When I got implanted here, it was February 5, 2001 according to Gensokyo's Gregorian calendar. Today's July 4, 2001 so it's been four months since my stay here.
I'd like to say to myself that I'm doing quite well despite being a newbie here for four months.
To start off on what I've been up to for the last months, I can now read the native characters without ending up mistranslating it too much thanks to Keine's lessons. My stuff hasn't broken down yet thanks to me being able to maintain all of them. I'm also earning some living here as some kind of a pseudo-curator of the Outside World technology museum (my house to be precise), a part-time employee of a magic store and an odd job person after classes.
Sakuya's no longer stalking me too much after the day of my interview… Well, she rarely comes to the Human Village nowadays. Remilia must have ordered her to stop and attend to her needs. After all, Remilia's pretty much a demanding master once she sets her eyes on something that she wants.
That or she's probably training fairy maids on how to be a proper household help. Ellen and some of the villagers had been hearing gossips from the fairies about the SDM hiring fairies.
I'm wearing the clothes that my neighbors made so that I wouldn't look too out of place here. It's a dark blue kimono that I usually see in historical mangas involving rural Japan. I find it strange to wear something like that but it's better than standing out too much on a daily basis. I still wear my old clothes on some occasion but most of the time I'm wearing what the villagers wear. My brown skin stands out but not as much as before thanks to me not going around the place wearing clothes that are fashioned in the modern era.
I'm not going to replace my boxers with loincloth though.
I've made some friends here in the Human Village and some parts of Gensokyo aside from Keine.
My neighbor, the Saotome household which consists of two elderly couple who works on the nearby rice paddy was the first to come by and welcomed me to the village. They were the ones who helped me out in integrating here so that I don't stick out too much. I also help them out on their work whenever I could if my schedule for the day isn't filled with maintaining the solar panels, getting interviewed by Sasaki, attending Keine's reading lessons or Ellen's magical lessons. Mrs. Saotome also made a blue kimono for me to wear so that I wouldn't go around the village in my Outsider clothes.
Some of the curious kids back at the Temple School also started visiting me more often in order to watch some of the Outside World videos that I started making a business out of. One of the older kids back there, Rin Satsuki would come along at my place with a dozen of kids in the tow just to watch a movie or a cartoon for a few Ryo. Of course they asked their parents for permission to come by my place first and I don't let them watch the horrifying and mature ones that I have. Strangely, they seem to understand the language that they hear on what they watch in many cases but they couldn't understand the written ones.
One of the village elders named Takeo and his family became an ally of mine after I helped out in finding their youngest granddaughter Hinami who got lost in the Forest of Magic. There, I nearly got attacked and eaten by fucking Rumia had Chen not tailed me when I got separated from the search party when I found her. I never thought that Chen was that fast enough to pound that grue to the ground. Anyway, Elder Takeo pretty much grounded her for doing that stunt after we got back to the village and after she cried herself dry for nearly getting eaten by fucking Rumia.
One thing for sure is that I'll have to brush up my magical skills if I want to be able to defend myself from other youkai who are like Rumia. The way she talked pretty much crept the shit out of me.
Sasaki Kazehara and Ryoko Kobayashi pretty much considers me as a friend after months of correspondence with the crow tengu's Arashi News Press. The latter was a big surprise on my part since I couldn't believe that there is a tengu who is really interested on video games of all things. Her knowledge is rather outdated though. Most of the magazines that she showed me dated back when people are still playing around with 3D tech in making a game. Speaking of which, thanks to Ryoko showing me the magazines, I finally have no doubts that the Outside World is way too different to the reality where I came from.
For starters, there are too many gaming companies that I know little of and the ones that I'm familiar with took a different path in making games.
Sasaki also said something about her boss wanting to meet up with me in order to know more about the ROB. Didn't they get the memo that ROB's not interested on anyone that isn't from the human realm?
Strangely, I always see a crow or two pass overhead of me whenever I leave the village.
Ellen, the owner of the Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop is pretty childish as her appearance says. Her ability to remember things is what I also found as something that needs improvement.
A lot of improvement needed to be precise since in some occasions, she asks for my name for two or more times if her memory's taking a dump on her.
Good thing her cat Sokrates (yes, it's spelled like that) is good at remembering things for her, especially the important ones. Anyway, despite her memory lapses, she's quite knowledgeable about magic and as proficient as a teacher as Keine is. Thanks to her, I can defend myself by flinging magic missiles to the face of any youkai that wants me for dinner. Still, I'm not going to risk myself by going out of the village unless I'm confident enough to fully defend myself without assistance. Also, thanks to the book that I acquired and Ellen helping out in supervising me, I can also cast some utility spells for my use. Hard labor and house chores got a bit easier thanks to me being able to levitate heavy objects, create wards to keep my clothes clean and cook food without using electricity or firewood.
Reisen Udonge Inaba and I became close acquaintances after I helped her out when she got pranked by Tewi Inaba on the way to the Human Village. Despite the fanon interpretations, Reisen's pretty introverted and anti-social, probably caused by years of living at the Moon and her trauma during her army days. Whenever she passes by, I usually buy headache remedies and cold pills from her and we talk a bit before she moves on to another place. She's pretty surprised about the fact that I'm living in a house that doesn't scream countryside though when she made her first round near my place.
Still, while I did made friends during my stay, there are still some people who seems to disagree with my presence. Most of these people disagree with my presence because of their superstition towards technology that those fucking kappas spread in order to keep it for themselves. Looks like I'll have to convince them otherwise about that. Although, the methods that I will use on how I'll do it will be a challenge on my part.
In a rather tiny minority group of those people who disagree with me, they seem to have a hard on against me. These people will always try to antagonize me whenever they can. For example, the little shit in front of me for example.
"Hey." a dark haired young man in dark green yukata gave me an intimidating look as he carries around a wooden sword and "greeted" me in a menacing way in the middle of the marketplace. He's a perfect example of what a Japanese bishounen looks like and it pisses me off. How the hell did I nearly die thanks to some asshole that looks like a girly man, "Outsider..."
In my opinion, I've seen worse back at my country's worst parts. A lot of people are staring at us now after he greeted me like that. While some are amused, the rest seem to have an urge to plant their palms to their faces and gave my aggressor a dark look. Apparently, a lot of them didn't like the idiot in front of me.
"Why aren't you wearing your clothes today?" hoo boy, aren't we feeling a little antagonistic today, you puissant? "Afraid to hurt our feelings that you had to wear what we wear, you youkai lover?"
"How are you doing today, Makoto?" I greeted him, unaffected by his comment and watching his face redden thanks to my lack of reaction, "I hope that you're trying not to keep yourself out of trouble now."
Makoto Ootori, also known as the village's equivalent of an Internet Tough Guy/Delinquent who suddenly got some degree of mod powers before an admin pegged them down. Despite the fact that he has the face of a pretty boy, his personality's pretty horrible. He spends his time of the day loitering around and not doing anything productive to the village. If he isn't causing a ruckus within the village, he's seen kicking around some fairies that are passing by and goading weaker youkai to attack him before reminding them that the rule on human villagers still exist. To add the cherry on top of this shit biscuit, he's the son of a village Elder.
One wonders why these people exist and why anyone hasn't thrown him out of the village. I for one couldn't believe that such an idiot is still breathing even after garnering this much disproval. I'm sure that this must be ROB giving him plotarmorium grade plot armor in order to give me an adversary and a reminder that youkai residents aren't the only problem that I should worry about.
I didn't even want to become his and his gang's enemy in the first place but ROB and Murphy wanted to see something go wrong for their victims.
I pretty much became their enemies after I stood up against them and defended a nest full of sparrow chicks from getting stomped by this asshole two months ago.
It's petty as fuck and incredibly pointless if you ask me but it mattered to this guy.
How it happened was that me and Ellen were about to return to the Human Village with a bunch of ingredients that we'll use for the next lesson until we saw him and two of his two hanger-on who were about to stomp a fallen nest of sparrow chicks.
There are just some kinds of evil that I wouldn't simply let pass. Sadism towards harmless animals is one of those things.
Ellen tried to stop me at first but before she could do that, my knees already met the crotch of that pretty faced fuck. He screamed so hard that a bunch of gate guards investigated the scene, only to find me trying to get the nest back in its place and three guys on the ground. Ellen took out the other two when they flashed their knives at me for attacking them with a sleeping spell.
What happened next involved Kotohime arresting all of us, a two hours' worth of prison time for me and Ellen on our first offence, Ootori and his group making stupid threats that I know that they wouldn't be able to follow up (Murphy laughed at that statement) and Ellen telling me that there was a youkai nearby who saw it and was about to kill them off. I asked the last part to Ellen if it was true after the three of them got tired of making threats at us.
Apparently, if I haven't kneed the guy's crotch to stop them from squishing a bunch of birds, a night sparrow might have eviscerated the three of them after it escapes the restraints of a firefly youkai. Mystia and Wriggle were nearby and I wouldn't be suffering an annoyance in my daily life if I didn't made fucking Makoto Ootori scream like a cat by breaking his balls. Ellen pretty much called me 'stupid apprentice' for the rest of our short stay in prison until Elder Takeo bailed us out of jail.
Still, my magic teacher told me that thanks to my efforts, the night sparrow didn't get into more trouble with the humans and youkai enforcers.
Makoto's pretty pissed about me and Ellen getting out early and demanded the Elder to kick me out of the village. It ended badly for the retard when Elder Takeo told him that he nearly started an incident thanks to his brainless act of cruelty in front of a bird youkai. He also added that he waited for this day to see him in jail in order to get Elder Ootori to see that his son has been nothing but a troublemaker.
Huh, guess that the plot armor for him is starting to wear off when I smashed his babies.
To pour more salt on the already festering wound, he said that I've had a lot to offer to the village and compared to someone who causes trouble to outsiders and the village on a daily basis, I'm much wanted here compared to him. A small part of my mind blames old man Takeo for painting a target on me.
After that event, he took every opportunity to target me just because of reasons after an outsider managed to be let off without too much of a punishment (though I've took up community service thanks to my "unprovoked" attack). He's also pissed off since many villagers are standing up against him after what I did to his balls. Daddy's status is no longer giving that much weight in defending this idiot after the village police picked him up for ruining the fields where I worked on. Sadly, he's still an annoying fucker that I wanted to brain after he nearly killed me some time ago.
"Oy, you think that you're tough just because you hide behind some old man's back?" he spitefully said to me as he grips his fake sword tighter.
"You mean the old man who declared me as an ally to his family after I risked my life in order to save his grandkid and has a significant position in this village as an Elder?" I know that answering back with cheek would piss him off but I have something to back me up. A certain teacher watching the exchange, "While my affiliation towards them can gave me powerful ammunitions to use, I'd rather not use their name and influence to fight my own battles…" I paused for a bit in order to look at the delinquent to his face while smirking, "I can deal with you on my own. Besides, isn't it ironic that you're the one who does that sort of action more often? Hiding behind your daddy like a whipped little boy you are?"
Makoto's anger flared up after that and in the blink of an eye, he swings his wooden sword to my head. I did not expect that and I didn't have enough time to stop the attack. Good thing however…
"Get back." the voice of one person that I'm familiar with suddenly shoved me away from the attack of an angry teenager who thinks he's invincible.
"Wha?!" … is that Makoto didn't have any time to react when his toy sword got grabbed by a really irate Keine Kamishirasawa with one hand.
"Aren't we getting a bit bolder, young man?" there's a lot of anger dripping from that rhetorical question Keine said, "Planning another murder attempt towards Mr. Ebner?"
-0-0-0-0-
Okay, time for a little story about my second brush with death.
After my rather short jail time, Makoto and his gang were not in great terms with me, and to some extent, Ellen. They'll always find a way to become a bunch of unproductive nuisances in order to annoy us. At first the villagers didn't mind and thought that it would come to pass and they'll move on or something. I for one was not that naïve and knew that they'll escalate the entire conflict into something worse.
Much to my chagrin, my expectations had been met after the series of ruining the fields of my elderly neighbors, spreading gossips regarding me, creating a ruckus at Ellen's shop and causing trouble whenever I'm nearby were as effective on making me want to return to the Outside World as attempting to convince a Diamond in the Rough version of Yukari Yakumo to stop gapping selfish kids to fatten them up with tea before killing them off and then munch on their corpses.
I was in a district of the Human Village, delivering a package full of sweets to Missus Saotome's grandkids. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and there were too many people back then until I got grabbed by Makoto and his rabble in a surprise ambush by the alley. They then bound and gagged me before I could even call for help. There were eleven of them and they dragged me from the village to the youkai infested areas near the edge of the Bamboo Forest of the Lost and beat the shit out of me. Holy crap that wasn't a fun ordeal thanks to those training swords they used on me.
I broke a lot of bones in the process. They were calling, jeering and taunting me at each punch, kick and blows that I received from them. I lost some of my teeth during that beatdown and I got hit on the crotch on multiple occasions. I pretty much resemble like a pulped meat thanks to what they did. I didn't know how I managed to stay alive at that point but I know that the amount of pain that I've received from them is something that I will always remember.
They were about to leave me there for the dead until Ran Yakumo showed up in a form of a gigantic nine-tailed kyuubi, complete with fox fires and bloodshot eyes staring at them. I could have sworn I smelled shit and piss as my mind passes out after the pain got too much for me.
While I was knocked out, Ran carried me to the closest medical facility that she could find that wouldn't piss themselves in fear just because she didn't have any time to transform. When people saw my bleeding carcass being carried around by a huge, nine-tailed fox monstrosity, majority went on full panic mode. As much as her master has some kind of a one-sided rivalry with the former Lunarians, I needed to be treated as soon as possible and she didn't have any choice but to bring me to Eientei.
When I woke up after the pain overriding my senses, I was at Eientei with Keine and Elder Ootori sitting on the bedside chairs and Reisen bringing in the medicine I needed to recover. I was out for an entire day and it would have been a lot longer if Eirin Yagokoro didn't administer the needed meds immediately. The Elder apologized repeatedly for what his son did to me and told me that he's spending a lot of time in the Human Village prison now after what he did to me.
I wanted to get angry at him for letting Makoto run rampant until I nearly died again but I'm too tired at that time thanks to the medicine to even bother ranting about his lack of parental skills. It's also hard for me not to outright reject his apology with really blunt words since his fucking son is responsible for me nearly going to the yama's place the second time. If I could even move my arm back then, I would have punched his face for his piss poor performance in bringing up his own son. Sue me, I wasn't thinking reasonably back then and I really wanted to hit someone for what happened to me.
Keine however, is quite happy that I'm alive. She also apologized for not being able to get to me faster to prevent me from experiencing that kind of a beating. Unlike the corrupt Elder who didn't raise his son right, I can easily forgive Keine without any hesitation. Besides, she was conducting her classes when that happened and I was on the other side of the village, doing some deliveries until the ambush happened. She's not at fault on what just happened to me.
I stayed at Eientei for two more days due to Eirin applying a powerful medicine on me to recover fast. My body needed some time to recover since the effects are quite powerful. How she applied it involved needles and getting poked with them repeatedly. It was really boring to just lie around all day thanks to the med's effect but at least I can talk to people back there.
Still, I'm living a Touhou fanboy's dream during my stay there since I met Kaguya Houraisan. She's quite a conversationalist and a hospitable host, far from the reclusive NEET Kaguya fandom shit that people keep writing about. We both swapped stories during my stay there to pass time until I'm able to get back on my feet.
After that visit to Eientei, Makoto's gang's reputation tanked so hard that some of the villagers wanted their rabble to be kicked out of the village and let the youkai outside the village have their way with them. While that bastard Ootori managed to protect a few of them including his own son, the five other gang members who beaten me up were not so lucky and were evicted from the village. A lot of debates were had about the draconian punishment that they've received but those five guys were no longer tolerable to the populace.
It didn't help that those five guys pissed off a powerful youkai when they trespassed her territory and started baiting the other youkai living there to fight them the other day. The youkai in question is Yuuka Kazami and the territory in question is the Garden of the Sun. How they did it? I'd rather not know since the motives behind it would have been really stupid for me to comprehend. Truly human idiocy at its finest and they deserve a Darwin's for that.
My return to the village made a lot of people happy since they thought that I got eaten by a youkai and came back alive. Hinami cried since she thought that I died and Elder Takeo held a dinner celebration for my return. A lot of village guards promised that they will never let anything like that happen to me or anyone ever again and said that the ones who ignored me as I got dragged to the forest were fired and then exiled for what they did. Sasaki and Ryoko were glad that I'm back and I got interviewed on how I lived through that ordeal. The Saotomes are quite glad that I'm alive and also celebrated the fact that I'm still alive. Keine and Ellen were overprotective towards me for the next two weeks. It took me some time before I could convince them that I could take care of myself.
As for Makoto and his gang, they weren't happy. Five of their numbers became youkai chow at this point and I'm quite sure that those five's parents hated Makoto for getting them involved in that crime. I'm still alive and kicking despite the shit that they did to me. Daddy's protection isn't powerful enough to give them protection from getting them kicked out if ever did something similar to their homicide attempts or at the same level of that. If Ellen's words were true, a bunch of youkai are now vying for their blood after hearing about the human who kept on baiting them is about to get kicked out of the village if he fucked up. He's not so invincible anymore so he's trying to keep himself out of trouble or else he'll meet a bad end.
Still, the day the damned kid died horribly in the hands of his own idiocy will be a holiday for me to celebrate. Yes, I pretty much hate the kid for nearly killing me and I'm quite sure that the feeling's mutual.
Anyway, back to the scene.
-0-0-0-0-
"Teacher…" Makoto's anger is getting the better of him, again, "Out of my way… That youkai lover deserves to be dealt with before he let that kyuubi into the village!"
"Young man, you are skirting closer to the point that not even your father will be able to save you for your actions." Keine's grip on the wooden sword got tighter to the point that I can see it starting to bend. Half-youkai strength at its finest, "Either you cease and desist or I will force you to stop in my own way."
At first, I thought that he wouldn't listen to what Keine said and just go straight for me… actually I was hoping that he would come for me instead. I was planning on testing out the nameless mage's spells on him. He'll also be one more step closer to getting kicked out of the village for good as an added bonus. He's looking at Keine with disgust towards her and Keine's returning the favor to him. Makoto then looked at me with the same amount of contempt that he gave to me ever since I came back to the village alive and well.
In a surprising act of common sense, he let go of his broken bokken and walked away from the scene without a word. I wish that this would be the last time that I'll be dealing with him but that's just wishful thinking in my opinion. Whenever I make that mental wish, he'll probably come back for more in a couple of days.
"Are you all right, Theo?" Keine's attention went to me after Makoto left the scene and the villagers went back to their usual routines.
"I've been through worse." I huffed a bit, not letting that guy affect me one bit, "Anyway, I better go now."
"Late for Ellen's class?" she sighed in exasperation, "I'm quite sure that she will be throwing quite a tantrum once you show up."
"Meh… beats nearly dying in the hands of morons and man eaters any time of the day if you ask me." I shrugged my shoulders. Ellen's tantrums doesn't end up with me getting literally whipped with a riding crop or be used as a magical test dummy so I don't mind, "Besides, Ellen doesn't mind me getting late for the time being. She's probably showing her new employee around the shop and teaching her on how to handle some of the dangerous stuff lying around the place or preparing her shop for the day or something."
-0-0-0-0-
The Fuwafuwa Ellen's Magic Shop is a shop that stood out in the rows of wooden houses with Eastern designs is a strange place. Despite being owned by a magician who is didn't seem to age for a while, the humans still let her and her business remain within the village.
Using materials that only kappa craftsmen and builders could produce such as bricks and glasses and the principles of Victorian Era, the two story building is just as much of a curiosity within the Human Village as the modern era residence of the newcomer. The shop's sign is posted above the display glass that shows the merchandises that are being sold. The paned door has an 'Open' sign hanging on a nail behind the glass. The exterior is painted with light red and white with caramel yellow outlines, which helps in attracting more attention. Various posters of items sold such as magical brews and trinkets are on the shop's small bulletin board.
Within the shop, the first thing that one would see once they enter the shop are three stools where customers sit down and wait, a doormat with 'Welcome' written on it, shelves with various items behind the wooden island counter, a display area where the owner of the shop features her merchandise outside, more posters about the shop's items that are for sale, small wooden star and moon shaped ornaments hanging on the ceiling and a bell and a small jar filled with jelly beans on the countertop.
Behind the counter, a child looking, cheerful blonde girl with a red ribbon hairband and dressed in a light red and white dress under her white apron is wiping the countertop clean with a cloth. She is humming a tune as she focuses keeping the counter clean, while thinking of what might happen today. While people who are unfamiliar with her would mistake her as someone else's child, the villagers know better that the little girl behind the counter is the owner of the shop.
"Meow." a white cat jumped up at the part of the counter where the girl finished wiping.
"Did you wipe your feet before you hopped there, Sokrates?" the girl cheerfully asked as she continued doing what she's doing.
"Meow…" Sokrates looked rather indignant at the girl's question.
"Don't you say "Ellen, I always do that before I sit here" mister." she puffed her cheeks and stopped wiping the countertop in order to look at Sokrates.
"Meow." the white cat said as he licked his paws and started cleaning the back of its ears.
"Theo?" Ellen cupped her chin and thinks for a bit, "Well he hasn't made it here, Sokrates. He's probably talking to the villagers or getting bullied by that Missy person."
"Meow?" Sokrates sounds worried.
"Oh don't be like that, Sokrates. Markie's not going to try and kill Theo again unless he wants to be executed with extreme prejudice. Besides…" the shopkeeper giggled before crossing her arms and smiling smugly, "Theo can handle himself, you know! After all, I did teach him how to use magic."
"Meow."
"My new employee-…" before Ellen could finish her sentence, the bell rang as the door opened and from it, someone entered the shop.
"Good morning, Miss Ellen." Sakuya Izayoi greeted Ellen and bowed.
In her hands she held three envelopes with bat shaped seal. Each of the letters is addressed to someone. Two of those are specifically addressed to one Ellen and one Theodore Nathan Ebner.
-0-0-0-0-
"Oh my…" Yukari Yakumo fanned herself as she is seated at the porch of her home while watching the maid delivers her master's invitation to Theo's magic teacher through her gap, "It seems that the vampire is finally making a move on our human friend."
"Shall we intercept the mail, Master?" Ran asked as she brought a plate full of sweet bean jelly and laid it next to her Master.
"No need, my dear." the Sage rejected the suggestion as she took a piece of the sweet snack that her familiar made, "I'd rather not get any more involved with the outsider that some of the more prominent youkai residents are starting to take interest of." she added after taking a bite.
"I see…" the kitsune nodded as she looked at the gap where Theo made it to the shop and saw the letter.
"Besides, I'd rather be uninvolved in whatever mess that the residents of my land get into unless it requires my concern or if he is asking for help." Yukari smiled when the boy's reaction changed from tired and confused to angry, "After all, spectating is so much easier than taking a part in it."
'That and you're too lazy to do it.' Ran mentally responded to her Master's answer as she now looked at the gap that shows the boy and where he currently is.
She was quite glad that Chen wasn't here right now. Right now, the young man is using his rather crude vocabulary to express his disproval to the content of the letter. Yukari Yakumo however, is quite amused at the reaction of young man.
-0-0-0-0-
"I've always wanted to see the vampire's manor myself." Ellen cheerfully said while I reread the invitation once more, "I wonder what I should wear for the party?" she probably ignored the endless barrage of expletives that I've said a while ago.
I never thought that she would be this direct in my opinion. Gensokyo's vampires tend to be polite but when it comes to getting what they want, they would do their best to subvert your way of thinking to make you need them for something that you want. They're usually indirect when it comes to doing things that matter to them and they're more likely to try and manipulate something to benefit from it.
This however, is pretty much something that I'd expect from someone who is known for being manipulative and discreet.
"Remilia Scarlet invites you to join her in the celebration of her great and honored ancestor, Vlad Tepes the Third's legacy for this evening." I've read the main objective of the letter aloud, "… Your attendance will be much appreciated… what the hell..."
I never expected this to happen. I was prepared for cases where Sakuya might lead me out of the Village through any means possible. I was prepared for cases where the Spell Card Duels are enacted and Sakuya decided to challenge me to a duel with the bet of me coming to SDM and talk to Remilia Scarlet as her prize. I was prepared for cases if for some reason, Yukari decided to be irresponsible or bored enough to gap me to SDM to see how I'll react. Hell, I was prepared for cases where Remilia gets incredibly desperate enough to order my abduction at any time despite the fact that Yukari's still protecting me.
Hey, you'd be paranoid as hell if a well-known manipulative being from the canon series took interest of you. I wouldn't be surprised if they know what my hobbies are and what I usually eat as well as my lessons on both Japanese writing language and magic.
This however, is not something that I'm prepared for. An invitation to a party in order for me to come is something that I couldn't believe that it would happen. Rejecting this invitation might be something that Remilia Scarlet might take as an offense to her since she probably wrote this personally to invite me, Ellen and the new employee.
"Is there a problem with the invitation?" I looked to my left and saw the new employee of Ellen's shop.
The new employee in question is a purple haired little girl wearing a typical witch's black hat and coat with golden outlines and white frills over her white and purple blouse and pink skirt. While many people would mistake her as a human child, me and Ellen can see her elven ears and bat wings. In other words, Ellen's new employee is a typical devil in a typical witch's getup.
Funnily, while the villagers fear the marauding youkai residents outside the boundaries of the human village, they don't mind the devils from Makai. Then again, they were quite polite and courteous to the villagers when they toured Gensokyo. They didn't cause too much trouble, helped out when some youkai attacked the humans, followed the rules that the village has during their visit and they cleaned up themselves whenever they've made a mess.
It's hilarious that the embodiment of man's corrupt and darkest desires and sins as depicted by a lot of religious texts are the ones who didn't shoot first, ask questions later while the ones who resolved the Mystic Square incident ended up wrecking Makai thanks to that doctrine.
Even after the entire incident was resolved, the devil tourists were not holding any grudges to the ones who wrecked Makai. The entire place gets wrecked in numerous occasions anyway and it's usually them that do that, just like Old Hell and its oni residents that had partied too much. They even returned back to Makai without any fuss after Shinki ordered them.
Yukari Yakumo was muttering something about devils being more cooperative than youkai when I asked her about the incident.
Anyway, I've mentally rambled too much about the previous incident.
"Yes Pio…" I answered the devil who is staring at me with her violet eyes, "I find it weird that I got invited into a party from out of the blue."
"Is it a normal reaction for humans to act like that?" she's curious about my sudden outburst towards the invitation.
To be honest, I wouldn't act like that if it weren't for the fact that Remilia Scarlet is interested on me for a different reason and she ordered her servant to stalk me. I would have been interested on the party that Remilia Scarlet started. Maybe I'd be thinking of ways to make sure that I don't fuck up my first impression towards the Mistress of Scarlet Devil Manor. Now, I'm thinking of the chances that she might do something during that party where I might end up working under her despite having a time hax maid and an army of fairy maids to take care of her mansion and how much will I owe her if in case I fucked up at her place.
That or it might be my paranoia talking and this party will be just like any other normal parties that take place in Gensokyo. I really hope that I got invited to a normal party with me being a guest and not a center of attention.
"The swearing part?" she nodded when I asked, "Yeah, it usually happens. Especially if you know who invited you."
"Come on Theo, there's no need to be too angry towards this Remilia person!" Ellen went to my side and elbowed me, "It's not like she's hatching a megalomaniacal plan or anything that involves the three of us."
I could have sworn that I've heard ROB and Murphy laughing softly when teacher made that statement.
"I don't know…" weighing in the pros and the cons of accepting a party invitation made by a vampire that can control fate is easy, picking which side I'll choose to take isn't fun and games.
On the pro side, I get to see SDM in its full, realistic (by this reality's standards) glory and meet its residents. I get to know their motives myself and if possible, convince them that I'm not interested in them. If canon is right, I get to meet the anti-social, shut-in vampire called Flandre and a really perceptive youkai gatekeeper who looks asleep named Meiling. The worst thing that could happen to me there is to be prodded like a lab rat by Patchouli and getting lost within the manor. Hopefully, Remilia Scarlet will drop the entire thing, just leave me alone and stop sending Sakuya to stalk me again if ever she goes to the village.
The cons however, involves Remilia not accepting my rejection and hatches a plan that will end up with me getting too indebted to her that I might end up working for her as a butler or something. Knowing her, she'll use every trick on the book while keeping a polite front while doing it. Fanon being right about Flandre being batshit nuts and turn me into a fine red mist. Patchouli getting too interested of me that she wants to do experiments on me. Fairy maids having brain farts and barrage me with magical bullets at first sight. Sakuya going after me after Remilia got emotional by my actions that caused some offense on her.
To summarize the con side: It's a powder keg, waiting for something to ignite it. I'm not going to delude myself with hopes of things going well for me if I did ignore Remilia's invitation.
I really hope that this isn't one of the last mistakes that I'll ever make in Gensokyo.
"Fine…" I really didn't want to take my chances and hope that fanon wouldn't be at play in this Gensokyo, "I'll come along with you guys."
Pio smiled at me and grabbed my hands. Her eyes have an excited gleam in them.
"You're not changing your mind on this, right?" the devil assistant's voice matches the excitement in her eyes, "Right?"
She really wants to see that mansion, huh?
"Yes Pio, I'm not changing my mind." she's really getting worked up about the party and seeing the mansion as well huh? Still, gotta pop my teacher and her devil assistant's bubble first since they're forgetting something, "Don't we have a store to run this morning?"
"Oh no, I forgot about that!" Ellen immediately ran for the sign in order to swap it to open.
"Whoopsie, I left the brewing cauldron!" Pio panicked and flew towards the door that leads to the workstation at the back.
"Well, I have to change the items featured at the display." I shrugged as I went behind the counter and took what items that will be scheduled for display today.
While I'm at it, I better think of a way to make a good first impression to the SDM lot and how to get away from whatever machinations that they are planning on. I don't want to get involved in any of her future plans, thank you very much.
-0-0-0-0-
Patchouli peers into the crystal ball and watched the person Remilia Scarlet is interested of.
An outsider came into Gensokyo in an obscenely flashy method of teleportation powered by energy that she could not comprehend or duplicate. It was something akin to the youkai of boundaries: unparalleled, incomprehensible and eldritch in nature. She wanted to know more about it since she can tell that the outsider is definitely holding back on the information about the entity was responsible for his predicament.
Ever since Remilia found out about the outsider who managed to enter Gensokyo in such an odd fashion, she wanted to have the outsider be brought back to her throne room and make him a part of her staff. The Unmoving Library understands why the Scarlet Devil wanted him to move into the manor after reading various tengu articles about the Outside World and him.
Her knowledge about the Outside World's magic or what they usually call as science isn't broad in her opinion. Books about it are extremely rare and difficult to acquire. Outsiders before the recent one contributed too little due to the severe lack of knowledge. Most of the books that she had about the Outside World did not cover beyond the 1900 due to the transportation of the Scarlet Devil Manor. Few pieces of information regarding the modern world are usually found at the tengu's territory.
Remilia also finds them more infuriating to deal with the tengus than the Sage herself and admitted to find the latter more tolerable by a small margin compared to the former.
The young man called Theodore Nathan Ebner not only studied such knowledge but has collected enough books and pieces of the Outside World's magical artifacts (electronics and gadgets) to allow her research towards such topic to be expanded. Having someone with such knowledge and firsthand experience towards such things close by would be beneficial to her research.
It would be a great boon to her if ever Remilia manages to convince the outsider to join them and become a part of the Manor's staff. The Scarlet Devil Manor has been looking for an outsider to work for her as a butler for a while and it has been quite a while since an outsider has come to her manor. Most of the time, her guests did not stay in Gensokyo for too long and the ones who did remain in Gensokyo would rather live at the Human Village.
Patchouli started thinking of plans if ever Remilia's attempt to hire the outsider fails. From what Sakuya had gathered, the young man is trying to learn magic from a Human Village's magus named Ellen and is quite willing to learn more about it. She needs to think of an offer that the young man couldn't refuse…
"Master, your medicine is ready." her familiar/servant/librarian, Koakuma had arrived with a plate full of pills and a glass of water.
"Thank you Koakuma." Patchouli cut off her scrying spell and felt her body sagged in relief.
… after she gets enough rest and had taken her medicine.