Papa, you haven’t taken your pills.
Hmm?

Your pills, papa.
What about my pills?
You haven’t taken them.

Of course I have.
That’s not true.

Look.
I don’t want any, they’re softening my brain.
If your heart stops, your brain won’t be any good to you anyway.

Fine, fine. I’ll take you accursed pills.
That’s better.

Are you still working on that?
Certain elements escape me.

I can’t figure out where Athaulf would have been, around the time of the conquest of Narbonne by Constantius in 414.
Isn’t there anything you can go on?
Yes, but it’s a bit thin.

...who, six years later, will be five times younger than his mother.”

It’s a math problem!

It’s so simple!
To know where Athaulf was that time, you need to find out how old his son was.

Let’s say x is the age of the son, and y is the age of the mother.
Are you following me?
Yes.

So, a mother who is 21 years older than her son would be: x + 21 = y

In six years, he’ll be five times younger than his mother…
...so we have 5x(x+6) = y+6

From this equation, we get…and put it back into the first equation. So, x = nine months.

In other words, Athaulf was at that moment with his wife. Because they were in the process of conceiving their son!
Marvelous!

Knock knock!

Oh, hello Michel! Come in!
You’re late.

I am so very sorry professor…I got caught up in an accident where a bus turned over!

Bad excuses will never cut the mustard, Michel!

I…
I’ve left you some files to organize.

And don’t forget to catalogue all of the descendants of Chilperic the first!
Of course, professor.

Well, I’ve got to leave – I’m going to be late for my lecture.

Michel will it bother you if I stay here and study while you work?
Oh, no no, not at all.

Thanks Michel – that’s very kind of you.

Oh, pfff.

Would you like a candy, Michel?
No thank you, my dentist has warned me against them.

Oh, I understand. But you know these days they make amazing dental prosthetics.

for example, my Aunt Maude, she’s got one, it’s very natural and you barely even see it.

But of coursh, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Chr…

Michel! is there something wrong?

I… I’m done and I’m going.
Already? What time is it?
5 o’clock.
Wow, I just don’t see the time pass when I’m working on my maths.

I’ll come get you in two hours, okay?
Sounds great.

Christine Christine Christine.

[silent]

Professor Alamaro?
Yes?

Jean! What can I do for you?
I just wanted to come and congratulate you on your last book.

Oh! So you like stories of the Visigoths!
You could say so! And I owe it all to you.

You have so clearly portrayed the splendor and the majesty of this legendary tribe! While reading, you just can’t help but become full of passion for them as they were, people of flesh and blood.

I can only rejoice that there are still young people out there who are capable of appreciating this snippet of history, violent, fierce, but oh so alive!

Alive, yes, you’ve got it! You literally bring them back to life!
You flatter me.

Do you still go out in the field?
No, not really…I’m getting old! Hee hee hee!

But you still have the air of a younger man.
You must be mistaken, my friend.

But what do you say to continuing this conversation tomorrow at the end of the day at my place? I should really get going…I’ll show you some little treasures from my collection.
What an honor, professor!
Come now, come, it’s a simple invitation, nothing more.

[silent]

[silent]

Hi, honey!
Hello.

[silent]

Come on, now, that’s not my girl!

I’ve had it up to here with all this crap, Jean!
Come, sit down, tell me all about it.

I spent all day hanging around, waiting for an awful little audition.

Then this jerk wanted me to take off all my clothes.

What did you do?
I told him I was an actress, not a prostitute.
That’s not bad! What did he say?
That the door was behind me.

It’s disgusting, Jean! They’re profiting from our misery!

Calm down, Simone! The poor devil’s right. You are so beautiful without your clothes.

Dirty pervert!

Are you still reading this thing?
Can you imagine that I’ve got a meeting with Professor Alamaro and guess what else?
What?

He invited me to come to his house tomorrow.
Oh! That’s great.

He wants to show me certain treasures from his collection.
Better and better.

You might even discover where he hides the parchment.
And glory and fortune will be ours!

But what if he doesn’t have it, Jean?
He’s got it, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

And he won’t be able to resist the pleasure of showing me.
You really seem sure of yourself.

Trust me and I’ll make you a queen.
Suits me.

How did you like it?
It was earth shaking.

Poor Lucia! Forced to marry a man whom she does not love and whom she kills the night of their wedding.

It’s terrible.
Don’t cry Christine I’ll buy you a drink at the bus paladium.

It’s nice of you Michel but I’ve got to get to bed early. I’ve got my maths exam tomorrow.
Well then I’ll bring you back.

You still seem so shaken up.

But Michel, no-one has the right to force someone to do what they don’t want to.

Can you imagine such a thing? Lucia’s integrity has literally been raped, Michel, and that’s why she can’t find the courage to live anymore.

She just doesn’t have anymore resources to draw on, she’s all alone, Michel, alone in the world.

And all of that despite the return of her fiancé – because he is too late the worm of remorse and grief has already nibbled away at her heart.

She dies of despair under the eyes of her beloved who has come back from the war and whom she no longer has the energy even to recognise.

It is horrible, Michel! Horrible!
Yes!

Christine, you are so…
We’re here!

Goodbye Michel and thanks again.
Wait!

Christine, I…
Don’t move anymore Michel.

Make a wish.
A wish?
Yes, a wish.

Now tap yourself on the cheek.

Tap!

Oh, what a pity it was the other cheek!

Your wish is not going to be granted.

Leave me on the corner of the street.

Hey little buddy are you feeling a little lonely?

We can fix that.

But it’s just an incredible wonder
isn’t it?

This votive crown was discovered close to Toledo. It’s completely realistic to say it was part of the visigoth treasure.
But this treasure has never been discovered!

Not exactly, my friend. After the battle of Vouillé a tiny portion of the treasure was sent into Spain and disseminated here and there…

But it’s almost entirely certain that the bulk of the treasure is still in Languedoc on the Lozet plateau.

Can you imagine!

The visigoths pillaged Rome in 410 and before that the Romans had sacked the temple of Solomon in Jerusalem…

The fortune must be huge.
Oh, even bigger than that, my friend, even bigger than that.

It seems that there exists three parchments which, once reunited, would reveal the exact location of the treasure.
More or less.

These parchments were found in 1885 by Abbot Crispin after the restoration of his church at Rennes-le-Chateau.
An ancient visigothic site.

Do you know what happened to them?
I’ve looked for them all my life.

But alas I’ve only found one. I bought my find from the grandson of Marie Denardaud the servant of Abbot Crispin himself.

Is it on display?
Oh, no! I don’t show it to anybody.
Think about it! If by chance I find the other two how happy I’ll be to have been the only one to have held the first document in my hands. Hee hee hee.

And yet the abbot had all three in his possession. You don’t find it strange that he never found the treasure.
Oh but!