Magic? Adon thought. I guess I do have magic now. A little bit. Just healing, though. It’s not exactly useful for killing enemies. He didn’t know if that was something the Princess would be impressed by. And he wasn’t sure about the idea of talking to her.
Adon’s body felt hot and stiff with tension. The idea of talking to a human would have been intimidating enough without it being royalty. Adon had spoken to the Princess once before, but that was back when he could barely use Telepathy. He had only needed to string a couple of words together, and then he was paralyzed with pain and out of Mana.
I don’t even know what to say—or how to say it. Do I need to use special honorifics? Your Highness? Your Royal Highness? Your Most Supreme Majesty?
Fortunately, the Princess didn’t seem to need him to fill the silence. After waiting a few seconds to see if he would respond to what she’d said, she continued talking.
“I am taking a trip soon. It could be anytime now. I wanted to visit the garden before I left. This is probably my favorite place…”
Adon observed the Princess’s actual appearance, looking through the golden glow that surrounded her, for the first time. She’s surprisingly muscular for a woman, was his first thought. Maybe she’s a warrior princess? Every part of the Princess’s body was toned, like that of a professional athlete.
Her face was one of the only soft aspects. Simultaneously pretty and fierce.
Full lips and smiling eyes, though as she mentioned her travel plans, he detected a different emotion behind those eyes. Fear? At least nervousness.
“I cannot say exactly where I will be going,” she said, “but these are dangerous times. Our country may face an attack by the Demon Empire if our ongoing diplomatic efforts in various regions are unsuccessful. I am glad I decided to visit this place again before I leave. Normally the garden brings me a great deal of inner peace.”
As he watched, Adon became certain that the Princess was actually afraid of something. Apparently worried about taking this trip that she was only willing to vaguely talk about.
But what could scare her? While she was speaking, some of the remaining Vendetta Ants that were not yet affected by her magic had charged at the Princess, only to instantly burst into flames. They died without ever reaching her feet. Yet the Princess did not appear to have taken any notice of them. Whatever magic she was using, Adon imagined she must be extremely proficient at it.
I’ve been naive, he thought. I keep feeling like I’m making great leaps forward. But it’s all relative to the size of this little garden. I’m probably a big fish now, but only in this tiny pond. She’s about to go swim in the ocean, where there are things—people—scarier than her.
Considering how deadly the Princess was relative to any creature Adon had ever met, that was saying something.
She must be very brave.
Adon listened to her soft voice continue to dance around the subject of her diplomatic mission, and he wanted to help her or encourage her somehow. She was working to protect her country, which was where he lived too.
He activated Telepathy. He wasn’t certain of what he wanted to say yet, but he knew he needed to express something. Even if he couldn’t actually provide any help or comfort. If he just let her feel like she was talking to herself, he would be the same socially awkward loser he had been in his last life—and in so many others.
“I know you can hear me,” the Princess said, shifting subjects. “Understand me, I mean.”
Oh, she does know that she’s not just talking to herself, he thought, carefully keeping the thought contained in his own mind.
“I refuse to believe it a coincidence that beside your plant, I heard a voice inside my head.” The Princess’s voice grew quiet as she spoke those last few words. Adon could imagine her embarrassment if people heard her admitting that she heard a voice in her head. She continued on, her tone slightly stubborn. “And you have a name. Identify shows that your name is Adon. Just like the spider I saw here, who was trying to collect the vegetables I had brought for you. She had a name. I thought that she might be a friend of yours. Now that seems to be confirmed. It cannot be happenstance that the two of you both have names. If you would talk to me—”
Goldie! Adon had found his voice. At last, something he could say.
What?! The Princess seemed surprised to actually hear his voice in her head, even though that was clearly what she’d been aiming for.
The spider, Adon sent. Her name is Goldie, um, Your Highness.
Now that he had spoken to the Princess, it was a bit like a dam had broken. He could talk without any trouble—or at least, he felt confident enough talking about Goldie.
“Oh, of course. Ah, I knew you could talk!”
Thank you, by the way. For the food. And for not hurting Goldie. Um, I also appreciate you wiping out the Vendetta Ants.
“Honestly, they will probably be back next year.” She shrugged. “It is the natural cycle. Even if we try to exterminate them, they return every time.” Her expression turned to a twisted smile. “Back with a vengeance each Spring.”
Was that a joke? Adon realized too late that he had actually sent the question through telepathy.
Shit! He managed to contain this thought, at least.
“It was an attempt, at least,” the Princess said. She chuckled to herself. “I suppose you do not care if the ants come back anyway. By this time next year, the Goddess will have given you your wings. Another aspect of the natural cycle. You will not have to bother with us lowly surface creatures any longer. A butterfly, like a bird or a dragon, flies where it will. National borders and disputes need not concern you.” She looked almost envious. “Any more than the lives of ants.”
Adon didn’t know what to say to any of that. He hadn’t thought much about leaving this garden. He had considered how he might involve himself in the world of humans. How he and Goldie might expand their social circle. But never the idea of flying across national borders. That seemed more like a dragon thing than a butterfly thing to him, although he was vaguely aware that some butterflies did cross vast distances.
“Anyway—” The Princess changed the subject again, and Adon realized he had failed to respond to everything she had just said. “Are there other, um, talking bugs out here?”
Just me and Goldie, Your Highness.
“You do not need to keep referring to me as ‘Your Highness,’ Adon. My name is Rosslyn. Butterflies and their offspring are traditionally of elevated status in this country anyway. Think of yourself as the monarch of your own species.” She stroked her chin thoughtfully. “So only you and Goldie can talk. I had the idea that she was your friend, but she was completely silent when I picked her up. She can really talk too?”
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Thank you, Rosslyn. It felt a bit strange to use her first name, but he would try to get used to it. She can’t use telepathy, but she can think verbal thoughts. Most bugs can only sort of think in pictures, as far as I can tell.
“Interesting. And how did you learn to talk?”
I always had an inner monologue going, ever since I was born. Then I had to unlock the Telepathy Adaptation to be able to communicate. I also paid through this world’s System to learn your language.
The Princess shook her head with a wry smile.
“Sometimes I feel jealous of mystic beasts and monsters,” she said. “The sheer possibilities of endless growth. Learning languages without studying! Of course, most nonhuman creatures lack the wit to properly take advantage of those advantages. Um, I mean no offense by saying that. You are obviously an exception. I wonder what makes you so different. Even other caterpillars and spiders I have seen in the past were not like you. Most of them fail to make it to adulthood, in part because they are not as intelligent as you are. I used to see them a lot more when I was a girl, but I never met one who spoke. Do you have any idea why you ended up so special?”
I’m still, um, sort of connected to my past lives.
She stared down at him intensely for a few seconds, to the point where Adon wondered if he had said something wrong. It felt almost as if she saw inside of him. Could she see an aura around him, the way that he could see hers? Adon didn’t know if he had something like that and couldn’t see it when he looked down at his own body.
“You and the spider are a very interesting pair,” Rosslyn said finally, speaking softly.
Well, we manage to keep each other amused, Adon transmitted.
The Princess smiled again. “Definitely an unusual pair. The garden has always been relaxing, but to think it has become a source of mystery…”
Adon had to think carefully about what he wanted to say to that. Should he tell her something about his encounter with the Goddess? About his reincarnation?
“You know,” she continued, “the spider is actually on the coat of arms of one of our close allies. The caterpillar—well, actually the butterfly—is on our coat of arms. And in this difficult period for the country—for the continent as a whole—the two of you happened to appear in our garden. Two creatures connected to their past lives, with the ability to think as humans do. I wonder what this could mean. It has to be intentional. The Goddess does not do such things for no reason. I should ask my father about this. He is more knowledgeable than anyone I am aware of about our national history, particularly as it pertains to mystic—”
Um, please don’t tell anyone about us! Adon sent the message before he could stop himself or even give it much thought. He was still a bit viscerally afraid of the idea of meeting too many new people. And he hadn’t thoroughly discussed the idea of joining human society with Goldie. It seemed like the sort of decision one couldn’t simply walk back.
“Would you mind telling me why?”
I—we’re not ready to meet other people. Yet.
“Not ready yet,” she repeated. “Implying that later, you might change your mind?”
That’s exactly it!
“Fair enough, then. Maybe we can revisit this when I get back.”
Thank you.
“Even my father, though? I feel certain he would honor your privacy.”
I would have to meet a King? Adon thought but did not transmit. He was already talking to the Kingdom’s Princess, but the way she had taken an organic interest in him was different. Adon imagined a conversation with the King turning out more like an interrogation.
I appreciate you holding off, Your Highness, he sent.
“I might feel the need to tell him about you at some point, Adon,” Rosslyn said. “I should be honest about that. Our Kingdom may be in worse straits than I am aware of now. If there is any possibility that you could make the difference in our country’s survival—or in its continued independence—I could not live with myself if I failed to explore that.”
I understand, Adon transmitted. Though he really did not. The idea that a tiny bug could make a difference in the life and death of a nation was a strange one.
I barely make a difference in the survival of other creatures in the garden.
“How old are you?” Rosslyn asked.
Adon realized he had transmitted that last sentence. It was meant to be an internal thought. Need to get much more practice controlling that before I talk to any other humans. He managed to keep that to himself.
A week, Adon sent. I have a lot more years in terms of life experience, though. You know, in my last life, I was a human who lived to twenty-six.
Rosslyn nodded and smiled at that. Then she counted backward on her fingers.
“You were strong enough to kill a Ladybug Larva when you were basically a newborn,” she said. “You might feel as if you lack the power to influence the fate of nations, but exponential growth is the strongest power in the world. If more monsters were intelligent, they would overrun us. Someday, as a butterfly, your effect could be far out of proportion to your size. I hope you will not turn away from greatness. A small creature can cast a long shadow. I think that might be the meaning of your kind’s appearance on our coat of arms. We were once a small nation, too. And we still remain small in comparison with the Demon Empire. But we have pushed their invading hordes back more than once over the centuries.”
Adon felt simultaneously reassured and slightly anxious as Rosslyn expressed her expectations. Could I really achieve some form of greatness? he wondered, careful to contain the thought. Could a little butterfly change the world? It was more than he had dared to hope.
Thank you for the kind words, Princess, he sent.
“Rather than words, is there any action I can take that would make life easier for you and Goldie?” she asked.
Adon thought about it. He could ask for more food, but he still had the box full of food that Rosslyn had already provided. She had just killed his rivals for possession of the box, so whatever was left inside was his to consume. And anyway, he intended to eat mainly high level life forms from now on, to improve his and Goldie’s chances of getting an Evolution soon.
On that note, he could ask for a steak, but he couldn’t imagine how the Princess feeding a steak to a couple of arthropods in the garden would be okay. It would either be a dead giveaway that there was something special about the bugs in question, which would cause Adon and Goldie to be exposed to more people, or it would be a scandal. Imagine what the gardeners and cooks would say to their friends.
While we’re out here living in our hovels and munching cabbage, the Princess feeds her pet bugs on steak and caviar. Revolution, my friends! Peasants of the Kingdom, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains…
And if Adon wanted to continue doing his own hunting, he could not now ask the Princess to take him and Goldie inside the palace, where they would probably be safer.
He would have to master a whole new ecosystem if he wanted to hunt the small animals that likely lived in the palace. So would Goldie. That might not actually end up being safer for anyone except perhaps Goldie’s babies.
And if it prevented him from getting Goldie to her next Evolution, it would be counterproductive.
This was also all assuming that Rosslyn was completely benevolent herself. She seemed nice so far, though she had introduced herself by lighting a bunch of other insects on fire. Possible red flag.
But if Adon started taking favors from her, then he would owe her. Maybe he would wind up roped into her country’s future wars, whether he liked it or not. He might be willing to help—to the extent that a caterpillar could be an asset in war—but he wanted to feel that he had the choice, not that he was acting because he accrued a debt to the royal family without thinking.
This was supposed to be his best life. So he was going to keep maximum agency for as long as he could while he figured things out.
He was still only a week old, after all.
I don’t think there is anything we need right now, Princess, he finally replied. But if you don’t mind—I mean, if you’re interested—it would be great if we could talk again when you’re back. I think Goldie would enjoy that too.
Rosslyn nodded and flashed him a final, pearly white smile. “I would like that, Adon.”