Magi Craft Meister

"Netros, are you okay?"

After being asked that by the worried Shion, Netros sat up straight on the floor and nodded.

"I'm fine. But because I wasn't there with her, Istalis had to go through something like that…"

"What happened?"

However, Netros calmly shook his head.

"I… can't talk about that. Let's just say the way she's been treated is beyond words."

"…"

Jin placed his hand over Shion's shoulder.

"I think we should leave it at that."

Upon seeing Jin, Netros again turned to Shion.

"Who is this?"

"This is Jin. He's the one who saved both Lucas and me. When I heard that you and my sister were deceived and taken prisoner, I asked him to help me rescue you."

Shion briefly explained what had happened thus far.

"Is that so? You have my gratitude, Mr. Jin."

Netros' face showed that,after having gone through such a horrible experience, he couldn't fully trust Jin, but he still nodded, being convinced by Shion's words.

"He told me that he would share food with us, and above all, he's the Magi Craft Meister! I'm sure he'll save us."

"What? The Magi Craft Meister?"

Netros seemed to be aware of that title's meaning.

"That fabled, magnificent person… No way, the Magi Craft Meister is still alive after all this time?

"Ah, that's right. Humans' lives are much shorter than ours. He's the second generation… Isn't that so, Jin?"

Shion turned to Jin as she asked him that. Jin nodded.

"That's right. I'm the 2nd Magi Craft Meister."

"I see… I can't say I trust humans after what we've been through. But if you're the Magi Craft Meister… then I guess I can trust you."

The title of Magi Craft Meister seemed to have a special meaning to demons.

Jin was curious as to what was the reason behind that, but realized that it wasn't the time to ask about that.

"…What should we do about Istalis…?"

She seemed to be burdened with a big trauma, and might break down again the moment she regained consciousness.

Shion also seemed to be so worried about her sister that she had completely forgotten about her wanting to know why her sister had been sent to the human realm as well as herself, without her knowledge.

"Time could make her forget everything about what happened to her."

Those words leaked from Jin's mouth. And upon hearing himself say that, an idea began to form in his mind.

"Hmm… Shion, please stay here with your sister. I'll be stepping outside for a moment."

"Huh? Sure. Have you come up with something?"

"Well, yeah, but I don't know if it'll work yet. Just wait here a moment, but don't get your hopes high."

Jin then excused himself from the room and secretly hurried towards Hourai Island.

"What do you think, Laojun?"

"Your idea is feasible, My Lord. There's only one problem that needs to be settled beforehand."

"You mean… that, huh?"

"Correct. Since 'Transinfo' doesn't work with demons, we can assume that their resistance to Mental Magic is quite high."

"But their bodies have the same composition as a human's. Why is that?"

"I do not know. I have no samples."

"We should be able to get some one way or another, right?"

"At the very least, there's a high chance we will."

After having this conversation with Laojun, Jin went back to Nidou Castle. This was so that he could discuss this with Shion.

Back at the guest room, where Istalis still lay unconscious…

"Ah, Jin, how did it go?"

"Well, I can't guarantee it's going to be perfect, but I've found a way that should work somehow."

"What is it?"

"…Let me ask you something first. Do you guys have any kind of magic that can erase someone's memory?"

"Huh? …I think so. …Oh, I see! Are you going to erase my sister's memories?"

The method that Jin had come up with for her treatment was to use the magic spell "Amnesia", which had been branded as a forbidden spell, to erase the torture from her memory.

This "Amnesia" could only erase memories in order starting from the newer ones. It couldn't only erase the memories that you wanted it to.

Fortunately, there must have been a long period of unconsciousness between her capture and subsequent rescue, so it was unlikely that there would be a discrepancy in her memories' continuity.

"I see. So you're saying that if the memory of her torture were to disappear, then she wouldn't be thrown into that mad breakdown after she wakes up?"

Shion and Netros seemed to understand the idea, but Lucas' face indicated that he wasn't so sure to be following along.

"What do you think about it, Shion?"

"…"

Shion seemed to be able to imagine the danger involved with tampering with her sister's memories to some extent.

The procedure could fail to do anything at all. Or even worse, there was a chance that Jin ended up erasing more than they needed to. There were many caveats to this plan.

Netros told Shion that he would be leaving the decision to her, since she was her actual sister.

"…I've made up my mind. Jin, please remove that horrible experience from my sister's memories."

"Understood."

Jin nodded, and had Nurses Alpha and Beta carry Istalis outside of the room using a stretcher.

"I won't be able to treat her here, so I'll be taking her to my secret base, where I'll be better equipped to do this. I'll be back soon, so there's no need for you to worry."

"Yes, I'll be leaving everything in your hands, Jin."

"And I'll make sure to live up to that trust."

＊　　　＊　　　＊

A hospital bed where Istalis lay was brought to the control room in the basement of Hourai Island.

"She's all yours, Laojun."

"Understood. …I will begin now."

Laojun's mobile terminal "Laozi" placed its hand over Istalis' forehead.

"'Transinfo'… As expected, it has no effect."

"Hmm, this is going to be rough. Is there anything we can do…?"

Jin started to think.

"Thoughts… Mind… Brain waves… Brain waves? …Laojun, do you have data on the magic that demons have used?"

"Yes, I have information on several of their spells."

"Check their magical pattern. Especially their frequency."

"Understood. Comparing data… I see, this…"

"What is it?"

"Their frequency seems to be quite high."

Jin seemed to be pleased with Laojun's reply.

"Well, I thought that would be the case, but it seems my guess was right. The demons have an unusually high frequency in their magical patterns. Probably an order of magnitude higher."

"Well, then it makes sense that they can't be read by conventional humans."

"Yeah. Let's find the most suitable frequency then."

In order to sample a waveform correctly, it is necessary to sample at a frequency higher than twice the bandwidth of the frequency component of said waveform.

For example, when sampling music on a CD, it needs to be at a frequency of 44.1 kHz to match the human audible frequency of 20 kHz.

In the case of the demons, the frequency of magical power and mental waves was higher than that of humans, so it could not be read correctly by human magic.

Based on this reasoning, Laoujun used "Transinfo" several times to determine the optimum magic power pattern to make it work.

"Understood. I believe we have a good chance to make it work if we do it like this."

"I see."

"But when tampering with someone's memories, we have to be very careful about how far back we should go."

"We should be able to have a general idea of where to stop by asking Netros. The question is whether we can get it to work with a specific date and time."

"That shouldn't be a problem. I have some data on former prisoners, so even if there is an error, it should be within a 1-hour margin."

Laojun had already erased memory of Count Walter's plan and how the prisoners of the Inad mine were captured after they were all incapacitated when they tried to attack Kaina Village.

Jin had thought to use that data to help him erase Istalis' memory all the way back until a little before the moment she was tortured.

"Could you confirm this, My Lord?"

"Sure."

After his short answer, Jin returned to Nidou Castle to check that with Netros.

＊　　　＊　　　＊

"They were captured on August 4th, right?"

"Yes, I've confirmed this with Netros."

"Then I'll begin. 'Amnesia', August 5th…"

The treatment itself took only a brief moment.

"I will now check what became of her memories using 'Read Info'."

"Read Info" is a spell that eliminates the need to transfer information to a Magi Crystal from "Transinfo". Since information flows in an instant, there is no point in using it unless you have Laojun's processing power.

"Well, 'Read Info' …Alright, the memories from August 4th onward have been completely erased."

"So it worked, huh…"

Jin felt as if a heavy burden had been taken off his shoulders.

"Alright then, let's take Istalis back to Nidou Castle."

＊　　　＊　　　＊

"Jin! Did it work?"

As soon as Jin returned to Nidou Castle, Shion hurried to him.

"Yeah. She may still remember about being captured on August 4th, but she shouldn't be able to remember anything after that."

"I wonder if this will help her at all."

"I don't know that. But I believe that she won't be trapped in madness anymore now that she doesn't have those painful memories."

The human heart is unfathomable, and the same was true for demons. It was quite possible that things wouldn't go as planned. However, Jin wanted to bet on Shion's sister.

"I think she'll be waking up in less than an hour. Please remain by her side."

"Got it."

"Mr. Jin, I have a favor to ask."

"Hmm?"

Having recovered enough to be able to get up, Netros stopped Jin as he was about to leave.

"Could you… Could you erase my memories as well?"