As it turned out, Regina had been right in her assumption. There was a settlement close to the river, not too far from the forest’s edge. The thaumaturge with his wyvern led them in its direction, staying silent most of the way. She quickly realized that the military outpost was more important, though. It was more of a castle and stood some distance from the village, in the middle of an island in the river.

Because of the limited space, it seemed to have been built mostly upwards. High walls encircled it, studded with battlements made of the same gray stone blocks. A keep rose in the middle, and through the currently open gate, she caught glimpses of other buildings inside the walls. A drawbridge led up to the gate from the nearest shore. A few people were out, apparently preparing to pull it up, but they stopped to let her group inside.

Derrek rode his wyvern into the castle without a word. Regina hesitantly walked across the bridge, nodding at the humans. They stared.

Once they stepped past the gate and it started to rumble as they closed it, a System notification popped up. She blinked.

“Regina?” Max asked in a low voice, glancing around.

“I just gained a level,” she explained. “Huh. I guess this confirms you can get experience for non-combat things. Unless this System has exploration XP, I’m guessing I got it for leading my hive out of danger.”

“Over here!” Derrek waved them over.

Regina hurried to him, glancing around the castle. Her first impression was dirty. An unpleasant smell hung in the air, coming from what were probably the stables. At least, she hoped so. But the rest of it wasn’t much better. The buildings looked primitive to her eyes, built low and with few windows. There were quite a few people around, all seeming busy with something and most of them wearing armor and weapons. Many of them paused to stare, and they started to whisper to each other about the newcomers. Regina tuned them out.

She felt vaguely disappointed, and silly for feeling that way. Why did I want to go to civilization so badly? She couldn’t shake the thought that she’d much rather just build her own hive. There, things would have a proper order, at least. Her claws twitched and she resisted the urge to hiss at a passing woman in well-worn clothing. She itched to teach these gawkers some respect, but that would be a terrible idea even if there weren’t obviously high-level humans around, and she managed to restrain herself.

The mage led them through a door into an outbuilding and down into a basement. It was bare stone with no carpets or wall paneling, and correspondingly dank. The low light level didn’t present a problem for her, at least.

“Stay here until you’re called for,” he told them. “There’s a privy through there. Someone will come to bring you some water and rations.”

Regina glanced at the others. “We could help you fight the monster horde,” she suggested.

He shook his head. “Appreciate the offer, lady, but we’re ready enough for them and throwing in unknown elements at the last minute won’t help. Be seeing you.”

With that, he left, and the door clicked shut.

Regina sighed, then settled down to go to sleep. It was uncomfortable, but not much worse than what she’d had before. The others lay down as well, and were soon drifting off. Now that they’d finally been able to stop moving, the exhaustion from staying on the move all day, running from the monster horde, was pressing her down like physical weights tied to her limbs.

They had to wait a long time for someone to show up. When they did, it was a young girl, maybe in her late teens, who timidly opened the door and passed them a few plates of food and a pitcher of water. When Regina tried to question her about the situation, she only shook her head and scurried off quickly. At least she didn’t lock the door.

After the meal, Regina was very tempted to go exploring, but decided to stay a considerate guest for now. Occasionally, she could hear the roar of a monster from above, very muffled by the stone and probably by distance. She didn’t want to pop up into a battlefield, and finding someone to explain things would probably be hard in that situation, anyway.

With nothing better to do, she called up and considered her status.

Her mana had not gone up, even though both her Int and Wis had risen since the last time it did. That indicated that it really was a function of how many drones her hive had, instead of directly coming from her attributes.

The limit for her Hive, on the other hand, had risen by a lot. She’d gained three levels and it had more than doubled. She hadn’t checked it at level 6, since she’d had other things on her mind. But it had probably risen by three to 12 and then risen by four to 16 now, at level 7. Taking a bit of a stab in the dark here, but it looks like the cap increases every level, and the amount by which it does rises by one every two levels. That should give me … twenty-five spots by level 9 and thirty by level 10. Assuming it stays that way.

Regina closed her status with a sigh. She couldn’t just start popping out eggs now, even if she was physically in the condition to do that. There would be questions, and she was reluctant to show these humans how her hive grew. Trying to hide the eggs didn’t strike her as a smart idea, either. And besides, they might not even finish developing by the time this monster attack ended.

The drones all seemed to be quiet and subdued. She wondered if the loss of their home, small as it had been, struck them harder than her. Or maybe they were just exhausted. She didn’t know what to say to comfort them. Their future was uncertain and she didn’t want to lie about it, and reiterating her promise to get their old territory back wouldn’t mean much.

After the short visit, it grew quiet and dark again. They only had a single flickering candle to light the cramped basement room. She didn’t think they’d get a replacement quickly, so Regina told the others to go to sleep and put it out. She tried to do the same, wrapped in one of the furs from the wolf monsters they’d taken, but found it hard.

Now that exhaustion wasn’t dragging her down, at least not quite as much, the situation started to wear on her nerves. She didn’t mind being underground. There was even something vaguely comforting about the cozy darkness with her hive. But she did not like the people above, out of her sight, and her hive being dependent on them. She wished she didn’t have to go with that mage to this castle.

The night had made way for the next day by the time they got another visitor. When she listened closely, Regina could still hear sounds of battle, though they were intermittent and muffled. She estimated that it was sometime around noon when the door creaked open again.

She narrowed her eyes, distantly glad that not much light fell into the room, so it didn’t ruin her vision, but was still enough to see by. Then the visitor muttered something and the room lit up with a blinding light. Regina grimaced and blinked, trying to focus her eyes.

By the time she did, their visitor had entered the room. The drones had stood up and were gathering at her back, eying him warily. Max and Tim especially were clearly prepared for trouble.

“Greetings,” the man said, nodding at them. His eyes passed over the others before coming to rest on her.

“To you as well,” she replied, trying to focus on him and call up a description from the System.

On closer look, he clearly wasn’t a soldier, since he didn’t wear any armor and only carried a short blade at his hip. He looked more like a medieval noble. She wouldn’t consider his clothing extravagant, but compared to the people outside, it was finely made and showed little signs of wear. It was also more colorful, dyed in dark green and orange tones.

“So, I assume you’re the leader of this group?” he asked.

Regina nodded. “Yes. I am Hive Queen Regina.” That much, he could probably get from the System.

“You seem to have a low level for a royal class,” he commented. “Not that I know the way of your people. What do you call yourselves, if I may ask?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she replied, narrowing her eyes. “What brings you here, Sir Neralt?”

“Baron Neralt.” He sketched a shallow bow. “I am the baron of the nearby village.”

“I see. It is a pleasure to meet you. So is this about strangers showing up close to your village?”

“You could say that, I suppose.” He smiled briefly. “I have heard you are of a strange and new kind of demihuman.”

Regina frowned. She felt he was a bit rude, more so than Zephyr, the mage who had brought them here. Although that one had arguably been ruder, this noble’s attitude felt more intentional or targeted. Maybe he was just testing them.

“I suppose you must have seen very much of the world, to decide if someone is so strange and new,” she replied, letting some coldness creep into her tone.

The baron chuckled. “That’s a fair point, Lady Regina. I have asked around and no one can remember having seen or heard of someone like you, although it is true that we are hardly familiar with all the wonders of the gods’ creation.”

Regina nodded. “No offense taken,” she replied. “So, what can I do for you?” She gestured around the room. “I would offer you a seat, but I’m afraid the accommodations they’ve given us are rather spartan.”

He nodded with a little grimace. “I can see that. I hope you can forgive the lack, my lady. Considering the situation, we are not well placed to deal with guests, and space is scarce. Still, putting up a young lady in a place like this is a little much. I shall see if I can arrange for something better.”

Regina raised an eyebrow before she could stop herself, not quite sure what to make of that. “That would be appreciated.”

“Apparently, you came from the forest. Am I correct in assuming that the monster horde drove you out of your homes? I’ve heard that you are now seeking shelter here.”

She nodded. She’d told the mage that already. Of course he’d passed it on. “That is correct, my lord. I am hoping that after this horde, we may be able to make arrangements. I would like to find a spot to rebuild.”

He looked at her curiously for a moment, then nodded. “I see. Truth be told, I came to speak to you for that reason. As I’m sure you’ve been told, my village is the closest to the forest, or at least the closest in this area.”

Regina leaned forward slightly. Making connections with the ruler of that village would be helpful, even if she didn’t want to give up any of her independence. She saw that Max and Mia were looking similarly interested.

“That’s good to know,” she said.

“We do have some space for guests,” he continued. “Assuming they are not a burden on our people, if you’ll forgive my bluntness. I notice that your entourage has a rather martial appearance. I am considering whether I might host you until your people come for you.”

Regina smiled. “That sounds fine,” she said. “We would certainly be able to help you defend against monsters.”

The baron nodded slowly. “Good. Then, at the end of this monster horde, we might talk more. You understand if I am reluctant to make any promises until then.”

“Of course. You need to get our measure.”

“I wouldn’t put it quite like that, Lady Regina. In any case, I need to return to my duties. Have a pleasant day.”

“You as well.”

Regina frowned after him as the baron left. She was happy to get an offer, or potential offer, of a place to stay. On the other hand, he might have ulterior motives for this. She hoped he wouldn’t be trying to control her or boss her around.

She was Hive Queen; she was sovereign. She would not be bound by any of these humans.

But let’s not borrow trouble, she told herself. Besides, we need to wait for the end of this monster horde first.

She shook her head and turned to the others. “I think we’ve waited down here long enough,” she said. “Let’s see what we can find out up above.”