Delivery 2: Spell Card Battle!

The dirt path leading into the plains near the village was wide and well-packed. It had been flattened enough by being worn out from the hooves of horses and the sandals of people, and it served its purpose well.

It was also the path that saw me out on the first day of one of the most dangerous jobs in Gensokyo, given to only those who could adequately defend themselves. At the very least, they had to be able to fly and to resist an attack from a youkai enough to get away, even if it was jokingly. They were more powerful than they themselves knew.

So that was why only the bravest and the dumbest people in the village, namely me, were joining the Kirisame Delivery Corps. The last guy had submitted his resignation from Eirin's clinic, and although he thanked me for saving his life, he left me to do all the deliveries alone.

Smart man. I thought. He knows his stuff.

Even as I thought that, I also knew that there was no way but forward for me. I had been labeled the "King of the Cards" in the local newspaper that nobody actually read. Someone had apparently gotten a picture of my Swords card as the sword had come from it. There had been a flash of yellow light, and the old, European broadsword had fallen into my hand after that. I still remembered its weight.

But none of that mattered. In front of me, coming up the path with bags of goods on every part of him, was Mr. Kirisame. He saw me and grinned heartily. It was the grin of a man who was about to send his fellow man to work.

"So you really did come!" The old man said.

"Yeah, I'm not one to drop something I've decided to do." I said. "So, what am I going to be delivering, and to where?"

"Seems you can hold your own, Victor, so I'm sending you somewhere easy." He had reached me by this time, and had put down his bags. "This huge pile of groceries goes to the Scarlet Devil Mansion." He said. "It's that big red brick building off near the lake."

I looked in that direction. I could just barely see the outline of a lake shimmering on the horizon. At seven in the morning, it wasn't unnatural for a lake to shimmer like that.

"Anything else before I take off, boss?" I strapped on the bags of various sizes and shapes. One of them had a strap that went over my shoulder, one of them was a backpack, one of them was a satchel, and the last of them was a large crate that was tied up neatly with a string. I floated up to check if I could still fly.

"Don't show off too much, flyboy." He made a knowing smile. "Anyway, I've got something for you to put on. He gave me a coat.

It was black as night, and on the back, in white, was written the kanji for "Kirisame".

"I know it's bad luck for a flyboy like you to get hit by rain, but it's the uniform." He said. "Here's the receipt. Get going!"

"On it, boss!" With those words, I took off for the sky for the second time in two days.

It felt wonderful. The wind was in my hair, the packages I was carrying seemed weightless as I flew through the air.

The ten minutes I took to fly to the mansion were far too short. Most of it was spent going at full speed to enjoy the wind in my hair and the happiness in my heart. I landed neatly in front of a red wall, with a wrought-iron gate in the middle. The mansion was four storeys tall, totally red, and quite large.

Technically, I do know who lives here, but Hieda no Akyuu and Mr. Kirisame have done a lot more than in the actual game. I thought. These people could be completely different... As I walked forward towards the gate absentmindedly, I heard a voice.

"Cirno, didn't I tell you not to beat down people without spellcards?" A tall girl in a cheongsam with red hair was chastising the blue ice fairy that had tried to freeze me yesterday. "Playing with them will be really boring."

"But he was weird! He felt like he had magic!" The little blue girl yelled to object.

"Still, that's not fine." She said. "You should only take on opponents who have spell cards, okay?"

"Okay..."

I approached the two. They turned to look at me.

"Excuse me, I'm here for a delivery to the Scarlet Devil Mansion and I was wondering, where's the person in charge of the gate?"

"That's him!" Cirno declared. "I challenge you to a spell card battle right now! You can't hide your power from me, it was in the Bunbunmaru!"

"Gladly, but business comes first." I said. "Could either of you call out the mansion's gatekeeper?"

WARNING: SPELL CARD BATTLE BEGIN.

"Wait, what!"

"I'm sorry for Cirno's rudeness, please bear with it!"

Freeze Sign: Perfect Freeze

"I'm going to beat you right now, you weird human!"

"Well, I needed to learn these cards sometime." I said, and shrugged off the packs, placing them neatly outside the Spell Card Barrier. "I won't let myself be upstaged by some little girl! Bring it on, you baka!"

"Only idiots call other people idiots!" She said, as she released icy bullets all over the bounded field. The cube-shaped space quickly filled with icy bullets. They didn't look at all threatening. I knew, however, that each one of them was potentially deadly. With this in mind, I kicked off the ground, holding the first card I had drawn in my right hand.

"Seven of coins!" I yelled, hoping that it would work. Seven large red energy balls flew deftly and accurately towards my opponent. She expertly weaved in the white space between them.

"Come on, you have to be stronger than that!" She taunted me from the other side of the ice.

Oh, so the cards spawn different kinds of bullets. I thought. And then one of the ice crystals hit me in the chest.

"Ha ha, you lost a life!" She yelled. "You're not so good!"

My opponent froze her bullets. I checked the window in the upper left of my vision. There, I could see my lives and my bombs. I had two lives and three bombs, having been hit unexpectedly. I would have to manage them carefully.

But above that was something I did not expect.

The score counter.

There really was a "score" in Gensokyo. Then I could play for it.

I smiled. I would have a lot of fun with the score meter. In quick succession I pulled out five cards each with both of my hands. Opening them into a fan, I called out their names one at a time. In this time, I had lost another life due to my ineffectual dodging and weaving.

Harder than it looks in 3D. I thought. I knew how the game worked, but to actually be doing it was a whole different experience.

"Oh? Maybe I was wrong, you aren't strong at all."

"Ace of Wands, King of Coins, Five of Cups, Three of Swords, Seven of Swords, come forth!" I yelled. I wanted to prove this girl wrong.

Multiple things happened. Daggers appeared in midair, ten of them as the cards decreed, five streams of circular, solid energy bullets came charging down at my opponent, a stream of the big circles came down, while a streak cut across the sky, followed by a host of energy daggers.

"You're strong!" She said. "But I'm the strongest!"

With that, she froze all of the bullets I used to attack. I stared in shock at the five cards left in my hand. Before I could pull one, she stopped me.

"It's no use~! Freeze!" She yelled. Outside, the cheongsam girl was really getting worried.

I don't die easily, whether it's in the game or in life!

I pulled a card with my left hand.

It read: "The Magician." I raised it.

"Spell card activate!"

To melt the snows covering your own heart...

Open yourself to this place!

Freeze Sign: Perfect Freeze had been replaced with Magician Sign: Pyro Jack.

I smiled.

"Now the game really begins!"

What happened next was inexplicable.

Gigantic orange jack-o-lanterns began to rain down. Fire began to follow them. It was truly insane, and I could only stand there in shock. Luckily, I was immune to my own attacks.

The same could not be said for my opponent, who was forced to duck and weave clumsily.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" She yelled over and over. "Where do you even get an attack this strong?" She was hit twice as pumpkins and fire combined to form a wall of attack. And then the banner changed for the last time.

No spell card.

The cards in my right hand were already up. My left was drawing more as I did so.

The icicles and shards my opponent used were already flying towards me.

I charged into the attack, cards waving madly. Knives and spear-tips weaved between the ice shards while the large energy balls went straight down to hit my opponent. Lasers and icy bursts of energy were firing everywhere. Through the intense attacks I saw my opponent face my wall of daggers.

There! I fired all of my attacks at that moment.

And the match ended as a ball of ice hit me in the chest. It sent e flying down into the ground.

It hurt. But I didn't seem to have broken anything, and the pain was less than I expected. I fell to the ground. The girl in the cheongsam ran to me.

"You're not bad, mister! Let's do this again sometime!" With that, the ice fairy flew off.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked. I picked myself up and dusted myself off.

"Yeah, I'm good." I said. "Thanks." I walked towards the bags and picked them up.

"Hey, hey, aren't you hurt?" She asked.

"Nah, I'll be fine." I said. More importantly, do you know how to get into the Scarlet Devil Mansion?"

"Be careful what you say." She said. "What do you want?"

"Argh! All this just for a delivery!" I yelled.

"Oh, a delivery?" She was surprised.

After a bit of explanation, that yes, I really was here only to deliver groceries, she introduced herself.

"My name is Hong Meiling, and I'm the gatekeeper here." She said. "You should've just told me you had a delivery for us earlier."

"Well, I'm a bit of an idiot when it comes to a challenge." I said. "Anyway, thanks for letting me in." With that, I walked in towards the great red-brick mansion. The clock on the tower struck eleven. I noticed a maid with silver hair and fitted out in blue and white come out the door.

"Oh dear, where is that delivery?" She said. "It should be here about now." I looked up at her.

"I'm sorry I'm late." I said. "If you would check the goods."

I don't know what she did, but the next thing I knew she was saying "Very well, you may go." I, not being one to object, flew off with her signature on the clipboard.

Although it would've been nice to be more friendly, I wasn't going to complain.

I arrived back at the village in time for lunch. Mr. Kirisame decided to give me the day off because there weren't any other deliveries outside today.

Delivery 2: Mission Complete.

Ranking:

Mission Complete: 600 pts.

Lost to Cirno: -900 pts.

Left without incident: 100 pts.

No damage to goods: 150 pts.

Total: -50 pts.

Rank: F

Summary: Don't lose to Cirno! She's not the strongest!