The Death Mage that doesn't want a fourth time

99 The changing omens and citizens

The Cemetery Bees flew in and grabbed Vandalieu, who had joined a circle of Knochen's Skeletons in a bonodori dance to celebrate Sam and Knochen's increase in Rank.

"I kind of want to eat breakfast soon," Vandalieu told them.

Buzz-buzz-buzz.

It seemed that there was a pressing matter; the Cemetery Bees did not stop for Vandalieu's hunger.

Vandalieu could understand the intentions of the insects that he had tamed to some extent, but he couldn't understand them completely. He possibly could if he used his spirit-form to fuse with them, but –

"The queen is calling."

"Calling, the queen is."

Vandalieu only knew that the queen bee was calling him.

These were bee monsters; the thoughts of each individual worker bee were too simple to have a conversation.

Incidentally, Sam and Knochen had simply waved their hands goodbye as Vandalieu left.

Since he was hungry, Vandalieu started eating vegetables that were growing from his arm with the Plant Binding Technique skill. And then they arrived at the Cemetery Bee nest that seemed to have grown even larger.

Buzz-buzz-buzz.

A Cemetery Bee Soldier, three times larger than a worker bee, flew towards Vandalieu.

Cemetery Bees lived in a similar way to normal bees and ants, but Experience Points were not shared among all of the bees in the group. Even if they hunted enemies, only the individual bee that had done the hunting would receive Experience Points.

The Cemetery Bees going from being worker bees to soldier bees from their Rank increasing would take the opportunity to separate themselves from Vandalieu and begin guarding the nest. This was an instinctual desire, so there was nothing to be done about it.

Vandalieu understood that the protection of the nest and queen was the most important thing for bees, so he only equipped worker bees in his body with the Insect Binding Technique skill.

The problem was –

"I've told you, not raw," Vandalieu protested.

The soldier bees were holding caterpillar dangos in their forelegs.

Vandalieu wasn't reluctant to eat bugs, but it seemed that he disliked eating them raw.

Feeling hesitant to use fire inside the nest, in the end, Vandalieu decided to simply accept the caterpillar dangos without eating them.

---------------------------------------------------

"What if I had my hair in dreadlocks?" Vandalieu said, voicing a thought that had suddenly occurred to him.

Darcia blinked. "Vandalieu, we don't know what 'dreadlocks' are, so I don't know what kind of expression I should be wearing."

"It's a hairstyle like this."

Vandalieu used Thread-reeling to change the shape of his own hair into dreadlocks to show his mother Darcia, who had been tortured and burned to death at the stake and now currently resided in a small bone fragment as a spirit. He had a lot of hair to work with, suitable for having in dreadlocks.

Having his hair bundled together felt pleasant against the back of his neck and his pointed ears, too. Vandalieu thought that perhaps he should have this hairstyle until autumn came.

"Wow, it really looks like there are white caterpillars attached to your head," Darcia remarked. "Is 'dreadlock' a word for 'caterpillar' on Earth?"