CHAPTER 42: CHICKEN SOUP

It didn’t take long to realize that Davis had stopped in his tracks because Theo and Kiro were back. As Serena and Davis straightened up, the young cub scurried towards Serena as fast as he could.

Kiro held some kind of bird in his mouth and had some blood covering his mouth along with a few feathers. Theo silently followed behind the excited cub and watched as Kiro dropped the bird in front of Serena.

She glanced over at the bird, about to ask Kiro about it, when the cub shifted into his human form.

"Sister! I caught my first prey!" Kiro exclaimed excitedly, barely noticing the beastman next to his sister. "Theo said I’m a natural and did better than most on their first hunt!"

"That’s good to hear. Well done Kiro." Serena praised the cub, patting his head.

She then suddenly recalled that Davis was standing next to her and probably wouldn’t like the sight of a dead bird. After all, he was a herbivore beastman and most hated the sight.

But before she could find the right words to explain this, Kiro asked, glancing over at her basket, "Did you find any brown roots and orange roots? I want to make chicken soup with my first prey."

"Before that, why don’t you greet the person next to your sister." Theo interrupted the cub, his gaze staying on Davis. He then asked the other beastman, "You helped with repairing the hut yesterday, right?"

"Um yes." Davis awkwardly answered, scratching the back of his head. "The name is Davis."

"Theo." Theo said before pointing at Kiro. "And that’s Kiro... Sorry about the bird."

"Oh... It’s alright." Davis murmured as Kiro quickly picked up the bird and hid it behind his back. "No harm was done... Ahem anyway, I should continue getting those Blue Thorns."

"Alright." Serena nodded her head.

The rabbit beastman glanced over the group once more before turning away. He walked away, shaking his head before disappearing into the forest.

When he was gone, Theo coughed, "Shall we head back?"

"Probably best to." Serena sighed before turning her attention to Kiro. "And maybe we should put your hunt in the basket."

She didn’t want any more awkward accidents when others saw the bird. Seemed this was one disadvantage of being in a herbivore village as someone who needed to consume a lot of meat.

After grabbing an animal fur to wipe Kiro’s hands and face, Kiro put the bird in the basket and Theo picked it up. The cub then took Serena’s hand and they headed back to the village.

As they walked, Kiro asked with a trembling lip, "Was my prey bad?"

"No." Serena stated firmly, looking at the young cub. "I’m proud that you caught your first prey..."

Serena paused, unsure what to say to comfort Kiro. She always found comforting words the hardest, especially to young children. Her mind constantly wondered if she was saying the right thing.

Or was she just making everything worse?

"Some beastmen like rabbit beastmen don’t eat meat, so don’t like the sight." Theo jumped in suddenly. "There’s nothing wrong with your prey... Just be careful not to scare others with it, okay."

"Rabbit beastmen don’t eat meat?" Kiro furrowed his eyebrows. "Does that mean they only eat plants?"

"Yes." Serena nodded her head.

"I see..." Kiro pursed his lips. He then asked, "Will they like chicken soup then? It has brown and orange roots. They like those plants, right?"

"I’m not sure." Theo chuckled. "But maybe not."

"Oh..." Kiro murmured.

He went quiet, processing what he had learnt. Serena shook her head at the sight, but was happy this hadn’t affected him too much. That would’ve been bad.

Sighing to herself, Serena just decided to focus on their journey back to the village, not wanting to let the taunting thoughts in her mind surface.

***

"Safe. Living. Rabbit. Village." The blue and white bird chirped back at Theo.

Theo smiled at the Mimic Bird’s response, glad to be able to get a message to his uncle. He knew the older beastman was likely worried about him and this would give him peace of mind.

Serena, meanwhile, was watching the scene with interest. She never really recalled the book mentioning these birds, just that the cities, tribes and villages had ways of communicating with one another.

She assumed that they used avian beastmen, but this also made sense considering some places didn’t have any avian beastmen. Of course, the message had to be simple words and no more than six.

[General Knowledge Increased]

[+1 INT Stat]

Serena glanced at the new notification for a second before turning back to the bird. After getting the bird to repeat the message once more, Theo released the bird into the air before thanking the beastman caretaker.

The rabbit beastman just nodded his head and hurried away, a little fearful of the tiger. Theo, however, didn’t acknowledge the other beastman’s actions and simply walked over to where Serena was sitting by the fire.

Kiro was in front of her eagerly watching as his soup boiled in a roughly made stone pot. Serena could practically see the excitement on his face as Theo helped him prepare the soup.

It wasn’t the best since they didn’t have all the proper ingredients, but that didn’t matter to the young cub. He was just happy to see his hard work become a meal.

"Do you think it’s ready?" Kiro turned to Theo with hopeful eyes.

Theo shook his head. "It hasn’t been long since it’s started to boil. Give the soup some time to cook."

Kiro pouted, glancing back at the soup. He edged closer to the pot, earning himself a growl from both Theo and Serena. He let out a small whimper and moved away, making Serena sigh.

"Kiro come help me pack away the leftover brown roots and orange roots." Serena said, getting up.

She planned to do it a little later, but seeing how Kiro was acting, she decided to do it now and hopefully distract the cub for a bit.