The Bee Dungeon
Chapter 299: The Ar-Bee-tration

Frelis and Juosiutik went on to show him a few more flower types. The toxic bees had managed to cross-pollinate vaporous hemlock and the Water mana flowers. Funnily enough, this resulted in a Water mana flower that created a non-toxic mist instead. Previously, Belissar might have wondered if that would be as useful as the toxic mist of the hemlock…but the latest expansion purification showed him the value of a simple fog, so he was instead well-pleased.

Alfalfa had been cross-pollinated with the mana flowers to make a Nature mana flower. The gardeners zipped happily about as Frelis exclaimed how it was nourishing all the other flowers around it. Belissar was more than happy to approve of their plan to spread those new flowers across the Tower.

The gardeners had a few more in the works but for now were planning to focus on spreading the new flowers. They did let Belissar know, however, that one of the apple trees in the Orchard had absorbed a great deal of mana from cross-pollination with mana flowers, and seemed to be on the verge of changing somehow. He would have to keep an eye on that one…and all the other flowers on the verge of cross-pollination. It seemed his bees would not lack for new flowers anytime soon.

The rest of the day came and passed. His Tower took on another small+ purification, this time featuring two of the full-sized bird shades. But two of them fared no better than one in the cramped corridors of the Dirt Tunnels, neither of them made if far before being drenched by sticky honey traps, which left them easy prey for the assassin bee. Yet another small+ opponent was defeated by the first room…and with no bee casualties. Belissar took some more mana and the day came to a close.

Which, unfortunately, brought him to the day of the arbitration. Tarwantrad and Nenavann met him in the morning and escorted him through the Compact once more. They took him, Niobee, Metsaitti, and a soldier bee complement through to the center of Calwaskon City. There, they entered into a grove of trees surrounding a table built from a massive tree trunk with countless words and symbols carved on top. The rest of the Compact’s signatories were waiting around it.

Belissar and the signatories greeted one another, then Belissar and Nenavann stepped up to the table. Loremaster Anyadre glanced around.

“Now that we all have arrived, let us begin the arbitration between signatory Ughlarer and signatory Belissar. Signatory Ughlarer, please present the point of contention.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer gave the loremaster a polite nod before glancing around the table, glaring only slightly as his gaze reached Belissar.

“Fellow signatories, all of us who have signed the Compact agreed that we would respect one another and our core interests, have we not? The techniques and lore of the smiths have long been the core interest of the black elves, as well as the distribution of mithril. The…new signatory has conspired with a rogue smith to obtain our techniques and our mithril for his own. Even though we did not cover our sacred conditions under the Compact, I submit that such an act still violates the Compact’s requirement that the signatories respect one another.”

“Very well. Signatory Belissar, how do you respond?”

Fortunately, Henilett had forewarned Belissar of how this arbitration would likely go, and so he had prepared his response in advance. He thus kept his gaze and voice steady.

“As a dungeon master of the Circle, it is my core interest to defend my dungeon and fight against the Hunger, as well as to assist my fellow dungeon masters in our joint mission. My agreement with Dungeon Master Tamosmed was for this purpose.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer grinned.

“Ah, yes, that is understandable. However, now that you are a signatory of the Compact, mutual defense is a given. Should you require access to our techniques for your defense, we of course will defend you as both Compacts require. Therefore, I propose that it is unnecessary for you to obtain these techniques for yourself, and that you should work with your fellow signatories rather than a single rogue smith.”

What followed was a bunch of back and forth arguments, not only between Belissar and Ughlarer, but between the rest of the signatories as well. Belissar held in a sigh and avoided looking at the forgemaster lest he start glaring. Even with the backup plan, this whole debate didn’t make him feel particularly pleasant…though he was pleased to see more signatories besides Nenavann consider his side of things. Queen Vanieskon remained silent throughout, but Henilett had told him she would so Belissar wasn’t upset by it.

For his part, Belissar just tried to keep quiet as much as possible, answering only when specifically addressed. He, Henilett, and his council had prepared as many statements as they could…but Belissar was not confident he could maintain his apparent confidence if he ran out of those responses. He couldn’t exactly say he felt comfortable being surrounded by all these old and presumably powerful fair folk. Fortunately, though, the fair folk seemed happy to talk amongst themselves.

Unfortunately, the conversation didn’t go as Belissar had hoped. Loremaster Anyadre spoke up as the debate naturally died down.

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“It seems then we have come to a consensus. The signatories find it reasonable to request that signatory Belissar acknowledge signatory Ughlarer’s core interest and to limit his acquisition of black elf techniques and resources to agreements with signatory Ughlarer, or else to that which has been made available to the general Compact, as signatory Belissar’s core interest as dungeon master is already covered by existing agreements.”

Belissar glanced over at Henilett. The corner of her mouth curled up. He guessed that now was the time.

“I can’t do that.”

All of the signatories went silent. Belissar continued on with the statement prepared for this contingency.

“Dungeon Master Tamosmed and I have both sworn before our patron gods to cooperate in this area. I will not defy my patron god, even at the request of signatories of the Calwaskon Compact.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer began chuckling with a deep voice.

“So, human, you have chosen to break the Compact, then?”

Belissar shook his head.

“Not at all.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer froze, then blinked, and then chuckled again.

“What idiocy are you spouting, human? You say you reject our authority, and yet you claim not to break the Compact? That is not how such bargains work, as you will now learn.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer then made a smug smile and crossed his arms. All eyes turned to Belissar…who simply waited. Forgemaster Ughlarer’s smile fell as nothing happened and the room remained silent.

“What…is the meaning of this?”

Belissar did his best to keep himself expressionless.

“I haven’t broken the Compact. The terms of the Calwaskon Compact you referred to don’t apply to me, but my oath to my patron god does. I must hold to what I have agreed to.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer scowled and turned to Queen Vanieskon.

“What is going on here? Why hasn’t the Compact punished this human for such a blatant violation?”

Queen Vanieskon still had a bored look on her face.

“Henilett.”

Henilett zipped forward, pulling out an incredibly long scroll.

“Yes, Your Majesty! Ahem, signatory Belissar would indeed be in violation of article fifteen subsection six on the results of joint arbitration by the signatories and the responsibilities of relevant parties to enact the consensus…if said term were applicable to him.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer glared at Henilett.

“Do not waste our time with childish games, pixie! The human signed the Calwaskon Compact! His name is engraved with his blood upon it! Don’t tell me its terms don’t apply to him! If they do not apply to him, then who do they apply to?!”

Henilett responded with a smile.

“Why, the fair folk, of course.”

A vein bulged on Forgemaster Ughlarer’s forehead.

“Explain yourself.”

Henilett rolled up her scroll all the way to the top and then slowly placing her finger at the only line left visible.

“Ahem, may I direct your attention to the opening statement of the Calwaskon Compact? And I quote: We, the fair peoples, agree to the terms laid out in this Compact regarding relations between all the fair…”

One of the signatories gasped, and then another. Forgemaster Ughlarer glared at the term…and then suddenly his eyes opened as wide as they would go. The edges of Henilett’s mouth curled up into a sly grin.

“Signatory Ughlarer, is signatory Belissar, who is a human as you have stated for us, one of the fair?”

Forgemaster Ughlarer did not respond, opening and closing his mouth without saying anything. Henilett grinned at him for a while before turning to Loremaster Anyadre.

“Loremaster, perhaps you can provide us with the appropriate context? Has a human ever been counted as one of the fair?”

Loremaster Anyadre’s face cramped.

“…no. Not once, in even a single case, has a human ever been counted as one of the fair since the first use of the category. The very term, fair peoples, arose specifically to distinguish our peoples from humans. I…therefore…cannot find any argument or precedent to include a human…”

Henilett could not help a light giggle.

“And…therefore…no term under this statement has any force over signatory Belissar. As the magic of the Compact itself bears witness.”

The signatories burst into heated conversations at that. Forgemaster Ughlarer narrowed his eyes. His neck creaked as he slowly turned to face Queen Vanieskon.

“Did. You. Know?”

Queen Vanieskon rolled her eyes.

“Obviously. Do you believe I’d agree to any of this without thoroughly reviewing every letter of the Compact?”

The forgemaster growled and trembled.

“You betrayed us. You betrayed us all to this human!”

Queen Vanieskon suddenly locked eyes onto Forgemaster Ughlarer.

“What I have done is to save us from the humans. To save the world from them.”

She rose to her feet, looking each of the other signatories in the eye.

“I have watched the human’s dungeon. My royal guard have participated in one of his purifications firsthand. I and Wardmaster Varilold ventured to the place where his dungeon meets the Hunger and observed it with our own eyes.”

She took a deep breath and frowned.

“I have come to realize it is no fluke that this human has survived. No fluke that the humans survived as a whole, for we were mistaken. Wardmaster Varilold and the entire Circle were wrong about the dungeons all along. The gods designed them to face the Hunger directly, the human’s dungeon purifies the Hunger on contact. I have seen this myself.”

She clenched her fists and ground her teeth.

“And that means that, all this time, while we were cowering away…the humans have been pushing the Hunger back and reclaiming the world. Even now they march across the land, the lands that were once ours, believing themselves all that remains. Believing themselves masters of the world, doing with it and the dungeons as they please.”

She fixed her gaze on Forgemaster Ughlarer once more.

“Can you stand for that? Can any of you? Will you let humans claim the entire world?”

Her eyes began to glow and a gust of wind kicked up around everyone’s feet.

“I know that I will not.”

She walked around the table until she stood behind Belissar and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. Belissar did his best not to react, Niobee managed to only buzz slightly.

“So, I take this human under my wing. An exile, a reject of his own people, who now belongs to us. He will lead us back to the world and then with his dungeon as the start we shall reclaim what is ours. We will let neither human nor Hunger reign as masters of this world, we will remind them that we were here before either of them even existed.”

She narrowed her eyes.

“And if you disagree? If you are content to hide away in this tiny corner of reality for all eternity? Then so be it. Go, and pray to the gods that the wards hold back the Hunger forever…or that the humans do not manage to reclaim the world and then bring something even worse upon it. But if you wish to hold your fate in your own hands, then let the world know the might of the fair once more.”

Belissar wondered, not for the first time, if he had made the right decision working with the Compact…