Chickens. Which in this world were dragon-like creatures, especially when compared to bees...
They weren’t the only ones "possessed"—ducks and geese were also complicit. This really was a coordinated attack by several gods, who have used a lot of influence at once.
I was also positive that Barahi Kingdom won’t be the only one attacked.
This ant that I couldn’t stay in the Hive Supremo any more. I had to travel there myself and see the extent of this threat with my own eyes—nobody else could.
As always, this idea was t with protests of my girls. However, this ti they were less sentintal and more practical.
"But Father, you’ve been helping coordinate so many projects!" Workharder exclaid. "Not that I can’t do them all myself—but at least we need a transition period so I can share the task load!"
"The edible insect lists are still incomplete. A new party of captured insects is due to arrive at Hive Supremo in a week—who will evaluate their abilities, if not you, Father? And they won’t live for too long in captivity," Tabletina added.
"The Empire also needs more Hardbees and other morphotyped bees. Did you forget that you were planning to fly over the hives to morphotype the larvae before it becos pupae, Nectus?" Ambrosia chided.
I groaned and put my hands in my face.
"Dammit, I only ntioned it and you found ten thousand reasons for not to go anywhere. You realize that the longer we wait, the more humans are slaughtered out there?"
"Yes, Father. But there’s always a solution, and it’s our job to find it!" Bloodhero said. "We can capture one of these chickens alive and deliver it here."
I raised my head and looked at Bloodhero incredulously.
"It will take weeks of travel just to transport one. If we can direct a human to capture them in the first place."
"I’m absolutely sure that we can. Adviser Whisper will confirm that humans have a lot of experience with capturing these specific beasts," Bloodhero said, nodding at signaler Listener. "In a minute, of course."
I let out a breath.
"But what about travel?"
"There are rivers flowing from the Barahi Kingdom almost all the way to the Bee Empire," Bloodhero said, gesturing at the map of the continent. "A human boat could easily and safely travel over them."
I traced with my eyes the river that Bloodhero pointed at.
"I see. And we already have so Agent Bees in the Barahi Kingdom who can direct human hunters as soon as they get new orders. It will be quick to bring more bees with a dragon, too."
Bloodhero showed a small, but proud smile.
I leaned back in my chair, shifting my wings and tail for them not to get squished.
"I absolutely confirm Bloodhero’s words, Father. Most likely the humans were killed so easily because they didn’t expect the attack from their dosticated animals. Whisper says," Listener suddenly spoke up.
I nodded to her, then to Bloodhero.
"Alright. That was a very thought-through plan, Bloodhero. In the anti..." I turned back to Listener. "Our Agents in the Barahi Kingdom can urge its soldiers and people to mobilize and kill all the dosticated dragons."
"All of them?" Ambrosia asked. "Not every creature is against humans, are they? Horses and dogs and many other beasts are still loyal. Black dragons haven’t been evolving to attack us, either..."
I clicked my tongue.
"If I could tell which creature will try to attack us, life would’ve been easier. Dalmanrach was terribly vague about it—he probably doesn’t know it all himself. But if chickens, ducks and geese are all affected, I can’t rule out any other kinds of dragons that humans keep near themselves. Other dostic animals seem fine so far. But they should keep a sharp eye on them."
"This will also solve so of their food problems!" Workharder said cheerfully. "They will start starving again later, but we will have so resources to help by then, don’t we?"
I squinted and looked into the depths of my mind, where an intricate web of tasks, resources and people was hanging. It was so complex, that even with all my intelligence boosts and attribute points spent there, thinking about it for too long gave a headache.
But what I saw there satisfied .
"Yes, Workharder. I sure hope so. With each day there are more bees born not just with new genes, but also with higher stats thanks to inheritance of stat points. Each of them works harder and better than average, increasing the Empire’s general productivity... So we can spare more people for other things. Like bringing humans to heel."
So in the end, I didn’t leave the Bee Empire this ti.
My Agents directed their subordinate humans from the Naregan diplomatic delegation to get so evil chicken and transport them to the Bee Empire. They also whispered in the Barahi King’s mind.
After this, a wave of slaughter went over the Barahi Kingdom. After the Barahi people were ordered that they should kill all their dostic birds (dragons), they were also told that there will be more foreign food soon.
Since they were already scared by rumors of demons possessing their chickens, and since they wanted to eat, humans mostly followed the order. If the gods of these species wanted to increase their influence in the area, their plan backfired.
But I was sure even without predictions from the Oracles that there will be similar attacks in other countries.
Because of this, I was very happy to hear that the winds have swiftly carried the boat with captured dragons to the outskirts of the Bee Empire.
By then I even arranged my matters so a few days of leave from the Hive Supremo won’t deal a terrible blow to anyone. Morphotyped all the larvae, passed all the unread reports to others, satisfied my wife until even *she* was exhausted...
Then I ordered a dragon rider to carry to see what the enemies had in store for us!
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