Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire - Chapter 85

Chapter 85: Nectus has a theory
Worriesgone was lying on a leaf pallet in her room. A Nurse Bee Jellia-14, who led us inside, closed the door behind our backs.

The sick bee was asleep, or deeply resting.

〔Nurse Bee〕 〔Ally〕 〔Progeny〕

〔Name〕: Worriesgone

〔Health〕: 7 / 22

〔Stamina〕: 2 / 21

In the time since I last saw her, Worriesgone matured from a Cleaning Bee to a Nurse Bee—but it barely showed on her malnourished body. Her face was as pale as before—but she was better off than I feared.

Better, but not good.

“She caught another illness on top of the Paleness yesterday. Lieutenant Researcher Tabletina believes it’s just a bad ‘common cold’, and told us how to take care of Worriesgone. Me and my squad have been following them ever since,” Jellia-14 whispered.

I nodded—this made sense. It’d be easy for someone already frail from the Paleness to catch any other virus. I could only hope it was *actually* a cold and nothing worse.

“We clean her and the room, put cold water on her forehead when she runs a fever, and feed her thrice a day with hot pollen porridge and meat stock. We boil all the water we bring her to drink and wash her clothes regularly. She also has clean wax tablets to draw on, although she spends most of her time asleep.”

“Good job, Jellia,” I said quietly.

Those were all basic instructions for all cold-like illnesses. Tabletina was the lead Researcher Bee in the quarantine village (although some Lieutenant Foreman Bee, whose name I couldn’t remember, handled the day-to-day workings of the place).

So far, both Lieutenants were managing their sides of things well.

‘The way this goes, I will need to establish separate administrative jobs besides archivists,’ I thought in passing.

“It’s Jellia-14, Father. There are 38 Jellias in the hive, I’m 14th,” the Nurse Bee corrected. “It’s a beloved name.”

I smiled awkwardly. Yeah, as someone who could cheat and look up names of my daughters in their status, the least I could do was to say them correctly!

“Sorry, Jellia-14.”

She nodded and walked up to sit next to Worriesgone’s bed pallet.

“Hey… Wake up, little sister. Father came to visit you—and even Queen Ambrosia herself!”

Worriesgone slowly opened her eyes and gasped.

“Father! And… Mother! I—” she broke into heavy coughing.

Her voice was so terribly weak and raspy!

“Shh, Worriesgone! Don’t exert yourself!” I hurriedly went to sit opposite of Jellia-14.

She already offered Worriesgone a jar of water, which Worriesgone sipped a little out of.

“Are you feeling terribly awful, my daughter?” Ambrosia asked, sitting next to me. Her voice was dulled by her mask, but her eyes looked kind.

Worriesgone shook her head.

“No… I just want to sleep all the time… My chest hurts.”

I bit my lip, glad that nobody will see it under my mask.

“That’s alright. You can keep sleeping… I just wanted to thank you for your well wish. It was beautiful, Worriesgone. Even Ambrosia wanted to thank you for it!”

The young bee smiled.

“Thank you… I’ve been dreaming of this well wish yesterday. When asleep…”

She trailed off and her eyes closed. When Worriesgone kept staying silent, I prepared to back off and let her sleep—but she suddenly spoke up again.

It was so quiet that I had to lean forward to hear her.

“I had a dream about being a pupa again… It was warm and soft until something pricked me. Then it all became cold… I couldn’t get out… Until you saved me, Father.”

She fell silent again, while I was reeling.

Was she imagining this, or could Worriesgone be the same bee I personally pulled out of her brood cell?

‘That doesn’t matter. But… if her “dream” was based on her memories… Just *if*!’

An incredible epiphany struck me! A possibility that I’ve never considered before—a revelation!

I jumped to my feet, unable to contain my excitement while sitting.

“Worriesgone… Please, rest. Your father will see you again soon. I think… You might’ve just saved your entire colony, my little girl! Amby, come, come here!”

“Hm? Alright… Rest well, Worriesgone,” Ambrosia said, before following me out of the room.

“Jellia-14, I leave Worriesgone to you. Please keep taking good care of her!” I said, running out into the hallway.

I looked around wildly through the passerby bees dressed in their simple leather, hide and sometimes leaf clothing. My eyes scanned their statuses…

There!

A semi-familiar bee carrying a stack of wax tablets. On her neck was hanging a simple bone pendant with a letter “R” carved in it—a Researchers’ identification mark.

Since literacy spread out, my daughters began making or requesting tokens like these for themselves, especially more high-ranked ones. Although the tradition of marking Sergeant, Lieutenant and Chief ranks with the blood of their enemies was still abundant among bees who got to shed it.

“Oh, you! Yes, you, Writingdown!”

“Me?” The bee stopped in her tracks. “Father, Queen Ambrosia! Queen Ambrosia, what are you *doing* here?”

Ambrosia folded her arms over her chest.

“A personal inspection.”

“Is that really necessary? You can get sick!”

Were all Researcher Bees like that, or was that just this one?

“Writingdown, don’t start lecturing your mother now, too! I have an idea about Paleness—and I must conduct a test to confirm it. Who’s the lead Researcher Bee here? Bring me to her, please.”

Upon hearing my words, Writingdown abandoned her lecturing and almost dropped her tablets.

“What?! An idea? I will tell Lieutenant Researcher Tabletina immediately. Come with me.”

Writingdown led the way at a fast pace to a direction opposite of her previous one. Soon, we reached a room that could be called an office: it was half-filled with wax tablets, and smelled heavily of experimental plant medicines, jars of which stood near a wall.

Lieutenant Researcher Tabletina herself was sitting near a small window that led outside, reading from a wax tablet—until we appeared. Like Writingdown, she had a carved Researchers’ token, but there was a vertical line carved next to it—a Lieutenant’s sign. She managed 110 Researchers—all Researchers of the quarantine village.

Tabletina was as shocked to see me and Ambrosia as every other bee in the village, but I had no time to let her recover.

“I know what the Paleness might actually be!”