The Vampire's Maid Training

Gensokyo, afternoon.

Inside a certain room within the Scarlet Devil Mansion by the Misty Lake—a room modified by countless jutsu-shiki—the master of this massive mansion, the five-hundred-year-old powerful vampire lord and master of fate, the Scarlet Moon, was currently facing the most difficult choice of her five centuries of life. Looking at the maid outfit spread out on the floor, the kind worn by ordinary fairies, Remilia's body trembled slightly. Finally, she couldn't help but burst out.

"Are you kidding me! I am the master of this Scarlet Devil Mansion! You want me to wear these clothes! Impossible! Let me out right now, or I'll have Patchy dismantle you in a moment!" The haughty vampire little girl stood up and pointed toward the ceiling, shouting at the top of her lungs. However, the jutsu-shiki in this room clearly possessed no sentience. It was merely a set of pre-programmed instructions. Once activated, anyone inside had to complete its requirements before they could walk out. Unless it was forcibly destroyed, only its creator could deactivate it.

Unfortunately, Remilia had suddenly suffered a once-in-a-century demonic power backfire, leaving her unable to muster the strength to destroy the room. Meanwhile, the creator of the jutsu-shiki, Patchouli, was currently in the underground library and had no idea what was happening above.

"A maid outfit is a requirement for a maid. Trainee, please put on the attire and begin training immediately," the voice of the jutsu-shiki echoed through the room. Hearing this, Remilia immediately grew anxious.

"Damn it! Let me out! This lady wants to go out!"

Remilia began to kick and punch the walls, doors, and windows. However, having lost her power, she was nothing more than an ordinary little girl, unable to budge the room reinforced by jutsu-shiki. Even her shouts could not be heard by the outside world. After many consecutive attempts, Remilia stood in the center of the room, gasping for breath. Having no other choice, she finally turned her gaze toward the maid outfit lying on the floor.

"Surely... surely no one will see," she whispered to herself. Pouting, Remilia picked up the outfit with extreme reluctance. After hesitating for a long time, she finally gritted her teeth and made up her mind to change.

A short while later, the vampire little girl appeared in the room dressed in a maid outfit. "Darn it, to think I would actually put on such servant's clothing."

Wearing the apron and headpiece, Remilia blushed as she looked at the black-and-white maid outfit. She then turned her gaze toward the broom and mop leaning in the corner.

Taking a deep breath, Remilia walked forward and used her small frame to pick up the long broom, beginning to sweep the designated area. After some time passed—

"Alright! I'm done! Next one, quick!" After sweeping the floor a few times in a perfunctory manner, Remilia shouted toward the room. The room responded quickly.

"First item completed. Reviewing... Apologies. Excessive stains remain. Requirements not met. Please re-sweep."

"What?! I already swept it!" Remilia shouted at the ceiling again. However, the room clearly didn't care for her words and continued to speak emotionlessly.

"Trainee, please re-sweep."

Hearing the room's words, Remilia's cheeks puffed out. She was so angry she wanted to say something, but nothing came out. Finally, she could only grit her teeth and speak through her fury.

"Just you wait. Once I get out, I'm going to have Patchy dismantle you immediately!" While grumbling fiercely, Remilia gripped the broom again and began to sweep out of spite.

Thus, the master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Remilia, formally began her maid training. After finally finishing the sweeping and passing inspection, she quickly moved on to other tasks. They were all various household chores like wiping windows, cleaning tables, and folding clothes. For an ordinary human, these training items weren't actually that difficult. But for a high-and-mighty young lady who was pampered and spoiled daily, it was a terrifying form of torture.

"...The third window pane is not clean. Residual stains in the lower-left corner. Please check carefully. Item failed."

"Agh! Where is it dirty?! I've already wiped it three times!"

"...Too many wrinkles in the folded clothing. Folding steps are non-standard. Item failed."

"...So annoying! It's just one or two steps off! It looks close enough on the outside, so just let it pass!"

"...As a maid, you must not use impatient or vulgar language. All your actions must focus on serving the eldest lady, Remilia Scarlet."

"I AM Remilia!"

In this manner, through countless redos, Remilia gradually completed the training items one by one, advancing her progress. She suffered quite a few small setbacks, but in the end, she managed to persevere. Meanwhile, outside the room's window, Miketsu, dressed in her miko outfit, was floating in mid-air. Watching the vampire little girl busily working as a maid inside, she kept snapping photos with her phone.

"Oh my, how truly cute. I didn't expect to find such a bonus while looking for Eirin. This place where Eirin lives in seclusion seems quite fun," Miketsu said with a smile as she floated in the air. She wasn't exactly a lolicon, but her intuition told her that the photos she was taking now would have a very interesting use later.

Finally, through Remilia's unremitting efforts, the maid training reached the final and most difficult stage: brewing black tea.

"Hmph. To think that today's black tea would be brewed by my own hands..." Looking at the wide array of tea sets on the table before her, the maid-clad Remilia spoke in a low voice. She then took a deep breath. The process was not very smooth; Remilia, who was used to drinking tea, was clearly not used to brewing it.

"...The tea leaves spilled!"

"What? The water temperature is too low? Redo?! This is clearly the temperature I usually drink at!"

"Ow! That's hot!"

After many retries and even getting a few blisters on her hands from the heat, Remilia finally, with teary eyes, finished brewing a pot of qualified black tea. When she heard the room's jutsu-shiki announce that she had passed, she almost burst into tears.

"Finally... finally succeeded."

Holding the pot of tea she had finally brewed, Remilia spoke with excitement. She never would have thought that the maid who would serve her and brew her tea today would be herself.

"I feel such a sense of achievement... I wonder what tea brewed by myself tastes like?" Looking at the steaming teapot on the tray, Remilia spoke with some excitement. The sense of achievement from completing the maid training actually filled her heart with a wave of joy. That overwhelming sense of accomplishment even made her temporarily forget how she had been locked in there in the first place. Originally, she had intended to do something else...

"Hehe... next, I'm going to the balcony to properly savor the tea I brewed myself~"

As she spoke, Remilia walked out of the room carrying the tray with the teapot and headed toward the balcony. Before long, still dressed in the maid outfit, she walked back onto the balcony of the Scarlet Devil Mansion—the spot where she had been having her afternoon tea earlier.

"Now then... first, I'll pour the tea, then I'll sit back in my seat and enjoy it properly~"

While saying this, Remilia placed the tray on the table, picked up the teapot, and tilted it, pouring the black tea into an exquisite teacup.

"There we go~"

Looking at the steaming teacup, Remilia put down the teapot with satisfaction. Just as she was about to sit back in her high-backed chair to taste the tea she had brewed with her own hands, a hand reached out very naturally from behind the chair and picked up that steaming teacup.

Miketsu, dressed in her miko outfit and looking quite out of place sitting in the European aristocratic chair, picked up the tea from the table and took a deep sip. After savoring it carefully, she spoke with a satisfied smile.

"Mmm~ This is brewed quite well. Good job. You deserve a reward, little maid~" Turning her head, Miketsu spoke to the vampire little girl dressed in a maid outfit beside her. Hearing Miketsu's words, Remilia boasted proudly with her hands on her hips.

"Of course! This was done with all this lady's effort... Ah! You're—"

Suddenly, Remilia snapped back to reality. Seeing the miko sitting in her original spot, she jumped in fright. She took two steps back and pointed forward, shouting loudly.

"You're that insolent miko! Why are you here?! Haven't you left already?!" Remilia shouted. She had thought her manipulation of fate had failed and that the other party had already left the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Hearing Remilia's words, Miketsu took another sip of tea and then tapped her chin.

"About that... didn't I just say your house is quite big? I didn't expect it to be so big that it exceeded my expectations. I originally intended to go down from inside the house, but I didn't expect to get lost in there. After wandering around for several laps, I ended up back here. And all that wandering made me thirsty. I wanted to ask you for directions... but I didn't expect you to be gone, so I just sat here waiting for you." Miketsu spoke as she continued to eye the vampire little girl before her with a smile. Then, she continued.

"But what I didn't expect was that you actually went to brew tea. And you even dressed like this to brew it. Tsk, tsk... it seems you knew I wouldn't be able to find my way out and would definitely return, so you specifically vacated the seat for me to rest and personally went to brew tea. To be able to foresee that I would definitely return and be thirsty—you truly are a being who masters the power of fate. Is this the fate you arranged for me? I'm impressed, truly impressed." Miketsu spoke to Remilia with a smile. Hearing Miketsu's words, Remilia was stunned for a moment before she shouted loudly.

"Who—who brewed tea specifically for you! How could I possibly brew tea for a summoned familiar like you!"

"Oh? So it wasn't brewed for me? That's strange then... then what exactly was the fate you said I couldn't escape? I'm truly curious?"

Hearing Remilia's words, Miketsu rubbed her chin, feigning deep thought. Remilia wanted to say something, but for a moment, the words wouldn't come out.

'What do I do! The fate I originally designed for her was supposed to be her serving me tea! But if I say that now, wouldn't it prove that my manipulation of fate failed? But if I accept this person's wild guess, then wouldn't it mean I sincerely and voluntarily poured tea for her?!'

Thinking about this problem, Remilia found herself caught in a dilemma. She certainly wouldn't admit to a face-losing failure in her manipulation. However, while Miketsu had given her a way out, following that path would mean admitting she was a voluntary maid serving tea to the other party! That was even more embarrassing!

Faced with Miketsu's words, Remilia was trapped between the options of embarrassing and even more embarrassing, unable to choose. She grew so anxious she started stomping her feet. Seeing this scene, Miketsu sat in the high-backed chair and stood up.

"Thanks for the hospitality. Well then, I should officially take my leave. Since the path through the mansion doesn't work, I'll take another way."

As she spoke, Miketsu walked straight toward the railing ahead. Beside her, Remilia immediately jolted.

"Hey! Wait! Don't think you're leaving now!"

Seeing Miketsu preparing to leave, Remilia, who had suffered consecutive losses and hadn't yet regained her dignity, was certainly not going to let it slide. She ran forward a few steps, trying to stop Miketsu. However, the other party had already flipped over the balcony railing first. Remilia was blocked by the direct sunlight outside the balcony, preventing her from pursuing. The tiny vampire little girl could only watch as the miko walked away coolly, heading straight for the garden gate ahead.

"Hey, come back here! We still have scores to settle!!"

"Ha, next time I'll come back to taste your tea-making skills, Lady Mansion Master."

Ignoring the shouts of the little girl maid behind her, Miketsu pushed open the iron gate of the garden and walked out. Afterward, she glanced casually at the red-haired girl in a qipao leaning against the wall by the gate, snoring with a snot bubble, then flicked her sleeve and walked away toward the distant forest.

Meanwhile, in the distant sky, a figure was rapidly approaching the Scarlet Devil Mansion. Upon closer look, it was a beautiful maid with silver hair, dressed in a blue-and-white short-skirted maid outfit, carrying a pile of large and small bags in her hands.

"I'm finally back. The Eldest Lady should be awake by now."

Flying into the Scarlet Devil Mansion from the sky, not long after the silver-haired maid entered the house with her things, a cry that almost sounded like sobbing erupted from within the mansion.

"Sakuya! You're finally back! Quick, come help me! Catch that insolent miko and bring her back!"