Hive Queen

-- Elena --

Mansions, smaller stores and blocks of houses made up the huge capital city of Trigon where millions of people resided. Since I wished to avoid trouble, I hid my soul and my presence from everyone. The city was divided into three sections, each having a palace right in the middle, creating a square in between. Although the main leaders were different in all sectors, every king had the same kind of authority irrespective of the sectors.

Thanks to the information we’ve got out of Skeiron, I understood that this made it possible to coexist despite having three rulers above the nine hundredth level. Right now, just a thought would be enough to kill me if either of them realised that I, The Devourer, was living among them. I could leave this place behind and look for one where people were weaker and return when my strength would be sufficient, but I wasn’t one to run away from trouble.

The kings could make decisions in their own sectors alone, but if it touched all sectors, they held a conference to decide on the matter. It was a simple and good solution to take care of disputes. There were even judges in each sector which was strange to hear in this kind of world. Normally strength was the only judge, after all.

The streets were wide and clean and despite circling the whole city, I didn’t see anyone having a showdown or a battle to the death which was rather unusual after living in Dink for about two years. Whenever I entered a city, it was natural to run into some sort of trouble, but it seemed to be different here. But I believed that everything good hid something bad and I was sure that nothing was as simple and peaceful as it seemed. Thanks to seeing Jareg Greywing’s personality through Liz’s eyes, I was even more sure that nothing was as it seemed.

Despite playing the big shot, Jareg wasn’t the true lord of the Greywing house. His grandfather was the one who had the final say in everything and he was the one who received the noble title. Based on what Skeiron told us, one became a noble after reaching the seven hundred and fiftieth level or in some special cases, the kings bestowed noble ranks. This special case included the winner of the renowned competition of the Trigon Festival held every decade.

The next one would be held in half a year and the top three would receive noble titles despite not meeting the standard requirement. Even if it sounded or seemed simple, it was very hard to reach that high of a level for common races and even I’d have to devour hundreds of thousands of people to keep advancing at a quick pace. Normal people had no other way around it, after all, they had to work hard and train or they wouldn’t get anywhere even if their lifespans were millions of years.

I found it a bit hard to imagine my life doing nothing but training and killing monsters with little fun in my life. Luckily, I could say I had a family and friends who lightened up my days in their own ways. Even if the Dark Scars were obsessed with me to the point of calling me a goddess, they still had their charms and edges and I loved to see the differences between them. Or the way they changed over the years spent with me.

The Trigon Festival was a seven-day-long festival which would start out with the qualifiers for the competition and continue for a whole week. A noble title had a few perks many coveted, so it was no wonder. A noble didn’t have to pay taxes and their murderer would be punished by death, even if it the offender was a noble, while the punishment would be much lighter if the victim was a common person. If I killed a common person, I’d be shut in a jail for a hundred years. I wasn’t even twenty years old… a hundred years would be a huge waste to me!

Nobles could also meet any of the kings anytime they wanted and take part in making important decisions and they could also kill common people without repercussions if they had some sort of reason. I imagined it wouldn’t be hard to come up with some bullshit and then blame it all on the victim.

Additionally, nobles would be assigned a territory in the kingdom anywhere they wanted and would receive resources which would help their advances. In turn, all they’d have to do would be to protect the kingdom from the other kingdoms in Ketarn. Considering that there has been no war for thousands of years, it was basically free money, no to mention that the title applied to the family of the noble as well. Of course, other than the person in possession of the noble title, nobody would be forced to fight.

Truth be told, I became pretty interested in this competition since the rules made it possible for me to participate and win! The restriction was that nobody at or above the seven hundredth level was allowed to participate and the minimum level was six hundred and fifty. The battles were rather ‘safe’ unless the participants wished to fight a battle to the death which I could imagine happen from time to time, but normally, participants would be healed after their battles to keep casualties low.

Dred said he’d participate when the time came, so we had to put our everything into levelling up for the next half a year. My thoughts were interrupted by Skeiron who remembered to share another important bit of information with me, “Master, before you leave, there is one last thing I must tell you.”

“What is it?”

“Those who enter the city must possess an ID card which shows their association with the Trigon Kingdom. You’ll have to pay taxes, but you’ll be protected by the guards in case somebody attacks you on the streets or anywhere in the kingdom. Of course, if something was to happen to you out in the wild, nobody would bother with it unless you returned alive and told about it, so be careful with that. Also, only people with ID cards can participate in the Trigon Festival and receive a noble title.”

“Do we need to do anything else if we were to associate ourselves with the Trigon Kingdom?” I asked.

“Other than paying taxes, in world crystals, I don’t know of anything,” Skeiron replied. A world crystal was a solidified form spatial energy which could help one in strengthening their mana. Cosmological constant bestowed us with infinite energy, but the mana within our bodies could become more powerful than external energy. That being the case, we never slacked off with our mana-training, though I wouldn’t use my own mana unless more power was necessary.

In this higher realm, world crystals weren’t that rare and it wouldn’t be hard to find a few of them, but the problem was that I didn’t know how much we had to pay. The gold coins left on me were useless here since creating materials wasn’t hard, especially something simple like gold. From what I knew, world crystals formed in areas with high mana density and a good concentration of spatial energy, meaning black holes, near stars and such.

If we found a black hole, we could become rich in no time if there weren’t any people nearby, but most of the black holes were world crystal mines possessed by the nobles.

“Do you have any idea about the amount?” I asked.

“I don’t know, Master. Should I ask Jareg?” Skeiron asked.

“Yes, please do, but don’t be obvious. Also, shouldn’t you call him your father?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Master, I’m yours to use, I don’t have a father, but I’ll keep calling him Father to not blow our cover,” he replied.

I looked out the window of the restaurant and took another sip of my cup of tea, “Do you think this is something bad?” I asked Dred who was sitting on the other side of the table.

“I don’t think so. Although this is basically robbing one from their child which is surely evil or despicable even, I’d lie if I said I feel bad because of it. Skeiron would have become like his father if he didn’t become one of us and we’d have had to kill him in the future. It’s better to make kids like him come to our side while still young and pure instead, I believe,” Dred replied.

“Hmm, true, it’s either this or we’d have to kill most of them in the future, so I guess it’s indeed better. I just find it a bit faulty that they basically give up on their family because of our blood,” I sighed.

“Don’t mind it,” he shrugged his shoulders, visibly much less bothered about it than me. “Truth be told, we should be the first to be killed on the list of evildoers,” he laughed. All I could do was roll my eyes upon hearing him since that was indeed the truth.

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“Master, my father said that commoners had to pay twenty world crystals every month to keep their ID card and receive the protection of the kingdom. If they failed to pay, their ID card would be taken and destroyed and a fee of a month’s worth of world crystal would be issued. A common job pays five world crystals for a day’s work, so it’s not that hard to make a living and pay the taxes as well,” Skeiron contacted me a minute later.

I suppose the ID cards could be reissued once the person paid the fee and the taxes, but considering that there are millions of people just in this city… I imagine the sum of world crystals the kings receive is insane.

Standing up from my seat, I took out a world crystal from my storage ring and paid for our food and drink. Dred followed me out of the restaurant to the city hall.

“Do you plan to register?” he started walking next to me.

“Well, I don’t see why we shouldn’t. We’ve got a few thousand from Sealu planet which should be enough for a while and I’m pretty sure we can find more in the near future. It’d have been nice if Cor hoarded a lot of world crystals on the third planet, but I guess that’s just wishful thinking…” I sighed.

“You can’t be lucky all the time. But shouldn’t the others register as well? It’d be bad if either of them got killed by someone else because they aren’t associated with the kingdom. We aren’t strong enough to defend ourselves, so we’ll have to rely on the guards,” Dred said.

“You’re right. We should meet up and after giving them enough world crystals, we should send them to register.”

The city was bustling with life, but most of the people seemed to be rather sad despite the ‘good’ conditions. In the city hall, we had to use our soul force or a drop of blood to make the ID card and pay twenty world crystals on the spot. At least, we wouldn’t have to pay again until next month. The taxes were collected here and if we didn’t pay in five days after the next month, our ID cards would be destroyed along with our association with the kingdom.

After paying the necessary amount and receiving our ID cards, we teleported out of the city and stopped in our camp in the forest. “Audrey? How are you guys doing?” I asked through our soul realm.

“Wait a moment, I’ll be there in a short time and then I’ll tell you everything,” she replied and it didn’t take long before she got back to the camp. Before saying anything, she walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I raised my arms in surprise and stood unmoving for a bit before finally placing my arms around her back.

“What is it?” I asked as I grabbed her shoulders and she stepped back. She cleared her throat and walked over to a fallen log and sat down, ignoring my question.

I guess it’s because of my blood, she must have missed me. We haven’t met for days, after all.

“So, here is what I found out. The monsters are stronger towards the northeastern parts, meaning the Ops river, towards the southeastern parts, meaning the Naga Swamps and towards the southwestern parts, meaning the elven forest. The monsters around the capital city of Trigon are at our level or some are even below, but the further we go, the stronger they become.”

“The northwestern parts are rather safe from monsters since both of the world crystal mines Cor and I found are in that area, at the western foot of the dwarven mountains. Those places are guarded by strong people, so we mustn’t get into a frontal fight with them. The outposts marked on the maps Liz found, seem to be smaller cities filled with strong people. I imagine if any of the kingdoms were to launch an attack, these outposts would be enough to hold out until reinforcements arrived.”

“Although money isn’t everything, it’s still important and since world crystals are a source of wealth and power as well, I imagined you’d want to get some. Hence, I checked out the area of the world crystal mine I found a bit more carefully and the guards were mostly around the six hundred and fiftieth level. These were just the common folks I’ve seen and could sense, but I’m sure that there are even stronger people. That’s all I’ve gathered. We need more time to find out about the neighbouring kingdoms. I’ve already instructed Vince to transform into an elf and go to the elven forest.”

“He should be back in a few days with some information and I’ve also sent a few others to different places,” Audrey finished talking after a while.

Although she made it sound as if she barely learned anything, considering the size of the area she had to travel, she performed beyond my expectations. “Great job!” I couldn’t help but exclaim. Seeing her smile happily, I made sure in my heart that I’d try to appreciate everyone’s efforts more in the future. If my praise made them so happy, then I’d have to praise them more often.

“In that case, we should sneak in,” Dred said after a bit of thinking.

“Do you mean the world crystal mines?” Audrey tilted her head to the side. Nodding his head, Dred replied with a yes.

“If we want to found some kind of power in the Trigon Kingdom, we definitely need a base and we can’t get that without money. The world crystals would also increase our training speed which is a must if we want to take part in the championship of the Trigon Festival. Although it’s not impossible, it’d be very hard even for us to reach the upper levels of the sixth realm in such a short time without sufficient resources. Surely, we can kill and devour powerful people, but that alone won’t be enough,” Dred explained.

“Hmm- that’s true, but I’m not completely sure anyone but the two of us could sneak in without being noticed and even leave with enough world crystals. In fact, only Audrey has a spatial ring other than the two of us and yours is just that tiny one I took off once I’ve got Padinyss’s,” I remarked. Placing my hand on my chin, I added, “To be completely sure, it’d be best if you went alone since your hiding abilities are much better than mine. If you’re willing, I’ll take off my ring and give it to you, but I’ll want it back later!”

Dred looked at me with deadpan eyes for a bit, making me feel a bit uncomfortable. I wasn’t reading his feelings either, so I wasn’t sure if I annoyed him somehow. “Ah, but it’s not like I want to keep this ring to myself or anything, you can keep it if you want,” I laughed awkwardly.

Raising his hand, he put it on the top of my head and stood up while laughing, “You’re so silly. I’ll move out this evening in that case. Once I steal enough world crystals, I’ll return to this camp and give you back your ring,” he said while looking at me with a smirk. I wanted to punch his face for some reason.

“Wait, wait, but how do you plan on stealing it? I didn’t dare to go inside and the world crystals surely aren’t in a pile anyone could just take away,” Audrey flailed her arms worried.

“Of course, I’d explore the area first and look around before acting. I’ll probably take a few days since I’ll have to check out the people’s habits working there and act only if I’m sure I can leave without being noticed,” Dred replied, calming my heart as well. I trusted Dred so much, sometimes I forgot a bit about the details when he dealt with things alone and didn’t even realise the danger until Audrey pointed it out. Maybe I relied a bit too much on his stealth abilities.

“Don’t be silly and stop thinking of stupid things. I chose the stealth specialization for a reason and obviously, I’d deal with missions like these myself,” he refuted in my mind.

“Okay,” I replied. He rarely questioned my decisions and I wouldn’t question him either. We’d do so only if we felt the other was being unreasonable or forgot about something, it was important to trust each other, after all.

“What will you two do? Are you going to spend a warm night without me again?” he grinned while looking back and forth between the two of us. I did tell him about it, but after bonding, he even looked it up in my memories…

Covering my face, I waved my hand, “No way. I was just out of it at that time.”

“Yes, I was just in my blood-hungry phase and it sort of happened,” Audrey followed up instantly. We both knew that he was just joking, but I still felt a bit awkward when I remembered that night with Audrey… It was definitely a mistake on our sides.

“Stupid cat, stop bringing up weird stuff, you pervert,” Audrey grumbled. “And to answer your question, I’m going to join up with Jake at the entrance of the Dwarf Mountain. Cor left to go to the Skeleton Hill, so once we look around the Dwarf Mountain, we should go after Cor and meet up with him.”

“Hmm- are you all going to leave me, a lady, alone in the forest?” I gasped. “What if some bandits attack me?!” I cried out.

“I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t want to come in contact with your skin,” Audrey looked at me as if I was some sort of plague. I looked at my hand as I used inner-devour and waved my blackened fingers with a smile on my face, “You mean this?”

“Ugh- even if they were five times as strong as you, it wouldn’t take more than a few seconds for you to devour them. If common people were to come close to you and touch you, they’d definitely lose their lives,” she grunted.

Certainly, in the sixth realm, every ten levels were the equivalent of my current strength, but even then, if I could keep touching somebody for about three seconds, they’d definitely die. It was just that at this level, three seconds was a long time in a battle and if they bombarded me from far away, my inner-devour would be useless. But that wasn’t the case if they carelessly came close to me.

“At least hide that vile smile from your face,” Audrey shook her head.

“Fufu~ I wonder what you’re talking about,” I mused and then turned serious. “Well, truth be told, I think I’ll try to level up while you guys go out. Thanks to Dred’s mark of the wild, you people with the mark can inherit my genes, at least. It should be no problem for you to catch up with me,” I said.

“That’s a good idea, we must become stronger or we can’t do much,” Audrey nodded as well. “Well then, I’m going now,” she said before teleporting away.

I looked into Dred’s eyes and stepped closer to him to hug his body. “I’ll miss you,” I gave him a deep kiss and parted with his lips only after a good minute.

“Me too,” he whispered into my ear.

“I anticipate our reunion,” I smiled back and then teleported away.

It was time for me to kill while the others would do some ‘management’, I could say~