Insect Tamer's Ascension-Chapter 430: Ch . Imperial Gate mission

Theo could feel every emotion the ant queen was experiencing.

It wavered between the prosperity of its colony, the comfort of stability over constant movement, and also the potential benefits of going with Theo.

Understanding its thoughts, Theo couldn’t help but want to praise the ant queen for thinking all this.

After a minute, the ant queen came to a conclusion. Theo nodded, as if he had already known what its answer was going to be.

"Before I return, I want you to start hunting down slimes, but not the newer kind," Theo said.

The ant queen responded with emotions of agreement, though a trace of concern also lingered in them.

"I know you will progress much faster if you stay in one place instead of constantly moving. You don’t need to evolve right now, but work to the fullest with what you already have."

The ant queen nodded.

"Alright, I will leave you to it now," Theo said and stepped out of the hive.

’I am not feeling any kind of strain at all. Holding out for about four hours seems to be my limit before the pain starts again, but I won’t go beyond two. That much, I am confident with...’ Theo thought to himself and went to sleep.

_____

Over the next few days, Theo focused on stabilizing his swordsmanship. His body was still stiff due to being bedridden for an entire month.

With steady practice, the week passed quickly, and soon, Theo realized it was finally time to move again.

_____

"You will be heading to the royal capital again, Theo. Don’t go fooling around just yet; you are still too young for that," the baron said at the castle’s gate.

The baroness immediately struck the baron right at the waist. It didn’t hurt him physically, but emotionally, and that made him look at her with a frown.

"You told me to say that," the baron tried to whisper into the baroness’s ear, but his voice resounded out anyway.

The baroness just sighed and turned to Theo.

"I need you to be very careful in the royal capital, alright? Always stay beside your attendants and your big brother. And if anything dangerous happens, you can pull out your mantis; the emperor won’t say anything, even if it causes a commotion, okay?" The baron instructed, while Theo just smiled and nodded awkwardly.

"Alright, it’s time for you to leave," the baron said, walking over to Lucien and patting his head.

"You, my son... you can go wild."

The moment the baron said that, he felt another sharp prick at his waist, and this time, it actually hurt.

"You be careful too, alright, Lucien?" the baroness said with a gentle smile on her face before she hugged him.

Lucien just kept nodding, clearly eager to get away from this conversation.

"What are you telling our son? He already has a fiancé," the baroness whispered, though, given how antsy she was, it hardly sounded like a whisper at all.

Theo quickly went inside the carriage after giving Lucient a nod, and the fellow did the same. The attendants bowed respectfully before taking their places, and soon the carriage rolled forward.

"Sigh..." Theo couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh of relief, drawing a quiet chuckle from Lucien.

"Their concern is understandable, Theo," Lucien said with a nostalgic smile. "Some heirs of the fallen noble families can be quite... feisty."

"I would appreciate it if you kindly didn’t speak about such matters in front of young master Theo," Clara said with a smile, though her voice was icy cold.

Lucien simply glanced at her and smiled before turning his gaze out of the window.

He seemed to be in a particularly good mood, though everyone had a different idea as to why.

"How often do you meet your fiancé, elder brother?" Theo asked, making Clara look at him with shock.

Elias subtly tried to tell her to get rid of all the reactions, but she couldn’t help it. Why was Theo suddenly getting interested in topics like these?

"Hmm, not that often," Lucien replied. "We meet every three months or so. But since she left to pursue her studies to be a scholar, we won’t be seeing each other for a while."

"I see." Theo could only nod to that. He mainly wanted to keep the conversation going so that the carriage travel wouldn’t become dull and boring. The last trip to the royal capital had been so dull that he had nearly felt like running alongside the carriage just to remain sane.

It was just that boring with the baron and baroness.

"You’ll be reaching the age for engagement soon as well, Theo," Lucien added thoughtfully. "You are eleven now... so, two more years."

Theo only smiled and nodded to close the topic. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

’There’s no way I am getting engaged like that. Not until I find someone on my own... and besides, all of them are just kids to begin with.’

At times, Theo felt completely out of place among the people of his age. It felt like the people of his generation were just too young to have any interactions with.

Ron was the only exception, someone he felt like he could have a connection with, and even that was because the guy never let any conversations get boring.

More than anything, Theo just wanted to grow older so that he could get out of this cursed body of a child. It had been too long already, and he could feel that it had started to influence his thoughts in some ways.

Despite his efforts, the journey ahead soon slipped into monotony and boredom.

The only interesting part was when the mantis would suddenly emerge, and Cassian would turn pale. And while Luien tried to appear unfazed, the sweat on his forehead would say a completely different story.

The rest of the trip went by in a mix of drowsiness and idle observation of the forests around.

At one point, Lucien spoke about the dangers of these remote roads and how nobles were sometimes kidnapped or killed for ransom.

Clara clearly didn’t like that, but Theo listened to everything with quiet interest, a faint smile on his face.

Yet another bomb of revelation was dropped.

It seemed the Merrick crest was something the thieves and bandits had etched in their minds for decades.

It was almost an unspoken rule to not harm the Merricks.

The stories behind that reputation were far too gruesome for Lucien to tell to someone he still considered too young.

But that day, Theo realized something important.

His father was a lot more wild and dangerous than he had ever imagined.