In the following days, the Kingdom of Helius was plunged into a chaotic war of public opinion.
That day, in Havenwright, the body of the Queen had been placed into a coffin full of fresh flowers, which was then paraded by soldiers around the city. This was considered enough to ensure that the news of the death was true. Under such circumstances, no matter how strong the momentum of the rebellion against the Church was, it was forcibly watered down now. The focus of the people had been instantaneously shifted.
At the same time, great numbers of soldiers appeared throughout the kingdom, suppressing and controlling the protestors. The chaos of the nation was slowly put into order by them. Every house had a black flag hung upon their door to mourn the passing of the Queen.
However… Although the main roads were much quieter now, not only did the rumors in the side streets not decrease, they had even multiplied.
"His Majesty the King goes missing, Her Highness the Queen suddenly passes away. Could it be that god wants to destroy us here, in Kingdom of Helius?"
"Her Highness the Queen had been fine, why would she suddenly be assassinated? What are those Holy Knights paid to do? His Majesty has already been taken away once, why hasn't there been any improvement?"
"How on earth did Her Highness die… I think there's still something strange about this whole matter."
It had only been a day, but the news of the Queen's death had buried the issue of the indulgences, becoming the most discussed topic amongst the people. The official statement was, of course, that a mage had assassinated the Queen, and the spies of the Church had not stopped propagating that claim amongst the people, but having experienced so much, the reputation of the Church in the hearts of the people had plummeted again and again.
A lot of people were doubting the truth; moreover, Benjamin had issued instructions to the Black Operation of the Academy in various locations to spread the word that 'the Church caused the Queen's death'. All of a sudden, rumors were skyrocketing everywhere. Although most of the people might not necessarily feel that the Church had really killed the Queen, but the knots in their hearts were already increasing.
Also, the opposition of the Church were not completely extinguished because of this.
After order had been restored, the churches everywhere reopened their doors. However, only half of the congregation from before attended the daily services now. Furthermore, in many places, the Priests had even specially hired a team of cleaners to clean off the graffiti on the walls and the doors of the church every morning, before the church opened. Otherwise, it would be completely impossible for them to meet the congregation.
"Those bastards… One day, we're going to drag all of them out, and burn them with Holy Light, into a pile of nothing."
During the early morning, as the dawn was breaking, the priest in Worchester directed men to clean the graffiti on the door while he suppressed his anger, muttering under his breath.
"Slowly. We are targets of public opinion here." Next to him, a slightly older priest reminded him in a low voice. "His Highness the Pope has already confirmed that the Black Nightmare Society hides in this city of ours. They are the source of all sins."
"Of course I know, only… Why won't His Highness the Pope just seal off this city? Mobilize the Holy Knights and do a thorough search of the entire city; I don't believe that those shifty fellows would be able to keep on hiding for long!"
The older priest said, however, "Our leaders have not explained, only… Perhaps it is because of that devil."
For a moment, the young priest was astonished, "That devil? Is he in Worchester?"
"Other than that devil, who else would be able to do such things?" The elder priest patted his shoulder, saying, "no need to worry, His Highness the Pope surely understands this rationale. It won't be long before he definitely takes action."
Hearing that, the young priest nodded, and continued to instruct the cleaning of the church. The older priest returned into the church, and the street of Worchester became quiet again.
However…
In actual fact, Benjamin was not, as they had said, hiding in Worchester. Right then, he was on the ship, hosting yet another mobilization meeting. The ship of the Black Nightmare Society drifted gently offshore.
"Director Benjamin, His Majesty… how on earth is he now?"
There were approximately a hundred people in the cabin of the ship, a much more dignified sight than before. Only, ever since the news of the Queen's death had gotten out, the members of the Black Nightmare Society had not seen the King. They could not help but feel somewhat worried.
"His Majesty has been quite emotional after learning of the Queen's death. He is unable to meet us for the time being," Benjamin was helpless about this. He could only say, "You need not worry. His Majesty only needs some time to calm down."
Hearing that, the members exchanged looks. However, the more pressing matter before their eyes right then was obviously not the King anymore, and so they quickly shifted their focus onto another problem.
"What should we do? Shall we continue to rile the people into holding strikes?"
Benjamin shook his head.
"The Church has taken precautions. It will be very difficult for us to create such a huge impact again," he spoke slowly, "what we have to do now is to fight a public opinion war with them, so that the people will learn even more about the true face of the Church."
"How do we do it?"
Hearing that, Benjamin suddenly turned around and knocked on the blackboard, writing down a title: Truth News.
"We can start a newspaper," he spoke while writing, "from the posters to the graffiti, we have only been able to express our thoughts using the most basic methods, which makes us not so different from thugs on the streets, and easy for others to make us look bad. But now, it is also time for us to move to the next level."
"Start a newspaper?"
Hearing this, most of the members looked rather surprised and confused.
It was obvious that they had still not understood enough about the details of Benjamin's deed in Ferelden. Because of that, it was certain that they had never even heard of a newspaper such as the Free Mage, which had only been published for one issue before it had gone out of print.
However, after thinking for a short while, most of them had a glint in their eyes.
This was a process, from being amongst the people, to something more official. In their eyes, newspapers usually had an objective, solemn image. If they were able to publish a newspaper that exposed the dark side of the Church, the people would never again treat them as some small fry that would not amount to anything.
Furthermore, they really looked forward to seeing the ugly faces of the priests when they read the newspaper.
"But… Can we really get this thing done?" However, there were still people who raised the question, "maybe the Church would do everything they can to ban the newspaper the moment we send them out, so most of the citizens wouldn't dare to buy it. Perhaps, even the title wouldn't be able to make it out there."
"It will work, trust me. The Church no longer has that governing power," Benjamin, however, gave a smile. "There is too much for them to do. Organizing the Queen's funeral, re-establishing government connections, cracking down on protesters… There are still many empty administrative positions in most of the cities that have not yet been filled, so where would they find the manpower to block our newspaper with?"
Hearing that, the members remembered the situation in the city of Worchester, and nodded.
Indeed, there were not many soldiers and the Holy Knights across the country. Even the people scribbling slogans on the walls were too much for them to handle, and the workers who had gone on strike had not yet been arrested. There was really a lot of space for them to operate.
"Since there are no objections from anyone here, then… Let's start brainstorming," seeing that, Benjamin continued to speak, "as you've chosen to join the Black Nightmare Society, I believe that there must be a lot of history between you and the Church. I do not wish to expose our wounds, but we need the stories.
"As for the Church, it's time for them to be held accountable to these stories."