Chapter 221
“Vita, could you take Natura away for a moment? I’d like to talk with Meliana.”
—I’ll do that.
—What? What’s the point of talking to that kind of human……. Vita! Let go of this!
Perhaps because their builds were similar, Natura was surprisingly easily dragged away by Vita. Thanks to that, I could have a more comfortable conversation than before.
“I’ll ask again. Why did you burn it?”
“I thought I could burn it all up.”
My mouth fell open without me realizing it.
Where on earth did that confidence come from?
……Actually, wasn’t she always like this?
“The elves could be incompetent, right? Or maybe they couldn’t make bold decisions for fear of affecting the World Tree.”
“…….”
“Honestly, when bugs appear, everyone knows you have to eliminate them completely, right? Even you would have thought the same, wouldn’t you?”
“I agree with your thinking. That’s how ordinary bugs are exterminated.”
At my words, color returned to Meliana’s face. She seemed to expect that I would take her side. Of course, she would soon realize what a big mistake that was.
“But these aren’t ordinary bugs.”
“Huh?”
“Besides, not all bugs are exterminated that way. You have to make good use of their characteristics.”
If she had possessed the power to burn them all at once, Meliana’s method might have worked.
However, there were many parts that required caution and the risk burden to bear was also great.
Most of all, the reason the current situation was the worst was ultimately that Meliana’s magic firepower couldn’t exterminate the Nex at once. The situation only got worse while taking on all the risks.
“So how much did you burn?”
“I don’t know…… Ah, something did come out. It was probably their leader. It was really big.”
“Big? Tell me in more detail. Everything you saw too.”
“So…….”
Meliana frowned and looked at the guardians beside her. Then the black-haired guardian among them spoke up.
“First Princess.”
Was his name Cain?
Even if I couldn’t remember the twin guardians’ names well, I could recall this guardian’s name since I’d heard it frequently and relatively recently.
“May I explain on Her Highness’s behalf?”
“Please do.”
“Thank you. They had hard carapaces like they were wearing armor. Their roles in the colony also seemed different, and some had poison as the elves said.”
“Some?”
“Yes. Individuals with particularly large heads spat out thick liquid from their mouths, which seemed to be poison. The tree trunk that was there turned black and burned away.”
“…….”
“Also, they didn’t seem to be able to see. Even though we were right in front of them, they couldn’t find us and wandered around for a while before going back.”
“Were there no wings or anything?”
“There weren’t.”
“What about hearing? Did it seem good?”
“That didn’t seem to be the case either.”
Poor vision and hearing. If they formed colonies, it meant they could communicate with each other somehow, and they would usually use sound waves or pheromones.
“Didn’t they show signs of making sounds? Like continuously moving their mouths even if we couldn’t hear it.”
“Other than when gnawing on wood and spitting poison, they didn’t seem to use them particularly.”
“Then maybe pheromones…….”
“Pheromones? What’s that?”
“Simply put, secretions that smell? Even if we don’t know, insects can communicate with each other using that.”
Suddenly Reno asked. I answered habitually and fell into thought.
Combining the information I’d heard so far, the Nex probably seemed close to ants. Or their relatives.
‘If that’s the case, there is a way to use it…… It’s too dangerous.’
The danger Meliana had already brought was already great, but I didn’t know if it would make the already bad situation even worse.
Sometimes you have to take gambles, but I really want to avoid this kind of gambling.
—Human.
Vita approached me.
—What can you do?
“It’s not certain. It might get worse than now.”
—How far worse?
“In the worst case I’m assuming, everything.”
—You mean including our extinction.
—What? Absolutely not!
Natura, who seemed to have calmed down, jumped up and down.
—Human, you’re the same too! As expected, humans are……!
—Let’s hear it first. What kind of plan that human has in mind. Listening at least should be fine.
—It’s pointless to listen.
—So you won’t listen? We don’t have any other way either. Especially since you were the one who said we can’t sacrifice The Guardian too.
Natura bit his lips with a grunt, then finally nodded.
—As you say, let’s hear it. Speak, human. What’s your plan?
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