Joy can't get a break.
Having survived a chance encounter with a demon lordling, and made an immense sacrifice, one might expect Joy to at least have some time to rest and recover. Instead, when Joy's friends learn what she sacrificed, they decide they'll repay her, no matter what it takes, and they take the adventurous bee-girl on a quest to find another apis hive which can help her.
The demon lord, Alethus, isn't resting on his laurels, however. His schemes threaten not just Seldrim, but the entire region, and his plots are squarely on a course to intersect with the unwitting group.
Some days the gods have a warped sense of humor. Joy just has to survive. Again.