Meanwhile Antares was inside the ant king's tower.
Ian, the one who could be referred to as Antares' personal butler and the regent who took care of all the matters in the ant tribe after Antares' father, Henry had died and while Antares was in his seclusion due to mana pollution.
Zarah had updated Ian on everything that had happened during his absence since he was supervising the harvest of celcanes.
Ian wanted to see and hug Antares since he loved the boy deeply and even when he was in seclusion due to his condition, apart from Zarah, Ian would be placed first if it came to worrying and taking care of Antares.
"So, the rumors were true." Ian said as he clenched his fists trying his best to hold back his tears.
"Yes, and his majesty is doing wonderfully." Zarah replied with an honest smile full of affection
Currently these two were seated in the courtyard where the Ant king's tower was located, they were together with the group Ian had come with from the harvest.
"Anything to note about his behavior." Ian asked bluntly. he had served Antares's father and grandfather and he knew well that these man were very different from one another in terms of behaviors for example, Henry, Antares's father was a very kind and compassionate man while his grandfather was a cold and ruthless being that only cared about the benefits of the ant tribe and destroyed whoever stood in his path in his conquest for power and supremacy ,but he was eventually killed in one of the war he had instigated to expand his territory.
"His majesty is a kind and caring person and I can tell that he is going to be a good king." Zarah said blushing slightly with the thought of Antares in her mind.
Ian noticed the change of expression in Zarah who was calm, composed and never showed her emotions but always was focused on the task at hand.
This change brought some suspicions in Ian's heart. " Did his majesty manage to melt this ice-cold maiden's heart." Ian thought.
"Don't tell me you have fall for his majesty's charm?" he asked bluntly.
"WHA WHA WHA WHA WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT LORD IAN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS MAJESTY IS DEFINITELY NOT LIKE THAT YOU HAVE THE WRONG IDEA!" Zarah said at the top of her lungs with her face completely red from a mix of embarrassment and shyness.
"There definitely something going on between those two." Everyone present thought.
"Alright if you say so." Ian said as he put his hands up in defeat but in his heart, he knew what Zarah was trying to hide and was secretly happy about it because he deemed Zarah as a worth companion for Antares.
BOOM!!!
Suddenly the doors of the Ant king tower busted open and a man 5''11 with well-built muscles with long, spiky and wild black hair that reached his lower back, light brown skin and the cherry on top, a handsome face with beautiful blood red eyes.
A commanding aura surrounded him and this was none other than Antares.
Ian was the first to move.
He dropped to one knee with a thud that echoed like a drumbeat of loyalty, his head bowed low. A second later, the rest of the people who were in the back enjoying Ian and Zarah's bickering dropped on their knees with their heads bowed so low that they almost touched the ground.
"We greet his majesty Lord Antares Antis." They greeted Antares in unison.
Their voices was a melody to Antares's ears and he had started to like the type treatment given to a king though as a man from the modern time, he was still getting a bit embarrassed when he saw people kneeling in front of him.
But Antares knew that he had to get accustomed to such things since he was a king and more of this was to happen and he had to get used.
"Arise." He commanded
All the people who were kneeling swiftly stood up, obeying their king's order.
Their heads were still bowed, not daring to look at the face of their king.
Ian with his head still bowed down, could not help but take a peek at Antares.
He directly recognized Antares and, in his eyes, he could not help but compare him to his father because the looked quite alike.
Antares looked at the man who was standing at the head of the group, the man the man looked slicked-back hair and a well-groomed beard, he wore a black tunic, leather pants and boots. like he was in his early thirties but he had an aura of wisdom surrounding him.
Undoubtedly this was Ian, the man who was his personal butler and one of the people closest to him in this world.
Without realizing it, Antares's body moved to hug the man. Normally he wouldn't do this but he felt a closeness to Ian like the one he felt with Zarah and this one was more of a father and son bond.
Antares broke the hug and placed his hand on Ian's shoulder "I see you have not aged at all Ian." He gave Ian a bright smile as he said it.
Ian masterfully wiped the tears that were coming out of his eyes "Thank you for the compliment your majesty." Ian replied.
Antares then looked at Zarah and gave her a soft smile.
Of course, the bashful girl could only blush so much that even her hands gained a pale red color.
Everyone saw this and smirked in their hearts because they had to have an impeccable appearance in front of their king at all times.
Antares looked at Zarah and could only smile helplessly.
"Your majesty I suggest we continue this conversation inside." Ian whispered as he got close enough to Antares so that the others would not hear him.
"Yeah, let's continue this conversation inside and I want to put on some clothes." Antares replied as he realized he was practically naked if wasn't for the cloth he had tied to his waist to cover his lower half.
***SCENE CHANGE***
Yanrid together with the forager and hunter units plus some warriors of the Ant tribe were coming back from their perilous journey from the surface where they had stayed all winter.
They had been going and coming back from the surface bring the daily necessities of the tribe and not once had they failed their task but it came at a cost.
Originally a 1000 Antmen had gone to the surface with Yanrid as their commander, but less than 700 of them came back and many were injured. This was a great loss on the Ant tribe's side but it wasn't the worst in their history since there was a group that had not returned at all.
But now the hellish winter had come to an end and they could finally go home to their families.
Yanrid walking at the front of the large group behind him, all of them were exhausted and they were barely holding on but no one slacked off as they moved with a sense of purpose and the most eye-catching thing was the dead terror fowl that was being carried by a group of Antmen.
Yanrid glanced at his men and was a bit disappointed in himself in this campaign he could not protect everyone but that is how things went in this world though he knew it he still felt that it was his fault.
They continued their walk in silence and reached the location of the ant tribe and they were welcomed by guards who protected the entrance.
"Welcome back lord Yanrid, I see that the winter is over now, thank you for your hard work." An old guard who seemed to be in charge welcomed Yanrid. The old man's name was Luther and he had guarded the entrance of the ant tribe from his youth up to now in his hold age.
The other guards protecting the entrance were awestruck by the loot brought back by Yanrid and his men, these guards were new recruits and it was their first time seeing the Winter's bane which was the name of Yanrid's group.
The way how Yanrid's men moved and worked even in exhaustion was something to be praised everything was carefully placed and nothing was wasted, they moved in sync and their formation was neat.
"I see that your antennae's range has increased." The old man said as he looked at Yanrid's men.
"Well, someone has to look after them and who knows what kind of trouble they might cause." Yanrid said as he grabbed a stool and sat on it, this past month had been really challenging for him and he needed some well-deserved rest.
"How's the tribe doing?" Yanrid asked while removing his battle gear.
"Well apparently his majesty has woken up and he has healed from his mana pollution...…other than that nothing else happened." The old man replied.
Yanrid who had already been informed of this but was still skeptical and he believed that the news might be some kind of joke so he did not think much about it.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA this is a good sign for the ant tribe." Yanrid smiled and was happy about the news, but then he remembered something.
"And how has father and the other clan leaders responded to this?" he asked with a hint of worry in his voice
"So far the clan leaders have not made any move and they remain silent on the matter, but I am sure that in the coming days they will make their move." The old man replied as he took Yanrid's thick fur coat stained with blood and folded it.
"Then after I'm done with the I will immediately head to the Ashfang headquarters and speak with father, we must make our move before the other clan leaders." Yanrid said he stood up and went where his men were to give them his final orders before he left.
***SCENE CHANGE***
Antares and Ian were sited in a large room; this room was decorated with paintings representing nature and it had 2 well-crafted wooden chairs and a small table.
The stone floor was cold as ice
"Well then my lord, what would you like to know about the ant tribe's clan leaders." Ian asked as he drunk some of the juice Zarah had brought for them.
Antares was drinking from a big cup filled with juice and he finished with a big gulp.
" Everything, I want to know everything about them even the slightest detail will help, I have to be ready for their arrival." Antares replied.
Antares had a small wicked smile on his face, clearly looting something in his head.