When the Saint comes, she does not collect food

#483 - The Jade Record and the Star Record

Under Horn's meaningful gaze, the dejected Aijarong and the self-pitying other witchers were sent to the Holy Trinity Training Team.

With these witchers' attitudes, Horn's team might have a few more witchers in the future.

Although Jiluo is currently in Horn's team, he hasn't drunk the magic potion after all.

Of the four witcher arts—tracking, assassination, disguise, and protection—he embodies loyalty.

Jiluo is an old player who followed Horn through thick and thin; he even participated in the Longbridge Bloodbath back then.

So, Jiluo's skills may not be that great, but he is indeed reliable, and Horn believes the probability of him being outwardly compliant but inwardly defiant is very low.

If the Cheka team had witchers joining, it would probably be more efficient than it is now.

Order someone to seal off the entrances and exits of this underground palace and build a giant spider breeding farm outside as a cover.

After Horn told everyone to keep their mouths shut, he boarded a small boat, braved the drizzle, and sailed across the rippling Lake Nanzawa, returning to the mechanical palace on Autumn Dusk Island with Jeanne.

When he changed his clothes and went to the study, he didn't see Hilof.

Instead, Catherine was sitting in front of the round table, frowning as she flipped through the books brought from the underground palace.

Unlike Karl and Mittney, who needed to undergo intensive training first and then be taught by the Holy Father Society monks,

due to Catherine's special status, she attended classes on Autumn Dusk Island, learning directly from Hilof and Horn in a one-on-one setting.

Judging from her current attainments alone, her level in natural theology and "The Holy Path Salvation Training" is about to surpass Jeanne's.

"Where's Hilof?" Horn knocked on the round table in front of Catherine.

"Hilof is sleeping. I asked Jils to notify her. We have to wait a while." Frowning, Catherine put down the book in her hand, seemingly dissatisfied with Horn interrupting her train of thought.

"Can you understand these words?" Horn asked hopefully.

Catherine is also a big shot in wizardry, having undergone complete witch and wizard training, so maybe she can read them too?

"This is snake writing, very obscure. I don't recognize much, so I can only guess."

Catherine closed the book in her hand, revealing a piece of paper with a few words written on it.

"Snake writing? Is it the writing of a small tribe? Could it be the writing of the native aborigines of Black Snake Bay?" Horn sat down beside Catherine, looking at the words on the paper.

"How is that possible? Snake writing evolved from primitive Elvish and was created by the Scale Order."

As if remembering something, Catherine covered her mouth with a fan and laughed: "They insisted that this was the 'orthodox' Elvish script, but they were quickly slapped in the face by ancient books bought by the Secret Party from the Flesh Court.

They still stubbornly claimed that it was forged by the Flesh Court and that theirs was the orthodox one, and they have been using it until now."

Horn looked at the dozen or so words: "Is this the title of the book you translated?"

"Yes." Picking up a pen, Catherine lost her smile and drew on two names, "Maybe you're right, this is really a relic left by Hilof's mother. Of course, it's also possible that I translated it wrong."

The two names circled on the paper were "Emerald Tablet Notes (Seraphye Hilof's Edition)" and "Book of Stars Notes (Seraphye Hilof's Edition)".

Seraphye, is that Hilof's mother's name?

So, Hilof is actually a surname, and her so-called mother didn't even give her a proper name.

Horn hesitated for a moment whether to show these books to Hilof.

If she knew her mother's attitude, would she be sad? He wasn't sure.

Horn didn't want to make Hilof sad, but this was related to the Star-Forged Gear and the previous secrets, so he couldn't hide it from her forever.

Having such a morbid mother, it's better to recognize reality sooner rather than later.

"What about the other books?"

"Isn't it being translated?" Catherine said coquettishly, "If you hadn't come in and interrupted me, I would have translated them all."

"Okay, okay, you continue to translate. I won't bother you."

Sitting opposite Catherine, Horn picked up the book called "The Emerald Tablet", looked at the rugged writing inside, and fell into silence.

This kind of snake writing that no one recognizes is probably the reason why the witchers discarded it as miscellaneous books.

Books signed by Hilof's mother, the strange mechanical palace on Autumn Dusk Island, advanced ether research, blood slave Afu, long-haired zombies...

Connecting all the clues, Horn had a vague answer in his heart.

That Seraphye was either a witch of the Scale Order or a vampire cooperating with the Scale Order.

Do the clues have to be found from the Scale Order? This situation is getting more and more complicated.

"Horn, what are you looking at?"

While he was focused on thinking, Hilof's voice startled Horn, and the book in his hand fell to the ground.

He turned his head and saw Jeanne pushing Hilof's wheelchair. She tilted her head expressionlessly, looking at Horn's face, her wolf tail curled up like a dog's.

It seemed she was in a good mood today.

"Nothing, nothing." Horn bent down to pick up the book, but Hilof's upper body was very agile, and she quickly picked up the book before Horn could.

"What's this? The Emerald Tablet? Seraphye... Hilof!"

The curled tail suddenly straightened, the wolf ears on top of her head stood up, and Horn could clearly see that all the soft fur on her tail that was originally smooth had exploded, becoming fluffy.

Catherine, who was still translating, looked up and blinked in surprise: "You, do you understand the writing on this?"

"Ah?" Hilof looked up as if waking from a dream, "Why would I understand it? What is this writing? Why can I understand it?"

Horn stood up and gently stroked Hilof's head.

"No need to comfort me." Raising her head, Hilof's tail gradually lowered, "I was just too shocked. Sorry, I lost my composure. I'll translate it for you now."

Horn and Catherine exchanged a glance and gently rubbed Hilof's ears: "Don't force yourself. You can rest first. We'll talk about it in a few days."

As if to prove that she didn't take this to heart, Hilof opened the book in her hand and began to read silently, ignoring Horn's suggestion.

Horn had no choice but to squat beside Hilof and wait.

About ten minutes passed, but Hilof showed no sign of stopping. She stared at the words on the page with her emerald eyes, her expression unwavering.

However, she was turning the pages slower and slower, sometimes even having to turn back.

This was different from Hilof, who could read ten lines at a glance. With her brain, she actually needed to turn back?

It wasn't until the drowsy Jeanne accidentally hit her head on the desk, the crisp sound startling Hilof awake.

"I'm sorry. I accidentally got engrossed in reading." Hilof breathed a sigh of relief and closed the book.

"What exactly does it say inside?" Catherine couldn't help but ask.

"Do you know what the Emerald Tablet is?"

Seeing Catherine deep in thought, Horn at a loss, and Jeanne asleep, Hilof turned her wheelchair to the round table and put down the book.

"The Emerald Tablet is an alchemical classic from the Seven Hills Kingdom era, mainly introducing the principles of alchemy." Placing her hands on her knees, pressing down on her tail, Hilof began to introduce slowly.

"Unlike our current alchemy, there were no witches at that time, so it was a normal skill. Alchemists were considered the ancestors of modern pharmacists.

Because 'The Emerald Tablet' used a lot of code words and metaphors to maintain secrecy, this 'Emerald Tablet Notes' is an annotation, analyzing what each image represents.

And mother... translated and corrected this book, and added a lot of new content herself.

It aims to explore the essence of 'The Emerald Tablet', describing the entire world as an alchemical process, describing various transformations and the differences before and after.

To be honest, if this content were to spread, it would definitely create a new school of thought in the interpretation of 'The Emerald Tablet'."

"So, in a sense, it's a philosophical book? Unrelated to the Star-Forged Gear and your background?" Horn looked directly into Hilof's eyes.

Hilof stroked the cover of the book: "There are a lot of handwritten notes in it. I guess mother often read and took notes on the book, which may be related to the secrets of the Star-Forged Gear.

There are many obscure things in this book. I will try my best to translate everything in two months."

Seeing Hilof deliberately not mentioning the issue of her background, Horn quickly changed the topic and smiled at Catherine: "Okay, then our ancient grand library is even more like a real..."

"No, this book probably can't be put in the library." Hilof interrupted Horn.

"Why?"

"Mother only proofread the 'Notes', and the identity of the author of the 'Notes' is a bit problematic." Hilof opened the first page of the book.

"The author of 'The Emerald Tablet Notes' is called the Soredo clan." Hilof paused, "That Soredo clan of the thirteen vampire clans."