Under the dim light, Fang Plover's eyes fell on the notebook.
It is only two palms long and less than fifteen centimeters wide. It has very few pages and is only a thin volume - the pages are slightly curled, but they are well preserved, and there are no gaps visible on the edges. Fang Plover opened the title page with a 'squeak' sound, and saw that the content on the next page was blank, and the paper was slightly burnt.
He rubbed it with his hand, and found that the surface was uneven and a little rough to the touch, just like the papyrus that can be seen everywhere in this area - but if this is the diary of a princess, it seems to be too crude and inconsistent with the other person's birth status. Somewhat out of place.
Fang Plover noticed a detail. In Istania, which has a strong commercial atmosphere, most of the princes and nobles here came from wealthy families, and they naturally pursued a sense of luxury in their lives.
The royal family of Istania is not short of money. In daily life, whether it is Her Royal Highness the Princess or her grandmother Ms. Farid, every utensil they use, regardless of size, is elegant and exquisite, and the materials are used. Top quality, the workmanship must be extremely meticulous.
Even the box that the other party gave me to hold the note booklet was made of silk and satin, with a pearlescent surface. You could tell at a glance that it was made by a skilled craftsman.
Documents passed daily by the royal family are recorded on precious silk. As for the nobles, who are slightly inferior, they will also use snow-white pulp paper from the north - and rarely use papyrus documents, because this is common people. Crude things used.
Or just as he thought.
Is this a collection of books?
Why would a princess keep such a book with her?
Judging from the information the eldest princess told them, this was one of the few relics that Her Royal Highness the Princess had during her lifetime. Judging from the way it was carefully treasured, it should not be an insignificant thing. Otherwise, the princess's relatives are not fools. They have spent so much manpower and material resources in the past ten years on investigating clues related to it.
He couldn't help but look at the note again.
His eyes fell on the burnt yellow page. In the center of the blank page, there was only a line of small words written in Juan Xiu's handwriting.
Naturally, he still couldn't understand the crooked words. He could only vaguely feel that it was written by a woman, but he could not necessarily infer that it was the handwriting of the princess.
Tata had no clue about this. The elf lady knew many languages of Aitaria, but she knew nothing about shorthand and could not learn it now.
"Can the composition of this ink be analyzed?" Fang Plover asked.
Tata sat on her knees and touched every word with her little hands. She raised her head to look at him and shook her head slightly.
But after a moment, she spoke softly again: "But there is a special smell in this ink. Even after such a long time, it still vaguely lingers between the pages. That is the smell of Bavarian fluorescent agave, the Oshur people The magical scales of this flower are used to extract a type of characteristic acid used in color-fixing agents. This process has been mastered by local alchemists for more than three centuries."
Fang Yu suddenly heard a snapping sound.
He turned back subconsciously.
Not far away, Nini's bare feet, which she got ink from somewhere, were proudly passing by the desk, leaving a series of small black footprints on the birch wood tabletop.
Fang Yu stared at this scene:
"Fang-ni-ni, what are you doing?!"
"Papa, hug!"
The little girl stretched out her hands for a hug, seeming to be in love with such pranks.
Fang Yu had no choice but to carry her over and put her in the palm of his hand. He carefully wiped the ink on her feet with a handkerchief in his right hand. Then he found the open bottle of ink and tightened the cap. In the whole process, only the little girl's The voice kept giggling.
Fang Yu glared at her.
Nini didn't take it seriously and just sat obediently next to her sister, dangling her white feet.
But when Fang Piao put the ink bottle back, he suddenly thought of something - he turned the ink bottle back and let the side with the trademark face him - in the history of the Star Gate for more than half a century, Aitalia's transformation from the people on earth to I have learned many things, and trademark law is one of them.
The trademark on this bottle of ink also comes from the Oshur Empire - the ink used by alchemists and magicians is not an ordinary ink. It has very high requirements for anti-fading, storage time and high magic concentration.
Although some places in Kaolin-Ithurion can also provide such ink, the best quality comes from the Oshur Empire.
Among the inks provided by the Oshur Empire, the most important material is the scale leaves of the Bavarian fluorescent agave. This plant only grows in a narrow valley in the south of Bavalland. The kingdom once tried to let the selectors steal the flower seeds, but the introduction was unsuccessful.
Now Bavarian fluorescent agave has become an important strategic material in the trade between the two countries, and the high-quality magic potions made from it are also among the controlled materials of the Oshur Empire.
The source of this kind of thing is extremely limited. The Penelope royal family is extremely rich and can buy some through various channels, but including the Kaolin-Ithulian Artisans Association, Bavarian fluorescent agave is used as raw material. The ink is also a restricted supply.
If this notebook was not written by the princess, then the person who copied it must not be an unknown person.
Either from the Penelope royal family, or from the upper echelons of the Craftsmen's Federation, or from the Corin-Ithurian royal family, or the upper class nobility.
Of course, this range is still very large, and it may not necessarily be correct, but at least it is an idea. Moreover, when Fang Yu thought of the Kaolin-Ithurian royal family, he couldn't help but think of the royal spy they killed, and his heart moved faintly.
He pondered for a moment, turning the pages back unconsciously.
There was a 'swish' sound, and the last page of the attached page was already the text of the note - half of this page was drawn with a complex magic array, but whether it was a magic array, an alchemy array, or an elemental array, Fang Plover also looked at it. I don’t understand, it seems like there’s some alchemical stuff in it, but if you look closely, there’s a branched tree diagram inside.
It's more like a general outline of something——
And considering that it appears on the first page, this possibility is not small.
Below is the main text, which is covered with ghost-like characters. But when Fang Yu looked at the winding text, he felt familiar again - exactly the same as the notebook he had read in his uncle's study.
The more carefully he looked, the stronger the feeling of familiarity became -
It's just that the notebook in his uncle's study looked much more ordinary than this. It was just a notebook with a leather cover that was very common on earth. The content inside was also written with blue and black ink of an ordinary fountain pen. He remembered it clearly.
Moreover, on the first page, there is no small note or any pattern, it is just the main text.
But the content of the text, especially the first sentence, gave him a strong sense of déjà vu. The only thing that made him feel uncertain was that it was almost ten years ago, and he was not sure whether he really remembered everything he saw at that time.
He looked at it silently for a while, then turned back.
But because I couldn't understand it, I could only flip through the pages as if it were a quick glance.
After a 'squeaking' sound, he stopped on one of the pages.
The page he stopped on, the burnt paper was a whole page of illustrations - as the eldest princess said, there were many illustrations in this notebook, but not every one of them could be understood by him - most of them The abstract patterns are simply confusing.
But this one is an exception.
On the rough paper, a series of twists and turns and weathered coastlines were outlined with concise pen and ink. This was obviously a map, with mountains, forests, and a bifurcated river on it; on one side were compasses and Kukai, and The approximate directions, shorthand place names and some irregular numbers are marked.
The numbers use a notation native to Aitaria, and like Arabic numerals, this notation is also widely spread across the continents.
Therefore, although Fang Plover can understand the numbers, they cannot further narrow down the origin of the person who copied this note.
He used this map to carefully compare every coastline of Istania, San Juan, Eldron, the Staff Coast and Talon, and even Asuka, but he could not find any place that matched it. corresponding location. In addition, he also didn't let go of Oshu, Lotao, Giant Tree Hill and Gudasoke. He even carefully compared the shape of the First Continental Bridge, but there was no echo in any place.
In fact, this map is certainly not his unique discovery.
The King of Sand Babartan and the princess's relatives have spent far more energy than him in the past ten years to find out all the information contained on this map, but they have also found nothing, not to mention him? How can the resources possessed by the Seven Seas Brigade be compared to the royal family of Istania? Therefore, Fang Yu didn't put much effort into this map. He only compared it a few times and then put it aside.
He only glanced at the sets of numbers a few more times.
It doesn't look like Kukai's coordinates, or did the other party deliberately mess up the order of the numbers and use a password to record the coordinates?
The coordinates of the sky and the sea in Aitaria were not invented by the people on earth. As early as the Numelin era, the elves used star finders to accurately measure the magic power and coordinate distribution of this world. Humans just improved it according to the habits of longitude and latitude on the earth. This is just a method of coordinate recording.
The origin of this coordinate system has existed since ancient times.
After looking at it for a while, he confirmed that he couldn't understand it either, so he shook his head and continued to scroll down.
The second pattern is a figure pattern.
But when it comes to figures, they are a little different. The painting style of the pattern is typical of religious paintings in Aitalia - serious and indifferent figures are located in the center of the painting, standing under a huge niche. Surrounded by stars, the sun and the moon, and some things with religious implications, such as winged angels and demons, each occupy half of the picture.
In addition, there are images of white bones, roses and thorns, griffins and unicorns. These images are very common in religious paintings, but they appear a bit messy.
He didn't know much about Aitalia's religion, so he had already sent this painting to his cousin for appraisal, and the other party called Aitalia. After some discussion, they came to the conclusion that this painting The biggest problem is the lack of true religious representation.
To put it simply, each of the gods of Orli has his or her own symbolic meaning, such as the oak leaf of Amea, the anvil of the Lord of the Mountain, the white shield of Mallan, and the sun emblem of Orli.
Miss Elf told him: "If there are no symbols of gods on the painting, this painting may be a metaphor for another type of existence - the dark saints."
Fang Yu silently looked at the figure in the center of the picture.
It was a human girl. She didn't look dark or weird, but there seemed to be a layer of dense black mist behind her, with some thorny thorns growing out of it. Fang Yu took another closer look and found that the girl had her eyes tightly closed.
However, he really couldn't understand this incomprehensible painting without annotations. Tang Xin promised him to check the relevant information, but it still took time.
He continued to scroll down.
The last pattern he could understand was naturally the silver butterfly-shaped relief they found on the royal spy's body, which was decorated on the dagger he carried with him.
This was also the only one among the three illustrations that he had a clue to. He couldn't help but take out the dagger and examine it carefully under the light. But what does this mean? Of the two royal spies at that time, only one had such a dagger, while the other wore an ordinary dagger.
Fang Plover was also unsure whether this dagger was the identity mark of the secret agent of the Kaolin-Ithurian royal family, or a token? But why did Her Royal Highness the Princess record such a pattern in her notes - what does it represent?
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but frown.
The attack on the princess of Sand King Babartan more than ten years ago was, as far as he knew, related to wandering warlocks, slave traders, and possibly even the descendants of Flor, and now it seemed to be related to Kaolin— The Ithurian royal family was involved.
Moreover, the father of the Sand King Babartan, the previous generation of Sand King, according to Her Royal Highness the Princess, should be regarded as the spokesperson of the interests of the Corin-Ithurian royal family in Istania. The other party has no reason to treat Penelope It’s only right that the royal family takes action.
These thousands of clues made Fang Plover feel like a mess in his heart.
He couldn't help but take a breath, thinking about why he was always involved in such endless incidents. The last commission that made him feel confused was the incident about the Dragon Witch.
Now, it can be said that the Nicol Bolas incident has finally come to light, but unexpectedly, not long after, Istania would be involved in an equally complicated whirlpool of events. But fortunately, this matter was his own choice. Although he was a little confused for a while, he was still calm.
Finished flipping through this booklet.
Fang Yu also had some preliminary ideas in his mind.
He hesitated for a moment, then picked up his communication crystal and sent a message to Su Changfeng's number.
It only took a moment for someone to reply, but it was not Su Changfeng, but one of his team members. This was not the first time that the young man had interacted with Fang Plover, so he smiled and asked, "Ed, you're still up so late, what's the matter?"
Fang Yu also knew this young man named Zhang Cheng. Su Changfeng told him that if he was not around, he could trust him completely.
So he opened his mouth and said: "Brother Zhang, I have something to ask my uncle and aunt. Can you help me contact them there?"
The young man was slightly stunned.
Tang Sheng and Zhang Rou are currently living in Hengfeng Port. Since they are inside a military base, their external contacts are naturally restricted.
Of course, this restriction is not absolute. After all, the two of them are still citizens who enjoy personal freedom - but their private communicators have been temporarily handed over. If you want to contact Shang Plov and Tang Xin, you must use a public communicator.
Although you can apply anytime and anywhere, it is very troublesome, so under normal circumstances, the two parties will contact you only once a week. Ms. Zhang Rou was obviously very worried about Fang Plover. Every time she contacted them, she would preach a lot. As a result, Fang Plover would never take the initiative to appear in front of the two of them unless necessary.
This was the first time I saw the charter and the other party made this request.
However, he didn't ask any more questions and just nodded - Fang Yu didn't have the military's public communicator address and could only passively wait for contact from Hengfeng Port, so he made this request to him.
About a quarter of an hour later, Fang Yu saw his communication crystal light up.
He opened the crystal and saw his uncle's face on the other side of the light page - he looked left and right, but Tang Sheng seemed to know what he was thinking and said, "Don't look, your aunt is not there." Come."
Fang Yu couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that under normal circumstances, his aunt Zhang Rou would definitely come. His absence was mostly due to his uncle. He couldn't help but give his old uncle a thumbs up in his heart.
"Little Plover," Tang Sheng finally said, "You came to me suddenly, you must have something serious to do, right?"
Fang Plover nodded.
He asked: "Uncle, do you still remember the library in your study in the old house before we moved for the first time?"
Tang Sheng was startled and nodded immediately.
Fang Yu asked again: "Uncle, I remember that there are many old books in the library. Did we take those books with us after we moved?"
Tang Sheng felt a little confused about this sudden question, frowned slightly and replied: "Part of it was dealt with at that time, but most of it is still there. What happened?"
"Then..." Fang Yu thought for a moment: "Uncle, do you still remember the specific books in it, such as one of them?"
To be honest, Fang Yu himself felt that his question was stupid enough. There were hundreds if not thousands of books in the library. Except for his uncle's own books, the rest accounted for at least three-quarters of the total. How many people can remember clearly among so many books, what kind of books they have in their collection, and how many people can even specify one of them?
Or if the book is relatively important, or if it is a particularly cherished book, you may still be able to remember it clearly, but if it is anything else, you probably won’t have any memory at all.
But the reason why he asked this was because he happened to have this copy on hand. If he showed it to his uncle, it might help him remember the notebook. But before he had time to do that, he looked at his uncle and frowned in surprise.
"Little Plover," Tang Sheng asked, "Why do you suddenly ask about this?"
Fang Yu couldn't help but was slightly startled. Originally, he thought that given his uncle's character, he would probably smile dumbly, then shake his head and say, which book are you looking for? I'll look for it for you later. But he didn't expect that the other party's reaction was unexpectedly serious.
Tang Sheng seemed to feel that he had lost his temper, and quickly explained: "...the main reason is that those books were collected in the early years, and this matter is a bit too long ago. Why do you suddenly think of asking this?"
Fang Yu didn't think too much, and then he came back to his senses and replied: "That's right, uncle, do you remember that once, I came to ask you about a notebook. It's just that I was in Etalia recently. , I found a book that was somewhat similar..."
When Tang Sheng heard this question, he couldn't help but be distracted.
…
Pillar of Ita
Pillar of Ita
