“Warnet hives?”
“I see, you weren’t kidding when you said this jungle was dangerous.” …I never said that.
“Sarra what do you mean by that? What are these Warnets?” Poor Shiara, always the clueless one. Sensing her moment to shine, Sarratina adopted a haughty look before answering, “You probably don’t know because it’s ancient history, but during the era of our kingdom’s founding, people used to use these hives in siege battles. Someone wearing a full suit of durable amour would harvest the hives, before proceeding to catapult it into enemy cities. The hive would typically explode on impact releasing a swarm of angry warnets. Each Warnet is tiny, tough and hard to kill, but most importantly their body and hives are also highly resistant to magic- in fact, one of my family heirloom swords that have anti-magic properties supposedly has Warnet hive mixed into the steel. Their venom is also a strong hallucinogen, where a full dose from a sting is enough to cause most people to become insane. And-“
“So why did people stop using them? ...Was it due to successfully sieged cities being inhabitable?“
“It should also be pretty expensive equipping a team with full body armour durable enough to withstand the hive and have small enough breathing and vision holes that they couldn’t be stung through.” Not to mention the logistics involved behind bringing the hive…it might be cheaper just performing a high level freezing ritual on the hive.
“Hahaha, you’re both right. But the main reason is because it was thought to have gone extinct in most countries in our region many years ago, including ours...”
Seeing her thoughtful expression, I was once again reminded that she really was a princess. Well, now was not the time to be dwelling on it. “Well if we survive this whole mess, I can always come take you back here later. Now, although they are really dangerous, unlike most other wasp monsters, they can’t shoot venom or their stinger. They also have pretty bad eyesight and rely mainly on smell and sensing the movement of air.” I looked down at my feet. To others it may have seemed like I was contemplating a hard decision, but it was mainly just to hide my smirk. Knowing Shiara, she would jump head first into this. “Seeing as we are already here, one of us should probably sneak into the orchard along the ground, and grab some apples that have already fallen…”
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“Oh good idea, I’m quite hungry. So who’s going in?” I looked up at her. Sarratina had crossed her arms and was also gazing at Shiara. “Uh?! –You couldn’t possibly mean me right?” She pointed at herself with a shocked expression as if she was the least likely candidate. “Wa- wait a minute! Why are you two both looking at me like that? Why are you two picking on me?”
“Well, if you think about it, if I die, there’s no point for you two to be going to the capital, nor is there a reward. And if Vixen dies, well, I doubt the two of us will make it out of here alive…which leaves you.”
“Aw come on, but I mean, uh, Vixen, I saved your life right? I’m still useful!”
“Which you proceeded to waste by nearly getting us killed with the explosive leech.” Shiara had a look similar to an abandoned animal, like an injured bird about to be eaten, so I decided to send her a lifeline.
“Look, we aren’t sending you in to die. As long as you stay low to the ground and move slowly inside that tall grass, they can’t sense you. Besides, think about it this way, if you go, you can eat all the best apples on the ground and you can eat as much as you want.”
“Uh, I guess…mm, for food! ...But why aren’t we all going then?”
“Well there’s only so many apples we need, and if we all go we will be too obvious. Besides, there’s something else I want to do here-“
“-You’re not leaving me behind right?!”
“NO! No, definitely not. Once I’m done, I will come back here. Besides, I won’t be that far away, Suticat will go with you and he can lead you straight back to us.”
“Promise?” “Promise.” “Pinkie promise?” …hah. “Pinkie promise” I shook pinkies with her. Though the act had no meaning to it, she somehow took comfort in it. “Ok, I’ll bring back as much as I can.”
“Mm, take care. Suticat, look after her.” I pointed forward and waved my hand. He seemed to hesitate a bit before reluctantly diving into the grass. Shiara got down onto her stomach before continuing to crawl into the grass.
“So what do we do? –Oh and thanks for the cover there, I guess I sounded a bit harsh talking about it all logically-“ “Don’t worry about it. At heart you are still a princess. Just make sure you reward us well.” “Yes definitely.”
I started to walk away, and Sarra hurried to match pace with me. “So uh, just confirming, but you didn’t send her in to die right?” I stopped and stared back at Sarra.
“Hah...I may be calculating and even ruthless, but I’m not malicious without reason. She may be stupid, straight forward, emotion driven-“ “-driven by her stomach” “-that too, but she’s smart when it counts, funny, loyal and knows her debts and grudges-“ ”- and a nice girl to be around.” We smiled at each other.
“ Sorry about the inappropriate question I asked before, it’s just that even though our minds are quite similar-“ “- You just can’t read me? Don’t worry, it comes with my line of business.” I smiled proudly. Being an informant had really sped up my process of learning the subtle arts. After all if I read things correctly it meant food on the plate, but if I read things wrongly…best case would just be a failed job and a hungry stomach, worst case would be people hunting me.
“And to your original question, we are looking for mushrooms like… this!” I pulled up a mushroom growing next to the roots of a tall tree. The mushroom had a long thin grey stalk and an enormous black and white splotched head. Gendershrooms. 1*