Aurum - Year 3
Once inside the deepest part of the hive, I started to have a small anxiety attack. The humans aren't really a "threat" right now, since I don't even know why they're here, but my instincts still make me tense around them. Even though my instincts are very... "wild," they always give me a definitive answer.
Accessing the link, I started to connect with some bees from Trevi's group, and soon I saw the humans. The group consisted of several people equipped with full body armor, carrying swords and shields, and riding horses.
I saw what appeared to be wizards, or at least more "eccentric" people in the group, but I couldn't be sure since I couldn't sense their natural magical power through the link. They were certainly dangerous, though, because they were very well equipped and in a defensive formation.
In an instant, the person in front stopped abruptly, making the entire group of humans stop and stand on alert. I didn't understand what was happening until the human looked in the direction where my "spies" were hiding and began to create small blades made of metal in the air with magic.
"BACK OFF! NOW!"
My mental warning seemed to help, because in the next moment, the spies who were standing still and invisible activated a skill and began to run frantically in the opposite direction of the humans. Upon seeing this, the human with the magic blades seemed surprised or just irritated and threw the magical blades with his hands toward my children. Most were easily dodged by the boys, but some other blades managed to hit some unprepared spies and cause damage.
"DAMN IT!"
The injured spies were soon grabbed by the others who were safe and started to run toward the hive, leaving behind only Trevi, who didn't seem to have been noticed thanks to his more advanced camouflage skills.
Soon, a group of injured bees arrived at the hive and ran directly to the infirmary. Through the link, I could see that the cuts were not fatal, but they still had some mysterious property that caused a lot of pain, creating a constant wave of discomfort through the link.
"You bastards, I won't forget this!"
"Queen Mother! Should we bring weapons of security level-5 or higher?" asked a royal knight who suddenly appeared near my body.
"H-Hum? W-Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves... We'll just observe for now... Especially since I don't think any of our weapons work on them..."
Weapons and armaments—the colony has created many things of this type over the years. Level 1 weapons are classified as utilitarian, up to level 7 weapons as deadly risk weapons. A kitchen knife or a chisel is classified as a level 1 weapon and similar things, things that are not really "weapons" but can be used as weapons.
Level 2 weapons include clubs, common spears, or bio-spikes. Level 3 weapons are common weapons like swords, hammers, and spears with sharp ends. Level 4 weapons have special effects, such as the royal guards' axes or the poisonous weapons of Aldy and his poisonous bees.
Level 5 weapons are magical contraptions that may or may not have been created for the purpose of being weapons, like the wizards' experiments or Jasper's prototype bombs. These are too dangerous to let anyone touch, so they are highly monitored and moved only in special cases. Level 6 weapons or items have great potential to be a complete disaster, like the magical gadget I developed with the boys or Max's magic "wand," which are highly unstable and can generate explosions or lethal accidents. Finally, level 7 includes everything that I consider too dangerous to touch or even think about, like spells that I don't have full control over or magical items with unknown properties.
Turning my attention to Trevi, I saw the humans who had already returned to their journey as if nothing had happened. They had now found one of the trails used by the kobolds. The kobolds live by hunting and gathering, so it is quite common to see them entering the "safer" parts of the forest to collect what they can find, creating these small trails over time.
The humans continued along the trail until they reached the plains where the kobolds were located. What they saw was a small village of kobolds defending themselves against the occasional horde of monsters.
The kobolds had everything under control. It wasn't their first wave of monsters, nor would it be the last, so they were dealing with it very well. Thanks to our advance warning, they were able to prepare calmly for this kind of event.
Soon, the humans began to ride quickly toward the monster horde. The people in front drew swords from their sheaths and began to cut down the demonic creatures attacking the wooden walls.
As soon as they saw the humans, the kobolds seemed conflicted, but as they were in the middle of an attack, they did not react immediately and began to contain the wave of monsters in collaboration with the humans.
Soon, human magicians began to create spells, something that caught my attention. Some spells clearly had elemental origins, such as fireballs, ice spears, water projectiles, and stone balls. Other spells seemed to be more focused on support, such as those that covered sword knights with colorful auras or created magical walls of energy.
"Impressive. How do they create this? How can they manipulate energy so cleanly and quickly? Their spells are so... stable! But how?!"
Soon, the wave of monsters was contained, and the humans slowly rode to the wall and began talking to the kobolds, demanding the opening of the "gates" for their entry.
The kobolds were clearly anxious, but soon Onix appeared with his threatening-looking spear and instructed them to open the gate.
Once inside, the humans began to analyze everything meticulously. I could feel the tension even through the link. The kobolds looked askance at the humans, while the humans seemed to look disdainfully at the kobolds from atop their horses.
Soon, the human at the front of their group got off the horse in a quick and fluid movement, exposing silver armor made of a mysterious material decorated with some medals.
As soon as she dismounted, the human took off her helmet, revealing a woman with short golden hair, blue eyes, and a delicate face, which was a shock, as her appearance in full armor was very threatening compared to her delicate features.
"Good morning, uh... kobolds, I guess? I am Lucia, the deputy commander of the Knights of Lumia, the southernmost city of the capital of Solaria! I was sent here today by my lord in search of a very rare and special magical herb," Lucia spoke as she took a parchment from a bag, revealing a detailed image of a very familiar magical herb with special properties. "As a reward for our assistance with the invasion of your village, I ask for your cooperation in this mission, and I assure you that we will cause no harm during our stay!” Knight Lucia declared.
In response, the kobolds just looked at each other suspiciously, waiting for someone to speak first. Then Onix took a step forward and began to reply.
"Welcome to our humble village, Lucia the Human! I am Onix, current leader of my pack. First, I would like to thank you for your help with the monster horde earlier!" Onix replied, visibly trying hard to maintain a "respectable" tone.
Lucia, the female knight, just looked around the village with a smile on her face, ignoring the tense and suspicious looks of the kobolds.
"As a knight of the order, it is my sacred duty to rid the world of the dark and vile stains that seek to contaminate it! All monsters will be eliminated without mercy by the sacred light of the Goddess of the Morning!" said Lucia in a bizarre, fanatical tone.
Lucia's statement seemed to upset the kobolds, as some women began running to their huts with their children, while some warriors became tense.
"Hmm... Although we appreciate the help, we didn't really need it. We had everything under control, and I think it's inappropriate for you to demand something from us for this so-called 'help,'" said Onix in a more irritated tone.
Lucia just smiled delicately at him, a smile that would be beautiful in other situations but now only seemed to make everything more macabre and tense.
"You know, since we found your village, I've been wondering: what are Beastmen doing so far from their homelands?" Lucia said, ignoring Onix's words.
"...Our lands were consumed by black corruption. The churches could not allocate enough labor to peripheral and insignificant villages like ours, so we ended up needing to flee to no man's lands," Onix said cautiously.
"No man's land? As far as I know, this entire region is considered Solarian land," Lucia said mockingly.
"How can this be considered Solarian land if there is no human settlement nearby!" Exclaimed an angry kobold.
"He he, Elysielle's kingdom directly borders whit the fallen forest, for years Elysielle has maintained order and control over the forest, so it is only natural to deduce that Elysielle is the definitive owner of the forest." Lucia said in a tone-deaf tone.
"How absurd! The beastmen also explore and control the beasts that come out of the forest, in addition to the elves that fight against the monsters that come out of the cursed waters of the forest!" Whouted an indignant kobold.
"We humans do much more than all of you combined, with the eternal wisdom and divine light of the Goddess of the morning, it is only a matter of time before we subdue the entire forest, and return it to its peaceful and pure state before! " She declared a human above the horses.
"Shouldn't you humans and your self-proclaimed Goddess be worried about killing the demon lord?! Because as far as I remember he has a fondness tate for Solarian knights!" A kobold warrior said vulgarly.
"How dare you beast?! Unlike your ridiculous god, the Goddess of the morning can at least protect us from the fury of the demon lord, while all you can do is die like flies!" He shouted a man in silver robes with gold embroidery.
"Your-"
"Silence! We didn't come here to discuss interspecies wars!" Shouted a man who was further back in the formation. His words seemed to have an immediate effect, as soon the humans calmed down, and even the smiling Lucia took on a more serious form.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
This made me wonder, who is this guy, and why does he have such a "voice" in this group, he doesn't seem any different from the regular knights in the group, but being in the middle of the formation, and having some strange items housed in his armor, I deduced that he was "important."
"In short, we just want the herb mentioned earlier, we'll help you find it, and we'll guarantee that no unfortunate accidents will happen here today." Lucia said in a composed and threatening manner.
In response Onix slowly walked towards Lucia until he was face to face with her, the difference in height was stark, with Onix reaching almost 3 meters, while Lucia was barely 1.70. Onix looked down with an ugly frown, while Lucia just looked up with a playful smile.
"I don't like being threatened Human, especially I don't like it when I threaten my entire pack, if you want a conflict with me I have no problem accepting this duel in the name of my honor as alpha of my pack, so please don't threaten my species again." Onix said, clearly irritated.
This time Lucia seemed to lose her composure a little, her delicate smile never left her face, but her eyes clearly said that she had felt threatened.
"I understand, I believe I made a mistake and ended up being very rude, forgive me for that. As an apology I am more than open to providing 10 average gold coins for your services, please accept this payment as an apology. " Lucia said with a smile.
I don't know what happened here, but Lucia seemed to win, because the mention of 10 gold coins drew a few gasps from the people around, in my opinion Lucia had been purposefully rude, just to provide this "generous proposal", leaving Onix without much options in addition to helping her with her problem.
I don't know the value of 10 gold coins, because as far as I know all human coins are made of gold, but "small, medium, and large" coins seem to have different values, so I believe that 10 medium gold coins are something like "Money to buy a house". I can't say if Lucia has no problem offering such a "High" price, or if she is just too desperate to find these herbs, maybe the herb is worth much more than just 10 average gold coins, or she has no intention of paying this value for kobolds....
"...We have some of these herbs in our stocks... we can sell them to you." Declared Onix after talking a little with the members of his species.
The statement seemed to surprise Lucia, who finally showed a new expression, making her surprise and distrust clear.
"Do you really have [Tears of Saint]? How is that even possible? This herb shouldn't be easy to find..." Lucia said suspiciously.
"The fa-" Said a child before having his mouth covered by his mother, and being hurriedly dragged away from the group.
The action did not go unnoticed by the humans, and soon Onix was faced with Lucia's suspicious eyes.
"What would this be about? Where did you get these herbs from? Are you absolutely sure they really are [Tears of Saint]?" Lucia said in a questioning tone.
"It was nothing, just a kid talking nonsense, we found the herbs on our way here. We were lucky I guess, we've already used most of them, but we can sell the intact flowers we still have, everything else has become ointments or medicines for the injured." Onix said.
"What's your price?" Lucia asked.
"10 average coins for each flower." Onix said bluntly.
"That won't happen, I don't know the condition of the herbs, nor their quantity, nor their veracity. If you want to do business, you will need to show me the products." demanded Lucia.
Excited, Onix gives a signal to a kobold, who runs to a remote place out of sight of everyone, and soon returns with a jar of clay-like material. When giving the jar to Onix, he delicately hands it to Lucia, who bluntly opens the lid to find a white fabric wrapped in some herbs. When unrolling the fabric, Lucia can see 2 branches of white flowers similar to lilies, with golden cores. and vibrant green branches, confirming its identity as [Tears of Saint].
Lucia didn't say anything for a moment, but seemed to be analyzing the herbs in her mind, then after a moment, she wrapped the herbs in the cloth again, and with a smile gave her counter proposal to Onix.
"I paid 7 average coins for this set." Lucia said.
Onix seemed uncomfortable with Lucia's counter-proposal, but soon recovered.
"That's not enough, the herbs are very rare, and difficult to find, in addition to needing a lot of care, my offer is 8 average coins for each herb." Onix said.
"Oh come on big guy~ The herbs weren't in an ideal environment without any preservation spells, and they haven't been harvested recently, which will definitely affect their effectiveness, so does 5 average coins for each herb sound good to you?" Lucia said.
"The herbs are of high quality! Even a blind person could see this, their vitality and magical properties are clear as day, trying to reduce their value in this way is not viable, 7 average coins for each herb." Onyx said.
"Hmm... How about this, I'll pay 12 average coins for the set, and another 2 coins for any paste or medicine made with the herbs you have?" Lucia asked.
"No, we need these medicines, my final offer is 13 average coins for the set, nothing more and nothing less." Onyx said.
Lucia seemed to think for a moment, and she glanced sharply at the man in the middle of the formation, who just nodded.
"Done deal!" Lucia said.
As soon as she said that, another human jumped off the horse and walked towards Onix, handing him a small bag with some golden coins inside. After counting, Onix shook his head satisfied and closed the deal with Lucia.
"I believe that's all we have to resolve for today, we'll be back in 3 months, if you find more herbs by then we'd be happy to do business with you again!" Lucia said.
"I understand, I would invite you to stay and eat, but given the previous tensions I believe that this would not be a good idea for both of us" Onix said.
"He he, No problem~ We'll be back in no time." Lucia said with her macabre smile again.
As they left the village I could feel the tension in the air almost palpitably, the humans seemed to have resolved this peacefully, but they still maintained a threatening tone the entire time, as if they had just planned to loot the village from the beginning. At least I seemed to be wrong, and this time no one died, the humans got what they wanted, and the kobolds made some money, I don't know what they will use it for in the middle of the forest, but I believe it is useful when communicating with other species or groups.
Crisis averted, successfully i guess?..
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Things between the humans and the kobolds seemed to have ended "peacefully", but now I was more concerned with counting the damage I received from this encounter. After insisting for a while, I finally managed to get out of the nursery that had been sealed for safety, and made my way to the infirmary, where some spies from the Trevis group were resting on circular shaped beds made of wax and silk.
As I got closer to the room, I started to feel a slight headache, and when I checked the link, I immediately discovered why.
Pain.
My children were in a lot of pain, and this pain was transmitted and shared through the link, making us feel every bit of their suffering, the throbbing and excruciating pain they felt, the fear of what would happen to them, the cold of death. It was all there, but in a second, it began to disappear. And it wasn't because they had recovered or died, but because the information club was purposefully numbing the link and isolating the injured members of the group- Leaving them to feel this pain and fear alone.
As soon as I arrived in the room, I could see dozens of nurses and healers running back and forth, all in an attempt to save the spies, and take care of the injured that were already here previously, something that immediately worried me.
"What's the situation? Why haven't the spies been cured yet?!"
As soon as my voice fell, Keb, one of the high-ranking nurses quickly walked over to me accompanied by a few elite nurses, and they began their report.
"Queen mother! I thank you for your presence here! The wounds inflicted on the spies are of mysterious origins, even the healers'healing magic was not enough to close the wounds! So we had to allocate resources and time in trying to suppress their bleeding and in stabilizing their conditions!" Keb said nervously. Looking into the room, I could see baskets of dirty laundry with blood, stains on the nurses clothes and people running around with bottles of medicine and bandages, something that is not common around here, as most wounds can be quickly healed with the healer skills.
'What the hell is going on?'
Ignoring the nurses who were trying to talk to me, I quickly ran to a bed where one of the spies was being treated, looking down he looked like just a baby in a crib, not a wounded soldier fighting for his life in a medical bed. Getting closer, I could smell blood mixed with medicine and strong herbs coming out of the bandages that covered their small bodies. Without much thought I tore off one of the strips and looked underneath it, only to find an open cut wound with no signs of healing.
"How is that possible?! What was that attack?!
Without delay, I activate all my healing skills in an instant, and soon the infirmary is bathed in a strange aura of soft light, which causes the wounds of the soldiers and workers present in the room to begin to slowly close, disappearing into the middle of the light. But the spies injuries remained unaffected, and did not change despite being bathed by the area healing skill.
"HOW?!"
Taking the spy in my hands, I lift him into the air like a doll, and start focusing my most powerful healing skill on him, [Radiant Renewal], and this time I can see his wound start to close slowly, very slowly. I then decide to activate another skill, and right at the tip of my jaws a single drop of a super concentrated golden liquid is formed.
As the drop falls onto the spy's wounds, his body trembles momentarily before the wounds begin to slowly dry, not returning him to his previously perfect state, but rather merely closing the wounds that could have been lethal.
'At least super concentrated [Life Drops] work.'
"Take the injured to the pool of life! Leave them inside until all their wounds close!"
Obeying my orders, some soldiers present in the room, picked up the injured spies and ran to the center of the nest, where the pool of life was located. Before I could follow them, I was notified with a mental notification, and soon discovered that Trevis was still following the humans, and in the meantime heard them talking.
Priorities... What's more important? Knowing immediately what the humans are saying, or making sure my children are okay? It's so hard to know which is the right option, a mother should put her children above all else, but a queen should put the kingdom above all else.
'Damn it!'
Ignoring my high pity, I run with the soldiers and nurses to the center of the nest, when I get there I can see several wounded and unconscious spies bandaged with blood-soaked cloths, as soon as they get close to the pool of life, the soldiers gently place the spies between the roots and crystals inside the pool. Looking at the immaculate golden pool of life, I begin to see blood-red stains spreading across the pool, and in a few moments I see the nurses removing the bandages and dressings from the spies to reveal horrible wounds.
Bathed in the life juice, the wounds slowly closed, and I could see and feel the boys' condition stabilizing, but for some strange reason, the wounds did not fully recover.
"I WILL KILL THAT BITCH!"
I was gnawing my fingers in anger, thinking of the image of a woman with short golden hair who had shot magical blades towards my children. The simple image of her hurting my babies filled me with rage and made my blood boil, the pain, the fear, the cold. She cannot feel the damage she caused, but I can, I could feel their fear through the link, their pain and sadness.
And all of this is very real.
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As soon as the boys' situation began to stabilize I felt relieved, but instead of relaxing I ran out of the main tree and went to my personal garden. As soon as I reached my special place, I sat down furiously at the table with a thud, and without me asking several workers came and royal attendants came and brought honey drinks - the only thing I eat.
Furious, I ignore the delicious sweet, and focus on the link between me and Trevis, and as soon as I connect to it, the images in front of me begin to blur and mix until the beautiful scenery of the garden is replaced by a dense forest. Analyzing the surroundings I can see the humans, who marched back home the same way they came, but now carrying an important valuable cargo.
'Trevis. Did they reveal anything important?'
'-No Queen Mother, they just talked among themselves and made what seemed to be jokes about the kobolds.' Trevis replied through the link.
'Does this look bad to you?'
'Well... They've already noticed our presence, they must be keeping quiet on purpose.' Trevis replied seriously.
'Any chance of killing them all?'
'Yes, if the entire colony joins forces and-'
'Stop. I already know where this is going, I'm not going to sacrifice part of the colony for this. Any chance of killing them discreetly? Poison, disease? Plague, promise to a god or ask nicely?'
'No? I don't think we have the means to kill them all, I believe the poisons we have in stock are enough to weaken some of them, but given their size... We would need a lot more poison than we have in stock.'
'What crap! And bombs, spells, weapons, nothing?'
'I-I can't say mom... Jasper or Steve are the members who would know about the weapons we have in stock... I regret my lack of knowledge.'
'No Trevis, this- Ugh, sorry, I'm mad at the humans, not you dear, sorry for taking it out on you.'
Looking at the humans walking away, I felt helpless, is this what we are? Beings that they can attack at any moment, "randomly" and we can do nothing in response but lower our heads? They didn't even see us as a real threat and almost killed an entire group of spies, what can they do if they come prepared to kill us?
'I need to strengthen the hive... And fast.'
Soon I was mentally alerted with an "Emergency Meeting" notification and I could feel the inner circle confirming their presence, and heading to the meeting room. I was too angry and frustrated to go there now, but I had made a rule myself that if more than half of the inner circle called a meeting, all members must attend without fail.
"Damn humans, damn kobolds, damn life, damn magical powers that I don't know how to control! All it takes now is a lightning to strike on my head to me drop dead for good!"