Chapter 266: 266: The Banquet

My nestlings were in awe as they took in everything.

Apollo couldn't stop watching the glowing insects and his eyes followed them as they flew through the trees.

Cygnus remained silently by my side, but Delphine's excited gaze kept wandering everywhere, so much so that he had to stop her from leaving his side multiple times.

There were also various potentially poisonous plants around us, and I could see Artemis was itching to go off and touch them. Even Morgana seemed dazed as she looked at the food.

|[Wait.]| I stopped the nestlings whose eager gazes had started to approach.

It seemed the things here were extremely effective at confusing them and I was beginning to think the Nymph knew exactly who was coming, and assembled everything we liked – but how could that be?

I took in the colourful banquet, as well as the line of cheerful Veladrys who were waiting for us to settle down.

Their smiles were inviting, their silhouette's glowing under the vibrant hue like some sort of charm, but all I could think was how suspicious the situation was.

My first thought was about our cave.

Did the Nymph ask them to distract us while she went over there to try something?

|[Where is your Queen Mother?]| I asked the nearest Veladrys.

The creature with flowing pink hair bowed her head. [Our Queen Mother will be here soon. She asked us to make you comfortable. You can eat as much as you like, there'll be more.] 

|[Isn't there a rule that nothing here can be touched?]|

How could I forget the fertilizer incident? I still had the Nymph's kiss as a reprimand, so what exactly was she plotting now?

I glanced at the nestlings whose eager, drooling gazes stabbed through my guilty conscience.

I knew they were hungry, but I couldn't let her trap us somehow.

The line of Veladrys all bowed before speaking in unison. [Our Queen Mother has waived that rule on your behalf. Everything here can be touched. We are here to serve.]

No. That was way too creepy. Who did this Nymph think she was fooling?

I was not like these nestlings who got distracted by pretty things!

My immediate instinct was to return to the tunnel, however, one of the Veladrys separated from the crowd to approach us. In her arms was a gigantic honey comb, and my eyes went wide.

Where did they get such a huge honeycomb?

More importantly, how did she know I liked honey?

That damned dark fae!

[Our Queen Mother would like you to rest after your battle.] The Veladrys repeated, her eyes pleading with me. [Please let us serve you!]

Er...

It felt very strange, it was almost like they would be punished if I decided to leave. Even the nestlings were looking at me in the same way and I felt pressured to agree.

|[Fine.]| I reluctantly said. |[But tell your Queen Mother to come quickly. I can't stay here for long.]|

The Veladrys bowed once more, each one smiling widely before retreating, and as soon as I informed my nestlings, they all rushed over to pick their own grassy cocoons.

I eventually joined them after doing a quick scan around the forest for danger, but although there was nothing suspicious, I couldn't relax. 

That was, until I was given the honeycomb.

The taste was unlike anything I'd ever eaten before, sweet, but strangely fudgy with a rich flavour that melted on my tongue. And I immediately felt like there was nothing unusual about my surroundings anymore. 

We were in enemy territory, with so many Veladrys gathered around us, but they were all eating fruits, and I found nothing strange about the situation because somehow, I no longer felt tense.

Soon, Artemis was talking to me about the poisons he'd gathered and his friendship with the Veladrys during the battle. He seemed to be trying to convince me to let them stay for a while because they were working together to make some kind of weapon.

As incredible as that sounded, I was more surprised he was able to address me so casually when he'd been so afraid before.

In fact, all the nestlings were like him now and Delphine was rather wide eyed as she asked me.

[What do you mean, make darkness go boom?]

Hmm. It was a good question and I had to think more as her question seemed quite important.

|[If you really want to make a great poison, collecting plants isn't enough.]| I explained to Apollo. |[You need to refine the toxins to make them as deadly as possible…and very easy to spread too – like a powder!]|

Both snakes were confused but that didn't stop them from listening attentively.

|[Concentrated poison is deadliest when airborne, so you need something explosive enough to ignite and make it spread faster.]| I continued. |[This is where darkness comes in.]|

Artemis nodded, his attention entirely focused on my words. After the battle, it occurred to him that things could've been more effective, so he was trying to create a type of poison that could cause damage on a large scale.

Realising what his intentions were, it only made sense to explain to him how explosions worked. I even generated a tiny orb of darkness, condensing it sloppily to make it as unstable as possible.

When It eventually blew up in the middle of the banquet, much to the shrieks of nearby Veladrys, I was able to demonstrate to them just how explosive darkness could be.

But Delphine frowned, completely missing the point. [I don't understand.]

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[Amazing!] Artemis exclaimed. [Can you show me again?]

I created another for him to see, this time adding a twist. |[Now just imagine it was filled with sharp things as well as poison and it sparked like this.]|

Artemis's eyes went wide, and I could see him thinking furiously.

[You could poison many more, all without getting close.] He understood the gist of it and I nodded in approval, watching him marvel at the brilliance of a bomb. He just needed more mana to create something similar out of magic.

However, as he thought about it, Artemis soon became sad. [The spark, I don't think I have it.]

Was he talking about [Dark Magic]?

|[You don't have to…she does.]| I turned to Delphine. |[You just need to work together and get stronger.]|

The two snakes exchanged a fierce look, and I was happy the nestlings were beginning to understand the concept of teamwork. But what exactly had this conversation become?

I simply wanted to bond with my nestlings…yet.

"Hey Sensei…" I whispered. "Is it possible to get charmed by food?"

Why was I whispering in my own head?

I was beginning to think I was under some kind of influence.

How else could trying to understand my nestlings turn into a conversation on warfare?

«Do you feel stranger than usual?» Sensei asked.

"Yes…no…I think so." I replied. I felt the same, if I was poisoned it would have been cancelled by [Detox]. "Everything is brighter, and the Veladrys look shinier than usual, that's all."

Sensei sighed. «Yes, I can see that. The honeycomb must contain a kind of stimulant, and you ate a lot of it. You all have. It's not poisonous so you should be fine after a while.»

Ah…that explained it.

Wait what?

[I have the spark?] Delphine asked from beside me, her eyes full of confusion. [But I can only do this.]

Her shadow magic spread around her like a hazy cloud, and I could see she wasn't very confident in her abilities.

|[Maybe at first.]| I told her. |[But if you keep practicing, it will get better.]|

To prove it, I created a shadow similar to hers before shrinking it down to something much denser and solid.

Delphine's eyes widened. She seemed to like insects, so I changed its shape to that of a butterfly with papery wings.

And I was pleased to see her eyes light up when several of them surrounded her. She even tried to copy my butterflies by creating some of her own – though hers were more like formless blobs of shadow.

Still, the effort was quite cute.

Cygnus looked on in embarrassment from beside her. He was so determined to keep up his stoic presence, but Delphine had ruined it for him, and I couldn't help laughing.

I was in quite a good mood, completely forgetting my suspicions, enough to speak to Apollo in a casual way.

He and Morgana were with us, but they seemed to have made themselves as inconspicuous as possible. Morgana sat across from me, but I hadn't heard her speak once, instead all she did was eat. 

Meanwhile, Apollo only seemed interested in the insects the Veladrys used for light and he was rather surprised when I asked him about his bottom feeders.

His interests were weird for sure, but I thought his care for creatures so easily dismissed by others was quite interesting.

When I asked what he planned to do with them, he seemed quite intent on seeing them grow to evolve, which I found surprising.

I never even considered the possibility as they were nothing more than carnivorous larvae to me, but if they evolved perhaps they could take on a completely different form just like every other creature in the labyrinth. 

They could even become more powerful, and it was too bad that Apollo had something against Ophelia, because it made me hesitate to encourage him.

However, I did explain some basic principles to him, like how some creatures could undergo a metamorphosis after  eating to their fill.

The same logic couldn't be applied to bottom feeders, but since they looked so much like larvae, it seemed like a natural progression, though whether that would actually happen was up to him to prove.

Apollo absorbed it all like a sponge, nodding along to my suggestions with enthusiasm.

[Do you think they can really change?] He asked.

I glanced at him. |[Not if they leave the cave. If they have a nice environment to grow and remain fed, where they are safe, then maybe they have a chance.]|

Apollo swallowed nervously, and I wondered if my warning had been understood.

But then, suddenly all the Veladrys stopped talking and rose to stand.

I looked over to where they were staring and saw a figure approaching with four more Veladrys, split evenly on either side of her. The figures all had pale hair, but the one in the middle was different. 

It was the Nymph, but she looked nothing like before.

Her long hair was now as dark as my scales, with her skimpy white dress plastered over with red flowers a similar shade to blood.

Her aura was also different, her smile a little too happy to see me, and it struck me as odd how her colouring was suddenly the same as mine.

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