Ainz - Memory Magic 3

“…That must’ve sounded like something a villain would say. Anyway, I know a spell that allows me to manipulate other people’s memories. And I developed a way to use it to peer into them. Frankly, this technique expends quite a bit of mana, so I don’t really want to use it if I don’t have to, but I’m a little worried about going based on your hazy recollections alone.”

“D-does it have any aftereffects?”

“You’ll be fine. I got help from a priest, so I have the skills of a veteran now. As long as I don’t attempt anything weird, there won’t be any issues. I even tried it on one of my maids and nothing bad happened.”

“You mean Shizu, right?”

“That’s right, Aura. That said, this isn’t an all-powerful ability. If the target doesn’t remember the memory, I’ll only be able to see a foggy version of it. There are some other factors that make it hard to use, but that might be because instead of memories from the brain, it could actually be accessing more fundamental records…” Ainz realized he had gone on a tangent and shrugged.

***

After Zenbel answered the questions, Ainz cast a spell.

He could boast that he was an expert in this magic, with all the experience he had accumulated, but it was still difficult to use.

Memories that were tampered with could end up overwritten, so one false move could mean an irreversible error. It was like fiddling with a computer system that had no backup. It was probably a great spell for manufacturing disabled people.

More than anything, the large amount of required mana made it hard to use.

Ainz could feel his MP draining away from simply going back a little through Zenbel’s memories.

His plan was to find all the memories he wanted and then take his time sifting through them, but it seemed like he would run out of MP before he managed to do that. The other tricky thing about this spell was that even if he wanted to investigate again the next day after his MP recovered, he would have to start over again at the most recent memories.

Given all this, he was certain there had to be a more effective way to collect info than this spell.

As Ainz grumbled internally, the image of mountains suddenly appeared in his mind. Apparently, he had reached the memories he was searching for, but as expected, his mana was almost gone.

Peeking into old memories is the hardest. I can manage if they’re more recent, but…

As expected, everything was indistinct, as if enshrouded in fog. Ainz could make out some dwarves, but perhaps because Zenbel didn’t distinguish among them, all their faces looked the same. His only impression was that they all had beards and were all drinking and shouting in raucous voices.

***

Volume 11, Chapter 2.1