CHAPTER 235: CHAPTER 235: SPENDING TIME TOGETHER

"I..." he opened his mouth with some hesitation.

Zerra was looking at him expectantly, while Nias’ gaze gave him a sense of pressure, as if she wanted to chop him into pieces.

"What do you think?" Zerra asked again encouragingly.

In the end, Cassias finally decided.

He nodded slowly, looking away from Nias’ irritated eyes. "Yes, I will go with you... I hope that your mother won’t mind."

Stinky cub. Nias cursed inwardly, and when she turned around, she was met with her little cub’s sparkling eyes.

Even before she could answer Cassias’ brave words, who had disobeyed her, Zerra took it on her behalf to answer him. "Of course, Mother wouldn’t mind as long as you agree. Didn’t you hear it already?"

"Thank you, Your Excellency." Cassias turned to Nias and thanked her.

Nias really didn’t like his smile. She narrowed her eyes. Did this cub have done that deliberately? Turning the tables on her? She really couldn’t tell whether he was as aloof and innocent as he looked.

But nevermind... he was still a cub anyway.

Nias shifted to her tiger form again, and she let the two cubs sit on her back after Cassias took all his necessities. As such, they departed from the place toward their cave.

Zerra was a little absentminded during the journey. She really wondered about the appearance of these zombie beasts. Unless they found the source, it wasn’t going to be easy.

She suspected that there might be dead zombies in some water sources. The spiritual beasts who had taken part in the zombie extermination immediately got rid of the remaining zombie traces.

They would burn or dig a deep hole, burying the corpses or the ashes. It can be seen that the spiritual beast zombies were much more fatal compared to human zombies.

"We have arrived, Zizi." Cassias shook her awake, snapping her out of her daze.

She pursed her lips and jumped from her mother’s back. It was already night, and she was exhausted from what had happened today. A simple playtime had become a scene of zombie extermination, and even they nearly died.

"Go to sleep." Nias nudged Zerra with her chin.

"But..." Zerra hesitated as she looked at Cassias, worried.

The cave was very wide, and Nias had used some kind of method to create rooms among the stony cave walls. She pointed to a room and told Cassias, "You take that room."

The little boy agreed without a complaint. He went to his room and, under Nias’ supervision, he took out the bed he had prepared. Since he was their guest, Nias wouldn’t mistreat him.

Hearing he no longer needed anything anymore, Nias went back to Zerra, who had been waiting for her mother.

"You haven’t slept?" She flicked Zerra’s forehead. "Why? Can’t sleep?"

Zerra hurriedly shook her head. She didn’t want this fierce mother of hers to drag her to that turtle old man again. She would definitely make him treat her insomnia.

Without hesitation, she burrowed herself into Nias’ stomach as soon as the latter laid down. "I can’t sleep without my mother."

Her words made Nias’ expression become a little better.

Actually, Zerra wanted to check up on Cassias, but of course Nias didn’t let her. Who told her to yawn in exhaustion? Her mother decided it was best for her to take a rest early while she helped Cassias to decorate his room.

The whole cave wasn’t dark because there were torches in some places. They burned bright, and Zerra had never seen the fire die.

"Sleep." Nias nuzzled Zerra’s small frame and soon, she heard a snore from her little cub. They had already eaten some snacks on the way and no longer needed to eat dinner. On the other hand, with Nias’ level of power, she didn’t need to eat too frequently anymore.

The whole cave returned to silence as the beings inside all fell asleep.

Cassias was originally tense in a new environment. It hadn’t been long since he had moved into that house anyway, so it didn’t take long for him to drift to sleep too. Partially because of his exhaustion.

***

When Nias came back, the two cubs were already awake. They were sitting near each other, eating some fruit.

"Mother!" Zerra exclaimed, but soon she frowned. How childish she had become lately!

It was a passing thought. Her attention was immediately attracted to the game in Nias’ mouth. It was a rabbit the size of a small deer.

Undoubtedly, it was going to be their meal. The rabbit was already dead, with some blood dripping from its neck. Originally, she felt some pity, but soon her stomach rumbled softly.

She was already hungry.

"Stay there. I am going to roast this rabbit. You two continue to eat your fruit," Nias told the two cubs as she trotted away, heading to another room in the cave.

One little boy and one fox continued to savor their sweet fruit. Zerra always left the fruits with some sour taste to Cassias after she found out he liked them so much.

She even took out her baskets of strawberries she had saved in her inner space. It was originally for him anyway.

Since her mother was busy making meals for them and they couldn’t go out, she dragged Cassias to the wall of the cave. There was only half a basket of fruit left from yesterday, and they had finished it quickly.

"I can draw a lot of pictures here, Kaz," she muttered enthusiastically, like a kid. She began to show all of her drawings, which mostly consisted of her mother and her.

Cassias pursed his lips. "Can I draw too?"

"Of course!" Her answer was quick. Her eyes lit up as she handed over a jagged stone to him. "Here."

"Do you know why I draw these here?" She suddenly asked.

Cassias was silent for a moment. He took too long to answer, that she couldn’t help but turn her head toward him. She found him silently staring at the pictures on the wall.

Thinking of her bad drawing skills, she felt embarrassment crawling on her heart. The pictures on the wall weren’t clear enough. It must have looked like random cracks to others.

"So you won’t forget things," Cassias suddenly muttered, interrupting her thoughts.

She stared at him as if seeking something in his expression. He didn’t turn his head to look at her. Instead, he took a step forward and began to scrape the stony wall using the jagged stone.

He drew something.

A fox. She recognized herself.

Then, another being that she couldn’t identify, but it had two wings. Below it, he drew two human figures.

She couldn’t stop thinking about it even during the meal, which made her feel a bit absentminded.

After they finished the meal, the two cubs went out. Well, even though they couldn’t stray too far from the cave. Just like when they were at Cassias’ home, they decided to plant things near the cave too.

Thus, when Nias was at home, they would stay outside to plant things.

The days became peaceful again. Some cubs even joined them after their parents deemed Nias’ territory safe enough. As such, they sent their bored cubs to her place.

Of course, they would leave in a hurry after that. They still remembered why Nias was so notorious.

However, the peaceful days also came to an end soon. Nias announced she was going away for a few days to join a zombie extermination team.

The growing number of the spiritual beasts into zombies had made them worried, so the remaining spiritual beasts were determined to find the source of the zombie virus contamination.

"You two have to stay with Eldemar for a while," Nias decided, referring to the turtle alchemist.

He always stayed cooped up in his place and rarely came out, studying alchemy. With two sensible cubs, he was indeed the most suitable one to take care of them.

Zerra nodded, not making a fuss. Seeing her little cub had agreed so readily, Nias sighed softly.. but she didn’t dawdle and soon, she escorted the two to Eldemar’s place.

The turtle snorted unhappily because he had to babysit, but he still kindly took them in. After bargaining with Nias about the herbs she could give him in exchange, he brought the two inside his place.

Eldemar lived near a lake. Outside his place, there were a lot of medicinal herbs he had planted.

"Don’t touch them." He warned them. "They will die if you treat the medicinal herbs without the correct procedure."

The two cubs nodded obediently.

Days passed like that. Sometimes, the two cubs would help Eldemar to water the medicinal herbs, carefully controlling the amount of water.

The longer it took for Nias to return, the more Zerra’s anxiety grew.

"Your mother will return safely. She is powerful." Cassias seemed to notice her unease and consoled her. She just nodded absentmindedly.

She had tried to ask Eldemar, but he didn’t give her a satisfactory answer.

That night, she saw Cassias going inside Eldemar’s workroom. And he did something that surprised her.