I woke up to an unfamiliar ceiling. White, or at least a very light grey, and illuminated by late 19th century-style lamps on the walls except they were not burning oil; they were magical in nature.

After coming to and thinking back a little, I was quickly washed, then clothed in a fancy but light red dress which I was told to be typical of the fashion lower court nobles wore that year. I was even given a nice hat to have shade from the scorching summer sun... by the standards of what seemed to be Fantasy Imperial Russia ca. 1900. My inner fashionista was brimming with ideas on how to make my own dresses later.

My thick early spring clothes? They were ripped, burned, and generally ruined. After fishing out my phone and purse, someone took them and threw them away. At least I had some battery left to listen to my music.

I was led to a black carriage lined with gold and sporting the Imperial symbol of Smirnov. As you might expect from Russian fantasy people, it resembled a double-headed eagle if you really squinted.

Why they expected me to show up at the court of the Emperor himself not even 24 hours after getting summoned I could not explain. Perhaps they were in a hurry to show off their success. I shared the carriage - which thankfully had excellent suspension and comfortable pillow seats - with two beastkin and two other people from my world.

One of them, a dog (wolf?) girl dressed exactly like a maid servant from anime - at least it seemed unlikely she'd just returned from her Last Bell celebration - wearing a dress so long and flowing it covered everything but her head, white-gloved hands, and boot-clad feet, took an interest in my 'strange black rectangle'. We changed seats so I sat next to her and offered one of my ear plugs. We listened to some orchestral game music for a bit while the carriage got us to the Imperial Palace. She was perhaps the first person ever to listen to music from another world. She was delighted. She was also exactly my type, a little smaller than me and plenty cute, and complimented me on my green-blueish eyes. Genetic lottery for the win?

The audience with the Imperial Couple was downright forgettable by comparison. His Majesty, Her Majesty, the Imperial Princess with a name so long everyone only called her... sooomething cute who I should note was fittingly so damn adorable I found it hard not to stare and make her blush... Lots and lots of retainers and court nobles were present as well. There were also two princes I heard, but since they were baby twins they naturally did not attend. Almost stereotypically, all three of the royal family were bear types.

Everyone had assembled in a huge room with fine red decorations, black and gold Imperial banners, a long and thick carpet, balconies to the sides, and all kinds of fancy golden and silver things I could not possibly name correctly.

So why was it forgettable? Mainly because, despite the pomp, I and the 7 others - the rest of us had in fact succumbed to their wounds by this morning much to the dismay of the Dean - were given barely any attention.

I could understand that the Emperor's schedule was packed full, but considering we were summoned to solve some so-far undefined problem, I would have expected that someone would at least tell us what that problem even was. Alas, no such luck.

No, everyone was merely instructed to - for now - be brought to a separate 'dungeon' and be tested for their abilities. Considering our present group consisted of an 18 year old high school student whose main strengths are basketball and being fashionable, three adults between 20-40 who were clearly still unable to even fully comprehend the situation, two younger girls to whom it seemed like a fantastical adventure trip, and one little boy and his grandmother who were even more lost... It was downright cruel to be so dismissive of us.

I wanted to complain, but one very sharp bayonet pointed at the throat later, I wisely shut up and just went with the flow.

Which brings us to...

~~~~~

*Crash* My body was flung against a nearby stone wall. A blue-burning torch was high above, just barely illuminating the monster in front of me. Except it did not look like a typical 'monstrous' monster. No, this one was clearly a succubus, and she really had it out for me.

"You are sooo weak~. Are you really a heroine? Ahahahaha, come ooon, play with me more~."

I could almost hear the hearts in her speech. It had been barely 10 minutes since I had entered this 'dungeon' whose stone gate shut behind me and I was in the biggest trouble of my life. Once again, no time was spared for explanations. I was given a spear and told to retrieve some orb as a test.

Oh right, the mons- the succubus was toying with me. The spear I had been given was easily broken in two and out of reach in any case. My supposedly-protective clothes were torn. And she came closer, her pink-glowing eyes just barely giving her face definition. Her excessively long hair was probably flaming red in normal daylight, but in this corridor it just appeared a creepy icy blue.

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She grabbed my collar and with a pull accompanied by pink magic covering her right hand somehow ripped all my clothes and even my boots into tiny, tiny pieces, leaving me naked and utterly defenceless. Yes, I pissed myself in terror, it happens to anyone.

"*Sniff, sniff* Oh my, you wet yourself like a liiiittle girl... Ah, I know!"

The seductress snapped her fingers, then pressed her lips on mine. I could feel that she was sucking something out of me. Experience points or something? I started feeling even weaker. The kiss went for almost a minute, but I had already stopped struggling only 5 seconds in - what would have been the point to resist?

We parted lips, and she had a satisfied smirk on her face. She stepped back a little and admired me as if I was a statue.

"That was delicious, even if it wasn't very filling. And oooh my, you've become just so adooorable~!"

I did not immediately understand, but the smaller size of my hands confirmed my suspicions after I shakily managed to stand up and found the succubus to be taller than before. Of course, she had not actually grown taller all of a sudden; I had shrunk, or more accurately been de-aged. She even produced an illusionary mirror to show me I had gone back to around 10 years old.

"Hehehe, you're really cute now." She licked her lips, but then frowned a little. "But now I'm bored, so we'll play a game. I'll put a small jewellery casket somewhere nearby so you can get some clothes back on. Go and fight things, I'll make sure you have a chance to win. Struggle, struggle, and struggle some more for my entertainment, and when you're down, I'll find you again. Byyye~."

Those were the words of the vanishing succubus. My heart was beating faster due to both her allure and the prospect of being in actual danger.

I grabbed the remains of my spear, thankfully only broken in such a way I could still hold the upper part with one hand, and went searching. A couple rats were no problem to me as I could at least accurately throw. I found a bottle with water - not a magical potion or anything useful - from which I drank a little and then cleaned up my bottom half.

Finding the casket was a different matter. It was an unassuming small black thing that one would normally store a ring in, so figuring out where the thing was hiding in this terrible lighting was quite difficult. Especially since it rested within a hole where a brick or two had been crushed.

The contents were even worse than that.

"...You've got to be kidding me...!"

There was a triangle carving inside the lid. In place where a ring would be on red or white silk were instead three white strips of cloth in a Y-formation, the lower one slightly longer and a bit wider than the other two. 'Clothes'!? Those stickers were barely enough to substitute for a 'bikini' made from band-aids.

Even so, I felt the urge to put them on, no matter how much more embarrassing it would be than running around completely in the nude. Strangely enough, I felt revitalised once I had placed the bottom one on my pu- my vagina.

In retrospect, it was obvious this stuff was cursed with lewdness, among other things. I was no stranger to sexual stuff and I can freely admit I've fellated both of my boyfriends a few times and did the deed as well to my so-far one girlfriend, but despite these I was still a virgin and did not intend to change that anytime soon with anyone but the suc- with anyone, period.

So lost in thought for a moment, I only got out of my reverie when I heard a very, very loud roar from the side and the stomping of multiple feet. I did not even bother looking, I just ran.

~~~~~

I had finally gotten my breathing back under control. No roars or stomping feet could be heard, so I dared to leave my hidey-hole.

(Don't I have any skills at all? Maybe magic like the succubus?)

I certainly did not feel anything in terms of special abilities, ki, chakra, or holy blessings manifesting.

('Aesir' my ass! I'm a 𝟲𝟴𝟳𝟱𝟲Đ𝟲𝟭𝟲Ɇ and nothing else!)

...I grabbed my butt to check, just in case I had been turned into a minor succubus or something, but alas not even that was given - or at the least I had no tail growing just yet.

The corridors still looked the same: dark stonework, eerie blue torches that never stopped burning yet produced no smoke, and indistinct panels covering floor and ceiling.

I came to a T junction, which offered me to keep going ahead or take a turn to the left. Since I had not paid much attention to where I had been to during my frantic run earlier, I was quite, quite lost.

Something glimmered in the distance, something small and silvery. I slowly went closer, closer, my breath becoming visible as the temperature dropped. I should probably have noticed, but I was too drawn to the whatever-it-was.

The whatever-it-was in question turned out to be a wooden chest reinforced with polished iron. As far as I could tell, not a speck of rust was tarnishing it, but a lot of dark spots covered the ground. This caused me to finally snap out of it since I thought this was obviously a trap and I was about to lose a lot of blood.

I turned around, forcing myself against some strange force - which confirmed the trap theory - with pure will not to die.

"Heeey, what gives!? Don't you want to know what's inside?"

The sudden girly voice broke my concentration and my head snapped back around.

"Surely a pervert like you would prefer a chance to find some seeexy bikini armour inside?"

That was rather offensive since I would consider myself to have a healthy, not perverted, interest in sex, and I didn't pick this 'outfit' willingly! I spoke without thinking.

"Well excuse you, I'm not naked for no reason!"

The lid of the chest suddenly popped open and inside was...

"Uh... who are you? Don't tell me you're actually a mimic? Wait, is that... is that CHOCOLATE!?"