Chapter 172: Chapter 162: Questions and Answers

Regina stared at the piece of paper in her hand, feeling her pulse thunder in her ears. Her hands clenched around the paper, and she only barely managed not to tear it with the claws on the tips of her fingers.

She took a deep breath, then lowered it, gently. “Where did you get this?” she asked tonelessly.

Leian smiled slightly. Regina noticed that her body language was clearly projecting reassurance, calm. “I found it here, originally,” she answered. “That was a while ago. I took the liberty of making sure it was preserved.”

Regina nodded, glancing down at the info sheet again. “Did you black out those parts?”

Leian sighed and shook her head. “No, whoever used this — probably an agent for the Hivekind — did that.”

“So, you don’t know my name or other personal details?”

“I’m afraid not.”

Regina stared at the minor goddess for a moment, trying to assess if she was lying. She didn’t think so. Besides, she saw no reason to hide those parts, in particular. They were clearly redacted to prevent her identification using personal details, or at least make it harder, but it wasn’t like knowing her date and place of birth would matter now. It just meant she didn’t know her old name. Although she was curious about that note.

Even with that, she’d just learned a lot. It was almost surreal, seeing such a short summary of her life. I wonder what happened. I wasn’t a doctor yet, but clearly close. And it might imply that I dropped out of university. Maybe because of those medical conditions?

MDD, major depressive disorder, and an unspecified anxiety disorder. Well, at least she now had as good an answer as any as to why she’d accepted the Hivekind’s offer. Regina hadn’t had to deal with such issues now, presumably because switching to a different body changed her brain chemistry. There might have been other reasons, as well, but … at this point, it probably didn’t really matter.

Max put a hand on her shoulder, and she shook it off after a moment, smiling weakly.

“Well, thank you for showing me this,” she told Leian, bowing her head.

“You’re welcome.” Leian sounded slightly amused. “In your position, I — well, I would have wanted to know.”

Regina nodded. “I appreciate it, anyway. Is there anything else you can tell me about this?” She glanced around. “Or about how I came to be here?”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve already guessed the important parts. A few things I’m not really at liberty to discuss.”

Regina sighed. She felt her gaze drawn to the sheet of paper again. It answered a few other questions she’d had. Not surprising that my mana aptitude is put down as ‘excellent’, the Hivekind were clearly looking for candidates like that. And ones with applicable knowledge, presumably, considering how it would immediately be shared across their hive. The rest is pretty clear. I was a city girl, it explains how Global is my mother tongue, and probably how I learned the other languages.

Regina smoothed the page out and folded it carefully. Being able to show it to others might be useful. Besides, she’d already started to feel a little attached, since it was literally the only physical connection to her previous life she had.

“You weren’t the one who put me here, were you?” she asked Leian.

“Of course not.”

Regina glanced at the others again, who’d so far stayed quiet, and then back at the goddess. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but is there a particular reason you’re showing up now? Beyond giving me this, I mean?”

Leian chuckled. “Nothing nefarious, I assure you. I simply couldn’t help but notice that you came here, and I thought you would have some questions.”

Regina’s stare softened and she smiled again, nodding. She did appreciate Leian giving her this information, and it didn’t seem like she wanted anything in exchange. At least not directly.

“How did you know we were here? If I’m allowed to ask,” Tia asked.

Leian looked at her. “No need to worry, I won’t rip your head off,” she said with a slight curl of her lips. “As to how, well, while I don’t like to make a point of it, I am a goddess.” She shrugged. “I also had reason to keep an eye on this place, in particular. I’m sure you have noticed it, Regina, but there is some lingering magic from the Hivekind’s … enchantments, or however you want to call it. That actually makes it more secure. Most gods won’t have an easy time looking into this spot.”

“But you do?” Regina asked.

Leian shrugged. “I happen to be very good at magic, completely independent of any divine powers,” she said matter-of-factly. “I’ve also been here before.”

Regina nodded and paused for a moment. “You know, you never actually told me what you are the goddess of.”

“Not much. Beyond being a System admin, I don’t have much of a domain.” Regina just stared at her silently, and Leian sighed. “But, fine. Previously, I was the goddess of transportation. Since I taught people how to make magical gates.”

“Wait,” Regina said, staring again. “Magical gates, like how …”

“Yes.” Leian shifted her weight, her gaze sliding off Regina’s as she looked to the side. “If I hadn’t been there, we probably wouldn’t have managed to create the gates that brought people to this world.”

Regina raised an eyebrow, but didn’t say anything.

Leian exhaled heavily, looking Regina in the eyes again. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry for what happened.” She grimaced. “To be fair, if I hadn’t been there …” She shook her head. “It wasn’t my idea to do it, but I didn’t protest, either. I tried my best to stabilize the gates when our enemies arrived unexpectedly, to make sure they closed in a controlled manner, but I didn’t manage as well as I wish I had.”

Regina looked at her for a long, silent second, then nodded slowly. She had the impression there was something else Leian wasn’t saying. But, well, that’s probably fair. I can’t expect her to tell me all her secrets. She did think Leian was being sincere. There was no reason to admit that she had any involvement in this, it wasn’t like Regina would know.

“Why aren’t magical gates used nowadays?” Max asked, breaking the tension a little.

“Magic was somewhat different on Haven than it is here. Besides, you’ve seen how things are now.” Leian grimaced slightly and shrugged. “Do you really think the powers-that-be would welcome it if magical gates were common?”

“I guess not,” Regina muttered. That’s probably a bit simplified, but I guess she knows what she’s talking about.

“Let’s get out of here,” Leian suggested. “It might be better not to stand around in this spot for too long. Wouldn’t want anyone else to look in, would we?”

Regina nodded, sending another look at the stasis mechanism (presumably) before she turned and followed her group out of the room. She almost expected Leian to just vanish, but she actually walked with them, appearing relaxed. Did she still have other things she wanted to talk about?

“Alianais has been pretty silent,” Regina mentioned.

Leian didn’t show much of a reaction. “I expect she’s busy,” she answered. “And a little too prideful to come when a mortal calls, you know.”

“Is there anything going on that I should know about?” Regina asked.

“Not really? I’m sure you already know she’s having issues with Deirianon. It’s more of the same, really.”

“But I do have a mark from Alianais. What does that actually mean? Can I use divine magic?”

Leian sighed and slowed down, making Regina look at her. “You could, but you should be careful, kid. Your Class is not suited to channeling divine magic. You’ve clearly learned by now that the System isn’t everything when it comes to this kind of thing, but still, I expect there’d be issues. Besides,” she hesitated, “do you really want to do that, try to use magic from Alianais?”

Given the way Leian looked at her, Regina realized there was an unspoken part she didn’t say. Do I really want to let Alianais gain more of a foothold over me? I’m not sure what channeling divine magic attuned to her would do, or however that would work, but … I guess she has a point. Leian was clearly warning her, and Regina was inclined to listen.

“Wait,” Max spoke up again. “Where are we going?”

Regina blinked and glanced around. She’d been too distracted to notice, but now that she paid some attention to it, she realized that, while Leian was leading them roughly the way they’d come, they weren’t actually going back to where she had hatched. They stopped right now in front of another door that looked similar to the one at the front of the compound, one she must have missed on her way through here.

“I should think that was obvious,” Leian answered cheerfully. Some of the demeanor she’d shown when they’d first met, what Regina was pretty sure was a mask, seemed to come back now. “We are,” she drew out a dramatic pause, “underground.”

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Regina rolled her eyes. “And where, specifically, are we?”

Leian waved her hand at the door with another dramatic flourish, causing it to open, and walked forward, dragging Regina with her. Her grip was light, but at the same time unyielding. “Technically, the outskirts of the city of Anberg.”

“What?” Tia blurted out.

“It’s a reasonably big city northeast of the Alps,” Regina said, the facts coming to her lips almost on their own. She shrugged Leian’s hand off, which the goddess let her do now, and looked around.

They were still in some sort of tunnel, although it looked different from before. The door closed behind the last of their group seemingly on its own, although Regina would bet Leian was involved. A few pieces of glowing moss on the ceiling illuminated their surroundings dimly.

“Well, I would hope you remembered that much,” Leian said, “considering it’s apparently where you lived.”

Regina frowned and patted the folded sheet of paper in her pocket. At least now she actually knew where they were. Not that it meant much, with geography having shifted.

They walked forward in silence for a short while, carefully. There was just enough light not to run into walls, but not much more, even for Hivekind. Regina wasn’t going to complain about getting in here, although she did hope they had a way back out. Still, if Leian wanted to strand them somewhere, she could presumably have gone about it in a much easier way.

“You seem like the kind of person who appreciates straightforwardness,” she finally spoke up again. “So I’ll just come out and say it. What are you doing this for? What is your agenda?”

“For showing up here?”

“For any of this, dealing with me at all.” It hadn’t escaped Regina’s attention that Leian didn’t seem very interested in any of her hive members, either. Mostly Regina herself.

“Basically, I want what Alianais wants,” Leian answered with a small smile. “This world is in serious need of a nudge to get it out of its current rut. Not just because of any potential threats from elsewhere in the multiverse, although we can’t neglect that entirely, but also for the people here.”

“And I’m supposed to be that nudge?” Regina asked.

“Can you think of anyone better?” Leian grinned at her. “No pressure, kid, I’m not expecting you to do anything specific. Although, if you were to get people to rebuild some technology and maybe parts of your old civilization, I wouldn’t complain.”

Regina nodded slowly. That wasn’t much of a surprise to her. “It’s not going to be simple when half the world hates me for being Hivekind.”

“Hardly half the world.” Leian glanced to the side. “I’m not going to tell you you have an easy road ahead, though. And I don’t expect you to set your sights on the whole world, or even on all of Europe.”

Regina followed her gaze, seeing another tunnel branching off from the one they were following.

“I get the feeling there’s something else.”

Leian sighed slightly. “Well, I would also like to establish the Hivekind more permanently, if possible. Of course, that’s probably going to be even harder.”

Regina slowed her pace and frowned at her. “What do you mean?”

“Tell me, what do you know about your race’s procreation?” Leian looked contemplative.

“Uh,” Regina said. “Hive Queens lay eggs?”

Leian chuckled. “Of course, but I was talking more about the preservation of the species.”

“I don’t know what you’re getting at,” Regina admitted.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t.” Leian’s voice took on a lecturing note. “As you’ve doubtlessly realized, drones can’t produce offspring. However, there is a way for your species to perpetuate and undergo evolution — actual evolution, not System Evolution, I mean.”

“I was kind of expecting Hivekind drones to be haploid clones, like with bees,” Regina said. “But I thought we were a constructed race, so I wasn’t thinking about evolution.”

“True, but your creators clearly intended for at least a semblance of natural evolution. In fact, Hivekind do have a mechanism for sexual reproduction and genetic recombination. Hive Queens can breed with drones from another hive. Well, it’s not quite that easy, but that’s the essence of it. That’s how new Hive Queen eggs are created.”

“Huh.” Regina had never thought too hard about where her egg had come from, although logically, it made sense that it was something like this. Of course, that raised a few other issues. “But that means —“

“Yes, there’s rather a lack of any other Hives on this world.”

Regina frowned. “So, I can’t create any new Hive Queens or new Hives? Really?”

“Well, I suppose you could try breeding with one of your male drones.” Leian grimaced. “I wouldn’t recommend it …”

Regina shuddered. “Yeah, not happening.”

“No shit,” Max muttered behind her. She could sense the disapproval of her other companions at the idea, too.

“I suppose it’s not going to be that easy to un-genocide the Hivekind on this world, then,” Regina mumbled to herself and sighed. She wished she wasn’t in a position where she had to worry about things like that. Especially since she was technically only a year old.

“As I said, there’s time to figure something out,” Leian replied.

“What about the part of putting an existing soul inside the Hive Queen egg?”

“That’s not technically necessary,” Leian answered. “It’s something the Hivekind developed later. It would probably be better to have that, of course, with fully-informed volunteers. But it’s not a deal-breaker if you can’t figure out how Hivekind technology did it.”

“Am I allowed to ask how you know all of this?”

“No.”

Regina frowned. That had been a quick and firm refusal. “Alright …” She looked away from Leian, wanting a moment to get her expression under control.

“I’d advise you to focus on the things in front of you for now, kid,” Leian said.

Regina nodded and took a deep breath. She made herself pay more attention to her surroundings, and after a moment, stepped closer to the edges of the tunnel they followed. It was noticeably becoming smoother, and a faint light shone in the distance. She ran a hand along the stone, noting the dryness and smooth surface.

“Last time, you said I wasn’t strong enough,” Regina said. “I take it that has changed now?”

There was no answer, and when Regina turned around again, Leian was gone.

She cursed and rubbed her forehead. None of the drones had even seen her move. They spread out and looked around now, but it was clear Leian had left.

“Drama queen,” Regina muttered.

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