Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

THREE MONTHS LATER, A FLEET OF SHIPS REACHED ON DISTANT SHORES, LED BY AN EXPERIENCED GRAND COMMANDER BEEMARINE MALEVOLENCE.

After watching only the endless waves for almost a month, the sight of a narrow land on the horizon was a welcome reprieve. Malevolence stood at the helm of her ship, bravely meeting the strong wind there, and reminded herself of her task.

She was given the most honourable and blessed task by her Father—to prepare a beachhead for the further conquest of the distant continent, Ashida. This place was where the Vardish Empire once thrived and took over other countries; now it was barely surviving.

To aid in her task, Malevolence had ten ships, each carrying two hundred humans, two hundred thousand bees, and enough supplies to last them all for another month after they will land.

In total, she had a million bees under her command—a tiny amount compared to the armies she led in the past—but each of them carried the latest genes that Father also bestowed upon Malevolence herself.

This meant that each of them was immune to the cold of the usnea trees, many seeds of which they carried on the ships.

(If not for the usnea trees, Malevolence would've preferred older fighters with worse genes, but more real combat experience. The time they spent training and doing drills while travelling on ships wasn't the same as a year of experience conquering forests and human fields.)

There were also two dozen carrier dragons and fifty dodos of breeding age—a large number even in the scale of the entire Empire.

But there was something even better.

Besides all these bees, humans and beasts, Malevolence carried a dozen exalted Jellybee Queens!

She had permission from Father to build not only new forts and work camps, but proper sub-hives whenever she felt appropriate, as well as place worthy bees as their leaders. Even to be their leader herself, although Malevolence preferred not to be, since she was a Warrior, not a Foreman or a Queen.

And of course, there were also some forces of the Bee Empire already working on the Ashida land. The location with their strongest presence was where Malevolence's ships were going—a beach full of usnea trees, bee dwellings, and not much else.

Malevolence's signaller landed on the helm near her, interrupting Malevolence's thoughts.

"Grand Commander, we receive telepathic messages from the Agents on the continent. They greet us and say that we can dock in the bay ahead—it's clear from dangerous beasts. They are also very happy to finally meet us, and add a request for medical assistance," the bee said.

Malevolence frowned, then looked ahead and knew that it would take at least another twenty minutes before they even started disembarking on the shore.

Why would the bees on the Ashida continent ask for medical assistance? According to the last report (which was a month old by now, but still), they were doing well thanks to the usnea trees' protection. More importantly, they had their own Physicians.

"Ask them for a full status report."

"Yes, Grand Commander," said the signaller and went silent.

A couple of minutes later, she spoke again.

"Reporting: the current status of Camp Big Bay is good. Food supply is above average. The wounded are few, but they are healing. Wild beasts attack us, but almost nobody can break past the usnea trees. Medical assistance is needed for loyal humans. There's a village of a hundred people that has converted to Father's faith, but many of them fell ill from water poisoned by local plants. You should be careful where you gather your water, too, Grand Commander Malevolence."

"I see. So they have a fully loyal group of humans?" Malevolence let out a huff. "As if they can be fully loyal."

She didn't like helping humans, and she found it annoying how many Agents and other Workers, especially of the younger generations, treated humans more and more like creatures as worthy of existence as bees.

Clearly, the Agent that sent this report didn't even think that the humans could be abandoned to their fate, even if they were loyal—healing them might take a lot of resources.

But… Father only sent enough humans with Malevolence to crew her ships, and she didn't have any mechas with her either. She will need extra brute force.

"In this situation, we can't afford to waste these. Pass an order to prepare a few dodos for bloodletting—I'm sure that immunising these humans will help a lot. Prepare Physicians, too."

"Yes, Grand Commander."

Signaller saluted and left; Malevolence continued to watch the approaching shore for a while, then went to inspect her forces one last time.

***

The landing went splendidly.

The entire bay was covered in usnea trees, and the local Agents didn't lie—very few creatures moved past their groves. Even flying beasts avoided the area because of the strong winds that were constantly blowing there.

Malevolence's Warriors only had to fight off a few dozen random gnats—these bastards somehow always found a way to where you didn't want them to see.

There already was a camp built, but it was too small for a million bees—thankfully, their own forts were movable, and humans carried them out to the shore.

Humans themselves began establishing a small camp, but most of them were going to rest on the ships, which was safer; Malevolence left some people to guard them from ever-spawning parasites.

While most of the army was making camp, Malevolence took a force of two hundred thousand bees, two dozen humans, and the Agent who sent a request for help.

"I want to see these sick humans with my own eyes… Is their settlement far?"

"No, Grand Commander. We will travel there in an hour, no two, because humans will have to take a path around the usnea trees." The Agent pointed to the beach. "We left a path for them and guard it ourselves, although it's troublesome."

"Then lead the way, Agent."

The Agent smiled.

"Of course. And thank you for being so quick about this… These humans might not have long. You arrived just on time!"

Well, now Malevolence wanted to be late…