Glan Natural Science Academy

  “Phew…

After seeing the terrifying mercenaries leave, Auen, Ryger and the knights all sighed a breath of relief.

Auen extinguished the fireball in his hand, sighed in relief and said: “The title of a ‘magician’ is really useful, huh? It’s much scarier than a mere ‘scholar’. Finally, we scared them away. I really don’t want to die on the way to the Academy.”

“An’ga Ertula Klerina Ye Sousa…”

The elven girl came closer to them, speaking Elvish with teary eyes, and stood there not knowing what to do. The tears in her eyes could fall at any moment.

Auen looked at Ryger who still had a stiff expression and snickered, “Hey, it’s done, it’s done. They’re gone now so hurry up and give me my notebook. I’ll take a look in my spacebox1 and see if there’s any book about Elvish.”

The knights dismounted from their war horses, took off their helmets, and wiped the sweat on their horsehead.

The female knight looked at the picture-perfect elven girl. She looked at the girl’s helpless appearance and was immediately filled with sympathy. She turned back to Auen who was rummaging through his spacebox for books on the elven language and said, “Compared to a book, what she needs more now is food and clothing!”

“Huh?” Auen uttered in a daze. “I completely forgot about that!”

On the side, Ryger had just recovered from his dazed state from before.  But because of the spacebox in Auen’s hand, he was dumbfounded again.

Auen took out a box the size of a makeup box and opened it. Unexpectedly, he took out dozens of books and other miscellaneous items from the box as though the box had infinite space in it.

Some time later.

After drinking some water and eating some fluffy bread, the clothed elf girl looked at them with gratitude and kept talking. Auen tried to translate what she was saying till he was sweating profusely. But even then he only managed to barely translate some individual words2. What was more was that Auen wasn’t really sure about the few words he translated. This made Ryger see a more realistic, down-to-earth side of Auen.

“Ermm … I actually know some Elvish.”

Ryger, who was silent the entire time suddenly whispered.

The others suddenly quieted down and looked at Ryger, dumbfounded.
 
Seeing this, Ryger blushed and said, “When I was studying in the church before, I studied some Elvish because I wanted to become a preacher and serve the great Light god by spreading Light in faraway land. But I know only the most basic and simple part.”
 
“Why didn’t you say so earlier. You made me make a fool out of myself!” Auen grumbled and put away the books that he had never seen before.

Ryger, however, seemed to be hit hard, and said softly, “Because… I lost my faith.”

As he said that, Ryger, amidst their disbelief, took the redbud badge and The Secrets of Evolution out , and looked at Auen, “Father gave me this.”

“A contribution badge of the Glan Natural Sciences Academy!” Auen recognized the badge in Leero’s hand at a glance. He was first stupefied then quickly reacted. He asked, “Classmate?”

The group was shocked by Ryger again and again. To think that the commoner that they casually got acquainted with was actually a scholar heading to the Glan natural Sciences Academy for enrolment. 

Ryger, however, sighed, “Pioneer Antonio said that the advancement of knowledge comes from the process of constant self-doubt, while devout faith requires constant reinforcement. Thus, the two can never exist together. I … betrayed faith.”

Ryger’s tone was of confusion and loss.

Auen didn’t think much of it. He gushed, “If I believed in the God of Light, I would have made my father donate all the money he gave me for my studies to the church for a title. Compared to believing in the God of Light and reading the boring Canon day after day, I’m much much more excited by challenging the limitless accomplishments of mathematical foundations! They pity me for my lack of faith, but I pity them for their ignorance! Hahahaha!”

For a moment, the position of protagonist, which should have belonged to the elven girl, became Ryger’s.

Auen continued, “That’s great, we’ll be classmates from now on! You have a contribution badge, so when you reach the academy, they should arrange an initiate tutor for you. Do you plan to study evolutionary secrets?”

Looking at the enthusiastic and excited Auen, Ryger responded, “Eh? I not sure myself. But we should talk about it while on the move. It won’t be good if those mercenaries come back. I can also ask this elf … lady what happened.”

“Right, good!”

Auen responded in a daze.

The company packed up the camp. Ryger and the elven girl followed Auen into the carriage and continued on under the escort of the knights.

As the sun rose, the fog of the forest slowly cleared.

Along the way, Ryger used his pent-up Elvish which he pretty much never used before together with hand gestures and communicated with the girl without stopping. 

He had finally figured out her identity.

“My name is Krellina, from the Moon Tree tribe. When I was out collecting honey, those bad guys grabbed me and brought me here. Waaah, I’m scared…”

Sure enough, she was an elven slave girl captured by those mercenaries to be sold!

“Captain Basce guessed rightly. That group of heartless mercenaries sold elven slaves for money. They actually established their happiness at the expense of others’ suffering, capturing innocent girls to be sold as slaves to those corrupt nobles to sate their lust.  They’re ruining the reputation of this land!”

The female archer outside the carriage gritted her teeth and kept patting the elven girl’s shoulder through the curtain, comforting the girl while feeling heartbroken her own self. At the same time, the gaze that she directed at Auen was one full of respect and admiration for his sense of justice.

Auen said: “Despicable as they are, the real abomination are those corrupt nobles who breed elf slave girls! I’ve long heard of some rotten nobles who act like devout followers of the Light God but actually do dirty and sordid things in secret. They like the sorcerers in the Dark Age, evil and depraved.

Ryger opened his mouth,  but didn’t know what to say when he heard the word sorcerer.

The Dark Age when sorcerers wreaked havoc has long since become history; this was an era ruled by the Church of Light and at least humanity maintained their good side on the outside.

The Light God acted as the One True God that humanity believed in and had completely delivered humanity from that age of death and terror; The sorcerers followed the fate of the Black Death they created and disappeared forever at the immolating stake. What remained of them were their descendants which were incapable of doing anything. All they could do was to hide in some corner and try their hardest to hide themselves.

Auen did not notice Ryger’s abnormalities and said to the elven girl: “I swear by the honor of the Ridge family that I will send you back home safely. I solemnly apologize to you for the Grand Duchy. Please believe me, those dirty and rotten nobles numbered only a minority. The vast majority of humans living in this land have a righteous, bright and kind soul.”

“Thanks … thank you!”

The elven girl finally relaxed completely. She looked at the righteous Auen, at Ryger who arduously translated, at the female knight full of symphony, and shed tears of gratitude.

……

Two days later.

With the clip-clop of horse hooves stepping on the limestone road, Ryger and others finally arrived at the capital of the Glan duchy, St. Glan Castle.

Although there were countless city-states and principalities constructed around the Aurora Light Empire, encircling it, there were only 6 principalities that could be described as a proper, large-scale principality. The Glan principality was exactly one of the 6 large principalities.

Ryger used less than 3 days to reach the St Glan Castle from Agate Lake, located in the hinterland, while Aeun took 8 full days for his journey. This shows just how large the Glan Principality is.

And it was only in these large principalities, was there sufficient money to establish a royal natural sciences academy, a royal committee on fellowship, a mercenary association and so on. All of which allowed the royal family to obtain more secular authority.

As for the many small countries, they often had extremely harsh beliefs, and the pursuit of truth and freedom never really got off there. Atheists were deemed heretics and the so-called king was far less important than the Church in the hearts of the common people. Naturally, they were not able to establish science academies and thus produce the magicians or scholars.

Dong…

A resounding bell sound rang out.

Through the curtains, Ryger’s gaze passed through the well-dressed pedestrians of St Glan Castle and looked at the St Glan Castle’s Basilica of Light3 far in the distance. He could not help but get lost in thought and blurted, “How magnificent.”

The marbled basilica with a pure white dome was a full hundred metres tall!

From a distance, the basilica seemed to be covered by a golden afterglow, holy light from ten thousands of followers condensed into near physical form, that congregated high up, atop the highest part of the church where every inch could be called art.

The bells rang. The pedestrians around stopped whatever it is they were doing and all made a gesture of prayer. Even the young knights responsible for escorting Auen did the same.

“Grand indeed.  The God of Light always liked miracles.”

Only the middle-aged knight leader added something; the others kept silent. Ryger noticed that although he bowed slightly, he didn’t pray. 

Noticing the gaze of Ryger, the middle-aged knight shifted his helmet4, revealing eyes that still possessed the rational light of independent thinking. He declared, “I believe in the Goddess of Wisdom.”

The Goddess of wisdom was one of the subordinate gods of the Light God.

The head knight then looked at the elven girl beside Auen with a serious gaze with some love. He turned towards Ryger and said: “After you and the young master register yourselves at the Academy, we will be responsible for sending her to the Mercenary Association, issuing the corresponding task and ensuring that she returns home safely.”

“Mn.”

Ryger didn’t say anything more.

On the other side of the carriage, Auen was holding a picture book and looking at it together with the elf. It seemed to be a field guide of ancient proteuses. The girl read with great interest. Her slender, white fingers kept turning the pages and her long eyelashes blinked and blinked. Her sadness was, for now, forgotten.

Auen glanced at the St Glan Basilica and rationally said: “According to mathematical logic, even the Light Creator is not omnipotent. For he can never create a stone he cannot move himself. Thus, the True Law must stand above the Light Creator as an existence that the Light Creator cannot influence.

Ryger was stunned and gaped at Auen, as if he got an unprecedented intellectual inspiration.

Yes!

If the Light Creator can create such a stone but couldn’t move it, then how can he claim to be omnipotent?

And if he can’t create a stone like this, then all the more so!

Instantly, the fear that festered in Ryger’s heart because of his sorcerer heritage diminished a lot. He also became more confident in the True Law that Antonio, author of The Secrets of Evolution, sought after; in the True Law that the scholar who was immolated in front of the Aurora Cathedral of Light several centuries ago stood up for.

The Creator of Light is by no means omnipotent!

Footnotes

I know. What an uninspiring translation MTL-ers, unite!The word for basilica here is the same as cathedral in Aurora Cathedral. Basilica is used to differentiate between the twoThis is me trying to make sense of what the author is trying to say. The raw only wrote “the middle-aged knight leader metal helmet”.