Chapter 263: Chapter 263

Tyhgak shuffled his feet, pacing back and forth. He peeked across the camp. Noigakkuq was sitting on a log bench and holding her tray of maddening honey. He took a step forward, then shook his head and turned back. As he did, he heard a sigh.

“Could you stop? That’s getting annoying.”

He jumped and then slowly turned around to find Noigakkuq glaring at him.

“Well? If you have something to say, then say it. Otherwise, stop pacing around like that. It’s distracting.”

Tyhgak gulped and nodded.

He shuffled forward, averting her gaze. Noigakkuq rolled her eyes and then glared at him again.

“Out with it, Tyhgak.”

He took a deep breath.

“Um, the ruins nearby? Like we just told you?”

Sehfitis looked up at Belissar with an intent gaze.

“And was this the only book you found, or were there others? Did they all use this script?”

Chief Rohsuak was the one who answered.

“We found a library and all the items we checked used the same script as best we could tell.”

Sehfitis slowly turned his gaze back towards the book, his eyes going as wide as they could.

Belissar glanced at Chief Rohsuak, then turned back to Sehfitis and furrowed his brow.

“What is it? What’s going on?”

Sehfitis took a deep breath, his eyes still locked on the book.

“This, Tower Keeper, is the old language. The script used by the wicked kings of old when they still ruled the land, an archaic form of our own that fell out of use after the Hunger appeared.”

He slowly lifted his eyes once more, his gaze still intent as he locked eyes with Belissar.

“If you found a library full of them in an old ruin…then it is possible that you have just found a remnant of the ancient kingdom. Unless you have stumbled upon some sort of collector’s home, we might be standing within the borders of that old kingdom.”

Belissar gulped at Sehfitis’s gaze.

“Um, and that’s important?”

Sehfitis slowly nodded.

“Yes. It means we could be standing near the place where the Hunger first appeared.”

That got Belissar and Chief Rohsuak’s attention.

Sehfitis then relaxed a bit.

“Well, that’s if the ruins are indeed from the old kingdom, and if we are close to the old capital. The old kingdom covered much of the known world at the time if what spotty records we have are to be believed, so we could be quite far away and still within its borders.”

“Is there any way to find out?”

Sehfitis rubbed his chin for a moment and then sighed.

“I am not sure. Archaeology was not my area of expertise, I’m afraid.”

Belissar crossed his arms. He thought for a moment before he shrugged. At the end of the day, he knew very little about the ancient kingdom, so he didn’t really understand if it was important or not. Being near the place the Hunger appeared sounded scary, but the Hunger was everywhere these days, so Belissar didn’t know if it was any more dangerous than being anywhere else. Even if it was, it didn’t ultimately change what he needed to do: grow his Tower and his bees as best he could to ensure they could handle whatever came their way. The ancient history of some crumbling ruins didn’t seem all that relevant to said goal.

“No matter, I guess. Can you read that?”

Sehfitis again rubbed his chin and frowned.

“I have studied the ancient script, but only for theological purposes, so I am by no means fluent, and I no longer have access to the dictionaries and references I usually use for such things. I might be able to decipher some of it, particularly if I can cross-reference different works, but it will take me some time, I’m afraid. You said there were more?”

Chief Rohsuak nodded.

“A small library, mostly scrolls.”

Sehfitis nodded back.

“That could suffice, if I have your permission to take on this task, Tower Keeper?”

“Might as well. Let us know if you find anything important.”

Sehfitis bowed his head.

After that, Belissar returned to the Apiary to practice his magic. Sehfitis could handle the dusty old ruins and ancient tomes, so he figured he’d best spend his time working on his own area of expertise. He began to stir up his mana and began to form a honeycomb in the air, this one much larger than before.

His spell bees had worked, but he noticed it took a lot of time and a lot of mana for them to deal noticeable damage to a shade. If he wanted to use this magic against a shade that wasn’t already trapped and helpless at the bottom of a pit, it’d be best if he had something a bit larger.

So, he was trying to see if he could make a spell soldier bee. He imagined the bee swarm of his mana flying to the honeycomb and gathering together there.