Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 153

Chapter 153: The birds and the bees
“Sure, Father. With this many working hands, it will be no problem at all!”

Scavengers like vultures and hyenas had evolved adaptations that allowed them to eat rotten meat. Bees like myself weren’t supposed to eat meat in the first place.

Good thing that we finally had enough working hands to deal with all of it!

Under Workharder’s direction, the workers she brought joined ones already at the site. A carpet of bees covered entire carcasses, giving even the tamed dragons a pause in their feast (or maybe they just decided they gorged themselves enough).

In an hour, everything worked as smoothly as a well-oiled machine! Bees cut chitin, meat and fat into pieces with their knives—the decomposing flesh was easy to cut, even if it stank more and more with each hour.

Then they passed them to teams who carried large nets for flying transportation. Those nets were filled with rotting meat and carried away from Camp Rich—just far enough that the black dragons felt safe to approach.

Soon, the scavengers descended upon the meat brought to them—and we didn’t have to worry about throwing things too far.

“With the rate of things at the moment, we will deal with the meat in three days tops, Father,” Workharder reported. “It won’t have time to stink too much! Then we can finally reach all the other stuff.”

“Bones should be the next priority after the meat—the marrow inside should still be edible even after meat rots,” I recalled. “Also, take care of ligaments and tendons—even if they are gigantic, we can still use them, perhaps as fabric.”

“Will do, Father! They will be tricky, but I will leave it to Things-Things to wonder about how to dry them properly. We will ax the bones, cut everything into neat little pieces, and eventually carry it away from Camp Rich. For the Empire!”

I smiled and nodded.

“For the Empire, Workharder.”

***

Next day, nature decided that three days were too optimistic for us.

A storm began during the night—bad enough already—and then just kept falling even after the sun move all the way to noon, turning ground around Camp Rich into sludge. The water chilled the air to unusual degrees, although the hive was still warm inside.

In a weather like this, all work outside was stopped. Camp Rich was filled to the limit, and instead of dismantling carcasses, the freed bees helped Builders to fix the remaining fire damage inside.

Thankfully, there were no supplies left near the bodies for the night, but now only dragons feasted freely on the carcasses. They recklessly tore at the clothes of the dead to get to their meat and scattered potential valuables around.

And they were slower than 60 thousand bees, too.

Worse than that were the implications for the Bee Empire.

In the earlier days of the Bee Empire, a storm like that was bad. Now, when many bees worked near remote forts and work camps, it crippled the Empire’s entire logistics! I could only imagine all the Commando Bees who scouted far reaches of the known land and now were forced to hide where they could and huddle for warmth.

Next, if this storm continued for too long, work camps with smaller food supplies might suffer from hunger.

And worst of all, with the storm of this strength, I was afraid the ground-level hives might get flooded. Their architecture mostly protected them from weaker storms, but this one looked like the Great Flood itself.

Camp Rich was positioned on an elevated location, but there was still water getting inside from the entrance! Places like Hive Hornet’s Nest were in an even worse position.

I stared at the thick veil of falling water, powerlessly gritting my teeth.

“I never seen a cold season before, Father, but I think this is it,” Regalia said, landing on the ground near me. “So soon after I emerged… It doesn’t feel right for it to happen so soon.”

I turned to her, surprised.

“A cold season? I thought we were in the tropics. This should be more of a storm season… Not that it’s good, though.”

Regalia shrugged.

“I don’t know these things, but feel it in my instincts—that I should stop laying eggs and prepare for a long sleep until days grow warmer again.” She scoffed. “Of course, Mother-Queen taught me that instincts are second to the reasonable head-thoughts. I know that we have plenty of warmth, no matter what, thanks to fire and clothing! And there should still be some Drones around for me to take.”

I covered my face.

“You know, I don’t *really* want to know what you and my other little princesses do with your boyfriends, Regalia. It’s weird for a father to know such things about his girls! You are supposed to be forever innocent little princesses in my mind!”

Regalia looked at me with surprise.

“But you are our Emperor, one who cares for and directs the entire Bee Empire! Of course, you should know how fast our population is growing and why. How else will you direct us most wisely? You’ve already given us some advice, but you might have more. Mother-Queen taught me and my brood sisters all about the superior mating techniques she uses on you to extract most seed.”

I choked on air.

“SHE *WHAT*?!”

“She even drew pictures, so we definitely understood—”

I grabbed my hair, almost pierced my palm with a crown spike, cursed, then shouted some more.

“AMBROSIA! How—HOW COULD YOU?! They are innocent! My innocent little princesses! When did this happen?! When did you teach them these dirty, dirty things?!”

Regalia flinched away, then suddenly nodded.

“And Mother-Queen told us to wait until you calm down if you start shouting like this! She said that you are *usually* reasonable after you calm down.”

I covered my face with my hands.

Amby knew me so well.

After the initial shock passed, I realized that sex education was very important, and Ambrosia did the thing I, frankly, didn’t have the spirit for. The birds and the bees!

Then she taught Regalia to sass me… As usual.

I sighed and let my hands drop.

“Let’s just forget this entire conversation. Back to the storms! If the weather keeps worsening, then something has to be done about it. Our logistics suffer the most from bad weather. Perhaps if we built roads… But what kind of road won’t get washed away after an hour of those waterworks?”