While Benjamin’s strongholds were finishing their set up, the first edition of "The Free Mage" had just completed its printing and was ready for sale.
"Good day, this is the paper you have subscribed to. Please take it."
On a sunny Monday morning, the paperboy ran around the city and placed rolled up newspapers in front of the door of mages’ homes with a smile. The news about their paper sale had already spread within the mages and a lot of mages had subscribed to the papers. They had nearly a thousand paid subscriptions right off the bat.
However, they were printing far more copies than this.
Benjamin knew that apart from existing customers, they still had to attract new customers. Therefore, his subordinates took a few copies of the newspapers each and hit newsstands in every city as an aggressive advertising strategy. This escalated their popularity to reach even outside the mages’ circle.
Even for the general public, the news about the Church causing the death of a few mages was a huge deal. Such a headline would no doubt turn heads, especially with merchants who didn’t see eye to eye with the Church.
Benjamin had some mages bring a small portion of the papers to remote towns to give to mages in the little municipals and townships to make them aware of what was going on
in the country.
All things said and done, Benjamin had faith that the sale of The Free Mage would be the next hottest topic in Fereldan.
Some newly recruited mages who didn’t quite understand the whole paper publication plan, and so they were curious. Benjamin decided that they too should receive complimentary copies of the paper, calling it company benefit as he handed them out.
"The Free Mage… I like the name."
In Landt City, Aiden held one of the newspapers. He didn’t think highly of the newspaper industry but since he was part of the organization distributing it, how could he not support its production?
He quickly flipped it open.
"Mage Randhir… who is that?" Aiden frowned as he murmured to himself whilst reading the first article.
Is he a mage that has already passed? Why else would they use the words "in memory of"? But battles mages were known to explore dangerous places and deaths amongst them were common. Why did they need to commemorate this Mage Randhir?
Aiden was filled with curiosity and continued reading.
Not long later, his eyes started burning with anger.
"How could the Church do such a thing!"
Aiden struggled for air as he read through the neatly etched words. The words plastered in the article had him bursting with anger.
A regular group of mages… A regular group of mages who did no wrong, sincerely and humbly headed to the palace to petition at
at the early stages of the uplifted ban had silently and secretly been executed by the Church. If it wasn’t for this article, their names would have been hidden forever.
Apart from Mage Randhir, there was also a list of mages that suffered the same fate. Their names, livelihood, hobbies, relatives… various details about them were listed in the article. The details were so precise that nobody questioned its authenticity.
Of course, even if one did question and investigate the facts behind the article, he would find that not a single lie had been told; Aiden firmly believed this.
It wasn’t just some story made up to slander the Church, this treacherous act had genuinely taken place!
Aiden took a deep breath. He finally understood why Benjamin chose to publish a paper.
He could still remember the grief he felt when he read the Fereldan Times praising the Church. All they spoke about was how great the church was and how hardworking the priests were. What about the mages? Who spoke for them?
Sir Benjamin gave the best answer. The mages spoke for themselves.
If the church tried to take center stage,
center stage, they would snatch it back. If the Church praised themselves, then they would smear them. In conclusion, the mages would not be kept silent anymore – a beast had awoken in Fereldan.
The way Aiden saw it, the papers was a huge slap in the Church’s face. They would no doubt retaliate furiously.
About ten minutes later, Aiden was done reading the papers.
He opened the door and walked out, suppressing his excitement to find others to discuss the news.
As he exited his home, he saw many servants leaving the newspaper stand at the end of the street holding a paper in their hands. It seemed to be The First Mage paper.
These servants… they didn't seem to be servants of mages.
Aiden stopped in his tracks.
Before long, he recovered from his shock and let out a victorious smile.
The impact of this paper was not just limited to the mages.
Just as he had thought, merchants and officials all over Fereldan had a habit of reading the papers. Vicious uproars were taking place in their homes this very moment.
"Is what’s written in the papers true? Has the Church really held Her Majesty hostage and forcefully changed the law? Surely, they would not secretly assassinate those mages who went on petition, right? This… This is no small matter!"
"Sir, if you wish, you could have this matter investigated and check if those mages have indeed gone missing."
"Right… Go and investigate Go and investigate for me, please. This is no small matter. Please be careful and don’t let anyone know what we’re doing."
"Yes, sir."
To reach such great heights, their senses had to be honed over the years - they weren’t simply going to let this matter slip by. Although the source came from a paper they had never heard of and their sources were unverified, its detailed accounts were not something that could be treated lightly.
Only once they have confirmed the legitimacy of the publication would they decide their next step. People of power were juggling all sorts of mixed feelings as they struggled to process the information.
"A storm is coming to Fereldan..."
In a mansion in the City of Snow, Mikel put down his newspaper and took a deep breath. He then placed the paper in an oil lamp, burning it to ash.
He was scared and in a panic as if trouble was headed his way.
Not long after he had burnt the paper…
"Sir, there is somebody here to see you." A servant suddenly popped his head in and informed him.
Mikel raised his eyebrow.
"Who?"
The servant was nervous, "A troop of soldiers from the palace. They said something about treacherous rumors in a paper circulating the nation which slandered the royal family. Now everything is being confiscated. Nobody can sell the paper and those who read it must now be interrogated."