Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire-Chapter 376: Ironhand Princess

The hallways inside were wide enough for two bees to move past each other or for one bee to carefully fly. There were also just as many various levers and cables for bees to pull to make the giant machine move, cogs the size of houses and all sorts of mechanical wonders.

Yet again, I marveled at what my girls have (with my help) created. And Amby was just as impressed, too—it wasn’t every day at all that she left Hive Supremo, especially to see something like that.

I knew that someone as pragmatic and as pro-bee as her wouldn’t be able to resist the majesty of the Bee Empire’s creations! It was absolutely different from her first reactions to dragons or humans, which all were ugly beasts in her eyes.

After we got our fill of the mechas’ insides, Ambrosia and I returned to the control cabin. This time we just sat on empty seats there to rest and didn’t touch anything. Since Destroyer and her squad were waiting for our call in the resting rooms, and the bees that worked on the mecha were all outside, it was almost cozy here.

In an "alien spaceship cabin" sort of way.

"So, was this mecha worthy of your name, Mother-Queen?" Engine-See asked, twirling her fingers nervously. "If this guide wasn’t enough, we can bring it out for a demonstration of its capabilities. But I hope you will give us this honor. After all—"

Ambrosia shook her head and Engine-See fell silent with a crestfallen expression that she hurriedly tried to school into something neutral.

I looked at my bee-wife worriedly. I thought she liked the mecha! But—

"No," Amby said. "Engine-See, this mecha is... great. Wonderful. What other words are here, Necty?"

"Magnificent? Stunning? Incredible?" I said, growing only more puzzling.

"Yes, all of them! But... You can do even better. Bigger. Stronger!" Amby waved her hands, beaming. "Machines like this will build for us an Empire that humans will be envious of. The ’Princesses’ aren’t enough—we need ’Queens’! I know it was in the plans. The first Queen-type mecha will have my name, Engine-See, and nothing else."

Even I was moved by this passionate speech—Engine-See looked like God himself came down to her to pass her the Bible.

"Thank you, Mother-Queen! The production, the designs—we will work even harder—no, we will work *smarter* to make it done as soon as possible! As for this mecha’s name..."

"Call it Ironhand," Ambrosia said. "It’s built like a bee, and it’s a fitting name for a bee like that."

"Nice! Your names are always on the spot." I gave Amby a pair of thumbs up. "Now, Engine-See—since everything runs so smoothly, I can spare some resources from other parts of the Empire on this project now. There were a lot of trophy metal weapons and armor from the battles at Eastern Expanse Reach—it will need to be disinfected, and it will take time to carry it here... But this factory can actually melt the pieces without breaking them apart first."

Engine-See looked even more eager to keep working, so after this I hurriedly added,

"But we can talk about this during the next Empire Council. For now, I think we are done examining things, so... You can return to your usual work. We will manage ourselves here—and won’t pull any levers, I promise."

Engine-See, this sweet, naive girl, actually believed my words about levers immediately and left us unsupervised in the control cabin. Which immediately made my hands itchy...

But I was a man of honor! I held myself together and instead did what I actually wanted to.

All the chairs in the cabin were made from living stone and nailed down to not fall from the mecha’s movements. To sit next to Amby, I had to stand up and go to sit on the floor—but this way I could put my head on her knees.

As soon as I did, Amby immediately put her hands into my hair and began gently massaging my scalp with tips of her fingers, being extremely careful with her claws. It was pure bliss.

"You know me so well..." I muttered, closing my eyes from the sensations. "Oh, Amby, I love you so much. Did you like this tour? Are you hungry? I can call Destroyer to bring us our packed lunch or something from the local kitchens."

"I’m not so hungry yet. And... Yes, the tour was more than worth leaving the hive for. Thank you for convincing me to come, Necty," Amby said, brushing my hair. "It’s also good for a Queen to see how her daughters live and work in all kinds of places. These seats, for one thing, could use some cushioning."

I chuckled.

"Yeah, my ass feels exactly the same things on the floor as it does on these chairs. Some leather would go a long way here. If the mecha’s name is Ironhand, then its pilots should all share the name Ironass after sitting here for hours..."

Amby chuckled in response, and I grinned at the sound. It was one of my favorite ones. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓

"I wish we didn’t have to work alongside humans even after we built more of these mechas," she said suddenly. "I imagine these machines helping us build the Bee Empire into something akin to this manufactory—grand, massive, solid. We could’ve gotten rid of humans. I know why we can’t, but I wish we could. After what you told about Castle Soneraht, I feel like their existence will cost the Empire dearly one day."

I frowned and reluctantly pulled away from Amby’s ministrations to look at her face. To my surprise, instead of hateful or disgusted, she just looked deeply concerned.

"We can defeat them if they attack, Amby. A lot of them will fight on our side. Humans aren’t scary to us anymore."

"They are not. But think about this—the grander humans are now, the more resources parasites of all kinds will gather from them a few years later. Resources that they will turn on us..."

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