Once the celebrations concluded, Belissar gathered his council. He told them of Hesfalle’s recommendations and the incoming rabbits. Chief Rohsuak and Metsaitti appeared quite excited about the rabbits.
“We also have enough DP for another shop purchase. Is there anything the Tower urgently needs?”
The karnuq shook their heads while the bees danced the negative, so Belissar continued.
“In that case, let’s buy another monster choice. Hesfalle recommended carnivorous bees to help with the Death room, so hopefully we can get some of those.”
The bees all saluted at that, so Belissar pressed forward. Tarwantrad’s expression waved for a moment, but Belissar was already navigating the DP shop and so didn’t notice.
Extra monster choice purchased. One monster choice now available.
Please select a monster:
- Monster Bee Captain (Rarity: Uncommon, Type: Bee)
- Monster Mason Bee (Rarity: Common, Type: Bee, Ground)
Belissar’s face still cramped reading this one. Resolutions to accept necessary casualties or not, he still really didn’t option. Even berserkers didn’t necessarily have to die to fight, they were at their most powerful when they did but they could hypothetically contribute to a battle as just a more powerful soldier. Bursters, on the other hand, didn’t even have any other attack skills besides Death Burst.
Well, it was the only direct combat option this time…right after he had selected a direct combat option. Belissar all but ruled that one out but he wanted to get his bees’ honest opinions on the choices, so he held his tongue for now.
“What do you all think?”
The Firstborn danced for the battle meadow queens, save the Third of the Third.
“Captains help coordinate, help with bigger army.”
The Third of the Third, meanwhile, danced as he expected.
“Masons build things? Use mud to build?”
Belissar nodded at her. He then tried to keep his expression neutral as he asked the necessary question.
The Third of the Third turned to the Firstborn, who danced for them both.
“Evolve bee for one attack. Could, but expensive. Hard to train.”
Belissar wanted to sigh in relief but held it in. If the bees didn’t care for the option, he could rule it out without any guilt or hesitation.
The Third of the Sixth agreed with the Firstborn’s assessment, while the First of the Fifth pointed out that captains might help them organize honey deliveries since soldiers were responsible for that task. The Orchard bees didn’t have much opinion besides the Fourth of the Seventh zipping around and calling all the options amazing.
The karnuq likewise weren’t particularly opinionated on this choice, which left Tarwantrad. Tarwantrad gave him a wink.
“I’d recommend holding off on mason bees for now. Otherwise…”
Her face turned complicated.
“I do actually make use of flowers similar to bursters so I can vouch for their effectiveness but…with bees…I can plant some of those in the nursery if that would help?”
“It would, actually.”
Chief Rohsuak interjected as well.
“Juosiutik is also working on her firepots as an additional alternative, Tower Keeper.”
Belissar’s smile grew.
“Good, then safe to say we rule out that one?”
Tarwantrad and Chief Rohsuak nodded while the bees danced a salute. At that point, Belissar had made his decision. Between the bees’ own preferences and his recent conversations with Tarwantrad, it wasn’t difficult to pick.
“Let’s go with captains, then? Sounds like they’re a good choice to help out what we already have.”
Monster Bee Captains are now available. Monster Soldier Bees may now evolve into Monster Bee Captains. Some Monster Bee Soldiers will now spawn as Monster Bee Captains.
The bees erupted into their usual flurry of “Amazing, incredible!” and “King best king!” dances…drawing Tarwantrad into the celebration as well. Belissar and the karnuq laughed and smiled along.
When they all had calmed down, they discussed some future plans. Since they hadn’t gotten a carnivorous bee this time, Belissar decided to hold off on setting up the Death room just yet, since he wanted the bees there to start acclimating from the very beginning. Additionally, his DP income from the karnuq meant it would only take a few days for another choice.
Tarwantrad quietly lost focus for a bit when she heard that.
But the discussions went on even without her. Belissar decided to wait on upgrades and save his DP for monster choices until he got a suitable bee. His batch of mead for the gods was nearly done as well, so maybe the God of Bees would give him another rare monster choice. The karnuq and Tarwantrad’s eyes lit up when they heard Belissar was making mead.
With evening turning to night and the immediate course of action decided, the group called it there and dispersed.
First thing the next morning, Belissar checked on the mead jars. He took a sip out of one of the mana honey jars…and smiled.