Chapter 263: Chapter 263: Death (2/2)- The guilt

Theo could feel the hesitance coming from the ant queen, and it made him feel even more guilty.

This was the same ant queen that had accepted his taming request without any trouble and had followed his orders for so long now.

He didn’t even want to look at the bond level right now, as he knew it would be low.

’Ant queen, you need to trust me. This is our last bet to give them a better living chance. I should have done this a lot earlier, and I regret that, but you need to trust me too.’ Theo thought through the bond.

’WE DON’T HAVE TIME, SEND THEM.’ Theo spoke right away, as clearly there was no time, as they were already late enough to procure the light.

In a matter of a minute, Theo saw the ants getting dragged in a line with the help of the other ants.

They were being carried up, and one could see the stark difference between them. The spiked evolution variant was already a little bigger, and it took more than three shardjaw ants to carry just one of them.

When they were near and on the ground, Theo could still feel how bad a shape they were in.

He quickly changed the position of the orbs so that the ants were in the circle now.

It burned his hand picking them up without the cloth, but for now, all he had in his mind was how the ants would heal.

Just when they got in the circle, one of the four ants reacted to the heat and light coming through them.

Theo’s heart warmed by the fact that one by one, each of the shivering ants was reacting to the light, their antennas wiggling around, touching the ground with a faint glow.

Soon, all the ants traveled to the one orb that was close to them, only to latch themselves onto it without moving.

’Are they okay right now, ant queen? Check quickly.’ Theo asked in the bond, and the ant queen showed signs of happiness and appreciation.

Theo sighed with relief; he was happy the treatment worked to some extent.

But even right now, the fifth ant who was dead stayed on the ground, curled up into a small ball. Theo kept looking at it with the hope that it could be revived with the lights now.

But after five minutes, the ant was still on the ground, unreactive.

Soon, some ants came out of the colony again and picked the dead body of the ant up before vanishing inside the colony again.

Theo winced at the fact that the ants had already decided it was dead, which was the right thing to do.

’It feels like I am at fault this time... Why did I not take any measures before the evolution? I am so dumb.’ He kept a hand on his head and stayed down for a very long time.

The mantis was there to console him with the best of its ability, and Theo appreciated it.

Soon, his mind went to a dark place where he thought about how the ants might already be dismantling the dead ant and would have kept the body in the chamber where the food was stored.

But at that thought, some thoughts in the form of imagery came to his mind through the bond.

Theo looked at all the ants digging a hole in the ground at the corner of a big chamber.

One by one, ants picked up big pieces of dirt and kept it at the side before the hole was big enough for the dead ant to fit in.

Some ants brought and placed the body of the dead ant in that hole and left the place to get to their work.

The ant queen stayed there looking at the body of the dead ant for a moment more than others, before it moved away, and Theo got a glimpse of the other side of the chamber, which was filled with hundreds of brood before it was cut off.

The day went on with Theo feeling bad. About the dead ant.

It only took a few hours for the ants to start stabilizing. And when they did, he finally got out of the terrarium with the mantis.

Clara and Elias were outside reading their books like the first time.

And when he was out, Clara came running with a pale expression to look at his hands.

"Hm?"

Theo saw the burned marks on his grip, but he didn’t mind that.

"I will get medication as soon as possible!" She screamed and ran away without listening to Theo at all.

"How are things, young master? Did they change successfully?" Elias asked after Theo sat with an exhausted expression.

"... They are still a little weak, but the orb is working, so they will be better with time... though one of them died, Elias." Theo spoke while massaging his head.

Elias came forward and massaged his forehead instead, making Theo feel a lot better.

"I know that you’re sad about the ant’s death. The amount of time you poured into their growth is nothing to scoff at... but this is natural, young master. Beasts die from all kinds of things."

Theo looked at him with something to say, but he didn’t.

Elias kept quiet for a moment before he spoke up again, "I know you are trying to keep each and every ant safe but..."

There was no hesitation in his voice anymore, just a plain pause, "Let’s be clear about this, young master. You can’t always keep all of them safe from danger. With so many of them around, some are bound to die."

Theo listened normally and thought about what he said.

For the few months he had tamed the ant queen, not one of the ants had died by his hands. Some had naturally bad lifespans, and they were usually the males who didn’t fight, so it was okay for the colony.

"... If the ants were to die during a fight by something unpredictable, I wouldn’t have been this unhappy and strived to fix my tactics better."

"But the ant that died was during an evolution... and it was my fault from the beginning, Elias. Nothing can stop that." Theo said with disappointment.

Even Elias was silent for a little while, and in that time, Theo looked at the ant queen’s status screen in curiosity to know how bad the bond had fallen.

Only to get up with a little shout.

"It increased by 5?!"