Chapter 11: Attacking an Armored Ant Nest

The year turned and March arrived. It had been half a year since Mihai’s passing, and a fair bit of cheer had returned to Cecil. However, that did not mean she had forgotten—what had happened now served as fuel that drove her to pour herself into her studies.

At the same time, she had also developed a desire to be strong. She once ordered him, “Allen, bring me along on your hunts.” Unfortunately, the baron did not give permission for this, so Allen had to turn her down.

Allen had already been serving at the mansion for three years and a half—six more months, and he would be turning twelve. Time had truly flown by. Even now, he did not know the details of the so-called “duty of House Granvelle” that had gotten Mihai killed. He had gone to double-check with Rickel, who had told him previously that the kingdom was not currently at war with any other countries, but Rickel confirmed that was still the case. While he was at it, Rickel also taught Allen a bit more about this world’s history. Namely, their kingdom had been at war with the empire to its north that was dozens of times larger several decades ago, but the two had eventually signed a peace accord.

In regard to the progress of Allen’s hunting, he had completely wiped out all orc villages at the end of February. It had taken longer to exterminate the orcs than the goblins, but in any case, the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains were now entirely free of both. There was a chance that the same monsters could wander in from outside of Granvelle territory to establish more villages again, but they could easily be exterminated as they cropped up.

Thanks to Allen and the chivalric order’s efforts, the first mithril mine was to open in April, with the necessary number of miners and laborers already secured. Due to all the goblins and orcs being wiped out, quite a few adventurers had actually changed occupations. A part of Allen did feel bad that he practically robbed them of their livelihoods, but the human corpses that he kept finding in the monster villages convinced him beyond a doubt that exterminating them was truly the right thing to do.

Come spring, the settlers would move into the village that housed the furnaces for smelting mithril ore into mithril ingots. Then the mining would begin in earnest after summer. The mines were expected to operate at a deficit for the first few years in light of the cost of initial investment, but what truly mattered was simply the fact they would be up and operating.

One possible source of concern was Viscount Carnel. It was now two years and counting since the white dragon moved into his fiefdom, but he had not made so much as a peep. It was difficult to imagine how he could keep his realm running without the income from his mithril mines, and yet it was equally impossible to imagine him coming crying to Baron Granvelle. This silence from him, therefore, seemed somewhat ominous. The baron was clearly aware of this, seeing how frequently he asked Sebas for reports on the situation in Carnel.

After erasing all the goblin and orc villages in the area, Allen still based his hunting activities in the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains. On the other side of the forest, above the treeline, was a desolate wasteland only sparsely dotted with greenery where the mountain range, which extended far into the distance and sprawled over an unbelievable expanse, loomed in all its majestic glory. Allen only had a limited view from his position at the top of a bare cliff, but what he saw with his own eyes felt much more awe-inspiring than the more comprehensive view that he got through Sharing with a Bird E.

So, that’s an armored ant nest.

A slight distance away from Allen’s current position lay a large bulge in the mountain slope that looked like an igloo. This was the entrance to an armored ant nest. Many armored ants, monsters that towered three meters in height, busily flowed through the entrance in an unending stream.

Hm, the entrance is pretty small. Oh, no, it’s the armored ants that are too big. I’m not sure there’s space for me to slip in with all these guys going in and out nonstop.

The width of the tunnel could only accommodate the passage of one armored ant. This was plenty of space for a human to go through, but even if he managed to infiltrate the place, the ants could easily seal his path with their bodies alone.

Of course, Allen had asked Raven to share everything he knew about killing armored ants. First, the adventurer had explained that most nests held roughly a thousand armored ants, give or take. Next, it was guaranteed that there would be a queen armored ant, a Rank B monster, within. This monster absolutely needed to be killed, or else it would continue to spawn more and more armored ants. Unfortunately, this was all the info that Raven had—Allen attempted to press him for more details, but Raven replied that his info was only secondhand this time, and he himself did not know much else.

So the tunnels inside are all one-way only? Isn’t it inconvenient having such tiny holes? Hmm, I should probably lure as many armored ants outside as I can to kill them out here. That’s the only way I’ll be able to go inside to get at the queen.

Allen called out four Beast Ds, one Insect D, and one Fish D, then Shared with all of them.

Well, let’s first give it a try and see how it goes.

This world had neither walkthrough sites nor online forums. Thus, Allen had to try attacking with his Summons to see for himself how well this group composition would fare against the armored ants. Of course, having learned his lesson from the orc village that he failed to take down, Allen now kept himself back a safe distance away.

The group of six Summons wove their way around the bare boulders, making their way toward the anthill entrance. The Beast Ds were soon spotted due to their huge size, but they continued on regardless.

Once they got close, one armored ant raised its large jaws up high and clacked them loudly in warning. Other nearby ants heard this and headed over, adding to the cacophony with their own furious clacking. This prompted several dozen more to appear from within the nest and take up defensive positions around the entrance.

Yes, keep coming out! I love where this is going. Please come out, every last one of you. All right, six Summons is clearly not enough to deal with these numbers. Let’s get more out there.

In response to the situation, Allen called out twenty more Beast Ds, all of them Strengthened ahead of time. He ordered them to charge toward the armored ant nest.

Soon, the area fell into a battlefield. As armored ants’ heads were slightly more breakable than their shells, all the Beast Ds knew to aim for their heads. This was what Allen had always told them to do during the previous hunts, so now he no longer needed to mention it—they just did it by default. And so the Beast Ds got to work cracking heads.

Hmm, their teamwork really leaves a lot to be desired.

The most important thing in hunting was the amount of time taken to kill each monster. The efficiency of battle was directly determined by the number of monsters taken down. Allen was currently watching the battle from over fifty meters away using a Bird E with Hawk Eye activated. The Beast Ds charged fiercely and were making good progress culling the ants, but there was a glaring problem that had come to light from their facing such a large number of enemies at once.

Beast Ds were incapable of crushing the heads of armored ants in one attack, even while using their Ability. This meant the most efficient way for them to fight was to coordinate with each other and focus on bringing down one enemy at a time. Unfortunately, this was not going so well.

Whenever Allen saw a Beast D attacking an armored ant, he ordered another one to also focus its attacks on that same monster. However, in large-scale protracted fights where he could not micromanage the movements of every Summon and had to rely on them to make their own decisions, holes appeared very quickly among the ranks, leading to unnecessarily wasted time. For example, say there was an armored ant that would die with just one more attack, but the closest Beast D turned to attack another one that was closer and ended up getting attacked by the first armored ant. Similar instances started cropping up more and more, much to Allen’s chagrin.

So basically, Summons with barely more than 100 Intelligence end up making quite a lot of bad calls and can’t effectively cooperate with each other.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more mistakes the Summons made. It grew so obvious that Allen would almost believe it if he were told the Summons had been designed to make a certain percentage of incorrect decisions. He first thought this was an issue that could be solved with thorough training, but soon arrived at the conclusion that it was the Intelligence stat that was to blame. It was when he saw Bird D and Fish D—both of which had over 400 Intelligence after being Strengthened—communicating flawlessly that the idea had occurred to him. Bird D only knew how to say “Hoo!” whereas Fish D could not speak at all. And yet, somehow, the two were capable of picking up each other’s intentions and acting in coordination.

I guess this is basically how it is? Though I don’t have a Summon with around 300 Intelligence, so I’ll just fill the line with whatever.

Results of Testing Summons with Varying Intelligence:

• Less than 100 Intelligence: Only reacts to the order to use its Ability
• Above 100 Intelligence: Can comprehend normal orders and the order to use its Ability, but makes bad decisions and cannot communicate with other Summons
• Above 200 Intelligence: Fewer mistakes in judgment
• Above 300 Intelligence: Cannot be tested due to absence of corresponding Summons
• Above 400 Intelligence: Can communicate with other Summons and, when Shared, can pass along Allen’s orders

As a result of his experiments, Allen discovered that if he Shared with a Bird D with over 400 Intelligence, the Bird D could help pass instructions on to other Summons. In this way, he could remotely instruct Summons that he was not Shared with. However, this was effectively a game of telephone, relayed from Allen to Bird D to, say, Beast D. The instructions had to be extremely simple, otherwise they would get distorted in the process.

Allen occupied himself by considering the possibilities opened up by this discovery while watching the fight taking place at the entrance of the armored ant nest.

＊ ＊ ＊

Two months had passed since Allen first began assaulting the armored ant nest, but he had yet to take it down. He was currently in the village that had been set up in the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains for smelting mithril. It was still a rather barren place, as development had only begun in April.

A man who was carrying timber together with Allen called out to him, “Looks like you’re pretty strong, lad.”

“Thank you, mister.”

Naturally, Allen was not here to help build the village. No, he was here to continue his assault on the armored ant nest. He had killed more than two hundred armored ants each day twice a week over the past five weeks, which brought his kill count above two thousand. If the info from Raven about there being a thousand armored ants in a nest was true, he should have been done ages ago. So what was going on?

If it just so happened that the first nest he ever attacked was a large one, then fine—even if there were three thousand or five thousand armored ants, killing them all was simply a matter of time. However, there was one thing that was bothering Allen: every time he approached the nest again for another day of hunting, the two hundred corpses from the previous day would be completely gone. He suspected that the queen armored ant might be consuming the corpses as nutrition in order to continue spawning more.

One might think, “Easy! Just move the corpses away, then!” but that was much easier said than done. As the monsters rushed out of the nest in an unending stream, it was difficult even harvesting the corpses for magic stones, much less dragging them away somewhere. The efficiency for grinding XP here was absolutely unparalleled compared to any prior methods or targets, but the monetary reward was pretty much zero.

In light of all this, Allen had gone to Sebas in mid-April with a request. He was not sure if the butler would say yes, but he knew through his talk with Zenof that the man had already been making various concessions on his behalf.

What Allen asked for was to make his huntsman days and days off consecutive, and to allow him to stay out during the night in between. Even he, with all his level-ups and buffs, found the distance between Granvelle City and the location of the armored ant nest quite far. The long commute was making it difficult for him to get in as much hunting as he wanted.

At first, Sebas frowned at the mention of staying out. Just as he was about to say no, however, Allen offered to help out at the mithril smelting village. So, he eventually ended up giving the green light. When Allen mentioned this to Rickel later, the head manservant looked quite surprised and asked how Allen managed to make it happen. Apparently, staying out was generally forbidden. It turned out that the butler had bent the rules for Allen’s sake once again.

Schedule Before the Change:
Service / Service / Huntsman / Service / Service / Day Off

Schedule After the Change:
Service / Service / Service / Service / Day Off / Huntsman

Being able to dedicate two consecutive days to hunting was such a step up that even if Allen dedicated several hours to helping out at the village, he still came out ahead. Thanks to cutting out one round of his commute, his daily kill count rose from two hundred to three.

Today, after putting in a few hours at the village, he was once again at the armored ant nest. And this time, the fight was finally going to proceed much differently. Namely, armored ants had stopped coming out of the nest.

I did it! My persistence finally won out! Take that, you stupid insects!

Keeping at this for two consecutive days ever since mid-April had finally paid off. The three-meter-wide entrance to the anthill gaped wide open as if inviting Allen in.

I’ve got to strike while the iron’s hot. I have torches and magic tools for illumination with me, but let’s send in a few Summons first.

Scouting the location out before heading in only made sense. What’s more, to avoid getting lost, Allen wanted to confirm where the queen armored ant was and to figure out the most direct way to reach her. Knowing and not knowing sometimes made all the difference.

Now, who should I send in? Chappy? No, it’ll probably be dark inside, so Horo’s the best bet. Poor Chappy, I still haven’t been able to use it for much.

Upon leveling up as a Summoner, Allen gained more and more useful skills, with Sharing being the latest one. He was continually considering ways to make the most out of each Summon’s Ability in light of what each new skill brought to the table. Bird G’s Ability, Voice Mimic, was one of the Abilities that suddenly got a lot more handy with the addition of Sharing.

Voice Mimic
Effect: Mimic someone’s voice
Conditions: Have heard the target’s voice and know the target’s name

Back when he did not yet have Sharing, Allen had to give detailed instructions for whose voice to mimic and what to say from within fifty meters. That was incredibly inconvenient, but the inconvenience was completely resolved thanks to Sharing, suddenly making the Ability much, much more useful. Now, Allen could give Chappy continuous instructions on who to sound like and what to say no matter how far away he was. The possibilities had expanded greatly, but unfortunately, he had yet to find any opportunities to actually make use of this Ability.

During the time Allen was deep in thought, Bird D had continued making its way deeper and deeper into the anthill.

Oh wow, it’s really big inside. One Horo alone won’t be enough.

As could be expected of a nest that had been home to over a thousand ants, the place turned out to be an expansive labyrinth. The passages branched out countless ways, with the tunnels stretching on endlessly. To make the process go faster so as to take advantage of this opportunity to get at the queen armored ant, Allen sent in three more Bird Ds. All the areas that the four Horos passed through were immediately mapped onto a page in Allen’s grimoire.

I see, there’s a small room h— Oof, one Horo got done in!

The anthill was not entirely empty, as could be expected. A Bird D had just entered a dead-end chamber when it was suddenly caught by large mandibles and crushed to death. In the split second before it died, Allen had caught sight of three armored ants. There were still quite a few armored ants lurking about inside the nest.

I ain’t giving up, though! Hmm...

Allen pondered how to conquer this ant colony. He was currently Shared with the three Bird Ds still inside, plus the one Bird D that he had just Summoned to replace the one that had died. Their number could be maintained by Creating more any time one got done in while they continued pushing farther down the gently sloping passages in their effort to completely map the place. Whenever that happened, Allen made a mark on the map and sent over the mixed force of three Beast Ds and one Bird D that he had roaming in the nest to wipe out the forces in the area. Naturally, he was Sharing with them too, for a total of eight Summons that he was concurrently Shared with. He slowly but steadily exterminated all the monsters remaining within this way. The small larvae that the Summons encountered every once in a while in the chambers were also mercilessly stomped out.

As there was no light at all inside the tunnels, the Beast Ds were moving in total darkness. The vision that Allen Shared with them was also entirely blacked out. He was relying on the Bird D that accompanied their group to observe their surroundings so that he knew what instructions to give the Beast Ds.

When Allen had first started in the morning, progress had been smooth. However, the armored ants hardly just sat around idly. In the afternoon, they started showing up in greater numbers.

Ugh, another Horo got hemmed in again.

The passages were only barely large enough for armored ants to pass through. As such, they would become practically blocked every time an ant showed up, making it impossible for Allen’s Summons to keep going. Every time a Bird D found its way blocked by an armored ant after turning back from a dead end, since there was no way it could kill the monster by itself, Allen had no choice but to revert it into card form. Summons that were returned to card form from afar—thanks to Sharing—automatically made their way back into the grimoire’s holders. Then he had to re-Summon and send them out once more.

As soon as the Beast Ds encountered an armored ant, no matter if it was in a passage or a chamber, they killed it. But that was the easy part. Because the corpse that remained was in the way, the Summons then had to use their jaws to hold it by its crushed head and push or pull it to somewhere they could discard it, such as at a dead end or a small room. Only after this could they continue exploring.

This almost feels like a puzzle game. Is this what clearing an armored ant nest is supposed to be like?

Back when Allen had been Kenichi, he had played games that had other simpler games within, called minigames. For example, even though the game itself was an adventure game, for some reason, it would feature, say, a quiz competition or dice board games. Clearing the armored ant nest was giving him the same feeling.

Just how long would he continue this puzzle minigame for? In any case, the sun was about to set when a Bird D finally emerged into the largest cavern in the anthill. Inside were ten armored ants all clumped up together around another ant that was clearly different from the rest. This special monster was roughly three times as long as a normal armored ant and had a caterpillar-like torso that protruded from underneath its shell, expanding and contracting rhythmically.

This must be the queen armored ant! There’s no doubt!

Apparently this cavern was the deepest part of this nest. After marking down the location on the map, Allen reverted all the deployed Summons to card form.

This should do for the composition of the strike force. If they end up struggling, I can increase my Intelligence to raise the number of Summons I’m able to Share with.

Vanguard Strike Force Against a Queen Armored Ant

• Beast D x 6
• Bird D x 1
• Insect D x 1

A Fish D buffed all eight Summons, then Allen Shared with them and sent them into the nest. He also Summoned a few more Beast Ds and ordered them to follow along behind the previous group, but this did not work out, as they were unable to see in the dark. There was no choice but to attempt the fight only with the Summons that he was Sharing with.

The strike force followed the twists and turns of the nest, traveling down countless branches. They walked for more than five kilometers total before finally reaching their destination. The monsters within had remained in the same positions as before.

In boss fights, it’s common sense to go for the weaker mobs first. The same applies in this world.

Allen ordered the Beast Ds to first focus on taking down the normal armored ants. This cavern was naturally shrouded in complete darkness, but Allen—and his Summons, by extension—still had visual thanks to Bird D using Night Vision. Once three Beast Ds got done in, Allen Summoned replacements and sent them down. Just like fighting orc kings, he was relying on sheer numbers to overwhelm the enemy. And once again, the strategy paid off.

Okay, that’s all the small fry taken care of. It’s time for me to head down in person so I can get within fifty meters and Summon a whole bunch at once.

Even at the end of Allen’s campaign against the orc villages, he needed to send more than a hundred Beast Ds to kill one orc king. The Summons surrounded the monster to continuously attack it from all sides, with plenty of replacements ready to step up and take the places of those that got killed. Allen intended on using the same strategy this time, but because the battlefield was five kilometers underground, he had to go down himself.

To save time, Allen brought only a Bird D and two Beast Ds along as he charged into the nest. As he could not see a thing inside, he relied solely on the Night Vision sight that he was Sharing with the Bird D. It gave him a much clearer view than a torch or illumination magic tool would have.

I almost feel like I’m controlling my own body in over-the-shoulder mode.

Even while Allen himself was dashing through the passages, the remaining Beast Ds down below continued attacking the queen armored ant.

She isn’t all that fast, but it looks like aiming for her head is quite dangerous.

The monster’s head was covered with a tough exoskeleton and equipped with giant, vicious mandibles. There was no reason to insist on aiming for that part when the monster’s soft abdomen protruded from its shell. Consequently, the three remaining Beast Ds focused their attacks on the abdomen, using Crush repeatedly. In response, the queen shuddered violently, slamming one of the Beast Ds against the far wall and reducing it to bubbles of light with one powerful strike of her mandibles.

Oof, one down. But I think we’ve got this. It’s taking her way too long to kill a single Beast D.

The queen armored ant’s Agility was clearly far lower than that of an orc king, which could move incredibly fast and wield a halberd. Before long, Allen reached the large cavern where the battle was taking place.

The enemy is moving sluggishly! Teddys, CHAAAARGE!

“ROOOOAAAAARRRRRR!”

The twenty-plus Beast Ds that Allen Summoned all at once roared at the top of their lungs, shaking the cavern, before thundering forward as a single wave of muscles, fangs, and claws. The enemy was superior in rank and the Beast Ds could not see for themselves, but the target was huge, and after figuring out where it was, the Beast Ds began spamming their Ability. Every time the queen armored ant shuddered, one of the Summons got punted to the wall of the cavern. But their attacks still fell like relentless and inexorable rain.

Is this all a queen armored ant can do? This isn’t as challenging as I expected.

Soon, one of the Summons dealt the killing blow. The monster’s long torso tore open, spilling white liquid all over the ground.

“Clack clack clack!”

The queen armored ant raised her head high and screamed loudly, then fell over. Her body’s convulsions ended up causing more white liquid to gush out.

<You have defeated 1 queen armored ant. You have earned 45,000 XP.>

Ah, she died.

It was a bit anticlimactic how easily the boss monster itself died, but the clearing of the nest had taken a whole day. Even if Allen headed back to Granvelle City now, the gates would probably be closed by the time he arrived. In other words, he would have to stay at the village for another night.

Ugh, tonight’s gonna be an unexcused night out. I hope Mr. Sebas doesn’t get mad at me for it. Would apologizing the way Mr. Rickel does lessen my sentence?

Allen had feared that if he did not press the attack today and left halfway through, the armored ants might recover their numbers. To prevent that from happening, he had prioritized killing the queen armored ant, but an infraction was an infraction. He recalled how he had seen Rickel apologize before and imagined himself doing the same.

But for now, let’s strip away the queen armored ant’s shell. Then I’ll bring it back and apologize.

There was little point in overthinking things. Allen produced the illuminating magic tool from Storage and twisted the dial to turn it on. It was true that he could see through Bird D’s Night Vision, but it was hard to see what he was doing from over his shoulder. Harvesting was best done with his own eyes.

When Allen approached the monster to confirm its state, a powerful stench assaulted his nose.

Ugh, that stinks so bad!

The sour, acidic smell was coming from the fluids that had leaked from the queen armored ant. It was so intense that Allen thought he would be hit with a debuff from smelling it one too many times.

Still, it was pretty strange how sluggish the boss’s movements were. Was she under the weather today?

As the queen armored ant was classified as a Rank B monster, Allen had expected it to be as formidable as a murdergalsh. The actual fight, however, had ended in no time at all. He mulled over whether this specific monster just happened to be a weak one or if it was the species as a whole.

Oh! Is it because she was exhausted from laying too many eggs?

Over the past two months, Allen had killed more than five thousand armored ants. If what Raven had said about a nest being home to around a thousand was true, that meant this queen had birthed more than four thousand eggs in that short period of time. Perhaps exhaustion was the reason she had died so easily.

Hmm, so monsters need to eat and sleep, and can become weakened. The Bird Ds did find pupa and eggs throughout the nest too. Catching them when they’re not in perfect condition can make a big difference.

This was basically Allen’s takeaway for the day.

All right, let’s get the harvesting done and head back.

Not wanting to stay down there any longer than necessary, Allen got to work. Thanks to his beloved mithril sword, harvesting the queen armored ant went easily. It did not take long before he had secured both the magic stone and shell.

Oh right, mithril ore. That’s important. I should look around a bit.

It was said that there was a possibility there were exposed mithril ore veins in the tunnels inside an armored ant nest. For all he knew, there might be one in this very cavern.

Well, this should do.

He had never seen mithril before, so he grabbed ten lumps of rock that seemed reflective under the light of his magic tool and threw them into Storage to include in his report to Sebas afterward.

Okay, time to go.

Having finished doing everything he needed to do, Allen started making his way back upward, dragging the queen armored ant’s shell behind him. After staying at the smelting village for another night, he then returned to Granvelle City the next morning.

It was around noon when he finally reached the mansion. Right before turning the final corner, he took out the rocks that might or might not be mithril, put them into a jute bag, and slung the bag over his shoulder.

First things first: apologize to Mr. Sebas.

Allen had wanted to get a one-on-one with the butler first thing to apologize for staying out last night without permission. However, it turned out Sebas had already headed to the dining room on the second floor. So Allen left the queen armored ant’s shell in the garden and headed up.

“Please excuse me,” he said as he entered the dining room. Everyone within turned to look at him.

Cecil was the first to react. “Do you know how late you are, Allen?!”

“I’m truly sorry, milady. I am back now.”

It was the baron, not Sebas, who questioned Allen. “Allen, tell us why you could not make it back yesterday.”

“Yes, my lord. I have been attacking the same armored ant nest in the foothills of the White Dragon Mountains for the past two months. Yesterday, my efforts finally paid off, and I saw it as an opportunity to get at the queen armored ant. I was worried that if I did not press my attack, she would spawn more armored ants again. So I prioritized killing her and finished too late in the night to make it back in time. I am deeply sorry.”

After explaining his circumstances, Allen bowed with his waist at a ninety-degree angle. This was the Rickel-style apology that he had seen being used quite often.

“Hm? Did you say queen armored ant?”

“Yes, my lord. I brought her shell back. It’s in the garden right now.”

The baron looked at Sebas with a blank face. Sebas, in turn, returned the look with a blank expression of his own. The two of them continued looking at each other blankly for a few more moments before the baron turned back toward Allen.

“I’m sorry, Allen. I’m afraid I did not quite catch the meaning of what you just said. Could you repeat it to me one more time?”

I thought I was pretty clear in my explanation. Is he angry at me? I’m not sure I get it, but I guess I’ll do it again more thoroughly.

After Allen went through the account of what had happened once more, the baron, who still looked very confused, attempted to sum the entire story up in his own words.

“So, you’re saying that you defeated a queen armored ant and completely cleared out an armored ant nest?”

Yay, he finally got it! “Yes, my lord.”

The baron looked at Sebas again. “Summon Zenof for me. I know he just returned last night and is likely tired, but tell him that this is urgent and he is needed immediately.”

“Understood, Master!”

Hm? What for? I’ve already told Captain Zenof that I’ve been attacking that armored ant nest.

That one night Allen had spent camping out with the chivalric order after the whole orc village incident, Captain Zenof had asked him to share the details of his hunting activities whenever he visited the mansion. Ever since then, Allen had ensured that he kept the knight captain in the loop. Although the man was often away, Allen remembered clearly informing him two months ago that he had wiped out all the orc villages and was now moving on to attacking armored ant nests.

“And Allen, you mentioned bringing back a queen armored ant’s shell?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Then let us take a look at this shell while waiting for Zenof to arrive.”

Oh? Am I already forgiven? The Rickel-style apology really worked!

Allen led everyone to the garden, secretly rejoicing at the fact that the baron never veered back to the topic of his staying out without permission. Just as he had said, there lay the gigantic pink-gold shell that he had harvested from the queen armored ant. The shell of normal armored ants was silver, so the difference was obvious at a glance.

The baron nodded repeatedly and went “Hmm” while touching the shell all over. Thomas followed suit, his curiosity piqued, when Sebas returned from calling for Zenof.

“Master, Captain Zenof said he would be here shortly.”

“Good. By the way, Sebas, Allen claims that this is the shell of a queen armored ant. Have you ever seen another before?”

“I-I’m sorry, Master. Unfortunately, I am not too familiar with monsters.”

Mm? Oh, queen armored ants are quite rare, I imagine, what with being Rank B, plus living so deep inside the nest. Are they summoning Captain Zenof because they have no way to verify my claim themselves?

After admitting that he had no idea whether this was truly the shell of a queen armored ant either, Sebas also reached out with curiosity to touch it all over. Before long, the knight captain rushed into the mansion.

“May I ask why I have been summoned with such urgency, Your Lordship?”

Both his clothes and his hair look really well-groomed for someone who had been suddenly called over at an hour when everyone’s normally lounging about after lunch.

“I apologize for interrupting your rest, Zenof. There is something I need you to confirm for me. Is this a shell from a queen armored ant?”

“A...queen armored ant, my lord?”

Zenof approached to take a look, but then shook his head. “I’m sorry, my lord. I have never seen a queen armored ant myself.”

“Allen tells us that this is the shell of a queen armored ant. My memory might be fuzzy, as I heard this quite far in the past, but aren’t armored ant nests supposedly unclearable?”

Huh? Unclearable? Not just difficult to clear, but outright impossible?

“Yes, my lord. It is impossible to clear an armored ant nest. Even if our entire order was to be dispatched, we would not be able to do it. I believe it is beyond Silver Fang of the Gale as well.”

Hearing how certain Zenof had sounded, Allen inadvertently blurted, “But armored ants are only Rank C, right?”

Silver Fang of the Gale was the name of a Rank A adventurer party. Allen had difficulty understanding how even a Rank A adventurer party would struggle against Rank C monsters. How could anything be impossible for Rank A adventurers and the knight captain?

“Well, that’s because...”

To sum up Zenof’s explanation, clearing an armored ant nest involved killing more than a thousand armored ants that would keep emerging in a seemingly endless flood.

I mean, yes, that’s how it was for me too. Though it was over five thousand in my case.

Zenof continued to explain that his chivalric order would suffer severe casualties if they really had to fight more than a thousand Rank C monsters without rest. What’s more, killing a queen armored ant meant going into a nest with all its countless branching passages and finding the cavern where she resided. The monsters still remaining within the nest would use their bodies to seal the passages, especially when the exploration party was turning back from a dead end. The party could kill the ant that was in the way, but its body would remain, leaving them still trapped. Then only death awaited, as it was nigh impossible for another group to find them within the labyrinth.

Ah, that’s true. My Summons did get trapped quite a few times. Every time it happened, Allen had simply recalled the trapped Summons by reverting them to card form and then sent them back out right away.

“For all these reasons, clearing an armored ant nest is, for all practical purposes, impossible. If someone really had to clear one, the question would be one of how many casualties the process would incur. However, this is entering the realm of academic deliberation. In any case, I have never heard of an armored ant nest ever being cleared before.”

No one, be they knight or adventurer, would willingly step into an armored ant nest. Over the past year or so, the chivalric order had been mobilized only to deal with goblin and orc villages. There had been no mention whatsoever of attacking ant nests.

Allen looked confused. “Huh? But I heard that some of the mithril mines that we currently have used to be armored ant nests.”

“The queens in those nests happened to die. Then the armored ants abandoned them of their own accord.”

After hearing this explanation, Allen finally understood the blank look that the baron and the butler had exchanged. If there was no one attempting to clear these nests, then obviously there were no accounts of anyone having succeeded. The two of them had been bewildered by the report of a feat that they had understood to be absolutely impossible.

“So that’s what happened. Oh, right. The shell isn’t the only thing I brought back. I also have these.”

Allen lowered the sack that he had forgotten about from his shoulder and took out one of the rocks inside.

“What is this?”

“I picked this up in the cavern where the queen armored ant was. I was wondering if it might be mithril ore.”

Everyone’s heads snapped around as they exclaimed, “WHAT?!”

Now, this they understood, much more than all the talk about the queen armored ant and nest clearing. The baron and knight captain both walked over briskly and peered closely at the rock.

“Allen, tell me the rest in the conference room,” the baron ordered, beckoning Allen to follow along as he, Sebas, and Zenof headed to the third floor together.

“So, can you empty the contents of your bag on the table for us?”

“Yes, my lord.”

Allen was a little hesitant to place the rocks that might possibly be dirtied with the queen armored ant’s bodily fluids on top of the stately, antique-looking table, but he had no choice but to follow a direct order.

The baron promptly stepped out of the room, quickly returning with a heavy-looking lump in his hands.

“This is mithril ore.”

Whoa! There’s the lord of a realm that used to thrive on mithril mining for you. I guess it only makes sense that he has a sample.

The mithril ore was placed right next to Allen’s rocks. They both gave off the same luster and had identical textures.

“They...look the same,” Allen commented.

“So they do,” the baron replied. “Sebas, bring me a map.”

The butler fetched a map of Granvelle from another room. This was not Allen’s first time seeing a map in this world, as Zenof had previously brought one out when the two discussed their relative progress in wiping out the orc villages. Upon being asked, Allen was able to point to the location of the armored ant nest that he had just cleared, indicating that it was somewhere between the two northernmost mines.

“I see. It’s quite close to the village we’re developing,” the baron murmured, stroking his beard.

Zenof agreed, then said, “I strongly believe that we should be dispatched with haste to secure it before other monsters move in.”

Despite having just returned to town, the knight captain was proposing that he and his men set off again immediately.

“Oh, right,” Allen interrupted, having remembered something else that he had yet to report. “If I may have a sheet of paper, I can draw a simplified illustration of the entire layout of this nest.”

It was simply a matter of copying over the finished map in his grimoire, so Allen did not think much of it. This was, after all, a labyrinth more than five kilometers long. Having a map, even a simple one, would make an enormous difference for those who would be managing the place.

“You mean it?! Bring him a large piece of parchment immediately!” the baron barked.

However, instead of immediately heading out, Sebas said, “Master, this would be a good time to give Allen an explanation about the mining rights.”

“Mm, I know. I’ll do it now,” the baron replied before turning to Allen. “Allen, you have done incredibly good work today. Naturally, you will not be penalized for the unauthorized night out.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“As for this mithril vein, the credit for its discovery goes to you.”

“Thank...you, my lord?”

“In this country, those who discover a source of a natural resource—not just limited to mithril—are granted thirty percent of the harvesting rights.”

“That much, my lord?”

“Indeed. As such, thirty percent of the harvesting rights for this mithril mine goes to you, Allen.”

Seriously?! Damn, I feel like I just figured out a way to get filthy rich in this world. I see, harvesting rights, huh?

According to the explanation that followed, the actual amount that would enter Allen’s pockets was a lot less than thirty percent of the full profits. First of all, the revenue from the mithril would be used to pay for all costs associated with the mining operation, including the maintenance of the mine, construction and maintenance of the furnaces needed to smelt the ore into ingots, and the personnel expenses for the knights, miners, laborers, and guards. Sixty percent of the remaining amount would then go to the royal treasury as tax. The amount actually left after all the abovementioned subtractions was what the term “harvesting rights” referred to. This was the sum that Allen would be receiving thirty percent of, with the other seventy going to the feudal lord.

In this way, Allen managed to gain thirty percent of the mining rights of a mithril mine at the young age of eleven years old.