"Are you heading to the shrine today?" The Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion asked Lysithea as she made her way through the gate.
"Yes. Will I be seeing you there, Meiling?" Lysithea asked.
"Remilia is having everyone go this time, including me and Flandre."
Lysithea shuddered. "I really hope she doesn't cause any trouble."
"She's been well behaved recently. She's even thinking about going out more, maybe try resolving an incident like her sister did before."
"Sure let's see how that goes," Lysithea replied doubtfully. "No way that wouldn't end in absolute disaster."
Even now being around the younger vampire caused Lysithea to shiver a bit. Turns out childhood trauma could be quite severe on the psyche.
"I know she scared you as a child, but I'd appreciate it if you tried to get along with her. Remilia would too."
"I'll give it some consideration," Lysithea replied before stepping outside the grounds of the Mansion.
She took a deep breath, gathered the necessary magic and concentration needed to cast her spell, and lifted herself off the ground. Once she was in the air, she pointed herself toward the Hakurei shrine and flew towards it at a leisurely place.
It was a nice day and it would make for a pleasant trip. At least until Marisa suddenly appeared halfway there and decided to coast right next to her.
"Figured I'd end up running into you," Marisa greeted.
"You know you could just wait for me at the shrine? You didn't have to go out of your way to meet up with me," Lysithea replied.
"What? Can't I spend a little time with my Kouhai? I'll even let you ride my broom with me. Like old times."
"I'm not a child," Lysithea replied plainly. "And I can fly perfectly fine now."
"Yep." Marisa wiped a fake tear off her eye. "My little Kouhai is all grown up. Makes a Senpai feel old."
Lysithea sighed. To this day Marisa still didn't stop trying to get her to call Senpai. "You are a terrible influence."
"I know. But hey, you learned with me around."
"I did," Lysithea admitted.
"You still got a few more days after today. Why don't we make one last excursion into the Forest of Magic? A little parting gift for my best customer."
"I'm your only customer most months," Lysithea replied. Granted, a satisfied one at that. If there was one person who knew how to navigate even a fraction of the dangers within the Forest of Magic, it was Marisa. "And it is tempting, but I'd rather not risk getting from all the ambient Magic again."
"Hey. That only happened to us like… five times, and honestly those are pretty good odds considering how deep we went sometimes."
"True."
Even Magic users or Magicians could be overwhelmed by the sheer density of magic in the Forest's environment if they weren't careful or simply were unlucky enough to run into a particularly volatile area. That along with the mutated monsters, beasts, and rabid Youkai that appeared in the forest depths, were the reason why it was dangerous to traverse.
It was still fun though, despite the danger. Finding patches or rare and valuable reagents, the discovery of new mutated species of fauna, and just the beauty of some of the places there in general. Lysithea definitely wouldn't have seen all that on her own.
"Hey Marisa."
"Yea Lys?"
"Thanks for everything."
Marisa smiled. "You're welcome."
Once the shine came into view past the forest, Lysithea adjusted her body so that she could land gently on the grounds with Marisa right behind her.
She had only just landed when a diminutive Youkai with two large protruding out of her skull walked up to her. In its hands was a house size boulder that it carried with ease. "Nice to see you again Chibi. We could use the help."
"Damn it Suika, it's been seven years. Stop calling me that!" Lysithea shouted at the Oni.
"Nah. You're going to have to beat me in a fight if you want me to stop Chibi."
Lysithea shot a fireball that the Oni casually dodged despite the giant boulder she held.
"Nice try, but we'll have to do this another time. Promised Reimu I'd help set the stage for that Menreiki." The Oni casually left, leaving Lysithea to stew.
Lysithea stomped her feet. "How does she think she can get away with that? I'm taller than she is now."
In fact, she was quite tall by Gensokyan standards even if she was still diminutive in Fodlan.
"It's because they know it annoys you," a shrine maiden dressed red and white replied nonchalantly as she walked up to Lysithea. "And apparently you fight better when you're angry."
"Hello Miss Hakurei," Lysithea greeted politely. With the shrine maiden watching, the Witch's apprentice walked up to the donation box, dropped in a few coins, rang the hanging bell, clapped her hands, and bowed her head.
Reimu Hakurei gave her a small smile. "Nice to see Marisa bring the one sane person in the Scarlet Devil Mansion to help out."
"Hey, its Gensokyo," Marisa showed up, tossed a small coin into the donation box, and wrapped an arm around the Shrine Maiden's shoulder. "Everyone here's crazy."
"Well, sane by comparison," Reimu conceded. "And much more respectful."
The respect was mostly because Lysithea had seen what happened when someone pissed Reimu off. Needless to say, she was perfectly content to not know what it was like to take a Yin Yang Orb to the face.
"Is there anything you need me to do?" Lysithea asked.
Using her Gohei, Reimu gestured toward a diminutive Yokai in a blue oversized coat and green cap working on… some sort of giant bipedal robot turtle? "Supervise that kappa for me. If I send Marisa there, then we'll definitely get blown up."
Lysithea nodded before making her way toward the vaguely familiar Kappa. Once she was close enough, she asked the Youkai a question. "What is that… robot turtle going to do?"
"Robot tortoise," The kappa corrected her. "And it is going to fly around and distribute pamphlets. Easy advertising money once we get someone to pay for it."
"… Couldn't you just have made a flying box or something? Did it have to be a robot tortoise?"
"Well I thought it'd be a good idea if it could take a beating, then figured it might as well have a way to defend itself, and then it kinda escalated from there. Kappa technology, we aim to build something, think of an extra feature to add than one after that until it is near unrecognizable from the original design," the Kappa admitted in a surprisingly self-reflective way before turning toward Lysithea. "You know Marisa talked about you and I've seen you at a couple of parties before, but I think this is the first time we've properly met. Lys, was it?"
"Lysithea."
"Nitori." The Kappa held out a hand that Lysithea quickly shook. "Huh. Marisa said you were a shorty but aren't you taller than I am?"
"I'm well aware," Lysithea grumbled, annoyed, before turning to the Robot Tortoise. "Did you make sure it's going to distribute pamphlets gently or is it going to shoot deadly bullets of projectile paper?"
"Eh… I'll make sure to adjust the output before I add the self-destruct," Nitori conceded.
"Good the- w-wait. Self-Destruct!? Why is that a feature!?"
"Self-destruct buttons are the dream."
"No! They aren't!"
"Ppff," Nitori blew her lips and waved her off. "Marisa would understand. Sometimes you need to blow something up in case it goes wrong, or you just need to get rid of it."
"Please don't build a self-destructing Robot Tortoise for the party," Lysithea begged the Kappa. "I'm responsible for this and I really don't want to know what it's like to be on the business end of a Fantasy Seal."
"Not fun," Nitori admitted. "Though as a human you'd probably be better off."
"Nitoriii," Lysithea began to whine and tugged on her ribbon.
"It honestly builds character."
It seemed that there was no reasoning with the Kappa. Time to go about it the usual way.
Lysithea's expression became firm. "Two Spell Cards. I win, no self-destruct buttons."
"Fine then. If I win you use your magic to help me make the Advertising Tortoise stronger," Nitori quickly agreed before the two of them flew up into the air.
They hovered in front of each other over the skies of the shrine. The people below briefly paused their work to witness yet another Spell Card Duel.
"Water Sign: Kappa's Pororoca!"
"Earth Fire Sign: Lava Cromlech!"
Kappas were creatures of the water so it was easy to predict the element that Nitori would use.
Earth absorbed water and metal contained it. Together they formed a molten lava that quickly collided with the spell, absorbing the water, and then sending chunks of hardened igneous rock toward the Kappa.
Nitori dodged the rock effortlessly, but the debris, steam, and smoke that now covered the air made it difficult for her to see. A giant fan emerged from the Kappa's oversized backpack and began to blow away everything that had covered her vision.
She wouldn't see anything in the air though. After all, Lysithea had quite literally flown herself against the flying rock and hid with it as it fell to the ground. The Kappa wouldn't notice that she was quite literally under their feet until it was too late.
"Fire Wood Sign: Wickerman!"
From the rock emerged a flaming wooden effigy that shot its limbs at the Kappa. Nitori did her best to dodge the first few limbs, but eventually they began piercing her body and struck her down. She fell to the ground, a flaming pincushion of a corpse.
Well, not really. Spell Card Rules were a thing.
Rather than that, Lysithea's Spell Card just batted the Kappa through the air a couple of times and burnt her clothes a bit. By the end of it Nitori looked a bit worse for wear, but it was nothing serious.
"Fine fine, no self-destruct button," the Kappa conceded with a grin on her face despite the fact that she lost. "That was a decent fight though. Marisa and Suika were right. It is fun to tease you."
"Why does everyone keep saying that!?"
Lysithea gulped down the dish of Sake, the cooling yet slight burning sensation of the drink down her throat was enough for her to let out a hearty satisfied sigh.
If there was one thing that Gensokyo had over Fodlan, it was the booze. Mostly because she didn't have to worry about her parents or the authorities anytime she drank here.
Damn Fodlan and its drinking laws. She was practically an adult at this point, why in the world did she have to wait until she was twenty-one?
"Throwing it down today, aren't you?"
Lysithea turned to her Sensei, a deep flush on her face. "Gotta drink while I have the chance. And it's kinda fun."
Patchouli took a small sip of her own Sake. The Witch's face had also taken a slight blush though not to the extent of her student. "I admit. These parties... have a certain appeal."
The two of them, along with the other residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in their own little corner, watched as Marisa climbed up a table in the center of a party and began to chug down a large jug. She was quickly cheered on by a variety of Youkai and joined by two Oni that carried their own bottles.
Lysithea giggled. "Marisa must be really drunk if she's dumb enough to try and compete with a bunch of Oni."
Patchouli pointed to Alice and Reimu, both of whom though somewhat inebriated themselves, had enough mental clarity to pull Marisa down and save her from her own self-inflicted demise. Separated from the Oni, Marisa decided to drag those two with her to her next round of drinking. "She's got people keeping an eye on her."
The sound of a camera could be turned behind them and both Witch and apprentice turned to find a familiar Tengu snapping pictures away with a camera.
"Now that you're free for an interview, you wouldn't be going on a trip would you?" the Tengu asked.
"Yes Aya. I'll be going away to Fodlan for a year." Lysithea had more or less gotten used to the Tengu after all the times she had run up to her for an interview just to get some information on Fodlan. She usually just kept a tight lip and slowly drip-fed the Tengu information until the Youkai made her own assumptions and she went away to add it as a column to that accursed newspaper of hers.
"What will you be doing during that time?"
"Attending an academy that teaches magic, swordplay, tactics, and other things a noble could use to manage their territory better."
"Ah yes. Gensokyo's little noble in a house filled with nobility."
Lysithea sighed but was otherwise too drunk to lash out at the tengu for calling her little.
Unlike most people in Gensokyo she tended to get a bit sleepier when she was drunk. An overall pleasant experience that made her somewhat more somber and calmer, which contrasted somewhat with her normal personality. She knew that she could be a bit impatient, crass, and short-tempered at times. It was just that the people here treated life like they had all the time in the world where on the other hand, she didn't. Besides, most of the Youkai could take or enjoy her attitude. The issue was when she was back in Fodlan and had to deal with humans or nobles that would expect more courtesy from her.
"Are you going to try to lead the people of Gensokyo?" Aya suddenly exclaimed. "The human villagers! You're going to lead a rebellion!"
"Don't you dare write that on that gossip column you call a newspaper. You'll end up causing a panic." The Tengu had a tendency to twist the truth to rile up sales or some other underlying motive. Needless to say, being on the front cover of her newspaper was rarely a good thing.
"So, you're saying that you won't pick a fight with Gensokyo?"
"I'm part of it as much as you are and I have every intention of keeping it intact."
It had taken some time for Lysithea to learn and accept the purpose of Gensokyo but she saw how important it was and was thus one of those who wanted to keep that balance intact.
Gensokyo was originally from a world called Earth where magic, myth, and the phantasmal were slowly dying out due to a lack of human belief. In order to save what remained they created this realm and split it off from that world. The issue was that Youkai needed belief and fear to exist though so they had to bring along humans that would lead to the creation of the one human village in the realm. On one hand you could call the humans cattle, on the other hand they were comfortable for most part and were well protected by the major Youkai groups since they needed them to live. And if humans didn't like staying protected in the village, then they'd end up like Marisa, or at the very least they would be protected by Spell Card rules.
Besides, times were changing here. Humans and Youkai were beginning to take steps to coexisting peacefully, rather than a relationship of predator and prey… and Lysithea really wanted to see where that would go. Also, she had only met her Sensei and the other dwellers of the Scarlet Devil Mansion because of Gensokyo. This place was home to her and she'd protect it if she had to.
Aya smirked and took a large leaf. "What about this then? Lysithea Von Ordelia. Gensokyo's little noble out to gather knowledge, skill, and influence for our sake. A perfect headline for the front cover."
"Don't you da-"
"Too late. Publishing it."
Just like that, the Tengu had sped off elsewhere. Likely to pester and harass someone else for another story.
"I told you not to interact with her," Patchouli commented. "Or even acknowledge her presence, she thrives off of attention."
"I know," Lysithea said wearily. By now the party had kicked into high gear and the Oni were starting to arm wrestle with one another, sending vibrations throughout the area with their sheer strength alone. It was a peculiar enough sight considering the other Oni was at least two hundred centimeters of raw bulging muscle, but the diminutive looking Suika was more than keeping up. The other Oni also had a very shapely body which-
Lysithea looked down at her chest.
Made her feel a bit lacking.
"You're human. You'll grow," Patchouli commented.
"I might not have the chance at this rate," Lysithea replied. The wall she needed to overcome in order to achieve the final step of becoming a Witch was immense. In order to forsake aging and make it so that one's body became a being of magic itself. It wasn't just reading a book to learn the ritual, she needed to have achieved a great personal knowledge in what she believed magic was to her along with knowing her body and spirit extensively. That all required a level of skill, dedication, and self-reflection that she wasn't sure she completely had.
"You'll get there. You certainly don't need to compare yourself to that rat over there."
Said rat was now rambling something to Reimu and Alice who were now drunk enough to laugh along with her.
"She's not that bad," Lysithea replied. "Marisa… Marisa. Sometimes it's a bit much, but she's a hard worker and dedicated to magic." Plus, there was a reason why Marisa was capable of becoming a Witch. Someone like that, with all the effort they put in and an understanding of themselves… It was something like Lysithea could admire. That she could look up to.
If only the person that she admired didn't have larceny as one of her main hobbies.
"Are you defending that rat?"
"I understand she's a thief and all that, but you always seem to get especially annoyed with her for some reason."
Patchouli let out a breath and threw her drink down. It wasn't until she wiped her mouth and grabbed another cup that she finally deigned to speak. "I spent decades researching magic. All my time and effort towards the pursuit of knowledge… Then this upstart child suddenly shows up and beats me in a battle of magic, starts copying and effectively replicating my spells that I took years to create and perfect, and continues to break into my library to further her own manic pace of growth and research."
"You're… jealous of her too?" Lysithea finally realized.
"The infuriating part is that she still chooses to remain human. Do you know the progress she could make if she didn't have to worry about food or sleep? It's wasted potential, and you know how much I despise that."
"Is that why you and Alice keep asking her to become a Witch?"
Patchouli nodded. "Frankly I'm somewhat jealous of you too, but I can at least claim partial responsibility for teaching you to this point."
Lysithea was simply stunned into silence.
Her Sensei was jealous of her. One of the greatest women she ever knew, the one that she looked up with nearly all of her being, had just said that she was jealous of her.
"If you ever tell that rat I'm going to force you to play with Flan."
"My lips are sealed," Lysithea replied quickly.
"Good." Patchouli reached into her robe, pulled out a black crystalline ring, and handed it to Lysithea. "This will keep your Crests suppressed. They will no longer manifest when you cast your spells or swing a sword. It suppresses your magic to do this though and will weaken you by a fair amount."
Lysithea cupped the ring she had in her hand. Another gift, one of the many things that Sensei had done for her over the years. It was also quite the beautiful piece of jewelry. She quickly took it and slid it down her ring finger. "That's fine. I never really liked using them, not that I had much choice on the matter."
"If you are in an emergency though, then just take it off. I'd rather not lose a fellow Witch just because they felt the need to take a secret to their grave."
"You're really that confident in me becoming a Witch?"
"Of course. I taught you after all."
Lysithea smiled, ready to give her Sensei a hug, when an explosion suddenly interrupted the intimate moment that they were having.
She slowly turned her head, dreading what she was about to see but because she was quite certain she knew what it was. Turns out, she was right.
"I thought you said it wouldn't self-destruct!?" Lysithea began shouting before tightening her ribbon and shooting into the air in a panic.
"It won't! That's just the explosive laser beams it's shooting out of its mouth! Someone must've set off its self-defense mechanism!"
"Why did you build it like that!?"
"Nitori Incorporated Kappa Technology!"
"I thought I told you to deal with her Lysithea!?"
"I'm sorry Reimu! I'll deal with it now, please don't exterminate me!"
Patchouli simply watched as her student tried to stop the issue of the Exploding Robot Tortoise… by shooting more fire at it. The results were about what you'd expect throwing fire at a dangerous experimental technology that used highly flammable material as ammunition.
All in all, just a regular day in Gensokyo. And yes, they were all idiots.
Patchouli felt a pair of arms wrap around her neck and a light weight against her back. At this point it was mostly by instinct that she could recognize her best friend instantly.
"You still have that Crystal ball of yours?" Remilia whispered next to her ear.
Patchouli raised an eye. "Yes. Why do you ask?"
"Just be prepared to use it throughout the year. You'll see some very interesting things if you watch that student of yours."
Patchouli could only watch her student in concern. Apparently, fate had a lot in store for Lysithea.
Hopefully it wouldn't involve that Yin Yang orb Reimu looked ready to throw at her face.
Grimoire of Marisa
Fire Wood Sign: Wickerman
· User: Lysithea Von Ordelia
· Notes: Fusion Magic, like being in an active mine.
· Reference Level: ****
A Spell Card that traps its opponents in a wooden effigy. She likes constrictive spells like these if that isn't clear by now.
Despite appearances the effigy has several weak points that you can blast out of or make an opening through. Look for areas where the wood is the most brittle due to heavy flame.
