Just a few moments before.
As she walked through the swamp, a faint smile couldn't help but appear on Beatrice's face.
Although Beatrice enjoyed her trip quite a bit, as she came closer and closer to her new home, she couldn't help but begin to somewhat miss it after all.
Suddenly, Beatrice froze for a brief moment, as she suddenly felt numerous connections, which had been broken due to distance, re-establish themselves.
"It seems as though Guinevere did not slack off," mumbled Beatrice as she continued on her way.
Suddenly, Beatrice froze for a brief moment, as she heard a voice inside of her mind.
'Mistress, It's good that you are back,' said an extremely young voice, one which clearly did not belong to Guinevere.
For a few moments, some shock appeared on Beatrice's face, but after that, this shock disappeared and was replaced by a faint smile.
"It looks as though I need to hurry," mumbled Beatrice, causing her to suddenly speed up far beyond her previous casual speed.
...
As she looked at the small, dog sized ant that was standing in front of her, Beatrice couldn't help but smile.
"It seems that little Guinevere did a good job of raising you," mumbled Beatrice as she bent down and touched the head of the ant with her palm.
'Y-yes, lady Guinevere did a good job,' said the ant, her voice resounding into Beatrice's ear.
As she was an ant, the Earth Ant Queen could sadly not speak normally, which would usually completely destroy any attempts at communication.
But rather thankfully though, as an Earth Ant Queen, she had some special abilities far beyond normal Earth Ants.
"That's good, but is there something you want to say?" asked Beatrice as she looked at the large ant queen, who seemed rather nervous.
'Can I bring some of the children here to meet you?' asked the ant queen, causing Beatrice to fall into thought for a few moments before nodding.
'A few ants shouldn't hurt,' thought Beatrice as she looked at the ant queen.
"You may do so, but make sure that they don't cause any trouble," said Beatrice as she looked at the ant queen, who had become rather happy that her mistress had accepted her words.
'Don't worry mistress, the children are extremely obedient,' said the ant queen whilst moving her antennae and following behind Beatrice, somewhat like a puppy.
Only a few moments after Beatrice spoke, she suddenly turned her head sideways towards the left.
As she stared at the over five hundred large ants, each of which that was around 4 to 5 centimetres each, who were approached her, Beatrice immediately realised that her wording wasn't the best.
Remembering the words 'some of the children' Beatrice couldn't help but touch her forehead and turn to the ant queen, who was rubbing her carapace against Beatrice's leg.
"How many children do you have at the moment?" asked Beatrice as she looked at the ants who had currently surrounded her.
Although none of the ants seemed nearly as intelligent as the ant queen, Beatrice could still see happiness in their eyes as she stared at them, something that indicated at least a minimum level of intelligence.
'Right now, there are a total of 48.766 ants inside the colony, with 2645 eggs on the way,' said the ant queen as she stared at Beatrice with her bright eyes.
'Don't worry though mistress, in around a month, I promise you that there will be 25 thousand new ants, the capacity of the space you have given us will be filled up,' said the ant queen as she looked at her mistress.
Hearing this, Beatrice couldn't help but feel somewhat surprised, although the room that she had provided was somewhat large, being around 20 by 20, Beatrice did feel as though this many Earth Ants could fit inside of it.
"If I hadn't come back, how would you have expected to fit these new ants into the room?" asked Beatrice as she stretched out her finger and let a small ant climb onto it.
"By using earth magic, we were able to..."
As she listened to the Earth Ant Queen ramble on and on about the intricacies of the colony, a faint smile appeared on Beatrice's face, causing her to pet the ant sitting on her finger.
"So you can use earth magic, demonstrate it for me," said Beatrice as she began slowly but surely walking, being followed by the ant queen as well as the surrounding ants.
Hearing this, the ant queen nodded.
'Should I show you what I can do myself, or what I can do with the colony,' asked the ant queen as she stared at Beatrice, causing the latter to fall into thought for a brief moment.
"Both," said Beatrice as she continued staring at the ant queen, causing it to begin focusing.
One second
Two seconds
Three seconds
After around three seconds, a small rock suddenly formed in front of the ant queen, who now seemed rather exhausted.
Only a moment after that, seemingly not wanting her mistress to be disappointed, the Ant Queen turned towards the five hundred or so ants behind her.
A fraction of a moment fate, a brown aura suddenly began rising from all the ants before pouring into the ant queen.
Without any warning, a quite small earth spike rose from the ground in front of Beatrice, although rather slowly.
Staring at this scene, Beatrice couldn't help but feel somewhat shocked, but even so, this did not show on her face in the slightest.
'Mistress, don't be disappointed, the number of ants next to be at the moment is really too small, If I was in the colony, I would be able to do much more,' said the ant queen, causing Beatrice to break out of her trance.
"Don't worry, that's rather impressive," mumbled Beatrice as she stared at the earth spike, which was just twenty centimetres tall.
Although the spike did not have any combat power, Beatrice did not think too much about that, only having a single thought in her mind.
If she can already do this with five hundred ants, what about five thousand? Or even five million?