Iron Powder and Spellcasters Chapter 372

   Chapter 372 Wedges

  Although it is already late winter, the morning in Steel Castle is still freezing cold.

   Except for the sporadic poor hawkers who ventured to the center of the lake to fetch ice, other Steel Fort citizens hid in the warm indoors, and no one had the leisurely time to go out for morning exercises.

   Therefore, at first glance, there are only two dogs and two dogs on the open shore of the lake.

   "So..." Winters rubbed the fur between the wolfhound's ears, humming in a pleasing manner by the big dog being petted. He looked up and asked Kaman, "Why do they obey me?"

  Kaman hesitated for a moment: "Because of witchcraft?"

  The corners of Winters' mouth were slightly raised, and he asked: "I'm not a Hed shaman, how can I use shaman magic?"

   There are too many bickerings on weekdays, causing Kaman to see Winters' smile and instinctively want to retort.

But now he has something to ask for, so the priest can only resist the urge to quarrel, and follow the other party's words and ask: "Are you really not? Then why did the barbarians call you [Hestas] when you were in Qingqiu. ], and the barbarians worship you?"

"you caught me…"

  Kaman snorted softly: "It's not that I don't have eyes."

   "But." Winters changed the subject and said solemnly: "I really don't know shamanism."

Kaman laughed angrily, he pointed to the two wolf dogs whose tails were wagging like a windmill: "No barbarian witchcraft? Then how did you make them behave like dogs? Miracles? You don't want to say - Are you relying on love to influence the big wolf dog?!"

   Hearing Kaman's questioning, Winters coughed a few times shyly. He hugged the two wolf dogs and defended: "They were originally dogs!"

  After the **** battle at Qingqiu ended, the Chihe tribe searched the corpse and finally identified the identity of the wolf-riding assassin as a beast spirit speaker [white sturgeon].

  The Chihe Department detained the body of the white sturgeon, and firmly disagreed with Winters' request to inspect and take away the body of the white sturgeon.

The reason for    is: although the white sturgeon tried to assassinate the white lion in vain, he was still an uncompromising shaman and the chosen one, and the Chihe tribe would never hand over his body to outsiders for insult.

   Winters also buckled the white lion's horse [Changfeng] in return, and the two sides barely evened.

  So all Winters got from the white sturgeon was that peculiar bone flute.

   However, as a samurai who beheaded the white sturgeon, Winters also has the right to choose one trophy from the white sturgeon's inheritance first.

  The white sturgeon brought a total of six wolf dogs to Qingqiu, "consumed" four, and the remaining two were locked in the cage and were only discovered when cleaning the battlefield.

   The members of the Chihe Department regarded these two dogs, which looked indistinguishable from wolves, as evil, and originally planned to slaughter them. The little hunter Bell couldn't sit back and watch, so he begged Winters to save the two spirit beasts.

When   Winters learned about this, he couldn't bear it, so he asked the Chihe Department for the spirit beast of the white sturgeon as a trophy.

   The Chihe Department was so happy that someone took over the troubles between these two "spirit beasts" and "evil things", and happily sent the iron cage containing the wolf dog to Winters' camp.

  The story is here and should have come to an end.

  Because the two wolf dogs were too ferocious to approach, they could only be locked in an iron cage. Winters couldn't figure out for a while how the white sturgeon manipulated the wolfhound like a finger.

   Yet Winters' camp also has a more ferocious creature than a wolfhound.

The "little guy" who was disturbed by the barking wolf dog all the time and couldn't sleep, once slipped quietly to the carriage that transported the wolf dog while Bell was not there, and gave the two wolf dogs an "induction training" through the iron cage. .

   Since then, the two wolfhounds have quickly repositioned themselves. They are no longer screaming, and they are no longer murdering people. They also wag their tails when feeding, and can even be led away.

   But... the little guy has never given up the idea of ​​eating dog meat.

  It is always sneaking behind the wolf dog, and has not changed it after repeated teachings, and almost succeeded a few times. Forcing Winters to put the wolfhound in the cage again.

   In order to save the dog's life and avoid a massacre. When the iron peak county mission dispatched the golden men and regrouped, Winters asked Bell to take the little guy to the south and followed Lieutenant Colonel Moritz to **** the gold bars back to Iron peak county.

   He himself took the two wolf dogs along the north road, first returning to Jiangbei province, and then stepping into the mountains.

   This is the beginning and end of the two wolfhounds appearing in Steel Castle, and Winters got the inspiration for the "Beast Spirit Whisperer's Magic" and also after arriving in the Monta Republic.

  [time goes back to the present]

   Hearing Winters say "they were originally dogs", Kaman immediately asked: "Do you want to ask someone to ask?"

   Winters stopped talking.

   During the trip to Monta, the two wolfhounds had several misunderstandings.

  The Republic of Monta has more mountains and less land, and needs to buy food from the Republic of Van all the year round. In addition to tending a few acres of thin fields at home, the most important livelihood of Monta farmers is herding, and they hate wolves who poach livestock the most.

   So along the way, the two wolf dogs were almost shouting and beating.

  Anna tried to sew a pair of particularly conspicuous collars to tie around the wolf dog's neck, proving that they have an owner. The result was to make them easier for the Montans to notice, but not to dampen the hostility in their hearts.

   Winters had to explain over and over again "these are dogs, not wolves".

   Even so, the stubborn Monta mountain people were still suspicious, and many Monta farmers turned around and whispered, "What's wrong? Treat wolves as dogs? Oh, Veneta!"

   So if others were to judge, the winner would definitely be Kaman.

  Winters stroked the wolfhound's neck and explained seriously: "If I guessed correctly, they should be a mix of wolf and dog. Although they look like wolves, their loyalty is not inferior to dogs."

   "Isn't a wolf-dog hybrid not a wolf?" Kaman folded his arms.

   Winters was silent for a moment, and after thinking, he replied: "Probably, it depends on who they allegiance to. If they are in the company of wolves, they are undoubtedly wolves. If they are loyal to human beings, they are dogs."

   "Origin is not so easy to erase." Kaman frowned slightly: "They have wolf blood, so in the eyes of many people they are wolves."

"Maybe so." Winters stroked the wolfhound's oily fur and sighed: "But don't you think they are pathetic? There is no doubt about their loyalty, but their previous owners used this loyalty despicably and ruthlessly. He strapped them to frag grenades and sent them on suicide missions. They didn't know they were doomed, and it was possible that they were filled with unreserved loyalty just before they were smashed to pieces."

After listening silently, Kaman asked curiously: "[The fox will feel sad when he sees the rabbit being killed by the hunter]; [the beast will shed tears when he sees the misfortune of the same kind]... You should not see two wolf dogs. , remember what happened to you?"

   Winters was too choked to speak, and coughed violently.

   After a while, he asked Kaman mockingly: "When did you become so aggressive?"

   "Who told the teacher to teach well?" Kaman bowed sternly.

   This time it was Kaman who won a big victory, and Winters waved his hand: "There is no need to continue arguing whether they are wolves or dogs..."

   "Listen to you." Kaman smiled.

   Winters reiterated: "I don't know shamanism."

   "I don't believe it." Kaman smiled unabated.

   Winters cut the mess with a quick knife: "Do you think that being able to drive animals is equivalent to mastering shamanic magic?"

   "Accurately, driving animals is one of the abilities of barbarian shamans, and other pagan sorceries have similar spells in the literature... This is something we have long confirmed."

  Winters shook his head slightly and asked a digression: "On the way we came, did you see how the Monta herdsmen tended their sheep?"

   "Have seen."

   "What about the Hurd people herding sheep? Have you seen it?"

   "I haven't seen it." Kaman was puzzled: "What does sheep herding have to do with witchcraft? Could it be that you learned barbarian witchcraft from sheep herding?"

Winters did not answer directly and explained: "Hard herdsmen ride horses to herd sheep, because the grassland is flat and the pastures are wide. But Monta herdsmen can't. Have you ever seen Monta herdsmen riding horses? First, they can't raise horses, and secondly, they can't raise horses. The terrain between the mountains has changed drastically, and people and horses can't help but turn back and forth on the mountain and down the mountain…”

   "So what?" Kaman tilted his head.

"So the Monta herdsmen use dogs to herd sheep." Winters spread his hands: "Of course, the Hurd people also keep dogs, but the cooperation between the Hurd herdsmen and the shepherd dogs is the same as the cooperation between the Monta herdsmen and the shepherd dogs. In comparison, it is like putting a child who learned swordsmanship on the first day in front of a swordsman master."

  Kaman frowned again.

"You say I can drive wild animals, but my ability to drive these two stupid dogs is nothing compared to the ability of the Monta herders to drive sheepdogs." Winters pointed to the mountains around the lake and talked eloquently. :

"Monta shepherds only need to whistle, and the shepherd dog knows what to do. Even the shepherd doesn't need to give orders, the shepherd dog knows how to drive the wolf and leopard, gather the sheep, and stop the ram from fighting. And me? I It took a lot of effort to teach these two stupid dogs to pick up sticks."

   said, Winters picked up two driftwood and threw them into the distance, and the two wolf dogs jumped out.

   After a while, the two big dogs ran back happily, each holding a branch.

   "If this counts as driving animals, if driving animals is magic." Winters asked with a smile: "Doesn't that mean that every Monta herder is a Hed shaman?"

  Kaman's thinking is a bit confusing: "It's still...not the same..."

   "What's the difference?" Winters asked, "Aren't the results all the same?"

   "The paths are different." Kaman gradually clarified the logical relationship: "The shepherd is through training, and you, you are through witchcraft."

   Winters asked confidently: "Since the results are the same, why do you conclude that I used Heard's magic instead of teaching them to pick up sticks through repeated training?"

"I'm not in the mood to have a philosophical debate with you." Kaman's brows tightened more and more: "If you like metaphysical debates, I'll find you a few real debaters when I get a chance, and how long do you want to argue? How long to argue."

   "Doesn't the seminary teach philosophy?" Winters wondered, "How much do we all learn in the military academy?"

  Kaman said angrily: "Scholasticism is not holy...not the main course of my religious order. We don't need to learn content that may cause controversy, let alone dialectics!"

   Winters commented with interest: "Abandoning reason? Skepticism? Why does the idea of ​​your order sound a little heretical?"

   "Shut up!" Kaman was furious: "What heresy do you know?!"

   "Who told the teacher to teach well?" Winters pulled back a round, and also bent over to salute: "Thanks to you, I have read all your books."

  Kaman seemed to be drained of his strength: "You still don't say anything about barbarian witchcraft, don't say I'm going back."

"Okay, let's get down to business." Winters put away his smile and said seriously: "What I'm going to say below is not learned from books and subjects, but a little reflection on the records left by a sage. ...and a little bit of my personal experience."

  Kaman sensed the change in Winters' tone and listened with a formal attitude.

   Winters cleared his throat: "We, the casters of our Alliance School - if there is one - believe that magic is not a wishing machine, it is not 'A to B' that traverses all paths.

   If using a spell is likened to 'musket fire', then Alliance school spells don't directly give you a high-speed buckshot. Alliance school magic is a arquebus with a butt, barrel, and gunpowder, in which magic plays a role like a tiny spark on the tip of the arquebus.

   And every structure of the entire musket should be able to be studied, understood and improved, because it follows the objective laws that we do not know yet. As for the method of exploring the law, there is only repeated experiments and demonstrations.

  Since your Catholic Church has a scholastic philosophy, I also simply call the Alliance school of thought [experimental philosophy]—if the Alliance spellcasters really have a school and really have a philosophy. "

  Kaman nodded expressionlessly.

"Spellcasters like me who are destined to enter the army are only trained and trained by the Magic Warfare Bureau as a tool - I also gradually understood this after getting to know you." Winters sighed and said with some regret. : "I haven't taken any speculative courses, and no one has told me what logic and ethics the alliance spellcaster system is built on. Anyway, we only need to know how to use spells..."

   Winters paused for a moment, glanced at Kaman, and added: "It's a bit like you."

Kaman was slightly startled, narrowed his eyes and asked, "You mean that the magic of your so-called 'Alliance School' is not a 'Wish Machine', but a 'key driving force' similar to a flint and steel. Do magic to 'existing systems?'"

   "I currently think so." Winters replied rigorously: "The specifics will be proved by experiments."

   "Okay, I understand, please continue." There was an imperceptible sneer in Kaman's expression, which disappeared in a blink of an eye.

   But Winters caught it, and he asked Kaman sensitively: "What are you laughing at?"

   "I didn't laugh." Kaman denied.

   "Liar to hell!"

   "I think of something happy, can't I?"

"You laugh because you think you have found the fatal loophole that can defeat what I said before, and you have evidence that the loophole exists." Winters stared at Kaman, and quickly speculated: "But you don't want to Tell me, so you can only declare victory by giggling."

  Kaman turned his head to look at the lake, not making eye contact with Winters: "Okay, okay, let's talk about barbarian witchcraft."

  Kaman refused to let go, and Winters could not force him to tell the truth.

   So Winters asked Karman somewhat disappointedly: "Did you know that there are actually two types of Beast Whisperers in the Hurd tribes?"

   "Which two categories?"

"The Chosen and the Unchosen." Winters stated succinctly: "In the Heard tribes, the Beast Whisperer means a person who can communicate with the beast, and is not directly related to the identity of the Chosen. The one that Qiu solved is the Chosen One. Bell is not the Chosen One, but he and the little guy—the lion who is too lazy to die—get along day and night, and can communicate with the little guy. So in the eyes of the Hurds, Bell He is also a beast language speaker."

  Kaman nodded and responded with "um" and "um".

"Of course, this is my way of distinguishing as a bystander. The Hurds themselves will not distinguish this way." Winters picked up the wolf dog and put it in front of Kaman: "Back to the original question, why do you think they are? obey me?"

  Kaman asked tentatively: "Because...you also get along with them day and night?"

"Because they see me as a wolf, a leader, and a family member." Winters answered bluntly: "Hard shamans believe that beasts also have spirituality, and they have the concept of family and group just like humans. They sacrificed their lives to protect their masters, not because they were afraid of their masters, but out of a kind of love similar to family members. Therefore, most of those who are not the chosen ones raised spirit beasts from childhood to adulthood. Nature is considered family by spirit beasts - like Bell."

  Kaman doesn't care about the Unchosen: "What about the Chosen?"

   "The Chosen One?" Winters touched the wolfhound's head: "The Chosen One's Beast Whisperer is another path. Have you ever seen a cavalry train a warhorse?"

   "No." Kaman shook his head.

"Horses are very timid animals. They are afraid of flames, loud noises, and pungent gunpowder. When they encounter these things, they instinctively want to run." Winters shrugged: "But now on the battlefield There are firelights, gunshots and smoke everywhere, so cavalry horses have to overcome their instincts. So how do you think the horses need to be trained to overcome their instincts?”

   "Put guns next to them and let them get used to it?"

   "Yes, but not only that." Winters took a small pocket from his arms and opened it to Kaman.

  The inside of the pocket is jerky.

"While firing guns and cannons next to the war horses, we must feed the war horses sugar cubes." Winters took out a few pieces of jerky and fed them to the wolf dog beside him, explaining to Kaman: "In this way, the Gradually, I can associate 'eating sugar' with 'muskets'. After a long time, not only will the horses not be afraid of the sound of flaming guns, but they will even be excited by the sound of flaming guns."

   Having said that, Winters sent several passwords to the wolfhound, and the ferocious-looking wolfhound obediently followed the instructions to sit, lie down, and roll.

After the    set of actions was completed, Winters spread his hands, and the wolfhound couldn't wait to lick the jerky away.

   "You mean..." Kaman asked suspiciously: "Head Shaman also drives beasts in this way?"

"I want to tell you that the Hed shamans have similar experiences and methods. The underlying principles are like the pillars of the temple, although the Heds decorate the outside of the pillars with layer after layer called 'ritual', 'tradition' And the drapery of the 'rules', but the pillars that support the temple are still stone pillars. The underlying principle of the Hed shaman driving the beast is essentially the same as the way the Platoon cavalry trains the horse."

   "It's that simple?" Kaman felt incredible: "Feed the candy? Feed the jerky?"

"Of course it's not that simple." Winters shouted sharply: "Since the underlying principle has been clarified, Hed shaman still needs to feed jerky? Who? They have a more direct way!"

   Before he finished speaking, Winters had already taken out the peculiarly shaped bone flute.

   He patted the two wolf dogs on the forehead, took a deep breath, and then blew the bone flute.

The sound range and tone of the   bone whistle are different from the ordinary whistle. It is not loud, but the penetrating power is stronger, and Kaman can vaguely hear a sound similar to tinnitus.

   What shocked Kaman was the wolfhound's reaction.

  With the sound of the bone flute, the two wolf dogs became extremely excited, happy, and satisfied. They shuddered and crawled to the ground, and there was even a pale yellow warm liquid dripping from under one wolf dog.

"Understood?" Winters threw the bone flute to Kaman. "The Platoons don't feed their war horses sugar every time, how can they afford it? So they have a special clicker. , just press the clicker once. For a long time, even if the people of Paratus don't give sugar to the war horse, just press the clicker, and the horse will drool."

  Kaman stood still, without any movement.

"That's why when I heard Bell describe the ritual of the beast whisperer, the first thing that came to my mind was the tricks of the Palatine cavalry to train warhorses. I tried the bone flute, and sure enough, this bone flute was the sound of the shaman assassin. piece'."

   Winters sighed helplessly:

"If you want me to say, that assassin is the monster that really 'passes the appearance and touches the essence'. Using the spirit beasts like objects, and letting the spirit beasts perform suicide attacks, in the eyes of the shamans, it's all outrageous. Blasphemy. That assassin trampled on all the ethics of the Beast Whisperer, but he was also the Beast Whisperer who used [Beast Mastery] most effectively... ironic."

   "Wait." Kaman held the bone flute, suddenly pulled Winters, and asked eagerly: "You haven't said how the barbarian shaman can 'make the beast feel happy and excited'?"

   Winters slowly revealed a smile, and replied calmly, "I don't know."

   "You don't know?" Kaman's voice rose involuntarily.

   "Yes, I don't know." Winters paused, looked at Kaman, and said word by word: "But you know."

   "How do I know?" Kaman was simply inexplicable.

   "Of course you know." Winters looked directly into Kaman's eyes: "Because within the Catholic Church, there are also divine arts that can achieve similar effects, but the objects of the spells are people - me, that's the proof!"

"You mean to say." Kaman felt greatly humiliated, and he laughed in anger: "The [Blessing of Radiance] bestowed on the One and Only Holy Church by our Lord is the same as the sorcery used by barbarian shamans to stimulate wild beasts. Something?! Please say it again in front of me."

"Don't get excited, I didn't say it's the same thing." Winters urgently reassured Kaman: "As you said, although the results are the same, the paths may be different. And your [blessing] is obviously not as good as Hedessa. The full earth method is very effective, and the magic of Hede Shaman may not be used on people... And according to my observation, you like to secretly use blessing when preaching. Although the believers are happy when they leave the church, But it's really unethical for you to do that..."

"Fart!" Kaman swears for the first time, grabbing Winters' shoulders and yelling: "When did I use Radiance Blessing in my sermons? Why do you contaminate my innocence? How long do I have to prepare in advance for each sermon? , did you know? Did you know?"

  The emotional Kaman almost scuffled with Winters on the spot. Fortunately, there was no one else by the lake in the morning, otherwise it would be another anecdote.

When Kaman was a little more stable, Winters considered his words and proposed cautiously: "If you feel that I am humiliating the Catholic Church, I can provide you with a chance to prove the magic of the One and the Holy Church and Hedessa. Full... Witchcraft is not a thing."

   "How do you want to prove it?" Kaman sneered.

   "If you want to prove it, you can only use a controlled experiment." Winters' tone was as calm as possible: "For example, let's find two more dogs..."

  Kaman said nothing, got up and left.

   Winters hurriedly grabbed Kaman: "Wait, listen to me."

   "I don't want to hear anything from you!" Kaman said firmly: "[Do not test your Lord]! Mr. Montagne, don't try to spy on the mysteries of creation, that's not a field you can touch!"

"[Believe and then understand, reason is just the echo of faith. If you don't have faith, you can't know the world; if you only know piety, you can't get close to the Lord]." Winters quickly recited a paragraph of the original text that he forgot to see, he sincerely said to Kaman:

"If there really is a Creator, then all the laws of the operation of all things are manifestations of great power. To explore the laws and understand the laws is not to push you away from the Creator, but the way you approach the Creator. You shouldn't be so devout! [Don't test your Lord]? That's fart! Lifting the veil of the Lord is the only way you can embrace the Lord!"

  Kaman was struck by lightning, he stood still for a long time, and finally left without looking back.

  Winters watched Kaman leave, shook his head, took out the snack bag, and fed all the jerky to the two big dogs.

   "At least hit a wedge, right?" Winters rubbed the wolfhound's jaw and said with a smile, "It's worth reading so many broken books!"

   [Sorry for being late, this chapter is a bit difficult to give birth, but it's a big chapter, making up for the debt on Monday and Tuesday]

   [The author doesn't know much about scholastic philosophy (covering his face), and I dare not "make others dazed by myself", so I will briefly mention the background of the times, and will not involve too much]

   [Also, since I saw a book friend who said it would be nice if Karman was a nun, I suddenly found that I couldn't look directly at Karman at all…]

   [And, every time I get a valuable recommendation opportunity, I will stop Orz for various reasons. I saw the letter in the station saying "please keep updating the non-finished works", the whole body is numb (this sentence should be a fixed sentence, but it's still numb)]

   [Thank you for your collection, reading, subscription, recommendation ticket, monthly ticket, reward and comment, thank you all]

   (end of this chapter)

Chapter end