Otherworld Nation Founding Chronicles

Chapter 36 Natural philosophy.

TL & Editor: keriv136

Natural philosophy is, in short, the idea of ??trying to elucidate naturally occurring phenomena theoretically.

Kirishia … … Especially in the Alto city-state, a system of slavery has been developed.

All of the work in Alto is done by the slaves so the citizens enjoy a life of leisure.

In this environment, they devised ways of passing the time.

In other words, why is fire hot? Why does water become ice when it cools? Why do the sun and moon rise and set regularly……

They saw it necessary to cut to the truth of these phenomenon, that they had spoken of as being determined by God, and unravel them.

Therefore discussion was necessary, something which they found to be quite enjoyable.

Thus from this, Natural philosophy was developed.

Nikolaos is one of these natural philosophers of Alto. (1)

He was married at the age of seventeen, and his first daughter was born when he was eighteen.

Currently Nikolaos is thirty-eight years old. He has two daughters at the ages of twenty and twelve, and he has two sons who are fifteen and ten.

He owns ten slaves and his area of expertise is astronomy.

Astronomy is a means of understanding the laws of movement of the sun, moon and stars. It’s purpose is to grasp the identity of the universe and to discern fate.

In current day Kirishia, the Earth is understood to be a planet in the shape of a sphere and both the Sun and Moon revolve around it.

At first, Nikolaos also supported this theory. However, while continuing his own research over a period of time he began to realize something.

This is strange? The calculation doesn’t fit the theory? What this must mean is that the calculations just don’t fit a geocentric model. It must be a false theory. (2)

Or it’s much more complicated than that. As he thought more about it, he began to realize that the geocentric theory may be wrong. This led to Nikolaos formulating his own theory about it.

Namely, his theory was that the center of the universe is the sun and all of the celestial bodies, not excluding the Earth, revolve around the sun. Only the moon actually revolved around the Earth.

He named this theory the heliocentric model and announced it to the philosophical world.

His theory was poorly received and many reactions were cold. He was treated as a madman by those who believed that Humans were a race chosen by God, and that the celestial body that they inhabited was the center of the universe.

It was a total loss.

If those were the only arguments that he faced, it would have been possible to sufficiently refute them.

“You say that you are God’s chosen race and that man is at the center, but try to think of it like this. It shouldn’t be that strange of an idea to think of the Sun as the center of the universe, which is a symbol of the kindness within our heart.” (3)

However, he was refuted by the supporters of the geocentric theory.

Why you might ask, it’s because his theory had a fatal weakness.

If the sun is at the center of the universe, then an annual parallax should be observed. Unfortunately, there was no actual annual parallax which could be observed.

On simple observation alone, the geocentric theory proved to be superior to the heliocentric theory.

Nikolaos insisted that the reason the annual parallax could not be confirmed was because the distance between the Sun and the Earth was too large, but no one listened.

He should have buried the hatchet there. Science doesn’t develop without those who doubt and question and Alto’s natural philosophers understood this well.

However, he was insistent and would not give up. Naturally, this type of behavior was not well received.

“That guy, isn’t he annoying?”

This slander towards him would spread to his family before long.

“Dammit!! Why doesn’t anyone understand!! My theory is perfect. Damn, these fools with their fixed ideas all have rocks for brains!”

Nikolaos rumpled up the papers he had used for his calculations and threw them away. He slammed his right arm on the desk. However he knew all to well that hitting a desk wasn’t going to convince Alto’s natural philosophers.

“Nikolaos, sir. There is a letter for you.”

“Hmm?”

Nikolaos received a letter from a slave. The letter was made from a mysterious material. It was thinner and lighter than parchment and it was white.

Dear elder brother, (4)

How are you? I am doing well. It seems that the choice I made in migrating to the Colonial City Lezat of Claris was the right one. What you have in your hand is a thing called ‘paper’ and it was obtained here in the Adernia Peninsula. My intelligent elder brother should understand well the usefulness of this. It seems that the barbarians of Adernia should not be taken lightly.

When I returned to Claris to replenish my stock, I heard rumors about you elder brother. Rumors of you are well known throughout Kirishia. I believe that your theory is in fact correct, but isn’t it time you relented? I just can’t endure my elder brother being treated as if he were a madman or a fool.

Isn’t your family also suffering? Someday my brother’s theory will be accepted.

It may be hundreds of years later, or even thousands of years, but… isn’t that good enough?

The Adernia Peninsula is a good place that has a lot of potential. It’s warm and the meals here are quite delicious. There is also an abundance of salt to be used.

Isn’t it difficult for you to live on the Kirishia Peninsula? There isn’t anyone who knows of you on the Adernia Peninsula. If my elder brother wishes to emigrate here then I will welcome it.

Well, until next time. I look forward to a favorable response.

Best regards.

Adernia Peninsula Lezat, Ainsworth company chairman Ainz

“Hmph.”

Nikolaos rolls the letter up and throws it on the floor. He had no intention of giving up.

“Nikolaos, sir. The preparations for your meal are complete.” Another slave informs him.

“I’m coming.”

Nikolaos stood up from his seat and headed to his meal.

“What is Kroll doing?” (5)

“He’s out as usual. He spends all his time in idle leisure, I will need to scold him when he returns.” Nikolaos’s wife laughed as she spoke.

The Nikolaos family continue to wait for their third son Kroll to return. After waiting for a while, the door opened and Kroll returned.

“I’m home……”

“What the hell… what on earth happened? You’re wounded.”

Kroll had a large bruise on his face. On closer inspection, his clothes were also dirty with soil.

“I just fell down is all. I will wash my hands now.” Kroll said while attempting to escape.

Is it possible to get such a bruise from falling down? No, it’s not. This was definitely caused by being beaten. Why were you beaten up…… Nikolaos considered silently.

He glances at his eldest daughter and realizes that she is still not married. She is getting older and is at that age where she should be. But whose fault is it that she has been unable to marry?

It’s not just his eldest daughter. All of his children are being isolated from their community by his own actions. Nikolaos seriously weighed his purpose and his responsibility to his family.

And……

“Hey, everyone. I have a proposition……”

Notes:

1. Nikolaos is a Greek form of Nicholas, Nicolas, Nicholaus, etc. There are many ways to write it. In this case, you can think of him as Nicolaus Copernicus. Although, the time period of this particular story is at a much earlier time period than Copernicus lived in our world. There are other philosophers/astronomers that also proposed heliocentric models, so he is a combination of them I suppose.

2. I have decided to use italics for when a character is talking to themselves in their head.

3. This sentence was difficult to translate, he is saying something like the sun is a symbol of goodness, kindness or the kindness in people’s hearts. Maybe he is trying to appeal to their religious beliefs 善の象徴である太陽が中心であっても可笑しくないだろう」と

4. The author doesn’t format the text like a letter but I decided to put it in the format of a letter since he is reading an actual letter here.

5. The name Kroll in Japanese is Kuroru, also sounds like Crawl, or Krawl, I went with Kroll.

6. I decided to make this Notes section use separate colors for easier identification, should I use two colors or keep it as one or each should be different? Also, what about the colors themselves? Just want to provide a better reading experience.