Chapter 510 — The Spread of Knowledge
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
"Take a look at this first, and you will understand soon enough," Godwin said as he opened a desk drawer and drew out a thin booklet. "Mr. Norris, I believe you are the author of this?"
Norris took the booklet and saw printed on its cover, in plain, easy-to-understand characters: *The Cultivation and Harvest of Sweetroot and Legume Crops*.
"Of course, I wrote it. The lord told me to turn my farming experience into a booklet to teach other farmers, so I puzzled it out myself and wrote this... book," Norris said, though there was a note of shame in his words, for seated before him was a great scholar renowned even in the capital, and to speak of the "book" he had written in the presence of this scholar of countless works was a real test of one's confidence. "Why, is there... some problem with it?"
"Of course there is no problem—and now we need more booklets," Godwin Orlando said, and the great scholar's face lit up with a youthful radiance. "Let us praise the printing press—and praise all the more those worthy people who invented it—the great dissemination of knowledge has begun. By the lord's command, we are to compile a series titled *The Foundations of All Things*, covering seven major categories: agricultural common knowledge, arcanotech industry, social common knowledge, magical common knowledge, natural common knowledge, theological common knowledge, and geography and history. In the future it may cover even more. Mr. Norris, that little booklet you once wrote has been immensely useful—many farmers in Xuanyao City have reaped bountiful harvests thanks to the knowledge you taught. But now your work must go a step further—"
Norris listened carefully to every word Godwin Orlando spoke, his body leaning slightly forward, the wrinkles that half a lifetime of wind and rain had carved into his face like furrows in a field, as if recording the whole of his former life. In a daze, he suddenly understood—understood what he ought to do.
He did indeed have something to pass on—
"Mr. Norris, I am skilled only with words and know nothing of farming, so for this part of the content I hope to have the help of you and your apprentices," Godwin Orlando said earnestly. The man he once was would never have dreamed of seeking knowledge from a farmer, and the man he was now had no spare thought to consider whether there was anything amiss in learning from a farmer—his passion had been ignited, and now there was only one phrase in his mind: "the great dissemination of knowledge." "We need your knowledge."
...
"We need your knowledge..."
In the rest room of the Magic Net Broadcasting Center, Jenny recalled what Lady Hetty had said to her a few days ago and could not help drawing another deep breath. Then she lowered her head and went back to reading the manuscript and materials she had spent several nights putting together.
The mechanical scholars and arcanotech technicians responsible for tuning the machinery and equipment were still busy in the next room, and the rest room seemed especially quiet—so quiet that one could hear only the rustle of turning pages. But just then, Jenny suddenly felt someone touch her arm.
She looked up in some surprise and saw that Rebecca had at some point sat down beside her. The viscount's daughter held a stack of papers in one hand and was offering several pieces of candy with the other: "Nervous? If you're nervous, have some candy!"
"Ah... thank you," Jenny said, accepting the candy with thanks. Then, as she popped a piece into her mouth, she looked curiously at the papers in Rebecca's hands. "Are you going to... record a 'program' later too?"
"That's right, I'm recording after you," Rebecca said, waving the manuscript in her hand and then pointing to a pile of machine models stacked in the corner. "How to identify and operate several common arcanotech machines, and a diagram of the most primitive repulsion-piston arcanotech engine."