Regardless of the moment he was caught in, Wilfred hurried to the door. He pulled it open, already prepared to scold the boys for barging in on his private moment, and froze.
The man standing in the hallway was not a student.
Wilfred recognized him immediately and straightened his posture.
Butler Kim adjusted his monocle with one hand. His grey mustache shrouded his lips entirely, and a single line of beard extended below his chin like a blade's edge. He wore a plain shirt beneath a fitted waistcoat, leather straps crossing his chest and shoulders. Everything about him was neat and precise, from the creases in his sleeves to the polish on his shoes.
The butler hesitated.
"Young Lord… I have a message from the Duke."
Wilfred's expression didn't shift. If it had been the former Wilfred, the mention of the Duke, his father, would have moved him. But that boy was dead now.
Butler Kim hesitated again, and when he finally spoke, not even his breathing interrupted the flow of his words.
"He has asked you not to come back to the Main Estate. After you graduate from the Academy, you are to go to Winspear Fortress and spend the rest of your life there."
Wilfred's mouth fell open.
'They're banishing me from the family?'
The logic was simple. He was going to be a liability to the Argentine Household. The moment he graduated the safety of the Academy into the wild, he should go somewhere he wouldn't be a weakness for the family. Somewhere far and forgettable.
Wilfred looked down.
He wanted to say something, not for himself, but on behalf of this poor boy. The boy who had waited his whole life for his father's approval and received exile instead.
Somehow, he knew what Wilfred would have said.
He raised his head and met the butler's gaze.
"Butler Kim, tell my father… I wish him good health and strength."
He paused. Then he added his own words.
"I respect him very much, but I do not agree with this arrangement."
Butler Kim hadn't moved since he arrived. The only change was his eyes widening, just slightly.
His aged voice came out level.
"What do you mean, young master."
Wilfred held the man's gaze. There was something deep and subtly frightening in those old eyes, the weight of decades spent serving a Duke who did not tolerate disobedience.
"I'm simply saying, Butler Kim, I will do what I want to do. I will carve my own path. If that displeases my father, he is welcome to remove my name from the family register."
His voice didn't waver.
"But I will not be going anywhere I don't need to be."
Butler Kim lingered. Then he said:
"You're going to carve your own path… with an ant?"
A corner of Wilfred's mouth lifted, still meeting the old man's eyes.
"You'd be surprised what efficient builders they can be."
He bowed respectfully and shut the door.
On the other side, Butler Kim stood facing the closed door. A shocked smile crept across his face.
'I've never seen the young master be so outspoken… did something happen to him?'
He stood there a moment longer. Then he turned away and paused. The lines at the corners of his mouth deepened beneath his mustache.
'He wants to carve his own path? Young master, I hope you have the resolve to own up to those words.'
The butler shook his head and walked away.
***
Wilfred spun from the door and hurried back to the table only to find out that his ant was gone.
His heart lurched. He searched the room, scanning every surface, every corner but there was no sign of his precious little soldier ant.
"So—soldier…"
He almost called out, but his eyes caught the broken window. He crossed to it and looked down the side of the building.
There… His ant was already descending the outer wall, walking vertically across the stone as if gravity were a suggestion.
"What?! You naughty girl! Come back here!"
Without thinking, Wilfred crawled out through the broken window and pressed himself against the wall, shuffling along the narrow terrace in a desperate bid to catch up to his summon.
He paused when the terrace widened enough for him to stand. From here, he could see where the ant was heading.
Two windows down, perched on the terrace ledge, sat an insect with a mottled green-red hide. It looked like a mantis, except it was twice the ant's size, almost as large as a cat. Its curved forelegs gleamed like blades forged from chitin and dried blood.
Wilfred recognized the creature to be a Vampire Mantis. Not quite a mosquito, but the same family of blood-drinking pests, and far more lethal. If left unchecked, a nest of them could plague an entire village.
'Did she sense a threat and go after it on her own?'
He crouched on the terrace, watching his ant close the distance. Something warm bloomed in his chest.
The Vampire Mantis spotted the ant and turned. Its bladed forelegs rose, catching the light.
It struck first.
The mantis lashed a bladed limb forward, fast enough to take the ant's head clean off. The speed was there, so was the power.
But the ant didn't move.
The blade connected with the ant's exoskeleton and shattered.
Wilfred saw this happen and for a moment almost forgot how to breathe.
But his ant was not done. Six legs fired her forward. Her mandibles clamped onto the mantis's remaining bladed limb. The Ant twisted her whole body and ripped it free. Before the mantis could recover, the ant seized its abdomen and tore through the carapace. Green, putrid blood poured down the stone.
The mantis staggered. The ant gave it no quarter. She climbed onto the creature's back and closed her mandibles on the mantis's head.
And ate it.
It was cold victory.
Wilfred crouched there, mouth hanging open, staring at his ant as she cleaned her mandibles on the dead mantis's shell.
This was the most incredible fight he had ever watched.
[Your Ant has consumed a Vampire Mantis]
[Your Ant has defeated a Vampire Mantis]
[Your Ant has gained 10 Exp]
[Your Ant has gained 5 Exp]
[Level Up]
[Level 1 —> Level 2]