(4) Hong Meiling ～ Gatekeeper of the Scarlet Devil Mansion

Lady of red hair
Guards the gate of deep crimson
She stands sleepily

Licorice had found out today, while trying to wander outside, that navigating the Scarlet Devil Mansion was a layer of hell in of itself. The mansion, like a police box, was bigger on the inside. Our heroine had to question the fairy maids, wandering around the mansion in hopes that she wouldn’t trespass anywhere.

Eventually, Licorice reached her goal: the great outdoors. She wasn’t looking to escape, it hadn’t gotten to that point yet, but she felt like she really needed to take a whiff of fresh air and touch some grass.

Thankfully, the outside environment seemed relatively normal, if not somewhat beautiful. Licorice had expected there to be an environment befitting a place called the ‘Scarlet Devil Mansion’, maybe with blood dripping from vines and creepy ocular plants staring at her. But no, the garden was just that: a garden. A fountain in the middle, plenty of hedges, and a stone path conveniently leading outside. This couldn’t be a place of any devil or evil, or so it looked on the outside.

This garden was walled off by a brick wall, which realistically wouldn’t serve much to deter determined invaders. The only way to enter ‘properly’ was a gate, which was just a garden gate made with wrought iron. There, Licorice spotted a stranger who seemed to be sleeping while leaning on the wall. She was a woman, a head taller than Licorice, who wore a green beret and dress combination that looked vaguely Chinese. Her hair, tied into a pair of braids like Sakuya, was scarlet, fitting the name of the mansion.

Licorice looked at the woman, and decided that she shouldn’t disturb someone who was sleeping. “Hm? Oh, zǎoshanghǎo, Likǎolisū-xiǎojiě. I’m honestly surprised to see that you’re still alive.” Her plan for nondisturbance failed when the woman opened her eyes and greeted her. Thankfully, she seemed calm. Too calm and laid-back, in fact. Her way of speech was equally slow and relaxed.

“Ah, you know my name… I guess everybody knows my name around these parts. Sorry for waking you up.” Licorice bowed down in greeting and apology.

The woman laughed. “No, no. I wasn’t asleep. I was just… meditating. Yes, meditating. I wouldn’t be asleep on the job, no way!” She bowed too, to greet her new coworker. “I’m Hong Meiling, by the way, please don’t forget my name. The one who keeps the populace of this mansion safe, the Red Guard of the Scarlet Devil Mansion!”

A gatekeeper, huh… For this mansion? Licorice gestured toward the mansion. “Aren’t the mistress and Lady Sakuya strong enough to beat people on their own?” There can’t be people any scarier and stronger, right?

“Umm…” This question seemed to have stumped Meiling. She went silent for a second or two, before arriving at an answer. “You see, the mistress loves to watch me battle anyone who challenges me. And Lady Sakuya is too busy with the cleaning; she doesn’t like to be interrupted. I guess that’s why I’m left with the guard duty.” Meiling shrugged, showing that she didn’t really care either way. “Anyways, here’s a more important question: Would you like some tea?”

There was a set of cups and a porcelain teapot near Meiling’s foot; she kicked them up, letting them fly into the sky, and picked them back up flawlessly without spilling a drop. Licorice was impressed, and she couldn’t help but clap in response to the gatekeeper’s trick.

Meiling poured the tea, before her stream of tea was rudely interrupted. “…Oh, there’s barely enough for one cup. Here you go.” She handed the cup over to Licorice. Our heroine didn’t want to drink someone’s last cup of tea, and she tried to block the incoming cup.

Meiling was much more skilled in combat, and she managed to force the cup into Licorice’s hands. “I think you need the tea more than I do. Think of it like a celebration of your survival.”

“T- Thank you, Miss Meiling.” Licorice was honestly moved. The last day had made her lose any hope of seeing any human decency. “I’m glad to see some with a human heart.” She began taking a sip of the tea.

Meiling raised her brow. “…Human? I’m not a human.” This comment made Licorice spit the tea out in shock.

“I- Is that a weird philosophical thing you’ve got going on, or…” She looked at Meiling. She looked human and acted human, no way around it. “No need to be that humble, Miss Meiling.”

“No, I’m not being humble here. I’m literally not a human.” Miss Meiling shook her head. “Guess I should teach Licorice some common sense.”

Common sense has left the room long ago… Still, Licorice had no objection to her confusion being cleared. “So, if you aren’t human, what are you?” She had already seen a fantastical being, that being a vampire in the form of the mistress, but she hadn’t been informed on the existence of others.

Meiling did her best to remember the things that had been taught to her long ago by a certain librarian. “So… you see, there are creatures that are created by the fears and belief of you humans. These are called yāoguài, though people in Gensokyo prefer to spell it like youkai.” She proudly pointed toward herself. “I’m one of those yāoguài, so is Lady Remilia, even if my appearance may be human.” She looked at Licorice, who didn’t seem phased at all. “I guess you’re one of these eccentrics who aren’t afraid of the yāoguài.”

Licorice hadn’t had knowledge of what a youkai was, so she didn’t have much of a framework to draw fear from. “To tell the truth, I’m pretty scared of the mistress, but you seem good-natured.” A certain someone came to mind when she thought about ‘creatures with a human-like appearance’. “Is Sakuya a youkai?”

Meiling shook her head. “No, she’s a human.”

Licorice scratched her head. “So, you aren’t human, but Sakuya apparently is?” This seemed all too confusing. She took another sip of the tea to calm herself down. “I’d think the opposite, really. Like, what type of human can fly and teleport?”

“To be honest, she is human, just not an ordinary one. Thankfully, she can’t teleport.” Meiling looked around her if Sakuya was listening in to their gossip. She continued when she realized that they were safe. “She controls time instead. Lady Sakuya probably moved while time was stopped, hence why it looked like she teleported.”

“I see.” Licorice attempted to take another sip, before spitting out the tea in another round of shock. “No, no, I don’t see! Controlling time is even stranger than teleportation! What kind of human is that?!” The head maid seemed even more fearsome than initially thought.

Meiling shrugged. “I don’t like messing with the business of humans, so I have no idea how Lady Sakuya does it.” Meiling held her hand up, holding up a finger. “I’ve only lived for over a hundred years. Lady Sakuya has probably lived for…” she held up four more fingers “…this much. I think that it is better for our wellbeing to avoid sticking our noses into places where noses shouldn’t go.”

“You’re right.” Licorice took a last sip out of her tea. “But us humans love to stick our noses where it doesn’t belong.”

“Don’t be surprised when a knife ends sticking into you instead. And I’m not just talking about Lady Sakuya, I’m talking about Gensokyo in general.” She stretched her arms, and yawned. “In life, be like water, and flow around rocks instead of disturbing them. Though, I guess you have already disturbed a boulder.”

“By boulder you mean…” Who could I have disturbed… Oh, right. “…Sakuya? She did almost stab me yesterday.”

Meiling nodded. “Yes, she’s clearly upset about your arrival, which I think is understandable.”

Licorice clearly didn’t find it that understandable. “You think that almost stabbing someone is ‘understandable’?”

“Understandable from her perspective. I myself wouldn’t stab people; I prefer to beat them with my bare fists.” Meiling demonstrated this by sending a few punches toward the air.

Our heroine was astonished at her quick and strong punches; she wasn’t astonished with her comprehension skills. “No, I’m not talking about that! I’m more talking about why she’d be this upset. I don’t think I have done anything too wrong, so there should be nothing enough to make her want to kill me. Unless she’s extremely petty.” Licorice paused. “Huh. Actually, that would explain a lot of things.”

“I’m not well-versed in normal human behavior, but I would say that I’m well-versed in Lady Sakuya’s behavior.” Meiling pointed at Licorice. “Your existence in itself is a problem. Lady Sakuya has served Remilia as the lone human in the mansion before I even existed, and she’s much loyal to the mistress than anyone else in this mansion. The only other maids are the fairy maids, and they’re pretty useless as far as I can tell. I think that even the slightest potential, no matter how slim or unreasonable, of another maid replacing her must worry Lady Sakuya greatly.”

Meiling also remembered some of the small talk she has had with humans who passed by the gate of the mansion. “Not to mention, I think that Lady Sakuya might not be used to being with ordinary people. Some of the human passersby from the village have told me about how she always acts cold against them, and she has no proper acquaintances there. The only humans that regularly come here is a shrine maiden and her magician friend.” She furrowed her brow. “And those two definitely are not ordinary humans, despite that magician self-proclaiming to be ordinary.”

“I see.” Licorice sighed. I get someone being anxious while speaking to people, but anxious enough to pull a knife out? “You seem to know a lot for a gatekeeper.”

Meiling chuckled at Licorice’s observation. “One does tend to observe a thing or two when they stand around at the same spot all day long for almost a hundred years. I’m happy to impart bits of wisdom if you need it.” She looked like some wise old teacher from a martial arts movie while she said this. “This is part of my guard duty too. I think it is best that you guard yourself through wisdom.”

“That does make sense, yes. Thank you, Miss Meiling.” Licorice had thought, upon her first impression of Meiling sleeping on the job, that the gatekeeper might have been a lazy good-for-nothing. She was surprised to see someone sane at the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

“No problem. I’m just doing my job.” Meiling leaned on the wall and yawned. “Anyways, you did kind of interrupt my nap. If you’ll excuse me…” She closed her eyes, and immediately returned to sleep.

“Ah… Good night?” It was still very much morning. There was a long day ahead of our heroine.