Chapter Eighty-Four: A Dialogue of Wise Men

The bard in the tavern was still spraying words and spittle in equal measure, and most of the patrons were still listening with keen interest, breaking now and then into laughter. To belittle other nations in order to elevate one’s own is an old failing among bards; only the degree varies. Some merely select certain facts to tell, while others brazenly twist right and wrong, speaking lies with their eyes open.

The bard on stage was at least fairly reliable. Perhaps he was also being careful with his words because Kevin was listening below. Kevin was still chatting with the old commander of the Lion Empire, and the two of them were speaking in the imperial tongue, so though the people nearby were curious, they could not understand a thing.

“To have such lofty ideals, you will surely accomplish great things in the future,” the general praised him. “By the way, I have not yet asked your name.”

“Call me Kevin,” Kevin replied. “I’m just an ordinary man. I wasn’t a successful bard, and I wasn’t a successful soldier either. I suppose I’ve just been drifting along at the bottom.”

The general smiled. “Many successful men began by drifting along at the bottom as well.”

Kevin could only answer, “Then I thank you, General. I also hope that I may become a successful man someday.”

They each took a sip of wine. Then the general asked, “You are a bard, yet you chose to become a soldier. Was it to experience life?”

“Ah... I suppose so,” Kevin said, not wanting to dwell on the subject.

“From your appearance, forgive my presumption, but are you of mixed human and elven blood?” the general asked.

Kevin froze slightly. It was the first time anyone had been able to tell, merely from his appearance, that he was mixed-blood. Though if one looked closely, the difference was indeed there. All he could do was nod. “Yes. My mother was an elf.”

“In a sense, that should also be tied to a complicated political background?” the general asked. “And yet your army’s vetting process has no special regulations at all?”

Kevin shook his head. “I’m not too sure about that. I’ve never undergone a vetting process like that.”

“Then forgive me once more,” the general said, seeming a little hesitant, though he still asked, “If one day the Kingdom of Loebor and the elves go to war, what would you do? Lead troops against the elves? Or rebel outright? Or stay out of it?”

Kevin pondered for a moment, took a sip of wine to give himself time, and the general did not rush him, waiting quietly for an answer.

“I cannot answer that question,” Kevin said at last. “Not because of anything else, but because you have given too little context. If the two nations go to war, what is the cause? Has the Elven King become tyrannical and the realm fallen into chaos? Or has the King of the Kingdom of Loebor lost his mind in a fit of passion? Wars break out for all kinds of reasons. I can only decide what I should do according to the circumstances at the time. Merely saying that the two sides have gone to war is not enough for me to answer.”

“Oh?” The general lifted his brows. “An uncommon answer. Then do you mean you would inevitably help the stronger side? So as to ensure victory?”

Kevin shook his head. “No. I am a bard, and I take the spread of peace as my vocation. If possible, I will do my utmost to prevent war from breaking out. If I cannot, then I will do all I can to reduce casualties. There are many ways. Perhaps words alone will suffice. Perhaps I will have to kill in order to terrify others into restraint. But no matter what, I will try my best.”

The general nodded, then shook his head. “A fine answer. But unfortunately, you may not be suited to be a soldier. You are perhaps better suited to be a general.”

At that, Kevin laughed, and the general laughed with him. The two raised their cups and lightly touched them together.

“Let’s change the subject,” the general said. “Your country’s army has now accumulated a great many parrots, and it seems likely that there will be more and more of them. I wonder what your thoughts are on this?”

“That...” Kevin considered for a moment. “At bottom, it is still the question of how to place parrots once they have retired. Because of research at the Royal Academy, a new species has come into being. It is indeed a difficult matter. By the way, I suppose the general has already spoken with our commander as well? Did our commander offer any explanation?”

The general only shook his head. “General Odeg merely told me that they would be arranged for as quickly as possible, or words to that effect. He said almost nothing. But I keep feeling that as parrots grow more numerous, they will inevitably grow more intelligent as well. Parrots are unlike humans; they have no concept of nationality and fly everywhere at will. Your country has already adopted the method of training birds with birds. One clutch of parrot eggs yields another flock, and once they awaken their intelligence their strength increases greatly. They have almost no natural enemies. In the future, parrots will certainly multiply in explosive numbers. To keep dragging this out like this, I fear that would be inappropriate.”

Kevin nodded in agreement. “You make a good point. At present they are all contracted individually. One mage can contract several parrots. But once the numbers exceed that, a great many parrots will end up beyond any control, and it is also very difficult for people to distinguish one parrot from another.”

“Still, there is no need to worry just yet,” Kevin went on. “Look, even I still don’t have a parrot. I can only make do with a crow as a substitute. The day I’m forcibly handed three or five parrots to contract with—that will be the true moment to worry.”

The general, however, shook his head. “That is not quite the way to put it. By the way, can parrots now learn any kind of battle aura or magic? In the future, might there be parrot sword saints and the like?”

“No,” Kevin said, shaking his head. “At least, I’ve never seen one.”

The crow beside him instinctively glanced at Kevin. Kevin remained perfectly calm. That gesture, however, seemed to catch the general’s eye as well, and he gave the crow on Kevin’s shoulder a strange look.

Kevin casually stroked the crow. “How about it? My crow is still very obedient, isn’t it?”

The general nodded. “I’ve heard that crows are very intelligent creatures. If the chosen species for awakening intelligence had been crows rather than parrots, the effect might well be even better. They might even be able to learn battle aura and magic.”

“Even parrots have run into all sorts of problems,” Kevin replied. “If crows learned battle aura, it would probably cause even more social trouble. For now, we should still take it step by step.”

“Mass breeding may indeed cause problems,” the general said, pointing at the crow on Kevin’s shoulder, “but if it is only a few elite individuals, then it should still be worth trying.”

Kevin nodded, feeling that the general had a good point. At the time, the crow project had ultimately been canceled because crows were too intelligent, but that did not mean they ought to have been slaughtered wholesale. Keeping them for continued observation would not have been impossible. Unfortunately, Professor Luke refused to disclose the details of what happened back then, and the crow itself refused to speak, so Kevin had no way of knowing.

“Perhaps,” Kevin said. “But the general should not think there is anything special about my crow. It is just a somewhat sturdy crow. I kept it because I saw it could take on three other crows at once. In truth, in terms of intelligence, it is the stupidest of the lot.”

“No way,” the general said, unconvinced. “When I came over here, I heard the drunken men nearby talking about an officer who brought a crow to give a speech, and how formidable the crow was.”

Kevin laughed. “The general worries too much. That sort of training is just like throwing a bone out and having a dog bring it back. The Lion Empire even trains dolphins to play a role in naval warfare, does it not?”

The general nodded. “Then by that logic, Mr. Kevin’s beast-training skill is first-rate as well.”

Kevin smiled, but inwardly he was somewhat tense and dared not bring up the crow again. He immediately changed the subject. “Even the best beast training becomes hard to say once the beast has gained intelligence. Intelligent animals, if they are to be managed properly, require education from a young age, reasonable legal restraint, reasonable moral restraint, and they must also be given something to do. They cannot be left idle forever.”

“Oh?” The general raised his brows. “You mean treating parrots like human beings in order to raise them? Personally, I think there is no need to make it so troublesome. Solve the most fundamental problem directly. Issue an order for the parrots to practice birth restraint and keep their numbers stable. It may provoke some dissatisfaction among them, but I believe it should be workable under the binding force of contracts. To put it bluntly, treat them as slaves and work them to death. There would be no need to consider retirement at all.”

“No!” Kevin objected immediately. “Even setting humaneness aside, the key point is that mass breeding of parrots is, in fact, one of our country’s strategic policies. What do parrots represent? They represent information transmitted at extraordinary speed. If there are enough parrots, and if they can be managed well, then in theory we could all enter an age of rapid information exchange.”

The general was startled, surprise showing on his face.

Kevin continued, “Of course, this is not my own idea. I once saw a famous work in the library and drew this conclusion from it. For example: I live on this street, you live on that street, and I want to talk with you, but I’m too lazy to go out. So I simply open the window, call down the next parrot, say a few words to it, or write a note and have the parrot take it to you.”

“Then the parrot pecks at your window, delivers my message to you, and perhaps you have something to say back. Then you call the parrot to carry it back. That is one way of remote conversation,” Kevin explained, gesturing on the table. “We could first promote it among the nobility and charge a fee to become a member. Then, by joining together hundreds and thousands of parrots, we could form a vast network.”

The general listened quietly, his fingers unconsciously brushing the rim of his cup.

“We could even build special ‘sites,’” Kevin said, offering another novel idea. “For example, today I want to read about international affairs. So I open my window at home, call down a parrot, and tell it I want to see some particular ‘site.’ The parrot flies automatically to the site’s location, and the site can also assign staff there. Every day the staff produce a large number of ‘pages.’”

“The parrot then carries the ‘page’ back to me, and I read it. Perhaps I want to read the article under a certain headline on the ‘page,’ so I mark it with a check. Then the parrot takes the ‘page’ back to the ‘site’ and indicates that this person wants to read the checked article. The ‘site’ then organizes the corresponding article and has the parrot bring it back for me to read.” Kevin finished his explanation in one breath.

After some thought, the general still shook his head. “Too slow.”

“But at least it is better than nothing,” Kevin replied.

The general still shook his head. “Even if there are enough parrots, what happens when there are strong winds and heavy rain, and the paper in the parrots’ beaks gets soaked, or even the parrots themselves cannot travel?”

“In special weather, there’s nothing to be done,” Kevin replied. “Then the network goes down.”

“What if some mischievous child throws a stone and knocks the parrot out of the sky on the way?” the general asked.

“An error in information transmission,” Kevin replied. “You can call another parrot. If that still doesn’t work, then the network goes down.”

“What if the parrot itself is turned, and the information it carries back and forth is stolen by others?” the general asked again.

“To be honest, letter delivery has similar risks as well, and the postman can also be turned,” Kevin replied. “At worst, the network goes down.”

“And what if there are too many parrots, and the site staff are insufficient and cannot keep up?” the general asked.

“Then the site crashes,” Kevin said, spreading his hands. “At most, the network goes down.”

The general: “...”

The two looked at each other and smiled. The general still shook his head. “Clearly this kind of technology is still far from mature. I personally am not very optimistic.”

Kevin, however, remained steadfast. “Personally, I believe that the accelerated transmission of information is an inevitable trend in the progress of the age. The Lion Empire has in fact already been researching ultra-small teleportation arrays to transport sheets of paper and other small pieces of information, and there are even proposals to build networks. If even the Lion Empire is studying something this vigorously, how can we easily fall behind? Of course, compared with a teleportation network, our parrot network’s speed will certainly be slow.”

“But the ore and materials needed to drive teleportation arrays are quite expensive. The Lion Empire is wealthy and powerful, so naturally it can afford to try. Our country is still developing and can only proceed step by step.” Kevin smiled. “At the same time, when a large number of parrots retire, they will still have something to do, and it will be what they are best at. We solve the employment problem for a great many parrots and form a virtuous system.”

Kevin went on, “I’ve read many proposals and often wander about the library. Compared with the others, I still think this one is the most reliable.”

The general smiled and nodded, unable to help praising him. “Not bad at all! I never expected that a junior officer would possess such insight.”

Kevin only shook his head. “I just read it in books. I’m only reciting what was written there.”

“What one reads in books, if one digests it into one’s own knowledge, becomes one’s own. Not everything must be self-invented,” the general said. “If someone like you could become a friend, it would be a great honor. But if you ever became an enemy—ah!—you would be terrifying.”

Kevin merely took a sip.

On the other side, the bard finally finished tonight’s tale. It was getting late, and people began to leave one after another. The innkeeper also started packing up table by table, signaling that it was time to close.

Kevin and the general stood as well, and the two shook hands.

“Today’s conversation was very pleasant,” the general said. “I hope we will have the chance to meet again.”

Kevin smiled. “Forgive my presumption, General, but have you recently been to the Kingdom of Lebocil?”

The general looked a little puzzled, but still shook his head. “No. Why do you ask?”

“Nothing,” Kevin said lightly. “I thought perhaps you were an old acquaintance. It seems I mistook you for someone else.”

The general did not press further. The two left the tavern side by side and parted with a wave—one going to stay at an inn in the city, the other returning to the barracks.

On the way back, one of General Bradley’s guards found it strange and asked him, “Is that man really worth paying such attention to? Did you need to speak with him for so long? It feels like he was just bragging.”

The general only glanced back toward the distance. “I never worry about those who boast idly, who easily lose themselves in their own wisdom and strength, and who despise everything. What I truly fear is the kind who knows how to observe calmly, who has a stance, a conviction, his own thoughts, his own views, and his own persistence. I tried more than once to mislead him, but it had little effect.”

“Taverns are places where the lower common folk gather,” the general sighed. “To give speeches in a tavern is to raise the quality of the lowest common people. If this ‘network’ truly becomes widespread, if information truly begins to accelerate, then perhaps one day everyone will become a grand gentleman.”

“And yet that is something my Lion Empire can scarcely accept,” he said with a long sigh. “Come. Tomorrow, go and take a look outside the city.”

“Yes,” the guard replied.

On the other side, Kevin returned to the barracks and lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling for a long while without falling asleep. The crow, meanwhile, was openly reading on the windowsill. Since it had already been caught once, it no longer mattered. Apart from not speaking, it had basically ceased to hide anything from Kevin.

“I hope that general did not notice you,” Kevin said.

The crow stopped and turned to look at him.

“I sensed something was off and quickly changed the subject. Fortunately, the topic of the parrot network was weighty enough, so the diversion worked very well,” Kevin said. “Clearly your performance in the tavern has been too good lately, and you’ve already attracted attention. Neither you nor I are beast tamers, so it’s hard to say whether we might slip up somewhere. We should be more careful from now on.”

The crow remained silent.

“Don’t treat that general as one of our own,” Kevin said. “I very much suspect he was deliberately waiting for us in that tavern. And another thing! I still clearly remember the city defenses in the Kingdom of Lebocil. When the local officer captured us, a voice came from behind a door saying that this man absolutely could not be kept alive.”

“At the time I guessed it was General Heitlan, but that was just me making things up on the spot, because he could never have jumped out to deny it. Now it seems... though the voice does not sound quite like his, a great mage can change his voice very easily.” Kevin fell silent for a moment. “Of course, I have no evidence. That old fox is cunning and slippery, and I can’t make out any change in his expression. I only hope I’m worrying over nothing.”