After buying the supplies for the demon, we headed back to Fumiko's mansion. I think I forgot to mention that the mansion is located on the outskirts of Welcia, close to a forest but still in the city; you need to pass through the forest to get to the mansion first.
!The forest is strong illusion magic created by a mage that distorts perception; the mansion is in the city, but monsters will see a forest, not the cityscape. It creates another dimension that makes the forest appear in this dimension!
"It's still complicated to understand, Sia; I will try to wrap my head around this another time." – We just entered through the door where Fumiko sat doing her paperwork.
"So, you guys got everything; that was fast."- She moved her head upward and looked at me with bags under her eyes, looking very obviously tired.
"Yes, I have them in my special storage from my Predator skill. I just remembered the letter we sent to the king requesting two of the summoned heroes as helpers. Did something come out of it?"- Fumiko sighed and nodded.
"I made Alma do it. I didn't know that she had the habit of staying in her room for long periods and that she was sick on the side. I don't know what sickness a demon can have." - This is a bit nonsensical from her.
"You still didn't answer the question about the helpers. What happened to the letter?"- Fumiko sighed again in tiredness and handed me a piece of paper wrapped in leather.
I opened the leather wraps and read the letter. ^Fumiko Welcia, I, King Wieka, approve of your request. You can take the heroes Masamune and Hanako with you for training; an important part of Wieka's finances will be processed in Welcia from now on. This letter will arrive at the same time as the heroes^
Kinda short and lacks formal speech, something a king should know to do, but under the goddess's Ifrit control, I should expect something like this.
"So, they are here already?"- I start to speak with Fumiko over the telepathic network.
"Yes, Masamune and Hanako are here. Better have Hana use her skills on them and cut all ties that they have with Ifrit and everything that could have them tracked through Mana; check on them with Sia as well, and make sure that they don't have any trackers or magic recorders on them either."- She pointed upstairs to a room that she uses for paperwork, she has a few rooms like that throughout the mansion that she moves her paperwork around.
"Ok, thanks, we will go there and check. I will let you know what we found."
We went up the stairs and entered Fumiko's office, or paper signing room as she calls it, one of them at least.
"Who is there?"- I can hear Hanako's voice; she sits down, completing papers.
"It's us."- She froze on the spot; Masamune was behind her and turned his head to look at us.
"Oh, Hikaru, Hana, nice to see you 2."- Masamune laughed exhaustedly.
"Nice to see the 2 of you as well. I hope the paperwork is going well. Take a break if it's too much; you are already doing a lot by filling in some of the paperwork."- I read some of the papers to see if they were good. I am afraid they are still under some sort of influence from Goddess Ifrit, or if there are any traces of brainwashing.
"Well, good to see you two again; I hope that dammed goddess is out of my mind; the process you put me through last time wasn't pretty. I ended up losing many of my memories, but Masamune and his skills restored them. And, also, is this what Lady Fumiko and you two have to deal with? This paperwork is a headache."- Hanako turned her head slowly, and with a tired motion of her left hand moving from left to right, she signaled us to come closer to her.
"Well, I might have to check again; you are humans and more susceptible to her control; it's like cancer that grows in your mind. Mind if I do a quick check?"- Hana smiled at Hanako, passing a small bamboo bottle we had made coffee in this morning.
"Sure, it won't hurt."
"Sia, do a scan of these two."
!Analysis shows a trace that Goddess Ifrit can use to control; it is recommended to shut a specific neural pathway in their brain to prevent this; it won't affect them too much, but they will be a bit slower when it comes to mental processing, but it shouldn't be an issue!
"Well, just stand still; I know what to know about you two and the connection goddess Ifrit made with you two. I will delete and block it now."- Hana raised her left hand and touched Hanako's head, the same as Masamune. Sia guided her on how to close the neural pathway; it was too boring, and I didn't understand how Hana's skill worked. My eyes wandered to a small corner of the room they were in; I could see Alma; she started at us before speaking.
"Hikaru, Hana, we haven't talked in a long time, it feels like forever ago. How are the two of you?"- Alma suddenly spoke with us, rising from the chair and walking toward us.
"Well, we are ok. We are arranging a contract with someone. We will deliver the goods noted in the contract to someone. It will take us all day, but it will be worth it." Hanako looked at us with an expression that told me she had suddenly remembered something.
"Wait, Hana, do you mean that critical order Fumiko told us about? So, you guys have a more important function here than we do. It's to be expected, tho."
"There is nothing to do about it."- Hanako and Hana started to glance at one another, giving each other tired looks.
"Well, I guess you 2 have things to do. We have a lot of work to do ourselves, so I don't want to hold any more of your time; thanks for checking up on us tho."- Hanako and Masamune smiled, and then we left the room; we didn't look back. I think they will appreciate this more. Being left alone to focus when you have much to do is good.
!I suggest you and Han check on them more; it's only natural to do so, and you will bond with your classmates simultaneously. You will have different opportunities than you had in your previous life!
"Well, you do have a point Sia."
We should try after we have evolved to the next stage. If we are more evolved, we will be able to defend them. I suggest we go out somewhere where they can train and level up as well?"- Hana transferred this thought over the telepathic network.
"Yeah, you are right. But now, let's find ways we can get them to warm up even more to us. I observed something: the king's decision was too rash to just send them here. instead of doing anything else with them he sent them here; the king may still think that they are under the controll of Goddess Ifrit and they may have some sort of spying device installed." - I may be right on this one
!Correct. I analyzed their clothes and had a magic recording device placed on them. It records what it sees and hears; royal guards and mages will do checkups here often and will see the devices. It is recommended that we start removing them at once. Would you like to try to remove them remotely?!
"Yes, Sia, can you do that? And why in the ever loving hell didn't you tell me earlier about this?"
!In theory, yes, but actually no. I tried just now. If it doesn't work, you will have to go and rip the device from their clothes. And I didn't tell you because it wasn't worth it at the time to do so.!
Hana and I rushed upstairs to where Hanako and Masamune are
"What happened to you two? Did you forget something?"- Hanako looked at us, panic visible.
"On your clothes, magical devices record sound and images. Rip them out; they were installed there without the two of you knowing."
"Wait, what?" - Hanako and Masamune stripped off some of their clothes, and the two only remained in a shirt.
They nodded toward us, and we began to search for the devices. It took us 30 minutes to find the devices.
When we tried to rip them out, it didn't work; this isn't glue; if it was, we could have ripped them out and destroyed them.
"How can we destroy them without ripping them out? It won't work."
!It can overwrite the devices without destroying them; it will look like a malfunction and only send blank data and images. Release your aura, and I can work through that!
"Ok, I am ready."- I released a large amount of aura in the room; papers flew everywhere, a few chairs got overthrown, the rugs from the floor shifted their position, and the bookshelves began to rock back and forth, and the chandelier almost fell from the ceiling, the desk where Hanako and Masamune sat got thrown back almost out of the windows, and the 2 of them got thrown against a wall
!Confirmation: The magic device overwrites successfully; I now have control over the shared information and can access it remotely!
"What the hell did you just do? Why did you unleash your aura like this? You could have been gentler." Hanako is rising and trying to gather all of the paper.
"What the hell what the earthquake just now?" - I turned around to look at the door and saw Fumiko standing there, panting, looking like she run a marathon.
"We will explain later, don't worry, we caused it." – Hana rand to the door and reassured Fumiko.
"Whatever you two have done, it didn't look pretty. Anyway, come down to my office downstairs to talk."
We followed Fumiko downstairs to her office. On the right, we can see Alma sleeping near a pile of papers; it's good she is also helping around.
"So, what did you two find?"- Fumiko sat us down and looked us in the eyes.
"Well, the king or some other brainwashed person managed to install mana tracking and recording devices on them, I had my skill overwrite them and take control over the devices, but I had to release a large amount of aura in the air to do so. Sorry for the trouble." - I bowed my head to Fumiko as a sign of apology.
"Well, it's okay; if you got the problem fixed and nothing was badly damaged, it's ok." – Fumiko looked away from us and started to do paperwork again.
Well, that's it for today; I guess tomorrow, we will need to bring back the food and clothes to the demon and start to evolve again.