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.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

“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!”