Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire-Chapter 208: Are there problems fire *can’t* solve?

Although Ambrosia's answer was, "yes", before she got the answer, the conversation moved in other directions.

Undecided and her little sister Nameless (she couldn't decide on a name either) eagerly told Ambrosia about their days, which they spent in meditation mixed with finishing their primary school education.

Nameless had an idea to look in the future itself to see how their future selves trained, and it helped them gain insight. Though, the more they talked about their "dreams", the less Ambrosia understood them.

More and more often one Oracle would mention something vaguely and the other would nod like it was self-explanatory, although it wasn't.

Ambrosia ignored these moments with experience and led the Oracles back to the topic.

"Did you find in your dreams something about Nectus, or about human attacks?"

"Ah, yes," Undecided said, looking at her twiddling thumbs. "Now to think about this, I'm unsure if it's really important…"

"It is. Anything can be. Remember when you saw—"

"Oh, right. Of course, Nameless. Well, I caught a dream—just one dream! It's only one possibility out of countless ones, so it probably won't happen. But because it was only one dream, I saw it all in clear detail."

"I'm listening, Undecided. And I will decide whether or not it's important," Ambrosia said.

Undecided nodded.

"I saw humans, because they—a dozen of them—came all the way to Hive Supremo. The army came to fight them, and I came to watch it—for myself in the past, I think. Or maybe I was just curious."

Ambrosia tensed, and her hands clenched under the table at which the three bees sat.

"They reached all the way to *here*?"

"Yes. And the fight against them was very hard. From the distance I was watching, it looked like our swarms tried to fight against mountains…"

"Humans aren't mountains. A dozen stings and they fall and scream in pain," Ambrosia said steely. "A swarm of Hive Supremo guards would've killed them all in minutes."

"But they couldn't! These humans were well-prepared to meet our stingers. They wore their giant clothing that stingers or even daggers couldn't pierce, at least, not easily. There wasn't a single spot to sting. Even the eyes were covered with nets!"

Ambrosia frowned.

"But our army won in the end. There were still only ten humans."

"It did, but there were so many dead… We could've lost, too, I think. In another dream. And Father still didn't return…"

"In another dream without Father," Nameless repeated.

Ambrosia nodded and forced a smile on her face for her daughters—like Nectus would. She patted their heads, too.

"Thank you for your work. Keep searching for insights—they can be invaluable for the Empire."

And she, together with other Advisers, would think about how to put these insights to work.

Ambrosia didn't need hearing from Bloodhero or the Oracles to know that breaking through defenses like these without preparation will take an incredible amount of lives.

Perhaps Researchina might provide an answer.

***

"In your last report, Researchina, you have claimed that you almost finished your experiments with iron alloys. Can you, perhaps, make weapons that can break human defenses?"

"I… No, Mother-Queen. My Researchers have been working themselves into exhaustion trying to make the best weapon against humans already—they hope it will bring Father back. So far, it only led to more mistakes and work accidents. Hurrying them even more will *not* increase our effectiveness, and it will take at least a week until we can establish a reliable process for producing steel and steel weapons."

"I see." Ambrosia frowned. "I suppose they wouldn't have helped drastically, either. What about your handheld-ballistas?"

"These are in Things-Things' hands already. The production is actively ongoing, as I heard. But I doubt they will be effective unless humans show enough open chitin to aim at."

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Ambrosia frowned some more. They *needed* a solution… Otherwise, humans will set fire upon their hives—

Oh, of course. Why didn't she think about this first? It worked great before.

"Can we set humans on fire, Researchina?"

The bee perked up; excitement flashed in her eyes.

"Brilliant! Their plant-based clothing is very flammable. If we make it even *more* flammable… Perhaps by pouring some tree sap or animal fat on it? It can even be set on fire beforehand."

Ambrosia smiled, imagining the picture of a giant on fire. That would be a taste of what they did to Hive Rich—just as they deserved.

"I trust you to develop the necessary equipment and give Things-Things all the instructions on how to make it. And not only in Hive Supremo, but in sub-hives, too. We can't be too ready for this, so make it your first priority."

"Yes, Mother-Queen. I know we don't have much time, but this shouldn't take long. A few days at most."

Ambrosia nodded.

"Let's hope we have them."

***

They had exactly a day before an exhausted messenger brought dire news. Of course, Ambrosia met her immediately in the Council Chamber, and expecting trouble, already arranged for Bloodhero to be called in.

"Queen Ambrosia, the giants are about to attack Hive Woodcutter! Queen Hive-Maker sent me for help immediately! The news just came from the border patrol that spotted, but, but…"

Hive Woodcutter was one of the newest—and one of the closest to the human village. It was also hard to miss, thanks to all the trees cut down in its vicinity. And it was several hours of flight away from Hive Supremo—although not as far as Hive Rich.

Although outwardly Ambrosia stayed calm, inwardly she cursed the fickle nature of dragons. Dragon riders were supposed to warn the Empire about human movements hours before humans could reach its borders. But today they never even came to their riders–perhaps because something big died and they were too busy eating it.

"Be calm, granddaughter," Ambrosia pacified the bee with a headpat. The effectiveness of this simple action was still surprising to her. "How many giants there were?"

"T-ten! With fire-things! Th-the big candles."

"Were they wearing clothing all over their bodies?"

"I-I don't know. I'm just saying what the Warrior told me. Sorry, Queen Ambrosia!"

At this moment, Bloodhero barged into the room.

"Mother-Queen! I was told—"

"Prepare the Warriors, Bloodhero. Our sub-hive needs reinforcements—and I hope they can reach it before it becomes too late."