"You said it was 100 years ago?" The calm tone of the person on the other end suddenly became agitated. "Sir, please wait a moment, I will call you back to confirm this matter."
Half an hour later, Leonard Ethan's mobile phone rang. After picking up the call, he once again heard the voice of the middle-aged man from the earpiece.
"I'm very sorry. We just spent some time verifying your information. After checking the family's records, we can confirm that our family did indeed leave some of the wealth managed by the head of the family in the United Kingdom or Ireland at that time."
"To be honest, your call is really unexpected. We can hardly believe that someone would want to return those treasures to us."
"Yes, it is indeed a significant amount of wealth, but this wealth does not belong to me, so I certainly won't take it for myself." Since Leonard Ethan had decided to return the unearthed gold and jewelry to their owner, naturally, it would be acceptable to praise himself a little.
"Thank you very much!" After listening to Leonard Ethan's words, the middle-aged man expressed his gratitude. "By the way, where are you now? We will send someone to the location you specified to collect these things."
After introducing themselves, the other party asked about Leonard Ethan's whereabouts, clearly knowing that it would be inappropriate for him to deliver the items at this time.
"Well, I am right now near Dublin. If you want to come, you can give me a day's notice, and then we can meet near Connolly Train Station."
"Alright, no problem. We will notify you one day in advance, Mr. Ethan."
On the morning of the third day after the call, in a coffee house near Connolly Train Station, Leonard Ethan and a middle-aged man with graying hair sat face to face at a table, on which there was a small backpack.
The backpack contained more than a dozen gold bars carved with characters and two silver boxes full of jewelry. The middle-aged man took out a magnifying glass and carefully examined the characters on the gold bars.
A few minutes later, a gentle and rhythmic knock on the door broke the silence in the room. A young man in a black suit walked in from outside and whispered something into the ear of Butler Robson.
"Thank you very much for your contribution." After hearing the report of the bodyguard who had been sent outside to count the gold bars, Butler Robson put down the gold bar in his hand and stood up to give him a formal thank you.
On these gold pieces carved by Jack De Brian, there was a record of the number of gold bars and jewelry. So the bodyguard had gone to count the number of gold bars.
Obviously, the numbers now corresponded.
"By the way, because of your contribution to this matter, we will also provide appropriate compensation. However, since we have to confirm the value of these items before we can determine the specific amount of compensation, so it may take some time to pay."
Butler Robson took an envelope out of his pocket and opened it. He then took out two pieces of paper from the envelope and began to fill in the blanks.
A minute later, Butler Robson handed the filled sheet of paper to Leonard Ethan. Only then did Leonard Ethan notice that the contents of the two pieces of paper were identical, both receipts, and the information the butler had just filled out was the count of all the riches.
One had to say that these nobles obviously had far more experience in this regard than ordinary people, so the entire receipt was written very well, and it was also noted at the end that they had not given Leonard Ethan the corresponding compensation.
After signing their names on the two receipts, Butler Robson left with the gold and jewelry. Although it should be challenging to take these items across borders, the other party must have had their methods, as they dared to come here.
Because the snacks and drinks on the table had already been paid for, and because Leonard Ethan would not ordinarily patronize such high-class coffee establishments, he decided to eat and leave.
As he was eating his chocolate muffin, his phone suddenly made a "ding" sound. Grabbing his phone, he saw a new email in his inbox.
"It can't be another advertisement." Leonard Ethan stuffed the muffin into his mouth with one hand and unlocked his phone with his thumb, opening the email.
"The British Archaeological Association Journal replied--" Seeing the contents of the email, Leonard Ethan immediately straightened up and began to read it seriously.
The content of the email was simple, stating that his paper would be published in next month's British Archaeological Association Journal, and reminding him to look out for the submission fee.
Obviously, the British Archaeological Association Journal, a top-tier journal, has enough funding behind it. So, not only do they not charge page fees from authors, but they also pay submission fees to those who publish papers in the magazine.
"Fantastic!" After carefully reading the email, Leonard Ethan exclaimed with excitement. For him, this paper represented a firm step in his academic progress.
For Leonard Ethan now, the most important thing was to see how far his "Golden Finger" could take him. To accomplish this goal, historical and archaeological academic status was just as important as money.
Otherwise, even if Leonard Ethan knew some important historical sites, such as the location of Troy, it would be impossible to excavate these ruins through legitimate means.
For the next few days, Leonard Ethan wrote his next paper at home and sent it to the British Archaeological Association Journal via email. After all, for him, this was the perfect opportunity to strike while the iron was hot.
The second paper was based on the content of the first paper. With the aid of the Coptic language and the content derived from the previous paper, this paper proposed that ancient Egyptian text had an innate ability to convey meaning.
As an example, the name of a Pharaoh who was a native Egyptian was used. The last two letters of the name had been found in the names of previous foreign Pharaohs, which is how it was known the sound was S.
One of the unknown letters represented the sun and was pronounced Ra in the Coptic language.
The other letter had appeared in a previous fragment containing Greek and ancient Egyptian texts, so its meaning was known to be "birthday" and its Coptic pronunciation was Mes.
Thus, when the whole word was pronounced together as Rameses, it was the famous Pharaoh Ramses, which meant "The Sun God was born."
In addition to this example, Leonard Ethan also listed several other names of native Pharaohs as examples to demonstrate that Egyptian native names were also created by spelling letters out.
At the end of the article, he put forward an important point; that there was a significant connection between the Coptic language and the ancient Egyptian script.
At the same time, he also pointed out that the rest of the deciphering work is to use the Coptic language as a blueprint and then compare it bit by bit and authenticate it, finally deciphering the lost ancient Egyptian text.
Of course, thanks to Jean-François Champollion of this world.
Although, due to various twists and turns, he did not decipher the secrets of ancient Egyptian texts. Still, he meticulously organized the Coptic language and compiled a Coptic dictionary, which laid a solid foundation for Leonard Ethan's current work.
Leonard Ethan carefully checked his paper several times before submitting it. As he relaxed, contemplating whether to take a few days off at home or head straight back to London, a phone call changed his plans.