Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 26: Cleanup.

Well, I just got a telepathy from Mister Slen saying that more serpents were coming, which are likely the ancient one's offspring. 

It's time for a cleanup.

''What are you saying, Aurora?'' The blonde holding my hand asks. ''You're merely level 10! Let me protect you.''

That's my fake status. Her expression though... She's still the same Chloe I know, even if the body is different. I'm so glad she's here.

''Let's regroup with my allies first.'' I reply. ''I'll introduce you to them.''

''A-Allies...? That explains why you were able to survive until now... But I don't remember anyone here that you can-''

''You talk too much.''

The undead siblings should be in the same spot as earlier, let's go there first.

''!!''

The scene abruptly changes, and we are now at the hill where we can see Z's nest.

''What?! Teleportation??'' Chloe exclaims.

I release her hand and turn around to see the siblings.

''Aurora~!... Oh, who's this?'' 

''Lady Aurora, welcome back.'' Skely bows lightly. ''First of all, congratulations on becoming the lord of West Zircon. And this is...''

''Lord of West Zircon...? Aurora, tell me what's going- Undead?!''

She belatedly turns around and nearly jumps at the appearance of my new friends, pulling out her sword.

''Stop, they're friendly.'' I grab her hand. ''The skeleton over there is Skely, he can use light magic and can teleport. The floating ghost there is Ariel, Skely's sister.''

''Wait, don't tell me...'' Chloe mutters, looking at the gauntlet on my hand. Maybe she knows this item from the game.

''And this blonde here is Chloe—my old friend. This is not her original body though.''

''I see, I'm honored to have met you, Lady Chloe.''

''Hi, Chloe~ Let's get along!''

'''' ... ''''

Chloe finally drops her guard, lowering her sword.

''Yeah, nice to meet you both, I suppose...''

VROOM—!!

''It seems like they're here.''

In the direction of the nest, I can see several serpents ripping themselves through the trees toward us, causing the ground to rumble a bit.

Hm... There are four of them, each around level 30-ish. I even borrowed Mister Slen's [Invicible] instead of [Telepathy] before this operation in case of emergency, but it seems there is no need anymore.

So I change my linked skill with Mister Slen back to [Telepathy] and send a message to him.

Mister Slen, please teleport back to us. We'll fight together.

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That should do it.

''Chloe, can you solo one of them?'' I turn to the girl, who's looking in the same direction as me.

''Yeah, I can. But what about you guys...?'' She asks with a worried face. ''You two are somewhat fine, but Aurora... Wait, you can use [Teleportation] but your status doesn't show it...!'' Her eyes widen in realization.

''[Deception], yes.''

''What cheat did you use- Hiii—!!''

Suddenly, Mister Slen appears behind me, placing one of his tentacles on my shoulder. 

''W-What...?!''

Needless to say, the scaredy cat Chloe is trembling uncontrollably, her face void of colors.

''He's my friend... Okay, maybe later. Let's fight first.''

I pull out my sword and infuse it with magic again.

In the end, I took care of two serpents out of four, Chloe killed one, and the other three killed one. They're all around level 25 right now, it's a good harvest overall.

Now back at the cave with Chloe, we're all having a moment to check our statuses and decide which skills to invest in or whatnot.

Firstly, I got a pretty cool-sounding title.

[Queen of West Zircon: The absolute best in the realm of the monster-ridden forest. +0.5 for all stats when in West Zircon] [Epic]

Well, this is immediately better than everything else as long as I'm in this part of the forest, so I put it on right away. And although it calls me the queen, I'm just the strongest in this region—inferred from the description. I'm not magically able to order the monsters in here or anything, I don't feel the same connections that I have with my followers.

I'll probably go purge the whole region next, to hopefully make a nice living space for us and my owl family.

So there's that, and my [Monarch] skill was updated.

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Territories: West Zircon.

Followers: 5.

Allies: 14.

Progression: 4%.

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It's looking fine so far. Unfortunately however, my [Horror Lord] summon cap is still at 2/2. I can't summon more horror...

So in the end, my status screen looks like this.

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Name: Aurora              

Race: Owl-kin                    Title: Queen of West Zircon

Level: 36

HP: 95/95                    MP: 128/128

STR: 5.0                     INT: 8.7

AGI: 5.1                    STA: 4.9

Skill: [Ice Magic Lv.6], [Sharp Claw Lv.5],
[Deception Lv.5], [Light Magic Lv.5],
[Swordsmanship Lv.5], [Domination Lv.3],
[Enhanced Hearing Lv.2], [Stealth Lv.2], [Inspect Lv.2],
[Telepathy Lv.2], [Night Vision Lv.1],
[Pain Tolerance Lv.1], [Heal Lv.1],
[Auto Regeneration Lv.2], [Language Lv.1],
[Blink Lv.1], [Acceleration Lv.1], [Flight Lv.1].

State: Happy.

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After everything, I had ten skill points, so I used three to upgrade [Ice Magic] to level six. When I'm in an emergency, I intend to have at least six points for a legendary skill.

My stats are all around the 5.0 mark already, it feels so good. Seeing myself grow like this is definitely exciting, I understand why people love RPGs now.

''—Aurora!'' Chloe's voice brings me back to reality.

''Hm?''

''Make it go away~!!''

The girl is now sitting on my lap, hugging my neck and trembling in fear as Smiley sits on the ground calmly, waving his tail and panting a bit, eyes on her.

''It's cute. Deal with it.'' I reply.

''It's not?! What the hell are those teeth...!''

She got spooked by Smiley and Mister Slen so much that she couldn't stop being like this since earlier. And she was dumbfounded when she saw Peln as well.

''I can't believe you even got the doppelganger... Wait, did you meet anything in that tomb?''

''A demon. We killed it.''

''For real?!''

She attempted to molest Peln because she is the split image of me as well, but I stopped her.

''Calm down and we can talk from the beginning.'' I let out a sigh.

''Hic... You've been through a lot... Hic... I'm so glad you're fine...''

After she told me about her story and me telling my story to her, she's now hugging me and crying like this.

''Yeah, I'm glad you're fine too.'' I let out a little sigh and stroke her back.

'''' ... ''''

''Right. Do you need the gauntlet anymore?'' I push her away and raise my right arm in front of her.

''Stupid, why would I steal your item?'' She wipes the tears with her sleeve. ''When the times come, just help me. I'll help you too.''

She and I do a fist bump.

I still can't get used to this appearance of her. Amelia Luminous... Quite a nice name.

''And Chloe.''

''Hic... Hm?''

''I want you to bring Peln with you.'' I glance at the emotionless version of myself. ''I can possess her anytime, so we won't need to worry about communication.''

''Of course! I'll bring you everywhere and buy you anything!'' Chloe immediately replies. ''I can have her be my maid at night, and you'll be my maid at day, how about that?''

''Sounds good. I'm only active during the night for this body, so.''

I can sleep and accompany Chloe at the same time, how nice is that?

''Hm~! I'm excited!'' She laughs insidiously, mumbling something about maid costumes.

''Also, I need some new clothes. I can't be naked like this forever.''

''You can. Come to my house and be my beloved, I can clear out people for yo- Ack!''

I smack her waist.

''Pervert.''