C142: Preparations for the Festival (1)
Memories exist in mana. This is a topic that has recently emerged, and it has been enough to rekindle the interest of wizards and scholars in the unknown power of mana.
The phenomenon in which the memories collide and one feels as if he had experienced the past of another person was called memory streaming.
The wizards studied the phenomenon of memory streaming and pondered how to utilize it. At the end of that, they completed one thing, and this was the talisman that Mari Ross showed the students.
"Miss Marie, is it dangerous?"
At first glance, it sounds interesting to hear that you can read memories, but the side effects might be too much.
"Actually, memory streaming can be toxic in extreme cases. The memories can be so confused that it creates a rift in the ego."
It wasn't that there were no victims.
Although there are very few, there have been cases where memory streaming caused confusion and the people thought they were the ones whom they saw the memories of.
These mental side effects were difficult to treat even with divine magic.
"But it was an accident when someone tried to deliver mana in a hurry without following safety rules. And even in that case, the side effects are so small that they come out 1 out of every 100."
"But it can happen right?"
"Yes. However, this Talisman, which came out as a prototype this time, is a product made so that you do not have to worry about such side effects. It's a consumable artifact, so its power is weak, but its stability is high."
The students who were a little skeptical were also curious about the high stability. It was good to see that there was no danger since Miss Marie had said so.
All of the students raised their hands saying they wanted to try using the Talisman. On the contrary, Marie, who brought up this positive response, was embarrassed.
"Oh, there are so many students who want to do it. First of all, I brought it according to the number just in case."
The number of students taking Mari Ross's lectures is quite high, with the largest number of students at 80. It was also a joint subject of the first and second years, so it was difficult to empty a single seat. Mari Ross himself was aware of it, so she brought 40 Talismans.
"But there's something to be careful about. This is used in pairs of 2 people and simply injecting your own magical energy does not mean that memory streaming occurs. You must have a partner but the most important thing to note is that others can see the past that you do not want to show."
After that, the students looked into each other's eyes. Inside they had the desire to try it but they were worried because they had to do it in teams of two.
Maybe someone else might find out about their secret. It is unlikely that such a thing will be caught in countless memories, but the chance it's not zero.
"What are you going to do?"
"Shall we try? I'm curious."
"Ugh. Seeing my memories it's a little…"
"Who cares? It's nothing."
Those who cared about privacy were very reluctant to use the Talisman. No matter how close you are to your partner, there is one secret you don't want others to know, especially in the case of opposite sex.
"Who wants to try it?"
When teacher Marie Ross asked for confirmation, the number of students raising their hands decreased significantly compared to before. Still, around half of the students in the classroom showed interest.
"Rene, let's give it a try."
"What? Are you sure?"
Rene asked, embarrassed by Erendir's suggestion. She never thought that the Third Princess would make the suggestion first.
"Don't you want to be honest?"
Erendir coaxed Rene.
Honestly, Erendir wanted to try because the part of sharing memories with friends was a romantic notion for Erendir.
'I can't believe I can share memories with my friends!'
Erendir, who had never made friends, was quite obsessed with this. Like wonderful memories with friends or unforgettable memories. In fact, it is also a phrase that often appears in novels.
Of course, sharing memories through memory streaming is different from sharing real memories, but Erendir, who had no friends, judged that this or that it was the same.
"It won't be much if you look at mine. Would you be okay?"
Rene was worried about Erendir. She is a commoner of little importance, but Erendir is the Third Princess of the empire.
The difference in their status wouldn't have allowed them to stay next to each other and talk like this if it weren't for Theon.
She doesn't have much resistance to showing her past, but she wondered if it wasn't a crime for a commoner to peek at the memory of a princess. Rene thought she was ignorant of the world, but she was sure that this was an issue.
"Whatever. I don't really care either. I don't have much to show you anyway."
Erendir didn't think much of it.
If it wasn't because of her relationship with her sister, she would have hesitated, but there was nothing more to hide since Freuden Ulburg had already exposed it to Rene.
She was the Third Princess who was pushed out of the fight for the throne so she didn't even know any important information as others thought.
"Oh, well."
When Erendir herself said this, Rene no longer tried to break her stubbornness. In fact, she was curious about memory streaming.
"Yes, let's do it."
"Good!"
Erendir went straight to the podium and received a Talisman from teacher Marie Ross.
Marie Ross seemed quite surprised that Erendir, the third princess, would come forward, but soon nodded with a gentle smile.
"Well, let's do it."
Some students were already using Talisman.
Suppressing her excitement, Erendir held Talisman's one end in her hand and held it out to Rene, who grabbed the other end.
The way to use the Talisman was simple. The two parties can each hold one end and inject mana.
Both ends of the white Talisman were gradually colored in different colors due to the influence of mana. The side that Rene held was dark gray, and the side that Erendir held was brilliant gold.
Gradually, the spreading color came across the center of Talisman and began to blend in with the figure drawn on it. Rene and Erendir, who were closing their eyes, trembled at the same time.
A huge stream hit their minds. The flow was very large and strong, just like the flooding river after the heavy rain.
'I, it's….'
Rene stared at the scene like a huge torrent where it was hard to discern even an inch ahead quietly. It was an overwhelming landscape that she had never seen before, but she instinctively realized what it was. That huge torrent was the passage of time and the memory of Erendir.
'Is this the memory streaming phenomenon?'
Several scenes passed quickly like a panorama in the huge whirlwind. The sight of them coming into the classroom a while ago came to mind blinking like a flashing light bulb.
'Can I look further back at the past if I follow the flow?'
Rene stepped against the great flow. There was quite a lot of pressure, but it wasn't just unbearable. How long could she go back?
'I think it's getting harder and harder.'
The more she went against the flow, the stronger the burden on her body. Even though it was protected by mana, it was too much. In the end, as soon as she gave up moving and released her mana, a scene unfolded in front of Rene.
"Senior?"
Erendir, who was now a sophomore, was a freshman who had just entered Theon. Her appearance was no different from now, but her atmosphere itself looked much fresher than when she first saw her at the beginning of the semester.
The scene has been conveyed vividly as if she was experiencing it herself.
'This is the memory of senior.'
While marveling at the mysterious phenomenon of memory streaming, she suddenly wondered what kind of school days Erendir had in her freshman year.
Rene watched the scene with a little excitement but it wasn't long before she made a grim face.
* * *
Flora was troubled to see the Talisman in her hand.
If you put the other person's magic on this piece of paper, can you read the memory by sharing the person's magic? It was quite an interesting discovery.
'It's just that it's a bit of a waste to use it now.'
Flora looked at Cheryl sitting next to her with indifferent eyes. When Cheryl faced the gaze, she trembled like a frightened rabbit.
"Well, Flora. You're not going to use that, are you?"
"Why? You don't like it?"
"Oh? Oh, no. It's not that I don't like it. It's just……Should I say that I'm not ready for it?"
Cheryl's reaction was unexpected. If it was her usual self, she would have rushed to do it, thinking it was rather good.
Though trying to pretend not to, Cheryl was now extremely reluctant to do memory streaming. Was there something in the past that she wanted to hide from her?
'No way. How long have I known Cheryl?'
Flora skimmed through the classroom. Some students did memory streaming, but some did not.
"Well, if you don't want to use it, don't."
Flora slipped Talisman into her pocket.
No one noticed her behavior because memory streaming was over throughout the classroom at that time.
Students who peeked into each other's memories laughed as if they had seen something interesting, or reacted as if there was nothing special.
"Hey, playboy! You said you only loved me! Now I know why you didn't want to use it!"
"Jee, calm down! Cough!"
Sometimes there were interesting situations that were rare.
Marie Ross smiled awkwardly as she saw a woman believed to be a couple shaking a man by the collar. It was the moment when a couple disappeared from Theon Academy.
Rene and Erendir also opened their closed eyes after the memory streaming was over.
"It's fascinating to see the memories inherent in magic through memory streaming. It might seem like a lot of time has passed but it was only an instant. How was it, junior Rene?"
"Oh, me?"
Rene was embarrassed because she didn't know how to answer Erendir. She carefully opened her mouth as she pondered whether to say this or not.
"That…… senior. You know what?"
"Huh? What?"
"I don't think it's right to send invitations to students who are not close to you even on birthdays."
"Ah…"
At Rene 's words, Erendir recalled the dark history of the past that she had forgotten. The useless days of trying to make friends in Theon with dreams and hopes. Now, every time she sleeps, her past comes to mind and makes her kick the blanket.
Rene looked at her past when she was a freshman. The event she wanted to forget the most, and nearly all of it, was her birthday party.
"That, ugh that……."
"……I understand you."
"Ha-ha."
Erendir closed her eyes tightly. It was more painful for her to see Rene's sincere sympathy than to be caught in her past.
"More than that, what kind of past did you see? I'm really curious, too. Did you watch the memories from a year ago?"
Rene asked a question to change the subject. In fact, Rene was not very curious about her past since there wasn't anything special. Her judgment was that Erendir would have looked at the past a year ago like herself at best. The days when she just stayed in her small room all day and studied.
"I've seen a little further back in the past."
However, contrary to Rene's thought, what Erendir saw was completely unexpected.
"You could see so further back?"
"I don't know how far it was but what I saw was a little strange."
"What?"
"What I saw was how you looked when you were young. It was a time when you looked more than 10 years younger than now."
Erendir, who was saying that, realized that something was strange, and touched her forehead with her hand.
"But something's wrong. Normally, this is viewed from the perspective of the person who remembers, right? But I saw your childhood from someone else's perspective."
"Someone else? Who?"
"Maybe it was your mother."
The landscape that Erendir saw was not from Rene's point of view, but from her mother's point of view. The memory of holding Rene in her arms as a young child, who was still less than 10 years old, was still vividly felt by Erendir.
"A cabin on the meadow where no one lived, you lived there alone with your mother? I thought that Rene was loved by her mother."
"Senior, what do you mean?"
When Rene actually heard the words, she was curious.
"I grew up without my parents"
* * *
After finishing the second test, I immediately returned to the teacher's office and started cleaning up the test. There was nothing to worry about because the scoring was done on the spot anyway.
"Are we officially preparing for the festival now?"
Speaking of festivals reminds me of my past life. In fact, I lived a life that was not related to festivals. The only thing I remember was a college festival, but it was all about singing famous singers and opening a bar to drink.
Still, since it's Theon, it's a lot different when it comes to festivals. While thinking about that, Sedina handed me a piece of paper, saying it was an official letter that had just come.
"What's this?"
"This is the schedule for the magic festival."
"Didn't you get the schedule already?"
"Well, it seems that there were some changes as the festival is held early this time. That's why they are announcing the new schedule."
'There's nothing strange about it.'
My opinion is that the festival, which would have been held at the end of the first semester, was moved up early, so that much is natural.
While reading the official letter with such a light thought, I narrowed my eyes to the contents.
"At the magic festival event match, there is a magic duel between teachers?"
In addition, the promoter was Hugo Burtag.