Chapter 100: It

Lin Jie’s eyes lit up.

Resources related to lost languages of Azir!

Previously when Joseph had given him that heirloom sword, Lin Jie was intrigued by the inscriptions on the blade and had casually mentioned it.

Following that, Joseph suggested helping search for some resources, yet Lin Jie hadn’t expected a result that quickly.

Joseph is reliable indeed!

Lin Jie reached over for the stack of notes and did a quick flip through. He immediately understood why Claude had said that ’the research progress was slow.’

The thick stack was largely records and stone rubbings of some original text. Only a few thin papers at the back were the research results of later generations.Moreover, this research didn’t follow any set rules.

It felt as though a bunch of different people had researched separate portions and mashed them up together.

No matter how Lin Jie looked at it, the research was merely a bunch of ’guesses’ and ’conjectures.’ The actual translated portions were few and far between.

During this quick scan-through, Lin Jie ascertained one thing— the majority of these archivers and translators that very likely the people who had unearthed these historical remnants weren’t professional academics.

It didn’t mean to say that there were no academics amongst those that had unearthed these remnants, just that the documents were disorderly. It seemed as if these people had casually written down their thoughts after receiving the stone rubbings before setting them aside and not doing any follow-ups.

If it were later generation academics that wrote down all these, Lin Jie was certain that they wouldn’t have let these studies come to an end so abruptly, unless they encountered special circumstances.

Otherwise, the only other way to describe this was bad professionalism.

But excluding all these scrap research notes, what remained was approximately 12 pages of stone rubbings. This was an unexpectedly abundant quantity and Lin Jie felt gratified.

Lin Jie tidied up the documents and placed them on the table before smiling at Claude. "Coming over specifically to send this must have tired you out. Do you want to rest for a bit and maybe read some books? I can recommend a few."

Claude already expected the bookstore owner to say something like this. He glanced at the bookshelves and the shadows hiding behind Lin Jie and hesitated for a bit.

"Thanks for your kind offer, but I still have to deal with these three impertinent fellows and can’t spare some leisurely time at the moment."

Claude gestured at the three police officers lying on the ground, indicating that he would very much like sitting down to read some books, just that he couldn’t spare the time to do so now.

He declined not because he knew what was good for himself, but rather, he was abiding by his teacher’s instructions.

Claude knew that the books within the bookstore weren’t that simple, and he also knew how powerful the owner was. However, he had to consider whether he himself could handle the bookstore owner’s gift.

His teacher’s daughter had recently fallen into an uncontrollable studying mode and had no way of stopping herself as a result of a book from this bookstore. Had it not been for Joseph’s forceful interruption, who knew what disastrous consequences might have occurred...

Fortunately, Melissa had fainted due to the lack of food and sleep at that time. But even so, she had been confined to the bed for an entire week and was still recuperating.

On top of that, there seemed to be some slight changes in her character.

Even though his teacher said that the benefits Melissa gained far outweighed the price, Claude still couldn’t stop himself from the subconscious sense of dread and trepidation.

Thus, before coming here, Joseph had taught Claude that he could try to tactfully decline if the bookstore owner tried to recommend some books.

And if he had no option but to accept, Claude needed to proceed with extreme caution, ask about the use of the book, and open it with the owner present. Alternatively, he could bring it back and run through it together with his teacher.

Under no circumstances was he to read it alone in private.

"Ahh, that’s a real pity. Another time perhaps."

Lin Jie found it regrettable but he didn’t show it. He glanced at the three police officers on the ground once again and shook his head.

"But to be honest, this is the worst batch I’ve seen... Your Central District Police Unit should really raise the recruitment standards and overall quality."

This batch?

Claude caught these important words. That means that the bookstore owner had interacted with Central District Police in the past.

He made a mental note of this new information.

"You are right, I will bring this up to the higher-ups," said Claude with a nod of his head.

"Aside from that, feel free to contact me if you have any other requests. This is my number."

"Definitely." Lin Jie gave the usual polite formalities as he added a new number to his rarely used communications device.

Claude noticed a vague druid insignia on the back of the bookstore owner’s communications device.

From the known information, this bookstore had been under the Ash Chamber of Commerce’s banner. Moreover, it had been exactly three years... Three years ago was the time when the Chapman family took back that ’half-breed’.

If nobody knew about the existence of this bookstore, then the ’Chapman Witch’ would really remain an unsolved mystery.

But joining up the dots now made everything clear at once.

So, the bookstore owner’s influence started three years ago. And who knows how many chess pieces he has scattered in these three years...

Claude felt his throat tightening slightly. The fortunate thing was that inclusive of Wilde, there currently weren’t too many people that knew about the existence of this bookstore.

Even those at the Truth Union were still in the stage of unawareness.

This is a good thing... Secret Rite Tower’s decision to blockade out this information was just too timely.

When the Truth Union faces a divide in the future, they hopefully will not choose to court disaster. After all, Secret Rite Tower had already given sufficient warnings.

"Oh right." The bookstore owner suddenly looked up and broke Claude’s train of thoughts.

Claude immediately sat straighter. "Do you have any other instructions?"

Lin Jie chuckled seeing the look on the face of Joseph’s disciple. Both of them seemed like they were of similar ages, yet the other party appeared to treat Lin Jie as an elder...

Haa... But such a misunderstanding is reasonable since I know his teacher.

"Don’t be so nervous. It’s not like I eat people." Lin Jie jested to lighten the mood before asking, "How’s Melissa? Has she been studying?

"I’m talking about your teacher’s daughter. Previously, she was probably at loggerheads with Joseph when she came over to arm wrestle with me and ended up buying a few reference books home.

"Now that I think about it, that might be a little too difficult for her current level. I hope that her studying is going fine."

She’s having some difficulty indeed... She’s already been lying in bed for a week. As for whether you eat people or not? I think the three fellows lying here know best...

Claude cursed silently, then politely replied, "Thank you for your concern. She’s deeply engrossed with studying. Even though she’s recently been unwell, her progress has been evident."

"That’s good. Tell her that she has to keep a proper balance between work and rest to achieve the best results," said Lin Jie.

"I’ll pass on your message." Claude heaved a sigh of relief. Melissa would probably listen since it was the bookstore owner that had said this. "I’ll be taking my leave first if you don’t have other instructions."

Having gotten a nod from the bookstore owner, Claude stood up and carried the three disoriented police officers out of the bookstore.