Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

Chapter 275: A holy escort

Someone else might've asked questions, but not Gresch, not about this.

"Then let the divine will be done," he replied, touching his head, then both shoulders.

Farini was puzzled by a strange gesture for a moment, then realized what it meant—those were the most common places for divine guardians to sit on when they showed themselves openly!

This meant that not only Gresch was guided by a divine guardian, he was trusted enough to see one. Farini widened his jaws in a smile and repeated Gresch's gesture.

"Let the divine will be done!"

***

The village of Krisha looked disappointedly ordinary at first glance. The peasants living there saw Farini's expensive clothing and a thoroughbred horse and bowed their heads. Even the village head came to greet him himself, offering his hospitality to a traveler and humbly asking what someone like Farini was doing in this place.

Alone, no less.

"I will rest for the night and move on. Take care of my horse," Farini said, throwing the village head a small coin for his trouble. He looked at the onlookers gathering around and the buildings at their backs, and mused aloud, "There seem to be many empty houses. Have the plagues cut this place down so badly?"

There weren't any white banners or other signs of illness. And on his way to the village, Farini saw well-tended fields with people working on them.

"Nay, m'lord… Those were brigands, cursed brigands. They killed many of our men before we got rid of them," the village head shook his head ruefully. "It was, what, almost a dozen moons ago now!"

After hearing this, Farini wondered why this village was still standing. Since it was evening already, and he stopped here to rest, he decided to look around to see more of this place.

He felt like there was some sacred mystery. After all, Whisper told him she will guide his way to the end target of his pilgrimage from here, so Krisha must've been close to it.

What Farini noticed is that there were many birds here. The scaled creatures, especially crows, often gathered to hunt for humans' scraps—but these almost appeared to be watching…

Watching him.

The village's small shrine was well tended to, but there was no usual food offering there.

And the little children, young enough to still play instead of working, were all healthy.

Farini felt that those were signs of holiness. They had to be. What else?

'You are very perceptive, Farini. Yes, this village is indeed special, and it's the first step of your pilgrimage,' Whisper confirmed his thoughts. 'But you have to keep moving farther.'

Farini obeyed, of course.

Next morning, he took his horse and traveled into the denser living mountain forest—but he didn't ride for a full hour before he had to stop.

A small swarm of buzzing and strangely shining insects was blocking his way, hovering in the air at the height of his head—too far to see what they were. The behavior of insects was strange, and their buzzing made his horse nervous.

Farini was about to circle around it when Whisper spoke suddenly.

'Those are the heroic protectors of the holy Empire! Farini, this is the second step of your pilgrimage. Come to them and show that you are a knowledgeable and devout person, not a heathen who deserves only death.'

This was so puzzling! But the mystery of this all only made Farini more excited. He felt like he was about to touch something really special… So he didn't protest even a little, just dismounted his horse and cautiously approached the swarm.

When only a couple steps separated them, Farini realized the insects were bees—no, divine guardians! Because each of them was wearing armor made from gleaming plates of metal and bird scales.

In their hands were metal hammers and spears, which looked very utilitarian, but also as deadly as human weapons—if they were scaled to size.

All in all, these guardians looked much more fierce than Whisper, and there had to be several hundred of them. Despite their small size, Farini didn't doubt that if they wanted to, they could strike him down easily.

They weren't actual bees, after all. Just divine beings who took a similar appearance.

Farini bowed low before them and spoke in his mind, to not sully the hearing of these beings with his crude mortal speech.

'Divine beings, I am just a humble pilgrim wishing to drink from the well of your wisdom and partake in your blessings. Please, let me honor you and let me pass further!'

After a moment, a single guardian flew slightly in front of the group. While two of her hands held her weapons, the other two crossed over her chest.

'We were told that you will come, human,' her stern voice spoke in Farini's mind. It didn't sound the same as Whisper's. 'We will accompany you on your way. Don't try anything we won't like.'

Yes, these beings were much closer to the tales of divine guardians Farini read in the holy books of old.

'Don't worry, Farini,' Whisper said. 'These sisters were born for battle, so they are a bit bl—I mean, their appearance brings fear into the hearts of heretics, heathens and other enemies of the Empire.'

Farini bowed his head.

'Of course, it's an honor for me to be guarded by you, holy ones,' he thought for them.

However, he also couldn't help but wonder…

'What Empire are you talking about?'

'You will know everything when you reach the end of your pilgrimage,' Whisper replied mysteriously.

Farini accepted this answer, just like he accepted a swarm of guardians and their constant buzzing nearby.

His horse had a much harder time accepting them, though…

'I will help you calm it down,' Whisper declared and flew from Farini's shoulder to the horse's head.

It took some treats and a lot of soothing words for Farini's steed to accept the bees, even though they moved to fly slightly farther away from him.

The journey continued.

But again, it wasn't long before it stopped as Farini saw another miracle!