With Nerlia in full retreat, as much as they could retreat in their own country, and Cernlia hopefully sorted or at least handed off to Marquis Lyns, Regina turned her attention to Esemen.

The country was the only one of those involved that had not been directly affected or suffered under the war at all. Even her own territory belonging to the hive had seen intruders, although they hadn’t done much damage. The Esemen were still just parking their army in other countries without having to worry about their own borders. Regina knew that if she wanted to actually invade them, she’d have to move closer. It would be an escalation she didn’t really want, though. Definitely not yet.

Instead, she focused on the forces the Esemen had sent. So far, they’d pushed forward aggressively and then settled into a holding pattern in the territory they had gained. They still controlled the upper edge of Earl Whitor’s domain, along with some neighboring land. Whitor hadn’t made a concerted effort to drive them out. There had been skirmishes, but neither side seemed eager to actually fight.

Regina wondered if the Esemen thought they could just strike a deal. The balance had shifted from when they first came. And people had died, blood that was clearly on their hands.

Then again, maybe it wasn’t supposed to matter that much. She still didn’t have a great understanding of what cultural limits or imperatives the locals had in matters like this. War happened, though, and people died. It seemed to be a fact of life. Usually it was much less destructive than this one, though, from what she’d heard.

Regina wasn’t about to go and crusade against them without mercy for getting people killed in an invasion — the hypocrisy would be a bit much — even if she didn’t like it. If Earl Whitor was fine with how things turned out, she’d have to be satisfied with that. But she still wanted them to leave their pound of flesh for fighting her and her hive.

It would need careful preparation, of course. Regina stayed in the village and inspected their burgeoning industrial and crafting infrastructure, while Ben and the others made preparations. Ben still focused on the army deeper in Nerlia, but Janis and others turned their attention to the Esemen and gathered drones. They debated pretty stridently over whether they should send in an army or rely on more distributed troops.

For her part, Regina just made sure they’d have the equipment they needed. Now that the cat was, potentially, out of the bag regarding their guns, she authorized further use of them. She wasn’t sure how much good it would do, since it would probably be a very different kind of battle — if it came to a battle at all — but it couldn’t hurt to be ready. She still kept their most advanced weapons under wraps, but had the hive start distributing some simpler rifles and even field artillery to the forces gathered against the Esemen. And, of course, she thoroughly reviewed their setup for making explosives and tried to improve their output further.

Their entire supply chain was still too reliant on magic for her taste, and the crucial role Conjuration played in getting their tools and weapons concerned Regina a little. Partly because, if someone else were to use it as much as they did, they could gain the same results. And it made her uneasy to depend on something with a single point of failure. But it was just too useful not to use Conjuration magic.

Besides, I suppose reintroducing more advanced tech is kind of its own reward, she reflected. Isn’t that why I’m doing all this, at least in part? That train of thought led her to the gods, but she quickly turned her focus away again. She was under no illusion regarding her chances, and she knew Deirianon would probably cause more issues for her down the line. The fact that she hadn’t heard anything, especially if the psychic suppression field wasn’t his, was already concerning. It made her feel like another shoe was about to drop. But she wasn’t going to let that stop her or descend into paranoia. That would just be letting him win.

Regina hadn’t really explored her power being marked by Alianais might bring any further, and given what she’d learned, she wasn’t going to. She suspected it was a two-way street, and trying to draw on Alianais’ magic, especially if she didn’t have a suitable Class or knowledge on how to handle it, would probably give the goddess an undue hold on her at best. She might also risk blowing herself up, for all she knew.

It did mean she was pretty much blind regarding any schemes of the gods, though. Galatea had told her what she knew, although Regina was aware she was protecting a few secrets of Leian’s, but it still left a lot of questions. There was nothing for it, though.

One reason Regina worried about it more, right now, was because people were finally starting to immigrate into her territory. It was only a trickle at first, but she could already see it growing stronger. Cernlia had suffered under the war, and now the army was no longer blocking any route into her demesne, at least from the east. The treaty she’d agreed to with Marquis Lyns allowed anyone who wanted to go into her territory, and it seemed word had finally spread, at least a little. They primarily came to Forest’s Haunt and the surrounding area.

The hive welcomed them. Regina needed more workers, especially ones with practical skills from the current world. Even just more farmers would be useful. It might also help them to deal with territory they occupied in Nerlia, in the longer term. The lack of humans to talk to people there was a constant problem. In the short term, at least, it did place a larger strain on their capabilities, since someone needed to greet and organize them.

On the other hand, the hive’s numbers were growing quickly. Regina had pushed herself a little with adding more eggs, since she’d recently been unable to do it while she was traveling, handling a crisis or talking with the Delvers or their allies. Their numbers of Swarm Drones were still outpacing the sapient drones easily, even with the losses they’d suffered in the recent battles.

Regina had the feeling she had started to hit the limits of Drone Breeders, or rather their effectiveness for the hive. The leveling of the oldest had slowed drastically, and it would probably take time for them to reach the third Tier, assuming they would. The increase in the numbers of eggs they added to the hive also leveled off. She was not adding as many of them to the hive anymore, either, mostly for practical reasons. The rate at which new drones joined the hive would probably not increase too much in the foreseeable future, but since she was dealing with exponential growth, it would still be significant. The hive had to scramble to make sure their logistical arrangements were up to the task, but Regina was confident they had it handled. Hopefully. At least they were building a lot of new bases.

The Starlit Hive Total: 41,200 Inner Hive: 521 (524)/785 (+35) Swarm: 40,678/350,000 (+3,413) Warriors: 71 War Drones: 18,427 Workers: 83 Production Drones: 600 Scouts: 73 Winged Drones: 16,123 Harvesters: 50 Aquatic Drones: 100 Shooters: 69 Drone Breeders: 28 Attendants: 80 Witches: 80 Keepers: 15 Monsters: 2 Demihumans: 1

Regina looked at the hive status and sighed, running a hand through her hair. Her numbers might still be growing, but not as much as she’d once thought. Obviously not as much as exponential growth would allow, anyway. But this wasn’t some kind of math example. They couldn’t just grow without limit. Space was still limited, but the main issue would be food, she knew. They needed to feed all of the drones and she’d already committed to supplying Lyns’ army as well as Cernlian and Nerlian civilians, too. Winter was coming in a few months, it would already be a challenge.

Storerooms and granaries wasn’t what she wanted to spend time and effort on building, but Regina knew it was necessary, so she didn’t intervene when Mia and the others diverted resources to them. She supposed she should be glad they were thinking ahead, anyway. Mia was also making good progress in experimenting with and further developing nitrogen-based fertilizers. They probably wouldn’t be much use this year, but should help next year. And Regina was planning on spreading them into the human territory where the hive had influence, even if they wouldn’t be able to use Conjuration to produce them as easily.

Still, her forces should be large enough for what she needed. Regina had been waiting for a few days to give them a bit more time to build up and train, but she didn’t want to put off dealing with the Esemen, either. So, she made sure reinforcements were on their way to the southern front, where the gnomes still weren’t stirring much, before she settled down to check on the advance into Esemen-occupied territory. Ben and Max had both advised against her going there herself, and Regina had agreed. Instead, she watched as Janis and a few others traveled north.

Janis was not going to go into the thick of it this time, but after a few days, she’d come to Regina and asked to be involved. Accordingly, Regina had again named her as the commander of the hive’s forces in the region. Why screw with what worked, after all? Dan was clearly relieved to have her in charge again and Ben was still deeper in Nerlia, anyway.

Instead of a single army, the drones were again divided into several detachments. They used a hierarchical structure of different units, like companies, battalions and divisions, which could all operate independently if needed. The sizes still varied a little, since they needed to balance the number and levels of the drones as well as any specialties, but she figured her commanders had it well in hand.

Surprisingly, Regina found herself thinking about what she’d learned in Madris’ mind. The dark elf Delver was not a soldier, but she did have deep knowledge of and some experience with military organization, since it had been very relevant for her. Surprisingly, to Regina, the dark elves had what was probably the closest to the hive’s military. They used general infantry as well as specialists, worked with flexible units and had adapted to underground fighting. They also tended to be pretty ruthless about losses, from what she could gather. Many minor wars against the dwarves and constant threats from monsters would do that, she supposed. Either way, she would not want to fight them. One more reason not to let it come to violence with Madris.

In contrast, she could see the Esemen had probably made some efforts at getting a professional army, but they weren’t nearly as far. She knew they still had a fundamentally similar system to Nerlia and Cernlia, which really hampered that kind of improvement. After all, it meant soldiers were more often than not loyal to specific nobles rather than the central government, and that played hell with any kind of standardization of equipment or supply management, among other things. Accordingly, the soldiers she was watching now weren’t really wearing uniforms, for the most part, although they’d made some effort to carry symbols of their allegiance and there were a lot of colorful banners. Still, she reminded herself not to underestimate them; from this distance, it was hard to tell which levels they were at.

Regina was currently watching through scrying, viewing the Esmen soldiers as they patrolled and tried to fortify the territory they’d taken. They were well prepared, she had to admit, but they also hadn’t really encountered real resistance yet. Skirmishes with Earl Whitor’s troops and the occasional Swarm Drones didn’t really count.

Regina settled in, making herself comfortable sitting in the lotus position on the bed and closing her eyes to sink into the psychic link. The hive’s forces were advancing slowly, cautiously, but she was watching the response of the Esemen. She knew they had ways of watching what was going on, probably scrying as well. They wouldn’t have gotten here without good and up-to-date intelligence.

“My Queen?”

Regina opened her eyes and turned, blinking at Max. She swallowed her annoyance as the concern and tension he felt registered.

“What’s up, Max?” she asked.

“Check your messages,” he replied with a smile, though it wasn’t as strong as it could have been.

Regina frowned, but then she noticed what he meant. Another drone was hesitantly trying to get her attention, and she could sense the focused attention of a group of humans as well, not that far away. It drew her focus immediately, since they were around one of the strongest minds outside the hive, which was still groggy and slightly unclear at the moment. Zephyr.

What’s up? she asked.

He’s had some kind of seizure, the young Attendant said unhappily. There are symptoms of shock.

Regina sighed. I’m coming.

Slowly, she stood up and stretched before turning to leave. They’d brought Zephyr to the village as well, since it seemed like the best place to put him. She didn’t really trust the Cernlians with him, anyway. She also wasn’t sure she wanted him in her hive’s main base. Right now, that might prove to be a good decision. She hurried down the street, reaching out with her senses to try and check on him.

It didn’t look like he’d been poisoned. At least she couldn’t see signs of that from here, she’d have to check more thoroughly. But it might be adverse effects from keeping him contained or whatever Madris had done to knock him out, or maybe a combination. Regina sighed and prepared herself for a new challenge. It wasn’t good, but she needed to proceed with the interrogation now, while they still could. If he died …

Sometimes, this entire war sucked. She supposed she only had herself to blame.