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Quite late into the night, Crim woke up to a light knocking sound, and then the noise of the door opening slightly.

“Heyy, are you alright..?”
“I still feel a little sick…”

Ludger had come to check on Crim, who heavily rolled on her bed and gave a muffled reply.

She had been assaulted by countless flashbacks as she drank the blood, making her feel sick. Even now late at night she could still feel the metallic taste of blood in her mouth.

“I’m sorry you had to see all of that earlier…”

Earlier he had to see how she began crying, howling, apologizing repeatedly for no reason, and acted with overall disarray. She felt ashamed of that, and did not think it was something Ludger needed to see, which filled her with more negative emotions.

At least I’m glad he was tactful enough to send George away from the room right away.

She was glad a boy younger than her had not seen her disgraceful state. As she brooded over those things, she felt a large hand rest on her head.

“…That doesn’t change the fact that you greatly helped me. Thank you.”
“…Mhm…”

Hearing Ludger’s gentle voice made Crim tear up, so she wiped the tears off and sat on the bed.

“But look, you’re back to normal again. Isn’t that something to be happy about at least?”
“Yes, you’re right…”

After enduring all that suffering and humiliation, Crim had regained her original body, which looked like she was 14 years old. The bar showing her supply of blood, displayed below her HP and MP, had been refilled up to the middle, so she would likely not need any more for the time being.

“And so…how’s Juna doing?”

Sluggishly moving her body, she asked the question that had been in her mind for a while. They had been able to obtain the ingredients for Juna’s medicine, but Crim did not know if they had made it on time.

“Don’t worry about her, she’s feeling much better already. First you saved my life, and then that of my son and daughter too…I really can’t thank you enough.”
“I see…I’m glad then.”

Hearing Ludger say that brought her immense relief, though she also felt strange caring this much about the NPCs she met in a game.

“And well, I don’t know if this will be enough, could you take this as a token of my appreciation?”

Saying that, Ludger brought out a rather ornamented box. Crim opened it wondering what it was and found a neatly folded vibrant red cloak inside.

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The Red Lion Emperor… Crim had heard that name before. During the ancient war between humans and demons, he was the person who reclaimed the southern half of the continent, and eventually became the first emperor.

It looked like a rather decent piece of equipment. It offered a lot more protection than the Weathered Cloak she had bought just recently.

On top of that it was a Unique item, meaning only one existed in the game. It could not be sold… but it could be used as a bet for a PvP duel, so Crim would need to be careful if she ever attempted participating in that.

That was likely the reward for the quest she just completed, though it felt like a really special reward. Not to mention that it offered Fire Resistance, the one stat Crim could not raise herself, except with equipment.

“Thank you very much, I’ll make sure to put it to good use.”
“I’m the one who should be thanking you. Anyway, that’s all I had to say, so I’ll let you rest for now.”

Saying that, Ludger stood up and headed to the door, but then turned around, seemingly remembering something.

“Oh right, I heard you were curious about the ruins by the lake?”
“Huh? Ah, yes.”
“Well, you’re free to renovate them and use that place however you want.”
“Really?!”
“Yes. Anyway, now that I’ve actually told you everything I had to. I’ll be watching over Juna, so if you need anything just come over.”

With that, Ludger actually left the room.

“A quest has been updated.”
“Housing functions unlocked.”

System notifications were streamed directly into Crim’s brain as she sat alone in the room. Soon after a list of all the materials necessary to rebuild a house also appeared there.

Most of that was wood though, so Crim could already see a future with her cutting down trees endlessly in Schwarzwald.

The next day Crim set off to the ruins by the lake, where she began clearing off the wilderness covering the entire area.

“Alright…all the rubble has been removed too now.”

She nodded to herself satisfied, no loose rubble or stones in sight anymore. That had taken around half a day, which was spent mostly carrying stones around, and overall she gained ten Skill Points of Physical Strength from that.

Wiping the sweat from her brow, she turned to look at the lake and the castle on an island, illuminated orange by the setting sun, and she took a deep breath.

Juna had woken up that morning too, and soon was moving around energetically again. George was looking after her now, since Ludger was busy with work.

“I’ve been living here for a few days now, so much has happened too…I feel like I’ve been getting too much into this world.”

She chuckled despite herself. But that did not last long, as her face quickly turned serious again.

There had been a new announcement from the game’s management. It included the date when players could start registering as Area Masters of regions in the game, for the large-scale territory wars that would eventually happen in the game.

I don’t want that family to end up under the authority of another player.

That desire began to take root in Crim’s heart. There was no guarantee that other players would be kind towards NPCs that already existed in that world. Whatever player took control of this territory could be any type of person, including one with twisted desires.

There was only one solution.

Gathering her resolve, she took out the Cloak of the Young Red Lion Emperor from her inventory. It looked like a combination of a cape and a cloak, and fit a girl surprisingly well. Wearing it, Crim looked over the town bathed in the setting sun’s light.

“Yes…I’ll become a Guild Master, and I’ll expand my own territory here.”

The territory wars would likely begin a month after the game came online.

This world would soon be consumed by the flames of war again. Crim wanted this town to remain peaceful and safe even after that, and she would accomplish that through her own hand.

That was Crim’s determination.