Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:MvM Chapter5 (section)

===Part 13===

“As the lord of the Valhalla region, I command the immediate release of all slaves within my power’s reach!! Attention all elf slaves and other slaves: we will now treat you as equal people. If you question your collars and fetters, then run to Valhalla the first chance you have! And if any nobles or commoners have questioned the system of slavery but feared oppression for voicing these questions, then I have a proposal for you: join with us to forge strong bonds with which to protect your ability to do what is right and free the slaves!!!”

An emancipation proclamation had been issued.

Mikoto and Shokuhou held the newspaper in the office of the lord’s mansion.

Newspapers were the forefront of information and entertainment in this world without TV or internet.

Discrimination was all about fitting in.

Humans did not discriminate because of fear, disgust, or a lack of understanding. Only a small minority saw the target of discrimination as a real threat and felt direct fear. The majority went along with it because “what would the neighbors think” if they didn’t do what was expected of them. Protesting the discrimination would earn the ire of the minority of extremists, so they failed to determine if that would actually be a proper solution. And as they suppressed their thoughts like that, they would begin to resent any others who were not going through the same ordeal. In the end, they would be attacking the target of discrimination and not even know why. So only the action itself remained.

There were two ways to end discrimination. The first was to throw out your own power to fight and slowly work up from the bottom with a grassroots movement. The second was for someone at the top with an overwhelming power to fight to announce a decisive policy change. Either way, wordless violence would never work. No matter how great the power at work, it could not change the world if it never spoke to explain the purpose behind its actions. …Mikoto knew that all too well after the incident with the mass-produced military clones.

In that sense, this was a very valuable first step.

Even if the #5’s power had made it happen.

“See, even he can sound cool when he tries. If only he hadn’t been forced to play the part by Mental Out.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. He only managed to sound so cool because I gave him so much assistance,” said the #5, winking and putting her TV remote back in her expensive handbag.

(And being brainwashed into saying it gives the lord himself an excuse if he needs it.)

Shokuhou used Academy City’s #5 power – Mental Out.

She hadn’t just forced him to read a script – she had searched deep inside his mind.

She knew about the wildfire and his hierarchy of lives.

She even knew about the hatred and regret he had never voiced even after losing here.

But she wasn’t crass enough to blab it all to Mikoto.

Mikoto and Shokuhou were back in a bikini armor and dancer outfit.

The guild had forcibly stripped them of their levels, but experience here was bioelectricity. Mikoto had complete control over the level system, so after levelling the two of them up in mere seconds, they had rushed to the city’s armor ship (while sneaking through back alleys so no one would see them). It wasn’t a specialty shop with made-to-order products, so they had searched the inventory, found something their jobs could wear, and paid with fulgurites.

And while they were there…

“Um, do we just leave the money here?”

“You’re paying the listed price in a world where haggling is expected? How about I use this remote to give ourselves a 90% discount ability?”

“I get that I’m the only one your power doesn’t work on, but why do I have to act as your conscience?”

(Ugh, I hate that I can manipulate our experience at will but we still can’t change jobs. I’m stuck as a Warrior Woman forever.)

That lord had been the worst of the worst, but his proclamation had sent waves across Celesaqphere.

Little by little, questions about slavery were rising among the nobles and core cities of different regions.

It may have been more accurate to say there had already been cities friendly to elves, but word of them had been unable to spread.

After all, this was a fantasy world without the internet or smartphones. The nobles had patrols traveling the red brick roads between cities and any letters, newspapers and rumor-loving travelers would receive surprise inspections where information would be confiscated or rewritten. And if anyone was found to be spreading information the upper classes disliked, they would be beaten up, stripped of their gear, and forced to turn back the way they had come. That alone would stop the spread of information, but if the victim failed to reach the next closest city, they would die out there.

Flying carrier pigeons could be lured in and captured with food and nets to inspect whatever letters they were carrying.

Defeating the local lord had loosened the control over the roads, allowing information to flow freely once more.

Long story short, there had already been quite a few people sympathetic or friendly to the elves.

“Don’t let this shock you too much,” cautioned Shokuhou at the work desk.

She held a piece of paper. It was apparently a newspaper extra edition scattered from a kingdom airship.

It said: “On the king’s command, an uprising in the core city of Elysium has been suppressed. Many lives were lost. None of this would have happened if not for the wicked and confused hearts of those who have questioned our proper and traditional system of slavery. As protector of peace and order, our great king will never recognize the despicable rumors of a so-called emancipation proclamation”

Elysium was not this city.

This was Valhalla.

Elysium was a distant city with no connection to any of this.

The situation had far surpassed anything Mikoto had imagined.

“What…the hell? So just because we won here and took over a single lord’s territory, they attacked an entirely different city in retaliation!?”

“Like I said, don’t let it shock you too much.” Dancer Shokuhou sighed in exasperation. “The last thing the kingdom wants is for people to question slavery – and thus their king’s rule – and foment rebellion. If anti-slavery sentiment spreads while they work to defeat us, the situation will be entirely out of hand for them. And ''since they don’t know how powerful we are and can’t predict how long it will take to suppress us, they have decided to put out the fire in another region where they know they have more control over the timing''.”

“…”

“They will attack entirely unrelated cities. It may have less to do with how many abolitionists exist in that city and more to do with not wanting critique of the king’s decision to gather from too many different viewpoints at once.”

“I don’t care about that. The problem is a bunch of complete strangers were killed because of what we did!!”

“That’s the thing.” Shokuhou winked and waggled her finger to tsk-tsk Mikoto. “''What proof do we have that Elysium was actually destroyed''?”

“…What?”

“This is a fantasy world with no TV or internet, remember? That means no live footage. The king only wants to extinguish the rebellious mood, so he doesn’t actually have to attack Elysium☆”

For that matter, this newspaper extra edition had been scattered from a kingdom airship.

The dancer placed another newspaper on the table.

This was an unauthorized privately published paper called an underground newspaper. It was smuggled past the surprise checks by the nobles’ soldiers on the roads. While they did have some printing technology here, their poor transportation technology meant they could only put out one paper a week and maybe an extra edition, but it still had a fair amount of influence in this world without TV or internet.

“This underground newspaper has an article about people starting to question slavery among the regional lords and the central cities, but it doesn’t say a thing about the kingdom’s troops destroying Elysium.”

“Underground newspapers have no rules about transparency, so we can’t exactly rely on them, can we? They only care about popularity and what people will want to read, so they have a tendency to report unconfirmed rumors or even outright lies!”

“''The veracity of the articles doesn’t matter.'' This newspaper went through a lot of hands to reach us, so it’s soaked with various residual thoughts. Reading those with Mental Out provides a lot more information we can be a lot more certain of. I can get information from other places even easier than by sending out a bunch of spies.”

“…”

If you knew about psychometry, there were measures to take against it.

But that was a completely unknown phenomenon here in Celesaqphere. That may have made things a lot easier for Shokuhou. Of course, since no one here understood how her power worked, she could end up in a situation where she knew the true culprit but no one believed her.

“Wars are won with intelligence, not power. Hee hee. Not that I expect you to understand that when you always charge in without a second thought.”

“Then what’s your read of the situation?”

“50-50.”

Mikoto slammed her hands against the desk.

Shokuhou’s lazy expression didn’t change.

“That’s not good enough!! And even if it is fake news, ''if their story about the fall of Elysium doesn’t have the desired effect, they might go ahead and actually destroy it''!”

“I would really rather not know, but what do you say we do about this, Misaka-san?”

Mikoto knew exactly what had to be done.

People’s lives were on the line. All the lives in a city just as big as Valhalla.

“I’ll go see for myself.”

“I knew you were going to say that. You do know you’re playing right into their hand ability, don’t you?”

“You said there were some cities and territories questioning slavery, right? Then Elysium might not be the only place the kingdom targets. I need to visit all the at-risk cities and help them if necessary!!”

Dancer Shokuhou breathed a heavy sigh.

She had known this would happen based on the trouble Mikoto had caused in Academy City to rescue the 20 thousand Sisters.

Shokuhou rested her head in a hand and winked in a sulky way.

“I’m not helping you.”

“Of course you aren’t. The capital is in reach. I have to rescue the people being threatened right now, but the kingdom can’t deploy troops if we stop them at the source. You’re good at scheming, so you work out a plan. Focus on figuring out how we can take over the capital.”

“Hm. Well, as long as you won’t hold up our overall schedule ability, go do whatever it is you want.’

“I swear I’ll be back in time for the attack!!”