Ch.618″The era is now calling for an empire.” (3)

Of course, feeling pressured by such expectations, I was about to refuse immediately.

But those folks were smart enough to anticipate my reaction and had already set another scheme in motion.

What was it? They were randomly posting information about what just happened to the gallery.

—————————————–

Title: Oh, our stronghold is being incorporated into the Hourglass Empire

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Screenshot of users making a fuss in the stronghold chat room.jpg]

Seems legit

Are we finally going to belong to a prestigious major faction?

Comments:

-[Hey, you guys too?]

-˪[You all as well?](Author)

-[Hey, is Icarus suddenly expanding his faction or what?]

-˪[Dunno, I just posted this because people in the stronghold chat were talking like this](Author)

-[Hmm interesting;]

—————————————–

And they weren’t even having the “representative” users who contacted me post these things. Instead, they had users belonging to the strongholds casually chatting as if they “happened to hear about it.”

Of course, there wasn’t any concrete evidence, but…

“That definitely looks like those users are conducting their own media play, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty obvious.”

Maybe it’s because I suddenly gained an omniscient perspective(?), or because I already knew their intentions.

I was naturally beginning to understand what they were trying to do.

But perhaps they felt my lack of immediate action wasn’t enough?

Not content with having users from ten strongholds spread stories about this incident disguised as “information” or “rumors” in the gallery…

—————————————–

Title: Today’s News) 10+ strongholds in the central zone collectively decide to surrender to the Hourglass Empire.txt

Author: News Boy

Content: [Screenshot of a chat interview between News Boy’s reporter-clan member and the clan leader who owns the level 5 stronghold ‘Lance Fortress’.jpg]

Info I learned through an interview with the clan leader of “Bophal Bunny,” the clan that took Lance Fortress, at 2 PM today.

If anything I say contradicts what you know, then you’re right, not me.

Don’t argue with me.

1. There’s been a sudden increase in strongholds surrendering to the Hourglass Empire. What’s going on?

˪Due to various circumstances making it difficult to survive alone, strongholds near Icarus’s territory have decided to surrender to Icarus

2. Some strongholds aren’t independent but belong to the Central Stronghold Federation clan. What’s their plan?

˪I’m an independent stronghold so I don’t know what they’ll do

˪The parties involved say the federation has neglected its duties as a clan and keeps playing politics

3. So they’re doing this because of the federation’s neglect of duties or threats from other users… like expansion or invasion from other clans?

˪That’s right

˪If things continue like this, we’ll obviously be wiped out or devoured by others like many small clans before us

˪Better to go to Icarus who guarantees some independence rights, offer our stronghold, and live under his protection

Comments:

-[Wow, is this for real?]

-[He already had over 10 strongholds, and now 10 more are being added?]

-˪[And damn, 2 of them are level 4 and the rest are all level 5 lolololol]

-[Now that’s an empire]

-[Why are small clans and users who captured level 5 strongholds suddenly surrendering?]

-˪[I heard they don’t want to get beaten up and killed by other users around them]

-[Wow]

-[I heard some clans with multiple low-level strongholds are also testing the waters]

-˪[Icarus said he didn’t want to make a clan, but everyone’s forcing him to lol]

—————————————–

Did they bribe a user who’s treated as a semi-official media outlet?

Suddenly, interviews with small clans and stronghold users related to this incident were being posted on the gallery.

The whole thing felt extremely suspicious, making anyone watching find it quite… interesting.

Well, “interesting” is one way to put it, but “suspicious” is more accurate.

While there was no concrete evidence, it was clear they were conducting a public opinion campaign to naturally make me accept them.

Watching all this unfold, I had to experience quite complex, melancholic, and bizarre emotions.

What made it stranger was that usually when people wage a public opinion war, they try to harm their target while gaining benefits for themselves.

But this approach was more like…

“It’s a peculiar situation. They’re clearly waging a public opinion campaign against us… but the end result actually benefits us rather than causing any disadvantages.”

“Hmm.”

As Jessica beside me pointed out, it was true that this ultimately benefited us.

From my perspective, it was all very confusing.

But looking at it differently, being manipulated to do what they wanted, even if it benefited me, was something hard to accept as a user.

So I decided to respond to their public opinion campaign with my own.

However, right after deciding this, I realized I had no means to wage any sort of public opinion campaign in this particular case.

After all, to conduct such a campaign, I would need help from the users in my territory, commonly known as the “Hourglass Empire.”

But those users…

—————————————–

<Holy Hourglass Empire Official Chat Room>

<Notice: [Link to gallery post about 10+ strongholds coming to surrender to Icarus]>

-[There is only one true Emperor]

-[Rissan Al-Hype!]

-[Rissan Al-Hype!]

-[He is the Emperor!]

-[Lolololololol]

-[This means you’ll have to become a clan leader… right?]

-[Oh damn, please](Icarus)

-[“Give up”]

-[“There is no individual Icarus here”]

-[Lololololol]

-[Lolololololololol]

—————————————–

—————————————–

Title: Shouldn’t we abandon the name “Hourglass” now?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [New version of Icarus’s territory map including the 10+ new strongholds being added.jpg]

Constantly changing names is hard for both the person involved and everyone watching

Let’s go with Icarus Empire

Or just make a clan already

Comments:

-[For real lol]

-[With over 10 level 5 strongholds, you could make a mid-sized clan right away]

-˪[More than mid-sized, it would be a large clan right away since there’s even a level 9 stronghold](Author)

-[If you count all the users docked at Daedalus, Tannhäuser, and other strongholds, it’s no joke – we’re at 15,000 now lol]

-˪[Really that many?]

-˪[Daedalus alone has had over 10,000 docked users for quite a while]

-˪[And there are users in the Tannhäuser area, other strongholds in the Daedalus area, and Tomsk too]

—————————————–

—————————————–

Title: The saddest users in the Hourglass right now.jpg

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Image of ‘Tomsk’, considered the Hourglass Empire’s only weakness.jpg]

They’re the Tomsk docking users who’ve been enjoying free rent

Icarus’s territory has been spread out so weirdly that if Tomsk got isolated, it could be taken down immediately

Since it was such a dangerous place, and other users occasionally targeted and messed with it, Icarus gave free docking fees to Tomsk users

But now with other strongholds joining, multiple routes connecting the existing Tannhäuser area and Daedalus area have emerged

So what does this mean? If Icarus accepts those strongholds, Tomsk will no longer have free docking fees

Comments:

-[Is the dream of free housing gone?]

-[Such a shame]

-[Still better to pay those resources weekly than live dangerously, right? Cheers!]

—————————————–

“You useless bastaaaaaaards!”

“They’re certainly not helpful when you need them.”

Unfortunately, far from countering the public opinion campaign from those former stronghold federation members and stronghold users…

My own users were actually encouraging it more, making me understand exactly what it feels like to cry tears of blood.