Chapter 822
It would likely be very dangerous, Three Squeaks finished his pitch to the Great Queen. They could get squashed on accident, even! Its not easy to replace princesses, is it?
The Great Queen responded, though her signs were only partially directed towards Three Squeaks. Then they had better make certain to take care of themselves. Any princesses so irresponsible as to get themselves killed would not be worthy of ruling a colony.
I can take care of myself, Fearsome Mandibles said. And my sister.
Crossed Antennae twitched in annoyance. I am quite capable of watching out for myself, thank you.
Good, the Great Queen concluded. Then all of you should make certain not to die, or I shall be very cross with you.
Three Squeaks scratched his head. He had come here with the intention that she would force the princesses to stay behind instead of coming with him on his journey. Now, it was like he didnt have any choice but to bring them along. How frustrating. He supposed he would simply have to deal with it. And keep them alive, because no matter how much the Great Queen said they were responsible for themselves he didnt want to return missing either one and find out if she meant it.
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Common Oak, the Great Queen looked towards her friend hiding nearby. You will look after them for me, wont you?
The leaf insect revealed herself with slight movements that didnt fit the wind. She exchanged her own body signs with the Great Queen. Wouldnt it be better for you to do so?
Despite how it may seem, I am not undetectable, the Great Queen said. My daughter will be more sensitive to me than to you. Besides, there is much more to watch over here in case of trouble.
Do you have no attachment to your own brood?
If that was the case, I would not be sending you, would I? I would simply leave them to fend for themselves as they believe they will be.
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Deep Purr was too invested in the safety of the coalition to go on a journey. Echoing Cry was with his aforementioned nestful of eggs. Contented Grunt said she was too lazy to go on a long journey. Clang was still a blacksmith and uninterested in exploration to begin with. Half Oink would probably come the only issue there was Forceful Snort. Then again, the warthog was a master of her own tusks, and certainly capable of making her own decisions.
At least if he invited her, Three Squeaks wouldnt be alone with two void ants. He didnt think they would be a danger to him, but if he wasnt going to travel alone, hed prefer others with which he could actually talk aloud without constantly looking over at them. Also ones he could pick out with his senses. He didnt want to be constantly worried about losing his companions.
Yes, Half Oink would be a good option. Swordmaster Ty was a big proponent of training journeys, so she should be amenable to the idea. And indeed, it was easy to get her agreement to come along. It was unfortunate that the expected resistance came to pass.
Absolutely not, Forceful Snort said. Wandering about who knows where into great danger? I wont allow it. You cant take my daughter.
I agree, Half Oink said. He cant take me anywhere. I will go where I please. And I want to go.
I forbid it.
Oh yeah? You and what army?
The two warthogs glared at each other, and Three Squeaks rapidly moved out of their way. This was something they should hash out between the two of them.
I dont need an army, Forceful Snort lowered his head. I am an Essence Collection cultivator!
Half Oink was only at the peak of Spirit Building, but she didnt back down a single inch. Wanna go, old man?
Bring it, pipsqueak!
Anton shook his head. I am not much suited for the indirect. Unless you count the trajectories of my arrows among that. Of course, I do not mean to say that it is not necessary or valuable to do things this way but I am not good at it.
Taalay stroked his beard. Even so, you provided quite a few insights. I wouldnt have noticed anything wrong with them for quite some time if you hadnt explained the faults to me. Im still not convinced that its impossible to bend a planet to your will.
Not impossible, Anton shook his head. Nothing is, strictly. But its certainly inefficient compared to being assisted willingly.
Over the last few months, they had coordinated with people from the Lower Realms Alliance and Vrelt to add unhelpful insights into the totality of the Anchoring information being transmitted to the upper realms. Now, everything was set in stone and couldnt be changed- though they could end the transmission early. Instead, they would let it complete with their sabotage.
It was possible that they might transmit more flawed information in the future, though they couldnt do it with trivial things or they would draw suspicion. So they had to come up with something big enough. The paths of Anchoring, Assimilation, and Worldbinding were more or less different perspectives on the same thing, and they might eventually try to feed false information about one of the others- but that was a project for decades if not centuries down the line.
The cleanup after the war had lasted longer than the actual war. Not just the repairs and the like, but tracking down the remnants of the Trigold forces, hiding out in the wilderness or down in the mines. Though only the latter one worked even tolerably for them. Both Devon and Anton could track down anyone hiding on the surface, through quite different methods. Many of the ships could sense stray cultivators there as well.
In the planet-spanning mines, a good majority of which had been collapsed during the war, people were slightly more concealed- but they were not impossible to track down. It simply took more time and different skills.
Another critical project was straightening out the countries and cities that had been under the influence of the Trigold Cluster. The cultivators involved had mostly been killed, but there were still mundane cities that had been influenced by them, and were resistant to change. And while it was a problem it was one that would eventually go away on its own. Some active effort might help, but people would either grow used to the change or simply die of old age. That was a thing that still happened, after all. Even for cultivators just more slowly.
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Devon found himself consulting with Aerona, as he often did. I wonder if we could have done things better here.
I dont think we can ever truly know, Aerona said. However, I am certain we could have done far worse. Different is easy, better is not. Let us say we came in with the full armies of the Lower Realms Alliance immediately. We kill everyone from the Trigold Cluster. Then what? Everyone else sees invading armies and fights back with all their might- ultimately resulting in many deaths for little reason. Perhaps reinforcements could have been closer at hand, but I am not a tactician and we hadnt really anticipated those particular events with that timing.
Im just afraid I screwed everything up.
Aerona smiled, You may have felt drawn here, but it was not a task you could complete alone. You were the one who got things started when the Lower Realms Alliance was puttering around hoping something would happen.
Its not quite like that but we did ultimately need people like you who just joined our alliance to take part.
Its been decades, Aerona said.
Thats still nothing, Devon pointed out. Cultivators live a long time.
And yet, were also capable of causing rapid change. Perhaps more of us should be cognizant of that besides those from Rutera. They certainly have an interesting understanding of the world.
Devon nodded. One without which we wouldnt have accomplished nearly so much. We would likely still be dragging ourselves between nearby systems on ponderous ships.
Perhaps you would be. So then. What next?
What do you mean? Next for what?
Aerona shook her head. I dont know. For you. Or for us, perhaps.
Nidec, Devon declared. We encountered them at much the same time as Udre and Vrelt. Little progress has been made with them and we need someone who can talk to make that happen. So thats probably you. And some others. Devon shrugged, the movement emphasizing his missing arm. And Ill be there with you, if youre willing to have me.
Aerona chuckled. I didnt run halfway across the galaxy to reach you just to push you away.
Devon rolled his eyes. Please, it wasnt even close to halfway across the lower realms. Maybe a quarter at best.The initial instance of this chapter being available happened at N0v3l.Bin.
