"So, what did you want to discuss in private?" Mr. Light asked calmly, not minding his new rug getting dirty.
"We would like to discuss the plan for improving your image with the town folk of Jelly Town. Before handling your opponents trying to kill you, we must first stop the town from bleeding dry." Evi calmly explained.
"What advice do you have for me?" Mr. Light agreed with Evi's plan as he could understand its logic.
If they continued to allow Jelly Town to lose people and instead focused all their effort on dealing with the hidden dangers caused by the company, then the town would die. Once a town dies, it is almost impossible to revitalize it to its former glory.
Even before they would be allowed to try, the Mining Company would have already declared that he was a terrible leader and would force him to return. Once he arrived back at the company, his enemies would once again have an endless number of choices to kill him.
It was better to stop people from leaving the town and instead try to get people to come back. Many people born in Jelly Town still have the town in their hearts and would return if they heard it was doing well.
"We first have to squash the rumors with better rumors. The more we can spread, the less likely people are going to believe them and instead prefer to wait and see your results."
"Rumors like you plan on renovating old town areas, fixing schools, and funding business. There also needs to be rumors of your excellence, such as how good-looking you are, how funny, and exaggerated achievements."
"The more we secretly spread them and allow the remaining town folk to hear them, the more they will be curious and spread their own. After a few days, we can find what sticks and secretly help it grow."
"What do you four think?" Evi crossed his arms after he calmly explained his plan.
Mr. Light was the first to answer, saying, "You want to spread rumors to improve my image? Arent rumors supposed to do the opposite?"
He was confused. All his life, whenever rumors spread like wildfire, they always had ruined lives. He had never heard of anyone doing the opposite. Would it even work? People loved to gossip and put people down, so why would they want to lift another person's reputation?
Yoze noticed Evi's secret glance and sent him another message through spiritual speech. This idea of using rumors to confuse the public while also manipulating their opinions was an idea he had after thinking about the memes from Earth.
Thanks to the internet, information was widely available to all, and at the same time, misinformation. Through this mishmash, memes came into existence and spread throughout the corners of life like a virus.
Memes became a source of information for some people as they enjoyed the feeling of understanding the jokes and references. They also digested the hidden information inside. This became especially apparent for the younger generations as mainstream media became less appealing.
Unfortunately, this world had yet to develop the internet, so the capability for an ordinary person to spread their own opinion and information at any time was limited. But that didn't matter for their current plan. At the moment, Mr. Light controlled all the media, so it wasn't hard to spread information to every corner of the town and slowly into the nearby towns.
Evi secretly glanced at Yoze as he knew this was the idea that he had told him through spiritual speech. He also didn't understand the full logic behind using rumors. Still, after getting another round of explanations through spiritual speech, his eyes glowed excitedly.
"Just as you said, Mr. Light, people love to spread gossip behind people's backs, especially when it comes to people who have power over them. Allowing all rumors to spread will give the people the illusion that they can say whatever they like under your rule."
"Whether they realize it or not, as these rumors spread, they will slowly turn into a mess with hints of truth and falsehood. In such a state, would anyone fully believe them?"
"But everyone will be attracted to them like flies to a light. The feeling of being part of a group that understands these rumors and their truths will be addicting. And once they leave the town, they will be unable to experience this kind of freedom any longer."
"As long as we slightly make some improvement to the town or don't do anything for the next few days, people will be more likely to reconsider and convince themselves to stay a little longer," Evi said, feeling slightly out of breath.
Though Mr. Light still didn't understand the full use of rumors, he didn't mind following Evi's plan. In any case, he didn't have much experience when it came to being a leader, so he desperately needed advisors like Yoze and Evi to help.
Seeing that Mr. Light had no more questions, Evi turned his head to the two maids, who were shocked about why they were brought along. One of the maids, who was in her mid-twenties, was trembling as the memories of numerous novels she had read flashed through her mind.
"..."
"..."
"...Do you two have any questions? If you do, ask, as this concerns my reputation and life." Mr. Light said sternly, seeing that his maids were remaining silent.
He also didn't understand why they were brought along. Still, he didn't doubt Evi's decision and used his authority to make them cooperate. Finally, the maid, who was trembling and had a red face, asked a question.
"I went out earlier to grab some vegetables and areas, but all the stores were closed...what can we do to open them up?" After speaking, the red-faced maid felt her knees weaken as she wanted to collapse.
But Yoze, Evi, and Mr. Light nodded as this was an excellent question. One that they had almost missed, but if they couldn't solve this issue, then the town would die no matter what they did.
"It's simple: give people a reason to come and provide their business. That reason is money." Yoze calmly answered.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l