A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 109: Beehive

"Looks like that beekeeping stuff is coming into use." Liz murmured softly. "That book is still on sale you know... Only seventy coins for a limited time..."

Serena tuned out the system, her mind racing at the words. This was a great chance to collect some honey and beeswax. Then she could try that jam idea and perhaps even present something to the Council.

However, they also needed to move the beehive before it caused problems for the beastmen in the area. Getting stung by bees wasn’t a good thing, even fatal if one got stung enough.

But she wasn’t sure how to move the bees or even where to relocate them. She didn’t have that information on hand. Her farming book might, but...

"Is something the matter, Serena?" Emelia asked curiously, noticing her sudden silence.

"It’s nothing." Serena gave them a faint smile. "I’m just thinking about something..."

Elder Samuel’s ears flickered at her words. "Do you know how to deal with the bees?"

"Well, I know that most of the bees will be gone by now and that smoke could get them to hide deep within the hive and eat honey, making them drowsy." Serena explained. "Problem is even with thick clothing, it’s probably still risky to move that hive."

"It’s more than we know." Emelia mused, going quiet for a moment. She then asked, "How do you know so much about bees?"

"Um... I like honey. It’s good for preserving fruit I suppose." Serena lied. "And that was a method I learnt on how to collect honey... Well, it’s what my father used anyway."

It was a little risky making a lie like that, but it was far more believable than saying a shapeshifting system created by some suspicious person gave her that information via some books she was forced to get.

Well, the farming guide was a gift, but still... They’d never believe that.

"Oh?" Emelia perked up at her words. "I didn’t know you could use honey to preserve fruit."

"Yeah, it makes this thing called jam which can last months." Serena said. "It’s made by cooking the fruit with honey and then putting it into a sealed container... I was thinking of maybe having a way of keeping bees, so we can get regular honey to use to preserve fruits for the cold season."

Serena figured that this was a great chance to sell the idea of keeping bees around for honey and beeswax. Beastmen were naturally scared of bees, but perhaps this could help sell the idea.

Especially if she was able to get rid of the beehive without it causing any harm to both the bees and beastmen. That would definitely sell the idea.

"It’s an interesting idea, but I’m not sure if it’s safe..." Elder Samuel mused. "What if one of the cubs or beastwomen gets stung by bees? We beastmen can handle a lot, but a few would kill a cub."

"That’s a good point." Serena agreed. "We’d need to perhaps keep the beehives some distance from the village then. And develop a way to care for the bees like I do with my wild birds..."

"Is it even possible to tame bees?" Emelia questioned.

"I’m not sure." Serena answered honestly. "But experimentation doesn’t hurt. Honey would be an incredibly valuable resource to have if we can find a way to tame them."

"Hmm... That’s true." Elder Samuel pursed his lips. "But it’s still risky. What if you get hurt?"

"Thick clothing should help." Serena said. "Besides, I could always get some beastmen to help me out with the more risky tasks. That way I won’t put myself in danger."

Besides, she doubted Theo would let her near a beehive. She already promised not to go looking for one and this one was on the borderline. She hadn’t technically found it on purpose, more like stumbled upon it.

But by proposing this, she was walking on that line of danger.

"How about this... Give me a day to figure out a solution to remove the bees and place them somewhere else to tame." Serena proposed, seeing both were still on the fence. "I’ll come by the Council and you can vote on my plan. If it doesn’t work, then we’ll do whatever you want."

"Let’s go with that." Emelia nodded her head immediately. "It’s not like we have a better idea to solve this problem."

"But what about those living around here?" Elder Samuel argued. "We can’t delay this for too long."

"Move them to the east side huts by those berry bushes." Emelia told him. "It’s only three beastwomen and a couple of cubs. They can stay in those huts for a few days until this is solved."

"Alright then... I suppose we can go with that." Elder Samuel sighed. He then gazed over at Serena and asked, "Anyway, what did you come here for? Were you looking for one of us perhaps?"

"I was." Serena nodded her head. Then in a lower tone she said, "I was doing some city designing and thinking about plants we could grow on a large scale to feed both the village and sell and need some help choosing among them."

She then proceeded to give both a brief breakdown of her plans for the farmland along with some of the plants she wanted to use. She told them about using grain and how she was building a grinder.

When she went into a bit more detail about the grinder, Emelia suddenly exclaimed, "Perhaps I should send Finn over to help with the grinder. He’s one of our best craftsmen in the village."

"Oh yes." Elder Samuel nodded in agreement. "He makes all our stone tools, you know."

Suddenly Serena felt a little stupid for not thinking about it before. Of course, it would make sense to get someone who was an expert at crafting stone tools to help them. Things would go much quicker.

"I see..." Serena finally said. "Perhaps we can meet after the Council meeting tomorrow. I’ll also bring the plants I found."

"Of course." Elder Samuel nodded his head. "It’s best if we get everyone’s opinion on this."

They chatted for a bit more before they parted ways and Serena headed off to get some food harvested. All while her mind lingered on tomorrow.