Chapter 455 - 294: A Guilty Conscience?

Chapter 455: Chapter 294: A Guilty Conscience?

Therefore, they were merely retaliating. It was self-defense.

The people of Villain were convinced of this.

"Yes, sir."

"Very good. Get back to work. Oh, right, our distinguished guest wants to visit Saint Simon Tower. You’ll accompany him."

The distinguished guest Brigadier General Douglas mentioned was Sir Gordo.

He had come to Villain as a representative of the Craig Clan.

This was because much of the Mechanical Armor-related equipment used on the front lines came from the Craig Clan.

The relationship was mutually beneficial. Villain not only purchased large quantities of Mechanical Armor but also provided testing grounds and targets for new models.

Live targets.

Simply shooting at inanimate targets couldn’t test certain performance aspects.

After the video incident, Douglas had briefly suspected Sir Gordo might have been involved.

But on second thought, it didn’t make sense. The Craig Clan was in the arms business; it wouldn’t benefit them at all if the war couldn’t continue.

Besides, the terminal Sir Gordo carried was being monitored, and his internet activity showed no irregularities.

"I’ll ensure he’s well taken care of."

The person responsible for receiving this distinguished representative was, of course, Morris.

Everyone knew the two of them got along well.

There were even heaps of fanfiction about the two of them on less-than-reputable novel sites, set in the world of *Beyond Reach*.

Morris had read them.

They utterly disgusted him.

The Zog Group had always had two ways of handling such situations.

If the creators weren’t making a profit, there was nothing to be done. If they were, the options were: one, sue for infringement; or two, allow them to continue writing in exchange for a cut of the profits.

The wishes of the individuals involved were fully respected.

After repeatedly expressing his disgust for that kind of fiction, Morris chose option two.

After all the instructions were given, Morris saluted and turned to leave the office.

"Ahem, uh, one more thing."

Brigadier General Douglas signaled for the others to leave, stopping Morris alone.

"It’s about that video... the one showcasing the positive image of our army."

Morris immediately understood. He was referring to the video where over half the content was the Brigadier General’s "positive" image.

That video had now become the "source of all evil"—a primary well of material for comedy videos.

"The comment section... is there any way to deal with it? It’s having a negative impact on the Villain military."

’He did look at it after all.’

"Curate the comments, sir. You just need to curate the comments."

"Excellent! Haha, the Villain military’s image is saved! But there’s also... well, is there a way to prevent a certain type of video from being uploaded?"

’He didn’t just look at the comments.’

"What kind of video specifically, might I ask?"

Morris asked, feigning ignorance.

"Er, some... not-so-good, vulgar, misleading videos."

"If they violate YouTube’s platform rules, you can report the videos and they’ll be taken down."

"Oh, is that so..."

That night, Brigadier General Douglas didn’t sleep. He spent the entire night on YouTube, nearly wearing out the report button.

Meanwhile, Morris followed his orders and accompanied Sir Gordo to Saint Simon Tower, a place that was considered a tourist attraction of Augustine City decades ago, but was now considered an attraction of Villain.

It was truly amazing. Although the Villain Kingdom had always claimed to be on the side of justice, a lover of peace acting in self-defense...

...the pacifist nation of Villain had somehow expanded its territory more and more over the years through this "self-defense."

The tower was nearly three hundred years old and appeared somewhat dilapidated, having been ravaged by the fires of war.

Morris accompanied Sir Gordo and Lady Roline to the top of the tower.

Morris couldn’t have gotten Gordo to the top of the tower on his own.

"There are no listening devices here," Lady Roline said coldly.

Morris had always thought Lady Roline wasn’t very talkative. At least, that’s how she always was whenever he met her.

He had no idea how two quiet people like Gordo and Roline managed to communicate when they were together.

’Good thing they have me.’

’If it weren’t for me, Morris, livening things up, this little family would fall apart sooner or later.’

"How was the reaction to the video?"

Morris asked eagerly, now that he knew they weren’t being monitored.

He was the one who had filmed the video, but he hadn’t uploaded it, which was why his cover wasn’t blown back in the office.

He truly hadn’t been lying.

And Gordo hadn’t uploaded it either; he knew his terminal was being monitored.

The biggest reason the video could be released to the public was, in fact, Roline.

This Spider Elf, in addition to being a concert musician, a variety show star, a guest actress, and the queen of the Zor City State, had another, very important identity.

She was a Legendary Mage.

She was one of the few beings on this Continent who could, without a terminal, connect directly to the Divine Remains through prayer and then use Illusion Mimicry to brute-force a simulation of YouTube.

The process was as follows: Morris would bring the Magic Crystal Stone containing the footage to Roline.

Roline would save it in her private space.

Then she would contact Morris’s younger brother, Little Morris, who would download the video from Roline’s space and handle the region-specific uploads.

Morris didn’t consider himself to be "committing treason." In fact, he saw himself as a staunch patriot.

But his love was not for the Emperor.

If the Emperor was leading the country down the wrong path—for example, by supporting Villain—then he had a responsibility to correct that mistake.

Although his own power was insignificant, he would do what he could, however little that might be.

Showing people in other places this war, which was devoid of all honor and justice, was the most he could do.

He hoped that international pressure could stop the war from continuing.

As for Gordo, he got involved because he had always been an anti-war activist who detested his family’s business. He saw this as part of his atonement.

As for Lady Roline, she was lovesick. Whatever Sir Gordo wanted to do, she would do.

She was also a bit of a yandere; if Sir Gordo ever thought of betraying her, he would probably be facing a dead end.

"The reaction has been huge. It’s already the first video on YouTube to break ten million views," Sir Gordo replied.

"Over a dozen merchant guilds have spoken out, calling for an end to their commercial partnerships with the Villain Kingdom. Some Adventurer Corps have also announced they will become volunteer soldiers to help the Augustine City State, and many places have seen protests against Villain."

Even the most warlike races of Feilin were against targeting civilians in war.

Villain’s actions had truly sparked public outrage.

"Good. That’s really good. But it’s not enough."

In Morris’s view, larger organizations needed to step up and oppose Villain.

Even just speaking out would be something.

Villain was not large, nor was it rich in natural products; its resources were highly dependent on imports.

If more organizations severed their partnerships with them... War was fought with money and resources. This would leave them with no resources to use.

If the Emperor of Loman had any sense left, he wouldn’t continue to support Villain under these circumstances.

If Loman had to provide all the resources, how much money would that burn through?

Even if not for justice, he would have to call for a truce for the sake of cost-effectiveness.

"Things will get better," Sir Gordo said. "We have to let this continue to ferment. Not everyone watches YouTube. The media on newspapers and Demon Vision will start to follow up on this soon. Then everyone will know."

"I hope so. I’ll gather the footage for the next video as soon as possible."

"Don’t be in such a hurry. They’ll definitely be watching you. It’s better to wait."

Sir Gordo didn’t want Morris to get himself caught. The best outcome would be to find an opportunity for him to leave the Loman Empire, but unfortunately, Morris himself was unwilling.

After the tour, Morris returned to his work.

Helping Villain shoot a slew of videos explaining how the war started from their perspective.

The root of it all was blamed on a surprise attack by the Augustine resistance.

Therefore, they were only counter-attacking. They were the victims, the righteous side. People from other countries should support them, and anyone who opposed them was also a terrorist.

The content was generally along those lines.

What Morris couldn’t understand was that there was actually a group of people who believed this narrative.

He couldn’t help but marvel at the diversity of species.

But his mood had been quite good recently.

Although he couldn’t get outside news firsthand, judging by Brigadier General Douglas’s mental state, the reaction was indeed growing stronger and stronger.

Until one day, the Brigadier General announced that, by order of the Emperor, a safe zone would be established in the Augustine City State to provide medical aid and basic survival supplies, explicitly stating that they would only attack armed personnel.

Morris felt as though he could see a glimmer of hope.