Chapter 26: Of Milk and Honey

After the mayor is given a chance to breathe and drink some water, provided by Broomy, Basil rapid-fire questions, "Is it a group of bandits?"

"No.", the mayor answers.

"An army of unknown monsters?"

"No."

"The pit of hell opened, and its residents are spilling out into our world?"

"No."

Thinking about what else could cause the man to panic so much, he felt dread and disbelief, and he regretfully inquired, "Is it another ancient dragon?"

"Thank the gods no.", the mayor shared in his relief.

"Then what?", Basil asks.

"A group of wild monsters have entered our territory and scared our cattle away from the grazing fields.", the mayor begins before falling off out of fear until he works up the nerves to tell him, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but it is a threat level 10 monster!"

Basil stares at him and blinks several times blankly before asking, "Could you translate that to stupid?"

The mayor wipes his brow and takes another drink before explaining, "We have a system to discern the threat of different monsters across the lands. The lower the score, the less threatening it is, the higher it is…you get the point, I'm sure. A single Kobold is a threat level 99 monster.", This comment causes the only Kobold dangling from the cage to blow a raspberry at him. "A single Ancient Dragon is a threat level 3," says the mayor.

Basil's eyes widen at the news, and he bites his nails while nervously muttering, "An ancient dragon is only a threat level 3!? I hate to see what levels 1 and 2 are."

"That is just the most generic description. Each number ranking could have a level ranging between F to S. I'm sure I don't need to explain that.", said the mayor in a disinterested tone.

"So a threat level 10 is pretty bad. What exactly are they?", Basil questions him.

After a bit of mental back and forth between himself, the mayor finally gives up and tells him with a painful, fearful expression, "Blood Horn Bulls."

Basil blinks at him blankly again and deadpans, "You gave a threat level 10 to a herd…of cows?"

This is when the mayor explodes on him with fear as he half yells while grabbing his shoulders, "Not just any cows! Horrible aggressive beasts with armored hide and horns sharper than mithril. It's only a threat level 30 by itself, but in a large enough herd, they could take down anything!"

"Okay, now I see the danger. I'll see what I can do.", Basil finally relented after pulling the panicking man off him. He looked over his shoulder and saw a horse-drawn cart outside. He inquired, "By the way, what's that huge cart outside?"

Turning around, the mayor took him out, explaining, "It's just a little thank you from the people of Ash End for saving us."

Two farmers pulled off the tarp, revealing an enormous amount of spring and summer vegetables! Everything Basil would have wanted, from vegetables and roots to grains and herbs, was presented to him.

Basil's eyes glowed with amazement and gratitude, and he began to say, "This is too much I can't really accept-. Wow, you sure gave me a lot of corn.", he pointed out.

"Corn?", the mayor repeated before looking in the cart and seeing that at least half of it was filled with a dull white and thin kind of corn. To which he exclaimed in disapproval, "Oh no!"

"What? It's just corn.", Basil tried to assure him, but he was also confused by what was so wrong.

"It's sugar corn!", the mayor exclaimed vaguely.

"And?", Basil said.

"It's useless. It's mostly used as a substitute for animal feed during drought or the winter. It's barely usable for cooking.", the mayor explains while crushing one of the ears in his hand and glaring at the two farmers who look off to the side while whistling nervously.

"Nothing is unusable for a baker! I'm sure I can figure it out.", Basil assured him in a cheerful tone while using his Magic Pocket to collect all the goods in one go! Once it was all safely deposited, Basil told the mayor, "Before I head out, I'm going to need backup."

 xXx

"Sir Basil.", Hopkins said after a very long and tension-filled silence.

"Yes, Hopkins.", Basil replies, not looking at him but through a bush.

"When I said I'd help you with anything…I didn't mean this!", the Halfling yelled while stamping his feet.

Basil quickly lunged at the small rodent-like creature and covered his mouth due to their location. The two men were now in the grazing pastures for Ash Ends Cattle and hidden behind one of only a few sparse bushes for cover. Out in the field, just a few hundred yards away, were the Blood Horn Bulls munching away on the grass, tearing it up from the root and leaving dirt clumps behind.

The Bulls were even more menacing in real life than whatever the mayor described them as. They looked like if a Texas longhorn, an American bison, and an African Ankole-Watusi had a weird three-way love child. Their fur was thick and coarse; cinnamon red colored the mane and hump, while a deep brown colored the rest of the body and back legs as black saturated its stomach. Its massive horns were tipped with splotchy pigments of crimson, hooves that cut the ground like razor blades, and bulging muscle all over. Brow ridges so thick they nearly covered their black eyes, and they all held the same feral yet composed demeanor on their faces. And on top of that, at least six dozen of them were randomly grazing in the open field of grass!

After ensuring he was silent, Basil told the little creature, "You're knowledgeable on monsters, so I need you for this."

Pushing his hands off, Hopkins hisses in a low tone, "Why can't you just summon Gossamer?!"

"He's busy.", said Basil.

"The fairy triplets?"

"They noped out the moment I mentioned the Blood Horn Bulls."

"Hagson?"

"I have no way of contacting him."

"Bow and Ball?"

"Same as Hagson."

"The lizard Men?"

"They've never even heard of a Blood Horn Bull."

"The Goblins?"

"Also busy."

"Marigold?"

"She left after Anaya was killed back in the winter!"

"Broomy or Teto?", Hopkins asks, grasping at straws.

Basil looked at him in disbelief and exasperation before exclaiming, "What's an animated broom and a literal child gonna do!?"

"Then what am I going to do?? Also, I'm pretty sure he's a teenager by now.", Hopkins half-yelled back.

"Give me advice on these things so I can make a plan! Now stop yelling before they hear us!", Basil yelled back at him only for the both of them to cover one another's mouths. Once they were sure nothing was charging at them with killer intent, they peeked out of the bush and saw that the Blood Horns hadn't moved. After relaxing in relief, Basil turned back to his friend and asked, "So, what do you know about these things?"

Seeing no other reason to fight this or run away, he begrudgingly helped to inform the man, "They're aggressive, territorial, eat until there's nothing left and love to ram their horns into anything that moves. Hence their name."

Basil gave him an unamused and blank expression, prompting him, "Anything more important, like what they eat, how they move and think, stuff like that?"

Hopkins sighs, his ears dropping, and tells him, "No one's gotten close enough for long enough to study these things to make any solid conclusion. The only thing that is known is that they're tough, mean, and taste good.", Basil shoots him a weird look, and the Halfling argues, "I mean…at the end of the day, they are just cows."

Basil considered all the vague and useless information he had been given and thought aloud, "Well, if they eat anything, maybe I can lure them away with food back to the Empty Lands! Let's try a tomato; every herbivore loves tomatoes.", He said this while pulling the fruit from his Magic Pocket.

With fruit in hand, he threw it with some oomph and watched as it landed and rolled near one of the Blood Horns. Only for the giant cow to ignore it altogether and even turn away. The two men watched this with blank expressions and stern silence of disbelief between the two of them.

That is until Hopkins stated, "It didn't work."

"Yeah, no shit, it didn't.", Basil groaned at him.

"Try a carrot.", the Halfling suggested.

Once again, Basil took the root from his Magic Pocket, threw it near a Blood Horn, and watched with bated breath for it to eat, only to watch as it ignored the flung food.

They both sigh in disappointment, and Hopkins suggests, "Maybe lettuce."

Yet again, Basil does the same thing, and yet again, the Blood Horn completely ignores the vegetable's existence.

"Potato, onion, celery, turnip.", Hopkins rapid fires.

Once more, he pulls the food from his Magic Pocket and throws each one, only for it to be ignored by any Blood Horns who come close to it. After seeing this, becoming free, and watching as the Halfling scrambled for more suggestions, Basil comments in an irritated tone, "I thought you said these things eat everything."

"I guess they only eat grass till there's nothing but dirt. What else have you got?", Hopkins told him with a shrug and nervous laugh.

Basil sighed to cool himself down and looked through the Magic Pocket, only to find one last thing to reasonably try and replied, "Well, I do have corn."

"It's Worth a shot.", Hopkins shrugs. Seeing no other reason not to try, he throws the ears of corn in the Bull's direction, and unsurprisingly, they pay no mind to the plants.

Both men groaned in aggravation while flopping to the floor, where they just lay there feeling like they were going in circles. After getting over themselves for their continued failures, Hopkins suggested while sitting up and looking through the bush, "Well, I guess you'll have to try something else."

Basil replied with one arm covering his eyes, "I was hoping not to. Maybe I can scare them off using-."

But just before he could finish his thought, Hopkins called out, "Basil, look!"

Basil jumped up from his spot and peeked out with him to see the sight of one Blood Horn sniffing and then eating an ear of corn. Mouth open in shock, Basil said, "It worked? But why didn't it eat the other ear?"

Hopkins thought this over momentarily before inquiring, "Did you have two different kinds of corn?"

Basil opened his mouth to deny the question but stopped as he realized it was true. So he pulled out the two different kinds of corn from his Magic Pocket and told him, "I do! This Dent Corn and Sugar Corn."

Hopkins raised his ears and scrunched his nose in disgust, saying, "Sugar Corn! Yuck! I don't even know why it has the word sugar in its name. It is anything but sweet!"

"Well, they didn't eat the Dent Corn, so I guess they like the Sugar Corn. This is great!", Basil exclaimed with excitement.

"Basil.", Hopkins tried to get his attention.

Basil waved him off as he looked off in thought and continued, "Now I can go back to my previous plan-."

"Basil.", Hopkins once again tried to interject, poking him now.

Basil waved him off again, pushing him off as he continued, "Not now, Hopkins. I can use my previous plan of simply luring them away with food-."

"Basil.", Hopkins said in a dreadful tone, grabbing the hem of his shirt with his ears down.

Basil forcefully ripped his hand away and said more firmly, "In a minute, I'm monologuing. Lure them away and into the Empty Lands without having to-."

"Basil!", Hopkins finally yelled at him.

"What!?", Basil yelled back.

Suddenly, Basil felt warm air snorting onto the back of his hair. He froze, turned ever so slowly, and saw one of the Blood Horns staring right at him from the side of their hiding spot.

"Oh.", Basil squeaked out as Hopkins shook like a leaf beside him, unable to say 'I told you so'.

As the colossal animal stared at them with its neutrally aggressive eyes, Basil side-mouthed to the Halflings, ready to burrow into the ground, "Maybe if we stand perfectly still, it won't see us."

"It doesn't work that way.", Hopkins nervously informed him.

Basil gulped dry and said, "Then I'll heal our wounds once it's done trampling us."

But as the two of them sat there and waited for the intense pain, they found that no stabbing, trampling, or firing was happening. The Blood Horn was just standing there as still as they were and staring back at them, only snorting through its massive nostrils. Eventually, it came to the point where the two men could relax in the animal's presence.

"So…when does the trampling start?", asked Basil.

Hopkins tried to think of a reason but noticed the bull sniffing one of Basil's hands. An idea came to mind, and he calmly told him, "This is going to sound crazy, but I think it wants the corn. Try giving it some more."

So, without questioning his logic, Basil took another ear from his Magic Pocket and held it out for the cow. The Blood Horn sniffed it once before wrapping its tongue around it and pulling it into its mouth. After depositing and munching on the ear, the Blood Horn simply turned and walked away.

"It left.", Hopkins stated.

Basil released a breath he held in and tried to say, "Phew! Now we can-."

But before he could finish that thought, Hopkins cut him off and prompted, "Uh, Basil, I think we may have a problem."

Basil turned around again, and instead of seeing the same Blood Horn looking for seconds, he saw the whole dang herd standing behind and around him! All licking their lips and trying to push one another aside to get closer to him.

"That's a lot of cows.", Hopkins squeaked in fear.

Except for Basil, who was thinking of something. A lightbulb went off in his head, and he asked the Halfling with a knowing look, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

 xXx

Meanwhile, back in Ash End, the mayor was at his desk, busy doing paperwork for better defense and expansion in the town. His door was quickly pushed open, and Basil walked with Hopkins at his feet. The older man smiled as the younger man walked in and got up from his desk to greet him.

"Basil, my boy, it's good to see you back. Did you take care of the Blood Horns?", the mayor asked him cheerfully.

Basil nods with a sideways smile as he answers, "I did, and now I need to know how to take care of them."

The mayor's smile falls, and he asks concernedly, "What do you mean?"

Basil then waves for him to follow the mayor, reluctantly following him out of his office, through the foyer and waiting room, and outside, where he stops in his tracks! Standing before the door and practically surrounding the whole building was the herd of Bloodhorn Bulls! He was almost ready to freak out when Basil casually approached one and stroked its head. His fear immediately melted into confusion at seeing this, and he stared at the young man for answers.

But all Basil told him was, "You think one of the farmers could give me some tips?"

 xXx

After Basil briefly explained how this came to be, he was directed to some of the ranchers, who were all too glad to give him any tips as fast as possible so that the man and his herd of killer cows could leave! Afterward, he led them back to his bakery, bringing them to the newly built pastures. Once they were all in the pasture and happily munching on several feeding troughs full of sweet corn, he left them to their own devices.

He instructs the Lizard Men to care for the Blood Horns since they have very little to do for him now and gives a sack of seeds to a Small Torah to begin propagating more of the Corn for seed. It happily accepts and bounces off to start working. Once everything was finally settled, he leaned over his fence and looked out over his new stock of dangerous livestock.

He sighs contemptuously and pats his head, "I'm so glad I made this dairy pasture and barn in advance. Thank you, Foresight."

Hopkins, who had been with him throughout this ordeal, looked back at him dumbly, smiling out over the pasture. With his ears down, he asked worriedly, "You're not actually going to keep these things…are you? They're super dangerous!"

"They're big and juicy and make milk, and all I have to do is give them their favorite food.", Basil unconvincingly tried to assure him, to which he followed up by pinching his whiskers and mockingly saying, "And don't worry, I'm not expecting you scaredy-Halflings to care for them. The Lizard Men seem to have taken a liking."

As he looked at the scene of the many lizards caring for and playing with their new cow friends, he noticed some much smaller Lizard Men running around the Blood Horns. They looked just like the adults but far smaller. His brain fizzled for a moment before finally reaching a connection.

With a happy expression, he exclaimed, "And hey! It looks like they had a successful hatching season!"

Despite his joy, Hopkins was anything but happy about this news. Despite the Lizard Men being under his rule, he still had reservations about them. After all, Lizard Men love to eat Halflings! Even though they didn't share the same environment, whenever one does come upon a Halfling burrow, it's a slaughter fest with little to no survivors. And with them being not-so-distant neighbors, that put him on edge. Especially knowing that they were actively reproducing!

Shoot an unamused and uncomfortable silence at the man; he mutters under his breath, "Why am I friends with you?"

Once they finished their sightseeing, or Basil was done, they both decided to return to the bakery. Basil will close it down for the day, and Hopkins will help score some leftover goodies for his family and him. As they came upon the side of the building, a strange sound caught their ear, and they turned to see the giant spider Myeon standing behind them, finally awake. She gave a greeting wave with one of her limbs as Basil greeted her back and Hopkins his away from the monster.

"Oh, hey, Myeon, it's about time you woke up from your hibernation. And what in the world is that!?", Basil exclaimed after seeing the giant spider suddenly pull something to the front of her, caught in a web.

In front of him, bound up in spider silk, was a honey bee the size of a boar! It looked like any average honey bee, apart from its size, highly sharp pincers on its six limbs, stingless abdomen, and strange crown-like growth on its head. It was shaking like a leaf and appeared to cry as it was covered in a web and at the mercy of the giant spider.

After Basil's mind finally processed the shock and picked his jaw off the floor, he said to himself, "Holy moly, that is the biggest bee I've ever seen in my entire life."

Wondering what in the world it was, he used his appraisal to find that out. When he did, the info window popped up with its stat block, and they both read;

Rock Bee: This species of megafauna insect has grown to a massive size due to its chosen environment of mountains and steep cliff faces, which are home to dangerous monsters. Unlike conventional bees, who make their hives off trees and other large structures within forests, rock bees carve them within large rocks and adapt to such a life. They have lost their stingers in favor of pincers and claws sharp enough to cut through stone.

Rock Bee Queen: 20 Strength, 45 Stamina, 99 Health, 12 Charisma, 12 Fortitude, 5 Knowledge, 5 Magic, 33 Speed.

Blinking a few times at the information just given, Basil narrows his eyes in disapproval as he says to himself, "So that's the Queen? I would've…never guessed.", After sighing to himself about the ridiculous relationship between the queen title and her appearance, he turns to Myeon and asks, "So what are you going to do? Eat her?"

Hearing this, the bee began to shake even harder, and tears spilled into a puddle around her, only for Myeon to gesture in disagreement.

"No? Hold her hostage?", Basil guesses only for Bee to start crying even harder and trying to wiggle free even more.

Only for Myeon to once again disagree, much to the bees' relief. Seeing this, Basil thinks some more and then asks, "No? Wait, do you wanna give her to me?"

The queen bee stops her struggling and weeping to look up from the ground in confusion. A feeling that was shared with Basil as Myeon made a gesture of agreement. Basil's sweat drops at this, but after seeing the happily sparkling face of Myeon's cute, beady eyes, he reluctantly agrees.

"How…thoughtful.", he said while taking the huge bee into his care.

After seeing him accept her gift, Myeon scuttles away with a little hop in her step and a shake of her thorax. After the giant spider leaves for her giant tree home, Basil attempts to drag the considerably sized insect back to his home. He quickly discovers that giant insects are far heavier than they look. He only pulled her for a few inches before giving up.

After falling to the ground with a red face, he huffs and puffs while Hopkins fans him off with his tail and ears. After catching his breath, he stands up and summons a knife, much to the bee's horror, only to be shocked when the man cuts the threads and lets her free. The Rock bee gingerly returns to her feet and tests both them and her wings to ensure nothing gets damaged.

After seeing she was okay, she looked up at the man, and instead of seeing a threat, she saw a golden savior bathed in light! Her eyes watered, and before Basil knew it, the queen jumped into his arms out of gratitude and exoneration. Basil hunkered down a breath and locked his knees while straining his whole body to keep the bee up in his arms despite its massive weight!

On shaky legs, he squeaked out, "Nice bee! Nice giant bee! You're too heavy for me to carry."

After the bee got off of him, Basil breathed with relief before seeing how the queen looked up at him like a child would look at an adult after being told of Santa for the first time. That or she was in love with him and did not hope it wasn't that!

After shaking those thoughts, he realized he had a free start to free apiculture. So he leaned down and asked the queen rock bee, "How about I give you a home here on my land? And in exchange, you make me honey."

The queen's eyes sparkled with excitement, and she readily nodded! Though Basil was happy about this, Hopkins was once again horrified! He knew that Rock Bees were omnivores but would turn to complete carnivores once any and all plant life was gone! Even though there was enough for them to eat, it doesn't mean they'll stop eating meat altogether. He tried to convince Basil otherwise, but the man once again tried to assure him with his cheery optimism. So he just gave up and let the man do as he pleased.

From there, he took the rock bee to an open area cleared of all plant life. Using his Earth magic, he erected a colossal pillar shaped like a pyramid as tall as Basil's house. The queen rock bee's eyes sparkled at the sight, and she took to her wings before flying to the top and digging into the mound with her pincers and mandibles, which were just as sharp and retractable.

Within seconds of entering her new home, a swarm of smaller workers buzzed out of the hole before digging new entryways and flying off to collect nectar. Basil and Hopkins both stood in shock at this, and the young man stated in amazement, "Wow, it didn't take her long to settle in. And wow! She's already producing workers."

Just then, one of the workers accidentally crashed into Basil and fell to the ground. Basil looked down at the bee kicking its little legs and trying to get the right side up. He noticed that the workers were far smaller and rounder than the queen. In fact, they were only the size of a small dog.

But Basil's eyes widened at the sight, and he squealed before scooping up the big one and hugging it like a toy, "Oh. My. God! They are so cute! They're like big, dumb, fuzzy, plush toys! I love them so much!"

As Basil was cuddling with the giant rock bee, several more noticed and wanted to join the fun. Before he knew it, Basil was swarmed all over by a horde of round, fuzzy, buzzing balls of black and yellow, all trying to cuddle him. Basil became so overwhelmed by the mass that he fell over, laughing and giggling as they buzzed and crawled around his body, trying to get any affection from him.

Hopkins watched the man roll on the ground, kicking his legs like a child while playing with creatures that could devour him like a school of piranhas. Holding a face that was a mixture of disappointment and disgust, he sighed in exasperation while shaking his head.

Turning away from him, he calls out while walking away, "Well, I'm off to my Burrow to warn the others of your impending craziness."

 xXx

As this unfolds, the scene once again pans out into a shimmering distortion. The scene is once again being viewed through a mirror. Charlotte the Devil Pierre's magic mirror resides within the walls of the Devil King's palace. She sat at her makeup desk with a sour expression on her face. Digging her nails into the wooden upholstery, she calmed down and clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction.

"Well well. It looks like my first attempt didn't do what I had intended. You always were annoyingly smart and lucky, love.", She growled at the mirror, watching with anger as Basil continued to play with the bees.

But then a cruel smile crossed her face, and she said to the glass, "Nevertheless, I will simply have to take more drastic and direct measures."

As if on cue, the drastic and direct measures made their presence and dissatisfaction known to her. She turned and smiled at a large glass flask on a table behind her. Inside of it was an amorphous dark-colored thing. It had no actual shape or texture; it was just an angry, wispy thing trying to escape.

Charlotte tapped on the glass and told it in a sickeningly sweet tone, "Oh hush now, my little Tantabus, you'll soon have all the fear you can feast on.", she then took the cork off the top of the bottle and allowed the Tantabus to escape. It flew around her room with no shape to call and screeched with a sound that could only come from fear itself. Smiling at the starving creature, she cast a small spell on it that caused it to freeze up and then float near her face, where she instructed it, "Now go out and make sure he's rendered if any sleep until his sanity is all but gone. I want to make sure he can still remember me."

The Tantabus screeched again in acknowledgment and flew towards the window, where it fazed through the solid glass before flying off into the eternally stormy sky of the Far Lands, screaming a horrible sound as it went! Its direction was the Empty Lands. Its directive, Basil the Baker.