Helping-Hands’ shoulders relaxed a little.
"Mother-Queen, I simply recalled the reports about the number of insects killed during purges on the fields. Especially when ant and termite nests were attacked and drowned or burned. The reports wrote about piles of insect carcasses—large enough to feed a few humans, I’m sure! If we can eat insect meat, why can’t humans?"
Workharder nodded eagerly.
"I bet they won’t even have to butcher the carcasses first, they can just cook and eat them whole!"
"But many of these insects are venomous or carry illnesses even after cooking," Tabletina protested. "This is why we don’t eat them all ourselves. There are entire lists of which insects are fine to eat and which gave bees food poisoning. Humans will need their own, separate lists!"
"Then we can make them," I said. "It will be—"
I was interrupted by Listener, who suddenly spoke up.
"Humans already eat insects sometimes—the most desperate or the most wild of them. They believe that eating certain creatures is too gross, but I’m sure that we and hunger can convince them, Father. I actually had the same idea as sister Helping-Hands—it can work! Whisper said."
I blinked, and realized that the delayed reply was about Helping-Hands’ last words. This delay made me wish we had a radio already...
"Ahem. Yes, we can make the lists and use the humans’ existing knowledge as the base for them. In the meantime, Naregan people can build more fishing boats! And of course, we will send human ambassadors and Agent Bees to all four kingdoms immediately. Let’s see how many of them know what’s best for them."
After we had a rough plan, the Council worked quickly on making it more detailed. Only a couple days after this, ambassadors went to the other kingdoms, while our Researchers began working with humans to solve global food shortages.
Invention of canned fish (and other food) was doing moderately well. The Researchers met a lot of obstacles, but they were fighting them.
First, they had to test various types of glass to see which works best for jars and is the most temperature-resistant (some kinds of glass just cracked during attempts to cook their contents).
Then they had to find how and from what to make the lids for the jars. The material had to be temperature resistant, but able to create an airtight seal.
By now bees were using a few simple types of lacquer to protect metal and wood from the elements, as well as to paint crockery. Not all of them were temperature-resistant, though, and the Researchers still had to come up with the sealing technology that didn’t rely on wax or propolis.
The simplest part was to learn how to regulate temperature during cooking. The sealed glass jars with fish inside were put in water, which was then heated up until boiling. Some bees with heat vision made sure the fire under the water wasn’t too hot.
As for the list of edible insects, this was bound to be constantly changing because of how quickly they evolved. Whisper’s Agents quickly brought some preliminary information, which a team of Archivists and Physicians put together with our own list of safe to eat insects and critters.
After this, conducting a few experiments on humans was simple. A few people acting on High King Farini’s orders cooked the insects we found and offered them to people poor and hungry enough to agree without question. Farini himself didn’t even think there was anything wrong with the idea...
Then Agents quietly watched the reaction of these humans and made notes. The hardest part was to make sure that they got sick from the food and not from some other contaminant.
By the time the ambassadors made their difficult and long (even on horses it took almost a month) journey to the courts of other countries, our Researchers had achieved successes in their projects.
The lists of safe to eat insects were 73% precise according to the latest statistics, and Researchers not only learned how to make jars for canning food, but also how to explain the process to humans.
Instead of blowing glass jars with a pipe, the Researchers used press forms and bellows. This way, anyone could make a glass jar.
Which promised to be a useful technology in any case. Bees could use glass, but they were more familiar with clay. Good glass was sturdier and lighter, though.
After this good news, I really hoped to hear something good from the ambassadors, too. They had dragon riders with them to swiftly carry messages, so I didn’t have to wait another month to hear the news.
As I expected, the Barahi Kingdom met the Naregan ambassadors the most warmly. Then they immediately asked for more food, promising to pay for it... later. Eventually. But of course, pay a lot!
They weren’t even really insulted when the ambassador suggested they become a protectorate of Naregan Kingdom. As the Agent Bee on the place wrote in her report, "The king of Barahi humans acted affronted for the show, but in his mind was already imagining how he will barter for the best conditions for himself and his people. I expect that we will be bartering for a week or two, but then Barahi will officially become a part of Naregan Kingdom."
Things were much worse in Judji, the second most important place. Even worse than I expected.
Although our ambassador was welcomed warmly, at the first suggestion that Judji bows its head in front of any kings, the representative of its senate immediately replied with a complete refusal.
"He’s true in his thoughts, and so are the other senators my team of Agents listened to. Judji people hate all kings. Hate ’monarchy’. They believe that their freedom is more important than anything, and that they will weather the famines and the plagues on their own. Oh, and before this the senate had also gifted King Farini a couple of concubines. They are supposed to spy on his secrets of fighting sicknesses and deliver the news to Judji."
’Well, great.’ I thought as I read this report. ’Should we go straight to plan B, then?’