Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1272 - 1270: Alliance Emperor
The next afternoon.
The carriage sent by Oscar arrived as scheduled, picked up Richard from the courtyard, traveled along the streets toward the center of Shaya, eventually entering an extremely luxurious complex which was the Alliance Emperor’s palace in Shaya.
In a hall as spacious as a warehouse, Richard met the so-called Alliance Emperor.
The Alliance Emperor sat on a specially made wide chair that was nearly a meter wide, yet certain parts of his corpulent body inevitably "overflowed" from the chair. There was no mana fluctuation from him, he appeared to be an ordinary person, but his massive body brought an inexplicable pressure, making him seem less like a person and more like a bear in human skin.
In fact, one of his nicknames was "Brown Bear."
The Brown Bear Emperor—Peter Romanov!
At that moment, his fan-like hands were resting on the armrests, his gray eyes staring into the space before him, his gaze profound, his expression not imposing. More than an emperor, he resembled a thinker.
However, this thinker was really too fat, making one involuntarily suspect that what he contemplated was what to eat for the next meal.
The attendant who led Richard in observed this scene and gently called out, "Your Majesty, the person you wished to see has arrived."
Emperor Peter came out of his reverie, replied with an acknowledgment, waved for the attendant to withdraw, and turned his gaze toward Richard, scrutinizing him with interest.
"Richard Austin, right? I’ve wanted to meet you for a long time." This was the emperor’s first sentence.
Before Richard could respond, the second sentence followed immediately.
"From Oscar, I already know a lot about you, I’m impressed by you."
"Uh..."
"I believe you are a very smart person, much better than the corrupt officials under me. Furthermore, you are a very capable person, after all, you obtained Oscar’s long-sought list.
You know, last year Oscar nearly forced me to allocate a full tenth of the fiscal budget as funding for his intelligence agency, to obtain that list at all costs. Fortunately, you got it for him; otherwise, I might have to consider dieting or going a year without new clothes to squeeze out that tenth for Oscar."
"Oh..." Richard didn’t know how to respond. He could hear the joking tone in the emperor’s words, but there were too many points of contention. Was the emperor implying that his voracious appetite consumed a tenth of the budget, or that his towering frame required a tenth of the budget to tailor clothes?
Luckily, the emperor spoke like a gunfire barrage, giving Richard no time to respond before continuing.
"Moreover, I also believe you are exceptionally powerful, far stronger than most guards in this palace. After all, you were able to stay in that Truth Society, and according to Oscar, during your final time undercover in the Truth Society, something went wrong, forcing you into a fierce battle.
Afterwards, Oscar sent people to see the aftermath; the report came back that the entire area was destroyed, with no survivors—except for you. With just yourself, you could eliminate an entire division of the enemy, saving me military expenses akin to maintaining an army. Perhaps I should offer you a General’s position, try to keep you around, so I can save on military expenditures and not have to scrimp on meals."
After speaking at length, the emperor finally paused, seemingly remembering something, and waved at Richard, saying, "Right, make yourself comfortable. No need to be nervous, the ones who should be nervous are probably me and those guards hidden outside the door, all afraid you might suddenly strike me."
Richard sat down on a chair in the palace, giving the emperor a smile as a form of response. Facing such an unconventional speaker, he honestly didn’t know how to reply appropriately and could only let the emperor express himself.
Listening for a while longer, Richard seized a chance to ask, "Your Majesty, I heard from Mr. Oscar that you called me here to discuss some matters?"
"Uh, yes, to discuss some matters."
"May I ask, what matters?"
"Not much, just some casual conversation."
"Casual conversation?" Richard really doubted his ears.
"Yes, casual conversation," the emperor confirmed. "Trivial matters of reality will be handled by Oscar and the others, not worth my time as emperor. I invited you here simply for some unguarded conversation, to get to know you a bit. After all, you could be considered a hero of the Alliance, and I should at least have an impression of you."
"But even for a casual conversation, there should be a topic, right?"
"That’s true." The emperor nodded in agreement, pondered for a moment, and then said, "I heard from Oscar that you want to borrow books from the Royal Library? So, you’re interested in books, right? You probably read a lot of them. Why don’t you tell me your favorite book, perhaps I’ve read it too, and we could exchange insights."
Is this a book exchange meeting?
"..." Richard hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Bix’s Self-Examination."
This is a widely popular book on the continent but leans toward niche, discussing philosophy, essentially a Medieval philosophy book. Due to its obscure and difficult language, long and incomprehensible sentences, and dull content, few people finish it, mostly using it as a sleep aid.
The reason he mentioned this book was to tactfully end the topic, hoping the unconventional emperor would slightly revert to a more normal conversation.
To his surprise, the emperor’s eyes lit up, and he said with slight excitement, "You actually read that book, that’s really impressive. In fact, I read it too."
"You know, I particularly like the second essay in the book, where Bix discusses cognition: Is there an inherent inadequacy that leads to a series of cognitive errors? I think..." The emperor began fluently, proving he wasn’t lying but had indeed read and delved into it.
This left Richard silent, his gaze fascinatingly observing the emperor he was meeting for the first time.
"Overall, I think Bix was mostly right," the emperor concluded after some time, then looked at Richard, "What about you, what do you think?"
"I..." Richard took a deep breath, somewhat regretting mentioning Bix’s Self-Examination as it led the topic into a highly abstract philosophical discussion, yet it was just a slight regret. He had read the book several times, combining it with knowledge from some philosophical books on Earth, making it easier to digest and understand, so he wasn’t afraid to engage. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
"Phew—"
Exhaling the breath he had taken, he looked at the emperor, considered for a moment, and began to speak: "I mostly agree with Your Majesty, but there are some discrepancies in certain details, particularly in the second essay’s third, fifth, and eighth points. Bix says that part of human cognition is inherited through bloodline, but I lean more toward it being influenced by family environment. I think..."
"..."
