Deciphering the Notebook

"Three formulas appearing at once-there's more to this Notebook than meets the eye." Lorne stroked its cover.

"If these formulas are real, that would confirm this book has something to do with the supernatural."

"No, the fact that this content appeared out of thin air already proves it's a supernatural item."

"But how did something so valuable end up on a secondhand stall?"

Lorne leaned against his desk, resting a hand on his forehead as he pondered the Notebook's origins.

"I bought it in the first place because it reacted to spirituality. Looking at it that way, it would be stranger if this Notebook weren't a supernatural item."

"And these glasses couldn't even translate Chinese, which I can read, yet they can translate these symbols I don't understand."

He took out the monocle and put it on.

He did not infuse it with spirituality, though. He simply wanted to see whether anything looked different.

"Could it only translate writing related to mysticism?"

That seemed to be the only possible explanation for now.

"Should I try divination?"

Lorne remembered the Pendulum wrapped around his wrist and once again considered using that all-purpose method.

But after a moment's thought, he gave up.

"Forget it."

At present, he only knew how to perform divination with the Pendulum and Tarot Cards, and those two methods were better suited to questions with yes-or-no answers.

Using either method to divine the Notebook's origins was probably impossible.

As for methods that could yield more information, such as Dream Divination or Mirror Divination, he did not know how to use them.

For the moment, he had reached a dead end.

He infused the monocle with spirituality again, hoping to see more of the contents.

"No luck."

As he looked at the strange mystical writing before him, no translation appeared in Lorne's mind as it had earlier.

Instead, the monocle's built-in distortion filter made his head even foggier, leaving him unable to concentrate.

"Was that just a fluke? Or is the section about the formulas the only correct part of this book?"

"Looks like I'll have to find a way to decipher it myself." With the shortcut no longer working, Lorne could only try the most straightforward approach and decipher the Notebook on his own.

He had little choice. The potential rewards were simply too great. If there were more formulas later on-Sequence 6, Sequence 5, Sequence 4...

He hardly dared imagine how much those formulas would be worth.

"I'll check the library for clues..." Having made up his mind, Lorne stood and put on his outdoor coat, intending to visit the library.

"Lucky, come with..." Seeing Orange Cat sleeping lazily on his bed, he abandoned the idea of taking Lucky along.

"What a lazy cat." Lorne muttered and headed for the door, only to turn back after two steps.

"What was I thinking? How can I decipher the book without bringing it?" He tapped his head, feeling that he had become careless from being so absorbed in thought.

"This book is too precious not to keep with me." He tucked the Notebook into his shoulder bag, then went out.

"Honored Five of Clubs, our team has arrived in Tingen. As in previous years, we will be performing here with the circus for approximately one month.

Several newcomers are accompanying me this time, and I will do everything I can to ensure their safety.

Thanks to your generosity, we have ample funds for this mission.

What I wish to report is that I have discovered traces of Secret Order activity in Tingen.

As the Secret Order is hostile to the Society, I fear this may be more than a mere coincidence. They may have some other objective.

As a team captain, I lack the authority to take further action on my own.

Thus, I am writing this letter and awaiting your next instructions."

A magician in a tailcoat wrote the letter by candlelight.

After finishing, the magician set down the pen and lowered their head, murmuring something inaudible.

In an instant, the candle flame flickered. A pitch-black hand appeared out of nowhere and seized the letter, then vanished into the night along with it.

After two days of research, Lorne had gained a rough understanding of the writing in the Notebook from various ancient texts and history books.

He discovered that the Notebook was written in a language called Ancient Hermes. It appeared to be an older version of Hermes.

Since the original owner of his body had studied Hermes, Lorne was not unfamiliar with this language used in ancient rituals.

But the library had very few books on Ancient Hermes, making the deciphering work far from smooth.

Lorne suspected that Ancient Hermes might be related to the supernatural, which was why the authorities deliberately restricted most of the material concerning it.

That also made deciphering the entire Notebook on his own an almost impossible task.

Still, Lorne thought of an approach: look for the most frequently repeated words or sentences.

Much like cracking a cipher, frequently recurring passages were likely to be common words or expressions.

Once he deciphered those, he might be able to work backward and deduce the rest.

With that idea in mind, Lorne began searching through the entire book for recurring words.

Apart from a few nouns he had already identified and some possible interjections, he found that three words appeared most frequently.

Once he narrowed his focus to just three words, the difficulty of deciphering them dropped exponentially.

"Got it."

Holding reference material in one hand and a fountain pen in the other, Lorne scribbled on the draft paper before him.

His desk was covered with reference materials borrowed from the library. He had originally intended to do the deciphering there.

But then he thought of how this knowledge concerned mysticism. Working through it so openly in a public place seemed somewhat inappropriate.

So he had borrowed all the materials and brought them home, even getting a library card for the purpose.

Just now, he had successfully translated the first word.

"Hornacis."

"That sounds like a place name?"

The word's meaning was not as self-evident as Lorne had imagined. After thinking for a moment, he decided to set it aside and concentrate on deciphering the other two.

"Flegrea."

That was the second word he deciphered.

"This..."

"Why are they all such strange words? None of their meanings are obvious at a glance."

"Could my method be wrong?"

Having failed to glean any information from the second word either, Lorne grew somewhat irritable.

"Meow~"

"Lucky, be quiet. Don't disturb me." Lorne did not turn around, and his tone was a little impatient.

"Meow!"

"Meow!!"

"What are you doing, Lucky?" Frowning, Lorne turned and saw Orange Cat lying on the bed with her belly exposed.

"Your belly... Right, I forgot to feed you today." Lorne suddenly realized that he had spent the entire day at his desk.

"Wait, I don't think I've eaten either!" The moment he realized it, a wave of hunger washed over him.

"No one fed you when you were a stray. How did you get so lazy?"

Watching Lucky happily eat her fish, Lorne teased her with a smile. Then he returned to his desk to continue deciphering.

Perhaps because he had eaten, his thoughts felt clearer. Before long, he finished deciphering the word.

He picked up his fountain pen and wrote the final word on his draft paper-the one that also appeared most frequently.

"Antigonus."