Stormheart Castle

Sturmherz Castle, Lothar Golden, Aria's World
8:38 PM

Finally, after a long car ride, we reached the place of the supposed mission that my father had not yet fully explained to me. A huge house stood tall in the middle of a neighborhood already filled with grand noble mansions. An enormous castle mounted on an even larger wall, intricately detailed and impressively adorned with electric bulbs that indicated its status in society, surrounded by a large, well-kept outer garden illuminated by the same lights that tried to ward off the eternal night. Guards patrolled its perimeter in a mixture of traditional and modern uniforms, armed with modern firearms such as assault rifles combined with golden sabers and the elegance of the formal Great War uniforms. Their numbers were unusually large, and they were very well armed for mere guards of a Victorian house, more like the security one would expect at a high-security embassy.

My father parked the car at the side of the property, near the fence. He left the car running at a prudent distance from the house itself, and took a pair of binoculars from his pocket to get a better view of what we needed to avoid on the way from the garden to the house.

"There's at least 200 meters to go, about 20 guards, and a twenty meter wall to climb, because the stairs are permanently guarded."
"Do I really have to do this? I never signed up for any of this."

"It's known as Sturmherz Schloss, the Stormheart Castle, this place was given to the foreign army by Nediadis."
"Those are their guards and personnel, something like an embassy or military quarters. From what I've heard, several high-ranking officials are either here or at another post much farther north among the forests where they keep the tanks."
"Remember the Red Love Project from the earlier protest? Well, after following the trail, most of the people delivered for that end up in this mansion."
"Young girls go in, body bags come out."
"Deliveries to the house stopped about two weeks ago, no one knows what happened to them inside those walls."
"..."
"The computers we're looking for are in there, too. Just find them and get them out."
"Stella infiltrated there a few days ago and has been working as a maid ever since, try to contact her, she probably already knows where they are."

"Dad, seriously, I still don't see the point of all this."
"Why go to so much trouble over a couple of computers?"
"I mean, they might be important and all, but what exactly are we getting out of this?"

"......"
"It's complicated."

"You've been saying that all night!"
"I'm not putting myself at risk until I know exactly what's at stake."

"......"
"It's your mother, she has a very difficult job."
"And if things keep going the way they are, it's only going to get worse, she's going to need all the help she can get."
"It will really help her to have the best of the best; what's in that house will be the Achilles' heel of the Alliance."
"If we can get them, we can prevent even greater tragedies in the future."
"...."
"Besides, this is still a rescue."
"The girls who were sacrificed deserve the love of a home that they didn't get in life."
"And it's your chance to grow, too."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Time is running out, there will be a guard change at 8:40."
"When it happens, it's your moment to enter. Pretend to tend to the garden and then enter the mansion."
"Afterwards, find Stella; she should be aware of your arrival."
"Just don't say anything unnecessary to her and go with the flow."
"Go where she tells you, get the computers and come back here."
"I'll be waiting with the car running for the getaway."
"Now go! Go, or we're screwed!" my father said, pushing me out of the car.

"Okay, okay, I got it."
"I'll take care of it, just stop fussing," I said as I got out of the car.

I started to climb the fence, but due to the construction and my size I had problems, so my father had to help me. Once at the top, remembering my fall earlier that night, I paid much more attention to my dress, and that way I managed to get to the other side without any problems this time. After that I walked calmly to one of the trees nearby and I could see in the distance how the guards began to return to leave their posts to rest and how the new ones arrived, just as my father had told me. I tried to walk towards the house with as little suspicion as possible, pretending that I was tending to the garden, and luckily, while checking one of the plants, I found a full watering can nearby, so I took it.

When I finally managed to approach the main door, it suddenly swung open from the inside. A man stepped out, carrying a leather bag and several documents. His uniform, like his short blond hair, was meticulously maintained in formality. The insignia on his clothes were summaries of the medals he had received; at a glance, one could conclude that he was someone of high rank here. His blue eyes reflected the cold and calculating gaze of a strategist judging, the mind of a career warrior behind them. The man looked me up and down, seemingly searching for any sign of suspicion, as if he knew my true motives by my very presence.

"Excuse me, ma'am, I don't recall seeing a girl like you here before."
"Can you tell me who you are? Who is your superior?" the officer said with a deadly serious face.

I couldn't believe how quickly I had screwed up, not only by running into a guard, but also by being lucky enough to run into someone who was screaming serious trouble all over the place. This is the kind of man who would be careful in a war. His hand touched the holster of his pistol, as if looking for the slightest excuse to use it.

"Oh... well... .... you see"
"The... head maid... she... she asked me... to water the flowers.... and that's exactly what I did"
"I must... I must go back to her... before she gets angry and scolds me." I tried my best to act naturally surprised with my excuse.

"That's not what I asked."
"I said who are you and who is your supervisor?" The officer said angrily.

Fearful of being discovered, I began to search for the gun in my apron, preparing to empty the entire clip and hoping for the best. But to my surprise, before everything turned into a bloodbath, someone else came running and stopped right next to us.

"So this is where you were, Elise!"
"I've been looking for you for a while!"
"Did you finish watering the garden? You were supposed to be done 15 minutes ago."
"We have a schedule to keep, and if there's a delay, others will be affected in their work."
"We have to keep going, there's no time to lose."

Both the officer and I turned our heads to look at the person who had joined our conversation. She was another girl dressed as a maid, but with much more intricate details on her dress than mine. Her white hair and red eyes were very similar to mine at that moment. Her angry but familiar face gave me a sense of security when I saw her, for it was Stella, the angel who usually caused problems every time she appeared.

"Head maid Stella, may I ask who this girl is?"
"I don't recall seeing her face among the new maid entries," the soldier said doubtfully.

"Oh, this girl is Miss Elise, my niece."
"Don't you see the resemblance? White hair, red eyes."
"It's easy to see the family connection. I'm really surprised that someone with your extraordinary abilities hasn't noticed."
"She started working here last week."
"She's replacing Mrs. Olsen, since she... had that terrible accident on the stairs."

"Miss Elise, this is Mr. Vilhelm von Weidenfeld, Strategiemeister and Feldmarschall of the Imperial Army."
"He is one of the foreign leaders that our great Lady Nediadis has allowed to reside in this estate as a sign of good will."

"I am very sorry, great Strategiemeister Vilhelm."
"My previous behavior was inappropriate for someone of your talent and rank," I said, lowering my head as a symbol of my false apology.

"Now, if you'll excuse us, Strategiemeister Vilhelm, we must get on with our work."
"As for you, Elise, I hope this teaches you why you should follow procedure to the letter."
"If you don't follow the rules, the guards might think you're a security threat and won't hesitate to attack you!"
"Now let's move on to the next task before it's too late," Stella said to me.

Stella turned around and started walking quickly into the house without looking back. I immediately understood that everything had been planned down to the last detail because she had left the watering can outside for me to use as an alibi. I followed her a few steps behind, trying to maintain a noble posture.

Upon entering the mansion, the main hall welcomed me with its vast space, elegance, beautiful geometric shapes, symmetry, and perfectly shining walls. In contrast to the outside world with its cold, dark, and dirty aura, the interior of the mansion showed an extremely futuristic Art Deco design for the inhabitants trapped in this world: large lights, white walls, clean floors, and a sick obsession with order. They undoubtedly showed that the owners of such a place were truly outsiders, not quite following the norms of the rest of Aria's world. Stella stood in front of me, stopped in a corner of the lobby and began to speak to me.

"Very well, as requested in your father's plan, here is the key to the basement."
"The entrance is in that room over there, just take the second staircase."
"In one of the rooms there is a young girl, she has... the computer."
"The fireworks will be launched from a neighboring house in 10 minutes, and the cow is in room 05, as your father requested," Stella said with an overwhelmingly serious expression.

"......"
"Yeah, um, about that... Cancel the cow thing, I don't think we'll need it anymore."
"What about the computers?"

"According to my reconnaissance, the lab is in the basement, just as we suspected."
"Unfortunately, Dylan returned yesterday and seems intent on speeding up his stress and overheating test."
"The last two EW-2X models will be used soon, so speed is important."
"They are specialized high-tech equipment for electronic warfare, intrusion into enemy equipment and critical systems."
"I will personally cover the retreat; you just need to focus on getting out of here with them and not getting caught."

"What about the party, how did my family end up celebrating a birthday in the middle of the forest?"
"How are we going to get back to Earth?"
"And what the hell happens to time in this place?"

"As for that, when THE BOSS asked for your father's cooperation in this mission because of his ability to make connections, Mr. Rafael asked for your help and to be able to see his wife at least one more time before accepting the job."
"THE BOSS agreed and asked CSS to make this all seem like a dream."
"Why the party? It was to make it seem more like a normal dream to others, along with confusing Goddess Nediadis to prevent... things... and her interference in the black operation."
"So that's what we did, a little magic here, a catalyst there, nothing too big."
"What we did this time was to bring your consciousness here from Earth while you were asleep."

"Wait, what?"
"Try to explain it in simpler terms, like for 5-year-olds."

"Have you seen the movie Avatar? The one with the big blue giants?"
"Right now, you and your family are on Earth with your bodies asleep, using replacements while you're here."
"Right now you're actually sleeping in your living room."
"It's all part of the mission plan, your own father signed off on it."
"As for the weird time flux, we had a slight problem connecting the Pasiv device remotely from the spacecraft on Earth, so we need the help of a few watchmakers to adjust the lost time, a major exception for sure, but THE BOSS also approved its use."
"As for the return, it's quite simple, just destroy the catalyst and you'll wake up on Earth immediately."
"....."
"Unfortunately, due to your sister's grimoire interfering with our magic, there have been... these slight connection problems."

"What kind of problems?"

"In order of problems? We've lost the location of the catalyst, so until it's found and destroyed, you and your family are stuck here."
"It's best to find it before more than a day passes back on Earth."
"The other problem is that there was a slight error in your synchronization when you fell asleep later than the others."
"It's nothing serious ... unless you get shot ... in which case will get serious, because you will lost.....the life... I mean like you're in real and painfull danger, too."
"The good news is that our engineers are already working on a new version of the Pasiv device that doesn't contain such a critical security flaw."

"......"
"By the way, did I ever tell you how much I hate you?"

"A few times."

"Good, leave it, I'll figure out how to make my father pay for this when I get back."

Because of things like this, my rejection of Valentine's Day is now psychological. When I woke up today, all I wanted to do was go to school, laugh for a while, be with Tamamo in the afternoon, and go to bed early at night, because right now, both my father and the angels had sent me on a mission against myself and without meaning, to steal a computer in a strange world, all while I was sleeping, or something like that? The only thing I learned from all this is that next year I won't even sleep on February 14th, no matter what happens.