You have unlocked the Milestone System:

First Blood — Win an armed conflict involving at least thirty combatants.

Champion Knight — Win a total of three knightly tournaments hosted by a count or a noble of higher rank.

Knight-Errant — Prevent three bandit raids on civilians, or eliminate three bandit groups of no fewer than twenty men each.

Model Fief — Hold a fief of at least two thousand acres with a population of more than two hundred people living above the hunger line.

Milestones were the game's achievement system, and their rewards were fairly generous. After a quick scan, Lothar saw that none could be completed in the near future. He turned his attention to his first Retainer instead.

Within the System, a card glowing with brilliant gold light came into view.

It had an ornate golden border. A black dragon crouched at the top, wings spread as though ready to take flight. At its center stood a young woman holding a massive black triangular shield.

The shield bore a raised demon face, its eyes blood-red and its fangs bared, so lifelike it seemed ready to devour whoever stood before it.

The woman was tall, with long black hair falling over her shoulders. She wore a black leather riding jacket that left her pale arms bare. Arms folded across her chest, she looked as cold and remote as a goddess of frost.

The description beneath the image read:

She is Prajna, Gatekeeper of Hell.

The shield in her hand is the gate to the underworld.

No one can break this shield or strike the one she guards.

Congratulations on receiving your first Retainer. Develop your territory without delay. Make it prosperous and strong, then join the contest for dominion over the world!

Lothar's mouth twitched.

I would if I could.

Prajna was the top-tier Retainer given to every new player at the start of the game. Though she appeared lightly armored, she belonged to the Heavy Warrior class and possessed formidable defensive power.

The reason new players received a Heavy Warrior was simple. Early on, one was essential; without one, players could not withstand incoming damage. At the same time, a defender did not make farming monsters any faster. Anyone who wanted to clear mobs quickly had to pay to unlock high-rarity damage-dealing Retainers.

Otherwise, players had to rely on the draws earned from Milestone rewards. They would receive low-star offensive Retainers with miserable damage output and contribute to the company's daily active users by logging in and grinding every day.

The common term for that practice was pay to win.

"I meant to fleece the players, and now I've fleeced myself."

Lothar regretted it a little. Had he known he would end up inside his own game, he would have made the new-player rewards far more generous. Every six-star Retainer, free the moment a player logged in...

The feeling passed quickly, replaced by excitement. Prajna was a top-tier Retainer. Even without upgrades or enhancements, she was surely as powerful as a witch in this world—far beyond ordinary mortals. If she had appeared during the Three Kingdoms era, Cao Cao would have said, "I thought Lü Bu was already unmatched under heaven. Who is this warrior under my command?"

After lunch, Count Werner left the table first.

Only then did Otto, who had been quiet throughout the meal, speak. "Lothar, congratulations. You have finally fulfilled your wish of becoming a knight."

"Thank you," Lothar said.

His relationship with Otto was neither particularly bad nor especially close. As long as Lothar existed, he could be suspected of wishing Otto dead; and after years spent as Otto's spare, the original Lothar had indeed carried plenty of resentment.

Still, it was better than the fate of many noble families, where firstborn and second son fought over succession with poison and schemes until one of them died.

Before long, they had both finished eating. Lothar did not go out that afternoon. Instead, he returned to his chamber to rest. It was high summer, and the afternoon sun blazed too fiercely for training outdoors. The castle remained cold and damp through every season. It was hardly comfortable, but still preferable to standing beneath the scorching sun.

His bedchamber had a small window that admitted little light. At his desk, Lothar dipped a quill into ink and began planning his route and listing the supplies and equipment he would need.

Crusaders traditionally took one of two routes. The first was by sea: sail from Venice, Naples, or a port in Sicily, pass Rhodes and Cyprus, and reach the Holy Land. It was quicker but hardly safe. Pirates infested the Mediterranean. If they holed his ship, even Lü Bu's courage would not keep him from becoming food for fish.

The land route crossed the Austrian March, passed through vast stretches of the Eastern Empire, then went through Constantinople and across the straits into Asia Minor. It was no safer. Most of Asia Minor had fallen under the control of fire-worshipping states. They revered the ruler of Sassanid Persia as the King of Kings and held their lands by his investiture. Though they often warred among themselves, a crusader knight like Lothar would draw even greater hostility.

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone knocked at his door.

Lothar frowned. "Enter."

A maid in linen clothes pushed the door open. In her arms was an old, visibly mended surcoat covered in black-and-red crosses. She laid it on his bed.

"The master wore this surcoat while fighting in the Holy Land. He ordered me to give it to you. I have washed it. It is clean."

Lothar nodded. "Leave it on the bed."

"Yes."

The maid's face colored faintly, and the affection in her eyes was almost impossible to miss. Yet neither the original Lothar nor the present one had any interest in her.

Women of this era—or most western women, at least—held little appeal for Lothar. The same was true of the serving girls and the noblewomen he had seen at Count Werner's banquets. Most were simply unattractive. A few noblewomen were passable, but they were notorious for keeping lovers, and he had no desire to involve himself with them.

They could not compare with the 2D characters in the System.

Lothar had led the team that developed the game. He knew perfectly well how beautiful its summonable characters were, especially the six-star cards: every last one featured a gorgeous, lightly clad young woman.

More than half the team's budget had gone into those exquisite character illustrations. Even Heavy Warrior characters followed the same principle: the less they wore, the stronger their defense.

Battle skirts that left long stretches of pale leg exposed were standard.

The afternoon soon passed.

At dusk, Lothar climbed Hawk's Castle's tower again and looked out over the mountains. Night at Hawk's Castle was the opposite of noon. A sharp chill blew down from the Alps, and Lothar wrapped the crusader's surcoat tighter around himself.

For now, he did not intend to summon Prajna. Her origin would be hard to explain. The Holy Church in this world was not like the one from his former life, forever hanging people or burning them at the stake, but he had no intention of inviting that trouble.