Elizabeth Ulrich Mission File: G

Elizabeth Ulrich Mission File: G

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Commissioned by Chaosbrain

Wordcount: 2000

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Another day meant another place to give a quick once over and report on.

It’s honestly a pretty cushy job.

Pop into the next dimension over from the last one, check it out for any possible threats to home, and do a quick write-up. Like any gal of Germanic descent, I was all for spending the rest of my days going on hikes, filing out paperwork, and telling people what other people are doing wrong. All in all, I was looking forward to just another, regular day in the life of Elizabeth Ulrich.

When I couldn’t get back to my dimension, despite having Dimension Lost, was when things got a bit dicey.

But it was a bit less dicey thanks to a certain someone who decided to come along.

“Well, Ise, it looks like you jinxed us.” I looked over to my boyfriend, and as I thought, he was already scratching his cheek and giving a cute grin. It really was unfair for boys to be cute, too. “Something or someone is keeping us in this… Dimensional Bubble? Barrier?”

I scratched my head and felt for what was keeping us in some sort of valley with a Japanese feudal village at the center. It only took a few probing attempts to leave, without any power behind it, to find that the whole space was enclosed… and had links to this dimension’s version of the underworld.

“Well, there’s some good news. Our Communicators are working. Ddraig had to turn down the quality settings, but we’re receiving and transmitting data back just fine.” That was a load off my chest. We could call for help and Song could come in to sword things to being completely perfect. No matter what he told me about being the Aspect of Conflict and having immense cosmic power, I’ll always say that his greatest bullshit ability is to swing around a hunk of metal and make things go as he likes. “Do you want me to try and break through the barrier and give us an opening?”

“Hm, we could try that, but it might be keeping something out… or in.” Even from a passing glance, I could tell that the barrier was meticulous and incredible. Generations of work were put into it and a lot of power too. Nothing sloppy like human sacrifice either. Just flat-out, generations of hard work and effort. “Let's leave punching through the barrier unless we can’t find another way out of it… and I think I found one.”

A few kilometers away there was a place to walk in and out of the barrier, and as far as I could tell there wasn’t anything particularly malicious over there. It could even be the guardian of the place, or the custodian of it. In fact, we might in some sort of elaborate museum piece that some hyper-advanced civilization saved. A vertical slice of feudal Japan and its underworld for tourism purposes.

Man, my life has gotten really weird.

Anyway, I offered my hand to Ise and he took it without hesitation (cute) and we went over there.

Yeah.

Nothing could’ve prepared me for what I found.

…

“And, you have no clue who you’re supposed to be maintaining the shrine for?”

“Yep.”

“Neither do you have any possible support, if you fail, besides some interdimensional entity that you can’t rely on.”

“Correct.”

“And, while you’re doing well on your training and have your skills up to par, you’re not even close to full power because you can’t worship your patron correctly.”

“Absolutely.”

“…Wow, I feel bad for you, and I’ve lived through plenty.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay, I’m done checking the outside. It’s normal out there. A few decades behind us and without any magic anywhere else, but pretty normal.” Ise came back and had a convenience store bag in one hand and a suitcase in the other. He put both down on the low table me and Reimu were sitting around. “Got some funds by having Crow go through the internet and break through a few crime syndicates. This should be more than enough for us and Hakurei-san.”

The briefcase was half-filled with US dollar bills in the hundred-dollar denomination and the other half was filled with ten-thousand Yen bills. Paper money felt a bit strange, but this world didn’t have any fabricators that could print them en-masse without issue, so it made sense.

Reimu almost dropped her teacup at the sight of it… and did when Ise gave her a thumbs up.

“I can get plenty more, so feel free to start using the Yen. It’ll be our housing cost while we stick around and find a way back home without breaking through the barrier.”

“…The two of you really are heroes.” Reimu cried a little, and cried a bit more when Ise brought out some convenience store sandwiches, meals, and drinks. She sniffled a bit more when Ise brought out a few bags of groceries from storage and went to fill the rustic fridge she had. “The Preservers of Reality are the best!”

“Jeez, you’d think that nation would fork up some money to maintain this whole place, if it’s got as many Ultimate-classes running around.” Reimu gave us a brief description of the place. It was a pretty concentrated place filled with people who could wipe out countries in a day. There was even a Lunarian alien or two around, apparently, and the US had tried to conquer the moon a few decades ago? That was a point of interest, but I was more worried about the lack of oversight and support. “Is the masquerade in full effect or something? Even if there isn’t much magic outside, it can’t be unknown… right?”

“Most supernatural creatures and people left the limelight and don’t do anything to attract attention. A lot of them are strong, but mankind has the advantage nowadays… and more than a few powerful creatures would rather help mankind than see it lose.” Reimu tilted her head to the side for a second, which was pretty cute. I glanced over at Ise, but he was unfazed. I suppose that he wasn’t interested in ogling girls. Reimu was pretty young, while we were both in our twenties now. “It’s different where you come from?”

“Loads different. Magic and everything’s normal. Earth almost got conquered by interdimensional monsters. There were a few events that nearly ended the world. Not much you can keep secret when you’re using magic to stop humongous monsters from killing everything.” I was summarizing the better part of several decades, and that was enough to make Reimu pause and lose most of her earlier enthusiasm. I picked my next set of words more carefully. “Everything’s going pretty well now, though. Everyone’s looking for other planets, the timeline’s stable, and we’re doing our best to make Asia and all the other countries consumed by the Chimera livable again through terraforming.”

“That… that makes it a lot clearer why you lot are going around into other dimensions, then.”

“Yep, just keeping an eye out so we don’t get blindsided. We’ve got a secure sphere about ten-by-ten-by-ten now, so we’re good to go.” Ise settled back to sit with us. A lot of the food on the small table would be available back home now, thanks to everyone helping each other out, and CORE was doing their best to secure as much gene samples as possible. Having Creation on your side helped a lot too, even if she whined a lot whenever Song wasn’t around. Things were going great and everyone was getting their fair share. CORE was going to start relinquishing their hold on a lot of organizations too, so the market was going to get some controlled freedom. “Don’t worry about us, but if you need some help around these parts, we’re more than willing to lend you some of our aid. Uh, aid that isn’t uplifting the planet, unless you’re heading into a climate catastrophe or something.”

I was pretty used to giving the speech now, but I had a different feeling about it this time. It kinda felt like I was telling a Concept that they weren’t doing anything. Now, Reimu seemed plenty strong, but she couldn’t be that strong… right?

“Okay. I get it. I just needed a second to get it all figured out. It’s nothing for me to worry about, right?”

“Right.” I understood my feeling after that phrase. That was something Song, Ise, or even Miyakuro would say back in the day. They put a lot on their shoulders and felt that they should do all that they could with the power that they had. Heck, Li was the same nowadays too. He was still going around looking for people to help out with everyone else pulled into his orbit, and I helped him more often than not. “Don’t worry about it. We’re fine now and ready to help and keep an eye out for just about everyone.”

I glanced over to Ise and he gave me a big thumbs up that made me breathe a little easier.

Can always count on him when it came to figuring out people.

“Anyway, what’re your plans for the next couple years? Got a boyfriend or girlfriend to keep you company?” Teenagers had those, right? Heck, I was with Ise while we were in just a first years of college, technically. Reimu was in high school, but… wait… “Huh, wait, how are you getting an education with your job?”

“I’ve studied mostly on my own. The school over here closed down. The village is on a downturn, after all.” She stated it so calmly that I nearly nodded. Thankfully, I was used to people understating how messed up their situation is. “I’ve learned all that I’ve needed to learn.”

“Absolutely incorrect! You need more than just a highschool education, if you’re going to be spending your life looking after a sealed off space filled with supernatural creatures. Just muscle, magical or otherwise, isn’t going to carry all the way.” My mind was abuzz. I thought that this world was a few decades behind, but I didn’t expect this. No, I should’ve expected it. Societal development in the last few decades back home leaped forward again and again. This world was horrifically backwards and couldn’t even provide virtual, AI schooling for kids. “Here, I have a spare Communicator with an AI. You’ll be going through basic schooling and heading straight into diplomacy classes, missy!”

“O-okay.” Reimu was surprisingly meek as I handed her the small, slim piece of technology. For a second, I didn’t know what made the outspoken girl so meek, then I realized that I was effectively mothering her. When I searched for help from Ise, he just gave me a dumb, handsome smile and another thumbs up. I’m not trying to care for this child— “Um, can you show me how this works?”

GAH, WHEN DID THIS GIRL SUDDENLY BECOME SO CUTE!?

Within seconds, I found myself teaching Reimu how to use a communicator and working with her branch of Crow. Typically, I used my spare communicator to leave behind a way to contact the Preservers on other planets, but Song would agree that this was another good reason to use it. Someone with as much power as Reimu shouldn’t be deprived an education… or fiscal support. The girl’s house should be refurbished, her living expenses should be accounted for, and she shouldn’t have to worry about anything besides mediating between supernatural creatures!

Now that I thought about it, I couldn’t help but wonder who set this up… and how I could give them a bop on their noggings and give them a thorough speaking to for letting things get this bad!

Young girls like Reimu should be in school, playing pranks, and be worrying bout silly things like fashion… if she was spending her days watching over a dang supernatural exclusion zone, then she should at least be taken care of!