Transcription
Do you have the resolve to die for your beliefs? Novak asked the new recruit in the carriage. He had been a mercenary before, his hands stained with blood. He gained one piece of knowledge from his mercenary career: true strength lies not in the resolve to kill, but in the resolve to die. On the battlefield, clumsy resilience can overcome superficial skill. So, do you have the resolve to die? "I do!" the recruit naturally replied. But after getting off the carriage, the small soldiers around him were all knocked down by Okz with two thuds. The recruit, who had just claimed to have the resolve to die, was immediately terrified by Okz's imposing presence and fled, even stumbling and falling midway. Novak then raised his sword and faced Okz alone. "You... shouldn't have the resolve to die yet, right?" Okz attacked proactively, and Novak responded one by one. Novak counterattacked when Okz showed an opening. Just as he was about to finish him with a sword, Okz blocked the sword with his wrist. Unexpectedly, he immediately counterattacked. Okz's sword tip pointed to Novak's neck. This was the only moment in the entire animation where force was used to defeat Novak. Novak knew Okz had the resolve to die. Okz then said: After all, the fear of death is much lighter than the fear of having to accept this world. But at this moment, an interrogator from another carriage arrived to support him, saving Novak and diminishing Okz. The interrogator could not let Okz die because they still needed to extract information. The unconscious Okz had a dream. In his dream, he was a student, and his teacher knew he was researching the theory of earthquakes. The teacher asked him why he was researching the theory of earthquakes. He said it was to have hope for this world. The teacher then said this was just a superficial reason. In reality, you are acting and driven by a more powerful ideal. You are enslaved by that ideal. You originally had no such ideal in your own mind, and even felt it had nothing to do with you. However, humans naturally yearn for "it" and want to obtain "it." And only by continuing to pursue "it" is humanity's most precious value. Okz did not understand what the teacher was saying. The teacher then said: You have something you genuinely want to pursue and yearn for from the bottom of your heart. You must discover it yourself. Okz woke up from his sleep. He was in the medical facility of the interrogation center. A doctor had saved him. But Okz didn't understand why they saved him. Wouldn't they kill him later anyway? Novak did, but he said their duty was to make you confess, so they had to keep you alive. Afterward, Novak dismissed his subordinates and spoke to Okz alone. "Why are there heretics?" Haven't we already been guaranteed? As long as we live righteously, we can go to heaven. Why would we throw away this opportunity for nothing? What is the motive? Why do heretics exist? Okz didn't know, but he himself had accidentally started to yearn for and couldn't help but pursue it. Pursue what? Freedom. Novak believed that freedom without rules was no different from a beast. Okz, on the other hand, said: If we cannot question existing rules, then we are no different from beasts. Novak thought such an idea was abnormal. For this idea, he killed three of his subordinates; it was blind faith. But Okz said they all acted for each other's beliefs. They should have been prepared, right? However, I have nothing else to say. I truly know nothing. Novak then asked: Do you know the essence of torture? It is the balance between beliefs and negotiation terms. The negotiation terms are that if you reveal the beliefs you want to protect and the information you want to keep secret, you can avoid the pain of torture. Usually, ordinary people would confess. Only occasionally are there oddballs for whom this method is useless. So, they would demand stronger negotiation terms, such as torturing their family, friends, or collaborators. Okz said he truly knew nothing, and any terms would be the same. "No, you are the condition." Then, a subordinate brought in Badeni. "We are here to make him confess." Time rewound to when research was still ongoing. Okz's book was finished. He wanted to store the book in a stone box on the mountain. But Badeni said the stone box had already been thrown into the valley, and all the information inside had been burned. Then, he took Okz's book and burned it. Burning all the evidence was the best strategy. But Okz also had a problem: if he were caught later and the information was already burned, even if he said it was burned during interrogation, they probably wouldn't believe him. So, they would continue to torture him. What to do then? Then, he could only accept this nightmarish situation. Returning to the interrogation center, Okz was surprised that Badeni had been caught. Did you think he could escape? He was originally from here, so he should know. In this world, if you are targeted by the C Church, escape is impossible. The torture began, torturing Badeni by Okz. Novak said, thanks to you, I can face my own mistakes. Ten years ago, I was responsible for torturing a heretic. That necklace you have was left by him. I don't know how that necklace got into your hands, but if I had worked harder ten years ago, perhaps I could have prevented this. Prevent heretics like you from approaching my beloved daughter. So, you inherited that research from somewhere, so that information should still be preserved somewhere, right? Badeni said they inherited that information, but it had all been burned. However, Novak believed Badeni was lying. He saw emotion in Badeni's eyes, the emotion of wanting to protect something. So, Novak used torture. But no matter how he tortured, Badeni insisted the information was burned. Okz's mouth had already split open. So, Novak's next step was to torture his eyes. Just as Novak was about to begin the torture, Badeni said the information was not burned; it was in the stone box on the mountain. "Alright, you are responsible for leading the way, and an investigation team will be sent there later." The next day, Badeni led the interrogators to the stone box. As expected, the information in the stone box had not been burned. Novak mentioned that the person who left this box ten years ago committed suicide to protect it. Badeni wanted to know who he was. Novak said he was no different from other heretics, wasting his life for strange beliefs. The only abnormal thing about him was that he was only 12 years old. Badeni said he finally understood. If he weren't 12 years old, he wouldn't have tried to change the world. Back in the prison cell of the interrogation center, Okz was surprised that Badeni hadn't burned the information in the stone box and had even tried to protect it desperately. Badeni himself was surprised that he hadn't burned it. But Okz didn't understand why he confessed. "We're going to die soon anyway, it doesn't matter if our eyes are gouged out." You don't understand how painful it is to lose your sight while still alive. Soon, the time came, and the death sentences for the two were to be carried out. Finally facing death, everything was about to end. Badeni mentioned that he had just learned that the original owner of the stone box was only twelve years old. Unpredictable things happen in this world. The theory of earthquakes hasn't ended. He had prepared preventive measures, but whether they would be activated depended on luck. If successful, the text would be restored. And what was restored was not Badeni's thesis, but the book written by Okz. Okz didn't understand why. Badeni said he had said he didn't intend to leave his own achievements. Your article may not have the value of a thesis, but for that very reason, it has a greater chance of being conveyed. To convey the emotion within it. As long as the emotion can be left behind, the theory of earthquakes will naturally rise again. But, Okz asked, isn't leaving these things of no benefit to you? Badeni admitted that leaving something in the world and giving it to complete strangers was meaningless to him. However, miraculously, from certain perspectives, it seemed impossible to judge this as meaningless, for example, history? The time for the death penalty arrived. Okz asked, what are the chances of success if your plan goes smoothly? Very low. That's great. Until the very end, there is still something to look forward to. The end? Badeni said, indeed, we are standing at the entrance of hell. But Okz said it was the entrance to heaven. Because the scene before my eyes does not look like hell at all. The sky today must be beautiful. I wonder if everyone remembers the discussion about nominalism we had before. Badeni's Abelardian nominalism, while denying the existence of "universals," still believed that names are based on the mind's grasp of similarity and are meaningful. Corresponding to Badeni's final choice, he initially pursued the completion and publication of a genius scholar, but finally turned to "leaving behind something that can be passed on," leaving behind the "emotion" written by Okz. Although he stubbornly said that "entrusting" was meaningless, he actually entrusted the theory of earthquakes to the next person who felt its emotion through language and text. Badeni is more like someone who, even without an eternal essence, believes that knowledge must be passed down by name. This point actually aligns with Abelard's nominalism. And by the way, the author, Yu Feng, studied philosophy in college, so the problem of nominalism was deliberately mentioned in the plot, clearly to correspond to the characters' underlying thoughts. As for the story reflected by Yolanda Okham's nominalism, the answer should be available in the next episode. The two new interrogators who followed Novak are also working. The new interrogator who was afraid to carry out the execution last time said his heart ached. But another person said their job was to follow the decisions from above, and their job today was Yolanda. They brought Yolanda back to the interrogation center. Because she had eaten with two heretics, they wanted to ask if she had any connection with heretics. Yolanda insisted she knew nothing. The two new interrogators knew Yolanda was Novak's daughter, so they intended to go through the motions and let her go. But at this moment, Anthony arrived. Knowing she was Novak's daughter, he told the new interrogators to prepare for torture. Women aspiring to be researchers were suspicious. She might be possessed by a demon, or even the mastermind. Under Anthony's orders, the new interrogators took Yolanda to the interrogation room. Anthony took Yolanda's gloves and then told the new interrogators to carry out the execution. Seeing the new interrogators hesitate, Anthony took the lead and used a tool to pull out Yolanda's teeth. Then he handed the tool to the new interrogators and left, telling them to continue the torture. The new interrogators, who decided based on orders from above, prepared to carry out the execution. Seeing Yolanda's tears, he said, "Let's use finger clamps instead. I don't want to see her face." The timid new interrogator immediately agreed and went out to get the finger clamps. On the way, he passed Anthony's room and overheard Anthony's plan. He intended to force a confession by torture, making Novak's daughter a heretic. Because the bishop was friendly with Novak, Novak's scandal would become a stain on the bishop's reputation. This would increase his presence in the church and allow him to change the direction of the church. Hearing that the torture was merely Anthony's political scheme, the timid new interrogator returned to the interrogation room and said he had forgotten where the finger clamps were, asking the other person to get them. After the other person left, he immediately released Yolanda, told her to escape quickly, and warned her that she would be killed if she stayed. He even found a horse for her to escape on. Yolanda asked why he was doing this. The new interrogator said: What is the C Church? I think it's a way of life. So, I can't let them kill you. I will explain clearly to everyone. They will definitely understand. Then, he spurred his horse and let Yolanda escape. When Anthony found out about this, he beat the new interrogator. No matter how the new interrogator defended himself, Anthony wouldn't let him go. He also told another new interrogator to contact Novak and say: Yolanda is a heretic, she took a hostage and attempted to escape, resulting in injuries, so she had to be executed on the spot. Afterward, the body would be cremated according to formal procedures. Finally, he had to show him the charred body, making him believe his daughter was dead. But where would there be a charred body? Isn't there one right in front of him? Novak went to the execution ground and saw the body being burned by flames. Anthony also comforted Novak, handing him the gloves taken from the execution, saying they were specially kept as an exception. Novak took the gloves. Anthony smiled, his grand plan accomplished. Novak took the gloves home and remembered his daughter learning to write when she was young, writing a letter to thank her father. Novak was happy that his daughter was studying diligently. Later, while shopping, he saw his daughter looking at the gloves of other children. He remembered that his daughter's hands would get cold when she wrote, so he decided to order a pair of gloves for his daughter, which would arrive in a week. Yolanda was grateful to her father when she found out. But Novak said she should thank God, as God had bestowed such a destiny upon her. Unexpectedly, a week later, the gloves arrived, but they were too big. Novak apologized profusely, saying there must have been a mistake in ordering. Yolanda then said it was God's fault, because you said it was God who bestowed this destiny upon me, so it is God's fault. Hearing these apostate remarks, Novak immediately stopped her and scolded her. Yolanda was surprised by her father's attitude. Novak told her to calm down and leave the room. After leaving the room, Novak reflected on whether he was too harsh, but he couldn't ignore matters of faith. However, when a child cries in front of you, you should first accompany them gently. Novak wanted to go back to apologize, but as soon as he opened the door, Yolanda apologized first, saying the gloves could still be worn if they were adjusted like this. Yolanda still wore those gloves when she went to work at the research institute. And now, Novak only has those gloves left to remember her by. On the other side, in the church where Badeni originally worked, the public and the monks knew that Badeni had been executed as a heretic. It was said that Badeni's matter was reported anonymously. A monk remembered picking up a notebook in the library half a year ago, which contained content supporting the theory of a heterogeneous universe, so he reported it. The monk suspected that his report led to his arrest, but he also thought that the content he reported was not a capital offense. The monk suddenly found a letter in a bookshelf. The letter contained a poem by Lucretius, the letter written by Badeni before his arrest. He wanted to exchange this knowledge and begged the monk for one thing: "If poor people come to you, please receive them." Although the probability of you agreeing to this request is very low, there is no benefit to you, and I have no reputation, so I can only beg you to comply with my request. I beg you from the bottom of my heart. Supplementary, and unrelated to the main topic, a request that even I feel embarrassed about: If possible, please let those poor people receive some education. Above. The monk looked at Lucretius's poem, a poem written 1500 years ago. Seeing that it had been passed down because someone circulated it, if Badeni's research still existed somewhere, or rather, it should be allowed to continue to be passed down. A few days later, the poor had not received Okz's bread for a month, so, as agreed with Badeni, they came to the church to find the monk. A poor person went to the church and said he hoped the monk would go to their place. The monk remembered the letter, this was Badeni's entrustment. He followed the poor person to the underground of the poor district. The poor person said: The person with the eyepatch on his eye said this is called "a book." Then, he picked up a knife and shaved his hair. "I am the first page." Beneath the hair were words tattooed on his scalp. Next, other poor people shaved their hair. "There are a total of sixty pages." I never mentioned the monk's name because his name is very kick, but at the end of the story, I must say it once. This monk is called Kramowski. Is it my turn? And the story of the next chapter is twenty-five years later. This episode is the fifth volume of the manga "Earth. -On the Movement of the Earth-", chapter two, the story of Okz and Badeni finally concludes. This episode is mainly about plot advancement, with little room for insertion. All the actual data about the theory of earthquakes has been burned, leaving only a book written by Okz, who was originally illiterate. And after this episode, there will be less astronomy or philosophy. Instead, it will be the history of Christianity. I think this part is also a very fascinating small branch line, so starting from the next episode, I will talk about the history of religion and heresy. And of course, most importantly, the true history of the theory of earthquakes and religion. So the added content later may not be friendly to believers XD. And in this episode, I think a very important character is Novak. An interrogator who burned heretics for the theory of earthquakes. But in this episode, their other side is also shown. Novak, as an interrogator, is naturally an opponent of the theory of earthquakes. The deaths of Herbert, Raphael, Badeni, and Okz are all related to him. But this episode portrays the torment he faces as a father. We can see that the characters portrayed by the author are not stereotypical masks. Novak is not a purely evil villain. He treats Yolanda well as a father and is also disappointed by his daughter's misfortune. Good stories usually have this characteristic: characters are not stereotypical masks but real and diverse people. I remember someone commented before that they hated Novak and felt his suffering was deserved, and his torment was retribution. But in fact, this kind of "good and evil calculator" is as one-sided as the portrayal of stereotypical characters. Because he burned heretics, is it acceptable for him to lose his daughter? Whether it is the torment he inflicted or the torment he endured, they are in fact heterogeneous. You cannot treat it like addition and subtraction. Because you inflicted a hundred points of torment, is it deserved to receive fifty points back, or even not enough? I don't know if it's the influence of capitalism or the populist online environment, but we are increasingly accustomed to understanding people in a one-dimensional way, as if everyone stands at different positions on the same score line. But I strongly oppose understanding people and things in this way. Humans themselves are contradictory and heterogeneous beings. He can be an accomplice to religion and a good father at the same time. So the most interesting part of Novak's character is that the author did not make him just a villain for the audience to hate, but allowed you to see that this person who burned heretics is also a person who loves his daughter, feels pain, and breaks down. And the fact is, even as part of institutional violence, people are usually emotional, have beliefs, and even love. So I think if you only see Novak as a villain who deserves to suffer, you are actually underestimating this character and this story, and even more so, underestimating a person. And for a more detailed analysis of Novak himself, I will have a more subversive view in the last episode, which I will share at the end. Finally, I think there is a very interesting question, because this question is related to the understanding of Novak's character, which is: do you think Novak believes his daughter is a heretic? Although Yolanda actually escaped, Novak believes she is dead. Do you think Novak believes his daughter is a true heretic, believing in the theory of earthquakes and being burned to death, or that his daughter is not a true heretic, but was burned to death after being tortured into a confession? Different interpretations of this question will actually greatly affect the understanding of his subsequent behavior. So, leave a comment and tell me. How does Novak view Yolanda?