Chapter 145: Chapter 145

The First of the Fifth glanced through the mana of her communer, allowing her to see through the eyes of her scouts. It was her turn to arrange the karnuq watch today, and she was glad that it was. The King made his way to them, exposing himself to harm once more. But the First of the Fifth would be on guard and would not allow anything to befall him.

Particularly not by the hands of these karnuq. She knew the King had welcomed them in but she could not help but dislike them. They blended with the King’s noble form with the features of a creature her instincts knew as honey-stealers and hive destroyers! Sure, they hadn’t stolen honey or destroyed a hive yet, so perhaps the resemblance was superficial, but that did not mean the First of the Fifth trusted them, least of all with the safety of the King!

Especially the one who talked to him now, the one carrying mushrooms and plants. The First of the Fifth heard she had attempted to pounce upon the King before, and that only the King’s intervention stayed the Conduit and the soldier bee armies’ stingers. The word of the King was law, so it could not be helped, but the First of the Fifth swore she would not allow this one to threaten the King once again. She would watch her with extra vigilance.

The dangerous one grunted and growled in the manner that their people did…though as the King had accepted them his mana now converted their noises into intelligible language. Their voices were coarse and rough and irritating, nothing like the soothing warmth of the King’s. The First of the Fifth would have ignored them if they were not speaking to the King, but her vigil required her to analyze their words for any hint of deceit.

The dangerous one…was speaking about some new mushrooms and plant. So…that one was supposedly extremely toxic, that one possessed an unusual bioluminescence, and the last one cause blindness? Interesting, especially as the King absorbed them all with the intention to spread them about. The First of the Fifth did not trust the dangerous one’s assessments, so she would have to confirm the characteristics of these new resources herself. But if the dangerous one spoke with any truth, there could be an opportunity to develop new honey types…and new types of bees as well.

If that occurred…well, at least then the karnuq would have been good for something. It was the least they could do as they invaded the King’s home, ate his food, and threatened his person.

The First of the Fifth had to calm herself before her hive started preparing for war again.

So, yes, new plant types would be a start. Not enough for the First of the Fifth to tolerate their presence, much less approve of it, but a start. If the dangerous one could be trusted. Which was a big if.

And then, she heard the dangerous one speak yet again.

Well, she thought that last time when the Flower Meadow queens received flowers and it turned out she had been wrong then, so she couldn’t say for sure. She would have to continue watching.

At that point, the King separated from the karnuq and returned to his rightful place by the hives, so the First of the Fifth could relax her stinger slightly. At the very least, he was once again out of their grasp. Now, she could focus all of her attention on the dangerous one.

The dangerous one returned to the karnuq hive, and to her own cell. Her cell was far larger than she, an inefficient use of space and a sign that the karnuq hive was poorly run. The dangerous one hummed an ominous tune as she rummaged through the corpses of once beautiful flowers, the evidence of a callous and wasteful slaughter. She then moved back outside to a fire pit clearly copied from the King’s own. She lit a fire as she hung some sort of hollowed black rock above.

So, she was not content to uproot the flowers that could have fed a generation, but now sought to burn them to ashes as well. The First of the Fifth couldn’t even fathom the level of waste and malice required to do such a thing. R̃𝓪NôBÊ𝐒

The dangerous and evil one filled the black rock with water, waiting until it began to bubble. Then she dumped some of the flower corpses inside. The First of the Fifth buzzed, but she bid her scouts to bide their time. She would see this until the end, no matter what horrors she would witness.

Soon, the dangerous and evil one nodded to herself and held her hand above the rock. She closed her eyes. The First of the Fifth considered having a scout sting her while she was distracted, to let her know that her deeds had not gone unseen.

But, before the First of the Fifth could give the command, something happened.

Mana poured out of the dangerous and evil one’s hand, forming into the shape of…a hive? A shape that looked exactly like when the King formed his own honey…but that couldn’t be. That was impossible…

The First of the Fifth froze solid as she watched the pattern flash…and then golden mana honey dripped into the pot.

The dangerous and evil one…made honey? With that magic of the King, granted to him by the Queen of All Bees herself?

Then…this dangerous and evil thing…was approved of by the Queen of All Bees?

The First of the Fifth couldn’t comprehend what she had seen…but at the very least, it was clear that the dangerous one had not stolen the honey she mentioned but had made it herself. That, at least, explained why the King was not surprised when she mentioned honey.