Somewhere inside a cave, a loud crunch followed by a bone-chilling scream echoed loudly as a three-meter tall insect ripped a piece of carapace from the larvae before throwing it aside.

"Don't worry daughter," he muttered, knowing that his daughter was in immense pain as he removed the hardened skin of the larvae prematurely.

The two-meter-long larvae wiggled in pain as it tried to communicate to its father the pain it was feeling. But the latter ignored the larva while removing another piece of her hardened carapace, revealing a white squishy larva beneath it as blue blood dripped out of it.

"Sorry, daughter," he sighed while throwing the piece aside. "You will definitely blossom soon. It's just… we don't have that much time…."

But before he could finish his sentence, he heard a loud crash and immediately flew towards the source.

There an insect looking like his equal awaited him.

"Father… Its me," gasped a brown insect around the same size with a thicker carapace as his claws yanked an insect head from the body of an insect that was around the size of a 1-year-old infant.

Even though his son's arrival reassured Warner, the sight of him indulging in cannibalizing another being of his creation infuriated him. Don't get him wrong. It's not that he cares about most of the insects he created. It's just that this particular small individual is a worker insect responsible for feeding the queen, and creating those takes quite a lot of effort and are not meant to be eaten as snacks.

Enraged, Warner hissed loudly, "Sonnn…" while slowly pressing his claws against Jasper, his son's shoulder, as they slowly tried boring into the latter carapace. "What the fuck are you doing!?"

"Father… don't you see, I'm refreshing myself," Jasper calmly replied while 

taking a bite out of the insect's spinal cord. After swallowing a good piece, Jasper conveyed the reason as to why he came back so early. "I found out who has been responsible for setting our livestock in flames."

Hearing that, the father's antennas immediately jumped up. "I see… Tell me, who was it then?" The father asked in curiosity while slowly removing his hand. "Have you taken care of them already?"

"Unfortunally, the situation seems quite a bit complicated," sighed Jasper before explaining further. "An old man from one of the villages where the perpetrators burned all the infected told me that two teenagers from the Ryder Clan were responsible for the mishap. Also, he told me that the female of the duo even called upon a family feud if they did not answer her question."

The answer shocked Warner deeply, and he slowly stroked his reimbursed chin with his claws as he tried to calm himself down. "The Ryder Family… That sounds quite troublesome even if they belong to a branch family."

"What do you mean by that?" Jasper asked in confusion.

"You see, son," sighed the insect whose face looked as if he had aged by a few decades in a few seconds. "Unlike our main family, they maintain good relationships with their branch families."

Jasper added, "They were also the only ones whom we did not even try bribing… If they discover what is happening here…" before stopping in his tracks.

"…our dreams might end prematurely… I know, son," continued Warner while closing his hand into a fist. "Thankfully, we took it into account. Most of their master mages are currently outside of the city and way too preoccupied…."

Hearing that, Jasper sighed in relief. "That means their intermediate mages are probably busy not moving too far from their domain to prevent any mage family from issuing a family feud… did I understood it correctly, father?"

"Yes, son…" replied Warner as an evil grin slowly formed on his face. "That means those perpetrators are predominantly beginner mages at best."

"Then let me take care of them, father~," replied Jasper while licking the blue blood from his claws.

"Don't son. Remember, we have to avoid suspicion…  I will take care of them personally soon. But till then, please try keeping them at bay and only jump into action if you see them doing something that would greatly impede with our goals.. Just let them have their fun…. for now."

"Don't worry, father…I will, father," Jasper answered respectfully before leaving with a weird feeling. 'It has been years since that old man lost his cool and showed any doubts….'

And as Jasper left, his sister's screams grew louder, and he balled his fist in fury while muttering to himself with gnashing teeth, "Just because of these bastards… my sister has to suffer. Just wait… I will take care of anyone standing in our way, sister… even our father, if he does not keep his word."

Only after finishing his words did the newly motivated Jasper fly out of the cave, ready to hunt these bastards down.

Meanwhile, somewhere else, the quartet reached another village. But unlike before, Luz's group were not welcomed.

A granny, followed by a man in simple leather armor, slowly approached the cart that was slowly moving towards their village.

"Outsiders," she answered with a croaking voice as Francis stopped their horses from moving further. The man behind her held a crude self-made crossbow.

"What is it, granny?" Luz answered with a smile, trying to be as nice as possible to the one blocking their way.

Instead of the granny, however, the man behind her answered rudely while raising his weapon, "Outsiders are not welcomed in our village…."

However, before the man could finish his sentence, a shot was already fired, hitting him in the throat.

The granny shrieked loudly in shock at their cruelty while the man stumbled back.

On the other hand, Lewis spat at the ground in annoyance before justifying his action. "Stop being so shocked. The man should have known that aiming at another person is seen as a threat, and we don't hold back at those."

Luz sighed in relief before jumping out of the carriage and asking with a smile, "Why are we not welcomed here, granny?~"