After the Kugit left, the dormitory for international students was vacant. During the cleaning of the Kugit apartments, a large number of calculations were found as well as some tracing drawings. The Kugit seem to have taken everything they can with them, which makes one wonder if they would have copied everything they saw, if they really had enough energy and money: as big as a granite fortress to as small as a hidden crossbow.

Sabel was so concerned about the material that he asked my father and Cesara to go and bring it back, and he was going to inspect it. He and the goblins categorized the drawings according to the scientific taxonomy. He found that nearly half of the drawings of siege equipment accounted for the rest of the drawings, such as crossbow machines, winches, wheel axles, etc., which could be quickly converted into military equipment. The drawings of the money-making blower, grain siever, seed deseeder and other machinery, which are regarded as treasures by many students, account for only a small number, and the drawings are brief, obviously not like the previous drawings in terms of the accuracy of each part.

The goblin asks Sabel, "What does this mean?" ”

"These students must have received some kind of order from the country, otherwise their studies would not have been so targeted," Sabel said, "and if these things really improve the Kujit mode of warfare, then the Kujit ambition would not be those low-walled border towns on the steppe." Because at that time, high walls and wide pools were no longer an obstacle for them. ”

"That's right," said the goblin, "before the outbreak of the Civil War, Swadia maintained an embargo on Kugit products for many years, and I heard that at that time the Kugit had to pay a lot of money to hire Swadia artisans. Even the short and thin walls were able to hold the Kugit at bay. However, during the civil war and in the years that followed, the Rhodoks actively supported the Kugit in their attack on Svadia from the north, which was used to contain the power of the empire. It was with the help of Rhodok craftsmen that the Zegasi defense line in the southern steppes was breached. ”

Sabel nodded, "I still think that splitting up with Rhodoko is the beginning of Svadia's decline. But the question now is that Svadia may be bottoming out. ”

"Is it that serious?" Goblin asked, looking at a draft of a stone thrower's blueprint. This draft is quite well done, even with a critical eye. In fact, the amount of drafts in the Kujit dormitory was much larger than the stock found, because a large amount of burned paper residue was found in some of the burning barrels, and the Kugit burned most of the drawings to avoid trouble at the border crossing. But it is to be expected that once they get out of the border crossing, the Kugit will gather and draw everything in their heads, and then the drawings will be sent to the Kugit workshops, and these students will become the first instructors, who will be responsible for teaching a large number of skilled craftsmen, teaching them how to choose materials according to the drawings, how to make parts, how to assemble. These craftsmen will then blossom like seeds in the armies and local workshops throughout Kugit, and train more and more successors. After a few years, the Kugit people will not just be free to roam the grasslands, and at that time, the high wall will be easy for them.

The Swadiya people have always regarded the high wall as their safest barrier, and used it to mock the backwardness and ignorance of the steppe peoples. If one day, in the battle array of the Kujits, there are suddenly a forest of ladders assembled by craftsmen, huge trebuchets erected, and hundreds of powerful crossbow machines installed, then I don't know what kind of mentality the soldiers of the Central Kingdom will have.

Sabel and Goblin looked at the drawings and fell into deep thought.

"It's almost there," the goblin said.

Sabel was silent.

The Goblins had written to the Academy of Sciences that after a series of observations, the Kujits, who had annexed the southern steppes, had grown in appetite and hoped that the Empire would respond with a response.

The goblin received a reply, "Read". And then there was no follow-up.

Much later, the goblin's detailed report was discovered, and people were amazed at the sharpness of a small astronomical researcher's eye and the accuracy of his predictions. People sighed silently in their hearts, if someone had listened to his opinion at that time, there would have been less suffering in the future.

My father quickly started a new course. He listened to goblins teach him from the simplest Pythagorean laws to the more complex solution of line tangents, from the basic study of rectangles to triangles to circles. My father was confused. He doesn't know how to do it every day with a compass, but fortunately the goblins don't demand too much of him. Once, when the goblin told him that the tangent of the circle was perpendicular to the line between the center of the circle and the tangent point, he couldn't help the goblin: "Mr. Goblin, what is the use of me learning these tangents or something?" ”

The goblins stopped teaching, and there were still three people in the class, Wright was reading Sabel's "Application of Cavalry Tactics" and ignored the goblins, while Cesar and another Rhodok were sleeping and snoring. Goblins don't care about their students' lack of cooperation, "everything is difficult at the beginning", not to mention that there is a student here who listens carefully.

In fact, my father didn't like his lessons, he just didn't dare to ignore the presence of the teacher in class.

"You see, this knowledge is indeed very boring, not as exciting as the Iron Horse Binghe; No Blonde · The blue-eyed beauty is just as exciting; It's not as relaxing as an idyll. But these things are very practical and allow you to use your wisdom and mind to experience the world. Let you know the vastness and vastness of this world, and the greatness and eternity of this world", said the goblin with a smile, stopping at this point because my father motioned for him to speak.

"Sir, I don't see anything so far-reaching. Can you tell me, but how can the radius of the tangent you just say perpendicular to the tangent point or something make me perceive the greatness of the world? Did it work if I learned it? Father asked.

The goblin fell into deep thought.

"Look, sir. What we learn doesn't make us more aware of the universe, does it? Father rarely asked, because during this time, he has become more and more confused, he is even more unaware of his future, and at the same time, he is not like Wright, who dares to put aside everything and grasp his dreams. Now completely disillusioned with Rhodok's college education, Wright turned to concentrating on military courses, preparing for the next year's military exams, and then returning home to study at military school.

"Uh," the goblin said, "I think that theory proves my point." ”

The father smiled: "Sir, please prove it." If you can convince me, I will take your course wholeheartedly."

"Okay," said the goblin, "as a teacher, it's a failure to be offered by your own students, but I think it's a good price." Have you ever heard of a theory? ”

"What?"

"We live in a world that is round, like an orange". Goblin said.

"I've heard that it's just the fantasy of some scientific maniac. What does this have to do with round cuts? ”

"Did you know that by the sea, the people in the lighthouse always find that when the ship is far enough from land, the hull is no longer visible, but the mast is still visible? Why is that? At first, people thought that it was caused by the water vapor blurring the hull, but repeated observation made it clear that the hull was indeed invisible, as if it had 'sunk'. There is a conjecture that this is because the sea is not 'flat' in the usual sense, it has a curvature, and you can think of the curvature of the surface of an orange with a curvature. Let's assume that the ship is a tangent point, and imagine the world, which includes land and sea, as a sphere. We can calculate a set of data. Then we let the boat go a little further and we'll get another set of data. The more data we have, the more accurate our final results will be. Do you know what we can figure out what it will be? ”

His father was stunned by the goblin's words, and his whimsical thinking caught him off guard: "The world... Orange-like world··· Radius?! ”

"Yes, the radius of the orange-like world. Sabel and I also had a mission to collect data from the observations of the Rhodok navigator and combine them with the data of our country's observers. This results in a more accurate 'Orange World Radius'. Now, we actually have a statistic. In terms of Swadia units, there are 3,200 Svadiaries. ”

“·····！” , the father was dumbfounded.

"That's what that simple knowledge tells you about the world. This is not the end, do you remember how to find the area of a sphere in astronomy that I told you? The goblin asked firmly.

“4·· 4 times the square of the radius of the sphere...", the father stammered.

"Yes, in this way, we know how big the land of our world really is", the goblin stood up, stretched his hand as far as he could, as if measuring the width of this world, "I think you can also roughly estimate the size of this world, if the continent of Calradia is a star, this world is like a nebula composed of countless Calradia stars." We know that the continent is surrounded by the sea on three sides and the desert on one side, and I think this is the end of the world, joke! The world is huge. The goblin looked at my father, "Young man, the world is so big. ”

Father silently pondered in his mind this crazy idea that had just poured into his worldview.

"Child", the goblin said, "Do you know the difference between a normal person and a hero? When ordinary people see bricks, they only see bricks, but when heroes see bricks, they can see a whole church. There is no such thing as a born hero. Cowardice and ignorance are not terrible, what is terrible is arrogance. Arrogant to humble knowledge, arrogant to humble people. Go and see the world around you, and feel them with your heart", the goblin looked straight at my father, "We are all ordinary people. But I hope you can have a hero's heart. At that time, the class was dull, Wright was drowsy from reading, Cesar was waiting in his sleep for Sabel's wonderful lesson, only his father was silent, he felt extremely amazed, a little knowledge of geometry, which had expanded his world to a great and far, and the feeling was as shocking as when he was a child when he was carried out of the room by a Nord woman, and suddenly saw an endless wheat field under the slope.

After the dinner that day, the students dispersed, and my father and Wright were pestered by the master of ceremonies and said flattering words. The school workers set up ladders and began to remove the curtains and streamers, while the rest cleaned up the messy venue with brooms. That was the last time Briel saw them, and after that they did not even say a formal goodbye, and the next day at noon none of the Kugits were left, and the luggage they could not take with them was left in the school gatehouse, with a label indicating where it was to be mailed. Kujitt's stay in Rhodok was gradually extinguished, and now only this small pile of luggage remained. But those graduates will not be silent, and they will follow King Kugit into the center of the historical vortex in the years that follow.

His father waited until the end of his life, and when he saw the people of the dance troupe greeting everyone and saying goodbye, he was finally relieved. However, in the goodbye he had just been there, he didn't see blue eyes. This made him very strange, even with the sunshine of a layman, he knew that in tonight's repertoire performance, the blue-eyed beauty named Su Ge'er was a well-deserved protagonist, and her absence at this time did seem a bit rude. But my father was happy to do the same.

The father unloaded a stone from his heart and walked back happily, when a servant of a dance company came up with a letter: "May I ask who is Mr. H.A. of Svadia?" ”

The people around looked back at Wright and his father, as well as Sabel, Goblins, and the other four Swadians, and inside the Swadians, the three turned their faces to my father with expressionless faces.

Somewhat embarrassed, the father took down the letter. The servant said, "Sir, if you have a reply, I will wait here until dawn." If not, I'll leave tonight. ”

The father thought for a moment, "You wait for a while." ”

At a time when no one was around, he opened the envelope.

"It's a real pleasure to be here again. You left something behind when you were in Suno, and I don't think you want the story of that time to be told to others. Then I'll tell you. We will stay in Djerkala for 2 months and you can find us at the Herb Restaurant in the riverbank area. Su Ge'er. ”

Father was helpless, he remembered that Xiao Kui's tone of threatening him was the same as Su Ge'er's tone this time.

He opened his inkwell and disposed of his quill with a knife. Spread out a piece of paper and began to write a reply.

"I am glad to have been invited by you, and I will visit you soon. You can call me Ho. Arcadio II and not an abbreviation. ”

In a carriage that travels through the streets of Djerkhara at midnight, a woman strokes the inscription on a small dagger and smiles faintly. She remembered the look of the dumbfounded young man in his room, and he saw the dagger sheath he had strapped to his waist. Later, when she saw the man running in panic with his companions, he knew that the two men were assassins, but out of a very strange psychology, she let them go, and out of concern, she went to the scene of the murder as soon as possible, where she saw a dying man casting a pleading look at her, pointing to a dagger next to him, as if to remind her to seize the dagger's owner. She recognized it at a glance as the stupid young man she had just had. She bypassed the bloodied second-in-command, picked up the dagger, and slipped away quietly through the side door. Shortly after she left, she heard a roar from behind.

She now had a lovely scabbard for the dagger, inlaid with a chubby little pearl, and in the middle was a brilliant sapphire, as pure as her eyes.

She stroked HA again, hid the dagger in her arms, and in the darkness, only a faint light shone in her eyes.