“Hey,” Garlic said, lifting the upper half of his body off the ground. He waved his tiny little leg at Vur. “Hey.” When Vur looked down and made eye contact with him, the caterpillar nodded. “I’m hungry. Remember the deal you made with my mom? You have to raise me, and I will not raise on an empty stomach.”

Vur blinked and tilted his head to the side. “What do you eat?” he asked the caterpillar.

Garlic rubbed his uppermost legs together like a scammer getting ready to trick a child. “How about you give me some of that insect gold?”

A loud chattering sound rang out, and a large beetle walked towards Garlic, causing the caterpillar to scoot and hide behind Jeffery’s leg—as if the retired guide could do anything to stop Gronion if it really wanted to do anything to Garlic.

“Back off!” the greenish-blue caterpillar said, waving a balled-up leg as if it were a fist at the beetle. “I knew Vur before you did. He promised to take care of me first, and that includes not letting you bully me. If anyone’s going to get insect gold, it’ll be me, okay?”

Vur rolled his eyes up to meet Tafel’s gaze. The demon nodded and said, “Well, it looks like they can communicate.”

Gronion glared at Garlic, but the caterpillar was unfazed. Garlic inched forward, abandoning his human shield, and stood upright. Of course, due to Gronion’s size, the caterpillar was only as tall as one of the beetle’s tarsal claws, but that didn’t stop him from speaking as if he were larger than life itself. “From this day forward, you’re going to be my junior brother. Also, you have an older sister too, but she hasn’t hatched yet.”

Gronion let out a series of rapid clicks.

“Who cares if she hasn’t hatched yet?” Garlic said. “We’re not going by seniority; we’re going by who Vur promised to take care of first, and with those standards, you’re dead last.”

Volearden cleared his throat, drawing Vur’s and Tafel’s attention. “As much as I appreciate a good drama between bugs,” the armored dragon said, “we were in the middle of discussing something important. Even if both towers belong to you, the choice of which tower establishes the portal to Erde is still important.”

“Why?” Vur asked and tilted his head.

Colors swirled on Volearden’s armor. “Because….” The colors stopped moving as Volearden paused. If Vur was the ruler of both towers, then they could be connected quite easily. However, the decision still mattered. Volearden nodded. “Because of convenience. If you make the portal here, phoenixes will have an easy time getting to Great Canopy, but all the dragons will have to apply for a transfer to the other tower before they can get to the roost.”

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“And if Vur opens the portal in the other tower, then it’d be the phoenixes who’re inconvenienced, is that right?” Tafel asked.

“Exactly,” Volearden said and nodded. “It doesn’t seem important, but for our prides as dragons and phoenixes, it is.”

An imaginary lightbulb appeared over Vur’s head. “Then, we’ll conquer a third tower and establish the portal there,” he said. “That way, all dragons and phoenixes from Erde will be inconvenienced equally.”

Malvina and Volearden exchanged glances with one another. Then, they looked at Vur. “I can accept that,” both beasts said at the same time. It might’ve been a situation where neither side won, but winning was less important than not losing.

“Okay,” Vur said, turning his head towards Gronion. “Bring me the lords of a third tower too.”

Gronion let out a sad chittering sound, causing Garlic to snort.

“Don’t complain,” the caterpillar said. “You don’t even do any work yourself, but you’re still going to get insect gold. All you have to do is rip open portals and let your underlings go at it.”

“Excuse me,” Tafel said from atop Vur’s head. “I’ll have you know opening portals isn’t as simple as you make it sound. There’s a lot of math involved.”

Gronion chittered, and Garlic glanced up at Tafel. “She’s agreeing with you,” the caterpillar said. “Finding the coordinates of a tower is difficult unless you can bring her something from that location.”

“What if we just merge the two towers together?” Tafel asked, looking down to meet Vur’s gaze. “Instead of inconveniencing everyone, why not make it convenient for everyone instead?”

Vur tapped his root bracelet. “Can you merge with this tower?”

Before he could get a response, loud shouts and protests rang through the air, coming from the portals Gronion had ripped open earlier. Winged ants came out of the portal, holding people with their mandibles. Judging by the cuts and slices, the ants didn’t care if the people they captured were injured or not. However, it wasn’t just the victims who were injured. Dozens of bugs had sustained injuries as well, their carapaces cracked and oozing green liquids.

Vur’s eyes glowed golden, and he waved his hand. A green light washed over the bugs, healing their injuries along with their victims’ injuries as well. Gronion chittered before nudging Garlic with its foot. The caterpillar blinked. “Gronion says you don’t have to heal the bugs. They’re expendable.”

“Expendable?” Tafel asked, raising an eyebrow. She glanced at the winged ants. They didn’t seem to care about being referred to as expendable.

Gronion chittered.

“Right,” Garlic said. “Gronion produces them.” The caterpillar gestured towards the princess bug. “Like so.”

Vur, Tafel, Volearden, and Malvina turned to look at Gronion. The large beetle opened its mouth as its body vibrated. Then, it puked out a long string with little white orbs attached to them. Gronion heaved a few more times, producing slimy string after slimy string, not noticing the disturbed expression on Tafel’s and Malvina’s faces. The white orbs on the strings wriggled, and they rapidly expanded, turning into winged ants half of Gronion’s size.

“The more nutrients she takes in, the more soldiers she can produce,” Garlic said. “They don’t live very long though, and their carapaces are very soft for the first couple of hours after they’re born.”

“I see,” Tafel said, turning her head away. She blinked upon seeing a familiar face within the mandibles of a winged ant. “Hey, isn’t that Kim Hajun?”