Augustine, who was about to leave Jupiter, was interrupted by an incident that informed him that he would be invited to the Torch Agency to give a class to future recipients of the Golden Clover Badge. In Augustine's opinion, the absurdity of this request was almost comparable to that of Queen Goscher's invitation, he had no connection with the torch, his secret relationship with St. Jerome, who had ascended to the top of the Apostles in Spades, was unknown in the Empire, and the most noble and only arcane sage in history had a similar relationship with the Imperial Magic Guild, so that he could not give Augustine this great problem and teach a group of geniuses? The class was held in the Colin Auditorium, and there was a large group of arrogant young people waiting for the temporary lecturer to make a fool of themselves, and some old professors who had worked for the torch for half their lives were also in the last row, and of course they wondered why a young man in his early twenties who had only obtained the status of a mid-level magician in the Imperial Magic Guild spread knowledge to the torch, relying on the heretical theories that the Sacraments were best at to gain attention? Many of these young geniuses were attracted by the clown status of the son of the traitor, and they did not expect to hear a useful lesson. And many people heard that the beautiful lady of the Northern Aowufu family would also participate, so they hurried here, and at this moment, she sat quietly by the window, holding her cheeks, like a statue of the moon goddess carefully carved by the most talented sculptor. I'm afraid York was the only one in the classroom who had a lot of expectations for the class itself.

Augustine arrived at the auditorium on time, changed into a magic robe befitting his profession, without any polite words, his opening words were unusually concise, boring at all, and had the pale emptiness of a typical uneducated person, "I only came here today to ask a question that I have been thinking about and has not received a definite answer. ”

Augustine picked up the chalk and wrote a question on the board in a rounded taras script: "What is magic?"

A young magician muttered loudly, "Magic is something that can get you out of the classroom." For example, a fifty-ninth level [Little Anna Lihua]. ”

Laugh.

Augustine was not interrupted by the sarcastic noise, but calmly said: "Mathematically, everyone knows that 1+1 is equal to 2, but almost no one thinks about why it is equal to 2. When I was a child, I also asked a private magic teacher this seemingly innocent question, but unfortunately she didn't give me an answer, just gave an example, using a ruler with a length of ten centimeters and a minimum scale of one centimeter to measure a nine-centimeter object, it's not difficult, not a fool, you can do it, just like me. ”

There was another burst of laughter under the table, but there was less ridicule, and it was difficult for ordinary people to hate those who were willing to laugh at themselves.

"But if you want to measure an object that is nine centimeters and two millimeters, you need a more accurate ruler, and you need to measure people to create a long ruler accurate to millimeters, which a fool can't do, but you who sit in the audience and think that listening to a fool croak is a waste of time, which is why you enter the torch. When I was a child, I dreamed of being in a torch more glorious than St. Carroll, and then it would be better to get a knighthood, and to ride a horse and wear a magic robe, which was very eye-catching, and the ladies and ladies would scream, right?"

The laughter in the audience was even stronger, and even some old professors laughed heartily, who did not mature from a young and ignorant age? In the naïve childhood and adolescence, who did not aspire to be the focus of attention?

"But if someone asks you how to explain the infinite cycle unit of root number 2, what should you do? I'm afraid you have such a headache that you can't even eat the ruler. Augustine smiled, turned around and drew a standard triangular pattern on the blackboard, tapping both sides with chalk, "Mathematicians will say that we can solve the number that is destined to be an infinite loop that cannot be measured with a long ruler by two known sides." While the number is still abstract, at least it's not a mess. That's where leverage comes in, and the knowledgeable professors and any of you who can easily throw out a little Anna and tell me to fuck off are obviously very good at using this kind of leverage. ”

Everyone laughed, including the beautiful woman who was like a moon goddess.

"I've always believed that magic is a sacred object that can and must be calculated precisely, so when we can use levers skillfully, can we be complacent? Or should we go one step further and explore the source of levers? Why is 1+1 equal to 2? What is magic? Every magician knows that we have the gift of the god of magic in us, the nucleus. It's like a labyrinth, we need to open it with different keys at different stages, you are all lucky, you open more doors to the labyrinth than ordinary people, remember how the first smart man who came out of the labyrinth of the god Pan in the myth did it? Quite simply, he prepared a bundle of long threads before entering the labyrinth, and after finding the treasure of the Golden Fleece, he was guaranteed that he could return the way he came, what does this tell us? Of course, it was not only that he was a lucky fool, but that he did not forget to solve the labyrinth in the first place, that is, where the starting point was. Every step he takes, he strives to return to the starting point, and he never forgets for a moment. And you, as soon as I ask this question, are you regarded as half-panmystical geniuses? Do you remember the origin that starts more than the lever in your hand?"

The crowd began to ponder in unison, and some young men, accustomed to conceit because of their talents, tried to refute it, but were helpless.

"Magic is a labyrinth, don't be fooled by the vastness of the 'illusion of truth' on its side, it is actually a puzzle that strictly follows a one-way deconstruction, no matter how many years you have walked in the field of magic, how many honors you have won, how many problems you have solved, you need to warn and remind yourself, have I forgotten the way I came? A grand dinner?an olive branch of the nobles?a conversation with a certain lady and a young lady?I think these should be left to the knights to accept, the magician is more suitable to bury his head in the long scroll of books, and your silence is far more conducive to the construction of the ladder of human knowledge than rhetoric, this process is destined to be very difficult, but is not this the ordinariness that the magician pursues? My godfather said that there may be a few amazing feats in a person's life, but the rest are nothing more than trivial and dirty acts, humble details, and even boring behaviors. Without this patience to endure mediocrity and dirt, it is categorically impossible to put on the cloak of divine magnificence. I believe that the most suitable character for this sentence is not a politician, but a magician. ”

There was a sparse round of applause, York, the moon goddess of the Empire, and six or seven old professors.

"Next, I'll talk about some of my superficial understanding of what magic is over the years, maybe a little different, I hope that I won't be urgently notified by the Imperial Magic Guild that I am no longer a magician after the class ends. ”

In the end, on this day, Augustine, who was greeted with arrogance and greeted with applause, never glanced at the imperial moon that was born with him in the city of Augs.

On the same day, Augustine's carriage was about to leave the imperial capital when he received a secret document from Emperor Jupiter the Great to sign a significant subsidiary agreement on the border between the empire and Kamiu, which meant that his name would appear officially in the imperial history books for the first time, and he would appear in history as a pacifist.

The Saxon Forest, jokingly called the "Great Meat Grinder" and "the best academy of Imperial Knights" by the Archon of Order, who was about to play the role of the Peacemaker, then the counties bordering the Titans on the southern border of the Empire were the real battlefields. Here, the two sides broke out at the highest frequency of the most brutal battles on the epic continent, almost every time the two empires engaged in the battle were as high as six figures, the time the black rose withered, as many as twenty-one legions were activated, originally according to the normal development of events, it would be the most heart-wrenching pinnacle war on the continent in the past hundred years, large-scale knights, the most complete echelon of mages, etc., all the warriors will devote themselves to it, blooming a "game" that makes the blood of military observers run high History, of course, always makes a joke when everyone is waiting to see it, and that year a completely blooming black rose fell into the dust with an almost irreproducible honor. Finally, this year, ushered in a new opportunity, the children of war frantically hoarded nearly 200,000 soldiers on the border, and the Holy Empire was not to be outdone, with knight to knight, spear to spear, gathered 140,000 imperial soldiers, plus 15,000 mages, this ratio is enough to make the emperor and king of any country covet and fear at the same time.

The Moby Dick Fortress, which guards the southern gates of the Holy Empire, will be full of stars at this time. The Marquis of Pompey, who commanded two holy wars, is known as the Count Dürer, the captain of the Grand Legion who was born for war, Chief Robert, who is half a rank higher than the average administrator, and General Orem, the "Titan Reaper", who is rumored to be the first member of the Empire's newest title, "Marshal". Everyone firmly believed that as long as the war was won, the roster of the highest-ranking "marshals" of the Imperial soldiers would arrange seats for these people, and some of the lesser-known army commanders were eager to try to gain a higher reputation for their families and themselves.

Even the most low-key "war command artist", the old Monte Cristo general, privately told his friends that he also wanted to bring a successful end to his military career.

This old man has always been regarded as a genius conductor in any small and medium-sized battle of a thousand against a thousand men with an infinitely close victory rate of close to a hundred. He had been the military teacher of Prince Otis, and that alone was enough to make him the uncrowned king of the battlefield. What's more, he has always been the enemy that the Titans did not hesitate to try to solve by assassination, and the old man was forced to deal with assassins and bounty hunters for half his life, and the old man who was very optimistic in life always smiled and said that when he retired, he must invite the leaders of these two professions to dinner to celebrate that everyone can finally take a break.

If these big men are still sober and vigilant, then a group of newly grown upstart knights are mostly fanatical and enthusiastic, shrouded in hot emotions, Constantine who came out of the big family in the east is a good example, with this genius double professional master as the core of the imperial capital youth hawks group planning the beginning of the war and calculating the general trend all day long, the noble knights they are in are the most noble, most of them are the heirs of the first-line families in Jupiter City, and after hurriedly obtaining the knighthood title, they rushed to Moby Dick Fortress, and the most dazzling thing is that there is a special knight in this small group, Prince Schopenhauer, one of the most favored heirs to the throne of Jupiter the GreatIt seems that His Royal Highness did not hold a grudge against his classmates who studied at Morgan College because he was rejected by Constantine's sister to show love, and they have always been close.

In addition to this, there is also a group of knights who are clearly demarcated from this circle.

Most of them were made up of civilians, correspondingly, with a little older than the young knights, few in their early twenties, most of them approaching their thirties, and all of them receiving various war medals. The sixth-rank Yellow Sunflower Medal is the majority, because this medal is a necessary ladder for civilians to be promoted to new nobles, and almost everyone has a basic honor such as the Great Rock Tong War Badge, what they have in common is that they have no glorious surnames, no great ancestors, everything needs them to work hard by themselves, they are not in the same knight order, but they often meet to discuss problems, and have extraordinary cohesion, no one will doubt that once the war breaks out, these middle-level young officers can tacitly cooperate with each other and fight some beautiful small battles。 This group has a shadow leader, a civilian knight who is several years younger than their average age, and he is the only one to have been awarded the title of Knight of the Round Table of the King of the Rhine in the Crystal Hall of the Imperial Palace in previous years. The monster of the Iron Oak Military Order of the First Class and the Pur Valve Insignia of the Second Class, that year, even the dead fat rogue knight who moved the empire by capturing Andrei's daughter was overshadowed by him, so much so that it was rumored that the Marquis of Pompey intended to marry his beloved daughter to this talented and unruly subordinate who was known for being at the same time.

In addition to these two youth factions with good reputations and strength, the remaining one is more comical. The first one is undoubtedly the most noble, the second one has the highest casualty rate in the war because it is the most heroic, and the last one has the highest survival rate, but the reputation is so bad that it is a mess, afraid of death, cunning, does not understand knightly etiquette, charges slower than a turtle and escapes faster than a rabbit, God knows how these shameless knights wore badges one by one, everyone was puzzled, it could only be attributed to the fact that they had a despicable leader, the freckled fat knight Reinhardthai, the old soldiers of the imperial capital were very angry at the iron oak badge issued by the military minister to this bastard, and almost wanted to jointly protest, but because of the feelings of Luo Tongchild, who had not withered at that time, barely endured.

In the Council Chamber of Moby Dick Fortress, generals decide battles on a huge map spread out on a long table.

Outside the council chamber, there happened to be four young knights from their more interesting camp.

Constantine was called for questioning by his father's close friend, Count Dürer.

Young Master Nero, who has a lot of fun with most of the first-line aristocratic heirs in the imperial capital but belongs to his father's faction, no one has the slightest expectation of this number one playboy in Jupiter City, can this guy carry a spear three or four meters long?

Reinhardy, who came to Nero today to find out about Augustine, had a face that Constantine hated.

There is also a monster who deliberately distances himself from the three of them, Rommel who is regarded by the old general of Monte Cristo as his successor. According to common sense, Marquis Pompey should have a good relationship with Nero. But it was obvious that the young but honorable monster did not have the slightest affection for Nero and Constantine, on the contrary, Fang Cai just nodded with Reinhart, the winner of the Iron Oak, and then he stood in the corner, squinting a pair of peach blossom eyes that were prettier than a woman, not knowing what he was thinking.

Nero coped with the flattery of the dead fat man, and his eyes stayed more on Rommel, a more handsome young man than him, and after discovering this truth, Young Master Nero was a little jealous.

A certain fat man brazenly said, "Young Master Nero, it is rare to see a knight as handsome as you. ”

It seems that he didn't forget to brag about himself when he was a sycophant.

Nero couldn't believe that the shameless fat man was from the same family as Augustine, and his face stiffened, not knowing how to answer.

The fat man continued to take the trouble to put it on: "Master Nero, do you need fine wine? My men have brought a lot of them this time, and this is my order for them." If you want girls, I also know where Moby Dick Fortress will satisfy you!"

In the face of this knight's shitty oath, even Nero, who is good at ridiculous acts, can only smile awkwardly. How much courage and courage does it take for his men to come to Moby Dick with good wine?

The military meeting in the council hall came to an end, and the fat knight said goodbye to Young Master Nero reluctantly after spitting a whole circle of big people without spitting, and threw a "Young Master Nero, you know" deep smile, when his father cast a puzzled look, Nero really regretted that he shouldn't know this fat man. Constantine followed the Count of Dürer to the first place, Nero and Rommel followed the Marquis into a common room, the head of the Pompey family asked some routine questions from his henchman Rommel, and Nero sat bored and could only admire a porcelain vase that had been shipped from the Mauryan Empire in the subcontinent.

After Rommel, the brightest star of war in the empire, left with a very personal style and hard steps, the marquis slowly retracted his gaze, and said in a gloomy tone: "This is an indescribable young man, no matter how famous the old Monte Cristo is, is it more suitable to be a backer than me, a powerful general? Your sister is still crying silently. ”

Nero finally stopped stroking the vase and smiled brightly, "Want to hear the truth?"

The marquis, who was in a high position, glared at this son who was extremely unfashionable in the eyes of outsiders.

Nero said, "First, my sister, Miss Mary is really not pretty, and if I were Rommel, I would not want to face an unbeautiful wife in the next forty or fifty years." ”

The Marquis shook his head helplessly.

Nero continued: "Second, father, the faction you control, so many powerful nobles, and even several generals, but when others discuss it, do you remember the second person besides you?"

The Marquis smiled, "But don't forget, Rommel was just a commoner. ”

Nero shook his head and said, "In the next half century, the empire will open its doors to civilians." Now there is a crack in the door, and who knows what will happen next? Old Monte Cristo, but it has always been more willing than you to give up its place and glory to the younger generations. Even if this Rommel has no desire for political power, as you say, since he is the most brilliant military strategist of the future of the Empire, it is inevitable that he wants to get a broader stage, you are only in your forties, but the old Monte Cristo is almost seventy years old. ”

The Marquis nodded, just a little disappointed. Being able to make the head of the Pompey family so obsessed with it shows Rommel's excellence as a purely military side.

The Marquis seemed to think of something, and reminded: "Don't underestimate that fat man, if you are interested, you can study the military papers he has submitted to Morgan College over the years, it is no exaggeration to say that he is one of the commanders in the empire who is most familiar with the Titan military and can put theory into practice." His research on the Stone Fort Chain, the Plains Knight Wars, and the Greatest Value-added Expansion of Mages are all classic official textbooks of Morgan Academy, but considering his reputation, the Academy has not marked the author, for fear that those colleges will have a rebellious mentality and are unwilling to accept these precious things that will bring them invisible shelter on the battlefield in the future. So you can have a drink with him when you have time, and I heard that he has been studying a very unpopular naval battle lately, and you can see if you can dig something interesting out of his mouth. ”

Nero's eyes flickered: "Naval battle, bypassing the plains and plunging straight into the titan's fragile abdomen?"

Marquis Pompey smiled and said, "Well, it coincides with you." Finally found a kind of crazy guy who can match your leap-out way of thinking?"

Nero sighed, "It's kind of interesting." ”

The Marquis of Pompey said regretfully: "The reason why I have been cultivating Rommel unusually in the past few years is that I fancy his keen sense of smell similar to that of old Monte Cristo, this kind of genius, the command talent that broke out in small and medium-sized battles, can directly determine the victory or defeat." It's apt to call them war artists. Nero, you are different from this kind of person, your greatest advantage is a strong grasp of the entire war to roughly predict the future, but any perfect strategy needs to be paved by exquisite tactics, so I am more eager than anyone else to appear a genius commander who can complete tactics for you, he must be pure, has no power ambition, and will not compete with you for the greatest fruits of victory, so that in the next half century, the glory of the imperial military can belong to us Pompey. Rommel would have been the best candidate, but alas. ”

Nero's smile was charming, and he deliberately said with a look of grievance: "Dear Marquis, it is too irresponsible for you to hand over the burden of monopolizing the military glory of the empire to a playboy!

The Marquis of Pompey, who could make a group of big people in the same position feel suffocated by simply sitting in the council chamber, laughed and scolded: "You have been with that little bastard of Augustine in Maideola for a long time, and you are getting more and more oily and funny, no wonder that kid has not dared to come to see me several times when he arrives in Jupiter! Hmph, now that you have stolen your mother's most cherished deck of playing cards to him, he will not dare to come to the door next time, right?"

Nero winked and smiled evilly: "Actually, I don't want this guy to enter our house, otherwise Mary may have to change the target, and I don't want to call him brother-in-law at that time!"

Father and son looked at each other and laughed.

In the laughter, the war of blood and fire slowly kicked off.