Kristina, Rose and Ernst convene at the dining room, all sat at the dining table.

  "My lady, why am I here?" Rose questions.

  "What do you mean?" Kristina asks.

  "I usually wouldn't be part of a strategic meeting like this..."

  "Well, you are accompanying us in our mission, it's good if you are aware of our plans."

  Rose nods in understanding.

  A demon maid brings a tray of food, mostly sweets, and places it on the table, in a position where any of the meeting participants can reach.

  I'm so glad I included the knowledge of Brazilian snack recipes in the chef's description! Kristina thinks as she picks up a "brigadeiro", a Brazilian sweet that's like a ball of chocolate fudge covered in sprinkles. Despite vampires not being able to get nutrition from normal food, they can still taste and enjoy it.

  Also, you might be thinking she wrote something like "knows Brazilian snack recipes" in the chef's description, but in actuality she wrote the entire recipes, step by step (the devs kinda forgot to put a limit on how long a custom NPC's description could be). However, as a lover of immersion, she limited herself to recipes that could be made with the ingredients found in the world of Vera.

  "What do you think we should do Ernst?", Kristina asks before eating the brigadeiro.

  "There are two steps to take, go into the county's capital to gather more information and go speak with the local count." He answers.

  "I don't mind chatting with fellow nobles," although this would be my first time talking with an actual noble and not someone roleplaying as one. "But, is there a specific reason you think we should talk with the count?"

  "To arrange a deal."

  "A deal?"

  "My lady, you can easily destroy a battalion on your own. Anyone would want to hire you as private security if they could."

  "I see... Well, we don't know if we will ever be able to return to our world, so we might as well make a living in this one."

  "There's something other than money I would suggest we try to get."

  "What would that thing be?"

  "A barony."

  "That would be good, if I become a baroness I might have the opportunity to rise through the ranks and become a duchess once again."

  "You could probably even get the throne if you wanted."

  "I was pretty satisfied with being a duchess, I have no interest in being an independent ruler..." Vassal gameplay is the most fun!

  "Of course, we shall aim no higher than duchy."

  "Anyways, it might be a tough sell, I don't think it would be easy to convince any lord to part away with land and depending on this country's laws we might require the assent of the king to gain a barony."

  "Leave the negotiations to me. I will convince even a king if necessary."

  He sure is confident... This could be interesting.

  They head out the next day, just after the sun has set. Kristina warps them and the carriage to the road, already east of the village.

  "Where shall we go first? The town or the count's estate?" Ernst asks, once again acting as coachman.

  "Whichever is closer," Kristina answers, once again sat inside of the carriage with Rose.

  Rose is pretty quiet... Did I make her too much of a scaredy cat? Maybe I could try some small talk...

  "So, Rose..."

  "Ye-Yes?" She was clearly not expecting conversation.

  "What would you think of becoming a duchess yourself?"

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "No way, my lady..."

  "I know you are certainly capable." I made you after all. "There's no need to doubt yourself."

  "That's not the issue. I just wouldn't want to be one."

  "Huh, why?"

  "Because them I wouldn't be able to serve you anymore."

  Wha-

  "I agree with Rose. I would rather die than to not serve under you," Ernst interjects.

  I think whatever made them real might have taken the "loyal" in their descriptions a bit too far...

  After a while traveling, they can see the sea on the horizon to the south. It seems the more we go east, the more the coast goes north. Soon, the coast is less than a kilometer away from them and it stops getting closer. This feels familiar somehow...

  They can see the town appearing on the horizon to the east.

  "Farsight," Kristina casts while looking through one the carriage's windows, allowing her to see the town as if she was looking through a pair of binoculars.

  A river coming from the north seems to go through the town in its way to the ocean, entering at the town's north and exiting at the town's south. Could that be the same river Ismet and Attia found?

  There's a wall encircling the town. On the side of the wall she can see there's a closed wooden gate being guarded by two men in metal armor, it seems like it's the town's entrance. She can't see them from this angle, but she imagines there must be holes in the wall to allow the river to go through the town.

  The Sanguis carriage reaches the closed wooden gate that leads to the town. One of the guards guarding it approaches the carriage. I think I'll let Ernst handle it for now. Letting the people under then do the hard work is what nobles do after all!

  "Unusual to see people traveling this late."

  "I and one of the passengers have a skin condition that makes us really sensitive to sunlight." That's... an interesting way to put it.

  "Really, what is it?"

  "Vampirism.", I guess we are going with the honesty route for now.

  The guard laughs, "Funny, I like that. Alright, night owls, do you have any guild identification cards?" Oh, he took it as a joke...

  "I'm afraid not."

  "Unfortunately, there will be an entrance fee then."

  Ernst takes a gold coin from one of his pockets and shows it to the guards. "Do you accept foreign currency?"

  "We should be able to accept that coin, how many people are on this carriage though?"

  "Including me, 3."

  "You are overpaying then, a coin like that should be worth at least 8 people."

  "My employer doesn't mind." He's correct, that's nothing.

  "If you say so..." The guard takes the coin. Together with the other guard, they open the gate. "Welcome to Seestadt!"

  Before entering the town, Ernst has one question. "We come from a far away place, does every town in this region work by this system?"

  "What system do you mean exactly?"

  "Guild identification granting an exemption of an entrance fee."

  "Oh, yeah, they do."

  "I see... Thanks."

  Ernst leads the carriage inside the town.

  "My lady, I suggest that we get identification cards"

  "Well, I don't care for the fee."

  "It would simplify the process to just show identification and it's possible that some places wouldn't accept foreign currency."

  "You make good points... Then let's head to the adventurer's guild!"

  When Vera first launched, the game had been designed with the expectation the players to start as adventurers only as a stepping stone before gaining land and becoming rulers. Surprisingly though, lots of players uninterested in the Grand Strategy aspects started playing the game solely for adventuring, they soon grew to be the largest part of the playerbase.

  Thus the game ended up with two different audiences:

  -A smaller but very dedicated community of Grand Strategy fanatics.

  -A larger but mostly casual community of people who just wanted to adventure. (Emilia would probably call them "normies".)

  The devs did their best to appeal to both demographics. After two years of post-launch updates, the game balance actually ended up relying on most players being permanent adventurers.

  Emilia was pretty fond of a feature they added post-launch that allowed rulers to post quests at adventurer's guilds in territory they controlled. Monsters attacking villages in your barony? Just post a quest to defeat those monsters on the Adventurer's Guild! Although it was a pretty useful and practical mechanic in the game, the reason she was fond of it was because of how immersive it felt: "Of course a noble in a fantasy world like this would hire adventurers to deal with various tasks! Like killing monsters and collecting items!"

  After warping the carriage and its horses back to the mansion, Kristina and the others start looking for the town's Adventurer's Guild. They soon find it in the central region of the town, it wasn't hard with vampiric night vision. Rose, who doesn't have night vision, just followed the two vampires.

  As soon as they enter, they become the center of attention. It's not usual for people dressed this fancily to enter this guild, after all.

  Throughout the hall, there are many tables where adventurers discuss among their parties, while some drink and eat. I must assume the guild makes some good money selling food and drinks to the adventurers. On the left wall there's a board with many quests.

  Kristina, Rose and Ernst head straight to the guild attendant's desk. "How may I help you?" The attendant asks, a formally-dressed 30 years old man with short brown hair. He has a nametag with his name, Nicolas Auge.

  "We would like to join the guild," Kristina answers. In Vera, literally all you had to do to become an adventurer was press a button. I wonder what's the process here?

  "Alright, are you able to use Stats?"

  "Yes," the 3 answer in unison.

  "Good, would you please show me your Stats screen?"

  Stats. She grabs the menu and hands it to him as if it were a piece of paper.

  "A silent caster, those are rare, always nice to see one."

  I can't help but wonder... Why does this world seem to have the same magic system as Vera Phantasia? Not only that, but Stats, a game command, can be done by people here... Maybe it's the other way around and Vera Phantasia is the one that copied this world?

  "Oh, a vampire?" The attendant sounds mildly surprised.

  "A vampire?!" Adventurers across the hall scream in shock.

  I forgot that my Stats showed that detail... Well, it's not like I was trying to hide it anyways...