Chapter 12: I Know You, But You (No Longer) Know Me

"Index?"

Vivian lightly furrowed her brow, glanced at someone behind her, then looked at the silver-haired little nun in front, lowering her voice.

"Is she someone you know?"

"..."

"..."

"If you put it that way, it wouldn't be wrong; I do know her..."

Xia Zhi's gaze focused on Index as he nodded slightly upon hearing this, his tone carrying an indescribable sense of emotion, as if reminiscing about something: "It's just that she definitely doesn't know me."

A girl who appeared to be thirteen or fourteen years old.

She had silk-like silver hair, skin as white as paper, and green eyes, like an exquisite porcelain doll.

Every detail could be said to perfectly match; although the one before her eyes was a three-dimensional, vibrant living individual rather than the flat character illustration in memory, that feeling was hard to describe in words and unusually intense.

As if merely seeing this silver-haired figure immediately made her intuitively understand one fact—

If the character "Index" came to reality...

If she leaped from a two-dimensional plane into a three-dimensional world...

Then she would surely look like this...

"You know her, but she doesn't know you..." Vivian looked somewhat suspicious, wondering what strange relationship this was, and she seriously thought it over but found no clues in the intelligence she currently possessed.

Even in the memories of another self that she had entrusted, there was no mention of any existence called "Index"; obviously, this girl should not be any famous figure in British history.

It was precisely because the person beside her spoke so confidently, just now making a firm assertion, claiming this little girl was of the Anglican Church...

Wait!

Anglican Church? United Kingdom?!

Perhaps because it was ultimately not her own memory, Vivian was a bit slow on the uptake and only suddenly reacted at this moment.

—Weren't those the hateful barbarians who later occupied Britain?!

—Could such a background be considered related to Britain and thus summoned?

In an instant, Vivian seemed to think of something, her mood immediately becoming indescribably conflicted and tangled; she looked deeply at the silver-haired little nun—could she really only choose between this girl and Merlin?

How to put it...

This pool really makes one completely lose interest in gacha!

On the other side, Xia Zhi's mood at this moment was also quite subtle, and his expression was equally complex.

After all, he truly didn't know how to describe this feeling; when a familiar fictional character leaped off the page and appeared vividly in reality, that strange sensation could truly be called a mix of shock and novelty, leaving one with mixed emotions.

Although he himself could be considered to have crossed dimensions and descended into such a world like a fantasy novel...

However, these two... were ultimately different.

"Huh? You know me... you really know me?"

At this time, Index opposite also seemed to finally come back to her senses from shock, her eyes instantly flashing with surprise, and she ran over with a lively, lighthearted step, dong dong dong.

"That's really great; I was just looking for someone who knows me, and I have a lot of things I want to ask..." While running over, she shouted with a cheerful and candid tone, her appearance seeming completely without guard or reservation.

So pure, so innocent...

Like a snowflake unstained by worldly troubles...

However, Vivian keenly captured a hint of strangeness; she lightly furrowed her brow. Because in her special vision, the other's smile did not come from the heart but was wrapped in a layer of contradictory feelings of saying one thing and meaning another.

Just as she was preparing to kindly remind someone, a subtle and low voice had quietly sounded in her ear, speaking before her—

"Of course I know you, and have known you for a long time... I didn't expect there would be a chance to meet again, and under such circumstances."

Xia Zhi bitterly raised the corners of his mouth, while also stepping forward a few steps; his voice seemed mixed with a trace of heavy emotion, and his gaze toward Index unknowingly was covered with a layer of faint sadness.

Index: "..."

Vivian: "..."

At this moment, the scene fell into a brief yet subtle awkward silence, so quiet that only the flow of air remained.

Index was left dumbfounded, naturally unable to react; Vivian was suspicious, wondering how this fellow had started acting too?

Her gaze wandered back and forth between the silver-haired little nun and the young man; Vivian pressed her lips and said nothing, she had also somewhat seen some clues. This silver-haired little nun might not be so simple, but this young man beside her was truly a difficult character.

Probably only he could fool the other...

Under such circumstances, there was absolutely no need for her reminder.

Although she temporarily couldn't understand what this was for, she also clearly understood how she should respond at this moment—just stay calm and wait and see, to see what medicine this fellow was selling in his gourd.

However, Vivian could remain calm, but Index was somewhat suspicious and uncertain, staring intently at the young man in front; her feigned innocent expression froze, and she no longer continued to pretend to be cheerful and walk forward.

Instead, she subconsciously retreated a few steps, her face showing undisguised hesitation: "You are... you are..."

"I knew it; you definitely don't remember me..." The young man watched her instinctive retreat, a flash of gloom and loss instantly crossing his eyes, but he still forced a light laugh; however, what was revealed behind that smile was heartbreaking.

"I... I..."

Index stood there blankly, staring blankly at the young man before her, feeling her stomach clench.

Could it be... could it be...

Before losing her memory, she really knew him?!

"Who... who exactly are you?"

Index bit her lower lip hard, cautiously probing as she asked, her expression full of hesitation and doubt, intertwined with contradictory and confused emotions.

Her tone, besides vigilance and guard, also inevitably revealed a hint of hope.

She had not failed to speculate that this might be a trap set by the other; however, the other's expression was so sincere, the emotional expression so natural, that it seemed to carry a convincing persuasiveness, especially when she retreated, that flash of gloom on the other's face...

That expression made her feel inexplicably sad just looking at it.

"Even if I tell you my name, you definitely won't remember; after all, it was several years ago, and your memory must have been cleared several times..."

Xia Zhi shook his head, sighed heavily, and said this half-truthfully and half-falsely.

"……!!"

Index's pupils contracted slightly at once.

My memory has been cleared several times? What does that mean?

Could it be that my loss of previous memories wasn't some accident, nor even some chance occurrence, but has happened more than once?

"You know? You really know?! Why was my memory cleared?!"

She couldn't care about anything else now, stepping forward quickly and asking urgently. After the other party intentionally or unintentionally threw out the question she cared about most, Index's attention was directly drawn over.

"Huh? You, you — don't know? Could it be your current guardians and partners haven't told you?"

The youth opposite also frowned, looking at her with an extremely surprised gaze.

"I recall your current partners should be Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl Magnus, that female 'Saint' and fire Magic User…… how did they manage things, not even explaining this clearly to you?"

"I…… I……"

Index's thoughts were somewhat chaotic, not knowing what to say for a moment. The information the other party revealed as a matter of course seemed simple, yet also seemed to reveal many things.

Guardians and partners……

Female 'Saint' and fire Magic User……

Could it be that those two pursuing me aren't some villains coveting the grimoires, but Kanzaki Kaori and Stiyl Magnus these two…… my guardians and partners? The little nun subconsciously thought of this point.

Perhaps because after having her memory cleared, her strangeness and distrust of the surrounding environment made her run away at the first time……

So those two didn't have time to explain the situation to her, and she kept running, the misunderstanding not only not resolved but growing deeper?

Index was very conflicted about this, she took a deep breath, mustered courage and looked straight at the other party: "I indeed don't know, just that after waking up once, I no longer had previous memories…… could you please tell me?"

"……"

"……"

"So it's like this, looks like something went wrong……" The youth opposite rubbed his forehead, saying with distress.

He hesitated a moment, as if making up his mind, and also as if organizing his words:

"This matter must start from your identity, Index, you should know, you possess the special constitution of Perfect Memory, utilizing your constitution, the Church turned you into a walking Grimoire Library……"

…………

…………

Index is very kind, also very naive, but simultaneously also very smart.

Perhaps those very worldly very complex matters she still can't figure out, but at least for those very obvious principles, she can still see very clearly, so she cannot be simply regarded as an ignorant innocent child of the same age.

She has a considerably profound understanding and cognition of her own situation.

In this silver-haired little nun's view, her current status quo is actually very terrible.

Not only inexplicably losing previous memories, but also inexplicably being continuously hunted, naturally terrible to the utmost…… only unfortunately, she has no way and no place to complain, and no one to explain what's going on to her.

The only thing she can do is continuously run away.

When finally barely shaking off the pursuers catching up, finally having a moment to catch her breath.

Result who knows how, one eye-opening she suddenly appeared in this strange environment, the stranger opposite recognized her identity at a glance, spoke out the key intelligence of 103,000 grimoires in one breath.

Facing this kind of development, what would Index think, how could she think?

Yes, she of course would subconsciously believe the person before her eyes is just like those two continuously hunting her, all people with ill intentions coveting the 103,000 grimoires, she has already been caught.

Under this kind of circumstance, she a little nun without power to resist, what else could she do……

Although Index's escape ability is quite good, it also depends on specific circumstances.

In circumstances not yet caught, she indeed can continuously display her cleverness, utilize various conditions, think of every method to shake off enemies, time and again turn danger into safety, transfer from dangerous areas to safe zones.

However like the current situation, directly arriving before the enemy's eyes, without doubt is very hard to let her find opportunity to exploit loopholes.

After all right under the enemy's eyelids, could she still directly fly away?

So precisely because realizing this point, Index despite full heart vigilance, didn't reveal a bit of it, also didn't try to escape at all, but decisively switched thinking, pretended to be naive innocent appearance.

First try to weaken the other party's alertness as much as possible, try to make the other party really regard her as a child……

Then find opportunity to escape!

The little nun thought this way, however…… the other party knew her like the back of his hand, completely not prepared to play by common sense.

…………

…………

In Index's brain, copied and stored the grimoire knowledge sealed in various places of the World, a full 103,000 volumes in number.

That is incomparably vast, also incomparably precious profound knowledge, however also the main factor oppressing her life.

"…… It's just like this, as long as seen once everything remembered never forgotten, to ensure your brain capacity, so every year you must regularly eliminate memory once, otherwise, cannot survive."

Xia Zhi recalling the Setting he had read, leisurely narrated the whole matter, speaking to the end his tone beyond calm also carried a certain heartache feeling.

——He paid attention to details at all times, ensuring acting was on point.

"……"

Index opened her mouth, said nothing, only her gaze somewhat blank.

Is it like this?

So it's like this?

This is the origin of my memory being eliminated? Because I remembered too many things, occupied too much brain capacity, so remaining capacity already insufficient to maintain normal life, must eliminate memory once every year?

Sounds…… seems a bit unreasonable, but in her inner heart there is a voice.

That voice seems to be telling her, it's exactly this matter! It's exactly this matter, that is what she experienced!

Perhaps a shout from the subconscious depths?

The little nun is uncertain about this, only feels thoughts very disordered, she bit her lip, blankly at a loss looking around, however this desolate wilderness, nothing at all, naturally also doesn't exist anything that could relieve her siege at this moment.

"Alright alright, maybe you can't accept for a while right now…… let's go rest a bit first, whatever matters wait until tomorrow to say."

Just then, the youth on the opposite side also spoke up.

He considerately offered a suggestion, neither pressing nor making any demands.

"Mm... thank you, I... I might need a little bit of time..." Index said with a discouraged expression. She decided to also take a breather first; no matter what, just like the initial strategy, gaining the other party's trust as much as possible and buying time was never wrong.

"It's fine, what we lack least is time..."

Xia Zhi smiled, thought for a moment, and casually added: "Right, you should be hungry too, want to eat something?"

"..."

"..."

The little nun's movements noticeably paused for a beat.

————

————

Deep night, quiet people.

All sounds silent.

Amidst the bonfire and the night wind, everything fell quiet once more.

"You... why did you lie to her?" Vivian's gaze swept over the little nun who had finally been unable to hold on and fallen sound asleep, then returned to the youth. She hesitated, but still asked the question.

—Although in her vision, the little nun's mind had indeed fallen asleep.

—But to be safe, the girl still sealed the sound, and applied a little trick to make her sleep even deeper.

"An expedient measure, also forced by circumstances. If she doesn't trust us, never mind inviting her to stay as a teacher, you don't know how good she is at running away... at a time like this, we have no way to search the whole world for her."

Xia Zhi shook his head. This was the best course of action.

Just as he said, if Index couldn't truly trust him and the others, then never mind inviting her to join the team...

In a few days they'd probably be unable to find her at all.

Realizing this, he simply utilized his understanding of the little nun, and by the way packaged the emotions he had initially revealed — half-truth, half-false, constructing a story of "I know you, but you (already) don't know me."

Index might not believe it immediately, but it was enough to make her hesitate.

At least it was far better than her completely distrusting them and thinking of running away every moment; that was enough.

"Since you have a plan, I won't say anything more... but can she really handle the role of a teacher? She looks like just a little girl, doesn't look very reliable." Vivian frowned, expressing doubt on this point.

"Can't be helped either, she's already been summoned, and moreover don't underestimate lolis..." Xia Zhi sighed. "If I had a choice, I'd want to summon Ou Ti directly to be the teacher, but there's no choice, is there."

"Ou Ti?"

"That's Othinus, an alias of Odin..." Xia Zhi explained briefly.

"The Great God Odin, huh..." Vivian mused for a moment. Although she didn't know why he brought up that alias, if it was about summoning Odin, that was definitely unrealistic; she felt it was impossible to summon him.

—She didn't know that her original summoning result.

"Speaking of which, this is really strange enough... why was Index summoned? Could it be the same world? Or is it because of me..."

Xia Zhi thought seriously for a while, and had many doubts, simultaneously giving rise to many guesses and ideas.

But obviously, these questions would have to be investigated later.

He gathered his thoughts, looked at the girl opposite who seemed a bit downcast, and coughed lightly: "Anyway, let's see the effect first. This Heroic Spirit Summoning shouldn't be limited to once, right? If Index's knowledge isn't compatible, we'll just try hiring another famous teacher..."

"It doesn't matter if Merlin is unsuitable; experts in this field related to Britain, there should still be other candidates. Like the infamously notorious consort Morgan, she should count, right?"

By the end, he was laughing too.

"..."

"..."

Strange silence.

"Vivian?" Xia Zhi didn't know why the girl wasn't laughing, and was looking at him with that kind of gaze.

(Chapter End)