Chapter 249: Chapter 249

Belissar did as Juosiutik asked and created a shortcut between the Apothecary’s Hut and the Apiary, as close to the First of the Fifth’s Bee Apartment as he could manage. He thought briefly about trying to place said shortcut in the apartment itself but decided against it. This was Juosiutik, the dangerous one herself, that they were talking about so having a direct connection between her workspace and a hive full of mana honey might be…unwise.

He stepped through the shortcut and went over to greet the First of the Fifth, informing her of the new room and shortcut…as well as his next course of business.

“I’m also going to place a carpenter bee spawner now. It’ll be in the Orchard, though, so maybe the Fourth of the Seventh or one of the hives there can take care of them?”

The First of the Fifth immediately launched into her response.

“First Daughter is there! Will take care of.”

“Sounds good, thank you. Great work taking care of everyone, I appreciate that.”

He left the First of the Fifth to her resulting happy dance and made his way down to the Orchard. He quickly let the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter know what was going on, but turned out she had been informed by the time he arrived and was prepared to assist, so Belissar was able to get right to it.

He, Niobee, and the First of the Fifth’s First Daughter moved a bit further away from the Grove and the shortcut wall, though still on the same side of the Orchard, and brought up the spawner. This one appeared as a dead tree trunk with multiple holes bored into it. As soon as he placed it, a fuzzy carpenter bee crawled out of one of the holes, looking much like a bumblebee save for her smooth abdomen. She flew up to him, hovering before him, and he gave her a smile.

Niobee flew off as Belissar marched straight towards his lumber stockpiles. He would not rest until Beero had the home she deserved.

The indomitable Beero, the soldier who let neither lightning, shade, nor crippling injury stop her from protecting the hive of hives, was currently panicking. She paced about in frantic circles while buzzing her regrown wings as more and more workers assembled before her, waiting for instructions. Her instructions.

She had no idea what was happening. Or, rather, she knew what was happening on a factual level. The other queens had declared her one of them and the bees gathered at the Memorial as a separate hive, but were aware that Beero couldn’t exactly raise workers of her own. So, they were donating workers that would sustain Beero’s hive. That much she understood.

But this was all too much for her. Just days earlier she was nothing but a soldier. She attacked intruders and obeyed her queen. That was it. All of her deeds and achievements had been nothing more but an extension of those duties, adaptations for her crippling circumstances. Nothing she was, had, or had done, though, prepared her to be queen. She knew nothing about raising brood, commanding children, organizing workers, building hives, or producing honey. She had no idea what to do.

Even if she had, these were workers from another hive. The queens had Read the latest chapters on NovelHub - completely free! She had no link to them, mana or otherwise, and could not issue them commands save by manual dance. And even if she was connected to them…she was a soldier. Her only interactions with the link between the hive was to receive orders from her queen. She had no idea how to reach out to another member of her hive, or how to send commands through that link.

She was going to waste these workers. She would waste their efforts, and the generosity of the queens who had Read the latest chapters on NovelHub - completely free! This was a job she was not suited or prepare for, and she had no idea how to even start. And she had to figure it out quickly. Already there were countless workers milling about in confusion and unease, waiting for her to issue orders she didn’t know, all while more and more of them continued to arrive and add to the confusion. Her hive had not even formed and already was becoming a disaster.

And then yet another queen arrived to add to the chaos.

“Hi! Brought workers!”

The Queen of All Bees had not taken mercy on her, it seemed. The Fourth of the Seventh had come. The courageous queen who now led the scouting of the Beyond in-person, a feat not even the Flower Meadow queens had attempted. The queen who had pioneered countless innovations in hive management, a true master pushing the envelope of organization. This was the queen that had arrived at the moment of Beero’s greatest failure, when her inability to issue even the simplest of commands was squandering the efforts of countless workers.

“Brought first communer and drone too! Will help!”

Beero was too ashamed to even reply. So, she was busy trying to curl up and hide from view when the Fourth of the Seventh’s drone crawled up to her and began brushing her antennae.

A shock passed through the mana to every corner of Beero’s body. She leapt up and stared at the drone. His mana was brushing against her own and…trying to pull it in? Well, she had no idea what he was trying to do, but she was not going to object to anything the Fourth of the Seventh’s hive wanted to do. It wasn’t like she had any better ideas.

She watched as he pulled her mana and twisted it with his own. For a moment, all thoughts of the disaster unfolding before her stopped. With her new body and senses, she could see and feel mana in a way she never had before. She could see the mana of communers and workers from other hives bouncing off her own. She could see the drone somehow pierce through this natural resistance, enticing her mana to work with his of its own accord.

She was fascinated as he pulled her mana and walked towards the Fourth of the Seventh’s first communer, then began to pull on her mana as well. He twisted the three strands of mana together, manipulating them at a level she had never imagined possible.

Until…she could hear it. She could feel it. She stared in awe as her mana linked with the Fourth of the Seventh’s first communer. The first communer began to dance and spread her mana out towards the Fourth of the Seventh’s workers…and Beero could feel them. She could feel them all, each worker hovering about.

Was this…was this how a queen felt her hive?

The first communer danced a salute.

“Workers connected, waiting for Beero’s orders.”

Beero was pulled from her revelry as she recalled her predictment. It took all her courage and will, but she could not help but speak the truth. Surely, the Fourth of the Seventh had seen through her anyways.

“…don’t have any. Don’t know how to build hive, command workers.”

As she feared, the Fourth of the Seventh appeared prepared for that, and now passed her judgement.

“That’s ok! First communer will help! Takes care of hive for me, can help!”

The first communer danced her confirmation.

“Yes. Queen likes to leave, so workers figured out how to work on their own. Will teach how if Beero needs help.”

Beero crawled up to the first communer and brushed their antennae together.

“Really? Can? Can teach how to be queen?!”

The first communer hesistated at that, but the Fourth of the Seventh replied in her place.

“Can! First communer is best communer! Like queen!”