Chapter 799 — A Day Trip

As the giant sun rose, the resplendent crown of the solar disc grew ever more distinct within the atmosphere. The mechanical clock tower of the Imperial Academy began to toll; new-style arcanomechanical apparatus drove the enormous gears and levers, and the hammers struck the bronze bells within the tower. Eight solemn chimes rang out across the entire mages' quarter.

Students in the uniforms of the various colleges left their dormitories, scattered across the four districts of the campus, and stepped onto the broad walkways in the company of sunlight and bells, heading for the academy's teaching facilities. On some faces were confident smiles; on others lingered traces of drowsiness; some were still callow youths and maidens, while others were already middle-aged with graying hair. These seekers of learning, come from every corner of the Cecile Empire and of the most varied origins, were like streams converging and flowing through this academy that stood as the empire's supreme sanctuary of knowledge. Here they were infused and remade by knowledge, and one day they would flow out from this sanctuary to moisten an empire advancing at breakneck speed.

Matilda stood on one of the towers of the Arcanomechanical College, watching the students in black academy uniforms bearing rune-and-gear insignia gather from the plaza and walkways below, merging into a stream of humanity that poured into the tall buildings not far off. For a long while she said nothing.

"When I have a moment of leisure, I rather like standing here and looking down over this academy," Gaoyang said slowly, standing beside Matilda and gazing down at the scene below with an indefinable emotion. "Students come and go along these broad avenues and narrow paths, gather in the courtyards and corridors, rest by the gardens and fountains; teachers impart knowledge and resolve doubts within those buildings one after another. People from different regions and different stations gather here and enjoy perfect equality before knowledge. They discuss questions, talk of the future, need think of nothing at all, and focus solely on scholarship...

"This is a haven, and the last cradle a person can enjoy in this life. The political struggles beyond the high walls are far away; affairs beyond the borders of the realm are farther still for them. I do everything in my power to make this the safest, most tranquil place in the nation, because knowledge... it deserves no less.

"Of all the things I have built, this academy makes me proudest."

Listening to Gaoyang's words, Matilda seemed to sense in them a certain emotion conveyed by this pioneer from ancient times—an emotion free of any tangled scheming, whose sincerity deeply astonished the princess of Typhon.

She could not help turning her head to study Gaoyang for a moment, as though only now did this legendary hero from history—cloaked in so many halos and already all but deified—finally shed those layer upon layer of titles and legends, and truly become a flesh-and-blood "person."

And this feeling made her realize all the more what weight this "Imperial Academy" held in the pioneer's heart, and unconsciously led her to reexamine this institution and all the meaning it represented—and to reexamine the exchange-student program about to unfold.

After a long while, she said softly, "In Typhon... we have nothing of the kind."

"I hope you will," Gaoyang turned his head and said with complete seriousness. "I mean it."

"But it would be very difficult," Matilda said. "It does not accord with Typhon's present order. To build such an academy in Typhon, we would have to do far more than put up buildings of the same scale and stuff all manner of students inside."

Gaoyang laughed. "True enough... building this academy was no easy thing for me either."

To bring such an "Imperial Academy" into being, he had had to shatter an old dynasty—a thing that Emperor Luoyan Augustus, one suspects, would not wish to see repeated.

After gazing down over the academy from the high tower, Gaoyang withdrew his eyes.

"Next we can tour the teaching facilities here, and afterward we'll go to the Great Library, where you can see some of the fascicles of The Foundations of All Things—a massive series compiling all basic knowledge. It isn't finished yet; the volumes on agriculture, mathematics, and the foundations of industry are still missing."

The Foundations of All Things... what a bold and imposing name.

A strange feeling of emotion and curiosity flickered through Matilda's heart. She wondered what sort of monumental work The Foundations of All Things would prove to be, and at the same time a faint smile appeared on her face. "I look forward to it."

...

In a simply furnished office, sunlight fell through crystal-glass windows onto a dark red wooden desk. Spread open on the desk was a textbook, exquisitely printed yet plainly bound, and beside it lay sheets of paper covered in notes and doodles, along with a dip pen and an inkwell.

The textbook's contents were fairly basic general natural science; among the uncomplicated paragraphs and diagrams could be seen many scribbled notes and blots of ink. That especially messy trail of ink seemed to betray the many difficulties its owner had met in wrestling with this knowledge, and a frame of mind that swung ceaselessly between restlessness and concentration.

In the sunlight, beside the empty desk, a faint sigh seemed to arise from nowhere; then the textbook floated up into the air of its own accord and turned a page.

Another sigh.

Just then the office door opened, and a bald man with a hideous scar across his face walked in.

Scarface Anton glanced at the empty desk and immediately noticed the open textbook hovering in the air. "Boss... oh, you're actually reading?"

Light and shadow stirred beside the empty desk, and Amber's figure surfaced out of the air. She was frowning at the textbook in her hands; then she tossed the thing onto the desk and looked up at Scarface Anton. "Is it so rare for me to read a book?"

"...Honestly, in the past it really was rather rare, but lately I've seen it quite a few times," Scarface Anton said with a grin, scratching his shiny head. "And if you were reading thrillers or absurd tales or the like, that'd be easy enough to understand, but what you're reading now... that's just about as far from your usual tastes as it gets."

Amber's lip twitched. She shot a sidelong glance at the textbook on the desk and pursed her mouth. "This stuff really is too hard to get into... but His Majesty our emperor keeps saying I'm uneducated, and that knowledge is the primary productive force or something, and Rebecca and her big-chested aunt go on and on about how I've never read a book, as if they were so learned..."

Scarface Anton was a blunt man. "To be fair, they are more learned than you..."

Amber fixed Anton with a stare. "If you want to run a lap around the entire inner city with a pumpkin on your head, then keep talking."

Scarface Anton promptly shrank his neck. "Consider it unsaid."

"Let's get to business," Amber waved a hand and leaned back. "How are things on Gran's side?"

At the mention of business, Scarface Anton, now the second-in-command of Military Intelligence, straightened his expression at once and reported meticulously, "Word from the surveillance team on Gran: all is normal. Miss Patty is still living according to her former routine and has shown no abnormalities whatsoever. In addition, the records of personnel entering and leaving Crackstone Fort, and the magical detection logs for the Gran domain and its surrounding areas, are all clean."

Here Anton paused, then added, "We also managed to make contact with a female apothecary who once cared for Miss Patty. From her we confirmed that before and after Miss Patty obtained that crown, there was no change in temperament, no confusion of memory, or anything of the sort..."