A loud metallic ring pulled me from my dreams. With a large yawn and a quick glance over to Ash, who was doing the same, I stood up. That was the breakfast signal, and I was hungry. A nice, deep, ravenous hunger seemed to be an effect of Dad's stories the next day. But considering how much I liked food anyway, it wasn't exactly something I considered a problem.
On the other hand, when I looked down at the plate I was handed and saw the oddly colored mix of vegetables, or at least what I thought were vegetables, I did second guess my earlier opinion. But I'd eaten a lot of strange foods in my lifetime, and just because I got used to the cuisine of Earth didn't mean I had lost that sense of flavor exploration entirely. In fact, it was quite the opposite, as the different smells brought me back to some of the things I had enjoyed most after my first integration.
“Any guess where they found pink carrots? Those are carrots, right?” Ash asked as she looked at her plate.
They did look like baby carrots, but I wasn't so sure. And a couple of bites later, I was certain. They tasted far more like a jalapeno than they did carrots.
“No idea, but dig in. I think you're going to like the spice,” I replied with a smile.
Scooping up the last bits of some sort of gravy with an odd flatbread. I spotted Grimbleflork and Tom approaching. Tom's eyes were drooping like he hadn't slept, and both of them were covered in a dark grime. What the hell have they been up to? And why hadn't they woken me up?
I sighed before I spoke, knowing a new problem was incoming. “So, what new shit did you two get into?”
“It ain't exactly what I'd call shit. But it also ain't what I wouldn't call shit. It's complicated,” Grimbleflork answered.
“We've been up all night securing some of the tunnels and making sure we had everything locked down on a path to a weird crystal we found,” Tom explained, much better than the Goblin had.
The look on Grimbleflork's face when Tom had said ‘weird crystal’ told me far more about what they had found than their words did. There wasn't a lot it could be. And the only thing I could think of that would have Grimbleflork reacting like this would be natural crystallized mana, but that couldn't be here yet, could it?
“Alright, from a look on both of your faces, you've got me thinking it's something crazy, and it can't be that, right?”
“If you're thinking natural mana, you're definitely thinking the right path. And it ain't some small vein either, Adam. There's a giant crystal down there. Some of the water from the river is flowing right past it. I doubt that's accidental either. Had to be the System,” Grimbleflork replied.
“Great,” I said, letting the sarcasm drip out. “Well, I guess that at least explains the acid slugs and their tunnels. It might also explain the abyssal incursion we had to deal with. You sure you got it all secured?”
“Nope. But I'm running on empty, and the Goblins might put on a brave face, but they're moving a lot slower than they were when we started,” Tom answered.
“Alright, Grimbleflork, how exhausted are you actually? And don't try to hide it, please. I need to accurately assess what to do next if I'm going to have to lead this thing. Trust me, I really don't want to be in charge,” I said, shaking my head.
“I'm tired, but not that tired. I could probably go another day or two before I really felt like Tom feels. The boys got even more juice than I do. They ain't anywhere near as ancient as me, and a couple of them even favored Constitution.”
“Alright,” I replied, stopping to think for a second. I had other things I needed to get done today, like the damn wasps. I didn't need more tunnel adventures adding to my to-do list. But that was the burden of being in charge. You didn't get to pick and choose what you wanted to deal with. Shit just showed up.
“Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna take a few people out and take a look at the wasps. Ash, I want you to go down to the tunnels with the Goblins and whoever else is working today. You keep them safe while I figure out what's going on outside the walls. Tom's going to get some sleep and then take the next shift with whatever men are willing to go down there and continue. Floof, how are you feeling? I could use you with me.”
The dog looked up at me from his own bowl of food and gave a light bark. I took that to mean he was ready and willing. While normally I would have much preferred leaving him here with Ash, lowering him up and down that sinkhole wasn't going to be easy. We needed to get a faster path together soon.
“Um, what should I be looking for down there?” Ash asked, not at all sounding nervous, just curious. The look on her face reminded me of how she had appeared before most of her childhood explorations and adventures. I could tell she was excited about the idea of having her own tasks, even if there was a strong chance that it just turned into busy work.
“Pay attention for any signs of monsters. Your job is to get the Goblins out alive. Just because they're more experienced in the system space than you are doesn't mean they're better fighters than you. In fact, I'm guessing none of them know much about fighting,” I explained.
“Your dad's right. We're primarily a group of merchants, but with specialties in some other crafting and collecting things. Outside of me, none of them are very good at fighting, and I won't pretend I'm that great either.”
I thought that was just a bit of an understatement by Grimbleflork. I had seen that man, bare-knuckle, box a few giant monsters in my time, and he hadn't died yet. But at the same time, I had outclassed him in fighting by the time I was twenty.
“Alright, I think I can do that,” Ash said with a giant smile, quickly finishing off the rest of her meal.
“Good, then I may as well get a start on the rest of the day. Come on, Floof. Let's go find Noah and Bob,” I said as I gave my back a big stretch. My burnt flesh still stung a lot, but it had already made some drastic improvements from the day before. Between Lukiss's father and Norm, the burn cream had been impressive.
“Good luck,” Ash called after me. I couldn't wait until Heather got to see how much Ash had returned to her old self. That was at least something we could look forward to in this shitty reality.
Floof and I managed to catch the scouts as they were heading toward the wall for their planned day's trek. It wasn't their fault that I'd almost missed them. I hadn't expected to feel this healthy when I woke up this morning. So the idea that I was even willing to go see the wasps today was a surprise to me, as much as it was to them.
“Well, gentlemen, I think it's time to hit the wasp up and make a real call on what to do there,” I explained.
“Do you think it's safe for Noah?” Bob immediately asked.
“Honestly, I don't know. Might not be safe for you either, but if I tell either of you to run, you run. Got it?” Neither of them argued.
The trip itself was pleasantly uneventful. Our last giant battle had done wonders in keeping the forest around us quiet. I suspected that our only real enemies left in these woods were on the other side of the river. That wasn’t to say we were totally safe out here. There were plenty of animals that could easily grow in a dangerous mana beasts, but it was more the intent to hurt us that I was worried about. Ferocious beasts were usually easier to handle than a thinking, tactical enemy.
“Shouldn't we be hearing the bees by now?” Noah asked about an hour into our trip.
“Yeah, I think we should. Weren't they just over past those trees?” Bob added.
“Floof, you got anything?” I asked, looking down at the dog.
He replied with a light growl, pointing in the direction the other two had expected the wasps to be. Something was still there, even if we couldn't hear it. “You two stay behind me and Floof, but we're going to press ahead. He thinks there's something out there.”
Slowing our pace a lot, Floof and I carefully pushed our way through the underbrush. He had already become much quieter than I was at this, not that my loud tromping feet had ever had any chance at beating the dog for long. As Floof pushed through the underbrush, his low growl grew louder.
Emerging behind him, I saw the strange sight that had set him off, but unlike him, I disagreed on its meaning. There was some possible danger here, but I didn't think that was the intention at all. In front of us, buzzing quietly in the air, was a single large wasp.
Her color patterns were very different from the standard paper wasps I had seen before. The black stripes were much closer to a dark navy blue, and the yellow was more vibrant and brighter. On top of that, she also looked much gentler. There was no point at the end of her abdomen. Instead, it was just rounded.
“Adam, does it feel like you can understand her somehow?” Bob asked slowly.
It had from the moment I saw her dance. It was why I didn't feel like we were truly in any danger. She was a messenger, not a warrior. “Yes, but shh. I need to focus on what she's saying.”
I had seen plenty of dancing-based languages in the past, but that was when I had better abilities to translate them. Luckily for us, it seemed she was doing the translating, but still, the Human brain wasn't great at grasping non-vocalized languages without a lot of practice. Or at least mine wasn't. I supposed I shouldn't make a sweeping generalization about the others.
Focusing on every little movement she made as she glided through the air, each small act was a thing of beauty in its own right, but at the same time, the more I watched, the easier the words manifested in my mind. “Am member of new caste. Am diplomat. Hive no wish to fight. Hive moved. Do Neighborhood agree peace?”
That was a hard question to answer. Wasps were dangerous. Mutated mana beast wasps were even more so. Now, there was the fact that they managed to produce a new caste of wasp this quickly and the intelligence they already had behind them, which made them all the more of a potential danger.
At the same time, none of that mattered. They had done nothing to attack us. This also proved they were aware that Noah and Bob had found them, and instead of engaging them, they moved further away and sent us an emissary of peace. In no world was I willing to be the aggressor of a potentially innocent new species.
“We accept the offering of peace, and we will allow your diplomat access to the neighborhood for further discussions,” I said, giving the best terms I could think of on the spot.
“Thank you. We'll return Hive now. Likely see later,” She said moments before she zoomed into the air, flying high into the treetops and vanishing from my vision.
Despite her disappearance, Floof's growl grew all the louder. He barked several times and took off running deep into the woods, neither after the wasp nor back toward the Neighborhood.