224 Swaying the Crowd

Jackal saw a chance within the crowd's hesitation and capitalized on it. He rose his voice over everyone and bellowed, "I want to make a world where everyone can walk alongside one another no matter if one's minds is twisted and broken, no matter if one is too weak to sustain themselves, no matter how alone one may be. Commoners came together and were strong, strong enough to nearly break a record. Did you know that commoners have never once won Initiation in the history of the knights' academy?"

He held up his mask: "I was planning on giving the victory to Arin, or as many of you know him as, Gregen." He focused his attention on the commoners directly below him. "You may not trust me but commoners trust their own, something you all learned on the front lines which Gregen told me so much about."

"This is disgusting," Frey spat. "He's using their trust in Gregen as leverage. They're not really going to buy this crap, right?"