigh.
Antra must have done it purposefully, as people often made incorrect assumptions and believed in whatever was presented before them if they were in a panicked state.
Though terror alone couldn’t make people believe in any sort of rumour... the facts that were presented today were enough for most of them to fall for the obvious lies that I wanted the people to believe in.
’The rivals of Syma targeting the business only because the leadership of Syma wanted to work for the welfare of the people.’
Such a lie wrapped up in bundles of truth was enough for the masses to believe in.
Though I knew that neither the authorities nor the major powers in the world would believe in it, as they were smart enough to know the actual truth behind all the events.
Still... convincing the masses was enough for me.
After all, it was the masses that allowed the nobles to call themselves the rulers of the given lands. If not for the public, then who would the nobles rule over?
No matter what the actual truth was... public sentiments often influenced the decisions of those in power.
The news had now shifted to other topics, making me concentrate my attention on the food before me.
Diana and Alicia, on the other hand, still had their eyes glued to the screen.
"The food’s getting cold."
My words seemed to have brought them out of their stupor, as they blinked their eyes repeatedly before finally looking at me.
"They are the ones that killed Allan."
Diana commented while taking a fork in her hand, along with a small knife to cut the meat before her into pieces that were suitable to eat.
"Why aren’t they scared of the authorities?"
Instead of replying to Diana’s statement, Alicia raised a question of her own, as if to divert the topic of our discussion.
"They have him."
Hm?
Just as I was about to explain the situation to Alicia, Diana spoke before me.
"The guy that was just shown in the recording."
Seeing that Alicia had a confused expression on her face, Diana clarified the person that she was talking about.
I, on my part, focused my entire attention on Diana.
Knowing about Antra, I knew how strong he was, but that wasn’t the same case for Diana.
"He has likely stepped into godhood, making his words being able to influence our minds through a mere recording of his voice."
This... Diana was quite knowledgeable, more than I had assumed her to be.
Just because the people felt terrified by hearing Antra’s words didn’t mean that they would be able to pinpoint his cultivation level.
Most didn’t even know and had never seen an Immortal in person, let alone a Sovereign.
Though Diana was a royal, the confidence with which she was talking about Antra gave the impression that she personally knew him.
Though her words didn’t give any real information on the guy, I just had an instinctive feeling that Diana knew a lot more about Antra than me.
"An Immortal?"
Alicia’s question made Diana look at her with a neutral face, but soon her lips stretched into a wide smile.
"No... a Sovereign."
"..."
"..."
There was a collective silence as I once again began to evaluate the girl sitting beside me.
The way in which she declared Antra’s cultivation level... was it a guess?
It could be, but Diana’s confidence hinted otherwise.
