21. What Are Ants to a Human?

"Still, to find absolutely nothing..." a disappointed Gavin said and sighed.

With their search coming to an end, the five adventurers decided to spend their night within the castle.

"At least we're lucky that my brave Yumino found that vampire~. Who knows what would have happened to my fragile body if I were to get attacked while asleep..."

In vain did Velmira try to tease Yumino; he was once again lost in thought.

"Ok, tonight's watch is mine and Garron's," said Gavin. "The rest of you can rest."

That's what Yumino was waiting for. As soon as he was given the go, he closed his eyes, ready to once again face the witch who had tricked him, this time in the dream world, where the "connection" was better.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in the throne room. Only, this time he was surrounded by a bunch of smiling elven ghosts.

"For you, Sire," said one of the ghosts while pointing at the wooden throne.

Yumino approached the throne as instructed. On both sides, ghosts were bowing to him.

"Thank you, hero!"

"You've cleaned the castle!"

"You've put us to rest!"

"You deserve it!"

Once he reached the throne, Yumino took a deep breath and looked at the tree climbing out of it.

Suddenly, he turned towards the clapping crowd.

"Why are you doing this?"

The confused spirits looked at one another until one of them spoke.

"You are our hero! You've cleansed the castle of vampires! All of us are avenged! We are here to sing you praises before we go!"

But such an answer didn't satisfy the elven hero.

"You've seen the fight, right?" he asked.

"Indeed we have, through your eyes."

"Then why offer me the throne? I've not freed the castle, at least not alone. Were I alone, I wouldn't have made it past the gate, let alone beat the big guy."

"But—"

"This throne is not mine. Not yet, at least," he said as he turned his back to the tree. "You're free now; don't let me hold you here. Begone! Be free!"

Half confused and half proud, the ghosts flew to the sky one by one. All of them, except two eccentric-looking ones.

"Are you sure about that? Isn't this your dream?"

"You two...why are you still here? You're free."

"What fun is there in being free now? You've been sniping like crazy! I wanna see more of that!"

For some reason, the two elves—no, the two teachers decided not to leave.

"If we go, who will be left to teach you?"

After wasting a second to stare blankly at them, Yumino burst into laughter.

"Ha! So there are some nice guys around! Who would have thought!"

The three of them ended up laughing together for a while, and once they had had calmed down, another visitor entered the room.

"I think it's about time I tell you a story..."

At the sight of Gauntmere, Yumino's stomach curled, but he didn't throw her out. Instead, he looked at the two other spirits, who quickly caught on.

"We'll leave the two of ya to it then," they said as they slowly faded away.

*****

In a world far from here, there were once four kids playing in a park. The park was badly kept and always empty, with just the four of them hanging around there.

For a long while, they did everything together, and not a day passed without fun and laughter.

But the days kept repeating, and one day, one of the two boys got bored.

"Look at those white ants! Let's smash them!" said the boy with gray hair.

The white ants he was talking about were special. Unlike the other ants, they lived a more secluded life. They were rare to the eye, and instead of a nest, they would just walk around in the tall grass.

"No! Stop it!" said one of the two girls. 

She was fascinated by those ants. She spent her days looking at them, wishing she could be down there with them. She wanted to understand these white ants and what made them so special.

But the others didn't care.

In vain did she try to stop the boy with gray hair, for he had already brought a bucket of water, pouring it over the grass where those ants resided.

The ants, fighting hard not to be taken away, lost all their color. All that was left behind after the disaster was a group of confused green ants.

Once their white was washed away, they became weak, and they started dying one by one. So they changed their behavior. They started acting like other ants. They gathered in a group and started building an anthill on the grass they once used to walk freely.

"Woah! That seems fun! Let me try!"

The boy with white hair followed. He grabbed a bunch of red ants that suddenly appeared nearby and threw them in the mix.

Soon, most of the green ants were killed by the red ones, turning what was once a unique species into nothingness.

However, there is one more forgotten part of this tragic story.

The red ants were also rare, so how come the boy found so many to throw around?

The answer comes from a weird phenomenon:

From the graves of the green and white ants, more and more red ants started sprouting. It was as if they'd completely replaced them.

Within the ranks of those new red ants, there was a big one. This was the first red ant to come out from the grave of a green ant. This red ant was mad at the boy with gray hair for what he had done to them.

So it gathered the other red ants, first attacking the greens, wiping them out.

Then, it started following the boy, promising that it will catch him one day.

But, in the end, ants are just ants. 

The chase lasted for an eternity, yet the ants never caught the boy with gray hair. In fact, the boy may not even know he is being followed, as he sometimes comes back and looks at the ants, now bored of them as if they are a broken toy.

*****

"That's a hell of a story, but how does it pardon you for hiding things from me?" Yumino said, looking hardly impressed.

"Tied to these ants, there is one more story. It's the story of the few surviving green ants."

"I'm listening," Yumino said while crossing his hands.

"You see, the red ants and the green ants hated one another ever since. The red ants viewed the green ones as lesser, while the few green ones hated the red for what they've done."

"You know, there are many things I don't really get, but at least the green and red analogy—"

"So the green ants also made a plan to enact their revenge. They had everything planned out, but they needed the remaining green ants to play along."

"Nobody's stopping you when you get into storytelling mode, huh?"

As much as Yumino kept trying to get a word in, Gauntmere continued to ignore him.

"But the green ants would always stray from the plan. In truth, the plan was not perfect either. Many ants died because of the weird turns the plan would take, but the plan evolved. Yet the more unreasonable it started to become, the more the ants started ignoring it."

"Okay. I get it. 'Shut up and follow the plan!' Is that what you're trying to tell me?"

Finally, although too faded for Yumino to notice, Gauntmere's eyes regained focus—a clear sign that she was back with the elf.

"I'm glad you're quick to understand. I admit, keeping things from you is an underhanded move, especially with the relationship we are trying to build."

"Don't make it sound like that! I'm barely getting over how bad I've messed up with Nima..."

"... However..."

"Ah... That's cold!"

"Every secret I keep from you serves a purpose. You've just come to this world and are still adapting. But even if that weren't the case, with time we've learned something. Some things are better left unknown until you are ready to face them."

"Really?... Not even a promise that you'd tell me everything from now on?"

"Hiding things is already hard enough for me. I wouldn't want to be put in a position where I have to lie to my dear hero," said Gauntmere with a faint but kind smile on her face.

"Telling me stories and sucking up to me... Playing the sentimental card, are we?"

Her smile remained unbroken, and she completed it by adding a flick of her lashes that Yumino couldn't distinguish.

"Tsk, fine. I'll let you shoot me around some more. I'll go find death, and have y'all get your revenge."

"I'm glad you'd do that for us, Yumino," the witch said as the dream became more and more faded.