The Blind Saint Who Can See - Chapter 37
Only Noblemtl
#37. The End of Spring (2)
Izumi, Cedric, and I arrived in front of a circular hole.
But Cedric’s expression is strange.
“… Your Majesty, are you sure you want to go in? It is unclean.”
“Unclean?”
“That’s… … That, that’s, anyway, dirty. It doesn’t suit the saintess.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
My eyes widened.
“… … Isn’t this the Demon’s excrement?”
“After all, it’s just a plant.”
I explained calmly.
“What is tree droppings?”
“… … What is it?”
“It’s sap or honey!”
Cedric looked shocked.
It was the same for Izumi.
“Stool is honey? This is totally a thesis. No, if excrement is liquid, isn’t it urine?”
“They say Changcheon has a total sewer system.”
“Aha! That’s fascinating. But how do you know that, Saint?”
Yeah. I saw it on the original author’s SNS.
“… … Go in.”
“Whew!”
Cedric, who had been looking at Izumi with a disgusted expression on his face, couldn’t bring himself to say anything to me and kicked Izumi into a hole.
Izumi, who had entered the slightly gaping hole head first, shouted loudly from inside.
“It smells really sweet!”
Cedric, who was left holding me, looked back and forth between the disgusting hole and me with a very conflicted expression on his face. He seemed to be contemplating who to put first into the hole that could barely fit one person.
Fortunately, his worries didn’t last long, thanks to Izumi cutting a narrow hole with her sword.
“I will go in.”
He walked into the entrance, which was large enough for two or three people to fit through. Then he saw something like a giant coffin inside. It looked like a cross-section of a tree cut into pieces.
“It’s really inside the tree.”
“Which tube should I climb up?”
The two people were looking around.
“Hero, Master Cedric. If you see anything nearby, please tell me everything.”
“If you can see it… Oh! There’s something written here.”
He fumbled and read the engraved pattern.
“1533441542. A number?”
“There are numbers on this side too.”
Cedric spoke as he carefully picked me up and held me in his arms.
“This number seems to be a milestone, but it’s hard to tell what it means. The number of pipes also seems to be over a hundred.”
I know. I can see it.
‘But it was unexpected.’
In the original, it was easy to get to the center through the entrance, but the exit starting point seems to have many forks in the road instead of being easy to get into.
I listened to what the two men were saying and carefully looked at the numbers engraved on each coffin.
115533441542
23114413154254
53543115329
3523313415324
43343444
35233134153223
535431153252
131533441542
433434447
35233134153289
… … .
An endless feast of numbers!
Normally, I would hold my head and groan, but it would be a mistake to look down on a graduate student who has been wrestling with numbers for over 20 years.
I can do it.
I can… … … .
I can… … .
There is… there is… right?
‘What the hell?’
The numbers written on each pipe are each quite long. In addition, there are duplicate numbers.
‘The number of each number is mostly even… … and there are odd numbers mixed in.’
Hey. Wait a minute.
I think you know this?
“Saint?”
“Did you know something?”
When in doubt, just try it.
After verifying my hypothesis with mental calculations for about a minute, I smiled with satisfaction.
“This is the Polybius cipher.”
“… … Polybius Cipher?”
“Poly… … Yes?”
Izumi looks hesitant and Cedric looks blank.
I explained it for both of them.
“The Polybius cipher is a 5×5 substitution cipher. It can be applied to most letters, so it is quite versatile.”
To be exact, it is a substitution cipher created by the Greek historian Polybius. It is a cipher that started out in Greek and is currently being used in modern times by replacing it with the alphabet.
If you ask why there is something like this in a fantasy world… … The original author is Japanese! It is only natural that there are traces of the Earth.
“You can decipher it by listing the numbers 1 to 5 from top to bottom, then arranging the letters in order, and reading the vertical and horizontal numbers alternately when the corresponding letters appear. It’s a simple code that children can use… … Hmm.”
Cedric’s eyes were spinning. It seemed like it would be better to draw a picture.
“Sir, could you lend me your dagger?”
“yes!”
After I got my hands on Izumi’s dagger, I drew a sign on the wooden wall.
“This is what the sign looks like.”
“Ah! I remembered!”
“… Indeed, I understand.”
“Based on this table, if we interpret the numbers you just mentioned, it is like this.”
I listed the numbers and words.
1533441542 is ENTER
23114413154254 is HATCHERY
5354311532 is XYLEM
352331341532 is PHLOEM
43343444 is ROOT
… … .
“The numbers written after XYLEM (water pipes), PHLOEM (body pipes), and ROOT (roots) are probably numbers. That’s why there are numbers higher than 6 and odd-numbered ciphers that aren’t in the Polybius cipher.”
The Polybius cipher is based on the deciphering method, and in principle, it must consist of numbers less than or equal to 5, and the number of numbers forming a word must be even.
I would have noticed it sooner if it weren’t for the number at the end.
“Then where should we go… … .”
“yes.”
131533441542.
CENTER.
“Let’s head to the center.”
With my confident remarks, the three of us began to climb up the coffin.
***
When Liliana opened her eyes, what she was greeted with was a reality as harsh as a dream.
No, it might not be ‘as much as’ a dream. At least it was certain that the mother and the saintess were alive in this world.
‘… But this is difficult.’
Clearly, until just a moment ago, he was by Diold’s side solving the case. But now?
“A huge tree… … .”
Clouds and branches covered the sky. Even though the sun was still up, the precious citizens of the kingdom were lying down under the dark background like night.
“Liliana!”
“Diold?”
When I turned around, I saw Dior wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.
“It’s been like this for an hour now. No, I don’t know exactly when it started… … .”
“Were you dreaming too?”
“Yeah. I woke up an hour ago.”
Liliana wondered what kind of dream Diold had. But right now, resolving this situation was more important than such trivial curiosity.
“Where is the warrior?”
“I went to where the warrior was earlier, but there was no one there. It seems like he woke up early and is wandering around.”
“… Indeed. So you didn’t just receive the Holy Sword by luck?”
The ignorant nobles gossiped about his humble family, but the one chosen by the Lord could not be a criminal.
“I think it would be better to go near that giant tree first. Liliana, you can wait here.”
“What are you talking about?”
Liliana’s eyebrows twitched.
“I am also a member of the royal family of this country. It is not right for me to remain silent when my people are in danger.”
“……okay.”
Diold nodded.
Liliana is not very good at magic. However, she has been training in self-defense, so she thought she could protect herself.
“Then let’s go and see.”
peel.
Before he could finish speaking.
“Oh my god!”
“Ugh!”
Diold was hit by a passing Minotaur and rose high into the sky.
It was Diol’s Passion Day.