Ch.290290. Aftermath (3)

In my previous life on Earth, memory deletion or amnesia was something commonly used in fictional works.

Considering the impact memory has on an individual’s identity, it’s a convenient plot device for media, but the kind of convenient memory removal methods we imagine don’t actually exist.

Of course, using modern medicine and chemical technology, it might be technically possible to erase someone’s memories…

But controlling the extent of memory erasure would be impossible, and there’s also the question of what meaning there would be in spending so much money to erase memories.

Whether for interrogation or anything else, once memories are erased, the person becomes useless and their value plummets instantly. In fact, even if it were possible, people would say only a fool would commit such a foolish act.

However, this world is completely different from that reality. Naturally, in this world, there exist countless magical means to erase memories along with numerous other spells.

From methods like “Oblivion” mainly used by foreign intelligence agencies that erase the record itself from the world, to spells cast directly on targets, and even special substances with magical properties.

And among these options, what we decided to use was none other than a plant. A plant called the “Forget-me-not,” with flowers resembling lily of the valley, was exactly what we needed.

From the flowers to the stems, leaves, pollen, fruit, and even the roots—every part contains magical poison that induces magical amnesia. This plant is also used by the Pantheon’s Heresy Inquisition.

Not only can the magical poison be easily extracted without complex processing or extraction techniques, but it’s also quite simple to grow if you know the basics. I keep some on hand for unforeseen situations.

…It’s a specially processed drug I received along with cash in exchange for cultivating it at the estate, following a request from Lord Dorthea not long ago.

“Are there any side effects?”

“No. The Inquisition fanatics use it on innocent civilians. As long as you use the proper dosage, there won’t be any problems.”

The mad inquisitors of the Heresy Inquisition are lunatics who would burn hundreds to catch a single heretic, but at the same time, they are more thorough than anyone when it comes to protecting the innocent.

If innocent victims are harmed in the process of finding heretics, they inflict upon themselves punishments (penances) so harsh they would only be seen in hardcore gore films.

Therefore, as long as this drug is used according to proper dosage guidelines, it’s extremely safe. So Sofia and I joined forces to begin the work of erasing the villagers’ memories.

Our target was specifically all experiences related to the succubus—degrading all memories of encountering, feeling, and experiencing the succubus to mere vague information.

It might seem strange that such complex memory manipulation could be accomplished with mere drugs, but that’s a thought only ordinary people who don’t properly understand this world’s laws would have.

As long as mana—the energy that materializes human emotions and thoughts—exists in this world, these magical drugs can be precisely adjusted by any magic user with minimal processing.

“Now, now! Administering the dose!”

“Urghhhh….”

Thus, we moved to inject the adjusted drug into the villagers who were tightly bound with vines to prevent movement, in order to remove specific information related to demons from their memories.

The injection device was similar to the plant syringes used in the medical facilities inside Tarasque.

Originally, it was a plant that injected paralyzing venom into living creatures before dissolving and consuming them with its digestive organs, but it had been modified for medical use.

Using this, we repeatedly injected precise doses of the pale silver-blue drug, and the villagers all showed nearly identical reactions.

“Bleurghhhh….”

‘…Why do these people all make these sounds right before they collapse?’

The moment the injection was complete, they would make some kind of bizarre noise, then lose consciousness and collapse to the ground, over and over.

And the time it took to inject the drug into hundreds of bound humans wasn’t particularly long.

※ ※ ※

Contrary to my concerns, the memory erasure agent used by the Inquisition performed exceptionally well.

People who received the memory-erasing magical poison with its detailed adjustments woke up several hours later with no memory of previous events. Furthermore, since the very record of being enchanted was erased from their souls, there was no need to worry about future complications.

Of course, due to the sense of incongruity, we couldn’t hide the fact that memories had been erased, and moreover, the chaotic state of the surrounding landscape meant we couldn’t hide what had happened…

“Those good-for-nothing men were actually evil cultists!”

“R-really…?! I knew something was off about those trash pretending to be scholars…!”

I was able to skillfully deflect their suspicions by using the excuse of cultists—the universal scapegoat and walking embodiment of plausibility in this world.

…I felt a slight pang of conscience for deceiving such simple people, but considering those men actually did have some connection to cultists, it wasn’t a completely false accusation, so I let it slide.

Anyway, as I was smiling at the conclusion of this incident… I suddenly realized something.

‘…Will this be okay?’

Despite the villagers’ condition gradually recovering thanks to our continuous food aid and the removal of the cause (those good-for-nothing men), the village’s situation itself couldn’t be considered good.

In fact, the current season would be roughly mid-September by Earth’s calendar.

While I don’t possess knowledge about exactly when Earth’s crops are harvested, I have thoroughly studied this world’s plant life and know that now is precisely the harvest time for rice varieties mainly cultivated in the eastern regions of the Eastern Continent.

Even though various grains—such as barley, millet, sorghum, buckwheat, and beans—are considered staple foods for common people, rice is ultimately what farmers in this era rely on for their livelihood.

Rice is in such high demand that it’s used as currency, making it possible to sell it and purchase several times the amount in other grains. It’s also considered a symbol of wealth due to its superior value as food.

The problem is… during the succubi invasion of this village, the farmland that appeared to be their rice paddies was contaminated with demon bodily fluids and flesh.

As I’ve mentioned several times before, crops from farmland polluted by demonic power not only absorb the energy of corruption but actually transform into plants of the demon realm.

They contain deadly poison lethal to humans upon consumption, and the plants themselves come alive, chomping on poor passing humans.

Naturally, such plants should be burned rather than eaten, so Sofia and I completely incinerated and purified those plants and farmland…

But inevitably, the rice that was about to be harvested—the food that would sustain these people for the next year—was completely burned.

What makes the situation even more serious is that not just the rice but almost all crops were contaminated and had to be burned, meaning these people literally have nothing to eat.

Although they’re currently surviving on the rice I produce, as soon as I leave, they will undoubtedly suffer from famine and lose their lives during the winter.

…One might think that saving their lives should be enough without having to worry about such trivial matters, but let’s think about it differently.

Would I have risked my life fighting against a superior demon just to watch the people I saved starve to death due to lack of food? Of course not.

Certainly, I can’t stay here and take care of everything for them. The village chief seems to secretly hope for that, but I’m not crazy enough to abandon my homeland and remain here.

That’s why I brought the best cheat key I could choose right now…

“O-our savior? What is this root?”

“Ah… this? It’s called a ‘potato.’ It grows well even in cold, barren places and is sufficient to fill the stomach.”

“What? Are you saying such a crop exists in the west?”

“It’s from the New World, but… yes, essentially.”

That was the miraculous famine relief crop that is said to have changed Earth’s history—the ‘potato.’