Hermit Wizard

The Soul Flows High (9)

A demigod…there was an object of such suspicion.

“Why? You really haven’t digested it yet?”

I talked to Parvache that day about Yodmo’s remarks of ‘I’m very full.’ The conclusion was that it might be right. It was only Yodmo’s speculation that through the contract, the soul of the summoner and my soul were in contact, and part of that memory was transferred to me. Nevertheless, the reason it couldn’t be ignored was that there was no other race of experts like Yodmo in the field of memory.

Yodmo spoke slowly.

=…I’m still digesting the memory like a dark fog in my stomach—every day. Still, there is no end in sight.=

Without realizing it, I looked at Yodmo’s stomach. I couldn’t see its belly because of the drooping hair, but it seemed swollen more than before. Yodmo silently accepted my gaze and asked, pointing at my chest with its nose.

=Have you made a contract with the Truth-Seeker who planted the seed? If it were a Truth-Seeker, it would be among the oldest class of demigods.=

I shook my head. As a child, only vague memories remained of my contact with the Truth-Seeker. But I had never made a contract or anything. That was for sure. If I did, the token would remain in the corner of my soul. Just like the traces of contracts made with Yodmo and other summoners and other beings remain.

=…It is unknown. I don’t know.=

“Isn’t it good to be full?”

=It was good at first. But…it’s getting more and more uncomfortable.=

Was it getting uncomfortable?

“Why? A hunger-like void was the fate of your race. You’ve been out of that hunger for a while. Isn’t it quite rare?”

=Now this state is quite rare…that figure of speech isn’t enough.=

“Huh?”

Yodmo rolled its pupils in its narrow open eyes.

=Speaking in units of time that are familiar to you…the month has changed several times. In the meantime, I haven’t eaten a single memory. To fill my stomach for such a long time, I would need a long, countless memory. However, I haven’t heard of a Yodmo, who ate memories of beings like Kirin, Phoenixes, and Dragons. Therefore, I am probably the first to have experienced this…=

“…That much?”

=Yes.=

Yodmo nodded its head.

=There is a suspicion close to certainty these days.=

“What is it?”

It looked at me with a half-mixed look of drowsiness and discomfort.

=…Probably, I am the first in the history of the race, and I am the one Yodmo who suffers from indigestion.=

“…”

[…]

Was it full and not feeling well?

=This is also the first time I feel it. I can’t digest it because my stomach is full.=

“Ah…then what should we do?”

I said while looking at the Asphim Giants.

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“The only thing I will give in return on the contract is part of the memory…”

Yodmo sighed deeply.

= Let’s…just do it.=

It seemed that it would grant a free request this time as well.

=I’ll take out all of these guys’ memories and hand them over. I don’t want to eat even a day’s worth of memories.=

Yodmo approached the Ashpim Giants. Suddenly, a line of thought passed through my head.

“Wait a minute! It’s a big deal to take all the memories! Please sort it out.”

=…How?=

I made a request that I had initially considered.

“In their memories, sort out information about the Truth-Seeker in this world and make them a separate crystal.”

=…Okay.=

“And I hope you don’t put together the memories of multiple guys into one crystal, but sort out one crystal each.”

=Well, that’s good.=

The only “tool” that could adequately use this crystal now is the Fake God. He had already absorbed a considerable amount of memory, and I was worried that he would be going crazy if I added too many memories at once. Yodmo stretched out its snout to the Ashpim Giants, who were rolling on the ground. As they instinctively noticed their destiny to come, the giants struggled more intensely.

The fog chains dug into their mouths. It had already blocked their ability to speak. The sound wave attack was also blocked because the air couldn’t pass through. They just stared at the Yodmo as it approached, with eyes full of despair.

=Can you keep the back of their head on the floor so that they can never be moved? And make it so they can’t even control their head.=

“Wait.”

I added more Mana to the artifacts that were blocking the giants.

“It’s done now.”

The conditions were tricky. This was why memory hunting seemed impossible for creatures that were stronger than themselves. Yodmo climbed onto the vast head of the Ashpim Giant as if climbing a high staircase. Just a little hard. Then it looked at the face of the giant under its feet. It stuck out its pale pink tongue. When the subject was dead, it absorbed memories by cutting through the skull and eating the brain. However, it seems that the method was different if its targets were alive.

=Ummm… Is this the nose?=

Yodmo put its tongue into the giant’s nostril, pierced over the dull skin without a bridge of the nose. Fluid dripped from the tip of his tongue, condensing. It was a liquid with a blue, fluorescent light. Soon it fell into the hole.

Drip, drip, drip.

It kept running down for a while, like water dripping from a faucet that wasn’t fully shut. Looking at the color and viscosity, it seemed that it was a different component from the body fluid used to split the skull. After the injection, the guy waited for a while, riding on its head. After a while, the Ashpim’s body began to mutate.

“…Ah, I see a lot of things I can’t see these days.”

From the two nostrils of the Ashpim Giant, something mixed with yellow and pink color stuck out. It seemed like a scene where sausages were being pulled out of a factory machine.

[…It is to extract only the part responsible for long-term memory from the brain of the target. When you die, brain damage starts right away, so it only takes out the food part while leaving the components necessary to sustain life.]

“Hmph…!”

[Even if the shape changed like that, it was extracted without destroying a single cell. It seems to be for the purpose of eating the memories in a complete state.]

There was no cellular damage even though the brain was stretched like a sausage and pulled out. I could feel the species’ willingness not to miss a small memory. It was the power of tenacious and desperate gluttony. After eating it, Yodmo climbed one after another over the heads of the rest of the giants. After it pulled out and ate 11 of them, it approached me and groaned. Then it spat out 11 crystals. The size of the crystal was tiny. Was it because of the memory of an object that they wouldn’t ever have faced? It was incomparably small compared to the crystal taken from the Guardians of the Great Convention before.

=The memory of each giant about the Truth-Seeker, 11 pieces.=

I quickly put it in my backpack. Looking at me like that, Yodmo asked.

=…Shall I share the rest of the memory?=

He looked very annoyed about it.

“I don’t care. There is no use anyway, so you can just eat it.”

When I took the memories of Guardians of the Great Convention, I used all their memories because there might be clues mixed up. However, the memories of the Asphim Giant’s life couldn’t be used when I was concerned about the capacity the Fake God could handle. But my suggestion didn’t seem to be worth it. When the guy snorted, it sounded like a flute. Then it spat out a new chunk of a large crystal.

“Excluding the information about Truth-Seekers, this is the lifetime memory of 11 Ashpim Giants.”

Oh, this was really useless. There was no need and no way to use it.

“Why don’t you take it with you even if you’re not hungry? You can eat it when you are hungry…”

=The memory crystal disappears over time.=

“Or you can share it with your own people…”

[Ah, that’s…!]

Parvache intervened as if stopping me, but Yodmo’s answer was quicker.

=Now I know for sure. Summoner…you can’t directly access the Akashic Records, can you? The spirit certainly gives advice because he directly reads the record, not you…otherwise, you wouldn’t say that to a Yodmo.=

What? Did I make a mistake? Yodmo said no more details. I opened the Channel as it wanted and returned it to the original dimension. I was thinking about what to do with the huge crystal of memories it left behind, but I took it for now. I looked at the giants scattered on the floor. Instead of struggling anymore, they were staring blankly into space.

“Can we just leave them like this? We don’t have to kill them.”

[…It might be better to kill them.]

“Let’s just go. I rather not use Mana for nothing. If I kill them with clumsy magic, traces remain on the body. However, it takes a lot of effort to incinerate them without leaving a single piece of flesh.”

Upon hearing that, Parvache turned its green plastic eyes to me and stared for a while.

[…Are you aware of it? Min-joon?]

“What?”

[After passing all the memories of infancy to Yodmo, something has changed.]

“…Well, it can’t be exactly the same.”

I didn’t want to think deeply because it made me feel bad.

[I know that the human race’s experiences before the age of 4-5 have a significant influence on personality formation. What happens when it’s wholly exterminated rather than forgotten? Hmm…]

“Don’t say useless things. Let’s go on our way.”

When I think deeply about what I’ve already lost, it only grew complicated. Parvache and I left the half-mad Ashpim Giants intact. Then we resumed our movement at a rapid speed. After some time, we arrived in front of the tall bone tower in the jungle, the Dell Giants village. Before the tower was visible to the naked eye, I let the search magic sweep around me several times. They noticed our approach.

It was a white tower built with the bones of their ancestors. In front of it, two familiar-faced furry giants were standing out to meet us.

“Wow! Yoong! Why do you look so tired? Do you keep doing it three times a day?”

This young giant was still interested in the frequency of human sexual activity.

“Haha, was that world took over by other races from another dimension? Are there some terrifying guys you can’t handle?”

The old giant made a joke but showed a questionable look. There was quite a lot to explain to answer their questions. But before that, I looked up at the two giants and responded to the greetings they threw at me.

“It’s nice to see you after a long time, too. Hickham and Ghur.”

***

As I entered the tower, the giants surrounded me as if they had been waiting for me.

“Wow, that human wizard! He came again! Did he bring any incredible artifacts this time?”

Everyone talked excitedly. I would have to show some goodwill at first. I took out what I had prepared in my backpack.

“Yoong, what is this?”

Hickham’s eyes widened when he saw the wooden box I put down on the floor. It was a square box a little smaller than a soccer ball. The black wood was decorated with various patterns of silver and shell powder. This seemed to have been made recently among the antiques I acquired. I checked it before converting it into an artifact, but the energy contained there was little.

“Everyone, step back.”

The giants who tilt their heads moved according to my words. I spat out the prepared spell. Simultaneously, the wooden box on the floor opened, and the stuff inside poured out. It was a considerable amount that couldn’t normally fit inside that small thing. There was a small mountain in front of me.

“What’s all this? How are so many big things in that little box…!”

After all, they didn’t seem to know the magic of dealing with space. Even Ghur stuttered. Everyone was looking at the scene with their mouths wide open. As I approached, I picked up a red-colored roll and explained.

“Well…this is a very soft fabric. Please touch it.”

Hearing me, Hickham stumbled over and touched the fabric. Then he was surprised and pulled it out.

“Huh…huh! What is this…I’ve never touched something so soft since I was born!”

Then he rubbed it on his face.

“Wow…this is so good! It’s cold, soft, and fluffy!”

Then the other giants crowded around and touched it, and there was an uproar. Maybe this was silk? It was kind of like that. It was one of the items that White Deer gifted me in huge quantities. So much so that I had a nearly unextinguishable stock. I couldn’t wear it myself, and I didn’t know how to sell it. You could go to a gold and silver store to sell gold or jewelry, but what on earth could you do with that kind of fabric?

I was thinking about what to throw as a small gift for the Dell Giants, and this came to mind. I remembered that their clothes were mostly coarse leather, and there was a story I had heard of. There was a lot more piled up in the warehouse, so that even if I took this much, it didn’t lessen my stock in any manner.

“You said that humans in this area were extinct, so there’s no soft fabric supply, right? That’s why older people suffer from a lack of good underpants. Try it on after making it with this. I picked out colors.”

“Oh, this is something the elders would love!”

Yes, that was what I was aiming for. Ghur nodded his head and continued.

“Maybe when the elders find out, they’ll give you their neckbone after they die.”

Perhaps that was the expression of the Dell Giants’ kindness. I said with a twinkle in my eyes as Ghur told the story.

“So, I mean…can I see Elder Kapal right now?”

“Hmm? Sure. It would be better to take this with you when you go up.”

That’s what I wanted.

***

Ghur led me to Elder Kapal’s room. It was also my second time visiting her room. She was the elder who oversaw the storage of records and the education of magic in this village. She was also a genius wizard, who I taught how to create a barrier-forming artifact.

“Ah, it’s been a long time. Nice to see you.”

She greeted me with a smile. And after a brief greeting, she touched the cloth I put out. Her eyes opened wide as expected. Only after the elders in charge of clothing and other products came and struck a riot could I return to the main point. Only Ghur, Elder Kapal, and I remained in the room. When they listened to the long explanation I prepared, their expressions became serious.

“The record of the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest.”

Elder Kapal scratched her white-haired cheek. Whenever the tip of the pointed nail passed, the stiff hair was laid down and then stood up repeatedly, leaving a mark.

“Haven’t you and Ghur met it face-to-face already? Honestly, you two will be the only ones who have had such an experience among the mortals who are still breathing. What more information do you need?”

“What I want to know is not its appearance or ability.”

“Then?”

I think I need some explanation.