Herd Mentality

Inside the colony.

The killer ants roamed around, busily taking care of their queen. The soldier ants guarded the queen's chambers while the minor workers nursed the numerous eggs in the hatchery.

Winter has come to the ant colony—And that meant staying inside while they enjoyed the fruits of their three-seasons-long labor in filling up their food storage.

What the humans did not know was that the Killer ants were most active right before Winter.

With their honed instinct to differentiate prey from predator, they avoided getting caught by patrol knights as they diligently hunted for food.

They ensured that their victims were still alive to prolong their 'shelf life' then they stowed them in the repletes' stomach to avoid their meals from potentially escaping.

Just as humans treated monsters as delicacies, the killer ants also treated them as livestock—such is the Law of Nature.

Unbeknownst to the monsters, their meals were already escaping one by one.

After the first successful replete-hunting, Mikael and his odd group of people continued to free humans from the bellies of the repletes.

Occasionally, they encounter worker ants on their way to fetch food for their queen, but Deon's group had long since mastered their ant-slaying techniques that now, a few minor ants do not pose as much danger as they initially did.

In addition to this, due to the continuous hunting, Mikael and his royal partner leveled up three and four times, respectively.

In fact, in just a week, Deon could now handle a soldier ant by himself.

His tremendous growth speed shocked both Sir Finn and Dame Nora so much that they could not help but praise the prince.

Every time this happened, Deon would blush like an idiot.

His adorable reactions warmed the hearts of his two companions while his battle potential made them think twice about their knowledge of the third prince.

'Rumors say the third prince is a useless coward but then who is this? An impostor?' Finn wondered.

'I heard all aristocrats were stuck-up jerks, but the prince seems genuinely nice." Nora faintly smiled.

In the end, both of them reached the same conclusion—Never trust rumors.

Their hunting pace increased with the number of rescued people.

They formed scout units, attack units, and Almagi units to efficiently sweep the colony, polishing their teamwork in the process.

In a way, these small fights served as their tutorial for the coming large-scale battle against the ant queen and her army.

They didn't have many troubles in the group because Mikael worked hard to find acceptable people to save first.

Feuds were inevitable whenever people banded together but every time a new person questioned their authority to lead the group, the old rescuees defended them.

This was the power of Herd Mentality—Shutting down the opposition and absorbing them in the herd.

But of course, those who refused to be absorbed left of their own accord.

Even so, more people remained and now, their group was 140-strong.

That week, they ate nothing but ant carcass from the Midden. As for water, they were lucky to have rescued some Tier-1 Almagi who were proficient in the water element.

Just like that, the victims survived a week in the ant colony.

But Finn knew the people were reaching the limit of their patience.

"When exactly are we going to kill that Ant-Mother F*cker? It's been days!" a mercenary irritably asked.

"The prince says we need to rescue more people." Another replied.

"That prince? Ptui!" the mercenary spat as if disgusted by the mere mention of Deon's title, "he's just a coward! Why do you think he's delaying the fight? Huh?"

"Why?"

"It's because he's bloody scared! That's why!"

"But he saved us."

"No. the Combat Almagi saved us. if not for him, do you think that coward will have the guts to stay here? I heard the Almagi saved his royal a*s several times, too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. So, let's get out of here before that brat used us as a meat shield. You know how nobles are. They think commoners are their slaves."

"But can we? Killer ants are not as weak as they used to, you know?"

"Hah! Those insects are no match for me! The only reason I was caught was because I was a little bit careless. Didn't think they'd be stronger than they should, but now I know better."

Mikael shook his head as he listened to their conversation, 'It's these types of people who always get killed first.'

He floated here and there, eavesdropping on people to gauge Deon's reputation among the masses.

'It's really terrible… No. It's the worst!' Mikael lamented.

He wondered just how long it will take people to recognize Deon's worth. Mikael had been trying so hard to change Deon's cowardly image yet none of it worked.

'Ah… I still have a looong way before becoming a seraph.' His shoulders drooped as he drifted back to his partner.

He eyed Deon with a pitiful expression, "Oh, you poor prince... Why do you work so hard? No one appreciates it anyway." He grumbled.

Deon's whole body was covered with bruises and wounds. For the past week, the young prince had done his best to save ungrateful people, putting himself at risk only for them to talk behind his back and look at him in scorn.

But the prince did not mind any of it—like the proper doormat that he is.

On the contrary, Deon looked happy and proud of his feats. He felt fulfilled whenever he saved another person and his heart brimmed with satisfaction whenever they expressed their gratitude.

'As I thought, he really has a hero syndrome.**'

Somehow, Mikael was starting to feel guilty about using Deon for his selfishness.

While there is nothing wrong with doing good deeds to collect positive karma, Mikael felt like he was overly exploiting his naïve partner.

He thought he was beginning to devolve into the very type of people that he despised—the loansharks who took advantage of the poor, the employer who took advantage of the college dropout… Mikael had met so many of their kind in his last years on Earth.

He swore never to be like them but now, he was.

He looked at his partner apologetically and thought, 'I should treat you better from now on.'

--Chapter end—

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**Hero Syndrome: when someone feels an unconscious need to be needed, appreciated, or valued. They feel satisfaction for being the only one to solve a particular problem. (but in extreme cases, those with this syndrome cause the problems that they need to solve. i.e. arson)