I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 196: Tale of Japan!

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Kai’s claw remained tight around the Frog-Prince’s chest, the monster’s skin bulging and twitching, his pulse like a sludgy river under Kai’s grip. The battlefield was silent but for the rasp of shallow breath and the bubbling of acid blood pooling at their feet.

Akayoroi narrowed her eyes. "Those stories were real?"

Kai’s voice came out hoarse. "You said... Japan?"

The Prince nodded solemnly. "Yes. That was the name. The native there... they mistook Bufo IX for one of their own, a creature meant to entertain, a mascot. A living plush, round-bellied and green. They called him Lucky Frog-Kyun."

Azhara blinked. "Lucky... what?"

"They adored him. Millions lined up to see him. They gave him food called sweet rice cakes and skewered treats. Children squealed, old women blessed him for luck. They took something called selfies, they can capture your appearance with that. How scary! But it doesn’t harm anyone."

Akayoroi whispered, "I thought that was a fairy tale. Just childish tales in story scrolls."

The Prince’s blood-slick eyes glittered with pride and madness. "He learned from them. He observed how their world worked. He learned about Electricity, steel, and glass that flickered with moving images. He discovered anime, they are drawn scrolls that move with magic of science and music. He found ’manga’—their paper lore, and ’cosplay’—a way of becoming gods through cloth and color."

He smiled. "He never spoke. He didn’t know the language. But he posed for them. Thumbs up. Peace signs. Uwu."

Vel gagged from somewhere behind. "I’m going to need some water."

"He kept journals," the Frog-Prince said, almost reverently. "Diaries. Scrolls. Blueprints. He documented everything. Their ironworks without aura. Their vehicles are powered by silent explosions. Their moving fans cooled entire rooms, without any ice. Their art of drawing flame inside a box. Things we called fairy tales—they lived every day."

Akayoroi’s voice trembled. "But... that would mean... the Otaku culture we’ve all heard about... didn’t come from this world? Our childhood bedtime stories... all real?"

The Prince nodded sagely. "It was brought here. When the rift opened again—brief, just a moment—Bufo IX returned. Not alone. He was escorted by a cloaked figure in armor not made of aura, but of pulsing lightning. Energy flowed through wires like divine veins—but foreign. Alien."

He licked cracked lips. "Nobody knows who that being was. A god? An otherworldly being? A wanderer of worlds? They never removed their helm. But they brought Bufo IX and others home. With gifts. Crates filled with plush frogs, scrolls of anime, ancient disks of music, magazines filled with strange women posing in swimwear. They looked hot, I even licked them in my teenage days. They are the treasure of our royal frog family."

Kai stayed silent. "..."

The Frog-Prince’s voice dipped into reverence. "Bufo IX founded the Otaku Swamp Archives. His legend spread through the beastlands. The bark-sprites adopted idol waifu culture. The lizard clans sang of a mythical scroll called Nyan-ka, the book of catgirls. Every species thought it a legend—origin unknown. But it was his."

Azhara shook her head, dazed. "So... the licking culture... the anime dance in celebration... the uwu tongue..."

"All of it." The Frog-Prince grinned, face half-shattered. "Tradition for us. Warfare for others."

Akayoroi looked shaken. "We never knew it came from another world. We thought that our ancestors... made it up."

"No," the Prince rasped. "It was from Japan."

Kai’s pupils contracted to razor points. He thinks, "Earth. United States of America... Kansas, my hometown. Japan, and Asian culture and food."

Five hundred years ago, a rift opened. Bufo IX fell through. That matched the time of his death in the 21st century. The soul that once lived as a man on Earth... now reborn into this brutal world of aura and evolution.

That meant... Someone else made it happen?

Someone, or something, had bought his soul five hundred years ago? Or is it all just a coincidence? Or his reincarnation made that space rift open? Why did it take Five hundred years... to be born as an ant? What is the truth? What happened to earth in the last five hundred years? If he can go back, will he go into the future? Can he go back as an ant?

There were hundreds of questions inside his mind. Kai’s breath slowed. The implications were terrifying.

He spoke slowly, coldly. "What happened to the rift?"

The Frog-Prince’s gaze lowered. "It closed. Vanished. Some say... it was taken—stolen by the ones who cannot be named. Others say... the cloaked figure destroyed it, so that no can go through. Some even say the rift was invaded by something."

His voice dropped to a hush. "No one knows the fate of that other world. Some say it was consumed. Others... say that it still exists, in different dimensions."

Kai clenched his jaw. "Did Bufo IX see anything about that world before leaving?"

The Frog-Prince shook his head. "Only that... Earth had no aura, but more danger than we ever dreamed. That their tools could kill without sound. That they built weapons that lit the sky brighter at night. Their world was dying, slowly, beneath metal and abuse of that world native. There was a group called Climate Something, they did weird things to get attention to save the world. Bafu said they acted like childrens."

A long silence followed.

Then Akayoroi said softly, "The truth of our culture... is not from our land."

Kai released a heavy breath. "Where was the gate location?"

The Frog-Prince grimaced. "Gone, of course. It collapsed. The swamp scholars tracked its echoes for decades. All signs vanished. Even our toad-sages failed. They claimed the dimensional cycle ended. That it may never return."

Kai’s grip faltered slightly, claw loosening.

The Frog-Prince noticed.

He leaned in, whispering, "Let me go, ant. I will give you the scrolls. The archives that my ancestors bought with him."

Then his voice grew smug.

"And I’ll even make you my servant. You may be strong, but I’m royal. I can reward you. Serve me, and I’ll spare your life. I will let you lick as much as you want. If you give me that ant queen name Akayoroi."

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