A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 144: Untitled

"No Kiro. We’re not fighting." Serena sighed as she turned her attention to the cub. "Now make sure you finish up your food okay."

Kiro pursed his lips at her words. He looked like he wanted to ask more and Serena wasn’t sure if she could handle any more questions from the cub. She could tell he was picking up on their change in relationship.

And probably misunderstanding Serena’s awkwardness for there being a fight.

But it wasn’t like she could explain that Theo and her weren’t faking a relationship anymore. Not when he thought they were truly mates from the beginning.

Once they were done with dinner, they cleaned up and hung around the fire for a bit. Kiro ended up doing most of the talking, telling Serena and Theo about his day.

The two let him talk their ear off, neither one upset about it really. If anything it distracted Serena for just a bit. But soon, Kiro got tired and it was off to bed with him.

Leaving the two of them alone as usual.

Typically they would go over plans for the next day or just chat about things that needed to be done. Otherwise, they would mostly just sit in silence until they grew tired.

Well, really when Theo got tired because Serena still had trouble sleeping at times and ended up doing more work in her subspace until she was exhausted. Probably not healthy, but she at least got a full night’s rest.

"Do you feel awkward about this whole thing?" Theo suddenly asked, breaking the silence between them.

"Truthful yes." Serena answered. "I’m not sure how to go about this courting thing and it’s messing with my mind."

"Well I don’t know how to court a female either... So I guess we’re in the same situation." Theo stated, running a hand through his hair. "We can do this how we want to... It’s not like anyone else can judge us since we’re already seen as mates."

"I suppose that makes sense." Serena mused. "Though we’re probably going to have to have some serious conversations now."

Theo turned to face her as he asked, "Like what?" 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Um... You know things like children, how we will do things... Although that’s mostly sorted considering we live together." Serena pointed out. "How we deal with the priest... Things like that. We don’t have to talk about them right away... But they will need to be discussed if we’re serious about this."

Saying all this sounded strange coming from her mouth considering she never really thought like this. But if she was going to take this courtship seriously, then she had to do it properly.

Because if their life goals didn’t align in some way or they couldn’t compromise, then it wasn’t going to work out well for them. And Serena rather not get into a life bond without getting that sorted.

"Right... We should get that sorted." Theo coughed, the back of his neck reddening. "Um... I guess you’re okay with children since the whole priest thing...?"

"I’m not against it..." Serena answered vaguely.

"But?" Theo raised an eyebrow.

Serena pursed her lips. She stayed quiet for a moment before she finally said, "I just don’t know if I’ll be a good mother..."

The thing with the priest was easy for her. Sort of. They were vessels for a bunch of gods, meant to leave this world one day and until that day she just needed to watch out for them.

Which she sometimes had her doubts about despite agreeing to this whole mission.

Because the idea of motherhood scared the living daylights out of her. Mothers were meant to be caring, nurturing people who guided and protected their kids. And Sserena wasn’t sure if she was capable of that.

"I suppose that’s a worry..." Theo mused. "But I don’t think it’ll be an issue. You seem to be taking care of Kiro just fine and I’m sure the beastwomen around the village will be willing to guide you... I mean the idea of being a mother or father must scare everyone."

"I guess so..." Serena murmured.

Of course, this was still some time away and there were a bunch of other things that needed to be sorted out. She’d need to perhaps tell Theo about her past life before they got any more serious.

But that day was not tonight. Serena still wasn’t ready to talk about it. Because she feared how Theo would see her, even if it was understandable.

***

The next morning after breakfast, Theo went hunting like usual while Serena went foraging. She needed one more basket for the pots and a couple more ingredients for the dishes for the festival.

The offering plate was done already, so it was one less thing she needed to worry about.

When Serena passed the village center to drop off Kiro, she was shocked to see the progress of the wooden platform. It was a few beams yesterday and now was almost complete.

Some parts were even being decorated with some of the last wild flowers around. And beastmen were already bustling about, working hard so early in the morning.

Serena moved along before she got in the way, heading out the village and taking her usual path. She already knew where all the plants were, so didn’t bother calling for the map. She would only use it if she really needed it.

Plus Liz looked quite sleepy by the way it was dozing on her arm. Granted Serena had made her do a lot of research last night on the city project.

Serena hadn’t really worked on it for some time, focussed on other things and she wanted to catch up on it. Because the cold season was the best time to get some smaller project done when they had the most time.

They would have time in the rainy and hot season too, however, she wanted to get the farmlands prepared in that time so they were ready for the harvest season.

Additionally, the long periods of rain in the rainy season plus the estrus cycles for females in that season would mean there was less time for them to do things. They also needed to prepare an exploration team to chart a course between the village and the Mer City.

Once that was done, another team would need to go to the Forest City to get them to do negotiations with the Horse Clan. And once the Forest City was on board with their plan, they could properly start developing.

Serena wanted to get the castle done first so they’d have a safe place for all their precious resources because this project was bound to take a couple of years. Next would be the water and sewer systems before they built the houses and walls.

Finally the market places, warehouses and workshops would be built during which Serena hoped that they’d get more beastmen and turn into a trading city.

A few things still needed to be tweaked here and there, but for the most part Serena was happy with the plans. Especially with how things were coming along.

Serena got to a bush of herbs first and began harvesting them before she continued walking for a bit to get more vegetables. She worked on filling her basket until mid morning before she headed back to the village.

She was planning on making those roasted brown roots today with the herbs, so needed to head back to make lunch. Theo knew she was planning on making the vegetables, so would just handle the meat part.

Though a part of her did wonder if the meat would taste if they added herbs to it. She could probably ask Liz another time.

Theo was already cutting up some meat when she got back. He glanced over at her and said, "We got lucky and from a boar. Do you want the fat?"

"You can leave it on the side." Serena nodded her head. "I’ll take it once I’ve packed this stuff away."

She would keep it in her subspace to make lard the next time she had the chance. Speaking of which, she wondered for a moment if she should ask Finn to make her another pot so she can make lard and tallow.

Then again, they would always have another pot to use so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

"Alright got it." Theo said.

Serena headed inside the hut and entered her subspace to add the vegetables she collected for Finn into a basket. She then returned to the hut with only the brown roots and herbs she needed.

After washing her hands and plants, Serena set to work preparing the brown roots. She had to wake Liz up to get the recipe. It was a simple recipe, however, some of the herbs needed to be crushed.

Serena ended up using a flat stone she cleaned, making note to find a better way to crush things. Healer Kai probably knew something. But soon enough the brown roots were cooking over the fire.