Chapter 210: Mitsue Natsume, You Dummy!

And Spiritual Academy too, Kimura Kazuki thought to himself.

It was important to note that one's memories were engraved in the depths of one's soul, while the brain only functioned as storage space. The answer as to why someone who suffered a concussion and amnesia could retrieve their memories back was because they had not damaged their soul during the event.

It was also the reason why people who died and turned into spirits were able to keep their memories intact. On the other hand, those who turned into demons were bothered by negative emotions, and as such, parts of their soul would remain within their corpse, making them lose the memories they had of their past life. These demons would only be able to recall their memories with continuous and fruitful practice, and even so, their recollection would only be in part while their characters would change dramatically.

He knew that Mitsue Natsume had just utilized the power of consanguinity and soul to tamper with Kumoko's memories. He had destroyed his own soul directly because he wanted Kumoko to live a life free from remembrance and grief. Additionally, he also wanted to make sure that he no longer could recover Kumoko's memories.

However, from Kimura Kazuki's perspective, Mitsue Natsume had been doing research on the Seven Emotions Spells for decades, but he had ultimately gone astray. Did he not realise that life was full of unpredictable events of both sorrow and joy that completes life? Now, Mitsue Natsume was tampering with his daughter's memories regardless of whether she consented to it, imposing his own intentions upon Kumoko, and also himself.

Yet, recalling Mitsue Natsume's words, Kimura Kazuki realized that Mitsue Natsume had naturally been aware of these reasonings, but he had chosen to do so anyway. He was only enraged by Mitsue Natsume's actions because their beliefs and values were not in line with one another.

However, Mitsue Natsume obviously did not know that Kimura Kazuki was from the future and that the knowledge in his head was beyond that of Mitsue Natsume's imagination.

In his past life, during the recuperation of reiki where demons had been causing chaos, numerous people from the Spiritual Academy had begun creating their own spells. Naturally, they had a profound understanding of souls, thus birthing countless spells. It went without saying that there were people who specialized in the area of Soul Memories.

Some Kings of Ghosts would nurture demons and control their consciousness just to turn them into puppets. Such demons caught by the Spiritual Academy's Combat Department were often completely ignorant and could provide no information to them. Once people began developing the area of Soul Memories, a large number of new spells had been created.

Among them, the most renowned spell had been the 'Soul-Searching Spell,' but the spell had the effect of causing long-term damage to the soul.

People from the Spiritual Academy had no compassion for demons. However, evil seemed always to find a way to stay one step ahead. After the Soul-Searching Spell had been created, some Kings of Ghosts had also begun developing spells, keeping the memories of demons but tampering with them. Even if the demons were caught by the Spiritual Academy and the Soul-Searching Spell was used on them, the information obtained would only be the altered memories, useless in locating the Kings of Ghosts that were in hiding.

Only when Kings of Ghosts who had fallen into the demonic path began causing substantial detriment to the country did the country's attention truly focus on those Kings. Researching geniuses in the country started directing their efforts into the field of souls. Eventually, they produced a spell named 'Initial Desire.'

The function of the 'Initial Desire Spell' was to revert the tampered memories of souls into their original versions, which at the same time, would retain the soul's memories of events after the alteration. It ensured the intactness of souls while acting as the key for locating Kings of Ghosts.

However, the utilization of the 'Initial Desire Spell' required one crucial material. As he thought of this, he turned his attention to Kumoko who was hiding beside him, pulling at his shirt. Applying gentle pressure to a point on Kumoko's neck with his fingers so that she fell unconscious, he scooped her up into his arms. Kumoko was, in fact, 18 years old, but she looked as if she was only thirteen with a petite figure. Moreover, being half human and half ghost, she was extremely light and easy to carry.

Upon such a sight, the Usui Spirit could only watch as it happened with reluctance in his eyes. Although it did not understand the process, it had just witnessed everything that had happened and had also heard what Mitsue Natsume had said. It was apparent to him that there were errors in Kumoko's memories. It seemed as though the shrine maiden that Master Kimura had been looking for was going to be leaving with him.

Kimura Kazuki was not aware of the Usui Spirit's thoughts. With Kumoko in his arms, he looked toward the Usui Spirit and said calmly, "Usui, I have a way to recover Kumoko's memories, but I need your help. Kumoko's constitution is different, as you can see, she's half-human and half-ghost. So if she becomes the shrine maiden of the Usui Shrine, it'll be the best outcome for you, won't it? And I'm guessing that you're reluctant to give up on her, am I right?"

The Usui Spirit pulled at his goatee, smiling as he answered, "Fair enough, Master Kimura. I do indeed hope that Kumoko can become the shrine maiden of the Usui Shrine..."

Kimura Kazuki's intention of trying to turn Kumoko into the Usui Shrine's shrine maiden was not a bad one. The Usui Spirit was in charge of all the land in the entirety of Tokyo and did not only include this Usui Shrine. The Usui Spirit was only staying here purely because this was its birthplace, a place it called home. Of course, the main reason was because it had not reached the Metamorphosis State, not able to go very far away from it.

However, in Tokyo, there were many small and medium-sized shrines dedicated to the Usui Spirit. The Usui Spirit had its sculptures constantly bathed under the abundant smell of incense every day. Thus, if Kumoko was to become the Shrine's shrine maiden, she would be able to have a share of the offerings. As time passed, Kumoko would be able to absorb reiki while taking in offerings and with the help of these, she could possibly become a special ikiryo in the future.

Mitsue Natsume's greatest hope was for Kumoko to live like an ordinary person.

If Kumoko became Usui Shrine's shrine maiden and absorbed the offerings in accumulation, she would undoubtedly be able to live like an ordinary person in the future. Besides, she would be able to learn spells from the Usui Spirit and would definitely become a formidable shrine maiden if she grew powerful.

This was precisely what the Usui Spirit wished for. Although he was a Land Spirit, he did not want to be bound to this place. He wanted to have a shrine maiden who could expand the shrine and Kumoko had the perfect constitution for it because she could be seen by humans. After she mastered the needed spells, she would be able to manifest herself before the public. In doing so, she would make the shrine famous, which would, in turn, increase the offerings of incense.

Even though he could get offerings from other shrines, Usui Shrine was the headquarters for them all. Once this place turned famous, the offerings absorbed would then be purer, which would subsequently make it easier for practicing. Of course, Land Spirits could practice by taking in reiki, but in this Dharma Ending Age, it was better to absorb offerings than reiki.

It was a pity that when Kimura Kazuki had brought Mitsue Natsume over and had just summoned Usui to explain the situation when things turned sideways because of Mitsue Natsume. Within seconds, he had died, and not even Usui had the time to prevent it from happening.

Thus, up until now, he still needed to fix things up for Mitsue Natsume.

Naturally, he could just ignore everything, but Mitsue Natsume had not never been, Kimura Kazuki was indeed cold on the outside but warm on the inside. Nevertheless, kindness had a limit, and it would be impossible for him to take care of Kumoko for the rest of her life.

Kimura Kazuki spoke calmly, "Mitsue Natsume altered his daughter's memories, so Kumoko believes me now to be her elder brother. If I forcefully leave Kumoko here to be your shrine's shrine maiden, she will definitely run away... Only the recovery of her memories will make her become the Usui Shrine's shrine maiden voluntarily. So right now, I need something from you, and I can only get it from a Land Spirit."

The Usui Spirit's face turned bitter, "You aren't asking for incense crystals, are you?"

"I'm afraid that I am."