My eyes zeroed on Workharder.
"We don't?"
Workharder nodded, and was echoed by Things-Things and Bloodhero.
"We have no more free soldiers to increase the inner Empire's security or our borders, Father!" Bloodhero said. "Training new ones will take so ti, and…"
"And equipnt. We have enough Craftsn and resources to sustain the people and soldiers we had, but, but… But that's all we have!"
I frowned.
"Is that so? And what's our population census?"
"Here," Ambrosia passed a wax tablet.
"Thank you, Amby. Alright, let's see… Ugh."
The wax tablet was filled with tiny, hard-to-read letters on both sides. There was written the number of various specialists in the empire, job quotas and results of job orientation.
A lot of detailed information, but not precisely counted—numbers were rounded to thousands. Either way, after so squinting, then asking for more reports about our other resources, I understood the essence of our problem.
Until now, the Bee Empire was prosperous, and we had plenty of extra resources to put into expansion or just set aside for a rainy day.
The recent disasters have eaten through our excess like caterpillars through a leaf.
A lot of specialists died or beca indisposed. General workload grew because of health inspections. Gathering natural resources beca slower and harder because we have picked everything that was closest to the surface…
If I wanted the Empire to keep running, I had to cut our supply costs. Otherwise, we were going to run out of leathers for clothing, food for eating, and even bolas for throwing at annoying flies! Not imdiately, but soon enough.
"Sothing has to be cut," I said, shaking my head. "Our expansion can slow. But it can't stop! If we stagnate, we will run out of resources because we will have nowhere to get them from."
"The expansion was easiest to cut, but you are right. The Empire must grow," Ambrosia said, raising a writing stylus in her hand. "Let's see what else can be cut, then. What about the garrisons on sub-hives? If they are attacked by sothing minor, and most of them aren't, the workers living there can protect them themselves. With more losses, but the chances of a hive being attacked are low even with all the evolved beasts…"
Bloodhero nodded with subdued enthusiasm.
"Fast patrols like Beemarines with the best wings can cover more territories than they have already! We can make several fast response squads to cover places whose garrisons were moved."
More suggestions followed.
"If we did health inspections every ten days instead of every week per person, it would save a lot of ti for a lot of Physicians. Then they'd be able to spend more ti finding actual cures for the new illnesses," Tabletina added.
"We still have a lot of stone weapons left after tal ones were given out to people!" Things-Things said. "They are usable. At least until they break down, our soldiers can take them and the Craftsn take their ti smithing more *good* stuff, yes-yes!"
"I hope all of you aren't thinking about reducing the amount of Researchers at work. Finding new knowledge is vital for the Empire," Researchina said, narrowing her eyes. "But my subordinates can use fewer Foragers and fewer materials for experints if they spend more ti on theories and calculations first."
Worriesgone wrung her hands anxiously as she glanced around.
"I… don't really know what to add. I'm sorry, Father."
I chuckled and smiled at her.
"That's alright. Even with recent investnts in culture, the Artists still take such a tiny amount of the Empire's resources that it's barely a blip."
Lately, Worriesgone arranged writing a lot of sagas and stories for heralds to spread around. Bees liked tall tales, and they cost very little to spread around.
Worriesgone blushed and smiled brightly at .
"Oh, good! I will still try to think about sothing."
I nodded, and the conversation moved to the suggestions of other Advisers.
They all were good in their own ways, and we went over each one, smoothing out details, until things were in balance again.
Piles and piles of wax tablets filled the table by the end of this long and tireso discussion. If it was made with golden nails instead of iron ones, it would've fallen apart under their weight already.
Instead, I feared the text on tablets would smudge.
"And one more thing," I added, turning to Researchina. "We need paper and ink. You know, I explained the concept…"
"Yes, Father, I understand. But why? You said before that it was a lower priority than the other things."
I looked at Researchina, then wordlessly gestured at the piles of wax tablets.
Researchina blinked.
"Yes, I *understand*. I will make it my priority. Things-Things, I will talk with you about mass production tomorrow. But, Father," she turned to again, "how are we going to fit the resource expenses into the Empire's budget?"
I inwardly groaned in pain before forcefully pulling myself together.
"We will cut sothing else. Preferably trees and not resources allocated to other things!"
***
All these asures worked. The first universities opened their doors in sub-hives, and the shift in resources didn't affect the inner workers of the Bee Empire much.
The amount of incidents in the Empire didn't diminish, but it didn't grow higher, either.
Stability—and stable growth—was returning to the Bee Empire. I expected to reach the next technological era and the next developnt level soon—I could almost taste it!
Then, one morning after a long day of flying around the Empire on my super-fast wings and checking up on my daughter Queens, I woke up…
And almost wished I didn't. My head was full of cotton. My skin felt like everything touching it was too coarse. The room itself was too hot, and Amby, who sprawled over in our shared bed, wasn't helping with her body heat.
"Ugh… I—"
I was cut off by my own hacking cough. Ambrosia humd drowsily and opened her eyes.
I t their gaze.
"Amby… I think I got sick."
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