Chapter 86: Rashid? Rosetta!

After Sheriff's words fell, the attention of the others on the scene turned towards Liang En. For these professionals who specialized in the study of ancient Egypt, whether this dead language of Ancient Egyptian in the world could be deciphered was closely related to their future. Hence, they were genuinely curious about how far Liang En had progressed in this regard.

"You're right, Ancient Egyptian does indeed appear to be a pure hieroglyphic script, but hieroglyphics also undergo gradual evolution." Realizing that everyone's eyes were on him, Liang En addressed the people present.

"However, with the passage of time, those hieroglyphics also undergo changes. For example, Chinese is an important example of this. The earliest Chinese was composed of hieroglyphs, but with time, they evolved into logographic characters."

"So, in this context, I believe that since the sacred script of Ancient Egypt has preserved a significant portion of hieroglyphs, it's also likely to have evolved into logographic characters similar to Chinese."

"Based on this understanding, I compared the remaining fragments of Coptic, the language that evolved from Ancient Egyptian, with the ancient Egyptian script that has come down to us. Through this process, I gradually deciphered the true meanings of these ancient Egyptian characters."

Liang En briefly explained his process of translating this language. He didn't expect to convince Sheriff, who seemed to be a little obstinate, but he wanted the people around him to understand what he had done.

Those present were all professionals in historical research, so even though Liang En's proposal differed from tradition, it made sense from various principles.

"This is a very meaningful attempt," said a researcher named Phineas, who specialized in Ancient Egyptian craftsmanship. He then looked at Sheriff. "I don't know whether Mr. Liang's conclusions are right or not, but it's at least a breakthrough."

"For us, any conjecture should be allowed. Especially when we're not making new valuable progress in the realm of hieroglyphics in a short amount of time, a new perspective, even if flawed, is still very valuable."

"And you, Mr. Sheriff, I don't know what grievances you have with Mr. Liang. But I need to remind you that in matters of academia, when opposing someone's viewpoint, we need sufficient evidence, not just our own speculations."

Evidently, Mr. Phineas held a high reputation among the individuals visiting Egypt for research. So, after he finished speaking, everyone dispersed to their own tasks, ignoring Sheriff's repetitive arguments.

"We should give him a taste of his own medicine," watching Sheriff sneak away amidst the crowd, Fan Meng walked up to Liang En and spoke softly in Chinese. "Constantly bothering us is really annoying."

"How should we teach him a lesson? Should we beat him up with a sack or toss him into the Nile nearby?" Liang En shook his head in exasperation. "For us, unless we have concrete evidence, resorting to violence would only make us appear desperate."

"Especially since, even though he's being a nuisance, he seems to be engaging in an academic discussion on the surface. So, unless I can find evidence in academia to support my viewpoint, there's not much we can do."

"After all, academic matters like these can only be resolved through academic means. It's similar to how in a debate, you can't resort to punching your opponent."

As night began to fall, everyone gathered together and engaged in a lively discussion. It was at this time that they steered the conversation towards the history of the city of Rashid.

"Excuse me, you just mentioned that this city has another name. What's the story behind that?" While Liang En and Fan Meng were sitting on the side, listening to some scholars talk about the history of the city, Liang En suddenly heard a somewhat familiar pronunciation and quickly asked.

"Ah, that's from the colonial era," Mr. Phineas said earnestly. "For the colonizers, sometimes they couldn't pronounce the local place names correctly, so they would choose a similar pronunciation for convenience."

"In such cases, this place called Rashid naturally got an English name. It's called Rosetta—Liang En, what are you planning?"

Mr. Phineas looked at Liang En in surprise because as soon as he mentioned "Rosetta," Liang En had sprung up as if he had springs on his backside, quickly rushing towards the half-buried stone slab they had uncovered earlier.

"I've suddenly got an inspiration." Liang En said briefly before charging into the room where the stone slab had been placed. Seeing this, Fan Meng followed him into the storage room.

"Rosetta, it's actually Rosetta. I should have thought of it when I saw the first line on that stone slab earlier." Liang En finally recalled the familiar sensation he had when translating.

This was because the lines he had translated from the stone slab earlier were actually the cornerstone of Champollion's study of Ancient Egyptian language, the opening lines of the Rosetta Stone.

The reason he hadn't thought of this immediately was that the original stone slab, when unearthed, didn't have the top part of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, only the Greek version.

Realizing this, Liang En realized that the fragment he had found might very well be the upper half of the Rosetta Stone, which had disappeared in his own world, at least in terms of size.

So, while synthesizing four [Detection (N)] cards into one [Detection (R)] card, he quickly made his way to the room that served as a storage area and arrived at the side of the stone slab.

"Brother, why did you rush over when we're about to have a whole roasted lamb?" Just as Liang En approached the stone slab, Fan Meng also entered the room and asked. "It's about to be served."

"I suddenly thought of something very important." Liang En said as he pulled out a powerful flashlight and a small brush. "Can you tell from the wear marks on this stone what caused most of the abrasions on its surface?"

"I can tell to some extent." As a soldier who had spent a long time on the front lines, Fan Meng had a fair understanding of these kinds of marks, so he quickly found some of them on the stone slab.

"Besides weathering marks, there aren't many signs of abrasion on these stone slabs." Fan Meng carefully examined the stone slab from top to bottom and said.

"And that can only mean two things: either this castle was built on the foundation of an ancient temple, or the construction materials, though from elsewhere, were transported directly via the nearby Nile—"

"It's likely the second one." Liang En said after a moment of thought, because the Nile carries a significant amount of sand and sediment, especially at its mouth. This sediment, along with organic matter, would accumulate in slower-moving areas.

As a result, the Nile's delta area was gradually extending into the Mediterranean Sea. This indicated that during the time these stone slabs were carved, this land near the sea might still have been underwater.

While the two were discussing back and forth, the process of constructing the castle was gradually pieced together. Seizing this opportunity, Liang En used the [Detection (R)] card on the half-buried stone slab.

In an instant, a point of light lit up in Liang En's mind. Interestingly, this point of light wasn't far from his current location—it was right in the small courtyard of the castle.

"That's fortunate— " Seeing the position of these points of light, Liang En felt a sense of relief.

It seemed that the people who had constructed the castle back then had dismantled the Ancient Egyptian structures quite neatly, which allowed the stone slab to arrive here intact. He didn't need to figure out how to transport it further into the desert.