C224: Presentation (3)
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Altego's remarks were also quite rude.
It was like asking if he really thought of it alone in a public place with thousands of people watching.
Was he helped by others, but he only attributed the achievement to himself?
In fact, Altego was asking that.
Auguste in the top seat stared at Altego. What Altego did was an unexpected act that Auguste did not hear of beforehand.
Auguste is a member of the same senior council, but he wondered whether to stop Altego's unexpected behavior, since Altego is one grade lower than him.
'If he's this confident, he must know something.'
Auguste realized that the action was based on some calculation and decided to stay still. Even if it wasn't him, the reaction of the wizards around him was loud.
"Is it okay for an elder of the Old Tower to say that?"
"He wouldn't say that for no reason. Has he discovered something?"
"Whatever it is, things have become interesting."
Rudger asked, staring at Altego.
"Senior Altego what is the intent of your question?"
"It's exactly what you heard. Is the result of this study purely your merit?"
"Why are you asking me that?"
"No. It's just because it's amazing. A language that countless archaeologists and wizards have tried to decode so far was completely interpreted by a rank four wizard? Do you think I would believe that?"
Some wizards accepted Altego's logical point.
"That's true. If you think about it, something's wrong. A Theon teacher might be amazing, but it doesn't make sense to produce this kind of results."
"No matter how much of a genius he is I'm also suspicious that a fourth rank wizard suddenly did what no one has ever done."
Doubts began to spread throughout the hall and Altego smiled inwardly as the situation was flowing as he intended.
'Let's see if you can answer the question properly you cheeky little brat.'
Altego didn't think Rudger really figured all this out. Even if he invented a new magic, this was completely different from understanding and interpreting a lost language system.
It's great to achieve just one thing, but he mastered a whole different field?
Altego was a narrow-minded wizard, but nevertheless, he had a solid basis for judging something and the main reason was his own experience.
He is a man who has lived for a long time, even if he looks like this, and one of the wizards who achieved a high rank.
He saw and experienced a lot of things as he came up to his current position and also accumulated a lot of knowledge.
In most of the cases it worked well in light of his experience so Altego based his judgment on 'statistics'.
Rudger Chelici would never have conducted that study alone.
'There have been some wizards who have stood out in one field so far. I admit you're the sort. Creating a new magic is certainly commendable, but exploring other areas is quite different.'
Similar precedents were not absent in his memory. Like the great wizard, Clinton Rothschild, sitting in the top seat right now and watching the situation with interest.
He is a genius who has made a lot of waves in the world since he was young. That is why it has been able to reach the highest level that mankind can reach, the seventh rank. However, another case like Clinton's was hard to find.
In the first place, there are few wizards in the 7th rank even if you look at the entire continent and it didn't occur to him that Rudger Chelici would have that possibility.
In Altego's opinion Rudger was a genius but not a monstrous genius.
'I'm sure there are people who helped carry out that study. I don't know if you're hiding it because you want to or purposely to steal the credit. Personally, I hope it's the latter.'
However, there was something on his mind.
Rudger's attitude was too calm even though the situation was going against him.
Altego squinted his eyes.
'You don't panic in this situation. I don't know if you're serious or if you're desperately trying to act calm.'
Rudger's reaction made Altego anxious and even a little annoyed.
"Mr. Rudger, the research you showed us is certainly interesting but that's my question. Is this something you can find out by yourself?"
"There's nothing that can't be figured out."
"Then why hasn't anyone figured it out so far? Are you saying that they lacked ability?"
Rudger frowned weakly at Altego's persistent bite.
'You're trying to find fault with me somehow.'
Just by looking at the reactions of the spectators, about half of them were swept away by Altego's opinion and wondered.
He understood that it was unbelievable for such a young person to achieve something that even an older person could not do. It could be called a narrow mindset, but on the contrary, it also meant that Rudger did something too unconventional.
'Probably, he attacked me with confidence in that'
Rudger glanced away and looked at the president's seat. Sitting on one of the top seats, she was staring at him. She wasn't expressing her emotions because she was managing her facial expressions as usual, but her eyes were asking, "Can you do it?"
He guessed she would be worried if he pretended he couldn't do it.
'I was expecting something similar to happen anyway.'
In the first place, he didn't think everyone would be happy to clap their hands when he announced the results of this study.
Most of the members of a wizard's family are immersed in research so they have an insidious corner. Some will be purely amazed at the great discovery made while others might point out even minor things or force themselves to undermine his performance somehow.
"Since Elder Altego of the Old Tower is so curious, I will also answer as a presenter. This is the result of my research, and Larsil's interpretation has been achieved only by my own power."
"How can we be sure of that?"
"If you insist that my research results are not purely mine you have to prove it first."
Altego grinned as if he had only waited for that.
"Then you mean you can answer anything I ask in detail about this matter?"
"Yes, you can ask me as much as you like."
Rudger noticed from Altego's words and actions that he had prepared something.
Seeing that he is drawing attention and speaking with conviction, he must be confident that he can send a sharp question.
'And the person who asked that question would not be himself, but an expert in this field.'
As Rudger guessed, the person sitting quietly next to Altego rose from his seat and a beam of light from the dome ceiling naturally shone on him.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Marloso Greborg."
It was a tall, skinny man. Because of his curly brown hair and nose glasses on his face, he had a strong impression of a scholar and a poisonous snake that could bite his opponent anytime.
"I'm involved in ancient languages and archaeology and I'm confident that I know the language better than anyone else because I've been exploring it until recently."
Some wizards recognized him and Rudger did not miss their response.
'From that reaction, it's clear that he's actually a person with a name in his field.'
Above all, it was clear that he was preparing for this moment, considering that he had studied the Larsil language among ancient languages.
'Were you sure I'd talk about Larsil? The wizard of the Old Tower, who came as an observer, must have leaked the information.'
Marloso was greeting the people around him with courtesy, but his eyes beyond the glasses peeking at Rudger fiercely.
Rudger felt hostility even though it was the first time he met him but the exact emotion contained in his gaze was jealousy.
'You've brought a hungry hound.'
At first glance, it was clear that he had lost his credit because Rudger analyzed Larsil.
Marloso raised one corner of his mouth toward Rudger. The ridicule soon conveyed his willingness to bite his neck.
Rudger did not respond to the provocation, he just looked at Marloso like he was a clown.
"Well, then, Mr. Rudger Chelici said we could ask questions, so I'll ask you a question from my humble knowledge."
"As much as you like."
"Mr. Rudger said that Larsil actually consists of three types of characters."
"Yes, that's right."
"Then can you interpret this sentence?"
Marloso held a magic pen and wrote letters in the air. The bluish letters made up a single sentence, which was in Larsil.
"Since you've interpreted it all, I think you know what this means."
Rudger looked at the words written in the air.
"It was late in the morning and the meal I ate in a hurry was terrible."
His interpretation took less than three seconds but the smile built around Marloso's mouth deepened at his words.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"That's strange. I've also been studying Larsil for a long time, and at least I know what this sentence means. But the sentence that Mr. Rudger interpreted is very different from what I knew."
Marloso was rather discouraged. He thought Rudger would be at a similar level at least, but his level was so low that there's nothing to bite.
"What Mr. Rudger interpreted does not match this sentence at all. I'm sure of it. You are wrong."
The wizards buzzed at his words and the faces of those who had some sort of anticipation became grim.
"You tried to cheat so many people. Is the Arcane Chamber funny to you."
"I don't understand what you're saying. I've never cheated."
"No? Isn't your interpretation wrong? You got the first word wrong in the first place. Do you know what this is?"
"Light."
Rudger's words left Marloso speechless.
"……Yes, the first word is light. And the next word is."
"Blessing."
Marloso felt something strange about the answer that came back like a knife.
"……What, did you know and make a mistake on purpose?"
"I have never been wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Because that happens when you interpret the words as they are, primarily."
"Primary?"
Marloso did not understand Rudger's answer.
"I don't think you know, so I'll show you. First of all, if you interpret the sentence primarily, it reads, "The light bestowed grace," but I did not fully accept it."
"……."
Marloso was not amused because the sentence he managed to interpret naturally came out of Rudger's mouth even more naturally than he did.
Marloso felt anxiety creeping up and tapping his back bone.
"Why did you say something else on purpose when you knew it? Were you going to make fun of me?"
"Why would I do such a thing?"
"What? No, you're……."
"And didn't I say it? The one just now is the first translation. If there's a first translation, there's also a second translation."
"That means……Are you saying that your interpretation it's the second interpretation?"
"It's the second and final version."
Marloso's face turned red at his words.
"Don't make me laugh! Aren't the two sentences completely different in the first place?"
"That's why you can't interpret Larsil easily. In ancient times, people didn't use language intuitively."
"What the…"
"Analyzing ancient languages is meaningless in modern linguistics. Phonetics and phonology are possible, but analysis through semantics is virtually impossible. Didn't you know?"
Modern linguistics doesn't work?
"Since it's like this, I'll kindly explain the meaning."
Before Marloso could say anything, Rudger used a spell. Just now, the Larsil sentence written by Marloso with a magic pen appeared over Rudger's head in a much more neat and elegant style.
"In the past, people believed that texts have mysterious power, so they made changes twice when writing down their usual conversations to make them more mysterious and beautiful. Ancient people called this change of consent. Have you heard of it?"
"Well, that's…."
"Yes, you haven't heard of it. Otherwise, you wouldn't have made a stupid statement that the "right" interpretation was wrong."
Marloso swallowed his words as if he had been stabbed in the chest by something sharp.
"In this sentence, 'light' means the sun in the morning. Even the same word is followed by grace, so light here is not literally light, but light that gives grace. For the people of that time, it means the sun, and its grace means the food to eat on that day."
The words in the air moved and the sentences began to change.
"Basically, if he refused on his own, he would have said that he threw grace out of his will. The reason why I couldn't accept it was because it's said that the food was not good so he skipped the meal."
The only copy of Larsil recorded in the first place is a wizard's handwriting. There are things like the culture and behavior of those days, and the mindset that you should have as a wizard.
On the contrary, even some small daily issues of the wizard who wrote down the notes might be among them.
"That's ridiculous."
Marloso turned pale when he realized that the sentence he had interpreted meant that someone skipped breakfast.
It was the same with Altego, who enjoyed watching the situation from the side.
"So the sentence that Mr. Marloso interpreted is a useless sentence among the notes of the ancient wizard. Well, for those who don't know the other two characters, it would have been the easiest way to interpret it."
Rudger fired a confirmation shot in front of everyone.
"So, did you get enough answers?"