国产午夜亚洲精品AⅤ

Chapter 121

I was thinking of going directly to each member’s class if no one was there, but then the door opened. The club room, although significantly smaller than I expected, was still considerably large, probably because it belonged to Royal Class students.

Three individuals were seated around what appeared to be a meeting table. The one who had come to open the door was a male student who looked like a senior.

“Are you... Reinhart?”

“Yes, I am.”

I was about to go in and start yelling at them and demanding to know what they were up to when suddenly, my mind went blank.

The faces of the other people were covered in shadow, and there among them sat someone else, who was unmistakably not a member of the club.

“... Reinhart.”

Charlotte, who was propping her chin with her right hand, had taken up a prominent seat, and was looking at me with disdain.

She sighed, then continued, “I knew you’d come in person.”

She shook her head, clearly having predicted that me, with my temperament, would show up personally.

***

The seniors maintained a solemn atmosphere, all of them keeping their mouths tightly shut. I sat opposite Charlotte.

‘What’s she doing here?’

“Why are you here?”

“... I came because I knew for a fact that you would create a huge scene here if I didn’t stop you.”

“Oh.”

Charlotte had already anticipated my actions.

‘Hey, to be fair, I initially tried to restrain myself, you know. I didn’t want to come, and only ended up here because Harriet kept provoking me!’

... In any case, Charlotte had read me correctly—I had indeed shown up.

She’d read the situation and knew that this was going to happen, and so she came here in advance, anticipating that I would get angry and cause trouble with the seniors. It was kind of creepy how accurately she had read the situation.

The seniors seemed frozen, taken aback by the sudden visit from the princess. Charlotte, looking at the monthly newsletter that was on the table, wore a subtle smile.

“Of course, I’m also here because the story in the magazine played out differently from what I’d expected, given what I’d said in my interview, which made me wonder why.”

When they heard that, all three seniors visibly flinched. Despite the fact that Charlotte was very much their junior, all three of them seemed like mice before a cat.

Anyway, were there really only three members of this club? I guess it made sense, since there were so few students in the Royal Class itself.

Charlotte smiled, making eye contact with each one of them.

“Seniors, I believe I mentioned in the interview that Reinhart was a good friend. It seems that the contents of your article contradict that, doesn’t it?”

She was scary when she had a stern face, but her smile was also quite terrifying in its own way, especially in the context of what she was saying. It was a different kind of threat compared to Vertus.

In response to Charlotte’s comment, which sounded more like an interrogation, the person who seemed to be the club president opened his mouth.

“W-Well, in that case... When we compiled the interviews... From the contents of the interviews with the first-year students, it seemed like they were afraid of Reinhart... So we focused on the unspoken details.”

“Ah, so you mean to say your article is mere speculation, and that your assertion that Reinhart might be bullying his peers is based on what was implied between the lines?”

“It’s not speculation. We judged it to be almost factual, and that’s why we wrote it...”

The difference in tone with which each of them spoke was so extreme, and the fact that the senior was speaking so much more politely to a junior student was jarring.

“So, in your article, you basically chose to present things based on uncertain reasoning over the certain facts?”

“N-No, that’s not it! We—”

Charlotte, still smiling, cut the club president off. “In any case, what I said in my interview, where I spoke of Reinhart as a diligent student and good friend, was completely ignored, correct?”

Clearly she was implying that completely ignoring what the imperial princess said in an interview was a greater crime than slandering Reinhart.

‘So scary... Sometimes you’re even scarier than Vertus!’

“W-Well, that... that...”

“Of course, I agree that Reinhart only gets along with female students, and because he riled up various incidents at the beginning of the semester, he was indeed labeled as a troublemaker.”

‘Wait, you’re going to agree with them suddenly? And if you’re going to talk badly about me to them, you might as well just say to my face!’

“Since then, however, he hasn’t really caused any problems, and I don’t think Reinhart is crazy over girls or anything like that. Reinhart simply maintains healthy relationships with his peers.”

Was she complimenting me or insulting me? I couldn’t tell...

Anyway, Charlotte had come to the club room in advance—anticipating that I might appear personally and turn things upside down—to take control of the situation. The fact that she had made the first move probably meant she was worried about me.

I felt grateful, but also a little awkward, knowing that Charlotte still considered me a crazy troublemaker.

“I believe it’s very wrong to slander an individual student given such uncertain information.”

That I was being defamed was not the only issue here. This club , despite being a student-level club, regularly published a monthly newsletter. Although it was more akin to pseudo-journalism, Charlotte seemed unable to tolerate the fact that they were writing their articles to promote an agenda rather than reporting the actual facts, while still pretending to be unbiased reporters.

The seniors listened to her, their expressions more tense than if a teacher was scolding them.

“I don’t know why you targeted Reinhart for such an article, but since you’ve done so, there has to be some precedent for it. I’m sure you’ve done something similar in the past as well.”

Charlotte glanced towards the president, sending him a signal. “The previous publications are archived somewhere, right? I’d like to see them.”

“Uh, ah... Uh... Okay...”

This scene made it clear to me that both the princess and the prince did not adhere strictly to the Temple’s rules.

Although equality was a principle at the Temple, the highly-esteemed princess showed no hesitation in basically issuing commands to these fourth-year seniors, even though it had been nominally framed as a request.

The club president handed over the archived copies of “Monthly Royal Class” to Charlotte, and she invited me to sit by her side to look through the previous publications together. Charlotte seemed intent on determining if these guys had slandered or spread false rumors about anyone else without proper grounds, just as they had done with me.

If Charlotte deemed that this club was crossing the line, I wondered if she would do whatever it took to shut down the club.

Rustle... Rustle...

“Hmm... This is a regular publication that’s only distributed within the Royal Class, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Do many people read it?” Charlotte asked as she continued to look through the previous issues.

“Um... To be honest, hardly anyone reads it... Some do when there’s a trending issue, but...—”

“Honestly, even then, people tend to read the Temple Times, a weekly publication done by a larger club, rather than ours,” interjected another senior when the president hesitated.

These guys seemed to have an accurate assessment of their publication’s value. The club president glared at the other senior who had abruptly joined in the conversation, as if questioning why he’d brought up such pointless information. It appeared there was still some pride left in him.

“So, your newsletter isn’t sought after unless someone is curious about the internal news of the Royal Class. And since yours is a monthly publication, those who want to keep up with news within the Temple prefer to read the Temple Times, a weekly publication by a larger club, rather than this one.”

“Y-Yes. Since they have more manpower, we can’t compete with them in terms of the quality and amount of information.”

Although their publication was published monthly, no one actually read it. When it came to reading newsletters, people chose to read the weekly newsletter that was produced by a much larger group of people. It was only logical.

Monthly Royal Class was even less than a third-rate tabloid or yellow journalism[1], simply because it wasn’t even being read in the first place.

In this case, people might only pick it up if they happened to wonder, “Who the heck is this Reinhart guy from the Royal Class?”

It seemed like nearly all the first-year students had read this edition of the monthly magazine, since Reinhart was being covered. Seniors, along with those who either disliked me or were curious about me, were likely to read this publication as well.

Charlotte let out a sigh.

“That’s a relief, then. The contents of your newsletter are nothing but speculative reporting and conspiracy theories based on circumstantial evidence. It would be a disaster if people started to believe this nonsense indiscriminately...”

As Charlotte browsed through the articles with her eyes, her breath suddenly caught. She had frozen while staring at an article from last month’s publication, the May issue.

The Imperial Capital Attack: Why Did It Happen?

The attack on the imperial capital, presumed to be the work of demons, caused great turmoil in the imperial society and throughout the empire. The incident is assumed to be the act of remnants from the Demon Realm, and though there have been announcements of ongoing pursuits, there has been no news regarding any clues of who the attackers are, or the capture of any of them, even after a whole month. Despite this, we have not begun to ponder over some of the fundamental questions that we ought to be asking. Aside from the attackers’ identities and purpose, we intend to deliberate on a few questions that the authorities have not addressed.

The incident occurred at night, taking advantage of the fact that the citizens of the imperial capital would all have been in deep slumber at such a late hour. The attackers clashed with the Order of the Holy Knights, and, as it has been reported, they took control of a warp gate in front of the temple of the Order of the Holy Knights and escaped.

But why was a main force of the Order of the Holy Knights outside that evening? The Order has not made any comment about this. They merely claimed to have been attacked, without offering any explanation as to why an elite unit of such scale was roaming outside the Order’s premises at night. This question needs to be examined.

.

.

Therefore, we can reasonably conclude that it is necessary to ponder over whether a real reason exists behind the demon attack on the Order of the Holy Knights, beyond it just being a random assault.

Charlotte remained silent as she read the article.

“Why were the elite forces of the Order of the Holy Knights fully armed and wandering outside at night? Could they have been on a secret mission that required them to be outside during those hours?

“Why were there no casualties despite the massive scale of the attack, and why had the attackers only escaped through a warp gate? If it was an assault, shouldn’t they have scouted out a different location? What did the demons aim to gain by attacking the elite forces?”

The article pointed out numerous suspicions, and suggested that there was another truth that the readers were not aware of.

Although it was all just speculation, the tone of the article made it sound as though the existence of this untold truth was based on facts, and that, if revealed, would be a significant scandal for the empire.

Charlotte looked at each member of the club with a stern expression.

“... You guys are really courting disaster, aren’t you?”

“Do you guys really want to vanish from this world?” Charlotte seemed to imply.

Naturally, Charlotte was furious.

“Wow... I’m just glad no one has been reading this until now. Do you guys think this is acceptable behavior, just because you are students of the Temple’s Royal Class? This is not only defamation of the Order of the Holy Knights, but also of the royal family! Be thankful that no one has taken issue with this kind of baseless and speculative article until now!”

Charlotte was truly angry, for her to be raising her voice in front of the seniors.

However, I completely understood the real reason behind Charlotte’s anger. This article had made deductions that came uncomfortably close to a truth that both the royal family and the Order of the Holy Knights was trying to hide. Essentially, it was calling out something rotten for being rotten.

Charlotte’s anger stemmed not from this, but from the fact that the lives of the writers could be endangered if people who paid close attention to these unfiltered articles realized this.

It was as if she was asking if they had a death wish.

Everyone in the room was trembling in fear of the princess’s extreme anger, and I was no exception.

‘Noona, you’re scaring me!’

Charlotte did not stop scolding them while she looked through the other past issues.

“All these are full of rushed-out articles crammed with speculation and false information! What’s this nonsense about there being demon worshippers of the Demon God Cult within the Temple, a revolutionary force within the Temple, and a magic society infiltrating the Temple? Really, it feels like you write about whatever comes to mind?! And wow, these aren’t even worth mentioning. Ghosts in the Temple? What’s the reason for even reporting on such things?”

Suddenly, I was faced with a problem.

[New Event Update - Revolutionary Force]

[Details: There are rumors about a revolutionary force within the Temple.]

[Objective: Discover the truth behind the rumors.]

[Reward: 300 Achievement Points]

[New Event Update - Magic Society]

[Details: There are rumors about a secret magic society infiltrating the Temple.]

[Objective: Discover the truth behind the rumors.]

[Reward: 300 Achievement Points]

[New Event Update - Ghosts of the Temple]

[Details: There are rumors about ghosts within the Temple.]

[Objective: Discover the truth behind the rumors.]

[Reward: 300 Achievement Points]

Three events were suddenly triggered.

‘Is this place an event vending machine or what?’

“And what’s this now? A demon spy inside the Temple? Not even in the imperial capital, but in the Temple? Really? The Temple is protected by a barrier that blocks demons. How could a demon infiltrate that?”

[New Event Update - Demon Spy of the Temple]

[Details: There are rumors that there’s a demon spy within the Temple... Oh, it’s just you.]

[Objective: Lol... my bad... XD...!!]

[Reward: ┌∩┐(￣▽￣)┌∩┐]

[The event ‘Demon Spy of the Temple’ has been canceled.]

‘Oh my god. Is this scumbag trolling me again?’

Charlotte shook her head, seemingly deciding that these matters could not be ignored any longer. A fire of determination burned in her eyes.

‘... A demon spy, huh. Perhaps this club is actually only able to tell the truth.’

Charlotte seemed dumbfounded, flipping through the publications with a bewildered chuckle.

“And what in the world is this now...?” Charlotte uttered.

“Um, Ch-Charlotte. W-Why don’t you stop and take a break?” I suggested.

‘Stop it! I don’t want to be flooded with any more events!’

1. Yellow journalism is a style of reporting that focuses on sensationalism over facts. ☜