C64- Finding the Humans (2)

As they slowly woke up naturally starting from Noah, everyone went on to pack their camp after the breakfast. The occasional bugs that entered the room were dealt with by whoever was on guard that time. Because they got rid of the fireflies that were used as lighting by the caterpillar, they had a small problem about vision, but because the whole room was covered in silk, it only took a small spark to light a fire.

The smell of burnt silk filled the room as they used the fire to see while they were packing their camp. After packing everything up, they left the room and entered the dimly lit corridor that smelled damp, just like a cave, although the corridors weren't natural.

Walking down the corridor while chatting silently, they ran into various rooms.

Whenever they encountered rooms where mushroom was stored, Amy harvested some of them.

They encountered a room filled with bug eggs. Amy prepared a slow acting poison and after releasing the poison, they sealed the room.

They encountered a nursery where the newborn bugs were carried after hatching from the eggs. They used the same poison to destroy them as well.

At one time, they came across a room filled with honeycombs just like the one where they found the cockroach, but this time, the room was so much smaller and a cockroach didn't protect it.

After spending a night inside a mushroom storage room, the group went further into the nest, and currently, they were hiding.

While walking down the corridors, they did come across a lot of bugs. They usually hid from the bugs, and when they didn't have a place to hide, Acherie would use her unique magic to make them unnoticable, even though she did lose consciousness in the process most of the time because she had achieved Rule Break recently, and it took about a year for one's body to get accustomed to the changes.

But this time, the bug they were hiding from was different. It was an ant worker just like the other ones they saw before, but it was just slightly bigger than the ants they saw before. The other ants were about as big as four year old child, but this one was as big as an adult.

And that wasn't even the most important difference. The bigger ant was carrying an egg. A really bright pink egg shaped like and ellipsoid. The egg it was carrying was as big as half an adult.

After getting past the bigger ant, the six of them hid inside a nearby mushroom room and started to discuss what to do next while eating Amy's cooking.

"It means we are getting close to where the queen of this nest is..."

Hearing Kharon's words, Noah shook a little bit. Clair whispered something in his ears while holding his hands and Noah nodded his head at her with a slightly relieved expression. Leaving the troubles of the couple to them, Corvin continued the conversation.

"Where do you think the humans might be?"

"Hmmm... Probably somewhere near the queen?"

"I thougt so too... Since we know where the eggs are coming from, do we follow it?"

"That sounds dangerous. This queen isn't like normal ant queens, right? It can definitely fight, and it probably is the strongest monster in this nest. It may even be one of the strongest monsters on this world currently..."

"Yes... Normally, because there aren't many humans around this area, the queen should have disappeared, but because the nest is kidnapping humans, it hasn't. We may be dealing with something that is far out of our reach. Do we still want to fight it?"

Everyone fell silent. After staring eachother awkwardly for a while, the one to break the silence was Noah.

"I-I will fight it... I have to do it."

"Noah... Are you sure?", asked Clair with a concerned tone.

"I... I am sure. Now that I know that thing is still here... I can't just let it stay here like this. The Horde Queen killed a lot of humans, our soldiers in the past. If I were to step down from fear now, neither would I be able to become the next Margrave with my head up high, nor would I be any different from the men I despised ever since then. And, maybe doing this would let me finally break free from what happened nine years ago."

Everyone stared at Noah in silence. While Noah was almost regretting what he just said from embarrasment, Corvin talked.

"I don't know what happened to you nine years ago, but if you make a speech like that, I won't be able to stop myself... Alright! Because I am a fool, I will try to save everyone here as well!"

Amy wiped her mouth after swallowing her food and talked.

"Well... I can't leave my employers to put themselves at risk, can I?"

"I-I don't really want to do it... and I don't like seeing Noah in danger... But at least I want to be with him in the danger if I can...", said Clair right after Amy.

Acherie and Kharon stared at each other and smiled.

"Pfftt! Look at these younglings trying to look cool!"

"Right? Hahaha!"

After laughing for a bit, Acherie looked at Kharon. After asking something with her eyes, Kharon gave an approving nod.

"Well, I guess we can't leave the kids alone when they put themselves in danger. And especially not the ones that saved our lives."

"You can count us in as well. We will help you save the people. Well, that was why we came here in the first place anyways. Only if we didn't fight so childishly..."

After finishing their food, the six of them got out of the room and delved deeper into the mountain, into the deepest parts of the giant bug nest. The shining moss on the ceiling of the corridor was getting darker, and they had to rely on their own lamps.

"Sniff~, Is anyone smelling this?"

"Hm..? It smells... spicy?"

After walking for a while, the scent of spices commonly used around the Werga Mountains entered their noses.

"The bugs are cooking... No that's not right."

"Humans!"

"We finally found some clues about them!"

And so, after spending various amount of days of fear and worry in captivity, for the people who were kidnapped inside the nest, the long day they would regain their freedom had come close.