I wonder if my Royal Caretaker is a reflection on who I am or is it like this for all Vess queens? Are there other Vess queens out there? I really need to stop being so isolationist, there is much to gain from being a part of the world, talking to people, really talking to them. Ugh these thoughts are giving me anxiety. A part of me just wants to sleep under this mountain forever; another part, probably the Vess part, wants to expand until my influence reaches every corner of the world.
Enna dutifully brushes my hair, letting me stew in my thoughts.
“All done!” She cheerfully exclaims. Lifting me off her lap, she sets me down before cleaning up around my chambers. Her help has been very welcome, it is so much warmer being served food by someone with a face, rather than drone number thirty-two. I may have gotten even lazier, but I am queen, it’s perfectly reasonable for me to laze around, it would be unbecoming of my status to actually do stuff.
+2,000 XP +500 XP +500 XP + 500 XP
I walk through my tunnels; the hive has become a terrifying maze of darkness. A group of injured soldiers march past me towards the infirmary, another group is already on their way out to replace them in the dungeon.
Climbing onto a hunter, I am shepherded through the nightmare tunnels to the surface. The sunlight is almost blinding. The last time I saw the sun was when I went out to see the battle at Ironhill, that was months ago, there just hasn’t been a reason to come up here.
The hunter trots around, taking me around the mountain, the local monster population outside of the dungeons has long since been decimated, it is perfectly safe for me to wander around. Enna watches over me too, of course. It turns out she can easily dismantle my soldiers, she also can use magic, making her my strongest Vess by far. It’s too bad I can only have one of her.
+500 XP +500 XP +500 XP
Congratulations you are level 47! +10 Wis, +3 free points!
The level ups have become dreadfully slow, that last one took me two weeks of constantly farming multiple dungeons to acquire, I think I understand why level forty is considered a lifetime achievement. Status
Renna Level 47
Heir of Nightmares
HP 100
Mana 2,720
Str 2
Dex 4
Vit 10
Wis 272
Int 5
Skills
Summon Welp: 1 mana
Summon Drone: 5 mana
Summon Hunter: 10 mana
Summon Scout: 1 mana
Summon Archer: 15 mana
Summon Squire: 50 mana
Summon Soldier: 100 mana
Summon Ballista: 200 mana
Summon Royal Caretaker: All mana (1/1)
Summon Flyer: 600 mana
Summon Knight: 1,500 mana
Summon Burrower: 800 Mana
To say my stats are unbalanced is an incredible understatement, I almost feel stupid for putting those nine points into Vit. It was worth it to not be sick all the time though.
Looking up, I see one of my flyers watching over me from above. I have considered flying to Lotheris’ capital to introduce myself, but the giant nightmare bat might not make a very good first impression. Mostly I am worried about getting shot out of the sky, the flyer is a powerful Vess, but I don’t want to risk my precious one hundred hit points.
The burrower is another option, the giant worm has a safe space in its belly for me to ride, but again, only a slightly less nightmarish appearance. Why didn’t I get angelic looking summons? Looking at you, knights.
The knights are even taller than Enna, reaching a record height of Sixteen feet. Also, like Enna, they hold a mostly humanoid form, sort of. Their feet have nasty claws that are as big as human swords, two arms also end in similar weaponry. The terrifying part are the six claymore sized blade arms on its back. The chitinous armor covering the entire body isn’t comforting either, ending in a helmet looking head with the signature glowing red eyes. I couldn’t make my creatures look any more evil if I tried. I finally got my heavy hitters, capable of fighting high-leveled individuals. The one thousand five hundred mana cost is rough though, at least the soldiers got a deep discount.
Glad I could just camp these dungeons to get strong before getting into any real trouble. My heart once again goes out to other reincarnated people who have to struggle in this world.
“I want to inspect the swarm.” I hold my arms up to Enna.
Enna picks me up, settling me comfortably in her arms before carrying me back to the hive. It’s not my fault my class has no stat growth outside of Wis, my agility is too low to get anywhere in a reasonable amount of time, and being carried by Enna just so happens to be the best way to get anywhere.
I am set back down in the hive barracks. My eyes roam over the rows of soldiers, all two hundred of them standing completely still. I can sense many more in the deeper chambers, two thousand in total. Then there are the two hundred ballista and eight hundred archers, with warehouses full of extra ammunition for them, plus three hundred squires to carry said ammunition. A handful of flyers and burrowers, countless scouts, and fifty knights.
Over and over, I thought about my army composition, should I spam more flyers? Maybe go all in on knights and summon nothing else? In the end, I think I made a balanced choice. The soldiers are my main fighting force, holding the line, they are super deadly on their own anyway. Archers and ballista for supporting fire, flyers and burrowers for utility and maybe taking out specific targets, and the knights to deal with high-level soldiers.
“Are you sure we will get there in time?” I ask Enna for the hundredth time.
“Yes, dear.” She patiently answers, “The Karnakan army just received reinforcements, and is only now just starting to march on the capital, it will take them two or three weeks to get there, and then they will need to spend days setting up their base camp.” Enna stops to inspect my growing horns, licking her finger and wiping something off of the right one, “Heehee, sooo cute how unevenly your horns are coming in.”
“Enna!” I complain.
“Yes, yes, do not fret. Your army moves at an inhuman speed, and your subjects need not rest, nor sustenance. We shall arrive at the capital in two weeks, plenty of time for your plan.”
“I’m scared.” I admit, “My army is a lot smaller than I would like. I would have preferred to win with overwhelming numbers.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Enna hums in agreement, “Mmm, yes that is the Vess way. However, I believe your plan is a good one. Since we are joining the battle on the side of Lotheris, our smaller number doesn’t matter as much, as we are providing support for a larger entity.”
Despite her words, Enna doesn’t look particularly happy with the plan. She has already expressed her desire to stay isolated, building my forces until I am ready to explode into the world. She doesn’t seem to particularly like or trust humans either.
My thoughts are interrupted by yet another impromptu horn polishing. I bat her hands away and give the most impressive pout I can muster, the only result being my adversary giggling at me.
“Such a cutie.”
“A-Anyway!” I soldier on, “I want to leave soon, this is a golden opportunity to show Lotheris that I am an ally.”
I give the mental command, and my army begins moving towards the surface.
Enna guides me to a palanquin, built especially with my comfort in mind. It is essentially a huge, obsidian box, the size of a small apartment back on earth, being held between four squires, and guarded by six knights. The inside has a comfy bed, table and chairs for eating, it even has a lavatory, complete with a bath. It is all rather low-tech, the tub is manually filled and empties directly onto the ground beneath the palanquin, same for the toilet. I don’t have to do the filling, of course, so it is pretty much automatic as far as I am concerned. Did I mention my drones made a stand in for toilet paper? It isn’t nearly as good as the real thing, but it isn’t bad, much better than most people get, I'm sure.
I am placed into my new home for the next few weeks, joined by Enna, who can apparently shrink to be six feet, magic stuff, I don’t question it. One jumps inside too, my constant companion.
Sitting at the table, Enna waves her hand, and the wall opens up to form a window, allowing me a good view of where we are going. I join her and the palanquin starts moving.
It’s… not very fast. What it is, is consistent. With all my needs being met inside the box, my army can continue marching until we make it to Solesthem, the shining capital of Lotheris. Honestly, I am super excited to finally get out into the world and make use of all of this money I have sitting around. I also brought a bunch of magic items with me, probably going to donate them as a sign of goodwill. That’s how diplomacy works, right? I never was good at 4X games or strategy games in general. Wish I had some games to play, this journey might be mind numbingly boring. Actually, what I really would like are books, romance would be preferred, although I do plan on picking up a lot of other reading material in Solesthem, history and stuff. I might be getting pretty strong, but I am still horribly ignorant about the world. You can have all the strength in the world, but it is useless without the knowledge to wield it.
Enna crosses her legs, leaning on her hand to stare out the window. She glances at me, making sure to give me a smile, “What’s going on in that little head?”
I sigh, “Nothing really.”
Enna patiently continues, “Well, do you have any questions?”
That makes me raise my eyebrows, “Don’t you only know as much as I do?”
“Technically true,” Enna switches her crossed legs, “However, I can offer a different point of view.” She taps her finger to her chin a few times, “How about I tell you about the Vess?”
“Sure.” I shrug.
“Let’s see… Well, the Vess are an ancient race, far older than humans, we have been on this plane for thousands of years, although the last Vess Queen died a long time ago.”
That grabs my attention, I didn’t know that.
Perhaps sensing my confusion, Enna smiles and answers my unspoken question, “I retain some general knowledge from the last queen, all Vess are connected, after all.”
“Now then,” she continues, “You are an oddity, usually when a Vess Queen reaches the peak of her power, she will create an heir, not to inherit her hive, but to go out and start their own. It isn’t unheard of for Vess Queens to pop up here and there, but it is certainly rare.”
“You said the last Vess Queen was a long time ago?” I ask.
“Mmm,” Enna hums her agreement, “A few hundred years, the world has likely forgotten all about the Vess, humans being such a short-lived race. The elves most likely remember, as do the dwarves, although we haven’t seen any sign of them.”
I always thought it was strange that I was in a fantasy world, but the only race I ever saw was human. At first, I assumed it was a low-fantasy world, until my race changed, that is. Enna seems to know a lot more than she lets on.
“Where do you think the other races are?”
Enna takes a moment to consider, uncrossing her legs and stretching her arms above her head, “Mmmmmm, well… They have probably retreated to their homelands, why they did that, I am not sure. The elves live far to the east, across the great plains, inside the radiant forest. The dwarves hail from the far south, past Karnaka and their desert, under the great mountain; the dwarves aren’t very creative when it comes to naming things.”
“Indeed,” she continues, “It is strange, the world seems so much smaller than I remember. Perhaps there was a great tragedy, some sort of natural disaster or monster attack. A level eighty monster would be enough to devastate nations.”
There is one question that is really weighing on my mind, “What happened to the last Vess Queen?”
Enna just gives a nonchalant shrug, “Who can say?”
I blink, “You aren’t hiding something from me, are you? I’m pretty sure you are physically incapable of doing that.”
My caretaker responds with a serene smile, reaching over and plucking me from my chair, eliciting a surprised squeak from me. She settles me in her lap, running her hands through my hair, “Now, now little queen, you worry far too much for someone so young.”
“It kinda feels like you're manipulating me.” I cross my arms and glare up at her.
Enna lets out an airy laugh, “Oh sweetie, I’m sorry; I really can’t tell you anymore. All I remember are vague sensations and concepts, I wasn’t personally there to witness whatever happened.”
I grumble and pout as she continues to giggle at me, I guess that makes sense. Pretty sure she can’t disobey or lie to me; she is just teasing.
Squirming around in her lap, I shift so I can more easily look out the window, the scenery steadily going by. My army moves quietly too; I am counting on that. Hopefully we can interrupt the siege on the capital, getting a surprise attack on the Karnakan army, enough to break the siege and hopefully send them retreating. Actually, now is a good time to start sowing the seeds of my victory.
Hunters are incredibly cheap, so I form a few packs, each a hundred strong, and send them out to intercept the Karnakan supply lines. My scouts have been observing and mapping out the invader's routes, I think I have found the best places to hit them. My hunters will harass with hit and run tactics, focusing on killing horses and damaging wagons, before disappearing. I expect to lose many hunters, but that is of no concern, I need to break the Karnakan supply lines, every advantage counts. The supply lines themselves are lightly guarded, no one in their second evolution, they aren’t expecting any resistance, since the Lotheris army is held up in the capitol.
I scratch around one of my horns, my little claws bring welcome relief.
“Aww are your horns bothering you sweetie?” Enna coos, lightly batting my hands away so she can run her hands through my hair, scratching around the base of my horns occasionally.
I close my eyes and nod, “Yahhh.”
An exciting thought pops into my head, “Hey, am I really a baby?”
Enna smiles, “Well, mostly that is teasing. While you are young, you certainly are past your larval stage. I would love it if you were a child, but you are undeniably in your adolescent stage.”
“So” I lead on, “I am still growing?”
“Yes.” Enna indulges me, “The Vess age differently compared to other races, they age as they level and will live indefinitely.”
Ok I am immortal, that is a revelation, I think I need to ignore that before I freak out. “When I grow up, will I be as tall as you?”
That elicits a pleasant laugh from my caretaker, “Oh sweetie,” She interrupts herself with more giggling.
I frown up at her, “What?”
Enna manages to stifle her laughter, “You are just so precious.” She hugs me close and kisses my head. “Vess Queens are small, all of them. You most likely won’t grow much taller.”
“Of course.” I deadpan, “Great, yeah, cool.”
“Ohh don’t be so grumpy, it’s not a bad thing! You are going to stay the perfect cuddling size!” Enna poorly attempts to console me. “Why do you want to be tall anyways?”
“Cause you look more like a queen than I do, I thought maybe I would look similarly.” I sulk as hard as I can, “Nobody is going to take me seriously.”
“Oh Ren, if they don’t respect you for commanding an army of death, I don’t think being a little taller would make a difference.”
I blink, is that the first time she used my real name and not some variation of sweetie? She must really be trying to reassure me, dang it, she is good at it. It’s going to be hard to sulk now.
Crossing my arms, I pout as hard as I can, but it’s a losing battle. Enna keeps cooing at me and petting my head, ahhh whatever, my heart is not in it. Guess I’m doomed to be short for my eternal life. At least I can have people executed if they make fun of me.
“You know, there used to be a race similar to the Vess.” My caretaker continues pulling out knowledge she claims to not really have, “Their queen was far taller than me, probably taller than the knights. However.” Enna pauses for dramatic effect, “That particular queen had to lay eggs, she couldn’t just form them out of pure mana like a certain sulky queen.”
I blanche, oh god, lay eggs. No. No way, I couldn’t deal with that.
Enna continues in a sing-song voice, “Maybe you don’t mind being short after all hmmm?”
Squirming out of her lap, I scoop up One and turn to stick my tongue out at my tormenter. “No more horrid egg talk! Egg laying talk is hereby forbidden!” Turning away from the conversation I very much don’t want to continue, I decided to take refuge in my bed, hiding away under the covers. If I burrow deep enough, I probably won’t be able to hear Enna laughing at me.
