Reincarnated To Evolve My Bee Empire

I walked around the coin, examining it in all details.

This wasn't an object I expected to find soon, although on some level, it wasn't surprising.

If this world had bees, crows (dragons!), and other animals whose nature I recognized despite their difference in sizes and looks, then why not humans?

Or at least *something* intelligent enough.

What I could see of the coin was covered in symbols (letters?) I couldn't understand at all. But it was far from the modern neat coins with their ribbed sides and precise minting.

This one looked like something medieval.

I measured the coin with my eyes and made mental calculations.

If it was *roughly* 2 meters in diameter and half a meter in height, then even with the smallest estimation of the density of metal (since I didn't remember how much brass could weigh anyway)…

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This coin had to weigh *at least* 5 tons! Probably way more!

And the dragon was carrying it like it was nothing.

Suddenly, I felt like the carrying abilities of dragons were even more impressive than I thought!

I'd need half a thousand bees working together just to flip this thing over!

'And how many axes, knives and pickaxes can be made from this thing?'

I brushed some dirt off the metal surface and decided that it probably wasn't bronze, but brass. Although I wasn't a metallurgy expert, the coin looked too yellow to be bronze—almost golden. It also wasn't tarnished with green.

Bronze was an alloy of copper and tin, and darker than brass was an alloy of copper and zinc. But zinc appeared in history way later than tin.

In short, this coin meant that there was a civilization nearby advanced enough to invent minting and money. And this civilization was *GIANT*!

Because of course it was. In this world, *everything* was giant!

I abandoned the coin and flew back to the dragons. While I wasn't looking, Woe had joined its friends, and now all three were happily munching.

"You!" I shouted at Disaster, shaking my fists. "Where did you get this thing?!"

The dragon I called—it actually recognized its name!—raised its head, still holding a massive caterpillar tail between its teeth.

Then it lifted its head and swallowed without chewing.

"Hey, don't ignore me! Dammit, I just find you that there are *civilizations* here, and you have *stolen* from one of them! What if we get in trouble? No, *when* we get in trouble?"

Explanatory approached me, looking at me with concern.

"Father, it can't reply."

"Graaaw!"

I shook my fist at the dragon again.

"Wrong answer! Don't you 'graaa' at me—where did you find this thing, Disaster?!"

"Father, I can say. We were there."

I turned to Invincible-13, who was now walking on her own two feet, although she still looked like she needed to sleep for 15 hours straight.

"So it was when you stuck to Scourge's back? You saw Disaster pick this thing?"

Invincible-13 nodded.

"I don't remember the path to the place, because the dragons flew too fast. If I raised my head, I'd be thrown off by the wind, so I could only look when Scourge slowed down. At some point, we stopped near a place that made even me shiver in fear!"

My eyes widened. A Beemarine? Be afraid? But Invincible-13 really looked spooked, and not just by the world-expanding journey.

"It looked almost like our hive if it was made by giant ants! At first, I thought the buildings they used were mountains. Only from afar I could recognize them for what they were. Awful, ugly things! There were squares everywhere instead of hexagons, and instead of wood, they were built from stone."

"And there were giant beasts that walked upright like dragons and were all green like caterpillars, but not fat at all. Each of them was so huge that Scourge looked like a bee next to them, although we never got this close. The green beasts made sounds at each other, wore clothing and carried tools… just like us. And this was the most awful! They were using the amazing knowledge you gave us, Father, but… Just wrong! Disgusting! Not like your way *at all*. I bet they eat bees, too."

"I doubt that—wait, you said they were green, Invincible-13?"

"Yes. Scourge spent a lot of time near the green beasts' colony searching for food. As if we weren't feeding it enough!"

I chuckled.

"I guess we weren't… But you did an amazing scouting job, Invincible-13! Although the timing was unexpected. That Commandos training I put Beemarines through paid off, isn't it?"

I patted Invincible-13's head, who didn't smile, but looked incredibly proud.

"Yes, Father!"

I asked her more questions, but it was hard to see things from the back of a moving dragon. Plus, Invincible-13 had no idea what to look at. She couldn't even tell how big the green giants' colony was, or details of its architecture.

I had no idea how advanced the green giants were, how big their settlement was, or how far away.

Well, pretty far, if my other scouts showed no hint of it. But considering that I owned a gold mine (as miniature as it was), I could bet eventually the giants will start poking into my hornets' nest.

Finally, I went back to Explanatory.

"While you were busy, I arranged a generous reward for the dragons for the discovery of this metal thing, since it made you very… emotional. And because it was made of metal, which the Empire needs." Explanatory pointed at the coin.

Indeed, Forager Bees were already hauling extra packages of meat for the dragons.

"Good call, Explanatory. Until we have metals, we have to manage everything we can! And keep getting someone to ride the dragons! We need to know where that coin came from."

"As you say, Father."

"Wait, before the next try, I will arrange a protective gear for you. Some ropes to tie a bee to the dragon, and a wooden visor to protect the eyes. With a slit so they could still see…"

I was already drawing a sketch on one of my spare wax tablets.

Later today, Researchina's girls will make a prototype, and by tomorrow, a new dragon rider will fly in search of the mysterious land of the human giants.

Meanwhile, I had a metal coin to deal with.

It was a source of metal, but *how* would I even get this metal out of it?