Wichita crouched in the ruins of a few trees, observing the three humans that looked like they had just walked out of a ball. The boy had his hair cut short, his curly brown hair larger on the right side, falling over his dark brown eyes. The only one who had not been affected by the System’s interference, he was busy trying to get the dust off his translucent white shirt.

The frilly border was not cooperating with his endeavor. Wichita doubted he was going to succeed. The older of the girls was in a better condition, somehow. Considering that the needle was eager to get at her, she probably had some kind of magic already.

The girl’s full length maroon dress clung to her body in a way that mirrored her own dress. The only difference was that Wichita’s skin did not need to breathe. The younger girl seemed to be the least bothered of the three, far more interested in her surroundings.

A branch adorned her head, and did not seem to be something from this forest. The clothes she was wearing seemed to be made from the same silky cloth as the other girl’s with one notable difference. The clothes did not suit her. Perhaps a servant? Some nobles liked to dress their servants in fancy clothes, even if they didn’t suit them personally.

That did seem to be the case. Wichita looked at the white skirt that had a number of dirt patches on it. The gray top was not in a much better condition.

“Look, a purple chipmunk!” the younger girl yelled. Wichita straightened, ready to defend them. The transmigrators would make very good subjects, something she dearly needed if she wanted to get out of this forest alive.

“Let’s kill it!” the girl said, pulling the stick out of her hair. The older girl groaned. “Leave the chipmunk alone, Tully, we don’t know what will happen if we -”

Wichita threw her stone, intercepting the chipmunk’s attack. The needle had already gone on to kill it, on strict orders to not kill the humans.

“There’s someone else here!” the younger girl yelled, a smile splitting her face, and then fell off just as quickly. “A…nice monster lady?”

Wichita paused in her steps, realizing that she had forgotten to change her appearance. Why was she suddenly a monster though? An Arcana wasn’t that scary. Heck, they looked mostly like the species they had evolved from. Just the eyes and hair were different. An easy enough thing to change.

The white pupil darkened to gray, her sclera turning white like a human’s. The hair was more difficult, making it fall properly would be a ridiculous waste of mana given the circumstances. That was why she was not going to do it.

The three transmigrators did not look reassured by her change. Wichita was going to presume them to be transmigrators for now. There was a possibility that they were just very spoiled nobles, but even those would know that they should be careful in an unknown forest. The three seemed to have no knowledge about how to act in the world, as if it was their first time in it.

“Is that better?” she asked, trying to start a conversation.

The older girl shared a wary look with the boy, not that they even looked at each other. The younger girl thankfully seemed very eager to speak to her.

“I don’t know, your eyes gave you like a freaky, otherworldly look. Now it’s just…plain.” the girl almost seemed disappointed.

“A normal eye does not glow.” the older girl commented. Wait what? Was it really glowing? Wichita wanted to take a look at it. An Arcana’s eyes did not usually glow. This was new.

“I…can’t really do anything about that.” she answered, at a loss. How was she supposed to deal with something she did not even know herself?

The needle entered the clearing, looking quite hesitant to come back to her. Wichita was not in the mood to humor it, and moved to snatch it out of the air as it floated close to her. Did it think she did not notice it? The fool.

There was an awkward silence as the transmigrators stared at her, and she had no idea what to do. This was annoying. Why wasn’t she good at social interactions? For fuck’s sake, she was a Queen. How was she to survive when she couldn’t even make basic conversation?

“I was wondering if we could travel together.” she broached the subject. Perhaps they would appreciate her getting to the point.

The older girl looked like she had just confirmed her suspicions, while the boy tried to lean against a tree. With minimal success. Was he injured? Was that why he was leaning against a tree? Perhaps she could use that. At least one subject, she needed at least one subject to get experience faster. Or she might not make it out of the forest.

“Are you injured?” she asked the boy.

“…no?” he answered, though it sounded more like a question. Wichita was not deterred.

“Why are you leaning against a tree then? I know how to cast healing enchantments, I could help -”

“No, no, I’m fine.” the boy protested. The older girl was busy checking the younger girl, pulling the branches from her hair and dusting off her clothes. Not a servant then.

“I was just tired.” the boy mumbled, though she doubted anyone in the clearing missed that. Yes, muscle fatigue. Wichita had forgotten about that.

“I see. I can make an enchantment to help with that, though perhaps we should wait a bit.” she finally said. Showing that she could be useful should help. That was how she had gotten into project groups when she was young. A useful member was almost always welcome.

The younger girl shook off the older one’s ministrations, and decided to walk up to her. The older pulled her back, glaring at her. Wichita just looked at them.

“Is there a problem?” she asked, finally. There seemed to be one.

“No!” the younger girl answered first, much to the older one’s frustration.

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“There is no problem, miss…”

“Wichita.” she answered, careful not to give her surname. The Iridor had been on many worlds, and they had not been the most peaceful guests. Yes, she should be careful about what she revealed. The Arcana were despised across the world, and for good reason. Wichita would rather keep her species secret, just in case.

“Well, miss Wichita, we have only just arrived in this place and are simply taken aback by your offer. As you can see, the spacial fluctuation has not taken mercy on us. Perhaps you could tell us where we are?” the older girl said as the boy closed his eyes and shook his head in an exaggerated fashion. The books she had read on human behavior were proving insufficient.

“I see.” How could she respond to that one? Tell her to take her time? The forest was deadly, they did not have the time. Would the girl take offense if she told them to hurry up? Wichita did not know where they were either. Perhaps they were simply unaware of how much danger they were in.

“I would tell you where you are, but I fear my situation is the same as yours. I have also arrived here by way of these…spacial fluctuations.” Wichita wondered if the unfamiliar terminology was from another world, or just a different part of her own. The three of them, or at least the girl speaking too her was far too calm.

Was this the result of an experiment? There were nations that had tried to travel through time before, using the only known thing that could survive such a journey. A small world. The testers had not been heard from, not once. Perhaps they had arrived in the future and simply refused to reveal it. Was this one such group? Why were they dressed like this, though?

“The forest is quite dangerous, and I expect that danger will show itself soon enough.” she continued. “The fluctuation that brought you here has scared the beasts away, but I am sure they will return.”

“Oh.” the older girl said, her eyes narrowing.

“More beasts? Like the chipmunks?” the younger girl asked, still looking exited. “Does killing them give experience?”

The older girl turned around quickly, shooting the younger one a glare. “Tully…” the warning in her tone did not prevent Wichita from memorizing the name. Tully.

“Oh come on, she just said it out loud! There’s a giant crack in space and we clearly fell through it! There isn’t much of a secret here, Rose.” the younger girl, Tully answered with more than a little anger. Wichita noted the name. Rose.

“How about we calm down-” the boy began.

“Shut up!” the girls screamed back. There was definitely more to this situation than she knew. The girls had not spoken or acknowledged the boy since he had arrived. Had he done something to offend them?

The needle straightened in her dress, telling her that rest time was over. Wichita had expected as much, it had already given her more time than she had expected to have.

“I would recommend we get moving.” she said. “Arm yourselves.”

The boy took out a cylindrical object, with a handle on it that was clearly for holding it. A projectile weapon? Wichita was not familiar with this design, but she had seen others of its kind before. Not the most useful things, but they were effective against weak enemies like this one. The ones that did not know how to cast a simple repelling spell.

The older girl held out her hand, practically demanding the weapon from him. The boy handed it over, murmuring something under his breath that she did not quite catch. Tully simply held out her stick. Wichita had no idea what she was going to do with it, but it might be better than nothing.

The trees shook as she was about to give them directions, effectively ruining her day. Dog-monkeys. The pack traveling monsters that she had nearly died to before. Wichita was not looking forward to another fight, especially with three dead-weights.

The fact was that most transmigrators died quickly, either because their magical knowledge was not compatible with this world, or they didn’t have any. Wichita could only hope that whatever magic Rose had was powerful enough to make a difference.

There wasn’t much hope in her mind of the three being especially powerful. Just about anyone powerful would have a number of weapons on them. Wichita prompted the needle to start killing off the dog-monkeys, hoping that the numbers would be manageable. The hope was likely not tenable, but she really did not want to lose her new subjects.

Even if said subjects were quite wary of her, and even seemed hesitant to work with her.

“Avoid the glowing palms, they are quite deadly.” she said as the dog-monkeys jumped from the trees.

The enchantments on her dress glowed as the dog monkeys ran away from her. For once, that was not a good thing. The less they focused on her, the more danger her subjects were in. The needle was making quick work of the dog monkeys, barely pausing between the beasts. That, of course, caused a mild panic among them, and had them trying to chase the bloody thing. As if they had any chance of catching it.

Wichita threw another stone at one of them, smashing its head to paste. The dog monkeys turned towards her. Rose used her mechanical weapon. A projectile shot out of it, stabbing into the side of one of the dog monkeys.

The needle had killed three of the bloody things at the same time, but the damage was done. The dog monkeys turned towards Rose as Wichita dove towards them.

Of the fifteen or so dog monkeys remaining, five were able to make it to Rose before she body blocked them. Two had their brains needled before they could continue. Seven jumped onto her with their palms blazing.

The enchantments flared, a shiver running through her enemies as she took advantage of the opportunity. Picking up one of the pebbles scattered on the ground, she threw it into one of things’ eyes. The thing pierced its nose instead, but it stuck. The dog monkey died. The needle killed another.

The three remaining jumped at her again, The enchantments were unable to stop them this time. Were they more powerful than the ones that had attacked her just a few hours ago?

Wichita had been hoping that the enchantments would be enough to keep them away, but it clearly wasn’t affecting them nearly as much as she hoped. But she had an old trick she had learned fighting Leirot. Exerting her mana through the pebbles on the ground, she propelled her body backwards.

Then struck again. This time the pebble got into…the ear? What? The needle struck again, having killed another. There, it was almost done. A sigh of relief swept through her as she saw the needle go for the last one.

Then a scream reached her ears.

Turning around as she picked up a nearby stone, she saw a dog-monkey striking towards Tully, and another just behind it. Wichita threw her stone, asking the needle to go and eat the mana of whatever spell the dog-monkey cast on her.

The stone would not kill the dog monkey before it was able to attack Tully. But perhaps the needle would be able to kill the spell before it did lasting harm.

Then a dog-monkey struck her. Wichita’s mind blanked in fear as she felt the mana pass through her dress, the defenses unable to stop it. Even as the Heart burnt, trying to defend against the attack, she felt herself die.

The spell was consuming her mana, burning away what kept her alive faster than she could react. In what was little more than a desperate bid, she struck the dog monkey. Of course, her hand reached the natural mana field and could not go through.

But she would not die so easily. No, she would not give up. Not a chance. If the spell wanted to eat her mana, then she would eat its’ right back! Wichita grunted as she clutched the dog monkey’s palm, the little thing growling and screeching as it tried to fight back. But she was treating the palm as if it were an extension of her body, and moving mana from it to other parts of the body. Not something she had been taught in school, but it should work.

The monkey let out a screech so loud and painful that she was sure she would not forget it for the rest of her life. A lot of screeches were sounding like that these days.

Then it died.

Wichita turned around, gasping for mana as she looked at her prospective subjects.

“As I said, I think we should travel together.”

A notification was flickering at the corner of her vision as she closed her eyes for a second.

[Forgotten Queen] has reached level 5