With every day that passed, Regina felt more confident of herself and her hive’s ability to stand what may come. They were quickly growing stronger, with the hive growing in numbers and its members gaining levels. They were also making inroads with the villagers and human fighters, and their crafting and defensive preparations went well. At the same time, with every day that passed, Regina was feeling a bit more anxious. She didn’t let it show and generally did pretty well at suppressing the feeling, but it still remained. It was probably pretty normal, given the situation. The anxiety of waiting.

It didn’t stop her from getting work done for her hive. Besides getting a lot of eggs developing, Regina also spent lots of time at the castle, taking part in the repairs and even fortifying it further. She talked with the baron and the other human leaders, chatted with Anuis and got some more information about the System and general knowledge from her, and even spent some time with her hive members.

She’d decided to focus on increasing her Swarm, but also included two more Drone Attendant eggs. She didn’t add more because she figured they actually weren’t that strong in battle. Via and Ira clearly had trouble learning her spells, beyond the basics. They had finally gotten Spark and Magic Missile, and even, pretty quickly compared to its complexity, Basic Heal. They would probably do pretty well as healers, or at least shifted into such a role.

The two were also nice to have around apart from that. Over time, like with the other drone Templates, they settled into a role and a job within the hive. The Attendant’s role seemed to be something like a mix of a maid, nurse or midwife, personal assistant and lieutenant, maybe an aide or something.

Regina certainly wasn’t complaining. She’d been a little afraid that this might lead to a conflict with Max, but he seemed happy enough about the girls. Regina suspected that was because he wanted her taken care of, so he approved of what they were doing. She found the whole thing a little amusing, but she didn’t do anything about it. She wasn’t about to ruin this. He did seem more enthusiastic about sparring with her, though. And Regina had to admit that he might have a point, anyway. For probably the first time in her life, she felt physically tired in a way that went beyond the aftereffects of an intense training session or getting a lot of exercise. Producing so many eggs in such a short time, pushing herself and her capacity to handle large batches, seemed to be taking a toll on her body.

It was worth it, though. They crested the one hundred mark for Swarm Drones just a few days after the attack on the castle and village, and she had a new flock of Winged Drones she was already sending to scouting tasks. Carefully and as discreetly as she could, but there just wasn’t much of a way to hide drones like this when you needed them in the air. Regina used them to scout out the surroundings, keep an eye on the edge of the forest, and make sure that no one tried to sneak out of the village or something like that. Not that she really cared too much if some local peasant wanted to leave, but she’d rather have them safe and sound in the village than risk some idiot getting themselves eaten by a monster, or running to some other settlement and whining about the evil occupiers to get sympathy.

I guess my opinion of the humans in this world isn’t too great, Regina mused to herself at that point. I’m pretty sure my old self, if there really was one, wouldn’t have thought like this. Of course, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have had problems like this, either. And from what I can extrapolate from the memories I do have, I don’t think my life was very violent or had a lot in common with this situation. She sighed softly to herself. I just wish I knew for sure if there even was something like that.

Her level also ticked up into 26 around this time, which improved her mood a lot. It was probably due to all the Experience she was passively getting from her hive and their activities. Maybe fortifying her new base actually contributed, as well. Her drones leveled up reasonably quickly, too, to the point that the humans were obviously starting to catch on.

Then, finally, the outside world finally made itself known again several days later. Regina had scheduled regular checks for herself, looking through the eyes of Swarm Drones she’d sent scouting around, while also getting reports from the sapient Scouts. But it was actually a Winged Drone coming for her that got her attention.

“Did you find something?” she asked it as the drone landed on the roof of the house opposite her, on the outskirts of the village. She’d given them orders to come and get her attention in specific circumstances. Not waiting for an answer which it couldn’t give, anyway, Regina dove into its mind and that of other drones to check.

She quickly realized what was up, and went to inform the others. She started contacting her drones telepathically, while she considered the deployment of her Swarm Drones in the back of her mind. She had expected visitors, but these were moving more quickly than she’d thought. They would be here very soon.

The party of humans was bigger and probably higher leveled, on average, than the last. Their horses looked well taken care of and expensive, not that Regina knew much about such things. Most of them seemed to be knights, as well. But she wasn’t too concerned, because they again had white flags, and because she recognized the two people in the center. Regina couldn’t help but smile. She’d been hoping that Janis and Kiara Lyns would be sent again.

By the time the human delegation arrived, Regina and her allies greeted them at the entrance to the village. Regina had Max, Tim, Mia and Ada with her this time, while Anuis, Bianorn and a few other elves accompanied them.

The greetings and welcome were almost routine by now, Regina reflected. She stepped forward, greeted them and welcomed them to the place. The humans replied politely. Anuis joined in to greet them as well. Simple enough and quickly accomplished.

It might help that the human noble girl was obviously taken aback by what she saw, judging by the way she not-quite-stared at Regina and her drones. It took a moment for Regina to realize that it had to be the drones’ Classes, which had changed in several cases. That obviously indicated their Evolution - if the physical changes hadn’t - and they’d been several levels below 20 when they’d last met, over a month ago.

“Thank you for hosting us,” Kiara Lyns said, obviously shaking off her surprise. “I would like to see the local baron as well, if you’d be so kind.”

“Of course.” Regina gestured to the village behind them. “Do come in, and we can all talk at the baron’s residence.”

The humans exchanged quick looks, before the knights dismounted and they led their horses into the village, following the Hivekind and elves in. Regina listened as the human noble and Anuis exchanged a few sentences, clearly trying to take each other’s measure. It didn’t seem like they’d met before.

They left one knight behind to watch over the horses, which were tethered to some iron hooks not far away, while the group went inside. The baron’s house was a bit cramped for them all, but Regina assumed they would prefer to be inside rather than talking out in the town square.

“It’s an honor to meet you again, Lady Kiara,” the baron assured her, bowing his head politely. “I wish the circumstances were better. To give credit where it is due, though, Lady Regina and her people have treated us most courteously. I cannot complain about their actions or conduct. The same goes for the elves, naturally.”

“I’m relieved to hear it,” Kiara replied. She glanced at Regina. “Not that I was doubting your virtue, of course.”

Regina smiled slightly. She wondered what Kiara actually thought about her in terms of virtue. Certainly, she wouldn’t be happy about her actions after their truce, even if Regina technically waited for it to end. Then again, Kiara should be smart enough to understand that it was humans attacking her that drove that decision.

“I heard what you told to Sir Willard about your reasons for this attack,” the human continued. “Still, I would like to discuss it with you personally, if you don’t mind.”

“Of course.” Regina leaned back and took a moment to gather her thoughts, then started to talk. She recounted everything that happened and explained her actions, following the arguments she’d prepared for herself beforehand. She focused on humans, associated with the other treaty party, attacking and overall posing a danger to her and her hive, as well as her responsibility as its leader, the fact that she’d waited for the agreed truce period to end, and her general good intentions and moral conduct towards the humans she had in her power now. The last part might have been painting herself as far saintlier than she was, but Regina figured that was okay in diplomacy like this.

The whole thing implicitly made her the person who had to justify themselves, but she didn’t really care, since she wanted to say these things anyway. Besides, she didn’t think she was good enough to win any kind of verbal sparring or whatever with the human noble, who might have been trained in rhetoric, so she didn’t want to waste her energy worrying about it too much.

They discussed the matter for a while longer, with Anuis chiming in more and more. Regina noticed with a start that she was shifting the focus of the conversation, pushing the humans to explain how the attacks could have happened, without seeming to make them feel too defensive or to let them reframe things back to treating Regina as the aggressor.

“Our agreement could never have bound people intrinsically outside of our authority, let alone another nation like Nerlia,” Kiara explained calmly. “While it is possible that their attack was in reaction to learning of our own truce agreement, I would caution you not to hold this assumption as truth.”

“Of course I understand that,” Regina said, nodding slowly. “I bear you, on a personal level, no ill will for that. I would never have expected you to be able to stand up to a sovereign nation, being just a province of the Cernlian kingdom.” The noble’s face darkened slightly at those words, so Regina assumed she’d noticed the sting in them. “However, that is why I would like to talk to you further. Would you care to accompany me outside, Lady Kiara, perhaps taking Janis as well? There are a few things I would like to show you.”

“Of course.”

Most of their knights kept back while Regina led the two human girls and a small party of drones and elves outside. While they walked, Regina took the opportunity to take a closer look at her guests once again.

Kiara Lyns — Level 16 Arcane Warrior Janis — Level 14 Mage

If she remembered their previous levels correctly, they had both gained one level since their last meeting. That was probably a more than decent pace for most people, considering the timeframe. It had been little more than a month. At least it indicated that Janis probably hadn’t learned lots of Spells since then, though. Most likely, her quick rise after she gained her Class and somehow came to join the noble was from learning the new Spells she got access to at that point.

Regina stopped outside the village, facing a field that currently lay fallow to the west, with the river close enough she could hear it. The castle loomed off to the side, and she caught the young lady glancing at it, before she turned her attention back to what was in front of her. She frowned slightly. “Apologies, but I am unsure what I am supposed to see here.”

“I haven’t started yet,” Regina answered with a smile that wanted to turn into a smirk, but she controlled herself. “This is a little demonstration of what we can do. In order to give you a taste of what defensive measure we are able to take … or what we might be able to offer.”

Kiara still frowned a bit, but waited expectantly. Janis looked simply curious. Anuis, who was standing a pace behind them, maintained a serene expression, but Regina knew she would be watching intently. In some ways, her presence was a complication, but it would be hard to exclude her. Regina glanced at Tia, then, without further ado, she turned and started the demonstration.

To begin with, she focused on the mana she had gathered and ejected it in a specific pattern. A ball of fire roared to life in front of her hands and shot off over the field. She’d aimed at a dead tree stump they’d dragged here, one of several. The Fireball impacted with a satisfying crash, throwing burning splinters of wood around.

“That was for comparison purposes,” Regina explained, ignoring the speculative look in Kiara’s eyes. “You’ll likely have identified it as a Fireball. For the next part, I’ll use a Firebolt.”

She turned back and drew on less mana this time, shaping it in a way she was more familiar with. The smaller Firebolt formed quickly and flew over the meadow, right at another stump. But when it impacted, the resulting explosion blew the previous one out of the figurative water. If you looked closely, you could see several secondary explosions erupting at different spots, merging together into a big detonation that devastated the surrounding meadow and rattled the ground under their feet.

Regina smiled at the reactions she got. Kiara’s eyes widened, and Janis barely seemed able to peel her eyes off the sight, though she still looked more like someone seeing a spectacular meteor shower, rather than showing concern.

“Of course, we don’t need to use a triggering Spell to achieve a similar result,” Regina continued. She held out her hand and nodded at Tim, who immediately placed a small, round container in it.

Regina’s heart beat faster as she took it, but she made sure not to show that and instead carefully aimed, threw back her hand and then lobbed the improvised projectile at the field. It hit a bit off to the side of where she’d aimed, but that didn’t really matter. It still detonated as soon as it hit the ground, producing a nice explosion.

Regina smiled in satisfaction. She was no expert in chemistry or explosives, but it had been relatively easy to Conjure nitroglycerin with a bit of experimentation. It helped that the chemical structure wasn’t too complicated, just glycerol with some nitro groups added on. That was covered by her knowledge of organic chemistry, presumably acquired together with her medical knowledge. She’d need to experiment with this further, but it was good enough for now.

“That was not a Skill, or using magic in any way,” Regina explained to her audience. “It also does not have many limits.”

On cue, since she’d given the command telepathically, a Winged Drone swooped down from further up in the sky, flying very carefully. It opened its hands and released what it carried, quickly flapping its wings to ascend again. The explosive fell down, causing another detonation much like the previous one. Regina mentally lamented that they didn’t have target dummies or anything like them for a moment, but the demonstration was probably impressive enough. And it didn’t show all of her cards.

“That is … impressive,” Kiara finally said after another long moment of silence. “How did you manage something like this?”

“Now, I can’t go giving away all my trade secrets,” Regina replied playfully. “But that is all I wanted to show you here. Let’s go inside. There is more I would like to show and discuss.”

Kiara nodded. She looked a bit spooked, if anything. Janis, on the other hand, had an expression like a VR fanatic whose friend just showed off an expensive new rig. Maybe there was a bit of jealousy, but mostly greed.

The drones radiated smugness as they turned around, and Regina tried not to smirk.