In ancient times, there was a famous sophist who made a living by teaching knowledge. One day, he took on a talented student and they signed a contract. The scholar would impart legal knowledge to the student, who would pay the tuition fee in two installments: the first installment at the beginning of the lessons and the second installment when the student won their first court case. The student paid the first installment and diligently studied law under the guidance of the teacher, achieving excellent academic results. Several years later, the student graduated, but a long time passed and they never went to court or paid the second installment of the tuition fee.
The student earned a considerable amount of money by providing legal advice and teaching others about the law.
The scholar waited and waited, becoming increasingly frustrated. Finally, he decided to sue the student in court. However, the student told the scholar, "If you sue me in court, I can just refuse to pay you. If I win the case, according to the court's ruling, I am not obligated to give money to the losing party. If I lose the case, according to our contract, because I lost the first court case, I also cannot give you money. Therefore, whether I win or lose this court case, I cannot give you the money. It's better for you not to sue me."
Upon hearing this, the scholar had his own plan. He said, "Once we go to court, you will have to pay me the second installment of the tuition fee no matter what. If I win the case, according to the law, you are obligated to pay the fee. If I lose the case, you still have to pay me the fee because that's what our original contract stated. So, no matter what, you will have to pay me the second installment."
And so, both of them walked into the court with unwavering confidence.
"If we were judges, how would you judge this case?" Merka asked.
Hamlet impatiently waved his hand and said, "I don't want to know what's behind that painting. Just tell me where the door is."
"Listen carefully," Merka glared at Hamlet, "To enter the meeting room, you need to know this story. It's a tradition."
"There are two hidden doors on either side of the mural in the hall of records."
"The scholar is depicted on the left side of the mural, and the student is on the right, with the man on the left and the woman on the right."
"To enter the meeting room, you must open the left door. Otherwise, the meeting room will remain closed until the administrator opens it."
"This test serves as a reminder to the privileged individuals who enter the meeting room of the true essence of Acadia's religion."
"That is, we establish laws not to conform to common sense, but to uphold justice and protect people from suffering."
"When making a ruling, if someone is widowed, if someone is impoverished, if someone is physically disabled, the judge must appropriately deviate from their usual focus on the case... of course, except for the cursed child." Merka awkwardly touched his nose.
"So the answer is, of course, to choose the scholar who hasn't received the money and open the left door. This is the origin of the 'left-turning door'."
"Hmph... You should have just said that earlier. No need to beat around the bush," Hamlet said. "I have a connection with Elizabeth. When Turing wants to go, I'll call you, okay?"
"Um... got it," Merka looked at the monastery enveloped in moonlight outside the window, its towering sharp-tipped stone towers standing tall. The slender towers seemed to sway in the strong wind.
But Merka knew that these silent children had stood strong for over a hundred years.
"Do you want me to walk you back to your dorm?" Merka spoke automatically, feeling the tiny droplets of rain in the strong wind.
However, the next second, Merka remembered the difference in their current situations compared to Hamlet's, and awkwardly sniffled, intending to pretend that they hadn't said anything.
"How about we go back to the orphanage and have a drink? You can't smoke the poison, but you can drink alcohol, right?" Hamlet's tone softened a little as he made a request to Merka.
Hamlet took off the mask that seemed to be perpetually stuck to his face and looked at Merka openly.
His nose looked like it had been completely dug out, with rotten and repulsive wounds covering his entire chin.
The skin on his lips and cheeks had completely disappeared, and the only remaining teeth on his chin were all rotten. Yellow, black, purple, every color that symbolized poor health was quietly smeared onto Hamlet's gums.
Hamlet's face can be said to have completely lost its charm, which contrasts sharply with his eyes full of spirit, making one can't help but feel sorry that these eyes were born in the wrong person.
Merka seemed unsurprised by this expression and said calmly, "No... I said I won't go back to the orphanage. I promised."
"You should go back too, the dormitory is about to close," Merka turned his face away, gazing at the dark night sky and sighing softly.
Hamlet glanced displeasedly at Merka and left.
"I wish I could smoke... I really want a cigarette right now."
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"What does 'aside' mean? Is it a foreign name?" Turing asked Dongleimi puzzledly.
"Well... it roughly means aside or aside from the main action. Oh, but there are actually many other meanings, that's not the point," Dongleimi said.
"Turing, there is a huge machine in the conference room, yes, that kind of foreign machine. But it is made with our country's magic, a special product that combines magic and technology, it can be considered a treasure of Acadia."
"The average person's mental capacity is not enough to support the use of aside, so we use computers to replace the process of spellcasting by wizards."
"If we were to list all of its uses... even as the former Minister of Preparatory Materials, I haven't fully understood it yet."
"But it does have one amazing ability, which is to store people's memories and use this machine to access them."
"For research purposes, we store the memories of all monks in the monastery every six months." Dongleimi leaned on Turing's painting frame and said slowly.
"It means that we can use this machine to access the memories of everyone in the monastery, right?" Turing asked.
"You're really smart." Dongleimi reached out and touched Turing's head. "But each person can only access the memories of people in the same age group once."
"Otherwise, the brain would not be able to handle such a huge amount of information, and the body would not be able to cope." Dongleimi said.
"I don't understand... Are you saying that I should access Merka's memories?" Turing's expression gradually changed from confusion to disbelief.
"You got it right." Dongleimi smiled gently. "Even if you meet Merka, I guess you wouldn't know what to do, right?"
"To eliminate misunderstandings, to try to understand, and to accept each other, all of these can be achieved if you access each other's memories, right?"
"So, instead of meeting Merka, why not go to the machine called aside in the evening?"
"If we can communicate with our hearts, the conflicts should be resolved as well." Dongleimi's words were gentle and highly suggestive.
Turing was still shocked by the seamless plan and completely forgot to think about how Dongleimi knew about the conflicts between himself and Merka.
Turing didn't say a word about his and Merka's issues.
"I'll leave it up to you to decide how to proceed specifically. Let me tell you how to enter the conference room..." Dongleimi's strategy of baiting and trapping was simply perfect, dealing with a twelve-year-old child, even if she is strong and smart, is a piece of cake.