"I'm afraid, she's still not awake," Frederick, the lich necromancer, explains to his lady.
"There were some questions I had for her..." Ernst reported that she had tried to call reinforcements of some kind, but he killed her before she could finish casting the Message spell. I'm really interested in who was it that she trying to call. Kristina sighs. "Alright, I'll come check again later."
She leaves Frederick's lab, heading into the long corridor outside it. There are many doors here, but she goes straight for the staircase that leads upstairs, reflecting on the thoughts she had last night as she climbs up the steps.
It's true that Emilia's memories aren't going away, but they are becoming a smaller part of the whole. Emilia was 32 years old, Kristina was 56. So, assuming I going to get all of Kristina's memories eventually, then at some point I will be more Kristina than Emilia.
And what about the new memories I am making now? Do those count as Emilia memories or as Kristina memories...? Maybe both...? Maybe neither...?
As she finishes climbing up the stairs, she sees one of the maids cleaning the floor, a demon woman. Demons are poorly seen here from what that adventurer told me, but it's not like I can hide them all... They would be found out sooner or later either way, so I feel the best I could do is just feign ignorance on the existence of this anti-demon prejudice and just hope Franz and Theresia aren't bigots.
Kristina heads to the dining hall, finding Ernst waiting for her there at the hall's entrance. "I finished checking it with the manor's staff, we should be able to receive visits two days from now," he says.
Message. "It's Kristina. We would be able to receive both of you in the 9th day of this month. Sorry, for you it would be in the 8th after the sun sets, I have been counting the start of a new day at sunset, since it's when I wake up. " She sends the message to both Count Weiz and Baroness Weiz. I could have rerecorded the message to correct my mistake, but it might be useful for them to be aware of how I count days.
Kristina enters the dining hall and notices Rose already there, sat at the dining table. She then sits at the table herself and Ernst does the same.
It's not long before a maid comes and places a plate of food in front of each of them. Kristina looks at the empty wine glass beside her plate. Last time I drank blood, I had a flashback to one of Kristina's memories... Does this mean that every time I drink blood I will get another one of her memories...? I guess there's really only one way to find out.
Drop, her wine glass is filled with blood. She takes a sip and...
Kristina walks along a slaughterhouse, in a room where many workers are hanging animals bodies to drain their blood. This is part of a tour she's doing to ascertain the state of the barony she was recently awarded.
"If you wish, I would be able to quicken the blood drainage process," she comments to the worker giving her the tour.
"We would be most honored, my Baroness."
"Area: Blood Drain," she casts, holding her palm open. The animals' blood quickly flows out of them, uniting into a floating ball of blood just above her open hand. "Do you wish to keep the blood?"
"I believe the blood would be more useful in your hands, my Baroness."
"Very well," Store.
Huh, both this time and the previous one, it showed a memory of me acquiring blood... Is that memory about the specific blood I'm drinking? The inventory doesn't differentiate the blood in any manner, it's all stored as just "blood"...
Well, it does taste different than the previous glass of blood I drank. Not worse though, just different. Could this be the difference between human blood and animal blood?
Kristina chugs the blood, before moving to the solid part of the meal. Her plate is filled with many a "coxinha", which is a Brazilian fried pastry filled with shredded chicken and "requeij?o", which is basically Brazilian cream cheese. The "coxinha", or "little thigh" if translated literally to English, has a characteristic teardrop shape.
She eats all of the "coxinhas" calmly, not hurrying herself, she doesn't have anything important to do until Helena wakes up. These are so good, I wonder how people of this world would react to Brazilian snacks... Wait, this gives me an idea. She gestures a maid to come closer.
The maid approaches. "Yes, my lady?"
"Could you call the chef over? There's actually something I would like to ask of him."
Kristina enters Frederick's lab once again, instantly noticing something. Oh, nice, she's finally awake.
"I heard you were looking for me?" Kristina, remembering Ernst's report, asks with a smirk on her face looking at the now grimacing Helena who's lying on a table.
"That's... True, I guess," Helena answers. "Why did you have me brought back to life? What are you going to do to me now?"
"I just had some questions to ask, that's all," Kristina approaches her and extends a hand. "Here, let me help you stand up." After a moment of hesitation, Helena grabs the offered hand and gets assisted in rising from the table.
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Still holding hands, Kristina casts a spell, Warp. Both of them reappear inside a circular room with two wooden benches facing each other. There's a single wooden door with a similar design to the one in Frederick's lab.
Kristina sits on one of the benches. "Helena was your name, right?
"Yes," Helena gives a curt nod.
"Then, Helena, please sit," she gestures to the direction of the other bench. Helena is quick to follow the instruction given and sit on it. "Now, for the first question, how are you feeling right now?"
"What...?" Helena is taken aback, not having expected to be asked that.
"Just answer honestly. You are in an unknown place against your will, you must be feeling something."
"I'm... Confused... You potentially risking another hunt by exposing yourself and your servant literally killing me makes me want to hate you... but you are also the only reason I'm alive right now, which makes me feel like I should like you...?"
"I hope you can like me eventually, though I'm not sure if my next question will help with that. Who were you planning on messaging before Ernst killed you?"
"Well..." Helena considers weather or not she should lie, but she realizes it would just be a matter of time for them to find it out anyways. "I'm part of the Fellowship of Survivors, I was going to ask them for reinforcements."
"Survivors, huh... What is this fellowship?"
"We are the vampires that survived the hunts, we have banded together with the goal of impeding hunts from ever happening again..."
Kristina lets out a weary sigh. "Me and my servants came from a different place, another world to be exact. Prejudice against vampires also existed there, but that had never led to mass killings. I don't think there was anywhere where just being a vampire was even illegal."
"A world without hunts... If that's true, I can see how you were so careless here... But, now that you know, will you please stop endangering everyone...?"
"Helena, I refuse to hide. If perchance the kingdom of Stark ever decides to hunt all vampires again, then you have my word that I will burn this nation to the ground myself if I need to."
"That's easy to say, but... No, considering your servant's strength, you might be able..."
"Well..." Stats, Kristina shows her Stats screen to Helena.
"Full 100?!"
Kristina smirks. "Hold on, there's more still." Skills, she shows her Skills menu as well.
"Are you the goddess herself...?" Back in Vera Phantasia people would ask "do you have a life?" when I showed them my all my stats. I think her reaction is much better in comparison, hehe.
Stats. Skills. Both menus disappear.
"Speaking of power, how powerful is the fellowship?"
"Our leader is over level 80, I think... Most of us are around level 50 though."
"I see..." Franz had told me that 40 is the highest level you would find in Stark, but that turns out to have been wrong... I have a suspicion on why though. "How long has this fellowship existed?"
"Over 300 years, not sure how many exactly, I haven't been paying much attention to the passage of time." There, vampires are immortal, so they have much more time to grind levels.
"Moving on, the reason that you went after me was that you were afraid me being open about my vampirism would lead to the beginning of a new hunt, correct?"
"That's true... We really don't want it to happen again..."
"Helena, can you imagine a world where you don't need to hide? A world where you not only survive, but live?"
Helena's promise to her sister, to live for both of them, rings out in her head. "I can't... I can't imagine it... but I would like to see such a world..." Heh, my pitch was pretty good it seems. Kristina is completely oblivious about those details of Helena's past.
"This is all questions I have for today, but no need to worry, I won't be throwing you in a cell. I will have a maid prepare you one of the guest rooms."
However, I can't fully trust you yet, so I need you to wear this." Drop, three identical black bracelets fall on the ground. "Each cuts all your physical stats by half, wearing all of them will make it impossible for you to ever be a threat."
"I don't think I would ever be able to threaten you either way, but if it's what I have to do..." Helena puts the bracelets on and stands back up. "Either way, it beats being trapped in a cell..."
"Now, there's something I actually wanted to show you, it might make you feel a bit better about your current circumstances." Warp.
They both reappear at the manor's dining hall.
Kristina approaches the dining table, Drop, and a plate containing many Brazilian snacks appears on the tabletop. "I had the chef prepare some food for when you woke up. Why don't you try it?"
Helena looks quizzically at the food, which is foreign to her. She decides to start with the coxinha. "Oh, the crunchy outer part and the chicken with the creamy cheese just feels all so good!"
Then she moves to the pastel. "I've never had anything like this, the crunchiness, and the variety in fillings. I just don't want to stop eating it! Honestly, the crust is so good that even if there weren't any fillings I might still eat it lots of it." Pastel without filling actually has a name in Brazil, "pastel de vento", which could be translated to "wind pastel".
And then she tries the brigadeiro. "This is so sweet, too sweet, so while it tastes pretty good, I don't think I would be able to eat many in a row..." Eh, I guess medieval people are not used to very sweet food... I also might have a bit of a sweet tooth.
She continues to try out the different snacks. "These are all so good! And it's all still so nice and warm as if it had just been made!"
"Time doesn't pass inside the Inventory, so it should be as fresh as when I stored it..." Kristina explains.
"Oh, so that's how it works? I don't have one so I didn't know..."
"You don't have an Inventory...?"
"Yeah..."
In Vera Phantasia, Inventory was a game command, not a spell, so absolutely everyone was able to use it. I have been studying the magic books in the library during some of my free time and I have learnt that Inventory is considered to be spatial magic here.
From what Ernst had reported, and let me just double check real quick Appraisal. Yeah, her magic is very low. So it's unsurprising she doesn't know it. Even if she knew the spell, her magic may be too low for her to use it.
"Do you have any clothing usable during the day?" Kristina asks.
"Not really, I just don't go outside while the sun is out..."
"Alright, then," Drop, a simple leather mask and a cheap brown tunic fall to the ground. "You may use it until we get something better for you. Be careful with it though, it has sentimental value."
"Thank you! I'll be careful with it."
"Oh, for your information, I count the start of a new day at sunset, I hope that doesn't confuse you."
"We did the same at the fellowship, that won't be an issue."
"I see." I guess I really was right about counting it at sunset being the vampiric thing to do. "Anyways, I'll be visiting a shop in Seestadt tomorrow morning, would you like to come with me?"

