5 – Beggar

Wasporio was flying around, aimlessly. “Why do I have to keep flying around here? It’s so boring! Nobody ever visits BeetleField anymore!”, he thought to himself. “Well… at least the Lord pays good Trao for what’s basically nothing… at least it’s easy money… still, boring as alwa-”, his thought was interrupted by something… or, to be more precise, by two things…

“Do my eyes deceive me?? T-This is impossible!!”, Wasporio stood still in the air while focusing on two bugs that had just come out of one of the tunnels that lead to the city…

“Ants… in BeetleField?? What the Queen Hornetta’s name is going on??”, Wasporio was astonished by the presence of two ants, as it was well known around Castanea that the Anthill Kingdom has closed its gates a long time ago…

“The Lord… he had to know that at some point something important was bound to happen here in BeetleField!! That’s why he had me, Great Wasporio, have the duty of watching over BeetleField!! I have to inform Lord about thi- wait… those blades they’re carrying… no… c-could they be- O-Ozara’s feather blades?? ”, Wasporio shook in excitement as he recognized the fine craftsbugship only Ozara’s feather blades possessed…

“Oh… Lord Caesar will be very happy to hear these news… very happy indeed… ‘Great job, Wasporio!!’ He will praise me… and I will finally gain the respect I deserve from other wasps… I, Great Wasporio, will finally have my incredible talents recognized!!”, he told himself as he flew away from the city and towards the Kingdom of Hornest…

“Great” Wasporio

* * *

The present BeetleField was nothing like it was in the past… In the past the BeetleField was the most popular tourist place in all of Castanea… Bugs all around Castanea would constantly visit BeetleField, not only because of the beauty and uniqueness of the houses the beetle folks lived in, but also because every major event was always held in BeetleField, as it was the only place in Castanea that had structure both inside and outside the Castanean Holy Tree, thus it could hold both the events that were held inside, such as the Ultimate Showdown, and the events that were held outside, such as the Celebration of Dabir’s birthday, or the Ozara Defeat Parade that was held each time the Great Knights successfully repelled Ozara’s strike.

The present BeetleField, however, was a lot more shallow and the streets felt a lot emptier…

The only bugs around were pretty much just the beetle folks, who went outside their houses less and less, as the doomsday was approaching, and the Knights were nowhere to be seen…

The most common bugs to be outside were those who did not have a home to begin with… the bugs who had lost everything, or did not have anything to begin with…

Beggars.

But with nobody leaving their house, there was nobody to give to the beggars, thus it was not uncommon to see a shallow corpse of a beggar who starved to death on the corner of a street…

The view had severely disturbed Antonio and Nanthan; Antonio because he had never imagine BeetleField to be this… this depressing; and Nanthan because the BeetleField he once knew was nowhere to be seen… It was only a shell of its former self…

“What the hell… happened to this place?”, Nanthan asked himself, confused and enraged by what he was seeing…

“I… I did not imagine this place to be like this, Nant…”, Antonio said in a sad tone.

“It… it did not use to be like this… This place was full, cheerful, colourful… happy… This… This is not the BeetleField I once knew…”

“Y-Young ant, p-please… a Trao to spare… Please…”, a sad, weak female voice begged Antonio… It was an old looking ladybug. She caught Antonio by one of his legs to draw his attention, then continued to beg him for Trao, which Antonio did not have…

“You have come from afar, haven’t you… I know you must have a Trao to spare… p-please… I haven’t eaten anything for days…”

Nanthan, hearing this, turned around and said: “Antonio, I know it is a sad scene, but… we do not have enough Trao for ourselves… let alone a beggar-”, Nanthan stopped and looked closely at the ladybug.

She was a weak-looking purple ladybug that looked to be slightly older than him…

“W-Wait… N-No… No it couldn’t… you can’t be-”, Nanthan started, but was caught off-guard by the beggars widened eyes that stared directly at him.

“Nan...than?”, the beggar let out.

“D-Darra… Is it really you?”, Nanthan could barely recognize the lady he once knew…

“Nanthan…”, tears formed in Darra’s eyes.

“D-Darra?? The ladybug you told me about??”, Antonio could not grasp the sudden situation that was unfolding…

“P-Please…”, Darra cried.

“C-Come with me… I’ll help as much as I can, Darra…”, Nanthan said. Antonio could feel how disturbed Nanthan was.

“I-I can… barely stand…”, Darra mumbled.

“I’ll carry you to the nearest place that has food… come on.”, he said and lifted Darra’s fragile body. “Come on, Antonio, if I remember correctly, there should be a restaurant nearby-”

“Closed…”, Darra said. “The nearest open store is Gregor’s place… It sells some cheap food…”

“…”, Nanthan stood silent for a few moments, trying to remember where he needed to go, then he started rushing in one direction. Antonio followed him without asking anything… he knew it was not the right time for that…

After a minute of hurrying, the three bugs made it to Gregor’s bar… Inside it was pretty empty – the only customers were two weevil guards, probably waiting for their shift, and a single lonely dung beetle.

“GREGOR!!”, Nanthan yelled.

“Well, I’ll be damned!”, The old cockroach appeared out of nowhere. “Ain’t it Nanthan, the sturdy!! Where did ya crawl out of?? What, the old Anthill’s fallen or? What the heck are two ants doing in this rotten place??”

“No time, Gregor… We’ll catch up later – first bring her something to eat, she’s starving!”

“I only accept Trao, mate. Up front.”, Gregor said. “One can not trust bugs these days…”

Nanthan suddenly pulled his blade and put it up Gregor’s neck. “I did not ask.”

“Woah! Chill… okay… got it… just put that thing away!”, Gregor raised his top legs up. Nanthan put the blade away, and Gregor went somewhere to get the food.

Antonio was really shocked by this move Nanthan made. “W-”, he wanted to ask him why he did what he did, but Nanthan predicted his question and answered immediately: “We only have 4 Trao left… Besides… Gregor’s a rich, stubborn old fool. He can afford to give a sandwich or two for free…”

Antonio kept looking at Nanthan with a disappointing look in his eyes. When he saw this, Nanthan added: “I-I know… but don’t worry… I’ll give Gregor something he values far more than a Trao or two…”

A few seconds later Gregor came with two wooden plates with a single leaf-crumb sandwich in each one. “Here!”, he threw them at Antonio, who caught them.

“Antonio, Darra, sit down. They’re both for you, Darra. Eat it while I talk with Greg here…”

The two did what Nanthan told them, and when Nanthan made sure Darra started eating, he turned towards Gregor and told him: “Listen… sorry about that, but we both know those sandwiches cost you nothing… But, still… I owe ya one so... I have something more valuable to give you than a Trao or two…”

“Oh, yeah? And what is it? That blade perhaps? What’s that? Can’t be Ozara’s feather, can it?”

“The blade is none of your business… What I am offering however is info…”

“Info? What info could you possibly have that would interest me??”, Gregor laughed.

“Perhaps that of why a soldier and a worker ant appeared in BeetleField out of nowhere.”

“HAH!! Do you really think I care about that?”

“Oh, come on, Greg… I’ve seen the streets… I know nothing interesting is going on around here anymore… We both know that…”

“… ah! I give up! You’re right… But, make sure you tell as many details as you can, or I’ll regret wasting the little time I have left here with you…”, Gregor gave in.

“Don’t tell anyone, but… we’re on a mission… directly ordered by Queen Elderanta herself… a secret mission…”, Nanthan exaggerated.

“… go on…”, Gregor’s interest was piqued, and he seemingly forgot all about the incident from earlier.

“We have been ordered to search and find…”, Nanthan turned left and right, acting as if he was checking if somebody was listening to them, even tho the bar was pretty much empty, “for the Knights…”

“HAH! And here I thought you were serious for a second!”, Gregor laughed.

“I am being serious. And we will find them, be that the last thing I ever do! And, yes… those are, in fact, Ozara’s blades…”

“… wow! That is… something, alright! Worth two worthless sandwiches, that’s for sure! Hahah!!”, Gregor seemed satisfied with what he was told.

Antonio, who was sitting with Darra, glanced over at Gregor and Nanthan and saw Gregor laughing. That made him relieved… looks like Nanthan knew what he was doing, after all…

Nanthan then came to the table the other two were sitting at. Darra was just finishing the second sandwich when Nanthan sat down. She looked at him with eyes filled with tears. “Thank… you… t-thank you, Nanthan… you saved me…”

“I… I couldn’t let a person I know die… A stranger, I probably could… But someone I know… even tho we did not get along… you don’t deserve such a cruel fate…”, Nanthan told Darra.

Nanthan then searched in his bag for something for a few moments. He pulled out the remaining four Trao and put them on the table. “Here. It isn’t much, but… it’s everything I have with me… Take it. You need it more than we do…”

“I… Are you sure? I-I meaaan if it’s everything you’ve got then-”

“Use it wisely.”, Nanthan interrupted her. “I do, however ask for a favor…”, he added.

“W-What could I poooossibly help you with?”, Darra asked, confused.

“I’m searching for Hercules. Is he… you know… still around?”

“I… I’m not suuure… The last time I saw him was four or five seasons ago… he does haveee a house nearby…”, Darra said after a moment of thinking about it.

“You’ll take me – us, there.”

“Oookay. Do you… wanna, like… go right now or?”

“Antonio?”, Nanthan looked at the young ant.

“Fine by me.”

“Let’s go, then!”, Nanthan said, and the three headed out of the bar. On the way out Nanthan stopped for a second and said: “Thanks, Greg! If I’m ever around again I’ll pay ya a proper visit, old fool!”

“Heh…”, Gregor couldn’t help but grin.

A few minutes after the three bugs left, the lonely dung beetle that was sitting in the corner of the bar came up to Gregor and put five Trao on the table. “Were those… what I think they were…?”

“The blades?”, Gregor hesitated for a moment then said: “Yes. Ozara’s.”

“Thank you.”, the beetle said, then it, too, left the bar.

* * *