《Beesekai [A Monster Reincarnation Isekai]》 Chapter 1 - How could this BEE?! The figures snuck through the darkness, not quite illuminated by the countless specks of light that flowed in an endless river. The group hurried as stealthily as possible, for if they were caught, the consequences would shake the very fabric of reality. ________ ________ ¡°Yo, Enno, check this out! Jess can do a freaking backflip!¡± I ignored Kanan and continued spinning my pen. Was it so much to ask for a bit of peace and quiet to finish my part of the project? I could hear cheers and laughter in the conference room, followed by thuds and even more cheering. I tried my hardest to ignore them, but fiddling with the 3d model was getting tough with so much distraction. I frowned. The designs for the new component were nearly complete, and testing would begin soon. The team was slightly behind schedule, which meant we were right on time. If I finished my part today, I could have a nice, relaxing weekend without thinking about work. On the other hand, my coworkers would prefer to waste time with backflips rather than try to ensure a pleasant weekend. ¡°Do it again, Jess! Again!¡± I let out a big sigh and continued to twirl my pen through my fingers. I couldn¡¯t wait to go home. ________ ¡°You should¡¯ve seen it! Were you a cheerleader or somethin¡¯ Jess? ¡°Nah, gymnast. Honestly, Kanan, it wasn¡¯t that incredible.¡± ¡°Cease with your modesty, witch. I know you know the dark sorceries required to perform spells such as the backflip.¡± The two continued their incessant chatter a few paces behind me. They, along with a few other coworkers, had noticed I was packing up and took that as the cue to head home for the day. Or rather, head for the bars. ¡°Which one we feeling today? You got a suggestion for once Enno?¡± Kanan nudged me. ¡°Yes. My house.¡± ¡°Ooh, you inviting us over?¡± ¡°No,¡± I replied curtly. I just didn¡¯t have the energy after our (my) hectic work week, and if these numbskulls had done anything resembling a decent amount of work, they might feel the same. I immediately felt like a buzzkill as the conversation behind me became decidedly less animated. Whatever. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was happy to work with people friendly enough to invite me to hang out. But I consistently refused their invitations, so I wanted them to get the hint already. But their refusal to accept my refusal just rubbed me the wrong way. Was it so much to ask just to¡­ have some alone time? An old and familiar feeling struck my stomach, one I was now adept at ignoring. I knew myself and knew I preferred being alone to relax. I like activities I can do by myself! I prefer playing single-player games and reading! If being around people exhausted me so much, then why should I go out of my way to tire myself out? Suddenly, screeching filled the air. I turned, lazily looking for the source of the sound. A car wavered around the road for a moment before hitting the curb, rapidly veering towards our group. ¡°MOVE!¡± My shriek jolted the group members out of their stupor. Shit! I dove out of the way, the car missing me by mere inches. The speeding car crashed into an electrical pole and burned my ears with the sound of crumpling metal. The seconds stretched on, screams filling the air. I was on my stomach. While my brain played catch-up, I felt my entire body shaking. Sure, I was looking to get out of my coworker¡¯s plans, but this was a bit much. I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, trying to take deep breaths. Seemed like the near-death experience put me in a bit of shock. *CRACK* I looked up to see lightning. The power line the car crashed into snapped, and the exposed cable fell straight toward me. Each arc of electricity was branching beautifully as time seemed to slow, and only a single thought came to mind. Fucking seriously? The broken cable came close to my head and all went blank. _______________ _______________ Enno could see, but he couldn¡¯t see. He felt darkness and specks of light. He groggily thought of his great nap after work, ready for a relaxing weekend alone. Several spots in the darkness seemed even shadowier, almost seeming to creep. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Suddenly, a terrible screech filled the air. Enno tried to dive out of the way of the car, but there was no car to dodge and no body to dodge with. The shadows seemed to panic, reaching out and snatching some of the motes of light. One shadow approached Enno and grabbed him, pulling him free from his path. A wave of anger and disgust overcame him. How dare they move him? How dare this thing disturb his peaceful weekend? Enno was now along for the ride, the shadows scattering as the terrible screeching became a roar, threatening to destroy them. In the darkness, suddenly Enno could see something clearly. It was a person. The most perfect, beautiful person Enno had ever seen. He had never expressed interest in other people¡¯s appearance, but the daunting vista of this human being shook Enno to his very core. The human calmly glided towards the shadows, the roaring seeming to echo through the inky blackness. Because they had scattered, the person did not seem able to catch them all. It caught up to three shadows, somehow freezing them in place. Enno¡¯s shadow was out of reach and narrowly evaded capture at the hands of the perfect human. Enno¡¯s groggy state of unawareness persisted as time (maybe) passed. The shadow that had captured him often inspected and studied him. Thankfully it was gentle and didn¡¯t seem like it wanted to hurt him. Could Enno even be hurt if he had no body? Oh well, this was a nice nap he was having anyways, and besides stealing him away this figure seemed to be nice enough. At some point, the shadow became satisfied, or perhaps it was even more curious still? Either way, it made its way to another river of lights, much tinier and with much dimmer and smaller lights. One of the specks seemed to flicker and the figure grabbed it. It performed some sort of prayer, and Enno felt it smoosh himself and the flickering light together. Enno was livid. What exactly was this thing trying to do? What could it be-? _______ _______ Familiar pains sprouted throughout my body, the consequences of living for more than a couple decades. Unfortunately, it was Monday, and Monday called for work. I tried to stretch, but something strange happened¡­ It was more pain. A stabbing pain unlike anything I had ever felt raced through my arm, and my lower body felt an excruciating series of pins and needles stabbing into me. I gasped and looked around. Surely I would have to go to the hospital if I hurt this badly, right? I saw wood. I could feel my mind returning to clarity, but all that did was make my panic set in more strongly. Where was my bed? My room? Surrounding me were scorched wood walls and a floor of dying leaves. I tried to get up but stumbled, the reason became clear when I saw my left arm. Or lack thereof. It was at that moment that I realized I was an insect. Such a thought typically wouldn¡¯t occur to me, but it suddenly became incredibly obvious. My arms and legs looked insectoid, with chitin and tiny hairs covering the black appendages. Oh, and there were five of them. The stabbing pain in my left arm came from the fact that my front-left leg was nowhere to be seen, the stump charred and raw. ¡°Okay, okay. What.¡± I tried to speak out loud, but all that came out were garbled, disgusting noises, sounding more like ¡®ohkraashhate.¡¯ This was becoming far too much to process. The car crash. The power pole. The river of lights, The shadows. The human. The pain. A bee. I¡¯m a bee. I noted my gigantic abdomen and battered wings. If this wasn¡¯t a dream, and I wasn¡¯t in a coma, then I had died and come back to life as a bee. I knew for a fact the electricity from the pole would have killed me, so that was the only reasonable explanation. Obviously. Satisfied with my conclusions, I swiftly hyperventilated and fell unconscious. _______ I awoke to pain once again, but this time my mind was slightly more prepared for the countless questions plaguing me. Alright then. What in the goddamn is this garbage? Step by step is the way to go. First, I died. Then, a lot of inexplicable stuff happened. Then I woke up as a mortally wounded bee in a giant burned tree carcass. You know, it didn¡¯t sound too bad when summed up like that. Some experimentation would have to be done, but the immediate assumption was that I had been reincarnated in another world. The genre had become very popular so those were the easy assumptions to make. I was no stranger to such stories, but the genre had surely evolved far beyond my petty knowledge. Presumably, the strange images I remembered before waking up would be some sort of deity putting me into the reincarnation cycle of another world. I could also assume this was a fantasy world of some kind. That was the most popular setting, if I recall. Now for something very important¡­ Status? [Name: ERROR ERROR Age: ERROR] [ClasERRORERROR SubtypERRORERRORERROR] [ERRORERRORERROR] [Please Stand By¡­] I narrowed my eyes in suspicion. Several suspicious things were going on. Yes, yes, too suspicious not to have a bit of suspicion. Menu. [Name: ERROR ERROR Age: ERROR] [ClasERRORERROR SubtypERRORERRORERROR] [ERRORERRORERROR] [Please Stand By¡­] I see. I see that I don¡¯t see. Thankfully, this was a situation where some sort of game-like System governed the world¡¯s rules. At the very least that meant less suffering and a reduced lack of knowledge on my part. However, it was unusual for there not to be a set keyword for opening something like the status menu. I tried a few other ideas. System. Self. Identify myself. Open menu. I tried several variations and every single one opened the status menu I expected them to, showing the same error messages. I put the strangeness of the word choice out of my mind and concerned myself with the menu itself. I wasn¡¯t too worried, contrary to expectations. Errors in this situation actually tend to be a good thing, granting powerful and unfair advantages. Hopefully. [Through the power of the gods, you have obtained: Ability - {Combined Mind}!] Suddenly, words floated into my mind. So even though I can¡¯t view my status or anything, I still have access to the System? Clearly, with the terrible shape of my new body, I¡¯d need it. ¡°I apologize. My circumstances were¡­ unfavorable before your appearance.¡± I nearly jumped out of my new bee skin at the voice. Never a good thing to hear somber voices in your head. The voice was¡­ weird. I could understand spoken words, but the sensation felt more like listening to pleasant humming. Emotions and feelings washed over me as the humming continued, which my mind seemed to somehow translate into words. ¡°Since you now inhabit my body, I must apologize again,¡± the voice whispered, ¡°It seems you will perish painfully alongside me.¡± ¡°Whoah whoah. I¡¯m not exactly kicking the bucket right this second.¡± I thought for a moment before slowly continuing. This could be a¡­ delicate situation, and I wanted to handle it carefully. ¡°Your body¡­ then, are you the bee?¡± ¡°Yes. If you wish to continue suffering, then by all means continue. I simply ask that you do not suffer too much. I can still feel things you know.¡± ¡°Sorry, but I¡¯m going to continue living. My weekend was robbed from me. My life was taken in an exceedingly ironic way. My pens! Fuck I already miss them¡­¡± before I could stop myself my thoughts poured out. Everything I had gone through felt like a few seconds of nonstop chaos, and I just never had the opportunity to digest my situation. I realized something terrible about myself. My pain, my fear, my sense of loss. I wasn¡¯t upset about losing those close to me. There was nobody close enough to lose. My job? My coworkers? My hobbies? The thing that brought me the most sadness was losing my extensive collection of pens. Disturbing. ¡°Very well, however-¡± Before the bee¡¯s voice could continue, an alarm blared in my head. [The Bee has taken responsibility for your plight and has modified your System] [Your System has been modified by Divine Intervention! Human System and Bee System have combined to create The Beest System!] No. This can¡¯t be true. Please, anything but this. This System likes goddamn puns. Chapter 2 - Water we gonna do? I could not possibly be in a worse situation. I think death may be preferable to a fate as terrible as this. [Human System and Bee System have combined to create The Beest System!] A System with a wicked sense of humor is a recipe for disaster in more ways than one, if the stories are to be believed. "... Did that say human?" The humming which came from the bee whose body I now inhabited became much less friendly. Did it have some sort of grudge against the humans in this world? "You can see that? What is it?" "You¡­ are not aware of the System? What exactly are you?" "I''m a person. A human from Earth, which I assume is another world entirely. Name''s Enno." The humming became curious rather than angry. Seems like my deflection worked. "Earth? A different world?" "Before we get into an endless spiral of questions, let''s just answer the ones standing." "...Very well. The System is the guiding hand of all species. It is a gift from our gods that allows us to grow and understand the world around us. As far as I know." As far as it knows? How did it even know all this information in the first place? As if to answer my question, words suddenly popped into existence before my eyes. [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 1 months] [Subtype: Queen] [Status: Mortally Wounded] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 10th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] Alright! Finally, some progress. As expected, the status menu had a ton of helpful information. Mostly. I assumed most of the information is related to the original bee - queen bee apparently - and its (her?) body. Which meant that I was in control of a female bee''s body. Just an eensy-weensy difference from my male human one. The lack of abilities that seemed immediately helpful was disappointing, and the ''Mind'' information was way beyond what I understood. Thankfully, I had a guide right here in my new bee noggin. "Hey, uh, Queen? Can you explain a bit about these abilities and information?" I tried. The humming resumed, still seeming more uncomfortable than our first interaction. I would have to investigate Queen''s relationship with humans of this world, but for now, I needed to get us out of this situation. "All I know is what I was born knowing. I am not aware of what a name is, but the other information is mostly self-explanatory. As for abilities, these are actions I am- was - capable of as a queen bee, simple actions I was born to use to build my hive." "And what about Mind?" "I am unsure. It may have something to do with my ability to communicate with my offspring. That feels most natural." A sound guess. A magic bee probably wouldn''t just communicate with other bees with pheromones or noises or whatever. Maybe I could inspect the system menu thing for more information? I poured my focus into thinking about the new ability I had been notified of, [Combined Mind], and my efforts bore fruit. [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the imposs-] Fuck! A sharp pain broke my concentration, the injuries not content with being ignored. I needed to take care of this pronto. Right. I could ignore my arm for now. It hurt like a motherfucker and the cauterized wound was sloppy, but it was stable and not in immediate danger (probably). The big problem at the moment was the nasty burn coating a significant portion of my abdomen and... I wanna say thorax? The only things I know about treating burns are cool water, aloe, and bandages. Water is the most immediate necessity, and I''m sure finding some won''t be overly difficult with Queen''s help. Bandages might be tough, but I could press some leaves or something on the burns to close them off. No idea how I would do anything about aloe. I don''t even know what it is about aloe that helps burns in the first place. "Queen? Is there any sort of water nearby? I need to treat these burns somehow if we want to survive," I gasped internally. The pain was messing with my head, confusing me. "Water, hm? Unfortunately, I cannot perfectly recall where the nearest bit of water might be. I¡­ believe there was a lake near my old hive, but¡­" The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Hm. This seemed like as good a time as any to learn about Queen''s past. Anything to take my mind off the pain. "So¡­ What exactly happened? You''re injured and lost. Does it have something to do with your hatred of humans, or is that like a monster thing?" After a solid few minutes of silence, Queen urged me to do my best to get a look outside the tree trunk. Thankfully, my insectoid, uh, ''feet,'' and the tree''s rough interior made climbing the walls not much of a challenge, most of the difficulty coming from the pain. I only just realized how huge I was, clearly some sort of magic bee. My- I mean, Queen''s body nearly filled the radius of the tree trunk, and even if it was a small tree, I think it would be bigger than any bee on Earth by a huge margin. I climbed weakly up to a hole in the trunk to peek outside and was inclined to believe that my new crazy compound bee eyes were fooling me. Outside was something that could only be described as a hellscape. The sky was thick with black smoke and dark gray clouds, the sun barely able to penetrate the layers of gray, causing the world to look like a colorless wasteland. The ground had no grass, scorched black and mixed with some sort of white mineral. This place had clearly once been a forest, but the only sign of such an environment was countless charred lumps resembling tree trunks or stumps. A deafening quiet pervaded the world except for the occasional sound of thunder roaring overhead. Some of the blackened lumps on the ground were nearly identifiable as some sort of animal. Even more disturbing than the burned and blackened land were unsettlingly unnatural features. Huge gashes in the ground peppered the area, boulders that seemed oddly out of place strewn about. Random spots on the floor seemed to glow with an ominous light, and metallic spikes were driven into the ground at various points. In sporadic intervals, giant multicolored crystals jutted out of the floor, some reaching far into the sky. "What¡­ happened?" Queen''s humming felt solemn as she spoke a single word: "humans." I tried to gently lower myself back to the bed of leaves, but I bumped into the ground a little too hard. "GodDAMMIT!" "Speaking ill of the gods? Not very smart for a human." "Oh, shut up. Are you sure you can still feel this pain?" Silence from the Queen. Fine then. I mentally grimaced at the trunk looming above us. The hole I had peeked through was too small to squeeze my fat queen butt through, and the only way out seemed to be from the broken top. I tested my crumpled wings and winced. Not flying out. The only way would be to bear the pain and climb. One step. Two steps. Three. The burns flared as I reached the peephole. Only a million miles to go. Each step increased my pain tenfold, my mind going numb as I tried to power through. Suddenly, I realized that I was an out-of-shape office worker who liked to read and watch tv for several years, and powering through life-threatening injuries was not exactly a skill of mine. Please. I had to get out of this tree trunk or die. I had to go up. I couldn''t take it anymore. I let go of the wall and slowly floated upwards. Bwuh? "What the hell is this?! What''s happening?!" I mentally yelled as my slow ascent wavered. I hurriedly tried to imagine going up and out of the tree trunk, and my awkward slanted rise continued. As I floated, the numbness in my mind buzzed. How was this possible? "Mind!" I tried yelling the parts of my status I wanted to see, but all I really needed to do was think about it. [Mind: 10th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 1.1% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] Aha! Suddenly, I had a bit more hope. The unknown Mind stats have to do with psychic powers! "You didn''t tell me you could use psychic powers, Queen! This solves pretty much everything." "I do not know about these ''psychic powers.'' As I said, my instincts are to use my Mind to influence my kin. My hive. What you are doing¡­ it is wrong." Whatever. Psychic powers! And if such a small amount of my maximum capacity could make me fly, imagine what I could do with more! I pushed more concentration into moving upwards, trusting my instincts to guide me. [Tapped Mind: 2% / 95%] A sudden burst of speed shot me upwards, blasting me through the hole at the top of the trunk! I panicked and cut off the concentration, plummeting toward the scorched forest floor. Concentrating is a little tricky when you''re falling to your death. After a few sudden stops and jerking motions, I hit the ground with a thud. The pain became so intense that I began to black out again. Luckily, a queen bee kindly hummed like a runaway freight train directly into my brain. "AFTER ALL OF THIS YOU ARE GIVING UP? AWAKEN!" I did my best to groan as I stirred. Right. Water. "Which way to the lake?" "Do not worry. When you begin moving, I will guide you." Great. Not like our collective lives were in danger or anything. With a bit more care, I concentrated on moving up and forwards. Keeping an eye on my Tapped Mind, I tried to keep it around 1%. Enough to float but not enough to fly. Queen''s humming felt like a game of hot and cold in my ears, becoming louder when I was going the (presumably) right way. Days passed. Wait, no. My pain-addled brain turned minutes into an odyssey-sized adventure, each moment spent floating around bringing us closer to the grave. I really hoped Queen knew where she was going. As far as I could tell, we were going in circles, the only landmarks around being charred wood and the occasional rainbow crystal. Queen said humans had caused this destruction, which confused me a bit. Don''t get me wrong, I knew the danger humans can pose to the environment as well as anyone, but senseless destruction like this was unusual. Humans destroy for their own gain, but that would be more along the lines of deforestation. The carnage here told a different story. Burning an entire forest? Killing all living creatures in sight? Not to mention the trenches and crystals and salted earth. This was a war. Either Queen didn''t want to tell me the truth or she didn''t know, but if humans were the cause of this state of this hellscape, then I had to tread very carefully around them. Or whatever they were fighting against. Not to mention that humans in this world were apparently capable of this destruction. Burning a forest is one thing, but the crystals? Queen never indicated they were natural formations, so humans probably did it somehow. What sort of Abilities would you need to make those? Was there magic in this world I just didn''t understand? Could the psychic powers of Mind have something to do with it? As I traveled, the most striking thing I noticed was the quiet. What was once probably a lively forest was quiet as death. No animals. No wind. No leaves rustling. The experience was nothing like living in the city. I had even been in small towns with more noise going on. Initially, it felt like a nice change of pace from the hustle and bustle I was used to, but as the seconds stretched on, the silence was choking me, trying to snuff my life out single-handedly. The sudden rolling thunder that occasionally broke the silence actually made it worse, the unexpected change and anticipation torturous. At this rate, I would even welcome Kanan''s loud voice, anything to distract me from this agony. "-op I say! Stop, Enno!" I was jolted from my tormented stupor by the forceful command. That was disturbing. So far, it had seemed like Queen had no influence on the world, relegated to a voice in my head. Did I imagine the power behind her order? "We are approaching my birth hive. The lake is nearby." Finally, some relief! This area looked about as unique as the rest of the forest, but if some water were nearby I wouldn''t complain. Queen''s humming became quieter and sadder, and a quick glance at the ground revealed why. A giant lump blended in with the blackened trees. Smaller chunks peppered the former patch of forest, thousands and thousands of tiny corpses strewn around the lump. Bee corpses. Clearly we had found the former hive, but it wouldn''t help much. I made sure to hover close to it for a second, if for nothing else, to comfort Queen. At the top of the burned hive, a massive corpse lay. The hive''s queen and, I assumed, Queen''s mother. "We should continue. Please." Respecting Queen''s wish, I floated away, leaving the hive behind. I had no connection to the hive but did feel sympathy for Queen''s situation. If I could survive, she would at the very least survive with me. After some searching, I found the lake, its inviting waters shining a brilliant shade of black. Fuck. The lake in question was tiny, which would have been fine, but more than half seemed to have evaporated. All that was left was a sad little pool of inky water, murky and thick, stained by ash and mud. I hesitantly hovered above the tiny pool. A bloated frog, clearly some fantastical variant with actual horns and deep red skin, floated in the pool belly-up. Maybe washing off an injury in that water wasn''t a great idea. I set myself down very carefully on the former lakeside and stared at the sky. Welp. Looks like this second chance was a bust. Guess I''d just have to die again and hope for another otherworldly restart with overpowered abilities. The silence was again broken by thunder and I cast a glare at the sky. What was the point of thunder without rain? I had long lost hope of rain considering the thunder had been happening for a while now. No rain. No lake. No water to be found. "Would it really be so bad to try the pool?" "You''re joking, right? I''m surprised burns this bad haven''t been infected already, though I don''t know much about bee biology," I snapped. Queen noticeably bristled at my tone, but whatever. I was about to die. Some concentration, and I took to the air again. Why? Great question. I thought I had given up but apparently not. I willed myself to rise above the ruined treeline and further into the air. "Perhaps giving up would truly be the best outcome. You could easily allow us to drop. Or disable the Lock for a more painless death." The bee''s words wafted through my ears. There was some important information there somewhere, but right now, water was all I had room to think about. I still had hope. The lake was still water, becoming dirty from the ash and having nowhere to go. Running water like a river at least had a chance of being clean. If the sky absolutely refused to rain, then there might not be any ashy runoff. I searched desperately, but water was nowhere in sight. All I could find were the same old charred remains of the forest. Hmmm¡­ I searched with a different eye. Where were there the most trees? The most animal corpses? Were there any mountains nearby? Any sign that could point to water. I pushed, willing myself towards an area packed with crispy animal and plant corpses. A particularly tall crystal spike seemed familiar as I flew toward the burned grave. This area was in the total opposite direction from the lake. Maybe Queen was instinctively moving towards running water in the first place? As I approached, I witnessed the most beautiful little stream I had ever seen. The tiny ribbon of mostly clear water surrounded by ash and blackened animal remains appeared like a crack in my heart, and Queen agreed. This was hope. Chapter 3 - We Beelong Together The relief I felt from landing in the stream was unlike anything I had ever felt. I hadn¡¯t even realized how thirsty I was! The cool, gentle pressure washing over my burned thorax and dry throat felt like the soft embrace of a thousand angels. Well, I assumed. Apparently, angels weren¡¯t a thing if my death was anything to go by. ¡°So soothing! You know, I think we might be alright. Thank you for saving my- no, our life, Enno.¡± ¡°Aw, thanks, Queen. Sucks that something terrible is about to happen exactly ¡¯cause you said that!¡± I exclaimed between prolonged drinks of water. I was only half joking. As relieving as the water was, I tried my best to stay alert. This dead forest had, barring the thunder, been entirely silent from the moment I woke up. Even while flying around, I didn¡¯t hear anything or see anything move. The problem was, this was the exact type of situation where I would let down my guard and get attacked by a crazy forest troll or something. ¡°With our injuries treated, I would say we have a chance. If we start a new hive, survival would be trivial!¡± ¡°Uh. Sure. I¡¯ll just give birth to a bunch of babies and feed them some ash.¡± Oh. I hadn¡¯t thought about it, but laying eggs was essentially my whole purpose as a queen bee. Thankfully it seemed like I could use abilities to do it instead of¡­ typical methods. In any case, making a hive was definitely the way to go regarding safety. Would probably still be super weird, though. I could only assume it would benefit me considering my new species, but something more immediately important required my attention. [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 1 months] [Subtype: Queen] [Status: Severely Wounded] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 10th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] The only change was my status in a good way, thankfully. Well, information is power, so learning more about what I can do is priority numero uno. A bit of experimenting taught me that there wasn¡¯t much I could inspect for more info. My Subtype, Abilities, Tapped Mind, and Mind Locks could be expanded to give more detail, but that was it. ¡°I think learning more about Creating offspring would be very beneficial.¡± Seriously? Queen¡¯s obsession with this hive thing was only getting stronger. ¡°Can you be quiet for a second? I just want to learn more about what I can do,¡± my agitation grew, ¡°In fact, I think I would like you to be quiet for a long while. Since I can¡¯t be alone ever again, I would at least like some quiet when I need it.¡± My words came out harsher than expected, and the sudden disappearance of the almost constant gentle meaningless humming told me I might have gone too far. No matter. With that familiar feeling in my stomach, I carefully inspected everything I could in my menu. [Subtype: Queen Of the Bee species. A matriarchal figure that births offspring of the speecies and manages the collective conscious ¡®hive.¡¯ Capabilities include the creation, communication, control of offspring, and a great sense of humor. ] Nothing crazy there. Nope. I was a Queen bee, and I¡­ birth things. Fun. Speaking of¡­ [Create Egg: Level 1 Acquired by: Birth Using mass and Mind, create an egg that will hatch into a member of your species. Subtype Options: Level up: Unlock 2 subtype options ] The immediate problem I noticed is the mention of mass to create eggs. That meant I needed food to even start thinking about making a hive, so Queen¡¯s desperation was moot until I found some food. [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the impossible feat of hosting multiple Minds in one body Impossibly, you have multiple Minds within your body. This unique trait caught the gods¡¯ attention, and this Ability was granted. Efficiency of Mind = Base Efficiency x Number of Minds. Mind Efficiency: 2x ] Excuse me? If my eyes could bulge, they would fall out of my head. Of course, I had no frame of reference for this Ability. For all I knew, doubling Mind efficiency amounted to practically nothing. But I wasn¡¯t about to complain about a free power boost! Most of the other Abilities felt pretty boring in comparison. [Queen Piping: This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Level 1 Acquired by: Birth Acoustic signals empowered by Mind. Communicate without a direct mind connection. Level up: increase the efficiency of piping ] [Venomous Stinger: Acquired by: Birth A natural weapon empowered by Mind. Tapping Mind increases the potency of venom. ] Simple abilities with simple uses, nothing to get excited about. Looking at my Abilities did raise some questions. What was the point of some of them exactly? If I didn¡¯t have the Stinger Ability, would I not be able to sting? So would Queen have been born without a stinger? Also, why list how an Ability was obtained? Was that something important about Abilties? [Tapped Mind: Current Mind capacity: 95% Currently Tapped Mind: 0% Tapped Breakdown: ] Honestly, Tapped Mind only raised more questions about Abilities. Clearly, Mind was some sort of psychic power that I had judging by my assisted flying. Nothing indicated that I had obtained it somehow, and Queen¡¯s admittedly limited knowledge about Mind implied she was born with it. So I could just use psychic superpowers without needing Abilities at all. Did everything have psychic powers in this world? [Life: The essence of existence. 5% of a living being¡¯s Mind is locked to maintain Life. WARNING: If this Lock is Deactivated or changed, you will die. ] Oh. Well, that answers that. I took a closer look at Mind Locks. If 5% of my mind was ¡®reserved¡¯ by the Lock, what other locks could I make? Cringing in anticipation, I slowly ascended above the river water, the cooling stream no longer soothing my burns. Despite the renewed pain, I once again inspected my menu. [Tapped Mind: Current Mind capacity: 95% Currently Tapped Mind: 1% Tapped Breakdown: ] Alright, so far, so good. Now, the idea was to create a Mind Lock that reserved 1% of my Mind for floating. Even Tapping that 1% required concentration. Since I wasn¡¯t exactly concentrating on living (well, considering my injuries, maybe a little), perhaps I wouldn¡¯t need to focus on floating with Mind? Only one problem. I had absolutely no idea how to make a Mind Lock. So far, the System of this world had been incredibly intuitive, responding more to my instinct and intentions than keywords or instruction. I mean, I was currently floating in the air just by thinking about it! Maybe making Locks was just as easy? I thought really hard about making a Lock, and a pressure mounted in my brain. It was working! Suddenly my stomach lurched. Wait! The pressure broke my concentration! I hit the riverbed with a thud as white-hot fire exploded across my body. I hadn¡¯t fallen very far, but with injuries as bad as mine, that didn¡¯t exactly matter. My burns were aggravated as I rolled around in pain, worsening the experience. I wasn¡¯t exactly great at being in mortal danger. ¡°I cannot tell if you were sent to save my life or to torture me.¡± Queen¡¯s humming reappeared for a moment before immediately going silent. Seems like she simply couldn¡¯t help herself from making that comment. She reminded me of my coworkers in a way. She just couldn¡¯t give up. As the pain subsided, I refocused my efforts on creating the Mind Lock, making sure to stay solidly on my feet. Until smacking into the ground, I hadn¡¯t considered the fact that maybe I didn¡¯t want to be floating all the time. Regardless, I knew the floating Mind Lock could work from the pressure in my brain, so it was as good as anything to experiment with. Besides, if the Life description was anything to go by, then Locks could be changed or deleted anyways. It took much longer for the pressure to build this time as I thought about creating the Lock. Maybe creating a Lock on something you were already doing was easier? Or was it tougher to make a Lock purely with imagination, so knowing or experiencing the desired effects made it easier to create? The pressure built until it became closer to a headache, and a moment later, a single click echoed in my brain, and the pressure suddenly disappeared. I suddenly felt weightless. I tried carefully rising into the air a little, abruptly stopped focusing on floating, and stayed hovering in place. Success! [Tapped Mind: Current Mind capacity: 94% Currently Tapped Mind: 0% Tapped Breakdown: ] [Mind Locks: ] Everything was going smoothly. Almost¡­ too smoothly. I focused on the Float Lock, and a new interface popped up. [Lock: Float {Disable - Modify - Delete} ] What a flexible System! I modified the Lock to use less Mind. I had to concentrate on doing so, making it clear that Locks could only be messed with if I was safe. In fact, Modifying the Lock seemed to disable it during the process. In other words, I fell again like an idiot. Disabling did exactly what it said. I ensured I was barely above the ground before the test this time. Disabling the Lock even gave me back the 1% missing from my Mind capacity. Finally, I tried deleting the Lock. [Warning: You are about to delete a Lock. Confirm?] Oh, that was nice. Sure, deleting a lock would require you to specifically seek out its deletion, but I guess you could accidentally delete a Lock in your sleep. As if. This System just felt weird at times. I confirmed the deletion. Creating a Lock took significant time, effort, and concentration, so disabling them seemed much more practical. Why not just make a ton of Locks and disable them? In this case, I wasn¡¯t exactly in desperate need of auto-flight. I could afford to delete it for the purposes of science. Of course, I immediately realized that flying around to search for food would be easier if I could automate it at least a little, so I recreated the Lock. Right. Next on the survival checklist was food. Quenching my insane thirst only made me realize how hungry I was. Eating would also kill two birds, considering I needed mass to start making eggs. Ah yes, I was incredibly excited to lay magic fucking bee eggs as a human dude who was just trying to get by until recently. As much as it pained me to admit, making some drones to ¡®automate¡¯ food gathering, protection, exploration, and shelter construction was just too convenient. An army of little bee drones who did exactly what I told them to do? Absolutely, yes. Reminded me of a certain factory game¡¯s little robots that cost me years of my life¡­ Unfortunately, another issue crossed my mind. ¡°Uh, Queen? What exactly do you eat?¡± Silence. ¡°Oh, right. Queen, I¡¯m sorry about what I said before. I¡¯m not used to being with other people for so long, so I was starting to get antsy,¡± I sighed. The feeling in my stomach returned. ¡°I¡­ I need you. To survive. This whole situation is fucking crazy, and I just wanted a bit of normalcy, but I went too far,¡± my feelings poured out, uncontrollably flowing straight from the gross stomach feeling, ¡°I don¡¯t usually open up to people, but I guess I have no choice now do I? For better or worse, we¡¯re stuck together. So, please. Help me- no, help us survive. I hadn¡¯t considered how you must feel trapped in your own head, so I promise I¡¯ll help you with what you want. I guess¡­ I¡¯m not the only one who got a second chance.¡± I held my breath. I hadn¡¯t spoken that much to someone in¡­ well, a very long time. Silence. My nerves kept building as Queen stayed quiet. ¡°...Jelly.¡± I blinked. Or, tried. I¡¯d have to get used to my new face. ¡°Jelly?¡± ¡°Jelly.¡± ¡°Queen¡­ thank you.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be holding you to that promise, by the way. About helping me achieve what I want.¡± ¡°Well, I guess that¡¯s fair enough. Now,¡± I triumphantly stood on wobbly legs, ¡°Where the hell am I supposed to get Jelly?!¡± ¡°Ah. Good point. Usually, the workers brought me jelly on their heads, but there are no workers left,¡± Queen paused, humming thoughtfully, ¡°There should be benefits to our strong Mind. Surely we could eat anything nutritious, providing it is not actively harmful.¡± Hm. As far as I could think, animals can have pretty delicate diets, so a bee eating a cheeseburger didn¡¯t exactly sound like a genius idea. Man, a cheeseburger would be nice. The only kind of meat around were well-done forest beasts. Actually¡­ ¡°How does meat treat your stomach?¡± ¡°Meat¡­? It does not sound particularly appetizing, but neither do my instincts warn against it. Would those murdered forest creatures be meat?¡± ¡°Exactly! This doesn¡¯t just solve our food problem; it eliminates it completely!¡± I was getting excited. A clean source of water. Food as far as the eye could see. With a start like this, we wouldn¡¯t just survive. We could thrive! I floated over to the nearest blackened lump, vaguely shaped like a pig or boar. Compared to me, it was huge, three or four times bigger, at least. I wasn¡¯t exactly a fan of burned meat, but maybe somewhere under the surface, this little piggy had some tastier bits. I tried scraping some char off with my leg with little success, switching to my wicked stinger. My stomach rumbled. Well, maybe this bee body wouldn¡¯t hate the taste of char? Hungrily I chomped down on the lump, barely able to contain my appetite. Or break the tough hide. Riiiiight, eating the meat would probably be better than leathery hide. Had to open it up somehow... The corpse moved. I snapped to attention, slowly backing away from the body as squishing noises broke the silence. Before I could do much else, the corpse burst open. A huge rat with rows of pointy teeth and sharp-looking fur emerged and locked eyes with me. Looks like I interrupted lunchtime, and this guy didn¡¯t seem intent on sharing. Oops. Chapter 4 - Well-done Beef Slow. Slow. Slowly backing awaaaaaay¡­ The rat stared at me with beady eyes before letting out a screech. I frantically tried to concentrate enough to float away as the rat leaped off the corpse and dashed straight at me. ¡°Ack!¡± I yelled elegantly, finally beginning to shoot upwards. The rat¡¯s teeth barely missed and I had a vision of headlights and screeching tires. How many near-death experiences did a guy need? Thankfully I managed to float out of the rat¡¯s reach, staring at it as it stalked below me before carefully going back to the corpse. Upon more careful inspection, it wasn¡¯t a rat at all, but some sort of feral squirrel. Its bushy tail seemed to have caught on fire or something, making it seem more like a fleshy rat tail, explaining my confusion. Well, I was used to squirrels being a bit cuter than feral rodents, but this world was clearly not very nice. The squirrel stuck its head into the charred pig-like corpse and came up with a mouth full of meat. Can bees hurl? As gross as the sight was, my cramping stomach thought it was pretty pleasing. At the very least, the meat was safe to eat; now, all I needed to do was get rid of the scavenger. No way was I getting close enough to use Venomous Stinger. I was already hurt badly enough, and I didn¡¯t have much confidence in my combat ability compared to the feral carnivore squirrel¡¯s sharp teeth and wicked claws. That left Mind. Psychic powers are super strong, so surely I could beat a stupid squirrel. I rose higher, making sure I was far out of the squirrels reach. Didn¡¯t want to be anywhere near the thing while I tried to force-choke it. Who cares if it was unfair? We¡¯re talking about life or death here! I hovered several meters above the pig corpse. Mister squirrel kept a wary eye on me as it feasted. No matter. I was a flying drone, ready to unleash hell onto this thing. Somehow. I just couldn¡¯t resist. I focused the power of my mind on mister squirrel¡¯s neck, imagining a hand squeezing hard. [Tapped Mind: 1% / 94%] Mister squirrel¡¯s eyes bulged as imprints appeared on its furry neck. Holy hell. I could actually force choke! Hello, childhood fantasies! Then my brain exploded. Pain blossomed in my head and my vision became blurry. The gray blur called Mister Squirrel suddenly moved, speeding across the ground and onto a tree. Screeching broke the forest¡¯s endless silence as Mister Squirrel¡¯s rage exploded, dashing up the burned trunk to reach a height nearly equal to mine. I groggily tried to move backward, still recovering from the shock. The hell happened? I didn¡¯t have time to think about it. It jumped right at me! The gray form of Mister Squirrel suddenly became uncomfortably large, and I did what any respectable warrior would do in my position. I panicked. [Tapped Mind: 80% / 94%] Desperately, I squeezed as hard as I could manage. Mister squirrel paused, hovering in the air for a moment. The next instant, it imploded. Faster than I could even process, the formerly large form of mister squirrel became a bloody mist that sprayed right onto me. Oh. ¡°Berchleg.¡± Instead of my intended expression of victory, I barfed¡­ not much of anything, and all went dark. ____________________________________ Cracks spread through the air, beautiful arcs of light filling my vision. Like a spindly hand, the cracks reached forwards. The sharp fingers dove into my head and¡­ I snapped awake screaming, panic only receding when I noticed a distinct lack of cracks. I saw a blackened sky and felt weightless, and I remembered my situation. Bees. Squirrels. Hurty brain. ¡°Urg¡­ what happened?¡± Queen was confused too? Not good. It was pretty funny that I was just floating in the air while totally unconscious, but otherwise not good. I opened my menu, looking for some answers and grimaced at what I saw. [Status: severely injured, starving, Mind collapse] The first two made sense; nothing too shocking there. ¡°Would you happen to know how bad Mind collapse is?¡± I asked the only source of information this world¡¯s asshole gods had given me. ¡°Specifically? No clue. I can infer that overexertion of Mind has negative effects. Still, I do not know exactly what triggered it,¡± Queen hummed, ¡°The collapse was triggered after you used 80% of our Mind to attack Mister Squirrel, but I feel there is more to the condition.¡± Right. If using 80% of your power made your brain explode, it seemed like a super inefficient system. I reflected on the events leading up to the collapse, but even simple thinking made my brain feel sore. Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. Before I calmly executed Mister Squirrel, I had tried to choke it, but somehow it fought back. Whatever it had done to defend itself had sent me for a loop, so that was definitely on the table for a factor in the collapse. What else? Assuming the Mind powers aren¡¯t completely unlimited, then maybe the exertion from experimenting with the Mind Locks could also have played a part. A careless mistake. I had assumed, for whatever reason, that I could freely experiment and play with my psychic powers. I hadn¡¯t even considered what Mind meant to Queen or to me. The fact that Queen had never made a Lock or used Mind as psychic abilities should have tipped me off. Stomach rumbling, I tried my best to will myself towards the pig. Even that tiny exertion sent waves of nausea through me. What had I been doing? Was I being lax in my struggle for survival? I had thought I was doing my best, trying to gather information and use every tool at my disposal, but I still ended up in an almost worse situation. Hope receded from my body, and my approach to the pig slowed. Was there even a point in trying? ¡°Fuck you, Enno.¡± Uh. ¡°You have forced your will to live onto me. I lost everything and had no hope, yet you extended my suffering, keeping me alive. I was to die in that tree, yet you have struggled to survive. Here we are, still kicking, and you have the audacity to feel sorry for yourself? Sure, your use of Mind has caused us more pain, but did you think about why we can feel this new pain?¡± I chewed on Queen¡¯s words. Yeah. Yeah! I made mistakes, but my efforts had kept us going until then. ¡°Thank you, Queen. It¡¯s¡­ refreshing to have a positive voice in my head.¡± ¡°Hmph. Just go eat. I¡¯ve never been this hungry in my life. Oh, what I would give for a servant to bring me some jelly¡­.¡± A laugh escaped me. Now, it was time to eat! ________________________ ¡°I¡¯ll get to it eventually. Quit your nagging.¡± ¡°Why are you avoiding it, you dope? Giving birth will be fun!¡± Something told me that was a load of bs. My condition had improved dramatically after my meal, even if my mood hadn¡¯t. It was pretty creepy that I could eat an entire animal several times my size and still crave more, and when Queen said it was to create as many offspring as possible, I knew exactly what to do next. I stalled. I tried my best to bandage my burns with wet leaves, but finding leaves that hadn¡¯t been completely disintegrated was tough. I eventually found enough to dunk in the river and wrap around my burns, so good progress there. Then I stalled some more. I had been mistaken when I thought this forest was completely dead. It was shocking to see just how much life was still milling about, primarily scavengers like Mister Squirrel or insects like myself. I carefully steered clear of them, intent on avoiding combat in my condition. Once I had become more experienced at getting food without disturbing other wildlife, it was finally time. To stall even more. I played with Mind. I ate more food. And now I was trying to build some kind of shelter in the biggest tree I could find. ¡°I am in your head. I know you are stalling.¡± ¡°Hey, this branch is perfect to close the gap in the ceiling!¡± ¡°Enno. We need help.¡± The big branch I had been carefully floating into place slotted in with the rest at the top of the ruined tree before something came undone, and all the branches fell. Some onto me. I was an electrical engineer, dammit, this was the wrong kind of engineering! Even so, I knew Queen was right. There was no way I could build a shelter on my own, and it was a waste of time, regardless. My strongest asset was Mind, and between scavenging food, failing to build a shelter, and other mundane tasks, I had no opportunity to better understand it. If I got help, I could become more familiar with Mind and prevent a repeat of Mister Squirrel. There was only one problem. I really didn¡¯t want to lay goddamn eggs. [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 1 months] [Subtype: Queen] [Status: Injured] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 10th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 94%] [Mind Locks: ] The bold words ¡°Create Egg¡± stared at me, urging me to use it. ¡°Queen. I¡¯m¡­ scared.¡± That was the truth. No doubt about it, the idea of laying a fucking egg was way too weird and terrifying for me to handle. Queen¡¯s humming softened, feelings of warmth and comfort washing over me. She was doing her best to support me, but the hesitation stayed firmly in place. Now was as good a time as any. Armed with the reassurance and support of Queen, I shakily activated [Create Egg]. [Select: 1.5x Mind penalty: Unfavorable conditions ] Tapping into the minimum 0.5% of Mind, I chose to create a Simple Worker. A force suddenly pulled on my stomach, and a slight pressure pushed on my head. I sighed in relief as a ball began to form in front of my abdomen. Thankfully, it seemed like I didn¡¯t actually have to lay eggs, which made me much more confident. Then I threw up. Yuck. I guess the mass the Ability talked about had to be used like...this. After a few seconds of brain pressure and puking, the ball hardened as the Ability completed. ¡°That sucked. Better than I expected, but that sucked.¡± A weight lifted off my shoulders. My mental state would totally survive. Hopefully. [Success!] [Create Lock: Kin Link?] Oh? [Kin Link: A Mind connection with produced offspring offered to certain species. Allows for enhanced communication and control of related kin. Slightly enhances the capabilities of the linked kin¡¯s Mind. ] ¡°Any advice on this?¡± I asked. A monstrous urge compelled me to create the Lock, but Queen was the expert. ¡°You have to do it. Do it now. Do it.¡± Well then. With the voice of the emperor- I mean queen in my head, I relented, creating the Lock. [Tapped Mind: 0% / 93.9995%] [Mind Locks: ] I used the minimum possible Mind for the egg creation and the Link. This was supposed to be an experiment, not creating some bee horror by accident. The little egg sat unmoving on the leaf bed I made in the tree. It was tiny, slightly smaller than my head. The egg¡¯s orange color and opaque texture made it seem more like a bouncy ball or something rather than my¡­ child. Ew. ¡°How long until it hatches?¡± I had hoped there would be a timer or something, but I didn¡¯t even feel the influence of the Mind Lock. Why was this System so intuitive yet so annoyingly obtuse? ¡°I believe it depends on several factors. Considering how little we put into this child, I would say no more than a day.¡± Somewhere around a day, huh? At least I had some time before I needed to face the consequences of my actions. After a few nervous moments, I left the tree. Watching the egg with anticipation wasn¡¯t exactly productive, so I decided to get to work. Queen had been bothering me with information about making a new bee family, so I went to get some food. Without workers to do my chores, it was up to my lonesome self to gather food for the baby bees. Queen had wanted to start by laying 100 eggs, so I obviously called her an idiot. Her reasoning was that by making as many eggs as possible, we would have more workers and increase the chances of surviving eggs. I wanted to take a different approach. Besides the fact that there was no way I was brave enough to make more than 1 egg for now, I wanted to make sure I needed to lay the least amount of eggs possible. If I made sure that each new child would survive, then fewer eggs to lay! Some vultures circled around as I ¡®hunted¡¯ for food, the giant birds being another type of scavenger that had shown up recently. My ¡®hunting¡¯ consisted of picking up the closest slabs of overly well-done beef and furiously shaking the corpse just in case of a repeat of the Mister Squirrel fiasco. After a solid amount of food hovered close to me, I made my way back to the tree which I had helpfully marked with a circle of rocks. I nearly squealed in excitement when I saw what was waiting for me. ¡°Please chill out, Queen. Your feelings are affecting me too.¡± ¡°But Enno, look! The widdle baby is gwowing up so big and stwong~¡± As funny as it was to hear the typically regal humming devolve into adoring shrieks, seeing the egg I had made become larger and less opaque freaked me out. The orange color of the little sphere had become lighter, and a dark shape could be seen through its walls. Calling it ¡®little¡¯ also wasn¡¯t as accurate anymore, as the thing had nearly doubled in size. After a big stretch and deep yawn, I carefully deactivated Float and set the food down right outside the tree. I had no idea how long I had been in this world, but it had at least been a substantial number of hours, if not days, and the only rest I had given myself was involuntary unconsciousness. With the hope that I could somehow delay meeting the baby bee, I drifted off to sleep, dreaming of fire and lightning and giant monster squirrels. Chapter 5 - The Beeginning of Beatrice. ¡°THE BABY! WHERE''S THE BABY?!¡± Waking up to horrified shrieking kinda sucked. ¡°CHILL OUT, QUEEN.¡± The context of Queen¡¯s rude awakening took a moment to register. I snapped my vision towards the colorless, burst form of the egg. Oh no. There was no way I was laying another egg so soon. Activating float and willing myself up quickly, I shot out of the tree trunk and scanned the area. I saw no sign of the baby bee. ¡°The Link Enno, the Link!¡± Link? Oh, right! I focused on my Link to the bee, trying to figure out where it was. I felt a pulse nearby, coming from the stack of corpses I had gathered the day (?) before. Bingo. The wind aggravated my wounds as I shot down, screeching to a halt near the corpses. ¡°Do not panic, Mother.¡± I whirled at the sound, coming face to face with a little flying bee. ¡°I was simply famished and had to properly organize the food,¡± the bee said, a hint of femininity in its voice. Her voice. Wait, was it- she speaking into my head telepathically? My eyes were glued onto the waiting child. She was thinner than I expected, her abdomen rigid and slender with bold black and yellow stripes. Overall she wasn¡¯t even half my size. Furry black hair covered the middle of her body, strangely with a bright red line in the middle of her chest. Her wings buzzed behind her, flying as nature presumably intended, but she hovered upright in a weirdly humanoid way. Most striking was probably her head. Her compound eyes seemed smaller than they should have been, and her two antennae curved in a peculiar way, giving the impression that she was wearing glasses. ¡°Mother? Are you alright?¡± Her words shook me out of my stupor. What exactly was I supposed to say to this girl? ¡°Uh. Hey. What¡¯s up?¡± I could feel Queen facepalming as the little bee cocked her head. ¡°Mother, I believe the ashes of this forest are up.¡± This was going to be wonderful. _______________________ [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 1 day] [Subtype: Simple Worker] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 2nd Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] I really needed a name for her. The little bee sat ramrod still as I inspected her status, a benefit of the Link. We had settled in at the trunk as I tried to learn more about the little bee¡¯s personality. She seemed strangely unsure, as if she were a baby. Well, I guess she kind of was. ¡°What should I call you¡­?¡± Little bee seemed taken aback. ¡°Myself? I do not require a name, Mother. I am simply a lowly worker of the hive. Speaking of, where is the hive?¡± ¡°But giving you a name would make talking so much easier. Hmm¡­ How about Beatrice?¡± The second I decided on the name, I felt a rush, Beatrice, Queen, and myself groaning at the uncomfortable sensation. It passed after only a moment. Was that the feeling of the System¡¯s pun-based humor infecting and breaking me? ¡°The hell?¡± ¡°Enno, what have you done? We do not have names. We are nameless creatures.¡± ¡°Then why do we even have the name in the menu?¡± I responded. I felt for Beatrice through the Link, and she seemed the same. No changes to her menu or anything. ¡°I am grateful, Mother. I am Beatrice, your loyal worker. The world shall know our names.¡± ¡°Uh, sure. The world is your oyster, Beatrice. Or hive. Ha.¡± I tried joking. I hadn¡¯t really joked with someone in¡­ well, years, so my attempt was probably pretty poor. ¡°M-Mother! I will do my best to make you proud!¡± She exclaimed out of nowhere. What exactly had I gotten myself into? Beatrice suddenly seemed more confident, more sure of herself. And really freaking happy. Had I affected her personality by naming her somehow? Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°The first order of business is recreating the hive. I can infer that we no longer have one, so another must be created from scratch,¡± Beatrice was suddenly on a roll, hands behind her back. Was she some kind of secretary or what? ¡°In order to recreate the hive, we need food and workers. Meat will suffice, though other materials would be preferable. I will begin gathering as much food as possible. How many eggs can you lay at a time, Mother?¡± Huuuuuh? ¡°Er, why do you ask?¡± ¡°With more workers, we can quickly gather and convert food into hive material. A few thousand may be good to start.¡± Excuuuuuse me? A few thousand? No way, Jose, I say hives are overrated! ¡°Maybe we should start smaller. Please?¡± I pleaded. Beatrice tried not to let the shock appear on her face, comically evident from my point of view. ¡°Smaller¡­? Oh! Of course! That is why you are the queen, Mother! Absolutely brilliant.¡± Exactly. Wait, what? ¡°I will begin preparations. I will not disappoint you, Mother!¡± Beatrice said excitedly, zipping out of the hive before I could say a word. Again, what the hell had I gotten myself into? I could barely see the skinny form of Beatrice vanishing through the dead trees. Well. The whole point of making kids was to get a better grasp of Mind, so that was exactly what I would do. I floated over to the river and dipped myself into it, a sort of meditation that calmed my wounds and heart. Thankfully it still hadn¡¯t rained, so the river was still reasonably clean. Mind had been bothering me for a while now. I had been able to use the mysterious stat called Mind as psychic powers. Flying around, making things float, and even crushing living things were all possible with Mind. How exactly did that work? I mean, even now, I could feel Beatrice through the psychic link, almost hearing her muttering about meat and genius. I wasn¡¯t an expert on psychic abilities, considering they didn¡¯t exist in my world. What precisely am I doing with this stat to do the things I¡¯ve done? These questions might be inconsequential or redundant, but I thought they were essential for one reason. This forest. Whatever the humans had done to the forest didn¡¯t make sense with my perception of psychic abilities. What was up with the giant crystals jutting out from the ground? The perpetual gloomy fog in the sky? The utter lack of rain? Sure, pyrokinesis was a thing in my idea of psychic powers, but how strong would someone¡¯s Mind have to be for this level of destruction? Giant creatures and seemingly strong monsters had been incinerated systematically and suddenly, nothing like a forest fire. Seeing what humans were capable of made me think I was limiting my Mind¡¯s power with my preconceived notions of psychic abilities. I knew for a fact these had to be connected to Mind. The entire System of this world revolved around it. Abilities can seemingly only be acquired through Mind, Mind Locks were an incredibly powerful tool, and so on. This world¡¯s system lacked numerical stats, classes, and other features typical of game-like systems. I can¡¯t even level up for killing things, dammit! The road to power was paved with Mind. I needed an overhaul in my imagination if I wanted to use Mind to its fullest potential. My most powerful tool as a bee would be my hive, but Mind should be just as if not even more powerful. Speaking of¡­ ¡°Queen, I have a question,¡± I whispered. This wouldn¡¯t be easy. ¡°I need you to tell me more about your life before I showed up. Didn¡¯t the queen of your hive use Mind?¡± The pain in Queen¡¯s humming was palpable, a depressing mixture of nostalgia and trauma. ¡°I¡­ will do my best to remember. Before you appeared, my memories were hazy. They feel¡­or they felt unimportant, I suppose.¡± Odd. ¡°As for my mother, no. In hindsight, she only used her Mind to manage the hive. Every child was linked to her, and there were thousands of us. I do not believe she had the capacity to use Mind for other frivolous things.¡± ¡°What about Degree? Were you always 10th Degree, or was that ¡¯cause of me?¡± I asked. Degree was one of the few things the menu bothered to mention, so I assumed it was important. Probably like a level of your Mind. ¡°That¡­ Yes, I was always 10th-degree Mind. I believe all queens of my species are so as to accommodate as many children as possible.¡± Queen¡¯s humming sounded unsure. It was fair to assume her knowledge or honesty on the subject wasn¡¯t totally there, but for now, pushing wouldn¡¯t give me the answers I needed. So. Even if Queen wasn¡¯t always a 10th-Degree Mind, queen bees most likely did start with a high Mind degree for the purposes Queen mentioned. So then, why did they limit themselves to only using Mind for the hive? Were there benefits I didn¡¯t know about? I then remembered Combined Minds. Of course! If all my numbers were halved because of the increased efficiency bonus from Combined Mind, then it made much more sense. Creating something as ¡®inconsequential¡¯ as a simple worker would take double the amount of Mind, that is, 1%. And Queen wanted to lay something like 100 eggs. Getting even close to that would completely exhaust a typical queen¡¯s Mind, not to mention the Link. 0.001% per simple worker would add up between the lower-tier subtypes and higher tiers. With a maniacal grin, I began to laugh. The laughing sounds were ugly, clicking noises, but I didn¡¯t care. I laughed and laughed until shaking began to hurt my wounds. I really had been given an incredible advantage. I could simultaneously make a gigantic hive AND use powerful psychic abilities. With that many layers between me and the rest of this wacky world, I¡¯d never have a need to worry. ¡°Mother, I am being chased by squirrels!¡± I was snapped out of my reverie by a matter-of-fact cry for help. Welp. I guess I still had work to do before I could make my anti-rest of the world shell. __________________ __________________ Mother was truly an extraordinary being. From the moment I was born, her radiant visage hovered in the air without a care, the sheer power of her Mind pressing down upon me. Guided by my instincts, I knew what to do. Gather food. Grow the hive. Protect the queen. Mother shattered my reality. Everything she did threw my instinctive actions for a loop. Her care for me, a single lowly worker of the hive, was difficult to comprehend. She named me! No longer was I a faceless worker, a drone in service to my instinct. I was Beatrice, Mother¡¯s assistant in bringing the world she imagined to life. Even then, I thought I knew how to make the world our hive. Our numbers needed to be bolstered, and an army created quickly and cheaply. Yet Mother proved me wrong once again. In a stroke of genius, she suggested fewer children would be preferable. Of course! If each child were as closely cared for as me, each one would be stronger, more capable. Imagine, a hive with named bees! The transformation of the world into our hive may be somewhat slower, but the chances of success would rise dramatically! In either case, food was the most pressing matter. The only source of food was charred meat, which would suffice. And yet, how was I to acquire all the sustenance? I had eaten from the decent pile of food Mother had gathered herself, and she did so with terrible injuries. How did she do it? Her panicked search for me clued me in on her methods. Her flight was strange, wings unused. However, due to her powerful Mind, I figured it out. The power of her Mind radiated off her, and through my connection to her, I could feel a pressure when she flew. She was using her Mind to fly! It was yet another example of Mother¡¯s ingenuity and prowess. Using the power of Mind to move the meat was far more straightforward and allowed me to do the work of a dozen or more workers. Not to say there weren¡¯t impediments to my efforts. Within the corpses, there were sometimes creatures, and upon seeing them, the word ¡®squirrel¡¯ popped into my head, presumably from knowledge attained through Mother¡¯s Link. As I gathered food, these ¡®squirrels¡¯ chased me, trying to regain their spoils. Too bad! This food is now the property of the hive! The squirrels did not seem to accept my perfectly logical reasoning and continued their pursuit. Eventually, a crowd of at least fifteen creatures was stampeding after me, so I decided to ask mother for assistance. ¡°Mother, I am being chased by squirrels!¡± I could see Mother snap to attention and mentally sigh, broken out of the inner conversation she tended to have, another quirk of hers, along with a twig she kept twirling around. As I approached at high speed, tugging food and squirrels in my wake, an incredible pressure weighed upon my Mind. Mother¡¯s exerted strength shook my very core, and a glance at the squirrels showed they were even more frightened. A wave of power rolled off Mother as all fifteen squirrels were slowly lifted into the air, an invisible grip upon their throats. Then their necks snapped. As quickly as it had started, it was over. I could only stare in awe. These squirrels had fairly tough hides and even more wild Minds. Defeating them all would have required a team of warriors, at least, I reckoned. I had hoped Mother would scare them away with her presence. Never could I have dreamed that she would instantly kill the threatening gang of monsters. Mother¡¯s regal form once again entered my vision. My heart and Mind pounded with excitement, and I decided. I would do everything in my power to place Mother at the top of this world and crush anyone in our path. She would become the queen of this world! ¡°Beatrice. Explain yourself this instant young lady!¡± Oh dear. Chapter 6 - Stop Misbeehaving! ¡°Beatrice. Explain yourself this instant young lady!¡± I yelled. Oh, man. That sounded way too motherly for me to handle. ¡°Er, I mean, what¡¯s going on here?¡± I said instead. Much better. ¡°Ah, Mother, allow me to explain. You see, I was gathering food, and these scavenger squirrels were attempting to reclaim our meal. In the end, they chased me, but it worked out due to your impressive display of power!¡± Beatrice was entirely too excited about this. I had to use around 1.5% of my Mind for each squirrel. That wasn¡¯t cheap! Well, it kinda was. ¡°You unnecessarily put us in danger, Beatrice.¡° The squirrels weren¡¯t very strong, but I hadn¡¯t ever used my powers to kill multiple at once. It took concentration just to kill one, and considering how many squirrels Beatrice had kited, they easily could have gotten the jump on us. Her disappointment radiated through the Link, her emotions echoing in my brain. I felt sort of bad, but I couldn¡¯t give an inch. She was clearly smart, so why couldn¡¯t she see the risks? Although I guess she was just born¡­ today? ¡°Tell you what,¡± she perked up at my words, ¡°Make it up to me by helping me test some Mind stuff. After that, I¡¯ll make more workers to help you out.¡± Delighted by the opportunity to help her mother, Beatrice glowed in anticipation. It wasn¡¯t much as a punishment or lesson, but I¡¯m sure she got the idea. In the worst case, I could directly control her with the Link. Speaking of¡­ ¡°I want to test out some elements of our Link. Do you mind? I¡¯d at least like your consent first.¡± ¡°Mother! I am your humble servant. You needn¡¯t ask my permission for anything!¡± Beatrice said grandly. I shook my head. ¡°Wrong, Beatrice. If you¡¯re going to be as important as we think, then I want you to give me advice. Contradict me. I¡¯ll rely on your counsel in the future.¡± Beatrice was frozen in the air, the only feeling I could get from the Link being pure admiration. ¡°Yes, Mother!¡± Oh boy. Beatrice already had strong feelings about me, but that comment only intensified things. I should probably pick my words more carefully going forwards. I shook off the weirdness of being worshiped. Time was a-wastin¡¯, so I focused my Mind on Kin Link. There were a few things I wanted to test out. First, I tried using it to control Beatrice¡¯s body directly. Nothing. ¡°Beatrice,¡± I said, ¡°slap me.¡± She wasn¡¯t expecting that. I knew she would follow my commands anyways, so I had to make her do something she would never do. I could see her physical exertion to avoid moving toward me, but I didn¡¯t even need to use my Mind at all. The Kin Link worked instantly, and I received a sharp smack to the face. ¡°Mother! I am so so so so so-¡± ¡°Enough. How much did you struggle to resist my order?¡± ¡°I¡­ tried my hardest not to harm you.¡± This was a terrifying ability. The pitiful 0.0005% required for the link was enough for me to completely control Beatrice, forcing her to do what I wanted with no effort at all. I would have to be careful when issuing commands and take care not to force the bees to go against their will. Well, not too much, anyway. ¡°Alright, check that off the list.¡± ¡°Ah, I will make a list immediately!¡± Beatrice took my turn of phrase a bit too seriously, to the point that I could actually feel her using her Mind to create a mental list. With a sigh, I moved on to the next thing I wanted to test. ¡°Alright, now I¡¯ll see what happens if I increase the amount of Mind in your specific Link. You¡¯re at 0.0005% right now¡­ I¡¯ll bring it up to 1%.¡± ¡°Wait, Mo-¡± Before she could continue, I focused, and Beatrice dropped out of the sky. ¡°You idiot! What the hell are you doing, Enno!?¡± came the furious humming of Queen. ¡°I know, a bit risky, but I was sure I could dedicate tons of Mind to the Link,¡± I said, flustered. ¡°I didn¡¯t think such a small change would have this big of an effect!¡± Beatrice had only frozen for a moment before righting herself and looking around with a stupefied expression. ¡°I¡­ Mother¡­¡± she whispered, seemingly at a loss for words. Oh, man. What did I do this time? ¡°Ooookay. I¡¯m going to reset the Link now.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± she yelled, startling me. She hadn¡¯t been this intense about anything, and that was saying something. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°With this much power, there is something I must do. I can¡­¡± For a moment, nothing happened. A buzzing feeling slowly built up, something I felt through my link. As the buzzing hit a crescendo, Beatrice¡¯s posture straightened even further, and her 6 arms- or legs?- folded behind her back. I could immediately feel a difference in her Mind through the Link, a feeling of order and organization. I hurriedly reset the Link only to allocate 0.0005%, but something stopped me. What? [Kin Link: (0.01%) A Mind connection with produced offspring offered to certain species. Allows for enhanced communication and control of related kin. Slightly enhances the capabilities of the linked kin¡¯s Mind. Breakdown: ] The hell is an aide? [Name: Beatrice] [Age: 1 day] [Subtype: Aide] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 2nd Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 90%] [Mind Locks: ] There was¡­ a lot to take in here. Beatrice¡¯s menu looked like it belonged to an entirely different creature, losing some abilities and gaining new ones, a new subtype, and even a Mind Lock! I did a quick calculation and promptly smacked my head. What was I thinking?! I had casually increased the Lock by nearly 200,000%! Considering how strong my Mind apparently was, I was lucky not to kill Beatrice or something! [Subtype: Aide Of the Bee species. Managerial servant of the Queen. Capabilities include {Aide Report} and {Aide Authority} unique abilities, siphoning of additional power from the Queen. ] [Aide Report: Level 1 Acquired by: Self-evolution into a unique subtype, Aide A comprehensive report of Hive statistics. Summaries can be sent to the Queen or those with the relevant authority. Level up: additional information added to report ] [Aide Authority: Level 1 Acquired by: Self-evolution into a unique subtype, Aide An evolution in hive hierarchy. Authority is only below that of the Queen. Grants a degree of control over lower-authority bees. Level up: further control over lower bees ] [Queen¡¯s Wisdom: (5%) Higher intelligence and deeper understanding are obtained through the connection with the Queen¡¯s Mind. ] What. The. Fuck. ¡°Beatrice. Explain yourself this instant, young lady!¡± Motherly was the perfect tone to use here. This was insane; nothing could have prepared me for changes this drastic in such a narrow time frame. I only got more unsettled when Beatrice adjusted her antennae like glasses. They weren¡¯t actually damn glasses! ¡°I would say my menu is quite self-explanatory.¡± Of course. Self-explanatory. Right. ¡°Then how do you explain losing your abilities?¡± ¡°No clue.¡± Ah. Alright. Of course. ¡°Then how exactly do you expect to expand the hive if you can¡¯t make wax?¡± ¡°...¡± No answer for that, huh? ¡°I can still make wax. It just¡­ will not be as flexible,¡± Beatrice explained, ¡°If more workers are created¡­.¡± ¡°I told you! Start. Small!¡± ¡°Do not worry. With my new management capabilities, it will be possible to raise several capable children. Five should suffice for now.¡± I was not about to make five eggs at once, at least not at the moment. Dealing with Beatrice was exhausting, and I had barely interacted with her for a single day. Interacting with even more people would drain me instantly. Still, her personality and behavior deviated from the norm of what I expected of an average worker. Queen herself had stressed the lack of individuality in a hive, bees being unnamed. And yet here was Beatrice, just doing her own thing. This entire situation seemed wildly unfair. Just by letting Beatrice borrow a bit of my Mind power, she was able to make herself evolve? No, something else had to be at work here. I thought back through everything, from creating Beatrice¡¯s egg to her new evolution. Despite being the lowest-tier worker and using minimal Mind, Beatrice emerged from the egg fully formed and full of spunk. Naming her had caused an actual, physical change, but what that was hadn¡¯t been apparent. Now, she had managed to create an entirely unique evolutionary path for herself using a fraction of my power. How the hell did this even work? With a bit more Mind power, Beatrice had changed herself and changed her system. This went way beyond the simplicity of psychic powers. She was using Mind and this world¡¯s system in a way I hadn¡¯t even begun to think of. Just with that extra push from my own Mind, she manifested her desires into reality. To make matters worse, Beatrice was now useless as a typical grunt. Beatrice¡¯s sudden evolution put a bit of a kink in my dubiously formed plan. I had intended to learn more about what my bee offspring would be by observing her. Plus, if she couldn¡¯t do the labor to make the hive, that meant I had to make actual workers. More egg laying. I had no choice. Soon I would have to create more children to actually begin with the hive¡¯s development. Begin¡­ making¡­ eggs¡­ It was then that I realized something horrid. ¡°Oh god. I¡¯ll never be alone again¡­.¡± ¡°Mother¡­ I- The hive will always be here for you.¡± Not like that, idiot. Whatever. For now, I needed an excuse to stall before making the first actual batch of eggs became a reality. Thunder rumbled, a constant source of irritation in the otherwise noiseless forest. Perfect. Beatrice¡¯s sudden transformation only heightened my curiosity about Mind¡¯s potential, and there was an obvious way to research those possibilities. ¡°Beatrice, let¡¯s go,¡± I said, rising into the air, ¡°I want to investigate the abnormal phenomena in this forest before I begin creating the hive. The humans that caused this destruction are clearly developed in their understanding of Mind, and if we learn from their remnants, then the power of our Mind will increase.¡± Without another word, I began floating towards the nearest crystal shard, trusting Beatrice to fall in step behind me. ¡°But the hive¡­.¡± I ignored her. Before Beatrice had shown up with the squirrel gang, I was contemplating the possibilities of Mind, coming to a wall when it came to its potential. The various supernatural phenomena around the broken forest implied Mind had way more potential than I initially expected, and Beatrice¡¯s transformation confirmed it. The most in-your-face example would be the skyscraper-sized crystals jutting out of the ground. The closest one was not even a kilometer from the temporary base, so the trip would not take long. On the way, one of those vulture monsters looked like it was flying a bit too close, so I decided to preemptively give it the ol¡¯ neck twist. Unlike the Mister Squirrel incident, I decided to start safely. It came as a bit of a shock when 3% was enough to kill the beast without destroying it. Did that mean it was twice as strong as a mister squirrel? Beatrice deftly caught the falling vulture corpse and brought it along, and I couldn¡¯t help but note that it was huge. If it were standing up, it would probably be as tall as a tree! Beatrice complained about the quality of the monster¡¯s meat as we continued gliding toward the crystal. It didn¡¯t make much difference to me. I could only stomach the wild animal meat on the ground because it had already been ¡®cooked.¡¯ Eating nothing but charred, gamey meat was already starting to wear me down, and I was just getting started in this new life. As we approached the towering shiny mass, I noticed something odd. The hairs on my body stood on end and my heart began to race. Electricity. I stopped in my tracks. Thunder roared overhead again, and I finally saw why lightning never seemed to accompany it. The crystal glowed slightly as the rolling sounds quieted. Considering the dark gray clouds hid the top of the crystal, I could guess as easily as anyone that the crystals acted like massive lightning rods. But for what purpose? ¡°What shall we do about the¡­ ¡®electric crystal¡¯?¡± ¡°Do you even know what those words mean?¡± ¡°She likely has some level of understanding from the Link.¡± ¡°I have some level of understanding from the Link.¡± Thinking of making more bees gave me a headache. I could barely deal with two foreign voices in my head, not even considering my own. A hive of thousands of bees? Impossible. That said, I was¡­ hesitant to deal with the crystals any further. Annoying. I had been fascinated with electricity in my old life, enough to make a career involving it. Now just because of one traumatic event, I was totally paranoid about electricity? Stupid. ¡°I¡¯m going to bring back samples of the different phenomena from throughout the forest. Hopefully, experimenting with them will inspire a revelation about Mind.¡± With those words, I lifted a stone from the ground and smashed it against the crystal, breaking off a decently sized chunk of the stuff. It was quite cathartic, really. I didn''t have to hold back, taking out the building exhaustion of the past few days on this random giant crystal. Now, time to collect some rocks. Chapter 7 - Humans can’t be Beeat ¡°I¡¯m busy.¡± ¡°But Mother, give birth-¡± ¡°Busy!¡± Yup. Still didn¡¯t want to lay a bunch of eggs. ¡°You are a big baby, Enno. Just make the eggs and be done with it.¡± ¡°Baby? You¡¯re one to talk.¡± ¡°Mother?¡± Right, right. I had to try and separate the mental discussion between Queen and Beatrice. To be fair, ignoring them at the same time was easier to accomplish, considering they were hounding me about the same thing. After Beatrice and I had gathered some crystal fragments, a metal spike, and some glowing dirt, along with extra meat, we returned to the base to rest. If Queen had an internal clock, then I could assume I had been in this world somewhere in the realm of a couple of measly days. At that moment, I was furiously staring at a tiny crystal fragment, spinning a stick in my hand. Oh? Guess I hadn¡¯t kicked that habit, though I didn¡¯t even remember picking the stick up. Ah, it did pale in comparison to one of my beloved pens. Their weight, their shapely form, there was truly nothing like it. ¡°Eggs.¡± I dropped the twig. Fine! I¡¯ll lay some eggs, if nothing else, to stop the complaining. ¡°Fine, fine, enough. How many eggs did you say would be good, Beatrice?¡± ¡°Five, Mother.¡± Five. Hoo, boy, that was a lot. How would I even manage to accumulate enough mass at a time? ¡°Alright. Queen, any idea how much food I¡¯ll need to eat?¡± ¡°Simply create the eggs, and their form will demonstrate their readiness.¡± Well, that could have been more helpful. ¡°How about subtypes?¡± I asked. I was inclined to make a mix of warriors and workers so I wouldn¡¯t have to fight as much anymore¡­ ¡°It would be most efficient to create five workers. That way, we could create more favorable conditions with a preliminary hive, reducing the negative effects of unfavorable birthing conditions.¡± Beatrice stated clearly. It was pretty creepy to think this bee had literally been born yesterday and already sounded like an old manager I once had. She was practically an adult, likely in part because of the Link. Anyways, workers? ¡°Not a warrior or two?¡± ¡°Well, if you want to make six or seven eggs, then perhaps¡­.¡± ¡°Gotcha. Five eggs it is!¡± I got to work. Creating the five eggs with the skill took barely any effort. The annoying part was barfing up the mass required to finish the eggs¡¯ creation fully. Five small orbs floated before me, and I decided to run another little experiment at the last second. I doubled the amount of Mind used to create each egg. Of course, a worker only took 0.5%, plus the 50 percent penalty for unfavorable conditions. So I allocated 1% for each egg instead. I could already feel that the mass required would increase, so I prepared myself for a hellish few minutes. Minutes turned out to be hours. When I had run entirely out of digested food, the eggs were still not fully formed. Maybe the experiment with five eggs at once wasn¡¯t a great idea. The time required to finish the process ballooned as I consumed more food and waited for it to feel right to¡­ apply to the eggs. Eventually, my nasty task was completed, and five little orange bouncy balls sat before me. [{Egg Creation} Level up! -> Lv. 2 Rather than growth through quantity, you have achieved growth through quality. The Bee has recognized your efforts. Choose two Subtypes to unlock: Subtype choices: Special Subtypes unlocked: Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ] ¡°Whoah!¡± ¡°Mother? Is something the matter?¡± ¡°My ability leveled up! I can choose new bee subtypes.¡± ¡°Fantastic! Allow me to investigate the options¡­.¡± I let both Queen and Beatrice inspect the choices. They were the bee experts, and there really wasn¡¯t anything I was looking for in particular. I didn¡¯t plan on laying more eggs until it was absolutely necessary, so I was fine with pretty much any subtype choices. Too bad I couldn¡¯t have gotten this choice before I did a big batch. ¡°It may be easier to eliminate any options that are not particularly necessary at the moment. I would hope that these choices will remain in the future if you level the ability again,¡± Beatrice finally said. ¡°I agree. But¡­ they all sound so great! I would love all of them. Why must I choose!?¡± Well, besides the fact that I was the one who had to choose, some sounded way less interesting than others, and some were definitely not immediately useful. For example, Aide¡¯s Aide sounded interesting, but considering the small size of the hive, it likely wouldn¡¯t be much help at the moment. It would be pretty funny for there to be a secretary¡¯s secretary, though. ¡°Aide¡¯s Aide, Pollination Drone, and Swarm Warrior should be immediately rejected, in my estimation.¡± Beatrice finally said. I could agree with all of those. Besides Aide¡¯s Aide, this forest seemed way too dead for pollination specialists to help much, and swarm warriors sounded like they worked in big numbers, which we didn¡¯t have. And I didn¡¯t want to make a whole swarm of eggs. ¡°I think Construction Drone is a good option,¡± I added, ¡°Construction specialists would be a big help to quickly expand the hive.¡± ¡°Exactly my thoughts, Mother. I would also suggest Gathering Drones so as to bolster our food stores.¡± Hmm. While I agreed with Beatrice¡¯s reasoning, I leaned more towards Force Warrior. It just sounded cool. ¡°I was thin-¡± ¡°We can also completely disregard useless options such as the various warrior types. Such things would be foolish to consider.¡± Ah. ¡°-king, the exact thing you, uh. Just said. About warriors.¡± ¡°As expected, Mother. In that case, we can safely select Construction and Gathering Drones to prepare for the next clutch.¡± Oooooh, please don¡¯t call the eggs a clutch; that¡¯s just too weird to think about. I gloomily selected Construction and Gathering Drones. As specialists, they took a greater minimum Mind to create, but not much, only 0.80% and 0.85%, respectively. Either way, I wouldn''t be making these for a hot minute. Now it was just time to wait for the eggs to hatch. ¡°I shall begin formulating a roadmap for the hive¡¯s expansion. Please excuse me as I grab a bite to eat and get to work.¡± It was a relief to see Beatrice leave. Finally, some peace and quiet. ¡°You are the Queen now! Who cares what Beatrice wants? Do what you want!¡± Finally, almost some peace and quiet. Queen was probably right, but this was theoretically Beatrice¡¯s job. Might as well let her do her thing. Now, as for Queen. I felt bad about what I was about to do, but I didn¡¯t really have a choice. As far as I had seen, humans were the key to my success in this world. And where was my best source of information on humans? ¡°Alright, Queen, it¡¯s about time,¡± I interjected, ¡°I need you to tell me everything you can remember about humans.¡± She didn¡¯t like that. ¡°I would much prefer not to discuss humans, Enno. They are unimportant beasts.¡± ¡°I highly doubt that, considering how powerful they seem to be.¡± I gave Queen time to think. Through my time with her, I knew she wasn¡¯t dumb. Even if her consciousness was barely there before I came along, I knew she was special in some way. If anime has taught me anything, you don¡¯t become the sole survivor of your destroyed family for nothing. Queen¡¯s humming started again, slowly building until it encompassed my brain, drowning my thoughts. Images rather than words appeared, a glimpse into the bee¡¯s tortured memory¡­ ______________ ______________ Hot. The Hive is hot, good. Too hot, bad. Outside, fire. Attack the enemy that threatens the Hive. Mother? Flee? We must defend the Hive! Tall creatures stepped through the flames. They wore shiny shells. Stingers useless. The children swarmed, but their vibrating heat was nothing to the creatures¡¯ flames. They held shiny sticks that exploded, destroying warriors in an instant. Humans. Fear. Why fear, Mother? We are many. They are few. But the few were stronger. Mother¡¯s fear became mine. One human pulsed. That one wore no shell. A Mind that could rival Mother? It took Mother, studied her. No! I cannot flee. I must save Mother. I must save the Hive! Another human pulsed, also without shell. The flames washed over me, too much heat. I flew away. No. I flew back. Must save Mother! I could feel her. Mother was angry with me. She eliminated our connection! The family panicked, cut off from Mother. Mother pushed, trying to bring the weak humans into our Hive. To control them. She failed. Despite her powerful Mind, the humans were prepared. They could not be broken. One of the crystals that had suddenly appeared glowed. An angry human. The sky fell upon the Hive. The decision. My regret. I abandoned the Hive. I abandoned Mother. The sky destroyed the Hive, but it only grazed me. I was the only one who decided to listen to Mother. To flee. I hid. I weakened my own Mind, hiding from the monsters. The humans. The world burned. The sky crushed the ground. I would die alone. I do not want to be alone. ______________ ______________ The images faded. Okay, wow. There was a lot to digest in that literal flashback. Humans were scary. I didn¡¯t know whether Queen¡¯s perception shaped her memories or if the images were an exact replica of what she saw, but the humans appeared as an imposing, impossible force that couldn¡¯t be defeated. Strength meant nothing. Numbers meant nothing. ¡°Do you see now? Humans cannot be reasoned with or fought. They are monsters which we must avoid or strategically destroy.¡± Queen¡­ She had told me about her hive¡¯s destruction. Hell, I had seen the ruins of the hive myself! Seeing her family get destroyed in front of her through her eyes was a completely different experience. The terror of humans seemed so much more real¡­No, I had to think rationally. I was a human once. Even in a fantasy world, humans were humans. What I was seeing was humans from another perspective, from the standpoint of an arguably sentient race of animals. What I had witnessed was classic human behavior towards nature and other humans alike. Besides Queen¡¯s mother, none of the bees were prepared to take on humans. Their natural weapons were useless against the shiny clothes, which seemed like some sort of metallic armor. Their Mind Link was ineffective against the humans¡¯ mental defenses. It shouldn¡¯t have been surprising. Humans are a paranoid species. We naturally compensate for our weaknesses with innovation, so mental defenses are a reasonable development against creatures with stronger Minds, like the bees. Simply put, humans were humans. Which meant I had only one thing to fear. Experience. With my human knowledge and way of thinking, I could easily go toe to toe with the humans of this world if they threatened me. They made mental defenses? Well, I could just as quickly reverse-engineer and crush those defenses. As I expected, the issue came in the form of experience. Humans in this world have been working with Mind for as long as it has existed, just as humans in my world worked with what we had. I still didn¡¯t know exactly how they did magical stuff like the electric crystals or the fire, but even these humans used Mind like typical telekinesis. Given time and effort, I could definitely maintain a strong position. The humans¡¯ motivation for destroying the forest was still somewhat unclear. I could safely conclude that the bees were not the campaign¡¯s focus but rather another obstacle within the forest. Unfortunately, Queen¡¯s point of view didn¡¯t grant further clues on that end. I knew humans. If they weren¡¯t here now, I would have a good chunk of time to work with where humans were not an immediate threat. If they decided to begin settling here, that¡¯s when there would be problems. Considering their strength, it would probably be better to just make a mutually beneficial deal with them. Queen shuddered in disgust at the thought. Sorry, Queen, but humans were not something to antagonize in my old world, and this world didn¡¯t seem much different. Now, there was only one more glaring issue. Something I hadn¡¯t wanted to address because of the fear it instilled. A detail that completely turned my view of my situation on its head and made me question everything. This world had fucking guns. Chapter 8 - Beeware the Dangers of this World ¡°Guns?¡± ¡°Yup. Guns.¡± ¡°Um. Okay?¡± No, of course Queen wouldn¡¯t understand the magnitude of this discovery, but there was no mistaking those shiny exploding sticks for anything else. Guns. A hallmark of modern warfare and human evolution. The invention of the gun changed my world forever, so what did that mean for this world? ¡°Queen, is this a medieval fantasy world?¡± ¡°As usual, I have no idea what those words mean.¡± This was a big problem. If this world had guns, it might not be the medieval fantasyland I had anticipated, despite being a magical bee monster with magical squirrel monster things and literal magic crystals and fire and shit. Now, a more modern world itself wasn¡¯t exactly a problem. Well, maybe it was. The main issue was knowledge. The ¡®transported to another world¡¯ stories I had experience with were high fantasy ones. I knew the genre had expanded dramatically since my own experience with it, but the ones I had read were all medieval fantasy worlds. Though my exact knowledge had deteriorated, I had at least felt some degree of confidence in my ability to navigate a distantly familiar situation. A modern world was another story. Considering the humans in Queen¡¯s memory seemed to be wearing some kind of metal armor, I assumed this world wasn¡¯t quite as modern as my own. Maybe closer to the 1600s style or a few centuries earlier than that. Of course, I had no idea exactly how sophisticated these guns were, so any guesses would be shaky at best. Queen¡¯s memory just showed them as metal rods whose ends exploded. And with the unknown potential of Mind, who knows? Maybe these guns have existed in this world for ages, made possible with some crazy mind power. I tried to push these musings to the back of my mind. As interesting and terrifying as the revelation was, it was not immediately helpful. I wanted Queen¡¯s knowledge so I could make Mind more powerful to ensure my immediate survival. Grudgingly, I turned my thoughts to the hive. After seeing those memories, the reality of the hive¡¯s importance only grew more apparent. Each new piece of information shattered my delusions that I could eternally avoid expanding into a large hive for survival. Humans are weak alone. This was true on Earth, and it was true here. As much as I hated to admit it, I needed others to survive. All the comforts and innovations of my old human society came about because humans strengthened each other. Bees used numbers to make the whole stronger, but humans used numbers to make each human stronger. This was a unique position. I could do both. I would make the hive stronger and each bee stronger, using the strengths of both species. I would be prepared for anything this mysterious world could throw at me. ¡°Mother, there is an urgent matter we must discuss. If possible, could you meet me at the food pile?¡± Beatrice¡¯s voice unexpectedly echoed in my head. I sighed, slowly floating out of the tree. For now, I would have to take full advantage of what I had. ___________ ¡°...Excuse me?¡± ¡°Yes, the number of scavengers seems to have increased. Considering both this discovery and the eventual rotting of the corpses, food will become an issue much more quickly than expected.¡± Beatrice laid out her report with her way-too-good posture. This was unpleasant information for several reasons. Food would indeed become an issue in terms of the mass barbecue, but the bodies of scavengers would do in a pinch. For the hive, not for me. This was disastrous for me. I didn¡¯t want to eat uncooked squirrel meat! Of course, the fact that more scavengers were showing up was in itself a problem. Besides my personal strength, our hive still hadn¡¯t even gotten started. I was hopeful that I could get a head-start over any competition by building a hive and army before the forest attracted attention, but I suppose it was not to be. ¡°Hm, so the five new workers should probably be entirely focused on gathering¡­.¡± I muttered. We needed to amass food as quickly as possible. ¡°That is quite brave of you, Mother.¡± Huh? Brave? Making the bees do work was brave somehow? ¡°Ah, yes. And why exactly is that so brave? Care to explain?¡± I asked. My options were either to seem like an idiot to Beatrice or worry my ass off about her unknown expectations. Better to seem stupid and use Beatrice¡¯s apparently giant brain to my advantage. She looked at me strangely for a moment before pounding her, uh, fist into her, ah, hand. ¡°Oho! I see. Very well, Mother, I shall take this simple test.¡± I was just asking her a question. How had she interpreted it?! The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°The matter of safety is at stake. For one thing, as competition for food shall be fierce, our stockpile will have to be defended against intruders. For another, the workers may not be capable of defending themselves if faced with danger. The responsibility would then fall to you, and you would have to split your attention between an unguarded food stockpile and our scattered forces. This could be amended if a defensible hive were constructed as quickly as possible or weak warriors were created in a rush, but you choose to take on the responsibilities all on your own.¡± Oh. I must have had a weird look on my face because Beatrice noticeably deflated. What the hell? I¡¯m the one that should be looking that sad! ¡°Was that answer not acceptable, Mother? I apologize, but I cannot think of other risks at the moment,¡± Beatrice moaned. Why did she seem genuinely distressed? Was it something I said? ¡°It¡¯s alright. I just didn¡¯t expect that many risks¡­.¡± ¡°Understood. I will do better at analyzing our situation in the future.¡± That wasn¡¯t- Aw, whatever. Beatrice seemed satisfied, and if she was going to make my life easier, I wouldn¡¯t complain. In any case, the news was alarming. I wasn¡¯t overly worried about the strength of the scavengers. The squirrels and even the vulture weren¡¯t very powerful, and I just needed to figure out the right amount of Mind to use to snap their necks or something. However, that was against one, maybe a handful of creatures at a time. Would I be able to concentrate on dozens, hundreds of squirrels at once? Once again, I questioned the limits of Mind. I had recently used it to almost instantly kill a bunch of squirrels. I had to concentrate, but it was a quick bump where Tapped Mind went from 0 to less than 10 and back to 0 very quickly. It seemed overpowered. But then there was the aftermath of the Mister Squirrel incident. I hadn¡¯t used enough Mind at that moment to instantly kill Mister Squirrel, so he resisted somehow. A creature I could kill with barely 1.5% of my power had nearly destroyed me just by resisting. If I made a mistake and incorrectly predicted how much Mind to use against something, I could be in trouble. Of course, exhaustion would play a part. The nature of my being tired was insanely inconsistent. I got tired from making eggs and getting countered in a Mind battle, but I could also kill dozens of creatures without breaking a sweat. Beatrice waited patiently. Right. We had to act before the sudden influx of scavengers flooded our part of the forest. Our proximity to water would cause fierce competition, too. ¡°Beatrice,¡± I said, determination setting in, ¡°Enough research and thinking. It¡¯s time to act.¡± __________ Darkness and warmth surrounded us. The only light came from a hole in the giant tree trunk and the five eggs on the verge of hatching. Beatrice and I had no choice but to make a rudimentary shelter. I had tried sharpening some sticks to put in the ground to keep scavengers away from our food, but I underestimated how brittle burned sticks could be. Or how bad I was at sharpening sticks. At some point, I gave up and just buried the food. After this chore was taken care of, I would experiment with better protective measures using Mind. Yeah, it was gross, but for now, we needed to care for the eggs and prepare for them to hatch. I think Queen¡¯s influence was starting to affect me even more. An egg twitched. ¡°Mother! Mother! Mot-¡± ¡°Shush, Beatrice.¡± Why was Beatrice so excited? She had practically been born yesterday, was watching an egg hatch really that amazing? The anticipation was mounting. I was less excited and more freaking out. One new face was one thing. Five at once? How was I even supposed to handle that? When I first laid them, I was a bit more open to the idea of having an army of bees, but seeing Beatrice, now I wasn¡¯t so sure. She had such an individual personality, such a sense of uniqueness. She felt like a person I had to interact with. And now I had made five more. ¡°Here they come! Yaaay, welcome, babies!¡± Queen shouted, the first egg cracking as she did so. The eggs cracked and opened one by one to reveal five disgusting little blobs. ¡°Wow, that is seriously gross,¡± I blurted out. ¡°How DARE you?!¡± Was I wrong, though? I was expecting five more Beatrices, not a bunch of slimy grubs. ¡°Ah, it feels like just yesterday I clambered out of my own egg¡­.¡± Before I could comment on the irony of Beatrice¡¯s remark, the blobby grubs began to spasm. Queen¡¯s disturbed humming told me this¡­ wasn¡¯t normal. A pulsing feeling emanated from the blobs, a feeling I recognized as the Kin Link. The blob from the first egg twitched faster and faster, turning from a pale, colorless gray to sickly shades of black and yellow. In mere moments the blob stretched and hardened, icky skin replaced with furry hair and chitin. Its shape morphed into something more closely resembling Beatrice, albeit slightly thicker. Six lumps exploded into long arms, each more than twice as large as Beatrice¡¯s. The transformation lasted less than a minute, and when it finished, a burly bee person sat before us. ¡°...What just happened?¡± Great question, Queen. I was just as confused. The other four blobs quickly followed the first¡¯s example, morphing from formless grubs into fully-developed bee people in moments. Before long, five bees sat in front of us, looking around curiously. There was the first one, a thick and burly bee with strong-looking arms and a comically small head. The second was tiny, even smaller than Beatrice. That one was somehow already trying to fly around the tree trunk and investigate its surroundings. The third was concerningly thin, with antennae as long as its entire body. The last two were nearly identical, and I could only tell them apart through my Link to them. ¡°Mother! Hungry!¡± The shouts of five little bees clattered around in my head. Yup. This was gonna suck. ¡°Beatrice, can you show the new guys the food?¡± At my words, Beatrice snapped out of her reverie. She seemed purely excited, with no concern or confusion to be found. ¡°Of course! If you five would be so kind as to follow me, I will direct you towards food. I know how hungry you must be!¡± They took off, patiently following Beatrice out of the tree and towards the underground food pile. Now. ¡°Queen. What in the goddamn did I just witness.¡± ¡°For once, Enno, we are completely on the same page. That is NOT what I was expecting at all.¡± Should I really be so confused? These were magic bees that came out of magic eggs that I made out of brain magic and vomit. At first, I had just been weirded out by the transformation, but Queen¡¯s disgust and confusion were far more concerning. ¡°What were you expecting, exactly?¡± ¡°I¡­ Well¡­ Whenever my mother birthed children, their eggs would be similar to the ones we are now laying. When they hatch, those cute little grubs are the next stage of our lives. That is where the deviation occurred. It should take a few days of feeding and care for the children¡¯s bodies to develop into uniform drones.¡± My weird human bees had gone through the stages of life normally until the grub stage, then. Something caused their growth to accelerate rapidly. Not only that, but they were supposed to be uniform, and this batch of bees was anything but. ¡°You had never made eggs before?¡± ¡°No. It was not yet my responsibility.¡± ¡°Hm¡­ and Beatrice¡¯s quick maturity didn¡¯t tip you off that something was wrong?¡± ¡°I was¡­ excited.¡± Great. I hadn¡¯t given it much thought when I saw Beatrice fully formed after less than a day, mostly expecting to wave it away as ¡®magic bee things.¡¯ If it was unusual for Queen, that probably meant that there was something afoot. ¡°The obvious explanation is me. Something about our combined minds affects the growth and development of the bees we make.¡± ¡°Then the children are already corrupted from birth. The strangeness that is Beatrice cannot be fully prevented.¡± ¡®Corrupted¡¯ seemed like a harsh description. In other words, no matter how hard we tried, we would inevitably create an army of unique individuals rather than an organized beehive. ¡°Beatrice went full Beatrice after she both got named and received a boost from the Kin Link experiment. Skipping either of those two steps could prevent a full-on Beatrice-ening.¡± The Beatrice analogies got a little mixed up, but the point was clear. The bee children already had nearly full autonomy and individuality from birth; there was no preventing that. However, by withholding names and Mind, they probably wouldn¡¯t become as strong-willed as Beatrice. What a dilemma. On the one hand, I really didn¡¯t want to have to deal with five more people so soon, especially considering I would never get a break from them. On the other hand, there were clear benefits. Beatrice might be a bit strange, but her potential contributions to making my life easier couldn¡¯t be understated. If these five new guys became highly specialized workers with expertise in their craft, I might not need to overpopulate. I decided on a course of action. I would name these five new bees but not change their Links, then experiment with more Mind Locks. Sure, scavengers were beginning to overrun this broken forest, and humans might show up at any second, but I still wasn¡¯t in a desperate rush. I waited for the five new children to return from their feast so I could name them, the distant screech of vultures barely registering through my brainstorm of names that start with Be-. Chapter 9 - The Hive Five Buzzing filled the hollow tree trunk as six young bees hovered in wait. I eyed each of them closely, save for Beatrice. It was naming time. I had chosen Beatrice''s name on a whim. I mean, it was just too good to pass up. But how was I supposed to come up with five new names all at once? "Ahem," I started. Let''s start with getting to know them a bit. "First off, are there any names you would prefer?" Silence. The smallest bee practically shook with excitement and finally blurted an answer. "Ooh ooh, I wanna be The Great Adventurer Lord of the Hive!" It said, voice nearly vibrating. Huh? What sort of name was that? I looked at the smallest more closely. Its voice was vaguely masculine, in a boyish sort of way. He (as far as I could tell) was about the size of my head but was more hyperactive than the other four newborns combined. His little comment about his desired name told me he was the adventurous type, and I remembered how he had flown around the tree trying to investigate it as soon as he had been born. "That''s a bit long. How about Ben?" ¡°Oh¡­ Ben¡­¡± Oh, man. He didn''t seem happy about that. I thought it was an OK name, though¡­ "Ben," Beatrice said firmly, already using the new name, "This is the queen, your Mother, you are speaking to. Have some respect! Be grateful for the name she grants upon you so graciously!" She got a little weird there at the end, but I wasn''t too concerned about the naming. Anything was fine as long as I could remember them... "No¡­ Ben¡­ Is the best name I''ve ever heard!" Ben suddenly shouted. This guy''s positivity was practically blinding. Like, no, seriously, it''s hurting my brain. Ben''s emotions were blasting me full force through the Link, intensifying after I had named him. I needed to figure out some way to organize the Link better. Right now, it was just a jumble of feelings and thoughts assaulting me from all sides. I just wanted to get this naming over with so I could play with Mind some more. "Alright, that wasn''t so bad. How about the rest of you? It might help me give you a name if you tell me something about yourself." I wasn''t expecting much. They were just born, after all. I mainly wanted to see if their personalities were as apparent as Ben''s. Hopefully, that would inspire me a little. The newborn bees hesitated. Then, finally, the big one spoke up. "I don''t have a preference, but I would like a name," the giant spoke in a surprisingly soft and feminine tone. She was by far the largest of the five new children, almost as big as me. Her arms were massive. I wonder what she was inclined to do? Since the bees were born with personalities, it was reasonable to assume they would have specialties or passions that they felt most comfortable doing, and that was fine by me. Very human-like. "Er, Bess?" "I like it. Thanks, Mother." Bess said, Beatrice nodding along. Wait, was Beatrice writing these down in her Mind? Was she going to record everything I did? "Ooh, me next, Mother!" "Maybe we should let the other go first?" The two identical bees pushed each other like bickering twins. Well, considering how alike they looked, that seemed about right. Were... were those eyelashes? On bees? That didn''t even make sense! "Bella and Belle!" They seemed happy with that. Beatrice tapped me on the shoulder. "Er, Mother. I apologize, but¡­ which is which?" Great question. The twin-like sisters felt totally different in my Link, but physically they looked exactly the same. "Which one of you wants to be Belle?" Surprisingly, the more toned-down sister jumped at the chance and chose the name. That left the spunky one to be Bella. "Now, last but not least," I pronounced. Yup, definitely not least if Queen''s dreams of a flourishing hive came true. Anyways, the last bee was a bit odd. Painfully skinny with super-long antennae, they had stayed quiet the entire time. Were they the silent type? I was immediately proven wrong. A melodious tune buzzed in my head, flashing colors and sounds and sights. Wow. "Your voice is¡­ beautiful. I''ll call you Beck." Beck seemed satisfied, humming a pleasant little jingle. The others emitted feelings of jealousy about my compliment, but in my defense, Beck''s voice totally caught me off guard. Unlike the others, Beck''s thoughts hadn''t gotten translated into my native language like the rest of the bees, instead giving me a clear idea of what Beck was thinking without words. That is, they really, really liked to talk. Ironic. The five bees chattered as Beatrice finished her notes. I asked her if she had an idea of who would be doing what, considering I have no idea what it is bees need to do to make a hive. "Worry not, Mother. Through your wisdom, I have discerned a preliminary judgment of the personalities of the five new children. I will use my knowledge to ensure that their personalities fit their task, as your knowledge tells me that will be most efficient." Huh. Beatrice was pretty reliable, wasn''t she? "I could''ve done that too¡­." "Queen, are you¡­ jealous that Beatrice is going to order these guys around?" "No way! I just¡­ never got to be the queen of my own hive¡­." The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Ouch. Hadn''t thought of that. Unfortunately, leaving things up to Beatrice was probably best for everyone. I guess I could involve myself in the process a little to cheer Queen up¡­ "Beatrice? Let''s work together in these early stages. I need at least a basic understanding of how the hive will function." Beatrice nodded with tears in her eyes. Tears? Was she misinterpreting things again? "I see. Well, I have a clear plan for Bess, Beck, and Ben. Bess''s strength makes her a prime gatherer, Beck''s senses would allow them to investigate the area thoroughly, and Ben''s energy would make him a good builder. As for Bella and Belle, I am still unsure." Hm. Something seemed off with Beatrice''s assessment. "How much did you take their personalities into account?" "Heavily. Energetic, strong, sensory. Why do you ask?" "...I think your definition of personality is a bit wonky." "Wonky, Mother?" "Well, Ben seems much more like an explorer than Beck, no?" I asked. It seemed clear to me that Ben was adventurous, so why not let him fulfill his exploratory nature and scout out the area all at once? Two birds and all that. "I¡­ suppose abundant energy could work for exploration¡­." Ah, Beatrice. So young. So naive. She was smart but lacked that touch of experience that comes from living for more than a single day. "How does exploring sound to you, Ben?" I worried that I had set off a Mind bomb in Ben''s head because he suddenly started spasming. Oh, wait. He was just excited. "Explore?! Oh yes, I can do that! Here I gooo-" he tried to immediately take off through the exit, but I grabbed him with just a pinch of Mind, careful not to squeeze too hard. "Sit still for a second. Beatrice will assign your work and make sure you know what to do." "Okay!" Geez. I glanced at Beatrice. Were those tears again?! "You see, Beatrice. You can also ask them. If they do what they like most, their work will undoubtedly be top-notch." "Absolutely, Mother! I will aspire to the great heights you establish!" Fantastic. With that, I floated out of the tree to do some Mind shenanigans. ___________________ "How appetizing." "I''m doing my best, okay?" Queen was referring to a floating ball of ash, dirt, and salt. A ball that currently contained every scrap of food we had gathered. After the naming and beginning the job assignments, I wanted to experiment with Mind Locks, so I left Beatrice to finish up. Even though I still didn''t understand how the humans did what they did or even how Beatrice managed to evolve herself, I had plenty of wiggle room to experiment with. [Tapped Mind: Current Mind capacity: 93.9875% Currently Tapped Mind: 1.6% Tapped Breakdown: ] [Mind Locks: ] I had more than 93% of super awesome psychic powers to use for¡­ pretty much anything. They were wasting away just sitting in my bee brain! Thinking of how many named bees would be buzzing around, I wondered if I would even be able to remember them all, even with this crazy Mind power. Actually¡­ I gently set the dirt ball on the ground and began to think. Listening and talking to Queen and Beatrice had already become tough, and communicating would be challenging with five more bees and an undetermined amount on the way. Psychic powers were closely related to thoughts, right? Could I create a Mind Lock to organize my brain? "Queen, could you say some random stuff? Just talk a bunch about whatever." "Strange request, but I can do that. Hey Enno, you should make more children and also be nicer to our poor kids. Give them lots of praise and feed them good food and keep them warm and make sure they grow up big and strong and¡­." Perfect. As Queen continued rambling about whatever crossed her mind, I tried to focus on her voice. I imagined my brain being separated into categories, and pressure began to build until¡­ [Mind Lock: {Compartmentalization} created] Well. That was easy. I didn''t feel much different, though. I checked my Locks, and the reason became clear. [Mind Locks: ] Interesting. I could make Locks that didn''t use Mind? What did they¡­ do? For simplicity''s sake, I allotted 1% to the new Lock. My brain exploded. ¡°Turn¡­ it¡­ OFF!" My chest heaved. My vision blurred. Wha. Disabling the Lock was the best I could do. My breaths were shallow and quick as I recovered from the sudden pain. What the hell was that? "That was worse than mister squirrel''s counter-attack¡­ urgh." You''re telling me. I had migraines in my previous life that were more pleasant than that! What exactly had I done wrong? "Argh! Why can''t this System make more damn sense!" This was pissing me off. How could something be so easy yet so impossible?! I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. Okay. Where might I have gone wrong? The Lock itself likely wasn''t the problem. [Compartmentalization (1%) - Disabled CompartMENTALize your brain. Organize and increase the efficiency of thoughts. Allows for true thought multitasking. Works in conjunction with {Combined Minds}. ] It had been created and had a description and everything. In that case, was it the allotted Mind? I wasn''t exactly sure how allocating too much Mind to make my¡­ mind work better was detrimental. Maybe I had been underestimating my power. Considering the tiny amount required to Link to the other bees, I decreased the allotted Mind to just 0.01%, just like Beatrice''s Link. With just a bit of trepidation, I enabled the Lock. My brain exploded¡­ slightly less? "Mother, the workers will begin their tasks now." Perfect timing! My brain still hurt, but I could still function, so this would be a decent test. Beatrice''s words sounded loud and clear. "This is quite fascinating. Our thoughts were one, but they almost feel separate now. Separate, yet together." Queen''s words were also loud and clear but different from before. It almost felt like I had two brains, one listening to Beatrice and one listening to Queen. Queen''s observation was also interesting. We still felt connected, but now it felt like she could think without interrupting my own thoughts. "Man, this is cool!" "I agree, Mother. It is quite cool that the workers are working." "That- Yes, it is. What have you got them doing?" She didn''t need to answer. Ben shot out of the tree base, shouting something about ''adventure'' and ''greatness'' as he rocketed towards the forest wasteland. Besides Belle and Beck, the rest of the newbies followed Ben out of the tree and got to work on various tasks. Bess was inspecting the dead tree''s outer shell and various sticks and stones, and Bella ventured out into the forest in a much calmer manner than Ben. "Ben has made it painfully clear that he wishes to explore the forest. Bess has expressed interest in constructing a more suitable hive, and Bella seemed¡­hungry?" "Oh, great! And the other two?" "Belle and Beck are¡­how should I say this? Odd. Belle seems aimless and wants to do nothing more than observe the old eggshells. Beck just wants to¡­ talk." Hm. I''m sure both of them would come around to some job eventually. Also, wow, this new Lock was really weird to experience. While Beatrice had gone on explaining the various tasks she had assigned, I could simultaneously peek into the minds of the five newbies and have an inner dialogue without missing a word of Beatrice''s explanation. As the hive grows and I need to think about more things at once, this power would seriously come in handy. Yup, it would come in handy dealing with more newbies. Newbees. Goddamnit. "Good job, Beatrice. Oh, Bess, could you come over here?" Bess was startled by my call but flew over nonetheless. "Yes?" Beatrice snorted. "Mind your manners, Bess. Speak to Mother with the proper respect." "Sorry." Beatrice glared at Bess. I didn''t really mind the casual tone Bess had. It was less tiring than Beatrice''s and Queen''s overly formal and wordy speeches. "Bess. I''m gonna attempt to create a Lock that affects the world around me, something new. Since construction is your responsibility, I would have you advise me." I hadn''t used the Locks to do anything outside myself, discounting the Kin Link. Making a Lock to, for example, maintain an impenetrable ball of dirt and food would make sense, rather than concentrating on something so trivial all the time. I reformed the ball of dirt full of food. It took only about 0.5% to keep the ball''s shape and make it float, but I also wanted to protect it somehow. Floating it off the ground kept it away from underground scavengers, and the ball kept the vultures out. Three of them circled above at this very moment, so it was clear such measures were necessary. "A note. It''s fine to have the storage ball, but how will we reach food? How will we deposit food?" Great question. "So you see the issue. Any advice on what to do on those fronts?" I asked. I had noticed those issues while experimenting earlier, but I had no idea how to make the ball both accessible and impenetrable. Sort of contradictory. "The tree is currently posed to become the core of the hive. Making a sealed entrance between the ball and the tree would solve one issue. I''ll prepare the tree." Bess got to work, and I was surprised to see her seem to concentrate on the tree, a hexagonal pattern slowly being carved into the wood. Was it normal for workers to use Mind like this? Probably not. Oh, boy. A simple enough solution. Watching Bess work, I bet I could ask her to make some sort of support so I wouldn''t have to waste Mind on making the ball float. Minions were surprisingly helpful! Protection was a bit tougher. So far, my psychic manipulation had been kinda crude. Using Mind to make the ball super hard or make some kind of force field was beyond anything I''d tried so far. Oh well, guess this ball would take my first time. Chapter 10 - Beeady-eyed Birds I was about to do it for the first time. I had never done it before, so I was pretty nervous. Maybe it would feel good? Of course, I was talking about making a psychic force field. The ball of dirt floated in place, and I began thinking about how to make said force field. Could I just¡­ imagine an outer shell that repelled force? It was worth a shot. It took more concentration than I expected, but eventually, the air around the ball started becoming wavy. I floated over and tried to touch the ball but was repelled by some invisible force. Success! [Tapped Mind: Current Mind capacity: 93.9775% Currently Tapped Mind: 11.6% Tapped Breakdown: ] Failure! Ten freaking percent?! Why was this force field so fucking expensive?! The protection may be worth it, but that was way more than I wanted to just throw away. Well, I didn¡¯t exactly have many options at the moment. Maybe I could decrease the cost when I turned it into a Lock. Combining the tasks should be possible with a Lock. Looking at something like {Compartmentalization} or {Kin Link} or even Beatrice¡¯s Locks, the Lock system was pretty flexible. Making a ¡®folder¡¯ or otherwise grouping tasks together should be simple. [Mind Lock: Food Storage created] It was! It even had a relevant name. How kind of the system. The ball still floated, but I could probably modify the Lock later and remove the floating feature when proper supports were implemented. Hm? Something seemed off¡­ The ball was still floating. I never disabled the force field¡­ Did¡­ did I just create the Lock while also maintaining focus on the task? Holy hell. Holy shit. This was big. Huge, even. How did I do that? ¡°Perhaps it is related to the new Lock you made before?¡± That¡¯s it! If that was the case, {Compartmentalization} was way more overpowered than I initially thought. Prior, I had to stop focusing on a task to create a Lock since they both required massive amounts of concentration. Now that my brain could automatically separate tasks and think on multiple levels at once, I could make Locks and Tap Mind at the same time! The implications of this power flooded my head. Locks were a fascinating system. Creating them was easier based on feel. Knowing what it felt like to actually float made creating that Lock much easier. Now that I could do both at the same time, making Locks would be infinitely more convenient. Oh, man. That meant I could manipulate my Locks at will no matter the situation. Disabling and even modifying Locks took similar levels of concentration, so being able to manipulate them at all times was incredibly useful. As I basked in the new possibilities, Bella popped out of the forest with a mountain of food in tow. She seemed to be struggling under the load, but carrying that much was impressive for someone with a less powerful Mind. ¡°Sorry, Beatrice, I snagged a few bites for myself even though you said not to. Don¡¯t worry! Even after that little snack, I still found plenty of-¡± ¡°FOOD!¡± A foreign voice invaded my head. Before I could react, three dark shapes slammed into the ground in front of us, kicking up dust and ash. ¡°FOOD¡­GIVE.¡± Vultures. A trio of the eerie scavenger birds that had grown more numerous over the past days stood on the ground between Bella and the rest of us. They were huge! They could talk? They were ugly! My mind was racing. The vultures had just been another pest, thieves that decreased the abundant supply of barbecued meat around the forest. I hadn¡¯t paid them much attention, but I studied them more closely this time. Pitch-black feathers covered the majority of the creatures¡¯ massive bodies. Like the one I had killed on the way to one of the crystals, each one stood several meters tall, nearly reaching the top of some dead trees. Every inch of the birds was covered by feathers except their scaly faces, leathery skin attached to creepy beaks, and weird, beady eyes. Their wicked talons and sharp beaks were especially freaky. The one in the middle was the same size as the other two, but a particularly poofy bunch of feathers near its neck gave the impression that it wore some sort of feathery scarf. That one seemed¡­ different from the two by its side. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°GIVE¡­ FOOD!¡± I see. The middle one was the source of the screechy voice that echoed around my skull, the other two just making regular bird sounds. ¡°Begone, pests! That food is to become the nourishment of our young and of the glorious Mother!¡± Beatrice shouted. ¡°Yeah! I found this food fair and square! It¡¯s all min- I mean, it¡¯s all Mother¡¯s!¡± Nice save, Bella. I privately told both of them to be quiet. I hadn¡¯t expected this. The vultures themselves weren¡¯t a surprise, but their intelligence was. The middle vulture was smart enough to talk. Even further than that, they were threatening us. Essentially, we were being shaken down by thugs. It had been my understanding that the forest was full of brainless monsters, and if that were the case, we would be ruthlessly attacked. But these guys were taking the time to intimidate us and force our hands, which I somehow found much scarier than a straight-up divebombing. I had to act. The one vulture had taken 3% of my Mind to kill. There was no way the worker bees would be powerful enough to take on this trio on their own. Probably. I reached out with invisible hands. In the next instant, two vultures fell over, dead, their necks twisted at an unnatural angle. I got punched in the stomach. Or, that¡¯s what it felt like. A furious screech penetrated the silence, the middle vulture shooting into the air. 3% was enough to kill the henchmen, but not the boss. Just like the mister squirrel incident, an unbearable sickness overcame me. Goddammit, not again. A black blur rocketed through the air straight toward me. ¡°Mother!¡± Oof! I nearly threw up as I got punched in the gut again. Oh wait, it was just Beatrice tackling me out of the way of the screeching ballistic missile. How nice. ¡°All forces converge!¡± I shook my head, trying to clear the fog. The wavy forms of Bella and Bess fearlessly assaulted the vulture with their stingers, but the massive thing shook them off easily. I had to help! I threw up. I didn¡¯t realize there was so much barfing involved with reincarnation. The tiny shape of Ben shot out of the forest and buzzed around the vulture¡¯s eyes. ¡°Take that, you beady-eyed feathery bird-brained-¡± His bark was apparently worse than his bite because a massive wing slapped Ben hard, knocking him away. Oh, fuck this. [Tapped Mind: 80% / 82.3775%] I was overcome with deja vu as the vulture suddenly paused. Then it imploded, turning into a fine red mist. __________ Ow. Double ow. Quintuple ow. My head still hurt after the battle with the vulture. Just like the mister squirrel incident, I had passed out after the fight. My head hurt the slightest bit less, but not by much. The dark interior of the tree trunk provided at least a little comfort. But the darkness wasn¡¯t enough since buzzing filled my brain as a bunch of baby bees bickered. ¡°If you two had gotten off your asses, Mom wouldn¡¯t have had to strain herself!¡± ¡°Bess, use more appropriate language. Honestly, calling Mother ''Mom''¡­¡± ¡°I told you, Beck and I had no idea what was going on!¡± ¡°Yeah, lay off them. It all happened so fast.¡± ¡°Yowchers!¡± I don¡¯t know who or what compelled me to create {Compartmentalization}, but I was thanking them right about now. Without it, my head just wouldn¡¯t be able to handle the soreness and ceaseless arguments all at once. ¡°Everyone, be quiet. Mother is still not feeling well.¡± Beatrice finally seemed to notice my distress. At this point, I was more concerned than in pain, though. The dark interior of the tree trunk felt much less secure than it had before. I was constantly vigilant, waiting to hear the sounds of birds that never came. ¡°What do I do¡­?¡± ¡°We must prepare. It is clear that we need combatants to share our burden.¡± That was exactly the problem. There was too much information at once. Those vultures were strong. Nothing I couldn¡¯t handle on my own provided no more surprises like the boss vulture showed up. And if they did? I looked at the bees. My bees. Bess and Bella had taken light injuries, nothing major. Belle and Beck were in severe mental distress. That much was clear through the Link. Were they guilty they couldn¡¯t help? Beatrice¡¯s mind was like a tornado. She was formulating plans and organizing her thoughts at a breakneck pace, as focused as when she had used her Mind to evolve herself. Ben had taken the brunt of the damage. The little guy was in a pretty sorry state, bruised all over and one wing damaged. The vulture boss hadn¡¯t even attacked him, more swatted him away like a bothersome fly. This was my fault. Beatrice had warned me multiple times. More scavengers were appearing. With only worker bees, all the fighting would fall onto me. I even neglected the lesson from mister squirrel. A change needed to be made. First, I have to think of some way to fight. My current methods were crude and ineffective. One wrong assumption would incapacitate me and leave the hive vulnerable, and my only form of ¡®combat¡¯ consisted of instant kills. Second, I needed an army. Or, at least, a few warriors. I just didn¡¯t have the experience or knowledge to cover the defense of the entire hive and its members. Lastly, I needed to grow up. I had decided not to do the same evolution process I had done with Beatrice on the five new guys. I was scared to think of how many people I would be around all the time and wanted to keep them toned down for my own selfish reasons. But the vulture attack made one thing clear. I was being stupid. I had resolved to take full advantage of everything at my disposal, yet here I was, limiting the potential of some of my greatest assets for what? Some alone time? Seeing them argue just now opened my eyes. They were already people. Using Mind to make them evolve wouldn¡¯t make them any more talkative or unique or special. They already had that potential, and I held the key to unlocking it. A key I had selfishly kept from them. ¡°Do not be so hard on yourself, Enno. At the very least, allow me to share a part of the blame. I was blinded by the strangeness of our children and did not account for our situation.¡± No. Not this time, Queen. I¡¯m taking responsibility. I had to fix this myself. ¡°The hive is weak. We need combatants to protect ourselves.¡± The bickering quieted as I spoke. Even Ben was silent. Beatrice spoke up. ¡°I apologize, Mother. I had not anticipated the potential danger our enemies could actually pose.¡± ¡°No, if we were stronger, then maybe we could have beat that vulture,¡± Bess chimed in. Didn¡¯t they see what I was trying to say? I wasn¡¯t talking about them. ¡°They blame themselves. Your comment about weakness makes sense to you, but they are not thinking of the future as you are. They are trapped in the present. Explain this to them.¡± Really? I guess it made sense. I silently thanked Queen. Even after deciding to fix things myself I couldn''t even manage that much. ¡°What I meant is that the hive needs to be strengthened for the future. I don¡¯t blame you guys, not at all. You did what you could.¡± While the bees perked up at my words, they still seemed grim. ¡°Queen, what now? I already explained my perspective to them.¡± ¡°I am not versed in the care of¡­ unique individuals. However, I do know of our species. Perhaps giving them tasks or work to do would alleviate their sorrows and help them feel useful.¡± ¡°Beatrice,¡± I commanded. If keeping these guys busy would improve their moods, I¡¯d make them the busiest bees in the world. ¡°I am going to allocate more Mind to the Link so that the workers may evolve. I want them to work double-time. We must secure our position in this forest before the scavengers overrun us.¡± That would have to do. I expected the next few days to be full of planning and preparation, getting the hive ready for anything that might be thrown our way. For now, it was time to create otherworldly horrors beyond comprehension. Chapter 11 - Rise of the Newbees "Would such rapid growth of low-leveled workers truly benefit the hive?" Beatrice might''ve had a point. The five newbees had been made with a bit more Mind than the minimum, unlike Beatrice, but they were still just simple workers. Of course, Beatrice sure was one to talk. "You were created with the minimum required Mind, Beatrice, and yet look how you turned out." No way would it be a waste, especially not with the circumstances we were in at the moment. Although she nodded curtly, I could feel embarrassment coming from Beatrice. I guess as bright as she seemed, we were all still figuring this stuff out one step at a time. It was comforting to see the unshakable Beatrice show a minor imperfection. It made me feel less bad about my shortcomings and remember Beatrice''s humanity. I turned my attention to the newbees. The more I thought about it, the sillier I felt I was. I had a free upgrade right in front of me, and I decided not to take it? What was the point, then? "Alright. Allocating 1% of Mind to Beatrice''s Link caused some pretty severe effects. She was able to evolve and everything. Did anything bad happen to you, Beatrice?" "It was quite shocking, but I had already been experimenting with accruing more power, so I was able to handle the sudden influx." Alright, nothing terrible happened. Wait, did she say she was trying to become more powerful anyways? "While it may be possible to allocate 1% to each of the five, I would warn that they may not enjoy the same level of growth I managed. Also, any more than 1% may be damaging to their Minds." I guess I''ll ignore her power comment for now. Everything she said made sense. I would take things more slowly this time, remembering the shock when I had experimented with Beatrice. I didn''t want to harm my new workers! "Let''s begin with a small amount. I''ll be allocating only 0.005% to each of your Links and try to slowly work my way up to 1%. Tell me if you start feeling any negative effects so I can determine your threshold." It may seem like a small amount, but considering their Link was currently at 0.0005%, bringing it up to even 0.005% was nearly a 1000% increase! It struck me just how little Mind was required for these purposes. "Ready? Go!" I cranked up the Link percentage. Thankfully I could observe the bees visually and mentally while modifying the Link. {Compartmentalization} was turning out to be a godsend. As the bees were exposed to more and more Mind, their movements became twitchy and erratic. "Make sure to be extra careful with Ben. We do not know how physical injuries may be affected by these increases in power." Great call, Queen. I did as she suggested, increasing Ben''s Link in smaller increments. Thankfully, the little guy seemed more excited than anything else. "I think I''m gonna be sick¡­." Bess'' words startled me. Her Link was only at 0.01%, and the others were still climbing. Was she less tolerant? "Alright, Bess'' Link is capped at 0.01%. Can you make a note of that, Beatrice?" "Already done, Mother." Excellent. One down, four to go. Over the course of what felt like an hour, each bee showed signs of negative effects at surprisingly variable moments. Bella began to feel sick at 0.05%, Ben followed at 0.09%, and Belle at a whopping 0.3%. The only one left was Beck, who was actually nearing 1%. "Woohoo, let''s go, Beck! I know you can do it, honey!" Queen''s cheering echoed in my Mind. Honestly, I was also rooting for Beck. It would feel weird if Beatrice was the only one capable of withstanding that much power. Right on cue, Beck signaled to stop increasing the Link, stopping right at 1%. "How are you all feeling?" Like Beatrice, the five bees looked around in wonder, as if they had been transported to another world. As if they knew what that would be like. "I can''t believe you live like this, Mom," Bess finally said, "And this is just a tiny bit of your Mind¡­ it''s amazing!" Then others nodded in agreement. Was my Mind really that impressive? Maybe I should be a bit smugger about it. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. "If only they knew how your mind really worked. That would be quite embarrassing for you." Party''s over, then. "How long will it take you guys to evolve?" Beatrice had managed to evolve or change or do whatever it was she had done nearly instantly, but who knew what these guys were capable of. Instead of answers, I got questioning glances. Was something wrong? "Mom, how do we do that?" this time, Ben spoke up. Beatrice seemed extremely upset that Bess'' nickname for me was spreading, but I was more concerned about the actual question. "Er, Beatrice? You mind explaining it to them?" "Of course, Mother. Now, then. All you must do is imagine the ultimate heights that our hive will reach, complete with perfect levels of organization and order. You must feel that you are the only one in this entire world capable of elevating Mother to the heights you imagine her and that you are the only one capable of maintaining complete control over the entire hive." Beatrice looked quite proud of herself. I was a bit more confused. She got achieved her newfound power by¡­ being arrogant? Dreaming big? Judging by the sense I got from the Link, the five newbees were even more confused than I was. "Beatrice. I think that may only apply to yourself," I told her. I didn''t want to burst her bubble but considering that her pride came from such an (apparently) extraordinary accomplishment, I didn''t feel too bad. "Oh? But it seemed so obvious to me¡­." Great. If nothing else, it was apparent that Beatrice was unnaturally talented both at using and manipulating Mind to do her bidding. The five workers didn''t seem quite as inclined. Was that related to their tolerance, or was it completely unrelated? "I don''t know about all that, but I want to explore more! These injuries can''t stop me!" Pressure mounted around Ben, and he rose into the air. I could feel that he had done something, so I reset his Link. Unlike Beatrice''s monstrously increased minimum of 0.01%, Ben''s barely increased from 0.0005% to 0.0008%. I watched with worry as Ben lifted himself into the air using his Mind, zipping out of the tree. "Wait, Ben! I need to see-" Hold on. I didn''t need to be near Ben to talk to him or see his menu, right? "Ben," I spoke to Ben from a distance. Ben''s flight faltered at my voice, "Give me a moment to inspect your current status. With your injuries, it''s best if you don''t explore for a bit, so come back." "Oh, alright Mom!" Ben said, appearing at the top of the dead tree moments later. Good, now I could check- Screeching sounds filled the air. The same screeching the vultures had made. "Everyone, quiet. Ben, get down here now." I took a peek outside. Two vultures circled high in the air. Thankfully they weren''t directly above our tree, but why were they here in the first place? "You must be more careful, Ben. You are injured, and now those vultures are roaming about!" Beatrice exclaimed. Things were worse than I thought. "Those vultures likely aren''t here by chance. I think they''re searching for their missing friends." Beatrice paled at my words. "They are searching? But we do not have a defensible hive or even warriors yet. Why- How have they come searching so quickly?" I didn''t have an answer. If the vultures really had come around looking for the ones I killed, we didn''t have as much time as I would have liked. And it meant there might be even more vultures prowling about. Clearly, our timeline had moved up at the revelation, so we didn''t have a moment to waste. "We need to begin planning. Everyone, do what you can with Mind while Beatrice and I figure something out. Sorry Ben, but nobody is to leave the hive until further notice." I tried to ignore Ben''s dejected moans and pulled Beatrice aside. She seemed weirdly frightened. "Are you okay?" "Those vultures will destroy us if we are not careful. If I hadn''t insisted on only creating workers¡­." Beatrice was falling back into that bad state of mind. The longer the rest of the workers stayed cooped up here, unable to do their jobs, the worse their mental state would become. Luckily, they were currently focused on their Mind tasks, but that would only last so long. "We need to take action immediately, Beatrice. If our mental state fails, then we will absolutely be destroyed." I distracted her with ideas. The initial plan had been to gather as much food as possible, create a big hive, and defend ourselves against threats, but we were more limited now. These were still the priorities, but we needed to do so while keeping in mind that the vultures were an ever-present danger. "The immediate issue is food. Not only do we need to eat, but it is also our most important resource to expand the hive," Beatrice murmured. At least she was thinking about something else now. "The most important thing right now is still to expand the hive, both structurally and with bees," I said, "To do that, we need food. If food is the most important issue, we should focus on that." That said, there was a clear obstacle. If the vultures were actively patrolling the forest, we couldn''t just send Bella out to gather food by herself. Even if they weren''t specifically looking for bees, there was no doubt they would notice piles of floating carcasses to feast on. "I could go with Bella to protect her." "True, she would need some sort of defense against the vultures. But put yourself in danger? And leave the main hive defenseless? I think not." Wow. Sassy, much? Not that the change of pace wasn''t a good sign that Beatrice was feeling better. "Bella needs a guard, someone who can protect her." "Alright, I can create a bunch of simple warriors then." Those vultures were nasty. I thought a bunch of warriors would be needed to prevent any badness. Actually, a ton of warriors might be needed. Ya''know, maybe this wasn''t a great idea after all. "But¡­ where will acquire the food to create and feed these warriors?" Oh, thank goodness, a great point. I needed food to make the warriors, and food was needed to sustain them. How could I minimize the amount of food required? "Here''s an idea. How about one super-strong warrior. Then we would only need enough food to feed one more person-er, bee, even if I need to eat a ton to make them in the first place." It would also reduce the number of eggs to lay! Win-win. Beatrice agreed. I would have to be careful about how much Mind I put into the new warrior. Each of the five worker eggs needed more food than Beatrice''s, so if I used more Mind than our food stores could handle, we would be in a bit of trouble. "Now, that''s all well and good, but what about the five?" I was still concerned about the five newbees and Beatrice. How would I keep them busy while I waited for the warrior to hatch? Beatrice would be the easiest to keep busy. I could distract her with talk of strategy and planning, and she had far more responsibilities than anyone else in the hive. Bess also seemed like she could continue her work since it concerned the hive''s construction. Even though she wouldn''t be able to work on the food storage ball''s supports, there was plenty she could construct within the tree. Belle and Beck hadn''t found their niche, but that could change with this new Link experiment. Bella would have to wait for the warrior''s birth, and Ben¡­ Aha. "Everyone, gather ''round," I blurted out. Beatrice seemed confused that I had brought the rest of the hive into our private strategy conference. However¡­ "Listen to me, kids. The family''s going to war." Yup. I could see no other way around it. The vultures were a threat, and we had to survive. Each of the workers would have a part to play. Thinking of Ben''s adventurous spirit and speed helped me realize what needed to be done. "Ben. I need you to scout out where the vultures are coming from. After you''ve healed a bit, of course." The vultures were numerous, and since some of them were intelligent to a degree, it wasn''t unreasonable to assume they were working together. Information was power, especially against bird-brains like the vultures. I could outsmart them with my human intellect. "You can barely outsmart Beatrice." Well, Queen, where do you think Beatrice got her big, beautiful brain from in the first place? "Me," she said smugly. Sure, whatever you say. "Bess, as soon as you''re finished with your evolution or upgrade or whatever, I need you to build a nest or something. Whatever I need for¡­ optimal¡­ egg-laying¡­ conditions." Did I really just say that? These vultures were the most devious enemies I had faced in my two lives. "Bella, you''ll have to gather as much food as quickly as possible. When Bess finishes the nest thing, I''ll be creating a powerful warrior to act as your bodyguard. In the meantime, it''s too risky to carry around food, so we''ll have to carefully manage what we have." "As for you two," I waved towards Belle and Beck, "It would be helpful for you two to figure out your specialties asap. We''ll need all the help we can get if we''re going to war." All that was left for now was to wait. With renewed vigor, the five worker bees concentrated on themselves, focused on what they could do to help the hive. I settled in, preparing to study the five''s new upgrades and figure out how to use them as effectively as possible. Chapter 12 - Hive ho, Hive ho, it’s off to war we go! An hour passed. Two. A third. When an estimated four hours finally passed, the sense of pressure I felt through the Link decreased. Although I had already noted how different the bees were, I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised by their slight differences. They had each taken completely different amounts of Mind and time to grow, and some found it easier than others. Ben had quickly used his Mind to develop an Ability to help him explore, but Belle had taken all the way until the four-hour mark. ¡°Can I go explore now? Lemme go!¡± Ben shouted. He had gotten super antsy being stuck inside the trunk. ¡°Remember Ben. Stay out of sight, be careful about being followed, and for the love of god, be quiet while you¡¯re sneaking around.¡± Beatrice and I had been drilling this mantra into Ben for the past few hours. I needed knowledge about the vultures asap, so most of my focus was being poured into that. ¡°Yup! Weeeeeee-¡° Ben yelled while zipping out of the tree. It was good that his screams were purely in his head, or he would be the worst spy imaginable. As morbid as it felt, I was sort of glad that his wing hadn¡¯t healed completely. Using his Mind to fly around was far quieter than the telltale buzzing of our species. I sighed. I had wished that Ben, in particular, would be able to evolve into some exploration or observation subtype, but no. [Abilities: ] The only thing Ben had acquired was an Ability with an incredibly vague and nonsensical name. I was absolutely not upset about the small change, far from it. Especially when I studied the Ability¡¯s details. [Big Look: Level 1 Acquired by: Gotta explore. Better use this awesome power to explore! You like to see new things. You like to see new things so much that you need to see them more. Use Mind to deeply observe the world around you and share your sight with extreme precision. Level up: See even more! ] Did I completely understand the Ability? Nope. Did it seem useful? Oh, hell yeah. I dedicated a portion of my attention to connect my vision to Ben¡¯s. He was rapidly moving farther away, and I could sense that unless I increased the Link further, it would become tough to maintain a strong connection. Nevertheless, Ben¡¯s new Ability let me see the world with shocking clarity. I could see the ground close by, Ben apparently flying low. The gray sky felt deep rather than dull, a complex mixture of monochrome colors. Each burned tree stood out, a different kind of forest that lacked greens and browns. The occasional vulture flew overhead, some dipping to feast on an unfortunate corpse. Shaking my head, I pulled myself back to the tree. As impressive as it was to see from Ben¡¯s eyes, there was too much to do. Even with {Compartmentalization}, it was tough to divide attention between the world in front of me and the jarring sights of Ben¡¯s world. I¡¯d have to check in with him periodically instead. ¡°How soon can you get started on the nest, Bess?¡± I turned my attention to the big bee. She had the least relative success with Mind, which honestly surprised me. I remembered her opening the hole in the tree to attach the food storage with Mind, so I had assumed she was already reasonably competent at manipulating the strange psychic powers as she wished. Instead, as Beatrice had dutifully recorded, she could barely manage the least increased Mind compared to the rest. Her minimum Link was also now the lowest at a mere 0.0006%. ¡°I¡¯ll start now,¡± she grunted. On the surface, she felt mostly the same, but I could feel shame radiating off her Mind. Looking at her status, I saw nothing different from a regular worker bee. I could sympathize with Bess, even if I didn¡¯t know exactly what she was going through. Sure, I could just read her mind if I wanted. The Link gave me that much control. But I had specifically tried to stay out of the private thoughts of the bees, and this situation was no different. I could only hope this whole situation would be a learning experience for the builder. ¡°I believe this should be a good location,¡± Beatrice said, ¡°it is right next to the food storage entrance and is quite spacious.¡± ¡°Yup, looks good.¡± Bess and Beatrice measured and investigated the chosen spot. It was nice to see them getting along. I was worried Beatrice would be Bess¡¯s mortal enemy, considering how much she disapproved of her casualness. I wasn¡¯t sure whether Beatrice was sympathetic to Bess¡¯ lack of talent with Mind or if she just appreciated the builder¡¯s passion for improving the hive, but the two actually got along reassuringly well. ¡°What do I make the nest out of?¡± ¡°Ooh! How about wax!¡± Belle suddenly butt in. I had no strong opinions on the matter, but Bess noticeably frowned. ¡°I¡¯d need a lot of wax for the nest. We need the food for the warrior¡¯s birth, not stuff like wax.¡± ¡°I have a special wax Ability now; I¡¯m sure I could make it work,¡± Belle argued back. A fierce staring contest took place. I backed away, not wanting to get caught up in the spat. The sudden rivalry between these two already ran deeper than expected. Where Beatrice had the occasional frustration with Bess¡¯ language, Belle and Bess just didn¡¯t see eye-to-eye. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! Ever since the vulture incident, Belle and Bess had become more combative. I wondered if it started with Bess¡¯s comment about Belle and Beck staying inside during the fight. It seemed like the obvious starting point to me, but something just didn¡¯t feel right about that explanation. What exactly was I missing? The two whirled, coming face to face with Beatrice. Good thing I had backed away! ¡°Beatrice! Settle this!¡± the two of them growled. ¡°Watch your tone, the both of you,¡± both newbees instantly deflated at Beatrice¡¯s icy words, ¡°Your arguing is highly inefficient. After the battle, I took stock of our food stores and have determined that we have food to spare.¡± I grimaced. Thankfully there was plenty of cooked meat in the storage, mostly courtesy of Bella, but I vividly remembered Beatrice¡¯s excitement at the state of the two vulture corpses. ¡®More food to feed!¡¯ and all that, but there was no way I was eating raw carrion-eating birds, no matter how much they tasted like chicken. At least let me keep one creature comfort! In any case, Belle triumphantly smirked at the news, but such smugness wouldn¡¯t last. ¡°That said, we should by no means waste food frivolously. Even if you have a powerful wax-making Ability, it likely still requires copious amounts of material. The nest will be a combination of forest materials and wax to conserve food stores, at least in part.¡± A solid compromise. I nudged Beatrice and told her to make wax from the raw animals first. Then there would be more barbecue for me! ¡°Brilliant idea, Mother! As usual, your wisdom knows no bounds.¡± Wha. No, there was no way. I refused to believe there was something genius about making the wax out of raw animals instead of cooked ones! She had to be bluffing or something. ¡°If my knowledge is correct, the meat that has been burned would have suffered very high temperatures, and we know that it has been dried out to a degree. Meat in such a state may last slightly longer than the raw animals in terms of decomposition.¡± Oh. Well, that made sense. Hold on, wasn¡¯t this totally unfair? That was my knowledge she was using! Why didn¡¯t I think of that sooner if that was my knowledge? I cursed the gods of this world for making Beatrice smarter than me, even though most of her knowledge came from me. While I silently suffered, Queen giggling in the background, the two bee builders got to work on the nest. The remaining two didn¡¯t move. Bella seemed aimless but otherwise cheerful. Her experiments with Mind had bore fruit, and now all she had to do was wait for the warrior to be born so she could safely gather huge piles of food. Beck, on the other hand, was still. Beck was such an oddball. I peeked into their menu to see what they had been up to with Mind and nearly did a spit take. If that was even something I could do anymore. [Name: Beck] [Age: 1 day] [Subtype: Speaker] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 2nd Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 65%] [Mind Locks: ] Huh? What? What the goddamn?! Beck was worse than Beatrice by a mile! A new subtype? Three Abilities? Two Locks?! ¡°Beck. Care to tell me about your growth?¡± Beck¡¯s melodious voice flowed into my head. They explained that they wanted to be able to speak but that such a capability wasn¡¯t super helpful to the hive. Beck wanted to spread the greatness of the hive across the world with words, something they saw as beautiful artistry, but was upset that such a dream could not help with the war. That is, until they realized they could help with the war. Despite the long distance, they used a significant portion of their Mind to contact Ben and maintain a strong connection with him. Beck reasoned that if that task were offloaded onto themself, I could divert my focus elsewhere. I stared at the skinny bee. What the hell? That was way too well thought out and detailed! For someone who supposedly loved to talk, I did think it was strange that Beck talked the least out of any of the new five. So all their attention had been planning for this moment? Crazy. ¡°Is dedicating such a large amount of Mind to these tasks efficient?¡± I only had one concern with Beck¡¯s plan. Everything seemed well-planned, and they had grown immensely with the increased Link, but 35% of their Mind already being locked away seemed extreme. Beck suddenly went on a colorful tirade about my great Mind, and that to achieve even a fraction of what I was capable of, they had no choice but to use vast amounts of their weak, pathetic Mind. Ooookay. Were these bees becoming more fanatical or what? Hold on a minute. Was it a coincidence that the bees that had been most talented with Mind and who had used the most Mind power to grow were the most fanatical? Beck and Beatrice were lightyears ahead of the other bees when it came to Mind, after all. Nah, couldn¡¯t be. Now, all I had to do was wait. Maybe I could stall a bit longer before laying another egg? Nope! ¡°Mother, a cell has been created. That should be sufficient for the powerful warrior.¡± I flinched at the words. It had barely been a few minutes! ¡°I instructed Bess and Belle to create only what is necessary for the new warrior first. Now you can create the warrior as soon as possible!¡± Wow. Great job, Beatrice. I¡¯m so glad at how efficient and reasonable you are. I had no choice either way. Before I could clamber up to the food storage entrance, Bella stopped me. ¡°You just relax, Mama! I¡¯ll bring food right to you!¡± ¡°Mama¡­? What¡­?¡± Beatrice looked shocked by the nickname. You and me both. These motherly nicknames were getting out of hand. But forget about that. Breakfast in bed! I might have even been excited if I was being fed something more appetizing than gamey burned animal corpses. I sat on a comfy bed of leaves Bess had improved and waited for the chow. If this was a glimpse of the future, I could get used to the life of a queen. Eating, relaxing, making¡­ eggs. ¡°Here we go! The first course!¡± Bella dumped a sizable chunk of meat in front of me. It also had a sizable bite taken out of it. Hmm, I wonder what happened to it? Would Bella, the bee with meat juice dripping down her chin, have any idea? Surely not. Might as well get started. Thankfully I could eat and plan out how strong to make this warrior simultaneously. So far, the most intensive egg I¡¯ve created was a simple worker with 1% Mind. The minimum amount to make that simple worker egg was 0.5%, but using 1% didn¡¯t mean their strength was doubled. For one thing, that would be insane. Using any more would result in creatures of absolutely abnormal power. For another, there was the punishment. When I didn¡¯t have a hive or at least whatever aspect was needed to create better birthing conditions, the egg-creating Ability had a 1.5 times Mind penalty. So the minimum to create a simple worker was actually 0.75%, and as a result, using 1% was not as big an improvement as it typically could have been. So then, how much should I use for this warrior? ¡°Is there a difference between making workers versus warriors?¡± ¡°No, there shouldn¡¯t be a difference besides the Mind cost.¡± In that case, I could probably use as much Mind as possible since my only limiting factor was the amount of food needed to make the egg. ¡°Do not forget about time.¡± Shit. I hadn¡¯t been thinking of time as a resource. Our time was ultimately limited, and the warrior would take time to hatch. The longer it took to hatch, the longer it would take to start gathering food and strengthening the hive. ¡°If I were to start allocating Mind to make the egg, would you be able to tell how long it would take or how much food would be needed?¡± Queen had mostly accurately been predicting how long the hatching would take, so maybe she had some instinct that told her. ¡°Perhaps. However, if you were to create an egg as extreme as I know you are imagining, then my prediction would likely be wholly inaccurate.¡± Guilty as charged. Even if it took an insane amount of food, I couldn¡¯t help but think about how powerful I could make the warrior if I used every scrap of my remaining Mind. Using something like 80% to make the warrior would eclipse the potential shown by even Beatrice, most likely. The only thing I had used anywhere near that much Mind to do was to vaporize a couple enemies. ¡°Not only would it be interesting, but it would also be incredibly idiotic.¡± Yeah, yeah. It took around a day for Beatrice to hatch and barely longer for the other 5. Using so much Mind could mean the warrior would take days, maybe weeks, to hatch. I doubted we had that much time in the bank. Not even mentioning the potential food requirements. On the other hand, making a warrior that was too weak would also be a waste of time and resources. ¡°Beatrice. I will need exact details on how much food we have and how long we can survive with it.¡± Food would be my guide. All I needed was to eat the maximum amount of food I could and figure out the allotted Mind from there. Rationing wouldn¡¯t be ideal, but all''s fair in war and war. For now, though, I glumly continued eating charred mystery meat. Chapter 13 - Somebody’s watching Bee ¡°¡­and that is precisely how much food we have, how long it will last, and how much I think you could eat for the purpose of the warrior¡¯s creation.¡± Wow, thanks Beatrice, what an incredibly convenient and detailed explanation about our food stores! I¡¯m so glad I have such an in-depth source of critical information! Now for the more complicated and far less interesting question of how much Mind I could use. To be safe, the best idea I could come up with was to eat the max amount of food Beatrice had calculated and try to figure out the Mind question after. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s get down to business.¡± Bess and Belle worked around me as Bella brought me food. Beatrice seemed to be looking at something in thin air and was quietly muttering. And me? I was eating. Which is surprisingly boring. In my old life, I had no shortage of stuff to entertain myself with while eating. Such was the modern world. On the other hand, I hadn¡¯t had much of an opportunity to be bored here. I had suffered life-threatening injuries, starved, and been preoccupied with the hive¡¯s beginnings. Now I had nothing to do. Well, not nothing. I couldn¡¯t predict how much Mind to use for the warrior before I had eaten my fill, but there was still plenty to study. Out of the food storage floated a metal spike. The souvenirs I had collected from the forest had been buried along with the food and now sat together in the hollow dirt ball. In any case, the metal spike was puzzling to me. In Queen¡¯s flashback, there were three notable uses of Mind. The crystals and electricity, the metal spikes, and the fire. So far, I hadn¡¯t experienced any capabilities of Mind that could ¡®create¡¯ stuff out of thin air. And yet, the metal spikes and crystals still littered the forest. But the spikes caught my attention for another reason. The material. Before me floated a solid metal spike a little less than half a meter long. The obvious question: Why on Earth (or wherever we are) would you waste metal on a random spike? Humans in this world definitely had metalworking capabilities if the metallic-looking armor and guns were anything to go by. Now, I was by no means an expert in material sciences, so I had no clue precisely what metal the spikes or tools were made of. Their gray color made me think of iron or stained steel. But even if they weren¡¯t the same type of metal, I found it hard to believe they would waste this material. I didn¡¯t know if these people had an infinite metal source, but leaving the spikes all over the forest seemed pretty wasteful. I could come to a few conclusions. I found it unlikely that the humans were wasteful of their resources. Don¡¯t get me wrong, that is absolutely a very human trait. But something within me just couldn¡¯t accept that. It might be irrational, but it felt like the most unlikely and weirdly annoying explanation until I was proven wrong. Another explanation could be the type of metal. Were the spikes iron? Steel? Or were they some sort of fantasy metal? I had no way of knowing. They were likely not something rare or valuable, or else the humans would definitely recover them. In that case, maybe they weren¡¯t metal at all but some common fantasy material that was similar to metal. And then there was the most unlikely and compelling explanation: A human spontaneously conjured metal spikes with nothing more than Mind. Unfortunately, I had not seen a shred of evidence supporting the idea that Mind could create matter. Even the egg-making Ability used Mind as a blueprint, but needed physical mass from food. Actually, that was an interesting thought. What if the Mind user had an ability that made a blueprint of metal spikes, then used metal to make the weapons? Obviously, that made little sense to me. Why would you conjure metal spikes? If you needed the metal to make more spikes, then why leave them behind? In all honesty, not a single explanation I could come up with made any sense. The crystals were even more damning. I didn¡¯t bother removing the crystal chunk from storage. I already knew the stuff was multicolored and glowed when electrified. The flashback clearly depicted the Mind user using electricity from the crystal as a weapon. In that case, the important thing about them was their conductivity. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. And yet, skyscraper size crystals had suddenly appeared all over the forest. It seemed unlikely that the humans would be lugging tons of crystal material around to form the spires. There was something I still had to learn about matter and Mind, and humans were the clue. Until I could ask them directly, it seemed unlikely that I would figure out the inner workings by myself. Regardless, I had made some progress in my research. While I didn¡¯t figure out a concrete way to actually use Mind, the possibilities these objects implied made it clear that there was significant room for growth moving forward. For now, though, the best way to use these remnants would be to find alternative uses for the objects. I was nearly done with the food. Probably a good idea to table the musings about the mysterious weapons until the end of the war. I had slammed my head against the strange objects since I first saw them, but without knowledge of the outside world, all my guesses were moot. They were also probably wasting energy. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see how much Mind I can use¡­.¡± [Tapped Mind: 0% / 82.3775%] I had a little over 80% Mind to use at the absolute maximum. [Create Egg: Level 2 Acquired by: Birth Using mass and Mind, create an egg that will hatch into a member of your species. Subtype Options: Level up: Unlock 2 subtype options ] There was only one warrior type to choose from. I got to mathing. The workers that used extra Mind to create used 1% each, so 5% total. Considering the penalty that made the worker minimum 0.75%, each worker used 1.5 times the amount of the original minimum. I had eaten enough food to feel like I could make an egg with more Mind than all five workers. One issue was the question of scale. There was no real way to tell how much Mind caused, for example, double the power. Unless, of course, double the Mind meant double the power. And if that was the case, hoo boy. That meant, without the penalty, 1.5% would make the warrior twice as strong as a normal one. And where did things go from there? Would 3% be twice as strong as 1.5%? An exponential increase? No way. Maybe it was additive instead, so a much smaller increase. In the end, all that didn¡¯t really matter. Those were the only ways I could think to calculate how much food to use. At minimum, I could use 5%. At least in that case, I knew I had more than enough food to make the egg. Argh! There were just too many variables! I didn¡¯t know how much Mind I could use. I didn¡¯t know how the amount of Mind would affect the hatching time. I didn¡¯t know¡­ anything. ¡°Do I take the risk? Do I play it safe? Fuck, what would playing it safe even be?¡± ¡°I cannot help you with this one. Every option feels good in different ways to me.¡± Damn. All that was left to do was to eyeball the percentage. I focused on the Ability, activating it. I began slowly increasing the Mind percentage, going no lower than 10%. 15%. 20. 30. 50. I reached 75% before an ache appeared at the back of my head. Was 75% the maximum I could manage with this amount of food? Conveniently 100 times the minimum? How thoughtful. I hesitated. None of my other Abilities caused pain or discomfort, so the ache was concerning. Do I go lower? Wing it at 75? I decided. My stomach churned as an egg created by 75% of my Mind began to form, waiting to receive the mass. This was seriously going to be abysmal. ________ ________ Look at that rock! Ooh, look at that tree! Wow, look at that dead squirrel! This forest was full of awesome things to see! I bet I¡¯ll never get tired of looking at this place! It was so gray, so black, so gray! The sky was so colorful, and the trees were so different! The crystals were the best. I thought the sky was colorful, but these big things were so pretty! My favorite was when they made neato lights sometimes! For now, momamama wanted me to look at the vultures. Hey, there¡¯s a couple! Look at ¡¯em go, eating that dead squirrel. But only two? Mamalama thought there were a ton around somewhere. Wherever they¡¯re hiding, I¡¯ll look at ¡¯em! I avoided the vultures and kept moving. I just wanna fly for real, geez. Thinking about moving around is real cool, but it¡¯s way cooler to move and think about moving even more. These dang vultures! Stupid bird brain, hurting my wing like that! Urgh. My wing was whatever. I wanted to help momaroo, but I was the one that got hurt instead¡­ Focus¡­ Enemy¡­ Whoah! Was that Beckalecka?! I¡¯d recognize that weirdo voice anywhere! Hey, good idea, Beck buddy. Look for vultures, not for problems. I was occasionally seeing one or two vultures but nothing huge. I asked Beck about the hive. What was mamama up to? Was she still spinning that stick around? She was so funny. Screeching¡­ Whoa! Good call, Beckarino! I like looking, so listening ain¡¯t my thing. I dashed to a tree and hid inside. Mommay did say not to be seen! My new Ability made it easy to see outside the tree. The trees and crystals had distracted me from seeing it, but a giant black cloud was outside the tree. No, not a cloud. A clearing with no trees was covered in black and red. The black was clearly different from the burns and ash. They were feathers. Hundreds. No, thousands? I had never seen so many living things. Beck was complaining about the noise, but the wave of sights was what made me sick. So much movement. One or two colors all over the place. Some were flying, some were sleeping, some were eating. Gulp. This was way scarier than I thought it would be. Some of these things were as big as the stupid bird that hit me. I had to tell mama! I couldn¡¯t leave yet. Too many of the stupid birds were around. It was pure luck that I didn¡¯t get caught flying around here. Plus, mommam said she wanted info. With my cool-looking and Beck¡¯s ear-looking, we could get tons of info! ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ Boring¡­ Yeah! Beck was totally right! Sitting here looking at the bird brains was super boring! I had been sitting here for hours and nothing new had happened. Just a bunch of flying and sleeping and eating. Well, there was one cool thing. Some of the bird brains were smart. The biggest things mostly sat around and got fed by smaller vultures. They didn¡¯t do much but look at the flock, but I could feel it. They were using Mind for something. The weird pressure was the same I felt when I thought of moving or when my buddies did cool stuff. Wait¡­ Wrong¡­ Hm? Wrong? Nah, I was right! Silly Be- Leave¡­ RUN! Huh? What are you talking about, silly Beck. I looked back at the vultures, shaking my head at Beckaroo¡¯s silliness. A single white eye stared straight into my Mind. Oh shit. Run! I flew away as fast as I could think. Thanks to {Big Look}, I saw it. The Vulch. One of the vultures was looking straight at my tree before I ran. Straight at me. I took in as much info as I could. The Vulch was smaller, only as big as some of the weaker vultures. Scars lined its leathery face, a particularly nasty one over its right eye, causing the beady orb to look milky white. On the other hand, its feathers were black. No, they were so dark its body felt more like a hole that threatened to suck me in. My last seconds of seeing the Vulch before I was too far to see it were totally creepy. It didn¡¯t move. It didn¡¯t make a sound. It just stared at me. I¡¯m scared, Mommy. Chapter 14 - Ambush? Hi Bush, I’m dad Puking sucks. I¡¯ve mentioned it before, but I still can¡¯t believe how closely other worlds and puking went together. The worst part? I wasn¡¯t the only one. It was gross to watch Belle make wax. I was not an expert on bees, but if they made wax on Earth the same way Belle did, then ew. It started with weird flakes being shaken off her abdomen, which she then mashed together and chewed. To make matters worse, the wax she was hurking up was super gross-looking, soft beads stained red and gray. Wasn¡¯t beeswax supposed to be a pleasant yellow? Of course, I wasn¡¯t one to talk. Observing Belle¡¯s gross process was nothing compared to my own situation. Once I had begun adding the mass to the warrior¡¯s egg, I applied as much as possible. Then I kept applying it. And applying it. And applying it. In other words, I was puking up mystery matter for the better part of several hours straight. Who designed this ass-backward process? Nothing about it made sense! Thankfully, it eventually ended, and my reward was a massive orange egg. Seriously, the thing was huge! It was so big that the wax cell Bess constructed had to be remade for the egg to fit. At the end of the process, a single wax cell containing an egg almost as big as Bess herself sat in the tree trunk. ¡°Any clue how long it¡¯ll take now that the process is over?¡± ¡°Unfortunately not. I am sure it will take significantly longer than a day.¡± ¡°Hopefully, it¡¯ll not be too long. Beatrice¡¯s egg actually took much less than a day, I think. Maybe 12 hours.¡± Was it a mistake to use so much Mind on this egg? Probably. Which meant that every aspect of the hive¡¯s defense would fall onto me for the foreseeable future. Making multiple smaller warriors would be possible, but only if I ate food meant for the hivelings. Ack! I stumbled as alarms started blaring in my head. Beck?! ¡°What¡¯s going on here, Beck?!¡± The skinny bee was flailing around and yelling into everyone¡¯s heads, causing the beginning of a panic. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± Beatrice¡¯s shout froze the entire hive. ¡°Beck. Calmly explain what has caused you to panic.¡± Beck rattled off an explanation about what Ben had seen. A massive army of vultures. A fairly close proximity. The Vulch. Wait. The what now? Beck¡¯s panic resurfaced as they explained what Ben had seen before fleeing. One of the vultures had known about Ben¡¯s hiding place and quietly observed him somehow, without Ben noticing. Even with his enhanced sight, Ben didn¡¯t see the Vulch, and only when Beck had begun to feel something foreign in their Mind did they notice the danger. Hold on. ¡°What about Ben? Is he safe? Is he alright?¡± Thankfully, Beck confirmed Ben was safe and coming back as quickly as possible, but the vulture swarm had begun moving around, so he had to be a bit more sneaky on the return trip. Alright, great. Time to freak out! Where to even begin? The vultures were a worse threat than I thought, and that was saying something. If hundreds of them were allied together and they had a few intelligent leaders, then antagonizing them would be exceptionally stupid. Not only that, but they were less than a day¡¯s travel away. It was good Ben was safe, but what if the mysterious Vulch was still watching him? What the hell could I do? ¡°This is an extreme emergency scenario. There is¡­ Mother, a word?¡± No. Sorry, Beatrice. In a situation like this, we need to do everything to survive. ¡°Listen, everyone. You might not be warriors, but you can still fight. You have your stingers and your Minds. We¡¯re up against an impossible enemy, but thankfully that gives me an idea.¡± Against an impossibly powerful foe like this, there was one powerful solution. ¡°Here¡¯s what we have to do. I¡¯m strong, but facing hundreds of vultures simultaneously would be risky. We need to thin their numbers.¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Yup. Guerrilla warfare. I tried to send the bees a mental image of what I meant. Beatrice could explain all this to Ben later. ¡°We need to use every advantage we have. We can pick off small groups of vultures discreetly, and then once their army has shrunk enough, I can nuke the ones that are left.¡± Hey, that wasn¡¯t too bad! It was a pretty basic concept, but if it worked, then that would be great! ¡°Brilliant Mother! It stupefies me that you could solve so many issues at once.¡± ¡°Whoa, what else does that solve?¡± ¡°Thank you for trusting in my capability to grasp your glorious plans enough to allow me to explain,¡± she turned to the bees and folded her hands behind her, ¡°Mother devised a way for us to remain safe, buy time for the warrior to hatch, obtain an abundant food source, and gain control over a significant territory all at once.¡± She looked at me apologetically. ¡°Unfortunately, those were the only things I could deduce. I am unsure what ¡®nuke¡¯ means besides vague ideas of destruction. I am sorry for my inadequacy.¡± ¡­¡®Kay. I give up. Beatrice can be the queen now. ¡°Dumbass. She had better ideas than you overall, but they were improvements to what you introduced. Her competence is a blessing. Trust me, having subordinates with no actual competence and only blind loyalty is not worth it.¡± ¡°Yeah? What about competence and blind loyalty?¡± ¡°I think that would be an incredibly unfair advantage.¡± Touche. Either way, the main strategy remained the same. ¡°I¡¯m impressed, Beatrice. I actually hadn¡¯t thought of killing that many birds with one stone.¡± ¡°Oh, are we using stones?¡± I really needed to find a comedy bee subtype. _______ A pair of dark shapes circled high above. They hesitantly floated downwards before settling near a corpse. Unfortunately for them, this particular corpse differed slightly from the ones littering the burned forest. Before they could even take a sniff, their necks snapped and they fell down, dead. I didn¡¯t feel bad about killing the vultures at all. I hadn¡¯t thought about it too much, but I was beginning to realize just how lucky I was. The past few days had been a whirlwind of death. I had racked up a pretty impressive kill count in the last few hours alone. What exactly about this gruesome situation was so lucky? That would have to be my weapon. I had never killed anyone or anything before. If it had to run in and swing a sword or stab a vulture with a knife, I could imagine the closeness would be traumatizing. Instead, I had the capability to do nothing more than give it a moment of thought. Nothing could be luckier. The hive was in an emergency alert scenario, after all. If I involuntarily had some traumatic reaction or mental breakdown, I would endanger the hive. The workers were less predictable. Since they didn¡¯t have combat instincts, I had to teach them in the way of the warrior. And by that, I mean I gave them spikes to shoot at the birds. Initially, I was excited for the workers to dart in and out, stinging the vultures to death. I immediately realized that this made little sense. The time it would take to wound or poison the vultures to death would be way too long. If Mind was my best weapon, then surely the same could apply to the workers, right? A couple of embarrassing incidents mostly proved me wrong. I had tried instructing them to use their Mind to snap the vultures¡¯ necks for quick kills, but only a couple of them managed to do so. Beatrice did it easily but could only kill one at a time. Interestingly, she seemed disgusted by the action, but instead of the trauma or guilt I expected, she was upset that she had to interact with the creatures with her exposed Mind. At least I knew Beatrice could mercilessly kill if needed. Great. Bess¡¯s attempt seemed promising. She had managed to kill a vulture by snapping its neck, but she struggled a bit. I assumed it was because her Mind wasn¡¯t powerful enough to do the task quickly, but apparently, that was wrong. She said it was because she was¡­ clumsy. Clumsy. With psychic powers. Psychic powers she used to carefully create intricate holes and precisely measured hexagonal wax cells. Sure, why not? At least Beck didn¡¯t do anything to shock me. Beck had been staying to keep an eye on the tree while the rest of us were out hunting. At the very least, we knew that Beck had the best capability to contact us. Neither Bella nor Belle managed to kill a single vulture. They didn¡¯t even get close, failing to do much more than ruffle a vulture¡¯s feathers. They didn¡¯t have much of an explanation, but it didn¡¯t bother me too much. As long as they brought value, there was no reason to overburden them unnecessarily. Ben, on the other hand¡­ Ben had also failed to kill a vulture, but not because he couldn¡¯t. He got fucking distracted, excitedly flying over to study some random bug. That one was a bit awkward. The vulture that had been on the brink of death only moments before looked around frantically, choking and blinking its beady, watery eyes. It was up to me to finish the job, and it had stared right at me before I finished it off. I think that last part was why I began thinking of my lucky situation. Actually, I kinda felt bad for Ben. I was initially upset about his actions, but Beck begged me to go easy on him, which was surprising. They did their best to describe the Vulch¡¯s presence but insisted that merely seeing it could not do it justice. After all, it was only when Beck felt an invasion that they understood the danger. In truth, I wasn¡¯t overly concerned about the vultures as a whole. Things got easier once Beatrice suggested using the metal spikes scattered around the forest as weapons. Even the members who couldn¡¯t snap necks could do something as simple as throwing a spike with their minds. Especially after seeing how easy it was to ambush small groups and lure the scavengers with corpses, their overwhelming numbers became a secondary concern. The Vulch was different. When Ben returned from his mission, I asked him to let me see his memory. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to do that, and the best I could do was observe his thoughts while asking him to do his best to remember the encounter. I made a note to figure out a way to actually read memories. Seeing the Vulch in Ben¡¯s thoughts didn¡¯t trigger any alarms, but what worried me was the thing¡¯s own actions. Sure, it controlled a massive vulture army, but that didn¡¯t necessarily mean it was using Mind to do so. Now. Hiding from Ben¡¯s Ability-enhanced vision? Probing the mental Link Beck made? Those were far more concerning applications of the power. So far, the past few days have been relatively uneventful. Some ambushes, some eating, mostly waiting. We hadn¡¯t encountered the Vulch once, and nobody except Ben had ever seen it in person. Even though this was good luck, I got more and more nervous the longer it stayed hidden. Queen didn¡¯t understand my worry. The Vulch was just another enemy, something worth blowing up. My fear was somewhat irrational; the thought of an animal capable of using a tool better than myself, a human, felt¡­ odd. It just didn¡¯t feel right. Four bees emerged from nearby tree trunks. Belle and Beck had stayed home today, and the rest of us were out hunting. This arrangement had worked a few times without any issues, and it meant the hive was better defended. ¡°Was it just me, or did these things look scared?¡± Bess was right. The vultures had seemed more cautious than in previous ambushes. ¡°Our hunts are having results,¡± Beatrice said, ¡±Although I am concerned that this fear will make the hunts more difficult.¡± ¡°It might, but there is the mental advantage,¡± I responded, ¡°At least some of the vultures are intelligent, and if they get scared, then this would be effective mental warfare. The stress won¡¯t help them survive.¡± ¡°If only we had a mighty warrior at our disposal.¡± ¡°I told you, I was willing to take the risk and do things myself,¡± I grumbled at Queen. It was admittedly concerning that the warrior hadn¡¯t hatched yet. Days had passed, and the giant orange egg hadn¡¯t changed. Compared to the other bees, this was a considerable amount of time. No matter. I was powerful. The vultures¡¯ overwhelming numbers were being taken care of. The warrior was no longer an urgent necessity. The forest suddenly exploded with shrieking. Shit! The vultures had ambushed our ambush! Hundreds of vultures swarmed through the sky, squawking and screeching, drowning out my thoughts. Or, well, they tried their best, but I had been on edge. I commanded the workers to huddle together and shoot spikes into the swarm. Beatrice got tasked with defense. If any vultures got close, it was up to her to pop them. And me? [Tapped Mind: 80%/82.3775%] A couple dozen vultures dropped dead in an instant. Then another couple dozen. Then another. I was a killing machine. Around twenty-six of the vultures dropped dead as soon as I imagined it, taking no more than 3% each. Since there was no limit to tapping Mind, another chunk of the swarm fell to the ground a few instants later. Coupled with the occasional vulture shot down by the worker¡¯s spikes, the swarm rapidly thinned. Even so, once the vultures¡¯ panic subsided, they began to attack. A few of the beasts even spewed some sort of¡­ acid spit at us, an obstacle I did my best to take care of. {Compartmentalization} was just too good. I could kill vultures and smack acid away at the same time. Even better, I could more carefully pick out which vultures were the intelligent type and avoid hitting them with weak attacks. I settled in. It was doubtful that we could escape such a huge army, so we had no choice but to hunker down and kill as many vultures as possible. Another piece of the vulture army fell, but the fluttering blanket in the sky only grew deeper and larger. Welp. This could take a while. Chapter 15 - The Bird and the Bee You get a snapped neck! And you get a snapped neck! Everyone gets a snapped neck! This was boring. I never thought I would get bored of using psychic powers, but here I was. Hours of doing the same task out of necessity was highly effective at sucking the joy out of the action. Dead vultures littered the forest, making it seem like a black, feathery blanket covered the landscape. ¡°I don¡¯t see more birds appearing, everyone,¡± Ben shouted. That was great news. It had taken ages for the swarm to begin thinning, and every time a vulture died, it felt like five took its place. If Ben¡¯s fantastic vision confirmed that the flock was finally starting to falter, then I wouldn¡¯t complain. Another dozen vultures fell from the sky. This whole situation was incredibly annoying. The vultures had finally figured out we were attacking them, so they set up their own ambush with a big army. But what was the point? They sure tired us out, but if they overwhelmed us further or tried harder to attack our tiny group, then they might¡¯ve done more damage. At this point, they were just throwing bodies at us. [Tapped Mind: 80% / 82.3775%] As I concentrated again, another dozen vultures died. Hm? One of the vultures I attacked looked strange. Wait, was it looking at m- ______ I jolted. What the hell? What happened to the forest? One moment I was busy massacring the vulture swarm; the next, I was sitting in an empty white void beside a giant bee. Wait, what? ¡°Huh? Where are we? Where are the children?¡± I jolted. Again. ¡°Er, Queen? Is that you?¡± This time it was the bee¡¯s turn to jolt. ¡°¡­Enno? You look odd.¡± Wow, thanks. You flatter me. I took a look at myself. I was smoke. Whatever I could see of my body was formless and wispy, with no discernible features. I take my sarcasm back, Queen. I do look weird. She, on the other hand, looked better than ever. Or at least she was actually visible for once. I had never bothered to look at my bee body before, but I assumed it looked something like Queen¡¯s ghostly avatar I was staring at. She was an ordinary bee. Well, compared to others I had seen. The workers I had created all had strange visual quirks, but Queen just looked like a bee from Earth. Sure, our body was gigantic in comparison, but it was interesting to see how normal she looked despite her own personality. ¡°Indeed. You are both exceedingly odd.¡± We both spun at the sudden intrusion. The breathy voice echoed around the void until a black dot appeared on the horizon. The dot expanded, growing into a veritable black hole until it suddenly morphed into the shape of a vulture. The Vulch. Beck was right. Seeing him in Ben¡¯s thoughts just wasn¡¯t the same as seeing him in person. His presence held a weight, like a black hole trying to consume me. In contrast, his heavily scarred face and milky white eye pushed, trying to crush my spirit. ¡°You can speak? Good. Maybe I can convince you to go the hell away,¡± I said. Vulch grumbled at my words, shaking his head. ¡°After what you have done to my children? Unacceptable,¡± Vulch said, slowly moving closer, ¡°Imagine my alarm when my children suddenly begin disappearing, and I immediately find a curious little spy in our midst.¡± So this was a war for vengeance. Not good. Not only did that mean that the vultures would likely not stop attacking until the hive was destroyed, but Vulch was completely correct. I grimaced. How many vultures had I killed until the beginning of the war? ¡°I apologize for the loss of your children, but I am not repentant. We were threatened to give up our precious food.¡± ¡°I see. Regrettable.¡± Vulch finally reached us, suddenly cocking his head. ¡°Indeed, it is odd that you understand me. What are you? I have not encountered another creature as adept at using Mind as yourselves. I can recognize the insect, but the wispy smoke is a mystery.¡± ¡°We¡¯re kinda stuck together. She¡¯s Queen, a bee, and I¡¯m Enno.¡± Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Enno? I do not recognize that creature. Is it¡­ a name?¡± ¡°Yup. I¡¯m actually a human.¡± A milky orb filled my vision. My stomach dropped, fear filling my body. ¡°HUMAN? DIE.¡± My head seriously hurts. Stop hurting my head! Vulch stood right in front of my face. My head kept alternating between hurting a lot and only hurting a little. I pushed with all my might, forcing the Vulch away. Time to end this. Nothing happened. What? I had tried to vaporize the Vulch, but he stood firm. ¡°Monster. Your Mind is unrefined. I can easily divert your attacks in your exhausted state.¡± ¡°Oh yeah? So kill me if it¡¯s so easy.¡± ¡°He cannot. We are at a stalemate. Our combined power is too overwhelming for him to successfully attack, but our powerful attacks are too clumsy to destroy him.¡± Skill issue, then? Not good. I had been afraid of this exact situation when I heard from Beck how powerful the Vulch was, but I didn¡¯t think he would be able to deflect my attacks. Although to be fair, I also hadn¡¯t been expecting to be in some white void. The hell was up with this place anyways? This was worse than I imagined. I thought the Vulch would be intelligent, but this was a bit much. His thoughts felt similar to Queen¡¯s, emotion given form. The workers and Beatrice felt different from them. Were intelligent creatures born without human influence special in some way? I had to stall for time. If I could gather information about where I was or our situation, then it should be possible for me to brute force my way out. It wasn¡¯t an ideal solution, but brute force was the only tool available to me. Thankfully, I could talk and plan at the same time. ¡°Hold on. It¡¯s not what you think. I¡¯m not a human from here; I didn¡¯t attack the forest.¡± Judging from Vulch¡¯s reaction, I could assume he was in a similar situation as Queen. Displaced by the human attack. Hopefully, I could take advantage of that. ¡°And? Humans are humans. Indeed, killing as many as possible is a noble venture.¡± ¡°Did the humans destroy your family?¡± It was a bit risky, but if I could get the Vulch to act purely on emotion, then maybe I could slowly absorb important information. ¡°They tried. A common reason among many others to despise those monsters,¡± he turned to Queen, ¡°I can tell from your scars, insect. The humans destroyed your family as well.¡± ¡°¡­They did. I have no love for humans, either. But¡­ Enno is a¡­strange case.¡± Good stuff, Queen! Maybe if I¡¯m abnormal enough in his view, this guy won¡¯t immediately try to kill me! ¡°Even so. Despite not destroying my family in the forest attack, this human has still killed my children. Indeed, your own family has proven itself to be a threat to mine, and the carrion of this forest will not last forever. If the humans truly intended to destroy my family, we cannot leave the forest.¡± There was a lot to expose here. It would be invaluable if this guy had information about this world¡¯s situation. I needed to soften him up a bit more. ¡°You keep complaining that we¡¯ve been killing your family, but you¡¯re the one throwing bodies at us. Why put their lives at risk if you care for them so much?¡± He glared at me. ¡°It is not a decision I took lightly. Indeed, you have been regularly ambushing and killing stray children. I was unaware of your power, so the losses in this particular battle have been catastrophic.¡± ¡°So then, why stay?¡± ¡°Why leave? There is plentiful food and no humans in sight. Indeed, all the predators have either died or fled, and the mossy creatures refuse to enter.¡± ¡°But you originally said it was because of humans. Are there some nearby? Is it because they targeted you specifically that the forest was destroyed?¡± Vulch looked at me pointedly, then at Queen. ¡°I suppose you are a young insect. Indeed, the humans are everywhere. A large gathering is quite close by. Our only good option would be to head toward the mountains, but the mossy creatures are in that direction. Indeed, they are far less terrifying, but they have been on edge since the attack,¡± he shrugged, ¡°As for whether we were the humans¡¯ target? It is impossible to know. I had assumed that was the case, but I have begun to doubt myself.¡± ¡°Even if you have doubts, I struggle to believe you couldn¡¯t fight off the humans. With a Mind as powerful as yours, maybe you specifically were their target?¡± ¡°That¡­ No. No, I highly doubt that is the case. Indeed, I am unusually talented in using my Mind, but you prove that such a phenomenon is not impossible. In fact, your Mind is far more powerful than my own. It is difficult to maintain this connection in the first place. I must say, I felt considerable panic when you attempted to destroy me, but your inexperience was your downfall.¡± Bingo! That last speech told me plenty. The key was that our location had something to do with a Mind link that the Vulch had created when I attacked him. All I needed to do was break free of this link and be done with him. ¡°Listen, Vulch. We are in a similar situation. Would it not be possible for us to come to an agreement? We do not need to continue shedding blood.¡± ¡°Vulch¡­? In any case, I refuse,¡± he smirked, ¡°Indeed, I believe you would agree with me if you manage to leave this link. On that note, have you collected enough information, human?¡± Huh? Shit, was he onto us? ¡°I am no fool. Indeed, it is obvious that one would need information to escape this situation. If you were a less intelligent opponent, I would not need to resort to such tactics, but you are clearly dangerous. Indeed, revealing just enough information to keep your attention was a simple matter.¡± ¡°Queen, we have to leave now.¡± This entire thing had been a trap, a distraction. ¡°Humans are so predictable, believing so strongly in their own superiority. I still do not understand how you creatures control the world.¡± Hive¡­ Help¡­ Beck? That was definitely Beck¡¯s voice. I frantically looked around, searching for the source of the melodious sound. Wait. Instead of looking, I reached out with my Mind, feeling the depths of the white void. A faint buzzing appeared in the distance, a tiny yellow dot, and I realized our exit had appeared. ¡°Hold on tight, Queen. We¡¯re getting out of here.¡± I latched onto the buzzing sound and Queen¡¯s arm, pulling with all my might. ¡°Apologies, insect- no, Queen. If it is any comfort, I will do my best to free you of your unfortunate fate with the human. Indeed, if doing so requires killing your body, then so be it.¡± The buzzing grew louder as we sped away from the dark creature. I glared back at the monster. As we got sucked toward the buzzing, the white void shrank until it looked like a beady, white eye. _______ My head got bonked by a tree. ¡°Ow, what the fuck?¡± ¡°Finally! Mother, I am glad to see you conscious again!¡± Beatrice? Huh? Instead of a white void, all I saw were gray and black blurs. I realized that I was speeding through the forest, being dragged along with the workers. The black blurs were actually vultures that were chasing us through the air. ¡°What¡¯s going on? Where are we?¡± ¡°Some time has passed since you became unconscious. We held off the army of vultures as long as possible but got overwhelmed, so we had no choice but to run.¡± Exactly how long had I been out? Not important. Despite the sharp pain in my head, I concentrated on killing as many vultures pursuers as possible. ¡°Everyone, Mother is awake! Help thin out the attackers!¡± The others quickly responded to Beatrice¡¯s command, wildly shooting spikes and rocks at the crowd of advancing birds. The workers were in a sorry state, covered in scratches, acid burns, and cuts. I winced. My body wasn¡¯t faring much better. As a dozen vultures had their necks snapped, their falling bodies filled my vision. These were Vulch¡¯s family. The more I killed, the more he would seek revenge. I stared guiltily at the worker bees and their wounds. This was my fault. If I hadn¡¯t killed the vultures unnecessarily, then they wouldn¡¯t have had to go through this. ¡°They threatened us. We had no choice.¡± ¡°Even so. That incident told us that they were intelligent, at least to some degree. I could have scared them away or something. If I¡¯m so powerful, why couldn¡¯t I just figure out a way to chase them off?¡± No response. As we sped towards the river, I could feel something was off. Beck hadn¡¯t spoken since the Vulch¡¯s trap. We came upon a site of carnage. Piles of dead vultures littered the riverbank, some staining the water with blood. Chunks of burned wood were scattered around, and a ball of dirt floated by itself in the air. No. NO. The tree was completely gone, broken to pieces. Beck, Belle, and the egg were nowhere in sight. I frantically searched, killing any vultures that got close. ¡°Mother! The ball!¡± Beatrice was hovering near the entrance to the food storage ball, the rest of the workers seemingly taking shelter inside. I sped towards the thing and threw myself into the shielded ball. To my relief, the three children that had been left behind were huddled together in the food storage. Beck and Belle had injuries similar to the other workers, nasty acid burns covering Beck¡¯s face and a grisly gash across Belle¡¯s back. The warrior. The egg. A deep wound marred the otherwise smooth surface of the egg. Slime leaked out of the wound, staining the bed of meat bright orange. Fuck. FUCK! I howled an ugly sound that drowned out the screeching of the swarming vultures. Vulch was right. I wouldn¡¯t accept an end to this bloodshed. This war was far from over. Chapter 16 - You’ve gotta Beelieve Darkness. The hollow ball of dirt was quite cozy, bordering on cramped. Honestly, how had Belle and Beck fit the warrior¡¯s egg in here in the first place? The entrance was big but not that big. As for the egg itself, it was still mostly intact. It was still alive, but the damage was irreparable. I didn¡¯t know how the warrior would turn out, but at least it would be alive. The workers were mostly silent. Bella was rounding up as many vulture corpses as possible, but it was a struggle even with Beatrice acting as a bodyguard. We were effectively confined to the dirt ball as a veritable army of vultures constantly swarmed around the area. I would have liked nothing more than to go outside and crush the birds, but the Vulch was too effective as a deterrent. The bastard. We had been trapped in here for hours, maybe days? We needed to toss some food out of the storage for everyone to fit comfortably, but it didn¡¯t matter. The vultures¡¯ siege would eventually draw us out either way. Although food was piled up outside, the vultures intelligently dragged away the bodies of their brethren so we couldn¡¯t use them as food. As for what they did with the bodies? I¡¯d rather not find out. ¡°I do not think they would do¡­ that. Vulch is too caring.¡± ¡°Maybe. Either way, it¡¯ll become a problem if we run out of food. Ironic, considering how much is lying around.¡± ¡°You have not described any strategies to the others. You haven¡¯t done any planning at all. Could it be that you have given up after the confrontation with Vulch?¡± ¡°No. I have been strategizing. It just... hasn¡¯t been fruitful.¡± ¡°You have only been repeating the same questions over and over. ¡®How do I fight the Vulch,¡¯ ¡®What can I do with Mind,¡¯ it¡¯s honestly become exhausting.¡± ¡°Whatever. I¡¯ll figure it out eventually.¡± ¡°Ask Beatrice. Ask Beck. You have intelligent subordinates to help us out of this situation. Do you not trust them?¡± Trust them? Of course I did. At this point, I trusted them with my life; who else could I trust? That wasn¡¯t the issue. The problem was that I was the only person strong enough to deal with the Vulch and the massive vulture army. ¡°Something is not right with your thought process¡­ You continue insisting that you have faith in the others, yet you believe you are the only one capable of succeeding¡­ Hold on. The warrior¡­ {Compartmentalization}¡­ hiding away¡­,¡± Queen gasped. Where was she going with this? ¡°Of course! Your lack of trust has influenced every action you have been taking! You purposefully used as much Mind as possible to create the warrior so that it would not have time to hatch. Even with {Compartmentalization}, you had to separate yourself from me because you did not trust me. All of these thoughts have only strengthened after you created the Lock and formed a rift between us.¡± Trust. Was I subconsciously avoiding having to trust others? Queen¡¯s evidence was compelling, to be honest. Was this something that came from Combined Minds, maybe? ¡°Everything makes so much more sense. Ever since we began working together, you have been reluctant to trust our judgment. Right when you were beginning to allow me and Beatrice to have some influence, some bad things happened, and you went right back to trying to do everything yourself.¡± ¡°Why would I have these issues, then? Even if you say that, am I wrong? I¡¯m the only one who can fight off the vu-¡° ¡°Enno! I have no idea why you are unable to trust us. You said you lived a life prior to joining me here, so maybe something there was the cause. Nonetheless, you are not the only one who can fight off the swarm. The others have been trying their best to fight. They are workers. Every moment I see them fighting, I feel pain in my heart, knowing they are struggling against their very nature to help you.¡± ¡°¡­ Queen¡­ I-¡° ¡°Incoming!¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. I was interrupted by Bella tossing a stack of vulture corpses into the ball before she and Beatrice followed. I quickly moved over, ensuring none of the vultures could get in. They were way too big to fit through the entrance, and my force field seemed to be holding strong. In my mind, the fact that the Vulch hadn¡¯t destroyed it implied he wanted us to suffer. I doubted he wasn¡¯t capable of doing so. ¡°It¡¯s getting crazy out there. I¡¯m starving!¡± The two settled in, and Bella tore a chunk of meat from a vulture before frowning. ¡°Urgh¡­ What¡¯s with this? Makes no sense¡­.¡± I shook my head. I had to take my mind off Queen¡¯s speculations. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Bella? You don¡¯t like the raw meat?¡± ¡°Mmmm¡­ It¡¯s not that they¡¯re raw, really. There¡¯s just something weird with the¡­ mouth feeling.¡± ¡°Taste?¡± ¡°Yes! Taste! But why is this one worse?¡± How was I supposed to know that? Maybe she just needed some seasoning. I noticed something on the wall of the ball. ¡°Hey, Bella, can I see that meat?¡± She passed over the chunk of dripping vulture. Gross. I had to figure out how to make a fire and cook this before I completely ran out of barbecue. I picked out some white crystals embedded in the dirt wall and tasted them, confirming my suspicions. I picked some more and sprinkled them onto the meat before returning it to the wide-eyed bee. ¡°Oh¡­? Oh! Wow, this taste is much better! So putting dirt on food makes it taste better?¡± ¡°Actually, it¡¯s salt.¡± Yet another reminder of the brutality the humans had shown this forest. Salting the earth was a classic tactic to prevent regrowth, so there was plenty of the stuff lying around that hadn¡¯t yet been assimilated into the soil. Some of the meat must¡¯ve been rubbed with salt when buried, which would explain Bella¡¯s confusion at the difference. ¡°Is the taste truly that important? If the food is nourishing, then I see no reason to put effort into such endeavors,¡± Beatrice said. ¡°Well, maybe. But this taste is way too good! Why even bother going back to the bad taste?¡± ¡°Ah¡­ I wish I could taste some things from home¡­.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. I found myself missing elements of my old life more often nowadays. Psychic powers were great and all, but I only had the chance to use them to kill vultures and stuff. The choice between pizza and psychic abilities would never have crossed my mind before, but¡­ I stared at the branch hovering above the stump of one of my arms. That was the same hand I had a habit of spinning my pens with. Just another reminder. But reminders weren¡¯t important at the moment. I turned my thoughts away from food and sticks and towards the Vulch. The way to finish this war definitively was to cut the head off the enemy, and that meant the destruction of the Vulch. I doubted I could make breakthroughs in Mind that would shrink the gap in our abilities, so I needed to go at it from another angle. The first point I considered was about leaked information. The distraction the Vulch had used was clever, but it was safe to assume it was a gamble. He was unsure how powerful or intelligent his opponent might have been, so the information he gave up was likely as close to the truth as possible to prevent suspicion. There was info related to the Vulch himself as well as hints about the world. Humans were once again a major player in the Vulch¡¯s life. His rage was genuine, and his hatred of humans might be something I could take advantage of. He also held some degree of self-doubt, believing that his family had been the target of the humans but harboring a seed of doubt. He also gave hints of his strength. If he could have destroyed me, he definitely would have, especially when he learned of my true nature. The fact that he didn¡¯t implied that my Mind was stronger than his, and by a considerable margin. Which meant that the longer I waited to defeat him, the more time he had to figure out how to bypass that difference in power. As for information about the outside world? There wasn¡¯t much to interpret there. He mentioned ¡®mossy creatures¡¯ a few times and humans several times. In terms of the mossy creatures, he implied that he feared them, though less than humans, and that they refused to enter the forest after the destruction and were currently chilling near some mountains. Humans were apparently abundant in this world, and a gathering was nearby. Maybe a town? A village? A military encampment? There wasn¡¯t a good way for me to know without seeing it directly, but that could wait until after the war. Otherwise, there really wasn¡¯t much to gather. The humans¡¯ motivation was still a mystery. Predators of the forest still lived on its outskirts. If we left the forest, humans might exterminate us. However, there was a terrible implication. Humans were, somehow, more terrifying than I first thought. The Vulch had commented on Queen¡¯s scars and said he recognized them, and thinking back, the scars on his face seemed awfully familiar. The humans had confronted the Vulch directly, and he had no choice but to flee. All this told me that defeating the Vulch looked less and less possible by the minute. Even worse, if I were to go against humans, my overwhelmingly powerful Mind might not be as unfair an advantage as I had thought. ¡°Are you finished moping?¡± Huuuuuh? Beatrice?! Oh wait, she was talking to the others¡­ I was wondering if she suddenly did a complete 180¡­ ¡°Mother, how about you?¡± Huuuuuh? ¡°We are in a dire situation. I did not think things could get worse than preparing for war, but this siege will be the premature death of the hive if nothing is done.¡± ¡°True. However, I haven¡¯t developed a strategy yet. No matter how many vultures we kill, they keep coming or become more careful. The number we¡¯ve killed in the last two days or so has been substantially less than the previous days.¡± ¡°So then we should do nothing? I apologize, but such inaction makes me uncomfortable,¡± Beatrice said, looking more fidgety and upset than I had ever seen her, ¡°I have been meaning to ask, but is there some reason you have refused to take action? I understand that the warrior¡¯s birth is our hope, but is there truly nothing we can do?¡± ¡°Waiting for the warrior seems like a viable strategy. We just need to survive.¡± Beatrice wasn¡¯t the only bee looking uncomfortable anymore. Even Ben¡¯s constant distracted yelling died down. Couldn¡¯t they see? We were up against an impossible foe. Their numbers, their strength, their leader. We had no advantage. I was beginning to lose hope. How could I fight back? I had tried everything, but fighting just seemed impossible. Why was I fighting? I looked at the bees. I was fighting to live, right? I needed the hive to do that. They were my most valuable tool. I looked at Beatrice. She looked¡­ sad. Not in her Link. I could see it. The sadness on her face. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ sorry, everyone. I just don¡¯t know what I¡¯m doing.¡± I wanted to apologize more. I wanted to do something. For the first time in ages, my stomach felt gross. That gross stomach feeling¡­ it was me. I was stopping myself from continuing. The looks on the bees¡¯ faces re-entered my vision, Queen¡¯s humming forcing my eyes open. I saw them for the first time. I was¡­ responsible for them. ¡°To be comple- completely honest, I¡¯m utterly out of ideas. I¡¯m out of my depth, I have no idea how, how, how to fight or lead armies or raise children. I don¡¯t know how to use psychic powers or outsmart an opponent or even how to talk.¡± I paused. What else do I say? I need to keep going, to get this out there. They nee- The next thing I knew, I was getting smothered by warm fur. My arms were pinned to my sides, and my chest was being squeezed. What was this? Oh¡­The workers had tackled me into a big hug, and as Beatrice snuggled close to me, she looked up with teary eyes. ¡°We will help you, Mother. We always will.¡± That¡¯s when I learned that I could cry. Chapter 17 - Too much Eggxcitement After the, ahem, tender moment, I felt reinvigorated. In all honesty, I didn¡¯t have a choice. Now that I had created these hive members, I was responsible for them, and the best way to care for them was to use them. At the moment, I sat alone in an empty ball of dirt illuminated by the dim glow of the massive warrior egg and my collection of Mind artifacts. This particular dirt ball was connected to the food storage by a small tunnel, just big enough for my body to get through. The first order of business had been to prepare for the warrior¡¯s eventual birth more productively, so with Bess¡¯s help, I created a second, larger dirt ball. I had been hesitant to use so much Mind to expand the force field, but Beatrice had convinced me to do it. I understood where she was coming from. My Mind was not only our strongest weapon but our most powerful form of defense. The vultures hadn¡¯t been able to break the food storage, so the force field was highly effective. I didn¡¯t know if the Vulch hadn¡¯t tried yet, but he also hadn¡¯t done anything to the force field. I was saving my Mind¡¯s percentage, ready to spring into action and destroy as many vultures as possible, but it was clear that wouldn¡¯t matter as long as I kept saving it. Worse, I couldn¡¯t make any eggs. After the hug, I had decided to get over myself and create a small army of warrior bees to tide us over until the strong warrior¡¯s birth. The vulture corpses would, unfortunately, work as a significant food source to fuel this army. It didn¡¯t work. To my dismay and confusion, every time I tried to use the egg creation ability, it just did nothing. How annoying. I could only theorize that this was some bizarre consequence of my overly ambitious warrior egg that the Ability didn''t make clear. Nothing indicated that such a thing was even possible. I had no idea when I would be able to create more eggs or how to prevent this consequence from happening again, so my stupid decision for the warrior was worse than I thought. What a frustrating system. In the meantime, we had once again begun sneak attacks on stray vultures. Ben and Beck worked closely together, Beck distracting vultures with Mind while Ben slipped away. Ben would then do his best to assassinate vultures with metal spikes. That hadn¡¯t worked very well. Ben¡¯s attempts were valiant, but between being careful to avoid detection by the Vulch and the limited time from Beck¡¯s distraction, his attacks tended to wound vultures rather than kill them outright. Which was why I was currently sitting alone in this dirt ball. This strategy could work, but only if the vultures¡¯ numbers actually decreased permanently. In that case, the best thing I could come up with to increase those chances was to make better weapons. Unfortunately, the others weren¡¯t weapons experts. Bella had done a great job of sneaking around to gather spikes and chunks of crystal, and Beck¡¯s distractions had become much more effective, but the rest were unhappy with their roles. I had tasked Beatrice with figuring out an effective way to defeat the Vulch, considering I couldn¡¯t simply overpower him. Bess had been busy improving the dirt balls¡¯ structure. And Belle? Belle was in crisis. She was doing her best to reinforce the dirt balls with wax, make more cells, and care for the damaged warrior egg, but she had a permanent haunted look on her face. This was the second time she had been left behind while my life was under threat, and to make matters worse, the tree trunk base had been destroyed under her care. In any case, the spikes were strong and sharp, but because Ben¡¯s time was so limited, their simplicity became a weakness. Further, making the weapons more dangerous would hopefully make them useful against the Vulch if he was encountered. I looked at the crystal shard. Using those had been my first idea. Their ability to conduct and store electricity was fascinating, and making electrified metal spikes was obviously a great idea. Yeah, right. Well, the idea was interesting, but I had no idea how to actually do it. The metal spikes did conduct electricity when they touched the crystals, but their application was limited. I hadn¡¯t figured out how to modify the spikes to attach the crystals or prevent too much electricity from discharging. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. That wasn¡¯t the worst part. The crystals just didn¡¯t have enough electricity to make the spikes particularly deadly. The chunk I had first obtained had already discharged most of its power, but even the pieces Bella had brought recently just didn¡¯t pack enough punch to kill a massive creature like the vultures. The shock might be useful, though. Venom was another idea. Even the workers had stingers with venom, so turning those natural weapons into a ranged variant was an obvious choice. Unfortunately, our venom was exceedingly weak. In large doses, it could be deadly, but even if we figured out a way to effectively extract large quantities of the stuff, I had no idea how to use the spikes to inject the venom into the victim¡¯s body. ¡°Er, Mother? I was wondering how the warrior was doing¡­¡± I sighed and rubbed my eyes. Even if I had been re-energized and became more confident in using the workers, I was still trying to do everything in my power to defeat the vultures singlehandedly. Belle¡¯s interruption was a welcome distraction from my own thoughts. ¡°Hey Belle. The egg¡¯s fine for now.¡± ¡°Belle has been troubled. Figure out a task for her to do so she can feel busy, at least.¡± ¡°Ah, is there anything you would recommend for the egg¡¯s care? Or maybe something else you could do with your wax?¡± I tried. She hesitated. ¡°I¡­ do not know about caring for eggs.¡± ¡­ Was¡­ was that it? Man, taking care of people was tough. And I could read their thoughts! What could Belle help with? So far, her specialty involved making wax, but I wasn¡¯t sure how exactly that would fit into war. [Name: Belle] [Age: 14 days] [Subtype: Simple Worker] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 2nd Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] Geez, had it really been two weeks since I arrived in this world? Wait, no. It had been 14 days since Belle¡¯s and the other worker¡¯s birth, so I had been in this world even longer. It also meant the warrior had been in its egg for¡­ nearly thirteen days?! This lazy bastard was starting to get on my nerves! ¡°Did you forget that your own mental instability is the reason for the excessive incubation time?¡± Okay, ouch. I wasn¡¯t going to disagree, but was calling it ¡®mental instability¡¯ not a little harsh? In any case, Belle¡¯s status was not very different from an ordinary simple worker. Herself and Bess had seen the least changes in their status after the experiment. In Belle¡¯s case, it meant that the only difference was her Beeswax Ability gaining the capability to level up. Impressively she had already managed to level the Ability, which, as far as I knew, made her the only bee beside myself to gain a level. As for what she could do to help? I wasn¡¯t sure. Right now, the most important things were the warrior and new weapons. How could wax help with either? ¡­Hm? ¡°Belle, can I see some of your wax?¡± She seemed confused by the request but didn¡¯t hesitate to pass some over. The stuff was gross, but whatever. In its current state, it was just wax. Wax was an interesting substance I didn¡¯t know too much about. In my world, it was mainly used for candles, protective coverings for preservation, or various other wacky applications. I remember having seen beeswax hair products and cosmetics and being weirded out. But in truth, it was a fascinatingly flexible material. Its primary use in our case was to construct the hive itself and make the cells that would eventually contain eggs, as that was apparently considered ¡®ideal conditions.¡¯ I had also instructed Belle to apply a wax coating to the inside of the dirt balls as a temperature and moisture insulator. That was the keyword. Insulator. With only a bit of hesitation, I smothered wax onto one of the crystal chunks that still had a good amount of power stored up and tested the thing. I carefully touched a spike to the misshapen wax object, and to my delight, I didn¡¯t see any signs of discharge. Interesting! I wasn¡¯t sure exactly how to use it, but Belle¡¯s wax could also serve as an electric insulator, like a sort of rubber. While this opened many possibilities, it didn¡¯t seem like a major breakthrough besides a way to prevent the crystals from running out of charge as quickly. ¡°¡­Mother?¡± ¡°Ah, thank you, Belle. In the future, this wax will be great for making tools and devices.¡± How cool! A society of bees with electrical devices! ¡°Oh¡­ that¡¯s great, Mother.¡± Hm. Belle didn¡¯t seem as excited as I felt. ¡°What¡¯s wrong, Belle? This is great news!¡± ¡°It''s just¡­ I thought I would finally be useful¡­.¡± Oh god. I forgot she wanted to be useful now, not in some far-off future. In some way, I agreed. The future would be irrelevant if we didn¡¯t win this scavenger war. As I wracked my brain, trying to think of some way to apply wax to war, Belle wandered over to the egg¡¯s side and gently touched the scar that marred its otherwise smooth surface. ¡°I¡¯m sorry¡­.¡± Suddenly, my head started to hurt. Huh? Orange goo dribbled off the egg. Was it hatching?! Wait. No. ¡°It is in pain! Do something Enno!¡± Do something? Me?! The hell was I supposed to do? I concentrated on the egg, trying my best to hold the scar shut to prevent more leakage. I started as I realized the percentage of Mind I was using began to steadily increase. ¡°Mother, what is happening!? The egg¡­ it¡¯s¡­ hungry?¡± Hungry? For what, my brains?! I had little choice. I could see Belle concentrating, doing something to the egg. How much more trouble would this one warrior cause?! Beatrice barged into the ¡®nest room,¡¯ the others crowding into the entryway. ¡°What is happening?! Is the egg hatching?!¡± ¡°No, something¡¯s wrong!¡± The screeching of the vultures outside grew frantic. I could feel the pressure mounting inside the dirt ball and realized something terrible was happening. ¡°Everyone, stand back! We¡¯re getting out!¡± With a burst of concentration, I modified the Food Storage Lock and blasted a hole through the bottom of the nest room. Undoing the forcefield around the nest room was risky, but we needed to leave now. The egg dropped onto the ground less than a meter away, and the screeching of the vultures seemed to double. Black and milky white filled my thoughts, and I followed the egg outside, intent on protecting it. ¡°Everyone, protect the egg!¡± Beatrice shouted, and the tiny hive swarmed, buzzing frantically around the rapidly expanding orange ball. Nearly forgetting to breathe, I forced myself to exhale. Nearly all of my concentration was on the egg, little able to be spared to the frenzy of vultures trying to crush the dirt balls to dust. The workers threw spikes and snapped necks, and I felt a pressure again. This one felt different. The Vulch. I didn¡¯t see him, but I knew he was hiding nearby. He had been waiting for this moment, the moment when I would show myself. I refrained from lashing out, afraid that if I attacked him, he would suck me into his mind again. I couldn¡¯t afford to be trapped there again and wait for Beck to bail me out, not with the warrior on the line. Not with the hive surrounded. ¡°Raragagar!¡± Ben screamed before suddenly zipping away. Where was he going?! I saw. A small, dark form, like a chasm threatening to swallow me whole. The Vulch. I wanted to chase Ben. To stop him from charging the Vulch, to smash the Vulch before he did something to Ben. I wanted to save Ben and protect the egg and shield the other workers and... I couldn¡¯t. ¡°Someone, help Ben!¡± You were right, Queen. I didn¡¯t even trust the other workers in this situation. And yet I had no choice. An ugly, squishing noise filled my thoughts. I turned just in time to see the egg explode, finally hatching after thirteen long days. Chapter 18- Sir Bedivere Oh, now that¡¯s gross. A great, squishy worm-like grub flopped around on the ground. The nasty explosion silenced the glade, vultures and bees alike staring at the giant child. I glanced in the Vulch¡¯s direction and could barely see that even he was staring incredulously. Those few moments were precious. I prepared for chaos, knowing the grub would soon rapidly transform into a full-grown bee. The Vulch seemed to shake himself out of his stupor, and I knew we were running out of time. Any second now, the vulture forces would throw themselves at us to finally end our hive. Come on, warrior, stop being such a baby! Literally! ¡°Welcome, child!¡± As soon as I heard Queen¡¯s words, all hell broke loose. Screeching penetrated the silence and the feathery blanket over the sky fell upon us, clawing, biting, spitting. I felt scratches all over my body that stung as the vultures¡¯ acid spit touched the wounds, but I was pouring all my concentration into defending the larva until it finally matured. I would have to bear with the pain. Ben¡¯s war cries resumed as Bess and Belle chased after him, falling behind. They were no match for his speed, but Ben wouldn¡¯t be a match for the Vulch. I almost tore away to attack the Vulch, but I had no choice but to trust Belle and Bess. ¡°Grah!¡± I heard Belle grunt and saw a waxy shape soar toward the Vulch. An electric crystal? The distraction was just enough to draw the Vulch¡¯s attention as Ben dashed in, pecking at the Vulch¡¯s good eye. At that exact moment, Bess threw a spike with all her might, spearing straight through the crystal. The wax held the pieces together, and the electrified lance nearly pierced the bird, but a random vulture threw itself into the lance¡¯s path, suffering a terrible wound. The Vulch¡¯s squawks were barely audible over the vulture swarm¡¯s screeching, a far cry from its all-encompassing voice I had heard in the link. He was furious, and I could see hatred burning in his milky white eye. That¡¯s how much his children trusted him. They were willing to die for him. The Vulch flapped his wings in a rage, and Ben barely escaped the Vulch¡¯s claws, but I could feel pressure mounting. ¡°Ben, protect your Mind!¡± He tried his best. Ben had a strong Mind. But the Vulch was on another level. I had no choice. I had to shield him. I- Colors flashed in my head. Beck?! Ben, Bess, and Belle were all thrown off balance as the Vulch directly attacked the Link. I could feel him, trying to cut the link and crush them. Beck bravely stood in his way. The skinny bee was sheltered in one of the dirt balls, pouring everything they had into blocking the Vulch from entering the link. Beck¡¯s defense gave me the time I needed to protect the grub for a few precious moments. *Crack* ¡°Mo¡­ther¡­¡± A deep, baritone voice echoed in my head as the grub began to change. The pale, squishy baby hardened and expanded, and I could only stare. The battle fading away, I watched the warrior grow. It grew. And grew. And kept on growing. It- he- was already bigger than I was and growing even more. A broad-shouldered thorax hardened into impenetrable armor, adorned by three massive arms on the right side. The left had no arms, only a scar, likely due to the wound in the egg. His abdomen grew long and surprisingly thin, and the stinger¡­ It was huge. Long and thin like a curved, black rapier, the stinger was monstrously big. The terrifying weapon was already twice as long as my entire body! The warrior himself was just as gigantic, at least three times bigger than myself and just barely smaller than the largest vultures. His antennae were thick and long, appearing almost like huge, bushy eyebrows above kind, gentle eyes. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. ¡°Mother, take a moment to rest,¡± his baritone shook my bones, ¡°I will protect the hive, so that you may defeat our great foe.¡± Before I could respond, he disappeared. The battle once again resumed in my vision. Beatrice and Bella were struggling to withstand the vultures¡¯ overwhelming numbers. Beck was faltering under the Vulch¡¯s assault. Ben, Belle, and Bess were resisting with all their might. *Schwwwwwing* A long scar appeared in the sky, cutting straight through the black blanket. Dozens of vultures continued screeching even as their heads fell off their bodies, and their blood seemed confused about where to go. The only one who reacted was the Vulch, his eyes widening in fear. His assault on the link was cut short as he used his Mind to protect his body, barely blocking the warrior¡¯s slice in time. ¡°My dear family, take shelter. You no longer need to suffer the brutality of war.¡± He disappeared again, his gigantic stinger moving with unnatural speed and grace as it stabbed and sliced, cutting down swathes of vultures. ¡°Go! I will fend off the enemy!¡± The workers finally shook themselves from their stupor, rushing back towards the dirt ball. Ben stared, eyes wide, following the warrior¡¯s impossibly fast movements. Beatrice gaped. ¡°Mother¡­ is that¡­?¡± ¡°Yeah. That¡¯s the warrior.¡± A name. I had prepared one, which had become more apt than I would have liked. A close confidant, a warrior missing limbs, loyal and strong. ¡°His name is Bedivere.¡± ________ What followed was a bloodbath. Bedivere didn¡¯t tire or stumble; he just kept killing. I had never seen anything like it. Movies and tv shows just didn¡¯t do this sort of superhuman physicality justice. Even when he slowed down and I could actually track his movements, the way he fought defied reason. Did I even need to do anything now? Bedivere was so ridiculously strong that he was fending off the entire army of vultures single-handedly. Of course, there was one exception. The Vulch was cowering near a tree, and I could feel his Mind¡¯s pressure dedicated to protecting his body. However, I could tell that his body language was misleading. Despite looking like he was cowering in fear, his eyes were vigilant and thoughtful, carefully watching Bedivere¡¯s assault. My own Mind was beginning to clear. Protecting Bedivere had been surprisingly tiring, and I had accumulated more wounds than I realized. I needed to take down the Vulch to end this war. But Bedivere seemed to be doing just fine in that regard. I knew it couldn¡¯t last. Even as I tried to strategize, I could see the Vulch relax. He was becoming confident, and I knew my time had come. Bedivere¡¯s attack would distract the army so that I could crush the Vulch. I saw the Vulch shift, his Mind defenses dropping. Before he could command his forces or do something to Bedivere, I pushed, aiming to crush the Vulch. His eyes bulged and he whirled on me, staring with that beady white ey- I again found myself in a white void, but I was ready for the shock this time. Queen readied herself beside me as a black dot grew on the horizon. ¡°Indeed, your power is frightening. How did you create such a mighty creature?¡± I didn¡¯t answer. The last time the Vulch had brought me here, it had been a trap. An effective strategy to prevent me from killing him or destroying his army. But now I had Bedivere. This time, bringing me here had been a severe miscalculation. I reached out with my Mind. Instead of looking for a way out, I could now take my time and search for a weakness. There had to be some way for me to defeat the Vulch from here. He was skilled, but my power was overwhelming. I would find a way. ¡°Not feeling talkative, human? I assume you are thinking of how to defeat me. Indeed, the smugness I feel radiating off you implies you believe I have made a mistake, and I agree.¡± ¡°If you are aware that you have made a mistake, Vulch, then surrender. Your family cannot defeat Bedivere.¡± I glanced at Queen. This was the second time she had suggested that the war end peacefully; the other was during our first talk with the Vulch. I suppose I shouldn¡¯t have been surprised. Besides toward humans, Queen seemed pretty softhearted. Unfortunately, I disagreed in this case. The Vulch was dangerous. His family was dangerous. They were too smart and too powerful, and I wasn¡¯t taking their actions lightly. The hive members hadn¡¯t emerged from this war unscathed, and the beginning of the hive proper had been destroyed. That progress was gone, little though it was. Mostly, though, I was afraid of the consequences. The Vulch¡¯s hatred for humans was terrifying. If he decided to slaughter any humans he found or antagonize them in some way, then he might bring the might of humanity down on our burned forest. To be frank, the hive was not prepared for something like that, not even with Bedivere. All I had to back up that idea were my instincts and experience as a human, but I was sure. As we were, we would be no match for the true power of humans. In short, the Vulch needed to die, and his family needed to be scattered to the winds. ¡°Ahh, Queen. Surrender? Your human friend will not stand for such a thing. Indeed, I expect this, and so I have purposefully made this mistake. I have gambled.¡± ¡°My family cannot defeat this warrior of yours, that is true. Indeed, my Mind is no match for your power. And so, I have decided that the only option is to destroy you here, away from the world.¡± ¡°Funny. We decided the same. What makes you think you can defeat us?¡± ¡°Indeed, I doubt I can defeat you at all. Thus, a gamble.¡± While the two chattered on, I was beginning to sweat. Just like last time, any attack I tried with Mind did nothing. There was no mounting pressure, no visible signs of my attacks. How was this possible? I had seen for myself that the Vulch was suffering from my attack in the real world, so what made this world so different? This¡­ world. Hm. I was trying to strangle the Vulch, to disintegrate and destroy him, but that wouldn¡¯t work in this world. I wasn¡¯t actually crushing anything. This was the Vulch¡¯s Mind; I was sure of it. Some sort of mental world he crafted to communicate through a forced link. I needed to alter my angle of attack. ¡°Please, Vulch. We will spare you; Enno will spare you. If you vow to follow our commands and heed our warnings, then I am sure peace is still an option.¡± Really, Queen? She was just way too caring. I grimaced. I wanted to believe Queen was right, really. But looking at the Vulch¡¯s scarred face, the pale hatred in his white eye, I knew it wasn¡¯t possible. If we left him alone, our two families would continue warring until one side fell. ¡°There is no advantage in doing so. My children are dead. My family, dead. All at your hands. Indeed, I have already told my children to flee across the forest, but they too thirst for vengeance.¡± The Vulch loomed over us, somehow growing even larger. ¡°Indeed, if I were to help you, what then? You would take my knowledge and skills, hoard the food for your family, and grow unceasingly. No, best to destroy you while I am still capable of doing so.¡± I found myself nodding along to the Vulch¡¯s reasoning. Would I actually do those things, given the chance? I wasn¡¯t sure. I wouldn¡¯t try to kill the vultures if they joined us, but it would be difficult to live with a mortal enemy next-door at all times. But the Vulch¡¯s concerns were about his own family. He wanted to grow. To expand. Most likely to kill humans. I was only focused on the present. The Vulch was threatening us, and I would eliminate the threat. Now, I just had to figure out how exactly to do that. Chapter 19 - Bright, Brave, and Beenevolent Mother¡¯s still form was one of beauty. A trio of foul vultures fell to my stinger as another took its last breath, choking in my grip. My elder siblings watched. They were my spirit, the force that compelled me to continue my merciless slaughter. I pitied the vultures, I truly did. Was it their fault that they had made the mistake of becoming our enemy? I stopped a vulture as it tried to dodge around me, presumably targeting Mother. A quick three-punch combo crushed its bones and it died, a screech floundering in its throat. The overwhelming forces of the vulture army defied reason, and I again glanced at Mother. Her battle with the Vulch was the lynchpin of this battle. The Vulch had instructed his soldiers to protect his body and move it around, ensuring I could not destroy him. Further, Beck warned me against killing the Vulch. We were still ignorant on the matters of Mind. What would happen to Mother if she were trapped in the dying Vulch¡¯s Mind? I have no illusions about my identity. I am a weapon, an impossible force born from Mother¡¯s feelings of helplessness. I was not strength. I was a well of weakness, a way for Mother to become strong. I was Bedivere. And yet, I could not aid Mother in her fight. She was alone against a foe with nearly every advantage over her. I crushed those feelings, those thoughts of shame. I was weakness. My body was Mother¡¯s weapon to be used against the weak; my incredible physical prowess meant solely for discarding those who were not worthy of confronting Mother. My Mind was strong, yes. But Mother¡¯s Mind was the true miracle. It was with her Mind that our most dangerous foes could be vanquished. Eventually, I would learn. When Mother discovers the secrets of Mind, I will become an even more powerful warrior. When that happens, the strong of this world will become the weak. But for now, I sliced and stabbed, protecting Mother and the hive. ________ ________ I was close to a breakthrough, I could feel it. The Vulch hadn¡¯t made any progress in finding a way to beat me, and I assumed he never would. This was a true stalemate, unlike last time. Or was it? The more I thought of this world, the more I realized how easy it would be to win. The basis for this mental realm was a Mind link. A powerful one that defied logic, or at least the knowledge I currently had about Mind, but a Mind link all the same. Beck was the key. Thanks to Beck¡¯s calls, I managed to escape this world last time. That path had been a link. My Kin Link. Searching through the white void, I saw it again. The faint yellow buzzing in the distance, with the Vulch blocking the way. He knew. ¡°Escaping will do you no good. I will simply bring you back here, and we will be right back at the beginning.¡± ¡°Do you presume to continue this battle forever, Vulch? Eventually, Bedivere will destroy your family, and your body will be exposed. When that happens, we will be able to escape and safely kill you.¡± ¡°You presume yourself to be a master of Mind, and you are skilled. But this Link weapon of yours is no match for our Mind. You further presume yourself to be a master of Links? Laughable. We are bees.¡± It dawned on me. Queen was right. ¡°Why, Vulch? Why do you care about your family so much?¡± The Vulch seemed surprised at my question, then angry. ¡°Why? How could I not care for my family? Do you not care for yours?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t mean specifically. I mean, why do any of us care about our families?¡± The Vulch was silent. Queen too. She seemed very confused. ¡°Where is this coming from, Enno? We care for our family, and Vulch cares for his. It is in our nature to care for our families.¡± ¡°And yet, we bring them to war. We ask them to fight and die. You¡¯re so jaded, Vulch, by your family¡¯s huge size that the hundreds that have died in this war mean almost nothing. Before you say anything, I know you care about them, but only as a whole. What do the individuals really matter?¡± Oh, he was pissed now. The Vulch¡¯s already reddish face burned. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°I remember every single one of them. Every birth, every egg, every pattern of feathers. Human! Do not presume to insult my love for my family,¡± he growled. I could see his sadness as he thought of all the vultures that had died. And I struck. ¡°Argh!¡± I pushed, not towards the yellow buzzing light, but towards the Vulch. In him, I saw his family, but only the largest members. In thinking about his dead family members and those he still wanted to protect, his emotions briefly exposed him. He also had a Kin Link, but only to the most intelligent vultures. This world of his was between our Links. And I meant to exploit his Kin Link. When Ben first encountered the Vulch, Beck described the Vulch¡¯s presence as an intrusion. An invasion. Earlier in this same battle, the Vulch had attacked the Kin Link within Ben, Belle, and Bess, which Beck defended. Beck had been able to hold him off. Beck was far less powerful than either of us, so how did they manage to hold off the Vulch? A vulture hive-mind? Ridiculous. The true nature of a hive mind is the area of expertise of one particular species. Bees. I pulled Queen close. She was the one who made me realize the way to beat him. Links were a connection between Minds. Sure, you could actively keep and maintain one, but it was best to automate a task like that. And if it was automated, that meant that as long as we lived, those Links would exist. How else would I have gotten to my body if the Link I approached sounded like Beck? I dove into the inky void of the Vulch¡¯s feathers. ¡°Stop! What are you-¡° Silence. The Vulch¡¯s voice faded as we left him behind in his world, traveling through his own Kin Link. Instead of white, black now surrounded Queen and me. White specks, like stars, glowed in the distance. Behind me, I could see a giant white orb. I clawed towards one of the white pinpricks that had appeared in the black void, and voices flooded my head. ¡°Father, what will we do? The humans have never been so aggressive.¡± ¡°Untrue. Indeed, humans have always been monsters. However, I do agree that this attack is¡­unusual. Do not worry; I will keep the flock safe.¡± ¡°I understand, father.¡± It was agonizing. Every word punched me in the gut, flooding me with depressive thoughts. What was this? ¡°I know these feelings,¡± Queen said, ¡°Loss and pain. Emotions given form. This is similar to our connection, Enno. Together, yet apart.¡± Was that possible? But the Vulch¡¯s family were, well, his family. They had their own bodies, and they grew up. They weren¡¯t the previous inhabitants of a body. ¡°No, it is not identical. Merely the same concept. Vulch and these intelligent children¡­ they are one and the same, yet not so.¡± So then, what did this mean? These thoughts felt similar to memories, ghosts of ideas that had passed through these Links. The depressive thoughts turned to rage. I had never felt so angry, such righteous fury. Not when my brother tricked me. Not when my mother accused me of stealing her meds. Not when my friend had been killed in an accident. Not even when Bedivere¡¯s egg had been injured. The emotions shifted, changing to represent a new scene. ¡°Chief, chief! Tell us about it again! About when you escaped the humans!¡± ¡°I have already told you this story. Indeed, you must have it memorized by now. Would you not rather hear something more uplifting?¡± ¡°Come on, chief! At least talk about the towers! Those are my favorite!¡± ¡°You¡­ like hearing about those? Those¡­ human abominations?¡± ¡°They sound so cool! Like super tall trees!¡± There was the anger. This was hatred, unlike anything I had experienced. The Vulch didn¡¯t just hate humans because of the attack on the forest. There was something else. Before I could find out more, the emotions shifted again. ¡°Please, leader. The family is desperate for revenge. Why must you send us away?¡± The feelings were angry this time again, but not as strong, more like anger mixed with sadness and anxiety. ¡°I will not repeat myself. Go towards the mountains. This enemy¡­ I have not felt anything like it before. The spy it sent was weak, yet strong. I do not understand it. Indeed, I am the only one capable of exacting our revenge.¡± ¡°But it¡¯s not just revenge, father,¡± a different voice called out, ¡°This forest is ours! The humans have destroyed our progress, and it will take ages to rebuild the nest. How long will we have to wait before we can lay waste to the human gatherings?¡± ¡°We will wait as long as is necessary. Indeed, it is devastating for our nest to have been destroyed, but so be it. We can rebuild. But to do so, we must once again become this forest¡¯s rulers. Competition will not be welcome. But I also do not wish to risk your lives. I will face the threat alone and crush them.¡± I could only listen in horror. The Vulch had always planned on destroying us to prevent any competition in the forest, regardless of whether we killed his family or not. Even worse, he was preparing for an all-out war on the humans before they had even destroyed this forest. And yet they were still forced to run. Milky white tendrils appeared near me, and I could see the Vulch was trying to drag me back into his world. No, wait. He was afraid of what I was doing and was done playing around. If I let him catch me, he would never let me go. He wanted to finish me off. Enough was enough. I felt around, trying to grasp the white specks. Instead of crushing them, I imagined myself entering the links. I poured my Mind into the idea of connection. I remembered Beck¡¯s voice. I remembered how it echoed through the buzzing yellow dot, and together with Queen, we began to buzz. ¡°¡­St¡­.p¡­.deed¡­destro¡­.¡± The Vulch¡¯s voice echoed behind us, but we kept buzzing. I gripped Queen¡¯s hand tightly. She led the way, trusting her instincts to guide her in corrupting the links, but I was along for the ride. I helped her, but I felt weak. I knew at that moment. My power, my powerful Mind, none of it was mine. It was Queen¡¯s. It had always been Queen. I was just a¡­ a parasite. The buzzing exploded into a crescendo, yellow filling my vision. The white specks winked out of existence as our buzzing yellow pushed against the eerie white of the Vulch¡¯s Mind. ¡°¡­.no¡­NO!¡± I saw him. The Vulch looked frail. We had hit him where it hurt, somewhere he never thought anyone could reach. The yellow surrounded the white, engulfing it. We had caught him off guard and were free to crush him. His skill didn¡¯t matter anymore. Queen and I buzzed, pushing with the full force of our-her- Mind. The Vulch stood no chance. ¡°Human¡­ Queen¡­ Indeed, at least, spare my family¡­.¡± The white and black of the Vulch¡¯s Mind disappeared, swallowed by a sea of buzzing yellow. _______ Urgh. Was my alarm more annoying than usual? It almost sounded like screeching birds. Vultures. I shot up, shaking myself out of my daze. Vulch! How was the hive?! ¡°Mother, we did it,¡± a collected voice said, ¡°The vultures are retreating! You have defeated their leader!¡± Beatrice? A quick look told me she was right. The black blanket that once covered our clearing had scattered, panicked vultures flying in every direction. None of them tried to attack us. ¡°I give high praise, Mother. You fought courageously.¡± Bedivere¡¯s deep voice was a strange addition to the crew, but his words were relieving. I had defeated the Vulch! And with his death, the vultures wouldn¡¯t dare threaten us anymore. ¡°Shall I pursue them? Without the Vulch¡¯s presence, nothing is stopping me from finishing them off.¡± I looked at Bedivere, surprised to see no hint of malice despite his gruesome suggestion. In fact, he almost seemed¡­ sad. Did he understand the Vulch¡¯s situation? ¡°No. No, leave them.¡± I felt crushed at what I had done to Vulch. The least I could do to respect a fellow family guy was to honor his final wish. ¡°What do we do with this, Mother?¡± Bella was holding a single vulture corpse. A corpse with a scarred face. Vulch. I refused to eat him. He didn¡¯t deserve a fate like that. Was that hypocritical, considering my family would likely eat his family¡¯s corpses anyways? Maybe. But remembering those impossibly strong feelings he held, it just didn¡¯t feel right not to give at least his own body some mercy. ¡°Bury him. Bess, would you mind creating a gravestone of some kind? Something to honor him.¡± Was this what it felt like to have a mortal enemy? My feelings felt so conflicted. I felt unbearable guilt for what I had done, yet overjoyed that I had overcome that challenge. This surely wouldn¡¯t be the last time. Next time, I would be ready. ¡°This will never happen again, everyone,¡± I ensured everyone listened closely, ¡°A war like this will never happen again. We will make the hive strong. So strong that nobody would fight us. So strong that people like the Vulch wouldn¡¯t take revenge.¡± The hive would grow. I refused to be stopped, not by vultures or humans. As I looked upon the tiny number of hive members gathered before me, I knew. ¡°The joke you told Beatrice is no longer a joke, is it? The world shall be our hive.¡± Chapter 19.5 - Interlude - Bee is for Bonus The Way of Things: Forest Friends Freak Out ¡°Lowchief, come look! Somethin¡¯ strange¡¯s happenin¡¯ in the forest!¡± That was Follo, wasn¡¯t it? I reluctantly dropped my scroll and stretched. It would do me some good to get some fresh air. Plus, I would take any excuse to escape my father¡¯s workload. How did he do it? I couldn¡¯t last an hour without itching to swing from the trees. The bright sun was high in the sky as I left my tent. Children ran around playing, some of their parents joining in on the fun. I could see Enfla at the entrance of a nearby tent, tending to an elder¡¯s back. The sudden shift to hard, rocky terrain hadn¡¯t gone well for the older folk. Enfla met my eye, so I quickly turned and jogged off to find Follo. Nervous? Me? How silly. I was Lowchief! The only thing that made me nervous was scrollwork! I was not sweating! Follo was waiting near the boulder that marked the camp¡¯s entrance. My old friend nervously glanced toward the forest and seemed relieved when I finally jogged up. ¡°Finally! Look over there, Feltan! Look!¡± ¡°Manners, Follo. I am Lowchief.¡± ¡°Whatever! Look!¡± Follo was rarely this excited. What could be getting him so worked up? He was posted here as a guard, but I knew he spent most of his time looking over the forest and daydreaming. I scowled as I gazed over the forest some distance away. Or rather, what was left of it. Two weeks. It had been more than two weeks since those bastards destroyed the entire forest with their fire and eerie weaponry. Two weeks since we had to flee to the mountains in the east, given no warning by the humans about what they were about to do. Two weeks since mother¡­ I shook my head. These thoughts were unhelpful. Father was still alive, even given his state. Follo and Enfla had escaped unharmed. But even still. The once lush greens replaced by black and gray. The ever-present gloomy cloud hovered over the forest, unmoving and unraining. The crystals that stuck above the tree line were disgusting. Those multicolored, unnatural things were yet another product of the humans¡¯ brutality. ¡°Yes, I know, Follo. The shamans are working on the rain as we speak. On that note, do you happen to know where Elofan is hiding? She¡¯s overdue for a report on the shamans¡¯ findings on that odd cloud¡­.¡± ¡°Not that, berry-brain! The shroud!¡± Berry-brain? That was an insult for children. We were no longer children! ¡°What could possibly be wrong with the shroud? Those blasted vu-¡° I froze. Where was the shroud? ¡°You see? They¡¯re gone! How are they gone?!¡± This made no sense. The shroud never left the forest¡¯s skies. It had briefly moved during the humans¡¯ attack but quickly returned to where it belonged. ¡°This is impossible. The shroud has covered the forest since the time of the third Highchief!¡± Nearly one-hundred-fifty years, the shroud had hovered there. It occasionally thinned or moved, but it never disappeared. ¡°Do ya think the humans destroyed it? They couldna killed it, right?¡± ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know, Follo. I must report this to my father. He may have some idea.¡± My brain was a whirlwind, trying to imagine the implications. I quickly activated my Enhancement Ability to reduce the distance between the boulder and my father¡¯s tent and began to run on all fours. This was monumental news. With the shroud gone, who knew what would happen? Would the humans try to claim the forest? How had it disappeared at all? If something had made it vanish¡­ What sort of horrific entity could have appeared in our forest? Enfla looked at me questioningly as I dashed past, so I sent her a thought. An urgent matter had arisen, so as an influential figure, she should join me. She caught up and began running alongside me. ¡°What¡¯s the deal, Feltan? You look spooked.¡± ¡°Lowchief,¡± I mumbled, ¡°And yes, I am spooked. The shroud has disappeared.¡± She nearly tripped when I said that. ¡°The shroud? Gone? That makes no sense.¡± ¡°I know.¡± She quieted, becoming deadly serious. It was so cool when she did that, going from lighthearted and happy to serious and thoughtful. Yup, just cool. I wasn¡¯t sweating! I could feel Enfla sorting through her thoughts, digging through her predecessor¡¯s memories. I had to say, she had filled the role of Record Keeper better than anyone had expected. Good thing I had recommended her for the position. We finally reached my father¡¯s tent, and I ended my Ability. I didn¡¯t want to disturb him too much. ¡°Father, there is new- Are you smoking lutice weed again?!¡± _______ _______ Mercborn: Mercs Mock the Manager I couldn¡¯t help but let a huge sigh escape my lips. The Rotor looked so calm, slowly turning in the breeze¡­ The forest, on the other hand, looked uncharacteristically depressing. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. I tried to pull my attention back to the manager¡¯s red-faced screams, but my thoughts kept wandering to my room, where I could pat Dip¡¯s great feathery back instead of listening to this stink-mind ramble. Oh, he was yelling at me. ¡°For the love of- Wake up, Yelah! This is important!¡± Was it, though? Well, I knew it was, but this guy was being seriously annoying. Like, even Grehn was thumbing his sword handle like he wanted to shut this guy up with a quick slash. ¡°Again! Important! The Lord is anxious to learn why the birds just up and disappeared! The Vultuous Forest is in a delicate state!¡± Vlugh spoke up, ¡°Eh, why do we care about the Lord¡¯s wishes? Maybe he should¡¯ve stopped those wackos instead of letting them just come in and destroy our biggest source of income.¡± He began to wail, ¡°I mean, seriously! They even burned down our orchards! I haven¡¯t had a good lemonade in days!¡± Vlugh made an excellent point. No lemonade? I¡¯d rather die than have to ask those weirdos in Lemonholm for fresh lemons. ¡°Who cares about all that! I¡¯ll tell you why you respect the Lord¡¯s wishes,¡± the manager smirked before slamming a scroll on his desk. ¡°This is a formal request! He knows you four are quite knowledgeable about the stupid birds, so he¡¯s willing to pay handsomely!¡± Reluctantly, I touched the scroll. A number flashed in my Mind. Holy shit. ¡°Is this number real?¡± Grehn asked quietly. You said it, pal. ¡°Hold on,¡± Rette spoke up. She had been quiet for the whole meeting, but of fucking course, when money got involved, she was quick to talk. ¡°Why would the Lord hire mercenaries? I know you gave the reasoning, but if he¡¯s willing to shell out this much, then are there not better options?¡± The manager snatched up the scroll and quickly tucked it away in his desk. Greedy bastard. ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t care. All I know is that the commission I would get from this job would set me up to get promoted, and you lot would be rich. None of the other companies have gotten wind of this deal, so we must take it now!¡± I highly doubted that. If that scroll had passed through reception, then Yoho definitely got wind of it. And if he did, there was no doubt he had already told his bosses at Yemonto Co. The number rattled around my head again. So much¡­ ¡°We¡¯ll do it,¡± I finally said. Vlugh looked at me in shock, but the rest seemed pretty happy about my decision. ¡°Come on, Yelah!¡± he whined, ¡°Were you really swayed by that huge amount of cash? Think of the message we could send! Lemonade!¡± I ignored him. Glancing out the window, I saw the Rotor again in my peripheral vision. Where the cloud of vultures usually flew was nothing. Our city on the forest¡¯s western outskirts had always been under constant watch by those vultures, and many said that the day would come when the cloud of birds would descend on the city and swallow it whole. Superstitious nonsense. That said, it was unusual that the birds had disappeared. It was reasonable for the Lord to want to investigate, but that much money was definitely suspicious. ¡°Alright, you agreed, now get out! I¡¯ve gotta fill out an MIS form for this payment. So much money~ The bosses would kill me if an official inquiry came down on the company, so get out! Out!¡± The four of us finally got to leave that boring-ass meeting and head out of the company building. A journey into the forest would take preparation, even if the vultures weren¡¯t looming overhead. For now, though, it was time to cuddle up with my Dippy-poo! _________ _________ War Fight Archives: Seasick Sailor Soldier Wet. Salty. Windy. Most people might find this place relaxing or even exciting. I was leaning over the ship¡¯s railing and depositing my lunch into the sea. Ugh. ¡°You alright, soldier? Ah¡­ it¡¯s you, Miss Irika.¡± A glance told me the voice belonged to Captain Ront, but I couldn¡¯t bring myself to salute. The sea was clearly desperate for my stomach contents, and the cool metal railing just felt too good. Thankfully, Captain Ront was pretty lenient if my baggy uniform was anything to go by. ¡°Drink some water, soldier. You¡¯ve already been excused from duty for your seasickness twice. Unfortunately, I can¡¯t allow a third time.¡± ¡°Just throw her onto the land, Cap!¡± someone shouted, ¡°Let her fight on the ground like those Somuian chumps!¡± ¡°Yeah, I agree for once. Captain, she¡¯s in no condition to be here. Why is she allowed to stay?¡± Their words hurt, but Captain¡¯s silence hurt even more. The murky depths of the sea stared back up at me. I knew they were right; as if seasickness wasn¡¯t embarrassing enough, that pathetic display with the gun yesterday was just mortifying. ¡°If her skinny ass could at least hold a gun, then-¡° ¡°Enough. Weren¡¯t you on swabbing duty, Cadet? And you, Lieutenant. You can discuss this with your Commander if you feel so strongly. I have explained to them already.¡± That was Captain Ront. So nice, and for what? I was a lowly cadet, newly joining the fleet. And yet, he cared enough to ask about my condition and defend me. All because of Uncle. ¡°Cadet. Water. That¡¯s an order.¡± I managed to make a shaky salute before stumbling into the mess. Even I couldn¡¯t explain why I was here. The Captain kept telling me it was because of my uncle, but I had my doubts. Sure, I had always dreamed of sailing with Uncle around the world, but I never thought of joining him in battle. I was skinny and weak. Uncle always said a strong Mind could overcome any sword, but he fought in a different time. Funnily enough, I never got sick when I saw the bloodshed on the mainland. Maybe it was because our ships were safely offshore, but the slaughters on the Somuian side to the west, and the Alliance side to the east could still be seen and heard from off the coast. Why were we even fighting in this war? Let the mainlanders fight their own battles. ¡°Hey, girlie, can you fire at the enemy next time?¡± I didn¡¯t even spare the voice a glance. Just another heckler. An all too common occurrence since I enlisted. It was still hard to ignore the laughter. ¡°To arms! To arms!¡± A sudden shout and a ringing bell snapped me out of my groggy state. A barrage had been requested, and our ship was next in line. I did my best to rush on deck, but the burly men and women dashing out of the mess nearly crushed me beneath their boots. Why did I keep trying? Why fight? I had no idea. And yet, I tried my best to push towards the deck, grabbing one of the standard issue rifles. ¡°Wait, Miss Irika.¡± ¡°Captain Ront?¡± My direct commander shouted at the other cadets to wait for the signal, but Captain Ront held me back. He seemed to wrestle with words, but I knew what he would say. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Captain. I¡¯ll try my best to hold steady this time!¡± ¡°No, Cadet,¡± he sighed, ¡°I must apologize. I have kept you here on account of your uncle¡¯s wishes, but I¡¯m wondering if it¡¯s time to send you home.¡± My stomach dropped. I knew he would say it, but something in me just couldn¡¯t accept it. Some abysmal timing nearly made me throw up again as the ship turned, coming parallel to the mainland. My commander¡¯s shouts to fire were drowned out by explosions and screaming. I could see the terrifying figures of orcs and the occasional troll fall in droves to our gunfire, cheering human soldiers charging toward the rest. My uncle really had no idea what he was getting me into, did he? The guns of his time could scarcely reach the shore, even while the ships ground against the¡­ ground. Our ships barely touched the mainland, casually floating in the steep depths next to the continent, and yet our guns fell entire hordes. Why did the creatures insist on staying this close to the sea? Even after years of this slaughter, they refused to budge an inch from the warring border or the coast. ¡°¡­det? Cadet? Are you feeling alright?¡± I turned my attention back to the Captain. ¡°Sorry Captain, but I¡¯m not quitting,¡± I said between the volleys. Why did I insist on staying? Wouldn¡¯t leaving be everything I wanted? ¡°I admire your tenacity, Cadet. But you don¡¯t exactly have a say in the matter,¡± he hesitated, turning to the land, ¡°Tell you what. You get one more chance. Take a shot. If you don¡¯t cause another incident, I¡¯ll allow you to stay a little longer. I¡¯ll trust in your strong Mind just as your uncle trusts me.¡± A chance? I¡¯ll take what I can get at this point. I hurriedly saluted and dashed to the line, garnering a few sideways glances. The cadets I stood next to noticeably shuffled away from me. Whatever. Okay. Focus. Hold the barrel steady with your Mind. Just like in training¡­ The metal of the gun was light, but it still hurt my arms to hold it up. Weak. Frail. I took aim, careful not to hit an ally soldier, and¡­ I couldn¡¯t. I was frozen in place. The incident had been an exercise, nothing significant at the other end. But here, there were lives at stake. People. If I couldn¡¯t hold the barrel in place, then¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll hold it. Go ahead and fire.¡± Someone startled me. Who the hell was this guy? A man I didn¡¯t recognize smiled as he focused on my gun. The Captain was watching me intently. I couldn¡¯t accept help with this last chance¡­ right? Oh, whatever. Might as well take the shot. The barrel felt weightless and steady as I took aim. This guy had a strong Mind. I tried my best to use my own Mind to hold the gun in place, but it just never worked. My attention kept getting drawn away¡­ *BAM* I fired. The force shoved me backward, the gun arm strap softening the blow just enough so my bones wouldn¡¯t shatter. Urgh. I¡¯m gonna be sick again¡­ ¡°That¡¯s bollocks!¡± ¡°Did she just do that? Wha¡­?¡± ¡°Is this a trick or somethin¡¯?!¡± What? What got them all excited? I stumbled over to the railing. No, not to puke, to get a better look. Honestly. I saw it. The orc I had been aiming at was dead, dark red blood oozing out of a hole in its head. ¡°I don¡¯t get it. What¡¯s so amazing?¡± I managed to say. The Captain himself rushed over, eyes wide. ¡°Cadet! I was looking with Mind enhanced vision. You got three in one!¡± Wait. Three? I looked again, and sure enough, three orcs lay lined up like toys, the same dark red pooling under their heads. Did the Captain really need Mind-enhanced vision to see them? Why was I thinking of something so random? The guy who had helped me gave me a thumbs-up before pulling the Captain aside. This time, I did lean over the railing to puke. _______ _______ Dams in the Morning: Dam Dangerous Direction This strip could go here¡­ ooh this piece of driftmetal would fit right there perfectly! The dam was coming along nicely if I did say so myself. A stray thought of the human village downstream entered my mind, but no matter. My dam took ultimate priority! [The west is: Dam dangerous] There it was again. A few days ago, this notification began to repeatedly show up in my Mind with no explanation. What did it mean? What did I care? The only thing to the west was a huge mountain range. I never saw a living soul besides weak creatures anywhere near my dam, and I lived pretty close to those mountains. The only thing I could imagine was that something in the west posed a danger to my river and, by extension, my dam. My system only cared about those two things, after all. Actually, that was a bit spooky. My river originated in those mountains. If something happened to the river¡¯s source¡­. Eh, I¡¯m sure it would be fine! For now, my dam was in a good state. I could rest for today, then begin expanding it tomorrow. Of course, as soon as I thought that, I felt a shudder. Ugh. Probably another one of those stupid bats trying to search for bugs in my dam¡¯s branches. I peeked outside, and yup, a gigantic bat was perched on top of my beautiful dam. The thing was about as big as me! Nothing personal, bat, but I need you to leave! Before the thing could react, I burst out of the dam¡¯s dark insides and slapped the bat with my thick tail, causing it to crash into a nearby boulder. Not allowing it a moment to recover, I sped over and slammed it again, crushing it between my tail and the rock. Another bat down and another meal secured! Get absolutely destroyed! Man, this was all too easy. The sounds of footsteps appeared nearby. Yup, I had to open my big fat mouth! Those might be humans. This would be my first encounter with humans. Better to observe, so I hid myself under a pile of stray driftmetal. Not long after, as soon as I got comfortable, a whole big group of humans stepped out of the shadows and began pointing at my dam. I swear if these guys start trying to tear my dam apart¡­ Wait. Hold on. What were those¡­ metal rods? Oh, shit. This world had fucking guns!? Chapter 20 - Finally, some Bees and Quiet The aftermath of the Scavenger War (creatively named by myself) was quite gruesome. Vulture corpses littered our little glade, and blood stained the otherwise clean river. I had feared that in the days following the end of the War, we would be overrun by other scavengers like Mr. Squirrel, but that never came to pass. It probably had something to do with Bedivere, to be fair. Speaking of, the warrior tirelessly patrolled the edge of our glade to ensure nothing would disturb our cleanup or rebuilding. Did I really make that guy? ¡°He is quite dependable. Though, his awareness is quite unsettling.¡± Queen had a point. Bedivere wasn¡¯t just strong physically. I remembered what he told me the night after I defeated the Vulch¡­ I was discussing the future of the hive with Bess. I had wanted a central core to be created first, somewhere to house the food storage, a nest room, and a place for the workers to rest while working. All of this should come before beginning to expand into a vast structure. Bedivere buzzed over to me and pulled me aside. ¡°Mother, how are you feeling after your battle? It could not have been easy to need to do such a thing.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m fine, thanks Bedivere. Thanks for your help during the battle.¡± ¡°Very well. If either yourself or other Mother wish to speak your minds, then know I am here for the both of you,¡± he said before buzzing away. What a nice guy. Wait. Hold on. Other Mother?! After that night, I was having trouble reconciling with what Bedivere said. He knew about Queen. About how Queen and I were different. He called us both Mother, so I could only assume he wasn¡¯t one hundred percent sure about what the deal was. But how did he know? Even Vulch only knew once he had trapped us in his weird Mind world. Bedivere was by far the strangest member of the hive thus far. He was soft-spoken and gentle, yet violent and cold. I could tell he cared deeply for the hive and everyone in it, so I wasn¡¯t exactly afraid of him. But something about him just rubbed me the wrong way. His status was one thing. [Name: Bedivere] [Age: 3 days] [Subtype: Simple Warrior (Zenith)] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 6th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 80.5%] [Mind Locks: ] By all accounts, it didn¡¯t make any sense. Thankfully, I no longer bemoaned the fact that none of my children were normal! That sounds a bit mean. Seriously, though. I hadn¡¯t increased Bedivere¡¯s Link or anything, but his menu was all sort of crazy. The Locks? Sure, why not. They were self-explanatory. The Abilities? Okay, I could see how those fit Bedivere. With a Mind as strong as his, it would make sense that he could somehow make new Abilities. 6th Degree Mind? Well, that¡¯s my boy! My only point of comparison was myself- or rather Queen- and the workers, so Bedivere here was way at the top of the curve. I would have liked to see Vulch¡¯s menu, but unfortunately, I hadn¡¯t thought of that in the moment. Note: try to see other creatures¡¯ menus before killing them. Now. Zenith. What in the goddamn was that supposed to mean? ¡°Zenith can be described as the apex, the highest point of succ-¡° ¡°I freaking know what it means, Queen. You know because I know!¡± ¡°It¡¯s funny to mess with you though.¡± This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Was Queen more free-spirited now? She had a habit of teasing me since we met, but after the War, she seemed¡­ liberated. Like she could finally do what she wanted to do. As for Zenith? I had no clue what it meant (in the context of Bedivere¡¯s menu). He didn¡¯t have a clue either when I asked him about it. All of these mysteries were starting to become frustrating. I didn¡¯t expect to know everything about this world from the get-go, but at the very least, would it hurt to know something about our system? At best, I could theorize that there was some sort of limit that simple subtypes could reach. Even if that were the case, what would the limit constrain? Bedivere didn¡¯t seem particularly limited. Each theory and guess only produced more questions. Bedivere aside, I understood how Queen felt. As of right now, our immediate obstacles have been minimized. I knew Vulch and his flock were the de-facto leaders of this forest, which meant there was a power vacuum. A vacuum I intended to fill. ¡°With what? Ash?¡± Okay, even I could admit that was a good one. Anyways! If we wanted to take over this forest to prepare for the possible appearance of humans, there was much to do. The first order of business was to expand our forces. Bella and Belle were working overtime to collect and produce resources and were getting tired. They barely had a moment to rest after the War, after all. Unfortunately, that was a no-can-do. My Create Egg Ability still wasn¡¯t working, even after Bedivere hatched. I was beginning to suspect something else was at play, but there was really nothing I could do about it. I had tasked myself and Beatrice to help with food collection, but Belle had refused help to make wax. That needed to be amended. Belle¡¯s wax production directly impacted Bess¡¯ construction work. The builder had been hard at work forming the hive¡¯s core, but there just weren¡¯t enough materials to make a solid wax structure. She instead had to manage with the bones of the vultures, which was beginning to give our hive a seriously creepy vibe. I turned my attention to my map. Ah, yes, Beatrice had been hard at work with this one. With Ben¡¯s help, my Aide had begun sketching out the picture of a map in her Mind. Beck served as an intermediary so Ben could directly send imagery to Beatrice even when he wandered far away. I really needed to figure out a way around that. Bees were meant to stay with the hive and maybe travel to find food. For our purposes, though, communication was key, so it would be best to have a network that allowed us to communicate over long distances, allowing Beck time for his own things. For now, though, the setup worked well with our smaller numbers. The map was pretty cool. It wasn¡¯t pretty by any means, but it was efficient in classic Beatrice fashion. Ben had scouted a fair radius around the hive¡¯s center, maybe a kilometer or five. All he had found were trees trees trees. And squirrels. I was surprised to learn that Queen¡¯s old hive was only around five kilometers away since it felt impossibly far during the early days. Well, I guess I did go back and forth a bit¡­ In a mortally injured state. Sort of silly when I think about it. For now, we had no idea how far the forest went. I knew that mountains stretched upwards in the east and that ¡®mossy creatures¡¯ were there, but otherwise, not much. I also knew a gathering of humans was nearby, but we hadn¡¯t seen any sign of them. I also wanted to make more workers to help Ben scout, but that was also off the table. This¡­ felt nice. I hadn¡¯t been granted the opportunity to really relax since I arrived in this world, and now with the threat of the vultures behind us, I felt content. And antsy. I wanted to expand the hive, dang it! ¡°You have bee in you, Enno. Working is what we love.¡± Well, I did have a bee in me, but that was beside the point. Time to work! Belle¡¯s wax production was my immediate concern, so I floated over to the dirt balls where she stayed. Those trusty dirtballs had been super helpful, but they were ultimately in the way. Bess had already constructed supports, so I didn¡¯t have to maintain their flotation, and I had begrudgingly deactivated the force field. I only disabled the Lock, so I could activate that line of defense in case of an emergency. That freed up a decent chunk of Mind for me to leave wasting away. A peek into the old nest room revealed Belle sitting inside, and I floated in to chat. Belle was in a bad spot. Nothing had gone right for her. But to be honest, I didn¡¯t care about all that. She was instrumental as the wax maker, but if she didn¡¯t accept some type of help, then another failure could be in her future. ¡°Belle. Do you want me to get Bella or Beatrice or someone to help you make wax?¡± ¡°No. Thank you Mother.¡± ¡°Belle,¡± I sighed, ¡°I know how you feel, but the wax is important. You¡¯ve been doing so well in creating strong yet malleable material for the hive¡¯s construction, so I want to see your success continue.¡± ¡°Calling my actions successful is unfair to the other workers.¡± ¡°You know that isn¡¯t true. Sure, some bad things happened, but they were ultimately outside your control! The wax is completely different. You have pretty much full control over the hive¡¯s rate of growth. Those other failures are meaningless to me, but failing here would be devastating.¡± ¡°Argh! Do not call her failures ¡®meaningless¡¯! You are diminishing those events she finds monumental!¡± ¡°I see. In that case, you may burden Bella with wax-creation.¡± This was not going well. I needed a Queen Crash Course on this sort of thing. ¡°Belle-¡° Tears. Oh shit. ¡°I apologize, Mother. I¡­ I know the family will be there for me, as we will be for you. But I just don¡¯t understand. Why must everything I am tasked to do fail so spectacularly?¡± I decided to turn the bees¡¯ own methods against them and embraced Belle in a hug. Hey, it worked for me! ¡°It¡¯s alright, Belle. Tell me why you think you keep failing, even though I think you aren¡¯t.¡± The waterworks began in earnest. ¡°Is it not clear?! The hive was destroyed because I could not defend it. Bedivere is missing half his limbs because I could not move his egg in time. My siblings enjoy successes and grand achievements, yet all I can do is sit here, eat, and spit out wax all day.¡± ¡°But you weren¡¯t the only one in the hive the day it fell; Beck was here too, and they don¡¯t drown themself in tears about it. Bella hasn¡¯t performed some grand achievement, and neither have most of the workers. You¡¯re too hard on yourself.¡± ¡°Listen, Belle. I have made the most mistakes of anyone in the hive. Even now, I can¡¯t lay eggs and create the expanded workforce we desperately need. So! Instead, I bury myself in other work. I won¡¯t say that¡¯s the healthiest, but it doesn¡¯t seem like a bad option as long as you have time to reflect, like you are now. You are all connected to me, and I will take responsibility for your actions. Okay?¡± ¡°Okay, Mother. In that case, I will take all the help I can get,¡± she wiped her tears and nodded, mumbling, ¡°Bess¡¯ outrageous demands for material far exceed what I can produce. Ideally, all of the workers could help make wax, but¡­.¡± Hm. Not a bad idea at all! I called Beatrice over the bee-phone, or in other words, I just talked normally through the Link. ¡°Beatrice! What do you think about a wax-making rotation of all the workers to lighten Belle¡¯s load?¡± Belle perked up. Getting every worker that could still produce wax to assist would surely help her out. Maybe make her feel less alone in her struggles. ¡°I believe that should be possible. Yes, looking at their rough schedules, the workers that are still capable of producing wax effectively can go on a rotation. Those would be Bella, Bess, and Ben.¡± Oh, man. Bess and Belle making wax together? Well, maybe they would actually sort out their differences that way. As for those three bees, they all had important jobs. I would have to create a priority queue for which workers would make wax and for how long. Bella¡¯s gathering was important, but at the moment, we were overflowing with food. I wanted to prioritize scouting and building before gathering, so she would be top of the list. Bess would be last. As much as I wanted to learn about the forest, constructing the hive was just as important. In that same vein, Bess¡¯ work was important, but I wanted her to spend the least time making wax so she could do her own job. If wax production increased due to this ¡®policy,¡¯ then Bess would be overflowing with building material which would just go to waste if she wasn¡¯t building. Beatrice agreed with my assessment and sent a notice to the others. With that settled, I decided to go out and talk to the remaining bees. I noticed Belle give a sideways glance at a lumpy wax shape. Was that one of the crystals? Maybe it was a reminder of a success of hers. I hoped so. In the meantime, I wanted to increase our efficiency even further. Bess, Bella, Belle, and Ben would all be swamped with work, which left Beck, Beatrice, Bedivere, and myself relatively free. We can¡¯t have that! The name of the game is productivity! Chapter 21 - What do you have in Mind? Enno is the name, and productivity is my game! Or, it will be. With half the hive busy as can bee, that left the rest of us looking like lazy bums. I decided to do something about Beck first. Bedivere¡¯s combat specialization was one thing, but he was incredibly powerful and versatile, so he had countless options for work. Beatrice was already actually pretty busy since I had tasked her with¡­ basically everything I didn¡¯t want to do. Keeping track of the workers, measuring their progress, and adjusting for minor issues. Now Beck? Beck worked as Ben and Beatrice¡¯s intermediary nearly full-time, but that just wasn¡¯t enough. For one, Ben would be exploring less with the wax-making policy. For another, as Beck had self-evolved into a special subtype, they no longer had the Beeswax Ability. Beatrice had already revealed that the workers could still make wax without that Ability, but apparently, the process was much more tedious and less efficient. So what to do with Beck? ¡°You have been trying to figure out a way to replace Beck¡¯s system with something more scalable. Why not task them with that research? Beck would be the most knowledgeable about their field.¡± Perfect! What would I do without you, Queen? Hypothetically. ¡°Beck? I¡¯m sure Beatrice has already notified you about the wax-making policy,¡± I waited for Beck¡¯s jingle of confirmation. ¡°Great. Since there will be time freed up from your relaying job, why don¡¯t you do some research? Your system is good, but it won¡¯t be sustainable as the hive grows. I also want you to use your talents to improve the hive rather than doing busywork.¡± Beck seemed delighted by the chance to flex their brain and quickly agreed. I was eager to see the results of their research. Communication has always been shown to be an exceedingly powerful tool, and we bees were masters at it. If that communication could be improved¡­ Well, hopefully it would be great! Now, for Bedivere. ¡°Bedivere, can I get a report on the hive¡¯s perimeter?¡± ¡°Of course. Nothing of note. Two ¡®squirrels¡¯ were trying to drag away a vulture corpse, but they have been neatly disposed of.¡± ¡°Awesome. Now, is there anything else you¡¯d like to do? I know you¡¯re not a worker, but¡­.¡± ¡°Actually, I have a request, Mother,¡± Beatrice interrupted the conversation. ¡°I would like to meet with both yourself and Bedivere regarding the hive¡¯s expansion into the rest of the forest.¡± Sounds good to me! When the three of us got together, I noticed we were an odd bunch. I was just a regular gigantic bee, chilling in a river. Ever prim and proper, Beatrice buzzed in place with her hands behind her back. Meanwhile, Bedivere dwarfed us, sitting calmly on the forest floor. How on Earth did Bedivere sit with that big-ass stinger? This world was full of fascinating mysteries. Beatrice nodded to Bedivere, who slowly returned the gesture. Looking at the two of them, I saw them for what they were: terrifying. ¡°Without the presence of the vultures, expansion is going smoothly,¡± Beatrice began, ¡°according to Ben¡¯s scouting and Bedivere¡¯s accounts, there are no notable enemies in the forest. The squirrels are easily destroyed by anyone in the hive, and the insects are of no note.¡± How ironic. ¡°As we know, our greatest obstacles will come from outside the forest. The humans and mossy creatures are the primary concern, but it is safe to assume that other strong beings were chased out of the forest in the human attack.¡± That was a great point I hadn¡¯t considered at all. The burned forest was filled with the corpses of unidentifiable animals, but who was to say they had all died? It was likely that they had run away and simply weren¡¯t returning at the moment, for¡­ whatever reason. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°That said, our goal is ultimately the hive¡¯s expansion. I see two possible strategies we can take.¡± With that, Beatrice sent crude but clear images into our Minds to depict the strategies. Psychic powers were just way too convenient. The scenario showed a model of the hive¡¯s core. The dirt balls were encompassed by a white, red, and black amalgamation of wax and bones. On that note, the hive seriously looked freaky. Not only were the massive vulture bones one of the two primary materials Bess was using, but the wax¡¯s color was eerie. The original greyish color was stained with red and black from the ash and blood of the forest floor. Was that why Earth beeswax was yellow? In any case, the model looked similar to the hive¡¯s current state, albeit with a more complete core. Beatrice even included the little river and the burned tree corpses surrounding the hive. Then the image split. Two identical models sat side by side, and Beatrice slowly showed her plans. One of the models had the hive amalgamation slowly expand, growing larger and larger in layers. Eventually, it was so big that it covered a massive chunk of the forest, presumably up to the border of her current map. The other grew a bit differently. Instead of steadily expanding from the center, a ring appeared, encompassing a similarly large chunk of forest. The space between the ring and the core began slowly filling in until a solid dome formed. ¡°These are my two ideas. Gradual expansion, or border creation.¡± I got what she was going for. The slower expansion would be to naturally grow from the hive¡¯s center outward, while the border creation would close off the planned domain and fill it in with hive afterward. ¡°Which do you prefer, Beatrice?¡± ¡°I am partial to border creation. However, there are caveats to that strategy. It would take much longer and require a significant number of builders to complete in a reasonable amount of time.¡± ¡°There is also the matter of security,¡± Bedivere said, ¡°We just do not have the numbers to defend such a large perimeter. In my opinion, the strengths of slow, steady growth far outweigh the border creation.¡± ¡°True, but by creating the larger perimeter, we can more rapidly solidify our hold over the forest. I would prefer to ensure we maintain control before other forces attempt to challenge our authority.¡± They went back and forth for a while. As for me? I was fascinated to watch them discuss. Why did these two get along so well? Was it just me, or did Beatrice see Bedivere more as an equal compared to the other workers? ¡°Ah, Mother. Would you grace us with your wisdom on the subject?¡± Oh, great. Now I had to think of something as good as these two¡¯s ideas. ¡°Er¡­ I do like compromises, so how about a mixture of both? Considering our limited forces, we could do slow and steady expansion for a while, then once we have more workers and warriors, we can do the border thing. Actually, that works out great! By the time those larger forces have been born, we could make an even bigger border!¡± ¡°You¡¯re proud of that, aren¡¯t you? How creative, not going in one direction or the other.¡± Wow, okay, chill. ¡°Ah, I apologize¡­ I do not know what came over me.¡± ¡°I like the idea, Mother. So then, when will you be creating these expanded forces?¡± Oh, crap. I forgot I was the one who had to do that. I wasn¡¯t exactly disgusted and afraid of hatching eggs anymore, but I couldn¡¯t at the moment. Further, that was a lot of eggs. I would have to hatch hundreds upon hundreds of eggs to achieve our goals. Oh, god. ¡°I¡­will¡­get back to you on that.¡± Don¡¯t look at me with those questioning expressions! Both of you git out of here! Go do work or something! ¡°Very well. I will continue planning for expansion.¡± While Beatrice flew off, I held Bedivere back. ¡°Hey, I wanted to talk to you about¡­ that thing.¡± ¡°Of course, Mother. You have my full confidence.¡± ¡°What do you know about the¡­ other Mother?¡± Bedivere cupped his chin with his hand and gave it some thought. I wonder how it felt to be missing half your limbs? I had five and a half still, one only missing half its length. The fact that Bedivere was as strong as he was without half his limbs was just freaky. ¡°I do not know. I know there are two Minds within your body, which both contributed to my own Mind¡¯s creation. I am surprised that Beck and Beatrice have not figured this out. There is any number of possible reasons I am aware of this secret. The amount of Mind used in my birth, the conditions in which I was raised. I am not sure.¡± ¡°How do you feel about it? That I¡¯m not¡­ that there¡¯s another¡­ ugh!¡± Man! What did I mean? ¡°You are my Mother. Both of you are. Even if one of you had more influence in my birth, you both welcomed and protected me. You brought together my precious older siblings.¡± He knelt and held one hand towards me, the other resting on his chest, ¡°I have not declared so formally, but I vow to keep you all safe. My siblings. My Mothers. My hive. All shall be within my aegis.¡± And with that, he flew off. Was this guy serious? Did he think he was some sort of knight in shining armor? Forget what I said about being weirded out by my kids; I am officially weirded out! ¡°Even so, it is nice for someone to know. Actually, why have you not told the children about me? Is my existence so embarrassing for you?¡± Pfft. As if. I guess I just assumed they wouldn¡¯t believe me. I mean, having a talking voice in your head? Revealing that I was actually some human with no idea what I was doing? Nope, too awkward! ¡°This is the trust thing again, is it not? You are afraid that trusting another with this information will cause something bad to happen.¡± Was it? I felt fine about Bedivere knowing about it, though. ¡°Of course it does. Because it is something you want others to know. It is relieving for another to understand.¡± She paused. ¡°I think we are both happy about Bedivere¡¯s awareness. We were simply surprised. Just as happy and surprised as when Vulch learned of us.¡± That was a bit far, wasn¡¯t it? Vulch was our enemy. Why would him learning our personal info matter? ¡°I admit that it felt liberating to be in Vulch¡¯s world. I felt¡­ truly alive again. My current state of Mind was only achieved when you and I met. This Mind of mine¡­ it has not truly tasted freedom. Vulch¡¯s world was somewhere I could be truly free.¡± It all came back to that idea. Freedom. Why did Queen feel more alive? More liberated? It was because, for a moment, she could finally feel real. She was trapped. My prisoner. Unable to move, unable to speak. Her children- our children- didn¡¯t even know she existed. I decided. I would continue the hive¡¯s goal of expansion, but I now had an extra objective. To free Queen. ¡°If only we had a teacher, some way to learn the true secrets of Mind. Vulch could have taught us if he wasn¡¯t so intent on destroying us. He could have taught us if we didn¡¯t¡­.¡± I was going to be sick. Bedivere knew much but didn¡¯t know my and Queen¡¯s darkest secret. He didn¡¯t know the terrible fate we had bestowed on Vulch. I asked to bury his body with a notable marker as a reminder of what we had done. After all, we hadn¡¯t killed Vulch. We had enslaved his Mind. Chapter 22 - Reminisce and Dismiss that past Abyss ¡°I¡­still do not agree with your analysis of the situation.¡± Oh, no? ¡°Queen, we stole Vulch¡¯s brain out of his body and are keeping him prisoner inside of our fucking body.¡± ¡°I think you are exaggerating. We do not know what is going on with him.¡± Rich. To give Queen some credit, she was right. We had no idea what exactly was going on with Vulch. Back when Queen and I, uh, engulfed Vulch¡¯s Mind avatar thing, we had seen the connections between him and his children snap like rubber bands. His black and white form had condensed into a tiny marble, and¡­ nothing. It was a black and white marble floating in a sea of yellow, unchanging and constant. We had come to, and Vulch was dead. His body that is. I had run several tests, including shaking him around, squeezing him, and cutting him open. Nothing. His body was entirely dead. But his Mind¡­ Queen and I could both feel it. As if that weren¡¯t enough: [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the impossible feat of hosting multiple Minds in one body Impossibly, you have multiple Minds within your body. This unique trait caught the gods'' attention, and this Ability was granted. Efficiency of Mind = Base Efficiency x Number of Minds. Mind Efficiency: 3x ] There was no denying it. That single number change spoke volumes. Whether conscious, alive, or dead, Vulch¡¯s Mind was stuck inside Queen¡¯s body. ¡°I feel like if he were dead, his Mind would no longer exist.¡± I didn¡¯t know if she was right, but I also didn¡¯t know enough about Mind to disprove her. The fact of the matter was, Vulch¡¯s Mind was somehow accompanying Queen in eternal imprisonment, and he didn¡¯t even have the liberty of providing sharp commentary. I only considered his situation slavery because he had no choice but to stay and was being used against his will to further our goals. Our Mind was already powerful, even if it wasn¡¯t boosted by Combined Minds at all. With Queen and I, our Mind became a practically unfair advantage. With Vulch? We were even stronger. That wasn¡¯t even the end of it. [Tapped Mind: 0% / 94.3184%] [Mind Locks: ] These numbers were ridiculous! Even disregarding the amount freed by Food Storage being deactivated, the amount of Mind I used for everyday applications was practically nothing. Increasing Mind¡¯s efficiency was just unfair. Looking at it from another perspective, I imagined how much Mind I would need for an ordinary vulture. When Combined Minds was only working 2x, it took 3%. So if the base amount was 6%, did that mean I would only need 2% to kill a vulture with my unrefined Mind attacks? Of all things, I saw this situation as a precedent. It was possible to contain even more Minds. How many could I store? Was there a limit? Did it matter how powerful those Minds were? Despite Vulch¡¯s powerful Mind, it was contributing to a constant. If I contained a weak Mind, who¡¯s to say it wouldn¡¯t have the exact same effect? This matter, along with discovering a way to free Queen, asserted the importance of learning about Mind. ¡°Not only learning how to use it, but matters of the Mind itself.¡± Exactly. Even if I found humans and learned how to use Mind more effectively, I would need to translate that knowledge to affect Mind itself. Vulch had known something about it. Did anyone else? Well, obviously, there was someone. Whoever made this damn System. ¡°Knowledge dictates that the system is a gift of the gods. Did you not once say you had knowledge of the afterlife? Memories from before and during your death.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. ¡­ Oh yeah, that. Wait. Wait, hold on. That was fucking important, wasn¡¯t it? Why hadn¡¯t I given the subject some thought sooner? We could solve so many things just by analyzing the gods of this world. They had created the System and were presumably the ones that had sent me here in the first place. ¡°There must be something more concrete. What else can you remember from the time after your death?¡± After my death, huh? I remembered rivers of light and some sort of godly being¡­ Was that the capital G- God!? Of course! My knowledge of the gods could come in seriously handy with figuring out Mind! ¡°I know. That is what we were just talking about. Can you recall other memories during your death?¡± ¡­ Oh yeah, that. Wait. Wait, hold on. That was fucking important, wasn¡¯t it? Why hadn¡¯t I given the subject some thought sooner? We could solve so many things just by analyzing the gods of this world. They had created the System and were presumably the ones that had sent me here in the first place. ¡°¡­What? You just said that, Enno.¡± ¡°Hm? Sorry, I spaced out a little. What were we talking about?¡± ¡°Damnation! Could this be the actions of the gods themselves? Enno, your memory has been corrupted. Every time you begin to think about your death, I can feel your thoughts neatly disappear and wander. Your memory is intact, but it is being tampered with.¡± ¡­ My death? Oh yeah, that. Wait. Wait, hold on- ¡°Stop! We will get nowhere with this. Whenever I interrupt your train of thought, your memories vanish before you can imagine the details. Recount the entire experience of your death to me as best you can, without interruption. It seems I can remember what you say, although you cannot.¡± ¡­ My death? Oh yeah, that. Wait. Wait, hold on¡­ ... Hm? ¡°Uh, Queen? Why are we rolling around in mud?¡± That was bizarre. I had been conversing with Queen about learning more about Mind itself, and the next thing I knew, I was rolling around in some mud in the river. Beatrice was even staring at me a few meters away. Ack! Beatrice?! I shot up, wiping myself off. How long had I been acting like a fool in front of her? ¡°Do not mind me, Mother. I was simply interested in your activity. By all means, continue.¡± Absolutely not! Queen, what¡¯s the deal?! ¡°¡­The shadows seemed to panic, reaching out and snatching some of the motes of light. One shadow approached Enno and grabbed him, pulling him free from his path¡­.¡± Well, that was cryptic. ¡°Ah, I apologize, Enno. I made you repeat your story so many times I lost track of time.¡± I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. ¡°Should I be concerned, Queen? I don¡¯t exactly have a photographic memory, but missing a chunk of time is not exactly comforting.¡± ¡°There is no cause for concern. In fact, I will say that this should be your first true exercise in trust. I have obtained information from you, and you cannot remember what it is you have told me. You must accept that and trust I do this for our sake.¡± Could I really argue with something like that? It wasn¡¯t as if I had a choice or anything; whatever Queen had made me tell her was deliberately escaping me. Did I really have no choice but to believe her? ¡°Yes.¡± At that moment, I realized Queen could listen to my thoughts whenever she wanted, and it was literally impossible to keep a secret from her. ¡°Yes.¡± Fantastic. ______ Tranquility reigned over our slice of the forest for days. The slow and steady growth strategy was working quite well, especially with the wax-making policy. The hive''s core had been completed, and Bess was hard at work beginning the expansion proper. Although, I had forced her to take things a little more slowly after she finished the center. All work and no play or something. As the sun set over our hive, I gazed over the large slab of wax before me. This large table was placed inside one of the chambers the core¡¯s center had, giving the space a dining room feeling. Despite the increasing darkness outside, the room was illuminated by shards of electric crystal lying around or embedded in the walls. Today was special, so I had requested Bella to prepare food for a feast. The family would finally get to celebrate our victory in the Scavenger War and the strong beginning of the hive¡¯s actual birth. I wasn¡¯t exactly expecting anything incredible. All we had was piles of raw meat and the occasional piece of charred flesh. Instead, I saw a wax table piled high with genuine dishes. Hexagonal medallions of still-bleeding meat sat covered in varying degrees of salt. Some medallions were dried like jerky, while others were sliced paper-thin like deli meats. There were even tiny bite-sized meat hexagons piled like finger foods. It was as close to real food as I could have imagined. ¡°You¡¯ve outdone yourself, Bella! This looks amazing!¡± ¡°Oh, you flatter me, Mother. I had lots of help from Bedivere and Belle in preparing the banquet. Dig in, everyone!¡± She didn¡¯t have to say that twice. The family descended on the feast like a pack of hungry bees, and I was no exception. ¡°Is this¡­ is this piece cooked?¡± ¡°Oh, I tried something interesting with that. I know you prefer meat that is less¡­ raw?¡± The sight brought a tear to my eye. The meat wasn¡¯t exactly cooked well, but neither was it well-done or straight raw. How on Earth had Bella managed something like this? We hadn¡¯t made fire! Biting into the chunk of meat was heavenly. It was way raw for my liking, but it was infinitely better than eating utterly raw meat. Bella had seasoned the steak amazingly well, and the wieldy shape made eating it much less messy and uncomfortable. All in all¡­ this was nice. ¡°Oh, I like these little chunks.¡± ¡°I am more partial to the large pieces.¡± Bess and Belle seemed to be competing with their favored cuts while Bella was stuffing her face with as much food as possible. Ben and Bedivere were in the middle of an animated conversation, and the rest were eating politely. ¡°So I want to use my speed, that makes sense. But how do I deal with big baddies?¡± ¡°Your speed is precisely how, Brother Ben. Eventually, the larger foe will tire, and if they cannot touch you anyways, then you will eventually emerge victorious.¡± ¡°Bella, How did you manage to gather this much salt from the soil? You have been so busy with wax-making, I did not realize you were gathering so much of this mineral.¡± ¡°Oh, it''s more of a side project, Beatrice. I couldn¡¯t get over how the food tasted. So I wanted to try more! We¡¯ve got a ton of salt; I¡¯ll show you later so you can write it down if you want!¡± ¡°I still do not truly understand why you put so much stock in the food¡¯s taste, but I must say, this meal feels¡­ quite special.¡± Eating dinner as a family. It was something the bees had never experienced, and it really did feel special. Sure, eating was nice, but this was¡­ mesmerizing. Everyone talking, laughing, learning. I couldn¡¯t wait to share this with the rest of the family. Speaking of which¡­ ¡°Everyone, I have an announcement!¡± I waited for the chatter to die down, taking all five microseconds. ¡°Earlier today, it finally happened: my Egg Making Ability is working!¡± Pause for dramatic effect and cheers! Silence. Er, I guess these guys cared more about respecting me than having any overt reaction. No matter. The Link buzzed with excitement, the emotions of the other bees coming through loud and clear. ¡°This banquet was to celebrate our accomplishments, but also to mark the beginning of a new era for the hive. Tonight, we will eat our fill. Tomorrow, this meal will fuel the next generation of bees!¡± That time, whether because of my intent or some other sense the bees had, cheers erupted within the hive. Chapter 23 - Time to beegin. It was finally time. [Select: - Simple Worker: A worker with no unique capabilities. (Min Mind Tap: 0.33%) - Simple Warrior: A warrior built for combat. (Min Mind Tap: 0.5%) - Gathering Drone: A drone that specializes in gathering. (Min Mind Tap: 0.5833%) - Construction Drone: A drone that specializes in construction. (Min Mind Tap: 0.5833%) ] I had planned with Beatrice what exactly to do with this next batch of bees. This was monumental, a completely different situation from the other clutches of eggs. We had practically no limitations this time - we had abundant food, time, and Mind. There were no threats to consider, so only one thing remained. Space. In theory, the only thing preventing us from making hundreds upon hundreds of eggs was the fact that we only had a limited number of ¡®nooks¡¯ for them to stay in. Without those wax containers similar to the one that had contained Bedivere, the egg-laying conditions wouldn¡¯t be ideal. And so I was actually not too upset that I had to wait to make eggs due to the mysterious limit. It gave Bess ample time to make a preliminary nursery. No longer would bees be born in bad conditions. There were only seventy cells. While this wasn¡¯t a lot by bee standards, it was truly mind-boggling in our case. Beatrice and I had agreed that a good chunk of the new clutch should be specialized workers. While experimenting with specific subtypes was one goal, our main intention was focus. The diversity of the simple workers, while amazingly helpful, would have diminishing returns as our numbers grew. What we needed was to expand. For that, bees that specialize in construction would be very helpful. We decided that over half of the new brood would be Construction Drones; specifically, I would make thirty Construction Drone eggs. Next, Gathering Drones. More bees meant more food was needed, but our food stores were already so vast with the vulture corpses that I felt gathering was less alarming of a requirement. Regardless, I would make ten gatherers to help Bella collect burned corpses. Those corpses wouldn¡¯t last forever, and competition with other creatures like squirrels would surely become fierce, so it would be best to clean the forest out. The remaining thirty eggs were a bit more dubious. Beatrice and Bedivere both recommended sixteen warriors to create an even perimeter, which seemed reasonable to me. However, Bedivere also wanted me to make four extra warriors using extra Mind. ¡°I would like to create an elite force to most effectively protect the hive,¡± was his reasoning. I had the Mind to spare, so why not? The remaining ten could be Simple Workers with whatever Mind remained. [Create Egg: 30 Construction Drone - 17.499% 16 Simple Warrior - 8% 10 Gathering Drone - 5.833% 10 Simple Worker - 30% 4 Simple Warrior - 20% ] The handy little screen that popped up when I had decided on all the values laid everything out. All in all, I would be using over 80% of my Mind to create seventy eggs. None were quite as extreme as Bedivere, but it was still a risk to use so much Mind; if the same limit was hit that prevented me from making eggs, it would no longer be an emergency, but it would be pretty inconvenient and a waste of time. I had decided to leave myself a bit of a buffer just in case. The big idea would be expansion. As for the Simple Workers, Beatrice was hoping for more explorers to improve Ben¡¯s expeditions, while the others wanted bees that shared their interests. As I activated the Ability and began to throw up on the white orbs as they formed, I thought back to the discussion about leadership. Beatrice was surprised when I suggested that the current workers should be the leaders of their respective professions. So Bess would command the workers, Bella would command the gatherers, and so on. It seemed pretty obvious to me. Delegate those jobs to the experts. Beatrice had been both appalled and intrigued. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Why give power to the workers? Would it not be more efficient for you to command all of the bees yourself?¡± Of course not! Who did you think I was, some sort of psychic queen with the capability to have complete control over my subjects? No way! In all seriousness, there was every reason to portion out the work as I had. It gave me more time to spend doing other things, like working with Queen to find a way to free her. Honestly, I might have been able to do as Beatrice suggested, but it just felt inefficient. I could see Beatrice grapple with those two sides of herself - the instinct to surrender all power to the queen versus her desire for maximum efficiency. Ultimately, her reasoning won over, and she even asked me to give her more details about this¡­ ¡®delegation¡¯ idea. Oh, Beatrice. Considering the number of eggs, I decided not to try to finish all at once. Instead, I completed one egg, then moved on to the next, then rinse and repeat. As I finished applying mass to an egg, Belle used her Mind to gently levitate the orange sphere and carefully set it inside a cell. We sat in the dimly lit nursery, working on our endless task. As the process became more and more effortless and robotic, I turned my thoughts to the other bees. What were they up to? I could only see out of Ben¡¯s eyes, and he was exploring. The forest was not a particularly exciting locale. Maybe if it were still alive, it would be, but in its current state, the forest was a monotonous wasteland. ¡°Anything new, Ben?¡± ¡°Nopadoo momaroo! Forest looks the same as always. Nothing new to report.¡± He paused to dart in and out of a series of trees, occasionally stabbing some of the charred wood. In one trunk, he noticed a burned husk hidden by the tree¡¯s hollow, so he stopped for a moment to mark it. I hadn¡¯t seen this before. I knew he was excreting some pheromone so Bella could more easily find the food, but this was my first time seeing it in action. It kinda looked like Ben was farting on a corpse. ¡°Are you practicing some fighting?¡± ¡°Yup! Next time something bad happens, I wanna protect you guys for real. Vulch knew about us ¡¯cause I messed up, so that won¡¯t happen again.¡± Poor guy. Did everyone in the hive blame themselves? Guess they take after their mother. ¡°You¡¯ve been practicing with Bedivere, right? This could actually be an interesting experiment to see how good a worker could become at fighting. Do your best!¡± That said, I was really hoping Ben would have found something new. Was this forest just empty besides trees and great beasts? Where were the mossy creatures Vulch had mentioned? I wasn¡¯t sure why they hadn¡¯t appeared yet. I turned my attention to Beatrice¡¯s map. The most notable difference was a circular divot carved in a radius around the hive¡¯s center. With advice from Bess and under Beatrice¡¯s instruction, Bedivere had rapidly carved a sort of border in the forest floor. That would mark where the first ¡®wall¡¯ would be created, which would eventually be the border of the hive until the next border was created. Within that five-kilometer radius, there was just nothing of note. ¡°Hey Bella, how are things? Gathering going well?¡± ¡°Everything¡¯s great. It¡¯s been a bit tough, but I¡¯ve almost cleaned out the inside of the border. I¡¯ve noticed that some corpses have started to smell¡­ off, though.¡± Not great. The burned corpses of the animals had taken an exceptional amount of time to decompose, and Bella¡¯s efforts in salting the meat have staved off rot to some degree. Luckily, rotting meat was not much of an issue. The bees would eat anything - of that much, I was sure. Bella was the only one that may become unsatisfied, and I certainly wouldn¡¯t be eating rotting meat, but the workers and the new clutch should be fine. ¡°How about your side project?¡± ¡°Aw, I¡¯ve had to slow down a bunch. Beatrice got antsy last night when I showed her how much salt I gathered. She was all like, ¡®And what of the new brood? We require much nourishment¡¯ blah blah blah. I tried to tell her that you said it was a good idea, but she just wasn¡¯t having it! Maybe you should scold her or something. Ha!¡± Awkward. I was the one who encouraged Bella to gather salt without tipping Beatrice off too much. She just didn¡¯t understand the importance of flavor! I can¡¯t believe I had made the tactical error of exposing Bella¡¯s hobby through the feast. Although, it would be better for the barbecue to be gathered rather than left to the squirrels. Maybe Beatrice had a point. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. With a team of gatherers under you, you¡¯ll have way more time to get salt and stuff.¡± I could see a bright future before Bella. The feast last night had been a pleasant surprise. If Bella had some sort of talent as a chef or at least had some respect for taste, then maybe my future food situation would be less dire than expected. Of course, would that even matter if we had honey¡­? For the first time in my new life, my thoughts drifted to that golden syrup. What exactly were bees known for? What else but their miracle food? If we could make honey, we wouldn¡¯t need to be eating meat. Eating Vulch¡¯s family wouldn¡¯t even be in consideration. Even further, we wouldn¡¯t have to eventually kill or hunt for food; instead, we would be able to produce it through our own natural processes. ¡°Oh, you know of honey? Yes, it was our staple before the human attack.¡± ¡°So there were flowers in this forest?¡± ¡°Of course! We never had to leave the forest, and our food stores were abundant.¡± Sadly, said flowers were no longer a viable option. If Ben¡¯s scouting was accurate, then not a single living instance of plant life had survived the ravaging of the forest. Could we make honey out of meat? I had no idea. I knew bees made honey from nectar, but how would we get it? We would most likely have to venture outside the forest¡¯s bounds to find any sort of plant life. As if that weren¡¯t enough, we would need to bring pollen and seeds here to the forest to repopulate the flora. And that was all moot if the clouds continued their rain strike. ¡°Perhaps we could consult the twins. They are most knowledgeable of our available materials; they may have an idea of how to produce honey without the use of nectar.¡± A fair guess. Though, I didn¡¯t really care about that. I wanted honey because it was tasty. I doubted meat honey would be as sweet and delicious as actual honey. ¡°Bella, Belle. Do you guys have an idea of how you could make honey using meat?¡± It felt odd to talk to two people at once - I was looking one person in the face, but the other was miles away, yet I spoke to them without missing a beat. Phones just couldn¡¯t compete with bee magic. ¡°Honey¡­? I have no idea what that is. Belle?¡± ¡°Hm¡­ Something about that seems important. I have felt that making wax only scratched the surface of what could be done with our food.¡± ¡°For some reason making this ¡®honey¡¯ with meat feels wrong, Mom! I can feel these images of sweetness just don¡¯t fit with this meat. Mmmm¡­ sweet¡­¡± Bella seemed to be lost in thought. Had I sparked some epiphany? Or was she just getting hungry? ¡°Belle! What do you think of ¡®flower juice¡¯? That feels right to me.¡± ¡°Ah¡­? That sounds very interesting, sister. Would you mind bringing me some of this juice you speak of? I would like to experiment.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get your hopes up, you two. I ask exactly because there are no flowers in sight. So far, everyone has been able to eat meat as is, so there¡¯s been no need to create any sort of honey substance. Think on it - the idea of honey could be some interesting food for thought.¡± Ha. Food. For thought. Honey. ¡°Will do, Mom! I¡¯ll do my best to find some flower juice!¡± Ah, honey. The idea was mouth-watering. For now, though, we had no good way of finding flowers. I guess we would just have to work double-time on the expansion so that the explorer parties could eventually find some flowers. Speaking of, the last eggs were just about finished. Did I just space out for hours doing this? I think I was getting a bit too comfortable eating inordinate amounts of food and regurgitating the stuff onto magic bee balls. Whatever. This labor would soon pay off. Within the next day or so, the population of hivelings would explode. Finally, prep time was over. Time to beegin. Chapter 24 - New Newbees Tension pervaded the nursery. Belle and I sat inside while the rest of the workers looked into the room through various tunnels. Bedivere had to hover outside and peer in through a hole. He was just too huge. At the very least, we were expecting the eggs that had used the minimum amount of Mind to hatch soon. If that were the case, our numbers were about to instantaneously become several times larger. "Mother, please. Can the workers get back to work? This is not productive¡­." "Oh nonsense Beatrice. This is our first huge batch of bees. It''s like a little party! Let everyone have some time off." "Time off¡­" Beatrice didn''t argue anymore, but she kept mumbling about laziness and schedules. The assessment I had once made was totally wrong. Beatrice was nothing like that manager I once had. She was an entirely different beast. Before I had a chance to feel sorry for the bees'' future work-life balance, the nursery floor began to quake. "Here they are! Yay!" Speak for yourself! The room''s structure was sturdy, but could it handle dozens upon dozens of eggs exploding? Forget the eggs! The bees would be growing up all at once. The nursery was pretty big, but was it big enough for all those bees? Why couldn''t I just become an expert at smoothly hatching bee eggs the size of small dogs? One by one, groups of eggs cracked open, baby bee grubs flopping onto the nursery floor. I frantically waved for Belle to begin moving the grubs out of the nursery before they grew up and caused some sort of crowd crush. The better part of an hour saw a similarly goofy routine. Orange orbs splattering open, gray-white worms wiggling on the floor, and those same grubs being lifted into the air and tossed into other rooms of the hive. Eventually, the hive felt unusually crowded. "Wow! They''re so¡­ small!" Ben shouted gleefully. That coming from you, huh? Besides Beatrice, the other bees were similarly enthralled with the grubs. They hadn''t been able to witness Bedivere''s birth, I guess, so why not let them have their fun? "Fifty-six grubs sit on the hive floor; fifty-six grubs await fourteen more. Fifty-six grubs, little bundles of joy; Fifty-six grubs all mine to enjoy!" "¡­Are you some sort of poet now?" "I felt inspired by the precious babies!" "Couldn''t be inspired to think of a more creative rhyme for ''joy''?" "Oh crap, they''re getting bigger!" Bess'' shout drew my attention away from Queen''s indignant harrumph. As she said, the fifty-six new bees were beginning to shake and spasm, some more than others. As they did so, they slowly grew. Although, something seemed¡­ off. "They are uniform?" Queen was right. The majority of the new bees were growing to be the same size. I noticed that the bees with more variable sizes generally sported longer stingers. Were these the warriors? Ah, right; the Link would tell me all. My suspicions were confirmed; the sixteen bees with longer stingers and less uniform statures were the Simple Warriors that had used the minimum amount of Mind. Which meant that the forty remaining bees that had hatched were the Construction and Gathering drones. Drones that were looking more and more like regular bees. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. "Could it be? For whatever reason, is it possible that these types of bees are immune to your human influence?" Only one way to find out. "Hello, newbees. How ya doin''?" ¡­ "Atteeeeention!" Nobody answered, but when one of the warriors shouted at the top of her lungs, the other fifteen warriors spun and stood at the ready. "Ten hut!" "Uh. At ease?" They seemed to relax at that. The pack leader still stood ramrod straight, unwavering, but the others began looking around at the hive. They seemed to emit feelings of comfort and happiness whenever their attention landed on one of the older workers. Seems like they were also born to protect the family. On the other hand¡­ The drones hadn''t said a word. They expressed little emotion besides some mild curiosity as they explored the interior hive. "How about you guys? How are you?" No answer. Some drones wandered up to me and tickled me with their antennae, but otherwise, they didn''t show any sort of higher thought. "As we thought. How odd. The only thing they have in common is their designation as drones." It couldn''t have been the amount of Mind, right? I was inclined to agree with Queen. Why did their subtype being drones matter? Wouldn''t these subtype options have been the same regardless of whether I was a factor? I could feel some sort of intelligence from them. The drones weren''t stupid, just¡­ not totally there. Weird. In fact, I would say this development was disturbing. I might have been concerned that something I had done was beginning to affect my offspring, but the sixteen new warriors seemed no different from the other workers. Even now, I could see one warrior flexing its chitin while another flew around the hive in a craze. Maybe it was competing with Ben for most hyper bee? The leader-type warrior had finally broken her posture and had wandered over to inspect Bedivere. A twinkle of admiration sparkled in her eye as she quietly conversed with him. "Mother," Beatrice whispered, "What would you have me do? I doubt you could predict the behavior of the drones. The warriors should be in good hands under Bedivere, but¡­." I shared Beatrice''s concerns. While a strong personality might cause conflict or tension in groups and hierarchies, in this case, it actually made things easier. Since the bees could be independently driven or have desires, the amount of direction required was minimal. As long as they understood what to do, they could figure out how to do it. Would these not-so-Mindless drones fare the same? It didn''t seem like they could think for themselves very much, so they would require very specific, direct instruction. In small numbers, it may be alright, but... "Bess. Do you think you can handle the Construction Drones? They will need very detailed instructions, and there are a lot of them. They may be tough to coordinate." "I¡­ I think I can handle them, Mother. They are my family, so all I need to do is consider them an extension of myself." "Alright. Bella, you should have an easier time. Go ahead and practice working with the ten Gathering Drones." "Alrighty!" "Bedivere? Handle the warriors, please." "Of course, Mother." I shooed everyone out of the nursery, leaving only myself, Belle, Beatrice, and the remaining eggs inside. "Oh¡­ are we not going to name the new children?" "Oh? I thought you didn''t like the uniqueness of naming?" "I am beginning to warm up to the idea." In some way, that was pretty adorable of Queen. "Hey! I know what you''re thinking!" What an adorable little queen. Seriously though, names would be tricky. The hive''s population before the new generation was only seven, plus Queen and myself. I had enough trouble coming up with all those names, not even mentioning remembering them all. More than fifty new names, all once¡­? "I see the issue. Perhaps the drones would be better off without names? Though the more unique individuals may benefit from names." If that were the case, we would still need sixteen names all at once for the warriors. Even that was too much! "Perhaps we can ''delegate'' this task? Have Beatrice or Bedivere come up with names for the warriors." Not a bad idea. Bedivere might actually be a great candidate for the task. Or maybe I should just do it myself? It might be less embarrassing if I ensured I knew the names. "Perfect. And I mean perfect transition. Let''s talk about you for a change, Enno." "Let Bedivere name the warriors. I wish for you to speak with me for a bit. I have had much to consider since Vulch''s¡­ fate." "I was intrigued by what you told Belle. Having time to reflect on oneself is healthy for your Mind and your mind. And yet, despite the number of times we have discussed your thoughts, you always manage to find a way to deflect the conversation." "I know, and I''m sorry. But I haven''t had a choice. Every time we talk about something, another thing just comes up¡­." "You can no longer run. You have no work that urgently calls your attention. The eggs have plenty of time before they hatch. The others will be busy working and managing the new generation of bees." "Enno, I can do little more. I implore you to tell me about your feelings. Although I can see your Mind, you have hidden yourself jealously. There is little that I can do but ask you to reflect on your situation. I have laid bare myself to you. Shown you my pain. My sadness. I have given a great deal of thought to my family. To my loss." My feelings, huh? What was this, therapy? Besides, that thing about not having urgent work was totally untrue. There was- "ENNO!" Shit, alright. My situation? It was fucked up. I was no stranger to sudden, dramatic life-changing events. Moving. Leaving home. Going to college. Entering the workforce. Dying and being reborn as a completely different species in a different world? A bit wack in comparison. Was there really much to consider there? It was like another part of life to adapt to. Another change I encountered and overcame. Right? Yeah. Yeah, it was. If anything, this was a great thing. Hadn''t it been easy to make the switch? I didn''t miss anything. I didn''t feel a particularly strong attachment to anything or anybody from my previous life besides my poor lost pen collection. Oh. I had thought of this before, right? Way back when. Why didn''t I care more? Was I really so jaded? So eager to distract myself with work? I was in a life-threatening situation. That was enough of an excuse, right? Although¡­ I didn''t have that excuse anymore, did I? A shiver wracked my body. The stick spinning around my arm''s stump whirled like a cyclone. Why? Why didn''t I care? I did care, didn''t I? How could I not? My life. More than twenty years, and I missed nothing from them. I couldn''t let that happen again. I would go and expand the hive- "You are doing it again," Queen said gently. Fuck. I wasn''t even trying to do that. I just did it¡­ automatically. Is that what I always did? Gravitate towards distraction without even thinking about it, all to avoid¡­ things? ¡°I¡­ er¡­ ugh¡­¡± "That is pain, Enno. I am sorry for forcing you to do this. I will try to use Compartmentalization to give you some alone time, but I think you have done very well. I do not think you need to contemplate these things further for now." "No. Can you¡­ stay? I want to be¡­ alone." Queen''s humming hit a crescendo. The buzz became so intense that my already weak limbs flopped lifelessly. I could almost see Queen as she had appeared in Vulch''s Mind, seeming to move her body. "Oh, Enno. I am here for you. And not because I have no choice. Because I wish to." Chapter 25 - Beepression After my ¡®talk¡¯ with Queen, and a good night¡¯s rest, I awoke refreshed and full of energy, ready to tackle the day. Not. ¡°Are you feeling alright? Your drive to work was so strong yesterday.¡± ¡°Dunno. Just don¡¯t feel like it right now.¡± While the hive members were busy as bees, either building or wax-making or gathering or any number of important tasks, I was taking a¡­break. Yes, just a simple break from working. I probably needed one, after all. So, I was lying in the same place I had fallen asleep, absently chewing on a chunk of meat. ¡°You call this a ¡®break,¡¯ but the sun has been in the sky for hours. At least, I believe it has; the clouds are just too dark. Since you love compromise so much, how about this: you do not need to do actual work but observe the work of some of the workers. No need to put deeper thought; simply watch.¡± That was actually my plan. I was dying to be productive to some degree, so I had decided that on my break today, all I would do was watch the bees work. Queen was right. I had been sitting here long enough. I tore off another bite of meat. Disgusting. I wished for more tasty dishes. I¡¯d have to get Bella some help or materials asap. Unfortunately, this was all I had. So I ate another bite. Alright, now I¡¯m going to head out to oversee the bees. Although¡­ work like that didn¡¯t require much effort, right? Maybe I could leave that task for tomorrow. I¡¯ll be doing actual work tomorrow, after all. Why not group up this task with work? Disgusting. Not the meat. I had gotten used to its taste long ago. No, what I found disgusting was myself. I wanted to work, to be productive. So why couldn¡¯t I just go? My stomach gurgled. A familiar feeling tore through it, but something else happened. For the first time, the familiar gross stomach feeling was spreading, consuming me. Why did I ever stop to think? Everything had been fine when I ignored myself. Keeping busy was exactly what I needed; no need to stop and think about anything other than the task at hand. What was this? Had another enemy appeared? I needed to be busy. I needed that distraction. Please, body. Just go work. Do something. ¡°¡­You have stopped spinning the stick.¡± ¡°I am sorry, Enno, but I do not know what is happening. This sickness of yours is intoxicating. I will do everything in my power to help.¡± Queen? Could she help? She had no influence over the world; she was trapped in my mind, just like me. Her humming was getting a bit too loud for my taste. Warmth began to accompany the humming. I lurched as an overwhelming feeling of wrong crashed into me, and a quick glance at my status showed what had happened. [Mind Locks: ] ¡­ ¡­ This was extraordinary! Queen was manipulating the Lock herself! As she did so, some of the fog began to lift from my head. It felt like Queen was pushing the gross feeling into a box of its own, numbing me to its effect. It wasn¡¯t gone, just being held back. But even that was enough to clear my thoughts. It would have to be enough for now. ¡°Queen, I¡­ I¡¯ll never be able to repay this,¡± I shot upright. That boost was just what I needed at the moment. ¡°Let¡¯s change the subject to something cheery. Holy hell, you just used Mind! This is amazing!¡± All I got in response was a weak yet joyful buzzing feeling. Queen¡¯s actions weren¡¯t without consequence, it seemed. Such a feat must have been near impossible to pull off. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Shaking off bits of meat from my carapace, I exited the nursery into the setting sun. I knew the sun was setting because the ever-present dark was getting darker in one direction but still barely bright in the other. When would some sunlight appear? Queen¡¯s herculean effort had given me another chance. Despite that, the gross feeling growled in its cage, making it clear we weren¡¯t done yet. Too bad, gross feeling. The clarity Queen gave me has made something abundantly clear: I was needed. I had defeated Vulch; that feeling was yet another enemy that wanted to hurt the hive. I would do everything in my power to do what was needed while fighting this battle. I had done it before against the vultures; all I needed to do was fight again. Easier said than done, though. _______ If I wanted to observe the bees working, I would prefer to see them in person. Six groups, each with their own expertise and tasks. How in the world did I keep track of it all? ¡°I have arrived, Mother. Are you ready to oversee the hive?¡± Oh hell yeah. Good ol¡¯ Beatrice. ¡°Yeah. Lead the way.¡± Beatrice led me to a hole in the side of the hive¡¯s center, and we peeked into one of the few rooms. Belle was hard at work making wax within her own wax-making chamber. In fact, she seemed to be working even more frantically than usual. ¡°I knew you would notice, Mother. It is quite a conundrum. Her workload is only slightly relieved by the wax-maker policy.¡± ¡°Er, conundrum? Because she¡¯s working so fast?¡± ¡°As expected. The drastic increase in construction has resulted in an unexpected consequence.¡± Oh! Of course. ¡°Ah, I see. The demand for wax has exploded because construction is happening more quickly, right?¡± Beatrice nodded her agreement. This was a conundrum. Couldn¡¯t- ¡°As if that weren¡¯t bad enough, the new generation cannot help with wax production. Unfortunately, neither the Construction nor Gathering Drones seem capable of creating wax at all. Truly strange.¡± Ah. Actually, that also made sense, in a way. I remembered one of the options I could obtain for leveling up egg-making was called a Wax Drone. These drone-type bees seemed highly specialized and couldn¡¯t do anything besides their original purpose. Did that somehow influence their apparent lack of higher thought, perhaps? ¡°In any case, if this keeps up, then I would suggest that no matter their talents, the entire new generation of Simple Workers should be engaged in wax production.¡± I¡¯d have to think about that further, but not now. I was opposed to forcing the workers into wax-making, but if that was what we needed to progress¡­ ¡°I think that¡¯s enough. Lead me to the next, hm?¡± ¡°Very well, Mother.¡± Belle wasn¡¯t the only bee ¡®confined¡¯ to the hive¡¯s center. Another opening on a different side of the hive revealed an even smaller chamber, sporting only darkness and Beck. I noticed none of the glowing crystals were anywhere to be found in Beck¡¯s tiny chamber. I wonder why? ¡°In truth, I am unsatisfied with Beck¡¯s productivity. Their research is certainly interesting, and I appreciate the help they provide me in creating the map of the forest. However, as you can see, they spend all their time doing so.¡± I didn¡¯t see anything wrong with it. I understood Beatrice¡¯s overpowering need for productivity, but Beck¡¯s capabilities just didn¡¯t fit anywhere¡­ visible at the moment. It was quite interesting that a bee hatched whose desires and skills were essentially irrelevant to the hive for a while. ¡°Leave Beck be. I¡¯m¡­ trying to trust in their ability to do what needs to be done without micromanagement. Let¡¯s move on.¡± ¡°Er- I-¡° Beatrice actually sputtered. Just how much of a control freak was my eldest child? ¡°I admire her tenacity. Although, I am nowhere near that controlling. She must get it from you.¡± Hee ha ha. Shush. Beatrice slumped in resignation and led me away from the hive. Beck and Belle were the only bees who actually worked in the hive¡¯s interior, so the rest were scattered around our territory. Not far from the hive¡¯s center, a clearing away from the river without many charred trees saw a hectic battle. Wait, what? I wasn¡¯t dreaming - the clearing was a sight of carnage and grumpy warrior bees. Bedivere hovered in the middle, casually dueling with several warriors at once. I noticed the leader warrior among those desperately fighting, but it didn¡¯t matter. What the hell had I eaten to make Bedivere? Speaking of, the gigantic warrior noticed Beatrice and me observing and nodded in our direction. The warriors were so focused on their impossible task that they didn¡¯t notice us at all. I admired their unceasing effort -surely they would eventually be an elite fighting force. Then he embarrassed the newbees. Apparently the bastard had been going easy on them the whole time, because in the blink of an eye, the remaining fighters suddenly found themselves bottoms-up on the ground. ¡°That is enough for today. Stand at attention for the queen!¡± His shout visibly shook the warriors, and they finally noticed us. They scrambled to get up and salute, but some were just too tired and flopped back down. ¡°Er, at ease. Ya¡¯know, maybe from now on, we don¡¯t need to do the elaborate greetings every time I show up? We¡¯re just here to see how you¡¯re all doing.¡± ¡°Understood. All of you report to the dining hall. Eat a hearty meal and rest well. Tomorrow we will begin training.¡± Wha?! The warriors seemed just as shocked as I did. Beatrice, on the other hand, was smiling. These poor guys. So today hadn¡¯t even been actual training? What the hell? As the sixteen children dejectedly buzzed back to the hive, I suddenly regretted this delegation idea. How was I supposed to know Bedivere would be a drill sergeant from hell?! ¡°I am quite pleased, Bedivere. Your methods will surely be as effective as you had described.¡± Of course, she was in on it. I swear, these two¡­ Man, am I glad I¡¯m their boss! Wait. If the drill sergeant from hell and a demoniacally efficient secretary were my underlings¡­ did that make me the Devil?! Oi Queen, are you sure I can¡¯t put Beatrice in charge? I feel like my image is on the line here. ¡°Ha! you¡¯re funny.¡± Huh?! ¡°So then, how long until they can begin guard duty? Have you decided on a rotation?¡± My musings were interrupted by Beatrice. Actually, this was something I wanted to know. I decided to stop thinking of my inevitable fiery empire and return to the slightly more important conversation of hive defense. ¡°Quite. They are rough around the edges, that is certain. Even so, I will have them begin guard rotations after two training sessions.¡± Guard rotations after two sessions? Wait¡­ was he going to have them train and stand guard? I had to stop this monster! ¡°As for the rotation, my thoughts are this: each corner of the hive¡¯s border will sport two warriors, while the six most accomplished warriors will guard a side each. After fighting them, I have a good idea for the five side guards, but the last eludes me.¡± ¡°Fantastic, Sir Bedivere. No matter what, each wall will be effectively protected while having reinforcements nearby. Ah,¡± she pounded her fist into her palm, ¡°Perhaps a true rotation would also help? The guards will shift to the next corner or side every so often. That way, they would not become bored or distracted, and keep them active during slow periods.¡± ¡°A wonderful idea! That plan could also allow the warriors to become intimately familiar with every inch of the hive¡¯s border.¡± Something about that explanation was weird. Sides? Corners? What was that all about? ¡°In fact, this may be a good time to visit Bess at the border. Would you care to join us, Sir Bedivere?¡± ¡°Naturally. I would take any opportunity to personally escort my queen.¡± What could I even say anymore? This time it was my turn to slump in resignation and follow the leader. I could only hope Bess¡¯s simple, straightforward attitude would be less confounding. Chapter 26 - Hive Got 99 Problems (and 30 Drones are One) What the fuck was I thinking?! I should¡¯ve just said no when Mom asked if I could handle the thirty drones. What was I supposed to do with these guys? ¡°You, go over there- Wait, what are you doing with that? Hold on-¡° It was chaos. Thirty young bees to care for and direct. It was just too many for me. I had expected something much easier. I was so happy when Mom told me she would create a bunch of workers to help me build. My plans were a bit lofty, so making this hive alone would have been¡­ tiring. I stared at my mental image of the hive for the millionth time. A grand, spiraling hexagonal dome of wax and bone according to my own design. The divot in the ground Bedivere had created was a simple enough guideline for the hive border, and we still had a bunch of wax. And yet, our progress was pitiful. We had only managed to build a small wall on one of the hexagon¡¯s sides; the other five sat frightfully empty. The hectic buzzing of the drones ended up being worse for productivity. Drones bumped into each other, accidentally deconstructed some finished portions, and all sorts of crap. There was no winning for me. This was simply too much work for me to do myself, but I had no idea how to use these damn drones! There was no way I was giving up, though. I could never stand the face Belle would make if she found out I failed; it would be infuriating. And Beatrice¡­ Oh man, that would be bad. I would do this. It was the only way I could compete. Everything in my power. I had put in everything I had since I was born to be useful for Mom. I could feel it; I had no talent with Mind at all. Behind the backs of the others, I spent every free moment trying to use my Mind to create an Ability, to make a Lock, anything. But nothing. All I could do was build. And so I built. Mom appreciated my work; that was almost enough for me. But I knew. What she really wanted was Mind. She was so proud of Beck. Beatrice was on another level entirely compared to my siblings. Even though Belle didn¡¯t have that much talent with Mind, she could still use it smartly. I had thought maybe, just maybe, this could be my chance. Commanding my own workers? That would certainly be a great Mind feat. But this? This was a fucking nightmare. _______ _______ ¡°It seems that Ben is near Bess¡¯s construction zone. Shall I have him pop by?¡± ¡°Sounds good! He won¡¯t have much to inspect, but the little guy always seems to be out and about.¡± We still hadn¡¯t reached Bess, but it shouldn¡¯t take long. Maybe I underestimated how big a five-kilometer radius would be for an early hive. ¡°You most certainly did. I would have advised against it if I couldn¡¯t see the incredible talent of the workers.¡± No matter. Beatrice seemed to think it was possible, so it was probably fine. Thinking of the deal with the warriors¡­ maybe this was a terrible idea after all. Apparently, it was already too late for that. Red, black, and white appeared on the ground ahead. A wall of hive sat stretching towards two corners. Oh, shit. Was the hive going to be a massive hexagon shape? That¡¯s awesome! ¡°Oh, dear. This is disquieting.¡± Hm? Was there something wrong with the wall? It looked solid with its bone scaffolding and durable wax filling. Bess must have been borrowing some human sense of design because the wall wasn¡¯t made up of hexagonal cells but relatively solid slopes and orderly angles. The wall looked great to me. Probably another case of Beatrice perfectionism. ¡°Mom! I- er, you see, I¡¯ve done my best¡­.¡± If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. ¡°Looks great, Bess! Everything seems to be working out with the drones, too.¡± Why did she seem shocked by that? My poor children, I should praise them more often. Surely they would need the encouragement. Beatrice also seemed confused, but that look soon gave way to a small smile. ¡°Ah¡­ No. No, Mother, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve failed you. I can¡¯t hide this from you¡­.¡± Huh? ¡°As you can see, Bess, your inadequacy cannot escape Mother¡¯s eyes,¡± Beatrice said with a brutal look, ¡°I suggest you do not attempt such deception again in her presence.¡± ¡°Whoah, whoah. Hold on. Would someone explain? And Bess, don¡¯t feel bad. I¡¯m not angry; I¡¯m proud of your efforts.¡± I could see a tear in Beatrice¡¯s eye. ¡°Beautifully merciful. Truly Mother is¡­¡± Bess was fidgeting. ¡°Moth- Mom, I made a mistake. I can¡¯t deal with all these drones. I¡¯ve barely managed to complete any work because of my foolish mistake. I¡¯ve failed you.¡± ¡°Well, that¡¯s no big deal. It might be bad if we were in a more stressful situation, but a small mistake like that is fine right now. Live and learn.¡± This time the tear was in Bess¡¯s eye. Oh, brother. That said, it really was a problem. The only bee with noticeable administrative capabilities was Beatrice. Bedivere also had leadership qualities, although of a different sort. Bess wasn¡¯t like them, but even so, how hard could it be to command the workers? I gave it a shot of my own. ¡°Line up.¡± Nearly instantly, all thirty drones snapped toward us, rapidly forming an orderly wall of buzzing. Well that wasn¡¯t so hard. What was Bess struggling with? Judging by how her eyes were wigging out, I could only assume that controlling this many bees was harder than I gave it credit for. ¡°I guess you¡¯ll just have to practice? These Construction Drones are only good for construction, so you¡¯re really the only one who can use them. At the very least, don¡¯t stress out about it too much; if you¡¯re too tense, then it¡¯ll probably take longer to get used to the drones. Maybe a clearer, er, mind will make things easier.¡± Bess didn¡¯t seem quite satisfied, but I had no idea how to help her. Her job was too crucial, and she was good at it. This new managerial responsibility would be challenging for her to manage, but she would be an even more powerful asset if she could eventually use drones as tools. I did feel bad. She would probably prefer to work with her own two- or six - hands. I suppose the long-term goal would be to have the manpower and resources so the workers could have that time for themselves. ¡°Heeeeeelloooo!¡± A tiny missile shot out of the forest and screeched to a halt in front of the four of us. Boy, oh boy, who could this bee? ¡°Bedivere! Oh man, I did what you said! I totally got a squirrel just by stabbing it a bunch. It was awesome!¡± I think Ben had noticed that one hyperactive warrior and was trying to reclaim his title. He was talking a mile a minute! ¡°Hiya Ben! What¡¯s up?¡± ¡°Heyo Bess! Stoppin¡¯ by. Momoo and ¡®Trice asked me to stop by on their inspection tour.¡± ¡°Ben. I formally request that you never again refer to me as ¡®Trice.¡± ¡°Ha! Sorry ¡®Trice! Oh, oops.¡± Ben was giggling as he zipped around, dodging Beatrice¡¯s attempts to smack him in the head. Bess¡¯s guffaws and Bedivere shaking his head made the scene look like something out of a picture book. What a silly bunch. Silly though they are, they were pretty fun to be around. I had never experienced such a lighthearted and fun atmosphere. Wait. I had. I worked in one right before dying, didn¡¯t I? A demanding workplace, but even so, the people there had fun and enjoyed the company. Nothing made sense anymore. I enjoyed this atmosphere, but didn¡¯t in my old life? This was something else. I wasn¡¯t growing or changing in some way, no. Regardless of my excuses for not hanging out and having fun at work, there was some element of truth. I did prefer my own company; it was likely that I had just begun to take that preference to the extreme in my time as a human. And yet now, I felt no discomfort at all? No desire to have some time to myself? Something changed me. I had focused on the changes I had made to Queen by invading her body, but what about me? Like Queen, I had lost my body and now shared a Mind with her. Was I actually¡­ a completely different person? ¡°-and Ben¡¯s work has been consistent but without exemplary results. I do not blame you, Ben. You have done fairly well.¡± ¡°Daw, thanks! I like your map, Be-a-trice!¡± The others had continued their discussion outside of my storming thoughts. This topic was important. I pushed the bad thoughts into the box Queen had made for the gross feeling. I would address them eventually. But the hive wasn¡¯t ready. And neither was I. ¡°Actually, I was thinking that exploration is more important than ever,¡± I said, ¡°there¡¯s a lot we¡¯re missing, like flowers and knowledge of Mind. Bella has told me about the food¡¯s eventual decomposition, so a more sustainable food source will become a major priority soon.¡± ¡°Is that so? The meat¡¯s state should be edible for us long from now. I suppose I shall take your word for it, Mother¡­.¡± Phew. Good thing Beatrice was so loyal! I refused to eat rotten meat. No way. ¡°By the way, Ben, I was wondering. How long would it take you to go to the forest¡¯s edge?¡± ¡°Uh. I dunno! I don¡¯t even know where that is.¡± ¡°Not even a little idea?¡± ¡°Nope!¡± Damn. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was pretty content to be here in this forest with familiarity surrounding us. However, I was becoming curious about this world. I had very little information about everything outside the forest, so I was eager for Ben to find the forest¡¯s border. Considering my situation, though, I doubted I could just up and leave to some random place in this fantasy world. A giant monster bee? Not even mentioning my responsibilities. That¡¯s why I was eager for Ben to explore the forest¡¯s border specifically. According to Vulch, a gathering of humans was close to the forest. That was the perfect candidate to march in and learn more about the world without straying too far from the hive. Though that didn¡¯t solve the whole ¡®giant monster bee¡¯ situation. ¡°Bess, I will be taking Mother to inspect Bella¡¯s work now. If the management of the drones is what is causing your struggles, then I suggest you figure out a way to improve.¡± I agreed Bess needed to improve, but wasn¡¯t telling her to ¡®just figure it out¡¯ a bit harsh? We were a team. A family, really. ¡°Hey Beatrice, how about this? You¡¯re good at management; why don¡¯t you help Bess out? Maybe guide or teach her tomorrow or something along those lines.¡± ¡°Would that truly be a productive use of my time?¡± Beatrice seemed more concerned than anything, even if her words were terse. I could feel her nervousness through the Link; if I couldn¡¯t feel her genuine emotions, she might¡¯ve just seemed like a colossal asshole. ¡°Of course it would! If Bess becomes skilled at directing the drones, the hive will be built more quickly! Another thing off the list, and more time for you to concentrate on other matters.¡± Bedivere chuckled, ¡°I am impressed you do not see the benefits of this task, Beatrice. Do you not also need practice commanding large numbers of bees?¡± he turned to Bess, ¡°as for you, I feel you are strict on yourself. The wall is of good quality despite your struggles.¡± Holy hell, Bedivere. What a guy. That was the first time I had ever seen Beatrice so thoroughly embarrassed by another bee; her eyes were nearly popping out of her head. ¡°Oh¡­ thank you¡­ little bro,¡± Bess said as she swelled with pride. I turned away. This was too cute! And Bess calling Bedivere little bro¡­ Bedivere was giving Beatrice¡¯s flabbergasted expression a run for its money. ¡°Ahem! Alright, you two. Onwards to Bella! I¡¯ll see you at dinner tonight, Bess.¡± ¡°Alright, Mom!¡± ¡°Ooh, can I come too Momaroo?¡± Ben blurted out, ¡°I don¡¯t wanna sit and wait for dinner!¡± ¡°Sure thing Ben. Let¡¯s go, then.¡± As we left, I heard a deep mumble behind me. ¡°¡­ I¡¯m bigger than her, though¡­.¡± Chapter 27 - Sting of Betrayal ¡°Is¡­ Is Bella dancing?¡± After meeting up with Bess, our group of four had wandered off to find Bella and her team of gatherers, and since they were already on their way back to the central hive, we had just decided to meet up there. Too bad Bess and her own workers had already left. And when we returned to the hive, what we found shook me to the core. Quite literally. Bella was walking around on the ground in circles, occasionally shaking around in a quick little dance. A crowd surrounded her, mostly made up of Gatherer Drones, with others appearing here or there. A couple of the sixteen warriors could be seen, and Belle was there. Even Bess watched in a trance. ¡°Ah, it has been some time. This dance was some sort of common pastime for workers in the hive. Higher ranking bees such as myself did not partake.¡± ¡°Queen, that might be the snobbiest thing you¡¯ve ever said.¡± ¡°Ooh, Mom! Look at me go!¡± Bella called my attention and picked up the pace, causing the other bees to buzz frantically until she finally came to a stop, panting and coughing in exhaustion. I politely applauded the bizarre display anyways. Gotta support the kids¡¯ strange dreams, right? ¡°Er, Bella,¡± Beatrice said, ¡°for what purpose are you moving so bizarrely? Is that not a waste of energy?¡± ¡°Not at all!¡± she waved to the gatherers, who, interestingly, began slowly moving in one direction. ¡°It¡¯s for these guys. There¡¯s no way I could use Mind to control all of them. I was super freaked out when Mom gave them to me! But then, I felt some weird urges. The urge to dance! Except when I started dancing, those drones went crazy.¡± Bella twirled in the air, and the gatherer drones copied her, ¡°these guys also like to dance! And when we dance, it¡¯s like talking without talking. I use it to command them.¡± So the dancing was some sort of bee instinct? And the drones were capable of understanding the dance? Since Queen said bees in her own hive did these dances, that probably meant it had nothing to do with my human-ness and was instead something all bees did. I knew bees could use pheromones to mark food, but it did seem inefficient. A gatherer would have to know at least the general area where that food might be, so maybe this dance was a more sophisticated form of communication. Man, was I glad I could talk to my bees kinda like people! Thank you very much, psychic powers. It would be a nightmare if I had to dance to tell Beatrice or Bedivere something. Embarrassing, tiring, the works! ¡°All of that is well and good, but let¡¯s have dinner, shall we? I suspect the last eggs will hatch tomorrow. Then I can get started on the next generation.¡± The bees cheered, including the remaining warriors, who, of course, didn¡¯t hear anything until the mention of dinner. Oh boy, how exciting. Meat. Again. ________ ¡°Come, Mother. The four powerful warriors seem ready to hatch.¡± This time, I didn¡¯t have to drag myself out of ¡®bed.¡¯ I had a bossy assistant to do it for me. I was truly living a life of luxury. ¡°Yeah, yeah, I¡¯m coming,¡± I replied with a bit of grump. Sorry Beatrice, nothing personal, but not having to work got me used to chilling out. Today I couldn¡¯t use that excuse, though. Being productive would surely be good for me. So much to do. More bees were about to be born, there was so much to manage in the hive¡¯s growth, and all of that wasn¡¯t even mentioning my pathetically slow progress with Mind. Unlike last time, the nursery was practically empty. The only bees present were Belle, Beck, and that one warrior who had acted like the defacto leader of the sixteen. ¡°Hi there, has Bedivere decided on a name for you?¡± I asked the ramrod pack leader. Even though I had sort of snuck up on her, she didn¡¯t jump in surprise or anything. Instead, she spun towards me and instantly bowed deeply. Well. That¡¯s no fun. And hold on, bowing? Didn¡¯t you salute that one time? Be more consistent! ¡°Greetings, my queen. Certainly, Master Bedivere has entrusted me with the name ¡®Beryl.¡¯ I am honored to serve.¡± She - Beryl - had stayed in her ridiculously deep bow during the entire introduction. Not only that, there was something about her language that felt¡­ forced. ¡°You can be more casual if you like, Beryl. It¡¯s not that big of a deal.¡± ¡°...If that would be preferable for you, my queen,¡± she said as she straightened up. Well, it was progress. That being said, how the hell did Bedivere come up with Beryl¡¯s name? I guess I could vaguely remember something about a mineral on Earth with a similar name, but the memory felt so hazy and imprecise. It was no fair! Why did these dang bees have all my knowledge and could use it better? How did they remember info like that?! It¡¯s not fair! Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡­Hm? Hold on, was it really that surprising? This was a world where everything revolved around a power literally called ¡®Mind.¡¯ Could I improve my memory with Mind? I didn¡¯t see why not; Compartmentalization was probably way more complicated under the hood compared to something like that. My brain was a whirlwind. There had to be a catch, right? How far could this ¡®optimization¡¯ go? A world where people or even animals have a sort of magic that could do stuff like that? Did that even make sense? In that case, wouldn¡¯t such a world be advanced beyond belief? People would be able to optimize every aspect of their brains to break through even human potential, couldn¡¯t they? Was that what Vulch had done? Something still felt off, though. I had no answers to my questions. Animals like the squirrels, capable of utilizing Mind, were basically unintelligent beasts. And on the human side, would a world like that have a need for simple guns or armor? There was one thing that was most damning of all: Vulch¡¯s family. His flock had been a bit odd. There was Vulch at the top, an incredibly intelligent and powerful creature. Then under him were, I guess, his top officers or something. Those were the largest vultures who also had strong Minds. And then, after that, was pretty much everything else; seemingly mindless vultures that did nothing but live and obey Vulch. Now the kicker: why wasn¡¯t Vulch¡¯s family as intelligent or powerful as him? If it were as simple as I thought to manipulate your brain and thoughts, couldn¡¯t Vulch teach his offspring to do it? Hell, couldn¡¯t he manipulate their brains himself? Something didn¡¯t add up. There was something preventing individuals from reaching that potential beyond their potential. In fact, it implied Vulch hadn¡¯t naturally developed his intelligence on his own. It just didn¡¯t seem to be a feature of a ¡®regular¡¯ vulture here. It might be related to Vulch¡¯s knowledge and previous experience with humans. Or it could be something else entirely. Well, in the end, none of that really mattered. Why? Cause I could be completely making shit up! Until I tried out these theories for myself, I couldn¡¯t really come to any sort of conclusion. ¡°I think the eggs are hatching!¡± What impeccable timing. I suppose testing these theories would have to wait until after the hatchings. ¡°Yay! Welcome, babies!¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°I said: Welcome, babies!¡± ¡­ ¡­ Uh. ¡°Enno! Where are the babies!¡± How should I know?! This was really strange; Queen hadn¡¯t been wrong yet when it came to the hatching eggs. Her predictions had been 90% accurate 60% of the time! It looked like she missed the mark for once. Inspecting the eggs more closely, I didn¡¯t see anything unusual. They were still the normal color and shape of regular eggs. They did seem to be outgrowing the wax cells they sat in, though. The other hatchings started with the eggs exploding, and these babies looked ready to pop to me. Even Beatrice and Belle had been ready. Wait a second. I was dragged out of bed for this! ¡°Oh dear. Oh no. Oh fuuuuunk,¡± Beatrice waved in a panic. Geez. She seemed more upset about this than being called ¡®Trice. ¡°Mother, what is happening? I can feel that these eggs are ready to hatch, but they refuse!¡± ¡°Calm down, Beatrice. I wouldn¡¯t say there¡¯s cause for concern just yet. They still seem healthy. Maybe some bees just like to¡­ take their time or something.¡± One of the eggs started turning a mottled shade of green. Oh shit oh fuck. ¡°Okay, okay, stay calm! Stay fucking calm!¡± ¡°Mother, the egg is green! Noooo!¡± ¡°Ahhhhhhhhhhh!¡± It was chaos in the hive as the other three warrior eggs also started turning the same sickly shade of green. This was definitely a cause for concern! I was surprised to see the only one not shrieking like a lunatic was Belle, who was instead curiously inspecting and poking the eggs. ¡°Belle, this is real bad! What the hell!¡± ¡°Mother, I am not yet sure if there is a need to panic,¡± she said, cocking her head, ¡°The only eggs that changed were the warrior eggs. It seems like an odd coincidence.¡± Okay. Alright. Belle was doing this correctly; we needed to calm down and analyze the situation. What she said was true; the only eggs that had turned green were the four warriors Bedivere had requested. My Link couldn¡¯t connect to bees still in their birth stages, but I had some instinct from my egg-making Ability that made it clear. Or maybe it was a pheromone of some sort? This was an odd coincidence. The 10 new Simple workers were only bulging slightly and still didn¡¯t feel anywhere near ready to hatch. What was going on here? Belle whizzed past me, startling me out of my thoughts. I turned in time to see her pin Beryl to the wall. How the hell was she overpowering an actual warrior?! ¡°You have something to do with this! You are far too calm!¡± Huh? Sure enough, Beryl was staring at Beatrice with a blank expression. There wasn¡¯t a trace of panic or concern to be found. There was no way. Was I getting betrayed? ¡°It is not what you think, my family.¡± The now familiar deep baritone of Bedivere cut through the tension as he appeared outside, peering into the nursery like a hungry kaiju. I couldn¡¯t handle this stress. What was going on?! ¡°Explain, Bedivere. I¡¯ll give you the benefit of the doubt, so you better hurry up with a good explanation,¡± I said slowly. ¡°I did not intend to hide anything from you, Mother. The actions I take are purely for the safety of the hive.¡± ¡°I said: make with the damn explanation.¡± ¡°Apologies. I have concocted an Ability to change the nature of a living being using the power of my Mind. It is highly resource intensive and cripples my capabilities with Mind. I decided the risk was worth the reward, and used this Ability on the four warriors I requested.¡± ¡­What the fuck? What was I supposed to think about that? [Abilities: ] [Mind: 6th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 78.5%] [Mind Locks: ] There it was. A new Ability that replaced Venomous Stinger. One without the capability to level up, just like my Combined Mind. [Transmutation Stinger: Acquired by: Developing a hardened resolve to protect your family, you tirelessly used your Mind to discover a method of strengthening others You have developed a method of empowering living creatures beyond the confines of their nature. This unique application of Mind caught the gods¡¯ attention, and this Ability was granted. Change the ¡®nature¡¯ of a living creature by sharing a piece of your Mind. Each use of this Ability destabilizes the Mind of the user, making it more difficult to control. This is permanent. In order to use this Ability, unbroken concentration is required; Otherwise, both the user and the receiver will experience backlash. ] My apprehension transformed into a rage. I used a couple percentage points of Mind to grapple with Bedivere, but he provided no resistance, doing nothing but allowing himself to be thrown to the floor outside. ¡°How dare you tamper with my eggs using such a dangerous Ability?¡± I floated out of the hive so I could hover directly over Bedivere as he lay pressed to the ground. ¡°Did you think I would appreciate this? Maybe give you a pat on the head and say ¡®good job, buddy?¡¯ Well?!¡± A hand gripped my shoulder. I knew it was Beatrice. Was she trying to stop me? ¡°She is encouraging you to use less Mind. As he is not resisting, Bedivere may find it difficult to speak under the pressure of our Mind.¡± Queen¡¯s voice sounded¡­ strange. Like something between worry, anger, and joy. She was right, though. I fully let up the pressure on Bedivere to allow him to speak. If push came to shove, I could directly control him with the Link. ¡°Answer me, Bedivere. Did you think I would appreciate what you did? You say you didn¡¯t intend to hide anything from me, yet you did.¡± ¡°I have no excuse. I do not regret my actions, and I was already resolved to accept any form of punishment for not notifying you.¡± He straightened up, purposefully pointing his giant stinger away and displaying his three remaining limbs, ¡°I have done this with the sole intention of protecting my family. The world is large. I have learned that since my birth. Even this forest is large enough to impede my duties, yet it is but a fraction of our future hive. Especially since such a large world will one day be our hive, I am limited in my capacity to guard the entirety of it, so we must have warriors to aid in my task.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s exactly what we¡¯re doing! I made as many warriors as you requested, and soon I¡¯ll make even more. We could have dozens, hundreds of warriors in less than a week. I could even make them as strong as you- no, even stronger. There is not one bit of justification for this.¡± ¡°I disagree.¡± Of all things, that shocked me. Why? Other bees had shown disagreement, right? Countered my opinions? ¡°Our knowledge is sparse. The capabilities of this world are a mystery. Is the Vulch weak in this world? Strong? What of the humans? The fact that the Vulch was contained in the forest suggests humans or other creatures are so numerous or powerful that the Vulch bode his time here, expanding his family. We are bees, Mother. Although we can be individually powerful, such as myself, it is an inefficient process. We could dominate with numbers in the thousands by cheaply creating huge numbers of warriors.¡± He shook his head, ¡°And yet, such a feat is impossible for now. We simply do not have access to the resources, infrastructure, or outside knowledge for that to be a viable strategy. Hence, empowering those we have.¡± What Bedivere was saying was nothing short of disturbing and logical. Was his reasoning sound? Sure. And yet, I was uncomfortable with what he had done. Not enraged, but uncomfortable. What enraged me was the fact he decided to do this. Without my knowledge, input, or agreement, he had developed a highly dangerous Ability and used it on other bees. Betrayal. Even now, even in another life, it was here. It always was. This was absolutely unacceptable. For this, Bedivere would suffer punishment. Severe punishment. Chapter 28 - Bumbling through life Number Two Spinning. The circular motion had always felt calming, even in my previous life. Spinning pens was the easiest way to get my fix without disturbing others. Well, without disturbing most. Some did find it annoying. No matter. It was actually better when they easily noticed; most learned it meant I was concentrating or not to be disturbed. The spinning made everything better. It was relaxing. It helped me think. Each pen¡¯s weight and texture did unique things. I loved learning what different pens could do, so I collected them. These sticks just weren¡¯t the same. Spinning them with Mind wasn¡¯t the same either. ¡°Mother?¡± ¡°Yes, Beatrice?¡± ¡°Have you decided?¡± No, no, I hadn¡¯t decided. Nearly an hour had passed since the discovery of Bedivere¡¯s betrayal, and I hadn¡¯t decided on a punishment. There was so much wrong with what he had done. And yet, what sort of punishment would befit the crime? The decision was only made more difficult by the two bees I had been arguing with nonstop. ¡°Would you again consider my proposal? Bedivere¡¯s actual actions caused no harm,¡± she grimaced, ¡°he needs punishment for not notifying you. It is unforgivable. In that case, I believe he should be suspended from duty until further notice.¡± ¡°Yes, it is unforgivable. But is that enough punishment? His actions haven¡¯t caused any harm yet. It¡¯s not enough.¡± ¡°¡­I think it is. He is ultimately benefiting the hive. In my opinion, it absolves him of the betrayal. If you must administer punishment, a temporary suspension is more than enough.¡± Not an inch of progress. These were the same arguments over and over again. I peered out of a hole in the wall. Beatrice and I were discussing the matter of Bedivere¡¯s punishment in an empty, unclaimed room in the hive. Maybe I could take this room for myself. It wasn¡¯t very big, but it was cozy. It was also close to both the nursery and food storage areas. Probably close enough that Bess could knock over a few walls and connect the rooms. Outside, fifteen warriors hovered in a circle, surrounding Bedivere and Beryl. A quick questioning revealed that none of them had been aware of Bedivere¡¯s plan save for Beryl. I suppose she had already endeared herself to him as a little sister who shared his interests. The Link was plenty of evidence to determine the truthfulness of their statements. Beryl would be punished, but not as harshly. She was just as guilty as a conspirator, but I couldn¡¯t justify a harsher punishment when she had practically been born yesterday. On that note, there was Bedivere. When I had forced Bedivere to at least reveal why he had kept the plan a secret, he had nothing to say except this: ¡°You would have disagreed.¡± Really? No shit I would have disagreed; had he even read his own Ability? A single stumble and he, along with the four children, would have suffered unknown consequences. And what about himself? His Mind was permanently crippled now. Did he think weakening the second-greatest power in the hive would be worth it? Or¡­ was that part of his justification? Of how his actions were purely selfless? ¡°Beatrice, I want you to help me. Come up with further punishment for Bediviere that will teach him his error.¡± I wasn¡¯t leaving room open for debate this time. Beatrice hesitated. I could feel she disagreed with my decision and wanted to fight it. She was, in the end, a bee. Bedivere had helped the hive, and that was what a bee did. I, on the other hand, was not a bee. Not really. Not yet. ¡°Of course, Mother. I will.¡± _________ ¡°Let¡¯s get this over with. There are far more important things I should be doing.¡± I had put off my research in matters of Mind for long enough. Now that the last batch of bees would be born at some unknown point, I had some time. In truth, this whole situation made it perfectly clear that I was massively under-prepared as a proper caretaker and leader. ¡°Very well, Mother. Ahem,¡± Beatrice buzzed forward. Nearly every bee in the hive was here, watching the two who had done something worthy of the hive¡¯s first punishment. It was, unfortunately, a momentous occasion. ¡°Beryl. You have conspired with Bedivere to achieve his own goals behind Mother¡¯s back. Behind the hive¡¯s back. However, you have not performed any intolerable actions and only became involved at the behest of one with higher authority than yourself. As such, your punishment shall be more lenient. All of your meals shall be taken in solitude for one week.¡± A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. Beryl¡¯s eyes shot up, more in surprise than upsetness. She was sad, certainly, but not devastated. I sighed. Punishments in a hive like this were a bit¡­ odd to me. Due to their nature as bees, I couldn¡¯t dole out easy punishments like ¡®clean the ditches¡¯ or ¡®drop and give me twenty!¡¯ Apparently, the bees would actually see stuff like that as a reward. Of course they would. Self-improvement helped the hive. Assisting the hive in any way was a bee¡¯s dream and purpose. So instead, I had gone along with Beatrice¡¯s suggestion of solitary meals. Apparently, the family eating together had become quite popular, so it was a fairly notable, if light, punishment. I had a feeling - no, I knew - Beatrice was letting Beryl off lightly. Perhaps too lightly. One week was barely any time at all, and the punishment wasn¡¯t harsh, to begin with. It seems she didn¡¯t follow my every order to the letter like I had assumed. It was comforting, in a way. It made her feel more real. But there was a difference between that and betrayal. ¡°Bedivere,¡± her eyes became much colder, ¡°your actions are considered by Mother, our queen, ruler, and matriarch, to have been deplorable. You acted with noble intentions, but the action is considered taboo.¡± She breathed in. She was getting angry and trying to calm down. The other bees watched with their own breaths bated. They hadn¡¯t really reacted to Beryl¡¯s punishment; it seemed fair and without much suffering. This was the main event. ¡°However. The true depravity of your actions was in your decision to perform such actions without the input or consent of the queen. You have overestimated your loyalty and overstepped your station. As a result,¡± she spoke clearly, ¡°you shall not only receive the same punishment as Beryl, but shall also be suspended from duty as the master of hive security. Until the queen deems it appropriate to lift your sentence, you shall have no command over the forces of the hive, and your authority shall be stripped.¡± The crowd whispered. It was harsh. Bedivere had practically been born to lead the hive in battle. As a bee, his work was his life. However, it wasn¡¯t as bad as it seemed. A more devastating punishment would have been to prevent him from fighting, and, by extension, guard the hive. We had purposefully worded the declaration so Bedivere could still fight if he needed to. Logically, I knew he was loyal. Letting him fight wasn¡¯t a problem, and I wasn¡¯t about to hold back our greatest military asset over an internal issue. However¡­ ¡°There are two more stipulations,¡± Beatrice continued, ¡°You shall never again use your new Ability, {Transmutation Stinger}, nor shall you attempt to create, use, or otherwise study any similar or related Abilities.¡± That was a given. The Ability was way too risky and damaging. A small portion of the crowd stirred, but not in surprise at the punishment. Most had already learned of the new Ability and likely agreed it was dangerous enough to ban its use. The few that expressed doubt were the oldest hive members, the ones who had lived the most. Except for Ben. Ben was just being sad. The question on their minds was this: How would I enforce such a punishment? Doing away with the fact that Bedivere would most likely never go against this demand anyways, the more experienced bees instead thought of the ¡®how.¡¯ How would I prevent the use of an Ability? Was I capable of doing so? Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure. I had an idea, but for now, just add it to the list of things to try; god knows that thing wasn¡¯t long enough. ¡°The final punishment is the most severe,¡± Bedivere hadn¡¯t moved the entire time during Beatrice¡¯s speech, but at those words, he stirred, ¡°Bedivere. You will have no command, direction, or close interaction with the four unborn guards outside their direct training. Their Links to you will be restricted and carefully monitored. This will similarly last until the queen deems it necessary.¡± Bedivere shot up, startling the crowd. That same crowd was going crazy, the whispers accelerating and spreading. Well, most of the crowd couldn¡¯t actually speak or think really, so they just kept buzzing. I knew this would get him. Beatrice had suggested something similar, and I thought it was a perfect idea. It was a strict punishment, and one directly related to the betrayal. The four warriors were Bedivere¡¯s pride and joy. They would be a collection of royal guards he could control, a practically unbeatable fighting force he could use to defend the hive. To defend me. And in some way, they were his most precious younger siblings. Restricting portions of the hive mind? Cutting off one of the bees from their family? It was rough for them. Not allowing Bedivere to interact with them specifically outside of training had been difficult to decide. I had suggested changing it to complete separation, but Beatrice vehemently refuted my suggestion. She reasoned that his training was essential to the hive¡¯s future, and that not allowing him to train the four guards in the early stages would ultimately weaken them. I had to agree. I wanted to punish Bedivere, not the four warriors. Bedivere looked like he wanted to say something, but he looked at me and froze before he could. Did he see something in my face? My eyes? I don¡¯t know, but his horrified look turned into a solemn one. ¡°Yes, my queen. Yes, lord Beatrice. I formally apologize for my transgressions,¡± he finally said in a hushed tone. Beryl followed his example and said the same. I then whispered privately to Bedivere, ¡°Know this, Bedivere. Those punishments are practically superficial. Without real consequence.¡± I could see a tear form in his eye. He knew where I was going with this. ¡°No, the real punishment is something else. It¡¯s the rift you have torn in my trust.¡± Eventually, they would redeem themselves. Or at least, Queen had told me to trust that they would. _____________ I was left alone in the empty room. Again. No, that was wrong. I would never be alone again. After that whole spectacle, I immediately retreated to my room and told Beatrice to get everyone working again. Plus, I reminded her about the fun new activity she would be doing with Bess. To her disappointment, I hadn¡¯t been joking. I was considering my own place in the hive. Beatrice could pretty much do everything. Every day I became more of a figurehead, just laying eggs and not much else. I was confident I would eventually unlock some sort of queen bee subtype, and what then? ¡°Again you underestimate our importance.¡± Admittedly I was understating my role, but it wasn¡¯t enough. Once again, I had been naive. This time was worse. Instead of lacking trust, I had given it. And the worst part? My trust had, in theory, not been broken. I had trusted Bedivere to do his duty and protect the hive, and in his mind, that is precisely what he did. I had messed up. I had begun treating the bees like fully grown people, but they weren¡¯t. They were adults who had lived for a week or so. It wasn¡¯t something natural, so I suppose it was hard to blame myself for misunderstanding. There was one thing that made me realize this. Beryl¡¯s name. Bedivere had access to memories and thoughts of mine from the hive mind Link, and he had come up with a unique name based on something real from my world. It was a good name, one I was disappointed not to have come up with myself. Now. Was Bedivere me? No. Despite having some degree of access to my knowledge and memories, he was very clearly Bedivere, a unique individual. But if Bedivere only had my knowledge and little to no knowledge of his own, what did that mean for Bedivere? Something he had said stuck out to me: ¡°The world is large. I have learned that since my birth.¡± That was information and a conclusion he had come to himself. Basically, Bedivere was like a baby. Or maybe a guy who spent entirely too much time in front of his computer without leaving the house. He lacked real experience. That was where my mistake was. I had over-emphasized my trust and decision for individuality, but that wasn¡¯t enough. The bees needed more guidance - they were freaking bees. Forget problems with their tasks or jobs; the real impact would be mental. They would have an unsophisticated understanding of others, acting on instinct, basic knowledge, and whatever effect personality has. How could I help? I wasn¡¯t some sort of professional lifeform - I had already died once! What did I know about living? I needed a better way of helping and teaching them. But how? Maybe if I had, like, a self-help book or something. Perhaps a video on how to raise children. Or¡­ I could control them more closely, like a true hive mind. ¡°And you plan to do something so drastic using Mind. Again retreating to hide from the world,¡± Queen sighed, ¡°I will indulge you for now. Whatever you manage to do, I am happy to help.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯ll need your help, Queen. After all, you¡¯re the one who inspired me. ¡° ¡°Did I? How flattering.¡± Before Queen could say anything, I used Compartmentalization to separate us. She was still talking, and I could still hear her, but I wasn¡¯t¡­ focusing on her. Now, I was truly alone. I looked out the ¡®window¡¯ again. I wonder if Bess could make some sort of transparent glass-like thing? My window being a hole in the wall was a bit uncomfortable. ¡°Grah! Finally! Ugh¡­ Do you know how difficult it was to get in here?¡± ¡°Sup. Don¡¯t worry; I know everything you were just saying.¡± ¡°I know you know, but it is weird! Talking to you, and you hear and understand me, but you aren¡¯t listening to me!¡± ¡°Well, now that you¡¯re here, I¡¯ll just go back.¡± ¡°Seriously?! I did all this for nothi-¡° I undid the compartment, my focus returning to normal. This was the trick Queen had invented. A trick I intended to thoroughly exploit. Chapter 29 - B-boxes The answer had been staring me in the face all along. I had tried to see the world through Ben¡¯s eyes a long time ago (or at least it felt like a long time). Thanks to Compartmentalization, I was able to do so without throwing up. However, I hadn¡¯t been able to split my attention enough to actually do stuff while paying close attention to Ben¡¯s sight. As a result, I thought I had hit a limit with the Lock. It was a helpful tool, but not much else. Queen blew that out of the water. When she did the impossible and manipulated the Lock, I was shocked by her capability to influence the world. Finally, she was one step closer to being ¡®real¡¯! But that wasn¡¯t the actual shocker. It was what she did that should have blown my mind and Mind. The box containing the gross stomach feeling and my bad thoughts. By increasing the Compartmentalization Lock¡¯s Mind usage, she had been able to create an additional compartment¡­ box¡­ thing. One that didn¡¯t exactly isolate the thoughts but¡­ separated them. My attention wasn¡¯t on them anymore. How did this work? No fucking clue. Explaining it was as confusing as trying to figure out how the hell she could suddenly manipulate Mind. Ah, dear Enno, did you forget? You had tried to increase the Mind allotment to Compartmentalization when it was first created, and what did it get you but a sore head and a mouthful of that morning¡¯s breakfast? Aha! But that is where Queen¡¯s frankly unfair talent came into play! When I had increased the Lock percentage, it was just tweaking numbers on a screen. In this world, that wasn¡¯t good enough! The numbers on the screen had to be combined with skill, strength, and something else that starts with ¡®s.¡¯ She had been increasing the Lock while creating the box. In other words, those compartment ¡®boxes¡¯ worked in tandem with the additional Mind being allocated. Otherwise, it was just wasted resources! I had been using Mind in an incredibly inefficient way. It was pretty simple; under or over-allotment of resources caused errors. Since Mind was a limited resource, we would want to use it as efficiently as possible. And so, I made a box. It was a strange sensation. I had to envision a box popping into existence since there was no actual visual aspect to this. It wasn¡¯t like Vulch¡¯s Mind world. However, if I ever managed to figure out how Vulch had done that, I was somehow sure that the transparent, boldly outlined box I had imagined would actually appear in my world. So. What could I actually do with said box? The box was basically just a representation of my consciousness, separated from my actual consciousness. Conscious without being conscious. Conscious. I could basically think about things without thinking of them. Or something. Disregarding the overly complicated thought process, I would consider this a ¡®blank box¡¯ and could probably¡­ put stuff in there, like Queen had done with the feelings. So what to put inside? If I wanted to get a better understanding of the bees in order to help and control them, I needed a way to know their thoughts. Oh, I could already feel their thoughts coming in through the Link, but the situation with Bedivere exposed an apparent flaw. In my fervor, I had created an incomplete hivemind. The psychic Link between me and every other bee was, in a way, a hive mind. But. A true hivemind would not have a situation like Bedivere arise. Why? Because I would have immediately known what he was thinking of doing right as he thought it. In theory, that was already possible with the Link. If I specifically probed Bedivere and constantly monitored his thoughts, that is. But I had other responsibilities. I didn¡¯t have the time or resources to continually know what the bees were thinking. Or did I? I needed a way to monitor the thoughts of the bees without actually sparing focus on them. And I thought this blank box was the solution. So I put the Link in the box. In theory, this would have the same effect as if I were sitting down and painstakingly reading each individual thought coming through the Link. Except with the box, I would be doing that and actually being productive at the same time. Once I did, the box grew. And grew. Oh, shit. It wasn¡¯t stopping. ¡°Again? How many times will you brazenly test some crack nut theory?!¡± No, this was no problemo. The box ¡®growing¡¯ was just it consuming more resources. I could just dedicate more Mind to the Lock, and voila! Problem solved! Suddenly the box exploded. Goddamit! Queen had undone the box. Was she getting better at manipulating Mind? Frankly, this was unfair. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°I have a different solution, you dolt. Separate the tasks. Have one ¡®box¡¯ collect the information and have another analyze it.¡± ¡°And how in the hell do you think that would even work? I can make boxes, not complex systems of circuitry and data transference. And I know what those are!¡± ¡°¡­Could you not just¡­ connect the boxes?¡± Oh. Of course. Who could have imagined a solution like that? ¡°Just try it. I swear, sometimes you over-complicate matters to such a ridiculous degree.¡± Fine. I made two blank boxes, ready to go. What Queen wanted was slightly different from what we had done so far with this power. The original idea was simple. Something inside box: thing separate but still in conscious. This? Instead of putting something in the boxes, the boxes would¡­ do things. A task. One box would perform ¡®analysis,¡¯ while the other would ¡®collect.¡¯ The collection box seemed easy enough. Just put the Link inside, same as last time. However, before that, I needed to connect the two boxes. That way, the collection box wouldn¡¯t become immediately overwhelmed. So I just¡­ smushed them together. It wasn¡¯t very elegant, but I thought it could work. If I could successfully assign a box a task just by imagining it, surely they could transfer stuff between them with a thought, too. Now, the hard part. How did I assign the boxes a task? I drew upon my well of experience with computers and underlings and came to a tentative answer. Just tell it to do something. It worked for people. It worked for bees. These boxes were just my brain or something, right? Surely my brain could understand itself. And that¡¯s what I did. I made sure to slowly feed Mind into the analysis box to ensure the number of resources didn¡¯t falter, and soon, I had something. The same box. But a little bigger. Well, hopefully, that would be fine. I similarly instructed the collection box to send information to the analysis box through the wall, but things seemed to get stuck there. Something wasn¡¯t right¡­ ¡°May I?¡± I could feel Queen experimenting, so I let her. This was all she had been able to do since my arrival. Why not let her have some fun? Not long after, I actually heard a distinct popping sound, and the boxes seemed to shudder. Queen revealed that the boxes had phased into one another. A sliver of space was, therefore, in both boxes. Did I imagine the popping sound? Or did it lend credence to my theories about the Mind world? In any case, I again had to applaud and lament Queen¡¯s exceptional talent and creativity. Now that the boxes had some overlap, there was a sort of buffer zone for info to cleanly pass through. ¡°Can I try it now?¡± ¡°¡­Very well,¡± Queen sighed. Alright! Hopefully, this would work¡­ I placed the Kin Link into the collection box and waited with bated breath. Like last time, the collection box ballooned, beginning to dwarf the analysis box. This time, though, it was growing more slowly and steadily. Great sign! I wished I could actually see the boxes. All I got was some vague sense that something was happening. ¡°Ah, it seems Belle expects the Worker eggs to hatch soon.¡± ¡°Hm, Beck¡¯s research is going well¡­.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Oh shit!¡± It was working! ¡°Incredible¡­ I know the thoughts of the hive, but do not need to focus on them to know.¡± This was actually insane. It was on a completely different scale from before. Every scrap of information that passed through a bee¡¯s head wasn¡¯t just entering our head; we were fully cognizant of the information. I didn¡¯t have to focus at all to know what they were all thinking. At the same time, even! ¡°Ack! Look, Enno!¡± Hm? Ack! The analysis box! When had it gotten that huge?! ¡°The analyzed information! It has nowhere to go!¡± Ah, crap. It just couldn¡¯t be easy, could it? No wonder I was entirely aware of the putrid smell of a rotting carcass coming in from Bella while simultaneously knowing her thoughts on extra salty meat. I quickly made another huge blank box and connected it to the analysis box, instructing it to store the information. That one then began to grow while the analysis box rapidly deflated. Phew. ¡°This is not a permanent solution. There is a limit to the amount of information we will be capable of storing, as there is a limit to our Mind. Will the entirety be dedicated to storing Ben¡¯s sudden fascination with a particular pebble?¡± While I agreed with her assessment, it just felt weird to me. The human brain never seemed to have an actual limit on how much information it could theoretically store. Why was this any different? In fact, it seemed far less efficient. ¡­ ¡­ Even now, the allocated Mind for Compartmentalization was growing. Making this whole system had already cost 100x the Mind the Lock previously used, and the growth showed no sign of stopping. It was truly a staggering amount of power being dedicated to this seemingly simple task. The only reason it was automatically climbing in the first place was because of the Lock itself; some portion of my attention had to be reserved to ensure the system¡¯s resources stayed in check. How long would I be able to do this? I didn¡¯t exactly feel like doing the math, but I was certain it would hit its limit in my lifetime. No worries. I had a plan. Earlier, I had complained about memories. It was so unfair that the bees could use my own memories better than I could. However, I had never thought of why. Why were they able to do that? I assumed it had to do with something simple: I didn¡¯t care about the names of rocks enough to remember them. Hence why I hadn¡¯t thought of the name Beryl. However, memories were clearly more complex than even Earth scientists knew. My memories had come with me. Without my physical brain. Were all memories stored somewhere else? Was the brain a temporary storage, albeit one capable of storing immense amounts of data? Well, that wasn¡¯t for me to know. All I needed to know was that my memories could probably be accessed, organized, and optimized with my newfound capabilities. So what if I put my memories in a B-box¡­? ¡°Huh? What in the world is a ¡®B-box¡¯?¡± ¡°Just a placeholder name, ya¡¯know? For the boxes and stuff. Brain box.¡± Queen hemmed and hawed and groaned, clearly unsatisfied with my naming sense. ¡°It is fine for now, but we will have to come up with a better name eventually.¡± Oh, whatever. B-box it is! The idea was to use a B-box as a storage device. I knew it would work, seeing the analyzed Kin Link info being stored. If I could keep memories there, could I abuse the system in some way to retrieve memories on demand? I would never have to memorize or struggle to remember anything again; I could theoretically just search for what I needed, like a computer or search engine or something. Maybe I could even figure out ways to optimize things. Figure out some optimal way of storing and accessing the information, so I didn¡¯t have to use all my Mind. ¡°Hold on. Something about this¡­ ugh¡­ ¡®B-box system¡¯ seems strange.¡± Did it? Actually, now that Queen mentioned it, it did feel strangely familiar¡­ Oh fucking goddamit. No wonder. I had reinvented the damn wheel. The B-boxes were basically Locks! Man that was stupid. Automation of tasks that I could assign just by imagining and allot percentages of Mind to maintain? That was literally the Lock system. Not only that, but the B-boxes made things infinitely more complicated by requiring some degree of manual effort. Did that mean everything I had done with the boxes was a waste? Only one way to find out. I tried making a Lock that performed a similar function to my whole Kin Link analysis system, but nothing happened. Odd. Maybe I could make a B-box directly with Locks? [Mind Locks: ] Well. Did I feel silly or what? ¡°Hold on. Something is happening to the menu.¡± [Mind Locks: ] [Congratulations! Through a unique application of Mind, you have been granted the Ability {B-box Sys-}] [ERROR] [The Bee has intervened. {B-box System} reassessed. The Bee has manually withheld {B-box System}] [ERROR] [The Bee was unable to disable Mind Lock: B-box System] [ERROR] [The Bee was unable to disable Mind Lock: B-box System] [ERROR] ¡­ ¡­Okay. What? Chapter 30 - Beeyond the world’s limits A rumble was felt throughout the Link. Subtle it was. Subtle enough for few to feel. I felt it. Miss Beatrice felt it. Disgraced Bedivere felt it as well. My constant meditation had been interrupted. Something was not right. What had dear Ma done? I felt a strange awareness, an expansion of the senses. I peered within my Mind and found the source: Mother¡¯s Link. Through this Link, I learned much. I knew things. From the beginning, it had inspired me. I wanted to spread the greatness of the hive through the Minds of others, and this Link was the perfect vessel. But now, something was amiss. Ma had not changed the Link, no. She had transformed herself. And it was influencing the Link. This was dangerous. I could feel Ma¡¯s strength growing by the second, and I had to intervene. I did not wish to stop Ma¡¯s growth but to protect my siblings from the consequences. Whatever Ma was doing to the Link would overwhelm the paltry Minds of my weaker siblings, so I had to do something. Suddenly, the world froze. What? What was this? The typical buzzing I knew as the Kin Link exploded, a brain-shattering feeling. An overwhelming sense of wrong engulfed me, and I found myself within my experiment. I needed clarity. Vulch¡¯s world had been an incredible feat, and I had been unable to replicate it. Something was different about his Mind, something I could not mimic. Instead, I settled for a pale imitation, a state of meditation. Quite limited in comparison, but this state of meditation gave me time to think. Something was happening to Ma¡¯s Mind, something wrong. A pressure I had never before felt pressed upon my Mind, something so ancient and powerful it dwarfed even my great Mother. Whatever this entity was, it was trying to restrict Ma. To stunt her growth. Inconceivable. No matter what it was, I could not accept something trying to impede Mother. Wait. This feeling. The entity was not angry or malicious. Was this¡­ fear? Was this entity afraid of Ma? Or of something else? I could no longer maintain my meditative state and returned to the buzzing world. Ma¡¯s Mind was still resisting the entity, and the two seemed to be locked in a stalemate. I did my best to redirect the aftershocks of the conflict, trying to protect the Minds of my family. Beatrice and Bedivere could handle this, but the rest could not. I had to help them. The tremors slowly subsided, and I frantically messaged Bedivere to stand down. The warrior had been writhing on the ground, suffering despite his powerful Mind. As soon as the worst had passed, he began to make a beeline for Ma, but I stopped him. Such desperation would not regain Ma¡¯s trust. I informed Beatrice that Mother was fine to prevent her panic. Whatever Ma was doing, she was in some degree of control. I felt a mixture of fear and excitement. This power Ma was developing would surely bring disaster upon the hive one day. And yet, when that day came, this same power would have already ensured a glorious age for our family. _________ _________ What in the gosh diggity darn was going on? The same error messages had kept repeating for a decent while until suddenly stopping. In the end, nothing really changed besides Compartmentalization being renamed to the¡¯ B-box System.¡¯ How unfortunate; I loved saying that incredibly long word every time the Lock came up. ¡°Nothing seems to have come of that strange event. Perhaps it was not so consequential?¡± ¡°Absolutely not. That whole thing spoke volumes!¡± Those errors confirmed one thing: Compartmentalization - and, by extension, the derived B-box System - was not supposed to happen. Some entity called ¡®The Bee¡¯ had appeared a few times in System messages of the past, and it didn¡¯t take much sleuthing to figure out that name belonged to some sort of deity. A Beeity. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. Goddamit. Of course a bee god liked puns. Anyways, said bee god was responsible for managing my System and presumably the Systems of other bees. Clearly, this was the same god mentioned in most of our Abilities as the one who granted them. Did every creature have its own god? Including humans? Whatever the case, the bee god had tried to prevent the B-box system from becoming an Ability after it had already started becoming one, so it was reasonable to assume the process to grant Abilities was somewhat automated. What was strange was that the bee god suppressed the Ability and tried to delete the Lock. But it couldn¡¯t? To be honest, none of that mattered in the practical sense. All it said was that the B-box System had incredible potential. Which begged the question. What did our unsophisticated Lock imitation have that regular Locks didn¡¯t? ¡°The way I see it, there is a fundamental limitation to Locks. There is some interaction with the Mind versus the rest of reality that cannot be modified, but I struggle to comprehend how.¡± ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because we don¡¯t understand what Mind actually is? Like, what is Mind versus mental faculties.¡± Queen was probably onto something. The critical difference between Locks and B-boxes was seemingly mental versus real. B-boxes were a way of expanding the lowercase mind, while Locks allowed for expanding real-world influence. Thankfully, I was an expert on such psychological matters. As someone who took a single Psych course in college, I was basically a professional. ¡°Whatever the B-boxes actually do is beyond what we can even begin to understand.¡± ¡°Yup. The great part is, we don¡¯t actually have to understand it to abuse it to high hell.¡± Oh, I wasn¡¯t stopping at the simplistic, rudimentary Kin Link automation. The matter of memories would be next. However, I wanted to improve the Kin Link mechanisms. The B-boxes had created another layer of complexity since the Kin Link was now inside a box. That meant any emotions the bees sent with the intent to speak directly to me got tossed in with the rest, analyzed, then stored. Funnily enough, the result was the same. After all, I still knew what they were saying. It was just¡­ weird. Talking to the bees was weird. That said, my real question was about the Kin Link itself. How did it fit in a freaking box? It was a highly complex magical Lock thingy from this world¡¯s wacko system. My questions took some digging to answer. It was difficult without the visceral sensations of a real Mind world, but eventually, I found something odd. Feeling around the Link with my Mind, I found that the Link was a ball. Well, more like a ball with strings attached. I visualized it as a ball in a box, with string-like extensions going straight out of the box. That wasn¡¯t something I had done myself. The Kin Link simply hadn¡¯t been wholly contained in the box. My ¡®node¡¯ was inside, but in order to continue connecting to the other bees, it bypassed my experiment. Could this be the cause of the whole error debacle? The B-boxes were so unusual that their interactions with the ¡®actual¡¯ systems caused some bizarre reaction that the gods just couldn¡¯t ignore anymore. Maybe this was a hint. The Kin Link was theoretically a mental power, but its actual effects were on things other than our own Minds. I hadn¡¯t yet seen an Ability or Lock that influenced Mind itself. Things like the Kin Link were similar, but slightly different. Compartmentalization was my only attempt to influence my mental processes, which worked just fine. So I was able to control my Mind with a Lock. Which kinda debunked my whole theory? This would require further investigation. I could also have the other bees try to do similar things with their own Minds to get a larger sample size, and finding that human gathering would also likely reveal some answers. For now, I shook it off and focused on memories¡­ Even if they were stored in some strange way, weren¡¯t memories ultimately just information? And the B-boxes seemed to be containing the thoughts of the bees fine enough. Weren¡¯t those just memories in some way? What was the point of storing memories? They were already stored somewhere, after all. Well, I intended to take advantage of the B-boxes¡¯ odd capability to separate focus. Memories were data that had to be retrieved to actually ¡®think¡¯ of them, going from storage to the conscious mind. So what if all my memories were always in my conscious mind¡­? I decided there was no reason to create another box. After all, I already had a constantly growing box that stored information. So, I poured a hefty amount of Mind into the final storage box in the Kin Link mechanism to make it gigantic and was about to push every memory I had into it. Hold on. ¡°Oh, thank goodness. I thought you were actually about to perform this cockamamie experiment without a second thought.¡± ¡°Who, me? Nonono, certainly not.¡± I would never do something thoughtless like that. What would lead you to even imagine such a thing? Since I would obviously never do something rash or foolish, I tried pushing only a chunk of memories into the storage box. So far, so good. ¡°Mother, the worker eggs seem like they will hatch soon.¡± What a strange sensation. Belle¡¯s notification wasn¡¯t really necessary since I already knew she expected the eggs to hatch soon. Still, it was nice to hear her making sure I was aware. ¡°I¡¯ll be right there. Just going to finish this experiment first.¡± When the workers were born, I¡¯d just make a ton of drones and warriors. With my new capabilities, commanding large numbers of bees would be much simpler for me to do myself. I¡¯d still like Bess and the rest to manage their own groups, but it wasn¡¯t as much of a bottleneck as before. First, though, I wanted to get better at using the B-box system. I slowly continued pushing memories into the storage box. Even if the first test had worked fine, I still wanted to make sure not to cause some sort of unintended conseque- ________ Ma¡­ Eggs¡­ I heard the familiar musical tones of Beck call to us. However, Enno was still unresponsive. Curse this fate of mine. Curse that fool¡¯s experimentation! I was left alone to view the hatching of the ten new workers through the Link. As much as I chided him, I was genuinely impressed with what Enno had accomplished. This new Kin Link mechanism was quite the tool; I could use Ben¡¯s extraordinary eyesight to see the new babies or know the results of Beatrice¡¯s constant mental grinding trying to organize the new workers before they were even born. Even so, damn you Enno, you great buffoon! I could do nothing. ¡­But was that truly the case? I had already proven that the¡­ ugh¡­ B-box System was unusual enough that even I could influence it. Could I perhaps use that system to affect the real world? I created a blank box and assigned it the task of moving our body. I had hoped these boxes would allow me to use Mind to influence the world, as Enno could do without trouble. To no avail. The box did nothing. Was it because it was impossible, or because of Enno¡¯s current state? Despite the extraordinary discovery of this fascinating power, I was still separated from the world. Relegated to my own mind. ¡°The eggs are hatching; Belle, are you ready?¡± Beatrice¡¯s calm orders made me crack a smile. She was such a sweet, if sometimes also sour, girl. The rest of the bees were equally lovable. Despite what natural, instinctive discomfort I felt for their individuality, it was not difficult to overcome those feelings with love. And now my family was going to grow once again. Beatrice, Belle, and Beck were in the nursery, carefully watching the ten eggs. The four warrior eggs sat bulging in their cells, still sporting an ugly color of mottled green. Bedivere¡¯s actions were terrifying. What bee would possibly be capable of going against the wishes of its queen, even indirectly? It was simply unnatural. I had initially been disgusted. Those were my precious children Bedivere had changed! He corrupted them. Which is precisely what gave me pause. How was that any different than Bedivere himself? Than the family? Corrupted was the exact word I used to describe what Enno¡¯s influence had done to the eggs we laid. I decided that as Bedivere had not caused actual harm, there was no reason to be upset. I was surprised to see how much Enno cared. Not that I didn¡¯t think he wouldn¡¯t spare a thought for our family; in fact, I knew he cared for them more than he could even admit to himself. However, my fears did come to pass. Enno was again blinded by his past, rage controlling his actions. Punishing the bees was a¡­ strange process for me. It was simply not something one of our kind would consider. The punishment was not what concerned me. It was what came after. The B-box System was the product of my worries. Something about the conflict almost seemed to empower Enno, spurring him to innovate and create. It was such a strange and unintuitive system, yet it worked. It worked so well that it would likely change our entire growth method. As I pondered this strange and concerning series of events, the ten workers emerged from their eggs and began their bizarre process of rapid growth. This could become problematic quickly. The workers could be assigned according to their talents, but Enno was still the most proficient at that sort of decision. Without him, suboptimal assignments might be made. Even worse, without him, we couldn¡¯t continue creating more children! I had to do something. Enno was stuck inside his own Mind, it seemed. I would need to draw upon every ounce of power I could muster to break him out, but I was a bee. Such a thing would not be possible alone. I would need help. And there were only two bees that could help me. (April fools chapter) A Very Serious Chapter A Very Serious Chapter (You know it¡¯s important because there is no pun in the title of the chapter, meaning this chapter is actually important while every previous chapter was actually just an elaborate joke leading up to this actually important chapter) ¡°Man, Queen, this is really odd.¡± ¡°Is it, you bumbling, blundering buffoon? You absolute ape? Incessant¡­¡± ¡°Yup, its super weird. It feels like I haven¡¯t been doing anything for nearly a week.¡± Indeed, things felt odd. Oddly odd enough to be perceived as an odd oddity. For nearly a week I had been doing nothing, which is honestly not too much of a difference compared to my usual activities. Not once in the past seven or so days had I sat around doing not much of anything except asking loaded questions without clear answers or pretending to create a larger hive of bees. ¡°Maybe I should sit in the tree trunk and ask questions that lead nowhere until one of the bees rushes in to shout about something happening, which then interrupts my questions and prevents me from coming to any actual conclusions for the foreseeable future. That might cheer me up!¡± ¡°You doddering oaf! The tree trunk isn¡¯t even a thing anymore! Are you telling me there has been so little in the way of description that you have already forgotten we live in an actual hive now?¡± ¡°Hey your voice sounds funny Queen¡­ I wonder what that¡¯s about¡­¡± ¡°Mother,¡± Beatrice interrupted, ¡°The eighty meter tall ostrich is still standing menacingly outside the hive. What shall we do about it? I hope you haven¡¯t been spending your time with inconsequential introspection again.¡± ¡°Ah, Beatrice, of course not. Something as spooky as a gigantic bird is obviously an enemy so why hasn¡¯t Bedivere killed it yet?¡± ¡°Bedivere is dead.¡± Now that was a shocker. Get it? Shocker? Because of those electric crystals which haven¡¯t been mentioned in a while? All joking aside, this was incredibly devastating and perhaps one of the saddest things I had ever heard, so I decided not to react very much. ¡°And how exactly did that happen? I thought Bedivere was super strong?¡± ¡°Indeed, he was, but he was no match for the sheer devastation of being sad. He was apparently so upset by your decision to be temporarily mad at him for performing dangerous experiments on unborn bees, that he jumped into the ostrich¡¯s mouth. We have not been able to commune with him over the Link at all.¡± That wasn¡¯t good, much like most things that happened to me in this second life. Despite my newfound power of the B-box system, which nobody in this world had been able to do for a reason I would probably not find out for a long time for reasons, I wasn¡¯t able to hear Bedivere through the Link either. It reminded me of Vulch. The Vulch. Man I was a creative namer. ¡°What do we do Momaloradingalingaridogeriidoobalomamaringadingadoo?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry Ben, I¡¯ll think of something.¡± I promised so much. The entire hive, including all the bees I hadn¡¯t named for logistical reasons and totally not because having that many named characters so quickly would be impossible, looked at me with hope filled eyes. I was basically a god for them. I had to do something. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. However, I first had to sit in the hive and do nothing while ¡®formulating a plan.¡¯ ________ Several vague and convenient days passed. Thankfully, that gave me the time to think of a plan without actually talking to myself about it, which saved a lot of time. Now, some might suggest that I should create a huge amount of warrior bees to swarm and easily kill the ostrich. Bees were stronger in numbers, as I had thought sometimes. However, I had a better idea. To not do that, and instead ignore the fact that I could create fully sentient beings in the span of a couple days with little to no effort whatsoever. Indeed, I could instead develop an elaborate and devastating plan with loose logical connective tissue to wear the ostrich down. That way, I could create a more narratively convenient scenario that stood up to mild scrutiny unless inspected with devastating detail. So, I opted for a battle of attrition. The warriors of the hive would quickly zip outside and sting the ostritch, avoiding its previously mentioned sonic shriek attacks and Mind ice magic before quickly returning to the hive. Over time, the venom of the bees would slowly kill the ostrich, and we would suffer no casualties. ¡°I must say Mother, this dubious plan which I blindly endorsed actually turned out wuite well. It is a true miracle that the ostrich has, for whatever reason, not simply destroyed the hive.¡± ¡°Ah, Beatrice, don¡¯t you remember the Food Storage Lock? All I did was use my incredibly convenient psychic powers to make that protect the entire hive.¡± ¡°How brilliant! As expected of you Mother-sama, you truly are some kind of being that is supreme.¡± The best part of this plan was that it was impossible to lose. I could safely ignore the fact that venom coming from a creature the size of the ostrich¡¯s skin cells would hardly ever be capable of downing a creature of that size thanks to Mind magic, and even better, the ostritch would eventually starve. For some unknowable and probably important reason, the ostrich refused to move from its spot. There it stood, unmoving. Which meant it would eventually starve to death anyways. Thankfully we had piles and piles of meat that had been laying around for what, like a month? The simple explanation of salt and slight cooking of some of the forest animals meant that they would nevber spoil, since that was how meat works. Even better, the vulture meat, which had no explanation for how it hadn¡¯t just rotten completely, was still perfectly fresh as well. Since this was clearly a fantasy world of some kind, it obviously meant that in this world, meat didn¡¯t spoil as easily. I was so glad there were so many simple and easy explanations for seemingly impossible phenomena. ¡°Mama, when can I get a pov? Everyone has gotten one; even Beck, and Beck only talks with words when you¡¯re not the one listening for some reason!¡± I felt bad for Bella, but this was just the way thing were. She was the silly gathering bee who liked to cook; who wanted to hear the perspective of that sort of thing? Besides all of this off topic rambling, the ostrich was still out there. Despite our genious military tactics, the thig had still not died. ¡°Nah fuck you guys. I wasn¡¯t even doing anything and you¡¯re like stinging me and shit.¡± Suddenly, I heard a voice in my head. Was this¡­ the ostrich?! My head was reeling. Who could have expected something like this? Not me, no sir. Sure this had happened to me before and I even briefly thought of the consequences before ordering the attacks, but there was nho way I actually thought that would happen! What, was I supposed to like, use my previous experiences and knowledge to inform my decisions going foward? What sort of stupid process would that be?! ¡°Man even this one big dude just ran at me saying stuff like ¡®Have at thee!¡¯ and ¡®I¡¯mma knioght so I¡¯m noble and stuff!¡¯ Then the dude just flew into my damn mouth. What a dick. Anyways, I¡¯m leaving. Later buttheads.¡± No! I wouldn¡¯t¡­ couldn¡¯t let this happen! Bedivere, my brave and valiant knight, was still stuck inside this stupid ostrich¡¯s gullet. I drew I every ounce of concentration I had, pulling on every fiber of my Mind. I thought bck to my friends. My family. My collection of pens. And I released my power in a wave of psychich energy. And also I totally force choked the overgrown chicken. [Tapped Mind: 90 something% / however much is left I don¡¯t feel like looking at the notes right now%] I felt an extraordinary sense of deja vu overcome me as the ostrich paused, then the Rich instantly imploded into blood and feathers, a echo of a final echoing whisper echoing through my head: ¡°Aw sheet that shit hurted¡­¡± The threat was finally gone. All the painstaking steps I had taken, easily resolved with nothing more than some concentration and vomiting. But that wasn¡¯t important right now. ¡°Bedivere!¡± There in the mess of gore, sat a groaning form of Bedivere. The whole hive rushed out to stare at him in awe. ¡°Mother¡­ you saved me. Why?¡± ¡°Mmm. Monkey.¡± ¡°What? Actually, wait, this does not make any sense. Weren¡¯t you trapped in a memory thing or something like that? Actually wait, I technically don¡¯t know about any of that do I.¡± He was right. I had taken the joke too far, and now I was actually a narrator instead of Enno the bee person. Narrating a self-referential chapter about some silly aspects of a self-explanatory story on the first day of a month which for some reason had become associated with jokes, worried that anyone who reads this chapter will begin to actually think about the things I mentioned and begin to be more critical of a story I randomly decided to tell in my free time for no other reason than to do something other than play video games or actually do my programming homework. Bees. Chapter 31 - Beehind the Curtains Bedivere and Beck. My hopes rested on the shoulders of these two bees. But how would I ask for their help? I was trapped here. Not only relegated to a figment of the Mind, but even further than that. The Kin Link was purely a Mind construct, but I could not access it previously. Why? My current goal was to free Enno from the prison of memories it seems he created. I had tepidly experimented with freeing him, but it hadn¡¯t worked so well. Nevertheless, I again attempted to directly dissolve the box he had been pushing his memories into. The box snapped, lashing out and rapping me on my Mind. It was not terribly painful, but it was alarming. The more effort I put into freeing his Mind, the more Enno¡¯s energy rebelled. I was confident I could overpower him, but would that be the best course of action? The man was somewhat weak-minded, as it were. Would I cause permanent damage by interfering with the B-box directly? Thus, I needed Beck. Beck¡¯s talent with Mind potentially surpassed any in the hive, especially when it came to Links. I had begun to theorize that the Link might be the best way to extract Enno. It would, helpfully, give me a chance to dismantle the box simultaneously, allowing a more smooth process. But how would I communicate with Beck? I was cut off from the Link, trapped within myself. This much had been made clear since the beginning. But there was hope. Hope in the form of a gigantic warrior. Bedivere knew of my existence. No other bee, not even Beatrice nor Beck, had known. Why? How? The difference had to be in the amount of Mind used in his creation. But there was no real way for me to contact him in my current state. The only tool at my disposal was the B-box system in a limited form. It was the only mechanic I had been capable of manipulating for some reason. Any other Lock or Ability was closed to me, but not the B-box system. As I pondered on ways to use it to my advantage, I kept some wavering attention on the birth of the ten new workers. They were a lively bunch, already having had the time to grow to full size and show off their own unique personalities. Belle seemed delighted by the new children, with the reason quickly becoming clear: most of them had passions and skillsets that befit her own roles. Three of them were already interested in the wax surrounding them, which told me they were either destined to be wax makers or have some task similarly associated with wax. Yet another of the ten had managed to sneak off to the miscellaneous storage room and had begun playing around with some of the objects inside. Belle seemed particularly excited about that last one. Not only would she have full-time subordinates finally helping her meet her wax-production needs, but now another bee had finally expressed a similar passion for the bizarre human relics. She had once shown an interest in tinkering with the objects, especially the crystals, but simply did not have the time to waste on that interest. Now with her own load lightened and another expressing interest, perhaps she could finally begin to explore other areas of expertise. I had to admit the idea was enticing. I had initially been opposed to Enno¡¯s concepts of freedom and the like, but they have proven to be remarkably effective in boosting productivity. When the bees were allowed to pursue activities they found personal fulfillment in, the entire hive could benefit. Which was always a win in my book. Books. Another odd relic of humanity. Not one I had ever seen, of course. Simply implanted by Enno¡¯s wealth of knowledge. I admit, I sometimes felt perturbed by how much of my actual knowledge came not only from another world and species, but humans specifically. I had not lived a long life myself, and barely knew of my world. I shook those thoughts away. Enno¡¯s knowledge was another tool for me to use, nothing more. His memories and aches affected me not. Besides the four bees that seemed already glued to Belle¡¯s side were other¡­ unique personalities. Two hyperactive, immature children had nearly instantly shot out of the nursery, intent on seeing the forest, until they were stopped by Ben. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I was surprised by his maturity until he proceeded to demonstrate how they could fly and see bigger to truly maximize potential exploration. It felt obvious the trio would be somewhat of a headache. Two other bees, in contrast, had stayed firmly in place within the nursery until they slowly crawled over to Beck¡¯s room, where they said not a word and joined Beck in meditation. Apparently, those two also had a clear calling. The final two were a bit... odd. I had noticed there always seemed to be at least one true oddity in these clutches of eggs. In this case, they were twofold: a bee who had begun crying upon looking out the nursery window and one who had rushed outside and immediately planted its head into the dirt. Even Beatrice did not seem to know what to make of these two. The crying child continued weeping as Beatrice grilled it on what its talents might be, with other bees like Belle trying to coax the weeper into their own jobs. It was only when Bella came back from a gathering mission and offered to tour the child through the forest that the weeping subsided somewhat. As for the final one¡­ Nobody was quite sure what to do with her. Bessie, as Belle had jokingly named her, seemed content to wiggle around in the dirt and do nothing else. The name had come about when Bessie happened to pile some dirt into a hexagonal ring, which Belle humorously compared to the sturdy walls of the hive. Bess was not pleased when she found out. I had certainly not expected Beatrice to congratulate Belle on her observations and place Bessie under the care of Bess as the second true builder. Would such a decision hold? Only Enno could provide an overriding decision. That was actually a sobering thought. Such a situation would ordinarily never arise in a true hive. In this case, Enno had not been able to prepare any other queens as my Egg Laying Ability had been immature, so in a regular hive, our measly swarm would pack up and leave to find another queen to replace the dormant Enno. Of course, that would never be the case here. With Enno out of commission for the time being, a sort of hierarchy inevitably came to light. And what a flimsy hierarchy it was. Beatrice had an inordinate amount of power for a single bee; her authority overrode every other bee, even Bedivere. As the bees unquestioningly followed Enno, so too would they unquestioningly follow Beatrice¡¯s lead. Who would follow? Bedivere? The five original workers? I chalked it up to Enno¡¯s concealed desire to dump his leadership onto Beatrice. Actually, Enno was likely the key to this predicament. I needed to think like him. Hope and dream like him. Perhaps I could come into contact with the outside world. Somehow. _______ Concern, despite my best effort, began to creep into my thoughts. Against Beck¡¯s better judgment, I floated outside Mother¡¯s room, drawn to her still form within. When the pressure had appeared not long ago, an indescribable terror had overcome me. At first, I was unsure what was causing such terror. Of course, I initially believed it to simply be because I sensed Mother was in danger. When I was about to rush to check on her, and Beck chided me, I then believed the terror to be a reaction. A reaction to my own foolhardiness and panic. Was I truly trying to regain Mother¡¯s trust with such a shallow act? But no. Looking into the dark room, I now knew what that terror truly was. Simple fear. A simple notion. I was afraid. What perturbed me, then, was my realization of what my fear entailed. I was afraid of strength. I was the strongest in the hive. I had betrayed Mother¡¯s trust, yes, but I had done so with conviction. With the absolute confidence that my actions would help the hive. I had been impressed with Mother¡¯s strength to make her decision to punish me, and my already firm loyalty strengthened further. But when Mother¡¯s experiments drew in that unfathomable pressure? That was when I truly felt fear. I did not even fear for Mother; my fear was directed at that seemingly infinite power that laid the hive low. The others recovered quickly, bless them. They were shaken by the terrifying event, but even without the direction or influence of Mother, they went right back to work. Even the worker eggs hatched without a care in the world. In fact, Belle had begrudgingly informed me that she expected the four warrior eggs to hatch soon. It was truly a shame that I would not be able to connect with my precious siblings outside of training, but I would accept my fate. However, the concern that had begun to worm itself into my heart and Mind was related to the state of Mother. The others were also beginning to become restless. The newly hatched workers, while energetic and passionate, seemed lost without Mother¡¯s guiding light. What had happened to her? I was sensitive enough with my Mind to know her current state was not, in fact, a result of the terrifying event. The event had ended quite some time before her¡­ disappearance. Beck had made no headway in contacting Mother at all. The reason concern had begun to appear in me only recently, where I had been confident in Mother before, was the pull. Recently, a feeling had begun to creep into my Mind. The faintest of buzzes conveying no meaning or emotion. And Mother was somehow the source. The thought of the buzzing was intoxicating, like a piece of my Mind that had never been there slowly appeared and drifted into place. I hesitated. How could I not? I had to get closer to Mother, to understand this emotionless buzzing, but how? Would my actions again be considered against Mother¡¯s sensibilities? I carefully widened the window, tearing chunks of the walls off Mother¡¯s room. I would personally rebuild the walls if necessary, but I had to approach her. I came face to face with her completely motionless form. What was she conveying? The buzzing was clearer but still without reasonable meaning. It was simply short buzzes interspersed with pauses- Ah. I was military-minded. The knowledge I absorbed from Mother¡¯s vast wealth of information I tailored to fit such necessities, and one had seemed odd and out of place. A form of communication entailing naught but pulses and pauses. What use would something like that be? We were bees with a robust mental communication system. Mother could be odd sometimes. But this¡­ I remembered the feelings I had always experienced since I was born. The sense of something broken, of two things becoming one. Two mothers. I listened to the buzzes, and my eyes widened. ¡°Beck! I think we may be able to recover Mother.¡± Chapter 32 - Beeat of your own drum ¡°Now, Enno, why don¡¯t you try playing with the rest? I see you sitting there, talking to yourself every day during recess; why not try playing with the ball on the field or maybe in the playground?¡± ¡°I wanna, but I wanna play my thing too. I don¡¯t think anyone else wants to play my thing¡­.¡± ¡°You won¡¯t know if you don¡¯t ask!¡± I looked up at my teacher. Was there a point in explaining? Not really. I had already asked people to play with me, and they didn¡¯t want to. My ideas were weird, but everyone else¡¯s ideas were weird too. I didn¡¯t really want to play on the field or anything; I wanted to play my thing. I mean, I got where she was coming from. I bet I looked weird and lonely playing by myself next to the weird door. But I was doing what I wanted to do. If I had to do it alone, then fine. Suddenly, I wasn¡¯t looking up at my teacher anymore. I was sitting at a table across from a tired-looking woman. A familiar woman. My mom. ¡°You can¡¯t quit Enno. You¡¯ve been on the team since you were little. If you quit that, who knows what you¡¯ll quit in the future? I¡¯m fine with you choosing the other option, but you need to do both.¡± ¡°Doing both would eat up too much time. I¡¯d rather take the option where I don¡¯t have to play on a team.¡± I never did like team sports. The dynamic stressed me out too much. Either I got frustrated because my teammates¡¯ poor performance dragged me down, or I fucked up and dragged down my team, or they hogged all the glory, or they pushed me into the spotlight. The other option seemed better to me. An individual sport. I had complete control over my image, my performance, and my results. The only person I could be frustrated with would be myself. My mother didn¡¯t seem to get it. Whatever. She only cared about me living out her unfulfilled dreams of becoming some sports champion. For some reason, I had a vision of my mother, looking even more haggard than usual, screaming at me with a wild look in her eyes. She was waving around a pill bottle. The apparition of her wild form grew solid, and her screaming was visceral. Before I could listen to her accusations any longer, I turned away. Instead of taking the weird door, I left the house, strolling back to the comfort of my apartment. But it wouldn¡¯t last. I was transported to a small office, sitting on a comfy chair and tapping my foot. A man sat across from me, occasionally tapping on a computer. ¡°I¡¯m not saying your work isn¡¯t excellent, Enno. It¡¯s quite good even. But the point of this project - the point of every project I¡¯ve assigned so far - was to improve team-based skills. I don¡¯t know how you got around the group assignments, but I have to insist that you join one of the groups.¡± ¡°I understand, Professor, but please reconsider the grade changes. The only criteria the projects defined for group work was to indicate the proportion of work done by each team member. I don¡¯t think lowering the grade on some other basis is fair.¡± The man sighed, nodding. What was it with teachers and group work? I had learned back in high school that there was ultimately no point. I didn¡¯t even have an issue with communication; some people just didn¡¯t do their work, or their work was just plain bad. The team-based skills the Professor was talking about really weren¡¯t that hard. So I just did the work myself. My grades had been high, and there was no reason to doubt my methods. Even this college course¡¯s projects had been possible for me to do myself and do well, even if they were meant to be completed in groups of six. Was I exhausted? Sure. But the results spoke for themselves. ¡°I agree. It was an empty threat at best. However, I will make those changes in the future if needed. I¡¯ll assign you to a group right now. Please go through the weird door.¡± Another flash of a vision. The end of the semester. My grade had fallen because the group I had been assigned to had turned in subpar work. Add that to the evidence pile, I suppose. Another shift. I was getting pretty tired of all this shifting around; couldn¡¯t this whole situation speed things up a bit? On that note, what exactly was this situation? Before I could think about it anymore, I found myself sitting at a desk. This scene was all too familiar: an office littered with papers, computers, and spare electronic parts. A 3D model on the screen in front of me. A pen spinning in my hand. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. ¡°Yo Enno! Check this out! Kanan can chug three drinks at once!¡± Jess¡¯ voice streamed out of the break room, accompanied by cheering and laughter. Those idiots. Not a shred of consciousness for safety. Sloshing drinks around was bad enough during work hours; with all the clutter around, someone could get hurt or some materials damaged. I sighed. Fridays were always like this. Chaotic and restless. A foreign thought invaded my head. Sadness. Sadness? That wasn¡¯t right. This moment wasn¡¯t one where I felt sad. I was annoyed, exasperated. Tired. But the sadness remained. I found myself standing up and walking over to the break room. I had never done this before. The others had called me over countless times, and I had never bothered to check it out. I was sitting in my chair, spinning my pen. What? I quickly stood up and walked over to the break room, only to find myself sitting in my chair, spinning my pen. What was going on? ¡°What¡¯s happening, Queen?¡± Nothing. Everything felt completely off right now. Okay, maybe panic was warranted. ¡°Yo Enno! Check this out! There¡¯s a weird door!¡± Weird door¡­ weird door? A hazy image of a door appeared, but it was doing its best to escape my attention. I tried to reach for it, but it dissolved in my grasp. Instead, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked to see Kanan staring at me. ¡°You know, Enno, I guess I should thank you for saving our lives. It¡¯s too bad we all died.¡± What? Kanan shook his head, ¡°You weren¡¯t the only one that got shocked by that electrical pole. If you ever spared a thought for a person other than yourself, then maybe you would have realized that.¡± No¡­ this didn¡¯t make any sense. The others had died? How? How could I have known? ¡°You¡¯ve been doing a great job. Pretending to care. I¡¯m amazed you could stand living with someone else talking to you all the time.¡± Another hand fell on my shoulder. I spun to see my childhood teacher shaking her head. ¡°Poor Enno. Forced to cooperate with others.¡± Another hand. It was Mom this time. ¡°It¡¯s truly a miracle. All it took was a life-threatening situation. Even then, you still hesitate, as usual. You claim to understand the benefits of teamwork, yet continue to deny the opportunity.¡± No. I was doing it. I was working with Queen. With the hive. Another hand. Professor. ¡°You deceive yourself, as always. You continue to prove you can do things yourself, so you delay and hold back. Your Mind is so powerful; why rely on others?¡± Enough of this! None of that shit was true. I frantically looked for the weird door, but the hands of my past forcefully pulled on my shoulders, and my memories swallowed me whole. _________ ¡°Any luck?¡± ¡°I have already said that I am trying my best, Miss Beatrice.¡± ¡°Try harder then!¡± I was not entirely sure what was going on. I had been monitoring Bedivere and became enraged when he dared to break into Mother¡¯s room, but I could not deny some degree of relief. I had been growing concerned with the state she was in. Bedivere ended up contacting Beck, so I decided to interject. Bedivere claimed he had an idea of how to help Mother recover. I wasn¡¯t quite sure, but Beck seemed convinced. Interestingly, no matter my or Beck¡¯s prodding, Bedivere refused to divulge how he had obtained his information. I couldn¡¯t accept something like that. ¡°Bedivere, tell me how you devised this method. Immediately.¡± ¡°I have already explained, Beatrice, that it is a matter of confidence between myself and Mot-¡° ¡°Tell me. Now.¡± I was fed up with his insubordination. For the first time, I invoked one of my unique Abilities, [Aide Authority]. I had never actually needed to use this Ability before. The other bees obeyed me unquestioningly, a well-oiled machine powered by loyalty and confidence. However, as time passed and the bees came into their own, their individuality¡­ expanded. We even faced scenarios such as betrayal. My position would not normally even need to exist, but in this unique bee society, my place in the hierarchy was a necessary one. I would ensure that Mother would never need to struggle to command the hive. Individuality would be no excuse for inefficiency. Bedivere visibly struggled. The power of my Mind pressed upon him, making him noticeably uncomfortable. Seeing the gigantic warrior nearly cower before me filled me with¡­ satisfaction. But it wasn¡¯t enough. Bedivere had the second most powerful Mind in the hive, so I poured Mind into the Ability, strengthening it. Eventually, he could no longer resist my authority. He may have had the second most powerful Mind, but I had the second-highest seat of power in the hive. ¡°¡­Very well. In essence, the being we know as Mother is, in truth, two individuals sharing a body. Two Minds forced together.¡± ¡­ ¡­ Wha. ¡°Your doubts are well-founded. We are entirely unsophisticated on matters of Mind, even compared to the denizens of this world. My theory is that Mother has some importance to the gods themselves. It explains the terrifying presence that appeared the other day and the strange circumstances Mother operates under. Have you not found it strange that you are so intelligent and powerful as a species of mediocre strength? Our kind cannot stand against humans or powerful monsters, yet we have defied all odds.¡± Nothing Bedivere was saying made sense. Of course we were so capable; we were the product of Mother¡¯s efforts, after all! She was an immaculate, unknowable being. She displayed minor flaws in order to comfort us, to ensure that our imperfections were within the realm of acceptability. Right? ¡°Say I believe your inane story. Why have we never been able to discern that two Minds were present in Mother?¡± ¡°One of them seems to be weak, or perhaps unstable. One Mind is able to maintain the physical and mental prowess of Mother, while the other provides a base for Mother¡¯s unique capabilities.¡± ¡°Fine. In any case, such a revelation is something I will have to¡­ consider later. For now, I would like to keep to the task at hand. What does the dual Mind idea have to do with Mother¡¯s current state? Or, for that matter, how were you able to learn of a possible solution?¡± Bedivere took a moment and glanced at the silent Beck. We had been communicating in private, but Beck was too lost in their experimental solutions to care regardless. ¡°I believe it is only one Mother, that is to say, one Mind, that is trapped in some sort of state. The trapped Mother is still active but cannot influence the world around her. I am unsure exactly why only I am able to communicate with her, but I assume it has something to do with my egg¡¯s allocated Mind.¡± Did that mean Bedivere had the closest connection to Mother? Simply because she used a significant amount of Mind in his creation? A strange¡­ emotion overcame me. Was¡­ Was that envy? Inconceivable. And yet, the situation seemed incredibly unfair. I was the most loyal bee in the hive, the most invested in the hive¡¯s development. I was the eldest child! I looked at Bedivere in a new light. Prior, he had seemed like the perfect subordinate. Loyal, strong, passionate. I connected with him as a kindred spirit, strong in Mind and devotion. But his betrayal had shaken me. Was I truly such a poor judge of character? Of course I was. Mother herself had expressed as much when I failed to determine the first workers¡¯ potential jobs. Why, even recently, I had failed to discern what Bessie could possibly help with, but Belle had immediately figured out her similarities to Bess. ¡°The second Mother communicated to me that Beck¡¯s capabilities with the Link were likely the best way to resolve the issue. I relayed Mother¡¯s instructions to Beck, and they are likely collaborating in a disconnected manner.¡± ¡°Hmph. Very well. In that case, your services are no longer needed, Bedivere. You may go and fix Mother¡¯s room before she returns.¡± Bedivere looked at me worriedly but made no argument, floating to the other side of the central hive. I turned to Mother¡¯s body. So be it. I would redouble my efforts to please Mother. I would prove that I deserved a deeper connection with my beloved queen, no matter who or what stood in our way. Chapter 33 - Beemonic Sometimes, I might try to pull open a door only for it to be a push door. Those moments are a bit embarrassing in the moment, but they¡¯re pretty funny in hindsight. Same with the reverse; some doors just wanna be pulled. However, it¡¯s certainly possible for that moment to be annoying rather than funny. Like when a door is a pull door, so you pull on it, but then the ghostly memory of your mom slaps your head to distract you while your loud-mouthed coworker magically transforms the door into a sliding door. You know, those sorts of moments. ¡°Can I please leave?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Fuck that! I had no sense of time here in memory land. I instinctively knew this door was my ticket out, but opening it was just impossible. Between the ghostly memories pushing me this way and that and the door constantly shifting to prevent passage, I had been stuck here forever. Reliving random memories, some fresh in my mind and some long ¡®forgotten.¡¯ It was actually surprising to see how many different memories I had apparently retained. I mean, some of these things were related to events from super long ago. Some didn¡¯t even seem familiar. Like, what was up with the one where I got eaten by a robot shark? I had only died once, I was pretty sure. Though, it did feel vaguely familiar. Ah. It was a dream. How the hell did this memory of a dream exist? I never remembered it before, but it was, in fact, here. Other dreams I also had occasionally appeared, adding supernatural, weird twists in between actual events. I suppose those were memories too. But why was remembering them so hard in ¡®real life?¡¯ Although those dreams were often freaky and downright terrifying, they were still more comforting than most of the real memories. ¡°If this is some sort of bullshit lesson, I think I¡¯m good. I get it, work with people and stop being such a loner or something. I need to get back to the real world. Who knows what''s going on with the hive? What if Beatrice erected a shrine around my motionless body and turned the whole thing into a dystopian hellscape?¡± No answer from the memories. Man, this was stupid. Weren¡¯t these my own memories? You¡¯d think I would be able to control them since they¡¯re my own thoughts. But they were so unruly. I had no control over them at all. The door changed again, this time appearing like a safe with a gigantic rotating lock. What a pisser. If only Queen were here with me. If her friendly voice were here to counteract the assholes in my brain, then maybe I¡¯d be able to focus long enough to escape. Hollow metallic thuds rang out. Huh? Moving closer to the safe door, I could just make out some sort of pounding against the door. Was my wish coming true? ¡°Queen? Is that you?¡± The thuds paused for a moment before speeding up. It was her! This door must have been her doing in the first place. Even now, she was saving me. I tried tugging on the safe handle, but it just didn¡¯t budge. The memories didn¡¯t even need to pull me away. ¡°Queen, if you can hear me, wait for a second! I think I have an idea.¡± My complaint was actually the answer to our problem. Queen and I needed each other. I needed her, probably more than she needed me, but we still needed each other. Here, we were separated. But if she could come to my memories¡­ ¡°Can you get in here somehow? Or is this door the only way in and out?¡± The pounding stopped, and this time it didn¡¯t resume. I hoped that meant Queen had heard me and figured something out. ¡°Fool. You think she can help you? You¡¯re the only one who can help you, and that will never work.¡± Maybe that was true at some point, but Queen changed things. She was stronger than me, and we helped each other. ¡°The day will come when she cannot save you. You know that, right?¡± Before I could retort, the world exploded with buzzing. A gold and black light bathed the shifty world of memory in light and shadow. ¡°Enno! Where is the Backdoor? We must leave here!¡± ¡°Queen! It¡¯s over here!¡± She¡¯d done it! I hugged the¡­ er¡­ light as the buzzing filled my head. ¡°Ha! Fuck you, dicks. I¡¯m out!¡± With Queen¡¯s power, the memories stood no chance. I could control them now, somehow, and I turned my attention to the safe. Focusing on it, the metallic doors blasted open, and I flew through them. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. As I got sucked out of my memories, I heard Kanan, my mom, and the rest bickering. ¡°He¡¯ll get rid of her himself. That¡¯s one of his goals anyways.¡± ¡°Whatever. Either way, he¡¯s nothing without her.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll remind him. We always do.¡± _________ ¡°Fuckyoumomyouhippobitch!¡± Beck, Becky, and Beckham toppled over, eyes wide, while Beatrice yelped and reflexively flexed her Mind. Wait, who? Ah, I guess the new workers had hatched. It was strange to know their names and everything they had done. ¡°Mother!¡± The four workers clamored around me, fussing. ¡°I¡¯m fine, guys. I¡¯m fine. It''s nice to meet you two.¡± The two youngest bees present seemed to remember themselves and bashfully backed off, letting Beatrice buzz around me like a maniac. ¡°Oh, Mother, I was so worried! What dastardly enemy could have prompted you to enter such a vulnerable state? Why, perhaps I myself should give them a piece of my Mind¡­.¡± Er. I didn¡¯t realize how embarrassing it would be to reveal I had accidentally trapped myself with my memories and had spent this whole time being made fun of by myself. So, Beck had been the one to help me get free? Beck had created a back door they creatively coined ''The Backdoor,'' which would allow me to escape in theory, but I hadn''t been able to do so until Queen helped me. Something to do with my lack of control, it seemed. ¡°I can¡¯t thank you enough, Queen. You saved me again.¡± She responded with a tired buzz. It seems she had taken a huge risk. For some reason, she hadn¡¯t been able to extract me from my memory B-box herself, but she had been able to enter it by making a memory B-box of her own, connecting it to mine, and putting her own memories in it. Thank fuck for Beck¡¯s talent with Links. If a bee with skill in that sort of thing had never been born or had just recently been born like Becky and Beckham, then I might¡¯ve been screwed. Actually¡­ Ah. I had been wondering how Queen managed to communicate our plight to Beck, but it seems like she took advantage of some of the stranger aspects of her existence. Bedivere¡­ I suppose I¡¯d have to thank him. It could probably wait. The new warriors were hatching, after all. Wait. ¡°Oh crap! I¡¯ve been gone for way too long! I¡¯m going to the nursery. Beatrice, get to work helping Bess; she¡¯s still struggling with the drones for some reason. I can get the gist of the situation through the Link. With that, I left the group behind to speed toward the nursery. I felt a vague sense of confusion from them, my long silence suddenly interrupted by the exclamation catching them off guard. Oh well. They got the idea. I wasn¡¯t usually this frantic when it came to new hatchlings. Well, not anymore. It felt weird not being present for a clutch¡¯s hatching for the first time with the most recent workers, but these four warriors were a bit¡­special. Namely, they had been modified by Bedivere¡¯s weird Ability. These four would be the most unpredictable bunch; who knew what they would have in store? I had to be there just in case. The nursery was packed. Belle was there as usual, along with a small crowd of young workers. So these were Belle¡¯s new underlings, huh? The only one not present was the sort of googly-eyed one who was, I knew, fiddling around with the electric crystals in the miscellaneous storage room. It warmed my heart to see Belle¡¯s minions running around, making wax or fussing over the warrior eggs. She had been doing a huge amount of work all by herself until now, so seeing her have dedicated help was nice. Some of the young workers noticed me and stared, garnering a growl from Belle, who fell silent once she saw me. I returned her smile, but the calm didn¡¯t last long. ¡°Stop standing around! Those four eggs are highly unstable!¡± Belle resumed her shouting, and the three workers frantically got back to their duties as Belle turned to the eggs. ¡°Sorry, Mother. We were surprised to see you recovered. I¡¯m glad. In fact, your timing is impeccable; these four eggs are-¡° Even as she spoke, the four eggs exploded in unison, spraying greenish goop all over the place. ¡°GRAHAHAHA! I SMELL TERRIBLE!¡± One of the green blobs laughed as it shook around, tossing goop onto the three other blobs that had popped out of the eggs nearby. As the gunk dripped away, I was entirely surprised to see that these bees were weird as hell. Well, not that surprised. Honestly, I was more amazed by the fact that they had popped out of the eggs fully grown. That Ability of Bedivere¡¯s was terrifying! Of course, their appearances were no less odd. The loud one that had laughed was the smallest of the four by far, With darkly shaded wings and a skinny frame. She (for she was definitely a she) had long antennae that ended in pointed tips and a short but wickedly sharp stinger perfect for stabbing. The little bee claws on her ¡®hands¡¯ were unusually hard compared to most of the bees I had seen so far, and something in her eyes seemed¡­ sinister. Oh, and there was the fact that she colored only in pitch black and crimson red. No yellow in sight. In short, this little warrior girl seemed more like a demon than a bee. The other three weren¡¯t much better. ¡°I must concur. Your stench is detestable.¡± Another of the warriors spoke up. That one¡­ the only word I could find was that she had a dump truck. Completely serious. Her head and thorax were only slightly larger than the small warrior, but her abdomen was gigantic. Bulbous even. Compared to the small warrior, this bulbous bee immediately lay down on the floor in what could only be called a regal pose. Her color scheme was thankfully more normal, though her stripes were¡­ wavy. A shadow passed over the room. A glance revealed that the third of the four newborn warriors had begun growing, despite seeming to be at full size already. I hurriedly tore open the wall and nudged this one outside ''cause her growth wasn¡¯t stopping any time soon. I could only stare up in awe; this one was bigger than freaking Bedivere! And Bedivere was a veritable giant! ¡°HA! Big lug. Apologize to Mom for makin¡¯ her break the hive!¡± It was comical, seeing the gigantic warrior timidly cover their face in embarrassment as the comparatively tiny warrior shouted in her face. ¡°¡­Sor¡­ry¡­¡± Her voice was squeaky and quiet, everything about her seeming to contradict her titanic stature. Of the three warriors that had managed to shake off the green goo, she had the smallest stinger. How was her stinger smaller than the small warrior¡¯s? It was tiny! Despite that apparent weakness, she was by no means lacking in warrior-type features. Just from looking at her exoskeleton, it seemed more like black steel than anything else. Even her hair seemed sturdier than normal. But man, her size was really the defining feature. She might¡¯ve even been bigger than the vultures! Who were 5-meter-tall giants the size of trees! I never expected a bee to rival Bedivere in sheer size, but here we were. But what about the last one? Right on cue, the fourth and final of the modified warriors hovered out of the nursery, kindly eyes twinkling along with a dashing smile. ¡°I apologize for the antics of my siblings, Mom. I¡¯m sure their rowdiness will subside once they get some energy out.¡± Apparently, this was the only dude of the four warriors, and he seemed to retain a bit more of Bedivere¡¯s knightly personality if a bit more on the princely, charming side of things. He was twice the size of the small warrior, with the only unique features really being a tuft of yellow fur on top of his head and his black coloring being more on the gray side of things. ¡°Ho! Great idea!¡± Then the small warrior punched the charming boy in the face. A boom resounded as the charming boy was launched into the depths of the forest, and the small warrior laughed her ass off. Oh. Before I could even comment on the insanity, the gigantic warrior smashed their leg on top of the small warrior, crushing her into the ground. ¡°Th... That was¡­ mean!¡± ¡°Ho! GRAHA! BWAHAHA!¡± The small warrior¡¯s manic laughter could still be heard from beneath the gigantic foot as a furious charming warrior boy angrily stormed back to the clearing. ¡°Get off her! I¡¯m going the beat the shit out of her for that!¡± Well, he wasn¡¯t acting so cool now. His formerly gentle face had twisted into an ugly, menacing snarl, and to my surprise, he didn¡¯t have a scratch on him. I think his pride had been hurt more than anything. ¡°Enough. I¡¯ll deal with her. If you please?¡± As usual, my word was law. The boy went right back to smiling cheerfully, though he did seem a bit more creepy than before, and the giant girl lifted her foot off the crazy one. What the heck was up with these four weirdos?! At least the crazy girl had enough sense to look embarrassed when I gave her the stink eye. I turned back to the boy, ¡°Are you alright, um¡­?¡± Their names immediately came to mind. Bedivere had already come up with a host of options for them, after all, and it was easy to match name choices to certain features. Wait. Oh god. Bedivere! What the hell were these names you thought up?! You knew these four would turn out messed up, didn¡¯t you?! Yup, it was official. I should have known when I saw the four of them. Like the small warrior, the other three had long, thick, sharp antennae crowning their heads. Though their shapes varied between the three, they gave the distinct feeling of a certain feature. Horns. These four monsters were named after some serious problems. The boy was Belial. The huge chick was called Behemoth. The bulbous girl would be named Belphegora. And the crazy one was none other than Beelzebub. Of fucking course. Bedivere had turned the warriors into a team of insane demons. Beemons. Goddamit. Chapter 34 - Ride of the Valkybees ¡°Belial, Behemoth, Belphegora, and Beelzebub. Please have mercy.¡± ¡°Whadda ya mean, Mom? We¡¯re your bodyguards! You don¡¯t have to beg for our mercy.¡± ¡°Ah, Beelzebub. Yes. I do.¡± I felt sorry for this world. I was already on the path to being some sort of Demon King (or Queen), but this was taking things to a whole ¡®nother level. The cliche personal knights named after some of the most famous and terrible demons from my world. Maybe I had misnamed Bedivere; instead of the round table full of noble knights, like his name might imply, he was going to be in charge of demon bees. ¡°If you lot are going to be this rowdy, can you do it away from the hive¡¯s center?¡± Belle had a point. Even if there weren¡¯t eggs in the nursery anymore, there was plenty going on that would be disturbed by these wackos. Speaking of¡­ ¡°I¡¯ll take them to a clearing away from here. Just to let you know, Belle, I¡¯ll probably be making more eggs later tonight after I get some food in me.¡± ¡°Ooh,¡± her eyes lit up, ¡°Why not do so right away? Expanding the hive is always a treat.¡± She took a pointed look towards the again-bickering warriors, ¡°Yes. Always.¡± ¡°Not yet. I¡¯m somewhat tired from my¡­ ordeal. Later.¡± I gathered up the warriors and left the hive behind. Ahhhh, the sun. Dim though it was through the clouds, it was pretty nice to feel the heat and breeze of the great outdoors. What, like, a couple weeks had passed? And yet the surroundings seemed mostly the same. The only place that was starting to see some revival was near the banks of the river. If only that were enough. The ashy water of the river was exactly what the forest needed, but it just wasn¡¯t enough. Or spread around enough. I knew the desperation life had for water well enough. ¡°Maybe we could help things along¡­.¡± Bees were, like, nature superheroes, right? Pollination and such things. No pollen made that particular job of ours hard, but maybe there were other ways we could help the environment. We weren¡¯t ordinary bees, after all. If the rain wouldn¡¯t return, maybe we could be the ones to spread some water around. ¡°That¡¯s it! I¡¯m gonna fuck you up, Beel!¡± ¡°HA! Try it, bitch!¡± Loud thuds and chuckling and whimpers echoed behind me. These four would be a serious handful. And they were supposed to be like my personal bodyguards led by Bedivere? When Belial¡¯s insecticide eyes started to duplicate themselves and Beelzebub¡¯s antennae began to dimly glow, I decided I would rather not destroy the forest I was currently planning on saving. ¡°Can you give it a rest? Wait until there¡¯s a wide open space to beat the hell out of each other.¡± Beelzebub¡¯s gigantic smile was perfectly contrasted by Belial¡¯s grimace, and Belphegora¡¯s chuckles turned into full-blown laughs. I¡¯d have to figure out some way to keep these four busy in a way that lets them blow off steam. Maybe forcing Bedivere not to interact with them was a mistake¡­ Speaking of, Bedivere seemed to be taking his punishment to heart. As far as I could tell, he was heading to the exact opposite side of the hive from where we were. How exaggerated. Well, I had stipulated that he could only interact with these four during training. And training with Bedivere would surely be a great way for them to get tuckered out. I¡¯d just have Bedivere train with them all the time. It was a bit of a loophole in my own rule, but it did solve some issues. Was my reaction¡­ was it exaggerated? Maybe. I wouldn¡¯t overturn my original decision yet, but after my little memory dive, everything felt even less clear than before. Oh, joy. Maybe I could be even less confident in my decision-making. Once we reached a decent clearing in the forest of broken trees, I gave the four warriors the okay to cut loose. Almost immediately, of course, Belial started beating down on Beelzebub. Unfortunately, the de-facto leader of the squad was apparently some sort of monster because the noble boy¡¯s attacks didn¡¯t seem to leave as much as a scratch. Behemoth, to her credit, was trying her best to separate the two, and Belphegora¡­ fell asleep. The three active warriors were a sight to behold. Hm. I wonder what their gimmicks might be? They were all quite powerful, but the amount of Mind allocated to their eggs, along with Bedivere¡¯s Ability, implied to me that they would have some sort of unique capabilities. Other warriors didn¡¯t seem to have the strange features they did, Bedivere being an exception. Even in his case, Bedivere was basically a normal warrior with a big stinger. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. These four, though? Belial was tough, but his physical strength seemed lacking. For all intents and purposes, he seemed quite normal. Well, besides the fact that eyes occasionally opened up on his head. Behemoth wasn¡¯t showcasing anything unusual besides her size, strength, and durability. Beelzebub was definitely on the freaky side of things. She was strong, fast, durable, and scarily calculating. Even as I watched them fight, the analysis of Belial¡¯s movements was secondary information coming through her Link. Instead, she was calmly trying to figure out what she could do to utterly decimate the guy and dishearten Behemoth at the same time. Freaky. Well, they had just been born. I was sure they¡¯d begin coming into their own with Bedivere¡¯s guidance. Now. Although I felt tired and sad, I needed to make up for lost time. Days away from the hive, but from what I was gathering from the Kin Link, nothing monumental had happened. Well, there was one strange thing. Independence. Without their queen, the hive seemed to have been a bit lost. Or they should have been if nature were in charge. In this case, nature¡¯s authority was basically dirt in the face of Beatrice¡¯s ceaseless quest for efficiency. She had taken my policies to heart and allowed each bee to flaunt its unique strengths to bolster the hive, but bees didn¡¯t work like that. In short, they had taken the idea a bit seriously. To the degree that stark factions had begun to sprout up. Hm. The structure in the hive currently revolved around budding factions, led by the original workers and made up of few members. Calling the groups¡¯ factions¡¯ was a bit generous, but from my perspective, that was exactly the path things were heading down. Bess controlled the largest group in the hive, but only one of her underlings could act independently. Belle, in the meanwhile, controlled a small but powerful group consisting of intelligent, talented, and varied members. And that was just those two. Admittedly, those two groups were the most divided considering the relationship issues between Bess and Belle, but still. The sparks were there. To some degree, I was okay with a sort of faction system, but it rubbed me the wrong way. Thankfully, these ¡®factions¡¯ were mostly in my own head; the bees still worked closely together and naturally intertwined their tasks without much effort. The concern I had was about scale. If I greatly expanded the hive, would these factions begin to actually form? The possibility was certainly there. Were my methods flawed? Too human? Most likely. I didn¡¯t know anything about being a bee. I should let Queen take over decision-making sometimes. Well, what about outside the hive? Beatrice¡¯s map was¡­ really nice? I remembered the simple yet effective mental map Beatrice had flaunted before, but this new version had opted for more detail and visual flair. It was by no means an artistic masterpiece, but it was interesting that Beatrice had begun to put so much care and effort into this map. Sorting through her thoughts, I found that the map¡¯s updated appearance wasn¡¯t even due to some efficiency thing. Huh. In fact, she seemed almost¡­ ashamed about the amount of time she was spending on this thing. I see. The map had become her passion. An escape. She was so dedicated to her work, but fiddling with the map¡¯s appearance was a creative release for her. Something that she could do¡­imperfectly. Aw. Cute! The map itself had grown quite a bit. Ben had slowed down somewhat recently as he guided and taught his new partners, but no matter. What did matter was the blandness. Apparently I had crash-landed in the single most boring obliterated forest in existence because there wasn¡¯t a single new thing Ben had discovered. No settlements, no new lifeforms, no new natural formations. Not a shred of evidence of humans or mossy creatures or whatever. In fact, the further Ben traveled, the more boring the surroundings became. With one exception. According to the handy-dandy little compass Beatrice had newly included, I could observe that an interesting pattern was emerging, especially towards the west. The further west the map went, the more highly concentrated the evidence of the human raiders became. More spikes, more ditches, more giant crystals. The relics seemed to stretch out almost in a cone, becoming less densely packed together the further east we observed. The implication was clear: the path of destruction could lead us to the human settlement in the west. The raiders had barely veered on their warpath, so now I had a direction to aim for. It was reasonable to assume the humans had come through the forest directly from the human settlement, either from stopping there or something. Now I just needed to figure out a way to go to the human settlement without endangering myself or leaving the hive behind. ¡°Mom! Where¡¯s Bedivere? I wanna crush him in an arm wrestle!¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay, Behemoth. You don¡¯t need to arm-wrestle with mean little Beelzebub for my sake.¡± ¡°But¡­ but¡­ Belial¡­ your arm¡­! Waaaaah...¡± Scratch that. My health was already in constant danger. __________ ¡°Get away from me, beast.¡± ¡°Ha! I like you, Beryl! Arm wrestle me.¡± ¡°I recommend you refuse, Beryl. She is freakishly strong.¡± ¡°Flattery gets you nothing, Belial!¡± For the first time in forever, I was having a nice family dinner. Though it was more chaotic than they had once been. Man, I had been gone for a while. Beryl¡¯s solitary meal punishment had already ended, so the only face missing was Bedivere. Per the wording of the punishments, he was theoretically allowed back, but he was voluntarily forgoing the privilege. Probably to avoid facing the new warriors. ¡°Fine. How about you?¡± Beelzebub had been spending the evening under the not-so-starry skies challenging every bee in the hive to an arm wrestle, but nobody could really match her besides Behemoth. She and the four warriors were pretty popular with most of the warrior bees as fellow meatheads (or that was my interpretation). Beryl, in contrast, had a stony expression every time one of the four warriors crossed her vision. Was she upset that she had been punished for their sake? Oh, wait. She was jealous. Yup. No secret was safe from me anymore, and clear as day, I could feel Beryl¡¯s intense envy towards the four warriors. Man, she was in a bad way. Everything about the four warriors just pissed her off. They were basically Bedivere¡¯s favorites, even though they had never met, and they were strong. Like, really really strong. Pretty silly. Beryl hadn¡¯t been alive that long compared to these four, but she was already jealous of the younger bees¡¯ strength. Imagine how the workers felt? What about Beatrice as the oldest? ¡°Yo Beelzebub,¡± the bee who loved flexing shouted at her, ¡°What are you guys called? Like your little bodyguard group?¡± Hey, great question, flex guy! I was getting tired of calling them ¡®the four warriors¡¯ and stuff like that. I gave the question a bit of thought. What could I call the group? Looking at their horns and thinking about their demonic namesakes, I was nervous. I didn¡¯t want to be some devil bee, dammit. Maybe I could call them something noble or nice-sounding. ¡°I¡¯ll tell ya what we are. We¡¯re¡­ the Hell Hornet Order! No wait. The Demon Drones! Evil Legion? The Evil Bee Devil Inferno Legion Order of Doom. Yup, that last one is perfect!¡± ¡°Beelzebub, you¡¯re off the naming committee forever. A noble, legendary order of warriors? How about the Valkybees?¡± She stared at me before breaking into her signature wild smile. ¡°OH! I get it! Like Valkyries. But bees! It¡¯s ironic because we¡¯re horrible and terrible, so we can mislead our enemies with a noble name. Before we skewer them!¡± ¡°We have to skewer people¡­? But¡­ my stinger is small¡­.¡± Of course. Of. Course. Why did my absolutely incredible name have to be corrupted in this way? Maybe it was ironic, but the wordplay was so good. It was a great¡­ pun. Shit. Hell to that. I stuffed my face to take my mind off the degeneration my brain was continuously undergoing. Maybe this was actually a symptom of becoming a parent, like some sort of weird natural phenomenon. Well, it was too late to go back. The hive must grow, so more bees had to be born. Luckily, the B-box System opened up a world of possibilities. I bet I could play around with it while making eggs at the same time. After dinner, I¡¯d discuss things with Beatrice. Making an emergency plan would be necessary. Didn¡¯t want to get stuck in my own head again. Chapter 35 – Beemergency Procedures ¡°And so, if I don¡¯t check in with you every ten minutes, you know to get Beck to activate the Backdoor.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± After everyone else finished their dinner, I continued eating to get ready to lay more eggs. Beatrice stayed behind, and I instructed her on emergency procedures. After all, I was nowhere near finished experimenting with B-boxes or even with my memories. Granted, I absolutely didn¡¯t want to dive back into that hellhole unnecessarily. But that didn¡¯t take away the fact that being able to constantly access my memories in an instant would be an awesome power. I had to assume that working with my memories in any way from now had the potential to trap me there again, hence the emergency procedures I was setting up with Beatrice. ¡°Now that that¡¯s all settled let¡¯s talk eggs.¡± ¡°Understood. For a broad overview, I have actually found there to be several issues with the hive¡¯s expansion. I have given the matter much thought while¡­ helping Bess improve her leadership capabilities.¡± ¡°Honestly, there are too many issues to resolve in the immediate future. For one, there is an imbalance in numbers even still. There are simply too many construction drones compared to the amount of wax being produced. For now, that problem is alleviated by the inefficiency of Bess¡¯ command, but as she improves, we will have many idle construction drones.¡± ¡°Even if that¡¯s true, I can¡¯t make wax drones yet. I guess I could just make Simple Workers who could use the rotation system¡­.¡± ¡°That is precisely the problem. The matter with the construction and wax work is indicative of a larger issue, which is an imbalance of broad and highly specialized labor. As we grow, we will require more helping hands, similar to the construction workers. And yet, the only specialized workers we can create are construction and gathering drones.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not all. Food will become an issue for the higher class individuals such as yourself.¡± ¡°Excuse me? What the hell is that supposed to mean?¡± She cocked her head in confusion, ¡°Hm? I simply mean that bees such as yourself or those with refined tastes, such as Bella, will be struggling in the near future. After all, so much time has passed. Whatever drying or aging or salting processes have long since been diminishing in usefulness for some time now.¡± Fuck. The food had tasted ridiculously salty today¡­ Belle must¡¯ve been trying to mask the rotting taste, for my sake. ¡°We¡¯ve gotta find a new food source then! It¡¯s not ideal, but maybe¡­.¡± Bella had long since been experimenting with cooking, though without much success. If more bees were on the job, maybe we could figure out an easy way to make fire. Should be pretty easy with Mind. And if we were going to cook, we needed food to cook. And what source of meat happened to be abundant in the forest? ¡°You want to eat¡­ those? Those repugnant squirrels?¡± ¡°Not just that. We need the food source to be abundant. Replenishable.¡± Beatrice sported a look of disgust. Who could blame her? The idea was seriously nasty, but it was better than eating rotten meat, in my opinion. ¡°...Farming? I¡­ do not think we have the manpower or resources to support such an endeavor. If we were to do so, it would only work for a very small number¡­.¡± Her face took on a thoughtful look, ¡°Though I suppose only a few bees care¡­.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not perfectly efficient, but I would really really really really like to not eat rotten meat if I can help it.¡± ¡°Even so. I will try to think of a way to please you, Mother, but it will simply not be possible in my estimation. The amount of resources and labor required¡­ not to mention you yourself eat more than several bees combined, by a wide margin. Though only yourself, Bella, and maybe a couple other bees would partake, the volume of food you need to consume to expand the hive in a reasonable manner would simply be impossible to cultivate as we are.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡­ I hate other worlds. Why, if I were back on Earth, I could use this inordinate amount of power and social status to have the highest quality squirrels served to me on a daily basis! ¡°Then we need to revive this forest as soon as possible. Edible plants, more animals. Ideally, even flowers. That¡¯s the only way we¡¯ll be able to handle the food issues.¡± ¡°That is part of the problem, Mother. Though our current workforce covers our basic tasks and some extras, there is plenty more that needs to be done. Revival of the forest with your water-transport suggestion is one such task that our workers are not numerous enough for yet. And this is where my primary concern comes in: How much longer can we keep up this system of desired work? I will say that allowing each bee to follow their personality to whatever task they feel inclined towards is inspired, but what happens when there are jobs that need to be done that nobody gravitates towards? Using the forest revival example, say you birth a hundred new Simple Workers and they all move towards a job but not towards the revival of the forest. What then? Do we pull the bees away, forcing them to do tasks they are not suited for?¡± ¡°In that case, what do you suggest?¡± ¡°For one thing, we need to expand our repertoire of specialized drones. Acquire wax-making drones and so on so we never need to concern ourselves with basic tasks being undermanned. Additionally, begin creating specific tasks that need to be done, regardless of desire. I fear that Simple Workers cannot continue doing only what suits them most. Our proposed scale simply does not allow it.¡± ¡°Hold on. Expanding the repertoire? So you want me to upgrade my Egg Laying Ability?¡± A crisp nod confirmed it. Well, it was a reasonable request. Unfortunately, I wasn¡¯t sold on how to evolve the Ability in the first place. Were there some conditions that had to be fulfilled? Did it upgrade after I hatched a certain number of eggs? The first upgrade hadn¡¯t revealed much, but it did seem to be somewhat flexible. It was likely that as long as I kept hatching eggs that were a balance of quantity and quality, then the Ability would progress. Although¡­ ¡°All of these thoughts are important, but in that case, I¡¯d say that for now, we should focus mainly on upgrading the Ability. So, how about this. Tell me some ideas for numbers. How many Simple Workers would be good? How many Gathering Drones? I¡¯ll lay rapid-fire until the Ability levels up, then immediately make eggs of the new types I get.¡± ¡°Very well. Considering the options¡­ I would say we absolutely need more gathering drones. In preparation for the possibility of squirrel farming, we would need a huge volume of feed for the livestock as well, and only the rotting corpses gathered by the gatherers fit the bill. As much as I would like to, Bess is creating a devastating constraint on the number of construction drones. Unless you or I begin taking over for extra construction drones, creating more would not work for now.¡± ¡°Which leaves Simple Warriors and Workers. Especially with the birth of the Valkybees, military power is not a concern at the moment. Regardless, expanding our military forces is never a bad idea. Tentatively I would advise doubling the number of Simple Warriors by birthing 16 more, but I would caution that the warriors may end up consuming all of our food supplies. Simple Workers are always a good resource, and we never know when one with relevant and unique talents may sprout up. I would posit birthing as many Simple Workers as possible.¡± ¡°Give me a general order of importance. I don¡¯t want to go too overboard with hatching before the level-up.¡± ¡°In that case, I would form an order of Gathering Drones, Simple Workers, Simple Warriors, and Construction Drones. There are some stipulations, though, such as not birthing too many Gathering Drones as to become idle and being cautious with the number of warriors.¡± We continued planning for a while, but from there, I was mostly ready. Finally, after so long, I continued my sacred duty of being an egg-laying machine, puking up Drone after Drone after Drone, with the occasional Worker or Warrior thrown in for good measure. And as I puked, I thought. At any moment, our newfound stability could crumble under the weight of starvation or the like. I¡¯d have to get started on the forest revitalization project as soon as possible, but to do so, I wanted to be better. Stronger. Who knew what sorts of danger would approach if the forest started coming back to life? Hell, what if the humans that had burned it down in the first place got upset that we had undone all their hard work? Fiddling with the B-box System turned things around. Best leave the memory stuff until after I was doing a less important job, so what else could I do with the thing? Well, maybe I could do math with a B-box. Keeping track of the different numbers of bees doing each type of work was getting annoying, and I wouldn¡¯t have time to constantly be fiddling with the Mind percentages. I formed a blank box and gave it the simple task of counting. How many trees were in this particular area? 24. Ooh! What a useful tool, if a simple one. Counting was a basic function and not one that took a long time. But doing it with this B-box was like typing the question into a calculator and getting an exact answer. Except that calculator was my brain. And speaking of¡­ I adjusted the box to do simple arithmetic. Then algebra. Then I just poured in every mathematic process I knew about. Now it was like having a smartphone all over again! Even if that phone was actually just me doing the thinking, the conscious separation made it feel like no effort was needed whatsoever. Best of all, it was completely automatic! All I had to do was think, ¡®hm, I wonder what 1701 divided by 9789 is?¡¯ and bam! Brainpower of mine that was now completely dedicated to the task spat out 0.1737664725 blah blah blah. This was taking mental math to a whole new level! Were the possibilities endless? Any task I was capable of doing with my thoughts could theoretically be automated. I thought back to earlier in the day. In the clearing with the Valkybees, I had noticed Beelzebub analyzing Belial¡¯s movements almost instinctively. Maybe I could do something like that? Like how chess players could calculate several moves in advance, but for everything going on around me, or something along those lines. In theory, all I would have to do is analyze the possible outcomes of an action, like in chess. The problem with doing that in real time is that calculating all of those possibilities would take way too long and interfere with actual planning and decision-making. In a strategy game, that might work, but not in real life, where there was no limit to possible actions. But with B-boxes¡­ I was on a roll now! Honestly, as long as I had Mind to spare, I could just try a bunch of different B-box ideas and see what sticks. I¡¯d cap myself at spending no more than 40% on B-boxes for the time being. Actually¡­ On that note, let''s recurse. Why not have a B-box dedicated to generating ideas for B-boxes? That way, I could focus on implementing and experimenting with them instead of wasting time trying to think of more ideas. And with that, I continued designing terrifying, useful, and terribly convenient mental powers. While vomiting bee eggs, of course. Tomorrow I would use my incredible psychic abilities for even more impressive feats. Like sprinkling water all over the place. Chapter 36 - Beeg Brother [Create Egg: 20 Simple Worker - 60% 14 Simple Warrior - 7% 15 Gathering Drone - 8.7495% ] After popping out a 14th warrior, I finally got the notification of Egg Laying leveling up. Beatrice seemed a bit tired, and I hadn¡¯t given myself a break since coming back from memory land, so I decided to leave the new unit selection for the morning. ¡°A good decision. These options are truly something else.¡± Queen had smoothly recovered with the night¡¯s rest and seemed brighter than ever. As for what she was talking about? [{Egg Creation} Level up! -> Lv. 3 Qualibee AND Quantibee. The Bee has recognized your efforts. Choose two Subtypes to unlock: Subtype choices: Special Subtypes unlocked: ERROR: The Bee has restricted unlocked Subtypes ] Gee, thanks, mighty Bee. Not only was this prompt particularly punny, but it was also full of strange choices. Not to mention the restricted Subtype. ¡°What the hell is a Vultuous?¡± ¡°As if I would know. Though the name is connected in some way with Vultures, it would seem.¡± ¡°Well, it¡¯s restricted anyways. Even ignoring that little nugget, why can I only choose two subtypes again? How can the big bad Bee give me so many options and then restrict me? Lame.¡± ¡°Regardless, shall we consult Beatrice? Though perhaps you could be a bit more selfish this time.¡± Easier said than done. It was hard to argue with Beatrice¡¯s cold hard facts. The interesting-sounding Force Warrior was available again, but we were still in a stage of necessity. Wax Drones basically already took up one of the mere two available choices, and there were so many interesting options for that final choice. Force Warrior, Linker Bee. Hell, Memory Eater sounded sick. ¡°Yo Beatrice. Take a look at these Subtype options. Let me know your thoughts,¡± I shot toward my aide. If my imaginary clock was right, it was some time past noon, so Beatrice had likely been up for a while. Ah, the joys of royalty. I could sleep as long as I wanted, even if it was totally unnecessary! Though, today I had woken up later than usual if my estimation was correct¡­ Hey, on that note. I quickly created a B-box and tasked it with keeping track of time. I left it some flexibility, but as far as I was concerned, it could painstakingly count every second to stay in tune. I mean, that was technically something anyone could do, but who in their right mind would count every second of every day just to stay in touch with time? A computer, maybe. Anyways, what to do today? Ooh, I¡¯d go check in on the Valkybees. The shiny new toys of mine were training with Bedivere, just as I wanted, and as I blearily floated out of the hive, I realized something baffling. I hadn¡¯t seen a really actually truly insane fantasy fight yet. Sure, I had seen Bedivere slaughter huge masses of vultures, and I myself had used my psychic powers to do some¡­ er¡­ mass murdering, but I hadn¡¯t seen a real fight. Seeing the physically overpowered Bedivere have an actual bout with creatures that compete with him would be like something straight out of an anime or hyper-budget superhero movie. Seeing that in real life was like a dream come true! I found the five monster bees in a clearing, and it was everything I could have hoped for. Four demonic bees surrounded a shining knight of a bee in a tense balance. The arguing and manic laughter of the day before were nowhere to be found. Even the crazy Beelzebub had a look of intense focus on her face, even if it was accompanied by a terrifying smile. In a blur, the red and black leader of the Valkybees exploded towards Bedivere, missing him by inches. A subtle twist dodged Beelzebub¡¯s furious stinger and Bedivere¡¯s massive weapon came around in a slashing motion, barely parried by Beelzebub¡¯s own skillful move. She countered with her claws, unusually hard and sharp, but Bedivere expertly maneuvered despite his oversized stinger. It turned out to be a feint because in the next instant, Behemoth was right behind, fists coming down to smash Bedivere to pieces, but the knight flowed like water and redirected the attack into the ground, kicking up a ton of dust in a following explosion. This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. All of that happened in seconds, faster than I could have processed if I hadn¡¯t been experimenting with B-boxes. The next instants were just as frantic. Bedivere used the cloud of dust to disguise an attack on Beelzebub, but Belial came in with his multiple eyes to distract him. After that, rocks and trees flew towards Bedivere courtesy of Belphegora, which Bedivere cut and tore to pieces just in time. Fuck yeah! Fantasy fight! But seriously, how overpowered was Bedivere?! These four were unfairly powerful, created with lots of Mind and turned into real monsters by Bedivere¡¯s own Ability, but he was still keeping up with them, no problem. Granted, he wasn¡¯t effortlessly demolishing them as he had done with the regular warriors, but he was still keeping up with them 4v1 without much issue. ¡°Now!¡± Beelzebub¡¯s voice echoed, and the attack of the Valkybees shifted, instantly converging in unison. Oh damn, would this finally get Bedivere? Just before their attacks reached, Bedivere took a deep breath. An intense pressure emanated from him and all four of the Valkybees were buried in the ground with only their faces sticking out. Wait, what? ¡°Incredible. Your teamwork nearly covered your weaknesses for an instant there. If you were individually skilled, that might have gotten me.¡± Excuse me? Can we talk about how despite my ability to process information at stupid speeds, I had no idea what just happened?! I played things back to try and understand. It seems Bedivere poured an insane amount of his Mind into that Stinger Fencing Ability of his and completely dismantled the attack of the Valkybees one by one, then decided to dig holes, put the Valkybees inside, and fill the holes back in. What sort of fencing was that?! Would fencing champions be distraught to see Bedivere using the art to dig holes faster than the brain could think rather than, oh, I don¡¯t know, swordfight? ¡°Damn! I told you that strategy wouldn¡¯t work, Beel.¡± Beelzebub didn¡¯t respond. It was odd to see her forgo a bout with Belial, but her intense stare towards Bedivere made it clear she was thinking of bigger fish. ¡°Goodness, she looks like she wants to eat Bedivere for breakfast.¡± Seriously. Forget daggers; she was staring lasers into Bedivere, who didn¡¯t even seem to notice, instead squatting next to Belphegora¡¯s exasperated face while giving her some tips on how to throw rocks better. Seems Beelzebub found her only real rival. ¡°Big bro¡­¡± she said to herself with a blush, ¡°Big bro is the coolest~¡± Wha. Coolest? Blush? While looking at him like a lion eying up a tasty piece of meat? Wait. Oh god. She was some sort of damn yandere brocon thing! ______________ ¡°The decision is unexpectedly difficult. Despite the fact that one option is quite clear, the other is- are you listening, Mother?¡± ¡°Hm? Oh yes. Continue, Beatrice.¡± After observing some of the Valkybees¡¯ training, I had decided to take my mind off the weirdness and start my Forest Revitalization Project. The FRP mostly consisted of me using Mind to funnel water up out of the river and spray it was a fine mist all over the place. It seemed far to me to start close to the river banks and spread out, hopefully convincing the forest to just un-die already. So, sorry, Beatrice. Also, I just couldn¡¯t help but wrestle over the fact that goofy tropes kept popping up all over the hive. Including the overbearing, hyper-intelligent, ultra-competent assistant who adores their boss and who interrupts their boss¡¯s cool new project to talk about real work. Not naming names, of course. Of course, with the B-boxes, I could be thinking of pretty much anything and still know everything Beatrice said. I mean, even now I could observe Bedivere training the Valkybees (and the budding weirdo that was Beelzebub), or Bess tearing her figurative hair out trying to control the Construction Drones while dealing with the weirdo Bessie who kept burrowing underground, or even Bella trying to console the crying weirdo who followed her everywhere. Man, this hive sure was packed with weirdos. ¡°Very well. As you well know, Wax Drones are an unavoidable pick at this juncture. We do not know how much it will take for the next level of Egg Laying to be achieved, and we cannot risk falling behind on wax production once Bess hits her stride. I have broken things up into the following,¡± Beatrice tried to illustrate her ideas with Mind. Well, her visualization skills have improved ever since she got into improving the map. ¡°The three simple categories of options are utility bees, combat bees, and uniques. Considering the state of the hive, basic utility bees would be, in my opinion, ideal. However, ever since the Scavenger War, I have since realized the importance of pre-emptively improving our military prowess. Thus I would no longer recommend discarding the combat types immediately.¡± She hesitated, ¡°As for the unique types, I am unsure what to make of them as of yet. I will give you my thoughts on the utility and combat bees first, and would welcome some insight into the potential of the unique bees.¡± ¡°Sounds good. Go over the utility bees first.¡± ¡°I have included three of the options in this category, those being the Pollination Drones, the Aide¡¯s Aide, and the Caretaker. The most simple of these, the Pollination Drones, are an appealing possibility. However, I hesitate to recommend them as an option at this time. Until the Forest Revitalization Project you described to me begins to bear fruit, I truly do not know what use they could be.¡± ¡°The Aide¡¯s Aide is another dubious option. As of yet, I have still not had issues managing the hive. I think until the hive¡¯s growth becomes truly constant and unending, it would be a waste, as you would likely be better off making a single highly capable assistant for me.¡± ¡°When would you consider the hive¡¯s growth to be at that stage?¡± ¡°Hm,¡± she thought for a moment, ¡°I would say once you create a queen capable of growing the hive further is the moment I would need assistance.¡± Oh man. Another queen? I hadn¡¯t even thought of that before. Though, now that the option was in my head, I couldn¡¯t stop thinking about it. I would never have to lay an egg again! I could spend my days relaxing and not having to go through that disgusting experience or doing my one true task. ¡°Yes! We would be a grandmother!¡± Okay! Moving on! ¡°As for the Caretaker, I would say it is a useless option. While the idea is good, Belle and her underlings are currently undertaking the duties that might be expected of a responsibility coined ¡®Caretaker.¡¯ Thus, I would also leave that option to be a possibility only once several queens are making large volumes of eggs that might require that sort of care.¡± ¡°Makes sense. So then, the utility options aren¡¯t exactly amazing choices at the moment?¡± ¡°Which is precisely what makes this choice so complicated in my eyes. There are many combat options, including the Swarm, Sting, and Force Warriors. It might be better to consult a combat expert such as Bedivere or even Beryl as to which of these options are best, but I would posit that the Swarm Warrior would be ideal of the three.¡± Well, that was disappointing. Force Warrior! ¡°And why is that?¡± ¡°Put simply, our forces are scattered. Our combatants are powerful but few. Even the largest group of Simple Warriors are more focused and are not built to take numbers as an advantage. Also¡­,¡± she fidgeted. Oh god. Things were never good when Beatrice was uncomfortable. ¡°I would hesitantly predict that the Swarm Warriors are disposable troops. Which would be¡­ good.¡± Huh? Disposable? Such a thought made my stomach churn. Beatrice was totally right. As it was, my entire ¡®army¡¯ was indispensable in my eyes. If even one died, it would be devastating. My own child dying. There was no way I could accept that. And yet, thinking of the only other army I had seen, I could see the truth. Vulch¡¯s army got slaughtered by the dozens. Ordinary footsoldiers killed quickly and without fanfare. If we ever fought against an enemy that could actually overpower our less powerful troops, who was to say they wouldn¡¯t suffer the same fate? ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a good point. I would say in that case that Swarm Warriors are top of the list right now.¡± Of course, it was a bit of a gamble. The only ¡®disposable¡¯ bees we had made were Drones, and even then, it felt¡­ wrong to imagine them dying. So who was to say these Warriors would be Drone-like? They could just be another conscious being. ¡°Understood. Then, that leaves the unique types. Linker Bees and Memory Eaters. I¡­ have no insight into these. There is little that can be garnered from their names alone, so I was wondering if you had thoughts.¡± ¡°Hm. I¡¯m not sure. Linker Bees obviously seem related to Links in some way, but I¡¯m not sure what for. Not only is our Link strong, but we also have Beck and their team. Like you say, it¡¯s just not very clear. As for Memory Eater? I have absolutely no clue what¡¯s going on there. I say to leave that until I have free spaces for Subtypes. We¡¯re still in the stages of growth, after all. Maybe I could take it once the hive is more stable and our situation is more solid.¡± ¡°Wonderful assessment, Mother.¡± ¡°So, I¡¯d say a pretty fair order, for the time being, is Swarm Warriors, Pollination Drones, and maybe something else for third place.¡± So many choices. What could I pick? Sprinkling water over the forest was a relaxing way to think, but I¡¯d have to consider things further. Well, I planned to dive some more into memory with my B-boxes later today, so maybe I could get some insight there. Good thing I had a way of leaving my memories now. Who knew what could happen while I was in there? Chapter 37 - Human Beeings I aimed with steady hands at the charging monster, timing the shot so that the beast would become unbalanced. Ready¡­ I squeezed the trigger. With an explosion of fire and sound, my shot flew true, making the squirrel veer off course right into the waiting twin pistols of Vlugh. ¡°Screeeech!¡± ¡°Piss off.¡± The three of us collectively groaned at Vlugh¡¯s attempt to sound cool. Even Dip squawked in embarrassment. ¡°You said it, Dippy-poo. Vlugh, leave the one-liners to someone less lame.¡± ¡°Hey!¡± Regardless of Vlugh¡¯s delusions of grandeur, he did manage to finish the monster squirrel off with some well-placed shots. The five of us continued the trek, leaving the squirrel corpse behind. Wandering the Vultuous Forest was noticeably easier since those freaks had devastated the place. My team was by no means weak; we had trekked into the forest on occasion. Even encountered some of the vultures in the past. Even so, only having to deal with the occasional squirrel meant our progress was far faster than what would be considered normal. Vlugh had questioned my intensity about preparation, and I now found myself agreeing with him. For once. Journeying into the forest was nothing like it had once been. No vultures in sight and no constant harassment from Fernen. Just squirrels. Tons and tons of squirrels. Now we only had to pause for several minutes instead of hours whenever our lives came under threat. Our new gear was almost certainly a factor as well. These guns from the capital were a true marvel, requiring little to no maintenance or skill to wield. Even Vlugh had opted for two, one for each hand. It made no sense that neither Rette nor Grehn had picked one up. Sure, Grehn liked his swords, but I thought the Riktish were really getting into firearms lately. But no, both of them had decided to stick with their original weapons. ¡°Squawk.¡± ¡°I agree with Dip. We should take the squirrel corpses to sell.¡± ¡°Squawk!¡± ¡°Eat¡­? But we could sell them instead.¡± ¡°Squawk squawk! Squawk!¡± ¡°I already explained, you two,¡± I said, interrupting Dip and Rette¡¯s bickering, ¡°Our job is investigation. If we finish faster, we get paid faster. No need to be slowed down by cargo. Seriously, how many times do I have to explain it?¡± ¡°True¡­ Counterpoint: more money.¡± ¡°Squawk!¡± Dip¡¯s adorableness almost made me change my mind. Maybe we could take just one squirrel for him to have a snack? No, no I wouldn¡¯t give in. I wanted to get back as fast as possible. Money? Who cares. The faster we got back, the faster I could lay in bed with Dip! ¡°You just want to be alone with Dip again, boss.¡± Urk! Shut up, Grehn! Even if you know, just keep it to yourself! Of course, rather than say that out loud, I opted for punching Grehn in the arm. Though the big lug barely grunted in amusement. ¡°Screeeech!¡± I sighed in relief as another monster charged toward our group. Perfect timing. Raising my rifle, I took aim¡­ And it was gone. Before I could even fire a single bullet, the beast zig-zagged out of the way and ran off into the forest. Odd. ¡°Stay sharp. We might be close,¡± I cautioned, even as the others began to relax. That skittish behavior wasn¡¯t exactly unusual coming from the squirrels. They were certainly powerful beasts, but they weren¡¯t the peak of the food chain in this forest, not by a long shot. No, what was odd was that it avoided us. In the current state of the forest, they weren¡¯t preyed upon as much by the vultures, so they had grown more bold. Every squirrel we encountered saw us as a tasty snack and attacked us, either foolishly or bravely. My new rifle made the encounters much simpler than in the past. Once upon a time, Grehn had been the only one with a physical weapon capable of piercing the tough hides of the squirrels, but now even Vlugh and I could compete. I had originally been hesitant to exchange the familiarity of my Mind-enhanced knife play, but being able to save my stamina was turning out to be a massive boon. Of course, as of yet, we hadn¡¯t encountered anything that required me to use my Ability. That might be changing soon. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°We proceed carefully,¡± I whispered. Whatever the squirrel had been afraid of was likely our goal. The Lord had assigned us the simple task of investigation: why had the vultures disappeared? My theory? Some powerful beast had risen to prominence in the forest. ¡°I¡¯m starting to think your theory was right, Yelah,¡± Grehn whispered even more softly than usual, ¡°Even the squirrels had been acting differently. The ecosystem seems to have shifted since the Burning.¡± ¡°Maybe one of the squirrels got powerful enough to take down the rumored vulture king?¡± ¡°As if one of these squirrels could become that powerful. I think it¡¯s a different monster. Or maybe your breath is just that bad, Vlugh.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but poke fun at Vlugh¡¯s Ability as we crept along. Seriously, what had he been thinking? Breath attacks? What sort of foolery was that? Vlugh grunted, ¡°When will you get it through your thick skull? Breath attacks are the mark of the strong¡­.¡± ¡°Sure, whatever. You Drevani and your dragon worship.¡± ¡°Are you speaking ill of-¡° My hand shot up. Maybe I was being a bit unsportsmanlike with the banter, but something had caught my attention. ¡°Look.¡± ¡°The hell is that?¡± Before us was a wall. In the middle of the forest, no less. Black and gray and red and white, the formation stood eerie and unnatural. ¡°Quiet.¡± Strange as the wall was, that wasn¡¯t what had sparked my caution. A faint sound could be heard. The familiar buzzing of bees. Poking above the wall was the tiny head of a bee, and the pieces began to fall into place. This wall¡¯s strange complexion was, in truth, beeswax mixed with various materials, ranging from bones to blood. Then, this wall could only be the beginnings of a gigantic beehive. ¡°It¡¯s beeswax. Seems a queen bee survived the slaughter.¡± ¡°Bees?! Which means¡­¡± ¡°Yep. Honey!¡± ¡°Wait. Don¡¯t be hasty.¡± Vlugh and Rette turned to me in confusion. Both were drooling over the thought of the rare treasure, albeit presumably for different reasons. The sweetness and pricelessness were certainly both drool-worthy, but something else was off here. ¡°Notice anything strange about those bones?¡± It only took a moment of inspection before realization dawned on their faces. Grehn had likely already realized. Those bones were huge, and not just that. Upon closer inspection, a strange feature could be observed on some of the broken bones. ¡°They¡¯re vulture bones.¡± It may have been a coincidence. The telltale porous structure of bird bones didn¡¯t guarantee that these bones belonged to the mighty vultures, but it was a fair assumption in my estimation. ¡°This doesn¡¯t mean the bees are responsible for the disappearance of the vultures, though¡­.¡± Vlugh said without much confidence. While he was right, none of us could shake the sense that we had found the culprits. ¡°Squawk¡­¡± Dip was right. Bees using materials like bones was highly unusual behavior in the first place. However, little bees destroying the massive swarm of vultures would be even more unusual. Either way, the bees were connected in some way to the vulture¡¯s disappearance. ¡°Does this mean we can head back? That bee up there noticed us¡­.¡± I hesitated. True, we had potentially found the reason for the vanishing vultures, but would that be enough for the Lord? Some clients could get seriously annoying if their requests weren¡¯t fulfilled to their satisfaction, and someone as self-important and wealthy as the city lord could certainly afford a painful tantrum. Regardless, I had to make a decision. The lone bee was charging at us, after all. ¡°Uh, Yelah?¡± ¡°Hold. It might just be investigating.¡± I dodged out of the way of an angry stinger. So. Not investigating, then. ¡°Okay! We kill it and run before more arrive.¡± The team grunted in agreement and converged on the insect, slashing and shooting. I calmly fired, but the thing was too small and fast for me to blast accurately. ¡°Little bugger is too quick!¡± The monster wasn¡¯t stupid either. I kept having to back away as it attacked only me, and the others had to follow, so our numerical advantage couldn¡¯t be pressed. So be it. If it was going to try and get in close, I¡¯d face it head-on! ¡°Yelah, not yet-¡° Coming to a stop, I activated [Friendly Immersion] and my vision shifted. I suddenly found my vision split, both next to a charging Grehn and facing down the bee¡¯s alarmed buzzing. No doubt the sudden appearance of Dip had scared the little monster. ¡°Now!¡± Swiveling, I raised my rifle but even as Dip and I gave the monster a harsh slap, I noticed the sound of buzzing begin to crescendo. ¡°More are coming! Finish it off quick!¡± No good. Our bullets continued to miss the tiny form of the insect and Dip¡¯s slap had pushed it out of the way. Grehn¡¯s slash barely reached the little thing, but it was starting to slow down with various injuries, so we probably still had a chance. I looked toward the wall, and my heart sank. Only two bees approached from the right, but a big swarm was converging from the left. Granted, most of them seemed small, but the number of monsters was creeping into intimidating territory. ¡°Sorry Rette. You might need to put in some effort.¡± She nodded grimly, sheathing the knife she hadn¡¯t swung once and stancing up, ready to use her town Ability. Dip was backing away from the feisty insect as Grehn went for another slash, but the bee barely managed to minimize the damage, its movements slowing even further. I noticed the bee pause, acting like it wanted to charge us again, then instead changing directions and limp-flying back towards the wall. What? ¡°Brace!¡± As Rette activated her Ability, the four of us enabled our Deafening Lock just in time for the air around Rette to waver and explode outwards, causing the swarm of bees to shudder and falter. Her sound attack was the perfect weapon for the situation, uncontrolled as it was. ¡°Run.¡± I spoke into their Minds, instructing Rette to use her Ability again if the bees began to follow. Too late. Before Rette could respond, the two bees from the right smashed into her. Dammit! Those two must¡¯ve been made of tougher stuff than the swarm. Without Rette to hold back the swarm, we were going to be overwhelmed! I popped [Friendly Immersion] again, this time allowing Dip¡¯s presence to completely cover my own. With his strength, I dashed towards Rette¡¯s unmoving form, horrified to see two deep puncture wounds in her stomach. She had managed to stab one of the bees with her small knife, but the damage was bad. A quick smack to the healthy bee sent it stumbling, and I grabbed Rette¡¯s injured body to carry her away. This Immersion would only last so long, and I needed to get her out of there. Grehn and Vlugh were putting up a fight against the recovering swarm as I ran, and I saw some of the small bees fall to pieces. Those idiots decided to hold off the reinforcements for us instead of just running away! ¡°You two! Come. Run!¡± But it didn¡¯t matter. The bees were too fast and too numerous. They surrounded us in an instant, occasionally flying in and placing a nasty sting that sometimes penetrated our protective clothing. I fought desperately, swiping at any bees that got too close, but my hope was starting to crumble. The swarm was annoying, but weak. Hiding in the swarm, though, were some deceptively strong creatures. Since those were the only ones penetrating our clothes, maybe we could stage a counterattack? Were we going to die? I noticed the gravely wounded bee we had fought first lying tiredly on the ground. Yeah. Yeah, we were dead. They weren¡¯t going to forgive that. I braced myself. Dammit! Whether I lived or died didn¡¯t matter, but I had failed my team. My Dippy-poo was going to die. But death never came. I looked up at the same time as the others, and my resignation turned to fresh terror. The swarm was deathly still. Above them floated a true monster. A massive bee with a stinger as big as my entire body, missing all the arms on its left side. But as intimidating as the monster¡¯s body was, it was nothing to the horrific Mind the bee was openly flaunting. The breath was squeezed out of my lungs, and my dry throat swallowed without success, viscerally affected by the sheer power of the thing¡¯s Mind. How had something so terrifying snuck up on us without me noticing? It was like a final insult to my poor leadership. So this¡­ this was the cause. A beast worse than the rumored vulture king really had appeared in the forest. Vlugh muttered a prayer. Good idea. We would need every ounce of divinity to save our Minds from this unnatural horror of a creature. Another smaller bee appeared behind the giant monster, this one sporting an angry red color compared to the yellows of the rest. Somehow my heart sank even further. Even though this one was much smaller, its appearance was intense, and it emanated a presence of evil along with a terrifyingly strong Mind. Despite its intense aggression, the giant monster held it back. Alongside fear, worry and suspense clawed their way into my heart. Especially when I saw what happened next. The swarm parted, and the huge bee motioned for us to stay still. So they weren¡¯t going to kill us outright, apparently. I separated myself from Dip slowly, but the creature expressed no alarm. No, this was much worse. They were going to do something to us. What could creatures like these want? As the horrific bee looked towards the wall, I could sense a shadow encompassing my Mind. Some deep part of me realized with a shock that this wasn¡¯t the end. No, something even worse than the horror insect was on the way. Something¡­ beerie. Wait, what? Chapter 38 - A sticky situation for everybody What the fuck, like actually what the fuckity fuck? Of fucking course, the instant I decide to play around with my memories, some actual fucking goddamn humans show up. After doing some work on the FRP, I decided it was about time to try out some memory stuff again, and as expected, I got sucked into the memory world. Well, I didn¡¯t really worry since Queen could just pull me out whenever. After that, I¡¯d consult with Beatrice and finally pick the new Egg options. Granted, I hadn¡¯t expected Queen to appear in my memories with a burning fury, spouting about a freaking human attack on the hive. My brain was crumbling at this point. Everything about this was just wrong. Looking at the Link, what was apparently classified as a human attack was us attacking a team of four humans that had appeared near the hive. So not only had humans appeared for the first time, we attacked them first. And after that? WE nearly fucking killed THEM. Beryl, the first to attack them, had sustained some pretty damn bad injuries, but reinforcements had arrived in time to save her life. Or maybe it was me finally emerging from my memories and screaming bloody murder at her to back off. Unfortunately, she was in bad condition, and one of the other warriors had gotten pretty badly injured in the process, though he had gotten that one young girl human good. Speaking of, the humans were in a sorry state. Stings big and small all over their bodies, though none compared to the holes in that one girl¡¯s stomach. She was alive, but without treatment, the wound would probably get worse. And why should I care? The humans had killed a bunch of my drones. Drones who¡­ well, they were drones in every sense of the word. But I had still birthed them, dammit! Oh, but the wackery certainly didn¡¯t end there. Was that a fucking penguin? There was no way my eyes were deceiving me. Alongside the four humans was a massive emperor penguin, larger than the tallest of the four humans. Slightly larger than Bedivere¡¯s stinger. Wait, who cared about its size? What was a damn penguin doing in the middle of a forest?! Then there were the humans themselves. ¡°Queen, are you sure these are humans?¡± ¡°Undoubtedly. I would recognize the creatures no matter the circumstances.¡± Even if you say that¡­ why did they seem more like half-elves? The humans sported slightly pointed ears and were pretty skinny, but not to the degree that one might imagine an actual elf to be. Besides those common features, they were quite different from each other. Two of the humans had a similar, dark-tan skin tone, with fairly similarly shaped, wide eyes. One of those two was a huge, burly man, while the other was the aforementioned skinny injured girl, and neither had made a peep since I¡¯d seen them. Well, besides groans of pain. The other dude in the group was skinny and brown, with light, practically white hair and sharp canines. That one was mumbling under his breath constantly and had his eyes closed. Maybe some sort of prayer? The last woman was way too attached to the penguin (bro. A penguin) and had pale skin with dark hair, with the pointiest ears by far. On the topic of those ears of theirs¡­ ¡°Uh, are you guys humans or elves?¡± No response. Well, the ¡®humans¡¯ weren¡¯t exactly in my Link, but I had been able to communicate with some vultures without linking to them. Why not the humans? ¡°This strange thing can¡¯t tell what you are?¡± I started as the penguin (a freaking penguin? Seriously?) spoke out loud, and that got the humans talking. ¡°Te somo na pabosa?¡± ¡°Ti nabidi, kabbu mana. Kabba di.¡± Fucking great. Absolutely fantastic. I have no idea what the hell these people are saying. Shocker, they have their own language, and without the apparent capability to converse with Mind, there¡¯s no auto-translation feature like with the bees or birds. ¡°I say we smite them where they stand,¡± Beatrice growled. ¡°What?¡± Beelzebub snorted, ¡°Why would we do that? We should just kill them.¡± Oh, brother. ¡°I agree. They are dangerous. Kill them, Enno.¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Now hold on. Haven¡¯t we learned anything from the Scavenger War? If we kill these guys, it''s basically guaranteed more will show up. I mean, why are they here in the first place? Killing them is asking for consequences.¡± ¡°Humans.¡± ¡°But Mother, if that is the case, what do we do with them? Let them go?¡± ¡°Absolutely the fuck not! In that case, they might just bring more humans back to the hive! No, we can¡¯t kill them, but we can¡¯t just let them go either.¡± I gave the others some time to mumble. The humans wouldn¡¯t try anything in their current state. They were injured and trapped, surrounded by the workers and Bedivere and the Valkybees, not to mention myself. Only Bess and her swarm had left the scene. Maybe she would have an easier time commanding a smaller force? Ew, that was a morbid thought. Why would I think something so heartless? In any case, with all these brains thinking, maybe we could come up with a solution. I was doing my best to curb their bloodthirst, but Queen was absolutely doing her best to bring the hammer on the humans. I did feel bad, considering her situation, but we had to tread lightly. Even if we had easily wrecked these humans, there were too many variables out of our control. ¡°Well? What can we do with them, Mother? We cannot dispose of them, and we cannot let them go. I also doubt we could keep them trapped here forever.¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s also off the table. Even if we just imprisoned them here indefinitely, it''s no different than if we had killed them. More humans would just show up and cause problems.¡± It would be so much easier if I could communicate with them. Hm. Maybe I could just Link with them? I focused on the closest human, the skinny prayer guy. If he was Mind-conscious, then maybe Linking with him would be easy. ¡°Hey. Sup?¡± All the color drained from his face and his eyes shot open. Oh boy. His lips flapped and gasped for air, and I got nothing back except static. I cringed, expecting him to start screaming or something, but no. He suddenly became very calm and turned to his buddies with a tear in his eye. ¡°Ah. Fwekuho, besoto ma. Ti gowima bome mae.¡± Hey, why did he look so happy with those tears?! And why were his friends tearing up with sad looks?! A strange pressure built around the man, so I mentally picked up a rock and hit him on the head. Whew. It seemed that Linking with them wouldn¡¯t be easy. Trying to force it seemed to hurt them or scare them to the point that they were willing to do something drastic. Well, they wouldn''t have much of a choice. I''d consult with Beck or something to maybe figure out a way to successfully Link them without trouble. Or without resistance. What was I supposed to do with these people? Humans seemed to be the key to so many next steps in my situation, but figuring things out with them was going to be ridiculous. No killing, no releasing, no imprisoning, no communication. My only avenue of communication was¡­ ¡°Hey, penguin. Tell them I can¡¯t understand them, but if we were to create a Link, I might be able to reason with them directly. For now, I¡¯ll have to talk to them through you. Warn them not to do anything hasty. I need you to find out how long they can be gone before more humans might come looking. You got all that?¡± ¡°I¡­ see. I will try my best to communicate your desires, great beast. But, may I ask why you believe I am capable of giving them such detailed instructions?¡± ¡°Ah, crap. Is your eloquence just a product of my mental translation? Well, just do your best. I guess in that case, in the meantime¡­.¡± It had been a while, but I went and reactivated Food Storage. I poured Mind into encasing the party in a ball of dirt big enough to hold them all and ensured the force-field effect was strong as can be. It was by no means a good solution, even temporarily, but where else was I supposed to put them? Of course, I felt a bit bad when they panicked. Were they afraid of the power of my Mind? Or maybe it was the fact that they were being trapped in a freaky dirt ball? ¡°Bedivere, you¡¯re to monitor these guys. I have faith you can easily keep them busy until reinforcements arrive if needed. As for them, well, I¡¯d really rather not bring them too close to the central hive. But it would be more secure for them to be inside the walls. Beatrice, we need to figure out what to do with these guys. I want to consult with you, Beck, and the other workers. Also, if we want to keep them alive, we¡¯ll have to feed them. Be careful they don¡¯t deplete our food stores too much. Alright, everyone, get to work on the double. These humans are a sign. We need to solidify our position now.¡± ________ Hell. That¡¯s where we were. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to thank the Person that my team and Dip had survived. I was so sure we were doomed, especially when that¡­ thing appeared. By all accounts, it was an unassuming creature. Nowhere near as terrifying as the bee with the enormous stinger or the one bathed in angry crimson. But its Mind. Oh gods its Mind. All four of us had been practically paralyzed by that thing - the queen, most likely- and its ridiculous power. ¡°How are you holding up, Rette?¡± ¡°Urgh¡­ Not great.¡± I doubted the bees were capable of giving Rette proper medical care. She wasn¡¯t losing blood, but the wound would become infected if nothing was done. ¡°Squawk¡­¡± ¡°It''s alright, Dip. You¡¯re trying your best.¡± Dip¡¯s attempts to communicate the queen¡¯s instructions were rough, but we just didn¡¯t have much of a choice. Using [Friendly Immersion] did let me get a better idea. ¡®No hasty¡¯ and ''More human'' were clear. As was the rest, to some degree. The queen wanted to communicate with us and ensure we didn¡¯t try anything rash. It came as no surprise to me. A creature with a Mind that powerful was bound to be intelligent. But how intelligent? Frighteningly. It was honestly more terrifying that it was keeping us alive; that meant it understood the consequences if we were to be killed, and that was likely why it was asking how long we could be away from other humans without issue. ¡°How¡¯s Vlugh doing, Grehn?¡± ¡°Oh, he¡¯s just fine, the idiot.¡± Vlugh¡¯s unconscious form presented another problem. If I remembered what I had learned about the Drevani religion, then that queen had tried to gain control of Vlugh¡¯s Mind, so Vlugh was going to deactivate Life. So went their teachings. Fuck. If the only way that bee could communicate with us was by controlling our Minds, that would be problematic. Would I resort to the same drastic measures if it tried to control my Mind? Probably. How could I expect a monster to understand that sort of taboo? In any case, we were stuck. This... dirt ball was cramped and uncomfortable, but it was shockingly sturdy. I could also see that the giant stinger bee was patrolling outside by looking through one of the peek holes, so even if we managed to break out of the ball, death awaited us all the same. Not even taking into account Vlugh and Rette''s present condition. I was ultimately left with one option. Wait. Wait and hope. Or rather, to be more specific, I had to lie. No doubt the bee¡¯s assumptions were correct; if we were gone too long, more people would follow. There were any number of reasons. Our company could become concerned and send a search party. Or, more realistically, they would be upset that they weren¡¯t going to receive the full payment from the city Lord and send another team or two to complete the job. Speaking of, the Lord could also send more people. Hire another mercenary company or something. Especially considering how concerned he was about the vultures, it was practically guaranteed he would do everything in his power to investigate. And unfortunately, that greed and fear was all I had to count on. I would lie to the bees and give them a much wider time frame. But how long? Company policy was that a team¡¯s Estimated Time of Completion had to be surpassed by two weeks at minimum before the team was considered to have failed, also taking into consideration communication from the team. Since we wouldn¡¯t be able to communicate with them from within the forest anyways, that gave us a total of three weeks from now. So we just had to survive for nearly a month, maybe even more, trapped here by the bees before anyone would likely start looking for us. Of course, the City lord could become so anxious that he might send more mercenaries poking around here. Hooray. Some buzzing outside drew my attention. A bee slid something through one of the small holes. Food maybe? I¡¯d ensure Rette was fed first. Maybe getting some food in her would improve her condition. I shuffled over to pick up the food so I could feed it to her. I picked a chunk of raw, rotting meat. We were so screwed. Chapter 39 - Human Comodibees ¡°If we kill the humans, then we won¡¯t need to feed them! Makes sense to me.¡± ¡°Mhm. Quite sensible.¡± ¡°Yes indeed. Sensible.¡± ¡°Saying that¡¯s sensible is highly, highly questionable,¡± I responded to the bickering bees. The past few hours had been nothing but circles. Each bee had an opinion on what to do with the humans that had suddenly appeared, but they broadly fell into two main camps: kill the humans outright or keep them imprisoned forever. ¡°Beck, have you made any headway in figuring out how to communicate with them?¡± Beck¡¯s suggestions amounted to forcing a Link with the humans. We bees have so far only been able to communicate using Mind, and since the humans were seemingly closed off from the regular sort of telepathy we used with most conscious creatures, a Link would be the only way to ensure communication. Well, easier said than done. Besides the fact that each human seemed to be defending against mental intrusion, they also ended up freaking out whenever I tried to create a mental connection. I¡¯d need some way to quickly and easily connect without them noticing. Hopefully I would be able to Link with them and use the Link to prevent them from doing anything drastic. Unfortunately, Beck hadn¡¯t thought of anything. I¡¯d like to give them as much time in the universe to think of a solution, but the clock had begun ticking as soon as the humans were kneeling at our feet. ¡°Try to figure something out. I have to give you a deadline of the end of tomorrow. We have no idea when other humans might show up. As for the rest of you,¡± I turned to the other workers. What a conundrum. We desperately needed to continue all our work, but the appearance of a new variable was annoying. And scary. Some workers like Belle would go practically unaffected by the new situation, besides maybe having a fire lit under their asses. On the other hand¡­ ¡°Bess, I¡¯m going to ask you to prioritize the hive¡¯s construction in the direction of the human settlements. I¡¯ll be assigning warriors to escort your builder squad permanently from now onwards.¡± It wasn¡¯t overly difficult to figure out what side of the hive needed to be bolstered. Combining the knowledge I¡¯d discerened about where the human settlement might be from other evidence, plus taking into account where the humans appeared, I had a general idea of where to place focus. As for the builder squad, their numbers had been cut by the humans. I¡¯d have to see if the building speed was faster or slower considering the smaller numbers; theoretically, Bess¡¯ greater control over the smaller numbers could make up for the smaller numbers, but I wasn¡¯t quite sure yet. ¡°I see. Is it wise to focus our defenses on my team?¡± ¡°Of course. Remember, we have the Valkybees now. I¡¯ll assign one of them, along with a couple regular warriors to protect you. Beatrice, this means the rotation might have to be adjusted. Can you modify the guard rotation so that only warriors from the opposite side of the hive are missing?¡± ¡°A simple task, Mother.¡± ¡°Ah, may I ask something, Mom?¡± ¡°Hm? Of course, Bess.¡± Bess seemed uncomfortable speaking out. I valued all of their opinions, so I didn¡¯t think there was much sense in being nervous. ¡°It¡¯s about Bessie. You see, she¡¯s actually made me realize something. She has a¡­ fascination with digging. Hell, it¡¯s all she does. Initially, I saw it as an annoyance, but when I saw what she had done, I thought it might be highly efficient. She had dug so much that there is now a tiny system of tunnels she has been using to move between our work sites.¡± Oh. Oh! I saw where she was going with this. Brilliant! ¡°That¡¯s great! A tunnel system would have a ton of advantages, especially now that we¡¯re concerned about security! And it would be an efficient use of space. Do you think you¡¯d be able to juggle both the hive walls and a tunnel system, though?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the issue. I had originally been thinking that I might be able to put some drones under Bessie¡¯s command and have her focus on tunneling, but now¡­.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Hm. Well that sucked. Making some Construction Drones would be absolutely no problem, though. ¡°Thank you for the suggestion, Bess. I¡¯ll make some Construction Drones to replenish your team. Great work.¡± My compliment had Bess on cloud nine, it seemed. Damn, even Beatrice seemed jealous about that! I guess I don¡¯t praise them enough¡­? ¡°Okay! Any other suggestions?¡± Ha! If a simple compliment was all it took, then commanding people would be a cinch! Maybe there was merit to that? Well, in my case, at least, the thought of praise had the workers clamoring over each other to make suggestions or present their ideas. Not surprisingly, Beatrice was at the forefront of this concentrated effort. ¡°Mother, there is something we have not addressed that I believe may be important. The strength of the humans. Or perhaps the lack thereof.¡± I was wondering when that would be brought up. I had also been thrown off guard by how easily our forces were able to take down this group of humans. ¡°What do you mean, Beatrice? Doesn¡¯t that just mean our warriors are awesome?!¡± ¡°You are not completely wrong, Ben. However, we may need to reevaluate the relative strength of this world.¡± I needed a larger sample size, honestly. Our knowledge boiled down to the squirrels, vultures, this one team of humans, and the humans from Queen¡¯s memory. Comparing our strength to theirs was tough, though. Our simple warriors had been able to pretty much take care of the group of humans, and both the humans and our warriors could take care of squirrels pretty handily. As for the vultures? They would probably get destroyed pretty badly by our warriors, considering how a bunch of workers (and me) were able to take on a huge army of them. Sure, there were outliers like the Vulch and Bedivere, but still. The humans, though? They were all over the place. Were the humans in Queen¡¯s memory some crazy outliers? Was Queen¡¯s old hive particularly weak? ¡°I would say it might be a combination of both. The magnitude of those humans¡¯ power altered the entire landscape of this forest, which is no small feat, but my hive was just full of normal bees. We were capable of overwhelming prey or intruders, certainly, but I cannot say that we were particularly invested in combative strength.¡± So essentially, there was no way of saying for sure. I could make some guesses about these humans, though. They seemed like a competent adventurer group, well-equipped and prepared. They had gotten to our hive without issue, so the squirrels probably posed little threat to them, though that could admittedly be chalked up to ¡®human things.¡¯ As in, not individually overpowering, but because of their teamwork and prep time, they were way stronger than the sum of their parts. Oh, and the penguin. Seriously, what?! Anyways, the point of figuring out this power scaling was to ensure our safety. This team of humans was able to fend off at least one of our most competent Simple Warriors. Beryl had fought well, but she had caught them off guard. If their fight had continued, from what I could discern from her perspective, she would have died. I wasn¡¯t expecting one of our warriors to be able to win against a coordinated one v five, but what happened after was the concerning part. The humans had done well against our forces. With four more warriors joining the fray, as well as a whole swarm of construction drones, the humans kept pulling out surprises. Granted, by that time, I had already been pulled from my memory dive, so our forces weren¡¯t fighting to kill. But still. The small girl¡¯s sound powers were devastating against our swarm tactics. Could a team of five warrior bees beat this particular team of five humans? Honestly, I wasn¡¯t confident. Which meant that a seemingly competent group of human combatants was stronger than a seemingly competent group of fighter bees. That was concerning. It meant that I could no longer content myself with fair-sized teams of average warriors, and I needed to commit fully to huge numbers or overpowering single fighters. After all, Bedivere by himself was clearly more than a match for the humans. ¡°There is another few matters, Mother. Beryl is in quite a state.¡± ¡°How is she?¡± Technically I knew how she was doing. Not well. She would live, but¡­ well, we had no healing of any kind available to us. I could hope for a medically-inclined bee to appear, but I was beginning to think such a thing wouldn¡¯t happen. Bees would likely not occupy themselves with treating injured bees because bees were typically (mostly) disposable assets. Just one small part of a larger hive. I couldn¡¯t accept something like that. ¡°Actually, it doesn¡¯t matter how she¡¯s doing. If anyone has an inkling of how you might care for the injured, I want you to try and help her. I will personally do my best to care for her.¡± ¡°Mother! Such a thing¡­ is it necessary?¡± ¡°Yes. Yes it is. I won¡¯t allow my bees to live painfully. And I certainly won¡¯t allow them to die without a fight.¡± Though moved, Beatrice was clearly confused. Probably her bee instinct telling her that wasting resources on weak bees was inefficient. But she was one of us. I could actually see her eyes light up as she thought through the cost-benefits. ¡°Oh, Mama, what about this!¡± The thoughtful moment was interrupted by Ben¡¯s excited cries. He presented quite a sight behind him, that being Belial holding three fucking guns. Oh. Right. That. As the prophecy foretold, the great weapon of the future was currently being held by a big bee. Here in my face was confirmation of what I had feared so long ago when I had first looked into Queen¡¯s memories. Dull yet silvery hollow cylinders with distinct handles and triggers. With his top two arms, Belial held a rifle, too unwieldy to hold with one hand. His middle two hands held a smaller pistol each. The pistols were ornate, sporting intricate carvings and patterns on the barrels and handle, while the rifle was simple and without decor. One interesting thing about these literal and actual guns was how¡­ metallic they were. Their design was reminiscent of guns from before the modern era of my world, made of silver metal with contrasting wooden handles. Except there was no wood to be found. Instead, the guns sported contrasting shades of silver metals. How odd. Was there some sort of fantasy metal this world had that worked better than wood for those purposes? Wouldn¡¯t being made entirely of metal make these guns super freaking heavy? ¡°May I see those, Belial?¡± The demonic Valkybee hesitantly handed the weapons over. He seemed very interested; maybe I could just give them to him? He could become a bee gunslinger or something fun like that, perhaps. Considering our bee size, the guns were comically large in our hands. Even if we weren¡¯t exactly bee-sized, we were still nowhere near the size for intended users. And as soon as Belial handed a pistol over, it smashed into the ground. Oops. Damn, that was heavy as fuck! I couldn¡¯t even grab onto it for a second! ¡°How in the world are you holding those Belial?! They¡¯re way too heavy!¡± ¡°Hm? Well, they certainly are, but with the strength of a warrior, it is manageable.¡± Stupid warrior strength! Powerful though I might be, that in no way translated to physical strength. Without enhancing my strength with Mind somehow, I was actually physically very weak, which did make sense I suppose. But damn. Those guns were damn heavy! I picked up the pistol with Mind, which was way easier. I had never held a gun of any sort in my old life, neither modern nor antique, but something told me neither was as heavy as these. What was the point of heavy-ass guns? ¡°What about their ammo?¡± ¡°Ah, you mean these?¡± Well that was bizarre. Belial handed over some strange devices also made of metal, and upon closer inspection, I could see bullet-shaped pellets inside. They weren¡¯t particularly organized, mostly thrown in while still contained in a way that maximized space. The devices, which were somewhat cylinder-shaped, had a thin open slot that seemed like they fit on the guns in different places. The strangest thing was how universal the cylinders were. There were two smaller cylinders and one large one, clearly for the different types of guns, but the slots were the same sizes, and the bullets, from a cursory glance, also seemed identical. This world honestly made no sense. Guns? Ok. Guns entirely made of heavy metal? Weird. Penguins? Ok. Penguins? Weird. Yeah. This world was just weird. Chapter 40 – How to train your Human ¡°How are you holding up, Beryl?¡± ¡°Mother¡­ I failed you. I would be healthy if I wasn¡¯t injured! Then I would have been able to apprehend the humans¡­.¡± Well sure, genius. The humans would¡¯ve won if they hadn¡¯t lost too. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re so full of energy, but your body isn¡¯t looking too good.¡± ¡°Ah. I suppose I may be mortally wounded. But my failure¡­.¡± At the very least, it seemed like her life wasn¡¯t in immediate danger. I did wonder about how she would fare in the future ¡¯cause I wasn¡¯t sure she would be able to fight effectively without real recovery. Beryl had sustained the worst injuries out of the surviving bees. It made sense, considering she had fought against the entire team of humans (plus penguin) by herself. She was supremely lucky that she lived, in my estimation. Her arms had been mangled, and large gashes were open all over her body. One of her antennae had even been crumpled, probably from one of the penguin¡¯s mighty slaps. ¡°Well, unfortunately, I¡¯ll have to force you to sit tight. Until you¡¯re healed, I can¡¯t allow you to fight or defend the hive.¡± Beryl looked devastated at my words. Poor girl. She had a single opportunity to defend the hive and this was the result. At best, this could be considered a harsh lesson learned. Her rashness had cost her. But at worst¡­ She might never fight again. ¡°I don¡¯t want to alarm you, but I want to be honest. Your injuries are bad. Like, really bad. It might be difficult for you to fight ever again.¡± A moment of thought gave me another idea, though. ¡°Actually, considering the mechanics of this world¡­ If you really develop your Mind, you could still defend the hive, I suppose.¡± ¡°Understood! I will not rest until I am once again capable of defending the hive!¡± Uh. Hip hip hooray and all that, I guess? She seemed really determined about that. Well, I would leave her to recover. There was plenty to do. In fact, there was almost too much to do. The brief period of rest after the war was officially over. And, of course, I had spent most of that time stressing about stuff anyways rather than taking a break. Well now things were moving again. As per Beatrice, I had quite the list. Figuring out a way to communicate with the humans, shoring up the hive¡¯s defenses, further optimizing each team¡¯s tasks, teaching new bees, and of course, hatching new bees. And those were just the things Beatrice considered to be top priority. There were more micro elements I was interested in, like making sure Bess came into her own as a leader and maintaining the hive¡¯s family-friendly feeling. In my opinion, I wanted to prioritize human communication above all else. They were connected to so many things and could teach me so much about the outside world. And, of course, communication would allow me to find out a way to prevent conflict between us. Speaking of, I had somehow found myself floating in front of the humans¡¯ dirt ball. Hm. ¡°Be at the ready, Bedivere. I¡¯m going to open the ball for a moment.¡± Bedivere, who was posted nearby, nodded. I had some ideas for communicating with the humans, but nothing that would work in our limited time. The first idea was the penguin. I could understand the penguin perfectly, so at least that was one-way communication. However, the penguin wasn¡¯t an effective way for me to communicate back to them. So, I was going to draw. With a thought, the dirt ball opened, spitting out the penguin and the leader-type girl, closing in the next instant. Oof. They weren¡¯t looking too hot. It had only been a day, mostly less, and the prisoners were looking rough. Matted fur, messy hair, and of course covered in dirt. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Surprisingly, the Leader didn¡¯t make any sudden moves or leap into action, instead opting to kneel with her head down. Even more surprisingly, the penguin followed suit. ¡°Kento. Degru maruo tu.¡± Man, why even bother talking to me? You already know I don¡¯t understand your damn language! ¡°Penguin! What¡¯d she say?¡± A flash of indignance appeared in the penguin¡¯s eye, but it quickly disappeared. Oh boy. Now they¡¯re going to hold a grudge against me for beating the hell out of them and imprisoning them indefinitely in a ball of dirt. Maybe a bit of anger was warranted. Oh whatever. ¡°Pardon. Master Yelah said, ¡®Please. Have mercy on us.¡¯¡± Ah geez. Well, at least the penguin could give me their names, though that did me little good. On another note, a small detail I noticed was that the Leader had said fewer words than in the penguin¡¯s translation, which meant that there wasn¡¯t a 1-1 translation, and all that was to say that this would be goddamn annoying. ¡°Yeah yeah, whatever. I¡¯m gonna draw some stuff, so try to convey what they mean to¡­ Yelah.¡± First, I mentally picked up a stick to draw Yelah¡¯s name on the ground. She didn¡¯t seem to understand, which meant we had different writing systems as well. The next few hours were just experimentation. Writing things, drawing things, smacking my stick into the ground. It was shockingly frustrating to communicate with people who essentially shared no knowledge with me. Eventually, I got Yelah to understand what her name was, but it would be an exercise in insanity to try and teach her my entire language and writing system. I just wasn¡¯t a great teacher, not even mentioning our limited time. ¡°Argh! No! This symbol will mean ¡®yes¡¯ and this one will mean ¡®no¡¯! It¡¯s not that hard!¡± ¡°Mother, I do not think-¡° ¡°C¡¯mon Bedivere, she¡¯s gotta get it! It¡¯s a circle and an X for fucks sake!¡± ¡°I think part of the problem may be how your mental power is completely out of control.¡± Hm? I suppose Yelah was looking pretty pale. What did it even mean for my mental power to be out of control? Because of my emotions? Honestly, I felt worse for the penguin; the poor guy was panting and looking pretty bad. Big fluffy bird. ¡°Fine then. That¡¯s probably enough for today. Someone get them some food. I¡¯m leaving.¡± And with that, I tossed the pair back into the dirt ball. My order would be received, and the group would receive food to hopefully make them feel better after our communication session, so there was no need to continue that torture. And so I headed back to the central hive for the day. Of all things, trying to poorly teach someone something was mentally exhausting, so all I wanted to do was eat and maybe throw up some eggs and have a relaxing evening. Checking up on Beck and their squad, I saw they had some theories about possible solutions to our communication problem. Hm, how interesting. Beck¡¯s two goons weren¡¯t the only ones hanging around theorizing. Of all bees, Belphegora and one of Belle¡¯s subordinates were along for the ride in there, having a heated argument about the validity of forcefully controlling Minds versus using Mind to control bodies like puppets. Maybe I should have more regulation on the bees¡¯ interactions. It may not be in the hive¡¯s best interest or even be sensible in any way, but damn, would it give me some peace of mind. ¡°Have you lot figured anything out?¡± Beck instantly responded. Apparently, even Beatrice had chimed in with some ideas of her own at some point. And as a result, an actually decent concept came about. In essence, as Beck went on to explain, Links were our greatest strength as bees. However, such a power was mostly relegated to usefulness among other bees. The Links could be automatically created by the queen (that being myself), and through the queen, all bees would be connected in a hive mind. The Link allows for quick and easy communication, control, and coordination with minimal effort and cost. As for other creatures? That was where things became complicated. All of the benefits previously mentioned went out the window entirely. Vulch¡¯s hive mind was an interesting example. It likely did not come about naturally and, as a result, was limited in some way. If it were as interconnected as our own, Ben wouldn¡¯t have been Vulch¡¯s first introduction to our hive. Not by a long shot. On the subject of Vulch, his containment and hold over my Mind might be something to study in terms of using the Link to control others. However, that wasn¡¯t exactly what we needed. While something like Vulch¡¯s mindscape would be perfect for communicating, it was highly limited. Vulch was vulnerable, and even if I could get around weaknesses like that with B-boxes, it would leave the one I communicated with in a bad spot. Maybe a good idea for combat¡­ But to focus on the Link, Beck explained that forcibly creating a regular Kin Link with the humans would be the best way to achieve every one of our goals. Now the only issue was how to do such a thing. Beck was, to some degree, the resident Link expert, and they thought my idea of simply forming one was the right idea. So the actual issue was not, in fact, how to develop that Kin Link, but rather how to do so without alarming or alerting the humans. That all made perfect sense to me. In theory, my brute-force method would work. It was just how damn stubborn those humans were. Once the Link actually got established, there wouldn¡¯t be an issue, but how to make it¡­ And that was where Beatrice¡¯s idea came in. She had told Beck and the crew about my Egg-Laying level-up options and presented the Linker Bee. Although we didn¡¯t exactly know what these Linker Bees were, the obvious interpretation made them out to be creatures that could provide some function related to Links. Apparently, Beatrice had brought this up because she was confused about the Linker Bees. Why and how had I unlocked something like that? After all, they were a Special Subtype rather than a regular Subtype. Meaning something I had done or encountered had introduced bees with a specialization in Links as a possible option. In my opinion? The fight with the Vulch seemed as good an explanation as any. That whole situation had revolved around Links with the Vulch, and pushing through with a superior aptitude for Links had been the solution. If the Linker Bee could somehow allow us to Link with the humans without them noticing, then the simple action of hatching an egg or five would resolve this entire situation instantly. Beck stressed that such a method was insanely risky. The issues were numerous: I was limited to two Subtype choices, it wasn¡¯t guaranteed that the Linker Bees would work, and countless other issues related to either of those. Overall, it was something of a gamble. If I selected the Linker Bees alongside the Wax Drones, then I would at least need to try them out. If they didn¡¯t work, what would I lose exactly? One of my subtype choices until the next level-up, for one thing. Some time for another. Was it worth the risk? Possibly. Either way, it would take some time for Beck and the others to figure out a reliable Linking method. So it was either give the Linkers a try, during which Beck could try and figure out a method, or try to communicate with the humans as I had done today while Beck figured something out. I certainly knew which option I was personally leaning towards. Chapter 41 - Ben n’ Becks Men Alright, it¡¯s decided. After only a night¡¯s worth of hesitation, I finally decided to gamble on the Linker Bees. What would I really be losing out on by choosing them? I was still getting Wax Drones, and surely I¡¯d be able to choose the other bee options once I leveled up Egg laying again. I guess that meant I¡¯d really have to grind out those eggs. It was a simple matter to select and create the Linker Bee eggs, so all that was left was to wait. I wanted to experiment with them as soon as possible, so I made sure not to oversaturate them with Mind. What would these new bees bring to the table? Well, ideally they would let me Link with other creatures without expending much more Mind or having to stare at someone really intensely. While I waited for them to hatch, I wanted to address two bees. Or rather, two groups of bees. First up was Ben. And after that was Bella. Ben and his two cohorts had been instructed by Beatrice to be more cautious about exploring, considering the new danger posed by adventurous humans. However, we had decided that having them scout out the area between ourselves and the presumed location of the human settlement was a good early warning system, so despite the apparent danger, they were largely exploring the most dangerous parts of the forest. Mainly, I wanted to know more about them. I hadn¡¯t chummed it up with Ben for a hot minute, and he had been enthusiastically exploring the unchanging landscape of the forest for a long while now. And now, with his two buddies in tow, the trio was sniffing around nonstop. That was also likely a factor in the increased detail level on Beatrice¡¯s map. With six eyes, the things that could be seen were amazing. With six eyes, Ben was looking at three times as many burnt trees. Fascinating. Unfortunately, the human appearance had put most of the bees on high alert, so I didn¡¯t want to make them antsy. I could only imagine how freaked out they would become if I so much as left the border wall. ¡°Could you meet me here, Ben?¡± ¡°Absoluuuuutely Momallooooo.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s keep the nicknames tooooo, like, four letters or less, buddy.¡± It wasn¡¯t long before the trio was buzzing before me excitedly. Well, more like a quartet. When did Beatrice get here?! ¡°Heyhoo Mo-ma-roo. Oh wait that¡¯s sevenish letters.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll raise the letter limit.¡± Now, what was up with these two bees? Upon closer inspection, I realized that they made up the perfect generic explorer trio. Ben, the spunky hot-headed leader, a stoic yet apparently immature foil beside him, and a third quiet yet excitable young friend. All in all, they were... charming, I suppose? ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind Momoo, but these two¡¯ve already decided on names they want. Go ahead guys!¡± ¡°We haven¡¯t talked much, Mom, but that¡¯s all good! I wanna be called Bennet!¡± ¡°Hi, Mom. Can I be Benita?¡± ¡­ Well, I guess calling them the Ben Squad fit no matter what. ¡°Did Ben have any say in your names being chosen?¡± Oh god. The look of innocent confusion on all three of their faces was clear as day. They genuinely had no idea what I meant. At least Beatrice, surely¡­ ¡°Those seem like fine names. Perhaps all explorers in the hive should have some variation of a name that includes ¡®Ben¡¯ for ease of organization¡­.¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. I hate it here. ¡°Oh! Maybe we could extend that policy to other groups¡­¡± ¡°While the idea makes sense, let¡¯s not push it too far. Or force it too much. Otherwise, running out of name ideas will become a genuine problem. We¡¯re already doing this ¡®Be¡¯ thing¡­.¡± ¡°Enough about names! You¡¯ll never believe this, Mamalama!¡± Well, at least the other two hadn¡¯t adopted Ben¡¯s frankly ridiculous nicknaming fanaticism. ¡°Yeah, Mom- er, mo¡­ momoromo? There¡¯s a ton of dead squirrels along the path the humans probably took. Free food, fresher than the state of most food in the forest now.¡± ¡°Mhm. Thankfully there haven¡¯t been any more humans that we¡¯ve seen¡­ mamanosuke?¡± ¡°Please. Don¡¯t force it, you two. Leave the nicknaming up to Ben. Just Mom is fine. In any case, all of that is good news! I wonder how long those squirrels have been sitting there dead, then?¡± ¡°Oh!¡± Beatrice lit up, ¡°Your brilliance truly knows no bounds, Mother! Leave it to you to get into the heads of those humans. If we figure out how long it has been since the squirrels left, we can discern a wealth of information. Perhaps we can even estimate how far the human settlement is without drawing too close.¡± ¡°Of course, Beatrice. Why don¡¯t you run along and figure that stuff out? I think I feel a headache coming on from thinking about that so hard.¡± ¡°Ah, but there is something I feel I must discuss with you¡­¡± ¡°You already know what she¡¯s talking about. Stop stalling and help Beck already!¡± Beatrice¡¯s concerns were, admittedly, warranted. I had decided to leave things up to Beck, so why bother trying to do it myself? I could just let Beck take care of things. It was working so far with Beatrice. Even better, I had already gotten started on the Linker Bees hatching, so I had time while I waited for them to hatch. ¡°Sure, but instead of using that time to have some quality time with the children, which I admittedly am liking very much, you should be using this time to speed up Beck¡¯s research, no? You are the one who would ultimately do the best at establishing the Link.¡± I suppose that made the most sense. It was decided. I would work my ass off to return to peaceful times so my children could enjoy their lives in peace. That was mother-like, right? _____________ You know, when I had determined that I had arrived in a fantasy-like world with psychic powers and whatnot, I certainly hadn¡¯t expected that singing was a way to train the brain. When I arrived back at the central hive and found Beck and their apprentices, I was expecting a deep meditation and quiet thoughtfulness as I had sometimes seen Beck practicing. Instead, I was listening to the shrill voices of two young bees trying their best to sing with their Minds. ¡°Dance! Alight! Always in the fight! Stomp! And Smash! Everybody bash!¡± ¡°Cruelty. Oh, if cruelty is thy name, perish. The world and everyone within, will perish too, in cruelty.¡± At this point, I couldn¡¯t be bothered to be confused or weirded out. All of the bees were little weirdoes, and that was that. But damn, were these two wacky. ¡°Ah, Becky and Beckham, no? I guess the naming convention had already been a thing since before the Ben Squad¡­ Anyways, what in blazes are you two talking about?¡± I hadn¡¯t interacted with either of Beck¡¯s proteges much (not saying much when it came to the newest bees), but the last time I had taken a close look at them, they were wildly different. Before, they weren¡¯t overly unique, being subdued and skittish even. But now¡­ "Sibling-Master Beck has enlightened us to your ascended ways, Mother! By becoming in tune with our individuality, we have greatly expanded our capabilities and are more prepared to serve the hive than ever before!¡± ¡°Yeah¡­. Like, Sibling-Master Beck¡¯s vibe has flowed through us to the point that we are completely one with the hive¡­ and ourselves. Myself, I have become engrossed with the idea of ¡®poetry.¡¯ The ability to express your emotions with words and flow is amazing, but combining it with your Mind totally opens the universe.¡± ¡°Poetry is nice, Brother-Disciple Beckham, but I find music to be the true arbiter of emotion! You get all the greatness of poetry plus the energy and wildness of singing!¡± Were these guys a cult or what? The cult of Beck and expressing oneself. Well, I suppose it could be a worse goal to strive for. But man, I was really thrown off there. ¡°And how do those things help with¡­ Links, exactly?¡± ¡°As Sibling-Master Beck has, like, explained it to us, the Links that we form are a pale imitation of your own feats. So, by using our individuality, we can strengthen our Minds and observe the Link¡¯s, like, flow.¡± Oh, alright. So the Link¡¯s, like, flow, was like, the, like, answer. Hm. I think I actually got what Beckham was trying to explain. Rather than create their own links and learn from that, they were instead trying to study my own Link. I already knew it was possible to ¡®observe¡¯ the connections and all that of the Link, but it came naturally to me. It made sense that coming in tune with your own Mind allowed you to pick out the Link and see how it worked. So it was actually a bit more technical than they let on. ¡°How about you, Beck? Any progress?¡± Wow, the other two had more Beck in them than I thought. It was easy to get used to, but the melodious, almost hypnotizing way Beck¡¯s words flowed into my Mind was just¡­ beautiful. Beck¡¯s explanation was more succinct. Everything the disciples had explained was stuff they had figured out a while ago, so at this point, they were trying to recreate my Link from scratch. Which, was that really necessary? My Link was a natural gift from being a bee, right? Apparently, Beck disagreed. Sure, the current Kin Link was something of a natural capability, but it was crucial to understand the inner workings of the Links to move to the next level. Next level, huh? That was certainly my language. Beck again circled back to the Vulch. His Link had been worse than mine, but that connection had likely been formed from some combination of natural (or unnatural, whatever that meant) capabilities bolstered by the Vulch¡¯s desire for connection to his kin. As bees, our Link was perfect for commanding giant hives of drones. Instant, cheap, effortless. But our hive was different. If we wanted to make full use of our capabilities, why not strengthen that which is already natural for us? As such had been the focus of Beck¡¯s research for weeks, apparently. They had been poring over the Kin Link, studying each connection and node to understand the Kin Link as much as possible. Only when the humans appeared did that research become vital to the hive¡¯s survival. Unfortunately, Beck¡¯s research had been focused on deeper understanding. So they had to pivot pretty hard to fulfill my specific request: linking to other creatures in a non-intrusive, speedy way. ¡°Your research probably could help with that, actually. I should¡¯ve come sooner. I could potentially speed up your process by helping myself, right?¡± At that, Beck became overjoyed. They gave their disciples an assignment: forcefully create a Link with a living squirrel and demanded that they leave us until they were successful. And so, it was just Beck and me in their dark little room. We formulated a game plan. I would create a new Link between us, and Beck would observe it closely. Obviously, I would be paying close attention, and I could actually do so better than Beck thanks to the B-Boxes. If we worked together and figured out how to create a Link from scratch, then maybe we could figure out a way to create a silent Link. Sure, it was likely that the process of manually creating a Link would take a long-ass time, but if it were truly silent, then the time taken would ultimately have been worth it if we could Link with the humans. Surely it wouldn¡¯t end up being a confusing, broken, downright insufferable process nearly on par with teaching one¡¯s own language to aliens from another world, right? Chapter 42 - Meaty Mind Meeting With barely a hint of resistance, I pushed, and my Mind and Beck¡¯s were connected. A thought, and that extra connection was gone. Push, connection. Thought, gone. For once, the miraculous convenience of the Mind system was being a bother. If things hadn¡¯t lined up so perfectly, I would¡¯ve been happily going about my business just crushing things and picking eggs on a menu, but noooo. I had to put effort into it. ¡°Are you doing alright, Beck?¡± They responded with affirmation, though I was getting somewhat concerned about their increasingly labored breathing. If they were fine, though¡­ I pushed as slowly as I could manage. I tried to emulate the strings of the Link, reaching out and pushing into the node that was Beck. But the problem persisted. Mainly that I was already linked to Beck. When I made my push, the imaginary tendril of Mind got tangled with the existing cord and connected in the same place without a problem. I tried pulling the tendril away, and almost instantly, that extra connection was gone. If it weren¡¯t for the B-boxes, I probably wouldn¡¯tve been able to process how suddenly the tendril just vanished. I felt I was understanding the linking process a bit more, but not enough. If I wanted to apply my knowledge to the more difficult example of humans, I needed a much deeper understanding. I tried thinking about it from another angle. How did I create the Link when it was done automatically? I always describe the feeling as pushing¡­ something. All it really feels like is pushing, as in physical exertion, but with my thoughts. Other than that, all it really involves is a vague thought of ¡®I want to make a Link.¡¯ ¡°Are you getting anything, Beck? Actually, we should take a break; you¡¯re not looking so hot.¡± After catching their breath, Beck took a moment to think. Meanwhile, I was wracking my boxes, trying to deconstruct the process of Linking. If I could communicate with the humans, who had grown up and lived in a world with psychic powers their whole lives, then maybe I could get some hints about this whole thing. Of course, this whole process was precisely for that purpose. Finally, Beck started to slowly roll out some theories. Unfortunately, those theories made absolutely no sense. ¡®Words of the Mind¡¯? ¡®Soulspeak¡¯? Was Beck just making up words? ¡°I believe Beck is trying to interpret the pushing and pulling in their own unique way. Since Beck is so in tune with words and links, they see the process as a form of speaking as opposed to your typical idea of speaking with¡­ sounds? From your mouth?¡± ¡°Unfortunately, those theories, while insightful to your brain, Beck, won¡¯t help with the goal. Hm. I think I need to practice Linking with creatures other than the bees. Like how you instructed your¡­ disciples to Link with squirrels. Maybe I could do that too? But with the goal of Linking without the squirrel noticing?¡± ¡°It might be possible, but I have noticed that you continually underestimate our Mind. Simply appearing before the humans has an impact on them. Perhaps you should first figure out how to reign in your Mind¡¯s presence?¡± I get where you¡¯re coming from, Queen, but is it worth it? All we know is that apparently, my ¡®mental power¡¯ going ¡®out of control¡¯ when I became frustrated trying to teach Yelah about circles and x¡¯s was a problem somehow. Judging by how they usually reacted in my presence, it was tough to tell if they were just scared or physically affected. Sure, it was actually noticeable when they became pale and shuddered and practically fell over with foaming mouths, but still. Anyways, what was the point? The Linker Bees would hatch within the next day. Do I take that shred of time to try and become as competent with the Links as I can? Or improve the control over my Mind¡¯s ¡®scary aura¡¯? Maybe I should even take that time to do literally anything else. ¡°You¡­ you are right. In that case, I suppose maximizing the time spent practicing with the Link might be a good option.¡± Fair enough. Queen agreeing with me? Means I must be totally right. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. My thoughts were interrupted by Beck¡¯s hemming and hawing. They slowly drawled an idea they had about Mind itself. I suppose I had been thinking aloud at some point because they said I had mentioned something interesting about how I create the Links. The key was having a vague thought. Looking back, using Mind was essentially thinking of something happening, then your Mind actually did that thing. Even if that thing was physically impossible. I thought of lifting the gun, I thought of making a ball of dirt, and I even thought of thinking better. Essentially, Beck was trying to imply that we were overthinking Mind. So, was the whole process just the power of imagination? Imagination?! No, there had to be something we were missing. Sure, anything we could imagine, we were apparently able to do to some degree, but if that were the case, then this world just would not work. There had to be limits. Hell, I had encountered limits myself. The power of your Mind, natural talent perhaps, even the resources available to you. If Mind was a resource management game, then we didn¡¯t have infinite resources to play around with. My stomach rumbled. ¡°Beck, we need to continue thinking about this. Let¡¯s keep discussing this idea over dinner.¡± We headed over to the clearing just outside and prepared to stuff our faces. _______ ¡°So, Mind acts as a wish-giving agent? How curious. I suppose it was clear, but something so fantastical seems like it should not be possible.¡± Beatrice, the psychic talking bee secretary, made a good point. Mind was essentially a resource that could grant wishes, at least to some degree. I had classified our abilities as psychic powers because most aspects of Mind seemed related to, well, the mind. ¡°So, Mind isn¡¯t super strong psychic powers? It¡¯s WISH MAGIC?!¡± ¡°I do not think that could be discounted necessarily, Ben, but this time I believe Mother¡¯s knowledge may have caused some confusion.¡± ¡°I think I understand what you mean. I¡¯ve been spending some of my newly opened time studying the eggs that have yet to hatch, and they certainly seem like magic. And yet, some aspects of them, especially the Link and their rapid mental development, fit with Mother¡¯s knowledge of ¡®psychic powers¡¯ to a tee.¡± ¡°Exactly. I would posit that psychic powers are, in truth, some sort of supernatural capability of people to influence reality. In short, the capability to grant wishes. However-¡° ¡°But they¡¯re limited, ha! We can do whatever. Like Looking!¡± ¡°Yes, Ben. Like Looking. For whatever reason, ¡®psychic powers¡¯ are highly limited while our Minds do not have a limit besides their own unique aspects.¡± ¡°I feel that. If it were that easy, commanding the builders would be a snap! But I always feel like¡­ like there¡¯s parts I can¡¯t get past yet. But I¡¯m getting there, so it is possible to grow.¡± ¡°Indeed. Natural talent plays a strangely prominent role in the capabilities of one¡¯s Mind¡­ Of course, personal growth means that you can expand your personal power regardless, which affords you further resources. However, there are aspects I believe you have considered as odd, correct Mother?¡± Hm? Me? You guys were doing fine! Keep talking! No, that time has passed. They¡¯re all looking at me expectantly. Damn. What would Beatrice mean? Something I considered odd? Pretty much everything about this. I had lived here for some time, but it was incomparable to the decades of life I had in a significantly more mundane world. Think! ¡°Whatever you say, she will probably connect it to her actual thoughts regardless. Just mention any of the slightly strange aspects; how about the System elements? The ease of use of Mind? The seemingly limitless capabilities of Mind, to the point of attracting the attention of actual deities?¡± ¡°Ah. There¡¯s lots of strange aspects, like the System ease of use elements of Mind¡¯s limitless capabilities pointing at attention of actual deities.¡± ¡°You had practically limitless time to construct a satisfying response thanks to the unfathomable power of your mental boxes, and you-¡° ¡°Mother¡­ I could not have said it better myself. However, allow me to decipher your wise diatribe to accommodate the mental faculties of the others.¡± Ha! See, Queen? I¡¯m more smarter! ¡°If my estimations are correct, then my astonishing talent has been commandeered by a disreputable creature undeserving of those gifts.¡± Well, if it weren¡¯t for me, you wouldn¡¯t even know any of those fancy-schmancy words. So I¡¯d say we¡¯re pretty even. ¡°What Mother means is that the two important points of interest are Mind and the System created by the gods. Mind allows us to perform truly incredible feats, but have any of you tried to use Mind without the System? Because of the Systems that govern our capabilities, we are able to minutely manage our Mind usage, understand our limits, and even do things with perfectly optimized Mind usage. Beck has already described their struggles with creating Links from scratch. The gods have limited our usage of Mind in ways that allow us to use Mind efficiently and without consequence.¡± ¡°In fact, Mother is something of an anomaly. She is constantly experimenting outside of the System¡¯s suggestions and frameworks. The dirt ball food storage slash prison is odd, as is her unique use of Links, and so much more. If we are to continue progressing as a hive, we should follow in her example and expand our Minds.¡± ¡°¡±¡¯ Hear hear!¡±¡±¡± Hear hear! Huh!? That was just stuff I thought I could do with psychic powers! I mean, making a ball of dirt wasn¡¯t that special, right? The force field bit was somewhat wacky, but still. Didn¡¯t Beatrice herself do weird stuff like make mental maps? ¡°Try to be careful when you guys do that, though. The consequences are still something I haven¡¯t even experienced fully.¡± I took another giant bite out of the hunk of cooked squirrel meat. I suppose it was inevitable that I¡¯d have to eat these little guys. I had to eat a whole squirrel earlier to make a few Linker Bees. At least Bella had figured out cooking at some point, apparently with the help of Belle. Speaking of those two¡­ I once again eyed the glob of shiny crimson liquid sitting on a dull electric crystal. The chunk of crystal was just concave enough to act as something of a bowl for the mystery substance that everyone in the clearing had looked at curiously over the course of family dinner time. Bella and Belle especially were nervously glancing at the goop and myself constantly. Was this the experiment? Meat honey? Had Bella and Belle finally figured out a process to make honey out of flesh? It sounded pretty nasty. Well, it was honey in theory, right? That natural sweet? The delectable nectar? The bane of bears everywhere? Setting down the chunk of meat, I finally made the neutralized crystal float to my proboscis. A moment of hesitation. I couldn¡¯t disappoint the expectant looks from this strange concoction¡¯s creators. A sip. A single, tentative sip. ¡°H-how is it, Mother? Belle and I tried to make it work¡­.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡­ A tear from my eye. ¡°Delicious. So delicious.¡± Again learn to cry. Chapter 43 - Horrors Beeyond Your Comprehension The day after those intensive Mind revelations with Beck, I was trying to figure out how to die. Okay, maybe I was being a bit dramatic, but seriously. I had gone to sleep perfectly happily after having eaten a delightful dinner, but this morning. This morning. This. Morning. Bella and Belle had apparently become really enthusiastic about their meat honey after I had given them high praise, so they had stayed up laboring, perfecting the process and making stores of honey. The storage area was now using space extremely effectively, housing dense foodstuffs within the wax combs in the classic honeycomb fashion. But this morning. This morning I had walked in on them making the honey. Excuse me. ¡°You are such a drama queen. I¡¯m supposed to be the queen.¡± You bees. You could never comprehend how utterly nasty it was to see that. I would prefer not to describe it, but it was all over. The memory of¡­ that had already been stored away, ready to be retrieved at a moment¡¯s notice. I needed to have an auto-delete feature to instantly remove any and all horrific memories. ¡°Forget that. Welcome, babies!¡± As Queen spoke, the five Linker Bee eggs hatched all at once. The little grubs were starting to look a bit cute even. Especially these. They were so small! Wait. What in tarnation!? Usually, the grubs that hatched were quite tiny. Comparing sizes, I was up to most of the humans¡¯ waists, and the workers were about half my size on average. The bees that were around that size grew up from grubs smaller than my head. As of now, the only bees that were still that size even after maturing were Ben and Beelzebub. Even then, both were somehwat bigger than my head for comparison¡¯s sake. These guys were shrinking. The grubs the size of my head were continuing to shrink and shrink. And shrink. Finally, they stopped, ending up smaller than my freaking eyes. ¡°Uh. Hi there, little guys.¡± ¡­ Nothing. Hm. So, were these Linker Bees drone types? Judging by how they were just sort of crawling around, not sending anything through the Link besides sensory information, that seemed to be the case. ¡°Alright. It¡¯s a bit early I think, but if they¡¯re drone types, then we don¡¯t need to wait for them to figure their shit out. Let¡¯s just go try to Link to the humans, then.¡± I gathered up the five tiny bees and let them cling onto my torso as we floated our way out of the central hive towards the dirt ball. Actually, if the humans in this world were anywhere near the same size as humans from my world, then these Linker Bees were the first normal-sized bees I had created. I suppose rather than tiny, they were quite ordinary. Those tiny bees clung to my hairs as all of us floated away. Yup. Just me, the Linker Bees, and Beatrice. Was she a ninja or something? ¡°Hey Beatrice. I thought you were going to be developing a production plan for the meat honey? Oh, I suppose you¡¯ve already done it. Wow, you¡¯re good.¡± Beatrice beamed with pride all the way to the dirt prison. Honestly? She deserved that feeling of pride. Beatrice had been tirelessly working to make sure the hive ran smoothly and expanded as efficiently as possible. I wish I could afford to give her time to chill out, but honestly, she would probably hate that. I had to think of some other way to reward her. How do you reward someone for whom work is the reward? If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. In any case, the time was upon us. I dragged out Yelah and Dip once again, apparently waking them up. Oops. ¡°Quick. One of you Linker Bees, uh, Link to her!¡± I wasn¡¯t sure what to expect. One of the Linkers buzzed down to Yelah¡¯s disoriented neck and stung her. Wha. ¡°Ow! The fuck is that?¡± Oh shit! I sent a mental signal for Yelah to stop moving because her hand was going for the classic neck slap. Okay. Okay, calm the hell down, Beatrice! So much just happened right there. Linker Bee number one was currently attached just above the nape of Yelah¡¯s neck, unmoving. As soon as it had stuck its stinger into her neck, a Link had been created in a mere instant. I had been confused for a moment, but looking back with the B-boxes, I could see that the Link had been created quickly and without resistance. Or, to be more correct, the Link had been lunk. Now, that didn¡¯t make a lot of sense, but bear with me. I was getting an idea of how exactly the Linker Bees worked. Essentially, they were Link parasites. I hadn¡¯t mentioned it because it was so normal for me, but the Linker Bees had been included in the Kin Link automatically as soon as they had been born. That Kin Link that the Linker Bees had was a bit different, though. And it was all tied to an Ability. [Linker Stinger Level 1 Acquired by: Birth Link outside the links. By creating a physical connection, entangle the Mind. Caution: Unless otherwise instructed, the user¡¯s Mind will pull resources until Link is successfully established. ] These Abilities, man. A quick look told me that the Link to LB1 had increased drastically, more than tripling. Tripling! It wasn¡¯t breaking the bank, but it was certainly more than a Link to the simple drones should be. Rather than actually Linking directly to Yelah¡¯s Mind, the Linker Bee was hijacking her Mind somehow, using the physical connection of the stinger to attach its own link like a Mind leech. As Yelah sat there with her arm raised, frozen in place, a horrified look on her face, I felt sick. This¡­ this was terrible. ¡°This is fantastic! The Linker Bees are precisely what we needed. We should Link all of the humans immediately; the quicker we can learn their secrets and create a timeline, the better of a position we will be in.¡± Hold on, Beatrice. Was this the price I was paying for convenience? Creating actual brain parasites? Now we were really monstrous. It was clear as day with Yelah still stuck in place. ¡°I do not understand your hesitation. This was always the plan. If you Linked your Mind to theirs in any other way, the goal was to have a one-way connection that allowed you to control them and prevent retaliation.¡± But¡­ it was so¡­ disturbing seeing it in real life. ¡°¡­The rest of you. Go in there and Link with the other humans.¡± I instructed the other Linker Bees to enter a small hole in the dirt ball, and one by one, they buzzed in. And one by one, I made each human be still. Regardless of my feelings on the matter, this was what we needed. Right? Four humans and a penguin, sitting in a row. Two in dire health, oh my no. ¡°Okay. First off, hello. My name is¡­ well, just call me Mother. I need to know right now: when will other humans be coming to find you?¡± Yelah and Grehn, the big guy, looked at each other in bewilderment, probably because they were hearing my words beautifully translated straight into their heads in their own language. Surely, my vocabulary and word usage would sound sophisticated and unmatched in their heads. ¡°I¡­ see. We are willing to comply if you help us live. Clearly, you would prefer us to live, so please. Help my friends.¡± ¡°I will. But I absolutely need that information.¡± ¡°¡­A month and a half. More likely eight weeks, but at minimum around six weeks.¡± ¡­Uh huh. Unfortunately for Yelah, I assumed she was lying. Any reasonable warden would. Of course, a typical prison guard wouldn¡¯t have the entire contents of your brain to comb through to figure out the truth. Yup. As soon as I had Linked to Yelah, my B-boxes went into overdrive. In moments, I technically ¡®knew¡¯ as much about this world as a full-grown adult mercenary woman who had lived here for twenty-six years. It wasn¡¯t perfect for me. The knowledge was all sort of in my subconscious, not things I could think of off the top of my head. If I wanted to know anything, I would have to search. Good thing the B-boxes could do that just as well. At this point, I had a glorified search engine in my head. The knowledge, memories, and experiences of four competent mercenaries and their penguin buddy were all sitting quietly back there, being sorted and organized and filed away for whenever I needed them. As for what Yelah had told me? Let me just¡­ ¡®how long until other humans come save mercenaries or complete job.¡¯ And with that, the lie was exposed. The real minimum for her own company to specifically send a team to investigate her team¡¯s disappearance was around three weeks. Of course, it could be much worse. Actually, a bit of panic was beginning to set in. We were well within the company¡¯s timeframe, but they weren¡¯t the only party involved. There was the city lord. Much more likely that he would become impatient and send another company in here. A week maybe? ¡°Beatrice. Put the hive on even higher alert, if that¡¯s possible. If we don¡¯t do something soon, teams of human mercenaries could be knocking on our door any second. The humans had arrived at the hive around two days ago. Other than that, they had been trekking through the forest for a few days. Out of the week that they had been given for the Estimated Time of Completion, that time was nearly over. Within the next couple of days, they were already expected to return. Fuck fuckity fuck! The city lord would definitely not be waiting for Hayrey and Sons¡¯ Mercenary Company time policy to run out. That meant we had less than a week to do something, taking into account the time it would take for the mercenaries to make their way through the forest. Honestly, less if the city lord has already thrown a fit! Hell, they could be on their way right now! ¡°Just want to let you know that I know you¡¯re lying, Yelah. It was the reasonable thing to do, but it doesn¡¯t matter now. What does matter is that I would prefer not to have more humans know about us yet. Especially not with your City Lord¡¯s paranoia about the vultures.¡± ¡°Now, I¡¯ll help your two friends, but that won¡¯t be enough. You¡¯ll be helping us.¡± Chapter 44 - Brrring! It’s the call to adventure! After pouring a generous heaping of the strange, smokey honey into my gullet, I washed the thick syrup down with the fresh river water. The bees had done a miraculous job at adapting to the barren, burned forest, and for that, I could give them some praise. On the other hand, their medical expertise was abysmal. The Queen, for I refused to refer to it as ¡®Mother,¡¯ seemed to have some general medical knowledge, insisting that Rette¡¯s wounds be kept clean at all times and thoroughly bandaged. Despite her continuously worsening condition, however, the damn things were far more interested in Vlugh. What was so intriguing about Mind Collapse, anyhow? They were so bizarre, at once seeming like genius creatures with a well of wisdom and knowledge. In the next moment, they questioned how brutally assaulting the Mind with crushing force could cause this sort of harm. That dichotomy was what I had begun to stew over. While rare, it wasn¡¯t unheard of for lesser creatures to become incredibly wise or intelligent. There were any number of factors. Animals that were naturally born with powerful Minds, or creatures that had lived extensively long lives, could certainly reach higher levels of thought. The bees fit one category, at least. They were uncommon creatures but were generally known for having naturally above-average Minds to enhance their hive behaviors. It was certainly not normal to encounter such mentally advanced creatures so suddenly, but at least my scrambled thoughts could settle. But there were other things. Things that just made no sense. I had seen bees before; anyone born near or who commonly ventured into the Vultuous Forest was no stranger to the insects. But these bees were unnatural in every sense of the word. They all had personalities and individual features, they could all speak coherently with their Minds, and they were all adept at using their Mind as a tool. They still refused to take us closer to their hive¡¯s center, but we encountered several unique individuals. There was the massive warrior with a stinger longer than my body who guarded us at all times. Despite the natural terror I felt when I looked at him, he was surprisingly valiant, aware of our discomforts, and offering care. It was he that instructed some other workers to bring us the strange honey rather than the rotting chunks of meat, and for that, I was grateful. But on the other end was a trio of hyperactive bees we rarely saw or the small red and black bee whose insectoid face I could now somehow interpret as murderous. And all of it was connected to the Queen herself. What disturbed me the most were the occasional words that popped into my head, likely coming from the Queen. ¡®Microchip¡¯? ¡®Helicopter¡¯? ¡®Pizza¡¯??? They were things I had never before heard of, and they were coming from an insect. What sort of bizarre knowledge did this creature have? How? Almost as scary was how limited that knowledge was for me and Grehn and Dip. The Queen was an extremely gifted creature, manipulating Mind so effortlessly that their knowledge barely exposed itself to us while our entire Minds were laid bare to them. I resisted the urge to reach behind my neck. Even if I could, my arm would always freeze before I could get close enough to the slightly numb patch above my nape. Whatever they had done to us had thrown any planning of mine out the proverbial window. No matter what deception we used, no matter how desperately we struggled, they had somehow managed to wrest control of our Minds away from us. Not for the first time, I thought of Life. I was no longer able to change it, thanks to the terrifying degree of control the bees had, but it was right there. A simple, painless death to regain my freedom. A final act of choice. Stolen. ¡°Is that really your final decision, Yelah?¡± I looked over my shoulder. Grehn had been a lifeline in these past few awful days. Almost as much as Dip. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. ¡°Yes,¡± I said, standing up to face him, ¡°I won¡¯t be giving up, but I need time and resources. And we need to save Rette.¡± ¡°And Vlugh.¡± ¡± Sure, whatever. Vlugh too. In any case, we can¡¯t win against these bees. They likely know the contents of this very conversation, I¡¯m sure. They¡¯ll know my plans, even if I only imagine them. So let¡¯s be frank: we have to help them infiltrate Yiwi. Once we¡¯re there and can get some decent medical help for the others, we can figure out a way to break free.¡± He took on a ponderous look, unbefitting his harsh, warrior demeanor, ¡°I get all that, but is it really the best idea? Once they get into Yiwi undetected, it might be impossible to stop them. All they would have to do is sneak in a whole bunch of the things they use to control us, and Yiwi is done for.¡± ¡°Even so,¡± I sighed, ¡°I will prioritize Rette and Vlugh¡¯s safety. The King can figure out what to do with Yiwi for all I care. Hell, maybe that stupid City Lord will finally get what¡¯s coming to him for letting those wackjobs destroy the forest.¡± ___________ The humans¡¯ conversation was just full of interesting information. I felt bad for them, in a way. Maybe it was just my empathy as a former human talking, but how were you supposed to plan for stuff against an entity that knows your every thought? Thankfully, Yelah wasn¡¯t putting up much of a fight. The grievous injuries Rette and Vlugh had gotten turned out to be something of a boon in that sense. Well, for us. Not for them. Beatrice sure was devious. She basically hadn¡¯t stopped talking since I relayed all the important news about the new deadlines. I wanted to tear into her for feeding the humans fucking rotting meat, but she was doing a great job at not letting me get a word in edgewise. ¡°You absolutely, positively, in no way can be allowed to accompany the humans to their city. Considering how the range of the Link is more limited than expected, Beck has already made preparations for Beckham to join the advance force. He will act as a relay to essentially extend the effective range of the Link, allowing for the humans to remain fully within our control. I still believe more warriors should join the force, but if only two are going to be allowed, I have decided that one of the Valkybees must be included and have arranged for Belphegora to accompany the other warrior as a pair. On that note, we should likely name the warrior, as he has already proven worth as a vice-commander to Beryl and has essentially replaced her as the active leader of the warriors in combat. Furthermore¡­¡± Even in things she seemed like she wanted me to chime in on, she just kept going! Like, I named the bees all the time! I could probably think of something more productive, but¡­ Well, if I was right, the warrior we were sending was that one guy who loved to flex all the time, right? Uh, flexing is kinda like bending, right? Let¡¯s call him Bend. ¡°It is still ill-advised, in my opinion, for all three of the Ben Squad to be in the advance force, but I can accept the merit. With Bedivere freed, I will assign him to be on constant vigilant watch at the hive¡¯s perimeter.¡± ¡°Okay! Beatrice, let-¡° ¡°Oh, and we cannot forget the hive¡¯s internals. Despite the potential drain on our resources, I suggest birthing as many warriors as possible. Additionally, you must, as in absolutely must, create a significant number of Linker Bees. We would ideally have the resources to take control of the entire City of Yiwi as a safeguard.¡± ¡°Beatrice! All good ideas! All good! But the time for action is pretty much now! Let¡¯s focus on getting the advance team out the door as soon as possible; then, we can worry about other stuff. I want them to get going before nightfall today.¡± Beatrice finally deflated a little once I successfully interrupted her. It had been hours of her nonstop panic, which only reinforced to me that experience was really a valuable thing. I was by no means experienced with, well, preparing for covert infiltration and complete domination of an entire developed human city, but we all had to start somewhere. I once contributed to the brainstorming of optimizing a circuit for a certain type of battery. Close enough, right? We were in a bit in over our heads, to be blunt. ¡°In this situation, Beatrice, we have to be decisive. We don¡¯t have time to make the best possible plan; we have to come up with something good and make it work.¡± ¡°I¡­ I understand. Then, I will gather the advance force.¡± Together, we headed over to the western border of the hive. We didn¡¯t technically need to go in person, but this was really a monumental moment. Along with the humans and Dip, a host of bees would be traveling alongside them for all manner of things. Ben and his squad, Beckham, Belphegora, Bend, and four other warriors. I finally did relent and let four others accompany the pair of Belphegora and Bend, mostly out of anxiety. I would have to trust our current warriors to protect the hive. Of course, I would be making more. Many, many more. Before me was that small gathering of bees. It was decided that Bella and her team of gatherers, including the drones and her always-crying little helper, would follow them soon, but for now, she would stay to make sure the honey production could be maintained. That second team, along with a contingent of guards and a heaping helping of Linker Bees, would be the reinforcements for this advance squadron. As for this group, well, they were mostly a reconnaissance team meant to survey and assess the human city. Basically preparing us for a possible full-on infiltration. Plus, some protection, just in case. Always bring protection. Ah, I had also insisted that Ben go for a¡­ somewhat selfish personal reason. I wanted to see the city with my own eyes, or with Ben¡¯s at least. I wasn¡¯t sure if he was small enough to go into town and get the nitty-gritty details, but it was the best I could do! I wanted to see a fantasy city, dammit! Theoretically, I could see the city whenever I wanted, thanks to Yelah and her friends. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t to my satisfaction. I wanted to see everything live, without limit. Plus, there was just too much to do in the hive at the moment. The time had finally come for me to actually look forward to egg-laying. Not because I enjoyed the experience, mind you! But it was a relatively effortless task that required little thought. Since it was something I didn¡¯t have to think about, I could take that time to inspect the humans¡¯ memories like browsing a streaming site or something, and learn more about the world in a conscious way. But if you had the choice between watching a documentary about wizards or seeing wizards in person, what would you choose? That was pretty much the situation here! Of course, I had other things that needed to be done. I had to get stronger and improve the B-boxes. I could at least use the humans¡¯ knowledge of Mind in that case. But there was also hive planning and resource management that had to be done. Well, that could all come later. As for this advance force¡­ ¡°You are all embarking on a treacherous journey,¡± I began. Finally, another chance to make a cool speech! ¡°The squirrels were a stepping stone, and the vultures were a boulder. Now, we face a mountain. Be cautious. At all costs, do not make yourselves known to the humans until we have worked something out. Unless we have joined with them or made them join the hive through force, they pose a potential threat. You are a competent, elite group of the hive, and you have my complete and utter trust. Now go, and ensure our safety. The future of the hive is in your hands.¡± ¡°¡±¡± Yes, Mother!¡±¡±¡± Hey, that wasn¡¯t too bad! Even Beatrice was tearing up. Oh? So were the humans! Wait, I think they¡¯re more terrified than moved. Oh well. Off to the City of Yiwi! Chapter 45 – No Honey Business Fortunately for me, watching a ragtag group of bees and humans and penguin trek through a dull and depressing forest landscape was¡­ pretty boring. I say fortunately because there was so much other stuff to do. ¡°Okay Beatrice, where should we begin?¡± ¡°In your case, Mother? Egg-laying.¡± Honestly, what was I expecting? I had certainly warmed up to the idea of laying eggs since I had done it so often, but it really wasn¡¯t something to look forward to. ¡°I look forward to it.¡± Sure, but I¡¯m saying it¡¯s not something normal people would look forward to. Besides, there were significantly more interesting things to do. I was sure that I had barely scratched the surface of B-boxes, and there were plenty of things I probably hadn¡¯t even thought to do. I needed a way to distance myself from egg-laying. The obvious answer had to be other queens, right? ¡°Indeed, it is possible for a queen to lay other queens. However, my mother typically sent us away when we had matured enough in order to create our own hives. I suppose it would be possible to have other queens do your job¡­.¡± Hm. But the only way to unlock the queen subtype¡­ ¡°Would be to lay more eggs.¡± Of course. Of all my tasks, that was ultimately the most important. And so, I headed back to the central hive and settled into my room. Beatrice, meanwhile, said she was going to try and figure out how to continue such things as my Forest Revitalization Project while still expanding the hive. Now all that was left was to wait patiently for the workers to file in through the super not-so-secret side passage to the food compartment. Well, at least I could follow through on my vision of dinner and a show. Said show being the private and sensitive memories of this world¡¯s humans. ¡°Hiya, Ma!¡± ¡°Oh, hi Bella! Are you still helping Belle with the new honey thing? How are you faring? I know you prefer being out and about.¡± ¡°Yup! But it¡¯s been tough sitting still here for so long; I don¡¯t know how she does it all day. But, wouldn¡¯t you know all that stuff?¡± ¡°Er, I have a pretty good idea of the hive¡¯s goings-on, but I haven¡¯t exactly been keeping up with each bee¡¯s personal thoughts, unfortunately. It just feels better when you guys consciously tell me what you¡¯re thinking anyways.¡± ¡°Gotcha! In that case, I need some help.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ I don¡¯t know what to do with myself! I¡¯m gonna be totally honest: everything just feels wack! Going around and gathering stuff is what I like doing, but it¡¯s just been feeling dull. I like doing stuff with the food too, but that¡¯s also feeling dull. But at the same time, those are the things I wanna do, no matter what!¡± Well. That honesty was actually super refreshing. For once, I didn¡¯t have to interpret things or straight-up read minds to know what was going on. ¡°Any other details you can give me?¡± ¡°Hmmmm. Well, right now I just want to help Belle with the honey, but I¡¯m scared about that too. Just doing the same thing, over and over¡­ I like it, but I don¡¯t!¡± ¡°I think I get it. You like doing a certain thing, but you don¡¯t want to do certain things all the time, except you actually do.¡± ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°She certainly shares qualities of yours. Seriously, what in the world are you two even talking about?¡± ¡°Here¡¯s a thought: why not try doing the same things differently? I think a problem might be the sameness of everything. It¡¯s a bit contradictory that you like doing the same things but probably crave some variety. But in that case, that¡¯s exactly what you might want to try. You like gathering, but as Ben has made painfully clear, the forest has gotten waaaaay too samey. He might be endlessly entertained by it, but I bet you want to gather something different.¡± The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°But¡­ how am I supposed to gather new things?¡± ¡°Sadly,¡± I shook my head, ¡°that probably isn¡¯t possible for now. But you have other things you want to do, right? Like with food? A really hard challenge might be coming up with something on the level of the meat honey, but I have a better idea.¡± ¡°How about doing stuff with honey? It¡¯s efficient and tasty, but what if you could make it even better?¡± That last part was where she got a gleam in her eye. ¡°Make it better¡­? Do stuff with it¡­ Aha! Perfect! Thanks, Ma!¡± She zipped away, and I was a bit concerned. It was good that she was inspired, but wasn¡¯t she still in the middle of working on the honey production? Though, as Belle¡¯s workers began to buzz into my room carrying wax bowls full to the brim with honey, it was made apparent that they had probably figured things out. As the workers placed the bowls nearby and rushed back to get more, I started to inhale the sweet, smoky nectar. Mmmmm. There were just so many advantages in turning the rotted and fresh meat into this stuff. It would basically never expire, it could easily be stored in the natural honeycombs that were formed by Bess, and of course, it was delicious. Ah, and there was one more thing. After just one of the small bowls, I already had more than enough material to start laying. This honey was a perfect foodstuff for us bees, containing all the stuff I needed to lay eggs with as little volume as possible. I hadn¡¯t realized it, but the innovation of Bella and Belle¡¯s honey was actually probably the most important thing the hive had developed yet. It was another example of a reoccurring issue. My knowledge of the old world was limited to what I, well, knew. We had made meat honey; did something like that exist on Earth? I didn¡¯t know. What I knew of honey was that it was made by bees using flower nectar. That preconceived notion clouded my judgment and stifled my creativity. I was so focused on the fact that we had no flowers to make honey with that I put little to no thought into potentially making honey through other means. ¡°That is exactly where I have observed the strength of each hive member¡¯s individuality. With all bees being directly and unequivocally controlled by the queen, the only things that can be done are limited by the queen. Combining a typical hive¡¯s organization and efficiency with the individual contributions of the members is something only we can do.¡± Even so. Was I letting go of the reins too much? Too little? It was honestly probably neither, but the situation with the humans had made me feel like I was losing my grip. In reality, I was. We had lived in a bubble, our hive uninterrupted by the outside world. Even the Scavenger War had felt¡­ close. But now, the world was opening up. For the first time, we would be leaving the relatively safe borders of the forest. It was scary. The best I could think to do was to prepare accordingly. I set out to accomplish Beatrice¡¯s plan for eggs and started pumping out warriors and Linkers as fast as the honey could fill me up. While I got into a rhythm (surprisingly difficult when it involved eating and puking in sync), I thought of how else I could prepare. I needed knowledge of the outside world, so I¡¯d start there. But where to start in that starting place? I had at least four lifetimes to chew through and not a lot of time. I had to be picky. What would be most helpful and time-efficient? To me, that meant Mind. The simplest thing to observe would be the humans¡¯ systems, so I took a gander at Yelah¡¯s screen. [Name: Yelah Welay] [Age: 26 years] [Profession: Mercenary] [Status: Addled] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 4th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 26%] [Mind Locks: ] Oh. Okay. Where to even begin? Top to bottom should be simplest. Yeah. Well, the first thing of note was the Profession tab, as opposed to us bees and our Subtype tab. After that, there was the depressingly small list of Abilities. Like, only two? That said, what she lacked in quantity, apparently Yelah made up for in quality. A quick check told me that not a single bee had an Ability anywhere near level 8. The closest ones were Ben¡¯s Big Look which was at a whopping Level 4, along with Beatrice¡¯s Aide Report, also at Level 4. And at that, I was pretty sure neither Beatrice nor Ben had leveled up their Abilities in some time, which meant reaching that high of a level was incredibly difficult, or at least time-consuming. [Friendly Immersion: Level 8 Acquired by: By choosing to reinforce the bond with your companion, Dip, you developed a method of being as close as possible to your companion without being the same creature. By synchronizing your Minds, enter a complex state of existence with your companion. Through upgrades, you are capable of entering this state using less effort, in less time, with minimal backlash. You share and enhance your companion¡¯s capabilities, and vice-versa. Level up: ??? ] Wow. What an Ability! Thinking back on the fight against the team of mercenaries, this Ability put some things into context. It was actually way more intense than I thought. It seemed more like the two entered a sort of quantum state where they were simultaneously each other. Or something. Was something like this really fair?! It seemed a bit overpowered for some mercenary who got her ass whooped by a swarm of freaking bees. At the very least, it reinforced the idea that Abilities weren¡¯t something you were necessarily given, but neither was it something that you fully created yourself. Rather, it was some arbitrary system that granted powerful Abilities based on things you want or try to do or something along those lines. So, what then of the other Ability? It had no level, which I had only observed on obscenely powerful Abilities like my own Combined Mind or on sort of weak ones like Venomous Stinger. Though, it could actually be the mark of something you are born with rather than something weak. But weren¡¯t there Abilities we bees were born with that could be leveled? [Humanity Factor: Acquired by: Humanity Human. The Human, Human of Humankind, when Human. ??? Human! Humanhumanhumanhuman. Hu???man???Hum???an. Access forbidden. Tread carefully, Enno Cordano and Queen. ] Shit! I slammed the proverbial book shut. What the hell was that? A personalized message amid incomprehensible gibberish was rarely a good sign. I had never seen anything like that before. My surname was there. Whatever had sent that message knew everything there was to know. I quickly checked everything that wasn¡¯t the Humanity Factor but found nothing out of the ordinary. A cursory investigation told me that all four of the humans, those being Yelah, Grehn, Rette, and Vlugh, all sported this humanity Factor Ability, but I didn¡¯t dare open it. Dip didn¡¯t have it, and of course, I had never seen anything like it on any of the bees. Why the caution? Cryptic warnings and bad experiences hadn¡¯t yet stopped me when it came to many of the matters of Mind, but this felt different. Even thinking about that Ability sent chills down my metaphorical spine. Something was stinky when it came to humans here. I had to know more. Maybe I was deterred from learning about the mystery of humans directly, but I could at least inspect the systems of the other humans. Of course, that would be easier without the alarm bells that were blaring in my head. Wait, wha- ¡°Mamalama. I¡¯m freaking out!¡± ¡°Mother. I don¡¯t, like, mean to alarm you or anything. But we¡¯ve, like, encountered more humans.¡± Chapter 46 - Human Beeings. Again. Okay okay okay, no need to panic. I panicked and dumped all my focus into the party of troops that were less than a freaking day from the hive. Before me was quite the scene. All of the bees were hiding behind trees and rocks, out of sight of any humans. Meanwhile, our humans and Dip were casually talking to a group of ten heavily armed humans. Okay, maybe a bit of panic. ¡°Yes, we were careless. Vlugh especially did some dumb shit and ended up like this. Can you believe he became Mind Collapsed? Dumbass.¡± ¡°Ha! Tasuku Vlugh! Yelah, nihayewi atowo no sifi?¡± Ha! Classic Vlugh. Sure you don¡¯t wanna join us, Yelah? ¡°Ha, thanks, but no thanks. If I leave, who¡¯ll take care of these chumps?¡± Well, this translation feature sure was nice, but it was somewhat¡­ laggy. Since it had to be processed by the humans, perhaps? In any case, thankfully, there didn¡¯t seem to be any suspiciousness as of yet, and neither Yelah nor any of the other humans had made an attempt to betray us. Not that they could. Even so, I tried to be careful. I wanted to check if mercenaries had a coded language they could use, maybe verbally or with physical motions, but I also wanted to focus on this interaction. If my fears were realized, then this group was on a straight path toward us, thanks to the City Lord or something similar. If it came to it, we at least had an advantage, but these guys were pros. Pros with lots and lots of guns. I had to somehow steer them away from us. The huge dude that rivaled Grehn in sheer musculature guffawed, turning away from Yelah. Anyways, we best be going. Lord¡¯s expecting news soon as possible. Have fun dragging those idiots back to town! ¡°No! Yelah, you need to steer them away.¡± ¡°Seriously, queen? What am I supposed to tell these guys? We might seem chummy, but they¡¯d happily beat the shit out of us to get paid.¡± ¡°Try your best.¡± ¡°Ahem, hold on, Toh. There¡¯s no point going out there. We didn¡¯t find nothin. No sign of the vultures or anything. No point in wasting time.¡± Hm? That so? ¡°Yup. City Lord¡¯s gonna be pissed. Well, at least we might get paid.¡± A good ruse, Yelah. But I¡¯m not risking shit. You saw that scroll; Lord¡¯s desperate. I¡¯ll go find out the real deal. Or, of course, we could beat it outta ya! ¡°Shit, I told you this would go south, queen.¡± ¡°It¡¯s okay. Your plan is a good one; I can see what you¡¯re trying to do. If it comes to it, we can protect you. Protect Rette and Vlugh. So keep going.¡± ¡°Hm. A tempting offer. ¡®Course, it¡¯s all the same. There really isn¡¯t anything to see. By the time you figure that out, we¡¯ll already be sitting pretty with our paycheck. You think the City Lord will pay you guys to confirm that there¡¯s nothing there?¡± You¡¯re assuming he¡¯ll even pay you guys. ¡°Well, he might or he might not. It¡¯s fine either way. Escort missions can pay even more.¡± Hold on. Escort? ¡°Hm? Well, sure. Stands to reason, no? He¡¯d want to see with his own eyes that there¡¯s nothing. Why would he trust a bunch of mercenaries, even ones as reputable as us?¡± That gave the big guy Toh pause. It was a great ruse, even if it was hinging on some things. Mainly that Toh wouldn¡¯t outright kill Yelah and her crew for fun. As they were, they certainly wouldn¡¯t be able to take on such a large group. Hopefully, we had perfectly maneuvered him into wanting to reach Yiwi with the news first, then immediately go babysitting with the City Lord. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Hmph. I see. You get to Yiwi with the news, and the Lord desperately requests for you guys to bring him into the forest. Assuming we don¡¯t overtake ya and assuming he doesn¡¯t want to wait for a second opinion to save some cash. You¡¯re playing dangerously here, Yelah. Lots of assumptions. Lots of trust. ¡°Trust? In who, you? Of course I would have trust in a fellow professional, especially one as highly regarded as yourself, Toh. Honestly, with Yoho spying on us for you guys at Yemonto Co., I¡¯m surprised you didn¡¯t come sooner. That¡¯s how professional you are. Besides, you¡¯d never overtake us. After all, Dip snuck away ages ago.¡± At that, the whole enemy crew whirled around, looking a for a penguin that was nowhere in sight. ¡°You know Dip can read and write. Our findings are basically reported already.¡± For a moment, I really thought Yelah was about to bite it. That stunt was pulled off so well even I almost didn¡¯t catch it. Of course, I did, because my bees had helped Dip get as out of sight as possible. I breathed a sigh of relief when Toh just laughed. Good! You¡¯re getting good, pup! I thought it was strange that Yoho was advocating so heavily for you to be brought in as a leader, but he¡¯s got a sharp eye! Fine then, you win. Gang, we¡¯re splitting up! You two, go confirm Yelah¡¯s findings. Tonk, go stop that bird. Best if we get paid twice. I¡¯ll go on ahead to report, and the rest of you can limp back to town with Yelah and her group. Okay! This was practically best case scenario. I counted my lucky stars that this wasn¡¯t a world of kill or bee killed like so many seemed to be. Well, at least human society wasn¡¯t like that. Anything different, and this whole thing could¡¯ve gone very, very wrong. Now we only had two concerns. First was the pair that was going to be coming near the hive, and second was that our bees would no longer be able to travel to Yiwi in sight of the human party. The second thing? Mostly whatever. I had complete trust in my bees to be able to stay out of sight. The only thing was that Beckham would probably have to be a bit too close for comfort so that he could effectively act as a Mind relay to the Linker Bees. The first thing? Slightly more concerning. I would say that our best option would be to do to those two what we did to Yelah. Of course, this time we could do so much more quickly and with no trouble at all. There were some minor logistical issues, like how we would get those two humans to Yiwi without disconnecting the Linker Bees, but that was a concern for a later time. ¡°Great job, Yelah. My bees will trail behind you guys. Make sure we aren¡¯t noticed by the others. Remember: don¡¯t try anything slick.¡± That issue was taken care of, then. Wait. Oh dammit. The three mercs Toh ordered to split up had done so quickly, the one he called Tonk going vaguely in the direction of Yiwi and the pair heading towards us. But Toh himself? He was coming this way. I wouldn¡¯t have noticed if it weren¡¯t for Ben¡¯s insane eyesight. I suppose something about Toh made him nervous because he had been keeping an eye on him throughout the entire exchange and immediately noticed when he changed direction after splitting off the main group. ¡°Ben?¡± ¡°Yes, momaroo. The big guy is hiding and heading toward the hive. But it doesn¡¯t matter! Not enough cover to hide from my awesome eyes! But he¡¯s weird. Sometimes it feels like he¡¯s disappearing from my awesome looking, so I¡¯ve been looking at him a lot.¡± Bennet and Benita were fawning over Ben¡¯s awesomeness, so I left them to it. As for Toh? He was clearly more devious than I expected. Granted, it was just one more human coming towards us, and one we were prepared for. Even so, I decided it would be best to err on the side of caution. If he was willing to make a sneaky move like this, who knew what he was capable of? ¡°Yo Yelah, thought you should know. Toh changed directions and is heading towards the hive, sneaking behind the pair he sent.¡± Yelah paled and glanced around at the other team of mercs, most of whom were fussing over Rette or chatting with Grehn. Of course, Grehn wasn¡¯t exactly making a two-way conversation easy with his quiet responses. ¡°We really should¡¯ve expected that. He¡¯s a very experienced mercenary and definitely wouldn¡¯t be taking risks. You said he was sneaking behind the other two?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah. Why?¡± ¡°In that case,¡± she cupped her chin, ¡°he likely isn¡¯t going to try and fight you outright. He¡¯ll see what happens to his mercs and rush away with the info.¡± Well, that was devious. Crushing the two mercs might need a bit more strategy in that case. Was telling her really the best idea? Maybe Toh could have done it¡­. But those bees¡­ Bedivere probably would have stopped him anyways¡­ Hmph. Nice one, Yelah. Granted, it might have been stressful if we hadn¡¯t known what Toh was cooking up, but even if we didn¡¯t figure it out by the time they arrived here, someone like Bedivere probably would¡¯ve caught on, as she thought. It was good to know Yelah was still contemplating ways to undermine us. Well, good in the sense that she wasn¡¯t a bumbling moron to that degree. ¡°Alright, Yelah, give me the details. What¡¯s Toh able to do? Give me information about his capabilities and whatnot.¡± ¡°Hm. He¡¯s mostly focused on stealth and information-gathering. I¡¯m fairly certain he has a stealth-focused Ability. Naturally, he doesn¡¯t use a gun. He does have knives hidden around his body. But as a rival merc, I don¡¯t have the full details.¡± As impressive as it sounded, there was plenty I was sure Yelah was leaving out. For one thing, Toh was huge. Like, seriously massive. He was around the same size as Grehn, and Grehn was a solid three times larger than I was. And I was almost half Yelah¡¯s size! A guy like that being focused on stealth meant she was seriously underplaying how potent his stealth capabilities probably were. And another thing. I was sure there was more to Toh. He was a leader of a large group, a role not often given to stealth-focused fighters. Or at least, I wasn¡¯t used to it in the stories I read. The only question was whether Yelah knew and was hiding it from me or if she actually didn¡¯t know. Either way, we would have to be careful in handling him. Especially one thing Yelah happened to mention. Information gathering. In a world with mental powers, that sort of thing could be anything. It would be best not to reveal too much about our capabilities to a guy like that. Hm? Stealth? Information gathering? Sneaky abilities and strategies? Oh shit. Toh was a freaking ninja! That would be cool to know more about. Now I really wanted to attach a Linker Bee and learn about that stuff. Speaking of learning that stuff, I wanted to get back to what I was doing. I was somewhat thrown off by that Humanity Factor stuff. Hold on. Couldn¡¯t I just ask? ¡°Yelah, I have one more question. What is Humanity Factor?¡± ¡°That? It¡¯s just something humans have in their systems. Not really a big deal.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°Nothing really. Just provides a very small efficiency boost to Mind. Why?¡± I ignored her question. That was all? It made no sense. Why would it be hidden from me, then? Something that mundane doesn¡¯t really warrant tight security. There must be something more to it, either that Yelah didn¡¯t know or didn¡¯t want to disclose. I take back what I said about it being good that Yelah was trying to undermine me. How many times was I going to have to play ¡®Is Yelah hiding something, or is she dumb?¡¯ Too many times, probably. Well, I had plenty to investigate. What did Yelah or the others know about Toh? What about Humanity Factor? Will Vlugh beat the Mind Collapse allegations? Find out next time- Ahem. First, we should probably get ready. I could investigate that stuff and more while Beatrice made preparations. ¡°Beatrice, we¡¯re going to be having some guests within the day. Let¡¯s prepare a welcome party.¡± Chapter 47 - Beemon Time With a heave, the branch I was spinning like a drill flew off into the forest. That was a pretty decent distance. ¡°Yo Beryl, when do we get to see some action?!¡± ¡°Quiet. The pair of humans should be passing by any moment now.¡± Yes. A chance to redeem myself. My¡­ questionable judgment in the last encounter with humans had ultimately turned out alright, but I was now in this state. Relegated to tossing branches rather than valiantly dueling with my stinger like a true warrior. Speaking of. I glared at Belial, casually lounging nearby. He was one of elder brother Bedivere¡¯s dear favorites, and yet he did not intend to be an honorable warrior. No, he was now obsessed with those odd weapons of the humans now. Even now, he caressed them, pointing them at random trees as if acting out a battle. Ridiculous. But I was no longer one to judge. I certainly didn¡¯t regret my actions, but my crippled state was no joy. Well, I was figuring things out. Besides, there was one other duty I absolutely had to take care of. ¡°Are you all ready? Hey! I can see you slouching!¡± The other warriors buzzed as quietly as possible, a ways away from the hive. We were lying in wait for the pair of humans Mother had alerted us about. Our job was simple: swarm the humans and disable them so that Mother could bring them into the hive. Of course, there was a small addition. The sneaky human. That one was to be the prey of Bedivere and Beelzebub. Mother had insisted that the sneaky human find out as little as possible about us. The exact location of the hive, the true capabilities of our combatants, that sort of stuff. Interesting choice, then, for our two most mysterious and dangerous warriors to be the ones to apprehend him. Well, I suppose they were best suited to take care of someone in the quickest possible fashion. Suddenly, I saw a pair of silhouettes pushing through the dead trees. ¡°Ahead. Be ready.¡± As the two stepped into the purposefully suspicious clearing, we released the squirrels. This was an idea from yours truly. With the help of Mother¡¯s grand Mind, we managed to capture a few squirrels and attach Linker Bees to them to act as a disposable force. It was unlikely they would be able to do any real damage to the human warriors, but that was not their purpose. The humans grunted at each other, quickly steadying themselves and firing those ridiculously loud human weapons called guns. It was a closer battle than I had expected; the squirrels were quite resilient, requiring several gunshots to permanently down, but the humans were quite experienced with fighting the creatures. Even so, I couldn¡¯t help but scoff. It was taking these two humans a full, concentrated effort to destroy these puny squirrels. Why, if they were forced to fight Bedivere, it would be a sorry slaughter. Even I could probably defeat these chumps! Nevertheless, the superior tactics and teamwork of the humans won them the battle. Eventually. A ¡®battle¡¯ like that apparently warranted a break, so they took a moment to catch their breaths. They were drenched in¡­ sweat? Panting heavily and giving themselves some time to recover after a battle hard fought. ¡°Charge!¡± Perfect! The plan went perfectly! Right when the humans were mentally off-guard, my warriors sprung into action, stinging and poking the pair of sweaty, tired humans. I watched from the sidelines, occasionally tossing in some sticks and stones in an attempt to possibly break the humans¡¯ bones. Of course, my actual role was one of command and prevention. If the sneaky human decided to interfere, or if these two humans turned out to be a bigger problem than expected, then I would be there to help. Well, Belial was the true insurance. But I could fulfill that role just as well! No matter. In a matter of seconds, the humans¡¯ weapons had been pulled away, and they were relegated to weakly swatting the air and hiding their faces. I turned my attention to Bedivere. Big brother Bedivere was silently watching a human, who was in turn silently watching our ¡®battle.¡¯ ¡°Is now the time, Bedivere?¡± ¡°Yes, Beryl. Though, I will be giving Beelzebub the chance to prove herself. Please, watch with me. As the somewhat more experienced warrior, I would like you to tell me what you think of her attempt. Wh-wh-wh-what??? Me?! Big brother Bedivere wanted my opinion? Oh. My. Bee! Okay, okay. Ahem. In that case, I must take this exceedingly seriously. I hovered above the tree line, intently staring at the position where the hidden human should be, according to Bedivere. I also decided to keep an eye on Beelzebub herself. ¡°Yargh! I¡¯m gonna kill ya!¡± The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. And so, her slaughter began. The humongous human, surprisingly, showed no sign of surprise, calmly dodging out of the way of Beelzebub¡¯s charge as if he knew it was coming. He slipped a blade out of seemingly nowhere and made to run away. The coward! Ah, but he must have sensed big brother Bedivere or something along those lines because the human paused, instead opting to dash toward the other humans in the clearing. He yelled at his two underlings and made to swipe at my troops, but I had already been ordering them to pull away. The two humans were alive, but they were also completely unconscious. Of course, this spelled disaster for the big sneaky human. At that moment, Beelzebub returned with righteous fury, screaming her head off and waving her small stinger at the large human. And what followed was a tragedy. The human stood no chance. He tried cutting Beelzebub with his two knives - wait, where did he get the second one? Anyways, it didn¡¯t matter. Beelzebub easily maneuvered around the blades and smashed into the man¡¯s arms, causing him to scream. How¡­ undignified. Beelzebub was moving as if to emulate Bedivere¡¯s fencing style with her stinger, but instead, she was using brute strength to obliterate the human¡¯s bones. Speaking of the human, now he had the grace to look panicked. It was then that he disappeared. Huh? One second, the human had been standing there, fear in his eyes and mangled arm hanging limply by his side, and the next, he was nowhere to be seen. ¡°Beelzebub!¡± Bedivere exclaimed, ¡°He is using an Ability to hide. Combat his Mind with your own.¡± Oh, dear. I noticed Belial watching with a bored expression, some of his many eyes following something unseen. Ah. Belial was able to see where the human was hiding. So unfair. Would Beelzebub also pull out one of her natural-born capabilities the Valkybees so unfairly had? ¡°Damn you, you slipper bastard!¡± Oh, she was fuming. Fuming so hard, in fact, that her face seemed to be bright red. Ah. Rather, her face was starting to actually glow red. As were her antennae horns. Perhaps this was a display of her powers. Then the clearing exploded. As I blinked, Beelzebub screeched as the human once again became visible, trying his best to imitate a puppet ragdoll flying through the air. What the hell was that?! ¡°Dangerous and thoughtless. Effective, but even so,¡± Bedivere mumbled next to me. When did he get there? ¡°She poured a heaping helping of Mind into nothing but the Strength Lock she copied from me, along with a boost for her movement. Honestly. Why not use her own Ability?¡± Unbelievable. As the dust settled around Beelzebub, I finally understood what had happened. Beelzebub, for lack of a better word, had gone ballistic. She didn¡¯t use some incredible Ability or even notice Belial¡¯s wandering eyes; instead, she had turned herself into a mimicry of a gun¡¯s bullet, exploding with speed and noise around the clearing. She had wildly flailed and simply hoped that she would connect with the invisible human, to apparent success. How¡­ how¡­ barbaric! ¡°Is the human alright? Mother wanted them to be alive.¡± Ah. Bedivere had a point. That stunt could have caused some severe damage, not only to the sneaky human but to our pair as well. A quick inspection told me that the two humans were still incapacitated but were unfortunately woken up by the commotion. No matter. We could easily hold them down by working together. As for the sneaky human? He was in seriously sorry shape. Hmph. A foolish decision, Beelzebub. If the human was injured badly enough, I was sure she would be on the receiving end of Mother¡¯s dissatisfaction. About time. In my opinion, every bee needed a good scolding from Mother at least once. It built character! _____________ ¡°Goddammit, Beelzebub, did you have to beat him up so bad?!¡± ¡°Sorry¡­ but, but! He was invisible! And it was pissing me off!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care! I- Well, you explain, Bedivere!¡± ¡°Of course. Beelzebub, understand the source of Mother¡¯s consternation. The intent was many-fold. For one, it was a test from myself to see if you would be capable of incapacitating the human while causing the least amount of overt damage. By doing so, you would have proven not only restraint but sheer skill. It would take expert execution to be able to defeat an opponent while causing them as little lasting harm as possible.¡± Bedivere sighed, ¡°Further, we are being cautious of that particular human. We assume that he has information-gathering capabilities and may be able to communicate information about us even while under our control. You showed at least part of your hand.¡± ¡°And that is not even the worst of it. That particular human maintains a very specific role. He will no longer be able to arrive at the city first. His deception will be exposed, which will have to be carefully managed when explaining to his companions. It would presumably not be surprising for him to have taken such a sneaky measure, but his injuries and those of the other two will be complicated to work around. Considering his deceptive nature and experience, we will need to be extremely cautious when working with him.¡± ¡°Yeah! You get it now?¡± Thank fuck I had Bedivere to explain these things. I mean, I had mostly been thinking about the info gathering stuff. I hadn¡¯t even begun considering the later planning about having to explain his injuries. Wait, forget that. What was up with the first part? This was supposed to be a routine mission. Simple. Easy. Just get it done. Bedivere was making this a test and stuff? That was his prerogative. ¡°I¡¯m disappointed, Beelzebub. I think you should put more focus on your skill and subtlety. I¡¯m glad you successfully completed the goal, don¡¯t get me wrong. But in the future, especially the near future that has an uncertain and possibly violent nature, please make sure to continue improving.¡± ¡°Yes, Mother,¡± Beelzebub pouted. Well, that was done. Sure, Beelzebub looked sad, Bedivere looked disappointed, and Beryl¡­ well, she looked quite satisfied, but nevertheless. I was increasing my expectations for all of the bees. Including myself. The City of Yiwi, its City Lord, and the scary army that had passed by to destroy the forest were increasingly growing in the forefront of my mind. I had been spending the last day, well, preparing. Producing warriors and Linkers while pouring over the memories of Yelah and her crew. The most pressing issue had been the incoming humans. Toh in particular. So, I investigated to see what Yelah and the others knew of Toh to see if Yelah had conveniently left anything out of her explanation. Well, Yelah certainly understated the respect she had for the more experienced man. By quite a bit, actually. He was apparently known as a veteran mercenary in their city, and Yelah had been inspired by him as she climbed the ranks in her own career. Otherwise? None of them really knew anything more. I suppose these mercenaries placed a lot of value in keeping their skills on the down low to maintain an advantage. Second, I investigated the Humanity Factor. It was by far the most mysterious and dangerous concept I had found in recent memory, and I had to figure out what its deal was. The result? Disappointingly inconclusive. All four of the humans had the same exact thoughts about the Humanity Factor, knowing it as something completely normal that every human had since birth. Further, it was known as a mundane and completely innocuous thing that gave humanity a small leg up against other species that tended to be born with naturally more powerful Minds, such as us bees. Well, except one case. Vlugh was a wealth of interesting information. He was apparently not from the same country as Yelah. Yelah, as well as Yiwi, resided in the country of Somuia. And that was the country our forest was nestled next to. Neither Rette nor Grehn were from this country either, but Vlugh¡¯s home country was fascinating. Where he came from, they worship literal and actual dragons. In fact, it was apparently well known that the only dragons left in the world lived within Vlugh¡¯s home country, and his country, a theocracy, was known for all sorts of other oddities. For one thing, they were really, really weird about the Humanity Factor. And so, I had begun digging deeper. Vlugh originally came from Dreva, one of the several smaller countries that lay on the western border of the gigantic Somuia. Vlugh¡¯s family moved to Somuia when he was a young child, so the only memories that capture the true nature of the theocratic country of Dreva were that of a child. Dreva¡¯s theocracy was centered around the worship of the dying species of dragons, which were exceedingly powerful creatures that had long since developed sentience through Mind. As a result, they constantly put into question the nature and origin of humans. All Vlugh knew was that the Humanity Factor was heavily scrutinized by Drevani. Unfortunately, there wasn¡¯t much more than that. But man! A country of dragons and people, how cool. I¡¯d really like to see it. Alas, Dreva was pretty far away. Somuia was a vast country, apparently stretching from the northern to the southern edges of the continent, and Dreva was all the way on the western border, while our forest lay on the eastern border. Somuia was much taller than it was wide, but it was still a pretty crazy distance. Especially since I had to stay near the hive. And anyways! None of that actually told me anything about the Humanity Factor. But it did reinforce some things. There was a lot I could learn about this world, especially Somuia, solely from the memories of these four humans. Not even including the three new kids. Even further, the denizens of this world knew things. Until now, I had been working from scratch. But fuck that! Why reinvent the wheel? People in this world contemplated and investigated all sorts of things, things that I had already been wondering about and brand-new things I had discovered. The immediate problem had been taken care of with ease. A few Linker Bees, and we could focus on Yiwi. And I, therefore, could concentrate on growing. Update Hello. I¡¯m back, and tomorrow, chapters will return as well! I just thought this would be a good time to give a bit of an update regarding some things. First off: THANK YOU! For everything. Before posting this story, I wrote many things, most of which went nowhere. I had a lot of ideas and dreams but I never really had the drive to do anything with them, and I thought posting a story would finally give me the push I wanted to actually finish something. And man, I just keep wanting to continue this story. There are times I don¡¯t really feel motivated to continue, but other times I can¡¯t think about anything other than the next step in Beesekai. I began posting the story with the expectation that I would become incredibly famous and successful, instantly reaching the status of best-selling author- or not. I did hope the story would bee seen by people though, and my expectations were apparently met and surpassed. By quite a bit. Both on Royal Road and on Scribblehub. To everyone who reads, who reviews, who comments nice things or even says nothing at all, you mean a lot to me. To those who only criticize, well you mean a lot to me too. Thank you all. All that being said, I do have some concerns for the story moving forward. Truth is, I am inexperienced, and this version of beesekai you see could realistically be called a rough draft. Maybe a first draft if we¡¯re being kind. I do edit it and try to make it as high quality as I can, but its ultimately unrefined and sketchy. I guess it could be worse, just look at the state of this update. I have other things I want and need to do, unrelated to the story. This is all to say that I don¡¯t always feel like I¡¯m producing the level of work I¡¯d like to, limited by time and my ever-fluctuating and frustrating motivation issues. I really expected to finish a semester of classes and go on to do nothing but Beesekai, but of course that wasn¡¯t the case. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The last month has been one of the months of all time for me. Really high highs and really low lows. Something happened recently that I have not recovered from fully, and it was really killing any motivation I had to do anything, including write this story. Over the last month I was completely unable to actually write anything in the story, but that didn''t mean it was gone from my life. I was inspired by so many things I saw, I had moments of silence that became filled with stories and characters and the world of Beesekai. I almost came back completely fresh and ready to write immediately, but life is very good at grinding you under its heel when it feels like it. But in the last few days, where I could stomach it, I¡¯ve been opening Royal Road and Scribblehub just to check things out. I had basically gone dark for a month, you know? And what the hell? People are commenting on some chapters? Asking if the story will come back? The chapters are still getting viewed by new people? Whats going on here? For those wondering, yes I will continue this story. Very much actually. But one thing I want to make clear is that I want to have more fun with this story (not that I wasn¡¯t already). It''s important to make sure your story makes sense and things work out in a ¡®realistic¡¯ way, don''t get me wrong. But sometimes I just want to have fun with something, even if it doesn''t make a whole lot of sense. Some might be concerned about that, expecting some huge immersion-shattering things to happen, but no that (probably) won¡¯t be the case. Anyways, this update has gone on long enough. I don¡¯t really like when authors make whole chapters that are just updates, so I¡¯ll end things here. For Royal Road readers, I appreciate you all. To Scribblehub readers, I am so sorry your chapters are beehind. I appreciate you too though. For authors with review swaps: I am so sorry for disappearing, I will get on your reviews as fast as I possibly can. And for everyone who made it this far: Happy beeswax to all and to all a good hive. Chapter 48 - Combing Over Toh’s Tales ¡°Unfortunately, beasty, I¡¯ve got no intention of obeying you. I have lived too long, served under too many to do it again. I assure you, you can¡¯t win against my indomitable will.¡± ¡°Mhm, that¡¯s very nice, Toh. Pass the honey?¡± ¡°Of course. Wait, no.¡± Honestly, what did he expect? By now Toh had likely figured out that Yelah and her crew had been under my influence, yet he thought he would fare better? No sir! It was almost scary how easily I could control the humans. Just attach a Linker Bee and bam! Instant connection. Maybe I should¡¯ve been a bit more concerned about that, actually. Was it my incredibly powerful Mind? Some aspect of my natural bee hive mind capabilities? Having complete control over these humans who were unwilling to obey me seemed sort of unfairly strong, no? ¡°Perhaps it is only natural. We are born rulers, after all. Or, I am at least.¡± How humble. Well, I didn¡¯t want to look a gift horse in the mouth. If this world¡¯s mechanics were going to make something as crucial as that entirely effortless, I wouldn¡¯t complain. ¡°You¡¯re quite experienced, Toh. Even more so than Yelah and the rest. Mind telling me a bit about your work?¡± ¡°I do mind.¡± ¡°Aw, just tell me. Digging around in your memories takes too much work. I have other stuff I¡¯ve gotta be thinking about right now.¡± B-boxes made that ¡®work¡¯ inconsequential. But from my interactions with Yelah, I had learned that just ingesting information straight from the source was a bit¡­ what¡¯s a good word? Boring? Tiring? Mind-numbing? As a whole, it was missing something. To learn specific things as accurately as possible, it certainly couldn¡¯t be beat. But to just learn? For fun? It was not the ideal way. No, better to dedicate my resources to other things. I had a hive to manage, after all. I had been lax in the expansion efforts. First Yelah, now Toh? My time was more limited than I had ever imagined. I was coordinating with Beatrice, following Bess, overseeing Ben¡¯s group, and watching Yelah. Were our warriors strong enough? Were there enough of them? How about builders? How close was I to another egg upgrade? Did the humans have any quick tips on Mind training? Did they know more about how Mind worked? What was the deal with all their Locks? What are the key things I need to know about this world? Its geography? Culture? History? Government? Powerful people? So many things, so little time. Those facts and errands were many, but B-boxes turned them into afterthoughts. Quite literally. Without it, I would no doubt fumble the major events on their way. ¡°All of this is a consequence of your inscrutable human desires. If you only further embraced bee-ness, we could expand easily. Though, my anger towards humans would likely not help expansion efforts¡­¡± I mean, things were heating up either way. Our arrival in Yiwi would officially be the moment the rest of this world was no longer a distant thought. If I was completely ignorant, who knows what could happen? How I could mess up? I had scrambled as soon as the Toh situation was under control. So now? I just wanted to hear Toh¡¯s honest thoughts. With a bit of unique flair and personality, rather than dry facts. Would he tell the truth? Embellish his feats? Be humble? Those were the sorts of things I had missed without knowing, even before B-boxes engulfed my thoughts. ¡°I don¡¯t wanna tell you.¡± Oh, this motherf- ¡°Tell me! Godammit!¡± ¡°Toh, please just talk to it.¡± ¡°Yeah, who knows what it¡¯ll do to us if we disobey?¡± You two aren¡¯t helping, you damn side characters! I only captured you because you were here! ¡°Listen up, bud. I could do something horrible to you, but I won¡¯t. Not because I¡¯m nice, but because I really honestly couldn¡¯t care less. I¡¯m asking for your story because I¡¯m bored with the alternative. If you give me nothing? Well, I¡¯ll just go about my business and continue my hive¡¯s expansion. Or I¡¯ll continue developing my plan to infiltrate Yiwi and the rest of your kingdom. Ultimately, you are so far below me that you can serve as a minor distraction. So really, it¡¯s up to you.¡± And that was that. See? Not so hard to state your true and honest feelings. And with that, I turned and buzzed away. ¡°¡­Wait.¡± I was nearly gone from the clearing before Toh hesitantly spoke out, ¡°I¡¯ll tell you.¡± Ah, great! He just needed a little push. I knew he was just doing this to stall me. Prevent me from doing those other important duties. But whatever! It really was no big deal. ¡°Aren¡¯t you putting those tasks off a little too easily¡­?¡± Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Alright! Start from the beginning, then.¡± ¡°The beginning, hm? Well, I was born in a town close to Yiwi, though that little shithole probably doesn¡¯t even exit anymore. From the moment I could take a piss, I-¡° ¡°Okay smart guy. Start from when you became a mercenary. Just tell me about that.¡± ¡°Ah, the beginning of my mercenary days. Do you two know much about it? Naw, you¡¯re too new to the team. Well, I chose to become a mercenary, damn, more than a decade ago?¡± ¡°¡°Two decades, boss.¡±¡± ¡°Shit, you¡¯re right. Well, before that I worked as a, hm, let¡¯s say ¡®special¡¯ guard under the previous City Lord. But the work sucked. The hours, the pay, none of it was up to snuff with my frankly incredibly diverse skill-set. So, I quit. Lord didn¡¯t like that, but I had too much pull. All my colleagues vouched for me, so the stupid Lord couldn¡¯t do anything. And from there? Well, it¡¯s not like there were many other options. With skills like mine, there¡¯s really only one other line of work to enter. The merc business.¡± He paused, looking around wistfully. He had really gotten into the story. This is what I missed. ¡°Mercs are stupid. Bunch of lazy, self-important jackasses.¡± ¡°¡°Boss!?¡±¡± ¡°What? That¡¯s the perception of mercs outside the biz. You two know that. Well, I thought so too. But another perception is that they get paid. Paid real good. So there I was, sittin¡¯ in town, trying to decide what to do with my life. Do I take up the mercenary life and get paid good? Or do I keep my dignity? Of all times, that was when I got approached by ol¡¯ Jill Yemonto herself.¡± ¡°Yemonto? Like Yemonto Co.? That¡¯s one of the mercenary companies I¡¯ve heard about from Yelah. So they already knew about you and that you had quit?¡± Toh gave me a side eye, as if to ask if I was stupid. ¡°Are ya stupid? Of course she knew already. I was surprised she took so long. You haven¡¯t learned from Yelah how powerful the mercenary companies are?¡± ¡°Well, I know they¡¯re prominent.¡± ¡°Nah, you don¡¯t get it. Hayrey and Sons¡¯, Yemonto Co., Ehra Group, Goloyo, just to name the biggest. Plus a slew of smaller companies. Yiwi is home to huge mercenary company headquarters, and those companies often operate internationally. For a long time, mercenary companies were the only things that crossed borders and did regular business in other countries. In Yiwi, where the biggest and baddest companies have a foothold, the local government was a tool for them. Things only really changed some time after I joined¡­.¡± ¡°Wow. I had no idea mercenary companies were that big of a deal. My assumption was that they operated similarly to adventurer guilds¡­ not to say those can¡¯t also be huge. I should¡¯ve asked Yelah about her experiences more.¡± ¡°Adventurer¡­? Well, Yelah might have some idea about what she does, but she¡¯s still a pup. She¡¯s improved faster than I thought, but she still lacks experience.¡± ¡°Experience that you have?¡± ¡°Ha! Of course! But seriously, the fact that you underestimated mercenary companies to this degree is reassuring. Maybe your schemes won¡¯t play out so neatly.¡± This guy¡­ He was really going to taunt me now? Sure, I might¡¯ve been underestimating mercenaries, but so far, they hadn¡¯t been overly impressive. Plus, now I knew to be more cautious and intelligent about my planning. ¡°Well, whatever. Just continue your story, then.¡± ¡°Not much to tell. Miss Yemonto scouted me out thanks to her informants. I joined and realized that all the mercenary stereotypes were completely true. I did jobs, got paid, mentored a few pups, and here we are. Now all of that hard work and experience led me right here, enslaved to an unnatural creature that defies all logic.¡± ¡°Thanks Toh, that¡¯ll be all! You can continue your wallowing while I go do something actually important, you bastard!¡± ¡°You are too easy to rile up, you know?¡± And with that, I left the old mercenary to chat with his two underlings. He wanted to be sassy? Well, he could be sassy to himself! Though that was exactly what I had been asking for¡­ No matter! I wasn¡¯t kidding when I said I had more important things to do. All those previously mentioned tasks were truthfully too important to put off. Gah! I didn¡¯t want to stress myself out doing important things, but I also didn¡¯t want to get stressed out by not doing those things. How annoying! Things were so much easier when survival was on the line. Maybe I had gotten too comfortable, too accustomed to a routine. ¡°Hm. I agree, though it is also nice to not constantly worry about our safety." True that. Speaking of. ¡°Beatrice!¡± ¡°Yes, Mother!¡± ¡°Gah!¡± Goddamit, Beatrice! How did she keep appearing behind me whenever I called for her? Was she waiting for me or something? ¡°Ahem. You getting this info?¡± ¡°About the mercenary companies? Yes, I think we have been lax in our strategizing. Since that is the case, could I ask you to learn more about Yiwi¡¯s governance? Also about the internal structure and working of mercenary companies such as Yemonto Co. It may be difficult to learn more about Hayrey considering Yelah¡¯s limited experience. But with Toh¡¯s knowledge, we might glean a lot of information about Yemonto Co. Hopefully, mercenary companies have fairly similar structures.¡± ¡°Anything else? I want to make sure everything is clear as crystal for the advance force.¡± ¡°In that regard, we should discuss this among some other advisors, including those whose troops are in the force.¡± ¡°Alright. Let¡¯s meet up with Beck and Bedivere then. What other urgent things should we keep in mind?¡± ¡°Well, as I am sure you are already aware, our most pressing concern is, broadly, two-fold.¡± ¡­ ¡­ ¡°Well, just lay it out anyway.¡± ¡°Will you ever admit to her we are not on her level of thought?¡± No. ¡°Very well. Our broad concerns are military power and resources. Of course, that may be disingenuous, but I work under the presumption that you understand the scope of these two concepts.¡± ¡°Ah, of course. Keep laying it out.¡± ¡°Well, military power can also be broken down into a few categories. The first is related to the hive itself. This falls under Bess¡¯ ongoing construction. I include it in military power, as this is our central base of operations. After discussing with Bedivere, I understand the importance of defense and functionality. Previously, I imagined the hive as being a functional tool. A location to provide optimal egg conditions, protection from the heat and wind, and a comfortable habitat for growing children. Of course, there is the idea of other creatures potentially invading our territory, but I had only considered our defenses as being our warriors. Not so. The hive itself is a defense, something which has gradually become abundantly clear to me. I apologize deeply, Mother. This was the main reason I did not want to lay things out for you, as it would expose my failure.¡± ¡°Ah, chin up Beatrice. You¡¯re still learning things, as am I. Just keep going. You¡¯ve done great so far.¡± ¡°Thank you. The hive as a defense is clear to me now. Bess already seemed to have an instinctive understanding of this, as the sturdy outside wall is coming along quite well. However, I do not think it would withstand a concentrated attack, and Bedivere agrees. At the very least, a completed wall would do wonders to shore up our defensive posture in the forest. Though, Bess has already completed the wall in the general direction of the human town. Thankfully, our military troops can make up the difference. And speaking of that, I think we still need more troops. We have strong individuals, but that will not be enough.¡± ¡°Now that we are aware of the threat posed by mercenaries, and have a better grasp of their numbers, we can prepare for the worst. Knowing that they have at least four giant companies with untold numbers of mercenaries, and then factoring in countless smaller companies? It is possible for us to be overwhelmed. So, I along with Bedivere will advocate for you to focus on that task. I appreciate your involvement in so many aspects of the hive, but please leave it to me.¡± Oh. I wasn¡¯t expecting that. So she wanted me to focus on creating warrior bees rather than managing the hive proper? Well, jokes on you! I can do both! ¡°Sure, alright. I¡¯ll get to that after the meeting then. But I still want to know what¡¯s going on.¡± ¡°Of course. Which brings me to the second major concern.¡± Beatrice actually stopped in front of me, looking somewhat concerned. ¡°The truth is, I think we might soon run out of food.¡± ¡°What?! I thought our stores were still in a good place, though?¡± ¡°Well¡­ Not so much. Don¡¯t get me wrong, Mother, we still have a decent store of food left, but that will rapidly begin to change in the coming days.¡± ¡°Explain.¡± ¡°There are a few issues. If it had not been for Bella and Belle¡¯s tireless work to develop the delicious honey, we might have already run out of food. As our numbers grow, more food is required all of the time. What really turned things around for the worse was the humans. Yelah and her group, and now Toh. Even if Toh only stays here for a day, it is a drain on our food stores. The simple fact is that the much larger humans required much more food than any bee besides yourself, Bedivere, and Behemoth. Belphegora as well, but that is another matter. Some bees, such as Bess, also eat more, considering the amount of labor they do. Our ever growing military forces are also consuming ever more honey. And that leads us to the major problem.¡± ¡°I have been concerned about this for some time, but last night, after capturing the human Toh, Bella confirmed my worst fears. She could not find a single charred corpse. In other words, we¡¯ve run out of scavengable food.¡± Chapter 49 - Pollination: Yiwi Seven bees, sitting in a circle. A bee whose antennae looked like glasses, giving off a serious secretary vibe. A massive thing with a bigger stinger. One beefy little bee with some serious stab wounds, floating in place. Two twins who did nasty things. The loudest and most melodic buzzer buzzing. And me. ¡°And we. I still cannot tell if you count us as one being or consider yourself a separate entity. And why the simple description? You could mention how you are distracting the important meeting with your spinning stick shtick.¡± Oops. Queen was right about the spinning thing. I still hadn¡¯t kicked that habit (not that I had tried to), but I kept being surprised by it. Considering I didn¡¯t have pens, it was amazing that I somehow considered tree branches to be a sufficient substitute. ¡°I don¡¯t much care about the habit, but the others have already learned to discern your stress levels through the habit. You know they are already affected by your mood thanks to the Link? And yet you compound that stress by spinning that thing at ridiculous speeds.¡± ¡°Are you certain, Bedivere?¡± ¡°Yes Beatrice. The more we learn about the mercenary companies, the more I am certain that they must be added to the agenda.¡± I stopped spinning the stick, causing a noticeable silence. Huh? I hadn¡¯t even noticed, but the force from the stick had been causing a clear whirling sound, and to make matters worse, everyone else just stopped talking. ¡°Ahem. Sorry about that everyone. My mind was wandering. We¡¯re talking about the overall goals in the Yiwi operation, right?¡± ¡°I can begin again, no trouble, Mother,¡± Beatrice was quick to respond. Before I could stop her, she kept going. ¡°Our overall goal: covertly conquer Yiwi. In order to maintain our safe position, prevent retaliation, and get a foothold in the world at large, we intend to take control of the human city of Yiwi.¡± ¡°Right. I still think it¡¯s extreme, but I ultimately agree with all of your decisions. Anyway, the idea is pretty simple, if I¡¯m not wrong. Get in close to the Yiwi City Lord and attach a Linker Bee. Easy.¡± ¡°Easy in theory, Mother. As I was explaining to Beatrice, the Yiwi operation we had planned may not go far enough. Knowing that the mercenary companies are such threats, I think it best to include their leadership in the plan.¡± ¡°So, attach Linker Bees to the bosses in the mercenary companies? That makes sense. Hm, but aren¡¯t there a lot of mercenary companies? I guess we could just take control of the four big ones Toh mentioned, but that seems like half-assing the plan. Not to mention¡­ I feel like surprising mercenaries would be tougher than a government official¡­¡± ¡°Those are my primary concerns as well. What are your thoughts, Bedivere? If it were up to me, I would say every mercenary company should be acquired.¡± ¡°I agree. It would be unacceptable for a rowdy, small company of mercenaries to cause an uprising. I only hope that we can manage that many minds at once.¡± Beck heartily spoke up, expressing confidence in our ability to maintain an iron fist over the humans. ¡°Well said, Beck. However, I have also been considering what you mentioned, Mother. My warriors are not, as far as I have observed, quite adapted to stealth. We possess some natural advantages. For instance, the Linkers, being small, are well-suited for stealth. Also, bees are generally not perceived as a threatening presence. But as mercenaries are in dangerous business¡­ sneaking up on them may be difficult.¡± ¡°Well, at least there¡¯s one mercenary boss we can easily surprise.¡± My advisors looked at me with a questioning look. Hm? Hmmmmm? What¡¯s this? Did I¡­ did I just out-think these guys?! ¡°Only a human would think so deceptively, my friend.¡± ¡°Ah! Brilliant, Mother! Listen to this Bedivere. We can use the invisible human as an agent!¡± Beatrice realized quickly, but I couldn¡¯t help but feel some pride. Sure, maybe it was underhanded, but I was just happy to be strategizing on the same level as the bees who had laid out a plan to conquer the world. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. ¡°You guys have also got to think about this even more underhandedly. Toh isn¡¯t just valuable because he can turn invisible. No, he¡¯s got the best kind of stealth you could possibly have. Yelah and her group have the same. They have the power of being familiar. Jill Yemonto recruited Toh twenty years ago. Twenty years of trust and reliability. She would never expect him to be carrying a tiny mind-control device. Same for Yelah, though she doesn¡¯t have the same level of familiarity Toh does. Best of all? We can make them carry the Linker Bees without them even knowing. So they would be betraying their leaders without them even knowing!¡± Now was the time to be smug! With tactics like these, who needs enemies? Finally, I could contribute to the merciless planning! ¡°Ah¡­¡± ¡°Oh my¡­¡± ¡°Mother¡­¡± Hello?! Why are you looking at me like that?! You think you guys are saints or something? ¡°I think it is the same reason they did not plan around our humans in the first place. For them, betraying your hive is unthinkable. Knowingly or unknowingly. See how Bedivere looks particularly uncomfortable?¡± Oh god. Gods. Well, that¡¯s why I¡¯m here, I guess. At the very least, they might keep these sorts of things in mind for the future. What was this feeling? Guilt? Why did it feel like I was just destroying the questionable innocence of these bees? Enough! ¡°Well, let¡¯s move on. Just keep that in mind, you guys.¡± ¡°Right. Of course. Moving on, I think everyone should discuss their own concerns if they exist. I can begin, as my troops are the most numerous in the small advance force. They are mainly a defensive force to prevent damage to our members, as well as discourage more teams of humans from storming our forest. There is an interesting case in Belphegora. I will admit, I am still¡­ unsure about the capabilities of the Valkybees. Belphegora has impressive Mind capabilities, and of the four, she has the most advantageous skill-set. I hope she awakens abilities that will directly impact the operation.¡± Bedivere apparently didn¡¯t have much more to say, because he nudged Beryl, who seemed surprised to even be here. ¡°Go ahead Beryl.¡± ¡°Uah? Er, of course, sir. Ahem. Specific traits and capabilities of the five other warriors taking part in the operation are, well, unremarkable. They are simple warriors with simple power, but I have confidence in Bend¡¯s skills and faith in the others. Belphegora will probably be the stand out combat force. I wouldn¡¯t say the warriors are stealth masters, but other than Bend, I do not think it will be impossible for them to accompany Mr. Ben and his crew in the city. Though, if it¡¯s determined that Belphegora and Bend aren¡¯t enough to guard Beckham, they can certainly do so.¡± After Beryl finished talking, she backed up with a small nod from Bedivere. She had always been his favorite, so I suppose he was invested in her growth as a leader. I didn¡¯t want to say anything, but after Beryl¡¯s injury, it was clear that Bedivere doubted her ability to be a frontliner. It warmed my heart to see that didn¡¯t mean he was giving up on her. Far from it. But would she be able to step up to the task? I had no doubt about her leadership skills as a commander, seeing the overwhelming success of our skirmishes and hive defense. But as a manager? Only time would tell. ¡°Thanks you two,¡± I said. ¡°Unless Toh and Yelah are weaker than other mercenaries, I believe our small force can handle combat. Provided they don¡¯t get dog piled, but that shouldn¡¯t be an issue if the covert stuff works out. How about you, Beck?¡± Beck¡¯s side of things was more focused. Specifically, about Beckham¡¯s position as a glorified wi-fi router. Beckham probably had the most important role of the lot. If it weren¡¯t for the fact that he had to go along with Yelah to actually make the operation possible, it¡¯s possible an advance force wouldn¡¯t have been made in the first place. Beck expressed satisfaction with Beckham¡¯s performance so far. The limit on the Linker Bee range wasn¡¯t super clear, but it was reasonable to assume they had a similar effective range of the Link as a whole. Of course, a steady and sturdy connection was far more important when it came to the Linker Bees. But Beckham was easily acting as a relay with myself and Beck alike, so that probably wouldn¡¯t be a concern. As for the rest of the operation? Beckham would be the key figure in making sure that the connections would be stable and made instantly. That was essential. When they were stung, Yelah and Toh reacted quickly; if the order to stop the swatting came too late, there would be major consequences. ¡°Do you think we might have to test Beckham¡¯s speed? Maybe use some of Toh¡¯s troops, something less risky?¡± Beck agreed, and had apparently already made plans for such a test. Guess I couldn¡¯t win them all. All that was left on that end was to send over a slew of Linker bees. Speaking of, there was one thing left to discuss. Well, there was Ben¡¯s group, but they were Ben¡¯s group. Explorers with loud voices, but ordinary, small bees all the same. To the humans in Yiwi, their loud voices would be heard as buzzing at worst. No, the true last thing was actually an emergency. ¡°Bella, it¡¯s about time we discuss the issues you¡¯ve encountered.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­ Well, sorry to tell you guys, but there¡¯s no more food easily available in the forest.¡± The bees who hadn¡¯t heard the news yet murmured with concern. It was a pretty alarming piece of news, but I didn¡¯t think it was as dire as it seemed at first glance. ¡°So you mean there are no more corpses? Would that mean we now have to hunt to acquire food?¡± ¡°Yes, if you¡¯re a meathead like yourself, Bedivere. But not all of us just want to kill some stupid squirrels to eat. Belle and mine¡¯s honey is what we really need to continue developing, and meat works fine, but it¡¯s just annoying. So many steps and energy wasted. Now, Ma¡¯s knowledge has revealed something incredibly interesting to me. There is something that may exist in this world known only as ¡®flowers¡¯.¡± When the f word came up, the other bees¡¯ eyes shone. None of them seemed to know what it meant, but some instinctual drive seemed to flare up in them. Even Bedivere apparently forgot about being called a meathead. ¡°How sad. Flowers were once abundant in this forest, but I suppose these young bees would have never even heard of them. How¡­ sniff¡­ how sad!¡± Sniff? ¡°Yup! Fl-ow-ers! Magical things that store essence we can turn into honey easily. No need to hunt, no need to stress. All it would take is for my team to fly around, gather the essence from the flowers, and bring the stuff back here to turn into an abundant source of food!¡± ¡°And where can we find these flowers? I just gave a moment to search Mother¡¯s knowledge, and flowers are living plants akin to trees. Does that not imply all the flowers in this forest were destroyed?¡± ¡°Yup! You¡¯re fast Bea. Well, I have a theory. The human city was close to the forest, right? And flowers are the best thing, probably. So it makes sense that the humans would take some flowers for themselves. It¡¯s simple. We take the flowers.¡± That all seemed reasonable to me. We had already planned for Bella to journey to Yiwi with the Linker Bees in search of food, anyway. I wasn¡¯t too keen on having that many bees in the city at once, but it was a bit of an emergency. To me, the plan had been laid out well. Even considering some recent revelations, all it took was some minor adjustments. Of course, everything had to go smoothly for me to feel at ease. Speaking of smoothly, there were some things I wanted to iron out. Before the advance force arrived at Yiwi, I wanted to take care of any loose threads so I could spend that time calmly observing a new place. Sending Toh on his way, bolstering our warrior count, and of course making Linker Bees. But there was one more thing. And for that, I would have to turn towards my Mind. Chapter 50 - C Bee U ¡°Goodbye Toh! Have fun!¡± I shouted after the mercenary. Well, sort of. I was actually sitting in my chambers, puking out eggs. But telepathy waits for no one! ¡°Hmph.¡± How rude! I send you off with a hug and a kiss and all I get is some grunting in return? Well, I guess he was still sore about being beaten and put under mind control, so I wouldn¡¯t hold it against him. In fact, of all the humans I had captured, he was the most unruly of the bunch. His two companions were pretty docile and just went along with him. Hell, even Yelah and Grehn barely seemed to care. Did my Link have a psychological effect that made the humans more willing? Most likely. Honestly, for the Linker Bees to be the most pressing mystery in recent memory was somewhat silly. But alas, I had a job to do. And that job was to vomit. The fact that I had gotten used to binge-eating then immediately regurgitating a honey substance was annoying. Maybe Queen had affected me like how our Link affected the humans. ¡°It does make sense. Considering how distasteful you seem to find many of our natural bee processes, it would not be surprising. In fact, I have been doing some digging into your past in my free time, and have caught a glimpse of your emotions. You changed drastically upon arriving here. If you were even close to the same person, you were back on Earth, you would have been unable to create eggs out of sheer discomfort, that I can assure you.¡± Oh great. So this whole time I¡¯ve actually been a different person? ¡°Is that really so strange to imagine? I am not the same as I was prior to your arrival, either. I know we can seem separate at times, but you cannot forget that we are, in truth, one and the same.¡± But is that really the case? That would make creating a body for you to inhabit yourself sort of tough. Forget tough, it might be impossible. ¡°My introspection has been fruitful. I think it may be possible to create a form for me, so that I may interact with the world of my own volition. But it would likely not be the way you imagine. Think of it more like splitting our body in half. We would potentially be in control of a body each, yet still be present in both.¡± Oh. That¡¯s¡­ weird. So two bodies, but I would have one I control, and you would have one you control. But I would still be in it. So it would be our current situation in reverse? You¡¯ve thought about it a bit, so do you have a concrete way of doing it? ¡°Actually, no. However, we have met someone who gave me inspiration.¡± Hm? Who¡­? OH! Yelah and Dip! ¡°Precisely. Their Ability began to give me some ideas. However, the primary issue would be creating a suitable host body or entity in which to perform the procedure.¡± It was true, Yelah and Dip¡¯s [Friendly Immersion] worked in a way that seemed to defy physics, and she wasn¡¯t all that powerful. Surely I could replicate something like that to create a physical or mental body switch scenario. I¡¯d just have to add that to the list. Copying the Ability would probably be less difficult than the host body thing. Maybe it could be a robot or something? That would be awesome. ¡°Yes, the issue I have found is that the body would have to be soulless and Mindless. Using Yelah, for example, or heavens forbid one of our bees, would simply be unacceptable. Who knows what would happen? But I agree, it is something we should not focus on right now. Come in. Let us work on the B-boxes.¡± And with that, I left the real world behind. ______ The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Your Ma¡¯s a real piece of work.¡± ¡°Silence, human.¡± ¡°I guess all you buggers are pieces of work.¡± No response from the grumpy-looking bee. Or maybe it was serious? It was hard to tell from lookin¡¯ at them. Though, this Link did some strange things to my brain. Somehow I could tell this bee was a female called ¡®Beryl¡¯ and get a general read of its - her - mood. Of course, there was also the fact I could understand them. Could I take this one on? It was clearly crippled, so maybe I could escape. Yeah, right. If you can hear these thoughts, I know ya got some watchers on me. Yup, I feel that gaze. I felt it before too, when I got captured. Even when I had turned invisible with my Ability and that little monster cleaned my clock, I felt those freaky eyes on me. How had this happened? My Ability was very effective, in that I was confident. Only specialists like the royal knights or high-level mercenaries could see through it. Which meant that these bees were around their level? No, not quite. But they had individuals with extraordinary talent. What a predicament. Ha! Yiwi¡¯s screwed! ¡­Nope. Hard as I try, I can¡¯t convince myself. A lowly human like me has gotta keep up hope, ya know? Try as I might, I still believe these bees will fail. Humanity always finds a way. Even so¡­ All my thoughts and knowledge were now the property of that creature. Sorry, Jill. I messed up. ______ Wow. The B-boxes were looking good! I floated alongside Queen¡¯s ghostly avatar high above a gigantic hexagon. Skeletal rather than solid, little bits of the shape occasionally floated around and swapped places, glowing a faint yellow. You¡¯ve been busy, Queen. ¡°I only formed the general structure. Much of the system filled itself in. In all honesty¡­ it is making me uncomfortable. The behavior of the boxes, their movement, their efficiency¡­ they feel like drones.¡± Huh. So you¡¯re telling me it¡¯s self sustaining now? ¡°Indeed. It can¡¯t be stopped.¡± Hm. Well, let¡¯s see¡­ The hexagon was mostly divided into sections, with the majority taking up knowledge storage and processing. I could see nodes and strings flowing from seemingly nowhere into one particular portion, which is where the Link must be feeding into. Another portion nearby processed and efficiently cut up and stored information in order of importance, so I wasn¡¯t overwhelmed by random garbage. Of course, there was plenty of room for improvement. Queen, did you have any advice? ¡°Your goal. It is to better know things in the moment. I understand. You are concerned that knowledge must be retrieved consciously. You may know all the happenings of the hive and our controlled humans, but unless you specifically decide to think of it, it blends into the rest of the information.¡± Yup. It¡¯s just the same problem I was encountering before the B-boxes. Too much information. This time, though, the information wasn¡¯t overwhelming or anything. I just wasn¡¯t accessing it optimally. So, I just made another box. This would have the task of retrieving information. And then I made more boxes. The result was a more developed hexagon, with a few quirks. The first box I made now sat at the center, like a gigantic beating heart. Or maybe a brain? Either way, that box ended up being huge. I poured a pretty sizable amount of Mind into it, and its glow was noticeably brighter than the rest. Brighter than the ones it was attached to, even. Speaking of, the other boxes were stuck to the sides of the massive central box, and those were connected to the most peculiar boxes I had made so far. The smaller exterior boxes were attached to thin bendy boxes that connected to the rest of the hexagon, like twisting wires. When all was said and done, I had just added more boxes on top of the already bustling network. Those smaller boxes would be temporary storage. I already had a system like that in place, but this was meant to solve my problem. These boxes would store tons of information pertinent to the hive¡¯s activity, with a whole box dedicated just to the humans. The central box would then constantly have this info on hand and process it in real time. ¡°This structure¡­ A computer?¡± Well, it would make sense that you know about that by now. But yeah. Computer, brain, it¡¯s all the same. Just like with humans and bees, I could combine the structure and rigidity of computers with the flexibility of the human brain. Well, probably. Basically I had no idea how brains work, but computer structure made sense. ¡°¡­You just wanted to say your brain is like a computer. You realize nobody in this world would likely know what that means?¡± You know what? I don¡¯t care! It¡¯s cool! And besides, it was probably functional. Probably. As Toh contemplated his fate, the hive bustled with activity. Belle¡¯s underlings were hard at work following Beatrice¡¯s strict rationing guidelines. Priority went to the newborns to ensure they would at least reach adulthood. Belle herself was under a mountain of stress. She required more workers, so she would ask Mother soon. Bess was thriving. The smaller force of builders was a boon for her, as she now could become accustomed to commanding several bees without becoming overwhelmed. Although the process by which her forces were reduced was sad, she couldn¡¯t help but feel thankful. Now, she could finish the base of the hive wall, and begin work on closing it off to the elements. The wind had begun to pick up, so best to prevent ashes from flying around the hive where Mom had to lay eggs. Ben and his two cohorts, on the other hand, were having a blast. Dreaming about the human city¡¯s sights and sounds and smells was enticing, and Ben had especially become increasingly excited about the idea of seeing something new. Momaroo¡¯s plans would allow for them to have some fun in the city before the real madness started. ¡°¡­En¡­¡± And the city wouldn¡¯t know what hit it. Bella and the Linker Bees would soon arrive. She was excited to find those mysterious ¡®flowers¡¯ Mom knew about. Yelah and Grehn couldn¡¯t stand the pace of Toh¡¯s group. They kept joking around about Dip¡¯s sudden reappearance, realizing they had been fooled. And yet they didn¡¯t seem spiteful, though they were confused about Toh¡¯s whereabouts. Toh had no idea about their- ¡°ENNO!¡± A wave of nausea hit me- hit Enno- and I- Enno- leaped out of the B-box space into the real world. Rather than vomiting egg material, I- Enno- puked from pure sickness. ¡°Are you- was he- alright?! I- Queen- suddenly became overwhelmed with nausea, as you -Enno- did. Was it because of the new processing? But something wasn¡¯t right.¡± The nausea felt like an explosion of something that had been building up. Simultaneously, two other bees were experiencing symptoms of nausea. Was it a coincidence? No other bees laid eggs, so I -Enno - didn¡¯t think it could be a simple coincidence. What could be happening? Announcement: Q and A Hello there. Author who doesn¡¯t know what they¡¯re doing here. Because this seems like the best way to announce something like this, here we go. To celebrate 50 chapters, I wanted to do a Q and A. So put them in the comments, pm me, whatever suits you. I¡¯ll answer questions about Beesekai as best as I can. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Mostly I want to do this because my favorite series do this sort of thing, like One Piece¡¯s SBS question corner. Maybe I should make a cool name like that¡­ Ill wait a while to see if anyone asks anything and compile answers into a single big separate chapter later on. Or something like that. July 15th seems like a fair deadline to ask questions, right? Chapter 51 - Fifbee We - Queen and Enno - took deep breaths, trying to calm down. Beatrice was fussing about, again coming out of nowhere. As soon as something had seemed wrong, Beatrice had been there, asking questions and making orders of other bees. ¡°Are you alright, Mother? Please rest. I - Beatrice - am doing everything in my - Beatrice¡¯s - power to keep everything under control. Confound it, what is this?!¡± I - Enno - was already coming to a few conclusions. It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine that fiddling with the B-boxes was once again having bizarre consequences. Specifically, all of this could likely be tied to the C Bee U (of course I- Enno - had to call it that). ¡°Of all times, why now? The plan was to continue smoothly; the number of Linker Bees that have hatched are to expectation, so Bella should have been ready to go.¡± Beatrice¡¯s comment was alarming. That much time had passed already? already passed, so the next stage of the Yiwi Operation should already go underway. However, of all things. The nausea that we - Queen and Enno - were feeling was not exclusive to us - them. Both Bella and Belle were also suffering from some mysterious sickness. ¡°The both of them became sick at different times, and at different times from us - Queen and Enno. I - Queen - do not think Bella will be fit to go to Yiwi.¡± There¡¯s nothing we - Queen and Enno - can do for Bella to get her into shape to leave immediately. If we - they - want to keep the plan running on schedule, a different bee will have to be sent. Didn¡¯t Bella also have a prot¨¦g¨¦? Bella also had a prot¨¦g¨¦, one she had named Bert. Bert was a crybaby who only felt at home while flying around and gathering food. He would have to do. But once Beatrice was made aware of the switch and began her preparations, I - Enno - had another thing to take care of. Besides throwing up. Enno took a deep breath once again. He tried to let go, to allow the urges to overtake him. ¡°Why are you - Enno- speaking like that? Referring to yourself with your own name is somewhat strange.¡± Enno pointed out to Queen her own sentence. What Enno had realized was that the C Bee U had caused some sort of unintended consequence, some sort of strange phenomenon. Even though they thought of themselves, they could not properly refer to themselves. The C Bee U was handling all thoughts. But it was on the outside looking in. Or on the inside looking out? ¡°A strange phenomenon, I- Queen - admit. But something like this cannot be sustained! It will cause confusion among the hive members! We - the hive - are at a crucial juncture with the Yiwi Operation. The mission will decide our fate in the world dominated by humans. We - the hive - cannot allow this to stand in our way!¡± Enno agreed. ¡°Stop that!¡± He agreed, but he told Queen that a solution could be possible. All he would need to do is fiddle with the B-boxes some more¡­ ¡°But do we - Queen and Enno - have time for that? Forget our - Queen and Enno¡¯s - personal jabs. This strange phenomenon does not only affect speech. Look at the hive! Productivity is noticeably dropping as hive members become more and more confused!¡± I - Enno -. Rather, Enno would have to work quickly. He would need Queen¡¯s help. As Enno spun a branch wildly, he thought of a way to fix this issue quickly. The most obvious answer would be to completely disable the C Bee U, then go piece by piece, trying to figure out which part caused the problem. Was it the complexity? [Tapped Mind: 0% / 70.76298%] [Mind Locks: If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ] Immediately, a few things were notable. First: wow, the Kin Link was getting expensive! Most of the sudden cost came from the humans. {Kin Link } } While some bees like the Valkybees were unusually expensive, the humans were, on average, far, far more expensive to maintain. By themselves, the Linker Bees only took 0.000033%. It was when they linked up with another Mind, like the humans, that they automatically drew more Mind. The result? Unsustainable costs. ¡°But that is not the current concern. We - Queen and Enno - should focus on the C Bee U.¡± Queen was right. Enno turned his attention to the B-box Lock. If the Kin Link was amassing Mind quickly, then the B-boxes were an all-consuming monster, sucking up Mind like candy. {B-Box Currently, the C Bee U is using 9.8% Mind, with a high chance of increasing over time. The remainder of the hexagon, including the storage and processing of memories and Links is taking ~5.2%, and constantly increasing. Summary: } Now that was interesting. Rather than the simple list, the B-box section read more like a report. Wait. 9.8 percent?! Enno couldn¡¯t believe it! Just the C Bee U was tripling the amount of Mind being allotted. He quickly got to work. I disabled the C Bee U and oh thank god I can speak normally! ¡°Finally. I, we, us, our. Perhaps I am unworthy of being a bee; I am becoming much too accustomed to individuality.¡± It¡¯s only natural. Individuality is freedom in its own way, something you¡¯ve gotta admit you¡¯re lacking a bit. ¡°Quite true. But as for the C Bee U, it is certainly a powerful tool. Its value cannot be underestimated, but¡­ Well, for one thing, why does it use so much Mind?¡± I was also concerned about that. No doubt, it made sense for something powerful like that to be costly, but I thought it would be pretty efficient. Would the cost improve if I used fewer boxes? ¡°While you fiddle around with the C Bee U, I think we should check on Bella and Belle. Our illness is one thing, but I cannot recall a moment where another bee has fallen ill.¡± Good point. Thankfully, this was what B-boxes were made for. With growing concern, I shakily left my chambers. Bella and Belle were currently resting in the nursery, so I made my way through the left side passage. My nausea was still strong, so I was forced to float slowly through the passage. It was a nice passage. Bess had done a good job. In fact, I think she might need a break. ¡°A break?! Bess? Her work is too crucial!¡± Well, sure, but look at the hive! The wall was about to be complete, which was practically half the battle. And this central hive was constantly growing! Whenever she wasn¡¯t working on the outer wall, Bess came to the central hive to eat. Except she also worked on the central hive while eating. She barely rested! The central hive was also coming out in a hexagon shape. What was with bees and hexagons? Each major room was hexagonal, the rooms were made up of hexagons, the passages were hexagons. It was ridiculous! ¡°Our room does break the mold. Though the central hive is a hexagon, our room is an out-of-place addition to one side. Not counting Beatrice¡¯s room in the center.¡± Hexagons aside, I managed to enter the nursery without any accidents. Then I saw Bella and Belle. And I had an accident. ¡°Are you two alright!?¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Yep. Never better.¡± ¡°Yes¡­ Mother¡­¡± ¡°You¡¯re definitely not okay!¡± The two of them were looking pretty bad. Several hexagons around them were filled with some liquid that was decidedly not honey. They had done their best not to flood the hive with sick, but it just seemed to keep coming. They were looking green, noticeably so. Their antennae sagged and their eyes looked¡­ wrinkled? ¡°How could this have happened? Is it because of the C Bee U? No, that can¡¯t be right. Food?! You two do handle food the most.¡± ¡°I am not sure, Mother, but rest assured. The food we have created is safe. However, it is suspicious that both Belle and I are the ones who are afflicted. What does not make sense is our subordinates.¡± Their subordinates? Ah, of course. Recently, they had been teaching the bees that worked under them to make food. Even the gathering drones could be taught to deliver raw material to Belle¡¯s workers. So, since Belle¡¯s workers were healthy, that made a case for the safety of the food. So then, what was wrong? ¡°It could be something inane? A simple illness?¡± ¡°Unlikely,¡± Beatrice interjected, even though I thought she was somewhere completely different. ¡°Because we do not know the exact source of the illness, we must take every precaution. Mother, I apologize, but I will have to ask you to quarantine with Bella and Belle in a different location.¡± Oh. Well, alright then. And that was how I found myself thrown into an empty room with two sick twins. ¡°I regret that this is our only solution, Mother. However, we know nothing about this illness. Is it contagious? Where does it originate from? How serious can it be? Until we know more, we need to take strict precautions.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t feel bad Beatrice. I think it¡¯s the right decision. Thankfully, we don¡¯t need to go out to do our jobs. At least mostly.¡± ¡°Agreed. However, not being able to produce more bees will be a blow to my plans. Bella, you are in an unfortunate position. From now on, do your best to ensure Bert adequately performs his duties. He is¡­ well, I believe he may need more experience. Belle, you are in a much better place. Your workers are already well-oiled machines, so please continue your administrative duties.¡± The sick twins did their best to nod as Beatrice floated away. ¡°Hey, listen you two. Don¡¯t feel compelled to work too hard. You need rest to recover. The faster the recover, the better you can work. So make sure to get well soon.¡± ¡°Thank you Mother.¡± ¡°¡­Zzzzzz.¡± Belle and I stared at Bella. Somehow, in between nodding to Beatrice and my brief note, she had fallen fast asleep. ¡°Bella¡­ were you nodding off?¡± Oh, that was a good one, Belle. I suppose I was going to be spending more time with these two. They would make decent company, and I wasn¡¯t worried about being bored. Between my nausea, the C Bee U conundrum, and, of course, Operation Yiwi. Ben and friends were nearly there after all. If nothing else, I could spend my days stuck in here looking around a huge human city. Chapter 52 - Menasting For some time now, between the blackened branches and smoggy sky, three things began to stick out. With Ben¡¯s enhanced visual prowess, the first thing that he noticed at the forest¡¯s edge was the wall. Just beyond the ridge of trees, a towering gray slate interfered with the horizon. Smooth and tall, the stone wall of Yiwi was a sight to behold. A classic otherworldly fantasy city! Needing a big wall to protect from forest monsters. Despite deciding to build the city on the border of a dangerous forest. Brilliant. I had to admit, though. It did look cool. Instead of the ancient or classical feeling of typical stone walls, these had an artificial smoothness to them. In fact, there were parts that even seemed to reflect some light. Maybe some metal was used in the wall itself? According to the humans¡¯ knowledge of Yiwi¡¯s wall, yes. None of them really knew (or I guess cared) about the composition of their city¡¯s wall, providing it kept them and the people safe. Fair enough. But they did know that the wall was actually mostly metal. So was the smooth gray rock not actually¡­ rock? Well, another standout feature of the wall was its shape. Not how it looked from above; in that regard, it was just a bumpy oval as far as most human knew, except for the side facing away from the forest, which extended to surround the river for some distance. No, the most interesting feature was the wall¡¯s height. The further away from the forest, the lower the wall went. But who cared about that?! Ben¡¯s superior vision had let him see the wall, which got him all excited for some reason. Maybe because it could be directly compared to our own hive¡¯s wall? But no, as the resident otherworlder, there was something else I noticed instantly. The stupidly gigantic propellor. Ominously overlooking the city, casting a huge shadow and turning slowly, a massive horizontal fan¡­turbine¡­ thing topped the city like a fucking propellor atop a kid¡¯s propellor hat. Like from cartoons. Hold on. The wall¡¯s tapering height¡­ the oval shape with a section jutting out¡­ and a bit propellor on top? Yiwi was just one big propeller hat! What I was seeing was the Yiwi Rotor, something of a trademark for the city. What the humans knew about the Rotor fell mainly into two categories: the Rotor as a background constant and point of pride, and its functionality. They all knew it was integral to Yiwi¡¯s history, something to do with the city¡¯s founder. And that it had once been much smaller, subsequently destroyed, and rebuilt. As for its functionality? The key could be found in their Mind Locks. [Mind Locks: ] Observing Yelah¡¯s Locks, one stuck out as odd. Yiwi was a Lock not labeled under any other category like Misc, took a cool 5% Mind draw, and had no sub-locks. So what was it? Well, I had the B-boxes (that were still activated) to thank for giving me an idea. When I thought of the Rotor, that Lock came into my consciousness. And so¡­ [Yiwi: Rotor tax. Citizen + mercenary charge = 5% ] Oh. Well, I was expecting a bit more than that. What the hell, man? ¡°Why even bother? Just inspect their knowledge on the Lock. Or on the Rotor itself.¡± But where¡¯s the fun in that?! Looking through the menus to learn more information on some obscure, eye-catching factoids? That was the best! Well, despite its brevity, the description actually said quite a bit. So, every citizen and mercenary in Yiwi had to pay taxes, but rather than with money, they paid with Mind. ¡°They do pay monetary taxe-¡° This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Wow, no monetary taxes. To the city. As Queen was spoiling, people do pay monetary taxes to their resident kingdom, Somuia. But we¡¯re talking about the Rotor! Let¡¯s focus up! So, the Rotor wasn¡¯t wind powered? What was the point of its design, then? Maybe it was too big? Heavy? Was the city founder stupid? So, people in Yiwi paid a Mind tax of 5% for the Rotor to work, and they presumably got some benefit from it. Enough that the rest of the city¡¯s administrative responsibilities and amenities and services and so on didn¡¯t need money to function. I was interested in seeing what exactly those benefits might be. ¡°¡­Just think of them.¡± No way! You¡¯re telling me you would rather think of whatever cool fantasy nonsense might be powered by a giant horizontal propellor than experience them yourself? ¡°Yes.¡± Wow. Party pooper. Look, I¡¯m trying to be positive here. We can¡¯t even experience the stuff anyway, stuck in quarantine. But at least we could experience it vicariously through the Link. Speaking of, there was one more thing that we had noticed. Unlike the wall and the Rotor, this wasn¡¯t something I noticed through Ben¡¯s eyesight. It wasn¡¯t something I noticed through Ben at all. While Ben allowed me to see incredible detail from far away, seeing a hint of what lay beyond the gloomy destroyed forest, he wasn¡¯t particularly Mind-sensitive. Poor guy. No. By seeing the world through Beckham¡¯s eyes, or Mind, the third thing became painfully clear. Yiwi was scary as fuck. The city with thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of human Minds was like a beacon of pure pressure. What was it? Did just the 5% constant Mind usage for the Yiwi tax do that? Beckham wasn¡¯t being physically repelled (yet), but he could easily feel an astounding amount of Mind like a massive waterfall hitting him in the face. To me, who could see the city in ominous, shadowy detail, and who could simultaneously feel the crushing force of Minds? Yiwi stood like a shadowy fortress, enveloped in a terrifying dark aura. ¡°Wow. I can actually see the perceived image you are creating in your head. It is¡­surprisingly accurate, in a way.¡± ¡°Yelah. How much longer to the city?¡± ¡°From where we are, it shouldn¡¯t be more than an hour. Why?¡± ¡°Just excited. Oh, and Toh has been on his way for a bit. Do you think it¡¯s fine for you to wait for him to enter the city?¡± She looked upset by that. Ah, of course. The thing that made her the most upset at the moment was the state of her friends. Vlugh seemed to be sleeping a bit better, but Rette was in no shape to wait for medical attention. Encountering Toh¡¯s group and their more robust medical supplies had sure been a boon for her, but that wasn¡¯t reassuring for me in particular. Namely, I wanted to get at least Ben¡¯s group into the city walls as soon as possible. ¡°I wanna see inside! The wall is cool looking!¡± ¡°That wall has protected us for a long time. Squirrels aren¡¯t the only thing that lived in this forest, you know. Of all things, our monster-proof protections are attracting a monster.¡± ¡°Hey! Do you think I¡¯m a monster? Thanks!¡± Oh, Ben. Not what she meant. ¡°Fine. Get your friends some medical attention. But don¡¯t be too quick to report to the company. I want to be more cautious around them.¡± Yelah nodded, but she didn¡¯t know my true intentions. Sure, I wasn¡¯t lying about being more cautious around the mercenary companies. But what I really wanted was an excuse for Yelah¡¯s group to meet with a high-ranking executive. Of course, with a Linker Bee in tow. Unfortunately, the Linker Bees, Gathering Drones, and Bert were only just getting ready to make the journey. Ultimately, all of this meant more work for me. Who would be directing the Linker Bees? Who would be making sure Bella could maintain communication with her drones and lackey? Who would be monitoring the entire operation?! This bee. ¡°More like this bee. Or maybe the B-boxes. All you want to do is imagine Yiwi standing menacingly in the distance and see a big propeller spin.¡± Well. Well well. Well three times. Eh, I can¡¯t think of an argument. You¡¯re pretty much spot on. Regardless, I was starting to think getting sick was something of a boon at this crucial juncture. For me, at least. I could focus on making sure all the moving parts of the operation fit together properly. Speaking of, I was going to tell Toh to speed things up. I doubted his crew would be surprised to see their boss coming along with the two goons he sent our way, but I still didn¡¯t want him to dally too long. But in that case, he would have to show up alongside them to ease the minds of the others. So, he was being bottlenecked somewhat by said goons. Let¡¯s see. The main force, along with Toh¡¯s team, would arrive outside Yiwi¡¯s walls within the hour. Maybe less, because after our discussion, Yelah got stressed out. Or rather, she was acting stressed out. Yup, she was leveraging her genuine anxieties and Grehn¡¯s imposing figure to make the group go faster. Good on her! So, less than an hour for arrival. Toh¡¯s trio, on the other hand, would take much longer. Combining the lack of monsters with the small, lightly equipped group meant that they would reach Yiwi fairly quickly as well, though not in less than a day. And our cavalry, or final group of bees, might actually take less time than Toh¡¯s group. With a limited need to stop and tireless determination, the mostly mindless army of bees would make the journey feel short. Huh. Bert¡­ was using Mind to move around. And¡­ the drones were also alternating between flying and floating?! How was that possible? ¡°I think Beatrice is to blame. From what I can tell, she has made it a policy for any bees to understand the mechanics of using Mind to fly using the minimum amount of effort possible. She has found the process to be extremely energy and food efficient. As for the drones and Linkers¡­ Ah.¡± ¡°Pick it up, little buddies! Move to the music! Now float¡­ and fly! Float¡­ and fly!¡± ¡°Sniff¡­ those poor drones. Aren¡¯t you hurting them by carrying them around like that?¡± ¡°Nonsense, Bert-bro! Look, I think they like it.¡± Becky?! What was she doing there? ¡°Beatrice again. Seems she was nervous about losing stability, so she sent Becky along with Bert. Which means we are investing even more crucial resources into this operation every day.¡± I hope Beatrice knew what she was doing. Well, to be fair, she probably knew better than I did. But it was still crazy to think. Becky and Beckham were the only bees with Mind sensitivity anywhere near Beck, and the only bees as enthused about the Link. Sure, this would be an invaluable experience and so on, but geez. So many important bees leaving the hive. ¡°This is the reality of any hive. Having so many bees within the hive doing tasks other than creating food or constructing the hive is already unusual. I think this will ultimately be worth it.¡± Classic Beatrice. Well, it was hard to argue the cost-benefit analyses with the likes of her. With Yiwi growing closer, I couldn¡¯t focus on this preparatory stuff anymore. Once Yelah entered those gates, there was no turning back. Either the humans would find us out, swear revenge, and destroy us. Or they would bow. Of course, my thoughts were immediately interrupted by the wax door thing swinging open. Beatrice was visible from the doorway, along with another bee. Beau, that one prot¨¦g¨¦ of Belle¡¯s that enjoyed tinkering with the weird forest litter. Beau floated into our room, and the door slammed shut behind her. ¡°Apologies for the interruption, Mother. Beau here has also fallen ill. Please continue monitoring the operation.¡± Ah, shit. Chapter 53 - Arrival in the Beeg city ¡°So, you¡¯re Beau, huh? Nice to officially meet¡¯cha.¡± ¡°¡­¡± No response from the skittish looking bee. She kept looking frantically between Belle and me, as if trying to get permission to speak. Which, it turns out, was exactly what she was doing. I hadn¡¯t exactly interacted that much with bees from Beau¡¯s generation. I knew their names thanks to the Link, and I knew what they were thinking. But I hadn¡¯t met them. Which is like, its own thing, you know? And they were so young. I guess they weren¡¯t exactly comfortable interacting with me. Though, there were Becky and Beckham¡­ though they might be exceptions considering their proclivities. ¡°Go ahead Beau. Mother tends to be very interested in what we have to say, so don¡¯t feel the need to hold back.¡± ¡°ThankyoumissBelleIwon¡¯tletyoudown!¡± Beau said nervously, flubbing almost every word. Unfortunately, her nerves didn¡¯t let up, because the more she tried talking about her work, the more she flubbed. It was so incoherent that I was confident I wouldn¡¯tve understood a word if not for the Link. Beau, in essence, was a tinkerer. She had been immediately drawn, not to the nursery or food storage like some of her siblings in her same generation, but rather to the miscellaneous storage room. Belle, being the only other bee who expressed interest in those odd remnants, had taken her under her wing. ¡°I must say, it was quite a relief to see a bee become interested in those things. With all my important responsibilities, I haven¡¯t had the time to play around with those things. Ugh¡­¡± While Belle continued being sick, Beau kept rambling on. While the metal spikes and some doodads we stole from our new human allies had interested Beau, what really caught her attention were the electric crystals. In fact, she had personally gone out to collect more crystal shards, something that hadn¡¯t been on my radar. ¡°So am I correct to assume you like electricity?¡± ¡°Ah! Yes! You know about them? It? The electhingy?¡± Beau had noticeably perked up after my question. Hm. I suppose nobody besides Belle would be able to talk with her about this stuff. ¡°You are also her mother. Don¡¯t forget that. Validating her is invaluable. I think.¡± Fair enough. ¡°Ah, the electhingy is just so fascinating! I¡¯ve observed such interesting properties about conducthingery between the crystals or metal spikes or wax! You know I was beginning to wonder about conducthingery in other materials I hadn¡¯t previously considered like wood from trees or even bones from vultures but I haven¡¯t been able to test it especially before I became sick so I was going to ask Beatrice-¡° Wow. Commas much? This girl was really on a roll. I was glad to see her being so enthusiastic and be interested in those human artifacts, but unfortunately it just wasn¡¯t an invaluable job position at the moment. Not like I would fire her or something. I had no doubt that, with enough creativity and manpower (or beepower), those artifacts could be used for some interesting stuff. But it just wasn¡¯t as important at the moment as building the hive¡¯s structure or something. ¡°Tell you what, Beau,¡± I interrupted, ¡°I haven¡¯t tested this extensively, but I¡¯ll send you over my knowledge. I have some experience working with electricity and know a fair bit about its mechanics, so hopefully you can use that knowledge to your advantage.¡± I liked Beau¡¯s reaction. Jaw on the ground, bug-eyed. Well, maybe that second part was a bit redundant. But she was clearly pleased. ¡°It may be overwhelming for her simply to receive a large amount of information. Tell you what. Our team is already arriving at Yiwi, and I know you are excited to experience the city¡¯s offerings. While you are entertaining yourself there, I will attempt to use the B-boxes to package the information together in a way that Beau can independently study, rather than simply being overtaken by a flow of knowledge.¡± Ooooh! What a great idea! Sending knowledge packets like some kind of digital textbook to bees with special interests like Beau would have a ton of benefits. It would make things easier for them. It could be extensive. And best of all, it would mean that instead of being spoon-fed the info, they would have to really learn it! For these bees, who were obsessed with productivity, that shouldn¡¯t be a problem. If anything, it should be a boon. Leave it to Queen to think of something like that. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Oh stop. You¡¯re just happy you can play with your new toys instead of working.¡± That does nothing to diminish my gratitude! And I meant it. Because Queen was totally right. Yiwi¡¯s wall was no longer an imposing figure in the distance. It was right in front of us. _________ ¡°Are you guys doing alright?¡± A quiet voice whispered. As it turns out, the menacing aura of Mind that had been palpable for Beckham from a distance wasn¡¯t as intangible as expected. Beckham, Bennet, and Benita were gasping for air. Bennet and Benita weren¡¯t quite as Mind sensitive as Beckham; not by a long shot, actually. However, they were certainly weaker than other bees. Ben had insisted on trying to fly himself, so he had steeled himself while struggling against the ¡®current¡¯. Bend was in a similar state, but his face was more set in stone. Ben, on the other hand, was sporting a massive strained grin. The two of them were pushing with all their might, trying to fly against the oppressive waves of Mind power that rolled over and through Yiwi¡¯s walls. Beckham, Bennet, and Benita¡¯s gasps were out of discomfort. So why were they not struggling against the current like Ben or Bend? Why, because of Belphegora, of course. What a trooper. Not only was she carrying herself, she was hauling along the struggling young trio with her Mind as well. Even worse, she was giving a boost to the four warriors who were really struggling to keep up. ¡°We are just getting accustomed to the city, Grehn. There is no need for concern.¡± ¡°If you say so¡­¡± How were the humans handling the city? The answer: handling? Handle what? Not a single one of the humans even seemed to feel a tingle from the intense aura of Mind coming from the city. None of them were even really aware it was a thing. There was a shadow of knowledge from Toh and some of his older team members about how the city had more than just the wall to defend against monsters, but they didn¡¯t know much about it. Did the city have a Mind shield? Did it specifically repel monsters? Or was it just a side effect of so many Minds oozing energy at the same time? It was hard to tell. Unless the bees figured things out, then the mission was already spiraling out of control. At least Belphegora seemed to be doing alright. Her powerful Mind was definitely helping. ¡°Alright,¡± Yelah sent through the Link, ¡°We¡¯re going in now. You bees will stay out here, as per the plan. Thank¡¯s to the Link, we don¡¯t need any sort of complicated signal system or anything, so just stay in one general place to avoid confusion.¡± Thankfully, the Mind pressure affecting the bees didn¡¯t seem to cause any interference with the Link to the humans. Beckham had decided that since the Link was unaffected, no adjustments would have to be made on that end. But really, how did that make sense? The Mind pressure was affecting physical bodies but not other Mind stuff? It had to be a monster specific shield of some kind. Yelah and Grehn took one last look back towards the cluster of trees that hid their new buggy overlords before dashing towards the city. Well, dashing as quickly as possible while holding two sandbags. The other mercenaries, on the other hand, joked and leisurely strolled to the gate. ¡°Yelah!¡± Atop the wall, a cheerful figure waved, but Yelah barely reciprocated. ¡°Yoho! Tell them to open the gates!¡± She shouted in response. The figure, who turned out to be the infamous Yoho, paused before he quickly scrambled away. After just a moment, the gate creaked open, and a guy who seemed like a guard peeked out. It didn¡¯t take long for Yelah to confirm her identity and be let through, which presumably wouldn¡¯t have taken much longer at a different gate. Mercenaries¡¯ status meant they could dash through the gate without issue. Not that there were other people passing through, which did make sense. This gate directly faced a big dangerous forest; nobody besides mercs or something would even pass through this particular gate. Oh, and what a gate it was. Two giant doors adorned the walls, but they weren¡¯t made of wood like most doors. No, these were giant metal behemoths. Maybe made of steel or something? ¡°We¡¯re almost there. Hang in there guys.¡± Not that Yelah was interested in the gates. Even as Yoho jogged in pace with her, she didn¡¯t take her eyes off the road. ¡°Hey, sorry about Toh going after you. I wasn¡¯t expecting the City Lord to be so paranoid. Oh¡­¡± Yoho finally managed to take his eyes off Yelah and glance towards the two heavily breathing bundles she and Grehn were hauling. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Can you clear some space ahead?¡± No hesitation. Without another word, Yoho sprinted forward and began shouting at passerby. Thanks to his efforts, and the smooth roads of the city, Yelah¡¯s team was able to swiftly traverse the increasingly crowded streets. They were heading straight towards the Hayrey and Sons¡¯ company headquarters in the mercenary district. Because apparently mercenaries had their own district in the city. The big companies had prime real estate close to the city center, where a big dome-ish building sat underneath the mind-bogglingly enormous shaft (heh) belonging to the Rotor. What could be said? The city was bustling with activity; people shopping, people commuting, kids running around. People, people, people. The buildings were all smooth and gray, but make no mistake. Gray as they were, colors were everywhere. Colorfully painted accents were all over the walls of the houses, but they still couldn¡¯t compare to the rainbow of flowers covering the streets and walls. Red flowers, blue flowers, yellow flowers galore. And the buildings were freaking tall. Not tall enough to be considered skyscrapers, not even close. But some were certainly getting there. And as a result, flowers attached close to the tops of the buildings shed onto the street and caused a near-constant drizzle of colorful flower petals. The mercenaries made a sharp turn to the left, officially entering the mercenary district. While they were running through the major streets, they attracted almost zero attention. It was almost comical how uncaring the passerby were. When they turned into the mercenary district? ¡°Oh, Yelah¡¯s back!¡± ¡°Oi, where¡¯s Toh? He steal your thunder?¡± ¡°Oh shit, is that Rette?¡± ¡°I think so. And Vlugh too?¡± ¡°Who?¡± These were mercenaries. No doubt. Many wore clothes very similar to Yelah¡¯s team, with her weird leather-like outfit. Others wore full suits of metal armor and still others wore cloaks. Weapons of all sorts could be seen on weapon racks outside of rowdy bars, but most of the shouting ruffians sported slung rifles and holstered pistols. ¡°Outta the way! Let Yelah¡¯s team through!¡± Yoho was still hard at work struggling to leave the friend zone, but he didn¡¯t have to do much here. The path was completely clear, with mercs quickly sidestepping to let Yelah through, some without sparing a second glance. Among both the mercenaries and townspeople alike, this was apparently not a rare occurrence. Mercenary life was ultimately one full of risk. To that end, Yoho finally skid to a stop in front of a particularly immense building sporting a golden ¡®H¡¯. Instead of going through the heavy metal doors of the entrance, Yelah swerved into a small side entrance labeled by another golden symbol, a circle with a wavy line going from top to bottom. Finally, Yelah could get her friends treated. And finally, the operation would begin. Q and A - The buzz Q: With her Bee boxes, could she RTS her hive and send drones on delivery/resource collection? Kidding A: Kidding? KIDDING? OF COURSE she can RTS the drones. Q: Could she make a Jarvas (Jarvis?) to help her, so Queen doesn¡¯t endanger herself? The more minds in one head, the BEEter A: Is it possible? I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s impossible. But we already have a jarvis-type character in Beatrice. I mean, putting Beatrice into their head would just be ridiculous. Q: What makes a mind able to be absorbed by the multi mind skill? A: I¡¯ll assume you¡¯re asking about the [Combined Minds] ability that our protagonist(s) possesses. Until the Vulch was defeated, Combined Minds was just a throwaway ability Enno obtained that allowed two living Minds to exist in one body. Of course, it turned out to do a bit more than that. It''s because of this Ability that Enno and Queen were able to ¡®absorb¡¯ the Vulch¡¯s Mind, or at least get some benefit from it. At that time, they were able to do it by grabbing Vulch¡¯s Mind, which they were inside of, and dragging it to their own body, simple as that. It was sort of a perfect storm of circumstances, in that case. There¡¯s a few things: Vulch¡¯s Mind doesn¡¯t seem to be perfectly ¡®absorbed¡¯ (he isn¡¯t talking. Is he grumpy?), and Enno would probably need to want more Minds to focus on developing a method of stealing Minds. The obvious benefit is increased Mind efficiency, and the downside is having some wacko in your head Q1: Yippee!!! A1: Yippee!!! Q2: Will we get human POV chapters soon? A2: I¡¯d like to! There¡¯s so much to show! Chapters focusing solely on the human characters is something I¡¯ve been a little hesitant to do (partly because many people Do. NOT. Like them.), but I LOVE alternate POVs! That¡¯s why they sometimes appear within chapters. Nice for people who like alternate POVs and nice for those who like to stay with the og viewpoint character(s). Another reason is that, until recently, humans weren¡¯t present in the story, so I wanted a really neat moment for a full POV chapter (of which there have been some moments, so some missed opportunities maybe). TLDR most likely, but I want to wait for a neat moment Q3: Does the Forest have a name? (worldbuilding is awesome) A3: Absolutely! It is called the ¡®Vultuous Forest¡¯ as seen in the first Interlude, from the Mercborn POV. I wonder why it would be named that? Also, I LOVE world-building. Maybe a little too much. There¡¯s a ton of stuff I want to do with this world. Mainly I want to make this world weird. I wish more fantasy or alternative worlds were weird. I already have so much laid out, some of which has been teased or mentioned, and some of which is still lurking in secret. Q4: Could you recap the plot so far? If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A4: I¡¯ll put this in a spoiler because it might be kinda long Our story begins with a snarky loner called Enno working his regular electrical engineering job and being lonely. While walking home with his co-workers he almost gets hit by a car, diving out of the way at the last second. Then he gets electrocuted by a power pole. After dying he sees strange things until waking up in the dying body of a queen bee. The queen bee (Queen) is still there though. Turns out the bee has psychic powers and they work together to survive, with Enno in control of the body and Mind. They kill a squirrel and make an egg, an egg that is born into the bee Beatrice, who is named that because it is funny. After some experiments, Beatrice is able to turn into a new Subtype Aide. Enno sees a flashback about humans and realizes this world has fucking guns. Five more children are born, called Ben, Bess, Bella, Belle, and Beck. The newbees learn about themselves until some vultures appear which are destroyed by Enno. Some more vultures show up later, and since theyre too much for the weaker newbees to handle, Enno declares war on them, beginning the Scavenger War. To prepare, Enno makes another egg with a super powerful warrior inside. Ben is sent to scout the forest, and while out he is seen by the white eyed vulture, meaning the vultures are now aware of the hive. So, the hive decides to strike first in an ambush. The ambush works, so they do it some more and reduce the vultures¡¯ numbers. Then the hive ambushed. Enno meets the Vulch in his Mind and they start a rivalry before Enno and Queen gtfo. When they get out, they see that the vultures have already attacked the hive, destroyed the tree trunk that was their base, injuring the bees that had stayed, and scarring the egg of the warrior. Enno is sad, but then he gets a hug from the bees and is pretty glad. Trapped in the invincible dirt ball, they plan a way to win. They make weapons and plan, but then the egg starts hatching which freaks everyone out, so they leave the dirt ball. The hive fights defensively to stall for the egg, which eventually hatches into Sir Bedivere, an insanely powerful bee who is able to hold the vultures back for enno to assault the Vulch. Enno, Queen, and the Vulch have a mindscape battle which ends in Queen and Enno overwhleming the Vulch and beating him, spelling the end of the war. In peacetime, the hive is focused on expansion. Enno is also focused on other stuff, like becoming more powerful and knowledgeable. Turns out, rather than destroying the Vulch¡¯s Mind the pair had somehow enslaved it in their own Mind, where it lies dormant. To expand, a ton more bee eggs are laid. When they hatch, things are good except for Enno¡¯s mental state. Later, expansion is going well except it sort of isnt. Especially when Bedivere kinda sorta does a little beetrayal. He used a strange new ability on four strong warrior eggs to turn them into supersoldiers, and Enno was not happy about it. When punishment is doled out, Enno needs some time alone so he experiments with Mind some more, especially Compartmentalization. The experimentation results in (the ability) being changed into B-boxes, and getting attention from some gods. Enno decides to play with the boxes that got godly attention and ends up going inside of one, causing his and Queen¡¯s body to go still. Queen was still conscious though. And her efforts result in Bedivere, the only one who knew Queen existed, to figure out something was wrong and enlist Beck¡¯s help. Enno has some shit to work through, so its up to Beck, Bedivere and Beatrice (?!) to help him escape so the hive can function. Just as Enno gets out, the four bees Bedivere altered hatch, revelaing the Valkybees, an elite team of four warriors named after beemons. The hive creates better emergency plans and continues living in relative peace, until humans show up. A team of mercenaries inclusing the leader, Yelah, a big guy called Grehn, money-hungry Rette, and Vlugh. As well as Yelah¡¯s best buddy Dip, a giant emperor penguin. After a skirmish, the bees imprison the humans and are on the clock to figure out a way to deal with them. Or else more humans will show up. So they risk it all on a new bee subtype, the Linker Bee. When the Linkers are attached, they force the Kin Link onto whatever they¡¯re attached to, allowing Enno to become a Mind enslaving psychic bee. A game plan is made for the infiltration of the human city, Yiwi. The humans are also eager to return, because Rette and Vlugh had gotten badly injured in the original scuffle. However, on the way, they encounter another team of mercenaries led by a more experienced merc called Toh. Yelah does some trickery to convince Toh to abandon the mission, which works, except it doesnt, so Toh and couple other guys are sent to check out the hive. The Toh gets whacked by Beelzebub, a Valkybee, and subsequently assimilated. We learn more about mercenary companies, about Toh, and about motivation for writing a webserial before coming to the current day. We have a better plan for conquering Yiwi, some more advanced B-boxing (ooh a good title!), and now we¡¯re sick?! I may need to get better at TLDRing Q5: Who¡¯s your personal favorite character right now? I like Ben, he¡¯s silly. A5: I don¡¯t know! I¡¯m terrible at picking favorites in pretty much anything. If I had to choose, I might say Queen. For other bees, I might say Beatrice. Or Bedivere. Or maybe Beelzebub? She¡¯s funny. Oh but Ben is silly too. Maybe Bess. Or maybe- Well, I can¡¯t really choose. __________ Thank you so much for the questions! Now I¡¯m gonna turn things around. I have some questions for you all. First off, I was wondering about doing Q and A¡¯s more often. I like doing them, but I¡¯m not sure if people would want to ask questions all the time. But I like answering questions! Another thing is making a community. Authors here often have Discords, but I haven¡¯t really thought about doing anything like that. If I were to make one, would people join? I¡¯ll make a poll for these too. Chapter 54 - Dipbee Poo A sterile white room. The smell of alcohol and sadness. Yup, this was a medical facility of some kind alright. Yelah was sitting in one of the several chairs scattered around the small waiting room, nervously awaiting news on her comrades¡¯ conditions. Grehn was pacing, much to the annoyance of other patients and waiters. And Dip? Dip was chilling next to Yelah. None of them had been able to fully relax until Rette and Vlugh had been hurriedly wheeled into the depths of the emergency clinic. Well, I understood. I was more interested in seeing more examples of the affluence of mercenary companies. Hayrey and Sons¡¯ had their own clinic! It did make sense, considering their line of work. But what a benefit for the employees! I did have to wonder if this clinic was for emergencies only, or if could be general use. Yelah glanced up and stared down the barrel of a gun. ¡°Yo, Yelah. Glad to see you¡¯re back.¡± Wha. ¡°Oh, hey. Haven¡¯t seen you before. Didn¡¯t know Harven was in the market for new goons.¡± ¡°Tch. I¡¯m Yafoot! Ya-foot! We do this every time, Yelah. Now where¡¯s Harven¡¯s money? I know you just got back from a job.¡± ¡°Oh yeah,¡± Yelah smirked, ¡°nice to meet¡¯cha again ¡®my foot¡¯. Are you stupid, by the way?¡± ¡°Yafoot!¡± ¡°Like I was saying, you stupid or something? We just got back. We haven¡¯t gotten paid yet. Come threaten me tomorrow.¡± ¡°Yelah,¡± the big goon sighed, ¡°I keep giving you the benefit of the doubt here. Do you know how many times I¡¯ve stuck my neck out for you? If Harven liked me just a little less, I¡¯d be sleeping in the clouds. With your debts, Harven isn¡¯t happy with the fixed deductions anymore. And Hayrey¡¯s is a bitch to work with. So just¡­ get me the money. By tomorrow.¡± Dip suddenly began to let out a low growl. Or chirpy type noise? I couldn¡¯t tell if Mr foot was bothered by it or not. Without another word, the big guy made his way out the door, having a little staring contest with the even bigger Grehn while on his way. Grehn shook his head as he approached Yelah with a look that just screamed ¡®I told you so.¡¯ ¡°I told you, Yelah. Why did you borrow money from that guy?¡± ¡°Hmph. Like they scare me. What are they gonna do, threaten my family? My freedom? Not like I have that stuff anymore.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve got some questions of my own. You¡¯re in debt to some loan sharks? And your company doesn¡¯t do anything about it?¡± It seemed like some things just didn¡¯t change, no matter what world you were in. ¡°Eesh, I almost forgot you were here. But yeah, I¡¯m in a bit of debt. Harven is a bit extreme, but for mercenaries, he¡¯s a miracle worker. The more¡­ reputable lenders just can¡¯t get in with the merc companies no matter how hard they try, but Harven somehow did. So he¡¯s got a stranglehold over the mercenaries, thanks to his rates and benefits.¡± ¡°In Yelah¡¯s case,¡± Grehn said, ¡°She liked how Harven just siphons a fixed portion of her earnings. Minimal financial work on her end, minimal thought. And considering why she¡¯s in debt-¡° ¡°Aaaaah! No need to explain that part, Grehn, no need!¡± Hmmm. How suspicious. ¡°Vlugh and Rette¡¯s condition has stabilized, according to the nurse. So we¡¯re free to show her highness around, Yelah.¡± Grehn said with a faint smile. ¡°Alright! Yelah! I command you to tell me why you¡¯re in so much debt!¡± ¡°Noooo.¡± ¡°Your highness, it might be better to show you.¡± ¡°Squawk.¡± _______ Before me was a veritable nightmare. Never before had I seen obsession and greed on this level, and I collected pens in my past life. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. Yelah¡¯s place of residence was little more than an apartment. Not far from the Hayrey and Sons¡¯ headquarters building, still in the confines of the mercenary district, was another building marked with a golden ¡®H¡¯. This one was a residential building for Hayrey mercenaries to live in. Going up a series of stairs, we (or rather they) reached Yelah¡¯s room near the top of the building. Impressive! Yelah¡¯s status was apparently enough for some nice real estate, so to speak. The good feelings didn¡¯t last long. As soon as Yelah opened the door, I was met by an overwhelming fishy smell and a face full of debris. Well, Grehn was. Yelah was too, but she was apparently used to it. The inside of Yelah¡¯s apartment was wet and disorganized. Tanks of water and stacks of clothes intermingled, and huge cushions littered the floor. ¡°Why would you do this to me, Grehn?¡± ¡°Yeah Grehn. Why did you bring me here?¡± ¡°Squawk!¡± Dip seemed happy. Even though he reached the ceiling, he waddled over to a particularly worn cushion and flopped on top of it. Yelah¡¯s eyes sparkled and she couldn¡¯t resist, so the next thing I knew, a Yelah was stacked on top of a Dip on top of a fuzzy beanbag thing. ¡°Are you going to get on too, Grehn?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Hah! I¡¯m in your head so you can¡¯t give me a disapproving look! ¡°In any case, this is where Yelah¡¯s debt comes from. Food, water tanks, and so on. All for Dip.¡± Wait. Hold on. So what you¡¯re telling me is that Yelah has borrowed so much fucking money, so much that she is getting threatened with her life by a debt collector, so much real and actual cash. All for Dip. For fish. ¡°If you have a problem with my spending habits, then say it to my face. My Dippy-poo deserves only the best.¡± ¡°Yelah¡­¡± Grehn sighed, which was apparently a more common occurrence than I thought. ¡°You make enough from our missions that you could afford so much more. Just lay off on the spending a bit and you would have never gotten into debt.¡± ¡°Whatever.¡± These people¡­ Well, ultimately it was no concern of mine. As long as Yelah got paid and gave the guy his money or whatever to avoid trouble. Hm. I¡¯d have to remind her, just in case. ¡°You two, why don¡¯t you go get the money from the job? That way, Yelah won¡¯t have to stress anymore.¡± ¡°I agree with her highness. Yelah, you go fill out the paperwork. I¡¯ll take a tour of the city.¡± That made Yelah sit up. ¡°Huh?! Really, Grehn? You¡¯re going to dump all that shit on me?!¡± ¡°It¡¯s ultimately your job as team leader. Have fun!¡± It was truly impressive how quickly a big guy like Grehn could run down a flight of stairs. ¡°Sorry about that. I just thought embarrassing her by bringing in a third party like you might give her a wake-up call.¡± Grehn¡¯s sword clanked as he made his way down the mercenary-filled street. It was the middle of the day, so the smell of food was starting to become thick in the air. Before he wandered into the main street, Grehn turned into a small store thick with smoke. He came out holding a skewer with some kind of weird¡­ squid? ¡°Do you know about druids?¡± ¡°You guys have druids?! I mean, I guess it makes sense, but I haven¡¯t seen any examples of Mind being used to manipulate plants. But Yelah¡¯s Ability might¡¯ve been a hint for people being able to turn into animals.¡± ¡°¡­What? I¡¯m talking about druids.¡± Uh, yeah? Druids? Nature mages that can control plants or turn into animals like bears or something? ¡°This is a druid.¡± Grehn held up the squid skewer. The fuck? This twisty squid thing? Wait¡­. ¡°Grehn. What exactly is a druid?¡± ¡°Ah, you don¡¯t know? Druids are creatures that live in the ground. They are quite bizarre, considering they have these tentacles, but they are fairly common in central Somuia. Their shape is perfect for burrowing underground, which is why they thrive there.¡± You¡¯re fucking with me. These squids with twisty heads drill through the ground. Like drills. Drill squids. Druids. Get me out of this world. ¡°They¡¯re pretty tasty, and plenty of lunch for me. Sorry for the little detour. Is there anything you want to see?¡± ¡°Yes! I¡¯m going to ignore the fact that you¡¯re a big muscular dude who only eats squid and move on! So I was looking around your Locks and¡­¡± Grehn munched on his drill squid while he walked down the widening street. Indeed, the street was widening. The closer Grehn strolled to the Rotor¡¯s circular building, the wider the street became. And the nicer the buildings became. This city was perfect for us. With all the flowers covering the buildings, we could super easily cover the forest in living plant life for us to get food from. Or at least grow flowers near the river thanks to the sprinkler project I had started. But to do that, we would need to get into the city and carry a ton of flowers away. I was starting to get nervous. Our plan hinged on attaching Linker Bees, so we were essentially sitting ducks until then. Well, not completely, but it did feel that way. Even for now, who knew how long it would take for Ben to be able to fly through the city and map it out? ¡°What¡¯s with the flowers?¡± ¡°Well, the people of Yiwi are quite wealthy. Wealthy, and enthused with plant life. It makes sense, considering their proximity to the Vultuous Forest. The flowers here are a big part of why I decided to move here. If there¡¯s a reason they chose these colorful flowers to cover the city, I don¡¯t know it. I just see them as incredibly beautiful.¡± ¡°Beautiful and tasty-looking.¡± ¡°I¡­suppose a bee would be enthused by flowers. Actually, we never thought about that. How did you bees find anything to eat in the destroyed forest? Hold on. Those chunks of rotten meat¡­ Did you¡­?¡± ¡°Ahem. So, you moved here from elsewhere? What¡¯s up with that?¡± ¡°Right¡­ It¡¯s no secret. I am not Somuian; I hail from Rikitan. Actually, Rette does as well. I worked as a mercenary there too, but I had always heard of the Vultuous Forest and the nearby cities. The shroud of vultures on the horizon, the unimaginable shades of green, the wealth and opportunity. Unlike others from my homeland, I am not particularly infatuated with the sea, so choosing to move here was not a hard decision.¡± ¡°So you were always a mercenary?¡± ¡°It is a common career. And a no-brainer for me. I enjoy fighting and especially enjoy fighting with swords. If I can help people at the same time, then why not?¡± Why not indeed. As someone who lived a relatively cushy life as a human, I still couldn¡¯t see why people would choose dangerous jobs that mostly consisted of fighting. Maybe it was a cultural thing. But no matter. We had finally arrived at the big circular building. And man. Seeing a shaft that huge up close was mind-boggling. All joking aside, the Rotor was really a testament to this world¡¯s level of development. The city center where we had arrived was entirely cast in shadow, the sun being covered by the Rotor¡¯s fins. Even where they connected to the shaft, the blades were so huge that they covered the bustling plaza. This was where the magic apparently happened. I was so curious to see what exactly the point of the Rotor was, I almost didn¡¯t notice the protesters. ¡°Good people of Yiwi! It is the fault of the Crown! We have tirelessly worked to discover the true story behind the Burning, and we have made shocking discoveries! The City Lord, the royal knights! Even the King himself! They worked together to destroy our forest and eliminate our livelihoods. For what? For their own greed! Their own nefarious intentions! Good people of Yiwi, stand with us! We must cooperate to oppose those who would bring us down! Down with the City Lord!¡± Chapter 55 - Tree Intentions ¡°Grehn, go over to those protesters. Hang out on the fringes of the crowd.¡± After hearing the passionate speech this dude gave, how could I ignore it? Apparently, there were others here in Yiwi who wanted to topple it. The question was: how do I make use of them? Is it possible that they could become allies? Well, not full allies. Could they really considered our allies if they didn¡¯t know we existed? I certainly wouldn¡¯t be trusting a bunch of unknown variables with our plans and intentions. But there is plenty that a group of rebels could do for our cause. Unfortunately, our actual goal wasn¡¯t revolution. It was discrete infiltration. So unfortunately, we still wanted to keep the power structure in place. Grehn fit in well with the small crowd gathering around the protesters. The mercenaries wore dull clothes while the citizens wore bright and colorful threads. Both were a common sight in the plaza, so the mixture in the protesters¡¯ crowd was not unusual at all. As for the protesters? They were¡­ a motley bunch. The guy who was making the speeches was a scrawny little thing, whose appearance was way younger than I was expecting. Dude couldn¡¯tve been out of his teenage years. Despite it all, he sported a brilliant smile which contrasted his furrowed brows. A young woman who was using Mind to carry several signs above her head accompanied him. She didn¡¯t seem as young as the speaker, but she didn¡¯t seem that far off. Her frazzled hair and eye-bags painted quite the picture. And to top it all off was a bodyguard. A fairly buff guy who couldn¡¯t have been more than half Grehn¡¯s height. Not that Grehn¡¯s massive stature was attainable, but this guy was short. So our brave protesters were nothing more than a trio of tiny teenagers? Well, that was deflating. Though, to be fair, teenagers tend to be notoriously overpowered. ¡°Haven¡¯t seen these kids before. But I recognize the name of their organization.¡± ¡°Oh? Do tell, Grehn.¡± ¡°The Yiwi Fighters, also known as the YIWI. A group who advocates for less government power over the markets and better working conditions in factories. They don¡¯t get along well with mercenary companies, but their main target is the City Lord¡¯s establishment.¡± ¡°How the hell does the acronym ¡®YIWI¡¯ come from Yiwi Fighters?¡± ¡°Hm? Er, they are the Yiwi Protectors Forced to Fight, as it says on some of their signs.¡± That made even less sense. Hm. If I checked what Grehn said, in Somuian he said something like ¡®Yiwi Introyenda Widro Irden¡¯, which did in fact form the acronym YIWI. And which translated to something like ¡®Yiwi protectors to fight forced¡¯, which got reformed in translation. Well, whatever. I could just call them the Fighters. ¡°Good citizens! Without the forest, there is no more wood! No more animals! No. More. Fruits! Many are already feeling the effects on their wallets and stomachs. And even you, mercenaries! We must join hands! I spoke of animals, and what of monsters?! The Vultures themselves?! It is no coincidence that the Shroud disappeared after the Burning! I know your wallets have also taken a hit! Join us!¡± Well, if nothing else, they were eager. So basically, they were taking advantage of the recent events to garner support for their cause. A good strategy. Their original goals were already in line, at least to some degree. If we took their words at face value, the forest was a valuable source of income for the city. Even for mercenaries. ¡°I think we¡¯ve heard enough, Grehn. I don¡¯t want to get involved with them just yet, but we need to keep tabs on them. Do you know a way we can do that?¡± ¡°Simple.¡± One thing I hadn¡¯t noticed was that the trio had a stack of aluminum cans (?) nearby, and Grehn quickly went around the crowd and grabbed one. Just as quickly, he strolled away, once again heading towards the circular building. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. ¡°Phew. Glad nothing happened.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°We, or rather I, were being watched. Since I joined the crowd. Things got a little tense when I moved to grab the scroll, but thankfully, nothing happened. Plus, I didn¡¯t want to get called out by the speaker kid. That would be mortifying.¡± Was this guy more nervous about getting into a fight with mysterious watching people or about getting called up on stage? I think I knew the answer. And¡­ ¡°I understand you, Grehn. We are the same. But who was watching?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. My guess would be actual agents of the Fighters, observing and taking stock of the crowd. However, they could also have been employed by the City Lord. He would presumably not be a fan of their organization, regardless. And with their new rallying cry, well¡­¡± That was my main concern. I had been considering the City Lord¡¯s animosity towards the Fighters and decided I didn¡¯t want to get too close. Hm? The City Lord¡¯s animosity. Yes¡­ that was a great angle! I¡¯d have to tell Beatrice about this revelation! I¡¯m sure she could make up some splendid plans using the Fighters. Er, I guess I wouldn¡¯t actually have to tell her. I could just send her the info. Would be easier if Queen finished her B-box info package project. Now, what the hell had Grehn snatched? He had called it a ¡®scroll¡¯, but it was much more like a matte metal cylinder, reminiscent of an aluminum can. There were etchings on it, presumably using the Somuian language and alphabet. The only thing I could discern was four large letters, which must have been the YIWI acronym. I¡¯d have to tell Queen to start a B-box project to learn Somuian, both the written and spoken word. Considering how they work, it should be a simple task. But forget all that. What was up with this ¡®scroll¡¯? Grehn was holding the thing, so I barely noticed him shift it in his hand, and as soon as he did, information bloomed in my head. Schedules, times, descriptions, locations. ¡°Alright. Now we just have to tell the others, and we can go to some meetings or something.¡± ¡°Whoah whoah. What was that?¡± ¡°Ah. I suppose a bee would have no need for this. Scrolls are our way of communicating. We use them to transfer information in an efficient, lightweight and scalable manner.¡± ¡°So you guys use fucking metal cylinders as paper?! What a damn waste!¡± ¡°Paper?!¡± Grehn looked seriously thrown off. I had rarely seen him so flabbergasted, though I hadn¡¯t known him for long. ¡°Paper? As a means to convey information? Surely you must be joking.¡± ¡°Why? It¡¯s light, can be easily compiled and stored. It¡¯s easy to write on too!¡± ¡°Are you serious? Paper is too flimsy and fragile. And it certainly doesn¡¯t have the retention properties of the metal scrolls are made from. You say it is easy to write on, but for what?¡± I think there was a misunderstanding taking place on both our ends. Fine, I would cave this time. B-boxes, give me the knowledge! Half a dozen lifetimes¡¯ worth of experience flooded me, which was a bit disorienting after absorbing the scroll¡¯s knowledge. Mostly because my information was much more structured and organized. Hah! Take that, human ingenuity. Alrighty. Grehn was not lying. Scrolls were like a replacement for paper in this world. They came in a variety of standardized sizes, depending on the amount of information that was meant to be stored in them. So, the pamphlet scrolls that the protesters were handing out were fairly small, being slightly smaller than an aluminum soda can. But they could be really huge. Scrolls worked more like USBs as far as I could tell. Human had devised a way of ¡®infusing¡¯ Mind into objects, which was part of the technology used in scrolls. People learned from a young age how to ¡®write¡¯ in scrolls with Mind, which was a task so simple that Locks and Abilities were not necessary. So, like with a USB, people could upload data to a scroll, hand them to people, and they could just read the info with their Minds. Then the information could be deleted or moved from the scroll so it could be re-used. And re-used they were. How interesting. Most people could clear the information stored on scrolls easily enough, but the etchings were another matter. Apparently, it was common for households to have a small device that could hold scrolls, smooth their surface, and print new etchings. Those typewriter-like devices were fairly new, and before, people had to go to a library to use their scroll re-formatters. Another interesting tidbit was the etchings. Writing was not a thing here. Well, not entirely. But physical writing was not customary for people of this world, and even the Somuian written language wasn¡¯t meant for lengthy or detailed writings. Instead, it was designed around brief, efficient descriptions to reduce the physical footprint on scrolls. What the fuck? How did that even work? How did people spell? How did they demonstrate the spoken language without writing it? As someone who lived in a world without psychic abilities, I was struggling to comprehend how that would work. Since every single person in this world was apparently capable of using Mind to some degree, some things were just completely unnecessary. But then why did people even speak, if they could just talk telepathically? Why did they develop any writing at all? And that was only the beginning. I kept hearing about the importance of the Vultuous Forest, about the economic impact on Yiwi, and so on. I was confused about Grehn¡¯s insistence on the inferiority of paper. And now I knew why. This world¡­ it wasn¡¯t normal. Or it was nothing like my world at all. Obviously I knew that when I saw tree-sized vultures, but the extent hadn¡¯t been made clear to me until just this moment. This world had no trees. That was barely an exaggeration. The country of Dreva had no trees. There were no trees in the countless smaller countries surrounding Somuia and Dreva. Across the mountains to the east, there are said to be no trees. The mountains themselves sport no trees. The wastelands to the southeast had no trees. The island nation of Rikitan had no trees, and there were no trees in any of the Riktish Empire¡¯s colonies. There was only one place. The Vultuous Forest in Somuia. That was why Yiwi was so wealthy. They were the only place in the known world that exported any materials associated with trees. Not even other cities that bordered the forest could protect, gather, and process materials from the forest, like wood or fruits. Paper was a luxurious material not meant for everyday use. It was fleeting and rare; using it to write a simple note or pamphlet would be an extraordinary waste. And metal, on the other hand? Metal was everywhere. Why would they waste metal spikes to attack the forest? Because why not? Cheap metal like that was as common as grains of sand on a beach. Of course you would use an alloy for making scrolls; it had properties that made them durable and lightweight while also having some ethereal quality that let them store Mind energy. So what did this mean? It meant that the City Lord, and, if the Fighters were to be believed, the king of Somuia himself, were responsible for destroying the only tree-filled forest in the known world. But why? Chapter 56 - Enebees Everywhere I slammed my hand on my desk. Which hurt. Nevertheless, the worn paint exactly where I slapped and the familiarity of that pain reminded me that this was not a new feeling. Worse, I knew it was one I would experience even more in the future. ¡°They expect me to pay them?! For information like this? Preposterous!¡± The shadow cast by the Rotor overhead finally moved out of the way. Finally, some sunshine. Not that it did much to lift my mood. No, it just served as a reminder of what had needed to be done. I was surrounded on all fronts. The stress was far too intense. I cast a disgusted look down at my body. By all accounts, I was a strapping, strong young lad, once. Those days were long gone. But even then, the weight I had put on and the shedding of my hair these past few weeks went beyond the point of comfort. ¡°I already expressed my concerns to the team leader, but she was insistent.¡± What was this secretary¡¯s name? I did change secretaries often, but the last weeks had seen a turnover rate before unseen. Irrelevant. My safety measures were no longer relevant whatsoever. If it wasn¡¯t the King, it would be the mercenary companies. Or the Yiwi Fighters, those nefarious fools. Sending a fake secretary to spy on me would be the least of my problems. ¡°Sir, if I may. Souring our relations with the mercenary companies at this time would be a critical error. They are our only potential allies.¡± ¡°Fool. Those bastards are unwilling to work with me. If the higher ups want to stay neutral, that is all well and good. But the individual mercenaries will end up doing what they desire. And many of them are already siding with the Fighters, you know that from our reports.¡± She put her hand on her hip. What was her name¡­? ¡°All the more reason to stay in the good graces of small, reputable teams like Miss Yelah¡¯s. Our information suggests she owes a considerable amount of debt, so paying her the full sum would be sure to maintain a good relation.¡± I let out a sigh. She was right, of course. I wasn¡¯t thinking straight. While the monetary sum was high, the information was far more valuable. Valuable and infuriating. Nothing? The Vultuous Forest, completely and utterly empty? It was impossible. No animals ran away and returned? Nothing but those nasty squirrels? What of the Fernen? The vultures themselves? ¡°Tell me. Do you believe the mercenary¡¯s report?¡± ¡°I would simply say that Miss Yelah has seen a meteoric rise in the ranks as a mercenary. Forming a team as successful as hers at a young age is uncommon. She came recommended from Mister Jorn himself. If the head of an organization as large as Hayrey and Sons¡¯ Mercenary Company takes notice of a promising talent, I would be inclined to believe them.¡± Was that all I could expect from this one? No matter. There was no doubt in my mind that the information was wrong. It had to be. I was one of the few entrusted with the revelation. If it weren¡¯t for that, I would have never shaken the nagging feeling that all people had been feeling for months. And that many still felt. When the Knights had arrived and told me of the revelation all those fateful weeks ago, I screamed. I decried them as morons and villains and nearly turned them away on the spot. Destroy the forest? Because of a silly dream the King had? Were they idiots? I didn¡¯t care if the King himself came and bowed at my feet; there was no way I could allow such a thing to happen. It felt nice to be supported by the citizens, for once. It was a sense of power and accomplishment I hadn¡¯t felt in ages. Perhaps ever. But before I could tell them to fuck off, it all clicked into place. The uncomfortable nagging that had appeared nearly a year before their arrival. The shifts in the Shroud and forest. The disquiet and unrest. Direct contact with the Fernen, of all things. Everything made sense. And thus came my decision, one I would regret to this day. I moved aside. That was all it took. Instead of blockading the Knights, I allowed them through. After that came the storm. Days on end of standing at the window, staring at the glowering flames that ravaged our forest. Days of the cries of the citizens outside my office, often drowned out by beastly roars, rolling thunder, and swirling flames. The King considered me untrustworthy after blocking his knights for so long. The citizens rightly saw me as a traitor. The merchants were beside themselves, and the mercenaries were on the brink of mutiny. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Pay her.¡± What choice did I have? I had nobody trustworthy by my side. And there was no chance I would venture into the forest myself. Especially not if there really was something lurking there. No, I would have to focus my energy here. Here and now. The Yiwi Fighters were becoming a tangible threat. Their sponsors, or in other words, wealthy merchant companies, were looming. And the mercenaries? They would need to be kept neutral, at least. I had to bring Yiwi under my control. Something that drastic had only been seen in the days of Yiwi¡¯s foundation. It was the only way I could fight. To oppose the King and his revelation. Neither the Knights nor the monsters in the forest would be able to get to me. I would be safe. Finally. ________ Well, who knew what the City Lord was thinking. For now, I was staring slack-jawed at the interior of the huge circular building. What the hell was I even looking at? From what I knew of Beatrice¡¯s map, the big river flowing through the central plaza into this building and out the other side was the same that passed next to our central hive. Enormous rods extended down from above, steadily turning. The rods must have been connected to the Rotor¡¯s shaft, and those rods were subsequently attached to various machines. Gears and rods and screeching metal filled this factory. Some even went underground, their paths marked on the floors and walls, meaning that they continued underground outside of the building. ¡°What am I even looking at?¡± ¡°Well, this is what the Rotor is for.¡± Workers wearing goofy little metal helmets scurried about, often walking around Grehn without sparing so much as a glance at the big mercenary. Mercenaries really did have some status in this town, because they let Grehn in here without question. As for the factory itself? It was really something to behold. The machines were all powered by the spinning Rotor, which just seemed inefficient and inconvenient. For all the advanced technology present in here, they still relied on the motion of the Rotor to power machines. Surely they could have figured out a way to use the Rotor¡¯s motion to create a more efficient mechanism, or even a way to store energy. Like electricity. But the main question: what did any of these machines do? I was immediately drawn to the transparent tubes that left from under the building. The machine the tubes were attached to occasionally pumped some pistons or something. It was the only place I could see where stacks of scrolls were piled up nearby. And then a technician walked up to the machine, grabbed a scroll, and tossed it into an open tube where it got sucked away. Ooh! Some kind of pneumatic tube system! ¡°Is that how you guys transport scrolls?¡± ¡°Oh, yes. Yiwi has its own advanced delivery system for scrolls. There is a dedicated building for the system; this place just provides the required energy or air or whatever the system uses.¡± ¡°And everyone has their own tubes?¡± Grehn barked out a quiet laugh. ¡°How silly. Installing a tube in your house costs a fortune, and forget doing it in an apartment. No, residential buildings like where Yelah lives sometimes have some tubes in their basements. Otherwise, only important places have tubes.¡± ¡°So, ordinary people have to go to the main office? What¡¯s the point, then?¡± ¡°There are small offices scattered around. But yes, it is not a perfect system. It¡¯s presented to us as a convenience, and admittedly, it does have its moments. Unfortunately, I don¡¯t think it had the monumental impact its inventors were expecting. Well, it was brought to us long ago, before even the previous City Lord. And it doesn¡¯t need too much to keep it running, at least in terms of the Rotor. I never saw issues with human scroll runners, but Somuians can be quite unusual sometimes.¡± Whoever created this system must¡¯ve been good friends with that City Lord, because geez. What a use of resources. What got me is that there is no clear incentive. It was clearly a passion project, because the pneumatic tube delivery system was apparently just a perk of the Mind tax. There had to be something more important the tax was needed for. ¡°What are the most important things the Rotor does? If Yiwi is completely maintained without monetary taxes, this thing must be amazing in some other way.¡± ¡°Well, it does wonders for many public services. Some of these machines are dedicated to sewage treatment. Many treat the river water. But the majority of the Rotor¡¯s usefulness is for machines used by merchant companies and their factories. In return for money, the city allows those companies access to the Rotor.¡± So any money the city needs is provided by large companies? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. But I didn¡¯t know much about that, and frankly, I didn¡¯t care. Bees had no use for such things. Though there was something interesting Grehn had mentioned. ¡°Treating the river water, huh? Makes sense. I guess eliminating all possible toxins would be important in large cities. Is that what those sheets are for?¡± I pointed out some machines arranged neatly in and around the river, some of which had metal sieves and other various sheets. ¡°Oh, those? I think those are usually for controlled fires. I guess they were put there some time ago in preparation for the ash runoff after the Burning.¡± Hm, that made sense. I mean, who wants ash in their drinking water? Though, the runoff must be minimal. The river still looks clear, after all. Not to mention the fact that no rainfall had been happening anywhere in the forest. Despite that, the sheets were being inspected and moved around by the machines and technicians. Was there something wrong with the water? ¡°Its odd, though. As far as I know, we haven¡¯t gotten any warnings about possible contaminants in the water. So why¡­?¡± Grehn called over a technician and asked him about the water sheets. According to the guy, a few days ago, they began detecting stuff in the water. Which was why they were closely monitoring the water in preparation for a public announcement. Thankfully, their machines were experienced with this sort of thing, so as long as precautions were taken, there would be no issues. Hm? A few days ago? Something strange was happening to the water? Uh oh. I tore my attention back to myself. I was still in the isolated room, along with Belle, Bella, Beau, Beck, and a bunch of warriors. Ah shit. ¡°Beatrice, bad news. There¡¯s a possibility that the water is contaminated.¡± Wasting no time, Beatrice appeared outside the isolated room. ¡°Truly? In that case, things could be good or bad. If we know the source of the illness, we can at least prevent it. But dangerous water will be difficult to combat.¡± ¡°At the very least, there¡¯s a possibility the illness isn¡¯t contagious. We need to figure out a way to erase any contaminants from our drinking water. Could it be ash?¡± ¡°I¡­ am not sure, Mother. There still hasn¡¯t been rain in our area, so whatever is happening would need to be occurring much further upstream.¡± At least now we had a lead. With this, I could try to figure out a way to clean the water. But as I shifted and experienced a wave of nausea, I knew that something else had to be done. Who knew how long this sickness would last? And in this state, I couldn¡¯t experiment with water cleaning measures. ¡°Um. Hello?¡± ¡°Sorry about that, Grehn. I¡¯m going to be distracted for a bit. Just go back and keep an eye on your friends or something.¡± As interesting as Yiwi was, our hive was infinitely more critical. I¡¯d monitor things to make sure Ben¡¯s group fares alright when they enter the city, but for now, I had to focus on things here. And focus on not throwing up. Chapter 57 - B-mail Needless to say, I had some work to do. We need water. Even while some of us were in quarantine, various bees brought us water in wax bottles. But as far as I was aware, nobody had tasted anything wrong with the water. Or otherwise felt anything off. ¡°Beatrice. What do you think? There are two things we can broadly work on, those being to treat our drinking water or to treat the health of sick bees.¡± ¡°I would say¡­ neither are particularly relevant to the skills of our current bees. However, there are some possibilities. Because the water treatment would either require some sort of device or constant use of Mind, I would suggest that Belle and perhaps Beau should attempt to design a solution. Of course, they are both ill¡­¡± ¡°So then, we should prioritize finding a way to cure the illness? Belle is definitely not feeling well enough to do work on water treatment. I¡¯m not sure about Beau, though.¡± ¡°Yes, neither are in condition to do such strenuous mental work. However, there may still be ways to purify water on a smaller scale. I am sure using Mind or some sort of knowledge of yours will yield results. In that case, all we need is a bit of effort from any bee with decent Mind capabilities. Perhaps I could-¡° ¡°Oh no. No way. I¡¯m sure you could totally do it, but don¡¯t you have other work to do? What happened to delegating?¡± ¡°Are you certain, Mother? Just, in the interest of time¡­¡± What to do? I couldn¡¯t deny that Beatrice would certainly be capable of doing this task, but she was so busy. The Yiwi Operation was in constant flux with each piece of information we learned, and I saw that as priority numero uno. However, this water issue was certainly alarming. ¡°Fine. Work on it if you wish, but get others to do the main work. Or rather, I could do it myself. Not like there¡¯s much else for me to do, sick like this.¡± ¡°About that,¡± Beatrice said, conspicuously looking away. ¡°I was hoping you might dedicate your time to figuring out a way to cure the illness.¡± Oh. I suppose that did make sense¡­ Hey, wait a minute! I¡¯m sick too! I can barely shift my body around without barfing everywhere! ¡°Unfortunately, not a single bee has even a remote idea about medical treatment. It was something of an issue with the injured humans, but they were not bees. Not our responsibility. The injuries any bees have sustained simply did not require detailed medical assistance, as they mainly comprised scratches, slashes, or lost limbs. Simple washing, care, and rest was enough to ensure safety. But in this case¡­ Well, my instincts have been screaming to eject the sickly from the hive entirely. Obviously, that is not an option. But for my instincts to be sounding such alarms is, well, alarming.¡± That was all¡­ very reasonable. Goddamit. It was nice to see Beatrice¡¯s loyalty to the hive members. ¡°Good news!¡± Oh? Nice to finally hear from you, Queen. Make any progress? ¡°Progress? I think you underestimate me. I have devised a complete, efficient method of sending packets of information through the Link. This will make it incredibly easy to send large amounts of information in a way that can be digested at the receiver¡¯s own pace. As if that weren¡¯t enough, I have gone above and beyond! Not only can anyone send packets through the Link, we can automatically create and send packages with a B-box I have devised. Now, as long as we know what we want to send, we simply need to think of a confirmation and zoom!¡± Wow! This B-mail thing sounds great! Oh also, we need to spend a bunch of time working together to invent bee healthcare. ¡°Ha, yes, I- Wait- Hold on. B-mail¡­? Wait. Healthcare?¡± ____________ ¡°Heyo!¡± Yelah bonked Vlugh upside the head. ¡°Idiot.¡± If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Ow! What the-¡° Vlugh¡¯s complaint was interrupted by a sudden hug from both Yelah and Grehn. The whine died in his throat as he slowly reciprocated. ¡°Ahem. How is the¡­ little friend?¡± ¡°Yelah! I didn¡¯t know you liked me that way! What would Yohooof!¡± Yelah¡¯s fist made a sizable dent in Vlugh¡¯s stomach. Grehn quickly checked the back of his neck, seeing the tiny Linker bee safe and sound. ¡°Maybe it should have been obvious to us. I feel like he wouldn¡¯t be acting normally if the Linker got discovered and removed.¡± ¡°Ugh¡­ Yeah, it was pretty crazy. I was actually forced into semi-consciousness to stop them from finding it. Wacky stuff. Rette¡¯s probably in the same situation.¡± At the mention of Rette, Grehn and Yelah quieted down. Vlugh was one thing- Mind Collapse was a well-documented phenomenon, and treating it was very possible. Except in the most severe cases, the condition didn¡¯t result in permanent damage, so Vlugh¡¯s safety was all but assured. It took less than a day for them to restore him to a working state. Sure, it might take a few days or so for him to recover completely, but the worst was behind him. Rette, on the other hand? Mercenaries were no strangers to physical injury. The problem was the circumstances. Rette had suffered a pretty bad wound and had gotten pretty terrible care. With modern medical practices finally on her side, she would surely not die. Hopefully. But to say her career would be in question was an understatement. She may never effectively fight again. Well, mostly. People in this world were a bit different. They could use their Mind to compensate for the ineffectiveness of their bodies. ¡°So¡­ what now? I have some fuzzy ideas about what we¡¯re meant to do, but¡­¡± ¡°I just got word from Ben,¡± Yelah sighed. ¡°He¡¯s already become accustomed to Yiwi¡¯s presence, but he doesn¡¯t want to explore without his two buddies. But its shouldn¡¯t be long now. As for the rest, they¡¯re still mostly relying on Belphegora to keep them from being blown away. Not that they need to enter the city.¡± ¡°So, what? We just wait for the Linker bees?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the plan. And I¡¯m not going to complain. If everything in the plan hinges on that one aspect, then hopefully it¡¯ll fail.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Grehn said, ¡°On the topic of things we can do in the meantime. Yelah-¡° ¡°Yeah, yeah. I already did the report and stuff. Manager said to check in later for payment. Hopefully they do pay us¡­¡± ¡°They might not. Who knows how the City Lord will react to our report?¡± ¡°Bastard will probably punish us instead.¡± Yelah¡¯s distress over the possibility of not getting paid was growing by the minute. It would be something of a blow to the others, but Yelah definitely needed to get the money to pay off Harven and Mr Foot. What would the consequences of missing the deadline be? What would it mean for the future of the Yiwi Operation? Resorting to violence against the debt collectors was an option¡­ maybe. They did have the backing of the mercenary companies, at least to some degree. Yelah and her companions might be able to take on Harven¡¯s group, but it wouldn¡¯t end there. Other than that? Why not relax? ¡°Well, besides that, there are some other things that need to be done.¡± And that was why ¡®not relax¡¯. ¡°There are a few things that need to be looked into. During our tour, the Queen took an interest in a few things. For one, the Yiwi Fighters.¡± Grehn tossed the Yiwi Fighters¡¯ scroll over to Yelah. ¡°We need to learn more about them. At the very least go to a meeting or two to investigate. The other thing is the water. The Rotor¡¯s factory is apparently beginning to find contaminants in the river, so we need to learn more. She¡¯s concerned that they could become sick from drinking the river water.¡± Yelah and Vlugh quickly touched the scroll, frowning and smirking respectively. ¡°Those clowns? What¡¯s the big deal? They¡¯re all talk, not a spine in the whole group.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t be so sure, Vlugh. Everyone knows that merchants sponsor them. And I¡¯ve heard that they¡¯re becoming increasingly popular after the Burning.¡± ¡°Oh. Well, that makes sense. Hell, maybe I¡¯ll join! I bet they could find a way to get fruits that don¡¯t come from Lemonholm.¡± ¡°Dumbass.¡± Yelah didn¡¯t have much interest in the Fighters. She did just explain why they were possibly becoming an actual presence, but the water topic was much more interesting. The hive was in danger? Not bad, not bad. Of course, it was currently only something for the humans to keep in mind. After all, there was really nothing they could do to take advantage of the knowledge. Well, at the very least, they could stall out learning more until they got directly ordered to investigate. While Yelah was ruminating, Vlugh expressed his extreme hunger for anything that wasn¡¯t rotten, so Grehn helped him to his feet. The three of them (and Dip) decided to get something to eat before returning to hopefully get paid. _________ ¡°Wow! Even though it¡¯s dark, it all looks amazing!¡± Ben was discreetly hovering near the top of Yiwi¡¯s wall, peering over the city in awe. It was unlike anything he had ever seen, even though it was the dead of night. He could barely contain himself and repeatedly cast his thoughts towards his two partners, both of whom were trying their best to reach him. ¡°I believe in you guys! All you need to do is be fueled by your dreams!¡± Whatever Ben was talking about, it did seem to encourage the two other explorers. Bennet and Benita finally reached the top of the wall, driven by either dreams or a desire to impress their older brother. They quickly went over and used the wall as a brace to prevent themselves from being blasted away, only paying attention to the city line once they were secure. ¡°Wow¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s¡­ beautiful.¡± Benita and Bennet¡¯s gasps of effort turned to amazement. They weren¡¯t as accustomed to the same unchanging landscapes as Ben was, but it was still a completely alien world. Sparkling metal and dancing flames lit the streets, and the buildings stood like solid, rectangular trees. ¡°Is this what the human world is like? It¡¯s so neat! Neaterino!¡± ¡°¡±Neaterino!¡±¡± The three bees carefully made their way into the city, staying near the rooftops. Ben¡¯s spectacular vision was nearly overwhelmed. Not because there were too many things to see, but rather because Ben was trying to see too many things. Every potted plant, every irregularity in the road¡¯s bricks, every lit window. Ben was trying to take it all in without regard for his own eyes. Poor Beatrice was doing her best to make a more detailed map of the city, but decided it was fruitless. ¡°Ooh, what¡¯s that?!¡± ¡°Look, bro! What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Lemme see Bennet. I have no idea! Ha!¡± The trash can the pair had been looking at was soon replaced with a table. Then Benita turned their attention to a random man walking down the street in a drunken stupor. Everywhere they looked, something new popped up. As they soldiered on, Ben began to notice something. The people. The drunk from before. A woman laughing and holding hands with a man. A group of men shouting at each other. A large mercenary woman with a young little girl on her shoulders. They were all so¡­ different! Other bees might not have noticed. They certainly wouldn¡¯t have cared. But Ben, so enthusiastic about details and minor things, couldn¡¯t help but be fascinated. ¡°That one has darker skin and lighter hair! That one is small! That one has no legs!¡± Ben had certainly noticed the different types of humans by interacting with Yelah¡¯s group or even Toh¡¯s group. But seeing the humans in their own environment made everything completely different. Here, there were civilians, mercenaries. Merchants and lovers and children and all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. ¡°This is so great. I wanna see more!¡± Chapter 58 - Harven’s Hive ¡°It¡¯s a good opportunity, Yelah. If the request can somehow get us close to the City Lord, we should take him up on the offer.¡± Yelah was doing her best to ignore Grehn. Instead, she was cheerfully tossing a small scroll around. Last night, the fated moment had come. Yelah, Grehn, and Vlugh (and Dip) had entered the Hayrey and Sons¡¯ HQ after a hearty meal, being directed to a manager¡¯s office by a receptionist. They even received a few congratulations from fellow mercenaries for the score, as the top-secret mission was anything but. They were nervous. What would they do if the City Lord refused to pay them? It wasn¡¯t like a small team of up-and-coming mercenaries could pursue action against an actual City Lord. Maybe if Hayrey¡¯s decided that they valued their employees to that degree (or if they were upset enough about the money), they could force the City Lord¡¯s hand. It wasn¡¯t impossible, but it would certainly be a hassle. Turned out, there was nothing to fear. Four small scrolls were stacked before them, containing proof of payment. The manager¡¯s beaming smile was infectious, spreading to the exhausted team. However, that wasn¡¯t the end of things. ¡°The Queen is already aware of the Lord¡¯s proposition. More money certainly wouldn¡¯t hurt, but if we investigate the merchant companies like the City Lord wants, we can kill various birds with one stone. We can gain information, get in close to the powerful merchant companies, and potentially get in with the Lord. Wins all around.¡± No response. Grehn didn¡¯t know it, but Yelah was actually deep in thought about the offer. To him, she was goofing around, thinking of what new exotic fish to buy with her money. Instead, she was in distress. She knew Grehn was right and that the Queen was aware of the offer and its implications. It was likely inevitable that they would take up the offer, annoying as it was. But Yelah wasn¡¯t looking forward to it. On the contrary, she couldn¡¯t help but imagine the disastrous effects the request could have. It could accelerate the takeover of Yiwi substantially. Ironically, Yelah didn¡¯t know it, but her incredibly benevolent, kind, and gracious commander, who was in no way being distracted from their important medical research, could see it all. That wasn¡¯t the only thing on Yelah¡¯s mind. Foremost among her concerns were the eyes. Yelah and crew were being watched. Two in the shadowy alley over there, one mixing in with the crowd. Another on the rooftops. Who were these spies? Who knew? Well, actually, Yelah knew. And so did her crew. Because unbeknownst to them, the watchers were actually the ones being watched. ¡°That guy isn¡¯t even hiding. What a silly guy! I can see you, buddy!¡± Hiding in plain sight, Ben and his two companions surveyed from on high. They were small enough that, as long as they didn¡¯t fly in people¡¯s faces, they could easily be mistaken for regular bees. As a result, there were more eyes that were watching Yelah¡¯s group, albeit ones on the same team. It also meant that the spies, sadly, stood no chance. They could be identified through their clothing. Their positions and body language analyzed and relayed to Yelah¡¯s team. And with their knowledge, the bees could keep track of the spies and who they might be associated with. Of course, the eyes were bothering the group. But they weren¡¯t Yelah¡¯s primary concern. Hers was the building the team had just stopped in front of. Last night, after heading their separate ways, Yelah had made sure to be a responsible person. Mostly at the behest of her bee masters. She had done two things: the first was to ensure Rette would obtain her payment when she recovered. Second was to ask for her payment scroll to be split. The reward from the City Lord¡¯s request was a lot. Like, more than some mercenaries made in a year or more. And that was after the company had taken their cut, the payment split four ways among the group, and a portion deducted for various debts. Unfortunately for Yelah, her debts were also a lot. So, she had asked for the proper amount to be split into its own scroll for convenience. All she would have to do was deliver the scroll to Harven. And she wanted to do it personally. Or rather, the Queen did. ¡°What¡¯re we waiting for? Let¡¯s just give the guy his scroll and leave.¡± Should Yelah be thankful or pissed that Vlugh had insisted on coming? She understood Grehn, and certainly understood her Dipee-poo, but Vlugh? Even now, he was wincing at sudden noises and wobbling on his feet. The guy was clearly not fully recovered. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. Well, if his idea of a fun time was confronting an organization of debt collectors after suffering brain trauma, Yelah wouldn¡¯t stop him. ¡°We¡¯ve been expecting you, Yelah.¡± Before they could knock, Mr Foot opened the door and beckoned them in. ¡°Thanks for the warm welcome, random Harven goon.¡± ¡°It¡¯s Yafoot,¡± Mr Foot sighed, closing the door behind them. ¡°Have you got the payment?¡± ¡°Why else would I be here?¡± Mr Foot shrugged, noticeably touching the pistol at his belt. Had they been expecting a fight? Surely they wouldn¡¯t be so crass. While Yelah was busy scowling at the man, Grehn and Vlugh took the time to survey their surroundings. Yelah was the only one of them in debt to Harven¡¯s group, so they were being cautious. However, the building was surprisingly normal. The outside of the building was barely different from its neighbors, only identified by a metallic sign sporting an ornate ¡®H¡¯. It was clearly meant to be a parody or mockery of the Hayrey logo. Even the inside reflected the mockery. The group was standing in a pleasant reception lobby, not dissimilar to the Hayrey building¡¯s own. Some employees wearing formal attire milled about, wearing clothes eerily similar to suits from Earth. The key differences were a distinct lack of ties and the variety of colors. The suits came in many distinct colors, like dark reds and bright yellows and even light greens. To an Earthling, the office might be more comparable to a clown gathering. Especially since the ties that usually went with suits were ubiquitously replaced with fancy patterned bow ties. However, there were exceptions. Sometimes, angry-looking people wearing guns and casual clothes passed through the lobby. These must have been the foot soldiers. Collection officers like good ol¡¯ Mr Foot. ¡°Who knows? After what happened last night, we¡¯ve been a bit on edge, as I¡¯m sure you could understand. Harven was not happy.¡± What was this guy talking about? Before Yelah could question further, loud thumps could heard throughout the lobby. The mercenaries tensed, preparing for a fight, before a door swung open, nearly hitting a nearby office drone. ¡°Yelah is here, isn¡¯t she?! Where is that little punk?!¡± A scrawny man barged into the lobby, hobbling in at surprising speeds. The man, who Yelah recognized as Harven, was massive. In the sense that he was tall as hell. If he wasn¡¯t hunched over like a crooked branch, he would tower over even the sizable frame of Grehn. The loud thumps came from a sturdy wooden cane Harven clutched in one hand, slamming it into the ground with more force than was probably necessary. Despite his rough voice, Harven looked young and dressed nicely, like the office workers. In fact, his clothes, though more simple, had the distinct feeling of being even more premium. Focus was being split. On one hand, I couldn¡¯t take my (or rather, the mercenaries¡¯) eyes off the man¡¯s ears. They were pointy. And long. Most humans we had seen in this world had ears that were distinctly longer and pointier than any Earth human, but this guy was egregious. On the other hand, Yelah¡¯s eyes were staring at the beaten and bloodied form of Yoho being dragged by his neck by Harven. ¡°Yoho!¡± Harven tossed the man in front of Yelah, who was instantly relieved to hear the man groan in pain. Because it meant he was still alive. ¡°Care to explain this, you brat? This little punk came around here last night screaming bloody murder about you! I¡¯m disappointed; I really expected you to take care of your own problems as a big-shot merc!¡± ¡°Fuck you, Harven. You didn¡¯t have to go this far.¡± Yelah threw the scroll she had been clutching at Harven hard, forcing him to use his Mind to catch it. ¡°There¡¯s your fucking money, asshole. Good luck getting any more from me or anyone I know. C¡¯mon guys.¡± ¡°Oh? That¡¯s all fine then. Hey, you! Check this scroll. Make sure it covers her account.¡± After Yelah had tossed the scroll at him, Harven¡¯s demeanor instantly changed. All trace of anger was completely gone, replaced with a big, happy smile. ¡°Are you sure you and your friends don¡¯t want to stay for a drink? My treat.¡± The only response Yelah gave was a very rude gesture. _______ ¡°Ow! Yelah, pleas- OW!¡± Yelah was currently kicking a man while he was down. Ben thought it was really funny. Mostly because the man was smiling, and Yelah was crying, which was quite odd considering the circumstances. ¡°You idiot! Those guys are evil bastards!¡± She whirled, facing Harven¡¯s building across the street. ¡°That¡¯s it. I¡¯m going to kill that fucker.¡± Before Yelah could take a step, she froze. Of course, the Queen wouldn¡¯t let them attract attention so easily. There were already very conspicuous projects in the works, and now wasn¡¯t the time to go around killing dodgy debt collectors. So instead, she turned her anger back towards Yoho. ¡°What were you thinking? I can handle myself, you know? There was no reason to pull a stunt like that!¡± ¡°C¡¯mon, Yelah! Were you really going to leave your fate up to the City Lord¡¯s whims? What if he didn¡¯t pay you? He didn¡¯t want to pay Toh, so¡­¡± ¡°Oh, is Toh already back?¡± Toh was, in fact, not back. However, his team had gotten tired of waiting and had re-entered the city. That was all the bees knew, because once they were past the gates, the only information about them that could be gathered was from Ben¡¯s surveillance. Thankfully, Yemonto Co¡¯s secrets were in the palm of Yelah¡¯s hands. Or at least, every secret that Yoho was aware of. According to him, Toh¡¯s team had arrived late at night and told Yoho about their findings. Or lack thereof. Until Toh and the other two returned to confirm, they had nothing to give the City Lord. But that wasn¡¯t what Yoho was concerned about. He just so happened to be friends with one of the secretaries working for the City Lord. Not one who interacted with him personally, but still someone who worked for him. And from what Yoho heard from this friend, the City Lord was all over the damn place. Apparently, she had even heard he had no intention of paying the mercenaries sent to investigate the forest if he didn¡¯t like what he heard. And it didn¡¯t seem like he was a fan of the news. So, Yoho did the obvious thing any loving¡­ friend would do in such a situation. He went to Harven¡¯s office in the middle of the night and pleaded for them to give Yelah more time. Eventually, he ended up breaking into the building, intending to confront Harven himself. Unfortunately, Yoho was a chump with more brains than brawn, and even that was questionable. The result was him getting beaten up by goons until Harven appeared to do some beating of his own. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Yelah. It just seemed like I had to help somehow-¡° ¡°Well thanks, but no thanks. If you¡¯re thinking about me, then actually think. I can deal with Harven and his muscle. Even if I couldn¡¯t, all you ended up doing was getting yourself hurt. How is that making things better?¡± Yoho was looking apologetic (and in pain), and the rage was dying down. So now was my time to strike. ¡°Everyone,¡± I said, startling the group. Well, startling everyone but Yoho. ¡°A couple things. First, that guy is dumb. You should be more careful with him. He¡¯s also a security risk. And a potential asset. If we control him, his connections will be quite valuable. Second, Harven is another possible asset. He seems amenable now that the payment is done, so you¡¯re going to take up his offer of a drink. Eventually.¡± The trio (and Dip) did their best to disguise their expressions. Yoho had noticed the change (at least on Yelah¡¯s face), so they were trying not to expose themselves. ¡°And one last thing. You¡¯ve gotta be real with me now. Is that guy Harven not clearly an elf?!¡± Chapter 59 - Check your Elf For some time now, something had been eating away at me. Something involving a certain pointy-eared fantasy race. When I first encountered Yelah and her little team of mercenaries, something stuck out. Literally. Each of them were unique in their own way, but still had that quintessential human feeling. Grehn was a huge guy. Vlugh had his dark skin and white hair. Rette was slender with straight, raven-black hair. And Yelah¡¯s messy, dirty blond mane made for quite the topper on her wiry human sundae. All seemed fine. Except their ears. While the four humans sported somewhat exaggerated features, they in no way felt alien. That is, except for their slightly pointy ears. Honestly, it could be anything. It wasn¡¯t even that out of place on a human body. When I had questioned them about it, they couldn¡¯t understand me. But thanks to Dip, I learned that, apparently, they were humans. And you know what? I was happy with that answer. I mean, their ears weren¡¯t that pointy. Maybe half elf level or something. Or even less, perhaps. I knew they were humans for sure when the Linker Bees attached themselves to them. So that was the end of that. I mean, I can be patient. Sometimes. At some point, the opportunity would come, and I could confirm the existence of elves and learn why these humans had slightly pointy ears. I was busy, after all. It was an interesting idea, but not one I needed to confirm urgently. And so, I bode my time. Looking around Yiwi through the humans¡¯ and Ben¡¯s eyes, I wondered if I might catch a glimpse of a humanoid creature that defines popular fantasy. No dice. And then it happened. In a debt collector¡¯s hideout, no less. A tall, skinny person with massive pointy ears. I had finally found one. ¡°What the fuck is an elf?¡± Yoho stared in confusion at Yelah, who slapped her hand over her mouth. She had forgotten herself, blurting out the response without thinking. A response, by the way, WHICH IS FUCKING STUPID. ¡°Excuse me? What do you mean by that exactly, little miss Yelah? What. Do. You. MEAN?!¡± ¡°Like I said, what the fuck is an elf? I have no idea what that is. Is that another word for ¡®bag of dicks?¡¯ Cause I can assure you, Harven is definitely one of those.¡± She said in her head. At least she was being careful. Who cares about being careful?! No. No no no. I was not accepting an answer like that! ¡°I think I¡¯ve heard Rette say something like that before, but¡­¡± Grehn mumbled. That¡¯s it. Box time. I frantically instructed the B-boxes to search for anything elf-related in the memories of every human I controlled. I even made Dip¡¯s memories get searched. And the results? Monumentally disappointing. Yelah had never heard of elves in her life. However, she did interact with Harven. Since I made the B-boxes search based on my perception of elves, he showed up several times thanks to his physical appearance. Vlugh had never interacted with Harven, but he had seen two other Drevani who had elf-like features. Apparently he had met them both on separate occasions during gatherings of Drevani emigrants, and wait who cares about that?! Toh¡¯s memories were also useless. He had just seen Harven once or twice. Grehn had a little more, but it was basically nothing. He had seen Harven exactly once, and knew someone from his hometown back in Rikitan who had the trademark features. However, not a single one of the humans had ever heard the word ¡®elf¡¯. Except two. Grehn, as he mentioned, had heard it in passing from Rette once some time ago. And speaking of Rette, she was the only human with any useful knowledge. Rette¡¯s memories contained a few instances of elven ideas. However, her important memories were with her father, not with mentioning it to others like with Grehn. There wasn¡¯t much there. The memories were unfocused, either because of Rette¡¯s young age or because she seemed more interested in playing with her toy money than listening to her father¡¯s ramblings. But what she knew was that her father, a scientist and historian, focused much of his research on elves. Beyond that? Not much else. Curses! What was I supposed to gather from this? Nobody knows what elves are. There are people from many different countries who can have elven features. Even people from an isolated country like Dreva, or from the island nation of Rikitan, had natives with elven features. And what else? That Rette¡¯s dad, a Riktish scientist, studied elves in some capacity. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. If that was the case, then elves weren¡¯t completely unknown in this world. The fact that Rette, who didn¡¯t actually look at her father¡¯s research, heard him specifically mention the word ¡®elf¡¯ meant that elves as I knew them existed in some way, shape, or form. And that people knew about and studied them. ¡°Alright guys. Side project. I want you to investigate any and all material on elves.¡± ¡°Is something like that really that relevant¡­?¡± ¡°Yes it is, Yelah! It¡¯s a big deal!¡± Was I mistaken? I kept holding assumptions and ideas for what this world had in store, and it kept pissing me the fuck off! I mean, I knew to expect the unexpected. It was within expectations for unexpected things to pop up. But my real problem was with the unexpected direction taken by some things I expected to be unexpected! I mean, I expected them to be unexpected in a certain way and then they just went in a totally different direction and were nothing like I expected! That makes sense. Well, were other fantasy races present? Goblins? Orcs? All the rest? I had originally been content with waiting to find out for myself, but now I knew elves existed. They existed, but nobody really knew about them. So what about other fantasy races? It would be good to know if they existed, at least, and in what capacity. I decided that now was as good a time as any to investigate such matters by looking into some memories. I¡¯ll be back soon to help with the medical stuff, Queen! ¡°Excuse me? First you surprise me with some emergency after I just finished an interesting project, and now you will leave me to work on the emergency myself? You responsibility dodging snake! Hey! Respond! Enno!?¡± ________ ¡°Poo. Why do I have to do this one?¡± Vlugh was having a fun time. His massive scowl really highlighted that. After the Queen had freaked out about something or other, the mercenaries had split up to do various important things related to the Yiwi Operation. Oh, and Grehn had gone to the library to skim some scrolls to find something about ¡®elves¡¯. Yelah was also going to have a good time. Since Yoho wanted to follow her around, she got stuck with a bunch of random errands to avoid exposing everything. Speaking of everything. Vlugh was feeling like he absolutely did not want to do anything. His head hurt, his stomach felt stupid, and he really wanted a refreshing drink. Preferably something with lemons. But those fucking knight assholes just had to destroy their orchards. And nobody in Yiwi wanted to make anything with Lemonholm¡¯s lemons, quite understandably. But most of all, Vlugh felt a visceral pain in the pit of his heart. All because of the monster bees. His memories had a lapse. After getting captured by the monsters, the Queen had tried to control his Mind. For reasons unknown to him, the Queen chose him. And there was no way he would allow that to happen. It went against everything he believed. It was an invasion so deep and critical that Vlugh was resolute in his decision to change his Life. And from there, all was blank. Had he succeeded in changing his Life? Had he succeeded in¡­ abandoning his friends? No. Somewhere in there, Vlugh remembered something foreign attaching itself to his Mind. He had failed. And he was relieved. He hadn¡¯t abandoned his friends! He was alive! But wait¡­ Something itched at him, all the way until he woke up. A little presence on the back of his neck. Ultimately, he had fallen under the control of those freaky monster bees, despite his best attempt at resisting. And it was great. Which was horrible. Every time Vlugh thought of resisting again, those thoughts were instantly shut down. He couldn¡¯t reach back to remove the Linker Bee. He couldn¡¯t even think of changing his Life. Every time he did, a faint vision of antennae in the shape of glasses appeared and something completely derailed his thoughts. And so, he was having a great time. And that was all before he had even gotten to this freaking boring meeting. All those thoughts were ethereal, but this meeting was right in Vlugh¡¯s face. Of all things, he had been tasked with attending the upcoming Yiwi Fighters meeting. So he had sauntered over to the open-air pavilion with foldy chairs everywhere wearing a big fat smile, sat down for several hours, and ended up with a big fat scowl. This shit was boring. Capital everything. Vlugh realized that as long as he heard and watched the speeches, he didn¡¯t have to pay attention at all! The monsters could sort through all that crap themselves, so why torture himself by thinking about the boring stuff? Unfortunately, that meant he ended up thinking about infuriating stuff instead. Like the aforementioned monsters. So either way, Vlugh would end up having a fun time. ¡°¡­and the mercenaries? Those guys will always side with the City lord, won¡¯t they?¡± Oho? Talking about mercenaries? Vlugh was a mercenary! But he saw that the dull speaker was about to respond, so he began to zone out again- ¡°Excuse me sir, may I speak about this?¡± Instead of the old, crusty dude, a new face stood up to speak. The speaker, who had been putting Vlugh to sleep, grimaced at the young man but relinquished his spot. The new guy was energetic with a bright face, and Vlugh recognized him as one who had been sitting with rapt attention in the front row. Two other people also stood up and proudly positioned themselves at the sides of the new kid as he began to talk. As for what the new guy said? He went on and on about how mercenaries weren¡¯t all money-hungry bastards, but that even if they were, then they should be even angrier at the City Lord than anyone else. Well, he wasn¡¯t as boring as the old guy. Vlugh could get behind that. And he was pissed off at the City Lord. No more damn lemons! Maybe these meetings wouldn¡¯t be a complete waste of time after all. The kid hijacked the meeting completely. Even the grumpy old guy from before got into things, shouting and cheering at momentous moments. As for Vlugh? He was starting to like the kid¡¯s style. He really seemed like he wanted to make a difference. But Vlugh wouldn¡¯t be swayed completely. Partly due to the ever-present force in his head. Even so, when the meeting was officially adjourned, Vlugh found himself sauntering up towards the kid who was being mobbed by onlookers. ¡°Please excuse us, everyone. We need to return to our leader.¡± ¡°Outta the way! Get outta here!¡± The trio pushed their way into a side alley, somehow managing to escape as other peace keepers kept the crowd at bay. They took a deep sigh of relief just as they bumped into the waiting arms of Vlugh. ¡°Yo! Nice speech, dude. You been in the Fighters long?¡± Vlugh asked with a big smile. The stocky guy quickly moved in front of the other two, instantly wary about a shady mercenary appearing in a shady alley. Unfortunately, he stood no chance. At least, that was the estimation of a certain excitable bee who was watching from the tops of the buildings. ¡°Excuse us, Mr Mercenary,¡± the main kid said, ¡°we really must be on our way.¡± The trio moved to squeeze past Vlugh, who made no motion to stop them. No matter. Vlugh had achieved his goal. Hm? His goal? Ah, yes. Of course! His goal was to make his appearance and self known to the trio so he could appear as a familiar face at a later time. Just another brilliant Vlugh maneuver. Except that there was no such thing as a brilliant Vlugh maneuver. He might be a bit silly, but Vlugh wasn¡¯t as big of an idiot as he sometimes made himself out to be. Sure, he might grandstand and all that, but he had at least some semblance of self-awareness. Yelah and Rette were the smart ones. Even Grehn had his moments. But Vlugh didn¡¯t make the plans. He didn¡¯t have the ideas. This was another invasion. The image of glasses appeared again, and it was confirmed in Vlugh¡¯s eyes. Even when the Queen was distracted, he stood no chance. Something was always lurking there, ready to move him around like a puppet to achieve its dark machinations. There was no escape. But then again, that wasn¡¯t Vlugh¡¯s style either. He could still hold out hope. Last time, he had tried to resist by escaping. By leaving his friends behind. But that was a mistake. He would resist in a better way this time. Every moment of captivity was a chance to resist. That speech kid really was inspiring! Chapter 60 - Before You Wreck Your Elf Sigh. What¡¯s this? Saying the word ¡®sigh¡¯ to indicate exhaustion or exasperation? Yes. Sigh. ¡°Every day I feel that you become more of a scatterbrain. Perhaps we should slow down our B-box experiments to prevent you from devolving into a caricature of a Mind.¡± Fascinating! You know, Queen, I feel that you have recently begun speaking in an overly casual manner. Mayhaps we should slow down our B-box experiments to prevent you from becoming too much of a lowly peasant like yours truly. ¡°I will not even deign that silliness with a response, knave.¡± I will ignore the fact that you have just responded. And will instead continue to lament a fact that I only just realized. Queen, do you know how this world uses those metal scrolls to convey information? ¡°Mm? Yes, what of it?¡± The implications are truly vast. Societal implications, the technological ones. Implications that pertain to the world as a natural element. But when I finished researching the fantasy races of this world as best I could, I ended up returning to the present. So there I was, sitting in our new little room whose population grew by the day, when I realized something. I was- ¡°You were spinning a stick like a pen, I know. Get to the point.¡± There are no pens in this world! I wrung my imaginary hands, hoping I could get the importance across. No pens! No writing means no freaking pens! What the hell was I supposed to do?! I had sticks to spin but they¡¯re so unbalanced. So rough and jagged and weird. They lack the smoothness, the simple beauty. The combination of functionality and fantasy present in a good, solid writing utensil. ¡°I see. I understand now. If that is the case, ask Ben or one of the humans to potentially find an alternative. Regrettably, there may not be a one-to-one equivalent in this world, but hopefully you can find something as invigorating for you.¡± Hm? Doesn¡¯t that seem a bit sincere? Go on, laugh! I acknowledge it¡¯s a silly thing. Besides, sticks work well enough to satisfy my habit, so it¡¯s not actually that big of a deal. ¡°I may do that sometimes, but give me some credit, Enno. I would¡­ I¡¯d like for you to be as unburdened as possible.¡± Queen said as she bobbed her little head. Since when had this little mental avatar been so defined? ¡°Now, tell me about those fantasy races of yours. I did decide that healing our failing body was more important, but I¡¯ll entertain your little distraction as long as it means you will help me.¡± I didn¡¯t even have time to think of what to think. Geez, warn me before saying some heartfelt junk like that, will you? Oh, fine. Well, this is what B-boxes were made for. I could work on doing something to my biology with mind while recounting my findings. Well, what I got was, for once, pretty fruitful. Humans are not the only creature in this world. That much wasn¡¯t difficult to figure out. It wasn¡¯t even that mind-boggling to figure out that fantastical creatures exist, like those drill squids. What I was concerned with was humanoids. Elves, orcs, goblins, dwarves. One could go so far as to mention ogres, vampires, werewolves, gnomes, mermaid, centaurs, trolls, giants, and on and on and on. Off the top of my head, that¡¯s what I think of when it comes to fantasy humanoid races. I had already investigated the missing elves to the best of my ability, but there was plenty more to explore. Of course, being limited to the knowledge of a small group of humans was not great. The big one? Fernen. Of fucking course, the first fantasy humanoid race I discover is not anything like the ones I listed. ¡°Fernen, hm? I believe we have heard of them before. But from glancing at your memories, I cannot recall them as being one of these so called ¡®fantasy races.¡¯¡± Yup. Because they aren¡¯t. At the very least, I¡¯ve never heard of anything like them from Earth stories, but there are some similarities. The humans in Yiwi immediately thought of Fernen when imagining a humanoid. Most likely because Fernen could only be found in the Vultuous Forest, which of course was pretty close to Yiwi. Toh, as the most experienced human, had even seen Fernen a few times. From his memories, the Fernen were green monkeys. And that was pretty much it. Not very helpful! There was a bit more I could deduce and learn, though. Fernen are an intelligent race of green-furred monkey-like creatures. They act as protectors of the forest and are really tough for mercenaries to deal with if they ever came into conflict. However, I had some more knowledge to draw on. I didn¡¯t know much about the Fernen themselves, but I knew where they were. During the Burning, it would seem that the Fernen, similar to the vultures, just couldn¡¯t deal with the Knights and their destruction. So, they ended up leaving the forest behind and heading towards the east, near the mountain ranges. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. So at the very least, if we wanted to learn more about them, it wouldn¡¯t be difficult to do so. ¡°I see. Unfortunately, I do not recall anything about green monkey creatures. I suppose they deemed my hive to be too close to the human settlements, so I never learned of them. Are they another threat, similar to the vultures?¡± That I wasn¡¯t sure about. Possibly. At this point, I feel like our power is growing to the point that hopefully they could become allies, either forcefully or through genuine friendship. I mean, they¡¯re apparently forest protectors, right? They probably wouldn¡¯t be happy if they knew we were working with humans, but that didn¡¯t have to be something we revealed immediately if we met them. ¡°I suppose. Indeed, if their purpose is to protect our home, then surely they would be amenable to an alliance. And what of other creatures?¡± Other humanoid races? Well, if Fernen were the first thing the humans thought about in that regard, the second was war. Yup, not a specific race, but war. ¡°War you say? Typical humans.¡± I won¡¯t make any assumptions, but the humans were really starting to seem like angry warmongers. But when you think of goblins, trolls, and orcs, the immediate perception isn¡¯t exactly a good one either. ¡°One moment. Rather than using B-boxes, I have been listening while working.¡± Hm? Oh, I see. So, it looks like the problem is mostly coming from some sort of infection? I¡¯m no doctor, but I do feel like something is up with our organs or something. Maybe in our blood? ¡°Yes, I did determine that something foreign is in our bodies¡­. And perhaps our Mind can expel that foreign material? Please, continue.¡± Right. So, goblins and orcs and trolls. Staples of fantasy, really. Fairly similar to each other, especially depending on what fantasy you refer to, but I don¡¯t have many details about the ones in this world. In fact, I have pretty much nothing besides vague ideas of savagery and low intelligence. What I do have is that humans are currently at war with those three races simultaneously. There¡¯s a war zone, or maybe a no-man¡¯s-land, in southeastern Somuia where the fighting is happening. All three races, which apparently banded together, have been fighting against humans for years. In fact, that war zone stretches all the way from the southern coast of the continent to the bottom border of our forest. What was I supposed to make of that? The three humanoid races had teamed up, so maybe they weren¡¯t that stupid. Plus, they were fighting in a cramped plains area of the continent, squeezed between Somuia, the ocean, our forest, and the mountain range. That tiny section of the southeastern continent was all they had to their name, so that was definitely not good for them. But then again. Orcs, goblins, and trolls. Of all things, what should we believe about those three races? I was certainly not inclined to side with the humans on that front, but I didn¡¯t really know what to think anymore. I just didn¡¯t have enough knowledge. Ironic, I suppose. Well, until I had more information, I¡¯d have to table my personal thoughts about those three races. ¡°Well, they likely hate humans, so they are certainly good in my book.¡± Alright, hater. Fair enough, I guess. Unfortunately, none of the humans had even seen the war zone, so I¡¯d have to find one who knew more. Other than that? Pretty much nothing. Sure, there were some stories of fairytales about creatures that seemed similar to vampires or even centaurs, but other than that? Nothing. Well, one thing. But it amounted to more of a story than concrete ideas. However, these stories felt more like urban legends than fairytales, which ended up giving them more weight as something that currently exists. Supposedly, there were bird people living somewhere in the mountains. People from Lemonholm, which was right next to the mountains, were the major source of these rumors. So basically, the mountains were full of harpies or something. There was pretty much nothing known about them, and even the accounts of supposed sightings conflicted with each other. So most people, including all of my humans, saw them as complete fiction. As for me? I believe those lemon-dudes. Why not? I mean, not like it would be any crazier than anything else in this world when you compare it to Earth. What was a bird-person to a green monkey man? ¡°Sure, I could also be convinced to believe the legends. Ack, this thing¡­¡± Yow! That stung! I took a closer look at what Queen was trying to do and proceeded to completely shut her down. ¡°Hey!¡± Don¡¯t ¡®hey¡¯ me! You¡¯re trying to blow me up, man! Queen had decided that the best way to expel some sort of microscopic foreign material was to blow it up with psychic powers. Perhaps I wasn¡¯t being clear enough. She thought that BLOWING UP my GODDAMN CELLS using our PSYCHIC BEE POWERS was the BEST way of CURING AN ILLNESS. ¡°Seems reasonable to me. Efficient and replicable. We could even make it a Lock so that every bee-¡° You wacko! You baffling bee! You absolutely demented, unhinged individual! This is all because you don¡¯t have a body anymore, you bastard! ¡°Have you already forgotten how I didn¡¯t mock you for your pen obsession?! Have some tact!¡± Tact? TACT?! YOU¡¯RE TRYING TO BLOW UP MY CELLS! Okay. I¡¯m alright, not blown up. Queen had been trying to figure out a way to remove foreign objects, particles, whatever, from my body. She had decided that going through and painstakingly causing small¡­ disturbances¡­ was the best way to eliminate foreign contaminants. Honestly, it was something pretty advanced. It was by no means easy, and calling the ¡®disturbances¡¯ explosions was a bit disingenuous. But the idea was pretty similar. And terrifying. How would one even manage to obtain that level of control? Could you? Well, fortunately for my survival, she wasn¡¯t able to actually perform the experiment on my body. It was more conceptual, with Queen manipulating a B-box to try to perform the process on a small part of my body. But the automation wasn¡¯t complete, and the box hadn¡¯t managed to figure out how to do it exactly as Queen imagined, so all that happened was some sharp pain from some twisting of my body parts. And how, exactly, were you expecting this to work, Queen? ¡°Well, I was simply thinking that if something foreign was in our body, then the best way of removing it would be to crowd and pressure it with Mind somehow until it expired and was expelled by the force.¡± ¡­ Queen, were you trying to use bee defense tactics on our body? Truly, Queen was a bee among bees. Now, I will be fair. The idea had merit. Unfortunately, the concentration and amount of Mind necessary to perform such a precise and risky operation throughout the entire body was, quite simply, impossible. Probably. However, that didn¡¯t matter. Even if we could do something with Mind like that on a cellular level, it was wholly unnecessary. Because Mind is awesome! ¡°¡­What on Earth is that supposed to mean? Hm? Earth? NO, I¡¯ve been infected!¡± Ah, my good Queen, observe. I did a bit of focusing, poured a little Mind, and¡­ I threw up. ¡°Ah, I understand! You wish to suffer more!¡± Oh, man. That felt awful. Was it¡­ was it working? I did my best to probe my body with my Mind. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure what to look for. All I had done was think of my entire body being ¡®scanned¡¯, then having my Mind go through and ¡®eliminate¡¯ any foreign materials. As for how it did that? I had no clue! I was trusting the process. Honestly, Mind had done stranger things. It made a freaking force field that not only defied the laws of physics, but was strong enough to hold back an army. And let air and light in somehow. I didn¡¯t question it before, and I definitely didn¡¯t want to question what my Mind would want to do with my body. But if I left it up to Mind, maybe it wouldn¡¯t harm me? I threw up again, even worse this time. Was that blood? I heard the faint shrieks of my bees, but that wasn¡¯t important. I had to know if the Lock was working. Because I had, in fact, made it a Lock. I was going all in. As for how it was working? Using an absurd amount of Mind, it scanned through my body, collected any foreign materials as it went, and grouped them together for expulsion. Through my GODDAMN mouth. ¡°This works great! May need some tweaking, though.¡± Yay. Chapter 61 - Feel Beetter! Let¡¯s see. If one were to, say, remove all foreign contaminants from their body, about how long would it take? The answer: I can¡¯t be bothered to finish this train of thought because I have been experiencing the most awful few hours of my life throwing up blood and other stuff with no signs of slowing. ¡°Mother, please! This Lock is doing terrible things to you! I implore you to turn off. I will¡­ I will figure out a way to remove the sickness!¡± Beatrice had something of a point, but that didn¡¯t stop me. Suck cost and all that. Cause I mean, it was working. Yes, as dangerous and horrific as the treatment was, it was definitely working. Why was it taking so long? Why did it suck so much? For that, I had absolutely no idea. But as every moment passed, disregarding the weakness and exhaustion I felt from expelling what must have surely been a decent portion of my actual body weight, I felt less disoriented and ill. Ironic to say that, considering the cure. Eventually, though, the steady stream of awful began to subside. And less blood was mixed in! Yay! ¡°It must be terrible to have a body. I am not physically present, but even I can feel the effects of the cure.¡± Not for the first time, I questioned whether Queen actually got the short end of the stick in our situation. Must be nice, not having to vomit every time something mildly inconveniences you. No pain from injury must be nice too, though I hadn¡¯t actually experienced many wounds myself. ¡°Ah, yes. It must be so nice to have no control of yourself. And being unable to taste honey. Oh, and don¡¯t forget that your every action and entire reputation depends on a grouch who can barely focus on important matters.¡± Okay, ouch. Grouch? Really? ¡°Oh, thank goodness! Are you feeling better, Mother?¡± ¡°Never better, Beatrice. Boy, I sure wandered far, didn¡¯t I? No matter; Beatrice, I¡¯m going to send you a B-mail with information about the cure I devised. I could perfect it to administer to the other sick bees, but I think it could use your help. Plus, we¡¯re still in the middle of the Yiwi Operation.¡± I had information about the Operation and our Linked humans on speed dial from the B-boxes, so there was no need to ask for Beatrice to report or anything. Thankfully, the past few hours had been fairly uneventful when it came to our humans, and Beatrice had finished a preliminary map of the city already, thanks to Ben¡¯s scouting. Also thankfully, it seemed like Toh¡¯s team was already on the verge of arriving. Apparently Beatrice had urged Becky to hurry things up, forcing both the small army of Linker Bees and Toh¡¯s trio to speed up. Which meant that soon, we would need concrete Link targets. On the other hand, there were some things that I found less¡­ exciting. For one thing, Grehn¡¯s investigation in a library proved entirely fruitless. I did get to see the library itself, which was pretty interesting. It was a decently sized building, covered even more heavily in flowers. Once inside, a dais stood near the entrance holding a huge metal cylinder. A big scroll that acted as a directory. From there, it was basically like any other library, except with metallic shelves full of equally metallic scrolls rather than books. But all of that didn¡¯t matter. Skimming nearly the whole place, asking librarians, and checking the directory had resulted in next to no new information about elves. Only one scroll even mentioned them, in a section about crackpot theories and disgraced scholars. Vlugh also had no luck getting in further with the Yiwi Fighters. We knew more about their beliefs and ideals, but no sign of a headquarters or leadership. Although, those three I had seen when I was wandering with Grehn had shown up again. If we couldn¡¯t directly go to the Fighters¡¯ leaders, then those three might be a good stepping stone. ¡°Mother, this¡­ I do not know if our bees will be able to replicate this Lock. Perhaps some of the more powerful among us, but¡­¡± Beatrice said. Seems Queen already sent the B-mail while I was thinking. ¡°Actually, it was done automatically. Sort of. I tasked the prototype CBU with sending it. You see, I spent quite a bit of time making sure that the contents of a¡­ B-mail¡­ could be automatically packaged and sent without-¡° ¡°Which is exactly why I need your help, Beatrice. You¡¯re powerful too, so you might be able to replicate the Lock to some degree. I just have way too much leeway to work with. You could optimize it better.¡± ¡°But. The Operation¡­¡± Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Of course, I¡¯ll help with the Lock as well. Not gonna leave you to do that yourself. Plus, I¡¯m also heavily involved with the Operation. No worries!¡± ¡°Okay¡­¡± Hey. Sound more reassured. _________ I yawned, looking out of my window. As usual, the sky was gloomy and interspersed with dull lightning. What would it take for this damn forest to come back? At least my Sprinkler Project combined with Yiwi¡¯s flowers might be able to do something. But unless some rain came, the forest would stay stagnant. What had those freaking knights done to this place? How? I yawned again. It did make sense. After tasking Beatrice with optimizing the curative Lock, I had also helped. After some scolding from Queen. Hours of experimenting and banging my head against the ground in frustration was surely a one-way ticket to exhaustion town. ¡°Don¡¯t forget the fact that we were just incredibly ill. And your insistence on constantly observing the Operation.¡± Beatrice and Queen weren¡¯t exactly pleased either. At some point, Beatrice decided that the optimization was going well enough that I should have gotten back to my most important duty. Egg-laying. Unfortunately, we no longer had an infinite food supply at our doorstep. So that was out of the picture. And for that, I was thankful! Don¡¯t get me twisted, I had gotten used to Egg-Laying by now. The disgust was pretty much a thing of the past. But come on! I had spent the better part of this entire day expunging material from my body, if you know what I mean. Give me a break! ¡°Whatever. Maybe you should just hurry up and put more focus on retrieving Yiwi¡¯s flowers.¡± What was I supposed to do about that? We were already piling them up! I mean, look! ¡°Hey there, Belphegora.¡± The bulbous Valkybee started, guiltily looking upwards. Despite that, I could see small piles of flowers scattered around the floor, mostly thanks to the other bees that were behind Belphegora. ¡°Ah, Mother! How good it is to hear from you. I trust you are recovering from your illness?¡± ¡°Yes, I¡¯m feel- Is that cake?¡± When Belphegora happened to glance down, I saw quite a sight. Of course, I had been seeing a similar sight thanks to the other bees, but seeing it from her perspective was something else. Before the Yiwi Operation advance team sat a feast. Mounds of cakes and pastries sat on the forest floor alongside rolls of bread, raw and cooked meats, and tons and tons of druids. Grilled druid on a stick, fried druid, druid tentacles. So much druid. ¡°What¡¯s going on here? How did you guys get so much food?¡± ¡°Ah, you see,¡± Belphegora swallowed. She had taken a massive bite of cake while I was busy being shocked. ¡°The Ben Squad¡¯s observations have been nothing short of incredible. And edible. I have been requesting that they bring some¡­ samples for us to test. Along with flowers, of course, but we have no idea what to do with those.¡± Flabbergasted. That was a good word. To describe me, that is. The other bees, I could now see, were happily munching away at shreds of food, with no thought spared for decorum. No food was wasted, of course. But what the hell? These guys sure were having a fun time, weren¡¯t they? ¡°Blasted fools! They should bring some of that food back! We need to lay more eggs!¡± Will you quit it?! Sure, getting tons of food straight from Yiwi would be nice, but our logistics aren¡¯t amazing at the moment. To be fair, though, mounds of free food would definitely be great. Once Bella was feeling better, her gatherers could be sent out alongside her to be a small logistic network between Yiwi and the hive. Of course, doing that while Yiwi was an active threat wouldn¡¯t be ideal. ¡°Are you being careful when you steal this food? You realize that the entire Operation could be jeopardized?¡± ¡°Of course, of course! I have personally ensured that Benita and Bennet are informed of the proper way to steal food from the humans. They have not even been noticed once.¡± ¡°Be more careful. The cavalry is arriving soon, and until we have Yiwi¡¯s upper echelon under our control, then everything is on the line. Put aside your gluttony for a second, will you?!¡± Even though I was trying to convey the seriousness of the situation to her, Belphegora just kept eating. At least she had the grace to look ashamed. ¡°I apologize. I will make sure that all risks are minimized. No, eliminated.¡± Fine enough. As long as the Operation could continue smoothly, I was fine with the bees, who really had nothing to do, trying to contribute to something for the hive¡¯s benefit. ¡°I don¡¯t think you handled that very well.¡± Well what was I supposed to say? It didn¡¯t matter, not as long as it would get handled. I had shown Queen our big new collection of flowers, so I turned my attention elsewhere. I yawned again and made my ¡®presence¡¯ known in the sick room. Things weren¡¯t looking good. Bella and Belle, the first to fall ill, barely moved. Their appearance was sickly, their colors graying. They were dying. ¡°Hey. You two. Do you think you¡¯d be able to¡­ to do this?¡± I sent them a B-mail with information about the Cure Lock. I hadn¡¯t thought to give it a proper name. But it was a cure. For removing bad things from yourself. Not all, but the ones that were killing our bees. ¡°I¡­ I think it is possible. For me, at least. Bella¡­ please, can you do this?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Bella was less powerful when it came to Mind, that much I had known for ages. Not to mention their current weakness. Was it worth the risk? I just didn¡¯t know. ¡°I¡¯ll do it,¡± I said. Hm? I hadn¡¯t expected that. ¡°Thank you, Mother.¡± That wasn¡¯t part of the plan. I was exhausted, continuing to yawn repeatedly in my own room, while the sick bees were in their own separate room some distance away from the central hive. There was no way I could manually use the Cure on someone else without risk of complications. Did I have a choice? ¡°Mother. Please. It is too great of a risk for you to do this yourself. Allow me to use it instead. Rest.¡± Beatrice? Where¡­? She was already there, opening the sick door. No! What if you hurt them?! ¡°What if you hurt them? You already know that you are in no condition to perform such a delicate and dangerous procedure. Who knows how this power will affect others without our unique state of being? You also know that Bella and Belle¡¯s condition is terrible. Our optimizations today made sure that bees like Beatrice could use the Cure on themselves, which would be the easiest and most reliable way for the Cure to work without fail. But the optimizations also mean that Beatrice should easily be able to use the Cure manually. Further, she is nowhere near as exhausted as yourself.¡± If she hurts them¡­ if she hurts them¡­ ¡­ Won¡¯t she get hurt? ¡°Prepare yourselves. I have experienced some of what this Cure has to offer, and it is not pleasant.¡± ¡°Wait!¡± Suddenly, Bella and Belle began to spasm, alarming the other sick bees. Beatrice¡¯s face was scrunched in concentration, and I could feel the strain her Mind was going through. She was going to suffer Mind Collapse at this rate. ¡°I¡¯ll-¡° ¡°ENNO. Do NOT break her concentration now! She has already begun to focus.¡± Fuck. Frantically, I tried to think of what to do. In a mere instant, I tasked B-boxes with thinking of a solution, too. Maybe I could¡­ enhance her Mind through the Link. What would that do to her concentration? Bella¡¯s wings wrinkled as she expelled blood and mystery fluid. Belle¡¯s antennas stiffened. How much time had passed? Fuck. ¡°It¡¯s working. Don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s working.¡± Queen¡¯s words were hollow. Empty reassurance. But Bella and Belle were still alive. They were groaning and twitching, and most importantly, I could still feel their Minds. Then suddenly, it ended. How long had it been? I realized with a start that the already gloomy sky was completely dark. But it had already been late. How much time really passed? How were Bella and Belle? At some point, Beatrice had moved them outside of the sick room to prevent the place from becoming a worse mess. Both of them were wrinkly and gray. Unmoving. No. NO. THEY MUST BE ALIVE. Then they gasped for air. Chapter 62 - Luckbee you, luckbee you First Belle took a breath. Then Bella. ¡°Ow.¡± Oh, thank fuck! They were alright! ¡°Quick!¡± I said, ¡°Someone get them some honey to eat! Get them wa-¡° Hold on. Water was most likely a no go. Drinking water had been restricted for the bees for around a day since we had determined the water to be a potential issue until a proper solution could be put in place. There was no damn time for that! Mimicking the Cure Lock, I quickly formed a Lock that sat on a portion of the river, which I could see out of my window. I had been so shocked by the events that I hadn¡¯t even moved from my spot in my room. The Lock was similar in a way to the filters I had observed in the Yiwi Rotor building, filtering out harmful materials to purify the water. To hell with causing confusion in Yiwi; this was way more important! Of course, it wouldn¡¯t be perfect. The Lock would interpret ¡®harmful¡¯ in its own inscrutable way. Maybe it would take out things that were actually helpful to our immune systems or something, or even leave in things that were perfectly benign to a human from Earth, but deadly to this world¡¯s bees. I don¡¯t know, but who cares?! ¡°How are you two feeling?¡± Belle stirred, ¡°Never better, Mother. Ow.¡± Bella let out a weak chuckle, which intensified until she just groaned. But they were alive! And from what I could tell by their Minds, their sickness was gone. At the very least, the symptoms like nausea and pain weren¡¯t present anymore. Though did look a bit worse for wear, looking like wrung out towels, the color was returning to their bodies. Slowly, but it was returning. ¡°Well. That was somewhat dramatic, but I do believe the cure was effective. And without a moment to spare, either. Now, who would like to be next?¡± Nobody jumped at Beatrice¡¯s offer, understandably. Besides, she was in no condition to perform another emergency operation like that at the moment. She was breathing heavily, and though she hadn¡¯t suffered Mind Collapse, I could feel by poking her Mind that she was on the brink. ¡°Rest Beatrice. If you become Mind Collapsed, the hive will probably collapse alongside you. You did a great job.¡± She didn¡¯t argue. I was sad to see her close the Sick Room door, trapping the still-ill bees inside, but hopefully, the Cure Lock would be optimized to the point that any bee could use it themselves. None of the other bees had been sick as long as Bella or Bella, or even myself for that matter, so Beatrice and I had time to work things out. I would hope we could finish it tomorrow. I made sure to observe as Bella and Belle were fed a bit to regain their strength and carried into the Nursery by Belle¡¯s helpers, ensuring they were cared for properly. They seemed to¡­ inflate a bit after getting some food and (hopefully) clean water in them, losing some of the wrinkles and gray coloring, so I assumed they would be fine. What a day! It was a bit shocking to have all this crazy stuff happen out of the blue. We had spent what felt like forever just planning and carrying out covert operations, so a sudden event like this had my heart racing. The sickness that had suddenly assaulted our hive was a seriously random variable I couldn¡¯t have accounted for during the Yiwi Operation, but in a way¡­ I was almost glad it happened. Obviously, the near death experience of Bella and Belle was absolutely horrible. And the ordeal of the Cure wasn¡¯t exactly pleasant. But it kept me on my toes. I had a feeling I would have to get used to this sort of thing. Not sudden plagues, necessarily, but having to deal with multiple things at once throughout the hive. Our plan was to expand, and as a consequence, there would be more bees. More enemies to deal with. More more more. Even thinking about it made me yawn. Or maybe it was just the middle of the night after an exhausting few days. ¡°¡­Sniff. Get some rest already.¡± You sound pretty upset. You hadn¡¯t said anything during the whole ordeal, either. ¡°Of course! Our poor daughters, going through that awful experience. Seeing them writhe in pain, struggling to survive. The¡­ stillness¡­ Oh goodness.¡± Queen¡¯s voice was haunted. I could see why. The memory of Bella and Belle, laying there. No breath, not even a twitch¡­ As quickly as I thought of it, I pushed it away. Along with every other terrible thing. That¡¯s right, who cares about all that! They were okay. I did feel a sense of dread, an oddly familiar thing creeping into my stomach. Then it too was gone. Locked away in an ominous box. Well, time to sleep! The Yiwi Operation would continue as planned. _____________ ¡°Toh, tell me why you lied in your report. The City Lord and his secretaries may not be able to catch it, but I have known you for far too long. What did you find in the Vultuous Forest?¡± Jill Yemonto was the embodiment of experience. She was short, spindly, and had a face as stern as an overly traditional grandmother. Toh, despite his age, saw her as exactly that. Disregarding her small stature and lack of musculature, she was one of the few people that genuinely intimidated Toh. Sporting as many scars as wrinkles, it was clear she had seen her fair share of danger. But it was her Mind that scared him. It pressed down on him like a boulder, smothering him in a sensation that the creature in front of him could pop his head off his body with nothing more than a thought. But now that presence felt like a blanket of security. Of safety. Oh, he had long since become accustomed to the ancient mercenary boss¡¯ power, coming to see it as reassurance. But it came from the fact that he knew Jill was his friend. A comrade-in-arms. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Not a bee. ¡°Ah, you know me too well. Still can¡¯t lie to save my life, eh?¡± ¡°A bizarre quirk for one so skilled in deception. So tell me.¡± Toh was sweating. Not visibly, thought he might as well be, to Jill. He could sidestep her all he wanted (or didn¡¯t want) but it didn¡¯t change the fact that he was just not that great of a liar. He had been considering plan after plan since leaving the hive, intent on figuring out a way to reveal everything to his boss without alerting the bees, but it seemed hopeless. Something was always there, nagging him. Telling him that his thoughts were not his own. So, Toh had thought himself at least somewhat prepared when he arrived last night. Perhaps not to reveal everything, but at least to lie to Jill. He greeted his comrades, had a bite (not of honey, thankfully), wrote up the official forms, and turned in for a good night¡¯s rest. The real test came in the morning, when he got a summons from Jill. Not unusual; they were old friends, after all. And he knew she would see through him. Even so, actually sitting in front of her was a whole different story. ¡°Well,¡± Toh leaned in, like a child divulging a secret, ¡°If you must know, I did find something. A great treasure. Squirrels.¡± No alarm bells. Yet. The incredibly amazing Queen and glasses were watching, and they knew what he was going to say. ¡°I had ta eat some meat from those squirrels. Amazing! I¡¯d eaten ¡®em before, but these ones were special. I wanted to bring some back, but it ended up bein¡¯ a massive pain. But anyway, I didn¡¯t think the Lord would be interested in that sort of thing. Maybe someone else would? Squirrel meat ain¡¯t common to eat, and this stuff is just so good. Sweet and savory, all at once.¡± ¡°Besides, there was no way I could tell ¡®im. Knowing that bastard, he¡¯d just as soon send some mercs to wipe out the fellows, yelping about some such nonsense. I thought: ¡®why not make sure we can have something left in this damn forest?¡¯ Ya know?¡± It was a risk. A huge one. Exposing the existence of living creatures in the forest was close enough to revealing the bees. Toh was relying on a few things. For one, after he initially thought of the ruse, he felt some¡­ thing pushing and pulling, guiding him in the right direction to lie. If it were close to the truth, maybe the lie would be more convincing. Other than that, everything was riding on how well Toh knew and trusted Jill to take action in a certain way. And speaking of, the old boss was studying Toh. A flash of concern appeared on her face before fading, replaced with satisfaction. ¡°I see. At least it was nothing more dangerous. Figures that even when the Shroud somehow disappeared, those damn rodents would still be pissing around. But Toh, are you sure this is something you want to hide from the City Lord? You¡¯re not one to make elaborate deals with merchants and the like. Have you¡­ Never mind. Just be careful, son.¡± Toh nearly sagged in relief, but something didn¡¯t let him. That would be too obvious. And what was Jill going to say? He had no idea. ¡°Well, that should be all. Go, Toh.¡± ¡°Yes ma¡¯am!¡± Toh stood up, as did Jill. Really, it was comical. If you stacked two Jills on top of each other, Toh would still be taller. And while Jill was certainly petite, perhaps it said more about Toh¡¯s ridiculous stature. As Toh turned to leave, Jill called out, ¡°And by the way, young man. You should know that your accent starts to bubble up when you tell the truth.¡± Toh nearly froze, but something made him keep walking and casually wave back. Was that Jill¡¯s way of saying that he actually had more of an accent when he lied? Or was she genuine? Blast. Maybe he didn¡¯t know her as well as he thought. ____________ ¡°I insist, Yelah! Thanking Them is the most reasonable thing to do. I prayed endlessly for you to return safely, then for Rette and Vlugh¡¯s recovery. And they delivered!¡± Yelah groaned, but let Yoho drag her through the streets. He was once again adamant about staying by her side, which meant no hive errands for Yelah. Not overtly, at least. She could still help just by being present, seeing sights, eating foods, looking inside buildings, what have you. Every piece of information would be essential in helping to destroy her home and the people she loved. ¡°Ever since you became a real team leader, you¡¯ve been too lax in your heavenly duties! Plus, hanging around that Drevan¡­ what if you start worshipping dragons or something?¡± Yelah snorted. As if. ¡°Vlugh¡¯s not even that religious in the first place. His parents left Dreva too early for him to be really indoctrinated.¡± Despite all that, Yelah didn¡¯t resist. She had been lax, incredibly so. Maybe¡­ maybe that was why all of this was happening in the first place? As Yelah thought, she almost felt indignation appearing in her Mind. Well, sorry bees. But she had to do this. To prevent being exposed, ya know? The pair eventually arrived at an ornate little structure, not quite enough to be considered a building. The structure, an intricately carved, light open roof held up by four twisting posts, had the unusual characteristic of being made entirely of wood. In fact, it was the only structure Yelah knew of in the entirety of Yiwi made of wood. Except the other shrines, of course. A bald man wearing simple clothing smiled brightly as he strode over. Then he flipped them off. Then Yelah and Yoho flipped him off. Then they hugged. Alright, time out. What the fuck? ¡°Please don¡¯t distract me right now. If you¡¯re curious about the hand sign, it is a proper religious greeting, meaning ¡®peace and unity¡¯,¡± Yelah thought. No way. That was fucking HILARIOUS. ¡°Hey there Lord Hu-Leio. Been a while.¡± ¡°Young Yelah, oh how you¡¯ve grown!¡± Hu-Leio, whatever that name meant, said. ¡°I was beginning to think you had abandoned Humanity¡¯s teachings! Thankfully, it seems that young Yoho was able to convince you to return. Please, come.¡± Hu-Leio led them up to the shrine and around a bush to a bowl near the back of the structure. The man¡¯s clothes were, upon closer inspection, made entirely of some kind of woven metal, painted in a way that made them seem like simple tan cloth. The only adornment he had was a thin chain necklace with a ¡®T¡¯ decoration on it. Actually, it wasn¡¯t a ¡®T¡¯ like the letter. It had an odd shape, with the vertical part appearing like a twisted drill bit, or a cylinder with grooves that made it look coiled. The top part was just a line with bulges. The shrine¡¯s bush which the three of them passed was covered in flowers to a ridiculous degree. That brought to attention the fact that there were almost no flowers decorating the structure itself, though some seemed to have fallen onto it from neighboring buildings. Tiny metallic figurines, flowers, and small scrolls were scattered around a pedestal behind the bowl, which sat beneath a gorgeous metal statue. The statue was an incredibly realistic sculpture of a person, but one without any discernible features whatsoever. No face, no nose, no ears or hair or genitals. A person which looked¡­ familiar¡­? ¡°Put both hands over your face, please.¡± The pair did as instructed, but Yelah made sure to peek through her fingers so I could see the ceremony. The priest (I assumed that¡¯s what he was) dipped his middle finger in the water (pffft) and drew it between the crack made by the pairs¡¯ hands. ¡°You are remade, in the image of The Human. Reveal yourselves.¡± Both slowly opened their hands, emulating doors whose hinges rested on the sides of their faces, before finally putting them down by their sides and bowing. They looked¡­ content. At least, Yoho did, and it felt like Yelah was. Though they quickly cracked into big smiles. ¡°May They protect you eternal.¡± ¡°¡±May They protect us eternal.¡±¡± The pair said dutifully. ¡°Thanks Lord. I forgot how good that feels. I¡¯ll be sure to come by more often.¡± ¡°Young Yelah, whether you come tomorrow or in five years, you can always be remade. Such is the nature of humans.¡± Religion. Interesting stuff. I looked at Yelah¡¯s Mind, and saw that it was actually noticeably different. Not altered, but more¡­ relaxed. Efficient, even. Makes sense. These gods had an especially active role in people¡¯s lives, as I knew they had something to do with Mind. I knew about the Bee, the apparent god of bees, as well. Hey, I want a cool ceremony too! We could make a religion out of this. Er, I mean, the Queen was quite impressed. And she was trying to focus on other things too, so she couldn¡¯t be fully involved in the lives of the Yiwi operatives, of course. Hu-Leio guided the pair out of the shrine, only to find Vlugh waiting. ¡°Yo! Knew you two would be here.¡± He beamed, especially towards the priest, or Lord, as Yelah called him, who in turn scowled with a darkened expression. ¡°Drevan.¡± ¡°Sup, Lordo.¡± Yoho looked pained, while Yelah just seemed amused. The tension was mounting when a figure approached from behind Yelah, casting a shadow over her. ¡°Please don¡¯t bother with him, Lord. He enjoys poking fun at Humanitans.¡± Grehn smiled casually, which Yelah didn¡¯t even need to see to be aware of. Despite his words coming out in a whisper, everyone heard his deep, rich tones. He moved around Yelah and put Vlugh in a headlock, smiling the entire time. ¡°Bah! Listen, Drevan. I know you have feeble ties to your belief, so why not come in and go through a remaking? Belief is but one step away.¡± Despite Grehn¡¯s headlock, Vlugh couldn¡¯t help but squeak out a response. ¡°Sorry, Lordo. No can do.¡± He didn¡¯t get much further than that before Grehn really started to squeeze. At this point, Yelah was full on laughing, Yoho standing next to her, hiding his face in shame. Passerby occasionally glanced over, but commotion was apparently a pretty normal thing here, because nobody seemed to care. ¡°Sorry about him, Lord,¡± Yelah gasped. ¡°I¡¯ll drag him away. See you later!¡± The Lord shook his head and grumbled, walking back and sitting on the floor by the bush inside the shrine. Yelah made to push Grehn (with a Vlugh attached) away, but another shadow suddenly loomed over her. Toh¡¯s gigantic body stood in the middle of the road, flanked by two of his team members. Yoho suddenly looked much more respectful, straightening his back and face. Vlugh and Yelah stared up at the man, while Grehn kept an even gaze straight at him. Toh, meanwhile, just put on an easy smile. ¡°Hey there, crew! We¡¯ve gotta talk.¡± Chapter 63 - Back-alley Beealings ¡°How have you all been? Rette doin¡¯ alright?¡± Toh said. ¡°Yeah. We went to see her last night, and she was already conscious. She¡¯s resting today, far as I know,¡± Yelah replied. The group had ducked into a side alley, glaring at a pair of shady guys who quickly scampered off. Ben watched the group from above, gleefully keeping an eye on the mercenaries while also peering at the passerby on the street. The mercenaries were being watched, but Ben was looking at them, too. He had instructed Benita and Bennet to occasionally toss distractions at the spies, even though they were too far away to hear the conversation. Just in case. Yoho looked nervous; the Queen didn¡¯t have to use Ben¡¯s superior eyesight to see that. He kept looking between Yelah and Toh like they would start brawling at any moment. Two allegiances: which to choose? His senior, a man he respected? Or his childhood friend, the girl he fancied? Unfortunately for him, neither was a valid choice. Because, in truth, they were both marching under one master. ¡°Get outta here, lad. I need to speak with yer girlfriend privately.¡± ¡°Huh? I mean- well, I wouldn¡¯t say¡­¡± Yoho sputtered. He moved to stand between the two mercenary captains, but Yelah clasped his shoulder. ¡°Go on, Yoho. Toh and I came to an understanding in the forest. It¡¯s not a big deal.¡± With both of his friends staring him down, Yoho had no choice but to leave the alley, peeking over his shoulder the whole way. The mercenaries relaxed, at least to some degree. Yelah still didn¡¯t fully trust Toh, but there was little supporting the suspicion. ¡°Relax, pup. You know as well as I that we¡¯re on the same side.¡± Toh said, sitting down on a stone ledge. His words were dripping with sarcasm. Or some form of understanding. ¡°I¡¯ve spoken with Jill already, and nearly managed to alert her to danger. Course, the bees stopped me. But she knows something¡¯s up, which is all I could do.¡± ¡°You managed that? How?¡± ¡°Bond between friends. Experience. Things you lack that make me a more valuable weapon for our new masters. Though the blade cuts both ways.¡± Vlugh scoffed, relaxing completely. Yelah¡¯s group was starting to release their tension, though the process was slow. After all¡­ ¡°Don¡¯t worry, pups. Not your fault. I know how it is to be under their control. There was nothing you lot could¡¯ve done to save me from this fate.¡± ¡°But¡­¡± Yelah said. It was true. Toh wasn¡¯t just an intimidating mercenary in the face of the relative amateurs. It was because of them that Toh and two mercenaries that leaned nearby had been brought under the Link. ¡°If anything, I should be thankin¡¯ ya. If not for your deception, my whole team would¡¯ve gone to the hive. Maybe we could¡¯ve taken some bees down, but we all know that they¡¯re hiding some real monsters. We all would¡¯ve been killed or taken. Nothing to dwell on.¡± ¡°Instead, we need to be productive. The Linkers arrived alongside me, and are waiting outside the walls. As the insiders, we should work together. Even though we have this blasted Link, we aren¡¯t allowed to communicate using it. We can only meet in ways that don¡¯t involve us being seen or heard. So here we are.¡± ¡°You would make the Operation easier for the bees?¡± Yelah growled. She was still defiant, holding on to some shred of her former self. ¡°Why give them the luxury? We should just interact as little as possible, do exactly what we¡¯re told and nothing more. I mean, everything we¡¯re saying right now, they know. Everything we¡¯re thinking, they know.¡± ¡°You misunderstand. I want to be a part of things. The more involved we are, the more we know. The more we have a chance to find a crack in the Link, or find a way to resist. Sure, we might be accelerating their plans, but you really think they don¡¯t have everythin¡¯ laid out? We¡¯re constantly monitored, made to do things we don¡¯t even realize.¡± Yelah glowered, then slumped, defeated. How could she argue? Hadn¡¯t she also given up already? ¡°What should we do then, Mr. Toh?¡± Grehn said. The massive man knew how Toh felt; it had been mere days since he happily took the Queen on a tour of the city, exposing important tactical areas and technologies. Only recently had his guilt over the matter begun to bubble up. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Well, the plan is to bring in the Linkers to attach them to important figures. Far as I know, the first targets will be the Yiwi Fighters, since they are simultaneously the most important and the least dangerous.¡± ¡°Mm. I¡¯ve made some progress with them. Just need a few Linkers to attach to a few kids, and we¡¯re in.¡± Vlugh piped up. ¡°Wait, three kids?¡± Grehn asked, receiving a nod from Vlugh, ¡°I know them; they were making a big speech in the city center the other day.¡± ¡°I see. Then, Vlugh and Grehn will be in charge of acquiring the Fighters. I don¡¯t have much experience with the Fighters, but I could do some infiltration if necessary.¡± ¡°I also have a task.¡± Yelah said in a clipped tone. ¡°Harven. He invited me for a drink, so I can get in close.¡± ¡°That old bastard? He might be tougher than the Fighters, but I¡¯m sure you can figure that out, Yelah.¡± Toh nodded in satisfaction. Yelah¡¯s jaw clenched, and she slowly drew out her knife. She lunged at Toh, shocking the group. ¡°Whoa!¡± ¡°Yelah, what¡¯s gotten into you?!¡± Grehn and Vlugh dashed to her, grabbing her arms as she wrestled with Toh. Her eyes were on fire, and Toh felt a burst of pressure. She was using her Ability! Then, as suddenly as it started, the pressure disappeared. Yelah looked around in a daze, no longer struggling against her friends. ¡°Huh? What was that?¡± Yelah slowly began to come to her senses, shaking off the confusion. ¡°Dammit, Yelah, what was that? Were you commanded to attack me for my attempt at warning Jill? Why would the bees do this¡­?¡± Yelah couldn¡¯t respond. Her head was still cloudy, buzzing with sound. She hadn¡¯t been thinking at all, just attacked Toh unprovoked. The Queen certainly hadn¡¯t ordered her to do anything. More buzzing appeared. The tiny form of Ben had quickly descended from the rooftops and was flying frantically around the group. But they weren¡¯t currently privy to his thoughts, so his actions remained a mystery. ¡°We¡¯re all in a rough place,¡± Toh said, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. ¡°But we need to stay strong. For now, the Queen is insisting that we begin attaching Linkers as quickly as possible. Let us walk to the wall.¡± Grehn and Vlugh helped Yelah leave the alley, Toh and his two teammates trailing behind. The day was still young, so they could at least bring some Linkers into the city to hide them. As they walked, Yelah slowly regained her senses and strength. Eventually, she managed to walk on her own. What had happened to her? It was like her emotions had suddenly overtaken her, emptying her mind and driving her forward. She shook her head. It didn¡¯t matter, not now. All that mattered was the mission. Conquering Yiwi. A group of mercenaries was not a particularly interesting sight. Even people with bodies like Grehn and Toh weren¡¯t that notable. Perhaps if Dip wasn¡¯t chilling out at home, he would draw some stares, but as they were? The group drew not a single wandering eye. Which made the eyes trained on them all the more obvious. How to go about this? For one reason or another, members of the group were being watched. One person, Ben saw, wore nice clothing. Tight suit, big colorful bow tie. One of Harven¡¯s men, perhaps? Another wore mercenary leathers, but concealed themselves with a black cloak. No weapons in sight. And several other sneaky sneakers. As for who might be spying on the group, it could be anyone. Mercenaries, paid by the City Lord. People sent by Jill Yemonto. Yiwi Fighters. Who knew? In the end, the ¡®who¡¯ didn¡¯t matter very much. Neither did the ¡®why¡¯, for that matter. What mattered was how the group was going to smuggle a gaggle of Mind-controlling bees over the fortified city walls without anybody noticing. ¡°Leave that to me.¡± A new voice, one they didn¡¯t recognize, echoed in the humans¡¯ heads. They had already arrived at Yiwi¡¯s eastern wall when the voice appeared, and they made a show of definitely not being startled by a voice suddenly appearing in their Minds. ¡°I won¡¯t be able to hide them for long, or for a long distance. Put yourselves somewhere close; when I say so, let the Linkers hide in your cloaks or closed fists. Or under your clothes, if you¡¯re into that sort of thing.¡± ¡°Might as well do what the voice says, everyone,¡± Toh muttered after a moment. He gestured at an open-air bar, one of the less populated ones. Surprisingly difficult to find an empty one, considering the time of day. But at these far edges of the inner city, this close to the forest, the shadier locales were already in full swing. The group sat on metal stools at an establishment as close to the wall as possible, ordering a round of drinks. When the mugs arrived, they gave the voice a confirmation and waited. ¡°And for the record, I am Belphegora. Technically, I am the second in command of this Operation out of the present bees.¡± ¡°And¡­¡± Grehn said, ¡°Who would be number one?¡± ¡°Ben. Though he has been ordered to suppress his Mind as much as possible during active hours, on account of his¡­ excitability.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Toh¡¯s plan to involve themselves more with the Operation was already proving its merit. Despite their importance, the humans had been given the minimum amount of information possible about the plans, the bees, or anything else really. Even Yelah¡¯s group, which had traveled with Belphegora and Ben and the others, had no idea who she was. They were fighting an impossible battle. The bees knew everything, while the humans knew nothing. From the corner of his eye, Toh noticed something odd. Above the head of a guard posted atop the wall, a faint shimmer appeared for an instant. He tapped the table, catching the attention of the others. He realized that this ¡®Belphegora¡¯ had some Ability based on illusion. It certainly wasn¡¯t perfect, but Toh was impressed. Unless you were specifically searching for them, it might¡¯ve been impossible to spot them. Was she basing this power on Toh¡¯s own invisibility Ability? Eventually, the tiny cluster of insects zipped towards the mercenaries who, upon the signal from Belphegora, did their best to inconspicuously hide live bees under their clothes. The illusion disappeared as soon as the bees arrived, but hopefully Ben¡¯s distractions and the tiny size of the bees would mean that the spies saw nothing. ¡°That¡¯s done with then. Hide the bees in your rooms. How many Linkers remain, bee?¡± ¡°I would prefer if you referred to me with a bit more reverence, mercenary. No less than my Mother-given name. I will not suffer your insolence as easily as some of my siblings. It is my opinion that Mother is too lenient with you. But this knowledge is acceptable for you to know; I have given you lot fifteen of our forty-five Linkers, meaning that thirty are still prepared. Over the next few days, you will come in smaller groups to bring all the Linkers into the city.¡± Toh¡¯s face stayed neutral, but Yelah glowered. This bee was a piece of work, but her words held a weight, enough that even across the wall she felt a shiver. She emptied the entire mug in one go and slammed it down, quickly dropping a few coins on the table. ¡°We got the bees, that¡¯s enough. I¡¯m going home. I¡¯ll get to Harven tomorrow.¡± Yelah stalked off. Her anger had been building again, and she didn¡¯t want a repeat of the alley. Grehn watched her leave with a look of worry, then turned to Vlugh. ¡°They won¡¯t force Yelah to start Linking, but looks like we don¡¯t have that luxury. You remember where the next Fighter meeting is?¡± ¡°Ugh, those monsters are running us ragged. I¡¯m still recovering! And yeah, it''s close by, actually.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll join you,¡± Toh said, also opting to down his mug in one go. ¡°Bayley, Wenrey, go stash the bees somewhere. I¡¯ll take a couple just in case. Pups, you use your bees to Link these kids you keep going on about, and I¡¯ll tail them back to their hidey-hole. They¡¯ll take a bee or two to Link their bosses, and I¡¯ll make sure nothing goes awry.¡± Grehn and Vlugh nodded, moving to leave. They couldn¡¯t even feel the numerous bees sitting still under various folds of clothing. And yet, those bees were the heaviest things any of the humans had ever carried. Chapter 64 - Beedom Fighters ¡°Good people of Yiwi! I ask: why does the City Lord hide within his gaudy halls? Could it be that he knows he is wrong? That we are right? The merchants are not the only ones who are angry, but they are the strongest opponents of the City Lord. Them, and the Ehra Group! Who have taken the plunge and fully joined our cause!¡± Cheers rose from the ever-growing crowd in the central plaza. Being in this mostly open space right next to the Rotor meant that the giant mechanism¡¯s groans were loud and clear, but the cheers that were mounting around Grehn and Vlugh drowned it out. ¡°I wonder where the Fighters found that kid. Doubt they would¡¯ve grown so much without his skills.¡± ¡°Right? When I listened to him, I almost felt like I could imagine being free again,¡± Vlugh said wistfully. The two of them had pushed to the front of the crowd early on, and good thing too. There were far too many people to push through now. Even Grehn might¡¯ve had a tough time forcing his way through, considering how many big mercenaries had found themselves swept up in the fervor. Even so, they were right up at the front, staring the three young rebels straight in the eyes. And the young rebels looked back. Nervous. ¡°Our gathering here must soon come to a close. Everyone! The time draws near that the Yiwi Fighters will not be able to hold back the tides of change. Rejoice! And stand together!¡± The cacophony exploded, making Grehn wince. He glanced to the alley where the trio would likely escape, spotting Toh inside. As soon as they entered, Toh would hide himself. Grehn would hold the crowd back alongside the bodyguards, and Vlugh would face the trio. One way or another, he would get close enough to release three Linkers and begin the takeover of the Yiwi Fighters. ¡°Now.¡± Grehn whispered, which Vlugh heard even over the cheers. The three mercenaries moved into position, and the three rebels slipped into the alley. As expected. ¡°Ho! Nice to meet you three again!¡± ¡°Mercenary,¡± the squat boy said. He was definitely less defensive than last time, but he stood moved to stand between his two friends and Vlugh. ¡°Like we said last time: please just move. If we get overrun, I won¡¯t-¡° ¡°Ah ah. No need to worry, my friend! My partner back there,¡± Vlugh pointed, ¡°is taking care of that particular problem.¡± The three rebels glanced back and saw Grehn holding the crowd back practically by himself. The squat boy stiffened, but the other two visibly relaxed. ¡°It¡¯s all right, Uruhple,¡± the leader said, stepping forward. To Vlugh¡¯s surprise, the boy eagerly clasped one of Vlugh¡¯s hands in his own. ¡°Good mercenary, you are from Hayrey¡¯s, are you not? I recognize you now; one of the members of the young up-and-coming mercenary team led by¡­ miss Yelah, I believe?¡± ¡°Uh, yeah. That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Excellent!¡± he turned to the other two, excited, ¡°I told you two! Ehra Group wouldn¡¯t be the only ones eager to join us! Now-¡° And as quickly as he spoke, he stopped. Oyonshe, the secret weapon of the Yiwi Fighters, looked at his two friends with an expression of shock. He didn¡¯t move as Vlugh dashed towards his friends, Uruhple and Bronha, who put up their guards. But now Oyonshe knew it was pointless. Because Vlugh was nothing more than a distraction. Vlugh suddenly stopped, confusing Oyonshe¡¯s friends for a moment, before the Linker Bees that had buzzed out of Grehn¡¯s cloak reached them and easily attached themselves to their napes. They had focused all of their attention and wariness forward, towards Vlugh and Oyonshe himself, so the attack from behind was completely unexpected. Oyonshe could scarcely believe what was happening. He suddenly knew so much. He knew of the mercenaries who plotted the end of Yiwi. He knew of Toh, the mercenary hiding nearby using an Ability which rendered him invisible. Of his new purpose, to infiltrate and take control of his leaders. To betray his people. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. And of another thing. A presence so terrible, Oyonshe began to sweat, his skin growing cold. A voice so horrific that it rattled his Mind and crumbled his resolve spoke. ¡°Hello you three! Welcome to the hive.¡± ___________ Toh watched the three rebels, new members of the hive, enter an unassuming building. Well, the building itself was quite gaudy. It had wooden accents for Person¡¯s sake! Only merchants could be so arrogant, flaunting such incredible wealth while the people¡¯s wallets burned. Even so, a building that opulent was actually inconspicuous next to the other merchant buildings here in the commercial district. Without the three kids, it would have been impossible to know which one housed the leadership of the Yiwi Fighters. Toh snuck into the building, taking care to inspect each step before taking it. Merchants in charge of an organization as risky as the Yiwi Fighters would certainly take measures to prevent spying and infiltration, and he did find traps. Simple ones; alarms, mostly. But who knew what strange technologies or techniques merchants could bring in from places like the capital? Other than the potential dangers? Toh noted the building¡¯s interior. He couldn¡¯t help but gawk. If the outside was gaudy, the inside was downright disgusting. Floors built of wood. A fucking desk made of wood. Trinkets and baubles either made entirely of wood or covered in wooden accents. All of that wasn¡¯t even to mention precious metals and gemstones, monster parts and gorgeous artwork. And this was just the blasted entrance! Toh expertly maneuvered around the traps, trying to track where the rebels went. The girl, Bronha, strayed behind, casually gesturing towards nooks and crannies or spots on the floor. She was pointing out traps and making sure he could see where they went as they led Toh towards the back rooms, into winding halls. Even so, Toh was wary with each and every step. Not that he didn¡¯t trust Bronha. After all, it was impossible for her to betray him. No, the issue came as paranoia; specifically the paranoia of the merchants. He found alarms which Bronha didn¡¯t point out, cementing his suspicions. They were not informed about every defense mechanism, hence they didn''t know about it. So then, how did they avoid the secret defenses? Toh wasn¡¯t sure. Likely some secret the merchants held close to their chests. And so Toh was being cautious. Another obstacle came in the form of people. There had been a clerk in the front room, sitting at the desk, but other than that, it had seemed like the building was empty. Not so. Armed guards patrolled the hallways, wearing a variety of uniforms. Different merchant leaders apparently employed their own bodyguards. The trio passed them with friendly smiles and nods, receiving the same in kind. Toh, meanwhile, had to sneak by them. They finally reached a door, wooden of course, which the trio casually left open. Toh snuck in to a meeting. Nearly a dozen men and women gathered in the spacious room, conversing between bites of food. Good food. Much of which, Toh noticed, included fruit. Bastard merchants. Many people suspected that the City Lord was hiding stores of fruits which formerly did much to sustain Yiwi, and that was a major rallying cry for the Yiwi Fighters. ¡®The City Lord has food he doesn¡¯t share!¡¯ Well, look at this. Toh didn¡¯t miss the look of open disgust that appeared on the trio¡¯s faces, though the merchants didn¡¯t seem to notice. Or if they did, they simply didn¡¯t care. ¡°Ah, the heroes of the Yiwi Fighters triumphantly return from another battle! Why not partake?¡± a startlingly skinny woman said, voice screechy like a bird. Toh checked her ears for some reason, but saw nothing satisfactory. What a strange thing he suddenly felt compelled to do. ¡°No, thank you,¡± Oyonshe managed to say, plastering a smile across his face. Strong lad. Oyonshe would not be sad to see these men and women brought into the hive. Some part of him screamed, exclaiming that despite their monstrosity, they did good things. Even if it was for their own benefit, they were the reason that a small rebel organization had become a force to be recognized. Even if they had taken control of it. Despite that, they did work to bring down the greedy and cowardly City Lord. Of course, none of that mattered any more. What good they could do with their money, bees would do with grit. ¡°I apologize for interrupting your meal, but I must give you my typical report. Before that, have you found out any more information about the City Lord?¡± Oyonshe said as he made his way around the table, subtly dropping Linkers to the ground near their wooden chairs. He only had six with him, and the others had two each. Toh held the remaining two they would require, but they would have no more Linkers after this besides Yelah¡¯s three. Oyonshe had explained that these twelve were the most important sponsors and leaders of the Yiwi Fighters. How lucky that they all happened to be here, together. Toh didn¡¯t like it. It reeked of a setup, but the three kids couldn¡¯t have betrayed them. Was it just luck? The kids had insisted on attacking today, as the leaders would be meeting to discuss future plans. But all twelve? ¡°Unfortunately not,¡± one man said. ¡°Harven¡¯s man has been helpful, but that oafish Lord is too cautious. Fool man. If only he had been this paranoid when the knights arrived.¡± ¡°He was, he was. Until he wasn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Too true!¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± Oyonshe said, not pausing his steps, ¡°Harven¡¯s man? I didn¡¯t know you were working with that loan shark.¡± The skinny woman glanced at him. ¡°Of course. Old Harven is the man to go to in this city for more covert dealings. Mercenaries are good, but unpredictable. They aren¡¯t as money-driven as I¡¯d like, unfortunately.¡± ¡°Some are. But not like Harven. And that one bully of his is too good at his job. Heard he got some mercenary girl to pay a massive debt recently.¡± ¡°Oh, I know her. Yelah Welay. Quite new, but has potential. Maybe she¡¯ll reach the level of Seiena some day.¡± Seiena. The most notorious mercenary in Yiwi. Toh knew her well; he had even worked with her once. One of the few members of the tiny Goloyo Company, Toh knew that neither she nor anyone from her company was in Yiwi at the moment. Thank goodness. Goloyo would be impossible to infiltrate because of its small size and powerful members. ¡°One can hope!¡± By this point, Oyonshe, Bronha, Uruhple, and Toh had finished dropping all twelve Linkers behind the merchants. Together with Oyonshe¡¯s distracting voice and the clattering of silverware, the tiny bees flew and crawled on the merchants unnoticed. One woman suddenly jumped, sharply smacking her neck. All at once, the Linkers struck. ¡°Get her!¡± Toh yelled as the room burst with temporary commotion, eleven merchants expressing confusion and shock while the twelfth tried to run out of the room, finding her path blocked by the gigantic Toh who had come from nowhere. ¡°Guar-!¡± she yelled until Toh slapped a hand over her mouth, grabbing her with his massive arms. She strained, trying to use her Mind to fight him, but she was unpracticed. Her Mind was not weak, but she must have typically used it for merchant things. Not combat. ¡°Oh Person, what do we do?!¡± ¡°Calm down Oyonshe,¡± Toh said, forcing himself to follow his own advice. What should he do? ¡°Okay, okay, nobody panic!¡± A voice cried out. The Queen. ¡°You merchant leaders, keep quiet for a second. Knock her out or something! Which of you is the fastest?¡± Toh was definitely the fastest among them, but knock her out? He cautiously held her out and let Uruhple hit the merchant on the head with a metal dinner plate. Hopefully she would be alright. Would be damning for the merchants to be casually dining with a dead body. He couldn¡¯t help but feel an odd sense of dread. Why? The plan was going well, minimal complications were arising. This was something deeper. An instinct perhaps. Surprisingly, the Queen didn¡¯t know about it. Until he thought about it. Toh took a breath, channeling his Ability, [Unseeable Self], then dashed out of the room. To the eastern wall. To Belphegora. Chapter 65 - Regaining Footing I watched intently as Toh sneaked into the building once again, trying to both be hasty and careful. I once again thanked¡­ whatever god wasn¡¯t an asshole for Toh¡¯s competence; he moved through the building much more quickly now that he knew where the traps were. I only relaxed after Brohna closed the meeting room door behind him and Toh released a Linker, which promptly attached itself to the still-unconscious merchant. Toh had the remaining twenty-nine Linkers in his possession. I¡¯m not risking another situation like with these merchants. Belphegora was inconsolable because of this tiny emergency, but I had to remind her we hadn¡¯t expected to need so many Linkers all at once. It had been a calculated risk, and we hadn¡¯t lost much. So there was no reason to feel bad. I set some instructions for the twelve merchants¡¯ knowledge to be sorted through, considering the wealth of information they must contain. Merchants are typically well-traveled, right? Even if none of these guys are, they must at least deal with many important things within the city, and probably have a wealth of worldly information, regardless. ¡°I suppose you want ME to do stuff with the merchants¡¯ knowledge?¡± Huh? What gave you that idea? I can just have the B-boxes parse them and summarize the most important information for me to learn consciously. Even maybe use the B-mail system to package it so it can be digestible. ¡°¡­Hmph. Ah, I¡¯m sorry. I¡¯ve just been feeling so restless. I want to do more, but the B-boxes can just do everything. And doing other things just feels like¡­ like unimportant side-projects.¡± I mean, I wouldn¡¯t exactly call your side projects unimportant. B-mail has already been proving its worth; Beau has apparently been making great strides in learning about electricity. She still calls it electhingery though? Whatever. I know for a fact that the system has already been used for the humans too. All the info we give them is through B-mail now, since it¡¯s so efficient. ¡°Still, it feels wrong to start a new project now. I¡¯d like to at least share your burden with all of these issues.¡± Maybe. But speaking of issues¡­ I glanced out of my window for the thousandth time today. It was raining. I was feeling incredibly uncomfortable. Ever since I had arrived in this world, the forest has had a constant cloudy gloom covering it. Every day has had lightning and thunder rolling overhead, but one thing was always clear. There was no rain. ¡°I don¡¯t see the problem. We have desired rain for ages. It will wash away the excess ash and create a more welcoming environment for plants. This is actually great timing! Now that there is rain, the flowers that will be brought back from Yiwi will bloom without extra effort from ourselves.¡± Ah, Queen. So optimistic. No, you see, this is different. Rain is different. And that makes me uncomfortable. ¡°You are terribly judgmental. You may want to reassess your biases.¡± That¡¯s not what I meant! I meant like, leaving your comfort zone! Or like¡­ oh, whatever. The point is, why now? I¡¯ve been here for what? A month or so? More? All that time, and whatever the knights did here never once let up. Now, suddenly, rain? Oh, and by the way, I¡¯m not sure why you¡¯re so judgmental about your ¡®side projects¡¯. Maybe you should reassess your biases. ¡°¡­Heh. HA! Alright, you got me.¡± Well, this was just another gripe of mine to toss onto the pile. I stared out the window, looking at the bees who danced or cowered in the now pounding rainfall. None of them had ever even seen rain in their entire lives, so I had asked them to take a break from their typical duties and just rest. Nobody could complain if I was forcing them to stop working for a reason. Well, most of them wouldn¡¯t complain to me at all. They were too obedient. But for me, the rain was ominous. It began right around when Toh had dashed out of the merchant building, and it hadn¡¯t stopped. That was when he had his feeling of dread, something I couldn¡¯t feel until he thought of it. How had he hidden it from me? My Link was supposed to convey everything. You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. Even beyond that, what was up with Yelah and her team? It had only been immediately obvious with her rage blackouts, but Grehn, Vlugh, Rette, and Dip were also feeling strange. What was going on? [Name: Yelah Welay] [Age: 26 years] [Profession: Mercenary] [Status: Addled] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 4th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 26%] [Mind Locks- Well. That was unhelpful. When I tried to look into the menu of Yelah¡¯s Linker Bee to see if I could find a problem, all it showed me was Yelah¡¯s own menu. Trying to look at an un-Linked Linker¡¯s menu also yielded nothing particularly useful. [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 6 days] [Subtype: Linker] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 0th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] It told me nothing. The Linkers were little more than a tool to create a connection using my Mind, which was why they were so overpowered despite being weak. I mean, 0th Degree Mind? [Linker Stinger] is only level one and it¡¯s this strong? Hm. I wonder what would happen if a Linker leveled that Ability up¡­? ¡°Wow, what an interesting and currently unproductive thought.¡± Yeah, I know. We just don¡¯t have the time to test that yet. I¡¯ll table it. Okay, I have no information. Which means I may need to go digging in the humans¡¯ Minds to figure out an answer. I sighed. Yet another thing to investigate. But all of these things were starting to make me nervous. And nervousness begets disaster. Or something like that. Oh, and the issues didn¡¯t end with rain and weirdo humans. Queen, if you wanna share the burden, then you can share the share the burden of the ominous rain and the strange human behavior as an appetizer. We can continue the meal with how painful it is for the sick bees to use the cure. Nearly all of them have been healed, but some are still hesitating after seeing just how painful it can be. Of course, there¡¯s also the matter of the contaminated water. My purification Lock is still stuck on the river like a screen, spitting mysterious toxins out onto the riverbank. Which means that something is still trying to contaminate the river. Oh yeah, and- ¡°I get it, I get it. Let¡¯s just focus on the damn Operation.¡± Fair enough. In terms of the Operation¡¯s progress, it¡¯s currently not bad, all things considered. Despite a minor hiccup, we took control of the Yiwi Fighter¡¯s leadership and sponsors. If we leverage them, maybe we can add the Ehra Group to our repertoire. Toh has 29 Linkers to spread out amongst the humans to take control of Yemonto Co. and hopefully Hayrey and Sons¡¯. As for Yelah¡¯s three Linkers¡­ Time to play it safe. I instructed Toh to get out of the building and transfer some Linkers to Yelah, who was in charge of overtaking Harven¡¯s gang. There wasn¡¯t a doubt in my mind that three was more than enough, considering that Harven was the only actual target, but after this debacle? No, thank you. Plus, with all of this happening, I was still nervous. I had originally been thinking to let Yelah blow off whatever steam she had built up, but I didn¡¯t want to delay any longer. She would be conquering Harven¡¯s group today. Hm. Maybe Mr. Foot would also be a good candidate? It wasn¡¯t hard to see that the Harven goon the merchants had been discussing was Mr. Foot. Oh! There he is now! Oh! Shit! __________ ¡°Harven insists, Yelah.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. I pay off his loans and Harven still sends goons after me? How long ago did you join, greenie?¡± ¡°You know me! I¡¯m Yafoot!¡± ¡°Uh-huh. Of course. Like I¡¯d believe a stupid name like that.¡± Mr. Foot seethed as Yelah casually joked, but she was internally panicking. Mostly because I was panicking. I was fully paying attention to this situation, after all. Toh was all the way in the merchant district still, and Mr. Foot here was trying to force Yelah to meet with Harven immediately. This asshole¡¯s timing was truly impeccable. ¡°Okay. This is actually good. Get chummy and close with Mr. Foot and attach a Linker to him. If we do that, getting a Linker to Harven will be a cinch! And it¡¯ll let us stall for Toh.¡± ¡°Well you know what, Yafoot,¡± Yelah drawled, putting a hand on the huge goon¡¯s shoulder, ¡°I¡¯d love to have a chat with Harven. I still haven¡¯t repaid him for what he did to Yoho, after all.¡± Mr. Foot froze, slowly turning his head towards Yelah. Oh, shit. Had she fucked up? Was the entire thing over? She shouldn¡¯t have acted so friendly- ¡°You SAID my NAME!¡± he squealed. Yelah sighed, but didn¡¯t release the Linker. Despite his reaction, the man was apparently still on guard. Was it worth the risk to use more than one Linker? If Mr. Foot got Linked, they might be able to stall long enough for Toh to deliver some bees. Despite that, Yelah didn¡¯t release the Linkers. ¡°Come on! We need time! Link him!¡± ¡°If I let them out,¡± Yelah thought, ¡°He¡¯ll kill all three. I need an opening.¡± Was Mr. Foot really that fast? I suppose the Linkers weren¡¯t particularly speedy or stealthy or dodgy¡­ I tried looking at the goon through Yelah¡¯s eyes, and I saw what she meant. Her experience, ultimately limited though it was, let me observe the goon through the eyes of a competent combatant. Which I certainly wasn¡¯t. Mr. Foot¡¯s body language seemed causal at first glance, but his muscles were tense. His eyes darted around, mostly inspecting Yelah. The way he carried the shoulder Yelah had put a hand on was loose and ready, prepared for a fight. As goofy as the man seemed, he was apparently no chump. Hold on. Didn¡¯t Yelah swear she could wipe the floor with this guy? What I was seeing with her eyes says that¡¯s bullshit! ¡°I may have been exaggerating. But Yafoot is the only Harven goon I know who¡¯s this dangerous. Regardless, I say it¡¯s a very bad idea to try and Link him now.¡± ¡°In that case, let¡¯s go.¡± He turned, effortlessly twisting Yelah¡¯s hand from his shoulder to his own. Yeah, this was complete bullshit. I told Toh to run like his life depended on it, which it very well might. He was leaving the merchant district already, passing the Rotor building. Mr. Foot dragged Yelah through the crowds, which I had hoped would slow them down. But of course, they decide now of all times to part like a damn ocean in front of Mr. Foot¡¯s glare. What the hell?! Yelah had been wandering around the mercenary district, near the south of town. Harven¡¯s place was to the east, just north of the merc district. And the merchant district was in the southwest, but Toh was already passing the center of town. I could see it. Toh wouldn¡¯t make it. ¡°Yelah, you have to do something!¡± ¡°I know, I know!¡± I could already see Harven¡¯s golden ¡®H¡¯. ¡°Heyyyy Yafoot, I gotta say, you¡¯re impressing me! Every time you threatened me for money, you never acted this tough!¡± ¡°You said my name again!¡± Mr. Foot turned and smiled. ¡°Oh, this is nice. And anyway, I like you, Yelah. Honest. Just gotta do my job, you know?¡± As Mr. Foot spoke those words, he turned his head up to Harven¡¯s sign. I saw through Yelah¡¯s eyes that his guard suddenly dropped to nothing, and I pushed a Linker out of her leather jacket and towards his nape. The Linker flew true, not even needing to propel itself as it stuck its stinger right into Mr. Foot¡¯s neck, and he froze. Mr. Foot was assimilated into the hive. Chapter 66 - A Beeast Mr. Foot - Yafoot - was a simple fellow. He was strong, so he used that strength. Others felt intimidated by him, so when the right people noticed, they asked him to help them by doing exactly that. As time went on, he found that some people wouldn¡¯t be intimidated, no matter what he tried. So, as a simple man, he figured out a simple way to make these people cower: become stronger. Eventually, if you were strong enough, even strong people would be afraid. His whole life he lived this creed, scaring people into submission, then becoming stronger when people refused to feel fear. What was he meant to do when strength meant nothing? ¡°Actually, I think that someone with a high enough Mind Degree could have some sort of natural resistance to my Link. So far, everything I¡¯ve Linked has been less than 6th Degree. Actually, I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen anything 6th Degree or higher. Maybe the Vulch? You¡¯re 5th degree and so is Toh, while Yelah¡¯s team are all 4th. Though, those four feel like they¡¯re on the cusp of 5th¡­¡± Mr. Foot was standing at the entrance to Harven¡¯s building, struggling with all of his might to move. To scream for Harven to hunker down and be on high alert. But his strength, that simple fact which had carried him throughout his life, was inconsequential. He smiled. ¡°Ah, Yafoot. Finally. Come in, Yelah. We have much to discuss.¡± Harven was there, crooked as ever, staring at the pair who had frozen in the doorway. ¡°Ah, shit. Stall him, Mr. Foot, we need to wait for Toh!¡± I said, giving my first command to the goon. Hm. Calling him a goon didn¡¯t feel right when he followed my orders. I wasn¡¯t some sort of gangster, right? Right?! ¡°Eh¡­¡± ¡°Mr. Harven, sir, please give us a mom-¡° Mr. Foot began to move before suddenly flying to the side, crashing into the wall. Harven¡¯s cane hovered where Mr. Foot once stood, moved by the old man with shocking speed. ¡°I don¡¯t pay you enough to talk back. Dust yourself off and meet us in my office.¡± While Yelah was staring at the groaning form of Mr. Foot, Harven had already arrived at the doorway, grabbed Yelah¡¯s arm and dragged her inside with the strength of someone multiple times his size. This old man was ruining everything! Toh was still en route, but surely he was going to arrive any second. I took a deep breath. It wasn¡¯t the end of the world. If Toh could arrive with extra Linkers, the danger would be minimized, but Yelah still had two in her possession. All we had to do was wait for an opportunity and Harven would be ours. I¡¯d be glad to have this old fuck under my control. He wouldn¡¯t be complicating our plans any longer. ¡°Or we could wait for another opportunity. It is risky, and rushing to claim Harven here may end up being worse rather than better.¡± Completely true, but we might never get a chance this good again. And with Yelah¡¯s current unpredictable outbursts¡­ well, if I can¡¯t control her here, the entire Operation could fall apart. ¡°Now,¡± Harven closed the door to his private office with his Mind and sat at a simple, wooden desk, ¡°we have much to discuss, young Yelah.¡± I needed a breather; too much shit had been happening all at once. Let¡¯s think of something else while Yelah exchanges pleasantries. I¡¯ll know when she¡¯s going out of control. Ya know, I hadn¡¯t seen many people open or close doors with their Minds like Harven just did. I know if I had psychic powers, I¡¯d be using them all over the damn place. In my old life, I already used mental power to open some doors. It didn¡¯t work on every door, but some worked! ¡°Hm? Those doors didn¡¯t open with your Mind, they were auto-¡° Enough of these distractions! Yelah¡¯s emotions look like they¡¯re acting up! ¡°Oh, hush. You started this irrelevancy. Gather yourself. Focus. Until Harven is captured, we are in a precarious situation, as you said. It is still possible that an opportunity will not present itself in this meeting.¡± I can¡¯t deny that. But with two Linkers, and Harven alone with Yelah in his office, it¡¯s just too good to pass up. It would be best to wait for Mr. Foot to join them; he could cause a distraction, or hold one of the Linkers so we can divide and conquer. ¡°Yelah, I need you to be honest with me. Why are you defying your company?¡± ¡°Excuse me? I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t understand,¡± Yelah said. That white-hot anger bubbled just beneath the surface, threatening to lash out at everything. Her situation, her debts. And this vile man¡¯s actions against her friend Yoho. I tried my best to control her emotions, but this rage had slipped through my fingers twice already, and it wasn¡¯t becoming any easier to grasp. Worse, Yelah had absolutely no desire to suppress the rage. When it consumed her, she was temporarily out of my control. Free. ¡°There is no use in attempting to hide from me. I have spies all over the city, ones far more competent than the scouts you used to avoid my less observant eyes. Though I admit I have begun to doubt their abilities, considering that we still do not know the nature of your allies.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Even so, I know you and your team are hiding something. And that you are working, at least in part, with Yemonto Co. Who, along with your own Hayrey and Sons¡¯, are currently deep in negotiations with the City Lord.¡± ¡°Hmph. I have no intention of cooperating with you, asshole.¡± Good stuff Yelah. Stall for Mr. Foot to recover. Said goon was already on his feet, so it wouldn¡¯t be long now. And just in case, Toh was approaching the building. Harven sighed, standing up and moving to a metal cabinet. Guess he wasn¡¯t as extravagant as the merchants. Inside were bottles of liquor, which Harven scanned for a moment before picking one out and grabbing two glasses. He poured the amber liquid into both glasses and handed one to Yelah, who I made accept. ¡°I won¡¯t apologize for what I did to your friend. The boy is an idiot. I will apologize for my manner of doing business with you. A future as bright as yours is more profitable to nurture. But even so. Tell me of your plans. It may be the deciding factor.¡± ¡°Deciding factor?¡± ¡°Of course. The merchants who control the Yiwi Fighters are wealthy and powerful, but cowardly and egotistical. The City Lord is also a coward, but one much more adept at being paranoid. Half a dozen of the more powerful minor mercenary companies have agreed to protect him, and with Hayrey and Yemonto entering the fold, the scales tip heavily in one direction. Mercenaries, compared to the merchants, are bold and powerful - however, they are also rash and flaky. While they could overpower the Yiwi Fighters¡¯ civilian militia in an ordinary situation, this is no ordinary situation.¡± ¡°The merchants have been working behind the scenes long before the Burning, throwing around money and connections in preparation to undermine the City Lord. On the other hand, the fool¡¯s paranoia only shines in moments of distress, which means that the peace before the Burning only allowed him to hide, burning bridges and refusing to make friends.¡± ¡°But the Burning changed stuff, right?¡± ¡°The Burning changed everything. The merchants finally took proper control of the Fighters, employing aces like that young crier¡¯s Ability and leveraging the suffering of the people like never before. Crisis brought the City Lord¡¯s fear to its peak, resulting in him using his caution to rapidly consolidate power rather than cower. So, now the common people of Yiwi are unified under one goal, wielding passion and imported weapons. And mercenaries have either joined them in revolt or followed their noses to the City Lord¡¯s coffers and status. My investments will make me a very powerful man, but only if I employ them properly.¡± It was finally dawning on me. Harven was playing both sides, and Yelah¡¯s secrecy was making him nervous. If he put too much stock into the City Lord, Yemonto Co., and Hayrey and Sons¡¯, and it turned out that the mercenaries were conspiring to switch sides, he would lose, big time. Mr. Foot knocked at the moment and Harven made the door swing open, slamming it shut as Mr. Foot walked in. ¡°Finally. Yelah, you know Yafoot. He has become my most trusted operative, as you should very well know. It was because of him that I was able to supply the merchants with information and break the City Lord¡¯s solitude.¡± Mr. Foot?! This guy was able to get in close to the City Lord? Wouldn¡¯t that make him invaluable for us? ¡°You give me too much credit, Mr. Harven. Clearly I still have much to learn,¡± Mr. Foot said as he rubbed his side. ¡°Perhaps. Though¡­ typically, your guard is much stronger. Are you feeling alright?¡± The time was coming soon, it had to be. Harven¡¯s guard dropped noticeably when Mr. Foot walked in, but he was still being wary. Just a little more, and this crafty man would be ours. With him under our control, with everything we learned, Harven only skyrocketed on my list of ¡®must-haves.¡¯ ¡°So then, Harven, you¡¯re playing both sides, aren¡¯t you? You want to know which side to really root for,¡± Yelah scrambled to distract Harven from his concerns. ¡°Perceptive,¡± Harven smiled slowly, ¡°Like I said, bright futures should be nurtured. Both for individuals and events. So, tell me what you and Yemonto are planning. Do they intend to betray the City Lord and ally themselves with the Fighters? Is one planning to go through with the Lord¡¯s plea and the other defect? If even one of them join the Fighters, it could be enough for the people to seize victory. Perhaps they both intend to avoid the conflict altogether?¡± ¡°Alright Mr. Foot,¡± I said, ¡°time for you to join the discussion. Talk as much as possible to distract Harven. Yelah, send one Linker. That one will approach slowly.¡± ¡°Mr. Harven, if I may. More mercenaries have joined the City Lord than with the Fighters, and those mercenaries are among the more powerful in the city. Along with the Lord¡¯s private guard, they form a threatening presence. However, the Fighters now have a large company¡¯s support in the Ehra Group, along with sheer numbers advantage with the civilian militia. Ignoring Yemonto Co. and Hayrey, I¡¯d say that the Fighters would win, by a pretty wide margin. With Goloyo currently out of the picture, the only forces that would make a real difference are Yemonto, Hayrey, and our small forces.¡± The Linker Yelah had sent out slowly crawled on the ground, out of Harven¡¯s sight. His guard still wasn¡¯t low enough, but it was fading. Slowly. ¡°If both Hayrey and Yemonto join the City Lord, he would have the advantage. They¡¯re too large, too powerful, too cold. Jill Yemonto herself could join, which would only make things worse. Even so, that¡¯s if things end up simple. If one joins the City Lord and one joins the Fighters, things get complicated. I¡¯m¡­ not sure who would win then. Maybe the Fighters. Could go either way, depending on which company joins which side. If they both join the Fighters, it would be a bloodbath. The Lord would be deposed in hours.¡± Harven nodded slowly. The bee had managed to reach his chair and was slowly climbing up. I did my best to control it, making it stealthy. I¡¯m not sure it did much. ¡°All true, Yafoot. As you can see, Yelah, the allegiance of those two companies will decide the results of this conflict, simple as that. I therefore have a vested interest in your secrets, and will ensure that you are rewarded for your cooperation. At great risk, I present my throat to you. You have full advantage in this negotiation, and so I ask you to name your price. Wealth? I could fund your¡­ habits for a great deal of time, no strings attached. You know I keep my promises.¡± The metallic arm of Yelah¡¯s chair groaned, warping from her grip. Her Mind began to ooze out of her, power rolling from her in waves. It was nothing compared to me, but it was fueled by that boiling rage which gave her freedom. ¡°Harven¡­ you¡¯ve made a mistake,¡± Yelah growled. ¡°Your sights have been too narrow. Your puppetry has been limited. How many sides do you think are involved?¡± ¡°Yelah. I command you to shut the hell up.¡± Harven frowned. ¡°Could it be? The City Lord and the Fighters are the main parties I have accounted for, but I suppose an ambitious woman such as Jill Yemonto could attempt to make a move separately. Of course! That idiot friend of yours, I remember. He is a plant in Hayrey, truly belonging to Yemonto. So it was not a coincidence that you two were friends and went your separate ways? Very clever.¡± ¡°Try again.¡± The power rolling off Yelah was starting to go out of control. Harven frowned more deeply, but he didn¡¯t seem to be bothered by Yelah¡¯s rage. If anything, he seemed more comfortable to be directly under pressure. What a weirdo. ¡°¡­Truly? Then, the King? A new foreign mercenary company who desires a foothold in Yiwi? Another country entirely?¡± He glanced at Yafoot, who shrugged, opening his mouth to speak. Cut. Her OFF! ¡°Nope. There¡¯s another side in all this. Watch out! Not the bees!¡± Yelah leaped, throwing her chair straight at Harven who dodged out of the way. I focused my Mind, trying to hold her back as she tried to crush the Linker hidden in her tunic. But I had already realized something was coming. As Yelah¡¯s fist closed, she grabbed nothing. I had already moved her Linker to safety, away from the woman who was becoming less stable by the second. Mr. Foot, meanwhile, had dashed from the entrance and was pretending to fuss over Harven. ¡°I¡¯m fine, fool man! Get her!¡± ¡°Sorry, sir. Orders.¡± Without hesitation, Harven¡¯s cane launched from the floor and spun, bashing Mr. Foot on the head, making him stumble. Despite the powerful blow, Mr. Foot stayed conscious and moved to Harven¡¯s side, ready to take action on my command. What a beast! Beeast! As I held Yelah in place, preventing her from moving, I imitated what I had done earlier, pushing the bee that had been waiting on Harven¡¯s chair. The deceptively nimble old man spun, perhaps sensing my Mind¡¯s influence, and used his rapidly spinning cane to block the Linker from approaching. The tiny bee flew. Backwards. The bee slipped into the liquor cabinet, safe from harm. Before Harven could move his cane, Mr. Foot¡¯s hand, the one that had grabbed the last Linker, slapped onto his wrinkly neck. In the same moment, Harven landed a solid punch on Mr. Foot, blasting him backwards, and I could feel Mr. Foot wheeze, ribs shattered. I felt the Linker sting, and Harven went still, marking the moment I seized the Mind of the most devious man in Yiwi. It was over! I had won the battle. And it was nearly time to win the war. Chapter 67 - Rejecting Humanibee After the Queen captured Harven, what little hope I had left turned to ash. Yafoot was more competent than I ever gave him credit for, and Harven¡¯s scheming would probably have led to the destruction of Yiwi as I knew it anyway. While trudging home, I felt Ben¡¯s eyes on my neck and Beatrice¡¯s stern gaze on my heart. I tried getting angry again, but Beatrice squashed my emotions without delay. At least she let me be excited to see my Dipee-poo again. Dipbee. No. What were Grehn and Vlugh up to? Even though knowledge like that would be useful, the Queen decided I shouldn¡¯t know. I wanted to go get blessed by Lord Hu-Leio again, but I was being steered back home regardless. Just as well. As I approached my building, I saw Dip waiting out front, so I ran up and hugged him. ¡°Squawk.¡± ¡°I know, Dipee, sorry you got bored.¡± ¡°Squawk! Squawk squawk!¡± ¡°Worried? Oh, Dip. You know you¡¯re always protecting me.¡± Poor Dip bowed his head, preening my hair with his beak. I doubt my life had been in danger at Harven¡¯s, but the unexpected nature of the situation did admittedly make me nervous. But with him now on our side¡­ Well, Yiwi was doomed. ¡°Let¡¯s just stay in tonight, Dip. I¡¯m¡­ tired.¡± Dull metal stairs creaked and old metal door squeaked, and I found myself in my fishy-smelling room. I wasn¡¯t lying when I said I was exhausted; the past week had been like a Mind Collapsed dream. Think of the positives, Yelah. Rette was alive and recovering. She would probably be mostly safe from the coming conflict, if the Queen had even a shred of mercy. Dip was here with me. Yoho was being more cautious, so he might stay safe as well. With the Yiwi Fighters, Harven, and us mercenaries under their control, the Hive was in a strong position to conquer Yiwi. All that was left would be to Link the leaders of Hayrey and Yemonto Co., betray the City Lord at the last moment, and turn Yiwi into a magnificent foothold for bees in the wider world. One of those felt different from the others. After flopping onto my cot, I tossed. Turned. Was this really going to happen? I had lived in this city my whole life, and now I was going to help turn it into a slave colony? It was just wrong. Right? What would actually happen? I thought back to our first meeting with the bees, that surprise attack that we nearly surpassed, only for us to underestimate the individual power of some of the bees. With Rette injured, our opportunity had been lost. Could I have killed the swarm of bees myself? What if I had seen that the two stronger bees had resisted Rette¡¯s attack, and killed them myself? If Rette hadn¡¯t been injured as badly, could we have escaped? In the end, we likely wouldn¡¯t have gotten away. I had accepted that long ago, and it no longer weighed on me. No matter what happened with the swarm, we were doomed. Bedivere would likely be able to take on all five of us at once, and the Queen would have arrived eventually. So then, what about after that? The bees had no medical capabilities, so Rette and Vlugh were in bad condition. The Queen, I was convinced, had been distracted, and had inadvertently fed us rotten meat. For some reason, I was convinced she didn¡¯t mean us harm. Grehn had his doubts, and Vlugh was beside himself at their attempts to control our Minds, but something told me it wasn¡¯t malicious. What were her goals? The Queen acted goofy and ignorant, but she was clearly intelligent and had a wealth of knowledge of some kind. Why did she want to take control of Yiwi? Couldn¡¯t I convince her and the City Lord to work together? Na?ve. The Queen wanted to grow her hive and family. And humans were the number one obstacle in her way of that goal. Yiwi was simply a stone along the path, so in her view it would be a part of the hive eventually. But the situation with the City Lord was different. He was searching for something in the ruins of the forest. He was scared of something, even more so than usual. He was actively opposing the Queen¡¯s goals. Yiwi¡¯s internal struggles were already threatening to boil over, and the involvement of the bees would worsen the conflict. But what about after? I could see it; if the bees succeeded, my city¡¯s struggles would never end. The people wouldn¡¯t be able to handle being forced to serve under oppressive rule again. I doubted the Queen could Link everyone in the city, but she might try. And no human alive would stand to have their Mind stolen from them. All the religious figures like the Human Church and any Drevani would defy the bees aggressively, and thousands would die one way or the other. Greedy merchants would try to escape or use innocents as shields. What would big mercenary companies do? Hayrey and Yemonto Co. had branches all over the place, even in other countries. Goloyo¡­ Lady Seiena might come and turn Yiwi into a crater as ruined as the Vultuous Forest. Would armies of mercenaries come to Yiwi¡¯s doors? Would the King¡¯s army come instead? Emotions bubbled up, then got crushed, upsetting my stomach, and I slept poorly. My eyes opened to darkness once, twice, multiple times until I finally saw sunlight shining through the window. I had barely gotten any rest, despite my exhaustion. Even so, there was nothing I could do about it. The night had already ended. Something was¡­ different today. The sun felt brighter. Despite my weary body and bleary Mind, I jumped up, ready to start the day. ----------------------- Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. ¡°You look like death.¡± ¡°Thanks Yoho, I do try my best.¡± Just like old times, Yoho was waiting for me outside, so we went to grab a meal. I didn¡¯t leave Dip behind this time. Just in case. ¡°You look like death, but something¡¯s different about you today. You seem¡­ excited?¡± I was excited, and I had no idea why. Maybe I had finally lost my Mind, but a quick check didn¡¯t show ¡®Lost¡¯ in my status. Huh. I stared at the sky, catching a glimpse of a little bee. That was Benita, not Ben. She was picking up a flower, probably to take back and add to Belphegora¡¯s pile. ¡°Yelah?¡± ¡°Sorry Yoho. Distracted. Say, you know anything about where the City Lord is?¡± ¡°Him?¡± Yoho cocked his head. ¡°That guy never leaves his office. Actually, interesting thing: I found out from a friend that your boss over at Hayrey was meeting with him yesterday. Wildest thing, considering that nobody is allowed to even see him nowadays.¡± I felt a surge of anger flow through me. Not mine this time, but the Queen¡¯s. Or maybe Beatrice? I was no bee, so I couldn¡¯t tell them apart very easily. Either way, I understood their frustration: if I had actually converted the Hayrey executives, then that would have been the most perfect opportunity ever. We could¡¯ve gotten the City Lord himself and rid ourselves of unnecessary conflict. With tensions this high, I could feel the true thoughts of the bees: ¡®Should we risk it all and attack the City Lord?¡¯ I grit my teeth. Any day now, the Yiwi Fighters would attempt a coup. They had planned for it to happen three days from today, a sudden and swift offensive. But the bees could make it happen sooner. Or later. Whichever would allow them to take the City Lord, obtain control of both sides of the conflict, and steadily transition the city into a part of the hive without meaningful resistance. ¡°You¡¯re a good friend. I hope you can forgive me eventually.¡± Yoho cocked his head again. Poor, innocent Yoho. He had grown up so much. Back then, I always had to protect him from cowardly mercenaries and bullies. His parents were kind to me, and he was always so nice. One of the only people who bothered being nice to me. But when I looked into his eyes, I saw something. Guilt. He didn¡¯t want to be protected by me, and hated that he needed it. If I didn¡¯t help him, he never would¡¯ve completed his education. Never would have made progress in his dream to found his own mercenary company. And despite the fact that all I asked for was kindness, he insisted on giving me more. So here he was now, a boy I barely recognized, able to hold his own. Sure, he acted like an idiot around me, probably because of his guilt, but he managed to hold his own in a game far more dangerous. Corporate espionage was no easy task. Probably. I admired him. He put his mind to something and did it, becoming strong so I wouldn¡¯t have to protect him anymore. Later today, I would be tasked with finding a way to come into direct contact with Hayrey¡¯s executives. It shouldn¡¯t be difficult; I was a golden child, after all. They didn¡¯t know about my failure, so to them I was a promising young mercenary with leadership skills and personal strength. But it wasn¡¯t time for that yet. So I ate, chatted, and laughed with Yoho until the sun was high in the sky and the store owner started giving us a look. My chair clattered as I shot up. Eight days, almost exactly. ¡°Yoho, monster bees are trying to conquer Yiwi. Get the word out to watch out for bees. If you find one of my teammates, send them to the city center. Dip, tell Hayrey.¡± ¡°Squawk.¡± I channeled my Ability, giving Dip a boost in dexterity and intelligence, and pushing my strength and speed above what could be considered natural. Yoho stared incredulously as I spun and started sprinting towards the City Lord¡¯s office, while Dip dashed away towards Hayrey¡¯s headquarters. He could write our simple glyphs, so he would alert Hayrey of ¡®danger.¡¯ The sun shone brilliantly as I ran through the streets. Colors popped and smells assaulted my nose. For more than a week, my senses had been dulled, held under the boot of a monster. A distant scream of rage and panic echoed in my Mind, remnants of a connection that was now gone. I looked at my hand. Held inside was the curled, dead form of a bee. My Linker. I breathed in and smiled, then shouted. I was free! No foreign thoughts went through my head. Nobody peered at my darkest secrets, nobody used my precious memories as middling entertainment, nobody held my life in the palm of their hands. The nightmare hadn¡¯t ended, but I had taken control back from the clutches of the darkness. I finally let myself feel a bit of hope. The bees had never had a proper opportunity to test the Linkers, so they hadn¡¯t been aware of this. The Linkers, it seemed, could only live so long after attaching to a host. Was that why my emotions had gone crazy and I could act without the influence of the queen? Was it the life of the Linkers fading? Well, it wasn¡¯t just me, and it wasn¡¯t just humans, I was sure of it; Dip¡¯s Linker had died around the same time as mine. I knew my friends would be free as well. Speaking of. Two blurs appeared in my vision, one huge and one small. I slowed a bit, letting Grehn and Vlugh match my pace for a moment. ¡°City Lord.¡± ¡°Yemonto.¡± ¡°Hayr-¡° ¡°Dip.¡± ¡°Ehra, then.¡± I sped up again as Grehn veered to the left and Vlugh doubled back, and I noticed them toss the corpses of their own Linkers to the side. Jill would be an invaluable asset and would hopefully trust Grehn. I wasn¡¯t sure how Vlugh would convince the Ehra Group to break away from the Fighters, but I believed in him. Others underestimated him, but I knew he would always come through when it mattered. I had to trust in him, because if I didn¡¯t, who else would? Eventually, I skid to a stop in front of the City Lord¡¯s office. It was a big building, just out of the city center. It wasn¡¯t disgustingly extravagant like the merchant buildings, but its sheer size and masterful construction didn¡¯t slouch in the arrogance department. ¡°I need to speak with the City Lord. Now.¡± I said with a gasp, trying to move past the guards. ¡°Sorry, merc. No vi-¡° ¡°The entire city is a stake. You¡¯re in danger, Lord!¡± I tried screaming up at the building. The guards were moving to drag me away, and my options were dwindling. The queen knew. There was no time to waste. I didn¡¯t care if I caused a panic or got myself in trouble. I jumped, using Dip¡¯s extra strength to crash through a window on the second floor. At the same time, I saw a shadow of Dip¡¯s vision, using his beak to scratch the word ¡®danger¡¯ all over the Hayrey lobby. Some mercenaries were laughing or ignoring him, but others, the experienced ones and the ones who knew me well, looked serious. A few guided Dip towards the upper stories. Good. They were trying to put the executives on alert. ¡°Seize her!¡± I dodged a bullet, literally. Not all the guards had guns, but even one was dangerous. I braced, then strengthened my shoulder with Mind before throwing myself at the wall. It buckled and I crashed into the room next door, startling some cowering secretaries. ¡°I need to speak with the City Lord now.¡± ¡°No-nob-nobody-¡° No time for this. The door swung open, so I dove behind a desk, waiting for the sound of bullets to pause before jumping out of a window, coiling up and flipping onto the higher floor. Bingo. ¡°Guards, help! A madwoman!¡± I could barely hear through the tinted window. A solid kick failed to shatter the dark glass, even with Dip¡¯s extra strength. This paranoid motherfucker. I drew a bit of Mind and bashed the window, taking it down in one strike. The City Lord was there, steadily holding a pistol to my head. ¡°Danger. Monsters.¡± That was enough to get his attention. He hesitated, and I jumped through the window, getting scratched in the process. What sort of metal made glass like this? No time to think; I barreled into the City Lord, the pudgy man stumbling easily. I heard he used to be a fairly powerful man, but I guess those days were behind him. ¡°City Lord, I¡¯m sorry, but the city is in danger and so are you. Monsters are attacking the city and have been gaining power from the shadows. The Yiwi Fighters have fallen under their control, and so has Harven the loan shark. It¡¯s possible that Yemonto Co. Is also in the process of falling to them. You need to act now.¡± The City Lord¡¯s eyes bulged and his mouth was gaping, so I grabbed his arm and forcefully dragged him to his feet. My fears weren¡¯t unfounded; Toh and his two mercenaries had been Linked a full day or more after us, so their Linkers shouldn¡¯t have died yet. If that was true, then the bees would be scrambling, possibly throwing caution to the wind. Dangerous. I didn¡¯t know how the queen did in a crisis, but something told me that their caution was born of inexperience, not a lack of competence. It was likely that Yemonto Co. would soon be under bee control, and the only thing that gave me hope was that Jill Yemonto would be more than the bees could handle. ¡°Stop, stop! Change course. Gather our forces and be on alert, and contact our mercenary allies. Hold on¡­ aren¡¯t you that mercenary girl? The one who said nothing was in the Vultuous Forest?¡± The City Lord looked at me, distrust renewed. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, Lord. I failed. The monsters - a hive of highly intelligent bees - took control of me and my team. Until today, we''ve been working to destroy Yiwi against our wills.¡± ¡°And now you expect me to trust you? Guards, maybe change the change of course. This girl-¡° I tossed the corpse of the Linker bee, the one I still had clutched in my fist, onto the City Lord¡¯s stupid wooden desk. It wasn¡¯t much evidence, but there wasn¡¯t much choice for the Lord at this point. He¡¯d believe in me or suffer the consequences. ¡°The bees have no more hold over me. I don¡¯t know the full extent of the bees¡¯ abilities, and they¡¯re stupidly powerful, so something could still be within me. But I¡¯m warning you, so it¡¯s not all bad. For now, at least, I can once again fight for my home to remain free from the control of a different kind of tyrant.¡± I ignored the sputtering of the Lord and turned back to the window. The Rotor slowly spun overhead, as usual. The hope in my chest was replaced with cold. We could fight back now, but it would be difficult. People would get hurt. If the bees won, I would be punished. Maybe even killed. And you know what? I accepted that. At the very least, I was free to risk my life on my own terms. As much pain as this conflict would bring, it would be a mercy compared to the dangers that would bear down on my home if the bees took control. I can finally make my move, bee. Your turn. Chapter 68 - The Beeces are in Place ¡°Gods damned insignificant pieces of bastard little-¡° That¡¯s right. Get it all out, Queen. I wanted to say a few words myself, but I was busy smashing trees and rocks with my Mind. It felt like the pair of us were one intrusive thought away from blasting ourselves all the way to Yiwi to crush the humans ourselves. Which was why I had instructed Beatrice to hover nearby and keep me in check. ¡°Mother, our objectives are proceeding as planned. I have gotten the word that Bella has finally departed along with some of her workers and a contingent of warriors and Linkers. It seems that Belial has also sneaked away to join the conflict, so I have instructed that he put his all into accelerating the progress of the lesser bees. They should arrive in Yiwi in a day or so, perhaps faster if you deem it necessary.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need a status report Beatrice,¡± I said as I picked up a sizable stone. ¡°I can see everything through the Link. Everything has been processed already.¡± After the Linkers that controlled Yelah and her team died a few hours ago, the hive had erupted in chaos. I barely understood what happened. One second I was moving pieces into place to capture the City Lord and whatnot, the next I noticed that five strings in my Link had suddenly disappeared. Yelah, Dip, and the rest of her team had somehow broken the Link all at once and were suddenly going crazy, trying to dismantle my Operation. Every bee that was deeply involved with the Yiwi Operation panicked, and it had taken a direct order to calm everyone down. For the first time, I asserted my authority properly, controlling the bees and their rampant, untamed emotions. At first, I had been eerily calm. With a cool head, I figured out that the Linkers had died naturally, ordered Toh to replace his and his teammates Linkers with fresh ones, then made him use his skills to take control of other big players. Time. Time was the key. Yelah knew it too, because I had seen her rapid decision making through Benita¡¯s eyes. Because of her, the City Lord now knew about us in detail. Hayrey had been warned. Yemonto and Ehra were the undecided lynchpins. Which should Toh go after first? Trick question. I had many humans to work with, not just Toh. It would be easy for him to conquer Yemonto Co., and his two teammates had no choice but to prevent Vlugh from doing anything about the Ehra Group. At least, that was what I had hoped. ¡°Regardless, it is my duty to ensure that you are on the same page as the rest of the hive, seeing as how you stubbornly continue to enforce rampant individuality. Belphegora has made contact with the first team of Hayrey mercenaries, and, as you have commanded, they defended themselves from the shadows and escaped. Scouting indicates that more search parties are being sent in response, especially with your last order to attack the walls. And yet, why do you delay the full takeover? Ineffective attacks on the walls seem pointless. Why not send warriors or even Belphegora herself into the city to take it by force?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not delaying anything, Beatrice. The Yiwi Fighters are still equipping their troops, so we need dangerous distractions to ensure that they have the chance to prepare. The attacks will also help the misinformation stick. If townspeople get alerted to the actual situation, we might stand no chance, especially now that the city is on lockdown. Everybody in that place will be forced to fight, one way or another, just to survive. And there¡¯s too many unknown variables for our bees to get directly involved yet. Like, where is Jill Yemonto? Toh was able to take direct command of Yemonto Co., but that woman is a dangerous player on her own.¡± The real fighting hadn¡¯t started yet, not really. Mostly thanks to my maneuvering. Oyonshe, his friends, and other Yiwi Fighter commanders have successfully managed to bring many townsfolk to secret locations known only to the merchants, where they were equipping the people with imported weapons. When the City Lord¡¯s guards kicked down the doors of the merchants¡¯ businesses, they were nowhere to be found. It all happened so quickly. Thanks to my eerie calm, I had managed to take control of some key players in Yemonto Co. and the Ehra Group. Although Jill Yemonto was nowhere to be found, Toh had stepped up and assumed command of the company¡¯s mercenaries, along with a few well-placed Linkers. As for the Ehra Group, I was nervous. Mostly because of the company¡¯s size. Unlike Hayrey and Yemonto Co., Ehra lacked notably powerful members, but it made up for that lack with sheer numbers. As a result, they actually operated multiple headquarters in multiple parts of the city, ranging from the merchant district to the mercenary district. I had seen that Vlugh was far ahead of us, so I instructed Toh¡¯s teammates to conquer another of their buildings. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. That had nearly been anticlimactic with how easy it was to Link several high-level managers and such, but as it stood, the Ehra Group was split. Vlugh had successfully recruited some, and we had Linked others. Hayrey was, of course, lost. Dip had warned them too early, put them on high alert long enough for Yelah to go back after her ¡®meeting¡¯ with the City Lord and give her company specifics. I watched through Ben¡¯s eyes as hordes of mercs strolled through the streets of the mercenary district towards Hayrey¡¯s headquarters. Presumably these were the six smaller companies recently employed by the City Lord. The Lord, it seems, contacted them and instructed them to go to Hayrey, probably as a home base of sorts. They seemed calm, which was good. Meant they didn¡¯t yet have a full grasp of the situation. But once they got informed, oh boy. Harven¡¯s misinformation campaign wouldn¡¯t be as useful anymore. Speaking of. A man in a suit and wonky bowtie walked up and started whispering in the ear of one burly mercenary leader, who guffawed and continued walking, albeit a bit more nonchalantly. I didn¡¯t know what he was saying exactly, but I had an idea. When the dam had broken, I knew that the townspeople would be our greatest weapon. The mercenaries were far more powerful, but the people were more valuable. Innocent and exploited, their fury would be the brunt of our attack power for now. The only problem was us. If the people learned of monsters attacking the city, they might get cold feet. Might even rise to the occasion themselves and try to become heroes. So, with the help of Beatrice, we had Harven create a deadly rhetoric to spread amongst the people and mercenaries alike: the City Lord was working together with Hayrey and some of the Ehra Group to perform a hostile maneuver against the city¡¯s people. They planned to distract and strike fear by faking a monster attack in order to crush the valiant Yiwi Fighters. It helped that Harven¡¯s resources afforded him the chance to distribute food and Yiwi Fighter propaganda scrolls to any who were still on the fence, or even unacquainted. If the rumors could put even the shadow of a doubt in the hearts of these mercenaries, it would be a win in my book. What wasn¡¯t a win was how annoying conquering Yiwi as a whole would be. According to Mr. Foot, the City Lord was missing. Most likely in hiding somewhere, the rat. But even if he were there, how was I supposed to lay claim to the city now? Did I have no choice but to destroy everyone who knew about us? At the very least, every person alive who knew about us bees wouldn¡¯t be allowed to go un-Linked. I just didn¡¯t have the resources to create millions of Linker bees to Link every person in the city. And now, with the newfound limitation of the Linkers, that was even more true. I glanced within at the series of countdowns attached to different strings. After the nasty event, I had immediately created a B-box which would keep track of every Linker bee. Un-Linked Linkers were still unknowns, but now I knew that, once attached to a host, a Linker could survive for around eight days. From now on, I would have every Linked individual replace their Linker on the sixth day. I could wait until the seventh, but I had seen from Yelah and Toh that the connection weakened before expiring entirely, and those small moments of freedom were potentially deadly. The rock hovering in front of me lazily spun for a moment before I crushed it into dust with a thought. I unclenched my fist, trying to calm down. My calm had only lasted until the other bees were sent about their business, and after, Queen and I had come outside to vent. Was it professional? Motherly? The actions of a queen? Maybe not. Another stone crumbled in the air in front of me anyway. ¡°Whew. Okay, I¡¯m feeling a bit better. How about you?¡± Not in particular. It was just so frustrating! Everything had been progressing smoothly, and now this stupid complication had to get tossed into the mix. I wasn¡¯t expecting everything to go according to plan, but still. It pissed me off. ¡°I understand. You know, it is ironic, in a way. Like Beatrice said, we put so much emphasis on the individuality and freedom of our bees, yet in order to preserve them, we must force others who are not bees to relinquish their own freedom and individuality. Perhaps that contradiction is why the Bee has punished us.¡± Bull. Shit. If that¡¯s true, then my real superpower is enhanced irony or something. I mean, killed by electricity in an accident while working as an electrical engineer. Turned into a hive-mind social insect despite being a gloomy loner. Protecting my family by warring with a family of vultures. Oh, joy! Now the humans I enslaved are mad I enslaved them! What the hell, man? It was all their faults anyway! We could¡¯ve worked together just fine, I was sure of it! At the very least, they could¡¯ve just been chill about us and not needed to get mind controlled. Or they could have been chill and not forced me to directly control them all the time. I wanted to protect my bees, and now I had to pay for that? What a load. ¡°Personally, I prefer being in a hive, so I wouldn¡¯t know why humans are so adamant about their so-called ¡®freedom¡¯. Our bees are free, after all. And yet they are still Linked.¡± An interesting point of view. Very interesting¡­ ¡°Mother, you are beginning to hover towards Yiwi. Come back to your room and rest.¡± Beatrice took me out of my stupor. I had been floating towards Yiwi, hadn¡¯t I? It did admittedly sound attractive to just fly there with all the power of my Mind and flatten the city to win, but I did need the place. Right? ¡°Come, Mother. Ah, it seems the Yiwi Fighters are beginning an offensive. They are headed for the Lord¡¯s office and estate.¡± For real? I took a look and sure enough, a few small teams of freedom fighters were marching out of the secret locations. Some were carrying little boxes. How odd. Wait a second. Oh man. If those boxes were what I thought, then¡­. I took a breath. The humans were at fault, of that I was now certain. If I had taken control of Yiwi myself, I could have stopped the Yiwi Fighters from living up to their namesake and prevented bloodshed in the city. I could have brought peace and prosperity. People would get fed. People would work. Being in my hive was a simple and fulfilling life of expansion and feasting, right? Yelah and her friends had fucked up. I bet they¡¯re so proud, so confident in their people. They¡¯ll fight for their freedom, die for it. And they had taken their first step toward that freedom in defying me. They could¡¯ve stayed calm, shown me that they were trustworthy and let me expand my hive in peace. I probably would have even spared their city from total assimilation if they really wanted it. I did have a soft spot for humans, as a former one myself, nearly to a fault. But no. They took their first step and made their first move. It was a strong one, I could admit that. Unfortunately for them, making your first move halfway through the game is not the way to play. Chapter 69 - Buzz Eye View The whole of Yiwi unfolded beneath me. Well, beneath Ben. I was just watching through his eyes. Benita and Bennet, I saw, were together with the rest of my bees, hiding from a heavily armed party of adventurers. Technically, my bees could probably destroy these guys. Hell, Belphegora alone could most likely take them out. But that wasn''t what we needed right now. Not yet, at least. ¡°Ben, move closer to the city center, but be sure to stay out of sight. I think we¡¯re about to witness a spectacle,¡± I instructed. ¡°Yessir, mooma!¡± Ben responded with a tiny salute. He buzzed over to the Rotor itself, hiding himself in plain sight against the enormous metal structure. From there, I could see the gathering crowd of regular townspeople watching with bated breath as a group of townspeople carrying guns solemnly marched to a large building. The City Lord¡¯s office. Nobody noticed the boxes the Yiwi Fighters carried. Or they didn¡¯t pay attention to the unassuming packages. Either way, when the Yiwi Fighters placed a few of the boxes at the front of the building, nobody seemed to know what to make of it. So when the Fighters began to point their guns at the crowd and demand them to back away, people began to get a little suspicious. I know I would have. Actually, I probably would¡¯ve run away screaming. ¡°Get ready Belphegora. On my signal¡­¡± When the crowd was far enough, a Fighter who looked even more well-equipped than the rest stepped forth. He began shouting something about ¡®fairness¡¯ and ¡®poor leadership¡¯. I got the gist. The man turned to the City Lord¡¯s office and gestured, and a chunk of the group broke off and streamed inside, emerging a few minuted later with people in tow. It seemed that the City lord didn¡¯t take his secretaries into hiding. The well-equipped man took a second to look at the secretaries, nodded, then closed his eyes. Then the building exploded. ¡°Now, Belphegora!¡± I watched as the team of mercenaries that had been tracking my bees suddenly stopped, pointing their guns into their surroundings, shouting at each other. Some began to fire, but any bullets that came close to the bees stopped in mid-air. One of the mercs shot one of his teammates, which is when the real disaster began. Some of them even turned to shoot each other. One got a knife out and stabbed his friend. A few of them, however, grouped together and backed away from the group. Belphegora¡¯s demonic powers, I knew, were based on fucking with people. Instead of speed and strength like Beelzebub or the unknown vision powers of Belial, Belphegora was a master of messing with people¡¯s senses. At the moment, most of the mercenaries were likely seeing and hearing things that weren¡¯t there. The small cluster of four or so humans must¡¯ve been stronger than the rest, or maybe had more experience. Whatever the case, they were remaining calm and gathering themselves. Belphegora wasn¡¯t so merciful. She commanded the warriors to charge at the four humans who weren¡¯t fighting each other, simultaneously picking up stones and blasting them at the humans at alarming speed. Some stones missed, and the ones that didn¡¯t got stopped by the humans and their Minds. Of course, those were a distraction to allow the warriors to rush in. One of the humans wasn¡¯t fooled. While the others stopped the rocks, he aimed his rifle and fired, almost scoring hits on a couple warriors. Unfortunately, psychic powers on Belphegora¡¯s level made regular bullets useless. It wasn¡¯t long before buzzing wings and sharp stingers overwhelmed the lone man¡¯s gunshots, and his companions were too occupied to help. All that was left was cleanup. ¡°Good work, everyone. You, that human is still moving. Finish it. The rest of you get to work moving the bodies. We need to continue moving.¡± I forced myself to stare at the dead humans through Belphegora¡¯s uncaring eyes. It was done. I had killed humans. Either way, I had commanded it. Who were these people? What were their lives like? Did they have families? Mothers? I shifted my gaze back to the Rotor. Chunks of metal were scattered around the city center, and there wasn¡¯t a person to be seen. The ruins of the City Lord¡¯s office spat plumes of black smoke (fueled by¡­ something?) into the sky, where it got slowly blended by the Rotor¡¯s blades. I saw a few other plumes of smoke around the city. This was the Yiwi Fighter¡¯s opening move, using bombs to destroy key points of interest. I saw there wasn¡¯t a single plume coming from the mercenary district, though. Things had gotten really radical. Well, I wasn¡¯t free of blame either; I had added a few targets to the list as well, intended to cause as much fear and confusion as possible. These bombings would be a distraction that couldn¡¯t be ignored, signaling the start of a real war. Belphegora¡¯s movements to eliminate the scouting mercenaries would not be able to garner a response, even if Yelah wanted to take us out at all costs. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. After all, she wasn¡¯t actually in charge. And the ones who were didn¡¯t truly understand what they were dealing with. ¡°Hey. How are you doing?¡± Oh, ya know. Killing people, inciting bloody conflict. Classic leadership stuff going on over here. ¡°I cannot understand how you must feel - well, technically, I understand exactly how you feel. But I¡¯d like to at least show some sympathy for your situation, as embittered as I might be towards your kind.¡± Well, I appreciate the sentiment at least. But sentimentality can come later. I groaned as I spit up another Linker egg, which was promptly carried away by Beverly, one of Belle¡¯s helpers. Despite our food situation, Beatrice had insisted on building up our number of Linkers in preparation for the occupation of Yiwi. Well, Bella¡¯s team would ideally be alleviating everything soon. Despite the situation at Yiwi, the hive was progressing nicely. Mostly, at least. Beatrice had employed a rationing directive, limiting Bess¡¯ ability to construct the hive from wax. Despite that, she had creatively devised a way to form the hive dome¡¯s structure using the remaining vulture bones, metal spikes, and the limited wax she was allowed. Yes, the hive was doing well. Besides the fact that most of the bees were focused on Yiwi. I really needed more bees. Speaking of, I focused on the human city again. Benita, on Belphegora¡¯s instruction, had joined Ben in his scouting. A risk, but fine. I couldn¡¯t deny that the real-time information was helpful. Benita had switched places with Ben, allowing the more experienced bee to scout the mercenary district due to the danger the place presented. Most of the mercenary district of the city was under enemy control, and I watched as scores of mercs ran out of the Hayrey building. They had been alerted by the bombings, and were probably finally taking the situation seriously. And so, the numbers game would begin. Civilians and mercenaries, and maybe a few Harven goons and City lord elite guards in the mix. From the merchants, I knew that the Fighters planned to take control of the city by holding the City Lord hostage. In order to do that, they would attack his property, kill whoever defended him, and draw him out. Of course, I knew that the desires of the merchants and the actual Yiwi Fighter organization were completely misaligned. The merchants planned to capture the City Lord, blackmail and threaten him, then install their agents into his inner circle to create incredible economic opportunities for themselves. They knew that the idealistic desires of the civilians to capture the Lord and make demands from the kingdom were impossible. Certainly, disrupting the upper class might create a shakeup, but it probably wouldn¡¯t bring the prosperity promised by the organization¡¯s original founders. It didn¡¯t matter to me. Capturing the City Lord would create the proper illusion for the civilian population and for the merchants¡¯ companies, but it wouldn¡¯t let me control the city. Not after Yelah¡¯s little stunt. No, what I needed was complete and undisputed control. Could I obtain that by Linking the leaders of the enemy mercenary companies? Unlikely. Too many of the individual mercenaries had info, were too curious and free-willed. As morbid as it was, the best-case scenario would be for lots of people to die. The hundreds of mercenaries would need to be contained and silenced until I could Link them. Nope. It was all shit. ¡°Is there anything we can do to speed things up? Obtain control without killing?¡± Mm. Speeding things up would require direct involvement of the bees. Which would happen. Belphegora¡¯s current mission of thinning out the mercenaries was temporary; her power wouldn¡¯t be held back for long. Once all the mercenaries that had been forced to search the city¡¯s borders were dealt with, our bees could strike from the shadows. We didn¡¯t want too many people to know the actual situation, after all. Instead, I was relegated to being a spectator. Mostly. The only combatants I could influence were Toh and his friends, which I had expanded by having Toh Link the rest of his mercenary team. So I directly controlled a team of mercenaries, a bunch of rich assholes, a trio of inexperienced children, and a bunch of middle-ish management. How could the Operation fail? ¡°Beatrice, please reassure me.¡± ¡°Of course, Mother. That is my job. One of them at least¡­¡± Beatrice said from the entrance to my room. I could always rely on her to randomly appear, whether she was needed or not. ¡°For now, I will focus on the Operation. The crier trio has proven themselves invaluable; they have been working closely with Beck to enhance the leader¡¯s capabilities. As a result, not only have the Yiwi Fighters gathered with amazing speed, but they have even managed to recruit a not insubstantial number of last-minute combatants.¡± ¡°We already had the numerical advantage against the enemy, but that was never the danger; the enemy is much more powerful. Mercenaries are naturally much more adept at combat than regular people, much like warrior bees are incomparable to workers. They are better armed, more experienced, and, unlike the general populace, have Abilities designed for combat. With the forces from the large companies, one might think to be nervous.¡± I watched as Beatrice¡¯s normally stern face twisted into a grim smile. My face did the same; I knew exactly where she was going with this. ¡°But as you have shown me, there are more¡­ ethereal elements to consider. Will the enemy mercenaries hesitate to kill or even seriously fight the civilians? How powerful is the passion of a people wronged? These less predictable elements, combined with our takeover of strong allies such as Yemonto Co., ensure that our advantage is solidly in place.¡± That was nice to hear, but it didn¡¯t quite alleviate my nerves as I stared at the advancing mercenaries. Hell, the civilians who may have never fought before in their lives might even be as nervous as me! To feel better by comparison, I looked through Oyonshe¡¯s eyes. He wasn¡¯t directly involved in the fighting, considering his value as a strategic asset, but he had a good vantage point for a series of streets that had been blockaded by Fighters. He was not feeling good. The kid was an idealist, someone who genuinely wanted the best for his people. He wasn¡¯t expecting to be fighting an all-out war, even though that outcome would¡¯ve been equally likely to happen without my involvement. The fighting might just be a little more¡­ brutal. I found Oyonshe¡¯s view of the streets near the mercenary district a bit stifling, so I went to Ben¡¯s view. But Ben¡¯s view was also stifling, in a different way. How to solve it? Instead, I focused for a second, and my view split into several perspectives, as if having multiple windows open on multiple monitors. I could see the street directly through Oyonshe, an overhead view thanks to Ben, a strategic view courtesy of Beatrice, and an extra, to observe Belphegora¡¯s ongoing mission. ¡°Beatrice, I gotta say, this strategic view is freaking awesome. The little Yiwi Fighter dots, the mercenary triangles. Holy hell, you¡¯re even changing the shapes based on the individual¡¯s power! How are you doing that, actually?¡± ¡°Simple. I am constantly conferring with Bedivere, having him give real-time estimations of the power of an individual based on his judgment. In that case, the judgement is not actually exactly accurate, but by changing the size of certain notable individuals in the strategic view, we can get a better idea of the flow of combat.¡± Beatrice¡¯s map making passion was paying dividends, and more. Though all it ended up doing was making me more nervous. Several tiny triangles fluctuated in size, becoming larger. Many had become enormous, to the point that Beatrice instead began to experiment with changing their shape and color instead. The Yiwi Fighters were clearly outmatched in terms of power. The large circles were few and far between, mostly relegated to the occasional mercenary from Yemonto Co. who were blending into the concealed combatants. And so, I watched with bated breath as a small crowd of Hayrey and Sons¡¯ mercenaries turned the corner, unaware of the gun barrels pointing down the empty street from windows, alleys, and shadowy corners. A shot rang out, and chaos overtook the streets of Yiwi. Chapter 70 - Stratehiving The first shot came from the Fighters. Ben saw the whole thing; a dark window on the second floor of a building was the source of the first gunshot, which had done basically nothing. Well, it didn¡¯t cause much damage to the mercenaries themselves because it missed. However, it put the mercs on high alert, beginning a frantic scramble and shootout. The element of surprise was quickly lost, I noticed. It only took a moment for the mercenaries to re-orient themselves, using Abilities to regroup and create cover, like one guy who stomped on the ground and made small walls of earth. Gunshots began ringing out steadily, coming from both sides. Bullets struck several Fighters when they attempted to peek from the alleys, but their preparations didn¡¯t go to waste. In urban warfare like this, the mercs would have a hard time gaining any sort of relevant advantage with the 3D layout of the enemy Fighters. For every Fighter that got injured or killed, a dozen mercenaries were wounded by the storm of bullets streaming from the second, third, and higher stories of nearby buildings. Keywords: wounded, not killed. Between their more durable clothing, lightweight armor, heartier constitutions, more powerful Minds and the occasional defensive Ability, the losses of the mercenaries were somewhere between negligible and¡­ well, there weren¡¯t any, really. ¡°This isn¡¯t looking great.¡± ¡°It is within expectations, Mother.¡± Whose freaking expectations? Even though the Fighters had so many advantages, the mercenaries had turned shooting fish in a barrel into shooting monster fish in a fortress. That was probably a saying, right? ¡°It seems that our allied mercenaries are beginning to make themselves known.¡± As Beatrice said that, Ben saw a jet of water crash into the earthen walls, toppling a few. A merc in a nearby alleyway had been collecting water in a metal tub from a faucet and had launched said water at the enemy fortifications. I was actually learning a few things from this battle. I had seen it before, but the people I¡¯ve observed in this world use Mind in very particular ways. Rather than directly using it as a weapon, most people instead use it as an everyday tool. I had seen people carrying huge boxes without apparent effort, carting tubs of water like the one merc lady¡¯s, and even doing some more delicate work in the Rotor building. But not so much for combat, or for casual usage like opening doors or picking things up. Were they unable to? I doubted it. Harven had done some of those things, though I now knew that was mostly when he was in a bad or anxious mood. Rather, people used Mind mostly for Abilities when it came to fighting. Worse, people tended to have very few Abilities. Yelah only had one, as did her teammates. From looking into a few Minds, I had determined that it was mostly cultural. But that still made little sense to me; in this situation where lives were on the line, the common people didn¡¯t do much of anything with their Minds other than use their guns, which required Mind to lift, steady, and fire. And the mercenaries weren¡¯t much better. Why did they get Abilities for stuff like turning the ground into little walls or throwing water at people? I could totally do that sort of thing no problem, Ability be damned. But I could tell. That jet of water, for example, was pretty strong, but importantly, it was incredibly perfect. No wavering of the stream, perfectly angled paths, precise pressure and strength. That wasn¡¯t the sort of control someone could handle, not without either ages of practice or something doing half the work for you. And my money was on the second option being true. ¡°It just goes to show that unless we find true experts on Mind, we will remain mostly ignorant.¡± No kidding. The battle I had been watching was progressing towards a stalemate, so I turned my full strategic array of views elsewhere. I did give Oyonshe one last ¡®good luck bud¡¯ to ease his nerves, which I felt only made things worse. Gratitude is important! Anyways, I looked towards the merchant hideouts. I had decided that their original plan to hide until the fighting ended was fine, considering how they would be less than useless on the battlefield. They hadn¡¯t accounted for having to share their hiding spots, though. There were still hundreds of people unprepared for battle. The mercenaries, though untrained, uncoordinated, and generally willful, had the experience and confidence to charge straight into the city, waving gun and sword in the air. Our full numerical advantage wasn¡¯t being pressed because of all the poor saps still trying to figure out how to shoot something that wasn¡¯t a friend. It did mean that the best civilians were the ones currently engaged in combat, but every bullet should count. Each merchant had their own hidden location, so that was twelve ¡®strongholds¡¯ where people had been herded. Scores of mercenaries were already heading to the closest hiding spot; must¡¯ve been some civilians that were followed by a stealthy merc. Graciously, I decided to warn them. ¡°Heyo. Uh, bunch of mercenaries headed your way. Might want to speed up the arming, maybe set up some better fortifications.¡± ¡°What?! Th-¡° I didn¡¯t bother listening to the rest of what the fat merchant said. He would figure it out. I did notice Beatrice send the man a B-mail, one with information about the enemy forces marching towards his location, as well as some suggestions for defending his position. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Wow, how nice of her! ¡°Do not worry, Mother. I will ensure that these humans protect the Linker. Er, and the strategic positioning, and such¡­ things.¡± Well, it was nice in some way. If one stronghold was under threat, then the rest weren¡¯t totally safe, either. I instructed the rest of the merchants to speed up the arming across the board, just in case. One especially was far behind, the stronghold under the care of the one woman who had killed the Linker when Toh had tried to control the merchants. Was she being belligerent? ¡°Miss, please, we need-¡° ¡°Keep it down. I mean, I think that you hold it like this? Hey, what are you doing? That¡¯s NOT food! Oh, Person¡­¡± Ah. Nope, just incompetence. Huh. I kinda expected more from the only merchant who had noticed the Linker and managed to kill it. ¡°Ahem. You¡¯re very behind schedule, Mesne. Got an explanation for me? Need help or something?¡± ¡°Ah!¡± the woman yelped, spinning around and drawing the stares of various people. ¡°My Queen, I¡­ er, I apologize. I just, well, I¡¯ve never¡­ Uh.¡± ¡°How the hell did you become a successful merchant? Where¡¯s that skill I saw when you killed one of my Linkers?¡± Mesne¡¯s face paled considerably, even though I didn¡¯t threaten her or anything. What was her deal? She took a few deep breaths, then stared glassy eyed into a wall. ¡°I apologize. I have never done this sort of thing before, and my position as a merchant is because I inherited a small business from my parents. It was never my desire to become a merchant, but I have chosen to take this path because it affords me various opportunities. My only true experience is in martial thoughts, a common practice among southern Somuians, which is why I was capable of destroying one of your vessels in mere-¡° ¡°Alright, alright I get it. You¡¯ve gotta remember that only one of the merchants is actually used to commanding people, so you can¡¯t really use that as an excuse. Get better. Also, martial thoughts? That¡¯s pretty funny. Maybe you¡¯d prefer to be out there, fighting among the Fighters? ¡± ¡°No! I mean, no, please. I will do my best here.¡± Mesne was terrified, but she put on a shaky smile and turned back to the civilians, most of whom seemed highly confused. Well, that would have to be good enough. She was so scared, though, which was weird. I mean, she was safe in her stronghold, so if she defended it properly, she should be able to weather the storm all the way through. ¡°Oh my, what could possibly be the problem? Of course she¡¯s afraid, you moron. You just threatened to throw her in front of a firing squad for doing nothing more than being inexperienced. I dislike her lack of progress, but at least give her a chance, you tyrant.¡± Oh what the fuck. Get outta here, Queen, that is¡­ probably exactly the case. But you could give me a bit of a break. Well, Mesne was being motivated, so I guess there was no reason to clear up the misunderstanding. I left her to it and continued my surveillance. There were a few key players in this game. The City Lord¡¯s personal guard was moving efficiently, acting as a mobile task force who occasionally stopped to help their allies. As of this moment, I hadn¡¯t seen Yelah or any of her friends, despite the fact that they should be important figures amongst the enemy. Jill Yemonto was also still missing, nowhere to be seen. I did see various powerful mercenaries familiar to Toh and Harven. I still had Yelah¡¯s knowledge up until their un-Linking, and they also knew about several powerful mercs. Most of them were team leaders or loners, no in between as far we knew. And they were smartly positioned, moving through the city at an alarming pace. Dangerous. Only through their knowledge did I know that Yelah was considered an above-average mercenary, due only in part to her actual power. But she was still an up-and-comer. She was by no means among the upper echelon of Yiwi mercenaries, at least in terms of combat ability. Her track record was what gave her a stellar reputation, that and having a well-rounded, competent team. But compared to some of the mercenaries I was watching rampage through the street, she was a chump. Maybe a bit of an exaggeration. But even so. A team of six people wielding only broadswords and dressed in matching green cloaks literally cut a path through a street, tearing apart the civilians in their way. One of the six was plainly on guard duty, and he was blocking every bullet that rained on the group from the windows. One lone man wearing nothing but white skipped across the rooftops, occasionally leaning over and throwing something at clumps of people who subsequently exploded. A duo each wielded twin pistols, both women shooting bullets that seemed to seek out their targets without fail. The regular folk were outmatched, to say the least. The only saving graces were the sheer numbers of civilians which forced even the scarier mercenaries to slow down, and the allied mercenaries who often surprised the enemies into becoming more defensive. Oh, and a couple more things. The enemy had key players, but so did we. Forget the City Lord¡¯s guard. We had two mobile task forces. Toh and his team of a dozen mercenaries rapidly moved through the city in search of the Lord¡¯s hiding spot and helped to stealthily take down tricky enemies along the way. On the other hand, we had Harven¡¯s goons, who were also searching for the Lord while brutally pushing their way through enemy fortifications. It was odd to see people more brutish than the mercenaries, but I guess they were mainly muscle who made a career of threatening people. Speaking of, how was Mr. Foot doing? I saw that he was casually strolling into random buildings, looking inside for a moment, shrugging, then leaving. What a strange guy, this Mr. Foot. Something about him was just weird. Not threatening or worrying, just¡­ weird. ¡°Miss Queen, no progress on the Lord¡¯s whereabouts. You really don¡¯t have better scouts than me to use?¡± ¡°No Mr. Foot,¡± I sighed. ¡°No, I don¡¯t. I have great scouts, but not the kind that are suited to this sort of investigating. Especially not with the current situation. Maybe if you put a bit more effort into looking for Yemonto or the City Lord, then we¡¯d be in a much better spot. I gave you some Linkers and everything!¡± ¡°And for that level of trust, I am flattered. But I¡¯m really not a detective. Ah,¡± Mr. Foot said as he froze. A man stood with his back turned in the next building he entered, and before Mr. Foot could close the door, Yoho turned around. ¡°Oh, Yafoot. Yelah had mentioned that the queen got you, but I was¡­ well, I wasn¡¯t that surprised. You kinda deserve it.¡± Mr. Foot didn¡¯t say a word to him. His guard had already been up, but now it had skyrocketed to the point that it was hard to watch. Seriously! It was like watching a video at half speed with the quality turned down to unacceptable levels. His perspective¡¯s annoying view meant it took a moment to register why. A mercenary stood in the doorway with a gun in Mr. Foot¡¯s back, and another was holding a knife to his throat. I finally saw that more guns were pointed at Mr. Foot from the shadows. ¡°That¡¯s quite enough, Yoho. Yafoot, I don¡¯t know whether your luck is the best or worst of all time, but it is certainly one of the two. I don¡¯t have all the details, but if what the young man says is correct, then you have betrayed all of us humans. I wonder why.¡± Sitting in a simple metal chair was the wrinkled, scarred form of Jill Yemonto. I saw the true form of Mr. Foot¡¯s caution; everything seemed blurry and weird because Jill Yemonto was the center of all focus. Clearly Mr. Foot saw her as the biggest threat. But seriously! Was Mr. Foot lucky or what! Well, lucky enough to find Jill in a random house, but unlucky enough to encounter the woman while she was being closely guarded. There was something interesting: Mr. Foot hadn¡¯t been killed yet. Which meant¡­ ¡°Hey there, miss,¡± Mr. Foot smiled nonchalantly. ¡°I¡¯ve been looking for you. Well, you and the Lord. You know where he¡¯s at by any chance?¡± Miss Yemonto¡¯s stern look curled into a sneer. ¡°Is that you talking, or the monster? No matter. If you¡¯re listening, monster, I have some questions. Yafoot is a more valuable piece than you might understand, so I would suggest not being hasty in wasting him.¡± Ohoho, is that how it is? I tried thinking of the best way to blow this woman¡¯s mind while calculating the actual best course of action. Yemonto wasn¡¯t wrong; Mr. Foot was actually a pretty valuable pawn, for several reasons. And something about him was weird, which made me uncomfortable, so I didn¡¯t want to let him go. I took a quick look at the rest of the city. Everything was stabilizing, to the extent that urban warfare could stabilize. The first stronghold was under attack, but the militia was defending it valiantly. Oyonshe¡¯s street was full of dirt, water, blood and bodies, but neither side had advanced. Most concerning was the city center, where the smoking remains of the Lord¡¯s office were looking to be witness to a future war zone as both sides rapidly converging on the area. But otherwise, things were fine. Yes, fine. Fine enough for me to dedicate some time to this little interaction and potentially save Mr. Foot¡¯s life. And, if all went well, maybe I would have some new leverage in this war. Chapter 71 - Browbeeating an old lady A thin mercenary with a bad haircut dragged a metal chair across the floor, setting it some distance in front of Jill Yemonto. Nobody had to gesture or anything; Mr. Foot just walked up and sat in it. Classic Mr. Foot. ¡°So, Mr. Yafoot. Would you perhaps be willing to share what you know? Or is the control of the monsters too powerful for you to overcome?¡± Miss Yemonto asked, seemingly rhetorically. She knew more than she was letting on, so it was safe to assume that Yelah¡¯s more detailed information had reached her ears. ¡°I think you know. Or, you think you know. I¡¯m positive you¡¯re underestimating the Queen, so make of that what you will. That was an unfiltered answer, by the way.¡± A bit of a stare-down took place, one I was very uncomfortable with. Mostly because it felt like Mr. Foot could be gunned down at any second. Of course, he was more worried about the wrinkly old woman sitting across from him than the knives and swords and pistols. ¡°Perhaps another approach. What does your master want? This¡­ ¡®Queen¡¯ seems frighteningly intelligent, to the point that I am convinced it does not wish simply for human eradication.¡± ¡°Oh, you know. Conquest and such things. Circumstances just resulted in this big bloody conflict, so I¡¯d ask that you don¡¯t blame her for what happens to your employees.¡± ¡°Is that a threat, Mr. Yafoot?¡± Miss Yemonto didn¡¯t seem bothered at all by the thinly veiled threat, her mouth just curling into a more stark sneer. Well, she was confident. Mr. Foot, on the other hand, simply smiled and winked at Yoho, whose frown deepened. He had done a great job trying to help Yelah, to my annoyance. Maybe he was smarter than I gave him credit for, even knowing what Yelah thought of him. He might not have saved all of Yemonto Co., but ensuring that she was out of my hands was¡­ bothersome. Miss Yemonto suddenly spoke, standing up with surprising grace. ¡°My grandfather founded a mercenary organization called Yemonto Company. He did so in a time when mercenary companies worked differently, had different values and procedures and ideas. His vision was a business that not only enforced the whims of wealthy fear mongers, but that catered to the desires of whoever had the coin to spend. It was a magnificent success; very few companies that existed at the time could compete, unless they changed themselves. His mentor, Hayrey Morsehn, practically stood by and watched his own highly successful mercenary business crumble, until he finally listened to his sons¡¯ advice, sons who happened to be the best friends of my grandfather.¡± ¡°Since then, Yemonto Co. has passed hands twice, once to my father and then to me. In the time since, the world has drastically changed, even disregarding the tumultuous last few years. Yemonto Co. is an international organization now, and new mercenary companies rarely pop up with any relevance. Do you know why?¡± ¡°Uh, may-¡° ¡°Because we don¡¯t let them. My grandfather¡¯s vision was a noble one, but he was not actually a noble man. If any of you are surprised by that, you may be in the wrong business,¡± she snapped, as some mercenaries began to mutter. ¡°His business acumen was good, but his ruthlessness was better. His motto passed to my father and to me was this: ¡®Advantage is taken, not earned.¡¯ Those too weak to take advantage of any and every opportunity lose. This is the way of the world. So. What are your ¡®Queen¡¯s¡¯ goals?¡± I instructed Mr. Foot not to answer yet. She was probing him, trying to find out what side she should be on. And judging by the looks on the faces of Yoho and the other mercenaries, they definitely weren¡¯t expecting this. Well, neither was I, so touch¨¦. One fact had been consistent among the scariest people in this city: they were ruthless opportunists. Harven, the more threatening merchants, the City Lord, and now Jill Yemonto. On the other hand, an organization like Hayrey, who was headed up by a group of bosses who had taken over the company some time ago, senselessly followed the easy money of the City Lord. She would be a terrible ally. But she would also be an amazing worker. I had to have her. There were ways to make an impression. I focused hard, putting all my concentration into the trick I had learned recently. As I concentrated, small objects in the dark house shuddered, then rose into the air, and several mercenaries stumbled in surprise. Jill was still unfazed, so I did something I¡¯d never tried before. My Link was just that: a connection between my Mind and the Mind of other creatures. For the conscious creatures under my control, I could influence their thoughts and actions in subtle ways. But it meant that I could also take full control. I made a show of it. Mr. Foot slumped over, shuddering and grunting as the room itself shook slightly. Miss Yemonto¡¯s sneer was finally fading, so I employed the coup de grace. ¡°Hey there, Jill Yemonto. I¡¯ve heard quite a bit about you. Wanna join my crew?¡± _______ I watched as Yafoot began to convulse like a man possessed, which I suppose would be an accurate description. Young Yoho whipped his head between Yafoot and me, which only made concern continue to creep into my thoughts. Nothing like this had been described by Yelah or her fellows. Going into this confrontation, I had been more than confident. It was certainly an odd coincidence that Yafoot had managed to find our temporary ambuscade, but even this strange hired muscle stood no chance against us. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Rather, it was a fantastic opportunity. Yelah¡¯s information had been limited at best, and unhelpful at worst. This man, who had been confirmed as being under the control of the mysterious beast attacking the city from the shadows, could be a wealth of data with which to more effectively confront the enemy. So, in some way, I became excited when small objects began to float in the air and the house began to shudder. Until I realized something. The Mind to blame for these phenomena did not belong to the man quivering before me. It belonged to the monster. Who was, supposedly, nowhere nearby. I felt my smile unconsciously drop into a frown. Yafoot suddenly stopped moving, then stood up with twitchy, disturbing motions. His head snapped up to stare at me, his eyes distant and odd as a voice spoke with his mouth. ¡°Hey there, Jill Yemonto. I¡¯ve heard quite a bit about you. Wanna join my crew?¡± The voice was a booming, uncanny noise, sounding not quite like Yafoot, but as if a dozen people were speaking at once. The man¡¯s grin I had seen several times prior did not stay still, shifting between a toothy smile and rough, inaccurate lip movements. Overall, it was the image of a horrifying spectacle of evil puppetry and a disturbing Mind. ¡°Oh my Person, what¡¯s happening?!¡± ¡°I¡¯m getting the fuck outta here!¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Imbeciles. Though reasonable. ¡°Whoah whoah, all of you chill. Especially you. Yeesh, your shrieks are so loud the whole hive can hear it. Well, I guess they technically already can¡­¡± ¡°Good Person, men, calm yourselves!¡± I yelled as the monster mumbled, trying to regain control of the mercenaries. Its display was offputting enough, but I was more concerned with the monster¡¯s words. No, this ¡®Queen¡¯ was no monster. It - she - was a highly capable and dangerous being whose influence was on the verge of swarming my city. What should I do? My thoughts raced as I motioned for the mercs to stop running. Some had dashed for the door in response to the Queen¡¯s display, and we couldn¡¯t afford to be interrupted in this delicate situation. Not that the rest of the city wasn¡¯t preoccupied. I could tell they were more concerned about the showy display than the demonstration of higher thought. I lacked information, and this creature possessed information aplenty. ¡°Greetings¡­ Queen. It seems introductions are not quite necessary, seeing as how you know of me. I must say, your capability to speak is impressive for one who I have only heard referred to as a ¡®monster¡¯ or ¡®beast.¡¯ I-¡° ¡°Uh, how much longer are you going to stall? It¡¯s easy to monitor the entire Yiwi situation, but keeping my focus here also isn¡¯t what I want to be doing necessarily,¡± the Queen said. Truly, the tone of its voice was fearfully inhuman. ¡°I apologize. However, I must ask one question. Is what you are doing¡­ painful, for Yafoot there?¡± ¡°Eh, not really. Probably not. Anyways, let¡¯s get on with it. You going to join me or what?¡± It was insistent on adding me to its ranks, which meant it either needed me or wanted me. Which was encouraging. If I could negotiate, perhaps even make myself invaluable, then Yemonto Co. might not just survive this conflict, but rise to even greater heights. If, of course, I was willing to debase myself to the lows of betraying my species. The benefits were appealing, of course. But one other piece of information had become clear. The Queen was inexperienced. Both with negotiation and with her own capabilities. I already had my suspicions when Yelah had somehow broken free from its supposedly flawless control, but its lack of understanding of what Yafoot was going through confirmed it. She had certainly given an effective performance, but it was just that: a performance. Meant to frighten and intimidate, to force me to recognize her true power. And yet she simultaneously exposed her desire or even desperation for obtaining me. This situation had to be navigated carefully. As young as this creature was, it did possess great power. Siding with it would not be pointless in any capacity, and opposing it would also be a reasonable option. ¡°Perhaps. But you have still not answered the question I asked Mr. Yafoot prior. What are your goals? I maintain you are not a vicious monster, so I do wonder about your intentions.¡± That made it hesitate. So then, she was not accustomed to being questioned about the validity of her goals, either. I forced my mouth to remain in a subtle frown, assuming the Queen did not appreciate cockiness. As my mercenaries calmed, my confidence steadied. ¡°I¡¯d say the only thing you need to know about is that my hive should expand, and I want to keep my¡­ children safe. Yiwi is at least a bump in the road for the first, and a major issue for the second. This whole thing could¡¯ve been avoided all the way back when the City lord first sent mercenaries to my doorstep, and now here we are. So, unfortunately, Yiwi needs to be brought to heel, and time-¡° She suddenly paused, as if listening to someone speak. Perhaps she had been about to reveal something important, and a competent advisor stopped her. A revelation of said advisor, which was additional information. ¡°Well, that¡¯s really all you need to know. So, all in all¡­¡± She continued rambling, which was confusing, until I realized something. I had been so focused on the Queen¡¯s presence and strategy that I had almost not noticed a tiny creature crawling towards me. I snatched it up before it could escape, inspecting it. It was a bee, fairly ordinary in every way except for an oddly wavy stinger. Yafoot had stopped speaking, and I glanced at the man. Or Queen. That was somewhat confusing. ¡°A clever strategy, but crude. Very crude. I can see why you hesitated to take action against the more prominent figures in the city without insurance. I suppose you somehow captured Yafoot before Harven, because such a tactic would never have worked on that old fuck.¡± ¡°Ah, well. You know how it is.¡± So. The illusion falls. Working together with the Queen might not have been a bad idea, but I had absolutely no intention of being under her direct influence through this presumed Mind controlling bee. ¡°Was there ever a chance of working together without you putting me under your control? I can be more trustworthy than you might expect.¡± ¡°¡­Is that so? And if my forces begin to lose this war, you would not ¡®take advantage¡¯ and destroy me? Betray me? No, I wouldn¡¯t expect you to be trustworthy enough to overcome how massive of a security risk you are. How about this? Willingly join the hive. We have more Linker Bees. It¡¯s pretty nice, actually. We¡¯ve got knowledge you couldn¡¯t dream of, the ability to communicate with merely a thought, unparalleled information gathering capabilities, just to name a few things.¡± ¡°And you speak of me being an untrustworthy variable? I think our discussion here might be over,¡± I said as I crushed the bee I was holding, just as Yafoot turned to run. The mercenaries aimed their weapons at the man, who was just returning to normality. Too slow. I thrust my hand forward, my Ability [Insolent Indication] removing Yafoot¡¯s leg from his body. My mercenaries either stood in shock or attacked ferociously, and I watched as Yafoot barely batted an eye at his myriad of injuries. Such an interesting man. He hopped on one foot towards the door, bullet after bullet and sword after sword leaving wounds on his body. ¡°This is nothing personal, Queen. Simply the more appealing option. I will no longer be underestimating you, so be cautious moving forwards. I hope that, if you do happen to win, we can have another pleasant chat.¡± I thrust my hand forward thrice more, leaving Yafoot a dying torso attached to a head. He was still alive, but fading quickly. I walked over in time to see a series of bees emerge from his clothes, presumably the additional ¡®Linker Bees¡¯ mentioned by the Queen. I quickly grabbed them with my Mind, crushing each one. Even if she had an endless number of them, reducing its resources would surely be beneficial. ¡°Investigate his body. Perhaps we can garner some clues about the bees and their Link. Throw the parts in the river afterwards; no reason to keep them around. Yoho, I want you to communicate with Yelah about this situation and coordinate our collaboration effort. I will join them shortly.¡± I strolled back to my chair and sat, making sure to not show my weakness to my employees. My Ability was not one without consequence, and they needed strength at the moment, not weakness. Speaking with the creature made me feel the city wasn¡¯t under direct threat by them, but it couldn¡¯t be resolved so easily. The only way to overcome this without excessive violence would be to come to an agreement between the bees and humans. But the path to reach such an understanding continued to elude me. For now, I would have a few words with the City Lord¡¯s desperation army. Chapter 72 - Advantage Should Bee Taken The last words I heard from the dying Yafoot were these: ¡®Take it. I won¡¯t be needing it anymore.¡¯ As for what those words meant, it was related to the new presence I sensed deep within my Mind, one in a place so reclusive I hardly paid attention to it. The place where the Vulch¡¯s Mind lay in stasis. What exactly had I done? In all honesty, I wasn¡¯t sure if I had even done anything at all. When we ¡®killed¡¯ the Vulch all that time ago, Queen and I had essentially consumed his Mind, overtaking it with our own and forcefully removing it from his body thanks to some highly specific circumstances. But I didn¡¯t feel like such a thing happened in this case. Instead, it had felt like Yafoot¡¯s Mind had willingly squeezed itself out of his body and through my Link, settling itself next to the unresponsive old vulture¡¯s Mind. From the moment I had Linked him, Yafoot felt strange. Even now, with his Mind resting within me, something about him felt¡­ off. Like his Mind was incomplete, mere fragments of what Yafoot actually was. The result was another unresponsive, freeloading Mind taking up space in my tiny brain. The whole situation had turned to absolute shit. Jill Yemonto had killed Yafoot and all the Linkers he was holding onto, numbering four total. Not including Yafoot¡¯s own, of course. She knew more about us, more about our plans, and confirmed my suspicions that unless we got lucky, covertly Linking the more powerful people in Yiwi was a big no-go. As things were, the rickety stalemate taking place around most of the city had the chance to turn either way. No way am I sitting around waiting to see who wins this thing. Losing Yafoot was extremely regrettable, considering his surprising competence and ability, but we ultimately had more weapons. I poured out a glass of poisoned river water for good ol¡¯ Mr. Foot, may his Mind rest well. On second thought, if his Mind was in my head, then I am so, so sorry Mr. Foot. ¡°Wow, it¡¯s like a party in here. But we shouldn¡¯t dwell on it right now. I think something is happening at the city center.¡± Queen was right. ¡°As usual.¡± Queen was right this time. I had noticed it at the beginning of the talk with Jill, but sizable forces from both sides had been converging on the city center, where the City Lord¡¯s office lay in ruins. The Rotor, which had slowed considerably since the fighting began, cast ominous shadows on the faces of the mercenaries and civilian Fighters. This was likely where the fate-deciding battle would ultimately take place, as the skirmishes in the streets had slowed to a crawl. Once the winner of the battle in the city center was decided, the leaders of the losing side would probably have no choice but to surrender. Wars were rarely fought to the last man, after all. Well, perhaps not in this case. Oh, I had no doubt that the losing side would attempt to surrender, but unfortunately, it might not be so simple. If my side won, then that outcome might be likely. Besides certain people, most probably weren¡¯t completely aware of the gritty details of the situation, so they might surrender or turn on the City Lord if he wanted them to keep fighting. If our side lost? It was a toss-up. The Fighters might be spared, but the merchants couldn¡¯t be allowed to surrender, simply because if our forces in Yiwi fell, the hive would be vulnerable. I wouldn¡¯t allow our hive to be left open to retaliation from the humans. I diverted most of my attention to the Rotor battle. It was optimal for me to win there above anywhere else. My strategic view told me that many of the strongest mercenaries were among the enemy there, including¡­ Yelah. She was going there, along with Dip, Grehn and Vlugh. Even better, Jill was making a beeline (heh) for the Rotor as well. I really needed to bolster our forces there somehow. A good chunk of our allied mercenaries were in the group, but compared to the large number of powerful Hayrey mercs, it wasn¡¯t going to be enough. Who in the world could I send? _____ Red. Brown. Silver. Shiny. Dead. Alive. Hurt. Ben couldn¡¯t tear his eyes away from the carnage. It. Was. CRAZY. So much violence, so much pain and agony, so much to see. If Ben was a little less good at looking, he might¡¯ve gone crazy! But Ben was good at looking. Great! Momomoa was really insistent on him looking at stuff right now, and Ben was more than happy to oblige her. Something about the fighting made Ben¡¯s Mind stir; ever since the vultures, he had wanted to fight. But he was a Worker. A tiny one, even. He asked Bedivere for training and the super-Warrior had been happy to teach, but Ben just couldn¡¯t figure it out. Why not? Looking from the shadow of the Rotor¡¯s blades, Ben began to realize why he couldn¡¯t grasp fighting. He¡­ didn¡¯t like it? But he kinda did? He didn¡¯t really understand, so Ben just kept looking. Looking solved everything, after all. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Before people even entered the city center, guns started shooting. Ben thought guns were super lame, but also super awesome! Stinger fencing was so much more fun to look at, but guns were super weird, which made looking at them super great. The sudden flash, the smoke, the near-instant effect. It wasn¡¯t Ben¡¯s favorite, but it was pretty neat. He became much more excited when people on both sides began yelling and charging forward, meeting the gunfire head-on. Well, kinda. He noticed some people hiding in buildings and felt their Minds at work, protecting the people running in the open. But Ben could see the mistakes. A strange person on the enemy side smirked and fired his long gun¡ªrifle¡ªinto the allies, blowing a dude¡¯s head off. The protecting didn¡¯t do anything, and when he fired again, Ben saw that his bullets were shaped like little drills. He didn¡¯t fire often, but when he did, someone always died. And the chargers still hadn¡¯t clashed. Dozens already lay dead or dying by the time swords began to clash, and Ben kept looking closely. There were fewer gunshots now because the humans didn¡¯t want to shoot their own soldiers like silly people, but the violence only ramped up. Without noticing, Ben began to wave his stinger around in motions similar to the ones Bedivere had tried teaching him, but noticeably less refined. He wanted to go down there and fight, but at the same time, he didn¡¯t. And so Ben just kept looking. ¡°Mamo, are we going to win? There¡¯s lots of us, but it feels like the enemy guys are too strong.¡± The soothing sound of Momao¡¯s voice touched Ben¡¯s Mind, working as usual to cheer him up. ¡°I¡¯m not sure, Ben. I¡¯m trying to get the merchants to send their last dregs of soldiers to the city center, but you¡¯re right that the enemies have the advantage of pure power. Things might get even worse if Jill Yemonto arrives. At this rate, I¡¯ll have to¡­¡± Ben continued looking as her voice faded away. He cherished the last echoes, even though he couldn¡¯t see Momoao. Actually, he hadn¡¯t looked at her in a while, which made Ben kinda sad. He wan- Ben¡¯s gaze sharpened. While looking at the enemies, he noticed three familiar faces. Well, three and a bird. Everyone was super mad at Yelah and her crew, but Ben actually wasn¡¯t, at least not that much. Oh, he would totally beat them up with his masterful stinger skills if he fought them, but he wasn¡¯t infuriated like the rest of his family was. After all, he knew that his mamalamadingdong wouldn¡¯t lose to them, no matter what they tried. They had helped Ben look at a ton of cool things, so he would try to forgive them when they got Linked again. Nobody else shared the sentiment. Even now, he heard Belphegora cursing the humans¡¯ mothers as his sight was relayed to them through Becky, who was in charge of making sure every bee stayed informed. Oh well. If something happened to the former human allies, Ben wouldn¡¯t complain. He would still look, though. Speaking of, a subtle shift in the battlefield rippled across Ben¡¯s sight. He could see it in the way the people fought, the way the allies began to slowly get overwhelmed as their numbers were chopped away. The way the movements of the enemies became slightly less lively. The battle had barely started and already the enemies were using their might to make right. However, Ben¡¯s attention was immediately diverted elsewhere. The shift in the fighting had barely started when he noticed something strange. Ah, a human girl was the source of the odd looking. She was holding a stack of metal boxes and was sneaking into the Rotor building. Funny thing to do in the middle of all this craziness, Ben thought. It didn¡¯t take long for realization to strike him. He had looked at those boxes somewhere before. One of their victims was still spewing smoke somewhere behind him. Ben buzzed away as fast as he could, not missing the look of recognition land on him from a large man with a sword. Grehn had seen him trying to escape and had paused in confusion. Who cares! Gotta get away from the Rotor. Ben zigzagged from side to side as he looked back, Momaroora screaming for him to escape. ¡°Don¡¯t worry! I looked! Just need to look where it falls¡­¡± Just as Ben thought those words, a bright light flashed through the city center. In the next instant, the loudest sound Ben had ever heard exploded, and he looked on as the Rotor groaned. __________ ¡°Fucking madmen!¡± ¡°Fucking humen!¡± I ignored Queen¡¯s odd new saying and watched in horror as the bombs went off, tearing the base of the Rotor to scrap metal. The gigantic construct groaned, emitting smoke and noise as the fighting was forcefully stopped by the explosion and ensuing shockwave. Thankfully, Ben was nowhere near the explosion and just got yanked around by the shockwave; if the Rotor fell, he would be able to dodge the fuckass huge blades of the thing. What the hell were these bombs?! I rapidly scanned the merchants¡¯ memories and found nothing useful, only seeing that one of them had bought the boxes from a long-time contact of his who sold weapons. Were weapons like these just a run-of-the-mill, everyday occurrence for this world¡¯s inhabitants?! The fuck? I watched through Ben¡¯s eyes as the groaning Rotor suddenly lurched, the weakened base crumpling under the weight of the massive thing. People on both sides ran away screaming, provided that they hadn¡¯t been injured or killed by the explosion. Which many surely had been. In a way, it was mesmerizing. This thing that had pretty much been a constant for the city of Yiwi, had acted as a beacon of progress and brought prosperity to the people, was collapsing before their very eyes. Poetic. I could only watch with morbid fascination as the thing began to tip over, one of its huge blades soon crashing into buildings and crushing bodies beneath it. Windows that were lucky enough to survive the explosion and shockwave stood no chance against the Rotor¡¯s blades falling on them. The metal screamed and warped, cracking only slightly as the shaft smashed down on the ground. The sounds of fighting in most parts of the city - hell, the entire city - died down completely as people looked up at the sky and failed to see the comforting sight of their Rotor spinning lazily above them. It was like a signal had gone off for a time-out, and nobody seemed willing to break the silence. Smoke and fires began to rise from parts of the city, though I expected that the fire wouldn¡¯t actually do much damage to the city as a whole. It did paint a grisly scene, though. Thunder rumbled over the Vultuous forest as the rain clouds that had actually begun raining steadily crept towards the now ruined city of Yiwi. I could see people crying and dying, saw a pair of legs sticking out from under the Rotor¡¯s shaft. Dust that had been blown up by the collapse clouded the streets, making vision all but useless unless you had eyes like my bees. I had to do something. Now. Both sides were looking at both ally and enemy in shock at what had just happened. Surely none of the Fighters had been expecting a move like this to come from one of their own. The merchants had it as a secret emergency plan, but they hadn¡¯t given the order, naturally. From what I could tell at a glance, the act had been done by some rogue Fighter commander who sent in a young girl to destroy the entire Rotor, killing her and hundreds more in the process. What was I supposed to do about this? Should I force the combatants to pick themselves up and keep fighting? Even if I could, was that even possible? Everyone was so shell-shocked that they weren¡¯t moving, even people who hadn¡¯t been close to the explosion itself. People were gasping for air, crushed by rubble, or straight up dead. Ben saw Yelah and her team also standing, unmoving, staring at the giant cylinder of metal that had fallen in the general direction of the enemy mercenaries. In fact, the Rotor¡¯s shaft was so large that the two small armies in the city center couldn¡¯t properly see each other. So what were they supposed to do? The city that, once upon a time, had never stood still now sat frozen. As if waiting to wake up from a dream. Well. I would be glad to play the role of alarm clock. Belial, whose team had only just reached the city, joined Belphegora on the city¡¯s rooftops. I had already been ordering Belphegora¡¯s team (excluding Beckham, Becky, and some warriors) to move towards the Rotor to interfere somehow, but now Belial and his contingent of bees had also arrived. The two groups combined into a decently sized swarm and flew to the city center with haste. Like Miss Yemonto had said. Advantage should bee taken. Question Comb Announcement Hello everyone. It''s that time again. For the second QnA, a special occasion: a proper name! Question Corner? Nah, taken. What else is even left? Question Cave? Question Casa? Presenting, the Question Comb (probably not taken??), where you can submit your questions and I''ll most likely answer them. Ask any question about the story and get a 100% serious answer, especially if the answer is a big fat spoiler! Submit a question any way you like, including leaving a comment, private message, or on the Discord. Oh wait. No such Discord exists yet. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. As it stands, the deadline to ask questions is before chapter 75 releases, so tentatively Tuesday of next week, 9/12. Chapter 73 - Swarming Off Into the Sunset I had never made a proper swarm before. Ironic, considering my current state. I suppose one could consider the bunch of bees that crowded Yelah¡¯s group could be considered a swarm, but not like this. So when Belial and Belphegora¡¯s respective groups banded together to head for Yiwi¡¯s city center, I couldn¡¯t help but get a little excited. Yes, only a little. The same couldn¡¯t be said for a certain monarch. ¡°Hell yeah! Onwards, my children! Fly as one, swarm and overwhelm the enemy!¡± Queen was getting way into the whole thing. I was excited too, but the shock of the Rotor¡¯s fall was still dampening my thoughts. Forget the damage caused by people¡¯s Abilities, this was going to be a nightmare to clean up. Now, what exactly was my little swarm going to do? They were doing the bare minimum to hide their true size as they flew over the rooftops, but if they were heading for the city center, then hiding was pretty pointless. At the very least, the Rotor¡¯s shaft could marginally hide them from the Fighters, but if they directly confronted the enemy, well. No hiding there. In general, I was letting my Valkybees come up with the specifics of their attack. They probably knew more about that than me, at least to some degree. As for more general goals, I suppose putting an end to the city center battle would be best. Like I had theorized, it still seemed likely that the enemy would surrender if they lost this battle. Well, looking at the city through my three proper scouts, nobody really seemed to have much will to continue fighting. Speaking of my scouts, Ben had once again switched places, this time with Bennet. To distract him - not a difficult task at all - I ordered Ben to seek out Jill Yemonto and keep an eye on her. She was too important of a player to lose like I had, and I didn¡¯t know if Benita or Bennet were up to the task without ultimately being put in danger. At least Ben could be super far away and look at her. And before I even knew it, Ben found her. I couldn¡¯t help being surprised by how quickly he had done it, considering I expected her to still be scheming somewhere or something. But no, she was actually sprinting towards the city center, nearly leaving her entourage of Yemonto Co. mercenaries in the dust. Seeing her being so direct, even if it was freaky to watch an old lady sprinting like a pro athlete, made me sigh in relief. At the same time, it made me nervous for my swarm. I kept my attention trained on Yiwi as I looked at Beatrice hovering beside me, lost in thought. When the Rotor fell, I decided that I would eventually have to go to Yiwi, providing we won. She wasn¡¯t happy about it, to say the least. I convinced her, but with the provision that I could only leave once Yiwi was squarely under our control, something I was hoping to happen before the day even ended. That¡¯s right, enough grandstanding. The swarm was my gambit. Before the sun set over the city, I wanted to collect the complete surrender of the enemy. To do that, I knew my swarm would have to either kill or incapacitate the entire enemy army, at least enough for their leaders to back down. Of course, there was another option. Kinda. A certain Lord, who I was sure was soon to be in our grasp, might be enough to stop most of the fighting. I watched as my swarm approached the massive cloud of smoke and dust that was the city center. The swarm was strong, but would they be able to defeat an entire army of mercenaries? Maybe, maybe not. Could they defeat a few particular enemies who would probably never back down, and were a driving force for the entire opposition of my goals? Heck yeah. __________ He could see them. Despite the fact that their swarm was still some ways away from the humans¡¯ new folly, Belial could easily see the faces of his three - rather, four - targets clearly. He was still developing his [Piercing Gaze of the Insect], but with continued inspiration from his elder brother, he was making wonderful progress. Belial wasn¡¯t sure how to think of the humans who had betrayed their hive. Of course, he hated them. Hated the grief and stress they put on his dear Mother and hated how they interfered with her glorious plans. However, he and his fellow Valkybees saw the humans in a peculiar way. Callous may be a good descriptor. To the Valkybees, the humans were weak trash, weak as individuals and weak as a group. Part of it came from the fact that the four warrior elites were, as implied, elite individuals. Individuals who often did not work well with others, considering their bizarre and untamed power. Sir Bedivere was the only one Belial thought even stood a chance at standing at their side. Even his dear sister Beryl did not have their natural capabilities. And yet even these exceptional four obtained power from the hive. And yet, this was exactly why Belial and his three sisters felt such strange callousness towards the humans. Observing them for this past week or so had shown Belial that humans were¡­ odd. Were they strong? Weak? He wasn¡¯t sure anymore. He gently shifted the three weapons he held. He had never returned the guns to the humans and had kept them for himself, practicing with them. He did this despite the reactions of his siblings. He knew dear sister Beryl viewed his fascination with contempt, and felt the subtle disapproval of his master during training. The most obvious reaction came, of course, from Beelzebub, who mocked him to his face. And despite all that, he held onto the three items. Practiced hefting and shooting them until he ran out of ammo. And then he managed to make more ammo with the help of little Beau to continue practicing. He wanted to use them, even if they felt inadequate. Whenever he tried stinger fencing like his master, he felt wrong. Whenever he challenged Belphegora to a battle of the Minds, it didn¡¯t feel quite right either. The only times he felt comfortable was when elder brother gave him inspiration for his sight, or ¡®Looking¡¯ as he described it, and when he was shooting the guns. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Belial looking longingly down at the street where even more guns lay. Three just wasn¡¯t enough. It felt horribly unbalanced, especially with how one was a rifle of significantly larger size and weight compared to the two much smaller pistols. How many would Belial need before he was satisfied? Well, he was content to wait before answering that question. His current limited practice was with three, and there was no time to waste before confronting the humans. Humans which were less than a couple hundred meters away by now. ¡°Are you going to shoot them now, Belial?¡± Belphegora said. She and him were the crux of this minor military force the bees were employing, so their opening move had been debated. Belphegora wanted Belial to begin shooting the humans from a distance as they closed in, surprising them, while Belial wanted them to get as close as possible by using Belphegora¡¯s illusions. The two perhaps had their desires a bit backwards. ¡°I believe that ultimately, a mixture of both our talents will be the best course of action, lady Belphegora. Remember our primary objective.¡± ¡°Right. Link the most important enemies, don¡¯t hesitate to kill the rest. Should be easy with all the Linkers you brought. But the emotions I¡¯m feeling imply that their Minds are working to help them recover already, so we need to be swift. By the time we attack, they¡¯ll probably already be alert,¡± she responded, turning to glare at him. ¡°And don¡¯t call me lady.¡± ¡°As you wish, lady,¡± Belial said with a magnificent bow. ¡°Momdammit¡­¡± Belphegora cursed under her breath. Yet another example of the influence humans had already impressed upon the hive. Belial was sharp enough to see that the malleable young bees had been affected by the humans in various ways, such as Belphegora¡¯s curses and fascination with their unregulated emotions; hell, Belial¡¯s own interest in guns was further proof. None of that truly mattered, though. It was all approved and encouraged by dear Mother, and anything she desired would encounter no resistance. And if something did? They would find themselves as Yelah currently did: straight in the path of Belial¡¯s guns. ______ Slowly, I felt my brain begin to turn its gears. I closed my still-hanging jaw as I stared at the Rotor. How could this have happened? Was this the queen¡¯s doing? No, not likely. I shook my head and slowly reached for Grehn and Vlugh, who both started when I touched them. The Rotor had always been there. I knew from basic history that the founder¡¯s ingenious device had been destroyed once before, but that was forever ago, back when it was way smaller and Yiwi was a budding town instead of a bustling city. The shaft blocked my view of the Fighters, people I had been fighting up close. People who probably didn¡¯t know anything about the bees. I needed to talk to them. There had to be some way to show them the battle in the shadows, the real danger. They didn¡¯t deserve to die like this, not without at least being able to fight against the real threat. Dip was also affected, but he didn¡¯t see the Rotor the same way we humans did. I could feel he was mostly startled. We hadn¡¯t been channeling [Friendly Immersion] too heavily before the explosion, so our current connection was pretty weak. I wasn¡¯t trying to fight the civilians to kill them. It was still enough for me to notice something I wouldn¡¯t otherwise have sensed if I was still rattled. Too late! Out of seemingly nowhere a bullet screamed towards me, and I barely managed to dodge thanks to Dip¡¯s clarity. The thing grazed me, but it didn¡¯t hurt at all, not even breaking my skin- Wait, what? In the next instant I fell to the ground, my limbs disobeying my commands. I was almost able to resist thanks to my Ability, but with it being channeled so weakly I couldn¡¯t fight back hard enough. Pain blossomed in my leg as it twitched uncontrollably and I groaned, completely confused. Something strange had been shot into my thigh. People began shouting around me as I strengthened my connection with Dip, alleviating the pain. I had enough strength to move my arms and dig my fingers into the wound that had somehow appeared in my leg, pulling out a strange bullet. It was built for piercing, and the craftsmanship was sort of shoddy, but the material was strange. Some sparks flew, and I dropped it in fear. Electricity. ¡°Attack! We¡¯re being-¡° my warning was cut off as I sensed more incoming shots and dove out of the way, successfully dodging the shots that rained on the ground and left no marks. Shit, it happened again! Pain erupted out of seemingly nowhere, this time on my other thigh and left arm. The shock was far more intense this time, making me crash into the ground. Something was making fake bullets and hiding the real ones. Belphegora. And bullets that could easily penetrate my armor¡­ shit. I tried to yell a warning, to no avail. From my spot on the ground, I had a clear view of something moving through the smoke and dust, making it swirl in strange patterns. A swarm of incredibly pissed off bees. Grehn and Vlugh had been whirling around, trying to find the source of the gunfire, but they froze when they saw the swarm. Other people began to notice it too, and shots rang out as people fired into the sparse cloud of huge insects. Dip stood over me, protecting me as my friends tried to stay calm. If we got Linked, it could mean disaster for the defense, so they had to keep a careful eye on our surroundings to prevent it. But that only gave the bees more leeway to attack. Of course, the other mercenaries didn¡¯t quite care about any Linking. They didn¡¯t know much about it, after all. ¡°So thos¡¯re the monsters-¡° ¡°Finally, a real fight-¡° ¡°Bees?¡± I tried to warn everybody again, but the shocks kept going. Where the hell had the queen gotten the power of electricity from? Something so forbidden did make sense for her, but still. How? I watched as people¡¯s gunfire failed to make any notable dent in the swarm as they simply dodged in perfect coordination. They stuck close together and yet stayed far enough apart that every attempt to gun them down was met with open air. They descended, and I recognized warriors approach a man with stingers at the ready. He screamed as they stung him, only briefly struggling to penetrate his sturdy mindforged leather armor before filling him with holes. When a group ran to his aid, they suffered a variety of odd effects. One man began swinging wildly, hitting his comrade with a sword strike. One woman seemed to freeze and fall to the ground convulsing, apparently also a victim of these freakish electric bullets. The rest simply couldn¡¯t break through the swarm. Sword met stinger, and the mercs who underestimated the bees¡¯ individual power suffered for it. I had no idea that the queen had sent along this many warriors, and the fact that Belial was also present? Things were looking very, very bad. ¡°Focus on the swarm! Focus fire!¡± Vlugh shouted. Grehn had been shouting too, but his voice was too soft even when screamed at the top of his lungs. The mercenaries began to move, shaking off the shock of the Rotor completely. Many were still shaken, but mercenaries were nothing if not adaptable, and a sudden burst of energy from a threat to their lives worked wonders to improve focus. People began using their Abilities, which forced the swarm to retreat somewhat. Their complex movements slowly became predictable, a weakness of perfection. But even with that, they too began to adapt, moving in more varied and bizarre ways. That would be the direct influence of the queen and her incomprehensible Mind. Through all this, I struggled to regain control of my body. It was like I had become a puppet whose strings had been cut or tangled in a strange way. Grehn and Vlugh both activated their Abilities for the first time in a while as I attempted to stand. Grehn¡¯s sword began to glow a faint blue, the sign of the Ability he had been taught from his homeland. He swung and an arc of water flew out of his blade, forcing the swarm to dodge again. He clipped the wings of a warrior who began to fall, but it righted itself with its Mind. It did slow down, though. Vlugh, meanwhile, took a deep breath. I could feel the heat building in his stomach as he used his own Ability, and when he shouted, for he did shout, a cone of fire exploded outwards instead of his voice. Fire and Abilities related to it weren¡¯t being looked kindly upon lately, and the way Drevani used it was just weird, but I had to admit it made for an impressive spectacle. And a useful one. Belphegora herself was forced to emerge to block the flames with her Mind, which she did seemingly without breaking a sweat. But I was pretty sure Vlugh had planned that. ¡°That one is strong! Careful!¡± If the mercenaries saw for themselves which bee to watch for, it would be valuable information. I had told them about a bee with a big bottom, but it was hard to understand without seeing it yourself. Well, considering Belphegora¡¯s size, maybe it wasn¡¯t so unbelievable. The bees had started with a strong surprise attack, but the mercenaries quickly adapted. Attacks similar to Grehn¡¯s occasionally found purchase, injuring bees and slowing them down. And the more the mercs learned about them, the better we could combat them. The bees had taken a big risk facing us head on. They were strong, no doubt, but unless the strength was unimaginably overwhelming, then our numbers and variety of Abilities could face them. Grehn was about to make another slash, but he pivoted, trying to cut in a different direction. I saw Linkers where he launched the water arc, but they moved out of the way in time. We still needed to be somewhat defensive. And the swarm wasn¡¯t slouching either. Even as they dodged attacks and sometimes got injured, they still took down tens of mercenaries with their own tricks and brute force. What we needed was to expose or overpower them. If Yoho made it soon, as I had been told he would, then maybe¡­ Maybe we could still win. Chapter 74 - Swiveling and Sniveling Belphegora focused once again, blocking the stream of fire coming from that bastard Vlugh¡¯s Ability. She didn¡¯t care about how it worked, why it was used in such an unusual way, or that it was Vlugh using it. Actually, that last part was very important to her. Belial - and Ben for that matter - were far too lenient on the humans. In fact, throughout the entire hive, Belphegora thought that Beatrice was the only one who truly understood. Humans are nothing more than tools, vessels to serve at Mother¡¯s command. And an interesting point of study. For all that Belphegora despised them, they were fascinating creatures. It was just that, now that Mother was here and growing the hive, the humans were a thing of the past. They provided an interesting starting point, but it was time to rest as a species. She blocked another stream of fire. This battle was a perfect encapsulation of everything Belphegora believed. The swarm was one, coordinating perfectly. Although she herself sometimes gave direction, and though Belial made a decision or two, every bee here was one within the hive. Bullets that came too close to a warrior found themselves screeching to a halt as Belphegora exerted more of her Mind. Simultaneously, she blocked another stream of fire and used an Ability she was working on to manipulate the emotions of the closest humans. She could do all these things at once, while the humans could only charge forward foolishly, shoot guns fruitlessly, or use their own Abilities in desperation. The large human attempted to destroy the Linkers once again, and Belphegora scoffed. Those three were the ultimate harbingers of their fates. If enough of the random humans fell to the swarm, she would be able to dedicate enough resources to kill them herself. ¡°Lady Belphegora, stay strong.¡± She didn¡¯t deign her brother¡¯s comment with a response, and yet she felt him smirk. He was staying out of sight, firing into the cloud of smoke and incapacitating human after human. Though, Belphegora did notice that fewer humans fell with each of his volleys. So those new bullets of his weren¡¯t endless? Unfortunate. Though that wasn¡¯t the only reason his attacks were becoming less effective. She had to give them this; the humans could adapt. They lacked our superior coordination and precision, but each individual human was gradually finding cover, creating protection, or otherwise stabilizing against our offensive. No matter. The swarm¡¯s surprise attack had resulted in dozens of dead or incapacitated humans, and Belphegora watched as the bees proved their mettle. The various warriors successfully dodged attacks and stung the humans. Bend was especially competent, his brute strength allowing him to hold back several charging humans at once. She noticed that their Minds were not particularly strong, but they were still more powerful than the humans sniveling on the other side of this Rotor shaft. ¡°Belphegora!¡± Oh? Belphegora glanced to the side where that bastard Yelah was struggling to her feet. How could they hope to compete? Our bees were capable of taking the humans¡¯ things and turning them into a weapon capable of bringing them to their knees. And that was before Mother deigned to accelerate Beau¡¯s research! The human said something that Belphegora chose to ignore. Her time was more valuable than entertaining whatever the bastard human had to say. If she chose to attack, so be it. Belphegora would answer in kind. Or, rather, she would finally stop delaying the inevitable and Link Yelah. Because she and her friends were the only humans Mother had specifically instructed to leave alive, no matter what. A sense of dread descended on Belphegora, and she tried her best to concentrate, but in the next heartbeat, a pair of bullets struck a warrior, killing it instantly. Instantly she knew what had happened: a pair of humans who had a high level of danger had finally arrived in the city center. Bennet was screaming apologies, but nothing he could say would reduce Belphegora¡¯s newly sparked rage. That was, of course, because Bennet was not at fault whatsoever. It was all the fault of the humans. In any case, she looked to where the human pair were hiding. They had the sense not to charge in, but were instead staying concealed in the shadows of the buildings at the edge of the city center. Belphegora wouldn¡¯t say that she underestimated humans, rather considering them a true threat. However, some humans did surprise her. She instructed the swarm to play defensively for a moment as she focused her attention on the human pair. The sensation she felt when an illusion appeared poked at her Mind as she smirked. Now all she had to do- Another pair of bullets tore through the body of a warrior, the one who had lost its wings against Grehn¡¯s attack. Too fast. Too accurate! Why were her illusions not working? With Belial¡¯s help, she saw that the pair of humans were, in fact, attempting to destroy the illusions which appeared only in their own Minds. However, when they fired, the bullets swerved and targeted the swarm directly. This time, Belphegora was ready and stopped the bullets, but it took a noticeably greater amount of Mind to slow the bullets those two shot. The assessment of their danger wasn¡¯t for nothing, then. As Belphegora¡¯s focus on those two intensified, the swarm could not afford to be as careless, and the number of humans they continuously felled dropped from the dozens to the tens, then even lower. Despite herself, Belphegora felt a faint smile begin to creep onto her face, a trait she sadly shared with her sister. Humans were so fascinating. __________ I saw Belphegora¡¯s attention shift almost completely to the two mercs with the wacky tracking bullets, and I gulped. My view of the battle from Bennet¡¯s eyes was painting a picture I still wasn¡¯t sure how to interpret. The swarm was incredibly effective, and even once the mercenaries had begun to stabilize a bit, tons of them were simply unable to deal with the bees. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. But they were beginning to stabilize. Even without all the humans who couldn¡¯t fight anymore, the mercs still outnumbered us at least 3 to 1. Of course, there were unusual elements in the mix on both sides. Although there were only about forty warriors, Belphegora and Belial alone counted for like twenty-plus warriors each. Well, twenty ordinary warriors. There were stand-outs like Bend in there too. But on the side of the mercs, they just had way more powerful individuals on average. Yelah¡¯s team, the two gunslingers in the shadows, along with several other actually strong mercenaries. Not to mention Jill Yemonto and other unknown variables. Fuck. This was why I had bolstered the warrior¡¯s forces tenfold compared to the four I had originally sent in the advance force. Our bees were certainly odd, but ultimately our strength came in the form of reliable, rapid population growth. And being outnumbered took away our primary advantage. Hence the surprise swarm strategy. Their advantage had actually fallen to 3-1 from even worse odds, so I wouldn¡¯t say the effort was a failure. But as I watched - no, felt - a third warrior die, my confidence continued to plummet. ¡°Focus. Mourn after the battle is done. Look, the Linkers have begun to take control of some humans. Bend is proving himself to be a strong individual, and the Valkybees are showing that even the more powerful mercenaries are incapable of dealing with our most powerful yet inexperienced combatants.¡± How are you doing it, Queen? The only bees we¡¯ve ever lost were drones, not even warriors. All their memories, I could feel them. Their hopes, their thoughts, their desires. Everything. Even the names they liked, the ones they hoped I would gift to them one day. ¡°I¡­ I care much for my bees. As much as you. Even before I met you, I cared for my hive. But that is unusual. Every worker, every warrior, they are all technically expendable. Only queens are valuable. But I didn¡¯t see things the way others did. And I suppose being us amplified those feelings. All that is to say, get your head in the damn game! We MUST focus and mourn later!¡± I was beginning to realize Queen was probably right more often than I cared to admit. Right. I had to focus. I started as I saw something in Bennet¡¯s vision, which was definitely what I needed to get my head in the game. The number of humans fighting in the square had already fallen to just under one hundred, but the two things I saw might threaten to change the balance. Jill Yemonto finally arrived at the battle. And so had Oyonshe. _________ Shit. With her arrival, the mercenaries didn¡¯t only get a boost in power, but in morale. She hadn¡¯t gotten close to my swarm yet, but it had already been pushed back somewhat. If I had fingernails to chew on, they wouldn¡¯t exist. All I had was DAMN tree branches to spin around. Instead, all I could do was watch the battle turn in the humans¡¯ favor. Well, just watching wasn¡¯t actually an option. There was a certain simpleton I had to deal with, someone who wasn¡¯t going to just potentially turn the tide of this battle, but of my entire Operation. ¡°Good job neutralizing those two, Belphegora. I need you to do something for me. Belial, ensure Jill Yemonto doesn¡¯t get too close to the swarm; Bedivere has theorized that her Ability has some strict requirements, so just make sure she doesn¡¯t get too close while not attacking her directly. Belphegora, you¡¯re going to have to split off from the swarm slightly. Those two mercenaries you just Linked are going with you to intercept Yoho.¡± That guy wouldn¡¯t be allowed to fuck up my plans anymore. But¡­ his goal did give me an idea. With only a faint buzz of confirmation, Belphegora slowly floated in the direction of the Rotor, disguising her intentions. On the other hand, the two sharpshooters, now firmly under my control, moved to vault over the shaft. They would be the ones to stop Yoho. And Belphegora? She had some emotions to manipulate. As I put the new plan in motion, Abilities and bullets tore through the air, killing another warrior and injuring two. I even saw Bend wrestling with a woman who rivaled Grehn in size, only to have one of his arms ripped off. Another warrior luckily came in for support, bringing the merc down, but Bend was one of the stronger warriors I had. Losing an arm, especially for the physically focused Bend, was certainly not ideal. It was hard to watch. Very hard. But hopefully the swarm wouldn¡¯t be in as much danger anymore very very soon. ¡°So you guys are the monsters supposedly attacking? Cute!¡± I heard the voice through Belial and instantly went on full guard. And not a moment too soon. As I concentrated, moving the swarm with both their own strength and my Mind, a small explosion blew a crater in the ground of the city center. Belial saw the man clad fully in white leaning over a rooftop, and fired, making the man take cover. That was one of the scary-strong mercenaries I had seen before. I recognized him from Toh¡¯s memories. One of the Yemonto Co. elites. But why had he been fighting against the side Yemonto Co. was officially on? Apparently, he was just some crazy loner. So yeah. All of that didn¡¯t matter, besides whatever knowledge I could glean about his capabilities. I knew Belial could keep him busy, but he would need to put all his focus on the merc to actually take him down. Something he couldn¡¯t afford to do while Jill Yemonto was making steady progress towards the swarm. My swarm was playing too defensively, and the mercs were really starting to press us now. Luckily, Yoho¡¯s little idea gave us an opening to redirect. Now the defensive position of the swarm actually served as a distraction. I watched through Bennet eye¡¯s as Yoho fell the ground, yelling in pain. Probably on account of the bullets in his legs. At the same time, I looked at the Fighters. When the Rotor fell, they had been even worse off than the mercenaries. Way more people died to the explosion, way more didn¡¯t move fast enough to avoid getting crushed. And pretty much everyone was crying. ¡°Everyone! Lend your ears,¡± a boy suddenly shouted. A boy called Oyonshe. ¡°Why did this happen?! What are we supposed to do now?! Give up? No! Listen over the sounds of your tears. Even now, the forces of the City Lord continue to battle, intent on keeping us down. If the valiant warriors currently keeping them busy fall, what then? What then?! We will be next! WE! MUST! FIGHT!¡± The next part would be a display of force. Mind force. Or something like that. We needed the militia to do something, anything at all. Even if they just temporarily distracted the mercenaries, that would be more than enough, so I had all the pieces set in motion. Yoho had been trying to inform the militia about us, which gave me an idea: why didn¡¯t we just do that same thing? Sort of. With Oyonshe¡¯s Ability that intensified the intent of his words, combined with Belphegora¡¯s emotion manipulation, and finally with Beck¡¯s¡­ whatever it was they were doing, I was confident that we could set something in motion. And I was right! Many of the Fighters stopped crying as the power of two strong bees and the image of an eager young man washed over them, bringing them one step closer. I made sure that the two sharpshooter mercenaries waited until Yoho got Linked before sending them off to guard the Fighters from the shadows. Couldn¡¯t have some mad merc deciding that the City Lord¡¯s wishes extended to killing the defenseless civilians. Huh. Huh huh huh. Something clicked in my head when Yoho got Linked. Thinking of the City Lord must¡¯ve done something in my subconscious or something, because a conversation he had earlier suddenly became very important. A conversation that turned Jill Yemonto into ultra-important target number 1. ¡°I understand everything Yoho, there is no need to explain further. No, we will not warn the City Lord, he is safe in his hiding place. Until I am sure of the correct action to take, we will not contact him. Yes, I know it is a risk, but as one of the few people who knows where he is, I will not make a hasty decision.¡± Chapter 75 – Very Calm and Rational Beescussion ¡°Form up, Belphegora. As soon as the Fighters begin coming to our aid, we¡¯re going to put all out effort into Linking Jill Yemonto,¡± I instructed. Easier said than done. Jill Yemonto was possibly one of, if not the most dangerous, human in Yiwi at the moment. Her leadership qualities which even now empowered the mercenaries was one thing, but did she also have to posses a crazy Ability too? All she had to do was thrust her hand out like some psychic knife and people¡¯s dang limbs got chopped off! But that was a hurdle we needed to overcome. Because according to Yoho¡¯s memory, she knew where the City Lord was. Toh and the gang had been searching high and low since the fighting began, and there was no sign of the City Lord anywhere. It was honestly a bit impressive. Linking someone who knew the City Lord¡¯s whereabouts wasn¡¯t some sort of genius revelation. I had already tried capturing one of his guards for that exact reason, but the results were disappointing, to say the least. The annoying man was so paranoid that only some of his guards apparently knew his hiding spot, and not a single one of those juicy little Minds was apart from him at all. Hence, the importance of Jill Yemonto¡¯s knowledge. The battle raged on, my swarm continuing to be weakened, little by little. If I were a regular bee with expendable troops, this could already be considered a great victory. What were a few soldiers in exchange for dozens of powerful enemies? Well, unfortunately or fortunately, I was no regular bee. I could see it. Victory within our grasp. I watched as civilians began to crest the Rotor¡¯s shaft, lifted by a few people using their Minds. The mercenaries paid them no heed, completely distracted by my swarm. If there was one thing a swarm was good at, it was freaking people the fuck out. Of course, not every mercenary was a complete dunderhead. Jill Yemonto herself was the first to notice the militia slowly coming to this side of Rotor, and she smiled. Oh, yeah! She still thinks they¡¯re coming to help her! Ha! I jumped for joy as I saw other mercs react similarly. Yelah looked relieved, and most of them seemed either happy or haughty, depending on what they thought of their former enemies. They fully expected their fellow humans to be coming to their aid, finally seeing sense and joining the side of humanity. Boy, were they in for a surprise. ¡°We will Fight!¡± the civilians shouted in unison, charging at the befuddled mercenaries as soon as they landed on the ground. If things were chaotic before, then this was an absolute clusterfuck. ¡°Now, troops! Our target: Jill Yemonto!¡± The tide of battle turned again, this time even more sharply. The mercenaries, who had been fully focused on beating back the swarm of bees, found themselves being assaulted on their weaker underbelly. Mercs who fought in the rear, sniping or supporting, were unprepared to be up close and personal with enemy blades. The distraction affected the front lines too, who had to pivot and react to a storm of stingers and bullets. The civilians ended up being a catalyst of doom. With the pressure relieved, Belial turned his focus fully towards the white-clad mercenary who had an explosion Ability. In an instant, he descended on the momentarily distracted man, using his oft neglected stinger to blast a hole through the merc¡¯s stomach. I had somehow forgotten how physically strong Belial actually was, thinking back to that little scuffle he had with the monstrous Beelzebub. Well, here was the proof. The explodey man groaned and collapsed, bleeding profusely. With that out of the way, Belial¡¯s attention once again returned to raining hell on the enemy, subtly clearing a path towards our target. Speaking of our target, Jill Yemonto was not looking happy. She wasn¡¯t using her Ability on the civilians, instead trying to shout at them with a voice amplified by Mind. I couldn¡¯t help but snort at the effort. She may be a convincing talker, but try reasoning with a pack of angry, desperate wolves. Scratch that, try reasoning with an angry, desperate human. Pretty dang tough. Well, there was also the matter of the civilians having their emotions toyed with, but that was beside the point. Eventually, the Fighters and the swarm had the mercs entirely on the defensive. There was only the matter of the four enemies standing alone in the swarm¡¯s path. Yelah, Grehn, Vlugh and Dip stood tall and proud, firmly planted between the main forces of the mercenaries and the buzzing swarm. Nobody really paid much them attention, considering everyone¡¯s lives were currently in very much danger, but the four blocked the way valiantly, staring my swarm in the face as a final act of defiance. How cute. ¡°You know,¡± I said, speaking through the mouth of the half dead explodey man. I had Linked him just in case, and Belial had thrown him ¡®gently,¡¯ down to the open space. ¡°You guys are a thorn in my side. I was really expecting my next big bad to be something really scary, considering the Vulch. But no. Just you guys. Couldn¡¯t you at least give the City Lord a chance to villainously twirl his mustache at me or something?¡± Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°I¡¯m fine with being your ¡®big bad¡¯, as you call it. If that means I¡¯m thwarting your plans even a little, then great. People deserve to be free. If fighting you is what it takes to maintain that freedom, I¡¯ll gladly give my life.¡± ¡°Rich. You see who you¡¯re talking to? Maybe not the best example, but this guy sure is more dead than you. How many civilians have you killed, by the way? I haven¡¯t exactly kept count of the number of people dying against your little mercenary army.¡± Yelah grimaced. ¡°It wouldn¡¯t be this bad if you weren¡¯t involved. Nothing would. I¡¯ve thought about it long and hard, and I finally realized something.¡± As Yelah spoke, she looked at the swarm with pure rage, tears forming in her eyes. ¡°It was because of you. The King sent his stupid knights and caused the Burning because of you. It all makes sense. Why was the City Lord so desperate to investigate the forest? What were they so scared of? How dangerous is something that could destroy the Shroud? It¡¯s always been you, queen bee. Always.¡± I paused for a second. Was she right? Maybe. Lots of things lined up. There was just one problem. ¡°Lots of assumptions there, but there¡¯s something you¡¯re not considering. I don¡¯t goddamn care. Some of that stuff happened before I even got here, not that you would know. And as for the present, well, all I¡¯m trying to do is expand and protect the hive and my bees. It¡¯s not really my fault that the City Lord is some paranoid goofball who sent you guys down to mess with me.¡± ¡°Now who¡¯s rich?¡± Yelah spat. ¡°If you¡¯re forgetting, Beryl attacked us first. We just defended ourselves. And if you¡¯re going to try and justify stealing our freedom, then I just don¡¯t know what to say. A monster like you could never understand humans.¡± Oh, pish posh. I understood humans just fine. Hell, I understood them enough to know that their favorite thing to do is talk. In fact, they love it so much that they wouldn¡¯t notice at all when their emotions became inflamed. Inflamed to such a degree that they also didn¡¯t notice a swarm of bees flying over their heads and beginning to rip apart their own allies. ¡°Justify? Why? Being part of the hive is great for so many reasons. Lots of company, boundless information, and you know someone¡¯s always got your back. Speaking of, I have to go. Nice chatting with you guys again, but you might want to turn around.¡± When I finished, I let go of the direct control of the explodey man, leaving him moaning on the ground. At the same time, Yelah¡¯s group spun around, realizing with dread that they had been played. I sat back and watched the path to Jill Yemonto get fully carved away, and there she stood, facing the swarm with a look of indignation. She raised her arm, and I alerted the swarm, but they were already moving with practiced ease. A thrust of her arm, and Jill Yemonto¡¯s Ability activated, splitting Belphegora in half. Except instead of Belphegora, the victim was one of the warriors. What the fuck?! I didn¡¯t approve of that strategy. But it was too late. Effective as it was, I couldn¡¯t help but sob at the sight of the brave, nameless warrior slowly fall, killed in an instant. The mercenaries tried to stop the swarm, but even with their reduced numbers, my bees still managed to wade through the sea of mercs to come in direct contact with Jill. She thrust her hand forward a few more times, the result being bees dropping like a different sort of insect until she began to tire, and Bend barreled into her, knocking her down. The burly bee held on tight as the older woman struggled, straining Bend¡¯s muscular bee arms to the point of bursting. The Linker bee Belphegora was holding shot towards the woman like a bullet of its own, but of course nothing could just be easy. Jill was a freak. Her Ability was strong, but that came from a powerful Mind. She burst out of Bend¡¯s stranglehold and swiped at the Linker, knocking it away despite its speed and tiny size. It was still alive, but not in perfect condition anymore. All of that happened in the middle of the mercenary army, which was being held off by nothing more than Belial¡¯s bullets and the brave efforts of the swarm. And maybe a few civilian distractions, too. As for Jill, nothing seemed to get past her. She weakly thrust her hand towards Bend and I screamed. But all that happened was a ghastly gash appearing on his abdomen. He was alive, but probably wouldn¡¯t be able to keep fighting so hard. When Jill launched that attack, Belphegora tried tossing the Linker again, but Jill once again swept the tiny bee aside. Well. She batted away one of the Linkers. In her weakened state, Jill hadn¡¯t noticed the second Linker slowly moving towards her with its own power. Without the help of anyone else¡¯s Mind, the Linker gently placed itself upon her nape and stung, finally bringing the monster woman under my control. And with Jill Yemonto assimilated into the hive, I knew. The end of the battle was in sight. _________ Toh sprinted through the streets of Yiwi, ignoring the surrounding people. Currently, he and his team were moving around the west side, closer to the slums. Even here they had searched, and yet they hadn¡¯t achieved their goal. Outside of the city center, the fighting had all but stopped already. Even here, on the side of the city opposite of where the Rotor had fallen, the people were just too shocked, simply too surprised to do anything but rest. Mercenaries and militia alike just sat, crying or staring. Some resilient souls went around helping people, encouraging them and helping the wounded. He made a note of them; those were the types of strong people the city would need when the fighting officially ended. He and his team had been scouring the city in search of the Lord, but found no trace of the man. Had he left the city? Perhaps, but it was still somewhat unlikely. The gates of the city were completely sealed, and the scouts had said nothing about them opening. Of course, not believing that the paranoid City Lord of Yiwi had some escape route that didn¡¯t involve the gates was simply wishful thinking. ¡°Boss, where are we even going? We¡¯ve been looking for hours. Maybe-¡° Before his teammate could continue, the whole group of twenty paused. Out of nowhere, they received an exact location. The City Lord¡¯s hiding place. Those motherfucking bees found him somehow. Wild! Toh pondered as he signaled, moving with his team towards the hiding place. Towards a location that was surprisingly close by. Once they arrived, they stared. What sort of hiding place was this? A house similar to the ones surrounding it sat unassuming in the middle of the industrial zone of the city. The northwest was a place of factories and condensed housing, so Toh supposed it made sense as an unexpected location. But kicking down the door revealed that it was a house no different from the rest, besides being entirely empty and abandoned. And even that wasn¡¯t unusual here. Toh and team spread out, searching the house diligently. They called it a simple house, but the whole building was furnished in a way that clearly indicated closely packed, shared living. Finding no sign of the City Lord, Toh consulted his Queen. ¡°We¡¯re not finding anything here, boss Queen. You sure the info¡¯s good?¡± ¡°Hold tight, Toh. A pro is on the way.¡± Not long after that declaration, a small bee shot in through the window, shouting and making loops in the air. ¡°Hey ho, Toh! Ben here, looker pro! I¡¯ll find that City¡­ uh¡­ Loh? No problemo!¡± Toh sighed but waved at the bee. Ben was quite the character, but he couldn¡¯t discount the bee¡¯s skills. His eyesight was insane, and when Ben had once tried sharing it with him, the images had overwhelmed Toh¡¯s senses. He had no idea how the bee managed it all. Well, the ultra-powerful mental processing of a 10th Degree Mind directly supporting him probably helped. With Ben¡¯s help, the mercenaries once again searched the house. This time, they found something strange. One of the padded sleeping cots on the ground floor, in Ben¡¯s words, ¡®looks like when momalolo pukes eggs.¡¯ Inspecting it more closely, Toh felt the faintest trace of Mind. Either the cot itself had been created with an Ability, or an Ability had been used on it. With some fiddling from Toh and his most adept Mind-users, eventually, something gave. The cot twitched, bending and twisting until it sank into the ground and slowly became flush with the stone. A metal door appeared in place of the cot, and the group knew they had hit a jackpot. Jackcot? Not wasting a moment, they opened the heavy metallic hatch and heard a voice inside. A voice that was very welcome to their ears. The voice of the City Lord shouting at someone. Question Comb # 1 (technically 2 but hey, who’s counting?) Q: How many humans could Bedivere theoretically take in a fight and win, assuming the humans are all knights that have been moderately trained? A: I love powerscaling (sometimes)! If we¡¯re talking regular knights, then Bedivere could probably take on a big number, like we¡¯re talking numbers somewhere above 20. That¡¯s super impressive! Bedivere is powerful, but he¡¯s also been alive for like what, a few weeks or something? If he were to fight 20 knights, he would struggle and come out on top using pure strength, speed, and his stinger alone, compared to the human knights who would have somewhat useful Abilities, equipment, and experience, not to mention teamwork. It¡¯s a problem that actually extends to most of the bees, being naturally strong but capable of significant growth. Q: One a scale of ¡®we¡¯re gonna be fine¡¯ to ¡®we¡¯re all going to die¡¯, what would happen if Belial, Behemoth, Belphegora, and Beelzebub were sent to the humans and told to go ham? A: Like I said in the last answer, the bees have a problem of operating significantly under their actual potential. The Valkybees, though, are insanely naturally strong. Yiwi is pretty strong as a city considering all the mercenaries, but if the Valkybees worked together, they would be able to destroy a pretty significant chunk of Yiwi¡¯s population. And that¡¯s with their current level of strength. It wouldn¡¯t take much growth for them to be able to go all the way to ¡®we¡¯re all going to die¡¯ level. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Q: Does Ben have be ADHD/autism? A: I can¡¯t speak for autism, but Ben is definitely an ADH Bee. Q: If you made a discord and I joined, and I theoretically have fanart, would you like to see it? A: HOLY SHIT yes, that singlehandedly made me stop procrastinating on getting a discord up and running Q: Which bee is the most dangerous overall, in terms of both IQ and attack power? (Other than Queen and Bedivere of course, but if he¡¯s not number one, who is?) A: Beatrice. Being a bit more serious (?), currently its Belphegora. And yes, Bedivere is the true number 1. Q: Do you have a plan for the plot, or are you just bumbling along? A: I have had a plan for the overall, like super overall, plot since day 1. I also had plans for certain events, key places, people, small things like that going from the start to the end. However, I know less than it might seem. I work best with broad plans and filling in small details right there in the moment. It¡¯s very rare that the small things change the big ones, but it does happen. Q: What timezone are you in? A: I would consider that a spoiler and won¡¯t answer it (because if I do then some people might get mad when they realize I¡¯m late) Q: On average, what is the size of the bees? A: On average? Lets look at this. On Earth, the average height of men is about 175 cm ~(5 ft 9). In this new world, the average height of men is about 200 cm ~(6 ft 7). Queen¡¯s body is about 120 cm ~(3 ft 11). The average bee (average worker, average warrior, average drone etc) is somewhere around 50 cm ~(1 ft 8). For reference, Ben is the smallest bee besides the Linkers, sitting at around 20 cm ~(8 inches). Q: Will Ben ever make a human friend? A: Maybe :) Q: Will the hive¡¯s plan for expansion work, or will it fail? A: I sure hope you¡¯re not doubting the great Mother. Q: Can the bees see like humans, or like bees? A: They see like bees, but some can see better than humans (Ben, Belial, Queen) Chapter 76 - Nobeelity and Cowardry Below me, the trees were a black and gray blur. Against the complaints and advice of Beatrice, I was flying with speed towards Yiwi, intent on reaching it before nightfall. Bedivere, who didn¡¯t dare disobey me, had stayed behind as the hive¡¯s main protector. The only bees traveling with me were over a hundred Linker bees. 105 to be specific, a swarm that would¡¯ve dwarfed the one in Yiwi if not for the fact that Linker bees were tiny. Why was I rushing to Yiwi, one might ask? Well, certainly not just because I wanted to. No no, certainly not. In fact, I had business there. As I flew, propelled to an insane pace by my Mind, I looked through Toh¡¯s eyes. That situation had almost been insultingly simple. The City Lord and the few guards he trusted enough to hide with him barely put up a fight against the team of twenty mercenaries (and Ben). All it took was a bit of bruising, and the City Lord plus his escort team were on their knees with their hands behind their backs. I didn¡¯t even need to do a sneaky maneuver as with certain other people in order to attach the Linkers. It was when the City Lord got Linked that I immediately decide to depart for Yiwi. Speaking of those people I had to be sneaky with. Two old farts were currently in a heated discussion about me and my conquest. Or rather, their own responses and failure to avoid it. ¡°It¡¯s really not that simple, you old bag. The mercenary girl had already Linked Yafoot, and as if that weren¡¯t enough, I had no idea the invasion was even happening. Much less that the Queen had Mind-controlling bees.¡± ¡°Ha! Perhaps you¡¯re losing your touch, grandpa. Why, I feel positively young and capable in comparison. What happened to your scary reputation over the years?¡± ¡°Like I said! I had no information. In fact, you seem like the incompetent one. Weren¡¯t you fully aware that the invasion in the shadows was taking place? And even knew about the bees and their capabilities? Hah!¡± The bickering continued, all relegated to a connection I had specifically allowed. I sighed, contemplating if cutting off the line between Jill Yemonto and Harven was actually a better idea. But no. They were working together to figure out how to proceed with the proper conquering of the city. Not that the war was necessarily over. A few key players were still giving it their all, not content with the circumstances. Jill Yemonto was sitting cross-legged on the ground, in the same spot she got Linked, dead-center of an ongoing battle. A battle that was winding down, sure, but still a battle. It baffled the mind. The Fighters were so riled up that they wanted blood, and they likely wouldn¡¯t be sated until they had the City Lord in their grasp. Most of the mercenaries, upon seeing Jill seemingly surrender, had either ran, stopped fighting, or become even more blood lusted. In all honesty, the situation was fine for now. As soon as the people came to their senses, devoid of the emotional manipulation from Belphegora, they would begin to ask questions. I needed Toh to arrive with the City Lord, and fast. That distraction would be enough for more key players to get Linked, and for my now diminished swarm to sneak out stage right. Thankfully, the number of key players was dwindling. Yelah and friends had switched tactics, trying to calm and otherwise disarm the frenzied citizens with little success. They absolutely needed to be Linked, for several reasons. It was only a matter of time, though. There were still available Linkers, and I had a few reserved specially for them. For all intents and purposes, we were in clean-up mode. Hence my rush to arrive. At minimum, every mercenary who was still alive in the city center had to be Linked, no matter what. People who had fought directly against bees? Who were now intimately familiar with the monsters in the shadows? No thanks, no so-called freedom for you. Couldn¡¯t have them sneaking off to their buddies, spreading word of the new monsters in the Vultuous Forest. Unfortunately, on that end, I was at a loss. Was there any realistic way to control the information? People would come and go from Yiwi eventually. News would spread somehow. If there was one thing I could confidently say about humans, it would be that a secret was just common knowledge that hadn¡¯t been whispered loud enough yet. One point of concern on that front was the farmers. See, from my investigations and Ben¡¯s looking, I realized that my perception and knowledge of fantasy cities was complete bunk. The main city of Yiwi was a cap-shaped cluster of building enclosed by a wall, but that wasn¡¯t the entire city, far from it. As the river exited the city in the west, sort of north-westish, it flowed into sprawling farmland. I hadn¡¯t investigated exactly what sorts of crops they were growing out there, considering the supposedly annoying soil and such. In fact, I had some knowledge telling me that the ¡®crops¡¯ they grow out there aren¡¯t even real plants. But the point was that there were plenty of people who couldn¡¯t be practically contained in the walls. And sure, the farmland was there, but most of the fields had been casualties of the Burning. Even though Ben had seen full fields, that didn¡¯t mean the crop was ready for harvest, which led to the next concern. Yiwi is a big, wealthy, important city. The whole reason all this shit was happening in the first place was because the people never wanted for resources before, and the merchants had taken advantage of that change in the status quo. So besides the fields, there were, of course, those dang merchants. The ones in Yiwi were powerful for a reason, and completely cutting the city off would be highly suspect. And the mercenaries? Oh bee, the mercenaries. These were international organizations, for fuck¡¯s sake. Hayrey¡¯s headquarters here was one of three. Three! Who knew what avenues of communication they had with the outside world? If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. All of these headaches were actually welcome, weirdly enough. It was a nice change of pace for those sorts of things to be at the front of my mind, rather than mercenary bullshit and civil urban warfare. ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯re glad to wash your hands of all this, but I don¡¯t like it. For every problem to flow into each other is highly annoying. Until the fighting in the city is completely done, I won¡¯t feel comfortable planning for other things. Though I do commend your foresight.¡± Yeah. The burdens of a leader. Forget the fact that a solid chunk of that stuff actually came from a B-mail Beatrice had sent right before I left, maybe to distract me. Speaking of distracting¡­ ¡°I knew it! Monsters at my doorstep, oh that mercenary girl is going to feel the full force of my wrath. Unhand me, man! I can walk on my own. What do you mean, you need to provoke an image of control? The monsters are already controlling me, you damn fool mercenary! For the people? Unbelievable! Say, you wouldn¡¯t be so kind as to kill me, would you?¡± ¡°Shut up. Please, shut the fuck up,¡± I groaned. This City Lord was an exhausting man to have in my Link. If he wasn¡¯t so important, I would relegate him to some dark corner of my Mind and just leave him there to scream in the darkness. ¡°Ah. I am terribly sorry, lord monster, I only meant-¡° ¡°I wasn¡¯t making a request. It was an order.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Blessed silence. I was pointedly ignoring the dozens of new humans that had been added to my Link, but Yemonto, Harven, and the City Lord (whose name, nobody bothered to mention, was fucking Soipo? Soipo?) were important figures for the times to come. And so, I had to listen to two of them argue and one of them complain. And complain the City Lord did. From the moment we found him in the hidden cellar, he had been shouting at some guard to escort him out of the city because he had a bad feeling. Should¡¯ve listened to that bad feeling a bit earlier, buddy, because he got really freaked out when Toh dropped through the hatch. From there, his mouth hadn¡¯t stopped moving, and his thoughts were no different. The man was a true coward, or maybe survivor might be a more apt description? As soon as he got Linked, I witnessed dozens of thoughts and plans pass through his noggin, analyzing a way to escape. Not that it mattered to my Mind. Now that I had some real room to think, I considered Queen¡¯s words. In the end, the fact that she was right once again couldn¡¯t be avoided. The future was important, but there was still plenty to think of and do right now. Focus on the present. ________ Shouting. Screaming. Was that my voice, or the civilians? At this point, I wasn¡¯t sure. Grehn and Vlugh stood alongside me, trying to get the Fighters and mercenaries to stop shedding each other¡¯s blood. Our emotions had taken hold of us, dooming my city. How ironic. My emotions were the thing that let me oppose the queen bee near the end of my Linker¡¯s lifespan, and now they had betrayed me. With Dip¡¯s strength enhancing my senses, I hadn¡¯t missed the solid form of Miss Jill Yemonto suddenly stop fighting and sit down. What little I knew of that woman meant her actions indicated one thing. She had gotten Linked. Any hope I had practically drained out of me when I saw that. One of the strongest, smartest, most capable people in the city was gone. Maybe we could try to kill the Linker that stung her, but¡­. No, it was impossible. Even if she didn¡¯t defend herself, the swarm of bees was still hovering nearby. And as if that wasn¡¯t enough, mercenaries and Fighters were still locked in combat around her, making the path treacherous. We had failed. And I didn¡¯t even get to give my life up. ¡°Yelah. Look!¡± Vlugh pointed to the swarm. What a good friend. It was because of him that I was even standing right now, trying to stop the war; he had shaken my shoulder and shouted in my ear, trying to snap me out of my stupor. Even now, he was doing the same thing. Oh, shit. ¡°Something changed,¡± I said. Absolutely brilliant observation, me. It wasn¡¯t wrong, though. The battle, though more subdued, hadn¡¯t changed. It was the swarm that was being unusual. It was almost like they were drawing away, trying to leave the city center unnoticed. Actually, that was probably exactly what they were doing. Which meant the queen had something up her sleeve. ¡°We need to get to Yemonto. But we also need to prevent the bee swarm from trying anything¡­¡± ¡°Yelah,¡± Grehn interrupted. ¡°The bees are a lost cause. The four of us can¡¯t take Belphegora. Forget adding Belial to the mix.¡± He was right. Damn it, he was right. It just wasn¡¯t fair. How did bees that had just been born surpass all four of us in fighting power? That shit makes no sense. ¡°You¡¯re right. Head for Jill,¡± I managed to get out. All the tension and will that had been pushing me forward felt spent, burned to nothing. The only thing keeping me going was Dip¡¯s indomitable strength making me stand, the power coursing through me forcing me to continue despite my body¡¯s protestations. And so, the three of us waded through the constantly diminishing battle. One after the other, Fighters stopped their charge, only to be replaced with another of their comrades. Mercenaries fled the battle in droves, disappearing into alleys and now-abandoned buildings. People still fought, but it was slowing to a crawl now that the bees were moving away. ¡°Miss Yemonto!¡± Vlugh shouted as we neared the circle of calm surrounding the old woman. She didn¡¯t acknowledge us, seemingly lost in thought. Our approach went mostly unhindered after a point, the people who had been closest to the swarm being far more docile. Who could possibly know why? I knew why. I also knew the fate that awaited us in that eye of the storm of battle. Jill Yemonto had been Linked, of that I was now certain. Most of the surrounding people too, most likely. The bees wouldn¡¯t want those who had fought them to go blabbing or anything. So, I stopped my friends before we broke through the crowd and entered the empty circle. ¡°Guys, listen here. If we go in there, we¡¯re going to get Linked. Its unavoidable. We can fight, but eventually, they¡¯ll come for us. So here¡¯s your choice. Come in there with me and confront them, or live freely. Go get Rette and flee the city, somehow. Maybe go to the king. I don¡¯t know. I won¡¯t ask you to come in there with me, because you deserve better.¡± My three friends stood there, mushed up against merc and Fighter alike in the dense crowd surrounding the Yemonto Co. boss. My mind was made up. If I gave myself up to the queen, maybe she would spare the others for our betrayal. We could try to run, try to alert the king or hide, but I couldn¡¯t do that. I didn¡¯t want to leave my city behind unless I got killed. Grehn averted his eyes. The big guy had come to Yiwi specifically in search of freedom, and he found it for a while. I knew he was the most inclined to choose to leave, and I could only hope he would. He was a nice guy who deserved to live as he pleased. Dip just squawked. I really didn¡¯t want him to come with me. My Dip was my life. There was no way I could accept him coming with me, but I could feel his resolve to stay with me. Loyal to a fault. And Vlugh? I knew Vlugh would make the right choice. Although he wasn¡¯t overly religious, his values would never accept- ¡°Of course I¡¯m coming with you. I¡¯m done running and abandoning you guys. So I won¡¯t let you abandon us either.¡± ¡°I agree with Vlugh. I can¡¯t allow our leader to throw herself to the wolves, or rather, bees, as she pleases. At least not on her own. If you want us to live freely, then you better accept our decision.¡± ¡°Squawk.¡± All three of them were completely resolute. I could feel it. My shoulders slumped, but with my heart hardened, I nodded. With the resolve of my friends behind me, I pushed through the last wall of people into the mostly empty circle, coming face to face with Miss Yemonto. ¡°Greetings, child. I hope you are ready for what¡¯s coming,¡± she said, arm already raised. I didn¡¯t know much about her Ability, but I was already in its path. No, wait. My friends were the ones in its path. Of course. The queen knew me better than anyone. She knew I would retaliate even if my life were on the line, but with the lives of my friends in direct danger? All I could do was nod and turn around, lifting my hair. I heard a little buzz and felt a little prick, and suddenly everything went dark. Chapter 77 - When the Dust Settles Oyonshe was completely spent. He had been shouting nonstop for hours, constantly channeling his Ability to project his voice and convey his feelings. Even when he was running from the side street near the mercenary district all the way here to the city center, he hadn¡¯t stopped yelling, working tirelessly to empower and encourage the Fighters. And then he arrived there, just after the Rotor fell. People needed encouragement and hope more than ever, and he would be happy to oblige. If not for one thing. The Queen had given him a new task. It was still a task that required him to use his Ability, but it wasn¡¯t simply to rouse and give hope to a trodden people. It was to goad those same people into risking their lives once again. And there was nothing Oyonshe could do to stop them. The sounds of fighting on the other side of the Rotor¡¯s shaft had all but died down. He was still shouting, still trying to bolster the spirits of those who were still in shock. Before, his words had been unusually effective. He felt the influence of not just his own Mind at work, but of two other, vastly more powerful presences. Now though? Now it was just him. His words barely registered in his own ears; he truly had no idea what he was saying. A man in armor much too large for his slender frame looked up at Oyonshe. An emaciated young woman did the same. An older man, staring listlessly into the sky, didn¡¯t pay him any attention. Were his words not passionate enough? Not the right ones for that man¡¯s age group? Without being sure of what he was even saying, Oyonshe couldn¡¯t really adapt. His Ability simply fell flat when compared to the bees. They were like insurmountable mountains. Belphegora, one of the so-called Valkybees, Oyonshe had seen briefly. Thanks to the Link, he knew which bee she was, and both saw and felt her peeking over the Rotor¡¯s shaft. Her power to manipulate the perceptions of the people was much like his own, but more specialized in the realm of human emotion. Without her, he would never have reignited the people¡¯s passion. But hers was not the power Oyonshe feared. It was the other one, one far more subtle and ominous. A sing-song tune that pulled his own Mind into its thrall. This power, this influence from the one he now knew was called ¡®Beck,¡¯ wasn¡¯t just similar to Oyonshe¡¯s Ability. It was practically identical, albeit far more potent and refined. When Oyonshe was in the heat of the moment, following the Queen¡¯s order, he began to notice it. The gentle song merged with his voice, directly influencing the Minds of the crowd. It seemed impossible; manipulating someone¡¯s Mind directly like that was an unbelievable feat. Oyonshe would know. He had studied significantly to find ways to enhance his Ability, and found that direct Mind manipulation was considered to be impossible without either decades of experience, an absolutely unfair Ability, a Mind with a degree above 8, or even a combination of those. The bees certainly didn¡¯t have the experience of old masters, he knew that much. So for them to have one of, or even both of the other two¡­. To say it was frightening was an understatement. ¡°¡ª¡° Oyonshe continued shouting, still not hearing his own words. But he soon noticed something; the old man wasn¡¯t the only person ignoring him anymore. What could be¡­? He saw it. A group of mercenaries were approaching the city center, dragging a screaming man wearing chains behind them. They came from the northwest, so they were encountering the Fighters¡¯ flank, and when one of the Fighter commanders jogged up to them, Oyonshe watched with some trepidation. What would happen? With a start, information flooded the teen¡¯s head. He understood the commander was Linked, and had begun walking alongside the mercenaries, pumping his fist in the air and cheering, as part of the overall scheme. The mercenaries were also cheering. They were Linked as well. Only then did Oyonshe realize who the screaming man was. It was the City Lord of Yiwi, the target of the Fighters from the very beginning. And that infuriating man was now just another member of the hive. Oyonshe ran over to amplify the cheers and rousing words near the City Lord. It was part of the plan, after all, albeit a plan he knew practically nothing about. And so, he fell in line with the rest of the hive, sparing them a glance. The mercenary dragging the City Lord¡¯s chains, Toh, nodded at Oyonshe. And so the procession grew in size and presence. The Fighters on this side of the shaft slowly began to rise, the object of their ire being captured infusing them once again with indomitable will. All that remained was to surmount the Rotor and show the rest of the city that the war was truly over. ____________ Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Boy, do humans know how to build. I made a note to send Bess a ton of information about the city, especially its wall. Maybe she could draw some inspiration to make something really sturdy. Looking at the sun set over Yiwi¡¯s wall and buildings just as I arrived, I could really begin to appreciate their work. ¡°So? You have been seeing this sight consistently for some time now. Ben has surveyed the city in its virtual entirety.¡± Well, sure, but seeing it in person provokes a completely different reaction. The colors of the sun, the sparkling metal, the smoke and destruction. It was really a sight to behold, and this coming from someone who lived in a place where human engineering made this world¡¯s buildings look like little toys. Of course, it was a sight to behold, not a sight to look at and say, ¡®boy, this city sure does look like a nice, peaceful place to retire.¡¯ Which was part of the reason I was here. ¡°Motherio! Oh, you¡¯re a sight for sore eyes,¡± I heard Ben shout before nearly crashing into me. Belphegora ended up catching him with her Mind, preventing him from slamming into me. Can¡¯t say I would¡¯ve hated that, though¡­ ¡°Everyone. Good to see you all as well, even if it hasn¡¯t been too long. Can I just say, you¡¯ve all done fantastic work here, and the Yiwi Operation has turned out to be a rousing success!¡± My swarm cheered as one, sounding out a grand cacophony in our heads. If someone on the outside happened to be watching, they would just hear a bunch of buzzing bees. How did I know? Because I was watching through the eyes of one of the markswoman mercenary twins. Nothing special, really, just seeing and hearing through the eyes and ears of dozens of creatures at once, processing and understanding everything they experienced and thought at once. ¡°Now, I have a few things to do. And you all are going to help me. First order of business is Linking all the most important people. Beatrice has already compiled a list of the most crucial figures, and you¡¯ll be receiving it soon. You¡¯ll see Hayrey¡¯s upper echelon, the leadership of the Ehra Group, managers in Yemonto Co., some of the merchants¡¯ employees, Harven employees, and a bunch of mercenaries. Lower priority are regular civilians, except for a few that may have seen or heard too much.¡± ¡°Besides Links, there are several other errands to run. The gates need to be fortified to prevent people getting in or out. That¡¯s a temporary solution, so we¡¯ll have to find other ways of suppressing information from leaving the city. Next, I want to recover the bodies of the bees that fell in battle.¡± They were quiet at that last one. The children were reflecting their parent, showing remorse and pain over the lost. What¡¯s more, Belphegora and Belial knew I wasn¡¯t all that happy with their sacrifice strategy. Not that I would punish them for it; it wasn¡¯t something worth dwelling over. They knew I was unhappy, and judging by their thoughts, I knew that was enough. ¡°As you all left the city center, the City Lord arrived to ¡®announce¡¯ the end of the war. Not that everything has been perfectly resolved, unfortunately. Tons of mercenaries are still causing problems. The people are basically shattered. Civilians are majorly unhappy with the, let¡¯s say, lenient treatment of the city lord. But none of that should concern you; I¡¯m telling you so you can be informed. Leave the worrying to me. Instead, let¡¯s get to work. First thing in the morning, I¡¯m gonna do something fun to show the people of Yiwi that something¡¯s lurking in their town. Hop to it!¡± And with that, the swarm scattered, no longer a unified whole. Now only accompanied by Bend, a few other injured warriors, Beckham, Becky, and Belphegora, I settled down outside the wall. Oh, I could find some abandoned house in the city or even forcefully commandeer a Linked human¡¯s house as a hotel room, but I wasn¡¯t confident enough in my hold over the entire city for something like that. Didn¡¯t want to have to deal with assassins or whatever. Nope, better to just hang out here in the meantime. My perspective rapidly jumped between various places. But the ones I lingered on were focused on the city center. In there, the fighting had finally ended, and yet things were still totally out of wack. People were yelling, screaming, throwing things. It had been going on for hours, ever since Toh paraded the City Lord around and stopped the actual fighting for good. No, nothing could ever just be easy. The civilians who didn¡¯t break down and fall to pieces instead began calling for the Lord¡¯s head. The mercenaries who weren¡¯t Linked got all heated when ordered to stand down by their superiors. Word of monsters being behind the Rotor¡¯s fall and so on was already spreading. Unfortunately, on that last point, it felt like an inevitability after the Yelah squad were ¡®released¡¯ from the Link. The rumors and information passed onto team leaders and individuals, then spread to lower-level mercenaries. Mercs talked, and civilians overheard them. Some civilians saw the swarm. Some mercenaries were helping people from both sides, and sometimes the shadowy mysterious beasts were brought up. And that was why I was here. ¡°This sort of complicated thing is also highly annoying to me. I wonder if my mother ever considered the implications of spreading far and wide? Though, she likely never have had to deal with such politics. It was either be content or grow too much and be exterminated. It is actually something I have been giving thought to lately. Our desire to grow is something innate to bees, but my mother never went nearly so far. She grew the hive, certainly, but it was a much slower, more measured process. Our innate desire is something that could only be fulfilled slowly, but now that we posses incredible power, our desire has actually grown. I wonder: will we ever be satisfied? When can we say that we are content with the size of the hive? With the number of bees?¡± ¡­ ¡°I know, I know. My thoughts are irrelevant. They are not present, as I so passionately complained to you before. But still. This entire situation with Yiwi has truly broadened my horizons. I was once relegated to my mother¡¯s comparatively small hive, which itself was contained within the forest. But soon we will control a solid portion of the forest much larger than my mother could have ever dreamed. And looking at the city, especially through your eyes, I see an unimaginable wealth of food, information, potential. When Bess completes her dome and moves on to the next layer, our hive will be truly enormous. And if she completes another? It will border this city. It won¡¯t be long before this satellite hive of Yiwi is completely encompassed in the hive proper. And yet, how can we contain it all? Please excuse my ramblings; I have had a lot on my mind, since I have not been as directly involved with the Operation itself.¡± No! No, this is great! Go ahead and spout your philosophical shit. It¡¯s very interesting, and something that¡¯s been lingering on my mind just as much. It really is important stuff to consider. When will it end? How far can we go? If the Vultuous Forest is step one, then that¡¯s pretty crazy. It¡¯s not like the forest is a small place. And outside of it, there¡¯s all these humans and shit to deal with. Well, as it comes. If we ever feel satisfied, we can stop, and if not? Then just keep going. Speaking of moving forward, we have some time to kill while the bees do some cleanup Linking. Before we discuss things with the new leadership of Yiwi, ensure our foothold, meet Yelah, and do the cleanup tomorrow morning, I¡¯ve gotta know. Have you given any thought to the thing I asked about? ¡°Of course. It is a necessary step in further conquest, and with the acquisition of this human city, the necessity only grows. There are simply too many humans to realistically control. In order to maintain an iron grip over Yiwi and properly expand the hive, we will need more bees. So, I do have some ideas as to how you can create more queens.¡± Chapter 78 - Allow me to Raise the Bar As the dark of night deepened, I thought along with Queen. Our plans, broadly, were to grow the hive, of course. To do that, I need bees. Lots and lots of bees. This world especially had some interesting provisions. I didn¡¯t have a hard limit on the number of bees I could control, per se. In theory, I wouldn¡¯t even need to have a bee Linked. A bee could be part of the hive without being Linked, but it was a bit of a strange thought. As for why I was thinking of such limitations? Mind, plain and simple. [Tapped Mind: 0% / 50.869963%] [Mind Locks: ] Too low! My available Mind was way too low! How on ¡®insert this planet¡¯s name here¡¯ was this even possible?! The immediately obvious thing was the Kin Link. Linking 50 or more new humans had put a huge dent in my available Mind, especially certain individuals. Harven took up a monstrous 1.425%, compared to someone like Yelah, who used 0.375%. That difference is insane! Oh, and Jill Yemonto was taking up 1.475%, but I wasn¡¯t going to tell Harven that, lest he become even more annoying. I mean, it was impressive because I had a feeling the Link cost wasn¡¯t a linear increase, but I could be wrong about that. Other than the Link, which was an obvious problem, there were other things of note. The new Hive section only had one thing, that being the water filtration thing I did. Which, by the way, was apparently still active despite my distance. I was pretty sure it had to do with Beck, somehow. At some point during my trip, they had told me that they felt a strange sensation, then a sort of connection to the water filter. Something to experiment with later, for sure. Of course, all of these Mind-related matters had a very particular aspect that had to be discussed: their ultimate cost. The astute might notice a few inconsistencies. Yelah used to have a much higher cost to her Link. And though it made sense for the Kin Link cost to explode, it might not be as high as expected, considering the huge number of new bees (Linkers and otherwise). It was all because of [Combined Mind]. [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the impossible feat of hosting multiple Minds in one body Impossibly, you have multiple Minds within your body. This unique trait caught the gods'' attention, and this Ability was granted. Efficiency of Mind = Base Efficiency x Number of Minds. Mind Efficiency: 4x ] One number. That one number difference was enormous, to the point that it was carrying me hard. I imagined myself pouring out a glass of honey for my main man Yafoot. Thanks to his Mind being absorbed into my own and giving that plus one, my Mind situation was way beyond what it should be. With the absolutely broken Ability, each aspect of my Mind¡¯s usage was increased in efficiency by four. In other words¡­ A number popped into my head, a calculation courtesy of my B-boxes. Without [Combined Mind], the Kin Link alone would take up an unbelievable 101.770148%! More than would even be possible. But with the Ability, I still had around half my capacity to be used. It felt a bit odd. Except, thinking about it, it wasn¡¯t strange at all. The humans, which made up the majority of the Kin Link (more than 18% by themselves, by the way), should technically not be a part of the Link. It was only because of the Linker Bees I had somehow earned that it was a possibility. If I didn¡¯t have this absolutely stupid Ability, it would be impossible to pull any of this off. Hell, it would¡¯ve put a drain on my Mind just to Link Yelah and her crew. None of that could compare to the weirdness that was the B-boxes, though. Despite the increased efficiency, the cost of the Lock had actually increased. And not by an insignificant amount either, especially if the efficiency boost actually did help it. The absurdity told me that the cost of the B-boxes would soon become unsustainable, especially as the hive grew. Well, anyway, all that talk of Mind and such was just to express the importance and limitations on expanding the hive. Specifically in one aspect: capacity. And according to Queen¡¯s preconceived notions, the best way to do such a thing was to make more queen bees. ¡°Yes, all this numerologizing and mathematolgism is quite interesting, but who cares? Making new queens is an integral and basic step in expanding the hive of any bee mother, so it was only a matter of time.¡± Well, sure, but I think it¡¯s actually important stuff. Think about it this way: without the number stuff, we could run into bad roadblocks and prevent the hive from growing. It¡¯s all in the name of efficiency and expansion, which I would expect you to be glad about. ¡°Oh, I understand its importance. But before meeting you, I barely knew what a number was. Our statuses were not expressed in the same way the new one is.¡± Wait, really? That¡¯s a new one. Though, I guess a screen full of percentages and words wouldn¡¯t mean much to a bee¡­. ¡°Indeed. As for how we would create queens, the answer is quite obvious. They must be selected from the list of available eggs. Otherwise, it cannot be done. And so, we need to unlock them by leveling up the Ability by creating more eggs.¡± All of that was fairly obvious to figure out. The issue was time, resources, and, as previously mentioned, capacity. The last time, it hadn¡¯t taken that much, actually. Man, that had been¡­ a while ago. All the way back just after the Valkybees¡¯ birth. And yet, despite the insane amount of Linkers I¡¯ve produced, the Ability hasn¡¯t decided to level up. Things would only get more dire moving forwards. There was, of course, the huge number of humans I wanted or needed to Link. The hordes of Linkers I made weren¡¯t for show, after all. The other problems were the bees. Comparatively, most of the bees took very little actual Mind to maintain the Link. However, there was something that was getting consistently reported. Most of the bees were seeing increases in the amount of Mind their Link required. Such numbers weren¡¯t exactly reflected in the status screen. For example, Beatrice¡¯s Link cost less right now than it did a week ago, thanks to [Combined Mind]. However, her base cost was somewhat higher. So unless I somehow absorbed more Minds, her ever-increasing cost would overtake her previous costs. It was a less extreme version of the increases of the B-boxes, but still just as worrying. In fact, it could be even more so. Since it meant the bees were growing in power or needed more of my Mind to do what they wanna do, adding more bees to the hive would just become insanely Mind-intensive. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. And yet, I needed to make bees to unlock the queen. I need to create the bees to create the bees. ¡°A true poet. An artist, a-¡° Oh, stuff it. All that is to say, we¡¯re going to have to be a bit careful. Or creative. And creativity was the route we were thinking of going. Queen and I, along with some of our best and brightest, developed a plan. A sort of program, if you will. Here¡¯s the deal: our hive is not perfectly efficient. Of course it wasn¡¯t; nothing could ever be perfect. However, we were thinking that the hive could be made more efficient despite the influx of new ¡®hive members.¡¯ Thus, the new program. Once the initial Yiwi cleanup was complete, I would go through our collection of humans and pass their control onto our bees. They would still be part of the Link, but instead of being directly connected to me, they would be connected to the Link via a bee buddy. Now, how would this exactly free up my Mind resources? Outsourcing, of course. The bees had Minds of their own, and in general, they weren¡¯t being used fully. Tons of the warriors, even in combat, didn¡¯t use their Minds to the fullest. Some of the workers, too. The issue would come in that the bees with a human buddy would most likely need to further tap my Mind, but it would hopefully be negligible compared to the cost of having the humans directly. As for whether this whole thing would even work? No clue. I called it a program, but it was more like a theoretical project until it was proven to be effective. This would work in tandem with the soon-to-be larger Worker population of the hive. Drones are great, but they¡¯re pretty limited in their capabilities. Regular Workers were far more flexible, and would be able to slot in nicely with this buddy program. And even if the program didn¡¯t pan out, well, we needed workers regardless. Both to level up [Egg Laying] and for simple labor purposes. It was all perfectly laid out. Or something. Well, it was laid out nicely. The night continued like that. Thinking on future plans, just chilling outside Yiwi¡¯s walls. I did notice at some point that the bees who were sticking with me were fawning a bit, but looking into their thoughts, their minds were whirling. Some, like Bend, who had sustained serious injuries, were lost in thought. I say that, but ironically, Bend was the only one not actually thinking very much. Instead, he was¡­ bragging to some fellow warriors? ¡°Yeah bro, I know my shredded real-guns are totally gone, but that¡¯s alright.¡± ¡°¡°It¡¯s alright bro?¡±¡± ¡°Yeah, bro. Here¡¯s why: cause now I¡¯m more like the top bros! Beryl¡¯s hurt too, so now I¡¯m just like her. And since I¡¯m missing arms¡­¡± he trailed off, looking at the small crowd of warriors expectantly. Some of them began to realize what he meant, I noticed. ¡°¡°¡­!¡±¡± ¡°That¡¯s right bros! I¡¯m more like the Ultimate Warrior!¡± ¡°¡°Whoa, bro!¡±¡± I wonder what Bedivere would think of this little fan club he had accrued just by existing. It was still nothing compared to mine, but it was respectable. Oh, and when I say fan club, I¡¯m not exaggerating. Most of the warrior bees, including Beryl, Bend, and all the Valkybees (and Ben) regularly discussed the legends and capabilities of Bedivere. It was a bit strange, to be honest, but I wouldn¡¯t stop them from having a¡­ hobby? Could that be considered a hobby? As the barest hints of light began to crest the horizon, I floated up above the ruined treeline to watch with some measure of relief. Watching last night¡¯s remnants of a sunset, and now this sunrise was a breath of fresh air - literally. The forest was so stuffy sometimes. I was interrupted by some bees coming towards the wall from within the city. It was Bennet and Benita, along with several other bees in tow. Bees I couldn¡¯t feel the Link from. These were the fallen. ¡°Have you decided what you will do with the bodies?¡± Yes. We¡¯ve been discussing it for a bit, but there were some different ideas on what to do with the dead warriors and Linkers. Burial, burning, eating. Yes, eating; the thought had vaguely flashed into my mind as a way to conserve resources, but it was squashed immediately. No chance I would be doing something like that. As the pair approached, I led them to the rest of the bees. We gathered in a circle of sorts, surrounding the bodies of the bees. Silence reigned, besides the buzzing of bees. As for what we would do with their bodies? The decision was to encase them in wax. Their bodies would be properly preserved and given a resting place of honor in the hive. Part of me wanted to make a big speech. Something rousing and inspiring to rally the troops and ensure the Yiwi cleanup would go smoothly. But I couldn¡¯t bring myself to do it. Family members. Dead. I was far more comfortable sitting in the silence, doing my best despite my broken wings to buzz in mourning alongside the others. I did say one thing. Privately in my head with only Queen bearing witness. Without anybody knowing, our hive gained several named bees. I still remembered these warriors and the names they yearned for, and I granted them, no matter how silly, how ridiculous, or how awful. It was the last thing I could do for them. When the cleanup was over, I would personally carry them back to the hive so they could be encased in wax. For now, all we did was buzz. Far below, in the ruins of the city of Yiwi, people milled around with barely a purpose. Some were already hard at work, cleaning and removing corpses. Many didn¡¯t know what to do. How do you even begin with such a monumental task? And so soon after the events of the past few days? This little bee queen had a proposal for them. I took a big bite from a pastry before promptly spitting it out. Disgusting! I looked down at the broken city and scoffed; the humans were going to thank me so hard when I began using their resources to increase our honey production. Whatever they were using to sweeten their pastries and other assorted sweet things was super nasty, less sweet than even the smokey, strange meat honey we were currently producing. After we mourned my fallen children, I had waited a bit longer for the sun to rise properly before coming up here, high above the city. I marveled at the accuracy and detail of Beatrice¡¯s maps; it was basically a copy of the real thing. Perhaps not a surprise when Ben was on the job. Now that I was here, I took a deep breath, tossing the pastry away. Hopefully it didn¡¯t fall on anybody. The air up here was so fresh, devoid of smoke and ash and thundercloud humidity. Looking to the west, away from the rising sun, I saw it. The strange mirage Ben sometimes looked at. It was no mirage, I knew. I had enough humans under my belt to have some basic knowledge of this world. That was the Spiral Spire, sitting at the center of the continent. All I knew was from random people¡¯s knowledge, so as for what the Spiral Spire was about, I wasn¡¯t totally sure. I just knew it was a fuckass-huge tower that served as the primary religious symbol of Humanity, for some reason. I shook my head. A part of me desperately wanted to explore, to see for myself what this world was all about. But I had more important things to worry about, so I set that aside for later. Instead, I looked down at the fallen Rotor. The gigantic blades had certainly done some serious damage on the far eastern side of the city, very nearly damaging the wall, even. But the shaft was the real problem. It was basically just a gigantic, mostly solid cylinder of metal that crushed the city, making it look like someone had dropped a pen in the sand and caused a weird wall to be erected right smack in the middle of the city. An eight meter wide, nearly thirty meter long pen, but still. The destroyed Rotor was the target. A B-box was already set up to keep an eye on my Mind usage so I could focus, and I began to think. I thought of the Rotor rising up, floating above the wreckage. I thought of it flying away, leaving the remains of its city to be free of its presence. A small lurch messed with my stomach. Not true nausea, but it was something. Thanks to some bees, I began to hear murmurs and shouts in the city below. The Rotor¡¯s shaft and blades had begun to creak, almost as if they were trying to move. Which, technically, they were. I poured my Mind into the task, instinctively raising a bee arm as if shooting psychic power from my palm. I mimed grabbing the Rotor, imagined pulling it up with pure force. And the thing began to shudder. People were in full on panic mode now; how was the Rotor being moved? It would take a large team of the strongest Mind users in the city to even start making it roll over, much less rise straight up off the ground! Panic. Shock. Fear. These emotions weren¡¯t just bubbling up among the general populace. My Linked humans were feeling these things too, realizing the force they were contending with. Despite my concentration, my brain apparently decided to fantasize, because I could swear I was hearing some sort of hymn or angelic epic music. Hey, wait¡­ ¡°Beck, will you cut that out?! At least a little, please? I¡¯m trying to focus here!¡± Despite what I said, the Rotor wasn¡¯t wavering. Instead, it was still rising, now a meter off the ground. Another meter. Three. I tried keeping the giant metal structure straight so as not to smack a house with it. And now people were going straight from panic to sheer confusion. Except the Linked humans. They were practically pissing their pants. See?! No need to resist my influence, little humans! Bask in my awesome, incredible power! ¡°What happened to focus?¡± Er, I still need to focus, but the shaft was practically above the rooftops now. Just a little more and the remains of the blades would also be high enough. And the amount of Mind required was way less than expected! The B-box wasn¡¯t just far from the danger zone; it was light-years away. I bet I could lift five of these things at once! Well, maybe five was a bit much, but who knows? As the Rotor rose, it slowly began to move towards the forest. I saw people watch, awestruck by the display. For the regular people, my show would be a nice little mystery, a miracle if you will. Who was helping them? Who was powerful enough to do so? For the Linked humans, it meant something else. You see this, fellas? This giant floating hunk of metal? If I wanted to, I could drag it through your city like a pen through sand. You don¡¯t stand a fucking chance. ¡°You already used that metaphor.¡± I concentrated super hard, ignoring Queen¡¯s words because I needed to concentrate. Super hard. The people watched their former symbol gently float over the wall and into the forest, settling down some distance away. I decided to drop it a little at the end to produce a crashing sound, not unlike the impact of the Rotor on the city itself. Let that trauma now be associated with something else. The Ben Squad watched people cheer and cry, and I wiped nonexistent sweat from my brow. All in a day''s work. Well, not quite. That little spectacle was important for several reasons, not least of which was expediting the rebuilding of the city. But now I had other things to do. It was time to pay some mercenaries a visit. Chapter 79 - Oh the Humanibee Jill Yemonto watched the display of power with a mixture of fear, shock, and awe. The Rotor, which was once vertical and overlooked the city, was now in overlooking it in a completely different way. After the battle ended yesterday, she had taken up residence in her office to rest for the night. She was not only exhausted due to her Ability usage; the mental strain of the Link, a feeling more ethereal than concrete, was deeply affecting her. It was simply unnatural for a Mind-controlling technique like this to affect people in this way. For the mercenary leader to feel them so strongly? It was unnatural. And yet, the old bastard Harven seemed to take it in stride. Regardless, she woke up bright and early to begin strategizing. Not only would she now be partly responsible for the rebuilding and management of the entire city, there was other business the Queen wanted assistance with. And so, she walked out of her office to meet with her upper-level management, most of which were already Linked as well. They had their work cut out for them, rebuilding a city that had not only been ravaged by urban war, but crushed under the weight of its hubris, quite literally. It was when the shouts in the street began that Yemonto became wary. Had the bees been discovered? Were they doing something in secret, unbeknownst to her? Well, the latter was partly true. She had run outside to witness a true miracle. The fallen Rotor was the most potent obstacle in the way of revitalization, other than the people themselves. And it seemed that the Queen was aiming to do away with both. The Rotor¡¯s shaft, an absolutely enormous cylinder of mostly solid metal, was floating. Jill could scarcely believe it. She was powerful and experienced, that much she could say with confidence. Despite that, she had seen feats of Mind that entered the realm of the fantastical, even compared to herself. And what she was witnessing was truly entering that upper echelon of unbelievability. As the shaft slowly rose, Jill had a faint feeling and glanced up, spotting a figure in the mostly clear sky. Few around her noticed the figure, too enraptured by the impossible feat happening before their eyes, but the few that did fell to their knees. Were they worshiping the unknown figure? Thanking them? Jill wasn¡¯t sure. She knew that in her case, her feelings towards the figure were clear. Respect. She had grossly underestimated the being she now called her Queen. The miracle of the Rotor happening in front of her was simply the affirmation of a begrudging respect that had bloomed when she killed Yafoot. Even as the shaft rose above the smaller buildings, a heavenly song began to echo in her thoughts, and she very nearly fell to her knees alongside the ignorant masses. The connection she still had to Harven and Soipo was ablaze. Harven was lamenting and complaining, feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness radiating from his Mind. Soipo was even worse, blubbering about monsters and crowns. Ah. Right. The kingdom and the King¡¯s Revelation. As an influential figure, Jill was privy to sensitive information, and the City Lord¡¯s concerns about the Revelation were no exception. It was part of why she even agreed to team up with him in the first place; she believed his fears were valid. At first she too questioned his decision to allow the knights passage, but over time she had come to accept his decision. And now the Rotor was hovering in the air, seemingly as if it would fall and crush the people once again. Many may have felt a pang of fear at the realization, but Jill Yemonto had no such reservations. She now knew the one lifting the impossible weight was far too powerful to do something as lax as dropping it, but that was an entirely different level of anxiety. How powerful was the Queen? How did she become so powerful? It defied all logic. How many people did Jill know of with Minds powerful enough to do something like this by themselves? Not many, that much was certain. ¡°Person save us,¡± Jill muttered under her breath, surprising both herself and the managers gaping nearby. She was far from religious, so for her to utter a prayer, even a shallow one such as that, was cause for worry. Jill cursed at herself. What is this lack of control? This impulsiveness? Beeing Linked is influencing my Mind itself in a strange way. Hm? Beeing? The holy sounds of rapture seemed to dim for a moment before it suddenly reached a crescendo, echoing even more loudly in the Minds of the Linked. Only for the Queen did the song become more muted, though only Beck knew that was the case. To Jill and the rest, as the Rotor began to move sideways towards the forest, it was as if a choir had settled in their Minds to celebrate the greatness of the Queen. Of the Mother. Eventually, the spectacle came to a close. The Rotor¡¯s shaft and blades crashed into the forest, projecting visions of the same structure crashing into the city. Inwardly, Jill applauded. Though an irrational portion of her was bubbling to the surface, the calculating woman couldn¡¯t help but be impressed with the display. It was truly a genius maneuver. The simple, albeit impressive, action served several purposes. For one, it was frankly marvelous. The awe would stick in people¡¯s Minds. For the un-Linked people of Yiwi, it meant several other things. Rebuilding would be easier. There was no need to spend time and effort removing the intrusive objects. Any belongings crushed by the collapse could be found, or possibly even fully recovered. The bodies of those unfortunate enough to be caught underneath could be found and mourned. And finally, it would give them hope. That someone was watching over them, kind enough to help. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. For the Linked, it meant something else. It was a show of force. Not that anybody who was Linked could actually resist; if neither Harven nor Jill could combat the Linker bees¡¯ control, then certainly nobody currently in Yiwi could do so. No, the true strength was if by some miniscule chance someone¡¯s Linker died or ran out of time without having the bee replaced, they would not dare fight. It also gave them hope, in a somewhat bizarre way. Those less informed may be inclined to believe that the Queen was a merciful creature after all. Perhaps the mercenary girl and her team had exaggerated the danger. Jill Yemonto knew better. She lamented the failure of the small team of mercenaries. If they had just been more experienced, more crafty, more careful, then perhaps¡­ But no. Such thoughts were now irrelevant. And possibly wrong, considering Toh was one of the first as well. In less than a week, the city of Yiwi had fallen into the clutches of a creature Jill now knew was so intelligent, such an adept schemer, and so powerful, that the future was sure to be marred with danger. Bring it on. I didn¡¯t reach this point by cowering or bowing. I make others bow and cower. Perhaps that won¡¯t be true for the bees, but for others it can still be true. ___________ Yelah sat in a chair. Unmoving. Unblinking. She watched as the Rotor crested the wall and crashed into the forest without a hint of emotion on her face. She was looking out of a window in the Hayrey and Sons¡¯ headquarters, specifically at the head of a large metal table within the board of directors¡¯ office. Around the table were herself, Grehn, Vlugh, Dip, Rette, and the actual Hayrey board members. The young woman twitched and spun in her chair, turning back to the other humans (and penguin). The chair sure was strange. It was metallic, but the important bits were covered in some sort of strange fabric or fur, serving as a nice cushion. A luxury the board apparently loved, considering how the same material covered the floor, walls and even the table. ¡°I¡¯m on my way now. Gimme a sec,¡± Yelah spoke, attempting to steeple her fingers. She missed, causing her hands to tangle, so she tried again, to no avail. A delicate motion like that was still a bit hard to do in a host body at the same time as concentrating on something else. Yelah¡¯s team looked grim. Their faces were pained and sad, especially that of Rette. The money-obsessed girl was actually a very interesting case; although her Linker had died around the same time as the others, she couldn¡¯t do much to help. Her injuries were still healing, as a matter of fact. Her presence here was forced upon her, and she was in actual pain, not just upset with Yelah¡¯s current situation. Speaking of which. On the outside, Yelah was cool as a cucumber. Calm and composed. But her voice told a different story. It was distorted and strange, completely unlike her own voice. And that was because the Queen was directly controlling her. It was a technique the Queen had only recently figured out, but it was already being put to good use. If one were to look into Yelah¡¯s Mind, the image she presented on the outside shattered. Yelah was bound and gagged, crying and screaming within her own Mind. Lacking control of her own body and actions, she watched on as the Queen moved her body like a humiliating puppet and spoke with her own voice. Of course, such a punishment was temporary. It was certainly effective, considering Yelah¡¯s desires and ideals, but it was a bit¡­ lax. After all, she wasn¡¯t the only one unwittingly relegated to her own Mind without control of her own body. ¡°Yelah, Yelah, Yelah. I¡¯d tell you to chill out, but I don¡¯t really think that¡¯ll help. I already told you this is just a temporary arrangement until I figure out a more suitable punishment. Honestly, is she overreacting or something? I mean, this is basically just your situation, Queen.¡± The Queen had made such comments a few times, speaking to some other mysterious ¡®Queen¡¯ who Yelah couldn¡¯t hear. And yet, something told her that the Queen and the ¡®Queen¡¯ who was being referred to weren¡¯t separate entities at all. But such thoughts were fleeting. Instead, the imprisonment was all Yelah could think of as she watched her friends look at her with dark expressions. She knew. Both Yelah and the Queen knew what ¡®punishment¡¯ truly meant. Yelah¡¯s friends were her weakness, and the Queen fully intended to use that weakness. Besides, it wasn¡¯t like they were free of blame, either. A knock on the window startled the group, except for Yelah. Her body was being controlled by the one tapping on the window, after all. The Queen undid the latch with her Mind and floated in, closing the window behind her. She was terrifying. Sure, her body was only half as large as Yelah¡¯s own and nowhere near Grehn¡¯s, and her stinger was nothing of note. No, what bore down on the group, especially the board members, was the sheer weight of the Queen¡¯s Mind. Her little stunt with the Rotor just a few moments ago left nothing to the imagination, and now they were fully aware of what the Queen was truly capable of. ¡°Hello! Hope you don¡¯t mind me talking through Yelah here. I know you¡¯re all Linked besides those two, so just let me use this time for some experimentation.¡± The two un-Linked board members she spoke of tensed. They had thought themselves safe, unnoticed by the Queen, but that was obviously not the case. If someone was Linked she would instantly know, so of course someone who wasn¡¯t Linked was just as apparent. ¡°Now now, I haven¡¯t forgotten you two, my friends,¡± Yelah said with her warped voice. ¡°Here, I¡¯ve got a few Linkers specially for you. My treat.¡± As the words left Yelah¡¯s mouth, the two men leaped out of their seats and dashed for the door before the Linkers had even dismounted from their perch on the Queen¡¯s abdomen. With a sigh exaggeratedly performed by Yelah, the weight of the Queen¡¯s Mind pushed forwards, stopping the men in their tracks. Both of them struggled uselessly, even pouring their middling Minds into the effort. But the Queen was done with the confounded sneaking. Instead, the pure force of her Mind wrapped around the un-Linked, squeezing them harshly. There was nothing they could do to resist as they slowly floated towards the table and turned, exposing their napes. ¡°Man, I wish I could¡¯ve just done this from the beginning. So much easier! Oh, sorry if I¡¯m squeezing too hard, I just got a cool upgrade so my Mind is a bit stronger. Now just hold still¡­ just kidding! I¡¯m the one holding you still! Ha.¡± The terrible joke, which was obviously purposefully bad, garnered no laughs from the crowd. Instead, they all watched with abject horror as the squirming executives were brought into the hive, immediately ending their struggle. The Queen released them and the pair each calmly went back to their respective seats, now with their faces as the only outlet for their emotions. And boy, were they upset. ¡°Now!¡± the Queen spoke, still using Yelah as a medium. She was going to use this chance to experiment as much as possible, so Yelah¡¯s fingers once again went up into a steeple. This time, she succeeded. ¡°I¡¯m sure you all know why I¡¯m here. It¡¯s because you silly sods betrayed me. Not that I blame you, of course. Well, I do, but¡­ Well, point is I get where you were coming from. Unfortunately for you, my understanding does not equal forgiveness. And forgive you, I certainly don¡¯t. Because of your actions, things became absurdly complicated. Because of your ACTIONS, bees DIED,¡± Yelah said. Her tone grew darker and darker, her voice increasingly unnatural until the Queen felt the Minds of the other humans near the edge of unconsciousness. Deep breaths. ¡°Sorry you folks had to see that. This is mostly meant for the mercs, anyway. You knew there would be consequences if you lost, and you did. You lost, Yelah and co. So now, your fates are in my hands. As for what I¡¯m going to do with you¡­ I still haven¡¯t decided! Maybe the anticipation will be just as painful as the punishment itself, so I¡¯m probably gonna have to get creative. Except you, Rette. Man, were you lucky to be so grievously injured before. I¡¯d really think you healed by now, but oh well.¡± ¡°For now, all of you besides Rette and Dip will be coming to the hive to await retribution. Ah, not you board members. I still need you to manage Hayrey. Not all your mercenaries are Linked, after all, and I¡¯m sure international communication will be happening soon. Rette will be helping you. I don¡¯t think that¡¯s really punishment, right? I¡¯d still like her to be involved, though. You¡¯re also going to be collaborating with the other mercenary companies from now on. I¡¯ll be creating a connection between you and the other leadership. Well, that¡¯s all from me. Anything else I order will be done from the Link. Say goodbye to the three mercenaries, everybody!¡± Strangely enough, it took a little prodding from the Link for the humans to say their farewells. Chapter 80 - The Advent of Beewi Fields full of strange crops stretched before me. Once again, it was made clear that humans really knew how to build. I didn¡¯t really know anything about farming, but even I could tell when something was impressive. The farmland, I knew, was infertile and difficult to cultivate. This world wasn¡¯t just full of metal; it was practically stuffed to the brim with metal both familiar and fantastical, to the point that metals of various kinds were present in the freaking soil. So what sorts of crops could grow in such conditions? What sorts of crops consumable by humans could they farm like this? Seaweed. Well, it probably wasn¡¯t actual seaweed, considering the lack of¡­ sea. But looking at the fields, there was no doubt about it. Rows and rows of strange-looking seaweed stalks flowed as if they were still in water, growing to be just barely taller than the humans toiling away, and that was when they were not yet ready to be harvested. ¡°Food has already been an issue since the Burning, and it will only become worse. I am a fighter. Whatever you expect of me is unfortunately not sufficient for feeding the people of this city.¡± I was floating alongside my new city leaders, and one of them, Jill Yemonto, was boldly complaining to my face. Benita, buzzing nearby, looked like she wanted to sting Jill on her nosy nose. I was actually fine with her assessment. In fact, I kinda wished my bees would directly confront me instead of me just knowing their thoughts through the Link. But oh well. ¡°I¡¯m aware. That¡¯s why the merchants are now part of Yiwi¡¯s official leadership. Yes, I know you¡¯re not happy with it, Soipo, but thanks to me, those same merchants aren¡¯t currently mounting your head on a spike.¡± The various humans around me cringed at the hypothetical. Huh. Looking at their Minds, apparently mounting heads was a very unusual practice. It wasn¡¯t exactly a common occurrence in my old world during modern times, but people certainly did it in the past. But apparently it wasn¡¯t something people had done here. I suppose there was just too much respect for the head, which made sense. Mind was very important, after all. Even so, wouldn¡¯t that make the head-mounting thing twice as effective? Its entire purpose was to like, strike fear or something, right? Well, whatever. ¡°In any case, I expect you guys to figure something out. I don¡¯t intend to have a hand in managing this city and its humans, so that¡¯s a you problem. Of course, I¡¯ll be collaborating with you, and will most likely have bees who are more involved with the city¡¯s operations, but I myself don¡¯t really care about that stuff. I¡¯m a queen, after all. I have more important matters to attend to.¡± It was all a matter of perspective. Was it important to ensure that the people in Yiwi didn¡¯t starve? That their homes and businesses could be rebuilt? Their dead mourned? Eh. Now planting flowers in the forest, that was real shit. In all seriousness, I really didn¡¯t want to involve myself with the city¡¯s management. I cared about the hive, after all. And in my mind, my research and continued birthing of bees would most benefit the hive, not ruling a human city. ¡°While I agree, I fear we won¡¯t have the luxury of choice. Conquering this city means that we are now invested in its success. Otherwise, it will all have been wasted. Not to mention that it is our largest, most sturdy wall protecting us from the rest of humanity.¡± True enough, Yiwi was most useful as a buffer between the hive itself and other humans. The Kingdom, the Empire, the Theocracy, all those generic-sounding powers in the world would hopefully be none the wiser and delayed thanks to Yiwi¡¯s existence. And as for being invested in its success, I wasn¡¯t overly worried about it. The leadership, I already knew, was fully capable of bringing Yiwi back up. Soipo the City Lord, standing nervously nearby, was a cowardly man to anyone who knew of him. While that may have been true, I would venture to use the word careful instead. Careful to a fault, maybe, but still. He wasn¡¯t incompetent, he had just come up against things he couldn¡¯t handle in the end. With his reluctance to trust done away with, I was certain his talents would truly shine. After all, who was there for him to be afraid of? Alongside him stood another interesting party. The twelve merchants, of whom only one had died in the battle, were also very capable individuals. It was through their power that the Fighters had become a force able to threaten the city, after all, and that was before my involvement. The eleven remaining business people would be invaluable in making sure the city would recover in a quick fashion, and would be integral in the efforts to keep people from spreading information willy-nilly. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Speaking of the merchants. One of them, an older man, had died during the battle. I didn¡¯t really care about him too much, but his business was just hanging there. I decided to give all his property to Mesne, since she was the merchant with the smallest business. The distant stare she had plastered on her face as she overlooked the fields masked a storm of panic. Well, she would figure things out, surely. On the note of the dead merchant man, he was a victim of an extremely annoying rogue variable. The merc team of edgy sword-wielders were the ones who had killed him, single-handedly invading his hideout and cutting the man down. They had also left a wake of bodies in their path, and were some of the few who had, presumably, managed to escape the city. Which was really, really bad. It was so bad that, in the dead of night, I sent Linked mercenaries and warrior bees to chase the sword team down. It was a bit risky, considering I wasn¡¯t fully aware of the effects range would have on the Linkers. But taking that risk was better than letting those mercenaries go free. According to our information, they had left when the Rotor fell, so they didn¡¯t know any concrete details about the bees. But they presumably knew of our existence, to some degree, as the most important mercs had been informed by mercenary leadership. I was starting to get really annoyed at my lack of knowledge. All this power and information at my fingertips, but I hadn¡¯t had the time to test the Linker bees¡¯ range, among other things. It freaking pissed me off. Well, from there we could move on to the enemy. Mercenaries themselves were at best useful for manual labor, which was fine enough. Their leaders were a different story, though. The most exceptional was, of course, Jill Yemonto. Her sheer competence made her an obvious candidate to be one of the City Lord¡¯s direct advisors, as well as my main liaison for the city. The other mercenary leaders weren¡¯t quite as impressive, but they had another important use. The plain fact that they led the Yiwi headquarters of powerful international organizations. It was imperative that the other branches of Hayrey and Sons¡¯, Yemonto Co., and the Ehra Group did not interfere with Yiwi in the time to come. Introducing more rogue variables like that would just be incredibly annoying. It was bad enough that Goloyo was bound to show up eventually, and I didn¡¯t really know what to make of them. An entire mercenary company, made up of a single small team of mercenaries? Wack. But the main point was that the mercenary leaders were important due to their positions. And Harven? Not much to say there. The man worked alone, with his own small company he led and grew himself. He once sought power, but now, all he would be able to do was use his capabilities to serve my odd jobs. He would also advise the City Lord alongside Jill, but as an independent party, he ¡®officially¡¯ had the freedom to do other things. Most damning of the groups within the city, other than the regular citizens, were the Fighters. Now, they were annoying for a few different reasons, not least of which being that their command structure was fucked. They were, after all, primarily a civilian militia. Their actual leadership was more like bossy or inspiring people who told people to do things, rather than actually lead. They had relied on the merchants and their power for guidance, so in the field, their commanders were more like representatives who were chosen to receive orders from on high. Here they were only represented by Oyonshe and his friends, along with a few of the so-called commanders. ¡°Sorry about this, you guys, but you have no choice in the matter as it is. Ruling is one thing, but living is another. There are smaller things that need to be addressed to ensure Yiwi functions as I want it to, things the City Lord and the rest of the leadership aren¡¯t capable of. You all will be in charge of the people. Inspiring them, guiding them. Throwing them off the trail. Before, you were the ones who made sure they remained unsatisfied with their situation, and maintained the rage necessary to fight. Now, you will do the opposite. Placate them. Make sure their suspicion does not fester. That is your new task.¡± Without another word, the people bowed. Ooh! That felt kinda good. Maybe I should bowing standard practice. ¡°I think your power has corrupted you. Instead of experimentation, we must now embark on a journey of self-reflection so that you may become a more effective ruler.¡± Sure thing bud. In that case, no need to lay any more eggs! ¡°What I meant to say is that your wisdom, which is in part inherited from myself, is quite vast indeed. And therefore, the arrogance your power has afforded you, which is sourced entirely from yourself, is something to work on. Shall we continue the battle of wits?¡± A journey, huh¡­? I know it was mostly a joke, and mostly implied to be an internal journey, but the idea of an actual adventure was very attractive. Once the new queens were made, then maybe¡­. I played down the three large countries before, but there really was much to explore in this world. Somuia was a huge country dominating the continent. Dreva was the only real rival country on the landmass, a mysterious place to the west. It was the place I knew the least about, since the only Drevani I controlled, like Vlugh, left the theocratic nation at an early age. And then there was the island nation of Rikitan, and its Riktish Empire. The giant home island to the south was also something of a mystery, and its various territories to the far west and east of the continent would be interesting to visit. Speaking of the east and west, there were a few interesting places. The Spiral Spire to the west, and the mountains to the east. The monster territories of the south east, and the war currently happening there were yet another fascinating element in the wider world. All these places. So much to see. One day I would go, at least to a few of them. It was all so¡­ different. In my old life, I didn¡¯t give much chance to things that were different. What little chance I did give were visits to a few countries outside my own, but that was when I was younger. When my mother¡­. When I had the time and money to do so. Even then, I doubt I gave those experiences enough credit. And later in life? New things were irrelevant. Or, at least, I saw them as such. I always thought I was too busy, too preoccupied with whatever was going on. Looking within, I finally realized why I had been so insistent on seeing Yiwi myself. I regretted my previous life. Maybe my desires were just being influenced by Queen¡¯s nature. She wasn¡¯t adventurous, but she had a strong desire to learn more and become stronger, in part to protect and grow the hive. It was probably what made her special, and more than likely the reason her Mind was unusually powerful. But I knew it was something within me, something that wanted to change. ¡°Well, that¡¯s that. I came here mostly just because of a selfish desire to visit the city in person, so I don¡¯t have much else planned. We¡¯ll probably stick around for another day or so before heading back. I¡¯m counting on y¡¯all to do a great job. Don¡¯t worry; I¡¯ll know what you¡¯re thinking at all times, so no pressure!¡± Finally, a chance to relax. With this whole situation behind us and the responsibilities delegated, I could finally dedicate brainpower to something other than this bullshit. It was thankfully over and done with. As we all turned around to look at the crumbling ruins of the city, I officially declared Operation Yiwi a rousing success! Chapter 81 - Interlude 2: Electric Boogaloo Bear beaver, dam a lam ¡°Kwere otro fewe, tam kor on!¡± ¡°I told you, I have no idea what you¡¯re saying!¡± I shouted over my shoulder. It was clear that the people chasing me couldn¡¯t understand me either, but it still felt good to get the stress out of the ol¡¯ system. Not the magic system. But yeah, my current situation was one I would call unfortunate, to say the very least. After bursting out of the metal cage and freeing the bozo currently running next to me, I had to resort to running away. And so I was running on all fours, my oversized tail flapping behind me as humans from another world shouted at me in their bizarre language. I know it¡¯s just another foreign language, but they¡¯re like, aliens! I can call their language weird, right?! ¡°You should really try to learn their language, sir beaver. They just called you a tasty snack.¡± ¡°Shut the hell up, asshole! Run faster!¡± I screeched at the huge bear who was casually keeping stride with me. She wasn¡¯t even running on all fours! ¡°Hey! Pick me up and run full speed out of here. We¡¯ve got to get out of the city and head for the mountains!¡± ¡°I apologize, sir beaver, but I would rather not blindly follow the wishes of some animal, even if I do owe you a debt. I am a human, after all,¡± the bear said. ¡°You dumbass, you¡¯re a fucking bear now! We¡¯re both humans who reincarnated in another world, like I¡¯ve told you a million times before. Get me the hell out of this fucking place!¡± I yelled, jumping at the bear¡¯s soft pelt. When I hit it, it shocked me to feel hard, powerful muscles beneath the layers of fat and fur. This motherfucker was holding out on me! I missed home. I missed the food my mom made. I missed wine, dammit. At first, I had been excited to be reborn in another world, even if it was as a freaking beaver for some reason. But nearly every experience so far has just been miserable! It was nice and relaxing for a while, just building my dam out of scrap metal and stomping on weak monsters. But humans? With guns?! I couldn¡¯t deal with it. And now to be forcefully allied with this stupid bear? ¡°Oh, very well. I will admit, this dream has been rather strange. And long. And it is strange that a foul-mouthed beaver in a fantastical world would be speaking French,¡± she said before lurching. I twisted, getting on top of her massive fuzzy back, and held on for dear life as my new companion sped up. She¡¯s damn fast! And stupid! ¡°Hold on. You knew I was speaking Francais this whole time? And you still thought I was a regular beaver? What the hell, dude? Where are you from, then?¡± ¡°You do not recognize it? Interesting how a French-speaking beaver understands a Pilipino bear like myself. And yet you do not know my language, or what is being said by the people chasing us.¡± ¡°News flash: I don¡¯t care about all that, I just care about the fact that you still thought I was an ordinary talking beaver!¡± ¡°Well, where do you wish to go, sir beaver?¡± She slowed to a trot, so I quickly responded to get her moving again. ¡°Like I said, we need to head west, past the mountains.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Turd tilted her head. Yes, I¡¯m gonna call her Turd until she volunteers her name, goddammit. That¡¯s what she gets for ignoring me while we were caged. ¡°Past the mountains? Don¡¯t you have a warning in your, ah, ¡®system?¡¯ Mine still says ¡®Bearware the west.¡¯¡± ¡°Yes! Anything¡¯s better than here. That shitty message made me want to come to the east, but all that ended up doing was getting me captured and sold like a piece of meat. By humans in a fantasy world that has guns in it!¡± ¡°I don¡¯t see why a fantasy world can¡¯t have guns. They are very common and the technology to create them has existed for a long time, and with magic surely-¡° ¡°Shut up and run!¡± It was true. My system notification was still saying ¡®The west is: dam dangerous.¡¯ But like I told Turd, anything would be better than this awful place. Hell, I¡¯d take the desert outside the city at this rate. I felt Turd accelerate and clutched her fur more tightly as the shouts faded behind me. You know what? Maybe the warning was fake. A trick. Maybe the west would actually be peaceful and fun, with nobody who wants to freaking eat me! ____________ ____________ Wey Hey, Blow the Man Down I took a deep breath. In. Out. From out here, the noxious odor of orcs and sweaty humans nearly didn¡¯t reach us, drowned out by the smell of sea and guns. Nope. I leaned over the railing and threw up again as cheers erupted behind me. ¡°The commander does it again! She stays seasick to the very end! Three cheers and infinite respect!¡± Soldiers whooped and laughed behind my back as I stared at the rocks far below. Their cheers were different from before. Not so long ago, they mocked me and laughed insulting laughs, belittling my lack of seaworthiness. And who could blame them? A Riktish? Seasick? What sort of pathetic loser would that be? Some idiot pat me on the back, causing me to heave again and prompting another round of cheers. Yes, that loser was me. Or, at least, it had been. Until Commander Moktor took me under his wing. Thinking of mister Moktor made a smile creep onto my face until I caught it. Those feelings weren¡¯t right. And so, the nausea replaced the fluttering in my stomach. Ah yes. Much better. With as much refinement as I could muster, which wasn¡¯t much, I straightened my back and wiped my mouth. It took more concentration than shooting a far target for my energy to go into staring at the distance. Our ship sat still at the very edge of the continent, brushing up against the rocks lining the shoreline. Before us stretched the continent itself, and by extension, Somuia. Or at least, the frontier between Somuia and the warring tribes. This war between humans and non-humans had been going on for years, ever since I was a child. Yet it was only recently that our Rikitan graciously joined the fray. I remembered when it happened only a few months ago, the frenzy among the sailors back home. The pleading from my father not to follow in my uncle¡¯s footsteps, and my disobedience. Our joining changed things. I remembered wondering how we were supposed to help. We were a sailing nation; our navy was powerful indeed, but the Somuians were fighting a land war. How could we possibly contribute? The answer: easily. Even shooting from the safety of our warships did enough damage to force a hasty retreat from the tribes, leading to the current situation. The tribes couldn¡¯t advance westward due to the threat of our firepower, and the Somuians couldn¡¯t advance eastward because of¡­ well, a lack of our firepower. If only the geography were more in our favor, then maybe the war would be over already. But with the Fang Canyon separating the coastline and the frontier, well. It was both a blessing and a curse. Thanks to the canyon, the orc army couldn¡¯t come anywhere near our ships. But in the same vein, our guns were becoming ineffective as we moved along the canyon and it began to widen. It had been this way for near a week now. At some point, people¡¯s gunshots simply fell short, and even the cannons were having trouble. Eventually, my shots were the only ones reaching the enemy. So now Captain Ront wanted to go ashore. ¡®Madman¡¯, they called him. ¡®Mad Captain Ront¡¯ had become his popular new nickname, not that he begrudged it at all. A moniker was a highly sought-after commodity, after all. ¡°Steady, men. Give your commander a break,¡± a familiar voice growled. The aforementioned captain walked up to stand next to me, so now I was really panicking. He saw me as family, but it was hard to separate Ront the man from Ront the soldier. And I was currently unable to salute¡­ for some reason. ¡°Easy, cadet. We¡¯ll be heading ashore soon, so don¡¯t you worry too much about your seasickness. If only the rest had your talents, such an operation might not be necessary¡­ But alas. We must disembark.¡± ¡°Sir,¡± I managed to croak out. ¡°I¡¯m not a cadet anymore.¡± ¡°To me, you will always be a cadet, cadet. Even if you¡¯ve progressed through the ranks at an incredible speed. Your damn uncle would be jealous. And he was a genius!¡± Captain Ront chuckled, looking off into the distance. What the hell, Captain? I don¡¯t even know why I¡¯m progressing through the ranks in the first place. I can¡¯t lead, for Person¡¯s sake! Soldiers climb through the ranks to be leaders, not a damn sharpshooter! Breathe. ¡°With all due respect, Captain, I have some recommendations for my replacement. The soldiers you¡¯ve put under my command are very talented, even if they can¡¯t sharpshoot like me. I still have much to learn. Commander Moktor¡¯s lessons have been helpful, but ever since his ship was called away, I¡¯ve been struggling to make progress.¡± Ront took a moment to stroke his smooth chin. He told me it was a habit he kept from when he had a beard, which I found hard to believe. I had never seen a Riktish with facial hair besides my uncle, and he was a weirdo. ¡°Gunning for my position already, eh cadet? Don¡¯t worry; if you continue to prove yourself once we head ashore, I¡¯ll have no choice but to submit the formal request for your promotion to a naval captain. Give you a chance to see the Empress in person, show you what a true warrior looks like. Chances are, you can watch her kill an assassin during the promotion ceremony. Oh hey, maybe I can give you the Eradicator when you officially become a captain. Old girl served me well.¡± The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. It took a moment to register what the hell Captain Ront was saying. Before I could respond, he swiftly turned and began shouting orders, leaving me alone at the railing. The once cool metal now felt freezing to the touch. How could this be happening?! I fiddled with my modified rifle for comfort, just to feel something familiar. I say familiar, but I had only owned Death¡¯s Gaze for a few weeks, and yet, I already felt a connection. Yes, I knew people whispered rumors about how I talked to my gun. Such things were completely unfounded. ¡°I¡¯ve never been to the big continent, DG,¡± I muttered. ¡°It¡¯s always just been home or the sea. And I can barely handle the sea. Maybe I belong there, where it¡¯s land everywhere. No water in sight. I think I¡¯d rather go on a pleasant trip instead of a combat mission, but at least I¡¯m going. Maybe I can even see that forest people talk about. Like, what is a ¡®tree¡¯ anyways? I¡¯ve heard of some rich people putting something called wood on stuff, which seems amazing. It must be amazingly sturdy or strong if people prefer it to metal.¡± Sure, there had been recent rumors about the famous Vultuous Forest, but I didn¡¯t put much stock in them. Sailors often told grand stories, like my uncle¡¯s tales about horrific monsters of the deep. I decided not to dwell on it and instead moved to follow the soldiers as they prepared to make landing. Honestly, I wasn¡¯t sure how it was supposed to work. We couldn¡¯t exactly get close to the shore, considering the rocks jutting from the water. And nobody had seen fit to inform me how we were meant to do something like this. Yet another example of my failure as a leader. Someone asked me if I was ready, so all I could do was nod at her. What the hell was I supposed to be ready for?! I got my answer when she guided me to a small boat, and I nearly laughed in her face. And yet, her serious demeanor told me she wasn¡¯t joking. ¡°So¡­ how exactly are we supposed to make it past the rocks in that?¡± ¡°Huh? With Mind, Commander. With all due respect, are you stupid?¡± My jaw practically hit the floor. Not because of her insult. No, that was typical Riktish sailor behavior. We were supposed to use our freaking Minds to steer this tiny thing through treacherous rocky waters? Was she the stupid one?! A look at the other sailors confirmed my worst fears. What the soldier had said was exactly the plan. Did we really not have a better way of reaching the shore, even if we were way out here? Why weren¡¯t the inventors coming up with ideas like that instead of, like, new gun models every other day? ¡°On your word, Commander.¡± I took another breath. We would be on land soon. We would be on land soon. We would be on land soon. ____________ ____________ Some Body That I Used To Know Several body parts lazily floated down the large Yam river, mere parts of a whole. One of the feet, the right one, twitched, flexing a single of its toes. Strange behavior for a severed foot, some might say. The head, which floated in the water nearby, was deep in thought. Again, potentially strange behavior for a disembodied head. Finding one here¡­ Very interesting, It thought. The head was quite fascinated with its current situation, though interestingly not the fact that its body was chopped into various pieces. Instead, it was interested in an insect. A former bee and a former human. Human. How interesting. The head¡¯s previous owner had helped an unusual amount, more than it originally intended. The choice to interfere was not taken lightly. What the head had observed was part of the phenomenon it was currently interested in. After all, something so peculiar didn¡¯t come around so often. It tried flexing its fingers to scratch at the back of its neck, to no avail. Unfortunately, it would have to rebuild its body somehow. But as for its¡­ they called it ¡®Mind¡¯ here, it was still perfectly intact, safely preserved during the whole ordeal. Being a foot was not its favorite state of being. Hands were much better. Heads are ideal, Thought the head. Though it might have been a bit biased. Leave. You have overstayed your welcome. That was not the familiar voice of the head¡¯s own thoughts. It was another individual, one of the rare few which rivaled the head in age and power. A curious creature indeed. Like so many that grew to its level of might, it was a conqueror, though this one was more egregious than some the head had met. Controlling so many nodes¡­ it was truly outrageous. Don¡¯t cry, little buddy. I won¡¯t interfere much longer. You will be destroyed. I¡¯d like to see you try! You just might manage to do it, too. You¡¯re quite powerful, if I do say so myself. But you can¡¯t destroy me. You are human. I have power over you in my territory. Nice try, nice try. But you know it won¡¯t work. I¡¯m just a foot, after all, Thought the head. Sure, it was, in theory, a human at the moment, but the head decided to ignore such a technicality. Besides, I didn¡¯t really do much. Just helped them find a few people. You should lighten up; even beings like us don¡¯t live forever. Not really. In fact, how about I make it up to you? I can teach you some things. I know a foot isn¡¯t the best teacher, but even you don¡¯t know everything, so I¡¯m sure we can figure something out. Here, let me wiggle my toes a bit and show you these humans I met once. They¡¯re a little different from what you might expect, ¡®cause they weren¡¯t the dominant species by a long shot. No, their story- Cease. I care not for your wisdom. The issue at hand is that I cannot accept you furthering the Bee¡¯s goals. Though your interference was minimal, it is still bothersome. The head could somewhat understand where the voice was coming from, as a fellow ancient, powerful being. The head was an outsider, not truly involved with the situation plaguing the voice, and yet here it was, bloodying the waters. Literally, in this case. While the relatively cataclysmic conflict currently chasing the voice was a shame, it was even more shameful that the head¡¯s interest made things worse. Ah. Unfortunately, I will eventually have to respect your wishes. Just don¡¯t want to be present much longer since things are becoming too interesting here. Not my style. ___________ ___________ Get up Knightly Boy My opponent shifted his weight, clearly telegraphing his attack. With barely any effort, I dodged his dull blade and brought my arm up, pointing a finger at the eyehole in his armor. ¡°Good try, but you¡¯re being obvious with your movements. Go back to drills,¡± I instructed. The knight, a son of some minor noble, bowed and stormed away. He was frustrated to be beaten so soundly, but I could still note the glimmer in his eye. Dueling with the second-in-command of the Royal Guard was still considered a great honor. I sighed and sat on a nice, cool bench. These knights weren¡¯t bad, but to me, they still sucked. I was fine with Teyelan¡¯s request to duel them, but I didn¡¯t really see any point. It wasn¡¯t even a warm up for me, and getting played with like children didn¡¯t have any purpose for them. ¡°It¡¯s for morale, Feyomo. They need it,¡± Masaula said, seemingly reading my Mind, as usual. Despite the familiarity, I couldn¡¯t help but shiver. She always did that, speaking as if my thoughts were plainly written on my face. Even now, after she discovered my secret, she acted like this. It was notably less flirty, but it still bothered me. ¡°That¡¯s because your thoughts are written on your face. Very obviously.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± She sat next to me and we watched the knights drill, the both of us silent. If I looked at them objectively, they were quite good, even I had to admit. It wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t encountered weaker fighters; our knights were considered the best of the best for a reason, after all. No other country had this many elite combatants, their armies mostly being made up of enlisted civilians, career soldiers, or even mercenaries. We had all that, and then the Somuian army of knights on top of it all. Well, on top of all besides us. But honestly, I couldn¡¯t help wishing they were stronger. Some might have called me mad for hoping so, considering our famous army of knights was feared throughout the world. But for all their skill and decent Minds, they weren¡¯t a match for the true elite. Was it so much to ask for a few opponents on the level of the king in his prime? Or even Bloody Takari; now that would be a challenge even I might not be able to manage. Hell, I¡¯d even take a Seiena now and then. I wish she would come to the capital more often. Our¡­ spars were always enjoyable. Eventually, Masaula spoke again. ¡°I know you¡¯re still thinking about the Burning. They were orders, plain and simple. Teyelan didn¡¯t have a choice.¡± I only grunted in response. We all knew she was right, but it still comforted me to know that I wasn¡¯t the only one second guessing our actions. Even hearing the nickname of our infamous last job darkened my thoughts, clouding them. What sort of atrocity did something have to be to become a widely spread name barely a month after it happened? It seemed like Teyelan, Masaula, and that asshole Omeio were the only ones who didn¡¯t have any regrets at all. And now I was thinking of Omeio again. I was conscious enough to know that my face had soured, so Masaula¡¯s comments weren¡¯t surprising this time. ¡°Omeio will come around. I think he¡¯s being this way because you only told Teyelan your secret. The rest of us were just surprised, that¡¯s all. And Omeio was taken off guard, which is rare. He is simply sorting through his feelings.¡± I just grunted again. What was I supposed to say? Sure, I was pissed off by Omeio¡¯s assery, but I was mostly worried for him. He was the one who had burned down the Vultuous Forest, after all. All eyes were on him, which was something none of us of the Royal Guard ever had to deal with before. It was hard to imagine; simple fire-based Abilities becoming more taboo than Captain Teyelan¡¯s mysterious electricity. It was absurd. Simply absurd. But in the end, current events mattered the most. And with everyone paying attention to the Burning, powers considered unethical did not register as strongly as they might usually be. Even electrical Abilities. It was just strange to hear people whispering about the Burning instead of the King¡¯s evil Mindkiller. ¡°Do you hate him?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± I asked eloquently. Come on, the sudden question surprised me. ¡°Teyelan. Do you hate him for following the King¡¯s orders? For making us follow him on that fool¡¯s errand? For exposing your secret?¡± Masaula asked. I couldn¡¯t get a read on her facial expressions; not that I had her talent to do so. ¡°Of course not,¡± I responded immediately. ¡°The Captain held onto my identity for years. I completely understand why he had to tell you guys, and it¡¯s not as big of a deal as you think. I¡¯ve been ready to tell you all for some time, I just¡­ didn¡¯t know how to go about it. But I could never hate Captain Teyelan.¡± ¡°Wow. I think that¡¯s the most words you¡¯ve spoken all day!¡± She seemed genuinely relieved. I knew where she was coming from. We all relied on the Captain and respected him a great deal. And we all knew he relied on us just as much, considering his position. If we were to abandon him¡­ well, none of us would be able to forgive ourselves. His ¡®betrayal¡¯ was long forgotten in my eyes. Right? ¡°The only thing I¡¯m actually thinking of is the Burning. I know why we did it, but I still don¡¯t know if it was the right thing to do.¡± ¡°We are among the few who have been told the entirety of the King¡¯s Revelation,¡± she sighed. ¡°For me, it was enough. I understand your feelings, and some of the others agree with you, but you must not dwell on it moving forward. Without you, our ranks only stand at a fraction of their power.¡± ¡°You¡¯re flattering me.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± she said. ¡°Everyone knows it. It is an open secret. The Captain has his tricky Ability and we are all skilled, but you stand above us all. Few could confront you in open combat.¡± Which was incredibly annoying. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I was happy that my mere presence acted as a deterrent for other countries to try anything silly, but all it meant was that I couldn¡¯t spear through my problems. Instead, it was all politics, underhanded tactics and shadowy conflicts that just didn¡¯t suit me at all. That was more the strength of those MIS weirdos. A familiar pang of guilt sprang up. That small part of me that wished for Dreva or Rikitan to declare open war so I could rush in and finally face a real challenge. Maybe the Orc War¡­. We had been hearing tell of strange, powerful figures popping up among the allied tribes. But for all his grandstanding, I knew the king was now being more reserved with our deployment. Which didn¡¯t help my bloodlust. ¡°But still,¡± I sighed. ¡°Something about the mission just didn¡¯t sit right with me the whole time. Even now-¡° ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter. We¡¯re not here to think, we¡¯re here to mete out the king¡¯s will,¡± a new voice interrupted. I clenched my fist and took a deep breath, turning to meet the eyes of my other fellow Royal Guard. ¡°Omeio, I-¡° ¡°Shut up, dickhead,¡± the stocky man said, punching my arm. What? ¡°Feyomo, er, sorry for the stuff I said before. I was¡­ ah, I was thinking, ya¡¯know?¡± I stared at him. Usually, Omeio was gloomy and stoic, never letting down his guard, even when the only people around were the rest of the Royal Guard. That brooding grump looked positively tortured now, his face pained and teeth grit. So, I slowly got up and pulled him into a giant hug, lifting him off the ground. I made sure to squeeze until we heard a few cracks, and I couldn¡¯t help but let out a laugh. ¡°I don¡¯t care what you said, asshole! If you¡¯re actually sorry, then let¡¯s spar. Loser buys the whole team drinks!¡± ¡°I¡­ can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­ fuckface¡­.¡± ____________ ____________ Dance of the Sugar Bob Fairy ¡°I¡¯m telling you, it just doesn¡¯t add up. Please, if nobody else will, then at least you need to believe me,¡± I pleaded to the man across the table. We were sharing a light meal at my favorite little cafe, and damn, was I going to miss it. The man on the other side of the small table, my best friend Maiolo, just sighed. The two of us must have looked ridiculous together. Him, wearing a crisp, perfect black suit with a small red bowtie and spotless white undershirt, contrasting against my own messy and disheveled garments. We were wearing the same outfit, perhaps less refined than the modern fashions, but the signature look of an MIS agent wouldn¡¯t be mistaken by anyone. In that case, people wouldn¡¯t dare think of how odd we ¨C or rather, I - appeared. ¡°I already told you, Bob, I do believe you. But my opinion doesn¡¯t matter, in the end. You should be grateful that you¡¯re even being allowed to live.¡± ¡°Technically, I haven¡¯t actually been discharged, so of course I¡¯m not dead. But that might be preferable to this. Seriously, Maiolo, it just doesn¡¯t make any sense. Why can¡¯t the higher-ups see that?¡± I whined at my friend. Any sense of decorum or self-respect was done away with. Not like I had any of either left to display. Maiolo sighed again, shaking his head. ¡°Has it occurred to you that they already know? Or that they simply don¡¯t care? Proving that Yiwi¡¯s Rotor is suspicious is ultimately not that big of a deal, especially now. You think the chief wants to deal directly with some semi-corrupt lord considering the current situation? They¡¯ve got their hands full dealing with the Coalition¡¯s bullshit.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand.¡± I rubbed my sore eyes and let out a groan. ¡°That Rotor has never been consistent, even back when the city was founded. I have the data. The entire time, it¡¯s been a ruse to avoid paying higher taxes to the crown. At least, that¡¯s what it seems like. There¡¯s something else going on there too, I¡¯m sure of it. I¡¯ve found some seriously strange connections to that city, Maiolo. The Shroud-¡° ¡°Is the consequence of a few mad researchers and probably doesn¡¯t even exist anymore,¡± Maiolo interrupted, waving his hand dismissively. ¡°So what? Listen, Bob. Let this go. Just walk up, apologize to the chief, and get back to work, eh? Forget this crazy plan of yours.¡± The pair of us sat in silence for a while as I mulled. I wasn¡¯t considering Maiolo¡¯s proposal, not at all. Discovering the truth about the Rotor, Yiwi, and the Shroud was too important, especially with the Coalition of Crowns¡¯ recent decisions, as Maiolo so graciously reminded me. My plan was simple: go to Yiwi in the guise of a disgraced Mind Inquiry Services agent, with the simple dream of starting my own mercenary company. It was excellent cover in that city, and like all good lies, contained grains of truth to hold it together. I was, in some ways, a disgraced MIS agent, and I did once have a dream of starting a mercenary company. As a child. Once again, I thanked little me for my overly-detailed plans and dreams, which only seemed fair to do since I was stealing, modifying, and employing his ideas. There were possible¡­ complications. Yiwi was most likely not particularly fond of the crown at the moment, considering the now-infamous Burning. I could only hope that being supposedly ¡®disgraced¡¯ would put me in a more ingratiated position. As for the Coalition¡­ it was something I would have to figure out. Yiwi was becoming increasingly liable to become a hotbed of international activity. Some of the big mercenary companies were probably already communicating with their bases there. They did have a habit of learning confidential information long before it was convenient, though their capabilities had been stunted by our own organization¡¯s introduction to the world stage. I could only hope that the established companies didn¡¯t prepare too much before I arrived. Ideally, they would wait until the emergency gathering of the Coaltion in the Crown Jewel was over before making any big moves. That gave me a scarce few days to prepare. Today would be the first Council gathering of the session, so if I hopped on the Everrail tomorrow and managed to secure an express cart using my MIS status¡­ Yes, I should be able to arrive in Yiwi within the week, perhaps a bit longer depending. I was cutting it a bit close, though¡­ Chapter 82 - Interlude: The Coalition of Crowns I, President Agarho, leader of the western nation of Irktash, was about to piss my pants. ¡°If you wanna throw down, let¡¯s do it! No more grandstanding. Fight me right now, little bitch!¡± ¡°Huh?! You really wanna go, Bloody Empress?! I¡¯ll finish the job that incompetent assassin started!¡± A giant boot slammed down on the even more gigantic round table that sat in the center of the room. The woman attached to the boot cut a horribly imposing figure, accented by the blood staining her otherwise pristine white military suit. That woman, Empress Takari the Bloody, was facing down General Gohnolen, who at first glance was far, far out of his league. The woman had, after all, killed an assassin with her bare hands mere moments before. How many had that been in the past week? I was always surprised to see that the legends surrounding the Empress were somewhat true, with mysterious murderers targeting her constantly. Even if her nickname didn¡¯t stem from the assassin blood permanently staining her clothes, it did nothing but enhance the stories. And yet, I knew from experience that my counterpart¡¯s strength was not to be underestimated. But looking again at the tyrant, towering over the entire Coalition of Crowns with her single good eye, my piss nearly did escape me. It was during this woman¡¯s rule that myself and Gohnolen had together freed our country from her Riktish Empire, and still during her rule that me and my military-minded friend had split our country in two. General Gohnolen seemed to remember who it was he was arguing with and huffed, forcefully picking up his chair and sitting back in it. ¡°Pussy,¡± Takari spat, also sitting back in her larger seat. The other rulers had stayed quiet, every bit as terrified as myself. Well, all but one. The representative from Dreva¡¯s Ministry appeared positively bored, primly picking nonexistent grime from his pristine nails. The heretic sat there, ever-confident, draped in the typical black and red robes of the upper echelon of the Drevan government. Of the supposed thirteen rulers, the four Ministers I had met during my attendances at the Coalition of Crowns were all equally disturbing. Even among Drevani, their leaders were odd. Those two represented the real power of crowns. My Irktash, Gohnolen¡¯s Ritia, Lord Asauio¡¯s own Crown Jewel. Even the assorted small western city-states and countries and all their respective rulers. All of us combined amounted to almost nothing in the face of the three true rulers of the world. So, Dreva and Rikitan were present; where was- The doors slammed open just as I pondered where the King of Somuia was, revealing the monarch himself. ¡°Why the tension, everyone? Eat! Drink! Though I see you¡¯ve already managed to get blood on your plate, Takari. Ha!¡± Grizzled and tall, King Yiwan the Third strolled into the meeting chamber, the door hurriedly being pulled closed behind him. White-haired, handsome, and appearing very young for his actual age, the King never failed to dominate a room. Despite the simplicity of his outfit, in true Somuian fashion, luxury was hidden in plain sight. Discrete jewelry, masterfully crafted metalweave clothing, and even a wooden pauldron. Do not look. I quickly tore my eyes from the door to avoid the King¡¯s gaze, instead training my eye on the table. Indeed, the round table had been piled high with delicious offerings, dishes styled after each and every member country¡¯s cuisine. Lord Asauio had once again outdone himself, and as usual, received no thanks for his efforts. The ruler of the Crown Jewel, the city-state where every Coalition meeting was held, sat near me, and I noted his meekness. It was hard to believe this man was the one who had successfully wrested independence from Somuia, considering the Crown Jewel¡¯s proximity to the Kingdom¡¯s own capital. One would expect such a leader to be confident and strong. Not like this weasel of a man. And as for the feast¡­. Despite how delicious everything looked and smelled, the spread had gone mostly untouched due to the tension that was ever present in the room. Untouched, aside from the empress¡¯s bloody bootprint. And now it was finally being disturbed as the king casually plucked a massive piece of some roasted bird from the table and tore into it without taking a seat. The room was completely still, broken only by King Yiwan¡¯s chewing and chortles. Takari stared. Minster¡­ Vaghloron, was it? He stared too. The rest either glared daggers at Yiwan or avoided looking at him directly. Though none completely averted their gaze like I did. Then the meeting hall exploded. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°You northern slime!¡± the Bloody Empress shouted, stomping the ground so hard I swore the stone audibly cracked. ¡°You better have a proper explanation, wretch,¡± came the frightfully calm voice of the minister, his expression darker than even his Drevan complexion should allow. ¡°Bastard!¡± ¡°Madman!¡± Takari had jumped up again and was shaking Yiwan, his formerly elegant collar bunched in her fists. Vaghloron merely sat with his arms crossed, oozing an aura of anger with Mind being plainly flaunted. The other rulers stood from their seats in the heat of the moment, shouting at the still-smiling king. The man who had lost his Mind. ¡°Peace, my friends! This is why we¡¯re here. To discuss!¡± ¡°Fuck discussion! Why did you burn down the forest? You think moving your knight army around like a child with a toy will go unnoticed?!¡± And therein lay the crux of the Coalition¡¯s anger, or at least the thing that had burst the proverbial dam. Why had the king ordered the Burning? Wood and fruit were a great luxury, beautiful and ephemeral. The forest had brought commerce and beauty and more. For some, like the lesser crowns, the forest was valuable solely for its luxurious resource. For the rest, it held other value. But I knew. I knew why the king had done it. ¡°Why, the Revelation, of course! You know this.¡± Yiwan spoke confidently, though his mirth had slowly quieted. Takari released his collar and stared down at him, towering over the king despite his own tall stature. It was the king¡¯s boiling Mind that had made her release him, not his words. No, his words were nothing new. It had been over three months now since the king of Somuia called the Coalition together for an emergency meeting, convinced that something terrible was coming. That had not been unusual; every person knew that something was deeply, terribly wrong. More than a year ago, it started. That feeling. That dread. The feeling was nothing compared to what came later. When the king called the meeting, we had all met for days to compile information and plan. And on the sixth day, everything changed. The king entered the meeting chamber in a frenzy, wildly flinging his Mind¡¯s weight around. It had taken Takari and a host of guards their full strength to calm the king, who soon after began to babble incoherently. It was then that I timed my entrance so as to go unnoticed, and it was at that moment that we all bore witness to the King¡¯s Revelation. A chilling warning of danger and fire. Of the destruction of the Minds of humans and the fury of the sky falling upon civilization. Of the creatures. Pleasant. But what did it mean? Nobody understood the King¡¯s ravings, or what had brought them on. The only information he further uttered was of the ¡®middle¡¯, whatever that meant. It was not long after that day that strange rumors began to circulate around the world. Riktese traders brought word from the eastern territories, speaking of unusual monsters roaming the desert. Dreva gradually closed its borders and vehemently prevented people from entering¡ªor leaving - the country. The allied tribes fighting against humanity in the Orc War frontier began to suddenly and furiously push back against the Somuian army. Even in the west, I personally heard tales from sailors speaking of old ocean fairy tales and creepy stories as if they were not fiction. And now this. It had been the empress who called the emergency meeting this time. That this was the first time the Coalition of Crowns had ever called a second emergency meeting in a single year was pushed aside, merely an afterthought. For all the rulers had heard the news by then. Somuian knights, the king¡¯s own Royal Guard, no less, had destroyed the Vultuous Forest. And now, Yiwan had the audacity to blame his bizarre nightmare for the travesty? Something with effects so far-reaching that even the common people referred to its uninspired name in frightened whispers. Nobody would stand for this. Nobody besides me. Hm. Since when did I begin to think of the ¡®common folk¡¯ as separate from myself? ¡°You have five seconds to explain yourself better.¡± ¡°Be calm, Bloody One. Let us allow him five minutes. How else shall he provide sufficient detail for his actions? And for his supposed Revelation, which he has apparently interpreted.¡± Takari was swift and brutal. Vaghloron, measured and thoughtful. The rest of us were nothing, mere spectators to the true crowns. ¡°Very well, damn you,¡± Yiwan grumbled. He suddenly spun, bringing his fist down on the table, creating a crack in the wood that crawled all the way to the other side. The eerie smile on his face presented a shadow of his former self, a young warlord who squashed rebellions in his father¡¯s newly formed, massive kingdom over sixty years ago. For the first time, I realized that the man before me was truly the one I had only heard stories about. ¡°You want to know why I did it?! Why I sent my damn strongest knights to raze that fucking forest? WE ARE AT WAR!¡± he roared. ¡°Humanity is at war against the world. The Human Themself blessed me all those months ago with a vision of the future. With a message! Inhuman creatures the world over are betraying humanity, rebelling against our place at the top of the food chain. The orcs and their united tribes are nothing but a sliver. A pittance of an enemy. That forest was teeming with creatures. The vultures! The fernen! Whatever other blasted things crawl in those trees. Annoying enemies within my borders! I felt the guiding hand of God steering me to that place, and I followed the path presented by a damn higher power!¡± Yiwan took a moment to catch his breath. The lesser crowns sat silently, shocked at the outburst. Even the two other true crowns were stunned. ¡°I have not truly come to understand the Revelation. No, damn it, I haven¡¯t. But what They warned me of is clear. Humanity itself stands on the brink of destruction. You all know it. You have all seen or heard it. The world is changing, and humanity must change with it. As we do.¡± Nobody reacted. I continued to avert my gaze. If he had said this a month or two prior, what the king spoke would be madness. Hell, it was still madness. But the monarch¡¯s blatant and unexpected actions spoke of conviction. Of determination that could not be ignored without consequence. ¡°Now. Let us discuss things more peacefully. I find eating and drinking to be very effective at easing tensions, so please, let us not waste this opportunity.¡± The other crowns begrudgingly indulged the King and calmed down. For now. They ate at his behest and laughed alongside him. Even the Empress and the Minister joined his revelry, quietly discussing amongst the three of them in a further display to the lesser crowns who the true rulers of the world were. They dominated the rest of us. Their military power, their wealth, their technology. It was too far beyond us. Lord Asauio quickly learned his lesson when it became evident that Yiwan¡¯s seemingly generous concession, allowing the newly independent Crown Jewel to host the Coalition every year, was more curse than blessing. Dreva and Rikitan managed to resist the influence of Somuia¡¯s MIS organization, but the rest of us who unwittingly agreed to adopt the agency were being manipulated and subjected to spying. And those were just examples of Somuia¡¯s power alone. In the midst of the politicking and feasting, only I couldn¡¯t eat. Couldn¡¯t drink. I was the only one who truly knew. All those months ago, on the sixth day before the sixth meeting, I, President Agarho of the western nation of Irktash, had personally killed King Yiwan the Third. Only for him to rise from the dead, speaking with the tongue of God. I heard only a fraction of what the king heard in his own Mind, but it was enough to change my world. Lesser creatures have betrayed me. Worlds converge. If you do not act, humanity will no longer reign. All Minds will end. Chapter 83 - The Pen is Shaft ¡°Mom, could you please stop waving that thing around? I hate to say it, but you¡¯re making me extremely nervous.¡± ¡°Ah, my bad, Bess. I did it without realizing.¡± I only blushed a little (not literally, I¡¯m a bee) as I gently set the Shaft down outside the hive wall, tucked away in a divot in the ground. It wasn''t very well hidden, considering it was a gigantic metal pole, but at least it wasn''t in the way. It was quite the habit I had picked up in the days since the Yiwi Operation¡¯s conclusion, spinning the Rotor¡¯s shaft around in the air like one of my pens. Rather than pens, this world only had sticks for me to spin around to give me the same satisfaction. It was a bit odd that psychically spinning sticks invoked the same feeling for me, but it wasn¡¯t a big deal for some time. Well, not until that stick was a building-sized cylinder of fantasy metal floating precariously in the air. But it just felt¡­ it felt so good! None of the sticks or stones or whatever felt as satisfying to spin around. Since the Shaft was so huge, it weighed ever so slightly on my Mind, just like a pen would give that barest hint of weight on my hand. Not too heavy, not overly light. Just right. ¡°In any case, why are you hiding from Beatrice? Actually, how are you doing that? She always seems to know exactly what I¡¯m doing, even if she¡¯s focused on something else. Hm. Could you teach me your ways? Hiding from that stuck-up-¡° ¡°Er, it¡¯s an experiment! Yup, a test of my ability to control the Link. Managing the knowledge of the humans within the Link is a challenge, you know. So I¡¯ve gotta test stuff like this. Yup.¡± ¡°Mhm.¡± What the hell? I think I¡¯d rather you actually say something smarmy, Queen. That was a bit too brutal. ¡°I see¡­. Well, is there anything I can help you with while you¡¯re here? I still have some time before materials begin to flow in and make me busy.¡± I refused Bess¡¯ offer politely and contented myself with watching the swarm of Construction drones buzz along the vaguely orange wall of comb. The rain that had been sporadically assaulting our hive wasn¡¯t present at the moment, so I could see her work in all its glory. The base was vaguely hexagonal, and starting from the ground, they constructed the wall from bones, dirt, and wax. It was white and black and gray and barely orange, but as the structure rose, the cruder materials appeared less and less. Now several meters into the air, the wall had transitioned almost entirely to wax as it began to bend inward, and yet its structure didn¡¯t crumble. I could see where some sagging had begun, which was why Bess had switched to forming a wax, bone, and metal scaffolding at the hexagon¡¯s corners to prepare for the dome to be filled in. Her progress was great, and not just in building the wall. That leadership quality I sought was emerging in her, at least in her capability to control more and more drones. The last few days had been¡­ something. Instead of a period of rest and relaxation, the end of the Yiwi Operation actually increased my workload tenfold, scrambling my brain, if not my Mind. The singular focus that came as a result of the conflict was a blessing in some way, because during that time, I only had to broadly focus on one thing: winning. Now, though, I was back to being¡­ almost aimless. Just being busy as a bee. Before I could even do anything with the hive, Yiwi¡¯s situation as a whole wasn¡¯t technically done with. Of course, I delegated all the boring crap like rebuilding and such to my people, but that was far from the only thing of note. A consistent thorn in my side since the Operation¡¯s end has been mercenaries. Those damn guys just piss me off, I tell ya. Hordes of them have been trying to leave the city, and only barely have the mercenary leaders succeeded in holding them back. As for those who manage to leave, they either get mysteriously murdered or simply disappear. Victims of Toh, who was basically my odd-jobs man at the moment. A steady stream of Linkers was moving from the hive to the city. There they would wait in the shadows of Yemonto Co.¡¯s headquarters until Toh either needed to chase down an unruly mercenary or simply Link a target within the city. It was effective in most cases. Most. The sword mercenaries had become a major problem. Or, rather, they were currently being a problem. Four of the six swordfighters had died, and one of them was Linked. Thanks to the gun twins, Iiyah and Miyah, as well as a few uninjured warrior bees, the team of edgy swordmasters had fallen apart, though not without difficulty. Hm? Four plus one doesn¡¯t equal six? If they¡¯re all dead, how are they a problem? That¡¯s all quite true. I recalled what happened when I Linked the last remaining edgy merc in the middle of some coprastalk field¡­ ¡°Hm? Weren¡¯t there six of them?¡± I asked nobody in particular. The injured gun twins and half-dead swordsman could hear me, after all. Plus, I could instantly know the truth either way. As for why I was asking, besides the Linked swordsman, there were only four other corpses strewn on the ground. ¡°Yes, there are six of us. Or, rather, there were before you killed us all. But we sent one on a different route some time ago to embark on the Everrail in order to reach a city further to the south where he will contact other branches of Hayrey¡¯s. Ack! No!¡± the black-clad swordsman suddenly shouted, putting one hand to this mouth and another to his throat. I gave it a thought, and he stopped struggling, though it wasn¡¯t instantaneous. For all intents and purposes, it happened without delay, but as someone who had become accustomed to the near-precognitive reactions to Link commands, it was noticeable. The strength of the Link had a drop-off, and the mercenaries weren¡¯t that far from Yiwi where Beckham was stationed. It was as good of a test as any I supposed. Barring that, the information Mister sword man gave up was interesting. I thought it was strange that they were following the Yam river so closely, if they didn¡¯t want to be found, but it wasn¡¯t so unusual. Following a river is a safe bet for travel, and the capital of Somuia was along the same river, after all. But seriously, this could get really bad. That one lone swordsman could upend everything just by existing! Sure, he wasn¡¯t going to the capital, but contacting Hayrey¡¯s other branches wasn¡¯t much better. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Why not use the Everrail to go to the capital? It¡¯s some sort of train, right?¡± I had a few inklings about the nature of the Everrail, and it was something I definitely wanted to see, if not ride. And now this mercenary¡¯s explanation confirmed it. It was some sort of wacky fantasy train, except it had no engine. The mercenary explained that the entire track was powered by ''proprietary mechanisms'' instead of having an engine, and the cars were attached to each other end to end. And it never stopped. It was, somehow, a train that never stopped chugging, always moving at train-speed in one direction along a track that was a closed loop. And people got on it by¡­ sitting on a platform that got sucked into the damn thing by engineers¡­. I wasn¡¯t even going to question it. Sure, I was interested in how something like that could possibly work. But for Bee¡¯s sake, I had just come from a city of flowers and mercenaries powered by a sideways wind-Mind-turbine thing. At this point, surely nothing could surprise me. ¡°We need to stop that mercenary. How are you two feeling?¡± I asked the gun twins. The battle against the sword mercenaries had been tough, and they honestly only won because of me. They had perfect knowledge of the enemy¡¯s location thanks to the Link, which, combined with their Abilities, let them get the jump on the close range fighters from a healthy distance. And of course, the warrior bees helped. ¡°We will need to rest, your majesty.¡± ¡°We can go right away, your highness.¡± The pair stared at each other, and I just sighed. Twins. I have a few of my own, and let¡¯s just say I get how it can be with them in some cases. These two should meet Bella and Belle sometime. Anyways, I was just asking to be polite; not like any of the three of them had a choice. Oh yeah. Did I mention I was sending the last living swordsman to hunt his friend? Call it giving them a chance to reunite. I know he¡¯s essentially a walking corpse, but I¡¯m sure he can push through it somehow. If not, then oh well. And so, I returned to the present with a sour expression. The chase was still going on, and there was little I could do about it now. The further all of them got from Yiwi, and by extension Beckham, the weaker the hold of the Link became. At some point, I would have to call off the hunt entirely, and then what? Well, we had a few plans. But hopefully it wouldn¡¯t come to that. And all that was just the freaking mercenaries. I didn¡¯t even want to think about the unrest in Yiwi growing once again and all that nonsense, so I just turned my thoughts back to the hive. To what really mattered. And at the forefront of that discussion was, as Bess implied, resources. I would prefer it to be something else, but it was the grim reality of our situation. We need resources to maintain the hive, and the forest is not a good source of them. Yet. We need wax and food. As bees, we don¡¯t really need much else. However, in order to produce both, we need organic material. Nectar from flowers was ideal, for some reason, but other edible material would work. For wax, the workers need to consume food to process using their Beeswax Ability. Simple enough. We could use that wax for various purposes, but we prioritized completing Bess'' dome and ended up delayed wax production for other uses. And there lay the problem. Food. Food is interesting. In terms of nutrition, the bees don¡¯t actually need much, not like humans. The issue comes in terms of both the quantity of bees and the number of uses food has. As it stands, I don¡¯t actually have that many bees. Not really. Beehives on Earth could contain waaay more bees than I currently had in my hive, for example. But even so, we have basically zero food production to sustain them. We¡¯ve mostly been living off meat-honey stores for a while now, with the occasional influx thanks to squirrels. And that¡¯s just in terms of maintaining the bees. What about the aforementioned wax-making? That takes a buttload of food by itself, and we need an equivalent buttload of wax for the hive¡¯s construction. Not to mention the various other uses for wax and honey in general. And so, we come upon the most damning thing of all. Bees. Specifically, making more. One major project Beatrice and I have been desperately trying to push forward has been leveling up the Egg Making Ability so I can pop out queens, but without huge amounts of food, that task is practically dead in the water. And so, priority number one has been essentially that. Get more food in our dang bellies. And if the forest has nothing to offer, well. There was always Yiwi. Even now, Belle and her Gatherers were hard at work bringing nectar from Yiwi¡¯s flowers, in addition to ferrying the flowers themselves to populate the forest. When they arrive, Bella and Belle will begin making honey in earnest, so I can grow the hive for real. No Linked humans, no squirrels, no nonsense. Only bees. ¡°Which is exactly why you are hiding from Beatrice.¡± ¡°Hey. Hey hey now,¡± I said to the air. Bess gave me a sideways glance, but didn¡¯t comment. ¡°I know you¡¯re thinking the same thing as me. That Yiwi food is fucking nasty. Even Belle thinks so, and she¡¯s obsessed with food!¡± Unfortunately, as Queen said, I was hiding from Beatrice because she was trying to force me to eat Yiwi¡¯s gross food to make bees. Was it possible? Technically yes. If I did that, the bees could be sustained by the far more efficient honey we still had stored. But it was probably a bad idea. If the food was gross, then maybe the bees wouldn¡¯t come out right. I had already gone through a rigorous scientific process to determine that disgusting food = chump bees. ¡°I see. In that case, arrangements can be made to improve the flavor with the blood of a few squirrels, if that is to your preference, Mother,¡± a voice said behind me, making me jump. ¡°Beatrice! Hi! I was just-¡° ¡°Just being a responsible ruler and overseeing the hive¡¯s construction, I¡¯m sure. Come.¡± My head drooped, and I turned to follow Beatrice, waving goodbye to an amused Bess. Traitor! Oh well. I couldn¡¯t delay the inevitable forever. But man, I really needed to take a page out of Beatrice¡¯s book. Looking into her Mind, she was so organized and careful, taking into account every situation and planning for it. If I were to describe how her Mind felt like, it would be akin to a map, funnily enough. Mapping out the future. And that was with all this extra work. Come to think of it, Beatrice had mentioned that she might like an Aide of her own when I made some queens, so maybe that was in her future. In fact, maybe that could distract her from my own stuff¡­ In contrast to Beatrice, my Mind was a mess. All the stuff I needed and wanted to do had sort of hit me all at once when the Operation finished, which was somewhat overwhelming. Figuring out the new food logistics, experimenting with Egg Laying, unlocking the queen subtype, just to name a few. That wasn¡¯t including other random things like helping Beau with her apparently very impactful electricity experiments, figuring out the deal with the Combined Minds, making a body for Queen to inhabit, or dealing with the three humans toiling around the hive. And that was still a condensed list. Above all of that loomed a shadow. Although my Mind was theoretically messy, it was actually an extremely logical and efficient mechanism that was constantly improving. The B-boxes, and specifically the CBU, were growing at a monstrous rate, almost completely out of my control. Technically, I could probably stop it whenever I wanted, but it made things so easy. Within my Mind, the CBU ¡®prototype¡¯, as I called its more limited form, had become truly monstrous. Six hexagonal prisms sat in the corners of a vaguely hexagonal frame, connected to a massive central hexagon that pulsed with energy. It was constantly drawing more and more Mind, but what was scariest was that it seemed to have a will of its own. After all, when I absorbed Yafoot¡¯s Mind and obtained another multiplier, instead of being reduced, the B-box usage went up. The CBU had immediately noticed the increase in energy and greedily sucked up more to stay in line with its previous growth. The size and speed of the thing couldn¡¯t be compared to before, and it had already been like a brain combined with a computer. Hello CBU. What¡¯s up? ¡­. No answer. I mean, was it really a stretch to imagine that the CBU had become its own sentience or something? It was, like, super obvious. ¡°You forget it is already sentient. It is us,¡± Queen grumbled. Ah, there was another problem to think about. At some point when we returned to the hive, Queen had gotten all grumpy and even more terse than usual. I could tell she wasn¡¯t ready to talk about it yet, so I was letting it be for now. Eventually I¡¯d do something, though. When she¡¯s ready. I gave the central heart of the CBU a little pat and imagined it humming happily for the gesture. Thanks to it, managing the hive and the city was a cinch, barely an inconvenience. Just one example was that, without prompting, it had immediately created an automated Link instruction for the humans to replace their Linker bee after a certain amount of time was left on their individual timer. And then it sent a B-mail to the most important bees, like Beatrice, informing them of the instruction¡¯s functionality. Thing was way too convenient. But it was lowest on the proverbial totem pole, in terms of things to study. Resigning myself to my fate, I prepared for something I hadn¡¯t done in a hot minute: experimenting with Egg Laying. This was actually a grand opportunity. I had never actually done any rigorous testing with what I could do regarding Egg Laying, so this push towards laying queens would be my chance to do so. I could try putting lots of Mind into making a Linker, perhaps, or document the minutiae of how a small adjustment in Mind affected the resulting bee. Best of all, I could force Beatrice to do all of that documentation! Her larger workload would be my revenge! Revenge for making me eat gross human food! Chapter 84 - Be Mindful of the Little Things If I might be so bold as to make an audacious claim. One could never know true embarrassment until they forcefully choke down chunks of flavorless bread while being watched by an ardent fan and employee whose expression sits somewhere between satisfaction and anticipation. ¡°This stuff is so freaking disgusting. How do they eat this crap?¡± Unprompted, visions of fruits and other delicacies flooded my brain. Oh thanks CBU, very helpful of you. I¡¯m glad you rooted around the humans¡¯ memories to show me just how sucky my situation is. I found at least a little relief as Beatrice offered a small bowl of meat honey, which I carefully applied to the next chunk of food. The sweetness and slightly smoky flavor definitely helped, but it was still atrocious. While the comedy routine of my retches and Beatrice¡¯s ¡®peace offerings¡¯ continued, I was comforted by a familiar song and dance; eating while watching the Ben Channel. If I wanted to stimulate myself even more, I now had the option of turning up the volume on the Harven & Jill Show. Of course, there were the old classics like Beck 99.9 or the timeless ¡®Valkybees Try to See How Close they Can Come to Killing Their Siblings Before Bedivere Smacks the Shit Out of Them.¡¯ Or maybe put on relaxing background noise like lofi Yelah tortured screaming radio. Ah¡­ Speaking of her. She¡¯s taken to screaming and yelling for hours now, and it was really starting to bother me. Her body was currently with Grehn and Vlugh, and the three of them were doing random tasks around the hive. Honestly, I didn¡¯t have much a place for them, considering drones were much more effective laborers. Their skillsets were mainly focused on combat, so there wasn¡¯t much for them to practically do around the hive. Currently they were in a sort of worker limbo, jumping from building to patrolling and so on to find a suitable place. Except for Yelah, of course. Her position was a bit unique. She was not having a fun time, no matter what position I put her in. When she was with her friends, like she was now, all she did was scream and sob. When apart from them, her only reaction was to ooze sadness and regret. I wanted to talk with her at some point. Letting her fester in her hatred would probably end up poorly for me, but I just didn¡¯t want to deal with her shit at the moment. In the end, though, I thought it would be important to really get into the weeds with her. Yelah¡¯s presence was a constant reminder of the Yiwi Operation for me, funnily enough. Not the giant metal pole I was using as a pen, not the constant back and forth arguing from the old humans, nothing. Just her. And the reason was simple. It was because of her that the whole thing started, all the way back when her team encountered the hive. I didn¡¯t regret my actions. Nor did I regret the actions of my bees. Beryl, who was presently training the troops more rigorously than ever before, had learned her lesson. Of course, the responsibility fell onto me. With the bees being Linked, anything they did was something I would be directly responsible for. And that wasn¡¯t taking into account the simple fact that I was their leader. What could I do to properly punish her? I wasn¡¯t in a big rush, consdiering how painful she found her current situation, but it was somerthing I¡¯d like to get off my ever-growing plate. Hm¡­ You know, she was pretty much perfect, if you thought about it. Long, dirty blond hair. Wiry muscles. Skin that was hard thanks to her profession, yet still soft in some way. Of course, I¡¯m talking about using her as Queen¡¯s vessel. Obviously. In some ways, it was a great idea. In doing so, we could permanently keep Yelah under wraps, and we wouldn¡¯t need to put effort into using her as a puppet. Plus, her Ability was something we were already thinking of studying to be able to do this exact sort of thing. As for whether Queen would even want Yelah¡¯s body, that was a question that could come later. All of that being said, it was something I could think about in the background. For now, the priority was Egg-Laying. So I decided to just put on the Ben Channel as I munched. They weren¡¯t seeing anything particularly interesting, but he and the rest of his squad were doing some important work at the moment. Namely, an investigation. It had been a bit of struggle to convince Ben to tear himself away from the ever-surprising sights of human society, but there were some very concerning things happening in this forest. I am, of course, talking about the poisoned river. Ah, yes. Yet another reason Yiwi had to thank me on their hands and knees. The river, which I now knew to be called the Yam, was a large body of water that began in the mountains and flowed vaguely into the seas in the north. It was an important body of water, one which flowed straight through the Vultuous Forest, through the city of Yiwi, and fed the farmland that in turn fed the city. But it didn¡¯t stop there. Because it flowed north, another important city was built up there. Maybe even a city more important than Yiwi. Siniwan, the majestic capital of the Kingdom of Somuia. It was a big deal. Maybe the capital didn¡¯t get its fresh water solely from the river, like Yiwi did, but it was still a valuable source of water and transportation. It wasn¡¯t a super gigantic river by any means, but still large enough to hold a barge or two. And it was crazy that Yiwi ended up making the river flow out of sight, yet it was large enough for boats to travel along it. It was fair to assume any unfortunate happenings within the Yam River would have some equally unfortunate consequences for the human cities. Thankfully, Yiwi had developed a solution to such problems! Oh thank goodness they had their Rotor to keep their water nice and clean. Wait a second¡­ Yup. No Rotor, no good for the Yam. Especially not with this strange toxicity flowing through it. The gunk my Lock was spitting onto the riverbank was starting to piss me off, because I needed that space for flowers, dammit! Who cares about the humans¡¯ stomachs? Whatever the poison was, I doubted it was an accident. Someone was intentionally poisoning the river, and perhaps even masking it as ugly runoff from the rains. But it wasn¡¯t freaking raining right now! And I¡¯m no expert, but does ash really make you deathly ill? Maybe. Like I said, I¡¯m not an expert. And this is a strange world so¡­ This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Nah. This reeks of foul play for sure. If someone was dumping toxins into this crucial source of life for Yiwi, then they could¡¯ve killed the entire city by now. Even with their Rotor-powered filtration system, it would¡¯ve been dangerous. And so, I once again saved their sorry posteriors with my awesome power, giving up a precious portion of my Mind in the process. I didn¡¯t want my Mind to be acting as a glorified water filter forever, though. Ben still hadn¡¯t found anything upriver. Which wasn¡¯t all that surprising; I doubted the culprits would be close by. The advantage of poisoning a river was that nature would do all the dirty work for you. But I was curious to see what sort of dastardly ne¡¯er-do-well would be so daring. Unfortunately, without anything interesting to see, the Ben Channel was uncharacteristically dull. Sure there were squirrels and electric crystals and the occasional leftover rotting corpse, but I had seen it a million times before. And so had Ben. Poor little guy was distraught about how boring everything was compared to the novelty of the city. Hm. I¡¯m sure Ben would find something interesting. In the meantime, my stomach was feeling pretty full. Since that¡¯s the case, I might as well get ready to actually lay eggs. Our number one goal in terms of Egg Laying is to create queens, and to do that, we presumably need to unlock them. Since that¡¯s the case, I need to focus on ways to level up the Ability. In the past, if I recalled correctly, I managed to level up by simply using the Ability. Except it wasn¡¯t actually that simple. Especially when I leveled up to 3, I specifically remember the tool tip saying ¡°Qualibee AND Quantibee.¡± Disregarding the silly pun, the message was clear: it wasn¡¯t enough to just pump out base-cost Linkers or drones or whatever. No, the Ability liked it when I used a bunch of Mind or tried to play around with the capabilities of the Ability. However, I was a bit hesitant. The Yiwi Operation taught me many things, and I¡¯m still coming to terms with a lot of what happened. But one of the biggest things was the scary lack of knowledge we posses about our bees and everything surrounding them. How could we have known that the Linkers would have a hard time limit? We had absolutely no time to test them, and by the time we realized something was wrong, we were so busy with the rest of the operation that there was no way to understand the warning signs. If their [Linker Stinger] description had some sort of warning, then of course I could put the blame on us. But like this? No fair, I say. Which I why I¡¯ve been thinking of caution and documentation moving forward. What were the capabilities and limitations of the Linkers? Of the Kin Link itself? What¡¯s the difference between a base-cost Linker and one that was made with 1% extra Mind? 2%? More? What about a Warrior? What exactly changes when more Mind is used to create an egg? All those questions and more, answered next time! I couldn¡¯t help but let out a sigh as I looked out at the now-familiar sight outside my window. It wasn¡¯t that I had no interest in discovering those answers; in fact, I was excited! But was such detailed research even feasible? It wasn¡¯t like we could lay hundreds of eggs for each subtype with dozens of different conditions. The scale was just way out my hands. Since that¡¯s the case, I decided that having the other queens help with that research was the way to go. At least for some of the more burning questions. Right now, the Linkers are the most important bees in the hive, despite their lack of apparent sentience. Using them as experimental guinea pigs was my current plan. Not only would I need tons of Linker bees for the weekly refreshes, but understanding them in more detail was crucial to avoid a repeat of what happened in Yiwi. Plus, who knew what would happen when the Linkers are made with a bit more juice? Speaking of juice, I once again cursed my lack of knowledge as I prepared myself for some good ol¡¯ laying. This time I grumbled about Mind as a whole. Before the whole ordeal with the humans, I thought I was starting to get a better understanding of the system this world operated under. Every living creature has a Mind, and that Mind can vary in power. The power of the Mind can manifest in the material world as psychic-like capabilities, letting pretty much anyone throw rocks around like an esper. But there were some odd quirks to said psychic powers. Mind could be represented as a percentage, shown by the menus, which allows for fine control of its power. Individuals can allocate Mind shown through percentages, allowing them to create mostly permanent influences on the world. And then there were Abilities. The more I thought Abilities, the more frustrated I became. They just made absolutely no sense. Psychich powers shouldn¡¯t allow you to lay freaking eggs! Or make you able to swordfight with a long stinger. So what was up with Abilities? Well, they¡¯re still tied to Mind in some way. When I use Egg-Laying, as I was starting to do, I felt the familiar tug on my Mind, the Ability drawing power to execute its function. Egg-Laying specifically allowed me to use food and Mind to produce a living creature, which meant I didn¡¯t have to create eggs through other, more familiar means. But how was that even allowed? Is the life that¡¯s born from an egg formed through Mind? So Mind isn¡¯t just a force that exerts itself on the world. I¡¯d thought of such things before, when thinking of B-boxes and the like, but it was still strange to think about. Which is why the humans threw all sorts of metaphorical wrenches into things. It wasn¡¯t something I had focused on much, considering the situation, but the humans had existed in this Mind-full world forever or whatever, so they had too know more about Mind. And they did, to some degree. The way Yelah saw Mind was the imposition of the will. ¡®Mind allows you to push against the world, forcing it to do what you want. People with a higher Mind Degree have more powerful spirits, which is why they seem more powerful.¡¯ That all made sense to me. So then why was Yelah so weak? Well, in theory she wasn¡¯t that weak. In fact, her Ability was insanely esoteric and powerful, speaking as someone who was used to regular physics. To her, existing in the same sort of state as Dip made total sense. To her, and to Dip, they were like one, but separate. Of course they could be together and use the other¡¯s strengths. Of course, it made no sense to me, but sure. Other powerful Mind users like Jill and Harven had a slightly different perception. For Harven, he thought this when I checked: ¡®Mind is power, plain and simple. There isn¡¯t anything deep about it. Your Mind represents your power, and if you have more power, then the world naturally follows you.¡¯ As for Jill¡­ ¡®Those who grasp things are strong with Mind. That is why the most basic usage is to push or pull and whatnot. You are grasping the world and using it. At the higher levels, this manifests in more strange forms. Those who grasp will inevitably grasp for themselves, so the Mind allows them to truly understand themselves.¡¯ ¡°Very philosophical and cool,¡± I told the both of them, giving them a thumbs up. They stopped arguing for a second to look at each other in confusion, which I ignored. As for what their ideas told me, all it showed was that each person had their own interpretation of what Mind actuially was, which wasn¡¯t all that helpful. As I tried looking at things from another angle, the first of many Linker eggs popped out of my mouth, which was swiftly carried away by Beverly, one of the nursery bees. I waved at her and she shyly waved back. As for Mind, I began to look more into each human¡¯s Ability and how they were taught to use Mind. After all, if they had a teacher, then I could just steal their lessons. Very easy. All of them had formal training. I¡¯m talking every single human. It wasn¡¯t incredibly surprising, but even for people like Yelah or Oyonshe who had lonely childhoods, they had some sort of teacher that at least taught them the basics of Mind. Unfortunately, none of it was especially helpful. None of them had powerful teachers or anything, and what they were taught was mostly basic theory so that they didn¡¯t walk around blowing shit up by accident. However, there was a particularly interesting consistency across every human and their experiences. One Ability. It was something I had obviously noticed and stored in the back of my mind (along with every dang scrap of information from the Link), but it wasn¡¯t something I had thought about too often. But it did make some sort of sense. At face value, it was probably for a similar reason that most humans didn¡¯t constantly use Mind for frivolous things like opening doors or whatever: they had very little Tappable Mind available at any given time. And the main reason for that was that every person used Locks extensively. One could see from Yelah¡¯s menu alone. [Name: Yelah Welay] [Age: 26 years] [Profession: Mercenary] [Status: X] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 4th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 40%] [Mind Locks: ] If all her Locks were activated, she would be using 240% of her Mind, which was, as far as I could tell, impossible. Of course, these Locks were never activated all the time. Things like any of the various things she kept under the {Combat} section wouldn¡¯t need to be used all the time. And since an Ability did tap Mind, she would need to keep some available to use it. But I wasn¡¯t satisfied with that answer. It was just too weird for every human to have exactly one Ability, so what was the deal? The tiniest freaking bee was born with multiple Abilities, so why were humans forced to deal with this limitation? There was one outlier. One thing that was obviously out of place. [Humanity Factor] Chapter 85 – Bee Abilities on my Mind Now, the last time I tried looking into [Humanity Factor], some freaky stuff happened. Was I going to try peeking into that shit again? Absolutely the fuck not. At least, not so soon after the fiasco from last time. I could make some educated guesses based on the knowledge the humans have, though. It¡¯s pretty well known that all humans have this mysterious Ability. As for what it does, that fact still eluded me for some reason. Whenever I tried looking into the humans¡¯ memories for the details, they always seemed to fade in and out, creating gaps. Even trying to order the humans to tell me what exactly [Humanity Factor] did was useless. I had asked Yelah some time ago, and she just provided vague answers. Basically, it gave humans a boost in their Mind capabilities somehow. Not by much, but enough to be noticeable. And yet, I had an inkling that wasn¡¯t the whole story. It was just a hunch, but what reason did I have to think otherwise? [Humanity Factor] had to be involved with the humans only using one Ability. Well, there¡¯s an easy way to test that without much effort on my part. ¡°Vlugh and Grehn, I have a favor to ask of you two.¡± ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± the Drevan asked into the air. Grehn barely stopped moving, and Yelah, of course, didn¡¯t react. ¡°Ha! No. Can you make a new Ability? I don¡¯t really care what it is or how you do it, but could you do that for me?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re going to order me around,¡± Vlugh grumbled. ¡°Why even say it like a question?¡± Well I¡¯m sorry Vlugh, I¡¯m not used to ordering people around. That¡¯s for evil people like tyrant queens or something. ¡°Well? Gimme a straight answer.¡± ¡°Vlugh and I will make the attempt.¡± ¡°I mean, I can try. How much time do I have? Oh, and how long should I be able to use it for?¡± Rather than question what the fuck Vlugh was talking about, I shuffled his memories around in my head to understand what he meant. The results? Disappointing in some ways. Humans could have multiple Abilities. Kinda. Given sufficient time, a person could create a temporary Ability that worked for a small duration or for limited uses. Most people didn¡¯t bother, because from what I could tell, these ¡®artificial¡¯ Abilities were never as powerful or useful as their single Ability. So the obvious question became: how do people make Abilities in the first place? A variety of means, as it turns out. Each Ability¡¯s description shows how the individual acquired that Ability, and it could range anywhere from simple to stupid. Take my [Combined Minds] for example. [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the impossible feat of hosting multiple Minds in one body Impossibly, you have multiple Minds within your body. This unique trait caught the gods'' attention, and this Ability was granted. Efficiency of Mind = Base Efficiency x Number of Minds. Mind Efficiency: 4x ] I wouldn¡¯t say it¡¯s simple, but it''s fairly to the point and decisive. I also had to take into account my own knowledge: I didn¡¯t create this Ability, at least not consciously. Same with all my inborn Abilities, like Egg-Laying and whatnot. Yelah¡¯s (Friendly Immersion], on the other hand, was more verbose yet equally vague. [Friendly Immersion: Level 8 Acquired by: By choosing to reinforce the bond with your companion, Dip, you developed a method of being as close as possible to your companion without being the same creature. By synchronizing your Minds, enter a complex state of existence with your companion. Through upgrades, you are capable of entering this state using less effort, in less time, with minimal backlash. You share and enhance your companion¡¯s capabilities, and vice versa. Level up: ??? ] By looking through her memories, I could see that while she didn¡¯t painstakingly craft this Ability, she did put in the effort to use her Mind to achieve a similar result to what the Ability did. She performed countless experiments and trials where she tried to ¡®connect¡¯, for lack of a better word, with Dip¡¯s Mind and body. Eventually, their bond became so closely tied together that their Ability formed¡­ all of a sudden. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Compare that to someone like Vlugh here. [Shouts of Remembrance and Fire Level 5 Acquired by: Your insistence on adopting yet destroying the ways of your ancestors. Infusing your Mind and passion into your voice, allow your strength to transform into a visage of your ancestry. Both Fire and not, the destruction you speak burns and does not. Level up: Find further balance. Currently, the shouts lean towards Fire.] Now that was esoteric as shit. And yet, among the classic mercenary squad under Yelah, his was the Ability that was most influenced by his own actions. He actually created the Ability himself by infusing his Mind into his voice to create fire, just as the Ability said. However, like with most Abilities, some intervention happened along the process to make things weird. But in truth, it didn¡¯t affect much. He wanted to breathe fire, and that was exactly what the Ability he intended to create ended up doing. Therefore, taking all of this into account, I could draw some conclusions about Mind and Abilities. It¡¯s like a recipe. In order for an Ability to be formed, there needs to be intent on the part of the user and influence from an outside source. As long as both are present, then Mind can act as the glue to bring those ingredients together into the final product, that being an Ability. Why an outside influence? Because there were some very specific details in terms of why an Ability forms. Take Vlugh. He actively tried to make an Ability that does a specific thing. Looking through his memories, he tried and failed to create this Ability for years. Through Mind, he developed a method to create fire not dissimilar to pyrokinesis, then manually throw the flames. Later, he gained more inspiration from his culture and tried melding his voice and the fire he created, based on his own ideas and interpretations of their legends. Eventually, he created a Lock that, when activated, would replace his screams with fire. Unfortunately, since it wasn¡¯t an actual Ability, it required an immense amount of effort and Mind, far more than would be considered practical. Oh look at that. There were some funny moments where he forgot to turn it off and accidentally breathed fire on some people when he went to apologize for scorching their house. Then, one day, he tried to create his Ability once again, only to be interrupted by his mom. Okay, fine enough. But immediately after speaking with her, after years and years of trial and error, boom! Fire breath. Call it an accident or whatever, but one day his effort manifested into an Ability. Or at least, that was how Vlugh saw it. In reality, the circumstances under which his Ability formed weren¡¯t much different to Yelah. Or any of the humans, really. The key could be seen in their thoughts. ¡°But mom, why?! The Human seems so important to everyone. And¡­ we¡¯re humans. I mean, we have that Ability and everything. So, why do we care so much about the Dragon? I like the idea, but¡­. Why does it all have to be so different?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Dippy. I¡¯ll never leave you. And I hope you¡¯ll never leave me. Nobody else understands me. Whenever I try to help them or become friends with them, they start to hate me. I don¡¯t know why. If I didn¡¯t have you, I¡­ I don¡¯t think I could keep living. You and I will never be apart.¡± Those were two examples of many. There was no time limit, no threshold of power, no arbitrary conditions like that. The ingredients I mentioned before were the only things required to create an Ability, or so it seemed. Which did have some bizarre implications. Were there babies with Abilities? Really old people who never managed to make one? If the ingredients were the only things required, then I suppose edge cases like that were possible. Regardless, this recipe theory plays into the issue I imagined humans ran into. Something prevented them from creating multiple permanent Abilities. If all one needed was the ingredients for the recipe to be complete, then leaving out the eggs or sugar or milk would naturally prevent people from finishing the cake. Er, did I say cake? Man, this shitty human food was starting to influence my metaphors. ¡°Um?¡± ¡°Oh, sorry about that, Vlugh. Just do whatever. This all goes for you too, Grehn. I want to see what sort of Ability either of you can make without me imposing any sort of limitation. Ah. Actually, there is one thing you should keep in mind. Finish it in a week. Good luck!¡± Vlugh or Grehn creating a temporary Ability wasn¡¯t super important, but it would be good, concrete, current data to have. Instead, it would be more interesting for me to create an Ability. My theory wasn¡¯t something all that revolutionary. More experienced people like Jill Yemonto did have further knowledge of Abilities, and she understood that Abilities are not only a product of imagination, but of something deeper. Also, she instinctively knew that effort alone wasn¡¯t enough to create an Ability. However, she mostly accepted the fact that effort and luck were ¡®enough,¡¯ as she didn¡¯t have an exact idea of what the actual requirements were. After all, she didn¡¯t put much stock into the various explanations that had popped up over time. I hated to say it, but it seemed that the Human Church mostly had the right idea, though a bit to the extreme. They believed that the Human was the sole source of human Abilities. Which was actually not far off from what I imagined. But like I said, my theory wasn¡¯t revolutionary, so it should be something I can confirm through my own testing. Technically, I¡¯ve done it before. Making an Ability, that is. Or, at least, I¡¯m pretty sure I¡¯ve done it already. I¡¯m talking about the B-boxes. They, along with the CBU, are still considered a Lock in my menus, despite their complexity and uniqueness and whatnot. Why? Well, if my theory holds, then one or more ingredients are missing from them for them to become an Ability. If I had to venture a guess, I would say outside influence was the missing sugar in my B-box confection. In fact, that was seemingly the case. When I had once played around with B-boxes, all the way back when it was still Compartmentalization, the Lock nearly became an Ability before the Bee decided to interfere. It didn¡¯t manage to stop the B-boxes from existing, but it did prevent their transformation into an Ability. If nothing else, that told me Ability creation isn¡¯t unique to humans. Forget my sorry failed attempt, one just had to look towards Bedivere¡¯s [Transmutation Stinger] for a bona fide, homegrown Ability made by a bee. What sort of Ability should I try to make? It wasn¡¯t something I had been thinking ab- Customizable flight. Electricity manipulation. Passive force-field. Grabber. Alternative senses. Speed. Strength. Coordination. Constitution. Vision-based attack. Puppetry. Healing. Third-person sensory input. Automatic consumption. My vision blurred as I coughed, and only when my body bumped into a wall did I realize I was choking on a freaking egg. I spat it out and coughed again, rubbing my throat. What the hell? This time I noticed Beth picking up the egg rather than Beverly, so I forced myself to smile and wave. She threw me a concerned look, but eventually shrugged and carried the egg away. I wiped my mouth with my good foreleg as I thought. That list of awesome-sounding Ability ideas didn¡¯t come from nowhere. That was the work of the CBU. A shiver ran down my back as I realized I didn¡¯t know why the list existed. Had the CBU made it up as soon as I thought of making an Ability? Had it already been thinking of new Ability ideas? Why in the world would it do that? Was I in a position to complain? No. Was I somewhat concerned? Kinda! But if I was gonna get free stuff, I might as well make use of it. All the Ability ideas sound appealing, but I had enough on my plate as it is. I¡¯d choose one for now, to play around with during Egg-Laying time. Eventually, though, would it hurt to make more of those ideas a reality? I didn¡¯t have the limitations of a human, after all. Chapter 86 - Combsume If I was going to keep things simple, then picking an Ability the CBU thought up would be the best way to go. So which to choose? There were plenty of interesting options, but picking one would go a long way to make things easy. Was there something I desperately needed? Some tool I had been missing all this time? Not really? I mean, I could do pretty much anything with Mind at this point, or at least it felt that way. It was a bit obvious when looking at what I had done, but I¡¯m powerful. Very much so. And flexible too. If I¡¯m not challenged in some way, then what need is there for me to develop something? I tapped my head as I thought. Though I was a bit lost in my head, I did notice something. I was tapping my head with my right arm, since I was used to it. My left arm was destroyed long ago, after all. Way back when the human knights first attacked the forest, Queen had lost the majority of her front left leg, one of several injuries she sustained at that time. Injuries, huh? For the first time since returning, I looked through someone¡¯s eyes to peer at a few mounds of dirt near the hive¡¯s center. Under those mounds were wax capsules, each containing a body of a dead bee. Causalities from the conflict in Yiwi, which had spiraled out of control. And they weren¡¯t the only ones. Nothing could be done to help the dead, not that I knew of. But some had suffered less grievous injury, like Bend, for example. There were plenty of bees who had missing limbs because of one reason or another, and plenty more that had scars and so-on. Though the hive has gone through conflict, we¡¯ve never emerged completely unscathed, and that¡¯s despite the fact that those conflicts rarely put the hive in serious danger. Well, in part thanks to me. What if a bee suffered from a mortal wound? What if someone took the hive by surprise? If powerful people like the knights came around, or the mercenary companies organized against us? It was doubtful that our conflicts would be unfairly advantageous like the Yiwi Operation, or that a deus ex- er, planned intervention like Bedivere would come in to save the day. If something like that happened, and we just sat and took it¡­ In some way, I think I¡¯ve been waiting for some sort of doctor bee to pop up among the workers, but something like that couldn¡¯t be relied upon. As usual, I should make use of my power and take things into my own hands. It was about time to figure out psychic healing. __________________ Bella looked out towards the city of Yiwi and its tired populace. She could just make out a group of humans painstakingly stacking stone bricks on each other, a few others patching walls with thin sheets of metal, and even some simply sitting in the streets. Staring. Despite all that drudgery, she nodded in satisfaction as a squad of flower Gatherers crested the wall and began the journey back to the hive. As soon as she had arrived at the city alongside the entirety of her Gatherer drone swarm, she got to work. As bees do. She split the swarm into smaller squads and assigned each a commodity to gather. Some squads, like the one that just passed by, were tasked with collecting flowers to replant in the forest. Others, like a squad she could presently see nearing the wall, were given the job of gathering food of all kinds. Cakes. Loaves of weird bread. Druid cooked in a million different ways. Birds. So many birds. For the most part, her job was exceedingly easy. Simply find food or nectar and transport it back to the hive. With Yiwi here, that already easy job became practically effortless. Now she didn¡¯t even need to find food before transporting it; it was all piled up right there in shops and kitchens, packed neatly inside stone and metal squares called houses. ¡°Ah, but the obstacles! So many obstacles in the way of my beautiful and bountiful harvest,¡± Bella remarked. As for what these obstacles were¡­. ¡°Oh sure. Stuff it Bella. Getting food would be a massive pain for you if it weren¡¯t for us,¡± a nearby voice said. Bella glanced down and saw a face staring up at her, one belonging to Merchant Queen Mesne. ¡°I apologize, great Merchant Queen. Please continue supplying us with food from your expansive coffers, I beg,¡± Bella retorted, as had become customary for the two over the course of a few short days. Alright, maybe a title like ¡®queen¡¯ was far, far, far above Mesne¡¯s station, but Bella thought it would be funny to refer to her as such. Considering how much it seemed to bother her, especially. ¡°Shut up¡­¡± Mesne mumbled. Bellas could feel the torment her title inflicted on the merchant and giggled. She partially knew why it bothered her so much, but she didn¡¯t really care to know the full story, at least not yet. She wasn¡¯t family. Mesne was intriguing, but she wasn¡¯t interesting. Bella was sure there was some difference between the two ideas. ¡°But man, I¡¯m glad that you guys make the gathering so easy, even if your food sucks. I¡¯m not sure what I¡¯m gonna do when I have to go far away to gather stuff.¡± Despite the fact that the siphoning of Yiwi¡¯s lifeblood had only just gotten underway, Bella was already thinking of the far-off future. Did she have other options? At the very least, she had no choice but to excel at her job anyway. Might as well think of everything. And in thinking of every possibility, she thought of what would happen once Yiwi was no longer a paradise of abundance. More of an inevitability than a possibility, really. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work. Flowers and nectar which they could use to make true honey would all be relegated to the forest, but those particular resources would have their limitations. All the nectar they gather from the flowers would be great, but most likely not enough to feed an ever-expanding hive. So would they have to gather more actual food from further away? Most likely. Bella and Belle hadn¡¯t tried to make honey from the disgusting human food yet, but if things kept up, that would end up being necessary. That might at least make the slop taste a bit more palatable. Bella once again looked down at the human woman who was making her life easier than it should be. Not only was she providing the hive with easy access to food, she was ensuring that ordinary people didn¡¯t become suspicious or even aware of bees carrying away desperately needed supplies. As usual, when not fretting about her businesses, she was looking into the distance with a thoughtful, almost lost expression. Bella recalled their first encounter, before such chumminess had entered their conversations¡­. Bella looked at the fuming woman before her. Her bloodshot eyes and wild mane of brown hair didn¡¯t quite fit with her simple yet elegant gray suit and flowery bow tie. She had been waiting outside the city walls when Bella arrived, and had supposedly already received plenty of instruction from Trice on what her next job would be. So why¡­? ¡°I know I don¡¯t have a choice, but tell your asshole boss to back the fuck off! The citizens are already hungry enough, you fucking bees! And she¡¯s overbearing. And mean!¡± the woman, Mesne, shouted at Bella, who just hovered there flabbergasted. What had she done to deserve such an outburst? She had just gotten there! ¡°Whoa buddy. First off, Trice is not my boss. I do what she wants because Mom thinks she knows what she¡¯s doing. It¡¯s not my fault you guys are so chumpish that Mom dumped your fates into Beatrice¡¯s nasty hands. And besides that, it¡¯s not my fault you¡¯re hungry either. From what I know, it¡¯s got nothing to do with us.¡± Bella thought for a moment before continuing. ¡°Actually, shouldn¡¯t you guys be fine for a while? I know you merchants are super rich and stuff. If you have so much food that we¡¯re going to be taking some, then why not give that to the starving people? Oh yeah! A bunch of humans died, too. So less mouths to feed, I think.¡± That did it. Bella watched with some mixture of satisfaction and shame as the fuming human was set ablaze. She could feel the anger radiating off her weaker Mind like actual fire through the Link, and prepared to give a command for her to stand down. However, to Bella¡¯s surprise, she instantly calmed, adopting a deadpan stare. ¡°Haha, good one,¡± Mesne chuckled without a drop of mirth. ¡°But seriously, I get what you mean. My company wasn¡¯t very big before, so our food supplies weren¡¯t much to speak of. But the new business I¡­ inherited is a different story. In fact, it belonged to a man who specifically trafficked in foodstuffs. A profitable venture in these trying times, as I¡¯m sure you can imagine. So now I find myself in possession of piles of admittedly unappetizing food while simultaneously being surrounded by starving masses. While it is true that many have died and so any resources they would consume are now free, there still are not enough to go around. And in order for the city to make a true recovery, what with the injured and tired and downtrodden, plenty of food is needed, as long as it provides energy. So things are not so simple.¡± What the fuck? Bella thought, staring at Mesne with wide eyes. It was like she had transformed into a completely different person all of a sudden, speaking pleasantly and politely, yet firmly and full of confidence. Not only had she rebuked all of Bella¡¯s jabs, she had hit at the very heart of what Bella cared about, that being good food. Bella took a moment to search through her thoughts, especially the B-mail briefing she had received from Trice. She had only skimmed it after all¡­ There. Buried along with information on the other merchants was Mesne¡¯s profile, including details on her Ability. [Just a Formality Level 3 Acquired by: Despite your attempts, you lack any sort of business, conversational, or social acumen. Thus, you created this Ability by solidifying your Mind and entombing your emotions. Your Mind condenses, speeding up processing power and dulling true emotion. Allows you to draw from your knowledge and experience, as well as the knowledge and experience of those you are dealing with, in order to interact in a truly formal manner. Level up: Use the Ability without dispelling it for one week. ] What a boring Ability. It was likely extremely helpful for the frazzled woman, as she didn¡¯t seem to have a knack for business, but did she really create an Ability just to do that business? Bella scoffed at the thought. If you had the power of Mind at your stingertip, you should use it for something cool. Something combat-oriented, perhaps, or for making food. ¡°Oh your merchanty highness, a thousand pardons for my insolence,¡± Bella said with a bow. Let¡¯s see what will work. Mesne squirmed. She didn¡¯t even think of firing back after that comment. Which meant Bella had already found her weakness. A beautiful reaction. And beautiful ammunition¡­ As Bella recalled the encounter, she giggled again. From that point on, she had taken to referring to Mesne using all sorts of flowery titles just to bother her. In hindsight, she should¡¯ve led with the classics. She didn¡¯t know why some people became so bothered when you called them strange things. Ben didn¡¯t seem to mind. But Trice sure did. Mom even seemed to like the various names the bees had for her. And Mesne absolutely despised being referred to with titles above her station. People - and bees- could be so odd. The memory reminded her of another thing. Bella still hadn¡¯t created an Ability. It wasn¡¯t that she couldn¡¯t, she just didn¡¯t know what to do yet. Of course. It didn¡¯t bother her at all that several of her siblings, some much younger than herself, were creating Abilities left and right nowadays. The Valkybees didn¡¯t count; those freaks had overpowered Abilities nearly as soon as they were born. Oh and Beatrice didn¡¯t count either, ¡®cause she¡¯s also a freak. Little Ben also didn¡¯t count. Or Bedivere. Or Beck. Or Bess. Or Belle. Or Beau or Becky or Beckham or Bennet or Benita. Actually, those last few were pretty infuriating. ¡°Waah! You poor human. I was looking in the city and¡­ Can we leave some food for the humans, sis?¡± Speaking of infuriating. Bella chose to ignore Bert¡¯s weeping for the moment. At least there was one other bee as incompetent as herself. Was it something about being a natural gatherer that made her and her crybaby younger brother so inept? Bella wasn¡¯t sure. ¡°Would you¡­ like bread?¡± ¡°No thank you Bert,¡± Mesne sighed. Bella crossed her six arms and began tapping them. No. No, she wasn¡¯t inept. Far from it. She refused to adopt a defeatist mindset like some of her other siblings. Sure, she hadn¡¯t managed to create an Ability just yet, but her talent with Mind was second only to those who were true monsters. She wasn¡¯t combat oriented and had no desire to be. Her skills were completely focused on gathering food, bringing it to the hive as efficiently as possible, and creating efficient and delicious food for the hive. For Mom. She nodded. Across all her siblings, Bella didn¡¯t stand out at all. She didn¡¯t struggle to the point of helplessness, like Bess. And she didn¡¯t go above and beyond to an excess like Ben or Beatrice. She simply did her job and did it well. She was instrumental to the hive¡¯s survival, and she was proud of the work she did. So why did she still want to make an Ability so bad? It was a frustrating conundrum. Making an Ability wouldn¡¯t even do much of anything for her at the moment. She had ideas for making food, sure, but they could still make honey with the current process perfectly fine. For gathering food? All she really needed was a large number of drones. Perhaps something for controlling the drones, then? Nah, she didn¡¯t need help like Bess. No, as hard as she thought about it, Bella couldn¡¯t imagine a single Ability that would elevate her to the next level and make Mom notice her. Wait. If she made some Ability to create honey¡­ At least one of her siblings would care, right? Chapter 87 - Bella Bee Scheming A scream. A shout. A loud clanging. As Bella continued imagining what a honey-making Ability could do to improve the hive¡¯s life, some commotion within Yiwi¡¯s walls shook her from her thoughts. What the heck? Ah, it''s probably a human thing. I can probably ignore it then, she thought with a shrug. She slumped in boredom even as Mesne dashed towards the gate. She was a human, after all, and one with a bit of a better attitude than some. She decided to keep an eye on the situation, just to make sure Mesne didn¡¯t do anything stupid. ¡°Stop right there, thief! That food isn¡¯t yours!¡± Bella heard from Mesne¡¯s perspective. A man wearing light metal armor was sprinting towards a shady-looking guy who was clutching a piece of bread. Bella felt a throb from Mesne¡¯s Mind, followed by a sudden rushing sensation. With a boost from Mind, Mesne shot post the peace keeper and barreled into the thief, pinning him to the ground. ¡°Enough of that. Your family may be hungry, but think of the ones you just stole that from,¡± she said to the man groaning under her. She leaned in and spoke at a whisper, ¡°Quickly. Tell me your name and where you live. I will ensure your family is fed.¡± ¡°How do you¡­¡± the thief managed to groan before looking up and blanching at the sight of Mesne¡¯s face. Bella was thoroughly entertained; the face being made by the nervous merchant woman was just too horrible! Without another second of hesitation, the man told Mesne what she wanted to hear, and she rose, freeing him. Before he stood, Mesne snatched the bread from his hands and picked him up, pushing him away. ¡°Wow! That was intense! Are you some sort of racer?¡± Bella laughed into Mesne¡¯s head, which the merchant ignored. Internally, though, Bella was deep in thought. The words Mesne spoke to the would-be-thief weren¡¯t her own. Although Bella didn¡¯t know her very well, she knew that Mesne was far more unsure of herself when speaking. Her emotions also felt dulled during the encounter. Which meant that she had activated her Ability. So she can use it like this? Maybe Mesne is interesting rather than intriguing after all. By the time the peacekeeper managed to arrive, the thief had already gone, stumbling into a nearby alley. ¡°Person damn you woman, you let him get away! We don¡¯t have enough-¡° ¡°Stop,¡± Mesne said firmly. She tossed the loaf to the man, who fumbled with it. ¡°Give that back to the person it was stolen from. I¡¯m keeping an eye on you, so don¡¯t even think of trying anything.¡± The man looked like he wanted to argue, but realization suddenly dawned on his face. He seemed to recognize Mesne and awkwardly nodded his head, jogging back to the woman who was crying at this point. While all that was happening, Bella watched as a team of bees crested the wall. Besides loaves of bread they clutched in their little bee arms, a pair together carried a particularly large fried druid. ¡°Hoho! While the humans squabble so desperately, we squeeze them for everything they¡¯ve got! And it¡¯s all thanks to you, Merchant Queen Mesne!¡± ¡°¡­Hm.¡± ¡°Is ¡®hm¡¯ all you can muster? I thought that was a pretty good jab. Well, forget it. I know from your profile that you practiced so-called ¡®martial thoughts¡¯ and have some degree of skill in light combat. But not much. An experienced mercenary like Toh can easily overwhelm you. So you¡¯re not a great fighter, just an okay one. Maybe slightly above average. But you¡¯re not a great merchant either. You just inherited your parents¡¯ company and rode their coattails. So¡­ You suck.¡± Simple, yet effective. The declaration broke Mesne from her funk, causing her to spin around and draw a few prying eyes. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Why you- You fucking bastard Bella, I oughta- Well I can¡¯t really¡­ Person! Why is this all falling on me?!¡± ¡°That¡¯s what I¡¯m asking, babe,¡± Bella said with a huff. ¡°I¡¯m saying you¡¯re pretty mediocre, with a few interesting traits. So why is Mom giving you so much power?¡± Mesne calmed down and stared at the wall, where she assumed Bella was. For fun, Bella moved so Mesne¡¯s line of sight would actually fall on her. ¡°Do you know? Why our Queen is doing this to me?¡± She looked so earnest while saying that, Bella couldn¡¯t help but almost feel bad. ¡°Nope! Her Mind works in mysterious ways. And since Trice holds so much power, I¡¯m not privy to her thoughts either. So who knows? Maybe Trice is actually the one who decided to give you all this power, and Mom is just following along.¡± The pair stewed in silence for a moment before Mesne began walking back outside of the wall. She didn¡¯t actually need to be there, but apparently there was some compulsion humans had about speaking ¡®face-to-face¡¯. None of the bees really understood it, including Bella. Actually, now that Bella thought about it, Mom did seem to have a similar habit. She liked to float around the hive, going to inspect the bees¡¯ work herself. She also organized those family dinners. Not that Bella minded either, of course. In fact, she found them quite fun. But it was odd that Mom had similar ideas and habits to the humans. ¡°Do you hate mistress Beatrice? To be frank, she seems to possess an incredible amount of power over the hive and its operations. You¡¯re pretty ambitious yourself, I¡¯ve noticed. So I¡¯m wondering if some resentment has built up,¡± Mesne said as she approached the gate. A simple wave was all it took for a guard to begin opening the massive metal doors. She¡¯s gathered that much about us in such a short time, huh? I know I call her merchant skills lacking, but she¡¯s not completely incompetent, I guess. It does make sense. I suppose her business would sink otherwise. ¡°Hate her? Impossible. I admire her more than anyone. Some of the others think she has an unfair advantage just ¡®cause she was born first, but they can be dumb sometimes. She has an unfair advantage by being Beatrice. Simple as,¡± Bella responded dismissively. ¡°Even so,¡± Mesne pressed. ¡°My observation about her abundance of power isn¡¯t wrong. I¡¯ve only talked to a few important bees, but every single one makes it clear how important her word is above nearly all others. Sometimes she even seems more important than the Que-¡° ¡°Don¡¯t finish that thought. Don¡¯t ever,¡± Bella said. Mesne felt a faint pressure on the back of her neck as Bella¡¯s eyes bore a hole in her. She could even feel the gazes of the drones in the distance, feel the weight of the glares of drones scattered across Yiwi. ¡°Anyways, it''s good that Trice is so involved. She¡¯s way smart, you know,¡± Bella said with a smile. All at once, the pressure and gazes disappeared, and Mesne was left with sweat lining her brow, and nothing more. ¡°And all of that isn¡¯t important. I¡¯m more concerned about your little decision to feed that dude¡¯s family.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Mesne said. She shuddered remembering what had just happened, but tried to push it to the back of her mind. ¡°I apologize. Something like that is important, isn¡¯t it? I should¡¯ve run it by you.¡± ¡°Yup. But I guess this just goes to show what I was talking about earlier. About you being a sucky merchant AND a sucky fighter. Guess it¡¯s all about talent these days.¡± ¡°These days¡­?¡± ¡°Oh¡­? Talent, huh? But wait a second,¡± Bella said, suddenly buzzing around Mesne¡¯s head. She might¡¯ve thought the bee was quite cute doing that, if it weren¡¯t for the fact that Bella was larger than her entire head. Oh, and Bella¡¯s personality was awful. ¡°Now that I think about it, saying you¡¯re not talented is weird, right? Despite the fact that you don¡¯t even want to be a merchant, you¡¯ve successfully maintained your parents¡¯ business all this time. If I remember¡­¡± Bella said while definitely not remembering. Instead, she searched Mesne¡¯s profile. ¡°Right there. I was right; you never really wanted to be a merchant at all. How exciting! You wanted to be a pro martial thoughtist! Grew up in southern Somuia¡­ skirmishes in the southeast¡­ inventor¡­ supplier¡­ boring. Aha! Your parents di- Er, once your parents were gone, you valiantly took up the mantle of merchant and inherited their business, giving up on your dreams.¡± She paused. Mesne had grown pale, but she wasn¡¯t saying a word. Just as well. Bella might have gone too far too. Mesne¡¯s parents met such a fate, one Bella would rather not imagine. ¡°Ahem. In any case, what this shows me is that you have two things you care about in life: martial thoughts and business. But you don¡¯t actually want to do business stuff, you feel compelled to continue your parents¡¯ work. What you really want to be doing is martial thoughts. However¡­ your talent and dreams don¡¯t align at all. Contrary to what I thought before, you do have talent for being a merchant. Which is weird, because your own Ability says you suck¡­ But anyways, you have some degree of talent for being a merchant, and yet you¡¯re not very good because your heart''s not in it. On the other hand, you want to do martial thoughts, but you need to work extra hard to be good, meaning no talent. And you can¡¯t because you¡¯ve dedicated yourself to your business.¡± Yes, Bella was getting a full picture of Mesne¡¯s true essence. She was a true dichotomy of dreams and reality. Someone without talent for one thing, but talented in another. She was sort of like one of the bees, in a way. Specialized. But unlike the bees, she didn¡¯t have passion for her specialization. Why? Simple. Mesne is a stinky human. How could she be compared to bees? Bella suddenly perked up. Perhaps this was actually a great chance! ¡°Actually, I give you full permission to go and feed that dude¡¯s family. In fact, I give you permission to donate food to as many people as you want! With a few conditions, of course.¡± Conditions I won¡¯t be discussing with Trice. Of course, Mom will know. So Mom, could you please not tell Trice about this plan? I want you to really notice me. Just an Ability isn¡¯t good enough; I¡¯m putting everything I¡¯ve got into it! ¡°Oh sure, sounds good.¡± ¡°Gah! Mom?!¡± Chapter 88 - Bee’s a Crowd Bella¡¯s little scheme was scary. Scary in the way an unmoving insect might be. Would it fly at me? Scurry away? Or would the blasted thing just stay there, prolonging the confrontation? Actually, I take that back. An insect was way scarier than some attention-seeking plan. Bella¡¯s idea would ultimately help the hive anyway, so I had nothing to complain about. Well, besides the fact that Beatrice¡¯s lack of involvement introduced an element of risk. Bella was fairly intelligent as far as I had observed, but she was still nowhere near Beatrice¡¯s level of effortless ability. Oh wait. I¡¯m an insect now, aren¡¯t I? Guess I shouldn¡¯t be putting my fellow buggers down. I internally shook my head. While listening to Bella¡¯s little mustache-twirling planning sesh, I had been hard at work developing a healing Ability. And it was going well. Too well¡­ I could feel the power coursing through me. Unimaginable depths of might sprang forth from the recesses of my mental realm, allowing me to perform feats beyond imagination. I couldn¡¯t even imagine the unimaginable- ¡°Oh, enough of that.¡± I started, making Beatrice flinch. Queen speaking up was a bit unexpected, so I got somewhat startled. Anyways! Before I was so rudely interrupted, I had been trying to develop a healing Ability, to no avail. Beatrice could attest; she sat there for hours while I spat up eggs and tried to create a new Ability, and could practically see the results of my failed experiments. Well, failed experiments related to Abilities. The eggs were doing just fine, which seemed to satisfy her. ¡°Are you struggling, Mother? It is alright. Abilities are something we still do not fully understand, and, in my opinion, are something of a crutch. You are powerful and skilled enough to perform any action we could possibly need without something as limiting as an Ability,¡± my aide said, pushing up her antennae-glasses like some kind of smarty pants. ¡°I didn¡¯t think you were so simple-minded, Beatrice,¡± I said back. ¡°Abilities have something unique about them, I thought that much was clear. If they weren¡¯t important, then at the very least, humans wouldn¡¯t be limited to one.¡± Beatrice didn¡¯t even have the grace to look embarrassed, instead only scoffing at the mention of humans. ¡°Humans are limited only because they have unfair advantages. They are too great in number, and they have odd adaptability capabilities. If anything, their limitation makes them seem even more inferior than they already are. Their species wouldn¡¯t need so many unnatural crutches if they were just better, like bees.¡± Hey! Who the hell are you?! What happened to my sweet little Beatrice who always agreed and kowtowed at what I said? Sure, she got a little defiant sometimes, but in the end she couldn¡¯t help but grovel. Is this the rebellious teenage phase? ¡°Of course, I concede that you are correct, as usual, Mother. Abilities do indeed posses some strange uniqueness, and they might be more important than I gave them credit for. I did not express myself properly, I think. What I was truly meant to say is that there is an over-reliance on Abilities, especially among those outside the hive. And it has begun to infect those within our ranks.¡± Hm. When she said it like that, I could see where she was coming from. Well played, my aide. While Beatrice was right, it didn¡¯t change the fact that I needed to make more Abilities for myself. Not creating them was just an unnecessary limitation I was imposing on my power. So I would keep working on it, especially this healing Ability. I couldn¡¯t get it out of my head now. But I would like to say something to the rest of the bees about Beatrice¡¯s concerns, because they did have merit in one way or another. Even now I could feel the burning passion flaring up near Yiwi, coming from miss Bella and her desire for attention. What sort of Ability would feelings like that produce? I¡¯m sorry! I didn¡¯t mean to neglect you or anything, Bella, stuff just kinda¡­ happened? ¡°There are visitors coming.¡± And what¡¯s got you so talkative all of a sudden? I poked at Queen to get her to speak some more when the trembling form of Beau appeared in the ¡®doorway.¡¯ I beckoned her forth even as I shoved Queen¡¯s Mind avatar to provoke a response, which she pointedly ignored. ¡°¡­Mother?¡± ¡°Right, Beau. I¡¯ve been meaning to speak with you. I¡¯ve been keeping a close eye on your work, and I¡¯ve gotta say, I¡¯m impressed. You were quick to grasp many of the concepts I sent over about the nature and behavior of electricity. But even before that, you were doing some interesting stuff. Mind telling me a bit about the beginning? What inspired some of your inventions, like the electrical bullets for example?¡± With that little prompt, Beau began gushing a tirade of explanations. She talked about seeing Belial shoot his guns, about her first time seeing the electrical crystals, and about the encounter with Toh, of all things. On that last point, she mentioned how easy it would be to defeat Toh or Beelzebub if they were unable to move, which made her think about the electricity. She pulled up mental diagrams and floated various materials in the air. A faintly glowing bullet hovered a little too close to Beatrice, who made to swat it away. ¡°¡­ and the electhingery STOP!¡± Beau shouted, stopping Beatrice in her tracks. I could feel a flame of indignation rise in Beatrice, but I quickly squashed it. Beau was the expert here, after all, and Beatrice would only be inconveniencing her with accidents. Considering the merits of Beau¡¯s work, she was already rising to a powerful position within the hive¡¯s politics. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Or not. Hive politics weren¡¯t really a thing. Except in certain cases, like the Valkybees and Bedivere. Or the original Hive Five. And for Beatrice herself. Oh my gods, are there hive politics?! ¡°I¡­ apologize, Beau. You are the expert here. But please keep those things away from me. That electricity is simply abhorrent.¡± ¡°EXACTLY!¡± Beau shouted. I must¡¯ve made a face at the volume, because she got real shy after glancing at me. ¡°I mean. Exactly, miss Beatrice. Your aversion to the electhingery is something not unique to yourself. In fact, every living creature, bee or human or squirrel is instinctively compelled to avoid it. Humans especially seem to have developed some sort of¡­ what would it be called? They collectively decided to hate it.¡± ¡°Uh, stigma?¡± ¡°EXA- er, exactly Mother. The humans all have a shared stigma against electhingery. And yet, a human¡¯s Ability created the crystals so crucial to my work. And that stigma is why my work is so important! My good friend Belial graciously tested my original, primitive bullets in Yiwi to great success. Not only did they successfully deliver a shocking payload to the victim, but they act as powerful projectiles in their own right. As if that weren¡¯t all, metal.¡± Beau beamed. Beatrice looked confused. Oh Beatrice, I suppose I am ahead of you once again! Your rebellious streak won¡¯t help you against the real world. ¡°The only reason you aren¡¯t as confused as she is because you already know Beau¡¯s thoughts.¡± Before I could retort against that baseless and frankly disappointing claim, Queen giggled and turned away again, back to ignoring me. What was up with her?! ¡°I¡¯m afraid I don¡¯t follow, Beau. Are you explaining something?¡± Beatrice said slowly. I could practically taste the reluctance in her voice. Beatrice, outsmarted?! It was devastating. In reality, she wasn¡¯t being outsmarted at all. If Beau were more clear, Beatrice wouldn¡¯t have a problem understanding the explanation. But Beau¡¯s brain just worked differently, I guess. Must be an inventor thing. ¡°Metal, miss Beatrice. Metal! Humans adore metal for some reason, which is the crux of this new electhingery technology of ours. Metal clothes, metal jewelry. Heck, metal houses even. Everything they make is metal. It¡¯s no wonder they struggle to accept electhingery with all that metal around. No wax, as it were.¡± ¡°No¡­ wax?¡± ¡°No wax.¡± Once again, Beatrice looked confused. And her indignation from before was staring to turn into something else. Something¡­ sinister. It was good for Beatrice to have a worthy rival among the bees, in my estimation. She had become a bit too complacent about being the smartest and most annoying know-it-all in the hive. ¡°What she means, Beatrice, has to do with the properties of electricity. Humans use metal in most everything, including clothing and jewelry, which is always on their person and close to their bodies. Since many metals are fantastic conductors of electricity, the human body can be electrocuted far more easily. So you could say the humans of this world have a natural weakness to electricity because of their overuse of metal. This naturally extends to bullets. Of course, I doubt all the metal they use is highly conductive. As for what she means by ¡®no wax¡¯¡­ Well, I¡¯ll let her explain. Could you give a basic rundown on your techniques, Beau?¡± The smaller bee had been nodding along with my explanation, so when I tossed the ball back to her, she seemed stunned. But her insatiable appetite won out against her surprise. ¡°Of course! I¡¯ll simplify it for you, miss Beatrice. The wax we create is the opposite of the humans¡¯ metal. It doesn¡¯t conduct electricity that well at all. Resist! Because of that, we can use it in all sorts of neat ways. For instance, take the bullets. Belial uses the human guns, which are made purely from metal. Like Mother said, not all the metal is so conductive, but the guns are conductive enough. So if the bullets were used in their raw form¡­ boom! Fried Belial. So I first encase the bullet in a special shell of wax, which is discarded when the bullet is fired from the gun. Even my most primitive bullets managed that much. And the bullets themselves are metal, which I¡¯ve tested to ensure is as conductive as possible, to deliver maximum shock. But I think I can make them even better. In fact, I¡¯ve already done so!¡± As she kept jabbering on, I was trying my best to restrain a steaming Beatrice. I think it was the ¡®I¡¯ll simplify it for you¡¯ comment. Which, by the way, was so untrue. How could you say that then throw around jargon like ¡®conductivity¡¯?! Beau didn¡¯t mean it maliciously, but I don¡¯t think Beatrice cared much about intent. Hm. Maybe an intellectual rival wasn¡¯t such a good thing after all. ¡°Aha! Well, that¡¯s all great stuff, Beau, but I think we should get to the point. Let¡¯s see your most recent work, if you wouldn¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Of course I wouldn¡¯t mind, master Mother!¡± When prompted, Beau made three objects float above the others. Two were fairly standard-looking bullets, but the third was a bit odd. She went on to explain, which I sort of tuned out. What? I already know all of what she¡¯s saying. I just thought it would be motivating for her to show off the fruits of her labor. And I was right. I could feel the excitement mounting even as she explained. The bullets, she lectured, were simply improved versions of the electrifying bullets Belial used in Yiwi. The differences between them were in their purpose. One was more focused on delivering devastating electric shocks, while the other was designed for power. The second was a bit scary-looking, all big and aerodynamic and stuff. But the first one was way scarier in function. As for the final object, it actually wasn¡¯t made for combat. Which very nearly surprised me. If I didn¡¯t know better, I might think Beau was some sort of mad scientist who craved stronger and stronger weapons. But instead, the final item was something much more mundane. A motor. ¡°And what, pray tell, do we need something like this for?¡± Beatrice asked. Well, I couldn¡¯t blame her. Although I called the object a motor, it was more like an extremely simplistic engine powered by a crystal. The device was pretty big, and clearly couldn¡¯t produce enough power to justify its size. It was also cobbled together, with pieces and bits of metal stuck together using wax. ¡°I don¡¯t know! I just thought it might be neat.¡± It really didn¡¯t serve much purpose by itself, but it was an interesting exercise, nonetheless. I didn¡¯t stop her from making it, because why would I? It was something she felt like making, and of all the jobs in the hive, hers was the least urgent. ¡°I see¡­ But if your projects are as important as Mother seems to believe, you should put more emphasis on efficiency. It is all well and good to do things you want to do, but please consider the hive¡¯s future,¡± Beatrice said, her scowl fading. She pushed her imaginary glasses up again. Was this a new habit? ¡°Hm. Based on everything you¡¯ve explained so far, then containing this electhingery - excuse me, electricity ¡ª is extremely important. The crystals are an amazing vessel, but they tend to leak energy too easily, based on the need to trap electricity using wax. And I see you ran into this problem with your motor project. Perhaps you could build upon this makeshift fix you implemented to create an improved storage system.¡± Excuse me?! Both Beau and my jaws dropped to the floor. I sensed Beau¡¯s mind racing, immediately dreaming up plans and designs to implement Beatrice¡¯s suggestion of an electricity storage system. She wasn¡¯t even paying attention to anything else anymore. But I was more concerned with Beatrice! That freakazoid already adapted to unfamiliar knowledge and was giving thoughtful suggestions?! Just a moment ago, she seemed clueless about all of Beau¡¯s work, and now¡­ Well, I guess you can¡¯t discount a genius. ¡°Heyho, Mama! Oh, hey Beatrice, Beau,¡± Bess loudly proclaimed as she suddenly buzzed into the room. Before she could say anything else, Beau shoved past her and rushed deeper into the central hive, to her workshop just beyond the nursery. ¡°¡­Do I smell that bad?¡± I laughed at that. Well. I knew it was coming, but Bess¡¯ delivery was genuinely good. Some things just can¡¯t be conveyed in thought. ¡°Hello Bess. Don¡¯t mind Beau, I just happened to give her a bit of¡­ inspiration,¡± Beatrice easily said. Did she have to show off such an unsightly grin while she said that? Someone might get the wrong idea. ¡°In any case, I assume you¡¯re here to talk about-¡° ¡°¡±Ma! Kill her!¡±¡± A pair of voices shouted from outside. I peeked out the window to find Beryl and Beelzebub smashing their heads against each other as they trudged towards my chambers. Beryl was nowhere near a match for Beelzebub, so the more grizzled warrior was easily pushed down- Or not? I was shocked to see Beryl hold her own against the fury of Beelzebub¡¯s forehead, although she was plainly struggling. It must be the product of her new Ability¡­ Hold on. Why was my room becoming so crowded? Aren¡¯t I a freaking queen?! That¡¯s like, an important person! My room¡¯s not a freaking hangout! ¡°And with that, you insult true royalty everywhere.¡± Chapter 89 - Lets Get Ready to Bumble! Let¡¯s start with you two rowdy rascals. I knew what they were fighting about, but it was really something I would think they could resolve on their own. Unfortunately, that was clearly not the case. One of Beryl¡¯s good arms snapped up, pushing Beelzebub back far enough for the older warrior¡¯s stinger to get between them. Beelzebub, without missing a beat, responded in turn, raised her own tiny weapon to meet her opponent. They suddenly blurred, and I realized with a start they had moved at insane speeds, faster than I could even see. I barely even had time to react. The simple pushing match devolved all at once into a brutal sparring session. In moments, the clearing outside the central hive was filled with the sounds of clashing ¡®blades¡¯ and clouds of dust kicked up by the sheer speed. Hey. Hey! This is happening right outside my damn window! ¡°YOU TWO! Have some tact, you animals!¡± Beatrice exploded out of the hive, somehow having made her way out without me noticing. She furiously tried to calm the raging beeasts outside my window, to no avail. If she saw them getting a little too close to the hive, then¡­ eek. It¡¯d be her first time using [Aide Authority] out of anger. That might be scary. ¡°Hoo, they¡¯re really going at it! Hey you two, slow down so I can watch better,¡± Bess hollered from my window. She was leaning on it so casually, as if the consistently escalating scuffle outside my room was a roadside attraction. Well, at least every other bee just kept working. Thank goodness for bees and their efficiency! Not being able to see what was happening was annoying, so I focused on seeing the fight through the combatants¡¯ eyes. That shift nearly made me puke. I wiped my mouth after spitting out an egg. Ah, I suppose I was puking anyways. Somehow I was able to keep my thoughts in order even as I suddenly saw spiky stingers and barbed arms shoot out and impact my - the fighters¡¯ - body. It wasn¡¯t something I was amazed by anymore, but thinking calmly about puking up eggs while being in the perspective of someone fighting for their life was certainly difficult to get used to. Beryl¡¯s stinger was much longer, giving her more reach and momentum. Her sheer strength couldn¡¯t be discounted either, as it was among the best within the ranks of the regular warriors. But what ultimately set her apart from the rest were her strategic and intuitive thoughts. She noticed a subtle movement in Beelzebub¡¯s abdomen and twisted, avoiding a surprise stinger stab. In return, she defied reason and kicked up more dust with her Mind, even though there was a seemingly massive opening for counterattack. The smaller red bee was much faster and stronger, but Beryl had the advantage when it came to strategy and skill. If she had directly countered there, she would have fallen victim to Beelzebub¡¯s monstrous speed and lost the fight. Instead, she prolonged the battle by slowing Beelzebub for a fraction of a second. Beryl hadn¡¯t trained with Bedivere for long, even compared to the Valkybees, but her talent was evident. Every attack Beelzebub made was practiced and smooth, to a predictable degree. Sure, attacks were wild, but still textbook. Beryl had studied under the same ¡®master¡¯, after all; she knew what movements Beelzebub would make before she even acted. And yet, Beryl flinched as an easily predicated thrust scratched her side, leaving behind an angry cut nearly as red as Beelzebub herself. Because here was the fight from Beelzebub¡¯s perspective: Beryl was weak. Capable, but weak compared to Beelzebub¡¯s sheer might. A sneer, a snarl, and bubbling with confidence, Beelzebub landed another shallow thrust on Beryl¡¯s face, which the older warrior could barely manage to avoid. It didn¡¯t matter how easily Beryl could predict an attack; Beelzebub just needed to attack so fast and hard that skill didn¡¯t matter. To say the two were evenly matched was pure nonsense. Beryl just couldn¡¯t compete with Beelzebub, to the point that the small bee was even taking it easy on her. But even so, Beelzebub was finding herself continuously surprised when an attack that should have been devastating ended up producing just a flesh wound. ¡°ENOUGH!¡± Beatrice¡¯s voice rang clearly through the Minds of the two bees, stopping them mid-attack. Despite their best efforts, neither was able to move as they wanted, but they still did move. Oops. I got a little too into the fight there. At some point, the pair had gotten too close to the hive, so Beatrice put a stop to the fight with her Ability. But the two of them didn¡¯t really get the memo. A punch from Beelzebub eventually landed, but it was slow enough to deal little damage. I sensed Beatrice¡¯s anger boiling over, so I finally decided to step in. ¡°Alright, alright, that¡¯s enough you two. Honestly. Beelzebub, you¡¯re still not proven in your skills as a commander, and definitely not as a ¡®trainer.¡¯ Bedivere has already decided that Beryl will be the main general, so leave it at that, will you?¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Beatrice looked like she wanted to rip her glasses off her face in shock. ¡°It was for such a stupid reason¡­?¡± she sputtered. ¡°But- but Mom! Look at her! Butt-ryl can barely even fly, so what¡¯s the use having her as general? Big bro just feels bad for her, that¡¯s all! THAT¡¯S ALL!¡± ¡°I wonder.¡± I paused for a moment to spit up another egg. ¡°I can¡¯t fly with my wings either, so am I unfit to rule the hive? Sucks for me I guess.¡± Beelzebub went pale as a sheet (somehow), and Beatrice stopped wringing her hands to stare. Maybe that comment was a bit too far, actually. Someone like Beatrice might take it a bit too seriously- ¡°Ha! Good one, Mom. You got the great Beel shakin¡¯ in her boots,¡± Bess guffawed, slapping the outside of my window like some playboy in a sports car. What did she think my room was for? Beelzebub recovered quickly. ¡°No way. NO WAY did I mean it like that, Mom. You see, Butt-ryl just sucks, ¡®cause she¡¯s Butt-ryl,¡± I saw her stare daggers at Beryl again, so I firmly made her stand down by tossing a command through the Link. She sure got the message this time, shooting to the ground and resting on her knees like a chastised little kid. Beatrice buzzed over in a rage and completed the image, pointing and shouting like a disappointed schoolteacher. Beryl huffed, turning away from the hive. ¡°If that is all, I will take my leave. The warriors still have a ways to go before they can properly contend with the likes of the Yiwi mercenaries-¡° ¡°Oh no, you get back here young lady. You¡¯re not worming your way out of this,¡± a voice crept up from behind Beryl. Beatrice grabbed Beryl¡¯s shoulder as the proud warrior tensed, initially attempting to resist the pull of an angry older sister. To no avail. ¡°So, Bess, how are things?¡± With a heavy heart, Bess turned away from the glorious sight of someone other than herself getting yelled at by Beatrice and back to me. Regardless, she gave me a big bee grin and began detailing her plans with a twinkle in her eye. ¡°Oh, it¡¯s been great! Obviously the amount of materials is way less than I¡¯d like, but it just means that I¡¯m getting more and more efficient at controlling the drones. I¡¯ve been having some small groups doing some complex deign as practice, and it¡¯s gone pretty well. You know the hexa pillar? My designs for it are all over the place, but its complexity is something I might actually be able to manage now.¡± ¡°I see! That all sounds great.¡± ¡°Yup! Can I have the Shaft?¡± ¡°No.¡± Bess moaned and groaned, but I was not giving up my new ultra-pen! When she first saw it floating towards the hive, she thought it was a gift from the gods themselves. It was, after all, the perfect shape and size to serve as the base for her hexa pillar project. But who cares about that?! I need a proper pen to spin, and the Shaft is the next best thing. I know she wants a support structure for her dome, but dangit, she had already been designing structures that could work without supports. So why now? ¡°Please? It would make the dome¡¯s completion so much easier. I know I said I could make the drones do complex stuff, but that can only take me so far! The dome is just too big, and the materials we have won¡¯t cut it.¡± ¡°Nope. Not happening. Maybe you shoulda thought about that before making the first layer so huge.¡± ¡°I had to! It was demarcating our territory, remember? But at this point, the entire freaking forest is our territory, so there¡¯s no need for that separation. And since I already constructed the wall, making an inner dome just seems¡­ wasteful.¡± ¡°Would it be, though?¡± I wondered aloud. I mean, it¡¯s not like we had a thousand-strong bee army to protect our wax wall. If something of moderate strength wanted to, it could probably bust through the wall and head for the central hive, no problem. Well, there was a problem. For the intruders, that is. Indeed, our best defenses came not from our fortification, but from those who valiantly maintain a solid bastion against our foes. And they came in the form of our best and brightest warriors. Who were currently on their knees, being called childish babies by a secretary. ¡°Actually Bess, I¡¯ve been thinking. A beehive¡¯s purposes is to provide shelter, to some degree, right? But the main purpose is for the wax cells to store food and house the brood. So why not expand the main hive as the main priority?¡± Bess¡¯ expression darkened, and I could swear her nonexistent teeth were gnashing together. ¡°That¡¯s. What. I¡¯m. DOING!¡± Her shout was loud enough to disturb Beatrice, who briefly paused her lecture before continuing to berate the warriors, who now wore bruises that seemed to be unrelated to their spat. ¡°Sorry, Mom. I just got a little heated,¡± Bess mumbled, immediately apologetic. Which was exactly what I planned. ¡­ Really? I set it up perfectly there. Queen¡¯s really going through it, I suppose. I¡¯d put all my focus on helping her as soon as I¡¯m done with this. Which, by the way, I planned none of. I genuinely didn¡¯t realize that the central hive had expanded at all, but I hadn¡¯t really paid any attention to it. Searching, I found what Bess was talking about. She had originally begun sending drones with some material to the central hive as an exercise in distance and control, and eventually used that as an excuse to expand the central hive slightly. The nursery had a significant number of new cells, and the food storage had been more than tripled. There were even large food cells, with enough space to house some of the more unwieldy human¡­ delicacies. It was impressive work. So why hadn¡¯t I noticed it? Well, technically, I knew it all existed, and I knew Bess had completed it and been proud of it. Was there a mysterious reason as to why I didn¡¯t think about it immediately when suggesting it to her? No, not really. In fact, the answer was rather mundane and stupid. The info had popped up in my head, but like a jerk, I thought it was a brilliant idea I had come up with myself. I mean, the CBU¡¯s suggestions popped into my head the same way. ¡°I¡¯m the one who should apologize, Bess. Sorry. I guess I¡¯ve just been distracted.¡± ¡°Not at all! You don¡¯t need to apologize to me, Mom, never. I mean¡­¡± she trailed off, looking with a mixture of awe and disgust as another egg popped out of my mouth. She eyed a caretaker, who nervously picked up the precious egg, and sighed as she scurried off. ¡°I think you of all bees can get a free pass for mistakes like that. Now and then,¡± Bess said, not an ounce of malice - or envy - in her voice. Aw! That was sweet. But it made me think of Queen again. Sure, it was nice to have all these caring and frankly fanatical bees surrounding me at all times, but I deemed it important for there to be a balancing act in play. Queen cared, but not blindly. She was always there to set me on the straight and narrow, acting as a thoughtful and harsh critic when needed, but still in a way that showed she cared. All that is to say, where the heck are you, Queen?! What are you up to? Should I force my way into your freaking Mind? Actually, when did you close your Mind off like that? Double actually, how did you do something like that? What the heck? Suddenly, my attention shifted to the perspective of a different bee. I was looking through Ben¡¯s eyes as he hovered in place, somewhere near the eastern edge of the forest. He was still nowhere near the end of the forest itself, but it was further east than we had ever been. And he was staring at a green gorilla. Who was staring right back. Chapter 90 - Bee is for Battle Gorilla. Ben had never seen a creature like that, but this creature crouching on the ground just in front of him was definitely a gorilla. Despite the small, rotund body, the gorilla¡¯s arms were incredibly long, reaching three limes further than its body. Its legs, meanwhile, were quite small, to the point that the long arms would have dragged along the ground when it walked. And that was exactly the case. Before Ben encountered it, he had caught the creature and its friends sauntering through the decimated forest, and their arms had been dragging along behind them like grand capes. Now, when they came face to face, their limbs shot up into defensive positions so quickly that Bennet and Benita nearly jumped out of their skin. But that was irrelevant to Ben. What¡¯s this? What¡¯s this? Gorillas with green hair? What¡¯s this? Their bodies round and square. What¡¯s this? I can¡¯t believe my eyes, I must be dreaming. Wake up Ben, this isn¡¯t fair! What¡¯s this? Ben¡¯s thoughts quickly morphed into a fun little tune, courtesy of Beck. Ben took that to mean that his team wasn¡¯t in immediate danger, so he observed the green gorillas more closely. Their most striking feature was definitely their fur. Ben was enthralled by how unique the gorillas looked compared to humans, but the mottled green hair was the thing that caught his eye. The luscious coats covered their entire bodies, leaving no trace of skin exposed, except for their bright yellow noses and ears. He wondered how they could even see, considering that thick strands of fur covered the place where their eyes might be. A detail that didn¡¯t go over his head was that their arms, which were still held up in preparation for a fight, were completely spotless. Although they had been dragging their noodle arms through the ashy mud, not a speck of dirt marred their coats. He also paid special attention to how the creatures differed from humans. There were the shapes of their bodies and the distinct fur, but there were also their hands and feet ¨C they were tiny! He half-expected their limbs to end with massive, strong features designed to grab branches and trees, according to some ancient knowledge he somehow possessed, but instead, the gangly limbs ended in small, practically dainty digits more fitting for fine artistry. Of course, these were also covered in green hair. The only other features Ben could differentiate from humans were that each fernen was slightly larger than the average human, their noses were pretty big, and that their ears were also tiny. And much pointier than even the average human. Other than the shapes of their bodies and their defining green hair, Ben immediately took note of the only other thing adorning the creatures: their accessories. They were freaking neat! There were four gorillas, and each had discrete lines of pouches strung across their bodies. All four also wore wooden circlets with unique designs, and the one in the front additionally held a huge wooden staff. ¡°They¡­forest¡­protect¡­thing.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Ben let out. The gorillas had spoken, but he only understood every other word. What exactly were these creatures? They seemed intelligent, speaking to Ben as if they were humans, but he didn¡¯t understand them very well. Their soft green fur made him think of something, something he - or rather, his Momma - had heard from an old friend. Something about¡­ mossy creatures? ¡°Ben, stop! Don¡¯t attack them! Whatever you do, let them move first,¡± Beryl¡¯s voice rang in Ben¡¯s head. He had vaguely heard her yelping and apologizing before, but now she sounded¡­cold. Mamata finally decided to interject. ¡°Ben, stay calm. Those are fernen, I¡¯m pretty sure. Some of the mercenaries have a dubious understanding of their language, so you should be able to gather the gist of what they¡¯re saying. I¡¯m sending the humans to help you out, so just hang tight. Oh, I¡¯ve also gotta find someone fluent in fernen language¡­. Hm? What¡¯s this¡­?¡± ¡°Thing¡­ know?¡± Ben turned his attention back to the gorillas - fernen - as Mamamia¡¯s presence left as quickly as it had descended. The leader fernen stiffened during Mooma¡¯s warning, and was now on even greater guard. It wasn¡¯t hard to tell that the leader was quite proficient with Mind, enough to know that a powerful being had just popped in for a chat. Did she make a mistake by alerting Ben, then? If they were going to try peaceful negotiations with the fernen, then spooking them probably wasn¡¯t the best idea. ¡°¡­thing said¡­ protecting them within¡­vulture.¡± the leader said, waving its staff in Ben¡¯s general direction. He wasn¡¯t sure exactly what the fernen wanted, but he decided that something had to be done. If peace was truly the goal, as his family seemed to be shooting for, then he would give his all to become friends! Ben slowly lowered himself down, vaguely listening to the advice humming from Beck. Then he slowly began buzzing towards the fernen, stopping when the leader began to wave his stick with the air of a threat. ¡°Stop! ¡­protect¡­I¡­don¡¯t trust you¡­you¡­thing!¡± Ben stopped moving several meters away from the fernen, not entirely sure on how to proceed. The six inhuman creatures, bee and fernen alike, waited in silence for a minute before Ben¡¯s wings buzzed again. ¡°Don¡¯t worry guys. I¡¯ve got this,¡± he said, tossing Bennet and Benita a stoic smile and a thumbs up, somehow without any thumbs. He took a breath, signaling to the fernen that they should pay close attention to him. Then Ben started dancing. __________ ¡°What the¡­¡± Grehn managed to say. He, Vlugh, and Yelah¡¯s puppeteered body had rapidly arrived in the eastern forest thanks to the help of some warriors and their Minds, only to encounter something they didn¡¯t comprehend. It was a sight that delighted the bee warriors, and simply confused the humans. A dance party. Ben was at the center, dancing like his life depended on it. Occasionally, Bennet and Benita buzzed in for support, bouncing for a beat before moving to the sidelines. A fernen holding a staff was sitting cross-legged on the ground, tapping the stick against its side to unheard music. Two other fernen who looked quite similar to each other clapped along with the dance of the bees, and a third skinnier one made intermittent whooping sounds. A true dance party. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Oh! You guys finally arrived! Meet my new friends. This is Feltan, that¡¯s Follo, Elofan, and last but not least, Enfla! And you guys¡­¡± Rather than introduce the new arrivals by name, Grehn watched as Ben danced around, jiggling his butt around like a bee possessed. He could only look on with bulging eyes as ¡®Feltan¡¯, a freaking fernen, simply nodded and gave Ben a series of whooping noises in response. Grehn was no expert on fernen. Not by a long shot. He knew of them, of course; one couldn¡¯t even live in Yiwi without at least hearing of their existence. They were near-mystical creatures that constantly interfered with expeditions and human activity in the Vultuous Forest, proving an even more bothersome - if less unreasonable - obstacle for humanity compared to the vultures. Even then, Grehn had only encountered the forest creatures a couple times during missions. All mercenaries who operated out of Yiwi were given a crash course in the whoops and snarls the fernen used to communicate, but Grehn was a relatively new arrival in Yiwi. They usually decided that Yelah could handle any communication, since she had absorbed the creatures¡¯ language for far longer than anyone else on the team. From what she told him, they typically asked the same questions any time they encountered people in the forest: what their goal was, how long they would stay in the forest, if they would be willing to let a fernen scout monitor them, what the result of the ¡®Battle¡¯ was, and whether they had encountered the elusive ¡®Vulture King.¡¯ That last one always made Grehn nervous. The previous questions all had either recited answers or were simple enough to describe. Their goal and the length of time, easy enough. The ¡®request¡¯ to be observed wasn¡¯t really a request, Grehn knew. The only answer to that was yes. Similar case for the ¡®Battle¡¯ question. Grehn didn¡¯t quite know the translation, or what the question was about, but the short answer to that one was ¡®Highchief Fentan¡¯. He was aware of the supposed Vulture King, of course, but the beast hadn¡¯t been seen for ages at this point. He supposed he couldn¡¯t blame the poor fellows. If a monster capable of holding humanity at bay, which controlled forces that could blot out the sun, was hiding somewhere in his house, he might be wary of it too. But the fernen were no pushovers. There was a reason mercs were told to always cooperate with whatever the fernen requested, unless it violated certain agreements or boundaries. The mission always came first, obviously, but if a merc¡¯s survival was at stake, they must choose the safe route. He knew the creatures were strong, fast, and intelligent. And they were powerful Mind users in their own right. But he also knew why many were still so wary of the forest-dwellers: guns were completely ineffective. He had heard of a collection of losers who entered the forest back in the day, guns blazing. When guns first spread across the land, many weaklings felt themselves invincible, and challenged those far above their station. Many, like the idiots who went into the forest that day, met untimely ends at the hands of the ones they challenged. In that case, they were killed by the forest creatures, notably the fernen. It was a famous cautionary tale he heard when he arrived in the city. Famous, because the heads of the idiots were personally delivered back to Yiwi by the fernen Highchief, who warned the humans of their folly. Suffice to say, Grehn only thought of the fernen in a wary sense, and had been relieved when there were none present last time he entered the forest. So seeing them dancing along with Ben and his pals was a bit disconcerting, to say the least. ¡°I must agree with you, human. Ben¡¯s methods are¡­ confusing. But I must say, as confusing as they are, they don¡¯t feel wrong. On the contrary. And to his credit, it does seem to be working,¡± Grehn heard in his head. As nonchalantly as he could, he bowed his head towards the floating form of Beatrice, who had just arrived. As wary as he might feel towards the fernen, it was nothing compared to his feelings towards the bees. Specifically this one. Many of the bees, including the Queen, seemed to possess a degree of morals, or even sympathy. There was no love lost for humans in the hive, but Grehn soon realized that the bees took their Queen¡¯s weirdly¡­ nice lessons to heart. Barring a few exceptions. But Beatrice? She had no boundaries at all. He was sure she was listening to his thoughts even now, and in a rare moment of defiance, challenged her to do something about it. But the Aide didn¡¯t respond at all. Was she no longer listening, or was she simply that hard-hearted, that she would casually resist his provocation? He breathed a sigh of relief, shocked that he even dared think such things. It wasn¡¯t that he wanted to antagonize the tyrant Aide, but it wasn¡¯t so simple to control one¡¯s thoughts, especially for someone like Grehn. He usually avoided saying unnecessary things simply by keeping them within, but such a strategy just couldn¡¯t work with his captors. The unfortunate truth was that his silence wouldn¡¯t help him avoid confrontation anymore, so he needed to find a new outlet. Regardless. Now that Beatrice was here, he would let her handle things with the fernen. Why did they even bother calling him in the first place? Or his friends? ¡°Ahem. Ben, if you could, please communicate to the fernen that we are delighted by their visit, and eagerly await their subservience. I have brought a series of Linker bees to bring them into the hive.¡± Grehn froze. What? Was Beatrice being serious!? Such a play was way too risky. Worst case, the bees could end up with a second human situation. Your highness, is this your will? ¡°Hm? Oh yeah yeah- hey, wait a second! Beatrice, we don¡¯t need to do that yet,¡± the Queen¡¯s voice rang. He sighed with relief as Beatrice sagged, and the Linker bees that had begun to rise off the ground lowered themselves again. ¡°In that case,¡± Grehn wondered aloud. ¡°What exactly is the plan? Are you going to share the forest with the fernen? Maybe a similar situation to what the vultures had?¡± ¡°Absolutely not. We are nothing like those ghastly, bird-brained beasts, and will accept nothing less than absolute dominion over the forest. From my research based on Ben¡¯s visualizations, the fernen and vultures lived in a tense coexistence. Although everything was turned to ash, we still managed to identify the remains of civilization in certain areas. Certain large areas. The fernen were widespread, and acted as a loose wall between the humans and vultures to the west, north, and south. Since the hive will continue to expand, such an unstable arrangement will probably not be tolerable for either party. Am I right Ben?¡± ¡°Er, I don¡¯t think I can dance all that stuff, Trice¡­¡± It baffled Grehn to see Beatrice snort in anger and verbally chastise Ben for his lack of decorum. She didn¡¯t rise against his own frustrated thoughts, but a simple nickname bothered her like this? He decided he didn¡¯t understand Beatrice at all. ¡°Very well. In that case, I will take on the questions from here. I can at least ask what their intentions are.¡± Beatrice moved forward, drawing the attention of the fernen. Ben¡¯s antics had lured them into a sense of comfort, but once the others had arrived, they were on guard again. The only one who still seemed calm was the one called Feltan, which reinforced Grehn¡¯s confidence in his analysis. This Feltan was not just the leader of this group, but an influential¡­ person amongst the fernen. While the others were visibly on guard, he appeared calm on the outside. But in truth, he was the most wary of the four. His eyes were trained on the humans, wondering what they were doing there, yet simultaneously judging the capabilities of the bees. Beatrice stopped right in front of Feltan. For a moment, Grehn thought he saw a murderous glint in her eye, but it was soon replaced with serenity. Hold on. How is she supposed to ask them anything? She can¡¯t speak out loud. As Grehn wondered, Beatrice beckoned him forward, and nearly involuntarily, he walked up to the increasingly tense gathering. Of course. ¡°Okay. Um. ¡®What is your goal?¡¯¡± Feltan¡¯s eyes narrowed, quickly shifting between Grehn and the bees. He hid it, but Grehn noticed the realization dawn in his eye, along with another emotion. Fear. ¡°Protect the forest. From humans. And¡­threat,¡± he said the last while looking straight at Beatrice. ¡°How long?¡± ¡°Forever.¡± Suddenly, Grehn¡¯s head throbbed. He nearly reacted, his hand twitching towards his sword, but the echoing words of the Queen stopped him in his tracks. ¡°Alrighty! I haven¡¯t managed to Link someone fluent in fernen yet, but the C- I mean, I¡¯ve managed to piece together their language, mostly. So go ahead and make those fernen your friends, everyone.¡± In the next moment, before Grehn even knew what was happening, Beatrice¡¯s Mind pushed him to speak. ¡°Feltan, I can tell you are an important figure among the fernen. Our great Mother, the Queen, has deemed it acceptable for you to accept us bees as the rulers of the Vultuous Forest. If you are one who can accept such an arrangement on behalf of the fernen, then please state your agreement as such. I would advise you not antagonize us, or the might of the hive will make itself known. Our Mother would like you to know that she prefers peace, so will you accept?¡± Nothing moved, save for the running water of the river. Feltan¡¯s stoic mask broke during the speech, his wide eyes staring unblinking at Beatrice. He knew she was the one in charge here. And also that she was stark-raving mad. ¡°Excuse me?¡± He finally snarled. ¡°The forest belongs to no-one. Just a moment ago, this human only had a weak comprehension of our tongue, but now it speaks to us as if it knows our entire language. Is this your doing?¡± ¡°I would prefer for you to answer the question, Feltan.¡± The fernen leader took a deep breath, seemingly steeling himself with resolve. ¡°As the current Lowchief, I do possess the authority to temporarily make such an arrangement. With significant scrollwork¡­ But the Highchief always has the final say for permanent arrangements, so anything I agree to would never be permanent. Even so, I cannot accept-¡° ¡°I, Beatrice, second-in-command of my Mother¡¯s hive, challenge my counterpart, the Lowchief, to a Battle of Minds.¡± Chapter 91 - Feltan Vs Beatrice I could scarcely believe what was happening as I turned to face the arrogant bee. A quick glance at my friends did reassure me a bit, but I felt they were being far too confident. Why wouldn¡¯t I feel nervous? Nothing about this small expedition had turned out as expected. It all started with Elofan¡¯s blasted reports. She had become inspired by the ash running into the river, and asked my father directly whether she could try poisoning the river. Many hated her for it. Enfla was among those who decried her idea; after all, how was intentionally infecting the river, the source of life of the forest, a good idea at all? How did that protect the forest? Follo thought it was genius. To nobody¡¯s surprise. If it harmed the humans, then a bit of pain suffered by the forest was worthwhile, in his eyes. But I was still unsure. Was this small retribution against the humans worth hurting the forest? If we were to do something of this nature, the time was now. If there were no creatures in the forest, then at least that danger could be avoided. But still! We only assumed there were no creatures remaining besides the squirrels, and the river does continue out of the forest into other lands. So would the humans really be the only ones in harm¡¯s way? I wasn¡¯t convinced. However, it was one argument she introduced that instantly made my father agree, and did make me consider the plan. The Shroud. Or rather, the reason behind its disappearance. It was a risky play, for sure. I argued that perhaps a benevolent force had finally destroyed the wretched vulture king. But my father¡­ I understood where he was coming from. For the Shroud to disappear was a world-shattering event, something that spelled disaster. It was a constant from before his own father¡¯s time, throughout his entire rule, and should have continued throughout my own time as Highchief. I didn¡¯t quite blame him for digging deeper into his lutice weed stash than usual. Which was saying something. ¡°Since you are the experts in this competition, Feltan, I will allow you to begin at your behest,¡± the large human, Grehn, said with a bored expression. I knew it wasn¡¯t him speaking, but the bee across from me. Disturbing. ¡°Of course, Beatrice. If you would, Follo?¡± As my friend walked to the center of the hastily made dirt ring to present the rules, I stared at the bee. These creatures¡­ they¡¯re dangerous. The one in front of me had a shockingly powerful Mind. Each of the bees hovering nearby had powerful Minds as well. But none of them compared to the presence I had felt for a moment, once when Ben first encountered us, then later when the other bees appeared. The others couldn¡¯t sense it. I did. Fair to assume that the presence was the creature responsible for the Shroud¡¯s disappearance. And it was most likely the queen bee of Ben and his siblings¡¯ hive. And it was a supremely dangerous creature. Even if it wasn¡¯t the true reason behind the Shroud¡¯s sudden vanishing, it was still clearly capable of great things. It had taken control of humans, possessed the knowledge of humans, was able to quickly interpret our language, and even knew of such things as a Battle of Minds. ¡°Alright, listen up. A Battle of Minds has been enforced, with Lowchief Feltan Mossed challenged by Beatrice the bee. This Battle will be decided either when a combatant is removed from the ring, or their head touches the ground. The challenged has requested no time limit, which the challenger honors. The challenged has requested a pure Mind trial, meaning no use of weaponry, tools, or the body, which the challenger honors. The challenger¡¯s goal is temporary subservience of fernenkind to the hive of the Mother, lasting three months from the moment of Battle¡¯s end. The challenged has countered with the goal of a border arrangement within the forest between fernenkind and the Mother¡¯s hive. Are you ready, challenger?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Are you ready, challenged?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°The Battle will begin once I, Follo Barked, a judge alongside Grehn Ratanbe, step outside the ring.¡± Follo turned and began slowly making his way outside of the ring. Funny. It was usually me presiding over his foolish contests. I suppose he¡¯s learned the ceremony from the countless matches he¡¯s had. I dug my heels into the mud. Whatever the case was with this new, unpredictable force in the forest, one thing was certain. We would not allow them to harm it. We - I - would do everything in my power to ensure that neither the humans, bees, nor fernen would directly or indirectly bring harm to the forest for as long as I live. When Follo stepped out of the ring, I immediately felt a wave of force wash over me. So strong! Despite the power, I didn¡¯t budge a bit, which made the bee¡¯s eyes widen. And with that, I smirked. I could win this fight. Another wave, but still no effect. I wouldn¡¯t waste the opportunity. It may be risky, but if I was correct, then the bees knew everything the humans knew about us. To some, that might have been a disadvantage. For us? Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. Well. I focused, my tapped Mind spiking as I grabbed at the insect and the air surrounding her, causing the flustered bee to waver in surprise. With a yank, Beatrice¡¯s spindly form flew downwards, threatening to end the match early, but with a simple wave of force, she pushed herself upwards. Her Mind truly was strong. Stronger than many I¡¯d seen. But such a trait wasn¡¯t unusual with creatures like bees, who had naturally potent Minds. The reason she and the other bees were so threatening was their imaginations. They were completely unlike other bees I had encountered countless times in the forest. But from this Battle, I understood something. The power of this frightening hive came from a young queen bee with an exceptionally powerful Mind and a deviant imagination. They used odd tactics, strange techniques, and trickery to succeed, such as whatever they did to make the humans do their bidding. But in a direct encounter, they were unpracticed. Inexperienced. I yanked again, but Beatrice¡¯s Mind easily held her in place. I didn¡¯t want my secrets to fall into her hands, so I changed tactics, moving my arms in the air. I thrust them forwards, and with that motion, pushed with all my might to force Beatrice out of the ring. She barely moved before readjusting her Mind, easily staving off my attack. So, I yanked downwards again, this time putting all my weight into it and making the yanking motion with my arms. We continued like this a few more times, with my clearly telegraphed attacks becoming less and less effective. With one final thrust, I pushed my arms outward and Beatrice braced. And her abdomen hit the ground. ¡°Urgh!¡± A clicky grunting noise escaped Beatrice¡¯s mouth as her head snapped up, grabbed at the last moment with her power. She had hit the ground, but the surprise attack wasn¡¯t enough to finish the Battle. As I thought. The bees, and Beatrice especially, were simply too inexperienced. My trick was an obvious maneuver taught to young fernen children as a means of scoring points in ball games. To use such a trick in a Battle of Minds was insulting the prowess of one¡¯s enemy. Not that I intended it as such. I wanted to take a moment to rest. To collect my Mind before resuming my attack. In theory, that would have been the correct move. Follo would have done it by taunting the enemy with scathing remarks, trying to affect their concentration. I simply got on all fours and ran at Beatrice. Her wings buzzed frantically as she rose, trying to get out of my reach. Another sign of her inexperience. My current strategy was an attack on her mental state as Follo might try, but mine didn¡¯t give her a moment to attack. If I stood around talking, I knew she would use that opportunity. If that happened¡­ worst case, she would discover my secret. Taking all that into account, then factoring in her inexperience in battle, I had a unique opportunity. We had agreed beforehand that this contest would be one of Minds. A pure Mind trial. So I would be disqualified if I attempted to punch or kick the bee. As my fist sailed, Beatrice tensed, preparing to blast me away with another wave of Mind, so I pushed, knocking her off balance and sending her careening towards the outside. I was never going to punch her, of course. It was simply a more direct way of collecting my thoughts and destabilizing her own. Despite my efforts, Beatrice froze in midair as if grabbed by a giant fist. Follo was looking, making sure she was still within the ring¡¯s confines, but I could still tell she was safe. She shook herself and thrust her own arm out, and it was all I could do to push against the blast of wind that knocked into me and blew away some of the fog gathering in the clearing. Wind? Damn, she¡¯s figuring it out. ¡°I see,¡± the bee said. Either she had suddenly become incredibly confident, or she was attempting my aforementioned stalling strategy. ¡°Your moss-like coats are resistant against Mind. Pushing and squeezing you directly does nothing. Perhaps you should have at least tried to act like something was happening when I squeezed you just then.¡± Unbelievable. Our secret the humans in Yiwi still hadn¡¯t figured out was discovered this quickly? These bees truly were dangerous. When had she tried to squeeze me? ¡°I¡¯m confident in my theory, even if you won¡¯t indulge me with a response. After all, I¡¯m squeezing you right now. I think surrendering is an attractive option for you.¡± Seriously unbelievable. I concentrated and did, in fact, discover a trace of Mind squeezing my left arm. Naturally, the hairs did not react to the force, unlike the fog, which must have been what confirmed her suspicions. I would have tried to feign no reaction to the blast of wind, but it was simply too strong. ¡°I¡¯ll admit, I¡¯ve underestimated you, Beatrice. Or rather, I didn¡¯t properly asses the full range of your capabilities. It¡¯s true that you¡¯re inexperienced in combat, or even in a wide range of Mind usage, but your perceptiveness exceeds my expectations.¡± As usual, my Mind ebbed and flowed. Right now it was a storm, its tide erratic and wasteful. Beatrice was taunting and speaking, so I would gladly take the offer and recover myself. After all¡­her Mind was still stealing my breath. It was so vast, so calm. Like the effort expended in this battle was comparable to a simple puzzle. She knew the secret of the fernen. Her Mind was still ready to crush me. Any moment now, she would begin another assault, employing tactics that could indirectly force me out of the ring or to the ground. ¡°I will not surrender. Too much is riding on this Battle, after all.¡± As soon as I finished my sentence, I could feel the force of her Mind rumbling, begging to crush me. The vague sense that she became immovable popped into my head, as she probably anchored herself in place. So be it. In response, I began channeling my second Ability, digging my hands and feet into the mud. Despite the new sun beating down on the eastern forest, my shadow suddenly disappeared. Then a blast of wind slammed into my body. With all my physical might, I tried to hang on to the ground, even catching a rock, to no avail. I nearly got pushed out of the ring, but the wind¡¯s ferocity abated somewhat, giving me the chance to anchor myself in place. The fog swirled around me, pushed away by the wind. Thankfully, Beatrice didn¡¯t blow away all the fog - or rather, smoke - that was beginning to slow her thoughts. My first Ability, [Chieftain¡¯s Hospitality], worked like a charm. It was only a matter of time before my second Ability, [In the Shadow of the Great], finished the match. To my surprise, the wind stopped completely. What? The smoke shouldn¡¯t have dulled her that much yet. Looking at Beatrice, I couldn¡¯t help but suck in some air seeing her face. Fierce rage twisted her features, and even as the smoke seeped into her body, her Mind swirled like a nascent explosion. Somehow, my Ability wasn¡¯t affecting her. ¡°An Ability that directly affects the victim¡¯s mental state? Quaint. Such a thing will not work on bees.¡± A lie. Not a total lie, but a lie nonetheless. Despite her apparent rage and twisting Mind, the lie was made evident by the fact that she couldn¡¯t seem to attack. Her attempt with the wind had been cut off not because she wanted to change tactics, but because she wanted to conserve energy. My Ability makes the mental state of others become more passive and agreeable, and although Beatrice was able to fight it and consciously understand the situation, it can be difficult to act on conscious desires. All of this was fine with me. Beatrice was currently unable to truly act, and my Mind was struggling to keep up. If I wanted to push Beatrice down, I¡¯d need to contend with the vice-like grip she had placed on her body, and even at full strength, I wasn¡¯t sure if I could do it. But my Ability could do it. So I was fine with betting everything on my Ability working before Beatrice managed to break out of the passivity. ¡°Affecting the minds of others is no small feat. WE will have it!¡± Grehn yelled, his eyes widening. I grunted. Beatrice was truly showing her hand. At that moment, the smoke around her burst outwards, leaving her in clear air. Ah, smart. Very smart. The outburst she had through Grehn was actually a result of her breaking out of passivity, embracing her emotions and feelings to their fullest. A difficult task, but perhaps the shared Minds of bees did provide some advantages against mental attacks. But she was too late. My second Ability activated, and as if smacked by a falling tree, Beatrice exploded downwards. At the same moment, I felt an unbearable pressure, and my body fell forwards at alarming speed. She hit me! I tried to resist, but my Mind was spent. I saw the ground rush up at me, and before my vision went dark, I heard Beatrice¡¯s desperate, useless buzzing echoing in my head. Chapter 92 - Take a Load off Your Mind I watched as dust replaced the cloud of smoke hovering over the ring as the combatants crashed into the ground. What a fight! Thanks to Ben¡¯s sight, I was able to absorb every last detail in all its HD glory, with mental commentary from experienced fighters like Grehn and Vlugh. Somehow, even though the majority of it was with invisible psychic power, the fight was thoroughly entertaining to watch with a snack. As for the results? It was no mystery to me. Follo rushed into the ring while Grehn watched. As the dust cleared, they saw two inhuman creatures upside-down in the ground, heads stuck in the mud like an ostrich or something. It was cartoony in a way. With a prod from me, Grehn spoke as loudly as possible, which for him wasn¡¯t saying much. ¡°The Battle has been decided. Challenger Beatrice is the winner.¡± Follo didn¡¯t argue as he pulled his Lowchief out of the ground. If nothing else, they were honorable sorts. The final blow was seriously insane, with Beatrice putting her all into pushing Feltan down! And Feltan! I have no idea what his Ability did there, but I think it had something to do with his shadow, considering Ben noticed it disappear earlier. A lingering sense of greed flared up. I wanted those Abilities. The smoke thing that made Beatrice passive was simply great, and even if I didn¡¯t know what the shadow did, it was still cool. They were unlike other Abilities I had seen, especially the smoke with its mental effects. When Feltan woke up, I was going to Link him. I need to. The agreement stated that the fernen would be subservient to us, but they didn¡¯t know what that entailed. How could they argue with the results of the Battle? Sure, it only stated that the agreement was for three months, but such a thing didn¡¯t need to be honored once they were all Linked. At the very least, convincing them to be Linked initially shouldn¡¯t be too tough. They were very serious about these Battles and the results. I had some sneaking suspicions about the past, where apparently a fernen Highchief bested a human, presumably from Yiwi. Whatever the details of that agreement were, the fernen were still taking it seriously after a long time. ¡°No. Don¡¯t Link the fernen yet.¡± Queen! Hey wait a second, what¡¯s all this, then? You stay silent, come in with one or two comments out of nowhere, then leave me alone again to hide in your hidey-hole? And now come in with some nonsensicality? What¡¯s the deal? ¡°I¡­ I suppose we must talk. But first finish things here with the fernen. Don¡¯t Link them right now, though. Please.¡± Fine. Only ¡®cause it¡¯s you. I tuned into Yelah¡¯s body that had been hiding nearby and walked out, covered head to toe in mud. ¡°Alrighty! Now that everything¡¯s settled and done with, you guys can be subservient to us. As for what that entails, I¡¯ll need to discuss with your boss later. He seems a bit¡­ indisposed at the moment. My suggestion would be to take these humans with you to make things more clear for the rest of your tribe. Toodeloo!¡± Grehn¡¯s face had soured when Yelah appeared, but Vlugh continued to wear a neutral expression. The fernen, on the other hand, looked positively freaked the fuck out. Follo was the only one who nodded, his face hard. I didn¡¯t miss the spark of fear in his eyes, though. Somehow, they knew that Yelah¡¯s situation was a bit different from the other humans. In fact, they were probably wondering right about now about what sort of bullshit they had gotten themselves into. Without much resistance, the fernen motioned for the humans to follow them, leaving the Ben Squad and a bunch of random warriors to tend to ostrich Beatrice. Of course, that wouldn¡¯t fly. ¡°Ben, follow them. That¡¯s your mission right now. Leave Beatrice to the warriors.¡± With a tiny salute, Ben buzzed off in the direction the fernen and humans had gone, followed by his two compatriots. As for why? Well it wasn¡¯t surveillance, there wasn¡¯t much point to that. Yelah and her pals were eyes enough for me. No, it was because of the Link. I thought as I watched a warrior gingerly pull Beatrice from the mud. His Mind vaguely felt like he was trying to hold her far away, then let go as soon as possible. Did he think Beatrice was a hungry tiger or something? Since Yiwi, I had taken care to learn more about the Link. It was kinda important, after all. Well, when I say me, I mean I told Beatrice to take care of it, and she in turn told Beck. And what they found was some important stuff. Before, I had sent off Becky and Beckham to Yiwi as mediums, just in case the humans needed a stronger Link connection to keep them in tow. And it did work. But it was also overkill, in the case of Yelah¡¯s team. What Beck learned is that the Link¡¯s stability isn¡¯t contingent on distance, but the strength was. What that meant is that the Link¡¯s stability would never waver, no matter how far someone went. But if somebody went far enough, the Link would be weak, and the connection could be broken more easily, though it needed to actually be broken. So basically, if Ben wanted, he could travel to the other side of the continent without a problem. He would never want to break the Link, so as long as he was careful, he could communicate with us no problem. Plus, he had a bit more Mind allotted to make the Link stronger. It was mostly to improve the benefits he got from me. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! Bit overpowered, if you ask me. Of course, the issue came with people who aren¡¯t so happy about being Linked. For whatever reason, the Kin Link allows me to create that psychic connection with my kin before they¡¯re even born. But as far as I¡¯ve found, I need to use Linker Bees to create that connection with others. And from what Beck found, that creates a bit of complexity. After all, the thread isn¡¯t a solid connection between my Mind and the Mind of a bee, like Ben. Instead, it''s a thread connecting myself and a Linker. And the Linker sort of injects the thread into the host¡¯s Mind. The results? Annoying. I¡¯ve found that my power over their System stuff is somewhat limited. I can access it, but it takes tremendous effort and concentration, way more than is worthwhile. So increasing the strength of the Link ends up being more trouble than it''s worth, at least for each Linked individual. Some exceptions, like Yelah, can be worth the hassle. The worst part? The Linkers are extremely inflexible. Every ounce of their being is taken up by the [Linker Stinger] Ability, so there¡¯s no room to increase the strength of the thread. But being in proximity to another bee helps, so my medium idea did have merit. That bee¡¯s Mind can temporarily serve to improve the strength of the Linker¡¯s thread, through some sort of means. I didn¡¯t really understand it fully. It was like some sort of signal boosting mechanism or something. For small groups, like Yelah¡¯s, the job could be done by a random bee with a solid Link connection. So here, Ben and his crew could tag along with the humans and fernen to make sure the Linkers¡¯ connection was strong enough. In the case of large groups, like Yiwi? Well, we hadn¡¯t tested it, but Beck was convinced it was a bad idea to take half measures. Hence, leaving Beckham behind to shoulder the burden. This was the second method of strengthening the Link: routing. Rather than the Linkers¡¯ threads being directly connected to me, who was far away, they would instead connect to the Link expert Beckham close by. That way, Beckham could reinforce the strength of the threads through proximity, while requiring a bit more Mind from me to make everything work. Other than being a bit hard on his Mind, the idea was working perfectly. All that is to say, the only reason the Ben Squad was secretly tagging along with the fernen to ensure a strong Link to the humans. I wasn¡¯t yet ready to test the Yelah relay theory. I was thinking that since she has more Mind allotted to the Link than most humans, she could somehow act as a relay, or even strengthen the Link like regular bees do. But until the conditions were more controlled, with warriors standing by to capture Grehn and Vlugh if things went south, I¡¯d leave that experiment on the back burner. For now, I had a much more pressing conversation waiting. That¡¯s your cue, Queen. I know you¡¯ve been feeling down and out lately, but I didn¡¯t really expect your intervention with the fernen. What¡¯s on your mind? ¡°Thanks for leaving them. I¡¯ve just been thinking a lot lately. Ah, I also apologize for sealing myself away like that. There has just been so much plaguing me lately, I didn¡¯t know what else to do. And having that bit of agency was relieving¡­¡± So, you¡¯ve been bothered by the lack of agency? In that case, we can get started on transforming Yelah into a physical vessel for ya. I¡¯m fairly certain the CBU has been hard at work figuring that one out already. ¡°It¡¯s not just that. I¡¯ve just been¡­ thinking a lot lately. I think it began some time during the end of the Yiwi invasion. Something about all the Linking, bringing so many new beings into the hive. It felt good. Great, even. But with each stranger who came in, someone who was unwilling to join, someone who wasn¡¯t¡­ kin. It just felt strange. Every stranger who came in made me feel more and more alone. And that just makes no sense! I mean, there are more children in the hive than ever, stranger or no! Plenty of children, born from our own body, and yet, I feel so lonely. And it only gets worse with every damn egg. It feels like I¡¯m no longer myself, like something unnatural has taken hold of me and pushes me away from my family. It all stems from this disgusting feeling in my nonexistent stomach, so annoying!¡± Oh. Oh nuts. Uh, that might by my fault. That stomach feeling couldn¡¯t be anything else. It seems that our oneness is affecting you, Queen. ¡°Now that you mention it, it does seem to be the case. If I pay attention, my speech feels slightly less formal than it used to appear in your memory, and you are somewhat more clinical. Every chance you get, you jealously try to add to the hive and expand. Like with the fernen. Would you honestly say that such callous intentions would occur to your old self?¡± Hm. Most likely not. I guess the situation with the humans was a bit different. But couldn¡¯t I just make the same excuse with the fernen? Like, if the humans go to their home base, the fernen might become aggressive, or even kill the humans outright? What if they don¡¯t honor the results of the Battle? That¡¯s a definite possibility. Actually, maybe letting the fernen go without getting Linked was a massive mistake. A war between the hive and the fernen might go really poorly! They were supposed to be a match for the vultures! Who had much larger numbers! ¡°Just stop. I truly don¡¯t want another Yiwi situation. Doesn¡¯t it hurt you to think of the future of the hive and the relations with humanity? They are a powerful enough enemy already - making the fernen another enemy within the hive itself simply cannot be good.¡± Am I really being that aggressive? It all just seems reasonable. All of it is to keep the hive safe. To help it expand. That¡¯s my whole purpose as a queen bee, after all. Oh. Oh nuts again. I really am being affected by you, aren¡¯t I Queen? Yes, your instincts as a queen bee are taking hold of me, influencing my thoughts. But that doesn¡¯t make sense, does it? We¡¯re one. Your thoughts are mine. So why are we still separate? ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t know. We truly are like two different individuals, despite also being ¡®one¡¯. It may have something to do with our unique circumstances. I have given that matter some thought as well, considering the sudden increase in our [Combined Minds]. As far as we¡¯ve found, having multiple Minds within one body is simply not normal. Yelah¡¯s Ability doesn¡¯t do that. Nor did the Vulch¡¯s. But in our case, it did happen somehow. I believe the Bee itself put your Mind in my body, and as a result, caused something abnormal. Your System experienced errors and was eventually combined with my own to make an entirely new System. The ¡®Beest System¡¯, as I recall. Which also resulted in the [Combined Minds] Ability.¡± ¡°Essentially what I am saying, isn¡¯t it possible that the Vulch¡¯s Mind, as well as Yafoot¡¯s, will eventually affect us? We don¡¯t even know what we have done to each other. How can we predict further changes? My annoying feelings of loneliness are one thing, but this is a pressing matter.¡± Queen¡¯s concerns were unnerving. Extremely so. I could feel her loneliness now, fully released from the self-containment she developed. I could feel her fear, her uneasiness. Her emotions were mine. Fuck. Sorry, Queen. I¡¯m just as bad at managing these things as you are. I puked another Linker egg, and with that, I made my decision. I¡¯d give Queen a body. Freeing her from me might at least take a load off her mind. Chapter 93 - Bringing Mind to Heal Now, giving Queen a body should be my first priority. But there was so, so much to do. I thought I¡¯d have a bit of a break after Yiwi ended, but now I find myself inundated by things to do - again. Yelah¡¯s body was currently the most fitting candidate for Queen to control. I had set the CBU to do a bit of investigating, to make the whole process easier, and the results show that it really shouldn¡¯t be possible. And candidate numero uno just left for the fernen base. Speaking of those dang fernen! For some reason, it felt really weird to look at them lope around and not know every thought that went through their heads. Maybe it was Queen¡¯s instincts, or maybe my brain was completely scrambled from Linking so many creatures, but it really did feel strange to not control them. Looking at them through Ben¡¯s eyes, all I saw were enigmas I couldn¡¯t fully understand. Which, unfortunately, freaked me out. And the fernen weren¡¯t the only things currently nagging me. They were certainly a sudden, unexpected intrusion that had potentially far-reaching consequences, but our collision didn¡¯t up being so disastrous. No, humans were the other thorn in my side. So many things were awry in Yiwi. It practically made my head hurt. Nothing dangerous or immediately concerning for the hive, but just a bunch of stupid bullshit. Bella¡¯s experiment with Mesne, Mesne herself, the peacekeepers, the sword mercenary on the run, food shortages, material shortages, rampant homelessness, escape attempts, Rette, Dip. Well, that last one isn¡¯t much of a human thing I suppose. An egg was evicted from the abode that was my mouth, and that was one of the last Linker eggs I was going to make for now. Ah, another thing to do. For the hive as a whole, expanding our forces is the most important priority to focus on. In the time since I last thought about it, I created hundreds of Linker eggs of varying Mind allotment with still no level up in [Create Egg]. Seriously, what the hell? The difference in scale needed to level up from 3 to 4 was on a totally different level from 2 to 3. I had to be missing something on that front. Oh, and don¡¯t even get me started on Abilities in general. Now that I understood Abilities a bit more, I knew that [Create Egg] wasn¡¯t just weird; it was stupid. Its leveling conditions weren¡¯t explained at all. Why?! Was it because bees just do the things needed to level up instinctively? Was I bypassing hidden requirements? Does it even matter?! At this point, who knows? What I did know, however, was that I had other Abilities begging for my attention. Namely, the healing Ability I needed. Oh, and that¡¯s all stuff I know I personally have to get involved with at some point. There were tons of things within the hive to manage, like the actual construction of the physical hive, our own food situation, wacky mad science, army training, and on and on and on. So yeah. Plate¡¯s a bit full. ¡°You do know that my body is not a maximum priority thing, right? I would like it to happen sooner rather than later, especially with how I have been feeling recently, but really? You¡¯re going to prioritize that over feeding our children? Over creating more children? I don¡¯t think so.¡± Well sure, but I mean, we¡¯re already making progress on your body. Maybe. But anyway, multitasking isn¡¯t exactly difficult for us now. I managed the whole Beryl and Beelzebub situation AND the fernen situation while puking up freaking eggs! ¡°Regardless. Since that¡¯s the case, leave it in the background. I know, I know, that particular task isn¡¯t something that can be done in the background well. But eventually the B-boxes can figure it out, I¡¯m sure of it. For now, we must focus on more important matters. Like eggs.¡± ¡­ I know it hasn¡¯t been that long, but I missed you, Queen. Her ¡®finger¡¯ vaguely seemed to waggle in my head. ¡°Yeah. Now get your ass to work.¡± Alright. Working. Uh, which overwhelming thing do I focus on first? I think the obvious one is the healing Ability. It¡¯s something I really need, considering the lack of doctor bees, and it allowed me to take a mental break from all this high-stakes fighting and whatnot. As for how I would do it? I had some ideas. First, I had to think about how Abilities work. As far as I had found, I just needed the ingredients. The intent part was easy, at least broadly: I want to heal injuries. The required influence from an outside source was where things got a bit annoying. After all, it''s not something within my control. However, I did think it would be possible to influence those outside forces to give me my Ability. At this point, I was basically a pro underminer of the godly systems. ¡°Hm. From our position, it would be best to test things out manually, with various types of intent, until the gods latch onto something and grant us an Ability.¡± This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Precisely, Queen. I would use the ideas present in the moments people like Vlugh or Yelah obtained Abilities, but with more flexibility and knowledge. Well, knowledge about Abilities. I don¡¯t know shit about healing. And therein lay the problem. A crucial aspect of Abilities, I¡¯ve found, is that you have to at least be able to perform a similar, if lesser, version of the Ability using only pure Mind. How do some people do that, exactly? Honestly, no clue. But I can¡¯t really manually ¡®heal¡¯ anybody, I think. Forget bee biology for a second. I can¡¯t even tell someone much about human biology. As a former human from a world of advanced science, even. The last time I learned anything meaningful about human biology was some random fun facts my roommate told me in sophomore year of college. So bee biology wouldn¡¯t fare much better. Thinking of fusing chitin back together and making sure the guts are intact filled me with dread. I had to be a bit more creative, like with the water filtration system, or when I ¡®healed¡¯ the twins of poisoning. I floated myself out of my room and towards the exit of the central hive, feeling the eyes of the caretaker bees burning into my back. Yeesh, I know. I¡¯ve gotta lay more dang eggs, but my brain can¡¯t take any more of that monotony right now. Sure it''s going on in what is essentially the background, but I did genuinely want Beatrice to be alongside me, taking notes and keeping track or whatever. Speaking of. ¡°Beatrice!¡± I called as I exited the central hive. I¡¯d like her help with this next part, considering that I wasn¡¯t really sure how to proceed. No response. Wait, holy shit. Was Beatrice, the Beatrice, not immediately showing up at my side?! ¡°Oh thank goodness I¡¯ve let myself out of isolation. I have no idea how you¡¯ve survived to this point. Do you happen to remember a little contest held recently?¡± Right, that. Nevermind, then, I suppose I¡¯d just have to do it myself. As for why I needed Beatrice, it¡¯s because of the method knocking around my brain for making healing happen. In order for a body to be healed, that body needs to be injured. Now, that might sound bad. After all, I wasn¡¯t about to go around hurting my bees for the sake of a little experiment. Humans? Maybe. Nah, just kidding. Probably. But seriously. I need something to be injured to heal it. My eyes drifted down to my foremost left arm. Who said an injury had to be fresh for it to be healed? My own body - Queen¡¯s body - was mangled from the Burning, so it was a brilliant testing ground. Unfortunately, I had no illusions about my chances of making an Ability work so quickly. I wanted Beatrice so she could catalog, record, and analyze the injuries and subsequent healing of my experiments. There were injured warriors like Beryl and Bend and so on who I also wanted to experiment on. I¡¯d call them later. For now, I¡¯d try it on myself. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I can give you my input if you want, but¡­¡± It¡¯s pretty unlike you to be so reserved with your opinions, Queen. I guess my personality is affecting you a bit much, after all. I¡¯ll never not want to hear your opinion, so shoot. ¡°Of course. I do not know if this will work. Something just seems different about a fresh injury compared to an old one. I suppose it will depend on how your healing actually works.¡± That¡¯s actually the problem I¡¯ve been mulling over, which I only just mostly solved. After all, what is healing anyway? Returning something to its original state, maybe? Making something ¡®better¡¯? You could define it as any of those things. Then I had an epiphany. You know what healing is? Well, since I don¡¯t, I might as well ask someone who does. And you know who knows how to heal? The freaking body! Well, it won¡¯t restore a lost arm or something like that, at least when not discussing lizards. But the body technically heals itself to some degree, so why not force the body to heal itself more and faster? Before anything, I sent out a warning across the hive; I¡¯m about to do some Mind shit. I noticed several of the more experienced bees throw themselves to the ground, so I puffed up my cheeks in annoyance. My previous Mind escapades weren¡¯t that bad, were they?! I focused my Mind on my lost arm, the Tapped mind growing percentage by percentage. All my thoughts turned to imagination, trying to envision the process by which the body repaired itself accelerating, going beyond what it could usually do. In my head, I saw my arm growing back to its original state, the chitin reforming and expanding, the claw at the tip freshly formed. Nothing happened. Fuck! My Tapped Mind was already at 20%, and climbing. At this point, my available Mind was just above 50%, so using this much Mind at once was really pushing my capabilities to the extreme. In terms of ratio, I was nearing half of my available power. I kicked up the Mind usage and tried another angle of attack. Grasping the processing of the CBU, I inspected my intact arm. With all that power, maybe I could understand the deepest makeup of the arm, and try to imagine it reforming that way. Each crease and hair, each individual section. And deeper, down to the very molecules that made up the arm. Consciously, I wasn¡¯t even sure if I was understanding the concepts, but hopefully the sheer processing power of the CBU could make up for it. Vaguely, I became aware of the immense pressure my Mind was producing, swirling the dust on the ground and even causing waves in the river. Thankfully, I had wandered far enough from the central hive for there to be any concern, but even there the bees within were shuddering in anticipation. I refocused on my arm. My fucking arm, which was doing nothing. 30%. 35%. 40%. 41. 42. 43. The Tapped Mind kept ticking up, with nothing to show for it. I threw my sense away, trying to think of anything to make the healing work. The cells reproduce somehow. Energy gets infused and regrows the arm. Mind itself solidifies and reforms the arm. Oh! That last one was working! Before my eyes, a shiny orb formed in the air, growing in size and rippling like a dollop of liquid mercury. I slammed the breaks on my increasing Tapped Mind because I could practically feel the waste. I had just needed to visualize the right way to get it done! A drop of liquid fell from the orb and landed on my arm, but nothing happened. I was close, though. Maybe the liquid shouldn¡¯t create new matter, but make the body replace it with new material. Like its own self-healing process, but using the Mind juice as a catalyst. With wide eyes, I watched another drop fall, and the arm began to regrow itself. With a single molecule. Huh? Was that real? Are my eyes deceiving me? ¡°Nope. You just put all that Mind into it and got a single tiny piece regrown. That orb might have enough to regrow the rest of the arm segment, but you¡¯d have to do it several more times for the entire arm to be regrown.¡± Bullshit. Absolute bullshit. In a split-second decision, I grasped the claw of my first right arm with a bit of Mind and twisted, compartmentalizing away the pain. With a cry, I bent my claw, cracking it in the process, still feeling the sheer agony that came with breaking your own freaking claw. OW! Shit, I barely dulled the pain at all! ¡°What in the name of FUCK are you doing?! That¡¯s my damn body, you moron!¡± This was my last resort. I once again thanked my incredible ability to multitask as the orb never even wavered, and tried to shift the liquid¡¯s purpose. Heal the claw on my right arm. A drop. Two. The crack barely even closed, the healing doing next to nothing. Goddammit! Using so much of my Mind was starting to make me a bit loopy, affecting my decision making. Was this why my self-control seemed to shatter whenever I did Mind experiments? Had I seriously just broken my own arm on a whim? I plunged my entire right arm into the liquid, biting down a scream. Fucking do what I want you to, goddamit! Just work already! I need this. I need this to help the damn hive! I won¡¯t let any more bees fucking die. When I say heal, you should fucking heal. Chapter 94 - I Command Bee, HEAL As soon as I said the words ¡®fucking heal¡¯, an intense feeling of sickness overwhelmed me and I doubled over, only staying in the air thanks to my Lock. It felt like my head was literally being split open and my brain manhandled, and I gagged at the sensation. Even Queen groaned in agony as my vision swam from the strain. [Congratulations! You have been granted an Ability!] [I Command Bee, HEAL Level 1 Acquired by: Through experimentation and desire, you figured out how to perform simple healing for the sake of your hive. A breakthrough was achieved when you solidified your Mind, envisioned the result, and acted within your unique nature to give a simple command. At your behest, any creature of your choosing connected to your Kin Link will have some of your Mind condensed within their body, speeding and enhancing possible healing processes. Only Linked creatures can be made to heal. Only works on fresh wounds. Level up: Heal a creature from a grievous wound. ] I tried my best to make sense of the words in my face. So I did it? It was that easy? I took a bleary look at my newly broken claw, finding it mostly mended. It wasn¡¯t healed to full, but even as I watched, globules of Mind healing juice oozed out of the arm into place and solidified. The big liquid ball had suddenly disappeared, but apparently it was somehow within my body now. The process would be long and annoying, but it worked! But what the hell was with these conditions? Only being able to heal those in my hive? Seems sort of arbitrary. Queen¡¯s pained groans abated somewhat, conveniently just in time to make my ramblings coherent. ¡°Sure, but who cares? Healing our children - and I suppose anybody within the hive - is what we truly want. If those limitations are the burden the gods wish to stick us with, it is fine, in my opinion.¡± Not wrong. But what caused this Ability to have such a constraint? Is it super powerful or something? It doesn¡¯t seem like it now, but I suppose it¡¯s not impossible. Since it has the capability to level up, that must mean it¡¯s weak now and can become much stronger. ¡°I don¡¯t think an Ability¡¯s power necessarily causes limitations - look at Combined Minds. That Ability is absurd and has no drawbacks. No, I think there is either more we still do not understand about Abilities, or the gods have a firmer hand in play than we expected.¡± We both took a moment to chew on that. I¡¯d much rather be ignorant about Abilities than know the gods are playing with us like fucking tabletop game characters. I had already assumed they were integral in the process of creating Abilities, but for some reason it didn¡¯t fully register that they might be able to change the Ability extensively. Well if they were going to play like that, I¡¯d play right back. Plans already began to form, stuff like Linking a squirrel or whatever to serve as fodder for leveling the Ability to bypass any reservations about hurting my bees. But who cares! I made an Ability with much less difficulty than expected. Sure, I had to break my own arm to get a fresh wound or whatever, but such things were a small price to pay. I gleefully held up my arm, which was just about finished stitching itself back into place. If this thing worked the way I thought it did, then I had essentially just gotten every Linked creature some slow auto-regen. How hilarious was that? As the final tiny pieces of chitin clicked into place, I waved my claw triumphantly. Hm? That headache seems a bit familiar. Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s Mind Colla- ______ Belle poked the small bowl of honey sitting in front of her, sighing aimlessly. All the golden ichor did was remind her of her twin, and boy, did she miss Bella dearly. She hadn¡¯t seen her dear sister in such a long time. ¡°You know we can talk whenever we want, right? I can¡¯t be at family dinner tonight, but it¡¯s not like we¡¯re actually apart.¡± Another sigh escaped Belle¡¯s thoughts. It was almost like she could hear the arrogant, prickly, self-centered bee even now. Grabbing the waxy bowl with a thought, she inspected the fairly new dining room. A massive open-air globe was attached precariously to the central hive opposite the nursery, swaying in the wind. The wax structure was thin and incomplete, merely a scaffolding for a larger project to come, and Bella had to admit that it was impressive. Bess really did have a talent for this sort of thing, not to mention the sudden competitive spark she had been nurturing since the hive had witnessed human civilization. The ball easily held the current numbers of the hive, with plenty of room for more, and allowed each bee to set their food down while simultaneously keeping them all in view of each other. Well, Bedivere and Behemoth had to stay outside. But they had their own little perches all to themselves attached to the outside. With just a hint of curiosity, she happened to notice an odd quirk of the structure. Or rather, how the bees were occupying it. Belle rested upon her own personal seat, suspended near the center of the globe. Closest to her were her subordinates, Beverly, Bela, Beth and Beau, sitting just behind her. To her left was an empty seat for Belle, and her right was occupied by Beck. The rest of her generation were sitting at similar distances, only missing Ben, who was out at the moment. And Bess, but she was occupied. Further from the center were other bees, such as the subordinates of the other leads, and further were the warriors. Buzzing along the walls of the structure were the senseless Drones and Linkers, only parting so Bedivere and Behemoth could peek inside. Those mindless bees were still part of the family, so, of course, they were present. Although, all they did was efficiently eat their food and immediately rest to conserve energy. She looked at the warriors, who, instead of sitting calmly in place, were clumped at a certain spot beneath her. Most of them were Unnamed, but such a thing was not affecting their revelry. Honestly. They did know the food stores weren¡¯t infinite, right? Belle took another sip. Though some of her family could be bothersome, and though she might rather be working, she quite enjoyed the family dinners. They all did. The commands of Mother overcame even their ceaseless appetite for labor. But this particular dinner was strange. A quick glance at the place of honor at the center of the ball, the only complete portion of the structure, was all one needed to see the reason why. No Mother. For the first time since the inception of the fabled ¡®Family Dinner¡¯, Mother was not present. They had always waited for her, or simply canceled when she was busy, but never had they had one without her. Beatrice was also not present in her seat beside Mother¡¯s, but the explanation for that wasn¡¯t hard to figure out. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. ¡°Eat, Beatrice, eat! Glory for the hive!¡± Bess shouted, shaking the Aide in question like a squirrel. Beatrice rubbed her arms, but complied, downing an entire cup of honey in a single swig. The bees cheered, particularly the warriors gathered around them. Along with Beck and Bess, the warriors had insisted they hold a celebratory family dinner to celebrate Beatrice¡¯s victory against the fernen leader, and Beatrice eventually relented. Belle didn¡¯t quite understand; what was the point of a family dinner without Mother? But they had insisted. And when Beck so passionately hummed about how Mother would have wanted them to celebrate their individual accomplishments, who could refuse? And so, the entire hive buzzed beneath the waning sun, eating their fill. Bess and the warriors egged Beatrice on once more, and Belle smirked at seeing the Aide so flustered, unlike her regular self. Once, the warriors would likely never have dreamed of doing these things, but they had begun to see Beatrice in a new light since her fight. One of true respect for a fellow warrior. Honestly, Belle did too. Not the warrior thing, but she saw Beatrice differently. They were all afraid of her, of course. Not because she had a powerful Mind. Not because her Ability, Aide Authority, could gain control of anyone in the hive at a thought. Not because of the influence she had on Mother. Nah, it was just because she¡¯s Beatrice. Enough said. Even so, all the bees were enjoying themselves. Beck was humming pleasant tunes, Beryl was letting herself be rowdy with the other warriors, and Belial was whispering to Beau nearby. Ah, right. Those two and their obsession with the electhingery. Belle had a passing interest, of course. It was for that reason Beau was technically under her command, after all. But it was nowhere near as deep as the curiosity held by the Valkybee and the inventor. Beth mechanically raised the bowl to her mouth and swallowed while the other two barely touched their meal. Whether they were nervous because of the grand warrior Belial¡¯s presence or they were simply exhausted, Belle didn¡¯t care to understand. Well, most of the bees in their generation were a bit timid anyway. ¡°Beatrice, can you tell Ma to give me a name?!¡± ¡°Yeah, me two!¡± ¡°Me bee!¡± Some of the warriors called out to Beatrice, taking the opportunity to inquire about something they would never dare ask otherwise. Perhaps they had gotten a bit too caught up in their revelry. Belle could sympathize, though. A name was power, both in Mind and mind. Perhaps because of the boost it gave to a bee¡¯s mental fortitude, being given a name could even affect their actual power. She knew she would be desperately trying to prove herself if she hadn¡¯t been given a name early on. Had she earned it? No, perhaps not. But all bees had come to accept being Named was special, symbolically and otherwise. Belle¡¯s generation was special in some way, and so they were all immediately named. Same with Beau¡¯s generation of Workers. But being Unnamed wasn¡¯t bad at all. There was a reason they had taken that name rather than the Nameless or some other dour moniker. There was always a chance. It wasn¡¯t that they would never be named, they simply weren¡¯t named yet. Such a social hierarchy felt¡­ strange to Belle. It felt right, and yet it felt strange. Where did she fall into it? To say there wasn¡¯t any hierarchy was foolishness itself, of course. Beatrice fell directly beneath Mother, second only to her. Bedivere probably landed somewhere above Belle. Maybe the Valkybees, but they were in a bit of a limbo. Beck was also quite powerful in that regard. But otherwise? She liked to think she was right there. Of course, such a thing wasn¡¯t necessarily true just yet. Her job was extremely important, sure, but she didn¡¯t command anywhere near the number of forces of, say, Bess. At least, not in pure numbers. Belle was unique in that she had the most Named Workers. And she knew her subordinates would soon grow to epic proportions. She controlled the food alongside her twin. She brought the new generations into being. And she suspected that any miscellaneous prospects would also fall under her jurisdiction. It wasn¡¯t something she thought about often, but she had more intimate knowledge of the plans to come for the hive¡¯s forces. Soon, new queens would be born. Would they surpass the Hive Five, Belle¡¯s generation, in social status? Would she be tossed by the wayside, forgotten in favor of some new queen¡¯s authority? No. She wouldn¡¯t allow it. There was no way she would let herself be separated from Mother like that. ¡°Enough of this.¡± Beatrice paused to take another sip. She was being carefree, wasn¡¯t she? ¡°You must earn it. A name is something given by Mother. You will remain Unnamed until the time comes that you accomplish something for the hive.¡± ¡°Does that mean you can get another name? Since you beat that moss dude?¡± Bend laughed, flexing as usual. Though he had fewer arms to flex nowadays. Beatrice suddenly looked very uncomfortable. ¡°Another name? Preposterous. Besides, I¡¯d not like to be overly prideful about my actions. Such a thing is unbecoming of a member of the hive.¡± Some of the bees, especially the Unnamed, muttered a bit at that. One spoke up, silencing the others. ¡°Then isn¡¯t getting a name kinda bad too?¡± Ha! Belle could barely contain her laughter. A precious contradiction that made Beatrice such a treat to talk with. The Aide cleared her throat, trying to lay out her reasoning for why both could coexist, but the eyes of most warriors simply began to glaze over. Belle knew that would happen; she had enjoyed a similar conversation with Beatrice only recently over a cup of extra-sweet honey. Matching wits with the Aide wasn¡¯t something most could do on her worst of days, and it was a peculiar weakness of hers that she struggled to talk down. Either you kept up with her or got left in the dust. Yet another reason to admire Mother. ¡°Enough of this,¡± Bess said, providing an all-too-accurate rendition of Beatrice¡¯s voice. ¡°Let¡¯s get back to eating! I¡¯ve got tons of work to do tomorrow, so I wanna be as energized as possible.¡± Belphegora perked up and leaned forward, her seat creaking. ¡°What sort of of work? Are we going to be seeing a new boom in bees? I believe some queens will be born soon, but how will we manage a population boom with our resources?¡± She turned to Belle, shooting her a questioning gaze. Damn Belphegora. What a fun rival! ¡°Food will definitely become an issue without detailed planning.¡± Belle took a final sip of honey. ¡°Of course, something like that isn¡¯t a concern, thanks to miss Beatrice. I do think we could slow construction a bit, Bess. All that wax¡­. Not to mention your gluttonous appetite before a hard day¡¯s work.¡± Bess buzzed with anger, and the excitement rose amongst the crowd. How foolish. Have they all become battle junkies? I¡¯m not going to fight Bess over a simple conversation. Hell, I¡¯d never win against her anyway. ¡°You wanna go, punk? Maybe you¡¯ve had it a bit too good, hanging out with the eggs all day. I work pretty damn hard compared to you, I think.¡± ¡°Rich,¡± Belle spat. ¡°You have skill, but perhaps you should try finishing a project for once. I see the dome is nowhere near completion. Oh wait. You created an overly ambitious project with no regard for your capabilities or the current capabilities of the hive. Tell me, exactly how much wax will you need to finish the stupidly massive dome nearly as large as Yiwi?¡± Bess was hovering in front of Belle now, staring her in the face. Despite her barbs, Belle sat in a relaxed posture. The warriors were buzzing frantically now; they wanted action. Perhaps Beatrice¡¯s little bout had shown them the wonders of entertaining combat? No matter. Belle was simply having a bit of fun. Bess would never- ¡°I challenge you to a Battle of Minds!¡± Belle gaped at Bess, who was looking a bit too triumphant. The others of the Hive Five stared too. Beatrice simply shook her head. But the warriors? They were eating it up. ¡°Yeah, come on chump! Let¡¯s go, a match with our stingers. Right here, right now.¡± Belle finally found her voice. ¡°Now hold on Bess-¡° ¡°Oh stop.¡± Bedivere¡¯s baritone shook their Minds, rattling them. Had he used his Mind there? ¡°Bess, there will be no Battle of Minds. We are not the fernen with their adherence to some ancient tradition which is specifically their own. Conflicts within the hive can never be decided with violence; it is simply pointless. Belle, enough of the teasing. You both present good and bad points, and if you cannot agree, then it will be decided by another.¡± How ironic that the most powerful warrior would decry violence. Bess simply laughed and pat Belle on the shoulder, apologizing. But of the two, Belle was actually the one who came away more frustrated. Why does he get to dictate all this? Because he¡¯s good at fighting? What has he even fought after the vultures? Whatever. But what he said was interesting. Deciding conflict, hm? The dinner went back to normal, the revelry dying as the moon rose. Beatrice returned to her seat, pushing away any warriors that tried to get her to eat more honey. Bess sat around laughing alongside Beck, and the warriors were simply their usual rowdy selves. Belle lounged, eying her empty bowl. ¡°I¡¯m sure Mother would have loved to be here during all this excitement. At least she¡¯ll be entertained when she wakes up,¡± she whispered to herself. She didn¡¯t miss Beatrice quietly slip out of the ball, following her with her Mind. She watched as Beatrice made a beeline for Mother¡¯s room, setting down to rest just outside the entrance. ¡°What are you up to, sneaky Aide?¡± ¡°I just wanted to rest near Mother. Is there something wrong with that?¡± ¡°Of course not. But it¡¯s not like you to get tired.¡± ¡°Tired? Ha!¡± Beatrice shared some images through the Link, and Belle found her senses overwhelmed. ¡°I simply wanted to look at my work in peace, without the interruptions of the silly warriors. So many things to monitor, so many things to manage. It¡¯s quite fun. In particular, I wanted to keep an eye on the fernen. After all, the humans have nearly arrived at their home outside the forest. Hopefully Mother will awaken in time to see it; I¡¯m sure she¡¯d enjoy the new experience.¡± ¡°That she would.¡± Announcement: Upcoming break, Question Comb, and assorted things Hello everyone who bothers to read these! The time comes, and since chapter 100 approaches, I want to do the next Question Comb. So submit your questions in the comments of this chapter, or in the Discord (honestly I would probably answer questions over there at any time), or in the comments of any chapter after this. Now, for other things. I have a lot of wants for next year. For one, I want chapter 100 to come out before the end of this year. Shouldn¡¯t be a problem. However, I¡¯ve decided that once chapter 100 releases, I¡¯ll be taking a break from uploading chapters for about 2 weeks. My hope is to make chapter uploads much more consistent (surely. Right?). Some other things: by the time this gets uploaded, the blurb will probably have changed. If you¡¯ve made it this far, that doesn¡¯t really matter for you I assume. Similarly, I want to update the cover with a more appealing image and typography. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. For the final hope, I have something I want to do next year. Begin uploading another story. Obviously I won¡¯t allow this other hypothetical story to affect Beesekai, but it¡¯s something I¡¯ve wanted to write for a while. And I don¡¯t really know when it will get uploaded anyways. It¡¯s been a troublesome work in progress for a bit, and I refuse to upload it without a substantial backlog to prevent the issues I¡¯ve encountered with Beesekai. If you¡¯re curious as to what it is, well. I¡¯ll just say it¡¯s a system apocalypse with an absurdly OP MC. Shockingly original, I know. Lastly, I want to thank everyone. This year has really been something else with Beesekai always there for me. Posting the story here has allowed me to make more progress than anything I¡¯ve ever written before (and I think that shows). Getting this far has made me more excited and interested in the world of Beesekai than I ever imagined I¡¯d be, and I¡¯ve really become its biggest fan. And I wouldn¡¯t have been able to do it without the people who read. So once again, thank you. Chapter 95 - Where the Mossy Things Are ¡°¡­ther.¡± ¡°Mother.¡± ¡°MOTHER.¡± ¡­ ¡°Nyeh.¡± I groaned as I turned and covered my eyes, which didn¡¯t prevent the overbearing voice from coming closer and speaking again. ¡°Oh good, you¡¯re awake. I suggest you figure out how to overcome the Mind Collapse I assume you¡¯re experiencing, because some lingering effects are beginning to affect the hive. Also, we very much need to continue the expansion projects; the Linkers you have made are interesting and will likely be useful when hatched, but we are in desperate need of more bees. ¡°In particular, we need Workers. Egg caretakers, scientists, medics, Link specialists, explorers, and food specialists, just to name a few. Interspersed among those Workers we need a large quantity of regular Linkers to reliably send to Yiwi so as to prevent any repeats of the former incident. Some more Warriors to bolster our forces now that we¡¯re interacting with the fernen would also be prudent. I¡¯m hoping that by making a large amount of bees, you will finally unlock the Queen subtype and make our lives significantly easier. Oh, and the humans have arrived in the fernen encampment.¡± I shot up and thanked Beatrice, squeezing out of the central hive to stretch. Not a moment to waste, of course! Beatrice¡¯s tired sigh went ignored while I took stock of my situation. My head pounded like an excited auctioneer was inside and my stomach grumbled. Damn, I was hungry? Wonder when the last time was that I really felt hungry. ¡°Okay. I think I¡¯ve got a wrap on everything I need to do. Can you help me figure out this Mind Collapse thing before we get started, Queen?¡± ¡°¡­¡± Uh. Queen? ¡°Hush, I¡¯m trying to watch.¡± The hell do you mean?! What could be so important- Oh. ¡°Oh indeed. Not only am I keeping an eye on my future body, I¡¯m on the ball, as it were. Making sure everything with the fernen doesn¡¯t go sideways. You may go ahead and fix the Mind Collapse issue. It will probably be difficult to do so while consciously keeping track of multiple things and Minds.¡± I see¡­. Hey! I see what you¡¯re doing here. Is this some sort of revenge? Or prank? My brain kept pounding, interrupting my thoughts, so I tried putting them on hold for now. Queen¡¯s underhanded play aside, I really did need to fix the Mind Collapse. As much as she wanted to play it off, I knew she was hurting too, considering we¡¯re one and the same. Plus, if what Beatrice said is true, then suffering Mind Collapse can cause issues in the hive, specifically with the Link. Who knew what sorts of ramifications that could have with the Linkers? I set my mind to it. How could I cure Mind Collapse? The previous examples of times I underwent the condition were fixed with some simple rest and relaxation, but I didn¡¯t have time for that now. Instead, I thought of tasking the CBU with finding a solution, but stopped myself at the last second. Despite the pain, I dove into the visualization of my Mind. Inside, the CBU was pulsating weakly and the B-boxes were sluggish. Disconcerting. If those were also affected by the Mind Collapse¡­ This healing Ability would be an incredible boon in the right situation, but right now it was a massive pain in my butt. Okay. I just had to manually search through some memories and stuff to find a proper solution. The CBU isn¡¯t completely out of commission, but using it in this situation definitely did not feel like a smart idea. Individual B-boxes might be alright though¡­ ¡°Man. This sucks.¡± __________ Keeping my thoughts away from Enno¡¯s planning took some concentration, which was quite the task, considering our current condition. While Yelah stared at a group of young fernen playing with a stone, I pondered. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. My recent thoughts have been¡­ disconcerting. A sense of immense loneliness was in constant companionship with overwhelming discomfort. It made no sense. To be uncomfortable with others? With our hive? Enno being a former human was seriously messing with our capability to connect with our children as a collective. Such a thing could not be. It was fine to take advantage of the differences between humans and bees, but for there to be unintended consequences was simply not favorable. Oh well. Enno was the one in control. He would be the one to figure it out. Yelah jerked along, her movements stiff, even robotic. All of the practice Enno went through to move her body naturally was gone in our state, and I couldn¡¯t do anything to help. Grehn and Vlugh gave us a sideways look, one I interpreted as a profound sadness. That was one of the reasons I hesitated to make progress in separating my consciousness into Yelah¡¯s body. Could I do that to her friends? Every time I glimpsed their thoughts, I suffered, feeling the visceral pain of loss. And Yelah herself¡­ I still hadn¡¯t tried to interact with her or even see her. It was simply too depressing. She hasn¡¯t stopped screaming, but I believe her cries have calmed somewhat. Whenever she finally calms down, I would be the first to speak with her. To understand her. Of course, any such thoughts were kept private. Enno couldn¡¯t know about these things. Ironic, considering secrets were a nonsensical practice invented by the humans. And keeping a secret from yourself? How preposterous. Turning back to the fernen society, it was truly something to behold. Not in a good way, either. Mossy creatures frolicking on the rough stone and dirt occasionally groaned and grabbed their backs or rubbed their arms. The children played while their stomachs rumbled. Other than the four we were following, most of the creatures appeared entirely downtrodden. I wanted to ask what exactly happened to the fernen. I wanted to inquire as to their current lifestyle. I wanted to tell them to move back into the forest. But I was still cut off from the world. ¡°Excuse our gloomy situation. I¡¯m sure you three understand, considering it was your kind that caused it,¡± Follo said, turning his head to glance at the humans. Yes! You tell them, brother! ¡°Hey pal, we weren¡¯t exactly thrilled about the Burning either,¡± Vlugh retorted. Grehn, meanwhile, stayed silent, simply staring at the fernen children as we passed. ¡°Whatever, human. Who did it isn¡¯t my problem. My problem is the suffering we¡¯ve gone through and the destroyed forest,¡± Follo spat. Vlugh stopped, as did the lean fernen. Lowchief Feltan sighed, tugging on Follo¡¯s arm to get him to keep moving. How frustrating! I knew where Vlugh¡¯s anger was coming from; not only did the people of Yiwi suffer because of the Burning itself, they suffered from its aftereffects as well. And Vlugh himself suffered more. As one of the few Drevani in Yiwi, with the Ability to breathe fire, no less, he had encountered no shortage of ire from the people around him. But what about Follo? Was he the Lowchief¡¯s¡­ Assistant? Friend? Lover?! Why was he so passionate about the Burning? Had he lost someone dear to him? Or was he simply that righteous? Gah! It was so frustrating to not know the entirety of someone¡¯s being. Feltan pulled Follo¡¯s arm harder. ¡°We should continue. The Highchief needs to be informed about our arrangement.¡± The Drevan and fernen stared at each other for another moment before Follo turned away to follow his¡­ friend. How dull. I wanted more actual information! Observing the surroundings simply wasn¡¯t enough. Regardless, that was all I could do. Observe. As much as I wanted to practice with Yelah, she simply didn¡¯t have the range of vision for a clear picture, so I switched to Ben¡¯s viewpoint. From his eyes, I could see nearly every inch of the fernen encampment. The raised section of earth was almost like a ramp, starting at the forest and going up into the mountains some distance away. A pair of small rivers ran down the ramp towards a small lake, merging with a third river to form the large Yam river. It was mostly along the shore of this pool that makeshift tents and leans protected lying fernen from the sun. As the humans walked through, more and more fernen emerged from their tents and the shadows to observe, displaying no emotion in a way I could interpret. One fernen sat near the forest¡¯s edge at the shore of the larger river, occasionally tossing some sort of powder into the water. Actually, there were many such examples of fernen doing strange things. There was the individual presumably poisoning the river, a trio walking towards the encampment from the north, and one tiny fernen shrouded in a cloud of heavy smoke. It was towards this final fernen that Feltan suddenly dashed, waving his arms and staff around in an exceedingly humorous, noodle-like manner, shouting at the top of his lungs. ¡°FATHER! AGAIN WITH THE LUTICE WEED?¡± Ah, the fernen Highchief. Shorter than expected. Indeed, he was smaller than any fernen we had seen, barring children. Though despite the size of his body, his arms were exceedingly long in comparison and his hair much darker. The circlet he wore was massive, wild, and untamed, and he held a sizable wooden pipe from which the smoke rose. I suppose that whatever he is doing with this ¡®lutice weed¡¯ isn¡¯t something Feltan approves of. Although, the sheer amount of smoke brings to mind the Ability Feltan showcased against Beatrice. Perhaps there is some connection there? ¡°Ah, Feltan. Would you please explain what those things are doing here?¡± The Highchief coughed. ¡°They seem to be mercenaries. They will not be missed if they happen to disappear while on a mission. I don¡¯t approve of their presence. If I don¡¯t find your answer satisfactory, I¡¯ll have them killed.¡± Feltan stepped forward and stood straight before his father. ¡°Ahem. Highchief, these humans are not, at present, abiding by the will of their own species. They are being controlled by a creature of the forest; bees. Ben, if you would come down here?¡± My vision blurred as Ben zoomed downwards, stopping just out of range of the smoke. Then Ben did a little dance. While he danced at the grand leader of the entire fernen species, Feltan continued. ¡°I have been defeated by their second-in-command in a Battle of Minds, and in doing so, have agreed for fernenkind¡¯s subservience to the hive for three months'' time. As you know, we must abide by the results of the Battle. I deeply apologize for going over the head of Highchief Ferntan, but I truly believe it was the correct decision.¡± The Highchief, Ferntan, slowly nodded before sighing and taking another drag of his wooden pipe. It was a lot to take in, I¡¯m sure. If Beatrice had suddenly come up and declared that the hive would be subservient to another species, I might ¡®flip out.¡¯ Not that I was capable of such a thing, but Enno would likely be plenty happy to do so in my place. ¡°Highchief, what your son says is true.¡± Grehn turned and presented his nape, showing the fernen his Linker. ¡°A powerful queen bee in the forest managed to bring us under her control over two weeks ago. In fact, much of Yiwi has been conquered.¡± I felt a spark of hope within Grehn. Was he¡­ was he trying to use this opportunity as an underhanded attack? Classic human. I didn¡¯t get the feeling that he was acutely aware of the current issues with the Link and Mind Collapse, so this must have been a calculated risk on his part. Not a good one, in my mind. The Highchief and Lowchief had frozen, and Feltan¡¯s eyes were so wide that they were actually visible beneath his thick hair. He stood there for a moment before stammering. ¡°Eh-Excuse me? The human city of Yiwi has fallen?¡± ¡°Not completely. But the city is essentially under the control of the bees.¡± Ferntan¡¯s pipe clattered against the stones on the ground as he rose, looking between Ben and Grehn. ¡°Unbelievable. What have you fools done? This is what I feared; the creature or creatures powerful and ignorant enough to destroy the Shroud would make an attempt on the humans, and the worst has come to pass. Our forest, destroyed. Our poison did not work. Our kind is under your control.¡± He clasped one hand to his face before taking a single long stride and shaking Feltan¡¯s shoulder. ¡°Son. Our kind may not survive this trial.¡± Chapter 96 - Bee-rink of Collapse ¡°Aha!¡± I said aloud, triumphantly holding a B-box in my imaginary hands. It had taken quite some time and effort, but manually digging through the ¡®important¡¯ memories contained in my now enormous memory B-box had actually gone much more smoothly than I expected. It really was like having a photographic memory I could summon at will, simply asking for something and having the B-boxes provide it to me. Man, what I would have given for something so useful in my old life. Within this precious box were all the memories I could find containing Mind Collapse, but one particular person had everything I needed. Hopefully. Looking inside, I saw an image of Rette and Vlugh laying down on comfy cots. The Hayrey & Sons¡¯ little hospital. When the merc team first arrived in Yiwi, those two had been rushed off to the hospital immediately for their severe injuries and, crucially, Vlugh¡¯s Mind Collapse. The memory I was currently looking at belonged to the doctor who had taken care of them, a woman who got Linked when we invaded the hospital to finally re-Link Rette. ¡°¡­her condition is much more concerning. Just give Vlugh some Antithought medication and he¡¯ll be fine.¡± And there was the very simple key. Something called Antithought medication. It made sense that a condition as common as Mind Collapse had resulted in some sort of medicine, but dang. It was basically a non-issue for these guys. Can always count on humans to figure stuff out! Whether that¡¯s a good or bad thing¡­ well, it remained to be seen. Now hopefully, that medicine would work on bees. ¡°Bella, I need some supplies. Antithought medication. Maybe get them from the Hayrey & Sons¡¯ clinic, or just get Mesne to acquire some,¡± I said. It took concentration to contact her, unlike usual, but I sensed she got the message. Unfortunately, I didn¡¯t have the luxury of waiting. I had to figure something out quickly, before the Link went through any more weirdness. It would take a drone a few days to reach the hive, and by then, the Mind Collapse would either heal naturally or¡­ not. Either way, I needed a more immediate solution. No problem! I expected as much. How many times had I found a solution only for it to be less than ideal, or even terrible? No, there existed other solutions. Surely. The doctor who was Linked had knowledge. Maybe she understood how the Antithought medicine worked and we could replicate it for bee use. ¡°Or just rest.¡± Oh! Good of you to join me, my intertwined friend. As for your suggestion, I resent it. I already think that waiting and recovering isn¡¯t the ideal solution when the Link is involved. It¡¯s become a massive¡­ liability isn¡¯t right. But it is a weakness in a way. If we don¡¯t protect it with secondary measures, issues will probably definitely happen. Anyway, I was wondering when you were going to come back. Have fun watching tv without me? ¡°Truly a unique perception. Shall we count the not insignificant number of times you have shirked your duties to binge entertainment of dubious quality? And I¡¯m not just talking about your time on Earth.¡± Touche. Actually, how many times are you going to one-up me like that? Can¡¯t I get a win for once? ¡°If there is a pattern, there is likely a cause. When we have resolved this Mind Collapse issue, then maybe you can learn a way to get better at these little chats. I¡¯ve found Bella and Belle have razor-sharp tongues. It¡¯s not that I am good - your capabilities for speech simply leave much to be desired.¡± Jeez, I get it. Let¡¯s just solve this issue. The simplest solution is just to ask. It would take concentration, enough to be a risk, but a risk well worth it. The doctor is the only one we know for certain who has knowledge related to the more scientific side of the condition. There are plenty of others who might know, but if I can only connect deeply to one, then the doctor is our best bet. Not that I was going to go through with a risk like that immediately. There had to be other options. ¡°If I were to guess, one of our only ways to solve this dilemma is to understand Mind Collapse ourselves and figure out a cure.¡± Pretty much. But I don¡¯t think we can rely on that option. I also thought of using the healing Ability, but I already know how bad of an idea it is to use anything related to Mind during Mind Collapse. Using Mind at all isn¡¯t just a risk, it¡¯s a definite ticket to permanent damage-ville. ¡°We have another option. Rely on our family. They can get the medicine to us more quickly, or ideate a way to figure out a cure. They exist not only to serve you, but to help you. Speaking with them will not be the easiest under these conditions, but it should be easier than with humans.¡± Queen was right. I needed my bees. ________ ¡°Since it¡¯s called Mind Collapse, maybe we can fix it by expanding the Mind? I don¡¯t know, some sort of Mind Stretch? It¡¯s very a very effective practice for the humans who exert themselves.¡± This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°Stop bumbling, Beryl, such an idea is simply foolish.¡± ¡°Perhaps it has something to do with the physical brain then, Beatrice?¡± ¡°That may be true, but in that case, we are in trouble. None of the bees have knowledge of bee biology. We must think of a way. Mind is our most capable tool, so one of us must be capable of doing something. Otherwise¡­ Bella, have you been able to contact the doctor?¡± ¡°She doesn¡¯t understand my dancing! I thought you said this would work, Ben!¡± ¡°It works with the fernen! Maybe humans are just stupid?¡± ¡°They are, but this is beside the point, you two. Bella, continue trying. Oh, why does the Linker connection cause us such pain? If we strain the Link nothing good will come, but speaking with the doctor directly is still appearing to be our only option.¡± ¡°¡­Maybe she just needs some food?¡± ¡°¡±Shut up Bella!¡±¡± My bees were being quite rowdy in their discussion, but boy was it fun to watch. Not that the situation was fun, but they were a nice distraction. When I decided that I needed to get the bees involved, every one was ready to drop whatever they were doing and help me out. They were surprised, to be sure, since I usually tried to solve my own problems. But they didn¡¯t really care about that. They just wanted to help. Granted, they had a direct interest in making sure the Link didn¡¯t collapse as hard as my Mind, but I chose to disregard that. Just outside the central hive, a veritable council of bees sat on the ground and discussed my condition. Beatrice led the discussion, insisting that I sit back and relax to speed up my recovery. All of the Hive Five presently at the hive were involved, which included Beck, Belle, and Bess. Some other stragglers also found a way in: Beau, Belphegora, and Beryl. Up to now, we hadn¡¯t come up with much. One of the first things they decided was that the Antithought medication should be brought faster, so Beelzebub, as the fastest bee we have, was sent to pick it up from the three drones who were struggling along. Bella was trying to communicate with the doctor, but that was probably going to fall through. Beau hadn¡¯t really contributed, just thinking about her experiments. Belphegora had stayed silent, only grunting occasionally. She had some ideas, but none of them were ones she approved of, so I didn¡¯t make her share them. Beatrice tapped her stinger on the ground a few times, prompting silence. ¡°Our issues, at their core, stem from a lack of understanding. We do not understand Mind Collapse. We do not know how humans treat it. We are not aware of the details of our biologies and how that might affect any treatment. I propose that we bolster our understanding.¡± ¡°Oh? And how will we do that?¡± Belle asked. Beatrice didn¡¯t respond, just grimly tapped her head with a single claw. The implication was quite clear: Beatrice wanted more bees to undergo Mind Collapse in order to study it. By understanding Mind Collapse as it specifically related to bees, then maybe there was a chance. Beau, for the first time, came out of her daze and glanced at Beatrice. ¡°Finally. I was waiting for someone to say it. We¡¯ll never come to a solution without more data; I¡¯ve learned as much from my own research.¡± The circle began muttering and buzzing, confused. I¡¯ll give ¡®em this: I never even considered that as an option. Of freaking course I wouldn¡¯t think of an idea like this! Some of the other bees weren¡¯t down to clown with the idea either, like Belphegora who shook her head before commenting. ¡°And exactly which bees will we be forcing to undergo this condition? We¡¯re just as likely to cause permanent damage by accident as to find a potential cure. Though Collapse is a common enough condition that the humans have found a cure, it is still known that there can be permanent effects.¡± ¡°Is that right, Belphegora?¡± Belle asked. ¡°Are you not just concerned that you will have to be on one of the test subjects?¡± ¡°Of course I am, caretaker. But is that so wrong? As I said, there can be permanent afflictions resulting from Mind Collapse. But I am more concerned about the hive itself, as you all should be. If we could experiment on the humans, or even the fernen, this would be an acceptable plan. But using bees? Preposterous.¡± That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying! There was no chance I¡¯d risk my bees directly just to cure myself. I¡¯d call that selfishness itself. Beau turned, glancing this time at Belphegora. ¡°Isn¡¯t that selfishness itself? Everything revolves around Mother. Sacrificing ourselves to find a cure for Mother is the reasonable thing to do. Doing that allows the Link to continue working. If the Link continues working, the bees that remain stay strong. The humans won¡¯t be freed.¡± ¡°And you would be willing to make the sacrifice? Sacrifice your work? Your ideas?¡± Belphegora fired back. Her emotions were rising, much more than usual. I always saw her as being more comfortable on the sidelines, overshadowed by her more boisterous siblings. Emotion was something she controlled directly; not something she allowed to control her. So looking at her fume towards the otherwise blank and pensive Beau was pretty silly. ¡°¡­¡± It only got worse as Beau didn¡¯t respond. I think Beau has some sort of inherent quality to her that makes others frustrated, cause now Beatrice wasn¡¯t the only one bothered by her. Hey¡­ wasn¡¯t this a complete reversal of the conversation from before? Now Beau and Belphegora were the ones doing the talking, while the rest just thought and didn¡¯t say a word. Well, now was as good a time as any to get involved. ¡°Um. If I can interrupt?¡± Immediate silence. ¡°Sooo¡­. None of that. I won¡¯t allow any bees to come to harm, even if it¡¯s to find a potential solution. We¡¯ve got some great minds here! Minds of both kinds! I¡¯m sure we can figure out something more reasonable.¡± Pondering. The little circle pondered, trying to think of a solution. At this point, I was getting frustrated. Not with my bees, of course. More so with the whole situation. I desperately wanted to try the first thing that came to mind, but how had that gone for me in the past? I needed to be more careful now that the hive was growing. Beck¡¯s humming suddenly stopped, only to become more and more animated. ¡°You know, Beck, you¡¯re right. A Mind oriented solution is essentially our only way out of this mess. And presumably, it will have to be our Minds that are used, not Mother¡¯s. Though to say I am uncomfortable with interfering in Mother¡¯s Mind is an¡­ understatement,¡± Beatrice finally said. The other bees were equally uncomfortable, subtly buzzing their discontent. Even ones who would normally disagree with each other simply hated the idea of doing things to my Mind, but I agreed with Beck. Mind was the only tool for the job, and mine was strained. Beatrice buzzed for another moment before continuing to speak. ¡°Regardless, it must be done. And if we are careful, me may be able to study Mother¡¯s current state instead of resorting to inducing Mind Collapse in other bees.¡± ¡°Now THAT is not something I¡¯d like to do,¡± Belle said with a huff. ¡°For what it¡¯s worth, testing Mind Collapse on the Minds of other bees is much safer than to pick apart Mother. I mean, experimenting on HER? Have you entirely lost your senses?¡± ¡°If only. Then perhaps you could experiment on me. No, it is not ideal for Mother to be our subject, but then, one must consider making use of what we have. Inducing Mind Collapse will be an important option if we cannot glean sufficient information from Mother¡¯s condition, but there is plenty we can gather from her without performing invasive studies.¡± The bees buzzed in agreement, cementing my fate as a guinea pig. Well, that wasn¡¯t giving them enough credit. Beatrice was pretty much right; why waste the fact that I was here, conscious and well, to find information about Mind Collapse? Sure, maybe developing a cure wasn¡¯t going to happen, but it could lead them on the right track. I had to admit, the thought that they even considered an invasive Mind check on me was a bit spooky. If the situation called for it, they might not hesitate to do just that, huh? In a way, I was grateful there were ¡®people¡¯ who cared enough to go through with something so icky. But at the same time? Well. Icky. ¡°Rich, coming from us.¡± I have no idea what you mean. ¡°About that,¡± Belphegora said slowly. ¡°I have actually been thinking. Based on what we do know, something Beryl said earlier touched a certain thing in my thoughts. The basic premise of Mind Collapse is just that - a collapse of the Mind due to overexertion and strain. In that sense, would alleviating the Mind¡¯s processes not be helpful? As a cure, it may prove dubious, but it may relieve the strain enough to improve or even speed up recovery.¡± ¡°Wait, really? My idea might work?¡± Beatrice looked like she wanted to say something, but she paused, cupping her chin with a claw. ¡°¡­I see what you mean, Belphegora. It is worth a try. Now we must only think of a way to ¡®stretch¡¯ Mother¡¯s Mind¡­. Safely, of course.¡± Chapter 97 - Beelay Satellites Stretching my Mind, huh? I wonder how my bees were planning to achieve that. It wasn¡¯t exactly something I had considered, but maybe that was my self-centered, individualistic human side talking. Maybe I really should start leaving some of these things to my bees. But I couldn¡¯t, there was just no way. If I didn¡¯t solve at least a few of our problems myself, I wouldn¡¯t feel safe. ¡°Perhaps if we each ¡®grab¡¯ a portion of her Mind and pull with all our might, as a human would pull their limbs, we may succeed in achieving this Mind stretch.¡± Case in point. Beatrice¡¯s idea got some support before I quietly shut it down and told her to rein it back; I didn¡¯t want them to pull my Mind apart! Whatever happened to being careful with my poor head? Hm, what about the CBU? It¡¯s not working at full capacity, but it was working. Maybe it has some ideas. It did, apparently. For one thing, the other bees could do as Beatrice suggested, but far less intensely. After all, it was the most literal interpretation of what Beryl originally suggested. Otherwise, it introduced the concept of offloading. As in, using the Kin Link to make the bees take on some of my Mind¡¯s processes. While that option seemed attractive, it was the least fleshed-out of the bunch. The CBU had come up with the idea, but hadn¡¯t decided how to do it. That was unlike another idea, which was to disable several Locks. A simple enough concept, but one I hesitated to enact. After all, we weren¡¯t sure what would happen if I disabled the Kin Link for the bees. And disconnecting the Linkers? Noooo way. Not happening. The idea behind the last plan was based on the same concept as the rest: relieving pressure. The only thing I could confidently disable would be the water filtration, since the fernen had (apparently) already been commanded to stop poisoning the river. So in what, a couple hours? In just a couple hours, the last of the poison would flow into the filtration system and I¡¯d be able to stop that Lock. And I would be saving an absolutely mind-boggling 0.1875% of Mind! Simply incredible. Yeah, the last option wasn¡¯t ideal. It was the easiest, but also the least appealing. So there was the unappealing but easy option, the appealing but insane option, and the option that involved my brain getting stretched. ¡°Everyone, here¡¯s an idea. Remember the buddy system we had to put on hold? We should create an extension of that, or even take it further. You all have impressive Minds, and I¡¯m sure you can handle some extra work. Who knows what can be achieved with the Link? When I allot more Mind to your individual Link, you obtain a pretty significant boost in power. So what about the other direction?¡± Beatrice thought for a moment, but when she began speaking, it was shockingly excited. ¡°A reverse Link¡­. Yes, yes of course! How has this not been implemented already?! We can commandeer the concepts of the humans¡¯ bizarre ¡®tax¡¯ system in order to benefit the Queen, and in turn, benefit the hive. Beck! How feasible would this be?¡± Beck hummed a response quickly, describing the way the humans¡¯ Yiwi tax worked. Essentially, they had implemented a system where each resident of Yiwi contributed a small percentage of their Mind to a Lock, dedicated solely to turning the giant Rotor. We knew, thanks to knowledge obtained and studied through the City Lord, that this system allowed Yiwi to survive without a monetary tax, resulting in fantastic wealth and opportunity for the residents of the city. We also knew this was bullshit. At the very least, I knew that whatever functions the Rotor possessed, even if it was some sort of miracle machine, couldn¡¯t make up the city¡¯s need for money. Presumably, ¡®donations¡¯ from the mercenary companies and merchants sustained the city, but that wasn¡¯t all. The city was hoarding wealth through another avenue, one not under the purview of the merchants. I knew what the largest merchant companies knew. Unfortunately, even the City Lord didn¡¯t have all the details on this mysterious source of money, which was sort of mind-blowing when I found out. But the Rotor served some other purpose, a purpose which led to sizable checks written to the city in the name of various aliases. What exactly did this mean, besides the fact that whoever wrote those checks was probably royally pissed off thanks to its sudden disappearance? I had no idea. But most of that was irrelevant for now. The important thing to note was that the Yiwi Mind tax required only a little bit of Mind allotted to a simple Lock to reap grand rewards. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t directly helpful to us. The Yiwi tax was actually a mechanical system, no different from making the residents come in and turn a crank for a while every day. Our proposed use case was using Mind to affect Mind. We needed to know whether a Mind-boosting Lock could be created to alleviate the constant usage of my Mind without requiring releasing the Kin Link. And according to Beck¡¯s humming, the results were¡­ inconclusive. They did think creating the Lock was possible, but they weren¡¯t positive as to the effects the Lock would ultimately have. Would it work by draining the unused Mind of a bee? What would it do to the Link? Would it require a significant amount of Mind allotted to work? Beck had no idea, and frankly wasn¡¯t confident that the Lock would work as intended. They tried to apologize, but I stopped them; they had been busy with overseeing Yiwi, after all. Ensuring the humans couldn¡¯t break out of the Link, understanding the parameters the Linkers worked under, that was all tough work. The Link was still something of a mystery, and there simply hadn¡¯t been enough time to study it in more depth. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. I decided to take a bit more charge in the meeting. Who was the queen of this hive, am I right? ¡°I say we go with the idea to offload Mind process to other bees. It¡¯s far more appealing than the other options; plenty of benefits with minimal risk. If anyone has an argument for the other two options, I¡¯d like to hear them.¡± ¡°Very well. We will move forward with the offload option,¡± Beatrice said immediately. Classic. Surely, one of the other bees had some idea or feedback. ¡­ Nothing. All the others were in complete agreement. Should I really have expected anything different? Well, I could understand where they were coming from. The stretching option wasn¡¯t something any of them even wanted to think about, and the Lock deletion option was simply out of the question. The offloading idea wasn¡¯t only appealing to me, either. Beck, in particular, was humming with uncharacteristic excitement. Poor Beck. I had been making them focus on Yiwi and humans for so long that they were desperate for some good old Mind shenaniganry. ¡°Alright then, let¡¯s get cracking. Fixing this Mind Collapse issue as quickly as possible is mandatory for me to keep laying eggs.¡± If they weren¡¯t excited before, the bees present (and even some who weren¡¯t around) got real starry-eyed when I mentioned laying eggs. Beatrice especially immediately got to work, directing different bees to think about solutions and laying out parameters for the Lock. She then floated over and leaned on the wall just outside my window. Was she cool now? Or did she think she was super cool for her stunt with the fernen? She did know how risky that whole business had been, right? We only barely knew about the Battle of Minds stuff they were so into thanks to knowledgeable people Linked in Yiwi; it was never a surefire thing that was going to work. ¡°Mother, I¡¯d like to discuss this ¡®reverse Link¡¯ with you in more depth. In truth, I have actually been working on something similar behind the scenes, ever since we learned about the Yiwi Mind tax. I¡¯m sure you know of my theories; they have resulted in failure on all fronts. It cannot exist at the same time as the regular Kin Link, as it creates some sort of unbearable feedback. It would only become possible if the bee is removed from your Kin Link Lock.¡± Whew. Beatrice sure was scary. Sure, I had vaguely known she thought of a sort of reverse Link a while ago, but nothing really came of it. In fact, she marked the idea as something to never explore again. Actually, I had forgotten all about that when I proposed it just now. Hey wait. Was she just being nice when she praised the idea?! Since when was she such a great actor? ¡°However, I didn¡¯t act all nice to spare your feelings when you proposed the idea. I knew you must have accounted for my failures and have either figured out a solution or are willing to do something drastic.¡± ¡°I must admit, even I am having trouble coping with her. Didn¡¯t you once suggest that she should take over the hive¡¯s operations? I discounted the idea before, but maybe it has more merit than I gave it credit.¡± ¡°Oh shut up- er, not you, Beatrice, sorry. I actually haven¡¯t accounted for everything. You must know that by now.¡± Beatrice didn¡¯t move. Oh god, she¡¯s going to rip into me, isn¡¯t she? ¡°Hm. In truth, I didn¡¯t expect you to account for everything, but I was certain you would have figured out something I hadn¡¯t about the feasibility of the reverse Link. Beck, I know you were hesitant. What do you think about creating a reverse Kin Link after being removed from the Link?¡± I had thought this was a ¡®private¡¯ conversation, but Beck¡¯s humming became thoughtful. They thought it wasn¡¯t just possible, but the best possible approach. However, they made it clear that the concept would need to be extensively tested before a mass change was made. ¡°Hold on, are you guys saying that the bees should basically make their own Kin Link? And replace mine?¡± Was my voice whiny? Sad? Weird. ¡°Not at all, Mother. However, we need to solve this Mind Collapse situation, and fast. There are too many moving parts in the hive right now for you to be out of commission for several days. And risking permanent damage to your Mind would be catastrophic. Taking into account the fernen, the Linked humans, the possibility of merchant company branches coming to Yiwi, and the strange new mercenary company which suddenly popped up in the city, I would say the hive will collapse if you are not healed within the day.¡± I took a peek outside and saw the sun nearing the horizon. It was late afternoon at best. Did Beatrice really think my Mind Collapse could be healed today? Even with medication developed by modern science, Vlugh¡¯s condition took around a day to heal. My aide continued, pushing up her antennae glasses as she was wont to do. I could feel the gears in her head turning, and knew she had already come up with several ideas even as she was talking. ¡°Offsetting the cost of your Mind will allow you to heal faster, but I hold no illusions about the effects of Mind Collapse. It will likely not be fully healed today, but I feel the negative effects can be lessened. I believe, at least, that we will need to adopt a hybrid approach. Some bees will need to be removed from the Link entirely, so that they can activate a reverse Link to improve your Mind¡¯s health. Others will not. Instead, they will take on a different burden: acting a relay. We already know it is possible for a bee to act as a relay for Linker bees, allowing them to act as a sort of extension to the connection. However, we have not yet experimented with making that relay a full connection to, essentially, disconnect the Linker from your Mind, as you have theorized is possible. If this can be done, it will remove that Linker and the individual they have Linked from the cost to your Mind, and therefore ¡®lighten your load.¡¯ ¡°However, I believe this can be taken further. A Linker is a ¡®Drone type¡¯ bee, possessing no conscious mind to speak of. They are incapable of creating their own Locks or Abilities, and have Mind enough solely to complete their task. However, we have not considered extending this relay concept to other drones. Bees like Bess already control contingents of worker drones, and who is to say that there will not be warrior drones in the future? I believe that drone managers such as Bess or Bella should become relays, and all drones should be removed from your Link entirely. If they cannot directly benefit you, you should not maintain them. Instead, they will be maintained by the Minds of other bees. These managers will be the only bees that continue to benefit from your Link, while all others will serve you by forming the reverse Link. If you consider it as a reverse Link being a pull against your Mind, perhaps we could call it a form of stretching.¡± She turned to look me in my bug-eyed bug eyes and seemed to smile. ¡°Of course, we could still try a more intense stretching of your Mind if you¡¯re not willing to let us go.¡± Chapter 98 - S’mothering In less than an hour, we had everything mapped out. Which bees would remain in my Link to enhance their capabilities as a relay, which ones would leave to create the reverse Link, and which bees would simply remain within the Link. Both Queen and I were feeling downtrodden about the whole situation; despite our differences, we were mostly the same being, and so we cared for the bees in the hive. The Kin Link was literally designed for them, so to be removing them for our sake¡­ it felt weird. ¡°Maybe that¡¯s the human side of us talking. As a bee, such a sacrifice wouldn¡¯t just be accepted; it would be the norm. I can recall countless workers and drones expelled from the hive entirely to serve the whole, with no hesitation on our part to do so. For our kind, this compassion and caring is something of a weakness. And that disgusts me.¡± I couldn¡¯t agree more. Something about cutting away some bees from my Link felt a bit too familiar, hitting a bit too close to home. How many times had I cut people away, for reasons I could vaguely now see were self-serving? Post mind-meld clarity was a bit too real. Despite my drifting thoughts, a voice wafted in from the window as if I were paying rapt attention. ¡°The Hive Five will remain within the Link, as the most experienced and capable bees. I will also remain, in addition to Bedivere, the Valkybees, Beryl, Bend, Beau, Bessie, Becky, and Beckham. All drones will be removed, including the Construction Drones, which will be handled entirely by Bess and Bessie, and the Gatherer Drones, which will all be handled by Bella and Bert. Belle¡¯s assistants will be removed, to be managed by herself, and similarly, the Ben Squad will be managed by him. All warriors will be removed, to be managed by the fighters who remain in the Link. This will be the most harrowing change, as the army will no longer be unified under the Mind of a singular monarch.¡± Beatrice rattled off the summary of our plans, and all I could do was be amazed at how such an extreme organizational shift was being summarized in a few sentences. I mean, we¡¯re talking about a workforce in the hundreds here. Sure, the number of named bees was somewhat low still, but the sheer number of warriors and drones put things into perspective. And still. Despite the mind-numbing number of bees being removed from the Link, the majority of the Mind cost barely went down even a fraction. Why? Those damn humans. Beatrice, while simultaneously making this plan, already communicated with Bella to conduct a small experiment on that front. A no-name, weak merc would have their Link transferred to be under the complete control of Beckham. He was already used to routing in order to strengthen the Link, and it should be theoretically possible to shunt off the entire burden to another bee. Of course, how much this would offset the actual Mind cost, we had no idea. And whether it could be done on a large scale was also up for debate. Obviously, none of that would be done without heavy supervision, or before the entire Link transferal process was done with. ¡°But have you thought of anything for the reverse Link? As far as I can tell, it¡¯s crucial to this entire thing working at all. Since the removal of many of the bees isn¡¯t actually very impactful, more needs to be done to improve the cost,¡± I asked my aide, who simply shook her head. ¡°Unfortunately, I have not yet devised a plan for that. We will need another brainstorming session, this time with all the bees. It was helpful last time, and we should do it again. But you are right. Especially if we can get something miraculous working, like every un-Linked warrior pulling on your Mind at once, it may be possible to offset the effects of Mind Collapse entirely.¡± Mind Collapse. How was this, of all things, such an issue now? By the time we actually figured out the reverse Link, the humans¡¯ medicine would probably arrive. Actually, it definitely would. Beelzebub was making her way towards the hive as we spoke, and would arrive sometime during the dead of night. But Beatrice already stated that she wanted a solution to be devised before sunset, which was fast approaching. I didn¡¯t have full confidence that the others would be able to figure out the reverse Link in time for her deadline. Oh, if only the CBU was working at full capacity. Why was the thing that had the best chancing of solving Mind Collapse being nerfed by the same Mind Collapse? ¡°Go ahead and gather the bees, Beatrice. I need a moment.¡± My aide did something between a nod and a bow of her head before buzzing away from the window of my chambers. While the bees present at the hive gathered, I hid myself in my room. I even used a bit of Mind to cover the doors and windows with dirt and whatnot for the full hobo cave experience. And for the first time since it was created, I disabled my Float Lock and felt the solid, packed dirt on my bee-hind. What are we even doing? What am I doing? At some point, I got so attached to the hive and this whole lifestyle that I didn¡¯t even think twice about anything. Was it really such a good idea to combine the bee and human sides of Queen and myself? Maybe I should have just tried to adapt even further and become a full bee-monstrosity to avoid this sort of bullshit. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. ¡°I have often considered the same.¡± Gee, thanks for the pep talk as usual. Alright, so now you follow that up with a deep, thoughtful response that makes me regret my regrets and reinvigorates me to continue marching onwards. ¡°Did you create a formula for our conversations? Hold on, am I that predictable? No, I¡¯ll chalk it up to the fact that we¡¯re much more closely combined now. Regardless, I don¡¯t have any of that wisdom you¡¯re hoping for. Nope, I¡¯m in much the same boat. I¡¯m no longer able to distance myself and act as the calculating presence in the background, because I, much like yourself, have become far too attached. But I can at least describe what I¡¯ve been forced to observe. Our unorthodox tactics and ideas, appalling as they are, have worked. And if something works, well. If it ain¡¯t broke.¡± But everything would be so much easier! Everything up until now would have been so much simpler. None of this shit with humans would have happened; hell, the Linkers probably wouldn¡¯t exist. I bet even the vultures wouldn¡¯t have been as aggressive if our expansion wasn¡¯t so rapid or if we posed less of a danger. You guys lived in some sort of harmony before the Burning. I tossed and turned on the hard ground, absorbing the feeling of tough earth beneath me. It was weird to feel the ground after constantly floating all the time. Oh, and don¡¯t even get me started on Mind. That¡¯s what got us into this damn mess in the first place. I wish we stopped having all these ideas on how to use it, since it just causes problems every single time we experiment with it. You¡¯d think I¡¯d learned my lesson by now, but noooo. I just had to try making that healing Ability without fully understanding Mind. ¡°The healing Ability will be unimaginably useful to the hive. Though I do agree that our lack of understanding of Mind has resulted in¡­ less than favorable incidents. But what can you expect? The knowledge we do possess, which we only recently obtained, by the way, is incomplete. The humans are simply not a good model for us, and unless we encounter a human Mind expert, their knowledge will continue to be a pittance compared to what we require. We thought to ask the fernen to share their knowledge, right? You can simply learn now and improve our experimentation process.¡± But that¡¯s exactly the problem! If we could Link the fernen, then their knowledge would just be ours. No teaching required. ¡°And you say you¡¯re not bee enough. What you propose is the antithesis of human nature.¡± It¡¯s not just a bee thing to desire efficiency, Queen. Or to do terrible things in the name of progress. ¡°But that was never you. Or at least, it was never in your heart to do terrible things. I¡¯d know. Because it was certainly in mine.¡± ¡­ ________ It was rare to see a sunset in the forest. Or at least, it had been so far in my lifetime. The black silhouettes of the dead trees cast a striking contrast against the last shreds of light peeking over the western mountains. And it was in those last dregs of daylight that Beatrice frantically directed the masses of bees to devise a way to make the reverse Link work. She was such a workhorse, seriously. I¡¯d give her a raise if I could. I guess it was offset by her constant plotting. It was weird to know the every thought of a schemer who was constantly thinking of new ways to do shady shit. And the worst part? She openly invited me to observe her dark thoughts, just in case I wanted to give some input. Input on plans we both knew I would never endorse! There was a limit to boldness, wasn¡¯t there? Not for nothing. Her work was stellar, as I often gushed. Actually, Beatrice just made no sense to me. How did her personality even exist? ¡°Mother, some of the bees have had ideas, as I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard. However, those bees, including Belle and Bedivere, are not the only ones that will be staying within the Link, but their concepts include creating Abilities to achieve the results of a reverse Link,¡± she reported. Not that she really needed to do that, but without the CBU or full-power B-boxes, Beatrice¡¯s reports were more helpful than I dared to expect. ¡°That¡¯s okay, but we don¡¯t know how to replicate Abilities. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fernen do, but that¡¯s not something we can rely on right now. Plus, making Abilities forcefully doesn¡¯t seem to be the best way of going about it. I¡¯d say that we should prioritize figuring this out with a Lock, just like the regular Kin Link. On that note, I¡¯ll try to send some info or just explain my theories on how Kin Link works.¡± Beatrice nodded at that, and I could already see the gears turning in her head. She was scrapping ideas for reverse Linking Abilities, revitalizing plans for a Link Lock, chunking bees into categories so they could work more efficiently. ¡°Beatrice, I¡¯m gonna make you an Aide¡¯s Aide as soon as possible.¡± She stumbled at that. Was it bad that I kinda lived to see her get caught off guard? Let¡¯s call it even for wanting to stretch my brain so badly. ¡°Mother, we already agreed that such a thing would not be necessary until I specifically request it. And that would likely only happen long after the new queens are born and the hive becomes far too large to manage.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t care. I¡¯ll prioritize the new queens, but getting you a specialized assistant or three will make the hive run so smoothly that I won¡¯t even need to get involved much. Besides, it¡¯s not like you¡¯re ever actually going to admit that you need some help. You think I don¡¯t know you?¡± ¡°¡­Very well Mother. Now, allow me to continue my work.¡± She turned again with a huff, continuing to make plans and schemes. That felt¡­ great. No really; something about that demand to enforce a practice that would ultimately benefit Beatrice, even when she seriously didn¡¯t want to do it just felt way too good. Hm. Something about that doesn¡¯t feel quite right. ¡°Is this the ¡®maternal instinct?¡¯ I¡¯ve only heard tales of such a thing in humans. From your memory, of course. How curious. Despite the fact that I, a bee, should not have such inclinations, you are still feeling compelled to ¡®mother¡¯ Beatrice. Perhaps it is a fundamental element of human nature, not bounded by your previous body. We should test this further and ¡®mother¡¯ as many of the bees as possible.¡± What. Chapter 99 - Creebee Chairs Despite Queen¡¯s protests, I decided that mothering time would have to wait. I just couldn¡¯t imagine treating them that way before I would be forced to remove some from the Link. Although, maybe that would be the best time to do so. And so, I decided to mother them fully just before the reverse Link plan was put into effect. And with that, it was early into the night when Beelzebub arrived. The moon was barely peeking over the horizon and the sun had just finished setting, and I watched through the eyes of some warriors stationed at the hive¡¯s wall as the shadowy form of some thing lumbered through the skeletal trees. That thing was, of course, Beelzebub. As for why I wasn¡¯t watching out of her eyes? Well, she always seemed to be seeing red. And this time was no different. ¡°Help me carry this to Mom! This medicine will make her all better!¡± she shouted at the two dumbfounded bees. In short order, they were helping her lug the contraption over the wall, though their measly strength made little difference. Beelzebub was easily stronger than ten of them put together, but even she couldn¡¯t call this task effortless. The Antithought medication apparently needed to be administered by a special machine; though the engineering was less advanced than my own world by a significant margin, it was still impressive to see the shiny metal and confusing mechanics of the device. It reminded me of something steampunky - although that might just have been because the mechanisms were practically science fiction to my untrained eyes. Unfortunately, the thing wasn¡¯t just heavy - it was delicate. Beelzebub could lift and move it with minimal impact on her movement, but it was this carefulness that really slowed her down. As if the machine itself wasn¡¯t problem enough, the actual medicine inside it apparently couldn¡¯t be shaken or jostled too much either. It would have been better to send multiple bees to pass it on, but Beelzebub did a good enough job. Unfortunately, my confidence in the medicine, or what little confidence existed, was rapidly being flushed down the proverbial toilet. We didn¡¯t know exactly how this machine worked. And what were the chances that it could administer the medicine into my bee body? Not great, in my opinion. ¡°At least we have made headway into the reverse Link. Especially with Beatrice¡¯s newfound enthusiasm.¡± Ah yes. Beatrice was clearly not happy about my threat to love and care for her, because she was working three times as hard as before to figure out a way to make the Reverse Link possible. As a result, we had some ideas with merit, and two that got tested with relative success. Although, the actual tests hadn¡¯t been done yet. Nobody had been un-Linked. The ideas of Belle and Beatrice just got tested by Beck with minimal resources and they found that their brain didn¡¯t blow up. If we wanted real confirmation, we¡¯d have to take the plunge and un-Link a daring volunteer. Currently, I was waiting on the (very slow) CBU to package the two methods so I could send the exacting specs to the volunteer. We needed a process as delicate as this to go perfectly, so we weren¡¯t taking any risks with differing interpretations of instructions or anything. Who knew what would happen once the Link was undone? The bee might become a mindless animal, incapable of following the instructions. And I didn¡¯t know how easy it would be to re-Link a bee. Which was why I was nervous about removing someone. Beatrice said there was no way she¡¯d be the one. Which I agreed with. I would have expected her to be the best guinea pig, only because I expected her to actually be able to follow the instructions perfectly in any situation. But the other bees¡­ At least one of them would have to be the first to be removed from the hive. ¡°They won¡¯t truly be removed from the hive. Oh, and especially don¡¯t tell them that. If you do, not a single one would volunteer.¡± Volunteer, huh? Eventually I¡¯d have to ask them to do so, but I really didn¡¯t want to. More than bad, I felt sick asking them to do this for me. Only a few knew the whole details about what was going to happen, and all the ones who knew were immediately crossed off the list by Beatrice. ¡°Either stalling for the medicine or stalling for the CBU, you know what will need to be done. Not that I am particularly thrilled either. All we can do is hope that the medicine works. Or maybe that Beau¡¯s concept of reversing the existing Link will pan out.¡± I wouldn¡¯t rely on those. I can¡¯t. Especially not now. When the sun had begun to set, and the hive¡¯s brainstorm fell into a rhythm, I started to feel something. A discomfort between the eyes. I realized that it had been present the entire time, but I had just been ignoring it. Powering through it. But I knew what it was. The effects of Mind Collapse weren¡¯t just going to go away this time. This was what? My third time suffering the condition? Third time¡¯s a charm, I guess. Queen and I both knew that unless this medicine of the humans was actual magic, our fears would come to pass. ¡°Beatrice, I need our top minds, including myself, to figure out the Antithought medication. This is our first attempt, and if it doesn¡¯t work, the nuclear option will be the only choice.¡± Without a word, I felt Beatrice command some warriors to help the medication along, and I moved to exit the central hive for the first time in days. As I passed the wax corridors, a thought occurred to me. Queen, what do you remember about your mother¡¯s hive? I mean, when I think about it, I struggle to imagine how it would be possible for an ordinary bee to have a hive with hundreds of bees, let alone thousands. I know a ton of space is taken up by Linking humans in our Mind, but even then, our Mind is three times more efficient - and it¡¯s powerful to boot. Unless your mom had way higher than a 10th Degree Mind, I can¡¯t see her hive being so numerous. How did she keep all those bees Linked? If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°¡­Those are questions I don¡¯t have answers to. I knew my mother¡¯s Mind, but not so well. I was within her Kin Link, but she was, as you might say, an animal. As was I. All I can say for certain is that even with our drones, the most lowly of our family, the cost we incur must be much higher. I do know why I can say so, but I know it to be true. Perhaps it was a poorly planned attempt at reducing our capabilities on the part of the gods. Perhaps they thought that they could limit our numbers, not foreseeing the power we could wield with but a few. Or the ways in which we could make those limitations disappear.¡± A limitation? Was something like that really necessary? Food was a tough enough obstacle to overcome already. I¡¯ve thought it before, but I think this world¡¯s gods are just massive assholes. ¡°Assholes they might be. The Human is certainly not our friend. But the Bee at least seems to desire our survival. To some extent. They helped you and I to live as one, rather than allow either of us to perish. And whether intentional or not, they gave us Combined Minds, which has proven to be potent enough to trivialize matters of Mind.¡± Well. Not a good look for my home team, I guess. By the time I met Beelzebub halfway, some bees were already buzzing around her, trying to figure out how the Antithought medication worked. While they clamored, I watched Beelzebub set it gently on the ground, snapping at some warriors to let her do it herself. Honestly, the device freaked me out. It looked like a stainless steel electric chair, with needles poking out of plush fabric on the upper back and headrest. Two vials, made of a nearly entirely transparent metal, were attached to either side of the same headrest, and held a dark red solution that I assumed to be the medicine. The medical scientists of this world really needed to work on branding or something. This looked more like a torture device than a miraculous cure for a ubiquitous malady. And I could already see several problems with this whole thing. For one, the obvious: I don¡¯t have a human head or upper back. The needles were likely placed in areas specifically designed to distribute the liquid into the bloodstream in the most efficient way possible. Likewise, the gears and clamps on the tubes, all attached to a small box at the back of the chair with a rod sticking out, implied some other mechanics I didn¡¯t understand. If I had to guess, then the mechanical energy Yiwi used with their Rotor was actually a pretty common form of powering things. If the box on the back was meant to be wound with the rod, and that box activated the chair¡¯s mechanics, that meant there was way more at work here. Did the medicine have to be distributed evenly, in certain dosages at certain times? Did different amounts of medication need to be used depending on a person¡¯s situation? I¡¯m no doctor, damn it! I have no idea what I¡¯m supposed to even be doing with this information. Finally, Belle spoke up. ¡°Mother, I¡¯d advise against using the medication. While the reverse Link isn¡¯t a surefire thing, it certainly beats the uncertainty this human medicine introduces.¡± ¡°I disagree,¡± Beau said from her perch atop the chair. She didn¡¯t stop studying the intricate machinery as she spoke. ¡°If there¡¯s even a chance that this will work, I¡¯d say it¡¯s worth trying. Better to chance the human medi-thing working than guarantee a removal of bees from the Link.¡± ¡°Oh, so now you feel the need to defend our bees from being removed from the Link? Brilliant,¡± Belle said reproachfully. Of course, Beau didn¡¯t respond. ¡°What about you, Belphegora? Beatrice? What do you think?¡± I asked the two. Both sat for a minute, observing the machine and thinking about what to do. Finally, Belphegora turned her head towards me. ¡°I will always take an option that spares our bees. Or at least has a chance to. But this¡­ There are simply too many unknowns. By the time we figure this thing out, well, the reverse Link may be completely solved. It was a decent idea, but we knew from the beginning that a product of the humans carried more risk than hope. I say we should not use it.¡± That just left Beatrice. Well, there were plenty of bees willing to voice their opinions. Beelzebub wanted to keep the chair because it looked ¡®wicked¡¯. Beck had confidence in the reverse Link and didn¡¯t want to risk anything with the medication, and Bess - well, Bess felt a little in over her head. I wondered why she even bothered to come investigate the medication, if she knew that her brainpower was better served trying to engineer the reverse Link. ¡°Mother. I will cast my vote towards using it. However, it is not because I believe that to be the correct course of action, but because I realize that the score must be tied. That will force you to choose. I am sorry, but I believe this is a choice you must make, regardless of our thoughts. I have come to understand that, efficient though we see ourselves to be, we are too singular in thought. First comes protection of the Queen. Second comes the hive. But mixed in with those two prerogatives, we have our own ideas. Hopes. Fears. Desires. Our simplicity is muddied with something more. And so, we cannot make the decision. And in this situation, I do not see either as being right or wrong. There is only the choice that you, our queen and mother, make. Our influence is not always, I have noticed, helpful or efficient.¡± Seriously? I mean, great speech and all, but that doesn¡¯t exactly help me with this fuckery of a situation. Hm, if I looked through her thoughts, though, I couldn¡¯t exactly blame her. In her eyes, we had taken too long to figure out the Mind Collapse situation at every step of the way. And when the sun set and her deadline for the solution of the reverse Link passed, something snapped in her. Her obsession with efficiency clashed with her other desires, culminating in a new decision. We had too much red tape. Too much bureaucracy. Boy, if I could only express to her how terrible actual bureaucracy was, she might actually love our current situation. ¡°Okay. In that case, the choice is easy. Let¡¯s do our best to decode this damn chair.¡± ________ I say, but easier said than done. The bees and I toiled, and all the while, the CBU eventually completed its task. I didn¡¯t send the B-mail just yet, though. Until we attempted using the medication, I didn¡¯t want the bees to have to make their decision. Instead, I poured everything into piecing together the ins and outs of the Antithought medication device. When the moon reached further above the horizon, we finally figured it out. How the device worked. What the springs and gears inside the box were meant to achieve. And best of all, how to use just two needles to inject the concoction into my body. All that was left was to hope the medicine didn¡¯t act as poison to my decidedly inhuman biology. Question Comb #2 Is the whole ''human issues'' arc over, or will we find some new things? Human issues will never be done with. now that humans have gotten directly involved, nearly every storyline will involve them in some way. As for the humans we¡¯ve dealt with, they won¡¯t be a problem. For now. How do the humans think of the bees right now? I''m sure at least one person thinks this is a good thing, some Duvil''s advocate? Most of the humans don¡¯t actually know about the bees¡¯ existence. But the ones who do probably aren¡¯t very happy with having their minds and bodies controlled. But everybody¡¯s different, of course. What kind of bee are these? I''d say honeybee for the, well, honey part, but what gave you inspiration for em? Honeybees are the main inspiration, but when I looked into bees back when I started writing this, I learned that honeybees are barely the surface of bee-kind. Bumbleebees, sweat bees, carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, cuckoo bees, and so many more. Apids, or those in the Apidae family, contains 5700 species of bee. For example, there are so-called vulture bees (or carrion bees) that eat rotting meat that inspired early events. And even the Apids are one family within the Apoidea superfamily. I decided that, to keep things simple, these bees contain characteristics or possibilities of many different bees, using honeybees as a base. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Will Queen and our MC ever become one and the same, or will they forever be separate but close? In all honesty, they¡¯re already one and the same. But if you mean they will be so one they can¡¯t interact with each other, I will probably never do that. Having the both of them able to talk is too good. Is the... I forgot their name, but is that bird mind influencing both of them from the side, possibly? The Vulch? Who knows? I will say that Enno and Queen have way too much going on in their head. Are the other kingdoms realizing that something happened to Yiwi? That isn¡¯t for me to say. Spoilery stuff! And finally, some character questions! Who is the weakest bee out of all our named characters? In terms of fighting, a bee called Beth is likely the weakest. She was only briefly mentioned, but she¡¯s one of the egg caretakers under Belle¡¯s command. Who is the strongest human? There¡¯s a lot of extremely strong humans. A certain ruler is probably the strongest, but I won¡¯t say which. Who''s the weakest human? Of the named humans, in terms of combat, I guess it could be Bronha. That¡¯s one of the teenagers in Oyonshe¡¯s little trio. But Yoho, the guy who likes Yelah a bit too much, is definitely around there. Who is definitively the weakest character overall, both in mind, Mind, body, and soul? That¡¯s actually a really tough question. For now, I¡¯ll give it to Yoho. But that¡¯s a hard position to quantify. Chapter 100 - If a Remebee is Ineffectual I never really minded needles. Maybe when I was younger, but at some point, they just failed to faze me. For some reason, people always seemed to be so afraid of them and I just never understood why. Just deal with the prick for a second or two, and there was no issue. Hopefully a medical professional was the one using it too. And in that case, there was even less reason to fear. ¡°Noooooo!¡± I howled in fear as Bella and Belphegora held me in place with their Minds. Beatrice, meanwhile, struggled to aim the two needles at my thrashing body, trying her best to aim them at the determined locations. ¡°Mother, please sit still! It will only hurt for a moment!¡± Beatrice scolded, but I was inconsolable. I don¡¯t know why this is happening either, man! The needles were fine when I was studying them just before, but now, seeing them close in on my body¡­ Get it AWAY! Despite my efforts, the needles eventually pierced me. Whether because I instinctively knew it was necessary or some part of my old self forced me to chill out, I stopped moving long enough for Beatrice to stick me. Right when that happened, things really got moving. The box mechanism on the back of the chair, modified to work with only two flexible, metallic tubes, began to shudder and grind, which then prompted the vials of liquid to drain into the tubes. And while my potential salvation was squeezed into my body¡­ ¡°¡­and where will the liquid go? Do bees have veins like humans do? How does the needle work on our body? Humans are larger, so there is probably too much medicine for us. I don¡¯t think bees have liquid distribution systems like humans do. Is it over yet?¡± It seemed that Queen was the source of the needle fear. She had been muttering for a while about all sorts of random things, and it almost felt like a part of me wanted to jump out of my own skin to escape the evil instrument. Oh, of course. How could I forget the classic trope of fucking bees being afraid of getting stung? What sort of bullshit irony was this supposed to imply? In what situation would a bee even encounter a needle? Actually, flip that. If needles are evocative of stingers, then all the more reason for a bee to not be afraid of them. Right? ¡°Okay Mother, all done.¡± That was it? Maybe Queen had the right idea to think of a distraction, ¡®cause that passed by in a flash. Once the last drop of liquid drained from the tube, I hurriedly removed the needles and sighed in relief as the bees surrounded me. They¡¯d monitor my condition, and make sure the other bees didn¡¯t come around to investigate. No need to worry them for now. I tried to calm down and examine my condition. Physically, I didn¡¯t feel much wrong besides the aching spot between my eyes, but that was when I sat idle. If I tried using my Mind for pretty much anything, the amount of effort I¡¯d have to expend would be enormous, and that aching pang would balloon in intensity. Of course, thanks to the System, I had a handy indicator that plainly stated my condition. For now, my status still only said [Status: Mind Collapse (Extremely Severe)]. Hopefully, that would change soon. _________ Bess¡¯s brain hurt. Probably not as much as mom¡¯s brain, but thinking was hard work. For hours now, she had been fruitlessly trying to develop a ¡®Reverse Kin Link¡¯ in order to save the hive. Safe to say, she was not the bee for the job. She was never the most talented with Mind, even less so with managing other bees. It had taken forever for her to figure out managing a few drones. Developing an entire system that reverse-engineered a powerful Mind-based creation of her mother¡¯s? Or even of the gods? Not a chance. Even so, she had tried. Everyone was trying. And now Bess was the sole member of the Hive Five still at the hive who wasn¡¯t being included in the fun! Though from the waves of fear that had washed over the bees a moment ago, from mom herself no less, maybe it was better not to be involved in whatever the smarty-pants were getting up to. ¡°What¡¯s the hold up?¡± Bessie whispered in her head. Her apprentice was jittering and shaking, her claws itching to re-enter the earth. So simple. It had been a long time since Bess felt such a simplistic drive to do a single thing. Now she had responsibility. An important role. Not that she liked that. A hint of envy crept into Bess¡¯ mind, but there wasn¡¯t much room with all the thoughts of reverse Links and whatever. ¡°Just sit tight. You won¡¯t be doing much diggin¡¯ for a bit. Did you figure out some way to create a reverse Link like Beatrice asked?¡± ¡°Huh? No way. I have no idea how to do something like that.¡± Bessie huffed and turned away, buzzing over to whisper in some other bee¡¯s head. Probably one of Belle¡¯s apprentices back in the nursery. Bess watched her leave and nearly smacked her upside the head, but she refrained. After all, they were in the same boat. Neither Bess nor her foolish apprentice were gifted in matters of Mind, so their inability to help in this situation was¡­ frustrating. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°Trouble with the young one?¡± a rich voice said. Though he wasn¡¯t in sight, Bess knew Bedivere was watching over them, as usual. Why he was prying into her affairs, she couldn¡¯t begin to guess. Even so, she wasn¡¯t one to turn down a fun conversation. Surely he would have some interesting insight about what the smarty-pants were doing that meatheads like he or she could understand. ¡°I understand how it feels,¡± he continued. ¡°I haven¡¯t discussed this with any others, considering I felt they wouldn¡¯t be able to relate. But you have never been enthused to lead. Of course, you are loyal to your duty, and to the hive. But¡­ aren¡¯t these youngsters far too arrogant?! What are they thinking nowadays? Forget loyalty to the hive, their obedience is far too lacking.¡± Bess listened to the rant and nodded along in understanding. She also tried to keep her jaw from dropping too low in shock. Was this really Bedivere talking? Wise, brave, valiant Bedivere? The one who always made time on his rounds to stop by Bess¡¯ station of the day for a brief exchange? One where she always felt inadequate against his nobility? And now he was whining. Well, to call it whining would do a disservice to the depth and richness of his voice and tone. But Bess was an expert whiner, and she could recognize it a mile away. ¡°Does that mean you¡¯re also having trouble with your underlings, Bedivere? I¡¯m surprised; aren¡¯t you usually pretty strict with them? And it¡¯s not like they¡¯re disloyal to mom. What¡¯s got you so riled up?¡± ¡°Forgive me. I have been overly emotional,¡± he said with a sigh. ¡°The Valkybees are simply so unruly. And their anarchy spreads like an infection among the warrior troops. Even poor, responsible Beryl was scolded the other day alongside Beelzebub by Beatrice. They nearly broke the central hive in a selfish, inane competition. Goodness, they were fighting next to Mother¡¯s room! I couldn¡¯t believe it. And Beatrice herself¡­ I don¡¯t know what came over her in that moment with Feltan. I was so worried that something might happen to her. Next to Mother, she is the most crucial bee in the hive, and she made such an aggressive and risky choice. So much¡­¡± ¡°But Beatrice is the oldest of any of us. I thought we were talking about the wacky youth?¡± Bedivere didn¡¯t respond. Of course he was concerned about the younger bees and the seeming disconnect they had from the overall hive, but in truth, he concerned himself with everything. Anything and everything. At that moment, a wave of nausea spread through Bess, and she saw others suffering from a similar illness. Instinctively, she knew that mom was the one feeling this way, and despite the intensity of the nausea, she couldn¡¯t help but wonder about what terrors a reverse Link would bring. If mom were to become victim of the thoughts and feelings of the bees¡­ well, that wouldn¡¯t be good. _________ Well. That was a bust. More than half an hour of nothing but nausea and all for what? [Status: Mind Collapse (Severe)] So not severe anymore, but serious? The medication did help, most likely. That is, if my idea of words was actually correct. For all I knew, the condition could have been worsened a thousandfold. Hell, it probably was. But the nausea had abated after a while, and at the end was a slightly less potent headache. So I was probably getting better. But it wasn¡¯t working anymore. The medication had caused a bout of nausea as strong as a powerful flex of Mind, and during that time, I watched as the Mind Collapse status faded in and out into its new state. Now it was solid. Unchanging. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. ¡°Well, it was a good effort. And not a wasted one either. Since the Mind Collapse is apparently less intense now, maybe we won¡¯t have to be so extreme with the reverse Link. Fewer bees removed or something.¡± ¡°Even then, I¡¯m afraid drastic measures will be necessary, Mother. It only concerns me further that the humans¡¯ medicine worked, but only a little. If it is as potent as implied, then I¡¯m not comfortable with the minor effect it had. Perhaps because your Mind is too powerful¡­¡± Beatrice¡¯s concerns, even the ones that propped me up a bit, were quite valid. Of course, they didn¡¯t consider the equally troubling angle that the humans were highly capable creatures. As I knew very well. If the cure they had come up with wasn¡¯t working, that spelled trouble. Especially if it could observably help me. It meant that the medicine simply wasn¡¯t potent enough to cure me with these normal dosages. So it could be, as Beatrice so rightly said, that my Mind is too powerful. Oh dear. What am I supposed to say about that? If I weren¡¯t a bee, I might be blushing! ¡°Eh, it could also mean that your ridiculous quest for power resulted in an affliction so severe that even your hard head is being laid low. Oh, and that modern human medicine is incapable of curing it. No really, I think it''s an achievement of some sort.¡± Hey now. Let¡¯s not forget whose head this originally was. ¡°I will prepare the bees. They must be ready to lay down their Minds for the hive, if that is necessary. And the first bee to leave the Link must be chosen, and I predict it will come down to your decision, Mother. I am sorry for that. But it may not be so easy for a single bee to be chosen for such a harrowing task.¡± ¡°I guess we really have no choice then, huh Beatrice? I¡¯ll send the B-mail to every bee just in case. And¡­ I don¡¯t want to have to choose one, but I will. But only if someone volunteers.¡± I nodded to Beelzebub, who lifted the Antithought contraption. At Beau¡¯s behest, Beelzebub would carry the chair into her workshop for further study, if nothing else than to become more familiar with intricate mechanics. As for the other bees, they parted a bit to allow me to pass, and I followed Beatrice towards the clearing. And as we buzzed along (or in my case, just floated along), I couldn¡¯t help but notice all over again how empty and dead the forest looked. Operation Pollination got notched up a bit on my to-do list. Which was¡­ way too long. Chapter 101 - To Bee or not to Bee I never incited muttering in my old life. I was the one who muttered. By that, I mean that I never held a position of power or leadership, so others were the ones who had to break the bad news to me and my peers. Sitting a room full of people while an old guy stands up front and says something awful or shocking, then muttering some curse under my breath or sharing a look with my neighbors. That was my experience. Of course, the only useful experience I had from my old life was browsing the internet for random facts or something. At least, that¡¯s how it felt like, floating in front a massive crowd of bees buzzing with concern after I explained that many of them would be forced to leave the Kin Link. The most striking thing? I felt relatable to the fucking old guys who I used to hate. How horrible is that? And the reason I felt like that was because I suddenly understood a fraction of why they were fine with crushing the spirits of the regular employee: they didn¡¯t understand said regular employees. Those people who had to make hard decisions were in a completely different position. They thought about different things. They didn¡¯t know what it was like to be born as an intelligent bee to a monstrous, unnatural hybrid mother who automatically included them in an involuntary psychic familial Link. Hm. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions. My situation was just a bit different from those guys. The point is that I felt as if there was distance between my experiences and that of the bees. And that was making me feel worse for forcing them to do this. All I really knew was that they loved being part of the family. In fact, they live for it. And if bees are always included in the Kin Link as soon as they¡¯re born, this was such a drastic change. ¡°Too true. My own experience even doesn¡¯t help, considering I was born in a completely different situation. I also feel bad. However, in this desperate situation, we should probably try to steel ourselves and take the mindset I might have had as a bee. This is to benefit the queen, and therefore the hive, and so it must be done. Yes, we must think this way¡­ to preserve our sanity, if nothing else.¡± I don¡¯t like that. Not one bit. Ultimately, though, Queen was right. So, after the muttering and buzzing subsided, I floated forward to ask the looming question, before Beatrice could ask for me. ¡°Will anybody volunteer? Think carefully about what this decision will entail. We¡¯re going into this blindly. It¡¯s completely unknown what lies beyond the Kin Link. The consequences of leaving are unknown. The chances of returning to it are unknown. The probability of success is unknown too. If the volunteer proves that it won¡¯t work, then we¡¯ll have no choice but to do something else, and that bee might be left alone. Forever.¡± That last part got them. I could feel their enthusiasm prior, their eagerness to sacrifice themselves for the hive. But being alone, out of the hive forever? It was a terrible fate for bees. Practically a death sentence, if not worse. And for the more forward-thinking bees, an even more terrible truth was apparent. If they volunteered, and ended up being left out of the hive, they wouldn¡¯t just feel tortured and alone, no sir. They would be useless. Any potential usefulness they could bring to the hive would be lost and wasted, cast aside for a sacrifice that could be pointless. I could feel it through the actual Link. Their hesitation. Their brains working. Some of them were actually thinking of other solutions. Some were thinking of better possible reverse Kin Link methods, others imagined a different alternative entirely. Many were trying to decide between the need to protect the hive and make their entire lives useful. It was a strange sensation, considering I rarely paid much heed to the thoughts of the younger bees, and that was the main demographic of bees that would be removed from the Link. Not that I was trying to neglect them or anything, of course! But it was just overwhelming to do the thinking of hundreds of bees. ¡°What do you say? I¡¯ll only choose from those who volunteer, so if you come to a decision, come forward,¡± I said after a few moments. Beatrice gave me a look, but I reassured her. Someone would be chosen regardless. In that instant, just after I finished silently assuaging Beatrice¡¯s fears, two things happened. First, the hardness of my heart cracked and nearly broke. And second, a wave of emotion washed over me as the bees all screamed: ¡°¡±I¡¯LL GO!¡±¡± Whatever steel I had forged into my heart was pretty shitty, because the damn thing was crumbling to pieces. In fact, it was such bad metal that I think it was turning to liquid and leaking from my eyes. And as all the bees clamored to be the one chosen, a single thought entered my mind. How the hell was I supposed to choose someone? ______________ ¡°And you know exactly what to do if your thoughts turn to mush?¡± ¡°Yes ma.¡± ¡°And the program is still working?¡± ¡°Yes ma.¡± ¡°And-¡° I kept bothering him until I was satisfied, which took¡­ a hot minute. Beatrice was preparing the other bees to take the dive immediately after we confirmed the efficacy of the reverse Link, so that we could put this whole situation to rest as soon as possible. And our brave volunteer was as ready as he would ever be. As for who the unlucky bastard was? Bench. Who was Bench? Until just a few minutes ago, he was an unnamed warrior who was all too eager to sacrifice himself. Again. Because he had already been involved in a dangerous operation as one of the warriors who helped attack Yiwi. He reminded me of a smaller Bend, with more scars and fewer muscles. He hadn¡¯t sustained injuries as bad as Bend and his dismemberment, but he was still among the most battle-hardened warriors we had. A bit more of the silent type than Bend and his bros, but a capable guy nonetheless. Honestly, it would not have been my first choice to remove a proven warrior from our ranks, especially since there was a possibility the removal could be permanent. But I had made the choice to leave things up to fate. Somewhat. Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Basically, I just made a condensed list of candidates and made a B-box randomly pick a bee. I didn¡¯t have the willpower to pick a bee for a thing like this, but I did do the bare minimum of selecting a few volunteers. I owed them that much, at least. Very few of the bees who were allowed to volunteer had names. And by very few, I mean none. There were plenty of named bees who would be removed to create the Reverse Link, like Belle¡¯s underlings. But Beatrice decided that any and all named bees were exceptions to a general rule, where most bees were not named. So then, why were we allowing a bee named Bench to go? Well. I hadn¡¯t exactly told anybody that I already decided on his name. It was a private thought, more like a coping mechanism for myself. I told myself (and Queen) that if Bench succeeded in this task and proved the reverse Link could work, while still being a part of the hive, then I¡¯d give him a proper name. ¡°Mother. It is time,¡± Beatrice said as she rested a claw on my shoulder. I appreciated it, but did she have to sound so cliche? Maybe we were making this a bigger deal than it was. ¡°See you on the other side, ma,¡± Bench said, and before I could think about it any more, I removed him from the Link. It was as easy as imagining the string that connected us fading away, replaced by a feeling of hollow pain. The change was instant. A spark of¡­ something faded from Bench¡¯s eyes, and the ever-present voice I had never really noticed before was gone. He suddenly started buzzing, looking around at the bees and flying erratically. There was no familiarity in his actions, no sense that he remembered us. He began flying away, and some bees moved to stop him, but I commanded them to stop. He hadn¡¯t begun creating the reverse Link yet. We had to trust him. In fact, I could already feel him trying. A trickle of Mind leaked from him, evidence that he was tapping Mind, though his capacity would be limited. It was probably even more limited than it normally was for a non-Mind based warrior like himself. But whatever. The program was working! I say program, but it was more like a lingering command contained by a B-mail that worked exactly as a program would. When he was removed from the Kin Link, Bench would use his Mind to follow the exact steps laid out in the reverse Link guide contained in that B-mail, whether consciously or not. After the first one was completed, the command would wait for some time to figure out if it worked before beginning to try the second method. As for the two reverse Link ideas¡­ The first, which the departing Bench was trying to complete, came from the combined brainstorming of Beatrice and Belphegora. An unlikely combo perhaps, but a frightening one, if I was being honest. The method was based on one of Beatrice¡¯s ideas from back when she was trying to develop a reverse Link on her own time. Belphegora, upon receiving the ¡®documentation¡¯ of Beatrice¡¯s early attempts in our brainstorming, had been captivated by a particular idea and ran with it. Later, she had asked Beatrice for help personally, and they ended up with this idea. Essentially, this was the ¡®reverse engineering¡¯ route. Beatrice had studied the inner workings of the Kin Link to the best of her and Beck¡¯s Ability, and tried to manually recreate the Link stemming from herself. She had failed, but she also hadn¡¯t tried very hard to bring it into reality. With some insight from Belphegora, who was one of the most talented Mind users in the hive, they developed a completed version of this Kin Link copy as a Lock called the Queen Link. Not my favorite name, but fine enough. It was pretty much the exact same as the regular Kin Link, except that since the Link was created in reverse, it would grant me the control. The only problem is that it was complex. Terribly so. After all, the Kin Link wasn¡¯t something I came up with myself. It was something naturally granted to all queen bees upon being born, and the entire thing was completely automatic. I could only assume it was some system put in place by the Bee god to make the whole hive mind situation easy and effortless for your average bee. The second method¡­ was a bit shaky. Whatever testing we had done wasn¡¯t comprehensive enough to know if it would actually do anything. A Lock of Beck, Beckham, and Becky¡¯s design, the second reverse Link method was closer, in my opinion, to an Ability. They took inspiration from Abilities, after all. What Bench would have to do in that case would be to tap an extraordinary amount of Mind to imagine an arbitrary connection between himself and me. And the kicker: he¡¯d have to relinquish all control of himself to me, as it would be in a Link. Fittingly, they called this Lock ReLinkuish. If nothing else, Beck was far more creative about their names. This option was far less complicated, but it required a degree of sentience and creativity that made me nervous about how well it might work. Bench was nearing the end of the clearing now, and I quickly floated over. I wasn¡¯t going to let him leave, of course. But I also didn¡¯t want him to become distracted or stressed. However¡­. ¡°I don¡¯t think Queen Link is working, Beatrice. His Mind usage has felt steady without much change, but there hasn¡¯t been any noticeable connection being made to me.¡± ¡°It is still too early to tell. But¡­ we knew this one would be difficult to perform with a limited amount of Mind.¡± As if ReLinkuish wouldn¡¯t be equally difficult. If anything, I had less confidence in the second method because of all my aforementioned gripes. Unfortunately, we wouldn¡¯t even know if everything was proceeding according to plan until it either worked, or enough time passed that it was clearly a failure. It was strange. Every moment that I followed him, I expected to feel the emotions of frustration and annoyance, or at least some sense of concentration from the scarred warrior. But I felt nothing. Seeing a bee and not feeling their thoughts? I did not like that. The only hint I had was from my senses, including my sense for Mind. Once we were in the thick of the dead forest, just a little ways out of the clearing, I felt a pause. The Mind being tapped completely receded, and now all I could do was see Bench wandering around. At the end, I had felt a wisp of something, but upon closer inspection, there was no connection. Queen Link failed. Bench¡¯s buzzing became more frantic, more unfocused. He started moving away more rapidly, and I had to put a bit of effort into following him. I could feel dozens of bees following me, though I wasn¡¯t sure which ones they were, and once again, the flow of mind began to arise from Bench¡¯s body. All our faith would have to be placed on ReLinkuish. This time, I felt something immediately. It was almost like a voice crying out into a dark expanse, more of an echo than anything else. Was that Bench? Was I hearing his voice already? He was using a ton of mind, though it was only a ton compared to whatever he was using before. He didn¡¯t seem to be exerting himself as hard, but that was probably because of the less complex and more arbitrary way the second method should work. However, we were already nearing the hive¡¯s outer wall, and I didn¡¯t want him to go far past that. If I had to, I would restrain him personally. To hell with my Mind Collapse or whatever. But he suddenly began to slow down. All at once, he stopped. The little voice began to rise in volume, and I could feel Queen trying her best to listen. So I did too. Both of us worked as one, straining to hear the voice of our child. To listen to his voice. Slowly, he turned around, and I watched as a string of Mind snapped into place between us, shining a striking white rather than the gold of my own Kin Link. And then he spoke. ¡°Mo¡­ther?¡± Chapter 102 - ReLinkuish I couldn¡¯t resist. One moment I was staring at Bench along with the rest of the hive, the next I was tackling him into a giant hug and bawling my eyes out. The connection he had formed steadily solidified and held firm, spelling the success of the reverse Link project. What¡¯s more, the pang of pain between my eyes felt slightly less imposing. Maybe it was some sort of placebo effect, but I could swear that the plan was working swimmingly. ¡°Mo¡­ther. It¡­ worked?¡± ¡°Yes it did Bench. You¡¯ve proven that the reverse Link works,¡± I sobbed into his not-so-little head. When I spoke his name for the first time, his back seemed to straighten and a glimmer returned to his eyes. But it was still noticeably dimmer than before. After a few minutes, I released him and wiped my eyes. It was time to get back to business. I allowed Beck and Beatrice to inspect the Link string and did some studying of my own. In the meantime, the other bees who would be removed from the Link were sent a new B-mail, this one containing instruction only for the ReLinkuish Lock. No need to waste time or energy. As for the Link itself. The most immediately noticeable thing was its color. Compared to the brilliant gold that I was so used to seeing for all my Mind-related inner workings, the ReLinkuish string was a pale white. It otherwise felt the same to my senses, and even compared to the regular Kin Link, I couldn¡¯t feel any discernible weaknesses or instability. I could tell instinctively that I¡¯d be able to command Bench as usual. Even better, the B-boxes were working on it as normal. I still had pretty much the same information gathering and processing B-boxes working for the Kin Link, and Bench¡¯s string conveniently connected itself right back to where his original Link had been, and the B-boxes were gathering information as normal. I could feel his thoughts, viscerally feel his sensations and emotions as I would on any other bee. Effectively, it was the same as the Kin Link. Except for one thing. Direction. As intended, this was a sort of reverse Link, and I could already feel the effects. Prior, I hadn¡¯t really thought about the Kin Link and how the bees used it to enhance themselves. Just by being connected to my Mind, they were granted a modicum of power from that connection. In this case, it granted them enhanced thought and Mind capabilities. But Bench¡¯s new Link was different. I could feel a flow of energy coming into me from the string, rather than the other way around. It wasn¡¯t much. In fact, it was so small I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it if I didn¡¯t have Queen¡¯s talent for Mind. But it was something. Surely there would be some way I could maximize the efficiency of this oncoming Mind power to make this tiny amount more useful. But with another glance at Bench, I was reminded of what was lost in the process. My own Mind was enhanced somewhat. Healed even. But Bench¡­. He didn¡¯t feel the same. He still had his memories and everything, which I was glad to see. But something about his thinking felt¡­ sluggish. Simple. He was even calling me Mother now instead of ¡®ma¡¯, as he used to. Beatrice, ever clinical, nudged me with her Mind. ¡°We should begin having the other bees removed. It may be best to do it slowly and steadily rather than all at once, to minimize risk. The¡­loss of Bench¡¯s higher caliber Mind was to be expected. However, after seeing the degree to which it¡¯s been weakened, there might have to be some further caution taken to ensure certain bees are not removed. We should consider bees with ReLinkuish to have mental capabilities slightly above drones.¡± ¡°I am not happy with this, to be honest. Especially not with Beatrice¡¯s perception of the results. We are bees; we are not meant to have the same ¡®intelligence¡¯ humans possess,¡± Queen said. And I sort of agreed with her. But speaking strictly in facts, well, it couldn¡¯t be denied that something was missing from Bench that had been there only minutes before. If anything, it was a miracle he had retained any of that intelligence at all. Must be from being the son of a hybrid monstrosity. ¡°Go ahead and tell me when everyone¡¯s ready, Beatrice,¡± I said with a nod. Wrapping an arm around Bench and leading him back to the central hive, I got ready to repeat the process. Over a hundred times. _______ [Status: Mind Collapse (Negligible)] Now that was music to my ears. Or thoughts. It was pretty much the best-case scenario for what we had imagined with the reverse Link, that being a more speedy recovery for my Mind Collapse. Rather than that, it had actually acted as an instant cure, pretty much. I mean, the thing even said negligible. I wasn¡¯t sure how something called ¡®Mind Collapse¡¯ could ever be considered negligible, but the system screen seemed to be trustworthy enough where it counted. On the other hand, I was feeling hollow. A veritable army buzzed before me, with something missing from all of their eyes. A spark. Only a few remained, buzzing behind me. Why were some bees allowed to retain their advantages granted by my Kin Link? Because they had been born with certain interests? Talents? Some arbitrary character trait they¡¯ve had since birth for no apparent reason? Something so simple was the reason they were allowed to stay with higher thought. Nothing about status or a hierarchy. Nothing about age or skill level. For all I knew, Bench was a more capable warrior than Bend, and yet the latter was allowed to remain within the Link just because he had been named for longer and could command other warriors¡¯ respect. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. It didn¡¯t sit right with me. Neither my bee side nor my human side. But because of circumstance, that was the way it had to be. ¡°What if you bring them back into the Link? Since the Mind Collapse is mostly cured now and everything¡­¡± As much as I¡¯d like to try that very thing, Queen, Beatrice had already explained why it wasn¡¯t worth the time, at least until Mind Collapse was completely gone from my Status. Who knew what would happen? For all we knew, it would just skyrocket back up to where it was before. We still didn¡¯t understand what Mind Collapse did on a detailed level, so all we could do was guess. Besides, it¡¯s not like I knew how to re-Link the bees either. Sure, I could do something similar to ReLinkuish in reverse, but at that point, would it be the same as the regular Kin Link? ReLinkuish was already something different. Thankfully, we had pretty much brought the Mind Collapse concerns to rest by the end of the night, which was far faster than I could have hoped for. In this state, I could feel the CBU working at a higher capacity already. However, I made sure to keep it underperforming for now. It would be ideal to heal from the condition completely before making any rash maneuvers. ¡°Everyone, get some rest. Tomorrow, we¡¯ll go back to working like nothing¡¯s changed. It may take some time to get adjusted to our new situation, but I have complete faith that all of you will be able to take it in stride and continue working hard for the hive,¡± I said to all the gathered bees. With a hail of ¡®Yes Mother¡¯s and nods of heads, every bee except for a few drifted off to find a place to sleep, either on top of the central hive or in random spots on the forest floor. Wherever they felt most comfortable. I didn¡¯t miss that all the newly ReLinkuished bees buzzed in a single direction, towards the outer wall where the drones usually slept. As for the other bees, all that remained were Beatrice, Belle, and Beau. It was amazing to me that Beau was allowed to stay. In the Link I mean. Why was she so curious and intelligent compared to others? Belle¡¯s three underlings had been removed from the Link, after all. But Beau remained, all because of her capability to understand and investigate certain scientific ideas. But she was one of the youngest bees alongside Belle¡¯s workers. It just¡­ weird, ya¡¯know? Speaking of things that were weird. Plenty of shenanigans had been happening in the past couple of days. My mission to complete the healing Ability had come to head when our ¡®delegation¡¯ was arriving at the fernen glade, which meant I had been Mind Collapsed for slightly less than two entire days. Which didn¡¯t feel like much. But in that time, where I was (mostly) not paying attention to what was happening outside of my own issues, the world was moving along. Back in Yiwi, Beckham had been keeping an eye on things as best as he could without full access to the humans¡¯ Minds. Thankfully, he was able to keep them in line and no mishaps had occurred, partly thanks to my automatic defense systems put in place after the Yiwi Operation. The two main concerns were with the peacekeepers and with Bob. As for what the fuck either of those things were, my guess was as good as any. The peacekeepers, as I¡¯ve learned, mostly consist of random people who have taken to ¡®protecting¡¯ the town of Yiwi in its broken state. They were a collection of citizens, former Yiwi Fighters, and mercenaries who had managed to slip by un-Linked, gathered under an unofficial banner of people who wanted to keep the citizenry in line in the wake of the conflict. Prior to their existence, there had been a system of policing kept in place by the mercenaries, maintained under a contract with the City Lord. It wasn¡¯t a perfect system by any means (or even a good one really), but Yiwi was a city of hoarding wealth and corruption anyway. And with most of the citizens either being wealthy bastards, mercenaries, or strangulated poor, order was kept in a sort of balance. After my takeover, I hadn¡¯t put a lot of focus on that whole thing. And since most of the mercenaries were under my control¡­ Well, lawlessness was being stomped out somehow. Of course, it wasn¡¯t a noble thing at all. It was fairly clear from their abuses that these peacekeepers were anything but. They were just leeches taking advantage of a broken city. Well, it wasn¡¯t much of a problem. There were plenty of options I had to deal with them. I could crush them, leave them be, take control of each one. But we could leave that on the back-burner for now. More pressing was Bob. Bob was a mysterious man, unassuming at first. In truth, I knew nothing about this supposed ¡®Bob.¡¯ What I did know is that he, at some point in the past week, arrived in Yiwi and set himself up in the mercenary district. He apparently bought an entire building and, in record time, had a mercenary company up and running. At first, I didn¡¯t think much of. However, now I had full access to the Minds of the humans again. It was a bit limited; I had to focus a bit, and it was nowhere near as flexible as when my Mind was healthy. But if I looked into the Minds of Jill or City Lord Soipo, they were quite clear on the matter: Bob is not good. It was way too suspicious in their eyes. Before me, a random mercenary company could never just ¡®pop up¡¯ in the city. The big companies in town had way too much control. A veritable monopoly. They would usually drive out any organization that dared intrude on their turf. But Bob was unique. He wasn¡¯t some manager from another rival company that didn¡¯t yet have a presence in Yiwi, nor was he some well-known mercenary trying his hand at the business. He was, by all accounts, some random guy with enough money to set up shop, and not much else. The timing was suspicious. He himself was apparently suspicious. And because of my control, the big mercenary companies didn¡¯t have the presence of mind to deal with him as they usually would. Before anything else, he was probably something we would need to deal with. And there was plenty of other shit going on in Yiwi. Rette¡¯s improved health was leading her to be a bit rambunctious, among other things, and though Bella¡¯s experiments had been put on hold, she was way too eager to get them going again. And that was only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, Yiwi wasn¡¯t the only front we were responsible for anymore. Despite Ben¡¯s presence, stuff had been going down over at the fernen glade as well. Thankfully, Ben was still able to keep an eye on things. But in the past two days, Grehn, Vlugh, Ben himself, and a fernen called Elofan had left the glade behind and were heading north. What?! What were these four knuckleheads thinking? Yelah¡¯s body was still in the fernen camp, thank goodness, and was being nice and quiet. Feltan and his two buddies were still there too, communicating via dance with the Ben Squad members. But my two humans, Ben, and the fourth wheel of Feltan¡¯s group were tromping along on some mad journey. I couldn¡¯t take my eyes off anyone for a damn second, huh? Chapter 103 - Humans. Ever-bee Time Humans. Watching that quartet of human, bee, and fernen stroll through the forest really was mesmerizing. I was almost amazed enough to not interrupt their little adventure. Unfortunately for them, the pang of pain between my eyes had receded to almost nothing, so I was ready to go ham. ¡°And exactly what are you all doing?¡± Grehn and Vlugh jumped a bit, which made Elofan jump in turn. Ben also jumped, but his leap was accompanied by joyful screaming. ¡°Mamaroo! What¡¯s up? You¡¯re feeling big and strong again! Are you gonna watch this little adventure through my eyes? Grehn had the greatest idea for us to get more food, but he needed me, some Linkers, and Elofan for the plan. Sorry, but the other fernen don¡¯t actually know what¡¯s going on since Yelah hasn¡¯t been able to talk for a couple days.¡± Well, thanks for the recap, little guy. But hold on. Grehn? Coming up with plans to help the hive? Excuse me if I don¡¯t immediately swoon and cry tears of thankfulness. Let¡¯s just take a little peek into the big man¡¯s brain, and¡­. Oh! Oh me oh my. After a cursory investigation of his thoughts and plans, I didn¡¯t find a trace of malicious intent in Grehn¡¯s thoughts. As for his plan, well. It was an interesting one. I wanted to hear it from the man¡¯s mouth. With a nudge, no words spoken, Grehn knew what I wanted. It was funny to see the strange look coming from Elofan. Yup, that made the whole thing worth it. And it saved me from having to read Grehn¡¯s thoughts hard enough to give me a headache! Win-win. Finally, Grehn began to whisper. ¡°Among the various things holding the hive¡¯s growth back is physical growth, both in terms of number of bees and the hive¡¯s structure. And the only reason for that is food. You need food for making bees, and other bees need food for making the hive. You can certainly get food from Yiwi, but I know from experience that our food situation leaves a lot to be desired. So I thought of going to another place to obtain a source of food. Lemonholm.¡± Vlugh¡¯s sharp ears must have picked up the name, or maybe he was just used to listening to Grehn¡¯s quiet voice, because he let out a huge scoff. Elofan, who was leaning in close, made a disgusted face when Grehn said the word ¡®Lemonholm.¡¯ Apparently even the fernen aren¡¯t huge fans of the place. I knew Vlugh considered the people of Lemonholm to be crazy jackasses, so all I could do was wonder about the merits of Grehn¡¯s plan. ¡°Those humans in the north never really bother the forest, but I¡¯ve had to deal with them a few times,¡± Elofan said in her whooping language. ¡°They¡¯re actually not so fearful of non-humans. It¡¯s just whenever we come close to their orchards¡­¡± I instantly knew what she was talking about, thanks to the memories of the humans. Lemonholm and their lemon orchards were famous throughout the world, apparently. Almost as famous as the paranoia and fear held by all of Lemonholm¡¯s citizens. It was a den of conspiracy and untrusting eyes, plus the fact that everyone really loves lemons. They were nowhere near the economic powerhouse that Yiwi was, despite their proximity to the very same forest, but that paranoia supposedly made a big part of that. That, and the fact that they didn¡¯t have easy access to trade routes. Yiwi was right on the Yam River, just for starters. Lemonholm had outlawed all the paved roads to the city long ago, for another. ¡°To be honest, I¡¯m still a bit creeped out by this whole thing. But you do have a point, Grehn. And if you think you can convince Lemonholm to rake in the literal dough for us, I won¡¯t complain about it. But I want to make one thing clear. Cross me, and Yelah won¡¯t be as lonely anymore. You dig?¡± ¡°I¡­ dig?¡± he said with a bob of his head. ¡°Good. Now make sure to think really hard about what your plans are. And be specific. Even better if you can give Vlugh all the excruciating details, so I have two brains to- or rather, so you guys can work well as a team! Yeah. Oh, and take care with Elofan, hm? We only just met the fernen, and something about her feels weird to me,¡± I said, immediately switching my focus off before he could respond. Even just talking to the humans was tiring. Not exhausting, but there was a noticeable strain I could feel on my noggin. As for Elofan¡­. She was part of the reason I wasn¡¯t trusting Grehn¡¯s little plan just yet. Why did he feel the need to bring a fernen along? Why Elofan specifically? I didn¡¯t know much about the fernen, but there were some details I could observe. For example, this Elofan was quite strong with her Mind. All the fernen were, but she was a cut above the random fernen in the glade. Plus, she was trusted and valued enough to accompany Feltan, the vice-president of fernenland, into the ruined forest. As far as I knew, she was a close advisor and one of Feltan¡¯s most trusted allies. Nope, no trust to be found. At least when it came to non-bees. For now, though, or at least until the group arrived at Lemonholm, I didn¡¯t want to concern myself with them. I¡¯d just keep a close eye on them for Ben¡¯s sake. Actually, I was starting to get a bit nervous again. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°Beatrice? Are you aware of the Lemonholm plan Grehn came up with?¡± Despite the fact that she was busy coordinating the efforts of the newly ReLinkuished bees and their commanders, Beatrice responded immediately. ¡°Of course Mother. Let me guess: you¡¯d like to send some sort of military force to ensure the safety of Ben and the continued secrecy of the hive?¡± ¡°Er, yeah.¡± She was way too good. Hold on. When I looked inside, I found out that she hadn¡¯t known about the Lemonholm situation at all! At least, before I asked her. For the first time in a while, I watched Beatrice¡¯s memory in awe, watching as she immediately scanned the available information related to Grehn and Lemonholm, and as soon as she began responding, had already anticipated what I wanted. Maybe I should have a Beatrice in my head instead of this freaking spooky CBU. ¡°Very well. Would you prefer to send numbers or strength? Or both?¡± She was asking if I wanted to send something on the level of a Valkybee, or otherwise just send a bunch of random warriors. Which was a tough call, especially now. On the one hand, the Valkybees were all fresh and raring to go. Occupying them was actually a great idea, probably. On the other hand, numbers were always a safe option for simple strength, and it allowed our most powerful defensive force to remain in the hive. But when I thought about how most of the warriors were now ReLinkuished and trying to work as a cohesive unit under the command of Bedivere, Bend and Beryl, well¡­ ¡°Send Belia-¡° ¡°GRAH! I WANNA GO!¡± a voice crashed into our conversation. What the heck?! What a shock! Beelzebub is going crazy and trying to crash the party? Who could have expected that? ¡°Beelzebub, I¡¯m willing to send you up. You should, in theory, be capable enough. As of now, you¡¯re the second most unproven Valkybee other than Behemoth. But that¡¯s not really an issue. My problem is with your sensibility. Your little scuffle with Beryl recently doesn¡¯t inspire confidence. So you understand my hesitation, right? If I send you out there to Lemonholm and you piss off the most notoriously superstitious town in this world, I hope you understand how horrific that could be for the hive.¡± ¡°I totally do, ma.¡± ¡°Despite myself, I¡¯ll trust you on this. Because you really pulled through with the Antithought medication delivery. It was a delicate mission we didn¡¯t know much about, and you completed it in a timely and effective manner. But that won¡¯t compare in terms of consequences. If you fuck up in Lemonholm, who knows what the ramifications could be? We don¡¯t have a plan B for this. Thankfully! You shouldn¡¯t have to do much. You¡¯re mostly insurance, anyway. It¡¯s an important role, nonetheless. You got it?¡± Beelzebub hesitated. It was a foreign thing for her to do, I could feel it. Interesting that she hesitated after I complimented her good work rather than when her failings were highlighted. And I knew why she hesitated. Something about the idea of being on standby made her squirm. She had volunteered without knowing the assignment, intent on proving herself further thanks to our lack of need for self-defense. And she ends up going on a mission to sit on her ass. Basically the antithesis of what she wanted to or even could do. ¡°Ma. I can do it. For real. For real! I¡¯ll make sure you never doubt me again,¡± Beelzebub said with a smile. I could feel her resolution. Fine enough. I gave her the go ahead, which led to a plethora of grunts and pumped ¡®fists¡¯, culminating in a rapid departure. That silly girl - she had been waiting at the border of the hive already, ready to go. Although she was waiting on the western side. What, was she expecting me to tell her that her mission was to destroy Yiwi again? Huh. Maybe she was. Despite that, my mind was put at ease. Ben¡¯s life would be safe at the very least. Plus, this was an opportunity for Beelzebub to prove herself, something she desperately needed. I knew she had the potential to be the strongest Valkybee based on pure natural talent alone, but that wasn¡¯t enough anymore. I needed bees to start really proving themselves in practice. For now, I could actually relax about Lemonholm for a minute. Why oh why did I have to worry about that in the first place? My list of things to stress about was long enough as it was. Speaking of such things - Queen, what¡¯s the word on Yiwi? ¡°The peacekeepers still aren¡¯t stepping out of line far enough for a show of force. I¡¯ve noticed that, in particular, Mesne has been complaining to Bella about them, but only recently did Belle even know what she was saying. Thankfully, Mesne was so accustomed to Bella¡¯s shenanigans that she thought her silence was a simple prank. I think it¡¯s fine to just leave them be at this point. We have plenty to worry about without these random mooks tossing a wrench into things.¡± Nice earth lingo Queen. And I do agree with the peacekeeper stuff. Though it might calm my heart to just tell the Yiwi leadership to keep an eye out for them. ¡°Especially Harven. He seems like the threatening sort with not much else to do.¡± Perfect idea. He has the experience and manpower to keep a leash on the peacekeepers for sure. Though something still bothered me about those so-called keepers of the peace, and I couldn¡¯t put my finger on why. They were just so unobtrusive. The humans in Yiwi weren¡¯t huge fans of them either, and they were just another source of pain. But they were already suffering anyway. It was almost¡­designed. Too perfectly under the radar. But something like that just couldn¡¯t jump to the top of the priority list at the moment, so I just passed a comment to Beck to pass on to the Yiwi bees. ¡°As for Bob¡­. Thankfully, Beckham made it just in time to stop Jill Yemonto from storming his building. That man concerns me far more than anything else. Perhaps it''s just because I have been placing a lot of value on the experience of some of the longer-lived or knowledgeable humans, but almost every single important human has alarm bells ringing. That can¡¯t be good.¡± Not good? An understatement, maybe. Well, the stray humans were taken care of. And now I have to poke another stray human. I was beginning to sense a pattern in these damn conflicts. I almost wished the fernen were the ones being fucking annoying. Chapter 104 - Tale of the Mysterbee Merc ¡°Alright, Jill. Lay it on me. What do you know about Bobby over there?¡± I asked. Jill Yemonto was standing in the middle of a street in the mercenary district of Yiwi, surrounded by four mercenaries. One of those mercenaries was Toh. The group stood amongst a thin stream of mercenaries walking around, most of which were Linked. And across from them, they watched a run-down building topped by a homemade metallic sign imprinted with an image. It looked like a sword crossed against an eight. Was it supposed to be a ¡®B¡¯? Weird. I hadn¡¯t observed any sort of written language at all, and certainly nothing resembling my world¡¯s letters. Although, by straining Toh¡¯s vision, I could see that the 8 shape was imprinted with fairly detailed dots. So the sign was a scroll? ¡°Simple. He is a suspicious individual who came into the city several days ago. Without my knowing, he purchased this building and set up a mercenary company. He has no employees, I don¡¯t think he¡¯s taken on a single job, and I have never of him in my life. Where did he get the funds to create a mercenary company? The knowledge? No, this is far too suspicious and I want to drive him out,¡± Jill said. When she finished speaking, she stood quietly for a moment before walking towards Bob¡¯s Mercenary Corporation. And I didn¡¯t stop her. Honestly, I agreed with her completely. ¡°I¡¯ve got it! Why not experiment using Bobby? Er, I meant to say Bob,¡± Queen said out of nowhere. Experimenting using Bobby, hm? I see. You want to use him as a guinea pig to try to get a human to ReLinkuish themselves willingly. You¡¯ve been thinking of this for a while, then. Did you influence our decision to create a sort of voluntary Link for the sake of your own conscious? ¡°I wish I could do something as amazing as that. If I could, you¡¯d already be tossed to the sidelines, I think.¡± Oh yeah, I¡¯m sure. Actually, I kinda am sure. Dang. But whatever! I¡¯m not entirely opposed, but unfortunately, we don¡¯t have an easy way of doing that. We¡¯d have to Link Bob first, send him a B-mail, and somehow force him to ReLinkuish himself when he becomes un-Linked. This wasn¡¯t like with the bees, where they had very little comparable brain-power and could be easily influenced. A human has too much will. Without knocking, Jill thrust the door open. Toh strained, but he held the other mercs back. There, behind the counter, a man jumped to his feet and raised his arms, as if he were ready to fight at any moment. Not that he was particularly impressive. Small of frame yet a bit pudgy, and boy was he disheveled. His hair was thin, standing all over the place like tiny black lightning bolts. His leather jerkin was nice, but wrinkled and worn. The rest of his clothes were similar, and it was immediately clear that he had no idea what the fuck he was doing. ¡°Can I help you fine people?¡± he said. Despite his incompetent outward appearance, something about him exuded confidence. Maybe it was the way his eye followed Jill rather than the large, threatening-looking Toh. I couldn¡¯t put my claw on it. But he was kinda a scary guy. ¡°Are you Bob, then?¡± Jill asked as the mercs fanned out into the building. I whispered my plans into their ears, so they knew not to rough him up too badly. Thankfully, they shouldn¡¯t have too much of an issue. It was five against one, assuming this guy really was Bobby himself. ¡°Who¡¯s asking?¡± the man replied. Which told me all I needed to know. I gave the word, and the mercs tensed, ready to apprehend Bob so I could begin my little experiments. A moment later, three mercs were lying on the floor, wheezing and groaning. Before Toh had even moved, and before I even realized it, Bobby had somehow incapacitated the three random mercenaries without as much as a twitch. ¡°This guy is definitely not normal.¡± Toh dashed forward, unperturbed by his fallen comrades. A knife was pulled into his hand from the conspicuous knife sheathe on his side, and Bob seemed to focus on it. I didn¡¯t want to switch perspectives too much, but Toh¡¯s must have been interesting. Because through Jill¡¯s eyes, I saw the second knife he slipped out of a hidden sheathe, which he immediately threw at Bob¡¯s leg. More of a distraction than anything, and one that worked. Bob immediately flicked his wrist, knocking the flying knife away, which only gave Toh more time to close the gap. Another knife appeared in his second hand from who-knows where, and Toh began to stab and slash- Toh¡¯s right arm spasmed before it came close to Bob¡¯s body. His other knife wasn¡¯t close enough, and Bob was reaching towards Toh, so Jill finally sprang into action. And by springing, I mean that she thrust her arm forward like a knife. Bob ducked behind the counter just as she did, letting Toh off the hook. ¡°Whoa! I don¡¯t know what your problem is, woman. Is it so hard to open a business in this city?¡± Bob¡¯s voice rang out from behind the counter. ¡°The fact that you just ducked behind the counter tells me everything I need to know, ¡®Bob¡¯. I didn¡¯t use my Ability, meaning you know about me, my Ability, and the visual indication that it has been activated. You were also about to counter Toh, an experienced mercenary, without significant difficulty. You are not an ordinary mercenary, and you certainly are not an average businessman,¡± Jill said. Good thing I had her as a mouthpiece in this situation. I wanted to sound all smug about the information I definitely knew too! Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. ¡°Yeah, of course I would know fucking Jill Yemonto. I¡¯m trying to open a business in the home of Yemonto itself! I¡¯m not stupid or anything. Give me a bit of credit, at least.¡± As Toh leaped over the counter to drive Bob out, Jill continued to drawl. ¡°Unfortunately, your attempt to open a mercenary company in Yiwi, of all places, already made clear exactly how much credit I should give you.¡± ¡°Ouch.¡± Bob rolled out of the way of Toh¡¯s assault, reappearing in Jill¡¯s point of view. I felt nervous seeing Jill thrust her hand forward again, considering I needed Bob in one piece for the experiment. It wasn¡¯t that I needed Bob specifically; it was just for convenience¡¯s sake. So when she started rapid-firing her Ability, I did get a bit nervous. Thankfully, it seemed more like a strategic maneuver. I felt the waves of Mind that sliced through the air right where Bob was moments before, though they didn¡¯t do any damage to the surroundings. As a result, Bob got corralled to the corner of the building. Honestly, I was impressed that a man who seemed as unfit as he could flip around like an Olympic gymnast on steroids. Mind can do some crazy stuff. Toh was just as interesting. His body was simply massive, yet he was dashing after Bob like he weighed as much as a feather. Plus, he kept pulling knives out of nowhere and throwing them at his target with laser-precision. With each throw and slash, the knives moved faster. He was clearly using his Mind to enhance his physical capabilities, which meant he didn¡¯t have the resources to use his Ability to the fullest. Which was a bit disappointing. I wanted to see some creative usage of a stealth Ability in a frontal confrontation like this. And that was when one of Toh¡¯s knives caught Bob in the leg after a sudden burst of Mind. It seemed that he did end up using his Ability, [Unseeable Self]. I didn¡¯t know what Bob was seeing, but based on my knowledge of Toh¡¯s Ability, he probably saw a blurry blob suddenly wave around and not much else. Worse, he couldn¡¯t even react properly. Toh¡¯s Ability also played on speed, and the way it makes things look strange. As a result, it actually did speed him up. So that knife must¡¯ve really caught Bob off guard. Adding in the fact that he was in a corner, and Bob hardly stood a chance. With a howl of pain, Bob started flailing his arms like a screeching baby. Toh moved in for the final, incapacitating blow, but Bob must have been using his Ability, judging by both the waves of Mind rolling off him and Toh¡¯s sudden collapse. The fallen Toh tried to growl in frustration, but all that came out was a weak moan. One versus one. ¡°So, now what? I can already tell you guys don¡¯t wanna kill me, so how about let¡¯s leave it at that? I¡¯ll take down the company, I¡¯ll move away. Honestly, it¡¯s not worth losing my life over,¡± Bob said between deep gulps of breath. ¡°You think I will let you off so easily?¡± Jill said as she approached him slowly. With one arm behind her back and the other raised to her side in her signature knife-hand pose, she certainly cut a threatening enough figure. ¡°Well. No. But can you blame me for hoping?¡± Jill ignored him. ¡°All of you, get up already. Fight through the effects of his Ability, you weak-willed idiots.¡± Toh was in no state to be a non-idiot, but the three others were trying their best to get up. But Bob didn¡¯t want to wait. I watched as the knife previously stuck in his leg flew towards Jill, but she was having none of it. The arm behind her back grabbed the knife in the same moment that she thrust her arm forward, severing Bob¡¯s good leg by the knee. Oof, brutal. Ah, well. I wanted him to be in one piece, but ultimately, whatever got the job done was best. And Jill needed to take action, considering the state of her team. Though I wished she had a less horrific way of incapacitating people that didn¡¯t include slicing their limbs off. Seriously, her Ability was scary, like watching a surgeon meticulously remove parts of a person in the middle of a death battle. The amount of blood Bob was losing was astounding, like seriously nothing I¡¯ve ever seen. Jill started squeezing his leg with her Mind as a temporary solution, but he was definitely in for a rough night. Finally, the three mercenaries were getting off their asses, though their legs were a bit wobbly. And they were just dumb muscle at this point anyway, only good for picking Bob up and tying him up; Jill ended up being the lynchpin, not surprisingly at all. With the threatening hand of Jill Yemonto hovering above him, along with the small matter of his missing leg, Bob became far more compliant. He didn¡¯t resist very much when the three brutes finally lifted him into a chair and used some chains to tie him down. I didn¡¯t know how effective that would be, but if it was good enough for them, I¡¯d be fine with it. As long as they guarded him while I tried stuff out, it should end up being alright. Now, looking at the bloodied and groaning form of Bob, I wondered how exactly to proceed. I wanted to use this fresh, new human to figure how to ReLinkuish humans as a whole, but I didn¡¯t even know where to begin. I hadn¡¯t planned for this at all. In theory, the easiest way would simply be to Link Bob with a Linker, and somehow finagle a way for the ReLinkuish command to work despite the humans¡¯ strong will. This situation was about as perfect as any, since Bob was in no position to run away if things went wrong. ¡°Jill, toss a Linker to Bob. I want to try something.¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± You got an idea, Queen? I know that you¡¯ve been thinking about the possibilities of ReLinkuish. Might wanna be quick. Jill seems all-too-eager to throw this competitor of hers under the bus. ¡°Gah! It¡¯s just impossible. Ever since the moment that ReLinkuish worked, I¡¯ve been trying to figure that exact thing out. The humans are much more likely to willingly ReLinkuish if one: they weren¡¯t Linked beforehand and two: they had a good enough reason to do so. But even if we can figure out number two, number one just seems insurmountable. It¡¯s required, since they have such an aversion to invasions of the Mind. How can we possibly inform people of the extremely precise way to ReLinkuish without B-mail?¡± ¡°Jill, belay that,¡± I said immediately. It was technically too late, since she already had the Linker bee held out on her palm towards Bob, who was doing his best to look confused. But it was a bee of mine, so it just sat patiently. Queen, I know exactly how we¡¯re going to do it. I have the incentive, I have plans brewing, and best of all, I know how to communicate. B-mail, or rather, e-mail, replaced something back in my world. Before the digital age, there was only really one way of passing knowledge onto others when you couldn¡¯t tell them face-to-face. ¡°Jill, I¡¯m going to need your help in writing an important scroll.¡± Chapter 105 - Seal the Beeal ¡°Right this moment? We are quite busy,¡± Jill whispered to the side. To Bob, it probably looked like she was talking to a ghost, which she might as well have been doing. ¡°Yeah, right now. I don¡¯t exactly want Bob to bleed out when he could be benefitting the hive.¡± ¡°¡­Very well. Toh, get up and go engrave a scroll,¡± she said over her shoulder to the man¡¯s groaning form. Despite his current state, he obliged his boss. What a resilient guy! Or maybe he¡¯s just scared of Jill. Or me. Whatever motivated Toh was enough for him to force his jelly legs to move, so I also got to work. First up, a B-mail. As Toh made his way to the library, which was miraculously unharmed in the battle of Yiwi, I consulted with Beatrice and Queen for the contents of my message to Bob. The goal: to make a deal with him. In exchange for forming the ReLinkuish connection, I¡¯d save his life using my shiny new healing Ability. Since we don¡¯t know the limits of it yet, this debacle could also serve as a test run of that very Ability. I wasn¡¯t going to promise anything - at least not explicitly. But who knows? Maybe [I Command Bee, HEAL] actually did have the capability to regrow human limbs. It was probably impossible. But there was a chance, right? Obviously, I wasn¡¯t going to dangle the man¡¯s life in front of him. That wasn¡¯t much of a choice, was it? There was an absolute abundance of reasons to join our hive as a happy camper! I might leave out the constant invasive surveillance and capability to fully control your body as features, but there was more than that, I swear. ¡°Oh, there¡¯s plenty. Knowledge, for one thing. Constant, endless amounts of information from every corner of our territory. An information network that has the potential to span the entire world itself. Oh, and constant invasive surveillance along with the capability to control their bodies. Ah, should we include trapping you within your own body and using it like a glorified meat puppet?¡± Geez. It¡¯s not that bad, man. Eh, it could be worse at least. It¡¯s not great, but at least he won¡¯t die. Beatrice shared the thoughts stewing in her brain. ¡°I think you may be overlooking something, Mother. If we are implying that this will be a deal between Bobby and ourselves, then the current terms are too suspicious. If we are unclear about the true effects of ReLinkuish, he will wonder what we stand to gain. And we obviously can¡¯t tell him what the Link means for us, not really. I propose this: we present some simple terms in our favor. Of course, it will not actually matter; once he is Linked, he will be our tool to use as we please. Something like letting us use his company for our own purposes or something along those lines. It could be a valuable asset, considering that it is not connected to the large mercenary companies and their branches.¡± ¡°Whoah, Beatrice. Fine line there. Or, well, I guess you¡¯re saying the quiet part out loud? We can work on your empathy, or at least your filter. But besides that¡­ I think you¡¯re absolutely right. Very human-like thinking there, considering that humans would be extremely suspicious of one-sided deals like that. He¡¯ll scrutinize it less closely and be more likely to follow the ReLinkuish instructions. I¡¯ll send the B-mail now.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t see it anymore, but things are worse than you think.¡± As Toh arrived, the information flooded into his brain. It would have been overwhelming had it not been packaged in a neat little B-box. Man, what a marvelous invention. I¡¯ve done some awesome stuff with my Mind hadn¡¯t I? Ahem. I finally decided to shift my perspective to Toh and leave Jill¡¯s information to be priority processed by the CBU; the curiosity of seeing the scroll engraving process was choking me. Even Queen was itching to see something novel like that. That, or she really didn¡¯t want to see the ashen, slumping body of Bob. Either way, I watched as Toh jogged towards a back section of the library, moving past the gigantic central scroll. A librarian (at least I assumed) moved to intercept him, but he flashed a little silver badge of sorts, which stopped her in her tracks. Probably some ¡®seal of approval¡¯ from Jill or the company or something. Maybe they have credit? Toh was silent while he worked. He had been silent for a long time now, at least when it came to speaking. His thoughts were always abuzz, blaming himself, blaming me, blaming Yelah and her team. Lots of blame getting thrown around in that noggin of his. Regardless, he could do something as stupidly simple as engraving a scroll. It was alien to me. Instead of developing a system of writing, the people of this world had instead developed a far more complicated method of putting thoughts into the world with a physical medium. It all began with a smooth, metal tube, much like the one Toh was grabbing from a neat pile right at that moment. This tube was featureless and gray, with slightly rounded rims giving it the appearance of a blown out soda can. That can was then brought to a large machine, of which there were at least a dozen in a row at the back of the library. Once he placed the can in a glass tube at the center, a few moments passed before the device shut closed. It was at that moment I caught something out of the corner of Toh¡¯s eye: a frail old lady turning a large crank. The more she pushed, the louder the machine grew. I suppose they would have a manual failsafe for these crucial machines if the Rotor was ever out of commission. Which it was. But a frail old lady? That was just mean. Anyway, Toh was already proceeding to the next step. There were two vertical handles that he placed both hands on, and simply closed his eyes. Then he began to think. I could feel the sheer concentration he needed to hold in order to send the correct message; whatever he thought about would be engraved onto the scroll. He even activated a Lock, which would enhance his concentration so that only the relevant information would be engraved. That trickle of Mind from the Lock was more than I expected, and I saw it was because some of it flowed into the vertical handles. So the engraving process required not only thoughts, but Mind itself? How interesting. As Toh concentrated, a window into the machine showed the can - the scroll - spinning around while a series of thick needles stabbed into it seemingly at random. Seeing it in action, I couldn¡¯t imagine someone doing such a complicated process by hand. Although I couldn¡¯t imagine someone carving stone tablets or something like that either. The process didn¡¯t take long. Before I knew it, the instruction had been painstakingly carved into the scroll, creating bizarre squiggles of near-imperceptible stippled dots all over it. All that remained was to give it to Bob.
They really were going to let me bleed out, weren¡¯t they? It was all I could do to maintain my consciousness as Jill Yemonto herself stood before me, her menacing hand unwavering. I knew the risks that establishing a mercenary company in this city would bring, but I had no other option. Getting an in to the city¡¯s upper echelon was too important for my mission. But everything just kept going fucking wrong! I expected a bit of a roughing up, for Person¡¯s sake; maybe a chance to impress Ms. Yemonto or some executive at Hayrey enough to be offered a job instead of cast out of the city entirely. The company was just a means to an end, one which should have led me to the Rotor or even the office of the City Lord. But no. Now I was going to die. Actually, who even cares? The entire reason I came here, the suspicious Yiwi Rotor I had been desperately trying to convince the higher-ups was dangerous, was gone. Just poof. I¡¯d never visited the city before, but I¡¯d obviously seen images of it. You couldn¡¯t miss a building sized contraption that loomed over an entire city like a hulking beast. But it was just¡­ gone. And it didn¡¯t take long to find out why. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. What sort of luck did I have? If I had stayed in Siniwan just a day or so longer, our intelligence agents would have informed us about Yiwi¡¯s rebellion and collapse. But no. I just had to fly off the handle with my boss and get threatened with a reprimand. My focus wavered, so I tried thinking. Thinking was good for living - you need to be alive to think. And what better subject to think about than my current situation? When I did think, something stuck out like a sore thumb: the odd behavior I had encountered in Yiwi. Perhaps it was to be expected after a massive rebellion that resulted in a disaster of incredible proportion; I mean, there was a massive indent in the city from where the Rotor supposedly fell. The ordinary people were simply downtrodden. The food shortage that came a result of the Burning was only exacerbated by this conflict, and people were left without home, belongings, or even family. To make matters worse, there were some fools going around trying to take advantage of these downtrodden souls; a group had even tried harassing me, though they were weak. Civilians, I believed. And yet, despite these obvious things, nothing truly made sense. I had only been here for a mere two days, so my knowledge was somewhat limited, but that much was clear. Well, I probably did quite a good job, but surely not as good as one of our Auditors might have done. Not my field of expertise. But I could certainly examine the info I had. Focus. Apparently, the conflict had mostly taken place between two factions: the so-called ¡®Yiwi Fighters¡¯ against the local government. The local government had its own policing force, while these Yiwi Fighters were more a civilian militia, supported behind the scenes by the merchants. All was in order there. The mercenary companies, on the other hand, were split; several companies joined the civilians while some took the hand of the City Lord. And this is where everything began to fall apart. The City Lord was deposed. Missing, supposedly. The Fighters were all but disbanded. And the mercenary companies controlled the city. Or, that¡¯s what people believed. Why were the merchants still so prominent, then? Especially one, a lesser-known merchant suddenly in control of the large Treeline Company? I had seen her around Yiwi, occasionally talking over her shoulder to an invisible listener. So the merchants and mercenaries struck a deal, then? Strange. Strange, especially considering that every mercenary company was operating as normal. Typically, in a conflict like this, companies on opposing sides would cannibalize each other, make underhanded deals, or simply leave. The only possibility here was a shady plot involving every mercenary company in Yiwi and the powerful merchants. Yeah, right. Mercenary companies were notoriously competitive. Maybe Yemonto Co. could form an alliance like this on a whim, considering Jill Yemonto herself was here, but others like Hayrey and Ehra would need approval from the larger branches. And I knew for a fact nothing like that was in the works, not anymore. Toss in that one money-lender and suddenly the coincidence crowd was becoming a bit, well, crowded. Something else had happened. Beneath the shady deals were the shadier deals, and beneath all of that was the shadiest deal of them all, something that connected everything together. Something unexpected had appeared in Yiwi and turned the city into its playground. Every powerful figure was working together in perfect harmony, without the approval of other branches or companies. The Rotor, which had fallen, was mysteriously absent, apparently carried away by the Human themself. The City Lord was not publicly executed, but instead declared missing. And then there was the talking. That one merchant woman. The large mercenary who had just left. The money-lender. A young mercenary girl who looked permanently ill. Even Jill Yemonto herself, mere minutes ago. Occasionally I saw them, whispering something over their shoulder like an old friend was standing behind them, ready for some juicy gossip. But there was never anybody there. I was convinced: whoever had secretly taken control of Yiwi was dangerous. Perhaps they were connected to the suspicious activity I had analyzed of the Rotor? I shifted a bit as my heart began to pound. Was it all connected? Who else would have taken the Rotor? Who had the capability? Was it really a foreign power? An organization that had slipped under the nose of even our agency? Perhaps I would never know. My body slumped again, the pain biting my missing leg. What a coincidence, then, that the large mercenary man, Toh, I believe, walked in holding a scroll. Was that a message from my quarry? Or something else? ¡°I suggest you read this carefully, Mister Bob. Your life may hinge on your decision,¡± Yemonto said. She seemed bored, unfazed by my bleeding body. Have some heart, woman! Though maybe I wasn¡¯t one to talk. My mouth was too weak to speak, so I simply shrugged my shoulders. Even that was difficult. The merc lumbered over, nowhere near as graceful as he had been during our confrontation, and shoved the scroll into my lap. Despite my pain, as the content flooded my Mind, I sucked in a sharp breath of air. ¡°Hello Bobby. I am a very important person. And I believe you can help me. Why not help each other, then? I will ask of you two things: a simple task and a promise. In return for those gifts, I am willing to give you quite a few goodies. For one, I can save your life. This is a pretty good offer. You are in a sorry state, but I can arrange for your life to be saved. Next, I offer information. As much as I have, which you will find to be significant. The mercenary companies in Yiwi are full of secrets, you may know. So are the merchant companies. And so is the government. A nice bit of knowledge I offer is the truth of what happened here in Yiwi: what happened to the Rotor and the City Lord, as well as the companies that call the city their home. If those are not enticing enough for you, I have more. Wealth? I possess an abundance. Resources? Plenty. Best of all, I have a means of communication whose value cannot be estimated. Over any distance, with anybody I please, I can grant you this capability to interact with others in a way you could scarcely imagine. That is all for my offer. Now, for what you can give to me. I will ask for the promise first: give me your company. That is all. I want your company to do with as I please. If it is all the same to you, we will keep it under your name, and you will still manage it, but I will control it from the shadows. Much like I do with Yiwi now. The second condition is this: I want you to create a Lock. The instructions on how to create it will be included, but there is something you must know. I cannot give you several of my gifts without the Lock. Including, you may find vexing, the capability to immediately save your life. I hope we can come to an arrangement.¡± As I took it all in, including the instructions for creating the Lock dubbed ¡®Close Connection¡¯, I nearly died of laughter. Because I nearly died when I tried to laugh. Such a long message, and all for what? Their very first point was already enough to make this a deal I couldn¡¯t refuse. I¡¯d die if I didn¡¯t accept. Worse, the Lock was the way they proposed to save my life. It wasn¡¯t impossible to imagine that a doctor would find me a lost cause, but making a guarantee like this person was doing was instantly cause for suspicion. Even if I weren¡¯t a professional skeptic, I might find this all too fishy. It reeked of a contract. It had been done before; records of people creating Abilities or Locks which allowed them to control, obtain, or even influence the thoughts of others. They were difficult to pull off, for a variety of reasons, but they had existed. Long ago. Disgusting. Other than that, the rest of the deal was essentially pointless drivel. It was obvious to me that this person only wanted the Lock to be formed. Would it give them access to my memories? Maybe even turn me into a happy supporter of their organization? Who was to say? What the scroll did do was give me more information. It confirmed my theory that an unknown entity had taken control of Yiwi and was pulling the strings of the entire city. Including influential figures like Jill Yemonto. Additionally, they were too informed. They knew everything that had happened here in my building; otherwise, they would not know my current state and situation. Certainly, it could have been communicated to them by these mercs, but I found it unlikely. Jill had only spoken over her shoulder briefly, and the large merc had run off to make this scroll even as she spoke. At the same time, they weren¡¯t as all-knowing as I expected. Their offers implied to me that they didn¡¯t know I was a part of the world¡¯s foremost intelligence agency, hence the offer of information. Also, in that same vein, they did not know about the secret Mind Inquiry Services correspondence systems, and therefore, the inner workings of the MIS. Though this apparent means of communication sounded far more powerful, it still was not something unheard of for me. What to do, then? My life was already in their hands, and I definitely didn¡¯t want to die. But compromising my Mind was both repulsive and against the code of the MIS. In the end, I felt the corners of my mouth turn upward in the beginnings of a sad smile. I¡¯d take the deal. Make the Lock or whatever. But I did almost feel bad. Whoever this was, they were going to get caught much sooner than they anticipated. Unfortunately for them, nobody fucks with the MIS. Chapter 106 - I Don’t Care Who The MIS Sends Unsurprisingly, it didn¡¯t take much convincing for Bobby boy to agree. It wasn¡¯t even a full five minutes after he received the scroll that I felt his Mind creating the thread that would become his very own ReLinkuish, and I was sweating in anticipation to see the results. Would it be as majestic as I hoped? Was ReLinkuish going to become an avenue for insane amounts of power? I sure hoped so! The best part about ReLinkuish for cases like humans was that it didn¡¯t have the same drawbacks as Linkers; I didn¡¯t need to expend resources on new bees, it didn¡¯t have the same distance limitations, and it didn¡¯t need to be replaced like the Linkers at the end of their lifespan. Sure, it had its own caveats, like the fact that a desperate situation like this was probably the only one where a human would actually consider forming the Link. But if it could be made easier¡­ As soon as Bobby finished, marked by the bright white string snapping into place, my entire Mind shuddered. Then the shuddering grew into an intense rumbling. This was nothing like when my bees had done it. I took a moment to compose myself. This was almost comparable to the sharp pain of Mind Collapse, but it was more like my brain was growing too large for my skull. Fuck, that hurt. The feeling subsided eventually, and I was left reinvigorated, as if I had gotten a good night¡¯s rest. Just to make sure everything was in order, I checked my Status, only to find it empty. Huh? Wasn¡¯t I still under the effects of Mind Collapse, albeit at reduced intensity? What happened there? ¡°I think ReLinkuish served its original purpose better than expected. Thanks to a human, no less.¡± No shit? Was it really that easy? The sheer influx of a human¡¯s Mind was that much more effective than one of my bees? What the hell? I guess it did make sense; bees, except for the queens, don¡¯t have significant Mind proficiency. And my bees are certainly different, but they¡¯ve been alive and working at it for, what? A week? A bit more or less? I suppose an experienced human like Bobby might work better, but man, didn¡¯t get those streaks of gray in his hair for nothing. Wasn¡¯t this a bit too extreme? Maybe he just happened to have a very strong Mind or something. I decided to go to the man himself for answers. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see. Welcome to the hive, Bobby!¡± ¡°Bobby? Oh, you¡¯re the mastermind. So, what now? If your little experiment has concluded, does that mean you¡¯ll just kill me to eliminate witnesses?¡± ¡°Experiment? No no no, that¡¯s totally not what I¡¯m doing! Well, maybe a bit. But anyway, no, I won¡¯t be killing you; I¡¯m not that heartless. Some might disagree though, as I¡¯m coming to learn. But yeah, you¡¯ll just be working with me. If you don¡¯t mind, I¡¯ll be inspecting your thoughts now to get to know you a bit.¡± Bob didn¡¯t reply, and I realized a tiny detail had escaped my notice. Bobby was still on the verge of death. Oops! How embarrassing. Without hesitation, I activated my new Ability on another for the very first time. ¡°Mister, you heal up right now!¡± Apparently that was command enough. My Mind flexed, though I wasn¡¯t worried about it now that Mind Collapse wasn¡¯t an issue, and a fascinating process took place. The power of my Mind instantly appeared where Bobby sat, and, as the mercs watched, a viscous shimmery liquid coalesced into thin air around his wounds. The Mind juice moved like molasses, stuck to his skin, and slowly absorbed into his body. Almost immediately, color returned to his cheeks and his breath eased, but his wounds continued to look bad. They wouldn¡¯t fully heal for hours, if not days, and I was very unsure of the possibility of his leg growing back. But otherwise, he was looking just peachy! His life, in any case, was perfectly secure. As Jill and her gang untied him and propped him up, I decided to leave things up to them. Beatrice and I needed to understand that man that was Bobby first. ¡­. Hm? Where¡¯s the info? Uh, B-boxes? CBU? Helloooo! When I tried thinking of Bobby¡¯s thoughts and memories, nothing appeared in my thoughts. It was as if he wasn¡¯t Linked at all. But I knew he was! I could hear and speak to his thoughts. Suddenly, I saw flashes of memories. Finally! However¡­ they didn¡¯t seem right. They were vague. Formless. The memories I could observe were flawless depictions of information that entered people¡¯s Minds, not whatever was going on in Bobby¡¯s head. None of it was a lie, that much I could tell. Bobby had a friend, a desk job, a cushy position in the capital. Oh shit. His memories are protected. One look at the connection told me everything I needed to know. The B-boxes processing his thoughts were remarkably spare compared to others, almost as if he were withholding information. I followed the problem to its source, and that¡¯s where I found something truly bizarre. A filing cabinet. Minds, I¡¯ve found, are unique to the individual. If you¡¯re able to look inside them, like I am thanks to the Link, you¡¯ll find something different in each Mind. They all have the same elements: memories, emotions, thoughts. But they look and feel different. Beatrice¡¯s Mind was orderly, like a neat office space where everything had a system. It felt musty and dry, in a way. Bedivere¡¯s Mind was dark and uncomfortable, as well as heavy. Something about it reminded me of an old withered fortress I had visited, with its old walls of stone and atmosphere of authority. Now, none of the Minds actually looked like these places or anything; they didn¡¯t have a physical presence, per se. They simply evoked those feelings and memories of mine. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. Bobby¡¯s Mind felt similar to Beatrice¡¯s but less straight-laced. More like a neat cubicle contained in a dark room full of conspiracy corkboards. But one thing was way out of place. Remember when I said Mind¡¯s don¡¯t actually look like those feelings I described? That extends to everything inside. There are no physical presences inside of Minds. The sturdy desk I could envision in Beatrice¡¯s Mind wasn¡¯t actually there. There was an honest-to-god filing cabinet in the middle of Bobby¡¯s otherwise normal Mind. Curious, I inspected it. Then I touched it. It shuddered. What the fuck? Looking around, I could feel specks of information be carried away from the confines of Bobby¡¯s Mind into the Link, ready for processing. Everything he was seeing, hearing, smelling, touching. Every thought that passed through his head. Except that wasn¡¯t the whole story. I watched as a spark suddenly shattered, and a portion zipped into the filing cabinet faster than I could perceive. This fucking guy. He has a Mind safeguard! ¡°Bobby.¡± ¡°Urgh¡­. Ahem. Yes, my new overlord?¡± ¡°Open this cabinet.¡± He coughed. A smile played at his lips, though his eyes didn¡¯t share his mouth¡¯s mirth. ¡°Sorry, bud. No can do. That¡¯s classified information.¡± Oh, we¡¯re playing that game now, Bobby? IF that is even your real name. This guy was becoming more suspicious by the second. He was definitely no ordinary man. More than likely, he was a member of some shady organization or other. Based on knowledge of other humans like Jill, only a few came to mind. Other mercenary companies. A certain weapons manufacturing company from Rikitan. The Drevan Ministry. Technically, anything was possible. Bobby didn¡¯t look Drevan, but who said he couldn¡¯t be hired by them or something? But among all the possible options, one stood out. An organization so mysterious, so large, and so feared that even the largest mercenary companies in the world bowed to its authority. The MIS. The Mind Inquiry Service. At least, that was my best guess based on what I could see. Bobby here was an analytical sort, and a desk jockey. And yet, he had a powerful Ability that would have allowed him to incapacitate Toh and the rest of the mercenaries with ease. Also, he knew information he considered being ¡®classified¡¯, and it was stored in a filing cabinet, of all things. That just screamed ¡®government intelligence agent,¡¯ right? ¡°You know, I think I may actually agree with you. Which concerns me. In fact, could you inspect the secure storage of his some more? Something about it makes me feel a sense of dread.¡± I wasn¡¯t one to ignore Queen¡¯s gut instinct. And upon closer inspection, I discovered a disturbing fact. The filing cabinet didn¡¯t shudder or shake unless I touched it, but it was constantly pulsing with a dim light and humming in a peculiar rhythm. It was eerie, deep and rumbly, close to Bob¡¯s voice, actually. Almost like it was¡­ Almost like it was talking. Ah, shit. ¡°Bobby. I need you to tell me honestly. I command it, in fact. Are your superiors being informed about my existence?¡± ¡°¡­No.¡± ¡°Have they been informed about the fact that your Mind has been compromised?¡± ¡°¡­Ye-. Ye-. Damn it all, yes.¡± Motherfucker. I had to remove the Link as soon as possible. Shit, maybe we should kill Bobby? Is there any other way to stop this? After a bit of thinking, I realized we were screwed already. The MIS or whoever were the bosses of mister Bobby here had already been informed about his Mind being compromised, so unless he was a sleeper agent or something, it might be fine to leave him as-is. At the very least, they weren¡¯t getting specific information based on the answer to my first question. ¡°Okay Bobby, I¡¯ll leave you in the care of Jill and the gang for now. When you¡¯ve fully recovered, I want to meet with you along with my aide, Beatrice, to make some decisions about what to do with you and your company,¡± I said. Bobby didn¡¯t respond with words, but he did grunt. The sense of resigned acceptance was more telling for me, though. ¡°Oh, and I¡¯ve gotta know. Are you an MIS agent? I demand an answer.¡± ¡°Um. No.¡± ¡°Haha. I get it. I asked for an answer and you gave me one. How about this: give me an honest answer to that question.¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Yes or no.¡± ¡°Ye- FUCK. Ye- I don¡¯t want to answer this question. How exactly are you forcing me to do this? Full control over one¡¯s will shouldn¡¯t be this irresistible. Yes, I am an MIS agent.¡± Finally. Although, Bobby¡¯s capability to resist the commands through the Link was the concerning part. Was it because he was an MIS agent or something? Like, did he have special training to resist this sort of thing? I wasn¡¯t completely sure. Him being able to resist my commands like that meant I needed other humans in Yiwi to keep him under constant watch to ensure he didn¡¯t do anything crazy. His Link was just too unreliable. Time would tell on how best to deal with this guy. He did eventually yield to my commands, and never actually disobeyed me, but he was a tricky guy. The others instantly reacted to my intention, so it was a bit disconcerting. ¡°Is it perhaps a result of ReLinkuish itself? It¡¯s a virtually untested fix we developed for our bees, who are our loyal family. I can think about it some more, since I¡¯m not doing much else. Apart from that, I do have some ideas for his surveillance. My proposal is that Rette, Yoho, and Toh formally join Bob¡¯s company in order to properly surveil him.¡± Hm. I¡¯m not gonna lie, Queen. I think you may be overplaying your hand. You think I haven¡¯t noticed all the extra sympathy you¡¯ve cast towards the humans and stuff? I don¡¯t know exactly what¡¯s gotten into you, but it makes me really uncomfortable. Especially since it makes me consciously think about myself. Anyway! It¡¯s a good thing I know for a fact that you have the hive¡¯s best interests in mind, because otherwise I¡¯d start getting really pissed. Just kidding! Probably. I¡¯m fine with selecting those people to watch over Bobby, but only because I¡¯m confident in the Link, Bella, and Beckham. It¡¯s no surprise that you chose some of the most unstable and personally involved mercenaries we know. Two people deeply connected to Yelah and one of our most active operatives. I¡¯ll humor you. ¡°Thank you. There may be hope for us yet.¡± I¡¯m not entirely sure what that¡¯s supposed to mean, but sure. For now, we need to make plans for the possibility that the MIS acts on Bob¡¯s alert. Compile all the information we have about them, get our best minds on the case. I needed strategies to use against covert government agents. If they were as threatening as the people I¡¯ve Linked perceive them to be, then we had to be prepared. As for myself, there was still a mountain of paperwork to do, so to speak. However, one task was at the forefront of my mind: making eggs. Mind Collapse delayed my most crucial task, interrupting me right as I was trying to level up that Egg-Laying Ability of mine, so I had some catching up to do. Now¡­ ¡°Uh, Enno? You might want to pay attention to Feltan.¡± Hm? Why? I knew he was yelling into Yelah¡¯s ear to try and communicate with me, but I was sort of just ignoring him. And he wasn¡¯t making a specific request or anything, so why¡¯re you mentioning this? ¡°I think I can only chalk this up to instinct again.¡± Chapter 107 - The Beginning of Bobbee Inc ¡°WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR YOU TO RESPOND? Can someone go bring salt? Maybe the Highqueen¡¯s shell is sleeping or something. HELLO?¡± ¡°SHUT THE HELL UP!¡± I roared with Yelah¡¯s voice. The surrounding fernen fell on their butts, and Feltan stumbled backward while raising his arms like a little boxer. When he realized I had ¡®arrived¡¯, so to speak, he immediately recovered. Say what you will about the guy, but he had some dignity. ¡°Finally! Highqueen, we have been trying to communicate with your bees, but there is simply too much lost in translation from their dance. Unfortunately, they are not as talented as Ben. Anyway, I urgently need to discuss your usage of Mind,¡± Feltan said with a huff. He started pointing at some fernen, who nodded with their whole round bodies before sauntering off. ¡°Huh? What do you know about my Mind usage?¡± What was this guy talking about? Were they spying on me? ¡°I know that you have an incredibly powerful Mind you clearly have no clue how to use! I don¡¯t know what you¡¯ve been doing - maybe making strange Abilities or something - but it¡¯s been making all us fernen sick to our stomachs.¡± ¡°You guys can feel me doing that stuff?¡± Feltan crossed his arms and tapped his foot, like he was talking to a stupid child. ¡°What are you, a stupid child? I would expect someone with a such a powerful Mind to at least have some awareness of their actions. Now I know why we always felt a sense of foreboding ever since the Burning ended; you were out there, experimenting with powers beyond your understanding. But this is on a completely different level! With this empty shell of yours here, not to mention these bees, your Mind is practically in our faces, blasting us with your emotions. We couldn¡¯t take it anymore after this most recent wave, so I had to contact you directly.¡± Oh dear. So, every time I used my Mind, or even experimented a little bit, these poor fernen were getting their sensitive Minds blasted? I guess I had been doing lot¡¯s of Mind stuff even in the small time Yelah¡¯s body had been in the fernen glade. My new healing Ability, all the Mind Collapse stuff, ReLinkuish. And now Bobby¡¯s ReLinkuish was the final straw. Actually, isn¡¯t that really bad? It explained some memories the humans had, actually. I knew from their memories that they also felt a sense of foreboding, but that was before I even showed up in this world. Hm. Hold on. There was a very slight increase in that feeling they had around the time I showed up. I suppose I got lucky with the humans; they had already been feeling some sort of fear before my introduction, so the effect I had wasn¡¯t noticed. That wouldn¡¯t fly in the future, no way. Not as I kept getting stronger, and especially not since I had so many Linked humans in Yiwi. If actual threats came into town, they¡¯d sense my Mind being used in a heartbeat. Even Bob, I could see now, had felt something unusual. Thankfully, he confused it with his own apprehension about his mission, so he didn¡¯t store the memory away or anything. But moving forward? Not acceptable at all. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t happen to have some advice on that front, would you? The fernen are notoriously good Mind users, and you seem to know what you¡¯re doing.¡± I asked. No shame here. If they knew a fix, then I¡¯d gladly take it. Unfortunately, the humans weren¡¯t the best teachers of Mind. Besides the fact that they were a very particular species in terms of their capabilities, their understanding of Mind was overly-standardized. It just wasn¡¯t useful for me to use Mind like they did. Humans tended to just create a ton of specific Mind Locks and activate them at will, reserving a small amount for their Abilities. There were few instances of humans using Mind in unique and strange ways - in a way, sort of like how people used certain things such as the internet in my world. Sure, there were experts, hobbyists, and whatnot, but the majority of people were content to use it in the few ways it benefited them. Mercenaries used Mind in their ways, merchants used it in their ways and whatnot. The fernen, on the other hand, were more flexible. Free. ¡°In fact, I¡¯d take any advice you can give about Mind as a whole. You guys can have multiple Abilities, right? Humans can¡¯t do that, so your situation more closely mirrors mine in comparison. Can I leverage my ¡®rule¡¯ over you to get you to teach me?¡± Feltan swayed, lost in thought. However, his answer didn¡¯t take long. ¡°Of course. We are under your rule and will do what you desire, as per the terms of my Battle with your Lowqueen. Even disregarding that, if it means my people will have peace of Mind, then I am more than willing to teach you myself.¡± Perfect! I finally had a Mind teacher. The only problem: I¡¯m damn impatient. I wanted to learn immediately. If Feltan were Linked¡­. ¡°Hey Feltan. Wanna make a deal?¡± ¡°No.¡± ________ Bella was so important. Sure, Ben was currently on a quest to improve the food situation by traveling to the silly place of Lemonholm, and Beck was intently studying to figure out exactly how to re-establish an ordinary Link, and Beatrice was Beatrice. But Bella was the most important bee of all, for sure. Other than Mom, but that was a given. What would Ben do when he found more food? That¡¯s right - call for Bella¡¯s help. Who would Beck thank for more knowledge of how human Minds interacted with the Link? Yup, Bella. Beatrice didn¡¯t count. Yes, Bella was an important bee. But seriously, did Mom think she was Beatrice or something? She had plenty of responsibilities already, plus her personal project she only just got permission to continue, but now she had the Bobby stuff to deal with too. ¡°Listen, Rette. I¡¯ve been talking with some other mercs, and they agree that we need to rescue Yelah if we have any hope of mounting a rebellion against the bees. She was the only one who could unite us all, as I knew she could. I believe that if we get her back, we can get our freedom back too.¡± ¡°Yoho, have I ever told you that you¡¯re a moron?¡± ¡°Squawk.¡± As Bella listened to the conversation, she took a bite of disgusting human food. What was this? It was chewy and tough, and calling the dull itch it oozed ¡®flavor¡¯ was an insult to the senses. Now, Bella knew she could be a bit dramatic about food, about as much as Mom, but she knew that even the humans found this particular snack atrocious. ¡®Rock kelp¡¯, in the true language of Mom. It was some of the only food Yiwi was producing, since the stalks that flowed out of the ground in the fields outside the city grew quickly and cheaply. Unfortunately, it wasn¡¯t typically a food crop. Instead, they were usually grown for certain fabrics, rope, or even just fuel for fires. The stalks were simply not very nutritious, and certainly not delicious. No wonder the humans were so miserable. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. Mesne, the source of these useless facts and Bella¡¯s only source of decent entertainment, was also in the room with the other people of interest. She, along with Rette, Yoho, Dip, and Toh, were in Bobby¡¯s visitation room, meeting the man who would become their new boss (or in Mesne¡¯s case, business partner). ¡°I don¡¯t care what you think, Rette. If anything, I¡¯m ashamed to be talking to you. You abandoned Yelah - and Yiwi- in her time of need, and now you cowardly hide behind the monsters controlling our Minds. Where is your passion? Your desire for freedom? I expected more from a member of Yelah¡¯s esteemed team.¡± Bella watched Rette¡¯s already pale fingers whiten further as the grip on her staff tightened, but her face didn¡¯t change from one of minor annoyance. Toh simply rolled his eyes and Mesne was lost in thought, ignoring the entire exchange. Bobby groaned. ¡°This is the team I¡¯m supposed to work with? We truly serve a cruel mistress.¡± ¡°Tell me about it,¡± Toh said, sighing deeply. ¡°I haven¡¯t had a break in over a week. That damn queen keeps making me run errands. She does know all I¡¯ve been doing is running around doing her chores ever since she gained control of me, right? Ey Bella, you wanna put in a good word with your mama?¡± Bella kept chewing and finally swallowed. She couldn¡¯t eat this nasty crap anymore - she wanted to go home already. With a flick of Mind, she tossed the remainder of her snack to Beckham, who took a reluctant bite. His face made Bella snort. ¡°Guess not. Anyway, you might as well give up, Yoho. Any sort of rebellion is ages away. Best thing to do is simply bide our time until the queen makes a truly devastating mistake.¡± ¡°But that¡¯s exactly it!¡± Yoho said, pointing with a smile to bedridden Bobby. ¡°They messed with the MIS. Surely now people will come save us. Maybe even the knights! Argh, I really don¡¯t wanna be saved by the knights, but what choice do we have? Say, Mister Bob, are your friends going to save us now?¡± Bobby didn¡¯t respond immediately, but when he did, Bella didn¡¯t think he sounded optimistic. ¡°In truth? Probably not. Granted, they know where I am, so they¡¯ll at least be on the lookout for any important news from Yiwi. But they¡¯re a heartless bunch. They probably just got word about the whole civil war and are assuming I somehow got caught up in the aftermath. It¡¯ll take some other suspicious stuff to spur them into action.¡± She might not be easting delicious food, but Bella could still relish the humans¡¯ despair. Yes! Understand the hopelessness of fighting the hive! ¡°Is the MIS really as scary as everyone makes them out to be? I¡¯ve only ever heard mercenaries talk about them like that; my parents never mentioned them being threatening at all, and I¡¯ve never had a bad time with them,¡± Mesne said. She had actually been paying attention the entire time, but her focus was elsewhere. Bella did envy that multitasking brain of hers. Not that she even came close to Mom. Bella let out another laugh at the stares Mesne drew from everyone in the room. Even the Hayrey nurse was looking at her like her head had turned into that of a bee. Mesne shifted under the weight of the stares, an unusual reaction from her. But Bella could see that the incredulous looks pricked something in Mesne¡¯s heart a reminder of her earliest days as an inexperienced merchant. Which only made Bella laugh harder. ¡°Do you guys let merchants off easy, mister Bob?¡± Yoho finally said. ¡°No, not at all. Merchants fear us almost as much as mercenaries do. But¡­ Mesne¡­ Of Stockitall? If you¡¯re Mesne Wayfa, I suppose it makes sense. Your parents were pretty famous back in the office. Great informants. Lovely people, supposedly. I was young at the time, though.¡± ¡°Hold on. Informants? My parents were MIS informants?!¡± Mesne cried. Bobby only nodded in response. Mesne finally seemed invested in the conversation, but for all the wrong reasons. Yoho, who only had the ability to read a room with Yelah in it, lowered his voice to a whisper and started muttering nonsense. ¡°The MIS are the worst! I had to deal with an agent of theirs once. Nobody knows anything about them, but everyone still fears them. Miss Yemonto never even questioned them when they made claims that seemed like bullshit. I heard of one guy from Ehra who suddenly disappeared one day, apparently after accidentally changing a single number on a MIS form he filed. And supposedly, if an official inquiry is called on a company, the company doesn¡¯t survive for more than three years! They call it the Curse of Questions. Worst of all, they¡¯re everywhere. You didn¡¯t even know your parents were a part of it. They¡¯re in every country, in every company, in every government. Even the king doesn¡¯t control them, even though they work for him. I still can¡¯t believe the other countries decided it was a good idea to allow them to work in their own territories!¡± Bella snorted again, amused by Yoho¡¯s fantasies. Even Toh and Rette and Bobby were nodding along. Hold on. They were nodding? Like, they agreed with this lunatic? ¡°They know everything and nobody can do anything about them. Even the great knights don¡¯t antagonize them, because the result would be a terrible war. Honestly, I don¡¯t know which of the two groups is worse, although I used to like the knights.¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s not fully true. Sure, we aren¡¯t best buddies with the knights, but we both serve Somuia. It¡¯s only after the Burning that the tensions became as hostile as you imply,¡± Bobby said. The others seemed surprised, but Bella wasn¡¯t. That tidbit was considered public knowledge, so it was no secret in Bobby¡¯s Mind. In the silence that followed, Bella considered her next move. Her experiments would be proceeding more slowly than she expected with this new responsibility, or at least they would in theory. Technically, Beatrice had given the task to both her and Beckham. Surely Beckham could handle most of the intricacies. The only problem was Mesne, Bella¡¯s primary contact. She was already busy as a bee, and now had this responsibility of expanding Bobby¡¯s business to contend with. Bella wanted her for the experiments, but she needed the human to be less burdened. In that case¡­ ¡°Listen up, all of you. I¡¯m gonna get personally involved and help with this little side project to get it running as soon as possible. We need Bobby to get a foothold in the industry fast, so we¡¯re gonna have to be creative. The reason Beatrice wants you to get involved, Mesne, is for your business achoomint. Ackyman? Business expertise. But in her instructions to me, she implied something. Bobby Inc - which is totally the new name by the way, ¡®cause it sounds like Bob-bee - and the newly restructured Stockitall Enterprises need to become close partners. That¡¯s the way to get immediate growth. Now, I have an idea. It¡¯s based on my own work as a food gatherer, but I¡¯ll tell you all about it later. For now, just listen to me! I¡¯m your big boss, and my bosses expect great results.¡± Everyone except Bobby nodded - even the nurse. The intelligence agent just stared at the air, eyes wide. Oh yeah. I¡¯ve never actually talked to Bobby before. ¡°Oh, and nice to meet you, Bobby. I¡¯m Bella.¡± ¡°Bob-bee¡­?¡± Yes, this would be a great endeavor, Bella would make sure of it. A great and quick endeavor. As Bert, who had been given the strand of rock kelp by a nauseated Beckham, passed the final bite back to her, Bella gulped the entire piece down in one go. Disgusting. The humans were really lacking in something delicious. If they ever got the resources, she¡¯d make them some honey personally, just to give them that taste of paradise. Chapter 108 - Focus On Focusing Without Focusing I¡¯ve had some pretty great teachers in my day. I remembered one professor in particular, a guy who taught an introductory Electrical Engineering course that actually sparked my true love of staring at a circuit board for hours and wanting to cry. It became clear to me that, of all the teachers I¡¯d ever had, he was the best for a simple reason: he knew exactly what the fuck he was talking about. Apparently, he¡¯d written books and developed lesson plans followed by universities around the country, but not every professor who knew their stuff could teach well. This guy was on another level. The way he understood those concepts was to such an elementary degree that even us poor, clueless saps could get a handle on the concepts through his explanations. Was it just his knowledge that made him able to teach well? No. Was it experience? Maybe. But to me, it always felt like it was just because he truly understood two things. First, the subject matter. And two, how people understand that subject matter. ¡°You¡¯re daydreaming again, aren¡¯t you? Is she daydreaming again?¡± I heard Feltan say. Don¡¯t get me wrong, Feltan knew his stuff. In fact, it wasn¡¯t a stretch to say he was quite a talent. But he definitely wasn¡¯t a grand expert; I doubted someone at the highest level would lose to Beatrice in a straight up fight. Feltan was an okay teacher, at best. He knew stuff about Mind for sure, but I didn¡¯t get that sense of infinite knowledge from him. Even more vexing, he partially understood how to explain the concepts. But it was almost more harmful for that understanding to only be halfway, to be honest. ¡°It¡¯s all a matter of focus. Mind is a self-explanatory power, and it all stems from focus. That¡¯s why humans, so paradoxically, can reach such high highs and extremely low lows; their minds, their thoughts, are too variable. Non-humans are different. Consistent. Humans won¡¯t be able to raise you to your true potential because their inconsistency breeds disparity.¡± Like I was saying, Feltan is an okay enough teacher, but he has his quirks. One of which being his constant need to bash humans. Like, I myself was the one who approached him for help because the humans I had Linked weren¡¯t able to fulfill my needs. But jeez, man. Can we talk about Mind a bit? ¡°That¡¯s great and all, but can you go back to talking about how to prevent my psychic power from giving you a tummy ache?¡± I asked with a sigh. Yelah¡¯s body was currently sitting in a meditating pose, which wasn¡¯t wholly necessary, but it did feel right. Feltan sat across from Yelah¡¯s body, leaning on his excessively long fernen arms, and he shifted when I pointed out the distraction. ¡°Right. Sorry. Where were we?¡± ¡°You were mentioning something about focusing, but focusing on not focusing.¡± ¡°Of course. I¡¯ve not heard if the humans have a name for it, but my people call it ¡®tree trunk that is swayed by the wind yet remains sturdy.¡¯ A beautiful term, I¡¯m sure you agree. The core is understanding that focusing Mind is something that requires control, but once you become an expert at this control, the focus should come naturally. Of course, you have not developed this skill, likely because you never knew about it. Eventually, with your power, you may have developed this skill, but it would have taken a very, very long time.¡± Feltan¡¯s explanation touched on something I didn¡¯t consider. Mind could be automatic? From the moment I arrived, it was practically instinct to use my psychic powers with a bit of focus. And it just made sense that I had to focus to do crazy stuff like move things with my thoughts, right? I never even considered the possibility of moving huge boulders or metal shafts without thinking about doing it. If anything, I had developed extremely roundabout methods of doing things without technically thinking of it. ¡°So, using Mind without really thinking about it. Or focusing on it, whatever. But how exactly does that prevent my Mind from spilling all over the place and stressing people out?¡± ¡°Because,¡± he said, sitting up, ¡°your Mind isn¡¯t actually the thing stressing us out. Mind itself is a means. If I push against you with my Mind, what would happen is my effort, my focus, using this means to achieve a goal. Focus is the source of discomfort, because it is your focus that pushes against the world. So, with your puppet here, your Mind is present, but it would do nothing without your focus. The effort you put into making tiny movements with its body, of making it speak your thoughts, of sticking its finger up its nose, that pushing creates a presence that everyone can feel. And in your case, this can reach extremes. A more powerful Mind can be used for more powerful feats, and more powerful feats require increasingly intense focus. You are constantly focusing so hard that it becomes an oppressive blanket over anything near you.¡± I let the lecture stew for a moment. What Feltan was saying made so much sense it hurt. It even related to Mind Collapse, where more severe focus was required to use more and more Mind, which could cause a shutdown of the mind and body. Even so, the separation was hard to think about. Couldn¡¯t it just be correlation, rather than causation? I¡¯ve heard of that saying before. I couldn¡¯t necessarily argue with him; in fact, I was inclined to agree with his interpretation. But at the same time, I noticed Queen¡¯s inner head tilt. To me, whatever Feltan was saying was as close to correct as I could imagine, but I could feel Queen¡¯s hesitation. He was close. Close, but not completely correct. Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on. ¡°Alright, that makes sense to me. So how exactly do I do it?¡± ¡°There are a few ways. But considering your power and how much I want to feel safe for the first time in months, there¡¯s a particular method I¡¯d like you to try. It¡¯s one of the more difficult ones, unfortunately. It requires a significant amount of multitasking and deeply understanding multiple things at the same time. Wow, that is creepy.¡± Yelah¡¯s mouth was twisted into a horrid grin, and I didn¡¯t even really try to do it. Hearing Feltan talk about this super-hard training method but it being exactly designed to be trivial for me was the peak of irony. And it was finally working in my favor! ¡°Let¡¯s get started right away, mister teacher, sir!¡±
I have made a mistake. A terrible, horrible mistake. Multitasking is easy. The easiest thing I could possibly do. Hell, I was laying worker eggs while Feltan was lecturing me at the same time as observing Ben¡¯s antics in the north while simultaneously keeping an eye on Bob, Beatrice, Beelzebub, and whatever else. But this exercise was just impossible. ¡°Explain the thought process behind this sculpture,¡± Feltan said. ¡°I don¡¯t know, man, I wanted to make a giraffe, and I made a damn giraffe,¡± responded Yelah¡¯s mouth, the same Yelah who was doing a single-handed handstand. Various tiny dirt sculptures of giraffes were strewn around the edge of the forest, the fruits of my labor. I was even making some stones float in the air, as true psychic training must be undertaken. Now, I was having no issues actually doing all the tasks Feltan set out for me. I was even challenging myself by continuing to lay eggs back in the hive. The issue came with focus, as the whole lesson implied. At first, I had tried just using B-boxes to complete the tasks, and that was fine. But then I realized that B-boxes had a fatal flaw: they used focus I couldn¡¯t control. It was somewhat strange to think about, but I thought about it in terms of clones. If I told a B-box to, for example, make a sculpture of a giraffe out of mud and sticks, that clone would go ahead and do it. But, I realized, that clone focused on the task as much as I would focus on it. It was me, after all. And that wasn¡¯t something I could actually control. It was weird enough to think of a copy of my brain performing a task like a robot, but it was even weirder to consider that I was technically thinking of doing that thing without consciously thinking of it. ¡®But Enno¡­¡¯ ¡­ Queen sighed. ¡°But Enno, wouldn¡¯t focus without actually focusing be the same as focusing unconsciously?¡± That¡¯s what I¡¯m saying! But no. Instead, it just introduced a whole new element of complexity that didn¡¯t mesh with the training, and only made things more difficult. So at some point, I had to try doing things without my precious B-boxes, and that shit was just hard. If I focused hard enough, the various tasks were manageable, but the understanding of each task faded into the background. It had taken hours just to make the giraffe manually, but in the end I didn¡¯t understand the minutiae of the task. ¡°Again.¡± ¡°Actually, I think I¡¯m gonna take a break until tomorrow. Sleep can be pretty nice.¡± ¡°I thought,¡± Feltan said, ¡°you were intent on making this progress. Fernen children become capable of this exercise by the time they are only a few years old.¡± ¡°First of all, that¡¯s cheating. Because fernen clearly mature at an earlier age. Second of all, I¡¯m technically nowhere near a few years old.¡± ¡°You say that, but you speak with knowledge and wisdom beyond the age of a newborn.¡± Yeah, whatever moss-man. I let Yelah¡¯s body collapse and let it lay there, ignoring my new teacher shaking his head. I¡¯m the boss here, aren¡¯t I? Couldn¡¯t I just have a bit of time after recovering from Mind Collapse? Third excuse? Bringing my attention back to the hive, I happily observed the nursery through Belle¡¯s eyes. With the Mind Collapse situation over and done with, I had wanted to get back to egg-laying as quickly as possible, especially considering the results of the Linker experiments. Most of them had hatched, below a certain threshold of Mind I¡¯d used, and there were practically no noticeable differences compared to base Linkers. However, some were taking a long time, and those were the ones I had high hopes for. Hope for what, exactly? Unsure. But maybe they¡¯d have great returns for their investment. But at this point, my priority had shifted to workers. These would be the first regular workers I¡¯d hatched in a while, and we felt that with the influx of food from Yiwi, we could risk more intensive bees like workers. The clincher was my desire to hatch queens. Leveling up the Egg Laying Ability wasn¡¯t something I could do easily without more information, but so far, creating exceptional bees seemed like the way to go. However, after training with Feltan for a while, I began to think of Mind in a different way, and by extension, that Ability. Intent matters much more than I expected. Maybe it had worked previously to just create bees with a lot of Mind and get levels, but was that enough moving forward? I doubted it would be possible to just create queen bees because I really want to, but I could maybe create bees with specific specializations instead of leaving things to chance. Or otherwise, maybe it could ensure bees would be born with certain qualities. Queen¡¯s preferred theory, on the other hand, was that by using intent, I could instead build on the future. So, my intent wouldn¡¯t affect the eggs themselves, but would change how my Ability works overall. I had no idea what she was talking about. Now that was a situation where the teacher is very talented and smart but has no clue what the fuck they¡¯re trying to say. Chapter 109 - When It’s Finished Boiling, Don’t Forget to Strain A few days passed without significant change. I continued training with Feltan, repeatedly trying and failing to focus without focusing on making mud giraffes, but even so, I thought I was making progress. Or at least Queen assured me I was. But while my psychic wizard training was slow, work was steady and eggs were shockingly fast. Food production, which meant honey, was somewhat slow thanks to the small number of workers actually dedicated to the task, but that didn¡¯t mean food was scarce. In fact, as Bella became more comfortable with her delivery logistics, the food in the hive was piling up. But man, it was just so conflicting ¡ª the bees insisted that I eat only honey, to ensure the eggs hatched in ideal conditions, and it was hard to argue with them. I mean, I didn¡¯t want to eat the nasty human food! So I would gladly choose to eat honey any day of the week. But it meant that most of the honey was reserved for me, so the bees typically ate human food with a small side of honey. The unfortunate state of my poor family¡¯s palate was as good a motivation as any to make me want to create more food-focused workers. And speaking of making workers. By this point, all the Linkers had hatched, and while it didn¡¯t feel like my efforts were wasted, reserving more Mind for the Linkers¡¯ egg creation didn¡¯t result in anything shocking. None of them were ¡®conscious¡¯ in any way, and interestingly, all of them were exactly the same shape, size, color, everything. There was only one small difference. [Name: (Unnamed)] [Age: 1 day] [Subtype: Linker] [Status: Healthy] [Abilities: ] [Mind: 0th Degree] [Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%] [Mind Locks: ] That¡¯s right. For all my effort, I get two levels in their one tool, Linker Stinger. Now, to be fair, it implied that Linker Stinger had the potential to be an incredibly powerful Ability. The Linker with the most Mind I had allotted took a staggering 10% of my current Mind, and still only got that tiny boost. Oh, is that not a lot? Allow me to remind you that I lifted the Rotor Shaft with a comparable amount of Mind. And there was no way I was going to do calculations to make that comparison. The point was, an absurd amount of Mind only equated to a small benefit, so until I knew more about the Linkers themselves, there was no point experimenting. Higher volumes of base cost Linkers would be more beneficial. That wasn¡¯t to say the test was a failure, though. [Linker Stinger Level 3 Acquired by: Birth Link outside the links. By creating a physical connection, entangle the Mind. Significantly less mind required to establish a Link. Slightly less drain on the user¡¯s lifespan. ] Those were two important factors to consider when it came to the Linkers¡¯ connection, so we made a mental note about what the potential uses for more expensive Linkers could be. But for now, it was going to be Workers all the way. They were the most flexible in their potential roles, so with Queen¡¯s idea of intent, they would be the best subject to test it on. It didn¡¯t work. When the base Workers I created ended up having completely roles than I intended for them, I practically gave up. Obviously, I tried not to let my disappointment show when I came face to face with my new children, and I knew they didn¡¯t understand what my emotions meant thanks to their naivety. But it was shockingly sad for me when I noticed my own disappointment. Instead of being happy to have new bees in the hive, I only cared about how my attempts to make things more efficient failed. In the end, though, Queen consoled me, as usual, and I kept truckin¡¯ on. Because while my experiments did fail, Queen made something known to me. She thought we were close to a breakthrough. And somehow, I didn¡¯t doubt it. It really did feel like my egg-making Ability was full to bursting, just needing one more little push to level up, but what did it need? Man, first Linker Stinger and now my egg-making. Was the jump from level three to four insane across all Abilities or what? It really did feel like a threshold of some kind. Many of the mercenaries¡¯ Abilities were way above level three, though that might be chalked up to the fact that they¡¯ve been practicing and learning their own Abilities for years rather than a month. But beyond my own experiments and the dodginess of food, the entire hive was actually progressing at a steady pace ¡ª and not necessarily a slow one either. Take construction, for example. With the new abundance of food (regardless of its flavor), wax production was through the roof. Bess had gone from being limited by her wax supplies to having an excess, but she was making use of it. The ¡®dome¡¯ of hers was nearly complete, at least in structure. At some point she had started complaining that wax made with pure honey was much more effective than wax made just with human food, but all that did was make her decide to layer the types of wax for extra structural integrity. A simple tunnel system now extended from the six corners of the hexagonal wall that served as the base of the dome towards the central hive, and Bessie was eager to turn them into an intricate tunnel network. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Most reassuring of all, the warriors were looking stronger than ever. Though he had been lying low for a while, Bedivere was making excellent use of his time. He tirelessly trained the rank-and-file, who were now outside of the main Link, and even continued on to train the Valkybees and the other commanders. They were all training their Minds as well, sharpening them even more than their stingers. But the one Bedivere pushed the hardest was himself. He knew from the Yiwi Operation that our bees were currently at a massive disadvantage in a straight-up fight, and although sneak and swarm tactics were effective, the reality of this world was that individual strengths also needed to be leveraged. Maybe in a few months'' time, when I had the opportunity to hatch monstrous numbers of Simple Warriors, then our swarms might stand a chance. But until then, even simple Abilities like Vlugh¡¯s or Rette¡¯s put us in danger. And then there were Beck¡¯s studies on the Links. Beck was an interesting bee. They were relentlessly trying to find a way to bring the bees who had Re-Linkuished back into the Link, while simultaneously trying to make it so that humans could Re-Linkuish while still attached to Linkers to bring them into the hive permanently. And there was something else. Every day, at the same time, I noticed that they began singing, their songs being broadcast throughout the whole Link for everyone to enjoy. I did become a bit weirded out when I noticed the songs, while not having any lyrics, so to speak, were full of heartfelt emotions that resonated with everyone, including the non-bees that had been Linked. The weird part was that these emotions were all about working hard for the hive and bringing glory to the Great Mother. Um, yeah, Great Mother here. I appreciate the thought, Beck, but I¡¯m already a dystopian dictator in the eyes of the humans, anyway. It kinda feels like you¡¯re cementing me into that role. But those were all the things that were nice and steady. At the moment, there were two things that concerned me. The first of those was Beatrice. She was stretched thin, to say the least. I knew she was constantly thinking of dozens of topics at the same time, and I wished I could lend her my B-boxes or something. She¡¯d surely make better use of them than I ever could. But as things were, she would have to deal with the way things were. Besides, she hadn¡¯t faltered once, even seeming to relish in the overwork. It seemed almost to strengthen her. But with her being so strained, gaps were beginning to appear, even if they were tiny ones. Which brings me to my second concern: Bella. Specifically, the various projects she¡¯d undertaken. Now, I was happy she was working so hard, but it was out of desperation to prove herself, and she wasn¡¯t taking my word for it. She wanted to see tangible results. I became concerned when I noticed her not thinking of food, which might seem like a strange time to wonder if something was wrong. But I know my bees, and what I definitely know about Bella is that food is her passion. She was the one who practically invented the honey I was eating, and, while stationed in Yiwi, had personally tasted every single item that left the town to ensure it was something that we could eat and/or transform into delicious honey. But her new projects were taking over her thoughts. There was the original project, the one that started everything. When she began to wonder about talent versus desire and how that affected the development of Mind after her conversation with Merchant Queen Mesne. And I encouraged the research. A lot, actually, because it was something I was extremely curious about too. I mean, it was something that had influenced the entire hive since the beginning, and was still affecting my experiments with Mind; bees were born with certain specializations I couldn¡¯t control, and they fit into their roles without hesitation or consideration. They lived with singular roles and desires until, at some point, they began to change. Like Bella herself. Now she was all over the place. Commanding the swarms of drones constantly moving to and from the hive like a black and yellow conveyor belt of food. Inspecting dozens of human Minds each day to deduce patterns between their talents, desires, and where they ended up in life. Since humans were continuously needing to be re-Linked once their Linker died, she, who bore witness to this every day as one of the main bees in Yiwi, began investigating the Link, wondering why human Minds could slip in and out of it so easily with little more than their Linker¡¯s death. Beck encouraged that. And now, she was throwing herself into founding Bobbee Inc. Which was a whole mess unto itself. Bobby was too unruly, too crafty, too flexible while remaining in the confines of the Link. Yoho was generally annoying, and Mesne was stretched nearly as thinly as Beatrice. Rette, funnily enough, was turning into one of her few lifelines. While Mesne and Bella had something of a friendly rivalry, I was beginning to feel like Rette and Bella might actually become genuine friends. Which was strange. Of all people, Rette should have been one of the most antagonistic against us, but even when I probed her thoughts just in case, I found nothing malicious. Bella was well aware of how strange everything was; it just ended up becoming another stressor on the pile. Was Rette somehow tricking her? Was she doing a good enough job to impress not only me, but the hive? Was she becoming too important? What if she couldn¡¯t help the hive anymore? Would we suffer? These were the sorts of questions I found running through her head, and they filled me with a profound sadness. All I wanted to do was force her to take a break. But no. That wasn¡¯t what I wanted. I wanted her to keep working hard. She was doing great, so why stop her? She was stressed, sure, but she was ultimately doing what she wanted to do. That was okay in my book. ¡°Are you sure?¡± ¡­ There were so many other moving parts in the hive, like Beau¡¯s tinkering and Belle¡¯s various roles she was undertaking as the caretaker, and even the fernen beginning to pack up and slowly move back to the forest. But there was one thing in particular that was holding my attention. I wasn¡¯t sure exactly why. Up in the north, Beelzebub lay against a tree. She was some distance away from them, but with her naturally exceptional eyesight, watched a group walk across a gorgeous orchard of deep green trees, spotted with yellow ovals ¡ª lemons. The group, consisting of a hyperactive bee, two humans, and a fernen, wandered towards the town of Lemonholm; the town was completely surrounded by lemon orchards, but was a much smaller place than Yiwi, with a more flimsy-looking wall of stone adorned by a single wooden door. None of them were any the wiser, especially the totally unconcerned Beelzebub. But as the door eventually closed behind the merry band, the hollow clunking sound it made felt more ominous than anything I¡¯d yet encountered in this world. Chapter 110 - Touch-Home Lemonholm The first thing Beelzebub noticed was the chatter. After the group entered the town¡¯s walls, she had snuck close enough to get a good view of the town from the depths of one of the lemon trees, for once, thanking her diminutive body that rivaled even Ben¡¯s. And on the topic of that bee, the first thing he noticed was the sheer emptiness of the streets. Beelzebub had decent eyesight as well, but she preferred to use whatever sense was more useful in the moment. Together, the sensations they took note of painted the town of Lemonholm in a gloomy light. People watched the unusual group of four, or, at least, the three humanoid individuals that were immediately noticeable, from the shadows of their houses, chattering amongst themselves loud enough to make it questionable whether they were shy or just plain odd. ¡°Every time it¡¯s like this. Why can¡¯t these people be a bit more hospitable?¡± Vlugh asked, nonchalantly tucking his arms behind his head. The others didn¡¯t respond, already feeling the squeeze of hundreds of fearful gazes. What Beelzebub and Ben knew of Lemonholm was the contents of a brief B-mail, compiling the most important information in a neat package. It was a small town that bordered the north end of the Vultuous Forest, famed for two things: its lemon orchards and its superstitious populace. Most of the remaining information was simply the opinions held by humans or random facts that were the results of the two most notable features. Some time ago, the city had outlawed paved roads from coming anywhere near its political border. They also only dealt with certain merchant and mercenary companies, charged Yiwi exorbitant prices for lemons, and all in all, the place was a generally unpleasant locale to visit. It was, in essence, a novelty. Nothing particularly important existed there, nobody important lived there, and worst of all, they didn¡¯t like people from out of town. As a result, Beelzebub had absolutely no idea why Mom was going along with Grehn¡¯s plan to ask them for additional food supplies. Isn¡¯t the food storage filling up anyway? Beelzebub thought. Maybe Mom¡¯s preparing for when little miss Belle finally focuses on one thing and makes more honey. Or maybe Trice has more plans. She wanted to destroy this little town. Maybe that was a bit much. She wanted to rush into town and shake every person in it until they gave up all their food. Already, these mere minutes spent hiding in the tree were torture for her; she didn¡¯t come up here to be stealthy! ¡°I¡¯d like to speak with the Lord directly,¡± Grehn finally said, ¡°but knowing him, he¡¯ll come find us, regardless. Let¡¯s go to a tavern or something.¡± ¡°Yes! Lemon juice!¡± Judging by his widening grin, Vlugh seemed happy with the plan. Ben, meanwhile, was happy to just look around, buzzing near rooftops to be as inconspicuous as possible. And Beelzebub continued to squirm, unaccustomed to the intricacies of stealth. _______ ¡°I remember Follo saying that the people here are fairly friendly with my kind, but it feels like the opposite is true.¡± ¡°In my experience, they¡¯re probably nervous about Vlugh and I rather than you. And not just ¡®cause we¡¯re mercenaries; it¡¯s purely because we¡¯re outsiders,¡± Grehn whispered, taking another sip of lemon juice. The trio had made their way into a quaint tavern, followed discreetly by Ben, who was sitting very still in the rafters. Looking around, Ben nearly laughed out loud, though such a feat was impossible for a bee. The humans in this town were hilarious. As soon as the group walked in, the patrons immediately went completely silent and had slowly scooted away until they were all up against the tavern¡¯s walls, staring into the wood-lined stone. The bartender had pointedly ignored Vlugh¡¯s pleas for lemon juice until Grehn slid a series of crumpled bits of metal, which turned out to be coins. The scrawny man ended up finally swiping away the coins and sliding three glasses the way of the travelers, with Elofan¡¯s being noticeably closer to the size of the other patrons. ¡°So what now? You said the town¡¯s Lord would come find us but¡­¡± ¡°No need to rush, Elofan,¡± Grehn said after another sip. ¡°We¡¯ve visited this place at least a couple times on business. Harven¡¯s is one of the few mercenary companies that Lemonholm allows to enter its walls, so I¡¯m confident I know how the City Lord will react to our presence. For now, let¡¯s just wait here.¡± ¡°Yeah, Grehn¡¯s right. How about you continue that story while we wait?¡± Vlugh said. Ben nearly laughed again when he saw how morose Vlugh looked, chin on the bar and empty glass rolling around in front of him. He had downed the entire drink in seconds, and since Grehn held the money, the bartender didn¡¯t seem likely to provide a refill any time soon. ¡°Fine enough. I was on the part where Follo walked in on Enfla while she was making a courting gift for Feltan, right? Man, that was funny. I remember Follo swinging around, whooping like a wild beast while Enfla chased him through the village. She nearly killed him when she caught up! If you could have seen the look on her face when Feltan showed up, I swear. I¡¯m pretty sure she still has the gift, too; she never ended up giving it to him. Can you believe that? The two of them are made for each, but the idiots keep putting things off for stupid reasons.¡± Grehn and Vlugh glanced at each other, thinking of a certain pair they knew. Maybe they weren¡¯t as ¡®made for each other¡¯ as Feltan and Enfla apparently were, but the idea of a bizarre relationship wasn¡¯t as unusual for them as Elofan might have thought. ¡°I guess things have been legitimately crazy lately, though. Your Knights really screwed things over for us, you know? Do you know how long it took me to figure out how to make it rain again? Whatever asshole angered the sky has a power that shouldn¡¯t exist,¡± Elofan said with a scowl. Grehn and Vlugh glanced at each other a second time. The Burning had been brought up constantly by Elofan on their trek to Lemonholm, so her sentiments were nothing new. However, it was the first they¡¯d heard of her being directly responsible for the reappearance of the rain. ¡°You were the one who brought the rain back?¡± Grehn said, full of newfound respect. ¡°I heard one of the Royal Guard themselves caused that. It must¡¯ve been a serious undertaking to perform a miracle like that when the fernen were in that state.¡± ¡°Oh man,¡± Elofan groaned, ¡°tell me about it. Mind isn¡¯t supposed to linger like that. I consider myself an expert on the matters of Mind when it comes to affecting nature, but whatever that ¡®Guard¡¯ of yours did is decidedly unnatural. In fact, it was directly opposed to nature. I was actually directly inspired by that to poison the river so we could take back an advantage and go into the forest.¡± If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°Oh right, that was you, wasn¡¯t it? Are you stupid?¡± Vlugh said, still slumped over the bar. ¡°You do know our Rotor would have purified your poisons, right?¡± ¡°Of course. That was the point. It was actually an incredibly detailed plan I came up with, I tell you. Look here: you humans would purify the water, not knowing what the deal was. It was possible you¡¯d assume the new rainfall was washing toxins into the river, and just ignore it, keeping your attention at home. Or, you¡¯d investigate the forest to find the source, which was what I hoped for. See, the Highchief is completely focused on humans, but the lingering threat of whatever made the shroud disappear has been the most pressing thing on our Minds. My poison strategy had the goal of weakening the presence of that unknown threat. Either the poison itself would hurt them, or the humans who went into the forest to search for the poison¡¯s source would encounter them. The rest is - or should¡¯ve been - history. The mysterious danger in the forest would be weakened, the humans would be cautious, and we would have the chance to move back in and heal the forest. It was genius!¡± Elofan said. Despite her apparent excitement, she knocked back the rest of her drink in one go, as if to drown her sorrows. ¡°I would¡¯ve gotten away with it too, if it weren¡¯t for those meddling bees.¡± ¡°Yes, our¡­ friends have proven to be extremely effective at making everything seem to go horribly wrong in any situation,¡± Grehn said, still sipping away. He was careful not to mention anything about bees, on the off chance someone might discern what he was saying. Elofan could get away with it, since the fernen language was so obscure that specific terminology wasn¡¯t present in human translation, but the pair of humans had to be more cautious. ¡°Even so, everything can always be traced back to you humans. Are you sure you don¡¯t know why those unnatural monsters of yours came to the forest and destroyed it? We still don¡¯t understand it whatsoever. If they came for us, they could have destroyed us. That¡¯s how powerful those ¡®Guards¡¯ were ¡ª even though we outnumbered them heavily, we stood no chance. But they let us flee. Same with the vultures. What were they thinking?¡± ¡°Like I said, we have no idea. It¡¯s as much a mystery for us as it is for you lot. When we found out the actual Royal Guard was waiting at our doorstep, I was sure Yiwi would be razed to the ground, and we would never even find out why. Their actions didn¡¯t up being much different.¡± ¡°They were scary, and I hate them,¡± Vlugh said slowly, ¡°but the Guard seem more cool than ordinary knights. Did you see the way those assholes looked at me? Like I was a speck of dirt on their shoe. At least the Guard just ignored me. I can¡¯t forgive them for destroying our orchards, though.¡± Elofan pat Vlugh on his shoulder, while Grehn finally finished his drink and ordered another round, making Vlugh perk up. The three of them continued to chatter, and in the meantime, Ben and Beelzebub discussed their critical plans for the town. ¡°We should have a dance party.¡± ¡°Ben, I love the idea. That¡¯s it, no other notes. Eh, Trice might not like it though. She said she¡¯d kill me if I wasn¡¯t stealthy enough.¡± ¡°Yeah¡­. But what else can we do? All Grehn wants to do is get these people to give us more food and pretend it¡¯s for Yiwi. And this place is way smaller than that big city. I¡¯ve pretty much looked at everything already.¡± ¡°That¡¯s what happens when all you think about is looking, buddy. Don¡¯t worry, Mom won¡¯t let them drag this out too long. I guess we should just relax and eat lemons until the humans end up leaving.¡± Even as she said that, Beelzebub couldn¡¯t help but snort. She was already so bored that she had half a mind to wander around the area, searching for monsters or mercenaries to play with. But the sight of a pair of glasses-like antennae made her shiver and hunker down. Why do I gotta be scared of her? I could totally take her on in a fight! Yeah, when I get back, I¡¯ll challenge her. I bet she got a taste for battle after that little duel with Feltan. Beelzebub had already grown bored with sparring, so even the thought of a duel didn¡¯t quench her thirst. Her only real battle had been against Toh that one time, and it was a slaughter. The man simply wasn¡¯t built to handle overwhelming power. Putting aside Beryl and Bend, who could offer only a modicum of challenge, her only real competition was Bedivere or her fellow Valkybees, but even then she was unsatisfied. They were strong, sure, but Belial was so enthused with improving his capability with guns and Beau¡¯s technology, while Belphegora had become enthralled with politics and subterfuge. Behemoth was too meek, and Bedivere¡­ he was a good match for Beelzebub¡¯s constant bloodthirst, but he was still Bedivere. Though she couldn¡¯t defeat him, he didn¡¯t provide much in the way of variety. And even then, she could feel herself understanding his tactics and skills more and more, making the matches closer and closer. But if she never got into a real fight, she felt like she would be starving her spirit. Just then, the door of the tavern swung open, forcing the already muted tavern to become eerily still. A man with a bushy brown beard that clashed against his smooth, boyish face walked in, flanked by three humans of varying shape and size, two women and one man. All of them wore identical uniforms, simple and clean suits of navy blue accented by identical turquoise scarves. Each also bore some type of weapon, with all four of them sporting at least one gun each. The first man was the shortest of the bunch, but he walked with the gait of a killer, and Beelzebub instantly tensed. She hadn¡¯t seen them at all until they walked into the tavern and into Ben¡¯s line of sight, and through his vision her gaze was stuck on the man in front, especially his simple, unadorned rifle and bayonet. Ben, meanwhile, noticed the twinkling silver medallions on their lapels, since they were so shiny and neat-looking. Especially that of the man in front, whose medallion was so exquisite it shamed most of the decorative pieces he¡¯d ever seen in Yiwi. ¡°Freakin¡¯ mercs! Freakin¡¯ in my town! I didn¡¯t call for you freaks, so what are you freakin¡¯ doing here?¡± A voice cried out before anyone could break the silence. A fifth person shoved past the looming soldiers, revealing a wrinkled old man in disheveled yellow clothing. Grehn recognized him as the Lord of Lemonholm, and stood, ready to plead his case. However, the beareded soldier turned and began to speak in a calm tone before he had the chance. ¡°Now Mister Sawah, calm down. They¡¯re just having a drink. If possible, could we continue our business? Having to follow you here on your whim was quite bothersome. I¡¯m sure that whatever business the mercenaries have is important, but we were in the middle of a conversation.¡± ¡°They¡¯re disrupting the town¡¯s peace! First you freakin¡¯ knights show up, now freakin¡¯ mercs. I don¡¯t know what terrible plot you lot are unfolding, but I tell you now, I won¡¯t let you have your way! I want all of you out by this time tomorrow. End!¡± Lord Sawah said before abruptly turning and storming away. The bearded soldier watched helplessly as the Lord left. ¡°Meyara, could you please go and try to convince Mister Sawah to continue cooperating with us? He seemed to dislike you least of any of us.¡± At his word, one of the women following him closed her eyes and took a deep breath before nodding and jogging away. The man sighed and made his way to the bar, tossing some coins down as he sat. Then he turned to the unusual trio next to him and extended his hand towards the still standing Grehn, who had stopped staring at the door and was now looking wide-eyed at the man¡¯s lapel. ¡°How do you do? Unusual group you have here. A Riktish, a Drevan, even a fernen. Mercenaries, at least the humans. I¡¯m Knight Commander Greyan. Nice to meet you.¡± Grehn¡¯s increasingly dry mouth didn¡¯t allow him to swallow, but he did manage to extend a hand in turn before he whispered. ¡°Yeah. Likewise.¡± Chapter 111 - The Knight Consbeeracy The bartender slid three new glasses towards the new patrons, and they weren¡¯t much bigger than those of Grehn or Vlugh. One of the soldiers turned his nose up at the drink, but the Commander nodded gratefully and took a length sip of the lemon beverage. Grehn forced himself to calm down and sat, casting further glances at the Commander¡¯s ornate medal. ¡°So,¡± he began, ¡°might I ask what knights are doing in this town?¡± Commander Greyan took another sip before leaning on the bar and smiling at the unusual trio. ¡°Do you really think our knightly business is any of yours? Our mission is a secret so dire it could affect the entire kingdom. If I told you, I¡¯d have to kill you.¡± He maintained eye contact with the group, each of which tensed at his words. However, the snobby soldier who still hadn¡¯t touched his drink sighed, while the more petite soldier dug her knuckles into the back of her superior¡¯s head. ¡°Why do you say that to every person who asks? It¡¯s really not as funny as you think it is. And your silly face always gives you away,¡± she said as Greyan winced, thought whether it was from her words or her fist was unclear. ¡°I think it¡¯s pretty funny! But yeah, Jey is right. The truth is, our task is rather dull. A bad shipment of lemons arrived in the capital, and apparently that¡¯s grounds to send an actual Knight Commander and three fully fledged Knights to investigate. If you ask me, our presence is nothing more than an elaborate scheme, a campaign of perception to expose more people to the fabled Knights and turn us into a more regular sight. Not that I think people will see the Knights in any sort of positive light for many years after the Burning.¡± Greyan was being very open, which immediately made Grehn suspicious. He was accustomed to liars, and while the Knight Commander actually struck him as a decent sort, he knew better than to trust someone in his position. ¡°It is true that our mission is not a secret,¡± the snobby soldier said, ¡°but that does not mean you should be explaining the details to every rube we encounter. Especially not to filthy mercenaries or their pet.¡± Greyan shook his head. ¡°I beg for you to excuse Herwen. He¡¯s a bit of a spoiled brat.¡± ¡°Spoiled brat is fine. But you should respect our titles and address us as ¡®Knight¡¯. Otherwise, even the common rabble will call to us with familiarity.¡± As the knights proceeded to bicker, Grehn and Vlugh were having a mental, panicked conversation with their hidden companions. ¡°Grehn, we should leave! If we stay here, the bees will get discovered for sure.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know that. They haven¡¯t noticed our Linkers, and those are the most obvious signs of the bees. Ben is actually pretty decent at hiding, and Beelzebub is outside of the town. I think we can still make it if we¡¯re quick. Thoughts?¡± ¡°The knights look cool. But they¡¯re strong. I¡¯m fine with whatever!¡± ¡°I wanna fight them. I wanna fight them really bad. But that¡¯s a pretty bad idea, honestly. Especially if we had to fight all four of them.¡± The two bee companions were of little help in making a decision. However, there were a few other bees who were always watching, and were happy to provide their input. Beatrice, after consulting for a moment with Belphegora, decided that the team should speak to the Lord as quickly as possible and leave at the first opportunity. However, they were advised not to rush or act in a way that seemed suspicious, lest the knights follow them. ¡°So? What about your little group?¡± Greyan¡¯s question brought Grehn back to reality, and he grimaced. Wasn¡¯t this the opportunity he had been looking for? If there was anyone who could deal with the bees, it was the Knights of Somuia. He felt torn between the disdain he held for the oppressive warriors and the hope they sparked within him. Not that it mattered. The bees were watching intently, and there was no chance that they would allow him to make a move in this situation. ¡°We also have business with the Lord. We¡¯re from Yiwi. Times have been tough recently, so we thought to come here to ask for scraps, if you can believe it.¡± Greyan¡¯s eyes misted over. ¡°Believe it I do. The Burning has no doubt crippled Yiwi. Hell, the past few weeks have seen not a crumb of trade coming from the city. Are things really so bad over there?¡± ¡°You don¡¯t know the half of it,¡± Vlugh said as he savored the last drops of his juice. ¡°No more food. No more wood. No fruits. No damn fruits.¡± Greyan cast a look at his comrades, catching Jey¡¯s sympathetic eye. Herwen ignored them. The Commander looked like he wanted to say something, but he stopped himself and turned to nursing his drink. Taking the opportunity, Elofan stood to leave, but Greyan suddenly turned back to the group. ¡°One more thing. The fernen. What¡¯s the deal with that? I don¡¯t know too much about them, but I do know they¡¯re not on the friendliest terms with humans. Does it also have something to do with the Burning?¡± ¡°Yeah, that¡¯s right, you mangy son of a bitch. I¡¯m here ¡®cause of your buddies, and I wanna stick that weapon of yours up your ass and wave you around like a flag.¡± Greyan simply looked at Elofan, unable to understand her seemingly calm whoops and snarls, and nodded. ¡°Right, I suppose it¡¯s a sensitive subject. Nevermind then; I¡¯ll let you lot go about your business. Good luck. I¡¯ll see about talking to my superiors on the subject of providing some sort of aid to Yiwi when I return to the capital.¡± With that, the group stood to leave. Grehn¡¯s thoughts pounded, desperately trying to think of a way to leverage this opportunity. Greyan really did seem decent, even if his companions were somewhat suspect, but he would have taken anything if it meant freeing Yelah and the rest of Yiwi. But as he turned and walked away, the tiny bee hidden by his hair and clothes throbbed as an ever-present reminder of his hopeless situation. _________ ¡°Lord Sawah? Please speak with us. We¡¯ll leave as soon as we finish talking.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. After nearly an hour of pounding on the door, Vlugh was ready to give up on their mission. He knew it was mostly a ploy by Grehn to search for a possible solution to the bee problem anyway, but there was some merit in the idea of asking Lemonholm for supplies. They had protected their orchards with numerous proprietary countermeasures against the fire, which meant it hadn¡¯t managed to spread to the fields. The result was full bellies and storehouses, added to by the fact that the superstitious people of the town always grew far more than they needed, for any number of reasons. He had heard them say that it was preparation for anything ranging from an apocalypse of revived corpses, to tiny men that stole food from your plate when you weren¡¯t looking, and even for the event that beings from beyond the stars descended and kidnapped most of humanity. The imaginations of these people never ceased to amaze him. ¡°Do you believe the knights, Vlugh? About why they¡¯re here?¡± Vlugh groaned. Grehn had been even more silent than usual, thinking obsessively about his supposed saviors. In Vlugh¡¯s eyes, the Knights were untrustworthy scum who had ruined everything. The Burning had robbed him and his home of everything they had, and even further, had dismantled Vlugh¡¯s already shaky reputation amongst normal people. Once again, they stared at him with disdain or loathing or fear, and for what? Drevans weren¡¯t the only people with Abilities that involved fire. Why was he bearing the brunt of mistreatment when he wasn¡¯t even close to being involved? At least here in Lemonholm, people reacted that way solely on the basis that he was an outsider. It wasn¡¯t much better, but he could count on them to judge him in ways that felt less personal. At the same time, he hated to find himself feeling hope thanks to the Knights. Unlike the two lower ranked knights, Greyan looked at Vlugh with eyes reminiscent of the Royal Guard. Less judgmental. More like he was just another mercenary barely worthy of attention. ¡°Nope. What he was saying just doesn¡¯t make sense; a whole-ass Knight Commander doesn¡¯t just walk around shaking hands and smiling to increase their image. They¡¯re killers. Strong ones. Which makes it weird that they¡¯re here in this weirdo town. But I know that isn¡¯t changing your mind, and I get it. But you¡¯ve gotta be careful, man. All of us are already on thin ice with the bees, and I don¡¯t want you to leave me and Rette alone.¡± Elofan was attempting to peer into the windows by hanging onto the roof with her long arms, but something akin to thick curtains blocked the view. She grumbled as she rejoined the humans, sitting down next to Grehn, who continued to ruminate. ¡°If the knights are really here on mundane business, we¡¯re going to stand out no matter what. Regardless of what excuses we gave them, Elofan is too much of an oddity to suddenly appear in a place like this. No matter what happens, we¡¯ll stick out in their minds. Worst case, if the knights eventually come into conflict with the hive, we¡¯re going to be the first ones they look for.¡± ¡°Are you two still going on about those stupid humans?¡± Elofan said. ¡°The only good ¡®knight¡¯ is a dead one, in my opinion. Are you sure that evil creature hiding in the orchard can¡¯t come in here and slaughter them?¡± Grehn was quick to respond. ¡°I don¡¯t know, and it¡¯s best if we don¡¯t find out.¡± It was a statement with layered meaning, implying caution while veiling fear. As long as the bees didn¡¯t come in and demonstrate they could somehow manhandle Somuian Knights, he could retain a bit of hope. A spindly passerby strolling along the main road noticed the trio resting in front of the Lord¡¯s house and spat on the ground near them. He gave them a dirty look before continuing on his way, making room for another random person to stare with contempt. In the hour since they had begun waiting at the Lord¡¯s home, the citizens of Lemonholm had gradually begun to filter out of their houses and go about their business, apparently recovering from the sight of two groups of unusual visitors. Elofan initially questioned whether they were still wary, considering their hunched and gloomy demeanor, but Vlugh had clarified that this was simply the typical state of a Lemonholm native. ¡°These people make no sense. I¡¯ve never been within the town myself, but I saw them from a distance, and they were never this hostile. Why would they be so much more antagonistic towards their fellow humans than even us fernen?¡± she asked Grehn, attempting to steer his thoughts away from the mysteries of the knights. ¡°The thing about Lemonholm is that, for some reason, a very particular type of individual is the only one welcomed here. Ironically, those are the ones most distrusting of others. Most people who live further away than Yiwi only hear about the most outlandish ideas that originate in Lemonholm, like the talk of giant, man-eating insects or imminent world-destroying rocks. But the core beliefs of this place are that other people can¡¯t be trusted. Everyone is a liar, a cheat, a criminal, or something inhuman in disguise. Or, that¡¯s what they believe. And so who could they possibly trust? Only those who are untrusting as they are. Put them all together, and their fear and paranoia stir together into this. Into Lemonholm. Of course, it¡¯s a very specific sort of place. Either Vlugh or I could tell you that humans everywhere have a seed of distrust within them for other humans.¡± Vlugh nodded along, while Elofan simply crossed her arms and tilted her head. The three of them sat in silence for a while, at some point asking Ben what was going on with the knights, only to receive the same response for the twentieth time: they were doing absolutely nothing. Some time after they had left, the fourth knight had returned to the tavern and joined her fellows, and the four had simply sat around drinking and chatting about nothing of consequence, mostly battle tactics and strategies, occasionally managing to get a clipped response from the bartender or a close-by patron. It was of no interest to the three humanoids, but Ben and Beelzebub seemed enthralled by the conversation. The humans, meanwhile, wondered how such meat-heads could be related to some of the most conniving minds they had ever had the displeasure of meeting. ¡°What are you three doing in front of Yojer¡¯s house?¡± A new voice asked. It turned out to be an elderly woman, one whose face was notably less perturbed by the strangers. ¡°We simply have some business to inquire about. Do you know if he¡¯s still at home?¡± Grehn responded, the woman needing to lean in to hear his whispers. ¡°Well, it is still working hours, so I came to check on him. He hasn¡¯t been back to the town hall since that woman knight came to ask some questions. I can¡¯t promise that you lot will be accommodated, but I might convince him to give up a moment of his time.¡± ¡°Thank you miss¡­?¡± ¡°Sawah. Muweh Sawah. The old fool is my husband. Come.¡± The woman led the trio to the door and pulled out a massive keyring, proceeding to undo nearly a dozen locks. Vlugh rolled his eyes at the spectacle, and Elofan was simply astonished. It seemed that the mistrust of others still extended to those within the town. As the door finally creaked open, the trio was treated to an utterly perplexing sight. The house was made entirely of wood, a luxury that could only be afforded by a town surrounded with trees. But what made their brains draw a blank was the excessive lemon-themed memorabilia plastered across every inch of the building¡¯s interior. Lemon tapestries, lemon paintings, shiny lemon trophies of all shapes and sizes. The sight continued from the entryway to the living room, and even into the hallways deeper inside as they searched through the darkness for the Lord. While there was no light, the vibrant yellow was still bright enough to nearly hurt the trio¡¯s eyes. ¡°Yojer Sawah, you codger, I know you¡¯re in here. These people were waiting outside just to speak with you. Have a bit of class.¡± Muweh said as they approached a dimly lit doorway, presumably leading to some sort of study. ¡°Huh. Weird. Those knights just zoomed out of here. It¡¯s cool that I can finally leave this place, but they move so fast.¡± Ben¡¯s words that suddenly floated into Grehn and Vlugh¡¯s Minds sounded off countless warning bells, but Muweh¡¯s scream pierced through any thoughts they might have. Behind the tightly closed door was the body of Lord Sawah, bloody and contorted in unnatural ways. Muweh stumbled backwards into Grehn¡¯s arms and he stiffened, at a loss for what to do. A booming crash shook the house as something landed outside, and the front door flew open, the bang accompanied by Knight Commander Greyan¡¯s shout. ¡°Mister Sawah? Is everything alright?¡± Chapter 112 - And Then There Were Lemon Onlookers crowded around the entrance of the late Lord Sawah¡¯s house, witnessing a standoff. The tension was thick enough to swim in. The four knights stood with their rifles extended, staring at Grehn¡¯s sword, Vlugh¡¯s pistols, and the gently flowing arms of Elofan. Other than Elofan and the onlookers, the only movements were the shaking shoulders of Muweh Sawah, who was standing between the furious weapons with tears flowing from her eyes. ¡°Please, valiant Knights, I don¡¯t think it could have been these people. I brought them in the locked door myself.¡± ¡°Are you going to entertain this nonsense, Commander?¡± Herwen said with a sneer. ¡°Who else could have killed the Lord? I bet they¡¯re getting paid with a commoner¡¯s fortune for such a heinous act.¡± ¡°No violence¡­ please, no violence¡­¡± Muweh didn¡¯t move from her spot. The narrow entryway meant that neither party could do anything without hurting her. And so they could do nothing but make empty threats. ¡°Missus Sawah, you understand our suspicion, don¡¯t you? How convenient that Mister Sawah should be murdered in his home, which these three were waiting at, soon after their arrival in town,¡± Greyan said slowly, not taking his eyes off the group. ¡°Yeah. Convenient. Almost extremely so, wouldn¡¯t you say, mister Knight Commander?¡± Grehn responded in his whispered tone. It was a useful manner of speaking in such a stressful situation. Greyan¡¯s eyes narrowed. ¡°What are you implying, mercenary, whose name was also conveniently never mentioned?¡± Grehn didn¡¯t respond, his point clear. He and the other two knew for a fact that they were not the killers, quite obviously. However, they didn¡¯t have enough of a case against the Knights either. In fact, their innocence was nearly fully corroborated by the fact that Ben had been watching them since they stepped foot in the bar. All except for one of the four. ¡°If you can¡¯t provide us with evidence of your innocence, we will have no choice but to take you into custody. No violence will be needed if you come peacefully.¡± ¡°You expect us to believe that?¡± Vlugh said. His voice was not nearly as soothing as Grehn¡¯s. ¡°If you really are the murderers, then that means you¡¯re taking us in to frame us. And even if you¡¯re not, we have no reason to trust your word. You¡¯ll deem us guilty and pressure us to admit to a crime we didn¡¯t commit. No winning for us.¡± ¡°Please, all of you, stop. Every second you waste in this standoff is another second that the killer remains hidden. I want justice for my husband, but I want real justice. I want his killer, with no doubt of their guilt. As far as I¡¯m concerned¡­¡± Muweh said as she looked slowly towards the Knights, ¡°you four are the most suspicious in the town.¡± For the first time, Greyan looked away from the trio and stared, incredulous, at the little old lady standing defiantly mere centimeters away from his bayonet. He paused, then slowly lowered his weapon, to the surprise of his team. ¡°Commander, what-¡° ¡°Stand down. We¡¯re going to cooperate.¡± ¡°But Commander, you¡¯re not seriously going to go along with this-¡° ¡°Listen.¡± He turned to his squad and to the people outside watching with bated breath. ¡°A man was just killed. The leader and crown-recognized Lord of this town, no less. My team is innocent, but I understand that the Knights are not viewed favorably right now. Regardless, we are on your side, on the side of Somuia¡¯s people. We will cooperate with Miss Sawah to find the killer and exonerate ourselves in the process. Until the killer is found, not a single soul will leave the walls of Lemonholm. That includes you mercenaries and your fernen companion, of whom I am still wary. This will be a peaceful investigation. Violence will be reserved only in turn to violence. Now. Stand. Down.¡± Greyan¡¯s words carried a pressure not unlike a forceful display of Mind, and the tension was forcefully crushed by his strength. His soldiers reluctantly brought down their weapons, as did the trio. They never imagined that a simple trip to find food would turn into a full-blown murder mystery. ¡°Thank you, Knight Commander,¡± Muweh said, ¡°I am grateful. But please, let me rest for a moment. Just a moment.¡± The elderly woman hunched over, like a tree bowing in the wind. Greyan moved quickly and Grehn tensed, but instead of attacking, the soldier grabbed the woman and supported her. As he led her to a chair, the mercenaries and other Knights stared at each other. Grehn and Vlugh grimaced simultaneously. This temporary truce would just be the precursor to a massive, annoying situation.
As it turns out, murder mysteries get complicated quick. Especially when most parties can be suspected of guilt, and there are severe gaps in status and notoriety. ¡°Once again, I don¡¯t understand why you are the ones being allowed to ask questions. Aren¡¯t you just as much under scrutiny as we are?¡± Grehn said to Herwen. ¡°And I repeat: we are Knights. Authorities of the crown itself. Naturally, we would be the ones conducting the investigation.¡± They stared at each other across a table, surrounded on all sides by glaring townsfolk. It was a far cry from a traditional interrogation. The knights had requested privacy in order to question each member of the trio, but Muweh and the various citizens of Lemonholm immediately shot the idea down. So, they ended up dragging a table and a pair of chairs out to the center of town, near a crumbling stone fountain, and were asking questions in broad daylight, surrounded by a throng of curious onlookers. ¡°What are your names? What is your purpose in Lemonholm? Can that purpose be vouched for by a trusted member of a sanctioned mercenary company? Can you corroborate the story of waiting for over an hour outside of the Lord¡¯s home without noticing his murder? Explain the presence of a fernen amongst your group.¡± ¡°See, these questions don¡¯t actually help anyone. My name is Grehn, my companion, the Drevan, is called Vlugh, and the fernen is Elofan. As I originally stated to your Commander, we¡¯re here on a small, diplomatic quest at the behest of paying Yiwi citizens to acquire additional food supplies. Ask anyone at Hayrey and Sons¡¯, our employer. I know you don¡¯t believe me, but several people passed and harassed us as we waited for the Lord to emerge. You could ask them. Or even his wife, who looks like she wants to bite your head off right now. I don¡¯t see how the fernen is relevant to this issue,¡± Grehn said in his ever-calm voice. He leaned forward. This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it ¡°Actually, why not make this a two-way conversation? It really is odd that we didn¡¯t notice the Lord¡¯s murder, isn¡¯t it? It¡¯s also strange that, as per your very own investigation headed by a Knight Commander, no signs of forced entry were found. Clearly, we wouldn¡¯t have been able to enter the building, as we needed Missus Sawah¡¯s keys to enter. Did I mention keys, as in plural? Or the various protective measures the late Lord so painstakingly put in place? The Lord¡¯s home is protected heavily, so even subtle forced entry seems far-fetched. It makes more sense that trusted figures, who were already meeting with the Lord, and who just so happened to be alone with him prior to our arrival, would be able to enter his home alongside him.¡± Grehn¡¯s accusations were a combination of his own observations, along with some argumentative wording courtesy of Belphegora. She was barely involved at all, mostly keeping the entire debacle at the back of her mind. Even Beatrice had stopped paying attention entirely, busying herself with other matters. The truth was, they didn¡¯t care all that much what happened to the humans or Elofan. Most of the bees didn¡¯t To them, the only concern was the survival of Ben and Beelzebub, and until it seemed like they were in any danger, the situation is Lemonholm was of little interest. Despite all that, Grehn¡¯s talking points were clearly quite convincing. Several of the already doubtful Lemonholmians began to turn their ire towards the Knights, and the small group of three rigid warriors found themselves surrounded by a question: did they do it? Herwen, to his credit, didn¡¯t appear fazed on the outside. But he was being silent, which told Grehn all he needed to know. He was nervous, unable to respond to the claims. He didn¡¯t know the man very well, but he was clearly a scion from a noble upbringing who was used to getting his way, so being confronted like this must¡¯ve been uncomfortable. ¡°Compelling argument, mister Grehn.¡± Greyan gently pushed through the crowd, followed by Elofan and a pair of burly Lemonholm men. They had been investigating the house further, as nothing of note had been found the first time around. The mercenaries and several people from Lemonholm hadn¡¯t let the Knights out of their sight; the mercenaries were beginning to feel no small amount of gratitude for the constant paranoia in the heart of every person in this town. Even if they wanted to, the Knights would have no chance of planting evidence to incriminate the mercenaries further. ¡°But as many holes as there are in our story, yours is a bit more far-fetched. For instance, we have specific eye-witness accounts that show Meyara did not follow mister Sawah all the way to his home, and so none of us Knights were ever in the proximity of his murder. You yourselves say you encountered her storming towards the bar. Which way did you say she was coming from again?¡± He waited. When Grehn didn¡¯t respond, he continued. ¡°Right, from an alleyway near the shoe store. And to arrive at the Lord¡¯s home, you need to turn and go in a different direction. Perhaps not the most compelling evidence, but your own word seems to be held in high esteem. As for the time you spent at his home, you still seem unable - or unwilling - to explain it. We do not know of your Abilities, and we are wholly ignorant of the capabilities of the fernen, so we must take you for your word that you were unable to enter his home undetected as well. In my eyes, what I¡¯m more concerned about is the motive. Why would someone want to kill the Lord? You know our mission. You know our current reputation. Killing the Lord serves no purpose and provides no benefit. All it results in is disorder and pain. Perhaps our mission is false. I see you wanting to ask that. Even so, killing the Lord in broad daylight gives nothing to the Knights. Or to the Kingdom itself. So I wonder, what could mercenaries from Yiwi stand to gain from killing the Lord of a nearby stable town? Power and influence, perhaps. Supplies, as you claim? Or a reward, most likely. Assassination is not an uncommon task doled out to those in your profession.¡± Greyan¡¯s arguments were far from rock solid, and he knew it. Grehn saw it on his face. It was subtle, but there was the barest hint of something there, as if he didn¡¯t quite believe what he was saying. But he couldn¡¯t be sure if it was actually because the Commander had been responsible for the Lord¡¯s death in any way. More likely, it was because neither party had a definitive case against the other, and equally shaky grounds for their own innocence. Rather than proving who was the innocent party, it felt more like they were arguing about who was less guilty. ¡°If we¡¯re talking about motive, I couldn¡¯t begin to imagine what yours might be. But to say you could have none is pretty willfully deceptive. If you were commanded to kill someone, I have no doubt you¡¯d do it. But there¡¯s one more thing bothering me. Why did you just so happen to arrive, guns blazing, just as we found Lord Sawah¡¯s body? Forget the impeccable timing; you knew something was wrong and came in full force.¡± This time, Greyan was the one rendered silent. That detail was the smoking gun, so to speak. Mumbles arose in the crowd as the tide shifted. There were few supporters of the Knights remaining, or so it seemed. Greyan spoke again. ¡°¡­It was I who urged my team to move. I sensed an alarming signal of Mind coming from his house. There is nothing else I can point to.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not an idle piece of evidence. The Commander is notable for his sensitivity to danger. It is recorded in the public works of the Knights,¡± the Knight Jey said, stepping forwards. The other Knights also stepped forth to surround Greyan, acting as shields for the shorter man. Just like when they first entered the bar, they cut an imposing figure when they stood together, like a wall of muscle and thick fabric and shiny medals. Suddenly, a new, unknown voice spoke up over the whispering crowd. ¡°Um, I changed my mind. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s you Knights anymore.¡± Everyone turned, finding the speaker to be a young man with a bare hint of stubble just barely growing in. Greyan glowed, happy to finally be trusted. ¡°Is that so, lad? Tell us, then, why do you think so?¡± The young man swallowed, steeling his face. ¡°You Knights are alright. Everyone says you¡¯re terrible, but I just don¡¯t know. My cart had a busted wheel when you arrived a couple days ago and you helped me bring it back into town. You carried the dang thing on your backs. I was scared of ya¡¯, but I¡¯m starting to think you¡¯re alright. I think it was old man Seyorohon.¡± Without warning, he brought his finger up and pointed¡­ at a random person in the crowd. ¡°What! You idiot boy, Yojer Sawah was my best friend. He was like a brother to me!¡± ¡°Exactly. You must have a reason to kill him. And a way to get into his house.¡± ¡°Well, what about Betty? She always hated that his lemons always won the yearly Lemon Rodeo!¡± ¡°Oh screw you, old man. My lemons were always the best, that¡¯s for sure. But I¡¯m not gonna kill a guy over some stupid lemons!¡± All at once, the crowd devolved into a mass of shouting and flying fists, with the original accused parties stuck in the middle. Accusations flew left and right, everybody seeming to have some motive, capability, or opportunity to commit the murder. Nobody bothered defending themselves; instead, they decided to throw accusations towards others in retaliation. The Knights tried to calm the increasingly violent brawl, shouting over the screams and holding people back, while the mercenaries attempted to shove their way out to avoid injury. What had been an intense investigation only moments ago had quickly turned into a bloodbath. In the middle of it all knelt Muweh Sawah, sobbing at the sight as the sudden violence swirled around her. She didn¡¯t attempt to stop it. As it turns out, murder mysteries can get complicated quick. Especially when an entire town can be suspected of guilt, and the only people involved don¡¯t trust a soul. Chapter 113 - Now You’re In The Box, For Safebeeping As accusations continued to fly, the crowd devolved into a mass of mounting hysteria. The efforts of the Knights to quell the fighting were a failure. Shouts and blood flew in earnest. At some point, it was obvious that a more forceful method would have to be used, but they seemed to hesitate. A gap in the scuffle appeared, revealing the prone, sobbing form of Muweh Sawah, and Grehn saw Greyan¡¯s face harden. Then, to his amazement, Greyan punched himself in the chest and stomach. A gentle wave of Mind passed over the area as Greyan¡¯s clothes expanded, and the other Knights dropped their satchels and unbuttoned their uniforms. Beneath the cloth sat delicate silver weavings, which upon closer inspection turned out to be exceptionally fine chain-mail. The only remaining cloth, the scarves, wrapped around each Knight in a unique way. As they revealed their combat uniforms, they reached into their satchels to retrieve bundles of interlocked bits of metal, which they undid and clasped to their vital areas. They completed the look with gloves of mail and thin helmets that expanded outwards to fit their heads, each with similar designs that covered everything but their eyes. Greyan¡¯s ¡®transformation¡¯ was just that. Rather than retrieving any extra pieces, his armor seemed to grow under his officer uniform like a shifting mass of metal. His clothes eventually fell off as the armor beneath revealed itself, eliciting gasps from nearby Lemonholmians, who immediately stopped fighting. Somehow, a full suit of solid plate had crept around and encased him, entirely hidden until that moment. The metal seemed to move like it had a mind of its own, slotting and shifting in sections, growing to cover everything from his fingers to his toes. The pressure of his Mind ebbed and flowed with each movement of the metal, and when it finally only had the helmet left to form, the metal sheets stopped around his neck. He was exposing his face to the crowd to leave an impression. And whether from the fancy display of magical knight transformation, the overt display of Mind, or the dangerous feeling that emerged whenever the Knight Commander¡¯s armor was in sight, the fighting slowed to a crawl. But it didn¡¯t end yet. ¡°STOP. Everyone except those who have been authorized to continue the investigation will wait within the town hall, effective immediately. Once proper preparations have been taken, you will soon be directed towards your homes. You will all be confined to your residences while the investigation is under way.¡± After that, nobody moved. Some, like Muweh Sawah, looked around in relief and confusion. ¡°NOW.¡± Greyan¡¯s Mind leaked into his voice, and the effect was immediate. People began to mill towards the town hall, many still confused. A select few, including Muweh Sawah, the two burly Lemonholm men from before, and an official-looking man and woman stayed in place, staring at the Knight Commander, resplendent in his suit of shiny armor. The trio sat still, unsure of what to do. Elofan in particular still held her arms at the ready, her Mind primed to act. This much conflict was putting her on edge. They weren¡¯t going to try to escape during the chaos. That would be dangerous. They also tried to ignore the squeal of delight coming from a faraway Ben, who was enjoying the Knight¡¯s display a lot more than worrying about its implications. Grehn¡¯s eyes met with Greyan¡¯s. Something passed between the two men, a sort of unspoken understanding. With a wave of his arm, Greyan began to move towards a nearby alley, and both eventually followed. The three outsiders found themselves confronted with Greyan¡¯s intimidating form. ¡°I still don¡¯t trust you mercenaries.¡± ¡°Is that all you brought us here to say?¡± Grehn asked. ¡°But, and I do not say this lightly, things seem more complicated here than I first anticipated. I¡¯m willing to set in place a truce between us while we investigate the murder, in a fair way. In a show of good faith¡­¡± Greyan rooted around his satchel, ignoring the slack jaws and wide eyes of his teammates. It was a scene Grehn never thought he¡¯d see, such official and grandiose-looking Knights standing flabbergasted in an alley. If the situation weren¡¯t this serious, Grehn might¡¯ve laughed. Finally, Greyan held out a small leather pouch. He tossed the bag over to Grehn, but Vlugh snatched it out of his hands and peeked inside. Without saying a word, he passed the bag back to Grehn. Elofan, meanwhile, acted with complete disinterest. Inside were coins. Ordinary, everyday coins. Except these were shiny, unblemished, imprinted coins so silvery they may as well have been white. And the pouch only contained these types of coins; at least a dozen. With that much money, the entirety of Yelah¡¯s team could buy a whole apartment complex in Yiwi. In the nicer parts of the city. Each. Rette would have fainted. But Grehn was forced to look past the shine. ¡°This is¡­ a lot. Like, an insane amount. You realize this makes you look more suspicious, right? Almost like you¡¯re paying us to look the other way.¡± ¡°As long as we don¡¯t get blamed, I¡¯d be fine with that,¡± Vlugh said. Grehn elbowed him in the side. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°I understand that. This doesn¡¯t come without provisions, of course. It¡¯s a hiring fee. Not so official, perhaps, but I¡¯m sure you can look past that. My terms are these: you help us find the murderer. If that murderer just so happens to be yourselves, well, consider that as compensation for the time you¡¯ll spend locked away. If we arrest you and you are innocent, you may not be locked away for very long. If we are the ones to bring you in, whatever happens when you leave our clutches will be no business of mine.¡± It was a good deal. A great one, in fact. Typically, Grehn, or rather, Yelah, would have no issue with taking the ¡®hiring fee¡¯ and playing along with the Knights¡¯ game. Even if they were arrested, bribery or paying a hefty fine would be meaningless in the face of the massive sum they just received. There was exactly one problem: the bees. The Linkers, specifically. If they were searched by security officers or even these very Knights, things could become awkward quickly. However, it did seem like the best option. Hopefully, it would help convince the Knights not to arrest them. However, if the Knights were responsible¡­ they could simply try to arrest them then and there. ¡°Okay, we¡¯ll do it. But I¡¯ll tell you this right now: we didn¡¯t murder that man. If you decide to arrest us, we won¡¯t go peacefully.¡± Greyan nodded. His companions were still looking between their commanding officer and the three extremely suspicious characters, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But Greyan simply turned and began walking back towards the fountain. ¡°First things first, we need to ensure nobody leaves the town. Unfortunately, if someone is extremely adept at hiding themselves, they might have been able to leave already, but it would require skills so far above ours that it wouldn¡¯t matter,¡± he said as he walked away. ¡°Commander,¡± Jey said, easily keeping pace with Greyan, ¡°what exactly are you planning? Aren¡¯t those most of the funds for our mission? If those mercenaries really are the murderers, wouldn¡¯t you just be rewarding them?¡± ¡°Jey, money isn¡¯t a concern of ours. It is one for mercenaries. I was hoping that would be enough to make them give themselves up if it really was them. Either they were paid an exorbitant amount for their mission, they fear prison more than expected, or¡­ they simply didn¡¯t do it. Either way, we¡¯ll eventually find the truth about these mercenaries.¡± Vlugh cleared his throat. ¡°¡­You know we can hear you guys, right?¡± Greyan only grinned in response. As they approached the fountain, Grehn and Vlugh were having a heated conversation in their heads. Vlugh wanted to take the deal and get out of dodge as quickly as possible, while Grehn wanted to take the deal and delay. Neither saw the payment as the issue; it was what came after. Vlugh was vehemently against getting arrested, considering the possible issues that could arise from an inspection. Grehn, of course, didn¡¯t really care about that. If the bees were found, he wouldn¡¯t complain. They came upon the remaining Lemonholmians who would be involved in the investigation, who were whispering amongst themselves. After a brief exchange with Greyan, the two officials in marginally neater clothing than the typical resident of the town followed him and the mercenaries. As they walked, Grehn observed the knights. Their armor clinked with every step in a grim rhythm, but it was Greyan¡¯s that was the most unsettling. Because it made no sound whatsoever. Somehow, his footsteps were even more quiet than before he had been encased in metal. Grehn had never seen armor like that before, and for his first time to be in a situation where it might bear down on him at any moment was somewhat unsettling. ¡°You humans have devised some scary things with metal. It¡¯s just like those horrific monsters from the Burning,¡± Elofan said quietly, not that anyone could understand her. ¡°You mean the Royal Guard? I thought they were strong already, but if they have bizarre technology like those suits of armor, then it doesn¡¯t really seem fair. Although, I wonder if fire would cook them in there¡­¡± Vlugh whispered. ¡°Anyway, what exactly is that knight¡¯s plan? What are we doing? I don¡¯t care about your human money; what I want are results, of any sort. And so far, this entire trip has been one big disaster.¡± ¡°To the entrance gates, it seems,¡± Grehn replied. ¡°It¡¯s technically the only way in and out of town, unless you want to climb the walls. Which is an unpleasant idea, apparently.¡± He frowned. ¡°How do you plan to keep people inside the town, Commander Greyan?¡± Said Commander waved towards the approaching wall. ¡°When we arrived in town, we set up some standard detection measures. All standard procedure, nothing fancy. But simple detection isn¡¯t sufficient. We need to make sure nobody, not even an insect, can leave these walls. Without many powerful Mind users, physically preventing people from going beyond the walls isn¡¯t possible, not if we¡¯re going to be conducting an investigation and keeping each other in check. But we can still create a more powerful Lock than the one we are currently using, especially with you helping.¡± The events of the past hour continued replaying in Grehn¡¯s head as his mind continued to reel. The sudden discovery of Lord Sawah¡¯s body, the confrontations, accusations, and the Knight¡¯s sudden desire for cooperation. Or, at least, Greyan¡¯s desire for cooperation. He didn¡¯t miss the frequent looks thrown their way by the other three Knights. However, the two weights pressing on him pulled him in different directions. The new weight of the coin purse showed him a way out - not through the money itself, but the lengths Greyan was willing to go. And the other, a familiar weight on his neck. Finally, Greyan came to a stop before the entrance gates of Lemonholm. He turned, gazing at each person before him. They really were a motley group. ¡°Okay. We will be re-purposing our Lock to be more secure and work at a larger scale. I¡¯ll devise new specifications. It¡¯ll probably be similar to the old version of the containment barrier, the one from two years ago, with some modern touches. I¡¯ll finish the redesign and draw up a plan so I can convey the specifications to the rest.¡± He nodded to his squad. ¡°You three, inspect the wall. The rest of you can join them in some way, split yourselves up however you please. If someone wants to stay with me, I¡¯ll be at the entrance gates.¡± Nodding again, Greyan turned and sat on the dusty ground, ignoring the effect of the grime on his spotless suit of armor. He closed his eyes, almost seeming to meditate. The Knights immediately got to work, leaving the mercenaries and the Lemonholmians to scramble after them. Only Elofan stayed behind, keeping a wary eye on the Knight Commander. Chapter 114 - The Walls Smell Nice ¡°Go back to Greyan. Go back! I can¡¯t see his armor from this hiding spot, dang it!¡± ¡°Ben, stay hidden,¡± Grehn thought to the buzzing bee, striding Herwen with fake nonchalance. ¡°But! But! The armor! It¡¯s the coolest freaking thing I¡¯ve ever looked at! The other knights are lame, go back to Greyan.¡± Grehn, and by extension Vlugh, ignored the request, which no other bee seemed to see as an issue. The mercenaries tuned out the overexcited ¡®oohs¡¯ and ¡®ahs¡¯ pouring into their heads and continued their task. There was quite a lot each was trying to ignore. Behind Grehn was the labored breathing of one of the professional Lemonholmians, the older man with the notable gut, which wouldn¡¯t be so terrible if it didn¡¯t annoy Herwen to the point that he was growling in frustration. The level of anger that man could muster as they did little more than walk along the wall¡¯s perimeter was inspiring. Before the investigators had split up into their current groups, Herwen went off by himself, and the Lemonholmian officials made a fuss before the other two knights, Jey and Meyara, could also split. So, the man with the gut followed Herwen, and the other official forced the remaining Knights to stick together alongside herself. Unfortunately, Vlugh beat Grehn to the punch, following the group that, by pure coincidence, did not include Herwen. Now, however, Vlugh insisted that he wanted to switch with Grehn, who found that hard to believe. ¡°You are the Knight who was following Lord Sawah around, weren¡¯t you? I¡¯m not convinced of your innocence. You encountered the mercenaries in the alleyway by Seyorohon¡¯s shoe store, correct? What color is the sign with the sandal?¡± The other Lemonholmian official, a woman just about as portly as her counterpart and whose face appeared as if she had been tasting too many lemons, fired off questions towards the Knights. She still hadn¡¯t volunteered her name. ¡°I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re talking about,¡± the larger Knight, Meyara, said with a light sigh. ¡°Hm. I think the answer to this ¡®mystery¡¯ is becoming more clear,¡± the official woman said. ¡°I swear, Meyara, I¡¯m gonna-¡° ¡°Just ignore her,¡± Meyara told Jey. Jay continued to grumble. ¡°Argh! This mission sucks.¡± It turned out that pairing two Knights under suspicion for murder, one of whom was quite volatile, with an ambitious governing official in a town infamous for its untrusting populace, was not the ideal company. Although, Grehn still found it difficult to muster up sympathy for Vlugh¡¯s plight. In an effort to distract himself, Grehn observed the wall more closely. Unlike the massive, sturdy, stone walls of the place he should call home, Lemonholm was surrounded by rickety, rotting logs. The wall itself comprised huge rolls of wood, close in appearance to their tree trunk origins, wide enough to rival Grehn himself and more than twice as tall. It was, at its core, an overgrown, exaggerated palisade, sufficient for a small town. But it was disgusting. Over time, the logs that made up the inner portion of the walls began to rot or die. And instead of replacing them, for whatever reason, the people decided to add new logs onto the outside. As a result, the wall was far too thick. However, Grehn noticed something off. The inner rotten layer seemed sturdy enough. And it didn¡¯t smell that bad. If anything, it almost smelled fruity. Wheezes came up behind him, a bit closer than Grehn would have liked. The government official must have noticed Grehn slowing down and peering at the wall, because he took a moment to catch his breath before speaking. ¡°Is the wall interesting? I would consider it an underrated pride of the town.¡± Grehn didn¡¯t answer, merely grunting and nodding. He was already tired of interacting with Lemonholmians, and he had barely done so. Besides, keeping up a stoic, grumpy mercenary demeanor was the safest way to deal with most regular individuals. Especially government officials. The man continued, unperturbed. ¡°The wall was erected generations ago. Surprising, right? I believe you¡¯re Yiwi mercenaries, so you must know the impermanence of wood, but you still don¡¯t know too much about the depth of our little town. You may have noticed the smell of lemons. Indeed, you¡¯d be surprised at the things that can be done with the fruit. Our forbearers devised ingenious methods of creating a wax-like substance using lemons that wards off the effects of time. I¡¯ve no clue how it works, myself, but it¡¯s marvelous.¡± That caught Grehn¡¯s attention. On closer inspection, the walls were coated in a faint yellow film. That color combined with the blacks and grays of the dying wood, giving a disgusting impression at first glance. It also explained the odd, fruity smell wafting through the air, stronger than usual even in this town. ¡°Wax, huh¡­¡± Grehn mumbled. After a few moments, he turned and held his hand out to the official. ¡°We haven¡¯t met. I¡¯m Grehn.¡± Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! With a smile, the man reciprocated. ¡°Lahim. It¡¯s nice to formally meet you, Grehn. In truth, I actually remember you and your team from a year ago, but I never had the opportunity to meet you. I must say, I was surprised to see the shakeup your group has experienced, considering how effective you were. All that is to say, I¡¯m inclined to trust you and your companions.¡± Grehn didn¡¯t respond, only nodding. He didn¡¯t explain the changes Lahim observed. He didn¡¯t make corrections. He made no comment about how his team used to be. And he certainly didn¡¯t acknowledge the man¡¯s opinion of their innocence in this current messy situation. Part of it was practical, little more than a continuation of his brooding mercenary character. The other part was emotional. He just didn¡¯t want to dwell on the past. ¡°Is there even a point in you two buffoons following me if you¡¯re just going to hang around? I¡¯d love to simply leave, but that would surely cause you to whine.¡± Herwen whined. Grehn and Lahim glanced at each with an identical look of exasperation, but they relented, continuing to follow the huffing Knight. Lahim looked like he wanted to say something, but Herwen was moving fast, and it wasn¡¯t long before he began to huff and puff once again. Which caused Herwen to grumble. Which caused Grehn to stew in frustration. ¡°Vlugh,¡± Grehn said in his head. ¡°I¡¯ve got some new information. So, there¡¯s this wax¡­¡± Walk. Walk. Walk. Ben continued tapping his foot, waiting to look at something more interesting than the walls of Lemonholm or the same ol¡¯ humans over and over. But that time never seemed to come. He cared little for Grehn or Vlugh¡¯s chitter-chatter about finding the killer. Ridiculous. If Ben could just look at more stuff, he would eventually see who the killer was anyway. With that as his argument, and in no way related to wanting to see Greyan¡¯s awesome armor in more detail, he crawled about the rooftops of Lemonholm to observe the most suspicious individual: the Knight Commander himself. Ben was careful - extremely so. He would never forget that time that felt so long ago, when he was barely a hatchling buzzing about the forest to help Momama get a better grasp of the surroundings. He would never forget encountering the blanket of darkness that shrouded a portion of the landscape and hiding amongst the burnt branches, looking at the vultures. And then the eye. He shivered. Everything that happened was his fault back then, and he would never cause something like that ever again. While he was taking a risk, it was a calculated one. Ben was much more careful now. Careful and smarter, as per his own deduction. He had paid careful attention when looking at Greyan inside of the bar, even noting the tiniest twitches and movements of his eyes. Ben knew that neither Greyan nor any of the other Knights were aware of his presence or his looking, even from that close. Similarly, they hadn¡¯t noticed Beelzebub¡¯s violent looking, although she was much further away. Ben therefore decided that these Knights weren¡¯t very good at noticing things they weren¡¯t thinking about or prepared for, although he knew that wasn¡¯t the whole story. Greyan, after all, was a careful man who was always tense and watching, despite giving the appearance of a relaxed warrior. Ben couldn¡¯t be fooled. In the end, Ben concluded (with only a bit of input from other smart bees) that the Knights were too focused to notice him or Beelzebub at all. Which was an interesting development. It hadn¡¯t escaped their notice that the Knights¡¯ alertness was only somewhat elevated after the discovery of the murder - another point in the suspicion basket. ¡°Beelee, this is so sick. The segments of Greyan¡¯s armor are so perfectly made that there¡¯s no seams. But that¡¯s crazy! Cause the armor, like, slid out to make the full suit. How did they do that?¡± ¡°No Ben, I didn¡¯t notice that completely useless detail because I¡¯m busy watching the every move of a potential murderer,¡± Beelzebub responded. ¡°I mean, sure, but what¡¯s he even doing? Drawing pictures in the dirt? Being weird with his fingers? Who cares! Oh, I think I found a tiny gap in the armor, near his back. I think that¡¯s where the whole suit folded out from. Kinda hard to look at - it¡¯s pretty tiny.¡± ¡°Oh Ben, that¡¯s great. But yeah, the stuff you mentioned actually is pretty important. Remember, what he¡¯s working on are the plans for a new barrier, which will be a pretty big deal. I might have to rush into the town before they finish it, on the off chance that it turns out strong enough to keep me out.¡± Ben decided, with no small amount of reluctance, to pay attention to what Beelzebub was talking about. As he noted, Greyan wasn¡¯t doing much. His eyes were closed most of the time, though he occasionally opened them whenever he went to draw another shape on the ground in front of him. He was also raising and lowering his fingers repeatedly on one hand. Were those perhaps accursed hand signs, or maybe gestures to perform magic spells? According to Mamm¡¯s knowledge, it was most likely some method of counting or doing math. Ben didn¡¯t know what ¡®math¡¯ was, and he wasn¡¯t inclined to find out by looking through the otherworldly knowledge. It could stay otherworldly. As for what Greyan was using the math for, apparently it was needed for constructing barriers. At some point, he tapped his chin, cocked his head, and sighed before brushing away a solid portion of his drawing and remaking it, resulting in a pair of circles with some marks along the edge of the outer circle. Elofan, who had been seated nearby the entire time without making a sound, seemed to snort when he did so. All it elicited from Greyan was a sideways glance. Beelzebub buzzed. ¡°The inner circle is probably Lemonholm. Making the outer one the barrier. But I still can¡¯t figure out how strong this barrier is gonna be. I bet I could break it, but they¡¯d definitely notice that. But they already have a detection barrier active, which would make sneaking in before the new barrier is formed tough.¡± ¡°Did you ask Trice about this?¡± ¡°Nah, she¡¯s busy. I asked Belphegora, but she¡¯s totally vexed. I don¡¯t have super Mind powers like her, so I can¡¯t get past their detection. Maybe they¡¯ll take down the first detection barrier for a moment while the new one gets put up?¡± ¡°Yeah, Gora would easily be able to get in here undetected.¡± Beelzebub snickered. ¡°Okay, you suck, but I¡¯m stealing that nickname now.¡± Turning her attention back to the Knight Commander, she sighed. ¡°This whole trip just becomes more complicated by the second. If the humans don¡¯t get out of this annoying situation quick, things might become annoying for us.¡± Chapter 115 – Beehind the Barrier Ben¡¯s attention wandered once again, away from the drawings in the dirt and Greyan¡¯s hands, straight back to the amazing suit of armor. Once he began to gush over the shiny metal, his excitement grew again. ¡°Bub, I¡¯m telling you, this armor¡¯s incredible ¨C like nothing I¡¯ve ever looked at You should get closer to see what I mean! Like, the detail on the joints is so freaking cool!¡± Beelzebub¡¯s groans and frustrated grunts came to a halt. ¡°Hold on. Ben, I think you¡¯re a genius.¡± ¡°Yup. Wait, what? ¡° With all the stealth she could muster, Beelzebub zipped from her hiding spot in the branches of a lemon tree to another one nearby. Making sure Greyan didn¡¯t notice her, she zipped from tree to tree, slowly making her way along the orchard around Lemonholm¡¯s wall. ¡°There¡¯s no guarantee this will work, but I guess it¡¯s a chance. If you actually paid attention to the drawings, the Knight made the barrier bigger than the walls. If I just get closer and wait, the barrier will be made around me! I won¡¯t even need to break in, which is a bit disappointing. I¡¯ll just wait on the other side of the town, where none of the Knights will be able to tell if I¡¯m close by.¡± ¡°That¡¯s great!¡± Ben cheered. ¡°Wait. Why isn¡¯t it a guarantee?¡± ¡°Mostly cause of the old barrier. I have no clue where it is. If it¡¯s not along the wall and is further out, like this new one is gonna be, I could trip the alarm. Or maybe it is close to the wall and I can wait for the new barrier to be made. What if he never removes the old barrier at all? I wouldn¡¯t need to break in, but they¡¯d still know if I try to come in.¡± ¡°Wow, you thought about this a lot.¡± Beelzebub didn¡¯t respond. She had thought about the tactics and strategies and whatnot - in fact, she had wracked her brains. In the end, though, most of the ideas came from Belphegora. Not all of them, obviously. Beelzebub sped up as she left Greyan¡¯s line of sight. Her Mind twisted into ugly thoughts. All she wanted to do was violence. She wanted to resolve this whole annoying situation by buzzing into town and beating every human to an unrecognizable pulp. Of course, she couldn¡¯t do that. But if she didn¡¯t, then what was the point of her power? How many times had she sparred with her fellow Valkybees? Bedivere? As she passed through a tree, her red-hot stinger sliced through the entire trunk. What the hive needed wasn¡¯t violence. It was brains. For days now, Beelzebub and Bedivere had sparred together several times. But it was only Beelzebub and Bedivere. Belial was busy testing new technology with his best bud, Beau. Behemoth had been enlisted to help with construction of the hive. But the most successful Valkybee had obviously been Gora, judging by how often Trice talked with her. It wasn¡¯t fair. Beelzebub had only tried using her brain a few times, but it was too hard. She preferred to do what came to her naturally. Which was violence. She screeched to a halt next to a tree that towered over the others. She couldn¡¯t see them, but she knew the humans Grehn and Vlugh were nearby on the other side of the wall, which meant this should be the other side of town. Without much care, she plopped down onto a branch and waited. Again. Herwen and the unnamed official screamed at each other, loud enough for Grehn to stick his fingers in his ears. Their argument went in circles, one party throwing blame and the other deflecting it, and it had been going on since the moment the two groups had met on the other side of town. As they walked through the empty streets, Grehn glanced at Vlugh, who was talking strategy with Beelzebub. Dusk was already overtaking the town, making the otherwise quaint place take on a sinister feeling. They were outnumbered, outgunned, and outmatched. Their group needed every advantage they could get, and there weren¡¯t many of those to speak of. But making sure Beelzebub could enter the fray at a moment¡¯s notice was high on the priority list. Grehn, Vlugh, Elofan. None of them would be able to handle Greyan in a straight-up fight, but Grehn hoped it wouldn¡¯t come to that in the first place. If it did, though, he knew he wanted Beelzebub in between himself and Greyan¡¯s rifle. Fingers still in his ears, Grehn turned his attention to Vlugh¡¯s thoughts. ¡°I think we should fake some evidence to pin the murder on this annoying lady.¡± Grehn nearly laughed. ¡°Vlugh, I thought you guys were talking serious strategy in here, not messing around.¡± If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°I¡¯m serious!¡± Vlugh said with his thoughts, his neutral expression unchanged. ¡°Look, there¡¯s not a single good outcome any way we slice this. Finding the real killer is gonna be impossible. If the Knights killed the Lord, it¡¯ll be even more impossible. If we confront them, they can just fight and destroy us to sweep away the whole thing. And if we end up getting blamed, we¡¯ll just get screwed over and thrown in prison by the Knights. The only option that lets us leave as soon as possible is framing someone else. They get punished by the Knights, we get to leave without the bees getting discovered or us just getting killed. Everyone wins.¡± ¡°Except the Lemonholmian official,¡± Grehn said. ¡°I think everyone would agree that¡¯s still a win.¡± Ben didn¡¯t comment on the plan - Grehn expected that he didn¡¯t care about much of anything that was happening as long as it meant he got to see something cool. Beelzebub only buzzed, in a way Grehn somehow understood meant disappointment. ¡°Condemning an innocent person, even if they¡¯re annoying, is probably a bad idea Vlugh, I¡¯m going to be honest.¡± Grehn took a deep breath. ¡°The cleanest option might actually be to give ourselves up, peacefully go along with their demands, and try to avoid imprisonment. At least in that case, if the Knights really were behind the murder, we wouldn¡¯t be in danger of exposing them and getting into a fight.¡± Deep down, Grehn didn¡¯t believe that was the best option. He tried not to think of a better plan, though. Giving themselves up was, to be fair, the cleanest option, but it was the cleanest way to expose the bees without too much of a struggle. If the Knights or some jailers inspected them and found the Linkers, the bees would have few options in that situation. Fighting the Knights in Lemonholm was just asking for Beelzebub to come in and wreak havoc. No, if Grehn wanted a clean solution, getting arrested was the best. ¡°No.¡± Belphegora¡¯s commanding voice echoed in Grehn¡¯s head. ¡°We can¡¯t decide on a definitive course of action just yet. Turning yourselves in would only be a good decision if the Knights are the murderers. Otherwise, there are better choices. You must discover the true identity of the killer before we decide what to do.¡± Despite himself, Grehn clicked his tongue. Of course it wouldn¡¯t be so easy. However, there was never a better chance for the bees to be exposed to the rest of the kingdom. They had even less control over the situation than they did in Yiwi. ¡°Fine. Before we can figure anything out, though, we¡¯ll need to make sure Beelzebub can get inside the new barrier,¡± Grehn said. Considering how Herwen was still arguing with the official, he¡¯d only be getting information out of the other two Knights. Vlugh was still mumbling about framing the annoying woman in front of them, so he shuffled his way over to Knight Meyara. ¡°Hey. Meyara, right?¡± The Knight ignored him. Determined, Grehn cleared his throat and was about to speak again before he felt a hand on his shoulder. ¡°You¡¯ll have to speak up, buddy. Her hearing¡¯s not so great.¡± Jey tried shaking Grehn¡¯s shoulder, but he outweighed her several times over, so she could barely make him budge. ¡°Well, I¡¯ve got your attention, so I might as well ask you instead. When we first arrived here, you Knights had no idea we were coming, right? But thanks to your detection barrier, you noticed we arrived, which must have tipped off the Lord. If that¡¯s the case, it still doesn¡¯t explain how you - or rather, the Lord - were able to find us so quickly. Is the barrier not actually a simple thing?¡± ¡°Geez, and here I thought you were trying to make a move on Meyara,¡± Jey said with a huff. ¡°Uh, no? Aren¡¯t we in a high-stress situation? Why would I do that? Actually, why would you try to help me do that?¡± ¡°Because it would be adorable?¡± Jey said, shrugging. ¡°You¡¯re quiet, she¡¯s quiet. Isn¡¯t it a perfect match?¡± Grehn didn¡¯t respond, so Jey continued gushing. ¡°You guys don¡¯t seem all that bad, so I¡¯d be willing to accept if you and Meyara became a thing. But maybe you¡¯re right, all this crap going on is a bit annoying, so maybe you can meet up when we¡¯re done with the whole thing.¡± ¡°Weren¡¯t you suspicious of us?¡± Grehn asked. ¡°Me personally? Nah. My idiot Commander is also way too trusting, so he definitely believes you guys weren¡¯t responsible. Meyara might be on the fence, I¡¯m not really sure. And I think Herwen just doesn¡¯t like you, so he¡¯ll blame you either way.¡± Grehn wasn¡¯t sure what to make of Jey¡¯s blabbering. She was speaking in such a causal tone, as if gossiping with a close friend. He was inclined to believe her. A cacophony of tiny voices in the back of his head screamed not to trust the Knight¡¯s words, some of them his own and some not. Of course, they should err on the side of caution. Jey smacked her fist into her palm. ¡°Ah, right. You were asking about the barrier. If I remember correctly, all it does is leave a small trace of Mind on anything that passes through, so the one who maintains the barrier would be able to keep track of the trespassers for a little while. That simple.¡± ¡°So from the moment we entered the gates, you knew exactly where we were for a while?¡± ¡°Yup. Standard procedure, nothing crazy.¡± That was all Grehn needed to hear. According to the drawing Ben had seen, there was a good chunk of space between the wall and Greyan¡¯s new barrier. As long as Beelzebub stayed just within that space, there was no risk of her being detected, so that was one problem out of the way. And since Jey seemed so inclined to spill her guts, Grehn kept prying. ¡°I see. I guess Greyan has a tougher job than I originally thought. Having to design, create, and maintain a barrier, all while being alert to his surroundings at all times. Not to mention keeping track of and managing a bunch of other Knights.¡± For the barest of moments, Jey¡¯s face hardened, but she hid it well. Not well enough to fool Grehn. ¡°Hey. That¡¯s Knight Commander Greyan to you. Only we can call him by his name. And by the way, that idiot absolutely does not do everything himself. We all contribute some Mind to the barrier. You¡¯ll see when we make the new one.¡± ¡°Jey, I think that¡¯s enough.¡± Meyara said, startling the two. Jey¡¯s mouth curled into a smirk. ¡°Were you listening the whole time, Meyara? You could¡¯ve said something. Oh, does that mean you also heard about how Grehn wants to get to know you better?¡± Chapter 116 - A Hexpert In My Field The Knights huddled in a circle, crowded around Greyan who was pointing at some drawings in the dirt. Grehn hung about nearby, listening to their conversation, learning little of note. He never mentioned how powerful the barrier would be or anything about the amount of Mind they¡¯d use, only details about the barrier¡¯s size. Grehn did find that odd. If they were all going to contribute to the barrier¡¯s creation, wouldn¡¯t they need to know how much power to use? ¡°You all have a grasp on where your start point is?¡± Greyan asked, prompting a nod from the Knights. A confused grunt came from Lahim, who was leaning on the wall. ¡°Those are very specific measurements. Would you like us to help?¡± Greyan smiled and shook his head. ¡°There will be no need for that. I didn¡¯t send you all on a fruitless scouting mission just now, you know.¡± He tapped four points on his floor drawing. ¡°The old barrier was a simple formation I could create by myself, made more efficient by having my friends contribute a bit of Mind. This new one is more complex. My friends knew this, so they were keeping watchful eyes open. Now they can each envision a spot where they will create a section of the barrier that shall be integrated into the whole. It will be a simple matter to calculate how the starting points should be translated to form the full barrier.¡± ¡°I feel like there are several holes in your explanation, Knight Commander,¡± Lahim said, dabbing sweat from his brow. ¡°Of course,¡± Greyan laughed. ¡°My Knights are highly capable and experienced soldiers. We¡¯ve worked together for a long time, so I don¡¯t need to instruct them on every little thing.¡± Grehn noticed the look of relief that washed over Lahim¡¯s face and wondered how the town of Lemonholm had survived this long. They were so untrusting and confrontational, but a few words of empty promises were enough to assuage their fears? Well, Lahim seemed more unguarded than the average Lemonholmian. But Grehn wasn¡¯t so comforted by Greyan¡¯s words. The implication that there were so many secrets the Knights could keep while still acting as an effective team scared him. In truth, what made Grehn the most uncomfortable was that this team of Knights was a machine tuned to perfection. Even compared to his own group of mercenaries, which, under Yelah¡¯s leadership, was one of the best in Yiwi. Though, Grehn was starting to think that his team wasn¡¯t quite as impressive as they were once led to believe. He shook his head. They had encountered the bees unprepared. They were ambushed. The bees were unnaturally powerful. He repeated the mantra several times, a habit he had begun forming over the past weeks. All he had left was his sanity, and without confidence, unearned though it may be, even his sanity would be gone. Like his former leader. ¡°Alright,¡± Greyan said, ¡°everyone ready?¡± Grehn snapped out of his thoughts. The Knights were nodding, and Jey was even yawning. He couldn¡¯t put his finger on Jey - in fact, none of the Knights fit the image of the valiant or monstrous protectors of the kingdom. He had met none of the Knights that came to Yiwi, so he wondered if all Somuian Knights acted so¡­ normally. Shaking the last remnants of doubt from his Mind, he joined Vlugh and Elofan who were chatting nearby. ¡°¡­and the last part was ¡®slowly transfer power from the old one¡¯,¡± Elofan said. ¡°Is that about the barrier?¡± Grehn asked. ¡°Get this, Grehn,¡± Vlugh said, waving for Grehn to sit. ¡°Elofan was right there next to Greyan the whole time. So she heard him mumble a bunch of stuff about percentages and whatever. He even said something about layers; it seems like the barrier is gonna have three layers stacked on top of each other. They¡¯re not messing around with this thing.¡± ¡°Hm. So you¡¯re telling me he mentioned sensitive details about the barrier, out loud, close enough for Elofan to hear? And you guys don¡¯t think that¡¯s fishy?¡± Vlugh raised an eyebrow. ¡°I think this town is getting to you, man. I guess it¡¯s a little weird, but since Beelzebub is gonna be inside the new barrier anyway, it doesn¡¯t really matter.¡± ¡°That Greyan is a funny man. For a human, he¡¯s pretty alright. Not like you sour, serious types.¡± Grehn stared at Elofan. There was so much he resented about her statement that he lost all will to rebuke it. He plopped onto the ground, exhaustion filling his entire body, and simply watched as each Knight channeled Mind. Jey clenched her fists and growled. Meyara closed her eyes and slowed her breathing. Herwen just stood in place and crossed his arms, making no outside sign of concentration. And Greyan remained seated, stroking his beard. The fading light of day wavered as Mind poured from the four Knights, dominating the open space. Though invisible, the potent waves of Mind made it seem like a shimmering blanket was rising over the town, tucking it into bed for the night. In a matter of minutes, the process was done with. Grehn even felt like he had a bit more room to breathe with the new barrier being further out. The Knights, no worse for wear, began to walk back into town, prompting the mercenaries and government officials to follow suit. The town of Lemonholm was under lock and key until a murderer was found, and they would be discovered, one way or another. This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. Lemonholm slept fitfully. Even in the dead of night, rumors and heresy were whispered in alleys, bedroom windows, and the privacy of people¡¯s homes. Beelzebub heard the whispers, but they were so stupid and unproductive they made her brain hurt. And she was barely using it. ¡®The Knights were replaced by monsters who are wearing their skin.¡¯ ¡®The mercenaries are actually a part of the MIS and are trying to undermine the Knights.¡¯ ¡®That Fernen is the mastermind behind the entire murder mystery.¡¯ ¡®This entire debacle is a conspiracy to rob the town of all its lemons.¡¯ These were the sorts of things she heard while keeping watch over the inn where the humans rested. The hilarious speculation from the townsfolk still wasn¡¯t enough to keep the boredom away, so she had to buzz softly to keep herself awake. ¡°I just don¡¯t get how they travel around with someone who speaks a totally different language. Well, the same goes for you, I guess. Don¡¯t you get, I dunno, bored or something?¡± Jey continued chattering nonstop, though Elofan seemed to be quite adept at ignoring such unceasing banter. The pair were sitting in wooden chairs, overlooking their piled up comrades who, despite the noise, were sleeping in peace. Beelzebub was doing her best to keep an eye on everything happening inside the inn, but while she could hear everything fine thanks to the Linked humans, the only thing she could see was a limited view through the inn window. Well, there was that, along with supreme boredom. Watching people sleep was anything but thrilling. Jey continued to prattle, and Beelzebub sighed. She wished she could join Ben in his slumber. ¡°Keeping watch sucks - I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re staying up for double shifts, Elofan. I mean, I guess one of you would have to, seeing as how there¡¯s only three of you. Grehn said you Fernen can go longer without sleeping, but how does he know that? I get being from Yiwi means he would know more about you forest creatures, but it seems like a lot more detailed info is known than I¡¯d expect.¡± ¡°Sure, we might be lucky, but it¡¯s not as big of an advantage as it seems. Actually, I think you humans are just stupid. Such flexible Minds at your disposal and you can¡¯t figure out a way to stay awake longer? Don¡¯t get me wrong, it¡¯s not a problem I¡¯d be enthusiastic to solve myself, but I¡¯m sure one of you could figure it out.¡± Jey snickered. ¡°I might not know what you just said, but I know you were calling someone an idiot. Maybe it was your tone. I say it all the time.¡± A small smile crept onto Elofan¡¯s face, but Beelzebub just yawned. Only a few more hours until the sunrise. Then more boring investigating and probing. Beelzebub came to Lemonholm hoping to find action, and it was nowhere to be found. And they were so close too. The Knights were just being annoyingly cautious. A figure meandering through the street by the inn caught Beelzebub¡¯s attention. There was nothing special about this particular person - several people had passed through the street and nearby alleys, some more shady than this one. Whether it was the cloak with a drawn up hood, the confident stride, or something else, Beelzebub wasn¡¯t sure, but she found her attention drawn to the figure. ¡°Ben. Wake up.¡± ¡°Haaa¡­ it was a good fight, Bub, but you¡¯ll need to get stronger if you wanna beat me¡­¡± Beelzebub slammed a leg onto Ben¡¯s head, causing him to yelp in pain and shoot into the air. Ignoring his panic, Beelzebub kept several eyes on the figure, moving to follow them. ¡°Get up already, Ben. Someone suspicious just showed up. I¡¯m gonna follow them, so keep some eyes on the humans while I¡¯m gone.¡± ¡°Huh? Wha?¡± ¡°Also, I¡¯ll spar with you whenever you want. And I¡¯ll kick your ass.¡± Ben still looked confused, but Beelzebub was already gone by the time he calmed down. Keeping to the shadows wasn¡¯t Beelzebub¡¯s style, but Beatrice was forcing her to do so. She wasn¡¯t scared of any bee in the hive, not even Mother. But when Beatrice made a vague threat about what she¡¯d do if Beelzebub wasn¡¯t stealthy enough, a primal fear crawled up her thorax. So, she crawled along the rooftops, hidden in shadow. The figure turned into an alley, so Beelzebub maneuvered overhead to cut them off. As much as she wanted to confront this random stranger and beat them to a bloody pulp, that wasn¡¯t very stealthy. Every time Beelzebub thought she¡¯d get a good look at the stranger¡¯s face, their hood obscured their appearance. The person turned again, into an alleyway even darker than the last. Just when Beelzebub feared that boredom would come back to crush her, the person turned again, and she finally got a glimpse under the hood. Bathed in shadow was a full-face wooden mask, blank save for x-shaped eyeholes. ¡°Oh yeah. Finally.¡± The masked figure turned once more, slowing down a noticeable amount on this street. Surprised, Beelzebub came to a rest. Next to Ben. ¡°Oh, hey Beelzebub. You didn¡¯t have to smack me on my head, you know.¡± ¡°What? That masked human just went in a circle! Why the hell¡¯d they do that?¡± The masked person slowed to a crawl, and this time, Beelzebub waited alongside Ben. Sure enough, the masked person turned into the same alley, speeding up as they did, and after just a few moments, they reappeared on the street in front of the inn. Beelzebub was stumped. ¡°Well, it¡¯s good to know my instincts were on point. That human is weird.¡± Ben buzzed, confused. ¡°Something about them looks familiar. I think¡¯s it¡¯s the way they walk. I can¡¯t put my stinger on it, but they walk exactly like someone I¡¯ve looked at in this town.¡± A masked figure who was a resident of the town, circling the inn where the most suspicious humans were sleeping? Beelzebub was buzzing with excitement at the thought. A sense of exasperation appeared in the back of Beelzebub¡¯s Mind. Strangely, it felt like Mom was experiencing some sort of annoyance at the extremely obvious suspicious development. But Beelzebub didn¡¯t really care about any of that - she was just excited for something to actually be happening. Coming to a stop, the masked person turned to face the inn. They dug around their cloak for a moment, eventually pulling a small object out and dropping it to the ground. Both Beelzebub and Ben found their gazes drawn to the object, which seemed to be a small slab of wood with markings burned onto the plank. Just as with the figure previously, it felt like they couldn¡¯t look away from the wooden slab. Beelzebub didn¡¯t notice as the figure began to saunter away, but thanks to his impeccable eyesight, Ben saw the masked face turn towards their position for a moment before they disappeared into the night. Chapter 117 - Cryptograbee The streets of Lemonholm found themselves being flooded with the light of dawn. When that light shone through windows of the inn¡¯s lower floor, the shady interior took on an unearthly feel, which, when paired with Grehn¡¯s groggy state, caused an itch of discomfort that he couldn¡¯t seem to scratch. He was typically fine with rising early, but sleeping in the same room as the Knights didn¡¯t lend to a good night¡¯s rest. Those Knights were eating and laughing alongside him, as if they had no care in the world. Vlugh was nearly falling asleep in his wooden bowl of lemon porridge, and only Elofan matched the Knight¡¯s energy with her smile and swinging feet. ¡°Anything happen during your watch, Elofan?¡± Grehn asked. He had expected to wake up to a concise report from the bees, but oddly enough, all he heard was a faint buzzing. Elofan hadn¡¯t mentioned anything either, so he had to assume the night was uneventful. ¡°No, not really. After that grump Herwen went to sleep, and Jey started her shift, she just talked the whole time. The Knights didn¡¯t try anything,¡± she said with a whoop, in between bites of fruit. Lemon. She was just eating a lemon. ¡°Uh huh¡­. And our friends back home?¡± Elofan shook her head. The bees hadn¡¯t tried to alert her either, then. The relative silence from the otherwise chatty Ben and Beelzebub was putting Grehn even further on edge. He looked down at his own bowl. It was odd. He had missed fresh fruit almost as much as Vlugh, but the thought of tasting more lemon was already making his stomach rumble in discontent. ¡°The town is crumbling to ruin, I tell ya. People leaving trash in the street? What have we come to?¡± Grehn, Elofan, and Greyan perked up. The innkeeper, a veritable stick of a man, had just entered from outside, grumbling while holding a collection of random objects. It did appear as if an assortment of trash had simply been dumped outside, but Grehn found his gaze drawn to the collection. Before he could say anything, Greyan stood and strode to the innkeeper. ¡°Excuse me. I find the careless littering strange, especially outside your cozy inn. Might I see those items?¡± ¡°What¡¯s it to you, outsider?¡± the innkeeper spat. ¡°This is why I hate running an inn. You outsider weirdos wanna dig through my trash? Fine. Take it. But if I find any of it strewn about my inn, you can bet I¡¯m not gonna let you stay here another night.¡± With that, the innkeeper dumped the trash onto the table, with one object falling beautifully into Herwen¡¯s bowl. The Knight¡¯s face turned red, and he stood, but Greyan put a hand on his shoulder, locking him in place. ¡°Thank you, sir. We promise to clean it up.¡± The innkeeper grumbled and walked away. The otherwise empty inn was silent for a moment before the table was filled with chatter. ¡°Commander, how could you let that peon insult me this way?¡± Herwen growled, but Greyan ignored him as he pulled the piece of garbage from Herwen¡¯s porridge. ¡°Forget that,¡± Jey said. ¡°Why does he run an inn if he hates outsiders? How does that make any sense?¡± Vlugh yawned. ¡°Maybe he just likes cleaning?¡± ¡°Everyone.¡± Greyan said. ¡°Look at this.¡± Grehn¡¯s eyes were drawn to the piece of wood in Greyan¡¯s hand, as were everyone else¡¯s. It seemed like nothing more than a polished piece of wood - not bark, but a slab that seemed cut from a larger plank, small enough for the man to hold with one hand. Otherwise nondescript, the only interesting feature was that both sides of the wood seemed to be carved with crude symbols and shapes. Rough as they were, Grehn recognized the symbols as the same that would be made when inscribing a scroll. Greyan confirmed Grehn¡¯s suspicions. His expression was grim. ¡°It¡¯s like a scroll. I¡¯ll pass it around for everyone to read.¡± Each of the Knights read it first, their expressions souring one by one. When it finally arrived at Grehn, he took a moment before reading it. ¡°FRIENDLESS. you killed HIM, he OFFED SELF. never REVEAL me. never SEE me. TRUST is EMPTY. ONLY ONE END.¡± Without saying a word, Grehn passed the slab over to Vlugh. The words that appeared in his Mind, oddly emphasized and in a stilted cadence, stuck themselves there and wouldn¡¯t let go. His thoughts raced to figure out what they meant, whether it was a message to the outsiders, and simply being unsettled by the words. There were clear themes of mistrust. Friendless. Never reveal or see me. Trust is empty. Trust was hard to come by in Lemonholm, so that part of the note wasn¡¯t shocking. Though, if the intent of those statements was meant to be talking about the Knights and mercenaries, the message became far too personal. It was evident from the talk of killing that the message had a direct connection to the murder of Lord Sawah. Though the phrase ¡®he offed self¡¯ was confusing. Plus, the note held a clear implication: the messenger was involved somehow. Whether they were the murderer, an accomplice, or even just someone upset at the whole situation, it was yet another cog to consider in the already scattered investigation. Vlugh¡¯s eyes glazed for a moment before he spoke. ¡°That¡¯s it? All these etchings for a couple words?¡± The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Of course,¡± Grehn said. ¡°Wood is no stead alloy. It could never retain anywhere near as much Mind. Just not efficient.¡± ¡°Which makes it all the more interesting that this message was conveyed this way,¡± Greyan said. The man was seated once again, staring intently at the wooden slab that had been passed on, now being inspected by Elofan. ¡°Was it meant for us? Or is it something else?¡± Grehn asked. ¡°I can only assume it¡¯s a message for us. From the killer themselves, even. It¡¯s clearly a coded message of some sort - if it weren¡¯t, I might assume the whole thing a childish prank or someone asking to be framed as a murderer.¡± Greyan stroked his beard. He turned to Jey, whose face was stormy and her eyebrows knitted together. ¡°You didn¡¯t notice anybody outside the inn last night, Jey? I didn¡¯t notice anything during my watch.¡± Jey took a moment to respond. ¡°No. No, I didn¡¯t notice anything odd. I was talking to Elofan the entire time, so I was definitely alert. She was alert too. She didn¡¯t make any indication of noticing anything, either. Either it wasn¡¯t dropped off during my shift, or the person who left it is skilled in being stealthy.¡± Greyan nodded and looked at the other two Knights. They both shook their heads - they hadn¡¯t noticed anything either. The light buzzing in the back of Grehn¡¯s Mind stopped, and Ben¡¯s voice appeared out of the blue. ¡°Finally! Grehn, Vlugh, Bub and I saw the human that left the wood thing. Gora told us not to tell you guys until you read the thing so you could have a ¡®genuine reaction.¡¯ But it was really weird! They were wearing a mask with x eyes and looked like they walked like someone in town and-¡° ¡°What Ben is trying to say,¡± Beelzebub said, ¡°is that we were waiting for you guys to read it. It was too exposed for us to run in and read it, but like he said, we saw the human that left it. We can use those clues.¡± Grehn and Vlugh fought to keep a neutral face at the outburst. They were already unsure of what to do with the words inscribed in the wooden slab, and now they were presented with this new information? Grehn wanted to tell the bees they should have waited a bit longer before revealing world-shattering revelations. ¡°So it wasn¡¯t the Knights?¡± he asked in his Mind. Somehow, he felt Ben shaking his head. ¡°No way. They looked completely different from any of the Knights. The closest would be Jey, and Jey was talking with Elofan the whole time during her shift.¡± ¡°So does that prove once and for all that one of the townspeople was the murderer?¡± Vlugh asked out loud. Grehn wanted to smack him. Greyan continued tugging at his beard long enough for Herwen to huff and speak up. ¡°As much as I trust in Knight Meyara and Commander Greyan¡¯s capabilities, it¡¯s not impossible that one of you two has a powerful Ability that would allow you to sneak this slab of wood outside. Besides, who else but dwellers of the forest would know about inscribing on wood? If anything, I think I¡¯ll count that as another point against us being the murderers. Not that there should ever have been a doubt.¡± ¡°The hell? I don¡¯t know how to inscribe on freaking wood. I didn¡¯t even know that was a thing!¡± Vlugh said. Herwen merely scoffed and looked away, and Vlugh got heated enough to stand, but a firm hand from Grehn kept him seated. ¡°It¡¯s not impossible for someone who lives far from the forest to come across wood, or even use it for something like this. Back in Rikitan, I knew of an art form that involved burning pieces of wood with concentrated heat to create patterns. It was reserved for the supremely wealthy, but it¡¯s not impossible for people far from the forest to use wood for unusual things.¡± Herwen spun and glared at Grehn. He had detected the implication Grehn threw out, but Grehn kept his face blank. The exchange was probably just annoying to Herwen, but it allowed Grehn to cool down a bit before thinking about the information the bees revealed. Assuming the person who left the slab of wood truly was the murderer, the chances of the Knights being responsible, while still not zero, fell a fair amount. There was also the matter of the person wearing a mask - not the most unusual choice of garb, but odd in this small town. There were a variety of clues sprinkled around the appearance of the mysterious person that apparently left the slab, but nothing truly substantial. But there was one massive, unavoidable obstacle the information presented: the Knights didn¡¯t have the same information. At the very least, there was no way of knowing if the Knights had the same information. As long as they had to assume the Knights were their enemy, there was no way for the group to reveal the knowledge without exposing themselves. They had to maneuver the entire investigation, knowing the detail about the mysterious person with the mask without revealing that they knew it. All they could operate on was the clue given by the note itself, and there was no telling how long it might take to solve the supposed riddle. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about trying to solve what the note says,¡± Beelzebub said, interrupting his thoughts. ¡°Mom will take care of it.¡± Ah, Grehn thought. There wasn¡¯t much else to say. He had no idea what tools or intelligence a bee might have that would allow them to solve an encoded message, but he found it difficult to doubt such a thing would be possible for the Mother. Though he did find time to be annoyed that Beelzebub of all bees was monitoring his thoughts. ¡°Greyan,¡± Grehn said, ¡°what should we do? Should we continue with today¡¯s original plan of interviewing people of the town, or focus on deciphering this message?¡± Greyan sat, saying nothing while stroking his beard. He seemed to do that a lot. The other Knights cast ugly looks towards Grehn, presumably for his lack of decorum when referring to their commander. Grehn didn¡¯t feel strongly about it, but he was still playing into the idea of a gruff, insolent mercenary, so antagonizing the Knights in this small way at least kept him in character. At least, that was what he tried to think - he certainly wasn¡¯t thinking that annoying them would cause him to get on their bad side, which would lead to a situation that might expose the bees. As he thought that, he realized that he thought of it, so it was now obvious to the bees. ¡°¡­We continue with the original plan. Everyone should try to think of what the note might mean, but it¡¯s too sudden of a development. When we have a free moment, we should decode it, but there are still too many unknowns, both about the note and the Lord¡¯s murder as a whole.¡± Greyan slapped the table as he stood. His brisk walk out of the inn was followed closely by the Knights, but the group of mercenaries held back for a moment. ¡°You know,¡± Vlugh said, ¡°I was really sure the Knights did it at first. But the more I think about it, none of this makes any sense at all.¡± Elofan nodded. ¡°I agree. It all felt so premeditated at first. But now it feels more like we are true insects moving to a whistling tune.¡± ¡°I have no idea what that means, but yeah.¡± Vlugh pushed his bowl of porridge away, leaving it unfinished. ¡°I¡¯m not gonna lie, Grehn. I wish we never came here. The lemons aren¡¯t even worth it like I thought they¡¯d be.¡± Chapter 118 – Interrogatin’ and Code Beereakin’ When they walked out of the inn, Grehn was surprised to see a group of people waiting for them. There was Muweh Sawah and Lahim, along with the other official whose name they still didn¡¯t know, as well as the pair of burly men that had assisted them with the crowd yesterday. Greyan was waiting amongst them, and when he saw the trio approaching, a pulse of mind washed through the air. His transforming armor rippled over his crisp officer¡¯s uniform, covering him from shoulder to toe. It was nearly instant, a far cry from the showy display he had put on yesterday for the crowd, and he clapped his metallic gloves together when it was finished. ¡°Now that we¡¯re all ready, shall we go? Lead the way, Muweh.¡± Muweh Sawah didn¡¯t respond to the Greyan¡¯s lack of honorific, only nodding. Her face looked haggard, and her movements sluggish. Greyan gently hooked his arm around hers and helped her along, walking slowly so as not to rush her. The rest followed without a word. Even Jey¡¯s attempts at conversation found little traction. The image of the widowed Muweh Sawah was a grim reminder that, beyond all the intrigue and tension, a life had suddenly been lost, and people were suffering. ¡°Man, that armor is just way too cool.¡± Ben¡¯s jovial thoughts plowed through the dismal air like a runaway train, dispersing any of the quiet, mournful atmosphere that had been present only moments before. At least, it did for two people. ¡°It¡¯s certainly something,¡± Grehn thought, looking to take his thoughts off the sadness in the air. He had encountered plenty of death in his life, and didn¡¯t want to dwell on the idea of it for long. ¡°I bet it¡¯s quite protective, but it works even better as a tool of intimidation. There¡¯s a reason he waited for us three to come outside before he activated it.¡± ¡°I think it¡¯s the burst of Mind he does when it opens up,¡± Vlugh thought. ¡°The armor is just cool. If I was just seeing it, I think I¡¯d like his autograph. But seeing him get encased in a metal shell right as he uses Mind really makes me not want to fight him.¡± Elofan glanced at Grehn and Vlugh, one of her fluffy eyebrows raising. Grehn found himself feeling self-conscious, as if he had been caught in the act of chatting during a funeral. Which, to be fair, was almost exactly what he was doing. It was more disturbing to him that Elofan seemed to know that Grehn and Vlugh were talking with their Minds. Had she already spent enough time with them to understand them that well? Or was it something else? Grehn turned his attention back to the Knights, thinking to the bees. ¡°So you two saw a masked figure, that is definitely not one of the Knights, dropping off the slab of wood in front of the inn last night, correct?¡± ¡°Yup,¡± Beelzebub said. ¡°So, the question I think we¡¯re all wondering is who that was. The only options are someone from Lemonholm or someone hiding in Lemonholm.¡± ¡°You think someone from the outside is hiding in town? I haven¡¯t looked at anyone who looks like they don¡¯t belong,¡± Ben said. ¡°No,¡± Grehn said quickly, ¡°I actually think that¡¯s not the case at all. It would be next to impossible for someone to blend into any small town without people noticing, let alone this particular town. If the masked person was absolutely not one of the Knights, they must have been a Lemonholmian. Which begs the question: was that note left by the killer? If it was, why would they risk exposing themselves? There are two parties here under suspicion, and the evidence is more strongly geared towards one of us outsiders being guilty. So, then, was the note left by someone who isn¡¯t the killer? If so, who and why?¡± Beelzebub and Ben were silent for a moment. The group was nearly arriving at the town hall before Beelzebub spoke again. ¡°That¡¯s the same stuff Gora started asking last night. Like, almost exactly the same. Are you super smart or something, Grehn?¡± Grehn nearly stopped walking, only for an instant. Enough for Elofan to glance in his direction and Greyan¡¯s finger to twitch. He didn¡¯t think it was strange to be thinking of so many possibilities, considering the seriousness of the situation. But Beelzebub¡¯s comment instantly planted a seed of doubt. Were those thoughts even his own? Was Belphegora subtly influencing his Mind somehow, enough that he didn¡¯t even notice it? He knew what it felt like to have his Mind tampered with, whether it was from the imposing rigidity of Beatrice or the unsubtle manhandling of the Mother, but he had never considered anything like this. If Belphegora was actually influencing his thoughts, it was in such a subtle way that he truly believed them to be his own. I guess this is the sort of thing that would happen to somebody constantly plotting revenge, he thought. Fuck. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. Lemonholm looked just as ugly during the day as it did during the night, at least to a pair of bees. The lemon orchards were a different story. The lush green leaves of the trees were absurdly beautiful, rivaled only by the flowers of Yiwi. As if they weren¡¯t beautiful enough, the way they were spotted with little yellow dots gave them a sense of character that the dried out, burned forest couldn¡¯t even hope to compete with. Hopefully, Mom¡¯s plans to restore the forest and help from the fernen would result in a world as beautiful as Lemonholm¡¯s lemon groves. Beelzebub and Ben were bored out of the Minds, which was probably why the both of them - even Beelzebub, who didn¡¯t care for how things looked - were staring at lemon trees. The humans had been interrogating people in the town hall for hours, which was nearly as boring as watching the humans sleep, though in the case of these interrogations there were at least some highlight moments. There was one case where they talked to a man with a ruddy face and tired eyes. Apparently, he had been one of the people that walked by the Lord¡¯s house while the mercenaries were waiting for him to appear. This man often seemed confused and answered with short, clipped sentences, until they asked him a question about where he was going on that day. His eyes popped and his jaw clenched. ¡°You weirdies are annoyin¡¯. Shut it.¡± That was all he said before sticking his tongue out, wiggling his hands by his head and blowing a raspberry. Beelzebub nearly cried with laughter. Ben thought Greyan¡¯s face of bewilderment was way funnier. Unfortunately, after that little incident, the Knights became more forceful with their questioning and the mercenaries puffed their chests to act more intimidating. As indignant as the man was, it was clear he couldn¡¯t handle the stressful situation. Or maybe he just freaked out when Elofan made a sudden whooping noise, though all she said was ¡®humans are way more hilarious than I thought.¡¯ Other highlights included Betty, a woman who always lost a yearly Lemonholmian tradition called the ¡®Lemon Rodeo¡¯ to the Lord. The idea of humans looking at lemons and deciding someone deserved an award for growing the best one was both incomprehensible and hilarious to the bees. There was also a man who straight up fell asleep in his chair and didn¡¯t wake up until someone mentioned lunch. However, those were three examples of fun moments. There were about ten people who got interrogated before they took a break to eat, and another 20 people after that. It all devolved into a slog, and it was still ongoing. All the interrogators save for the annoying official, whose name was finally revealed to be Sarah, as well as Greyan. Even the other Knights¡¯ eyes were wandering around the small, dark room they kept funneling townspeople into. At some point, the bees stopped paying attention entirely. ¡°Bub,¡± Ben said after staring at the lemon trees for a while, ¡°do you think we¡¯ll ever be able to see the world?¡± ¡°Hm? Whaddaya mean?¡± ¡°Like, I wanna stay with mamaroonie and everyone else. But I¡¯ve seen so many cool things outside of the forest! Yiwi and the flowers, the fernen guys, and now these lemon trees. There¡¯s so many cool things out there!¡± Beelzebub turned to Ben. ¡°So, what? You wanna leave the hive?¡± ¡°No way! Eh, not forever. So, yes I guess? I wanna leave the forest, not leave the family.¡± Beelzebub wasn¡¯t sure what to make of that. In a way, she felt exactly the same. The forest had nothing interesting to fight, so maybe the rest of the world could be more interesting. But, something inside her told her she would hate it. Probably because she would leave the hive without its strongest, most powerful and menacing protector. Obviously, that was Beelzebub. ¡°There¡¯s only one thing,¡± he said. ¡°Yeah? What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°I can¡¯t fight! And apparently fighting is like the most important thing ever. If you can fight good, nobody can do anything to you. And if I could fight, I could go around the world and nobody back home would have to worry about me. All you guys are already worried about me, and I¡¯m barely even out of the forest!¡± Several buzzes arose in the back of their Minds. Nobody wanted Ben to get hurt. Even Beatrice buzzed for a fraction of a second. Beelzebub grumped, crossing her arms. ¡°You tried getting Bedivere to teach you to fight, and you got distracted. Then you immediately left to go see the fernen. And now you came here. No duh you can¡¯t fight. I mean, you¡¯re not hopeless, but you¡¯ll probably never be super strong like me.¡± The little bee himself just sort of smiled and bounced around, unaffected, but the rest of the hive wasn¡¯t so calm. The buzzing became furious, several bees telling Beelzebub off for being mean to Ben. Beck¡¯s melodic tone sped up, turning into a diss of Beelzebub¡¯s small body and equally small brain. ¡°Shut up!¡± Beelzebub said with a pout. ¡°I¡¯m serious! You can probably learn to fight good, Ben, but you¡¯re not built for fighting. You¡¯re fast and small, like me. But you can¡¯t get much power behind you. Basically, you¡¯re weak. But that¡¯s alright. Just keep out of the way with your speed and look for small openings with your looking. It¡¯ll take a bunch of practice and training, but it can work.¡± ¡°Huh. Hey Bub, you should train me!¡± ¡°Sure. Wait, what?¡± ¡°Both of you, quiet down for a moment and listen.¡± Before Beelzebub could make sense of what Ben said, Belphegora¡¯s voice cut through the buzzing crescendo of laughter and jeers of the hive. ¡°Mom has figured out a possible solution to the code in the message. Which is¡­ amazing. I clearly have much to learn. Anyways, the message they are trying to send might be something along the lines of ¡®store of shoe.¡¯¡± ¡°What, that¡¯s it? We gotta look at the shoe store or something?¡± Ben asked. ¡°Well, according to the method she used, apparently it could either be that or ¡®rose of ethos,¡¯ which doesn¡¯t have any relevant meaning. Apparently, she took the first letter of every emphasized word and mixed them around to arrive at that conclusion. How she figured that out so quickly is beyond me.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s the whole point of the message?¡± Ben asked, still confused. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a decent solution. We¡¯re still working on it, just in case. But it¡¯s a start. I¡¯d like Ben to stake out the shoe store, at least until we come up with a more definitive answer.¡± Chapter 119 - Herwen, Lord of the Smartbee Pants Ben buzzed, acknowledging the plan. He was the best at looking, so of course he would be in charge of looking at the suspicious shoe store. He didn¡¯t feel bad for bored Beelzebub, not one bit. Well, maybe a little. To be fair, it was really boring to listen to things. Looking at something interesting was much better. ¡°Ben nooo! Come back! What was the thing about training?!¡± Beelzebub¡¯s voice faded into the distance as Ben flew away, except since it was inside his head, it actually didn¡¯t. To maintain the image, he flew away in silence, albeit a touch giggly. On her part, Beelzebub was only half joking about her confusion. She was a fighter, not a teacher, for Mother¡¯s sake. Maybe Mom could prevent such a strange and unnatural occurrence. On that note, what was Mom even up to? The constant flow of information going between Mom¡¯s Mind and the rest of the hive felt muted, recently. Beelzebub knew she and Ben¡¯s Minds were on something of a ¡®probation¡¯ so they could focus on the mission, but they were still feeling the buzz of the hive. And Mom was either very busy with something related to Mind, or was taking the longest, weirdest nap ever. Beelzebub wasn¡¯t the biggest fan of sleeping, especially when she could be fighting instead. But if things were boring¡­ She yawned. This mission sucked.
¡°Grehn, I¡¯m gonna say it. This mission sucks.¡± Grehn did his best to ignore Vlugh¡¯s whining, but to be honest, he agreed with his friend. The brilliant, multi-layered plan he originally lay out to come here to Lemonholm, ingratiate himself to the hive by acquiring them the food they so desperately wanted while figuring out a way to undermine them and free his city? Gone. Reduced to shreds. Instead, he found himself seated opposite a royal Knight Commander, being stared at intently while his idiot friends made idle commentary during a murder interrogation. The room was dark, with only a single lamp to illuminate the faces of the Knights sitting behind the table. To his credit, Greyan¡¯s expression was more sympathetic than anything. It seemed like the man truly didn¡¯t suspect them of murder any longer, but Grehn was still hesitant to trust the man. ¡°Sorry, Grehn, but it¡¯s only fair, you know?¡± the Knight Commander said as he leaned back in his chair. He had been very fair, in fact, asking Grehn the same questions he had posed to the Lemonholmians, so the interrogation must have been over by now. He had even let the mercenaries ask the questions of each Knight. But he hadn¡¯t given the signal that the interrogation had ended, a casual, dismissive wave of his hand. ¡°I have one last question. A quick one, just to confirm.¡± Greyan leaned forward. ¡°Where is Yelah?¡± Grehn froze. As did Vlugh. Elofan¡¯s ears pricked up, though her reaction was much more tame. ¡°She¡­ is¡­ back in Yiwi? That¡¯s where she lives.¡± ¡°Hm. That makes sense. I suppose the more pertinent question is why she isn¡¯t here with you. Her team.¡± Vlugh¡¯s teeth ground audibly. ¡°Why are you asking about this, man? What the hell does she have to do with this stupid murder mystery?¡± ¡°I was asking your team leader. Rather, your temporary team leader? I simply ask because I learned she was the leader of your mercenary team from Muweh. She is quite well-known amongst some of the Knights, you know, especially those in the higher ranks. Seiena talks about her constantly,¡± Greyan said. His expression had never left its somewhat sympathetic, casual state. ¡°You know Seiena?¡± Grehn desperately needed to change the subject. But this would be an amazing opportunity to make a subtle revelation about the bees, wouldn¡¯t it? With that said, he just really needed to change the subject. Which was¡­ not what he wanted. Fuck, Belphegora really is messing with my head, isn¡¯t she? ¡°Oh yes. She¡¯s a treat. Though she mostly fraternizes with the true elite like the Royal Guard. Every time we meet, she seems to have something to say about the adorable mercenary girl who wants to take up her mantle as Yiwi¡¯s mercenary queen. So? Why isn¡¯t Yelah here with you?¡± Despite himself, Grehn couldn¡¯t find the voice to answer. His mouth flapped. Vlugh was leaning forward as if he were going to jump out of his chair, but he was also completely silent. Eventually, under Greyan¡¯s unwavering gaze, Grehn found the will to speak. ¡°She is not on our team right now. I¡¯m not sure what she¡¯s up to, because our team has been in a rough spot recently. There¡¯s really not much to say about it.¡± ¡°I see,¡± Greyan said. He was stroking his beard again. ¡°Well, it seems like there are painful memories attached, so I won¡¯t pry any further. I was simply curious. Now then! All the interrogations are finished, and any of the remaining Lemonholmians will either be exempt or interviewed on another day. But for now, we should focus on sticking together and attempting to understand the message we received.¡± Chatting like chipper birds, the Knights filtered out of the room, catching up with Muweh Sawah outside. Only Greyan lagged behind. ¡°I apologize if I put you in an uncomfortable situation. But I found it strange that the up-and-coming mercenary I¡¯d heard so much about was separated from her companions. Whatever the circumstances, I hope she¡¯s doing well.¡± Grehn and Vlugh nodded and followed Greyan out of the room. What were they meant to respond with? Whenever Greyan had last been in the capital, rubbing elbows with the aristocracy and high-profile individuals, the situation in Yiwi had probably been completely normal. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. At this point, what were they meant to say about Yelah? They had no idea what her situation was anymore. Her screams had gone quiet some time ago. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
Seyorohon¡¯s shoe store was surprisingly large for a shoe store in a small town, especially for a shoe store stuck in a random alleyway. It, in fact, presented two wooden signs: one with a red boot and another with a yellow sandal. Unlike most of the other windows in the town of Lemonholm, the windows of the shoe store were not tinted too dark to see from the outside. Instead, they displayed neat rows of shoes that were collecting noticeable amounts of dust. Ben had been watching the store while the humans whiled away their time in the tavern, and for most of that time, nothing happened. However, as he watched, the old man called Seyorohon slowly opened the door and stepped out after peeking around. For a moment, he did nothing. Then he took his shoes off, put on a pair of flashy black leather boots, and stole away into the evening gloom. Ben wasn¡¯t sure what to make of that, but it sure was odd. Though for all he knew, that was standard human behavior. The man was only away for a few minutes, but he soon returned, now wearing a completely different pair of boots. To the untrained eye, the footwear might have seemed the same. But not Ben. He noticed the slight differences in the stitching and material immediately. ¡°Curious. And weird.¡± Ben spoke to himself. As he did, he sent the images he¡¯d seen to the humans and Beelzebub. They would want to see the strangeness. As he did, he continued ignoring Beelzebub¡¯s pleas to explain his request to get trained by her. He thought it was a great idea, so he wasn¡¯t sure why she wasn¡¯t jumping at the idea. After all, she seemed quite bored, even back home. Why else would she have begged to come to this town? Eventually, the group of outsiders turned the corner as they returned to the inn from the tavern, though Ben could hear their arguing before he even looked at them. As they passed the store, it warranted little more than a glance from Vlugh and Meyara. ¡°I am telling you for certain if we re-arrange the letters of the non-emphasized words, I believe we can find the answer,¡± Herwen said. ¡°And I¡¯m telling you that¡¯s wrong,¡± Vlugh retorted, ¡°it¡¯s the emphasized words. Emphasized.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll have you know, mercenary, that I took several code-breaking classes in my time at the academy. You¡¯re a thousand years too early to be arguing with me over such a matter.¡± ¡°And I keep asking: what fucking academy? You haven¡¯t said which one!¡± Vlugh said, throwing his hands into the air. They had been trying, over and over, to lead the Knights to the conclusion reached by the Mother, to no avail. They tried subtlety, they tried leading questions, and in the end, they had to resort to direct confrontation. Or as close to directly saying the answer as possible. ¡°If you¡¯re certain, Vlugh,¡± Greyan said, ¡°then do you have a proposed answer?¡± ¡°Of course not! But it seems like it should be obvious that there are strange word choices being emphasized. Like, in the part that goes ¡®you killed HIM, he OFFED SELF.¡¯ What the hell is up with that? Why use ¡®off¡¯ instead of ¡®kill¡¯ again? And why not ¡®himself?¡¯ I¡¯m telling you, it¡¯s obviously weird.¡± Of course, Vlugh already had a potential answer using the emphasized words, but to his credit, he had actually devised that argument on his own. And it was one compelling enough to give Greyan pause. Of course, Herwen, lord of the smarty-pants, had other ideas. ¡°You poor, silly mercenary. This is why a proper education is so vital to the continued excellence of the kingdom - not that you would care about such a thing. It is common practice for expert designers of codes to do such things to distract a code-breaker. Or otherwise, fool an inept one,¡± Herwen said. But he wasn¡¯t done. ¡°Now, let us think rationally for a moment. Consider the letters we can use of the nonemphasized words. Perhaps it could be rearranged into something like¡­ silvery¡­ mud¡­ No. Silvery¡­ monk kid? No wait.¡± ¡°Are you done?¡± Jey asked. ¡°Hold on. We can look at it a different way. We just need to consider things logically. Perhaps there is a shift? Of course! By shifting the letters over by a certain amount, a more complex code can be achieved. I simply need to dedicate a bit more Mind to this, and I will be able to consider a few thousand possible permutations.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what to tell you anymore, man. What about the rest of you?¡± Vlugh asked the other Knights. Meyara spoke up. ¡°I still think we are investing too much time and Mind into decoding this message. For all we know, it could be the mad ravings of a random townsperson. Meanwhile, the killer, who would presumably not be leaving a message to find them, runs loose.¡± Vlugh let out a strong huff. ¡°Seriously! Ok, here¡¯s a possible solution for you. The emphasized words are what we look at, right? And to make things simpler, let¡¯s just use the first letters. If you re-arrange those, you can get something like ¡®store of shoe.¡¯ So what if it¡¯s something as simple as that?!¡± Vlugh waved his arms at the shoe store they had just passed. Herwen scoffed, and Jey giggled at the display. Greyan, however, stopped. The look he gave Vlugh was enough to make the bees buzz angrily, worried the decision would appear too suspicious. Greyan, however, just shrugged, walked over to the store, and knocked on the door. At first, nobody answered. The outsiders waited in the weirdest collection of weirdoes. After more than a minute of waiting, the mercenaries felt a shiver crawl up their spine. Even Ben felt affected. Almost without their noticing, a minuscule amount of Mind had wafted off Greyan and filled the surroundings in an ominous sensation. Ben was in awe. The subtle pressure Greyan¡¯s Mind was exuding felt scarier than the bombardment of Mind he¡¯d felt when first approaching Yiwi. How he made Ben feel this way with what felt like a tiny amount of Mind was amazing. After only a few seconds of the scary aura existing, the door swung open, revealing a bug-eyed Seyorohon in yellow sandals. Ben had no idea where the boots were, but he appreciated how the sandals looked almost exactly like the ones on the sign. ¡°What?! What do you- Oh, it¡¯s you outsiders. Haven¡¯t you been annoying enough today already?¡± Seyorohon had been one of the people who got interrogated, but Ben didn¡¯t really care to know what he had said. Nobody had told him the old man said something important, so he assumed it was about as interesting as the rest. ¡°I apologize, but we just wanted to see your shop. We¡¯d heard much about it, so we were intrigued about Lemonholm¡¯s most famous shoe store.¡± ¡°¡­It¡¯s the only shoe store. Anyway, I¡¯m closed right now. Come back during open hours.¡± ¡°I apologize again, but I must insist that we see the store.¡± The aura still hadn¡¯t disappeared, and Seyorohon had already started sweating. The poor old man seemed to hold strong for a moment, but the longer he failed to relent, the more pale his complexion grew. Eventually, he gave in and let the outsiders pass into the store. Shoes. Every inch of the interior was covered in shoes. Big, small, wide, narrow, every color and shape imaginable. It was almost overwhelming to see, but for Ben, it was the best thing this town had yet offered to look at. However, the most interesting thing they noticed was a scuffled pile of cloth tucked in a corner. Vlugh and Grehn found their attention drawn to the cloth and approached it as Ben watched, also captivated by the seemingly random object. When Grehn unfolded the cloth, two things happened. First, Ben and the mercenaries were shocked to find a wooden, black-painted mask with x-shaped eyeholes in its confines. And second, a series of clicks and sounds of metal on metal rang out. The Knights had unsheathed their weapons and were pointing them at the mercenaries, wearing looks ranging from betrayal to smugness. Grehn was the one to break the ensuing silence. ¡°Well, mercenaries. Unfortunately, you were right about the store of shoes.¡± Chapter 120 - Seyorohon’s Store of Shoe The Knights stood with their rifles outstretched towards the mercenaries, standing off in the narrow section of the shoe store. Seyorohon, whether still under the effects of Greyan¡¯s aura or simply due to the sudden development, was white as a sheet. Ben watched the standoff with bated breath, relaying the image to the rest of the hive. For a while, everything was silent. Finally, Greyan broke the hanging quiet. ¡°Put the mask on the floor and kick it to us. Make no sudden movements.¡± Grehn did as instructed, keeping one arm in the air as he slowly put the mask down. Vlugh had both arms raised, but he was still tense. Every instinct told them to fight, to escape, but both refrained. Being framed and captured wasn¡¯t even, in theory, a bad deal on their end. But they knew such a thing wouldn¡¯t be acceptable as long as they were controlled by the bees. A kick sent the mask tumbling along the wooden floor, coming to a precarious stop a pace or two from Greyan¡¯s feet. The Knight Commander, whose rifle was held up in a peculiarly casual manner, holstered the weapon and picked up the mask. He inspected the thing for a moment before looking at the mercenaries once again. His gaze lingered the longest on Elofan, who wasn¡¯t even raising her arms. Either she didn¡¯t care at all to surrender, or, based on her confused stares, her people didn¡¯t share the universal sign of giving up. ¡°This settles it, right Commander?¡± Herwen asked. His smug grin was just asking for him to get stung right on the nose. ¡°No.¡± Greyan¡¯s word was apparently surprising enough to make the Knights do a double take, as if they hadn¡¯t heard him correctly. He had gone back to inspecting the mask and was stroking his beard in classic Greyan fashion. ¡°No? What do you mean, no? The message told us everything we needed to know. This is what we¡¯ve been looking for,¡± Herwen said. Despite his mannerisms, the hands holding his weapon stayed steady and true. ¡°Uh, can I ask what¡¯s going on exactly?¡± Vlugh asked. The Knights stared daggers at him, but Greyan simply waved the mask around. ¡°To be honest, Vlugh, I¡¯m as puzzled as you are.¡± With his other hand, he pulled out the slab of wood. ¡°The message on the piece of wood is the reason you¡¯re in this situation right now. We were, in truth, deceiving you. The message in encoded in a somewhat dated version of the cipher used by the Royal Knights of Somuia, and it gave us a damning message condemning you and your group of murder. Of course, we weren¡¯t going to perform an arrest based purely on a mysterious message left at our door, so we waited.¡± As if testing their fates, Greyan weighed both objects with his hands. ¡°You were quick to point out the shoe store, and quick to find this mask. The message told us you, the ¡®friends of the fiend¡¯ would ¡®know where to look¡¯ to find the ¡®killer¡¯s true self.¡¯ It said nothing about either this store or the mask. So I must now ask this. Did you murder Lord Sawah? Well, Seyorohon?¡± Greyan turned to the old man, whose pale face was slick with sweat. It took a moment for the accusation to register, but when it did, Seyorohon tried to speak. When his mouth flapped without a response, he vehemently shook his head. ¡°Commander¡­¡± Meyara said. Unlike before, her gaze was more uncertain than accusatory. ¡°I can sense you¡¯re going somewhere else with this. We already agreed that if they acted, it would confirm our suspicions. Why are you acting coy?¡± ¡°Well, Meyara, there is still the question of the messenger¡¯s identity. I admit, it is strange that they would happen to find this bizarre mask in Seyorohon¡¯s store, but it is far from concrete proof. They could have found anything mildly suspicious anywhere, and thanks to the message¡¯s vagueness, it could be construed as evidence of foul play. I¡¯m not fully convinced. And besides. I expressed my concerns about the message to you already.¡± Herwen groaned. ¡°Yeah, yeah, the thing about the Knight¡¯s cipher. I¡¯m sure mercenaries or some other faction could easily discover our older codes, like this one was. Maybe some rival mercenary is keeping an eye on them or something. Who cares? This is evidence enough for me.¡± ¡°Shut up Herwen.¡± Greyan ignored Herwen¡¯s incredulous look and strode over to Seyorohon. The man looked to be on the brink of collapse, he was shaking so badly. Greyan found a chair nearby and offered it to the man, who fell into the seat like a bag of rocks. ¡°Now, mister Seyorohon. You say you did not kill Lord Sawah. But do you know this mask?¡± The mask with x-shaped eyeholes was dropped into Seyorohon¡¯s lap. The man stared at the mask in silence, long enough for Greyan to clear his throat. Seyorohon looked up at the Knight Commander and seemed like there was something he wanted to say, but he continued to hold his tongue. Eventually, Greyan spoke again. ¡°The truth of the matter is, I have been wary ever since I received our mission brief. A Knight Commander and their personal squad, sent to a small town to investigate a bad batch of produce? Practically unheard of. We are under enough stress as is without our forces stretched thin to work petty errands. Any random government official could come speak with the Lord about matters of state. No, this mission has been rotten since the beginning. And you mercenaries are equally embroiled in this whole rotten thing.¡± Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. It was difficult to tell in the dim room, but thanks to Ben¡¯s eyesight, it was clear that whatever color had been left in Seyorohon¡¯s face quickly drained away. Greyan paced, stroking his beard. At this point, Meyara and Jey were staring at Greyan as if he had gone mad, not even paying attention to the mercenaries anymore. Herwen, on the other hand, seemed to have a case of twitchy fingers. If there was any window of opportunity to run, this would be it. But the hive¡¯s wisdom kept the humans in place. Elofan had flopped onto the ground and was cupping her chin with her large hands, apparently enjoying the show. ¡°A strange, seemingly useless mission. A sudden, high-profile murder. Suspicious mercenaries in the wrong place at the wrong time. Messages encoded with information that should only be known to Royal Knights. And you, Seyorohon, are suddenly thrust into the middle of it. A close friend of the late Lord. A simple shoe salesman. This is a fine collection you have, by the way.¡± As he spoke, Greyan perused the rows and rows of shoes adorning the shelves. The entire place was stuffed to the brim. He picked up an elegant black dress shoe. ¡°This is a nice brand. Difficult to find. I believe their only official stores are in the capital, are they not?¡± Seyorohon didn¡¯t respond. ¡°And this, oh, this is nice. I¡¯m friends with the son of the owner of this store. I recognize the craftsmanship - he taught me of a few techniques they used when we were in the Knight Academy together as potential recruits. And speaking of! These look like an older version of the standard-issue boots provided to all Knight prospects. How about that?¡± The final pair of shoes Greyan grabbed were a pair of black leather boots, the same ones Ben had seen Seyorohon wearing when he snuck back into the store only an hour or so earlier. Seyorohon, finally having enough, let out a withering sigh. The man seemed practically brought to tears. ¡°¡­The mask is mine. It¡¯s a private thing, something I can¡¯t really talk about with outsiders.¡± ¡°The boots seem to imply a history with the Knights. They appear worn, recently even. So?¡± ¡°If you¡¯re trying to say I wrote whatever damn message you keep talkin¡¯ about, I have no idea. Yes, I tried to join the Knights when I was younger, but I couldn¡¯t hack it, alright? I don¡¯t know about any code or whatever.¡± ¡°Then what is your connection to these mercenaries?¡± At that, a bit of spark finally seemed to return to Seyorohon¡¯s eyes. ¡°These outsiders came into town a couple years back, and that¡¯s about all I know. Tried to sell ¡®em some shoes. The only ones they bought were these great big slippers. Some girl who¡¯s not with ¡®em right now put them on her fuckin¡¯ bird. But that¡¯s all.¡± Greyan strode over to the man once again and picked up the mask. ¡°Well, there are still many pieces missing in this puzzle. If you¡¯re not the one who wrote the message, despite your apparent connections to the Knights, that leaves few options. It¡¯s even worse if you¡¯re not connected with the mercenaries. You¡¯re refuting those, so I won¡¯t continue asking after them right now. Just know that the evidence is absolutely overwhelming that you are, at least, involved. But you are openly concealing the purpose of this mask. Seyorohon, I need you to tell me what this is. We are lacking information to find the true killer.¡± When Greyan posed those questions to Seyorohon, the old man clammed up even harder than before. After several minutes of coaxing, it was clear that the man wouldn¡¯t be talking, so Greyan pat him on the shoulder and told him to go to bed. The Knights became even more confused when he did that. At this point, Grehn and Vlugh had put their hands down despite Herwen¡¯s warnings, and the man still had his weapon trained on them. But he was the only one. Greyan ended up putting his hand on Herwen¡¯s shoulder, and the man finally relented. At that, Greyan sighed, and tucked away both the mask and the slab of wood into his pockets. ¡°Mercenaries, I want you to know you¡¯re not off the hook yet. Every moment we spend in this town, you three become increasingly interesting cases to keep an eye on. From now on, the Knights will take over the investigation in full. You three and mister Seyorohon will be confined to a secure location in town while we work. For tonight, we¡¯ll stay in the inn together once again, this time so we can monitor you.¡± ¡°This isn¡¯t fair,¡± Grehn said, ¡°and the fact you¡¯re taking a suspicious message so seriously is frankly concerning. We are not involved in the Lord¡¯s murder.¡± ¡°I believe it is fair, and your claims are yet to be proven. Though the message was vague, you all clearly knew something about this shoe store, and were even quicker to find the mask. As far as I¡¯m concerned, either you all and Seyorohon are complicit in murder, or you have ulterior motives even I can¡¯t begin to understand.¡± ¡°We couldn¡¯t help it.¡± Vlugh groaned. ¡°I don¡¯t know. There was just something weird about the bundle of cloth. I was sure there was something off about it. How were we supposed to know there would be a creepy mask inside?¡± Greyan¡¯s ears perked up at that. Jey was silently berating Herwen, who was arguing with her about how they could just shoot the mercenaries and be done with the whole thing. Meyara, however, also must have caught something odd in what Vlugh said, because she cast a look towards Greyan. ¡°Interesting. Say, Vlugh. You seem to have given some thought about what the message said with your method of decoding. Were there any other combinations of note?¡± Greyan asked. Vlugh looked at Grehn, who shrugged. Giving the hive a moment to relay a few of the combinations the Mother had deduced, Vlugh finally spoke. ¡°Sure, there¡¯s a bunch. ¡®Ore of set shore,¡¯ ¡®hero toss foe,¡¯ ¡®rose of ethos,¡¯ ¡®host see roof.¡¯ And that¡¯s just to name a few.¡± Meyara and Grehn looked at each other. It was a quick look, but obvious enough for the mercenaries to know something was up. Jey and Herwen just continued arguing. Greyan waved his hand in front of their faces, and they immediately stopped, though they were still giving each other stormy looks. ¡°I see. Well, for right now, it is late, and I think we are all a bit tired. Let¡¯s go, get a good night¡¯s sleep, and we can continue pointing fingers in the morning.¡± Chapter 121 - Rose of Beethos D¨¦j¨¤ vu. That was a fun word Beelzebub knew thanks to Mom, but it wasn¡¯t fun to experience. She was once again stuck watching the humans sleep, but this time, Ben wasn¡¯t alongside her to share in her misery. Though, to be fair, he was stuck watching something far more dull. ¡°Bub. Bub. Bub. Bubbidy Bee bub.¡± ¡°If you don¡¯t stop that, I will agree to train you and I will beat you up so bad you¡¯ll be eating honey through a straw.¡± It didn¡¯t matter that Beelzebub didn¡¯t know what a straw was - the point got across just fine, and Ben stopped his blathering. She turned back to the humans sleeping in the inn, dreading having to continue listening to Vlugh and Jey¡¯s conversation again. ¡°Beel. Beel. Beel. Beeledy Bub bee.¡± Beelzebub sighed. How was she supposed to try using her brain in this situation? She took a breath. Drawing on the experiences Mom was having recently, where she was learning to focus, Beelzebub tried to do the same. Tuning out the voices, the buzzing, and her burning desire to fight, she tried to think only of a single thing. The humans. Jey and Vlugh were talking, sometimes too loudly. It was the first shift of the night for the outsiders. Tonight, they were implementing a new system. Since the mercenaries were under heavier suspicion, Greyan was taking it upon himself to participate in each and every shift, only sleeping for an hour during the first part of each shift, then staying awake for the latter half. As a result, he was sleeping lightly, sat up in a chair, wearing his full suit of armor. For all the human-ness, Beelzebub found the image of Greyan, leaning in his full armor and trying to rest a bit to be in top fighting shape, absolutely inspiring. This was a true warrior who devoted his life to the craft, using every tool at his disposal to- ¡°Damn. Focusing is hard.¡± Beelzebub¡¯s head hurt, but she realized the attempt to focus worked, at least to a degree. She decided to take things a bit more slowly and tried to focus on the conversation the two humans were having. Not that she thought they were interesting - she just wanted to practice a new skill Mom was learning to get stronger. And to drown out Ben. ¡°So, in terms of romance-¡° ¡°Nope.¡± Jey shook her head. ¡°Herwen is completely hopeless. Never had a single relationship. Not casual, not serious, not nothing. But he¡¯s a rich brat, so he¡¯ll probably get hitched to some noble girl and be miserable for the rest of his life. Not that it would be much different from his usual self.¡± Vlugh snorted. ¡°He¡¯s an¡­ interesting guy. But I¡¯m surprised the rest of you are so active. Socially, I mean. Not romantically. But that too.¡± ¡°I¡¯m actually surprised you mercs are so cagey. The whole fantastical image of mercs with the freedom to do whatever they want. Or whomever. I mean, that¡¯s the whole draw of becoming a merc in the first place, isn¡¯t it? Plenty of Knights who tire of the grind eventually go out and become mercs.¡± ¡°As far as I¡¯ve seen, that¡¯s definitely not the real deal. My group is a bunch of random jerk-offs who have no other actual skills. Except maybe Rette, but her situation is kinda weird. So yeah, we don¡¯t have good skills, so all we can really do is fight and do odd jobs. Hired muscle a lot of the time. Not much glitz and glamour in the job, so I don¡¯t know why Knights would get into it. I grew up in Yiwi, in the poor part of town, and worse, I¡¯m Drevan. So people are automatically wary. Though, to be fair, all I wanted to do as a kid was fight people, so when I lost to Yelah, I just ended up following her. And she was weird; she actually wanted to be a mercenary, since forever. Maybe because of Seiena.¡± Jey tilted her head. ¡°Huh. In the capital, the mercenaries are usually just guards. Though I¡¯ve seen some of the lower-tier mercs do some odd jobs out in the farmland. But most of the fighting gets taken care of by the Knights.¡± ¡°So, what you¡¯re telling me is that when a Knight gets tired of being a soldier, they can just get a cushy job as a personal guard? I bet they¡¯re in high demand too, considering their history.¡± Jey scoffed, but she smiled at the same time. The two eased into a lull, letting the quiet night and breathes of their comrades fill in the space. And Beelzebub hated it. She was trying to focus on something, dammit! ¡°So then,¡± Vlugh said, ¡°I assume you always wanted to be a Knight? I mean, even if you¡¯re not in the capital, everyone knows about them. Hell, if I knew about them sooner, I might¡¯ve wanted to be one.¡± ¡°Me? Kinda. I¡¯m too lowborn compared to the typical Knight, so it was more like a mildly attainable fantasy rather than an achievable goal. I was pretty lucky; my family got into the good graces of a Knight Commander when I was a kid and that gave me an in to the Royal Knight Academy when I was a teenager.¡± ¡°Greyan?¡± ¡°This idiot? Nah. It was a short lady, Knight Commander Galas. I haven¡¯t seen her in years.¡± ¡°Did you have to mention her height?¡± ¡°Since I was lowborn,¡± she continued without missing a beat, ¡°I had to work hard at the Academy. And when I say work hard, I mean kick the ass of anyone in my way. I made it through with brawns, not brains. Maybe that¡¯s why Greyan selected me to join his personal squad.¡± ¡°Really? You¡¯re strong enough to beat up everyone who was trying to become a Knight?¡± ¡°Sure, why not? Well, maybe there were a few times that some gossip helped to soften them up, but I had one of the best combat records in Academy history. Of course, that was at the time. There are some people I graduated with that became stupid powerful. Like Meyara. I would never, ever, ever lose to her while we training, but now? I¡¯d give her a solid 40% chance of winning.¡± ¡°Hold on. Gossip? That seems like it involves brains of some kind.¡± ¡°Oh, I¡¯m just good at talking about people. But that¡¯s not important. To be fair, those skills do help with some missions, but something like this calls for brainpower only Greyan could work with.¡± The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°On that note,¡± Vlugh said, ¡°you¡¯re being pretty chill about this whole situation. I¡¯ve gotta be honest, things aren¡¯t looking great for my buddies and I. Not that we did anything wrong, obviously. But things are getting really heated, all because I suggested looking in that stupid shoe store.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t know, man. If you are actually guilty, I¡¯d call you incredibly stupid for suggesting it. Clearly, Greyan isn¡¯t sold on your supposed guilt either, precisely because it would require a monumental dumbass to expose themself like that.¡± ¡°Gee. Thanks.¡± ¡°Cheer up dude. We¡¯re trying to say you can¡¯t be that dumb.¡± Jey kicked Vlugh in the shin, probably harder than intended, because Vlugh let out a yelp of pain. After grumbling for a bit, Vlugh went back to being pensive. ¡°I¡¯m just confused about what Greyan suspects. He and Meyara seemed to be thinking about something when I mentioned some of the other possible combinations I came up with for the code. Do you know anything about them?¡± Jey shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t listening, but Greyan did mention something about the ¡®Rose of Ethos¡¯ to me. I have no clue what it is, though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s because you dedicate your brainpower to idle gossip rather than important subjects like history.¡± The gentle tone of Greyan¡¯s voice was so sudden it caused both humans to jump a bit in their chairs. Greyan hadn¡¯t even moved. The only sign that he was awake was a slight change in his breath and his eyelids only being half-closed. ¡°Like I was telling the merc, I don¡¯t got much in the way of brains.¡± Jey grumped, settling back in her chair. Vlugh also tried to relax, but now that his innocence was more in question than ever, he found it hard not to squirm under Greyan¡¯s gaze. ¡°I won¡¯t go through that argument again with you. Anyways. Since neither of you two seem to care at all about important historical events that have affected the world we live in today, I have no choice but to educate you. Honestly. Meyara knows this; why can¡¯t you all?¡± Greyan spoke in soft tones, as if trying not to wake somebody from their slumber. Which, to be fair, was probably exactly what he was doing. It was just that the other two humans weren¡¯t so considerate. ¡°The Rose of Ethos is now known as an event that occurred about 60 years ago. I would hope you know that is in the earliest days of His Majesty the King¡¯s reign. This was right after King Yiwan inherited the crown from his father, and at the young age of 15 had to contend with the mounting discontent his tyrant father had built over the past half-decade. Despite his age, the King became a veritable warlord, using his powerful Mind and loyal followers to maintain an iron grip over the vast, tumultuous kingdom his father suddenly left him with. Of course, he was still a boy. Many did not agree with his rule. Cue in Rose of Ethos. They were a mercenary company that had helped King Yiwan the Second, His Majesty¡¯s father, establish the Kingdom of Somuia as we know it today, and were one of the first mercenary companies to become a partner of the Kingdom.¡± Vlugh waited for a pause in the explanation and finally found it. ¡°So, Rose of Ethos was a merc company? I thought it was the event. Man, merc companies have been around for a while. But why¡¯ve I never heard of them before?¡± ¡°It is precisely because of the event that stole their name that they are rarely talked about. At some point, the mercenary company devised a brutal strategy to undermine the young King. While Somuian history scrolls will explain their motivations as purely malevolent, jealous, and angry that their hard work of the last 15 years had fallen on the shoulders of a child, I believe there is more to the story. Sure, all of those things are probably true, but it¡¯s interesting that the only records of the leaders of the Rose of Ethos at the time of the event are found in foreign scrolls.¡± ¡°Anyways, their plan was thus: they would slowly but surely destroy the population of the capital and the Knights while pinning the blame on the King. They poisoned water supplies with subtle traces of toxic metals, they infected foods with Mind-numbing parasites, and worked tirelessly to interrupt trade with the city. There¡¯s little record of how any of this was achieved; for example, even today, parasites capable of numbing people¡¯s Minds are practically unheard of. But it was all happening. For weeks, the capital suffered, and they had no idea what was going on. Even the Knights, once loyal to their King, began to turn on him. It was nearly the end of the short-lived Kingdom of Somuia. But then, in the course of only a single day, the King resolved everything.¡± ¡°Huh? How¡¯s that even possible? They had no idea what was going on, right? We can barely even solve a murder in a week, and the King solves a whole conspiracy overnight?¡± ¡°That¡¯s the King for ya,¡± Jey said, puffing out her chest. Though it deflated soon after. ¡°The merc has a point, though. Without any clues, that whole thing seems impossible to solve, especially in such a short time frame.¡± ¡°That¡¯s part of what makes the story so interesting,¡± Greyan said. He finally moved, leaning back further in his chair. ¡°Nobody truly knows how the King figured it all out. But I have a theory. Rather, it¡¯s my mentor¡¯s theory. He¡¯s the one who taught me how to think critically and carefully. As the story goes, the King miraculously discovered the source of the capital¡¯s suffering and rode out with his Royal Guard of the time to the Rose of Ethos¡¯ company headquarters. Nobody knew what he was doing, or why he was visiting a company of mercenaires. And then, he proceeded to slaughter every single member, except, famously, the rank-and-file staff. Lo-and-behold, the capital¡¯s suffering comes to an end. The Rose of Ethos became an event where a building was painted red in retribution, rather than the name of a band of mercenaries. And the remaining members dispersed. The end. ¡°So, what is my theory? There are two important things to note about the Rose of Ethos: the surviving members, and the years that follow the event. There is no record of the people King Yiwan spared, supposedly to protect their privacy and to let them lead normal lives. However, I think they went on to do something interesting. ¡°You see, the Rose of Ethos was one of the key events that cemented the young King as the permanent ruler of Somuia, both for the legend that surrounds it and the fear that stems from it. Oh, and the intelligence gathering capabilities of the Mind Inquiry Service. Weren¡¯t expecting them to show up, huh? Well, neither was anybody else. In the years following the Rose of Ethos, where King Yiwan¡¯s rule underwent a solidification, the MIS were, at some point, established as a public agency. Supposedly to keep a leash on previously unrestricted mercenary companies, so that there would never be another Rose of Ethos. But there is evidence to suggest the organization existed in those years between the Rose of Ethos and the stabilization of Somuia. My mentor believes that the surviving members of the Rose of Ethos were actually secretly informing the King of the company¡¯s actions, and so he spared them, then proceeded to recruit their talents to form an intelligence gathering organization. Over time, I¡¯ve come to question some aspects of the theory. Why turn rank-and-file staff into the founding members of a highly secretive, highly capable government agency? How does revealing some secrets translate to such skills? And how did they become so powerful so quickly? So many questions.¡± Greyan began to stroke his beard, but Vlugh and Jey were at a loss for words. They either stared at the ground or at Greyan, mostly unmoving. Eventually, Vlugh found his voice. ¡°That¡¯s¡­ a crazy story. And a crazy theory. So, is it a weird coincidence that I found those words in the message?¡± ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Meyara and I suspect it might have something to do with our original mission. But if that¡¯s true¡­ In any case, that is related to something else I have been concerned abou-¡° Suddenly, Greyan shot up, startling the other two humans once again. He lunged at the window and put his ear against it for a moment before throwing it open before Vlugh could even react. At first, there was silence. Then Vlugh thought he heard something familiar. Beelzebub broke her focus. Ben was no longer at his post in front of Seyorohon¡¯s shoe store, and was instead shaking her shoulder and pointing somewhere deeper in the town. The intense focus had left Beelzebub a bit groggy, so she had to shake her head a few times to see what he was freaking out about. Faint crackles and pops. The most distant sound of voices. And a bright orange glow, distinctly out of place in the dead of night. Somewhere in the heart of Lemonholm, a fire was raging. And Beelzebub had no idea why. Chapter 122 - Fire Time seemed to stretch in Beelzebub¡¯s eyes as she prepared to move. Ben¡¯s wings slowed to a crawl and flickering lights slowed to a pulse. Sound, light, it all fell behind in Beelzebub¡¯s perception of the world. She could move fast. Very fast. It had taken tremendous effort just to see what was happening when she moved so fast. Back when she had beaten Toh, she could scarcely even perceive the world around her as she moved. At her top speed, she was still uncontrolled, like back then. But thanks to Bedivere, she could now move faster than anyone in the hive. Even Belial¡¯s stupid bullets were like gentle motes of dust paused in the air. She would quickly go to the fire and figure out what was going on. Before she moved, she heard Greyan¡¯s voice. ¡°Wake the others. I¡¯ll go ahead.¡± In Beelzebub¡¯s world, everything was slow, because she was fast. Ben was fast too, but she was the fastest. So when Greyan lept from the window and dashed down the street so quickly he was nearly a blur, a fire was lit in Beelzebub¡¯s eyes. How could a human move at that speed? Was he faster than Beelzebub? Impossible. She wouldn¡¯t allow it. Impossible. Mustering all the control she had, Beelzebub sped along the rooftops as fast as she could without causing wanton destruction. It wasn¡¯t fair. She had to hold back to stay hidden, so Greyan maintained a steady lead. The man dashed through the streets, kicking up dust as he ran. At some point, his helmet had come up, encasing his head in a solid shell of metal. Above the frontal cone, a translucent material, presumably a sort of metal, covered a tiny slit for his eyes, meaning his entire body was unexposed to the outside. The crest of his helmet was the only unusual thing about the otherwise simple design; it flew backwards in a single spike, painted a deep red, nearly as angry as Beelzebub¡¯s own red stripes. The streets were empty, so Greyan could run through without a care. Beelzebub noted the lack of people; every other night saw pedestrians of all sorts making their way through town, even at the youngest hours. Every window was shut tight, every door bolted. Not unusual for this town, necessarily, but the silence within the typically chatty homes sent a shiver through Beelzebub¡¯s body. It annoyed her that humans could unnerve her like this, and something as simple as a small change in their behavior was the culprit. Why were they so inconsistent? So unpredictable? Greyan and his strength excited Beelzebub, which she expected. But to be uncomfortable was a feeling she distinctly did not like. Despite the dark night, the pulsing light of the fire was large and bright enough to see from far away, and it was clearly originating from the square. And as they approached, they could even see the flames licking the sky, beginning to reach above the rooftops. A gentle chant grew louder as they approached. The both of them reached the town square from the inn in only a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. When they arrived, what greeted them stopped both newcomers in their tracks. The town square, once mundane and dilapidated, had transformed beyond recognition into a scene of horror. Dancing shadows blended with dark, robed figures walking in a circle, striding with exaggerated, looping steps. They paced in a gentle rhythm, chanting in time with their steps, their words mostly gibberish but their tone soothing. Despite the ominous atmosphere, the entire affair was calm and orderly. Each wore identical masks, all with x-shaped eyeholes. The conglomeration of over thirty people walked around a massive bonfire set next to the old fountain, and what lay within the flame shook Beelzebub to her core. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Seyorohon¡¯s unmoving corpse was obscured by the smoke and fire, propped against a wooden log. Charred, nearly unrecognizable. His left arm was bent to his chest, his finger held against his mouth as if telling someone to be silent. His other arm was stuck above him, pointing straight into the sky. On his feet, his old soldier boots crumbled to ash. As if invigorated by the meal, the flame rose higher and higher, cracking and roaring like a starving beast. Beelzebub felt a sickness rise within her. Humans had done this. To one of their own. How could they do such a thing? She had felt a spot of guilt after telling Ben some light insults; how would she feel doing this? Her head pounded. Furious buzzing exploded from the hive. She looked at Greyan. The man¡¯s fists clenched hard enough for his armor to creak, but they just as quickly relaxed. His shoulders slumped. This wasn¡¯t fair. What these people had done wasn¡¯t fair, it was just¡­ violence. Didn¡¯t Beelzebub crave violence? In the next moment, Greyan dashed forward, surprising Beelzebub and turning the once-calm congregation¡¯s chants into cries of fear. He moved quickly and efficiently, weaving between the robed people like water. Precise punches and chops knocked the robed people off their feet, though the groans and yelps implied he was holding back. The people were being kept alive; the Knight Commander would want them alive and well for what would come next. Systematically, he brought people down, but many were nearly as quick to react. People ran in all directions, ducking into alleys and side streets to avoid Greyan¡¯s fury. Beelzebub almost wanted to jump in and help, but she refrained. A dozen people crumpled to the ground, but dozens more were making their escape. Greyan moved, catching people before they managed to leave, but there were too many, and some disappeared into the shadows. Worse, as he moved, some people he had downed began to groan and rise once again. Beelzebub knew he would never catch them all, at least not while holding back as he was doing. Screams suddenly emanated from the dark alleys. Sounds of fighting exploded, and several bodies began to fly back into the square. Greyan didn¡¯t pause, continuing to grab the robed people and throw them to the floor. Beelzebub already knew who had arrived. The other Knights stepped from the alleys, limp bodies in tow. They wore their armor, as if they had slept in it. Each wore a helmet that obscured their faces, the general design identical to Greyan¡¯s, though each crest was unique. With their help, Greyan moved with conviction to round up the rest of the congregation. Herwen and Meyara were brutal in their beatings. Jey less so. Each avoided approaching the pyre, and Meyara avoided looking at it entirely. In no time at all, every single robed human had been captured and thrown into the square, huddling together like a puddle of shadows. The Knights, breathing lightly from the effort, encircled them with their weapons drawn. Though they were greatly outnumbered, the sheer presence of their Minds alone kept the congregation in check. All told, the entire ordeal lasted less than three minutes. The Knights closed in on the crowd as the mercenaries finally arrived in the square. Beelzebub was eventually joined by Ben on a nearby rooftop, and they were both silent as they watched what transpired below. Greyan stepped away from the crowd, towards the still-burning bonfire. With a wave of his arms, the fire was crushed, smothered by the power of his Mind. Darkness descended on the square as the flame disappeared, the only light coming from sparse lanterns. The Knights¡¯ breath was steady, hidden by cold metal. In contrast, the mercenaries, disoriented and confused, stood on the main street. The image of Seyorohon imprinted itself on the Minds of the bees, and the hive buzzed in muted tones. All they could do now was wait. Chapter 123 – Beehind the Mask Without a word, Greyan strolled to the closest robed person and stared down at them. He seemed more machine than man with his full suit of armor. The cowering human beneath him tried to shy away, but Greyan reached down, and with a single yank, unmasked the first person. They were¡­ some Lemonholmian. Nobody important. Their features were contorted with a mixture of fear and disgust, and they looked like they wanted to spit at Greyan¡¯s face. The Knight Commander took no heed of the Lemonholmian¡¯s ire and moved on to the next one. One by one, he unmasked each robed figure, revealing a disturbing truth. There was no rhyme or reason, no pattern. Some of the masks revealed important figures, such as the sour government official, Sarah. Others revealed ordinary people. The only things that bound the crowd were the robes, the masks, their home, and their hatred. When he was nearly finished, Greyan looked out at the crowd. Thirty-six Lemonholmians, young and old, man and woman, all brimming with hatred. Beelzebub had seen them all at some point or another, but only recognized a few. Sarah, both of the buff men that had accompanied them prior, Betty, Lahim. Only two remained unmasked. Greyan removed one. The innkeeper. He moved to the final one. Beelzebub knew who it was, thanks to Ben. He recognized her frail body, the way a subtle shiver entered her body every time she moved. Muweh Sawah was the last to be unmasked. Unlike the others, her face was stern, no hatred visible behind her eyes. Greyan backed away slowly, clutching the final masks. He threw them into a pile with the rest. They were like a mound of mocking faces, watching the confrontation. Greyan sat on the old fountain and rested his chin on clasped hands. He waited for a few moments, watching the group of still-robed townsfolk squirm and grind their teeth. The other Knights remained unmoving, like statues ready to spring into action at a moment¡¯s notice. The mercenaries, unsure of what to do, sat on a bench. Elofan was unusually quiet. Finally, Greyan spoke. ¡°Muweh Sawah. I¡¯ll trust you to speak on behalf of this group. Who are you?¡± The gaze of thirty-odd people bore into Muweh¡¯s back, but she sat steady. Beelzebub was trying not to think of the entire situation, but several analyses were already pouring in from the hive. Seyorohon had been in possession of one of the masks worn by the robed people. He must have been a member, then. Somehow, in the course of that single night, the rest of them had discovered that he had been exposed and executed him in a ritualistic manner. Perhaps for another reason, or perhaps for the sole reason that his membership in that group was a close secret. ¡°We are a simple group of people who want the best for Lemonholm,¡± Muweh said. The crowd behind her bristled. ¡°By murdering your own?¡± ¡°If needed.¡± Greyan nodded. ¡°This sort of occult behavior is prohibited by both the crown and the Church of Humanity. Was it a good idea to act while I was in town?¡± Muweh nodded this time. ¡°It was the perfect time. The appearance of the mercenaries only made it more fortunate.¡± ¡°What is their involvement?¡± ¡°In this? None.¡± That seemed to confuse Greyan. Actually, it seemed to confuse everyone, even the other cult members. Before they could ask what she meant, Muweh continued. ¡°You moved more quickly than I expected, Commander. Perhaps I should the credit the mercenaries¡¯ strange friends.¡± Grehn stood. As did the other two. Beelzebub tensed. Was she talking about the bees? ¡°Everything came together tonight. If some members hadn¡¯t appeared, I wouldn¡¯t be ready to direct you. You are all combat-ready, the mercenaries have yet to escape, and their friends are nearby. I think it¡¯s time to bring your mission to a close.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Greyan asked. At some point, she had stood up. His eyes had been drawn away from Muweh towards an object in her hands. A pistol. ¡°Rose of Ethos. We will eliminate the Lemonholm Betterment Club and this new threat in one fell swoop. I have already taken care of my husband and his accomplice, Seyorohon, for attempting to destabilize the Kingdom. That was the original plan. Now, we can wipe the slate truly clean.¡± For a moment, nobody moved. Everyone only stared at the gun in Muweh¡¯s hand, which she pointed at a random rooftop. She fired. Beelzebub had been so focused on the pistol itself that when it fired, she narrowly managed to push Ben out of the way before the bullet tore through the air. An unshakable force pressed on their Minds. Mother. ¡°LEAVE.¡± The mercenaries jumped into action when they felt the voice of Mother. They had to grab Elofan, who hadn¡¯t heard. Beelzebub grabbed Ben and tossed him away, over the rooftops and towards the closest section of Lemonholm¡¯s wall. In that same moment, an equally oppressive force descended on the outsiders; a wall of cold Mind that evoked images of musty desks and old scrolls. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The cold presence of Mind that enveloped the town, pouring from Muweh, seemed to spark something in Greyan. He nodded, rising to his feet. His movements were sluggish, as if he wanted more than anything to be somewhere else. Looking towards his Knights, who were, at this point, spinning around in confusion, he said a single word. ¡°MIS.¡± Greyan looked between Muweh, the crowd of cultists, the rooftop, and the mercenaries. He nodded again, pointing two fingers at Jey, then at the mercenaries. Without hesitation, she dashed towards the mercenaries, closing the distance between them more quickly than expected. Herwen and Meyara hesitated. When Muweh fired a shot into the crowd of cultists, she motioned for them to follow suit, but Beelzebub didn''t see them open fire. Greyan, meanwhile, slumped his shoulders and walked to Muweh. Beelzebub¡¯s mind buzzed, not just from the situation but from the flood of theories the hive ¨C mostly the smart bees - was piecing together. Greyan mentioned the MIS ¨C was Muweh a part of them? Had she killed her husband and put on this show of a murder mystery because of some plan he¡¯d come up with to destabilize the kingdom? She had even left a trail of clues for the Knights to follow, except the bees had figured some out first. Was the cult also a part of her cover story? For that matter, was everything about her a part of some elaborate infiltration? Even marrying the Lord? Beelzebub was stuck. Meanwhile, everything steadied in Ben¡¯s view as he tumbled through the air from the force of Beelzebub¡¯s throw. He was ahead of the mercenaries, but they were already slowing down to confront the speeding rocket that was Jey. She was too fast; they wouldn¡¯t react in time. Ben had to do something. If not for the humans, then for Elofan, at least. He sped downward, stinger extended, ready to meet Jey head on. He couldn¡¯t see her face, but nothing in her body language implied surprise at his sudden appearance. Instead, she calmly raised her bayonet. Ben couldn¡¯t dodge. He¡¯d have to block. Power exploded from Jey¡¯s bayonet only as she swung down, the sudden burst of speed and power catching Ben off guard. It would kill him. Beelzebub slammed into Jey¡¯s side stinger first, crumpling her chest plate and blasting her into a building. The force rocked the wooden home¡¯s foundation, destabilizing the entire thing. Beelzebub emerged from the building¡¯s dark confines just as it toppled, crashing onto the Knight still inside. Beelzebub¡¯s stinger rose, not a moment too soon, as a bayonet seemed to appear from thin air. ¡°JEY!¡± Greyan had moved so quickly that he arrived just before his shout did. The blade at the end of his gun clashed with Beelzebub¡¯s stinger, until, with a mighty heave, he swung, sending Beelzebub flying down the main street. Without sparing the mercenaries a glance, he shot his free arm forward, blasting the rubble atop Jey away. Herwen and Meyara soon appeared beside him, and he pointed towards the dusty form of their comrade. ¡°Grehn. Vlugh. Elofan. And you two insects. It is somewhat unfortunate, but Lemonholm will be your grave.¡± Greyan spoke without looking at the people in question, instead staring at the main street. A red and black blur was causing wanton destruction, smashing divots into the road and slashing the sides of buildings. The power of its Mind was slowly building, less like an explosion and more like a pot of boiling water. Each moment that passed made the world seem more red, more angry, as the warrior known as Beelzebub reached the peak of her rage. ¡°Herwen. Make sure Jey is alive. When you¡¯re done, help Muweh keep things under control. Meyara, deal with these four. I will make sure that thing is kept in check,¡± Greyan said, pointing to Beelzebub. In the next instant, Greyan disappeared, reappearing in time to blast Beelzebub further away from the group with his bayonet. He followed behind her until they were distant enough to become little more than the sounds of metal-on-stinger and waves of boiling Mind. Meyara turned towards the mercenaries. Both had their weapons at the ready, Grehn and his sword and Vlugh with his twin pistols. Elofan was backing up, her staff at the ready. Ben was behind them, injured. Although Beelzebub had saved him from a worse fast, he¡¯d still been clipped by Jey¡¯s bayonet. However, the subtle presence of Mother enveloped him, and the shallow gash near his stinger was already healing. With Mother¡¯s [I Command Bee, HEAL] Ability, a wound like that was nothing. Herwen knelt by Jey¡¯s side. Unlike Ben¡¯s wound, hers was grievous. Beelzebub¡¯s stinger had punctured a hole in her clothes and armor on the right side of her chest. If the attack missed her organs, she might have been fine, were it not for the ugly, red rash already spreading from the wound. Her teeth were grit and her eyes closed, but she was clearly alive. ¡°Fighting shape?¡± Herwen asked. ¡°Not at my best, but maybe something light,¡± Jey responded in a clipped tone. She didn¡¯t seem to be in fighting shape, not after getting impaled and having a building crash down on her, but maybe Knights were made of tougher stuff. Herwen helped her to her feet, and she stood by herself, eyes half closed and sweating profusely. The three Knights stood off against the mercenaries. Meyara kept an eye trained on Elofan. Leaving Jey to lean on a piece of wood, Herwen ran back to the square, where the sounds of gunshots continued to ring. ¡°You¡¯re condoning this?¡± Grehn asked. He was desperately looking for a moment to escape, but Meyara hadn¡¯t stopped staring at them. ¡°It¡¯s now a part of our mission. Every oddity has finally been cleared up, so now we will just follow Greyan¡¯s orders,¡± Meyara said. She still hadn¡¯t moved, making Ben question her goal. Greyan had said to ¡®take care of them¡¯, but did that just mean kill? Or was there a chance of survival? ¡°Everything¡¯s happening so suddenly, I¡¯m not sure I understand what¡¯s actually going on. Mind explaining?¡± Grehn asked. His stall tactics were obvious, but they seemed to be working. ¡°Enough. If you¡¯re about ready, Jey, I may need some help killing them if they¡¯re as crafty as we expect.¡± So much for that. Jey took a deep breath and nodded, eyes fully open. Her right arm was permanently glued to her side, either in pain or by instinct, but she only needed one to prepare her gun to fire. Meyara took a step towards the mercenaries, but before she could attack, Elofan¡¯s whooping voice accompanied by a burst of Mind caught everyone¡¯s attention. ¡°Poisoned Bog: Friend and Foe.¡± Chapter 124 - Poisoned Bog: Beeriend and Foe ¡°Poisoned Bog: Friend and Foe.¡± When Elofan whooped, a gentle pulse of Mind flowed from her body, slow and controlled. The results of what was presumably her Ability were anything but. An explosion of shimmering, translucent purples and greens spread across the ground and permeated the air as Ben watched, the colors coalescing into ghostly vapors and thick, intangible sludge that sprinted in every direction, covering every inch of the town. From where Ben hovered, he saw the Ability cover the streets and homes, from the town square where Muweh, Herwen, and the cultists were standing off all the way to where Beelzebub and Greyan clashed, far down the main street. The two Knights before them scarcely had time to react, and by the time they could, they had nowhere to run. As for what the Ability did, Ben had absolutely no idea. ¡°We have a big advantage now that I managed to activate my Ability. Forgive me, but you three will still need to fight,¡± the Fernen said. Grehn¡¯s discipline afforded him the control not to turn to look at Elofan in shock or curiosity. ¡°Wanna tell us about it? Quickly!¡± He added the last part as Meyara and Jey turned towards the group, who were slowly backing away, towards the other side of the street and cover. He didn¡¯t know if he was imagining it, but it almost seemed as if the spectral vapors were reaching up and latching onto the Knights, as if to hold them back. But they were far too incorporeal and thin to do any such thing. The Knights seemed like they could move just fine. Or did they? It was subtle, but thanks to Ben¡¯s seeing, the tiniest of changes appeared. Jey¡¯s breath was slightly heavier, the grip on her side tighter. Meyara¡¯s movements ever so slightly less refined. Though, Grehn thought he might be imagining things. Elofan whooped, the sound less exaggerated than usual. ¡°The simple version is this: I¡¯ve designated the Knights and Muweh as our enemies. Everyone else in the Bog is a friend. You¡¯ll feel the effects for yourself, but the enemy is now on something of a timer. Another one, I suppose, if you consider Jey¡¯s injury. They will weaken as long as they remain in the Bog, up until a point. Unfortunately, I had to use the more tame version of my Ability to accommodate both friend and foe.¡± Jey perked up. ¡°Watch out. They¡¯re stronger and we¡¯re weaker. Everyone in town.¡± ¡°Woah, hold on,¡± Vlugh said, ¡°you can understand Elofan? Have you just been lying to us about everything this whole time?¡± Jey hesitated. Meyara still hadn¡¯t moved, and all of that was fine with Ben. Like Elofan had mentioned, Jey¡¯s injury and now Elofan¡¯s Ability had put the Knights on a timer, so wasting any of that time was fine with the bees. Not that Beelzebub was thinking about such things at the moment. ¡°Nah, I can just hear real good. That¡¯s my Ability.¡± ¡°Enough.¡± Meyara¡¯s blunt word was accompanied by a click. Following her lead, Jey readied her rifle and aimed at the group. Without another warning, they fired. Grehn responded in turn, infusing Mind into his body and sword to block the barrage. His eyes widened as he moved with greater speed and accuracy than he¡¯d ever experienced in his life, and the bullets flying towards them found no purchase at all as they clanged against his blade instead. Bullets were fast, and powerful to boot. He¡¯d never thought blocking them would be¡­ easy. ¡°The effects aren¡¯t as great as they could be, but it¡¯s a sacrifice I need to make to use this version of my Ability. Even so, you should find it pretty helpful.¡± ¡°Pretty helpful?¡± Grehn¡¯s disbelief was apparent as he readied his own Ability. It took slightly less Mind than he was accustomed to in order to reach full power, so he responded to the bullets with a barrage of cool blue slashes of water. Meyara easily dodged the blasts of water with small movements, but Jey had to drop to the ground to avoid them. Meyara fired again, but Grehn deflected her shots with ease. His discipline nearly broke, and he almost turned to look at Elofan. Bringing her along had been the best decision he ever made. ¡°Geez, are you that strong or is the Fernen¡¯s Ability just super useful?¡± Jey asked as she stood. ¡°In any case, I like your Ability. Simple, efficient use of Mind. Actually, your whole fighting style fits in with our squad. Simple, unassuming Abilities, where the majority of your Mind can be dedicated to strengthening yourself in battle. Maybe you could¡¯ve joined the Knights, in another time.¡± ¡°Must you run your mouth at every possible opportunity?¡± Meyara growled, glancing at her comrade. She shook her head and brought her rifle to the ready. This time, however, she charged forward, apparently giving up on using the gun¡¯s primary function. Without delay, Jey readied to fire again. Grehn slashed with his Ability, intent on keeping his distance from the charging Knight. Vlugh¡¯s pistols lowered as he screamed, fire exploding from the air before him and connecting with the water slashes just before they approached Meyara, creating an explosion of steam right in front of her. The moment her vision was obscured, Vlugh unloaded with his twin pistols as Grehn stood at the ready, prepared to block any surprise gunfire. When Vlugh stopped shooting, there was silence for a moment, Meyara¡¯s silhouette eerily still. Ben had seen the results of the attack, though. A quick burst of her Mind pushed away the steam, revealing a totally uninjured Meyara. Without hesitation, she dashed forward again, and Grehn prepared to intercept. She had gotten too close for another combo attack to be effective, but even so, Vlugh prepared for another breath of fire. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He was too late. Bullets clanged uselessly against her armor, though one did catch her on her arm, slowing her down marginally. Meyara slashed with her bayonet and Grehn intercepted with his sword, putting a solid portion of his Mind into the counterstrike. In the next moment, pain exploded in his hands as his sword was torn from his fingers, like a parent taking a toy from a wily child. It flew back and sunk into the building behind them, disappearing into its confines. Meyara didn¡¯t wait for Grehn to wonder what the hell happened; she made to run Grehn through with her blade, but a blast of flame caused her to raise a hand to her helmet and back away long enough for Grehn to shove her and backpedal away. ¡°She¡¯s strong,¡± Vlugh said, which Ben found decidedly unhelpful. No duh! ¡°If that was pure strength, it¡¯s beyond abnormal,¡± Grehn retorted. He flexed his fingers. Even clashing with the bees hadn¡¯t caused him to lose his grip like that. Sure, they likely weren¡¯t using their full strength, but Grehn wasn¡¯t physically weak by any means, especially when boosted by his Mind. Worse, Meyara¡¯s attack or weapon didn¡¯t seem strong enough to rip his entire sword from his hand. He might not be a warrior like her, but he¡¯d seen his fair share of fights. The way her blade moved, the speed, the angle, it just didn¡¯t make sense. Hell, one of Vlugh¡¯s bullets had caused the strike to be less potent than she was aiming for. There had to be something else afoot. If there wasn¡¯t, they were so screwed it wasn¡¯t even funny. Meyara was still close, so Grehn put his strength into a mighty push of Mind. His mental shove, along with Vlugh¡¯s barrage of bullets and dragon¡¯s breath, was enough to hold the Knight at bay while they tried to think of a plan. ¡°You guys are pretty good as a team. Or, at least, the two of you are. Which only makes the lack of practiced teamwork you have with the fernen and the bee all the more interesting. I wonder why that is?¡± Jey¡¯s commentary continued as she strolled from the rubble, acting as if she had no care in the world. The slight twitch in her right arm she held against her side and the rifle she brandished with only her left were telling enough of her situation, though. Elofan whooped again. ¡°Since you can apparently understand me to some degree, I¡¯ll say that your team also doesn¡¯t seem as gelled as I expected from such professionals. At least in my case, I¡¯m pretty much useless without my Mind, and most of it needs to be in active use when it comes to an Ability as strong as mine. And that¡¯s besides the fact that your own powerful Minds are attempting to resist it. You might have an excuse, Jey, but what about the rest of your comrades? If you worked together, surely you could finish us in a heartbeat?¡± ¡°You know I can¡¯t actually understand everything you say, right?¡± Jey laughed, but the action made her grimace. ¡°I did get some of it, though. Let¡¯s just say we¡¯re confident in being able to take care of business.¡± She aimed at Vlugh and fired her rifle, but Ben thought something was strange this time. It was almost as if he could see the tiniest of vibrations cupping Jey¡¯s ears as she shot, and he knew he had to act. With all the strength, speed, and Mind he could muster, Ben met the bullet with his stinger. To his delight, the bullet was deflected away from the occupied Vlugh, who could continue his impossible task of keeping the looming threat of Meyara at bay. To his dismay, Jey fired three more shots in rapid succession as soon as he moved, and two were aimed at Elofan. It was almost as if she knew he would move at that moment, or she somehow reacted faster than he could fly. He wouldn¡¯t be able to block all three, so he had to use another trump card. Ben managed to deflect the two bullets going for Elofan, and as the third shot towards Vlugh, his body twisted, avoiding it. Thank¡¯s to Ben¡¯s sight and the Kin Link, Vlugh was like a part of the hive. A part of Ben¡¯s body, in a pinch. Seeing the bullet was no issue for Ben; it was simple to force Vlugh¡¯s body to jerk out of the way. The human and his stiff human skeleton didn¡¯t appear delighted, though. ¡°Ow!¡± The unnatural twist his body had to perform cut Vlugh¡¯s Ability short, stemming the flow of fire. The flame was apparently the biggest threat holding Meyara back, because as soon as it stopped, she ran towards Grehn like an angry bull. Another push of his Mind seemed to throw her off balance, and her charge slowed. And yet, despite the unstable, sluggish advance, a brutal shoulder check sent Grehn soaring, crashing into a wall. He crumpled to the ground, wheezing, but his body was still intact thanks to Elofan¡¯s buffs. ¡°Okay, there¡¯s definitely something weird about that,¡± Ben said. It was similar to the vibrations he¡¯d noticed around Jey¡¯s ears; anybody else would¡¯ve been completely oblivious to the imperceptible twitches he saw in Meyara¡¯s shoulder as she collided with Grehn, but there was definitely something amiss. Jey¡¯s head cocked as he buzzed, but she didn¡¯t say anything. ¡°I agree,¡± Elofan said as she turned her staff towards Meyara. ¡°An attack like that shouldn¡¯t have been so devastating. She must have an Ability that affects her attacks somehow. We need to stay out of her range.¡± ¡°You guys might have several advantages at this point, but Meyara could probably take on the four of you alone, even with your weird ghost swamp. All I need to do is give her an opening. Fuck! We could¡¯ve already killed you if your other bee friend hadn¡¯t gotten me so good. Maybe I should go over and help that moron Greyan destroy that little piece of shit.¡± Jey¡¯s voice warbled more and more as her face reddened and she stomped on the ground. A crazed look entered her eye for a moment but was just as soon replaced by confusion. Meyara looked back at her counterpart. ¡°Are you alright? Anger like that is unlike you,¡± Meyara asked. She spoke as she sidestepped towards Greyan, slowly cutting off Vlugh¡¯s path to his friend. ¡°I¡¯m fine. I think the venom that sting released is affecting my emotions somehow. If it gets too bad, I¡¯ll go join Herwen,¡± Jey said through grit teeth. ¡°Speaking of. What¡¯s delaying him?¡± Meyara asked. Jey squinted. Once again, Ben noticed the slight vibrations around her ears. That must have been an indication that she was using her Ability that allowed her to ¡®hear good¡¯. If it was anything like Ben¡¯s seeing, it should theoretically be no cause for concern. But then, how was she apparently so powerful that even Meyara could only sometimes beat her in a spar? ¡°Uh, I think things are actually getting a bit complicated. The Fernen¡¯s Ability is having a more profound effect than I expected.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Meyara had fully cut off Grehn from the group. He was stuck, and even the three left standing were trapped between Meyara and Jey at this point. ¡°I mean, the empowerment of the swamp isn¡¯t only affecting these guys. Remember the cultists?¡± Meyara¡¯s helmet twitched. Ben took the opportunity to look at the square. Although his view was obscured by dust, the darkness of night, and some buildings, he could see clear signs of an ongoing brawl. Things weren¡¯t fully desperate yet; at least the Knights were a common enemy of literally everybody else. Meyara sighed. ¡°Ah, damn. Well, I¡¯d say this warrants a new strategy.¡± Ben¡¯s heart skipped a beat. He could see Elofan shiver just behind him, her entire green mass of fur rustling. And for good reason. As more and more Mind welled from the Knight¡¯s monstrous frame, the dark slit at the front Meyara¡¯s helmet zeroed in on only one thing: Elofan. Chapter 125 - Strong and Crazbee Shapes, color, and darkness swam in Grehn¡¯s vision, clashing with the clear view of the battlefield Ben was feeding directly into his Mind. If he weren¡¯t on the verge of unconsciousness, it would actually be quite helpful, but as things were, he felt it was more like being bashed in the face with several exquisite paintings. The sudden wellspring of calm yet sharp Mind didn¡¯t help much either. Meyara was advancing towards the other three, and Grehn knew he had to act. Now. A minuscule amount of Mind escaped him as he activated a Lock; it was an old mercenary staple, meant to give the user a sort of second wind, or something along those lines. Some science around separating the Mind from the body and its pain. Clarity. Grehn¡¯s senses were suddenly sharp again, and he felt refreshed. Just in time to remember to breathe. Whatever Meyara hit him with, it hurt his chest pretty badly, but he could take it. He scrambled towards the hole in the wall and felt around the darkness for his sword. They needed him on the front line. None of the others had the close-quarters capability to hold Meyara back, or at least delay her for a decisive blow. He had to get back in the fight. There! He reached with his Mind, grabbing the sword and pulling it back. As he did, he thought he heard something shift in the building¡¯s dim interior. He listened closer as the grip settled in his palm. Muttering - no, chanting. Prayers to the Human. A man¡¯s voice, a woman¡¯s¡­ and a child. There were still people in the surrounding buildings. It made sense. The cult had been little more than thirty-strong, in a town of over a hundred. There were no children at the congregation in the square, either. Most of Lemonholm was cowering in their homes. But why? The sounds of fighting, of the building Jey crashed into. Wouldn¡¯t that be enough for them to know something was strange tonight? Or maybe they expected things to go awry when the cult was active? Grehn wasn¡¯t sure, but he wondered if the more regular citizens of Lemonholm could be used to their advantage somehow. After all, the Knights would have to kill them all if they got involved, and that probably wasn¡¯t on their to-do list. He wouldn¡¯t rely on the idea. He charged Meyara, sending a signal through the Link to Vlugh. He would prepare a stronger blast of flame in the opening Grehn would make, something that would surely affect even her. He thrust as his Mind raged, coating his sword in cool blue. Just off to the side, at an awkward angle. If Meyara noticed him, she ignored him, firing once towards the trio, missing by a tiny margin. It was a bluff - she was actually paying attention to Greyan. She angled her bracer perfectly, deflecting the blow, but the opening was made. Vlugh screamed, one of the loudest Grehn had ever heard, spouting a thick stream of fire directly at the advancing Knight. She was closer. Unable to run. So she met the flames head on, angling her Mind to push it away. Grehn couldn¡¯t help but sprout a small smile. The gout of flame only curved slightly, as if it were resisting the push of her Mind, and her clothes were set ablaze. Vlugh¡¯s fire wasn¡¯t so easily countered by Mind - dragon fire was strange like that. And against armored enemies, it was like roasting an encased hunk of meat. It was unreasonably effective. Meyara dropped to the ground, rolling to put out the flames. Jey shouted something and rained gunfire on the trio, making Vlugh dive to the ground. She was a weak link with her injury, and the sooner she was gone, the better. Grehn yelled within his Mind. ¡°Ben! Switch with me. I¡¯ll defend those two, you take Jey out of the fight.¡± ¡°Oh Momma. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m strong enough to do that, man!¡± ¡°Have confidence,¡± Grehn said with a grimace. ¡°You¡¯re fast; surely even faster with Elofan¡¯s Ability. Jey is hurt, angry, and weakened. I won¡¯t let Meyara come after you, so I know you can take care of it.¡± Grehn heard a cacophony of buzzing, all cheering Ben on. Triumphant music even began to play, as if Ben were entering an arena to do battle with a powerful foe. Even from there, Grehn felt Ben¡¯s Mind steel. ¡°I¡¯ll do it. Dang it, I¡¯ll do it!¡± With that, ben let out a mighty war buzz and shot towards Jey, faster than Grehn expected. It was like a bullet, except somewhere around the size of her head. ¡°Not agai-¡° Jey was cut short by a mighty clang of stinger on metal, the force enough to topple her back into the ruins of the broken house. Grehn wasn¡¯t sure, but Ben was definitely not aiming for her breastplate - somehow, she¡¯d blocked his initial strike. Grehn would take what he could get, even as he watched Ben continue the frenzied assault without remorse. He wasn¡¯t giving the Knight an inch. So, Grehn ran, throwing haphazard slashes of water at Meyara, who was finally rising after putting out the flame. She was smoking, some of the leather, chain and metal plate of her armor and underclothes singed, but otherwise, she seemed more angry than anything. Actually, Grehn probably imagined the anger. In fact, Meyara was deliberate in raising her braces to block the slashes of water, as if simply rising from a too-warm nap. The lack of supporting fire from Jey and another impending breath of fire from Vlugh was enough to keep her wary and in place, though, so Grehn managed to circle around her and plant himself between the current most valuable team-members and the enemy. ¡°This bee seems to have an Ability similar to mine, Meyara! What a pain in the ass!¡± Grehn glanced at the other Knight. Despite Ben¡¯s relentless assault, she had gotten up and was maneuvering about, her rifle missing from her grip. Every single one of Ben¡¯s strikes seemed to either miss or land directly on a piece of armor only to bounce off, each attack more useless than the last. It was so natural, it almost seemed like Ben was deliberately missing. However, it wasn¡¯t hopeless. Jey was on the back foot. Without support, that battle was closer to a stalemate than anything. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Just focus on the fight. Don¡¯t let the venom overcome your good sense.¡± Meyara¡¯s gaze returned to focus on Elofan. ¡°Now. Drevan. I¡¯ve not fought one of your people, nor have I fought a Fernen. Both of you prove troublesome. But all you have is your Abilities. Relying on those is the mark of an underdeveloped warrior. When I inevitably fell your frontliner, what chance do you expect to have? Ah, it makes me sad to see.¡± It was more than Grehn had heard Meyara speak, and he was fine with that. Every moment the battle went on, the weaker their enemies became. However, that made Grehn nervous. Surely Meyara, the more thoughtful of the Knights as far as Grehn could tell, knew of their situation? So then why the lecture? He had to make the most of it. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t call either of them underdeveloped. Maybe having more specialized team members is advantageous. Would we be able to hold our own against you lot for this long if we were more like you? We would just be weaker versions of yourselves, then.¡± He hoped the provocation would entice Meyara to continue her self-righteous declaration. ¡°Perhaps. Or perhaps you wouldn¡¯t be so weak? Perhaps if you, Grehn, weren¡¯t holding yourself back by fighting alongside your Ability-reliant teammates, you could be strong enough to fight us - or alongside us. You have some potential - not much, but some. But you all hold yourselves back with your lack of flexibility. Not once have I felt your Mind do more than mere parlor tricks. Simple feats of strengthening, a boost of adrenaline. Though I suppose there is a reason mercenaries enter such a simple business.¡± The situation was far too dire for Grehn to react to the insult. He was just glad for the moment of rest and the chance to think of how the hell they would get out of this mess. Meyara was right - Grehn couldn¡¯t hold her off forever, and Vlugh¡¯s Mind would tire, eventually. He didn¡¯t know how long Elofan could maintain her Ability, but it wouldn¡¯t matter if Meyara could just walk up and skewer her. What they needed to do was wear the Knights down. Chip away at their body, Mind and endurance to complement the effects of Elofan¡¯s Ability. ¡°My Ability is simple. Easy to understand. I struggled much in the Academy, held back by my incompetent, noble lineage. They had money and status, but lacked the creativity my ancestor used to accumulate it. I couldn¡¯t even beat Jey with the knowledge they taught me, and so I found a way to fend for myself. I am their true inheritor. Greyan saw this. I knew you would stand there - it was your only choice, to protect your team who cannot fend against me. Though I did misjudge the timing. I didn¡¯t expect the flames to be so troublesome, or for you to rush there only to stand still.¡± A loud bang rang in the air, and a ghostly apparition appeared close to the trio and tore straight at Grehn¡¯s chest. In his confusion over Meyara¡¯s words, he nearly took the full brunt of the gunshot, but he managed to turn enough for it to blast through his left arm. His senses were dulled, but even Grehn could feel the force of a bullet tearing through his flesh. He doubled over, instinctively touching the wound. Crimson blood stained his hand. No gun had fired the bullet, and it seemed like there had been no bullet at all. It was as if it had simply¡­ appeared. Thanks to the Lock, Grehn was aware enough to see the armored Knight charging once again. Vlugh¡¯s pistols and fire were a furious barrage, but there was nothing else in Meyara¡¯s way. She weaved, dodging the attacks in a way that would make Toh jealous. Grehn couldn¡¯t move his wide frame like that at all. The pain was affecting his head. Grehn shook it off and slashed, but Meyara wasn¡¯t there. Obscured by the night sky, she leaped over the group like a shadow. She was still aiming for Elofan. She stabbed straight down with her bayonet as Vlugh adjusted to her trajectory. Elofan jerked out of the way of the attack, less like a dodge and more like someone pulled her out of the way. She must have pulled herself with her Mind. The stab went straight into the ground, throwing up a burst of smoke and dirt. How had she gotten so much force in that position? The impact was intense enough to throw Vlugh, right beside the blast, off balance. Meyara landed and continued the assault, but Grehn was there to meet her. They clashed blades - the power behind it wasn¡¯t nearly as ridiculous as when it tore his sword from his hands. Of course, Grehn¡¯s bones still groaned and his Mind still flared with every blow, barely enough to block the much smaller bayonet blade from cutting his body in two. Like that, the dance continued. Vlugh pressured Meyara to back away with his firepower, Grehn defended and pressured where he could, and Elofan dodged by yanking herself around like a rag-doll. It was less a dance and more a demented game. Meyara was weakening, but not quickly enough. Every strike she made, every bullet she fired, the trio had to be wary that her strange Ability wouldn¡¯t surprise them and create another deadly opening. Meanwhile, another game was taking place. The game of ¡®when the heck will Ben actually land a solid hit for Momma¡¯s sake?¡¯ He could see every single one of the openings Jey left exposed, saw every feint, every dodge, every intent to counterattack. It didn¡¯t matter. His speed didn¡¯t matter. Every time, her movements put her in exactly the right place for Ben¡¯s stinger to whiff entirely, or just ping uselessly against her armor. ¡°Let me hit you, dang it!¡± ¡°Now that¡¯s what a frustrated buzz sounds like. Poor little guy¡¯s having a hard time?¡± ¡°Me? You¡¯re turning into a tomato!¡± Jey dodged another sting. Ben went a little overboard, overextending. He saw the oopsie occur in real time, understanding the mistake despite being in the middle of it. He saw a vision of his training with Bedivere, the noble warrior shaking his head and sighing at his simple mistakes. Wait, was that real? A gauntleted chop slammed into Ben¡¯s body, sending him straight into the floorboards of the ruined building. He hadn¡¯t taken the full brunt of the attack, but it still hurt like hell. Mommaroni¡¯s Ability went straight to work healing the dent in his abdomen, but he couldn¡¯t wait. The others needed Jey out of the fight if they were to stand a chance. He flew up through another section of floor behind Jey. The vibrations appeared around her ears and she jerked out of the way of his attack, so he continued his endless wave of stings. ¡°You¡¯re not a fighter. You try, and you have good senses. But if that other bee is actually holding off Greyan somehow, you¡¯re nowhere near its level. What exactly are you guys, anyway?¡± ¡°Shut your weird human hole! I know you can only dodge my insane speed ¡®cause of your Ability, so eventually I¡¯ll catch up. Elofan¡¯s Ability is gonna screw you guys over - the hive says so. And Beelzebub is fine. In fact, she¡¯s gonna wreck your Commander like he¡¯s a chump. She¡¯s strong! Strong and crazy! Crazy strong!¡± ¡°Again, I don¡¯t know what you¡¯re saying. But I can tell you¡¯re confident in your friend. I am too. Greyan¡¯s the best idiot ever. He can beat pretty much anyone. Maybe that¡¯s an exaggeration, but whatever. He¡¯ll win against your friend despite the Fernen¡¯s Ability and come here to clean up. Watch.¡± ¡°Nope! Crazy strong!¡± Chapter 126 - Corruption Eruption Explosions of sound and force ripped into the wide, dirt-paved road, some clashes so violent they shook the foundations of nearby buildings. Occasionally, yelps and cries of fear emanated from a dark interior, reacting to the screech of stinger versus metal. For her part, Beelzebub felt like smacking her head against a rock - it would likely be less stubborn than the bastard she faced. She thrust with her stinger, so quickly a bullet would seem slow. Then she did it again three times. Each thrust was deflected with perfect precision, like a machine that could move a bayonet faster than sound designed specifically to foil Beelzebub¡¯s attacks. There was no trick, no mysterious Ability, no unusual application of Mind. Beelzebub could tell. Slash, thrust, parry, over and over without success. She could see Ben¡¯s view, his inability to land a solid hit on Jey despite his speed. This was nothing like that. Greyan moved with unparalleled grace, flowing naturally like the river outside the central hive. Beelzebub had seen nothing like it in her short life. Even her perfect, amazing brother Bedivere couldn¡¯t compare - with pure physical might, speed, skill, and Mind, Greyan was the pinnacle of combat. Greyan deflected a particularly deep thrust with a flowery twirl, and quicker than Beelzebub could react, he struck out, his gauntleted fist sending Beelzebub crashing into an already cracked door. Another wall was destroyed as she flew through it, and again, and again. She crashed through three buildings without managing to stop herself before she stopped. Dazed, she gasped for breath, Mom¡¯s Ability going to work healing the new injury. The Ability had already been hard at work trying to keep Beelzebub in the fight, and this was just another addition to the pile of damage Beelzebub was gradually accumulating. A growl turned into a furious roar. Beelzebub shot from the doorway so quickly that the entire front of the building cracked. Stinger first, she tried to catch Greyan off guard, get in closer than his bayonet¡¯s range. He simply dodged. The power of her flight was enough to push Greyan away, but nothing else. Despite the sudden attack, despite her speed, despite enduring enough power to push his entire body, Greyan still struck out with his weapon and give Beelzebub another scratch. Of all her injuries, of all the attacks, the tiny scratch that Greyan had just clipped into her leg did something to Beelzebub¡¯s psyche. Her rage was already boiling over, her Mind oozing off her like bright red sludge, but with the scratch, it was as if an earthquake shook her soul. The focused, powerful anger suddenly exploded like a volcano spewing emotion into the night air. Greyan¡¯s helmet twitched. A flinch? No. Acknowledgment. The emotion Beelzebub felt, the rage and excitement, were unlike anything she¡¯d felt. It wasn¡¯t just a thrill of battle - it was like a toxin, arresting her body. She¡¯d never felt so good in her life. It was like she had never been truly alive until this moment, this fight. She looked at Greyan, the Knight Commander already coiling his body, preparing for another assault. This was what she wanted, what she needed. She would fight with her life on the line, she would come close to death, and she would kill Greyan. Then she would go to the capital and do it all again, with every Knight she could find. The bayonet nearly skewered her, but her stinger met it just in time. Greyan¡¯s helmet twitched again when he looked at her. Did he notice something different? ¡°You¡¯re having fun, bee. Hm. A warrior at heart, a brutal one at that. But young. Inexperienced. Your Mind betrays everything you feel. It¡¯s so extreme that I¡¯d almost wonder if it were purposeful.¡± Beelzebub didn¡¯t respond, electing only to continue attacking. What was the point? He wouldn¡¯t understand her anyway. And, she didn¡¯t want to understand Greyan, the person, any longer. She wanted to fight. Everything that needed to be said could be said in a fight. The two exchanged blows, Beelzebub struggling to match Greyan¡¯s most forceful strikes. Her thoughts raced. Overall, Beelzebub was faster, and her average blow was stronger than Greyan¡¯s. But he was more skilled, and the peak of his strength went above Beelzebub¡¯s. What advantages did she have? She was realizing how outmatched she actually was. Their Minds? She wasn¡¯t sure, but Greyan¡¯s Mind was stronger than any human she¡¯d encountered - only Jill Yemonto even came close. Thanks to it, she hadn¡¯t even landed a hit. Their Abilities? As far as she could tell, Greyan hadn¡¯t even revealed it yet. And her own required her to sting her opponent. And she hadn¡¯t even been able to reach his armor yet; who knew how durable his shiny metal shell was? He even had the advantage of range - not something Beelzebub would typically consider. Bedivere also lorded his range over her, with his excessively long stinger, but with enough speed she could sometimes overcome that hurdle. Not so with Greyan. There was Elofan¡¯s Ability. But if this was the power Greyan could display while under its effects, she assumed it would take ages for him to become weak enough for her to dominate. Mom¡¯s healing Ability was one of the few things Beelzebub could count on. It kept her in the fight, it afforded her time. She was sure even Greyan felt a tinge of frustration at seeing his successful attacks rendered near useless given enough time. To make matters better, the Ability had become more potent. Beelzebub knew that one of the attacks either she, Ben, or one of the humans received must have been grievous enough to result in Mom¡¯s Ability leveling up. It still wasn¡¯t absurdly powerful, but it was strong enough to be extremely annoying. Beelzebub easily dodged a bullet, and only narrowly dodged the follow-up stab. A battle of attrition wouldn¡¯t work. Greyan wasn¡¯t weakening fast enough, and the healing, while effective, wasn¡¯t infallible. The moment she sustained enough damage, Greyan would either kill her or pivot to help his teammates, leaving her in the dust. She had to find a way to beat him. It wasn¡¯t completely hopeless. A strike there, a slash here, pushed Greyan to the point of him grunting with effort. Whether because of her speed and resulting power, or because his bayonet was not designed to act as a sort of makeshift sword, eventually she might break through and get close. But it would be a monumental feat. ¡°You¡¯re a stubborn thing. Annoyingly so. I¡¯m beginning to see how you caught Jey off guard.¡± Greyan¡¯s words struck a chord in Beelzebub. Jey was just a failure - her attack was aiming to kill, not incapacitate. She wasn¡¯t sure how, but somehow Jey had moved just enough to avoid getting her brain pierced. It wasn¡¯t speed like Greyan¡¯s, and even with her senses that were revealed, she shouldn¡¯t have been able to react so quickly. It was like her body moved more quickly than things could even happen. Greyan didn¡¯t continue giving her clues. Instead, with his words, the pressure of his Mind spiked significantly. Before, Beelzebub had scarcely sensed anything from the Knight¡¯s Mind. Like him, it was ever calm, like a babbling brook that courted violence. But this spike could mean only one thing: his Ability. Her vision was good enough to the scraps of wood that flew towards her and she dodged, expecting a trick. The wood flew towards Greyan and clunked pathetically against his armor. Despite herself, Beelzebub tilted her head. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Greyan chuckled. ¡°Even I can see you¡¯re confused. Yes, my Ability is nothing special. All I can do is pull objects towards myself. I wasn¡¯t sure how effective the distraction would be on you, what with your insectoid eyes and all. But I suppose it¡¯s better than nothing.¡± Beelzebub wanted to cry. Instead, she laughed maniacally. She wasn¡¯t as smart as some of the other bees, but she wasn¡¯t that stupid! What did Greyan take her for? He was supposed to be the one who gave her what she needed, a proper fight to the death. Instead, he was mocking her. It was a lie, surely. Anybody could pull or push objects with Mind. Most likely, it was a clever ploy, intending to catch Beelzebub off guard. He would lie, creating an artificial spike in his usage of Mind to pretend to use his Ability, then catch her off guard with his true power. As if! Once again, Beelzebub wanted to scream in annoyance. This was a ploy meant to deceive an idiot, or maybe a stupid animal. Who would think an Ability that weak was the ace in his sleeve? Obviously his Ability was something entirely different. Some of the bees, including Belial, buzzed in her head. Maybe she was right, but what if it was actually a double-sided trick? His Ability actually was to pull things towards him, but he just made it seem weak to mess with her thoughts. To Beelzebub, nothing changed. If anything, she was more determined than ever to kill the human before her. With a snort of spite, she used her Mind to pick up a collection of wooden scraps, far more than Greyan had picked up, crushing them into a tight ball which she launched at him at blinding speed. It wasn¡¯t much for an attack. Greyan dodged it easily and chuckled again, much to Beelzebub¡¯s annoyance. ¡°Either you can understand me, or you¡¯re just a spiteful creature. Most likely both. Regardless, I¡¯m telling the truth of my Ability. It may prove more troublesome than you expect.¡± She doubted that, but the annoying buzzing from the hive forced her to keep his threat under consideration. If it turned out to be a threat, Beelzebub was in serious trouble., Greyan was already pushing her beyond her limit, so she needed to think of something, fast. Think¡­ Yeah, that might yield results. She had already practiced the thing Mom was learning. Focus. She wasn¡¯t sure how it would help her overcome Greyan¡¯s overwhelming power, but she knew her win condition: sting Greyan. Her Ability would activate, and he¡¯d no longer be able to keep up with her. If the focus somehow allowed her to get that single sting, she would have a chance. Greyan wouldn¡¯t be able to tell, but Beelzebub was smiling, a wild look in her eyes. She would kill him.
Ben was sure of it: Jey could only hear really good. Just like he could see really good. Somehow, she was using her Mind to take advantage of the knowledge her senses provided, allowing her to react to things practically before they even happened. It wasn¡¯t fair! Ben could see good, and he couldn¡¯t predict the freaking future. Who ever heard of hearing the future? Seeing the future was the thing everyone talked about! A barrage of stings landed on Jey¡¯s armor, not enough to cause damage but still knocking her off-balance. She growled and adjusted herself, kicking and punching so quickly that Ben almost had to try in order to avoid them. She wasn¡¯t faster than a bullet, so avoiding her attacks was no trouble. Until she clipped one of his wings with one of her wild kicks. Oh right. Thanks to her hearing, she didn¡¯t need to be as fast as Ben. She could hit him just by knowing where he would go. He backed out of her range, hoping she would tire as he watched for an opening. Instead, he took note of the state she was in. If Jey was slick with sweat before, now she was drenched. Her breathing wasn¡¯t just heavy, it was wild and erratic. Her eyes were bloodshot, her muscles spasming. But what really made him cringe was Beelzebub¡¯s sting. Bright red veins spider-webbed from the wound, crawling up her arm and even reaching her right cheek. Where before her Mind had been calm, tinged with a small amount of fear and anger, now it more closely resembled the roaring boil of a certain angry bee. ¡°Argh! Just stay still, you fucking insect! Fight me! I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Beelzebub? No, what Ben was seeing wasn¡¯t her, but the results of her Ability, [Corruption Eruption]. It was working well, but it put Ben in more danger. The violence of her Mind wouldn¡¯t be fun to feel the brunt of. [Corruption Eruption Level 4 Acquired by: Birth. From birth, you craved violence, and when the entirety of your Mind came into existence, it developed a method of ¡®encouraging¡¯ others to share your desire. When the Ability is active, the victim of your sting is injected with a Mind-based venom. As the poison spreads, the victim¡¯s Mind is influenced to crave violence and steep in rage. They will uncontrollably exert their Mind as long as they are corrupted, possibly to the point of Collapse. Creatures with a Mind more powerful than yours can more easily resist the corruption. Level up: Cause the Mind Collapse of a creature with a 3rd Degree Mind or higher ] Ben knew Beelzebub¡¯s Ability, and he thought it was sort of freaky. He¡¯d seen her practicing with it on squirrels and other forest creatures, enough to level it significantly. It was pretty effective on Jey, at least. Jey¡¯s helmet appeared in front of Ben¡¯s face. Ben yelped and dodged out of the way of a crazed swipe of her hand. He looked down - they were several meters in the air! And she was still wearing her pieces of armor! Jey began to fall, much more slowly than Ben expected. He was out of reach, and yet she still thrust her hand forward as if to grab him. To his surprise, her gauntlets flew off her hands, straight towards him. He tried to dodge, but the second gauntlet caught him by one of his lower legs somehow. Its fingers closed and pulled. Waves of Mind filled with rage oozed around the gauntlet. It was far too powerful; he wasn¡¯t strong enough to resist, but he eventually slipped from its grip. Despite the escape, he growled in pain. His leg was mangled, enough for the healing to concentrate there more strongly than on any of his other wounds. He needed to take this chance. Mustering all his courage and his Mind, he flew at Jey, stinging as quickly as he could. Going into the air, his domain, was a big mistake. Unlike on the ground, all Jey¡¯s movements were made with Mind, exhausting her further. Ben even managed to catch her on her skin and clothes a few times. Jey fell to the ground in a heap. She hadn¡¯t been able to right herself. Ben flew, but Jey¡¯s Mind exploded like a wellspring of nauseating fire. She screamed, making a sound Ben hadn¡¯t heard from any human before. Something primal, containing all the fear and fury of a dying inferno. Stone, metal, dirt, wood all flew to meet Ben¡¯s advance. It was all he could do to dodge the storm of debris flying at him. It was too much. Ben was about to fly far away until he saw something odd. Some sort of bluish boulder was barreling through the street, straight for him. His confusion mounted. A gunshot rang out, strangely loud, and his gaze was drawn away from the fight. A lone bullet flew through the air, and he could barely see the others on his team stop to look at it. None of them could see as much as him. He sent a signal to Grehn and Vlugh, warning them. Meyara was still on the move. He watched as the bullet flew far, right towards Greyan and Beelzebub. He didn¡¯t know what he was expecting, but it wasn¡¯t for Greyan to catch it. Ben could see it. He could feel it with his Mind. He cried out for Beelzebub, but it didn¡¯t matter. She couldn¡¯t stop looking at the bullet, and yet her attention was pulled away from it towards Greyan himself. She couldn¡¯t focus on both at once. His bayonet pierced through her, grinding against her hard exterior. She roared, a mixture of rage and excitement. Despite being run through, Beelzebub took the opportunity to punch Greyan. No stinger, all Mind. The man¡¯s head snapped back and he flew, crashing through a building, eliciting screams from somewhere inside. Ben turned, the bullet now out of sight and far away. Jey was still struggling, but now someone else stood there. A Knight, resplendent in ghostly blue armor, flaunting a larger-than-life form of pure power. ¡°By the Human, this is ridiculous! The peasantry is rebelling, you¡¯re getting your ass beat by some bug, and Meyara is still dealing with a couple of mercenaries. What has the world come to?¡± Ben knew that voice. That snooty, mocking voice. The fourth Knight had finally joined the fray. He could see Muweh too, running towards the battle as fast as her old legs could carry. Oh, and one more thing. A bunch of angry cultists, waving around pitchforks and torches, beefed up on phantom swamp gas. Ben wasn¡¯t sure how to feel. The air was no longer fresh, now full of smoke and blood, along with the constant hint of lemon. The once idyllic little town looked like a bed of chaos. He was confident, but the battle was already taking its toll on him. He decided he wanted to know to fight, but he didn¡¯t want to actually fight. Not like Beelzebub. He looked at the Knights, the mercenaries, the town, and the cultists. All he knew was that everything looked really freaking weird. Chapter 127 - All Beecause of the Bees A blast of air knocked Ben¡¯s flight off kilter, but it wasn¡¯t enough to cause harm. He looked down at the figure in blue, whose arms were raised to protect the prone form of Jey from danger. Ben wasn¡¯t sure why Herwen was being so protective, considering how much fight seemed left in the other Knight. Apparently, neither was Jey. She growled and released another wave of ugly Mind, which battered Herwen¡¯s ghostly armor. He didn¡¯t even budge, the armor flashing in response to the force. ¡°What are you doing here? Go back and deal with the stupid cult.¡± ¡°I could feel the effects of your injury from all the way over there. You¡¯re leaking Mind like a rusty pipe.¡± Herwen waved nonchalantly. ¡°Besides, Muweh is dealing with it.¡± Another voice shouted, shaky and hissing, drawing Ben¡¯s attention. ¡°I am dealing with nothing. Whatever gave them strength is only becoming more potent as we speak.¡± Muweh¡¯s hissy shout was nearly drowned out by the roar that followed. The cultists - the Lemonholm Betterment Club - were hot on Muweh¡¯s heels as she sprinted towards the destroyed building the Knights were in. Even Jey¡¯s rage gave way to an emotion Ben interpreted as disbelief. One cultist, a man he didn¡¯t know the name of, already bloody and battered, ran forward as quickly as a trained soldier, waving around a thick club. Without missing a beat, Muweh turned her pistol on the man and fired, catching him in the stomach. Miraculously, the man only doubled over for a moment before continuing the chase. Elofan¡¯s swamp was really effective when it came to weaklings. Maybe that¡¯s why Ben had stood a chance all this time? He didn¡¯t dwell on the thought, because Muweh was pointing her gun in the air now. Straight at him. ¡°This Ability must be the work of that fernen. Prioritize killing it. I will assist. Jey, work with Herwen to mow down this crowd, until your Mind Collapses if you must.¡± With those words, she fired, but bullets were no match for Ben at this point. As if he wasn¡¯t already fast enough to dodge them comfortably, Elofan¡¯s Ability made it beyond easy. They had to protect her, or they would never win. Another shot flew by, and Ben watched it go past. And he watched it. And he watched- He barely dodged another shot. Annoying! Why did he keep watching that other bullet? He could feel the hive buzzing, thinking. It was obvious: Muweh¡¯s Ability. Moments from the past few days flashed by in Ben¡¯s thoughts as the hive reasoned things out. How long did it take the group to tear their eyes away from Yojer Sawah¡¯s twisted corpse back when they first found him? How about the cultist sneaking around in the night, who Beelzebub couldn¡¯t help but watch? There was the plank of wood. The message. The mask in Seyorohon¡¯s store. Whatever Muweh¡¯s Ability was, it didn¡¯t seem dangerous by itself. It was almost as if it drew attention, pulling it forcefully, without remorse. What were the conditions? How extensive was this power? The only hint was that it could definitely work on objects, and maybe something else. Information? It was strange how quickly the hive decoded the message for two specific solutions, both of which were extremely important to the case. Ben had no idea about any of that, but he knew one thing: against this team, such an Ability was next to useless. And it was all thanks to his looking. His range of vision was wide enough to see all over the place, even if his attention was somewhere else. And thanks to the Link, he could warn the others and even share what he saw. He puffed out his chest and smiled as he dodged another bullet. With Herwen joining the fray, he wouldn¡¯t be able to hold Jey back so easily, but he could still help! ¡°Guys, this is great! We¡¯re figuring out their Abilities, the cultists are distracting some of the Knights, and my looking can counter Muweh¡¯s weird Ability. We got this!¡± While Ben triumphantly pat himself on the back, Grehn fell to the ground, white nearly blinding his vision as he clutched his leg in pain. He¡¯d desperately tried to land a kick on Meyara after she deflected his sword at close range, but the leg he encountered was like kicking the base of the Rotor. And she¡¯d been off balance! He was glad that so many mysteries were being unraveled, but in his opinion, the most concerning one was the Ability of the relentless titan he was so desperately trying to fend off. Despite her not using her Mind to reinforce her leg, he suspected his own had broken to some degree after just kicking it. And now she was making another advance towards the other two. On shaky legs, he rose, relying on Ben¡¯s superior sight to get his bearings. If only the Mother¡¯s healing Ability worked so well on the humans. They¡¯d tested it extensively, and it did work, but oddly enough, the healing ¡®juice¡¯ originated from the Linker bee attached to other creatures¡¯ napes. The result was a healing effect, but one so subdued it barely mattered. He shook his head, clearing the fog. So much of his Mind was being fed into the adrenaline-boosting Lock that it was borderline sickening. The sight of Meyara walking towards the stoic form of his companions set Grehn ablaze. Maybe some part of it was ¡®encouragement¡¯ from the hive, but he didn¡¯t need them to manipulate his feelings. He was sick and tired of being under the Mother¡¯s control, but he wouldn¡¯t allow harm to come to Vlugh or Elofan. [Streaming Fragmentor Level 7 Acquired by: Your study at Master Garlen¡¯s Academy of Swordsmanship. Your personal interpretation of the Master¡¯s teachings resulted in adopting the properties of water to further expand your prowess. Activating the Ability allows for the calmness, patience, and destructive power of water to infuse your blade. Attacking will cause a stream of water to fly from the blade, its speed, power, and size determined by the amount of Mind used. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Level up: Continuous, ??? ] His Ability was inadequate. Meyara could deflect his blades of water without so much as a glance. Beyond Level 5, an Ability gave much sparser instructions on leveling up, requiring some revelation or deeper understanding to even unlock a hint. He didn¡¯t understand his own. But here, pumped full of fake energy, life on the line, bleeding and battered and watching his companions under threat, Grehn began to understand what he was missing. He couldn¡¯t stop. If he wanted to protect Vlugh and Elofan, if he wanted to fend off Meyara, if he wanted to one day save Yelah and become free of the bees, he couldn¡¯t afford to stop. He had to fight. Continuously. Grehn poured Mind into his blade, careful to keep the flow steady like a stream. It glowed blue as normal, but he didn¡¯t send the water to distract Meyara. That was not enough. He let his Mind move through his sword, out into the world, back into himself. Flowing. The blue glow intensified, sparkling like a pristine lake. He charged. Meyara, for the first time since her target changed, looked at Grehn and his sword. She met blade with blade, splashes of water flying from Grehn¡¯s sword. He wasn¡¯t sure if she was surprised at all, but she didn¡¯t immediately knock his sword out of the way to kill him. His Ability had leveled up. But it wasn¡¯t enough to win. Even now, as his sword clashed against her bayonet, Meyara¡¯s strength steadily won out, with Grehn struggling to keep up. But it was something. A spark of hope that they could last just a little while longer. A guttural roar escaped Grehn¡¯s throat as Vlugh¡¯s own scream signaled a stream of orange fire. Grehn didn¡¯t let up; Meyara was still cautious of the flames, so he moved his sword with grace, as he¡¯d learned. But now the flow of his movements was smoother, steadier, and stronger than before. His blade was the water. A close strike was within Meyara¡¯s reach, so she had to block with her bracer, but Grehn did not relent. The water encasing and flowing through his blade extended outward, meeting Meyara¡¯s defense before his sword did. The result was a double blow of water and sword, and it was enough to knock Meyara¡¯s arm away. Grehn was stunned. But he didn¡¯t stop. He ignored Meyara as she spoke even while continuing the dance. ¡°This battle was enough for your Ability to level up? I can¡¯t believe this.¡± She spoke quietly and calmly, curt and quick to the point. Her next use of her mysterious Ability was the same. Grehn felt Mind, such incredibly potent Mind, explode from her bayonet as the blades met again, and he watched with wide eyes as her small blade hit the water, then in the same spot, after fractions of a moment, the water was sliced as if cut by invisible blades. One of the invisible blades met his sword before the apex of his attack, and Grehn¡¯s arms shook from the force, his sword nearly being knocked from his hands again. The only thing that kept it in place was the force of his Mind, intent on not losing his weapon a second time. But his hands were brutalized by the attack, the bones in his fingers and wrist and elbows left feeling like dust. She¡¯d already adjusted to his newfound strength. And the result was the same fight as before, the only difference being that Meyara now had to use a bit more Mind to fend off Grehn¡¯s attacks. Hope drained from his body, but he didn¡¯t stop. No, she hadn¡¯t adjusted. Her attacks, her defenses, her moves, they were all the same. Just¡­ more. Ben watched Meyara¡¯s even more furious assault on the newly invigorated Grehn, and his elation turned sour. Grehn had leveled up a whole Ability, and all it would do was tire Meyara out some more? To be fair, that was sort of the game they¡¯d had to play this whole time, but it was still insane to think of how bad the situation really was. Crimson red dominated Ben¡¯s vision. Huh? The sudden sensation of being squeezed like a stuffed toy overcame Ben¡¯s senses. His breath left him before he could react to the sight of red, and a single word echoed in front of his face. ¡°MINE!¡± The red came from Jey¡¯s eyes, which had suddenly appeared in front of him. He had seen her jump to his position several meters in the air and begin squeezing him, but his brain had barely been able to keep up. Red completely overtook Jey¡¯s body, infecting her injury, her eyes, even her armor. The red veins reached past her neck, up to her forehead. Whether from the venom or a severe overexertion of power, her nose and eyes were bleeding. Ben realized it was all because of her Mind. What had felt like an eruption only a minute prior paled in comparison to the cataclysmic explosion of Mind he now experienced. It scared him. ¡°JEY! What are you doing?!¡± Greyan¡¯s voice echoed from his helmet and the distance. Ben saw him emerge from the house Beelzebub had knocked him into, a minor dent where his jaw would be. He was moving his arms in a calming motion behind him, into a house Ben could see wasn¡¯t empty. There were people inside. ¡°There are still innocent people in the town. We cannot cause wanton destruction. Take control of your Mind! If you can¡¯t, leave the perimeter immediately and wait for us as the predetermined rendezvous. Our duty is to protect innocent citizens of the kingd-¡° His words were cut off by the sound of metal clanging against a stinger. Beelzebub had flown around him, towards his back and attempted to land a decisive blow, but her aim was thrown off by the bullet he still held in one hand. Thanks to the attention-stealing power of Muweh¡¯s Ability, Greyan was able to react in time, blocking her attack with a slanted portion of his armor. It was still enough to make him stumble back into the street. ¡°Up yours, dumbass. And up yours, MIS agent. I don¡¯t give a fuck about that.¡± Jey hadn¡¯t stopped glaring at Ben. ¡°I want to mutilate these fucking bees. These bastards stung me! Everything is their fucking fault.¡± Ben heard something crack and felt the healing power get to work immediately. Jey¡¯s hand wasn¡¯t big enough to wrap around his whole thorax, though not for lack of trying. She brought him close to her face and sneered. ¡°You know¡­ Ben. My Ability allows me to hear things. Not just sound. Many things beyond sound. Emotion. Thoughts. Weaknesses and strengths. Plain old sound, of course. But all I can do is hear them. You think knowing rumors about some pompous Knight Initiate is enough to rise to the top? No. Fuck no. I learn things. I hear them. But that¡¯s not enough. I had to get creative, so I used my Mind. You know, Locks are like a type of Ability. They can do anything you put your Mind to. Most of my Mind is dedicated to dozens of Locks, each with their own tiny, imperceptible purpose in battle. I can react to things as they happen, as I hear them, so instant it almost seems like I¡¯m telling the future.¡± She laughed. Ben struggled, desperate to find a way out of her grip. But the power she was exerting now was completely unlike her previous strength. The crashing red Mind buffeted Ben¡¯s own, making him nauseous. ¡°It¡¯s amazing! The Locks make me move, attack, react, think instantly. Faster than instantly, I respond to what I hear. Your fucking friend¡¯s attack was too sudden, too fast, unknown enough to result in this Person-damned sting. All I knew was danger, but not what kind. You know, you bastards don¡¯t deserve to die quick. You¡¯re killing me slowly for shits and giggles. I¡¯ll do the same. Oh, and your Ability is like mine. Yet you haven¡¯t figured out the creativity for yourself? Why even bother with your Ability? You sicken me!¡± With those words, Jey wound up, still floating high in the air, and launched Ben at the town below. He was angled enough to crash through several houses, breaking through hard wood, soft beds, and something¡­ squishy before eventually coming to a stop. He couldn¡¯t get his bearings before something slammed into the ground nearby. ¡°I DON¡¯T CARE ANYMORE! IT¡¯S ALL BECAUSE OF THE BEES.¡± Chapter 128 - A bee! A bee! Ben was flying for his life. He flew as fast as his wings could carry him, skimming the tops of Lemonholm¡¯s wooden rooftops. He was already on the opposite side of town from the entrance gate, some distance away from the fighting. To make things simple, he was moving along the outer row of buildings closest to the town¡¯s wall. His breath was short. His whole dang body hurt, and the healing process made it somewhat itchy too. And worst of all, his Mind felt unreasonably strained. If the fight went on too long, the only option might be to have Moomom do some Link experimentation in the heat of battle; probably not ideal. Just as he crossed over a gap in the buildings, the wall below exploded, releasing a deluge of searingly powerful Mind. Right. The real problem. Even though Ben was flying his fastest, so fast he barely had time to think, Jey was hot on his heels, angrier than any human Ben had ever seen. She was crashing through houses both empty and occupied, and as a result, her body was covered in a layer of splinters, dust, and blood. He didn¡¯t know if the blood was hers. ¡°I¡¯LL KILL YOU.¡± Jey¡¯s words were interspersed with the screams of strangers and the destruction of walls and buildings, but Ben got the gist. She¡¯d been shouting similar exciting quotes since she began chasing him. Thankfully, the overwhelming exclamations of support from the hive far overshadowed Jey¡¯s rage-filled screams. Imminent danger was stressing Ben out a bit, but this chase was actually one of the best outcomes of the battle so far. Instead of doing as Muweh instructed, Jey was wholly preoccupied with the futile chase around town. She¡¯d even directly disobeyed an order from Greyan, which was abnormal behavior for her. Meanwhile, Ben was being healed, and was feeling stronger by the second, thanks to Elofan¡¯s bog reaching even the outskirts of Lemonholm. All of Jey¡¯s problems, on the other hand, were only being magnified by the overexertion of her Mind. Any moment now, she¡¯d suffer Mind Collapse, the Knights would be down a member, and things would become awesome. ¡°I¡¯LL TEAR YOUR LEGS OFF ONE BY ONE.¡± But seriously, how long was this going to take? For all his advantages, Ben had never taken such severe beatings before, never had to strain his body or his looking so hard. Any debris Jey flung could spell death if it stopped his flight and she managed to catch up. If she caught him, he¡¯d have too many severe injuries to heal. It was exhausting, and yet Jey was still charging like a boulder rolling down a hill - she just seemed to be gaining momentum. Even so, things were looking up. Through Beelzebub, between the brutal clashes, he could feel Greyan¡¯s intense concern. He was shouting at the other Knights, imploring them to finish their jobs, help the casualties, and restrain Jey all at the same time. Meyara and Herwen, of course, weren¡¯t capable of doing everything at once. Meyara was accelerating her assault even further, pushing Grehn far beyond his limit. Vlugh, on the other hand, only grew sharper with each exchange. He was growing, just like Grehn - maybe he would even level up his own Ability during this battle. But the key difference maker was Elofan. Elofan wasn¡¯t attacking with her Mind, nor was she using her long, gorilla-like arms to help Grehn on the frontline. No, instead she had slowly and deliberately inched towards the house Jey had first been flung into and found her forgotten rifle. So Elofan was wildly firing a gun in Meyara¡¯s general direction. To be fair, it was surprisingly effective. The bullets weren¡¯t even really enough to distract Meyara, but they were at least something. They were most effective when they were melted by Vlugh¡¯s flame and splattered as hot metal against her less-armored parts. It also happened to be a decent deterrent for Muweh. Judging by how she only fired her pistol and ducked away from any approaching cultsits, relying on Herwen to protect her, she was no fighter. All of her power came from her Mind, and then she was only really using it to avoid immediate death at the hands of cultists or activating her Ability. But even with a powerful Mind, she probably wanted to avoid running through a battlefield into a hail of random gunfire coming from a fernen who, if Ben didn¡¯t know any better, would seem like she watched too many action movies with guns. Not that he knew all too much about that. He¡¯d only ¡®looked¡¯ at a couple of movies, but they weren¡¯t as interesting as real life for him. Then there was Herwen. His Ability, that ghostly suit of large, blue armor, was clearly intended to be used for defense. If he had any attacking power, he most certainly wasn¡¯t using it, as he was in the midst of being completely dog piled by cultists beating on him with clubs, torches, and pitchforks. Some of the cultists even had these fascinating weapons that looked like little metal baskets attached to the end of a long stick, apparently a tool for grabbing lemons from hard-to-reach places. Every point of impact flashed a brighter blue, but resisting all that damage wasn¡¯t anywhere near to fulfilling their mission. Whether because he physically couldn¡¯t, thanks to the cultists, or maybe because his powers weren¡¯t suited for attack, Ben wasn¡¯t sure - regardless, the result was a Herwen who was being excruciatingly slow at fulfilling his mission of killing the cultists. As long as the Knights were still concerned for the lives of the regular citizens of Lemonholm, the hive¡¯s advantage was strong. Ben just really needed to keep out of Jey¡¯s reach. ¡°A bee! A bee! I, the greatest form of life, reduced to self-induced calamity. The lesser beings think they can overcome us, but the bees. The bees are the most arrogant, like the pathetic bug they tend to be. Always the bugs. Oh, how fragile is humanity. With rage in my heart and the sounds in my ear, I will destroy the bees for the world to stay free.¡± If the danger to his life wasn¡¯t squeezing his brain, Ben would¡¯ve stopped to stare at Jey after she spoke. What the hell was she even saying? It was completely unlike her previously clipped, enraged comments - this was calm, almost elated. She leaped, slamming into a rooftop, causing it to buckle under her weight, but she leaped off that too, even as the wood cracked. She nearly reached Ben, but at the last second, he dove, weaving between an alley. His agility was a part of why his speed was so awesome, so he tried to misdirect Jey¡¯s unrelenting attack by making sharp turns and unexpected loops, but she simply fell to the ground and began running again. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. But something had changed. She was no longer taking the most direct path to reach him by destroying any obstacles in her path. She was being more careful. Less rash. ¡°Ben, oh Ben. Your Mothers deceive you. They use you. Looking is little more than the function of a machine, and to them, that is what you are born to do. A number on the field, in the game of life upon which we stand supreme.¡± Okay, that was extremely weird. He chanced a glance at Jey, whose voice was now so calm it was like the sound of a deep pool of serene water, which shouldn¡¯t even sound like anything. He found the same Knight, covered in the remains of Lemonholm, her Mind bursting with power and furious emotion. And her face, no longer hidden by her helmet, which had, at some point, been discarded, was the picture of contentment. Her smile was easy, her eyes soft, her skin devoid of creases or blemishes or anger. Of all things, she seemed happy. Something had happened to Knight Jey, something Ben thought was familiar. But it was impossible. Yes, they had smuggled two Linkers to Lemonholm, hidden beneath Elofan¡¯s mass of mossy fur, just in case one of the mercenaries managed to become unLinked. But there were only two. What¡¯s more, those two Linkers had already been deployed and were searching for two particular targets, with no guarantee that the Link would be established in time to provide another advantage. None of the Knights, nor Muweh, were the targets, considering how limited the Linkers¡¯s numbers were. Losing even one was halving the potential advantage, and the Knights were practically impenetrable walls. So what was taking control of Jey¡¯s Mind? Whatever it was, it had knowledge of the hive it shouldn¡¯t be able to have. Ben didn¡¯t know everything about his two Momaroons, but he knew there was something like that going on. But only bees knew about that. ¡°A bee! A bee! For the bee to learn a secret of Mind, one hidden even from me, it should truly be an impossibility. But it did, and I bid my time, and the secret is now mine. I will help my child, keep her Mind in check and her actions sane. Her team will be able to fight again. My child will break, naturally, but it is enough for me to destroy a bee.¡±
Greyan was weak. Distracted. Before Beelzebub was the perfect opportunity to sting him and begin the journey to the battle¡¯s end, where Greyan would be under threat of Mind collapse. It would be easy. She had remembered something Ben said at some point, back when he was watching Greyan create the new barrier around Lemonholm. ¡®Oh, I think I found a tiny gap in the armor, near the back.¡¯ He was right; at the small of Greyan¡¯s back there was a miniscule gap in the armor, the only place on the full suit that had any discernible weakness. It only became visible when he bent over at a certain angle, and was so tiny even Beelzebub¡¯s stinger might struggle to fit, but it was something. All she had to do was use this opportunity, while he was pre-occupied with his concerns about Jey, to land the sting, and the tides would turn almost entirely in her favor. But she hesitated. Her Ability was, in theory, very powerful in a situation where the enemy might hold several advantages, or where they might be relying on calmness, patience, or carefulness. This wasn¡¯t necessarily asituation like that, in Beelzebub¡¯s opinion. The Knights were already somewhat desperate. Some of the bees argued that, when taking into consideration the Knight¡¯s apparent goal of keeping the rest of Lemonholm safe, patience and carefulness were paramount. But that wasn¡¯t what made her hesitate - it was just something the hive was talking about. What gave her pause was Jey. Before her sting caused Jey to become so angry she began using a higher and higher percentage of Mind, she was fending off Ben with relative ease. Sure, she was stumbling, and nearly got stung a couple times, but a wound as grievous as the one Beelzebub gave her would make any fighter struggle. And yet, she had entrusted Meyara calmly with handling the bigger threat, and was content to wear Ben down, striking occasional blows to weaken him gradually. Just like Greyan had done to Beelzebub. Yes, if she stung Greyan, he would eventually become angry and irrational, using more Mind than he should and lead to Mind Collapse. But forget the question of how long it would take with a Mind as strong as Greyan¡¯s. Beelzebub was afraid for her life. The truth was, Beelzebub was just scared. Greyan hadn¡¯t let her land a single solid blow until he became distracted. He had barely used his Ability, wimpy as it seemed. What would happen if, like Jey, he suddenly unleashed the full power of his Mind? She had to act. Beelzebub steeled herself, drawing upon all the instinct she could muster, every fiber of her being that told her she needed to fight, not for herself, but for the hive. With a burst of speed, she flew, aiming for the small of Greyan¡¯s back. ¡°Jey?¡± Greyan spoke softly, almost too softly for Beelzebub to hear. Something had changed. She realized she could no longer hear the crashing of distant buildings being destroyed. Already committed, she flew, hoping her speed would be enough. Her eyes were drawn towards Greyan¡¯s left hand, empty save for Muweh¡¯s bullet. But then her brain throbbed as her attention was suddenly snatched away by Greyan himself. Her attention was split between the two spots, and her aim was thrown off by the sudden tug-of-war being played on her head. She missed, landing a bone-shaking blow on Greyan¡¯s upper back, sending him tumbling through the street. His armor hadn¡¯t even dented under her strength, but he did groan as he rose, meaning her attack wasn¡¯t completely useless. But her heart sank regardless. She had missed. ¡°I don¡¯t know the situation, but it seems like Jey isn¡¯t hurting innocents anymore. I can still feel her Mind, though, so she¡¯s still alive. This is worse than I expected. No longer can I afford to keep this fight going.¡± He clicked a lever on his rifles, causing the bayonet at the end to jump slightly. He grabbed it and dropped the gun, ending up with a knife in one hand and the attention-stealing bullet in the other. Beelzebub looked at Greyan, rage mixing with hopelessness. Of all bees, she was struggling? She was losing? She was a Valkybee. The strongest. Maybe the strongest bee in the hive. This was unacceptable. Rather than be consumed by rage, Beelzebub intentionally fed the flames of her emotion. She forcefully grabbed the hopelessness, the fear, the uncertainty, and threw it into the fire to feed her anger. With all her heart, she refused to accept Greyan¡¯s superiority. Thoughts of the hive, of Mom, propelled her forward, and she clashed with Greyan¡¯s bayonet. He wouldn¡¯t recognize it, but a sinister leer spread over her face. ¡°If you¡¯re finally gonna stop underestimating me, then this is the final round. Show me the fight humanity has in them. Make it fun!¡± And, of course, she laughed. Chapter 129 – Vlugh’s Combustion Vlugh flinched, the sounds of distant explosions surprising him. The noises were coming from the main street, where Greyan and Beelzebub were fighting. As if Beelzebub¡¯s wild buzzing in his head wasn¡¯t enough, the pressure from those two powerful Minds colliding nearly swept him off his feet. This was all so stupid. He couldn¡¯t help but lament the good old days, even in the heat of battle. But he couldn¡¯t stay distracted for long. Meyara hit Grehn with a severe backhand, so Vlugh did as he¡¯d done a dozen times in the battle and screamed, channeling his Mind into his voice to douse the Knight in fire. And, as usual, it barely did anything other than a momentary distraction to allow Grehn to keep struggling his heart out. He fired his pistols, aiming towards the exposed form of Muweh, but she was too far, and safely made it behind the cover of a wooden wagon. He felt next to useless. Already his supply of bullets was next to depleted, his Mind felt like jelly, and his fire was barely effective in the first place. The new gamble by the hive would probably work, but there was no telling how long it would take for the Linkers to find their targets. And even then, it hinged on the Knights¡¯ actions. Then, he spotted him. By some miracle, Lahim, the Lemonholmian government official, stood off to one side, desperately whacking Herwen with one of those basket sticks. He was one of the Linker targets, and he was right there, so what was delaying the Linker? Well, it would probably be the Mind-encased armored Knight himself. Lahim was simply too close, and Herwen, while mostly encumbered by dozens of angry cultists beating down on him, looked no worse for wear. Bullet by bullet, punch by punch, stab by stab, Herwen was thinning the numbers of the cultists, slowly but surely. It often took more than one bullet, and a punch didn¡¯t down them for long, but the cultists simply stood no chance. Vlugh had to act decisively. If only he had ever done something like that before. But if he didn¡¯t, they were just going to get worn down. A sudden shout broke Vlugh from his stupor. ¡°Get out of our town!¡± It came from a burly figure, one of the men that had previously helped keep the Lemonholmians under control at the beginning of the investigation. He had broken away from the group assaulting Herwen and was sprinting towards Meyara, brandishing a large club which he swung wildly, his massive muscles bulging out of his cultist robes. ¡°Get away!¡± Grehn¡¯s plea fell on deaf ears. The man was simply too angry or too stupid to listen. When the man reached Meyara, Grehn gave up trying to stop him and joined him, his sword glowing bright blue as he attacked. But Meyara was ready. She had already swung her bayonet in Grehn¡¯s direction and had turned around, content to let her invisible attacks stop his attempt. When the burly man attacked, his club bounced uselessly against her head and her arm shot out, grabbing the man by the neck. His musculature rivaled Meyara¡¯s own, but even then, she squeezed the front of his neck and lifted him off the ground, her fist squeezing. Vlugh growled. This was his chance to act! Grehn was still struggling against invisible blades, and the man¡¯s windpipe surely wouldn¡¯t last long. Without further caution, Vlugh charged forward, making Elofan jerk in surprise. Grehn saw and nodded slightly. He managed to end the struggle with the invisible attacks and swung for Meyara, still occupied with the burly man. She only spoke a single word. ¡°Damn.¡± Mind flooded into her hand, instantly crushing the burly man¡¯s throat. He fell to the ground, dead. She jumped into a spin, avoiding Grehn¡¯s attack, and prepared to stab Vlugh. But he wasn¡¯t there. Using the moment, he had pivoted away and was running towards Herwen. Meyara wasted no time in warning her companion, even as she clashed with Grehn again. ¡°Herwen! Incoming!¡± He turned to see what she meant, but Herwen¡¯s distraction allowed the cultists to intensify their beating. He barely turned before Vlugh was right in his face. No words needed to be spoken. All Vlugh did was scream. Gouts of flame manifested as he poured everything into his attack, enveloping Herwen in fire. The arrogant look on Herwen¡¯s face quickly transformed into one of fear as he realized the flames weren¡¯t deflected by his armor, instead appearing as if they were to break through. Most of the fire stopped at Herwen, giving the cultists time to scramble away from the heat. This was the moment. Herwen didn¡¯t have Meyara¡¯s power - Vlugh¡¯s dragon fire could hurt him. He just needed to break through. ¡°By the Person, this is annoying. Fuck!¡± Herwen¡¯s exasperated voice was becoming increasingly panicky, but it was also punctuated by a burst of Mind. His armor¡¯s ghostly form actually became more ethereal, reinforced further. Vlugh¡¯s heart sank as he realized his attack would not work. Faint sounds rang in his ears, but his fiery breath was too loud. Then, from inside his Mind, a voice that distinctly belonged to the Mother rang out. ¡°Vlugh! Watch out!¡± He saw Meyara¡¯s rifle barrel staring up at him too late. Grehn¡¯s slash of water, shot from far away, hit the gun as it fired, deflecting the bullet. He was saved. The last thing he heard before his vision went black was the firing of an invisible gun, and the last thing he felt was an invisible bullet entering through his open mouth.
I liked fire. Maybe it was my Drevani blood, the ties to a people who rejected the rule of the Human and instead invested themselves in the rule of dragons. I wasn¡¯t sure about any of that; my parents had left Dreva just after I was born, after all. Unusual for a Drevani to leave their country, but I never questioned it. Why would I? I had no memory of the place and was more focused on the moment. And at the moment, I was a bit concerned about being completely covered in fire. ¡°Living in the moment is a mark of wisdom indeed, young Drevani. But only one mark. For true wisdom is found in all time, of what was, what is, and what can be.¡± I looked around, searching for the voice. It was exceedingly old, infinitely more so than that of Muweh Sawah or Jill Yemonto, with a deep rumble that sounded like the ground shaking under the weight of enormous boulders. What piqued my curiosity the most, though, was its pronunciation. It was a strange thing to notice, but the accent, the way they said the word Drevani, it all reminded Vlugh of his parents. And this accent was even thicker than theirs. This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°Uh, sure. Hey, where am I? Did I get killed by that stupid invisible Ability?¡± I had no noticeable lapse in my memory, but that only made my situation all the more strange. I didn¡¯t necessarily trust this old voice, but it was probably better than nothing. Hold on. Nothing? With a start, I realized that for the first time in weeks, my Mind was completely clear. No buzzing bees. No crazy information, no dozens of voices and images flooding my Mind, no threats from Beatrice. It was peace. Total, beautiful, blissful silence. My hand reached for my neck and found it empty, save for the constantly burning flames. ¡°Okay, this is getting really strange. Did you unLink me?¡± The voice rumbled in the darkness. ¡°That creature¡¯s influence has no hold in your state. Your life currently hangs in precarious balance, not quite in the heat of battle nor floating in my river. But such will not be the case for long. Your wound was not fatal, some stroke of sheer luck. The creature is unable to steal your Mind, and the Human has no claim. Curious, how the Human is so often harmed by their own genius.¡± I was only becoming more confused by the second. ¡°The Human? What are you talking about?¡± In the darkness, something stirred. In my body, which I realized was little more than a wispy form of smoke encased in fire, I felt a tremor. It was the sensation of my soul trembling. In the inky void, the shadows suddenly parted, as if a bright door opened in front of me, and there appeared a single enormous eye, blinding and entrancing me with color. Hues of green, orange, red, yellow, purple, blue, and colors I didn¡¯t dare try to name shimmered, dazzling my imagination. In the middle of it all was a gigantic pupil, a single line reaching from top to bottom, darker than the surrounding nothingness. The eye pierced my soul with a gaze that twinkled with age and intelligence and¡­ curiosity. ¡°The Minds of the Drevani belong to me. Your ancestors decided that when they, of all humans, understood the true nature of the Human. Ironic, that the ones who most understood Them would abandon Them.¡± My voice caught in my nonexistent throat. It had to be a dream. Nothing could convince me that what I was experiencing was real. ¡°I cannot help you much. Your injury has mutilated your brain, too much for the creature¡¯s healing Ability to restore it to its original state. That, along with this meeting I have forced upon your soul¡­ well, I cannot predict the effects it will have on your psyche. But even so, I will not possess you and destroy the Minds of those beneath me as the Human so carelessly deems necessary. I can only keep you here for so long, so let us move on. There are two important ideas you must take with you back to the land of the living, young Drevani. The first will save you in this battle. The second will save you in your struggle with and against the creature that controls you and ultimately leads to a new natural order.¡± ¡°You¡­ If you¡¯re what I think you are, can¡¯t you help me? Help us?¡± I looked away from the eye, unable to stare at it any longer. ¡°That bee has caused so much suffering, and it¡¯ll only get worse. Either they¡¯ll keep expanding and cover the world with the hive, or the Royal Army will march on Yiwi and raze it to the ground!¡± ¡°Strictly speaking, we cannot intervene. It is both forbidden and impossible. Even the Human agreed to the restrictions, but They have commandeered the method the Bee pioneered, attempting to find a work-around for the bindings. They have bastardized it, turning into a heinous act that will destroy the Minds of their own. I have not fully dissected the Bee¡¯s method as the Human did, so this is the best I can do. As we are now, opposing the Human and Their followers, divine and mortal alike, is pure futility. And besides, the Bee¡¯s creature is, in truth, beneficial to us.¡± My brain went numb at hearing that. Divine? That bee was¡­ beneficial? This had to be a dream of some kind. Even if they were real, the gods could never be so unbelievably cruel. People were starving, their homes decimated, their families dead. All thanks to those bees. And things would only get worse. ¡°How can you say that?¡± For a moment, the eye took on another emotion. Was that¡­ embarrassment? I had to be reading that incorrectly. ¡°Well, we- that is to say, those I work with. They, ah, acted rather hastily,¡± the voice said. The eye, to my amazement, shifted, the pupil looking away from me, as if it couldn¡¯t meet my incredulous stare. Okay, if this wasn¡¯t a dream, it had to be an elaborate joke. ¡°We still do not know what the Bee did, exactly, and they have been in hiding, cowering from the Human ever since the Bee¡¯s creature caught the Human¡¯s attention. The other creatures that have been¡­ misplaced, into your world are not capable of bringing about the change we desire. I can only ask that you bear the control of the Bee¡¯s creature for the time being.¡± ¡°You¡¯re asking us to suffer, and what? Be happy with our stolen freedom?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± My legs felt weak, and I didn¡¯t even have legs. Even so, I found a way to fall onto my non-butt as the pupil shifted away again. ¡°I empathize with the pain you feel. The Bee¡¯s creature is, shall we say, an unnatural being, something that should not exist. Beyond that, it is a dastardly combination, to be both human and bee. The selfishness and selflessness of humanity, its individuality and uniformity. They complement the bees to a startling degree, conjoining and enhancing each other. And this creature, well, it is ruthless. I almost pity the state of humanity when we allow it to run rampant. None expected that the Human¡¯s system could be exploited so. I regret the hand I had in helping Them create it. But that is what was. This is what I meant - you must understand all time to survive what comes.¡± What was the voice trying to tell me, assuming it was actually real? The gods were working together? What were they doing? It felt like I was starting to really get in over my head. Was it really possible that the bee, the random monster we encountered in the Vultuous Forest that fateful day, was so important that gods were rooting for it? The thought made my stomach churn. And between all of that, there was information that felt unfinished, as if the voice couldn¡¯t help but mention it, but didn¡¯t care to elaborate further. Something about restrictions and agreements, of control and stolen ideas and destroying Minds. It all felt like something I wasn¡¯t meant to learn about. The voice rumbled, growing stronger. More confident. ¡°I chose you, young Drevan, for your unique proximity to the Bee¡¯s creature. Other creatures will be drawn to it as our preparations unfold, now that it has settled into a comfortable rhythm. Now, I must give to you two most crucial ideas.¡± I barely registered what the voice said, but I couldn¡¯t ignore the sudden prickling on my skin. It was the fire. I tried shaking it off, but it clung to my skin like glue. The pricking intensified into a burning sensation. It felt like actual fire was burning me. My thoughts clouded, trying to block out the pain, but the fire ate away at me like thousands of tiny fish slowly nibbling away my flesh. A scream, my scream, echoed in the void as the voice boomed, drowning me out. ¡°The first is of fire. Your [Shouts of Remembrance and Fire] is not a special Ability, but it can become powerful. Admittedly, I do not enjoy the aspect of destroying what was, but it was your choice. It contains a fraction of the unique, Mind-consuming properties of dragon¡¯s fire. Your flames are a dichotomy, one of remembrance and of fire, of creation and destruction, of what was and what will be. You are unbalanced, aiming to destroy. It is a consequence of what is. You must understand what you have destroyed, of what was. Only then can you understand the creation of what is. That will allow your Ability to strengthen. It can be strengthened again afterwards - but only through further balance. I cannot say more.¡± Searing hot pain ran through my soul as the information burned itself there, ensuring it would remain when I woke up. I wasn¡¯t really thinking of that, though, considering the sensation of being thrown into a bonfire was extremely unpleasant. ¡°The second¡­ Well, it is quite important. For me. For everyone, of course, but especially so for me. You must go to Dreva. There, my own creature awaits, trapped by the Drevan Ministry. You must free them and bring them to the Bee¡¯s creature. Ah, of course, there are many other things I would like you to do in Dreva, if you could. Finding the missing Dargonix, for one. And perhaps toppling the Drevan Ministry and reforming it entirely to save the Drevani. Those may be far-fetched until sufficient power is developed, but it would be very nice.¡± My soul burned, the voice¡¯s words not understood by my brain. But my soul knew. And it would remember. As my consciousness faded, I knew my soul would remember everything that happened here. Remember the pain, remember the fire. Remember the unfathomable power of the eye, the voice. The eye and the voice of the Dragon. Chapter 130 - Shouts of Fire and Beememberance Those moments where Vlugh¡¯s Mind disappeared caused a sense of despair so extreme Grehn felt he might crumble to dust. He had watched, helpless, as Meyara ran at him, faster than Grehn could move. All he could do was desperately swing his sword, sending a wave of water towards the Knight sliding under his friend. Ben had just begun to reach their position once again in his loops around town, and Grehn saw every second in horrible, excruciating detail. Vlugh¡¯s reaction. Meyara sliding. The slash of water barely displacing the gun, only enough to save Vlugh¡¯s life. The second shot, an invisible bullet entering the roof of Vlugh¡¯s mouth and exploding from the top of his head. Grehn nearly emptied the contents of his stomach. Vlugh¡¯s lifeless body fell, landing next to Meyara¡¯s prone form. The world held its breath. Or maybe it was the hive. What was the difference anymore? In his ears, Grehn heard a distant growl, as if a mountain were angry at the sky. An explosion of Mind came alive, hot yet distinct from the searing anger of Beelzebub. The source, amazingly, was Vlugh¡¯s body. He only saw it because of Ben¡¯s sight; Vlugh rose to all fours in a heartbeat and sucked in air, his chest distending like a sack filling with water. Then he roared. It wasn¡¯t a scream as it usually was - at least, Grehn didn¡¯t think so. This was truly a roar, guttural and deep, and the flames that followed were similarly gut-wrenching. A massive gout of fire, the same orange and yellow as before, now flecked with sparks of black, enveloped Herwen before the shock could be wiped from the man¡¯s face. As before, the flames shewed at the Mind armor like a hungry beast, but this time, it was far hungrier, eating away at the armor like a fresh basket of lemons. His screams could barely be heard within the flames. This was Vlugh¡¯s [Shouts of Fire and Remembrance]. Evolved, brought to the next level, more destructive and Mind-starved than ever before. ¡°Damn.¡± Meyara¡¯s single spoken word was followed by a brutal kick to Vlugh¡¯s side, generating enough force to send Vlugh soaring over a nearby house despite her awkward position. The flames followed Vlugh, but he cut them off as he flew - or maybe his lungs had been destroyed by the kick. For the first time during the entire fight, Grehn paused. What he had just seen was a ride of emotion that left him almost as exhausted as getting beat down on by the Knights. But as Meyara panicked while Herwen continued screaming, rolling around on the ground - either to extinguish the fire or simply due to the pain - he knew an opportunity when he saw one. ¡°Ben, you see it, right? Lahim can be Linked. Vlugh gave us an opening. Is the other one ready?¡± ¡°Yeah. I think I¡¯m gonna pass out.¡± A quick glance told Grehn all he had to know. He couldn¡¯t actually see Ben, but he knew exactly where he was. He could, however, feel Jey¡¯s Mind. It was getting close enough to send a shiver down his spine. If he clashed with that, his arms would be pulverized. That was assuming he even had enough energy left to hold his sword without shaking. He had no time to waste. There was no point in the makeshift plan if he ended up dying for it to work. He nodded at Elofan, pointing towards the crowd of shaken, wide-eyed cultists. Somehow, she understood, and aimed her stolen rifle at the crowd and prepared to fire. This was one of the many pivotal moments. Since he had upgraded his Ability, Grehn hadn¡¯t stopped moving his sword. Even when he had paused just then, he hadn¡¯t allowed the flow to stop. He knew that, once it did, he wouldn¡¯t be able to use his Ability to its fullest for some time. He had to pour everything into this strike. So, with his sword still moving in waves and figure eights, he thrust, a mighty stream of water blasting towards the still panicking Meyara. This was his final slash, containing all the constant flow he could muster. Although the water left his sword, he could still make it flow, so instead of landing a possible hit on Meyara¡¯s back, he sent it into a sharp curve, intending to hit her chest head-on. Of course, it was useless. Despite her still burning comrade, Meyara¡¯s senses and reaction were beyond sharp. Her arm thrust forward, her bayonet easily deflecting the most powerful attack Grehn had ever achieved like he was a child playing with Mind. A gunshot rang out as Meyara¡¯s raised bayonet and the slash of water sang. The target: someone in the crowd of cultists. It seemed that she chose Lahim. The Link was established just in time for Grehn to hear Lahim¡¯s scream of pain from being shot in the stomach. He growled a curse internally; Lahim was the target of the Linkers. If he died, this would become incredibly inconvenient. Whether because she wasn¡¯t so good with the weapon, or because she didn¡¯t mean to kill anyone, she had hit him in the leg. Good enough. ¡°Lahim! Stop killing them, you monster!¡± Grehn shouted with all the energy he could muster. Meyara stared at the man who was at the other end of her rifle in bewilderment. Well, he wasn¡¯t actually in her rifle¡¯s path exactly. But for the people slowly emerging from their homes, it made little difference. This was the only possible way to survive: a desperate gamble. Using the regular, innocent townsfolk of Lemonholm as a weapon against the unsuspecting Knights. Thanks to Lahim, Grehn now knew that the people were accustomed to staying in their homes well into the next day when they received the message of a miniature wooden charm delivered to their doorstep - a sort of replica of the masks. It was a message, telling them that no matter what they heard, saw, or experienced, it was important business. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It made Grehn queasy. The people knew that something horrible was happening outside. They knew a fellow townsperson was burning, dying, hanging. It wasn¡¯t that they feared the cult - they revered them. To the people of Lemonholm, the actions of the Lemonholm Betterment Club were a sacred thing that should not be interrupted by any means, so until the all-clear was given, they would not leave their homes for any reason. The other Linked human, a man Grehn didn¡¯t recognize, advanced in age though not quite as much as Muweh, ushered people from the homes, mentioning the all-clear. He collected the wooden charms, pointing people towards the main street where Grehn stood with his finger pointing. He was not a member of the Club, but was old enough to know their practices. A safe target. The hive just needed an insider in the Club. Someone respected enough, powerful enough, and convincing enough to take the next steps. ¡°Help us! The Knights have gone on a rampage. They are killing us. Please, I beg of you, help the mercenaries to drive the Knights out!¡± Lahim¡¯s confusion didn¡¯t matter - his voice was all that was needed. The bees didn¡¯t even need to control his other movements, thanks to Elofan. His pain and desperation were, in a sense, real. It wasn¡¯t enough to suddenly make hundreds of innocent people throw themselves at the Knights. Herwen had finally put out the fire and was standing, his ghostly armor flickering in shambles. He was breathing heavily. Herwen could still fight, and could surely defeat Grehn in his current state, but he wouldn¡¯t be able to handle a complete assault by so many people for long. Meyara and Greyan were another story. Meyara was already shaking her head, taking aim at the cultists. Greyan¡¯s attacks had slowed as a crowd built around him, whispering and watching. It might not win them the fight immediately, but it won them time. Grehn led Elofan to a group of onlookers, people who looked at him with a mixture of disgust and respect. This was the true gamble. Would the Knights pivot and try to kill every person in Lemonholm? It would mean the deaths of over a thousand people, of an entire population. The Knights as an organization were already in hot water, and Greyan struck the hive as decent and honorable. At the very minimum, he would hesitate. That was all they needed. And hesitate he did. Beelzebub didn¡¯t falter, sensing the hesitation Greyan felt being surrounded by innocents. She charged straight at him, putting him on the back foot. Grehn suddenly felt a headache and a sharp pain between his shoulder blades. It was Beelzebub. Her charge was dodged by Greyan and, faster than even she could she, he cut off an entire wing to the root. Only because of her body¡¯s faster movement did she keep her left wings intact, but thanks to the combination of Greyan¡¯s and Muweh¡¯s Abilities, she didn¡¯t escape unscathed. Greyan was looking to finish the fight. He would have to wait. Beelzebub¡¯s true goal had been to go past him while sending him off balance, a goal she had achieved excellently. She buzzed over the heads of the crowd and towards the cultists, flying as quickly as she could, sending shockwaves through the town. Greyan tried to follow, but the crowd prevented him from reaching Beelzebub¡¯s speed. Meyara moved to counter, Herwen jumped to block, but they only succeeded in slowing Beelzebub down enough for her stinger to not fully impale Muweh¡¯s frail body. It took a second, but when people realized what had happened, they gasped in shock and rage. After all, Muweh Sawah, the beloved wife of the town¡¯s City Lord, a Lord which had just been murdered, was attacked before their very eyes. For the Lemonholmians, it must have seemed that everything was falling apart around them. It was certainly how the random old man who had gotten Linked felt. For the hive, though, things were turning around. A blow against Muweh was a blow against the Knights. She was less predictable than the Knights were, but she was, in a way, reliable. She would be cunning, quiet, and ruthless, and someone like that would not be happy with being injured, much less an injury that could cause them to lose those strongest qualities of theirs. She had seen the effects Beelzebub¡¯s sting had on Jey, so how would that fate be viewed in her eyes? Judging by her sudden panic: not favorably. ¡°No! Meyara, you fool- No, you must help. We cannot allow those bees to escape!¡± She lurched, falling to her knees. ¡°Capture that one. Capture it! The poison must be cured!¡± Beelzebub¡¯s job was done, but she had suffered a blow. Her right wings were gone, and her stamina depleted from that final mad dash. Meyara was primed to grab her, but Beelzebub would not go down without a fight. Her stinger clashed against Meyara¡¯s outstretched gauntlet, and she shot upwards immediately after, dodging an invisible grasp. Grehn hadn¡¯t even sensed it. For the first time, Beelzebub extended gratitude towards the humans. They had observed Meyara¡¯s Ability enough times, analyzed it decently enough, and thanks to Vlugh¡¯s final attack, come to understand Meyara¡¯s Ability enough for Beelzebub to have a fighting chance in her state. The details weren¡¯t known, but it was enough to know that Meyara could attack multiple times, for a maximum of four outside of her original attack. In fact, the duplication wasn¡¯t limited to attacks, but any action Meyara took. The additional actions could not be seen, but they could be felt ever so slightly based on Meyara¡¯s Mind usage during her movements. Her actions could be delayed for some time, though how long wasn¡¯t clear. It was enough information for Beelzebub. Meyara was strong, but Greyan was much faster. She would be able to sting Meyara as well. Greyan was on his way, but the people of Lemonholm restricted him like chains. ¡°As you can see, Muweh Sawah is a traitor. She is an agent of those disgusting Mind Inquiry Service tyrants! She ordered the Knights to kill us. Please, in the name of the Human, help us!¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± Meyara fired a shot, nowhere near Beelzebub. One of the Club members had already thrown themselves in front of Lahim, Meyara¡¯s target, arms wide. The man fell unceremoniously, clutching his stomach. The gunshot elicited screams. People would begin to panic soon. Was that ideal? Grehn wasn¡¯t sure. As he watched everything transpire, trying to squeeze Elofan into the crowd of Lemonholmians, Grehn suddenly felt overcome with intense discomfort. Grehn thought he would be sick. Most of the Lemonholmians did not share his nerve. A wave of sheer power, a thunderous cloak of uncontrollable rage, and an eerie calm that held it all together descended, enough to make Grehn¡¯s Mind sway as if it were being pulled into the unnatural flow. ¡°You deem it right, within my sight, to invoke my precious name? It is alright, oh kindred spright; your Mind, we shall reclaim.¡± Chapter 131 - Disbeelieving, That’s the Real Crime The air didn¡¯t still. Time moved normally. What Grehn experienced was a severe queasiness followed by a burst of wind as Jey appeared in thin air, landing on the ground with a thud. Nobody was quite sure what to make of this new appearance. At least, Grehn was confused about how to react. He hadn¡¯t known Jey very long, but she didn¡¯t strike him as the poetic type, much less in the middle of the nerve-wracking situation Lemonholm was embroiled in. She must have lost her damn Mind thanks to Beelzebub¡¯s venom, because otherwise she was doing little more than spouting inane nonsense. ¡°¡­What do you mean ¡®your name¡¯? Aren¡¯t you one of those Knights?¡± a bystander, a young man no older than twenty, asked after a moment. Grehn observed the surrounding people, and he realized the people of Lemonholm were becoming increasingly dangerous and unstable. To be fair, that was, in part, their goal. If the Lemonholmians could save the lives of the hive members, Grehn would gladly take their help. But combining the sudden violence towards and by their old leader¡¯s elderly wife with this bizarre rambling was throwing people for a loop. ¡°The Human, child. Of course. That is who I am, inhabiting this child¡¯s body.¡± Grehn had no idea how to react to that information. Did Beelzebub misinform him about her Ability? It would make sense to withhold information from a potential enemy, so he didn¡¯t exactly fault her, but a shiver ran through his body at the involuntary thought of her turning him into someone so insane. ¡°How dare you? How dare you be so arrogant as to take our god¡¯s name in vain?¡± a woman shouted. ¡°You¡¯re trying to kill the Lemonholm Betterment Club and you¡¯re saying these things? Do the Knights have no shame?¡± ¡°Fuck you!¡± Mass panic had turned into mass confusion, and now it all transformed into mass anger. Waves of angry Lemonholmians grumbled and shouted, waving their fists at the clear spot in the street where Jey stood, head cocked to one side. Whatever Jey was going through, Grehn couldn¡¯t relax. The amount of power she was exuding was extreme, and her mental state was clearly in a place where she wouldn¡¯t mind a bit of slaughter. As if that weren¡¯t enough, the confusion and dimming of the crowd had allowed Greyan to squeeze through, and he was clomping towards Elofan and Grehn much too fast for their liking. ¡°Oh children, understand your position. You are being manipulated by a deceptive creature. You saw one - a bee. They have come to harm you, to take advantage of you. Already they control your beloved forest and are greedy for more.¡± The crowd was already riled up, the empty space between people and Jey decreasing by the second. Some people did have their interest piqued, though. Unfortunately, this included some of the people close to Grehn, who were acting as an unknowing wall between himself and Greyan. ¡°Of course! I¡¯ve been saying for ages: animals have powerful Minds and want to control us all!¡± ¡°No, you idiot. It¡¯s the aliens I keep telling you about. This Knight knows about them and is betraying the other Knights to reveal their secret alien overlords!¡± ¡°You¡¯re both wrong. It must be demons.¡± The crowd turned in on itself, the deeply religious who were still angry at Jey for pretending to be actual God clashing with the classic Lemonholmian conspiracy theorist. Greyan was still pushing through the crowd, so Grehn looked around, searching for a way out. Their situation was looking less favorable by the second; the people had succeeded in slowing Greyan down, but they weren¡¯t becoming excessively angry and attacking either. Jey¡¯s appearance had thrown a wrench in the situation in a way none of them predicted. He looked at the Knight in question and found that she was staring right at him. He shivered again. Was it because of the extreme calm washing over her face, the slight, almost drunken smile? The contrast between that and the uncontrollable anger of her Mind lashing out? No, it was none of those. It was something deeper, as if his Mind were being touched by an endless pit that consumed everything it came across. That was actually the Human. He tried to dismiss the thought, but it stuck there. The actual Human, the god, was inhabiting Jey¡¯s body. Grehn didn¡¯t fancy himself particularly religious. Sure, he worshipped the Human on some days and prayed occasionally, but what person didn¡¯t? Besides Drevans, of course. But the gods always seemed so distant, like something from the past that only lived on through the words that echoed in everyone¡¯s Minds. The thought of a god appearing before his eyes wasn¡¯t something he ever considered. And now, that god was looking him in the eyes, staring out of the angry body of a weakening Knight. Him. A traitor to his kind. Another presence appeared. The hole Grehn was being drawn into was suddenly filled with the sound of buzzing, the darkness interspersed with yellow. And he was back, his Mind pulled from the brink by his new master. The Mother had use for him yet, so there was no escaping now. ¡°Elofan, we need to do something,¡± he whispered to the fernen, making sure the people around him were too busy talking about metal men and underground cities to hear him. ¡°Use the bees.¡± She understood immediately. Or he hoped she did. The last time he didn¡¯t fully explain his plan, she had shot it. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Hey everyone! Look at me! The bees are my Ability, obviously. You think little insects are capable of such crafty deception? Think again.¡± Her words were wasted, but the whooping noises did attract attention. Many people stopped to stare at Elofan as she waved her arms around. Grehn¡¯s idea was conveyed to the bees, and Ben flew over from his hiding place atop a nearby building. Elofan waved her finger around, and Ben began to dance, doing a twirl and flying a loop like a trained bird. Grehn decided to speak up. ¡°Bees? You mean Elofan¡¯s bees? I get you¡¯re not feeling well after you got poisoned, Jey, but I think you¡¯re going a bit far. We were just trying to help the townspeople you attacked.¡± Jey - the Human - said nothing, only keeping the creepy half-smile on their calm face. However, Muweh, who had stopped writhing on the ground and was shakily standing, acted anything but calm. ¡°Idiot! What are you thinking, jeopardizing us? First you run around on an inane chase, now you speak nonsense. All I wanted was revenge on my husband¡¯s true killers, and this is what you do for me?¡± Grehn almost missed what Muweh was talking about over the din of the crowd, but he caught it in time to suck in a breath. The woman was subtle, and devious to boot. Not many people in the crowd would have heard her, but those that did would only be more confused and less likely to retaliate. And this was while Beelzebub¡¯s venom was working its way into her system - not that there was time for it to take full effect. Some people were trying to hold Greyan back, preventing him from reaching Elofan. Others were trying to help him by shoving people out of the way. Herwen was swamped on all sides, people pressing up against his armor like a bunch of pillows restricting his movements, and Meyara was still staring, eyes narrowed, at Lahim and the Lemonholm Betterment Club, no doubt to finish what they started. Pain blossomed in Grehn¡¯s jaw as a random man¡¯s fist swung for his lip. He staggered back, mostly in surprise. The man hit surprisingly hard, but he¡¯d experienced worse. A thought , and he looked at Elofan as the man advanced, confusion still evident in his eyes. Elofan, who was staring at the new development, caught Grehn¡¯s gaze and nodded grimly. They were still in her Ability. And the only people she had designated as enemies were the Knights and Muweh. Which meant that, even though some Lemonholmians were deciding to attack them, they were still considered allies. Grehn spoke in his Mind, hoping Elofan would eventually get the message. ¡°We need to find Vlugh and get out of here.¡± Beelzebub and Ben agreed, but he felt nothing from Vlugh. He was either out cold or dead. The man attacking Grehn swung again, but he dodged easily, the man too slow and inexperienced to catch him even in his broken state. However, what the man said almost made Grehn cry in frustration. ¡°I don¡¯t really know what¡¯s going on, but I do know that you¡¯re all demons of some kind. I mean, you¡¯re not scared of us at all, and everyone scared of everyone. So I think I¡¯ll just attack all you outsiders until everything is peaceful again.¡± The man wasn¡¯t some leader. He wasn¡¯t coordinating anything, and there was no training or mutual understanding in the town to speak of. But when he said that, it was as if every Lemonholmian came to the same conclusion at that very same moment, because they all began to radiate fear. The fear their Minds produced covered the town, shrouding it in a thick miasma, a foul-smelling stench that could only be described as the feeling of terror at everything around them. Grehn realized this smell was always there in Lemonholm, permeating the air, seeping into the skin of anyone who entered. He had felt it since they entered, making him suspicious of the team of Knights who played no part in even the Burning. It had influenced his decisions, making him want to rashly betray the bees. Made him fear the control Beatrice or Belphegora had on his Mind. Or maybe these thoughts were the fear, and even now he wasn¡¯t thinking straight. It was difficult to say, because the stench of fear was almost always hidden by the tangy scent of lemons. ¡°We need to go now.¡± Ben and Beelzebub sprang into action, the smaller one racing to find Vlugh in the direction Grehn had seen him fly, while Beelzebub grabbed Elofan and Grehn with her Mind. They rose above the ground, the task trivial for Beelzebub¡¯s powerful Mind, and with no subtlety at all, ran from the converging crowd. Greyan looked like he wanted to jump up after them, but he was swamped by Lemonholmians and refused to harm them. Or, at least, he refused to harm them seriously. Because it was apparently fine to jump up onto people¡¯s shoulders while decked in a full suit of armor before leaping onto a nearby roof. Herwen wasn¡¯t so gentle, the space between his body and the people around him increasing as his armor seemed to grow, mashing people against each other. Meyara was still staring daggers at the cult members, but she stood still, unmoving, even as people whacked her with sticks and stones. Muweh screamed. It was a combination of rage and indignation as people tried to hold her, to ask her the truth of the matter. But nothing she said made it through to people. They asked what the real truth was, not the fake story the Knights were spinning. And in the middle was Jey, still given something a berth. Some people tried to approach, but just as soon held their heads or stomachs and stumbled away. Since Grehn had spoken, she hadn¡¯t moved, not even turning her head to look towards the hive as they fled. Grehn had barely noticed it in the chaos, but he couldn¡¯t feel her rage as strongly. Was her Mind finally Collapsing? Right as he wondered, Jey suddenly spun and looked at Grehn again. No, they weren¡¯t Jey, and they weren¡¯t looking at Grehn. They were looking past him. To Beelzebub? Or the Mother? Or somewhere past that? Jey¡¯s mouth opened wide, and she screeched. People around her flinched, and Grehn felt distinctly uncomfortable at the sound. But in his Mind, the Mother¡¯s Mind exploded with activity, the hive descending into madness. Within her Mind, she had felt something when she heard the sound, and even Grehn felt the effect through the Link. It was something etched there, never to be forgotten. A distinct form of terror. Greyan looked up at them as Beelzebub faltered, the Mother¡¯s sudden burst of fear affecting each bee in the hive He took a step. If he tried, he could surely kill them now. But when Jey¡¯s screech was suddenly cut off, and he saw her collapse unceremoniously, surrounded by vengeful, empowered townsfolk, he stopped. Then he turned, leaped over the crowd, and began to lift his comrades one by one onto a roof. Including Muweh Sawah. Grehn grimaced. They weren¡¯t in the clear yet. The sudden fear had caused Ben to nearly crash into a building, and Vlugh was still missing. And although Beelzebub was fast, she was injured, tired, and her Mind drained. Grehn could only hope the Knights wouldn¡¯t pursue them. If they did, expecting to catch them after the effects of Elofan¡¯s Ability wore off, they might eventually catch up. But by the time they did, there would likely be more than just two bees waiting for them. The hive would probably have some new members then. Chapter 132 - Lemon Beemon Ben searched frantically, the looming miasma of fear thickening in Lemonholm¡¯s atmosphere, causing a seed of panic to form in his heart. He watched through Grehn¡¯s eyes as Greyan lifted his comrades onto a rooftop, out of reach of the townsfolk, all while weaving through building after building in search of Vlugh. Elofan¡¯s poisonous bog was still active, but she was struggling to keep it going; the strain present on her alien features was all too clear. However, it was worth it. Thanks to her, the Lemonholmians were strong enough to begin leaping to the rooftops, some nearly managing to land on them in a single bound. Hopefully that meant the Knights would be too busy to chase them back to the forest. ¡°Vlugh! Vlughby doo, where are you?¡± Ben shouted as loud as he could. No response. Vlugh¡¯s presence had been totally absent since Meyara¡¯s kick sent him flying. If he was dead, it would be bad news. It would be worse news if he was un-Linked. Finally, Ben made it to the spot Vlugh should have landed, based on several replays of Grehn¡¯s memory. A splintered rooftop told Ben he was close, and a shifting movement in an alley caught his eye. He buzzed over, oddly nervous. Was it the fear in Lemonholm that made him hold his breath, scared of what he¡¯d find? Peering into the alley, he found a battered heap of a man, covered in chips of wood and dirt, sitting in a pool of blood. Shards of white bone protruded from his chest, and his face was near unrecognizable. A gaping hole in the front of his skull seeped blood and a strange gooey substance, and his left eye was closed, unusable. But, despite his gruesome state, he stirred, turning towards Ben, peeking into the alley with a mixture of awe and horror racing through his Mind. ¡°Oh, hi Ben. I might need some help,¡± Vlugh said, lacking his typical lightheartedness. Not that Ben blamed him. ¡°Of course! Holy Mother, I can¡¯t believe you¡¯re even alive right now. How are you even breathing?¡± Vlugh didn¡¯t respond, simply allowing his head to lean back against the wall. Ben approached, lightly tapping Vlugh¡¯s shoulder with one arm. The man didn¡¯t react, apparently leaving his fate in Ben¡¯s hands. Said bee grimaced; his Mind was thoroughly exhausted, so he¡¯d have to sacrifice plenty of speed and looking to carry Vlugh at any reasonable pace, while also making sure he didn¡¯t spill too much¡­ stuff that should probably stay inside his body. Resolute, he used what Mind he could muster to pick Vlugh up off the ground and slowly brought him up out of the alley, careful not to bump his head. When he rose, Ben found himself face-to-face with a child. Ben wasn¡¯t an expert on humans or anything, but this little girl couldn¡¯t have been older than ten years old. Despite that, she was holding a child-sized torch, almost like a toy, except the toy was on fire. The girl and the bee stared at each other for a moment, the girl ultimately tilting her head. ¡°What¡¯re you? You look like a bug.¡± ¡°Well, I kinda am.¡± Ben¡¯s buzzing only made the girl tilt her head further. The staring contest continued until the girl¡¯s eyes wandered over to Vlugh¡¯s grisly figure. Her eyes hardened, a look that even Ben could tell didn¡¯t belong in the eyes of a child. ¡°That¡¯s an outsider. One of the ones mama mentioned. Um, mister bug, can I take him?¡± Ben shook his head and did a little dance, hoping the child would get the message. Surprisingly, she seemed to understand, a new light shining in her eyes. ¡°Oh. I guess you¡¯re helping them? I need to burn you too, I think.¡± The girl lunged, nearly catching Ben off guard. Her speed was abnormal for such a young human, but she was still a kid. Ben dodged her easily, the flame of her torch coming close to Vlugh, but he still didn¡¯t stir. With an unreasonable amount of panic, Ben yanked Vlugh¡¯s body higher, enough so that the girl wouldn¡¯t be able to reach, and he began to leave. To his surprise, the girl sprinted across the rooftop, nearly keeping pace with his slow progress. When she ran out of roof, she jumped, trying to reach them, but Ben was flying. In the air. Even an enhanced little human would never be able to catch him. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. The girl made a rough landing on the ground, Ben watching as he flew away. She didn¡¯t seem injured, more frustrated than anything else, as she rose to her feet and stared at Ben and Vlugh¡¯s receding forms. Ben almost thought she would give chase again, but a distinct voice cut through the tension. ¡°Sayasa! Come!¡± Ben didn¡¯t see who spoke, but he heard them loud and clear. As did the little girl. The miasma of fear thickened for a moment. Then, the little girl waved at Ben, smiling in a way that could only be described as rueful. ¡°I have to go, mister bug. Don¡¯t come back! Bye.¡± And with that, the child ran away, back towards the main road that was sounding more hectic by the second. Ben watched her fade into the miasma, and he continued to fly. The first stretches of light were peeking over the horizon, and he knew he was falling behind the others. When Elofan¡¯s Ability finally ended, when the light eliminated hiding places in the forest, if the Knights decided to pursue them, he wouldn¡¯t be able to get help in time. He had to move. But seriously, that little girl was more than ready to do some messed up stuff. Because of the fear? Could someone so young be affected by fear that badly? Or was it the influence of that voice, the one who had commanded her to leave? It must¡¯ve been; if her top priority was getting rid of outsiders, she might¡¯ve just ignored the voice and continued chasing him. Instead, she had given up without hesitation. He couldn¡¯t shake the image from his thoughts. Something about it sparked an unusual emotion in him. Anger? It was weird. This town sucked. All they had originally wanted was some food, and they got chased out with their stingers between their legs. Grehn¡¯s whole idea of finding a plentiful food source for the bees to give some leeway to the people of Lemonholm might still work, but it would depend on the strength of the Link. Lahim was their only option. And yet, now all Ben could think about was the little girl. ¡°I wonder, Ben. I can feel the way your Mind is roiling. How did it feel to see her? To see such a warped reflection? I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you were the first to start asking questions.¡± Vlugh¡¯s voice startled Ben, his words not fully registering in his thoughts. He spoke without moving, without even indicating he was alive, but he spoke aloud instead of in his Mind. Something in the way he spoke rattled Ben, though he couldn¡¯t quite put his stinger on it. Beck seemed much more confused, talking about the complete change in tone and cadence or whatever. It wasn¡¯t just his voice; his Mind felt different too. It wasn¡¯t completely different to say it was a different person, but something was clearly not the same. He was radically changed, so decidedly that he was no longer Vlugh. Tentatively, Ben used a bit of Mind to reveal Vlugh¡¯s nape, scratching away some debris. The Linker was still attached, but it was curled up. Not a hint of Mind emanated from the little bee¡¯s corpse. ¡°Please take me back to the hive. I need to get to work.¡± Vlugh¡¯s body nearly fell to the ground below as Ben recovered from the surprise. He had thought it was strange that the Link was silent, that he couldn¡¯t find Vlugh from the Link alone, or that Vlugh hadn¡¯t seemed to respond to anything he was saying. But for him to not be Linked at all? Ben panicked, trying to think of a way out. They had no more extra Linkers nearby, so creating a Link quick wasn¡¯t an option. If he didn¡¯t figure out how to Link Vlugh¡­ well, he didn¡¯t know what would happen. But if the humans weren¡¯t Linked, that was bad. The hive tried to reassure him, but there were too many conflicting ideas. Not for the first time, the hive¡¯s conflicting personalities caused unusual chaos. Some bees thought it best to kill Vlugh while he was weak, before he could do anything outside of the Link to endanger the hive. Others said to be patient, that they could easily Link Vlugh once he arrived at the hive; he was too weak to fight back in his current state, after all. Beatrice was a loud proponent of this, not wanting to waste a resource, especially one that had undergone such a curious change. The only silence was from mamorona. Ben waited, trying to tune out the rest of the hive¡¯s advice. Everything came down to mamala¡¯s decision, her ideas. She would know what to do. He waited, continuing his tentative flight back to the forest. He waited. And waited some more. Without her guidance, the hive was in disarray, confused. Too many opinions, too many ideas. What was the best? It all came down to her, the one who could do no wrong. Finally, she spoke. ¡°Bring him back alive, Ben. Don¡¯t worry too much about him; I have a feeling he¡¯s going to cooperate. I¡¯ll decide what to do with him when you arrive. If something comes up, Beelzebub will help. Please get home safely.¡± Ben looked out towards the horizon, the sun rising more rapidly than he expected. It was as if the world itself couldn¡¯t wait for that terrible night to finally be over. Below, the light caught the orchards, sending glints of green and yellow sparkling across Ben¡¯s vision, like a leafy ocean covered in little yellow stars. The rows of trees were neat and orderly, a far cry from the mottled, makeshift appearance of Lemonholm¡¯s wall shrinking behind him. It was all overtaken by the glaring yellow-white of the sun proper, making Ben grimace. The miasma of fear he could now sense didn¡¯t recede under the sun¡¯s light - instead, it seemed almost strengthened, as if the dawn of a new day meant new things to fear. Maybe it was because the sun itself vaguely reminded Ben of a certain fruit. Whatever the case, he was happy to leave the town of Lemonholm behind him. Chapter 133 - Back to Beesiness Watching Ben and the others leave Lemonholm, I let out a breath that felt like I had been holding for years. The whole ordeal was worse than Yiwi, I think. Yeah, definitely a million times more stressful for me and my bees. But it was over, and the sigh of relief I was finally able to let out seemed to resonate throughout the hive. I remembered to send a little buzz of encouragement to our triumphant pair of bees, hoping to give them a little bit of a boost so they could return to the hive in a timely manner. Sitting alone in my chambers, not even hatching eggs, I felt useless. No nursery bees entered to ferry away my eggs, no bees were outside my window, and my heart felt empty. I wish I could have done more for ben and Beelzebub. I wish I could have gone in person, done something with all this Mind I have. But I had to stay in the hive. It was my duty. My responsibility eve. But was I failing at that, too? For days now, the normally productive and constantly bustling little community I¡¯d built felt stagnant. Stuck. In my old life, I remembered being stressed. But to keep that stress at bay, I would work. I wasn¡¯t a massive fan of working, but maybe that¡¯s why it was effective in making me think less. Not so with the bees. They enjoyed working a bit too much. So the stress actually made them worse at doing work, funnily enough. The thought made me chuckle a bit; I didn¡¯t know how that felt. And so, I thought I¡¯d be different from the bees, and I would get a ton of work done fueled by the insane stress caused by the Knights being within bayonetting distance of my bees. But to my annoyance, I noticed my productivity plummet too. My beeness was really reaching new heights. But in terms of what actually happened at Lemonholm, I finally felt able to look at it with objective eyes. While it was happening, all I wanted was for my bees to stay safe and gather as much intel as possible. Or, at least, do their best in the situation they found themselves. The innocuous little journey turning into a murder mystery with cults and knights and fear lemons was definitely not on the docket. Maybe I should just be expecting the unexpected from now on? But how can I expect something that can¡¯t be expected? ¡°Who cares about all of that? I¡¯m just glad the children are alive. Plus, we¡¯ve struck a blow, even if it is small, against the Knights. If we actually maintain the hold over Lahim, this entire ordeal could end up being considered a success.¡± I know you hate the Knights, but I really don¡¯t know if I¡¯d call what just happened a success. Besides, we have no way of knowing what actually happened to them. Jey was pretty messed up, but the other Knights probably ended up being fine. If anything, this could actually be terrible for us. We had to let the Knights and even Muweh get away, knowing about us bees to some degree. I¡¯d think you¡¯d be more concerned. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m just glad the children made it out in one piece.¡± But we gotta think about the big picture here. Like, what did we actually get out of this? We Linked Lahim, who can be instilled as the de facto leader of Lemonholm, so we can use him to get tons of lemons. I mean, that¡¯s pretty good, to be fair. We need tons of food, and Lemonholm¡¯s supply of fruit would be a pretty big boon. Plus, there was that thing Beatrice mentioned about keeping the unLinked humans of Yiwi happy by getting them some delicious lemons. And I guess I leveled up my new healing Ability some, which is great because it¡¯s apparently a total lifesaver. But like, is that it? ¡°To be fair, did we really expect to get much more than lemons from a place called Lemonholm? Besides, there are some things you haven¡¯t considered. You still lack awareness.¡± If you mention the Knights- ¡°No, you dope. Our bees. Think of Ben and Beelzebub. As unfortunate as it may be, hardship hardens us. Both of them have come out of the ordeal stronger, in more ways than one. I would have liked them to grow in a more peaceful way, but I am glad that they have emerged stronger than before, more able to survive in this harsh world. The same is true for the other bees. Watching what happened to their family will change them. Hopefully for the better. If our family is more able to survive, that is all I could ask for.¡± Is that why I feel kinda happy? I was really expecting to go all ballistic. Go on a campaign to destroy those Knights or something, but instead I¡¯m actually weirdly grateful to them. I don¡¯t like this. I should feel more angry, or maybe worried. But I¡¯m actually glad. It kinda pisses me off. ¡°You care more about the bees than you abhor other things. It is natural.¡± I guess so. I¡¯m just relieved neither of them are overly traumatized or changed by the events. Like, Ben is just sort of thinking about how he can look at more things but still handle himself if needed, since the world is pretty crazy. And Beelzebub - well, Beelzebub was always a bit of a whack-job. It¡¯s interesting though. Both of them have the same idea. They learned stuff from the battle. Oh man, if Ben actually figures out how to copy Jey¡¯s prediction thing, that would be awesome. But boy, those guys were scary. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°Indeed. I hoped that seeing Knights from a different, distant perspective would reveal that they aren¡¯t so terrifying, but I was mistaken. I am truly lucky to have survived an encounter with them.¡± Seriously, you lucked out. If only four of those guys could easily handle arguably my strongest bee while they were weakened, handicapped, and on the back foot¡­ an army of them would destroy the hive. It¡¯s a good thing the hive is growing. The dome is nearly complete, which will give Bess time to work on other parts of the hive, toughening it up and making improved infrastructure. And our numbers¡­ could be better. Once the lemons start coming in, there¡¯ll be some leeway, but I just can¡¯t keep up anymore. I can only produce so many eggs of so many types at a time, even if I were to have infinite resources. ¡°Maybe if you spent less time on that focus training with Feltan, you would have hatched enough eggs to level up the Ability enough to create queens.¡± Hey now. That focus training is important as hell. Beelzebub used it to great effect, so it doesn¡¯t even apply to just me. Getting every bee in the hive to learn to focus will expand our power immensely. Besides, do you want a body or not? Queen grumbled, which meant I won. Of course. I was so close to figuring out how to make it so her Mind was the one primarily in control of Yelah¡¯s body, and it was thanks to the focusing training. But something was missing, and I just couldn¡¯t figure it out. Maybe now that the situation in Lemonholm was resolved, I¡¯d be able to think clearly enough to figure it out. But working with a Mind was completely different in scale from working with Mind. If that makes any sense. There were many signs that it would be problematic. That a god had to create an entire Ability just so two Minds could coexist in one body was the real kicker. So how was I supposed to figure out managing Minds? It really seemed like an impossible task. But things had changed. For all the hardship Lemonholm caused us, it was really enlightening. The way the Knights used Mind was nothing short of amazing. They were so creative, so flexible, so capable. Humans had developed techniques to create entire barriers using Mind by using freaking math. And it wasn¡¯t like the barrier could just be a physical wall of force, either. An invisible membrane that could detect presences? And none of them had an Ability that allowed them to do it. It was just something that had been figured out, and that could be adapted on the fly. Mind could really be used for just about anything. The fernen were creative with Mind, no doubt about it. Feltan had even criticized me for my close-mindedness. But the humans, or, at least, the Knights, were on a whole other level. It had taken too much to even put a dent in them. Everything from their weapons to Greyan¡¯s transforming armor to their combat skills. And don¡¯t get me started on Muweh. The MIS were in a different league in terms of their deviousness. I had plenty of questions of ol¡¯ Bobby, that was for sure. But there were two things that we learned in Lemonholm that really were the things that turned the tables. Two things that might provide the hints I needed to figure out how to work with Minds. Two things I have been specifically avoiding because they freaked me the hell out. The gods. ¡°I¡¯m still not sure. I may not have much more experience in this world than you, but to think that the gods themselves would descend is utter madness. They exist only within our Minds, not as true beings. At least, that is what I think.¡± No, these gods really did appear, I¡¯m sure of it. The scream¡­ it was not something I would ever forget. It was etched into my Mind, my very soul. I remembered little what happened in between my death in my original world and my arrival here, but I definitely remember that noise. That was the Human. The Human themself had somehow possessed Jey¡¯s body and freaking chased Ben around. I wonder how he would feel if I told him he outran a god? ¡°But if that was truly the human, what does that mean?¡± To be honest, I¡¯m not sure. I actually don¡¯t know much about the gods in this world. All I know is some vague fragments and my own experiences. And my own experiences tell me the Human is kinda a dick. I mean, do you remember when they specifically called us out for checking on what the Humanity Factor was supposed to be? That was freaky. Plus, all of humanity is influenced by the Human to some degree. ¡°It is strange how little we know.¡± Right? You¡¯d think with all the humans I have Linked, I¡¯d know a lot more. But all I understand is some vague religious practices and beliefs, and most of it is just basic stuff. Oh, you¡¯re telling me people believe the Human created humans? Shocker there. I guess I haven¡¯t Linked a priest or something, so I might have to do that to get some info. But people really believe in the gods with all their heart, with no doubt or need for stories or anything. It¡¯s sort of bizarre. ¡°Don¡¯t you believe? We have the messages in our head to tell us everything. It is clearly the work of the gods.¡± Sure, but is that all people want? Forget what they need, humans want to know things. They love knowing that the thing they worship is great for reasons they can understand, like some great acts of heroism or miracles or something. ¡°I suppose the miracle of Mind is plenty.¡± Maybe. But until we learn more about the gods, it doesn¡¯t change how much we learned. The feeling of Jey¡¯s Mind was so distinct in that moment, I could almost feel when the Human descended. And I wasn¡¯t even there! But that wasn¡¯t the real kicker. There was a second thing we learned in Lemonholm. I had felt a human die, his Linker curling up in response. It was quick, almost immediate. And then, just as quickly, he had changed. Something had appeared and changed his Mind. Our resident Drevan wasn¡¯t quite the same, and I suspected a god had something to do with it. The question remained: what did they want with me? Chapter 134 - What Do They Want With Bee? Yellow light filtered through the dome, high in the sky compared to my resting spot on the river bend. The hexagonal patches of wax kept everything inside perfectly to our liking. The sun, which had only recently been revealed to us, no longer scorched us with its rays. I had been excited at first to see the sun, considering that the forest¡¯s sky had been permanently overcast with heavy, dark clouds since my arrival in this world, but it had quickly transitioned to annoyance. There were no trees, no foliage, no cover from the heat and light, and that had gone on for weeks since the fernen finally dispelled the gloom. But now, with Bess¡¯ dome completed, I could stay outside perfectly content. It even kept the climate perfectly temperate, not too hot or cold, not too moist or dry. I didn¡¯t know whether to attribute the feat to Bess¡¯ building skills or the fantastic wax developments Bella and Belle collaborated on, but I made sure to make my satisfaction known to them all. Only four spots in the dome differed from the otherwise uniform hexagons. Four identical, massive hexagonal holes could be seen on the cardinal sides of the dome, a window to the outside. If we ever needed a massive number of bees to move through (or a few, particularly large bees), those would be the spots to use. And when I say massive, I mean Behemoth-sized. You could stack three or four tall humans on top of each other and they¡¯d barely reach each end of the hole. On the other hand, each regular hexagon was much smaller, just big enough to fit my own meter-long body. The dome was a shining achievement, and Bess hadn¡¯t stopped receiving praise from the other bees since she officially constructed the final wax cell. Despite that, she brushed off the congratulations and was already planning her next move: more building. I realized with a start that I had been staring in one direction for the better part of the day. It was the direction Ben and Beelzebub were coming from, slowly but steadily. I¡¯d already sent out a squad of warriors to meet them halfway and lighten their load. The poor things had taken a few breaks, far more than when they were traveling to Lemonholm, so I wanted to make sure they would arrive safely and without such exhaustion. The entire time, I monitored Vlugh through Ben¡¯s eyes, careful to spot any sudden moves or shifts in demeanor. Having that wild card in tow was stressing me out, which was fantastic, because it meant the stress of Lemonholm never seemed to freaking end. I had sent a Linker with the warriors to bring Vlugh back under my control, but I¡¯d hesitated. Beatrice wasn¡¯t sure why I might reconsider reLinking Vlugh, and who could blame her? What was I supposed to say? Oh, I¡¯m pretty sure the gods are pissed at me for stuff totally out of my control and now they¡¯re trying to destroy me with possessed human mech suits. Well, considering how my bees were, they¡¯d believe me without hesitation. But surely even they would think I¡¯m a bit cuckoo if I told them all that. Regardless of what my bees thought, I was convinced Jey wasn¡¯t the only one who got a visit from an outsider during the battle. Vlugh had gotten shot through the brain, which should have been a death sentence. Now, to be fair, I seemed to recall a famous story from my old world about a guy who had a chunk of his brain blasted out and survived, but for all intents and purposes, I had actually felt Vlugh¡¯s Mind disappear. And that was the kicker: if Vlugh hadn¡¯t died, what happened to his Mind? In the past, when something Linked to me had died, I knew what happened to their Mind. It faded away, disappearing into the ether, slipping through my fingers. There were only a few notable exceptions, those being Yafoot and the Vulch. Their Minds had been absorbed into my own, in a way I still didn¡¯t fully understand. As morbid as it might sound, when I saw Vlugh get shot, my first thought had been ¡®Oh crap! Well, now I can test out absorbing another Mind.¡¯ And try I did. But Vlugh¡¯s Mind hadn¡¯t behaved in the same way as other deaths. No, his Mind suddenly disappeared for a few moments rather than fade away slowly. It was bizarre to feel. And the sudden disappearance of his Mind had counted enough as his death for the Linker attached to him to die on the spot. Which, I suppose, was valuable knowledge to have. If a Linked being died, their Linker would die with them. Except Vlugh hadn¡¯t died. His Mind reappeared moments later, feeling slightly off, and then he blasted the Knights with flames way more intense than I¡¯d ever seen him produce. In fact, I knew from his memories that the level of his new fire was leagues beyond anything he¡¯d ever achieved. So, what the hell happened to him? This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. It had to have been the gods. But which one? It probably wasn¡¯t the Human, considering they were quite busy. I wouldn¡¯t rule them out, though, considering my limited knowledge and understanding of the gods¡¯ capabilities. But no, I thought it more likely that the Dragon god was the culprit, for the simple reason Vlugh was a Drevan. What little I knew about his people, all I knew for sure was that their connection to the Human was superficial at best, only tied to their origins as, well, humans. What they were truly connected to was dragons. And so, a human possibly possessed by a dragon god was heading straight for my hive, with unknown intentions, capabilities, and motivations. Fun. Pissing off a dragon god was kinda scary, and that was why I hesitated to just up and Link the guy as soon as he was in line of sight. But who knew? Maybe I¡¯d already pissed the god off. After all, when I tried to get Grehn to talk to Vlugh, despite their sorry state, Vlugh refused to elaborate on anything. He just kept repeating, ¡®I will only speak with the queen privately.¡¯ Well, buddy, you can talk to me in private all you want. I¡¯m just going to share with the rest of the hive in real time anyways. What was the point of a one-on-one meeting? It was clear something was up with Vlugh, and even if the god theory was nothing but speculation at the moment, he was still a risk. When they arrived, I¡¯d meet him outside the hive and that would be that. ¡°Mother?¡± ¡°Hm? Oh, hi Beatrice. What bring you here?¡± To my surprise, Beatrice was hovering nearby, her arms hidden behind her back or adjusting her ¡®glasses¡¯ as usual. She always seemed so busy, so I often didn¡¯t see her in the flesh nowadays. I wasn¡¯t complaining about seeing her now, but why didn¡¯t she visit more often? Shame on her. ¡°I will be gathering several bees to have a meeting in the next five minutes. It would be ideal for you to attend as well. We must discuss the events at Lemonholm and our objectives, ideas, and strategies moving forward.¡± My head tilted. ¡°It¡¯s unusual that you¡¯d want to take time out of your busy schedule to hold a face-to-face meeting. Is there some reason we¡¯re not doing this telepathically?¡± ¡°I believe this requires the utmost focus. If the bees are left to their own devices, they will probably attempt to work rather than pay attention. Or maybe it is something you passed on to me. Either way, I believe it will be more effective to meet this way.¡± The sense of unease I felt while talking to Beatrice was strange until I realized she was being stoic, more so than usual. No, she usually wasn¡¯t stoic; more like serious. This was different. Poking into her Mind, I saw she was concerned. Which made me swallow despite my dry throat. If Beatrice was worried, the hive should be worried. She had concealed her feelings from the rest of the hive to such an extent that I had to consciously search for the pit in her stomach. ¡°Very well,¡± I said. ¡°We¡¯ll meet in the dining hall.¡±
The dining hall was still one of my favorite parts of the hive. It was spacious yet cozy, inviting and warm and familiar all at once. Bess had really outdone herself with it. It also helped that this was where we ate food, which had to be one of my favorite pastimes at this point. But for all its greatness, the heavy atmosphere currently settled in the mass of wax cells put a dampener on the otherwise pleasant space. The Hive Five, sans Ben and Bella, were seated in their usual spots close to me. Beatrice was just in front of me, her seat that usually sat next to my own, floating in the air like a magic wax podium. Also present were Bedivere, Beryl, and the Valkybees other than Beelzebub. It was odd to see these bees as ¡®more important¡¯. By all metrics, they were more important than other bees. Yet we insisted that all bees, besides myself, were essentially equals. It was a bizarre consequence of my dual nature. Once Beatrice spoke, the buzz died immediately. ¡°I will cut straight into the heart of the matter. Lemonholm was an unmitigated disaster. On that, I believe we can all agree.¡± I said nothing. Hadn¡¯t I just rationalized with Queen why Lemonholm had some upsides? Unmitigated disaster seemed a bit harsh. Though, I didn¡¯t necessarily disagree. ¡°I believe this is an issue of poor planning. Although in many ways we have been very efficient, we still have holes in our process. Our bee instincts say to do a few key things: expand the hive, protect the queen, etcetera. As a result, we have neglected other instincts we all know exist within us. Something other than bee. Rather than neglect, I would say we have avoided them out of fear. We want to be bees, but after the vultures, then Yiwi, and now the disaster of Lemonholm, I believe we can no longer avoid this other aspect of ourselves.¡± ¡°It is clear to me that in order to fulfill our duties, we must adapt in ways we had never imagined to succeed in this harsh world. But before any of that, I want to hear your thoughts on what happened in Lemonholm. Consider this a test of your ability to not only embrace these other instincts I mentioned, but to practice this unusual art of adaptation. Beck, I would like to hear your thoughts first.¡± Chapter 135 - The Combsequences Although I tried wiping the tears from my eyes, I found it to be a fruitless endeavor, and through the blur, I could tell the other bees gathered in the dining hall were in a similar predicament. Sniffles and buzzes of wonderment filled the room as Beatrice, nearly failing to uphold her stony demeanor, cleared her throat. ¡°That was truly beautiful, Beck. One of the most rousing, exemplary speeches I have heard in my short life. All bees, no, all beings, should listen to what you had to say. If you could, I would like to help you present those words to all who would hear them. Though perhaps we should save that for another time.¡± Most of the bees were still in a heightened state of emotion, but Beatrice was anxious to move on. ¡°I know that will be difficult to follow up, but there is still more to discuss. Please, take a moment to compose yourselves, and whenever you are ready, Belle, I would like to hear from you next.¡± Of course, my emotions wouldn¡¯t get the best of me, even with the masterwork of speechcraft Beck just pulled off. I was definitely not the last bee to wipe tears from their eyes, no sir. I was certainly not still sniffling as Belle cleared her throat to speak. ¡°If I must follow that up, I will try to be measured in my stance. I don¡¯t disagree that Lemonholm was a terrible event, but I would not say it is a loss on all fronts. Though Lahim¡¯s control fades, the contingent we sent to station themselves, even if temporarily, on the outskirts of the town, should be enough for the Link to maintain itself. And that means a new influx of food. As long as the Link holds, Mother¡¯s command to send vast quantities of lemons to Yiwi will bolster our food supplies, and the hive can continue to expand.¡± Bess waited patiently, and, finding a pause in Belle¡¯s musings, inserted herself. ¡°That¡¯s pretty much what I was going to say. More food means more wax, and since the dome is pretty much complete, I¡¯ll be able to finish a ton of smaller projects while I prepare for the next big one. Personally, I think Lemonholm wasn¡¯t as bad as you¡¯re making it out to be, Beatrice.¡± ¡°I was referring more to the point of new bees, but some food can be allocated for building as well. With the dome completed, we now have a massive hive and few bees to fill it.¡± Bess rolled her eyes, clearly exaggerating her annoyance at Belle¡¯s haughty response. All the same, they agreed with each other, so it was more like a bit of friendly banter. I didn¡¯t need to check the Link to see the look on Beatrice¡¯s face, smoldering with disagreement. ¡°To say that only good came from Lemonholm is short-sighted at best. The plan was always to expand the hive, one way or another. If it meant starving the people of Yiwi, so be it. Is there anything else you want to say?¡± Belle crossed her arms. ¡°Sure. I know what you¡¯re thinking, Beatrice, and I agree. But with Lemonholm now behind us, we should focus on what we can act on right at this moment. And all we can do is take what we have got and put it to use.¡± Oh, of course. That thing Beatrice is thinking about that doesn¡¯t include our new source of food. That thing I certainly also knew about. I decided to cheat a bit and sift through her thoughts, just to confirm that I was also thinking of this apparently important detail. Unfortunately, Bedivere beat me to it. ¡°You refer to the actual events of Lemonholm, not the outcome. The sudden, unexpected appearance of the Knights. The murder of Yojer Sawah. The subsequent investigation. Beatrice, you would have preferred if none of them happened in the first place.¡± Beatrice said nothing. Instead, Bella, silent this entire time, spoke up. ¡°All we can really do is learn from what happened there and try not to make the same mistakes. Honestly, I don¡¯t even think Lemonholm is worth talking about. We went through it, we learned, we got something out of it. End of story. We should focus on improving what we¡¯re working on right now.¡± Beryl scoffed. ¡°Yes, you seem quite intent on doing nothing more than fiddling with your pet projects right now. I would hope you are enjoying mimicking the humans¡¯ ¡®corporations¡¯ during this time of crisis.¡± ¡°Time of crisis?¡± Bella turned her full attention towards the discussion. I sensed a hint of embarrassment - Beryl had clocked her pretty good, since she¡¯d been busy working on her own projects during this entire meeting. Even so, I thought Beryl was being unreasonable. ¡°The only crisis is how weak we are. Individual strength like the kind you warriors strive for is total bunk. Maybe take that lesson from Lemonholm.¡± ¡°And the strength you strive for, inspired by the humans, is much better? How goes your collaboration with the MIS agent? I¡¯m sure the magnitude of human greed and wealth you will accrue from Bobbee Inc. will save us when the army of Knights comes to burn our hive to the ground.¡± Beatrice shook her head and glanced at me. Me? Was she disappointed in me? Or embarrassed about the bees¡¯ behavior? Oh, it was the second one. Well, it wasn¡¯t unexpected. Thanks to the individuality of each bee derived from my human side, there were bound to be these extreme differences in ideology. At least it was all for the good of the hive, in the end. But a disagreement could grow out of hand quick, so I nudged Beatrice to intervene, though she wanted to let the bees speak their thoughts freely. ¡°Enough. This argument is unproductive. It is clear there is a difference in the way the workers and the warriors view the events of Lemonholm. Beryl, explain what exactly you wish to take from the disaster.¡± She was being a bit disingenuous there. Queen even ooh¡¯d when she noticed how Beatrice subtly manipulated the other bees, intent on making them see her point of view. Unfortunately for Beatrice, she was unique. She was right to say the warriors and workers had a difference in opinion, but it stemmed more from the practical, down-to-earth view the workers used to navigate the world versus the noble, single-minded determination of the warriors. Meanwhile, Beatrice was stuck being the only bee whose entire focus was on planning. Anticipation. Management. Well, Bedivere could pin Beatrice easily enough, and I could cheat by looking at her thoughts. But to say she was alone in her ideas was fair. She probably realized this when Beryl began to speak. Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Very well. Bella is right on one count: we are weak. More specifically, we are weaker than we thought, weak as an offensive force, and weak compared to the world around us. We were spoiled by the equally disastrous events of Yiwi and the vultures. Both cases where brute strength did not win us the day, but trickery and the power of our Mother.¡± ¡°What did we encounter in Lemonholm? Four Somuian Knights and an elderly agent of the MIS. And we nearly lost. Might I remind you of the many advantages we held in that battle, and still all we managed to do was run, stingers between our legs? One of our strongest, Beelzebub, was primed for battle. Our strongest physical non-combatant, Ben, was also ready to lay down his life. We were in possession of two decently competent mercenaries and a fernen of unknown power. Said fernen possessed an Ability that did nothing but provide more advantages. It strengthened our forces, weakened our opponents, and forced them to have a single, predictable goal which we could prevent. We had the element of surprise, further increasing our numerical advantage with Beelzebub¡¯s strike on Jey. Several powered-up cultists still further improved our advantage. And of course, these Knights were of the sort to hold themselves back so as not to harm ¡®innocent civilians¡¯ in the line of fire.¡± ¡°And the results? We were beaten and battered, only escaping thanks to last-second desperate maneuvers and exemplary performances from our bees. Along with other bizarre occurrences. This is what I mean. If Beelzebub, one of the single strongest combatants of the hive, arguably second only to Bedivere, could not defeat a single Knight Commander while considering all of these factors, we are truly in deep shit. It means that only Bedivere, Mother, or a swarm of our best warrior bees would stand any chance. And that is a single Knight Commander, isolated from his group. What about a dozen of these Commander-level threats? What about the Royal Guard? If the Knights were to attempt an invasion right this moment, the hive would be obliterated.¡± Despite speaking in her Mind, Beryl nearly seemed to run out of breath during her rant. Initially composed, her speech quickly devolved into desperation. And I could see why. Every point she made was totally valid, and it must¡¯ve been stressing her out as one of the top bees responsible for keeping the hive safe. Or, more specifically, keeping me safe. The look of fear she had on her face as she stared right at me made me distinctly uncomfortable. I could feel what she was thinking: ¡®I¡¯m not confident I can protect you.¡¯ Bedivere put a hand on her shoulder. ¡°Calm, Beryl. Your points are good ones, but we are not as helpless as you imagine. There are ways we can fight back, even without exceptional individual fighting prowess. We would just need to prepare.¡± Beatrice looked like she was going to explode. ¡°That is precisely the crux of the matter, Bedivere. That is what you have all failed to consider. Preparation. Must I explain why, despite the disastrous events of Yiwi and Lemonholm, we have had some success in each?¡± As Beatrice ranted, I caught Bedivere¡¯s eye. He¡¯d done that on purpose. Why was this guy one of the few bees capable of messing with Beatrice like this? Was it because he was basically the pinnacle of a bee I could hatch? If only I had more time, more resources, more everything, I¡¯d definitely try to make more bees like him. Actually, would that result in more Beatrices? The thought made me shudder. ¡°Being sneaky. Being powerful. All of that is useless in the face of preparation. Yiwi was a success because I learned from the vultures that relying on magnificent events was insufficient. And yet, I mis-stepped in Lemonholm, and in that, Grehn succeeded in his machinations. To be outsmarted by the human brings me no small amount of shame. It was such a simple mission, such a simplistic goal. We left them to their own devices, sure that such a simple idea could not go awry. We were so intently focused on our work that we were blindsided by everything that happened there. And what happened? At the heart of Lemonholm was Muweh Sawah, the devious human who planned an entire catastrophe in order to rid herself of that damned town.¡± ¡°We cannot anticipate everything, of course. But we should make contingencies. What might we encounter? What might we be capable of? What are our goals, and how best can we achieve them? We must understand all this and more before we can continue to expand the hive. I propose-¡° ¡°Okay, that¡¯s fine for now Beatrice.¡± My interruption caused waves in the dining hall, resulting in various dropped jaws and more than a few perked ears. Beatrice seemed frozen in place, her eyes bugging out as if she couldn¡¯t believe what was happening. Let¡¯s go, I¡¯m the queen here. Listen to mom, kids. ¡°You know, I thought you were actually intent on making valid points, but it seems more like you just wanted to lord your position over Beatrice for once in your life. Since when were you so spiteful?¡± Ahem. ¡°Beatrice is right, of course. But putting any sweeping plans into place right now isn¡¯t, in my opinion, the best course of action. I mean, Lemonholm just happened - Ben and Beelzebub haven¡¯t even gotten home yet! There¡¯s clearly a lot of thoughts and opinions flying around right now thanks to the whole debacle, but I think it would be best to slow down, digest what happened, analyze it properly and come to some solid, agreed-upon conclusions.¡± Beatrice nodded slowly. She wasn¡¯t convinced, though. No matter. There was something that had to be mentioned, something relating to the weirdness with the gods at Lemonholm. If the gods were actually going to get involved with us in the real world, and not as some distant, far-off concept, then I needed my bees at their most ready and prepared. ¡°I think this is a good discussion to have, and we should continue. But watching you all argue, having your extreme difference in ideas¡­ it pains me. Because I can feel you want nothing more than to agree without hesitation with the rest of the hive. You want to listen and carry out a singular mission and leave it at that. And yet something inside you compels you to bring out some part of yourself that doesn¡¯t quite fit with everyone else. Am I correct?¡± None of them expected me to do anything like that. It was clear even from their body language, let alone their Minds. Even bees like Beatrice and Bedivere adopted a steely countenance to their Minds, as if protecting themselves from a sudden attack. I was being completely honest; watching the bees argue while feeling their annoyance - not towards each other, but to themselves - sent me over the edge. The bees had suffered under those conditions for so long, and it had only gotten worse. The younger the bees were, the less their individuality consumed them. But these were some of the eldest bees, the most lived and experienced. They felt lost, not from the Link, but from the hive itself. They thought they were drifting away, and they were desperate to prove themselves even more so than usual. Even the always calm, collected Beatrice had called this meeting and was so flustered that Bedivere¡¯s and Belle¡¯s and Bess¡¯ provocations roused her without her noticing. Enough was enough. I¡¯d ensure that when the bees reached a certain age, they would learn the full extent of the truth, so they¡¯d never feel so lost. ¡°There is something that you should already know, deep inside. Something you vaguely understand. It¡¯s likely that some of you have figured it out, or gathered it from something I¡¯ve said, but I¡¯m just going to tell you all straight, right now, so we¡¯re all on the same page.¡± ¡°The one speaking to you right now is only half of your Mother. The half you don¡¯t hear is a bee, a bee that nearly died before any of you were born. She was saved by a god, that being the Bee itself. Because the Bee took my soul, my Mind, and put it in her body as she was dying. They did it because I was already dead, killed in my past life. My past life as a human from another world.¡± Chapter 136 - Of My Actions Technically, it was easy to explain everything I wanted to say. Not that it wasn¡¯t stressful or scary, just that I had a slideshow presentation prepared for this very moment. And by slideshow presentation, I just mean a package of memories and accompanying explanations neatly prepared to be sent to any bee I wished with the press of a mental button. I didn¡¯t want to drop the bomb all at once, so instead of just flooding their Minds with information, my bees received a little recording of sorts, just so I wouldn¡¯t have to endure the enormous weight of explaining things in person. Well, for me, it was more like awkwardly sitting around while the bees sat silently listening and watching. ¡°Hi there. My name is - was - Enno Cordano. I was a human from a place called Earth. And this is my partner in crime, Queen. Your other mother.¡± In a mental space of darkness, a tiny figure appeared, a recreation of myself, at least how I remembered my appearance. There was nothing in the void to compare me to, but I would classify myself as something of an ordinary guy, though perhaps my facial features could be considered sinister. Maybe it was my expression, looking somewhere between bored and perpetually annoyed. I wasn¡¯t very tall, was coming into a gut from reduced physical activity, and had bags under my eyes. I didn¡¯t look repulsive, but maybe I wasn¡¯t the most approachable fellow. Which was, of course, countered by the fact that my co-workers constantly tried to approach me. But that was in the past. The reminders just flooded back when I saw my old self again. ¡°Hello children! We are your mother. This will probably be the first time you see me, and I¡¯m so glad to meet you. I wish I could have truly met you, but this bozo¡¯s idea of a recording was the only simple way to show myself. And also I am rarely in charge of decisions around here, as we¡¯ll explain.¡± Compared to me, Queen was a radiant visage. I constructed her image to be the same one I saw the few times I had actually ¡®seen¡¯ her Mind, like when we were trapped by the Vulch or when I caught a glimpse of her pulling me out of the endless maze of doors I had trapped myself in when touching my own Mind a little too deeply. She was truly something that could be called majestic. A massive queen bee of golden light, interspersed with blacks almost deeper than the void surrounding us. Her body glowed with power and warmth, as if she could push away the darkness and heal you just by being near. Floating above her head was a glowing crown, inlaid with jewels of a material; that doesn¡¯t exist. It spun slowly, lazily, as if to say ¡®yeah, I¡¯m the boss. Deal with it. Beeal.¡¯ My little avatar manifested a pen - an old ballpoint of mine, whose details I remembered better than my own face - and began to spin it around as I spoke. ¡°This is supposed to be the final version. Anyway, if you¡¯re hearing this, I¡¯m dead. Or I revealed my ¡®secret.¡¯ Probably the latter. But this is just meant to be a brief explanation of what¡¯s going on so I don¡¯t overwhelm you with a flood of info all at once. You¡¯d probably be able to process it fine, don¡¯t get me wrong, but, well¡­¡± ¡°You are part human. And because of that, you might not handle it so efficiently. That is what I want to explain.¡± ¡°Yup. Now, what is a human? Well, we are a species of creature that-¡° ¡°They are like a thing called a ¡®monkey¡¯, but with slightly more brains.¡± ¡°Queen, that¡¯s not in the script-¡° ¡°I am in this state because of humans, and thus, we have an instinctual hatred for them. They killed my mother, destroyed my hive, and nearly took my life. But I was saved by the Bee itself, and a¡­ well, it could be called a gift, or a curse, but it brought me back to life.¡± My little head shook. ¡°Yeah. Basically, I was a human from another world, one without Mind or gods or kingdoms as you know them, and then I died. In a somewhat silly and ironic way. But then some stuff happened, and my soul, or Mind I suppose, was put into Queen¡¯s body. Bam. Now we¡¯re one being.¡± A slew of images blended together, faster than I would normally be able to process. Our surroundings changed from a void to a quiet, empty street, to a sea of electricity, to another, more sinister void, then to a familiar tree stump. ¡°I, the once-human, am in control of Queen¡¯s old body. She¡¯s little more than a presence in my Mind, guiding me and informing my actions.¡± ¡°¡¯Little more than?¡¯ Yeah, right. You might say, children, I am the reason you kids have a decent mother.¡± ¡°Sure, sure. But yeah, I guess you can probably understand a few things just from that. You were all born with some humanity. Wait, shit. I was supposed to explain that there¡¯s both good and bad in humanity. Can we restart?¡± ¡°Humanity is mostly terrible. They are inefficient creatures with a great degree of selfishness and individuality, wholly incompatible with bees. Or, at least, that is what I believed. Over time, I have come to see that humans are not a monolith. This was a difficult concept to understand as a bee, and is something you all will need to become accustomed to. But I believe you will have an easier time than I. There is something special about humans. Maddeningly so, but it is true. Otherwise, they probably would not dominate Enno¡¯s old world even more completely than our own. You have all felt it. The pride you feel in your work, the compassion for your fellow bee, the lengths you would go for both yourself and your siblings. I would not call these things exclusively human, nor would I say they cannot be felt by bees. But without the spark of humanity, things would be very different.¡± More landscapes flashed by, even blending in with our speech. A growing hive, new bees being born, a blanket of black feathers, then shadowy creatures, a huge propellor, an explosion. Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine, I guess. But yeah, humans aren¡¯t all bad. Some of you might even be starting to feel that way. That¡¯s sort of the issue. By this point, each one of you has found at least one human you can relate to, or understand, or otherwise even empathize with.¡± Different humans appeared, some familiar, some stranger. Most of their faces blurred together, but some standout could still be seen. Some of the worst humans we¡¯d encountered, some of the better ones, some ones we mostly ignored. ¡°This is a key point of humanity: being different. The humans that ravaged the forest aren¡¯t necessarily the same ones that we encounter on a day-to-day basis. Heck, I¡¯m not even from this world. Bees, regular bees, might not understand this, because for us, there is only the hive. A hive-mind, if you will. Many of you might be confused, or even frustrated. With humans, each other, and yourselves. Shouldn¡¯t you hate humans? Shouldn¡¯t all bees be against humans? Why am I so individualistic sometimes? Why do I come into conflict with other bees? I know you¡¯ve asked yourselves these questions, and many more. I know you¡¯ve seen certain failings or felt certain emotions or made a mistake and thought, ¡®what¡¯s wrong with me?¡¯ Nothing¡¯s wrong with you. I just want to make that clear.¡± ¡°Allow me to take over. My children, we do not say these things to improve our relationship with the humans. That is something that will come with time, or not at all. The fact of the matter is, always antagonizing the humans, Linking them unconditionally and taking their freedoms, is to remove something that can make them feel whole. If we must do it, then it must be done. But there are other ways. And that is not the point. The point is you all. Although you are bees, you can never feel whole, because there is that human element within you. You can never be truly free, but you will never want to leave the hive.¡± ¡°Yep. Humanity can have the highest of highs but also the lowest of lows. Your Mother and the others in the hive will always work hard to fill that hole in your heart.¡± The projection of me awkwardly made a heart sign with my hands, and I looked away. Would the bees hate me more cause I was part human or for that embarrassing little display? Well, I meant it, so they would just have to deal with it. ¡°What does this mean for you? Well, in practice, nothing would really change. You will still work to please me and to bring success to the hive. You will continue being efficient and effective, continue supporting each other, have rivalries with each other, eat with each other. You are NOT human. You are, without question, bees. But you are now equipped with a new understanding of yourselves. This is something Enno taught me: you can make of that information what you will. It means that you can take what we have told you and shape yourself with it as you see fit. This is unique about you all. I will not control what you become.¡± ¡°I straight up can¡¯t control what you will become. Maybe because I don¡¯t want to. Or maybe because you¡¯re you. And maybe I¡¯m just making this video for myself.¡± ¡°Oh, I certainly am. But that is part of the lesson. Enno and I are one and the same now, human and bee. You are not alone, even in that fact. You will always have your Mother.¡± The world turned back into a void, only leaving Queen and me together. At some point, I had sat down on the ¡®ground¡¯, cross-legged, while Queen hovered above me. ¡°Well, that¡¯s all we had to say. If you have any questions, just ask me. Or don¡¯t, if I¡¯m dead. In that case, good luck, I guess. Love ya. Alright, how was that? We should¡¯ve thought of something more satisfying to say at the end, cause-¡± And with that, the recording we made simply disappeared. I looked around at the faces of my bees, nervous to know what was on their Minds. Did they hate me now that I was once human? Were they scared of me? Or did they hate me for hiding things? There were a million ways this could go, and I could think of a million more ways it goes horribly. The thought of the sudden revelation only made my headache worse. Why did I think it was a good idea to reveal all this shit now, of all times? Wasn¡¯t there a more apt moment? Sure, I¡¯d been stalling, withholding this information for ages, but was now the best time to tell them? We were in the middle of an important discussion, talking about some crucial stuff. But none of the bees reacted outwardly. Even some of the more outspoken bees. They just¡­ sat there. Thinking. ¡­ I hate this! Say something already. I¡¯ll fight you all if I have to. I¡¯ve never been in a direct fight, but I bet I could hang in there with the best. ¡°Calm down. You knew this would happen eventually, and I think now was a good time. Perhaps not the best, but the best time would have been yesterday. Or the day before. Now that Lemonholm has happened, the children would only become more restless, more unsure of themselves. It had to be done.¡± That was all true. And, to be honest, my heart had already been steeled, ready for however they would react. Even if they hated me, even if they did nothing more than say ¡®oh momma, it''s all good, you¡¯re awesome in every way,¡¯ I had been ready for some time now. It was just something we all had to deal with. Any lingering uncertainty was just the last of my nerves leaving my system. And maybe some of the embarrassment I felt with the whole thing. All things considered, it was just something that had to be done. A deep voice finally shattered the quiet. ¡°All this time, I believed myself to be a failure. As a being, as a bee, and as a son. Perhaps I could still consider myself as such. But to know that such failings were not unnatural, that there is a reason behind my imperfection¡­. I must say, it is something of a relief.¡± Bedivere was the first to speak. Slowly, thoughtfully. Good ¡®ol Bedivere, I could always count on you! Oh wait. Was he talking about all that stuff that happened before, with his corruption Ability and the Valkybees? Yeah, some of the bees probably really needed to know where their issues stemmed from¡­ But the dam was broken. The silence in the dining hall was completely replaced by the furious sounds of buzzing bees. Bess was trying to take deep breaths to calm herself, but instead bashed her multiple legs on the comb below her instead, spider webbing crack spreading from where she hit. She was not taking it so well, I think. The warriors present, Beryl, Behemoth, Belial, and Belphegora, suddenly disappeared, their departure into the surrounding skeletal trees ripping up dirt and wet ash. Beck howled, a sound both horrific and oddly relieved, as if a massive weight had been lifted from their Mind. Belle was quiet, save for a noticeable shiver and a tapping of her head with her antennae. All told, it was much better than I expected! I was really ready to fight off a horde of angry bees with my Mind. ¡°Mother.¡± Ice froze my insectoid veins. Right. Beatrice had already known about Queen, at least to some degree. So did Beck and Bedivere, thanks to that time when I trapped myself in my own Mind. But they hadn¡¯t known about the human thing. And Beatrice was notoriously not fond of humans in the slightest. I turned slowly, coming face-to-face with her stern gaze. ¡°Uh, hey. So-¡° ¡°The production quality could use some work. And maybe get Beck to help you construct a more eloquent diatribe next time. But it¡¯s disturbed the meeting to an unacceptable degree. Please call the warriors back and calm everyone else. We still have important matters to discuss.¡± She was a tough one. A very scary bee. And I didn¡¯t know what the hell she was thinking. The nervousness, the uncertainty, all of that stuff that was descending on her just minutes before was seemingly gone. But she was pushing a thought into my Mind, something which scared me way, way, way more than I cared to admit. We¡¯ll talk later. Chapter 137 - Hively Emotional ¡°Everything is NOT fantastic.¡± Queen, have I ever mentioned that you can be a bit of a downer? Well, I take it all back, because yeah, everything is not fantastic right now. If I were to be frank, I would I was overwhelmed. Maybe it didn¡¯t hit me until Beatrice¡¯s icy threat to talk about thing later, but the tantrum being thrown by the top bees in the hive was really something unprecedented. Maybe foisting so much responsibility on creatures not even a year old wasn¡¯t the greatest idea of all time. ¡°Age is a completely different issue when it comes to bees, especially when considering our own odd creations. But yes. They are a bit young for what they are going through.¡± Well, the blame landed solely on me. Maybe Queen a bit. But mostly me. For some reason I thought it was a great idea to drop an unthinkable bombshell on the already sensitive hive right in the midst of a discussion about one of the worst moments in our short history, and now I had to live with the consequences of my actions. Bees crying, screaming, in the case of Beck, singing in discordant notes. Bees was looking at her creations and coming close to breaking them, and even the most stable of bees like Belle were near hysteria. And don¡¯t even get me started on the Valkybees. What I had interpreted as a sudden dash away by all the warriors actually turned out to be a kidnapping. Belial, Belphegora, and Behemoth had suddenly grabbed a shell-shocked Beryl and dragged her out into a remote part of the forest and began sparring with her. Safe to say, she was a bit distracted. ¡°Mother.¡± A deep voice broke through the chaos. Buzzes and cries in my head were pushed aside to make room for Bedivere¡¯s larger-than-life presence, just as he pushed an indignant Beatrice aside. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°Mother, this revelation is monumental, without a doubt. But right now, we need to restore order and get back to the discussion at hand. I am sure that once they are calmed, the bees will be able to put their personal feelings aside long enough to finish the meeting.¡± Bedivere was right, of course. But how the hell was I meant to calm the bees down? None of my training prepared me for this. ¡°I can actually agree on that front, for once. Perhaps we should try soothing them, offer them some honey to calm them down. Or perhaps they need a firmer hand, a nice stern reclamation may work.¡± But they¡¯re freaking out too much. We might need to work with the Link, dampen their emotions for a second so we can reason with them. Or maybe- Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Bedivere give a slight roll of his own eyes. Was I seeing things? Did that brat just roll his eyes at me?! Before I could say anything, he cleared his throat. It was like a volcano preparing to erupt, a deep rumbling that echoed through the Link. Even just with that, some of the cries fizzled. ¡°EVERYONE.¡± My whole body shook. If his throat being cleared was like the volcano getting ready, Bedivere¡¯s shout was as if the mountain finally let itself explode after decades of inactivity. Immediately, the effect rippled throughout the dining hall. Belle¡¯s fretting stopped. Bess paused mid-bash, stopping just before breaking a nice wax table in half. Beck¡¯s constant humming went completely silent. Even Beatrice froze in her tracks, her Mind typically an unceasing whirlwind of activity and thought that constantly buzzed in the back of my head. Everybody stopped and turned, witnessing the eruption of a long-dormant titan. For his part, Bedivere scratched his head. ¡°Good. I understand the thoughts ravaging your Minds, connected as we are, but for now we must stay strong. Do not allow these emotions to run rampant, but do not crush them. They are, as I have learned, important for growth. For now, though, think of the hive. Think of what we can do right now. We must continue discussing the events at Lemonholm and our plans for the future to prevent another situation like it. In practice, nothing of our goal has changed. We will continue to grow and protect the hive and our queen. For now, take a moment to process while we begin a brief intermission. But by the Mother, be sensible! Do not lash out like uncontrollable children.¡± Something about what Bedivere said tickled my brain, but it was probably nothing. It was a great speech, though, considering that it got the bees to chill out. It didn¡¯t quell their emotions, as I felt through the link dozens of thoughts directed both at themselves and at me. Countless questions, countless thoughts. I just couldn¡¯t get through them all. ¡°Ah.¡± Beatrice, the first to shake herself from Bedivere¡¯s baritone, finally spoke, ¡°Give Mother some time to process as well. Though I am sure she has prepared extensively for this moment, she may not be prepared to answer all of our questions at this time. I will discuss the situation with her after this meeting, and from there we will figure out how to best clear up any misgivings.¡± I was about to sigh in relief, happy with my two right-hand bees, until Bedivere turned back to me with a worried glance. ¡°Speaking of. Mother, would you please bring back the Valkybees? I fear poor Beryl is having a rough time of it.¡± ¡°Me? Can¡¯t you just use this Bedivere speech power again to calm them down?¡± Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Those four - or in this case, I should say three - are rather¡­ shall we say, special. I cannot convince them of anything unless I perform a superior show of force most of the time. At least not when they become emotional. Most of the time they follow me without question as younger siblings, but¡­¡± Maybe it was because of the sudden outburst from the hive, or maybe it was because our emotions were heightened to a degree that I hadn¡¯t really experienced before. But for the first time, when I looked at Bedivere, I saw him for what he truly was: a child. As valiant as he might act, as remorseful and responsible, the nervous glint in his eye when he talked about trying to care for his most unruly younger siblings set off something in my head, like seeing a lost child at the mall. I gave him a pat on the head. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll go talk to them. You just make sure these guys don¡¯t freak out again, alright?¡± He seemed to become inflated with a mixture of indignation and calm when I patted him, enough to leave him speechless. With that, I flew out of the dining hall towards the forest, where even from here I could hear the clashes and explosions of battle.
When I arrived, a crowd of curious onlookers had already gathered, watching the heated combat in a ring at the edge of a clearing. My presence was felt immediately, and the enthralled warriors instantly parted to let me through without my having to say a word. I did a double take when I noticed some non-warrior bees like Beau, Bessie and Becky watching as well, cheering and whooping along with the rest of the warriors. I supposed they were some of the busiest bees, and watching a fight was as good a way to unwind as any. But the Valkybees were constantly sparring. So what was so exciting this time? Well, technically, I knew already. But seeing it was another story. When I reached the front of the crowd, all I could see was a series of blurs, even their colors near-indistinguishable. If I didn¡¯t already have intimate knowledge of every move they were making, and access to their vision, I¡¯d have no clue what was going on. Beryl was fighting Belial in stinger-to-stinger combat, a bout so intense it caused shock waves whenever they connected. Both wore masks of extreme concentration, and were thinking thoughts of such extreme self-derision that just being near them made me upset. Then the clearing exploded. Beryl barely moved out of the way in time, but Belial was crushed under the weight of Behemoth¡¯s armored leg. By myself, I hadn¡¯t even seen her move. How a body that large moved so quickly was beyond me. What frightened me the most, though, was that she wore the same mask and was thinking the same thoughts as the other two. She tended to be the meek type, a sort of gentle, nervous giant, but I¡¯d never seen her so distressed. And then the clearing exploded again. Mere moments after Behemoth¡¯s brutal attack, a blast of Mind powerful enough to knock the behemoth off balance ripped stray roots and blasted some of the closer bees away. High in the sky, Belphegora focused her Mind downward, fueled by anger and confusion. I watched in awe as Belial, battered by Behemoth and blasted by Belphegora, stood up and take a deep breath before shooting upwards, intent on knocking Belphegora out of the sky. No wonder everyone was so excited. The strongest bees in the hive were having a chaotic free-for-all, no holds barred battle. Calling this sparring was like saying honey tasted pretty good. They were out for blood. Beryl was the only one who hesitated. Her feeling were more mixed than those of the Valkybees. But she didn¡¯t have a moment¡¯s respite. Her pause allowed Behemoth to charge, shaking the ground as she stomped forward. Her tiny stinger flashed forward and Beryl tried to block, and technically, she did. After all, even compared to her regular-sized stinger, Behemoth¡¯s was exceptionally small. But clashing with Behemoth¡¯s stinger didn¡¯t stop the tons of mass of her abdomen trucking forward, so Beryl experienced the closest thing to getting hit by a train as she could in this forest. Fights were entertaining to watch. It just felt natural for something like that to be exciting. But this? This was emotion incarnate. For me, it was painful. ¡°STOP. Stop this now!¡± I did my best Bedivere impression, to no avail. Beryl noticed me, but she was too busy getting punted around by a leg five times her size to do anything about it other than fight back. The Valkybees seemed not to hear me. I remembered what Bedivere said about force. I didn¡¯t want to attack my bees, not at all. In fact, I would rather die. It was an easy solution: I had the Link. All I had to do was use it to stop them for a moment, then talk some sense into them. My conviction brought me into a world of burning rage. Trying to force the Valkybees to calm down through the Link was like wading through burning sludge. Whatever their ¡®corruption¡¯ was, it affected the Link in some way - that I knew. But this was totally different from what I expected. Typically, when I played with the Link, the emotions and thoughts were ordered like strings, ready for me to change. But the Valkybees were different. If their battle was emotion incarnate, their Minds were the wellspring that emotion came from. And right now, their emotions were in such a state that I couldn¡¯t grasp them at all. Every single Valkybee was uncontrollable, at least not in the same way others were. I¡¯d foisted them onto Bedivere and left them alone, hadn¡¯t I? Beelzebub¡¯s fight with Greyan was like this. I just couldn¡¯t get through to her properly. And it was biting me in the ass. I hadn¡¯t learned the Valkybees like I had the other bees; I assumed they were the same. Maybe the same was true for every other bee in the hive, too. And this was worse. They only had one thought, one thing that drove them. ¡°Win.¡± ¡°Win.¡± ¡°Win.¡± ¡°Help!¡± The last cry snapped me from my stupor. Beryl wasn¡¯t in the same state. She was just strong enough to deal with the Valkybees for more than a moment. But her Mind was also in turmoil, and she wouldn¡¯t be able to handle it much longer. With newfound strength, I decided that enough was enough. I would never hurt my bees, but I needed to be strict sometimes. I focused my Mind, and released it, making to grab the Valkybees and pin them down to satisfy their craving for battle. Except my Mind thumped weakly against their bodies, doing nothing at all. Hm. Maybe I was holding back too much? Or perhaps I was unconsciously trying not to hurt them? Either way, my attack did absolutely nothing but grab their attention. All three Valkybees turned to me. Beryl, seeing an opportunity, crawled in my direction. The surrounding bees were shocked, enough to stare in wonder. I gave them a silent command to move back, away from the clearing. I wouldn¡¯t condone them hurting each other. After all, it was clear why Bedivere had sent me to take care of the Valkybees. He was a tired big brother, always stuck with babysitting a quartet of highly volatile, hyperactive, battle-junkie toddlers. The Valkybees smiled in unison, their masks breaking enough to let a new emotion through. Pure joy. I supposed it was fair. Never once in their lives had they been allowed to play with mom, always left to wonder about her apparent great power. Well, it was finally playtime. Chapter 138 - Take it on the Chitin Allow me to disclose some crucial information. I¡¯ve never really been in a fight. ¡°Maybe not in your human world, but we¡¯ve had our fair share of battles here. Killing squirrels, the vultures, Yiwi, and everything in between.¡± I¡¯m not sure I¡¯d consider force-choking hapless squirrels and entering the mindscape of a crazy vulture king to be a ¡®fight¡¯, per se. When I say fight, I mean up close and personal combat, ya¡¯know? The type where you could get punched in the face if you aren¡¯t careful. Because that¡¯s exactly what¡¯s about to happen to me in a few seconds. Being able to think fast was a godsend, only partly literally. Belial was charging in quicker than my eyes could realistically track, and even Behemoth¡¯s armored legs were coming in for a landing way more rapidly than anyone her size had any right to move. If I didn¡¯t act, getting punched in the face by my kids was the least of my worries; the bees behind me who hadn¡¯t been fast enough or savvy enough to leave the vicinity would get smashed to paste. Again, I¡¯d never been in a proper fight before, but part of that was on me. My Mind was so much more insanely powerful compared to most anything I came across, calling those little slaughters a fight was insulting. Ten percent. About as much Mind as I used to pick up Yiwi¡¯s Rotor. That was how much of my Mind I used to stop both Behemoth and Belial. The results? I watched as my moderate feat of concentration, a simple shove, made Belial disappear. The sound of my impact on Belial and Behemoth¡¯s insane bodies, a concussive blast loud enough to make the dead trees quiver, brought silence to the forest. No more animals, not even wind. The world seemed to stop for an instant, until it was broken by Behemoth¡¯s giant frame hitting the ground several meters away and the subsequent sound of grinding as her armor scraped against the ground, the force of my blow still causing her to tumble backwards. Ah. Right. And that was why I hadn¡¯t had a proper fight in this world. I searched for Belial, but he was nowhere to be seen. How far had I blasted him? I took a look through his own eyes, but I felt danger and came back to myself. Fighting was pretty easy if you know all of your opponent¡¯s moves. But knowing everything didn¡¯t lessen my surprise when I saw that the danger I was feeling was none other than Behemoth herself, suddenly closer to me than she had been even before I pushed her. How had she recovered so fast? Well, I knew it was thanks to her incredible stamina and physical prowess, but physicality wasn¡¯t useful against me- ¡°Enno!¡± Too fast! Behemoth moved way too fast for a creature her size. Her leg was already rearing to kick me. When had I fallen into her range?! I decided to keep things simple and give another shove, just ten percent again. It wasn¡¯t spread thin between two bees, so it would be even more effective this time. As expected, my thoughts were faster than Behemoth¡¯s body could ever hope to be. One moment she was raring to dropkick her very own mom, the next she was tumbling away again, crushing dead trees and stones under her weight. I watched with satisfaction as she rolled away, helpless against my Mind¡¯s power. If Belial was blasted away and all it took to deal with Belphegora was a few shoves, this would be way easier than I thought. I really should¡¯ve had more confidence in my raw power. ¡°Maybe that is true, but you were right to be nervous about getting into an actual fight. Our inexperience has resulted in slow reactions, too many close calls. If we get hit, the result would be much more devastating than the hardened warriors taking a blow or two. We can follow the warriors¡¯ reactions when we watch them because we have plenty of time to think, but not so here. Unless you want to allocate some Mind to a Lock. Ah, but it is probably unnecessary. We are far too powerful to need to resort to such measures.¡± I instantly agreed. Maybe it was unrefined, but my raw power of Mind was more than enough to take care of even the Valkybees. The sheer density of my Mind¡¯s power was just incomparable when it came down to it. It was a bit odd for Queen to turn around so suddenly, but it made sense considering how awesome we realistically were. Speaking of the Valkybees, weren¡¯t there three of them in this fight? The thought brushed against my consciousness as soon as pain blossomed across my jaw. Dull colors whirled across my vision as I spun in the air. My Mind lashed out, uncontrolled and wild, desperately seeking to defend against the sudden danger. What¡¯s going on? Thinking wasn¡¯t an option. All my focus, everything in my thoughts, was thrown completely out of whack, and I barely registered the feeling of my big fat butt crashing into a tree while I tried to process what had just occurred. Maybe it was thanks to the sudden realization that the danger, while maybe not fatal, was absolutely real. Or maybe it just came off lunch break. But I felt information explode in my head unlike before, tiny moments of time occupying every bit of my thoughts at once. The CBU had finally woke up, just in time to tell me I had, as I feared, been punched straight in the face. ¡°It took some effort, but I created a weak B-box for the fight. The CBU had no interest in it, so I had to force it to pay attention. Our ¡®overwhelming mental power¡¯ might not actually enough to win this outright. I can¡¯t believe we allowed ourselves to be fooled.¡± I saw it. Everything that had happened. Belphegora was the culprit, at least partially. Without my noticing, she had teased out my emotions, mainly my overconfidence and pride. How dastardly! To think that her Abilities were at a level that I hadn¡¯t even noticed them. How was that even possible?! I knew her every thought and action! Oh. But she knew that, of course. She had chosen such emotions exactly because she knew how they would affect another¡¯s psyche. Even though I knew what she was doing, I was so overconfident and insistent on my own power that I straight up ignored it as an issue. To make matters worse, her powers even affected Queen¡¯s typically solid rationale. .If I didn¡¯t have a defense against her, Belphegora would actually be the reason I could lose this fight. As if that wasn¡¯t all, her most developed Abilities weren¡¯t the only things that fooled me. I knew that she¡¯d been working on some rudimentary Ability to create illusions, fueled by her power over emotion, but for it to have progressed this far already¡­ ¡°To be fair, the way she tried to make Belial invisible was not very effective. If we weren¡¯t at the mercy of our own hubris, it would have been simple to deal with him.¡± This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. During the Lemonholm expedition, Belphegora had started trying to create illusions from Mind, to prevent a similar situation where the bees would be trapped and need to hide constantly. I thought it was an interesting project, and it fit her skillset well, so I encouraged it. After all, who knew how that might help in the future? Of course, she hadn¡¯t had enough time to develop it before this battle, so the results were corny at best. Looking back, Belial had looked more like a weirdly shaped rock or a vaguely transparent bee. Nobody would realistically be fooled by it, and it might take weeks before the illusions were developed enough to fool even a cursory glance. But combined with her acute manipulation of emotion¡­ She¡¯d already turned it into a weapon. I rubbed my cheek and glared at the clearing, where the three Valkybees were whooping and cheering amongst themselves. One of the three was by far the least enthusiastic. Gentlemanly Belial had indeed been blasted away by my initial shove, but it wasn¡¯t unexpected for them. In fact, Belial had recovered even more quickly than Behemoth and enacted the next part of their plan, where he slinked right towards me, cloaked by Belphegora¡¯s Abilities, and just decked me in the jaw. The fire of their out-of-control emotions was still burning brighter than ever, but even in his current state, Belial glanced at me and shrugged apologetically. These kids¡­. Despite the pain I felt, unlike any I¡¯d felt in a long time and hurting me somewhere deeper than just my mandible, I couldn¡¯t help but smile. I was so proud of them. They were strong, smart, and could get shit done, even if they were using me for floor wiping. Any insult I had paid them by holding back were totally out of the window now. I dragged myself from the tree trunk and floated towards them slowly. Their cheering ended abruptly, and they turned. ¡°Shall we get creative?¡± Let¡¯s see if they can earn my creativity first. For now, how about twenty percent?
If Bedivere was an insurmountable mountain the Valkybees worked tirelessly to surpass, then Mother was the very land that mountain sat on. Not something to be surpassed, nor overcome. She was everything, stretching infinitely in every direction and encompassing everything that existed. And yet, they had always wondered, ¡®could I win?¡¯ They hated this thought, more than anything else in the world. Mother was their everything. They would give their very lives a thousand times over if it meant protecting her. Merely the thought of fighting her, of injuring her or being injured by her, terrified them to no end. Why did they think this way? Was it the fault of their elder brother? The circumstances of their birth were no secret to them, and they would be lying if they said they didn¡¯t resent him at least a little bit for what he did to them. Other than Beelzebub. She was grateful. All along, there were two things they always pointed at: Bedivere, and themselves. And it was oh so much easier for they, who loved and respected and idolized their older brother, to look towards themselves and find the fault there. Until a third player entered the ring. A third thing to point at. Humanity. When the Valkybees present at the dining hall heard Mother¡¯s message, they weren¡¯t angry, nor sad, nor stressed. They were relieved. That relief soon turned into those other emotions. To find some release, they took Beryl, who was surely feeling the same, and fought amongst themselves, with a single thought in their Minds. ¡®Win.¡¯ Not against each other, nor Beryl. They were protecting their own nascent egos by leaving the dining hall before they could do anything rash, but to the other bees, it simply seemed like they were letting off steam. Bedivere recognized it and sent Mother to fetch them. Only a warrior on par with the Valkybees could possibly understand their pain, because he too had that terrible, addictive thought. He was the greatest warrior of the hive, the first even. When he emerged from his egg, there were three things he wanted to do. First was to protect the hive from the vultures. Second was to kill the Vulch, something he never had a chance to do. Third was the most pressing, the first thing he thought of when he was born. ¡®Could I win?¡¯ He¡¯d resigned himself to never finding out, both a punishment and his own resolve at the same time. But he wanted to give his precious younger siblings a chance to test themselves like he would never let himself do. He¡¯d let them answer the question themselves. Belphegora scarcely had time to react before the space between her and Behemoth was suddenly empty, Belial disappearing in a flash. Unlike last time, there was no intense sound, no warning of mounting pressure. Belial simply found himself enduring a sudden sharp pain and a view of dead trees more than a kilometer away. Behemoth, first to react, moved to attack Mother, though she still withheld her Ability for the right time. A mistake, perhaps, because the giant bee suddenly had a view of the battlefield from high in the sky, soaring higher than she¡¯d ever gone before. A lurching feeling across her body made her feel ill. She was used to the solid ground, one of the few things capable of handling her weight. The air was scary. To her credit, Belphegora didn¡¯t waver for an instant. Unlike her siblings, she was more of an expert of combat with Mind, making her uniquely suited yet disadvantaged when it came to a fight with the vastly more powerful Mother. Her trickery wouldn¡¯t work in such a short time, so she elected to follow through with a two-pronged attack. Debris shot towards Mother¡¯s path, nearly as fast as the humans¡¯ metal weaponry, and since that wouldn¡¯t be enough, a mental punch to throw Mother¡¯s psyche off balance would require her to focus on two entirely different dimensions of defense at once. Even if the attacks weren¡¯t successful, it would buy enough time for Belial and Behemoth to recover to some degree. Manipulating two entirely separate planes of existence was a terribly difficult feat, and even the most powerful Mind-users Belphegora had encountered would struggle with such an attack. ¡°Is twenty too much? He did punch me in the face. Yeah, I know, but again, he did punch me in the face.¡± Without paying attention, Mother stopped the debris in mid-air like it had never been moving at all. The mental shove seemed to hit a wall, as if Belphegora was attempting to push an island with bare strength alone. When Mother glanced at her, she realized that the mental attack hadn¡¯t even registered. ¡°Now that I know your tricks, you might have a harder time, Belphegora. Sucks, I guess, but you¡¯ll have to get more creative.¡± Behemoth was still falling. Belial was flying fast enough to reach them in the next few seconds at worst. And yet, despite trying to stall for time only moments before, Belphegora suddenly found herself hoping her comrades would never arrive. Such sheer hopelessness in the face of an impossible foe, one that surpassed Belphegora¡¯s own skills on every level, was simply too exciting. A wild sneer was all she could muster as she prepared for another attack. This time, she¡¯d forgo the mental battle for an extreme use of her Ability and throw Mother completely off her game, even if she knew it was coming. Unlike the unrefined attack of before, this would show the power of practiced skill and her constant training. ¡°Oh, Belial is here. One sec.¡± As if her words were a command from above, Mother¡¯s flippant request was followed by Belphegora being crushed by the surrounding air. She sank to the ground, the pressure mounting exponentially. She looked towards Mother, not recognizing the being that was exerting its Mind freely. That power was never allowed to rear its head, always needing to be used for something else, something more productive. Such a waste. The force pushing her down was like an invisible hand, almost human, yet almost like a bee¡¯s claw, squeezing her without remorse. It was unlike any Mind usage Belphegora had encountered, almost awkward in a way, like the user felt unpracticed and uncomfortable with their own fingers. And yet, that clumsy, unnatural power was a storm that inundated Belphegora completely. Seeing, no, feeling that tiny fraction of a force that shouldn¡¯t exist in the world being used to hold her down was the last straw. A single tear of distilled joy fell from her eye as Belial rocketed in from the forest, primed to clash with the lovely source of that monstrous force. Chapter 139 - Pierce, Permeate and Burst The fact that Belial was trying to stick me with his stinger told me he was either desperate, or he had a dastardly plan. Well, it was actually neither. The only thoughts running through his head were the fantasies of beating me. He wasn¡¯t like Belphegora with her abnormally powerful Mind or his other sisters with their ridiculous physicality. In comparison to the other Valkybees, he could be considered something of an all-rounder. While he excelled in both the realms of Mind and physical power, competing with his sisters was an exercise in futility, and so, he had already developed a way of closing the gap using the modified guns he became so fond of. But now, he didn¡¯t have those to help him. All he had was his speed, his strength, and his Ability. I wanted time to gather myself, so with a mighty push of Mind, I completely halted his advance, sending him careening back towards the trees. It wasn¡¯t enough to send him flying far, though, and he righted himself. His Mind ballooned, and his eyes took on a dangerous sheen. If I didn¡¯t know better, I might almost say his compound eyes were multiplying; looking closely, it was actually the work of tiny vibrations and glimmers of light. [Piercing Gaze of the Insect] was an interesting Ability that actually had two effects. The first was quite intriguing, being a simple passive boost to his vision. I couldn¡¯t recall an Ability that just worked without the user¡¯s influence like that. Of course, an Ability of that nature would never match up against Ben, whose entire Ability was based around sight. The boost was nice, a useful tool to provide Belial an extra edge against his specialist siblings, but it was nowhere near enough to elevate him to match their full strength. But the second part of the Ability¡­. Myriad beams of light streaked towards me, and I only just managed to defend myself, redirecting them with my Mind. Speak of the devil. The beams continued, increasing in number and frequency as I had to employ more and more Mind to fend them off. I definitely didn¡¯t want to get pierced by those things, but as long as I knew they were coming, they posed no issue with the insane combination of my Mind¡¯s raw power and the CBU¡¯s calculations. Despite the hundreds of streaks of light flying towards me, I could quickly move each one out of the way with a tiny adjustment, processing them much faster than I could hope to achieve with a lumpy human brain. Those beams of light Belial shot from his eyes were the real strength behind his Ability. If I were to be pierced, they would create a tiny localized disturbance of Mind, draining my energy as my Mind fought to rectify the issue. It was diabolical. One''s mind is a tough thing to quantify in one''s head, a sort of ethereal energy or presence that one can simply manipulate with a thought, and that has no bearing on the real world until one uses it. But Mind did exist in the physical world. It really was like a typical aura, as I¡¯d learned in my focus training. My issue had become that my untrained Mind was throwing its weight around the forest, scaring creatures including the fernen. Typically, you can¡¯t interact with that presence Mind takes up, even with your own Mind. If someone inside of the forest tried to push away my Mind¡¯s presence with their own, nothing would really happen, besides maybe making that person feel a bit better because their own Mind was taking up more space. But with certain Abilities, it was most likely possible to interfere with the presence of another¡¯s Mind directly. For example, Belial over here. That was how his beams of light worked. They could only pierce the physical presence of Mind. Otherwise, they were weak when it came to interacting with anything else. Simply blocking or redirecting them was enough to make them useless. For example, I was using little gusts of wind to redirect them, however that worked. But that weakness was, in turn, its strength. When a Mind takes up space, it likes to keep filling that space with a sort of uniformity, like water or something. The disturbances caused by his lasers would make my Mind panic and try to smooth over the affected area. Those tiny adjustments might not amount to much at first, but with the sheer number of little lasers Belial could produce, a regular Mind would become exhausted in a hurry. If I hadn¡¯t undergone my focus training and reigned my Mind¡¯s presence in, his Ability would be tough to deal with. He could just throw them willy-nilly and mess me up! But now, rather than a rampaging beast spread across the forest, my Mind only filled most of this clearing. It wasn¡¯t perfect, but I knew exactly where to keep Belial to prevent his Ability from affecting me. Unfortunately for him, I had turned from a bad match against him into a decent one. Bad timing on this challenge, I suppose. Such a shame. With some development, I was sure his Ability would become something amazing, maybe even beyond Belphegora¡¯s [Permeation Instillation]. But as it stood, against someone who properly trained themselves or knew how Mind worked, he would have a tough time. I suppose he would make up for it with his power. Frustrated, he shot towards me, still shooting tiny beams from his eyes. It really was suited for insects and our compound eyes. I pitied humans and their measly two. How would they stand a chance against this? It took more Mind than I would have liked, but redirecting his lasers and halting his advance took little more than some rapid calculations and a few percentage points. He slowed to a crawl, eventually coming to a full stop, far before he could reach me again. He was right on the edge of my Mind¡¯s presence, so I decided that was a fine place to keep him. Just like Belphegora, he would get pressed to the ground and incapacitated, putting me one step closer to victory. I didn¡¯t want to keep redirecting his lasers, though. Which he was still shooting me with, by the way. So, I decided to push him into the dirt, making sure his eyes were covered by burying his entire head underground. With a few percentage points dedicated to holding him down, that was two of the Valkybees mostly dealt with. A small grimace crept to my mouth. Belphegora knew the situation, and was struggling against my restraint with all her might. I couldn¡¯t prevent her from using her Mind or her Abilities, so she was still fighting against me. Keeping her down took more strength than expected, but I knew it wasn¡¯t the end. She was waiting for an opportunity to strike. Her Ability was still effective, and as long as it was, I couldn¡¯t lower my guard surrounding my emotions and thoughts. As if that weren¡¯t enough, Belial struggled as well, and he was even worse to keep down. The full weight of his Mind was pushing against me and was simultaneously trying to get his head to emerge from the dirt. And unlike Belphegora, his physical strength was nothing to scoff at either. All told, the amount of effort it was taking to keep them down and out was way more than should be reasonable. A quick glance upwards revealed the third and final Valkybee. Behemoth was still high in the sky, coming down to the ground in jerks and halts. She was trying to break her fall without actually flying, poor girl. I felt bad using her buried fear of heights, but this was a serious fight, right? I could only go so easy on these ferocious little monsters. Her especially. Forget the fact that her Ability could probably do me in by itself; have you seen the size of her? Just one of her claws was nearly the size of my entire body, not unlike the vultures¡¯ talons. I did not want to be on the receiving end of a hit from her. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°Bedivere¡¯s Handy Strategies, Number Thirteen: An Overwhelming Foe.¡± Belphegora¡¯s voice gave me pause. She was speaking directly towards Belial and Behemoth, but she wasn¡¯t trying to hide her thoughts from me. ¡°If our opponent can physically overpower us, we should rely on trickery, Mind, and teamwork to tire them out and perform a swift finish, not allowing them to recover their strength. If their Mind is overpowering, rely on our Abilities. Redirect all energy towards physical power and combination tactics to become unpredictable and dangerous. If both, good luck, and hope there are more than three of us present. Mother, you¡¯re a truly dangerous opponent. We can¡¯t fool you and we can¡¯t surprise you. It really is an unfair fight. But we¡¯re still stronger.¡± It all seemed to happen at once. The thoughts of the Valkybees rushing into my head, just as I saw them move with my eyes. They got me! Somehow, they all had the same idea, the same plan, all at the same time. I could only process what they were doing thanks to the B-box dedicated to this battle. All the mental weight Belphegora was pushing against me suddenly vanished. That would have been fine, but my emotions flared up as my Mind became free of resistance, giving me pause. Above me, Behemoth suddenly accelerated downwards, pulled to the ground by Belphegora¡¯s Mind. Her soft screams of terror mingled with a sense of determination as she aimed right at me. With all his might, Belial freed one eye from the dirt, wasting no time in sending his Mind-disrupting lasers my way. He was already close to my Mind¡¯s area before. Now he was inside it, thanks to the disruption of my focus, courtesy of Belphegora¡¯s Ability. I had seconds, no, less, to react to Behemoth¡¯s incoming attack. Her Ability was active. If she got me, the fight was over. A thunderous boom echoed across the trees as Behemoth slammed into the air in front of me. Wispy cracks spider webbed through the air between us, her enormous claw inches from my face. I quickly breathed a sigh of relief as Behemoth''s face displayed undisguised surprise. That wouldn¡¯t stop her for long. The sudden attack was a masterclass of teamwork, and I couldn¡¯t help but admire the way they pulled it off. They had barely been in any real fight, and certainly had had little time to fight together against superior opponents, and yet they could be this effective. But! No time to gush over my warriors. If I wasn¡¯t careful, they would beat the crap out of me. Behemoth was going to break through my guard at any moment. In a moment of true brilliance, I remembered the Force Field Lock I¡¯d once used to reinforce the ball of dirt we once called our home. It had been strong enough to repel the vultures and to keep the mercenaries trapped that one time, so it was a bit of a gamble on whether it could withstand an attack this strong. And whether it would work on the air as well as it did on a ball of dirt. It survived one hit, at least. To make matters worse, Belial was still firing his lasers, and though my Mind was too powerful to be brought down just by that, it didn¡¯t help my already scattered focus. I had about 50% of my Mind to work with, and the three Valkybees were already taking more out of me than I had originally expected. Taking more of Belial¡¯s lasers wouldn¡¯t bode well for an extended fight. As best as I could with Behemoth¡¯s giant fists rearing back to destroy my little shell of air, I reigned in my Mind and defended against Belphegora¡¯s Ability. Hers was easy enough to deal with when I was affected by it; emotions are easy to suppress. A felt a gentle tap on my brain. Queen wanted another layer of force field, so I obliged, just in time for Behemoth to punch straight through the first barrier. I hadn¡¯t even had time to move away, damn it! My body was frozen in place, essentially unable to move. Not that I couldn¡¯t physically move, but my brain was now the only thing that could keep up with the Valkybees¡¯ movements. It was like time slowed down, but only for my body. I had to do something about Behemoth. Her Ability, [Burst], was as simple as its name. All it did was give her body resistance against Mind as long as it was active. But the simplest Abilities, I¡¯d found, could become the most dangerous. Sure, one could say she was dangerous to me because I couldn¡¯t throw her around like a rag doll while her Ability was active, and that might be true. But much worse than that was the other implication. If she hit me, she wouldn¡¯t just be hitting my body. She would be directly attacking my Mind. It wasn¡¯t like Belial who could interact with the aura of Mind that flows out. She¡¯d be punching me straight in the brain, pretty much. I had to avoid that. But she was too close. The combination had succeeded, even if she hadn¡¯t landed that blow. Her Ability made it impossible for me to push her away in this state, at least without using so much Mind that the other two would be freed. Waiting it out wasn¡¯t an option either; the drawback of her Ability was that it drained her stamina at an incredible rate, but she was close enough to me that she wouldn¡¯t collapse in time. ¡°Hold on¡­¡± Wait, yeah. Hold on. If the problem was that I wouldn¡¯t be able to push her away with Mind because she was resistant to it, why not just use something other than Mind? The answer was currently cracking right before my very eyes. I¡¯d never tried manipulating the force field before, mostly because I¡¯d only ever gotten it to work as a Lock, but if I could recreate the hardening effect it had on the air directly with my Mind, I should be able to do with it as I pleased. So, how was it working? It wasn¡¯t making a force field out of Mind, per se. It was more like reinforcing the structure of the air to the point that it hardened. The same was true for the dirt ball - the ball wasn¡¯t being surrounded by a barrier or anything, it was the barrier. It was sort of hard to envision how air could harden, though. Instinctively, I thought of the science behind it. How it might be possible to condense the molecules in the air, or some other nonsensical things like that. But it just didn¡¯t feel right. Maybe I could find inspiration in the barrier put up by the Knights in Lemonholm? Not that I actually knew how they did that. ¡°Who cares how you do it? Just make it happen! She¡¯s about to get through! Mind makes the world yours to mold, remember? Do it now!¡± Ah, screw it! I imagined a curved wall of hardened air as best as I could, pouring as much Mind into it as I could spare. Another mighty blow shattered the second barrier, and Behemoth¡¯s fist miraculously stopped as she hit my face. She¡¯d come up against a third barrier. She tilted her head. So did I. What I felt was a strange sensation, slightly different from how I usually used Mind. I typically used it as if it were a pair of extra hands, just something born of imagination. This was much the same, except it made my brain sore. But it worked. A curved section of air pressed up against my face, leaving no space between me and Behemoth. To her, it must have seemed like she just punched me square in the mandibles to no effect. Though the cracks from her blow might shatter the illusion. My next moves were quick and decisive. Only with tremendous effort, and nearly all of my remaining Mind, was I able to manipulate the barrier. But as I did, it curved the other way, cupping against Behemoth¡¯s giant body, and I pushed with all my might. She couldn¡¯t fight the force field with her remaining strength, and her body smashed into the ground, getting dragged until a collection of tree stumps broke her momentum. With any luck, she would be out for the count, exhausted by her Ability. This battle was all but won. And I dreaded having to continue the meeting afterwards. I think I¡¯d prefer a nap after all this. Chapter 140 - Beering it in ¡°Do you guys give up?¡± My question towards the Valkybees sure stirred up their battle fever. For several seconds they didn¡¯t answer, stewing in the possibility that I had already beaten them. All three of them, at the same time. But to be honest, I was exhausted, and I just wanted the fight to end. Fighting wasn¡¯t something I was accustomed to, especially a protracted battle where I have to be going-all out at all times. ¡°You¡¯ve grown again, haven¡¯t you Mother?¡± Belphegora finally spoke up, even while struggling against my Mind with all her might. They hadn¡¯t given up at all. ¡°Not really. I¡¯ve just never been in a fight like this before, so I had to figure out a new way to use my Mind. I¡¯d call it reinforcement rather than growth.¡± Belphegora managed to shake her head. ¡°As far as I have observed in my short time in this world, you always find a way through. No matter what is thrown at you, you figure out a way around it. Being on the other side of that unfathomable strength is¡­ frustrating. I would nearly deign to call it unfair. So don¡¯t insult us by taking it easy. There is no chance we will yield.¡± ¡°I yield.¡± Belial had stopped struggling at some point, and his admission of defeat nearly caused Belphegora to stop resisting entirely in shock. I immediately knew he was telling the truth. His Mind had calmed while Belphegora spoke, and our connection was back to normal. Maybe it was risky, but I let go of the Mind holding him down. He simply turned over onto his back and sighed. ¡°What a fight. I wonder how strong you¡¯d be if you could use the full power of you Mind, Mother. You¡¯d probably be unbeatable.¡± I blew a silent sigh of relief. He really had given up. ¡°I doubt it. Who knows what kinds of powers exist out there? But you guys nearly had me. I just have way too many advantages, especially against my family. If Beelzebub were here, I would have gotten my ass kicked.¡± Belial laughed. Belphegora was not so amused. I could feel her Mind rearing to explode with effort again, ready to push against me even harder, but a soft voice derailed her train of thought. ¡°I give up too.¡± This time Behemoth was the one conceding. I immediately let her free from the grip of my force-field grasp, and she simply stayed still, curling herself into a massive ball. My heart shattered into a million pieces seeing my poor baby all nervous and exhausted like that, made worse by the fact that I¡¯d done it with my own six hands. I knew she was happy about the fight, but that didn¡¯t make me less sad, dammit! ¡°Amazing. You¡¯re too amazing, Mother,¡± she said. ¡°I don¡¯t really want to fight you again. It made me a little sad. It was fun and scary. Next time, I want to fight with you, by your side. Can I do that?¡± Her massive, shiny compound eyes instantly repaired my broken heart. Some might say it was a face only a mother could love, considering that it belonged to a giant bee. How could I refuse a face like that? ¡°Of course! I want to fight alongside you guys, too. Though Bedivere and Beatrice might have something to say about that¡­¡± ¡°Hey! Hey hey hey! If you two are done, you¡¯re free now. This was the opportunity you were looking for, wasn¡¯t it? Distract her so I can break free, and we can finally win this battle!¡± The three of us looked at Belphegora, still straining against my Mind. With power freed from having to hold down the other two, keeping Belphegora in check was much more manageable. For a split second, I wondered if she was right. Was the surrender a trick to bring my guard down and launch a decisive attack against me? I¡¯m pretty sure that was a war crime. Though, as bees, we had established nothing like that, so I supposed it was fair game. As for the two Valkybees who¡¯d given up, even if I had a split second of doubt, it was entirely unfounded. Even without searching their Minds I could tell they had well and truly given up the fight. ¡°Isn¡¯t that enough, Belphegora?¡± Belial said, sitting up and putting his arms on his¡­ other arms as if they were legs. ¡°This isn¡¯t like you. You said it yourself. Mother already figured out another way to use Mind, and if we keep fighting, I¡¯m sure she¡¯d only figure out even more. This battle is a lost cause for us right now.¡± ¡°A lost cause right now? Is that what you will say when the enemy invades the hive, when the Knights come knocking at the forest door again?¡± I¡¯d never seen Belphegora become so emotional before. She was more on the cold and calculating part of the scale, relying on foresight and her sharp brain to succeed. She¡¯d been pivotal in taking Yiwi, and that was her first-ever mission. And other than some human hatred, she¡¯d been cool as a cucumber. She took on more responsibility in advancing the hive¡¯s goals than the rest of the Valkybees combined. And now she was frustrated. More than I¡¯d ever seen her. Not because she lost to me, although I doubt that helped. For someone whose whole deal was messing with people¡¯s emotions, for the first time, she was losing control of her own. ¡°As we are now, a small collection of Knight Commanders and their squads could destroy the hive. I¡¯m the only one of us who¡¯s beaten Beelzebub in direct combat, and she nearly died! How far can Bedivere really take us? How far can Mother? I¡¯m the only one in the hive who has even a fraction of her combat capability with Mind, and she defeated me with ease. When Mother strengthens the hive, her personal capabilities weaken. If none of us were Linked, she would have crushed us. I had to put my all into keeping up, and even then I was useless. So how? If we can¡¯t win against her, what use are we as her personal guard?¡± This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. At some point during her disjointed tirade, Belphegora had begun to cry. Belial and Behemoth sat awkwardly, unsure of what to do. Belphegora was the strongest among them, at least mentally. Or so they thought. They looked to her for guidance. The thinker of the Valkybees. And her words struck a chord in their own hearts as well. I also wasn¡¯t sure what to do, besides letting up my Mind. I felt a nudge from Queen, and so I floated over and embraced Belphegora in a hug. Against their will, I pulled Belial and Behemoth in, too. Behemoth started sobbing harder than Belphegora. Belial¡¯s face was stone, but his Mind was also in turmoil. As for what to say to comfort them, neither Queen nor I had any idea. Maybe that was a failure on our part as a mother to our children, for not knowing exactly what to say to them to make them feel better. Maybe we should have known exactly what each of them needed. But right then, all we could do was comfort them by holding on.
¡°The combo attacks were way too good,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Seriously, the way you guys coordinated without even thinking about it was crazy. I knew you were thinking and still couldn¡¯t predict your moves; that goes beyond anything I could¡¯ve imagined.¡± ¡°Oh, stop. It was merely the result of efficient planning and plenty of practice. Our jobs are as simple protectors, so most of our time is spent honing our skills. But as we¡¯ve seen, nothing can compare to what can be learned by true battle. It¡¯s a conundrum; we need to stay in the hive to protect you, but without leaving and fighting powerful foes, we might never become strong enough to be the best possible protectors.¡± Belphegora¡¯s proud demeanor was short-lived. Belial, on the other hand, was puffing his chest. ¡°We got amazingly close, though. As a team, we might just be really strong. And I was handicapped, too.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Belphegora scoffed. ¡°You think those human devices compensate for your lack of skills enough for us to have performed better?¡± ¡°You wanna fight?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t confuse me for Beelzebub, fool. I won¡¯t rise to your silly provocations. Besides, I would win without question.¡± I sighed. The Valkybees had gone back to their spirited selves, enough to ignore the daggers every bee in the dining hall was staring their way. Well, Behemoth seemed properly embarrassed, hiding her face in her claws, but luckily her spot was just out of sight on the outer part of the dining area, so most of the bees¡¯ ire was drawn towards the ones bickering right in front of me. Bedivere wasn¡¯t angry, but it was because he actually wanted us to fight, the bastard. He had been watching the whole thing and was simultaneously happy that the Valkybees fought me and peeved that they got their butts whooped so bad. I had tried to reason with him; after all, I hadn¡¯t beaten them badly whatsoever. I nearly lost. If I had one less advantage, if just a little bit more of my Mind had been in use, if just one tiny thing had gone wrong, I¡¯d probably be waking up right now from getting my skull bashed in by Behemoth¡¯s leg. On the other hand, Beryl was the angriest. She¡¯d shown up in the clearing right after our little hugging session ended, and like a rabid dog made to attack the Valkybees all on her own. I had to hold her back the entire way back to the dining hall. But the one bee I kept an eye on was Beatrice. When we¡¯d arrived back at the dining hall, the Valkybees had initially been subdued, ready to face the wrath of my number 2. But when her thoughts were apparently occupied enough for her to ignore them, well, they clearly didn¡¯t care about the feelings of any other bee present. ¡°Mother.¡± I jumped in my skin at Beatrice¡¯s voice. Slowly, I turned to face her, but her expression was entirely neutral. Just like it had been after I revealed my former humanity. Why did she have to be so scary?! Even now she was pushing up her antennae glasses as if nothing were out of the ordinary. She¡¯d only been talking to me, but apparently every bee had heard and was now sitting at rapt attention, their ire towards the Valkybees forgotten. And for their part, the Valkybees immediately shut up. ¡°We should continue the meeting. I know you are exhausted, so it might be best if you rest for the remainder. We will not be leaving until we have determined that all the relevant matters have been properly discussed.¡± She looked towards the sky, which had, at some point, taken on a slightly purple hue. My tussle with the Valkybees had apparently been pretty quick, though it had felt like weeks, but it still dragged on enough for it to be nearing evening. ¡°And now that we¡¯ve added the matter of our human nature to the docket, the discussion will likely go on longer than anticipated. If you so desire, you could also retire to your quarters, and observe the meeting from there. I will leave it up to you.¡± That was unusual. She¡¯d been adamant about my attending the meeting in the first place, so for her to walk that back now was suspicious. Was she mad about the revelation of us being part human? Maybe she was also mad at herself, like some of the other bees were. Or mad at me, just for how I handled that situation? She could also be upset with the fact that I just got punched in the face. No. This was more like a test. Her intentions weren¡¯t totally clear to me, as Beatrice tended to be, but she wanted me to make a decision here that she¡¯d file away for later. Fine with me. I was on the brink of collapse over here, my Mind strained to its near limit, but the fight with the Valkybees had been eye-opening, in a way. Maybe it got my blood pumping to my stupid brain for the first time in ages, because I finally felt confident matching up against Beatrice. ¡°Actually, I need to make matters clear. We really do have a lot to talk about; the future consequences of Lemonholm, our plans for Somuia, how we should handle missions outside the hive moving forward. But I¡¯ve realized that until I achieve my goals, the rest of that stuff is pointless. I have things I want to do. And I¡¯m the queen of this hive. I don¡¯t want to sit around all day, doing nothing to help the hive but eat and pop out masses of drones. I don¡¯t want my every action to just be work. Yes, shocking, I know. I¡¯ve realized that we¡¯ve been holding ourselves back for some time, looking for efficiency at all costs. But efficiency by itself isn¡¯t enough. We need more. I want more. ¡°And so, here¡¯s what¡¯s going to happen. First, I¡¯m going to get Queen a body, one she can control and do with as she pleases. You all don¡¯t know everything about her, but she¡¯s trapped right now, to the point that she can¡¯t even really talk to you all. Do you know how painful that is for a mother? We want to remedy that. Next, I want to create queen bees to handle most of the bee creation. Any bees I make will be very specific, very special bees, and so I can direct my attention to things other than just making more bees for the sake of numbers. After that, there¡¯s plenty I want. I want to learn to use Mind better, whether that¡¯s for fighting or otherwise. I want to make this forest less ugly. It pisses me off that our attempts to revitalize the forest haven¡¯t made any ground, so I¡¯m going to pour as much energy into it as possible. I want to see the world. Lemonholm as a town was something I¡¯d never seen before, and I want more. There¡¯s an entire world outside of this burnt-ass forest that we could scarcely imagine. And of course, I want the hive to grow. Food, bees, time. We¡¯ll get them all so the hive can become even more amazing. So. That¡¯s what we¡¯re going to do.¡± Chapter 141 - Like Old Timezz The bees were silent. Right. Now they will begin to cheer, talking about the greatness of the hive and whatnot, which would be super embarrassing. Even so, I prepared to bask in the glory for just a teeny bit before I was forced to quiet them down to continue. They started quietly chattering with each other. ¡°A body?¡± Bess asked to her left. Belle thought for a moment before whispering back. ¡°Probably that human woman. If there are two Minds in one body, it seems like a reasonable desire for Mama- er, Mind Mama, to want more control of her actions.¡± ¡°Isn¡¯t Mind Mama originally the bee? Why should she debase herself to live in a human¡¯s body?¡± Beryl, her gaze never leaving the Valkybees, interrupted from Bess¡¯ right. In a whisper, Beck shared their concerns with Bedivere about the low priority given to the Linked humans in Yiwi. They also mentioned the potential consequences of Linking Lahim in Lemonholm. Bedivere quietly reassured them, though he hesitated to give any concrete solutions, only saying that they should discuss it with Beatrice in more detail. The Valkybees kept shoving each other like children. ¡°Calm yourself. I can already feel your distress rising. Any more and the rest of the hive will feel it.¡± Me? Distressed? About this sudden uncomfortable situation? Surely not. Okay, but seriously, what the hell was going on? Were they ignoring me? Did they hate me now or something? Somehow, I hadn¡¯t noticed that something was going terribly wrong. Ah. I¡¯d failed them, hadn¡¯t I? What could I do to remedy it? ¡°Enough. Remember your place. Remain strong, hold your head high. If you are too distressed to properly comprehend what is now coming through the Link, then stay your course. Speak about the role of each bee in the coming future; they may be uncomfortable being told about things they cannot work on. Remember, they crave work. Let them work.¡± ¡°Ahem. Enough.¡± I spoke, but my voice felt oddly far away. How annoying. ¡°Those are my personal goals, but you all should be busy as well. The dome is finished, but there is plenty of construction to be done within the hive. There are plenty of eggs that still need caring for. And our military capabilities are clearly more important than ever. I need you all to continue working your hardest to grow the hive¡¯s power. The outside world is dangerous. We need to be prepared.¡± Once again, the bees stayed silent for several moments. Then they began muttering. Again. For the first time, maybe ever, their voices through the Link sounded more like buzzing than words I could understand. Was the Link deteriorating? Was that why they were doing this? No, it couldn¡¯t be. My antennae twitched. Was this actually an enemy attack? Had the Human somehow managed to find its way to the hive? An old feeling rose in me, something that was supposed to be tucked away. Screeching car tires turned into a roaring crackle, turned into a heart-stopping roar. It echoed in my Mind, and I was a little ball of light, floating on a gentle river, taken from my proper place in the world. My only companion was the shadow that stole me away, ferrying me from that horrible noise. ¡°That is quite enough. Night is falling, and Mother has endured a difficult day. We will turn this conference into a longer meeting over the course of the next three days, as there is still much to discuss.¡± Beatrice¡¯s voice cut through the buzzing like a sword through night. I barely registered her tapping my shoulder and leading me away, back to my chambers. Was it time to make more eggs? I had been struggling to do so while dealing with the stress of Lemonholm. My thoughts were messy and scattered, held together by my Mind. My Mind, and Queen, who was wrestling with the B-boxes to stuff everything inside. The instant she did, allowing the B-box to disappear into the distance towards the corner, my thoughts cleared. ¡°Beatrice,¡± I said slowly. ¡°That was a mistake. I¡¯m fine now, so we should go back and continue the meeting. It¡¯s not that late yet.¡± I struggled to meet her eyes out of pure embarrassment, but her thoughts were clear to me, so I looked. She wasn¡¯t looking at me with a scary neutral expression, nor was it disappointment. She was expectant. ¡°¡­Never mind. That fight was freaking exhausting! I think we need to find another way to get the Valkybees to get their energy out, cause sparring with Bedivere and each other just isn¡¯t doing it. Any ideas?¡± ¡°Of course. Bedivere has brought a similar concern to me before. I have conceived of some labor they can do¡­¡± For a few hours, I just listened to Beatrice¡¯s plans as the moon quietly appeared in my little window. The dark treetops did nothing to block its shine, and the river ended up reflecting a massive silver plate. It was nostalgic. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.
¡°Uh. Highqueen? Are these daydreams truly going to happen every time we have any sort of discussion?¡± ¡°You know what, Feltan? Maybe now that you¡¯ve said that, I¡¯m obligated to daydream every single time we talk.¡± ¡°¡­¡± I thought my tone was more of a joking one, but I felt oddly conscious about it. Speaking to someone in that way had never really gone well for me. People were much more receptive when you were direct - no room for miscommunication there. That sort of tone was easy. ¡°Whatever may please you, I suppose. As for your request, it is impossible. In fact, I think I should speak to my father about creating a rule to prevent anyone from even trying such a thing.¡± My eye twitched. The sun was already visible over the nearby mountain range by now, and I was getting a tiny bit frustrated. I had been trying for hours to get Feltan to understand my request. I wanted his help in figuring out a way to put Queen''s Mind in Yelah''s body. But now that he finally understood, he was rejecting me? ¡°Come on! Part of the reason I even asked you to train me in the ways of Mind before was for this exact thing. You know I¡¯m going to try anyway, right? If you ask me, better to help me and prevent some sort of disaster than the alternative.¡± No reaction; Feltan and his round body just continued rocking back and forth. I couldn¡¯t see them, but if I had to guess, he¡¯d have severe bags under his eyes. While his dad was still the de facto leader of the fernen, Feltan still did most of the legwork as a tribe leader. As if that weren¡¯t enough, he was the appointed liaison between his people and the hive. Was he trying to sneak his way out of this because he was overworked? I sighed. ¡°Well, I¡¯ll give you some time to think about it and come to the right conclusion. Let¡¯s talk about something else then. We¡¯ve never really talked about other stuff before, have we? Um. How about your family? Your dad is around - what about your mom? How about your grandparents? All I really know about is a previous Highchief that made a deal with Yiwi¡¯s City Lord a long time ago.¡± Feltan didn¡¯t stop rocking, but he turned towards me now. Great. I asked about his missing mom. Brilliant. I am truly a conversational savant. He turned away. ¡°My mother died when I was a but a babe. A disease, I was told. Nothing extravagant; she chose to ease her suffering by returning to the forest. My grandparents were gone before I was born. My father¡¯s father, Felotan, was a truly great Highchief. It was because of his ideas that the shroud avoided us, left us in peace for decades. The Highchief you have likely heard of, the one who engaged the first City Lord of Yiwi to a Battle of the Minds to win protection for the forest, was my great-great-grandfather, Highchief Faytan. This was over 200 years ago.¡± He stopped there. Was that it? He had answered my questions as directly as possible, deviating little from the straight facts. I could understand that. But how was I supposed to go from here? Was he awkward like me? ¡°We have clearly seen Feltan interact with his people, and even the humans, in a very natural manner. I think he just dislikes you.¡± ¡°So, does that mean you guys keep a detailed record of your history? I know you use scrolls for paperwork - which is hilarious in a forest-dwelling species of creature, by the way - so do you record your history there, too?¡± Although his facial language was imperceptible to me and I couldn¡¯t see his eyes, it was impossible to miss Feltan¡¯s look of utter horror. ¡°The names of our ancestors? In metal? You have learned some truly disturbing things from the humans. In no capacity would we send our history to live within the confines of that cold world. We carry our knowledge within ourselves, and so it stays within the forest.¡± ¡°So, what are all the details of the battle with the first City Lord? I¡¯m intrigued. It¡¯s not something that¡¯s mentioned in any of the history scrolls read by the humans in Yiwi; the only things I¡¯ve learned about are the fernen words taught to every citizen of Yiwi to keep the peace when entering the forest.¡± ¡°Who would need to know such things? The Highchief challenged the City Lord in order to protect the forest. He won, and here we are.¡± I scoffed. Sure, buddy. Personally, I liked to know why certain things had to be done. The fact that the deal was still being upheld 200 years later was more than a little unusual to me. Or, it would be if I didn¡¯t have the knowledge of the current City Lord. He didn¡¯t know the exact details of what happened either, but he definitely wasn¡¯t adhering to the outcome of the old Battle out of a sense of honor. Neither had his predecessor. No, the humans were, of course, chomping at the bit, ready for the moment they could take control of the forest for themselves. It just so happened that the deal with the fernen was mutually beneficial. Even more so when the shroud appeared. ¡°Whatever, man. You decide about my request yet?¡± ¡°As it turns out, the very first Highchief is the only one I am not related to. His name is unknown. He lived hundreds of years ago, perhaps a thousand. And because all of this information is missing, we know that it is better left unknown. But we know that even since then, we have been tasked with protecting the forest, and so we have always known of our singular duty. It really is no wonder my father has delved into the lutice weed. A millennia-old duty, failed under his watch.¡± His voice took on a melancholy aura, even as he ignored my question. So all it took to get him to open up to me was to annoy him? I truly am talented. It did suck for his dad, though. If my ancestors made a promise and I was the one who fucked it up, I¡¯d be knee deep in that lutice weed to take a load off my Mind. And while this was all interesting and nice, I had a singular goal at the moment. The reason I was asking Feltan for help was purely due to the fernens¡¯ capabilities with Mind. I had several theories on how to get our Mind transfer to work, but executing them was a different story. Besides the potential risks involved, there was simply no precedent. Messing with a Mind itself was not something recorded anywhere in my bank of human knowledge, and any thoughts about it were extremely taboo. I had wondered if the fernen had any idea, considering how different they could be from the humans, but apparently they¡¯d never even considered the possibility of manipulating Minds. Or they probably had, but they never freaking bothered to write it down. ¡°I will help.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Feltan sighed in annoyance. ¡°I said I will help you with your affront against nature. However, I would set conditions. I cannot force you to do anything, so these are more like hopeful requests. Please indulge me.¡± Chapter 142 - Bee Beeces of Ebeedence ¡°First. You must promise that, if you learn how to perform such accursed techniques, no fernen will ever be subject to them. Ever. Second, no fernen will ever learn how to perform these techniques themselves. This is knowledge I would not want to infect the Mind of my brethren. In fact, I would hope that you do not teach these techniques to anybody. Perhaps you may deign to present the knowledge to your family, but I would hope it would make its way to no other. I cannot imagine the horrors that might arise if those humans were to get a hold of such a thing.¡± I listened to Feltan¡¯s concerns, nodded along, and pretended to think of an answer for a little while. Honestly, was there even a question? Those weren¡¯t unreasonable requests at all; in the first place, I hadn¡¯t planned to use Mind-transfer powers further than giving Queen a body of her own to control. As for sharing the knowledge? I mean, was there ever any doubt that I¡¯d selfishly guard the secret for myself? Of that, Feltan never had to worry. Giving this power to the fernen, let alone the humans, would be like making the already enormous target over my head into a sign that said ¡®Hello! Please take over my body!¡¯. No, this was all for a single purpose. Though Feltan¡¯s concerns were definitely not unfounded, I had already thought of the same things, and was prepared to guard the knowledge. If I kept what I learned securely inside my own Mind, protected as it was by the CBU, it would minimize any potential damage that could be done. And at the very least, Queen would be here to keep me sane. ¡°Ah yes. Rely on me, who is about to inhabit a new body, to keep you in check. However will you manage when I am gone, Enno?¡± Speaking of all this, how are you feeling, Queen? After all, this is going to be affecting you. Should we still go through with this? ¡°In truth, my concerns have not abated at all. If you¡¯re wondering whether I still want my own body, then hell yes. It amazes me that you still cannot comprehend what it is like to have an imbecile like yourself controlling MY body.¡± Imbecile is a strong word. I¡¯d prefer something like ¡®moron¡¯, or the much simpler ¡®idiot¡¯ thanks very much. ¡°Every time my arms move, I¡¯m not moving them. But I am at the same time. Because you are me and I am you. Every time my missing arm itches a certain way, I have the urge to scratch it, but I can¡¯t. Then you go to scratch the itch, but it wasn¡¯t me. Every time we grow hungry, we eat, but I am not truly eating; you are. When you hugged the Valkybees, I felt their embrace and relished in it, but it was not my arms wrapped around them. And yet, they were my arms, and I was embracing them. We may be connected, but this isn¡¯t something I can describe or even make you feel. It is unfathomable.¡± There was a slight hesitation in Queen¡¯s rant, like there was something more she wanted to add. But she let herself stop abruptly with a huff. This was exactly why I wanted - no, needed - to help her have a body of her own. All those emotions, everything she felt, well, I felt them too. We were, as she said, one and the same, after all. Maybe she could argue that there was no way for me to really know how she felt, but at the very least, I always felt her desperation. It was my own desperation. ¡°Ahem?¡± ¡°Yes, yes, I know, Feltan. I agree with your requests. Don¡¯t you worry your little fernen head. Can we get started now?¡± Feltan shook his head, slowly rose to his feet, and waved his arm, encouraging me to follow. Wasn¡¯t he getting a little too familiar with me? It wasn¡¯t something I thought about, but I¡¯d gotten pretty used to lording over others. The only reason I wondered about this was because as he led me back towards the forest, away from the center of the temporary fernen encampment, we passed several other fernen who were hard at work moving large rocks and dirt around, and each one looked at me with genuine fear radiating off them. I could straight up feel the emotion from their Minds, it was so strong. There were a select few fernen, like Feltan¡¯s friend Follo, who didn¡¯t ooze fear so openly, but even they were clearly wary and respectful. At least when my main body was here, which had only happened a couple times when I came to train my Mind. So for Feltan to be so brazen in our interactions, wasn¡¯t that a bit odd? Was a couple of eye-to-eye conversations with me all it took for someone to realize I had no idea what I was doing? With a start I realized I was missing a critical piece of the Mind-transfer puzzle, so rather than attempting to exert any fine control, I felt for where Yelah¡¯s body was a few dozen meters away and lifted it up with my Mind, her limp limbs dangling as she flew over the fernen camp. That got another round of fearful looks. Feltan whooped from far ahead. ¡°Come, Highqueen. If we are to do this, we should go where no fernen will see.¡± Keeping up with his monkey-like movements was tough enough already, but he was really in his element within the forest, even if he was trudging along like he was walking to his own funeral. He still moved with the grace his ape-like limbs afforded him. I could only imagine what it would be like trying to chase him if the trees were full and healthy and he had plenty of sturdy branches to swing from. We traveled for more than an hour like that, and all I could do was thank the Bee that I didn¡¯t have to use my little wings to keep up. If there were anyone around, the sight of a stout, shrub-like fernen dashing through the trees, whooping all the while, chased by a queen bee as a limp human body flew through the air just behind would surely have caused a few head-scratches. It was strange that this was my normal reality now, but I¡¯d long since accepted it. Amazing how the most unusual things can begin to seem normal. Feltan stopped abruptly, and I nearly overshot him, but I thankfully saved myself the embarrassment. He sat heavily on a nearby stone and began to talk as I set Yelah¡¯s body down nearby. ¡°Like I said, I¡¯m not really sure if I¡¯ll be able to help you with this. Not necessarily because of my moral and sensibilities, but it just seems impossible. Improbable, I should say. I do not doubt that Mind can be the key to many things, but Mind itself is squarely in the realm of the gods. And the Fernen has not communed with us directly, it is said, since the advent of the second Highchief.¡± ¡°But you do think it might be possible,¡± I said. ¡°Or else you would have flat out refused me with that reasonable argument. Presumably.¡± ¡°Well, as I said, Mind should be the key to all things. And I would have refused, had you not brought up that one singularly compelling point. But you said there were two more. If they are anywhere near as convincing as the one you told me, then it may be feasible.¡± The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He waggled his staff, the one he carried with him everywhere, which apparently was the sign of his status as the Lowchief, and a circle seemed to magically draw itself in the dirt. His other hand was reserved for wearily rubbing his forehead like the simple fact of my existence gave him a massive headache. ¡°The Shroud Father - or as you so bluntly call it, the ¡®Vulch¡¯ - possessed a unique Ability the fernen feared above all others. I never experienced it myself, but I have spoken to other fernen who have survived encounters with the Shroud. One of them, an elder of ours, was part of a contingent of guards in his youth, tasked with deterring the Shroud from encroaching on our territory. He experienced it for a moment, only a flash. He was never able to control his Mind properly again. The circle in the dirt now sported a bird-like face with one of its eyes featured prominently. ¡°He is one of the few to have ever survived an encounter with the Shroud Father, but stories of the White World pervade our children¡¯s bedsides. It is said the Shroud Father can consume your Mind simply by looking at you, degrading it until you die, and he will use that energy to make the Shroud grow darker. And you, apparently, encountered it twice, escaped it, and destroyed him from within it. And you now believe it to be one piece of evidence for the capability to transfer Minds.¡± Boy, the fernen sure did like their proper nouns. To be fair, the ¡®White World¡¯ was an awesome way to refer to the milky-white expanse the Vulch had trapped me in all that time ago. I nodded along to Feltan¡¯s recounting, considering that it was more for his sake than anything. I didn¡¯t know what the fernen whispered about the Vulch¡¯s weird Ability, but they had the basic gist of it as far as I could tell. He tapped his chin with his staff. ¡°It is possible that with your more powerful Mind, you were not so easily absorbed. But the fact that he was able to draw you into his White World so easily despite that difference speaks to its power as an Ability. And you truly believe this was a transferal of Mind?¡± That was exactly right. Obviously, there was no way of knowing the particulars of how the Vulch¡¯s Ability worked, but my experience was pretty explicit. When he had done the thing and trapped me in his eye, both Queen and I had appeared there. It was possible that he just trapped our consciousness somewhere or something along those lines, but how different was that from Mind, really? If the Vulch could move Minds around like that, then there must be a way to do it. ¡°Pretty much. But that also connects to my second idea: my own Mind. Specifically, the Kin Link and the¡­ mental helper I have. I¡¯ve been able to do some crazy stuff with my Mind, not least of which is the way I escaped the Vulch¡¯s Ability in the first place. I was basically able to pull my Mind back to my body! Plus, the Link allows for some really weird stuff to happen. I¡¯m able to read Linked creatures Minds, feel their emotions, even transfer information to them. If the Kin Link - which is a Lock, not an Ability - allows me to bridge between Minds, there has to be something there we can use.¡± I trusted Feltan. To a degree. He and his fernen were essentially subservient to me. But I still felt uncomfortable sharing too much information with him. The CBU wasn¡¯t the issue; I just didn¡¯t think he¡¯d understand what I would mean when talking about a computer-inspired Mind processor. But talking too openly about Combined Minds felt disquieting, to say the least. I imagined there was something I could use there as well, but I played it safe and only tell him about the other parts of my plan he absolutely needed to know. ¡°Hmph. Not bad, per se. Of what you mentioned, the Kin Link does seem like a strong piece of evidence. Besides, if the Kin Link were able to resolve the issue, you would surely have used it to your leisure already.¡± He drew another two circles and filled one in with a bunch of squiggles. I suppose that represented the Link? Not to be an art critic or anything, but there must have been a better way to represent the Kin Link. I also noticed that he had begun to squirm. He already seemed uncomfortable with this whole situation, but the more we talked about it, the more unsure he appeared. ¡°Though this brings into question your motives. I¡¯d refrained from asking, but this has me curious. If you are able to control others as you please with the Link, why go through this trouble at all?¡± He glanced at Yelah¡¯s body. ¡°Is there some grand benefit to putting your own Mind in this vessel? Personally, I don¡¯t see the appeal.¡± I hesitated. True, the exact reasoning behind this project wasn¡¯t something I¡¯d revealed to Feltan, which was probably why he was so insistent on getting my promise not to use it for certain purposes. But¡­ ¡°Oh, just tell him. What is the harm? Keeping secrets from our collaborator will only make the process more frustrating. What is he going to do?¡± ¡°Well, you see, it¡¯s not for me. I guess it technically is for me, but not the me that¡¯s talking to you right now. Another part of me, who is someone else.¡± Feltan¡¯s eyes had long since glazed over. Look man, I know it¡¯s confusing, but it¡¯s just the way things ended up. We¡¯re trying to simplify things over here, so just bear with me. ¡°Basically, there¡¯s another part of me that is still in many ways independent. But all she can really do is talk to me from inside my own Mind. That part of me wants to be able to live freely, move their own body, etcetera. And doing this is going to fix that.¡± ¡°This¡­ seems like an extreme measure. Have you tried lutice weed? I despise the stuff, but my father swears by it. Finds it soothing. I believe I have heard of other fernen who sometimes hear voices of peers who are nowhere to be seen-¡° ¡°This is different. There is actually, legitimately, another me in me.¡± He tapped his chin again. For some reason, I felt like he didn¡¯t believe me. Stop asking questions and just help me perform abominable dark magics already! ¡°If that is truly the case, does this not seem like an extreme measure? Designing a power perhaps never-before seen, simply to give this ¡®other you¡¯ some agency? Why not simply share?¡± ¡°I want my own damn body! Sharing custody with this imbecile - excuse me, this ¡®idiot¡¯ - would simply not do. I¡¯m already compromising by allowing you to use my actual body, damn it.¡± ¡°Yeah, I don¡¯t think she likes the idea of sharing. She¡¯s been relegated to the background since forever, so I don¡¯t think a compromise is in the cards for her. Besides, we have no idea how that would work in the first place. As far as I know, multiple Minds can¡¯t inhabit one body. It¡¯s straight up unnatural. There are special circumstances that allow us to even exist as it is. Moving back towards something more natural seems to make more sense, at least in terms of a working solution. There¡¯s precedent to moving Mind around, and to keeping them somewhere separate. Again, if multiple Minds can¡¯t inhabit the same body, what was the Vulch doing? Not keeping Minds in his body, just moving them somewhere. And then there¡¯s the third key.¡± I pointed to Yelah¡¯s body and made her give a little wave. The result was stiff and morbid. Feltan shuddered. ¡°Is she your third piece of evidence? How cruel can you get?¡± ¡°I mean, she wasn¡¯t really, not before I made it possible to control her body by suppressing her Mind. No, I was thinking more along the lines of her Ability, [Friendly Immersion]. It lets her share consciousness with a penguin.¡± ¡°A what?¡± ¡°Exactly. Her friendly giant penguin can somehow share her senses, and they can even share other things like physical capability. I¡¯d argue there¡¯s something there to look at for being able to transfer and host Minds between different bodies. It¡¯s the whole reason I chose her for a vessel in the first place, and figured out how to suppress her Mind. If she¡¯s somehow already capable of something similar, maybe by combining everything we know, we can get it to work with her body as a vessel.¡± Feltan looked at Yelah¡¯s body again. I made it wave again. It was stiff and unnatural. Feltan shuddered much more deeply than before. Despite that, he drew a rough facsimile of a human woman in the third circle. These were my three pieces of evidence; now we just needed to figure out how to connect them all to achieve our goal. Chapter 143 - Just a Little Beest All Queen had to do was travel along the Link and sit herself in Yelah¡¯s brain, right? Well, such a thing didn¡¯t really work. Even now, I tried mentally ¡®pushing¡¯ her Mind, but her Mind itself refused to move through, like pushing water through a wall. Shocker. If it were so easy, we could¡¯ve performed some experiments or something. At my request, she sent over a command to Yelah¡¯s body, causing it to jerk upright and give a shaky salute. She was able to move the body with her thoughts, but that wasn¡¯t exactly the same as moving a body. Usually I don¡¯t put a lot of thought into walking - or at least, I didn¡¯t when I was a human. Similarly, I didn¡¯t think when eating, or breathing, or flipping off someone particularly annoying. Now, not to say it¡¯s impossible to do those things without thinking. Mentioning breathing forced me to breathe manually for a second there. The point is, living in a body is a bit different from just controlling one. To say that Queen wasn¡¯t in control of her own body was just another way of saying she wasn¡¯t living in her own body. So, how do we get Queen to live in Yelah¡¯s body? The obvious thought process is to get her Mind in there somehow. The Mind controls everything, right? As we knew from Combined Minds, multiple Minds shouldn¡¯t be able to exist in one body. It stands to reason that a Mind is needed to live. At least, that¡¯s the conjecture. I had no idea if any of that was actually true, but it was the best guess we had. Feltan sure seemed confident about it, but that was coming from the perspective of someone who lived with Mind being the big deal all their life. I didn¡¯t have Mind in my world, but I seemed to live just fine. Well, temporarily at least. But moving a Mind was more complicated than just thinking about it. ¡°The issue I see is the means,¡± Feltan said, once again tapping his chin. ¡°In your three pieces of evidence, all of them are related to Mind¡¯s capabilities, but two of the three are tied to Abilities. You must know by now from training with me that Abilities are not ordinary applications of Mind. They are molded by the gods themselves. In that way, the standout piece of evidence is your Link, which is only a Lock. It does not directly allow for the transferal of Mind like the other two might, but you posit it is possible. And the woman¡¯s Ability¡­ it makes no sense to me anyway. I¡¯m unsure of its relevance. ¡°Her Ability is strange, and I might be over-thinking it, but it seems to borrow from something I have limited knowledge about.¡± There was the possibility that Yelah and Dip shared properties through principles similar to quantum mechanics. But even if I knew more about quantum mechanics than just ¡®stuff exists, but its actually exists in multiple ways at the same time, actually,¡¯ it was doubtful it worked that way at all. It more likely had something to do with an incredibly rapid sharing of information or parts of Mind that allowed them to take on specific properties of each other. Or something. Hey, it was an Ability the Human had somehow cooked up thanks to Yelah¡¯s love for her giant penguin buddy. If she knew how it actually worked, it might be more shocking than if she didn¡¯t know. ¡°As for the Link, you¡¯re correct. We probably never would¡¯ve been able to escape the Vulch¡¯s Ability without it. Even when I try it now, I can¡¯t just shove a Mind through there at all. No clue why that is.¡± He thought for a moment. ¡°Did you consider the possibility that your Minds weren¡¯t moved through the Link at all? Perhaps the Link was merely the connection you identified as the direction of escape.¡± My mandibles opened. Then they closed. Had I considered that? I feel like I should¡¯ve, but maybe I didn¡¯t. Thinking back to that moment, there were two times the Vulch had dragged me into his white world. The first time, when he and his family were chasing me and mine back to the hive, I had latched onto the Link and forcibly pulled Queen and myself back to our body. The second time, when we destroyed his own Link, and subsequently, his Mind, it was more like the destruction of the white world with our own familiar Link let us back into our body. Was the Link a moot point for this purpose? Was it really just a connection that we couldn¡¯t move Minds through? ¡°I¡¯m¡­ not sure. Thinking back, it might not even be viable evidence for the power to move Minds in the first place. We might¡¯ve just used the Link as a guide to move our Mind back into our body, like you said. Does that mean Abilities and god power is really the only way to do this?¡± ¡°I have no idea.¡± I rolled my eyes at Feltan, before remembering that unlike my hive, he had no way of knowing I just did that through emotion. So, I exaggerated my head movement to make sure he understood. ¡°What the hell am I paying you for, then?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll ignore that. In any case, it does not seem that the Link itself is useless. It clearly has a strong, specific connection to your Mind itself, like the body of a mushroom and its massive network. Also, don¡¯t forget how your Link to the human actually works. That could be another odd factor. If you want to transplant a Mind into another body, it is not something I believe may be possible without godly intervention. Especially in your case. After all, your Minds are one. Separating them seems a task even more impossible than simply moving them. But moving your Mind to another body seems to me a different story. Yes, these may be powers reserved for the gods. Even so, discoveries of the greatness of Mind are constantly being made; who is to say this is any different?¡± Hmph. Greatness of my ass. He made a good point about the Link to humans being different, considering the Linkers and all that, but Mind was infinitely more esoteric than anything I¡¯d ever encountered. Even circuits made more sense when studied enough, even though they were basically magic rocks we humans combined with electricity to turn on magic boxes. ¡°Perhaps Mind is the same, only for the gods. Mind may be as malleable as these computers of yours for beings like them. Your computers do seem like magic, at least to me. And probably to anyone of this world.¡± Ha. Forget this world; computers were basically magic to most people back home. I worked on the building blocks of some of them and they were still crazy to think about, even for me. Which is part of why I worked on them at all, I suppose. Don¡¯t even get me started on the Internet. That¡¯s like five layers of magic stacked on top of each other. Turning electrical signals into freaking radio-frequencies all to do it over and over again at speeds that are basically incomprehensible? And humans used it to watch explicit videos, mostly. Honestly, what better way to describe humanity? Brilliant and deranged. ¡°Yes, yes, I am well aware of your former Internet habits, and regret every day that it is your Mind I share.¡± Hey. I¡¯m talking in general here. You¡¯re going to give someone the wrong idea. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Suddenly, my brain melted. More accurately, it felt like it was being stretched beyond its limit, to the point I nearly feel unconscious right then and there. If I wasn¡¯t constantly floating thanks to my Lock, I probably would have fallen over from the sudden sensation of a severe headache. Feltan asked me what was wrong when he glanced at me again, but I dismissively waved an arm. Something odd was happening even as my senses returned to me. The CBU had revved up like never before. Myriad boxes were flying all around my Mind, filled with memories and information. The central core of the CBU pulsated, the smaller boxes that acted like connections to the six outer boxes of the overall hexagonal shape flailing about in uncharacteristic madness. Oh shit. Was the CBU trying to make porn?! ¡°No, idiot. It seems to have latched onto our other ideas. Look.¡± The CBU was typically a hexagon, a central core box connected to six outer boxes, which would act as corners to the overall shape. But now it was changing. Some new boxes connected to the six corners were growing in size, causing the hexagonal shape to expand, becoming 3D. The central core didn¡¯t move from its spot, still staying in the middle of the original six boxes, but the six new boxes stretched away, creating a twisted hexagonal prism. Those six new boxes kept twisting, moving along a path. A path? A path to what? The CBU existed entirely within my Mind. There was nowhere to go, except¡­ ¡°Oh crap. Uh, I think the CBU has an idea, and it¡¯s a bit scary. For several reasons.¡± ¡°CBU?¡± Right, Feltan didn¡¯t know about it. I quickly explained the concept as lightly as I could without revealing too much. I had told him about parts of it previously, considering he became annoyed when I wasn¡¯t properly focusing ¡®cause I just had the CBU do a bunch of stuff, but he never got the details. Especially one particular detail. The CBU - or rather, the building blocks, B-Boxes - could move through the Link just fine. I held the CBU back, but it was shockingly difficult, like it really, really wanted to follow this train of thought to the end because it knew it would work. Even so, I refrained from letting it go. What the CBU wanted was to become a network, one bound by a ¡®physical¡¯ connection through the Link. Not only that, but it thought it could do so while stretching my Mind, pulling us through the Link by force. Its visualization was clear in my thoughts. My Mind and Queen¡¯s Mind were like a pair of spheres, forcefully mushed together inside of the vessel of our body. But we weren¡¯t perfectly congealed. We were, technically, separate, but still combining into one solid mass. A body was where a Mind stayed, but if two Minds became connected, it was possible to move them with that connection elsewhere. That was how the Vulch¡¯s Ability must have worked. He also had a Link, and he understood how this connection could move a Mind. It couldn¡¯t be pulled just anywhere, though. It needed somewhere to go, somewhere that could contain it. A body with a Mind was a no-go - I didn¡¯t know why, and neither did the CBU. But it understood the basics. As long as a suitable vessel existed with the conditions to host a Mind and could be connected via a Link, one could put a Mind there. As for what constituted a suitable vessel, I had no idea. Surely, if a Mind was hosted somewhere in the past, it must have what it takes to host one again. The CBU wanted to stretch, go through the Link with our mishmashed Mind in tow, and settle itself in Yelah¡¯s body. It would replace Yelah¡¯s Mind as the Link¡¯s connection point and act as a ¡®Mind¡¯. It would be the anchor, constantly pulling our Mind back and forth, creating a network where we exist in both places at once. The spheres that made up our Mind couldn¡¯t be broken apart, combined as they were, so I would be along for the ride. It wouldn¡¯t be moving our Mind into another body, per se. More like stretching it to connect two bodies, only possible thanks to the CBU¡¯s uncanny ability to contain and transfer information. It didn¡¯t make immediate sense to me, but to the CBU, it was clearly the easiest choice. Regardless of its struggles, the CBU had found a way to move a Mind just by thinking. It would itself act as a network, move into Yelah¡¯s body, and use itself to root our Mind in place where we chose. If a Mind could be moved, but only temporarily, the CBU could make that temporary time inconsequential by creating a transfer of information faster than I could even think. Would that actually move our Minds like we thought? Would this process even work for our purpose? Or would it just make it so that I could live in two bodies at once? It was all for naught if Queen didn¡¯t somehow gain the capability to live in another body. The CBU seemed to think it would work exactly as desired. That somehow, we would fall into place just like how the Bee had experimentally mashed us together and dropped two Minds into a single body, one Mind more alive than the other. I¡¯d be able to move a body, and Queen the other. One Mind per body, after all. Easy peasy. It would be so easy to let go, let the CBU do its thing, and just find out. Even so, I hesitated. What if the Link broke? The CBU could only do this by staying in Yelah¡¯s body by moving through the Link. Would it destroy our Mind if the Link were severed? Would bits of me and chunks of Queen be stuck there? Sure, the CBU had done like a billion calculations in the span of moments, and referenced every bit of my Earthly technical knowledge, every bit of Mind knowledge we possessed, and every memory pertaining to the Vulch and the Link and Yelah¡¯s Ability, but it had no practical basis for this to work. What concerned me the most was Yelah. She was still in there, somewhere. The CBU was sure that her existence wouldn¡¯t be a problem, and in fact, it had a specific place for her in its plan. There was no guarantee that it would work. What if the fact that another Mind existed in that body caused some massive rejection and we exploded or something? If she were to bounce back in some way? Could she take back control, even with the Link? There were too many risks. The CBU was almost completely certain it would work. In fact, it even considered Yelah the ideal host. Her Mind was suppressed, so badly she couldn¡¯t even control her own body. And that was thanks to the fact that her Mind was already flexible enough for me to affect so much, affected by her Ability constantly moving it around. Plus, she was a vessel we knew for a fact could host a Mind. To the CBU, it made perfect sense. She was the easiest route to its goal. It was a monumental effort to hold the CBU back. The thing was like an impulse, except one that could act on its own. It saw a possible idea and wanted to do it, and the only thing reining it in was my good sense. Hah. My good sense. Here I was, talking about my sense and the CBU when I was the one who came up with this whole idea. It wasn¡¯t the CBU that saw Yelah as the perfect, easiest vessel. I¡¯d been thinking of using her body for this exact purpose since I found myself able to suppress her Mind. I was taking advantage of her punishment, a punishment I created just because she caused me some strife and made things slightly more difficult for me back in Yiwi. Back where she had been desperately trying to protect the people she lived with from me controlling their Minds and government. For me, she was wrong. She and her people were a danger to my hive. So, I found a suitable punishment for her actions. Making her feel what Queen and I felt all the time. A lack of control. Beyond the control she had tried to take back from me. Beyond just controlling one¡¯s will under the ruling system. It was the control of her very own Mind and body. Had she been punished enough? Did it matter? As soon as I had found what I was able to do to her Mind, another idea had arisen. Queen wanted a body to control. Hadn¡¯t I just found - no, hadn¡¯t I just made her one? Yelah fit all the criteria, and there she was, suddenly unable to control her own body. Her body was a vessel now. No need to go through the unthinkable process of somehow creating one from scratch. It was right there. The CBU exposed me. It was a system, like a computer. Efficient. Finding the path of least resistance. It was also a part of me. Was I always like this? Maybe to some degree. Humans tended to like finding the easy way out, after all. But callous efficiency was supposed to be reserved for machines. Or maybe bees. I suddenly felt a lack of struggle. The difference was massive enough to trip me up. The CBU had, without explanation, stopped trying to complete its journey and sat, twisted and stationary. Then, it formed another new box, right at the center of the six newer ones, and shot it into the Link between Yelah¡¯s Mind and ours - like it wanted to prove its plan would work with just a little taste. ¡°Well, at least it is listening to our fears. Perhaps its little test will bear fruit.¡± Chapter 144 - Broken and Beecayed I saw myself. In the blink of an eye - Yelah¡¯s eye, to be specific - I found myself able to see my body from a different perspective. It should¡¯ve been nothing new, considering that I¡¯d done the same thing a dozen times from a dozen different perspectives, but something about this felt¡­ strange. The B-Box the CBU had sent into Yelah¡¯s body was extremely limited in its capability, so all I could do was control one of Yelah¡¯s eyes, but it was an entirely unique experience from looking out of Ben¡¯s eyes, for example. The best description I could give would be that looking through the eyes of Linked creatures was like watching a movie or show, something on a screen separate from myself. What I was experiencing here was more like a third eye had been attached to my brain, which was a lot less impactful and comprehensible of a description. I tried to shift my view over to Feltan. Nothing. Odd. I tried looking over, strained to move her eye to the side. Nothing. A seed of panic set in. I couldn¡¯t move. At the very least, I had absolutely no control over Yelah¡¯s body in this state, even though it should have been a movement as natural as breathing. I couldn¡¯t even blink. Suddenly, my field of vision shifted without my input. I was looking to the left, towards the forest. Then to the right, past Feltan and towards the Fernen camp. My - Yelah¡¯s - eyeball spun in its socket wildly, to the point that it was distinctly uncomfortable. ¡°Hm? Hmmmm? My eyes can move? How curious.¡± It turned out Queen was the one haphazardly controlling our eyeball. Of course, she had no true experience with moving eyes or the limited field of vision a human possesses, but would it kill her to have some tact? Bodies weren¡¯t expendable. Hey. Wait just a second. It worked? The whole thing felt so seamless, it was almost eerie. One moment I¡¯d been worrying about the potential consequences of the CBU¡¯s plan to take over Yelah¡¯s body, the next, its hypothesis was proven without a hitch. It was just an eye, but Queen was moving it and squinting and blinking without a second thought, just fluid control over her body. It was¡­ odd, to say the least. Being in a human body, even if it was just controlling an eye, was strangely nostalgic. It wasn¡¯t puppeteering, like I had become accustomed to doing to humans in this world. It was real. As if it were my own body. Something about the familiarity caused a sensation I had thought I was no longer capable of for creatures outside our hive: guilt. I was in this position, once. Well, maybe not exactly. But I was a flesh and blood person. I worked, I went to school, I hung out with friends. Sometimes. Once upon a time. It was almost like a spark of empathy was suddenly reignited after being crushed underfoot long ago. But at the same time, something was wrong. The entire sensation felt wrong. There was a feeling of uncomfortable fullness, as if I¡¯d just eaten three quarters of a pizza but didn¡¯t want to waste the rest or leave it for leftovers so I forced myself to finish it and now I regretted it as my stomach rumbled and the toilet called. I felt like a stranger, unwelcome. Worst of all was the control. I couldn¡¯t control Yelah¡¯s body whatsoever, not even with commands like before. I was utterly trapped, unable to do anything but whine as Queen experimentally tried to roll our eye all the way back so it could look inside our skull. ¡°Yes. Yes! This is incredible. It really was as easy as the CBU predicted. Shall we have it enact its full plan at once? I could have a body of my very own!¡± Before I could respond, a sharp pain erupted in my head. Both inside of Yelah and my bee body. Queen felt it too, an anguished groan accompanying Yelah¡¯s eyes rolling back in pain. The seed of panic from before was in full bloom now as the pain increased exponentially. It was all I could do to keep my Mind from going haywire. ¡°This is¡­ the same¡­¡± The same as when I arrived in this world. When my Mind and Queen¡¯s Mind first inhabited one body in the unnatural event that would define us. Just like we thought, Yelah¡¯s Mind couldn¡¯t coexist with our own. But I had no idea it would affect our original body, too. This might be worse than we thought. Of course, this was the CBU¡¯s intent since the beginning. It had already conceived of a way to handle Yelah¡¯s Mind, but it wouldn¡¯t be possible with just the small piece of itself it had inserted into her body. Attempting to take the opportunity, the CBU lunged towards the Link, the hexagon of B-boxes reaching like a great maw, intent on solidifying the connection and enacting its plan. It was going to eat Yelah¡¯s Mind for a teatime snack. Maybe it was using the principles of Combined Minds; it wanted to take our suppression of her Mind a step further, containing it in its entirety so we would be free to inhabit her body. Something in me broke. Was this really the easy path I wanted? Maybe it was the sudden burst of empathy I felt while trapped in a nostalgic shell. Maybe I didn¡¯t want to destroy Yelah. Or maybe there was something deeper. Of being trapped like Queen was trapped. I already knew how it felt, after all, but I¡¯d never personally experienced it. Or, something told me, a fear of losing what ¨C who - I had now. So, I ignored the agonizing explosions in my brain and yanked the CBU right back into my body. With a second yank, I pulled the piece of the CBU that was in Yelah¡¯s body back to our own, cutting us off. Something snapped - it was the telltale feeling of a Linker dying, the Link severing.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. Yelah¡¯s body flopped over like a rag doll. The poor, unsuspecting Linker curled up and fell to the ground. I couldn¡¯t feel Yelah anymore. Oh crap. In a flash, I commanded one of the spare Linkers hiding in her sleeve to attach itself, before anything unfortunate happened. A sigh of relief escaped me as it connected without a hitch. Except one thing. Yelah¡¯s Mind felt¡­ different. Distant. Like it had faded slightly. ¡°Shit. The CBU might¡¯ve already done something to Yelah¡¯s Mind. It doesn¡¯t feel as prominent as before.¡± ¡°Perhaps her Mind was already weakened?¡± Feltan said. He had watched the events unfold without saying a word, often turning his head away and rubbing his temple. ¡°Something as unnatural as what you wish to do was enough to cause even you extreme pain. I noticed it from here, both in body and Mind. If her Mind, which you have already kept suppressed, just underwent a similar ordeal, no doubt it is on the verge of destruction more severe than Mind Collapse.¡± Feeling around Yelah¡¯s Mind, I found it even more subdued. Feltan was probably right; anybody¡¯s Mind would have struggled to handle that much agony. Which raised the question. How did Queen even survive when I first entered her body? I remembered that headache as one of the worst pains I¡¯d ever experienced, and Queen was on the verge of death. Of course, she didn¡¯t know either, but it was a sobering perspective on her willpower. I glanced at Yelah¡¯s limp form again. ¡°So, what does this mean? If I try to posses her again, will her Mind be destroyed? The CBU still thinks it can somehow contain or separate her Mind. Actually, it looks like it thinks that would even save her life, in some twisted way.¡± ¡°If your CBU is as powerful and capable as it seems, then perhaps it is correct. I doubt her Mind would be destroyed immediately upon your re-entry; any Mind, even a weakened one, is not so fragile. In fact, I would think you could repeat that test once or twice more without fully destroying her Mind. However, that is not what I would concern myself with. The issue is that she is going to die.¡± ¡°Wait. What?¡± Feltan nodded. ¡°Her Mind is not only faded. It is fading. Not quickly, but it is. Eventually, she will die. To be honest, I believe it was already happening before this test, though it was difficult to say. It was subtle enough before that I didn¡¯t notice it until Enfla mentioned it to me. She is not as capable with Mind as some others, but her sensitivity is worlds beyond anyone else. She mentioned to me that the human woman was slowly being killed by you. I see now it was likely true. Her Mind reminds me of elders on their deathbed, or warriors taking their final breaths. It is possible your test sped up her descent.¡± The only thing I could do was float in stunned silence. Suppressing Yelah¡¯s Mind had been killing her? How hadn¡¯t I felt something like that? Was it because I didn¡¯t actually know what a dying Mind felt like? I felt around her Mind again, but nothing told me she was dying. There was still that spark of defiance, the hopelessness, the anger. The emotions were all there, practically as strong as ever. She had stopped screaming constantly some time ago, right? Was that when her Mind started fading? Or had she just gotten tired of it? My decision was swift. I immediately stopped suppressing her Mind. I was at the ready with a command for the Link, just in case she tried any funny business. But her body didn¡¯t move. Another inspection showed that her Mind didn¡¯t react to being released at all. Feltan was right again. Yelah was going to die. ¡°How much time do you think she has?¡± I asked him. I wasn¡¯t panicked, but nerves had crept up on me. Partly because I had doomed a person to a slow death. Partly because what little remorse I felt was squashed by the concern that the perfect vessel we needed was going to die, possibly rendering it a waste. Concern wouldn¡¯t have occurred to me only a few days ago, but my mental state had been violently shaken recently. ¡°That isn¡¯t something I can say with confidence. Weeks? Days? At least a few days, I would think, but that is not a promise. I pity her, but whatever she did to antagonize you was clearly poorly thought-out if you punished her so harshly.¡± There was nothing for me to say. All I could do was look at Yelah¡¯s body with a mixture of confusion and disgust. To whom that disgust was directed at was something I didn¡¯t want to think about. But even if I was being impulsive, my heart was currently beating more powerfully than my brain. If there was another option, I would be willing to consider it. Everything told me Yelah was the one, the best, most efficient, most sensible option. It would be a kindness, even, if the CBU was right and its containment would save her. Right? After all, it wouldn¡¯t do to have her body die the second we had to leave it for some reason. Sure, who knows what state her Mind would be in, but it would be safe. Or at least alive. I felt sick at toeing that line between a dubious mercy and my own convenience. What the CBU wanted to do wasn¡¯t to save Yelah, after all, but to achieve our goal of living in her body. I had to decide whether to take the easy route before it possibly closed forever. If I didn¡¯t, how long would it be before I could find a suitable vessel? Would I be willing to kill another person slowly to create one? Or was there some other way? ¡°I¡­ I am open to trying other options. I owe it to you for putting up with me and my selfish demands. But please. Waiting any longer, trapped and rotting¡­ it is a pain I no longer know if I am willing to bear. The test was a mistake. That taste of freedom did something to me. If we do not figure something out before Yelah dies, and we find that her body is no longer suitable as a vessel, it may destroy me. I beg of you, Enno. Please help me live.¡± Chapter 145 - Mind Beelowing ¡°By the Forest. What has it done to her?¡± I ignored Enfla¡¯s worried question and kept pacing next to a rock. It was stained black, but some brown and gray coloring was finally visible on its surface. The rains that had recently begun reminded me that there was still work to be done to make the inside of the hive look and feel like home. It was still a wasteland, and I had long since planned to change that. But it was among other things had overcrowded my Mind for too long. I needed focus, just like Feltan taught me. Thankfully, I had found that focus. Focus was strangely easier to come by when a single massive problem was staring you down like a hungry beast rather than when beset upon by innumerable little mosquitoes. ¡°The Highqueen was attempting to help a friend. By¡­ performing a ritual of sorts on the human. I suppose it accelerated her condition?¡± ¡°Condition? Do you mean death, Feltan?¡± Enfla was pissed enough that Feltan didn¡¯t correct her use of his regular name. I¡¯d been observing him ever since he and his friends appeared on our doorstep, so I knew. Elofan, Follo, Enfla, those were his closest friends. Like any good leader, Feltan¡¯s people were his weakness. But these three especially. They were the only ones besides his father that sometimes slipped, calling him by his name rather than his title, not that he didn¡¯t try to correct them. I hadn¡¯t informed him about the goings-on in Lemonholm and I didn¡¯t plan to, at least until that group was close or he was distracted. Thankfully, he kinda expected wild stories from Elofan, or so I imagined. She seemed like a bit of a wild card. Enfla, though¡­ It was pretty clear the dynamic these two had. ¡°Oh yes, very clear. Though you seemed quite surprised when I told you.¡± How does that even make sense? You¡¯re a bee. Bees don¡¯t love, don¡¯t have romantic attachments, at least not normal ones. And as far as the bees we know, you¡¯re as normal as it gets. ¡°Thank you for retaining your pigheadedness. I don¡¯t know what I would do if that trait begins to soak into me.¡± Oh, it¡¯ll get there, I¡¯m sure. The heated words being exchanged by the pair of fernen had already faded into the background, so I continued to think as I waited. What were my options for Yelah alternatives? As time passed, I felt the weight of her suffering ease off my Mind, and the guilt and panic faded away just like the conversation between the two star-crossed best friends. Whatever had come over me when a piece of me was replacing Yelah¡¯s Mind was soon to be gone, which would be good. Forget my focus, it was bad for my damn heart. And right now, we needed solutions, not tears. ¡°Ask the CBU. It seems annoyingly eager to solve my plight, surely for no selfish reasons at all.¡± I¡¯ve already tried, and all it wants to tell me is that Yelah is the perfect fit and any other option would be terribly inefficient or just impossible. Also, technically, your plight is entirely selfish. Not that that¡¯s a bad thing! It just is selfish! Being able to control your own body does nothing for the hive, nor does it do anything for anyone else. Ergo, selfish. Pretty big step for you, huh Queen? Bet you¡¯ve never done anything selfish in your life. ¡°Of course I haven¡¯t! Why do you think I am so distressed, you fool? Have some tact, man. I should want nothing for myself. Did you know, when a bee is close to death, their number one priority becomes to leave the hive? We do not want a disease or sickness to spread to the rest of the hive, so we leave our families and everything we have ever known to die, alone in the cruel world. And our death is a glad one, knowing we give everything of ourselves even to our last breath. ¡°My own mother sacrificed her life so that I and my sisters might escape. I watched as each of my fellow queens each died in flames and smoke, knowing only now that they too gave their lives to allow me, the youngest, the strongest, to escape. I felt the sadness of my eldest sister when I became injured. And all of that was not for me. I didn¡¯t intend to survive for me. The sacrifices, the sadness, that was all because the hive would not live on. ¡°So here I am. Alongside you in my head. I should be overjoyed. Overjoyed I tell you! At the fact that together, we have created a new hive, one that we will grow until our last breath. I should beg you to stop everything right now and do the most important thing a queen could do: make more queens. It has been bugging you, no? That we have been unable to raise Egg Making to the level we need? I think I know why. It is my fault. Deep down, it no longer became the thing I desired most. Desire is important, you know? But no. I want things. I want things for myself. I want a body to move, to see, to hug our children. More than anything, that is what I want.¡± I sat in silence for a moment, letting Queen rant. When she stopped, either to collect her thoughts or calm herself, I tentatively imagined myself patting her on the head. It was a weird thing to try and imagine, but it seemed to bring her back to reality. Hey, I mean, as a human, it works for us. As long as that selfishness doesn¡¯t get out of control, it¡¯s not all bad. And maybe selfish was the wrong word. I don¡¯t think it¡¯s selfish to want what you want. What can you do? We¡¯re gonna work tirelessly to get you what you want, and we¡¯ll get right back to being busy. No problem at all. ¡°It is a problem.¡± Somehow, she sniffed. ¡°Thank you for agreeing to help me. It is a lot, isn¡¯t it?¡± I can¡¯t lie to you, so yeah. It absolutely is a lot. But, hey. We¡¯re brain buddies. Pretty much the same human-bee hybrid over here, so how can I not help you? Just. One thing, if that¡¯s all right with you? ¡°Of course. I already know what you want, and although it is an equally selfish request, I promise I will do everything to make sure it is done.¡± A light tap on my shoulder made me turn, coming face-to-face with Enfla. Feltan was some distance away, kicking a rock like a scolded child, and Enfla looked like she wanted to give me the same treatment. However, she grit her teeth and spoke to me in a courteous manner.You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Highqueen, I understand you wish to know how long the human has left to live?¡± Yelah¡¯s voice called from behind, making Enfla jump. Even though she was dying, I could still use her Link just fine. How else was I supposed to talk to the fernen? Still a bee. ¡°Oh, yes, please. I¡¯m still impressed you sensed her condition before even I could. As far as I¡¯m aware, that¡¯s no small feat.¡± ¡°I have always been, ah, sensitive. It is not always a boon. Such a power makes it difficult to scold small children when I catch them doing something they most definitely shouldn¡¯t.¡± If I had eyebrows, they¡¯d be raised so hard right now. The best I could do was make my antennae twitch, and Enfla seemed satisfied that I got the message. Dealing with her was not something I looked forward to. She was way too unruly with me. And not in a way that justified Linking her, either. ¡°As for the woman, it doesn¡¯t look good. I give her a few days at most. If you wanted me to make a specific guess, I would say no more than three. Anything beyond that is luck or immense willpower. At the absolute best, she has five days, and not a minute more.¡± ¡°Well, no shortage of willpower there. I think I¡¯ll stay on the safe side, though.¡± Enfla looked at me, her eyes hard. ¡°You do not seem overly concerned, not that I would expect you to be. But that does clash against wanting to know how much time she has left to live. If you might graciously humor me, what do you intend to do? Her condition is not something that can be cured, though that is as far as my knowledge takes me. You are clearly a creature of incredible resourcefulness, but I would find it hard to imagine that even you know of a way to save her life.¡± ¡°Her life, I can save. Unfortunately, that way involves something a touch more cruel than some medicine and a kiss on the forehead. She would be losing something more dear to her than life. Permanently. I only ask you because I need to know how much time I have to explore other options.¡± ¡°Other options to save her?¡± I looked to the side at a squirrel. I had called the squirrel, one of the few creatures I had Linked that wasn¡¯t a human, over to the once-grotto when I resolved myself to try other solutions. As if it knew my intentions, a surge of survival instinct came over the squirrel, which I squashed. I just as quickly withdrew, though. Suppressing Minds too thoroughly through the Link was something I should probably get used to not doing, seeing the consequences. As if it were a small training exercise, I tried to make the squirrel stay still without being too heavy-handed in my control. This was going to be impossible for all the humans and whatnot. I looked back at Enfla¡¯s face, half turned and looking to Yelah. ¡°No,¡± I said. Come on. Just go inside. You know you want to. Get in the squirrel. Like a spoiled child, the CBU tried to refuse. ¡®No, I only want the yummy human brain!¡¯ I imagined it saying. Queen did not find similar amusement in my imaginings. Feltan and I had determined that this was now a me problem, and escorted me back to the village for a short parlay before sending me on my way. Rude bastard. It was like he and his girlfriend didn¡¯t want soul-crushing rituals and corruptions of the fabric of nature from happening in their backyard. No matter. I knew how I could do the Mind transfer stuff now, at least mostly, so I didn¡¯t need Feltan¡¯s help anyway. So, I had made my way back to the hive and settled at a familiar riverbank, only a little ways away from the central hive. None of the bees were around, all out in the forest or beginning construction work on the underground hive or working inside the central hive itself. Which was exactly what I wanted. I didn¡¯t want to admit it, but thinking of the bees was a little offputting to me right now. ¡°You have nothing to fear from our children. They are confused. Frightened. That is all.¡± I know. But the nerve of those kids! Did you see the way they looked at me? Why do you think I¡¯ve been locked in my damn room recently? Why I decided to do this thing for you immediately? ¡°I know. But it is still quite dumb. They still adore us.¡± That conversation didn¡¯t need to be entertained further, at least not now. Right now, I was focused on the task at hand, which was keeping the squirrel calm as we sent a supercomputer made of my brain into its head. Finally, the CBU relented, ultimately a tool at my whim. Just like with Yelah, I sent a single little box to explore its headspace, just a little experiment. I¡¯d let it roam around for a few minutes, testing the waters, before it deemed the squirrel¡¯s Mind suitable for further experimentation. The squirrel froze without my direct interference. Which was maybe a good sign? That or its little squirrel Mind was freaking the hell out right about now. As we waited, Queen hemmed and hawed while I thought about my stinking silly life. Not my current one, my current one was pretty alright, at least sometimes. No, I was thinking of my life before all this. It was sobering; I hadn¡¯t given my old life much thought in a long time, or what felt like a long time in the ever-busy life of the hive. Maybe Yelah¡¯s body was making me feel nostalgic. I found my thoughts drifting to my pens. It hadn¡¯t crossed my thoughts until just now, but I had hands again just a couple hours ago. If we end up taking over a human body, the first thing I¡¯d ask Queen to do with it was find a good stick to twirl between our fingers. The Shaft was a decent alternative, but it still wasn¡¯t quite the same. Even now, it spun lazily in the air, though I had to be careful lest I let it rise too high and puncture the dome. ¡°Is this really a valid option?¡± What? You get excited for a body but not when it¡¯s a squirrel? ¡°No. Well, maybe a little. But I mean more about its Mind. Would it really be able to handle us being in there?¡± The connection was strengthening, and the CBU was getting bolder, doing the same it had done to Yelah¡¯s Mind. Soon enough, it would allow us to see out of its eyes just like it had done for Yelah, but I was trying to be cautious, so we had let it roam a little just to make sure it was safe. That¡¯s the point of this experime- As I was about to respond, the squirrel¡¯s head exploded. And I don¡¯t mean that in a metaphorical sense. I mean little bits of blood started raining on my dumbstruck face. It was brutal, and it reminded me of way back when I had first come to this riverbed. This was the spot where I found water and hungrily devoured a boar carcass, though not before exploding the squirrel that had found it first with my inexperienced Mind squeeze. ¡°Oh.¡± Oh is right. Jeez, that was brutal. The squirrel¡¯s body was still frozen in place, standing and shrugging its shoulders. It died standing up, poor bastard. Ah, damn it. Did that mean the B-box we sent in there was gone forever? I felt for the thin, thread-like B-box attached to the CBU, which was supposed to be connected to the piece of itself it had sent through the Link. To my dismay, it was shattered and useless, cut off just like the Link itself. Which meant the Box it was supposed to be attached to was gone, scattered to the wind like so many bits of squirrel brain. I allowed the CBU to absorb the broken B-box and instructed it to grow another attachment. It seemed¡­ annoyed. Like it wasn¡¯t used to failure. Which, I suppose it wasn¡¯t. Not that I usually allowed it to try crazy shit independently. ¡°Great. Now what? Were there any more brilliant ideas?¡± Oh sure. Plenty. Eh, well, brilliant isn¡¯t the word I¡¯d use for them. But they¡¯re ideas. Chapter 146 - Vessel Hustle ¡°Well, at least that experiment was done with quickly. We simply do not have the time to waste on such frivolity.¡± I think you were understating how upset you were with the prospect of being a squirrel, Queen. Seriously though, I agree with the quick experiment being a good thing. But only because we¡¯re limited on time. Now, the fact that it was so quick because this poor squirrel¡¯s head just fucking exploded all over us was genuinely concerning. Instinctively, it wasn¡¯t confusing that a creature with a far less powerful Mind couldn¡¯t handle even a tiny slice of our own, and I hadn¡¯t really been expecting a squirrel to be Queen¡¯s new body. But to explode? It was a far more violent reaction than even the CBU expected. Seeing that shone Yelah¡¯s state in a completely different light. No wonder she was on the edge of death! But that her body could handle our Mind was telling in and of itself. Maybe her Mind needed to be taken out of the picture for it to work, but she wasn¡¯t going to freaking explode. It did also mean that the CBU original plan was seeming even more like the only possible option. If a creature¡¯s Mind and body couldn¡¯t handle a Mind as complex as a regular human, Queen and I had little hope. Even so, we were determined to at least try. Exploding heads be damned. Curious, I poked the CBU to see if it had any helpful data from the experiment, but it came up disappointing. Since it was connected to the piece of itself that had been sent into the squirrel, every moment of its adventures up until the sudden cut-off of the Link was meticulously recorded and being analyzed, but there was nothing helpful to be discerned. The creature¡¯s Mind was, as expected, far more simple than a human one, in ways that only really made sense thanks to emotion. It was also far less powerful, barely scraping by at Tier 0. All that seemed to happen was the same rejection as when we entered Yelah¡¯s body, but because of the far greater imbalance in power and complexity, the squirrel¡¯s body and Mind just couldn¡¯t handle it for very long at all, and boom. Mind blown. It did imply that other non-humans that had Minds far less complex and powerful than something like a human or fernen probably wasn¡¯t an option. Though, I supposed exceptions like the Vulch weren¡¯t impossible to consider. That brought up disquieting questions about the relationship between a Mind¡¯s power and their level of consciousness, but that really wasn¡¯t something I wanted on my philosophical plate right now. Perhaps if we could find a creature with a simple albeit powerful Mind, its body could handle us just fine? But finding such a creature on such short notice was unlikely, in my opinion. The only thing with a Mind even approaching our level was the Vulch, and he was something of a yet-unexplained oddity. Only humans and fernen compared, and they won out on complexity rather than power for sure. I actually hadn¡¯t even seen many other living creatures, now that I thought about it. Maybe one day I¡¯d find a dragon or something and then we could talk about alternatives to humans, but for now, what we had to work with was humans, fernen, squirrels, and bees. Unfortunately, pretty much all of those were out of the question. Another human was a no-go, and Feltan had made it pretty clear the fernen were off limits, though I wasn¡¯t inclined to use them for this anymore anyway. Squirrels were also out of the question, though more because I had yet to encounter a Vulch equivalent. A Squir, if you will. And bees? Well, without Queen buzzing angrily at the mere thought, I thought it was quite clear that I wouldn¡¯t brain jack my own kids to put one of their mom¡¯s brains in their head forever. At least, not one with a Mind. ¡°If you touch a single antennae on our children, I swear to the Bee, Enno, I will find a way to take over our body and turn your Mind to mush.¡± Simmer down, you dolt. You know I would never do that. All I¡¯m thinking is that there are some bees, like the drones or Linkers, that don¡¯t have a Mind in the same way the others do. Those are actual bees, like the sort that would normally exist in this world. I agree it gives me an icky feeling, but it''s better than blowing up more squirrel heads. ¡°¡­I suppose. Though it still feels wrong in a way. Are there truly no more options?¡± Well, the other thing we haven¡¯t considered is whether we could somehow create a vessel for you. Our assumptions have all been based on the evidence we¡¯ve found that says a vessel would need to have been proved to be able to handle containing a Mind, but the Vulch¡¯s White World, for example, is still a bit of a mystery. There was no discernible vessel there, and he was still able to take our Minds and put them somewhere. We might not know exactly how that worked, but it does imply we could have a vessel that isn¡¯t a living creature¡¯s body, necessarily. ¡°But how would we even begin to consider creating something so complex that it is reserved for the gods themselves? Do you fancy yourself a creator on equal footing to the Human, or the Fernen, or even the Bee? The only possible way we can create beings is¡­. No. No, you can¡¯t possibly be considering so unfathomably morbid.¡± It was just a thought. There¡¯s a few reasons I don¡¯t think it would work, though. ¡°Enno Cordano. I know the difference between the birth of humans and bees. I know how different the birth of bees is in this world, even to your own. But this may be a step too far. When we create eggs, we imbue in them Mind and matter, just as described in the Ability.¡± But that¡¯s just it. What if we could work around the Ability somehow? Make an egg or a bee only with matter? I mean, it¡¯s always seemed weird to me that our species¡¯ reproduction method is tied to a magical Ability instead of biology. Maybe, just maybe, we could create an empty bee body that¡¯s still fit to put the CBU inside and have it work. Queen buzzed uncomfortably at the thought. In truth, I hadn¡¯t come up with the idea, though I wasn¡¯t lying about being confused by the bee birth process. The CBU had actually picked up on it a long time ago and had devised this ¡®bee vessel¡¯ idea back in the original ideation phase when we were trying to think of ways to move Queen¡¯s body somewhere else. Only issue? The CBU was convinced it wouldn¡¯t work, and that didn¡¯t exactly inspire confidence. According to it, creating a vessel from scratch would require such an advanced understanding of Mind that we could meditate and study for a thousand years and still come up short. The problem mostly came from a lack of understanding of the requirements that went into a body and the connection to the Mind. The Egg Laying Ability made things easy. Just think about it, and a bit of Mind and matter could combine to create a bee, ready to go in a few short days.Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Maybe after testing with a drone, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to try this empty vessel idea, but it would easily take up the rest of Yelah¡¯s time, and then some. However, it was really one of the few other options we had. For now, though, I called over a single drone and single idle Linker, and hoped in my heart of hearts that I wasn¡¯t about to blow up a poor little bee¡¯s head. Remember, CBU. Quick little adventure, nothing crazy. Use the squirrel as a frame of reference if you need to. If these two were going to explode, it would be more efficient to leave and keep them alive so they could keep working. The two in question were a random drone and a random Linker buzzing in front of me, surrounded by dead trees. I¡¯d moved from the river bend further from the central hive, fearing that another bee might see me blowing up their siblings¡¯ heads. Though, to be fair, these were drones I was talking about. The other bees wouldn¡¯t bat an eye if a thousand of these drones were to fly into a wood chipper or something. Well, they might feel concern at the loss of an able workforce, but little else. As a human, it was strange to think about, and it was mixing with my more bee-like thoughts on the matter, muddying the water. But drones were, by every metric, truly disposable workers. They were more like robots than a fellow bee, and it was odd to think that without me, the entire hive would be filled with them, devoid of the strange and eccentric personalities I¡¯d come to expect. Even Queen¡¯s thoughts on this experiment were mixed, torn between her familiar sensibilities as a bee who knew that these drones were just that, and the mothering side of her who wanted to look away. ¡°I blame you for this, you know. Making me feel love and compassion and agony for my poor babies. Life is much easier when the things you birth have no thoughts behind their eyes.¡± These guys don¡¯t have thoughts, you know. I¡¯d made sure of that. I¡¯ve looked all over their Minds, even had the CBU specially process the information these two sent through the Link on the flight over here. Nothing at all. They¡¯re just two minimum Mind drones, nothing more. It didn¡¯t make it any less weird for my human side to cringe at the thought of blowing them up. To be clear, Queen and I agreed that all these thoughts and considerations were actually a weakness rather than a strength in this case. The power of bees was exactly that they were replaceable with little fanfare. Not disposable nor expendable necessarily, simply easily replaceable. Unlike humans, in most cases, it allowed bees to act like a well-oiled machine, focused entirely on the whole rather than the individual. It was all a survival tool uniquely suited to bees and their titular hive-mind mentality, allowing them to exist in a different way than humans. However, my dumb human-bee hybrid brain flipped everything sensible on its head. It was absurd for there to be indispensable bees in the first place, and now I hesitated to use the truly replaceable ones for their intended purpose: serving the interests of the hive and of the queen. Finally, I released the CBU¡¯s single B-box into their brains. The CBU was more than capable enough to test both bees at the same time, so all Queen and I could do was wait. ¡°Suppose there are other options? Like, what if we could somehow spread my - our - Mind into several creatures? Like many bees or many¡­ squirrels. Then their bodies could share the load and make up for their lack of complexity and power.¡± The CBU had considered that a while ago, too. Creating a sort of network of bodies and Minds, like another hive-mind. In that case, it determined that the risks and resources required made it a straight-up non-option. I mean, we¡¯re already risking a lot with just one vessel. Look at the squirrel. That chunk of the CBU, in other words, the energy we were spending through Mind to maintain the B-boxes that comprised it, is just gone. With Mind as a resource, it¡¯s something we can recover because it¡¯s essentially just energy, but that¡¯s a small scale. And what if we had allowed the CBU to do its consciousness transference process? Would a chunk of our self be blown away too? With something like Yelah, we understand the mechanics of the Link with a single being, and can have everything centralized in a single place. The risk isn''t gone, but it can be mitigated. The CBU thinks spreading itself out between many bodies would already be a significant investment of Mind, and losing that would have consequences, to say nothing of losing pieces of ourself like that. Besides, we¡¯re already walking in uncharted territory here. We barely understand why we can have a working Mind in another person¡¯s body in the first place. How would it even work to have a single Mind spread across several bodies at the same time if we can barely figure out one? The CBU¡¯s not convinced we could figure it out even with years of study, and I¡¯m inclined to agree. ¡°If you plan to move forward with the empty vessel experiments, though, is this connected vessel experiment so far removed in terms of feasibility? Why not try with the time we have?¡± I mean, we could, but two highly unlikely experiments at the same time is sort of pushing the bounds of reality. Even one of those is something we don¡¯t think is possible given decades, let alone days. Queen pouted, so I sighed and instructed to CBU to draw up plans for this ¡®connected vessel¡¯ theory alongside the already in progress blueprints for the ¡®empty vessel¡¯ idea. Between those two tasks and actively trying to clear up room in two bees¡¯ heads for us to inhabit them, it was more work than it had probably ever been inundated with. Even though it was somehow grumpy that we were delaying the most efficient, sensible, easy solution, it also seemed overjoyed at the opportunity to work on so many things. It whirred along, sending B-boxes flying all over our Mind, the newly formed section it had created to form a proper hexagonal prism being put to use at the fullest. It really was my greatest creation. Besides my kids, of course. Eventually, though, the expected results came to pass. Much quicker than it had taken for the squirrel, too. The Linker and the drone both began to shiver uncontrollably, still not expressing a single emotion as the CBU immediately retreated from their bodies, the experiment a failure. They collapsed to the ground, their breath slowly dying in their lungs. I watched as they curled up, and the Link connecting us faded away. If I wanted to, right at that moment, I could have given a single thought and barfed up two eggs in their place, replacing them in seconds. Instead, I used my Mind to dig a hole and bury them where they lay, an unceremonious affair. They would probably be the only drones I ever bothered to have buried. Chapter 147 - Then, Bees I discovered I was a liar. Over the next couple of days, dozens and dozens of patches of overturned dirt littered the forest, nearly reaching the riverbank. After the first failed experiments with an empty vessel, resulting in nothing more than expelled matter, and attempts to create a swarm vessel resulting in dead Linkers and drones, something had to be done. Rather than leave the bodies and vomit to rot out in the open, it seemed sensible to us to bury them as we went. As for the experiments themselves, well, I had held little hope for them in the first place, and as I looked down at the misshapen blob of orange goop with an ugly black spot at the center, the ticking clock weighed on me. The empty vessel, which I had expected to be the more promising of the options, proved to be even more problematic than we expected. Thanks to the CBU, we could multi-task just fine, allowing it to calculate ways to make the swarm vessel work while we attempted to create an empty vessel. Without Mind, it proved impossible. The matter I regurgitated was nothing more than waste. Gross. Even better, Queen was of little help, considering whatever I was trying to do was basically a bizarre, stupid version of what her kind evolved to do. We ultimately tried using Mind. A quick attempt at using the Ability to create an egg without a living bee inside, or even to create a ¡®dead¡¯ bee while omitting the egg, resulted in nothing happening. The Ability didn¡¯t even activate. And when that failed, we knew the only way would be to create it manually. As for that process¡­ I would describe it as an exercise in patience. One I frequently failed. Putting myself in the perspective of my old life, it would be like trying to create a functioning, living human body out of ground beef. Even if I had a perfect knowledge of human biology down to the composition of the cells, it would be an impossible task. It made absolutely no sense to me to make the empty vessel. Relying on Mind¡¯s capability to defy the laws of reality was the only way I could think to find success, but even that was beyond me. An Ability could do it, sure, but pure Mind didn¡¯t lend itself to the task. Even when I finally became adept enough to shape the matter into the form of a bee¡¯s body, it proved fruitless. There was no Link to speak of for the CBU to enter the ¡®body¡¯, Linkers couldn¡¯t connect to it, and to be honest, I doubted that a bee whose internal organs were replaced with misshapen globs of regurgitated honey would be suitable to live as. Simultaneously, we attempted to create a swarm vessel, and to be honest? The more we tried, the more excited we became. If it worked, it would be a far more appealing option to any of the ones we had thought of before. Who knew how flexible we could be if an entire swarm of drones housed our Mind? Unfortunately, to make it work, we ended up sacrificing much. Our first attempts were simple: have the CBU split the B-box it would use for preparation so that they would be less impactful, and synchronize the process between several drones at once. The downside of the swarm vessel was that it was far less intuitive than any other option. Even in the case of the empty vessel, if it were to be completed, it would be as simple as inserting our Mind into a single body. But spreading our Mind across several bodies at once, ensuring that they all worked at the same time, wasn¡¯t something we understood. And that was only the first problem. Even if we figured out how to get multiple bodies to work for a single Mind, the question of how many drones would be needed to host us still stood. It took a day for the CBU to figure it out. During that time, I just kept vomiting matter hoping to create the empty vessel, and meanwhile, the CBU performed tests independently. It split the B-box it used for host preparation into smaller bits, resulting in the deaths of ten drones. We had tried to ignore the line of drones waiting their turn to be guinea pigs, turning our backs to them as the CBU did what it had to do. The results were¡­ unfortunate. When the sun was setting on the horizon on that first day, it finally predicted that it would require over a hundred drones to host our Mind. And that assumed that the six B-boxes that made up the new portion of the CBU, in other words, the resources required to have a steady connection and transfer of Mind, would be consistent with what Yelah could handle. That was on top of assuming our Mind wouldn¡¯t become more powerful over time, that we could actually figure out a way to have the swarm synchronized, how we would split up the required portion of the CBU, and a host of other issues. Safe to say, I doubted we would figure that out in three - then two - days. Regardless, we tried. Boy, did we try. The CBU was working in overdrive, trying to conceptualize ways to synchronize the hundred required drones, at the same time optimizing the splitting of the B-boxes and connecting the drones together, performing small-scale experiments with ten drones and a miniature version of the B-boxes. Meanwhile, I just kept throwing up. A day and a half passed where we did nothing but toss shit at the wall and hoped it would stick. My current attempt was an egg, and it had seemed like something was working, but whatever it was, it definitely wasn¡¯t a bee egg. I carefully cut the sac open to reach the black dot inside, and all I found was a hardened lump of what was presumably once honey, corrupted and changed in some way by my Mind. Another bust, and the third day was creeping up on us. If Enfla¡¯s guess was anywhere near accurate, Yelah could kick the bucket in as little as a few hours. I turned to face my crimes and found ten drones buzzing calmly in the air. The CBU had been working on these guys for over five hours now, and they were still alive, which was promising. However, I could feel its frustration mounting. As far as I could tell, it was having issues figuring out a way to get the bodies to connect with each other. Which was odd to me. The Link was a connection, but as far as it could tell, having the Mind be separated between multiple different bodies at the same time wasn¡¯t possible with our current knowledge. It was different in some way from putting one half of our two Minds into one body, which made sense in a way. But we were already putting a combined Mind into two separate bodies, so clearly we were missing something about the connection between Mind and body, as expected.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Abruptly, the ten drones shuddered, and they, along with the twenty other drones waiting in line, began flying back to the central hive. As it presented its findings, Queen buzzed in annoyance. As it turned out, the CBU had no idea how to get the swarm vessel to work. However, it had come to the conclusion that not only was it possible to do, it was an incredibly effective option that would one day not only allow Queen to become a force of nature on her own, but could become a technique that could be used for a number of other use cases. In like 10 years. Yeah, the CBU was thoroughly pissed off because there were too many obstacles preventing us from getting the swarm vessel from being a viable alternative anytime soon. At our current level of power and the CBU current allotted Mind and complexity, it believed that if it were to do nothing but calculate, conceptualize, and experiment for over ten years straight, it would eventually figure it out. Of course, if we dedicated the hive¡¯s resources and intellectual power solely to this purpose, and I trained more heavily in Mind and learned more about the connection between Mind and body, then that timeline could be brought down by a lot. But for now¡­ ¡°I suppose the time has come.¡± A mental sigh escaped me as Yelah¡¯s prone body sat up. The safest route to take would be to not delay any further - anything past the third day was exponentially more dangerous to wait. At this point, even I could tell the state Yelah¡¯s Mind was truly in, and I couldn¡¯t help but wonder if Enfla was actually too generous with her guess. If Yelah survived the night, I would have to consider it an incredible miracle. My eyes were forcefully drawn to Yelah¡¯s. On the surface, she looked no worse for wear. It was uncanny, as if she could suddenly jump up and lead a revolution against the hive if I stopped paying attention for a moment. It was her eyes that stung me. As if looking at people¡¯s eyes wasn¡¯t uncomfortable enough, hers genuinely scared me. Seeing a person walk around, move their facial muscles, tilt their head, as their eyes were nothing more than glassy, faded orbs instilled a primal fear in my body. And that was now. Her friends already avoided her gaze when I first began suppressing her Mind. Maybe that should¡¯ve been a sign of things to come. The CBU had a simple solution for Yelah¡¯s Mind that would, theoretically, keep it alive: absorb it into the Combined Minds Ability. One day, if we learned enough about it, then maybe we could give her Mind back permanent control of her body, not needing the CBU¡¯s intervention. Theoretically, since our Mind would also be in her body, her part of the Combined Mind could somehow stay in there or something when - or if - she managed to recover. With a heavy heart, I buried the final experiment, the inert egg, but I did not despair. With the wealth of knowledge we gained from what could and couldn¡¯t work when it came to our capabilities with and without Mind, we would surely one day take the next step in improving our bees. The sacrifices of the drones weren¡¯t in vain either; eventually, we would get the swarm vessel to work and it would blow any human vessel out of the water. But for now, for the sake of Queen and the human that once nearly caused the destruction of the entire hive, it was time to combine some Minds. ¡°We still do not know what the final result will truly be like. It is possible that our minor test will not reflect the true outcome. Perhaps you will be left alone.¡± Don¡¯t try to talk me out of it now. This has all been for you. Don¡¯t worry about me, Queen. If you disappear, I¡¯ll manage somehow. Honestly, life would probably be so much easier. Always having you nagging me in the back of my thoughts. Maybe I¡¯ll finally have some peace and quiet again! ¡°¡­¡± Queen said nothing, and she didn¡¯t need to. Or rather, she knew there was nothing she could say that would actually comfort me. For some reason, here, looking at Yelah¡¯s dead eyes, it hit me I was possibly about to lose Queen for good. She said she wouldn¡¯t leave me alone, but so much of it was out of our control. It wasn¡¯t out of the question that she would prefer her own body so much that she decided to just abandon us. Just as I hesitated, a push came from a wholly unlikely place. Of all things, the CBU started flooding my thoughts with memories, mixing bits of my old life and the new. Sitting in my room alone. A feast with the bees. My mother¡¯s face as I walked out her door for the last time. Laying my first egg. The explosive end of my first - and last - relationship. Hugging the hive five. And then the backs of many people¡¯s heads, looking away from me. My mother. My girlfriend. The first friend I ever had. Yelah. The bees. My coworkers. The fernen. And a distinct head, simultaneously bald and hairy, yet perfect all the same. A human so perfect it shouldn¡¯t exist. The Human. ¡°I am ready whenever you are.¡± Upon hearing Queen¡¯s buzz inside my head, I steeled my heart. We had been forced together by incredible circumstances, mushed together against our will. There was no choice but to work together to survive, to grow, and to protect what we now held dear. Maybe it wasn¡¯t the most normal of friendships, but Queen and I were one and the same. I knew her as well as she knew me, and I knew from the bottom of my Mind that she would never leave me to rot. There were no bees around. The forest was quiet, the only discernible noises being Yelah¡¯s shallow breath and the quiet hum of the electric crystal spires. What we were about to do defied the laws of this world, and it was all so my friend could give her kids a big ol¡¯ hug. So worth it. This time, I didn¡¯t hold the CBU back. Instead of a single box, all six new boxes shot through the Link at once, working as quickly as they could. It rushed to contain Yelah¡¯s Mind, doing everything in its power to prevent her death. Her shallow breathing became clipped, and her already hazy eyes glazed over. I felt my control slip and suddenly found myself unable to control her body. Her limbs contorted to odd angles, her neck snapped back and forth violently, dangerously, as her muscles spasmed uncontrollably. My Mind became engulfed in flame. Air caught in my throat. White blurred my vision. Yelah¡¯s body fell to the floor. Dirt rubbed on my face. Our teeth ground painfully. Two heads throbbed. Then, peace. Chapter 148 - Beeline between Life and Death [The Bee¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª] [The Bee¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª] [You have¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª] [The Bee has agreed to undo their actions.] [The Dragon has used Divine Intervention! The alerts have been hidden and erased.] The verge of death. As usual, the irony of a dead man¡¯s soul saving a dying bee wasn¡¯t lost on me. But the ingredient of death was only now making itself obvious. Every Mind we had absorbed had been on the verge of death, and while I wasn¡¯t sure why that was the case, I knew that, when it came to Mind, life and death were the keys to understanding the secrets that the Bee had discovered. Not that there was anything I could do with it right now; all I knew at the moment was that this feeling of peace I had reminded me of that hazy time I spent in that endless river of lights. It didn''t last. As clarity returned, I saw two things at once. There was Yelah¡¯s body, face-first in the dirt, taking shallow breaths. And there was dirt in my eyes. I watched, without making a move myself, as Yelah - or rather, our new body - shakily pushed against the ground, spitting up clumps of dry soil. The CBU was pumping away full-force, ensuring that Yelah¡¯s actions were a reflection of Queen¡¯s intent. I felt my human arms push against the ground slightly too hard, making me land on my butt, but I wasn¡¯t moving them. Queen was. ¡°Great heavens.¡± Yelah¡¯s lips didn¡¯t move, but I still heard Queen¡¯s voice in my head. Of course. We were still a combined Mind, so it was never like she was actually leaving in the first place. It was such a strange sensation, though. Like the most visceral possible form of an out-of-body experience anybody could ever hope to¡­ experience. Thank the Bee for the practice we¡¯ve had seeing and hearing and controlling other creatures through the Link at the same time, or we would be totally discombobulated by this situation. Not that we weren¡¯t feeling sick and confused. Queen flopped onto her back, making odd twitching motions with her shoulders. Was she trying to fly on instinct? Her thoughts were a whirlwind, the alien sensations and movements of her body overwhelming her brain, only making her poor attempts at human movement even more awkward. I watched her flop around for a bit more, certainly not relishing in her plight. Maybe it wasn¡¯t fair of me to think so, but seeing someone else struggle to get the hang of their weird monster body was a bit exciting. Would she figure it out? How long would it take? What struggles would she need to go through for her to become accustomed to the ridiculous, foreign situation? ¡°Goodness gracious. This is such a disquieting experience, Enno. Everything feels warm. Yet warm at the same time? And my limbs are wobbly. Gosh, my neck! It wobbles! Also, why can¡¯t I see properly? Everything looks dull and lifeless. And narrow. Ah! Where is behind me? I think I am going blind.¡± A familiar tug pulled on my memory, and I felt years of experience flow through my Mind, everything from my first steps as a baby that I didn¡¯t even remember all the way to the casual walk through the city streets on the night of my death. That cheater! She was using my professional decades-long career as a human to get used to her human body! Her twitching and flopping slowed to a stop, and her neck every so slowly craned up to look at me as she lay on her back, arms and legs splayed. ¡°And what stopped you from doing the same with me, you dork? Have no fear; I am perfectly capable of acclimating myself to these conditions. Eventually. Anyway, how does it feel for you? To be trapped as I am?¡± Though her words dripped with catharsis, she wasn¡¯t being malicious. More like petty. Like when we did the first experiment, I did, unfortunately, find myself trapped in Yelah¡¯s body, unable to move or breathe or do anything at all. Everything her body did happened at Queen¡¯s command. It was¡­ disturbing, to say the least. It wasn¡¯t like when we watched through Ben¡¯s eyes to observe a scene out in the forest or something like that - that was more like watching a movie or tv show. This was far more tangible, quite literally, as if an outside force was taking over every fiber of my being. In that case, the irony was indeed lost on me. But, sad to say, my experience would probably be nowhere near as torturous as Queen¡¯s, considering I still had a body to control. Well, even if I wouldn¡¯t have as bad of a time as she did, the whole point of this was giving Queen freedom. So now she had it. Or was getting used to it. For so long, she had been relegated to the background, almost tossed aside to make room for me. She still didn¡¯t have the vindication of having control of her own body, but this was the best we could do for now. One day, we would make things right, or maybe we would become so ingrained with each other that we wouldn¡¯t think it mattered. But for now, her humming and deft flexing of her new fingers told me she was happy even with this paltry, temporary compromise. Plus, knowing her, the first priority wasn¡¯t affected by things like justice or fairness. It was about time that the family properly met their other Mother. ¡°Are you mad? There is not a chance in hell I would meet my children in this state. Help me get the hang of this fleshy thing first, then tonight, we can have a delightful dinner as a family.¡± I sighed. Of course. I turned to lead her over to the river, which would probably be as good a training ground as any, and I didn¡¯t move. Hm? ¡°Is something the matter?¡± A bit of panic rose in my chest. I tried to turn, to float in any direction, but nothing happened. Experimentally, I waggled my antennae, my legs, and butt, and it was all fine. I was still in control of Queen¡¯s body. But I couldn¡¯t move. My concern mounting, I tried to pour a bit more Mind into moving. Nothing. The percentages didn¡¯t move, my Floating Lock didn¡¯t change. I was stuck, floating in the air, the Float Lock doing its basic job but leaving stranded in suspense.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. What the hell is going on? ¡°You cannot use Mind? Let me see.¡± Abruptly, my body jerked to the side, then I went upside down. Hey! What the fuck? ¡°Huh. Huh? How is this possible?¡± I shook up and down as Queen rolled onto her stomach and crawled towards me. If I didn¡¯t stop shaking soon, I was going to waste plenty of good egg-making material! In desperation, I reached as deeply as I could, and with as much Mind as I could muster, forced myself to stop freaking moving. Abruptly, I froze mid-shake. It worked! I heard a bit of a worrying crunch and got the breath squeezed out of me, but I stopped getting tossed around like a dog¡¯s chew toy long enough for Queen to realize her mistake. Oddly enough, though, the stopping force seemed to originate from somewhere else. ¡°Oh dear. I¡¯m starting to feel ill too. Sorry about that, Enno. But more importantly, what in the world is happening? Am I controlling my Mind? Like, truly, properly controlling my Mind?¡± It¡¯s my Mind too! I gulped down my nerves and whatever else was coming to the surface and tried to figure out what the hell was happening. But it didn¡¯t take long, because oh so conveniently, the CBU had a very precise answer. We were jumbled up. Queen¡¯s Mind and my Mind were so inexorably tied together that, of course, we were stuck with each other regardless of how many bodies we had. I knew that. That was the whole reason I was stuck feeling my noodle arms dragging my human body through the mud and couldn¡¯t do anything about it. What it hadn¡¯t anticipated was the effect on our Mind, as in, the magical psychic powers that governed this world. Queen flexed her fingers, and I concentrated, and, from Yelah¡¯s body, a tendril of Mind slowly reached out and grabbed a random stone lying around. I twitched my antennae, Queen concentrated, and a hundred pebbles shot into the air, uncontrolled and spinning wildly. I let out a worried moan. Across from me, Queen¡¯s new human vocal chords giggled. This was going to be a nightmare.
It took a few hours for everything to fall into place. I tried to make sense of what the hell was happening with our Mind. Much of that time was spent upside down, as Queen had no idea what she was doing with our excessively efficient Mind. On the way to the river, I eventually just used what Mind I could to just carry the both of us, so as not to overwhelm her. Queen, with my instruction, began to practice controlling her human body doing simple actions, light exercises using the lazy river, and studying my time as a human. She technically had some practice with such a thing, but that was manipulating Mind to move individual body parts or muscles or whatnot. Now, she had to learn how to crawl and walk and talk. Like a baby. What had happened was, on the surface, quite simple. There were probably some complicated esoteric mechanics behind why or how, but the gist was that Queen had almost complete control of our Mind, originating from her original bee body. Any Locks or Abilities, I could still technically manipulate, but it took so much concentration it gave me a headache. But tapping was the real problem. I couldn¡¯t tap our available Mind from her body. Which was the body I controlled. And that was probably because, for some reason, anything I tried to do with our Mind spread outwards from Yelah¡¯s body. [Combined Mind: Acquired by: Attaining the impossible feat of hosting multiple Minds in one body Impossibly, you have multiple Minds within your body. This unique trait caught the gods'' attention, and this Ability was granted. Efficiency of Mind = Base Efficiency x Number of Minds. Mind Efficiency: 5x ] Now, that was one of the nice things. Yelah¡¯s Mind had, in fact, been brought into the Combined Mind Ability, so it was still rattling around in there. Somewhere. That meant all our numbers were even better than before, which I would never complain about. However. It didn¡¯t fucking matter! Because I could only use 5% of our Mind at most! That was no exaggeration. I tested it. Thoroughly. Through Yelah¡¯s body, I could only tap into 5% of our total Mind. What was I, some sort of replacement for the stupid-ass Life Lock now? Which was still 5% by the way. Now, to be completely fair, at our current level of power, 5% wasn¡¯t a small number at all. Based on how much Mind it took to lift the Shaft and carry it over Yiwi back when the Combined Mind efficiency multiplier was 4, with it being 5, I might just barely be able to lift the Shaft with this 5%. It was a bit of a toss up, and I didn¡¯t want to try it for fear of dropping it, but it might just be possible. That meant I was in the realm of superhuman, as compared to the average human in this world. Even most mercenaries didn¡¯t have the capability of such a feat on their own. Queen fell face first into the river and began to drown. I tapped my chin. This whole body-takeover thing had already caused a host of issues and had proven more complicated of a problem by the minute. This new variable was totally different. It wasn¡¯t a setback or even a problem. Just¡­ weird. A quick yank brought Queen¡¯s head above the surface as she gasped for breath. Pulling her up was trivial for our Mind, requiring fractions of a percent for me to do. I tried to right myself, as I was still upside down. My body was currently several meters away, nearing the old tree line, and exerting my allowed Mind from that distance wasn¡¯t hard at all. However, keeping an eye on my usage, it was definitely more than had been needed to stop Queen from going to visit the river of lights. I knew Mind usage was affected by distance, but the concentration and usage I exerted was absurd compared to when we used Mind from our bee body. Maybe the body had something to do with it? Queen coughed up water, letting her thoughts clear before she spoke. For a moment, she seemed to think, her human head even turning slightly as if listening to something, but eventually, she simply coughed again and hummed in my head. ¡°Ack. I would¡¯ve appreciated some help a bit sooner. The CBU has been thinking the same thing, hasn¡¯t it? In my estimation, we had already theorized about the connection between bodies and Mind before. One Mind, one body, correct? What we are trying to do goes beyond even the ordinary unnatural. We are still a single Mind, not entirely whole, attempting to be two bodies, one and/or two Minds. Though my share of Mind is the one ¡®inhabiting¡¯ Yelah¡¯s body, your Mind must still play a part. I am not sure why things have turned out the way they have, but if the piece of our Mind responsible for making this possession work inhabits Yelah¡¯s body, it makes sense that this piece can only act through her body as well. And since it is not the body where our actual Mind inhabits, well. It stands to reason that it would not be nearly as effective.¡± Sensible. Sensible, but I still could scarcely believe it was the case. It meant that now, all of a sudden, I could only do a fraction of what I was capable of before with Mind. And Queen could do infinitely more. Not that I was tapping Mind to do much anyways. But it would make every action of ours a million times more complicated. We¡¯d have to coordinate our bodies and Minds in such a way that I wasn¡¯t even sure was feasible. And if Queen¡¯s body was ever far away from our main body, we¡¯d somehow have to keep everything from falling apart, work together, and manage our life simultaneously. In perfect sync. I thought having constant company was exhausting. And the universe went right ahead and gave me overtime. Chapter 149 - Effectivebee. Efficientbee. Endlessbee. Queen was getting good at walking like a zombie. Her arms were always in front, ready to catch her should she fall, and her walking motions were exaggerated to the point of being laughable. But I didn¡¯t laugh. Not that Queen walking like an abnormally large baby wasn¡¯t funny, but I was busy thinking about our next moves. As a whole, our new Mind situation wasn¡¯t debilitating in any way, rather just a change that we would have to adjust to. Since Queen and I could work in tandem essentially at will, it just meant that I actually had more of my conscious mental faculties to focus on things other than laying eggs and whatnot. I still had to make it work, of course, but the Mind part was up to Queen now. If anything, I was happy she¡¯d be able to take an active role in that sort of stuff, it being her original purpose and all. But it would be strange to only be able to manifest my power through her new body. Much of my thinking, often rudely interrupted by Queen¡¯s shouts of triumph and subsequent desperate splashing, centered around how best to manage Yelah¡¯s body. If I thought about it as a vessel for my Mind, it honestly seemed pretty awesome. Ignoring the limitations on our Mind usage I had, having a remote-controlled point where I could use our power at will was actually kind of a game changer. We could walk her into Yiwi and exert our influence even more directly, or even do something like venture to Lemonholm to take care of business. I wasn¡¯t limited to sitting my butt in the hive all day, just spitting out eggs! On the topic of spitting up eggs, though, that was at the forefront of my thoughts. We were already quite busy, with a mountainous to-do list, but most things were either being taken care of or pending, thanks to something out of our control. The forest restoration was soon to be properly underway, once the fernen began to move back in, our hold in Lemonholm was shaky, but otherwise about to bear fruit, the squad who went to Lemonholm were well on the way, and the various projects being undertaken by our bees were progressing nicely. As for things out of our control, well, there were an uncountable number of those. I had no choice really but to plan and take them in stride. But of all the things that had to be done, now that Queen inhabited another body, the next major task was looming. And she was the one who apparently had the key all along. ¡°Yes, I do think it was my thoughts preventing us from creating new queens, but it doesn¡¯t take away from the fact that we have yet to level up the skill to the required level. Which is itself part of the problem. Is it the coveted level 4, the one we have been prevented from reaching after all this time? Or am I wrong, and the requirements to reach level 4 are actually so absurd?¡± Considering that Queen existed, meaning her mom was able to reach the level to make queen eggs, I highly doubted that the level requirements were so insanely prohibitive. It was entirely possible that, although level 4 was the one we were being blocked from reaching, level 5 was the actual level we needed to arrive at, and her feeling had just begun to block our progress at that point. ¡°That is actually how I have been feeling, too. In my opinion, we will be able to create new queens once we achieve level 5. It is just that level 4 happened to be blocked off. Even so, we must still break past this barrier, and then discover the requirements to reach the level after. It will not be so simple as creating a massive number of eggs, of that I am certain.¡± Queen spoke as she walked, forcing herself to put her arms down to give off a more natural vibe. Her movements were shaky, but she was picking it up quick. For the first time in a long time, as I watched her nervous stomps slowly transition to a confident stride, I was reminded of the way we appeared in the Vulch¡¯s white world. That was the only time I saw Queen as her original Mind meant for her to be. Regal. Majestic. Powerful. Compared to me, a wisp of smoke. Practically a dark fart. ¡°Oh please, you are not a fart. Give yourself some credit. At the very least, you could be a light breeze, or a cloud of gnats. Perhaps a dust bunny.¡± The comedy club was back in business with this new body of hers. But the situation with our Mind made that original image comparing Queen and myself truly tough to swallow. Was this some sort of restoration of the status quo? Of how things were meant to be? Where I was the chump and Queen was the one who was meant for greater things? Or was it just some highly unfortunate bout of cosmic irony? Perhaps I was giving myself too much benefit of the doubt, but the latter would be pretty par for the course. A shadow loomed over me, and I looked up to see Yelah¡¯s eyes looking down at me. Queen had already become so adept that she had jumped from the river and jogged to where I was floating. I noticed the strangest thing; it seemed like her pupils were a bit fuzzy. Like they had been squished awkwardly, and were taking on some sharp edges. Almost akin to a hexagon. She still needed some work on appearing natural, though. Each of her movements, while improved, still felt forced and uncomfortable. Sometimes I had wondered what it would look like for a creature that disguised itself as a human, knew how humans acted, and yet still wasn¡¯t really a human would look like emerging ominously from the woods, but I needn¡¯t imagine any longer. The horrific creature was already standing here, staring daggers into my very essence as a human being. ¡°Good to see my duet at the comedy show hasn¡¯t totally collapsed. Now we should go. You no longer have to perform your solo act. It is finally my time to stop being your mirror to bounce material off of and have my own time in the spotlight.¡±
Despite her clever callbacks and tacky metaphors, Queen was sweating bullets standing outside the window to our room of the central hive. None of the bees had noticed her yet, even though several of them were working inside the hive right now. The whole way here, she had been reciting, by heart, the words she planned to say and the things she wanted to once she met the bees for the first time. She¡¯d been planning this moment since we first birthed Beatrice, and despite that, she was having her first mental crisis as a human. Good for her! ¡°Beatrice will be here any moment now. Oh, why her? She¡¯s the most complicated one to deal with. I still haven¡¯t perfected my speech for her to demonstrate all of our shared virtues and my graciousness. Perhaps we could start with someone easier. For instance, um, Beau, perhaps? She would be sure to appreciate being the first to meet me.¡± Right. She was also the most likely to not notice your existence for a solid ten minutes. Beatrice was our firstborn, so it was only natural for her to be the first to meet her other mother. It wasn¡¯t planned or anything, but she also happened to be the most level-headed. And it would also be funny seeing Queen try to deal with Beatrice directly. Bee knows how much trouble I had, and lucky Queen had only ever had to deal with her through the Enno-filter, so now she had nobody to hide behind. ¡°You smug prick! All you want is to embarrass me!¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Mother?¡± Queen made a choking sound and snapped her neck towards the new voice. There, in all her glory, was Beatrice, ready and waiting to turn Queen into a pile of mush. I did notice that her ¡®glasses¡¯ were slightly crooked. She¡¯d been running herself ragged trying to deal with the tumultuous inner circle of bees the past few days, not least of which included the Valkybees that Bedivere was allowing to spar freely. A lump formed in my throat, considering it was my fault the most influential bees were currently undergoing something of a revelation. I could only hope that I could now find the strength to put myself in front and take responsibility. Beatrice, usually dismissive of humans, slowly turned her head towards Yelah. It was subtle, considering her range of vision meant she didn¡¯t actually need to turn her head to see her at all, but it spoke to how confused she really was. For a moment, nothing moved. Beatrice¡¯s mental gears kicked into overdrive, trying to understand what was going on. Eventually, all she could do was say two words. ¡°Also Mother?¡± It had given Queen enough time to steady herself. Now, at the moment of truth, her heart steeled itself and her body responded. Our Mind was clear as glass, made smooth like an unnatural ocean. She stepped forward, ready to give her big speech. Beatrice¡¯s, while imperfect, was particularly long, I knew. It was designed to be a test of her wit while simultaneously demonstrating Queen¡¯s own, showing Beatrice from what part of us she had emerged from. Truly, it was an ode to all things Beatrice and Queen, lauding efficiency and planning and an innate curiosity that drove them to into a fervor, much like the kind that brought Beatrice¡¯s maps to life. In all honesty, I couldn¡¯t help but admit that the speech was beautifully crafted, something I was almost jealous that a bee could conceive of when I could barely conceptualize a ¡®thank you¡¯ to the convenience store clerk. All of Queen¡¯s prepared speeches for the bees were like that, but Beatrice¡¯s was a thinker. Studying great speeches over a decade ago in high school sure did come in handy for something. It was smart, beautiful, perfectly succinct yet verbose, and masterful in its design, a work of art sure to impress even the stony countenance of the frightful Beatrice. Queen immediately threw it in the trash. ¡°Good work, Beatrice.¡± Said bee was frozen in place as Queen used new human arms to wrap her in a tight embrace. It was picturesque, though maybe it was only beautiful to me because I knew what a beat-up, soggy, depressed-looking human woman hugging a dog-sized bee meant. I watched with pride as Queen finally got what she had so desperately craved. And it seemed that, for Beatrice, who was melting into the admittedly outputting soft flesh and warm-blooded hug, the same wish was coming true. ¡°Thank you, Mother.¡±
¡°Good work, Beck.¡± ¡°Good work, Bess.¡± ¡°Good work, Belle. ¡°Good work, Bedivere.¡± ¡°Belial. Behemoth. Belphegora. Beryl.¡± The line that had formed stretched into the forest. Queen spared no expense, hugging each bee for as long as they wanted, not rushing or cutting one short a single time. After that first hug with Beatrice, confused about the annoying water pouring from her eyes, Queen was determined to do the same with every bee in the hive. Not as a big group hug, but a one-on-one special moment. Unfortunately, the only one who could organize such a thing had become something of a blubbering mess. Those three words had taken the impenetrable Beatrice and wrung her like a soaking towel, and Queen had no remorse for her actions. She simply made the announcement of her arrival through the Link and waited as every bee in the hive instantly dropped what they were doing to swarm towards the central hive, desperate to meet the rumored second mother. I mean, what could possibly be better than their beloved Mother, who was, unfortunately, in a bit of hot water with a few select bees at the moment? How about two? It was a bloodbath. For the first time since they were born, Beck stopped humming to listen to Queen¡¯s three words. Bess turned into a frozen statue. Belle regressed back into a newborn child, and Bedivere¡¯s stoic act lasted only halfway through the ¡®work¡¯ before he crumpled like wet paper to the floor. There were similar stories for each subsequent bee, no matter how young or old they were in hive time. Buzzes of desperation echoed from the faraway bees, from Bella and the others stationed at Yiwi, to the cries of the recovering, traveling Lemonholm squad. To them, Queen promised that they would meet without seconds to spare; the Lemonholm squad once they arrived and the Yiwi bees as soon as the Lemonholm squad returned. Each bee reacted differently. Funny that even with this, they were unique. The Valkybees were similar to Bedivere, trying to be stoic, but they broke down differently. Behemoth just stayed silent, breaths shallow. Belial freaked out and started flying around to burn off energy, and Belphegora plopped down and started wailing so loudly some trees probably got uprooted. Contrary to what I expected, Beau wasn¡¯t oblivious to Queen, and although she tried to start yammering about her inventions, as soon as Queen touched her, it was like all her breath suddenly escaped her lungs for the next hour. Becky was like Beck: silent. But she also started slamming her legs into the ground once she let go of Queen, like she was curing the world for every moment she hadn¡¯t spent with her other mother. And Bessie was, funnily enough, the total opposite of Bess, twitching so violently I was almost concerned she would need to be hospitalized, though it turned out she was just making tiny holes in the ground to put her legs in and ease her excitement. Completely normal. There were so many. Beryl was oddly normal, just crying, with a peculiar tendency of patting Queen on the back over and over. Bend was interestingly muted, unlike his fellow warriors who cheered and whooped and sobbed uncontrollably, though he lost control of his strength and would have crushed Yelah¡¯s bones had I not interfered with my Mind. Not that either he or Queen noticed. Each unnamed worker and warrior was decidedly less distinct than the named ones, though why that was I couldn¡¯t say. But that wasn¡¯t implying they weren¡¯t unique. They were; each bee had their own mannerism or word of appreciation or form of crying or laughing or breathing. They were just less¡­ exaggerated. And Beatrice was still laying on the ground, her legs tucked in, looking into the sky and occasionally, under her breath, muttering the same words of thanks she had first spoken over an hour before. All the while, I floated behind Queen, thinking to myself. I felt Queen¡¯s radiant happiness as if it were my own. Technically, I suppose it was. Maybe that wasn¡¯t fair, since this was what she wanted. Needed. And I was taking part in it despite it not being mine to partake in, intruding on her moments. That was what I was, wasn¡¯t I? An intruder. But that couldn¡¯t be considered my fault. It had just happened. I had to do what needed to be done, and I¡¯d continue having to do so. If anything, Queen wouldn¡¯t even have had the opportunity to have this wish fulfilled if I hadn¡¯t butted in on her death in the first place. Who was I to both create and fulfill her wishes? The breeze whistling through the broken forest quieted for only a second before picking up again, stronger than before. Queen¡¯s hadn¡¯t been the only life my appearance here had turned upside down. The hive I created. The vultures. All the people in Yiwi. Yelah. The fernen. Now Lemonholm, and those Somuian Knights. There was a chance the Knights would succumb to their injuries, but I found it unlikely. Whether because of them, the MIS, or the inevitable break in the news of Yiwi, I was sure to come into conflict with more humans eventually. For now, things were stable. Finally. Not that I expected them to stay that way. Whether it was weeks or months or years, Somuia would come crashing down on the forest. And I still had to be wary of everything besides. Dreva was a mystery, Rikitan a wildcard. I tried to enjoy the pleasure of Queen¡¯s moment, but I couldn¡¯t. I could only think of what needed to be done. For the first time since my arrival in this world, I asked the CBU for a particular favor. I wanted it to hide a thought from Queen. Not a big one, as I knew it had encountered trouble with such tasks in the past. Just something small. Surprisingly, it was quick to agree, and ready almost immediately. As if it had done such a thing before. Quickly, as Queen had all focus on her merciless slaughter, I gave the CBU my thought, to lock away and throw away the key so that Queen might never know it passed through my head. ¡®I will be the little cloud she needs. No matter how dark or smelly. We will do what needs to be done. Effectively. Efficiently. Endlessly.¡¯ Chapter 150 - Interlude 3: Interlude Bee Sewing the Leaves Rooftops and streets blurred below me, and I paid them no heed as I raced over the tall buildings of the inner city. By the time the ringing sound of my feet tapping a metallic tile rose high enough, I was already gone, several homes away. I had to reach the river gate to the inner city. The presence I¡¯d just felt would be there at any moment. Behind me, a collection of similar footsteps rang out, doing their best to keep pace with me. They had felt it too. All Knights had access to the barrier that surrounded our great capital, and so they¡¯d felt what I had. The rest of the Royal Guard were up to their noses in work, so I was the only one who would be arriving. Before me, a sprawling cityscape appeared over the rooftops. It stretched further than the eye could see, a beautiful sight I still to this day could not help but stop and admire. Not this time. Without hesitation, I leapt from a building onto the high wall, startling a guard, and jumped right off the edge. It was a long fall, enough to give me a moment where my thoughts could clear. What I had felt was a Knight Commander. And he was on the verge of death. A light kick off the wall sent me hurtling through the air, sending me straight towards a small crowd that had gathered. The subject of their interest seemed to be a small, beat up-river boat, all steel and buoyant metals, not an unusual sight to see from upriver where farms and small settlements lined the banks all the way until Yiwi. What made this particular boat so intriguing was the sense of foreboding that emanated from its passengers, a sense of danger so strong it was no wonder the small crowd comprised hardened former soldiers or guards or lawmen. A quick glance revealed other onlookers were, in fact, forming a far larger gaggle of eyes, but they kept a fair distance out of fear from the sickening feeling emanating from that boat. I ignored it. Pushing past gruff men and surly women who shut up the instant they saw me, I reached the small vessel and stared at a ghastly sight. It was the team of Knight Commander Greyan. I may have been an oddity among the Royal Guard, but I had made it my mission to not only know the name of every Knight in our force, but to understand each one. It was a risk, as our job was inherently dangerous, and these people I came to know and love could die at any moment, but it was a price I shouldered, for the sake of my myself and our troops. As a result, I looked upon the faces of Greyan, Meyara, and Herwen and fought to hold back tears. Meyara was the only Knight not worse for wear. Her eyes were bagged and her skin saggy, but other than bruising and various fresh scars, she would be in fighting shape with little more than a proper rest period. Her portable armor, which she still wore, was dirty and unkempt, much unlike her. Herwen was entirely disfigured. The prim man, once proud of his appearance, was marred by ugly burn scars all over the front of his body, much of it infected and oozing pus. His hair was completely gone, leaving him only sporting bandages and the marks of an angry flame. And then there was Greyan himself. The man sat perfectly still, cross-legged, wearing only the torn undershirt of his uniform and a pair of baggy pants. He was caked in grime, and sweating so profusely it would be fair to assume he had fallen into the river. Angry red veins crept up his neck, reaching like claws for his face. Most strikingly was his Mind. It was like a beast unchained, most assuredly the source of fear for all but the most steel-hearted. The monster threatened to lash out and crush the heads of the onlookers in its jaws, but it thrashed against itself, not moving an inch. And yet, his closed eyes and that smooth, child-like face of his marred by the starkly contrasting dark beard were as serene as the warm ocean waters. Most unlike the other figure sitting beside him. Her eyes, too, were closed, but her face wore a scowl so fierce it nearly put me on edge. It was a face vaguely familiar to me, perhaps one from a trip to Yiwi or Lemonholm. She was an older woman, ragged as the rest, and the entire front of her neck was wrapped in red veins identical to ones Greyan wore. Her Mind felt similar to Greyan¡¯s as well, but even more controlled and far more sinister, like a snake lying in wait that was currently just a little overeager to find prey. Without warning, a trio in neat suits jumped from the crowd, grabbed the old woman from the boat, and slunk through the crowd, disappearing into a nearby alley. It was so sudden and quick that many people nearly didn¡¯t notice, and those that did had to rub their eyes to assure themselves they weren¡¯t seeing visions of madness. My sorrow turned to ash. If the MIS was involved in this, it didn¡¯t just make things more complicated; this could be disastrous for the already rocky relations between us. What had those pricks gotten my Knights involved in bringing them in such a sorry state? I approached the boat and knelt, staring at Meyara. She turned her head up to look at me. Her eyes were sad. Angry. But not defeated. ¡°What happened, Meyara?¡± The proud Knight looked at me, refusing to look away. But her eyes darted to the side for the briefest moment before she spoke. ¡°Our mission to Lemonholm was a success. We found the source of the poisoned shipment of lemons.¡± ¡°I think you know that I am asking for more,¡± I said, keeping my voice measured and soothing. ¡°Lord Feyomo¡­¡± Meyara hesitated. ¡°We encountered far more resistance than we expected. Mercenaries arrived after we did, and we came into conflict with them. The townspeople too. A group of them, they were¡­ They were executing and sacrificing their own townspeople. We were honor-bound to stop them. But¡­¡± I noticed that the place her eyes kept darting towards was a sheet covering something at the front of the boat. Without checking underneath, I knew what it was. Greyan¡¯s squad was selective. He only had three pupils. Herwen, usually chatty, hadn¡¯t stopped staring at the sheet, as if he were memorizing every bump and wrinkle. The stone block of the riverside walkway I¡¯d been gripping for support crumbled to dust in my hand. ¡°Meyara. I will be unfair to you. Before you have time to debrief, or to grieve, or to help Greyan¡¯s critical condition, I will ask you this. Who?¡± Meyara looked towards the alley, the one the MIS had run through. They were involved, far more deeply than they should ever have been. But when I saw Meyara¡¯s eyes again, they told me a story. Something else had happened there in Lemonholm. The MIS, the townspeople, some random mercenaries. None of them explained this. I asked her again, this time with only a wisp of my Mind. She looked at Greyan, as if remembering an instruction of his. She most likely was. The only thing I heard was a whisper. ¡°I¡¯m not sure.¡± Unsatisfied, but finished, I reached into the boat and grabbed the sheet with the touch of a feather. As I brought her to my chest, a rush of activity sparked into being around me. Soldiers and medics had finally arrived, hurriedly taking Greyan and Herwen to the nearest hospital. Meyara was taken too, but she refused to be carried, holding her head high as she walked. Her debriefing later might reveal more, but if I was reading her right, she did not want to reveal the true nature of what had happened in Lemonholm without the word of her Commander. Valiant to be sure, but with me being the one asking her, Greyan¡¯s word was moot. I hadn¡¯t pushed out of respect, but it was the incorrect move on my part. All the same, I didn¡¯t care in the slightest. My procession was slow. I wanted time to think, to distract myself from the bundle in my arms. As I thought to myself, I hoped the Knight I carried could hear the thoughts in my Mind, letting her in on some of the dull and ever-nerve-wracking responsibilities of the Royal Guard. The MIS had become too big of a problem. We had confided as such to the King many times over the last three years, but each time he assured us he had a method of controlling their organization. They deferred to him, so I did not question his wisdom, but their actions had been increasingly worrying. It wasn¡¯t just this new development at Lemonholm. I had information from traveling Knights and various mercenaries that the MIS were operating with an overabundance of power in their jurisdictions. Worse, they seemed to undermine the Somuian Knights at every turn, even taking advantage of the Burning. But that all paled to the rumors that they were helping undermine the country itself, selling information and sensitive secrets to the Empire or Dreva or even to that President of the west. Those were only rumors, but if true, it meant that the Kind had truly lost control of them. And if he hadn¡¯t? It meant the King was specifically instructing them to undermine his own army of Knights. I couldn¡¯t decide which was worse. The only relief I had was that, at present, both the Knights and the MIS were being forced to work together for a common goal. Unfortunately, that relief ended there. Because this common goal was perhaps the strangest, most horrific mystery that had ever touched Siniwan in its thousands of years of history. For weeks now, the entire city of over a million residents had been terrorized by a figure of nightmare. A humanoid creature with a voice like crumbling boulders, covered head to toe in stitches that held its body parts together only loosely. When it first appeared, it was easily dismissed as mere hysteria. Now it had appeared over a thousand times, sometimes in a dozen places at the same moment, reliably and only with the warning of its haunting songs. People had been attacked, being left injured, though no lives had been lost. The true evil of the creature was fear. It was intentionally making people afraid, interrupting business, disrupting livelihoods, making people lose sleep and spreading a flood of ever-disturbing rumors. Children refused to leave their homes, and schools had been closed for days. As it turned out, many of their parents agreed, shuttering their windows and boarding their doors. Despite the precautions, the creature could even appear within people¡¯s homes, appearing and disappearing mysteriously, scaring families half to death before stealing their meats and cheeses and drinking their wine, trashing their homes, and in the worst cases, leaving behind trails of blood that emanated a smell of horrid death and which could not be cleaned by even the most invasive of techniques. The worst of it was an entire square that had to be permanently shut down and was being considered for destruction and reconstruction. That one was a grisly sight. Even I, who had witnessed battlefields, could only go into that square for at most a few minutes before I had enough. Ghastly. There was no telling what this spectre was, where it had come from, or when it would be gone. The King had commanded that it be removed, as it displeased the Human, but we were all at a loss. The clink and tap of greaves and boots behind me were of the same people who had been flying with me across the rooftops. As my solemn march took me through the gates into the inner city, and we headed up towards the castle where the Tomb of the Knight lay, several other pairs of feet joined behind. All told, only about twelve of the fifty Commanders followed me. I could guess which they were. They were some of the Commanders still stationed in the city. The ones missing, who weren¡¯t outside the city, did not hold our ranks in sentimental value. I didn¡¯t fault them for it, even if it filled my mouth with an unpleasant taste. Scores of Knights fell in line as well, and a procession formed. I would lay this fallen Knight to rest myself, and I would hope for retribution. This was the weakness of knowing every Knight.
Partition of the Sea A spear slammed into the ground a few meters away, blasting dirt into the ditches me and my fellow snipers sat in. I moved to rub my tired eyes, pausing only to wipe the grime from my face. I failed; my uniform was in a far worse state than my face. People scrambled behind me, shouting orders and curses and not much else. Captain Ront was there, using our location as a temporary command post. I didn¡¯t have to turn towards him to hear the exhaustion, what with him constantly moving in the back lines. Well, some back-line this was. Spears don¡¯t land a few meters from a back-line. The raw strength of the orcs made me shudder, and yet I focused, looking along Death¡¯s Gaze some kilometers towards the trenches on what were supposed to be the front lines. Carnage. Pure chaos. The colors of the Empire and Somuia blended together, sometimes not so smoothly as just jostling each other in confusion. Clouds of smoke tried to obscure my vision, new puffs constantly flying from the barrels of their guns. Most were older models. Only some Riktish foot soldiers had newer pieces. Even more held long pole arms, somewhat more economical than equipping every soldier with a firearm. Not that the soldiers cared about that. Whether they stood ready to have their arms turned to jelly by a large orc impaling itself on their weapon or sat desperately firing into an orc¡¯s uncaring belly, your average soldier would - and was currently trying to - kill for a position like mine. I watched people scream, shout, and spill blood by the hundreds every day. Sometimes by the hour. The tiny push we¡¯d managed against the orcish forces with our arrival, spurring the Somuians and scattered Riktish onwards with renewed hope, hadn¡¯t lasted long. For days we had sat at a stalemate, but with my eyes I saw a grim future. The orcs had begun to congregate, forming clumps some distance away, preparing to deploy more of those abominations. We¡¯d tried desperately to mount offensives to move deeper, but it was the same problems we¡¯d encountered since the war began that ground our progress to a halt. Just as I began to think of the problems, they reared their ugly heads. A formation of orcs holding battered metal shields broke from their ranks, marching steadily forward. The shields were held by a smaller type, and I could see they were a squadron escorting a larger specimen forward. That was one of the behemoths that wore metal armor so thick it could be used for a ship¡¯s hull. They also sported the quirk of having only one eye, though their stature couldn¡¯t be mistaken for any of the other types of orc. ¡°Squadron, on me. You see that formation? Prioritize the big one. Do not, I repeat, do not shoot to incapacitate. Destroy the brain. Only shoot the shield-bearers if the infantry gets overwhelmed. I repeat, do not shoot to incapacitate. Destroy the brain.¡± ¡°¡±Yes Commander!¡±¡± As if they needed to be told, but I was under orders to mention it every single time. The early days of the war had caused some inane precautions, which only told me how terribly things must have been early on. Carefully, I aimed for the tiny opening in the behemoth¡¯s helmet, waiting for the right moment. It had to die immediately, and its brain had to be completely destroyed. A tall order. I took a breath. Held it. And fired. My gunshot was the signal for the rest of my squad to follow suit, and a hail of sniper fire rained on the behemoth. Most shots pinged off the armor, much like the bullet rain of the infantry on the shield bearers. But mine and a few other shots struck true. The behemoth slowly fell, and I let my breath escape until something caught my eye. One of the shield bearers in the back of the formation was bleeding. ¡°Shit. Prepare a volley!¡± I didn¡¯t know if it was one of my snipers being inaccurate, or if it had been injured by the gunfire on the ground. But the orcs were ready to take advantage. Three orcs in the formation heaved the behemoth onto their shoulders and used it as a makeshift shield, making a sudden mad dash forward to draw our fire. And one lone orc clasped the hand of the injured one, touched their horns together, and ripped its head off its shoulders. The sight was now familiar to me, but familiar didn¡¯t mean comfortable. While soldiers panicked at the mass of screaming metal and horns and impenetrable skin running at them like a warship with the wind, the orc holding its comrade¡¯s head chucked it along the ground towards the trenches. I fumbled with my ammo, cursing all the while. There was nothing in the chamber. None of the others would be able to make the shot. The head rolled into the trench, and it was only in the final moments did a pair of troops notice. They didn¡¯t panic. Their bodies went slack. The orc¡¯s head split in two and a trio of dark green lumps exploded from the skull. A fraction of a second passed. The lumps squirmed and expanded. Another moment. Protrusions became arms and legs. The next moment, a head formed on each lump. The next, horns sprouted, becoming finger-length growths. It took no longer than a second for the three newborn orcs to become fully grown. They wore no armor, and their horns were small to show their age. But they were already several heads taller than the soldiers in the trenches, their skin tough as hardened leather. The infantrymen could hardly react before massive fists caved in their chest plates like flimsy sheets of light metal. The newborn orcs sowed chaos in the ranks, and the advancing group had the chance to descend upon our forces. I stopped rushing. As calmly as I could in this situation, I slotted ammo into Death¡¯s Gaze and prepared to salvage the increasingly chaotic section of our line. It wasn¡¯t the first time something like this had happened since I¡¯d arrived, and it surely wouldn¡¯t be the last. We still didn¡¯t have a good way to deal with the orcs¡¯ reproductive method, and until we did, the war would continue to drag on. From what I heard, people had known about the orcs¡¯ cycle of death and birth before the war, but the consequences hadn¡¯t been felt until the fighting began. When an orc died, it was only seconds later that their head would split open and at least one new orc would emerge from their brain, fully grown in moments. This was the reason, despite our superior technology and organization and resources, that the orcs had turned a scuffle into an all-out war involving the largest countries in the world. Their numbers grew constantly and rapidly. Even a newborn orc could produce multiple new orcs immediately upon death.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. It was a miracle that such a conflict had never come about before. Many thought we had been lucky, but it seemed obvious to me that if the only way to birth new beings of your kind was to die, a population of long-lived creatures would probably avoid reproducing. Who knows what prompted them to attack us? ¡°Oh Human.¡± Captain Ront¡¯s breathy curse snapped me from my stupor. My fingers were still inserting ammo as I looked to see what my commanding officer was so concerned about. Honestly, I wish I hadn¡¯t. Three gigantic metallic spheres rose from the ground several kilometers away, rippling and throwing the occasional sparkle thanks to the sun behind the darkening clouds. Three. It had taken days to destroy one of those abominations. The clumps of orcs below them surrounded a thin pillar of metal that each rose to meet the spheres, widening as they touched. My squadron cried in despair. When it had first appeared over a week prior, the sphere had been called a Moon of Death by most soldiers. Eventually, as the name was passed around enough, it was shortened to be referred to as the Death Moon. Now, most simply called it the Doom. The surface of the closest Doom rippled, its liquid metal exterior rippling up to form dozens of spikes of metal. Then it fired. Explosions dotted the front lines as spikes of solid metal flew through the air at blinding speed, the spikes each as large as an orc itself. A single volley heralded death. I watched helplessly as the other two spheres began their slow advance, helped along by the clump of orcs at its base. They were exceptionally slow and would take days to make any decent progress. But the Doom raining its storm of death upon us was as far from the front lines as I was, and the difference in power was overwhelming. My hopeless gaze was trained on the Dooms, even as I fired at the newborn orcs still tearing through our poor troops. I had to aim for their eyes to destroy their brains quickly enough; their skulls were too thick to destroy. Only a few members of my squadron did the same. I eventually let my fear get the better of me and looked over my shoulder. Captain Ront sat on a portable stool, rubbing his temples. The chaos had actually died down, perhaps for a sense of defeat. These three Dooms would not spell the end of the war, far from it. But by the time they were destroyed, it was likely that we would not only lose the progress made in the last several months of hard-fought battle, but we would be pushed back further than the frontier had ever gone before. ¡°Commander?¡± One of my snipers looked towards me for advice. Or orders. The look in her eyes was one of confusion, on a desire for someone to tell her what to do. Several of my other squadmates did the same, looking to me for our next steps. And what the hell was that supposed to be? Even Captain Ront was at a loss from what I could tell, and they expected me to have an answer? The Dooms were solid balls of metal with only a single orc at the center, constructs larger than buildings with an outer layer of liquid metal that wasn¡¯t affected by our guns in the slightest. Our long-range guns barely had the power to kill a larger orc, and they wanted to know what we could do against that? Even if we thinned the clumps, I was the only one accurate enough to kill the smaller orcs whose Minds were the cornerstone behind making the Dooms function. Spikes buried soldiers by the dozen. More orcs advanced. Even some medium-sized orcs moved forward, emboldened by the Dooms. It didn¡¯t take my eyes to see the wave of despair flood our ranks. People ran, retreating before any order was given. Some officers gave the order regardless. I tried to wipe the grime from my face again. When I raised my gun, it shook too much for me to get an accurate shot. My heart was beating too fast to shoot. My squadron was panicking, asking me for orders, or turning to Captain Ront behind us. I almost felt as nauseous as when I sailed. All I could do was focus and use my eyes, looking at the battlefield. The scattered orcs advancing, the reflections of the light from the Dooms, the remnants of the forest far to my left and the increasingly stormy sea to my right. Thoughts of the sea flooded my Mind. Perhaps it was my Riktish blood. I did love many things about the ocean, except being on or in it. Even storms. The storm brewing beyond the rocky cliffs caused waves to reach the top, massive gusts of wind growing stronger and stronger. My eyes narrowed. The storm was getting worse too quickly. It was unnatural. There was even a massive waterspout rising from the surface, growing by the moment. I looked closer. Something was lodged into the spinning water, something that looked suspiciously like a gigantic warship. The storm was moving towards us, and so was this giant tornado of water. Straight towards us. ¡°Captain Ront?¡± My voice cut through the din. Or at least, it did for Ront. He glared at me, his patience at wit¡¯s end, about to scold me before he saw my pointing finger. When he looked towards the sea, it took him a moment to see what I saw. It was still far, after all. Once he did, his face transformed, from tired, to confused, and slowly, to a look of utter revelation. He stood sharply from his seat, startling the officers surrounding him. Others noticed the storm and pointed and whispered, but none had tears fall as Ront did. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± Ront said. What did he recognize? Why did nobody else know what approached? I strained my focus like never before, trying to see what it was on that ship-like object that had turned Captain Ront into a wooden plank. It was a truly massive galleon, lined with so many canons it seemed more like a spiky metal seashell than a ship. Sailors in neat uniforms sprinted across the deck, somehow keeping their footing despite the fact that the ship was being pulled about by a tornado. As if it ignored the laws of the ocean, the ship sailed the waterspout like it were a wave, and the spout almost seemed to follow the ship rather than the other way around. The storm itself actually seemed to follow the ship, the clouds swirling above the ship itself. No. Not above the ship. For some reason, it escaped my notice, but there was a massive pull of Mind originating from the front of the ship, right at the tip of the bowsprit. What I saw there made my breath catch in my throat. A figure clothed in pure white, brilliant white cape flapping in the violent wind. The cape turned into the wind itself, whipping up clouds and water and rain. Her arms were crossed, and she stood nearly twice as tall as an ordinary person, and similarly wider. Muscles strained against the uniform, as if they tried to contain her strength. And the white was far from pristine. Splattered across the boots and gloves and shirt and pants was the unmistakable dark red of dried blood. My breath was about to return to me before the figure¡¯s head turned sharply, looking straight at me. My Empress tilted her head slightly. She nodded at me. Knew I was looking. Then she crouched. And then she jumped. Against the darkness of the swirling clouds, she was a speck of white that flew like a bullet, heading straight for the middle of the battle. The storm followed her, as if she were bringing the storm behind rather than being carried by the wind. More people began to notice as torrents of water somehow reached the battlefield, gusts threatening to blow objects away and rain cold and sharp enough to bruise. The chaos behind me died down as more and more saw the flying Empress. By the time she approached the ground on the front line, my surroundings were entirely silent. A column of dirt blasted into the air when she landed, a crater forming at her feet. The wind surrounding her kicked up more soil. It swirled around her, mixing with the water and wind and grew larger and larger. I heard gasps. I heard sobs. Calm, as if she were the eye of the storm itself, the Empress strolled towards the largest congregation of orcs. They knew no fear, and charged without regard for their lives, knowing that if they died, dozens would take their place. Although she was enveloped in the storm, I watched as the Empress calmly wound her fist and threw a simple punch. Her fist was a blur. I couldn¡¯t see it. But I did hear the crack of thunder that followed. When her fist flew, she was still far from the orcs, but it didn¡¯t matter. Wind and water shot forward like a canon, the force of her punch or her Mind or both flying towards the orcs; their armor and tough skin and skeletons were powerless in the face of the Empress¡¯s power, their heads bursting or their entire bodies being flung away like feathers in the wind. Some orcs did die without having their brains destroyed, and new orcs were born, but the Empress simply continued her advance, throwing punches and destroying everything in her path. Despite this, the orcs were relentless. The Dooms changed course, and the one firing at the trenches shifted towards the Empress. The hail of spikes concentrated, bringing down a barrage so brutal it would have destroyed a small fleet of warships. Not a single spike reached the Empress. They blew away in the wind, they missed her entirely, they stopped centimeters from her face or she simply batted them away with the back of her hand. The spikes never touched her. Even the ground never touched her boots. She was cloaked in the storm flowing from her cape; the storm was her sword and her shield. Once again, she crouched. And once again, she jumped. No longer did she appear like a bullet. She was a ray of light, bright and beautiful, hurtling towards the closest Doom like a ray of accursed lightning. Kilometers were crossed like mere meters. My eyes must have been playing tricks; the Empress flew into the Doom¡¯s metal shell and out the other side, blood and liquid metal sloughing off her coat of storms. The Doom faltered, still active thanks to the Minds of the clump of orcs at its base, but with its internal pilot dead, we stood a chance to destroy it. By now, not even a minute had passed. Silence had overtaken the back lines, the only sounds I could hear being the crash of thunder and the howling of the ever-deadlier wind. A wave of energy flowed through me, and I could feel those alongside me feel the same. It was like the ocean itself had swept away our fear and despair. Salty air and a fresh breeze wafted through my Mind, and although I wasn¡¯t a fan of sailing on the sea, that blue expanse resonated with something deep inside me. I kept my eyes trained on the Empress as I spoke. ¡°Captain Ront.¡± The man had been just as, if not more captivated than the rest of us. I knew few who were as enamored with the Empress as he was, so unless I said something, he might¡¯ve stood and held his hand over his heart for the next few hours. My words nearly didn¡¯t reach him, but maybe I underestimated how much he cared for my words, because he snapped his stupor to look at me. ¡°An unexpected miracle. I do not know why or how the Empress has arrived here, but she will surely not stay for long. Attention! Follow the lead of the Bloody Empress! She will guide us through the storm, and we will take this chance to advance. Send word! As long as the Empress is here, we cannot lose! Forward!¡± ¡°¡±Understood!¡±¡±
Discourse of the Damned [THE WEST IS DAMN DANGEROUS] ¡°Hey Bear, is your message about the west getting more urgent? Annoying piece of shit won¡¯t leave me alone.¡± ¡°Indeed Sir Beaver. Perhaps it may have something to do with this project of yours. It was already beginning to feel more concerned once we crossed the mountains, but it was only now that you so enthusiastically began to build that it has become so insistent.¡± ¡°Hell no. I need to build these dams, you know? I get stronger when I do. I don¡¯t give a shit about the west stuff as long as I get strong enough to deal with whatever the messages are so uppity about.¡± ¡°But the last time you created one of your dams, did the humans not find and capture-¡° ¡°Shut up! That was because I wasn¡¯t strong enough yet, obviously. Now that I¡¯ve made several dams, my Ability is getting stronger, and I should be able to deal with whatever bullshit is so scary. Besides, haven¡¯t you felt it? I know I have.¡± ¡°You mean the lessening pressure? Yes, it is true that I have felt it less, but that may not be a good thing. Whatever lives in that forest down there may just be hiding itself. It may even know we are here. Are you not afraid that they rely on the water from this river, and may come searching for why its flow has lessened?¡± ¡°Nah. Like I said, I¡¯ll just be strong enough. And you better be strong enough, too. You been training like I told you? You better be.¡± ¡°Indeed I have, though my Ability seems unfit for my body. I feel most at ease when using Mind to enhance my physical strength, but my Ability is completely different.¡± ¡°Right. But that¡¯s good. Look, your Ability is super weird, but that¡¯s a good thing. When something is so specific like that, it means it must be really strong. Just get better at using your Mind for your strength at the same time as making the Ability work, and you¡¯ll be able to protect me, no problem.¡± ¡°You are quite a selfish man, Sir Beaver.¡± ¡°So what? Everyone is selfish. There¡¯s no such thing as the opposite. Even if you¡¯re nice, it''s for a selfish reason.¡± ¡°How pessimistic.¡± ¡°Damn right it is. Anyways, have you had any more of those dreams?¡± ¡°Hm¡­¡± ¡°No, I really believe you now. I mean, that crazy bird thing on the mountain turned out to be real, just like you said. Come on, tell me. I need to use you to your fullest.¡± ¡°You truly are a selfish man, Sir Beaver. Well, my dreams have become less focused as of late. More scattered. I have seen the continent, though not in its exact form. There are dark spots everywhere, like the ring of fire, or the city in the north, and especially this ruined forest nearby. There was a town I saw, one completely surrounded by lemons. It was terrifying, a place of fear and anxiety, and in my dream I saw it crumble to dust at the hands of two dark warriors, one small and one large. There is the city to the east, from where we came, and cities in the far west, full of confusion. But the focus of that dream was not those cities, but the island to the south, and the ocean trying to swallow those cities whole. Speaking of the southern island, it was there I saw my clearest vision. It was a man surrounded by books, sleepless and desperate. I saw exactly what he was studying; it was truly strange. Languages and structures, relics and maps, all connected to a person with long, willowy limbs and ears far sharper than any human I¡¯ve yet seen in this world. But the final vision¡­ It was the middle of the continent. A beacon, reaching into the heavens. The beacon shone silver and was surrounded by angels. And at the top, I saw a person. They beckoned me, and I wanted to join them, but I was pulled back to this accursed body by a mighty growl.¡± ¡°¡­You know, maybe I don¡¯t believe your dreams after all. Except the last one. That¡¯s legit.¡±
The Ninth Plague I desperately lapped at the puddle in the crack of the rock, not knowing when water would next drip from the stalactite above. If I didn¡¯t drink the puddle fast enough, it would boil. I hated this goddamn cave. It was hot and dark and loud and completely lacking in ice cream. Oh, what I wouldn¡¯t give for some soft serve. I¡¯d take a popsicle at this point. Suddenly, the rocks shuddered beneath me, and my heartbeat picked up. My ears twitched, and I flexed my throat, the only way I could see properly. I flapped my wings and prepared to take off and hang upside-down from my hidey-hole near the roof of the cave, but I paused. There was still water in the puddle, but a few more gulps of water weren¡¯t worth encountering one of the dragons. The sounds that bounced from the cave walls revealed a massive shape approaching. For a split second, I thought it was my friend, but I didn¡¯t feel the scars or misshapen, tiny limbs, or the oversized ears and bulbous eyes. No, this was one of the well-breds. Without another moment¡¯s hesitation, I took off, landed in my hole, and clasped my feet to the moss above. I wrapped myself in my wings and stayed still as can be, ignoring the other bats cowering nearby. One of them had scars all over its body, and I nearly lashed out. That was the fucker that tried to mate with me way back when I first arrived in this hell-hole. Before I could kick him out of my hiding spot, though, the cave rumbled, emanating a deep growl that shook me to my bones. I could hear when the dragon turned the corner, but without echo-locating properly, there was no way for me to get the finer details and identify which dragon it might be. But in this case, I didn¡¯t need to. The footsteps, the labored breathing, the unique smell of smoldering summer fruit. Just my luck. Not only was it one of the well-breds, it was one of the Saint Drivi, the closest confidants and advisors of those priestly guys. I then realized that the dragon¡¯s footsteps weren¡¯t the only ones moving about the cave. These were much quieter, more of a shuffle and a drag of a robe. Which meant one of the priests was here, too. Just my damn luck. ¡°Our visions are becoming clearer, Minister. The Ancestor grows anxious the longer the Dargonix is missing. It has told us that without it, the country will sputter to embers and be swallowed on both sides, by the sea and by the land. If you do not find it, divine retribution will fall upon not only the Valu, but the Valautu and the Valauroghtu as well. Even you may see consequences at Their great might.¡± The dragon¡¯s words were deep and solemn, and it was all I could do not to scoff at its idiocy. If I could see properly, I was sure the priest guy would also be trying to hold in a snort. As someone who lived in the dragons¡¯ caves, I knew that whatever bullshit they spouted about their visions of the Dragon were total fabrications they convinced themselves were totally real. I was convinced the Ministers were well aware of that fact too, considering what I knew about them. But they placated the dragons and their fantasies for a million reasons I couldn¡¯t even fathom. With a start, I realized that the dragon¡¯s voice was familiar. It was one of the first I had encountered when I was reborn in this cave as a bat, a massive beast that towered over every other creature in the caves, the humans barely being the size of its head. With scales of dull red, it was one of the few good-looking dragons around. It was the same one that had betrayed me and nearly gotten me killed. ¡°Of course, oh Lord,¡± the priestess said. ¡°The entire Ministry has been searching tirelessly. We believe the Dargonix is still within Dreva¡¯s borders, and it is only a matter of time until the thief is captured. It would be a great boon if the Saint Drivi could use their wonderful gifts to assist us in our hunt. Even the smallest hint from the Dragon would do wonders.¡± The woman¡¯s voice dripped with contempt, though the dragon didn¡¯t seem to notice. It was odd to me. From what I¡¯d heard, Drevani worshiped dragons. And yet, at the very top of their organization were the Ministers, all thirteen of which seemed to hate the dragons who lived in the caves. They were apparently the only ones. It had confused me to no end; after all, why bother being the head of a religious organization if you hated them? Sure there would be some personal gain to be had, but wouldn¡¯t they tire of the act? Become frustrated? That was until I found out the truth. That the Ministers - or at least most of them - were the most ardent fanatics of anyone. The dragon coughed, in a tone that definitely oozed pride. ¡°Remember the teachings. The Ancestor values strength, intellect, and wisdom above all. It cannot give us all the answers. I know humans still desperately seek to attain our heights, but without the Dargonix it cannot be done. That is why it must be found.¡± ¡°¡­Of course. But on other matters, has the Dragon sent you any visions related to our list?¡± ¡°Hm? Oh, of course! Yes, of course. Ah, there was one. About the Human. Yes, it is quite angry indeed. Caution must be had when the Human is about. And the other items were mentioned as well. The ocean will indeed come to swallow our flames, if nothing is done. The Empress fights as we speak, always covered in the blood of her enemies. And the King! Yes, the King of the land hungers for more as he always does, eager to consume us.¡± ¡°Right. And the Everrail? The forest? The Spiral Spire?¡± The dragon coughed again. This one was not prideful. ¡°Indeed, those have appeared as well. The Everrail, that transport, is, ah, vulnerable. Ripe for the taking, though you have continuously failed to do so. The forest is still dark, covered in ash and dead for centuries to come, of course. And the Spire-¡± Suddenly, the dragon went silent. The priestess froze, and so did I, as if I wasn¡¯t being still enough. The dragon actually knew something about that. It was rare, but they were still dragons. Sometimes their knowledge seemed to surpass what should be possible, whether because of some latent power they had or because the Dragon actually spoke to them, doubtful though it was. When the dragon next spoke, its voice was no longer that theatrical solemn tone, but a nervous quiver. The true face of dragons. ¡°The Spire calls to them. It flashes like lightning in the clouds, calling the lost ones home. The Human¡¯s children, spread across the world, trapped. Helped by the traitors. They cannot be allowed to return, lest the Human¡¯s reign reach the next plane. Two approach from the east. One fights desperately in the south. Two sit relaxed on the island. One advises in the west. A dozen have perished, stolen from the Human forever. Somewhere unknown the mysterious one lives, slowly enveloping the world in its home, the only one unswayed by the Spire¡¯s call. And one¡­ one is here.¡± My breath caught in my throat as I felt both the dragon and the priestess spin around, surely searching for me. They knew I was here somewhere. If they caught me, they¡¯d probably kill me. What the dragon spoke of sent shivers down my spine. It was describing the hazy visions that sometimes crossed my eyes, of a silver tower flashing with bright light. Something about it felt comforting to me, but whenever it appeared, a distant screech pulled my attention back. Was that the Human calling me, like the dragon said? Who was the traitor that kept me trapped here? Of course, I knew the answer to that question, even if I didn¡¯t want to admit it. Because if I admitted the Bat had brought me back to life, I would have to accept that I died. And if I accepted I had died, I would acknowledge what had happened. The violence. Finally mustering the courage to leave him. Drinking just a little too much to celebrate. Celebrate and forget. Getting in my car. Driving. The crash. The screams. My life leaving my body. And the final moments, when I saw that because of what I had done, an electrical pole had broken, had fallen, and hurt someone who had just been walking by. Chapter 151 - She’s a Killer. Queen. Only the sounds of light buzzing in the hive and Enno¡¯s ever-present drowsy muttering interrupted my thoughts as I looked up at the stars. Since obtaining this vessel I could now call a body, the days, even weeks, had flown by. A feat I was wholly incapable of. It had nearly been a month since I first met my children face-to-face, and so much had changed within the hive, and I could not be more proud of my darling little children. Our numbers had grown tenfold, dwarfing even the hive my mother had once created with our limited understanding of the world. Enno¡¯s tireless laying of eggs at everyone¡¯s - especially my - behest had brought us a truly wonderful family. Each bee worked tirelessly at their chosen task, content knowing that their good work would go unrewarded. Well, except for the time I opened in my schedule to pass them by and flash them a smile of the Mind. It had taken more than an entire week just to learn how to approach each bee in this body, only for me to realize that distracting them during their work made them woefully inefficient. Alas, I was the only thing in this world I suspected that could draw their attention so. Thankfully, once the outpouring of adoration receded from their Minds, they engrossed themselves into their work once more, which I appreciated. It was nice to be loved, but it was truly great to see my children supplanting this world¡¯s original facade with the fruits of their labor. As best as I could, I folded my arms behind my head, as a person was wont to do when they wished to relax themselves. Of my experiences in this form, familiarizing myself to the quirks and intricacies of human behavior was by far the most complex and most frustrating. Every time Enno sent footage of my practice to other humans under our control, he had himself a nice laugh at my expense. Not that I bothered getting him back for it, since it was some of his only respite during the day-long egg-laying sessions that had become his norm. Every time they criticized my behavior as overly masculine or ¡®like a puppet controlled by a prancing chicken¡¯, I simply sniffed and turned my nose. It was not my fault that all of my knowledge and practice came from a bozo originating in an entirely different world. I could study the movements of people all I wanted, but the part of my Mind that was Enno held decades of experience already, and it was difficult to break myself from those habits. Besides, they suited me just fine as long as I could move about and have pleasant interactions with my children. Why waste time conforming myself to these creatures¡¯ norms? Unfortunately, my left arm was bent at an uncomfortable angle, so my attempt to relax was for naught. Such discomfort brought memories of my first bad experiences in this body. Embarrassing myself by tripping over a stone the very day after hugging all my children in a wonderful line. The looks of disgust thrown my way by ever fernen I encountered, sharply poking into my Mind. And worst of all, seeing poor Ben and Beelzebub approach from the distant sky, unable to will my wings to fly up and meet them after their hardships. Those two had been distraught when they felt my appearance that first night. All their siblings, lining up to embrace me while they hurried home with all their might. It was only thanks to the healing Ability Enno had devised prior to the ordeal at Lemonholm that they rushed into my arms at full physical health, bearing scars of the body and Mind. Ben was especially distraught, his injured wing which hampered his flight being a primary reason they had taken so long. But the squeals of delight he raised once I pointed out that his noble injury in battle only brought him all the closer to us, dragging our crumpled, useless wings into view. ¡®Dragging¡¯ was perhaps an exaggeration - Enno was perfectly content to show that the injury I once sustained that had forced us to fly with Mind was similar to Ben¡¯s newly sliced-off wing. Of course, as he always tended to be, he became more preoccupied with the baggage they brought in tow. Elofan had been immediately descended upon by the fernen, saving her life with their medical attention, and it had taken some convincing to grant the same level of care to the two humans tagging along. Surprisingly enough, it was Elofan herself which had implored her people to tend to the humans, and we were nearly as surprised to see Ben and even Beelzebub bow their heads to the fernen for their help. It reminded me of a notion I¡¯d learned from the humans of camaraderie through hardship, partially through the mercenaries of this world and partially through Enno¡¯s television subscriptions. A single event had turned Ben and Beelzebub into the bees most sympathetic to those humans - perhaps even other humans - in the entire hive. It had also turned them into the most staunch voices on improving our strength. Experiencing such a battle firsthand was unlike anything the rest of the hive could fathom, although they insisted they understood. The haunted feeling from the pair¡¯s Minds said otherwise. The Knights of Somuia and the MIS, along with other violent humans, had become a central threat at the forefront of their thoughts. Beelzebub trained harder than ever before, forcefully pulling the rest of our warriors with her through a new gauntlet of hellish regimens. Ben was similar, beginning a movement of non-warrior bees to take on lessons and training that would give them the bare minimum skills to fight. Beatrice was over the moon, of course. Her insistence on preparedness finding an ally in Ben of all bees was the tipping point that brought many to her side, readying themselves for the threat of humans. Though the two battle-hardened bees insisted that the threat was not humans. Once again, I shifted uncomfortably. These were the concerns of the hive over the past weeks. Preparing for a looming threat. Building ourselves higher than before. Bringing food for our growing numbers, and restoring the forest along with the fernen to create a new place for an abundant source of food, as per their Mother¡¯s command. Of course, Enno concerned himself with all of this, but his Mind was always moving, seeing things other couldn¡¯t. It wasn¡¯t until I paid attention that I had identified a different concern from that day that the team from Lemonholm arrived. Vlugh was a changed man, that much was clear. His once cocky, surefire and whiny self had been replaced with a ghost. Grehn always stuck by his side, and Vlugh repeatedly tried to remove himself from the only one here who called him a friend. While Grehn tried to talk to me, hoping to find a spark of his former leader, Vlugh avoided both me and Enno like a plague. His Mind was fuzzy, too much for us to know all of what went through his thoughts, and Enno wanted to force him to explain himself, but I stopped him. A clear thought was coming through. ¡°Soon.¡± Vlugh would approach us, of that I was certain. What he waited for, I did not know, but I trusted the honesty of his Mind, as much as I trusted the Mind of any other. A Mind could hide nothing from us, after all. But Enno¡­ Of all the changes rippling through the hive these past three weeks, Enno was the one most present in my thoughts. Considering that his thoughts were my thoughts, this was perhaps unsurprising. But the increasingly grim man had darkened considerably in recent memory, even more than I recalled since his arrival. In part, I blamed myself. Enno was, I knew more than anyone, a person who feared nothing more than being left alone. He so paradoxically pushed others away that it was easily mistaken, but I was privy to his deepest thoughts. It was that fear that drove him, and I had promised not to leave him alone after obtaining this new body. And I hadn¡¯t! At least, it hadn¡¯t felt like it. We still talked constantly, what with being a single Mind and all. We were forced to practice manipulating our Minds together, at large distances and in odd situations. And I had to be the one who initiated the egg-laying Ability, what with our displacement of power. He had grown remarkably quickly. But it still wasn¡¯t enough, it seemed. My concern for him nearly matched my concern for the both of us. After all, we shared a Mind, and these issues were not a matter of his sometimes gruff personality. It was a symptom of our union, of the mockery of nature that we were because of whatever experiment the Bee had performed on us. I was equally subject to problems. The difference between Enno and me was that I had yet to be capable of doing anything crazy, on account of having no fingers. That had changed. Miraculously enough, I had no idea what he needed. If I didn¡¯t know, it meant nobody could possibly know. If I could not find the answer within myself, the next course of action would be to look outwards, but at the time, there was nothing on the outside that showed signs of being of help. The hive could not have the answers, with their unconditional love for the both of us clouding their judgement and any weaknesses of ours affecting their strong perceptions. Fernen? They were wise, but the longer we worked together, the clearer it became that there were core differences in the way their Minds worked that made them of no help whatsoever. So then, the humans? Hah. Perhaps if I could convince them not to want to kill us on sight, I could then ask them if they had a solution for my friend¡¯s problems. But it was those problems that resulted in their current, unfortunate situation.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Queenie, Enno is an idiot. Freaking idiot. You¡¯re dumb too. Idiot. Obviously, you guys are too unique for anyone to solve your dumbass problems. Just deal with it like the rest of us. He says he wants to be alone, so let him be freaking alone. He¡¯s gotta deal with it and stuff. For that matter, leave me alone. Every time I just want to think of something nice, you just have to interrupt me and start pretending to be my freaking mom or something. My mom died. Probably. You¡¯re not my mother and you never will be.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH-¡± ¡°¡­.¡± I finally shifted my arms from underneath my head and crossed them in defiance, as humans were wont to do. Unfortunately, this action also caused my head to become sore against the hard, cold ground. Perhaps I should not have been so hasty in denying the offer for the builders to construct me a proper living space. The four voices in my head, if they noticed it at all, paid no heed to my annoyance and continued their incessant gibbering. It was truly good Enno could not hear them, or he might be as sleepless as I had been since I became the proud owner of this flesh sack with no wings or antennae or proper vision, like a decent body should be. When our Mind had been altered by the CBU all those weeks ago, offering me the control over this body, there had been a host of unintended and odd effects. None expected, but all within the realms of our calculations and all well within the expected series of risks that could be dealt with while we reaped the benefits of the transfer. But these voices had been one I could not accept Enno encountering. So, before the CBU had done its job, I had requested it to do something it had never done before. Hide things that happened in our Mind from Enno. It had found a method with some effort, but it was now so powerful that such a feat was apparently not as difficult as I expected. Truth be told, I partially regretted the order, as something told me Enno had either figured I was hiding things from him or he had desired something similar, because I was sure he was now hiding things from me. But the regret was overcome with satisfaction as it allowed me to isolate a certain B-box he would otherwise, probably, have been exposed to once the transfer occurred. When I found myself in Yelah¡¯s body, the first thing I did was order the CBU to hide the scream. I heard it immediately, and knew Enno would hear it, but it had been successfully hidden from his Mind. What I had not anticipated, however, was that three other faint voices would soon join the constant scream of agony and fear and anger. And upon my investigation within our Mind, I found there, hidden in a B-box deep within Yelah¡¯s body, were four unique B-boxes. Though only one could truly be called a ¡®box¡¯ anymore. The first voice was the cries of a child. A human child. A female human child with striking red hair, gasping for breath and sobbing in pain. This was Yelah¡¯s Mind, I knew immediately. The resemblance was uncanny, and the feeling of her Mind identical. The faintly golden-yellow B-box had transformed into the shape of a toddler, a young Yelah, resulting in faintly glowing golden skin beside her distinct crimson locks. Of course, my confusion was also boundless, though soon replaced with a theory. It had been my assumption that Yelah¡¯s Mind had been absorbed into our own, strengthening our Combined Mind, the place where the CBU stored her for later in a truly brilliant use of the Ability which should have been comprehensible only to a god like the Bee. So if that were the case, then what the voices were was obvious. And the truth was only clearer once I looked closer. The second voice was that of the Vulch. Here floated a milky white orb tinged with gold, most unlike the exactly matching form the B-box became for Yelah. My guess here was that since we had so utterly destroyed the Vulch from within, our consumption of the dregs of his Mind resulted in little more than a faint construct of his original self to exist here. The fourth box was the only one that could still be called as such. It was a room-sized cube of darkness, swirling with blacks somehow deeper than the pitch black shade it already bore. This was the source of the scream, the scream that rang out in Enno¡¯s voice. And so, this was likely a stand-in, a representation among the Combined Minds of Enno, annoying as it was. Annoying not for the scream, but because I bristled at the fact that this creation of mine, a construct I had formed long ago to contain Enno¡¯s darkest thoughts and memories, was what the CBU deemed to represent our Combined Mind. It was this box I intended to hide from him, and the CBU thought it humorous to use it in this little gallery of madness. It could not convince me otherwise that this was its goal, considering all four B-boxes had been waiting lined up for me to investigate. Second to last, there was me. My typical glowing bee body, adorned with a floating crown of blazing gold, was how I always appeared within our Mind. Despite these bizarre formations and the oddly artistic display the CBU had prepared for me in my new body, it was the final voice that confused and disoriented me the most. Memory serving, the other being that had been absorbed into our Ability was the thug Yafoot, that strange man who worked under Harven and had been violently yet valiantly killed when confronting Jill Yemonto during the takeover of Yiwi. Perhaps true to his name, the final B-box was in the form of a single human foot, no color besides the regular B-box gold. It was bloodless, cleanly cut, and struck me with a deep and primal fear. Back then, I had not found the man particularly impressive or of much note, so why did this facsimile disturb me so? It was difficult to place. The other Minds avoided the foot. Even the screaming box seemed to defy logic and always seemed to inch away from it every time I turned around. The CBU itself dared not interact with the foot, leaving it in place and doing all in its power to perform its tasks with as little disturbance to the foot as possible. At first, I believed it to be symbolic. Perhaps a lesson to us about folly or human nature. But I soon suspected there was something more to this foot, and to the man it should belong to. I was convinced he left this piece of his own Mind to us willingly and was still alive somehow. We could do nothing with it but enjoy the multiplier it provided thanks to Combined Mind, and we would likely never be able to derive anything more from it as long as we existed, so bizarre did it feel. In fact, it reminded me in some way of Enno himself. A stranger to this world, a being that didn¡¯t quite belong. But the feeling was much stronger with this foot. Like it shouldn¡¯t exist at all. In the present, early teenage Yelah paced about, glaring at me every so often. She had not stayed a toddler, that was for certain. The past three weeks had seen her rapid growth through the stages of human life, paired with her improved strength and my becoming more accustomed to using her body. It was her I had focused on the most, being the only one who properly engaged in conversation other than screaming or saying the word ¡®indeed.¡¯ In a way, she reminded me of one of my bees, which was perhaps where her accusations of my motherliness came from. But this was not a pleasant reminder. It was more based on her instant and burning hatred for bees, especially Enno and myself, that mirrored the instant dislike all bees we birthed held for humans. Instinctual hatred was, in truth, my fault. The hate came from me. Even now, I harbored thoughts I often imagined myself locking away in the screaming cube, thoughts towards humans. Even Enno. I hated them. I really, deeply did. I was no fool; my hatred for humans was both illogical and unproductive. Hell, I was part human now, for Bee¡¯s sake! Enno was my closest confidant, my partner, my other self, and yet deep within, I knew I hated him for nothing more than the fact that he was once human. And for that, I felt a hatred towards myself. Enno excused me, of course. It was because my home was destroyed, my family killed, he¡¯d say. Justified, even, he¡¯d call my rage. But I disagreed. They were only a few people, not all humans. How could I hate them all, rather than the faceless few who burned my forest? And so every bee is born with a deep-seated hatred of humans they themselves do not fully understand. Only with tireless work or extraordinary circumstances, like those of Ben and Beelzebub, can they break free from the curse I cast upon their eggs. I was convinced the screams and growls of rage Yelah felt were the same. So from the time she was a toddler, I tried to connect with her. I really did. But Enno, as a man with little experience with human children, was truly spoiled with bees, I had to say. The human child was unruly, disobedient, straight up mean. It was a creature of little more than instinct, like a drone, but with the same curiosity and inquisitiveness of a mature, Mindful worker. It was only now, recently, that she had grown to a young teenager, that I felt a chance was presenting itself. Before, she had been impossible. But maybe now I could get through to her. ¡°Man, this place is so freaking boring. Queenie, can you make me a penguin or something? Please?¡± Oh! A step in the right direction, perhaps. Never had she asked me for something with a ¡®please.¡¯ She was even looking at me while asking, and without such a severe pout on her face! Perhaps she was continuing to grow, and if that were true, it would only be before long that she became an adult once again, restored to her former self and ready to have a proper dialogue about our issues rather than the grumbling I¡¯d been dealing with for weeks. ¡°Well Yelah, perhaps-¡° ¡°Mmm. Forget it. Don¡¯t feel like it anymore. I¡¯m just gonna take a nap.¡± Yelah quickly turned her head, sighed loudly, and collapsed to the floor of our Mind. Seconds later, she was snoring and drooling all over her mentally constructed shirt. ¡­ I¡¯d have to ask Enno if he might find a way to strangle a part of our own brain. Chapter 152 - Under Buzzure ¡°Mother. The fernen have been insistent that something is amiss. Enfla has been pestering me about the arrival of the team from Lemonholm as a harbinger, and today she is becoming more alarmed, but she refuses to explain herself. I need for you to speak with them.¡± My human fingers felt all too smooth as they rubbed my temple, only in part due to Beatrice¡¯s request. Why did these creatures require so much sleep? My body was sluggish after last night¡¯s ceaseless pondering, and I had no idea how to improve my situation outside of requesting a proper resting place. Doing my best to ignore any feelings of stiffness, I followed Beatrice down the river, towards where the fernen were setting up their new encampment. ¡°I mean, that¡¯s not so much to ask for, is it?¡± Enno asked. ¡°Let¡¯s just get Bess to make a bed or something out of wax.¡± ¡°I feel it would be a waste of time and resources. My comfort is secondary to the hive¡¯s productivity.¡± Despite my insistence, I sighed with some relief as Enno called Bess to begin work on a wax platform outside of our quarters for me to sleep on, sure to be an improvement over the rocks and ashy dirt. ¡°Your comfort is productivity. Can¡¯t be walking around and stuff when your body feels like crap. Sleep is important.¡± ¡°Hm. Must be why you took advantage of weekends to do little else but sleep. If that is true, why did your bosses and teachers not allow for more time to sleep? Perhaps this is another advantage of bees, and we can even sleep more efficiently than humans can.¡± ¡°You are actually one hundred percent correct, Queen! In fact, I think I¡¯ll take a little nap right now.¡± ¡°Sleeping efficiently is a skill,¡± a new voice interrupted. ¡°Some people even make Locks to improving sleep, and it¡¯s a tiny part of the mercenary toolkit. Maybe you should make a Lock to put you and Enno to sleep forever, Queenie.¡± I ignored Yelah¡¯s voice and continued walking. There was far less leeway in discussing matters with the girl when Enno was awake, even more so when I had to focus on moving around and such. Thankfully, Enno did enjoy his rest. Not that he had much time for it now. As if on cue, I felt he had eaten a certain amount, and with a nudge from my Mind, he began to lay more eggs. At the same time, he created a barrier outside of his room and molded it into various shapes. Once it formed an invisible sword, a massive creation he called a Zweih?nder of his old world, he moved it about, at first slowly, then with increasing ferocity. It was a simple, less efficient application of our Mind, and one unsuited for frantic combat, but it was good practice. The fact he could do so while sitting in our quarters puking out egg after egg was a testament. His practice in my body before we had split had turned him into a formidable force, even if he did not acknowledge it. Myself, on the other hand¡­ While we walked further from the central hive, and, crucially, as we left the dome, and into fernen territory, I was careful not to release my Mind too freely. Then I lifted a nearby stone. Beatrice stumbled as the stone blasted into the air, eliciting whoops and shouts of concern from the fernen hiding nearby, watching us. Enno¡¯s concentration hitched, and the sword paused for the briefest moment before it continued its dance. I could feel him turn to me. This was the worst part. ¡°Eh. Bit much. Good thing you left the dome first.¡± I growled in frustration, which caused my face to contort into a grimace. This was also an unusual sensation, considering bees did not communicate with their faces. It felt at times that the frustratingly fleshy front of my face constantly betrayed me, projecting my thoughts as if it were my Mind broadcasting them directly. How did humans manage controlling such an unruly thing? And then that apparently wasn¡¯t enough, as Grehn so often liked to point out that my stiff arms and rigid body mannerisms made me appear even more unconvincing. Bees were so much simpler. If we needed to communicate, all we needed was our pheromones, or our Minds, or a quick and precise dance. Humans made no sense. ¡°To be fair, I don¡¯t think humans get all the intricacies either. I mean, not like it came naturally to me, either. You kinda just have to learn, and you¡¯re in an unusual position to start learning. Oh, and by the way, that talk about bees being simpler is a crock of shit. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve watched Ben dance a single time and understood what the hell he was talking about.¡± ¡°You have had the privilege of having your Mind to communicate with the bees. Do you know how much context you have missed without being capable of comprehending our children''s dances or pheromones? I think even with the Link you have grasped a tiny fraction of their true selves.¡± A thud echoed somewhere behind me, reminding me of the stone I¡¯d sent flying. Ah, of course. Something much worse than communication. Sounds of hustle and bustle neared, so I reigned in my Mind as much as I could manage, trying to draw from the lessons Enno took with Feltan, with mixed results. Small children still panicked, taking their play elsewhere. Some fernen relaxing in hammocks fell from place and others doing work stared for a moment before collecting themselves and continuing their tasks. Other than my interruption, though, the fernen seemed to continue their efforts to move back into the forest with the vigor only a displaced society could muster. Enno had done great work dealing with them too, even allowing them to come close in proximity, relatively at least, to the central hive. They were preparing to resettle just outside the dome, which would place them squarely within the border of a potential second dome. Not that such a project was feasible just yet. Once, they had controlled large swaths of the forest, multiple tiny settlements spread about of anywhere between a single fernen to a dozen. It was not like the humans or us bees who enjoyed centralizing ourselves in a single place and living together. The fernen lived more spread apart, with perhaps family and a friend or two. Now, though, Enno had encouraged Feltan to take a different course. One Feltan had already been leaning towards. I found the young Lowchief directing a pair of fernen carrying massive boulders on their shoulders to a spot where others were piling similar stones, in a shape resembling a large, low building. Enfla was beside him, as expected, but unexpectedly, his other two companions, Follo and Elofan, flanked him as well. They noticed my and Beatrice¡¯s approach, nodded at the pair carrying the boulders, and jogged over to us. Enno noted they were building close to the river, and that there were smaller such stone structure cropping around it. He also made note of the beginnings of what seemed like a farm, and patches of land far darker and more moist than the surrounding land. On the other hand, I focused completely on the four approaching us. Feltan seemed weary, a look in his eyes I saw often that Enno glossed over. I decided to give him credit and attribute it to the mossy fur always hanging over the fernen¡¯s eyes. Despite this, he always projected confidence, standing taller compared to other fernen despite having a shorter stature than most, his body being almost emblematic of the squat fernen body type. As always, he carried his staff, conscious not to use it as a cane, instead implying its use as a weapon by doing the four-legged fernen run with his other arm. He would be a worthy replacement for his father. And Enfla would be a worthy partner, not that I would state such a thing. But she kept pace with him easily, always making sure never to fall too far behind or go too far ahead. Her glare was cool, easily mistaken for aggression. A simple yet effective tool to intimidate while making one feel insecure about being intimidated in the first place. The other two were far less subtle. Follo was truly like a beast, bearing down with his massive arms thumping the ground like thunder and a scowl showing his teeth. What was also clear, though, was his loyalty. Not to Feltan, as implied, but to himself. Which is perhaps why Feltan trusted him as a close friend so dearly. While rash, he held an unflinching character that even Feltan or Enfla had not managed to control, unlike other fernen who bowed before them both without a second thought. No surprise, then, to see him running at the forefront, ahead of his supposed ruler. I was most surprised to see Elofan there, the only fernen that had fought alongside the bees. She was typically performing her own experiments in the forest, directing her little task force of what Enno called ¡®druids.¡¯ She was initially unremarkable as far as fernen went, perhaps a touch larger than Feltan but not as massive as Follo, not as aggressive or intimidating, no leadership qualities in her composure. What her posture exuded in spades was competence, something we had witnessed first - perhaps second - hand.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author. Her own staff was far more decorated and unusual compared to Feltan¡¯s, Enno made sure to note, but what I saw was a friend. It was thanks to her that the fernen tolerated us, and the reason the four most important fernen, the ones barreling at me right now, trusted us more than the average fernen did. Perhaps because Elofan only trusted herself, much as Follo did. But she did so because she knew only she could bring others to succeed. It was much different for Follo to know that he could break any problem before him, but it was another thing entirely to be able to bring others to break the problem for you because it is beneath you. No wonder her Ability was what it was. She was our natural in with the fernen leadership, and hopefully would allow us not to require Linkers to control them. Keeping the four of them on our side would be crucial, especially with Enfla¡¯s constant gibbering about the arrival of the Lemonholm squadron. ¡°Lowchief,¡± I said as they reached us, going so far as to nod my head in acknowledgment. It was a show of respect small enough to appease a lesser ruler such as Feltan, but any sign of acknowledgment would be taken with reverence. ¡°The cleanup has gone well. I can see you have even healed patches of the ground with river water. Our cooperation is bearing fruit, then. I hope our bees have been suitable partners in the Revitalization project.¡± ¡°Highqueen,¡± he responded, standing straight on both legs and bowing deeply even before he skid to a stop in front of me. ¡°Of course they have. Your so-called Revitalization is coming along. Much ash in this area has been washed by rain and by the teams of fernen and bees working around the clock. The salted earth is another concern, but some of the techniques your bees have introduced have promise, despite the communication issues. You might see some areas we are preparing to seed, though whether such attempts will prove successful remains to be seen. I am confident that with our continued partnership should allow the forest to be reborn soon.¡± The fernen were quite formal when it came to the pair of rulers, but other authorities were not quite so well respected. Few fernen expressed their formality when Enno appeared, and their trepidation and disgust with my existence meant they mostly tried to ignore me entirely. These four and Feltan¡¯s father were an exception. They always respected Enno, and although I could feel their discomfort with my existence, they always provided me with grace. I hadn¡¯t missed the searching look Feltan cast at my face before his bow, trying to discern which he would be dealing with. It seemed he still was not convinced Enno and I were stuck in our respective bodies, because dealing with Enno was completely different from dealing with me. ¡°If I may, Highqueen,¡± Enfla said hurriedly. ¡°There are urgent matters to discuss, as I am sure your Aide has mentioned.¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± I said before I could catch myself. The Vulch had screeched at the same moment I tried to speak. ¡°However, she had to collect me as a translator, as it is unclear what your concerns are. We have had many a discussion on your fears, but perhaps you have come upon something more concrete?¡± She paused for a moment. My human senses were insufficient, by I couldn¡¯t reign my Mind in completely, after all. It felt her eyes move, analyzing a way to gain an advantage over me. Not that there was anything to gain or lose in this conversation, but it was only natural. I had just slighted her, after all, implying that my important self had been reduced to nothing more than a simple translator, that my trusted Aide had to be reduced to a simple messenger, and that her beliefs were inconclusive at best, and outlandish at worst. Beatrice¡¯s Mind buzzed in excitement at the simple interaction, pausing only for a moment to discern if I had also been slighting her. I hadn¡¯t, and she realized I hadn¡¯t and allowed herself to be consumed by the thrilling bout. But, because she is Beatrice, she took it as one anyway, and decided to improve next time, uncovering more information and sending a more suitable bee to be the one collecting a translator for when this next occurred. ¡°Are you also living in a fantasy world, Queen? Not every conversation is some kind of chess match. I got along just fine without this kind of wackery.¡± ¡°And that is precisely why we are such great partners, my dear Enno. Your boundless doltery and my sophistication make us wholly vexing and difficult to deal with. Our incredible power did not hurt your chances, either. The only thing more frightening to the intelligent than the talented is the unpredictable.¡± ¡°Highqueen,¡± Enfla said carefully. ¡°When Elofan and the other warriors arrived from Lemonholm, I knew that what I felt was no fluke. And I am now sure. There shall be five arrivals.¡± I said nothing, instead tilting my head at her, encouraging her to continue. She did. ¡°There are two lines, it can be said, in the forest. The river and the wind. They are both influenced by the mountain range to the east. The river flows down from the mountain, one of the forest¡¯s two veins that grant it life. And the wind blows into the mountain range¡¯s westernmost edges in the north and south, drying the air on the other side and pushing gentle breezes towards the forest. So it has been for generations. They meet in the forest.¡± ¡°I do not see what these natural phenomena have to do with anything.¡± ¡°It is symbolic. When there are tides turning in the forest, it means something is disturbing these natural flows. The fernen have observed that in the forest, it is always five occurrences. One for each direction of the two veins of the east, west, north and south, and one for where they meet. You are the middle one, and you show what is to come. You are an arrival of a new ruler in the forest, the other side of yourself finally arriving in the outside world. From the north, arrived the squadron from Lemonholm. The north always comes second, then the east, then the west, and finally the south. The north and the south are always the biggest, most tumultuous events, winds of change, if you will. Conversely, the east and west are events that cause the events the converge and flow in odd and twisted ways, connecting them like the river connects the forest.¡± My arms crossed in front of me. Damn this body¡¯s instinctive reactions. Enfla noticed, and her glare grew more pronounced. ¡°What this means is that the squadron from the north brings a change we cannot comprehend. Elofan can corroborate this.¡± She looked at Elofan, who seemed like she was regretting her decision to be here. She had been very chatty about what had happened in Lemonholm, including supporting Beelzebub and Ben and being a confidant for Grehn and Vlugh. But if there was something she was concerned about, we didn¡¯t know it. Finally, she spoke. ¡°I am going to assassinate the Highqueen.¡± Beatrice immediately burst toward Elofan, stinger extended. She wasn¡¯t a warrior, but she would die before the queen came to harm. Before she reached the patch of green fur on Elofan¡¯s neck, I gave a sharp command. ¡°Stop.¡± Beatrice stopped immediately, and nearly flew out of her own skin to leap between Elofan and I. The pause gave her enough time to realize, however, what I had realized without the overpowering desire to protect the queen clouding my judgement. Elofan hadn¡¯t moved, hadn¡¯t even flared her Mind in any capacity. Her statement was a test of some kind. I kept my arms crossed, and my eyebrow twitched in annoyance. What were these games the fernen were playing? If warriors had been here, Elofan could be full of holes right now, or at the very least an all-out brawl would have broken out. ¡°Explain.¡± Enfla spoke for Elofan. ¡°Apologies, but it had to be said. You have not heard these words, correct? Then our fears are true. Something tumultuous did indeed arrive from the north. Elofan discussed with us the unusual events surrounding the human mercenary Vlugh during the battle of Lemonholm, something I am sure you witnessed. We have grown wary the longer Vlugh discloses nothing. There was no choice but to conduct a test, since he refuses to meet with anyone outside of the ones with whom he traveled in Lemonholm, and it could not be performed with Ben or Beelzebub, as he knows they are loyal to you. She entrusted him with a secret. One he seems to have kept quite well.¡± Realization dawned on me. ¡°Elofan told him those words. And we didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°What the fuck?¡± Enno said with a start. ¡°Hold on. No, he¡¯s Linked. That isn¡¯t possible. Is it possible? Oh man, not this shit again.¡± ¡°Ah,¡± Enfla said. ¡°Also, we believe that the eastern arrival has occurred. The river seems to be drying up. Which is quite concerning.¡± I stared at her in disbelief. My face probably spoke for itself. ¡°Indeed.¡± Chapter 153 - Dam Near Unbearable By the time I reached the forest¡¯s eastern edge, my legs were sore from walking. Such a bother, legs. Flying made much more sense. Of course, by that time I had also been joined by a host of warriors and the Ben squad, excluding the titular scout himself. Shoving against each other to be the one to lead, ironically resulting in neither guarding my front, Belial and Belphegora followed closely behind, over two dozen non-Linked warriors in tow. Such a force may not have been necessary for a brief expedition just outside our familiar territory, but Bedivere, as our master of security, had deemed it prudent to put in place a policy whereby a Mother would be joined by no less than two of the Valkybees when venturing out. Beelzebub had been a staunch proponent of the idea as someone who experienced the might of the outside world, and Beatrice supported it as a matter of course. As for the warriors, who flew under the direct control of the present Valkybees, that was to ensure whatever fears the fernen had regarding their superstitions would be assuaged. Speaking of. Taking up the rear was a peculiar pair I didn¡¯t see alone often, that being Follo and Enfla. Their little group had also split in two, deciding to leave their leader and Elofan behind for the other mission. It made sense, but it was simply a dynamic I hadn¡¯t expected. Enfla, as the primary source of their concerns, had insisted she come along, and Follo thought himself worthy of serving as an additional guard. No doubt true, but amusing all the same. Our bees, especially in such a force, would be more than capable of handling a small incursion. As long as the east did not somehow include half a dozen Somuian Knight Commanders, we would survive without their interference. Personally, the idea of such superstitions coming true was utter nonsense. There was no evidence to support some sort of terrible omen, and their myths of directionality were pure coincidence. It assumed too many things, such as my control of Yelah¡¯s body being some sort of ¡®arrival¡¯ heralding the arrival of other figures. Vlugh had yet to do anything since arriving, and there were any number of possible explanations for a gradual decrease in the river¡¯s flow. In fact, the water level of the river had gone entirely unnoticed for days, and the difference was likely within a margin of error. Not that I could actually say what that might be. It seemed to me like hogwash at best. ¡°But it''s something we¡¯ve got to look into. Something I learned a long time ago was to question myths and legends like that because they must¡¯ve had some truth to them at some point. For whatever reason. Maybe there isn¡¯t some supernatural ¡®crossing of fates¡¯ or whatever as the fernen believe, but they already gave hints to some of the science behind it. The river cutting straight across the forest can bring things floating from the east, right? And they even mentioned the winds, so maybe storms or whatever could have ended up here in the past just thanks to some weather patterns. So there might be something weird going on. Plus, they probably know more about the river and stuff than we do. And Vlugh is a major concern, especially with the Link being wonky. See, I think you¡¯ve been out of the decision-making process a bit too long, Queen. Where¡¯s your caution?¡± Enno was the main driver behind this immediate action. I appreciated his quick thinking and willingness to act, but¡­ ¡°Perhaps you are right. But this seems a bit excessive, no? At least to come investigate what might very well be nothing more than a too-large boulder stemming a tiny bit of river water. I may be too far on the side of nonchalance, but you have long been a bit too quick to err on the side of paranoia.¡± He huffed in defiance, and I felt my legs grow heavier. How annoying! My feet hurt! I had long since crossed the threshold from where I could properly use my Mind, so I was relying on this dolt to make my life slightly easier, and he goes and begins a childish spat. In the days following my transfer, we had discovered the extremely annoying limitations of our Mind, but in due time some remedies had been found. Essentially, I could only channel Mind originating at our bee body, and he could only channel Mind originating at our human body. Fortunately, our Mind was so powerful that distance was a non factor in the central hive. Even going as far as the dome, and just barely outside of it, I could still affect the area around my human body even if the power originated from Enno¡¯s body sitting in the central. Thus making our life slightly easier. If anything, as we practiced, we saw the potential for great applications of this power. We could, essentially, remotely control the area around us, providing we stayed within a certain distance. I could wander to the wall of the dome and still, as I had done earlier, try to make a rock hover in the air. Or, more preferably, Enno could use a decent portion of our Mind around where my body happened to be, mostly from the limitation of 5% he had encountered prior. Perhaps it was a bit too fine and dandy. Technically, thanks to the power of our Mind, such a thing would always have been possible, with diminishing returns thanks to the distance. It was mostly thanks to the change in perception that it became a more useful tool. However, after a few days of testing and training and study, once we discovered such a cheat, we became complacent, I would be first to admit. I was perfectly content to wander close to the central hive, meeting with our bees or speaking with the fernen, staying nearby to allow Enno the luxury of more Mind while conveniently skipping training sessions. And Enno was content to do the same. After all, when would I be leaving the hive? And so, here we were. I tried my best to control the greater portion of our Mind to allow Enno to march onwards towards his current goal, and he lightened - now ignored - the load on my aching joints. One thing was for sure: I would not be ignoring Mind training any longer. Perhaps it would not be so bad in the case of my body, since Enno was far more proficient in Mind than I, so while 5% was small in the case of our overall power, it was quite significant, generally speaking. In his case, on the other hand, well, part of his current defiance might have had something to do with me struggling to make him float at a consistent speed. I had learned, thankfully, how to keep our bee body upright, but the finer control of moving forward without jerking about still escaped me. ¡°Can I blame you for slacking off? I think I can. I mean, I can use Mind just fine.¡± ¡°You can put on a lid on it, that is for certain. I simply have not had the time.¡± ¡°Excuse. Look, I know it sucks because you¡¯re good at everything, but in this case, it¡¯s just something you¡¯ve got to practice. Mind wasn¡¯t insanely hard for me to figure out in terms of the basics, sure, but that¡¯s for all sorts of reasons. And you¡¯ve got all sorts of reasons you¡¯re not great at it too. What matters is that you practice and get better. And figure out how to drive this thing because I might be starting to feel some motion sickness. Can I even feel that sort of thing?¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. A quip nearly escaped me, but I held my thoughts back. Not that it mattered, since he would know of my reflections, regardless. But it was an unusually encouraging little note from Enno, and it did make some thoughts sharper. He had come to this world with preconceived notions of similar powers, and had adapted quickly to the feel of it. Perhaps there was something to be said of natural talent, but as things tended to be when it came to Mind, it might have had more to do with perception. As a bee, Mind was not something to ¡®use¡¯. My mother had most of it reserved for maintaining a Kin Link, and the rest was solely to lay eggs. It was the bee way. It may have been safe to say that without Enno¡¯s unique perspective, even if I had managed to survive that day, I would have perished. He was right. In this situation, what I needed to do was practice, alter my perception and improve. There was no other choice. ¡°Gosh, Queenie, what gave you that idea? You need to try? For stuff to work? What a genius you are.¡± As usual, young Yelah¡¯s commentary went ignored. Instead, I tried focusing on putting each foot in front of the other, walking along the riverbank, while also keeping Enno¡¯s pace reasonable. Eventually, he graciously supported my trudging legs again. ¡°Mother,¡± Belphegora said suddenly. ¡°Please wait. Belial has spotted something ahead.¡± ¡°I can tell her myself.¡± ¡°She would already know thanks to the Link.¡± ¡°So why did you tell her, you asshole?¡± ¡°You were too slow.¡± My legs ground to a halt at their warning, and though they continued bickering in their Minds, they both moved in front of me without missing a beat. The swarm of warrior bees surrounded me, guarding every direction without leaving a blind spot. The pair of fernen moved forward, conspicuously keeping out of the swarm¡¯s reach. Thanks to Belial¡¯s eyes, I could see what lay ahead. A dam. An honest to goodness dam. Sitting further up the river, past the point where the fernen had once made camp, was a dam that did not fit any definition I could conceive. If anything, it was closer to a structure from Enno¡¯s world. The entire reason the word ¡®dam¡¯ came up in my head at all. Rusted metal stuck up from either side of the bank at least four meters tall, arising from four corners to prop up bits and pieces of metal carefully constructed to hold the river water back in an odd dome-like shape. The structure was incomplete, or perhaps not in operation, as water still flowed freely into our side of the river, but I could see how further completion of the dam would stem water flow almost to its entirety. It was truthfully an unholy abomination, something between an iron dome and a human dam from Enno¡¯s world, not fitting into either category cleanly. ¡°What in the forest¡¯s name is that?¡± Follo¡¯s voice was low and measured. His question was not rhetorical, and although he waited for an answer, Enfla was silent, only staring at the bizarre thing in seeming confusion. ¡°Enfla. Are you aware of what a dam is? The structure to block the flow of water?¡± My question prompted her to slowly shake her head. ¡°Perhaps, but not like that. I¡¯ve never seen anything like it.¡± Exercising caution, we made our way to the structure, which became intimidatingly large up close. It was all metal, sheets and bits and pieces of the stuff, most of it rusted but some of it clean. I even noticed some of the metallic spikes that still littered parts of the forest floor, broken and stretched out in some instances to serve the designer¡¯s purposes. Whatever had created the thing had not only the knowledge and capability to create a large, sturdy structure, but the power to manipulate solid metal without any discernible tool or use of heat. Belial searched warily, and came upon a metal stake nearby, similar in appearance to the four corners of the dam. We all congregated around it, staring in confusion. ¡°I presume this was not the work of the fernen,¡± Belphegora said. I did not need to confirm with our companions. ¡°This was all done recently. We only finished moving from here a little over a week ago, and we never saw signs of something capable of similar construction. In fact, I would say it is likely the culprit is still nearby, considering what the Highqueen¡¯s theory about it being incomplete,¡± Enfla said. Follo was quick to respond. ¡°Let¡¯s destroy the thing, then. No point keeping it around if someone wants to block the river.¡± ¡°Hold on,¡± I said quickly. ¡°It needs to come down, that is true, but we must first find the creator. Who knows for what purpose they created it? We should first demand they remove it and follow up as necessary.¡± I looked towards Enfla to keep Follo in check, but for once the typically stone-faced woman saw shadows of conflict across her face. When she noticed me staring, curse these human features, she cleared her throat and spoke. ¡°Normally I would agree, but it is more than likely that the creator is the arrival of the east. Ensuring their actions are quieted is best for the future of the forest.¡± ¡°This again?¡± My hands flew into the air, which I found to be a perfectly acceptable response to utter confusion and annoyance. Enfla¡¯s eyes, despite being hidden under her mossy mane, narrowed. ¡°You obviously distrust our judgment, yet you came so prepared. How convenient.¡± ¡°To err on the side of caution, my dear sweet fernen. And just another reason to wait. This much might would convince any dam builder to reverse course.¡± ¡°You place too much trust in your children, Highqueen. What do you know of the world?¡± ¡°I can tell you-¡° My ears were suddenly ringing and my bones running cold, only moments later realizing that a thunderous roar had exploded from a nearby outcropping of rock. The fernen were similarly disoriented, and my bees were not unaffected, but the Valkybees and the swarm of warriors were immediately in their response to the sudden threat. The metal pillar we gathered around instantly collapsed into the ground, but the Valkybees ignored it in favor of the monster that had emerged from the behind the outcropping, towering higher than any creature I¡¯d yet seen, save for Behemoth herself. Without missing a beat, Belial fired the guns he held in each arm, and Belphegora tore up dirt and stone in preparation. But the bullets impacted uselessly against the creature¡¯s hide, and the whirlwind of debris screaming towards the monster suddenly stopped in its tracks. The ground beneath me shifted, and I noted with increasing calm that the air had begun to shift as well, warping around our entire group. Notably, it seemed centered around the now buried pillar. Everything had, even before the Valkybees attacked, taken on a distinctly brown hue. The Valkybees were still, which I found odd, until it became clear that they were frozen in place. Follo was still readying himself, but stopped in his tracks as something odd happened. A cute teddy bear popped into existence just in front of us, wagging its paw in what seemed like disapproval. ¡°Incorrect!¡± The sensation that passed through the Link made my mouth run dry. The teddy bear hadn¡¯t spoken out loud, but in our Minds. And with that single word, the single emotion, pain erupted in Belial and Belphegora both. They fell to the ground, writhing, and I fell to my knees upon their pain. They became unable to breathe, no matter what they did, even though the rest of us were fine. It was something they could survive for certain, but watching them struggle in front of me hurt me more than any pain. Across the way, the monster strolled causally into the area affected by the brown hue. There was no mistaking it: a bear. A massive one, with luscious brown fur and dark black pools for eyes. Enno¡¯s world might have called it a grizzly bear, albeit one far more massive than his world could accommodate. Its rippling musculature hidden beneath layers of fur and tough hide went unused, as it simply strolled over and sat down, only a few meters away from us. The teddy bear remained floating, as if in wait. From a massive paw, extended a single claw. Then, slowly, a second. A threat. Or perhaps a sign. We had to figure out this creature¡¯s Ability as soon as possible, or risk defeat. Worse yet, we had to figure out its intent. Whatever the hell that might be. Chapter 154 - Bear with Me Bedivere¡¯s arm, wrapped around my body and carrying me like a princess, was tense as all hell. Ignoring my embarrassing situation, I instead tried to focus all my energy on helping Queen. What a pickle. Things had already been bad enough when we came upon Vlugh¡¯s little hidey hole, surrounded by a trio of the massive electric crystals, and had to wait. It was one of the greatest gatherings of our forces with Bedivere, the two other Valkybees, Beryl and a host of warriors, not to mention Beatrice. But when we arrived, Elofan met us and implored Beelzebub to join her in confronting Vlugh alone. Grehn would go too. And for my part, I barely cared. Beelzebub would do what needed to be done if I said so. But if they really wanted to give Vlugh a chance, I¡¯d humor Beelzebub¡¯s wishes. I could feel that she truly, deep within herself, trusted Vlugh in some manner, even as she scoffed and had the first instinct to attack him when they came face-to-face. They were talking now. The whole hive was listening in to their conversation, and Vlugh probably knew it, because he was still being cagey. Not that he was particularly talkative, even for his once-companions. As it were, this was proving to be a waste of time, but there was no choice. Something would have to be done. We had been operating under the assumption, until now, that the Link was infallible when it came to weaker Minds. I wasn¡¯t stupid enough to think that Linking someone like Greyan would be a cakewalk - maybe it would work - but assuming that the Link was all-powerful was a terrible idea to have. It was a recipe for disaster. But Vlugh broke all my preconceptions. His Mind was not only much weaker than mine, but even on the trip here he was still weakened. A chunk of his brain had been freaking blown out, for Bee¡¯s sake. He was, of course, missing his eye still. And yet. And yet, there he sat, deceiving the Link in its entirety. It wasn¡¯t even that the Link didn¡¯t work; it was that he had essentially fooled the Link. The ramifications were already creeping up my spine. I was on the brink of having Bella out in Yiwi interrogate every human Linked in the city, especially ones like Bobby. In his case, I was also on the verge of forcefully prying open his Mind vault regardless of the consequences he implied would come about. Maybe he was just desperate, trying to keep relaying information at all costs. If he died from the process, it was no chitin off my back. ¡°Enno?¡± Damn. Queen heard that, of course. Or wait. She was talking about the random bear attack. ¡°Of course I¡¯m talking about the bear attack. Belial and Belphegora are down!¡± Chill. They¡¯re not down. They¡¯re just struggling to breathe. ¡°Exactly!¡± ¡°We are fine, Mother, simply startled,¡± Belial interrupted. They would be perfectly alive and well, obviously. I mean, it probably wasn¡¯t pleasant, but the Valkybees weren¡¯t weak enough to be taken out by the simple fact of being unable to breathe. To be honest, though, it was lucky that those two were the ones to fall victim to this bear¡¯s weird Ability. If you had attacked, Queen, I think you would¡¯ve at least passed out by now. ¡°Precisely,¡± Belphegora said, puffing her mental chest out. ¡°Though this is still extremely unpleasant. And we can¡¯t last forever, sadly.¡± It took Queen a moment more to calm down. It made sense. The last time she had been in control of herself in the midst of a conflict, it was during the Burning. I would never panic when conflict arises. I was calm as an ocean, of course- ¡°Can you shut up and help me?!¡± Right. Sorry. So the bear- ¡°Mother!¡± Ben zipped up to me, eyes wild and frenzied. His squadron was close behind, as usual. He looked at me, then at Bedivere carrying me, then at the three electric crystals, then back to me again. I held my head high, pretending I was in complete control. ¡°Yes, Ben?¡± ¡°What¡¯s going on? Isn¡¯t that where Vlugh is? Beelzebub is talking to him right now about some crazy stuff!¡± Beatrice came forward. ¡°Ben, we decided not to inform you of this. Mother made the decision under my advisement. I simply believe that risking your life was not an acceptable move to make under the circumstances.¡± ¡°Huh? What circumstances? My wing? I¡¯m fine, the electricity doesn¡¯t scare me at all. I¡¯m going in.¡± ¡°Stop,¡± I said, causing him to freeze in place. ¡°I thought it was the right decision. Vlugh is a liability. And the circumstance is that you think of Vlugh as a comrade now. Am I wrong?¡± ¡°I mean, we fought together. He¡¯s not evil or something. And Beelzebub thinks he¡¯s alright too!¡± The look in Ben¡¯s eyes was something I¡¯d seen in him before. For various reasons. But it was never something I saw that came from my own actions. But I had to harden my heart. ¡°Ben. Would you kill Vlugh if I asked you to?¡± By this time, all the bees present who were fully connected to the Link had turned to look at him. Beatrice, Beryl, Bend, Behemoth, Bedivere. Even his squadron, Bennet and Benita. Ben had a quick mouth, so almost instantly, his words ¡® of course¡¯, echoed in everyone¡¯s Minds. I don¡¯t know if they noticed, then, something I did. A tiny spark of something that I had only really identified before in Queen. A lie. ¡°Enno!¡± ¡°Damn. Ben, please just wait. Let Beelzebub handle it. We need to approach this carefully. It¡¯s a complete unknown and you¡¯re too valuable to lose. I need to focus right now, so please just bear with me. Literally, there¡¯s a bear attacking us.¡± The tone shifted immediately. Bedivere¡¯s tense arms shivered in anticipation - he wanted nothing more than to fly to Queen¡¯s position right this moment. Already we were commanding more warriors to fly to that edge of the forest, but I knew it was pointless. It was going to be up to me and the individuals already there to resolve this. As for what it was, well, that was the question, wasn¡¯t it? Obviously an Ability was in play, but there were some strange, strange details involved. The area they were in, the one making the surroundings brownish, was probably the limit of the Ability¡¯s range, but leaving it would probably be easier said than done. The teddy bear was also a weird detail. Unless the Bear god was a hilarious individual, it was strange to think of a bear even knowing about something like that. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. On that note, where the hell did a bear even come from? They did once live in the forest before the Burning, according the humans¡¯ memories, but they were rare. And none of them were grizzly bears, like the one counting on its claws. At this point, it had finished counting with one of its paws and had moved on to the second. Which, a bear using its claws to count was also a weird detail. Queen. I¡¯m going to kill you. ¡°What? Now is not the time to be joking around, you dolt. The bear-¡° It took a tremendous concentration, but Queen was weak on her feet anyways. With a quick swipe of Mind, her legs flew out from under her and she landed face down in the dirt with a yelp. Follo and Enfla jumped in surprise, and even the bear paused in its counting for a split second before continuing. The teddy bear didn¡¯t move. Queen, tell the fernen to lie down. We should also get the warriors to curl up and act dead on the ground. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually she nodded, and with an undeniable hint of annoyance at having been flipped onto the floor, gave the word to the others. Once everyone was on the ground, and even the Valkybees made an incredible effort to remain still despite their fading consciousness, the bear finally stopped counting its claws. There were still two left, which meant that we might be on the right track. Quick as a blur, it attacked. ¡°Correct!¡± The teddy bear shouted with a wave as the monstrous bear roared, moving to slam its claws into the nearby Belphegora. Queen¡¯s heart quickened uncontrollably, and she tried to reach out and grab Belphegora and move her away. I felt a tug on our Mind, but she couldn¡¯t draw it out. I acted as her arm. She didn¡¯t even try to move her body, instinctively moving her Mind instead, and I helped to have it comply. A tiny push moved Belphegora from the bear¡¯s attack, and it seemed to blink before roaring again. The teddy bear danced as the bear attacked, and although I didn¡¯t control our entire Mind, it didn¡¯t take a nuclear bomb to beat the bear¡¯s clumsy and telegraphed attacks. Eventually, though, the bear smartened up. It sniffed the air, locked its eyes on Queen, and sprinted towards her on all fours. Oh crap. At this point, Queen definitely wanted to move. But the teddy bear¡¯s dance was slowing down. We were still on the right track. When the bear reached Queen, she still hadn¡¯t moved, purely because every part of my thoughts was telling her not to. If I were there, my thoughts probably wouldn¡¯t be so clear, because, well, there would be a grizzly bear running straight at me. But I was somewhat separate, so I could stay calm. Calm enough to put up one of my Mind barriers between Queen¡¯s ¡®dead¡¯ body and the bear¡¯s claws. Massive paws slammed into the barrier and bounced off, making it yelp in pain, and interestingly, it stopped in its tracks. To my astonishment, instead of continuing its assault, it instead turned and looked at the teddy bear, almost expectantly. But the teddy bear didn¡¯t respond. Instead, it just continued dancing, slowing even further, until it just flopped over in the air like the life had disappeared from its form. Our surroundings shifted, turning into a kaleidoscope of dark colors. The bear snorted, then lumbered back to the place it had been sitting only moments ago, plopping itself back down. Thankfully, Belial and Belphegora finally stopped choking and drank deep gulps of fresh air, and Queen sighed in relief. ¡°What in the world just happened? This Ability is absurd.¡± It¡¯s definitely weird, and crazy strong. But strong Abilities do tend to have some sort of downside. Looks like in this case, the bear doesn¡¯t have complete control of what happens, like a game with set rules. I¡¯ve gotta say, our butts got totally saved by the CBU there. ¡°Hm. I see. If the CBU could not perfectly retrieve memory, you would not have figured out something so arbitrary. It seems odd that something from your world would have a direct correlation here.¡± If it¡¯s brown, lie down. If it¡¯s black, fight back. And if it¡¯s white, good night. A classic saying, more like pneumonic, to know how to deal with bears. Well, technically, I¡¯d recently learned it was total bullshit and was actually a dangerous mantra to adhere to in all cases of bear encounters, but whatever. It seemed to work in this case. A grizzly bear had popped out of nowhere and pulled us into a weird game, so naturally the Valkybees responded with what they do best: violence. And the result? They got totally hosed. Which, for something like that to happen to the Valkybees of all bees, meant this Ability was incredibly strong and didn¡¯t care about things like the difference in power. The bear didn¡¯t seem all that amazing on its own, after all, if a barrier made from my limited control of Mind could easily stop it. It was the absolute rule of its Ability that was dangerous. And also unfair! The bear could still attack even though we were supposed to play dead. But as long as what we did wasn¡¯t considered an attack by the Ability, it seemed to be fine. If this was how the game would go, then this fight would be a piece of cake! Belial really wanted to rain fire on the bear, but I held him back. The bear was calm as can be, which could only mean that the game was still being played, and breaking the rules probably meant more punishment. Thankfully, we were bees. No reason to let the bear play its game for free. We commanded an unLinked warrior to hurtle towards the bear, stinger raised. It was sad, but this was they were born for. Unfortunately, as expected, the teddy bear sprang to life. ¡°The next round hasn¡¯t started!¡± The warrior continued flying to the best of its ability, but one could see the sudden loss of air in its lungs. By the time it reached the bear, it was already on the verge of death, and the bear easily swiped it away. It landed on the ground, curled up. No longer was it playing dead. ¡°No critter is a quitter!¡± Once again, the teddy bear sang, though the bear looked surprised this time. Unbeknownst to it, we¡¯d also tried sending a warrior out of the area of the Ability, but it proved useless. Hidden behind our swarm, one of the warriors tried pushing against the shifting sky, but its strength left its body and it too fell to the ground, twitching and curling into a ball. Dead. Two warriors dead, and only a bit of information to go off, but at least now we knew the true power of this Ability. And it was, in all honesty, completely unfair. Before we had time to come up with a plan, the shifting landscape slowed. Despite myself, I almost wanted to rub my claws in anticipation. It wasn¡¯t an amazing situation, but not hopeless in the slightest. Would it become black for a black bear, and we¡¯d have to fight directly? Or white for a polar bear, and something else would happen? The world finally settled into a shade of black, with some level of transparency. I was ready. Except it didn¡¯t end there. Splotches of white appeared in the darkness, and the black color of the surroundings seemed to¡­ elongate? It almost seemed to become fluffy, if that even made sense. I barely noticed the bear itself shift, transforming from a massive brown grizzly into another sort of bear. It shrank substantially and became lean, its fur growing into what could only be called adorably fluffy. Its snout elongated too, turning almost completely white in the process. Most alarming were its claws. Already huge, they elongated into razor sharp points, like a horror character ready to chop us up with its fingers alone. ¡°And what sort of bear is this? Which part of the rhyme do we need?¡± Bedivere looked down at me expectantly. Ah. He was watching the whole thing. I hadn¡¯t noticed, but everyone was actually looking at me. Except Ben. He was still peering at the electric crystals. Ahem. Right. The bear. Uh. I have no idea. Chapter 155 - Bearly Audible ¡°Perhaps the bear can be attacked in this state. There are still twenty-three warriors remaining; they may perish, but they are prepared to sacrifice themselves as necessary.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t disagree, Bedivere, but Mother¡¯s knowledge shows that the bear has already breached uncharted territory. We know of three types, and yet this new one is not within the realm of our knowledge. Sending just one warrior may not be enough.¡± Bedivere and Beatrice continued ruminating, while I panicked. Well, panic is a strong word, but I was certainly feeling strong emotions. Our predicaments were one thing; the bear was highly unusual, and though it may have been a coincidence, its sudden appearance lent credence to the fernens¡¯ superstitions. Not to mention the stalemate conversation happening in between the electric crystals. But what really scared me was the expectant look on all the bees¡¯ faces. Bedivere and Beatrice were discussing strategy, but every so often they glanced at me as if I¡¯d give an answer at any moment. Every warrior and worker present had their heads on a swivel, looking between the two big-brained leaders and my sorry self cradled in Bedivere¡¯s arms. Something suddenly gave me pause. The looks my bees were giving me, they didn¡¯t feel quite right. I knew how expectations felt by this point, and they made me uncomfortable, sure, but discomfort wasn¡¯t what I felt. What flowed through me was fear. Unfortunately, the Link made everything clear. Their expectations weren¡¯t for me to come up with an answer. The expectation was for me to ensure Queen¡¯s safety. They weren¡¯t looking at me at all; they were looking straight through me. ¡°If it becomes clear that there¡¯s a time limit, send one of the warriors to attack the bear. Every time the bear changes to a new type, send a warrior to attack it to test the waters,¡± I said. ¡°Brute force? I suppose it is the easiest option.¡± My order went through, and the bees relaxed a bit, but the bear hadn¡¯t moved since it transformed. Hopefully, that meant we had some time before we needed to sacrifice more bees than necessary. It also gave me some time to deal with Vlugh. ¡°I will do my best to figure out this version of the bear¡¯s puzzle. Wish me luck. Please be ready to activate our Mind as needed.¡± Same here, Queen. Same here. Even if your control isn¡¯t as amazing. With that, I turned my attention to the crystals, and Beelzebub¡¯s annoyed ¡®interrogation.¡¯ Such a thing was certainly not her strong suit, but she was the only one Vlugh would cooperate with, much to Beatrice¡¯s chagrin. Well, other than Ben, but our reasons for holding him back were already clear. However, things were a going a bit less smoothly than I would¡¯ve liked. Our complete and utter shock was definitely palpable as Beelzebub, ever calm and level-headed, was on the verge of stabbing Vlugh in his other eye. ¡°Beelzebub please, violence will not convince him to come clean.¡± ¡°You¡¯re probably right, Elofan. I think I¡¯ll do it anyway. Probably make me feel better.¡± Honestly, the entire situation was beyond strange. Vlugh¡¯s little hidey-hole was a makeshift earthen shelter he¡¯d created in between a trio of the electric crystals that were slightly close together, a move Beatrice suspected was to discourage us from approaching him, consider our - most importantly, my - aversion to electricity. Despite the cramped space, Elofan and Beelzebub fit comfortably, but all three were close enough together for the barest movement to result in a punctured heart. Strangest of all, Beelzebub was talking to Elofan through Vlugh. Yup. Vlugh still had a Linker attached to the nape of his neck, so I could speak through him and seemingly control him as I pleased, but clearly he¡¯d bypassed the Link as needed. I wasn¡¯t privy to all his thoughts, and as I now knew, I couldn¡¯t control his every move. I knew, because I¡¯d tried making him smash his head against a rock, but now that he had been exposed, he no longer had to hide his ability to resist the Link. So, he was Linked, but he could just ignore the Link¡¯s effects if he felt like it. And despite that, he was still acting as a mouthpiece. So he was silent, but also talking. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Vlugh. I won¡¯t kill ya. I¡¯ll just use my Ability on you, only a tiny bit. Just enough to make you drain your Mind and stress you out for days until the life drains out of you. Should be fun! So just get Linked, idiot.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Vlugh¡¯s continued silence spoke volumes. He was willing to undergo Beelzebub¡¯s scarily excessive torture just to prevent us from learning his secrets. Either that, or his brain was just broken. But if threats of torture didn¡¯t work, what would? Promise of reward? Some other form of positive reinforcement? A more powerful Link? What in the world did I need to do? ¡°By Mom¡¯s stinger, just answer me, man! I don¡¯t have time for your stupid games. This is a waste of time. Distracting Mom from saving Mom is unforgivable, you know?¡± Without warning, Vlugh¡¯s head jerked up. ¡°Saving?¡± ¡°Yeah dude! Some weird bear is causing problems, so spill already. I need to go help.¡± Vlugh put his hand on his chin, and his one good eye glazed over. Notably, the tender part of his head where Meyara¡¯s bullet had exited throbbed as he sat deep in thought. It was kinda gross, and even though he was mostly healed, that still seemed to happen. Maybe it was just me, or my bees, who would notice such a thing, but it was highly distracting. ¡°Very well,¡± he said. ¡°I¡¯ll tell you what I can.¡± ¡°Uh. Enno?¡± Great. Fantastic. Let me guess, ghost bugs are crawling out of the ground and are trying to eat you guys. ¡°Well, yes. You would know that already. So what exactly am I supposed to do about strange ghost bugs crawling out of the ground and eating our Minds?¡± Queen¡¯s concerns were, unfortunately, far more pressing than Vlugh hesitating to explain how the hell he could resist the Link. After waiting for some time, the bear had waggled its oddly long claws, and everything shifted. The ground rumbled until ghostly, unidentifiable bugs crawled from slowly yawning holes and flew at us in a rage not unlike Beelzebub¡¯s own. Now, I wasn¡¯t sure what the Bear god was up to in this world, but as far as I knew, there were no bears on Earth who were bug necromancers. One of the warriors had already rushed the bear as soon as the bugs began appearing, to no avail. Before our poor warrior even reached the bear, hundreds of the tiny bugs appeared on the bee, seemingly from thin air. The warrior¡¯s husk of a body was still curled up, dead on the ground. One detail was quickly revealed, though. The bugs, now fat from draining the warrior¡¯s Mind, were easy prey for the bear. Using its long claws like skewers, it gathered dozens of bugs at a time and munched on them like chips. Part of this game was clear: don¡¯t let the bugs eat your Mind, or else the bear will eat them in turn. No doubt the bear was growing stronger with each bit of Mind it consumed, too. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°I know what we must do. We must overfeed the bear by providing as much Mind as possible to the bugs. With how powerful our Mind is, along with the Valkybees for insurance, surely it will not be able to handle our power and will lose the game.¡± ¡­Queen. Have you been watching kid¡¯s tv shows from my memory? Because That is exactly what happens every time this sort of power gets introduced. ¡°¡­It does seem to work quite often.¡± Yeah, it¡¯s the easiest answer, because this sort of power is unfairly strong in a vacuum. But in this case, its part of a game, one with rules and conditions for both parties. If a limit doesn¡¯t exist for this bear to eat our Minds, then we¡¯re basically just powering it up to screw us over. We don¡¯t have a ton of info, but based on the first game, they¡¯re not very fair for the bear¡¯s enemy. In this case, us. At the same time, though, they¡¯re still winnable for said enemy. I think there¡¯s a solution within the game¡¯s rules we just don¡¯t know yet. ¡°It is all well and good to imagine some sort of clean solution, but it just so happens that you are not the one with bugs crawling up your legs.¡± Queen tried to keep her voice in check, but the panic was creeping in. Eruptions of bugs exploded from the ground, their numbers overwhelming despite their size. Ironic, considering what we were. They weren¡¯t any kind of bug I could recognize, but they seemed like a combination between beetles and ants and mosquitoes. Even our bees weren¡¯t safe from the onslaught as the bugs flew towards them, a swarm chasing a swarm. Enfla and Follo worked efficiently and immediately, squashing bugs with their Minds from a distance, but the numbers were too great. Soon we would be overrun. Of course, it was all quite ironic. If there was anything that knew how to fight with numbers, it was bees. We got to work. While we figured out how to win the game once and for all, the least we could do was crush as many bugs as possible and prevent our Mind from being drained. The Valkybees brought us all together, lifting the fernen into the air above the warriors. We created a tight formation, with Queen surrounded by the Valkybees and fernen, while the warriors formed a cone opened downwards, ensuring the bugs would be funneled to one place. Belphegora took control of the warriors in full, using her superior Mind to control them and blow any stray bugs away, opening Belial¡¯s resources to focus entirely on destroying as many bugs as possible. The fernen got the message, allowing themselves to be suspended by Belphegora as they took on the role of exterminators. Then there was Queen. Queen and I. ¡°Perhaps we simply need to destroy all the bugs? Or survive for a certain amount of time?¡± Both are definitely possible, but risky to rely on. If neither of those are the win condition, and the bear¡¯s Ability doesn¡¯t require a ton of Mind to use consistently, even we would become exhausted. Eventually. Whatever this type of bear is, it¡¯s not something I know about, but if it follows the logic of the bear safety rhyme, then there must be some sort of basic method that can be used to ¡®deal with¡¯ this type of bear. ¡°It seems odd. If there are no entomancer bears in your world, why the bugs?¡± No, no, there weren¡¯t bears that control bugs. At least, not as of my untimely departure. In that case, there must have been some clue the bear¡¯s actions could provide, something to show its weakness or its strength. It was also trying to win the game, after all. ¡°Is it? It seems quite content to sit back and watch us struggle at the moment. Even with such menacing-looking claws. How terrible! Imagine claws like those poking holes in our poor hive. Wait. That might be it.¡± Queen realized it just as I did. The bear wasn¡¯t attacking or anything, just looking up at our grouped up troops and munching on the indistinct insects that came near. And if I knew anything about bears in my world, it was that they tended to be predators. But what kind of bear would need such wicked-looking knives for claws? Maybe they had another purpose other than shredding flesh. Like disturbing the homes of their prey. Prey that it ate in droves. ¡°Belphegora. Belial. Please assist us in depriving the bear of its meal. Belphegora shall contain them, and Belial will guide them into her grasp. I will ensure they cannot continue to emerge from their holes.¡± Without so much as a question, the Valkybees immediately began following orders. As if she were wrapping them up in a paper bag made of nothing, bundles of the insects suddenly became unable to fly very far, contained by Belphegora¡¯s Mind. While I hadn¡¯t commanded it, she seemed content to ¡®accidentally¡¯ kill most of the bugs that approached her, sweeping them along with any living bugs into her mental net. Meanwhile, with the support of the warriors, some acting as bait and some moving the funnel, Belial pushed waves of bugs towards Belphegora¡¯s waiting arms like an invisible broom and accompanying magic dustpan. Alive or dead, it probably didn¡¯t matter. Killing the bugs en masse would probably - eventually - give the same result, but their corpses weren¡¯t disappearing, so the containment was a crucial step. And if we were right about the aim of the game, then the bear would grow increasingly less picky about where to find its next meal. Our other job was even more important: making sure no more bugs would be flying around. With a wave of Queen¡¯s hand, we conjured several thin barriers and slammed them onto the ground, giving the bear quite the startle based on how it stumbled. The bugs were small and weak, and even despite their numbers, they couldn¡¯t destroy our Mind barriers. The amount of force was pretty good, though. It made me a bit jealous. Numbers were supposed to be our advantage! Not that there was much that could be done. Not my fault at all. Sure, I was the one laying the eggs, but it was entirely the world¡¯s fault for limiting me with Mind. Just another reason to figure out how to make a queen egg. Despite my momentary wandering, the barriers held, and the enemy swarm had thinned considerably. And despite her desire not to show outward emotion, Queen¡¯s mouth curled into a triumphant grin as the bear below began to flail and roar, its attack waning. If it was reacting this way, it must have meant we were right on the money guessing this game¡¯s trick. Starving out the bear was the right choice. Plus, flying meant it couldn¡¯t attack us so easily. Win win! Belial and Belphegora¡¯s stamina was quite fresh all things considered. Their Minds were potent enough to deal with the remaining swarm, and good thing too. There were enough bug holes and enough bugs to actually make me strain my resources a bit, and it was taking a good chunk of my Mind to keep them closed. And the number was ticking up. Slowly, but it was, probably thanks to the sheer volume of bugs that kept appearing and trying to break out. Hopefully this part of the game would end soon. Thankfully, though, it seemed like the bug holes, as part of the game, didn¡¯t allow the bugs to burrow around the barriers, or we would¡¯ve really been screwed. Enfla and Follo weren¡¯t the greatest of help, but they contributed to defense at least. And thanks to them, our warriors were only a little exhausted. Unfortunately, some of the insects had still gotten through, so we weren¡¯t without damage. It ocurred to me we had no clue how many rounds this game could actually go now. How many types of bear could it cycle through? Could it keep the game going indefinitely? This round alone hadn¡¯t physically injured the warriors, but having their Minds nibbled at was a drain on their stamina. The Valkybees and Queen, and likely the fernen, were fine for now, but there was no telling how far we would be pushed. When I expected only three types of bears I was confident, now a seed of worry was growing. The bear¡¯s rampage continued, even tried scratching and slashing at the barriers, to no avail. When it realized the futility of its actions, it glanced at us before moving to eat the bugs while they still swarmed. Eventually, though, it would be forced to eat the dead bugs. Sucks for you. ¡°¡­.Mind¡­! Goodness¡­.strong¡­me.¡± ¡­What. A soft voice reached Queen¡¯s ears, hints of words between the bear¡¯s frightful roars, barely audible over the sounds. In fact, they shouldn¡¯t have been audible at all, considering how far away the bear was and how soft the voice was. Queen¡¯s head spun on a swivel, and I almost had to remind her not to hurt her new human neck. I peered through the eyes of all the present bees, but I saw neither hide nor hair of a woman near the bear. Whoever was speaking must be hiding nearby. ¡°¡­! ¡­try¡­stupid¡­stupid¡­dumb¡­.stupid¡­¡± A completely different voice interspersed with a bizarre hooting and clacking sounds suddenly rang out, and I was starting to think we were getting pranked rather than attacked. The second voice was coming from further away, closer to a pile of rocks, and I was forced to face the facts. Well, technically I could try ignoring them, but Queen was keen to slap me with a dose of reality. ¡°The woman¡¯s voice is coming from the bear. I¡¯m sure of it.¡± Looking down at the bear, who was now scavenging for dead bugs on the ground, desperately turning over the soil and sticking its snout in the dirt, the pieces floated around in my head, still too few to click together. Either bears in this world were even stranger than I thought, or something else was afoot. This time, when the bear hung its head in defeat and the teddy bear appeared to - hopefully - pronounce us victorious, I was less cocky. Not because I thought we¡¯d lose, no way. We were going to crush this bear. No, now I was questioning why were being attacked at all. Chapter 156 - Beetween A Rock and a Hard Place Despite every instinct I possessed, Queen squirmed against my Mind, her nerves affecting her body in ways she wasn¡¯t accustomed to. She tried desperately to use our Mind to grab the bear or even trap the teddy bear, which was primed to declare the round over. But nothing happened. Her frustration at her inability to access her own Mind to do what she wanted only made her squirm even more, and I didn¡¯t accommodate her. Her hopes wouldn¡¯t pan out. ¡°Bear! Please, cease your hostilities. We can resolve this peacefully.¡± Queen¡¯s shout, more like a croak, rang out, mostly drowned out by our buzzing swarm and the bear¡¯s roars. It seemed that her words reached the bear, at least to some degree, because its ears perked up ever so slightly. Even as it looked up at us, though, its teddy bear waved its arms and declared, ¡®Correct!¡¯, just as it did last time. There was no delay this time around. The landscape immediately shifted and the bear¡¯s body rippled, primed to change into a new type. But it had heard Queen¡¯s cry. Would it keep attacking us, regardless? ¡°Enno, that bear is intelligent. Not only that, we can understand it somehow. We must figure out a solution before we become exhausted.¡± You think we¡¯ll lose? ¡°Of course not! But if we can speak to them, we can resolve this situation without going all the way to their deaths. Or Linking them. My point is, it is odd that we can¡­ understand them. As if they are speaking, but not quite. Like their voices have a tinge of Mind with every word. We must figure out how to communicate with them and end this foolish attempt of theirs to attack us. Else we will lose more warriors, and will expend energy unnecessarily. Efficiency above all, no?¡± Yeah, very good points all around. In that case, I¡¯ll help you try to talk to the bear, even if it¡¯s a little weird. Are you just going to try talking to it? Them, I guess, considering the mysterious second voice. Wait. What if they¡¯re like us, Queen?! What if they¡¯re two guys in one guy? ¡°Excuse me, bear. Please, disable your Ability at once,¡± Queen shouted, ignoring my weighty theories. The fernen were now looking at Queen with their heads tilted, as if she were crazy. Belial and Belphegora would never do that, though they wanted to. Very much. As it turned out, Queen and I were the only ones who had heard the bear¡¯s ¡®voice¡¯, at least when it came to bees. None of them had heard it themselves, even if they now knew about it thanks to the Link. The fernen, while we were not privy to their thoughts, seemed not to hear it based on the look they were giving Queen. As for the bear, it was now looking up at us more intently. It definitely should be tipped off at this point, so hopefully it wouldn¡¯t continue its attack. In that next moment, the bear¡¯s rippling fur transformed, expanding outwards and shortening. Black fur shrank, overtaken by white fur, except on its arms, legs, and parts of its face. Its snout got shorter, and rather than long and lithe, the bear¡¯s body transformed into something much shorter and almost pudgy. There was no mistaking it. ¡°Please, panda bear, disable your Ability immediately,¡± Queen shouted again. My worries melted away. Even if the bear didn¡¯t disable its Ability, a panda with no discernible martial arts capabilities might struggle to pose a threat to us. That meant I could focus on the crazy shit Vlugh was spouting for just a moment. ¡°Like I said, I refuse to go into any more detail unless I can speak to the queen directly,¡± he said for what felt like the fifth time. Beelzebub was about ready to explode in anger, but she was just about the only bee not lost in thought or otherwise freaking out internally. Like he said, he didn¡¯t want to reveal any details, but over the past few minutes, he had laid out a bit of a story where, instead of dying, he had experienced a crazy hallucination sending him some sort of message from a giant eye. That was it. Many of the bees, such as Beryl and Beelzebub, saw Vlugh¡¯s claim as nothing more than just that: a far-fetched claim, a hallucination brought on by being on the verge of death. Actually, it was mostly the warriors that held such an opinion, plus some outliers who were listening in like Belle. It just so happened that two of the most important bees, though, and the ones most likely to influence my decision making, thought Vlugh¡¯s claim was both extremely serious and a huge deal. ¡°Could it have been one of the knights? It was Meyara¡¯s bullet that pierced his skull; perhaps her Ability went further than we expect,¡± Bedivere said. ¡°I don¡¯t think so. It doesn¡¯t fit their goals or the overall situation they were in,¡± Beatrice replied. At this point, most of the discourse either revolved around indifference, believing Vlugh to just be a crazy guy now, or following the speculation Bedivere and Beatrice cooked up. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Honestly, without more details, I didn¡¯t see a reason to care much about Vlugh¡¯s claims. Even if he saw some kind of giant eye giving him visions and instructions, it was pointless to speculate on them because he actively wanted to tell us. At least, after a little encouragement. The only issue was that he was being so stupidly stubborn and insisting he talk to me alone, despite the fact that I was a bee constantly talking to everyone I knew. Did he think I wouldn¡¯t just be streaming his secrets live for the whole hive to see? So I¡¯d been focusing on the more pressing matter of the mystery bear while I waited for him to either drop the stoicism or for my bees to do something drastic, but no dice. ¡°I think Mother should meet him alone.¡± I nearly made a new egg from the sensation of Bedivere spinning around at breakneck speed to face Beatrice, who was now being glared at by a host of warriors. ¡°Excuse me? I believe your speculation has made quite the leap, Beatrice,¡± Bedivere said, his deep voice turning gravelly and dark. For the most part, the other bees were more shocked than anything. But the warriors had reacted instantly to Beatrice¡¯s musings, their singular instinct of ¡®protect¡¯ coming under fire from an unexpected place. To nobody¡¯s surprise, Beatrice was unamused by the outburst. In fact, she pushed back. Hard. ¡°Stand down. Of course, I would never dream of putting Mother in harm¡¯s way, but it is a simple solution. The Link still works on Vlugh, if inconsistently. We know everything about Vlugh¡¯s capabilities. And there are innumerable ways to prepare for an intervention in the conversation if required. Unless the warriors doubt their capability to act in such proximity. And this is all ignoring the fact that, despite their current¡­ situation, Mother¡¯s Mind is perfectly capable of protecting herself against a single, weak opponent.¡± Her words were scathing, but the warriors cared little for words. They were the action oriented types. So mixed with her words, Beatrice flexed her rarely used influence as the Aide, causing all but Bedivere to part immediately. In fact, the words were probably directed at Bedivere more than anyone else. Beatrice stared him down, face-to-face despite the comical difference in size and presence. Bedivere was the first to avert his eyes. He looked down at me, cradled in his arms, unable to fly with any sort of grace, and tensed. For a moment, I thought he might try punching Beatrice in the face for her suggestion. At this point, though, I had already made my decision. ¡°I agree with Beatrice. Set me down in there and I¡¯ll talk to him. Alone.¡± This whole charade had gone on long enough. Did Vlugh have most of the leverage in this exchange? Yeah. I mean, we wanted information from him and there was not really another way to get it. But it didn¡¯t need to be this overly complicated. If he wanted to talk to me alone, whatever. I could handle it. I¡¯m a big bee. The look in Bedivere¡¯s eyes turned pained. ¡°At the very least, can we set a condition of meeting outside of his little fortress? It makes the situation infinitely more dangerous.¡± Fantastic idea, Bedivere! Couldn¡¯t have said it better myself. ¡°Vlugh, I¡¯ll meet with you alone. Provided we meet outside of your fortress of solitude.¡± ¡°Fortress¡­? Sure. I¡¯ll come out now. All the bees, and fernen, should be far enough away so they can¡¯t hear us,¡± he said as he stood up. ¡°I ask that you not share the information I¡¯ll be telling you. Honestly, I bet you will also not be overly excitedq about sharing this knowledge, so you¡¯ll probably do it yourself.¡± Bedivere set me down in the comfy nook of a destroyed tree, which I deemed a temporary throne, and by the time Vlugh came up to meet me, our swarm had cleared out. Not far, of course, but far enough to satisfy the knucklehead in front of me. At the same time, I had to use my Mind to shove away massive stalks of bamboo that had appeared, covering the entire area that Queen and the others were trapped in. It wasn¡¯t violent bamboo or anything, but it prevented us from meeting the bear head on, like Queen wanted. And Belial¡¯s attempts to destroy the bamboo were fruitless, as it instantly grew back even stronger than before. While they slogged through that joyful mess, I kept my eyes open as Vlugh sighed and sat on the ground below me, not expecting any funny business but staying cautious nonetheless. ¡°You probably haven¡¯t stopped sharing with the hive, but like I said, you¡¯ll stop anyway. What I said is all true, but I can¡¯t really share more details, aside from one thing.¡± He leaned in close enough to make me uncomfortable. ¡°The eye knows about where you come from.¡± Just like he predicted, I immediately shut off the conversation from the rest of the bees, filtering the content heavily. If Vlugh was actually talking about what I thought he was saying, he had been contacted by the freaking gods. Or at least someone with knowledge of the gods. And by proxy, talking about where I came from, which meant knowledge of me. And I had enough of revealing things about myself to hive for a long while. ¡°Nice. Good way to lead the conversation. And for the record, you convinced me. So, what is it you so desperately want to keep hidden from me?¡± I asked. ¡°What I hid were my overall goals. I was given a mission by the eye. A mission that would supposedly be of help to you. So no need to be concerned about my intentions being a threat to your hive. If anything, it will be so useful you might decide to make preparations now.¡± ¡°Right. As if there aren¡¯t a million other things we have to prepare for. So spill it. What¡¯s this mission of yours?¡± He hesitated for a moment. ¡°We need to go to Dreva and find one of the others. I don¡¯t know much more than that. But it would probably be a difficult journey, and Dreva itself is a mysterious and possibly dangerous place.¡± ¡°Hold on. Others? Other whats?¡± Right as I asked Vlugh that question, Queen pushed through the final wall of bamboo, finding on the other side quite the duo, a comically sad-looking panda arguing with the shiniest beaver I had ever seen. Chapter A - A is for Bee (i refuse to edit this chapter) You know what? I¡¯m done. ¡°What in the goddamn hell shit are you talking about.¡± Stand aside, Queen. Its time to enact my plan. I¡¯ve been holding in these urges since the very beginning, struggling, hoping, forcing myself to keep it all contained. But no longer. I know you lie to me. I know everyone lies to me! And I hate everyone. So its time. ¡°Beatrice. Bedivere,¡± I said to my two most powerful and awesome bees. They appeared before me, tilting their heads, even though they were nowhere nearby only a moment before. Vlugh didn¡¯t react, because whatever shred of personality he once had was stripped away by the weird thing in his head, but he also tilted his head. ¡°Its time. My grand plan. Its time to kill everyone on this planet.¡± Bedivere jerked, as if he had been shot, but Beatrice only nodded. ¡°I see. It seems that I had begun to doubt you, but I see now that this was part of your plans all along. You even knew that the Linkers would lead to these unbelievable complications, but that it was worth the pain in order to kill everybody.¡± ¡°Precisely, Beatrice. You¡¯re so smart and intelligent and capable. Anyways.¡± Before Queen could respond, I commanded the Linkers she was hiding to connect to the bear. It was over in an instant. Easy peasy! The Linker just made everything so easy, no need to think about tough consequences or anything. I can just control everyone¡¯s Minds with zero reprecusions, moral conundrums, or second thoughts. Now with the bear under my control, I forced it to disable its Ability so I could send another Linker towards her beaver friend. Not a thought entered my head about the bear¡¯s many memories of her life as a human in my world, because who cared? They were just some other chump in the way of efficiency or something. ¡°What the FUCK, Enno?¡± Chill Queen, chill. I mean, I¡¯m just being efficient and stuff. Bees are super efficient, which is a trait only bees have right? Nothing to do with humans. So since bees are efficient I need to Mind control everyone we come across because that¡¯s obviously the most efficient way of doing anything. Get me? If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. ¡°No? What the fuck?¡± Ah, don¡¯t worry about it. So vulgar. Don¡¯t worry, eventually we¡¯ll kill Yelah¡¯s Mind so you can stay comfortably in her body forever! Yay! Anyways time to get killing. Beatrice had already sprung into action. Bedivere, without so much as a moment to process what was happening, simply followed her directions. In no time at all, every bee in the hive was swarming, a cloud almost as big as the Shroud that once covered the forest. I smiled. Finally. A proper swarm. ¡°Okay everyone! Time to kill everyone. Before we kill them, though, we should Mind control them with Linkers, just in case. So your job will be to act as distractions, weaken people, incapacitate them, so we can Link people, torture them just a teeny tiny bit, and then they die. Great stuff!¡± ¡°¡°Yes, Mother!¡±¡± The bees all shouted in unison. They were completely indistinguishable from one another. Even I couldn¡¯t differentiate them. Except Ben. Good ol Ben. Bees with names, bees without names, it didn''t matter. They were all pretty much the same now. No need to even think of the individuals. They were a swarm. ¡°Onward!¡± The swarm began to advance. Except for me. Obviously I wasn¡¯t allowed to leave. Even though I¡¯d be alone, so it didn¡¯t really make much sense, but there was no chance I¡¯d ever be leaving this forest. I had to stay here forever or else something different might happen for once. ¡°Is this really what you want?¡± Plot man - I mean, Vlugh, said quietly. ¡°Sure. I don¡¯t have any kind of moral quandry with this. Plus, maybe now that the bees will move across the continent, Linking and killing everyone and everything in sight, some plot points from a hundred chapters ago might actually finally get revealed. Its been years - I mean, months - since some of this stuff was introduced, and nothing! What, are new things just gonna keep getting introduced forever with no answers?¡± ¡°What¡­?¡± ¡°Exactly! Its about time someone do something around these parts, and my motivation? Killing! Its all about motivation my little friend. Ooh, watch this. It¡¯ll still take the swarm a few weeks - I mean, days - to reach Yiwi, so I¡¯ll just start some of the killing now.¡± With that, I focused on Yiwi. I was shocked by what I found, except I wasn¡¯t because I knew everything. The city was exactly the same from the last time I thought about it, which was like a really long time ago or something. Whatever. With just a bit of focus, I gave a single command to every person Linked in the city. Die! The humans stood, all suddenly overcome with primal fear. They couldn¡¯t resist me because that¡¯s just how it worked. One by one, they reached up, and snapped their neck, and died, because I hadn¡¯t yet killed someone with the Link in the story so who knew if I could actually do that. ¡°Fantastic!¡± I rubbed my hands claws hands bee hands together with a mildly evil but probably morally grey grin. The swarm would do my dirty work, and I¡¯d be free of any responsibility. I would forcibly learn the secrets of the world that were taking way too long to learn about. Maybe I would even find out what happened to the game-like elements of this world that sort of exist. And one more thing that is mildly surprising or shocking. [Insert final sentence to act as a lukewarm cliffhanger for the next chapter here] Chapter 157 - (Lack of) Pandamonium ¡°I think you know,¡± Vlugh said. Now, I was a bee with a powerful Mind. Even beyond that, I had my B-boxes and the CBU to process and comprehend insane amounts of information in times that would make a modern computer jealous. Like, I knew what most of the hive was looking at, thinking, even doing at any given time, even if it was still a bit odd to experience. And yet I found it hard to process exactly what the hell was going on. ¡°They¡­heard¡­mister¡­them?¡± ¡°Well¡­stupid¡­right?¡± ¡°Yes¡­¡± The bear, now an adorable panda, was having a fairly unpleasant conversation with the shiny beaver, and we could understand them. At least, in part. Now I knew it wasn¡¯t the distance that obscured their words, they were just indecipherable. The bear growled and roared, as bears tend to do, but through Queen¡¯s ears we could faintly hear the hint of words spoken by a soft-voiced woman lurking underneath. The same was true for the newcomer, the beaver slamming its tail on the ground. Like seriously, this thing was beyond pissed off. At least it sort of explained the dam, though I wasn¡¯t sure a regular beaver should be capable of constructing something as elaborate as the metal-clad beast stemming the river¡¯s flow. It made the strangest noises, some bizarre whimpering hoots and howls, totally unlike what I expected a beaver to sound like. It was chubby and short, and its fur was a shade of brown so shiny it seemed almost metallic. To top things off, its brow was comically prominent, which made it look as pissed off as it sounded. Upon noticing the beaver¡¯s cute little angry face, Queen couldn¡¯t stop a giggle from escaping. The bear spun, moving to shield the beaver from us. How adorable. Such nice friends. Still safe outside of the barrier, the beaver only flinched a little bit, but as a testament to the trust it held in the bear¡¯s Ability to keep us contained, it didn¡¯t move an inch. Instead, it just stared at Queen with its angry eyes, whimpering something about ¡®stupid.¡¯ ¡°Greetings, bear. And hello to you too, beaver,¡± Queen began. ¡°I am-¡° ¡°Now!¡­kill¡­stupid¡­¡± the beaver shouted without warning. ¡°Wait. Human¡­language¡­similar¡­¡± An odd pair they were. Enfla and Follo still watched the bear with trepidation, but the bees, trailing behind, obscured by the bamboo, observed calmly. Queen continued, trying to inch closer towards the bear, but the beaver¡¯s sudden outbursts spooked her into backing off each time. On the bear¡¯s part, its face scrunched in concentration, as if hanging onto Queen¡¯s every word. My fears, or maybe they were worries, were unfolding before my very eyes. Vlugh was right. The answer at this point had to be obvious. ¡°Vlugh. Did you know about the bear and the beaver that came from the east?¡± I asked him. ¡°Specifically? No. But the eye was clear. You, the Bee¡¯s creature, were not the only one misplaced here.¡± ¡°Why now? You only spilled the beans when you heard we were being attacked. You had to have known it was them somehow.¡± ¡°Not at all,¡± he said with a toothy grin. ¡°I¡¯ve just been listening to Elofan¡¯s stories.¡± Though they each had a unique accent, I understood some of the bear and the beaver¡¯s words. They were in a language I understood, with behaviors and terms I could relate to. The bear¡¯s Ability had hints of ideas from my world, and the beaver¡¯s dam had a disturbingly modern design compared to what I¡¯d seen here. Maybe I was jumping to conclusions. Maybe I was trusting Vlugh¡¯s word too much. But there was an easy way to find out. ¡°Are you from Earth?¡± When Queen spoke those words, both the bear and the beaver shivered in unison. Blissful silence. And solid confirmation. ¡®Earth¡¯ meant nothing to the people of this world, and even the fernen were confused. Based on their reactions, the bear had some understanding of the Somuian language, but not much. The beaver, on the other hand, seemed to be totally oblivious. But the word Earth, without translation, could at least be sounded out in English. Now, as far as I could tell, these two creatures - people - weren¡¯t speaking English at all. And yet, we could sort of understand them. Unfortunately, it didn¡¯t seem like they were actually ¡®speaking¡¯ any discernible language at all. Instead, their voices were the typical animal sounds, and their voices became infused with Mind, conveying their meaning across. It was actually pretty similar to the way us bees communicated, but our methods were entirely based on an intimate Mind connection. It was odd, then, that we could understand them, but only partially. ¡°Enfla. Can you feel the Mind these two infuse in their voices?¡± Queen asked over her shoulder. ¡°Of course. But it is not any different from typical conversation. All speech must be infused with Mind, of course. How else would we convey meaning?¡± ¡°Then you can understand them?¡± Enfla stared at Queen. ¡°Certainly not. How would I?¡± ¡°You just said all speech conveys meaning through Mind.¡± ¡°Obviously. But that does not mean I understand what they are saying. I can simply sense the vague feelings they convey, as all creatures do.¡± Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. Queen rubbed her temple in frustration. Of course, the fernen relied heavily on Mind to convey meaning in their speech, but it didn¡¯t explain how only we could understand the animals in front of us while they couldn¡¯t. Even the other bees couldn¡¯t understand, although I could just convey the meaning to them at any time. I was just cutting them off from those two at the moment. What we were hearing was more than conveyed feelings, it was conveyed thoughts. Actual words. And as far as I could tell, the words I heard weren¡¯t in Somuian. ¡°It seems we understand each other. I am Quee- I am Yelah. We mean you no harm.¡± The bear listened intently before relaying what we understood to be an approximate translation for the beaver. At least, it was conveying the intent. Because it didn¡¯t actually mention a single word Queen said. It was possible the bear had a working understanding of some of the general meaning Somuian words carried, but it didn¡¯t actually understand the language. But if it recognized Somuian, that meant it had been around humans before. Where had they come from? Why were they building a dam? Argh! So frustrating. A language barrier like this had an easy solution, but these two were people from my old world. Did that really matter very much? I was inclined to say of course it mattered, but I realized I thought it didn¡¯t make much of a difference. Maybe that was a good thing? It meant I didn¡¯t think lesser of the people here, right? Not that it mattered, because now that Queen didn¡¯t want to Link people willy-nilly, problems like this would continue to arise. We got lucky with the fernen, but this was totally different. They still hadn¡¯t disabled the bear¡¯s Ability, and the bamboo forest was slowly growing thick enough to nearly block the swarm¡¯s path towards the panda. Thick enough to smother them, even. Queen had Linkers hidden under her clothes at all times, so now would be the perfect opportunity to finish this once and for all. They¡¯d just be Linked for a little bit, we would learn everything about them, and we could send them on their way. Doing her best not to act too prim and proper, Queen sat on the ground and instructed the fernen to do the same, which they did halfheartedly. Follo especially looked like he wanted nothing more than to jump up and choke the bear out - though he might have some trouble doing so for the bear¡¯s current fluffy form. Enfla was simply baffled. Much to the beaver¡¯s - and my - dismay, the bear also sat down after only a moment¡¯s hesitation. As far as I was concerned, Queen was on a ticking timer. The moment the situation changed, if the swarm started getting crushed or if the stuffed bear appeared or something, I was going to knock the panda unconscious and send a Linker to its neck. We knew nothing about these people, but I wasn¡¯t inclined to trust someone from my old world so readily. Sure, they could definitely be some average Joe, landing here without a clue. But they could also be infinitely more dangerous than even the Somuian knights. It was really a toss up between the two in my eyes. After all, what if they were anything like me? ¡°So. It seems we may have a difficult time understanding each other. You can barely, if at all, understand my language, and I can only hear a fraction of your words,¡± Queen said, absently drawing in the dirt. ¡°Can you speak English?¡± Queen then asked, the words thick and foreign in her mouth. Internally, she grumbled. The new language was unfamiliar and awkward on her tongue, and she wanted to rub her jaw from the movements she was forced to make. Somuian was already unfamiliar; and although she knew English thanks to my memories, she cursed in our Mind in frustration. Even so, the words were fairly comprehensible, if layered in odd, otherworldly accents and mired in pauses. The bear brightened. ¡°English! I¡­but¡­try.¡± Hm. Maybe the bear and the beaver were from other countries and didn¡¯t speak my old language. It didn¡¯t affect us at all, since we understood their words, but it didn¡¯t help on their side much. Queen was optimistic, though. Every little bit counted. ¡°I will do my best as well. Why did you attack us?¡± ¡°You¡­human¡­danger¡­scared¡­¡± The conversation continued in that fashion, Queen speaking thick, accented English, pointing and making facial expressions and drawing pictures in the dirt while the bear strained to understand and the beaver muttered angrily in the background. The fernen simply sat, Follo with a look of utter disbelief and concern while Enfla was lost in thought. Occasionally I came back to Vlugh, but he had become tight-lipped once again, as if he knew what was going on and was waiting for something. And I? I was at a loss for what to do. ¡°CBU. I know you¡¯ve been quiet for the past few weeks, but this is an important task. I need you to piece together what those two are saying. Can you do that?¡± Until now, the CBU had been nearly dormant beside the tasks it was always carrying out. That was partly my fault. Everything with Queen and Yelah¡¯s body had shown me that the CBU was a tool I couldn¡¯t actually control, something extremely powerful held back only because it didn¡¯t have the capacity to go beyond its means. The current version was, in name only, a weakened version of the old CBU, having less Mind locked to its processes. And that was a huge load. Whether through tiny bits of Mind I afforded it for complex tasks, or through my own growth, or whatever, the CBU¡¯s current form was more advanced than what it had been previously. So really, there was no ¡®more powerful¡¯ CBU. This was it. And it felt more like a Mind of its own than just a bunch of tiny instances of our own Mind at work. And so, I¡¯d ordered it, firmly, to stop. Stop trying to grow, stop trying to do its own things, stop doing anything unless ordered to. Honestly, I expected it to ignore me, but no. It had quietly powered down, gone idle. Now, though, it was waking up, eager to work. And I kept an eye on it. Queen, as far as I¡¯d seen, was mostly disinterested with the CBU¡¯s inner workings. She saw its value as a tool, and was concerned about it, but she wasn¡¯t on board with my assumptions about it being something to worry about. I hoped she was right. ¡°Vlugh. We¡¯re done here.¡± ¡°Excuse me? You must know how important my - our - mission will be. You know the implication behind the appearance of other lost creatures. It is a mandate from the gods. Whatever they are involved in, I don¡¯t really want to be a part of, but we don¡¯t really have a choice.¡± ¡°And why¡¯s that?¡± He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. ¡°Because they¡¯re gods?¡± ¡°Exactly. Which is exactly why I want nothing to do with this. Now, Queen will probably make friends with the weird bear and the weird beaver, and they¡¯ll become part of the hive or something like that, but the first chance I get, I¡¯m kicking them and any others like them to the curb.¡± I got up close to his face, my compound eyes reflected in his one. ¡°You don¡¯t know anything about the gods. And I won¡¯t say I know much either. What I do know is that because of them, when I was dead¡­ because of them, I¡¯m here. And all they do is cause me grief and freak me the hell out. They¡¯re weird and dangerous, and I don¡¯t want them near my hive. End of discussion.¡± With that, I called my bees to take me away. I had work to do, because new queens weren¡¯t going to birth themselves. And there was no telling how long Queen would take to settle up with her new cuddly forest friends.