Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

"The Emperor of the Vardish Empire, blessed be His name and may He rule eternally, demands that you pay Him the tribute of a twenty thousand baskets of grain, ten thousand ingots of silver and five thousand slaves, as well as the secrets of the witchcraft that protects your 'Blood Brotherhood' from infections and plagues! Do this, and you will earn His gratitude. Fail it, and you will earn His wrath! Thousands of cannons will rain iron down on your armies and your fortresses will be washed away like sand figures by a wave. This was told by us, the ambassador of the Vardish Empire and carrier of His Majesty's voice, Ion Clam… Clavenite."

There, Agent Whisper, who was translating this entire speech to me from human language, cringed.

"This was hard to pronounce, Father. I should practice more!"

I could only smile at her.

"C'mon, you actually learned human language! I still can barely pick out individual words when humans speak."

The human stood in the High King Farini's throne hall, wearing a set of exotically styled clothing with gilded embroidery and a lot of attitude for someone who basically threatened someone with war.

Maybe it was because he came to the palace with an entire hundred of soldiers, and five of them were standing with him right now. It was extremely impolite, but the Vardish Empire was influential enough that Farini had to allow it.

Evil looks were sent at him from all directions, but he ignored them with admirable aplomb. His blue face, as far as I could tell, showed nothing but self-assuredness.

Ah, yes. He was blue. If humans from Naregan Kingdom and its surroundings were various shades of green (mostly forest green in Naregan Kingdom), then humans originating from the Vardish Empire were distinctly turquoise, and even their hair wasn't just brown, it was purplish.

When I first saw the ambassador, this came like a bit of a shock, even though I knew about it from others, of course.

And this led me to *why* I was here, in the heart of Naregan Kingdom, days away from the Hive Supremo and all the mechas and prototype radios that were built in there at this very moment.

Because of Undecided's prophecy.

The ambassador's arrival was an important point of it, which stayed almost unchangeable in most of the timelines. On the next day, she told the Council more about the ambassador and his ultimatum.

As it turned out, the Vardish Empire brought us problems, and they weren't lying about the "thousands of cannons". Right now, their massive combat fleet has reached the Eastern Expanse Reach's shores and brought soldiers for a new wave of colonial occupation!

This was a serious force which we couldn't easily bat away, and the entire ultimatum was just a thin excuse to start a war.

So I was here, now, sitting in a special alcove behind Farini's throne to coordinate the war from its frontline. Only this way I could avoid communication delays from here to Hive Supremo.

"Of course, Farini will refuse this. We don't have twenty thousand baskets of grain to spare—Farini sold the excess already," Whisper continued. "But you knew this already, Father."

"Yes," I said, smirking. "But the Vardish Empire doesn't have to know this. Let them think twice about coming up to *our* place and toying with us like this…"

Nothing was better than some pasturing! While Farini was formulating the best response, I rudely interrupted his thoughts with my own.

'Humiliate this man! The Vardish Empire can't become more war-inclined than it already is, and if we act bolder than we ought to, they might think twice about attacking and give us more time to prepare. Say that you'd send him back in pieces instead of a reply, but you don't want him to piss his pants and stain your floors. Say that all their cannonballs will just become swords that will cut down all their soldiers. Show them we don't fear!'

'Your Majesty has some vicious insults,' Farini thought. I wasn't sure if he was impressed or surprised. 'But this man deserves it for daring to come to us and talk with so little respect. Those Vardish people treat anyone from this continent like dirt under their feet… It's time for them to see which of us should actually wipe his face!'

With these words, he stood up from his seat to look down at the ambassador. Instead of translating aloud his next words, Whisper just clicked her tongue and grinned.

"No, my human is definitely the best. He told your insults with so much vigor… Look at this ambassador, he actually *might* piss his pants like some disgusting worm!"

The ambassador took a slight step back, and although his chin was still high, my antennae caught a whiff of sweat coming from his pores.

His guards looked around, clearly wondering if Farini was about to change his mind about not sending the ambassador back in pieces. But he just waved his hand.

"He ordered the guards to escort the ambassador out. The audience is over," Whisper said.

Two dozen of glowering guards and four dozen of hidden, but just as glowering Warrior Bees that were guarding the palace from smaller invaders, escorted the ambassador outside.

After this, the only people left in the throne hall were those who were used to sentient bees and treated us as higher beings. I and Whisper didn't have to fear anything as we left our alcove and joined Farini on his throne.

Its back was covered in leaf carvings that served as surprisingly good sitting spots. Of course, it meant that to speak with me face-to-face Farini had to stand near the throne, or better yet, sit somewhere else nearby.

Humiliating? Perhaps. But it only solidified the bees' status here.

The only chair was already taken by his wife (a nice, but very lacking opinions woman), though, so Farini stood. He even bowed to me out of respect.

'Your Majesty! Please, guide us in the war that will inevitably begin!'