Tempus occidendi, et tempus sanandi; tempus destruendi, et tempus aedificandi.
A time to kill, and a time to heal. A time to destroy, and a time to build.
I was a frail child in my youth, energetic but frail, even when I was born my very lungs failed me more than once. I never stopped fighting, but sometimes I regretted causing such unnecessary suffering to my parents and myself, if I was more careful or ran away first instead of meeting things head on would I not find myself more at peace? I cannot know that, the past is the past and that is all it is, the present is the present and it serves little without a future to live for; I try to wake up from my musings, but it is as if I am in a dream, I hear the voices of someone but I cannot even recognize if they are male or female.
My eyelids attempt to open weakly like a camera shutter, but close quickly when struck by the light of the sun, maybe we can just go to sleep…
Now of all times I can hear a little more, a woman questions a man, it appears that the silence of their voices was not mere coincidence of my current condition after such bloodletting.
"Hey, are ya awake?" The lady questions, I try to open my eyes and stand up to look at her, "Woah, woah, careful! Didn't bring ya all the way here just to knock yer head open and die, did we?" …she's right.
I take care, palming whatever I was laid down on, now seated I try to maintain my balance and stand up but feel as if I'm going to fall so I sit back down quickly.
"…No, I suppose you didn't." I put my hand before my eyes and try to open them again, the light is less harsh to my eyes, so I slowly remove the hand before me and look at my saviors.
To my left a beautiful -…western looking?- lady, her eyes are like the sun in the sky and her hair is like the fields of wheat, golden is she even if her look is a witch's classic black and white -and even though purple is lacking-; her dress is long yet informal with a white waist apron on the front, in general despite sounding tomboyish she is quite feminine. She is quite short, even for a woman, and upon observation one can see the yellowish calluses on her otherwise delicate hands' skin.
Beyond her, the man I suppose found me after the squabble with that wolf. A young adult, and without a doubt a handsome fellow with sharp Asiatic features, his hair is like the ashes and dust of a battlefield, muted and indecisive between grey and white; his eyes are also golden but almost feel unnatural. In comparison the man lacks rougher traits such as callused hands but makes up with the appearance of an intellectual, an expensive looking dress -white, blue and black- decorated with some sort of taiji symbols covers his entire body, and glasses cover his eyes. A hookah lies at his side.
I look at her, if I want to play a safe bet, I'd say these are Marisa and Rinnosuke, but I honestly would rather not bet, for all I know I might as well be dead and soon to be sent to judgement.
But is risk not what makes life sublime? Marisa seems to be staring at me, but I seriously can't figure out what to say or what she might want me to say…
"…Thank you?" I should have just kept my mouth shut, Marisa grins at me sheepishly wit-
Actually, what's with the Kevin James pose?
"…So," I shake my head trying to wake up fully, "what is your name?"
Marisa's grin shifts into a more playful smile, "Name's Marisa!"
"Thank you for the help, Marisa." I smile back gently "Is the other fellow unable to talk or…"
"Nah, he just doesn't know English." Marisa tells me, which is strange since I thought he did when he found me, "He's actually the guy who carried ya here if ya didn't realize it, his name's Rinnosuke."
"Well then, please thank him in my stead…I know nothing of Japanese in turn." I tell her, and with her thumbs up she starts talking.
Apparently, she's telling him a little bit more than we talked about since they take a bit before turning back to me.
"Anyways, what's an outsider like ya doing out here?" Marisa questions. What, am I getting interrogated like some sort of illegal immigrant? Well, I suppose Marisa and Reimu are kind of like the Gensokyo police and I'm certainly not an expected guest.
"I… don't think I can answer that." It would be a horrible idea to lie so quickly after making a covenant with God, what am I? Satan? Also, talking about time, how much of it has passed? "I was sent here to do something, but I didn't expect all this." I suppose it will have to do, acting as if I wandered by accident is not really all that removed from the truth, and I could just be a construction worker or something considering my clothing.
"Can you tell me how much time I've been here, please?" I ask of her.
She looks at me a little, and for a second her gaze feels almost weirder than it is, but then she answers. "It's been like two hours since I arrived here, so maybe around three hours."
I look at my arm, it is covered in bandages and blood stains, "…May I know if bites from that animal are known to be dangerous?"
"I've never heard of anyone dying because of a youkai bite, only from normal animal bites, but yours is quite big n' deep so maybe you'll need to go to a doctor or some sort of medic." She comes closer and observes it over the bandages, it appears as if she hadn't looked at it much.
"Do I have to pay you two anything?" She looks up quickly with a smirk.
"Well, if yer generous enough that knife thingy of yours is really interesting; I've seen some before, but this one was more complete." She tells me.
"I'd like to part with what little material goods I came with, at least." I try to deflect that diplomatically.
Marisa frowns a little and throws her arms up, "Bah! Why ask if you aren't willing to give us anything ya own." I doubt Rinnosuke wants a Swiss blade, so who is "us".
"It's just that I'm far away from home, I have nothing on me, and everything is strange to me." I plead to her, "If you two really want my Swiss blade, I'll give it to you later, but at least let me have something to defend myself with until then." Rinnosuke didn't bring back the broken spear from what I've seen, and I don't want to risk another one breaking.
Marisa looks conflicted and looks back to Rinnosuke, asking something, Rinnosuke shrugs at her question and says a few words.
"…Alright, we'll only take that "Swiss blade" thing," she says and sighs, "but ya have to come with me and get that arm healed at the Human Village so I can know you won't die before I come find you to collect it."
"The Human Village?" I question, I know what it is, but I genuinely don't think I've seen much information about it other than the fact that humans live there -and even then youkai also live there-.
"Yeah, there's a walled village where humans usually live, I don't live there because I'm strong though." She triumphally smiles, "I heard they have a physician these days, so I'll take the price of whatever they tell you to take as your payment since I didn't actually have much to do, and translating is really easy." Why not make it a job? Wouldn't you make more translating books instead of stealing?
"Alright, I suppose that's fine." After all, why would I object to such a helpful idea?
She turns back to Rinnosuke and tells him about the whole thing again, and he nods, it's quite a curious thing to see in process you know, just watching your entire conversation get translated to another language you don't get.
Marisa stands up and stretches, "Ugh! Okay! Let's go ze!" She enthusiastically says.
"…I'll try to keep my pace." I smile weakly. I pick up my stuff and put it all in my backpack.
Trying to stand up first instead, I set myself on my feet, I feel a little dizzy. One step, two steps, I follow as I always do and manage to walk in an imaginary line.
Exhaling at Kourindou's entrance, I turn back and look around, Marisa stands before me since she was following me, the place is full of random stuff, and I could not place it under a specific "type" of shop. "Is there something Rinnosuke may want of me?" I ask her, since he didn't specify any sort of payment himself.
"He said he didn't want anything so I'll just take his part of the payment as mine," Marisa shrugs with a carefree smile before coming closer and whispering, "but if ya ever get the chance to come back when ya know any Japanese he'll definitely be happier than he ever looks if there is stuff you can identify for him." These two are kind of like childhood friends or something aren't they? I remember reading that Marisa's father took Rinnosuke in, in the past.
Also, "Didn't you just say multiple times that he doesn't know English? What's with the whispering?" I ask her grinning.
"Pshh, just keep ruinin' my fun, will ya?" Despite my "ruining" of her fun she's all smiles, so I can get that she probably is trying to keep my thoughts away from other stuff, like you know, almost dying. "Alright, no more talking, let's go before the sun sets!"
We step out before Marisa calls out, "Bye bye, Kourin!"
And then we walk silently, I would have expected her to go by air, but apparently this was more appropriate or something. Marisa is in the front now, and though her neck doesn't turn I'm quite sure she's alert. Midway she looks back.
"…I'm gonna have to ask ya something, and ya better answer me clearly." She says, I raise an eyebrow.
"What is it?" As quickly as a blink, her mini-hakkero is pointing at my chest.
"I was waiting to get far away enough that no-one would hear us. We're gonna have a talk." She says looking at me intently, "Your mission, what is it, don't dare lie either."
She didn't trust me from the start of our conversation, I frown. Maybe I should have worded that differently earlier, but it is certain that I cannot get away from this conversation now.
"I…was told to come here, so I've told you." I answer honestly.
"…Yer either lying or trying to hide information," Marisa walks closer and lays her mini-hakkero on the left side of my torso, "…and I told ya to be clear, didn't I?"
"I-I'm not lying! I was told to come here to live in this land, I swear!" The prognostic for a police interrogation was more prophetical than I would have liked.
"Yes, I've heard that," Marisa stresses, "but who told you to come here? I was willing to let it go while we were at Kourin's shop, but it's clear yer an outsider, so who on the outside told you to come here."
What am I supposed to even say? "Yukari just wouldn't need to tell anyone anything, and I doubt the gods inside would need ya in specific." Marisa reasons. Do I just tell her the truth?!
"WELL!?" She's getting impatient, pressing before my ribcage.
"ALRIGHT I'M SORRY, MY GOD SENT ME HERE!" I shout out louder than I would have liked also, "He told me to come here to live! That's it!"
Marisa looks me over, at my eyes and my arms now thrown into the air, my breath unstable and nervous.
"…Wasn't that hard, was it?" She retracts her mini-hakkero, despite being much smaller than me, having the magical equivalent of an antitank gun pointing at my heart is much more menacing than one would like to admit.
I stare at her, "was it?" she says.
"What the fuck is wrong with you." I very very calmly question her sanity, "Do you just go around threatening the death of everyone you find suspicious?" I continue my perhaps not so calm questioning.
Marisa makes a weird face, "Alright, hear me out, if yer home was in the forest and also was normally visited by lost people, but then someone told ya they were told to go to yer house in specific…would ya let 'em in?"
"No, but like, I wouldn't point a gun at them." I tell her, "I got mauled by a dog on the side of the road, how am I supposed to present any danger?"
"Hey, if ya saw what I have to see from time to time, ya wouldn't find it so weird." Marisa turns back, "Follow me, we're taking a detour." She walks into the forest, should I really follow her after all that?
…
I'm really insane, aren't I?
I carefully step through the bushes, following after her, though it seems at first this is just the wilderness beneath our feet there's a dirt path made from years of human feet trampling the grass.
A house emerges in-between the trees, quite small and cozy, it looks European in design. White walls cover all sides accented by a reddish-brown roof with a chimney on top, on the other side of the roof there's a large metallic sphere with an opening, it appears an observatory is sat there, who would have known. As we get closer one can notice smaller features, like the large number of windows there are, and a kiosk of sorts with a sign in Japanese to the side which I cannot understand but can only assume says "Kirisame Magic Shop", or something along the lines.
It has been a long time since enjoyed anything about Touhou, but I think that was its name.
Marisa opens the front door and ushers me, "Go in." I reluctantly enter and sit down on a chair near a small coffee table after she signals towards it.
My ears hurt as another chair drags and bounces through the stone flooring, Marisa sits close to my left side with some sort of wide bag, bringing out scissors she demands, "Bring that arm here."
"Huh?" I so eloquently ask.
"I said bring me that arm, I'm gonna have to stitch that bite somehow and I'd rather ya make it easy." No way, I'm not trusting you with putting a needle through my arm, "I'll discount that tool fer threatenin' ya, though I'd be glad if ya just gave it to me." Ma'am, yes ma'am, glory to the Kirisame Magic Shop. I stretch out my arm and rest it just over her lap, staying a little over her legs thanks to the chair's armrest.
She pulls a cushion from behind her and rests my arm over it, she positions her scissors and cuts the bandages, the wounds are… a little strange looking now so I don't think that bite was all that safe.
"That youkai bite wasn't safe." I assert in counter position to her affirmation earlier, she looks fleetingly to my side.
"So, I've noticed." She doesn't say much more but does stand up leaving my arm stretched out.
Walking to a wooden cabinet to the left side of the room, she calls out, "I'm gonna hafta actually disinfect yer arm and stuff so wait a moment." …And here I expected a quick detour.
She opens up the cabinet, and looks a little bit before grabbing two vials, and a small…swab or sort of spoon made out of wood. Going back to the seat, she positions my arm again and opens a vial, putting in the…I'm just going to call it a spoon, she puts it in and brings some of whatever was in there. It is like a yellowish cream, with care she rubs it on the outside of the wounds and closes the vial, at this moment I'm pretty glad that my arm is numb from being in this position.
Pulling out a piece of cotton from her bag, she opens the other vial and puts the cotton on top, letting only a small amount of the liquid inside soak it. She raises my arm and brings the cotton into my wou- oh- fuc-
"Shhh-" I inhale through my mouth because this hurts like a motherfucker. She slowly does it both on the upper side and the lower side.
"Oh, come on, it can't be that bad!" You haven't even tried it on yourself? Physician, where's your Hippocratic Oath? Still, I let her do her thing because if this doesn't work, I'm punching her teeth in even if it's the last thing I do. "Don't look at me like that, at least I'll do it for free, and we still have to close the wound."
I stay silent, after she finishes, she looks at me, "Look I'm gonna warn ya, this one will hurt, so bite onto something before I do anything or regret not listening to my warning."
I remove my left hand's glove silently and put it between my molars before biting into it and giving her a thumbs up with my right hand. She looks amused by my gestures.
Putting the thread into the eye of the needle, she ties a small knot, then puts the needle in a horizontal position with her own right hand, before pointing her left index towards it. A flame bursts out…surprising me momentarily. Her amused expression is just smug now.
She waves the needle around lightly and blows on it before touching it with the upper part of her index, it seems like it's alright now that she has not reacted.
The needle is positioned before pain strikes my mind, biting into the glove does make things better and I tremble much less. Stitching my flesh together is not as painful as rending it open.
One hole…closed,
two holes…closed,
three holes…closed.
Four, five and six follow, then a last seventh is sealed.
Then I try to bend forward, to show her the backside of my forearm.
Again, she does not tell me when she's striking through my flesh.
But now at least it feels even less painful.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. I count them to distract my mind from the pain, it works better than I thought. The fourteen wounds have been closed both quickly and for longer than I wished.
"There ya go, handled that better than earlier for what it was." She says, chuckling. "Aren't ya a big boy?"
I bring my glove out of my mouth and glare at her, "You didn't even know how that would work well on me."
She shrugs and smirks, "But it worked! And now you don't need to pay anything." She brings her fingers up like a gun in a mocking manner.
As my most effective counterattack I stare at her in a deadpan manner, her smirk loses a bit of momentum and turns into awkwardness.
"…Look, I know we're on bad terms right now, but ya need to understand my situation." She says, "Outsiders are really strange, and someone like you popping up at Muenzuka usually means they are a criminal, or too sad to manage to leave." Right…I suppose that slipped my mind. "So, when I heard yer explanation being "I was sent here to do something", my mind went to the worst ideas possible."
I look to the side, it's not like I can blame her and glare at her openly. "…I suppose I'm sorry for not being more straightforward, but I suppose you would also be reluctant to reveal a divine mission from the God you have dedicated your life to someone you just met."
I don't look at her still, but I hear her clothes rustle, "Nah, I'm the one that's sorry, I don't like being in bad terms with people who seem cool enough, at least ya had the guts to fight until yer last." I look back at her, "Though, a god, eh? Yer telling me the christian's God finally knocked at Gensokyo's door? Took his time, didn't he? I almost thought that the books had just made him up!" That's interesting. "Also, lots of "I suppose", ya got a nervous tic or something?" Well fuck you too.
"Well fuck you too, I suppose, also…you know about Him?" I ask, ignoring completely any sign of nervousness I might have shown by just insulting her.
"Yeah, he surprisingly appears a lot on magic books for not liking magic all that much, usually on grimoires though." She answers and looks as if trying to remember something hard, "Uhh, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." She crosses herself a little messily. Holy! She's beginning to believe! "the Father and of the Son and of the Holy ghost, Holy trinity and inseparable unity, wasn't it?" Pfft, it looks really funny when she does it.
"Yeah, that's how it is." I contain my laughter.
"Hey! What's so funny, I thought we were fine now!" She prods me in my ribs.
I break into laughter, but I manage to compose myself, "S-sorry, it's just…you look really funny doing the formula, it's like the least likely person you'd expect to do it."
She lightens up a little, "Well I suppose when you put it that way." Then she exhales with a slight smile, "Are you leaving already? Even if I don't have much to do, I'd like to train a little." Yeah, we've derailed from the original plan quite a lot, getting kicked out now is alright.
"Sure, I'll leave now, just tell me which way to go." I finally answer her.
"Just go the way we were walking to, I doubt any youkai will attack that near the village, after you get out of the forest there's an area with plains and farms." She tells me, I nod.
Before going I stand up and grab my backpack, opening it I bring out my Swiss knife, then close the backpack and put it on.
"Here you go," I give it to her, "…so we can actually break bread in peaceful terms."
She stares at it before grabbing it, but then looks back at me, "Thank you…I recommend you focus on findin' somewhere to sleep soon in the village, but when you get a place yer welcome here whenever, as long as you let me pass by when I go shop or something."
"Sure, if there's anything I need here it is friends." I tell her and raise my hand in some sort of saluting motion, "Alright, goodbye and good luck, Marisa, hope to see you soon." I go for the door while putting my glove on.
"Bye!" She waves back.
Through the trees the way back into the path is uneventful, and then from the path into those plains Marisa spoke of there's a large amount of nothing too. Peace is good, but fighting is something I'm more accustomed to, just not with youkai.
Passing by some rice fields flooded in water, I arrive at the walled village. The walls are not very strong or tall, and in all honesty look closer to the walls used in a palace of some sorts, more based on appearance than anything else. From a far distance it looks like the type of view you would get from an old painting of Kyoto.
Walking up to the main doors -or so I suppose, I haven't been to the other side- I view a singular "guard", that is to say he looks like he wouldn't do a good job when defending things. He looks up to me, then checks me up and down.
"Uhh, konbanwa?" He raises an eyebrow, that's correct, isn't it? It's been years since I tried to learn Japanese, so I think I should just be as clear as I can be, "Gomenasai, nihongo wakarimasen." He does this sort of "ahh" face, before shouting into a little window something along the lines of "gaire", if I remember correctly "gai" was outside I think, like in "gaikoku", so it's probably "outsider".
He waits a little before opening the door and waving his hand for me to walk in, so I do. On the other side there's just some guy, what I mean by that is that the man signaling at me to follow him deeper in the village inside looks more like a normal civilian than a guard.
…I give up on figuring the state of investments in the guard and follow him, he's a little farther beyond me so I walk to match his pace, when I'm by his side he looks at me curiously. I suppose I do look strange even for an outsider, since I can only guess most outsiders are Japanese, not to mention my stature being higher than the average.
Going deeper into the village I see houses and a few establishments which I don't think I'd be able to describe correctly, the most fitting word would be "bar" or perhaps "restaurant", I never actually got much into Japanese culture despite having read into old traditions and legislature.
Taking a right turn we come closer to some sort of mansion, its walls are already taller than the village's, with two actually armed men to the sides of the main gate.
My "guide" or whatever he is, bows and then talks to the guards with actual money, I had the idea that this mansion was the Hieda mansion, but a fleeting "Akyuu-sama" confirms my suspicions.
A few seconds later we are let in and walking by the front garden into the mansion we pass servants and a few armed guards, a right turn and then a left and we end up in front of one of those paper doors. My guide looks at me, bows, pats me on the shoulder and leaves.
I slowly open the door, Akyuu sits on a cushion with a robust looking wooden table put in front of her, a maid takes place at her side, taking silence as tacit consent I walk into the room give my back to her and close the door.
Steadily I walk before the table and kneel, then from a kneeling position I imitate Akyuu's very own in an attempt of appeasement, I bow down deeply with care of not hitting myself with the table, and then rise again a little slowly.
Akyuu is a young woman, for it would be an insult to call her a child. Her stature is a little smaller and her frame is likewise weak, her hair and eyes are both purplish, but her pupils move with curious glee of life. She talks to the servant to her side despite never setting her eyes away from me.
The servant takes a little before opening her mouth, "Lady Akyuu, 9th Child of Miare greets you, and requests your name." So, we have two translators today, eh?
"My name is Focalor, an outsider." I tell Akyuu, knowing now the servant is learned in English. The back and forth continues.
"The lady asks about your capabilities and your needs." What do you mean by that?
"What do my "capabilities" and "needs" entail in this matter?" I ask back before responding.
"Are you versed in any sciences or an artisan position? Are you in need of water, food, housing, or protection?" …It seems a little excessive to me, but I suppose outsiders are valued because of their knowledge, so I can only assume they would get help in some way.
"I am versed in economics, history, architecture and engineering; though I would like to add that in artisanship I am also knowledgeable in carpentry, farming and some forms of metalworking." I tell her, and continue, "I am in need of a roof, but I think I will manage to gather water and food on my own, and protection is secondary as of now."
Though it is difficult to notice while looking both at the servant and Akyuu, the servant's eyes do widen a little bit, is it so weird to be well versed in many things here? She turns and apparently explains to Akyuu, who looks at me more intently and talks.
"…The lady asks if you are also knowledgeable about the devices known as "phones", she also assures that your housing problem will be regarded shortly." So says the maid.
"I am thankfully able to explain it's functioning…but I will warn that from my observations here, the level of technology must advance much more before it is possible to produce one." However, "I also do know how this process of advance came to pass, but I must share that if this land is as constrained as I think it is, it will have a difficult time using any method of modernization." It's sad, really, "Until then, producing tools such as those is nothing more than a pipedream."
The servant furrows her brow and bows a little then translates to Akyuu in a more subdued manner, Akyuu is clearly bothered by my response but tries to show it as little as possible, the maid stays in position for but a second before returning to her position and listening in to her lady's words. They speak for a longer time than before, and I haven't mentioned such thing before either, but Akyuu's way of speech is very…strict? It sounds like the type of voice you would hear from a dedicated teacher, but her voice is also quite soft, it makes for a weird combination. The maid's voice follows soon after.
"The lady extends her thanks and will now open her negotiations towards your housing, and the payment you shall extend on the 27th of every month." Oh, great, renting. "Since you are well versed in many crafts, and knowledgeable in many things, the lady offers you a position as a servant. You will be taught to read and speak in the language of the land, but until you reach enough proficiency you will work in the fields owned by the Hieda clan, are there any questions you might ask?" That's not really that bad of an offer, but…
"…For how long would this deal be in force?" I'm not signing a deal into serfdom, and I already know at least how to read some Japanese, I just need to refresh my memory and get experience. She turns to Akyuu, so on and so forth.
"It would be ideal that you remain under the Hieda clan for your lifetime, but the lady is open to negotiations." Well, she's not going to like my demands, that's for sure.
"…I will not remain under servitude for more than a year, or for more than I must work to pay off any debt to the Hieda." I tell her, "This is what my Lord has mandated: I may not follow two masters, but I will certainly work for you if you see this agreement as well meaning." I hope she agrees, the "pay off any debt" is supposed to be a hook for her, if she is greedy enough, she will take it, and if she is merciful enough, she will take it also. I simply need to keep watch of my expenses. "If you agree to this, I will also acquiesce to any form of corporal punishment you may see fit for disobedience or any form of slacking during the term of our deal, and I will share any information I may be able to give regarding the outside world."
The servant looks almost alarmed, and in hushed voice retells my words to Akyuu, before it descends into hurried words. Akyuu raises her hand with a somber expression, and stops the maid's possible advice, and talks to her instead. The servant turns to me with a wary face.
"The lady is willing to accept a contract without exclusivity or permanence, if you take a final legal oath which says you may not act against the Hieda clan for 10 years after the deal ends, she also assures that no corporal punishment will be befall you." She tells me, "The tax payment will be of two fifths of the crop yield yearly or the same amount by the end of the agreement, the monthly tax will be two hundredths paid in mon while you work in the fields, seventeen fortieths or 17 per 40 mon while you do not."
"We find ourselves in agreement." I nod, it seems like the Hieda are pretty generous, either that or they view outsiders as that worthy of an investment. Seventeen fortieths are around a 42.5% tax, while it is a 42% if I'm working out there. The maid brings out a piece of paper, while she scribbles on it, I can see that it's in English, so thank God she wasn't using some sort of spell or something along that train of thought. She finishes the first one and then goes and brings out another one, apparently copying the same thing over again, just in Japanese.
"Please sign here in this one, then on your copy here." She hands me over a sort of plume -just very metallic-, very standard procedure, just strange enough because we have one in each language. I sign both, and then they are handed to Akyuu, but instead of signing she brings out this small ink plate from under the table, and a small cylinder. Pushing it firmly on the plate then on her part of the agreement, she leaves what I assume to be the seal of her family. She passes my copy, and I fold it to put it inside my backpack.
Akyuu then talks to the servant, who walks to me and tells me, "Follow me, a fellow worker will be assigned to tell you your place of residence."
And so, I follow her, not before saluting Akyuu on exit and receiving a nod in answer.
"Pass by the mansion tomorrow, and I will tell you how you will attend to your studies and duties." The maid does not wait for me to answer before walking off.
Passing through the corridors, of the mansion, a young man is called out by the maid with me. She talks with him, and with a scratch of his head he signals for me to follow him in her stead.
We walk out of the mansion; we walk through the stone streets. Before we arrive, our quarters must have been covered in the blood-red sun at the occident; by the time we arrive only the moon, who stole the sun's light, remains.
My room is medium sized, but western looking considering how eastern the barracks looked from the outside. Wood covers everything, and there is only a closet to store my things, while I am examining the inside my new apparent work friend brings me some keys and gives me a thumbs-up and a smile before leaving. Seems like a nice fellow.
The night is cold, and the pillow is uncomfortable, sleep does not come easily, but by the time the sun shines in the orient I will miss its touch.
Second chapter done! Before anything, I'm having problems sending and receiving private messages (as can be evidenced by some reviews in this fanfic, and on Maxis the Mercenary's "I Have the Right to be Happy!", because I didn't know that it has been years since you couldn't delete normal reviews). I thought contacting me would be easier if anyone who wishes to, messages me at lambda777 on Discord instead.
This chapter is supposed to set a basis to things such as:
Relationships with people from the inside.
The stratification of the Human Village, which I sadly can only suppose to contain the Hieda as the only nobility, with a few "nobles of the robe" or burghers.
The simplicity of contracts in a more medievalistic land, which did not last long enough in the outside to even put the Meiji constitution in order.
Unstandardized and unusual taxation, while Gensokyo should use yen they apparently just barter after further inspection (and yen notes from the outside and the like are used as promissory notes, according to Rinnosuke). Taking from the idea that Gensokyo is most likely around the area of the Shinano province, it is most likely that they'd at least have some mon from the Edo mint, and from local mints though. Unconnected Marketeers also shows currency as these strange squares with the kanji for gold, but the card "Money Is The Best Lawyer In Hell" clearly shows mon on it, so I'm running with them using mon as a sort of standard (which is still not always used). This lack of standards makes taxing people really hard.
I will not bore you with months of nothing but repetitive studying in the next chapters, but Focalor will make friends in the village while learning and stuff, so I'll probably do some sort of "interlude" with everyday activities and stuff so that you can imagine at least what has happened in at least a month or so (not much).
I've also received some advice towards punctuation, so I'll soon update the first chapter with fixes.
As said, this is my first fanfic, so thanks to Maxis the Mercenary and Al the Obsessive for the interaction. Thanks to the people of the Freakin Gensokyo Discord also. So on and so forth.
Dominus Vobiscum.