Scarlet Mist: Side Magic

Marisa was flying on her broom towards the house of a certain magician.

Flying high up in the sky, Marisa got lost in thoughts about the situation. First, she saw Rin dash down the shrine faster than any human could run. Then Reimu set off at maximum velocity in the other direction.

Seeing her two friends react like that was a significant cause for concern. Especially since both of them were people that usually kept their calm.

"Ah, geez! Couldn't you two have said something before you set out?!"

It was also a big point of frustration for the magician since she didn't know what was currently happening in Gensokyo.

Well, no point in complaining. It's not going to get me anywhere.

In times like these, it's better to take things into my own hands and investigate the events myself.

First stop, Alice Margatroid!

An acquaintance of mine and my neighbor. Though, the word "neighbor" was a bit of a stretch.

You see, I live in the Forest of Magic, a place with a natural abundance of magical energy thanks to all the kinds of mushrooms that grow here.

Thanks to that, Witches, Magicians, and the like, including me, would more often than not settle here.

The forest is big. Very big, to say the least. So, Alice Margatroid is the next person living in my general area, making her my neighbor.

But despite Alice being my next neighbor, our houses were still quite a distance away.

Not that it made any difference to me.

After all, it wasn't as if magicians were an abundant Youkai species. In my long time living by myself in the Forest of Magic, she was one of the few people I walked across here.

Even if the Forest of Magic is the perfect habitat to learn about magic, it's not as if many people have the talent to do it.

Magic was not something meant for everyone. Pure talent isn't going to cut it.

Well, it depends. If you are a monstrous prodigy, you could maybe achieve learning a couple of simple spells.

But in the first place, learning magic means being obsessed.

Obsessed about your research, your goal, dedicated to a cause to the point where you'll forget everything and everyone around you.

In the first place, for a magician, only their research meant something to them.

Everything else is second or less priority.

It's easy for them to forget the passage of time and immerse themselves in their research, and voila, a week or month passed like it meant nothing.

Because that is a common occurrence in the magic community, it meant that to count as a true magician, one had to give up their humanity and turn into a Youkai.

That is achieved in two steps. Learning the spells of "Abandon Food" and "Abandon Worms."

For a human's first step to count as a full-fledged magician, they'll learn how to abandon their need for food, as magic power is the only thing they need to sustain themselves.

Some people are lucky enough, or unlucky, depending on their circumstances, to be born with the trait of being able to sustain themselves on mana instead of food.

A natural-born youkai magician.

Regardless if you are born a magician or become one after learning to use the "Abandon Food" spell, both will need to comprehend to use the "Abandon Worms" spell to count as a full-fledged magician.

As for what the "Abandon Worms" spell is...

It's magic to halt your aging and essentially gain immortality.

After all, needing to stop researching just because you are hungry or dying is annoying.

As for me?

I neither learned how to abandon food nor worms. I am fully and 100% just an ordinary human.

Not that full-fledged magicians are that much different from normal humans like me.

Their only difference is that they are built for research, nothing else.

Hell. Since magicians tend to isolate themselves in their homes the entire time, researching all kinds of things, including toxic, poisonous, acidic, basic, or even radioactive elements, some tend to be much frailer than ordinary humans.

Hmm?

You are wondering how I can use magic, despite being nothing more than an ordinary human?

Hehe, da ze~☆.

I never said that magic was exclusive to just magicians. While the need for food or eventually dying is annoying, nobody will stop you from obsessing over magic.

After all, only their own research is of interest to a true magician. Why should they be concerned about an ordinary human as obsessed with magic as them?

Unless that human is the topic of their research, of course.

Despite that, that doesn't mean that they cut themselves completely off from their surroundings.

I am sure that if they could, they surely would do so in a heartbeat.

Still, their home didn't contain the world.

Meaning that once they don't have something available in their home, they inevitably take a step out of it.

That is how I met Alice one day.

Alice's research, or obsession, is to develop a fully autonomous doll equipped with everything, including human emotion.

Something impossible to achieve if she stayed holed up in her home.

Despite Alice being an obsessed doll otaku, she is still a full-fledged magician.

Because of that, it almost felt natural to go to her first to ask her magic-related questions that were beyond my scope of understanding.

So, arriving at my acquaintances' home, I knocked at her door and invited myself in as if it was natural.

"Yo, Alice, da ze~☆."

Opening Alice's door, a magic circle revealed itself, firing a laser at me.

...!

"What in the seven colors!"

Barely being able to react, I duck under the laser beam, narrowly avoiding getting my witch hat damaged.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

"Isn't it only natural to shoot a trespassing thief inside your home?"

"Rude! Today I am here as a guest!"

As Alice heard my declaration, she looked at me with suspicion. It seemed she was thinking about whether to trust my words or not.

I was ready to declare a Spellcard duel if necessary. So, a few tense moments passed before Alice sighed and deactivated the magic circle.

"You are quite shameless to say that, even though you still didn't return some of the books you stole from me."

"Come on, I didn't steal them. I am just borrowing them until the day I die."

Alice glared at me when I made that statement. It seems she wasn't amused.

"You can hardly call it borrowing if you decide to keep it until the day you die."

"What's the harm in that? It's not as if your youkai lifespan wouldn't outlive my human one, da ze~☆."

Eyes full of doubt gazed back at me, telling me this wasn't about that.

"Sigh, let's not talk about such things. Why have you come to visit me today?"

Phew. Now that Alice was more relaxed, I made myself at home.

"Can't I just visit a friend for fun?"

"You can, but you are hardly the kind of person who would visit someone unless you want something from them."

"What about chasing my boredom away?"

For a moment, Alice stopped preparing tea. Looking at me for a moment as if she tried to gage me.

"Touché, you are indeed the kind of person who would bother others to relieve their boredom."

Why did that sound hurtful when it came from her mouth?

"Though, I doubt that this particular visit's purpose is to chase away your boredom. Marisa Kirisame, for what reason did you visit me today?"

While Alice finally poured some tea into my cup, I couldn't help but feel slightly intimidated by her gracious smile.

Taking the cup of freshly brewed tea, I took a sip from it. It was Camomile tea, how plain.

Maybe in the beginning, Marisa might not have known why Reimu and Rin took off without a word, but it wasn't a short time Marisa was flying in the air.

After looking at Gensokyo from high above, it was plain as day why Rin and Reimu were worried.

"Alice, what can you tell me about this Scarlet Mist?"

As Alice finally finished pouring all the tea, she sat down on the opposite side of the table, taking a sip from the tea herself.

"About the Scarlet Mist? The answer is plain."

Swallowing down my saliva, I was anticipating the answer from the seven-colored puppeteer.

"Not much."

I fell down from my chair as I heard that answer.

"You can't be serious!"

"I mean, what did you expect me to say? The mist has been spreading for less than an hour now. If you asked me, that's not a lot of time to conduct research on it."

Her words carried some truth to it. One hour was indeed not enough time to extensively research the mist.

Still...

"The phrase "not much" implies that you know something about the mist. Can you at least tell me what you found out? I doubt that you would have done nothing all the time when that ominous mist is ruining the atmosphere, and every piece of information I can get my hands on would help."

As Alice set her cup of tea down, her serious expression made me worry about what she found out.

"I am sure you have found this out yourself, but the Scarlet Mist isn't a natural occurrence, but an artificial one. Whoever created it must have been quite strong. Spreading this much magical energy over an area as big as Gensokyo obviously means the perpetrator is quite powerful. Not to mention that the magical energy in the mist isn't thin at all. I would even say it's quite dense."

I nodded as Alice recounted everything she found out, adding any new information to my mental checklist.

"Our information pretty much completely overlaps at this point. Anything else you figured out?"

Alice stroked her chin, contemplating for a moment.

"Inhaling the mist isn't recommended, but for people who have magic resistance like me, it's mostly harmless. Any poor soul caught in the mist's symptoms would experience how it feels to get poisoned by the Belladonna flower."

Phew. So, that means the mist won't have much effect on me. Wait, what did Alice say?

"How do you know that the symptoms of the mist are like Belladonna poisoning?"

Alice just gave me a gentle smile.

"I see. Thanks for the help, Alice, da ze~☆. I am going to take a look at other places now. Take care!"

Leaving my neighbor's house, I set out to my own home to investigate the mist.

"Fufufu~"

"Hahaha~"

Laughter?

"What is a lone human doing this deep in the forest?"

"Aren't they scared? Aren't they reckless?"

Good grief, dealing with an upset Alice was enough work for me today, and now some weak bug-like Youkai decided to bother me like this?

"If they are alone..."

"...they should learn the consequences of roaming around the forest."

What a bother.

Lifting my hand up, I held out my index finger.

"What are they doing?"

"Is that..."

"...a one?"

"One what? Second?"

As these Youkai still tried to make heads and tails of my actions, I swiped my hand down in one fluid motion.

*Swoosh, Zweep*

"Huh?"

Not realizing what hit him, a chunk of flesh was gouged out of the arm of one of the Youkai.

"Narrow Spark."

I don't enjoy bullying Youkai, but I can't help it if they approach me in that manner. Especially if it's in my territory.

Still, I'll let them off for now. Extermination is more Reimu's thing. I am the kind of person who enjoys more peaceful solutions.

*Zwoop*

That is, for people that enjoy peace for themselves.

"Hoh~, quite aggressive today, aren't we, da ze~☆?"

Blowing a chunk out of their body would usually have been enough to scare them away.

But for some reason, today was the day they didn't want to back down.

Could it be...

...the Scarlet Mist?!

"Who would have thought that one effect of this mist would be lunacy. Alright, I, Marisa Kirisame, will entertain you for today!"

How annoying, but there isn't really much I can do. If I were to run, these annoying Youkai would chase after me and sooner or later find my dwelling.

So, let me teach you the meaning of regret by showing you my magic, that's specialized in firepower.

...

After a long and grueling battle, my clothes were drenched in blood and sweat as I dragged my body into my home.

As I opened the door, the sweet stench of various mushrooms filled the air, accompanied by all kinds of witch tools strewn all over the ground.

"Home is where it's at. Finally, home sweet home."

First order of business: Cleaning my bloody clothes.

Undressing my witch attire, I first wrung my clothes out to extract the Youkai blood from them. It might be mixed with other bodily liquids, but that's a problem I'll deal with later.

"Ugh, where did I leave that grimoire about water spells again?"

Moments like this make me regret that I am leaving my house in disarray every time, but life is too short to clean up!

Looking through the piles of stuff in my home took a while, but in the end, I never found the grimoire I was searching for.

"Gah! Fine, I get water from the river then!"

Leaving my house in my underwear, I quickly fetched water from the river, making sure that nobody saw me walk outside in only underwear.

Taking out my bucket and washboard, I scrubbed the remaining blood out of my clothes and then hung them to dry in the sun...

"The sun isn't out, is it?"

I forgot, for a moment, that the Scarlet Mist slowly covered the sky and the sun. There was no sun to dry my clothes.

...

Drying is the process of removing any liquid by changing its physical state by evaporation.

Evaporation is a type of vaporization where the surface of a liquid changes into a gas state.

It's influenced by the concentration of the evaporated substance in the air and airflow. But for evaporation, especially in my case, the inner-molecular forces play a more significant role. Things like pressure, surface area, and temperature.

Changing the atmospheric pressure isn't possible with my available tools. The surface area was already as big as it could be. So, I was only left with the temperature as my variable.

As for the other two...

"That begs the question of what components the Scarlet Mist consists of. Regular mist is mainly made out of water. If there is already a lot of water in the air, the water in my clothes can't diffuse into it. Drying clothes in that condition would be almost pointless. As for airflow, keeping a stable flow of air for a long time would be difficult, especially since I don't have much experience manipulating air."

Thinking deeply about it, drying my clothes looped back to the question of the scarlet mist.

Mainly the topic of what it was that was plaguing Gensokyo.

"Alice told me that the mist contains high amounts of magical energy, and I'd have to agree with her. Right now, the atmospheric mana density is well above the normal measurements. It's to the point where it wouldn't be unusual for someone to experience mana poisoning, as their bodies aren't adapted to mana. But still, this mist is more than just magical energy, and based on the humidity, it doesn't feel like water...!

I sighed. What a bother this was.

In the first place, my obsession was with star magic and having to conduct research on a topic I didn't really enjoy...

To say the least, it was a pain in the ass.

Not that I had much of a choice.

Gathering my research equipment, I collected samples of the Scarlet Mist.

Then after I gathered the mist, I separated it from the atmosphere's components to isolate it from the air.

Removing the nitrogen, oxygen, argon, and carbon dioxide from the sample, I was left with pure scarlet mist within a negligible error rate.

What was left in the process was a vial filled with a scarlet substance of unknown origin.

Though, its origin won't stay unknown for long with me here.

Still, all that work helped me remove one uncertainty.

"I don't see any traces of dihydrogen monoxide in that solid!"

Running out of my house, I gathered wood to start a fire below my clothes to dry them.

Sometimes, my genius scares me.

This was probably one of the best ideas I had. I wonder why nobody before me had this brilliant idea...

...

I know what you are thinking.

You probably think, "Haha, Marisa has set her clothes on fire." To which I can only reply that you couldn't be more wrong.

But if that isn't the problem, what else could have gone wrong?

The answer is simple if you think about it for a second.

Do you want to know?

Alright. Then I'll tell you.

What I did was the equivalent of putting my clothes in a smoker grill.

I essentially just put my clothes through an intense smoking session. Resulting in a deep scent of smoke penetrating my entire outfit. My clothes smelled like a used chimney now!

Goddammit! Why did I think using fire to dry my clothes was a good idea?

Sigh.

Not that there is any use crying over spilled milk. At least my clothes are dry now.

With that fiasco resolved, my focus returned to a more crucial topic. That was the Scarlet Mist incident.

A good day or two has passed since Rin and Reimu set out in such a hurry, and with each passing second, I understand the reasons behind the urgency of their actions a bit more.

Gensokyo is experiencing an incident of magnitude we haven't experienced in a long time.

An incident that I am going to temporarily dub the "Scarlet Mist Incident," where large amounts of red mist were spreading through the entirety of Gensokyo, covering both the earth and the sky.

The aforementioned mist contained an unknown substance, which I'll temporarily name "Substance Scarlet."

At its core, Substance Scarlet is just pure, concentrated mana of an unknown, powerful Youkai, and while spreading some of your magical energy around wasn't a crime worth calling an incident, the problem was with the amount of magical energy that was released into the atmosphere.

Around 10 grams of pure mana is floating around 1 kilogram of air. This is 100 times the amount the human body is used to.

Because of the increased atmospheric mana, people will experience severe mana poisoning if exposed to the scarlet mist for an extended period.

Not to mention that magical energy this dense stimulated the average Youkai and Fairy, leading them to rampage more frequently.

Heh. No wonder why some random weak Youkai's attacked me out of nowhere.

This must have been the reason. Still, this wasn't all there was to the incident.

Concentrated mana would usually appear a deep blue if gathered, yet Substance Scarlet was obviously...

...colored Scarlet.

Which meant that what was contained in the mist wasn't only energy. There was more to it. It was obvious.

It had to be since the increased agitation of the Youkai wasn't the result of just mana.

Something in Substance Scarlet leads to them developing some form of mania since no creature wouldn't be intimidated of...

*Zwoop*

...me blowing a huge hole through their body.

Yet, they continue to attack me without fear.

Putting down my glasses, I sighed deeply from the very depths of my soul.

"Damn. No wonder Rin and Reimu reacted the way they did. Gensokyo is in grave danger."

Rampaging Youkai. Poisoned humans.

With those two components, it was only a question of time before the inevitable collapse of Gensokyo's foundation.

"Shit, what am I doing? Sitting around and researching. Now isn't the time for that!"

Taking my trusty broom and some of my various magical tools, I set out again to help solve this incident.

I know that resolving incidents is Reimu's job, but knowing what is at stake, I couldn't sit still!

Through my broom into the air, I took the position to jump onto it before taking off high into the sky again.

Feeling the cool night's air brush against my face, I felt at peace.

Magic was incredible.

Creating miracles that weren't attainable. Making the impossible possible.

Even something simple like flying was out of reach for humans. But thanks to magic, I can look at the essence of the world and grasp vague concepts to make them a reality.

I smiled.

With Reimu and me working on this incident, it will be over before we know it!

Grasping my trusty broom firmly with both my hand, I accelerated to the speed of sound.

Feeling the wind pressure build up on my face, I activated some magic formulas to offset the effects of wind resistance to gain some additional speed.

"Od consumption within expected parameters. Wind resistance is negligible. Speed is around 343 meters per second. The sky is unclear, thanks to the Scarlet Mist. Adjusting speed, slowing down to 300, 250, down to 200 meters per second. The first destination is, Kourindou."

I made an order for Kourin to upgrade my most treasured possession. Now would be the perfect moment for him to finish the repairs and maintenance of it.

Just that thing, just having my biggest trump card, would help me close the gap between me and Reimu.

"Marisa, you can't rush these kinds of things. Magical implements have the tendency to be complicated to maintain and repair. If it's not done yet, it's not done."

"But Kourin! Can't you see the red mist outside! I need it now and not later!"

The short-sighted man in front of me, inspecting my magical tool with keen eyes and dexterous hands, was Kourin.

He looked at me as if he was looking at an impatient child that needed an explanation.

"I am well aware of the mist outside. While I am short-sighted, I am not blind. Marisa, I'd like to return your requested item, as much as you want it back, but I can't. It's not finished."

"Then hurry!"

He just gave me a wry smile.

"Give me a day, then it's done."

"It's a promise then, da ze~☆!"

Kourin gave me a surprised look as if some words got stuck in his throat. It seemed he wanted to say something before giving up and returning to work on my requested item.

A day.

Only one more day and I could be of help to Reimu.

"NO! Don't come any closer!"

...!

What was that scream?

Immediately leaving Kourin's shop, I rushed toward the location of the scream on my broom.

Hearing the distressed voice of a maiden, I prepared my magic in advance.

"What are you doing...? Please stop... I am not tasty, you know?"

Running through the dense tree formation of the Forest of Magic, I ignored the branches brushing against my skin, scratching it up.

You might wonder why I didn't take off into the air to search for the location. But as already mentioned, the trees were standing too dense together. I would miss them if I searched in the sky.

"I don't want to... I'm scared..."

Hearing the desperate voice, I pushed my body, hoping I arrive before it was too late.

"Somebody... save me... Save me, Cir-"

"Hold it right there!"

Arriving in a sparse clearing, I met with the sight of six humanoid spirits ganging up on a little fairy with short green hair wearing a yellow ribbon.

All of them grabbing and holding onto various parts of her body. Tears, both kinds, were visible on her.

Tears ran down her dimming eyes as she slowly submitted to her fate, and tears on her blue dress and golden wings as the wraiths pulled too hard on them.

In a fit of disgust, stars started raining down that night.

"You're in a real tight spot, huh? Surrounded by wraiths, bullying a lone fairy like you... But you can relax now. The great Marisa Kirisame is here!"

Playing the hero. There weren't many opportunities for me to play that role, especially since it's Reimu's job to save the day.

"There's nothing to be afraid of anymore!"

But man, did it feel great to be the protagonist!

"I am the hero of the Forest of Magic, Marisa Kirisame!"