Darkstone Code

Chapter 1261 - 1259: Everyone Must Sacrifice

Early the next morning, everything people had speculated appeared in the newspapers.

The mere fact that the newspapers dared to report on this incident itself was quite interesting.

Lynch had bought all the morning papers issued in the Imperial Capital, and most of them reported on the brawl between the nobles within the Secretariat, even detailing why both sides were fighting, and to what extent.

Unexpectedly, there were reporters hiding outside the Secretariat at the time, capturing the scene with their cameras, and these pictures became the front-page headlines.

Some of them were images of injured nobles, with Kipling curled up on the ground being kicked aggressively by Lynch and the young Count, a photo that appeared in several newspapers.

Lynch looked at the picture of himself; he indeed looked handsome, as always charming and dashing, even in a fight.

The news that shouldn’t have appeared in the papers was thus revealed without any concealment; there must be something hidden behind it!

Perhaps it’s... a conspiracy.

One of the basic elements of authority is distance; if this distance is lost, authority becomes less authoritative.

For example, people have considerable awe for the authority of law enforcers, but lack sufficient awe for their own friends, even if their friend is a law enforcer.

This is what’s brought by distance.

Distance doesn’t refer to the physical distance between people; a person can have a feeling of distance from many things in the world.

The "distance" mentioned here actually refers to behavioral manner.

When a wolf sees a dog that resembles a wolf eating feces, it certainly feels a distance, knowing that the creature is definitely not a wolf.

The same goes for when people find out that nobles also fight due to some conflicts, and fight fiercely; the sense of distance and mystery disappears.

Oh, it turns out nobles are pretty much the same as us commoners, there’s no real difference!

This is what these reports bring!

"Were there similar reports before?" Lynch casually asked while eating breakfast.

He spent the night at the young Count’s manor, mainly because the young Count clung to him, eager to say something; the kid was just too excited.

After being bullied for so many years, he finally gained some relief; in his world, Lynch was the man holding up the sky, great and radiant!

The young Count was devouring his breakfast, and Gafura’s breakfast had slightly more specialties compared to the Federation’s, with various fish-based foods and cheese being essentials on the table.

As well as various small dishes, which made it unlike the simple ordinary Federation breakfast.

On the table, Lynch could see cooked fish, raw fish, pickles, and various other things.

The young Count liked to squeeze some lemon juice on a piece of raw fish and then sandwich it in a bun, stuffing it into his mouth; the way he enjoyed it was as if he was eating something particularly delicious.

What a naive young man!

Lynch’s question prompted the former Countess and the young Count to ponder the matter, and ultimately both shook their heads.

The former Countess had interacted with the nobility for a longer time than the young Count, and she understood some things better.

"Noble scandals rarely appeared in newspapers before, only those particularly special scandals would..." She thought for a while and then mentioned some incidents to Lynch.

From these incidents, Lynch discovered that every noble scandal exposure seemed to have a very clear purpose.

Except for the few that got exposed, most other scandals were basically dealt with internally within the Secretariat.

Moreover, Gafura is a country centered on authority, where what can be reported and what cannot depends not on the publishers.

This is different from the Federation, where if people can uncover a President’s scandal, it might become the front-page headline overnight, thanks to the fake liberty of news and the fake equality of all in Federation Society, giving fairness to Federation citizens.

If the President made a mistake, they too must face punishment just like us, so in the Federation, from a city legislator to the President, they don’t give the populace any sense of distance, and people dare to criticize certain political ideas in front of them for their immaturity.

Someone even took the President to court!

But in Gafura, this is not allowed; nobles are just nobles, even if they make mistakes, it’s their own business, and ordinary people have no need to know the process or the result.

So these overwhelming reports immediately gave Lynch the idea that someone was pushing these matters behind the scenes.

"These reports... have problems?" The young Count finally noticed the anomaly after swallowing his food.

The mother and son at the table simultaneously looked at Lynch; Lynch played a very important role, he nodded slightly and picked up a newspaper, "I heard the Secretariat has some plans about the governance after overthrowing the Imperial Family..."

The former Countess paused for a moment, looking at Lynch, "Need me to heat up the soup?"

She was asking if she should excuse herself.

In Gafura, women’s status is very low, much lower than in the Federation, and naturally, when men discuss important matters, women are expected to excuse themselves appropriately.

The traditional thinking is that women cannot distinguish which is important news and which is not, coupled with society’s stereotypical biases about women being vain and liking to show off, considering women often as the key to leaking secrets.

So the former countess intended to leave, but Lynch stopped her.

He was from the Federation, a place where the women’s rights movement is highly developed!

"Thanks, but no need." He continued to steer the topic back to the previous issue, "The aristocrats want a firm grip on the power to rule this country, which is exactly contrary to our overthrow of the Imperial Family."

"What we need is a more enlightened governing body that can keep pace with global development, has enough leadership capability, and can lead the entire country to new glory."

"But the aristocracy clearly does not belong to this kind. Once class solidifies, power solidifies, it will lead to absolute corruption and backwardness."

"Some people should see this, so they want to break the populace’s ’dependence’ on the aristocracy. When people no longer think aristocrats are unattainable, they will actively take on more responsibility."

"Those citizens of the Empire, the commoners!"

Lynch’s words were full of political elements, and the former countess and the young count were immersed in thought.

Lynch hesitated a bit as he picked up a dinner roll, tore off some, put a bit of marinated raw fish together, and took a bite.

Just a small bite.

To be honest, the taste wasn’t very good. This fish might inherently lack any fishy flavor, or the spices in the marinated process might have covered up the fishy smell, so it actually didn’t have any special fishy flavor.

It was like eating a piece of slightly cooled fat, overall very average.

After waiting for about two minutes, the former countess came back to her senses.

Through eye contact, Lynch knew she had understood his meaning.

The young count was a bit later, but he almost figured it out too, his expression was subtle, "This time, not only the Imperial Family will be knocked off the pedestal... "

Lynch gave him a very affirmative response, "Yes, even the aristocrats will be dethroned. Maybe soon we will usher in a system where nobles and commoners govern together!"

As a noble, the young count’s mindset was slightly uncomfortable, he was a noble and proud of his noble identity.

In the past, he endured weights that shouldn’t be borne at his age to support this identity, to uphold the dignity of the aristocracy.

Now suddenly hearing Lynch say that the nobility might also suffer terrible blows, he felt a bit dazed for a moment.

When a person loses some sort of support, it will be like this.

Luckily, he was very young, and he recovered quickly.

"Then in the future... the privileges we hold... "

Lynch shook his head, "You’ve mistaken something. Privileges aren’t something aristocrats naturally possess, they’re granted to them by the Imperial Family."

"When the Imperial Family becomes symbols of good fortune, the privileges aristocrats hold will naturally be reclaimed, and aristocrats will gradually fade from the political stage."

"In the future, more ordinary people will step foot in, perhaps even the Prime Minister will ultimately come from among ordinary people."

"However, if you have enough ability to gain people’s recognition, I believe you still have a chance."

Lynch said with a smile, "This is just a somewhat extreme idea, perhaps this process will be very lengthy, but for now, Gafura is still controlled by the nobility."

"To bring about change, this will take a lot of time, not something that can be completed within one or two years."

"But...," he threw the newspaper in his hand back onto the table, "the devaluation of aristocratic value and status will continue unabated!"

The young count let out a heavy sigh after hearing this, these matters were too weighty, he could do nothing but sigh.

After a while, he asked, "So is there any good news?"

He looked at the sumptuous breakfast in front of him, "I feel a bit queasy."

Lynch laughed heartily, "Of course there’s good news, for instance, after we dealt with those people, we don’t need to pay any price anymore!"

"Fight in the Secretariat will become the norm, you need to start training your body."

"I hear you’re always playing with girls until late at night, that’s not good for your health, you know what I mean?"

The former countess looked thankfully toward Lynch, for the young count was obsessed with sexual matters that she found hard to speak about, even though she was the mother of the young count.

She always needed to avoid certain things; the young count was still the patriarch of this family, whatever he does, others hardly speak of it.

But Lynch could say it, which is why she felt grateful.

The young count’s face was slightly flushed, Lynch’s gaze was like a knife, he dared not raise his head, pursed his lips, "I think I understand."