Felica tapped on the Missions App and then selected Level 2 and pressed the Start button.

A video began playing with a voice over that sounded suspiciously like DARS:

“There once was a beautiful country called Salvias. This Kingdom was situated in a warm, verdant land. It was beautiful and lush and even the wild plants constantly bore fruit so that even the poor could easily survive.

But the nobles of that country were corrupt.

King Salvias was soft, wanting to avoid conflict, contributing to the further downward spiral of his country. When his Queen died, he grew even more weak-willed, caring less and less about ruling the country his ancestors left for him. His health failed due to his grief and he knew he would pass soon. Instead of trying to fix the problems in front of him, he told his daughter and only child to pick a husband. Whoever she picked, regardless of their status, would be the next King.

Princess Morada was soft like her father and, though she was well educated, had spent her life protected from the cruelties of the world around her. Though she was naive, she had a strong sense of responsibility and knew her marriage would be very important for the future of her country. She wisely did not rush into picking someone despite being greatly pressured to do so and took her time.

In the end, she was left with two choices: Nubarron Invierno, the Heir to the Invierno Duchy, or Duke Querido Fresa, who ruled over the recently created Duchy of Fresa. Both men showed themselves to be upright and honest. Both men believed in a future where the country was ruled by law, equitably and fairly. They were eloquent and pleasing to the eye.

The Heir Childe was gentle and romantic, while Duke Fresa was always a little awkward and reticent when speaking of personal matters. Because they were good in every other way, the Princess decided to choose based on her personal liking of one over the other. She chose Heir Childe Invierno because he made her feel loved and special while Duke Fresa treated her with the respect befitting her status.

The Princess thought she made a very good choice because she didn’t know that Heir Childe Invierno and Duke Fresa were leaders of competing factions in a deeply unstable political climate. By picking one over the other, the royal family also chose a side. And in this political fight, both sides were putting their lives on the line and willing to go as far as it took to win.

Heir Childe had no intention of letting Duke Fresa’s faction live to grow stronger and threaten his allies. In turn, Duke Fresa was no stranger to assassinating his rivals and opponents in the dark. Political unrest continued to grow steadily as the wedding day approached. On the day of the wedding, Duke Fresa’s faction attempted to overthrow the government.

During the fight, the Ambassador from a neighboring country, Neve, was accidently killed. The Ambassador was the younger brother to the King of Neve. When foreign King heard the news of his brother’s pointless death, he was furious and declared war on Salvias.

Though they were in the middle of a civil war, the Princess was still alive. She called on their allies to help them defend against Neve’s invasion. When Neve heard this, they called on their allies. The war between two relatively small countries spread over the whole continent… a world war.

Neve and its allies won the war. The country of Salvias was absorbed into Neve, and nobles who fought against them were tried as “war criminals” and put to death. This included Heir Childe Invierno and Duke Fresa. The Princess survived, but her title was taken from her and she was forced into house arrest for the rest of her life.

Salvias was no more.”

MISSION GOAL: You are now Marchioness Calle Mora Fresa, mother of Querido Fresa. Rule the fief fairly and with a just hand until Querido can take over. Be a good mother and help him grow up to be a stable, healthy young man.

EXTRA GOAL: Help Querido find ♥love♥ and start a family of his own!”

Felicia immediately asked, “Why is everyone’s hair weird colors?”

She’d noted that people in the video had purple, green, and blue hair. The Heir Childe guy had white hair with silver eyes!

[That is simply how people in this world look.]

“Do…. does that mean this world has magic?”

[I told you I would not send you to a world with magic yet.] DARS paused, [However, this world is somewhat like the fantasies you seem to enjoy. Therefore I thought you might like it.]

Felicia nodded, feeling a bit happy about this new mission. Sure, it had even less technology than her first timeline, but she got to be a noble. That would be cool, right? At least she wouldn’t have to pluck chickens and pick pea pods just to eat a meal! Nice!

Then she thought of a particular point, “How… how old will this Querido kid be when I arrive?”

[Six years old.]

“Phew, ok, no giving birth or potty training.”

Felicia had never been a mother but she had babysat. Her preferred ages were anytime after potty training and before puberty. That age group was fun because you could watch an entertaining movie together to pass the time and the kid knew how to go to the bathroom and eat with a fork and spoon. Very low maintenance, to the point it was like the parent’s were paying her to watch TV and eat pizza.

Though she wasn’t confident in being a mother, if she thought of it like long-term babysitting…. She felt she could get by…

“Oh yeah…” She squinted at the mission goal, “What’s with this goal, huh? Shouldn’t I be stopping World War One instead?”

[If you complete the goal, that will naturally prevent the war.]

“And the extra goal?”

[The happier and more stable Quadro is, the more stable the country will become.]

“Huh…. really?”

[Yes.]

“This kid must be pretty amazing if just him being happy is enough to change a whole country’s fate...”

[In Salvias, only the Heir Childe Invierno can compete with Querido in terms of raw talent and ability.]

She rubbed her chin for a moment, nodding slightly. So her fake son was a genius! Cool! It would be like raising another Darius, only with less math involved, definitely doable!

“One more thing.”

[Yes?]

“The way the Goal is phrased almost sounds like… my host wasn’t a very good mother?”

[You are correct.]

“Exactly how bad—?”

[Your time is up,] DARS interrupted, [I will now initialize your Mission.]

“Eh?” She looked at him in surprise. Wasn’t this timing awfully suspicious?!

[Initialized.]