Chapter 806 — The Day of Action

"The Foundations of All Things"?

"The Newborn Health Screening and Basic Nutrition Guarantee Program"?

"A Crash Course Manual for Village and Town Apothecaries"?

Listening as Matilda recounted in detail all that she had seen and heard in the Cecil Empire, Luo Yan Augustus found his brow knitting without his noticing, his face wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Some of these things I saw for myself while touring those facilities; some I heard and reasoned out from contact and conversation with the locals; and some were written in the local newspapers and periodicals, or posted on notice boards in plazas and the like," Matilda said. "None of it seems to be any secret. Emperor Gaoyang has laid it all out in the open with perfect equanimity."

"No, these are not secrets, and they cannot be made into secrets—they are public..." Luo Yan's brow did not smooth in the slightest, and he pressed on at once, "Have these plans already been put into practice? Is their Ministry of State Affairs capable of carrying out such bold schemes?"

"From what I understand, most are still in the implementation stage, and some are not even past the preparation stage. Even those already underway cover only certain regions—take that Newborn Health Screening and Basic Nutrition Guarantee Program; it seems to have been among Gaoyang Cecil's earliest reforms, and even now it has only been popularized in the Southern Region."

At this point Matilda paused, choosing her words with care: "But I suspect that all these bold things will ultimately be realized—their Ministry of State Affairs is full of confidence in that, and a great many reserve talents have already entered the later stages of education and training. And within Cecil's borders, there is no second voice that can question the decrees of Emperor Gaoyang."

Luo Yan did not speak for a moment.

It was not how much of these plans had been realized that mattered; their mere existence had already struck a profound chord in this far-sighted emperor of Typhon, and he found himself involuntarily drawn into a chain of reasoning, speculating on Gaoyang Cecil's likely line of thought and pondering the possible significance of these measures.

"Father," Matilda noticed Luo Yan's expression and could not help speaking up, "these things the Cecil people are doing... will they all have enormous consequences?"

"Not merely enormous consequences—what Gaoyang Cecil is doing is laying the groundwork for a far more distant future..." Luo Yan said in a low voice. "He seems to believe deeply in the power of ordinary people gathered together, and he is sparing no effort to raise the overall role of common folk in the workings of society. I cannot yet say for certain whether he is right or wrong, but his way of thinking... I truly had never considered it."

"You believe there is something in it worth learning from?" Matilda asked curiously.

"...That will require further observation," Luo Yan said, still deep in thought. "The key is that Gaoyang Cecil's plans are all too bold. Bold plans mean high costs and unknown consequences. Until we fully understand the mechanism behind these moves of his, we cannot blindly allow them to affect the workings of our own empire."

Matilda lowered her head. "I understand. I will gather as much information as I can."

"Mm," Luo Yan gave a brief nod, then asked, "And in your view, what sort of man is Gaoyang Cecil himself?"

"That legendary hero, you mean..." Matilda wore a thoughtful look. "I have heard many stories about him, but a living man and a hero deified in tales are indeed different. He is gentler than I imagined. Setting aside our respective positions, he strikes me as a generous and amiable elder. Though I am certain that many of his actions in his dealings with me carried political calculations behind them, the bearing he displayed is beyond question.

"Moreover, there is nothing of the 'ancient' about him—none of that sense of a gulf across the ages. But considering it has already been five years since his resurrection, that is understandable—apart from bringing the wisdom and experience of antiquity, he has become a thoroughly modern man."

Luo Yan seemed to reveal a faint smile. "It would appear you have a favorable impression of him."

"As you once remarked, he has a temperament similar to your own."

"Then regarding the assessment of the foreign student program..." Luo Yan said again, "what is your view now?"

"This matter must be pushed forward in itself. We must come to understand the cutting-edge magitech, and we must expand the flow of trade and technology with Cecil," Matilda said without the slightest hesitation, clearly having pondered the matter these past days. "But on the other hand... just as you feared, we will inevitably face the situation of our dispatched students being assimilated and shaken in their loyalties."

"Oh?"

"Cecil's capital is a city so prosperous as to intoxicate the senses, full of dazzling novelties. It offers entertainments so abundant they defy imagination, rather than nothing but monotonous, tedious hunting and balls. They have more newspapers and periodicals, a wondrous magical pastime called 'Mage Net Broadcast,' and a purportedly mesmerizing form of 'magic shadow drama.' Gaoyang Cecil himself is an expert at controlling hearts and minds. We once received intelligence concerning the 'Great Trial of Luan,' and now I have seen with my own eyes the compilations of books and newspapers recording the shifts in the situation at Frostfall City at the time—the mastery of the common populace's psychology and the prediction of group behavior in those things is simply chilling, and all the more so for how it seized upon the psychological weaknesses of the upper nobility and the priestly class, along with every trait of speech and conduct that could be turned to negative propaganda...

"These methods may not be applied directly to foreign students who represent friendly exchange, but the skill behind them... is worthy of vigilance.

"I have reason to believe that the students we send to Cecil will inevitably be influenced, and in all likelihood not through direct wooing or persuasion, but through the subtle, imperceptible influence of a way of life.

"The way of life and the cultural atmosphere of Xuanyao City are simply too... irresistible to the young."

Luo Yan merely listened quietly to Matilda's words, his expression not changing in the slightest, as though he had long anticipated all of this.

Only after Matilda's voice fell did this Typhonian ruler ask, without haste: "How many can come back?"

"...I hold no great expectations for the noble scions of these two years," Matilda said bluntly. "Three in ten, at an optimistic estimate."

Luo Yan nodded and said evenly: "Good. That is not a small number."

Father and daughter fell silent for a time, both sinking into an unspoken quiet.

After the brief silence, Luo Yan suddenly spoke: "Of late, the power of the curse has been rising. You must have sensed it already."

Matilda nodded. "Yes. This is my second 'dream entry' since arriving in Cecil."

"Something may happen in the real world, connected to the root of the curse. In the coming days you must pay close attention to abnormal changes around you, and also to whether anything unusual appears in each of your normal dreams," Luo Yan said, still keeping his stern face, yet admonishing her like any ordinary father. "If you encounter trouble beyond your ability to handle... pray to the God of War.

"Bowing to a true god who still retains his reason is better than bowing to a mad god."

Matilda gave her father—still maintaining an air of martial vigor and majesty, though inwardly already on the decline—a look of complicated emotion. She was silent a long while before slowly lowering her head. "Yes. I will remember your charge, Father."

...