Instead of listening to Liv's threat, an older man commented coldly, "fire."
A barrage of arrows was launched at them, and Liv raised her hand gently, and a wall with a surface area of 6 square meters (americano: 20 square feet) and a thickness of a human head immediately shot out of the ground.
Fortunately, none of the arrows hit the duo as they borrowed into the muddy wall with a dull thump, and Liv sighed, "It seems like you all leave me no other choice," as she took out a golden sigil depicting a double-headed eagle, raising it into the air.
Within the next second, Liv's eyes gradually became golden as an aura was unleashed onto everyone, which Luz instantly recognized. 'Master Brian!? Is that you?' Luz wondered as everyone and him included, fell onto their knees. Nevertheless, he frantically looked for Master Brian, but Luz couldn't find him.
Liv, on the other hand, gradually began to hover above the ground while the soil underneath her began to crack and quiver. To the surprise of Luz, the voice following sounded that of a furious Master Brian. "Any form of opposition will be considered as a challenge to the Ryder family itself. Consequences are execution or working in the mines till the end of your life."
After finishing his sentence, the tremble slowly died down, and Liv's eyes slowly dimmed as the aura that forced everyone onto the ground also subsided. Liv crashed onto her knees, and her breathing became unstable as sweat rolled down her forehead.
Luz was the first that get back onto his trembling feet, and as he offered his elder sister his hand, Luz lamented after seeing Liv's state, "You didn't have to go that far. We could have easily killed them."
Liv gave Luz a bright smile before coughing up blood.
"Liv!! Is everything ok!?" Luz shouted in worry as he raised Liv from the ground, leaning her body against him.
"Everything is ok," Liv coughed before remarking, "Sorry, but I don't wish to shed more blood than necessary."
After getting her breath, Liv began her questioning.
"Villagers," she stated coldly as she moved her gaze at the prostrating men, sending shivers down their spines. "If you answer my question truthfully, I may ignore that you dared to shoot at a servant of the Ryder family. So tell me, villagers, what the hell has happened here and who is responsible for all the flies."
The old man responsible for the firing order answered with a trembling voice, "We don't know the identity of the man responsible. But two months ago, insects began to gather in the middle of the village as a traveler wearing a dark cloak arrived in the townlet. His only words were, [a plague will befall all townlets in the forest, and those that burn the infected will garner the hate of the plague spirits themselves.] After telling that, all the insects left with him."
"The wrath of the plague spirits, huh?" Liv muttered quietly to herself as she stared into the man's eyes. "Stop spouting such nonsense."
"But it's true," stuttered the man before resuming. "We didn't believe his words. But soon, more and more females began coughing insects. Somehow, no males were infected. In hopes of stopping the contingency, we burned the victim, worsening the situation.
"How did it worsen the situation?" Luz asked in curiosity.
"On the following day, the ones responsible for the burning got devoured and ripped into pieces by a horde of insects in broad daylight," the man stuttered in fright.
The last sentence made Liv's hair stand up, and she glanced with narrowed eyes into the distance. 'No, Liv. That cannot be,' she thought, calming herself before asking for any way to identify the traveler.
But the man had no answers, and Liv angrily cursed before interrogating the group further. After wasting a few more hours trying to get any helpful information, Liv gave up for the time being and immediately left with Luz. But on their way back, the cart was no longer there, and Liv sighed, "Fine. We will be walking home."
Somewhere else, in a cave, stood a two-meter (americano: 6 feet) tall bipedal insect human hybrid in front of a giant larvae. The bipedal insect had a shiny black exoskeleton that rattled gently with every breath it took
By now, the former human soul inside the larvae has come to terms with its new fate as an insect. Even though it refused to accept that it would be an insect from now on, the larvae knew that even if she wanted to, she couldn't change it.
Depressed, the larvae laid there as it got fed by various insects. The only thing of interest to it was the two-meter tall insect creature that visited her from time to time, telling stories to the larvae, and today was no different.
"Daughter," the bipedal insect sighed while gently petting the larvae's head. "Do you wanna know how we ended up here?" he asked loudly while glaring into the larvae's eyes.
The fat insect wiggled its head, trying to communicate that she had no goddamn idea, and the insect hybrid chuckled.
"You see… we belong or rather once belonged to a high-ranking aristocrat family, or rather our ancestors did. As you might expect, everyone in that family is quite good at controlling insects. But our grand-grandfather, a talented guy, took it a step further. He wanted more than just controlling insects, and in his desire to reach the next stage of evolution, he proposed becoming one."
The insect looked into the distance with nostalgia before resuming. "However, our great-great-great-uncle, the family head, had a different opinion, and the two argued, but nothing serious came out."
"Unfortunally, our grand-grandfather, in his ego, proceeded with countless magic experiments with the sole goal of proving him wrong, and he succeeded, turning into an insect hybrid after numerous human experiments."
"Disgusted by the fact that our grand-grandfather gave up his humanity, the family head executed him after a gruesome fight that crippled him as well. His wrath, however, didn't stop there. The ancestor damned the rest of our grand-grandfathers lineage, sending us far away and even forcing us into giving up the family name and accepting that we were low-ranking city aristocrats."