The entire hall erupted into a loud commotion following a brief silence.Everyone wore astonished expressions on their faces as they struggled to come to terms with what they were hearing.
"Fitch lost!"
"That little girl had the right answer?!"
"The little girl only took half a minute to get her answer, but Fitch took over half an hour to get the same answer? How is that possible?!"
None of the conservatives were willing to accept such a crus.h.i.+ng loss. To think that the most prodigious young talent among them, Fitch, had lost to a little half-elf girl who was only four years old!
"Does that mean we won?"
"That means that little girl calculated the right answer! She really calculated the correct answer to a two-digit multiplication problem in half a minute!"
"That"s… absolutely incredible! Long live the decimal system!"
Following a brief period of stunned silence, all of the revolutionaries erupted into ecstasy. Just a moment ago, they had been dwelling deep in the pits of despair, and this sudden ma.s.sive contrast made for an amazing experience.
Luna jumped up with excitement, but she quickly realized that what she was doing wasn"t very lady-like, and a blush appeared on her face as she stood still on the spot again. Thankfully, everyone in the hall had their eyes fixed on Mag and Amy, so no one noticed her little slipup.
A smile had also appeared on Byron"s face as he looked at Mag and Amy with approval in his eyes. As expected, inviting the inventor of the Mamy Multiplication Table to the debate was the best course of action.
I"m surprised he was willing to concede his loss so easily. Mag was looking at Fitch with a hint of surprise as well as approval on his face. The vast majority of those so-called prodigies were extremely proud, yet this boy was able to set aside his ego and have the humility to openly admit his loss to a little four-year-old girl in front of so many people; he was a true man.
"Th… that"s impossible!" Earlton abruptly rose to his feet as the confident expression on his face completely crumbled. His reputation and career were on the line; if Fitch lost, then it was over for him!
"Leeroy! What did you get? You had to have gotten a different answer from that little rascal, right?" Earlton turned to Leeroy with a hint of desperation in his eyes.
Everyone else also turned to Leeroy and Lister. Fitch had already conceded that Amy had given the correct answer. Now, it was time to compare Fitch"s answer with the ones derived by these two to determine the final result of this impromptu contest.
Leeroy slowly put down the quill in his hand and looked at his final answer. He then turned to Earlton with a complex expression, and said, "Fitch"s answer is correct."
"I also got the same answer as Fitch."
At this moment, Lister also put down his quill and turned to Mag and Amy with awe and admiration in his eyes.
"How… How could this be…" Earlton stumbled and almost fell over. He rushed over to Leeroy"s table and grabbed the piece of paper the other man had been working on. After catching sight of his final answer, his legs finally gave out from under him as he sat heavily on the ground. All color had drained from his face.
The entire hall fell deathly silent once again, and all of the conservatives wore ugly expressions.
A man of Leeroy"s status clearly wouldn"t lie in a situation like this. Otherwise, if it were to be proven later on that he had told a fib in this situation, his reputation would receive a lethal blow.
All four people who had worked on this question had arrived at the same answer, so the result of this contest was nothing more than a foregone conclusion.
Amy had derived the answer to the question in a scarcely believable time of half a minute, completely crus.h.i.+ng the genius, Fitch, who was seen as the likeliest successor to Erma.
"Contestant Amy is the winner of this contest!"
The emcee stepped forward and pointed a finger at Amy.
"We won!"
A collective cheer erupted from the revolutionaries.
They had been on the back foot throughout the entirety of the past 10 debates, only to stage a miraculous comeback and clinch the victory in the eleventh hour. It was all thanks to this extraordinary father and daughter duo; they had successfully turned the tables in one fell swoop, and given them the victory that they had been dreaming of.
"To think that she was able to calculate a two-digit multiplication problem in half a minute; she"s not just a prodigy anymore, she"s a freak!"
"Also, according to what Mr. Mag said, half a minute isn"t her limit. If she hadn"t used her quill, it would"ve taken even less time!"
"That"s incredible! Could it be that Mr. Mag even had a multiplication table for two-digit numbers? If we learn it, will we be able to calculate such problems just as quickly?"
Aside from the loud cheers erupting through the revolutionaries, many of them were discussing spiritedly among themselves. The oppression they had suffered at the hands of the conservatives was making them begin to doubt whether it was worth supporting the decimal system and the multiplication table, after all. However, after witnessing Amy"s downright terrifying calculation abilities, all of those doubts had been completely quelled. Now, their minds were only filled with admiration for Mag as well as antic.i.p.ation for their own futures.
The hexadecimal system was already well established in the current world of mathematics, so it would be very difficult for them to leave a last legacy.
However, now that the brand-new era of the decimal system was about to be ushered in, they were going to be regarded as the first group of people to champion such a revolution, making them pioneers of sorts.
This monumental debate was most likely going to be recorded in the Roth Empire"s history books. In particular, this final debate would surely be regarded as a major turning point in the history of mathematics when reviewed many years in the future.
The one who had proposed the Mamy Multiplication Table, Mr. Mag, and his freakish prodigious daughter had definitely stamped their mark on history.
Byron rose to his feet before turning to Erma and the others as he smiled, and said, "Seeing as the final result has been decided, I expect you to keep your promise. The conservatives can no longer impede the widespread implementation of the decimal system, and the department of education will be overseeing this implementation. I hope you won"t do anything out of line."
"Rest a.s.sured, Master Byron; we made a promise and we fully intend to keep it." Erma slowly rose to his feet with a strained expression as he turned to Mag, and said, "However, I"m not sure if those scholars would be willing to learn and popularize the so-called multiplication table if they were to discover that it had been invented by a chef."
Mag looked back at Erma with a deriding sneer, and countered, "Something as crude and inefficient as the hexadecimal system could"ve easily been invented by a cave-dwelling neanderthal chef at some point in the distant past, yet you still revere it as a prized treasure, do you not? Even the text and language that we"re now using evolved from the most crude cave carvings made by our primitive ancestors; are you going to renounce this language just because you look down on those primal beings?"
"Hmph! What utter nonsense!" Erma"s expression darkened as he stormed out of the hall.
Leeroy took a final meaningful glance at Mag before also departing.
Meanwhile, two young scholars helped Earlton to his feet, and the trio hung their heads low as they scurried past Mag.
"Hey, old man, I hope you remember what you promised everyone earlier. Make sure to publicly announce your retirement as soon as possible. I"m sure the entire Roth Empire would rejoice upon hearing such fantastic news!" Mag stabbed another dagger into Earlton"s heart with a benevolent smile that completely belied the venom in his words.
"You!!" Earlton"s eyes widened before he fainted on the spot.
Right at this moment, Fitch approached Mag, and asked, "Mr. Mag, right? Can I learn decimal form calculation from you?"