Of, good things.'"

Having said this, the flower of the fortress chuckled.

"'That's because only men were allowed to participate in the earliest games,' I was told, 'so of course they have to compete in the events they know how to do. When have you ever seen them competing to have a baby?'"

Thales' expression changed.

"'And soldiers need these not just because these things are "good"," Sonia sat up cross-legged, even forgetting to smoke, and just let the cigarette burn slowly in her hand, "The guy told me, 'but because

They are already soldiers, and they like, are used to, and are good at being strong, rude, domineering, masculine, and aggressive. Most of the time, they only use these things, so these things become "useful" and "good"

"", and then passed it on to the hands of later generations. When more and more people later, and fewer and fewer people doubted it, everyone agreed that this was common sense and truth.'"

Sonia was fascinated by the retelling, as if she had returned to that moment many years ago:

"'Because this is a tournament they control, a battlefield they define, and one of their most cunning tricks is to 'allow' you to enter the game, and then defeat you in these rules and projects that do not allow for doubt, and then

Let me tell you: Look, you didn’t win, you can’t do it.'"

Thales spoke subconsciously:

"but……"

But the flower of the fortress didn't let him continue, and kept to herself:

"So why, Sonia, you are already at a disadvantage on the chessboard that men are familiar with and have dominated for thousands of years. If that's the case, why? Why should you follow the rules they set and the standards they are used to?

, the survival rules they have established, and the habits they are very familiar with. When the armors and weapons you can get are all made according to men's conditions, how can you expect to compete with them with these? "

Why should we follow the rules they set, the competition standards they are used to, the survival guidelines they established...

Thales' eyes gradually drifted away.

"...When they even regard the size of several handfuls as a standard competition event and require everyone to compare lengths with them, how are you going to win? Pretend to be fake and pretend to be a man?" Sonia sneered.

Thales came back to his senses and found that he had missed a paragraph:

"Is this a metaphor?"

Sonia turned around and smiled evilly:

"depends on you."

Thales raised his eyebrows.

At this moment, the flower of the fortress in front of him looked like a torch, piercing through the smoke and confusion:

"'Don't listen to them,' I was told. 'Even if you want to win their prize, don't live up to their standards, don't do what they say, don't pretend, even if you're the only one who can prove it to them.'

'Because then, you really lose'."

"It was that night that I realized how stupid I had been."

She turned to the thinking boy:

"Tales, don't be stupid, don't listen to them, don't pretend."

Thales clenched his fists.

Don't listen to them.

At that moment, he inexplicably remembered Quick Rope and what the latter had said to him.

[Don’t play chess with him on the same chessboard, Thales, because you don’t know how deep his methods are in this game, how many hole cards he has, and those who were manipulated by his father without knowing it.

Those who are are extremely sad.】

Immediately afterwards, Thales thought of Charmaine Lombard.

"I'm not, I'm fighting, in my own way."

Thales subconsciously opened his mouth to retort, almost at the same moment he remembered the man with ice-like eyes but fire in the ice.

"Physically, of course you don't, but what about your mind?"

Sonia stared at him, stretched out her hand and touched Thales' chest: "Where is this place?"

Thales didn't speak. The scar on his chest where he was burned by silver coins when he was a child seemed to be slightly hot.

"A few handfuls originally only grew in one place," Sonia said sarcastically, holding up the cigarette again, "but the reality is that tens of thousands of years have passed, and they have turned into something else. They are everywhere and do not grow naturally.

It was installed artificially."

Thales pursed his lips.

"What happened next?" he asked hoarsely.

Sonia's eyes moved.

"Later, later, I no longer struggled to compete with them in weightlifting and speed competitions."

"There must be something, I thought," she squinted her eyes, as if recreating the way she had been thinking carefully back then, "There must be something on this chessboard that has been ignored, abandoned, and neglected by them for a long time.

They don’t take it seriously, but they can be picked up and used by me. Although it is difficult, because this chessboard has been theirs for so long, and the rules of chess have been formulated for them for so long, that everyone feels that they are born this way.”

"But I can't give up, no matter how loud they laugh, how harsh the curses, what they use to stop me, how many dirty jokes they tell me, or how many people they sleep with in order to get close to the Duke, they are all about to get rid of me

Are you kidding me about being worn out? I am the most fierce woman in the six major villages and towns. I have never heard any dirty jokes or kicked any ugly ones!"

Unknowingly, the dark clouds gradually dispersed, the moonlight fell, and green smoke surrounded the observation deck.

Sonia hummed softly:

"I stayed, I persisted, I worked hard, studied, and observed, and I was defeated again and again in competitions with men and those 'strong ones'. Then gradually, I became the most inconspicuous, the most ignored, and the most

Where people laugh, something interesting is found that most people dismiss.”

"I have a better sense of balance. I can trot on the single-plank bridge that they can't even stand on, and I can walk as fast as I can on the bumpy and broken roads."

"I am small in size and light in weight. I can get into smaller gaps, hide in narrower bushes, and can be equipped with different types of mounts."

Sonia opened her mouth and gently exhaled a hollow smoke ring.

"I have more coordinated and flexible fingers and wrists. My weapon belt is tied more finely and tightly than theirs, and is easier to adjust. My longbow is more accurate, more comfortable and tighter than theirs."

"Smell, sight, hearing, I have more sensitive senses than many people, so much so that John once said that my nose was even sharper than his hunting dog."

"I can endure pain better than a considerable number of soldiers. The cold and hunger probably came from my mother. When I was a child, she had to earn money for the family after doing farm work. She had to squat by the river for several hours and wash countless basins.

clothes, and I still don’t know how she did it.”

"In harsh environments, I can hide and persist for a long, long time. Although my strength is small, my consumption is also less. Even after exhausting all my strength, I only need to rest for half of their time and only eat them.

With half the food, you can stand up and jump around again."

“In long-distance races that are longer than the longest long-distance race, or in cross-country races, I may not be faster than them, and I may not be more conspicuous than them, but I am more stable and precise than them, and less prone to fatigue, sleepiness, dizziness and loss.

"

Thales was fascinated by what he heard.

"That's it, patience, balance, adaptability, memory, details and sophistication, toughness and recovery rate; low consumption, high sensitivity. And you know, I only recently discovered that women live longer than men, even in peacetime.

"

The flower of the fortress curled her lips:

"So I learned to use my ability to endure pain, use more reliable parts to meet the attack, and when they were surprised, 'Why don't you fall down?', I gritted my teeth and fought back; I learned to choose the part that is more suitable for my performance.

battlefield environment, instead of sitting down on the flat ground and wrestling with them; if all else fails, then simply avoid the front and fight a war of attrition, hide yourself, mobilize the opponent, and bet that he will tire before me.

Paralysis means freezing first, then fainting from hunger."

She patted her thigh and sighed:

"Of course, for all the above qualities, the men refuse to admit that I am better than them. There are always people who refute, and there are always people who say, 'Are you going to compete with the royal guards?', but there is only one thing they admit..."

Sonia blinked and pointed at Thales' head:

"My mind."

"Although I think this is because John said 'she is smarter than you all' first, and no matter how unwilling they are, they dare not offend the Duke."

Thales chuckled softly.

Sonia spoke excitedly, holding a cigarette in one hand and waving it with the other, regardless of the spittle flying around:

"You know, people always think that men are smarter, rational, calmer, better at hiding emotions, and more resolute and rational, while women are slower, irrational, weaker, emotionally unstable, and only know how to be hysterical."

"But in such a long military career, I haven't noticed this. You know, almost every soldier is irritable, irritable, and impulsive. If he doesn't have sex for three days, he can't help but masturbate or have a fight.

It doesn’t seem to be much better than women.”

Sonia shook her head:

“I don’t know where the conclusion that ‘men are more sensible’ comes from.”

"It comes from men," Thales suddenly said, "You know, the more you lack something, the more you have to brag about it."

Sonia was stunned for a moment, then laughed.

"Wait, don't you sound angry?"

The flower of the fortress stopped laughing.
To be continued...