Fields full of strange crops stretched before me. Once again, it was made clear that humans really knew how to build. I didn’t really know anything about farming, but even I could tell when something was impressive. The farmland, I knew, was infertile and difficult to cultivate. This world wasn’t just full of metal; it was practically stuffed to the brim with metal both familiar and fantastical, to the point that metals of various kinds were present in the freaking soil. So what sorts of crops could grow in such conditions? What sorts of crops consumable by humans could they farm like this?
Seaweed. Well, it probably wasn’t actual seaweed, considering the lack of… sea. But looking at the fields, there was no doubt about it. Rows and rows of strange-looking seaweed stalks flowed as if they were still in water, growing to be just barely taller than the humans toiling away, and that was when they were not yet ready to be harvested.
“Food has already been an issue since the Burning, and it will only become worse. I am a fighter. Whatever you expect of me is unfortunately not sufficient for feeding the people of this city.”
I was floating alongside my new city leaders, and one of them, Jill Yemonto, was boldly complaining to my face. Benita, buzzing nearby, looked like she wanted to sting Jill on her nosy nose.
I was actually fine with her assessment. In fact, I kinda wished my bees would directly confront me instead of me just knowing their thoughts through the Link. But oh well.
“I’m aware. That’s why the merchants are now part of Yiwi’s official leadership. Yes, I know you’re not happy with it, Soipo, but thanks to me, those same merchants aren’t currently mounting your head on a spike.”
The various humans around me cringed at the hypothetical. Huh. Looking at their Minds, apparently mounting heads was a very unusual practice. It wasn’t exactly a common occurrence in my old world during modern times, but people certainly did it in the past. But apparently it wasn’t something people had done here. I suppose there was just too much respect for the head, which made sense. Mind was very important, after all.
Even so, wouldn’t that make the head-mounting thing twice as effective? Its entire purpose was to like, strike fear or something, right? Well, whatever.
“In any case, I expect you guys to figure something out. I don’t intend to have a hand in managing this city and its humans, so that’s a you problem. Of course, I’ll be collaborating with you, and will most likely have bees who are more involved with the city’s operations, but I myself don’t really care about that stuff. I’m a queen, after all. I have more important matters to attend to.”
It was all a matter of perspective. Was it important to ensure that the people in Yiwi didn’t starve? That their homes and businesses could be rebuilt? Their dead mourned? Eh.
Now planting flowers in the forest, that was real shit.
In all seriousness, I really didn’t want to involve myself with the city’s management. I cared about the hive, after all. And in my mind, my research and continued birthing of bees would most benefit the hive, not ruling a human city.
“While I agree, I fear we won’t have the luxury of choice. Conquering this city means that we are now invested in its success. Otherwise, it will all have been wasted. Not to mention that it is our largest, most sturdy wall protecting us from the rest of humanity.”
True enough, Yiwi was most useful as a buffer between the hive itself and other humans. The Kingdom, the Empire, the Theocracy, all those generic-sounding powers in the world would hopefully be none the wiser and delayed thanks to Yiwi’s existence. And as for being invested in its success, I wasn’t overly worried about it. The leadership, I already knew, was fully capable of bringing Yiwi back up.
Soipo the City Lord, standing nervously nearby, was a cowardly man to anyone who knew of him. While that may have been true, I would venture to use the word careful instead. Careful to a fault, maybe, but still. He wasn’t incompetent, he had just come up against things he couldn’t handle in the end. With his reluctance to trust done away with, I was certain his talents would truly shine. After all, who was there for him to be afraid of?
Alongside him stood another interesting party. The twelve merchants, of whom only one had died in the battle, were also very capable individuals. It was through their power that the Fighters had become a force able to threaten the city, after all, and that was before my involvement. The eleven remaining business people would be invaluable in making sure the city would recover in a quick fashion, and would be integral in the efforts to keep people from spreading information willy-nilly.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
Speaking of the merchants. One of them, an older man, had died during the battle. I didn’t really care about him too much, but his business was just hanging there. I decided to give all his property to Mesne, since she was the merchant with the smallest business. The distant stare she had plastered on her face as she overlooked the fields masked a storm of panic. Well, she would figure things out, surely.
On the note of the dead merchant man, he was a victim of an extremely annoying rogue variable. The merc team of edgy sword-wielders were the ones who had killed him, single-handedly invading his hideout and cutting the man down. They had also left a wake of bodies in their path, and were some of the few who had, presumably, managed to escape the city. Which was really, really bad. It was so bad that, in the dead of night, I sent Linked mercenaries and warrior bees to chase the sword team down. It was a bit risky, considering I wasn’t fully aware of the effects range would have on the Linkers. But taking that risk was better than letting those mercenaries go free. According to our information, they had left when the Rotor fell, so they didn’t know any concrete details about the bees. But they presumably knew of our existence, to some degree, as the most important mercs had been informed by mercenary leadership.
I was starting to get really annoyed at my lack of knowledge. All this power and information at my fingertips, but I hadn’t had the time to test the Linker bees’ range, among other things. It freaking pissed me off.
Well, from there we could move on to the enemy. Mercenaries themselves were at best useful for manual labor, which was fine enough. Their leaders were a different story, though. The most exceptional was, of course, Jill Yemonto. Her sheer competence made her an obvious candidate to be one of the City Lord’s direct advisors, as well as my main liaison for the city. The other mercenary leaders weren’t quite as impressive, but they had another important use.
The plain fact that they led the Yiwi headquarters of powerful international organizations.
It was imperative that the other branches of Hayrey and Sons’, Yemonto Co., and the Ehra Group did not interfere with Yiwi in the time to come. Introducing more rogue variables like that would just be incredibly annoying. It was bad enough that Goloyo was bound to show up eventually, and I didn’t really know what to make of them. An entire mercenary company, made up of a single small team of mercenaries? Wack. But the main point was that the mercenary leaders were important due to their positions.
And Harven? Not much to say there. The man worked alone, with his own small company he led and grew himself. He once sought power, but now, all he would be able to do was use his capabilities to serve my odd jobs. He would also advise the City Lord alongside Jill, but as an independent party, he ‘officially’ had the freedom to do other things.
Most damning of the groups within the city, other than the regular citizens, were the Fighters. Now, they were annoying for a few different reasons, not least of which being that their command structure was fucked. They were, after all, primarily a civilian militia. Their actual leadership was more like bossy or inspiring people who told people to do things, rather than actually lead. They had relied on the merchants and their power for guidance, so in the field, their commanders were more like representatives who were chosen to receive orders from on high. Here they were only represented by Oyonshe and his friends, along with a few of the so-called commanders.
“Sorry about this, you guys, but you have no choice in the matter as it is. Ruling is one thing, but living is another. There are smaller things that need to be addressed to ensure Yiwi functions as I want it to, things the City Lord and the rest of the leadership aren’t capable of. You all will be in charge of the people. Inspiring them, guiding them. Throwing them off the trail. Before, you were the ones who made sure they remained unsatisfied with their situation, and maintained the rage necessary to fight. Now, you will do the opposite. Placate them. Make sure their suspicion does not fester. That is your new task.”
Without another word, the people bowed. Ooh! That felt kinda good. Maybe I should bowing standard practice.
“I think your power has corrupted you. Instead of experimentation, we must now embark on a journey of self-reflection so that you may become a more effective ruler.”
Sure thing bud. In that case, no need to lay any more eggs!
“What I meant to say is that your wisdom, which is in part inherited from myself, is quite vast indeed. And therefore, the arrogance your power has afforded you, which is sourced entirely from yourself, is something to work on. Shall we continue the battle of wits?”
A journey, huh…? I know it was mostly a joke, and mostly implied to be an internal journey, but the idea of an actual adventure was very attractive. Once the new queens were made, then maybe….
I played down the three large countries before, but there really was much to explore in this world. Somuia was a huge country dominating the continent. Dreva was the only real rival country on the landmass, a mysterious place to the west. It was the place I knew the least about, since the only Drevani I controlled, like Vlugh, left the theocratic nation at an early age. And then there was the island nation of Rikitan, and its Riktish Empire. The giant home island to the south was also something of a mystery, and its various territories to the far west and east of the continent would be interesting to visit.
Speaking of the east and west, there were a few interesting places. The Spiral Spire to the west, and the mountains to the east. The monster territories of the south east, and the war currently happening there were yet another fascinating element in the wider world.
All these places. So much to see. One day I would go, at least to a few of them. It was all so… different.
In my old life, I didn’t give much chance to things that were different. What little chance I did give were visits to a few countries outside my own, but that was when I was younger. When my mother…. When I had the time and money to do so. Even then, I doubt I gave those experiences enough credit. And later in life? New things were irrelevant. Or, at least, I saw them as such. I always thought I was too busy, too preoccupied with whatever was going on. Looking within, I finally realized why I had been so insistent on seeing Yiwi myself.
I regretted my previous life.
Maybe my desires were just being influenced by Queen’s nature. She wasn’t adventurous, but she had a strong desire to learn more and become stronger, in part to protect and grow the hive. It was probably what made her special, and more than likely the reason her Mind was unusually powerful. But I knew it was something within me, something that wanted to change.
“Well, that’s that. I came here mostly just because of a selfish desire to visit the city in person, so I don’t have much else planned. We’ll probably stick around for another day or so before heading back. I’m counting on y’all to do a great job. Don’t worry; I’ll know what you’re thinking at all times, so no pressure!”
Finally, a chance to relax. With this whole situation behind us and the responsibilities delegated, I could finally dedicate brainpower to something other than this bullshit. It was thankfully over and done with. As we all turned around to look at the crumbling ruins of the city, I officially declared Operation Yiwi a rousing success!