Natural Philosophy.
　Natural philosophy, simply put, is the idea of trying to theorize about naturally occurring phenomena.

　
　Since all the work is done by slaves, the citizens of Alto are always bored.

　So they thought of a way to pass the time.

　I mean, why is fire so hot, why does water turn to ice when cooled, why do the sun and moon rise and fall regularly....
　We will take a scalpel to those events that were previously 'ordained by God' and clarify them.
　That's why we talk to each other.
　This is quite fun.

　This is how natural philosophy developed.





　Nikolaos was an Alto natural philosopher.

　He was married at seventeen and had his first daughter when he was eighteen.
　He is now thirty-eight years old, and his children are his first daughter, aged twenty, his second daughter, aged twelve, his first son, aged fifteen, his second son, aged ten, and his third son, aged eight.
　He owns ten slaves.

　His field of expertise is astronomy.

　That is, to derive the laws of the movement of the sun, the moon and the stars, to grasp the true nature of the universe and to know its destiny.

　In present day Cilicia, the earth was thought to be a sphere ... a planet, with the moon and sun orbiting around it.

　Initially, Nikolaos also supported this theory.
　However, while he continued his research for a while, he suddenly realized.

　Huh?　The math doesn't add up, does it?

　What I mean by that is that the earth is centered on the earth - the calculation doesn't fit with the celestial motion theory. Or it gets very complicated. So he starts to think that maybe the heliocentric theory is wrong.

　Nikolaos finally came up with a theory.

　The center of the universe is the sun, and all the heavenly bodies except the earth revolve around the center of the sun. Only the moon revolves around the earth.

　He named this theory the Geocentric Theory.

　But the public reaction was cold.

　Those who held the stereotype that the celestial bodies inhabited by man, God's chosen race, would be the center of the universe, called him a madman, and he was beaten to a pulp.

　But that was enough to say back.
　'You say that man, God's chosen species, is the centre. But can't you think of it this way? Wouldn't it be funny if the sun, the symbol of goodness, were at the center?

　But he was debunked by the proponents of the heliocentric theory.
　Why?
　In the first place, his theory had a fatal weakness.

　If the sun is the center of the universe, then annual parallax should be observed.
　But in reality, annual parallax cannot be observed.

　The heliocentric theory had an observational advantage over the geocentric theory.

　He argued that the reason for the inability to confirm annual parallax was because the stars were too far away from the Earth, but this argument went unheeded.

　I should have put the contradiction there.
　Without a doubt, science will not develop.

　Alto's natural philosopher knows that much, too.

　But he didn't give up, he continued to make his point.

　Of course he hates it.
　He's kind of annoying, isn't he?

　The slanders against him eventually spread to his family.





　'Shit!　Why can't people understand!　My theory is perfect. d*mn you stone-faced people whose brains are controlled by stereotypes!

　Nikolaos threw the calculating paper into a ball and threw it away.
　He hit the desk with his right arm as hard as he could.

　But hitting an object did not satisfy the Alto natural philosopher.

　'Master Nikolaos. I have a letter for you.'
　Hmm?

　From the slave Nikolaos received a letter.
　The letter was made of a strange material.

　It was thinner and lighter than parchment.
　It was lighter and thinner than parchment, and white.

　　'Dear Sir, how are you?

　I'm fine. It seems that the choice to take the plunge and move to Clarice and then go into business in Rezad was the right one.
　It's a thing called 'paper' that I got on the Adelunian Peninsula. The usefulness of it will be understood by a smart brother. The barbarians of Adelunia are not to be underestimated.
　When I returned to Clarice to stock up, I heard a rumor about my brother.
　All of Cilicia knows about you.
　I think my brother is right. But I think it's time we stopped talking about it. I can't have my brother being treated like a madman and a fool. You have a family, don't you?
　One day your brother's ideas will be accepted. Hundreds, maybe thousands of years from now but that's okay.

　The Adelunian Peninsula is a nice place. It's warm and the food is pretty good. And it's good to have plenty of salt to work with.

　The Cilician peninsula is hard to live in, isn't it?　I don't know anyone on the Adelunian Peninsula who knows my brother.
　If he wants to emigrate, he is welcome to do so.

　I will see you at a later time.
　I hope to hear back from you.

　Sincerely.

　Ainsworth, Chairman of the Ainsworth Chamber of Commerce, Adelunian Peninsula Rezad.


　Hmm.

　Nikolaos rolls up the letter and tosses it on the floor.
　He has no further intention of giving up.

　'Master Nikolaos. Your meal is now ready.
　Another slave tells Nikolaos.

　'I'm coming,'
　Nikolaos got up from his seat and went to get his food.





　'Hey, what's up with that Krol guy?'
　It's outside. Utterly, I'll have to reprimand you when I get home for playing till this time.

　Nikolaos' wife laughed at that.
　Nikolaos and his family decided to wait until his third son, Krol, came home.

　A moment later, the door opened and Krol returned.

　'I'm back...'
　What the hell is going on here at this hour?　That wound.

　Krol had a large bruise on his face.
　If you look closely, your clothes are stained with dirt.

　'I just fell. I'll go wash my hands.'

　Krol said and left to escape.

　Can you ever fall down and get a bruise on your face?
　No, no.
　That was definitely after the beating.

　Then why did it...

　Nikolaos thinks.
　He glances at his eldest daughter.

　She is not yet married. But it's about time she did.
　But what if she doesn't get married because of him?

　It's not just the eldest daughter.
　Our children will be ostracized in the future. Because of you.

　Nikolaos weighed his purpose and his family.

　And.........

　Hey, guys. I've got a little proposition for you.