Eventually, the memorial and subsequent celebrations came to a close. Belissar couldn’t help but feel a bit better as he had watched the bees dance around and slurp up honey. Apparently, they were more happy to have won the battle than they were to have lost any of their own. Belissar couldn’t remain sad himself in the face of that, if for no other reason than that he didn’t want to ruin their celebration.
Afterwards, there was much to do and think about, but Belissar felt drained, so he decided to call it and head to bed. He woke up the next morning to find Niobee waiting for him as usual…with her queen still clinging to her back. She began her usual salute dance as she saw him.
“Good morning Niobee. Did your queen stay with you last night?”
“Yes!”
Belissar frowned. He may have been drained by the events of yesterday, but there was no excuse to have left a queen without a place to stay. He needed to rectify that immediately.
He was about to ask Niobee to speak with the queen for him when he paused. He tilted his head and then his eyes widened as he realized…he had already spoken to the queen and she had responded. He focused in more closely on her and found that she now had a bit of mana flowing through her.
It seemed she was not just a normal honeybee any more.
In any case, that was convenient, since it meant he could speak with her directly.
“Hi there, hope you slept well. Sorry I didn’t prepare any place for you to stay. I’ll show you around and build you a home…um, if you want to stay here with us, that is.”
The queen stirred on Niobee’s back and looked up at him for a moment. She then slowly began to dance.
“Hive-Builder will…build new hive? For me?”
Belissar saw something appear before his eyes but ignored it to focus on the queen. He gave her a warm smile.
“Of course!”
The queen paused for a moment before her wings buzzed and she took off, zipping around in an aerial dance.
“Yes! Please! Will make Hive-Builder lots of honey!”
Belissar laughed and smiled as the queen zipped around him. And then finally took a glance at the messages trying to get his attention.
His jaw dropped once he saw why.
Accept offer of allegiance?
New mission received: Accept the Oracle of Bees into your dungeon.
You have gained 1,273 sworn defenders.
Unnamed bee, the Oracle of Bees, has become your sworn defender!
Mission: Accept The Oracle of Bees Into Your Dungeon completed!
Reward: One Bee-type Perk Choice
“Ora…cle?”
Belissar stared at the bee zipping around him, his eyes as wide as they could go. Oracles. For once, that was a term he knew. Mrs. Imkomos, the old beekeeper, had told them all about them, for it had been her lifelong dream to one day speak with one.
And that was because oracles could hear directly from the gods.
As such, they were afforded a place of great honor by the Tower Lords…and protection. Such people rarely, if ever, interacted with the peasantry, though, so Mrs. Imkomos’s dream remained just that to the day of her death. At this point, Belissar wondered if that was the choice of the oracles themselves or if the Tower Lords had secluded them away.
But now…an oracle was here. One of his old bees, even, who herself was descended from the hives Mrs. Imkomos had raised before him. So…not only was he speaking to an oracle now, he and Mrs. Imkomos had even helped raise one. His eyes moistened but a smile grew on his face.
“I guess I can fulfill your dream now, at least…”
He wiped his eyes and took a deep breath.
“So, um, I hear you’re an oracle?”
The queen paused her dance and flew before him.
“Oracle? What that?”
Belissar blinked.
“Oh…um…have you spoken to any gods? The God of Bees in particular.”
The queen picked up speed.
“Yes! Queen of All Bees told not to sting evil humans! Told to follow and come here, then sting!”
Belissar blinked several times at that news…and then broke out into a massive smiled as his heart began to pound in his chest. The God of Bees had appointed an oracle and sent down visions from above…so that one of his old queens could reunite with him? He didn’t think he could feel even more grateful to her than he already did, but he was just proven wrong.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“I’m glad you did…well, um…”
Belissar thought for a moment about what he should do with this news before shrugging. Even Mrs. Imkomos didn’t know exactly what oracles did or how the Tower Lords treated them. Belissar therefore had no idea what, if anything, he should do differently now that he knew the queen was the Oracle of Bees.
So, he decided to treat her first as a bee.
“…shall I show you around the Tower? You can pick a spot that looks nice to you and I’ll build you a home.”
“Yes! Please! Hive-Builder is best hive builder!”
Belissar chuckled at that. It seemed the Oracle of Bees was, in fact, also a bee after all.
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The queen zipped around as her worker and the Hive-Builder led her out of the Hive-Builder’s nest. The Hive-Builder was not only keeping her, he was going to build a hive for her again! She had not thought he would do so, not after seeing all the mighty and giant queens he had replaced her and her former rivals with. How could she possibly compete with the magical giants? How could her hive produce honey on par with one that could sustain bees of that size? How could she drive them from any flower they wished to monopolize? How could she stop bees larger than any hornet from robbing her hive?
Apparently, though, the Hive-Builder did not mind that she was tiny and weak. He was giving her a hive all the same. Once again, he would check her hive and help remove the sick and the parasites. Once again, he’d line her hive with warm furs to keep out the winter chill. Once again, he’d provide them with extra provisions to ensure they could last until spring.
And he was even going to let her decide where the hive should go!
“This is the Apiary! The bees here mostly focus on making honey, so there are plenty of flowers!”
The queen spun about, taking in the room before her. As the Hive-Builder said, flowers spread out across the room, including flowers she had never seen before. There were entire patches of flowers that were glowing with a soft blue light. The queen’s eyes locked onto them, she felt them drawing her in. She subconsciously began drifting towards them…
And then she heard the buzzing.
She snapped out of her haze to see once of the giant queens from yesterday fly towards the. She quickly retreated to her worker’s back, telling what few workers still accompanied her to stand down and avoid confrontation.
The giant queen stopped midair, though, and began saluting to the Hive-Builder.
“You remember the First of the Fifth, right? She’s pretty much in charge of the Apiary, so she’ll help you if we set up here!”
The First of the Fifth danced to confirm as much while the queen shrank as much as she could. She looked beyond the First of the Fifth to see gigantic structures in the distance. She would have thought they were human hives, if not for the clouds of bees flying in and out of them, absolutely covering the glowing flowers that her drawn her in.
This room…appeared to be occupied.
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The Hive-Builder led her to another room. A field of flowers even larger than the Apiary spread out before her. There were a handful of beehouses in sight, but no bees came and went from them.
“This is the bumblebee Flower Meadow. They actually prefer ground nesting, so there are a couple of beehouses you could use if you want.”
The queen spread her wings and was about to go fly and inspect one when a shadow passed overhead. She began buzzing as something slammed into the Hive-Builder. She nearly activated her attack pheromones but her worker’s mana calmed her down.
“Is fine! Look!”
The queen looked with horror as several massive bees crawled all over the Hive-Builder. She thought he was under attack…but on closer look she saw the bees were grooming him instead. The Hive-Builder responded by grooming the bees, both parties rubbing their legs all over each other’s hair.
“I’m happy to see you all too! This is Niobee’s old queen! We’re showing her around.”
The queen dropped down as flat as she could on her worker’s back as one of the giants flew over. She remained as still as she could as antenna larger than her entire body began to sweep over her.
This room, too, was completely occupied.
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The queen looked up at the rows upon rows of flowering trees covering the sky above her…but she was not deceived. She knew, at this point, that where there were flowers, there were bees. The only question was what kind of bees she would find here.
“This is where the Fourth of the Seventh lives!”
The queen froze, and began to tremble as she remembered the giant queen that had accosted her last night, heedless to her terror as she danced overhead. She dove into her worker’s hair and tried to hide as best she could.
“King! And new queen!”
But she was too late.
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The queen could scarcely move as she clung to her worker’s back with all her might. She had seen an army of bees no hornet could contend with. She had seen a wasteland of ash and fire…that a magical queen was happily building a hive in. She saw tunnels where no light shined, and yet, there too another queen had already claimed a territory.
She was beginning to think she’d have no choice but to beg one of the magical queens to take mercy upon her. Clearly, there was no room for a tiny, weak queen like herself to claim a territory of her own.
“Well, that’s everything. Any place you liked?”
The queen didn’t know how to respond. There were plenty of places she liked, but none that had not been claimed.
“King, not everything? More rooms?”
The Hive-Builder rubbed his chin at her worker’s question.
“Well, there’s the Fairy Grove but we’re still checking if it’s safe. I guess there’s also the karnuq rooms? Um, would you like to see the room the karnuq live?”
The queen just managed to move her legs enough to eke out a question.
“Queen mother asks what karnuq are! Karnuq are bear humans!’
The queen took a moment to ponder. The bear humans? They frightened her too…but they also appeared deferential to the Hive-Builder. So, if she tried to think of them as just a type of human, who were treating the Hive-Builder like their queen, then they didn’t seem that bad. She slowly danced her reply, moving her whole body so the Hive-Builder could see.
“Can check.”
The Hive-Builder nodded and led her to another room. The queen glanced every which way as the Hive-Builder showed her about. She saw an occasional worker, but few foragers and no queens. So, a place the monster hives were scouting, but hadn’t claimed just yet?
“I was just adding beehouses here, so I guess you could move into this one if you’d like.”
The queen looked at the hive before her, then slowly danced a question.
“No other bees here?”
The Hive-Builder shook his head.
“We just decided to move bees here recently, so none just yet.”
The queen immediately beat her wings and soared into the air, landing on the empty hive.
“Here! Will move here! No other queens moving here, right?!”
The Hive-Builder crossed his arms.
“Well, no, not yet. I guess that would work if you like it here?”
The queen danced the confirmation with all her might.
“Yes! Here!”
The Hive-Builder nodded.
“Got it. Go ahead and check it out, I’ll let the karnuq know you’re moving in here. Um, try not to sting them, ok?”
The queen saluted with all her might and then dove into the empty hive, taking shelter within its thick and mighty walls.
Safe! She was finally safe! A place she could grow her hive where they wouldn’t be immediately squashed by magical giants! She guessed there were the bear humans living nearby but that was fine, she had lived near humans her entire life after all. Much better them than rival queens who could crush her at will.
It was only later that she noticed the beehouse, despite being empty, was already full of honey. As well as the massive currents of mana flowing through its walls…