‘Yes. I am somewhere in the Anaesha Dynasty,’ William said via telepathy. ‘For now, tell Jekyll that I’m fine and that he should return to Lont for the time being.’
‘I want to go where you are right now,’ Ashe replied. ‘I’ve heard that Princess Sidonie is very beautiful. Knowing the kind of womanizer you are, I’m sure that you’re going to cheat on us.’
‘Don’t be absurd. Why would I cheat?’ William couldn’t stop himself from grinning because he could feel Ashe’s jealousy. ‘Listen, I have three beautiful ladies as my girlfriends. There’s no need for me to cheat.’
A brief silence passed by before Ashe’s voice once again spoke inside William’s mind.
‘Have you seen her face?’ Ashe inquired.
‘Yes,’ William answered. There was no reason for him to lie in regards to Princess Sidonie. Right now, the two of them had agreed to cooperate with each other in order to fight against The Organization that had brought disarray upon their respective Kingdoms.
‘Who among us is more beautiful?’
‘You are more beautiful than her, of course. She doesn’t even hold a candle against you.”
William had been personally trained by the Goddess of Lust, and part of her training sessions
included the proper way to answer a girl’s inquiry, especially when it came to questions that were asked due to jealousy.
‘You answered my question too quickly,’ Ashe argued. ‘I knew it. I can’t trust you to stay by her side. I’m coming over there with Dave.’
William massaged his temple with his hand. Lady Eros had also told him that girls could be unreasonable at times, and advised him to just “Wing It” when that happened.
‘Ashe, listen very carefully,’ William’s expression became very serious as he tried to pacify his mermaid lover who was miles away from him. ‘The Princess has a very powerful Charm spell, and only I am able to resist it. I can’t let you come to my side. Although the two of us are cooperating, I don’t trust her completely.’
‘Are you sure you are able to resist her Charms?’
‘Of course. Have more faith in your boyfriend. I’ll come back to Lont as soon as I can. For now, stay there and don’t contact Est and Isaac. Now that the Undying Lands have disappeared, Conner will surely raise a ruckus. We don’t want him to know that we were the ones who foiled his plans.’
After talking for half an hour more, William ended his long distance communication with his jealous mermaid lover. Their means of communication had only become possible due to the fact that Ashe had given William half of her Spirit Core.
This ability was further boosted due to the fact that she was also registered as William’s first Familia Member. The two of them were able to communicate with each other as long as they were within the Southern Continent.
William sighed as he looked at one of the most restricted places in the Anaesha Dynasty, the cavern where the Myriad Ant Queen resided.
Currently, the Ant Queen was at the corner of the cavern with her back against the wall. Not far from her was Kasogonaga who was drooling so heavily that William had no choice but to pay extra attention to it.
He was afraid that the rainbow-colored Anteater would forget about their agreed upon cooperation and eat the Myriad Ant Queen due to its desire to recover its former strength.
“Can I eat a leg?” Kasogonaga inquired. “Just one leg will do.”
“No,” William shot him down in a heartbeat. “You already ate two Millennial Ants. You still haven’t fully digested them and you’re already asking for more?”
“It’s hard to focus when the main course is right in front of you,” Kasogonaga replied as its tongue playfully extended like a snake. “This is pure torture for someone like me.”
William sighed for the umpteenth time as he politely asked Kasogonaga to return to the Thousand Beast Domain to prevent the Ant Queen from accumulating unnecessary stress. Princess Sidonie was also looking back at him in a vigilant manner.
The Ant Queen was her Beast Companion. At most, a person could only have one Beast Companion at a time. Princess Sidonie was currently depending on the Ant Queen to protect her from her pursuers. She couldn’t allow William’s gluttonous Anteater to eat her main pillar of support.
“Okay, time to share our information with each other, but before that, I’d like to ask the Ant Queen a question,” William said as he took out the Onyx Medallion that he acquired after defeating Prince Aziel back in the Kyrintor Mountains.
“Tell me, how does this thing work?” William inquired. “If you lie to me, I’ll let Kasogonaga lick you.”
The Ant Queen shuddered at the mere thought of having the bane of their existence lick her with its tongue. Isn’t that just asking to be eaten?
“The Onyx Medallion in your hand is the relic that I gave to the Royal Family of the Anaesha Dynasty,” the Ant Queen answered. “Through it, you will be able to summon my children, but there is a limit as well. You can only summon one Millennial Ant, a dozen Centennial Ants, and a thousand Soldier Ants that are between Rank D and C.”
“Can I use this as well?”
“Only if I allowed it.”
“Will you allow me?” William asked with a smile.
“… Yes,” the Ant Queen reluctantly replied.
If not for the fact that she was afraid that the Anteater would appear out of nowhere to eat her, she would have already crushed William to a pulp.
The Onyx Medallion in William’s hand glowed as the Ant Queen used her authority to grant William permission to use it.
‘With this, I’ll have my own Ant Army as well,’ William thought.
They were currently at war with The Organization. He didn’t mind using blackmail to have his way, especially when he was the one in control of the negotiation.
The Ant Queen didn’t mind giving William control over a thousand Ants. After all, the army under her personal command numbered in the millions. A thousand was only a drop in the bucket, and she could always lay more eggs to create more soldiers to do her bidding.
After giving William the permission to use the Onyx Medallion, the Ant Queen returned to her throne, which she had left earlier due to the threat that Kasogonaga posed.
“You said that you had ordered scouts to check the current state of all four Kingdoms, right?” William asked Princess Sidonie, who had regained her calm and was currently sitting on the Ant Queen’s lap. “Do you have any news from them?”
Princess Sidonie raised her head to look at the Ant Queen and the latter closed her eyes. As the Mother of the Colony, she was able to see what her subordinates could see.
After several minutes passed, a frown appeared on the Ant Queen’s face. It was as if she was seeing something quite unpleasant.
“The Anaesha Dynasty is currently under the control of black-robed men,” the Ant Queen reported. “The images I am getting match the profiles of the members of The Organization that you mentioned to me before. However, it seems that they are not the only ones that are currently invading the lands of this Continent.”
“What do you mean?” Princess Sidonie asked. “Aside from The Organization, who else is taking hold of the other Kingdoms?”
“The Kingdom of Freesia is far from the East. It will at least take two more days before my scouts arrive in your kingdom, Princess Sidonie. However, a few of my scouts at the Zelan Dynasty have already been killed, and they were not killed by Humans.”
The Ant Queen’s face contorted with rage, “They were killed by Elves!”
William’s expression immediately changed when he heard the word Elves. Before he left Lont, Celine had told him that there was a possibility that the Elven Race would also arrive in the Southern Continent. Naturally, she was not fully confident about her assessment, because this was only the conclusion she could come up with when the letter from her grandfather arrived.
“Elves?” Sidonie asked half in doubt. “Here in the Southern Continent? Are you sure?”
The Ant Queen nodded. “I am very certain that the ones that have killed my children are Elves. As long as they have only been dead for less than a day, I can still recover the memories they left behind.”
“Do you know how many Elves there are?” William inquired. “At least an initial estimate?”
The Ant Queen once again closed her eyes as if scanning the memories of her deceased scouts.
“Several thousands,” the Ant Queen answered after a minute. “The majority of them are young. If I am to make a bold conclusion, they wouldn’t surpass the age of twenty. This is the only reason that I can think of as to why they didn’t turn into crystal statues.
“Also, there are also a few adults supervising them as well. I don’t know how many there are, but I’ll make a rough guess and say that they won’t go over twenty.”
Princess Sidonie felt that there was something more than met the eye with the appearance of the Elven Race. As a strategist, she would always try to understand her target’s way of thinking in order to counter them.
“Are they doing something out of place?” Princess Sidonie wondered.
The Ant Queen pondered for a while as if trying to organize her thoughts. “Before one of the scouts died, they were able to see a structure that was currently being built. I don’t know what it is for, but I’m guessing that it holds a significant meaning to the Elves. Also… I saw something quite interesting.”
“And that is?” William focused his undivided attention to the Ant Queen who was currently looking down on him with an evil smile.
“The Organization fled from the Zelan Dynasty,” the Ant Queen replied. “It seems that they are not on the same side.”
