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.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

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:

* Friendly Immersion (Lv. 8)

* Humanity Factor

]

[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:

* Linker Stinger (Lv. 1)

]

[Mind: 0th Degree]

[Tapped Mind: 0% / 95%]

[Mind Locks:

* Life (5%)

]

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.