Part 8: Chapter 2M: Magicians and Lies - Part 2

Now then!

Eeeeeep!



Yeah Marisa. They looks so pitiful now.

As always, now that the incident is over everyone is chill.

Hmph...

All right... You've had a rough time thanks to this black-white, hm? You can relax here with a cup of tea.

The heck? They're the ones who started all this trouble.

It's your own unsavory behaviour that invites such misunderstandings to begin with.

Ahaha, she's right. From what I can tell...



Marisa is very much a kleptomaniac, much to the chagrin of everyone she knows.

So someone really came about from out lies!

You be quiet!

Marisa whacks Sunny.

Anyway, you wanted to ask these fairies something, didn't you?

Oh yeah. Do you know anything about this devilish mist?

Devilish mist... You mean this scarlet mist?

Yep. I'm after the source of it.

The source? Well, you can ask but...

Hmm, we don't really know anything. I was thinking it was kinda red, but...

And I thought fairies were supposed to be the incarnation of nature.

Well, I wasn't expecting much from them anyways.



A shrine maiden? You mean the one from the shrine?

I saw her yesterday. She was having her long afternoon nap at the veranda.

We flicked some water on her face as a prank. She hurriedly got up and started to gather the laundry she was drying.

Yeah, that was one of our masterpieces.

That sounds like her.

Yep, I can see that scene in my mind already.



I'm talking about another shrine maiden that's not her.

A shrine maiden... that's not Reimu?

...Is that supposed to be a riddle?

Nope, I'm asking seriously.

I have no clue what you're talking about. Gensokyo's not supposed to have more than one shrine maiden.

I thought so too. But a tengu I met yesterday was looking for a shrine maiden that wasn't Reimu. That ain't entirely why I asked, but it's definitely suspicious.

Well, it's natural for us not to know about it. Nitori, I suppose you don't know anything either?

I've had my hands full with all the stuff happening lately. I don't know the details about something like that...

But if you're talking about unknown humans...

Ahh, yeah, we've seen a strange human around recently.

Whoa, really? Keep going.

It wasn't a shrine maiden though. It was a maid.

None of us recognized her. We saw her heading towards the human village.

Hm, that sounds pretty suspicious too.

...A maid?

Hm? You have any idea who that could be?

No, never mind.



A maid, huh? I've never seen a real maid before.

That's cuz they're a rare species. We'll get in trouble with the Washington Convention if we capture her.

Marisa is talking about the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species.

You're going into random chatter again.

Um, we should be going...

Ahh, go ahead. Thanks.

I hope you've learned your lesson. Don't play any more pranks, alright?

Yes, we'll be more considerate from now on.

They won't.

We'll be going then.

And so they do.



I know, but I can't let them think they can do as they want here.

Warning them like that would just make them to do it even more. That's what playing pranks is all about.

I see you're very knowledgable about the mindset of a child, Marisa.

She's a child herself, pretty much.

Aw, shaddup. Whatever, let's go to the human village and chase after that maid.

Ehh? We're going to the human village?

We ain't got any other clues. I don't know if she's got anything to do with this scarlet mist... But we can ask her about that after we catch her.

What about all that talk about the Washington Convention?

We'll release her after we catch her.

The human village... Where would be a good place for me to hide?



I'm sworn friends with humans, but I've barely talked to them normally.

In Gensokyo, Kappa are sworn friends with humans. They haven't really done that much helping with the whole "no humans allowed on Youkai Mountain" thing though.

What kind of friend do you consider yourself? Just get yourself together.

O-Okay...

It must be tough having a companion like this. Well, do your best.



What? Why should I? I have no interest whatsoever in this mist. You two can do as you please.

Hey, you thought of me as a thief. My delicate heart was wounded so deeply by your callous treatment. So you can come together with us then we'll be even.

No way. I may have said that, but still... This whole affair was you suffering the consequences of your own actions.

C'mon Alice, come with us. It'll be better for us, and there might be some fun things along the way.

Well, I hadn't had a danmaku battle for a quite a long time before that one...



Ack, let go! ...Good grief, you could've wrinkled my clothes. Honestly, I guess I have no choice. The human village, was it? We should hurry, or the sun will set first.

...She really did come along eventually.

What, you don't like it?

N-No, that wasn't... Um... Where in the human village would we be going first?



The marketplace... There's sure to be lots of humans there. All right, it's time to popularize myself!



My research isn't going to progress like this...

Shang-hai?

Shanghai actually doesn't talk at all in the games, but various fanon portrayals basically make her a Pokemon. Since that's be more interesting than Alice talking to herself or an infinite amount of "..."s, Sanbondo went for it.

...I really have no interest in this mist whatsoever. Oh well. I did get a bit too heated up this time. I'd rather not leave debts like these unpaid either.

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Despite all her efforts to the contrary, Marisa is still my Ace.



I upgrade Marisa's Mobility to hopefully help her survive the next chapter. I also upgrade her MP again because apparently I forgot to save the last time I did that.



I'd be able to afford this by now if a certain someone didn't keep dying.



Meanwhile, Nitori is closing in on Berserk level 1. That's actually kind of pathetic on Marisa's part.



Some people recommend getting Tipsy for Alice since it lets her start with Artful Sacrifice right off the bat, but I find that to be a bad idea. Both because getting to 105 Power really isn't that hard, and because Alice needs to save up Graze for Support Attack. Because of her high Skill, Alice is very likely to get a critical hit. This makes her perfect for Support Attack, as she can consistently make up for the reduced damage.

After you save up to buy Support Attack, there's really only one other skill Alice needs: Focused Movement.



This is probably super confusing right now since all of Alice's moves are Post movement, but it kind of makes sense later. You can get her Unfocused Movement if you want though, she'll still do well.



Yaaaaaay.



The last thing I did was give Marisa a Beer. God knows she needs a drink.

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Alice Margatroid
Initial Stats - Level 20 Stats


Personality: Calm (Hit: +2 Power, Evade: +2 Power, Kill: +4 Power)

Character Skill: Magician Lvl 2-3 [Levels up at level 13]

Character Ability: Magic Barrier

WP Bonus: Hourai Doll/Shanghai Doll (For 15/30 MP, Alice can summon a doll as a new unit once per chapter. Basically useless since the only thing the dolls can really do is act as bait, and there's another unit who's much better for that.)

Spirits: Mercy (Next attack that would've killed an enemy leaves them at 10 HP) [5 SP, Level 1], Focus [15 SP, Level 1], Alert [15 SP, Level 14]

If Nitori was a bargain-sale Keine, Alice is a bargain-sale Reimu; she's mostly ammo-based, fairly dodgy thanks to Focus and Alert, and extremely accurate. Alice definitely won't be soloing any maps though, and she really shouldn't since you want to keep her near other people. Alice is probably the best Support Attacker in the game because her high Skill means she almost always gets a critical hit; x1.5 damage will make up for Support Attack's 75% damage. Furthermore, Alice's attacks cover a huge variety of ranges, so she can viably Support Attack with literally anyone.

If you're playing Marisa's Route, Alice and Marisa should be at each other's side at every possible moment. If you're playing Reimu's, I'd still recommend putting them together because even without the Support they still share attack ranges.

Alice didn't really get much from FMW2 besides optionally boosting her Support with Marisa to the level of best friends.

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Next time on Fantasy Maiden Wars E: Silver Servant

We've hit the first route crossover!