"Salem won?"

Richard was confused, first, the truth of what was happening in the US was limited.

The information that they could get online was heavily limited and biased.

Even the freedom of sharing information that allows for the truth to still be released could do nothing against a tide of lies.

In the past, the internet was a place that only a few people could use effectively. Most of the old timers have a hard time getting used to the tools that change every year and over time, that cycle of change only gets shorter.

When that was still the case, the internet had been a source of information which the people in power did not want others to know.

But as time went on, those in power slowly but surely understood this network.

Their previous tactics of controlling the flow of information was useless in the internet so they came up with a new method-

Disinformation

A tactic that was used in civilization throughout history.

It was a simple tactic where people purposely spread false and/or confusing information online.

This is done by spreading limited information that takes on various forms and various perspectives.

Like a game of telephone, people on the internet try to make out their own version with their already limited understanding, transforming truth into lies naturally.

What was especially frightening about such a method was the fact that it made full use of intrinsic biases.

When a know-it-all on the internet talks about their take on a situation and preaches it as the truth, those whose thoughts align with the know-it-all would take their words as facts. Those that don’t? They look for another person who speaks "their truth".

Now take that cycle and multiple it by thousands- maybe even millions and you get yourself a pool of contradictory tales and knowledge.

In such a pool, there would be groups that believe that the earth is flat, that the moon really is cheese and that the moon landing was a hoax.

Within this polluted pool of information, cleaning up the gathered information and looking for the "truth" becomes so hard that even an AI trained to find the actual truth would be hard pressed unless given a hint that would lead to it.

Because of that, Richard had long wanted to send people to the US for some actual reconnaissance and to learn about what had happened to the people he left back in Texas.

But he held back since even Tanya didn’t return to the US and was simply waiting for things to quiet down.

After all, while the truth was hard to find, Richard was able to get a few bits and pieces of information that showed active movement of the US military.

Unfortunately, aside from being aware of deployment of not only the National Guard but even the Marine Corps.

Movement of military forces that should have been focused on external threats moving within American soil was a bad sign.

Even if he could contend with them with his own power, Richard was not going to take on a whole nation’s military alone.

That was one of the reasons why he was growing his power in the Philippines.

While there were some factors he had to consider, taking over the country was a test and also a method he had to slowly handle the growing "magic scare".

First it was the Philippines, then he would move to Japan and the rest of South East Asia.

He would then start to spread his actions, starting with the UK, and then moving west-

That was supposed to be the plan, and while it was unfortunate, Richard had to give up the people left behind.

Even the US would do the same thing, "No man left behind" was just an act, it was nothing more than a show of power and a morale boost- nothing more, nothing less.

But such a move is only done by the side with more cards to play and whose power relies heavily on public support.

One of the reasons why the US could never beat terrorist organizations is because the cost of doing so is a PR nightmare.

Most people care only for themselves, even people who scream about "fighting for their country" only use such words when their interests are on the line.

Richard?

He was in the same situation as the many terrorist organizations.

His support did not come from a population of voters, his control of power was not limited to a certain number of years and he didn’t really need to bargain with others when making decisions.

If Richard decides to abandon his people, so long as he has a good reason then all would be fine.

Getting back to the US should have taken a few years. He would have to wait till things quiet down or for a proper system to deal with magic is in place.

Even now, there were people lobbying to stop the "unnecessary" war against witches.

Some people were already being paid to take the side of magic, there were already rampant information campaigns that show how mystics were human too and most of those being seen as "evil" were nothing more than "evil" mystics who, much like non-mystic criminals were nothing more than twisted people the only difference beijing their access to magic.

Under such a definition, lobbyists were proposing laws for "Magic Control" that followed the same system as that of the former FMC.

But unlike the FMC that remained secret, the new laws would put all magical misdemeanors and criminal activity under public scrutiny. No more living in the shadows, instead, the handling of such cases would be done with absolute transparency.

Of course such movements didn’t come without push back.

Richard knew all of this but that was all information surrounding the non-mystic side of things.

The actual war and the hunts were still hidden under a veil.

Even Tanya was unable to contact them as doing so was extremely risky.

Yet Cindy claims that she had news?

"The Goddess came back, she apparently went to the US, visited the farm only to see a military base and research facility on the spot where you trained with Ragnar. She spent some time searching for Kyla and found her with the witches of Salem...."

Cindy explained the situation and Richard quickly learned of what had transpired while he was here in the Philippines just living his life.

First of all, Kyla had been saved by a witch from Salem. She made sure to take Richard’s motorcycle with her during the escape while destroying his workshop and everything mystical.

Kyla and the witch who was with her regroup with Salem and they went on a wild goose chase all across America-

Of course, Salem was the goose.

This ultimately culminated in a final stand where Salem, all the witches and their families were forced to stay on a hidden island fort enshrouded by a barrier.

It was Salem’s final fortress and while it should have been possible for them to hole up for years, the number of witches that took refuge in the fortress went way above its normal capacity.

Without any external support, the fortress would have fallen in a few weeks but the Goddess found them and lended her aid.

Now, Salem was under the protection of the Goddess, while the attack of the US military was not halted, Salem and even Nova Munda were able to find a safe haven.

The reason Salem won is because the movement to normalize Magic was led by witches connected to Salem.

While it was a dangerous act to lead such movements, the witches who did so were the ones who weren’t deep into the mystical world.

They were on the same level as the witches in the Philippines, they didn’t practice magic to an extent that allowed them to shoot fireballs but they were able to make mystical salves and do a few party tricks.

Because they had not done anything wrong and had lived a normal life, all they had to do was show off some benefits of magic.

Many women were drawn in by the age defying beauty products while those in power found the life extending and medical wonders to be attractive.

Of course, they didn’t spread knowledge of things that were "gruesome", but they did share such knowledge to the people who were willing to go the extra mile.

The people in power who speak about "serving the people" were, after all, the same people who would happily sign off the death warrants of young men if it was for "black gold".

They only rode the wave against mystics since they felt it unfair that only specific people could be "in the know" about such matters and because of the public outcry.

Yet when witches came up with salves that could cure blindness, heal cripples and even ones that were- albeit expensive, cure cancer-

Everyone immediately started to reevaluate witches.

It also helped that many shows had started to come up which showed how some "villains" and "bad people" were not all "evil".

The "Anti-hero" and "Anti-villain" archetypes also had a recent rise in popularity.

Add the many "witch stories" that paint witches as a class of people who were "pushed out of society" and you got yourself a quick turnaround.

While the mass media and government information agencies were still busy with their disinformation campaigns that tried to show how the US was still at war with magic- the reality on the ground was leading towards a stalemate.

While it was not a landslide victory, to Salem, simply getting the populace on their side was a huge win.

After all-

"The politicians aren’t going to miss out on this huh?"

Like a pack of hungry hyena’s, many politicians would jump up at the shot of being the person leading this wave of "magic acceptance".

With medical professionals and the poor who found a "cheaper" way to get healed on their backs, elections would become a breeze.

Of course, against them were the corporate giants, those who profited off the expensive treatments that would not lead to healing but only endless medical bills.

Realizing this, Richard felt a weight lift of his shoulders and as he realized that he could start taking things slow-

"Where’s the Goddess? She came back and didn’t even bother to meet me? That’s suspicious"

"She said you don’t need her now, but she did have me pass on a message"

"Message?"

"She said, Your plan is commendable but don’t take over, even when magic and mysticism was at its peak, rules who wielded both mystic and non-mystic influence always ended up losing. Do not follow Solomon’s steps, is what she said"

The message he was left with was not cryptic at all and was very straightforward and Richard-

"Solomon huh?"

He found another piece of information to look into.