Chapter 457 — Everything Arranged Down to the Last Detail

The nobles had signed.

It took only a minute for the last lingering influence of the Southern March's noble system to dissipate from this land.

Gao Yang sat at the head of the long table in a posture of solemn dignity, while the thirty-one surviving lords of the Southern March sat along both sides. Here the heirs of ancient and honored surnames bowed their heads, silently signing their names to the documents before them. In a corner of the hall, an old man in a scholar's robe directed his apprentices as they turned a somewhat cumbersome arcane device toward the long table.

It was, in fact, a magic-net communicator. Clumsy enough that it took a strong young man just to lift it, it nonetheless represented the most advanced technology Cecil possessed at present.

When the scene beside the long table appeared in the photographic crystal of the magic-net communicator, Godwin Orlando pressed a button on the device without the slightest hesitation.

In another room not far away, a projection crystal above an arcane printing press lit up, and the interior of the great assembly hall appeared in the holographic projection. With a series of mechanical whirrings from within the machine, arcane light bloomed across the surface of its arcane transfer cylinder, swiftly printing the transmitted image onto the paper already prepared.

Hetty drew the sheet from the side of the press, rolled it carefully and sealed it in a tube, then handed it to an assistant who had been waiting nearby: "Take it to the newspaper office. Tell them to use the whole page."

The assistant carried that "master plate" away as though bearing a priceless treasure, while Hetty gazed at the holographic projection above the machine and was overcome with feeling, unable to keep from murmuring in admiration: "It's hard to imagine..."

Camille floated nearby. Hearing Hetty's words, he asked: "Are you speaking of what happened in the assembly hall, or of this device?"

"Both," Hetty turned her head and said gravely. "The scene of the old nobles signing will be recorded in this way and spread across the whole Southern March at astonishing speed—far beyond any proclamation, any speech, any rumor. Ironclad proof will cover this land, in a manner nothing can stop... I always thought those great cannons that can split mountains and shatter stone were the most powerful weapons, but now I finally understand... why the Ancestor said the printing press is equally mighty as a weapon."

Then she lowered her head to look at Rebecca, who was crouched behind the arcane press, prizing off the machine's cover panel to inspect its inner workings: "...And that this child thought so quickly to combine the magic-net communicator with the arcane printing press—that astonishes me as well."

"I said long ago that Rebecca is a genius, and she does not betray the honor of the Cecil family," Gao Song's voice came from the doorway, cutting into the conversation between Hetty and Camille. "As for what you said before... I am glad you have finally realized the power of the printing press combined with 'the media.'"

Rebecca, still burrowed under the press studying its condition, heard Gao Song's voice and immediately scrambled up, shouting happily: "Ah! Ancestor, you're here! What you just did was really so—"

"Clang!!"

Rebecca's head struck a metal guide rail beneath the machine squarely, producing a clang that rang through the whole room. Gao Yang saw the entire press rock from the impact, and then saw Rebecca crawling out clutching her head and wailing: "Ow—ow ow ow ow..."

Hetty was badly startled by the silly girl's racket; for a moment she even forgot to scold her and hurried to crouch down and check her niece's head. Gao Yang was startled too, and in two or three strides reached his great-great-granddaughter of N+1 generations: "Are you all right?"

Rebecca climbed unsteadily to her feet, still holding her head, and looked up at Gao Yang, her face streaked with tears: "I'm fine..."

Only then did Gao Yang breathe a sigh of relief, and he quickly directed the mechanical scholar beside him: "Then check the machine—"

Not a single person present thought there was anything wrong with what Gao Dai had said...

Hetty glared at Rebecca with a look of helpless exasperation, but remembering that she had been praising the girl a moment before, she swallowed the reprimand in the end and changed the subject to Gao Yang instead: "Ancestor, you just tossed those nobles aside?"

"The meeting was over the moment they signed," Gao Yang said indifferently. "I explained all the follow-up arrangements to them clearly; it didn't take long. Of course, to celebrate their freedom and their becoming part of Cecil, I arranged a small banquet for them... but in what frame of mind they'll attend, that I leave to them."

With that, Gao Yang waved a hand: "Set all that aside for now—has the 'photograph' been printed? How did it come out?"

"Ah, forgive me, Ancestor, I've already had it sent off," Hetty said with a small exclamation, then reported, "It came out very well. Printing an illusion spell onto paper produces something quite different from the traditional 'shorthand' spell, but it feels more real."

"Good, as long as you've reviewed it," Gao Yang nodded in satisfaction, then glanced at Rebecca, still wiping her tears and sniffling nearby. "Silly child, does it still hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt," Rebecca said, craning her neck and flushing red, but then she shook her head. "It's just still buzzing a bit in my skull..."

Seeing the girl's forced composure, Gao Yang could only sigh with a mix of tears and laughter: "Alas—you'd best protect that head of yours. If you knocked a mind that fine into foolishness, the loss would be far too great."

Hetty wore much the same expression of helpless amusement. She gave a small sigh and turned to Gao Yang: "Ancestor, do you think those nobles who signed will settle down properly?"

"Honestly, I have never trusted them, whether before they signed or after," Gao Dai said very directly, since there were no outsiders present. "But I don't need them to support me or oppose me from the heart—neither means anything. We must remain vigilant against them and maintain surveillance over them, at least until they and their first generation of descendants are all dead. And even after those two generations are gone, we must keep watch on the conduct of their descendants—only the surveillance will grow gentler."

Gao Yang raised his head and looked toward the assembly hall. His gaze seemed to pass through walls and door panels, straight to those Southern March nobles now departing in bewilderment.

"Remember: the nobles who signed here today, and their first generation of direct descendants, may not enter politics, may not hold any post in the Council of State, and may not enter the education system or the news and media system—not even as the lowest clerk, substitute teacher, or assistant editor. If capable and steady men truly emerge among them, they may go into business, they may become investors; I even permit them to open factories. So long as they have the brains, they may use these means to live far more comfortably and prosperously than they did as landed nobles. But in the Council of State, the schools, the newspaper offices... there is no place for them."

"Yes," Hetty nodded gravely in acknowledgment, but she was still somewhat worried. "But in doing so... we may miss out on some talent. The direct descendants of the nobles are the finest intellectuals on this land at present. Most of them may be destabilizing elements, but among them there are still those worth winning over and educating..."