Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 160 (Patreon)

Chapter 160: Ancient Texts and Secrets

Luo indeed found an ancient scroll case containing an unknown object within the brick wall, leaving Sanbica Norton speechless.

Whether it's information seekers or field surveyors, they would have turned the ruins of Parlo City upside down. Except for the lord’s tomb, which is hard to locate, how could such an obvious oversight remain?

Sanbica's view was that if so many people hadn't found it, why had Luo been able to?

After obtaining the scroll case, Luo didn't rush to open it but stored it away. Then, unnoticed, he left the ruins with Sanbica and returned to the lakeside cabin they had rented.

Even if the site's staff found the security guard who had fainted, they couldn't discover anything as long as the site remained undisturbed, and would likely dismiss it as an insignificant incident.

The dim, soft light from the cabin’s window shone on the grass outside, with the moon reflecting off the lake’s surface, its silver light twinkling.

The surrounding woods were very quiet, and occasionally the sound of insects could be heard in the serene night.

Inside the cabin, Luo and Sanbica sat on chairs, looking at the ancient scroll case resting on the table.

"The object inside must be sheet music," said Luo.

He picked up the scroll case, the lid sealed with an adhesive that was still strongly sticky after all these years.

Hiss.

Under Sanbica's gaze, Luo directly cut off the lid and took out the contents.

Surprisingly, the scroll case contained not only a roll of dark-colored parchment but also a heart-shaped ruby the size of an egg, set in an intricately carved silver frame.

Even those who were not experts in gem appraisal could recognize the remarkable quality of this ruby.

"This isn't right..." Luo said, holding the parchment in one hand and the ruby in the other, his expression one of surprise.

The two items, only the ruby still retained traces of Nen, while the parchment did not.

This meant that the reaction was due to the ruby, not the sheet music.

"What's wrong?" asked Sanbica, curious.

"It’s not sheet music," Luo replied, furrowing his brow. When he touched the ruby, he received related information, but the parchment had no reaction.

He didn't absorb the Nen from the ruby and casually placed it on the table. Then, he unrolled the parchment and upon seeing the writing, his scalp tingled.

The writing was chaotic, twisted like tadpoles, and he couldn’t recognize a single character.

"Sanbica, do you recognize these words?" Luo handed the parchment to Sanbica, who briskly took it and spread it out for a look, also appearing puzzled.

The two exchanged the parchment without wearing gloves or taking any protective measures, and their handling of the parchment was quite casual.

If there had been an archaeologist present, they would have been furious.

Sanbica stared at the parchment for a while and, after comparing it with the languages she knew, couldn't find any similarities.

After a moment, she shook her head and said, "I've never seen it before, but it seems to be a type of ancient text."

She handed the parchment back to Luo.

Luo nodded and said, "Yeah, and from the format, it looks like a letter."

"If you want to know the contents, you could find a hunter specialized in ancient texts to translate it," suggested Sanbica.

"We'll see," Luo replied, rolling up the parchment and casually placing it on the table.

Since this was just an unidentified ancient letter, where had Fringe hidden the score for the Dark Sonata? Or perhaps, he didn’t have the score at all?

But the memory fragment clearly told him that the Dark Sonata was related to that scroll case.

Or perhaps, the contents of the parchment letter contained clues to the Dark Sonata, but if he handed the letter over for translation, that information would be leaked.

Considering confidentiality, he would have to find a friend with good relations, but he didn’t know any hunters specialized in ancient texts.

Thinking of this, Luo sighed lightly, picked up the ruby set in the silver frame, and with a thought, absorbed the Nen from it, increasing his strength by less than 1%.

"This is a matching gemstone," Luo suddenly said.

"Do you know the origin of this gemstone?" Sanbica blinked.

"Yes," Luo replied softly, having acquired the information about this heart-shaped gemstone from the White Smoke Font. "This gemstone is called the Singer's Heart, and together with another called Stadji's Tear, they are a pair."

"Stadji's Tear..." Sanbica tilted her head slightly, feeling vaguely familiar with the name. Before coming to the ruins of Parlo City, Luo had asked her to look up some information, which included Stadji's Tear, a gemstone that was famous at the time.

However, the information did not mention the Singer's Heart, nor that the two gemstones were a pair.

"These two gemstones contain a secret," Luo's fingertips caressed the gemstone, and the information given by the White Smoke Font related only to the gemstone, with no information about the Dark Sonata.

He was here to get the Dark Sonata, and had little interest in love stories or gemstones, even though... the value of this gemstone was immeasurable.

"What secret?" asked Sanbica.

"Uh?" Luo looked at her and laughed, "I thought you were only interested in viruses."

"Just curious, because I've never heard of Stadji's Tear having a matching gemstone," Sanbica replied.

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

"I don’t," she said with certainty.

Seeing Sanbica so confident, Luo was surprised and said, "Well, I really have to thank you for your trust."

"No need to thank me, you can tell me," Sanbica said seriously.

Luo chuckled lightly and said, "I only know that these two gemstones contain a secret. If you want to know what it is, we need to find Stadji's Tear."

"We need to find Stadji's Tear to know the secret?"

"Yes," Luo nodded.

"That's as good as not saying anything..." Sanbica looked at Luo with a slightly disdainful gaze.

Luo didn't mind, shrugged his shoulders, and said, "I'm not very interested in that secret, I just want to find the score."

Saying this, he placed his palm lightly on the rolled-up parchment, "Translating the contents of this letter might help us find clues."

But who to ask for the translation?

He didn’t want to ask outsiders, so Luo could only think of Chrollo. He wasn’t sure if Chrollo knew this ancient text but it might be worth asking him.

"I'm going to sleep now," Sanbica said, giving Luo, who was lost in thought, a look before heading to her own room.

"Okay," Luo responded without lifting his head.

After Sanbica entered her room, Luo finally looked up at the clock. It was late at night, not a good time to call Chrollo.

"Let's talk tomorrow," Luo muttered to himself, then picked up the parchment and gemstone and walked back to his own room.

Soon after, the staff at the ruins of Parlo City discovered the unconscious security personnel and were frightened into inspecting the site overnight.

This was something Luo and Sanbica didn’t know, as they were deep in sleep.

The next day.

Luo dialed Chrollo's number.

Chrollo was quite surprised to receive Luo's call.

Luo got straight to the point, confirmed Chrollo’s address, and then faxed over a segment of the letter.

"Did you receive it?" Luo asked.

On the other end, Chrollo picked up the faxed paper and said indifferently, "Received."

"This should be a type of ancient text, do you recognize it?" Luo pressed.

Chrollo glanced over the content on the paper, which was very brief, probably just a single sentence.

"I recognize it, but I’m not familiar," Chrollo replied after seeing the content.

"Is it difficult to translate?" Luo asked, brightening up at Chrollo’s acknowledgment, unable to deny Chrollo’s talent.

"Not difficult to say, but if the content is extensive, I can only translate the gist."

"Then I’ll send you the complete content now, take a look for me," Luo decided and faxed over the entire content from the parchment.

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