55

Walking over, I looked at the new arrivals; the first was a woman with green hair and wearing a plaid shirt with a yellow ruffled tie of some sort. The other two was an otherwordly woman with pink hair, and next to her was a serious-looking swordswoman with white hair and a similarly colored blob with a tail floating behind her.

However, before I could reach comfortable talking distance, I was cut off by a gust of wind, and a black-haired woman with a strange red hat that appeared to have connected small white balls dropped in front of me.

"Hello there," She said as she withdrew a small pad of paper and a nub of a pencil from her clothes. "If you don't mind, why did you come to Gensokyo? You're a god, so are you looking for more worshippers, or is it something else? Also, what is your relationship with the Scarlet Devil Mansion?" She asked rapidly, preventing me from getting in a word edge-wise until she stopped and looked at me, ready to take down what I said.

Holding up a hand, I decided to start this conversation from the beginning and ignore the fact that she had been spying on me for a few days and quite possibly since I had arrived.

"Let's start from the beginning, shall we?" I asked rhetorically, and before she had a chance to respond, I put out my hand for a handshake and spoke. "Hello, nice to meet you; my name is Aidan. What is your name?" Blinking for a moment at the derailment of her questions, she put both pencil and paper in one hand before shaking my hand vigorously.

"Hello, my name is Aya Shameimaru, reporter and author of the Bunbunmaru Newspaper." She said in what I was coming to realize was her standard method of rapid-fire speaking.

"I presume, based on the paper and questions you were asking, that I want to interview me?" I asked as I removed my parasol from my shoulder and leaned on it now that I could tell I wouldn't be moving for a bit.

"Yes," she nodded as she rearranged her utensils and prepared to write. "The three main questions I have are why did you come to Gensokyo? I have heard rumors that you are a god, so are you looking for worshipers, and you have been seen entering the Scarlet Devil Mansion almost daily, so what is your relationship with them?"

Humming, I decided to answer in the order she asked me. "Firstly, I came to Gensokyo because I was tired of getting into lethal fights and was told that as long as I didn't cause trouble, I wouldn't have to worry about being killed." It was clear that Aya was enjoying me taking the time to give clear responses as she started scribbling down my answer before looking up and giving me a nod to continue.

"Secondly, I am a god, specifically with the domains of Magic, Fantasy, and the Moon. As for worshippers, I don't need any, and to be honest, I don't want any." She gave me a slightly confused look at my response, likely baffled why a god wouldn't want worshippers when it only served to empower them.

"I don't have a god complex," I said in response before snorting at my joke. I then decided to elaborate and give her a proper answer. "In all honesty, I'm the new guy, and stepping on other gods' toes would be rude. In addition, I don't strictly need faith, so while the additional power would be nice, it's not something I'm going to actively seek out, at least not yet."

Giving a hum of acknowledgment, she looked up and waited for me to continue, so I did. "The answer to the last question is that I was doing business, and to be honest I can't disclose what exactly happened because not all of it is for me to share."

Nodding, Aya tucked away both pencil and paper. "Well, thank you for the interview; I'll have this out soon." She said, "I think I'll have some of that sake. Have a good night." She continued as she walked over to the sake pallets and grabbed a bottle.

Sighing, I rubbed my nose as I remembered why exactly I didn't go to parties. While I could deal with other people, I was an introvert at heart, and I would prefer a good book or researching something that interested me that day such as flowers or stars.

That meant while I had a wide spread of knowledge, I didn't quite know how to deal with talking to a ton of people one after the other, and a big reason why I didn't want worshippers.

I didn't plan on drinking sake, so I opened a gap and reached inside for Dust to conjure my beverage. I stopped rummaging around when I heard a smooth women's voice speak up next to me.

"That's quite interesting," the voice said, and for the second time today, my heart jumped as an unknown person started talking from where I couldn't see them.

Retrieving a handful of Dust, I tucked it away inside my robes before turning to face the person who just spoke, ignoring the Grimoire growing. The voice that had spoken belonged to the green-haired and plaid-shirted women that had arrived early.

"Nice to meet you," I said, extending my hand, "my name is Aidan." Shaking it with a firm grip, the woman replied. "and mine is Yuuka. Do you mind telling me how you got a copy of my parasol?"

My eyes widened at the name and expanded even larger when I took in the second part of the sentence and the identical flower-esque parasol she held over her shoulder.

"I found it while traveling the multiverse. Do you mind if I ask a few questions about it?" I asked while we both stood across from each other somewhat awkwardly. "I don't mind," Yuuka replied, to which I started asking.

"Did you simply grow the flower that makes up this parasol, or did you enhance an already existing flower?" At my questions, Yuuka thought for a few moments before replying. "I grew the flower and simply willed it to be strong and hardy. I must admit that it surpassed my original thoughts, and it is quite nice not having to replace parasols as I had to in the past."

"Fair enough, it is quite sturdy; so far, I haven't encountered something that could break it, which is great. Anyway, I am curious how you linked a pocket dimension to it because that is quite impressive."

Among everything else about the parasol, that was the most significant thing surrounding it. While being practically indestructible was neat, that could be achieved in a numerous number of ways that any powerful being could. However, managing to link a pocket dimension that was able to grow life was a different matter and something reserved for knowledgeable mages or gods.

"I don't have a pocket dimension linked to my parasol. I do have Mugenkan, which is less a pocket dimension and more a plane located part-way in the Dreamworld." She said, seemingly nonchalant at the fact she held demesne halfway in the dream realm. That only served to rachet my estimate of her power even higher.

I didn't know what resided in this world's dream plane. Still, if Yuuka was able to create and hold a plane of existence in an ephemeral world made up of dreams, that meant she was either powerful enough to force them together or had the knowledge to weld them together, and based on this short time we had been talking I'd bet on the former.

"Fascinating," I breathed out, "Do you mind if I stop by sometime? I'm a mage myself, and I would love to see how you managed that." Still softly smiling, Yuuka responded. "Of course not. Enter the field of sunflowers near the Human Village, and I can guide you to Mugenkan; however, I do have one request."

"What is that request?" I asked. To be honest, there were a fair few things I would give to be able to examine and take notes on a liminal plane, and I knew that most other mages would give their firstborn, especially even if they couldn't learn any of the more conceptual magic one could do with Oneiromancy.

"When you are done examing my residence, I would like a fight." With this, her smile took on a sharp edge that I recognized from Iskander, Tenshi, and now Yuuka. The smile of somebody ready to get into a fight and revel in the feeling of magic against magic and blade against blade.

"Very well," I said, my own smile growing a touch sharper. "However, I will be busy for a bit, so I apologize if I can't arrive soon. I will most likely be free in a day or two, depending on how my work goes." I continued, both of us staring each other in the eyes with identical grins. I broke off eye contact when I felt the approaching presence of two divine beings as well as a lesser one- a demigod, most likely.

The three people who were arriving were mostly as strange as everybody else that I had met so far. The girl leading the front was clad in the same uniform as Remiu. However, the color palate was white and blue instead of red and white. She also had green hair, which only reaffirmed my belief that she was not human, combined with the faint divinity radiating off her marked her as the demigod.

The other two gods were walking behind her; the one on the right was walking with poise and serving the area around her as a noble would. She was wearing a red dress with what appeared to be a mirror affixed above her breast. She also had a rope-like headband threaded through her purple hair.

The other god walking on the left was much more active and was almost skipping as they passed through the entryway to the shrine. She was clad in a purple dress with white sleeves; the dress had depictions of frogs on them. Her hat caused me to double-take what looked like massive googly eyes were attached to its top and appeared to be peering around at the partygoers.

Looking back towards Yuuka, I saw that she was already walking away, seeming to have taken me looking away as our conversation finished. Shrugging, I retrieved the small palm full of Dust and slowly morphed it into a plastic cup to continue my plan to conjure a drink. That task, while challenging, was much easier than what came next. I knew what went into sprite, but my Wikipedia dives and back-of-the-can reading was not enough to perfectly recreate it, which was why while I hoped this would work, I didn't doubt that it would taste off.

Pouring the remaining Dust into the glass, I closed my eyes and focused on the ingredients of sprite as well as what it was and how it fizzed over my tongue when drunk. A few moments later, I heard faint fizzing and opened my eyes to see a glass half full with a bubbling drink.

Grinning, I took a sip of the beverage, it did taste slightly off, but it was still sprite which was quite lovely. What was not nice was, for the third time today, somebody started talking to me from outside my site line, which startled me, and I almost dropped my drink.

Brushing off my robes as the Grimoire pulsed and grew, I turned to face the small young, looking god with the strange hat I had seen enter the shrine moments ago. I didn't know how she had approached silently, and while I was slightly annoyed, that was no reason to be an ass.

The god gave a swaying bow. "Nice to meet ya; the name's Suwko, Goddess of Mountains," She then looked up and into my eyes, waiting for my answer.

"Aidan God of Magic, Fantasy and the Moon." I said, giving a polite bow back, "and nice to meet you as well, Miss Suwko." It was somewhat strange looking down and seeing a girl who didn't look a day over twelve with the size to match and then feeling the outpouring of divinity and faith that proved she was a powerful god who could likely flick her wrist and cause a landslide.

"So," She said, drawing the word out as she continued to sway back and forth. "Why are ya in Gensokyo?" She asked in her young casual tone of voice. Rubbing the bridge of my nose, I sighed, "I was told this was a place I could get away from fights to the death, and so far, it's been quite good on that front as well as having a font of magical knowledge."

I then took a sip of the sprite as she nodded, her hat's eyes still staring up at me. "Well, that's good; feel free to stop by the Moriya Shrine if you want advice from your seniors," She said before doing that small half-skip half-walk that she did when entering the shrine.

Looking at her backside as she left, I chuckled a bit before taking a gulp of my slightly off-tasting sprite. It seemed like the party was in full swing now that the last few people had arrived. There were quite a few people I didn't recognize, and I wasn't in the mood to be startled again, so I retreated away from the pallets of sake that everybody was either hovering around or grabbing a bottle from.

Leaning up against the shrine wall, I took kept drinking my sprite as I looked out over the partygoers. I wasn't a party person myself, but this was simply a gathering of people, and while every so often there were shouts or other loud sounds of merriment and excitement, most of the noise was the din of conversation.

I was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and a soft matronly voice speaking on my left, away from where I was leaning on the shrine's wall. "Do you mind if I take a seat?" Turning to face the person that had just spoken, I nodded my assent.

The blond-haired woman in a purple dress sat beside me with a bottle of my sake in her hand. As she took a sip from the bottle, I decided to start the conversation.

I knew this woman was Yukari, one of the reigning powers of Gensokyo; she had the power to control boundaries and slept often. I didn't know anything else about her, which put me on edge. It was similar when I met Gilgamesh; however, then I knew a lot about him, which meant I could plan for him.

I decided to push all that aside and approach her as I had with everybody else this evening; politeness and respect. "Nice to meet you, Miss," I said in a polite tone while moving my cup from my right hand and reaching it out to shake her hand, "My name is Aidan,"

Smiling a closed-lip smile, Yukari took my hand and gave a single pump while speaking. "It is indeed nice to meet you. I am Yukari Yakumo." As she removed her hand and took another drink from the bottle she held, I turned my back and leaned on the shrine's wall so I could face Yukari.

"So, how are you finding Gensokyo so far?" She asked while swirling the bottle before looking back up at me. "To be honest," I said, "I've gotten into three fights since I got here. I explored an almost endless library, and I read Al Azif. It's chaotic, crazy, and I think it's great,"

I had a grin on my face as I looked back over what had happened in the few days I had been here. Unlike Earth Bet or the Nasuverse, I was powerful enough to fight, and I had the spell card rules that prohibited killing, which only helped my opinion, still, even more than all that, there always was that little hope that I would someday fall down the rabbit hole and go on an adventure.

I didn't want to grow up and be one of 7.8 billion people eking out an existence on Earth. It is why I threw myself into fiction, fairytales, and fantasies; I wanted something more than my life could offer me, and Gensokyo had offered that.

Despite the stress of fighting Gnarly, I have had a genuinely good time so far and enjoyed it here. That might change in the future, but for now, this was an excellent place to relax, study some magic and get in a few scuffles.

Her eyes boreing into my Yukari gave another coy smile. "That's good, this is a haven for fantastical creatures, and a new god is among them. I do wish you luck in your adventures here so long as you don't cause too much mayhem." She said, and her voice took on a slight warning tone at the end, telling me that causing significant issues would not be healthy for my well-being.

Laughing slightly, I replied, "I have no plans to cause any problems. Honestly, I'm just interested in all the different types of magic."

"That I understand," She replied while the Grimoire grew; as its magic faded away, I felt something soft land on my shoulder. Turning my head, I saw a small doll with blonde hair and glassy blue eyes.

Yukari giggled and covered her mouth with a fan that I was sure she didn't have seconds ago. "I think I'll leave you with your new friend, have a good day Aidan."

She then stood up and walked towards the gathering of partygoers as I stared numbly at the small doll resting on my shoulder that turned its head and looked back at me.

"So," I said awkwardly, "are you sapient?" In response to my question, the doll nodded before floating around my head, looking closely at me. "Alright, I suppose that's cleared up," I muttered before looking back up at the doll.

"Do you have a name?" I asked; after all, I didn't want to call her by the wrong name even if she couldn't speak. When she shook her head no, I started thinking up ideas. "How about Alice?" I suggested, after thinking about my wanting to fall down the rabbit hole, so to speak, and with this doll quite literally coming from what was likely another world, I thought the idea had merit.

Launching herself at my neck, the doll gave a hug that belied incredible strength for a being made of fabric and not even a foot tall. Chuckling at the enthusiasm she showed, I patted her on the head, "I can tell you like the name, so feel free to stick around me." I said while pulling out the Grimoire; I wanted to get a look at my new powers, and while everybody else was away talking, this would be a perfect time.

Reading up on my newest powers caused me to frown. The most recent was of no concern; called Alice Doll, it gifted me a fully sapient doll crafted by a master created name Alice which was amusing that I had picked that name.

It also stated that it was adept at fighting; however, its true skill lay in housework was would helpful. Neither Komainu nor I produced much waste or mess, but having someone who could cook and clean would certainly be nice.

However, the other power was both concerning and reassuring. It was called Favor of Lords and allowed me to contact Verminlords, which were the Skaven equivalent of Daemons. I could also summon them easily, with the added bonus that they wouldn't attempt to murder or eat me.

That bonus extended to other supernatural beings to a lesser extent, I would have to forge a proper relationship with them, and I would still be at risk of manipulation, but I could make friends and allies with even the worst demons or evil gods. It wouldn't change them or make them good, but it would stop them from doing horrible things to me. I would still factor into plans which was less than stellar, but I wasn't complaining about not having to worry about magical allies murdering me.

The main issue was the method I gained access to the Verminlords. I wasn't connected to the Warp, which meant they had to come to me, so the Skaven daemons took shelter in my soul, and as each Verminlord was an offshoot of the Horned Rat, he came along for the ride as well.

That meant I had both Tzeetch, the Horned Rat, and Brunestud in my soul, which was concerning. My spot of luck, however, was that they were unable to affect me directly and could only attempt to sway me via their words.

Hearing footsteps approach, I closed the Grimoire and tucked it away in my robes before looking up. Seeing Remiu walk up to me and sit down in the spot that Yukari vacated, I gave a greeting nod.

Passing me a bottle of sake, she took a swig from her own half-filled bottle. "Hey, you enjoying the party?" She asked with a slight slur to her words; I could tell that while not drunk, she was slightly tipsy.

"I'm enjoying it so far. However, I'm not all that much a party person, but I do enjoy people-watching." I said as I set aside the bottle of sake and attempted to take a sip from my cup of sprite. It was only when I had tilted it, so it was upside down I realized it was empty.

Retrieving more Dust from the Gap, I refiled my cup and enjoyed the taste and fizz of the somewhat off-tasting sprite. Remiu looked over and took a sniff of the drink, "You mind if I take a sip?" She asked while holding out an unsteady hand.

"Sure," I replied and held out the plastic cup for her to drink from. She threw back a large drink of the spirit and promptly started coughing before leaning over and wiping her mouth clean.

Handing it back, she spoke, "That was interesting, quite sweet. I think I'd like it if I drank slower." Nodding as I took the cup back, I saw that she had drank almost half of the liquid inside, which would be quite a shock to somebody who had never tasted a carbonated drink.

As she finished cleaning her mouth for the surprised spit that the carbonation had induced, she looked over to me, still slightly tipsy but a bit more serious. "I heard that you were planning a big magic thing; you seem reasonable, so I want to make sure it won't affect Gensokyo."

"Fair enough," I replied, "However, I'm not performing the ritual in Gensokyo nor on this planet. I'm going to be several dimensions over, so you won't have any problems."

Squinting her eyes at me, she eventually nodded and stood up. "That's good; you've been good so far, so don't cause any problems. I'm enjoying the off time." She said as she wandered back to the partygoers, where I could see a makeshift drinking competition was going on between Sukia and Marisa.

The competition was quickly decided when Marisa collapsed on the ground, spilling her bottle of sake all over her front. My face twitched up into a smile as I looked at the various people enjoying themself.

I may not like a party with its loud noises and dozens of people, but from afar, seeing people of all stripes coming together to enjoy a drink and chat was nice, especially when I provided the drinks.

While I took another drink of sprite, I felt the Grimoire grow, and a small metal object dropped into my other hand. Opening my hand, I saw a small black key resting in my palm; looking it over, all I could see was that it was a simple black key.

Shrugging, I tucked it away to examine later; however, less than a second later, I felt the cold metal of the key falling through my ribs and onto the ground.

Looking between my legs, I saw the key resting on the ground; it glinted in the waxing moonlight. Picking up the key, I held it in my hand as I opened my robes to inspect how it got free. The pocket I had placed it in, along with the part of the shirt that would have kept it contained.

It seemed to not like being contained even by something as simple as a pocket which could cause an issue, but for now, I decided to place it in the Gap.

Opening a gap, I placed it inside the space between spaces before standing up. I was going to head over to the party proper; however, I was interrupted by the sound of a small metal object falling into the grass.

Looking over, I spotted the metal key lying innocuously in the grass. Frowning, I picked it up and opened my magesight to peer deeper into it.

I was almost immediately forced to abort my search as the key slipped from my fingers and fell to the ground once again. Picking up the key, I held it against my parasol and walked toward the group of people.

As I walked over, I saw that the relaxed party had turned into a drinking competition of almost everybody versus Sukia. While several people had stayed out of it, like Yukari and Yuuka, even more had joined in, as shown by the pile of unconscious people that had been dragged out of the way.

Currently, the pink-haired woman was tottering back and forth with a guileless smile on her face while the person she had arrived with was guiding her away to sit down.

"Ha!" Sukia shouted, swaying on her feet, "I won again, seems like nobody can beat the oni!" She boasted, taking another swig from her gourd before her eyes landed on me. Stumbling over to me, the much smaller crowd parted as she stood in front of me.

"Hey, you made the drink, so come on, I challenge you to a drinking game, moon guy," She said, slurring her words heavily. When I had met her earlier, she had been drunk, but her speech had been understandable. Now it was hard to comprehend what she was saying, but I managed.

"No thanks," I said, waving my hand. "I'm not a drinker, and I have work tomorrow." At my reply, she frowned and grabbed my wrist, pulling me over to the significantly depleted pallets of sake.

She grew larger, and as I stepped back in shock, she grabbed a bottle of sake and handed it to me. "Come on," she said pleadingly, "drink. I wanna see if your purity can help," I tilted my head in confusion at the purity comment but decided to drink so that she stopped bugging me.

Holding the bottle up to my lips, I opened a small gap and allowed the sake to flow down my throat and into the Gap. When I finished the bottle seconds later, I wiped my mouth and tucked the bottle away in my robes.

Sukia looked at me in shock before her face split out into a massive smile. "You can drink!" She shouted before repeating the same feat of draining an entire bottle of beer; however, she wasn't able to portal it away, so she drank it in seconds before grabbing two more and handing one to me.

This went on for over forty minutes as I kept draining bottles, and she drank more and more. At this point, most of the other partygoers knew that either I was not affected by alcohol or I was doing something else, but they kept it quiet.

Sukia, however, was too drunk to even think of me cheating, so she kept slamming back bottles of pure sake. However, eventually, she swayed and fell over on her back, fast asleep.

Looking around, I saw Yukari smirking at me while Remiu was cleaning up. As I placed my empty bottles on the pallet, I noticed that people were slowly waking up and staggering or flying off.

Giving a polite nod and goodbye to people as they left, I continued to help Remiu clean up. It took almost thirty minutes, but the leftover food and dishes had been stored away, leaving the sake and empty bottles as the only thing left to clean up.

"I'll take the empty pallets and bottles; you can keep the remainder," I said to Remiu, and when she nodded, I gestured with my parasol, which opened a gap for the trash to fall through.

Picking up the remanding dozen bottles, Remiu went to head back inside. "Thank you, have a good night." She said before continuing inside.

Smiling slightly, I flew up and outside the shrine, heading toward where I had opened my Path. The party had been excellent, and while I hadn't done a ton and mostly hung out in the background, it was still a nice break and a way to meet new people.

Shifting the Path, I entered my home and floated above the sunflower as the Grimoire grew. Landing, I entered my house and then traveled to my room, where I saw Komainu curled up in my bed.

Getting undressed, I felt a small weight lift itself off my head, and then Alice descended and surveyed the room with a palpable air of disappointment.

"If you want to clean, feel free. Just please don't wake us," I said as I got into my pajamas and dismissed Alter Self. As I crawled into bed and Komainu latched onto me, Alice nodded and retrieved comparatively massive cleaning tools from within the front apron on her blue dress.

Closing my eyes, I slowed my breathing, and I was quickly lulled into a deep sleep by the comforting sounds of Komainu's breathing and Alice's gentle sweeps of broom on wood.

Powers Gained

Alice Doll

A masterwork doll skillfully crafted by Alice Margatroid, utilizing such advanced magitech that an artificial soul was able to be implanted into the doll in order to create a fully sentient, autonomous being. This doll is completely loyal to you, and is surprisingly adept at combat despite its size, but specialize in mundane housework above all.

Frangiclave

The master key of the world, and the most powerful tool of the Principle of Knock. The Frangiclave is a key that doesn't so much open locks, but rather utterly destroys them.