Brainpower requirement: 60
Requires: Rank-Based Hierarchy
Allows creating up to 5 council positions. When a position is filled, the colony will get bonuses or penalties based on the council member's skills. If a council position exists, but isn't filled, the colony will suffer penalties.
But it was one thing to declare a Colony Council, and another to implement it.
All bees present had at least an idea of the rank-based hierarchy. But this was about taking things a step further.
"You all are really smart girls—so I want you to make more decisions by yourself. I want you to take responsibility! To only report to me when you are truly lost. For example…"
I pointed at Chief Foreman B339.
"We've lost a lot of Foremen Bees in the fight against the hornets, so the colony needs to train new ones. But I have more important things to do than count myself how many bees need to be trained, picking new recruits and assigning them to trainers and leaders. No, I want to just tell you 'we need this many Foremen Bees', and you say, 'Sir, yes, sir!' and fix is aaaaaall up! Or better yet, I don't even tell you. You just know how many Foremen Bees we need, because I explained it to you once, and it hasn't changed since then."
"Sir, yes, sir! I will fix it all up, Father—that's no problem at all." She boastfully raised her hammer. "I will train those weak larvae faster than you get out of your sleeping cell in the morning!"
Ambrosia shook her head.
"Chief Foreman, don't be so overconfident. This is much more than just about shouting at Forager Bees." She clicked her tongue. "You've all been taking some of Nectus' worst personality traits together with his titles."
I put my hands on my hips.
"Amby, on one hand, you are right… On the other, since *when* did I have this in my personality? When?!" I huffed. "If anything, I'm under-confident! All the time!"
Ambrosia just shook her head. Her expression said everything, and that everything was, "I will not argue, because I'm right, as always. And you know it."
But then she reached out to pat my shoulder, and as if it was a magic ointment, my pride was instantly soothed.
"Anyway…" I turned to other Advisers. "I'm going to teach you your responsibilities. Please, learn fast."
Their responsibilities were:
Military Adviser managed Warrior and Commando (rest in peace their souls) Bees.
Science Adviser managed a separate division of bees, whose sole responsibility was to research new technologies, make prototypes of them, and teach the technologies to others. (These bees needed a new title, but that would come later.)
Industry Adviser managed Craftsmen Bees, Material Foragers, and Builder Bees.
Economics Adviser managed Foremen Bees and Forager Bees.
And Culture Adviser Ambrosia managed Cleaning Bees, Nurse Bees, and her own Attendants.
Sometimes the responsibility was difficult to assign, but I did my best to split them in the easiest to manage way. For example, putting Foremen and Forager Bees onto one Adviser meant she won't have to go to another Adviser to coordinate every sneeze.
But the Colony Council took a while to implement.
In total, I've spent two weeks first teaching the Advisers their responsibilities. But this wasn't everything I've been busy with.
Despite wishing to put this responsibility on Military Adviser, I organized training of Foremen, Warrior and Commando Bees to their numbers before hornets attacked. We needed them (well, except for Commandos, but they were a precaution) *now*, not *later*.
I also created a new title: Researcher Bee.
〔Researcher Bee〕: +10% to base intelligence. Requirements: understanding of at least 10 technologies of the current technological era.
These bees were smarter than I was by 10 intelligence points. They made me feel inadequate…
For the colony, 110 of them were trained by Craftsmen bees. Since Craftsmen Bees themselves were also busy with replacing broken hammers, in two weeks, Researcher Bees had just barely finished their training.
Forager Bees continued to gather food at amazing rates. While doing so, they spotted several dead hornets around our territory—they must've died from exposure to elements, exhaustion, or hunger.
I've also sent a small scouting party to the old hornets' nest. As the scouts told me, there was nothing but smoke, ashes, and dead hornets. Smoke must've caused the most deaths—the fire didn't spread far out of the hornets' cave. It was a pretty safe fire, almost like a fire pit!
And on the side of all that, I began preparing a curriculum for the future education of my bees. Literacy for all was a dream in my mind.
〔Population〕: 30 thousand
〔Development level〕: 2
〔Development points〕: 89 / 100
〔Species〕: Common Honey Bee
> Building materials: 85 units
〔Military Adviser〕: increases total military by 10%. (B1374)
〔Science Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to brainpower. (B581)
〔Industry Adviser〕: increases total workpower by 10%. (B601)
〔Economics Adviser〕: adds 10% of total workpower to military. (B339)
〔Culture Adviser〕: increases all total attributes and wellness by 3%. (Ambrosia)
Dance Communication, Hive Building, Food Preservation, Stone Hammers, Forager Posts, Rank-Based Hierarchy, Primitive Containers, Border Patrols, Primitive Knives, Primitive String, Fire, Candles, Primitive Spiked Armor, Primitive Medicine
The promised Colony Council bonuses! Even better was finally ditching responsibility for annoying micromanagement stuff.
And our population was growing with breakneck speed now—those fertility genes were helping already. Even if it would take a few weeks for the first new brood to mature.
The spreading among new generations 'Danger-Averse Reflexes' gene was helping, too, by reducing sudden deaths among Forager Bees.
Life was becoming good again, and the hive was only 11 points away from Development Level 3.
Yet I still had nightmares about a sudden attack of monsters at our hive.
There were so many possibilities. A bear, or a *dragon*.
I had to do something about this. A way for our colony to be truly safe, at least in our own territory—even with those kaijus roaming the world.
Of course, as the grand strategist I was, I already had an idea…