Chapter 37: Chapter 37
Belissar paced about and clutched his head. His entire body was trembling, and his heart felt like it was about to burst from his chest.
Everything bad that had happened to the village...
Everything bad that had happened to him and the people he cared about...
It was all for nothing?
Belissar grit his teeth. No...it was worse. It was because the Tower Lords had lied. The lords...the priests...the guard...all of them. Mana couldn’t poison a peasant when a humble bee could absorb it no problem. Potions couldn’t be that dangerous, or even hard to make when a monster bee could make one out of honey and a couple of common medicinal herbs.
And if Belissar had achieved all of this as a humble beekeeper in under a month, what could a full-on, prepared Tower Lord have achieved over decades, or even centuries if the rumors were true? Why did even a small village like his own struggle when a Tower could do such miraculous deeds?
And then Belissar froze, going completely still.
He thought of the day his village burned...
He remembered Niobee’s words to him...that he was hurt and that she tried to help him. And in the process made him a Tower Lord...
Yes...he was Belissar, a Dungeon Master blessed by the Goddess of Bees. And from now on, he would face life with his eyes wide open, judging for himself what the world was really like.
And as for the Tower Lords...well, if Belissar ever encountered them again, he had already decided on his resolution before.
No one, be they man, beast, Tower Lord, or Hunger, would take his bees.
He looked down at Niobee and actually smiled this time.
“I’m sorry for worrying you, but I’m ok now. Thank you for choosing and staying with me, Niobee.”
Niobee looked up at him for a second and then began dancing rapidly.
“King is best king! Niobee always choose king!”
Belissar couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and the knot in his heart loosened just a bit...
Well, Belissar had been distracted by the emotional shattering of his entire worldview, but once he had calmed down, he found out that...nothing much changed. At this point he had no idea where the Tower Lords or his former village even were, much less any interactions with them. He had already determined the gods weren’t going to smite him for his control of this dungeon previously. So, while the news severely changed the context of his past, it had little relevance to his current, Tower Lord-free life. The only serious change was that he wasn’t going to call himself a Tower Lord from now on.
And while Belissar did want to think through and come to terms with all the various implications of the shocking revelation, he had something he needed to address in the immediate short term. Which was, now that he had determined that demi-humans weren’t actually monsters cursed by the gods, how should he actually deal with a group of them setting up near his dungeon?
On the one hand, they were normal people from what Belissar could tell, and so didn’t need to be treated any different from humans or anything. On the other hand...Belissar didn’t have plans for how to treat humans in the first place. He was a dungeon master now, so his former behavior around others didn't exactly match his current circumstances. And after his latest revelations, he definitely wasn’t going to act like the Tower Lords had. Maybe there were reasons for their actions but Belissar was simply too upset to even think about them.
But that meant Belissar now had to chart out his own path. And, well, he hadn’t made any plans for this circumstance. He hadn’t even thought about meeting people again. He was perfectly content living with just himself and his bees. His past interactions with most other people had not exactly been positive, especially after the old beekeeper died.
Belissar thought of these bear people stomping into his dungeon, stealing his honey, or worse, setting fire to his home...or his hives. His eyes narrowed and he clenched his fist.
But he took a deep breath and shook his head. The bear man who had visited had done nothing of the sort, and even left tribute at the Shrine of Bees. That much of what the Tower Lords said actually had some truth to it after all. The God of Bees had shared it with him, even. And, if Belissar remembered correctly, he may have seen some sort of message about challengers or something, though he had been distracted very soon after that and so wasn’t sure if he was remembering correctly.
So, while a part of him wanted to have nothing to do with other people, bear or otherwise, there were apparently benefits to interacting with them. Not to mention that he might be able to trade for things like cloth and tools, and so avoid having to make everything himself.
Belissar heaved a sigh. It seemed there was no choice but to give it a shot. The possibility of figuring out what challengers were, the possibility of trade, and the apparent approval of the God of Bees outweighed any fears he had regarding people. After all...
Cave Mushroom absorbed.
Sufficient samples gathered. Cave Mushroom now available.
No applications available.
Cave Carrot absorbed.
Sufficient samples gathered. Cave Carrot now available.
No applications available.