CHAPTER 46: MISSION COMPLETED

"Yes." Serena nodded her head. "We’re looking to redo the garden by our hut and wanted some advice on cleaning it up and what wood to use for the perimeter. Oh and we want to repair our ladder leading to the underground."

"Seems you two have been quite busy settling in." Elder Samuel chuckled. "I’m surprised you want a garden. Do you plan to plant food there?"

"Yes... Perhaps brown roots and orange roots since those are easiest for us to eat." Serena mused. "Of course, we’re open to suggestions."

"Hmmm.... Brown roots can be a bit tricky because they can get infected with disease if you’re not careful. And while orange roots are easy to grow, it’s not a good time to plant them or brown roots now. Those are more for the rainy season." Elder Samuel explained.

He then added, "However, if you’re open to more variety, I can recommend some plants that’ll be fine for the cold season. Of course, we’ll have to prepare the garden properly. Perhaps it’s better to get some help.... Rico, come here for a moment, will you!"

Serena and Theo glanced over to where Elder Samuel was yelling and spotted a large, hairy man with white rabbit ears walking over to them. He seemed to be around his forties and was chewing on a piece of straw.

"Village Chief." Rico called out. "You need something?"

"We need help redoing that old garden by the abandoned hut." Elder Samuel said. "Thought it’d be best to talk to you since you’re the most skilled at making gardens."

"We don’t mind paying for your help." Theo added.

During this entire conversation, Theo quickly realized the work could go much easier if they had someone who knew what they were doing helping them. And knowing they could get possible food out of this, had Theo setting his pride aside.

After all, they couldn’t eat pride during the cold season. Better to have a reliable way of getting food, even if they were plants. Perhaps once the garden was restored he could look into getting some wild birds.

He’d seen a few smaller tribes keep wild birds and use them to harvest eggs and meat. They could easily use the plants grown in the garden to feed the birds and have a source of meat then.

Of course, he’d probably need to figure out how to make that work.

"Then I won’t object to payment." Rico stated. "Does a hand basket of your crops work for redoing the garden?"

A hand basket was about two days worth of food for rabbit beastmen. It was a bit of food, but considering the amount of food they could gain in the future, it was worth it.

Theo glanced at Serena, who understood this as well and nodded her head in agreement. Theo then turned to look at Rico and replied, "Sure. That works for us."

"Alright then I’ll act as witness for the agreement." Elder Samuel stated. "A hand basket of crops for redoing the garden, including building the fence and planting new plants."

"Yes." Rico nodded his head. He gazed up at the sky for a moment before he added, "It’s a bit late to get material for the fence, but we can prepare the garden in the meantime. All that grass needs to be removed and the beds need to be redone... I’ll go fetch my tools and head over to your hut afterwards."

"That works for us." Theo said and with that Rico headed off to get his tools. Once he was gone. Theo turned to Elder Samuel and asked, "As for the ladder repair?"

"I believe the trees by the north side work well." Elder Samuel mused. "You can borrow my axe if you’d like. However, I suggest only heading there tomorrow. Perhaps with Rico. It’ll take some time to get the wood."

"That’s fine then." Theo nodded his head in understanding. "Thanks for the help."

"Of course." Elder Samuel smiled. "We’ve got to help each other if we want to survive. Let me know if you need any more help settling in."

"We will." Serena replied.

After saying goodbye to the elderly beastman, Theo and Serena headed back to their hut to meet up with Rico and begin preparing the garden to get a new fence.

When they got to the hut, Serena went to go check on Kiro, who was still napping before heading to the back. Rico was already there by the time she got there and had some tools lying by his feet.

The rabbit beastman was looking over the garden and mused, "Let’s get rid of the rotting wood first and then we’ll start digging up all this grass... If possible try not to cut them up. We can make use of it for other things."

Theo nodded his head in agreement as Serena headed over to them. She was about to join in on helping when Rico held out a hand.

"Let us do this alone." Rico stated. "You already did enough with removing most of the wood."

"How did you know..." Serena asked, confused.

Rico shook his head and answered, "A few of the cubs saw you and told the whole village. I believe a few were ready to go after your mate for it."

Serena sideeyed Theo, suddenly understanding why he told her to let him do the garden. Seemed she’d accidentally gotten him into trouble with the village.

"It’s not Theo’s fault." Serena murmured. "I did this without him knowing."

"Hmmm... I figured as much. Anyway, you go sit down." Rico ordered. "You can watch us work and yell if you want anything specific done."

Serena wanted to argue, not used to having others do things for her. But that stern look Rico was giving her told her she wasn’t going to win this fight. She was better off sitting down and letting Theo and him do the work.

As much as she didn’t want to.

"Fine." Serena finally sighed.

She moved to sit against the hut’s wall, watching as the two beastmen got to work. Kiro soon woke up and found them in the back, joining in the work.

The older males didn’t want him doing much so he was left to carry grass away which Serena helped with too. After a bit of a fight. Eventually, they finished clearing out all the grass and preparing the perimeter for a fence.

And as Serena was placing the last bunch of grass into the pile, a system notification appeared.

[Completed Task 10: Clean up garden - Required]

[Build A Home Completed]

[Reward: Subspace + 1000 Coins]