Back in Alina, inside Arad’s house, a woman walked out of the basement door, stretching her arm.
“Meryem, did you finish?” Tina stared down at the tall woman, “They aren’t hungry, are they?”
Merym smiled, stretching their arm and scratching two horns. She walked forward but hit them on the door’s frame. She was almost as large as Arad standing at more than two meters tall, and her horns pushed that even further to almost two meters and a half. Her brown skin faded into the wooden walls, sharing the same color.
“They are full. I only gave them a little treat.” She looked at Tina, “They can hunt for themselves, and the underground is filled with vicious monsters,” She looked back at the basement door.
“Even I didn’t expect them to grow so fact. I would have held back a little on the eggs,” Meryem sighed.
“How much was it?” Tina looked behind Meryem.
“I’m an ant so… I did lay over five hundred eggs a day. But I didn’t expect that Arad becoming a young dragon would affect the dungeon this much.” She sighed. Since Arad evolved, she has been laying hundreds of eggs a day, all of them hatch ten days later.
Meryem sighed, out of all things, Arad rejected her because she was too good. She can remember him sighing and saying that if he did it with her the hundreds of eggs turned to be void dragons. They would suck her mana dry and kill her before she lay them.
She is strong enough to be recognized by Arad, but still weak to the point she can’t bear his children without a significant risk.
In her depression, Meryem retreated to her nest and started laying eggs as she did before, and even managed one thousand eggs a day. To her surprise, when the ants hatched they were massive and had draconic scales like Arad.
Even since Arad concurred with the dungeon, he became the boss, so the monster had to evolve to resemble him, giving the whole place a single theme. Void-touched monsters and the boss is a void dragon. It just makes sense.
Tina smiled, “How much are they?”
“Over fifty thousand, and I’m still pumping more. Probably if I built a large enough colony I will evolve again and hopefully have enough magic to bear one hundred of Arad’s eggs,” She smiled, her eyes flickering like stars.
“I heard ant colonies can get into millions. Is it the same for you?” Tina and Meryem walked into the living room.
Meryem shook her head, “I don’t know. The only limitation I see is space and food. The first is taken care of by Loci. She said the more ants the better for her health, so the only issue is making sure their bellies are full,”
Tina scratched her head, “I heard some ants love eating mushrooms. Did you try that?”
“That’s why I sent them hunting underground. Merlin told me that some ants farm mushrooms, and she showed me where they can be found.” Meryem dropped herself on the couch, “They are on an expedition for food,”
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Tina approached the door, “Who is it?”
“Me,” Nina called from behind the door, and Tina opened it, “You’re early,”
“Other took my place for now,” Nina walked in with a smile, taking her sandals and sitting beside Meryem. How are they?”
“Under control, you don’t have to worry,” Meryem replied, “Still think they are a danger?”
“When the food runs out, they will lash out,” Nina said with a passive face.
“My children will starve to death before disobeying my orders. We’re still searching underground for the mushrooms Merlin mentioned.”
Nina smiled, “I never thought the day where I speak peacefully with a monster would come, not one with the potential to invade a whole kingdom.”
“If this weren’t Arad’s dungeon, you would have reported it, and several S-ranks would be coming to eliminate us,” Meryem replied smiling.
“You’re already above an average s-rank monster, and those children of yours are of the same class. Having thousands of them is terrifying, to say the least.”
Meryem giggled, “You left us to fester and now are stuck with thousands of monsters ready to topple the city,”
Nina shook her head, “Not at All. You could crush the whole kingdom. But, we rather have you on our side. That’s why I’m here.”
“Is that so?” Meryem stared at Nina with a teasing smile, “From your smell, I say you came here to kill us all,”
Nina smiled and stared at Meryem’s eyes, “You seem to need another beating. You know you can’t beat me,”
As the two were about to start fighting, Tina grabbed them by the heads, “Arad said no fighting over Loci’s back,”
The two looked at each other and then at Tina’s terrifying smile, “Fine,” Nina sighed and stood, “All is well it seems,” She cracked her neck and looked at Tina, “Leaving this ant aside, how is your training going?” ．
Tina looked away, “Pretty bad…”
“Really,” Nina looked at her with a disappointed face.
“She started crying halfway, too much for her to handle,” Meryem said in the back, and Tina gave her a sharp glare.
Nina stared at Tina, “I only asked you to crawl in the bushes for half an hour. You can’t do it?”
“My elbows and knees got scratched and bloodied. They hurt too much I wasn’t able to move,” Tina cried, showing her scratched arms.
“You need to at least learn how to run and hide,” Nina stared at her, “Or study magic,”
Tina shook her head, “Magic is too complicated for me. I can’t get where to start, and I usually waste so much time I don’t have enough to do housework,”
“Then start training,” Meryem stared at her. “You know that you need to be at least able to do that,”
Tina looked down, “Can’t the ants and goblins protect me and the house…”
“They can, and will,” Nina stared at her, “But you need to get a grip on yourself and be competent enough to run. If not yourself, then for Serina, to carry her and run away.”
Tina looked down, “I will do my best,”
Knock! Knock!
Tina slowly approached the door and opened it. Roberta, Sara, Lyla, and Merida stood there with worried faces.
“What is it?” Nina stood and stared at them, smelling the blood on them.
Merida looked down, and Lyla approached Nina, “Her father was killed,” She stated, shocking the whole room.
“What?” Tina gasped in the back, and Nina’s eyes shot with blood.
“That isn’t…” Merida tried to speak but started crying…
“It probably was lord Foran’s men. They have been sending Merida constant marriage proposals, but she refused them all. His men came today and killed her father when he refused to give her to them. Old man, Cain was in my shop when they came and told me,” Lyla growled, “He headed to Riverside alone.”
“He will get himself killed,” Roberta stared at Nina, “We want you to stop him, please.”
“Forget saving him. I will kill Foran myself,” Nina growled, walking toward the door as Meryem stood in the back. “The children need some food. Count me and them in.”