Chương 5: First Blood

Elise left Hammerlin with a new iron plate dangling from her neck. The light of the sun bore down on her, giving a slight headache. Even still, a headache is better than how I felt before. If this is all I have to endure during the day, then I feel like I can continue a million lifetimes. To be in this body is the ultimate gift.

"Lady Shadow," Rela said, "was it really okay to disguise yourself like this? To think that those creatures would imagine you as a lowly elf." She remembered how she used her shadow magic to reform her shape into that of an elf. Shadows were all about deception, especially at the earlier levels when attack spells were more limited. Something like changing appearances was one of the easiest things Elise could do. The sanguine queen chuckled after considering what Rela said.

"Don't forget that Tyralith is an elf."

"Even still, she is the incarnation of Pride. She could hardly be called a normal elf at this point. I can't stand how they looked down on you. If they'd have at least given you a quest to slaughter a dragon, then maybe they'd be worthy to see your grace. As it stand now, Lady Shadow, they're human scoundrels who know nothing." Elise smiled.

"That they may be, but they will learn in due time. It is more important for us to look the part of adventurers right now. This fetch quest should be of no trouble, and it should secure us a room." Rela crossed her arms and scoffed.

"As if their meager room would be fit for someone of your stature." The queen stopped her with a raised hand and a small breath.

"I understand how you feel, yet we know nothing about this place. We will carve our own narrative upon this world, but first we must start at the roots." Rela's eyes widened.

"The roots, My Lady?" Elise chuckled.

"You know nothing, Rela." The maid performed a practiced curtsy.

"I shall endeavor to understand your machinations, Lady Shadow." Sorry Rela. As much as I would love to dive headfirst into the deep end of the pool, I don't understand anything yet. I have no idea who the rulers of this world are, and before we start poking the bear, it is best to understand what we're dealing with. Even if all of the people in this city feel weak, I could very well be mistaken. Besides, adventuring in reality has its own charm. She looked down at her rogue outfit. It was the [Night Huntress] set.

She'd collected all of it very early on in her playthrough when she took down assassins as part of a quest. It gave her something that wasn't useful for her class, owing to the rogue skill tree. Though, there was some alignment with her shadow magic. Still, the bracers, cloak, greaves, and boots were not meant for her. The queen pressed a hand to her now elven chin. I must have been about level 30 by then. As the highest rank player, she was level 1000 at her peak, so these couldn't even pass as mid tier items.

They were bottom of the barrel. The same couldn't be said of Rela's maid set. Elise had her change out of the divine tier items, but even this one was still at least of the mid level. It was the maid set of [Arkinus Molag], a boss that one had to defeat in order to enter the higher tiers. He had a grand castle of his own, and there were a series of battle maids leading up to his spire.

The lower leveled ones dropped this maid set, but they were treated more as a role playing item than something to be taken seriously. Even still, Rela wore the set dutifully on request. She obeyed every order as if her life depended on it.

"While Ava'Koz does her duty, we shall do ours." Elise spread out her shadow magic across the edge of the forest. For this quest, they simply needed to gather herbs for minor healing potions. I shouldn't even have to use a high tier spell for something this simple. She remembered all of the spells one could use to find things in the local area, and among them there was one that all adventurers knew. It was a simple [Locate Herb] spell. When one cast it in the game, herbs around the area would ping on your map.

Though, when Elise cast it in reality, there was no pinging. Since there was no map, the information showed itself differently. Streaks of red made themselves known in her vision that pointed towards herbs, and the herbs themselves lit up with red like she'd activated a thermal sight. The sanguine queen could even see them lighting up through the trees. She looked at their red shapes and summoned the small pamphlet she'd gotten from Hilda at the guild.

It showed a little sprout with two leaves and a green bud at the top. The queen pointed a finger forwards into the undergrowth.

"There is a small patch of them."

"Lady Shadow, please allow me to pull them. You needn't dirty your hands." What's the point of living out the ultimate fantasy if I don't get to dirty my hands? She sighed and nodded.

"Very well, remember to only gather a small amount. Take a few for study. I am curious how they compare to what we're used to."

"It shall be done, Lady Shadow." Rela ducked into the undergrowth and started pulling them out of the ground by their roots. She moved with practiced precision, showcasing one of the main benefits of having NPCs. In GEO when players went off after quests, it was common for them to have their NPCs move around and gather things on their own.

At first, Elise wondered if she should have continued to treat them like NPCs, but the more she interacted with Rela and saw the maid's expressions, the more she didn't want to do that. She'd spent too many hours grinding and spent too much money on their appearances that it would be a waste not to give them a decent life. At least, that is what she told herself. As for Elise, she treated herself like these budding sprouts. She was starting at the roots in order to grow into something larger.

She had no idea what that was yet, but her instincts were calling to her. Elise didn't know whether it was her time in the game or her constant dreams of wanting to be whisked away to some other world, but she would rather not waste this opportunity. She opened and closed her fist as Rela gathered the last of them. I will carve out a name for myself just like I did in the game world. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Rela reached Elise, but she turned around at once and gazed into the forest with narrowed eyes.

"My Lady."

"I know, little vermin have decided to cut their own lives short." With her senses spread out, she caught them, but she never expected that they would try and attack. She thought that low leveled goblins would have been smarter than that. She heard their cries of battle in their goblin tongue, and a bow materialized in her hand.

"Lady Shadow, allow me."

"Not this time. I will make short work of them." The player of Elise had never shot a bow even once in her life. However, when the queen pulled the string taut, she felt decades of experience at her fingertips. It was as if she'd shot enough arrows to make the entire experience of an army null. She stared down the approaching goblins with a look of disgust, hearing their high pitched shrieks grated on her ears, and their ugly green skin was warted and wrinkled. Elise's eyes picked up every detail of them.

She could hear the thudding of their hearts. She saw the goblin at the front of the group twitch his hand slightly towards his waist, reaching for a throwing dagger. She released the string. The arrow whizzed through the air with purpose. It arched and whistled towards the first target. The white-feathered projectile struck true. It sank deep into the creature's eye and penetrated the back of his skull, knocking him dead in an instant.

It was the first time she'd ever killed anything, but no feeling of remorse crawled through her. There was only a mild feeling of annoyance that the others dared to continue their charge after watching one die immediately. Do they really not understand what happened? One of the six remaining goblins threw a dagger, but this time, Elise readied two arrows. She released them, and one of them deflected the dagger towards the ground. The second one pierced into his chest and stabbed his heart.

He fell over with green blood gushing from his small frame. The others finally took notice of their two fallen comrades and formed a makeshift formation. They hoisted up small swords and clubs and tried to charge at her in a triangle. I guess there is a small amount of intelligence to you after all. While she could have finished them off by lobbing five arrows at once, she decided against it. It's time to try my blood magic. This time, she pulled one arrow and aimed it at the point of the triangle.

The goblins grinned when they saw they were getting closer, and she had only one arrow ready. I guess no matter how smart a savage is, it will still be a savage. Blood fused with the arrow, wrapping around it as it launched. The moment the arrow pierced into the goblin leader's head, Elise snapped her finger.

"[Blood Splatter]." The creature's head inflated in size and exploded. Needles of blood shot out in all directions like bits of shrapnel. None of the goblins were spared from the carnage. The darts pierced through every part of their bodies, rendering them dead in an instant. She started to reach for her shadow magic, but Rela stopped her.

"Do not dirty your precious inventory with their corpses, My Lady." The two of them headed back to the city, flashing their guild badges on entrance. At least this time I don't have to use magic in order to charm him. Elise walked up the stone streets that were carved with decent craftsmanship. carriages past by, and the occasional person's eye flickered towards Rela and her. They drew a lot of attention on their own, despite changing appearances.

I guess sometimes the best disguise is sticking out like a sore thumb. If we look like elven nobility on the surface, it might make people wary, but it is a different kind of wary. She was curious what people thought of vampires here, but she imagined it wasn't anything good. They were a commonality in the game, and the cities behind the screen would allow entrance so long as you weren't evil aligned. As for Elise, well, she was as evil aligned as one could be.

She smiled wryly to herself as Rela pushed open the doors to the guild hall. Hilda smiled at her.

"I didn't expect to see you back so soon before the end of my shift, Lady Emerald." Elise waved her hand.

"Don't even mention it. The quest was easy enough, and we gathered about ten stalks." Hilda's eyes widened.

"Ten? In that short of time." She pressed a hand to her chin before mumbling to herself.

"I guess an elf would be good at that kind of thing." Rela placed the ten stalks on the counter, and Hilda got to work examining them. The receptionist used an enchanted monocle to gaze down at them. Elise's eyes narrowed towards the magic item. This is certainly something I am not familiar with. Everyone had the ability to use [Inspection] to some extent, so there should have been no use for an item like this unless one was role playing. Hilda finished her examination and smiled up at her.

"Sure enough, they are exactly the green blossoms requested. For ten of them, the guild can pay you five silver coins. I hope that will suffice."

"How much does an inn room cost?" Hilda placed a hand on her chin and sighed.

"Well, for someone of your status, this will barely cover one of the expensive inns for a night. However, for regular adventurers it is enough for nearly a week. The one down the street towards the gate charges 8 copper a day with breakfast."

"Thank you for the information." Hilda's cheeks went red and she shook her head.

"I am just doing my job. Is there anything else I can help you with, Lady Emerald?"

"Yes, actually, while we were out on our gathering quest, we encountered goblins..."

"Goblins? I will put a quest for their...."

"There is no need. We managed to kill them." Hilda's eyes widened again.

"How many were there?"

"There were only seven."

"Only seven!? And the two of you managed to kill them on your own?" Elise nodded as murmurs started spreading among the guild hall. Did I make a mistake? Seven should not even be a big deal for a level 20 adventurer to solo.

"Forgive me, Lady Emerald," Hilda said, "I will need to see proof. We could send a team to collect the bodies, unless you collected their ears." Elise shrugged.

"That will be no problem." /// After placing all of the goblin's corpses inside of a warehouse, the guild didn't doubt their claim. She was glad that the process was simpler than she thought. After Hilda's outburst, she'd expected something else. She thought that they'd be approached by a guild master, but she was grateful that didn't happen. The queen was excited to be back in her form, her long black robes flowing onto the inn's dirty floor boards. However, it was impossible for her outfit to get dirty.

Once you achieved a certain threshold, all outfits within the game came with a passive that prevented them from getting dirty. It was bad for those who wanted to role play, but it was good when one wanted to explore without worrying about a dirty mechanic. Though, there was now a different problem. Elise sat in the inn room, staring down at a chalice full of blood and gulped.

"Is something the matter, Lady Shadow?" Rela asked with a worried expression. Elise shook her head and hoisted the chalice towards her quivering lips. The crimson liquid flowed into her mouth, and she closed her eyes, preparing for the worst. Huh? It's actually good? She was surprised by the sweet taste that spread within. The flavor coating her tongue was closer to a dessert than she expected it to be. It had a slight cherry taste and quenched her peckish hunger.

Is it like this because of the new world or my new body? Rela observed her lady's smile with delight.

"I am glad that you enjoy it, My Lady. This one was sourced from a high leveled dragon. The taste is simply divine." The sanguine queen nodded in agreement. Deep within her, she felt renewed from the energy dwelling within the blood. She imagined that it was giving her some boost to her stats, but oddly enough, she'd not been able to access anything like a status screen since her arrival. There are so many things different from the game. I need to be careful with how I step.

Also, I will need to find out if there was some reason I was summoned here. She swirled the chalice of blood in her hands, getting lost in the moment. If that guy who killed me has some connection to this place, I could even get my own taste of vengeance. She chuckled ominously, stepping into the role of her character with a fangy smile.

"Yes, no matter who is out there, I will show them why I am the Sanguine Queen of the Night. I will show them why I am Death." Rela knelt beside her with sparkling eyes.

"All of your wishes are my command, Your Majesty."