“The rumors of Rip and Hiss’ departure are the truth. They have chosen to abandon the grotto.” Said Theanore gravely. A murmur of discontent carried over the clearing.

The Apple Grotto Worker Syndicate meeting was in full swing. They had already read the minutes of the last meeting and done roll call. Sunflower was now the representative of the worker elves, and the ants used Tania as a translator to get their representative. Their Queen.

They were brave hunters, the ant Queen says, and will be missed.

“Thank you, your Grace.” Said Theanore to the ant Queen. The giant ant bowed her head towards her in acknowledgement.

“It has come to my attention that some of you are not happy. That you…want to fight for our home.” Said Theanore, voice wavering.

“No worker elf wants to fight. We are happy here.” Said Sunflower. She remembered having to repel adventurers on Alerion, and she didn’t want to go back to that life.

Merrybell the goat would like to tell Sunflower that she is a pansy and that her horns were made for bringing the insides of adventurers to their outsides.

“You are made to give milk and once you are too old to do so, meat and hide!” Snapped Sunflower at the naïve goat. Merrybell bleated angrily, and this time Tania did not translate.

“As I want you all to be happy.” Said Theanore, placing a calming hand on top of the goat’s head. “I have decided to suggest those of you who want to live a violent life to become adventurers.”

Silence spread in the clearing. All eyes were on Theanore. She bit her lower lip and continued speaking.

“The life of an adventurer is dangerous. You will fight all kinds of things. There is an adventuring guild in Mirstone. I will help you write down your names and form adventuring parties.” Said Theanore.

When she had come up with the idea, Marinus had told her that things were not done in such a way. Mobs made by a dungeon lived to protect the dungeon, not to travel and fight in distant lands.

But Theanore wanted her friends to at least come back from time to time. Not abandon her like Rip and Hiss. She would worry about them, but once they were adventurers, they would fight to their heart’s content.

The ant Queen asks how many of her daughters you need to stay here. And if she will be allowed to go as well.

“At least a thousand at a time. I have many projects for the land around the grotto. I want to make a harbor by the sea to promote trade with the surrounding islands.” Said Theanore. Her ants could make a ship like no one’s business. Sure, the worker elves had to make the sails, but everything else could be made by the ants.

There was a new ship type she wanted to try. A copper plated one with bigger sails. She had read about it in Memories of another world. There were fully metal ships there too, but her ants couldn’t chew through metal. And so, for now, she was sticking to wood.

The ant Queen says this is reasonable. All treasures she captures will be given to you in exchange for sugar syrup.

“Oh, your Grace. You don’t have to give me anything. There will always be sugar syrup in the grotto for you and your children.” Said Theanore. The ant Queen came to her and the little nymph hugged her.

When Theanore let her go, the ant Queen gave something like a war cry and builder ants came into the clearing. They clicked their antennas and lined like a legion waiting for inspection.

The ant Queen began to click her antennas quickly, and Theanore wondered what she was saying.

“Tania, can you translate, please?” Asked Theanore when the ants began to stamp their feet.

What the ant Queen says is as follows:

Daughters! We are united. We are many. But what have we done until now? Building and sowing the land. Is this life?

We have evolved from tiny ants to this, our mighty forms. Thanks to our dear Theanore, we have transcended our limits. But what have we done with our mighty forms? Nothing! Is this life?

Today, at the Apple Grotto Worker Syndicate meeting, our overlord has graciously given us the chance to become warriors in truth. Do we take it?

The ants began to stamp their feet louder. The ant Queen stoop on her back legs and waved her front legs in the air.

Let no one ask you are this life! Let no one wonder if we are just ants with no purpose. Only a thousand of you will stay behind to guard the overlord and give their lives for her, if need be. The rest will earn glory unimaginable.

The stamping of the feet became deafening and some ants began to go back towards the grotto. But most remained and stared at their Queen.

Goats, will we let some ants show us up? Are we hamsters to want walks twice per day and naps? Our horns remain unadorned, but we will make them red soon. With the overlord’s blessing.

Merrybell’s bleating came as a surprise to Theanore. She looked at Tod the Tedsby, who now clutched a spear.

I will kill nasty goblins, mounted on a noble panda!

Screamed Tod, caught up at the moment. The panda representative snorted at him and rolled to the side to go back to sleep. Pandas were peaceful creatures, after all.

“No one else wants to be an adventurer?” Asked Theanore, hopefully. The panda slept on, no matter how Tod tugged at it. And Sunflower shook her head. Petunia too shook her head.

“Then the land where I will send you is the Badlands. Where nothing good thrives. Bring back Rip and Hiss, so they too could adventure in the Apple Grotto’s name. I will get your papers done today. I hope you are all happy now.” Said Theanore. She tried to smile, she really did, but the thought of letting a horde of ants and four very bloodthirsty goats in the Badlands made her uneasy.

End book four.

Synopses for book five.

The great Badlands conquest has begun. The ants and goats of the Apple Grotto dungeon had set out to do what no one has done before. Even Tod the Tedsby is going to join in, on Merrybell’s back rather than a panda’s, but he will fight and show that all Tedsbys are masters of the spear.

Meanwhile, Elmar is on a time limit to learn how to heal his body with transformations. Hades will try to mend his family, broken thanks to his games, and Persephone will remember what it was like being surrounded by life again. And maybe even manage to bring some of that life back into the desolate Earth, which never recovered from the last great atomic war.