Guillaume, the steward, takes them into what looks like a living room. On the center of it, there are two sofas facing each other with a tea table between them.

  "I will go get the count, please wait here," he says before leaving the room.

  All who remain here are Kristina, Rose, Ernst... and Gaylord. We need him here as a witness of my prowess!

  "So, regarding the negotiations..." Ernst speaks.

  "I want to chat with the count a bit to find out what sort of man he is, but after that I will leave it up to you," Kristina explains.

  "Noted, my lady... Although, I would like to ask you permission for a certain part of my plan, since it requires your assistance."

  "What is it?"

  Ernst approaches her and whispers something in her ear. "Sure, I see no issue," she answers.

  Kristina approaches a window, she can see some of the count's servants tending to the fields outside. From what I have read, it was expected for a noble's estate to include a farm.

  The steward returns with a balding obese man in regal attire.

  "Greetings, I am Kristina Sanguis. Count Weiz, I presume?" Kristina asks, approaching the man.

  "Indeed, it's a pleasure to meet you. Although, I do wish I could see your face..."

  "I must apologize, as a vampire I need to protect myself from sunlight." Area: Calm, casting this preemptively.

  The count raises his eyebrow. "We could have the windows' curtains closed, if you would like...?"

  "That would be most appreciated," she replies.

  Count Weiz takes a bell out of his pocket and rings it. Soon, an old butler enters the room.

  "Please, close the curtains."

  With care, as to not bring any damage to those expensive curtains, the butler closes each one. At the same time, Kristina, Rose and Ernst sit in one of the sofas while Count Weiz, Guillaume and Gaylord sit on the other.

  After finishing closing all curtains, the butler returns to the count. "Anything else, my lord?" He asks.

  "No," the count answers. The butler bows and leaves the room.

  Kristina takes of her mask and pulls down her hood. Ernst does the same.

  "Oh... I can see that your beauty is second only to my wife's." Hmm... Is he a wife guy?

  "Really? I would love to meet her then."

  "That... That would be impossible, she has passed away..."

  "Sorry..."

  "It's fine, you didn't know..."

  "How... How long has she been gone?"

  "Almost 10 years now..." Dammit, if it was recent I could have used necromancy, but at this point I don't think it would work...

  "My condolences..."

  "So, what brings you here?" He changes the topic.

  "My entire mansion got warped to a forest near Baum village due to a malfunction in a warp spell. We haven't been able to warp back, nor communicate in any way with our home country."

  "I see, so you want help getting back?"

  "Not really, I'm not sure if that would even be possible since we seem to be in another world.

  "Another world?!"

  "None of our star maps matched the night sky, this made us believe that we are in a different world from the one we came from."

  "That must be quite a worrying situation..."

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "Absolutely, when I looked through the windows in my mansion and saw nothing but forest, I actually screamed 'where's my town?!'."

  "Your town?"

  "I'm a duchess... or, more accurately, I was a duchess. My mansion was located in the center of my duchy's capital town."

  "That's... I can't even imagine what it's like."

  "That title I worked so hard to get it, just for it to be taken away from me out of nowhere."

  "Are you not of noble birth?" His tone is one of curiosity, it doesn't sound like he would think less of her if that's the case.

  He's thinking I'm "nouveau riche". Emilia feels smugly proud of knowing about the term "noveau riche", despite the fact that she only learned it because it appeared in an anime she watched.

  "I was born to a noble family, but becoming a vampire, may have complicated things a bit..." At least that's what happened according to the backstory I had thought up for Kristina.

  "Oh..."

  "I left my home, abandoned my old family name and created a new surname for myself. Then I became an adventurer and traveled through the world."

  "And how did you gain a peerage?"

  "I was hired by the kingdom of Daemonia to fight for them in a war," this is not something from the backstory she thought up, but actually something that actually happened in-game. "A barony was granted to me by the king in recognition of my achievements in that war."

  "Your achievements must have considerable for you to be granted a peerage instead of an unlanded title."

  The king, who's a player, wanted to replace all of his NPC vassals with players, so that made it a bit easier... I'm not gonna tell him that though! "I could list all of what I did, but I would feel bad to waste your time by just bragging."

  "Of course..." Deflection worked! "If you don't mind me asking, how long have you been a duchess?"

  "I don't remember exactly... Ernst?" An in-game year in Vera was 24 real life days, but I'm not sure if time was translated that way when things became real...

  "It took 3 years from becoming a baroness for her to become a countess and then another 3 for her to become a duchess. In total, my lady has been a duchess for 19 years."

  So, it translated 1 to 1 with the in-game time, nice to know. In total Kristina spent her first 120 days in Vera, 5 in-game years, grinding as an adventurer and then the rest of the time, 25 in-game years, as a noble.

  "That's very impressive. I mean, how fast you became a duchess." I guess in a real feudal society, social mobility is quite uncommon, haha... "Now, I still don't know, what brings you here?"

  Kristina just glances at Ernst and he takes the hint that it's his time to talk. "My lady would like to offer you her protection."

  "Gaylord, what's your opinion?" The count looks to his guard.

  "I saw her in action, she destroyed all of the goblins by herself without breaking a sweat. If anything, it felt like she was holding back... She's the real deal," Gay answers.

  "Alright," the count goes back to looking towards the Grand Fang party. "How much for your services?"

  "Oh, we are not after something as plain as money," Ernst's statement makes the count raise an eyebrow. "Land and titles are what my lady seeks, we were hoping you could provide us with a barony within your county."

  "Hmm..." The count mulls over it.

  "Before you make your decision, my lady would be more than happy to give you a demonstration of her abilities!"

  "Indeed!" Kristina confirms. This was what he asked my permission for before.

  They all go to an unused spot of land within the estate's walls.

  "May I begin the demonstration?" Kristina asks.

  "Start whenever you wan-" Before the count can even finish speaking, she already begun casting spells.

  Greater Shield, surrounding the estate, a giant dome made of hexagonal tiles of blue light is formed.

  Explosion, the count and his men watch in awe as a massive explosion happens just above the shield. Once, Kristina used 10 of these to completely destroy an enemy unit of 5000 soldiers, she didn't even need to send her army.

  Kristina casts many more spells, mainly those with impressive visuals. By the end of the demonstration, the land is heavily damaged, thankfully there was nothing of value here.

  "My lady, I believe this is enough," Ernst says.

  With the demonstration apparently over, she sees no need for the shield to be active and it disappears.

  "That was most impressive! I'm not sure if there's anyone within the kingdom who would even compare!" The count applauds. "Although, I wonder, with such incredible spells, is there not any that would let you walk around in the day without needing to worry about the sunlight?"

  "There is one..." Kristina points up. "Obscure!"

  A beam of darkness surges, just above the tip of her index finger, and it flows towards the heavens like a geyser. After reaching a certain height, it spreads horizontally in all directions, curving downwards as it spreads.

  Ernst looks at it mesmerized as this sight brings backs memories of the first time he saw his lady use this spell. When she wasn't his lady yet.

  In the end, the spell forms a dome made of darkness itself, which the sun's light cannot pierce. When Ernst met Kristina, her Obscure dome only extended to a radius of 100 meters. Now, with her current power, it's radius is around an astounding 6 kilometers.

  The vampires are still able to see, since vampirism grants night vision, but the normal humans are completely in the dark. "Let there be Light," Kristina casts and the problem is solved, many light emitting balls suddenly appear, floating through the sky, illuminating the inside of the dome.

  She once again pulls down her hood and takes of her mask, revealing a subtly smug smile on her face.

  "I have seen enough, I would like to accept your proposal, but the truth is that I cannot grant you a barony without his majesty's assent." The count says.

  "Then, do you have an alternative offer for my lady?" Ernst asks.

  "You said your mansion came with you, right? In the forest near Baum?" He asks Kristina.

  "That's correct." She answers.

  "Call it a manor and I may be able to grant you the surrounding area along with the title of Lady of the Manor."

  "Huh..."

  "The princess's birthday party will be happening in a month, I could bring you with me as a plus one. If you get close to her, you might be able to reach the king and get him to grant you the title of baroness."

  "I see, this seems like a good enough deal for me, I accept!"