Chapter 161: The Arrival of the New King
Chapter 161: The Arrival of the New King
"Good morning..."
The next day, Loren once again woke up around noon. Since he had burned down the newspaper office yesterday, there was no paper to read today, but even without looking, Loren could guess the content.
By now, everyone should know what happened in the Canaan Kingdom. However, if Loren hadn't reformed the newspaper office, this incident most likely wouldn't have been reported.
If a few Plague Envoys died, the newspaper could use that to morally pressure the Bountiful Church, stir up public sentiment, and get uninformed people to side with them.
As long as you control the narrative, even the most heinous perpetrator can be turned into a pitiful victim. Everyone only knows they got beaten up, but not why they were beaten.
Loren recalled a video he saw in his previous life. The footage showed a bird desperately attacking a cat, despite the overwhelming difference in strength.
Because the mother bird's children had all been brutally killed by that cat.
Yet the comments section was completely one-sided, filled with furious condemnation of the mother bird for bullying the cat. The mother bird, whose entire family had been slaughtered, became the perpetrator instead, subjected to verbal and written denunciation.
That's the importance of controlling the narrative.
However, this time was different. What Canaan Kingdom lost wasn't just a few soldiers, nor just a few dead Plague Envoys. Their army was massacred, and even an Angel had fallen.Even for the most powerful Holy Flame Empire, this would be an absolutely devastating loss.
If these events were reported, it wouldn't benefit Canaan Kingdom. Previously, reporting the deaths of Plague Envoys only gave Canaan Kingdom a pretext for action. This time, it would only make Canaan Kingdom appear genuinely weak, boosting others' prestige.
Once other ambitious nations caught the scent of blood, Canaan Kingdom's days wouldn't be easy.
To say nothing of others, even the Bardo Kingdom would want to take a bite out of them.
The Church wouldn't participate in ordinary wars. Even if Canaan Kingdom had enough Angels and Plague Envoys, their military forces had suffered real, heavy losses. Meanwhile, thanks to Loren's help, the King of Bardo Kingdom had regained full authority and consolidated their combat strength.
Right now, Canaan Kingdom might genuinely not be a match for Bardo Kingdom.
So Canaan Kingdom would try its utmost to conceal this information. Naturally, Loren wouldn't let them have their way.
"The King of Bardo Kingdom is a good friend of mine. Recently, something happened that made me happy. I'm sure it will make him happy too!"
After saying that, Loren took out paper and pen and began writing a letter. Just then, Luna pushed the door open and entered. She had a key, so she didn't need to knock.
But her expression was strange, as if something had just happened that she found difficult to describe.
"What's wrong, Luna?"
"You should go outside and see for yourself..."
Luna didn't know how to explain, so she could only let Loren see for himself.
Loren felt rather puzzled as he walked toward the door, with Luna following behind him.
Outside the door, an old man wearing a crown was waiting. Behind him stood several young girls dressed in maid uniforms.
Loren spotted a familiar figure among them. No wonder Luna had that expression.
Sylvia (the princess who bullied Luna at the academy) was standing behind the old man. The important part was that she was wearing a maid uniform.
She had clearly seen Luna too. At this moment, Sylvia kept her head down, gripping her skirt tightly. What was happening now was, in her eyes, harder to accept than death.
Their positions had now completely reversed. She used to look down on Luna's background, but now she might end up becoming a maid in Luna's household.
"Master Mentor..."
Since Sylvia was here, the identity of this old man was obvious. He was the new King of Gedlan, that eighty- or ninety-year-old crown prince.
"What was your name again? Never mind, it's not important. I'm asking you, do you even want to be King? If you don't, plenty of others do!"
If the former King was an old lion, this new King was just a hyena that could only scavenge scraps behind the lion. Loren didn't show the slightest respect for the former King, so he certainly wouldn't have a pleasant expression for this one.
"Master Mentor, I am not yet a competent King. I hope you can guide me and point me in the right direction!"
The King directly knelt before Loren. At his signal, the group of maids behind him also knelt together.
"I just heard you were in need of maids. I thought perhaps only princesses would be worthy of serving you. They are all princesses of the Gedlan Kingdom..."
"Midas (the former King) was quite prolific..."
Loren counted. There were six people behind the King, all aged between fourteen and twenty. Midas was even more prolific than Loren had imagined.
Of course, some might be the King's own children, but that was just a possibility. After all, not everyone could still have children past a hundred years old like Midas.
Hearing Loren directly call his father by name, even with a somewhat teasing tone, the King showed no reaction. He knew Loren could genuinely replace him.
"Alright. Seeing your sincere attitude, I'll let you off this time.
"The current Regent is from the Plague Church. Later, have him killed, along with everyone connected to him."
"Master Mentor, this..."
The King raised his head. Loren could see hesitation and difficulty in his expression.
In this regard, he truly couldn't compare to the King of Bardo. If it were the King of Bardo, hearing Loren say this would excite him—another great opportunity to reclaim power.
Indeed, perhaps the Regent's influence was significant and involved many people. But he had Loren's instruction. This was an opportunity, a major one.
Even a pig can fly when standing in a strong wind, but some pigs don't dare to fly even when standing in that wind.
"Sigh... Gedlan truly has no worthy successors..."
Hearing Loren's sigh, the King gritted his teeth and said, "Master Mentor, once I return, I will deal with every single one of them, leaving none behind."
Even though the King answered so decisively, Loren still shook his head. He didn't even realize this was his own opportunity.
"Fine. No wonder you never became King before. Midas wasn't blind either."
Just as the King was on tenterhooks, Loren finally relented, "Go back. I have things to do. Don't disturb me anymore."
"Thank you, Master Mentor."
The King knew he had finally escaped disaster and breathed a sigh of relief as he stood up.
However, those princesses didn't stand up. They were already prepared to become Loren's maids.
Loren gave them a general glance. Their looks were average. As princesses, they probably weren't very dexterous with their hands and feet either, which didn't meet Loren's requirements.
Still, Loren wanted to consider others' opinions.
"Luna, should we keep Sylvia as a maid?"
Sylvia had bullied Luna for so long. This was a good chance for revenge.
Hearing that Loren would actually ask for Luna's opinion, Sylvia immediately became terrified. She had never been so nervous before. Her future hung on Luna's next words.
"Forget it. I've already beaten her up. Now she's also isolated. I think that's enough."
Luna wasn't someone who held grudges for long. Besides, with Loren having spoken, others had to isolate Sylvia. Before, their parents told them to get close to Sylvia. Now, they were told to stay away from her.
It was only after leaving Gedlan that Loren learned murder was illegal... Just kidding, even after leaving Gedlan, he still didn't know.
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