"We are thankful for the services you provided in the mansion, we welcome you with open arms anytime." Said the Mistress of the mansion
"Thank you." I replied
After finishing my last days in the SDM, it was time to go to my next tasks in Moriya Shrine, Before I went, Remilia had ordered a Breakfast course in my last day to recover all the energy I lost in the past week, but mostly as an appreciation act for attending her sister with "exceptional results". Right now I was in the gates, exiting towards the trail path back to my base. She, flandre and Patchouli were all outside by the foot of the entrance to say goodbye, whilst Sakuya held an Umbrella to provide shade to her Masters.
"Perhaps you would like to be taken to Moriya shrine?" Remilia offered.
"It's fine, I like the scenery while walking, but I appreciate the offer though." I felt bad saying no, but I felt that I already was abusing a little too much of her "Kindness"
"You guys have a good one!"
"Likewise! Safe trips." She responded.
"Bye Bye Doggy!" Flandre waved a Handkerchief in goodbye.
"Until we meet again…" Patchouli softly said, but I could see a faint smile on her face.
I finally respond with a nod and turn back to the path, Feeling with a much calmer attitude than before, perhaps I let out a bunch of bottled up stress in that fight with Lady Flandre? But sure as hell I felt much more relaxed now, that I don't even feel like smoking at all.
Hell! I am now about to go to work in a sacred place with a living god overseeing me and I feel…
Wait… I just remembered, Gods DO walk among this land! I am at the bidding of a god! And worst is that I have stolen some important sacred items without even knowing!
If what Remilia did was out of pettiness, I don't wanna imagine what divine punishment must be…
"You know what, if it's gotta happen, it's gotta happen!" I began saying within my head, " I brought that by myself, took something without acknowledging its importance for my own gain. If I have to Find my creator, then it is best I start facing the obstacles that appear in front of me or ones I put myself into…"
Moriya Shrine
"And It's time to face this on… Like a man!"
Time passed a bit too quickly as I made haste to the temple as fast as I could, and I was already a few steps into the temple.
Kanako and the rest were already waiting in the middle of the temple grounds, standing ominously and watching me with stares that felt more like fangs instead of daggers. Kanako stood in the middle, Sanae was on her left side and Suwako on the right, Standing, waiting for me to approach them.
And so I did, I slowly walked towards them, but I did not feel scared, well maybe just a bit, but my determination was strong enough to keep going. Eventually I reach a favorable Distance and stop in front of the Girls.
Not a single one of them says a word, not even Kanako Wants to talk, Sanae and Suwako hold serious faces, but Kanako's was more disturbing.
I guess I gotta take the initiative.
"First things first, I want to apologize." I said as I kept eye contact with Kanako.
She still keeps that face…
"I was not aware of the cultural importance you had with those boards, and sorry I even stole from a sacred place in the first place. There are no excuses to say that I used them for my own gain, but I'd like to make it up."
Still dead serious.
"I may not be too familiar with divine punishment, but I trust I can provide anything. I ask for forgiveness, can a goddess like yourself find it in their heart to forgive a poor traveler like myself?"
…
…
"Sure!" Kanako says as her face suddenly changes into a cheery expression.
huh?
"We're just pulling your leg here! we wanted to make sure you had the dedication to work." Suwako says as her expression also changes.
"You should see her when she is truly angry. Last time she knocked Shameimaru in an arm cast for 2 months!" Sanae adds to the conversation.
"what?" I just stood perplexed, I did not expect this kind of reaction.
"Sorry for scaring you back there, I get a bit hot headed from time to time, but we understand why you took the boards."
"We do things differently here at Moriya shrine, compared to Reimu's, we don't go beating people until they behave." Suwako says.
"However… Those boards are not gonna be for free." Kanako says.
"You see, we were gonna utilize those boards to build a small scale shrine for a ritual, those boards were made with Fir tree wood which is important in the shrine's history." Sanae explains
"It's the same wood that also composes the Onbashira pillars you may have seen in your way here and my pillars." Kanako adds.
"But Fir trees appear in abundance at a certain time of year, we chop the wood and prepare it till it's ready to use. But now fir trees are scarce and rare to find this time of year." Sanae continues.
"Wait, appear? trees take years to grow…" I asked the girls
"You know what they say: "There is no common sense in Gensokyo" Legends have it that the trees disappear into another place until they are ready to appear at their time of year." Suwako says.
"Ok… so I guess you want me to find the trees?" I assume.
"Pretty much! There is not much you can help in the shrine at the moment, and the wood is our top priority, buuuut… we are pretty much tired and we really don't want to spend more time searching, so we are entrusting you to find the fir trees, the whole week should be enough time!" Kanako explains.
"Ok, it couldn't be that hard. Where shall I stay?" I asked
"Well, we figured you might wanna stay at your place since it's not too far away from the shrine. Us ladies need privacy, not like Reimu's…" Kanako responds.
"I see…"
"Excellent! But… Failure to finish the task by the end of the week… What do you have in mind, girls?" Kanako asks both Sanae and Suwako.
"hmm… we had almost a whole month about it and we haven't thought about it!" Suwako exclaims
"We'll think of something! You should probably be more concerned that Mr. Plyush here does find the wood." Sanae says to Kanako.
"Alright then, I gotta drop everything back then, I shall look to find the wood as soon as possible." I respond as I turn back to the direction my base is located.
"Don't Take Long!" Suwako exclaims.
As I am walking down the path and tray into the general direction towards my base, I can't help to think about it. Those girls have a grudge against Reimu of sorts.
It's kinda like a business rivalry, and it is pretty much expected from a land where faith is real. Moriya has pretty much the upper hand due to their very well maintained shrine and relics they keep, I heard it is visited by brave people who travel through this dangerous mountain, compared to the Hakurei shrine that has really stood the test of time… but I feel the Hakurei shrine has more importance than Moriya, since Reimu is pretty much the Incident resolver around here…
Reimu really does not get that much credit.
"...Oh?"
I see someone… outside the Pillbox, by the generator, Could It be…
Approaching it more closely, I finally got to see what was out there. Venetian Is working with the generator.
"Problems with the generator?" I exclaimed in his direction.
"I RECENTLY DISCOVERED THAT ONE OF THE PIPES HAS CRACKED UNDER THE COLD, FUEL IS SLOWLY LEAKING BUT TOTALS A NET LOSS OF 0.3 LITERS A DAY." Ven said as he kept working on the generator
"Ouch…how much gas we got left?" I asked Ven
"ENOUGH FOR 4 MORE DAYS." he responds as he stands up and faces me.
"You've utilized gas while I was away?!"
"I UNDERSTAND YOUR FRUSTRATION, BUT ALL WAS FOR OUR RESEARCHING PURPOSES"
" 'Our' research?"
"Can you keep it down, I'm trying to work here!" A female voice echoes inside the pillbox.
"Who was that?"
"RESEARCH, FOLLOW ME."
As I entered back into the pillbox, I noticed the right side of the room was filled with certain machinery and cables on the ground leading back to the generator. but within all the machinery I see a blue haired girl with a green cap
"Did you get the generator fixed? Also, who were you talking to?" the girl said as she was tapping the glass of a device similar to a CRT tv.
"MISS KAWASHIRO, THIS IS MY COMPANION, PLYUSH CANMOORE." Ven says as he waves at me to present me
She then turns back to see me and takes a look at me.
"Oh! Hello, sorry I took your home as a lab, Kawashiro Nitori!" The girl approached me and bows down.
"Nice to meet you, but can you please clean up after you're done." I responded back.
"May I ask why are you here in the first place?"
"Rumor got around that a foreigner has set base by the mountain, but then Momiji spread the word about your mechanical friend here so I had to check it for myself. I have never met a machine so complex!" Nitori explains.
"Well glad to know there are tech savvy people around here, but still, what's with all the get up here?" I continued
"MISS KAWASHIRO OFFERED TO HELP WITH OUR RESEARCH IN EXCHANGE OF ANALYZING MY INTERNALS, IT IS A WIN-WIN SCENARIO AS I COULD UPGRADE MY ARSENAL AND SYSTEMS."
"Upgrades? don't you already have devastating weaponry already?"
"REMEMBER THAT WE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO USE LETHAL MEANS OF COMBAT, SO ADAPTING MY SYSTEMS TO THE SPELL CARD RULES IS ESSENTIAL FOR OUR STAY HERE, AND BESIDES, I MAY HAVE FIGURED OUT A WAY TO UTILIZE YOUR WEAPONRY TO THE SPELL CARD SYSTEM."
"How so?"
"I have figured we could probably use your magazine as a battery. I thought of using bullets filled with Danmaku but that would be wasteful as it is and very time consuming, so the best solution would be to adapt the magazine into a battery that allows the gun to shoot Danmaku!" Nitori explains
"But what about the gun itself? without bullets, how can it even chamber in the first place? would it get hot quickly? and how will it act on the gas tube." I questioned Nitori's idea for the sake of my weapon's integrity
"I may not know much about firearms, but with the help of your companion and using some magazines and weapons as reference, I've learned a lot in just a week!"
"WE DESIGNED A SPECIAL PIECE THAT GOES IN THE TIP OF THE BOLT THAT CAPTURES ENERGY FROM THE MAGAZINE BATTERY AND KEEPS IT IN HOLD IN THE CHAMBER UNTIL IT'S READY TO FIRE. THE TEMPERATURE OF DANMAKU PROJECTILES REACHES AROUND 45 DEGREES CELSIUS, SO STANDARD FOR A FIREARM. FOR CYCLING, IT'S A WORK IN PROGRESS, SO YOUR BOLT RIFLE WILL WORK FINE BUT GAS OPERATED WEAPONS WILL PROBABLY DAMAGE IT." Ven continues
"The MAC10 is an open bolt, so would it be fine?" I add
"PLAUSIBLE, BUT WE HAVEN'T CREATED THE BATTERIES YET, IT IS AN IDEA IN PROGRESS."
"Do keep in mind it was also a side idea, I mainly helped your friend here investigate that cube of yours." Nitori says
"Speaking of! I have some info that could be helpful." I say as I take my notes out of my haversack and hand them to Ven.
Ven takes quick looks into the sheets of paper I handed him, after looking at them back and forth for 3 seconds, his eyes change from their usual yellow light to a green light with a diagram of what appear to be radio waves moving in his eyes.
"What the?"
"Give him a moment, he is processing that info." Nitori adds.
Ven's eyes then go back to their previous state.
"THIS INFO IS QUITE EXTENSIVE FOR A WEEK'S WORTH, BUT YOU FELT SOME MINOR INCOMPLETE IDEAS."
"I had little time and barely managed to get in the library to investigate. However, now that I have convinced the lady of the mansion to let us in, you can go there yourself."
"INTERESTING… I'LL BE SURE TO PASS BY."
"Now, I need a little space here, gotta drop my stuff here, since I will be using the base to sleep."
"WON'T YOU BE STAYING IN THE SHRINE?"
"they don't got extra rooms"
"But, I do need your help on something…"
After explaining my task to Ven, we got off to work. We first went around the Moriya shrine area but there was nothing around there, so we kept getting away from the perimeter until we basically started descending the mountain. For a moment we spotted some tengu around, so we probably were close to the settlement, to which we turned back to keep looking.
Now we find ourselves down even further, Ven calculated about 3 kilometers below Moriya shrine's location, and we still couldn't find a damn Fir tree. We looked for a bunch but nothing around, supposedly they look like pine trees, but not quite similar.
Anyhow, it is around late afternoon, so I could ask the shrine about their usual wearabouts.
Ven and I walk towards the shrine before night time, but we are greeted with a loud echoing sound, the sound of a wolf howling.
"you hear that?"
"HOWLING… STRANGE, IT IS THE SAME HOUR I HEAR IT."
"Wait? Same time?"
"EVERY LATE AFTERNOON, I ALWAYS HEAR THAT HOWLING, IT IS STRANGE CAUSE IT'S ALWAYS AT THIS TIME EVERY DAY AND IT IS LOUDER THAN A AVERAGE WOLF'S HOWL."
"seems strange enough… It came from there, wanna check it out?" I ask Ven.
"AS YOU WISH"
It came from the left side of the mountain, and oddly enough, Venetian recalls a cliff being around that area, so whatever howled out there, that could be his usual spot. So Ven and I are passing through the bushes and walking around a path of trees, and at the end of our view, we can see an open spot, with a cliff of rock extruding outwards and vertically like a platform. However I do see someone there, it didn't look animal, rather looked human…
"Do you see it? Can you zoom in?" I ask Ven.
His head starts to make mechanical whirls, as if of a camera adjusting zoom, and does this for a while until he gets a clean view of whoever is on that cliff.
"IT'S THE WOLF TENGU." Ven says
"Who now?"
"SHAMEIMARU'S SUBORDINATE, HAVE YOU ALREADY FORGOTTEN?"
Oh, the wolf girl right? I do know that Shameimaru does not work all alone and she has her as an assistant rather than subordinate, what was her name again? Inuarashi?
"SHE'S GONE." he replies
"Huh?" I exclaimed
And before I knew it, I had a big blade placed directly at my neck.
"What are you doing here?" The wolf tengu appears in front of me as she holds her weapon, keeping distance between me and her.
Naturally, Venetian takes an aggressive stance as he assesses the situation.
"Don't you move." she snarks
"Ven, stay still will ya?" I say to him,
He does so, but still keeps his stance.
"Are you spying on me, you perv?" the tengu says.
"Hey, don't get that idea!" I responded back
"Then what else would you be doing here, coincidentally so close to my spot."
"We just heard a loud howl and went to investigate." I explained.
"I just started my patrol, that is none of your business." the tengu barks.
"Well… I apologize for interrupting you, this is just a small misunderstanding."
"I don't buy it." the tengu expresses
"Look umm, uhh… Inuarashi?" I scramble to know what her name is.
"Inubarashi Momiji"
"Right! Momiji, Why don't we settle down, talk like civilized people, before I order Venetian to pin you down on the ground. If you want it the hard way, come on and find out…" I say to Momiji.
Momiji only gives me an annoyed look, but afterwards gives a look to Venetian, to which he responds with a mean look and an ominous hum. She then sighs, lowers her weapon down and accommodates herself in her place.
"Apologies for my behavior, I must stay alert for intruders in the mountain." Momiji apologizes.
"I understand, you gotta keep a mean face, but as I'm currently staying within the mountain, it is best we get along as soon as we can, at our own pace of course."
"REMEMBER, YOU WERE HEADED TO THE SHRINE JUST A MOMENT AGO." Venetian remarks.
"Right! Let us go! You don't mind a friendly walk as we speak?" I offer momiji
"Fine, just make it quick."
As we walk to the shrine we come up a path that goes directly to the shrine, decorated with some offerings the many believers leave and Onbashira pillars.
"I gotta ask, If Youkai Mountain is off limits to humans, why do many followers make their way to the shrine in the first place?" I ask Momiji.
"The Tenma made an agreement with the goddess in charge of Moriya Shrine to guarantee no harm to the human followers, So he managed a pact with the Youkai of the mountain to refrain from attacking the believers." she explains.
"Tenma?" I ask
"The tengu has a hierarchy of leaders, The great Tenma is the definitive leader of the tengu, Iizunamaru is the second highest in command."
"I see, but if you basically can't attack the followers, what purpose does your patrol even serve?" I ask her.
"Some humans think they can sneak over as believers, so it is my job to be wary of those impostors, but we also have other wanderers that think it's a good idea to explore. I make sure to keep the mountain in check and balance." She explains.
"Interesting…"
"MISS INUBARASHI, WHY DID THE TENGU BECAME INTERESTED IN PLYUSH'S EXISTENCE IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Ven asks.
Momiji seems hesitant to answer the question, but she continues nonetheless.
"It is no secret that the tengu settlement has slowly lost power recently and our society has been going on a slow but constant dowhill in prosperity, we are trying to figure out a way to survive. After we heard of your existence and a mysterious artifact you possessed, we tried to look into it as a way to benefit our society."
Artifact? she seems to be referring to the Node.
"We used to rule the mountain years ago, but after the rules the Hakurei miko implemented, our society was very held back by her strict rules. However, Moruya shrine was more merciful to allow us control of the mountain."
"Please, our society is silently crying for help, find it in your heart to help us, us tengu cannot die in such a dishonorable way, our resources are slowly being seized, our motivation is slowly dying, we are gonna die from the inside out if nothing is done. Please, I beg you on behalf of the tengu, help us!"
"I would love to… but I am currently on my own journey, I simply cannot deviate from My objective now, not so close. I would help but I just cannot at the moment"
"Please, You must help us!" Momiji begs.
"Look, Give me just a bit of time, If I can see some time out of me, I 'll see what I can do, but I don't guarantee anything!"
"Thank you!" Momiji bows down to me.
"Take it easy! I haven't done anything just yet!"
As I finish that sentence, I Come to realize we are already down at the steps of the Shrine, we have arrived earlier than expected.
"LOOKS LIKE OUR WAYS DEPART HERE." Ven concludes.
"Thank you for considering helping us! I must return to my guard." Momiji says before Jumping into the far reaches of the mountain.
Now then… what where here in the first place.
As I approached the shrine, I walked at a faster pace than the Venetians walked, and got into the entrance first.
I could knock, but being shoji doors and pretty much different from traditional doors, I couldn't just knock.
"Hello? Kanako-sama!" I exclaim into the door.
nothing.
"Kanako-sama? Suwako-sama? Sanae?"
It seems that they are not here at the moment, maybe they went out.
"PLYUSH… I'M DETECTING ENERGY SPIKES INSIDE THE SHRINE."
"What?"
"THE NODE… IT'S GLOWING."
Venetian proceeds to open his chest up, and a mechanism takes the node out of it. It's glowing aggressively.
As I look at the node, I take a look back to the door… I know what is probably in the other side.
And so… I open the door.