The humans in the audience naturally felt a little pride at being one of those humans with limitless potential that the announcer kept praising. They had all been caught in the net that Diana had cast for all of them. Like unknowing fish, they had come in the range of the net by themselves for the fisherman to collect.
"But when the baton was passed over to our generations and those before us, something terrible happened that makes me want to hide my face in shame in front of my incessant and persevering ancestors."
The whole audience was burning with curiosity as to what she was going to say. All of them were impatient to hear the answer but Diana on the stage just looked at the audience with a crestfallen expression that caused them to hold their breath.
"We stagnated."
Just two words…but those words struck into the hearts of all those present. They had been ruthlessly excluded from the humans with limitless potential.
Diana had not only cursed the audience with those words, but also their fathers and grandfathers in one go.
Anger and disgust could be seen on the faces of the representatives of some super families but none of them said anything. Their pride was hurt but this was not the time to make a fuss. They needed to take a look at the product before deciding whether to hold their anger permanently or to demand recompense for their damaged pride.
"I am sure some of you are feeling angry and dissatisfied with what I said just now."
Some of them unconsciously nodded at her words before discovering midway that they were being led by the nose again.
"But let's take a look at what our generation and the few generations before us have to give to the future generations."
Diana turned over to the next slide with practiced finesse and revealed a set of two new diagrams. There were two more horse drawn carriages but the usage of the two was definitely different.
One was the carriage with increased space for storage which was mostly used for transportation of material goods while the other looked like the armored chariot used for warfare. The carriage had been reinforced with metal and there were several spikes jutting out from the sides. The carriage looked like it would be a beast on the battlegrounds that would gut and pierce through any number of obstacles in its path.
"What do you all see when you look at the fruit carefully sculpted by our generation? This armored military chariot is the latest version that is being used in battles across the world while the other one is the latest carriage capable of carrying the loads equivalent to ten others and can only be drawn by the wild destriers with above average strength."
None among the audience took the bait she had carefully thrown. They knew that Diana wasn't just a flower. She was one with thorns. The way she had been playing with their sentiments was quite exceptional for someone her age.
Diana decided to light up some more fireworks to give wind to their burning anger.
"Since none of you are willing to answer me, I am sure you are nervous about saying what is truly in your heart. You all are thinking that this is your achievement and you can proudly pass it on to the next generation."
The audience wondered if Diana had the ability to see through their minds. She had accurately read what was going on in their heads. Only the few capable ones managed to see through the fa?ade that Diana had carefully drawn them in. They had been led to believe that it was their duty to pass something on to the future generations but no such rule existed in reality. She was merely using sophistry to rile them all up.
"If you all are thinking along these lines, then I can't help but call you out on your shamelessness. Because what I see is stagnation. Just because you learned different applications of what has already been invented doesn't mean that you can take the credit for our ancestor's work. We haven't created anything noteworthy; something that we can proudly call our own and give a name to like the first ancestor who made a 'wheel' and named it as such."
Once again, Diana caught on to the hidden shame in their hearts and grilled them for it.
People even forgot about their actual purpose in this place and tried to hide away their faces just to keep their patchy pride intact.
Diana stopped speaking, and stared at her audience. The same audience that had been looking at her with insulting looks at the start was now unable to look at her straight. She felt truly satisfied and slightly amused at the result of her presentation.
She wondered what these people would say when she revealed their product. Diana had riled them up enough for them to tear her apart at the first chance they got. She knew she was going to be at the receiving end soon but was relatively calm because all that was already within their calculations.
"It is finally the time."
Her words caught the wavering attention of the guests once again. Was it finally the time for the product to be revealed? Their expectations had been raised because they had had to sit through a series of verbal attacks that questioned their intelligence as humans.
"We the 'Luther family' can proudly say that WE have not shamed our ancestors. Without relying on magic, we have managed to CREATE something that we can name and call our own."
There were several disgruntled voices that were dissatisfied with how shameless the Luther family was being.
"How boisterous…" said one of the dissidents under his breath.
"Can the Luther family create anything other than clever insults?" another voiced his opinion out loud. They had long since forgotten their purpose and were unable to hold back their anger.
Only the truly clever ones kept their mouths shut in the event that the product turned out to be everything that the Luther family was claiming it to be. Wouldn't that be like slapping their own faces?
"The answer to that question would be…'of course we can'. Unlike some others, we know the value of our words and take responsibility for them." Diana didn't hold back and directly slapped the person who slandered the Luther family with her words.
The man could only try to hide his burning face from the other sitting beside him. He wanted to argue but that would have only made him look petty. He only had to wait for the product revelation. Only then would he get his chance for revenge.
Therefore, he waited eagerly.
"Continuing onwards, it is the time to reveal the reason that all of you so graciously gave us your time and have been listening to my wild ravings for so long. Without further ado, Ladies and Gentlemen of Elizabeth city, I present to you the latest product developed by the Luther family. We call it 'Truck'."
Diana turned over the next page of her presentation simultaneously with her announcement.
The audience held their breaths in anticipation and only let it out once they laid their eyes on the new diagram that depicted the thing that Diana had referred to as 'Truck'.
Some were disappointed as it didn't appear to be as grandiose as the Luther family had claimed it to be. They wondered what this kind of thing could be used for.
"Before all of you get disappointed, this is only the design." Diana said as she pointed towards the presentation slide.
"The real thing is over there." Diana turned towards her right where something huge had been covered beneath a huge grey colored sheet. Not a single one of the guests had even paid attention to it even though they had been next to it the whole time.
The audience adjusted their position on their chairs and turned their head and eyes towards their right.
And as if on cue, two guards walked over and grabbed the ends of the sheet and looked towards Diana.
Diana gave them a slight nod and they pulled down the sheet covering the truck.
"Whoa~" Several gasps escaped the audience members as they looked at the metal monstrosity.
Even though they were in awe of the thing Diana called Truck, none of them knew what it was or what it was capable of. The only one who could now satisfy their curiosity was the girl on the stage. Therefore, scores of heads turned in her direction prodding her for answers that they knew she had been hiding from them so far on purpose.
Some of them still stole glances at the Truck in between as their ears kept their focus towards the announcer.
"I am sure all of you have questions but let's keep those questions for the end. I will now explain the function of this truck that you see before your eyes. Despite its size, its purpose will definitely surprise you, so I would advise you to hold on to your seats and avoid dropping your jaws to the ground."
The audience laughed incredulously but some of the more timid ones actually strengthened their grips on the side arms of their chairs.
"Since the theme of my presentation so far was transportation, some of you might have already deduced that this product has to do with transportation."
Diana turned to the next slide which depicted a comparison between a carriage and the truck.
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