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"The truth of the world..."
Perhaps because of Asakura's serious demeanor, Kagamihara Nadeshiko was infected and couldn't help but swallow: "When making miso soup, you shouldn't add the miso at the beginning, but wait until it's finished cooking and then dissolve it into the soup with a spoon, otherwise the taste will become very strange?"
"Isn't that just a kitchen tip?"
Yuigahama Yui muttered softly.
"Do you remember what you saw before you fainted?"
Asakura asked the pink-haired girl.
"That... strange face?"
Kagamihara Nadeshiko said uncertainly.
The somewhat slow-witted girl didn't seem to have realized that something was amiss, but perhaps because of this slowness, her mood was quite stable after waking up, like a casual player in a CoC session who, due to low Inspiration, didn't notice any abnormalities or find any clues by the time of settlement, thus not losing even 1 SAN.
"If you can't remember, you don't have to think about it."
Asakura pondered for a moment, thinking there was no need to force the other party to be frightened by those SAN-dropping things: "In short, you were cursed by something strange. Although the thing that cursed you has been dealt with by me, the curse itself, or rather, the curse factor, still exists within your body."
He explained it in a clear and concise manner.
"A curse, a curse!"
Kagamihara Nadeshiko's eyes widened in surprise: "Me? No wonder I kept having nightmares when I was sleeping just now, turning into a snake and then into a boy..."
That shouldn't be a nightmare, but reality.
The other girls present all showed similar expressions.
"To be on the safe side, I plan to remove the curse from your body."
Asakura continued.
Although the cultist had been burned to ashes by him, there was no guarantee that some supernatural power might activate the curse within the girl's body, so completely clearing it out was the best option.
"But before that, I still want to tell you... once you experience and remember such supernatural events, you're very likely to encounter them again. If you want to continue being a normal person and live your previous life, it would be better to erase this memory along with it."
Asakura continued: "Whether it's the curse or the memory, the process of elimination won't be comfortable. If we're going to do it, it's better to do it together to avoid suffering twice."
"But even if the memory is erased, the past experience won't disappear, right? Is simply erasing the memory really useful?"
Kagamihara Nadeshiko asked somewhat confusedly.
"Supernatural... especially the 'abnormal' kind of things, the perception of their 'existence' is actually quite important."
Asakura explained: "If it's someone who hasn't experienced such things, even if they are very interested in a strange tale, after receiving a materialistic education, they actually have a considerable degree of doubt about its authenticity in their hearts, and the chance of triggering the strange tale is not too high. But once they have experienced such a thing and left a vivid and deep memory, then when facing similar rumors again, they will almost subconsciously consider the possibility of 'it actually exists'. Compared to the former, the possibility of attracting the corresponding abnormality is ten, or even nine times higher."
"I see, I think I understand."
Kagamihara Nadeshiko nodded thoughtfully: "Simply put, if you tell a foreigner that osaka-yaki tastes like takoyaki, but because they haven't eaten takoyaki, they can't imagine the taste at all. But if you tell a Japanese person the same thing, because everyone has eaten takoyaki, they can imagine the taste even if they haven't eaten osaka-yaki, right?"
"Right, right...?"
Asakura was a bit bewildered by the example the girl gave. Can these two things be conflated?
He looked at the others, seeking outside assistance.
The understanding Yuigahama Yui immediately showed a confident smile that said 'Leave it to me.' She immediately said: "Compared to osaka-yaki and takoyaki, I still prefer sukiyaki."
Asakura sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Isn't that a completely different type of food?"
Gokou Ruri retorted.
"Casually choosing a more expensive dish, truly Yuigahama-san."
Asagumo Chihaya applauded softly, though her tone made it impossible to tell if she was genuinely praising or being sarcastic.
"Oh, everyone's reactions are different from what I expected..."
Yuigahama Yui mumbled softly.
"About erasing memories... will it only erase the part about the curse?"
Kagamihara Nadeshiko asked Asakura.
"Unfortunately, because my mastery of this technique isn't that refined, it will likely delete most of your memories from Mount Kumotori."
Asakura replied truthfully.
While he said delete, it was actually more accurate to say burn.
If Asakura gained anything from his trip to Mount Kumotori, it was a deeper understanding of the Magic [Candle].
Just like the famous teacher Kaido, who could use Ryuo with one swing, Conqueror's Haki with two, and Gear 5 with three, Asakura's understanding of [Candle] was also divided into three stages.
Initially, when 'burning' hostages, to prevent the cultist boss from suspecting that the survivors were truly burned to death, Asakura intentionally, while igniting them, tried his best not to let the Magic [Candle] burn them, only causing pain and making them scream horribly. At that point, Asakura realized that the [Candle] Magic seemed different from his original understanding.
Then, he let the Magic run wild, burning all 'Yamanokemono' individuals but without harming anything else.
The rampage of a Magic itself can deepen the caster's understanding of the Magic.
For example, Gokou Ruri, even if her current [Cat] Magic level cannot temporarily turn others into cats, at most making them grow cat ears or tails, plus some habits like licking fur and catching mice, the difficulty of turning herself into a cat, which is actually not much different, has become as familiar as moving her arm. This is clearly related to her Magic rampage that caused her to turn into a cat.
It was also at that time that Asakura completely understood that the essence of [Candle] was not fire, but rather to treat 'something' as a 'candle'—for example, abnormalities, curses, or memories.
And the third stage was when the Magic completely ran wild, draining his Magic power and even starting to draw on his life force. In a trance, Asakura felt the greater potential of [Candle], but both the Nameless Magic Book in his mind and his own intuition were desperately sounding alarms, telling him that it was not yet time to delve into that.
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