CHAPTER 43: A TASK COMPLETED

Kiro followed Serena into the hut, quietly sulking a little. He wanted to watch the soup cook, but he also didn’t want to disobey his sister. Serena noticed his sulkiness out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing.

She didn’t want to spoil him too much and with how he was acting around the fire... Well, she was concerned he would get himself injured, either by spilling the soup on himself or getting burnt by flame.

Learning to do things by himself was important as he’d need those life skills in the future. But they needed to be done in a controlled manner. She wanted to distract his mind and get him away from danger.

Although a part of her did wonder if she was doing the right thing. Was this sheltering him from danger?

Raising a child is not easy... Serena sighed to herself. How in the world do mothers know what to do and say? Is it that maternal instinct that perhaps guides them?

If so, then she clearly lacked it. Especially after all that blood she got on her hands. It dirtied any goodness she once had inside her. Even now, she kept using people for her own well-being.

No wonder Mark could never love someone like you.

The thought instantly had Serena stop in her tracks.. She didn’t even try to think about the meaning, shoving it far down.

She instead moved to pick up her basket with the leftover vegetables, wanting to put her full attention on the task at hand. Better not to dwell on her thoughts. She’d just spiral.

"Is something wrong?" Kiro suddenly asked, picking up on his sister’s strange behavior.

Serena glanced over at him, realizing he must’ve noticed something. She hated how she was losing control of her emotions like this. It never used to happen before. Serena always had control and never let emotions take over.

So why now...

"I’m fine..." Serena forced a smile on her face. "Just wondering how much food we need for the cold season... Don’t worry about it."

Kiro frowned at her lying words, pursing his lips like he wanted to say something, but kept quiet. He followed Serena to the back of the hut where an animal fur lay on the floor.

She pulled away the fur to reveal a wooden door which led to the underground part of the hut. Serena had discovered this when removing all the junk in the hut.

Opening the trap door, Serena set down the basket before she carefully went down the creaky, wooden ladder. The descent down was a quick, but tight one.

"Throw down the basket." Serena called out when she finally reached the bottom.

"Okay." Kiro yelled back. He grabbed the basket, huffing a little at its weight before dropping into the hole. He then yelled, "I dropped it!"

Serena raised her arms, catching it before it crashed on her. A few orange roots fell out, but Serena picked them up after setting down the basket.

She then turned her attention back to the ladder. "Make sure to come down slowly, Kiro."

The young cub nodded his head before slowly making his way down. Serena watched his every move, arms out in case one of the legs gave out. She made a mental note to have the ladder redone.

But for now, they were stuck with this until they finished up with other tasks.

Once they were both down, the siblings entered the main part of the underground home. It was a single room like above, but had shelves on one side for storing.

There were also several holes in the walls leading to more rooms and escape routes. It was quite the design, making it hard for any intruder to know where they had escaped though. Even Serena needed some time to explore it all.

But right now, she wanted to get the orange roots and brown roots on the wooden shelves. That way she could complete the optional task given to her by the system.

Serena set the basket down in front of the shelves before she instructed Kiro, "Pass me all the orange roots first. Then pass me the brown roots."

"Okay." Kiro nodded in understanding.

He picked out a few orange roots from the basket and the siblings set to work. Serena would pack them on the shelves while Kiro would hand them to her. It went quickly since Serena hadn’t harvested much.

Their stay wasn’t guaranteed yet, so while she was following the system’s tasks, she also wasn’t fully preparing anything in case they needed to make their way back to the Forest City.

Although Serena doubted that would happen. Maybe it was because she believed the system knew they would stay here. Why else would it give her such a mission?

A new system notification appeared as she placed the last brown root on the shelf.

[Completed Task 8: Stock up on food - Optional]

[Reward: 100 Coins]

It wasn’t a massive reward considering it was an optional task she was doing, but Serena took the coins anyway. She’d need as many as possible. A new system notification then popped up.

[Final Task Alert]

[Task 10: Clean up garden - Required]

"Let’s head back up." Serena murmured, picking up the empty basket.

As she spoke, she mentally took note of the last task given. She didn’t want Kiro to worry about her anymore so had them moving back upstairs as she thought out a plan.

The garden was likely the overgrown grass at the back of the hut with all the wooden poles. She could easily clean it up, but one question was how to redo it.

She knew all the huts had gardens for everyone to grow their own food to supplement what they foraged in the forest. After all, the rabbit beastmen here couldn’t take everything they saw.

They needed to leave enough for wild beasts roaming the forest as well as enough to keep the plants growing in the future. Quite the sustainable way of living.

Perhaps she could look in that book for garden ideas and then maybe ask some of the beastmen around for some advice on gardening.

Serena got back to the surface with a plan in mind and the siblings made their way outside for lunch.