A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 154 "The Truth Revealed"

"Many of the gentlemen here are journalists, and they should be aware of the horrific cult attack that occurred yesterday. Because the Order Church has been constantly cracking down on underground cults, these fanatics who worship evil gods launched a last-minute, frenzied attack on the Sacred Heart Cathedral."

After Necker finished speaking, he looked at the priest, who nodded very solemnly and sadly: "My Lord has shown his wrath, and such a heinous incident will never happen again in Valuwana."

"Thank you, and even more so, thank you to our Father, God of Light and Order!" Necker made a mock prayer gesture and continued, "During the paladins' search of the eastern suburbs, they unexpectedly discovered two cultists, one of whom is quite special—he used to be an employee of the Saliana Mining Company!"

Following the minister's finger, the shareholders and reporters began to scrutinize "Salamanda." He was a man as limp as a lump of mud; if not for the armored soldiers supporting him on either side, he would probably have collapsed into a heap.

Although his work clothes were covered in stains, just like him, the huge "Sareanna Mining" logo printed on the rough canvas was still visible—it was the only clothing he could wear to keep warm, so of course he couldn't bear to change it.

"When did you get the job at Saliana Mining?"

"Sir, last winter my family's wheat didn't fetch a good price, so I came here when I heard there was a labor shortage. The smuggler charged me five lifu (a unit of currency) from last November until this January."

"Tell me, was it you who accepted the interview with Mike, the reporter from the Morning Post?" Varon grabbed the miner by the throat. If it weren't for the fact that they were in full view of everyone, he would have definitely punched and kicked this despicable scoundrel.

Lacking the necessary medicine and having endured rounds of brutal torture, Salamanda was on the verge of a mental breakdown. When his neck was grabbed, he thought he was about to be beaten again, and tremblingly replied, "Yes, yes, at that time."

Varen wanted to control the conversation, so he waited for the other party to say "yes" before pressing further: "Who instructed you to frame the company?"

Given Salamanda's limited education, she didn't understand the word "framing" and could only continue with what she was about to say: "I was out of money then, and the reporter gave me three bills. River's."

Necker felt that Varen was getting a little too excited. Seeing his chest heaving like a bellows and his face flushed sickly, he frowned and took control back.

"Fellow journalists, please take a look. Mr. Mike from the Morning Post is accusing the mining company of ruthlessly firing a miner because he lost his limbs in an accident. How pathetic!"

Necker gestured to the detainees to raise Salamanda's hands so everyone could see that the cultist had perfectly healthy hands and feet.

"This shows that it's completely inconsistent with the facts! The company discovered his misconduct during his employment and fired him, but at the time they didn't expect him to be a cult member!"

The reporter was practically writing in his notebook until it was smoking. Regardless of the truth of the matter, the story was exciting enough: a righteous whistleblower had actually colluded with a cult to frame the kingdom's largest company, causing huge losses.

"So, Michael, is it true that your company received foreign gold and ore?" After the exposé, other reporters also verified that other trading companies were indeed transferring raw materials to the metallurgical plant.

"I'll answer that question." Varon had calmed down and was suppressing the urge to cough as he answered the reporter's question: "The metallurgical plant has a huge designed capacity, but the mining of gold in the secondary plane is a process of gradually increasing production. During this trial operation period, some of our metallurgical departments will have some production lines idle."

Therefore, in the first few months, in order not to waste production capacity, we took on some processing work for imported gold and other metals until the ore production in the secondary plane stabilized.

Therefore, the above are all open and reasonable business practices. We never expected that malicious conspiracy theorists would misinterpret them as meaning that none of our gold is produced in the secondary dimension. Please rest assured that the percentage of imported gold and the amount of profit generated will be disclosed in our financial statements.

The subsequent stage performance was given by the accompanying priest. Although this faithful servant of God had never attended a press conference before, his experience in preaching allowed him to handle the situation with ease. He revealed many details of last night's operation and attack, as well as how Salamanda and the cult's key members were captured.

He choked up as he recounted how a paladin bravely sacrificed himself to eradicate the root of evil and returned to God's kingdom, moving everyone in the audience.

A holy and steadfast voice echoed for the first time in this land of wealth and restless hearts: "Therefore, I hope that whether you are brothers and sisters who believe in my Lord, or the people of the entire Holy Kingdom, or the shareholders of your companies, we should all unite firmly and not fall into mutual suspicion and harm because of evil conspiracies and instigations."

His sincere and skillful preaching—or rather, his speech at the press conference—convinced most people of the truth woven together by the finance minister, the company's general manager, and the priest of the Order Church.

Cough cough cough. The press conference had just ended at noon, and everyone else had left. The stock trading hall was even more chaotic than usual. Valen coughed and bent over, looking around for something.

Donkey skin! He was so excited when he received the letter that he kept clutching the donkey skin in his left hand. Only after everything was over did Varon realize that his left hand was suddenly empty.

He suddenly froze. A small, seemingly fragile donkey hide lay on the ground, its surface, smaller than a holly leaf, stained with shoe prints.

The crisis at Sareanna Mining Company appears to have been resolved, and the donkey hides have indeed shrunk again.

My life! My life!

Varan practically crawled to grab it; his coughing made the young man unable to straighten up, so he could only kneel on the ground and weep bitterly.

In the study room, Rorschach was supposed to discuss his new paper with his advisor, but Cano was busy, so he simply sat down and read the newspaper on his desk.

"Is this priest really stupid or was he bribed? Is he using the church to endorse a mining company?" Luo Xia was shocked by the news report that had taken such a dramatic turn in just one day. However, what he was holding in his hand was not the morning paper—the entire newspaper had been shut down, sealed off, and was under investigation for allegedly colluding with a cult.

"Ha, Deplesi's been too busy to even manage his own men." Cano dismissed it, continuing to write in beautiful cursive script with his quill pen.

Due to the city-wide noise, coupled with the unexplained supernatural factors, many of our apprentices have reported experiencing symptoms such as tinnitus, dizziness, and nausea. The Magic Guild is deeply concerned and seriously worried about this.

Luo Xia continued reading the newspaper. Yesterday's press conference lasted all morning, during which all trading was suspended. After the market reopened in the afternoon, the mining company's stock successfully stopped falling, but it did not rise until an hour before the market closed. A mysterious force violently pushed up the stock price, bringing it back to the level before the "cult journalist case" occurred.

"It is said that our King was furious and offered a reward for the remnants of the Mother Earth Cult, and took the opportunity to introduce the 'Truth of the News Law': all newspapers will be subject to stricter review from now on, and the Royal Palace will have the right to revoke the publication license of newspapers that publish false information at any time."

All newspapers are subject to random checks by the Royal Palace, and journalists and editors found to have published false information will be held accountable. As for who determines the veracity of the content, it is, of course, His Majesty the King himself, the most wise and enlightened ruler, and the gentlemen he authorizes.

"There's a whitelist too?" Rorschach discovered that some newspapers were exempt from random checks—the Order of Radiance, the Valuwa Long Spear, and the Elemental Truth. The first two were the mouthpieces of the church and the royal palace, respectively, while the Elemental Truth was only circulated within the magic guild and not distributed to the public.

(End of this chapter)