The afterlife blew up Gensokyo

Of course, this is in comparison.

To open a precise passage to another world, unless you have the exact coordinates of that world, you can only rely on sheer luck to find a world through countless repetitions, and the probability is extremely low.

"...It was opened once before."

After a moment of silence, Yagokoro Eirin spoke quietly.

"A thousand years ago, the Lunar Capital invaded that world. The war lasted for a year and three months and ended in the defeat of the Lunar Capital... That was when we first witnessed the power of science."

"You lost?"

Shi Bai raised an eyebrow.

"There are never any winners in war, especially when we are the shameful aggressors."

Just like in the bamboo forest before, Yagokoro Eirin stood with her head down in front of Shibai, who was sitting in a chair, her expression extremely gloomy.

"I originally thought that crushing defeat would teach the others in the Moon Capital a lesson, but afterwards, the Moon Capital's development began to evolve in the direction I least wanted to see. More than a thousand years have passed, enough time for the Moon Capital's higher-ups to erase the memory of that disgraceful and failed war of aggression. Now, very few people know about that shameful history, including my two students, Yorihime and Toyohime..."

Yagokoro Eirin closed her eyes with a hint of pain.

"But I know that when the time is right, they will launch another war of aggression against that world, and I will be powerless to stop it from happening."

Shi Bai noticed Yagokoro Eirin's self-description in this passage. She had completely separated herself from the Lunar Capital and referred to others as high-ranking officials of the Lunar Capital.

"So, over the years, the Moon Capital's rapid development in technology is driven by the idea of ​​learning from the barbarians to subdue them?"

Shi Bai leaned back in his chair, his face expressionless.

"Most of the scientific foundations here in the Lunar Capital are actually plundered from that world, right? I thought you guys had all figured out how to use science on your own without any formal training..."

"...That's right, these are all shameful spoils of war obtained during the war of aggression."

Like a child who has done something wrong, Yagokoro Eirin lowered her head and answered softly.

"Perhaps I shouldn't have chosen to leave in the first place... I've thought about it for a long time over the years, but in the end I realized that the most carefree and happy years of my life were the years when I lived in the bamboo forest with my teacher."

What is your current situation?

Without responding to Eirin Yagokoro's words, Shi Bai shifted his posture in the chair and asked his student, who looked like she had made a serious mistake and was waiting for the teacher's punishment.

"You are the Sage of the Moon, a revered figure in the Moon Capital known as the Mind of the Moon. As for your opinion, shouldn't Tsukiyo have to listen to it?"

"If she had truly listened to my advice, then there wouldn't have been that year-long war of aggression. Because of my passive attitude, I was ostracized by the higher-ups of the Moon Capital. The Sage of the Moon? After witnessing the devastating battlefield of that invasion, I no longer have any attachment to that title."

Eirin Yagokoro gave a self-deprecating smile.

"I went into seclusion because I loathed war, hoping to find a solution. After painstakingly building the Lunar Capital from scratch, I thought the war was over, but I never imagined that the so-called war had only just begun..."

"It's quite ironic."

Nodding, Shi Bai summarized his student's words.

"But you didn't choose to leave after that, which means you still have feelings for Lunar Capital, right? Why do you suddenly want to leave now?"

"...I watched the Moon Capital being built with my own eyes, and I love this place more than anyone else, but this place is no longer suitable for me."

After a brief silence, Eirin Yagokoro answered.

"The two students I took in have fully matured. They have grown to the point where they can replace me as the head of the month... Now is the best time for me to leave."

"Um... one last question."

After thinking for a moment, Shi Bai solemnly held up one finger in front of him.

Do you know the legendary NEET princess, Houraisan Kaguya?

........................................................................

"Could a world with highly advanced science be the world where Professor Strawberry Okazaki Yumemi lives?"

After Yagokoro Eirin left temporarily, Shi Bai sat with his arms crossed in a chair in the laboratory, looking thoughtful, and began to digest what Yagokoro Eirin had said earlier.

In his memory, the only world he knew that possessed scientific power, the Lunar Capital, was the one where Okazaki Yumemi lived, which was governed by the "Academy."

In Okazaki Yumemi's world, the power of science has reached its peak. All forces, such as gravity, electromagnetism, and interatomic forces, can be solved by a "unified theory" that can explain all known forces in the world, truly demonstrating what it means for science to be power.

Perhaps the organization "The Academy" was spontaneously created because of the invasion of the Lunar Capital?

Shi Bai felt that this question needed further investigation.

P.S.: I received a lot of criticism, so I'm adding an extra chapter.

Chapter Nine: The City of the Moon

Some things may seem illogical at first glance, but upon closer examination, they are actually quite predictable.

Compared to the lush and green land, the barren moon is naturally much less appealing. Would the gods, led by Tsukiyo, really be willing to stay in the lunar capital forever?

It's not necessarily true.

Rather than risking returning to the surface and becoming tainted, invading a completely new world is undoubtedly a better approach.

The shift from the mysterious to the scientific study must have involved certain transformations. If the Lunar Capital did indeed launch an invasion of other worlds a thousand years ago, then some things can be explained.

So he found it strange that the Moon Capital, which clearly had no enemies on the surface, had such a strong military reserve and was actively training combat Jade Rabbits. Now that he thought about it, they were probably preparing to launch a counterattack against that world.

—Here I'd like to specifically tag a certain deserter veteran of the Lunar War.

Eirin Yagokoro left the ground to avoid the potential war, but in the end, she ended up back where she started. No wonder she was so disappointed with the Lunar Capital.

Just as Einstein proposed the theory of relativity for the development of physics, not to build the atomic bomb, she learned medicine from her teacher to heal the sick and save lives, not to use it on the battlefield of invasion, which was destined to be evil. This completely contradicted her original intention when she assisted in building the Lunar Capital.

She could have left a long time ago, but for some reason she had to stay. After all, Moon City was a place she had truly poured her heart and soul into building. It wasn't so easy to just give it up so easily.

You should know that there are many sages in the Lunar Capital, but there is only one Moon Mind.

For many years, Eirin Yagokoro had been teaching and nurturing her successors. After her two students, Toyohime Watatsuki and Yorihime Watatsuki, had grown to a level high enough to replace her role in the Lunar Capital, Eirin Yagokoro once again had the thought of leaving.

If she wants to leave the Lunar Capital, no one can stop her. After all, the Lunar Capital was built under her guidance, and no one knows this place better than her.

But what happens after she leaves? Where can she go after leaving the Lunar Capital?

Because of this problem, she was confused for a long time. Looking back, she realized that the most relaxed moment was the short time she spent in the bamboo forest.

Hundreds of years ago, she had secretly returned to the ground and gone to the bamboo forest, but it had become a ruin, deserted and overgrown with weeds that were half a person tall, and some dark places were even covered with moss.

She had considered searching for her teacher, but the world is vast and complex; in the end, the search would only lead to nothing.

Until one day, a strange and powerful being appeared silently before her. The being called himself Pure Fox and then made a small deal with her...

Thinking of this, Yagokoro Eirin secretly glanced at her teacher beside her. At that moment, someone was looking at a long black trench coat that Yagokoro Eirin had brought over with a conflicted expression.

"Are you sure no one will notice if I wear this? Actually, all I need to do is simply conceal my body, right?"

"This is just to be on the safe side. After all, even I would be punished for bringing outsiders to the Lunar Capital without permission. Besides, your situation is so special, teacher..."

Eirin Yagokoro looked apologetic.

“This garment was specially made for this situation in recent decades. It can effectively suppress the so-called ‘filth’ and ‘sin’ in your body, teacher. It is one of my research results.”

"No, I just think it would be best to wear a white mask with this outfit, so I might be able to cosplay as the Black Reaper, Lee Shunsuke..."

As he put on the black trench coat specially made by Yagokoro Eirin, Shi Bai made some pointless complaints.

"Are outsiders absolutely not allowed to enter? In all these years, has no one ever entered the Moon Capital?"

"No, actually, there are still unexpected events."

After thinking for a moment, Eirin Yagokoro replied.

"About a hundred or two hundred years ago, a human on the ground accidentally entered the Lunar Capital through a passage that occurred with extremely low probability. In fact, intruders like this, who appeared by accident, should have been eliminated immediately. However, because my student, Watatsuki Toyohime, was curious about the ground, she secretly hid that human in her house without telling me."

"More than two hundred years ago... that human should have died by now, right?"

While adjusting his clothes, Shi Bai appeared slightly curious.

If we consider ordinary humans who went to the Moon Capital at that time... it would probably be Mizueurajimako? She is the prototype of Kabashima Taro, who went to the Dragon Palace in the legends that have been passed down in Japan in later generations.

"No, that human is probably still hibernating in the hibernation pod. After he has been asleep for 300 years, Toyohime will send him back to the surface."

Yagi Eirin shook his head.

"Under Toyohime's protection, that human stayed in the Moon Capital for three years without being discovered. The human also didn't realize anything was wrong and mistakenly thought he was a guest in the Dragon Palace. It wasn't until the human started clamoring to go home that Toyohime couldn't hide it anymore and told me about it, and that's when the truth came out."

"Hibernation pods... Speaking of that war of aggression, just how much stuff did your Lunar Capital plunder from that world? You even got your hands on artificial hibernation technology?"

Rolling his eyes, Shi Bai, who had precisely caught a certain word in Yagokoro Eirin's words, couldn't help but feel somewhat speechless.

"So that human is still asleep in the hibernation pod?"

"...That's right."

After a moment of silence, Eirin Yagokoro nodded.

“After three hundred years, he will be returned to the ground. However, three hundred years is enough time for an ordinary human to completely destroy his life. Even if he can return to the ground, everything will have changed... Teacher, do you think I did something wrong?”

"If you believe you are right, then you are definitely right. There is no need for beings like us to care too much about the opinions of others. Why should we be bound by those common sense rules?"

After yawning, Shi Bai, who had changed into a long black trench coat, leaned back in the chair.

"Just like humans don't really care about ants on the roadside, you at least took care of their lives, didn't you? Someone like him, who came here illegally, would definitely die if he were discovered. Actually, he was already sentenced to death when he first came to the Lunar Capital by accident, but he was saved by your student. Although there was a bit of curiosity involved... your student is naturally as gentle as you."

"Gentle?"

With what seemed like a slight sigh, Eirin Yagokoro spoke.

"Teacher, all the necessary equipment and preparations have been arranged. However, the opening date of that place is a month from now. In the meantime, I'm sorry to trouble you to stay at my place."

"This question is not important. I don't mind if you make me stay here for a month. But before that, I have a question to ask you."

Shi Bai waved his hand casually and looked directly into Yagokoro Eirin's eyes.

"Are you really confident about this? Forcibly stripping me of the curses and original sins that I bear from the world... If it's not possible, there's no need to force it. After all these years, to be honest, I've gotten used to it, and these things don't really have any impact on me."

"Habit is one thing, but solving it is another."

Yagokoro Eirin shook her head firmly.

"Even if you're used to it, if you could get rid of those things, you'd feel much more relaxed, right? After all, carrying such a heavy burden all the time would be tiring."

"........."

After staring into the other person's eyes for a while, Shi Bai suddenly laughed.

"Thank you so much, Yonglin."

..................................................................

Long ago, when he and Ibaraki Kasen set off together from that bamboo forest on a trip, perhaps out of some inexplicable expectation, he left something on the table in his room as the final test for Yagokoro Eirin.

If Eirin Yagokoro can really find a way to solve these problems for him, then he will feel much more at ease. If Eirin Yagokoro can't solve the problem, then he won't lose anything.

In fact, his physical condition had already been quite bad since the moment he was awakened by Eirin Yagokoro. The phrase "beset by internal and external troubles" would be the most fitting description.

Internally, his spirit constantly needs to suppress those bizarre beings, like evil gods, who are sometimes white and sometimes evil, which he has not been able to seal away one by one to the lowest level of his consciousness. Externally, he also has to constantly bear the curses and so-called original sins imposed on him by those worlds, as well as the things that he, as an immortal, must bear.

There is no such thing as getting something for nothing in this world. When you gain something, you often have to lose something else.

Balance exists in all things.

To use a more understandable example, the things he carries on his back are like a hundred Mount Everests plus a thousand monster mountains pressing down on him every moment, no matter when, even when he is sleeping.

Eirin Yagokoro noticed it, but she didn't say anything. Shiki also vaguely noticed it, but she didn't quite understand. Saya knew about this a long time ago and wanted to help him, but he stopped her.

After all these years, he had gotten used to it. As the saying goes, habit becomes second nature, so he could just treat it as weight training.

To be honest, he didn't really hold out much hope for this final test he had given Eirin Yagokoro. He'd gotten by all these years, just letting things slide; he'd actually feel a little uneasy if these things suddenly disappeared…

Eirin Yagokoro gave him a surprise.

Lunar Capital is a metropolis that blends technology and classicism, with its main areas featuring architectural styles resembling those of ancient China.

In the Lunar Capital, the earliest gods who pioneered the city have mostly gone into seclusion.

They reside in the core area of ​​the Lunar Capital, and are rarely seen on ordinary days. However, when necessary, Watatsuki Yorihime, as a student of Yagokoro Eirin, can directly summon gods and use their power through divine possession.

Apart from the core area, which is off-limits to others, the rest of Lunar Capital is divided into the Palace Area, the Technology Area, and finally the Residential Area.

Eirin Yagokoro, who should be living in the core area, is currently residing in the palace area.

"This is where I live. Please feel free to ask if you need anything."

After returning to her residence without looking to the side, Yagokoro Eirin turned around and spoke to the empty space behind her.