Destined Fate

Gensokyo, afternoon.

Beside the Misty Lake, within the massive mansion where demons resided, the master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion—the young European vampire Remilia Scarlet—sat on the balcony. With a serious expression, she focused on her ability. As the Scarlet Devil who possessed the power to manipulate fate to a certain degree, she could easily control the destinies of mortals, manipulating them like marionettes without their knowledge. This was exactly what she was doing now.

"O human miko... you may have escaped the contract, but you cannot escape fate. Obediently follow my commands and go brew some tea~" Remilia murmured with a smug smile as she looked at the complex, illusory red lines before her eyes. The proud vampire lord would never allow a summoned familiar to defy her will. She was leading the girl toward a specific tea room. Once the miko entered that room and the door closed, she would have no choice but to brew tea for her, no matter how reluctant she was... 'Heh, today I'll show you what it means for fate to be set in stone, human miko.'

As she whispered, an illusory image appeared before Remilia's eyes, showing a scene from inside the Scarlet Devil Mansion. In the center of the image, along a long corridor adorned with dark red patterned carpets and antique wall lamps, Miketsu was strolling forward cheerfully while humming a little tune. Looking at the vast mansion around her, Miketsu couldn't help but sigh with slight wonder.

"It really is quite big. This mansion... I feel like if I weren't careful, I might get lost in here." Just as she spoke, Miketsu's brow quirked up. She then spoke toward the air, "Oh! You're that vampire girl, aren't you? So you're still watching me."

"A vampire girl? Watch your words! Unidentified miko, as the master of this Scarlet Devil Mansion and the great vampire lord, I am now graciously giving you one last chance to submit and obey my orders. Otherwise, don't even think about leaving this mansion for the rest of your life. I have already woven a fate for you from which there is no escape!"

Hearing this voice, Miketsu rubbed her chin and replied, "Hiss... sorry, but I've never believed in that mystical 'fate' stuff. My life is mine to lead, not the heavens'!"

"Hmph... Arrogant fool. Stubborn to the end. In that case, prepare to meet your destiny!"

Sitting in the high-backed chair on the balcony, Remilia let out a cold snort as she ended the communication with Miketsu. She then began to use her ability to formally manipulate the miko within the mansion. 'Once you enter that room, everything will be out of your hands. Come, every choice you make from here on will lead you there.'

As she spoke, Remilia began to manipulate the red strings of fate, weaving a destiny for the insolent miko wandering the halls, guiding her toward that specific room. 'Hmm... first, turn right at the intersection ahead. Let me see the colors you like. It's golden-yellow, isn't it... Well then, it just so happens there are two paintings on either side of that intersection. The one on the right—'

Smiling, Remilia toyed with fate using her ability. After weaving the first segment of choices, she continued to watch the surveillance images, intending to check the stage she had just scripted—the intersection with the two paintings.

Then, Remilia saw a scene that left her stunned. At that intersection, two fairy maids with transparent wings were currently cleaning the wall. The two paintings depicting the sea and a field of flowers had been taken down and placed to the side.

"What... Why are those two cleaning at a time like this! I've never seen you all be this diligent before!" Seeing her set 'stage' being modified by accident before the 'script' could even play out, Remilia couldn't help but speak out in dismay. Fortunately, the two fairy maids seemed to have finished cleaning; they were currently hanging the paintings back up.

"Phew, at least they put them back in time. In that case, wait... you two idiots! You hung them backward!" Watching the surveillance screen, she saw the two fairy maids swap the positions of the paintings. "Damn it... Can those fairies ever get their heads straight! If this continues, she'll be guided in the opposite direction!" Remilia gritted her teeth, her heart suddenly filled with anxiety.

She had just made such a grand declaration about the other party being unable to escape her 'fate,' and now things were already going wrong! This couldn't continue! If her own stated 'fate' failed to come true, it would be incredibly embarrassing!

Although Remilia could choose to use her overwhelming power to directly coerce the other party, that would be too straightforward. It wouldn't properly demonstrate the terrifying power of her ability. Remilia preferred to let the miko experience the despair and fear of having everything within her control.

"I'll just have to go fix it personally. She's walking quite slowly, so there's still time." After confirming Miketsu's current position within the mansion, Remilia spoke with a sigh of relief. To save face, she decided to take action herself.

In an instant, the vampire lord transformed into a swarm of bats. Flying rapidly along the ceiling of the corridors, she finally managed to detour and reach the intersection before Miketsu arrived. All the bats converged, and Remilia's form reappeared. Looking at the two incorrectly hung paintings, Remilia immediately took them both down and swapped them back. Since 'fate' had deviated, she would manually repair it.

After swapping the paintings back, she quickly hid behind a corner, waiting in secret for her target to arrive. Soon enough, the red-and-white miko arrived at the intersection at a leisurely pace, as if she were sightseeing. Miketsu looked at the fork in the road before her, then stood still to glance down both corridors. Finally, after eyeing the oil painting of the sunflower field on the right corridor wall, she nodded and said, "Nice colors."

Seeing Miketsu enter the right corridor as planned, Remilia, hiding in the shadows, felt a wave of relief. 'Phew... that was a close one. It's back on track, but she's still a distance from the destination. Just in case, I should check the next part of the script.'

As she spoke, Remilia unfolded her surveillance jutsu-shiki again, looking at the stage for the second script she had designed for the miko.

This was another fork in the road. On a windowsill at the far end of one corridor, a small cat was lying there, basking in the sun. This time, Remilia needed the miko to choose the left corridor.

"Hehe... a stray cat from the edge of the forest occasionally wanders into the Scarlet Devil Mansion. But today, there is no such thing as an 'occasionally.' It is inevitable." Leaning against the wall, Remilia giggled to herself. On the surveillance screen before her, the standby stray cat was already in position. All that remained was for Remilia's target to reach the designated spot, and the cat would let out a cry to lure her over, bringing her one step closer to the destination.

Suddenly, in the image before Remilia's eyes, a butterfly suddenly flew in front of the cat. Seeing this, the cat's ears perked up, and it reached out a paw to catch it. However, it missed, and the butterfly floated away. The cat grew anxious, standing up to chase the butterfly into the distance. Remilia stared blankly at this.

"Hey! Hey! Don't run off, you weak little beast! If you run, who's going to meow over there?!"

Seeing the actor of her scripted fate abandon their post, Remilia grew anxious once more. This sudden unexpected situation put her woven 'fate' at risk of ruin again. If the miko didn't choose the left path at that intersection, she would drift further and further away from the target room.

Grumbling with annoyance, Remilia spun around on the spot and transformed back into a swarm of bats, rushing toward the destination.

The swarm of bats once again sped through the interior of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, taking another detour to fly ahead of Miketsu. The bats then converged in the shadow beneath the windowsill where the cat had been, reforming into Remilia's figure.

'Darn it... the cat is gone now. How am I supposed to lure her over?' Hiding beneath the windowsill and using her surveillance jutsu-shiki to watch Miketsu approach the intersection, Remilia thought desperately. At that moment, a spark of inspiration flashed in her mind, and she had an idea.

'It can't be helped. I have to do this. No one's watching anyway...'

Thinking this, Remilia saw that Miketsu had just reached the fork in the road. She took a deep breath and cried out.

"Meow~"

"Oh, there's even a little cat. I wonder which is cuter, it or that vampire chibi."

'Don't you dare compare me to a cat!' Hearing Miketsu's words, the hidden Remilia couldn't help but shout in her heart. Meanwhile, Miketsu at the intersection really did seem to be attracted by the cat's cry, choosing the left corridor. Remilia, watching from the shadows, let out a long sigh of relief.

"Now then... next..."

Following that, Remilia continued to manipulate her so-called 'fate,' leading Miketsu step by step in one direction. There were more than a few mishaps along the way that required her to personally intervene and manually handle things. After several such waves of situations, Miketsu finally arrived at the last turning point of fate.

This turning point was the final target room—a spacious room in the Scarlet Devil Mansion filled with various mops, brooms, laundry basins, and even tea sets. According to Remilia's previous script, as the miko passed by the door, the wind from an open window would blow against a wind-chime, the sound of which would attract the miko to enter.

"Damn it, why did this window suddenly close? And it's locked! At this rate, there's no wind at all. How is the wind-chime supposed to ring! Open... ah!"

Inside the room, Remilia was struggling to unlock the window and pull it open. She could already sense Miketsu's approach. This was the final target room. All the previous choices were meant to bring Miketsu here, and now the final step was to get her inside—into this room that would force her to submit.

In the room filled with cleaning tools and tea sets, Remilia stood on a chair and pushed with her small hands, finally forcing the closed window open. Then, what she didn't expect was that the moment she pushed the window open, a violent gust of wind blew into the room. The intensity far exceeded Remilia's expectations, forcing her to squint her eyes. "Such a strong wind..."

Bang!

Under the force of the sudden gust, the door to the room, which had been left ajar, slammed shut. The latch clicked into place as the heavy door locked automatically.

"Eh! Don't close!" Remilia, standing on the chair, was stunned for a moment as the room became a sealed space. Her heart skipped a beat.

"This is bad..."

Then, magical arrays lit up out of thin air behind every door and window in the room. The moment the space was sealed, a hidden special mechanism was triggered. A delicate, gentle voice rang out within the tea room.

"Patchouli's Maid Tea Classroom, v1.2, is now formally open. Trainees, please take note: you are not allowed to leave until you have brewed a perfect pot of black tea."

This was a comprehensive maid training room developed by the head maid of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Sakuya Izayoi. To make the usually useless fairy maids helpful, she had specifically asked the great magician of the mansion's library, Patchouli Knowledge, to use her jutsu-shiki to create this space for both training and testing. Once the jutsu-shiki inside was activated, one could only leave after completing the preset tasks. This was exactly why Remilia had wanted the disobedient familiar miko to enter—she wanted the system to teach her a lesson. But as things stood, she had trapped herself.

Ding! "Beginner training has started. Trainee, please complete all training items. The first task is floor cleaning. Please clean the floor in the target area."

The jutsu-shiki spoke in Patchouli's voice, calmly addressing the master of the mansion, the young lady served by all the mansion's maids. This made Remilia grit her teeth.

"Open the door! Patchy! Sakuya! This is me! Open the door!" Remilia shouted loudly at the room's system. However, this automated system clearly did not distinguish the identity of the person inside; it only knew that if someone was inside, they had to be trained.

"Personnel in the room, please begin the first training task immediately. Time is also an important scoring criterion."

"Tch, you can't understand human speech at all? In that case, don't blame me for being unkind. Sorry, Patchy, Sakuya, I'm going to destroy this room!" A crimson aura began to surface around her as massive demonic power churned within her body. She intended to use brute force to break the jutsu-shiki and smash the door open.

"Take this!"

Gathering her demonic power, Remilia threw a punch at the door imprinted with the magical array. However, at that exact moment, on the other side of the door, Miketsu—who was leaning against it—smiled and snapped her fingers.

In that instant, a sudden anomaly occurred. As Remilia mobilized her internal demonic power, she suffered a rare, once-in-a-century accidental misoperation. This error began to chain and expand as she gathered her energy, causing her entire body's demonic power to fall into a state of chaos.

"This is... demonic power backfire!"

For a moment, Remilia lost control of her own power. The demonic power she had gathered dissipated all at once. Her punch hit the door weakly and was then directly repelled by the jutsu-shiki on the door.

Remilia was bounced back and fell onto the floor in the distance, curling up in a corner and holding her head as she cried out. Meanwhile, the voice of the jutsu-shiki rang out in the room again.

"Trainees must complete all training items before leaving the room. The first item: floor cleaning. Please change into the standard uniform before starting the task."

As the voice spoke, a cabinet in the room opened out of thin air, and a small maid outfit floated out, drifting in front of the master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Remilia, just finishing her head-holding defense, stared blankly at the maid outfit.

"Trainee, please put on the standard uniform and begin training. Correct attire is the most basic requirement for a maid!"