Reyvyre POV

Her eyes were in disbelief as she watched the simulated stacks of black smoke and flames burn the once beautiful city, the intricately planned array of buildings having been leveled into rubble. The image didn't linger for long, and after just a couple minutes, the sand fell flat, the crystal not having much information stored on it apparently.

Historietta seemed to be staring into the middle distance before frowning as she turned on Reyvyre, her voice cold with fury. "Do you know why this happened? You said that this place was a dread dungeon of monstrosities and undead, that looked like a prosperous city full of promise. Hell, it looked almost peaceful!"

Reyvyre was taken aback at the Empress' tone, not having expected her to aim their anger at her. Reyvyre, for her part, was at a loss for words; this was just a piece of history she knew a vague amount of information about, a mere blip in the grand scale of things. However, she was just witness to history playing out, and it was nothing like she was told.

The Empress stared at Reyvyre for a couple more moments before shaking her head as she frowned some more. "No, you're too young; you probably wouldn't know much more than what you've already told us." She reasoned as she sighed heavily and ran her fingers through her hair before looking back over to Reyvyre. "I'm... I'm sorry, you didn't deserve that." She said before looking over to the ball of light that hovered above them. "You wouldn't happen to know anything more, would you?" She asked Vitmori before looking at the console; she then pulled out the crystal from its slot and examined the date once again.

'Fraid not. I had my suspicions that something happened, but I didn't have anything concrete until now.' He replied within them as he coasted around. 'Lichtdren did keep a journal of some kind, many journals if her room's personal bookshelf is anything to go by.'

Reyvyre soon managed to collect herself as she looked between Vitmori's light and the Empress, feeling distinctly out of place again as they conversed.

Historietta hummed thoughtfully for a moment before speaking up. "As much as I would like to ask for you to just give me those journals, I have a feeling that it would probably be best to leave those here... I don't want the mere idea that I brought books from Lichtdren's folly to get around. That just sounds like a bad idea." She considered as she sighed a bit, setting the crystal back down on the console. "But then again, you don't have the means to even read any of these on your own, do you?" She considered as she now ruffled her hair in contemplation.

Reyvyre decided to pitch in as she looked between the pair. "Couldn't you just teach Vitmori your translation skill? It sounds considerably like magic; surely there's a method for him to learn."

Historietta blinked curiously at that, glancing over at Reyvyre for a moment before looking up to Vitmori's ball of light. "I... Don't know." She admits as she taps her chin thoughtfully. "It's more of a passive skill, so I don't know if it can be translated into actual magic."

Reyvyre considered this as she combed through her studies of magic in and of itself. "I know of translation magic. However, it only works through verbal communication and requires expensive ritual components." She offered before continuing. "My point is that the magic does exist in our world, the idea of it, so there should be a method of some kind to make it accessible for Vitmori or even myself." She explained, feeling only a little bashful at including herself in this.

Historietta had to agree with that idea, even if she didn't know what to do about it. "I mean, if there's a system in place to handle these skills, there has to be something happening when my skills activate."

'Well, I was told there would be others from other worlds here. So maybe something is in place to handle the interaction between those with systems.' Vitmori mentioned while Historietta seemed to look at something that wasn't there while her hand tapped at various things.

Though she suddenly stopped as Vitmori had mentioned something that caught her attention. "W-wait a minute... You got to interact with the Administrators? Like they actually gave you information directly?" She asked, seemingly stunned by the revelation.

'Yes? Though, why do you say they? I've only spoken with one as far as I know; it was a woman, or at least they had a feminine voice.' He explained though uncertainty was evident in his voice. 'Where'd you get the term, Administrator?'

Historietta took a moment to consider what she just learned as she leaned back against the table and looked up to Vitmori's light again. "It was just something I started calling them, since I'm not sure what they are, they could be anything from the gods to maybe even above the gods." She explained as she scratched the side of her head. "All I know is that sometimes when I examine certain things, the writing style of the descriptions change. It mostly depends on whatever I examine, whether it's a weapon, a magic tool, a book, or even food." She looked vaguely upset about something before seemingly getting over it and shrugging to herself. "In any case, based on what you just said, there might be other people from other otherworlds in this world, which doesn't really matter in this case, but the idea that we would interact would surely be set in place... Right?"

Reyvyre felt a little more out of place again as she listened intently. She had barely comprehended that beings of higher power had placed Vitmori here, not to mention that there are more than one different world beyond her own. Still, the idea that Empress herself may have a possible direct line to the gods and that they take time out of their day to describe food to her was just too much for her right now. Honestly, she was starting to feel a little nauseous at the concepts placed before her as she had to lean up against the room wall to steady herself.

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She could feel Vitmori's attention seemingly linger on her for a moment as the ball of light coasted by her before coming over to Historietta as he then spoke up. 'I think we should move this conversation somewhere more private.'

Historietta perked up at the tangent and glanced over at Reyvyre before flashing a sympathetic smile. "I agree. Don't worry Reyvyre, I'm sure Vitmori will walk you through any questions you have the best he can." She said kindly, walking over and patting Reyvyre's shoulder before making her way out of the room and stepping past the few curious spitter wolves who were looking into the new space in their den.

'She's right; we'll talk later. Just go rest and relax. We'll have plenty to talk about soon enough. ' With that, she could feel his presence fade from the room as the ball of light blinked out.

Reyvyre takes her time while leaning against the wall, a few of the more adventurous spitter wolves making their way into the room as they sniff about. One even approaches Reyvyre, checking on her and seemingly noticing her distress. This does manage to get a smile from Reyvyre as she reaches out and pats their head for a moment, the wolf apparently indulging her for a couple moments before pulling away to examine the room. After a couple more minutes, Reyvyre just let out a heavy sigh as she pulled away from the wall and started heading out of the room, though before she left the den, she looked back the way they went down earlier and decided to make her way down again.

Before she knew it, she found herself in front of the wooden soldier she had come across earlier. True, Vitmori told her to relax; however, there was nothing more relaxing for her than losing herself in a complicated task; at least, that was the excuse she gave herself. She looked over the wooden soldier more closely, and the figure looked mass-produced, or at least it had a lot of fitted parts that looked easy to replace and remake. While she would readily admit that the build was good, she felt that she could do better. No, she had to do better. If even the Empress was being more helpful to Vitmori than his first representative, Reyvyre knew she needed to step up and prove herself; even if Vitmori hadn't asked her to do this, she wasn't about to let herself fall behind. Taking a moment to gather some familiar tools, she got to work on disassembling the wooden soldier, planning on rebuilding it better in any way she could.

Vitmori POV

"This whole thing reeks of some kind of ancient cover-up or conspiracy... Like some shadow society of some kind decided to keep secrets. Ya know, how history is written by the victors and all that." Historietta speculated as she leaned back into her padded chair, getting comfortable after I set it back out for her.

'I have to agree, I don't like it, but then again, it's also been six hundred years since that happened. Sure, it's terrible, but I doubt we're going to find any information about Lichtdren outside of her own journals. Besides, don't you have more pressing matters to worry about?' I mean, she's an Empress to a relatively massive nation that just entered peacetime. As annoying as bureaucracy may be, it's a vital necessity to a country that she will no doubt have to participate in, whether she likes it or not. 'You're gonna be pretty busy in the near future; in any case, it's been over six hundred years; I'm sure you can hold off a few more before digging into an ancient cover-up some more.'

Historietta sighed a bit, having a guess at what I was alluding to. "I know, I know... I... I just felt so mad when I saw that place just disappear like that. An entire city full of people. Gone. It just made me think of my home with Fero. Only to then hear that the only thing people know about that place is a monster that threatened to destroy everything... But that monster was one of us." She said as she gestured to herself. "A person, a normal-looking person from a world nearly like ours, placed here without any choice of her own and wiped out for some unknown reason... Doesn't that bother you?" She asked as she looked into my core, her eyes seemingly searching for something within my swirling rings of mana.

'Yeah, it does. Especially since I'm more likely to be the one who's destroyed under mysterious circumstances. After all, you're the beloved Empress of one of the most politically powerful people on the continent.' She does have a point in the end, but it's not like there's anything we can actually change at this point over what's happened so long in the past.

"As if... That only puts the second largest target on my back, next to Fero himself." She mentioned as she scooted around the couch to lay across the armrests of her seat. "His brothers still have claims to the throne, even if they seem to hold no interest in having it; they could have backers that want them to have it anyways. Not to mention that my position is still politically at risk amongst the 'nobles' until I have my first child with Fero, and maybe now that we're in peacetime, we can start trying. However, I know it's only a matter of time till some sort of conflict arises from either the Theocracy or maybe even the Hegemony. Though that's not considering any potential assassins trying to kill the ruler of the expansionist empire." She says with a soft sigh and shakes her head. "I'm not much of a fighter, sure I'm scrappy when I need to be, but all I can do is just try my best to survive if it comes down to my life being on the line."

Just trying to survive at the end of the day, hm? 'You said titles grant access to certain skills and abilities, right?' I ask, considering my next move.

She blinked a couple of times before looking over to me from where she lay, curiously scooting back around as she sat up and leaned forward on her seat. "Y-yeah? What are you getting at?"

'Want me to grant you a title? I've been granting titles to those in my care, and they all seem to have some kind of effect. If you're interested.'

She definitely looked intrigued by the idea as she sat upright, a smile creeping on her face. "S-sure! Yeah, that sounds great!" She exclaimed enthusiastically.

I can't help but smile at her excitement, though I can guess she's just excited by the idea of getting more things to mess with. 'Alright, then let's see here... Historietta Leinhart, I grant you the title of Survivor. May your instincts lead you true and help you persevere to see the next day.' I wait for something to happen, though I'm more than a little confused when I don't feel my mana going into her or anything at all.

Though, looking over at Historietta, her eyes seem to be looking something over as she flashes another smile. "Become a protectorate of Dungeon Vitmori? Accept or Decline." She read aloud before glancing at me and nodding. "I accept." At that, mana began pouring out from my core and into her.

At first, I was surprised and a little worried that the draw of mana was bigger than usual, because, from what I know, that much mana should cause a living person pain if not processed correctly. Yet it seemed I worried for no reason as she seemed perfectly fine.

Her eyes soon widened as they flicked around, seemingly looking at many things. Strangely enough, I don't sense anything from her despite whatever sort of bond we just formed. It makes me wonder if a protectorate is somehow different from being a vassal or representative. "W-whoa, look at these notifications... I have access to magic now!" She exclaimed excitedly. "I still need to train, of course, but apparently my manaheart got developed, and then my MP bar exceeded a certain threshold and formed a mana ring." She explained as she tapped at invisible panels. "Oh? What is this..." She said softly to herself before looking over at me and reading whatever she saw aloud. "Blessing of the Survivor: The survivor is one who has lived through many ordeals and came out the other end; while not entirely unscathed, they still live. You now have a small fraction of the Survivor's luck. Survive any fatal experience, playing dead to those around until you deem it safe to revive. If your physical body is mostly destroyed, you will be resurrected at the Core within the hour at no cost to your Protector. "

She stood excitedly as she approached my core before leaning in and giving me a big hug, and pulling back. "Thank you, Vitmori, you have no idea how much this means to me." She said, doing her best to remain calm as she gently wiped at her eyes. "O-oh, and it looks like I got a tattoo of some kind..." She said as she looked at another panel that seemed to pop up. She looks it over before glancing at her shoulder, pulling back the collar of her tunic as she does her best to get a look. "It's an emerald rose, and it's so pretty. I always wanted a tattoo!" She said as she offered a smirk of amusement.

Well, it's not exactly what I had planned, and I can't help but feel there was an outside influence in what just happened, but it worked out in the end. I just can't help but wonder why the mark looks like my family's old logo...