“My team, my buddies, my friends, my family-”

“Comrades.” Boriss adds.

I nod to the Russian. “Comrades. Two towers have been completed with twenty more to go. We’re making good time and- Cillian, how are you already on your second bottle? I just started this meeting.” I call out the Scotsman.

“I was thirsty!” Cillian grins with a shake of his drink.

I shake my head at his poor liver before surveying the rest of the team at the table. Everyone is present and staring at me expectantly while Clay strokes my furr.

“Alright, now where was I?”

“Good time,” Boriss reminds me.

“Right. We’re making good time… shit. I forgot where I was going with this.”

They all look at me expectantly while I try to remember what the fuck I was planning to say. Only for my memory to fail me.

“Welp, I forgot. It probably wasn’t important anyway. Or it was and It will bite me in the butt later.” I frown, staring at those present. Then my eyes fall upon our masked friend.

“Speaking of something probably important. Auranta, mind taking off your mask and introducing yourself?”

Eyes shift to the [Air Mage] sitting directly across from me.

She nods slowly and unlatches her mask. Then, ever so carefully, removes it to the gasps of most present.

“I am an Insectoid Princess of Queen Tinea.”

Without the threat of the tower breathing down my fluffy neck, I can now take a proper gander at the woman's looks. Her facial and body structure is that of a human but mixed with what seems like something of a moth. She has large red eyes, soft white scaly skin, and extremely white hair. Poking out of her head are two fuzzy antennae similar to something you’d see on a moth. Honestly, when I’d first thought of a race of insects, I’d expected them to look more along the lines of Nepenthes.

Myers crosses his arms and leans back into his chair. “I’ve heard of Tinea. She’s a [Mage Queen] patroned to the Mage Guild.”

“That is correct.”

“Patroned? What do you mean patroned.” I ask.

Auranta gazes upon me with her deep beady red eyes. “All insectoids are created by a Queen, and each queen differs from one another. Most Queens are at war with others and in a constant struggle for dominance. They do not generally partake in alliances, nor are they accepting of other species. Queens who have mastered their baser instincts will patron themselves to either a guild or country- granting them the ability to travel alongside other species unmolested.”

“At the expense of the Patron.” Myers adds. Then he looks at me. “Be wary of Insectoids, for their loyalty is to their Queens and the Queens are in service to the patrons.”

Auranta frowns at Myers words. An actual, very human frown now that I can see her expression.

“All serve a master whether willingly or unwillingly. To state otherwise is a lie.” She says while taking a look at the child that pets me.

Myers sees the intention of her words and matches her frown.

I roll my eyes at the respectfully hostile undertones between the two. I’d expected some infighting within my crew, though much earlier. I’ve little idea how Irmgard, Cillian, and Boriss get along so well with each other.

“Auranta, mind telling me why you are after the towers? You’re clearly not a champion, so there must be a reason.”

“There is.” She nods. “The hivelands are in peril. A new Queen recently showed up and has begun consuming other hives at a rate my mother has never seen before. In response, many hives are now at war against this new Queen, but they are slowly losing and the Queen is getting more powerful with each hive conquered.”

“So what do the towers have to do with this?” I ask.

“My queen's scouts have found that swarms of this Queen's soldiers have been seen entering and leaving the towers at will with resources aplenty to fuel her hive. Now that you’ve explained the subject of champions to me, I believe that this Queen is a champion like yourself.”

That’s Genius! She’s farming the tower for resources to wage a long war she will win.

“So, why are you allowing this to happen? Shouldn’t you try to take out the Queen before she gets too strong?”

“The Queen is deep within the hivelands. Moving a fleet capable of threatening this new Queen would leave my Queen undefended. Any nearby hives would relish the chance to slaughter her in her moment of weakness.”

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“Can’t you ally with another hive? Or several hives?” Irmgard asks the question I was about to.

Auranta shakes her head at the blonde woman. “It is within the nature of each Queen to be as aggressive and antagonistic to another. Queens that ally with each other do so because they have to and not because they want to.”

Instinctually Genetic hatred. It’s been many worlds since I’ve seen sentient species with that kind of lifestyle.

“Well, now you know that that Queen is a champion. What are you going to do about it?”

“I will covertly send the information about champions to my Queen when we next land in a city. Then I will continue to serve you aboard this ship and record information about towers until such time I am ordered to do otherwise.”

I can't help but crack a smile. Not at the decision, but at the slight eagerness in tone. She doesn’t seem like she wants to return to the Queen's side.

“Then I’m happy to welcome you aboard as a permanent member of the crew.” I say happily.

“Da, is nice have more comrades. Big family is good.” Boriss grins.

“Your combat ability is impressive. I welcome such a capable sister to serve the Matriarch.” Nepenthes says.

“Welcome,” Cillian waves a bottle.

“It’s nice to meet you.” Emma says softly.

“Willkommen,” Irmgard says with a rare grin.

At the words of the crew, I can’t help the very human-like blush on Aurantas face even though her expression shows very little change.

Chuckling, I look at the only unhappy guy at the table. “Myers, last we talked was about a route. Have you got one for me?”

Myers sighs. He reaches to the side and grabs the world map which he spread over the table.

“Our next stop will be in the city of Gladius.” He points a finger very center-east of the world map.

“That seems far,” I comment. And indeed, the location is a decent distance away from us.

“This map is old and the slipstreams aren't updated.” He grumbles and points slightly to the left of the map right where Memphis is. “If we take the slipstream next to Memphis and follow it here,” he moves his finger through the map, “and then depart here.” he points at where the slipstream swerves left, “We can travel a day east and take another slipstream that nears Gladius.”

I nod. “If I remember, I think the Gambino family is heading there too. I wonder if we’ll meet them.”

“Maybe, though they do have a much faster fleet than our ship.”

“I see. Pity, I kinda liked them. Anyway, is Gladius where the next tower is located or are we just stopping there for a reason?”

Myers nods. “The city supposedly has a tower within it, but I'm ignorant of exactly where as I’d never gone to Gladius.”

“Gladius' largest coliseum is located on the tower's disc and the entrance to it is heavily blocked off.” Auranta interrupts, grabbing the attention of everyone present.

Her beady red eyes glance at those present before understanding why they are looking at her.

“I visited Gladius before Memphis but wasn’t allowed to get anywhere near the tower unless I became a fighter in the arena.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you?” I ask.

She blinks back at me. “They do not allow spells. My martial strength is mediocre at best. I wouldn’t be able to pass the preliminaries that would allow me to gain access to the tower grounds.”

“I see. Well, maybe I can sneak inside or something. I guess I’ll figure that out when I get there. How long is the flight?”

“Two weeks if we pass by Memphis and a little longer if we don’t.”

“Ughhh,” I groan. “Another long flight. How is our food supply? Are we going to need to stop anywhere?

“We used to before you started practicing magic,” Irmgard explains. “If we ration it and you stay a cat, we can make do for two weeks.”

I pout. “Damn. I kinda want to train.” I look to Myers hopefully.

The old man sighs. “There are usually small villages and towns near slipstreams we can stop at.”

“Perfect.” I wiggle out of Clay's grasp and hop onto the table. “We’ll stop at one and buy whatever food we need.”

“And alcohol,” Cillian wiggles his third empty bottle.

I roll my eyes. I look away one moment, and the guy’s consumed more alcohol than your average alcoholic.

I swear, you must have some skill or something to drink like that.

“Ummm,” Emma raises her hand up. She’d been pretty silent for the meeting. Hell, she’d been generally shy ever since she joined the crew.

“What’s up Emma. Don’t ever be afraid to speak up.”

“The freezer room is done and the runes are charged. I can start working on the cannons whenever you want me to.”

I blink, surprised. “We have a fridge now? Nice! We can buy fresh meat now- wait a second. Did you say you can work on the cannons?”

She nods slowly. “I figured out the runes to reduce recoil from the books Adriana gave me. They’re tedious but not complicated. But, I don’t have enough materials for all the cannons.” She explains.

My tail flicks left and right to the slight wobbles of the ship. “Do what you can and I’ll have Irmgard buy you whatever you need.”

“We’ll need more crew to man the guns too,” Irmgard add’s.

“Gladius would be an ideal place to buy crew for your ship,” Auranta says.

“Buy crew? As in slaves?” I ask.

“[Slaves] are banned everywhere outside of Buxon territory.” Myers quips. For some odd reason, the old man doesn’t like Auranta now that he knows what she is.

“I was speaking about indentured Servants,” Auranta explains. “Which are very much legal.”

I stretch on the table as I feel a wave of sleepiness come over me as though it is time for my midday catnap. “I’m not keen on buying anyone as I prefer organically gaining crew, but my recent summon had a decent slave system. Then again, it was enforced by an immortal empress.” I yawn. “Anyway, we’ll talk later. Let's set sail for now. I need to talk to Green.” I hop off the table and make my way to my room. Using reflexes that come with a majestic body like mine, I reach the top of the bookshelf, take a stretch, lay down and close my eyes.

Within a moment, I am whisked off to a white room.