CH50: Excessive Media Coverage
The next morning, he went to the dining room to have breakfast.
The only time I eat a portable breakfast is when I’m going on a labyrinth hunt.
When I don’t go to the labyrinth, I have a normal meal.
Cell phone food doesn’t taste bad, but regular food tastes much better.
When we arrive at the cafeteria, we get the same kind of stares as the day before yesterday.
No one is likely to talk to you from a distance.
Well, that’s not surprising.
You join a clan, and the next day you’re an executive.
You don’t know how to treat someone like that…
Hopefully I’ll fit in soon…
“Oh, Mr. Orn!”
I get the food and we start to eat, and then they call my name.
I looked in the direction I heard the voice and saw Lucre and the girl with glasses approaching together.
“Good morning! Can I eat with you?”
Good morning, Lecrae. Come in.
When I agreed, Lucre sat in front of me and the girl with glasses sat diagonally across from me.
Nice to meet you. My name is Nina. <I belong to the Magic Development Office of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky.
The kid with the glasses introduced himself.
She has a sky-blue short cut and indigo eyes.
“Thank you for your hospitality. I’m Orn. I’ve been with the First Search Party for some time now.
“You two are so stiff. We’re all the same age, let’s get along!”
So, it looks like this kid’s 18.
“You’re too soft…”
“Ha-ha-ha. Then, is it okay if I call you Nina?”
“Yeah, yeah. No problem. Then I’ll call you Orn, too.
“Yeah, I’m glad you guys are getting along! Oh! That’s right! Nina, look at this.
Leclerc has taught you a spell yesterday to make light objects float… a spoon and a fork.
“… What? What? What is that?
“Mmm-hmm. Isn’t this nice? Orn-kun taught me how to do that yesterday!”
“Is this Orn’s original magic?”
Nina asks fearfully.
You’re in the Magic Development Lab… you must be interested in magic and magical tools.
“Yeah, I can teach you if you want.”
“Oh, no!”
Nina leans in and asks me a question.
… Close to my face.
I was originally going to publish this sorcery.
I think it’s magic that shows its true value in ordinary life rather than in searching the labyrinth.
“Yeah, sure. But I need you to do one thing for me when you start teaching.”
What?
Nina became wary of me when I made the condition that I teach her.
I want you to release this sorcery to the world under the name of the Silver Rabbit of the Night Sky. I don’t care how. As long as the result spreads to the world, it doesn’t matter if the clan makes money in the process. For example, you could sell it as a magical tool at first, and then release the formula after a while.
“… It’s original magic, isn’t it? You can’t just release it to the public like that?”
Nina’s right to be concerned.
The development of magic is no mean feat.
There are already various kinds of magic, and it is easy to imagine that it is very difficult to make it useful while differentiating it from them.
“This magic is a by-product of the development of other magic, so it didn’t take that much effort to develop. Besides, it’s a magic that seems to be in demand, so other people might have already developed it. If you’re going to release it to the public, the sooner the better.
Besides, if this sorcery pays off, my clan’s opinion of me will improve.
I haven’t done much since I joined the clan, and now I’ve been chosen to be a senior member.
There is also a calculative view that we want to make a visible achievement as soon as possible.
I’m not gonna say it out loud, but…
“Okay, I promise… right? Then why don’t you come to the Magic Development Room when you’re not in the Grand Labyrinth?”
“Thanks for the offer, but I already have things to do on the days I’m not in the Grand Maze. I’ve got executive duties. I’m sorry. But I’ll try to show up when I can.”
“Too bad. You already have a job. By the way, is it okay if I ask you what the job is?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m gonna be the new party crèche chair.”
“Training new recruits? That’s not the job of the search and rescue department.”
“It seems there are some gifted children here. The Search Department wants to bring them up to the Search Department as soon as possible. So they asked me because I’ve got some spare time on my hands.”
“Gifted boy? Oh, you’re that cheeky little boy.
… I guess that’s the impression they get in the clan.
“In that case, why don’t you come to the Magic Development Room while I have Leclerc go around teaching?”
“Hmm? I’m what?
Leclerc, who was eating with a happy face, is surprised when his name is suddenly called.
“Lucre’s pretty good at teaching people stuff. Let’s trade!”
“Oh, no! We’ve been together for so long! You switched to her as soon as you found someone better! I was just a convenient woman for Nina!
“Hey, don’t be ridiculous!”
The two of them began to talk to each other like a pair of comedians.
You guys are so close…
***
After breakfast, I leave them and go outside to buy a newspaper before returning to my room.
I read in the newspapers that two out of the three newspapers had written a large scale article about the recent blunder of the brave party.
There are three major newspaper publishers. One of them has a virtual monopoly on information about the heroic party.
Therefore, even if the other two publishers reported the movements and activities of the heroes’ party that were in demand, they were only the second best of the earlier publishers, and the number of subscribers must have been decreasing.
Perhaps with a little bit of resentment, both of the publishers had front-page articles about the recent fiasco.
I know what happened the other day, and from what I’ve seen, it’s not a lie.
But it is greatly exaggerated.
(This is going to make waves.)
The light that illuminates the night and the water that produces it are the magic tools that are indispensable in our daily lives.
That grimoire won’t work without the magic stone.
And to get the stone, you have to kill the monsters.
There are some rare monsters on the ground, but basically they only appear in the labyrinth.
It is not too much to say that explorers who search the labyrinth and bring back the magic stone support the people’s livelihood.
That’s why the people pay attention to what the explorers are doing and the heroic party is the most popular among them.
The other day, I happened to be there, and I was lucky enough to take him out, but that’s not the point.
Inviting the deep level floor boss into the middle level, and by extension, the possibility that many explorer’s lives might have been lost because of it.
But if you write an honest article about it, it may lead to the people’s unrest.
It’s easy to imagine that, so why did you write this article? Two companies at once.
What is even more puzzling is that this article is circulating on ・・・・・・・・.
That means that the Marquis of Forgath, who is a major sponsor of the Brave Party, is not pressuring them on this matter.
No matter how much the two companies wanted to write about the blunder of the brave party, they would have had no choice but to withdraw this article if they were pressured by the Marquis of Forgas, a senior nobleman.
(It’s not like Marquis Forgas to care about publicity. What’s the point of this?)
