Chapter 4

At the edge of the Mist Lake in Gensokyo, there stands a castle that looks extremely grand.

From the outside, one can see the deep red windows of the castle, but there are not many, as the owner of the place does not like sunlight.

There is a bell tower on the roof, but it only rings at night.

Although the castle looks grand from the outside, the interior space is much larger than what can be seen from the outside.

This is the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

It belongs to Remilia Scarlet.

Her good friend, Patchouli Knowledge, lives in the large library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, while her younger sister, Flandre, is not allowed to leave the mansion.

Young Miss Remilia has recruited many fairies to work as maids in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, and they are all managed by the head maid, Sanae.

The magic library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion is the largest in Gensokyo, but it is not open to the public. Therefore, apart from the black and white rat, Marisa, who often sneaks in, and Yuyuko, who occasionally borrows books in recent years, outsiders do not know what types of books are inside.

After "borrowing" some magic books from here, Yuyuko discovered that the so-called magic books are not ordinary books. They contain magic, and it would be more accurate to call them magical artifacts.

The books do not just describe how to use magic; they also contain secret keys for using magic. Only those with equal or higher intelligence than the writer can see the keys.

The texts used in the magic books include cuneiform from the mythological era, ancient Latin, and ancient floral and bird script. Therefore, when Yuyuko first flipped through these magic books, she had to put in a lot of effort.

Many of the magic books piled up like mountains were written by Patchouli herself, and some were magic books that no one could understand. However, apart from the magic books, the library also contains many other types of books, ranging from recipes for making tomato and egg stir-fry to blueprints for nuclear weapons.

When Yuyuko first discovered this, she was quite surprised.

Today, Patchouli, as usual, stayed in the underground library, sitting quietly at a desk reading a book about an ancient magic array.

Suddenly, her brows furrowed slightly.

She looked up and stared at the void in front of her.

A black crack filled with fierce eyes suddenly appeared there.

A gap.

A handwritten book on the nearest bookshelf flew up and was sucked into the gap.

Clearly, Yuyuko was "borrowing" books again.

"Little Master Yuyuko, why don't you come in and sit down?"

As the gap was about to disappear, Patchouli suddenly spoke.

This was the first time she had caught Yuyuko borrowing books.

The gap, which was about to disappear, paused for a moment and then returned to its original size.

A boy who looked about sixteen years old, with a delicate and beautiful appearance like a doll, jumped out of the gap.

The boy wore a luxurious black robe with gold trim, and his lustrous black hair, which could spread out on the ground like a carpet even when standing, was tied into a bun on top of his head and wrapped around his neck, resembling a delicate black scarf.

Patchouli had seen male beings before, whether human or demon.

But she had never seen a male who could evoke such heartfelt admiration as the one before her.

Yuyuko, Patchouli vaguely remembered his name.

Yuyuko's black eyes also sized up the girl before him, who was actually over a hundred years old, though she looked like a young girl.

Patchouli had long, straight purple hair, with both sides and the ends tied with beautiful ribbons. She wore a round beret with a ruffled brim and a crescent-shaped decoration. Her clothes were similar to a nightgown, with a fluffy and comfortable inner layer with purple and light purple vertical stripes, and an outer layer of a light purple long coat with a ruffled hem.

The girl was very beautiful, though slightly less so than her own older sister, but on par with Ran.

However, the girl's face always carried a faint look of weariness, which, combined with her nightgown-style clothing, made people feel as if they wanted to sleep just by looking at her.

"Miss MuQ, hello."

Yuyuko smiled gently and greeted her.

Patchouli was slightly taken aback; she didn't understand why this young master of the Yuyuko family knew her "MuQ" catchphrase.

"Since the banquet celebrating your birth three years ago, we haven't seen each other, right?" Patchouli gestured for Yuyuko to sit opposite her and then had a nearby fairy serve tea. "Why do I feel like you know me quite well?"

"Since I always come here to borrow books, it's only natural to know a bit about the owner, right?"

Yuyuko took the black tea offered by the fairy and elegantly sipped it.

His brows subtly furrowed.

Compared to the black tea made by Ran, this one was a bit inferior.

Patchouli didn't pay much attention to Yuyuko's reaction but smiled lightly and said sarcastically, "Do you call that borrowing? You should get along well with Marisa."

Marisa, the magic user of Gensokyo, always came to the library to steal books.

Yuyuko was slightly puzzled. From the tone of Patchouli, it seemed she didn't have much good will toward Marisa?

According to the memories of his past life, in the various settings of Gensokko, Patchouli should like Marisa.

But Yuyuko quickly dispelled his doubts. Those settings were just guesses by ordinary people. Now he was truly living in Gensokyo, a real world, so it wasn't strange that there were discrepancies with the settings from his past life.

"At least, I always return the books I borrow, right?"

"Hmph."

Patchouli huffed. She was a kind person, and Yuyuko's demeanor made it hard to dislike him, so she let the matter drop.

Besides, he was Yuyuko's precious younger brother.

That sage of a demon was not someone to be trifled with.

"By the way, why did Miss MuQ call me here?"

Patchouli wrinkled her cute nose and said discontentedly, "My name is Patchouli, not MuQ! You can call me Pachi, but don't call me that strange 'Miss MuQ'!"

"Pachi" was a term of endearment used only by those very close to Patchouli.

"Ah~" Yuyuko found Patchouli's reaction very interesting. "But isn't Miss MuQ more pleasant to the ear?"

Patchouli looked helpless.

Then the girl's eyes sparkled strangely as she asked, "You borrowed a magic book about mental training from me last time, right?"

Yuyuko nodded.

"It seems you tried the methods in it, and... something went wrong?"

Yuyuko's expression became more serious as he looked at Patchouli, who was smiling faintly. "What did you notice, Miss MuQ?"

Patchouli laughed lightly.

"So, don't just randomly practice the things written in magic books. That's why I called you here."

Patchouli casually waved her hand, and a nondescript magic book from a nearby large bookshelf flew out and slowly landed on the desk in front of them.

It was the magic book that Yuyuko had borrowed and returned.

"This book was not written by me, nor did it come from the outside world. I don't even know its true origin."

Patchouli looked at the magic book written in ancient floral and bird script and said slowly.

"This book was brought to the surface by the rabbit called Reisen when she fled from the Moon Capital to the ground. I discovered it and exchanged something with her, adding it to the library's collection."

This magic book came from the Moon Capital?

The Moon Capital should be a place dominated by technology, right?

Looking at the densely written floral and bird script, Yuyuko suddenly had an idea.

According to the knowledge he had from his older sister, the floral and bird script was a divine script used by the ancient deities of China. And in the Moon Capital, the only character related to Chinese deities seemed to be Chang'e?

Could this book have been written by Chang'e?

"So, little master of the Yuyuko family, if you want to know more, you can visit the Eternity Pavilion."

Patchouli looked at the thoughtful Yuyuko with a strange smile.