Chapter 624 - First Story: Exterminating Engrio's Ants ②
The next morning, when we went to the fortress that serves as the conquest base on Wilson-san's bowl, King Seldic came to meet us.
"Sorry for the trouble."
"Was there any new information?"
"I'm currently ordering the Aerial Scouts to monitor the ant swarms. Roughly speaking, there seem to be an outer swarm and an inner swarm."
The Demon Realm is a long horseshoe shape from east to west with its mouth open to the east, but from the center outwards, the east and west are like a position surrounded by trenches and walls: depressions, hills, valleys, and hills. The west of the position is slightly higher in elevation, and the double walls and trenches are also joined. To the east of the position, a wasteland spreads, but beyond that, several streams flowing from the hilly area form a marsh. Beyond that marsh is the human fortress. The fortress itself is on the central east side of the horseshoe shape, and it's wary of raids by monsters like Orcs living in the central depression, but since they can't break through the double walls... that is, the insects in the hilly area, they haven't interfered with each other. Among the insects, the spiders and bees were exterminated. All that's left is the ants, but they can't grasp the whereabouts of the ant Queen.
The outer and inner sides King Seldic mentioned must be the double hilly areas.
"According to information from Sertoria, ants apparently dislike sunlight and puddles. Between the outer and inner sides, there's a small stream flowing from west to east in the northern and southern parts. The discovery sites of the swarms are two in the inner side and three in the outer side, but if they are moving without settling, maybe the swarms themselves are just one each for the inner and outer sides."
I see. If they are patrolling around the walls, then that's how it would be.
"When I subjugated the Demon Race with Falstaff before, I heard from nearby villagers that ants don't appear in the southern outer side."
"Yeah, so far there are no discovery cases in the southern outer side. However, there are in the inner side. And in the inner side, they used to be in the northwestern part too, but now they are not found. The outer side has been discovered at the eastern end. This too, used to be confirmed in the northeastern part, but now it can't be confirmed."
"How about the western part, the high-elevation region?"
"There are no past discovery cases, and it's currently unconfirmed. However, until Flight Magic was passed to our country, there's a high possibility that human exploration hadn't reached it, so past cases aren't reliable."
Hmm. High places are unknown, and they can't cross valley streams. If they can cross high places too, they might move to the southern outer side where they are said to be absent now. If that happens, it will interfere with the villagers' hunting.
"That might be fine. Regarding the bear hunting grounds, we're luring them out of the forest with the Class of 175's dried meat."
It's Carla. That's true. But.
"If bears start being hunted by ants, the hunters' livelihood will be gone."
"Eh? But, setting aside humans, it's a bear."
"It's that big."
"That's right. A bear. It's certainly big, but..."
Both of them turned pale together.
"Eh? It's ants, right? Could it be that the Queen also hunts?"
"I wonder if the Queen hunts. After all, she's a Queen."
"Are ants stronger than bears?"
"Eh? Eh? Eh?"
Oh no, they're half-crying.
"Well, you'll find out eventually, so please forgive them with that much."
I was cautioned by Falstaff-san.
I didn't really intend to bully them or anything.
After the greetings, we rested a bit and it was time for dinner.
For dinner, I was seated with King Seldic, the unit commanders participating this time, the leader of the monster extermination squad, and the fortress commander—the big shots. From the backup group, only Henry-sama, Eleanor-sama, Harris-sama, and I participated. The others weren't allowed to participate in official seats because their status was low. It's different from Falstaff-san's shop. If possible, I wanted to be absent and eat with everyone, but I was told by Falstaff-san to come because they'd discuss the operation, so I reluctantly complied. I'm the only one who can use Light.
The fortress commander had received a medal and a reward because the cooperation system in the previous Demon Race subjugation was evaluated. If things go well this time, he'll naturally be rewarded. It became King Seldic's personal appearance, but the ant extermination failed and stalled. Since it's also a retaliatory battle, he's eager.
"Please, look forward to working with you this time as well."
He took my hand, which had the bishop's ring on it, with both hands and bowed down.
"Are the ant swarms active during the day too?"
When it comes to operation meetings, it's Eleanor-sama's turn. Once the meal was over and drinks were served again, she immediately asked a question.
"That's right. They move in swarms. I also saw them from above, and it was as if a giant reddish-black snake was crawling through the forest."
King Seldic answers with his usual expression that seems to contain a smile. To compare the movement of an ant swarm to a giant snake crawling on the ground, he's a poetic person again.
"Is there only one head?"
Oh? Eleanor-sama isn't losing either.
"There are times when the head splits into two or three, and times when they gather back into one."
"How about the state of the body and tail?"
It's starting to sound like a story about Hydra subjugation. Soon, someone might poke in.
"That's unconfirmed. If you go to the center of the swarm, winged ants will fly at you. That's why I requested backup. Our country, which is in the middle of rebuilding the Aerial Scout Corps, cannot easily deal with them."
Finally, we returned to the original topic.
Currently, it seems the reddish-black stream... rather, the moving swarm, in the outer hilly area is slowly moving east while meandering. After all, it's long from east to west. It must take a corresponding number of days to go to the end and come back. If there's a midway base somewhere, they might stay there for a while. If they stay, it would be for the season or the Queen's egg-laying, but since research in that aspect hasn't progressed at all, it's unknown when that will be. If only the Lich were in this Demon Realm.
"I'll ask again to confirm what I've checked before, but assuming the conquest of the Demon Realm is finished, you won't turn it into farmland?"
"Yeah, the original terrain is too complex and there's little flat land. Rather than putting effort into reclamation, it's better to make it a hunting ground to replace the forest that was snatched by some country. So, I want to leave the forest untouched as much as possible. In other words, I want you to refrain from using fire magic, which causes forest fires."
With this, the promise with Serena will also be fulfilled.
The "some country" must be Sertoria. The border line between the two countries moved south quite a bit, and the Engrio forest decreased by that much. Anyway, the hunters who have the border area as their territory probably cooperate with each other in the dark and manage appropriately, but it's a fact that the area actually decreased considerably. It's easily inferred that the harvest amount has decreased significantly. If they can hunt safely in the Demon Realm in the eastern part of the Engrio Royal Capital... although it's certainly dangerous because there are magical beasts even if there are no ants, spiders, or bees... it might be able to offset it. In addition, if they do something about the Orc swarms, they'll also be able to fish in the marsh.
"Then, the priority is the resolution of the outer side rather than the inner side, right?"
"That's right."
"Then, let's at least annihilate the outer side and make it a model for future measures."
"Sorry. If we can conquer this Demon Realm and hunt safely, it will greatly contribute to our country's food situation and trade with the continent. In that case, I promise to deal positively with the proposal from the Northwest Coast Alliance."
Eh?
"Looking forward to it."
Henry-sama, Eleanor-sama, Harris-sama, and King Seldic all have very serious faces. Before I knew it, Henry-sama was taking out that document from his breast pocket... Falstaff-san is looking away.
I heard the sound of someone swallowing hard.
This request has a non-trivial hidden side... Failure might not be allowed.
The next day, we decided to go see the swarm. The fortress that serves as the base is slightly east of the center of the entire Demon Realm. Since the outer hilly area extends further east both north and south, the ant swarm would be in the northeastern direction. The backup group flew towards the ant swarm according to the arrangements of last night's operation meeting to scout.
Since we were told they are moving east, we rode on Wilson-san's bowl and headed north for now. After reaching the outer hilly area, we headed east and made it a form of chasing from behind.
While flying just above the tree canopy with Sight cast on everyone, the scout Bonnie discovered them early.
"Winged ants ahead to the right!"
Everyone looked for them, wondering where they were, but couldn't find them.
"Um, they're perched on a tree. Ah, they looked this way."
Looking in the direction she pointed, I saw a reddish-black clump. Apparently, they were peeking out their heads from between the leaves to see the surroundings. They're just like humans.
"Let's scout around here for a while. Bonnie, please mark it."
"Okay."
From the hole open at the bottom of the stopped bowl, she reached out her hand and tied a small red signal flag to the tip of a tree. It's a small triangular one, but it has strings attached to the corners and can be stretched like a tent using the branches. It'll be obvious from above.
We returned slightly west from the marker and entered the forest on Eleanor-sama's normal-sized bowl. The companions were Henry-sama, Beatrix, Will, Bonnie, and me. The others were asked to evacuate to the sky.
Immediately, we hid ourselves with Beatrix's Camouflage and my Magic Reflection, and after confirming that there were no ants by going back and forth north and south in the forest while searching with Sense Living, we once again soared into the sky and returned to the marker. We entered the forest again and headed east. There was no reaction for a while, but we finally found them.
"Numerous reactions on the ground and in the air to the east. On the ground, there's a surface reaction over a quite wide range. The distance is about two hundred paces."
We finally caught the tail of the giant snake. Maybe the Queen is there.
We approached slowly.
Since winged ants are flying firmly, we can't get too close. We peek from behind the trees, magnifying with Sight. The appearance of the ants seems to have a stronger redness than the ants in Medioland. Their bodies are also small and feel delicate. It might be because they don't live in holes where mana easily accumulates. Instead, their jaws are incredibly large. They're just like stag beetles. Moreover, the inside of the bow-like curved jaws is as sharp as a blade. The tips are also pointed. If they pinched you, they'd probably cut a human torso in two. They might even cut down trees. Since their bodies are small, their weapons are amazing. Maybe they can spit saliva far away.
"Several are coming out from under the fallen trees."
Eleanor-sama says fallen trees, but it's like several trees were cut down, cut short, and piled up high. It might be better to call it timber.
"Wait, could that be a nest?"
Beatrix said as if exasperated. That's true. The pile has reached the same height as the surrounding trees. Moreover, there's no reaction underground. Since there are no ant hills around, the Queen might have been inside that pile of wood.
"Some of the wood isn't newly cut. Old cut surfaces are mixed in. The new ones with leaves might have had only their branches cut and covered over."
At Eleanor-sama's words, when we searched the surroundings, there were quite a few trees whose branch tips were missing. The ones with leaves might have had only their branches newly cut. They must have cut them with those huge jaws.
"Maybe if we search to the west, we'll find many of the same thing."
"It's possible. If so, there might be some to the east too, and they might be in the middle of moving right now."
Moving, huh. Since there's no reaction from the Queen, they are currently on the move. It might be a good time to attack.
If this weren't scouting, we'd bite the tail, but we have to confirm the enemy's strength. After leaving that place and showing ourselves, we ascended and joined the main force. When we talked about the scouting results, the conversation turned to searching for the enemy's vanguard.
"Before that, please give me a little time."
Eleanor-sama must have some idea, as she went to the marker and, crossing north and south from there, stabbed tree branches with red cloth markers into the ground in the outer and inner hilly areas.
"What are you going to use them for?"
"The northern outer hilly area from here to the west, and the entire southern outer hilly area, should be safe zones where ants don't appear. I'll contact King Seldic about that and have him confirm if there are indeed no ants."
"I wonder if they'll turn back."
"Let's have King Seldic do something about that."
"Can he do such a thing?"
According to Eleanor-sama, King Seldic will check the ants' movements, and in the worst case if they can't be subjugated, he'll do civil engineering work so the ants can't move freely.
"Ants dislike sunlight and don't come out of the forest. And they also seem to be bad with waterways. Since this hilly area is long and thin, he might be able to block them by making a pond in some depression and running a waterway crossing it from north to south."
"That's amazing..."
Beatrix is amazed. Carla and Annabella didn't seem to know, as they looked at each other and were blank-faced. The markers weren't just so we wouldn't lose sight of the ants. It was to distinguish between dangerous zones and safe zones for the construction.
"I suppose excellent ultra-high-level mages will be needed. Ones who use magic that can drive away ants when they come."
Harris-sama sighed. Speaking of magic to drive them away, it would be Light. In other words, if they can't be subjugated, will I end up helping with the construction?
"Yes. So, let's do our best so that doesn't happen."
Beatrix nudged me with her elbow.
I haven't heard anything about that at all!
Setting aside the various suspicious stories drifting underwater, I want to defeat the ant Queen. We decided to go east, confirm the vanguard group, and then estimate the Queen's approximate position by calculating backwards from there.
"Do you know? Such a thing."
Beatrix is poking in. Well, that's true. It's the first time we've seen this kind of ant.
"Assuming the opponent is on the march, the commander-in-chief is usually in the rear of the center army. So, it should be behind the halfway point between the vanguard and the rearguard. After that is the terrain. Since the column is likely to be disrupted if there are many ups and downs, they'll choose low places to pass. If they are in high places, they are scouts or decoy soldiers. If they have escort ranks deployed, they should avoid passing through places where trees are densely packed. I expect winged ants will be monitoring the sky."
I don't understand Eleanor the Tactician's explanation well, but in short, the Queen is where there are many winged ants.