Seeing this the beekeepers started to panic.
"What do we do? It doesn't seem like they will let us leave."
"Maybe they want something from us? What do we have on hand?"
"Nothing important, just our usual tools and gear."
"They must want something new."
Chronos chimed in. "It doesn't look like they are looking at you. They seem to be looking at me."
As this was said they realized he was right. They all turned to face Chronos wondering what he had brought that would set them off like this.
He pondered what he might have brought with him that they would want as he carefully examined the hive. While looking at the hive he recognized some damage that was recently done to the top. It was the same as the wind blades from the assassin falcon from yesterday.
"Hold on, didn't that falcon have a strange cocoon like object in its feathers?"
Pulling out the strange cocoon all of the buzzing in the area intensified, this was definitely what they wanted.
"This must be the queen's egg. It would explain their extreme behavior yesterday." Jacob commented.
Looking at each other Jacob and Chronos stepped forward, carefully approaching the hive, and the surrounding bees flew with them. They watched them like they thought they might try to run away or harm the egg. Jacob stopped five meters from the hive while Chronos continued. Once he was close enough to touch the hive, he put the egg down on its edge. Right after a bee that was nearly twice the size of the others, and clearly very old, crawled out to pick it up.
Jacob called out from his position. "That's the old queen that mutated. How is her condition? How long will she live for? Oh, right you're not a keeper. Um look for frayed wings, dull body color or less fuzz, and how fast she is moving."
"I have some bad news. Her wings are practically gone, she has very little fuzz and is moving very slowly."
While examining her she carefully picked up the cocoon and crawled toward the center of the hive. The hive calmed down shortly after this with most of the bees returning to the hive. When drones swarmed the top performing repairs it became clear that they were trying to finish the hive as fast as possible.
Chronos and Jacob returned to the rest of the keepers to decide what to do next.
"I think you should send a message to the lord and build some tall walls around the hives to prevent others from seeing them, that hive is special and should be protected. I will write a letter of introduction for you later. It will let you bypass most of the formalities."
"Thank you. This will be of great help to us. And thank you for returning the young queen."
"Not a problem, if I am being honest, it was more of an accident than anything. The bird that stole the cocoon attacked me and died. Chief, your village is about to become a properly named village, possibly even a town. I propose that we hold a festival for this."
"Do you really think we will receive a name?"
"Without a doubt. The roses outside of town and now the bees inside of it both mutated in a peaceful way and I bet the honey they make is special too. With this all of the requirements have been met, you just need to be inspected first. It wouldn't be surprising if Lord Mathew sent a guard to protect your village even if it is only to find out more about what is going on or if the mutations have any special qualities."
Smiling widely, he relented "Alright let's have a festival. Bring out the good beer and have Sista from the inn start cooking her famous pies, tonight we celebrate!"
With a cheer the keepers ran off to start preparations and let the village know. As a festive mood started bubbling Chronos made his way back to the gate and met with Gregory.
"What's going on? Everyone is cheering and bouncing around."
"Let Brynn know there will be a festival tonight. The village has met all the conditions for being named and will be sending a message to the lord. They have chosen to celebrate early."
"If you have confirmed it then it is guaranteed. I think Sariah knows a basic fireworks spell so we can send that up tonight."
"Good idea. I am going to help with the setup."
As the people started bringing out tables and chairs, they chose to set them up in front of the gate to include the visitors who had been stuck outside. With tables and chairs coming from the village Chronos picked up some small boulders to start making a large firepit in front of the village gate. Others started to bring out their stash of food or purchase it from the village's reserves.
Tonight was going to be a long one if the amount being brought forward was anything to go by.
Later that evening Gregory found Chronos still at the firepit cooking various forms of meat.
"How did you get stuck cooking for everyone?"
"Apparently my nose gives me a significant advantage when I am cooking. At least I haven't had any complaints yet."
"Now that most people have eaten do you want to head over to the martial ring that was set up?"
"Sure, just let me get another cook over here. Sista, do you mind taking over for me?"
"Sure, you young men should go prove yourselves and show off for that pretty lady you travel with."
"Hahahaha, Gregory is going to have to show off then. She isn't interested in me."
Looking embarrassed he replied "What are you talking about? We are just friends."
"If you ever say that to her, I will beat you up." Chronos chuckled as they walked to the martial ring.
Inside the ring were a farmer and a gate guard. They were trading blows back and forth but both of them lacked the skill to finish their opponent. Eventually they both collapsed after trading blows to the face.
"Oh, why were they fighting so hard?"
"They both like the same girl and she won't make a choice, so they tried to make the choice for her. Too bad, neither of them are very strong."
"Wow, that has got to be embarrassing. Well, I am going to accept a challenge or two."
"Alright, go easy on them, most of them aren't as skilled as you."
Stepping into the ring Chronos waved at the crowd. "Hello everyone, I am here to fight but don't believe that any of you can pose a real challenge to me. If you think otherwise, then step forward and prove me wrong."
Outrage resounded from the crowd while Gregory groaned and held his head in his hands. "Why are you always like this?"
He asked no one in particular.
Sariah came over to sit next to him. "Is he always like this?"
"Yes, he is a constant headache."
Three challengers stepped forward at once from two farmers and a gate guard. They glared at each other, each one wanting to be the one that beat this young brat up.
"I don't mind if you three come at me together."
Thinking about it, saying this while sporting a wide happy grin was probably not the best idea. All three of them charged him at once.
Chronos stepped to the right to face one challenger at a time. The first barreled into his waist and was tossed aside with a slight spin of his waist. The second swung at him, but he ducked under the blow and gave him an uppercut to the jaw, knocking him back. The third, the gate guard, was more cautious and squared up but wasn't skilled enough to hide when his eyes darted behind him to the first.
Moving sideways to put all three in his sight once more, he saw them square up, each one was cautious now that they had a loss in this fight.
Chronos continued to move sideways trying to put one of them behind the others, so he didn't have to fight three at once. But they had adapted to that and kept a good distance from him as they tried to punch or kick him.
This standoff continued for a while with both sides taking light blows at each other. None of these blows hit as they were knocked aside with palms or just too far away to hit.
Finally, the closest one stumbled, giving Chronos the chance to give a sharp kick to the temple causing the farmer to collapse. The remaining fighters bounced to the far side of the ring to avoid stepping on the fallen farmer.
Chronos took advantage of the movement to swing twice at the gate guard, but he kept his fists in a guard position like he had since the beginning of the fight. The second farmer charged forward to close the distance but took a punch to the face and fell back again.
Putting his back to the edge of the ring Chronos started moving around the edge of the ring to get at the last farmer but the gate guard kept up with him. Stopping his movement and holding the guard at bay with a hand Chronos tried several low kicks. The guard did a good job of blocking them, but the farmer did not and collapsed to the side.
Seeing his chance Chronos dove in low, grabbed the guard at the waist and lifted him before body slamming him into the ground. The farmer came at him from the side to tackle him but with Chronos in a kneeling position he only had to throw the farmer over his shoulder to his far side for him to lose his breath.
He then took both people by the throat and stated. "You've lost. At this point it would be too easy to rip your throats out."
They both nodded and stood up afterwards. Chronos shook their hands, congratulating them on a good fight.
"Any other challengers? I am still ready to go."
"I would like to see your swordsmanship; will you accept my challenge?"
Hearing this Chronos turned to see the caravans guard captain standing there with two wooden swords and showing off his third rank knights' aura.
"Sure, I am always up for a difficult fight. Just don't expect me to hold back."
Taking the wooden sword Chronos stood opposite the captain and flared his own second rank soldier's aura while grinning like a madman. He was looking forward to testing his limits.