The Bee Dungeon
Chapter 290: Bee Served?

Belissar 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…”

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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.