"You're back, Master Ferrante. ”

The old butler stooped forty-five degrees to greet Ferrante's homecoming at the door.

"Where's my father?"

"The Duke is still in the palace, and I'm afraid he won't be able to come back until the evening, but he said that he would eat at home at night, and asked the young master not to run around. ”

"I see. ”

Ferrante nodded, ignoring the washbasin brought by the maid and returning to his room on the second floor.

Even in the daytime, the room was full of sunlight, but there were still candles lit on the candlesticks, and it seemed that the next person should have estimated the time when he would return home.

Throwing his bag on the bed, Ferrante sat at his desk and carefully recalled the notes that the dwarf boy had sent him, and then wrote them down with a quill pen to consolidate his memory.

Paleontology is a very special course, and there is only one instructor and one ordinary teacher in charge of the entire Solan Academy, which shows how unpopular it is.

For no other reason, the hottest research direction in the entire Hokuriku academic community is mechanics and the study of unearthed ancient documents and cultural relics.

As for the animals, who cares how they come about.

"Of course some people care, and I've heard that the orc scholars in the Southern Continent are very interested in this. ”

Ferrante stretched, moved his neck, and muttered to himself.

Putting the notes in a drawer, Ferrante pulled out a vivid color portrait from it.

It was his mother, and he heard from his father that when he was three years old, his mother fell ill and died.

And today is my mother's sacrifice day, so my father refused the invitation to the daily drinking party and chose to eat at home.

In fact, he knew early on that his mother was also a scholar and specialized in paleontology.

The so-called infection was also during an excavation of the ruins, and the mother found the corpse of a strange creature, which was infected by the virus on it, and died after ineffective treatment.

Ferrante stared at the portrait for a long time before finally putting it away, taking another book from the bookcase and doing extracurricular study.

"Hmm...... Study on the extinction of salmon in the Larpo Sea......"

......

......

At night, the street lamps are replaced with new candles, the streets are bustling with people, and the freshly baked bread is quickly sold, compared to the aristocratic quarter in the east of the city.

The clatter of the carriage slowed down, and Duke Roy Knard, dressed in a black tweed coat, stepped into his courtyard.

The old butler was still at the door, and the maid and the manservant stepped forward to take off their coats, hats, and scarves for them, and put on comfortable and soft home shoes.

"Sir, dinner is ready. ”

Duke Roy smiled: "Okay, old man, you can always do your best, this damn weather, this year His Majesty will have to worry about the freezing of the river again." ”

The old butler nodded with a smile, did not answer, and followed closely behind Duke Roy, carefully waiting for orders.

"Where's Ferrante?"

"The young master is already in the restaurant. ”

When he came to the restaurant, Ferrante got up and said hello, the relationship between father and son was actually not bad, but it was not as obvious as it appeared.

One hopes that the child can think and act independently, the other only cares about research and study, and the two stuffy gourds rarely communicate on weekdays.

The same is true when eating, before doing so, because it is the day of sacrifice for Ferrante's mother, Duke Roy prays to the gods with his son, hoping that his wife will be liberated in heaven.

This is the little difference between father and son, Duke Roy is a staunch believer in the God of Light, while Ferrante has always believed that everything has an explanation, and if it can't be explained, it is that the knowledge is not deep enough.

Of course, this was all influenced by what his mother left behind.

Not only him, but there are many churches and beliefs throughout the South and North Continents, but there are also mostly materialist atheists.

They believe that gods are only people's spiritual sustenance in terms of ideology, and that various beliefs are only different manifestations of cultural differences.

But they are not against beliefs and gods, but rather want to explain them with reasonable explanations, and even encourage those who have no support to find their own refuge.

Thinking about the knowledge in the book, Ferrante finished her prayer and had dinner with her father in silence.

During the process, Duke Roy inquired about his studies at the Academy, and intentionally revealed that if he wished, he could send Ferrante to the Kaia Empire to study at the recognized first academy of the Terrans, the Avos Academy.

Ferrante refused, at least at this stage, so ambitious is far from his label.

After dinner, the father and son left separately, and Duke Roy returned to his study to deal with the affairs of the principality.

Ferrante, on the other hand, returned to his room to continue his research on the extinction of the Larpo salmon.

It wasn't until midnight, in the middle of the night, that Ferrante cleaned up, blew out half of the candles, and lay down on the bed.

He was not going to sleep, because tomorrow was a day off, so he simply read the classic "Materialism" by the candlelight at the bedside.

This is a classic book from 300 years ago, and it explains in detail how the gods were born from the minds of people.

Ferrante was amused, he wasn't an atheist, he wasn't a theist, and he wasn't interested in dwelling on it.

But as he read it, he thought of his mother, and if there really was a god, then he hoped that his mother would really be liberated in heaven.

Putting away her books and blowing out the candles, Ferrante closed her eyes, and the moon was not visible in the dark sky, indicating that a heavy snow might be coming.

Ferrante lay on the bed tossing and turning, unable to sleep, after all, it was his mother's sacrifice day, and no matter how calm he was, he couldn't spend it as an ordinary day.

After tossing for a long time, Ferrante got up and got out of bed, lit a candle, gently pushed open the door, and crept towards his father's study.

Many of the unsolved mysteries of paleontology inevitably involve ancient times, even the last era.

One of the most authentic records is the ancient books of the Great Library of the Kaia Empire, which also have only one sentence describing 1,100 years ago.

The second is the major churches, which are a little more extensive in their texts, but fragmentary and semantically unclear, and more about the gods.

But it's hard to think that it's true.

Duke Roy had a good relationship with the cardinal archbishop of the local Church of Light, and there were many borrowed books at home, and sometimes Ferrante would secretly look at them as he did now.

By this time his father should have been asleep, Ferrante put his ear to the door, and when he heard no movement, he slowly twisted the handle.

The study was pitch black, and the only light source was the candle in his hand, which could only shine a small piece under his feet.

He slowly closed the door and groped his way up and down the bookcase by candlelight, looking for books that looked pleasing to the eye.

Suddenly, his right side of his body was against the wall, and the whole person was stunned, the bookcase had not reached the edge yet, where did the wall come from?

Ferrante froze, and her two eyeballs unconsciously squinted.

The silence in the study was terrifying, and Ferrante could feel that the 'wall' on the right side was a little soft and a little trembling.

There was a sound of saliva that did not belong to him, and Ferrante jerked the candle to the right, and saw a big foot flying over, nearly knocking him over.

The shadow snatched a book from the bookcase and jumped out of the open window.

Ferrante came back to his senses and hurried to the window, but there was only a dark courtyard in front of him, and a street lamp in the distance, and there was still half a figure there.

......

......

The entire Duke's Mansion was brightly lit, and Ferrante stood silently in the corner, watching his father pacing back and forth, and the old butler cautiously stood aside.

"Father, what did you lose?"

Duke Roy waved his hand: "It's nothing, it's just a travel book of the bishop of the church a hundred years ago who traveled to the South Continent." ”

Ferrante was silent, but he didn't relax, maybe what he lost didn't matter, but what mattered was that a thief had entered a ducal mansion.

This time it's to steal something, so will it kill people next time?

"You go back to sleep first, I'll be here for me. ”

Duke Roy waved his hand and sent away his son on the side, he had long known about Ferrante sneaking into the study, but he would not put important documents related to the principality here, so he did not interfere.

Two days later, as soon as the rest day was over, and it was the day of the academy class, Ferrante carefully packed his school bag, planning to go out for a bite to eat and prepare for the afternoon class.

It was true that he had only lost a travelogue the night before, but the number of guards around the Duke's palace had increased significantly.

Ferrante didn't think much about it, and walked out of the academy gate alone, but immediately stopped on the side of the street.

On the other side of the street, a young man in a black trench coat and a top hat was leaning against the wall with one hand in his pocket and looking at him with a smile, and the other hand kept throwing and catching a book.