The Bee Dungeon

After that, Belissar and Chief Rohsuak discussed further details. Peace and trade was great and all as an overall goal…but it turned out there was a lot more to be considered for a discussion like this than Belissar thought.

First of all, there was no guarantee that King Ratuatapi would agree to that sort of relationship. If he refused to trade, would Belissar try to convince him or let him be? If he made demands of his own, would Belissar consider them? If he claimed the Underway beyond the rot cap field, what would Belissar say? What if he claimed land above ground that Belissar’s Tower had purified? What if King Ratuatapi demanded access to Belissar’s Tower? What if he wanted to become a sworn defender as well? What if he claimed authority over Belissar’s Tower?

And if none of that occurred and King Ratuatapi agreed to trade…then there was whole new set of questions. What was Belissar willing to trade? What would he never trade even if asked? What prices would he accept? How often did he want to trade? What would he do if King Ratuatapi attempted to cheat them?

And then, finally, the question arose of what Belissar would do if the talks broke down and came to blows. If this King Ratuatapi became hostile, how would Belissar respond?

Belissar could listen in and even speak with the karnuq when they went to talks, but Chief Rohsuak pointed out that most of this should be determined ahead of time. It would leave them at a disadvantage in the talks if they had to stop and discuss everything that occurred…and they may not have the chance. In the case of trade, it would be wise to bring some samples of what they could offer, which therefore needed to be prepared ahead of time. And in this case of talks breaking down and turning violent…well, the karnuq wouldn’t have the chance to calmly ask Belissar what he wanted them to do.

And, of course, while Chief Rohsuak was willing to offer advice, it was ultimately Belissar that had to answer all of those questions.

They managed to answer enough of them to proceed with the negotiations tomorrow, but Belissar found himself utterly exhausted. That had been a lot of decisions to make for someone who spent most of his life being told what to do. And even the Tower rarely presented more than a few options at a time.

Speaking of which…he had over four-thousand DP at the moment. It had slipped his mind, but he was ready to purchase a new monster or room or room feature at any point. Which he would do…later. He had just finished the long meeting with Chief Rohsuak, after all.

Belissar instead set to work prepping some more mead jars. He had plenty of mana honey, the limiting factor was the number of jars that came with the Apiary farmhouse. He thought about trying to make some barrels…but he wasn’t particularly an expert on that. Funnily enough, barrels were one of the few things the village had been willing to give him in both numbers and good quality…probably so that he’d have mead for them to take later on. He could probably work something out with wax and propolis, which he’d try later on. For now, he just wanted something to do that was simple and straightforward.