Fantasy Writers 1860

Chapter 88. "Foolish Wilson"

"My friend—" Clancy sighed, her voice filled with the melancholy of a woman confined to her chambers, "I saw your name in Bentley Weekly."

Dorian held his coffee cup, took a leisurely sip, and said calmly, his expression unchanging: "Oh?"

Just two weeks ago, I could only stand and drink coffee in cheap cafes, but now I can sit in a high-end cafe by the river.

It's truly moving.

"Of course, I know our contract has been fulfilled, and from a business perspective, we have no further relationship." Clancy sighed. "Do you remember the spring seven years ago? You submitted an article to our newspaper, and although it wasn't accepted at the time, I saw that you kept submitting articles to us, and that your spirit was commendable, so—"

Dorian saw this incident in the original owner's memories. At that time, he had not yet transmigrated, and the original owner's works were still a pile of crap. The "Lentinian Weekly" was indeed the best-mannered of all the newspapers he had submitted to.

They not only sent back rejection letters and gave a definite answer each time, but later they even paid for the postage themselves.

Dorian was lucky; he didn't encounter any truly evil people along the way, whether it was his landlady, the owner of the Blue Sun Café, or even Iron Hand Greg and his gang at the docks.

Dorian put down his teacup, a mysterious smile playing on his lips. "I understand, Mr. Clancy. I happen to have a new novella here, and I was just thinking of submitting it to Bentley Weekly, but—"

"Oh?" Clancy's eyes lit up, and he leaned forward slightly. "A new work? What's it about?"

Dorian calmly pulled a stack of manuscript paper from his pocket.

The edges of the manuscript paper were slightly wrinkled, and a line of elegant handwriting was prominently displayed on the cover: "Fool Wilson".

"However, the reason I didn't submit it directly to Bentley Weekly is because I considered a problem that also exists for you—" Dorian gently pushed the manuscript across the table, a cryptic smile playing on his lips. "The problem is, I'm afraid you won't dare to publish it."

Clancy: ?

What kind of talk is that?

What do you mean by "dare not log on"?

For those big newspapers, there might be some concerns, but a small newspaper like ours doesn't care about this or that. They dare to spread rumors about the Queen, so what else wouldn't they dare to publish?

At worst, I could just swim across the strait and set up an offshore newspaper in Iris on the other side.

Such things have happened before.

She had even been maintaining a relationship with Iris all along, just to prepare for this day.

Man, you've successfully caught my attention.

I want to see what it is that makes you think I'm afraid to log in.

He picked up the manuscript, turned to the first page, quickly glanced through a few lines, and his expression changed from curiosity to excitement.

"So it's about demi-humans? This topic is indeed quite sensitive lately, with both supporters and opponents being quite vocal. Recently, there was even a case of a professor murdering his demi-human assistant, making this topic even more dangerous now."

"That's right, I only realized this problem after I finished writing the opening section. The current social environment may not be suitable." Dorian did not expect Editor-in-Chief Clancy to react this way.

Perhaps this is why the bigger the storm, the more expensive the fish.

"That's precisely why it's so profitable," Clancy's answer was predictable. "From your jokes to 'The Million Pound Note,' which one didn't cause a great deal of controversy? Even your work for 'Bentley's Weekly'..."

The two articles we submitted sparked considerable controversy on both our side and Iris's side.

Clancy took a sip of coffee and continued, "And the result? Our sales skyrocketed."

Bentley Weekly must have made a lot of money too.

"Pioneers like us have never been afraid of storms!"

"However, as far as I know, the Order seems to be extremely opposed to the liberation of the demi-humans. At this critical juncture when the bill that will determine the future of the demi-humans is about to be debated, publishing a work that is biased towards the demi-humans, what if the people of the Order—" Dorian suddenly lowered his voice, which became dark.

Clancy was taken aback.

Yes, the recent door-blocking case was suspected of involving cult members. Even Inspector Leeds was suspended after saying something in court—he doesn't believe in the so-called physical reasons.

The power of the cult may indeed be very great.

Just then, something occurred to him, and he looked into Dorian's eyes: "And what about you? Since you also know about the potential threat from the Order, why did you still publish this novel?"

"Me?" Dorian was taken aback.

Is it because you've run out of things to write about? Of course not, you still have plenty of excellent works in your head.

Is it just to ride this wave of popularity? No, for the same reason, they don't actually need to ride any wave at all. Any one of their excellent works is popularity itself.

Is it because I don't have money? Yes and no. Although I'm not rich right now, I'm far from needing to take such a risk.

He thought of the many homeless demi-humans he had seen on the streets, the demi-human porters he had seen at the docks, and the demi-human girl who delivered mail every day—

He did not help the demi-human girl.

He knew he couldn't save everyone; under the oppression of the system, individuals like himself could do nothing.

But now, he finds himself realizing that he might actually be able to do something.

Use a pen.

In this era, penholders still play a very useful role.

Before transmigrating, one could only swallow one's anger and stand by in the face of such unfair oppression. After transmigrating, if one can still swallow one's anger and stand by in the face of such unfair oppression, then one's transmigration would have been in vain.

After pondering for a long time, Dorian finally gave his answer: "Perhaps, it's something I want to do."

""

The following day, a seemingly insignificant piece of news published in a corner of the Lentinion Weekly simultaneously ignited a media frenzy in both Lentinion and Rutesia:

Mr. Hakimi has once again taken up his pen, presenting a brand new serialized novel, "Foolish Wilson," which will officially begin serialization next week.

The news caused a stir on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Some of Lentinion's readers were stunned for a moment, then burst into curses: "What?! He dares to write again?! Last time he wrote 'The Million Pound Note,' he completely disgraced our aristocracy!"

"Foolish Wilson? Just from the title, you know it's not a good thing! He's probably calling us all fools!"

Of course, there was another group of people, mostly the first to know Mr. Hakimi, who were quite interested in this new work.

"Look at Mr. Hakimi, how long has he been writing? He actually started by writing political jokes, but they were probably banned by the authorities because they were too realistic, so he switched to writing novels now."

"While I'm also uncomfortable with the Iris Man's accusations, aren't some of the phenomena reflected in 'The Million Pound Note' justified?"

"In my opinion, the Iris Man is right. This place is essentially a gold pound empire. People like us, without gold pounds at the bottom, are born to toil!"

Meanwhile, in Iris, the people of Rutesia have gained some understanding of Mr. Hakimi due to the recent war of words. Now that he has released a new work, many people want to check it out out of curiosity.

Moreover, even with many strange off-stage factors, the novel "The Million Pound Note" is undoubtedly an excellent work, and its author, Mr. Hakimi, is certainly a man of considerable talent.

The very source of all this evil, *World Review*, naturally followed suit quickly: "The only conscience of Britannia has returned! Mr. Hakimi, single-handedly, is confronting the collective arrogance of a hypocritical empire. This time, he has chosen 'Fool' as his headline, and we have reason to believe that this will be yet another ruthless exposé of the gold pound empire!"

For a time, readers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, with almost completely opposite expectations, eagerly awaited the official serialization of "Foolish Wilson".