Chapter 160 Ancient Texts and Secrets

Law successfully retrieved an ancient scroll tube containing an unknown object in the brick wall, which left Sanbica speechless.

'Countless treasure seekers and researchers should have turned the ruins of Palo City upside down. Except for the tomb of the city lord, which remained elusive, how could such an obvious omission be left behind?'

Sanbica couldn't help but wonder: if so many had failed to find it, how had Law succeeded?

Without opening the scroll tube, Law did not rush to open it. He put it away, then left the ruins with Sanbica undetected and returned to the rented lakeside cabin.

Even if the ruins' staff discovered the unconscious guards, they wouldn't find any evidence of a theft. As long as the relics inside the ruins remained undisturbed, the incident would likely be dismissed as a minor, forgettable anomaly.

The warm glow of the cabin's lights illuminated the grass outside, while the moonlight shimmered across the surface of the lake.

The surrounding forest is very quiet, and in the silent night, only the sound of insects can be heard from time to time.

Inside the wooden cabin, Law and Sanbica sat on chairs, looking at the antique scroll tube lying on the table.

"The things inside should be the music score."

Law picked up the scroll tube. The lid was sealed tightly with an adhesive that remained surprisingly strong despite the passage of centuries.

Shhkk.

Under Sanbica's watchful gaze, Law simply sliced open the lid and removed the contents.

To his surprise, the scroll tube contained not only a roll of darkened parchment, but also a heart-shaped ruby ​​the size of an egg, encased in an intricately crafted silver frame.

Even someone with no knowledge of gemstones could tell that this ruby was of extraordinary quality.

"Something's off…"

Holding the parchment in one hand and the ruby in the other, Law's expression shifted to one of astonishment.

Of the two items, only the ruby had Nen on it, while the parchment did not.

In other words, the white smoke font reacted because of the ruby, not the music score.

"What's wrong?" Sanbica asked curiously.

"This isn't the music score."

Law frowned slightly. When he touched the ruby, he got the relevant information from the white smoke font, but the parchment did not react at all.

Law did not absorb the Nen on the ruby, but instead put it on the table. Then, he opened the rolled-up parchment and his scalp went numb when he saw the words written on it.

The text was a chaotic scrawl of strange, twisted symbols that resembled a writhing mass of tadpoles. Not a single character was recognizable to him.

"Sanbica, do you recognize these characters?"

Law handed the parchment to Sanbica, who took it without hesitation. She examined it carefully and soon looked confused too.

When the two people exchanged the parchment, they did not wear gloves or take any protective measures, and their movements of pulling the parchment were rather careless.

If there were any archaeologists present, they would definitely be furious.

Sanbica stared at the parchment for a while and compared it with the languages ​​she knew. However, she could not find any similarities.

After a moment, she shook her head and said, "I've never seen anything like this, but it's probably some form of ancient writing."

Then, she returned the parchment to Law.

Law took the parchment and nodded, "Yes, and judging from the format, it looks like a letter."

"If you want to understand it, you could ask an Ancient Text Hunter from the association to translate it." Sanbica suggested.

"Let's wait and see."

Law rolled up the parchment and set it back on the table.

'Since this is just an ancient letter with unknown contents, then where did Verdin hide the score of the Sonata of Darkness? Or was it never in his possession to begin with?'

'However, that fragment of memory clearly showed me that the Sonata of Darkness was related to the scroll tube.'

'In other words, the content of the letter in this parchment may contain clues about the Sonata of Darkness. But if the letter is given to someone else to translate, the information might be leaked.'

In order to maintain confidentiality, Law had to find a friend with whom he had a good relationship, but he didn't know any Ancient Text Hunters personally.

Thinking of this, Law let out a sigh, picked up the ruby ​​ in its silver frame, and with a thought, he absorbed the Nen on it, and the average value only increased by less than 1%.

"This gemstone is part of a pair." Law said suddenly.

"You know the origin of this gem?" Sanbica blinked curiously.

"Yes." Law understood the information of this heart-shaped ruby through the introduction in white smoke font, and said softly: "This gem is called the Heart of the Chanter, and it is paired with another gemstone known as Stargie's Tear."

"Stargie's Tear..." Sambika tilted her head slightly, feeling that she had some impression of the name. Before coming to the ruins of Palo City, Law had asked her to look up for relevant materials, and Stargie's Tear was mentioned, which was a world-famous gem at that time.

However, the records had no mention of the Heart of the Chanter, let alone the fact that the two gems were a pair.

"There is a secret hidden in these two gems." Law's fingertips stroked the ruby. The information given by the white smoke font was only related to the ruby, and there was no information about the Sonata of Darkness.

He came here to get the Sonata of Darkness and had no interest in the love story or the ruby, although... the ruby's value was undeniably astronomical.

"What secret?" Sanbica asked.

"Huh?" Law looked at her and chuckled, "I thought you were only interested in viruses."

"I'm just a little curious because I've never heard that Stargie's Tear has a matching gemstone." Sanbica said.

"You don't think I'm making this up?"

"Nope."

Hearing Sanbica's confident answer, Law said in surprise: "If I shared this information publicly, no one would believe me."

"But I believe you." Sanbica replied earnestly.

Law scratched his cheek and said seriously: "Thank you for your trust."

"You're welcome. You can talk now." Sanbica said seriously.

Law chuckled and said, "All I know is that there's a secret hidden in these two gemstones. To uncover it, I'll need to find Stargie's Tear."

"So, you need to find Stargie's Tear to know the secret?"

"Yeah." Law nodded.

"That's as good as not telling me anything..." Sanbica looked at Law with a slightly annoyed look.

Law didn't care, shrugged and said, "I'm not very interested in the secret, I just want to find the music score."

As he said that, he stretched out his palm and gently pressed it on the rolled parchment, "Translating the contents of this letter might lead to a clue."

'The real question was, who could I trust to translate it?'

If he wanted to avoid outsiders, the only person who came to his mind was Chrollo. Law wasn't sure if Chrollo recognized the script, but it was worth asking.

"I'm going to bed."

Sanbica glanced at Law, who was in deep thought. She was not very interested in the letter and the music score, so she headed back to her room.

"Okay."

Law responded without looking up.

After Sanbica entered her room, Law glanced at the clock. It was already late at night, so it was not a good idea to call Chrollo now.

"I'll deal with it tomorrow."

Law muttered to himself, picked up the parchment and ruby, and walked back to his room.

Meanwhile, at the ruins, the staff discovered the unconscious guards and scrambled to investigate the ruins overnight.

Law and Sanbica were unaware of this as they were still asleep.

…

The next day.

Law called Chrollo.

Chrollo was quite surprised when he received the call from Law.

Law got straight to the point and asked for Chrollo's address. He then intercepted a section of the text in the letter and faxed it to Chrollo.

"Did you receive it?" Law asked.

On the other end, Chrollo picked up the paper from his fax machine and replied calmly, "I got it."

"This appears to be some form of ancient script. Do you recognize it?" Law asked.

Chrollo glanced at the contents on the paper. It was very short, probably just one sentence.

"I recognize it, but I'm not fluent in it." After reading the content, Chrollo replied.

"Is it difficult to translate?" When Law heard Chrollo say that he knew him, his eyes lit up. He had to admit that Chrollo was a very talented guy.

"Not particularly. If there's a lot of content, I'd only be able to provide a general interpretation."

"Alright, I'll send you the entire letter now. Please help me take a look."

Law decisively passed on all the contents on the parchment.