The Skill as great. The System had clearly gone overboard and given her an actual useful Skill. Wichita was not sure why, but perhaps escaping the forest counted for more than she had thought.

The fact that it was a part of a Combination Skill just made it better. That meant there were two more powerful Skills of the same type. Wichita was practically giddy from the thought. Did the other Skills concentrate on Fae magic? No, that wouldn’t make a combination of three. Not alone, at least. Perhaps they dealt with other aspects of magic.

Was the System actually giving her a magical Skill? A proper Skill that would let her manipulate mana. Wichita thought about it for a second, and decided that the answer was no. The chances that the System would give her such a Skill were low. There was a reason Arcana kept resetting their classes till they got a magical one. Getting the System to give a mana manipulation Skill to a non-magical class holder was nearly impossible.

Wichita had a guess why. With their talent with magic, even a minor manipulation Skill would turn an Arcana into a half-decent mage. With a class that wasn’t meant to have magic like that. The System probably saw that as the balance being broken.

But thinking about the System’s actions was simply asking for frustration. And she had something far more important to handle. The new manner of enchantment! The Skill hadn’t told her exactly how it worked, but it had given an idea.

Wichita was sure that she would be able to figure out the underlying principles given enough time. But it may be a better idea to search for a library. Verge powerhouses generally had their personal stores of information, the only question was if this one was willing to share some knowledge.

There was little chance of her sharing how to enchant in this new way, that simply wasn't’ how the world worked. Wichita wasn’t related to her or a subordinate. Not even an ally. There was little need to give her information that others would probably kill for. The Arcana might not have given proper importance to Enchanting, but in her opinion it was one of the things that gave them an edge in battle.

There were so few spells and weapons in the world that could even harm the Wall of Arcana. The aerial defense system might not have been able to deal with Dragons, but it was good enough to deal with everything else. That meant that the enemy was not truly able to show their numerical advantage. A billion enemies may have besieged Arcana at any given moment, but they could not truly show their numerical superiority.

That was why she needed to learn this new form of enchantment. If she was to continue being the Forgotten Queen, and that was a big if, she would need to have an edge in enchanting. The soldiers would need it if they wanted to stand up to the established powers of the world.

Wichita pursed her lips as she thought of the challenges she would face. Hiding her identity would be very important at the beginning. A Legend Queen rising in power was a threat to any kingdom that occupied that land. If she wasn’t careful, then she would easily find herself hunted to death. And an Empire would not play fair.

No, she would have to grow powerful before she even thought about declaring who she was.

Nodding to herself, she sent one final look at the bed’s enchantment and then headed downstairs. The room appeared a bit different as she walked with her new Skill switched on. The room had enchantments laid across its length. Transformation mana was used in massive quantities, and so was mind mana. The two types of mana were there in nearly every enchantment.

A part of her wanted to sit down and check every single enchantment. Why was the glass surface of the window enchanted? Why did the sofa frame need enchantments? Wichita did not think even the Arcanian palace had so many enchantments, there was little need for it. The mana could be used for other purposes. Opening the door, she found that the hallway walls were similarly enchanted.

A massive enchantment that seemed to be spread throughout the inn. Wichita wondered how it was powered. Enchantment's biggest flaw was that it had to be powered at once. That was why the Wall of Arcana used an array of billion different enchantments, not a single large one. That and the fact that fixing it would be difficult given how big it was.

Then again, even she had made enchantments that wouldn’t fail just because a part of it failed. A Verge stage powerhouse would hardly have hired someone incompetent. Stepping onto the stairs, she looked at the space between the two flights of the stairs. The gap led straight to the ground floor. A bit small, but she could fit if she manipulated her body a bit.

Wichita jumped down, landing on the balls of her feet. Or where the balls of her feet would have been if she were human. An Arcana did not have enough weight to worry about gravity. The only reason they could even touch things was because the Iridor had used some really powerful magic to make it so. Fae magic, she suspected from the way it worked. Even though history recorded that, they had used a Moment.

But she simply didn’t know how they could have managed it. Evolving humans into the Arcana was a feat that remained a mystery even after her species had researched it for an Age and then some.

Walking into the tavern, she found that things had calmed down quite a bit. The General was sitting in the bar talking with the woman she had seen there before. The tattooed man was nowhere to be seen, though the Innkeeper was around.

There were far fewer people in the tavern, apparently her group wasn’t the only one that decided to escape.

The Innkeeper turned to her as she approached, a smile brightening her face. “I see that one of my newest guests has seen fit to approach me again. Tell me, was I really that scary?”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Wichita paused, unsure of how to answer. Would the Innkeeper be offended if she said yes?

“The forest dies as the monsters fight.” she said. “I felt it necessary to be as far from the fight as I could manage.”

The Innkeeper tilted her head, and then paused. Wichita’s Skill detected something being used on her, likely a detection Skill. But it could give her no more information. Not unexpected given who she was dealing with.

“That is wise, I suppose.” The Innkeeper said, but her tone had changed. There was none of the lighthearted ribbing in there any more. Wichita tensed. Whatever the Skill had told her, it had made her change the Verge stage powerhouse, change her tone.

“Come, I am sure we have much to discuss.” she said, walking towards the bar. Wichita followed, feeling very nervous. Had she detected that she was an Arcana? That should not be possible, she was wearing a mana dress. The dresses were made by the Toy maker to hide their identities from even perception based Verge stage powerhouses.

The Toy maker was the Enchanting Queen’s disciple, his work should not be so easy to see through. Not even for another Verge stage powerhouse.

The General turned towards them as the Innkeeper walked towards a door next to the bar. The Verge stage powerhouse turned towards the General and glared. Wichita felt more than saw the aura land on the General. Like a mountain that had come to crush an ant. Whatever worry she’d had about getting caught up in a fight between them had been foolish. If they came to blows, the General didn’t stand a chance.

“Do not interfere in my business.” the Innkeeper warned the General as she walked in. Wichita followed, feeling even more nervous.

The room itself didn’t look special. Two sofas stood facing each other, a short table between them. That was it. The only thing in the room.

“Take a seat, your majesty.” the Innkeeper said, observing her as Wichita followed her instructions. Disobeying the powerhouse now just seemed foolish. Why had she thought coming down was a good idea? Hiding was clearly the superior choice. What did the Innkeeper know?

“I would ask where you come from, but I doubt you would share it with me.” the Innkeeper said as two saucers, a kettle and dish of cookies appeared on the table. Just that gesture calmed Wichita quite a bit. The Innkeeper probably wouldn’t use those if she were going to kill her…right?

“I would prefer not to.” she answered nervously.

The Innkeeper sighed. “I suppose not. Tell me, does your nation still exist anymore?”

“I do not know.” Wichita answered truthfully, feeling even more nervous. That was not a normal question. The Innkeeper had at least figured out that she had traveled through time.

“I admit, I have not met a Queen that has traveled forward in time before, at least not one that is so weak.” the Innkeeper said.

Wichita blinked.

“There are other queens that have traveled forward in time?” she asked.

“Just one.” the Innkeeper said. “And she was a princess when she encountered…the event. The title came after every other family member of hers was dead.”

Wichita paused, wondering if she should reveal anything. The Innkeeper already seemed to know too much, and this was a source of information. If their Scenarios were similar, then maybe the Innkeeper could tell her where her path went.

“I had a similar condition.” she said. “I was just a bastard princess before my Scenario.”

The Innkeeper raised an eyebrow. “A Scenario? I haven’t heard that terminology in, oh, a long time.”

Wichita froze.

“The Second Age, was it? Or the early Third?” the Innkeeper asked. Wichita pursed her lips, her brain scrambling.

“The Irset.” she finally said.

Now it was the Innkeeper that was surprised. “What?”

“That was my species, my kingdom. The Irset.” Of course, she was lying. But her clothes also worked against truth spells, and the species did exist. The species was one of the many kingdoms that moved to border Arcana, swearing to dedicate themselves to killing them.

Three years after she was born, the Queen-Consort had destroyed them and a dozen other such kingdoms. There may have been survivors, but she would have to take that risk. The species was one of the few she could safely disguise as. The enmity came from the Arcana hunting them for experimentation after all. The Irset were far easier to capture and use in some of Arcana's riskier research into their nature.

“The Irset -” the Innkeeper seemed taken aback. “I admit I haven’t heard of them. I suppose you will not be having the same problem as her then.”

Wichita took a moment to figure out what the Innkeeper was talking about. The other time traveling queen.

“What happened to her?” she asked, frowning.

“The kingdom she had belonged to had become a vassal of the Big Empire. The Emperor hunted her down and killed her. I would recommend you hide your status. The artifacts you have on you are powerful, but they were not made to hide your status. There are many that will be able to detect it.”

The Innkeeper gave her what she presumed was supposed to be a kind smile, the froze. The woman’s face transformed into one of horror and then shock.

“The Grand Ritual?” she said, looking at her in shock. Wichita froze again. “That…” the woman sighed, looking at Wichita with pity. “— makes sense I suppose.”

“May I ask what you are talking about?” she asked carefully. The Innkeeper had found out something. Perhaps she had just consulted someone on her species or something similar.

“The Irset mostly died out under Arcana attacks during the early years of the Arcanian siege. But apparently some escaped.”

Wichita blinked. The early years? That had been quite a bit into the siege. Just how long had it lasted.

The Innkeeper seemed to have noticed the change in her expression. “I suppose the terminology would seem strange to someone from that Age. But please bear with me for a moment. I just have one question for you.”

“Is the Grand Ritual the reason I cannot use scrying magic on you? How did you accomplish it? I am willing to pay…extravagantly for this information.”

Wichita blinked. What was she talking about? The clothes shouldn’t do that. The enchantment was too localized to block a proper scrying attempt that, presumably, used her class or name.

The Innkeeper couldn’t have used her species, right?