icalos
patreon
BD - Chapter 290 - Bee Served?
🕑 Added 2025-07-02 20:05:01 +0000 UTCBelissar wrapped up making the choices and dismissed the council. He was about to start setting up the new room and feature when Henilett suddenly flew up to the group. She quietly hovered behind Captain Karpakynne and tapped her on the shoulder.
“Hello Captain, it pleases me to see that you’re alive.”
Captain Karpakynne began to sweat.
“Ah, Henilett, hello. Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I be?”
Henilett smiled but her gaze was cold.
“Her Majesty has been waiting for your report on the battle’s results, you know? She has begun to wonder if something had prevented you from returning.”
Captain Karpakynne refused to turn around.
“Ah…that’s…w-well, I, in the role Her Majesty assigned me of supporting Tower Keeper Belissar, had to assist with him with cleaning up the battlefield and selecting rewards for his dungeon. I was merely fulfilling Her Majesty’s orders.”
Henilett tilted her head.
“Really now? But didn’t Wardmaster Varilold, who had the same duty as you, have time to return to the Compact and check on its wards? Wouldn’t you have had sufficient time to report in, then? And the wardens were complaining quite blaringly about missing some sort of victory banquet…”
Captain Karpakynne paled.
“Ah…that’s…”
Henilett then delivered the final blow.
“I recommend you do not keep Her Majesty waiting any longer.”
And so, Captain Karpakynne dejectedly flew to her doom. Henilett, in the meantime, turned to greet Belissar.
“I apologize for interrupting, Tower Keeper. Her Majesty is pleased to hear your expansion was successful, if the rumors we heard were true?”
Belissar nodded.
“Yes, thanks to your help. The Royal Pixie Guard and the bee armor were amazing…so…please don’t be too harsh on Captain Karpakynne. I was the one who invited her to the celebration.”
Henilett made an exasperated smile.
“I’ll inform Her Majesty of as much. As you may have learned by now, we pixies can be a free-spirited bunch. Those of us with important responsibilities, such as Captain Karpakynne, often require frequent reminders of said responsibilities. Not to worry, Tower Keeper. If you found her services beneficial, we will return Captain Karpakynne to you before your next expansion intact…mostly.”
Belissar did his best not to consider that last part. Fortunately, it also brought another idea to his mind besides Captain Karpakynne’s plight. He rubbed his chin for a moment before making his decision.
“Hey, Henilett, we just got a bunch of new rooms for the Tower. Would Queen Vanieskon be interested in having one for the pixies to stay in?”
Henilett’s eyes visibly widened.
“Tower Keeper…am I correct to take that as you would like to lease land in your Tower itself for a permanent pixie settlement?”
Belissar nodded, causing Henilett to gape at him. It took her a moment to close her mouth and reply.
“Well…Queen Vanieskon would of course be delighted with such an arrangement, but we had assumed you would not be comfortable with a permanent presence within your Tower. Has something changed?”
Belissar glanced over at the Royal Pixie Guard, most of whom were taking turns riding on the lancers as they practiced diving attacks.
“Captain Karpakynne mentioned the pixies used to fight with bees, but they didn’t have enough training for this purification. If they stayed around, maybe they would next time? Also…”
Belissar’s expression turned grim.
“Expansion purifications aren’t the only big ones. If we’re forced to do another emergency purification or fight an incursion, we might not have time to ask you for help. Captain Karpakynne having to go back and forth made me think of that…”
Henilett returned his serious expression and nodded.
“Right, that’s a good point. I see now…a permanent garrison would be within the assistance we have promised if you would like one. If you wished to offer us use of an entire dungeon room, though, Queen Vanieskon would prefer to make it available for non-military use as well. Therefore…is there something you would want in exchange for giving up one of your rooms, Tower Keeper?”
This time, Belissar nodded immediately.
“Bee armor. As much as you can give me.”
Henilett smiled at that.
“Tower Keeper, that would also be covered by our existing agreement, you know? Still, we can work with that. Queen Vanieskon can arrange for our enchanters to come and make personal armor for your bees. Queen Vanieskon will likely propose additional compensation, so please consider if there’s anything else you would want.”
Tarwantrad jumped in the conversation at that point.
“Belissar! We should tell Tamosmed about this!”
Henilett smacked her fist down on her other palm.
“Ah! Thank you for the reminder, Dungeon Master Tarwantrad. About our black elf friend…”
She faced Belissar, straightened herself, and cleared her throat.
“Ahem, Signatory Belissar, your presence is requested for an arbitration with one Signatory Ughlarer regarding an unsanctioned transfer of family techniques and resources considered sacred by the black elves to your possession. Note that while the transfer itself was not covered by the Calwaskon Compact, arbitration between signatories is and Signatory Ughlarer has completed all necessary procedures to have this issue addressed.”
Belissar blinked and then furrowed his brow.
“But…doesn’t the Calwaskon Compact not apply to me? Do I have to go?”
Henilett held a serious expression for a few seconds longer before she started snickering, which grew into a full belly laugh.
“No, no you don’t. No one bothered to add the arbitration procedures to the new compact, so the forgemaster has no authority here. Still, don’t you want to see the look on Signatory Ughlarer’s face when he finds out?”
Belissar tilted his head.
“Not particularly?”
Henilett’s giggling died down. She made a light sigh and shook her head.
“Well, pleasure aside, making an appearance would be a nice gesture on your part that would cost you nothing but time, as you would be able to refuse the results of the arbitration if they aren’t to your liking. The forgemaster himself might ignore a small olive branch like that, but the rest of the signatories might appreciate you playing along as much as you can tolerate.”
Belissar sighed.
“Well, ok, if you think it’ll be helpful. Do we need to go now? I wanted to set up the new stuff if possible?”
Henilett shook her head again.
“Your duties as a dungeon master come first, so you may defer for a reasonable length of time to evaluate your defenses, seeing as you have just faced a major purification.”
Belissar nodded.
“Ok, that’s fine, then.”
Tarwantrad sighed but walked up to pat Belissar’s shoulder.
“Sorry again about the Compact being dumb, Belissar. I can try to take you around a bit on that day, grab another boon or two to make the trip worth it?”
Belissar smiled.
“Ah, that would help.”
Tarwantrad smiled back. With that, business with the fair folk concluded for the day. Henilett returned while dragging Captain Karpakynne along, Wardmaster Varilold resumed working on the wards in the Tower after forcing Tarwantrad to go double check her own dungeon. As the rest of his Tower’s council had dispersed to their own duties, Belissar was left with Niobee, who was sitting on his head as always. He looked up at her and smiled.
“Well then, ready for new rooms.”
Niobee danced happily about.
“Ready!”
Belissar currently had a bit over four hundred mana to work with, so he hoped he’d have enough for all the new additions. To start with, he added a Floating Isles room to the fifth floor, which had two slots open since he was only using it for room experiments at the moment. He added the shortcuts, then he and Niobee went to go check it out in-person.
He stepped through the room’s entrance and found himself on a small plateau. Out in front of him was open sky and the floating isles themselves, varying from small boulders to full-on islands, all drifting through the air and between the occasional cloud. Grass, moss, and even small trees clung to the rocks and islands, not only on their top surfaces but on their sides and even their bottoms as well. Belissar found himself staring wide-eyed for a while.
“Wow…”
When he finally gathered himself, he walked to the edge of the plateau and looked down. The room did have a floor but it was far, far below. Far enough below to make Belissar subconsciously take a step back. No one would be jumping back up from down there, that was for sure. In fact, the “walls” of the room were apparently made of dense clouds that stretched from the floor to as high as Belissar could see, so no one would be climbing up those either.
The islands seemed to move at random, occasionally bumping into one another. Belissar took a look with his mana sight and found the room full of rivers and swirls of purple mana, nearly as much as the Fairy Grove. Sometimes, the mana swirled inwardly and pulled the nearby islands towards itself. Other times, the mana burst outward, forcing the islands apart. Each island itself held a dense concentration of the mana within it…or, was it the mana that was holding each island together? Belissar would readily admit he didn’t fully grasp the lesson on gravity just yet.
The important part was that he could confirm the mana had the same color and characteristics as the gravilion flower and the gravity bees. That, plus the clearly growing vegetation, made him optimistic they would like the room after all.
Belissar smiled. Making his bees happy was what made all those purifications and negotiations worth it after all.
Author’s Note:
Ugh, more silly plots by silly non-bees, huh. Well, they’ll just have to get in line, King has more important things to do right now! Like making new homes for more kinds of bees!
Surely the First of the Fifth’s Sixth Daughter will be overjoyed when King gives her an entire room made just for her!
Anyways!
Will the silly non-bees waste even more of King’s time? Can Tarwantrad find him some boons to make up for it? How will the Sixth Daughter feel about the new room? Tune in next time, to find out!
Comments
Kenneth Welever
Honestly I'd make the entrance to the floating islands be something like a flower meadow/bog/fairy grove to make it so that the hunger has to fight the ground floor then fight their way UP the floating islands from the bottom. It would be nasty. If you could have a cloud room in between I'd put a perpetual mana storm there and just let the hunger have to go through that wall of death to even get to the floating islands..... wait..... Fairy grove with perpetual mana storm attached as the base of the floating islands. Means that even if they get up there if anything falls it wouldn't survive the drop through the manastorm.
Durphymcbob
I mean having to pay monthly "taxes" to the tower of Bee Armor and being able to use the queen reasourse to commsion enchanted armor. And maybe some extremely high quality and powerful pieces for himself and the Queens who fight on the front lines like The Firstborn.
Durphymcbob
Thanks for the Chapter! With all of the Help the Pixies have given them a floor for them would totally be worth it. ! it would allow th ePixies to build a proper garrison for themselfs to actually house some Pixies and Eventually allow the Order of Hive and Stinger to eventually rise again! Pixies and Bees used to have symbiotic Realsonship before the Hunger it only makes Since to build a probper Embassy room for them in the tower. I mean the Pixie race of the Fair that seem to be investing the most into the tower it only makes swnsw they diserve a bit more reward. Giving rewards in exchange for protection is the deal bees have with their beekeepers it is very bee like to do so. And the Floating Islands Oh that is going to be a powerful defensive Room. Especially for waves. Any shades that can not fly can slowly be wittled down by defensive wards bees and arrows from the floating islands. Lets hope the Gravity hives can thrive in those rooms and learn to control the floating islands. It will be a hard wall any ground locked shade cant pass if the esxit to the room is on a floating isle.
Fernando Oliveira
Thanks for the chapter. Loved it. Lots happened this chapter. Belissar's offer to have a pixie colony in one of his rooms is huge, and getting a personal enchantress is a small price in comparison. Not sure what queen Vanieskon will offer up as extra. But I'm certain it'll be something big for such an offer. Then we've got the floating islands set up. Sounds like the gravity bees are gonna love it there. While it's a far distance can things still be planted on the floor far below? No reason not to utilize the space and set up some shortcuts to make the distance less of an issue for the bees.
