Symphony for the Insect Princess

The silver-gray hair seemed to be dotted with specks of light sand.

The slightly pale skin is as delicate as snow, so delicate that it can be broken by a blow.

The slender limbs are the most perfect proportions.

Dreamy and translucent beauty.

She is very beautiful, and it is no exaggeration to say that her beauty is out of this world.

This is why it is difficult for people to feel real.

She was more like a beautiful illusion or a ghost hidden behind fireflies than a human being. The dark space dotted with small lights further deepened this impression.

"Welcome to everyone who has come here. It must have been a tough journey, right?"

She glanced at everyone's face and nodded slightly, seeming very satisfied.

The four of them fell silent.

then--

"Nylis!!!!????"

"Maid-chan!?"

"Well, I'm sorry to have worried you, Miss... No, Miss Aisia, and you, Miss Qimila."

"H-How could this be!? You are... eh? Eh?"

Aisia was suddenly in a state of confusion, but she immediately faced the girl.

"Do you throw away your brain when you see a woman? Don't go over there!"

Sedroon impatiently grabbed her clothes and pulled her back. Aisia also came back to her senses, hesitated for a moment and then stood back, but her burning gaze was always glued to "Nairis".

Seeing Aisia and Qimila's reactions, the other two also almost understood the situation.

It seemed that this girl had been living in the city lord's mansion as a "maid".

In other words, the conspiracy was at the core of the incident from the very beginning, but no one suspected her.

"First, let me introduce myself. Of course, Nairis is not my real name. I am—"

She paused, then introduced herself.

"Nellis Zelah, tentatively the true owner of the great secret treasure, and the planner of the small event in Kasol City."

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Underground, the hub of the water network——

A sound was heard.

A faint whimper.

Not only Sarko, the other four people heard it as well.

Even though they shouldn't be distracted by something like this, for some reason, the sobbing caught everyone's attention.

A tingling sense of danger coursed through his skin, and the fighting spirit that had just been burning fiercely suddenly waned.

Along with the whimpering, a strange flow of magical energy emerged. Naturally, the strongest of the three, Sarco, was the first to notice it. As a major city, Kasol naturally had a significant underground leyline running through it. Now, the magical current within that leyline had become slightly disturbed, like a drop of ink in clear water—even a tiny drop was enough to alter the properties of the entire glass.

"This……"

Someone disturbed the earth's veins? How is that possible!?

Sarco once again looked at the four men, now at their wit's end. He was certain they weren't behind this, and even at their peak, they wouldn't have been able to pull it off. Even Sarco, a great war spirit, would have needed extensive preparation and massive manpower support to pull it off.

What's more - why disturb the earth veins?

Anyone want to do something with ley lines?

What could possibly require the torrent of magical energy flowing through the earth's veins? A massive ritual?

At this moment, the flow of magic power changed again, and several branches split from the magic torrent, flowing deeper into the darkness.

For some reason, Sarko's intuition told him that he must not leave it alone.

(These four people...)

They no longer have much fighting power, so it doesn't matter if we keep them for the time being. The cat-and-mouse game will only waste time.

"Tsk, I can't do it without a careful inspection..."

If there wasn't someone playing tricks on him, there was only one explanation for the strange phenomenon of the earth veins.

Some extremely powerful object, simply by existing there, interfered with the flow of the magical torrent.

There probably wouldn't be another thing with such power in Kasol City, right?

"The real great secret treasure..."

----------------

My plan was pretty simple, at least in my mind.

This series of actions are all preconditions, and cannot even be said to be a specific step in the entire plan to kill that person. It is just a transition between adjacent steps.

Before the Zelach Manor incident, I had already contacted Qianye. Our common goal brought us together. I needed help, and so did he. We had the same interests.

He did me his first favor around the time the Dimension Destroyer was nearly complete, and it involved a great secret treasure. He personally dispatched, fully utilizing the abilities of a supreme assassin, and obtained the valuable research materials on the secret treasure left behind by the Sage of Craftsmanship, as well as a replica of the unowned secret treasure he had artificially forged.

Then the manor incident happened. While others were scheming and fighting each other, I spent three days doing nothing. Finally, as I wished, Lukes almost presented the great treasure to me with both hands.

The rest will fall into place.

After sneaking into Kasol City, Qianye gave me the Sage of Craftsman's belongings as agreed beforehand, and we teamed up to subdue the City Lord's House's butler. He disguised himself as the butler, and I disguised myself as a maid, and we entered the City Lord's House together.

The news of the theft of the great secret treasure spread quickly, and with Lux secretly fueling the flames, all I had to do next was to use the knowledge left by the Sage of Craftsman to temporarily restore the great secret treasure to its original state and attract everyone's attention.

Then, without me having to do anything, the news will naturally spread throughout half of Maya in an instant, and large numbers of powerful people will be attracted.

There is a premise here, the premise why I do this.

That is the existence of Stella Gondel.

According to the intelligence, I know that she is the deputy captain of the Pantheon's special investigation team. Part of the reason why she is so ostentatious is to encourage the Pantheon to send her investigation team here.

As for the remaining half——

"Everyone,"

If I had normal humanity, I would be jumping for joy right now, right?

"You overcame numerous difficulties and defeated a great war spirit, a great wizard, numerous war spirits and wizards, and my insect subordinates."

Unfortunately, I don’t have one, so the only thing that fills my insect heart is the sense of security that comes from biological instinct.

"And based on my tasteless tips, they worked together and found their way here."

It’s great that it went so smoothly.

"Since you have come here, possessing both strength and intelligence, and possessing a strong sense of teamwork, you must have understood my true intentions, right?"

After saying that, I closed my mouth, adjusted my facial expression to give a more friendly smile, and waited for them to speak.

Silence, and then—

"...I heard that in the southern region, there is a kind of magic called 'insect poisoning'."

As a representative, the purple-black-haired Ms. Charlotte spoke. As expected, she was the type of person who could easily become a representative of public opinion.

"Put a bunch of poisonous insects of all kinds in a container and let them kill and devour each other. What you get in the end is the strongest insect."

She showed an expression of sighing for a moment.

"Kasolu City is the container, and we... are all your Gu."

Chapter 104 Encountering Insects (Part )

I need companions.

If half the purpose of the farce I caused in Kasoloo was Stella Gondel, the other half was to find company.

Companions must be strong and smart enough, but not too strong or too smart.

Although it is possible to try to breed insects with human appearance, that would only be a waste of time and effort and would be putting the cart before the horse.

What I want is someone who can think independently and also follow my instructions.

But there is a very big limitation: I don’t have enough time. When the training of the Dimension Destroyer is completed, I will be seventeen years old, and there are only two years left before the deadline of nineteen years old.

Two years.

This is by no means a time limit that allows me to leisurely find a partner.

Lin Senya told me about "Ye's" experience. I have to say that she was really lucky in making friends. In less than a year, she made more than one impeccable companion who was both intelligent and powerful. This was also the key reason for her ultimate victory.

But I can't be like her, just every time I go to a new place, I will find a new and extremely reliable companion. I don't think I have such good luck. It took me a year and a half to find a thousand nights. If I had followed the ordinary method step by step, I would probably have died before I found enough suitable candidates.

So we need to change our thinking.

Not "I'm going to find a companion."

But "let my companions come to me."

The general idea is the same as an open audition, gathering enough people, reviewing them all at once, and picking out satisfactory candidates.

However, this is difficult to achieve. There are too many samples and the workload is too heavy. Moreover, I want to see their real fighting posture.

So I further refined the idea and the plan was completed immediately.

In a lawless place with weak moral values ​​(Barbra Continent, Kasolu City),

Throw out a bait that is tempting enough (big secret treasure),

Gather the people who will go crazy for this (mercenaries, adventurers, outlaws),

Give us another trigger that can make the situation get out of control (Boucher's death),

Provide a reason for them to fight each other and snatch (magic scars and fake great treasures),

Finally, leave some clues (do something with the fake treasure),

The poison has been formed.

All that remains is to wait and see.

Of course, it is also important to add some catalyst (insect tide) at almost the right time to give some final hints and speed up the ending.

After two months of dormancy - during which time I also secretly used the city lord's intelligence network to do a lot of work - it was finally time to reap the rewards.

There is only one problem now.

How can I convince these hard-earned prospective companions?

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"Kasolu City is the container, and we... are all your Gu."

The widow said so.

"..."

Oh.

What a vivid metaphor.

It was great to understand it immediately.

"To cause such a massive chaos just to select the talent you want? I'm afraid it's not worth it, is it?"

"'Casting a wide net' and 'focused screening' are common methods used by companies to select employees nowadays. My behavior may be a bit reckless, but there is no essential difference," I explained.

Charlotte Phoenix.

Her story is perhaps the most dramatic of all. Her gentleness conceals a coldness, and conversely, her coldness also conceals a tenderness. She possesses a moral compass that conforms to the mainstream, yet can easily break with it, sometimes revealing a sense of world-weariness. Her checkered past has shaped her present, with revenge being her most direct driving force.

It would be difficult to get her to agree with me, but I didn't expect her to. Her biggest weakness was her desire for revenge, and as long as I could guarantee this, she would be convinced.

And the other person——

"Honestly, I don't know where you get your confidence from, but are you having fun playing like this? Do you enjoy watching everyone in the city being fooled around by you? Do you think you're so awesome? I have something to say to you!"

"What?"

"I'll fuck your mother!!!"