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Chapter 93: Nameless Tome 2

The librarian led the way towards the secret section.

But a problem soon arose.

The entrance was hidden and they couldn’t reach the inner area.

‘As I thought, they set it so that only those with a membership can access it.’

The door would only be activated by either a special token or a special password.

Woohyuk stared repeatedly at the goddess statues on both sides of the door before taking out his golden magnifying glass.

‘We don’t have the time to wait until someone with a membership comes.’

And even if someone did arrive, the chances of him letting Woohyuk inside were low.

There would most likely be a big fuss, and the security of the royal library would become a lot tighter.

In other words, the current mess had to be overcome with just the three of them.

“What if we go back and ask Count Oswald? We won’t get anywhere like this right now…”

Choi Kayoon shared her thoughts as Woohyuk examined the surface of the walls with his magnifying glass.

It was the most reasonable choice as of right now, but Woohyuk still shook his head.

“Count Oswald probably doesn’t have access to the secret section. The membership holders are most likely part of other secret organizations as well, and that wasn’t the case for him.”

Groups like the Golden Rose Society and Pronoia were prime examples of such organizations.

The Golden Rose Society was a group of skilled masters who wanted to maximize their influence over the continent and control it behind the scenes.

Pronoia was a group of senior priests who, like fanatics, uncritically accepted the content of the gospels and thoroughly excluded values and actions against it.

Although their inclinations differed according to the purpose of their organizations, all of their members were all renown people with great social influence.

“Ugh… Then does that mean that this place is a den of dangerous wolves?”

“It will do us no good to face them recklessly.”

“Let’s, let’s find the door already. I don’t want to get involved with such groups as much as possible.”

Choi Kayoon’s expression instantly darkened.

Woohyuk nodded and continued examining the walls.

‘In truth, situations like this are where I can show my special skills.’

During the past 40 years, there was nothing Woohyuk could do other than fighting wars or exploring ruins.

So as long as he found a basic clue, he could easily learn the conditions to use the door to get inside.

‘Hm…?’

Soon enough, a small phrase became visible through his magnifying lens near the right-most edge.

- I have been thinking about the source of evil for a long time. However I never found the answer, as I didn’t realize that there was evil in the method I used to search for it.

‘An excerpt from the memoirs of the theologian Flavius.’

But what was their goal when hiding such a sentence here?

Woohyuk thought to himself before speaking.

“I see. This is referring to Saint Sophia.”

“Wha, what are you talking about?!”

“The saint of Delphoa who was ruthlessly killed by fanatics. This is the hint to open the entrance.”

The ‘ways to find evil’ mentioned in the phrase was referring to human reason.

In other words, it warned people that if humans tried to define evil, they would fall into a self-contradiction.

Moreover, this phrase was engraved next to the goddess statue to mourn the death of Saint Sophia.

During her lifetime, she was hailed as the Goddess of Knowledge amongst the wisemen.

“A hint? How can a deceased saint be a hint?”

“They say that Sophia was part of a secret association.”

[Eteria Rodinus].

Even Woohyuk had never met them in person. He had only heard of the name.

Eteria Rodinus was a secret association of wisemen that had existed since before the War of Gods and Demons.

However, if that group continued having successors, they would’ve continued using the same symbol.

“Then is there some sort of secret cryptogram that can be used as identification?”

“Obviously. Eteria Rodinus had actually created a language.”

The language of wisemen, Rosa Eterna.

If you didn’t know this language, you wouldn’t be able to understand the contents of their magic books even if you somehow managed to steal them.

Their purpose was to stop evil organizations such as the Golden Rose Society or Pronoia from abusing the power of their knowledge.

‘Completing and restoring the Nag Hammadi Chronicles in the past helped me.’

The Nag Hammadi Chronicles recorded the secret knowledge of gods.

And consequently, Woohyuk ended up learning a bit about Eteria Rodinus.

Woohyuk began to ponder about phrases that could potentially be used as a password.

‘The possibility of it being a phrase related to Saint Sophia is high.’

He was suddenly reminded of the ancient book that discussed her life.

Woohyuk stood facing the wall and spoke out loud.

“Quo vadis, Domina?”

It was the sentence spoken by Saint Sophia’s disciples as she got on a carriage while they were expecting an attack from the fanatics.

It meant ‘Where are you going, Goddess?’

To shortly talk about the following events, she left for the academy on schedule, but got kidnapped by the fanatics and was brutally slain.

It was such a shocking event that stories of it are being passed down even after a thousand years.

While Woohyuk thought about Saint Sophia for a moment,

Srrrrr.

The stone wall’s structure changed and an entrance appeared.

“Wow, did you often read novels by Agatha Christie or Sir Arthur Conan Doyle?”

“No. I just read a few ancient documents.”

As he searched for ways to reach the Divine Thrones, he ordered many eminent archeologists to research dozens of documents each day.

Thanks to that, Woohyuk knew a lot of miscellaneous facts.

Woohyuk marched onwards as he recalled the piles of old parchments he would always find on his desk.

“It’s a lot wider than I expected.”

“It seems like they don’t use this space just to keep books and documents.”

The secret section had a large, empty area in the center. It was most likely a space where they performed rituals regularly.

“But is the nameless tome truly in this section?”

“Probably.”

Although he didn’t know how the archeologist had managed to enter this section, Woohyuk didn’t doubt the fact that the nameless tome was kept in here as the archeologist couldn’t read or decipher the information about the Ark of Knowledge.

The nameless tome was definitely written in the wisemen’s language, in Rosa Eterna.

“The name of the authors and titles are all written. Do you think that there’s another hidden space?”

“That’s also possible.”

In case of an emergency, they may have designed the secret section in a double structure.

Eteria Rodinus did in fact have many enemies in the outside world.

Woohyuk took out his golden magnifying glass, when

‘Hmm?’

He felt a sharp gaze on his back for a short instant.

Woohyuk turned his head to face the being that was showing hostility against him.

“Interesting.”

There was a portrait hanging on the wall, containing the painting of an elderly wiseman.

“What’s so interesting?”

“Hide behind me for a while.”

Choi Kayoon silently obeyed him when she noticed the serious look in his eyes.

She had realized that something was wrong.

As he approached the portrait and extended his hand towards it,

[Why is a demon in here?]

The portrait’s elderly wiseman began speaking first.

When their eyes met, Woohyuk raised both his arms to show a non-confrontational attitude.

“I’m not here to fight. And I’m a human. I did inherit a demon’s name due to some circumstances, though.”

“...There’s a detail that seems amiss, but nevermind that for now. My name is Martinus. I am the guardian spirit of the hidden library. My guests, what are your names and for what purpose are you visiting this library?”

Martinus’ gaze alternated between Woohyuk and Choi Kayoon.

He had judged that they could have some interesting circumstances and gave them a chance to explain themselves.

“My name is Chun Woohyuk. I wish to learn about the Ark of Knowledge. This woman simply followed me. Heed her no mind.”

“The Ark of Knowledge… Only the chosen ones can enter it. But if you simply wish to know more about it, there is a way.”

As Martinus finished speaking, a system message popped up in front of Woohyuk’s eyes.

[New Quest]

Name: Martinus’ Trial

Rank: Ordinary

Contents: Gain Martinus’ trust by conversing with him after passing the trials he gives you.

Other: Cannot be repeated upon failure.

‘A hidden quest.’

Considering these circumstances, the reward for this quest was most probably the nameless tome.

There was no reason for him to refuse this quest.

Woohyuk gladly nodded to Martinus.

“I shall accept that offer.”

“I like your audacity. Once you’re finished with your preparations, place your hand on the portrait.”

The portrait on which Martinus was painted upon was now covered in a blue energy.

Woohyuk did as he was told and a blinding flash covered his surroundings.

***

‘This place is…’

He was in a bustling city with lots of people.

It was Port Delphoa, with its huge lighthouse reminiscent of a small castle.

He was most probably in Martinus’ imaginary world.

“Are you conscious now?”

Martinus stood next to Woohyuk as he spoke, a white robe resting on his shoulders.

He had the same appearance as in the portrait.

“What happened to the woman who was standing behind me?”

“She is currently waiting outside. But there’s no need to worry. Time flows faster in this space.”

“...I see. I can rest assured now. Anyways, what kind of trial are you giving me?”

“Let’s walk for a bit. You’ll see what it is in a while. Oh, and this is a warning, but the test isn’t quite presented in the same manner as an exam test.

He meant that the trial wasn’t something so simple to understand, such as saving someone or finding an item. It wasn’t a test where they had a designated goal from the start.

In other words, he would be observing Woohyuk making decisions and acting within various different situations.

‘That sounds like a bit of a pain.’

In these kinds of trials, there were many cases where the trial-giver would consider the challenger ‘unworthy’ just because of their subjective emotions and thoughts.

However, if you try to match their preferences and modify your decisions accordingly, they would be called opportunistic.

Therefore, it was better to act according to your own beliefs no matter what kind of problem you had to deal with.

“Is this the times before the War of Gods and Demons?”

“Indeed. Back then, us Eteria Rodinus was being chased after by Pronoa.”

The wisemen were trying to hide their secret knowledge. They had come all the way to the Izuna Kingdom by running away from their fanatical pursuers.

Woohyuk was puzzled by Martinus’ explanation.

“Pronoia has existed even before the War of Gods and Demons?”

“Yes. They are a group of fanatics with a very deep history.”

Pronoia had accused and blamed Eteria Rodinus for stealing the Holy Grail.

The evidence they presented at that time was the epidemic that was crossing through the Eeth Continent.

They claimed that the gods were furious against Eteria Rodinus for stealing the Grail and were punishing the humans.

“They’ve made up quite an extreme story.”

“We never got a chance to argue back. The Holy Aperian Empire had sided with them.”

The Pope, the Cardinals, and all the senior priests were directly or indirectly related to Pronoia.

No matter how strong and influential the wisemen were, they were powerless against the continent’s sole empire.

So the wisemen of Eteria Rodinus all took the path of hermits and created secret crypts for their ancient documents.

“Are you talking about Rosa Eterna?”

“So you know of it. We were trying to protect the secret knowledge of the ancestors and those of the divine lineage.”

Martinus stopped and pointed his cane forward.

There, was a female blond scholar wearing a blue dress.