[NaNo] Beyond Reason - M.A.I.D. for Combat

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Let's add to the list of NaNos here seeing as I've gotten as far as I will get for a while. Might as well present the results so far.
Enjoy a tale of insane lolis, crazy catgirls and a single sane girl in  their midst~


Beyond Reason ? M.A.I.D. for Combat

The broom drew a beautiful arc and the sound of wood clashing against wood filled the air. The girl?s hands shook as she tried to stand her ground, pushing with all her might to prevent being brought to the ground by her opponent. She stared into the eyes of the young woman that had attacked her. The woman stared back at her for a moment, before she suddenly grinned and took a step back, ending the deadlock between the two fighters. With the pressure that kept her in place suddenly gone, the girl stumbled forward, swaying as the tried to regain her balance and not fall flat on her face. With her opponent off-balance, the woman grabbed the end of her broom and pulled it, releasing a metallic sound. The girl?s eyes grew wide as she shifted her gaze towards the sound. The woman was drawing a sharp, thin blade from the shaft of her broom, spun around and delivered a horizontal slash directed at the girl?s chest. The girl was too surprised to block the hit in time. Instead,  she shifted her balance again to lean as far back as she could... and fell down on her behind.

??Ouch!??

The girl let out a whince of pain. Then she felt the sensation of a broom being pressed against her chest. She looked up to see that her opponent had stepped in front of her, her sword still drawn but held leisurely at the side.

??Gotcha, Lia??, the woman said.

She sheathed her sword again and swung her broom around a few times, then offered Lia a hand to help her up. Only now, with the tension of the fight gone, Liane could hear the chatter of her classmates that had watched the match. Faced with the quick hits and slashes the woman had delivered she had completely forgotten this was actually just a sparring-match as part of her classes. When she had seen the light reflecting off the sword, she had been convinced she would die soon...

??Wait a...??

She looked at her opponent, then at the broom that she held. Nothing looked out of order, it seemed to be a very ordinary broom made for cleaning...

??Hm? Is something wrong???, the young woman asked as she noticed Liane?s look.

Liane didn?t say anything, instead she turned her head towards the teacher and her classmates. None of them seemed especially surprised by what had just happened, and the teacher was just explaining fighting techniques to everyone without even paying any attention to the two girls in the middle of the room.

??Heh, teacher! Heh!??, Liane shouted

The teacher, a middle-aged woman with brown hair and glasses turned around and smiled at her.

??Yes, my dear???

??Uhm... was that really okay???, the girl asked.

The teacher looked confused.

??What was???

??You know... THAT??, Liane pointed at her opponent?s broom.

??Uhm...??

??...??

Liane was at a loss. There was nothing indicating that anyone had seen the blade being drawn, or that anyone found it in the least suspicious, surprising or against the rules of a fair match.

?Don?t tell me...?, Liane thought.

She looked at her classmates again. While some looked as confused as the teacher, a few seemed to have caught onto what Liane wanted to say. However their reactions were not at all what the girl had expected. They were chuckling and laughing, apparently highly amused by what was happening.

?...did they KNOW about this??

Liane eyed her opponent?s broom again, then her own. There was nothing even remotely suspicious about it as far as she could see. Slowly she put her hand on the end of the broom?s handle, then took a deep breath and pulled.

''Hiiiii??

She let out a shriek of surprise as suddenly the part of the broom she was holding slid away from the rest with a small sound to reveal a blade just like the one that her opponent had been using in the fight. She immediately dropped it and stumbled a few steps away as if the sword was about to explode. Behind her the class exploded into laughter. She turned around to the teacher, her face glowing red. The woman was still smiling calmly.

??Swords? We are using real swords in practice? Why didn?t you tell me about this? Or rather, why are there swords in brooms in the first place? Actually, why do we have to fight with brooms at all???, Liane asked, the questions flowing from her mind one after another.

??Oh, you didn?t know? I was already wondering why you were fighting with sheathed weapons all the time. Now that explains a lot. I supposed it was common knowledge, my apologies.??, the teacher answered.

??Wha... how would something like THAT be common knowledge...??

??The broom is the tool of choice for all taks for a maid, Liane. That includes fighting as well, of course??, the teacher answered. ??I really thought everyone who studied here knew about that...??

She went silent and gazed around the room. A few students were still laughing, but most were looking at the teacher as if they were expecting something, restlessly shuffling around.

??Oh, is it already time? Ah well then, class is over, everyone. See you again next week.??, she dismissed the class.

Liane was amongst the first ones to quickly leave the room. Her head was hurting from what had just happened, tons of questions were floating around in her mind. She would need some fresh air as soon as possible.
Back in the training-room, the young woman who had fought with Liane stepped next to the teacher. Both women looked down at the unsheathed sword and broom Liane had left on the ground.

??Oh my, so she really doesn?t know anything? I heard her circumstances were special, but that it is this bad...??, the teacher said, adjusting her glasses as she spoke.

??Yeah, she is completely ignorant to what is happening actually. It?s a surprise she hasn?t caught on yet, or left the school like most normal people would do in that situation. Then again, she is friends with those two little brats, she might have potential after all...??, the young woman answered while picking up and sheathing the sword.

??So she can?t ?see? either, huh? Aww, what a shame. A lot of you look so cute~??, the teacher said with shining eyes, staring at the woman in front of her.

Slowly she walked closer to her, extending her hand towards the woman?s head.

??Hope, let me pet you~??

Hope turned around as she noticed the teacher?s shadow looming over her.

??Wh-what? Stay away from me!??

??Awww, come on, it looks so soft~??, the teacher said as she came closer step by step...

A few moments later, a tremendous roar could be heard from the room, then Hope stormed out with an angry, but also embarassed look on her face.

??My my, she?s a scary one when she gets mad.??, the teacher chuckled. ??Well then, I should report the girls progress to the principal, I suppose~??

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Liane sat down on the grass, enjoying the cool breeze that was blowing over the small hill she was on.  She could see the town spreading out beneath her, surrounded by mountains. It was a beautiful sight and one of the few things she liked about this school. She always came here when she had to relax and calm down, and she had needed that a lot during the last weeks. Thinking back, it had only been about a month by now, but it felt like a much longer time.

One month since she had come here...

One month since her life had been changed drastically...

Until a month ago, Liane had been visiting school like every other normal person. Were she to describe herself, she?d say she was average in pretty much everything: Looks, interests, grades. People knew her, but she didn?t stand out. And she didn?t want it any other way. She was happy with what she had, aiming to live a perfectly normal and happy life. And then her parents had to go and mess up. She didn?t know what it was for, but apparently they had taken on a giant loan without telling her a while ago. That loan was given out by one of the most well-known companies in town: M.A.I.D.

Liane looked down at the mass of buildings below. M.A.I.D. ran this town. All of the large businesses, everything that was important for people?s daily life, it all came together in the hands of this one company. True, they did a good job at it. Before the company had settled down here, the town wasn?t doing well. Local industried had shut down and left for other places, leaving the townspeople without work. Then M.A.I.D. settled down, took over business and brought the town to a formerly unknown level. And yet, despite all the benefits they had brought the town, something seemed off. There were a lot of rumors about shady stuff going on behind the scenes. Information about the actual people behind M.A.I.D. was scarce and unreliable. People were thankful to the company, but they didn?t trust them. And neither did Liane. Especially not after what had happened.
When her parents had received the loan, there was a special condition. Thinking about it made Liane boil with anger, because her parents had not even hesitated to agree to it. The condition had been that Liane was to transfer schools. Why such terms would be in the contract in the first place, she did not know. Why her parents did not find it suspicious, she knew even less. But in the end, she had no choice but to transfer from the public school she was visiting before to a private school run by M.A.I.D. And as soon as the transfer had been done, her parents had run off on vacation, leaving Liane behind in the mess they had gotten her into.

So here she was, at her new school, away from the life and the people she had known for years. As if that wasn?t bad enough already, she had to realize that this was by no means what one would call a normal school. First of all, all students and staff were female. That in itself wasn?t too bad, as Liane had always gotten along with girls better than with boys. However, it quickly became obvious that there was a very clear reason behind this speciality of the school. While it taught all basic subjects one would expect in a school, most students hadn?t finished high school yet by the time they came here as far as she could see, the real focus was on some more... practical... subjects. In short, the school was more like a training facility. A training facility for...

Liane looked down at the school-uniform she was wearing. A blue blouse and knee-length skirt, a white apron, and...

She reached up to her head with her hand.

The frilly headdress she had to wear every day. This uniform identified her as a student of this facility, as a learner of the fine arts of serving... a maid apprentice.

Liane had been shocked when she first found out that the school she was supposed to go to was by no means a normal institution of education, but a training facility for maids. As for why M.A.I.D. had decided to establish that kind of facility in this town, or why they established one in the first place, she didn?t know. Maybe it was better if she didn?t know in the first place, she sometimes thought to herself. She was stuck here, that was all that counted. And in fact, it wasn?t too bad. While the mere thought of spending her life serving other people made her uneasy, it was not like most other jobs were actually that different in that regard. And she did find the classes on proper etiquette, preparing meals, making tea and all the other things a maid was supposed to know to be actually quite fun. If it had been just that, she might have grown to like this school and actually accept her new future, as weird as it was.

However, that was only the surface. She had realized within the first few days that something was off about the school. Besided the fact that it trained maids, that is. First of all, there was the people around. While most of the students looked normal, she had quickly noticed that there were girls of every age from ten years old to up to over twenty years of age at the school. It was especially the young girls that had caught Liane?s interest, as many of them behaved like children their age, but actually seemed to have a much deeper knowledge and understanding of things than one would expect. She was also wondering how they got into this school in the first place, but she suspected it had something to do with M.A.I.D.?s shady businesses in some way.

Then there were the classes. Cooking and teamaking classes as part of maid-education were completely understandable. Fighting lessons, like the one she had just finished a while ago, were not. Or the physical education classes, which took place on a muddy field behind the school that looked like it was taken right out of a military camp. There the students had to train getting across an obstacle course while serving tea and without getting their uniforms dirty. Needless to say, Liane had failed horribly so far. As far as she could judge, every normal person would fail this course without years of training. And this was exactly what concerned her. Because most of her classmates, while not doing perfect, were doing a lot better than her, even the young girls. It should be impossible if they were the normal people they looked like, and it just strengthened her impression that something was very off with the people here.

She had been asking a number of students and teachers before why a maid was supposed to fight, using a broom as a weapon of all things, and run obstacle courses. However, all she had gotten was in response was confused looks and smiles. It was as if she was the only one not being let in on a big joke that everyone else knew about. There was ?something? going on, she knew that for sure. The whole way this school was organizd, the circumstances that had brought her here, the people, the classes, all of it just screamed ?suspicious?. And it didn?t stop there. She had never believed in supernatural things, but some of the things she had been seeing at the school just made no sense no matter how much she tried to apply logic and reason.

For example, Aleena. Aleena was her roommate, and one of the ?lolis?, the young girls that looked like they shouldn?t be in a school like that, but rather in elementary or at most middle school. She had become somewhat of a friend to Liane over the last month, though it was mostly because she was following her around all the time on her own, calling her ?Lia? from the moment they met. As far as Liane could tell, Aleena was crazy. Not the cute being playful and living in a fantasy world that children tend to show. No, straightforward, dangerous ?Let?s blow up some stuff? crazy. Of course, it?s not like she could actually do anything, she was lacking the means to cause any of the destruction she would so often talk about. But something told Liane that, given the opportunity, Aleena would not hesitate to level a whole city to the ground for her own enterntainment. Despite that though, she was a very nice girl that would never harm any human being that was not explicitely posing a danger to her or any of the people she called friends. She did have a habit of setting things on fire though, and Liane could swear that sometimes she managed it without touching an lighter, matches or any other potential source of fire.

Then Aleena?s best friend, Franziska. She was a loli just like Aleena, and the two of them shared the same crazy mentality, though Franzi was more reasonable than Aleena most of the time. She was also very affectionate and would cling to Liane whenever she had the chance. Liane had noticed that Franziska, or ?Franzi? for short, had a number of scars on her arms and legs, and even some on her face. She could only assume that something horrible had happened in the girl?s past that had physically and mentally scarred her forever. That aside though, Franzi had her strange moments just like Aleena. One or two times Liane had noticed that things near Franzi suddenly started to float in the air for a moment before she took them in her hand. She had put it off as being tired, but there was also the instance on the obstacle course as well. Normally Liane would be too busy with not landing in the mud herself to pay attention to the other students, but that one time she had gotten a glimpse of Franzi?s performance on the course. She saw Franzi climbing a ladder, which would be perfectly okay, if she had not been holding a teaset firmly with both her hands. When Liane had blinked to get the strange image out of her head, Franzi had noticed her and in surprise had fallen down the ladder into the mud. Noone else had taken note of this though, since Franzi was well known for being very clumsy.

And the strange events were not limited to the two small girls. There was others as well that behaved suspicously. More than once had Liane seen the school nurse, the very same woman that was also teaching the fighting class she had attended before, sneaking up on girls from behind and touching a seemingly random spot in the air just behind their butt. For some reason this always made the girls scream out and jump, their faces red with embarassment.

All of those strange things gave her mixed feelings. On the one hand, she just wanted to run away, get back the normal life she had lived before, the calm, uneventful, peaceful life. On the other hand, it was just too intriguing. Liane had always been a curious girl, and given the chance, she would try out things at least once rather than passing up on them at once. This here was just the same. While her sense of reason screamed to just run, her curiosity demanded that she stayed. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience, she was sure of that, and if she didn?t stay and try to get behind the things that were happening, she might lose the chance to learn about some very interesting and probably exciting things. Did she hate her life right now, or did she like it? She couldn?t tell. She hated what had happened for sure, the whole way she had ended up where she was now. But she was too reasonable to cry over something that couldn?t be changed at the moment. She would make the best of this, as she had always done in her life.

Liane let herself fall back onto the grass, took a deep breath. Just as she was about to close her eyes, she heard footsteps coming towards her. The person coming towards her was skipping happily, and a familiar smell of burning grass accompanied it. Liane closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. The person came closer, then stopped next to her. No, not only one, there were two of them, of course. They were always together after all. Then she heard the voices.

??Heeeeeh, Lia~??

??Heeeeeeeeeh??

??...??

??...??

??Is she asleep???

Liane felt someone poking her in the ribs with a stick.

??Stabby stabby~??

??Heh, heh, wake up Lia~??

??She?s not moving. Do you think she is dead???

??Eeeeeeeeh? She?s still breathing, look!??

??Awwwwww, so I can?t set her on fire???

??No you can?t, Allie. It?s not nice to set Lia on fire! She will get angry and then we will not get dinner!??

??How mean! I don?t want to go to bed without dinner! But we need her to wake up...??

??Let?s stabby stabby her more~??

??Yaaaaay~??

She heard the sound of the two girls running away, then a moment later they were back at her side.

??She?s still not waking up...??

??Yeah...??

?Hehehe, just come a bit closer and I you will have the scare of your life?, Liane thought to herself, preparing to jump up at any moment.

??Eeeeeh, maybe we really need to set her on fire...??

??Oh, so can I? Can I???

The voice sounded excited. Liane heard a scraping sound, then a stinging smell penetrated the air...

?GASOLINE??


??STOP! I?m awake, I?m awake!??, she screamed as she jumped up at once, stumbling a few steps back to avoid being potential roast beef.

??What is wrong with you, did you really just try to kill m-??, she stopped in the middle of her words as her brain took in the sight before her.

Two girls were standing before her. They were Franziska and Aleena, the two lolis whom she called friends.

??Ah...??

Franzi let out a sound of surprise and let go off the sticks she was holding, probably to poke Liane some more. Four sticks, all of them with marshmallows waiting to be roasted on the end, clattered to the ground. Something in Liane?s brain signaled her that this should not be possible, that it was another of those things she had already noticed before, but her attention was drawn to Aleena and the thought was lost. Aleena was staring at her with wide eyes and her mouth open while gasoline poured down from a container she was holding right onto the spot that Liane had been lying on a second before. The small girl seemed to be more disappointed than anything else.

??Awwww, she woke up. That?s mean...??

??You... d-did you just try to k-kill me???, Liane asked, still trying to catch her breath.

??Eh???

Aleena looked down at the container, then quickly hid it behind her back and put on a big and innocent smile.

??Nope. I would never do anything to you Lia. We were just going to wake you up??, she smiled even more.

Liane stared at her. The girl stared back, flames of excitement burning in her eyes.

?Don?t turn your back, Liane. You might end up a human torch. She still hasn?t given up.?, she thougth to herself.

??Okay, what?s going on? I know something is happening in this school. It?s weird, just like the people in it. What the hell is it? Tell me right now!??

??Eeeeeh, Allie, she called us weird.??

??Well, you are weird, Fran, just look at yourself.??

Franzi held her hands in front of her face and clapped a few times.

??Hehe, you are right~??, she then said happily.

Then she looked at Liane, who was just staring at the scene in confusion.

??Ah, Lia can?t see, right? Ehehehe, don?t worry Lia, the principal told us to get you, it?s time~??, Franzi said as she walked over to Liane.

??Time, time for what???

??Lia will be a real maid just like us, ?kay???, Aleena said happily.

??Wait, a real maid? What do you mean, we are still in training, aren?t we???

Liane was getting more and more confused. Then she felt Franzi grabbing her hand to pull her to the school-building.

??It?s okay, the principal said she needs you, so it?s okay. We will have a lot of fun soon, yay~??

Liane was surprised by the power this little girl could exert, she had no choice other than to just let herself be pulled along. Just as they entered the school building, Liane heard the sound of an explosion from behind. She turned her head to see the hill had bursted into flames. In front of the flames, Aleena was sitting on the grass, happily waving around the marshmallow sticks near the fire.

?I should have run after all...?, Liane thought as she was dragged into the schoolbuilding.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Only when she was in front of the principal?s office it occured to Liane that she had actually never seen the person running this school before. There had been no entrance ceremony or anything where the principal could have appeared, and she was too distracted by the general weirdness of things to ask anyone about it. Now that she was about to meet the principal for the first time, she felt nervous. Though that didn?t mean much as she was already pretty emotionally messed up from being almost flamed in the most literal sense by a crazy pyromanic loli. While Liane wanted to take a second to catch her breath before entering, Franzi opened the door immediately without even so much as knocking and dragged her inside. The small part of her mind that was still capable of thinking straight send a message that the girl had just opened a door while grasping Liane?s hands tightly with both of her own hands, but the message was quickly overrun by the messed up train of crazy thoughts that was currently forcing its way through Liane?s brain.

??Ah, there you are Franzi. And you brought her with you, well done. Come over here.??, Liane heard a soft voice from the end of the room.

As she lifted her head, she noticed they were standing in a large office room, large bookshelves lining up on the walls, and a single large desk that was put in front of a large window. Behind the desk, in a leather office chair, sat a single woman. She was wearing a black business suit and had her elbows put on the desk, fingertips put together in front of her face. The woman had long black hair and sharp eyes that now checked Liane from tip to toe. Liane froze at the sharp gaze, but Franzi didn?t seem intimidated at all. She let go off Liane?s hands and happily pattered over to the desk as the woman had asked her to. As soon as she arrived next to the woman, the air in the room changed. The woman left her intimidating pose, showed a smile on her face and put a hand on Franziska?s head, patting her lovingly.

??Good girl. Thank you for helping.??

The little girl blushed and smiled happily, enjoying the reward.

??Ehehehe~ So can we make Lia one of us now???, she asked.

??Of course. That is why I had you bring her here after all. Well then...??, she turned to Liane. ??My name is Ophelia, I am the principal of this school. It is a pleasure to meet you, I have heard a lot about you already.??

Liane hesitated for a moment, but then decided to answer. This woman seemed to be more harmless than Aleena or Franzi, and way more sane, so she could probably trust her to not try and kill her in some way.

??I... yes, nice to meet you Miss. You have... heard about me???

??Actually, no, I haven?t. Well, not much anyway, aside from when Franzi talked about how you fail at most classes. It?s just one of those phrases you use when you call a student out suddenly, you know???, the woman said while chuckling.

Liane felt disheartened. Even the lolis were looking down on her performance in classes? This was about as humiliating as it could get. Ophelia noticed her expression and quickly continued.

??Don?t worry, this doesn?t mean you were called here at random. In fact, there is a good reason it was you specifically I called.??
Liane looked up in surprise.

??Huh???

??Tell me, have you noticed anything strange going on here? With the little one here, for example???, she pointed at Franzi, then she turned around to the window from which one could clearly see the burning hill outside. ??Or about that one???

??Do you even need to ask???, Liane answered.

??Hehe, I guess not.??, the woman chuckled. ??And yet you are still here. Why???

??Uhm...??, Liane was at a loss. ??I have wondered that before... and I guess it?s because I?m curious. I want to know what?s going on...??

She had planned to say those words with confidence, but they came out barely as a quiet whisper. Ophelia nodded.

??And that is what makes you so special, Liane. You are one from outside. You have learned to listen to reason and logic. And yet, you are willing to accept that there might be something more, when something defies the rules you have lived and thought by, you don?t just discard it, you seek for the truth behind it. Isn?t that right???

??I... guess you could say that...??, she answered slowly.

??Exactly. And this is why we need you. Well, maybe we don?t,but I think we might. Can?t hurt to have at least one sane person on it anyway. Someone who won?t ask if logic and reason are tasty things...??, she shot a glance sidewards at Franzi, ??or if they are flammable.??, she pointed over her shoulder to the fire outside.

??I... don?t understand...??, Liane stammered.

??Oh, definitely you don?t understand. After all, I haven?t really told you anything yet. Be patient, we will get to that soon. I just want to get the tension a bit higher. Makes it more fun, right? Hope!??

As Ophelia called out, a shape emerged from the shadows. Liane recognized it as the young woman she was fighting in class earlier.

??Turn on some good music, will you???, Ophelia asked.

??Certainly.??, Hope answered as she pulled out a small remote control and pushed a few buttons on it. Immediately atmospheric music started playing.

??Hehe, that?s better already??, Ophelia smiled, then twitched as a loud sound could be heard outside.

She turned around to the window to see that the fire had spread onto nearby trees and was causing the first ones to collapse already.

??Oh my, this might get out of hand. Hope, can you get Buttercup and Frieda to take care of this???, she ordered the maid.

??As you wish.??, the girl answered and walked past Liane through the door.

Liane looked at the door that Hope had just passed through, then back to Ophelia.

??Buttercup? You mean Ms.Buttercup from the library? Wouldn?t it be better to call the fire department???, she asked.

??Oh no, don?t worry. Buttercup is more than capable of handling this. You will understand soon.??, the principal answered. ??In fact, let?s get this over with so that we can finally talk on eye level. Doctor, if you would please???

??Of course. Come over here, Liane!??, a voice came from Liane?s side.

She turned her head and saw a big comfortable couch that she hadn?t noticed before because she had been so focused on the principal. Sitting on it was the P.E. teacher and school nurse.

??Eh, what are you doing here???, Liane asked in confusion.

??Helping you become a real maid, my dear. What else???, the woman smiled.

??Now, come here and lay down~??, she said and pointed at her lap.

Liane felt slightly uncomfortable, but she knew nothing would happen if she didn?t do as she was told. And it was too late to back out now anyway. She walked over and laid down on the couch, resting her head on the teacher?s lap as she was asked to.

??Now, close your eyes. It will only take a moment~??, the woman in front of her said.

Liane closed her eyes and waited. Then she heard Ophelia?s voice.

??Heh, I see what you are doing there. Don?t even think of touching her in weird ways, now is not the right time for this.??

??Awwww, but she looks so cute...??

??Just do your job. Or do you want me to punish you???

The teacher let out a shriek at those words and Liane could feel that she was shivering heavily.

??I-I?m s-sorry.... alright, here we go.??

Liane felt the teacher?s warm hands on her forehead. At first nothing else happened, then bit by bit she felt a tingling sensation spreading from her forehead through all of her body. Ophelia?s voice sounded distant as she explained what was happening.

??Let me tell you something, Liane. What humans can perceive in this world can be divided into several levels. Normal humans, like you, have a natural restriction to only access the first level of reality, the superficial world ruled by logic and reason. But that is not all there is. You have noticed the strange happenings around here. Things that should not be possible. Things happening without you being able to see the cause, right? Most people might call those things supernatural, but in fact they are not. They are rooted in physical reality just as much as everything else. In other words, those things are physically there, but most humans are incapable of perceiving them. It?s been that way for ages. Mythology, religion, superstition, a lot of it stems from humans that deliberately or accidentially breached the realms of human perception and caught a glimpse of the higher levels. The things you have noticed as being strange here? They are only strange because you can?t ?see? the actual happenings yet. Right now though, the Doc is removing your natural limiter, and you will be able to see more of the truth of reality. Be prepared to kiss your beloved logic and reason goodbye.??, Ophelia chuckled.

Liane wasn?t sure she understood completely. Her eyes felt like someone was putting pressure on them. So there were things that existed but she just couldn?t see. And that was supposed to explain everything that happened here? She couldn?t imagine what kind of things those should be. Nothing she could think of that could exist in this world would explain what she had seen. Suddenly, the tingling stopped. Her eyes still hurt a bit when the teacher removed her hands.

??There, you should be able to access a new level of perception now. Have fun~?? , she heard the teacher?s voice.

Slowly, very slowly, Liane opened her eyes. She could make out a blurry face in front of her that became clearer as she blinked a few times. The teacher was looking down at her, smiling happily. Nothing seemed off about her. Then she noticed someone moving around impatiently next to her.

??Heh, heh, Lia! Can you see? Can you???, she heard Franzi?s cheerful voice next to her.

Liane slowly turned her head over to the little girl, then her eyes grew wide.
She blinked once, then twice.
Then she fainted.
The last thing she was before the world turned black was the little girl waving at her with four arms at once...

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Liane whinced as bright light flooded into her eyes when she woke up. Did she dream? Did she get hit by a car and had been in a coma, dreaming about this strange maid-school and all the weird stuff and was now awakening in a hospital bed? For a moment she saw a bright light at the end of the dark tunnel that her life seemed to have become...

??Oh, oh, she?s awake. Hey Allie, Lia?s awake again~??

... only to notice the light was in fact the subway of madness coming closer and closer.

Liane groaned, then lifted herself up, shielding her eyes from the light with her arm.

??Aww, you could have stayed lying down, you know? Didn?t it feel good???, she heard the teacher?s disappointed voice.

She slowly took her arm down and turned towards the room, bracing herself for what she was about to see. The first thing she noticed was that the lights had been turned on and it was dark outside. She must have been out for several hours, seeing as it was about noon when the principal had called for her.
Then she looked around the room. Standing in front of her was Franzi. But it was not the Franzi she had known for the last month. From Ophelia?s explanations, this here was Franziska?s ?true? form. Now that she was capable of seeing things on a new level, a lot of things made sense. What she saw in front of her explained the things that had been feeling off about Franzi very well. There was still a small part of her mind that wanted to reject the new information, but it was about to give up and drink itself into a stupor out of despair. Liane knew very well that none of this was a trick of some sort, some elaborate prank or just a dream. This was reality. She stared at Franzi.

??Four arms...??, she muttered.

??Ehehehehe.??

The little girl seemed slightly embarassed about having Liane staring at her, then she stepped forward and suddenly hugged her tightly. Liane felt the weird sensation of four small arms wrapping around her.

??Lia can see it, yay~??

She looked down at the girl clinging to her. The scars that she had noticed on Franzi before were now looking more like stitches. It seemed like all of her body was composed from parts of different people, patched together to make a single being. Liane was very sure she didn?t really want to know any more, she would just accept that this four-armed patched-together crazy loli-abomination was the reality of Franziska and what she had seen before was simply the mind-safe censored reality that normal human beings saw. At the moment, Liane was simply surpressing any thinking processes that might threaten her sanity and accepted whatever was coming towards her without too much resistance.

She raised a hand to pat Franzi?s head and heard the little girl squeal with joy. Then she looked up and saw that Aleena was in the room as well, looking happily at her and Franzi. She seemed to be contemplating simply jumping in on the hug, or maybe she was wondering what to set on fire. Liane wasn?t too sure which one it was, but she simply hoped that Aleena wouldn?t start a fire in the principal?s office. Looking at Aleena, she seemed fairly normal. A quick glance revealed no extra limbs, nor did she have any stitches on her. However, she was wearing some equipment that had not been visible to Liane before. A strap that ran diagonally across her chest held a large number of small vials containing brightly coloured liquids, and Liane was very sure that most of them could either cause fire, were flammable or were explosives that should not be allowed to be carried around by a small girl. And then there was the backpack. On Aleena?s back was a backpack that Liane had never seen before. She knew backpack designed to look like bears or other cute animals. Well, this one seemed to have been made by a designer suffering from horrible nightmares. Whatever it was supposed to resemble, Liane didn?t want to meet it for real. And even worse, the backpack seemed to contain pure darkness. Even now that it was closed, there was a bit of black mist pouring out from it.

??You wanna see it???, Aleena asked as she noticed Liane?s gaze.

Liane nodded slowly and prepared herself.

??Alright, ?kay???, the little girl answered as she took off the backpack, planted it on the ground and opened it. A large cloud of black mist flowed out, but noone in the room seemed to be concerned by it.

Liane stared hard at the interior of the pack...

The darkness stared back at her...

??Hiiiiii??, she shrieked, which caused Aleena to quickly close the bag again.

??Don?t be scared, they don?t do anything unless I tell them to, ?kay???, she said cheerfully.

??Well, this is how it is. You?d better get used to seeing things like that daily from  now on.??

It was Ophelia, who had been keeping quiet until now and just watched Liane as she was trying to deal with the sudden change in reality. She was standing at the window, looking outside into the dark night that was only illuminated by the lights of the town down in the valley.

??Welcome to our world, Liane.??

Liane was almost scared to turn towards the principal after what she had seen with Franzi and Aleena, but she forced herself to look anyway. To her surprise, the woman at the window still seemed pretty much normal. The only thing she noticed was a whip that she carried at her hip. She remembered the reaction of the school nurse when Ophelia had mentioned ?punishment?. This whip probably had something to do with it. When Ophelia turned around, she discovered that the woman?s eyes had taken on a golden color as well, but this was not in the slightest as concerning as Aleena?s backpack or Franzi?s arms.

??So now that you are able to properly perceive the same reality that we see, let us talk about why I called you here. I already said that I needed someone with a sense of reason and a stable mind, because we are kinda running low on people like that.There are some matters that need to be attended to, and I want you to be part of the team that is going to take care of them.??, Ophelia started to explain.

??Matters? Team? I don?t understand...??, Liane interrupted her.

??Patience, my dear. There?s a lot for you to know and we don?t have much time, mainly because I was a bit lazy in having you ?awakened?. I planned to do it a week ago already.??, she shrugged, ??So I will just give you a basic explanation of what is going on, to get it over with. What you already know is that this school trains maids, right? What you don?t know though, is that maids are not what you think they are. Maids are much more than submissive servants in nice dresses. Of course, serving is our main job, but there?s a far more important side to it, at least at times like this: Maids are warriors.

Have you ever wondered why you have to go through the fighting training and physical education? Well, that?s the reason. We are trained to fight. We are trained to battle against anything that stands in the way of your duties and take it down without fail. Cleaning is a maids job, and it?s more than just sweeping some dust. Our broom is the one that will cut flesh, crush bones and cleanse the world of evil and darkness. As you can imagine, this is not a job for normal people. This is why usually only beings like us, who have ties to the higher levels of reality. Our enemies are just the same. Beings that normal people can?t even perceive directly. So we gather girls who are fit and willing to be maids, train them and show them how to properly use their potential, then send them out into the world.

We call those potentials ?maid qualities?. They are what define a maid, her personality and appearance, and they are often her biggest assets on the job and in combat. Though there are qualities that are more useful than others. Some actually just make a person weird, but not really special, some are major factors in everything the maid does. Franzi?s arms are an example of the latter. But the dear Doctor over there? Her glasses are her quality, and they don?t do anything special.??

Liane had listened quietly. What she was hearing sounded almost unbelievable, but from what she had seen during the last month, there was no reason at all to doubt Ophelia?s words. However, there was one thing that caught her attention .

??Wait, if the qualities are what makes a maid strong, why did you accept me as a student then? You said I?m a normal human, so... I don?t have any power at all...??, she asked.
Ophelia turned to her and grinned.

??I see you catch on fast. Yes, that is exactly the point. You have no qualities at all. And yet you have become able to perceive what others can?t. You have become part of our world, but you are not running away even after all you have seen.??

?Because there is no way I could get away from you people in the first place?, Liane thought, but decided against speaking it out loud.

??So, what do we want with a girl who has no powers or qualities at all, is what you are surely wondering, right? Well, it?s simple. You are on the same level as us now, since your natural limiter was removed. You may not have the same physical capabilities like other people here, but your body holds the potential to develop them. To say it bluntly, you can grow more.??, Ophelia continued her speech.

Liane could see Aleena yawning, Franzi had already laid down on the couch and was taking a nap, resting her head on the teacher?s lap.

??So you want to say that I could develop qualities on my own? Wait, I won?t suddenly grow extra arms, will I???, Liane was suddenly alarmed.

??Oh, no no. I don?t think such extensive growth is possible, at least not permanently. You, Liane, are a wildcard. People like you, who have gained access to this new level of reality, may develop skills stronger than a natural born maid, or they may develop none at all. Some gain the ability to freely change their qualities, others just have an unusually high number of qualities. There is no guarantee what will happen, but the large potential of normal humans-turned-maids is what makes us accept people like you into the school from time to time.??

She turned around and looked at Liane in silence for a moment.

??That is your situation at the moment. I want you to accompany the others on their task to see if and what skills you will develop. I won?t let you decline, by the way, so let?s get started at once.??, Ophelia smiled brightly.

??Eh, wait...??, Liane started, but was disrupted by the sound of the door opening behind her.

Hope entered the room. She looked nervously over to the teacher on the couch, whose eyes had begun shining brightly at once as she saw the young woman. Liane turned around and gasped. She could immediately see Hope?s qualities. On her she had a pair of soft-looking tiger-ears, and a matching tail could be seen twitching around nervously behind her. Liane had seen that kind of getup before, as part of comics, but she had never imagined to see an animal-girl in real life someday. Liane had to admit Hope looked cuter this way than normal.

?Maybe being able to see this stuff might not be that bad after all?, she thought to herself.

??Ah, there you are. I just finished explaining most stuff, can you take them to the base now???, Ophelia greeted the tiger-girl.

??Of course. Lia, and Franziska and Aleena as well please, follow me. I will lead you to the base so we can start the mission.??, Hope said while taking a step to the side and motioning

Liane and the others to move through the door.

Liane looked over to Ophelia, who was standing in front of her desk and waved at her happily. It seemed she was done with what she wanted to say. The girl sighed and started walking leaving the office while Aleena grabbed the still sleepy Franzi and dragged her out of the room as well. When the door closed, the teacher walked over to Ophelia.

??You think she will be alright???, she asked.

??Oh, definitely. She made it through the ?awakening? with only fainting once. That must be a new record. We can expect great things from her, I assure you.??, she chuckled. ??Now if you will excuse me, I have something to prepare.??

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Liane looked out of the window at the lights rushing by. After they had left the building Hope had led the three girls to a garage at the back of a school. Now they were driving through the nighttime town in a shining black car with dark tinted windows, driven by Hope. Asking her about it, Liane had found out that apparently Hope was already over twenty years of age and was an experienced driver. Liane hadn?t been in town at all for the last month, she was wondering just what they were doing down here. She had tried getting an answer from Hope, but she was so concentrated on driving that she didn?t even hear anything the girl said. Franzi and Aleena had taken the back seats and were sleeping tight, leaning against each other. For once, the two of them looked just like normal girls their age, not dangerously crazy lolis. Liane had to smile as she saw the adorable sight, though the smile grew bitter when Franzi muttered words about stabbing in her sleep.

After a short time, the car stopped and Hope opened the doors, signaling everyone to get out. Liane wondered where they had been brought now, she had lost track of their course halfway through town. On the backseat, Franzi and Aleena were just waking up from their nap and got out of the care still wobbling around sleepily. As soon as she stepped outside and took a look around, Liane recognized the place. In front of her was a giant tower-building that reached far above every other structure in town. She had never been so close to it, usually people avoided coming here, but there was no way she wouldn?t know what it was. Everyone in town knew: This was the ??Tower??, the headquarters and main office of M.A.I.D.

?Right, makes sense if they want me to join some kind of mission?, Liane thought to herself.

She looked around at Hope who was already nearing a large entrance door and quickly followed after her. The doors slid open at once and opened the view into a large atrium with a front desk and a lounge for visitors to relax. It?s not that Liane hadn?t expected something like this, but she was still in awe seeing the place for the first time.

?Right, if I?m gonna do stuff for them, I?m basically gonna be working for M.A.I.D.?, she reminded herself and wondered what the chances of catching a job in this very building were.

She surely wouldn?t mind coming here everyday to work. However, she was very sure things wouldn?t go that way at all. It would be good, and it would be easy. So there was no chance it would happen.
Hope walked over to the front desk and exchanged a few words with the woman attending to it, then turned around and motioned to Liane and the two lolis to follow her towards one of the elevators at the end of a long hallway.
As they were walking, Liane noticed that just like in the school, all the employees in the building seemed to be wearing maid-uniforms. However, those were not the blue student-uniforms like the one she was wearing herself. The maids here wore black uniforms that probably signaled they had graduated already and were working full-time as maids.
They entered the elevator when Hope spoke for the first time since they had entered the car before.

??To the top floor, Chief?s office.??, she said.

For a moment Liane wondered what was happening, then a voice responded from a speaker on the wall.

??Ah, Hope? Haven?t seen you in a while. Okay, Identification please.??

As she voice spoke a panel on the wall slid open to reveal a panel that was apparently used for identifying people via fingerprints. Hope walked over and put her hand on it, but only a red light lit up. She groaned.

??Bzzzzzt, wrong~. Come on Hope, you know how to do it right~.??, the voice happily resounded through the elevator.

??I told you to change it, didn?t I???, Hope spoke with an annoyed voice.

??We have top-level order not to listen to you on this, sorry~??

??Urgh...??

Hope looked like she wanted to argue more, but she knew that it would lead to nothing. She let out a sigh and then slowly lowered her hand. She reached around to her back, grabbed hold of her tiger-tail and lifted its end up to the panel. Then she pressed her tail onto it. Immediately a green light lit up and the elevator started moving.

??Okay, everything alright. Have a nice day~??, the voice said.

Hope turned back to Liane with a look of embarassment and anger on her face.

??Don?t...say...anything...??

The elevator-ride only took a short time, then the doors slid open again to reveal a long corridor that led to a single large door up ahead.

?They really took care to make it look as impressive as possible?, Liane thought.

Hope quickly left the elevator and Franzi and Aleena chased behind her immediately, trying to grab hold of her tail. Liane followed after them through the corridor. As she walked, she took a look at the paintings that had been hung on the wall left and right. All of them depicted women, and they were obviously maids. What intrigued Liane however, were the dates and names on  the small plates under the paintings. Apparently all of those were maids of important historic personalities, and Liane had heard quite a number of the names before. If the descriptions were to be believed, a lot of them had done feats that would later be accounted to their masters. Liane slowed down as she walked through the gallery so she could get a good look at the paintings.

After checking several of the portraits and reading the stories of the maids shown on them, Liane?s head was spinning. Could this really be true? Could maids, who she had always perceived as lowly servants that did nothing but wait in silence for their orders to make a tea or something really secretly be a kind of super-powered humans that fought their master?s enemies at night and the dirt in the mansion at day? Could they have been responsible for a number of great historical events? She didn?t want to believe it, but on the same hand she knew what she had seen with her own eyes. It was possible. No, in fact, it was likely. Ophelia had told her to kiss reason and logic goodbye, and Liane was beginning to understand those words. She had entered a world that had always been there, but that had been hidden from her. And it worked by its own rules. If she tried to apply a thinking from something that was pretty much a different reality here, she would only succeed in making her head hurt and her sanity shatter.

??Hey, Lia! No spacing out, ?kay???, she suddenly heard a voice from a bit ahead.

She snapped out of her thoughts and saw Franzi waving to her with all four arms. She was jumping up and down because the girl was taking so long. Hope was standing at the door as well, her tail swinging left and right impatiently. Next to them, Aleena had crouched down and set a big potted plant on fire, her eyes shining happily as she watched the flames.
Liane took some quick steps towards them before she noticed something.

??Hope, watch out!??, she shouted.

??Huh???, the tiger-girl made a surprised sound.

??Your tail!??

Hope cocked her head to the side in confusion. Then her eyes widened, and a moment later she jumped forward with a shriek. On the end of her tail was a brightly burning flame, and Aleena had fallen to the floor and was holding her stomach laughing heartily. Hope started to run up and down the hallway, screaming all the way, while Franzi chased after her squealing happily, trying to catch the tiger-girl?s tail.

??Calm down! Just roll on the floor!??, Liane tried to get through to the girl, but her words went unheard.

Liane turned her head as she heard a door opening. Someone had stepped out of the office they were supposed to visit. It was a woman clad in a maid-uniform, as would be expected here. However, instead of being black like the uniforms she had seen with the other maids in the building, this one was a deep purple, matching the woman?s long flowing purple hair. She was carrying a large book under her arm and seemed to be not very pleased. Liane recognized her as the librarian of the maid-school, Miss Buttercup.

??Cease thine shouting, or thou shalt be doing toe touches for the next week...??, Buttercup said as she looked at Hope and Franzi running in circles.

Then she lowered her gaze to her feet, where Aleena laid still laughing.

??...far too weary for such chicanery.??

The woman opened the book and flipped through the pages calmly. Apparently she was used to dealing with this kind of situation. She found the page she was searching for and closed her eyes, then started chanting what sounded like a magic spell in an ancient language. As Liane watched, storm clouds gathered under the ceiling of the hallway, turning darker and darker before the first drops of rain started to fall. The fire on the plants and Hope?s tail quickly grew smaller and finally were extinguished with a small puff of smoke. However, the rain didn?t stop. It grew stronger and stronger, turning from a light sizzle into a powerful storm right inside the hallway. Liane tried to find cover of some sort, but as there was nothing to hide beneath, her clothes quickly got soaked completely. She tried to make her way towards the office at the end of the hall, but had to stop when a bright light blinded her for a moment. Then there was a loud crash.

??Lightning???, she screamed.

??...blasted storm, disperse!??, she could hear Buttercup?s voice from afar.

The woman seemed to be trying out a number of spells, but nothing worked. Suddenly a girl came up behind her, reached over Buttercup?s shoulder and flipped the book to a specific page.

??There, that should work!??

??Ah, forsoothe. Thou art indeed of utmost help, Frieda.??, Buttercup responded.

Lia tried to get a look at the girl through the storm. She knew Buttercup?s assistant Frieda fromt school, but she was curious if she could ?see? anything more about her now. And indeed, even though the rain was obscuring her vision, she could immediately make out Frieda?s maid qualities. It seemed she was some form of devil, because on her back were two black, bat-like wings. And another pair of wings, much smaller than the first one, sat on her head.
Buttercup started chanting another spell, and a black vortex opened up in the air in front of her. Liane expected the clouds to disappear into it, but instead it seemed something was coming out of the vortex. A spinning and twisting shape emerged deep inside the vortex and grew bigger and bigger, then dropped to the floor. The vortex closed and for a moment nothing happened. Liane stared at the small grey ball that laid motionlessly on the floor. The ball twitched a few times, then changed shape. Liane?s look changed from horror to surprise as she realized what the shape was...

??...a hedgehog???, she muttered.

???Tis not what I expected, Frieda. Explain thineself.??, Buttercup turned towards her assistant with a threatening look.

??Uhm...??, the little devil stuttered.

 Meanwhile the hedgehog uncurled completely, looked around at the chaos in the hallway, then yawned. As it openend its mouth, it was as if someone had turned on a giant vacuum. Liane crouched down to the floor as an invisible force started to pull her towards the small animal. She saw that the clouds were moving towards the hedgehog, being sucked into it. After a few seconds, it was over. The hallway was quiet and peaceful just like it had been when the maids had arrived. In the middle of the floor laid the hedgehog, burping quietly before it curled up into a ball and disappeared into the same vortex it had come from. However, the remains of the chaos could still be seen very clearly. Franzi seemed to have been hit by a bolt of thunder and was using the charge to create arcs of electricity between her arms, having them jump from one hand to another happily. Next to her, Hope lay sprawled out on the floor, the end of her tail burned black. Aleena meanwhile had gotten up again and was trying to light the already charred potted plant on fire once more, which earned her a smack on the head with Buttercup?s heavy spellbook. Liane got to her feet and walked towards Buttercup, her clothes still dripping with water.

??Thank you for your help, even if it went a bit... out of control, Miss Buttercup.??, she said as she arrived at the door.

???Tis mine duty to prevent Aleena from torching the academy or the office. Think nothing of it.??, Buttecup shrugged.

Something in Liane?s head clicked.

??Wait a second... if you take care of the things Aleena sets on fire, you use a storm to do so and you don?t seem to be able to control it very well...??, she paused for a moment.

??...So THAT is the source of the sudden changes in weather and the massive storms this town has been having all the years? A crazy pyromanic loli and the one that has to clean up after her???

She felt the sudden urge to beat her head against the wall at this absurdity. Buttercup meanwhile turned bright red as her lacking control over her magic was brought up.

??Mukyuu...??
However, her expression changed immediately when she heard Frieda giggle behind her. She turned around on the spot with a fierce look that caused the devil-maid to freeze on the spot.

??Thou art rejoicing a bit too much over mine misfortune, art thou not???, she asked calmly, but with a clearly threatening voice.

??Ah...uhm... mistress, I...??, the devil shyed away from the angry librarian.

??By the rules of thine contract, I order thou to sit down.??

Frieda twitched. She suddenly seemed to have trouble standing upright. Her body wanted to sit down as it was ordered, but she tried to fight it with her mind. She struggled to retain her free will, but was quickly brought down to her knees.  The devil girl glared up at Buttercup with tears in her eyes, clenching her fists in frustration.

??Now, Frieda, I shalt have to reeducate thou, it seems.??, Buttercup turned to Liane, ??If thou will excuse me for a while.??

She brought forth a small box from her pocket and put it on the ground, then opened it. Liane couldn?t see what was inside it, but within a second, both Buttercup and Frieda were gone and the box floated in the air, as if to signal the point at which they would reappear soon.
Liane looked around. She could see that the other girls had gotten back to her feet and were heading over to her.

??Let us go, the mistress is waiting.??, Hope said with her usual composure, then they  finally entered through the doors.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

When they entered the office, Liane properly understood the term d?ja vue for the first time. The large room, the bookshelves, the big desk in front of the window, the couch with the teacher-nurse on it...

??Wait a second...??

Speaking those words, Liane turned around to look at the door. It was still open and she could clearly see the chaotic hallway they had come from. She turned around to look at the room. Then she went to the door, stepped outside and closed it behind her. She took a deep breath, then opened the doors again.

??...??

The sight before her was still the same.

??...??

She closed the door once more. This time she counted to ten before opening it once more.

??...haaah??, Liane let out a long sigh.

The only thing inside the room that had changed were the expressions of the people inside it. Hope was staring at Liane with a look that made it clear she was contemplating the mental stability of the girl, while Aleena and Franzi giggled uncontrollably. Liane stepped back into the room, without much enthusiasm, walked right past the other maids and stopped when she reached the desk.
She smiled wryly. Sitting behind the desk, fingertips put together in front of her face, was Ophelia. She smiled calmly at Liane.

??Right, what is this? I am fairly sure we are in a different building at least, so any tricks with the surroundings are out of question. Hmm, is this one of those twin-tricks? Are you two sisters who just love to dress and look alike to confuse people? Oh, that?s it, isn?t it? Haha, good one, almost had me there.??, Liane laughed dryly.

??Sorry, but things are not that easy. Didn?t I tell you to leave reason and logic behind? In fact, didn?t you see the ?Ye who enter, abandon all reason?-sign outside???, Ophelia said.
Liane thought for a moment, then shook her head.

??No, I didn?t see it.??

??Good, because it doesn?t exist.??, Ophelia chuckled.

Liane was getting a bit annoyed at her. She had been led around without any clue as to what she was supposed to do, and her wet clothes were not helping her getting less irritated.

??So, what are you doing here, principal???, she asked the woman behind the desk.

??Obviously I am doing my job. I might need to reintroduce myself.??

Ophelia looked up at Liane with a sharp gaze.

??Ophelia Lynwood, CEO of M.A.I.D. and principal of the Maid-Education and ?Training Facility, the very school you visited.??

Liane was at a loss of words. She had known Ophelia was no ordinary woman when she had met her at school, but the truth was beyond what she had managed to imagine. She tried to understand the implications of what she had just been told. If Ophelia was M.A.I.D.?s CEO, that meant she practically had control over all of the town. She was in charge of all actions concerning the corporation, including the rumored shady ones. This woman was as powerful as she was dangerous, Liane understood that now.

?Whatever she wants me to do, I have no choice...?, she thought.

??You probably wonder how I got here so fast.??

Liane nodded.

??Too bad, classified information~??, Ophelia said in a girly voice while holding a finger to her lips and winking at the girl in front of her.

She looked a bit disappointed when her attempt to loosen the tense atmosphere failed completely and sighed.

??Okay, I suppose you will only be satisfied once I have explained everything to you. But before that...??, the woman stood up from her desk and walked over to a dark panel in the corner of the room.

She touched it lightly and the panel slid open, revealing a wardrobe full of different outfits. Ophelia reached inside and searched around a bit before pulling out several neatly folded and stacked sets of clothes.

??I was going to give those to you later, but seeing your condition you can use them right now already.??, she placed the stack on her desk. ??Liane, Hope, Aleena, Franziska. Please take your new uniforms and put them on.??

The four girls gathered around the desk and looked at the clothes. They were the black maid-uniforms that they had seen worn by the other maids in the building already. They all knew what this meant. From today on, they were not maid-apprentices anymore. They would be full-fledged maids, expected to use their qualities to serve their master and defend them from any harm. Franzi and Aleena squealed happily as they saw the clothes and started unfolding them on the table. Soon it became clear that the uniforms had been custom-made and it was unmistakeable which one belonged to whom. Two of the uniforms were size l for loli, significantly smaller than the other two, and one of them head four sleeves instead of just two. With the two larger uniforms, a look at the skirt revealed the respective owners, as one uniform had a hole just big enough for a tail cut into the back of the skirt.

?Wait a moment, where did they get our measurements from...?, Liane thought.

She slowly turned around to look at the couch near the entrance to the room, where the teacher sat. She was smiling at Liane and waved at her with one hand. But her eyes clearly told  that she knew exactly what Liane was thinking. And that she was right. Liane turned back only to see a pair of skirts flying in her direction. She barely managed to dodge the textile projectiles that had been thrown by the two energetically undressing girls at the other side of the desk. Liane groaned. Apparently shame and decency didn?t mean a thing to Franzi and Aleena.
Hope, on the other hand, looked around the room sligthly flustered, trying to find a place to change clothes without giving Ophelia and the Doctor a strip-show. However, she quickly came to the same conclusion as Liane: There was nowhere to hide in this room. With a big sigh Hope and Liane took their wet clothes off as quickly as possible and struggled to get dressed even quicker. Within a few minutes, and accompanied by the constant giggling of the Doctor, all four girls were wearing their new uniforms.

??That?s... strange...??, Liane said, looking down at herself.

She was feeling great. Of course she had expected to feel a bit better after changing out of the wet clothes, but this was different. What she was feeling was not just the comfort of a clean and dry set of new clothes custom-made for her. She felt light and energetic.

??Hmm, so you can feel it???, Ophelia asked with a curious look. ??I wasn?t too sure if it would work on you, since you are special. So it does. Well, that?s not bad actually, quite the contrary.??

Liane looked at her with a puzzled expression. Ophelia motioned the girls to follow her and started to make her way out of the office and back to the elevator. She kept talking while she walked.

??You see, a maid?s uniform is more than just an easy way to tell that someone is a maid in the first place. The uniform is the pride and source of power for a maid. Even when a person possesses maid-qualities and therefore qualifies to become a maid, they are only slightly stronger than average humans,  if at all. However, as I told you, they are potentials that can be trained and strengthened. That is what the uniform does. It?s constructed in a way that helps circulate a maid?s inner energy and strengthen whatever powers she has. The uniforms at school were versions that only slightly strengthened the person wearing it, only as much as needed for the purposes of education as a maid. That is probably why you didn?t feel anything from them, they were only the trial-version, so to speak. This one,?? she pointed at Liane?s clothes, ??this is the real deal. I could try to explain, but you will see the strength of real maids in battle soon enough anyway. As long as all of you are wearing your uniforms, you will be able to perform better than ever before, and will be much more resistant to anything that may try to harm you. Think of it as a kind of armour.??

Liane nodded.

??However, that also means you should take care not to have the uniform damaged or destroyed. The effect will lessen if it is torn apart, and of course it won?t work if you are not wearing it either. This uniform is a part of you, if it gets harmed you get harmed, do you understand???

[Dead Princess Sakana]

They had arrived at the elevator again. Ophelia  entered and put her hand on the panel, then seemed to type something. After a moment the lift closed and Liane could feel it going down. Suddenly, Ophelia chuckled.

??Oh, and by the way,?? she turned around. ??The uniforms are very resistant to fire and water. Don?t even try, Aleena.??

Liane heard the a disappointed voice behind her. When she turned to it, she saw Aleena, holding a small, flaming ball to her skirt in hopes of setting it on fire. When she noticed Liane?s gaze, Aleena made no move to hide the flame, instead she closed her eyes and showed her brightest smile to the girl she had just tried to torch for the second time in a single day. Liane made a mental note to avoid turning her back to the little girl as much as possible. Franziska meanwhile looked excited, as if she was going to an amusement park.

?Well, that?s probably how she?s looking at this...?, Liane thought.

After a bit, the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened. This time there was no hallway out there. In fact, Liane wasn?t even sure there was a room at all.

??What...where...??, she stammered as she followed after Ophelia, who was swiftly leaving the elevator.

In front of the group of maids was a large open space. From what Liane could see, it was underground, most likely a cave. She felt a chill as she stepped from the warmth of the elevator into the cold and dark air of the cave. When Ophelia took a step to the side to allow her free view of the inside of the cave, Liane?s eyes grew wide. She gasped as she was trying to understand what she was seeing. From the sounds behind her, she knew that Aleena and Franzi were as surprised as she was. Only Hope seemed to be unaffected, or at least she didn?t show any reaction.

If Liane had ever needed to describe a secret facility for weapon development, this was the kind of image she would have had in mind. There were hundreds of people in the cave, mostly maids in uniforms that were modified to allow them to carry a lot of tools around.  Large machines, cables and pipes were everywhere. Some areas seemed to be more organized and clean, holding smaller technology and lots of screens. The maids in those areas were looking at complicated patterns on the screens and on print-outs, argued over them and then shouted instructions to the mechanic-maids, who promptly rushed to do what they were told. For some strange reason, or maybe of the sake of the stereotype, all the apparent scientist-maids seemed to wear glasses. Conversely, the mechanic-maids looked kind of tomboyish from what Liane could tell. She had no idea what all those people were doing down here, but she was sure it had to do with...this.

There was one place in the whole cave that stood out from the rest. Right in the middle of the cave, all the cables and pipes running towards it, there was a large area of grassy ground. On the grass, there were flowerbeds and a wide path. And at the end of the path stood a building. Once more Liane?s eyes grew wide. Down there on the grass, in the middle of all the futuristic machinery in this cave deep underground, there stood a large baroque-style mansion.
Liane blinked a few times to check if it wasn?t just an illusion, but the image she saw stayed the same. It was unmistakable that someone had, for whatever reasons, build a whole mansion down here. She turned towards Ophelia, who was looking at the building with the look of a proud mother.

??Oh, you have arrived! Come over here, we?re almost ready!??, a voice from the side shouted.

The girls turned around to see a young woman coming towards them. She was one of the mechanics, wearing a dirty maid-uniform with patches all over it and equipped with a large amount of different tools. As she came closer she wiped her hands on a piece of cloth and eyed the four girls behind Ophelia curiously. Liane noticed a black eyepatch the woman was wearing over one eye, and she could see signs of a scar beneath it. Having only one eye made the woman?s gaze look even sharper as she looked from one girl to another.

??So those are the ones you chose? They look interesting, just as I expected from you. The other ones are already inside, just follow me.??, she turned around and walked over to a set of stairs that led to the ground area of the cave.

??Lieselotte is the head-mechanic down here and in charge of the construction of this whole project.??, Ophelia explained briefly as everyone followed the mechanic.

Liane quickly noticed where they were heading, and she had not expected anything different. The group was walking right towards the center of the cave, towards the mansion. Liane took Aleena?s and Franzi?s hands as she walked. She was absolutely sure that neither of the two should touch anything down here if they wanted to get out alive.

After a short while, they arrived at a place that seemed to be some kind of control-room, as far as something without a roof could be called a room. It was located in direct view of the mansion and consisted of a large number of big screens and control-panels arranged in a circular shape. In the middle of the circle was a machine the size and heighth of a table which projected an image on its surface. There were a few people standing around the table already, and they looked expectingly at the group as it arrived. Lieselotte led everyone to the table, and when she stood next to it Liane noticed that it was actually displaying a number of maps. She recognized one of the maps to be the area of the town they were in, or rather under, and another that showed a larger view of the region around the town. Most of the screen, however, displayed a large world map.

Liane looked at the people that were waiting for them. The first one was one of the scientist-maids, and Liane assumed that she was the head of the scientists, just like Lieselotte was the head of the mechanics. The next one was a rather normal looking young woman with blonde hair. She was not wearing a maid-uniform, instead she wore a normal blouse and skirt. She smiled at Liane and the other maids with confidence and Liane felt like there might be at least one other normal person here after all, as she couldn?t see any qualities on the woman either. Lastly, there was another maid. She looked like she was about Liane?s age, and showed a pair of cat-ears and a tail similar to Hope?s. When she noticed the newcomers her ears twitched and her eyes started to shine at once. Within a second she had climbed up on the table and was running towards Hope.

??Onee-cha~an??, the girl shouted as she jumped up and dropped down onto Hope.

??Ah, Fai?urgh!??

Hope couldn?t react in time and was thrown to the ground as the girl landed on her, clinging to the tiger-girl tightly.

??Gah, I g-get it! I get it! You... are happy t-to see me!??, Hope said, having trouble breathing properly.

??Yes, I missed you so very much, onee-chan~??, the other girl answered and snuggled up to Hope on the ground.

As Liane watched the scene, she noticed that the feeling of the two small hands she had been holding all the time was gone.

??Yaaaaaay~??

??No fair, Franzi wants hugs as well!??

The two girls had broken free from her grasp and were running happily towards Hope. Franzi was spreading out all four of her arms as she jumped onto the pile. Hope let out a pained gasp as she felt the force of two lolis impacting on top of her. Liane sighed as she looked at the pile of girls. On the other side of the table, Ophelia eyed the spectacle as well, with a look that showed she was not very pleased. Suddenly, the temperature of the air dropped a few degrees. The girls? breath turned into white smoke as it rose up, and a thin veil of ice was forming on the ground and table. At the same time, Ophelia?s eyes started glowing bright blue as she uncurled her whip.

??Stop this at once.??, she said calmly.

As she spoke, something like a dark smoke rose up behind her back, and took a shape that vaguely resembled a living being. It twitched and twisted, struggling to free itself, and Liane stood frozen in shock when the monstrosity let out a tremendous roar. She blinked, and as soon as things had changed, they were back to normal. The temperature had risen again, the black creature was gone, Ophelia stood at the same point as before, whip on her hip, her eyes the usual color, smiling.
For a moment Liane wondered if she had just imagined what happened, but the silence in the cave told her otherwise. And even more so did the view of the four girls sitting on the ground, staring blankly and shivering.

??Well then, let us start, shall we???, Ophelia said. ??Get up, all of you.??

As she said those words, life started to return to the cave slowly. Maids that had stopped right in their steps dared to move again. Others that were holding their breaths exhaled and continued talking as if nothing had happened. Hope and the catgirl climbed back to their feet, while Aleena and Franzi were clinging to each other in shock, close to bursting in tears. The blonde young woman walked over to them and crouched down, then reached out to pat their heads. This was a technique that never failed to work on the little girls. They calmed down at once, enjoying the patting.

??There, all better now. The scary lady is gone.??, this earned her a sharp look of dissaproval from Ophelia, ??Now let?s talk about the important things, okay???

The two girls nodded and got up, then wobbled over to the table. Ophelia took a look around at all the people present, ensured they were focusing on her, then cleared her throat.

??Alright everyone, let us begin the mission briefing. First of all, I will need to explain something, seeing as we have a few people here that don?t know about M.A.I.D.?s real meaning.??, she looked over to the girls, ??We are part of a global network of similar corporations, each with its own schools and facilities to find candidates, train them as maids and send them on missions all around the world. You all already know that it is a maid?s duty to fight and protect their master. And that is what most of us do. However, a small number have an even greater purpose. The master they serve... is the world itself.??

??The... world???, Liane asked in confusion.

??Yes, the world. To make it short, they are teams of maids that take care of threats on a global scale, instead of just taking care of a single mansion.??, Ophelia answered.

??Wait, so you mean there are things that could destroy the world? Evil organizations and stuff like that? Like in the movies???

??I suppose you could say that. What we fight has many names, and appears in a plethora of forms, but they all have the capability of seriously throwing off the balance of this world and possibly cause it to perish. For that reason, each branch of M.A.I.D. deploys one team of Combat Maids for the sole purpose of taking care of those threats.??, she pointed to the map,

??See those green dots on the map? Those are the other branches? teams. There are close to a hundred by now, maids of almost every nationality.??

Liane stared at the map. She never would have imagined there were so many maids around the world. The maid-school she went to had about thirty students, but that was in a rather small town. If there were almost a hundred teams, and each region had at least thirty students...
Her head began spinning as she imagined nearly 3000 Aleenas and Franzis gathered in one place. She quickly shook her head to get rid of the thought.
She looked at the map again, and noticed something.

??... are those dots there flying???, she pointed at an area a few centimeters above the map, where the table was projecting about twenty green dots, which were therefore hovering in the air.

??Good observation. Well, maybe you could say they are flying.??, Ophelia answered with a smile, ??But I better let the specialists explain that one.??

As if she had been waiting for the cue, the scientist stepped forward.

??My name is Brunhilde Irnstedt, leader of the science department of M.A.I.D. I will try to make things short, but there is something you need to understand before you go on your mission. You have heard of theories of parallel worlds, right???, she looked at the maids briefly, but didn?t wait for a response, ??There is one theory that says you should imagine reality like a pair of trousers. When a choice happens, you get two different legs of reality, and each of them will lead to a different outcome. I don?t know how credible this theory is, but we have proven parallel worlds to exist.??

The girls gasped.

??Maids have had knowledge about other worlds since ancient times, and some possessed the skills to travel between them. We have refined those techniques and combined them with modern technology to make the travelling easier, faster and more controllable. Now what can I tell you about those worlds? Well, not much, I am afraid. What we do know is that they are all vastly different from our own. If the theory that reality splits due to choices is credible, it only happens at changes that will shape the world in a very grave and distinct way. Else we should stumble across multitudes of worlds where the only difference is that  someone slept in for five minutes or not, if you understand what I mean. No, those worlds are much more different. Those fantasy-stories you have read as kids? Some of the worlds we have discovered are just like that.
We call them parallel worlds, which would mean they are still actually the Earth, but really, we don?t know for sure. Most of them seem to be similar enough to the world we know in geography and basic structure, but you could just as well regard them as different planets in far away universes. It makes no practical difference. What is important for you to know is that those worlds exist, and that you will travel to them.??

Liane?s brain took a few seconds to work to organize and understand all the information she had just been showered with. Believing in parallel worlds wasn?t too hard at this point, not after she had already learned of the things that existed in her own world. But...

??Travel there? Wait, you mean we are supposed to go to other worlds? Is that what this mission is about???, she asked.

??Yes.??, Brunhilde answered while adjusting her glasses. ??What we know from the information our maid-ancestors left behind, the worlds are all connected. That is why we can travel between them, of course, but it also means that if something happens to one of them, the others might be affected as well. Now as long as it is about events within only one world, there is not much danger. However, in the case of inter-world interference, when things from one world try to heavily affect one or multiple others, that poses a damage to the natural balance that can not be tolerated. You can?t wear a trouser when one of the legs is ripped off, right? Even if this trouser of reality has enough legs to comfortably fit an eldritch abomination.??, she chuckled.

At this point, Lieselotte stepped forward, taking over the speech from the scientist.

??Now you surely wonder how you are supposed to go to those different worlds, right? Well, that is what we built this for.??, she pointed at the mansion behind her. ??From the day on that M.A.I.D. had established a branch in this town, we have been developing this baby and now it?s finally finished. So up to now we of course didn?t have a team of Combat Maids in action either, that?s what you are going to be. This thing may look like a normal mansion to you uneducated ones, but it?s a great work of art, fusing the best of science and technology into it.... well, actually most of the science and technology is in the cave, only a small part is in the actual mansion. Think of the mansion as the passenger cabin, while the rest of the cave is the engines and stuff needed to run the whole thing smoothly. Basically, it?s a vessel. Once you are in there, we can send you to different worlds, allowing you to fulfill your missions there. But you will still be connected to this place here at all times.??, she pointed at the holographic map, ??Those hovering dots, those are teams that are currently operating in different worlds from ours. It?s really easy, believe me. You get in there, live your daily life, and we will send you wherever you are needed. You don?t need to do much at all. And it has all the conveniences one could wish for. It even has the potential to be expanded and modified if need be.??

Lieselotte ended her talk, but then seemed to remember something. She searched through the pockets on her dress, then found the one she was looking for and produced a number of small shining balls from it.

??Here, take those??, she handed the balls out to the maids, ??Those are the newest versions of Maid Weapons. You haven?t been trained in combat for nothing, after all, you need to be armed just in case. Try them out once you?re aboard later, they will take a different shape for each of you. I?m especially curious on gathering data about how they work for a Wild Card.??, she winked at Liane as she said that.

When she saw that the scientist and mechanic were finished, Ophelia took over once more.

??So now you know about your mission and the means of fulfilling it. I know this is all very sudden, but you will just have to deal with it. You will hear more later, but for the moment, let?s take care of the more important bits. Aleena, Franzi, Liane, let me introduce the fifth maid on this mission to you.??, she made a gesture towards the cat-eared girl. ??Her name is Faith White, and she is Hope?s sister. She will accompany you on your mission.??

The catgirl waved happily.

??Hi hi, I?m Faith~. Can we blow up stuff now???

Liane mentally marked Faith off the list of potentially sane people. Meanwhile Ophelia walked behind the blond young woman and put her hands on the woman?s shoulders.

??And then we have someone you all don?t know yet. Every vessel needs a captain and every mansion needs a master, that is not different for us. Therefore, this woman is going to be your mistress from now on. She will take command of the mansion, and you maids are to serve her and protect her with all your might. Listen to her orders, and this mission will be a success. Oh, and don?t worry that she looks a bit young, her father is a master on another mansion, so she?s practically a natural.??, Ophelia explained.

The young woman blushed a bit as she was introduced.

??N-Nice to meet you. My n-name is Faye...??, she stammered.

??Well then, with the formalities out of the way, let?s get in there, then you?ll receive the final orders before takeoff.??, Ophelia pointed at the mansion and nodded encouragingly to Faye.

??Ah... okay.??, the blonde woman took a deep breath, then straightened her posture, ??I look forward to working with you all. I trust that we can overcome any troubles that might appear in our way. Let us go.??

She turned around and started to walk towards the mansion, the maids following after her.
Ophelia, Liese and Brunhilde stayed back at the command center, waiting for the team to arrive at the mansion?s central control room. After a short while, one of the screens that had been inactive before turned on. Faye could be seen on the screen, along with the maids behind her.

??This is Faye, we have activated the controls and are ready to receive orders.??

Ophelia looked over to Brunhilde and Liese, who were checking several displays together with some other scientists and mechanics, shouting numbers at each other. She didn?t understand a word of it, but she could see the two women did their work quick and effective. They were professionals, after all. After half a minute, Liese and Brunhilde turned around simultaneously with satisfied looks on her face, and nodded at Ophelia. That was the signal that everything was going as it was supposed to. The engines were working without problems, all values were within the norm. Of course, she had expected nothing less from those two.

??Everything is working fine, from the looks of it. We will now proceed with the mission briefing.??, Ophelia said.

??Faye, your first mission is to visit the coordinates we will send you now. They are the last coordinates we have of one of our vessels, before we received an emergency signal from them. That was a few hours ago. Contact has been lost since then. You are to investigate the situation. Be careful, we have to assume there might be hostile activity involved.??

Ophelia could see Faye checking the mission details on the screen. Soon, Faye?s eyes grew wide as she reached a certain part of the data.

??That name... it can?t be...??

Even on the small screen, Ophelia noticed Faye was trembling.

??Yes, the vessel that was lost... is your father?s. I?m sorry, I would have liked to entrust someone else with this, but you are the only team that?s ready for immediate intervention. We don?t have time to wait for any other team to get ready, please understand this. It will be hard, but I believe you can do it.??, she tried to calm the young woman down.

??Y-yes, Miss. We will investigate the... we will check the situation.??, Faye tried to sound confident.

??That is all. Hope for the best, but be prepared to deal with the worst. Commence mission.??

Faye shook her head to clear her mind, then gave a strong nod.

??Yes, Miss. Team Faye, commencing first mission. Target coordinates registered, preparing for takeoff. Commencing mission.??, she said and pushed a few buttons on the control panel in front of her.

Displays started flashing rapidly with values and graphs as the mansion?s engines jumped to live. The maids in the command center checked the numerous screens frantically, they couldn?t even the smallest inconsistency go unnoticed. The displays became more chaotic with every second, then there was a loud bang. The hectic numbers and graphs calmed down and settled into a steady stream of data. The mansion in the middle of the cave was gone, only the grass and flowerbeds proved that it had been here mere seconds before. Liese and Brunhilde took a deep breath, then nodded at each other.

??The jump went without problems.??, they said to Ophelia.

The woman was standing alone, lost in thought as she looked at the command center and the place where the mansion had been. She turned her head as she heard someone walking up to her from behind.

??So they are on their way now, huh???, the Doctor said.

??What are you thinking about, Ophelia???, she added as she noticed the woman?s expression.

??Did I choose the right ones? In terms of training and skills there are a lot of others that are far better. And yet I chose them, especially that girl... did I do the right thing???, Ophelia said absent-mindedly.

??Oh, questioning your decision? That?s very unlike you.??, the Doctor chuckled, ??Don?t worry, they will be fine. After all, they are maid for combat.??

Everyone in the cave jumped as suddenly the loud sound of a whip echoed through the air.

??Oww...??

??That was a horrible pun.??

[Dead Princess Sakana]

The mansion shook a bit when the jump occured, but that was that the maids could feel. At the moment, there was only silence in the control room. The mansion had automatically changed its shape that resembled modern spaceships in science fiction. This was part of a system that would adjust the vessel?s look to match the current surroundings and make it less suspicious, as Lieselotte had explained to them shortly before they left. Right now it was calculating the way through different layers of reality to arrive at the target coordinates. The first jump had taken them to space, to minimize the risk of a collision of some sort, and now they were consecutively jumping from one dimension and world to another, until they would arrive at their target and take a last jump back to the surface there. The atmosphere in the room was tense. Even Franziska and Aleena had ceased their hyperactive behavior when they had heard that Faye?s father was the one that was in trouble. Faye had been staring at the main screen all the time, a strained expression on her face. She was trying her best to not show any weakness in front of the maids.

?I have to be strong. They all depend on me. If I let them down right at the start, how are we ever supposed to do anything. I can?t let my personal feelings get in the way here.?, she thought to herself repeatedly while surpressing her trembling.

Suddenly the mansion shook once more. Faye quickly looked up at the screen again, and saw that they had reached her destination. She immediately turned around to rush to the exit, but was held back by one of the maids blocking the passage.

??Mistress, you stay here.??

It was Hope that had planted herself in Faye?s way. The young woman tried to push past the tiger-girl, but Hope swiftly grabbed her arm and twirled her around, pushing her back into the control room.

??Let me go!??, Faye shouted.

??Mistress, I can understand you want to go out there, but we don?t know what we?re dealing with. It is our duty to protect you, and I will not allow you to get harmed. Calm yourself, we will take care of this and report back in shortly.??

Faye glared at the maid, but then slumped down into one of the seats in the room. She had been ignoring the very words she had been telling herself just a few minutes ago.

??You are right, I?m sorry...??, she said in a weak voice.

Hope nodded. Then she pointed at the her fellow maids.

??Faith, Liane, we three are going to check outside. Aleena, Franziska, you stay here with the Mistress and support us from here, okay???

Aleena looked slightly disappointed at the thought of being confined in the room, but Franzi quickly grabbed her with all four arms and dragged her over to Faye.

??Come on Allie, let?s be good girls.??, she said.

??Mistress, let?s play while the boring ones are outside.??, she smiled brightly at Faye.

The young woman couldn?t resist a small smile. She was thankful to have those girls with her, even if they were a bit strange.

??Will you be okay???, Liane asked Faye, who gave a short nod.

Liane wasn?t too sure if anyone could be okay with Aleena and Franzi on their own, but she quickly followed after Hope and Faith, who had already left the room and went over to the exit. Hope turned around at the two girls following her, making sure they were ready before she opened the exit. With the vessel?s current shape, the exit was a big metallic hatch.
Liane tensed up as the hatch opened and the three maids stepped outside. She let out a gasp when she immediately saw the target of their mission a bit further ahead.

??Oh damnit...??, Hope said, gritting her teeth.

??Did it go pop or boom? What happened???, Faith asked her sister, looking curious.

The area they had landed in was desolate. There was barely any vegetation around, and what Liane could see were the burnt remains of some trees. The earth looked scorched as all the way around to the horizon. And there, several hundred meters in front of them, was a destroyed vessel. It was logged sideways into the ground, as if it had fallen from a great heigth, and there was smoke rising from it. Hope surveyed the area closely as the maids carefully made their way towards the wreck.

??Onee-chan, look here! It went boom!??, Faith said, pointing at several oddly shaped burn marks on some parts of wreckage they passed on the way.

??This is bad, looks like this wasn?t an accident...??, Hope commented the discovery.

??You mean they were attacked???, Liane asked for clarification.

??Looks like it. It doesn?t seem like any of the bastards is still around, but if they are, I?ll be happy to blast them into oblivion. This is horrible.??, the tiger-girl growled.

Hope quickened her steps and soon they arrived at the vessel?s entrance.

??Damnit, that?s not going to open.??, she said, kicking the hatch that was half-buried in the ground.

She turned around to Faith and Liane.

??Search for other ways to enter. And Faith, put away the Weapon Sphere, if someone?s still alive in there, we don?t wanna kill them when you blast your way in.??

??Aw, okay...??, the girl looked slightly disappointed, but did as told and rushed off.

Liane took off in the opposite direction, climbing over parts of the wreck that had been torn off in the crash. There were several places where the vessel?s hull had been ripped open, but none of them were big enough to allow entrance. She went further around the ship, until she reached the other side. She immediately noticed a large gap that had been torn into the hull, opening a way into the interior.

?From the position, that is damage that was done before the ship crashed, or maybe it?s the reason it crashed in the first place? What in the world could rip open a vessel like this??, Liane thought to herself.

She called over Faith and Hope, and the three girls entered the vessel. They carefully made their way through the rooms, which were much more like a spaceship here, unlike their own vessel that was much more similar to a mansion in its interior design. Hope signalled the others to stay silent for a moment, then she closed her eyes and concentrated. Her ears twitched as she tried to catch any sounds from their surroundings. Suddenly her eyes flew open again, she turned to the side and quickly made her way through the rooms of the vessel.

Soon they arrived in the control room. When she saw the situation, Liane almost fell down to her knees. She suddenly realized that she had never fully thought about the implications of their mission. They were going to fight. But a fight meant a chance of death as well. Noone could guarantee that they would come out of this unharmed. That was the realization that hit her as she looked through the room. From the looks of it, the main systems in the room had been destroyed in the crash, some of them bursting into flames. And on the ground lay the crew of the ship, girls dressed in maid uniforms, fatally injured in the crash, their uniforms torn and dirty. Liane swallowed hard and forced herself to focus on the front of the room without looking at the dead maids. There, a single maid was not lying on the ground, but crouching on the floor. She was still alive.
Liane glanced at Hope, who was biting her lip. Faith had gone silent as well, though she was looking at the bodies with curiosity. Liane surpressed the shaking of her body and took a step towards the girl crouching at the end of the room. She saw the girl twitch when she heard the noise. Slowly, the girl turned around, shaking and panting heavily, her eyes widened in shock. Her mouth opened for a scream as she saw the three unfamiliar figures standing in the room, but she quickly realized that she was looking at fellow maids, and her expression changed to surprise.

??You... who...??, she stammered.

Liane looked at Hope, who nodded slightly, then took another careful step towards the girl while speaking.

??We were sent by Ophelia. There was an emergency signal and we are here to investigate...??, she said.

The girl?s shaking calmed down a bit as she heard Liane?s words.

??Ah yeah... the signal.??, she hung her head.

??I... I?m sorry... we came as soon a-?? ??What happened? Were you attacked???

Liane turned her head in surprise. Hope had suddenly interrupted her.

??We can?t afford to waste any time here, Liane. She will be able to rest later, for now we need to get a grip on the situation, even if it means we need to push.??, she said with a serious look.

The girl on the ground managed a pained smile and laughed a dry laugh.

??You are right...??, she took a deep breath, then looked at Hope. ??Report this to the base: Our vessel was attacked by an unknown force while investigating rumors about a disruption in the balance of the worlds. It?s likely our attacker was whatever caused the disruption. Everyone on the ship died in the attack, except me. The captain protected me...??, she went silent and moved a bit to the side while turning around.

Liane could see the main controls of the vessel behind the girl, and there, leaning against the control panel, was another body. It was the body of a middle-aged man with white hair that had some last strands of blonde in it. His uniform was ripped open and Liane could see severe wounds on his body. She put a hand to her mouth and forced herself to look away. This man was without a doubt the captain, Faye?s father.

??Can you describe whatever attacked you???, she suddenly heard Hope?s voice.

??No... I never saw it clearly. All I can say is that it appears to be some kind of creature, and...??, the girls eyes grew wide as she spoke.

Her mind was playing the scenes of the attack again. How the vessel had been attacked while changing dimensions during its investigation. How the hull had been ripped open and the vessel had crashed to the ground. How the thing had attacked even more after that, and killed the maids that had survived the crash. How the captain had tried to shield her from it, but had received lethal wounds. How she had been able to glance at the attacker for a split second as the captain fell to the ground. How she had seen...
As her memories reached that point, her mind ceased working. The girls eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably.

??Damnit!??, Hope shouted, rushing over to the girl immediately.

She crouched down next to the girl and pulled out a small box from a pocket on the side of her skirt. From it she pulled a metallic tube and put it on the girl?s neck. Liane assumed it was some kind of syringe, as it caused the girl to stop twitching. Hope let out a sigh of relief, but suddenly tensed up. Faith, who had been checking the corpses in the room also stopped in her tracks and looked up at the ceiling. Liane immediately knew why the two reacted that way. She was hearing a voice. She had never felt something like this, the sound wasn?t coming from anywhere in the room, it seemed to originate directly in her mind. It was like when she was thinking about something, only that this inner voice wasn?t hers. This was the voice of Faye.

??Hope, Faith, Liane, can you hear me? Get out of there!??

Faye?s voice made it clear something wasn?t right, she was almost shouting.

??Mistress, we have found the ship and a single survivor. She needs medical treatment though, so-??, Hope started, but was cut off.

??You don?t have any time! There?s some kind of missiles coming! YOU NEED TO GET OUT!??, Faye shouted the last words so loud that Liane?s head hurt.

Hope froze up for a second as she heard the news. She quickly picked up the unconscious girl on the floor and threw her over her shoulder, then started to make her way out of the room without looking back. Liane followed her quickly, and Faith stayed close behind her. As soon as they reached the gap in the vessel?s hull that they had entered through, they could see the missiles. There were several bright lights flying far away in the sky. They appeared small at the moment, but they grew bigger dangerously fast. Hope turned to the other two girls.

??Alright, just run!??, she shouted and started to jump down from the wreckage. Liane followed her, climbing down a bit more carefully. Faith crouched a bit in preparation for a big jump when her ears suddenly twitched.

??Hauuu??

The catgirl turned her head in confusion, trying to locate the source of the sound.

??Hau hauuuuu!??

Faith perked up. This was definitely a voice.

??Onee-chan! There?s something making sounds left in there, I?ll take a look.??

Hope looked up in shock as Faith ran back into the vessel.

??Faith! What are you doing? Get out of there! FAITH!??, she shouted, but her sister was already out of reach.

She grit her teeth, but turned her back and ran towards their own vessel, Liane following closely behind her. She didn?t want Faith to get into danger, but at the same time she did not want to leave any potential survivors behind either. She had to trust her sister on this.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Meanwhile Faith carefully walked through the vessel again, this time in the direction opposite of the control room. She followed the voice she had heard into a long corridor. Halfway through, the corridor?s ceiling had collapsed and blocked the passage. Faith tilted her head. She was sure the voice came from this corridor.

??Haau??

This time Faith managed to locate the exact position of the sound. It came from directly under the rubble that was once the ceiling. Faith knew what to do immediately. She broke into a big grin as she pulled the Weapon Sphere Lieselotte had given her from her uniform. It shone as she threw it into the air and extended into a long, tube-like object with several attachments. The object twirled through the air for a second before falling back down into Faith?s hands.
The catgirl was holding a mechanized version of a big tuba, which had, amongst other things, and aiming device added to its top. She held the instrument to her mouth and took aim at the rubble.

??Try not to go poof, ?kay???, she said, then she blew into the tuba.

What resulted was a deep sound, followed by a large explosion that blew away the rubble in the corridor and opened up a new exit in the vessel?s hull where there had been none a moment before. Faith stared into the dust as it cleared. She was a bit surprised by the force of her weapon, but this was the result she had wanted anyway.

??Hauu???

Faith broke into a bright smile as she heard the sound again, coming from the place that had been blocked by the rubble. She ran forward to get a look at who or what had been buried here. When she saw it, her smile got even brighter.

??Uii!??


Outside, Hope and Liane were sprinting towards their vessel as fast as they could. Hope kept a steady pace, but Liane was having trouble breathing and had stumbled a few times  already. The vessel was still a few hundred metres away and she had fallen quite a bit behind on Hope by now. She was about to stop and catch her breath for a moment when she heard the sound of an explosion behind her. As she turned around, she caught a glimpse of the missiles. They had gotten a lot closer by now, and Liane estimated they wouldn?t have more than half a minute left to get to the vessel. She tried to find the origin of the explosion and noticed a large cloud of smoke coming from the upper part of the crashed vessel.

?No, did something happen to Faith??, she thought in panic.

As she wondered whether she should inform Hope immediately, she noticed something. Two small figures were climbing from a newly opened hole on top of the vessel. Liane watched as the one of the figures, most likely Faith, appeared to point the other one in the direction of the vessel they had to get to. Then the second figure changed shape. Something seemed to be growing from its sides as it crouched down. Faith climbed onto the figures back and Liane saw a bright light emanating from the things at the figure?s sides.

And then it flew off. Liane watched in amazement as the figure rapidly came closer. Her mouth dropped open as she was finally able to make out just what it was that was rushing in her direction. It was another maid. She was small, like Franzi and Aleena, but she was obviously very different from them. Most significantly, she had two jet-engines coming out of her side. Those were what was making her fly through the air at high-speed. On the small maid?s back sat Faith, squealing with joy at the rapid flight. As the distance between them and Liane shrank, the girl saw Faith pointing towards her. The flying maid gave a small nod and stretched her arms out to the side to change her course. Liane couldn?t move as the two girls came flying closer and closer.

She felt a force pulling her away and suddenly the world was rushing past her. Liane turned her head and saw that the small maid had grabbed her hand as she passed by and had lifted her into the air, now flying with two passengers.

??Uiii??

Liane could see the missiles as the maids flew towards the vessel. They were already appearing as big lights in the sky and had almost reached them. When the small maid suddenly activated a pair of reverse thrusters to brake, Liane felt as if her arm was going to get ripped off. She struggled to hold onto the maid?s hand frantically, then she noticed that her feet were touching the ground again. She stumbled a bit, still dizzy from the flight, when she felt herself being pulled once more by the small maid.

??Hauu!??

Liane turned around and saw she was only a single step away from their own vessel. She could see Hope and the unconscious girl she had carried already inside, then something pushed her from behind and she fell through the entrance.
Faye stood nervously in front of the control panel and watched the screen that showed a view of the vessel?s entrance. When she saw the hatch closing after Faith had pushed Liane inside and entered after her, she counted to three, then pushed a specific button. Immediately she vessel shook as the engines came to life, and a few seconds later, the screens told Faye that they had successfully made the jump. She stood still for a few seconds to see if there were any problems, then let out a long sigh and slumped back into one of the seats in  the room. Franzi, who had stayed at her side all the time, immediately rushed over to her and placed her four small hands on Faye?s arm.

??Are you alright???, the little girl asked with a concerned look.

Faye smiled as she saw the girl?s worry.

??Yes, I?m okay. We all are. We made it out.??, she said as she reached out  with her hand to pat the girl?s head.

She heard the sound of the door behind her open and footsteps entering the room.

??Ah, they?re back~??, Franzi shouted happily and ran off to the girls who had just entered the room.

Liane had barely taken a step through the door when  she suddenly felt a strong impact and was almost thrown to the ground by the small girl?s four-armed hug. The gasped and struggled to breathed freely as Franzi squeezed her tightly. Faith, who had entered behind her, broke into laughter. When she heard the commotion, Faye got up from her seat and walked over to the three maids.

??I?m glad to see you are all right. We were worried.??, she greeted them.

??Thanks. That really was a bit close there...??, Liane answered.

She noticed Faye?s eyes searching for something behind her.

??Ah, Hope took the injured survivor to the infirmary, and the one with the other one followed her...??, Liane went silent when  she thought of the strange maid again.

??Hauu went with onee-chan. She had really cool jets and can fly really fast!??, Faith said happily.

??Well then, let?s go and take a look at our new guests??, Faye nodded and motioned the four maids to follow her.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

Bright light blinded the girl when she opened her eyes. She blinked a few times, but the surroundings stayed blurry. Instinctively she reached out for her glasses, but her hands only grasped the air.

??Huh???

She noticed something strange. The surroundings were unfamiliar to her, this was not the room she was used to waking up in. Furthermore, it did not seem to be a room made for living in it in the first place. She couldn?t see clearly, but she managed to make out several machines in the room with displays filled with data, and she could smell the familiar scent of materials needed in medical treatment. As her hazy mind started working again, images of the events before she fell asleep resurfaced. At once, the girl was wide awake and sat upright. She regretted the quick move, as it caused her head and several other parts of her body to hurt significantly. The girl let out a pained gasp, but forced herself to stay focused and looked around the room.

There were seven people gathered around her, four of which she recognized, even without her glasses. First of all, there were the three maids who had found her after the crash. It was logical to assume that they had taken her to their own vessel after she had fainted, so she concluded that she was in some kind of infirmary now. Then there were three persons she did not know yet. The uniforms enabled her to tell that the two small girls were maids like her. She squinted a bit when she looked at them , wondering if it was just her eyes playing tricks on her in regards to the girl?s limbs. Next to the girls stood a young woman, clad in normal clothes instead of a uniform. This had to be this vessel?s captain.
The girl turned her head to the last person in the room. She had felt something tucking on her skirt all the while since she had woken up, a feeling she was very familiar with. She looked down to the side of the bed she was lying on, and saw a small girl, arm outstretched and pulling on her skirt. She was looking worried.

??Hauu???

The girl smiled softly and put her hand on the small girl?s.

??Did I make you worry, Mirei? Sorry, I?m alright now.??, she said.

??Uiii!??, came the happy response from the girl at the bedside.

The girl turned back to the other people before her and bowed her head.

??I must thank you. If it hadn?t been for your help, I would be dead by now.??

The maids looked at Faye. It was the mistress? duty to take on this conversation. The young woman took a step towards the bed.

??It was only natural. How could we leave you behind? Rather... we were too late...??, Faye looked to the ground.

??No, don?t blame yourself. You couldn?t have done anything, it happened faster than anyone could have intervened.??, the girl responded.

??I don?t believe I have told you my name yet, have I? I am Sakachi, part of the medical staff on Captain Geoffrey?s vessel.??, she introduced herself. ??Nice to meet you, even though the circumstances could be better.??

Sakachi looked to the side and noticed a small table with a familiar object on it. She reached out and retrieved her glasses. She was glad to see they had been undamaged, and at once clear shapes returned to the blurry world she had been seeing since she woke up.

??So you all are..., she aked as she looked at the group in front of her once more now that she could see them clearly.

Faye went ahead and explained where they came from and introduced all of the members of the team.

??Faye... could you be the Geoffrey?s..., Sakachi asked.

Faye nodded slowly.

??... I?m sorry??, Sakachi bit her lip.

Faye shook her head. Her voice became small, and she had to fight the tears as the realization of what had happened set in. The maids went quiet as Faye hung her head and trembled. However, she young woman quickly forced herself to regain her composure and looked up at Sakachi again. The girl on the bed was searching through the pockets of her uniform, growing more nervous with each pocket that didn?t turn up with the expected results.

??Where did I... oh come on...??, she mumbled. ??It has to be... don?t tell me...??

??Hauu???

The girl called Mirei had watched Sakachi search for a while, when suddenly her face brightened up and she clapped her hands together as if she had realized something. As the other maids watched in amazement, the top of Mirei?s head slid open and a small mechanic arm emerged from it, carrying what looked like an optical disc. The arm dropped the disc on Sakachi?s lap, the retreated into Mirei?s head and within a second, no sign of what had happened could be seen anymore. Sakachi?s mood brightened at once as she received the disc and she beamed at the others.

??Thanks, Mirei. I feared I had lost it somehow.??

??Uiii~??

Liane stared at the small maid,  then  at Sakachi.

??Uhm, excuse me, but what...??, she started.

Sakachi chuckled.

??You haven?t seen any of Mirei?s kind before? She?s a gynoid, that?s her quality. A mechanical maid, shaped like a human.??

??So... a robot???, Liane asked.

Sakachi glared at her for a moment.

??Make no mistake. Gynoid-maids are not mindless machines. They have their own personalities and will not listen to any orders due to programming or something like that. They have a free will, don?t lump them  in with mindless machines like robots.??

Liane noticed Mirei was glaring at her as well. She hadn?t been to sure before, but she now realized that the girl, while not being capable of speech herself, understood every word they said very well.

??Nyuu.??

Liane smiled nervously.

??Don?t worry though, Mirei will never harm anyone unless they pose a danger to her or her friends. And let me tell you, you don?t want to make her angry. She may look like this, but the words ?More than meets the eye? were practically made for her.??, Sakachi calmed the girl down.

Then  she turned to the blonde young woman and picked up the disc Mirei had given her.

??Anyway, Miss Faye, I have something for you! This disc contains all of our vessel?s log-data, as well as the stored infomation from our Lazarus Drive.??

Faye?s eyes widened as she heard those words. The Lazarus Drive was a miracle of science and ancient arts, just like the vessels. Every vessel was equipped with a Lazarus Drive, and the central offices of M.A.I.D.?s branches had multiple of them for emergencies. In short, the Lazarus Drives allowed resurrection. The vessel?s main systems constantly gathered data about their respective crew, about their genetic makeup,  their physical condition, even of their mind. This data was collected even while the maids and their masters were outside of the vessel, though the reach was limited to a few kilometres. When a person whose data was stored died, the Lazarus Drive would activate and create a perfect copy of the person that was exactly the same as the person was when  they did, even their memories. This last point was what set the Drive apart from any form of normal cloning and made it more closer to an actual ressurection, even if the original body was lost.
In experiments with some especially reckless maids, the corporation?s scientists had noticed that after too many resurrections, the Drive could not restore a maid?s original powers anymore. When they died and respawned too often, a maid would get weaker and weaker, and  would have to retreat from being part of the combat force entirely. Because of this caution in  battle was still adviced, and the maids who had gone through the Drive unanimously reported that being recreated in it was a very unpleasant experience.

??So father can be resurrected???, Faye asked with excitement.

??I have no doubts about that. Our Drive was destroyed in the crash, but there is no reason why the data should be harmed in any way, especially since Mirei was taking care of it. I suggest sending it to your central command so they can input the data and take care of the procedure. Soon enough Captain Geoffrey and my crewmates will be back to full health. Though they will have to stay put for a while, seeing as the vessel was lost. Ah well, old Geoffrey can use a vacation, wouldn?t you say???, she smiled at Faye, who nodded happily.

??Yes, I?m sure he nearly overworked himself on the vessel, he?s just so stubborn!??

Faye and Sakachi laughed together as the tension from before fell off them, causing Aleena and Franzi to jump at Faye and hug her. Hope crossed her arms and nodded in approval with a small smile. Meanwhile, Liane bowed over to Faith and asked her just what this Lazarus Drive was that had been mentioned. When  Faith explained to her, albeit in a quite childish way, Liane?s mouth dropped open.
She would never have thought a device like this was even possible, much less already available and working. The more she learned about the truth behind M.A.I.D. and its activities, the more unreal it all felt compared to the life she had lived beore. It was like something straight out of a twisted science-fiction novel whose author had a strange fetish for maid-uniforms.

?Or maybe... it?s  the other way around...?, she thought to herself.

Maybe it wasn?t the current situation that was unreal. Though a lot of things she had learned had surprised and impressed her, she nontheless had accepted that they were very real and just another side of reality. This had become her life now, so wasn?t it maybe the years she had lived up to now that were becoming an illusion? After all, as she was now, it was unlikely she would return to this life anytime soon, and she wasn?t too sure she would even want to go back even if she could. It hadn?t been long since she had become a maid, only a few hours, and though she certainly could imagine better activities than being chased by missiles, she couldn?t deny she enjoyed the excitement.
She had always thought of herself as someone that avoided trouble as much as possible, but that didn?t mean she wouldn?t face it when she had to. She liked a good challenge, new experiences and interesting company. And with the weirdness of her current situation, she would find all of this if she just stayed with Faye and the others, she did not have any doubt about that.

?I?m a maid now, and I won?t back out on that role!?

When Hope saw Liane?s face, she raised an eyebrow. She felt something tug on her clothes as Aleena had walked over to her.

??Hey hey, is Lia alright? Her eyes are sparkling in a weird way.??, the little girl asked.

??I don?t know, maybe shock???, the tiger-girl replied.

Franzi had already positioned herself in front of Liane, who was holding one hand clutched into a fist in front of her chest and staring into the air with a look of satisfaction and excitement.

??Oi, Lia! He~y!??, she said while waving her four arms in front of the girl?s face.

After a moment Liane?s eyes regained their normal look and she gave a strong and determined nod before turning to Faye.

??Mistress Faye, what will we do now? What is the plan???, she asked.

Faye chuckled.

??Oh my, someone is quite enthusiastic. Well, we should report to the headquarters about what we found out and receive new orders.??, she answered. ??Let?s do that right now.??

She walked over to Sakachi who handed her the disc, then left the room. Liane followed after her, as did Faith and Hope, while Franzi and Aleena stayed behind to make acquaintances with Mirei. The last thing Liane saw before she stepped through the door was Franzi raising her arms and wriggling her fingers as she slowly walked towards the small gynoid-girl.

[Dead Princess Sakana]

??Hmm, so this is what happened? Alright, I think I get the general situation. We?ve already relayed the data to the Lazarus Drives, so don?t worry about that part. As for the rest...??

Ophelia rested her chin on her hand and bit her lip as she thought about the things she had just been reported. Faye and the others watched Ophelia patiently on the big screen in the control room as their superior pondered their next move. While they waited, they saw Brunhilde coming up to Ophelia, telling her about the results of the analysis of the logs acquired from Geoffrey?s vessel. The two women exchanged a few words, then Ophelia nodded and sent the scientist away.

??Alright, I have made a decision. After carefully analyzing the data from your last mission,??

Snickering could be heard in the background. Ophelia shot a disapproving glance to the side.

??...we have discussed all aspects of the situation..??

A few laughs mixed into the snickering now.

??... and have made the most reasonable decision  in light of all the information present at the current time.??

The command room broke into laughter. Liane and the others heard things like ?Barely looked at it? and ?Minesweeper? as they watched Ophelia?s eyes change color. Then a bright light emenated from her and the screen switched to the grey tone of a lost signal. The sound, however, was still transmitted, and the girls felt a chill as they heard a whip slashing repeatedly and the maids in the command room scream in pain and horror.

When the screen came back to life and showed Ophelia standing with a bright smile as if nothing had happened, the maids immediately straigthened their postures and didn?t dare move a muscle. At the edge of the screen, Liane noticed the twitching body of another maid lying on the floor.

??Where were we???, Ophelia asked.

??Y-you w-w-wanted to g-give us new o-orders... M-mistress???, Faye answered her nervously.

??Ah yes. Well, it seems that your father, Geoffrey had found quite a number of clues in his investigation regarding the recent disturbance in the interdimensional balance. Seeing how he was attacked, we can be fairly sure he was onto something there. His last logs contain a number of coordinates that he wanted to explore before his vessel got shot down.
Faye, here is your new mission. As the only vessel immediately available for this task, and because of your relation to Captain Geoffrey, you and your maids are to take over his investigation. Go to the coordinates you find in the data and continue where he had to leave off. You have free reign in where you want to go from there and which actions you take. Your goal is to find the source of the disturbance and the attack, and eliminate it if possible. But be careful, Captain Geoffrey was an experienced man, and soon will be one again, and he still got taken down without much of a fight. Don?t put yourself in too much danger.
It has also been decided that the maids Sakachi and Mirei are to stay on your vessel. Sakachi is an expert in medical treatment and Mirei is amongst the strongest fighters in M.A.I.D., be careful with her batteries though, her energy-efficiency isn?t too good yet. The two of them will be a great addition to your team. They are now under your command, Faye, take good care of them.
That is all on the mission. You are free to make preparations and commence at your own leisure, but the sooner you can get behind those events the better. I hope to hear from you soon, good luck.??

Ophelia saluted as the screen tuned out, and the maids and Faye did likewise. The blonde-haired woman turned around and looked at the maids in the room.

??Are you ready???, she asked.

The girls nodded in response. When she saw the readiness in their eyes,  Faye turned around once more and pulled up the data Ophelia had given them on the screen. She scrolled through the log of Geoffrey?s vessel and found the coordinates to their target at the very end. The entry was strange, there were no comments or notes added to the coordinates. From the timing, the entry was made just as the vessel  was attacked, probably in a hurry to leave it as a message to whomever would find the data. Faye narrowed her eyes and let the system search the log for those coordinates. She got a single result, just as mysterious as the first one. And it wasn?t an official entry in the log either, it was a data-point in the vessel?s internal IDPS, the Inder-Dimensional Positioning System. This system allowed the headquarters and command centers to track the positions of any given vessel at all times.
Faye memorized the date when Geoffrey?s vessel had visited the coordinates and pulled up the log again, searching for the respective date on it. She had pretty much expected it at this point, but she still let out a sound of disappointment as she saw there was no log-entry for this day. Faye skimmed the days before that, but there was nothing hinting to the coordinates or any special circumstances or happenings. Whatever had happened to lead Geoffrey to those coordinates, he wanted to keep it a secret. But it was also so important that he felt it necessary to leave a hint to it in the data-log when he got attacked, so that someone else could continue the task. Whatever it was, Faye was sure it was related to the reason her father got attacked.

??Father... I?m going to find out what happened, don?t worry.??, Faye said with determination as she input the coordinates into the system of her own vessel.

The sound of the engines roaring, a slight shaking, some minutes of silence as she vessel made the necessary jumps, then they arrived. Faye and the maids stared at the main screen anxiously as the vessel came to rest. It took a few seconds for it to adjust it?s outside shape to the surroundings, then the screen came on. What the girls saw surprised them.
Liane stared at the screen.

?Well, what did we expect??, she thought.

?The lair of evil, filled with vile beasts? Some fantastic land with rainbows and unicorns??

It was neither of this. What she looked at on the big screen was... ordinary. In fact, for a second she was wondering if they hadn?t returned to the very town they started in, but she quickly noticed the obvious differences. This wasn?t just some small town, this was a real city. The vessel had chosen a hill at the edge of the urban area as a landing spot, so they got a perfect view of where they had arrived. Liane saw the mass of light and buildings extend far into all directions, highways spanning everywhere to allow cars to avoid the presumably narrow streets down below. She could see several trains running through the city, appearing as snakes of light in the dark of night. A large full moon watched over the scene, emanating a silvery light.

??Oh, so we are back here???, a voice could be heard from the entrance to the control room.

Faye turned around and noticed Sakachi in the door. She was limping a bit and leaned against the frame of the door as she caught her breath.

??Should you be walking around? You haven?t healed completely yet, have you???, Faye asked with concern.

??No, I shouldn?t be walking, doctor said so. But I?ve never been good at listening to myself.??, she smiled wryly. ??I will go lie down, but I just had to see where we jumped this time. So this is the place...??

She took a few more steps into the room and let herself fall into one of the seats, from where she looked up  at the screen and the nightlit city.

??You said ?back here?,?? Hope turned to her. ??You know this place???

??Yes, I do. We were here once before. Don?t be fooled, this may look like a normal city at night, but it?s always like this.??, Sakachi answered.

??What do you mean? Always as in... there is no day???

??Yes. No matter when you come to this city, it will be night.??

??I got the coordinates from my father?s log. What did he want here???, Faye interrupted.

Sakachi went silent for a few moments, thinking intently. Then she looked back up.

??He must have gotten a message that they started.??

??They???

??Some maids. A local organization. Geoffrey met them when we came here the first time on our investigations and made some deals with them. There is something here, something that has to do with the whole instability in the dimensional balance and the events that led to the attack on our vessel. And those girls were gonna do something about it. Geoffrey wanted to come back here when it happened, he seemed to believe it would be of tremendous help.??, she went silent for a bit.

??Virginis Noctis...??


That's all so far. If you've made it till here through that discouraging wall of text, congratulations~
No idea when I will continue the story, but I will continue it.
For now though, it's time to turn to the other stories I have lying around~

[Esifex]

M.A.I.D. to Order? :O