Chapter 47:

Interstellar Mansion

Valkyria Squadron


Interstellar Mansion,Lothar Golden
Aria's world
8:38 PM

At last, after a long journey, we reached our goal, a huge house in the middle of a most luxurious neighborhood. I think even calling it home is unfair, as it was rather a palace due to its enormous size and finish. It had nothing to envy to the Vajdahunyad Castle. But taking a moment to observe the place we noticed that there were several things out of place, almost all the windows were covered with wood making it impossible to see the interior, there were guards all over the place in the gardens and around the house. But what most caught my attention was the equipment of the guards, since they had a combination of medieval armor quite ornate but at the same time, they carried bolt-action rifles and stick grenades. Too well-armed to just be a yard guard in a Victorian-era home.

My father and I are still inside the car observing the property, the car was on the side of the fence, away from the main entrance. He was using an old small spyglass, you could see that it was quite neglected and scratched, so you could easily understand that it was not a possession of my father before coming here. There were at least 300 meters from the fence of several meters where the car was to the mansion in which I was supposed to enter, there weren't many places to hide either, since most of the garden only consisted of a huge plain with grass. No doubt the guards would see me arrive as I approached the house.

"Is it really necessary for me to enter that place?"
"Because if I try this is going to get ugly." I asked my father

"The Celestial security section were the ones who said you had to see it in person"
"There's nothing I can do about it"
"The good side is that they have everything planned as always"

"I would doubt about that too"
"Thanks to a lack of planning for them, now I have a tail"
"You have more time here investigating the place"
"Any idea how to get to that house in some way that I can still breathe?"

"At 8:40 a.m. the changing of the guard takes place"
"If you walk in and pretend you're gardening before the new guards show up, they probably think you're one of the house servants."
"After that, you will only have to walk quietly inside the property."
"Once inside you should go to the main room"
"After that, I have no idea what will happen"
"In any case, I'll stay here with the car on"
"If something goes wrong just run here and we'll run at full throttle"

"How many guards?"

"It should be about 20, but that's just the ones outside, I have no idea what can be inside."
"Interstellar Hardware is one of the biggest tech companies on this planet, so beware of coming across surprise security measures."
"Do you look capable of doing this?"

"Well, the truth is I want to say no, but I have already done more difficult things with less."
"I think I can do it as long as I don't get caught right away."
"If I don't find anything, I'll go around a couple of times and then come back."

After that, I checked the pocket watch that I had and managed to see how it was exactly 8:40 pm, so I immediately got out of the car and stood next to the large fence of the property.

"Okay let's start with this" I said to myself.

I started to climb the fence, but due to the design I had and due to my size I had problems, so my father had to help me. One time at the top and remembering my fall that I had suffered earlier this night I put much more attention to my dress, and that way I managed to get to the other side without problems this time. After that, I walked calmly to one of the trees that was nearby and I could see how in the distance the guards began to return to walk away from their posts to go to rest and how the new ones arrived, just as my father had told me. Trying to walk as less suspiciously as possible towards the house, I tried to pretend that I was taking care of the garden, and luckily while checking one of the plants I found a full watering can nearby, so I took it. In the end, I managed to get to the main entrance of the house without any of the guards stopping me, but just when I crossed the door I ran into one of the guards who were in charge of that area, the fright used that I unconsciously startled. Which caused the man in front of me to become suspicious.

"Excuse me, little miss"
"I don't remember seeing a girl like you around here before"
"Can you tell me who you are?" asked the guard making an angry face

I couldn't believe how fast I had already screwed up. He was a six-foot guard, a true giant, wrapped in heavy armor, but he also had an ammunition belt, he couldn't see his face because of his helmet, he had a halberd and a bolt-action rifle on his back. If I had to fight him it would be a big problem armed only with my pistol.

"Sorry but I'm the new Maid, I just started recently so I still don't know everyone," I said giving a quick excuse.

"Can you tell me then who is your superior and from which family of servants you come?" He asked skillfully

"...well ..."
"The ... main maid ... asked me ... to water the flowers and just finished"
"...."
"so I have to quickly get back to her before she scolds me" I tried to keep making excuses, but he kept sounding confused, I knew there was no way he would believe what I was saying.

When he finished listening to me, he took his weapon with both hands and bowed his knees slightly, was he preparing to attack? It was most likely, so I reached into my apron and held my pistol ready to fire at any moment. But by surprise, someone came running right to where we were, as soon as she was next to us he began to scream immediately.

"So this is where you were Elise!"
"I've been looking for you for a long time!"
"Have you finished watering the garden?"
"If so, hurry up, we have a strict schedule to meet!"
"We don't have time to waste!"

Both the guard and I turned to look at the person who was speaking at the same time. She was a girl also dressed in a maid uniform, but it was a little more ornate than the one I possessed, the girl who was wearing it was white, both her skin and her hair, she had an angry face. But the most important thing is that she was someone I already knew, she was Stella, the angel that every time she appeared they meant trouble.

"Mrs. Stella, sorry for the trouble"
"But do you really know this girl?" The guard asked her

"Well of course I know her, she is my cousin, don't you see the resemblance?" She means that both she and I suffer from albinism
"She is Elise, she started this afternoon to replace Mrs. Olsen who is in the hospital after an accident"
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to keep teaching this girl the rules of this house."

"I am very sorry to have doubts about you and your family"
"I'm not going to bother you anymore." said the guard a little nervous when he immediately returned to his post

"For her part, Elise, I hope this teaches you why you should follow the procedure literally."
"If you don't follow the rules the guards may think you are a security threat and will not hesitate to attack you!"
"Now let's get on with the next task before it's too late" said Stella addressing me

Stella turned around and without looking back began to walk quickly into the house. I understood immediately that everything had been planned in detail as she had left the garden watering can outside for me to use for my alibi. I followed her a couple of steps behind trying to maintain a calamitous posture. Once inside in the main room of the house, everything seemed to be taken from the future, well, the future compared to the Victorian era. The whole interior was in the art deco style, the floor was incredibly reluctant with rectangular shapes, the lamps had right-angled shapes but vaguely reminiscent of a diamond shape, the walls were black and some also had golden patterns of the most curious geometric shapes. but accurate. Everything was full of straight lines and circular edges but with symmetry. Everything could be found out that everything that was around here was really expensive and elegant, as there were also a lot of sculptures from all over the world, there was a statue of an Egyptian cat in the middle of the room, statues of human with wings but with the same obsession with straight lines and perfection as there was for the rest of the place.

Stella by her side stopped in a corner of the room and turned around so she could speak to me.

"I'm glad to see that you arrived here on time"
"How has the trip turned out?" She asked with her usual serious face.

"I have no idea how I got to this world, I don't know what I'm doing here, I don't know why I have a gun and apparently I have to do something dangerous here."
"By the way, did I mention that I hate you?"

"I am glad to see that you are still as cooperative with us as ever"
"What do you think of the views that this place offers?"

"Well, considering that the rest of the world is trapped in the time of Sherlock Holmes, this place is completely out of place"
"What happened?"
"Why am I here?"
"When can I go home?"

"Well we don't have much time, so I'll be quick with my explanation."
"You are currently in the World of Aria, where we are currently performing an important mission for the Celestial security section."
"THE BOSS personally ordered you participation in this rescue operation, so we are only following his orders"
"Because there was no way to bring you with a portal we decided to bring your consciousness here with magic while you slept"

"Wait what?"

"Have you seen the movie of the indigenous blue giants on a planet where humans use a device to control other blue giants?"

"You mean the movie Avatar by James Cameron?"

"Exactly, we are doing something similar"
"Right now you are asleep in the living room of your house"
"But your conscience is here thanks to our magic division"

"Okay, suppose I pretend that I understand perfectly what you are talking about."
"If that is true then why is there a party in a castle with my whole family, what do they have to do with all this?" I asked her as I sat down because I was starting to feel dizzy from all the nonsense they told me.

"Well the whole plan wouldn't have been possible without a catalyst item to bring you here"
"Which was close to Maria, so probably her dream influenced enough to realize that"
"Our idea was to bring only you, but we had no choice but to continue"
"So we set her castle party in one of the woods where hardly anyone goes"
"It seems that the object they used as a catalyst was quite strong because it even brought the consciences of all the people who were there that night"
"I'm sorry I can't get more details but all of this has been so sudden for both you and me."
"Regarding the mission"
"This location is the research and development center for Interstellar Hardware Company"
"Although they are mainly in charge of creating computer systems, somebody quite well known came here with new ideas, of which quite a few people have died as a result of the development of this"
"The Researcher Dylan is currently developing a new type of DOLL focused on electronic warfare"
"Their ability is truly amazing, and they are a great threat to whatever world they find themselves in"
"They could easily hack into national defense systems and could even hijack and launch nuclear missiles around the world."
"That is why the project has been developed here, where none of that exists"
"To carry out the project, he has sacrificed many girls that he uses to enhance the central processing power"
"We do not know how he is able to discover something so inhumane and cruel"
"If you've heard of the Salvation Project, well, you'll see that it was all a lie that people here blindly believed"
"This site has no salvation in any way, neither by the angels nor by its selfish leaders"

"Hang on a minute!"
"Are you telling me that the same Dylan who captured me in Norway is here in this world?"
"And is he developing some kind of supercomputer to hack enemy defense systems?"
"This is all too much, even by my standards!"
"When and how the hell did all that happen?"
"And I imagine you guys hope I destroy this whole place"

"We will take care of deleting this place."
"Your mission here is to steal these devices and take them with you"

"Wait for a second!" I interrupted her again
"What do you mean that I have to take them?"
"Isn't it better to destroy it so that it doesn't fall into the wrong hands?"
"Like Dylan's for example?"

"They are direct orders from THE BOSS"
"We can't do anything about it"
"Don't worry we have come up with a plan to install an emergency brake in the system in case something goes wrong"
"Believe me it's quite effective"
"The success rate is 100% guaranteed"
"But we don't have any more time to waste"
"Mr. Dylan will shortly try to carry out a test by connecting one of these machines to a small network connected to another computer, a standard for military use"
"What he does not know is that this last computer is connected to the internet of the earth"
"So there is a high probability that Dylan's invention will use that opportunity to launch the nuclear warheads in Alliance possession in retaliation"

"Oh great" I had already resigned myself to all this mountain of nonsense
"Now we move on to Skynet from the terminator movie"
"And I somehow have to take it home somehow"
"Besides, what does the passage of time matter?"
"Surely those few minutes will turn into hours again"

"About the strange passage of time is also our thing."
"Because technically all this is happening while you sleep"
"It means that we have to adjust the overtime that is here in relation to the land"
"So slow clocks is just a side effect"
"But that does not affect this property where we are currently because here they are very aware of the passage of time"

"Very interesting" I said sarcastically
"Can you explain it to me with pictures and apples for 5-year-olds kids?"
"Currently my brain is off since we started talking all this nonsense"

"It means that 5 minutes of your sleep on earth is 45 here in Aria's world"
"More or less"
"Our technicians have a lot of difficulties adjusting the time accordingly"
"So sometimes there are moments when time advances as if it were on earth"

"All right"
"So summing up"
"If I want to get out of this supposed nightmare I have to steal a computer that is probably in the basement and take it to the castle where the birthday party was being held"
"In case it fails, it is most likely that a nuclear missile will hit me while I am asleep in my living room"
"In case I succeed, I imagine that they will return me and my family safely to earth"
"right?"

"Regarding your return" Said the angel with a guilty face towards the wall
"Well we said we use an object in your house as a catalyst"
"But thanks to Maria's interference with her as she practices magic now, we cannot disconnect you"
"What you will have to do is find what your sister used to make magic, that is the catalyst and destroy it"
"When you do that we can bring you back to earth"

"Why with you there is never anything easy!"
"Every damn you see that you appear you only complicate my life"
"I swear to you the next time they do this shit about doing a mission with me without really warning me before I'm just going to sit and watch the world burn"
"I already did many things for you and you still keep asking for more"

"The test will start in twenty minutes, the next room there is a hidden door behind the bookcase, which will lead to some stairs, after these, there is the real research facility"
"You must speak with a girl in one of the rooms to gain access to the testing area, as she can open the doors"
"You should start now if you don't want to die from a big bomb" Stella said as she turned around and left

"Have I already told you how much I hate you?"
"I don't want to see your face anymore" I said to her as she was retiring like an immature high school man

It is because of things like these that now my rejection of Valentine's Day is now psychological. When I woke up today, I just wanted to go to school, laugh for a while, in the afternoon be together with Tamamo, and go to bed early at night. But now I was living a nightmare where I had to steal a supercomputer because maybe the difference of the earth would depend on it. I have little time and a lot to do, I swear that when this ends next year I will not even get out of bed on February 14, no matter what happens.