With no deaths and only a handful of wounded soldiers to deal with, the cleanup was handled swiftly. The Second of the Sixth looked over the digging soldiers with burned abdomens, fortunately, the Fire-Resistant Bees perk had done its job and they were all expected to make full recoveries. To Belissar’s surprise, some of them looked disappointed at the news, at least one of them turned their gaze to Beero and her battlecaster squad.
But Belissar himself could not be happier with the situation and hummed a tune to himself as he moved to grab some of his honey supplies for the celebration. He was halfway back to the battle meadow when he felt a strong source of foreign mana enter the Tower. He immediately sent his gaze towards the source.
Tarwantrad had burst through the nexus door. She appeared to be wearing a bush covering her entire body with leaves and flowers, though he caught glimpses of leather and metal armor hiding underneath. She held a staff that still had its branches, complete with leaves and blooming flowers. A gigantic flower had begun to crawl through the nexus door using its roots as legs.
“Belissar! Are you alright?! Tell me you’re alright!”
Ah, he hadn’t told Tarwantrad they won yet, had he? Belissar made his way over to the nexus door’s Fairy Grove, waving as soon as Tarwantrad came into view. She rushed over to him.
“Oh, thank the gods! We didn’t hear from you after you started the purification so I feared the worst.”
Belissar blinked a bit.
“Oh…um, sorry? I didn’t realize you were waiting. But yes, we won.”
Tarwantrad nearly dropped her staff as the tension drained from her body.
“Hm. There are great risks to trusting a foreign Sacred Den Master, but from what we have seen Tarwantrad has been perfectly agreeable. She is helping to develop the Tower and is even prepared to fight on our behalf. She also possesses experience that we do not and could inform your choices in a way that I cannot. I cannot say I am comfortable revealing everything to her, but it is also true that we could benefit greatly from her knowledge. As this concerns Tower matters you and she are more familiar with, I leave it to your judgement how much you wish to trust her, Tower Keeper.”
She made a self-deprecating smile.
“My gut instinct is not to trust anyone too far, but my people have benefited much from our decision to trust you completely, so I cannot tell you which may be better.”
Belissar nodded, crossed his arms, and hummed to himself. It did not take him long to decide.
He turned back to Tarwantrad.
“Would you mind if we consulted you on our next choices? If you’re willing to keep them secret from the Compact, that is. Ah, and if you don’t need to return to your dungeon now.”
Tarwantrad made a bright smile.
“It would be my pleasure! And of course, I have already promised to use my knowledge of your tower solely for your benefit. I shall not reveal the choices you have made unless you wish me to.”
Belissar returned her smile.
“Thanks. In that case, we all meet together over by the Memorial.”
Tarwantrad happily skipped over to join the assembled queens and karnuq leaders, glancing around and smiling as she took in each of the bees hovering around her. Belissar turned his attention to his bees, and especially to Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti.
“Thanks everyone, we did a great job today. Thanks especially to you two and your hunters, we had no losses as a result. But we know the Hunger won’t stay the same, so let’s keep growing the Tower.”
Chief Rohsuak smiled as both karnuq and all the bees saluted. Belissar smiled back and checked the rewards.
Please select a reward:
- Uncommon Monster Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)
- Uncommon Room Feature Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)
Please select a reward:
- Rare Room Feature Choice (At least one rare or better option)
- Uncommon Room Choice (At least one uncommon or better option)
Belissar knew almost immediately what he wanted to pick, but as usual he turned the question to the bees first.
“Anyone have any ideas what the Tower needs?”
Amidst the usual “more bees, more flowers” dances, the Firstborn and the First of the Fifth both remained strangely still. They looked to one another and both danced a confirmation dance. They approached him together and danced as one.
Belissar raised an eyebrow at that.
“Stronger queens? You all are doing great.”
The Firstborn danced to the First of the Fifth and so the Apiary queen replied.
“Queens only bees not evolving. Can’t stay same while children grow.”
Belissar furrowed his brow for a bit before slowly nodding along.
“I see. So, you want to get stronger, is what you’re saying?”
Both queens danced the confirmation, and all the rest joined the dance as well. Belissar nodded.
“Got it. Let’s see if we can get anything to help with that.”
As usual, that set off a wave of happy “King is best king!” dances, to Belissar’s amusement. He turned his attention to the karnuq and Tarwantrad.
“So, I was thinking a monster choice and a room slot. We’re already pressed for room slots and they’re expensive in the DP store, so I figure we’d best make room now rather than take even more rooms, especially now that we know we can unlock some ourselves. And, since the Circle is giving mostly flowers and room feature sort of stuff at this point, I think getting new bee types is the better option.”
He glanced at Tarwantrad at that and she nodded.
“It is not that we cannot offer monsters, but I, Urubran, and Nenavann felt that offering boons that can Visit NovelHub for more amazing novels and chapters. I could, however, request otherwise from the other members of the Circle if you do wish to diversify your monsters.”