Here's the next chapter! Sorry it took so long!

Enjoy!

Chapter 17: Journey to the West

[BGM: Majestic Castle (Night) – Dragon Quest VIII]

At last, after one long trek in the tunnels, beating up a large boss mole who doesn't know how to play music and reporting back to Pavan, we finally have the Moonshadow harp in our possession. Now all we had to do was give it to Ishmahri in the Moonshadow Land so he could help raise the ship to us. Unfortunately… this was easier said than done, because we can only access that place at night, and it was still afternoon. So, we headed back to the city's inn to rest (especially after the whole mole problem we dealt with earlier) until it was night.

Eventually, we all woke up at exactly the right night hour, and the moon in the sky was even a full one, so we should be able to head to the Moonshadow Land with no problems. But as I saw my party walking down the hall to head out of the inn, I noticed that someone was missing: Alice.

I then told the others to wait for me outside before I walked over to the room Alice stayed in, and slowly creaked the door open.

"Ah! Wh-who's there…?" I heard Alice on the other side…stuttering timidly? Odd…

Despite that, I silently spoke, "Alice?"

"…Oh, it's just you, Eight." she replied upon recognizing my voice, suddenly shifting back to her aloof attitude.

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure." I stepped inside and saw Alice sitting on the bed with Shanghai on her lap, now looking like an ordinary lifeless doll.

"I just came to let you know that we're all ready to leave." I told her.

"Ah, sorry. I kind of lost track of time." Alice replied. "Just give me a minute for me to tend to Shanghai." as she said that, she took out a doll-sized brush and began stroking Shanghai's hair with it.

"Oh, okay." I nodded and was about to leave… but then my mind drifted back to when Alice acted timid when I opened the door, and how oddly out of character that was for me. So instead, I decided to persuade her with that subject and as I walked towards her, I began, "Say… How come you behaved so timidly while I was opening the door? That's kind of unusual coming from someone as aloof and self-confident as you."

Alice immediately froze, stopping at what she was doing before sighing. "…Well, at the very least it wasn't any of my friends who saw this other side of me…" she spoke to no one in particular, which confused me even more.

"What do you mean by 'other side of you'?" I asked as I sat on the bed next to her.

Without looking at me, Alice confessed, "This 'timid' side you heard from me… is actually my true personality."

My eyes widened. "What!? Really?"

"Yes." Alice nodded as she finally looked at me. "I had been like that ever since I was a normal human."

"Wait, hold on… You used to be human before?"

"…Oh, right, I never told you about this. Yes, I was originally a human; a very shy and cowardly one, that is. But as I grew more attached to magic, it eventually inspired me to become a magician youkai. However, since becoming a youkai means abandoning your humanity, this process has a side effect of affecting your personality as a result…yet you still retain memories of your original human self." she paused, possibly to let me carefully put her information together. "You now know where I'm getting at, right?"

I immediately nodded. "Yeah, I do. After you became a youkai, you ended up gaining a self-confident and aloof persona that you put it on the forefront to hide your previously shy and cowardly one, correct?"

"Correct. After all, what kind of youkai would I be if I were timid and cowardly? Youkai are born mostly out of human fears, so in order for them to keep existing, they need to keep humans fearing them. And to do so, they need to adopt a persona that can be imposing to humans."

"I see…"

"That said, youkai magicians are very frail compared to other types of youkai, mainly due to the fact that their bodies are essentially human; thus, they do not possess enhanced strength and durability that general youkai have." she then looks back down at Shanghai to resume brushing her hair… and despite being dark, I could see a sad frown starting to form on her face. "But back to the topic about my personality. See, sometimes… I wished that I didn't retain my old personality traits after I became a magician, because I believe those are hindering me from achieving my one and only dream goal."

"And…what would that goal be?"

"To create independent dolls; those that would have free will, and able to move and think on their own without needing me to control them. I've been doing several experiments on my dolls, ranging from having dolls control other dolls to making ones that can grow gigantic… but no matter how hard I tried, I never succeeded in creating an automated one. And seeing Medicine herself gave me hope that it might be possible… but that never happened even until now." she stops brushing Shanghai's hair, and I could start to see small tears escaping from her eyes. "Even though I try to push that feeling of hopelessness aside by controlling the dolls myself and pretend that they're alive, it's just not the same. Could it be that… my shyness and cowardice are what's preventing me from reaching my dream? Is it because of those that I'm not trying hard enough…?"

Guess it's that time again if you know what I mean… "No, Alice. You can't blame your flawed personality traits for this because they're a part of what makes you… well, you." I replied. "In other words, you're pretty much making an enemy out of yourself. And the more you reject your other traits, the more miserable you'll feel."

Alice perked up and looked back at me in awestruck. "O-oh… I never realized this…" she said as I put a hand on her shoulder.

"You don't want that, do you? Until you deal with your inner conflicts first, then you won't be able to reach your goal."

"Then… how do I deal with them?"

I smiled. "Simple: you just need to fully accept your other self. I'm not saying that you should completely remove the mask and show your hidden side to others; you can still keep it a secret. What I'm saying is that you need to be less resentful of your personal flaws and embrace them as a part of yourself. You might not be aware of it, but overcoming flaws is the key to self-improvement."

Alice remained silent throughout my entire words of advice, so I could tell that she was taking it all in. After I was done talking, she looked back down at Shanghai to resume brushing her hair and didn't speak a word for a while. Then, after three or four hair brush strokes, Alice finally spoke back to me in a melancholic tone, "For years, I've been pushing my old self back for the sake of fulfilling my role as a youkai… but I hadn't really thought things through once I realized I had a desire in mind. I should've known by now; I still eat and sleep like all humans do despite not needing to as a magician. I now believe it is a signal of how I still have some humanity left in me… but the more I resent who I used to be, the less human I'm becoming…"

"Well, then it's never too late for you to change that, right? I told Aya and Remilia the same thing." I said. "And I believe that even though you're not technically human anymore… you're still a human at heart to me, Alice."

At this, Alice placed a hand on her chest, right where her heart was. By her expression and body language, she must've been touched by my words. A warm smile formed on her lips, and she looked back at me. "…Thank you, Eight. I'll make sure to follow your advice so I can finally achieve my dream."

"I know you can do it."

Alice nodded, then she once again looks back at Shanghai and does a quick examination on her. "I think she's ready to go now." she spoke in a way a little girl would while playing with her favorite doll.

"Good! Now let's-…" but as I was about to get up, Munchie suddenly squeaked from my pocket and led me to stop as I looked down at him. "Hm? Is there something you need, Munchie?" I asked him, and he pointed over with his paw at the doll brush. Oh, I see what he wants… "Seriously, Munchie?" I playfully rolled my eyes. "You just want your fur brushed by Alice only because you saw her brushing her doll, is that it?"

This made Alice laugh. "Oh, don't worry about it! I don't mind brushing your mouse's fur too. If only because he's really cute."

"Well, if you say so." I replied, and so Munchie immediately hopped out of my pocket and onto Alice's lap, then she proceeded to stroke his fur with the doll brush. With every stroke she did, the more Munchie was enjoying it, even closing his eyes in relaxation. It definitely was enough to put a warm smile in my face as well.

[BGM End]

Several minutes later…

[BGM: Poet's World – Dragon Quest VIII]

After I and Alice met with the rest, we immediately made our way back to the Moonshadow Land via the window at the Wisher's Peak (we didn't go to the one in Trodain for my sake). Like last time, we arrived in the mystical land at the exact same spot as before.

"No matter how many times I come here, I can't shake the feeling that I'm in a dream." Jessica whispered, looking around in awe. "I mean, look around! It's like a fairy tale come to life! Everything's so beautiful that it's hard to believe it's real."

"Heh, then I guess Gensokyo itself could be considered that to you too!" Marisa grinned. "Our land is known for anything that's considered fantasy to others being made real. That's the reason why beings such as youkai and concepts such as magic are able to exist there in the first place."

"Really? How fascinating!"

"So if we 'and over the Moonshadow 'arp, that weird geezer'll 'elp us get the boat movin'." Yangus changed the subject, once again never the one to spend long gawping at anything regardless if it's strange or not. "That was the deal, right? Come on then! Wot are we waitin' for!?"

"Right, we should get going." Reimu said, and we proceeded to walk along the pathway leading to Ishmahri's house.

"So now we'll see the 'miraculous' Moonshadow harp in action." Angelo spoke. "I can hardly contain my excitement. Ishmahri, after all, isn't tone-deaf or a mole."

"Not at all!" I chuckled amusedly as we arrived at the door and went in, where we once again spotted Ishmahri in his magical chamber looking up at one of the windows.

"I have witnessed the passing of many moons, but never before have I felt time pass so slowly." he said in his melodic voice as always, and then he turned to face us. "I see the outcome of your quest from the brightness in your eyes. You have retrieved the Moonshadow harp. Please show it to me. The mighty instrument that will rouse the memory of the ocean."

Not hesitating once, I brought the harp out… and it suddenly sparkled before floating out of my hands and into Ishmahri's, much to my surprise. "…This harp has traveled far, just as you have." Ishmahri told us. "I did not imagine it would ever find its way into my hands again. Now, let us attend to the task at hand. Let us go to the ship. Music will awaken it from its slumber and set it sailing once more."

[BGM End]

Then… by just plucking a few strings on the harp, the next thing I knew was that I and the others were enveloped by a bright light. And when it died down… we all suddenly found ourselves standing at the wasteland, exactly at the spot where the old ship was. But that's not all: Trode and Medea, who were previously waiting for us at the foot of the Wisher's Peak, were now standing next to us, looking just as startled as we are.

"W-What's going on…!?" Trode stuttered. "How did we-…" but he was cut off abruptly when Yangus casually walked up to him from behind and held his mouth shut, all the while Ishmahri was slowly striding towards the ship.

"This ship, the Moonshadow harp and myself, we are all the same. We are all from the old world." Ishmahri said. "I must thank you for reuniting us ancient ones."

After that, he begins to play a beautiful and gentle tune on the harp. As he did, some bright blue-colored translucent fish suddenly swam in the air around us as we looked on in awe while I heard an excited 'Ooooh!' from Cirno. "…Now, come. Come to me, times past." Ishmahri chanted as his music grew louder. "Come to me, ancient ocean. Return once more…" a bright spotlight-like light then shone down on him as oceanic ripples started to appear at his feet, rising up to his ankles as it began to spread out… only to slowly retreat and fade away. At this, Ishmahri instantly stopped playing and looked down at the barren ground in dismay.

"…Uh, why did it stop?" Reisen wondered.

"Eh!? Is this 'arp duff, an' all!?" Yangus questioned.

"…No! Can it really be beyond even the Moonshadow harp?" Ishmahri gasped as if he was unable to comprehend the failure.

"Wait, you're saying that… it can't be done?" Youmu asked, in which Ishmahri solemnly nodded.

My face fell. I simply couldn't believe it; we went on this wild goose chase for nothing. Now we'll never be able to catch Dhoulmagus and break the curse. Sure, the Gensokyo girls could technically catch him since they can fly… but there's no way they'll be able to fare against him all by themselves. Worst-case scenario, Dhoulmagus could end up cursing them the same way he did to everyone in Trodain, and unlike me, they aren't immune to it.

Just then, Medea whined and reared next to me, startling me out of my hopeless thoughts. "Ah, but wait…" Ishmahri spoke up, and I watched him walking up to her and gently caressing her face. "Forgive my ignorance. At first, I saw only a horse. But now I see that you are truly a noble princess." he paused for a bit before continuing, "…Of course. Magic begins with a word. Music begins with a voice. The beautiful voice of this cursed princess is all this great instrument needs to play its music." he gave a small bow. "Princess, please come to my aid. Sing with me." Medea reared in response, as if she agreed to it and was ready.

"…How is she even going to sing?" Cirno tilted her head. "She's a horse and can't even talk!"

Alice gently elbowed her in order to silence her. "Be quiet." she said. To be honest, I was with Cirno on that one; how could it be possible for Medea to sing in that form? Thankfully, my answer would come right about now.

[BGM: Memories of an Ancient Ocean – Dragon Quest VIII]

Ishmahri played the same tune again, only this time it was accompanied by a female singing voice; Medea's voice. That's right, it wasn't the shrill whinnying of a horse as I had thought. Her singing voice was beautiful and angelic, just like how I expected it to be from a pure and gentle soul like Medea. The more I heard it, the more I started to fall for her. It was just breathtaking.

As the perfect harmony between Ishmahri's playing and Medea's singing went on, the same ocean water began to flow again, now spreading much faster than before as it rippled along with the music's tempo. Then, after a big splash, we found ourselves completely submerged… and even though bubbles were coming from our mouths and school of the same translucent fish were swimming by, the water itself didn't feel wet and we could breathe just fine. Perhaps the water was magical too.

Eventually, a rumble was heard and we saw that the old ship was finally starting to rise from the ground and into the air. At the same time, we also found ourselves floating away from the ground as if we were really underwater. While most of us just stood there in awe, I could see some of the Gensokyo girls having a bit of fun in the water by doing a few flips, as if they were taking this opportunity to do so without needing to hold their breaths. It was quite an adorable sight, to say the least.

With an outstretched hand, Ishmahri sent out tiles made of moonlight energy as they arranged themselves into a stairway leading to the ship, now fully risen to the surface. Seeing this, we all swam over to the stairway and landed on our feet on it, with the low gravity effect of us being underwater going off completely. Once we were all aboard the ship, we looked back to see that the stairway had vanished, and by glancing down from the vessel, we spotted Ishmahri still standing in the bottom of the ocean floor.

"Now it is time for us to part." he said to us. "I will sing to bless your journey on the ancient ocean, my children…" and with that, he disappears into sparkles.

The restored ship then set sail on its own, floating across the ocean memory and making its way to the real ocean ahead. We gazed around, staring in amazement at the wasteland below, submerged into the translucent shimmering memory sea.

"This is SO COOL!" Aya beamed, snapping pictures with her camera like crazy.

"Yeah, I'm with you there." Remilia chuckled. "I never thought I would one day be in flowing water just fine… and breathing in it too."

"I'll admit, this is definitely something that not even would be possible in Gensokyo…" Reimu mused.

"You, Marisa and Sanae did ride a floating ship before, though." Reisen reminded. "Is this how it felt like for you?"

"Well, yeah. Close enough." Marisa replied. "But having a ship traverse an ocean made out of a memory? Not even comparable!"

"Love a duck! Stone the crows! Blimey O'Riley!" Yangus caterwauled. "Wot the 'ell 'appened back there!?"

Trode then smacked him on the back of the head from behind. "Stop your ridiculous blithering! This is all thanks to my precious Medea!" geez, is it really now the time for gloating, Trode…?

"Yeah, well, at least we got the boat up and runnin' now, eh!? Nice!"

"Don't you think it's a bit early to be congratulating ourselves?" Jessica interjected. "We still have a lot to do. Like going after Dhoulmagus. Remember?"

"Indeed." Alice nodded. "That's why we went to do so much effort to get the ship in the first place."

"Well, if Dhoulmagus has left the eastern continent…" Angelo spoke up. "…I say we head for the west and see if we can't catch up with him there. Wouldn't you say, Eight?"

"Sounds like a good start." I nodded in approval.

Later, as the ship approached the real ocean below, it began to slowly descent its way to it while the memory ocean faded away. Walking over to the wheel, I steered to the west and the ship swung around to said direction and set sail on its own. Since I knew that our trip to the western continent was going to take several hours judging by the distance, I told my entire party that we should all rest in the cabin for the night. Everyone immediately complied and we went into the cabin, letting the ocean waves carry the ship to its destination.

[BGM End]

The next day…

[BGM: Sea Breeze – Dragon Quest XI S]

As dawn drew on the horizon after I woke up, I took out the map so I could look at the western continent more in depth…and boy was it huge: it was about the size of both eastern continents combined! If Dhoulmagus really was somewhere over there, then we're gonna have a lot of ground to cover.

"Wow, the western continent is very huge, isn't it?" Reimu suddenly spoke from behind me, looking at the map.

"It sure is." I replied. "We're definitely going to need more information if we want to track down Dhoulmagus." sooo… you could say that we're pretty much doing an almost repeat of after the events in Maella Abbey unfolded.

Reimu sighed, no doubt remembering the exact same thing I just mentioned above. "So we're going on yet another detour, huh?"

"Probably so."

"To be fair, we've only seen half of the world." Angelo interfered as he came out of the cabin along with the others. "There's still so much left to enjoy!"

"Just to remind you, we're not going on some pleasure cruise." Jessica retorted, folding her arms.

"I'm aware of that. But I do know a good place where we can start: I heard that the world's biggest casino is over on the western continent, in a town called Baccarat. Maybe we could just drop in there on our way? Add a bit of interest to this trailing around after Dhoulmagus. After all, all work and no pay makes Angelo a dull boy."

Oh, of course a casino would be the point of interest to a gambling addict that is Angelo… Either way, I could already see that Jess was on her way to get Angelo's mind off of it. "We can stop there, sure… but we're NOT going into the casino." she warned.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Besides, that casino has been recently closed anyways."

That actually caught my attention. "Wait, the casino is closed? Why?"

"I don't know, I just heard word of that."

"Baccarat… Even I've 'eard o' that town." Yangus mused. "There's indeed a big casino there. It's well famous. But yeah, a famous attraction bein' suddenly shut down like that sure sounds suspicious, eh?"

"You don't think it has something to do with Dhoulmagus, right?" Youmu guessed.

"Who knows?" Remilia shrugged. "But we might get answers by asking around town."

"That's right!" Marisa exclaimed. "And while we're at it, we could try to ask about Dhoulmagus too!"

"…You know, that's not a bad idea!" Jessica approved.

"Then I guess our destination is settled." I said with a smirk… aaaaand Trode suddenly jumped in front of me.

"Right then! It's decided!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "We sail for the Baccarat region! Get to it!"

"Roger that, Sire!" I replied despite the small startle as I went to the wheel and directed the ship to the upper-left corner of the western continent, where there was a dock that was closest to Baccarat.

[BGM End]

Eventually…

[BGM: Gens d'Armes – Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana]

"At last, we're exploring a new continent!" Aya exclaimed once we all disembarked in the Baccarat region. "I can't wait to see what it has in store for us!"

"Hear, hear!" Cirno said and we took off, following the road downhill. As we expected, new monsters came out to greet us… although I'm not sure if 'greet' is the right word for me to use, but whatever.

Firstly, a group of Cockateers launched Wind Sickles at us that we easily avoided, then Youmu proceeded to slash her way through some of them. For the ones that remained, she went for a spell card. "Thought-Cutting Sword: Slash of the Buddhahood of Flora!" she swings her sword down, sending out a pink shockwave of cherry blossom petals to take out the last Cockateers.

Next up was a pack of Great Sabrecats, who are resistant to pretty much every type of element except for strike/rock and poison. Knowing that, I did a Psyche Up while Jessica switched her weapon back to the Poison Moth Knife, then I took out all of the Great Sabrecats except for one (since that one was distracted with Jessica) with a Super Throw. With the last one, Jessica successfully poisoned it with a Toxic Dagger, which got it angry and tried to furiously slash at her with its claws as she was barely able to dodge the attacks, one of which narrowly scraped the hem of her skirt… until it suddenly got pelted by a Needle Shot from Angelo that killed it.

"You can thank me later." he said with a flirty smirk.

As we went down further the road, Metal Slime Knights (yet another monster that was resistant to every elemental attack) and Bodkin Fletchers popped out from the surrounding trees. The Bodkins quickly fired rains of poisoned arrows directly towards us, managing to poison Yangus, Cirno, Remilia and Aya, while the rest of us were protected by a barrier conjured by Reimu.

"Demon-Sealing Dimensional Rift!" speaking of Reimu, she immediately leapt into action by suddenly teleporting upwards and firing rapid needles at the Bodkin Fletchers… but the Metal Slime Knights proceeded to heal them all back up, much to the shrine maiden's dismay. "Oh, you can't be serious…"

"Leave them to me." Reisen stepped in, taking a spell card. "Lunar Eyes: Tele-Mesmerism!" she called out, making bullets come out from the sides and hitting the Metal Slime Knights, including those who tried to dodge them only for the bullets that have appeared to suddenly shift positions to hit them anyways.

"Thanks, Reisen." Reimu thanked, before shifting her focus back at the Bodkin Fletchers. "And now…" she once again fires more needles at them, alongside throwing some colorful danmaku orbs for good measure.

With both enemy parties down, I first cleansed my poisoned companions with Squelch before we resumed following the road that now stretched upwards and had a left turn up ahead. When we did get there, an Orc, a Puppet Player and a group of Spitniks showed up to block our path. The Orc rushed straight at Yangus, swinging its spear at him as he quickly dodged it and retaliated with a Sledgehammer bash that was strong enough to send it back. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the Puppet Player casting Snooze on him, thus leaving him vulnerable for the monsters to go after him… that is, until Cirno and Alice intervened.

"Snow Sign: Diamond Blizzard!" Cirno called out and fired a shower of cold danmaku at the Spitniks, instantly taking them out.

"Scarlet Sign: Holland Doll!" Alice called out, sending out a doll that fired a large red cross-shaped rotating laser at the Puppet Player, which also struck the Orc as well and the two were down for the count.

With the monsters eliminated and Yangus waking back up from the Snooze, we could now see a town in the distance, likely Baccarat so we were getting close. The road led downwards again, right to a small stone bridge over a river. Unfortunately, a group of Battle Beetles, Bomboulders, Venom Wasps and Treevils came to block the bridge before we could cross it.

Aya and Remilia glanced at each other. "Leave the wasps and the trees to me!" Aya spoke.

"Got it." Remilia nodded, as she and Aya dodged out of the way just in time to avoid the Battle Beetles and Bomboulders charging and rolling respectively towards them. "Hope you're ready for this!" Remilia grinned, taking a spell card. "Scarlet Sign: Scarlet Shoot!" she fires fast large red bullets with a trail of smaller ones directly at the two monster groups, and despite them trying their best to dodge, none of them stood a chance.

"Peerless Wind God!" Aya called out and dashed left and right directly above the Venom Wasps and Treevils at ultra-high speed until I could only see blurs, while raining danmaku at them. The Venom Wasps were quickly taken out due to the sheer density of the danmaku, and even though the Treevils were using their Yggdrasil Leaves to resurrect their flying comrades, there was just way too many bullets and they would also get overwhelmed by them until none of them was left.

Now we could finally approach the town of Baccarat that was right in front of us… or so we thought because as we were nearing the stairs, a King Slime landed in front of us from out of nowhere.

"Whoa!" Reisen flinched. "A huge Slime!?"

"That's a King Slime." I said. "It's the result of many Slimes fusing together. It hits hard, but since its just a bigger Slime, it should go down easily with a strong blow."

"Strong blow, eh? Allow me!" Marisa volunteered and got on her broom. "Light Sign: Luminous Strike!" she called out, firing a large yellow star-shaped bullet from the tip of her broom at the King Slime that knocked it away before exploding.

[BGM End]

"Path's clear now!" Marisa said with a wink after landing, but then she spotted something that was dropped by the King Slime. "Hm? What's that?" she wondered, walking over to the object and picking it up. "A big ol' crown, huh? Must've been dropped by that King Slime." she said… and when I took a look at the crown she was holding, my eyes widened.

"Oh! A Slime Crown!" I beamed. "Could you hand it to me, Marisa? I heard that Slime Crowns are an important ingredient in alchemy for making powerful items!"

"Oh, is that so? Here ya go, then!" Marisa tosses the Slime Crown to me, and I caught it before putting it away.

Then, we all (except Trode and Medea, of course) walked up the stairs to finally enter Baccarat. The immediate thing that caught my attention was the white archway sign placed halfway up the stairs, where 'CASINO' was written on it with colorful letters. Guess the town's casino really is quite the big attraction, huh?

[BGM: Peaceful Town – Dragon Quest VIII]

After all the previous towns we've been on this journey, Baccarat was the first one to feature full streets. Because of that, it was much easier to navigate around and find your way to your desired destination. The streets were also decorated with simple plant life, especially trees, street torches that are only lit during nighttime to provide some light and a few wooden benches for people to sit down and rest, making this town feel like a large plaza.

"Here we are, Baccarat." I announced.

"Well, this is a nice-lookin' town." Marisa spoke. "Reminds me of the Human Village a little, mainly due to the streets."

"Awright, now we've gotta search the town from 'ead to toe and flush that Dhoulmagus out!" Yangus smirked. "We can't leave no stone unturned! No cupboard unopened! No barrel unsmashed!"

"Okay, calm down, Yangus." I said, stifling a laugh. "As much as I appreciate your enthusiasm, we should probably start asking around first before anything else."

"If Dhoulmagus was here, and recently, it means we're finally catching up with him." Angelo stated. "And even if he's left town already, we should be able to pick up some clues about where he went if we ask around." a smile then formed on his lips. "Looks like I'll be able to take revenge for the Abbot's death sooner than expected!"

"Same with me for Alistair." Jessica chimed in, then she went serious. "But it's crystal clear to me now. Dhoulmagus has only one thing in mind. Murder." she spoke that last word in a venomous way. "We've got to get one step ahead! Not only do we have to track him, but we also have to identify his next target as soon as possible and protect them! As far as I'm concerned, saving lives is just as important as getting my revenge."

"I agree." I nodded firmly. "We're not doing this only to avenge the ones we love and care; we're doing this to protect any innocents that might get caught in this mess too. And to achieve that…" I glanced at Yangus and the Gensokyo girls with a confident smile. "We're going to need all the help we can get."

"I'm wiv ya 'til the end, guv." Yangus smirked.

"Same here!" Aya exclaimed.

"Aw, yeah!" Cirno fist-pumped.

"We'll make sure to exterminate that murderer, just like how I exterminate youkai!" Reimu exclaimed.

A warm feeling came to me after hearing all those words of loyalty. Sure, Yangus was already loyal to me ever since I saved his life, but now there was the addition of the Gensokyo girls being supportive towards me than ever before, which made the warm feeling even stronger. It just goes to show how far we've come with our friendly relationships.

"Alright, let's see…" I spoke, turning back to face the town while thinking about what we should do. "This town looks pretty big, so we might get things done quickly if we all split up."

"Fine by me." Remilia said.

"Well, I know where I'm going to first…" Angelo spoke smugly, slowly shifting his gaze towards a large building at the far left. Judging by his face, I knew it might be the casino.

Even Jess noticed it, and it led her to roll her eyes. "I should've imagined… You better not waste any penny over there and handle our task seriously, got it?"

With that, we went on our separate ways. I chose to head to the town's inn, and when I went in, I noticed that it was actually a hotel! The lobby of the hotel was entirely empty (probably due to the casino closing) so I carried on upstairs and walked through the hall to my left, where a walkway stood on its right.

"Okay, so tell me what happened the other day. The suspense is killing me!" just then, I heard a voice coming from the walkway as I approached it… but when I took a glance at what was happening there, I quickly stopped and backed up behind the corner of the wall.

What I saw was a bartender having a conversation with what I assumed to be one of the hotel's concierges, and both were huddled together at the end of the walkway in front of two stout oak doors. Deciding not to disturb them, I stood on the corner and leaned in from it to peek at the two and eavesdrop at their conversation.

"All right, all right, already! But you've got to keep this under your hat, okay? This is between you and me." the concierge said.

"I swear I won't say a word. We barmen know when to keep our mouths shut." the bartender pronounced grandly.

"By the Goddess, lower your voice! I assume you've heard about Mr. Golding's house being burgled."

'Mr. Golding…?' I thought as I kept listening attentively, but then the concierge said something that I was not prepared to listen:

"Well, the fact is, Mr. Golding was murdered during the robbery."

I gave out a small involuntary gasp the moment I heard this shocking news…then I immediately realized what I just did and quickly covered my mouth before I hid behind the corner. Fortunately, neither of the two heard me as the bartender was too busy expressing his own shock about the news:

"MURDERED!? You mean Mr. Golding is DEAD!?"

"I told you to keep it down!" the concierge hissed. "That's why nobody's seen hide nor hair of him recently. He isn't among the living anymore."

"But Mr. Golding was such a big man! You're trying to tell me he was killed by a random burglar!?"

"Well, the really weird thing about it was that the burglar was apparently dressed as a jester! I didn't see him myself, mind you, but that's what they say."

…

…

I couldn't believe it. We were too late to stop another murder by Dhoulmagus. Again. And just when Jessica had mentioned about this a few minutes ago…

"A jester, huh?" the bartender asked.

"A strange one, this burglar." the concierge replied. "Seems he broke in, killed Mr. Golding, and left. He didn't take anything valuable. From the looks of it, he was after Mr. Golding's life, not his gold. I also heard that his adopted children, Cash and Carrie, have ordered some men to find the jester and avenge their foster father's death." so even more people are going out of their way to avenge the death of someone they love, just like Jessica and Angelo. This caused an uncomfortable knot to form on my stomach; I really didn't want even more people getting involved in this serious and dangerous ordeal, especially if they aren't capable fighters like me and my party.

"By the Goddess! This is big…" the bartender trailed off. "I won't tell a soul. You can count on me. I'd better get back to my customers. See you later."

'Hmm… so Dhoulmagus had passed here already and murdered this Mr. Golding.' I thought as I went pensative, placing a finger under my chin while I processed all the information I heard. But, again, Dhoulmagus had murdered yet another person that he apparently specifically chooses… and I still don't know the reason for this. At this point, I was starting to get frustrated, '…Why? Just WHY the hell is he doing this!? I NEED to know!'

"GAH!" I suddenly heard the bartender yelling in surprise next to me. Because I was so distracted with my own thoughts, I didn't hear him turning around to leave.

"Aah!" I yelped in startle as I turned to face him, my whole body going tense and preparing for the worst.

To my surprise, the bartender instead bowed to me in apology. "I'm sorry. I did not see you standing there." but just as I was beginning to relax, he let out a gasp as he looked up at me, "Did you… Did you hear what we were talking about?"

I went tense again, with my mind going in panic mode and desperately trying to come up with an excuse. 'Crap, crap, crap… what do I say to him!?' at the same time, my mouth was involuntarily murmuring, "Well…I…um…"

"Ah, forgive me for the strange question." much to my relief, the bartender decided to brush that subject aside. "A slip of the tongue! I'd better get back to work." and with that, he walks past me and heads back to the hotel lobby… but not before taking one quick glance back at me. And judging by the way he looked at me, I knew he was suspecting that I had listened everything he and the concierge discussed about despite dropping it in front of me.

Welp, I guess I should try and make him spill the beans. After all, he seems to be the only person I could ask about Dhoulmagus. So I went back to the lobby, where I spotted a sign depicting a mug full of beer with an arrow pointing to another set of stairs that led to the bottom floor. By this, it made clear to me that the hotel pub is just downstairs.

[BGM: Boogie-Woogie in the Bar – Dragon Quest VIII]

Going downstairs, I arrived at a large room full of seats and benches facing a big stage at the far end on the right. And on the left stood a bar, with the bartender I saw before standing behind the counter organizing the beverages.

'Well, here goes nothing…' I thought and cautiously, I walked to the counter and got the bartender's attention, "Excuse me, sir…"

The bartender turned to me. "Ah, welcome! What can I get-…" his eyes widened. "Wait…aren't you the one whom I stumbled across upstairs?"

"Yes, that's me. I didn't come here for a drink, though. I just came to confess that…" I fidgeted nervously, shifting my gaze to the ground. "I have heard everything you and that concierge were talking about."

"WHAT!?" the bartender shouted, although not loud enough as to not drive any more attention, then he sighed, "Look, cut me some slack and don't tell anyone else, okay? If word gets around, I'll be in deep…"

I cut him off by looking directly at his eyes with a serious expression. "Listen, I'm actually aware about the one who killed Mr. Golding, and I happen to be chasing after him. But I don't know where he went, so I came to this town to ask for directions. And you happen to be the only person I could rely on to get some information."

After a brief moment of silence, the bartender cleaned his throat and replied, "Then let me propose a deal. You keep your mouth shut, and I promise to tell you what I know. What do you say?"

I did not even hesitate. "Deal."

"I knew I could count on you. Let me fill you in on what I know. But first, do you know about Mr. Golding?" I shook my head. "He's the owner and runner of the town's casino. The other day, he ordered it shut down and after that, no one's ever heard of him since. Almost as if he completely disappeared…but now you and I know why's that."

"Yeah." I nodded with a grim expression. "He was killed."

"Right after they heard the news, Cash and Carrie sent a posse after the man who killed their father. They want revenge. And I hear they headed straight for some island north of Baccarat." my eyes perked up at that. "Word is, there're some ruins on the island. It'd make a perfect hideout."

Right upon hearing this, I fished out the map and looked at it. Sure enough, there was an isolated island at the top left corner. My eyes began sparkling; I had done it! I found Dhoulmagus' hideout!

"Hmm. We can't be absolutely sure it was Dhoulmagus who killed Golding, but I'm quite sure we can be sure enough, to be sure!" Trode said.

"COR BLIMEY!" Yangus yelled.

…Wait. Trode AND Yangus were here too!? How!?

"Sire!? Yangus!? What are you two doing here!?" I questioned in shock as I turned to them.

"Oh 'ey, guv!" Yangus casually greeted me. "Just came 'ere to 'ave a quick drink once I was done askin' around." he held out his right hand, showing me that he was holding an empty mug of beer.

"And as for me, I was too restless to wait for you outside of town upon hearing the possibility of news of Dhoulmagus after so long, so I decided to come here and hear what you found by myself." Trode said. "Anyways… Why don't we go and have a look at those ruins on the island to the north? Maybe we'll be able to find some kind of clue."

"You got it." I nodded. "Let's go warn the others about this."

[BGM End]

Upon reuniting…

[Resume "Peaceful Town" BGM]

"So…another victim has fallen to Dhoulmagus' hands." Alice said grimily as I nodded in confirmation.

"…I really don't get this." Marisa folded her arms. "What would Dhoulmagus wanna kill the owner of the casino for?"

"Most importantly, why would Dhoulmagus want to kill any of his victims?" Remilia added. "If I'm not mistaken, the only one whom he had a connection with was Rylus; all the others seem entirely random."

"It's like he picks his own victims…" Reimu trailed off, then she slammed her palm. "There HAS to be a reason behind this!"

"Well, maybe we'll find out why when we finally confront him." Reisen deduced.

"In any case, you also said that a posse was sent out to pursue Dhoulmagus, right?" Angelo said to me. "I have to say, I'm more worried about their safety than his."

"Same, Angelo." I replied with a serious frown. "They won't be able to stand a chance against Dhoulmagus, especially after all the many murders he caused. I don't want any more victims in this bloody mess."

"Precisely." Aya agreed. "Not counting the Templar knights, this is now his fourth murder so far, and he'll definitely show no signs of abating. We need to put an end to this, and fast!"

"There are many people grieving just like I am. Because Dhoulmagus killed someone they loved." Jessica said. "I know it's been said already, but we simply must stop him before he hurts anyone else."

"We all agree on that." I nodded. "And luckily for us…" I brought out the map with a smirk and pointed at the isle on the northwest. "I might've found where he is hiding."

"So Dhoulmagus 'eaded off to some island up north, eh?" Yangus grinned. "Then all we gotta do is take care o' the blighter, eh? Break a few legs, like!"

"He'll be no match for the strongest!" Cirno boasted.

"Let's not get too ahead of ourselves here." Angelo warned. "There could be all manner of traps waiting for us where Dhoulmagus has gone. Because I highly doubt he'll let us in that easily."

"True. We'll have to be on guard." Youmu agreed.

"Either way, we have our information now." Trode spoke. "It's time to set off for this island that Dhoulmagus was headed for. To the north!"

"Right. Let's be on our way!" I said.

With that said, we left the town of Baccarat, ready to head straight to Dhoulmagus' hideout.

To be continued…

Because I arrived at the part of the game where you can freely explore due to acquiring the boat, it took me a while to decide what path I would go for in this adaptation. In the end, I settled on the normal path for story progression, but I will try to find a way to put in the events of Neos and Savella Cathedral prior to a certain moment that'll happen much later in the plot (which is a huge spoiler, so I won't reveal what it is). Of course, I'm completely excluding the event with Princess Minnie since there's no Mini Medal collecting in this adaptation.

Well, looks like our party finally found the location where Dhoulmagus is hiding! But... is it going to be that easy?

Eight: Oh, boy... Why do I feel like this is going to lead to a 'So close, yet so far' situation...? I guess we'll find out next time.

Trivia for this chapter:

1. The chapter's title is named after the Chinese novel of the same name.