By Zephyria Kenneth, who had been proudly making eye contact, soon smiled brightly and began to report on the patrol.
“First of all, there were no people within a radius of 3km! But a group of about six people were approaching this way, then changed direction to the northeast and moved away. It doesn’t seem like they were aware of us, but at least a company-level or more of people are gradually gathering, so we need to be careful.”
Leonardo’s eyebrows twitched slightly.
“A company-level or more? None of your direct seniors were among them?”
“Yes, I smelled our 8th squad seniors a little in the forest near the cave we were in earlier rather than that side… but now they’ve all disappeared, so they’ve probably gone somewhere else or returned. And at the third spot you told me to go to….”
Leonardo slowly nodded, listening to Kenneth’s words. He was inwardly impressed. It was a rambling report, but he had investigated everything he was asked to, and his ability to estimate the approximate number of people nearby and their distance was truly astonishing.
Leonardo looked at Kenneth’s chattering face and thought.
‘If this guy had joined the ranks, I might have been caught quickly too.’
His hearing and sense of smell certainly went far beyond the range of senses that a human could possess. Thanks to that, he could tell from afar the direction of targets or demon beasts, which was a great help in choosing the route to the target point and saving time.
However, because those two senses were so sensitive, it seemed a little difficult to judge exactly which direction the target was in if it was very close, within about 10 meters.
In short, he could smell so well that the smell from a place that was too close felt like it was coming from all directions.
That was why Kenneth hadn’t immediately discovered Alex Siles when Leonardo first found him and hid on the ceiling of the structure to ambush him.
“But that leg that Blaine brought, the smell from it was all over this area. So much that I couldn’t pinpoint the direction. I think there’s a group of them around here.”
Following Kenneth’s finger with his gaze, he saw the Illaptor’s hind leg thrown next to a low rock. Leonardo’s eyes narrowed as he looked at it.
He had been thinking it was strange that the creatures, which should have shown themselves several times already, hadn’t appeared even once until they had passed the middle of the peninsula this time.
So when one suddenly popped out earlier, he thought there might be a few more around, but it was unexpected that so many were grouped together that he couldn’t pinpoint the direction.
As the two men stared silently at the severed leg, Alec suddenly walked up from behind and, bending down, asked over their heads as they sat.
“Do you know why the Illaptors are grouped together around here?”
Kenneth, who had turned his head first at the sound of footsteps, was startled to see Alec’s face so close. But he tried not to show it and opened his mouth.
“Uh… is it because there’s a nest nearby?”
“Then what would be in that nest?”
Alec smiled and immediately asked again. Kenneth rolled his eyes as if thinking about the answer, then trailed off, as if nothing immediately came to mind.
“Um… that’s…”
Leonardo, who had also turned his head, noticed Alec’s face behind him and frowned, moving away slightly. Alec’s gaze, which had been wearing an intriguing smile, turned to him this time. It was a sign that he wanted him to answer instead.
It was then, just as Leonardo, wearing a displeased expression, was about to speak.
Kiyaaaa—!
The sharp cry of a demon beast was heard not far away. The gazes of the three men, who had stiffened for a moment, turned to that direction at the same time. The cry that was heard was not so close as to be an immediate threat, but it seemed not too far away, judging by how loud it was.
Leonardo’s eyes, scanning the surroundings, sharpened and his energy heightened. Alec, glancing down at his appearance, relaxed his expression and smiled again, saying.
“Let’s move for now. I’ll tell you as we go.”
Last night, Alex Siles had briefly mentioned the large, bluish-white egg to Leonardo when they were alone on their way to the mining team.
He said that when he was with the mining team, he was in a slightly different position from the ordinary miners. Knowing the geography of the peninsula well, he was in charge of exploring places where minerals might be found, along with mercenaries who were capable of defeating demon beasts.
Thanks to that, he could wander around pretending to look for minerals, and unlike the ordinary miners who had to submit their entire daily mining amount, he could secretly collect minerals little by little because the minerals he obtained during the exploration were not inspected separately, he explained.
And what he happened to find while wandering around the peninsula was the white egg in the bag that Leonardo and Kenneth had seen.
“Do you know about the ecology of your ‘bees’?”
Leonardo and Kenneth, who were cutting through the dense bushes and leading the way, turned back at Alec’s sudden question. Then the two exchanged glances silently. The glances contained a silent message: ‘He’s talking nonsense again.’
Leonardo ignored Alec’s words and swung the Illaptor’s leg, removing the branches blocking the way, as if he was going to explain about the second clause but was just spouting useless nonsense.
When he went forward again, Kenneth, who had been pretending to listen out of courtesy, also quietly turned back and cut the grass with his sword as he moved forward. But Alec didn’t care whether they listened or not, and followed behind, continuing his nonsense.
“Bees, you see, belong to a very organized colony. So if you look closely inside, you can see that a much more systematic social system is formed than we humans think. For example, in a honeybee colony, the queen bee, drones, and worker bees exist as members, and in this group, the queen bee is in charge of laying eggs, the drones are in charge of reproduction, and the worker bees are in charge of work, as the name suggests.”
“……”
“Among them, the worker bees account for the overwhelming majority. Worker bees are divided into inner-work bees, which are in charge of housework such as attending to the queen bee and raising eggs and larvae, and outer-work bees, which are in charge of work outside the house such as finding food and fighting off invaders.”
Swish—!
Every time Leonardo swung his arm, the long vines were neatly cut and fell. He moved almost mechanically, silently hacking through the rough path.
“The reason why they divide roles like this and live in a society is to increase their survival rate, breed safely, and operate the colony smoothly. And if you follow it to the end, you can say that the overall purpose is the prosperity of the colony. To that end, bees build and protect their homes, and their instincts are designed to be drawn to the pheromones of the queen bee, who can lay eggs.”
Kenneth, who had been listening to Alec’s words from time to time because they were quite interesting, thought that Leonardo didn’t seem to be paying any attention at all, looking at his back.
“Now, what if we think of the inner-work bees as Illaptors and the outer-work bees as Dermokas and other demon beasts?”
Leonardo’s hand, which was unconsciously raised to strike down the bushes, stopped in mid-air. He turned back to look at Alec with slightly widened eyes. Seeing his expression, Alec smiled and said.
“Now you’re showing some interest.”
“…What was that just now?”
Kenneth also put down the sword he was swinging and turned around. As two pairs of questioning eyes turned to him, Alec picked up a branch next to him and roughly swept away the cut grass lying on the ground.
Then, he began to explain, drawing a large circle and small circles on the exposed dirt floor.
“Literally, in this giant beehive called the Eldermilli Peninsula, the Illaptors are doing the work of inner-work bees, and the Dermokas and the rest of the demon beasts are doing the work of outer-work bees. Of course, it can’t be said to be a perfectly identical system, but the ecology of this peninsula is very similar to the ecology of bees.”
Leonardo was speechless for a moment. It took him a little time to process the unexpected story.
Soon, golden eyes that seemed to have sorted things out turned to Alec. Leonardo asked with a rather solemn expression.
“Then, does the Queen exist too?”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Alec smiled slightly.