Chapter 199 - Fourth Story: Honey Making
The next day, when we went to the field in the Flatlands, the clover had increased considerably.
According to Flora, it's okay now.
"Then, shall we collect honeybees in April? It'll be just right when the clover flowers start blooming."
Lyudmila says she is preparing the hives.
"What kind of thing is a beehive?"
Beatrix asked, and she showed it to us.
It was something like a bucket woven from straw, and the inside was empty.
"The bees make their nest inside this."
Apparently, they destroy it when they make honey.
That's a waste. Can't it be reused somehow? It must be hard for the bees to make a nest every single time.
When I asked Flora, she said in short, as long as there's a hole for the bees to live in, it's fine. In other words, it can be made of wood.
"But even if you make it of wood, you'll take out the nest they made inside, so it's the same."
Is that so? Only the outside changes.
"A beehive is that thing with hexagonal holes lined up, right? Can't we make that?"
Beatrix said, but we didn't know how to make it.
"It'll be quite difficult, the bees will have their own preferences for size and length and such."
We decided to ask the parties involved, and immediately had Flora call several honeybees.
Since it would be bad to be stung by bees angry at knowing we'd take their honey, the three humans chanted the [Repellent] magic just in case.
There's one big one. It seems to be the Queen Bee. She is accompanied by several worker bees.
They landed on Flora's petals and seemed to be consulting about something, but it seems they've reached a conclusion.
"A wooden box is fine, but they'll make the nest holes themselves. However, they say it might be easier to make if there's something that serves as a support for the entire nest."
Support?
"Beehives keep getting bigger, you see. But they get heavy, so sometimes they fall if there's no support."
Um, I think we'll take the honey before it gets that big...
"They don't lay eggs during the winter. So they don't raise larvae either. In short, they're just eating the honey they've stored without doing anything. That's where the negotiation comes in. They say they can move to a new nest when spring comes."
Eh? What did you just say?
"It means we might be able to form a contract with the bees."
Flora said that if there are plenty of flowers blooming, they can get enough honey, so they'll share the surplus with us. In exchange, they want us to cooperate in maintaining the swarm.
"What should we do for cooperation?"
When I asked, it was protection from enemies and winter insulation.
Enemies are mainly bears and boars, apparently.
That's the same as us. We can manage with wolf urine. If anything, we can build a dedicated hut in the living area and place the hives inside. That way, we can also provide insulation. As long as they don't sting humans, we can coexist.
We decided to return to the town once and call Bonnie and Matilda, who were minding the shop.
"What shape is a honeybee's nest?"
"Shall I show you?"
When Matilda asked, Flora decided to negotiate for us.
The bees formed a circle and were consulting, but they somehow got permission.
We were to be shown.
We entered the forest.
"That's it. Shall I have them leave the nest for a moment?"
When I looked where Flora pointed, a swarm of bees was clustered together as if hanging from a thick tree branch.
It was a huge number. There are apparently thousands.
Usually, they make them in hollows and such, but they said they couldn't find a good hole.
There were many corpses fallen under the branch. They must have been unable to survive the winter.
"It's still cold, so they gather like that and warm each other's bodies. When it gets a little warmer, flowers will bloom here and there, and then they'll go to collect nectar."
Flora seemed to say something, and the bees left the nest all at once.
Since it would be cold, Lyudmila had them temporarily evacuate to the straw bucket she had brought.
Several things like pale yellow boards were lined up vertically. The boards had accurate hexagonal holes all over them.
"I thought it was one mass, but it's different. It's beautiful. Such a superb creation can't be made easily."
As expected of a silversmith. Her perspective is different.
She is thinking in the direction of reproducing it.
"Sorry, but I can't make it. Bonnie, how about you?"
She shook her head vigorously.
Apparently, it's no good.
"It's impossible to make it, but I might be able to make the support thing. How about it, Flora? For example. This nest is just attached to the branch above, but can they attach it to the top, bottom, left, and right?"
It seems to be okay.
"Then it's easy. I'll make a wooden frame. The size will be as specified. If you stand that frame so it's vertical to the ground, and they make it starting from the top, once it reaches the bottom, it can support the entire nest. There are also left and right sides, so eventually, the entire frame will become one sheet of nest. If you want to make it bigger, you can just increase the number of frames. How about covering that with a huge wooden box?"
When Beatrix drew a picture on a slate and showed it to the bees, they said they wanted to try it.
If it's finished well, they'll make a nest in a new wooden frame every year when the flowers bloom. Once it's done to a certain extent, they'll move, so we can have the honey left in the wooden frame they were in until then. Also, from spring to summer, flowers bloom all at once, so a lot of honey can be collected. They decided to share the surplus with us.
The Queen Bee said that if they reduce the eggs they lay in autumn, they can leave more honey, but when it's cold, they have to eat a lot of the left honey or everyone will die, and the survival of the swarm will be at risk. If we want honey, she told us to please make sure it's as warm as possible.
"I'll build a dedicated hut. It'll be tough if there's heavy rain or strong wind if it's left out in the open, right? I'll make the windows big to improve ventilation, and if something happens, I'll close the windows. Even in winter, it's originally an open-air life, so if there's a wooden box inside the hut, it won't be that cold, right? I'll cover it with straw or something. I'll also make a hearth just in case, so tell me if it's really cold. If I light a charcoal fire so it doesn't produce much smoke, it'll be fine, right?"
Lyudmila nodded greatly, and the bees' OK was also given.
"Is clover okay for the flowers?"
When I asked, they said there's little in early spring, so please add something. After that, they can manage if they go to the mountains.
There are three wild cherry trees in the living area, but they are still small and cannot support the swarm.
"How about rapeseed? Oil can be collected, and we can eat it too. If we sow seeds in the vacant land around the hut, flowers will bloom in early spring."
When Lyudmila proposed it, both the bees and Flora agreed. Since they'll sow seeds in autumn, yellow flowers will bloom in early spring next year.
After that, we decided to choose trees that bloom flowers each season and plant them in the living area.
Having successfully formed a contract with the Queen Bee, it was decided that when April came, we would prepare a new wooden frame and box as a set for a beehive and have them move in. Matilda and Bonnie decided to consult with the bees to determine the specifications of the beehive.
It's just one swarm, but it's a trial. If it goes well, let's increase them next year too.
Thanks to this, we can make mead from spring.
"Hey, shall we do the same thing in the village in Regnentes?"
"That's right. Since it's tax-free for three years, shall we plant rapeseed? I think it'll be okay if we consult with the Bishop and the woodcutters."
Since we were at it, I asked Bonnie and Matilda to make extra beehives.
There's plenty of timber, so it should be fine.
The two of them said they'd try making them right away and went back to the town.
Preparation for dinner was finished, so I rang the bell.
It's the Boar Club.
Today, we're having cheese pot right away. It was a pot with simmered onions and rabbit meat with dried herbs. The one in charge of cooking was, of course, Fiona.
The bandits also praised it, saying the rich taste was good.
After Fiona received enough praise to turn bright red, we spent a while drinking wine and relaxing.
"I heard. You're participating in the Demon Lord subjugation force."
As usual, the information is fast.
"I heard you defeated a Wyrm. By now, just come to the Jaegers already."
He's saying the same thing as Lewis-san.
"I was really beat this time. Do you lot always face things like that?"
Even Beatrix was giving up. After all, except for the ice magic that blocked its mouth, nothing worked at all.
"We don't often face Wyrms. Our basis is defense, and offense is the responsibility of the Eastern Plains Corps."
"If you did encounter one, how would you defeat it?"
"It's not something to encounter in the field. We'd lure it with a decoy and use anti-air ballistae equipped with silver arrowheads and archers. How did you defeat it?"
When I explained, they were impressed, saying, "Not bad."
"Well, yeah. We worked quite hard."
Bringing it down was good, but when it was thrashing around and magic wouldn't hit, I thought it was absolutely impossible.
"Um, I've been thinking after facing various things lately, but don't you think the Jaegers should have at least one user of high-level holy magic?"
The Fenrir we struggled so much with was powerless before the Headmistress.
"I understand what you're trying to say, but those who use high-level holy magic usually belong to the church. Stray ones are limited in number, and since they know their own worth, they are high earners. Besides, they are apparently participating in the Demon Lord army encirclement right now. They probably won't be sent to us."
"Is that so?"
Even with Marcelo-san there, we couldn't defeat it easily. As the Archbishop says, it might be better for the church to actively do monster extermination.
"For now, it's fine because Honorary Captain Jeanne is here. You seem to have become able to use quite a variety of magic. I'm counting on you from now on too."
"I'm still a basic-level mage. I'm sorry."
Even though I'm a precious stray priest, I'm somehow powerless.
"It doesn't matter. Operations that the Honorary Captain participates in have much fewer casualties than expected. It's fine if you just keep working hard as you have been."
He patted my shoulder 'pon-pon' to comfort me.
"I wonder what the next training will be like. Have you heard anything?"
"It's Eleanor-sama's thinking. We underlings don't know."
He seemed to have given up. He said it while shrugging his shoulders.
"However, if she intends to raise your abilities, won't she keep going with the current combinations? I'm sorry to say, but for the veteran group, the limit of their abilities is visible from their age. The rest would be strengthening the combination."
The other group was apparently doing monster hunting together with the Eastern Plains Corps. The vanguard was, of course, Roberts-sama.
With Roberts-sama and Gladys-sama clad in Limax Armor, a swarm of Orcs is apparently no match. They would charge in with the accompanying knights in matching outfits, defeat the Ogres, and then it was one hit with high-level magic.
It would be the same even if the opponent was a Fenrir.
"That armor is quite something. As expected of Eleanor-sama. It's said that with that, they were fine even if they were hit by an ally's high-level magic. Though in Eleanor-sama's experiments, it apparently couldn't block super-high-level magic."
"H-Heh. T-That's amazing."
The mage who created the basis for the development involuntarily tried to puff out her chest, then clasped both hands behind her head to cover it up.
Publicly, it's said that Eleanor-sama happened to use slugs she caught for the experiment.
"The vanguard of your group is also wearing that armor, right? I don't know what kind of thing it is, but monster extermination might become easier from now on."
"It seems they were suddenly handed it. I'm not wearing it, though."
It wasn't a lie.
"The name has changed again. It's apparently called Soap-Resistant Armor."
Beatrix burst out laughing.
I see, she thought about it. With that, the material wouldn't be easily known.
But everyone is saying whatever they want.
"Won't it be sent to the Paratroop Jaegers too?"
"Thankfully, it's apparently going to be prioritized for deployment after the Demon Lord subjugation. It's said it will become the basic equipment for the Paratroop Jaegers when they launch a surprise attack."
Their basis is action within enemy territory where they can't receive support from allies. It should be okay to spend money on their equipment.
"Hasn't it been too poor until now?"
"Well, don't say that. Our basic equipment is light equipment. Try wearing luxurious equipment when infiltrating enemy territory, you'll be found out immediately."
"But you're going to launch an attack on the enemy unit, right?"
"The main unit has quite good equipment. They're prioritized for silver weapons. Especially since Eleanor-sama was the Magic Corps Commander, she's been developing and deploying magic defense items one after another. They're ones that even the central army doesn't have. We're quite blessed."
During the war period, Eleanor-sama apparently served as both the Queen and the Magic Corps Commander. Even now that she has retired from active duty, she is the Honorary Commander.
He took off a ring and showed it to us. It was made of bronze.
"Look at the inside."
"The inside?"
When I looked, a stone was embedded.
"At first glance, it's a cheap bronze ring. However, it has an effect enough to halve mid-level magic. This is distributed to everyone in the Jaegers."
The material is copper, iron, or various other things.
It was apparently distributed only to the Jaegers and the Kingdom Army scouts.
Come to think of it, when we fought together, there were few soldiers who were taken down by magic. I thought it was because they were deploying magic defense, but it wasn't so.
"Here. Look at this."
This time, he rolled up the hem of his jacket and showed us his undergarment.
"Wait, stop it. Are you drunk?"
Beatrix protested, and we both involuntarily averted our eyes.
"Now, now, don't misunderstand. I'm telling you to look at the material of the undergarment."
The material of the undergarment?
It looked like nothing more than ordinary linen.
"But, on the back of this... ah, now, now, don't look so disgusted. I'm not trying to brag about my sexy navel."
Who would want you to brag about such a thing? I'll tell the church and have you certified as an apostate.
I had him hide his prized navel with one hand, and when I looked at the back of the rolled-up undergarment, something like a fine mesh made of silver thread was attached.
"It's silver thread. It won't be cut unless it's a silver blade. In other words, you're fine even if your belly, chest, and back are slashed. It was deployed only to the Jaegers in conjunction with the launch of the Paratroop Jaeger unit this time. It's apparently a custom-made item costing two gold coins per garment."
"Two gold coins!"
It's an impossible price. My undergarment doesn't even cost ten copper coins. It means it's worth nearly a hundred times more.
"In addition, there's the Soap-Resistant Armor. We're receiving the best equipment possible."
They are thinking about it. I didn't know, though.
"Then, will the return rate be a little higher?"
"I hope so. After all, the non-return rate of the Jaegers is lower than that of the scouts."
He said while shaking his head left and right with a laugh.
"I understand well. I also apologize for saying unnecessary things. But you should probably do something about the naming of that new armor."
Beatrix said, and we all laughed.