Chapter 138

Chapter 138

#138. Level-Capped Omnimaster’s Soft Power Development (4)

Violet quietly left her seat, feeling as though she had completed all her tasks here.

Baker, Holland, and Cardinal Marcus were lost in discussions about loans, while Richard was hyper-focused on the upcoming horse race—not even noticing Violet leaving the VIP Room.

Waaaaaaa!!

The moment Violet stepped out of the VIP Room, the race began.

Even though she had 200 renes riding on it, Violet didn’t even glance at the race, choosing instead to stroll around the racetrack area.

It was a rare day off, but working anyway left her mentally exhausted—she just wanted to go home and collapse into bed.

“Go! Let’s go!!”

“Oh please, Mezhiro! I’ve bet my entire month’s salary on you!”

In the general seating area, a scene similar to that in the VIP Room unfolded.

Everyone tightly gripped their silver and copper betting tickets with anti-counterfeit enchantments, screaming their heads off like maniacs.

“Beer! Buy some beer!”

“Warm rum available too!”

“Hungry folks? We’ve got delicious chicken and fries!”

Young boys and girls wandered around selling drinks and snacks throughout the racetrack.

“Money! Need money? Borrow here!”

“A tad higher interest rate than Arad Capital—just 40%! Cheap! Cheap!”

“Is this how Northern guys want to end things? There are still two more races left, wimps?”

Loan sharks from Lensretian circles could also be seen weaving through the crowd.

These were usually the ones people turned to when they couldn’t borrow from Arad Capital.

“Money! Lend me money! I’ll put up my house as collateral!”

Some bloodshot-eyed, dopamine-addled Lensretians approached these loan sharks.

However, one noticeable difference between the VIP Room and the general seating area became apparent.

“Sir? You need to think about your family. Stop here.”

“What do you care…?! Hiiik?!”

By the loan sharks, there were always priests dispatched by the Lenslet Order.

Though these Order priests were bothersome to the loan sharks, they couldn’t say anything back.

If they resisted even slightly, they might really get killed.

This was the North, where axes still came before the law. Even High City struggled to enforce rule of law, with summary executions and duels being commonplace.

“It seems this brother needs treatment…”

While Lenslet King Ariana created the grand gambling spectacle known as horse racing, she did not wish for Lensretian families to fall apart because of it.

Her monarchy desired its beloved citizens to enjoy leisure within reasonable limits and pay appropriate fees as additional taxes.

To achieve this, the Church, which was essentially one with High City and the state itself, stepped in.

“Oh no! I’m not addicted to horse racing. I’m going home right now! The remaining money will be spent on toys for our kids!”

“That’s for us to judge. For the sake of healthy Lensretian families, we must ask you to come along.”

The Church developed mental spells using divine power.

“No…nooo!”

Most alcohol, gambling, or drug addictions could be cured by these holy spells.

Only, the treatment process involved quite a bit of pain.

Arad, who once witnessed this ritual, shivered and referred to the spell as “brainwashing.”

“Please… I’ve done wrong. Just don’t brainwash me!”

“Oh, so you’re an experienced one? And yet you fell back into gambling? This time, we’ll have to make the brainwashing stronger.”

“Noooooo!”

The term “brainwashing” fit so well that even the Church used it more often than the official name, “Spiritual Salvation.”

Thanks to the strict management by High City and the Church of debts that couldn’t be repaid due to gambling, bankruptcies were surprisingly rare.

‘Truly thorough.’

Violet marveled at the administrative efficiency of High City.

One of the things that shocked her most since coming to the North was the extremely meticulous and centralized administration of the region.

It felt contradictory to the image of the North commonly known to the public.

Aaaaaaaaaaah!!

At that moment, a loud cheer erupted from the stands.

But it was a sigh-laden cheer.

[What is this?! An upset! A major upset has occurred!]

[Horse #7! The one with the lowest winning probability, Silver Ship, is running! It’s leading the pack!]

[Silver Ship! Will it maintain this lead until the end?!]

Through the commentator’s amplified voice, the reason soon became clear.

Horse #7, notorious for being hard to control and thus having the lowest win rate, was inexplicably running smoothly without veering off course.

“?!”

With the situation unfolding like this, even Violet, who had no interest in horse racing, couldn’t help but stop in her tracks and focus on the race.

D-d-d-d-d-d

Her hands trembled slightly as she clutched the golden betting ticket.

‘Surely not… No way…’

She kept denying the reality in her mind.

It didn’t feel real at all.

[Aaaaaaaaaaaah!!]

[Silver Ship! Silver Ship has crossed the finish line FIRST!!!]

[Who on earth placed a straight bet on #7?! This is insane!]

But it was reality.

“!!”

Even the ever-composed Violet couldn’t stop her heart from pounding.

And just like that, another potential candidate for brainwashing was born.

* * *

Until now, the North had been bleak, with survival being the sole value.

People fought to survive, and when they had spare time, they simply worked tirelessly.

Leisure activities, if any, were dice games or card games at bars, or secret gladiatorial matches.

But in this North, diverse forms of leisure culture began to flourish.

“It’s my turn. Draw! Summon Glacier Orc!”

“A Glacier Orc, huh~. Chairman Jin must be having bad deck luck this time? My turn. Normal summon ‘Giant Soldier’! And activate magic card ‘Enhancement’ to boost attack power by 1,000!”

“Indeed? Activate magic card ‘Sacrifice’! Offering Glacier Orc and Dark Wizard as sacrifices, I can special summon a more powerful monster.”

“?!”

“Appear! End of the White Serpent Jormungandr! Summoned in fortress mode onto the field!”

“W-what is this?!”

At the very heart of Arad Workshop,

the office building housing the headquarters of the Arad Group, where Chairman Arad Jin works,

was filled with the festive mood of year-end celebrations, Ariana’s birthday, and festivals alike.

“I’ve won this round, Bishop President.”

“This can’t be… T-this is cheating!”

How about you? Right now, I’m playing a ‘Magic’ card game with Entaire, who’s visiting High City(?).

The name of the card game is King of Leisure. One of Lenslet’s media outlets serializes this magic card game as a manga.

The original was based on Earth’s famous manga and game, Yu-Gi-Oh!

“How is this cheating? The cards I had were clearly inferior to yours.”

“The End of the White Serpent isn’t an inferior card by any means!”

“The summoning conditions for the End of the White Serpent are extremely picky. Count Entaire’s deck using Pluto was far more advantageous!”

Honestly, luck was on my side a bit.

My luck stat beat Entaire’s luck stat, so it counts as good fortune.

But Entaire’s luck stat wasn’t something to scoff at either.

After all, his position as the highest minister and shadow chancellor of the Empire isn’t achieved by ability alone.

Still, why does this guy lack marital luck?

“Hmm… Fine. I admit defeat. Since I’ve come to High City, I should buy some cards to take back.”

Entaire finally accepted his loss gracefully.

He seemed sincere, but what could he do? This is High City, my turf, Arad Jin’s domain. Besides, he has the mission of importing this card game into the Empire.

“Would you consider selling the manufacturing method or equipment for these cards?”

“No. It’s closely tied to the technology used in printing Rensha notes.”

“Tch, guess there’s nothing I can do.”

My firm refusal made Entaire concede immediately. Looks like he was just testing the waters.

“To think cards can shine and move like this… There’s no way anyone could counterfeit them like Rensha notes.”

While shuffling his decks for the next round, Entaire continued to marvel at the cards with obvious curiosity.

“One could say the pinnacle of magical engineering is fully encapsulated in these ‘Magic Cards.'”

“Chairman Jin is the only person who uses magic in such a way. At least in Arcadia.”

The ‘Magic Cards’ currently on the table could, in a way, be considered higher quality than Earth’s card games.

By combining the printing techniques used in Rensha notes with Isabel’s illusion magic enchantments, we ended up creating truly incredible cards.

Not only are they gorgeously detailed and intricate like Rensha notes, but the illustrations on the cards emit light and move.

“In any case, thank you for allowing various mangas and novels, including King of Leisure, to be featured in Bishop Times.”

“What for? It’s not like it’s free.”

“I’m a merchant. I know better than anyone the value of the mangas and novels currently serialized in Lenslet. Considering their worth, that royalty fee is practically nothing.”

“But will you include all the novels and mangas serialized in Lenslet in Bishop Times? If you do, newspapers will lose their function entirely.”

“You don’t need to worry about that. We’ll only feature one novel and one manga in Bishop Times. The rest will be distributed to newspapers affiliated with the Noble Council.”

“If that happens, more imperial citizens will be exposed to the ideologies and opinions promoted by the Noble Council.”

“That’s exactly the plan.”

Entaire flashed a merchant’s greedy smile.

“Will King of Leisure be featured in Bishop Times?”

“Of course.”

“As for mangas, separate printing plates and printers are required. While it’s tough to produce King of Leisure, I can help with manga-specific printers.”

“Ahh, that’s fine. We’ve developed our own printing techniques. We can handle publishing this level of artwork ourselves.”

“Is that so?”

I was slightly surprised by his response.

Mangas are generally published in black and white, but sometimes full color pages are included.

Because of this, I intended to sell a downgraded version of the banknote printing technology to Entaire, avoiding any risk of counterfeit currency.

But Entaire confidently rejected my offer, claiming they could manage.

“Certainly, the quality might be slightly lower than northern newspapers, but it should still be acceptable. Hahaha!”

Seeing Entaire’s confident declaration, I decided to sell the printing plates and machines to the Kingdom Alliance later.

“That’s right.”

‘If counterfeit Rensha notes appear, those two and Bishop Company will be the first suspects.’

Regardless of my previous thoughts, business talk continued from my mouth.

“Mobile Knight Pluto will likely still be difficult in the Empire, right?”

“Yes. The content of the manga negatively portrays both the Empire and the Imperial Church.”

For reference, Bishop Company did not acquire Mobile Knight Pluto. More accurately, they couldn’t.

“Such a shame. Truly…”

‘They could have made great Pluto toys and sold them!’ This message was clearly written all over Entaire’s face.

“So, would it be possible to adjust the content a bit to suit the Empire? We’ll cover the revision costs.”

When I expressed difficulty in localizing the content for the Empire, Entaire partially stood up and proposed an alternative.

“If you can’t, we’ll create a new one based on Mobile Knight Pluto.”

At this rate, if I let him be, he’d probably start making pirate versions too.

“There’s nothing I can do.”

Finally, I chuckled and nodded.

“However, royalties must be paid properly.”

“Of course!”

Since our auto-hunting AI says it’ll handle everything, there’s no reason to oppose.