After the heat of the battle had cooled down, I sat down on the ground with everyone who was done decompressing and took a break to drive out the feeling of impermanence that had risen in my mind after the fight.

(After all, the survival of the fittest is the law of the world…) 

After I evolved into a werewolf, I’ve learned to “hide under a human disguise”, but since I was essentially just a Kobold who lives in the forest, it has been engraved in my mind that living is a battle in itself, more than when I was fighting as a mercenary. 

To keep on living, it was necessary to eat other animals and plants, and in the chain of life, all living beings are desperately risking their lives just to live.

(Huh, the god who created such a system must be warped, imperfect, or just evil.)

In the first place, it might just be a paranormal existence with a wider perspective on insignificant things such as human emotions and life and death… In the end, I concluded that it had nothing to do with me and reached for the water bottle that hung from my waist and drank some cool water from it.

“Kuon, guruuh!” (Big brother, gimme!)

The little fox who had been nibbling on some bread inside the pouch hanging from my belt noticed the movement, poked her head out, and opened her mouth to demand water, so I slowly tipped the leather canteen and let her drink.

“You’re really close with that little fox, aren’t you… Normally, they don’t get along with humans that well.”

“I guess it’s because we’ve been together since birth, so…” 

After I responded to Ares who used a knife to cut off some of the rationed dried meat and popped it into his mouth, Riberto who had a tough time during the battle earlier plopped down beside us and said in a tired voice,

“Rather than that, I was surprised at how well Archer executed that heel dropkick on that large Valley Ant earlier and it made me realize that an Adventurer’s strength and rank don’t always match.”

“Well, I’ve been a mercenary for a long time, so I can’t completely claim to be a rookie.”

“Fufu, well that’s reassuring.”

I looked in the direction of the voice who cut into the middle of our conversation and saw Miss Grace who was equipped with a lot of magical equipment, standing nearby with a smile. 

“There’s a rumor going around in Edgar’s unit that someone brought down an Imperial type earlier, you know. They even said that the mix of magic and hand-to-hand combat is reminiscent of the Steel Sage’s fighting style.”

“Should I… take that as a compliment?”

It’s undeniable that I’ve been influenced by the grimoire “Herculean Crushing”, but he seems to only be a fighter carrying the Sage title, and I’m just someone claiming to be an archer, so I’m not exactly pleased with it.

While I was thinking that I just became a bit disrespectful to the head of the royal court mages, Ares nervously turned and responded to Miss Grace.

“Miss Grace, what can we do for you?”

“Oh it’s nothing, I was just curious about the archer who rushed into the frontlines earlier…”

After making a slight bow, she turned around and walked towards Edgar who was waiting nearby, and Muriel who had been chatting with the knights earlier returned.

“Sorry, I’m late.”

“Good job, Muriel~”

“But it’s amazing how you identified our next course of action.” 

I don’t know if they knew about the time she had slapped the Duke with a broken lizard tail before, but Ares and Riberto had a somewhat respectful look in their eyes as they welcomed her back.

While I was thinking about this, I checked the arrows I had collected and made sure that the strings that were attached to the metal fittings were not damaged, when a Knight’s voice was amplified by a wind magic spell that interfered with the atmosphere rang out.

“Break’s over, everyone! The injured and the transport corps will be in the middle, while the soldiers will walk in the front and the adventurers will be in the rear!!”

The guards who had been resting rose to their feet in response to the announcement, while the Adventurers who had been keeping watch of the perimeter also joined their squads, and everyone paid attention to the Knight Eldric as we got into a marching formation. 

After being briefed on our next course of action, the subjugation team found a huge, gaping hole in the ground in no time after following the tracks of newly broken grass left by the ants earlier while watching out for another attack.

(Well, in our case, Dagger and I don’t need to follow their tracks since we could still smell the remnants of their weird-smelling pheromone.)

As the soldiers quickly moved to set up a defensive line, we also positioned ourselves to protect the transport corps personnel. Just to be sure, I also checked with Muriel who was holding her evergreen staff next to me if there was a possibility of an immediate battle or not.

“Hnn, it should be fine, they already decided that the battle was not in their favor so they retreated, so they won’t come out right away… but we still have to make sure.”

“I see. In other words, they’re currently holing up during the siege. This behavior is no different from humans.”

According to Muriel, when an outside invader approaches the vicinity of their nest, reconnaissance-type giant ants will immediately warn the others, and if there are more enemies than the ants that responded from the colony, they will retreat and take defensive action.

In other words, the previous encounter we had with them was more like a subjective battle that became a defensive battle for the Valley Ants… and when their numbers dwindled and they were forced into a disadvantageous position, they fled back to their nest to wait for the situation to calm down.

I learned that the same is true for the tiny ants that crawl on the ground which switch between offense and defense depending on the number of individuals around them. Furthermore, in an academic paper that was published last year, it was also observed that they decide whether to attack or retreat depending on the number of allies they have with them when facing off against a potentially strong enemy.

(Thanks to Muriel, I’m learning more things than I know what to do with…)

For a while, I had to listen to Muriel talk passionately about the ecology of ants.