N-M #600 - Leonardo Lipo
#600 - Leonardo Lipo
“I originally intended to keep this painting for my own collection.” Leonardo Lipo caressed the white oak frame inlaid with copper wire with a hint of reluctance, gritting his teeth as he said, “12 gold pounds, and you can have this 'Resurrection of the Holy Lord' painting.”
The nobleman opposite him leaned in close to the painting, examining it meticulously. After a long while, he finally spoke, “I naturally trust Master Leonardo's work, but I just escaped from Dawn Island and don't have that many gold pounds on me. I'm afraid I can only offer 10 gold pounds.”
“Holy Father, 10 gold pounds? Are you joking? I didn't even sell it to Duchess Yashar for 24 gold pounds earlier. This is already a 50% discount for you.” Leonardo's hand gripping the frame tightened.
“But I can only squeeze out 10 gold pounds at most. That's the highest price I can offer.”
The two junior students beside him joined in, trying to persuade him: “Lord Leonardo, this area around Dawn Island is chaotic with war. We still need to save money for travel expenses. Selling it for whatever you can get is better than nothing.”
“Then I won't sell it.” Exasperated, Leonardo picked up the exquisite painting and began to rewrap it in paper. “I'd rather take out a high-interest loan. Anyway, I can take this painting to the Kingdom of Fran and sell it for at least 20 gold pounds.”
Seeing that Leonardo really intended to rewrap the painting and leave, the nobleman who had escaped from the war zone of Dawn Island quickly stopped him: “Alright, alright, how much do you want?”
“12 gold pounds, not a single copper less.” Leonardo stubbornly turned his head away.
Two quarters of an hour later, Leonardo walked out of the rural residence with several junior students, weighing the money bag in his hand, unable to help but sigh.
“I know, you feel like you sold it too cheaply and that we won't have any money to enjoy ourselves later,” Luni, the curly-haired junior student, consoled him. “But today is different from the past. Let's fill our stomachs first.”
Leonardo shook his head: “I don't think I sold the painting too cheaply. It's just that he's a vulgar nobleman who doesn't understand art. He's just pretending to be cultured, no different from those kings and dukes who spread plague, death, and suffering.”
“Nobles are always crude, but we can't do without them. Otherwise, who will sponsor our art and academics?” Luni lifted his robe and jumped over a puddle on the ground.
“If only there was a place where we could be free from the interference of nobles, and, well, also the church, a place where we could research freely.” Speaking of this, Leonardo felt a pang of angina in his chest. “My perpetual motion machine, my perpetual motion machine.”
You should know that he had saved every penny, sold paintings like crazy, and spent a fortune to build a prototype of a spiral-flush perpetual motion machine.
Unlike the previous rolling ball bearing perpetual motion machine, he had a hunch that this perpetual motion machine, which used water and falling objects as its principle, might have touched the threshold of a true perpetual motion machine.
If this perpetual motion machine could be realized, farmers would no longer need the lord's mill, merchants would no longer need carriages, and even if the perpetual motion machine was shrunk and attached with dragonfly-like wings, it could fly!
Leonardo had already drawn up the design drawings and was waiting for the perpetual motion machine to be completed so that he could publish a paper on it. Then he would finally be able to graduate.
However, just as he was about to finish the final construction phase, the war came.
From February to May, "King Gigi" Ginigis and his two uncles had a terrible tug-of-war at the junction of Dawn Island and Heishang Island.
Leonardo thought that the two dukes were about to advance to Changge City, and the war should be over soon.
But unexpectedly, not only did it not end, but it became more and more intense, and it spread to most groups in society at an extremely fast speed, and scholars were no exception.
First, the craftsmen were taken away to build siege equipment, then the soldiers broke into the university to extort money and loot warehouses, then the cholera swept through, and then the medical students were forcibly enlisted in the army.
If Leonardo hadn't run fast, he would have become a military engineer and gone to the battlefield with His Majesty the King.
But the price was that after delaying his graduation for fifteen years, he would have to delay it again this year.
His great dream was about to be realized, but it was shattered by the selfish desires of these inferior nobles. How could Leonardo not be indignant?
Together with his junior student Luni, Leonardo led three servants. The five of them walked along the fence and country path for more than ten minutes before arriving at a farm outside the town.
The farm was located near the main road. Around it, you could still see farmers working or grazing in the fields. Occasionally, the howls of wolves could be heard from the nearby woods. Those were the demon hunters hired by the town hunting wolves.
Unlike the previous days when the entire avenue was full of people fleeing to the countryside, Port Vinsenland was located on the edge of Dawn Island, far from the center of the battlefield, and was much more peaceful.
“Old Sani, why are your eyes so red?” Carrying the money bag, Luni greeted the gatekeeper outside the farm.
The old gatekeeper rubbed his sleep-crusted eyes: “I'm getting old and can't sleep well.”
Leonardo didn't feel like chatting with the old gatekeeper. He greeted him and pushed open the door to enter the Heishang Island Royal University.
This farm was now the Heishang Island Royal University, or rather, a branch of the Heishang Island Royal University.
Imperial universities are very different from modern universities. Modern universities have schools, funds, and teachers before they can be called universities, while imperial universities have masters before they can be called universities.
In the early days, they didn't even have the concept of a university, but were more like scholar guilds like the Dragon Language Scholars Association, which were not only academic institutions and educational institutions, but even commercial institutions, with their own craftsmen and shops.
For scholar guilds, education was only an incidental purpose, not the main purpose.
It was not until 1268, when the Sarin Scholar Association of Golden Horn Bay moved south, that more than a dozen famous masters and scholars of the empire united and shared resources to educate students, that the prototype of a university was formed.
In 1357, with the recognition of the then Emperor of the Empire and King of Fran, the Huachiu Imperial University was officially established.
After that, they split and reorganized many times, and finally formed eleven universities within the empire.
Among them, Fran had seven, Leia had three, and the Kingdom of Norn had only a pitiful one, which was often delisted by the Pope.
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The one that Leonardo, as an illegitimate son of a nobleman, was studying at was the Heishang Island Royal University in Changge City.
After the outbreak of the war, most of the teachers and students, except for those closely related to the king, temporarily fled the war zone, either hiding temporarily to avoid the limelight, or simply going to other universities.
Currently, Leonardo's branch is still hesitant about whether to avoid the limelight or go to other universities.
There were more than a dozen carriages parked in the farm, loaded with various manuscripts and tools. Scholars in academic robes came and went, while craftsmen and assistants moved rations onto the carriages.
Seeing Leonardo returning, the craftsmen and assistants took off their hats to salute, while the university students and scholars nodded in greeting.
In the largest knight's hall of the farm, Leonardo knocked on the door and then pushed it open.
Several scholars who were eating lunch in the hall looked up. Seeing that it was Leonardo who had returned, they all wiped their mouths and stood up to greet him.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Lipo.”
“Good afternoon, Dean Senius.”
“Good afternoon, Mr. Lipo.”
“Good afternoon…”
After greeting the four teachers one by one, Leonardo went straight to the soup bucket.
“Today I sold two paintings for a total of 22 gold pounds. This travel expense can last for about two more weeks.” After taking a bowl of pea soup, Leonardo sat down with hummus and bread. “We must decide how to leave these days. We can't delay any longer.”