bookbashuk Chapter 24 Decryption Notes
Chapter 24 Decryption Notes
"Three recipes in one go, this notebook is something else." Lorne stroked the cover of the notebook.
"If these recipes are genuine, then it confirms that this book is definitely related to the extraordinary."
"No, the fact that these contents appeared out of thin air is enough to confirm that it is an extraordinary item."
"But how come something so valuable is on a flea market?"
Lorne rested his hand on his forehead, leaning against the desk, pondering the origin of this notebook.
"The reason I bought it in the first place was because it showed signs of spiritual activity. In that case, it's even stranger that this notebook isn't an extraordinary item."
"And these glasses, they can't translate Chinese that I can understand, yet they can translate these incomprehensible characters."
He took out the monocle and put it on.
But he didn't infuse it with spirituality; he simply wanted to see if there was anything different about it.
"Could it be that it can only translate texts related to mysticism?"
Given the current situation, this seems to be the only possibility.
"Want me to do a fortune telling?"
Lorne remembered the pendulum wrapped around his wrist and had the idea of using this all-purpose method again.
But after thinking about it for a moment, he gave up.
"never mind."
He currently only uses pendulums and tarot cards for divination, but these two methods are more suitable for answering questions that are either true or false.
It's probably unlikely that these two methods will be able to determine the origin of the notebook.
He doesn't know divination techniques like dream interpretation or mirror divination, which can provide more information.
The situation reached a stalemate for a time.
……
He once again imbued the monocle with spirituality, hoping to see more.
"No, that won't work."
Looking at the strange occult script in front of him, Lorne's mind did not process the translation as it had before.
The distortion filter from the monocle made my head feel even more foggy, making it impossible for me to concentrate.
"Was what happened just a coincidence, or is it that only that section about the recipe in this book is correct?"
"It seems I still have to find a way to decipher it myself." With shortcuts no longer an option, Lorne can only try the most brute-force method to decipher the notebook on his own.
There's no way around it, the potential profits from this book are just too high. If there are even more recipes later on—Sequence 6, Sequence 5, Sequence 4…
He couldn't even imagine how valuable those formulas could be.
"Let's go to the library and see if there are any clues..." After making up his mind, Lorne got up, put on his coat, and prepared to go to the library.
"Racky, you come with me..." Looking at the orange cat lazily sleeping on Lorne's bed, he gave up the idea of taking Racky with him.
"What a lazy cat," Lorne muttered, and was about to leave when he took a couple of steps and turned back.
"Look at my memory! How can I do this without the book?" He patted his head, realizing he had become so engrossed in thinking that he had become careless.
"This book is so precious, I can't leave it untouched." He stuffed the notebook into his bag and then went out.
……
……
"Respected Master Plum Blossom, our team has arrived in Tingen. As in previous years, we will be performing here with the circus for about a month."
I am accompanied by several newcomers this time, and I will do my best to ensure their safety.
Thank you for your generosity; we have ample funds for this mission.
I would like to report to you that I have discovered traces of esoteric activities in Tingen.
As the Secret Order is an enemy of the Society, I fear this is not just a simple coincidence; they may have ulterior motives.
As a squad leader, I do not have the authority to take the next step directly.
Therefore, I am writing this letter and awaiting your next instructions.
A magician dressed in a tuxedo wrote this letter by candlelight.
After finishing the letter, he stopped writing, lowered his head, and seemed to be saying something.
In an instant, the candlelight flickered, and a pitch-black hand appeared out of thin air, grabbing the letter and then disappearing into the night along with it.
……
……
After two days of research, Lorne roughly figured out what the text on the notebook actually meant by looking through ancient books and history books.
He discovered that the notebook contained a script called Ancient Hermes. It appeared to be an ancient version of Hermes.
Because the original owner had studied Hermes, Lorne was not unfamiliar with this language used in ancient rituals.
However, the library had very few books on Old Hermetic, which made the deciphering work quite difficult.
Lorne suspected that Guhermis might be related to the extraordinary, so most of the information was deliberately controlled by the authorities.
That's why it became almost impossible for one person to decipher the entire notebook.
However, Lorne also came up with a solution: to find the words or sentences that appear most frequently.
Just like cracking a password, some frequently occurring paragraphs are likely to contain common words or phrases.
Once these are cracked, it may be possible to deduce other information.
After having an idea, Lorne began to search through the entire book for frequently occurring words.
He found that, apart from some nouns that were already identified and some possible modal particles, there were three words that appeared most frequently.
When the scope of the cracking is reduced to only three words, the difficulty of cracking decreases exponentially.
"Got it."
With documents in one hand and a pen in the other, Lorne was doodling on the draft in front of him.
On the desk were various materials he had borrowed from the library, which he originally intended to decipher directly in the library.
But the thought that this knowledge was related to the occult and that it was inappropriate to decipher it so bluntly in front of a large audience seemed a bit inappropriate.
So he borrowed all those materials and even got a library card for them.
He has just successfully translated his first word.
"Honakis".
"This sounds like a place name?"
The meaning of this word was not as obvious as Lorne had imagined. After a moment's thought, he decided to put it aside and focus on deciphering the other two words.
"Fregra".
This is the second word that has been deciphered.
"These are all strange words; their meanings are completely incomprehensible at first glance."
"Could it be that my method of deciphering is wrong?"
Lorne seemed somewhat frustrated that he hadn't been able to find the information in the second word.
"Meow~"
"Laki, don't shout, don't bother me." Lorne didn't turn his head, his tone somewhat impatient.
"Meow!"
"Meow!!"
"What are you doing, Rachel!" Lorne frowned and turned around to see the orange cat lying on the bed with its belly exposed.
"Stomach, oh right, I forgot to feed you today." Lorne suddenly realized that he had been sitting at his desk all day.
"Wait, I don't think I've eaten!" A wave of hunger washed over him as he realized this.
……
……
"When you were a stray cat, nobody fed you, so why are you so lazy now?"
Watching Rachel happily eating her fish, Lorne chuckled and made a sarcastic remark. He then returned to his desk to continue his decoding work.
Perhaps because he had eaten, he felt his thinking became clearer, and he completed the decryption in no time.
He picked up his pen and wrote down the last and most frequently occurring word on the draft paper.
Antigonus.