[717] The key to liberation (1)
Labyrinth Andre – World No. 283.
The Garnet Colony, which entered along the 13th night, was a more prosperous kingdom than any human city.
The roads going down underground were tangled like a maze, and the sunlight didn’t come in, so I couldn’t see anything.
“Is it okay if I make light?”
When Sirone cast Shining Magic, the 13th night tilted its head, but quickly lost interest.
It wasn’t that there were no light-producing creatures at all.
‘Control is going well.’
The room was huge, and most of the ants were doing their part without playing around.
“This way.”
The 13th night became noticeably tense as we passed the spore farm where worker ants gathered and went under the incubation room.
“From now on, it’s the nobles’ district. If you don’t behave yourself carefully, you could die.”
In the ant society, the nobility was a class that did not work as a male ant for the rest of its life and only waited for the nuptial flight.
‘Really a lot.’
Numerous noble ants were spending time in their respective rooms doing their own chores.
Some ants were harassing the captured slaves, while others were having a revelry party with swarms of aphids.
The thirteenth night progressed through the cave, politely exuding pheromones at all of them.
Most of the nobles didn’t care, but suddenly a nobleman with fancy wings like a cape appeared through a hole in the ceiling.
“What are soldiers doing here?”
“Daranne.”
Only nobles can be given names in the garnet colony, and male ants’ names end in Ann.
“We have captured a new species. This is the road that will take you to Queen Garnet.”
The 13th night couldn’t lie.
“You captured a new species?”
Indeed, from Darane’s point of view, Sirone’s appearance was of a type that had not been confirmed until now.
“Hmm, it’s a very uncomfortable structure.”
The criterion for Darane to evaluate the appearance of the Sirone was solely in terms of functionality.
“I will try an experiment. Leave this servant and go.”
The 13th night was extremely opposed.
“Iza is not such a species. I’m sorry, but… I’m using the same one.”
Daranee’s body felt alive, and Syrone felt as if the blood in her body froze.
“Do you think you’re a special individual, given that you luckily survived?”
Most nobles cherished the 13th night.
First of all, he had a unique name given to him by the Queen, unlike other soldiers who were distinguished by serial numbers.
It was also the only soldier ant that was born when the gannet colony first opened and survived to this day.
“sorry. But the Queen has a lot of questions about what I use…”
There are no ants to subdue the 13th night in Garnet Colony, but a coup never happens.
This is because the nobles will marry the princess and give birth to numerous children instead of the 13th night, which cannot reproduce.
However, before the wedding flight, the queen’s order was absolute, so Darand swallowed the powder and aimed his antennae at Sirone.
“The Queen will have to like it. Otherwise, sooner or later I will cut you off.”
Sirone’s body, capable of breeding, was delivering to the male ants an unpleasant feeling equivalent to death.
As Daranee turned wildly, dug a hole in the ceiling, and disappeared again, the thirteenth night looked back at Sirone and said,
“I told you you could die? If you want to go back, now is your last chance.”
In the worst case scenario, you may have to fight tens of thousands of ants in the deepest part of the nest.
“are you okay. Because you’ve already been prepared for it.”
It would be quite difficult to return alive, but the place where Sirone had to return was not on the ground anyway.
‘I have to meet the queen to return to the original world.’
When I first landed here, I couldn’t get my head around anything, but as time passed, my thoughts became clearer.
‘I think I know how to unseal this world.’
It felt as if another self from another world was giving me hints.
“This is the royal family.”
In the deepest part of the colony, there was a huge pupil that stretched out in 32 directions.
The 13th night, when I confirmed that the princess ants, which were much larger than other ants, were wandering around every nook and cranny, said.
“Soldiers cannot enter Queen Garnet’s room. If you want to have an audience, you must get permission from Princess Merrot, who is ranked first in the hierarchy.”
The 13th night, which was looking around, approached the familiar princess ant and bowed its head.
“Princess Panoud’s soldier greets you.”
“It is the 13th night. It’s been a while since I came here. Has something happened on the ground?”
“I have brought you a new species that the Queen will like. Do you know where Princess Merott is now?”
Princess Panoud held out her antennae to Sirone.
“Is this a new paper?”
While the aristocrats regarded Sirone’s existence as a competitor, the princess’s genes were full of interest in the new species.
This is because obtaining better genes regardless of whether or not they can reproduce is the ultimate task of insects.
“that’s interesting. What are you good at? how long do you live What do you eat? how do you breed? How strong is it?”
In the midst of all kinds of questions, the 13th night gave clear answers.
“You can use the same as me.”
“What? Really?”
Princess Panoud’s feeler followed Syrone even faster.
“Then it must be very strong? The 13th night is also strong. Even the Paratra army ants are no match.”
“It is an overestimation.”
As the thirteenth night emitted polite pheromones, Princess Panoud turned.
“Okay, I’ll take you to your sister’s room. He probably went drinking aphids with Romit.”
Parnott was also interested in Sirone, but it was only natural to wait for Merott to come because there was a clear hierarchy.
The princesses were not violent, so they calmed down on the 13th night and begged Sirone to follow them.
“Princess Merott will take you to the queen. My work ends here.”
In the society of ants, where everyone plays their part, on the 13th night, they left as if they didn’t want anything.
“If you wait a little bit, your sister will come.”
Sirone looked around Princess Merrott’s room, which had a solid outer wall, and sat down on a pile of dirt.
After waiting for about 30 minutes, the outside became noisy and a huge ant appeared inside the cave.
‘It’s Princess Merott.’
I didn’t know much about ants, but they smelled different from other princesses and were surprisingly fragrant.
“It’s a new paper. He must have come to see his mother.”
Numerous princesses gathered outside the cave and the sounds of their whispers were transmitted through the artificial brain.
‘It was very upsetting.’
“I am waiting outside. I will talk.”
Merott, who chased away her siblings with a powerful pheromone, appeared in front of Sirone.
“You are the new paper. nice to meet you. I am Merott.”
“hi? I am Sirone.”
“I heard you came from the outside world. what kind of place is that? There must be more fun things than colonies, right?”
Unlike Parnot, who was interested in Sirone’s biological abilities, Merott was more interested in the world he lived in.
‘He’s a curious person.’
Talking with the ants was also interesting, so Sirone told me about the world of humans.
“I’m using the hmm tool.”
Merott, who was caressing Sirone’s fingers, nodded.
“That’s right. The functional clause is very specific.”
After checking his antennae through his fingers, wrists, arms and torso, Merott looked up at the Shining Magic.
“Then this is magic.”
Merott, who inserted her antennae into the sphere of light, emitted a ecstatic pheromone.
“…Good mood. It’s the first time I’ve ever touched light.”
The rapid disappearance of her vigilance has been transmitted through the Ultima System.
“It is a very unusual paper. I want to go to your world too.”
From the human point of view, ants are included in the world, but from the opposite point of view, the scale was too large.
‘Perhaps humans are the same.’
Sirone felt her heart warmed by the sight of Merott forming a bond with a new species.
‘Because there is nothing insignificant.’
I just don’t want to look into it.
“what?”
Sirone hurriedly accepted the drop of aphids under Merott’s chin.
“What is buried? I’ll clean it up for you.”
“huh?”
As I brushed the tangled hair under my chin, Merott shuddered as if electrocuted.
“It must have been an aphid. It is done now.”
“…”
Merott, who had not even moved for a while, slowly turned around and went out of the entrance.
“Where? What about the queen?”
Shirone tilted her head and murmured at the sight of her disappearing without listening.
“Why are you like that?”
As Merott came out of the room, many princess ants swarmed around her.
“What happened to your sister?”
The younger siblings were shocked when they realized that Merott’s antennae emitted a huge amount of pheromone.
“Have you heard anything bad about the new species?”
“Human, no sirone…”
Merrott whispered with a small amount of pheromone as if he was embarrassed to reveal it.
“He touched me under my chin.”
“What!”
The frightened princesses stomped their feet.
“transformation! Worse than a dead maggot corpse! How can you do such a barbaric thing!”
When the artificial brain reacted violently to the signal outside, Sirone came out of the room and asked.
“what’s the matter? What’s wrong?”
At the same time, countless princess ants shrugged their shoulders and quickly rolled their feet and spread out radially.
Pheromones emanated non-stop between them.
“Did you hear? She said she touched Merrott sister’s…”
“Chin under the chin? oh my god! How come there are so many shameless papers? More savage than army ants.”
Sensing an aura of desperation, Sirone approached the princess ant nearby and asked.
“Did I make a mistake? I know you have to tell me.”
There was no ant to answer, and they just whispered among themselves and mocked Sirone.
“The worst pervert. A moth shell. How the princess’s chin… underneath. I really can’t stand it.”
Sirone felt unjust at the accusations pouring in.
“So what the hell is under the chin?”
“Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
The princesses gave off pheromones of surprise and scattered in a confused gesture.
“Did you hear now? That human is openly saying that!”
Seeing that the front of Merrott’s room was empty in an instant, Sirone opened her mouth with a dazed expression.
“…what happened?”
Merott, who remained in her seat, approached me, lowering her head as if sighing.
“The place you touched is a very important part to us. It is directly related to life, but it is also a sign of permission in marriage flight. Princesses don’t let anyone touch them… unless they let them. Even among the same princesses.”
“Uh…”
Sirone’s face turned pale as she rolled her eyes.
“Sorry! I really didn’t know! I just had aphids on my fur, so I tried to wipe it off…”
“Enough!”
Merott, who hurriedly cut off Sirone’s words, patted Sirone’s shoulders and turned around.
“It’s okay because I didn’t know. I was just confused because it was my first time. Follow me. I’ll let you meet your mother.”
“huh. Sorry.”
Sirone, who was considerate of Merott, followed her to the core facility of the colony.
“There is a paper I would like to introduce to your mother. I am human. My name is Sirone.”
Sirone looked up in admiration at the gigantic queen ant that reached the ceiling of the anthill.
‘That ant…’
It was Garnet, the pinnacle of the colony system controlling hundreds of thousands of ants.
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