0009 Playing Tricks

Returning to the tent after the meeting was over, Alicia found herself accompanied by Bella and the other two women, she didn't understand very well about the subjects of the meeting, as she doesn't know how society itself works, let alone the policy of the empire's government.

Her only focus was the possible battle against the enemies of god, and the reward she would earn at the end of the quest that would be enough to rent her and her sister a room in the city, and then do other missions for the church to maintain her new home and take care of her sister.

"Are you two going to the main quest?

What envy, I'll only participate after the reconquest of the city...".

"Don't say that, I wouldn't want to participate in any battles...

... By the way, my name is Bella, this is Alicia and you two?".

The taller blonde asked with envy of Alicia and the other blonde, while Bella took the opportunity to try to create a possible friendship between the four.

"Dayana, and by the way, you only say that because you're a Farmer, you'll always have work to do...".

"Hi, I'm Jenany...".

The tall blonde named Dayana retorted Bella, while her short companion looked the shyest of the four, as well as the most scared of the situation.

"Hey Jenany, you are the one who will participate the most in the dangers, are you sure you can do it?".

"I think I can, I've never participated in anything like this before...".

"She is the niece of the Duke of Alle, raised like a delicate flower...".

"Stop calling me that!".

Alicia's question showed a bit of the personality of each of the two through their answers, Jenany was like a scared rabbit, for belonging to the family descent of the empire she was very well taken care of, as for Dayana, she was more direct, bossy, and seemed envious of Jenany's royal status.

The four spent the rest of the day talking and getting to know each other, Bella and Dayana fought over words from time to time because of Dayana's envious nature, Bella was more carefree and active.

Dawn broke and the large group continued on their way south, where even more forests of various sizes can be found.

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The ashes gave their last glow in a bonfire before a man came with a wooden bucket full of water to put it out, the man wore gray armor with dun edges, but not just him, a large group of warriors breaking camp wore similar armor and weaponry.

In one of the unlit bonfires, a seemingly ordinary man was using another bucket of water to wash his face and do his personal hygiene when one of the in armor men approached him.

"Lord Marquis, in a few minutes we will be ready to leave, any other instructions?".

"No, no, keep up your great work...".

"Thank you sir!".

The man then walked away and went to another group that was packing their luggage, as the Marquis he finished washing his face and went to his carriage that was next to his bonfire.

"Good morning sir!".

"Good morning.".

The humble coachman who was brushing his beautiful black horse bowed to the Marquis who was heading for the carriage, the Marquis passed beside him, stroking the horse and tapping it lightly on the shoulder, making the horse and coachman happy with the man he served.

Then he got into the carriage and quietly waited for his men to finish getting ready, from inside he looked out at the surrounding vegetation, where several fields of grass and some broad-topped trees were scattered, in front of him, the path continued descending and would enter a woodland that had several ponds that made the landscape fascinating.

"Leaving! All Leaving!".

The shout of the man in front set the Marquis' entourage in motion, and so his own carriage moved and followed the path, then the Marquis closed his eyes and enjoyed the quiet ride.

In a few hours of travel, the group found itself inside a large woodland of thin and very tall trees, the smell of fallen leaves on the ground rose as the horses trampled them, leaving a faintly sweet scent in the air.

But large mounds of earth were spotted by the man responsible for checking the path ahead of the group, and this made him go back to report to the Marquis.

"Sir Marquis, there are large mounds of earth close to the main road in less than an hour ahead...".

"You think they're Earth Ants?".

"Yes sir, the characteristics of the earthen mounds are similar with the information about their anthills...

... Furthermore, the number of these anthills extends over large areas to the east...".

The Marquis pondered the information, and considered his options.

"What if we go back to take another path going to the right?".

"Sir, we can turn back and go east...

... We'll spend two more days traveling on the way back to the best point to head east...

... But as there are no main roads there, besides the whole route being a constant climb...

... It is not possible to have an exact forecast, but I estimate ten or twelve days delay until Elnuo...

... We can head west to the sea, and go to the City of Antrino, there we can take a ship and go up the Cantal River back to the east...

... The delay would be almost the same...".

"We're in the Occident, it's dangerous for us to board a ship, you never know who might be lurking...

... Anyway, our way has to pass through the City of Cantal Monte...".

In the conversation between him and his subordinates, the Marquis took out his skull smoke pipe to smoke while he thought.

^"We passed by Taleno and no one warned about the anthills...

... Someone is trying to play tricks on me here..."^.

"Sir, maybe we should just kill the ants on our way?".

The Marquis frowned, watched his men, each and every one of them was trustworthy, there was no reason to doubt them, with a scheme brewing in mind, he called the other men to a small meeting.

"I think we're being followed...".

"Sir forgive me!".

One of his men knelt in front of him in regret for his failures, but the Marquis took hold of his shoulders and lifted him from the ground, and turned his gaze to the others.

"No one here is to blame, it seems they are plotting against us...

... It's no use looking now, they'll probably reveal themselves if we face the ants...

... The question is, what other kind of problems might we face if we take another path?".

"We will follow your orders sir!".

All the men bowed, and the Marquis felt his shoulders grow heavy for the lives of his subordinates who might be in danger, he sighed and clenched his fists in determination.

"Let's face the ants, the plan will be...".

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Following the path, the Marquis' entourage approached the large anthills, as tall as a house, and several were scattered in the woodland by the right, the horses' gallops lifted several leaves into the air, bringing even more of the sweet scent to every corner.

Soon, antennae as big as human arms appeared on the tops of the anthills followed by a head larger than a human child, and then ants larger than a full-grown man came out of all the hills and descended towards the entourage, the ants were reddish and their legs and antennae were yellow.

The horses were fast, but it wasn't their top speed yet, thus passing the ants, the path behind could no longer be seen, for a sea of ​​ants followed as they turned the leaves on the ground.

^"If you want to watch us closely, you'll have to work harder he he..."^.

Looking out of the carriage window, the Marquis showed a smile as he saw the scene of hundreds of ants following them, but the road ahead began to encounter difficulties as well.

Some of the mounted knights took up their shortbows and prepared to attack the enemies coming forward, an orange light flashed in the eyes of one of the men next to the Marquis' carriage and then he released the arrow that shot from his bow.

The arrow flew, it seemed simple as it followed the path until it passed the head of the ant that managed to lower its body in time to dodge, but the common arrow hit the ground and the orange glow flashed in half a second before a large explosion maimed more than half of the ant's body and four others nearby, making their bodies fly everywhere.

Several explosions followed one after another, but the loud explosion noises along with the earth tremors that the explosions caused only made even more ants emerge, and then the ground opened up on all sides as ants sprang up from the ground like tree shoots.

The situation became more difficult when some ants glowed nut-brown and then the ground around them turned and covered their bodies with thick layers of earth like armor, as the explosions were no longer able to kill them in a single blow.

Some of the knights took the lead and unsheathed their swords pointing them at the ground beside their bodies, soon their bodies quickly glowed a bluish green color and the light focused on the sword they swung upwards, making a diagonal cut in the air, a great blade of bluish green light shot forward, cutting the ground, trees and ants in half.

The falling trees hindered some ants that unable to escape were trapped under them, but before long its fierce jaws destroyed everything blocking the way, and then before could approach the horses, they were split in half by blades of bluish green light.

The run continued with several ants being destroyed along the way, explosions and gashes ripping through the air could be heard amid the gallops, the Marquis sitting in his carriage watched everything, analyzing possible intrusions or ambushes, but so far, nothing strange has happened.

Deeper in the woodland other groups of Earth Ants appeared, these also had yellowish legs and antennae, but his body was green, a very light green, they emerged from under bushes with their bodies wrapped in branches and green leaves, they were ants expert in traps.

Some horses almost got caught in holes full of tangled roots, when passing too close to these traps, the Green Earth Ants jumped from the nearby bush trying to catch its prey using the jaws that could split the human body in half.

Somehow the Marquis's men seemed to possess some keen sense, for they always succeed to escape the snares and sharp jaws, so far all were unharmed, and were riding as if on a sport shooting tour.

With his eyes closed, the Marquis continued smoking his pipe, the glow of the burning tobacco lit up the skull's eyes, and he blew the smoke out the window, outside, more and more ants died along the way, in the distance the smoke from the tabacco flew behind the confusion and dispersed through the air.

Somewhere in the forest, the smoke gathered again, forming a large ghostly face into a miniature body less than half the size of the face, the strange body of smoke floated through the air, slithering through the thin-trunked trees, down there the sea of ​​Earth Ants were still in pursuit and not far to the west, a small commotion attracted the attention of the smoke being who soon floated to check it out.

"The Marquis is really in a hurry...".

"I'm tired of following these guys, fuck they barely sleep!".

"I thought he was going to dodge those fucking ants!".

A small group of men mounted on horses, wearing large black cloaks hiding their faces, were following the Marquis' group from afar, killing some stray ants from the ant sea, they were on the opposite side of the anthills.

"My eagle can track them over a long distance, but it will be impossible to keep the chase with this sea of ​​ants between us...".

"Shit, there are no bandits in these areas for us to use against them, what do we do next? We don't have much time to waste...".

The men argued as they ran with their horses, trying not to attract the ants' attention or let the distance grow between them and their targets.

"Can we fight them?".

"Hardly, as far as I could see with my eagle all are at least Rank B, and we are a fifth of their number... It's suicide...".

"Maybe we don't need to fight them head on, Ramon how's your Green Path?".

"All I need is a good Inheritance to ascend to Rank A, those church fuckers always monopolize all Inheritances...".

"Focus! Fuck! Are you good at Manipulation? Can you control some ants?".

"Humm... Two or three maybe... Manipulation is not my strong point...".

"That amount is enough, let's go!".

The men hatched a plan and continued down to the west which was safer away from the anthills, however, just behind them, a being made of smoke flashed a horrendous smile before disappearing, letting the smoke roam freely.

**************************************************

Inside the main carriage, the Marquis opened his eyes, where a faint gray glow disappeared, and a long smile spread across his lips, he found the pursuers, now all that was needed was to capture them and make them say who sent them.

"Get the ants' plan in motion...".

"Yes sir!".

The man beside his window shooting arrows and blasting the ants ran forward and then the entire Marquis' entourage veered off course to the right, opening the sea of ​​ants towards the anthills.

In the clear blue morning sky, a large bird glanced down at the recent development, then gave a squeal and turned its way to the right following the entourage below.

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"Fuck! This Marquis is a mad motherfucker!".

On the other side, one of the men noticed his eagle's warning and cursed the way the Marquis took.

"They will pass by the anthills, they must have discovered something!".

"We can't lose them, chase, let's go!".

Reluctantly, the group of about twenty men dove into the sea of ​​ants chasing their targets.