Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 116

Chapter 116: The army marches forth (but on wings)
Four days later, the Bee Empire’s army gathered for its first war—which, I hoped, will be short and victorious.

It had 10 thousand Warrior Bees, taken from Hive Supremo and other hives, with 490 Beemarines gathered among them in a separate unit. Then there was 1000 Commandos ready to scout the way, 1000 Builder Bees to fortify the future area of siege, 3000 Forager and Foremen bees carrying supplies, and some Physician Bees to give first aid.

Over 15000 thousand bees in total!

Preparing for the set-off, they stood in even lines on the ground at the foot of Hive Supremo’s pillar mountain, inspecting their weapons and armor for the last time.

The ground here, which once was covered in thick grass, trees, and teeming with life despite proximity to the hive, changed greatly.

Instead of trees, there were only uneven stumps left by stone axes; what grass wasn’t torn out by Material Foragers was gone, too. After it lost the protection of trees, heavy local storms quickly washed it away.

Other insects and beasts didn’t care to be in a place like that, if they weren’t hunted for meat first.

Instead of a forest, now the foot of the hive hosted several garbage and compost pits. Whenever a storm hit, all that garbage was spread over the forest downward, where it would return to nature as a fertilizer.

This spared the Empire a lot of effort of carrying it farther away. It was a pity there wasn’t a river around to just dump it all there in the first place.

And no, this *wasn’t* a bad ecological practice, because all our garbage was ecologically clean! No plastic, no metal—only wood, plants, rocks, and animal bits. There was no reason for my conscience to worry. Not that it did in the first place.

Local nature sucked, and I was glad to see it gone! It was full of things that tried to kill me or my daughters.

I finished looking around the hive and flew down to stand next to Bloodhero and Commander Warrior Bee Bloodimina; my 10 Beemarine bodyguards were right next to me, following like a massive buzzing cloak.

Commander was the new rank, invented to be above the Chiefs for better organization of so many bees. Its signature sign was a star, and Bloodimina proudly drew it in blood over her forehead, despite having a job badge.

“Everything is ready, Father!” Bloodimina said, saluting with her hammer.

I nodded, then turned to Bloodhero. She was hiding her wistfulness, but it was palpable.

It made me shake my head and give her a careful pat on the shoulder that wasn’t covered in spiked armor.

“Someone has to manage our other combat forces while I’m gone, and guard the Hive Supremo from any sudden attacks. Besides, if I see that things out there don’t require my presence anymore, I will return… and perhaps you will have to take my place.”

Bloodhero nodded curtly.

“Yes, Father. I wish you the best of luck! And…” she turned to my bodyguards and scowled. “If a single hair falls off Father’s head, your only duty until the rest of your life will be filling the compost pile!”

“Yes, Military Adviser Bloodhero!” my bodyguards said in chorus. “We would die rather than let this happen!”

I gave them a side-look.

3 days amid Artist Bees wasn’t a long time, but it has left an impression on Beemarines. At least, they weren’t as boastful as before, clung to their hammers like any other Warrior Bee, and sure took their guarding duties *very* seriously.

“Alright, then,” I turned to Bloodimina. “Give the order to move out.”

She nodded and turned to a Warrior Bee nearby.

Unlike others, instead of a hammer, she was hauling a large drum. Without another word, the drummer bee began smashing it with two drumsticks.

Thum! Thum! Thum!

Several meters away, other drummers heard the rhythm and copied it. Like a wave, it spread farther and farther over the army.

THUM! THUM! THUM!

The rhythm of marching, which made officers shout at their subordinates to take off.

Bloodimina flew up first, showing others where to go, and I followed close by.

Thanks to those drum signals, even a massive army like that could be controlled with a decent ease! And since we’ve already invented drums earlier, I just had to come up with the signals.

‘Too bad Craftsmen still can’t make a decently sounding horn—those would’ve been much easier to carry around than drums.’

The drum signals, alongside with moving in even lines and some other things, were a part of a recently implemented technology worth 20 development points.

〔Advanced Army Tactics〕

Brainpower requirement: 2500

Military: +1% per 1 thousand affected soldiers.

Reduces risks of errors on a battlefield.

〔〕〔〕〔〕

Seeing it in action pleased me a lot.

Our army—it wasn’t just a swarm anymore, there was *order*!—flew over the forests, so big that there was no need to hide from anyone.

Insects and beasts scuttled away at the sight of it. Even creatures that reached thirty or forty meters in size, with teeth larger than a honeycomb cell, at the sight of us squealed thunderously and ran away!

Seeing that always made me grin like a fool.

‘This is it. This is our might! You stupid things don’t know what to take of it… And you are right to get away, because this army could kill even you!’

Four hours of flight later (slower than if the army was unencumbered) we reached our target—the nearest fort.

Warrior Bees and Forager Bees were already waiting for our arrival. All accommodations were complete, and the bees greeted the army with excitement.

Half an hour of break to restore stamina, and the army moved out again. At the next fort, we stopped for a night’s rest; we reached the last fort tomorrow before noon.

From now on, we were at the dangerous territory and ready to meet the enemy. The hornet’s nest was visible in the distance if you squinted hard enough.

And the enemy didn’t make us wait.