The Bee Dungeon

Belissar paced about and clutched his head. His entire body was trembling, and his heart felt like it was about to burst from his chest.

Everything bad that had happened to the village...

Everything bad that had happened to him and the people he cared about...

It was all for nothing?

Belissar grit his teeth. No...it was worse. It was because the Tower Lords had lied. The lords...the priests...the guard...all of them. Mana couldn’t poison a peasant when a humble bee could absorb it no problem. Potions couldn’t be that dangerous, or even hard to make when a monster bee could make one out of honey and a couple of common medicinal herbs.

And if Belissar had achieved all of this as a humble beekeeper in under a month, what could a full-on, prepared Tower Lord have achieved over decades, or even centuries if the rumors were true? Why did even a small village like his own struggle when a Tower could do such miraculous deeds?

And then Belissar froze, going completely still.

He thought of the day his village burned...

He remembered Niobee’s words to him...that he was hurt and that she tried to help him. And in the process made him a Tower Lord...

What if...

It wasn’t that only Tower Lords could rule a Tower...but that only Tower Lords were permitted to rule a Tower?

Not because they were chosen by the gods...but because they killed anyone else who tried?

What if the point of the Tower Lord’s son’s visit that day was specifically to become the lord of the Tower Belissar now ruled? And he had burned down the village to prevent any of them from interfering?

Such was Belissar’s thoughts when Niobee landed on his hand and began dancing frantically.

“King! King not ok?! Need help?!”

Belissar blinked as he was shaken out of his thoughts. He looked down at Niobee frantically dancing on his hand.

He took a deep breath.

He then made as much of smile as he could manage and brushed her back with his finger. He pushed the dark thoughts out of his mind for a moment.

“I’m...fine. Well...maybe not, but I will be. Because...I have you now.”

Yes, in the end, he realized that those dark thoughts were all speculation. He knew all his prior knowledge was wrong, but he didn’t know how much of it were lies, how much of it were misunderstandings, and how much of it was simply ignorance. He didn’t know if all that was intentional or not. He had also seen the Hunger as well, and the devastation it could bring. Maybe the Tower Lords needed to keep the magic and the potions to themselves just to hold the line?

Belissar couldn’t say right now. He couldn’t change the past, either. And he couldn’t do anything about the Tower Lords one way or another, seeing as he was surrounded by the Hunger at the moment.

And most of all...whatever the Tower Lords had intended...he had command of this Tower now, the one his friend Niobee was connected to. She had not been taken under their control, and he had not been killed before interfering. She was here with him now, and as long as he retained control of the Tower, she would remain.

So, he tried to put it out of his mind. Stewing on what the Tower Lords had done and what they may or may not have intended achieved nothing for him now. But Niobee and the other bees were counting on him, so he would focus on them.

And so, Belissar decided what to do. He would not dwell on the Tower Lords...and he would not take their words as law. Whether they had lied or simply been mistaken, the truth was that most of what Belissar had been taught had been proven wrong. He could no longer count on the tales and the laws and doctrines he had grown up with.

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But...he didn’t need to anymore. Niobee and the others would follow and support him in whatever he did. Together, they had conquered the shades of the Hunger. The God of Bees had acknowledged and blessed him, and now sent him guidance. Belissar’s heart slowed back down. He took another deep breath and exhaled slowly, relaxing his whole body as he did.

He felt that...even if he had to forget all that he had learned before...that it would work out somehow this time. Between him, the bees, the Tower, and their patron gods...they could figure things out. For he was no longer Belissar, the orphaned peasant. He was a...

He was about to say Tower Lord...but the thought of them was unpleasant at the moment. But Belissar thought of something else, written upon his status. He narrowed his eyes and nodded his head.

Yes...he was Belissar, a Dungeon Master blessed by the Goddess of Bees. And from now on, he would face life with his eyes wide open, judging for himself what the world was really like.

And as for the Tower Lords...well, if Belissar ever encountered them again, he had already decided on his resolution before.

No one, be they man, beast, Tower Lord, or Hunger, would take his bees.

He looked down at Niobee and actually smiled this time.

“I’m sorry for worrying you, but I’m ok now. Thank you for choosing and staying with me, Niobee.”

Niobee looked up at him for a second and then began dancing rapidly.

“King is best king! Niobee always choose king!”

Belissar couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and the knot in his heart loosened just a bit...

Well, Belissar had been distracted by the emotional shattering of his entire worldview, but once he had calmed down, he found out that...nothing much changed. At this point he had no idea where the Tower Lords or his former village even were, much less any interactions with them. He had already determined the gods weren’t going to smite him for his control of this dungeon previously. So, while the news severely changed the context of his past, it had little relevance to his current, Tower Lord-free life. The only serious change was that he wasn’t going to call himself a Tower Lord from now on.

And while Belissar did want to think through and come to terms with all the various implications of the shocking revelation, he had something he needed to address in the immediate short term. Which was, now that he had determined that demi-humans weren’t actually monsters cursed by the gods, how should he actually deal with a group of them setting up near his dungeon?

On the one hand, they were normal people from what Belissar could tell, and so didn’t need to be treated any different from humans or anything. On the other hand...Belissar didn’t have plans for how to treat humans in the first place. He was a dungeon master now, so his former behavior around others didn't exactly match his current circumstances. And after his latest revelations, he definitely wasn’t going to act like the Tower Lords had. Maybe there were reasons for their actions but Belissar was simply too upset to even think about them.

But that meant Belissar now had to chart out his own path. And, well, he hadn’t made any plans for this circumstance. He hadn’t even thought about meeting people again. He was perfectly content living with just himself and his bees. His past interactions with most other people had not exactly been positive, especially after the old beekeeper died.

Belissar thought of these bear people stomping into his dungeon, stealing his honey, or worse, setting fire to his home...or his hives. His eyes narrowed and he clenched his fist.

But he took a deep breath and shook his head. The bear man who had visited had done nothing of the sort, and even left tribute at the Shrine of Bees. That much of what the Tower Lords said actually had some truth to it after all. The God of Bees had shared it with him, even. And, if Belissar remembered correctly, he may have seen some sort of message about challengers or something, though he had been distracted very soon after that and so wasn’t sure if he was remembering correctly.

So, while a part of him wanted to have nothing to do with other people, bear or otherwise, there were apparently benefits to interacting with them. Not to mention that he might be able to trade for things like cloth and tools, and so avoid having to make everything himself.

Belissar heaved a sigh. It seemed there was no choice but to give it a shot. The possibility of figuring out what challengers were, the possibility of trade, and the apparent approval of the God of Bees outweighed any fears he had regarding people. After all...

Cave Mushroom absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Cave Mushroom now available.

No applications available.

Cave Carrot absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Cave Carrot now available.

No applications available.

Cave Potato absorbed.

Sufficient samples gathered. Cave Potato now available.

No applications available.

...even his first interaction with these people had borne fruit. None of these particular plants and fungi were usable at the moment...but Belissar guessed from the names and the holes in the ground that these ones needed an underground environment. So, if he had gone for dirt tunnels and digger bees, he may have now had at least two new plants for them to gather from.

So...if these people could potentially aid his dungeon and his bees...then Belissar just might have to put up with them.

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