People in Terra, governing a bizarre little country

Ernst just hoped that Hinterlea's wallet was fat enough, because once there were more people, then there would definitely be more people to participate in the after-dinner activities.

Fine, I'll take the loss and reimburse Cintel out of my own pocket later.

However, on the other hand, with a big-name director participating, the price of that meet-and-greet shouldn't be too high, and there probably won't be too many people.

Besides, what's there to argue about? That's a movie from 1990!

The thought that he would have to carry the history of most of the Sherag government's paid products filled Ernst with a strange sense of torment.

"I'll contact my family in a bit and ask them to prepare more food."

He eventually agreed to it.

However, before he could finish speaking, a green ghostly figure walked into the cafeteria!

Kal'tsit strode in with brisk steps, located Ernst's position, stepped forward, and said in a serious tone:

"Lord Ernst, the Tin Man, acting on Mark Max's orders, has made contact with the Doctor and wishes to invite him to Columbia."

Ernst stared at Kal'tsit for a moment, then blinked, somewhat puzzled:

"What happened?"

Kal'tsit: "

What kind of reaction is this? You said you were going to be in a hurry! Your reaction makes me look like a clown.

Chapter 1050 Kal'tsit: Give Me a God-like Ham Sausage

Ernst, in principle, does not object to the PhD going to Columbia.

Or rather, he doesn't object in principle to the Doctor having his own opinions and doing whatever he wants. Whether he wants to go to Columbia, Victoria, or even if he wants to go to Kazdelnia to relive the life of fighting alongside Theresa, or go to Rembiton to relive the experience of "awakening and finding a cute little rabbit," Ernst will not object.

Ernst would only remind him to be careful and offer some advice in certain areas, but ultimately he wouldn't impose any restrictions.

A doctor is a doctor; he has the right to observe everything on this land from his own perspective and draw his own conclusions. Ultimately, this is a right that even a newborn baby should have, so there's no reason why a doctor shouldn't have it.

Kal'tsit's question was quite baffling to him. Since Mark Max invited the Doctor instead of asking him, shouldn't the final decision rest with the Doctor?

The Doctor could choose to meet Mark Max out of consideration for his status as a member of the prehistoric civilization, and learn more about his past deeds from Mark Max; however, he could also refuse, considering that he had no recollection of Mark Max and that such a private meeting might pose certain risks.

Ultimately, Mark Max can't really do anything to the Doctor, can he?

Otherwise, Trevor Friston would deal with him.

But Kelsey found Ernst's words somewhat difficult to accept:

"Lord Ernst, this is not a responsible approach. The Doctor has lost his memory, and he may not be able to make the right decisions in many situations. We should provide him with proper guidance!"

As soon as Kal'tsit finished speaking, she noticed Ernst's brow furrow slightly.

Ernst put down his spoon and asked in return:

“Kal'tsit, you can’t just remember that the Doctor has lost his memory and needs guidance when he makes decisions that don’t meet your expectations.”

“What you said makes a good point. Allowing a PhD to make a decision rashly without sufficient knowledge could lead to dangerous consequences. Of course I understand that.”

Ernst shrugged.

“This is my line of work. Politics should never allow immature children to make decisions. Our strict screening system is to avoid this situation from happening and bringing great danger to the country.”

"As you know, even for people like Talulah and Raphsini who rose to high positions as soon as they entered politics, the reason I pushed them to power was not because of their glorious lineage, but because they had indeed received my instruction and there were no better options at the time."

Similarly, I will not allow the doctor to make certain dangerous choices, such as...

Ernst paused for a moment,

"A choice concerning civilization."

Vina and Holhaya were both genuinely surprised by Ernst's words.

They also knew that Ernst and Rhodes Island had brought back a special scholar from Ursus. This scholar did not show his name but only used a strange code name. Although he always kept to himself, Ernst had specifically ordered that if he needed help or wanted to see him, Sherag must provide all the assistance he could, and there must be no obstruction or barriers in the process.

Vina, Holhaya, and other Shelag government officials, including Hinterlaya, were aware of the matter, but most of them simply chose to "follow orders" without questioning "why."

Ernst often makes decisions that are difficult for ordinary people to understand, but these decisions are ultimately considered correct—this has been recognized by almost half of Terra's political circles. The World Summit, the Star-Picking Project, and other things that were once considered impossible and meaningless have gone from being highly questioned to ultimately succeeding, which has added countless layers of meaning to this statement.

Vina and the others believed that when the time came, they would naturally see what the purpose of this order was and what kind of results it would bring.

But they really didn't expect that the "result" would be so amazing.

Civilization is an overly broad term, so broad that even people like Vina and Holhaya, who know Ernst very well, dare not say that Ernst was indeed expressing "that meaning".

But Kal'tsit heard perfectly and immediately replied:

"In that case, shouldn't you..."

Should we go with him to Colombia?

Ernst nodded.

“I will definitely go to Colombia with him. It’s only a matter of time. I’ve already promised the president. He doesn’t need to keep urging me. You can’t rush things.”

"But my accompanying him to Colombia does not mean that I made the decision for him."

“Kal'tsit, I’ll repeat myself: my stance has always been that politics should not and will not give children the opportunity to make choices.”

"If a storyline where a child presses the switch to a nuclear super bomb, killing all the aliens and saving humanity were to actually happen, it would be my dereliction of duty, because children should never have the opportunity to touch such a button."

What Kal'tsit calls guidance is, in essence, a form of subtle control, or rather, a test of obedience.

If you chose the option I wanted you to choose, then you did the right thing. If you chose the option I didn't want you to choose, then it means you have poor judgment, incomplete information, and insufficient cognition due to memory loss, and you should choose again.

"Guidance" will permeate every minute and every choice the Doctor makes after waking up. From small things like whether to wear that hooded coat today, or change into something else, or whether to accept Mark Max's invitation to go to Columbia; to big things like choosing between the current civilization on Terra and the human civilization that once existed, Kal'tsit will guide you.

If this kind of "guidance" continues, even Pavlov's dog will eventually learn which button to press to get candy.

Ernst's argument is fundamentally different.

He agreed that the Doctor could now make his own choices on matters that did not affect the overall situation. He could accept the invitation to go to Columbia, or he could stay on Rhodes Island and watch Amiya grow up. If he wanted, Ernst could even help him invest some funds to buy him a mobile plot of land as a base to realize his ambitions and completely break away from Rhodes Island.

But he will not give the doctor the opportunity to make a "choice about civilization".

The Doctor currently knows neither human civilization nor Terran civilization. The information he possesses is clearly biased, but his position is extremely important. Under these circumstances, he absolutely cannot be a "child" when making decisions.

Even if Ernst accompanies the Doctor to Columbia to meet with Trevor Friston and Precyth, he will not ask or allow the Doctor to make a decision during the meeting, choosing between Terra or the previous civilization.

Just like he always did, even when the debate was invaded by Priscilla, even when Priscilla revealed a lot of information about prehistoric civilizations to him, he did not act rashly and completely believe her words. Instead, he consulted Friston to verify the information, and only then did he gradually realize the truth in Priscilla's words and her "abnormal" state.

He will gather all the information and think things through before acting.

He would train doctoral students in the same way.

Some might say, "Aren't you also 'guiding' the Doctor? How is that any different from Kal'tsit?"

Asking that question is just nitpicking. Ernst doesn't know if the previous civilization had similar laws, but before he transmigrated, the "Law on the Protection of Minors" clearly stipulated that actions taken by minors below a certain age have no legal effect.

The doctor is definitely not a minor, but thanks to Tothea, he is now practically a minor.

As for what choice the doctor will ultimately make after careful consideration, that's none of Ernst's business.

Ernst will definitely protect Terra, because Terra is now his home, and even in terms of humanity's sense of belonging, the previous civilization cannot compare to the Terra civilization shaped by his information.

What's wrong with him, the father of Terra, protecting his own son?

Kelsey was silent for a moment.

She didn't refute it, but Ernst could tell from her expression that she wasn't entirely convinced.

This is normal, though. It's never easy to completely convince another person with your own views. Otherwise, why would the word "comrade" be so valuable?

To put it bluntly, Ernst didn't need Kelsey to fully understand him; he only needed her to obey.

After all, he never had any unrealistic expectations of Kal'tsit's political abilities: her knowledge reserves, cultural literacy and historical research abilities are beyond doubt, but like her two creators, no matter how rich her humanities knowledge is, it is only superficial. She still follows the pure science thinking and has never put the knowledge in her mind into practice.

This is a problem of our times.

Her approach would have been perfectly sound in pre-historic times, given their greater power and the fact that simpler, more efficient physical solutions were far superior to any complicated or roundabout methods. If logic doesn't work, I can always explain it using physics!

But the current era in which Terra exists is different. This is an era that "Treasure" has tailored for itself with its life. The predicament "Treasure" faced in the prehistoric civilization is the same predicament Kal'tsit faces in Terra now. Here, we need to use Ernst's methods!

"All right."

Ernst understood this, so he didn't really belittle Kal'tsit's behavior, but instead waved to her:

"Sit down and have a meal. I'll take care of these things, so you don't need to worry about it."

Kal'tsit blinked:

"I?"

"You still hold the position of an unofficial advisor to the Shelag government, have you forgotten?"

Ernst reminded him.

Kal'tsit remembered, and realized that there really was such a thing.

However, the fact that people who were just arguing about two different viewpoints were now sitting down to eat together made her feel somewhat uneasy.

"Kelsey."

Ernst slowly spoke after seeing Kelsey sit down.

"Actually, I don't think you're any like the Doctor at all."

"Your personality is more like Priscilla's."

Kal'tsit was taken aback: "Why?"

Ernst paused, his mind flashing back to Priscilla who had rashly invaded Friston's debate, Priscilla who had boldly demanded his [soul], and Priscilla whom the Doctor had described as "possibly betraying everything to advance the Originium Project."

Kal'tsit and she are similar in some ways. They both have an extraordinary desire for control, rarely explain themselves directly, yet crave for others to understand them on their own. The only difference is that Precys is more frank than Kal'tsit.

She always expresses her feelings boldly, whether it be love or desire, while Kal'tsit is much more reserved, much like the taciturn prophet who hides herself in her hood.

Children's personalities mostly resemble their mothers', while a small portion resemble their fathers'.

Indeed, these two amazing people could raise such a cat.

However, based on Ernst's experience in her previous life, she probably wouldn't get along with Precys with this personality.

Even mothers and daughters often have disagreements, let alone two people with such sharp personalities. When they clash head-on, the possibility of them fighting over a single word is not low.

"I'm saying, how about you and Rhodes Island skip Columbia this time, and I take the Doctor instead?"

Ernst suddenly changed the subject.

Kal'tsit was getting a little frustrated. She was still waiting for Ernst to answer why he said she was like Priscilla, but Ernst had already changed the subject!

But she couldn't bring herself to yell, so she could only retort with a raised brow:

I have to go!

"Really going?"

"Really? You'll protect me, right?"

"Aren't you saying that backwards? Shouldn't you be the one protecting me?"

Ernst couldn't help but make a sarcastic remark.

Is this AI even reasonable? You don't protect humans, yet you expect me, a snow leopard, to protect you? What kind of behavior is this!

But after a moment's hesitation, and considering Precy's tradition of loving cats, Ernst sighed:

"I try my best."

Kal'tsit smiled and nodded, taking a sausage from Ernst's plate. It was a "God of Gods" sausage produced by the Perroch Meat Processing Plant.

She wasn't hungry at first, but now she was in a good mood.

Have one!

At this point, Kal'tsit had no idea how badly she would be tortured in Columbia.

Chapter 1051 Hinterlea: Hahaha, here comes the chicken soup!

"To be honest, I initially thought this was just an ordinary family dinner."

The mansion in Shivaish was brightly lit tonight, with warm light pouring from every window, illuminating the lawn and flowerbeds in the courtyard as if it were daytime. This was probably the liveliest day in the mansion in nearly a decade, so lively that even though Ernst had given prior notice, his uncle Chester, who served as the mansion's butler, was clearly not quite up to par in preparing for the dinner party.

"Fortunately, Karan Trade has now also ventured into the logistics industry, and we will ensure that every location in every region of Shelag can feel the benefits of development."

Ensiodis said with considerable confidence.

Ernst rolled his eyes at him:

"Alright, this isn't a place for you to advertise. Or, buddy, are you planning to talk to me about taxes?"