From Kailolo, Irene learned that when Cezar first took her orders and traveled to the Eastern Kingdoms of the humans through the river-crossing tunnel dug by the dwarves to execute their commercial plans, it had not been smooth sailing.
In fact, it could even be described as extremely difficult.
Although the two sides had signed a peace treaty, the human commoners, influenced by traditional mindsets, still widely feared these fierce-looking beastkin and half-beastkin. Many rulers even used this as an excuse to shut these “guests” from afar outside their city gates.
Even the alcohol they had transported over thousands of miles could not be brought into the cities; they could only trade with merchants right at the gates.
This caused the commercial development plan that Irene had ordered before her deep sleep to fall into a state of anxious stagnation.
Later, left with no other choice and determined to live up to Her Grace's expectations, Cezar selected a group of elites from the Black Knights. He found some books on stealth, disguise, and Polymorph, and put them through a grueling, near-death training regimen based on how rogues, rangers, and assassins were trained...
In doing so, he managed to cobble together a team called the “Paparazzi.” In reality, it was a dragonborn assassin organization composed of professional rogues, assassins, and rangers.
Utilizing the formidable stealth capabilities of its members, the organization successfully infiltrated the Eastern Kingdoms.
After successfully infiltrating the heart of the territory, Cezar began to attempt the first step of the commercial plan according to the materials Irene had left behind: selling newspapers.
He first established a newspaper agency and named it the World Daily, implying that one day, it would spread across the entire world. Then, he arranged for the professionally trained Paparazzi to gather all kinds of gossip and strange anecdotes from all over to publish in the newspaper.
He then sold them at the price of one copper thumb per copy.
But as it turned out, this gossip was not so easy to sell.
The reason was simple: the gossip gathered by the Paparazzi was far too mundane—trivial matters like whose cow had given birth, or whose husband was having an affair.
To the commoners who were already struggling to make ends meet, spending money on such commonplace news was far too extravagant.
As for the nobles, they looked down on this form of entertainment even more.
Consequently, the development of the World Daily ground to a halt, which even made Cezar wonder if there was some issue with the materials Her Grace had given him.
He was originally prepared to skip the newspaper plan altogether and proceed with the next commercial phase.
However, on that very day, the World Daily's Paparazzi accidentally caught wind of a strictly blockaded piece of news.
Namely: “Her Highness the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom has betrayed her faith and thrown herself into the embrace of the Abyss.”
Such explosive news naturally tarnished the glorious image of the Holy Kingdom, a theocratic nation, so it was strictly suppressed. It was impossible for the common folk at the bottom to find out.
After a moment's thought, Cezar decisively took a massive risk and published this explosive news in the World Daily.
As a result, the newspapers sold out completely that day.
It proved that the desire for juicy gossip was hardwired into the fundamental logic of intelligent life. No matter how much the world changed, this nature remained constant.
The high-ranking officials of the Human Kingdoms had always kept news concerning the nobility and the Church strictly under wraps, never leaking a single detail.
This was their way of maintaining the class divide between themselves and the commoners, as well as preserving their own nobility.
Consequently, the common people rarely heard about noble scandals. Suddenly treated to such a massive piece of gossip, their simple minds were profoundly shaken, sparking a massive wave of public discussion throughout the Eastern Kingdoms.
Deep down, people still viewed the matter with skepticism, thinking that this new thing called the World Daily might just be spreading rumors.
To their surprise, the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom herself publicly stepped forward shortly afterward, openly committing various blasphemous acts at a branch of the Church of Light.
The well-informed Paparazzi rushed to the scene immediately upon hearing the news. Using memory crystals, they recorded every moment of Saintess Vina's blasphemy and printed the images onto the newspapers.
The next day, this follow-up news—complete with pictures and undeniable truth—exploded in popularity once again, instantly launching the lukewarm World Daily into a viral sensation.
Because of this, the Holy Kingdom lost all face among the nations. Left with no other choice, they mobilized a massive number of troops to hunt down the runaway former Saintess.
Following this incident, a whole new world seemed to open up for Cezar, and he finally found his true direction.
He had found the selling point of this market.
Mundane gossip, like whose cow gave birth or whose child ran off with whom, was not what people wanted to see.
They wanted to see something fresh, exciting, and unprecedented.
And nothing was fresher or more exciting to them than the scandals of the nobility.
Thus, Cezar began to capitalize on this trend. He had his Paparazzi dig deep into the scandals of various nobles and wealthy merchants. Applying the highly advanced concepts from the materials Her Grace had left behind, they crafted incredibly eye-catching, clickbait headlines.
This absolutely stunned the common folk of the Eastern Kingdoms, who had never experienced such a dense barrage of information, leaving them in a perpetual state of shock.
For a time, buying a freshly printed copy of the World Daily every morning to see what new gossip was on offer became a daily routine across the Eastern Kingdoms.
During this period, many nobles and merchants whose scandals and dirty laundry had been exposed did not hesitate to hire adventurers at high prices in an attempt to eliminate the so-called Paparazzi.
Yet, without exception, none of them ever returned.
Just like that, the World Daily grew bigger and stronger, establishing branches across various Eastern nations on a massive scale.
During its peak popularity, the World Daily even triggered several unexpected incidents that never should have happened.
The most famous of these involved a wise Count in the Rose Empire.
He was extremely fond of this newly born publication. He particularly enjoyed reading the freshly released World Daily over breakfast to indulge in the gossip of other nobles.
One day, invited by a friend, he left his territory to vacation at a manor in a neighboring country.
He planned to return to his county a month later.
To fully unwind, he went out with his friend for a night of revelry as soon as he arrived at the manor, only returning the following morning.
Consequently, while eating breakfast, he opened the World Daily only to see a series of illustrated pictures of his wife and his butler meeting secretly in their garden.
If it had just been that, the Count would probably have merely been deeply disappointed in his wife.
But damn it all, that butler was actually wearing the ceremonial suit that symbolized the Count's status—the very one he only wore to major occasions!
Even more crucially, the Paparazzi member responsible for gathering this intelligence was exceptionally meticulous. He had written down the entire conversation between the butler and the Countess, turning them into speech bubbles annotated next to each picture.
This created an effect akin to a comic strip.
The contents were as follows:
The Countess frowned at the butler and asked, “Why are you wearing the master's clothes?”
Adjusting his collar, the butler assumed a noble posture. He wrapped his arm around the Countess's “slender” waist, patted his head—which was so smooth that a mosquito landing on it would slip off—and licked his lips with an incredibly wicked grin.
“My little sweetie, you don't understand. Since we're looking for excitement, we have to go all the way!”
The Countess smiled bashfully, revealing eight teeth that practically reflected the moonlight. She glanced at the butler who was pretending to be the Count, reached out a shy finger to tap his forehead, and softly teased, “Aren't you afraid that when the master returns and finds out you stole his clothes, he'll kick you out of the county?”
“Why should I be afraid?” The butler gazed affectionately into the eyes of the Countess, who weighed over five hundred pounds. “To tell you the truth, I've had enough of that old geezer. I've already arranged for men to finish him off the moment he returns!”
“When that time comes, won't these clothes be mine anyway?”
Hearing this, a look of mild surprise crossed the Countess's face, which quickly melted into an infatuated smile. She parted her lips and murmured, “You're so saucy...”
Immediately after, the two embraced and engaged in a series of indescribable acts.
...
After reading this report about his wife's infidelity and their plot to murder him and seize his estate, the Count—who had suddenly been thoroughly cuckolded—was...
Furious! He fumed for an entire morning!
He nearly ascended to the heavens on the spot due to a brain hemorrhage.
The noble friend who had invited the Count over was frantic when he saw the old Count foaming at the mouth on the floor, terrified that the Count's body would be cold before the cleric could arrive.
But just then, his graceful wife suddenly mentioned that she had discovered a high-ranking male cleric in her wardrobe.
For some reason, this noble cleric was completely naked, his signature eight-pack abs fully exposed to the air.
According to the cleric, he had received divine guidance and had specifically requested the Pope to use a Great Wish spell to transport him there.
It was just that there was a minor issue with the teleportation, and his clothes hadn't made the trip.
With the situation so critical, no one cared about that detail and immediately rushed him over to save the Count.
Only then was the Count's soul, which had already drifted halfway away, forcibly dragged back.
Upon waking up, the Count said not a word. He drew the ancestral greatsword from his friend's home and took a squad of elite soldiers kindly sponsored by his friend.
Along with a... green hat.
Whipping his horse to full speed, he rushed back to his county overnight.
Just as dawn was breaking, he arrived at his castle...
According to the Paparazzi member who was hiding under the bed to capture the firsthand news:
The Count kicked open his bedroom door in a furious rage, looking as if he had activated Frenzy. Upon seeing the adulterous pair frolicking in bed, his entire face twisted into a purple mess...
The next day, the Countess and her trysting butler were stripped naked, tied around their necks with hemp ropes, and hung from the city gates.
At noon, because the Countess was somewhat overweight, the rope snapped. The five-hundred-pound weight plummeted from the city gates, injuring an innocent passerby...
This incident was naturally recorded in the World Daily as well, and the innocent passerby even received a handsome sum of compensation afterward.
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