CHAPTER 41: FORAGING

Once they left the village, the trio headed a bit to the south before entering the forest. As they walked, Serena spotted a few beastmen gathering different types of plants.

So, this must be a popular foraging site then... Serena mused to herself, taking notes of the plants they were collecting.

Most of the plants were green and Serena couldn’t say exactly what they were, but she did recognize the brown roots and orange roots. Having knowledge about those plants already, she made sure to take extra note of how they were harvested.

Eventually, Theo came to a stop some distance away from the other beastmen. He turned to Serena and murmured, "This looks like a good spot... Kiro and I will head out and come back once we’ve gotten something. You should be fine here, but yell if you need anything."

"Alright." Serena nodded her head, setting down Kiro as Theo handed her her basket. After taking the basket, Serena turned her attention to Kiro and said, "Make sure you listen to Theo okay. Don’t do anything dangerous."

He was still a cub after all, so getting injured would be bad for him. It could have long term damage that could affect his adult life. That alone made Serena worried.

But she also couldn’t hold him back. Hunting was something he’d need to learn if he was to survive. Besides, having Theo keep an eye on him was better than letting him wander the forest alone.

The older beastman would make sure he didn’t do anything too dangerous. Of course, she’d need to find a way to repay him for the hunting lessons as she was useless in that aspect.

"Okay!" Kiro exclaimed before shifting into his beast form.

Theo followed suit, shifting into a tiger. He glanced over at Serena once more before heading deeper into the forest with Kiro trailing behind him.

When they were finally gone, Serena turned her attention to the plants around her and began her little foraging quest.

***

Serena gazed at her basket of brown and orange roots, pleased with herself. Not only had she managed to begin her food storage for the cold season, but she’d gain some new plant knowledge along the way.

She’d mostly found medicinal herbs which were useful. However, one thing she had realized when digging up the brown and orange roots was that she hadn’t really learnt the proper way to harvest things.

And considering that she didn’t want to ruin the beneficial part of the plant, Serena stuck to just memorizing what they looked like. She’d probably need to join some of the rabbit beastmen when they were foraging to properly learn how to gather food.

The sound of rustling had Serena’s ears flickering and she glanced over at the direction of the noise, hand going for her bone knife on the ground. She was readying herself to throw it, but stopped at the last second.

The newcomer turned out to be a rabbit beastman with brown ears atop a mop of brown hair. Serena gazed at him, soon recognizing who it was. The beastman was one of the helpers from yesterday.

She recalled him saying that his name was Davis. He’d been quite helpful yesterday, probably a little too much that Theo believed the rabbit beastman liked her.

Serena would’ve taken his word for it if Davis had volunteered to help since that was one method beastmen used to gain favor with the beastwoman they were interested in. But it hadn’t been like that.

Elder Samuel had sent him along with a few others to help. Sure, he was enthusiastic to help, but Serena felt that was more of a people pleasing attitude than liking her attitude.

Davis timidly held up his left hand and awkwardly grinned as he said, "Sorry... Didn’t mean to scare you."

"It’s alright..." Serena murmured, straightening up. She glanced over at the small handheld basket in his right hand. "Are you here looking for some plants?"

"Just some medicinal ones." Davis chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. He then glanced over at her basket. "I didn’t realize you ate plants too."

"I only eat them sometimes. Most females have a mixed diet of meat and plants." Serena explained. "So, are you a healer?"

"I suppose that’s true... Oh and I’m a healer-in-training." Davis answered. He then muttered under his breath, "But that’s just a fancy way of my uncle saying I’m his lackey. He likes making me do all the hard work."

Serena raised an eyebrow, curious about the comment. "So, you know how to prepare medicinal herbs then?"

Since she’d collected enough food for the next few days, perhaps she could use the rest of the time waiting for Theo and Kiro to return observing Davis at work. If he allowed her to watch that was.

She knew certain skills in this world were highly valued such as medicinal skills. So, it was obvious some would refuse to show others in fear their knowledge value would decrease.

"Um.. yes." Davis blushed. "Well, I know a good bit. Nothing compared to my uncle though. He’s the village healer, so he has a lot more knowledge."

"I see." Serena murmured. She went quiet for a moment before deciding to ask directly. "Do you mind if I watch? I’m waiting here for my brother and Theo to come back from hunting."

"Of course you can watch!" Davis exclaimed. He then asked, "Are you interested in plants?"

"A little I suppose." Serena mused. "Altough, my knowledge is a little lacking."

"That’s no worries. I can teach you!" Davis declared. "We can start with that plant over there..."

He pointed out a small bush a few meters away from Serena. It had small pink flowers on it and if she was correct, the plant was called sherry bush. The roots were the important part of the plant.

Davis explained the bush to her, giving her similar knowledge that the field guide had given her already. As he spoke, he harvested some of the roots and Serena carefully watched him do so.

They did this for several different plants with Serena learning a fact here and there. But she mostly focused on the harvesting part of the lesson. After almost an hour of doing this, Davis suddenly came to a stop.