Chapter 1735 - 1729: Cain’s Prestige!

Chapter 1735: Chapter 1729: Cain’s Prestige!

Although Cain’s identity had been discovered, neither the Hoenn League nor the entire Pokémon League announced it to the public.

Those who truly knew his identity were only those high-ranking League officials, the presidents of each region’s League, the Champions, and, at minimum, the members of the Elite Four.

People with permissions lower than those of an Elite Four member did not even have the right to know Cain’s identity.

The reason for doing this was also pure helplessness.

As Cain’s master, old Matsuda actually had extremely high expectations for him, and he had also invested a great deal of effort in Cain.

Otherwise, he would not have left the Kanto-Johto region back then for Cain, joined the Hoenn League, and paved the way for Cain among the high-ranking members of the League, allowing him to smoothly become a Gym Leader of the Hoenn region.

Later, in order to open the path for Cain, he gave up his position as interim Elite Four member and returned once again to the Kanto-Johto League, all for the purpose of giving Cain a step to advance even further.

From this, one could see how much old Matsuda valued Cain.

Because of that, deep in his heart, he truly did not want to accept that Cain was actually an infiltrator of Team Rocket. Moreover, he always hoped that Cain could "abandon evil and return to good." Not publishing his true identity also left Cain a path of retreat.

Another part of the reason was, in fact, helplessness.

Cain’s popularity in the entire Pokémon world, especially in the Hoenn region, was too high. So high that even the League, after investigating, did not dare to believe it.

It could be said that, apart from the disciples of those families, ninety-nine percent of the people spoke well of Cain. The remaining one percent only maintained a neutral attitude.

On the internet, every time someone appeared attacking Cain, they were basically drowned out very soon by a large amount of "army of justice."

Because Cain’s name had too much prestige among ordinary people, the League also feared that, after announcing this matter, it would cause too great an impact in the areas under its administration.

It could even cause unnecessary disturbances.

The most important thing was that the League also feared that, if the common residents discovered that Cain was actually the leader of Team Rocket and Team Heaven, perhaps they would directly throw themselves into the arms of these two organizations.

After all, as civilians, it was already very difficult for them to have a day when they could stand out.

Joining underground forces like Team Rocket was originally already among their options.

Now, if they knew that Champion Cain, whom they had always admired, was actually the leader of Team Rocket and Team Heaven, no one knew what they would think or what choice they would make.

Moreover, the reputation of Team Heaven in the Hoenn region was also not bad.

In all the areas and cities administered by Team Heaven, the crime rate dropped in a straight line. There were also specialized people who had published statistical data and research conclusions about this on the internet.

When it was published back then, it even caused a considerable sensation.

After all, no one imagined that an organization supposedly considered an evil force could bring benefits like that.

Precisely because of this, the people of the Hoenn region did not reject Team Heaven too much.

So, if Cain’s true identity were announced, it was difficult to guarantee how many people would want to join Team Heaven or Team Rocket. That was something the League definitely did not want to see.

In reality, those speeches favorable to him, to Team Heaven, Team Rocket, and the like, had mostly been spread by Cain’s hands or by the people he had arranged.

As a modern person, Cain of course knew how great an impact public opinion could have on an entire society.

Before the Pokémon League noticed this point, Cain had already begun to deliberately control the direction of public opinion.

And to control the direction of public opinion, one only needed to control a few relatively large television stations and newspapers, and then find a group of trolls to fan the flames on the internet. It was a rather simple method.

The method was simple, but the effect was quite outstanding.

The broadcasters and newspapers of the Hoenn region had long since fallen under Team Heaven’s control. Even in broadcasters and newspapers of other regions, under Cain’s intentional arrangements, they also possessed a considerable share.

That allowed them to have a voice within those broadcasters and newspapers.

After Cain left Hoenn’s central building, in the Heaven Castle, he told everyone that his plan could begin.

Included among that was control over the direction of public opinion.

As long as the rulers of the League were not fools, they would know the price of revealing his identity.

Of course, the League had more or less also noticed this point, so their plan was to let time dilute it.

Through the wear of time, they would slowly reduce the influence Cain had brought. After two or three years, when Cain’s influence was no longer so great, they could reveal all the matters.

At the same time, during this period, the League also needed someone to gradually replace Cain and substitute his influence.

And the most suitable person for that, of course, was Steven, who in the past had been called one of the Twin Stars of Hoenn together with Cain.

Then, the first thing they had to do was replace Cain in the position of Champion of the Hoenn region, directly suppressing Cain’s influence from the foundation.

However, they also could not allow Steven to immediately replace Cain as Champion. After all, Steven’s strength was still a little inferior, and for ordinary people, Cain had not committed a fundamental mistake either, so they could not directly dismiss him.

But the League had already planned it. During this period, they would have Steven carry out several high-impact missions to increase his popularity, and when the time came, they would find any reason to replace Cain in the position of Champion.

(End of Chapter)