I'm really feeling the evil overlord vibe as I watch over my town from the depths of my hive, my scouts working more effectively than any modern day camera network could.

And it pays to observe. I watch as a mage harasses a local couple, he won't let them go home, claiming the street is locked down because of a vess sighting. The couple is very distressed, their young children are waiting for them. Similar harassment is going on all over the town. Some of the worst of it is people getting dragged out of their homes by cold eyed mages who ransack the place in search of vess activity. Guildmaster Evans himself is currently in a fierce argument with Mayor Lessa.

My eye twitches as I watch Evans hit Lessa, sending her flying back into her house with a loud crash. He proceeds to drag her outside by her hair, and throw her onto the ground, ordering his lackeys to tie her up and take her away for colluding with the enemy.

Opening my real eyes, I run out of my room and down a corridor to another room, throwing open the door and storming in. Pirous is sitting at a desk, writing something. I've provided the human with his own living space deep in the hive, with plans for a surface dwelling more suited to human life at a later date. He is taking it remarkably well, most humans are terrified or at least disturbed by the hive, but Pirous doesn't seem bothered, the man is stoicism incarnate.

The twitch of an eyebrow is the only thing that gives away his annoyance, "Queen Renna, I understand this is your domain, however, a proper monarch will respect the privacy of their guests. It is also below you to rush in here yourself, it undermines your authority. In the future, send a servant to request my presence, or at least knock before you enter."

I roll my eyes. Pirous has taken it upon himself to lecture me and try to teach me to be a proper monarch. He doesn't exactly treat me like a child, instead he treats me like a young princess or something. It's slightly more respectful and has significantly less cooing.

"The mages are crossing a line, harassing my humans. Evans just pulled Lessa out of her home by her hair!" My voice rises in anger and frustration as I speak, "They need to pay. I won't let them just do whatever they want!" I stomp my foot and my tail agrees with me, lashing angrily.

Pirous leans back in his chair, arms crossed, "I see. What do you intend to do?"

I blink, "Uh, that's what I came to you for. I figured anything I came up with might be too, um, violent or direct."

"Give it a try." The old human motions towards a chair in front of his desk. I walk over and scramble up onto it, I really could use another foot of height, and it was a big chair!

Holding my tail still in my lap, I try to calm down and think through things, "I would like to punish the specific mages who are doing this, also I want to stop them from continuing to hurt my humans. Lessa needs to be rescued too."

"How do you want to go about it?" The General prods.

Ugh, is this another one of his lessons? "Um, I could pluck the offending mages off the street at night. They aren't too on guard, probably thinking I won't attack them in the town. They should figure out pretty fast that hurting my humans equals disappearing into my hive." I tap my claws on the wooden armrest of the chair, idly carving a groove into it with a claw.

"Renna. We don't destroy peoples furniture." Pirous scolds sharply.

I pout but stop carving, "It's technically my chair anyway!"

Pirous sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose, "You need to respect other people's property, especially your subordinates."

My pout deepens and I sink down into the chair, "Stupid old human, you're worse than Enna."

"This behavior is very unladylike and unbecoming of a monarch, young lady." The old human continues to scold, "Do you think acting like this will earn you respect from fellow monarchs? Would a fellow monarch take you seriously after seeing you throw a tantrum?"

"It's not a tantrum! You're just being annoying!"

The General doesn't say anything, he just sits in his chair, completely unfazed. I really wish I could do something to get under his skin, these last few days have been so annoying! The worst part is, Enna agrees with him and is on his side! Am I really too old to get away with this stuff? I'm only one year old and four feet tall!

My tail thumps the seat and I barely restrain myself from cutting up the arms of the chair. Okay, maybe I'm a little too upset, but I've been on edge ever since Gwyna showed up, I think I'm allowed to be upset!

When my tail finally lays still, Pirous clears his throat, "I don't expect you to act perfectly, you are still young. However, you are level fifty nine, quickly approaching sixty, a level that most can only dream of. Your caretaker has informed me that, considering the size of your hive, you will be more or less a young adult when level sixty arrives. I am trying to keep in mind that you are still an adolescent, and I would encourage you to keep that in mind too."

He closes his eyes and sighs, "To be honest, I don't understand the life cycle of the vess. How you can be considered an adolescent with only one year of life experiences is beyond me. I suppose, it is more in reference to your physical body, however," His eyes open and he fixes me with a sharp look, "An adult queen with the temperament of a child is a problem I am trying to avoid. You might not be mature, but you are very intelligent, more intelligent than most humans. Clear your mind, use your intelligence, I know you must agree with me on some level."

"I act plenty mature when I need to." I sullenly defend myself. He has a point, but I've never acted childishly in front of important people. Sure, I got babied in front of the orcs, but that wasn't my fault! And I was practically falling asleep at the opening negotiations with the humans in Lotheris… But that's only because I use so much mana all the time, it's exhausting! And I didn't ask Enna to carry me away like a baby! And there was the time I first talked to Grant where I hid behind Sarah…

Pirous patiently waits for me as he watches my internal struggle.

"Fine." I say a little more bratty than I should have, "I admit there might be a lack of maturity on my part. And I admit that it could be a problem, although in the past we've used it to our advantage. The truth is…" I look down at my dangling feet, wrapping my tail around my leg and touching the toes with the tip of my tail. It's kind of a fun game, "Um, talking to people is exhausting. And dealing with problems and stuff, it makes me want to curl up in bed and shut everything out." My face flushes as I stare at my feet, "I dunno, sometimes I just want to hide away, somewhere no one can find me, forever. It's just so much easier to be too young and let other people handle everything, I don't think I want to be an adult."

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"I see." Pirous steeples his fingers, "I won't pretend to be able to sympathize, but I am not lacking in empathy. The way you feel, it isn't so uncommon. I've seen many soldiers crumple under the weight of their responsibilities. You are struggling, and you are doing well, I believe you are strong enough to overcome your struggles. Even if you're hurting, you are a bright young girl, you can do it."

I nod silently, a few tears leaking out of my eyes.

"I'm not well versed when it comes to emotional problems, we will have to find you someone more qualified to talk to."

"Sarah." I sniffle and wipe a few tears away.

"Very well." Pirous agrees, "And anyways, that is the benefit of being royalty."

I peek up at Pirous who has a slightly playful look on his face.

He holds up a finger, "A monarch has many subordinates to handle things for them, rarely must a ruler directly involve themselves. I'll scout out some more people who could fill the roles we need. I believe that your issues could be largely mitigated with a proper command structure." The human looks thoughtful, stroking his chin in thought, "Perhaps this is a vess quirk. A Vess Queen likely isn't supposed to be so directly involved as you have been, if I had to guess. This might just be a bodily reaction."

I shrug, I doubt it, but maybe it's a part of it. Mostly, I get the feeling it's baggage from my past life.

"Now, your idea could work." The General pivots back to business like I'm not still wiping tears out of my eyes, "Your knights are surprisingly stealthy, but I think I would want to trust Enna with this task. Her skill set is perfect for plucking mages off the streets. This tactic doubles as weakening the enemies forces, they can't have that many mages to spare. Of course, Mayor Lessa must be rescued first and brought to safety, losing her would cripple us after the removal of the guilds. Another task for Enna. Would you like to send her out tonight?"

Nodding up at the human, I sniffle and wipe the last of the tears out of my eyes.

Pirous rises from his chair and walks around his desk to offer me his hand. I take it and he gets me up and leads me out of his chamber, "I think it could be cathartic to see the mages disappear, although I would request we leave a few alive for questioning."

The human holds my hand and walks me back to my chamber, "Rest until tonight, I will retrieve you when we are ready to begin the operation."

Enna whisks me away into my chambers for food, a bath, and a nap.

Said nap was a lot longer than I thought because Pirous is gently shaking me awake. "It's time." Is all he says.

Sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I yawn and slip out of bed. Belatedly, I check myself, a simple shirt and shorts. Enna usually dresses me in something comfy before bed but I have woken up with no clothes before, fortunately this isn't one of those times.

Pirous and I go to his office and sit around his desk, the older human pulls out a bottle and a glass and pours himself a drink.

"What about me?" I pout.

He raises his eyebrows, "Does her majesty drink alcohol? And is it safe for vess consumption?"

I blush and wish I didn't bring it up, "Um, I've never had alcohol and I don't think Enna would let me anyways."

"I thought so." The General smirks and instead brings out a different bottle and pours me a cup, pushing it over to me.

"A bit of a tradition." He admits as I sip my cup, it's fruity but with a really tasty undertone I can't place, "On nights when important subterfuge is taking place, my officers and I would sit around my desk and drink."

Finishing my cup, I hold it out for more, bouncing a little, "What is this? It's so good!"

The man chuckles, "Fruit juice with a bit of blood mixed in, glad you like it, I didn't want you to feel left out."

He pours more into my cup and I greedily guzzle it down right away, drawing another laugh from the human, "Easy, kid. Slow down, you're going to give yourself a stomach ache." My cup is filled again, "Savor this one, okay?"

I nod eagerly and take a tiny sip. Opening my senses, I look directly through Enna's eyes. She is in the middle of slicing through the chains binding Mayor Lessa, freeing her from the cell she is in. Apparently the Adventurer Guild has cells.

"Thank you!" The Mayor whispers desperately as Enna puts an arm around her, drawing her close.

The shadows swallow Enna and the Mayor. They reappear outside the town and my caretaker begins to escort Lessa back to the hive.

"Lessa is safe." I inform the General, "The Adventurer Guild seriously didn't have any magical security?"

Pirous swirls the liquor in his glass, "They likely did, Enna is simply strong enough to bypass it. As far as I can tell, her strengths are in agility and stealth. A curious combination for a caretaker, I admit." He raises an eyebrow at me.

I shrug, "No idea. Enna says that the kind of vess I need shows up when I call them."

"Interesting." He takes a sip from his cup.

After securing the Mayor, Enna slips back into the town, stalking the streets at her full twelve foot height. It's a wonder no one sees her, but the shadows twist and flow over her, hiding her from sight. She stalks the area around the Mage Guild. The building is large, but not capable of housing all of the mages that have been brought in. My scouts have already located the targets and most of them are outside the guild, staying in houses they forced their way into. The few inside the guild are lucky, Pirous doesn't want Enna to risk going inside as Gwyna would surely notice.

Enna melts into the shadows and slips under a particular door, she flows through the hallways like water and reforms into a more solid form by the bedside of a sleeping mage. A single claw is extended and hovers right above his throat.

"I think it would make a bigger statement if we just killed most of them and left them in their beds." I wipe a little blood off the corner of my mouth, my tail swaying happily behind me.

"I agree." Pirous refills his glass, "However, let's capture a few first; if you have the option to gain more information, you always take it."

I communicate my orders to Enna and instead of slitting the mage's throat, she instead reels her fist back and smashes it into his head with the precise amount of force needed to render him unconscious. Throwing him over her shoulder, she easily absconds with her prize, bringing the unfortunate man back to the hive for the nightmare of his life.

After a couple more captures, the killing begins.

Enna goes house by house, slitting throat after throat until all of the offenders we can reach are dead. The whole process only takes two hours, and only because she had to bring a few back to the hive.

+20,000 XP +24,000 XP +30,000 XP +22,000 XP

My caretaker turned assassin runs her claw over one last throat.

+33,000 XP

"It's done." I inform the General.

He drains his glass and lightly smacks it down on the table, "Then that's that. Damn, wish I had a thousand Enna's back in Tarenbaum. War would have been over before it began."

"Don't worry." I assure my general, "We will return to Tarenbaum someday. Or better yet, they will come to us."

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