Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

"Do we actually need fish-beast meat, Father?" Researchina asked. "By the time things you predict will happen, the Bee Empire will have its steady supply of meat. The population of dodos we breed grows faster every year. Soon, we will be able to slaughter them for meat without a single worry. We can also grow enough usnea trees to feed both bees and humans."

I let out a breath.

"Yes, we can live without fish, but adjusting will be another slow and painful process. Besides, if one species becomes dominant in the ocean, it will likely evolve into something as deadly as usnea trees… And you know how it goes. I would rather prevent this catastrophe from happening if I can."

"You can do anything you set your mind on, Father. The Empire is with you," Researchina said with utter seriousness. Then she added, "Some things will take much more effort than others."

I chuckled.

"Thank you for believing in me, dear."

The problem in front of us looked like one of these "things that will take much more effort than others".

First problem—the whales.

Even if there were only a few, or even only one of them, that attacked the Empire's ships, killing them would be hard just due to their size. But not impossible.

It wasn't much more evolved than an ordinary sperm whale, and these creatures WERE killed by humans in my world. This only required lots of harpoons, patience, and some luck.

Hell, I had ideas for some tactics that could make things even easier.

The second problem was more troublesome—the fish and the ocean's ecological balance.

If we reduced the amount of smaller fish that ate all the food in the ocean before larger species could get to it, the sperm whales would stop attacking our ships to shake out the humans and eat them.

But… No, this would require too much effort to even think about.

If I had enough chemicals to poison the entire ocean, I'd do it in an instant. But I didn't. In the worst-case scenario, the sea could become our "no-go" land.

"We should study ways of transporting hauls over large distances by air instead of sea. And I don't mean just on the backs of dragons—I mean that we need flying hauliers the size of human-made sea ships."

Researchina's eyes widened.

"Is it possible for something of this size to fly? Even the largest of dragons don't grow so huge!"

"It's absolutely possible! All these machines—planes—will need is speed and wings. You know, I had sketches of these things in my head a few years ago, but then we conquered humans, and the Bee Empire stopped needing bee-sized planes. Now we just need human-sized ones…"

After this, I spent two hours explaining to curious and excited Researchina everything I remembered about how the plains worked. We also discussed the materials available in the Bee Empire and whether they will be enough to create a machine of this size.

Especially the light but tough metals for its frame. To Researchina's great pleasure, the creation of hydroelectric power plants and electric smelters allowed her to create metal alloys she could only imagine before; the Bee Empire was also very large now, and there were a lot of various ores that were mined in it by bees and humans.

One of the alloys that could be created with them was bound to do the job. We even had access to plastics and gasoline fuel!

***

The talk of airplanes didn't distract me from other tasks. After Researchina left, I also contacted Bloodhero and gave her orders about our next step. The sperm whale was deterred from it for now, but it would come at us again, because human ships were one of its few sources of food.

Before this, I told Bloodhero to send ships out to kill it and however many whales it could.

There were some human fishermen boats that were large enough to go to the region where the whale was spotted the last time. These ships will carry on them bee scouts that will be able to find the whale quickly, and lots of harpoons.

When the whale rises above the water, the humans on board will shoot the harpoons and thus force the whale to stay afloat until it dies from exhaustion. Classic tactics.

Of course, these (tougher than their Earth counterparts) whales could still break the harpoon boat. But the boats will have on them teams of bee gardeners with usnea tree seeds and pots to plant them in.

When the whale is slowed down by harpoons, these bees will plant the trees right on its back! Since the whales were warm-blooded, the usnea trees will grow rapidly, feeding from its warmth, until they freeze the whale to death. And the ice that will form around the trees from ocean water will also force the whale to stay on the surface.

Then the boats would carry the whale body encased in ice to the Bee Empire, where they would be cut apart and turned into food and materials—it would be a terrible waste to just leave a carcass of this size be.

It was a foolproof plan, and the Oracles almost guaranteed its success.

The alliance with the Usnea God was a massive boon to us. The power of usnea trees that pained the Bee Empire so much before had become our weapon, and very few creatures could fight against it.

The sperm whale couldn't.

Two weeks later, it was carried to the Bee Empire's shores—a massive, mountain-like beast with its own snowy peak. A trophy of trophies.

The human fishermen from the boat that caught it couldn't spread their hands far enough to show just how large their catch was. Other teams of fishermen were scouring the sea with double the effort in an attempt to find their own whale to brag about.

And I didn't have to worry about our sea logistics anymore—at least for now.