Anad bowed his head, and B568-114 continued translating his thoughts to me, sounding happier and happier with each word.
"'Our village is already poor! With so many men dead or blind, we won't have enough hands to work our fields! If the law-makers rob us of our things for daring to ask their help, we will all starve! Please, help us, emperor of spirits…'" B568-114 paused and smiled at me victoriously. "Father, those thoughts were all true and desperate. This means that we already won!"
I shook my head, feeling a little bad for the poor villagers—just a little.
"A beast that convulses in agony can still kill many bees before it dies. But this is surely a great opportunity… Now tell him, B568-114, 'You ask for a lot of help, but suggest very little. If you want my patronage, then as payment, I accept nothing less than your eternal loyalty! Bow to me to the ground, and swear sincerely, and if you lie, death will claim you this instant.'"
The man shook a bit more, then hesitantly bowed lower, until his forehead touched the ground. He whispered something, and after a pause, B568-114 echoed,
"'Please, please help… Steal me to the land of spirits, but keep my wife and children with full bellies, spirit emperor. Please…'"
"Ah, I almost want to show myself to this guy. Maybe later, when I have my shiny armor on—I gotta look like a proper emperor to impress them with my tiny size." B568-114 looked at me with alarm, so I reached out to give her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, I'm going to risk myself like that yet. Anyway, we must continue."
I didn't know much about the situation among humans. The new group that came to the village apparently were "law-makers"—some sort of guards or police, I assumed. I also assumed that they were called in for help in the early days of the bee-human war, but for whatever reason, only came here today.
By which point, the villagers weren't that happy to see them. Why, though? Were they *that* bad?
I gestured for B568-114 to translate and went on,
"'Rise, Anad Shach, servant of the spirit emperor. Answer with your thoughts—why your own human law-makers are a blight to you? You called for their help yourself—and now you aren't even willing to accept the consequences?'"
Anad straightened up, but stayed kneeling on the ground.
B568-114 translated his words with more effort than usual—some of them were clearly unfamiliar to her.
"'I never wanted to call them! They are lazy and greedy bastards who only ride around and grow fat! They would never believe tales of spirits in the first place! But that fool, Garan, went to call for help, anyway. Now the law-makers are here like bandits. And bandits are just bandits! Zash and his lot, these people… If only lightning could strike them all down! The law-makers rest for now, but if I don't tell them something they will like until the end of the day, they will gather "tax" from us, and our coffers are already empty!'"
Talk about police brutality, indeed.
"'Then it's very simple, Anad Shach. Let one dog chew on another's tail. You still host and care for the Zash's people. Tell the law-makers that they were the source of all your problems and you want to give them over to your human law.'"
Anad let out something like a gasp.
"'But that would be… Betrayal of our promise of hospitality.'"
"'They entered your village like bandits. Promises given to scum like them don't count. Remember whom you serve now! Succeed in this, and your village will be safe from invaders. Then, other tasks will wait—with even richer rewards.'"
Anad swayed around, as if about to fall, then lowered his head.
"'Yes, spirit emperor… The scum doesn't deserve my sympathy. We were going to give them to law-makers from the start… I must go tell people this all immediately.'"
He slowly rose to his feet, and I turned to B568-114.
"Great job, my daughter! Now we better prepare to get away from here. I don't want us to be noticed by someone when we go outside."
While the village head walked out of his house, I and B568-114 climbed down his back. We didn't have time to crawl far before we had to just jump off his back and try to fly to the ground quieter.
Thankfully, he walked down the street still without noticing a thing. Meanwhile, I and B568-114 were met by a squad of quietly worried bodyguards, who waited at the door of the building.
"Father," Destroyer saluted. "I apologize we couldn't follow you fast enough, while staying stealthy. You and B568-114 were all alone inside."
"That's alright. Anyway, our business here is done! We have set things into motion, and now we must wait. Probably until tomorrow. B568-114, can you message Invincible-13 and Scourge from here, so they pick us up from here?"
B568-114 nodded rapidly.
"Sure, Father! It's not a problem."
"Can you even tell that they got your message if you can't hear their thoughts from here?"
"Of course I can. It's obvious! I mean… I don't know how to explain it to someone who can only talk with their mouth." B568-114 gasped and covered her mouth. "I didn't mean it in a bad way, Father!"
"No offense taken. Besides, maybe luck will let me take the telepathy gene myself in the next upgrade."
With morphotyping it would be an upgrade, OPness of which was impossible to describe with words.
Soon, we saw Scourge flying over the roofs of nearby houses. Before we mounted it, though, I asked B568-114.
"Can you message Ambrosia from here?"
She frowned, then shook her head.
"No, Father, I'm sorry…"
"Alright. Then, Invincible-13 and Quietstep will fly back to Hive Supremo and report to Ambrosia. I and B568-114 will stay in research camp overnight and monitor the situation, but I need a dragon to come to the research camp next morning—this is your task, Invincible-13."
I got the obedience of the village head, but there were still all the other people who could be problematic.
Especially those who fought against bees in Hive Supremo just recently!