Hunting: Memories (I Transmigrated as a Memory Hunter)

Arc 1: Kumoshima Part 41

Chapter 41

“Young Master!” Kuro shouted. He wanted to run to Keisuke but he still had Yattsu in his hands. More than that, it seems that Keisuke could not hear him.

The sweet-scented powder lingered in the air. Even with his mask, Kuro could still smell it a bit. Thanks to it, Yattsu was caught off guard. He knocked him off. Dekai handled the other two well.

They tied the three people one by one.

Suddenly, a mild citrus scent mixed in. Kuro’s eyes brightened. It was a secret signal that only he could detect. He turned to Keisuke but the latter’s eyes were still blank while still dealing with Lord Fei. So he turned to Dekai, “I’m going out to check our help. Guard young master.”

Dekai nodded.

He first checked Yattsu’s men which they left tied outside the hideout. After checking if the ropes were still all tight, he took his horse and made his way down the mountain.

One can probably call what happened a few days ago as luck.

While fighting two of Lord Fei’s men, he noticed one of them trying to get away secretly. After dealing with his own enemy, he followed the other one’s scent. He found the man trying to take away a tied, blindfolded child. Without much thinking, he saved the kid. After that, he decided to bring along the child while looking for his comrades.

Who would have thought that the father the kid was looking for was actually Dekai?

The moment Dekai saw the child, he started to cry too pitifully. It was too pitiful that despite knowing it was Dekai who knocked his master, Kuro could not get mad. After Keisuke woke up the next day and learned what happened, he even realized Dekai’s action as reasonable.

In the end, Dekai bowed loyalty to Kuro and promised to help them. After all, Dekai only followed the enemies to get his son back.

Kuro was a bit reluctant at first but after careful consideration, Keisuke said it would be helpful. So they planned this set up. With additional help from Dekai, everything became successful.

However, he did not expect Keisuke’s reaction towards Lord Fei. He was even surprised to smell two scents from him. Was that possible?

______

Chunan returned just in time to find Kazuyuki and Shier leaving. But even if Chunan wanted to go and help find his Young Master, with the current situation, he could not really leave the Spring Blossom yet. He might even need to go to the capital as soon as possible. Either way, knowing the other two, he knew that they wouldn't take things lightly. With that, he could only offer them his soldiers and promised Kazuyuki to handle the remaining problems regarding the other situations. With enough men, they went up the mountain.

Though Shier was against letting Kazuyuki travel that much after the accident, he has no right to stop him either. Xei could not say it, either. Though he knew his body had already recovered, he could not tell Shier this so he could only assure him, and that finding Keisuke was more important.

Xei had other things to worry about. He was not 100% sure if Keisuke was indeed Nephrite. And it was not that simple to ask him either. Xei did not know what happened to Kazuyuki’s soul nor how he acquired this body without any contract.

What would Nephrite feel if he learned Xei took over his lover’s body?

Normally, the head of the Memory Bank had always been decisive on everything. If Zireon learned about Xei’s confusion at the moment, the former would surely hold a party for him.

Either way, Xei could not understand all his feelings right now.

“Shier, Young Master Kazuyuki.”

Kuro came out from behind the tall bushes.

Xei blinked. Of course he had memories about Kuro but… does this kid always hide and pop out this way?

Shier maneuvered his horse and moved towards Kuro, “Did you wait for long?”

Kuro first bowed to Xei before responding to Shier, “No, I smell your scent signal.”

After a bit of questions and answers, Kuro took his horse tied nearby and led the way, their horses trekking calmly.

“Actually, something happened. Young Master was the one who decided to keep this a secret.”.

Both Shier and Xei frowned. After a while, Shier patted Kuro, “It must be tough for you. He likes doing impulsive things lately.”

“Not really. I respect his decision, especially this one.” Kuro told them every detail of what transpired in the past few days.

“So, the young master instead told you to pretend that he’s still missing? Doesn’t he know how worried we are? Really!” Shier half-complained, half-amused.

“Yes, but I’m worried now that I left. He’s nothing like himself at all.

Up until this point, Xei just listened to their conversation, observing the situation. But after hearing this, he grabbed Kuro by the shoulder.

The movement was faster than Kazuyuki’s normal speed. Kuro was the fastest within their group. This action startled him.

“What do you mean he was not like himself?”

Kuro only contemplated for a few seconds before answering truthfully, “Young master’s eyes were blanked and his anger to Lord Fei was so hard to watch. When I left, he was punishing the young Lord—!”

Xei cut Kuro’s sentence, “Let’s move faster.

Seeing the anxiety on Kazuyuki’s face, Kuro did not ask any questions and proceeded to their destination.

Xei wanted to reach Nephrite as soon as possible. Aside from the rarity, another reason why Soul Hunters were preferred more than Memory Hunters in this job was due to vulnerability. Soul Hunters has full control of the vessel. Even if they had access to the memory of the vessel as part of the fulfillment contract, they did not need to worry about lingering attachment since the soul completely leaves the body after the acquisition process. On the other hand, Memory Hunter only borrows the vessel. Unused vessels can not be completely empty and usually have lingering souls to maintain the memory. When a memory hunter took over the vessel, not only did they acquire the vessel’s memory, they also accessed the emotions from the lingering souls, making things difficult.

He was now 99% sure Nephrite was inside Keisuke.