Bermuda

Alec compared the Elder Millie Peninsula to a beehive. However, he added that unlike a typical hive, it was a colony formed by various species gathering together, so competition, food chains, and symbiosis existed within it.

The food storages found rotting across the peninsula were temporarily stashed by monsters acting as forager bees after gathering food. And this food wasn’t for the entire colony, but solely for the queen, the egg-laying bodies, and the young that would be born from the eggs.

During egg-laying season or when the queen was sensitive, the monsters on the peninsula wouldn’t eat unless near starvation, only gathering food. The reason no traces of food consumption were found in the stomach when the avian mutant’s abdomen was cut open before was also due to this.

Moreover, Alec explained that the monsters on the peninsula stayed inside and performed their roles not only for some symbiotic relationships but also because they were drawn to and controlled by the pheromones and ultrasonic waves the queen issued as orders.

The ultrasonic waves of dermocas could be heard only by their own kind, but the queen’s ultrasonic waves, who possessed the genes of these dermocas, were a higher-level concept, so they applied to all monster individuals with her blood running through them.

And such words from Alec made them understand that all the monsters controlled and unable to leave the inside of this peninsula were essentially connected by the blood of a single queen individual.

“Are you saying all the monsters on the peninsula came from one queen as a single body?”

Leonardo, who had been looking at the central circle drawn on the ground, asked with a somewhat incredulous face. It was no wonder, as it wasn’t easy to accept that creatures with different appearances, traits, and sizes had come from the same womb.

Alec, who had been drawing with a branch, raised his head with a somewhat ambiguous expression and answered,

“Hm... if your question is whether all the monsters on the peninsula are descendants of a single body, then I can say yes, and if you’re asking whether they came from the womb of a single body, then I can answer that it was the case in the past, but not now.”

A question mark appeared on Kenis’s face, who had been listening beside them, at Alec’s answer. Leonardo’s expression wasn’t much different. Seeing that, Alec added a bit more.

He said the past he was referring to, more specifically, was before something happened to the queen of this colony.

Originally, the queen’s pheromones existed to captivate and control the monsters on the peninsula, while simultaneously suppressing the egg-laying functions of females other than the queen to make her the one and only creator.

Therefore, in the past, only a single queen individual possessing the genes of all monsters laid eggs, but due to some incident, this queen fell into a very long slumber, and that continued until relatively recently.

As a result, the suppressed egg-laying functions of other females revived, and as individuals other than the queen could also lay eggs, the reproduction speed and number of monsters increased exponentially.

However, recently, a few phenomena raising suspicions that this slumbering queen had awakened were discovered. Alec cited the mutants that had suddenly increased within the peninsula over the past few years as the prime example.

“The genes of the peninsula’s mutants are a form where the genes of existing monsters are mixed in an unbalanced manner. So depending on the gene combination, various types of mutants are detected. But the only individual on the peninsula that possesses the genes of all these mutants is the queen, a single individual. In other words, the birth of mutants signifies that the queen has awakened from her slumber.”

However, Leonardo, who heard that, asked with a somewhat unconvinced face,

“Isn’t it a stretch to connect it so simply? There’s also a possibility that mutants were born through inter-species mating between existing monsters, and those mutants mated with each other to lay eggs.”

“While that’s possible for previously existing mutants, it’s difficult to see the recently appeared mutants as having been born that way.”

“Why?”

“Inter-species mating among monsters isn’t impossible, but it’s not common either. If the genetic traits differ, the probability of fertilization after mating is extremely low, so it’s theoretically untenable to say that numerous mutants poured out within the short span of the past few years by breaking through that probability.”

As Leonardo narrowed his brow, Alec added,

“Ah, and you know that mutants also gather with the same kind to form nests, right? If mutants were born through inter-species mating of existing monsters as you said, the gene combinations would become excessively diverse, so they wouldn’t even recognize each other as the same species. Then the phenomenon of forming nests wouldn’t have occurred either.”

Leonardo, who had difficulty accepting the suddenly introduced concept of a queen, asked a few more questions afterward as the doubt didn’t dissipate. However, while listening to Alec’s answers to all his questions, he had no choice but to acknowledge the queen’s existence for now.

“And according to my speculation, the mutants currently on the peninsula can’t lay eggs through mating. I can’t be certain they have egg-laying abilities, and while typical monsters develop reproductive functions after 10% of their total lifespan, those fellows haven’t lived long enough to lay eggs.”

Alec speculated that it hadn’t been two years since the queen awakened.

Through his words, Leonardo could understand why the mutant individuals currently being discovered were hardly seen when he had come to the peninsula before. According to that claim, the queen hadn’t awakened yet at that time, so those creatures hadn’t been born.

“But do you know the exact meaning of the term ‘mutant’?”

Silence lingered after Alec’s abrupt question. It was because he had asked something too obvious.

Kenis, who had been quietly listening, seemed to find it hard to endure the silence as it continued, so he cautiously answered while gauging the reaction.

“Uh... isn’t it a term referring to all the monsters that were discovered for the first time, which hadn’t been seen until now?”

It was an answer filled with its own kind of confidence, despite being a question. However, as if it wasn’t correct, Alec shook his head.

“The Council or the military may use it that way for convenience, but the term ‘mutant’ in academia literally refers to an abnormal form. In other words, it means a state that is not normal.”

Unlike the monsters with established species, the peninsula’s mutants had low survivability and short lifespans.

The reason was that each monster species had internal organs that helped them adapt to the environment and survive, but the scrambled gene combinations of mutants prevented these organs from functioning properly. Therefore, they weren’t beings born normally.

“But can a body that suddenly lays many eggs in this abnormal state be considered normal?”

At Alec’s leading question, Leonardo narrowed his eyes. Recalling the causes of the mutants he had seen so far, he came to a conclusion and spoke.

“Since it slept for a long time without receiving nutrients and then woke, the body must have weakened or its reproductive functions were damaged. That’s why it laid abnormal mutants.”

Alec smiled with a satisfied look at his clear answer and said,

“That’s right. The fact that mutants are suddenly being born in large numbers means that something has gone wrong with the body too. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but among the mutants currently on the peninsula, there are no old ones, and hardly any infants can be found either. They’re all in their growth stage, born over half a year ago, or fellows who have just become adults.”

The forms of the monsters he had hunted so far quickly flashed through Leonardo’s mind as he listened to Alec’s words.

“Do you know what this means? It means the queen’s reproductive functions have deteriorated to the point where she hasn’t been able to lay eggs for quite some time.”

Kenis’s mouth gradually opened beside them. Come to think of it, he remembered hearing several times in the interim reports shared by each battalion that after exterminating mutants, they always checked for eggs or young but never found any.

However, upon recalling that, Kenis felt that Alec’s words from a moment ago and the information he had were oddly inconsistent. He quietly listened to the two in front of him, pondering over that knot, and cautiously opened his mouth when the conversation briefly paused.

“Um, but you know.”

The two who had been conversing turned their heads in that direction. Kenis looked between them and asked,

“Then... that egg Mr. Blaine and I saw. What was that back then?”

What Kenis was referring to was the large, white egg with a bluish glow they had seen when they met the outsider. As Leonardo mulled over the question, his brow gradually furrowed. Now that he heard it, it was strange.

“You said the birth of mutants signifies the queen has awakened from her slumber. What was inside that egg also looked completely different from the existing monsters on the peninsula, from what I saw. So I was speculating that it was a mutant...”

Even as he spoke, Kenis tilted his head as if puzzled.

“If the queen’s reproductive functions have deteriorated and she hasn’t been able to lay eggs for quite some time, then is that not a mutant laid by the queen? But then again, due to pheromones, only the queen can lay eggs...”

His final gaze and question were directed at Alec. There were many points of doubt, but even that was a pared-down question while gauging the reaction.

Leonardo’s gaze also turned that way.

At that moment, Alec, who had been looking at Kenis, suddenly started clapping with a satisfied face. At that bizarre behavior, Leonardo and Kenis stared at him blankly with expressions that couldn’t make sense of it.

“Finally, the question I’ve been waiting for has come up.”

Alec, who had been applauding, answered as if he had led them to that question. Then he drove the point home with the following definite answer.

“That’s not merely a mutant. It’s an egg that will become the next queen.”

“The next queen?”

Leonardo and Kenis, who had briefly made eye contact, turned back and asked simultaneously. At that, Alec grinned.

“I just said it, didn’t I? The fact that mutants are suddenly being born in large numbers means that something has gone wrong with the body too.”