There is a poll about the alignment of the hive in the discussions thread. Please tell me if it would be better to have polls added to the chapters instead in the future.

Lair

Chapter 033 - Traveling

By Skalsar

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The first books should arrive soon, but I won't be able to see them.

It kind of saddens me, not to see what they are like.

But maybe I can see some books when I arrive to my destination.

Lily and Blazer decided to travel with me.

I told them not to follow me, but they said they were just traveling to the same point on their own.

So it should be alright.

It's nice to travel together on your own.

Even though Lily is a human.

What I like most about her is that she doesn't use her voice as much as other humans.

>Nydar?<

Sadly, she still does use it sometimes.

But I can simply ignore her, right?

>Nydar?!<, she gets louder.

'Does she think I'm deaf?

Why can't she just stay silent?', I ask Blazer in my mind.

He laughs.

I don't get why.

>NYDAR?!<, she shouts and recklessly jumps from Blazer onto my back.

>The hell, human! What do you think you are doing?!<, I shout annoyed.

That human is kind of crazy.

Sometimes I wonder if she is insane.

Is she?

>I don't like being ignored.<, she says smiling.

Was this girl really just ten?

>Tell me, Lily. Are other children of your race as weird as you are?<

>It's mean to call me weird.

But I don't know much about other kids.

I never played with any, since they seemed afraid of me.<

Blazer is looking worried.

'She told me something about other kids always running away from her.', Blazer tells me.

I guess she is weird.

Oh.

Looking ahead, I can see the first city.

It should be called [Ivory Castle City].

Simply spoken, it's a city that was build around a big castle made from ivory.

The elves created the castle using magic, but some other beastrace seized the castle and build a city.

It's the first city you can find after crossing the great plains north of the hive.

I won't go into detail at the moment, as we won't go there at the moment.

Opening a [Black Gate] and stepping through, we simply cross the city.

'That feels like cheating.', Blazer tells me.

At least I'm ahead of him, I guess.

Even though the others are leaving me behind.

>But shouldn't both of you do something about your appearance?<

I look at Lily with a hint of confusion.

What does she think we are?

>Well, it's fine for me.

But isn't it annoying to not enter cities and villages because they might panic?<

Hm. Guess she has a point.

>I will think about it.<, I tell her.

So far, travelling was easy, fast and safe because of my [Black Gate].

As long as I can see a point, even if I never was there before, I can use it to get there.

Every time I do, I create a [Watcher].

I do that right now, too.

That way, I can expand the communication with the hive.

And also increase our information network.

>Monster!<

Hm, that isn't Lily.

Seems like I forgot to use my [Enhanced Vision] to scout the area.

>See, it's bad.<, Lily tells me with a grin.

Does this make her happy?

Me doing a mistake?

Or her being right?

Before us are four people.

Two of them are human woman with staves.

One is something like a humanoid wolf. I will simply call it wolfman for now.

Last is a small man with a mace. But not like the human child.

Uhm..

>Is that a gnome?<, Lily asks.

>How should I know?<, I ask her back.

The group looks irritated.

>It can talk? And has a human child with him?<, they ask among themselves.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

>Maybe we can talk about this?

I'm called Nydar.<, I extend my hand.

They seem to be adventurers who formed a group.

Guess they went to the next dungeon, in a city north-east from here.

At the border of the continent.

The wolfman looks a bit irritated, but draws near to shake my hand.

'Eat one of the woman.', I tell Blazer.

>I don't really know what to make of this situation.

You look like monsters.. But..<, the wolfman says, then shakes his head.

>No, I shouldn't discriminate on looks.

I'm sorry. My name is..<, before he can end his sentence, the hidden sting in my hand shoots forth.

His arm splits open.

Blood is spilling everywhere.

Blazer bites the head of the woman nearest to him.

Lily is screaming.

>Nooooo! Don't!<, she shouts.

>By the deities!<, the gnome shouts.

>In the name of the fi...<, the other woman wanted to start, but I throw two [Drones] at her.

One hits her head, starts flying and stings her in the chest.

The other one grabs her leg and bites it.

Guess she wanted to use magic.

That would have been bad.

We need the magic power.

Don't waste it so easily!

And we can't let anyone know that we were here.

>Heal them!<, the wolfman shouts with an agonizing cry to the gnome.

But there is nothing to heal.

One is already dead and the other one paralysed.

>Whyyyy!<, Lily screams and jumps down.

The [Drones] paralyse the gnome.

Since the wolfman is looking to the gnome, I grab his head.

Ending him with another push of the sting that is hidden in my hand.

>What do you mean, why?<, I ask Lily.

I don't get why she is acting this weirdly.

>Why! Just why did you kill them?!<, she cries.

Adding: >They were people!<

She is saying weird stuff again.

>They are just food.

We can't travel without eating.

It's the same for humans.<, I tell her.

>NO!<, she screams again.

This is annoying.

>We don't kill people!<, she exclaims.

>Oh yes, you do.

You just don't eat them.

Instead you kill and eat helpless animals and what you call monsters.<, I try to explain.

She looks shocked.

>This month alone, we noticed seventeen people being killed by humans.

Your father sentenced them to death.<

>No, he wouldn't do that!<

>Go ask him, if you don't believe me.<, I shrug.

>Lies!<

She looks insecure now.

>Also there were people dying in the hive before, you didn't scream back then.<

Blazer nods to what I told her just now.

She is looking down now.

>That.. they were trying to kill you too..<

>It.. can't be.

Killing people is wrong.. right?<, she was starting to cry again.

>Blazer, please bring me back now.<, she says weakly and trembling.

Guess she doesn't want to travel with us anymore for the moment.

That.. kind of hurts me.

Was it wrong to kill them?

No, I don't think so.

Maybe she just doesn't know what to think about it herself?

'It's good this way. We need the livestock..', Danar tells me.

The [Watcher] had hatched and added to the network. But because of the [Watchers], we also need more magic power and therefore more livestock. So this should be the right thing to do.

Lily climbs the back of Blazer.

I open a [Black Gate] for them, to the hive.

After they go through, some [Hiveworkers] come out from the [Portal] and start collecting the magic power. An [Ogre] collects the two paralysed bodies as well as the two dead.

The dead will be disposed of inside the hive.

Guess it's traveling alone again.

But that's alright.

I just should try to avoid humanoid beings for the moment.

Or follow the suggestion and change my appearance.

There is still quite a distance to the next city, I will think about it on the way.