"Master ntor is here."
William, who had been waiting at the door, suddenly said this. When he turned around, he saw Loren approaching.
"How did you know?"
Lane couldn't understand how William had pulled that off, so he asked directly.
"Every ti Master ntor gets close, I feel this unease."
"Is that why you've been racking your brains to suck up to him?"
William didn't answer. By then, Loren had already walked up to them.
"Good evening, Master ntor—"
"Save the formalities. You ca to in such a hurry, so just say it directly."
Loren pretended not to know, never revealing that he had been keeping them under surveillance the whole ti.
"It's like this. Lane has a plan, but it might not be too ethical..."
William then laid out Lane's plan to Loren exactly as it was, holding nothing back and making no attempt to sugarcoat it.
Loren pretended to think it over, waiting a mont before speaking.
William had already braced himself for a reprimand, but Loren didn't seem inclined to scold him. He simply let out a sigh:
"This is a last resort. Let try sothing else first. If it really doesn't work, we'll have to go with that plan.
"I need to study thods for countering addiction ahead of ti. Removing the addictive properties from the potion isn't hard, but getting people to quit once they're already addicted—that's the real challenge."
One was a technical problem; the other was a matter of willpower. The Clarity Potion didn't have that severe of withdrawal symptoms, otherwise Aisaco wouldn't have gone through all that trouble to develop his drugs.
"For now, just sell the normal Clarity Potion as usual. See if people change their minds once they realize the potion is safe. If that doesn't work, then we'll use your thod.
"If it really cos to that, I'll co find you."
"Yes, Master ntor."
William bowed to Loren, then led Lane away without another word.
They didn't ask Loren what thods he had. Loren's thods weren't sothing they needed to know, and they had no right to inquire anyway.
Even if those thods were underhanded, no one would ever find out.
After they left, Loren went back inside the house. He sat down on the sofa, his fingers tapping against the coffee table as he pondered what to do.
"Loren, I have an idea."
Just then, Cecelia spoke up. Loren hadn't expected her to volunteer anything.
In truth, Loren hadn't exchanged many words with Cecelia up to this point. She usually just acted directly, rarely communicating with him.
Most of their interaction had been through letters.
"What's your idea... Actually, I think I know..."
Cecelia's Arcane Ability was the [Resonance Voice], which allowed anyone who heard her sing to forcibly share the sa thoughts as her. This was a relatively advanced form of cognitive modification—powerful enough to even overwrite other cognitive alterations.
"I can use my Arcane Ability to control them. Make them trust you unconditionally, believe that any slander against you is an unforgivable cri."
Loren had witnessed Cecelia's Arcane Ability firsthand. If he actually went through with this, only two outcos were possible.
Either soone spreading the rumors would get pinned to the ground by an angry mob on the spot, or they'd co crawling to Loren to confess.
Either way, it would let Loren find the Mastermind Behind the Scenes.
Cecelia's Arcane Ability had an incredibly high ceiling. It was terrifying.
"It's definitely feasible, and it wouldn't be easy to detect either..."
People already held Loren in extre reverence. If not for the influence of the Sun Card, no one would have ever doubted him in the first place.
All Cecelia would be doing was returning them to normal. And when that happened, Loren could even conveniently credit the whole thing to the Clarity Potion.
The thod Cecelia had just proposed was far superior to Loren's original plan. The only remaining issue was how to get everyone to hear her singing.
But that problem was also easy to solve. Cecelia's ability had very few limitations—even hearing her song through electronic devices counted.
So Loren could simply set up a record player in the city center to play her songs, without even needing Cecelia herself to be present.
Besides, the record shop already had Cecelia's songs. It's just that she usually didn't activate her Arcane Ability while they played.
The record shop was always playing sample tracks anyway. Loren just needed to swap out the demo record for one of Cecelia's songs.
The Royal Capital of Nofica Theocracy was very prosperous, so many stores had record players. The most popular songs were all by Cecelia, and with Loren writing the lyrics, practically every shop had played her music at so point. Loren didn't even need to interfere.
As long as Cecelia kept her Arcane Ability running, everyone in the entire Royal Capital would eventually be affected.
"It can work like that?"
Cecelia's thod left Laila stunned. If Cecelia hadn't suddenly chid in today, Laila would have almost forgotten she existed.
Ever since Cecelia had arrived, she'd been hiding under the bed. The only ti Laila ever bothered to check on her location was when she wanted to find Loren for a ranked duo session.
"There's no ti to waste. Let's start right away. The longer we drag this out, the more chances sothing goes wrong."
"Okay."
Cecelia ignored Laila's jab and activated her Arcane Ability without hesitation.
Her Arcane Ability didn't consu much energy. Otherwise, she wouldn't be able to control hundreds of thousands of people so casually.
Right now, most of the people in Uridia Kingdom were already under Cecelia's control. However, if she wanted to implant new thoughts into them, they still needed to hear her voice again.
Gwen left Lane and made her way to the places that had record players, swapping in Cecelia's songs.
She even went out of her way to buy a house in the city center, specifically to blast Cecelia's music at full volu.
At the sa ti, the effects were extrely noticeable. One person who hadn't heard the music but had been influenced by the rumors started spreading gossip about Loren on the street. Before he could finish, he was imdiately ganged up on and beaten by an enraged crowd.
They already revered Loren. Now, under Cecelia's influence, they had beco his devout fanatics, refusing to allow anyone to slander him and unwilling to refuse any of his commands.
When Loren realized this, his feelings beca rather complicated.
Because Cecelia's Arcane Ability wasn't simply about manipulating people's minds. The key was "resonance." In other words, for her to make others feel a certain way, she had to genuinely feel that way herself.
At that mont, Loren was sitting in the living room reading a book. His bedroom door was cracked open just a sliver, and through that gap was an eye. It looked extrely sinister, giving even Loren the creeps.
Such stares often ca from various corners of the house. For soone as spiritually sensitive as Loren, this was really unfriendly. He constantly felt like he was being ntally violated by soone's gaze.
"I can't take this anymore!"
Loren slamd his book down, suddenly barging into his own bedroom. He forcibly dragged Cecelia out from under the bed, then locked the door behind them.
"I really need to teach you a lesson now..."
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