FujiwaraPhoenix

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

"...Eh?"

Though Sanae had expected some shenanigans when she had chosen to dive into the hole, a recreation of some old-timey Japanese street was probably one of the last things she had expected to see. It wasn't unheard of back in Gensokyo, which meant that the young woman was left notably less flabbergasted than Rayne seemed to be, but the fact that such a lifelike illusion—if it could even be called one any more—meant that whatever was causing this mess wasn't anything to scoff at.

The being that they promptly encountered, however, seemed to be far less willing to lend an ear than any resident of Gensokyo was. The geisha—or something that seemed to be mimicking the form of one—made her disgust at their presence rather blatant, and the blasé insult she levied at them, while offensive, had left Sanae more annoyed than anything else.

"Big words from someone who cakes their face in makeup," the green-haired girl replied with a slight smirk before a light wave of nausea washed over her. Instead of simply standing there and suffering from it, though, Sanae raised her gohei towards the sky and took a deep breath.

"Though I guess whatever horrors you're hiding behind it are enough to make me sick."

With that, the young woman pointed the tool towards the ghost's face, after which a massive pentacle seemed to spread out from under her feet and promptly covered the ground around them. With it, a gust of wind seemed to blow from behind her, and with it went any sort of sickness-inducing curse that was trying to take root in them. With any symptoms therein promptly nullified, Sanae felt that this was a good a chance as any to join in Rayne's offensive efforts.

Sending out more frog-shaped danmaku explosives to bombard the area seemed like a good place to start. The endless hordes of butterflies mattered far less if they were removed from the equation the second they appeared, after all.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

The words that the fire-wielding woman spoke seemed to catch the monk ever so slightly off-guard, and for a moment he seemed to be considering the implications of her being longer-lived than even the greatest of sorcerers in his mind before choosing to place those thoughts to the side for the time being.

"Come now, I'm not naive enough to believe something like that," he replied as the spiral above his head began to grow denser by the second. "You could well be speaking the truth, sure, but then it'd just be removing my head from my neck or a stab through the heart or something equally as lethal... And far easier to do on someone with their guard down, no?"

While he spoke, a bunch of the creatures surrounding him began to coalesce around him, acting almost as if their presence alone was meant to deter the others as he prepared to strike. Just as he was about to launch the attack, though, the world itself seemed to go black.

No, it wasn't as if it had 'gone black'—it was like there was an absence of light altogether. Even in darkness, he would be able to make some light for himself. Rather, this was more like he had simply 'become blind'—and in so doing had found himself open to attack.

It was a natural response, then, to simply order what curses he could to guard his every flank for the moment and attempt to fire off the spiraling mass of cursed energy the second his sight returned. A few seconds—that was all that it took for light to return to his world, and in that moment the monk found himself staring down the swordswoman who had cleaved through his defenses to reach him.

It was a familiar sight in a way, given what he had experienced what had felt like not a few hours prior, but not one he would like to soon repeat. With a shout, the monk attempted to launch the attack towards his opponent—

Only for him to feel it being pulled away in the opposite direction. Unable to resist trying to see what in the world would be the cause for his second death, the man turned around and saw the very same jiangshi he had been trying to deal with mere moments prior vacuuming the attack into her mouth.

"—————What the hell sort of cursed spirit———?!"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Magic Shop

At a glance, nothing would seem amiss when the group walked through the storefront. The scent of blood that the vampire had picked up was not any sort of a false alarm, given her propensity for the fluid as her main source of nourishment, but it would almost seem as if the place was scrubbed clean of any trace of injury. A closer inspection of the wood that composed the floor and tables that might have otherwise displayed various goods would present scratches and indentations that did not seem to come from simple wear...

But otherwise, naught would seem amiss at a glance. With that said, the door to the basement seemed to be left open, almost as if inviting those curious visitors a chance to travel downwards.

Assuming that they did, though, the group would be met with a spiraling staircase that seemed to stretch on for ages that would eventually open up into what appeared to be some sort of storage facility for goods. Here, the damage seemed to be more palpable, with shattered wood beams, glass, and debris of all shapes and sizes scattered every which way.

Most notable, however, was the fact that the area seemed to be partially cleared away in a path towards the back of the room... But with still no sign of the missing shopkeeper.

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Between her and Rayne's combined efforts, the soul-sucking butterflies seemed to be kept comfortably under control, which meant that they had at least some leeway to keep pushing forward. As they did so, though, the shift from 'butterflies of death' to 'infinite hallway' did absolutely nothing to help the situation. While the young woman assumed that it wasn't actually endless, she had no desire to test that theory—doubly so when the hallway was promptly lit aflame. Her first instinct was to prepare the same spellcard she had used back at Aventon to quell the flames, but it seemed that Rayne had a different plan in mind.

Instinctively, Sanae shielded herself from the debris of her companion's summoned lightning bolt as it carved a hole straight through the building. There was a brief moment of consideration as she glanced between the fire and the hole before nodding.

"Then down we go! It's probably a better idea than cooking ourselves alive!" she called out before diving down into the hole. It was possible that Qing'e wouldn't be able to follow them regardless, but if the flames that threatened to consume the building were magical in nature it was quite possible that putting them out for any reasonable amount of time wasn't exactly an option.

In other words, they were now on a bit of a time limit to exorcise whatever was causing problems here; hopefully that wouldn't take too long to do...

Maybe the other woman had some other tricks up her sleeve to get out of this mess? Hopefully that would be the case.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

With the fire-wielding woman occupied by a cursed spirit, the monk turned his attention back to the swordswoman—who, despite any immediate expectations, shouted something that sounded vaguely like the name of a technique before disappearing from his sight in an instant. A bevy of emotions crossed through his face in an instant—anxiety chief among them—before he attempted to scan his surroundings for any attempted sneak attacks headed his way. When the girl reappeared overhead, however, he could do little else than block the attack. With both hands now occupied as he caught the blade with the center of his staff, the monk gritted his teeth and pushed back against the downward momentum of his opponent's weapon and took a step to the side while releasing his grip on the weapon with one hand. With the slash able to follow through towards where he had been standing, the next course of action would be a counterattack—in short, whipping the weapon around to try and catch his opponent where she was left unprotected.

Out of the corner of his eye, though, the sight of the other woman who had chosen to answer the curse's question as she was summarily chopped up into little pieces by the shears that manifested themselves—and the pieces promptly lighting themselves aflame as she seemed to casually regenerate from complete dismemberment—before dodging through any that appeared soon thereafter and cleanly annihilating the spirit caused him to pause, at least for a moment. It would hav been obvious to anyone watching that he was at a disadvantage, but given that the alternative seemed to be fighting to the death yet again...

"Well, I can't say I expected that," he quipped as he moved to take a step back the instant his weapon whipped back around to him. "Sorcerers in this day must've come a long way since mine. I couldn't have been dead for that long, right?"

As he mused to himself about the current state of affairs, though, a black spiral of energy seemed to begin swirling over his head, aimed—naturally—towards the two women bearing down upon him.

"That said, I'd rather not get sliced in half today. Once was enough."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

After the trio had signed off on the paperwork, Serena promptly marked the paper with her own signature before gesturing for Bren to take it elsewhere. There was little else to handle on that front, at least, and with the confirmation that their contract wasn't anything that abused either of their positions it only made sense to make sure it stayed that way.

Granted, it only really applied to the three of them at the moment, but that offer could always be extended if need be.

"Well, in that case, I've got something for you to do now, then," the princess said, responding to Anne's smile with one of her own. "I need you to retrieve some goods I ordered from a shop on the north side of the city. I usually get updates on the shopkeeper on their status, but he hasn't sent his usual correspondence. As this is a bit more of a personal matter, I'd like you to go see if everything's prepared, and if they're ready, to bring them here."

With that, the princess handed Anne a letter marked with what appeared to be a seal of some sort—one marking it's origin and importance, no doubt.

"If he questions you, just hand this to him and everything should be settled. Payment will be given on your return."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

While being surrounded by butterflies of death wasn't a particularly novel experience to her at this point, the sheer density of them as they came pouring out into the hallways in front of them did not leave Sanae feeling any more comfortable about the situation. Being in the Netherworld was one thing, but there was a level of malice at play here that the shrine maiden had never once felt in her past encounters with the nearest possible equivalent force in Gensokyo.

Her recognition of what Qing'e had chosen to throw to the proverbial dogs in front of the three of them quickly confirmed her suspicions about the insects, and that her decision to shoot them on-sight had been correct. Unfortunately, that didn't really matter as much when there were so many blocking the way.

Of course, when they began to pass through the walls to get to them, things only went from 'bad' to 'worse'. Rayne, at least, was more than prepared to start firing now that the butterflies had demonstrated their ability to both drain them dry and pass through walls as if they didn't exist. All the better, then to start moving once the way was cleared...

Or so Sanae had hoped to do, had the butterflies, seemingly unfazed by the swathes of them that had just been destroyed, simply continued to fly through the walls towards them. If there was any time to try and get moving, though, it was now, before her companion's homing shots stopped being able to clean up the opposition before they even got close.

"Ah, what a pain! Rayne, I'm going to make the call here to just break through! Keep your feet off the ground and shoot at anything that moves... Excluding us, of course!" the green-haired girl called out as she floated ever so slightly off the ground before flying through the path that the halfling had carved through for them. With her gohei at the ready, Sanae began to fire clusters of frog-shaped bullets towards the floor and the walls, leaving them ready to blow up the second that they encountered even the slightest hostility.

The problem now was to track down the source of this curse... Which, in all honesty, really just meant that she had to find where the suffocating feeling was getting worse and just follow that until they found something interesting. Nothing too unusual.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

The monk gave the pair of girls approaching him a half-hearted shrug as he took a step back, almost as if he was trying to make a little bit more distance between them—as one would have expected from someone who seemed to be a summoner to begin with.

"Believe me, your guess would be as good as mine," he replied to the one approaching him at a slightly more measured pace than her companion. "But the fact that I'm alive now means more than that—and I'd like to keep it that way."

Rather than engage in further conversation—at least, for the moment—the man seemed to be spending more effort in attempting to gauge the opponent. The short-haired girl looked to be a more immediate threat, if only because she seemed to be more focused on taking him out of the picture immediately. The other's apparent disregard for her own safety, coupled with the fact that even the slightest injuries were being healed as they were made, however, meant that he couldn't just discount her from the equation entirely.

"...Hm...?"

A curious expression briefly passed over the monk's face for a moment as he seemed to consider something, but that was quickly replaced by a slight smirk as he turned his focus towards the swordswoman barreling towards him. With but a little time afforded to him thanks to the summoning of a certain being to occupy the other one, the sly-faced man figured now was a good a time as any to try and deal with his opponent while he could. It wasn't the first time in recent memory he had to deal with a swordfighter, after all.

A strange worm-like spirit soon materialized upon the monk's shoulders, and from it's mouth he slowly withdrew a three-section staff dyed in red. With a weapon now in hand, the monk quickly adopted a combat stance and readied himself to fight.

The strange white spirit following the girl around did seem to pique his interest, though, insofar as he seemed to be treating it as something to be aware of throughout the fight instead of simply as an odd accessory.

While the monk had moved to engage Youmu in combat, however, Mokou would soon find the area around her strangely bereft of enemies... Or anyone else, for that matter, The area around her would seem dark, but the voice of something calling out to her from the darkness would let her know that she certainly wasn't along.

"Hey."

A brief glance towards the source would reveal an emaciated feminine figure garbed in a long overcoat, whose numerous eyes peeking out through long, black, unkempt hair paired with a medical mask to cover her face might have brought to mind another familiar face... Though not quite in the same way as the other residents of Gensokyo had.

"Am...
Am...
Am I...
Pretty?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

"Well, to be quite frank, letting strangers into the royal castle on a whim is more than a simply national security risk, regardless of their station. Even I am not so foolish so as to let guests in without having them vetted, after all; my life might not be worth much compared to my father's, but I had intended your earlier comment as a simple jest. Unless you truly did mean to do something that might pose a risk to the people who lead this country...?"

While there was a bit of frivolity in her voice, the undertones running through what the mage had said were difficult to ignore. Under the assumption that Anne had Remilia's selfish desires under control soon thereafter, though, Serena gave the glasses-wearing woman another nod and let the facade she had been putting up for the moment slide for the moment by ever-so-subtly laughing at the plain irritation upon the woman's face.

"Of course, I'm not mad enough to try and rope you all into political struggles—though some part of me feels like you'd find them falling into your lap regardless. More likely than not, I'd have you retrieving goods for me from somewhere or another, or maybe just gathering samples. For example, there's been an odd illness that's begun to—"

"Princess, I've returned with the paperwork you requested."

With that, Serena found her statement cut off by the minister she had sent to retrieve the paperwork she had requested, and after reviewing the contents and handing them off to Anne to sign, simply waited for her to check them herself. It was, as she had said, a simple contract that emphasized only what needed to be done while in her employ.

"By the way, Miss Mayer, you mentioned that you had a golem among your companions?" Bren asked before glancing towards the nearby window. "Would they happen to be accompanied by a rather frail-looking blonde child? I believe I saw one wandering the streets outside earlier looking for something..."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92@Lugubrious

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Nieve — Odd Cemetery

Upon hearing the monk's question, Carol's gaze quickly sharpened—no doubt due to how the question being presented now was not at all unlike what she had asked Mokou before their prompt escape minutes prior. Given how he was speaking, there was little reason to believe he had been here long; in fact, it might have been apt to assume that he had arrived far too soon to gather himself.

Not that the strange beings that seemed to be monitoring them from within the cemetery grounds were any reason to lower her guard. The two white-haired girls, after conversing with each other, soon led to Youmu responding in kind to the monk, who seemed to be... Less than pleased with the answer.

"Fair enough, I suppose... Though if you answered in Japanese, I suppose that's one less thing I have to worry about," he replied before slowly walking away from the jiangshi and towards the exit where the others stood. "That being said, I don't suppose you can see them too, can you?"

The smile on the monk's face quickly faded, replaced with a dead-faced seriousness as a massive, grotesque worm-like thing burst out from the space behind him. At the same time, the smaller creatures that had been lingering around the area began to move, flailing and grasping at the girls—one of whom was already on guard against him.

"Aah, I should've figured that those bastards would send more sorcerers after me," he complained out loud, cocking his head to one side as he stretched his neck. "You'd think that one death would be enough, but I guess it really isn't..."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

"Well, if you put it like that, I really can't overlook it..."

Despite the very air around them feeling like it was weighing her down, Sanae could do little more than try to psych herself up before following after Qing'e. The overbearing pressure was not enough to deter her by any means, but there was only so much she could do to guard herself against the miasma in what little time they had before closing in. The very least she could do before entering, though, was set up a barrier around the brothel before the three of them proceeded inside the building proper. It wasn't likely that anyone or anything would attempt to enter, granted, but making sure that whatever was inside didn't get out seemed just as important to the situation as actually clearing up the root of the curse.

Once they had entered, though, and witnessed the presence of butterflies within the abandoned building, however, Sanae wasted no time in firing out a cluster of ofuda towards them. When more began to replace them, however, it became clear that those were going to be the biggest obstacle in getting to their target. While dodging them might have been easier in open ground, this was a brothel...

Which, obviously enough, meant that there was only so much space that they had to work with.

"Guess we're just going to have to muscle on through. I'm going to hazard a guess and say that those butterflies mean death, given past experiences... Well, that and the fact that butterflies usually don't live in places like this. Either way, I'm going to say that 'kill on sight' is probably the best way to proceed from here."

Unfortunately, it was likely that they would have to comb every inch of the place to find their target; with any luck, they would do so before anything got too bad...

And if they did reach that point, calling Kanako-sama in didn't seem like too bad of a plan B.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

Despite their role as the city's protectors of the peace, the guards that had moved to apprehend the white-haired swordsman, adamant in she was at her refusal at going peacefully, could do little more than watch as she simply flew away. The ensuing hasty attempt at chasing after her only went so far, though, especially when they only had eyes on the ground and the group and had escaped towards a veritable maze of streets and back alleys.

Mokou would be the first to encounter company once more, as the blonde girl that she had been speaking to had failed to get too far on foot since they had last spoken. There was a slightly annoyed look on her face as she noticed the white-haired woman floating overhead, but that irritation seemed to stem from how much the woman stood out by flying on top of looking so thoroughly out of place from the rest of the populace. Landing, at least, seemed to help stifle any follow-up reaction on that front.

"I suppose that 'friend' of yours also fled, then?" she asked, refusing to stop for even a moment as she continued to walk through the streets. "Probably for the best. Musashi told me she was going to lay low for a while, which completely defeats the point of her becoming my bodyguard... But I digress. I don't suppose you wouldn't mind working with me for the moment, would you?"

There was a moment of silence before the girl, now having realized she had been so crass so as to never actually introduce herself, acted to resolve that issue.

"Carol. Carol Malus Deinheim. At the very least, being able to refer to each other by name would be far more effective than not."

Whatever the result of their pseudo-agreement was, the pair would continue to weave through the back streets and alleys before the sounds of guards milling about had finally become inaudible. With the immediate problem at hand out of sight, the pair eventually came to a stop after finally breaking through the veritable maze they had been in for who knew how long, and in so doing found themselves facing the entrance to a cemetery filled with mausoleums. In direct view of the pair—and Youmu, who had apparently managed to exit the maze from a slightly different path—were a pair of figures who seemed to be arguing in broad daylight.

Or, well, one of them seemed to be arguing.

"Look, I'm just asking if you know where——"

"This is no place for the likes of you to enter!"

The former, a young man garbed in Buddhist robes, seemed markedly irritated as the girl in front of him cearly refused to listen to any words coming out of his mouth.

"...What am I even doing, trying to communicate with a walking corpse...?" the man sighed, shaking his head briefly before glancing briefly at his palm. As he did so, though, the three girls who had come across the scene would notice that something else was amiss in the cemetery. Odd, malformed creatures seemed to be staring from them from within the bounds of the walls in front of them, and the monk-apparent, in turn, would turn to face them as well.

"Hm. You three, over there!" he called out, "I don't suppose you would happen to know where this place is? I'd hazard a guess to say this is some place in Europe, maybe...? Should I try and restate the question in English...?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

Serena gave Remilia a slight look of disapproval when the vampire had immediately insisted that they head to the royal castle, but simply chose to ignore it in favor of speaking with Anne instead. It seemed quite apparent that the offer was taken positively, and if the only requisite was that the agreement was committed to paper, who was she to argue?

"Of course we can get that in writing," the princess replied before looking towards Bren with a smile. The minister, who was still a minister at the end of the day, let out a small sigh and nodded.

"...I'll go prepare the necessary documents. If you'll excuse me..." the man sighed before exiting the room, leaving the four girls behind for the moment. Soon thereafter, though, Serena's attention focused towards the box that Anne had produced. Any sense of half-playful polticking was promptly thrown to the wayside as the princess promptly accepted the container and placed it onto the desk to examine the contents proper.

"Hm... The vial's out of my realm of expertise, but I could send this to some botanists..." the princess mused before picking up the necklace and watching it point towards the distance—a reaction that would be familiar to Anne, given how she had seen it firsthand.

Opting to now grasp the accessory by the pendant rather than the string, Serena began to twist the object around in her hand before placing it back where she had found it.

"This one's a tracker... And it seems to be one attuned to a person, no less? Things like these aren't simple to make without an imprint of the magical signature or something approximating it, but I have no clue as to what that could be. As for the jewel..."

With that, the princess took the object into her hands and began to examine it in much the same way as she had the necklace, though with extra care taken to view each glyph so painstakingly carved into each facet of it. Slowly, though, her reaction turned from one of curiosity to once of mildly meaningful concern.

"How to explain this one... Right, okay, how about this, then? In layman's terms, you can think about this object as if it is linked to a person... Whoever that is. Whenever that person dies, the magical bindings on it—the runes you see carved here—will glow. At that point, the intended 'inheritor'—let's call them that—can release the binding by injecting some mana into it, which will then cause it to release the spell inside of it. As for what that spell might be... Well, I wouldn't be able to tell without breaking the jewel open, but there's a self-destruct mechanism inlaid here so that's not exactly an option."

With a sigh, Serena calmly placed the jewel back in its place before turning towards Anne.

"You said that you received this from a commander? The vial would make sense, but the other two..."

@VitaVitaAR@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Red Light District

Sanae was hard-pressed to hide the slight blush that crossed her face at their benefactor's comments, both due to the situation at hand and the fleeting images that passed through her mind before she could shoo them away.

"I'd rather not engage in any of that talk," the green-haired girl replied with a slight glare. "We're here to solve a problem, and I'd prefer that we keep it at that."

Regardless of her feelings on the matter (or the oddity of someone screaming in an alleyway nearby), Sanae continued following behind Qing'e in silence. The rough overview of the situation she had provided en route to their final destination—wherever that happened to be—certainly sounded like a curse of some sort to her, at least. Coupled with where they were and how unlikely the residents here would be to have someone look into the matter, the whole situation had to at least be curse-adjacent.

Eventually, though, Sanae began to feel a stifling presence bearing down upon her. As the trio continued pressing forward, that presence—whose malicious weight she seemed to feel far more than her peers—only grew stronger and stronger. When the woman leading the way finally stopped in front of an abandoned brothel, whose appearance seemed pristine, though, that presence was suffocating.

"This is bad news..." she complained as she whipped out her gohei. "You said that this place is abandoned, right? I'm not as trigger-happy as some of the people I know, but something like this..."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

"Friendly duel?" the guard responded, apparently shocked that Youmu had even suggested that such a thing wouldn't warrant a response from them. "Miss, we have multiple people here claiming that the two of you were swinging at each other with enough strength to break stone—and by the looks of things, that seems to have been the case. If you're swinging your weapons around with that much force, then you were very much putting lives at risk here. Now, just hand over your swords and come with us, or we'll have to take you in by force. You've cause enough problems here as-is."

Any further attempts to dissuade the guards would be met with equally hard-headed resistance to the idea, especially considering the situation at hand. As for whether or not to cede the argument or abandon it outright would be a decision left to the swordswoman that had been left 'holding the bag', so to speak.

It would explain why Musashi had fled at the first sign of interference, at least.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

With the three travelers having made clear their intention to stay, Serena nodded her head and returned their statement with a smile—though it seemed to be one more practiced than genuine if one attempted to examine the tiniest hints of her facade.

"Well, we'll see in due time as to whether or not Father decides to take action," she responded, "but your aid is greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, however, I don't believe that it would be fair to simply provide any favoritism towards you and yours, regardless of what your intent might be. Please understand that despite my title, I don't actually hold that much power..."

There was a brief pause as Serena's words hung in the air, but the slightest hint of a grin on her face immediately gave the minister at her side cause for concern.

"At least, that would be the case if we spoke with regards to charity. I do not know of your circumstances with that merchant caravan you claim to have arrived with, but if you would be willing to aid me as assistants I might be able to figure something out."

"Princess, I do believe that is called embezzlement—"

"I'm not embezzling anything! I'd be giving them legitimate tasks and paying them accordingly!" Serena responded indignantly before turning back towards the group of girls in front of her. "Ahem. Well, there you have it, then. Of course, you're free to refuse; I'm not crazy enough to strongarm you into helping, and I won't make you do anything too crazy... Probably. So how about it?"

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Bookstore

Sanae crossed her arms and cocked her head ever so slightly to the side as Rayne spoke more on matters of money. Most of the matters regarding money were handled by Kanako-sama back in Gensokyo, after all, which meant that the young woman had seldom needed to care about managing finances for herself. Coupled with the general income from donations and all of the other side-ventures that the Moriya Shrine ran, it became readily apparent that the green-haired shrine maiden had stopped needing to worry about getting money for a decent while.

Compared to the others, though, the young woman wasn't quite sure if she was the worst off in the bunch. Chief among her concerns was Remilia, who the young woman thought was more likely to have Sakuya balancing the checkbook of the Scarlet Devil Mansion in her stead.

Hopefully the others would keep that problem under wraps.

"Uh... Hopefully? I'd rather not live on the road struggling to make ends meet," Sanae replied, her shoulders slumping ever so slightly before finally turning her attention back towards the mysterious hooded woman after being directly addressed—and with a convenient job opportunity if she had ever heard of one. It was convenient, sure, but the green-haired girl was far from one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"I don't mind looking into it," she replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Letting a curse linger would be more problematic for us, anyways; with any luck, I'd probably have to deal with something like that later regardless."

With that said, though, the young woman soon turned towards Rayne and scratched the back of her head.

"Well, once we've finished up here, of course. If you want to tag along, I wouldn't mind the company... Though that probably depends on how much cash you've got left after buying that thing, huh?"

Regardless of Rayne's answer, Sanae opted to simply follow after their mysterious benefactor as she left, all the while wondering what exactly was at play.

The halfling, at least, would find that the tome was at least barely within her budget; purchasing would certainly put a bit more strain on her modest savings, but if the alternative was leaving it behind, maybe that would be worth it?

---

Nieve — Red-Light District

"Geh."

An almost instinctual reaction left Sanae's lips as the hooded woman guided her (and Rayne, if she chose to follow along) towards what was undeniably a seedier section of town. Even at a glance, the signage in the area made clear that this area was meant for those who were in search of carnal pleasure, which did not in any way improve her opinion of the place. The area was cleaner than she had expected, for what little it was worth, but the young woman had no desire to start knocking on the doors of random brothels like some traveling monk to ask of what ailed them.

"Would you mind at least filling me in on the situation here? I'd rather not get caught up in anything too, uh... Shady?" Sanae asked, hoping that her response would at least some direction to start working in.

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

While the show of swordplay from both sides had been fairly standard (by Musashi's standards, at least), Youmu's ability to cut through the space in front of her to unleash a torrent of slashes had, admittedly, caught the pink-haired girl ever so slightly off guard. While she had expected the girl to hold some supernatural prowess, something like this was a bit further down the list of what she might have expected.

Rather than immediately moving to parry the attacks, though, Musashi quickly shifted her stance to one of 'emptiness'. There was no guard, no intent to slash out and furiously cut down anything in her way. For a brief moment, her body was relaxed and showed no sign of even attempting to match the incoming strikes blow for blow.

But then, the samurai simply disappeared. For a brief moment, Musashi's form could not be seen in the midst of that cage of cuts and slashes; instead, all that would be audible would be shining afterimages and the sound of steel clashing against the attacks that once bore down upon her. Once the assault had ended, however, Musashi would reappear in the middle, seemingly none the worse for wear.

"Pretty fancy trick you have there," Musashi finally responded, the grin on her face having never left it as she took a step back. "Should I get serious, too?"

Just as the magical energy around her seemed flared up to the point where it was all but visible to the naked eye, though, the sound of clanking steel boots from all sides seemed to bear down upon the pair.

"Stop!" called out one of the people that had approached the pair. "For public endangerment and disturbance of the peace, you two are under arrest! Lay down your weapons and come with us!"

"Oh, I guess we're going to have to cut this one short, huh?" the pink-haired girl sighed before glancing off towards where their two companions were standing by. "I'll catch up with you later, then!"

Quickly sheathing her two blades, Musashi gave Youmu a quick wink and a brief wave before leaping onto the roof of a nearby building and sprinting off.

Needless to say, this left Youmu in the middle of an encirclement of guards, none of whom seemed too pleased with how the situation had panned out.

This wasn't to say that the smaller girl was any more pleased with the situation; if anything, she seemed to be the most irritated out of all of them. It was quite unfortunate that the white-haired girl had no further information on any of this, but confirming at least some of her suspicions would have meant that this was time well spent. What was not great, however, was the fact that Musashi had not only caused a bunch of guards to gather here, but also very "subtly" thrown a message towards them before promptly making a run for it.

"Of all the stupid..." the girl sighed, shaking her head as she brought one hand towards her forehead. "I'd rather not be detained, but I would be a fool to think that I could slip into a crowd when we stand out so much... Or, at the very least, that you would be able to. I'm going to follow after her; for better or worse, she's technically my responsiblity at this point. What you and your companion do from here is none of my concern."

With that, the small girl began to walk in the general direction of where the pink-haired swordswoman had fled towards. How she could tell where she was headed despite the girl having left their immediate field of vision, though, was a question all it's own.

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Mages' Guild

After having been introduced by the minister in front of her, Serena finally finished dusting herself off and promptly returned the trio's greeting with one of her own.

"Ahem... My apologies for the rather unsightly display. As Mr. Halmir has said, my name is Serena ei Verzhe, but please, feel free to call me Serena," the young woman replied before bowing towards the group. "I've never been one for formalities, after all. If you'll give me a moment, though, I need to... Erm... Air out this room before we proceed. One moment."

With the smoke from whatever had happened inside having partially dissipated from opening the door to the room, Serena took a deep breath and promptly moved back inside; a glance through would reveal that it seemed to be in fairly pristine condition, save for whatever odd apparatus was churning away in the center. The young woman swiftly crossed through the room and promptly threw open the windows on the other side before grabbing a small wand crafted of wood and metal off to the side. With a single motion, the tip of the wand lit up, and a sudden gust of wind promptly funneled whatever smoke was left inside out through the window.

"There, that should do it," Serena said before beckoning the others inside. "Please, take a seat. If it's simple analysis, I can handle everything right here."

Given how nonchalant the princess seemed to be about the whole affair, it seemed reasonable to think that nothing would go wrong... Well, besides the fact that she still hadn't been the one who Bren had intended to help with this matter, but that was a different problem in it's own right.

Once the group entered and took their places, Serena wasted no time in placing her focus upon Anne's mechanical arm. It was, needless to say, utterly foreign as a concept to her to recreate a limb with metal and... Whatever else it was that made it up. Even with the basic questions and demonstrations of the degree to which Anne was able to control the prosthetic like it was no different from her own hand were worthy of her attention—never mind the magic detection spell that was thus promptly cast over it to reveal no mana within whatsoever.

"...Well, I can confidently state that there isn't magic at play with this marvel of engineering, though the craftsmanship you would need to make something like this may as well be," Serena finally said, before placing her wand to the side. "My brother would probably go insane if he saw something like this—which is tempting in it's own right—but I'd rather not cause a fuss over it. Heavens know that if he saw it he'd stop at nothing to try and replicate it... Or worse."

There was a bit of disdain in her voice as she spoke, but Serena wasted no time lingering on the matter.

"Right. Well, I can certainly guarantee that there's no nation on the continent capable of making something like this, magically or not; otherwise, I have a pretty good feeling we'd already be fighting for our lives. If you can make something this small and fine without needing to use any magic to power it, then I'd be terrified to imagine what you could do with something larger," the mage added before finally taking a seat of her own. "So, to review the situation thus far... These three—and their companions—were caught up in an incident with teleportation magic and ended up in the town of Aventon, where they repelled an invasion from the Raven Heralds and later traveled here to warn us of... Some sort of threat to the capital?"

"That is correct, ma'am," Bren responded with a nod. "I've sent out some people to verify their story already, so they should be returning in a few hours' time with a response."

"Hm. I've never been one for politics, but this certainly sounds like a national crisis in the making if that's true," Serena stated before glancing back towards the trio. "At the very least, I'd think that Father would be willing to listen if it's a definite crisis like a brewing war on the horizon. That being said, I'm worried about how long it'd take to confirm everything in time, never mind this vague threat of something at the capital. How long do you all plan on staying here in Nieve? I can't guarantee anything on my end yet, but it would be convenient if, assuming your story is true, that you could remain here until things have been sorted out."

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — Bookstore

After receiving the tome from Rayne, Sanae wasted no time in hastily flipping through it's contents in order to find at least a mention of the goddess' name within. The number of deities listed was rather numerous, unsurprisingly enough, but after utilizing her years-old memories of analyzing texts in school to its utmost the young shrine maiden finally found a passage naming the goddess... And a few others.

"Wow, this one really does mention her. Let's see..." Sanae trailed off as she glanced over the paragraph in question briefly.

The three goddesses Lavielle, Eistre, and Filyn seemed to have been held as those who controlled fate. Eistre, the eldest, marked the 'beginning' of journeys. Filyn, the second eldest, marked their ends. Lavielle, the youngest, seemed to have been given the role of charting their courses... And, fittingly enough, seems to have been the ones that the Merellians often believed was most likely to watch over—and, in many cases, interfere with—their lives.

"This... Does seem like what we're looking for," Sanae answered, closing the book back up and returning it to Rayne. "I guess it might be in our best interests to buy the book—and maybe look for whoever wrote it, too."

With that said, Sanae turned towards where Rayne was pointing and, in seeing nothing more than a hooded woman, simply bowed in thanks before refocusing on Rayne.

"Uh... Speaking of, though... Do you have any money on you? I wasn't exactly trading with the caravan, and it, uh... Slipped my mind when we were travelling."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

Musashi would have considered herself very much a fool had she not heeded the words—and rather distinct choice of action—of her opponent as she recovered from the scant few moments of her counterattack missing its mark. The swordswoman acknowledged Youmu's choice of action with no more than a smirk as she readied herself for another clash of blades, her own swords at the ready as the other girl sprang forward with an assault quite similar to the last.

"You're not the only one with tricks up their sleeve!" the pink-haired woman called out as she bent her knees ever so slightly. In an instant, a barrage of rainbow-colored energy seemed to rocket out from behind her, launching her towards Youmu with a speed that, at that point in time, far exceeded that with which she was approaching with. Now, with both her swords pressing down upon her opponent, Musashi's smirk turned into a wide grin as she pressed the assault further.

All the while, though, the smaller girl standing to Mokou's side gave her conversation partner a look of mild distrust. While it was clear that she didn't agree with the white-haired girl's assessment of her own realm, it seemed reasonable for the moment to simply accept that they would likely not see eye-to-eye on the matter for a long while, if ever.

"...Yes, you could say that. My so-called bodyguard over there seemed to be familiar with the concept of interdimensional travel, though as far as I know she's only ever traveled to parallel versions of her own Earth. I come from a different one altogether, and to summarize the situation in as simple a manner as possible, we both found ourselves in this foreign world and chose to work together for both of our sakes," she replied before revealing a set of three red markings that seemed to be tattooed onto the back of her hand. "While I have your attention, then: would these markings be at all familiar to you? At this point, it's one more question in the dozens I need to research, but if anyone might have any answers it would probably be another wanderer like yourself."

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Embassy

Bren nodded in silence as Anne relayed to him a few names that would prove useful in his own investigations, and after having committed them to memory the minister briefly excused himself from the room to, as he put it, 'contact the person most likely to be able to help and set everything else into motion'. The wait afterwards took more than a few minutes, but bereft of anything else to occupy themselves with the three present may as well have felt the wait to have been far longer than it actually was.

When the minister finally returned to the room, he seemed to have been left notably more exhausted than he had first been when he had left. It was quite obvious that the source therein had to have been mental in nature, given the lack of any sort of signs of strenuous activity, but by the way he seemed to be keeping himself it was clear that something was amiss.

"My apologies for the delay. I've sent some people to retrieve testimony about the situation you presented, and they should be following up with us within the next few hours. As for the tests..." he trailed off before sighing and shaking his head.

"...The person in question should be arriving to meet us within a few minutes. She insisted that if what I said was true... No, actually, I do not believe I could accurately convey anything that she said in any reasonable manner. Could I ask that you please follow me? My office isn't particularly suitable for anything beyond clerical work and discussions, I'm afraid."

With that invitation extended, Bren quickly escorted the trio out of his office and towards a different building nearby—one that, as Fran would notice quite quickly, seemed to be suffused with mana of one form or another.

"The Nievan Mages' Guild," Bren briefly explained as they walked through the doors and towards a young man who had quickly moved to meet and guide the group in turn. "If there's anywhere equipped to dispel any magically-inclined doubts about your story, it would be here. As for the person in question—"

Before Bren could even finish his statement, the sound of an explosion from further down the hallway they had been led down caused the minister to pause in concern. After a few seconds, a plume of white smoke billowed out in turn as a young woman with vibrant red hair tied back in a ponytail stumbled out. Her clothes—a blouse and a dress—seemed rather practical at a glance, but further inspection would reveal that their craftsmanship and delicate handcrafted stitching was weaved through with no small number of magical wards and protections.

"Eugh..." the woman grumbled to herself before noticing the oncoming group and quickly scrambling to dust herself off in an effort to make herself look more presentable. At this, Bren simply sighed and turned back towards the group.

"The woman you see before you is Princess Serena ei Verzhe, sixth in line for succession of the throne. Though she may be a bit more spirited than one might expect of royalty, her dedication towards the magical arts is worthy of more than a little praise. She is also the one who insisted to examine you in lieu of the person I had in mind, and, well..."

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Kochiya Sanae

Nieve — City Streets

While Rayne had been free to spend her time speaking with the mysterious stranger in search of information, Sanae had found no such stroke of luck. Most of her time had been spent poring through tome after tome; with no titles on their spines, the minimum she had to do to rule any book out was pull it out of its place and skim through its contents in hopes that it held something noteworthy before having to inevitably slot it back where it had been before.

The upside to this was that it was a fast way of getting an idea of the general manner in which the people of this world revered their gods and the way they told their stories. Doing so in exchange for a terribly inefficient way of using her time, however, was... Less than pleasant. Needless to say, the young woman now deeply wished that Kosuzu was here to expedite the process exponentially. Granted, she wouldn't have been able to do much of anything in the world, but being able to simply touch a book to understand its contents would make this job far less troublesome.

After the tenth tome or so had been returned from her hands to the shelves, though, the shrine maiden heard Rayne call her name out from the other side of a bookshelf—and seemingly lucky enough to have discovered what it was that they were seeking. It was... Uncannily convenient, but there was no reason to complain about so fortuitous an occasion.

"Did you?" she asked, poking her head around the corner. "I'd like to take a look to check, just in case."

@DracoLunaris@VitaVitaAR

---

Nieve — City Streets

Despite the speed at which Youmu had approached her—and in so doing had begun with a two-pronged attack to be expected from dual-sword styles—Musashi had wasted no time in parrying the pair of blades with her own. There was a small smirk on her face as a scattering of sparks flew into the air, and the pink-haired woman quickly shifted her form to return the favor. Her twin katanas moved in unison, changing the trajectories of those bearing down upon her to cut through naught but air before slashing forward towards her torso.

"Not bad, but you're wide open——!"

While the two swordswomen continued their duel (and banter, at least in Musashi's case), the smaller girl regarded the woman's response with a rather displeased expression.

"I would certainly hope they wouldn't. What kind of hellhole must the place you lived in be like if fighting people is on the level of saying hello?" she retorted before sighing. "It'd be much better to think about problems logically and dissect them one piece at a time, anyhow. Far easier than fumbling about and fighting anyone who looks vaguely suspicious."

There was a brief moment of silence as she glanced between her new (apparent) conversation partner and the two dueling battle maniacs causing a ruckus on the street.

"...Not that we have any room to talk, I suppose. Gensokyo, was it? The name sounds vaguely Japanese, and your features do match the region... Would it be too much to assume that you might come from an alternate Earth as well? Though I suppose simply asking wouldn't hurt, would it?"

@VitaVitaAR@Raineh Daze

---

Nieve — Embassy

Though he had been fairly reticent about the discussion as a whole, entertaining it insofar as he would a matter of national security, the lilac-haired girl's words left Bren's patience trying—and desperately so, given how she seemed to have an ego larger than the building that they were in. Such self-righteous beliefs were common among sheltered nobility whose parents knew not how to raise a child with the dignity befitting of their station, but given the current situation the minister had little leeway to reprimand the child. With that said, the man's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he watched Anne's arm move and change on a level so fundamentally different from any sense that he was used to that he had to take a moment to right himself. For a moment, the man lost himself in thought about her story and the implications of it all. The whole affair seemed to be something out of some madman's ramblings, but seeing metalwork that was crafted and that moved in such a way to be beyond comprehension...

While illusions could mimic the impossible and inscrutable, it was a different matter altogether when presented with something so uniquely alien instead.

"...Right. I don't believe that anyone could dismiss anything of that nature out of hand," he finally responded after managing to compose himself once more. "I'll go send some people out to confirm what I need to, but at the very least I can recognize something beyond magic when I see it. That being said, I can't exactly go speaking about this matter to just anyone; if word got out about what you just showed me, there'd be no end to our problems."

Bren paused again as he considered all of the information he had been provided up until this point before speaking again.

"Would you mind speaking with a few other people and participating in some tests? I cannot rule out the possibility of deception despite what you have shown me, and if there is any chance of your words being doubted I would like to put them to rest as soon as possible. You are free to refuse, of course, but it would expedite a few things quite considerably... As would further discussions bereft of ego. If you came here with altruistic intentions, after all, I would hate for relationships to be sullied due to a lack of mutual respect and understanding."

Who those words were meant for was quite obvious at this point, but there was a genuine sentiment in the man's heart that such things were true. He could only hope that the woman speaking with him felt the same way, regardless of what her charge might think.

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92

From Realms Beyond — An Isekai Crossover RP (Now Accepting)

Nieve — Embassy

Bren sat in silence as he listened to Anne speak. Though his gaze momentarily flicked towards the pair that had arrived with her once the pink-haired one chastised the child, his focus seemed to remain intact as he seemed to consider what, supposedly, had transpired. Though he knew of many towns in Riltaea, Aventon and Sila were not ones he could so easily place to a location despite their passing familiarity. Once the woman finished speaking her piece, the minister calmly stood up and, after pulling a document from one of the nearby shelves, calmly unfolded it.

A map of the country, as good as any other—bereft of any markings or any indications of more politically-inclined details, of course—would soon be laid out upon the desk as the man slowly traced a path from the capital to the nation's border with Eiderheim. A brief glance around the region there would corroborate the existence of a town by the name of Aventon; from there, tracing a general path towards the capital would also note the presence of Sila en route.

"Hm... An attack positioned towards the capital would be rather concerning, but I believe that any city would be concerned if similar claims were levied against them," the man responded as he returned to his seat. "Never mind how an attack from the north by Eiderheim's elite force would have easily overtaken a frontier town so far from any support. Confirming the attack and the results therein shouldn't be too difficult, assuming we can corroborate those claims. You came here with merchants, yes? I would appreciate it if you could provide information on them so that we can verify your story... Though I suppose that takes lower priority than the other issue at hand."

With that, Bren took a deep breath and looked Anne dead in the eyes.

"If Eiderheim has attacked our nation unprovoked, then we cannot stand idly by. But if you claim that there are swords pointed at our necks, then we can ill afford to fight a war on two fronts. Placing the form of this 'attack' aside, do you have any proof of your claims of a strike towards the capital? While it is straightforward enough to pass proof of an invasion up to His Majesty, to say that there would be some attack or another directed here... Well, rather than uncertainty, it would seem rather obvious that the enemy would want to take the capital, would it not?"

@Izurich@Drifting Pollen@Rezod92