BD - Chapter 342 - The Alliance's Answer

Belissar stared at the message for a moment. The God of Light. The God of Light was offering to bless his Tower! The god that Mrs. Imkomos revered the most! The god that every human revered the most! The savior of humanity and the world, the god who gave them the Towers in the first place!

And the god whose power was supposed to be strong against the Hunger. Tower Lord doctrine even taught that every Tower, no matter which god was their primary patron, channeled the power of the God of Light. That was supposed to be why the Towers had those big, glowing crystals on their roofs and why they sent out waves of light when purifying the Hunger.

Well, that was Tower Lord’s doctrine, so he couldn’t be sure if it was true, but General Rippotis, at least, also seemed to revere the God of Light. There was no doubt this could be a big moment for Belissar’s Tower.

Still, Belissar first moved to ask the God of Bees about it. His primary patron was the God of Bees now and he would always check with her before taking missions from other gods, even the God of Light.

But as it turned out, Velebee sent him a dance before he could even ask her.

“Hive-Builder! Queen of All Bees says Hive-Builder should accept Queen of All Light’s quest!”

Belissar smiled. Leave it to the God of Bees to have already taken care of it.

“Thanks Velebee, and thank the God of Bees for me!”

With that, he accepted the quest without hesitation.

New mission received: Help General Rippotis return to the Conclave.

So, the God of Light wanted him to help. Belissar…found he agreed with that. If the Tower Lords were fighting themselves…then of course he’d rather that General Rippotis win over Lord Starami, the Tower Lord responsible for all of Belissar’s woes. General Rippotis was sorry for what Starami did. Starami did not seem to be, judging by the army approaching his Tower.

That said, he wasn’t exactly thrilled that General Rippotis was planning to leave them with Starami after promising to help…but he did destroy that kobold army on his own already, so that was one less monster army the bees would have to face. Ultimately, Belissar decided to trust that if the God of Light herself was asking him to get General Rippotis back to the Conclave and the God of Bees was asking him to listen to the God of Light, then it was important that they do so. And he’d still have all of his defenses along with the fair folk and the sigmaka, none of which had to fight yet, so they should still be able to hold…he decided to also believe that the God of Bees wouldn’t ask him to do something that would doom his Tower.

So, Belissar decided he would help. Now…he just had to figure out how to convince his allies, who had not received missions from the God of Light, to help too…

As Belissar was trying to work that one out, Queen Vanieskon rose to her feet and held her hand out to the side. Henilett placed the scroll on which she had been recording the proposal agreement between General Rippotis and the alliance leaders, along with all the changes they had negotiated thus far. Queen Vanieskon stirred her mana and a strong gust of wind blew through the command tent. When it left, the proposal had been cut to ribbons.

She turned to face the alliance leaders.

“We are short on time so I will be blunt. My fellow signatories of the fair folk, Tower Keeper Belissar, and King Ratuatapi of the sigmaka…at the end of the day, we know we cannot trust an agreement such as this. No matter how many terms, conditions, and oaths we put into the bargain, there will always be something we missed, some oversight, some loophole. General Rippotis here could have given us his very life and it all would have been undone by this coup his peers have just launched. We can never place all of our hopes in such a thing. We all know that no diplomatic guarantees, reparations, embassies, or promises can truly keep our people safe. That is why we cannot be satisfied with this bargain, why we keep stretching out these negotiations with pointless quibbles over terms that scarcely matter.”

She shook her head.

“No, we all know, deep down, that there is only one thing with any real value or any real power left in this world. There is only one thing that matters in the face of the Hunger. There is only one thing that can keep our people safe.”

She paused for a moment before looking at Belissar.

“The dungeons. The Towers of the Gods. The Sacred Dens. Those are what truly matter now. Those are the only things that can truly secure the safety and future of our people. They are the only things that endure in a world with the Hunger. They are what we need.”

She glanced around at the other leaders of the alliance, who slowly began to nod in return. She turned around to face General Rippotis.

“So that, General Rippotis, is our price. We want Towers…and if the war goes as you claim it should, you will soon have some in need of new masters.”

General Rippotis frowned.

“I can’t guarantee specifics. How many become available, when they become available, or even if they become available, will all depend on the fortunes of war.”

Queen Vanieskon gave him a smile.

“Then we had all better do our best to put the odds in your favor. We will ask for a minimum of three, one for the fair peoples of the Calwaskon Compact, one for Tower Keeper Belissar, and one for King Ratuatapi of the sigmaka, to be offered regardless of the results of the war. Even if they are your last three. We will require more according to your success.”

General Rippotis furrowed his brow.

“If I am to give you the Conclave’s Towers, then I require a full alliance, a commitment to this war and to peace thereafter. I will need guarantees for the treatment of the humans that still live under the influence of those Towers after their homes come under your authority.”

Queen Vanieskon did not reply to him, instead turning back around.

“My fellow signatories of the Calwaskon Compact, what say you? With this one war, one we were prepared to fight regardless, we can end the threat of the Conclave. What’s more, we can gain the Towers in the land of mortals necessary to secure the future of the fair folk, for good. But we must decide now, before the Tower Lord below finds his way back to the surface.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer glared at her.

“Gods damn it all, this is what you wanted all along, isn’t it, Vanieskon?”

Queen Vanieskon grinned right back at him.

“Yes. It is.”

Forgemaster Ughlarer held the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

“Hunger take us all. It probably will, at this rate. Fine, you win, Vanieskon. You’re right that I’d much rather rely on dungeons in our hands than another bargain with a human. But those dungeons will be in the Compact’s hands, not yours, Vanieskon.”

All the fair folk turned to Ughlarer in surprise. King Taranskare, meanwhile, frowned.

“Wardmaster, what do you think?”

Wardmaster Varilold shook her head.

“I don’t have enough information to say. All that we know about the present situation in the Conclave was told to us by General Rippotis or by the gods that sent him to us, I cannot take what they say at face value but I have no other information to compare it with. I can’t judge if it is more dangerous to intervene or to stand idly by, to join the general’s side or the other. I cannot declare any choice here either crucial or damning. By the terms of the Calwaskon Compact, it is up to the signatories to decide our course.”

King Taranskare took a deep breath.

“So be it. I endorse Queen Vanieskon’s proposal.”

Curuhaxa turned to Nenavann.

“Dungeon Master Nenavann, is the Circle prepared for such a thing?”

Nenavann shook his head.

“We aren’t prepared for any of this, but the tides are changing. We must change with them lest they sweep us away. I, too, endorse Queen Vanieskon’s proposal. The Circle will do its best to welcome new members.”

One by one, all the signatories of the fair folk began to agree. Queen Vanieskon then turned to the other members of the alliance.

“King Ratuatapi, is this acceptable to you?”

King Ratuatapi had been whispering intently with First Queen Nyoyanke. At Queen Vanieskon’s address, they cut off their discussion, then King Ratuatapi turned to face the pixie queen and firmed his expression.

“It is. The sigmaka will accept this and stand with the alliance.”

Finally, Queen Vanieskon turned to Belissar.

“And you, Tower Keeper Belissar?”

Belissar…didn’t really need to discuss it with anyone or think about it at all. He would get his reward from the God of Light herself, anything from General Rippotis or the Conclave would be just a bonus. He…didn’t have any idea what he’d do with another Tower, to be honest, but since everyone else had already agreed, even Forgemaster Ughlarer, he didn’t want to ruin things by objecting without cause. At the very least, maybe he could help the villagers if he took their Tower from the Tower Lords.

When he thought of that, he suddenly felt a lot more enthusiastic about the plan. He nodded without hesitation.

“I agree too. Let’s help him.”

Queen Vanieskon smiled and then turned around to face General Rippotis.

“Well, General, congratulations. One oath to your god and we will be at your disposal. Let’s save our Conclave of Tower Lords, shall we?”

General Rippotis…let out a groan that did not sound particularly grateful.

Author’s Note:

…we finally got back to King, but there’s still silly non-bees being silly. Help. Bee-levels…critically low…

…at least King is going to get new Towers? Maybe he can fix their egregious lack of bees. If only he could first fix ours…

Anyways!

Will we ever return to bees? Will the silliness ever end? Will King fix the egregious lack of bees in the Conclave? Tune in next time, to find out!