When I woke up, I was still in the body of Leticia What’s Her Name. I wasn’t surprised. Actually, I was happy. My life back on Earth had become a routine, despite me traveling to a new country every other month. Geology and landscape surveys were a very repetitive and not so lucrative occupation. And the jobs that did pay well were often high risk. When I was younger, I used to tell myself that the “hush-money” was worth it. But after I got shot and almost died in Ukraine, I decided to lay off the mercenary gigs for a while.

“Miss mercenary! Breakfast is ready!” A child’s voice called out.

“Right …”

I got up and stretched, and began to dress. The only thing that bothered me about this whole body-swapping or transmigration situation was the fact that I couldn’t remember what I was doing before I woke up as Leticia.

“Miss!” I heard the child call out again as they ran up the stairs leading to the attic.

“Coming!” I yelled back before promptly putting the rest of my clothes on.

After a modest breakfast, I bid the farmer and his family farewell and followed their instructions to get out of the village and take a shortcut to the capital through the fields. Before I left, I did ask them what would be the one thing they would like improved about the dukedom. They said that the roads and the competitiveness of city markets could use some improvements.

As I left the village, I did not feel the same energy flow as the night before. I could also see the outline of the houses as I followed a narrow trail through the fields.

“It must only be active at night.” I concluded.

The fields grew some kind of grain. Despite having walked amongst it for several hours, I still couldn’t quite figure out what type it was. I knew that it wasn’t maize or rice, but that was about it. I also met several farmers during my hike. None of them seemed surprised to see a mercenary-looking lady on that trail. Apparently, it was a well-known shortcut.

The sun was pretty high in the sky when the trail came to an abrupt end. I could just about make the skyline of a huge city somewhere in the distance, but I saw no road to get there. Fields ran forth for as far as the eye could see. As I stood there, pondering if I should trample over someone’s crops, a man in heavy armour appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, before me.

“Excuse me, mam?”

“Aaaaah!” I jumped back and reached for my sword in surprise.

The knight awkwardly rubbed the back of his helmet.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. My name is Joshua, I work at the east gate of Allverburg, that’s where you’re headed, correct?”

“Yes?” I answered without letting my guard down.

“Well, I was just wondering if you needed any help? You were standing in front of the barrier for quite some time, and …, and I thought I would come over to check.”

I looked the guard up and down trying to assess how much of a threat he could have been. He was at least half a meter taller than me, which was saying a lot because I, myself, was less than a foot shy of two meters in height. He was also wearing full plate armour, to the point where I could only barely make out his eyes.

“Um, you may be suffering from a heat stroke or a concussion, please let me take you to a cleric.” Joshua awkwardly offered.

“No, I’m not ill, worry not.” I promptly said, switching to my British accent. “It’s just that I am not yet used to all these … magic barriers and the such.” I tried to justify my strange behaviour.

I was expecting the knight to move aside, but he awkwardly stood right at the spot where the path ended.

“So, umm, may I pass, or … ?”

“Oh, of course, my apologies!” the guard almost jumped aside to let me pass.

As I walked through the barrier, I felt that strange energy flow again. Except this time it was stronger, denser, almost palpable. The feeling was foreign, not uncomfortable per se, but definitely unsettling.

The second I crossed the barrier, I stopped, in awe at the scenery before me. A city rose to the skies, surrounded by a tall and thick defence wall. The whole structure looked like it was about to overflow, with houses precariously stuck atop one another, and a crowd of vehicles, cattle, and people flowing both in and out of the city. Although the city wall was blocking most of my view, the buildings on my left-hand side easily surpassed six or seven storeys in height and were clearly visible from my position. And atop all of this, a lone cathedral reached for the skies with its many spires. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how big the foundation of that building must have been, for it to be visible from such a distance and to be able to support its own weight.

“First time seeing the city, huh?”

The same guard from before startled me again. This time I didn’t reach for my sword, but I did jump away nonetheless.

“You ought to stop doing that.” I mumbled, but then, as I regained my composure, I remembered my manners. “Yes, I frankly didn’t expect it to be so … tall. Up until now, I didn’t think the technology required to build such structures was available in,” I was about to say ‘in this world’, but caught myself just in time. “- in this land.”

The knight was about to answer something, but another knight ran up towards us. I recognised him as the man who accompanied me on the carriage ride.

“My lady-” He began talking while trying to catch his breath.

The resentment I felt the day before, for his unwillingness to accompany me, still hadn’t fully worn away.

“Has my luggage been delivered safely?” I asked, not without a hint of sarcasm.

“Of course, my lady.”

The knight had finally composed himself, but it seemed as if the true meaning of my words had been lost on him.

“Your room has been prepared, and everyone is expecting you. Sir Rooyen, the head butler, said he had some urgent business to discuss, and Emmy, the head maid, said there were matters that required your full attention at your earliest convenience.”

“But of course, lead the way. And while you’re at it, please carry these.” I handed him the two jugs of milk I had received this morning.

Judging by his confused expression, he had not expected me to come in contact with any villages. I turned around to face him and took a minute to memorise his face. There was going to be some “personnel restructuring” once I’d settle in, and this guy was currently at the top of my “to go” list.

The knight avoided my gaze but did otherwise not say anything. He started walking towards the crowds that were queuing to get into the city. I looked around one last time, to say goodbye to the other knight, the one who had startled me twice, but he was nowhere to be seen.

My newly found title of ‘duchess’ allowed for certain unexpected benefits. My knight showed some medallion to the gate guards, and they opened a side door for us to go through.

“Hey, give me that for a second.” I called out to my guide.

“Yes my lady.” He reluctantly handed me the medallion. Apparently, my thoughts about firing him must have been loud enough for him to pick up on. But I wasn’t going to do that just yet.

The medallion was a simple disk, roughly five centimetres in diameter, and depicted a bird, an eagle, or a phoenix, I couldn’t quite tell, with its wings spread out. The motif somehow seemed familiar… Right! It was the same one as that depicted on a tassel attached to my belt. Except that one was rectangular, and the bird’s eye was decorated with a small blue gem. I had originally brushed it off as a simple piece of decoration, but now that I thought about it, I remembered one of the clerics, back at the ceremony, handing it to me alongside several swords. I also had two other similar ornaments on my belt, one was made from silver-like metal and depicted a sword with wings folded over it, and the other was rose-gold and was engraved with a drawing of a sunflower.

If I were to make an educated guess, based on the knowledge that these served as access cards, one belonged to my family, and the other was given to Leticia for her participation in the war.

“Here you go.” I handed the medallion back to its rightful owner. The man failed to hide his relief.

It took us a few more moments to leave the secret passage within the city wall. Once we were outside, I had to blink a few times to adjust once again to the daylight. We had exited near a small but busy plaza. None of the citizens seemed to pay any attention to us. I was almost certain that would not have been the case, had we entered through the main gates during the night. Although my public image had been the last thing on my mind yesterday evening, I was still glad that I took that detour.

“My lady, please follow me.” My accompanying knight called out.

“I know we are in a rush, but let’s take the long way round. I want to see some of the residential and commercial areas.” I answered.

On one hand, I was starving, having only had breakfast, but on the other, I wanted to make the most of this experience. After all, who knows when would be the next time I’d have a chance to explore the town I was now responsible for. Plus, I wanted to get a feel for the current social situation, to see if there were any tensions or anything of the sort.

“As you wish, my lady.” The knight accepted.

Me staring at him earlier on must have had its effect since now he was strangely compliant.

He led me through the crowd, turning into quieter streets on occasion. The houses in this area were all a few storeys high and were often split between several households, as indicated by several number-plates near each door. No street or back alley was completely empty either, we always encountered at least one resident, some of which even exchanged greeting with us. So far, everyone but the city guards had been dressed rather plainly. They wore canvas trousers and skirts, and cotton or knitwear shirts. Although I was no expert on fashion or fabrics, I could tell that although most trousers and skirts were somewhat fitted to their wearer, shirts and jackets were not, meaning that they were somehow mass-produced.

After half an hour, or so, of walking, I had to stop to catch my breath. I hadn’t noticed it, but the streets we had been taking had begun to slope up more and more. Every few blocks, we encountered a few steps, while the streets themselves had become more narrow.

“We aren’t taking the main road, it’s so busy that someone’s bound to recognise you, my lady.” The knight, who had been a terrible tour guide so far, explained.

I nodded, not failing to notice that I had way more stamina in this body than what I was used to. And we continued our ascent.

In this part of the city, houses had become slightly shorter, and wider. Their doors no longer bore more than one number plate. These numbers never went over 99, so I assumed that a street naming system was in place. We turned around yet another block of houses and were suddenly transported into a lush park. When I looked up, I could still see the spires of the cathedral, somewhere to my right, as well as the rooftops of some other buildings, however, the atmosphere in this park was completely different.

For the first time since my arrival to the city, I saw young children running around. A few couples were walking their pets, not all of which were dogs, to my greatest surprise. Some of the pets those people had on leashes looked like smaller versions of wild animals, like a tiny boar, which was clearly not a piglet due to its lack of pale stripes, or strange amalgams of other familiar animals. This one lady was currently petting her feathered crocodile, and telling said crocodile how much of a ‘good girl’ she was. Any doubts that I had about this being a dream, or some hallucination, completely vanished when said crocodile ran up to me and rolled over as if asking me to pet its stomach.

When I cautiously walked away from the animal without touching it, its owner gave me a dirty look, as if asking me if I were too good for her pet. I had never been a fan of ‘outdoor critters’, even before my polar bear experience (blame it on that one rat that decided to nest in my lunchbox which I forgot at school one time over the weekend); at the end of the day, it boiled down to me not wanting to get bitten.

We carried on walking through the park for roughly a quarter of an hour. My mind started wandering more and more towards the prospect of lunch, and I somewhat lost focus of my surroundings. Maybe that was why, when the gravel paths turned back into cobblestone roads, I was so surprised to find myself in a landscape almost indistinguishable from the historic part of modern-day Paris.

The buildings were tall and wide, made from large blocks of yellow and orange stone. The geologist in me almost jumped in excitement. I had never seen anything like it.

Just as surprising as the building facades, was the fact that this part of the city had well-delimited sidewalks, as well road marking, in the form of lighter-coloured cobblestones, of where people should cross the road.

Although a few of the mansions we passed by did look lived in, most served as administrative buildings, placed to eat and rest, cultural centers. That fact was further confirmed by the clothes people wore around those parts. One particular group of people stood outside what I assumed to be a theatre. They all wore very extravagant clothes and were repeating the same lines to each other, over and over. Although, most people wore simple, yet well-tailored clothes. Some of them were leisurely walking down the street, while others were running around, as if late for a meeting or their lunch break.

A few of them saluted me, and I politely nodded back, unsure of what someone in my position should say.

We finally stopped in front of a large metal gate. It was heavily decorated in an architectural style I could not name, but which resembled old French castles very closely. I put that gate on my list of things ‘to go’ as well.

“My lady, we have arrived.”

I nodded, too impressed by my to-be residence which I could easily make out behind the gate to be able to say anything.