Card Apprentice Daily Log

Chapter 506 - Narrative

Date- 29 Mar 2321

Time- 22:09

Location- Sky Blossom City, Guild Association Mall, Warehouse no. 234

I had prepared to face the Circle but not the entire Sun Blossom City. By the looks of it, if I have to attack the Circle, I will have to prepare retaliation from the whole city. Facing an entire city was out of the question as it would make me the bad guy, the public enemy.

The public image of the Circle in Sun blossom city is very different from the one they had in Sky Blossom city. In Sky Blossom city, in people's eyes, the Circle was a mysterious and powerful organization that even the city lord feared. The citizens of the Sky Blossom city never knew the Circle's dirty laundry. But in Sun Blossom city, the Circle had a reputation of a righteous organization led by a heroic leader. This reputation of the Circle in Sun Blossom city was a far cry from the one in Sky Blossom city.

This new change in the way the Circle operated came with the new branch leader. It seems he had a different image for the Circle in mind compared to the old branch leader. This image is what made it easier for the Circle to move the forces of the Sun Blossom city in their time of need.

At such a period, if the TSR guild and Tiger Squadron led by me were to declare war on the Circle, we would literally become the bad guys in public eyes and the families guilds, authorities mobilizing their forces to provide the Circle with reinforcement would be justified in itself. It would look like the city came together to purge the outside enemy. That's not good for the members of the TSR guild and Tiger Squadron or me.

Considering all this, it became more challenging for me to think of a way to attack the Circle without facing the wrath of the entire Sun Blossom city. All my preparation until now was to fight the Circle, not a city. If I don't find a way around this, I might have to give up attacking the Circle in order not to become the demon lord who massacred half of a city in the eyes of the entire world.

The Narrative. What comes after every war is the Winner's narrative, but in the present age, due to social media controlling the narrative in the Winner's favor was very difficult. If it were ancient times when the grimoire network was yet to be developed, then what Victor says goes in the pages of history, be it true or false. But now, what the majority of public beloved went into the pages of history, be it true or false.

Therefore controlling the public opinion was a big deal in modern warfare to control the final narrative on the conclusion of any conflict. This is what the new leader was doing by building a righteous image for the Circle and a heroic image for himself. In the people's eyes, the Circle and he were the good guys, so automatically marking every organization or person that went against them or they themselves targeted as the bad guys.

Every story had good guys and bad guys. The Circle had already filled in the role of good guys, and anyone that went against them would automatically be labeled as the bad guys. This meant that even if I were to somehow avoid facing the city after attacking the Circle, I would still lose as the other branches of the circle would ignite the public into labeling me as the demon lord that slaughtered an entire organization, whatever the reason I had to attack the Circle sun blossom branch would it matter to the people.

I could hide the identity of my troops and me when attacking the Circle, but the blood rule cards used by my troops would be very distinctive, and unless I planned not to use these cards in the future world would sooner or later figure out that it was I who attacked the Circle. And with a push from other branches of Circle, I believe the world would know a lot sooner.

Why did I care about the public opinion of me? The answer was straightforward. It is because I am weak. When someone is labeled as the bad guy, it becomes easier for his enemies to come after him. Just take the example of the demigod Redfall. He had an intimate relationship with so many people, and most of them became his devotees. In most cases, these people were husbands and wives of prominent figures in the world.

Yet the world could not prosecute Redfall because all the relationships he had with his various partners were consensual. His partners took all the blame upon themselves, therefore, giving no reason for the world to prosecute Demigod Redfall until the information that he grew humans as livestock to conduct blood sacrifice and blood ritual to make a breakthrough in his active soul control came to light. Using this as a reason, those that lost their partners to Redfall's lifestyle band together under the one banner that they would exterminate an evil card apprentice when, in reality, all they cared about was taking revenge on the demigod Redfall for robbing their Husbands and Wives.

This is how the world works. If I were to strike the Circle without enough preparations immaturely, then even if I won the battle, I would be labeled as the bad guy, give the rest of the Circle Branches a chance to band together and prosecute me under a justifiable cause of eliminating evil. This is why it is essential that Victor control the narrative of the events, or else even if they had momentarily won, they would lose in the pages of history by being labeled as the bad guys. No matter how strong one is, nobody can beat time. Therefore, it was rudimentary to control the narrative. In ancient times the narrative of the events was Victor's right, but in modern warfare, the one with the most favorable public opinion controlled the narrative. Making it necessary for me to come out as a good guy in the battle against the Circle.

…