War on the horizon

Ambrosia tilted her head. She was as beautiful as always, and as unconcerned about the *gruesome wound* as everybody else.

"She's definitely going to die with this wound. What can we even help her with?" She shook her head. "Instead, better count how many Warrior Bees died to know how many replacements we need. Also…" She turned to B1013 and B1024. "Did you find where the missing patrol was? Was that where you were attacked?"

"Yes. I can show where it is, Queen! Just… a bit more rest, and I can dance about it," B1013 said.

My hands dropped.

Now I felt sad *and* stupid.

Of course, nobody cared. Bees died every day—hundreds of them. Hell, I barely knew the individual ones, anyway. I'd forget all their names if they weren't written in their status windows.

I didn't even had a good reason to feel sad. I just did.

A hand touched my shoulder.

"Nectus… are you feeling sick in the head again?"

I gaped at Ambrosia, who stared intently in my face. She was so close now, I could see individual facets in her eyes.

"What?! No! I'm sad! Can't you see that I'm sad?"

She frowned.

"Aren't those the same?"

"No! It's not the same if I say it's not the same!"

It felt the same.

The insanity of being a human *and* a bee—and I couldn't just stop being either of those.

"Nectus, either way, you should rest and recover. I can write the numbers for you before you recover. There can't be more than twenty, and I know how to count to twenty."

I was stunned speechless, unsure if I should cry because I was sad, cry because I was touched, or cry because I was angry.

In the end, it all ended the same way. Tears poured down my cheeks.

Ambrosia shook her head and stepped away from me.

B1054 chuckled and laid down on the ground.

"Father pours so much water out of his eyes… Silly."

Then her health went to 〔0/10〕.

There were smiles and giggles from other Warrior Bees as they looked at my teary face.

I gave up.

"Fuck it, fine!" I sniffed. "Amby, I can write things myself! Just, j-just, give me a moment."

"And someone should dance about where the fight happened. We can't send more bees there," Ambrosia said.

Several Warrior Bees jumped to their feet at once.

"I can do it, Queen!"

"No, me! I'm less hurt!"

"Me, too! I will be the hero who dances!"

And now, suddenly, everything was a whirlwind of activity again.

I counted the dead Warrior Bees (23 counting the lost patrol; we didn't need to train extras *yet*, but we were going to). Then I asked alive Warrior Bees about the giant wasps they've met.

What I heard was alarming to the extreme.

A massive wasp-like creature, predatory and vicious enough to kill not just one bee, but ten at once, even though it probably won't even eat them. I could imagine only one insect that fit the description.

A giant hornet, also known as *murder hornet*.

My thoughts flashed back to the time I led the Warrior Bees to the first patrol. Three ants and a corpse—did it belong to one of *them*?

That would mean they lived nearby.

If this was true, then… Oh, then we were *so* fucked.

But before I could properly reflect and feel devastated about that, I was called by a pair of Material Foragers.

They were kneeling next to B1054's body, holding their knives as if ready to stab.

"Father! We want to take this bee's bones, but we don't know how best to get them out. Do you have some advice? Should we just cut them out?"

'Noooo, don't take bones out of my freshly dead daughter!' I wanted to say.

Instead, I said,

"Yes, but carry that body somewhere outside first, because the blood will be everywhere! Cleaning Bees already deal with enough garbage in this hive."

"Right! Should've thought about that!" The Material Forager slapped her forehead. "Ouch! Shouldn't have done that."

After this, I still did my best to clean the wounds of surviving Warrior Bees with water, and even smeared them with honey afterward (I heard it could be used instead of antiseptic, and hoped it was true).

〔Primitive Medicine〕 

Brainpower requirement: 15 

Wellness: +0,2% per 1 thousand populace with access to healthcare.

Resilience: +0,2 per 1 thousand populace with access to healthcare.

〔〕〔〕〔〕 

"It hurts less now," the Warrior Bee B1013 commented, looking at the cleaned-up gash over her arm. "You say it will heal faster, Father, and I only need to wash it and put honey over it?"

"Yes. And also, you must put fresh honey over it every day, and try not to make it wet again. Not to make it dirty, either, of course."

B1013 nodded with an expression of intense concentration on her face. She looked like a wizard apprentice trying to memorize an arcane ritual…

The Ritual Of Cleaning Wounds. Or the Ritual Of Minor Healing.

'Well, she's not a scientist. As long as she takes care of that wound and doesn't drink potions from frog blood and cat piss, she might think whatever she wants about medicine!'

I patted B1013's forearm.

"Move this hand less, rest well, and eat and drink plenty. Tell that to your sisters, alright? Teach this to them, too."

At least I could use this moment as an opportunity to implement a new technology.

"Yes, Father! Thank you, Father."

As soon as she flew away, I remembered about the hornets again.

As if food troubles weren't enough!

'There will be war, and we are *deathly* unprepared for it.'