Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire-Chapter 289: She’s innocent, hungry and dumb

〔Moth〕

〔Health〕: 29 / 29

〔Stamina〕: 31 / 31

〔Species〕: Pygmy Death's Head Hawkmoth

〔Age〕: 78 d

〔Remaining lifespan〕: 2842 d

〔Attributes〕

> Strength: 25

> Agility: 24

> Endurance: 29

> Defense: 28

> Intelligence: 10

> Perception: 45

〔Special abilities〕

Enhanced Intelligence I, Fearsome Visage I, Increased Fertility IV, Faster Youth Development III, Adjacent Pheromone Detection, Specialized Scent Mimicry (Bees), Hypnotizing Pheromone IX, Asexual Reproduction, Claws I, Olfactory Perception VII, Dark Vision

〔〕〔〕〔〕

It'd be almost insulting how weak this creature was. It felt like the God of Death's Head Hawkmoths put all his points into this moth's hypnosis…

Which would've worked perfectly on anyone else, but it really was a waste on someone with so little intelligence. Or so little in other stats.

Although I knew regular hawkmoths were much larger. They had wingspan of up to 15 centimeters—way larger than a bee. And a hawkmoth was featured on the poster of the 'Silence of the Lambs' movie, which made them somewhat famous!

As I made another step closer with my candle, I saw this moth had the exact coloring that gave it its fearsome name. On its wings were spots which, if it spread them wider, would've looked similar to a skull.

Coloring like that made predators think the moth was looking at them even when it wasn't, which made them hesitate to attack.

But all this was for show. The moth was harmless and didn't even try to attack me even now.

She just sat there, clutching a pot of honey and covering her eyes, despite not even being tied up! fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com

'How pitiful,' I thought, reaching out with my telepathy to listen to her thoughts.

'Too bright, still too bright! More bees—this one doesn't smell like honey. I want to leave.'

Thoughts fit for someone with 10 intelligence. I stepped back and covered the candle with my hand, which immediately made the moth relax a little.

She was a nocturnal creature, so no wonder that this candlelight in an otherwise dark room made it uncomfortable.

She was also stupid enough that I was convinced that she didn't even realize why bees weren't attacking her. Or that she was currently in danger.

'What do you think, Father?' Tabletina asked me telepathically. 'We didn't dare to touch the creature without your permission, but I tried to question her telepathically. She's entirely clueless. My suggestion—give her to me, and I will try to understand how she works, and if we can use the hypnosis pheromones of these insects for our own purposes.'

I frowned thoughtfully.

'Using them for our own purposes? Hm… I don't think there will be much use from a dead moth. If only we could evolve these traits… I imagine there's a long evolutionary trait tree to them.'

Now that their secret was uncovered, the simplest solution was to kill this one.

Then I had to order a check of all the Empire's sub-hives in order to find any more freeloading moths. However, as long as all they did was eat our honey, they weren't a danger.

How much honey could they eat, compared to all the bees, anyway?

We had plenty for everyone! Our fields of seeds were blooming and producing nectar. Although the first fields were for the wild, unevolved bees, now we had some for us, too. And it had a twofold profit, since eventually these flowers will become vegetables.

And there were wildflowers as well.

I saw Tabletina eying me curiously, but not speaking up.

"I think we should keep this moth alive for now," I said aloud. "She's stupid, but not more stupid than some of the feathered lizards we've tamed. Perhaps her pheromones will let us tame other creatures easier. Or it can spy on others… We will see!"

"Alive… as you want, Father," Tabletina asked, looking disappointed.

"Ah, don't be so sad. I want some of your Physicians visit the sub-hives under the pretense of an extra health check up and search for more intruders. Capture them all, but keep one for an autopsy. As for this one—I will pass this project to the beast-taming department."

"Yes, Father," Tabletina replied, looking more cheerful.

The moth ignored our voices and returned to eating her honey. I eyed her fur-covered face for another moment, then turned away.

"Let's go. I want the best beast tamers on that."

***

Even the Bee Empire's beast tamers were used to lizards and dragons, not to insects. We didn't tame other insects—we killed them!

But none of them hesitated when I explained to them their task—trying to tame the freeloading hawkmoth.

"Do you think this will work out?" I asked Undecided a little later.

We were in the Council Chambers, waiting for the rest of the Advisers to come. Besides us, the only people present were Attendants setting up the large table and Ambrosia who lounged in her cushioned chair.

Undecided nodded.

"Yes… This will definitely be useful in the future. But the 'how' is blurry. There are many dreams… Too many again." She smiled. "After the hypnosis wore off, my dreams became full of troubles again. Not for the hive! But I'm glad to dream clearly again. This means that I can actually be useful."

"The world doesn't start and end with usefulness, Undecided," Ambrosia reminded sternly from her place.

I raised my eyebrows, surprised to hear something so impractical from her.

"Mother-Queen?" Undecided asked, looking as surprised as I was.

Ambrosia sent me a mischievous look. Was she reading my thoughts without the actual ability to read my thoughts?

"Usefulness is short-sighted," Ambrosia said. "While most of my daughters don't need to think about anything else, Oracles are born to think about the future. So you might think about this when you aren't meditating about your dreams."

Undecided was struck speechless. She nodded.

Before our conversation could continue, the Advisers finally began to enter the Council Chamber, and all of us returned to business.

And the first report of the day was proudly shown to me not on a wax tablet, but on a sheet of paper.

"Father, the paper-maker is almost complete. We are almost ready to mass-produce them!"