I don’t understand. The discrepancies in my memory are concerning too. For some reason, I forgot all about the Swarms, what I was doing before I came here, and even the title of the game. Do I have some sort of sickness of the mind, or is it the influence of this new world I’m in? If it’s the former, everything I’ve been experiencing until now must’ve been a hallucination. But if that were true, wouldn’t I be given some kind of medical treatment?
I may live alone, but I still go to college and I always call my parents on weekends to let them know I’m doing fine. I really don’t get any of this, but I have to keep looking into it. If I can find out how I got here, maybe that’ll be the key to getting back home.
I have no intention of staying in this incomprehensible world forever. Once I’ve led the Arachnea as their queen, I will go back. I may have been a shut-in to some extent, but I still feel that’s where I belong. I have no place in this messed up realm where the Arachnea’s Swarms actually exist.
“Your Majesty?”
“Yes, sorry. I’ll put them on in a second, so just set them over there.”
The Worker Swarm that had brought me some clothes per my request cocked its head as I pointed at my bed. I called it a bed, but it was more of a stone surface with some straw spread over it. You could say I was living quite modestly. I made a mental note to elevate the living standards here eventually.
“Let’s see the clothes you made for me...”
I spread out the clothes the Worker Swarms had made for me, making sure to keep my expectations appropriately low.
“...I can’t wear this.”
However, what I saw was an absolutely gorgeous dress. It was made from a material similar to silk and extravagant enough that it wouldn’t have looked out of place in the Victorian era. It had no visible seams, as if the silk was made in the shape of the dress to begin with. Putting aside a few questionable choices, like the exposed cleavage and open back, it was pretty much perfect.
“I suppose that in terms of life’s necessities, we’ve got the need for clothing covered,” I whispered to myself as I put on the dress. “And I have accommodations, even if they call for some renovation. Now I’ll have to figure out food.”
Food was crucial. Being human, I needed to eat in order to survive, and the Swarms needed food as a resource to produce more units. According to the game’s setting, food was a necessary resource to produce all types of units, unless they were inorganic or draconic units, and as I had already mentioned, the Swarms required meat. Animal meat would do just fine, so long as there was a steady supply. I could do with the leftovers.
“Your Majesty.”
A voice suddenly echoed in my ears.
“Yes?”
“A village has been detected. It is populated. What shall we do?”
The report came from one of the Swarms I had sent out to scout; it was transmitted to me via the collective consciousness. I concentrated on that Swarm’s individual consciousness, which was simple enough. There was a map in mind, the same as the one in the game. I zeroed in on that particular Swarm and projected my energy onto it, which came with the same sensation as clicking on a unit in the game.
Then, a scene surfaced in my mind. I could see a village, and within it about thirty people running around as though in a panic. But something else about them drew my attention.
“Are they... elves?”
The villagers’ ears were pointed and long, making them look strikingly like elves.
Elves were a good alignment race, and their faction was named “Fly Greene.” They were masters of surprise attacks who loved nature and therefore used units that came from the forest, like dryads, for their tactics. There was also a dark elf faction, which was evil-aligned, but these elves had unique blue skin. The elves in this village, however, were just pure, normal elves.
The Fly Greene would appear and disappear in forested terrain, launching surprise attacks that were maddening to handle, but with these numbers, it was perfectly possible to stomp them out. Would I be able to do that now?
I would... and without much difficulty. I had sworn to lead the Swarm to victory, after all. I could use the flesh of any elves that strayed too far from the village to bolster my forces and trample the enemy with overwhelming numbers.
That was assuming such force was necessary, of course. The situation right now was a bit different than what I had imagined. In other words, there were contradictions with what I knew from the game.
“Your Majesty, give us the order to attack. With our numbers, we can easily slay and devour them.”
“Wait. There’s something I want to try.”
There were a couple of things I needed to figure out. First of all, was this really the same world as the game? After all, if I had the major premise wrong, I would likely make major errors in judgment.
Secondly, one wouldn’t usually build a village without making sure to put up defenses; if other players were to notice it, they would attack right away, putting a swift end to it. Yet despite being fairly large, this village had no fortifications whatsoever. There were no soldiers, no defensive structures, no walls. It was completely vulnerable, as if the location had remained in its initial generation state from the start of the game without making any developments at all.
It was like they were begging for us to come and bite their little heads off.
Oh, yikes. Really starting to sound like the Swarm here.
Anyway, no normal players, not even the AI, would build a village without any defenses. Taking that and the unfamiliar map into account, it was quite possible that maybe, as hard as it was to believe, this truly wasn’t part of the cutthroat video game world. It seemed that this really was some other world, and the Arachnea was a foreign presence that had found its way here.
Yes, just like me.
Therefore, I had to confirm whether that was true before planning my next moves. Picking up the skirt of my long dress, I called a single Ripper Swarm over and hopped onto its back. I then summoned a few other Ripper Swarms and hastened toward the elven village.
If this wasn’t the game world, my future plans would be in jeopardy.
♱
“Haa... Haa...”
Labored breaths echoed throughout the forest. They were followed by savage shouts—the voices of male outlaws. Two sets of light, almost inaudible footsteps were being pursued by the heavy stomps of five or six men.
“Lysa, hurry! Hurry! They’re coming!” an elf boy shouted. He was maybe sixteen years old and had a short bow in hand, which he had aimed behind him as he cried out.
“Just leave me behind, Linnet...” said the elven girl, who appeared to be fourteen or so.
“You know I can’t do that! We’re going back together!”
Linnet rushed back to Lysa, who was lagging behind, and pulled her by the hand as he took off again. But one arm simply wasn’t enough.
“There they are! I’ve found the elves!” boomed a hoarse voice from behind them.
A group of human men clad in cheap chain mail pointed in the elves’ direction. With heavy footsteps, the men closed in, some with arrows nocked in their bows and others clutching daggers or axes. One could tell at a glance that they were a band of outlaws. These men were poachers, but not the kind that went after four-footed game—they were slavers.
“Just go! Run, Linnet! You shouldn’t have to be a slave, too!” Lysa pleaded.
“As if! I’m not letting you make slaves out of us!” Linnet fired an arrow toward the men.
“Whoa, there.” A man who looked to be the slavers’ leader hopped back. “This one’s got claws. All right, boys. Kill the elf with the bow, and capture the woman.”
“Roger that, Boss.”
The slave dealers approached with wooden shields, coming for Linnet with smirks on their faces as he desperately shot arrows at them. His arrows merely struck the shields, sticking fast or bouncing off hopelessly.
“Linnet, please, just go!”
“Dammit! If only I were stronger... even just a little bit!” Despair was creeping fast into Linnet’s frustrated shouts.
Lysa began to cry. The slavers were almost within arm’s reach of Linnet, ready to grab him and bash his head in with an ax. Linnet’s fate was all but decided.
But at that moment...
“Aaaarghhh!”
Suddenly, the upper half of the slaver who was about to pounce on Linnet disappeared. Or rather, it was torn off... by the jaws of a giant insect. The creature’s fangs and scythe-like hands dripped with fresh blood, and its hollow compound eyes looked around at the other slavers. It was larger in size than the slavers themselves, and it was chomping down on the severed upper half of the one it had killed.
“What the... What the hell is that?!” The insect’s sudden appearance drove the slavers into a panic.
But the chaos was just beginning.