Polymath Redux

Chapter 14//Regaining Memories

“How are you feeling, Ann?” once morning came around, Mordred visited a resting Ann at the clinic.

“Good morning, doctor,” she greeted with a soft smile. From such an innocent appearance it may have been difficult to believe she was a fighter capable of taking down a Hundred Eye Devourer. “I’m feeling much better than yesterday.” From her improved complexion it appeared that most of the discomfort she had been feeling was alleviated, and her expression was noticeably brighter. This was a good thing as a healthier mental and physical state would facilitate quicker recovery of her lost memories.

“That’s wonderful news!” he replied in a cheerful tone.

“Yes, it’s all thanks to you, doctor.”

“Now then, I know you may be hungry since you just woke up, and breakfast is being prepared, but I want you to look at these first,” Mordred told her and placed down the items he had been studying late into the night: the twin, monochromatic daggers and the earring-like transceiver. “These were originally your personal effects. I withheld them from you yesterday as I feared they could trigger some unnecessary trauma. However, your condition seems much healthier today. So, take a look and tell me what you remember.”

“All right,” she nodded. Perhaps it was due in part to Mordred’s studious gaze and how she didn’t want to let down the expectations of the man who saved her life, but her body tensed up as she hesitantly reached out for the items. “Umm, I’ll take a look at this first,” she reached for the transceiver earrings. She studied them in close details for a few minutes but ultimately came up with no new information. “They’re pretty, but I don’t feel anything in particular.” Lowering her gaze to her own well-toned and slight muscular body that was mired in numerous scars of battle, she doubtfully added, “somehow they don’t really seem to fit me. Are you sure these were mine?”

While the earrings themselves may have appeared to be mere pretty jewellery, their transceiver function would undoubtedly be useful in battlefield scenarios. It definitely was something that Ann would use in combat. However, Mordred withheld that information for the time being. “Yes, and I think they suit you marvellously. You look beautiful, so don’t sell yourself short.”

“Huh…? O- oh kay… Thank you,” she replied bashfully. To avoid the situation from becoming any more awkward she quickly turned her attention towards the twin daggers and picked them up. Upon doing so she instantly froze as though there was a glitch in her program, and a pained expression crawled on her face. Then, almost as though the daggers in her hand were disgusting bugs, she hurriedly tossed them aside. “Ow,” she clutched her head tightly as signs of a migraine crept on to her face. “What, what was that?”

“Ann, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“Huh? Y- yes, I’m fine, but… touching those daggers made me… remember something…”

“What did you remember?” Mordred pushed. If there was any information about Eris, then he needed to know.

“No, rather than ‘remember’, it might be better to say I saw ‘images’ in my head. It’s nothing concrete, but I saw myself talking with someone. A man, with bright golden hair and seemed a little arrogant. He was… smiling at me.” She paused to take a deep breath, “and… I think I was on some kind of mission. There were five of us. And…” suddenly tears rolled down her cheeks. “Something happened… and… and I… we… I have to go back! Doctor, I have to get back to that person and tell him everything!” she pleaded “I think it’s that ‘Prince Bradley’ person you spoke about, I have to get back to him!”

“Right, of course, but you’re in no condition for extended travel,” Mordred told her as he attempted to calm her down by rubbing her back. “From what I understand, the capital is about a week away from here by carriage. That is where I’d expect to find a prince after all. I understand it must feel frustrating, but for now please try to focus on recovery. When I’ve determined that you’ve regained enough stamina, I promise I’ll take you to the capital.”

“I… understand, doctor. Thank you for looking out for me,” replied Ann with a look of satisfied compromise.

“Is there anything else? What about these daggers specifically? Do you remember anything about them?”

“Huh? Oh, I think… they may have been given to me by my mother.”

“Your mother?”

“I can’t be sure if she really was my mother, but that’s the feeling I got. I remember the sight of her glimmering white hair as we were in… a dark place. It may have been a ritual site or the altar of a temple. We were surrounded by a number of people dressed in dark crimson robes as they chanted something, but I couldn’t really hear them. After some kind of ceremony, those daggers were passed down by my mother.” There was much doubt on her face, almost as though she herself didn’t really believe it happened, but the existence of these daggers was undeniable. “At least, that’s what I saw. Who knows if any of that happened.”

“I see,” Mordred nodded curiously. ‘Dark crimson robes.’ He thought to himself. From his memories of Eris, she certainly did wear that colouration of armour, but not robes- light armour. However, “huh?” for a split second he thought he saw a vivid image of her in his mind. It wasn’t the same as seeing her avatar through a computer monitor; it was more like she was there in person. It was the scene of her heartily smiling figure as she draped her arms over his shoulders as though they were the best of friends. That kind of thing only happened in the game, but the clarity of the vision indicated it happened in real life.

“Doctor? Are you okay?” Ann’s words snapped him back from his thoughts.

“Oh, my apologies, I was just thinking about something. In any case, perhaps it's best for you to hold back on trying to remember and focus on recovery.”

“I think so too, but I also want to go to the capital soon.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll arrange for that to happen as soon as we’re able. Also, hold on to these,” Mordred picked up the daggers and returned them.

“Thank you.”

*

*

*

At Mordred’s recommendation, after sharing breakfast Ann took a small walk through the village in order to get some much needed fresh air. Meanwhile, Mordred and Morialia discussed their plans going forward in his room. Of course, due to the ‘sensitive’ nature of their topics, he had set up measures to prevent eavesdropping.

“And? What do you plan to do now? Clearly it’ll take time for the girl to regain her memories. You’re not going to tell me you’ll really stay around in this village and wait, are you?” asked Morialia with a touch of mischievousness. In the same way Mordred knew exactly what buttons to push to make Morialia act, she too knew her master well enough to push him to action. As a Demon Lord she particularly enjoyed trickery and underhanded tactics, but appreciated the more straightforward approaches too. To such an unlawful being ‘Mordred’ was irresistible; he was like a brilliant source of light for a moth; she eagerly awaited the next evil plot her master would hatch.

Mordred closed his eyes and contemplated on her words for a moment. It was true that he liked the passive approach- the entire character of ‘Mordred’ was centred around him being a ‘patient schemer’- but he also knew the benefits of being proactive. His previous ploy of destroying a part of the forest to lure in people with potential information was proof of this. “I suppose there is wisdom in acting first. There’s also the matter of if Eris is in this world or not. I’d like to start my search, but lack the crucial human resources to do so.”

Morialia, upon hearing her master’s pitiful predicament, leaned in closely and softly caressed his cheeks, almost as though she were about to kiss him. The smile she made at that moment was truly worthy of the one titled ‘Demon Lord’, “then,” she whispered quietly into his ears, “all you need to do is ‘take’ those human resources, no?”

“Take them?”

“Isn’t that what you do best? Trickery and manipulation; you are ‘Mordred’ the ‘deceiver’, aren’t you?”

It was as Morialia suggested, if he lacked the personnel, then all he needed to do was take over a populace and make them work for him. However, he couldn’t just force them, that wasn’t Mordred’s style. There was a certain ‘art’ to these things, and if he would do this- to commit to evil- then he needed to do it properly, as Mordred. “Then, perhaps I should start with Xagontetia.”

“Wait, Xagontetia? Wouldn’t taking over that Baliazoural Empire or something be a better choice since it’s bigger?”

“Heh, you just don’t get it; everyone loves the story of an underdog; Xagontetia is perfect. The issue is how I’ll go about taking it over. Coercion through force is too crass. Should I attempt to establish a black market? Take over economically? Maybe exert my influence over the military?” he thought about many methods but none of them seemed dramatic enough to be stamped with the seal of approval by Mordred. Then a thought occurred to him, “no wait, perhaps ‘that’ could work.”

“Did you come up with an interesting idea?”

Mordred let out a sinister smirk, “yeah. There isn’t anything quite as spectacular as the corrosion of reason and logic through the introduction of religion. But I don’t need to construct an entire religion; a central religious figure is enough. Right, I’ll create a ‘saint’, one that will become this country’s guiding voice and light. And what’s required for the birth of a saint are ‘miracles’.”

“Well, I’m glad you found your motivation.”

“Why are you talking as if you’ll have nothing to do? Morialia, you’re also going to be working hard for our plans,” Mordred told her as he gripped her head in a vice-grip to stop her from leaving. A cold shiver ran down her back as she almost regretted trying to motivate her master into action. “But that comes later,” he said as he loosened his hold. “While our ‘saint’ is busy taking over the country, we’ll need to help our poor amnesiac recover her memories, and to do that those daggers will be the key. Clean air and a calming atmosphere may be good for her, but what would really help is if she gets back into her usual routine. Perhaps it’d be better to make her fight actual humans instead of monsters. She seemed like an Assassin, so maybe that’ll jump-start her memories.”

“How are you going to manage that? Are you going to make brigands attack her or something?”

“That’s not a bad suggestion. However, I’d rather soldiers from the enemy nation. She was skilled enough to take down a Hundred Eyed Devourer, so it’d probably be much more effective to fight someone with a higher skill level than mere brigands.”

“Wow, you’re such a devil.”

“The problem is where we’d ‘procure’ some cooperative enemy soldiers. Or maybe I could fabricate them...”

*

*

*

“Oh, hello,” Ann greeted. Whilst out on her stroll she had coincidentally run into Lieutenant Marianne. “I heard you were also there when you saved me.”

“Hmm?” for a moment Marianne gazed back with a confused expression. Then, as though a light bulb had turned on inside her head she asked in astonishment, “wait, could it be that you’re the woman the doctor and I found in the forest?!”

“Y- yes? Is there something wrong?”

“Is something... of course there is! Not to offend, but when you were found, you were barely a pile of meat!” Marianne exclaimed as she leaned in closer to study her in closer detail. To her it must’ve appeared as though the dead had come back to life. “Is this real? I’m honestly amazed you’re even awake, much less be walking about; I thought it’d take at least a few months for you to regain your consciousness.”

A cold sweat ran down Ann’s back. “Was... was I really in that bad of a shape?”

“Yes, extremely,” Marianne couldn’t help but grimace as she remembered the horrendous state she was found in. “It wouldn’t have been out of place at all if you ended up as a corpse. I think no one other than the doctor could’ve made this miracle happen.”

“That’s quite frightening,” Ann replied.

“But, I’m glad you made a full recovery. To tell you the truth, if it wasn’t for the doctor I would’ve just thought you were dead and buried you. Sorry.”

“Oh, there’s no reason for you to apologize.”

“And there was these too,” Marianne presented to her a few of the personal effects from the other people that couldn’t be saved. “I wasn’t able to bring anything else because they were damaged beyond repair, but you should take these with you.” She handed several more of those ‘transceiver’ earrings all with a silent crimson glint.

“What are these?” Ann asked, tilting her head slightly to the side. “Earrings? But so many...”

“Huh? They’re the belongings of the people you were with.”

“The people I was with?”

“Yeah, there were five of you, wait, don’t you remember anything?”

“I’m sorry. I seemed to have suffered a case of amnesia. The doctor said I should regain my memories in time, but if it was something that terrible, I’m not sure I really want to remember.”

Marianne nodded, “yeah, I can understand that, but amnesia is terrible. You don’t remember anything? What about your name?”

Ann shook her head. “The doctor gave me the name ‘Ann’ that I could temporarily use.”

“Ann. That’s a good and simple name.” Marianne offered her hand for a shake. “Nice to meet you, I’m Marianne, a lieutenant of the local garrison.”

“Yes, I hope we can get along.”