Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 46 The Story of King Arthur
The wheat seedlings have just sprouted, their light green shoots scattered sparsely across the brown earth. When the wind blows, the tips of the seedlings sway gently, making a soft rustling sound, clean and refreshing, without a trace of the pungent smell of city coal smoke.

A dog and two mice roamed about contentedly.

On the way, Lu Ran quickly put the matter of the teleportation array to the back of his mind. Looking at Bella beneath him, he finally couldn't help but ask about the dream again.

"Bella, do you remember what you saw in the days when you were learning to talk?"

"What did you see?"

Bella is like a single-core organism; whenever she starts thinking, she can't help but stop, grab the ground, and spin around.

"What...what should I see?"

Lu Ran hesitated for a moment, then gave him an encouraging look: "Think again, did you see anything magical?"

Bella was puzzled: "Something magical? How magical?"

Lu Ran took a deep breath, momentarily unsure if he had been tricked. Seeing the silly dog ​​scratching a hole in the ground in its frustration without uttering a word, he sighed helplessly:

For example, "Hey bro, you smell so good!" Do you remember that phrase?

Bella was stunned for a moment, then looked terrified and tried to throw Lu Ran off.

"Second brother, what are you going to do?"

Lu Ran: "..."

It seems it's not my problem; I just don't remember what happened that day.

"Fine, forget I asked for nothing." Lu Ran sighed and waved his hand dejectedly. "Let's go, let's continue towards the manor."

Bella remained silent for a while, still turning her head to look at Lu Ran with a wary expression.

"..."

Seeing the guy's expression, Lu Ran was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized what he meant and immediately became furious.

Just as Bella was about to raise her paw, she reluctantly got up again, but her tail, which had been raised, drooped down, just covering her butt. Lu Ran almost wanted to slap this silly dog ​​to death.

Didn't you say that? How did I become a pervert?

Damn it, we fell for their trap.

Lu Ran cursed under his breath and turned to look at the novel rat sitting next to him. Fortunately, the guy didn't react. He probably didn't understand these things yet and was just writing something frantically with his head down.

Lu Ran then ignored Bella and leaned closer, asking curiously.

"Did you edit the article you sent last time?"

The novel mouse nodded excitedly: "Yes, my lord. You said my writing was a bit too plain last time, so I did some research and studied the novel sections of many newspapers. All of this is thanks to your guidance, my lord..."

"Alright, I understand." Lu Ran quickly pressed the guy down and changed the subject. "What have you been writing lately?"

"Hmm?" The novel mouse scratched its head with the tip of its pen. "It's just a short story, about a group of monsters hiding in human society just like us."

Lu Ran paused as she took the notebook, her face filled with astonishment.

"Your story... no, why did you think of this story?"

The novel mouse asked somewhat nervously, "Is it that I can't write it?"

"I can write, of course I can write," Lu Ran reassured with a smile. "But could you tell me... what your inspiration comes from?"

The novel mouse thought for a moment, then said somewhat embarrassedly, "It's that green monster that was monitoring around that house the other day. He turned out to be a human, and I was just thinking that maybe other people could do it too..."

"...A good idea."

Lu Ran snapped out of his daze and rubbed the novel mouse's head.

"Use your associative thinking skills and write well. You'll be assigned an important task later."

Lu Ran turned his gaze away from the novel rat, recalling the little guy's words, and couldn't help but think of the magic circle in that abandoned factory.

If that thing really is a teleportation array, where does it lead?

……

"Boss, let me help you with your bag."

"Boss, have some water."

"Boss, this is a summary of information from the territory over the past few days. Take a look while I massage your shoulders."

As soon as Lu Ran returned to the stone house, the foodie came running over eagerly as if she had been waiting at the door. She first took the cloth bag Lu Ran was carrying, then handed him her little notebook, and asked him very naturally while massaging his shoulders.

"Who is this?"

Lu Ran glanced at the novel rat behind him, who was looking around curiously, and explained, "He'll be focusing on ideology and cultural development within his territory from now on. You can work with him more often when you have time." The foodie suddenly understood.

Culture, I understand that.

I haven't finished writing that song yet.

Lu Ran could tell what this guy was up to with just a glance, and gave him a sharp rap on the head.

"Ouch."

"Don't forget what I said. If I see the sun you wrote about again, I'll hang it up so you can slowly embrace it."

The foodie shrank back, while Lu Ran quickly looked at his notebook to learn about the recent changes in the territory, which were basically things like food distribution, the focus of the next stage of territory development, and the progress of magical enlightenment.

"What do you mean by the research progress in magic?"

Upon seeing the last part, Lu Ran quickly asked a question.

Upon hearing this, the foodie perked up and puffed out his chest: "That's me."

Lu Ran looked at the foodie suspiciously: "I didn't realize that. Show me."

The foodie asked expectantly, "It's already been shown, boss, didn't you notice anything different?"

Lu Ran thought carefully, then looked him up and down before shaking his head: "I didn't find anything."

The foodie was immediately deflated and prompted, "Didn't you feel like I knew you'd be back today, and that I was waiting for you at the door?"

Lu Ran choked: "But I always feel like you're like this, so your magic is... being able to predict things in advance?"

When asked the key question, the foodie was a little confused and could only explain simply: "After communicating with Detective No. 2 Rat about the principles of magic, I just randomly tried a few runes based on my intuition. While I was trying them, I suddenly wondered if you could come back tomorrow, and then it was as if a voice told me that I could."

Lu Ran became interested: "Fortune telling? Can you tell me more about it?"

Upon hearing this, the foodie sat down on the ground and used its paws to draw several new combinations of magical symbols.

"It's probably a combination of these symbols. Boss, you can give it a try."

"Oh yes."

Seeing the foodie's actions, Lu Ran finally realized what was happening and, relying on the few memories he had left, quickly wrote down the few simplest rune patterns he could still remember from the magic circle he had seen in the abandoned factory.

“These can also be studied for their function. They should also be a type of rune. Let’s see if we can find the patterns between the symbols.”

Currently, we are starting from scratch, and there aren't many magical runes we can encounter. It's best to memorize them all so that we can fully understand their meanings and then categorize and compile them to lower the learning threshold.

The foodie nodded upon hearing this. Lu Ran didn't immediately try out the divination runes, mainly because there was a novel rat standing nearby who had been standing there for a while. He pulled the guy aside and said mysteriously.

"Come, come, don't just stand there in a daze. Let me assign you a task first... Do you know the legend of my rat clan?"

The novel mouse, clutching its notebook, shook its head with a blank expression.

“That’s right, I don’t know either.” Lu Ran hooked his arm around the novel mouse’s shoulder. “I just don’t know, so you need to think about what newspapers, materials, and books you need during this time. You can tell me, and I’ll order them.”

And your goal is to combine some legends and stories to create a story of our own rat race, with the main themes of unity, mutual assistance, friendship... these positive values, do you understand?

"Legend? Positive energy?" The novel mouse hesitated slightly. "I don't quite understand."

Lu Ran pondered for a moment and came up with a story as an example.

"Let me tell you a story and you'll understand. It's called the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He was the king's illegitimate son, and a wizard, in order to protect him... Later, due to a problem with the succession, the wizard placed a giant stone at the gate. Whoever could pull out this sword..."

This sword in the stone is not only a symbol of power, but also contains a sacred mission. It requires its holder to rule the country with a righteous heart, and will lose its power if it breaks its oath.

After King Arthur ascended the throne, he commissioned a huge round stone table. This table had no beginning or end, signifying that all knights were equal in the face of honor, breaking the shackles of traditional feudal hierarchy.

The core spirit of the Knights of the Round Table is that honor is paramount. Knights must not only be proficient in swordsmanship and horsemanship, but also uphold the virtues of temperance, perseverance, generosity, and courtesy.

After Lu Ran finished speaking briefly, he stared intently at the novel mouse.

"This story laid the foundation for the core spirit of the knights. My goal is to encourage you to come up with similar stories, stories that establish the core spirit of the rat race."

Now that the native rats are here, Lu Ran doesn't plan to get too involved in this matter, but will only provide appropriate guidance.

After all, his thinking is human, and if his spirit is forcibly instilled according to his own understanding, it may not be able to perfectly fit and integrate into the vast majority of mice.

The novel mouse seemed to understand: "I...want to try?"

……

I haven't figured out the specific mindset of the rat swarm. Using the knights as a model is too idealistic, but being too frenzied and destructive doesn't seem appropriate either. Any suggestions?

(End of this chapter)