In the dim light, Fang Yuan's gaze fell on the notebook.

It was no more than two palms long, less than fifteen centimeters wide, and numbered very few pages, except for a thin one—the pages were slightly curly, but well preserved, and there were no notches in the edges. Fang Yu opened the title page with his hand, only to see that the content of the next page was blank, and the paper was slightly burnt yellow.

He rubbed it with his hand, the surface was uneven and a little rough to the touch, like the papyrus that could be found everywhere in the area—but if it belonged to a princess's diary, it seemed too rudimentary and out of place with the other's origin.

Fang Yu noticed a detail, in Istania, where the commercial atmosphere is strong, most of the princes and nobles here are from wealthy backgrounds, and they naturally pursue a kind of extravagance in life.

The royal family of Istania is not short of money, and in their daily lives, whether it is Her Royal Highness the Celestial Princess or her grandmother, Madame Farid, every vessel they use at their disposal, regardless of size, is elegant and exquisite, the materials are of the highest quality, and the workmanship must be extremely meticulous.

Even the box handed over to him by the other party to hold this notebook is also made of silk and satin, and the surface is jeweled, and at a glance it is clear that it comes from the hands of skilled craftsmen.

The royal family passed down the papers on a daily basis, which were recorded on the precious silks, and the nobles were of a lesser level, but they also used snow-white pulp and paper from the north—and rarely papyrus, because it was the crude stuff used by the common people.

Or is it as he thinks.

Is this a bibliophile?

Why did the princess have such a book by her side?

Judging from the information that the eldest princess told them, this is one of the few relics of Her Royal Highness the princess during her lifetime, and judging from the attitude with which it is carefully treasured, it should not be an insignificant thing. Otherwise, the princess's relatives are not fools, and they have spent so much manpower and material resources in the past ten years on investigating the clues related to it.

He couldn't help but look at the note again.

His eyes fell on the burnt yellow page, and in the center of the blank page, only a line of small characters was written in Juanxiu's handwriting.

The crooked words, of course, he still couldn't understand them, and he could only vaguely feel that it was from a woman's handwriting, but he couldn't necessarily infer that it was the princess's handwriting.

Tata didn't have a clue about it, Miss Elf knew many of Attaria's languages, but she didn't know anything about shorthand, and she couldn't learn it now.

"Can the composition of this ink be analyzed?" Fang Yu asked.

Tata sat on her knees, stroked every word with her small hands, looked up at him, and shook her head slightly.

But after a moment, she whispered again, "But there is a peculiar smell in this ink, and even after all this time, it still lingers faintly between the pages. It was the smell of the Bavaran fluorescent agave, a technique used by the Orsians to extract one of the characteristic acids of fixing agents, a technique that had been used by local alchemists for more than three centuries. ”

Fang Yu suddenly heard a snapping sound.

He subconsciously turned his head.

Not far away, Nini, with her bare feet and somewhere to get the ink, was proudly passing by the desk, leaving a series of small black footprints on the birch tabletop.

Fang Yu stared at this scene:

"Fang-Ni-Ni, what are you doing?!"

"Papa, hug!"

This little girl stretched out her hands to hug her, and seemed to be in love with such a prank.

Fang Yu had no choice but to carry her over, put her in the palm of his hand, carefully wiped the ink on her feet with a handkerchief with his right hand, and then found the open bottle of ink, tightened the lid, and only the voice of the little girl giggled vigorously in the whole process.

Fang Yu glared at her.

Nini didn't care, just sat obediently beside her sister, dangling her white feet.

But when Fang Yu put the inkwell back, he suddenly thought of something-he turned the inkwell back, and let the side with the trademark face him--In the nearly half-century history of the Star Gate, Aitalia has learned a lot from the earthlings, and this trademark law is one of them.

The trademark on this bottle of ink, which also comes from the ink used by alchemists and magicians in the Ottorian Empire, is not an ordinary ink, and has a high demand for fading resistance, shelf life and high magic concentration.

This kind of ink can be found in some parts of Kaulin-Ishurian, but the best quality comes from the Ottorian Empire.

One of the most important materials for ink provided by the Otsyrian Empire was the scales of the Bavaran fluorescent agave. The plant grows only in a narrow valley in southern Bavarand, and the kingdom has tried to get the Chosen One to steal the seeds, but the introduction has been unsuccessful.

Bavaran fluorescent agave is now an important strategic item in trade between the two countries, and the high-quality magic potions made from it are also among the controlled items of the Osyrian Empire.

The sources of this stuff are very limited, and the Penelope royal family can buy some through various sources, but the Bavaran fluorescent agave-based ink, including the Kaulin-Ishurian artisans, is also a limited supply.

If this notebook had not been written by the Princess, it would not have been copied by an unknown person.

Either from the Penelope royal family, or from the upper echelons of the artisan association, or from the royal family of Kaurin-Ishurian, or from the upper nobility.

Of course, this is still a big range, and it may not necessarily be right, but at least it is an idea. Moreover, when Fang Yu thought of the Kaorin-Ishurian royal family in his heart, he couldn't help but think of the royal spy they killed, and his heart moved faintly.

He muttered for a moment, his hand unconsciously turning the page backwards.

There was a 'bang', and the last page of the attached page was already the text of the note-half of this page, a complex magic circle was drawn, but it was a magic guide array, an alchemy array or an elemental array, Fang Yu couldn't understand it, it seemed that there was some alchemy in it, but if you looked closely, it was a forked tree diagram inside.

It's like a general outline of something—

And considering that it appeared on the first page, that's not a small possibility.

Below is the main text, a whole text painted like ghost drawings. But Fang Yu looked at the winding words, and the familiarity in his heart rose again—exactly the same, exactly the same as the one he had read in his uncle's study.

The more he looked closely, the stronger this familiarity became in his heart—

It's just that the notebook in his uncle's study, which looks much more ordinary than this, is just a notebook with a leather seal that is very common on earth, and the contents of it are also written in the blue and black ink of an ordinary fountain pen, and he remembers it clearly.

And on the first page, there is no small print with that line of notes, and there is no pattern, just the text.

But the content of the text, especially the first sentence, gave him a strong sense of déjà vu. The only thing that struck him as uncertain was that it had been almost a decade ago, and he couldn't be sure if he really remembered what he had seen.

He watched silently for a while before turning backwards.

But because I couldn't understand it, I could only turn the pages as if I was looking at flowers.

After a 'whoosh' sound, he stopped on one of the pages.

On the page he stopped, the burnt paper was a full page of illustrations—as Princess Celestia said, there were many more illustrations in this notebook, but not every one of them he could read—most of the abstract patterns, which were simply confusing.

But this one is an exception.

On the rough paper, a series of twists and turns of the weathered coastline are sketched in simple pen and ink, which is obviously a map, on which also the mountains and forests are drawn, and a bifurcating river; On one side is a compass and an empty sea, and the approximate directions, shorthand place names, and some random numbers are marked.

The numerals are based on a nomenclature native to Aitalia, which, like Arabic numerals, is widespread across continents.

Therefore, although Fang Yu could understand the numbers, it could not further narrow down the origin of the scribe of the note.

He used the map to compare every coastline of Istania, St. Huyen, Eldron, the Coast of the Scepter and Tarun, and even Azuka, but he could not find a single one to do so. In addition, he did not let go of the Osyria, Rotao, the Giant Tree Hill and Gudasok, and even carefully compared the shape of the First Land Bridge, there was no place to echo it.

In fact, the map was certainly not his own discovery.

The Sand King Babaltan and the princess's kinsmen had already spent far more energy than he had in the past ten years to find out all the news contained on this map, and they had also found nothing, let alone him. How could the Seven Seas Brigade have such resources at their disposal be comparable to the Istanian royal family? Therefore, Fang Yu didn't put too much effort into this map, and after only comparing it a few times, he put it aside.

He only glanced at the numbers a few more times.

It doesn't seem to be like the air and sea 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 air and sea in Aitaria are not the invention of the earthlings, as early as the time of Noumerin, the elves used star finders to accurately measure the magic and coordinate distribution of this world, and humans just improved the method of recording this coordinate according to the habit of longitude and latitude on the earth.

As for the origin of this coordinate system, it has been known since ancient times.

He looked at it for a while, made sure he couldn't understand it either, so he shook his head and continued to scroll down.

The second pattern is a human figure.

But when it comes to figures, it is also a little different, and the style of painting of the pattern is typical of religious paintings in Aitalia - the serious, indifferent figure is located in the center of the painting, standing under a huge inner alcove, surrounded by stars, sun and moon, and some things with religious implications, such as winged oracles and demons, each occupy half of the picture.

There are also images of bones, roses and thorns, griffins and unicorns, which are common in religious paintings, but can be a bit cluttered.

He didn't know much about the religion of Aitalia, and had already sent it to his cousin for appraisal, who in turn approached Atila, and after some discussion, came to the conclusion that the biggest problem with the painting was that it lacked a true religious representation.

To put it simply, each of the gods of Ori has its own symbolic object, such as the oak leaf of Ameya, the anvil of the Lord of the Mountain, the white shield of Maran, and the emblem of the sun of Ori.

Miss Elf told him, "If the symbols of the gods are not painted, the painting may be a metaphor for another kind of being—the dark saints." ”

Fang Yu silently looked at the figure in the center of the picture.

It was a human girl, who did not look dark or weird, but there seemed to be a thick black mist behind her, from which some thorny thorns grew. Fang Yu looked more closely, only to find that the girl's eyes were closed.

However, this inexplicable painting, without annotation, he really can't understand it. Tang Xin promised him to check the relevant information, but it would take time.

He continued to flip down.

The last one he could read was the silver butterfly-like relief they had found on the royal agent's dagger and adorned with the dagger he carried.

This was also the only one of the three illustrations that he had a clue for, and he couldn't help but take out the dagger and examine it carefully under the light. But what does this mean? At that time, only one of the two royal agents had such a short sword on his body, and the short sword worn by the other person was just ordinary.

Fang Yu couldn't be sure whether the dagger was the identity of the Kaurin-Ishurian royal secret agent, or a token? But why did Her Royal Highness the Princess write such a pattern in her notes – what did it represent?

Thinking of this, he couldn't help frowning.

The attack on the princess of Barbartan, the King of Sands, more than a decade ago, was known to be related to wandering warlocks, slave traders, and possibly even the descendants of Flore, and now seems to be linked to the royal family of Kaorin-Ishurian.

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 for the interests of the Kaulin-Ihurian royal family in Istania, and the other party has no reason to make a move against the Penelope royal family.

These thousands of clues made Fang Yu feel a mess in his heart for a while.

He couldn't help but take a breath, thinking to himself how he was always involved in such a headless event, the last time he had a clue about the commission was about the Dragon Witch.

Now, Nicol Bolas's matter can be said to have finally come to light, but he didn't expect that it would not be long before he was involved in an equally complex whirlpool of events in Istania. But fortunately, this matter was chosen by himself, although he was a little confused for a while, but his heart was quite calm.

Flip through this booklet.

Fang Yu also preliminarily determined some ideas in his heart.

He hesitated for a moment before picking up his communication crystal and sending a message to Su Changfeng's number.

After only a moment, someone over there replied, but it was not Su Changfeng, but one of his team members. It wasn't the first time that the young man had dealt with Fang Yuan, so he asked with a smile: "Ed, you haven't slept so late, what's the matter?" ”

Fang Yu also knew this young man, named Charter, Su Changfeng told him that if he was not there, he could completely trust the other party.

So he opened his mouth and said, "Brother Zhang, I have something to find my uncle and aunt, can you help me contact over there?" ”

The young man froze slightly.

Tang Sheng and Zhang Rou are currently living in Hengfeng Harbor, and since they are in a military base, their external contact is naturally restricted.

Of course, this restriction is not absolute, after all, the two are still citizens who enjoy personal freedom - it's just that the private communicator has been handed over temporarily, and if you want to contact Shangyu and Tang Xin, you must use a public communicator.

You can apply anytime and anywhere, but it's a hassle, so in general, the two sides will only contact you once a week. Ms. Zhang Rou was obviously very uneasy about Fang Yuan, and every time she contacted her, she would preach a lot, resulting in Fang Yu definitely not taking the initiative to appear in front of the two of them unless necessary.

It was the first time that the charter had seen this request from the other party.

However, he didn't ask much, and only nodded-Fang Yu didn't have the address of the military's public communicator, so he could only passively wait for Hengfeng Port to contact him, so he would make this request to him.

After about a quarter of an hour, Fang Yu saw his communication crystal light up.

He opened the crystal and saw his uncle's face, appearing on the other side of the light page—he looked left and right, but he didn't want Tang Sheng to seem to see what he was thinking, and said, "Don't look at it, your aunt didn't come." ”

Fang Yu couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, he knew that under normal circumstances, his aunt Zhang Rou would definitely come, and the other party didn't appear, most of it was his uncle's credit. He couldn't help but give his uncle a thumbs up in his heart.

"Little Plover," Tang Sheng said at this time, "You suddenly came to me, you should have something serious, right?" ”

Fang Yu nodded.

He asked, "Uncle, do you remember the library in your study in the old house before we moved for the first time?" ”

Tang Sheng was stunned and immediately nodded.

Fang Yu asked again: "Uncle, I remember that there are a lot of old books in the library, after we moved, did we take those books with us?" ”

Tang Sheng felt a little puzzled by this sudden question, frowned slightly and replied, "Some of it was dealt with at that time, but most of it is still there, what's wrong?" ”

"Then ......" Fang Yu thought for a moment: "Uncle, do you remember what specific books are in it, such as one of them?" ”

To be honest, Fang Yu himself felt that his question was stupid enough, there were not thousands but hundreds 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 in so many collections, what books they have collected, and simply designate one of them?

Or if the book is more important, or if it is a special treasure, you may still remember it clearly, but if it is anything else, you probably don't remember it much.

However, the reason why he asked this was because he happened to have this manuscript in his hand, and if he showed it to his uncle, he might help him remember it. It's just that he didn't have time to do that, but he looked at his uncle with some surprise and frowned.

"Little plover," Tang Sheng asked, "Why did you suddenly ask about this?" ”

Fang Yu couldn't help but be slightly stunned, originally he thought that with his uncle's character, he would probably smile dumbly, and then shook his head and said Which one are you looking for, I'll go back and look for you. But I didn't expect that the other party's reaction was unexpectedly serious.

And Tang Sheng also seemed to feel that he was a little out of shape, and hurriedly explained: "...... The main thing is that those books are collected in the early years, and this matter is a little too old, why did you suddenly remember to ask this? ”

Fang Yu didn't think too much about it, and then he came back to his senses and replied: "That's the case, uncle, do you remember that once, I came to ask you about a notebook." It's just that I was recently in Aitalia and found a book that was somewhat similar......"

When Tang Sheng heard this question, he couldn't help but be stunned.

……

Ita's Pillar

Ita's Pillar