Part 35: Humans and Youkai - Part 1a

I-I'm back... I'm sorry, Remilia! Patchouli and I lost!

...Lady Patchouli was defeated?

...My my.

Patchouli's defense system was working well... But one of the enemy magicians figured it out. Then it got really bad, so I ran for my life!

Way to conveniently leave out how Alice found out.

...I can see that. Thank you for the report.



This is getting more and more fun.

...If I may speak, Milady. It seems they have acquired the assistance of several youkai as well. So it may not be entirely correct to classify their efforts as due to the humans.

Excuse me, but who are the main characters of this game again?

The people at the core of the group are the human shrine maiden and magician. That's proof enough of their power.

...

Hehehe, I knew you were interested in those humans, Sakuya.

...That is not the case.



Mere humans like them shall be swept away from the mansion post haste.

...Very well. Give it a try.

Fight, Sakuya! I know you can beat them up~!

...

Sakuya leaves.

...We fought them so seriously and still lost, though... Will Sakuya be okay on her own?

You are four hundred years too young to be worrying about her like that.

Eep, you didn't have to put it that way... I'm always doing everything as if each day was my last!

Then make that time pass by somehow. Honestly, I can't believe you and I are both devils.

Yep, Kurumi's a vampire too. Don't assume her performance in battle is in anyway indicative of her race though.



...!

You made it out okay, Kurumi? I was worried about you.

As a side note, if Keine attacks Kurumi in chapter 9, Kurumi reveals she's never been to the Human Village before because Elly and this mysterious person are worried she'd get lost.
_{She doesn't actually say it was because she'd get lost though, so Keine interprets it as "worried she'll go on a rampage" and reacts accordingly.}

Elly, you came back to life!

...Um, I never died to begin with.

...So you all only came now? The humans have already arrived.

So it seems. I saw her heading out to meet them.



Sakuya is my excellent knight... She will wipe out the opponent's king in one fell swoop.

This is entirely accurate. Good thing this isn't Fire Emblem, and I don't instantly game over if Reimu or Marisa die!

...That girl is special. Her sophistication and education alone allows her to surpass the shackles of a human. All she needs to do is rid herself of her hesitation...



I am sure you are aware of that yourself, are you not?

No. I've said this before, but she should remain as is.

That's quite surprising coming from the devil that manipulates fate.

Yep, that's Remilia's power. How much control she really has and what she can really do with it is vague as hell though.

It's no fun if everything has been decided from the start. It is from uncertainty that the fun of watching things unfold can be derived.



The translation messed up here and erased this line.



Here's what it's supposed to be, if you're interested. Don't have a clue what it says though.

EDIT:
Thanks Professor!

...What are you planning?

Nothing at all. Have a little more faith in me.



...Elly, Kurumi. Come. I will be heading out.

!

Wha...!?

I want to see those children anyway, it's been so long. Let's do some sightseeing.



In the end, we have returned to the front of the mansion again.

So we have. Is this another trick from that girl who tampers with space-time?

Apparently she did it for the library too. I guess that girl is the key to it all.

You mean she's the one who knows how to make the space inside houses bigger? If someone like that really exists, I hafta know about her.



You should clean your house before that. Besides, the environment here is completely different from your house, Marisa.

The architecture of this building is quite unique amongst others in Gensokyo. Perhaps it would be harder to apply such techniques elsewhere.

That's a polite way of saying "no you can't just cheat it, clean your own damn house".

It does stand out. This extravagant candlestick and this red carpet can't be found anywhere else.

Hmm... So basically, this whole building might've just crossed over.

The whole building? That would be quite a large scale.

Yeah, it's kinda rare for whole buildings to go through the process.



Things from the outside world come here all the time. And humans who cross over are constantly being sent back by Reimu.

I appreciate how Sanbondo didn't just have Youmu ask "What's crossing over? ". Instead, they made an actual conversation!

"Crossing over" and being "spirited away" isn't the same thing. I only send back the latter.

...Hm? What do you mean?

"Crossing over" happens when an item from the outside world becomes forgotten. It then passes through the barrier to Gensokyo and ends up here.



When that happens, things from the outside world lose their way into Gensokyo. In other words, it's basically an accident in that area.

Ahh, Kourin said something like that too. It was about the outside world's shikigami, wasn't it? I remember seeing some perso-thingie there...

Ahh, you mean the "Personal Computer".

The joke here is from Rinnosuke's book. Shikigami are used by their masters to perform tasks, and computers do essentially the same thing. So when Rinnosuke saw an old computer he (incorrectly, as always) assumed they were the same thing.

It's not working because there isn't any electricity though.

Yeah, that. I don't think something like that could've been forgotten.

Marisa is unfamiliar with just how fast technology advances.

That's right. So not all things here are ones that just "crossed over".



That's a pretty silly thing to leave aside though. It's like saying electrical current and water current are the exact same thing, just forget the details.

It's just something suddenly appearing in Gensokyo.

That might be true for inanimate objects, but not for living things. To be forgotten... Becoming a mere illusion. That occurs when the general populace loses cognizance of your existence. The humans Reimu sends back are simply those that stumbled here while lost.



Gensokyo's a pretty depressing concept: forgotten things accepting that they would never be remembered and hiding away so they wouldn't fade away competely.

Yep, that would be "spirited away". I've never seen a human truly "cross over".

Could a living human really have their existence forgotten...? It would be very sad if so. People are born to fulfill their lives... Yet to be cast aside by fellow humans and to become a mere illusion...



It might even be better than the outside world. With fairies and youkai around, at least there's no shortage of fun.

So says Marisa, but honestly EoSD-era Gensokyo's in a pretty disjointed state; the place is divided into like ten different groups with little to no communication with each other. There is a reason I keep saying "EoSD era", though. By the time FMW reaches its conclusion, Reimu and Marisa will have brought (or dragged) all of Gensokyo together.

There certainly wouldn't be any lack of "fun" to have...



Meanwhile, the children are exploring.

Ah, Cirno! Wait!

We take our eyes off Cirno and the rest for just one moment, and... What are they up to now?

Let's make this our new bed, Dai! It's so soft and fluffy and feels really good!

Hm, it does... But isn't it a bit too big? It looks like it goes on forever.

Then let's cut off a piece to bring home. Do you have a pair of scissors with you?

Why would I?

You're so useless! Why did we bring you along?

I'm no toolbox.



Says the one who happily wasted time expositing.

Sure we do. Come feel this carpet too, Keine. It's really fluffy!

People step on that, you know. It's dirty, so stop touching it.



!

...The cleaning of the mansion is my job. The carpet will always be spotless.

Aren't you that maid we met before?

So we meet again. You're a maid, act like one and lead us guests to your master.

My, I do not see any guests present. All I see is an unsightly bunch of trash all over the carpet.



It is time to clean it up and throw it outside...





As always, Reimu is at the front.



We're that now? I'm the leader then!

Ooh, that's gotta smart for Reimu.

Yep, someone smart like me needs to be the leader!

Who exactly taught you all to bring children along to the mansion of a youkai? ...Letting them see the vivid color of blood will scar them for life, after all.

Might as well be ketchup to Rumia.

Good to see you again, maid. Is your job done for the day?

Yes. All I have left to do is to toss away the trash before my eyes.

Whoa there, mistaking guests for trash is giving a real bad name to other maids. We're continuing where we left off before, show the right hospitality, won't ya?



But I would suggest that you do not get ideas above your station. After all, you are nothing more than normal humans.

What's with her~? Another one who loves putting on airs?

She seems to be the chief maid of this mansion. She's a troublesome opponent who can teleport. And even if we take her ability out of the equation, she's still very strong. Nothing was settled in our previous battle.

Because she ran away.



She seems to be one. It is a strange ability for a human to have, but besides that, she's normal.

...I believe I told you before. Do not associate me with other normal humans. It seems you were not able to fully grasp the difference in power between us.

Was it really that big a difference to be so proud of? It was close in the end.

That's right. And this time we have Youmu, Rumia, Cirno and Daiyousei with us. Don't expect it to go the same way as it did before!

Yeah. We're all ready and raring to go this time!

It seems you have no intention to leave, so there will be no other choice for me.







So this is a pretty interesting map. As you can see, there are two paths branching off to the sides.



The left leads to a door behind Sakuya, and the right leads to a staircase. Why the former is here will become apparent soon.



Anyways, for the most part I'll be ignoring them. I'm sure they can help, but I've never needed them before and don't intend to start now.



Also I landed everyone again, since this is actually a chapter where the MP you lose from flight could conceivably hurt you.



While the main force goes down the center, Rumia, Cirno, and Dai will be taking the branch paths to clear out the enemies there.



The central path is going to get filled with danmaku, which is probably supposed to encourage you to take the side routes. But I can Focus or set up Support Defend, so who cares?



The three fairies in the center tried attacking Reimu. One died and the other two got beaten to near half health.



Reimu's just a bit off from being able to hit the next wave of fairies.



So she settles for obliterating this fairy.



Keine also gets a kill on the other fairy Reimu weakened.



Then everyone moves around so they're all being covered by someone.



Finally, the three girls at the bottom inch closer to their targets.



Rumia was literally the only opponent in range of an enemy attack.



Reimu weakens a maid spawning danmaku, and Keine kills it.



The subsequent +1 Power to my entire army lets Rumia use Night Bird to finish off this maid and get a Bomb,



and lets Alice use Artful Sacrifice. Amusingly, this was the first attack in the chapter that wasn't a critical hit.



That means Marisa gets the graze and experience.



Youmu takes the other side, and gets beat up a little. She should be fine though.



Finally, Cirno is in attack range. And thanks to her support with Dai, there's practically no way she'll get hit.



...Which means I totally wasted her first cast of Grit. If you successfully Graze while Grit is cast, your character just takes no damage since 10 is the lowest possible amount of damage.



More danmaku goes up,



and Keine battles the two fairies at the mouth of Sakuya's chamber.



They are not much of a hassle.



On her end, Youmu dodges one attack and gets hit by the other...



and then she barely misses a kill.



Whyyy doesn't Marisa have her Support with Alice in this route.



Dai grazes, and thus ends the enemy phase.



Turn 4 starts with Dai healing Youmu.



Then Youmu casts Focus and whacks the maid still at full health. That way, both fairies should suicide themselves on Youmu come enemy phase. And since they're too close to use anything but Tackle, Youmu might even activate Parry!



Rumia starts moving north to rejoin the main group,



and Cirno fails to kill the maid.



By contrast, Marisa finishes off this maid, freeing Alice and Nitori to head for Sakuya.



Alice also bumps up her killcount on the way.







Reimu has to finish the job. She casted Focus too since I'm moving her into some danmaku.



Turn 4 is when the chapter finally gets going.

And they are...!

Good to see you again, everyone!

It'll go differently this time around!

It's that demon and scythe youkai from before... You came to fight again!?

Wha? What do you chickens want with us?

...Lady Elly and Lady Kurumi. What business would you have here? I am more than enough for all these humans. I do not need your assistance.



Yeah. We're just the escort anyways, we don't have a choice in this.

Huh? Escort...? I don't see anyone else besides you two. Who are you escorting?

Ah-ah, you had to go and say that!

You all sure are forgetful. You don't remember what a bad time you had of it all that time ago? Kurumi and I are here. Who do you think will be showing up next!?

The heck are you talking about? I remember giving you all a bad time, not...

...!?

The music fades away here.

...Uh!?

...What's wrong, Dai?



I've never felt such a frightening amount of power before...!

What severe pressure... This aura feels murderous...

...No, I do not think it is murderous... But it is dark, silent, eerie and threatening...!

Yes, even I can feel it... The sensation of sharp needles prickling at your skin... The aura providing a crushing weight on your body...

...Ugh! Just what is this pressure!?



You know something about it? I've been feeling this aura for a while now...

...No, it can't be!

...This absolutely chaotic sensation... There's no mistake.



Music: Let's Make A Flower of Despair Bloom

Listen to this.



------

It was real bad luck to get outta Makai and into Gensokyo.

I'm Marisa Kirisame. I get money to live by stealin' grimoires.

All you youkai sages can go back home and rely on me. I'm a young magician girl.

It's time for the new program, "Fantasy Maiden Wars"... It's my turn to shine!