Fantasy Writers 1860

With simultaneous screening from both sides, the crowd surrounding the editorial department entrance quickly dispersed. Especially those bloodthirsty colleagues, seeing that the situation had been cleverly stabilized and there was no more drama to watch, shook their heads and sighed, then quietly packed up their bags and cameras and left.

As dusk fell, the editorial department was deserted, with only a large number of registration forms piled up on the tables on both sides.

And so the farce seemed to have come to an end.

"There are still so many! I've made up my mind, Mr. Dorian. Since it was your brilliant idea, then this compensation will be deducted from your future royalties!" Clancy looked at the stack of forms in front of him that listed the actual victims.

Dorian: ?

What are you babbling about?

Clancy couldn't help but laugh when she saw Dorian's expression freeze for a moment: "Just kidding, Mr. Dorian."

Clancy can tell the difference between a full meal and a full meal.

Today's crisis isn't entirely a bad thing; according to Dorian's strange way of putting it, it's "both a cause for sorrow and a cause for celebration."

The sadness stems from this unexpected crisis, but the good news is that it demonstrates the growing reach of the Lentinion Weekly, which is undoubtedly related to his novel, The Million Pound Note.

Finding such a talented, unconventional writer is incredibly lucky for our newspaper.

Of course, today's events also made him realize that he had far underestimated the influence of "The Million Pound Note." Just one novel, not even finished yet, had stirred up half of Lontinion into this mess.

This was even Dorian's first novel.

He recalled the previous Dorian and felt that he was a completely different person.

Could it be that he really met Vera, the goddess of memory and art, when he bled himself that day and was enlightened?

Does bloodletting have this effect...?

In short, Clancy now clearly realizes that Dorian is now likely to become a rising star in the literary world, and he certainly can no longer monopolize the spotlight.

One day, he will fly to the vast sky that belongs to him.

She also needed to cultivate a good relationship with him, hoping that in the future he would take care of her "Lentinian Weekly" out of consideration for their past.

Furthermore, on Dorian's advice, the incident was handled quite well. Although a lot of money was lost, more valuable moral resources were gained in return.

This crisis can be turned into sales for the next period.

Don't those in the same industry think the same way?

They brought a camera, just waiting to film themselves in such a sorry state, just waiting to film the police violently driving away the victims.

Fortunately, the result disappointed them.

But it did put itself on a moral high ground.

Anyone with eyes to see can understand how unreasonable these people's demands are, but even in the face of such unreasonable troublemakers, the Lentinian Weekly still chooses to take on its social responsibility and try its best to compensate them.

What kind of spirit is this? This is a great humanitarian spirit! It is a noble sentiment that transcends commercial interests and calculations of gain and loss!

Clancy has even come up with a title for his next commentary: "When fiction shines into the dark side of reality, we choose to pay for goodwill."

He wanted to write about this event in a way that was deeply moving, so that everyone would know that the Lontinen Weekly was not just an ordinary newspaper, but a cultural stronghold full of love and righteousness, and that those who subscribed to the Lontinen Weekly were also full of love and righteousness!

When everything was over, Clancy reviewed the day's events, and the fear and anxiety he had felt vanished, leaving only a strange sense of exhilaration and joy.

Today's events were so interesting, more interesting than all my previous decades combined!

He looked up at the sky; Lentinion in the twilight took on an ambiguous gray-blue hue, and the magic crystal lamps began to light up one by one, spreading a hazy halo in the humid air.

In this strange sense of pleasure, even the way they looked at Dorian became somewhat intense.

Dorian shuddered and turned to Inspector Reid: "Inspector, out of all those people today, did you manage to identify any of them as members of the Immaculate Dawn Order?"

"No, not a single suspicious sign." Inspector Lesder looked at the magic crystal lights that lit up on the street not far away. "We can only hope for the key witness that Miss Lily mentioned. I already arranged for people to go back and protect her during the day."

"The right decision," Lily said.

And so, everyone said their goodbyes at the magazine office entrance, and Inspector Lesder got into his carriage and headed to the police station.

He planned to visit that valuable witness right now.

Miss Lily said that arranging for someone to protect her was the right decision, and it was indeed so. If the cult really had any big plans, this could bring about unstable factors that they would definitely have to deal with.

Physical elimination is undoubtedly the most efficient method of disposal.

However, as soon as he got out of the car at the police station, he realized that his correct decision had come too late:

"Detective, Ms. Maryse Hall was already...already dead when we arrived! The cause of death was accidental drowning!"

……

"...When a group of people gathered in front of our newspaper office, holding signs and tearfully accusing the serialized novel of 'inciting' them, demanding that the newspaper pay for their choices. Rationally speaking, the novel is fictional, the words are innocent, and the knife in the perpetrator's hand ultimately stems from the darkness in his own heart. Legally, the newspaper bears no responsibility, but beyond the law, there is the human heart..."

"...We don't know if that novel truly instigated evil. But we do know that after evil, someone is crying. Words are innocent, but we, the people behind the words, have eyes. We have seen the suffering, and we cannot pretend we didn't see it..."

"...This isn't a compromise; it's a choice—a choice to cover cold rules with a layer of human warmth. Kindness won't disappear; it will only echo in unexpected places..."

"...We heard your pain. Even if that pain stemmed from misunderstanding, we are still willing to share it with you. This is a rare gesture, especially in an era where everyone is eager to shirk responsibility and calculate gains and losses..."

"When a novel exposes the dark side of reality, do we choose to pay the price for goodwill... I didn't expect Editor Clancy to be so insightful, this inspirational story is too overpowering..." Dorian looked at the article published in the latest issue of the "Lentinion Weekly".

The publication of Clancy's heavyweight commentary, "When Fiction Shines into the Dark Side of Reality, We Choose to Pay for Kindness," caused Lentinion Weekly's sales to reach new heights, with even Dorian almost missing out on a copy.

Many people learned very quickly about a series of interesting events, such as the victim blocking the door, Inspector Leeds arriving at the scene with a mysterious woman and an advanced magic lie detector, the fraudster being taken away on the spot, and the newspaper generously giving away money.

They all wanted to see more details disclosed by the parties involved.

It has to be said that gossip and rumors are the most widely disseminated information in any era.

Other small and medium-sized newspapers naturally wouldn't miss this huge hot topic and started to follow suit.

Based on Clancy's account in this commentary, some newspapers wrote articles supporting their actions as full of Britannian gentlemanly manners and highlighting the brilliance of humanity; while others wrote articles harshly criticizing them for sensationalism, grandstanding, self-pity, and exploiting the suffering of the victims.

There's another type of newspaper that's the most cunning. One day they'll praise the brilliance of humanity, the next they'll criticize the exploitation of suffering; or they'll collude with other newspapers, publishing daily commentaries to attack each other, inciting their respective readers to buy more newspapers as a sign of support, and then the two owners will split the profits...

In this frenzy, everyone was doing their utmost to ride the wave of popularity. Any newspaper with even a hint of the event would quickly sell out. And this widespread opportunism, in turn, amplified the event's popularity, making it increasingly mainstream.

On the contrary, the book "The Million Pound Note" itself was not discussed much for a while.

Clancy's commentary was like a boulder thrown into a lake, drawing everyone's attention to the peripheral events that occurred that day.

Dorian never expected things to develop this way.

However, this might also be a good thing.

Everyone was discussing these things, which inadvertently pushed them out of the spotlight. No one was delving into whether the novel itself truly "incited" crime.

If people's attention hadn't been drawn away by these things, they might now be the "instigator" being condemned by public opinion.

"So, has Samuel, the most successful conman of all, been caught?" Dorian put down his newspaper.

"Inspector Lesder said he's already sent out posters of Samuel's portrait, but he hasn't caught him yet," Clancy said, squatting on the floor fiddling with the clock in his office.

He is trying to restore the "lie detector" that he hastily put together that day.

The progress is a bit slow. The lie detector has been dismantled into pieces, as has the clock.

"Hey editor-in-chief, why don't you just buy another one?" Dorian completely didn't understand the other person's wasteful behavior.

"We don't have that kind of money now!" Clancy said indignantly. "The newspaper's money was all spent that day!"

"Unless you quickly come up with a new work and start serializing it, our newspaper might not survive this or it will go bankrupt, sob sob..."

Dorian: ?

How can a grown man like you make such a sound?

"No money? You guys have been picking up money from sacks these past few days! Don't think I don't know how much this surge in traffic has boosted your newspaper sales... I'm having trouble buying them!"

"Traffic?" Clancy asked, looking puzzled.

"Yeah, it means hype, generating buzz..." Dorian blurted out a word he couldn't understand in this world in his excitement. "Honestly, I'm using my precious after-get off work hours to come and work for you guys, and you're still here complaining about being broke..."

Dorian is here to write replies to his readers.

Clancy and the editorial team selected the more interesting letters from the readers they received and had Dorian, the original author, personally reply to them. These letters were then published in the reader's letter section of the next issue.

"Why are there still letters that are cursing me? And you even picked out these letters for me to reply to?" Dorian casually picked out one from a pile of already opened letters on the table, which was full of criticism of him from the very beginning.

"These are all very representative viewpoints. For every letter on the table, there are at least dozens more of similar ones lying outside." Clancy continued fiddling with his clock.

How dare you insult me ​​like that? Is your Feng (a nickname for a player) a wholesaler? Let me show you the strength of a 0/5 player from Zaun (a popular online community in Taiwan).

Dorian carefully examined the contents above, then picked up his pen and began to write:

"...You think I've exaggerated the allure of money, defending its nature as the root of all evil. Can I understand that you mean money is the root of all evil because it's alluring? If that's the case, then your wife is also alluring to the rapist, and when the rapist rapes your wife, you don't blame the rapist but blame your wife?"

"...You believe that the plot point of 'the nobles at the banquet pretending to know Henry, automatically filling in his backstory, and creating fictitious stories of their childhood interactions with Henry' is full of insult and mockery towards the nobility. I don't understand; I'm simply describing what they actually did on certain occasions, how is that an insult to them...'"

"Although this letter also criticizes me, the wording is more friendly, and it's well-reasoned and supported by evidence, so it seems like a serious discussion... I'll respond properly then..."

Dorian felt increasingly into the flow of his writing, penning rapidly, and soon he had almost finished writing the reply that Clancy had carefully selected on the table, deeming it necessary for him to write it himself.

As Dorian picked up the last letter, he looked at it the same way as before, but then he noticed something was amiss:

"What's this smell? It seems kind of familiar."

At first, he didn't pay attention and quickly skimmed through the contents of the letter.

This wasn't an immediate attack; it was a normal, friendly fan who thought his work was well-written, interesting, and relatable, and who supported his decision regarding some of his life's challenges.

At this moment, Dorian finally remembered that this smell was the same as the one he had smelled when he went to the Steam Echo in St. James’s District to buy the cane and sword.

He brought the letter to his nose and smelled it, confirming that the smell was indeed coming from the ink on the paper.

I remember the shopkeeper telling me that this ink used some materials from the colonies, which gave it its unique, pleasant fragrance. Because of this, the cost was high, and he didn't sell many.

It seems that the author of this letter must be one of the few wealthy people he mentioned who bought that ink.

Dorian flipped to the end of the letter again and glanced at the signature:

Miles Vaughn

This name seems familiar... I feel like I've seen it somewhere before...

No, no way, it must just be a coincidence of names... Dorian remembered where he had seen this name before.

But this shouldn't be the case.

"Mr. Clancy, do you know where this letter came from?" Dorian held up the letter in his hand.