A warm feeling touches my skin.
The light of the sun had touched my eyes.
Opening my eyes, I looked at the ceiling made of wood.
I remembered once more where I was.
About a month ago, Raymed suddenly disappeared while he was in the Bermuda Triangle. At the time, even Suiko couldn't track him down, which prompted me to cross the oceans and go to the Dark Elf Territory. Upon arriving, I met with Lizwell von Wistik, A dark elf who was present on the day of Ray's Graduation Ceremony.
Ever since that day, we have been trying to find him, but with the mana detection radar the elves had developed by themselves. Yet with no luck, we can't seem to find him in the Bermuda Triangle as if he was sucked into somewhere else.
That time is also when I suddenly began having headaches.
One day, when we were using the magical energy radars.
I hear a voice call to me.
"Remember. Kohime."
I saw someone at the door to the radar building.
Without a second thought, I chase after it. But after going outside the building's courtyard. I found no one there.
It feels like I was seeing images that were foreign to me.
"Remember. Kohime."
~~~~
I suddenly found myself standing on Tatami mats that flashed beneath my feet.
Warm wind carried the cry "Kohime!"—a nickname no one in Europe could have minted.
~~~~~
My head hurts.
I caressed my head, kneeling to the ground.
Lizwell's voice approached. "Is something a matter, Ms Kourin?"
"No... I am..."
~~~
"It's 19:45. Passenger Kohime from the port of Kobe. Destination Naples, vessel flagged "medical evacuation."
~~~
These memories.
Kohime?
Who was that?
Then a figure showed up in front of me.
That person had blonde hair and green eyes.
She looks exactly like me.
Her black trenchcoat flew with the wind.
Her eyes were full of disgust.
"Why did you forget. Kohime? Why?"
"WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN THIS WORLD!!"
I fainted shortly after.
After that, I contacted Suiko regarding my condition. It worries her, but the dark elves proposed an offer I can't refuse. Lizwell Von Wistik said she can reconstruct my memories using a newly developed memory replicator.
I called that bullshit, of course.
Since, if the elves have one, why would the High Humans not have one.
Only then did it occur to me.
-~
"If you would enter my service as an agent of Psytelier. There's but one condition. Forsake your past for the sake of the future. You will no longer become a person of the past. But a person of the present that guides the future."
-~
Queen Morgwynevere took away my memories as proof of loyalty.
She doesn't see the past as beneficial. Rather, she only sees it as a liability.
Morgwynevere deliberately refused to allow technology into High Human society for reasons such as these.
While Oberon, the King of Fey, isn't like that at all.
He is a progressive king who allowed individuals to progress at their own pace.
Hence, why he didn't manage the Fey with authoritarian rule.
I decided to find out more about this memory replicator whilst searching for Raymed.
As I reminisced about the things that happened before, a knock sounded from the door to my small guest house. "Ms Kourin, are you awake?" Lizwell called me.
"Yes. I am."
I opened the door to meet with the Dark Elf.
"I have great news! Mr Raymed's has finally appeared on the radar. He was heading towards United Front." Lizwell said through the door.
Hearing that made me smile, "I am glad. I should probably make haste and go back to my land as well." I began putting on my gear and putting Ezel in its sheath on my hip.
"One more thing, Ms Kourin. It seems we have made a breakthrough regarding the memory replicator. We... managed to unearth some details regarding your past." Lizwell explained.
"You make it sound like there was a problem."
"In a sense, there is no problem. Our device, the memory replicator, works by harvesting signals from the cerebral cortex."
A person's memory is distributed across the brain's neurons. Even if that person were to undergo a memory wipe, the memory would still be present in their neurons, so it can't be completely wiped. At least not by any normal means.
"Due to harvesting signals from the brain by replicating it using mana circulating in our body. We can easily copy the brainwave signals. However, translating such signals would be another great effort in itself. The best way to make you remember in such a short time will be to trigger those brainwaves in your own brain artificially."
Artificially triggering brainwaves is actually the only logical way to help me recover my own memories.
"We monitor the Neocortex (Long-term memory), Hippocampus (Short-term), and Amygdala (Emotional level). Based on what our research team has found. There is a 'memory' in your brain that seems to be of great importance, as it shows signal spikes in the emotional level stored in the Neocortex. If perhaps you are willing, we can help to try and replay that memory."
Lizwell Von Wistik had made another breakthrough. I expected as much. She seems very dedicated to research and is talented in it. I don't want to believe that she is only helping me out of goodwill. But for the matter being, finding out more about my memory seems only possible with her help.
"Let me ask you, Lizwell. Why are you so keen to help me? Was it to further your technology of the memory replicator?"
Lizwell nodded, "I can't say that it's not. I was specifically tasked with researching the memory replicator. For the reason... I can't say, but it is for the queen."
"The Queen?"
I stopped to think to myself.
The Queen of Fey? Or the Queen of Elves.
"Our Queen is currently not in very good condition. Hence, her memories need to be backed up artificially since we are not sure how much she would remember upon recovery." Lizwell said with a solemn face.
"I see then you are trying to advance your tech for the sake of the queen."
"That's right. Ms. Kourin. But of course, you aren't the only one who has been using the machine. I, too, have replicated some of my own memories. It's just that we are trying to make a translator. Hence, a large amount of data is needed to train the machine learning model to translate brainwaves properly."
I see.
So she needs as much data as anyone would need.
Then, when she finishes the machine learning model.
Only then will I stop helping her.
"Alright, help me relive that memory you found interesting."
"As you wish. Thank you for the help." Lizwell Von Wistik bowed before hurriedly preparing the machine.
Walking through the settlement of Dark Elves, I saw that almost everyone was researching something. Even though their house is made of wood and is inside the forest, it is like a prehistoric human's. The houses themselves are reinforced with mana, so it would take 20 fireballs before they are destroyed.
Arriving at the building for the Memory Replicator, or what they call 'Motor.' I was directed to take a seat and put on a cap-like contraption.
"We will begin Motor." Lizwell declared.
"3"
"2"
"1"
Click.
As if a light burst in my head, an image popped up of my past.
~~~~~~
"Your memories might be wiped."
"So I condensed the important things inside this one."
"I am certain this can't be wiped."
~~~~~~~~~~
"My name is Konohana Sakuyahime the 9999th. Kohime for short."
"The descendant of Konohana Sakuya-hime, the 'goddess' of nature. The title of worship was a misinterpretation due to the mana particle. She was the only one able to tap into a mana particle and, as such, was considered to be a deity."
"9999th Konohana Sakuyahime. The person who is named as her in the 9999th generation."
"My mission is to BZZZRT!"
"But she has been BZZRTTTT!!!!"
"I have been a researcher since 2012. My field was studying the theory of an unknown particle known as Mana."
"But I was betrayed."
"Therefore I n e e d t ell y---BZZRRTTT!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Awaken! Kohime. Fight back."
"You must not let her win!"
"Don't be controlled by her!"
"FIGHT BACK!!!"
.
.
.
.
.
.
~~~~~~~~~~~
.
.
.
.
I opened my eyes, exhaling.
I was still on Motor's seat.
Lizwell, seeing me awake, began to take off the contraption and directly asked. "Well, did it work? What did you see?"
"I don't think I saw anything important," I said with a smile.
"Ah, I see! Well, maybe we need to work more on it then."
I must not let her win.
"Speaking of which, do you have an idea where a copy of my memory was stored?"
Lizwell nodded as she presented me with a box of orb-like devices.
"Great."
I must fight back.
"I will be destroying these."
Lizwell's eyes twitched for a second before. "I suppose it is within your rights. Thank you for helping our research thus far."
I launched the orb devices into the air and slashed them all to dust with Ezel.
"I will be going. Thank you, Lizwell."
She nodded and bowed as I exited the building.
My name is Konohana Sakuyahime.
The 9999th Generation.
I must not let her win.
But who is 'her'?