Chapter 27 – The Village of Winds
"Hey, Kyouichi… Get up!" sounded Mizuto's voice in the middle of Kyouichi's dream. He was really disappointed, since he just had a dream where he could not only fly, but also use danmaku and Spell Cards. However, now wasn't the time to think about the dreams but to act in reality. He yawned and stretched his arms over his head, his spine and elbows gave out a crackling sound. He could still feel a bit of pain in his lower left ribs after his little run-in with Hiroto, but it was only subtle.
"You should hurry and get dressed if you don't want the caravan to leave without you." Mizuto warned him and before Kyouichi could even find his glasses, the fisherman already put a backpack on his lap.
"What's this…?" murmured the sleepy outsider.
"I've already packed you your food and water for the trip. I also packed in one of my raincoats. Even though it's just drizzling outside, staying in that drizzle for straight six hours will get you soaked to the skin. Besides, you never know when this little rain can turn into a downpour."
"Thanks, Mizuto…" uttered Kyouichi while yawning. "But what about breakfast?"
"No time, Kyou-kun. The caravan is already standing outside and will depart soon."
Kyouichi opened his eyes wide as if someone just splashed cold water into his face. "What?! Already?! Why didn't you wake me up sooner then?" He didn't bother to hear an answer. He just hastily put on his kimono and the dark-brown raincoat on top of it. Just like soldiers on a drill, he raced with time to dress up as quickly as possible and hurried out of the house with the backpack strapped on his shoulders. As Mizuto said, there already was a trading caravan waiting at the end of the northern edge of the Human Village. It consisted of four wagons with goods, each dragged by a pair of horses. Ten Ryuuken warriors stood ready by the sides of the convoy. The majority of the merchants were comfortably sitting on their wagons; some of them decided to travel on foot. Kyouichi covered his head with the hood of the raincoat and hurried to join the caravan before it would leave without him. As he caught up with the group of merchants, he eyed each of the Ryuuken guards in order to find the familiar face of Akiyoshi Takamori. He managed to recognize his frowzled hair pretty quickly.
"Takamori-san!" he called at him. "Lieutenant Takamori!"
"Oh, there you are, Kyouichi-san." nodded the swordsman as he recognized the hooded person calling his name. "We're just waiting for a few more merchants to join the caravan. Feel free to take a seat on that wagon over there." he pointed at the closest cargo wagon. "That one is empty and will be loaded with goods from Kazemura once we get there."
Kyouichi noticed that there were a few men already on board. Looking a little closer, Kyouichi recognized yet another familiar face.
"Ueda-san! Good morning to you." he greeted and bowed to the other outsider who was working now as a caravan driver.
"Huh? Ishimaru? What are you doing here?" asked Yuujin, unable to hide his surprise.
"Just a little tourism around Gensokyo…" smiled the young man in a raincoat. "You know… see some sights and make some memories before we all leave this place for good."
Yuujin frowned disapprovingly. "This isn't a travel agency, young man. It's a really risky job… You should turn back." he warned him.
"Oh really?" chuckled Kyouichi and tilted his head to the side. "And do you really think that our journey out of Gensokyo will be some kind of picnic? Besides, if it's so risky then why do YOU do this job in the first place?"
"Because we'll need the money to buy those traveling supplies that you mentioned and this job pays really well."
"You see? I'm also willing to take some risks in order to get back to Tokyo…"
"But you're just sightseeing." argued Yuujin. "You're not doing anything to help our cause by going to Kazemura without any serious business."
"Oh, but I do have business there." Kyouichi corrected him. "I made an agreement with one vampire, you see…" he smiled sheepishly explained it briefly.
"So if you bring her a report about suspicious activities in Kazemura, she'll pay you?" asked Yuujin after hearing about Kyouichi's agreement with Remilia.
"At least that's what she said…"
Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by the voice of one of the Ryuuken. "Everyone's ready~! We can set out~!"
With those words, the whole caravan set into motion, leaving the Human Village behind. As the weather was rather dull and foggy today as well, Kyouichi didn't see much of Gensokyo's landscape. He couldn't even imagine how thick the fog had to be near the Misty Lake right now. It wasn't a very good weather for traveling, but the caravans needed to make their trips regardless of the weather. Kyouichi gradually grew bored of just watching the road ahead, and so he took out his new magic detector out of his pocket and looked at it. He could see dim white dots representing the merchants who were born in Gensokyo and brighter white dots standing for the Ryuuken warriors. He spent quite some time just looking at the glass and occasionally, he could see other dots showing up near the edges. As he looked around, he could see several silhouettes of fairies flying overhead. Otherwise, the trip was kind of boring. Even though the fog had lifted, the drizzle persisted and even intensified as the caravan reached the three-way crossroad between Misty Lake and Kazemura to take a short break. In the meantime, Kyouichi unpacked some rice cakes from his backpack and filled his empty stomach. After several minutes, the wagons continued on their way to the mining village. They still weren't even halfway to their destination. Some of the merchants were killing time by telling some folktales, some were singing songs or just humming their tunes and some even took books with them to help them pass the time. The only people who had to always pay attention to their surroundings were the armed guards. However, after several hours of walking in the rain, even they became bored and began chatting with each other. Kyouichi even fell asleep for a short time and when he woke up, the caravan was still yet on its way.
"When will we get there?" he murmured under his nose as he looked around.
"Don't worry, we'll be there soon." Yuujin informed him and pointed forward. "The road leads through this coniferous forest and after some 20 to 30 minutes we'll see the village."
Only now Kyouichi noticed the range of mountains stretching on the horizon in front of him. They were quite tall, but still dwarfed by the Youkai Mountain, lying far in the west from the caravan's current position.
"Say, Ueda-san…" Kyouichi addressed the ex-trainman. "How often do the caravans travel between Kazemura and Human Village?"
"Twice a week." replied Yuujin tersely. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I should stay here overnight. Guess I'm not coming back with this particular caravan…"
"The next one is scheduled for Wednesday, Ishimaru, so I don't know if staying here and waiting for the next caravan is a good idea."
The younger outsider hummed thoughtfully as he considered his options. "If I want to go back with this caravan, then I only have a few hours to look around the village. However, Remilia said it would be better if I stayed here overnight. But that would also mean that I wouldn't be able to return sooner than Wednesday… Hmm… there's gotta be some other way how I could travel back to Human Village sooner."
"Well, it's up to you how you'll decide, but don't take longer than three hours. That's how long this caravan will stay in Kazemura."
"I can hardly make any investigation in such a short time." thought Kyouichi to himself. "You know what? You can go back without me…" he said to Yuujin after a moment of thinking. "I'll think of some other way how to get back to Human Village before the end of this weekend."
Yuujin shrugged. "It's your choice, Ishimaru. Just try not to get eaten. Kazemura's population consists mostly of youkai, you know."
"If they coexist and cooperate with the human minority, they can't be so bad, can they?" asked Kyouichi.
"I suppose not… I wasn't able to tell them apart from other humans. I don't even know what kind of youkai they are… Probably yama-bito, but I'm not sure…" murmured Yuujin thoughtfully.
Finally, the dense pine forest surrounding the beaten dirt path from both sides was crossed by the caravan and eventually thinned into an open valley where Kyouichi could already see the roofs of houses and other buildings.
"And that right there is the quarry of Kazemura…" announced Yuujin as he pointed forward.
The village was relatively small - just about two dozen houses and several other facilities. It was basically nestled in a valley and surrounded by mountains from all sides but the south, where the caravan was coming from. It still took about ten minutes for the whole group of merchants and warriors to reach the mining village itself.
"We're finally here…" exhaled Kyouichi as he got off the wagon.
After more than six hours of sitting in the same position, his limbs became stiff and standing up was a welcome relief. He immediately gazed upon the quarry pit further behind the living area of the village. It wasn't very deep – 3 meters at best, but it could take up an area of up to several thousand square meters. A single artificially made slope served as the one and only way to access the quarry and to enable the workers to carry away both the mined stone and excess soil on hand carts. However, with the rain being as persistent as it was, all the work at the quarry was halted and water started to pool in the pit. The "ruins" that were supposedly discovered over 3 months ago were mostly still buried underground. Their only indications were the unearthed rooftops of some ancient buildings and tips of some stone pillars or obelisks which were just barely jutting out from the ground.
"Well, these are the wondrous ruins of who-knows-what." announced Yuujin with strongly ironic tone. "Just breathtaking…" he murmured and yawned. "Come on, let's go get some lunch and hot tea at the local tavern."
"Yeah… just a moment…" said Kyouichi as he reached inside his pocket for the magic detector. This time he held it in front of his eye and looked at the whole quarry pit. "Hmm… I see nothing magical or out of ordinary…"
"Hey, Ishimaru, did you hear me?" called Yuujin just before he was about to enter one of the larger wooden houses with the rest of the merchants and warriors.
"I heard, I heard!" he confirmed and hurried inside the tavern as well. Just as he entered, the smell of roast meat filled his nostrils and the sounds of lively chatter and clinking of beer steins were the music for his ears. He ordered a nice big and juicy boar steak and a glass of local beer.
"So, tell me, Ishimaru, how are you going to carry out your little investigation?" Yuujin inquired. "Are you going to run from house to house and from person to person to ask them if they didn't notice anything suspicious lately?"
"Of course not." Kyouichi denyingly shook his head. "I shouldn't be drawing too much attention. I should just pretend to be a curious young merchant who likes to hear local gossip."
He barely got to finish his sentence when a stranger sitting at a nearby table looked at him quizzically and pointed his finger at him. "Hey, hey, I know you… Hahahahaha~! You're that weird outsider who likes to dress up like a shrine maiden!"
"…Oh man…" groaned Kyouichi in displeasure as he sunk his forehead into his palm. "So much for my incognito investigation…"
Not even Yuujin could suppress his laughter and that just attracted even more curious eyes to their table.
"Gee thanks, Aya, for making me a celebrity." mumbled the young outsider through his teeth.
However, this unwanted notoriety had its perks, oddly enough.
"Hey, bartender, a round for the miko-outsider~!" called the stranger who recognized Kyouichi as first.
The bartender – a semi-bald plump man with thick brown beard nodded and poured another glass of beer from the wooden barrel behind him. The stranger who just ordered Kyouichi a drink took a seat at the same table as him and chuckled as he eyed the outsider. He was nearly two meters tall with muscular figure, pale skin and wildly disheveled shoulder-length black hair. He also had quite an impressive beard. He was wearing a dirty white tunic-like robe without sleeves. He had a string of rope tied around the waist like a belt. As he sat next to Kyouichi, the outsider grimaced at the man's unpleasant sweaty odor.
"So, what brings an outsider to this forgotten part of Gensokyo?" asked the strange man with a crooked grin.
"Well, since I'm no longer anonymous, I suppose I can start asking openly…"
"Asking what?"
"Well, knowing your name would be a good start for instance…"
"Oh, yeah... Pardon my manners. I'm Wataru Matsuoda, but everyone calls me Chibi-kun. I'm one of the prospectors here." the man introduced himself and took a few gulps from his beer stein.
"Why Chibi-kun?" wondered Kyouichi and couldn't hide a smirk.
"Because I'm so short." said Wataru tersely.
"Short?! You're over two meters tall, man!"
The prospector sighed with contempt. "If I was a human I'd be considered taller than average, but as a yama-bito, I'm more of a dwarf."
"You're a youkai?"
"Yeah, and if you take a better look around you, you'll notice that most of the folks here are one head taller than me… Except for the bartender – he's a human. One of the few who live here." explained Wataru and made a hand gesture around himself to make Kyouichi see what he means. "Now, will you tell me why did you come to Kazemura?"
"I've heard about the recent fairy attack on the village, so I came in hope of finding out what caused it?"
The quarry worker curiously looked at Kyouichi and snorted. "Why would an outsider be trying to investigate such things? Shouldn't the Ryuuken or the local youkai hunters handle such problems?"
"Actually, I'm working for someone who also deals with similar incidents, so I just came to see if there isn't something strange going on around these parts."
"Aye? You helpin' the shrine maiden? She's been here 'bout two weeks ago to help repel the swarm of some really nasty fairies."
"Did you see the attack?"
The yama-bito laughed loudly. "Did I see the attack?! I was in the middle of it all! Yes… it was around noon. I was workin' in the quarry with everyone else, when all of a sudden I noticed that a large shadow quickly obscured the sun. I thought it was just a cloud, so I didn't pay it any mind. But then I heard some of the men shouting and pointing at the sky, so I turned around and looked up at the sky to see a swarm of fairies. They were everywhere. There must have been at least a thousand of them. I had no idea where they came from. Then, all of a sudden, the crazy little things start shootin' danmaku galore, attackin' everything – buildings, trees, rocks, people, youkai,…heck, some of them I swear I saw going after each other. Then the Ryuuken rushed in, firing their spells at them, but there were just too damn many of the fairies that it took them over 15 minutes to dispose of them. And that was just the first wave! The next one came 'bout a half an hour later. This time, the Ryuuken were prepared and even the Hakurei shrine maiden showed up and made it really easy for the Ryuuken."
"And what were you doing during the attack?" wondered Kyouichi.
"What do you think I was doin'? Every man, woman and child in the village returned the danmaku fire against the fairies. As soon as we reduced their numbers, the rest of them scattered and fled. I've never seen something like that before..."
"What do you think might have caused it?"
"I dunno… It was as if they all went crazy. It just makes no sense to me."
"Could somebody be controlling the fairies?"
The youkai miner shrugged. "Maybe. But if that were true, then why would some of them go attacking even their own kind? I truly have no idea what made them act so strange."
"Were there more attacks on the village or just this one?" Kyouichi kept asking.
"Aye, there were more since the start of this year. Usually, just around ten to twenty fairies made a fly-by, shot some danmaku at random targets and fled. This happened a few times in the evening… Nothin' unusual about that – fairies just like to play pranks and do funny stuff like that, but the thing that happened two weeks ago… I just can't explain it."
"You know, I heard rumors about similar attacks on other locations in Gensokyo and it seems that the clues point to Kazemura… or the area around it."
"Well, trust me…" said Wataru and finished his beer. "I don't know about anyone or anything in this settlement that could have caused such a thing. We're just a peaceful mining community and we're fond of our history. But there are some other individuals rumored to live somewhere around this part of Gensokyo who might know somethin' or even… be behind all this…"
"Really? Who?"
"There's supposedly a very old youkai of considerable knowledge and power who lives in solitude somewhere near these mountains, but I don't know where… I'd ask the bartender, he might know more…"
Kyouichi halted him. "Wait, Wataru-san, you're not talking about Yukari Yakumo, are you?"
"No, the one I'm talking about is a snake youkai. And now that you mention it, he might know the youkai of boundaries personally, but I really can't say. I've never seen the fella… Just heard the stories of humans who supposedly visited him. I've heard he conducts some kind of experiments in his hidden hut. Maybe he made something that drove the fairies insane."
"That's very interesting…" nodded the young outsider. "I'll be sure to ask the bartender, but first I'd still like to ask you about the ruins that were uncovered in the quarry."
"Aye, it was quite a discovery. It was shortly after the New Year. One of the workers broke a cart wheel over a rock jutting from the ground, so he took a pickaxe to get rid of the obstacle, but he figured that the "rock" had some ornaments on it, so he carefully uncovered the ground around it to figure that it was a part of some ancient stone pillar or something. A few days later, more of these were discovered and thus, we all decided to stop the stone mining and uncover the ruins. Now it will be three months since their discovery and it seems that we've found a roof of some building. We're proceeding slowly and carefully so not to damage the ruins."
"Was this the first archeological discovery in the quarry, or did you unearth anything else before?"
"This is the first time we've uncovered something in this area. This village is but a small mining settlement, that's slowly grown over the years into its current size. Our home territory lies further to the west, closer to the taller mountains. We've made plenty of minor archeological discoveries there, but none can compare to what we recently uncovered here. You see, we, the yama-bito, are very fascinated by all historical artifacts…"
"We haven't yet learned about the yama-bito at the village school…" said Kyouichi thoughtfully. "Could you tell me more about your people, please?"
"Sure." grinned the stone miner. "We're the mountain people, just as the name suggests. Not to be confused with yamabiko; that's a whole different sort of youkai… We're mostly much taller than average humans… except for some." he lowered his head shamefully. "Other than that, we're also stronger than humans and we're resistant to harsh cold. Otherwise we're quite similar to humans. We eat, sleep, drink, reproduce, age, get sick, bleed and die just like you people do. And it also might be worth mentioning that a human cannot become a yama-bito… We're mostly peaceful with other races, but that doesn't mean we don't know how to fight. We're not as brutally strong as the oni for instance, but we can still split a boulder with just one swing of a pickaxe. Some of us are pretty decent magic users too. And as I said, we're just crazy about all things related to history. We even have a little museum here in the village with a small archive, but we don't get many visitors from outside the village besides the human traders and warriors who escort 'em. However, with the discovery of these ruins, several other curious humans began visiting us recently. You're not the first one, but we haven't seen a human from the outside world here…"
"Oh yes, you have." said Yuujin and pointed his thumb at his chest. "I was also spirited away on the same day as Ishimaru, here… and tens of other people."
"Really, so you're one of those who got spirited away to Gensokyo by the end of Satsuki?" Wataru asked him.
"Yeah… But we've already got a plan to return back to our homes." replied the caravan driver.
"That so?" asked Wataru and gave him a suspicious look. "So you're an outsider who works as a merchant?"
"No, I just run the caravan wagon for the merchants." explained Yuujin.
"So you're both outsiders, eh? I guess you're not one of them then… You know I've been hearin' many rumors lately about the members of the Secret History Association coming to Kazemura, disguised as merchants. They are most curious about the ruins…"
"Secret History Association?" Kyouichi repeated.
"You haven't heard about them yet? They're some secret group of people whose goal is to look for knowledge about the origin of Gensokyo and the reason why youkai live here… Barely anyone knows their identity, though… All I know is that they operate in the Human Village."
"Hmmm…" Kyouichi hummed as two possible people came to his mind. "Maybe Keine-sensei or Akyuu-chan could be in that group." he thought, since both of them had something to do with history. "So you believe that this association sends spies to Kazemura?"
"Spies? Ahahaha~!" laughed the stone miner. "No, they're just trying to keep their identities hidden. We don't keep secrets from anyone. Our archive and museum is open to any visitor."
"I might take a look there later." said Kyouichi as he looked out of the window. As he expected, it was still raining. "But before that, I think I'll go and meet mister bartender over there."
"Aye, go right ahead, young one." Wataru encouraged him by a tap on his shoulder.
Kyouichi also finished his beer and took the empty glass with him as he was heading to the bar.
"Umm… Excuse me, sir…" he started bashfully and put the empty glass on the counter. "Would you mind if I asked you some questions?"
"Questions? If you want to know the secret recipe for my beer, then tough luck, stranger." said the barkeep sternly.
"No, I'm uh… just curious about the local rumors and gossip…"
"Oh… Sure, I guess there's no harm in that…" shrugged the plump man and took the glass to wash it. "Anything particular you'd like to hear about?"
"Well, I did talk to… eh… Chibi-kun here about the fairy attack on the village and I was wondering what might have caused it."
"Oh, I might have an idea who could have been behind this." nodded the bartender. "If you go further north along the mountain path just behind the quarry and keep following it for an hour, you'll reach a vast plain. And if you look to north-east, you'll see a mountain that has two peaks, resembling horns. Then if you go towards it, there's a small hill with a pond nearby. It's much closer than the two-peaked mountain. I'm just mentioning it as a sort of landmark. From the north-eastern side of that hill you'll see the entrance to an underground hut. That's where Xeng-Yao lives…"
"Who's that? And how do you know where he lives?"
"Xeng? He's a youkai alchemist. He's friendly, but he keeps to himself. As to how I know where he lives, well I found him by chance. That pond near his hill is one of my favorite spots to relax after a long day… if I'm in a mood for a little walk. Once when I was sitting at the pond, I heard some strange noises coming from behind me, but as I turned around, I didn't see anybody or anything. Curiosity got the better of me and instead of running, I followed the sounds and stumbled into a wooden door leading to a cave of some sort. I was hesitant to knock on it, but then all of a sudden the door opened and I saw this strange fellow dressed in a long green cape with piercing yellow eyes staring at me. I was just about to run, when he greeted me politely and welcomed me."
"So he's an alchemist?"
"Yeah, he invited me into his hut and told me about himself and what he was working on… I barely understood half of it, but it seems he brews potions and the like… It's him who gave me the recipe for that beer. Maybe that old half-snake made some potion that makes you go insane. Maybe he used it on fairies as test subjects… I don't know. But I'd go ask him."
Kyouichi was really curious to see if the youkai in question really had anything to do with the recent fairy attacks. However, he was reluctant to walk around Gensokyo alone.
"Hmm… if that Xeng-Yao guy is really the one responsible, I'll just inform Remilia. That's all that she wants from me after all…" thought the young outsider.
"Is there anything else you wanted to ask?" the bartender asked him.
"Actually, yes. Are there any dangerous youkai living in this area that I should look out for?"
The bartender scratched his beard. "Well, none that I'd know about, but I've heard rumors that Xeng-Yao himself was long time feared by the locals… I don't really know why, though. He's a sympathetic fella, if a bit weird… You don't need to fear him."
Kyouichi was relieved that this part of Gensokyo was considered relatively safe and he was eager to try and find the mysterious youkai alchemist on his own.
"I have a little favor to ask of you." he said as he turned to the bartender and put 500 yen on the counter. "If I don't return within three hours, let the Ryuuken know. I'm going to pay Xeng-san a visit."
The bartender just chuckled amusedly and gestured that he doesn't want to take his money. "First of all, stranger, it'll take you over one hour just to get to him, so it's most likely that you'll return later than in 3 hours if you want to actually ask him something and not just take a look at him. And second, he's not dangerous."
"If the walk's so long then I better get going already." muttered Kyouichi to himself as he stood up. "Well, if you don't want the money, then I'll take it back."
"Sure." smiled the man and let the outsider take his coins back.
Kyouichi took the money, bowed to the bartender and told Yuujin that he's going to continue his investigation outside. He stepped outside of the tavern, pulled the hood of the raincoat over his head and looked to the north at a narrow road entering a forest behind the quarry pit.
With one hand in his pocket clutching Reimu's blessed amulets and the other hand holding the magic detector, he set out on his way to find Xeng-Yao's hidden hut. First he had to get around the quarry pit. Then he kept on walking north along the path, always shifting his attention from his surroundings to his detector. There was no reading of any magical energy all the way as he walked through the forest. He therefore hastened his pace so that he'd get to his destination a little bit sooner.