Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1811, page 1783: Flaws in the Rhetoric

“You’ve spent quite a bit of time in Athens and met many outstanding politicians and philosophers, Kassandra.”

Seeing the two men's surprise and uncertainty, Lan En spoke first, asking the falconer a question.

"What do you think Athenian politicians usually say first when they give speeches? Whether it's Pericles or Cleon?"

“You want me to talk about these things?” Cassandra pointed to herself, her expression resistant. “I didn’t attend many lectures in Athens. And when I was in contact with Pericles and Socrates, we were basically just looking for work to do, and we didn’t talk much about these things.”

As a Spartan, Kassandra was bound to feel some resistance to the Athenian system. It's understandable that she didn't learn much about it at the time.

So Lan En gave the answer directly.

“Whether it’s Pericles or Kleon, they always use language to make the audience feel that the speaker is ‘one of their own’ standing with them.” Lann crossed his arms and leaned against the ruins on the island. “Without exception.”

"Whether it's a politician's speech or an everyday conversation, the goal is to get the other party to accept your ideas. And to achieve this, it's easier than anything else to first establish an identity and stance as 'one of our own' in the conversation."

Lan En raised one finger from his arms-crossed posture.

"Now that we have this in mind, we can recall together the first sound Althea made."

“She frequently used phrases like ‘you Isu’ and ‘I will not participate in your exploitation’ in that speech, and we, as the listeners, naturally saw her as one of the ‘human beings with unlimited potential’ she was referring to.”

Lan En emphasized the word "you" in these words to make his stance clear.

Cassandra and Alexios both seemed to understand but not quite.

What they still didn't understand was the large amount of unfamiliar information released by Althea: 'Isu people,' 'data transmission,' 'achieving simultaneity means achieving the right to speak'...

The text is filled with a multitude of complex words whose meanings were incomprehensible to the ancient Greeks. These words, like a labyrinth, trap one's attention and thoughts, making it difficult to discover the problems within and to see things clearly.

The ability to streamline information is a valuable and powerful skill. It means that people with this skill can filter out distractions, find hidden patterns in seemingly complex and unfamiliar situations, and then solve seemingly different but actually the same problems based on experience.

However, given Cassandra and Alexios's level of education, it's unrealistic to expect them to possess such abilities.

What they understood was that Lann used the familiar example of Athenian politicians from the same era to help them make an analogy and understand.

“But…” Kassandra, who had a fairly good impression of Althea, hesitated before retorting, “That doesn’t necessarily mean she has any ill intentions towards us. Athenian politicians do fight among themselves, but most of them are trying to help Athens become stronger.”

Lan En didn't refute this statement; instead, he nodded: "Indeed, generally speaking, her words can be understood as 'wanting to quickly gain trust so she can better help others.' But..."

At this point, Lann, Cassandra, and Alexios exchanged glances.

Do you know how the Isu civilization disappeared?

There are certainly many people in the world who study the Isu civilization, and Herodotus, as the father of Western historiography, even named it the first civilization and its forerunner. This view has been widely disseminated within this research circle.

The Cult of Order never misses an opportunity to gather relevant information and knowledge.

Therefore, Cassandra and Alexios had a basic understanding of this.

They certainly didn't know the details, and nobody knew either. But the collapse and demise of the Isu civilization was certain.

This is the answer that can be found in the numerous clues found in the Isu ruins.

Of course, how to balance and reconcile the current state of the collapse and extinction of the Isu civilization with the belief in the Olympian gods in the minds of informed believers falls into the realm of theology.

In this era, we should place our hopes on the priests of the temple to provide research and explanations.

If it cannot be explained, then it means that this belief has too many flaws and cannot be self-consistent. In that case, a religion born in the new era and adapted to the new era will naturally emerge to replace them.

However, these academic matters usually don't linger on the siblings in front of Lan En for long.

"They didn't disappear, they perished."

Alexios shrugged as he spoke, his tone so relaxed that he seemed unaware that what he was saying was beginning to cause a crisis of faith.

“Yes, the Isu people are extinct.” Lann then picked up the thread, “Then in a civilization on the verge of destruction…why would there still be someone who keeps talking about ‘you Isu people’?”

"And it seems she's even taken over the management position of this ruin right beneath our feet?"

“I want to remind you that just a few years ago, when the Spartan army was advancing on Athens, Pericles, who was hailed as the father of democracy, was almost overthrown by public outrage simply because his attitude toward the war was slightly passive.”

The attitudes of a group of people largely depend on their circumstances; the more difficult and dangerous the circumstances, the more extreme the attitudes will be. Militarism, Nazism, and other extreme organizations, in order to maintain their existence, seek to create enemies to ensure that their circumstances are difficult and dangerous enough.

What situation could be more dire than the end of civilization?
Similarly, what group could be more extreme than those living on the eve of the end of civilization?

"If the collapse of the Isu civilization was completed in a short period of time, then such people might indeed exist in the midst of the sudden anomaly."

"But the Isu people built various ruins in different places, and their ruins all revealed that they knew the end was near, and many of the ruins were even built to survive the end."

"With the time they spent building so many ruins, their social atmosphere should have already undergone a transformation. There should be no room for someone like Althea to live."

"But she still controlled the entrance hall of Atlantis and said these words to us."

Lan En narrates in a straightforward manner, interspersed with analogies based on cases from this era.

The rational thinking and analysis presented were so compelling that even Cassandra and Alexios could readily accept them.

As Lan En delved deeper into the analysis, the siblings, who had initially only felt shocked by Althea's message, began to feel a chill.

"You've said a lot, but it's mostly just speculation, isn't it?" Alexios forced a dry laugh. "You haven't actually seen what the end of civilization looked like, have you, Lann?"

The Witcher did not respond, but simply continued to look at the other person calmly.

Then, the forced, dry smile on the chosen one's face stiffened and slowly disappeared.

"...You've seen it?!" Alexios stammered in disbelief. "W-where? When? Malaca!"

"You might find out later," Lan En said, skipping over the topic.

Cassandra roughly knew what was going on, but right now her main concern was Atlantis.

So she asked somewhat awkwardly, "No... any other possibility? Could Althea not be a kind-hearted Isu?"

“Referring to the social atmosphere in a post-apocalyptic environment,” Lann carefully refrained from making a definitive statement, “she could control the entrance hall of Atlantis, and even the entire city of Isu behind it.”

“Or she’s lying to us. In fact, she’s no different from those ‘Isu people’ she despises. They’re all ruthless in their pursuit of Isu civilization and themselves. Her attempts to get closer to us are just for ulterior motives.”

"Or, to be optimistic, she might indeed be the good person she describes herself to be. However, in that case, the way she obtained her current power in the Isu era is also... open to debate."

"But even if she's a good person, since she was able to obtain this power through some questionable means, can we really trust her now?"

“You,” Cassandra looked at Lann seriously, “which one do you prefer?”

“Me?” The Witcher spread his hands. “I said from the beginning that I didn’t believe her. I even brought the two of you out of this ruin to talk.”

“Give me another reason,” the falconer said, rubbing his forehead. “Convince me again, Lann.”

The Witcher shrugged, his tone nonchalant: "Another reason? Does it count if she doesn't treat you like one of her own, as she claims?"

"What do you mean?"

“Her last words,” Lan En tilted his head, “are probably the most confusing to you.”

The siblings nodded repeatedly.

In her final message, Althea speaks to a 'time traveler' and states that the ancient people present cannot understand their conversation.

That is absolutely correct.

This passage, like the previous ones, is filled with words that Cassandra and Alexios have never heard before, designed to ensnare their attention and thoughts.

More importantly, neither of them actually knew who the person they were talking to or who they were discussing.

What does "time traveler" mean? Who are the ancient people referring to?
Are we ancient people? Or people before us? Or people after us?

Lan En could tell that the Isu people were standing in a time period that seemed to be in the future.

However, the other three people present were completely baffled by this unprecedented scene.

As Lann sorted out the timeline of that passage and relayed it to Cassandra and Alexios in their proper place, they immediately understood.

(End of this chapter)