Pillar of Yita

Fang Hong continued, ”Actually, there are many countries with Invokers, and most of their scripts and languages differ. If you choose people among the Invokers from Colin Ishurian, the other party may not recognize every type of script.”

”Of course, we’ve considered this point,” the Princess replied, ”We’ve selected not only Colin Ishurian’s Invokers but also other regions’ Invokers, including some of your Scholars, yet none of them recognize those characters.”

She paused and then continued, ”Of course, I don’t necessarily think Mr. Ade would recognize them, but there are some strange symbols on the notebook. Previously someone told us those symbols might be related to Alchemy. Although I’ve asked nearly every Alchemy Master in Istania, none could trace those symbols’ origins, but I believe this might at least provide you some clues and thoughts.”

Fang Hong didn’t expect the matter to be so bizarre.

To think that a Queen would secretly record a notebook in a script almost nobody could understand — that in itself is quite unusual. Usually, people do consider privacy when keeping diaries, but rarely would anyone go to such great lengths unless there were unspeakable secrets involved.

In fact, this peculiarity itself serves as a clue.

At least, it shows that this Queen is not ordinary; she does not seem like just another average person, which, frankly, would be more troublesome. It might prove their previous theories wrong. And now, with the emergence of this notebook, it suggests that the Queen harbors an unknown aspect, which coincides with the deduction he and Hilveld made.

He kept silent, waiting for the Princess to show him what’s inside the notebook.

Indeed, once the Grand Princess dismissed the servants, she opened the notebook for him.

At first glance at the writing within the notebook, Fang Hong was stunned.

”What is this gobbledygook?” Parker, just getting up from the ground, couldn’t help muttering as he looked at the twisting script. He turned back to ask the others, ”Do any of you recognize it? Is it Chinese characters? But I remember they don’t look like this.”

Xiangzi and Luo Hao both shook their heads.

Luo Hao, well-versed and a keyboard master in the community, squinted and said, ”This seems to be some sort of Shorthand Symbol, but very different from international shorthand languages. If it is a shorthand note with personal habits included by the Queen, decoding it would be troublesome.”

”Especially since the Queen has already—”

Luo Hao paused, realizing that it might be impolite to say such things in front of the daughter of the subject in question.

Fortunately, the Princess and the older woman seemed not to mind. She only looked at Luo Hao and replied, ”Actually, some Scholars among you have told us similar things, but they couldn’t decipher the inherent patterns either.”

”That’s natural,” Luo Hao replied, ”I heard that Eteliria originally didn’t employ shorthand. Contemporary shorthand on Earth was formed by adding inherent rules within existing languages. If one understands relevant linguistics, they might deduce shorthand symbols by reversing the language’s inherent rules.”

”But this is tricky because the Queen herself is not an Earthling. She might be using a language from Eteliria and formed her own shorthand system using Earth’s shorthand rules. Unless we know which specific rules Princess your mother used, as well as which type of Etelirian dialect, only then is there a chance for deduction.”

”However, this scope is vast. As far as I know, Eteliria’s common languages are at least dozens, each with different grammar. Unless she herself is present, outside attempts to narrow it down are too slim.”

The Princess sighed softly upon hearing this, evidently not the first time she’s heard this sentiment.

But she soon recovered from her slight lapse, and softly said, ”Aside from these writings, my mother also left some strange symbols and marks in the notebook. Most are abstract, but there are a few we can understand.”

”Mr. Ade?”

Princess Rupert seemed to just notice Fang Hong, standing there absentmindedly, seemingly indifferent to the previous discussion with Luo Hao.

She hesitated slightly, as if suddenly realizing something, and a light flashed in her eyes, ”Mr. Ade, do you recognize the writing?”

Fang Hong was taken aback, snapping back to awareness, he glanced at the ’Heavenly Book’, hurriedly shaking his head. But although he truly did not recognize the writing, he suddenly remembered that he had seen such peculiar shorthand symbols somewhere.

It was a vague feeling.

Just then, he suddenly recalled a small detail from the past:

On Earth, his uncle Tang Sheng was a known best-selling author. Like all those who work with words, he had his own study, a quiet room where he’d lock himself while working — sometimes writing for an afternoon, sometimes for several hours.