5. Person (3)
5. Person (3)
Heriis didn't know where to look.
Everywhere he looked, there were terrifying entities. He felt like if he did anything weird, they would turn on him and kill him.
The problem was that they were heading to a place swarming with these things.
There was no way to survive. He was just moving to live one more minute, one more second.
He stared at Lea, who was riding on a giant wolf—no, a terrifying thing that looked similar to a wolf.
'What the hell is she?'
How was she commanding such beings? How was she in the Forbidden Forest—
'No. This forest became the Forbidden Forest because of this being.'
These things had just been sitting in the Forbidden Forest, so there was no problem until now.
But one problem had arisen.
The being who looked like the Queen leading these creatures had become interested in the outside world.
She clearly said, 'I don't know anything about this world, so I have a lot to ask.'
That meant if she knew the information, she would come out.
Heriis had never cared about anyone but himself in his life.
Whether his hometown was looted or his colleagues died, he didn't think much of it. But now, thinking that the fate of this world rested on his words, his heart ached.
He hoped this walk would never end, but before long, the entrance to a giant cave came into view.
He knew it the moment he saw it.
That was where these monsters lived.
==
"Everyone, come on in."
I said in a bright and lively voice so they wouldn't be as scared.
The place was swarming with creatures, so I got goosebumps every time I saw them, but you get used to it after a while.
They were all frozen and couldn't move, but I understood.
However, my legs were getting stiff from standing here like this.
"Don't just stand there, follow me."
The beginning of the cave was just a wild cave, but once you went in a bit, there was a mansion-like space that my good creature children had made for me.
It was a mystery how creatures could imitate houses or furniture made by humans, but hey, if it's good, that's all that matters, right? I figured it was probably the knowledge of the previous Queen.
First, I had the female adventurer and the three mercenary men sit in chairs in a large hall-like space.
Everyone was hanging their heads and trembling.
It felt like I was looking at myself getting scolded in front of my boss. But I felt slightly annoyed.
I hadn't really done anything to them, so why were they so scared?
I could understand the mercenaries. I had accidentally killed two of their colleagues. But the woman shouldn't be scared of me.
Shouldn't she be saying, "Thank you for saving me"?
"Hoo..."
Flinch.
Everyone's shoulders jumped at my sigh.
Let's calm down.
My mind is too sensitive right now. Even I think I'm more sensitive than ever.
If something bothers me, I get annoyed and angry.
This isn't a normal state.
I took a deep breath and exhaled slowly to compose myself.
If I just reacted without thinking in the moment, I would be consumed by the Queen's consciousness.
To avoid that, I had to compose myself and perfectly control the Hive Mind.
And to facilitate that control, food was urgently needed.
No matter how I thought about it, this sensitivity seemed to be caused by hunger.
"Anyone have food?"
"Excuse me?"
"Huh?"
"Yes?"
Everyone asked back instead of answering, as if it was a completely unexpected question.
Did none of them go to the military?
"Anyone have food?"
"I, I have some..."
As expected of Heriis.
Heriis hurriedly took out some beef jerky from what looked like a small pouch.
I took it and shoved it into my mouth.
'Hmm...'
It wasn't that it tasted bad. But there was no feeling of being filled.
"I'm going to ask you things I'm curious about. Then you just need to answer honestly. Easy, right?"
I finished the rest of the jerky and continued.
Nod.
Everyone nodded.
"Where is this?"
"What exactly are you asking about? The continent? The country? The region?"
"All of it."
Heriis answered my question first.
"First of all, this is the Ardenia Continent, and half of the continent, including the Forbidden Forest, is currently the land of the Padix nation."
Heriis was a mercenary, and he answered my questions with the knowledge he had gained from his mercenary life.
As I expected, this was a fantasy world.
It was a world that had all the settings found in most fantasy novels or manga.
Adventurers, guilds, mercenaries, nations, cities, magic, swords, bows, knights, elves, dwarves, etc.—the words you would absolutely hear in a fantasy worldview were coming out of Heriis's mouth, and my heart pounded.
Since the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was only creatures, I was worried that this world might only have creatures.
A world with only creatures, how terrible.
Isekai reincarnation.
Among people who like manga and novels, there is no one who dislikes isekai reincarnation.
I'm the same.
I thought I had reincarnated into a creature world, but realizing I had reincarnated into a pure fantasy world, I stood up and clapped my hands.
Everyone was taken aback by my sudden action.
But I couldn't help it.
Now I didn't need information.
Knowing that it wasn't a terrible world but a fantasy world, information was just a spoiler from now on.
According to Heriis, there were monsters and very dangerous monsters, but I didn't think I would feel fear from monsters anymore.
"Thank you all. You've been a big help. I'm really sorry, but..."
I'm really sorry.
If I were a normal person, I would have thanked them and given them some reward money, but I am no longer a human; I am the parent of my children and their Queen.
Even if they say there's nothing dangerous in this world, the most dangerous thing is humans.
No matter how strong our children are, there will inevitably be damage.
If I fought a normal human, I would win without damage, but this is a fantasy world.
It's a world with swords and magic.
It's right to avoid conflict as much as possible.
Our existence should be known as late as possible.
To do that?
They can't leave here alive.
Heriis, who noticed what I was thinking, closed his eyes quietly.
Unlike him, the two clueless men just blinked, knowing nothing.
==
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
Amber, the female adventurer, had a more complicated mind than ever.
Why was she here?
Why did she come here?
Why did she survive?
None of it made sense.
A pig-like noble kept annoying her, so she got angry and pushed him.
The problem was that the noble fell and was seriously injured. Because of that, the noble got very angry and hired mercenaries to kill her.
And that was from a mercenary who was a former A-rank adventurer.
While running away to another city, she made a mistake and got hit in the thigh by an arrow, so she entered the Forbidden Forest to shake off the mercenaries following her.
Right.
That was the problem.
The Forbidden Forest.
A monster that appeared suddenly.
A woman who appeared suddenly.
When she came to her senses, she was in the monsters' lair.
And the mercenaries who were next to her had all become food for the monsters.
The woman who introduced herself as Lea approached while stroking the monsters that were eating the mercenaries.
In that woman's hand was a different monster than before.
I don't know if I should call this a monster.
A bug that looked like a centipede was squirming in the woman's hand.
"Don't move. If you move, you might die."
The woman grabbed the centipede-like bug and brought it straight to her nose. Then the centipede crawled into her nostril.
"Ugh!? Ack!? Keck!"
The centipede didn't stop at the nose and went deeper and upward.
==
The adventurer woman's eyes rolled back, her whole body trembling, and she was drooling.
"Ugh..."
It was painful for me to watch.
The scene of a finger-sized centipede entering the adventurer woman's nose and burrowing into her brain was enough to be blocked as 19+.
However, to keep this adventurer woman alive here without killing her, it was an unavoidable decision.
The creature that entered the adventurer woman's brain right now is, simply put, a body-controlling creature.
It settles from the brain to the spinal cord, so if she does anything useless, it can control her body's actions at any time.
Because it takes time to completely control the spinal cord, I left Amber as she was and moved to the Breeding Ground.
The colony has a food problem, but there is something as important as food.
That is production and evolution.
There are over 50,000 creatures, but the colony is in a very shabby state according to the Queen's consciousness.
I have to make the creatures strong in the Breeding Ground and produce them in the hatchery.
What I'm expecting here is to make the creatures strong in the Breeding Ground.
Until now, they were created by creatures, but now, there are monsters in this world.
I'm curious about how strong and attractive creatures will come out if those monsters and our children are combined.
To do that, I eventually need food, food, and food.
The problem is that there are no animals in the Forbidden Forest.
The animals must know that this place is dangerous, as there are no traces of them at all.
Then, eventually...
'I have to get out of the Forbidden Forest.'
==
A giant cocoon that looked like a woman's womb was moving like a heart.
[ Have you arrived? Queen-nim. ]
A creature approached me quietly.
"Is it being made well? Evolute?"
[ It is. Being. Made. Smoothly. ]
"That's a relief."
This is the second most important place in the colony, excluding the bedroom where I am.
It is a place where creatures are evolved, fused, and mutated.
And the creature that manages that Breeding Ground is Evolute.
I took the name from the English pronunciation of evolution so that it would evolve creatures well.
Evolute has an appearance that is not burdensome to look at.
It's not a more hideous and scary spider-like form like Dagos, but it's similar to a human form, though its whole body is made of tentacles.
The glowing eyes are a bit creepy, but it's much easier to look at than Dagos's eight eyes.
[ The human. Brain. Is. Quite. Interesting. ]
"R-really?"
What Evolute is making right now is none other than Heriis.
Unlike other humans, Heriis had his brain extracted separately.
And it is making a creature through the remaining brain. It was a decision I made because I thought it would be useful if I made it into a creature because it was so smart.
Huh? Then couldn't I do that with Amber too? A question might arise, but at least I need a normal human by my side who is not burdensome to look at.
I mean a real human, not a creature in Mimicry.
Even without that, my brain is full of creatures thanks to the Hive Mind, and if I look around, terrifying existences that give me goosebumps just by looking at them are swarming everywhere.
Among them, it's okay to have one cute and pretty person by my side, right?