Preparing to Make a Name

As the star reporter for the Number Three Daily, Declan showed no excitement when he returned to the newspaper office.

He knew the notes in his hand would fill tomorrow's front page. No other story could compete with them.

After all, he had interviewed a Magic Duel competitor who had already made a name for herself. He had worked hard to secure that firsthand account.

Even without her strange remarks, the interview deserved space in the paper. On a slow news day, it might even have made the headline.

Add her seemingly deliberate, outrageous boasts, and once tomorrow's paper came out, no mage would pay attention to anything else.

But he was still annoyed. Every reporter at every newspaper had the story. If everyone had it, what was the difference between that and no one having it?

Worse, the story was so explosive that every other report paled beside it. He had no choice but to put it on the front page, or the Editor-in-Chief would question his judgment tomorrow.

A choice that was no choice at all gave him no chance to show what made him a star reporter. He was deeply dissatisfied.

For the next month, it would be hard to find a story that could outshine anything about "Philly." That would limit what he could do.

He knew the Editor-in-Chief would probably be in an excellent mood for the next month or so. Stories about "Philly" alone could keep sales up that long.

Frustrated, he tossed his notes to his assistant. He was about to ask the assistant to organize the interview and pick out the best parts... No, there was nothing to pick. They only needed to lay it out. Everything in those notes was explosive enough to print.

"Declan, I need you to cooperate on