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This goes a lot deeper than I thought.
Yeah, and the path keeps growing wider.
It's so dark, I can barely see my hand in front of my face. Lady Patchouli, I'm scared.
Hey! That's my arm! Watch the personal space there!
You're scared because she's going in completely blind, aren't you?
No, Lady Patchouli, that's not what I meant!
Star, are we any closer to that presence yet?
We'll reach it soon. It's smaller than I thought.
Caw!
Aiee!
Caw.
Wait a minute, that's just a youkai crow!
This must have been the presence you were sensing.
Yes, um, I think so. That sure isn't Youmu.
It's okay, we didn't have our hopes up.
...
Well, we cleared that up. What now? We're already pretty far in, so how about we keep pressing on and see what else is in this cave?
Wait a minute. We're supposed to be dealing with an incident!
Yeah, but it'd be a real waste to just turn around and go back. We've lost track of Youmu anyway, so why not see if we can get some other payoff?
But we don't know how far this cave goes.
The way it's been going, we could end up in a giant mole's nest, or on the other side of the world.
It's not inconceivable.
Patchy?!
Not the moles. There's an underground world below our own. It's called the Underworld. I've read that it's a place of banishment for all of the dangerous youkai that are too hated to live on the surface.
Wow, really? I was only kidding.
But I've never heard of any place like that.
Most people wouldn't. It was very long ago that entrance into the Underworld was forbidden.
The Underworld youkai must stay underground, and in return, the surface youkai are not allowed to meddle there. That was the agreement reached between the youkai sage and the Underworld youkai.
Oh yeah, I think I remember hearing about that. I'd totally forgotten.
Wow. No one's allowed to come or go? What a strict agreement. I hardly ever hear about youkai fighting amongst each other, so why would they need to do that?
It's peaceful now, but there used to be a lot of youkai conflicts. It was the efforts of the sage and the others that resolved that, by segregating their homes.
Huh. That's kind of depressing.
But we don't know for sure that this is really the Underworld. Are there any signs like, "Past this point is the Underworld"?
Regarding that... I have no idea.
The screen shakes. I guess everyone face faulted?
Oh, come on!
Easy, now. That part wasn't in the books, I imagine. It looks like we won't know for sure until we see for ourselves.
That makes sense. And this is all just assumptions on our part.
Essentially, if we want any information, the only way to get it is to continue onward.
If we keep going, we should find something valuable. If nothing else, it'll be an adventure!
It's like we're in Indy-Anna Jones and the Secret Underworld Treasure!
Hokuto posted:
I can't really justify pop culture references in Gensokyo, but then again, neither can the original writers...
Yeesh. Now I'd feel like a jerk for saying no.
Yes, quite. Let's just avoid any detours, please. And if we find nothing promising, we leave immediately. Agreed?
Fine, fine. Let's skip to the stairs and get this adventure going!
She's referring to Mystery Dungeon games, if you don't know what she means by stairs.
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Oho, so you've stopped the game. Thanks for your trouble.
I'm surprised you've kept playing in that condition. Just looking at you makes me think of when I was young...
...Oh my, I'm sorry for bringing up something so gloomy. You don't need to be sympathetic.
Well, I'll see you again.