Chapter 95- Exterminating Vermin

[Luna POV]

Over the next week, we took our time getting to the border.  We stopped a few times when we found some monsters and let Soleil take care of them.  We just left a forest and found ourselves in a seemingly endless grassland that was filled with uncountable numbers of flowers.

“Wwwwwoooooaaaaaahhhhhh.  This place is so pretty.” (Soleil)

“Indeed it is.” (Velvet)

“Amazing.” (Luna)

The three of us stood there and admired the view for a few minutes.  It was then that it hit me.  Having all of these flowers here looked nice, but they all produced different smells, and those smells all combined and became very concentrated.  I was starting to get a headache and it would only get worse as we traversed through the field.

“What’s wrong Luna?” (Velvet)

“Too many smells mixing together.” (Luna)

“Ugh.  It’s hitting me too.” (Soleil)

Soleil then made a wind barrier that cleared the air around her.

“Sorry I can’t make this bigger.” (Soleil)

“Don’t worry about it.” (Luna)

I pulled a black half-mask out of my inventory and put it on.

‘Haha, now I look like a ninja.’

“Why is that so fitting on you?” (Velvet)

“What do you mean?” (Luna)

“It’s like you were meant to wear something like that.  Everyone has a mask that completes them, and that one completes you.” (Velvet)

“Do you want one?” (Luna)

“I’ll never turn down a mask.” (Velvet)

“You might want to reconsider that, some masks that I know of should be avoided, like the one that you owned that I destroyed.  Though I doubt you will be turned into a vampire since you already are one.” (Luna)

“What do you mean?” (Velvet)

“Don’t worry about it.” (Luna)

“Shall we continue on then?” (Soleil)

“Onward!” (Luna)

Some time passed as we traveled through the flower field, and I started to hear some buzzing.  I assumed there were going to be bees, but the sound of the buzzing sounded weird.  I stopped walking and started to use my space magic.  It took about a minute before I found them.  When I did, I had a chill run down my spine.

“What’s wrong big sis?” (Soleil)

“So many.” (Luna)

“So many what?” (Velvet)

“Wasps.” (Luna)

“Is that all?” (Velvet)

“Must exterminate them all.” (Luna)

“Calm down Luna.  Goddess, please help.” (Velvet)

{Luna.}

“But Tamamo, I need to exterminate the pesky, stupid, evil wasps from existence.  They should all die; they are a stain on the world.” (Luna)

{If you don’t calm down, I won’t kiss you next time we see each other.}

‘That just means that I’ll be the one initiating the kiss.’

{Ooh.  Assertive Luna makes a surprise appearance, no wait that’s not it.  Listen, I know you hate wasps, but you need to calm down or you’ll destroy the environment when you go on your crusade.}

“Ugh.” (Luna)

{Also, do you want to take responsibility for changing the topography and redrawing of the map?}

“But they’re killing the bees that make this place possible.” (Luna)

{Velvet, I don’t know how to respond to that.}

“Big sis, how big are these wasps?” (Soleil)

“The size of chickens.” (Luna)

“And how many?” (Soleil)

“About 30 give or take a few.” (Luna)

“If you go off and kill them, will you keep going on a crusade, or will you stop at those 30?” (Soleil)

“Stop at those 30…for now.” (Luna)

“I think that’s as good as we’ll get, so go on, you have ten minutes.” (Soleil)

I dashed off in the direction of the accursed creatures and arrived on seconds.  The vermin already killed 16 bees of the 20 that were here.  I immediately took out my bow and started shooting arrows.  Every one of them hit their mark and soon there were wasp corpses scattered everywhere.

“Serves you right you filthy mongrels.” I said with enough venom in my voice that would put hydra blood to shame.

I was about to return to the others when I heard buzzing behind me.  I turned around and saw the surviving bees looking at me.  One of them that looked different from the others came forward and, amazingly, started to speak.

“Thank you, zzz, stranger.  I am a wandering queen; you have saved me and my procezzion.  Is there anything we can do to thank you?”

“While I only did this to exterminate the pests, could I ask for some honey?” (Luna)

“An easy requezt to fulfill.”

The wandering queen motioned one of her legs and one of the bees following her hovered over to me with a honeycomb held in its legs.  I took what was offered and thanked them.

“If you ever have need of more, zzz, come find us.  You have zaved our livez and we will never forget thiz debt.”

After saying this, the queen and her procession flew off.  I went back to everyone, and we continued on.

“That took longer than I thought it would.” (Velvet)

“Turns out I saved a wandering queen and they thanked me by giving me some honey.” (Luna)

{Oh.  That’s a good ingredient, even in the divine domain.}

‘Really?’ (Luna)

{Yep.  Wandering queens are a very rare kind of bee that are only born every 200 years.  If you make something from honey made by a wandering queen, it will raise someone’s vitality.  Not to mention that it is extremely delicious.}

“I’ve never heard of a wandering queen.” (Soleil)

“Me neither.” (Velvet)

“Tamamo said that they are born every 200 years.  Their honey can raise vitality and is extremely delicious.” (Luna)

“Big sis, the next time you get access to a kitchen, will you make something with the honey you received?” (Soleil)

“That was the plan.” (Luna)

“I’m surprised you don’t have a whole kitchen in your inventory.” (Velvet)

“…” I stopped in my tracks.

“Luna?” (Velvet)

“Big sis?” (Soleil)

“Why did I never think of that!?  Actually, why don’t I have a whole house in there?  It should be common sense to have a house you can carry around when you have an inventory like mine.  Damn it, why did it take me so long to realize this?  I don’t have any magic that can be used to build something except ice magic.  Should I just get an architecture or construction skill?” (Luna)

“I think I said something I shouldn’t have.” (Velvet)

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen big sis like this.” (Soleil)

“This has happened before?” (Velvet)

“It used to happen a lot when dad and big sis got together and discussed their previous world.” (Soleil)

“Now that I think about it, how was I going to turn my island into the Hanging Gardens of Babylon if I didn’t know anything architecture related?” (Luna)

{If you want, I can cash in my favor with the gods of architecture and construction for their help in that, though it will only happen when you ascend.}

‘I might take you up on that, but I at least want a house to stay in up there, so I either need to buy or build one.’

{I would say buy one for now, if you feel like building one eventually, you can, but if it’s going to be temporary, buying one would be easier.}

‘I’ll do that, then.’

“Oh, she coming back to us Velvet.” (Soleil)

“Good, because I’m ready to get out of this flower field.” (Velvet)

“Sorry about that, I got lost in my thoughts.” (Luna)

“We could tell, you were mumbling stuff for a good bit there.” (Soleil)

We started our journey again and a few hours later, we reached the end of the flower field and came up to a large river.  Across the river we could see a city in the distance.

“I think that’s the city near the border.” (Velvet)

“Demon Empire or Celestia Kingdom?” (Soleil)

“Celestia Kingdom.  It’s a remnant from when the country had a less than good relationship with the Empire.” (Luna)

“Where’d you learn that?” (Velvet)

“I was in the library for almost a week, I picked up some things here and there.” (Luna)

We crossed the bridge that spanned the river and made it to the city close to nightfall.  We found an inn to stay the night at and immediately went to bed.

Author's Note:

Too lenient.

Atmos: Huh?

She was too lenient.  She should have called down holy lightning and smote the pests into oblivion.  Wasps are the Nazeem of insects.

Atmos: What did they do to you?

They traumatized me in my childhood.  Not to mention that they're just pests in general.

Atmos: How much of it is grudge and how much is it because they're pests?

99% grudge.  1% because they're pests.  Most of the grudge comes from the irrational fear and the embarrassment that came from that fear for a large part of my life.

Atmos: Was whatever happened that bad?

For child me, yes.  For adult me, it's so inconsequential that I cringe at my past self's reaction to any time I saw a wasp.

Atmos: Well, at least you're over it now.

True.