The next day…
"Mmm!" Marisa did a stretch as we all came out of the inn we slept in. "Those beds in there sure were comfy!"
"They sure were." Reimu agreed. "Feels very different from sleeping on a tatami."
"Not to mention how warm they were!" Cirno threw in. "I didn't even have to use my powers to keep myself warm!"
And as the conversations between the girls went on, I cracked a smile at all their positive comments… until my smile faded to a mixture of bewilderment and worry once I looked at Remilia, who was now carrying a lavender parasol to shield herself from the sun. "Um, are you going to be okay with just a parasol, Remilia?" I addressed her. "Because from what I read, vampires don't do well in the morning sunlight."
"Oh, you don't have to worry." Remilia replied nonchalantly. "The sunlight only weakens me, but it doesn't actually come close to killing me. All I need is some shade and I'll be fine."
"Well… Alright." I guess vampires in Gensokyo are different from the classic ones in literature. "Okay, listen up, everyone…" I got everyone's attention as they all turned to me. "Before we set out, I think we should get some supplies first since we never know what we might encounter in our path, after all. Then, once we're all done, we'll meet back again at the square's gates."
"Ya said it, guv!" Yangus exclaimed, and then turned around to face a stall. "I'll go check out this armor shop stall 'ere." he said as he walked over to it. By the way, I made sure to distribute my total money to each of us yesterday so that way, everyone should have an equal amount that's enough for them to buy something useful if they want to.
"I'll head to the weapon shop." I said to the girls. "So that leaves you girls with the item shop over there." I pointed over to it, which was a stall at the square. "That shop offers many medicinal herbs and antidotal herbs, so make sure to get a bunch of them in case we get severely injured or get poisoned."
"Ah, got it!" Reisen exclaimed excitedly while the other girls merely nodded before they took off. Huh, I wonder why Reisen was so excited… Well, I'll find out later. I needed to head to the weapon shop to hopefully get a better sword for me (because with the so little amount of money I had with me, it was not enough to buy more than one weapon), so I went to the town's upper level and entered the shop.
A large, muscle-bounded man with his face covered by a yellow helmet with horns was the runner of this shop. I went on ahead and started browsing the shop's weapon choices: a Cypress Stick, an Oaken Club (which, amusingly, is the very same one Yangus currently has), a Giant Mallet, a Copper Sword, and a Boomerang. Good! There's a new sword I can buy. I immediately purchased it with the money I had and proceeded to equip it while placing my old Soldier's Sword into my bag, which is apparently bottomless just like Link's pockets. I don't think I'll ever understand this hammerspace logic…
Anyhow, I left the weapon shop and headed over to the square, leaning on the wall next to the gates to wait for the others. Not too long after, I saw the girls running back to me. "We're back!" Aya said.
I smiled. "So, did you get enough herbs?"
"I think we got plenty enough." Reisen replied. "And by the way, I decided to myself that I'll be the one carrying them!"
"Is that so? How come you're so into healing herbs anyway, Reisen?"
"I work as a medicine seller back in our world."
"Ah. That's nice." I said kindly. "Then I'll make sure to let you know if any of us need those herbs." Reisen couldn't help but giggle shyly in response.
"And what did you get from the weapon shop, Haru?" Youmu asked.
"Oh, I got this new sword for me." I replied, tapping its handle. "If I had more money, I could've bought some more additional weapons… but alas, I didn't have enough."
"Oy!" then we heard Yangus' shout as he came running over to us. "Check it out, guv! I got ourselves two shields fer us!" he held out two Leather Shields in front of him.
"Hey, this is great!" I beamed as I took one of the Leather Shields and strapped it onto my back, as Yangus did the same with the other one. "This should provide some decent additional defense for us."
"So, I guess we should be all set." Alice said.
"Indeed." I nodded. "Time to leave!" and with that, we walked out of town.
Immediately, we all met up with Trode and Medea on the southern bridge. "Ah, Haru. I was starting to think you'd got lost!" Trode spoke to me.
"Sorry I took too long, Your Majesty." I replied in apology. "It's just that I and the others here went around to get some supplies."
Trode nodded in understanding. "Right, let's go to the waterfall cave and see if we can find that crystal ball. Medea and I will be right behind you. Away we go!"
"Hooray!" Cirno happily beamed while throwing her arms into the air, and instantly rushed on ahead.
"Hey, hold up!" Reimu exclaimed as she and the rest of the girls went after Cirno. "We're supposed to stay close together!" Meanwhile, the rest of us exchanged surprised glances at that before me and Yangus ran off to catch up with the girls, and then Trode hit the rains to make Medea gallop after us.
Once I and Yangus caught up to them, I quickly reminded them that our destination is to the south and they nodded, and thus began our walk down the dirt road that we followed. While the only things we could see around us were just many trees and small terrain elevations, the world itself was pretty big. And that's just for one region; just so you wait for what you'll see until we set foot on the other regions!
"Well, this place seems pretty peaceful." Marisa said, with her arms casually folded behind her neck.
"Yeah, but there might be a few monsters 'round." Yangus warned. "They love to 'ide from any travelers out 'ere, so keep yer eyes an' ears open."
"Ayayayaya! This is so awesome!" Aya exclaimed, flying around in the air near us while snapping pictures with her camera. "Oh, I can't wait to write an article about this foreign land once we find a way to return home! Heh heh! Eat your heart out, Hatate!"
I sweatdropped playfully. She sure is enjoying this world, isn't she?
"Say, guv…" Yangus got my attention. "Did ya find a new sword to replace that old an' boring one Granddad gave ya?"
"Hey!" Trode exclaimed offendedly. "I'll have you know that it was the only weapon in good condition in the castle before Dhoulmagus ruined it! All the remaining weapons were destroyed by the thorns and rubble, so be grateful!" But Yangus just ignored him and instead waited for my answer, as I sighed and addressed Trode:
"I know that, Trode… but as much as I appreciate the weapon you gave me, Yangus is right. I do need a new sword, and maybe some new weapons, to fight stronger monsters with. That Soldier's Sword is the one low-ranking guards like me use for training only, so it's not really that strong. Besides, who knows when the sword's gonna break on me during one of these battles?" Then I smirked. "And that's why I bought this new Copper Sword for me in the weapon shop. Of course, copper still isn't a very strong material, but it should be decent enough for now."
"Aye, yer right, guv." Yangus smirked back, before sighing, "But it seems like we're still on a tight budget, though."
True… because as far as I'm concerned, Trode didn't bring any money from Trodain before we left. I guess now I know how it's like to live as an almost poor commoner, huh? I sure did not want that for myself, obviously, so I couldn't wait to break the curse so that everything would go back to normal the way it was. Soon, we approached a branching path with a sign in the middle that said "Checkpoint to the left, Waterfall to the right," and knowing this we instantly took the right path, as we could see a tall mountain with many waterfalls gushing out from its sides, thus indicating that we were going the right way.
"Wait… I just heard something!" Reisen suddenly spoke up, making us stop in our tracks alarmed.
"Where did the sound come from, Reisen?" Youmu asked, reaching for the handle of her katana on her back.
"Right there!" Reisen pointed over to some tall tufts of grass as we all glared at them… and a Slime and two Bunicorns jumped out.
"Oh, it's just another Slime… and two Bunicorns." I said.
Cue me and Yangus easily taking them down. However, right after both monsters' defeat, I could feel something coursing through my veins… I must have gained enough experience to learn my first ever spell out of all the ones I know now. But here's the thing: when anyone in this world gains experience to learn a new spell, they never know which spell is it that they just learned, so how do they get to know it? They just have to guess. Yes, guess. So you could imagine how I reacted when I got to learn incredibly powerful spells I have now, such as Magic Burst.
"Well that was… underwhelming." Remilia remarked, and then we continued on… only to be stopped again by a single Bunicorn this time in the middle of the road. "Oh, what now!?"
"Just a single Bunicorn, this time? This should be easy." Yangus said, he and I getting ready… but then the Bunicorn whistled loudly, and all of a sudden… a huge mob of different monsters jumped out of the trees and bushes nearby to confront us. The monsters contained in that mob consisted of Slimes, Bunicorns, Candy Cats, Lipses, Firespirits, Bubble Slimes, Capsichums and Satyrs.