The tower keeper lost control of his emotions, as if he had finally found a chance to speak his mind. But he wasn't talking to Jenkins, he was looking outside, wondering if he was talking to himself.
"So, what are you thinking now?"
"It would be great if we could go back thirty years ago."
His eyes were a little blurred, and Jiu Jin seemed to be on the rise.
"No, I mean, what are your realistic plans?"
Jenkins corrected softly, thinking that it might be better to let the other party indulge in drunkenness.
"Be realistic... I plan to quit this job before winter comes. Although I earn less these years, my expenses are also less, and I have saved a sum of money, which is enough for a trip. The committee explained the situation, and as soon as they can find a successor, I will leave immediately. I don't know how long I will live, but while I can still move around now, I must go out and see, see the world, see our era …”
The reality is that the watchman couldn't leave until the clock tower was destroyed by the difference engine. It's just that he didn't know whether he hadn't found a successor for a long time, or he himself changed his mind and turned to worry about the uncertain future.
"Are you determined to leave?"
Jenkins' voice softened.
"Yes, I have been imprisoned here for the rest of my life. I think it's finally time to leave. I will leave completely and never come back again. Even if I die in a foreign country, I will go out and see... look at those I Missed it. I'm turning 50 and I've just stood here all my life watching people and everything changing. I want to be a part of it, even if I get crushed for it. Oh God, you Why did I make this choice when I was young, why was I imprisoned here for thirty years."
Because of the alcohol, he started to cry regardless of his image. It's not beautiful for a vicissitudes old man to cry, so Jenkins didn't intend to tell him that his decision was his own choice and had nothing to do with the gods, who wouldn't care about such small things.
"Go out and have a look. Look at the magnificent sea, look at the towering snow-capped mountains, look at the bustling and noisy cities, and look at our civilization created by steam."
He said almost ramblingly, although the level of education is not high, the sentences he uttered are quite good, and he doesn't know how long these words have been polished in his heart.
Jenkins is not incomprehensible to the tower keeper's thoughts. For example, when he came to this world and knew the existence of extraordinary power, it was impossible not to choose to become an extraordinary person. When you see something so interesting, it's impossible to ignore it. This is probably how the tower keeper thought. For many days and nights, he stood in front of the small window on the top of the tower and looked out, watching the joys and sorrows of others, and the rapid progress of the times. He was able to persist for thirty years before planning to leave, which is already considered remarkable.
I don't know whether he should be said to be a very responsible person, or a person who is afraid of change.
But in short, although he understands, Jenkins also knows that his task is to persuade him to stay. He didn't think he was doing something wrong. On the one hand, at the age of the tower keeper, it was actually better for him to stay. Although Jenkins also knows that he cannot impose his subjective ideas on others, this is the truth. On the other hand, even if Jenkins does not show up, the Tower Keeper did not leave in the end, so what he did was just to conform to history, which is also the final arrangement of the Tower Keeper for himself in the future.
If he stayed, although he would encounter countless accidents in the next year, the tower keeper survived in the end. And leaving here, according to the approaching trend of the end of the era, the probability of him encountering an accident on the way is not small at all.
If you want to leave here and go outside, you can go after Jenkins defeats the Difference Engine. At that time, although the impact of the disaster was still there, at least it was much safer.
"In fact, if you stay here, you can also experience the kind of life you envy."
said Jenkins, without giving the keeper a chance to question, and then added:
"Is the work of guarding the tower very complicated? You have so much free time every day, what can't you do? You live in Nolan, take some time to walk around the city every day, chat with strangers, What's so difficult about going to factories, docks, and mining areas to see what's new
In my opinion, since the reason you want to leave is not because you hate this job, then you don't have to leave Nolan at all, wouldn't it be nice to have more time to walk around? The era is here, you don't need to take the initiative to go through it, as long as you don't deliberately escape, you are actually in this magnificent era. "
"How is this possible? What I want is..."
The tower keeper got stuck.
"What do you want? Is it an exciting adventure, going to the dungeon to fight ghosts to the death, fighting the dragon on the mountain, or clearing the monsters in the dangerous sewer?"
Asked by Jenkins like this, the face of the tower keeper had returned to normal due to the evening wind, but now it turned red again:
"How is it possible? I'm not crazy. I just want a different life. I don't believe in stories in knight novels foolishly, and I don't make fun of my own life."
"So why leave? If you just want to participate in the story of this era, then staying in Nolan is the best choice. This city has everything, good and bad, noble and humble, happy and unfortunate , you can find anything you want to participate in here. Even if you are a hermit who yearns for tranquility, you can find a place of seclusion like the clock tower in this noisy city."
"But I want to see the most advanced steam industry, I want to shuttle in the white steam, and see the greatest crystallization of this era."
The tower guard said immediately.
"Doesn't Nolan have a steam factory? As long as you say you don't want wages, but the working hours are not fixed every day, don't those greedy factory owners who devour the flesh and blood of the poor still beg you not to work for them?"
Jenkins said with a sneer, and added:
"Nolan is a city on the west coast of the mainland with the most developed steam industry, if you want to see steam, just stay here.
The tower keeper choked on him, thought for a while and said:
"I still want to watch adventures and experience adventures. Oh, I'm not talking about the plots in knight novels, I don't want to survive in the wild and risk my life. You see, there are opportunities and opportunities everywhere in this era, and I also want to Go and try it. Whether it is relying on my own diligence, betting on important decisions, or walking through the streets and alleys, carrying a burden to sell goods from afar, this is what I yearn for.”
"Can there be more opportunities than Nolan? Nolan is the city with the strongest economy in Fidetictli, and it can even be considered as the city with the best economic vitality in the contemporary steam civilization. If you want Adventure in the city, why don't you stay here? You don't have to quit your current job, but take a walk in the city when you have time, and decide the plan and plan of the 'urban adventure' first, and wait for the time to come. Wouldn't it be better to resign from the job of the tower keeper after preparing the way out for myself?"
What Jenkins said made a lot of sense, so the Tower Keeper couldn't refute it. This isn't a debate, Jenkins will listen if he has something to say... although sometimes Jenkins' logic is a bit weird.
"Not only that, I also want to go to the countryside and see the impact of this crazy era on the countryside. I can see it from the tower, and the influence of steam radiates from the center of the city to all sides, and I can see it But I also want to know what the age of steam has done for those rednecks in towns, in farmhouses, in the distance that I can't see. It will be very interesting, I lived in the country as a child, You can know what it was like there.”
Jiu Jin came and went quickly, and now he spoke clearly and his complexion returned to normal.
"You want to see this? See that carriage over there?"
Jenkins pointed out the small window. At the edge of the Civic Square, three or four carriages gathered together to wait for business. It was the intersection with the most traffic near the square.
"Since you have savings, take your banknotes and a change of clothes immediately, and let the coachman take you out of the city. Walking out from Nolan step by step, you can clearly see the dividing line between the city and the countryside, and you can discover the differences in layers. Influenced by the steam civilization in the region, it is even possible to speculate how steam has moved to the countryside step by step based on geographical changes. Remember to bring your change, as countrymen can’t find a 1 gold bill. If you set off now, And if you don't plan on doing a summer outing, you'll probably be back before dinner tomorrow."
Jenkins withdrew his outstretched hand, looked at him again and asked:
"Or, what you are looking forward to is not only to see, but also to live in the country. Think about it, there is no safe drinking water in the country, and steam and gas are probably not available 24 hours a day. The streets are everywhere It's the excrement of cattle and sheep, and the uneducated villagers will be hostile to you as an outsider... You don't really want to move to the countryside, do you?"
The tower keeper's broad lips twitched. Of course he just wanted to visit, not to live in the country. Even if he has been guarding the Nolan Clock Tower for 30 years, he is still a city resident. He is used to the convenience of steam and gas pipelines and the prosperity of Nolan, so he would never want to move to the countryside.
The beautification of the countryside in court novels has no appeal to the tower keepers. Large manors, lavender fields, and clear lakes belong to rich and large farmers and rural nobles. For ordinary people, the rural environment is extremely bad. No matter how confused the tower keeper is, he will not fail to understand this.