Baby System: I'm the Beast World's Only Hope!-Chapter 37: Episode : A Feast After a Long Day!

Let’s feed him today and then try again.

That was what Roxy thought as she stared at Kaelen’s naked body.

The sun dipped below the heavy canopy of the Iron-Wood Forest, casting long, eerie shadows across the clearing.

The wolves, energized by the completion of the first cabin, were eager to start the second one immediately.

After they tested the wood, Roxy showed them how to build the cabin and now the male wolves were eager to see how many they could build.

Vorn was already dragging another log toward the saw, looking surprisingly enthusiastic about manual labor.

But Roxy couldn’t handle all the work.

Even though she wasn’t doing anything, just bossing them around was exhausting and she didn’t have that stamina.

"Put it down, Beaver Boy," Roxy called out, wiping sawdust from her forehead. "We don’t work in the dark."

Vorn paused, the massive log balanced on his shoulder. "But we are wolves, we have night vision?"

"Doesn’t mean we can’t rest!" Roxy explained, hopping off her stump. She stretched her back, feeling the familiar ache in her hips. "The cabin isn’t going anywhere. But we are."

A collective groan went through the pack. They looked at the completed cabin with longing. They didn’t want to go back to the damp fortress.

"I know, I know," Roxy soothed, holding up her hands. "The Swamp sucks. But we can’t sleep here tonight. We need to prep the rest of the site, and frankly, you guys need a bath before you dirty the cabin."

Kaelen stepped up beside her, his chest gleaming with sweat and sawdust. "We are returning?" Kaelen asked, looking at the dark path leading back to the fortress.

"Yes," Roxy confirmed. "We’re going to do a little spring cleaning." She grinned, a mischievous glint in her eye. "If we have to sleep in the damp one more night, we’re at least going to scrape the fungus off the walls. Tonight, we feast. But first, we scrub."

The wolves howled in a dramatic manner. Showing pain and resistance. They didn’t want to go through that torture.

****

When they entered the fortress, the smell of dirt hit them like a wet towel.

It was different from the clean scent of the Iron-Wood forest.

But instead of resigning themselves to it, the wolves looked at it with Roxy’s eyes. They couldn’t be comfortable with such a dirty place. It was like a war to them that they had to win.

"Alright, listen up!" Roxy shouted, her voice echoing off the dripping root-walls. "I want this place scrubbed! If it’s green and slimy, scrape it off! If it smells like a dead badger, burn it! We are making this place habitable until the migration is complete!"

"Scrub?" Rax, the Gamma, tilted his head. "With what?"

Roxy rolled her eyes. She immediately navigated to the system shop that popped right in her gaze.

Buying everything.

[Item: Industrial Scrub Brushes (50 count) - 500 LP]

[Item: Concentrated Vinegar & Lemon Cleaner (5 Gallons) - 1,000 LP]

[Item: Buckets - 200 LP]

"With this!" Roxy pointed to the pile of supplies that materialized. "Vinegar kills mold. Lemon makes it smell Better. Get to work!"

The wolves, fueled by the hope of the new cabin, attacked the fortress.

It was chaos. It was messy. But it was effective.

Roxy felt pleased with herself.

Wolves were scrubbing the stone floors. They were tearing down the rotting moss curtains. They were hauling buckets of dirty water out of the sleeping huts.

Roxy supervised, barking orders like a sergeant. "Scrub harder, Vorn! That mold has been there since! Put some muscle into it!"

[TheSassyGoddess is impressed. She loves a man who cleans.]

[TheMotheroftheWorld notes that hygiene is the first step to fertility.]

Of course I know that mother, who exactly taught me that last time ?

Roxy wondered how many decades they had survived for it to hit now?

Was that the reason why they brought her here?

By the time the moon was high, the fortress was transformed. It wasn’t dry, nothing could fix the root system overnight, but it was clean.

The air smelled sharp with vinegar and lemon instead of rot. The floors were swept. The wet furs had been hung out to air near the central fire pit.

"It... looks and smells much better," Kaelen whispered, standing in the center of the fortress. He took a deep breath. "The air does not taste heavy."

"That’s the smell of progress, Wolfy," Roxy said, walking up to him. She wiped a smudge of dirt from his cheek. "Now, I think you boys have earned a reward."

"I’ve got something cooking," she winked. "Wait here."

Roxy hurried up the stone steps to the King’s quarters. The fireplace was roaring, keeping the room toasty. On top of it sat a massive pot she had set up earlier.

Inside, bubbling away, was a thick, creamy porridge.

It was potato porridge with some beef. Roxy had raided her inventory. She had used the porridge from the dragon territory. It was dense, sweet, and incredibly filling.

"Comfort food," she whispered, stirring it with a large wooden ladle. "The ultimate weapon."

She called for the help of Sera and a few other females to carry the massive pot down to the center of the fortress.

The smell of meat and potato filled the air and their noses twitched. To a pack that had survived on raw, stringy meat for years, the smell of warm potato was alien and intoxicating.

"What is that?" Rax asked, stepping forward while drooling from the scent.

"Porridge," Roxy corrected. "Get your bowls."

She served them. One by one, the wolves took the steaming bowls. They sniffed it cautiously. Then, they took a bite.

A collective sigh went through the courtyard. It warmed them from the inside out. It coated their stomachs, soothing the constant ache of hunger.

"It is... sweet," Vorn mumbled, licking his spoon. "Like summer grass."

Roxy grinned, pouring a bowl for Kaelen. She handed it to him. "Eat up. You burned a lot of calories swinging that axe today."

Eat up so I can eat you up later.

Kaelen took the bowl, his fingers brushing hers. He looked at her with a mixture of confusion and awe. "You feed us again. You clean our home. You build us shelter."

"I’m nesting," Roxy shrugged, leaning against him. "It’s a hormonal thing. Just go with it."

As they ate, a howl cut through the night.

The hunting party was returning.

Ten wolves emerged from the forest gate. But unlike the previous weeks, they weren’t empty-handed. They were dragging game. Real game.

Three large deer and a massive, tusked boar.

"The forest!" one of the hunters shouted, grinning through the mud on his face. "We found a herd near the Iron-Wood clearing! They were grazing near the new logs!"

Roxy laughed. "Probably attracted to the sawdust. Or maybe they just wanted to see what all the noise was about."

"Meat!" Rax cheered, dropping his porridge bowl.

"Hold on!" Roxy shouted, stopping them before they could tear into the raw carcasses.

Her stomach churned as the image of wild animals eating flashed in her mind.

She marched over to the boar. "We roast it."

"Roast?" The hunter frowned. "What does that mean?"

"Not the way I do it," Roxy smirked. "I’m going to introduce you to a little human magic called ’The Camping Way’."

She opened her inventory.

[Item: Rock Salt (5kg)]

[Item: Dried Rosemary & Thyme Bundle]

[Item: Metal Skewers]

"Salt," Roxy announced, holding up a crystal. "In the Dragon Lands, I had mountains of this. Here, you have none. This is why your food tastes like that."

She directed the weaker females, those too sick to hunt but eager to help, to strip the rosemary leaves and crush the salt.

They worked together, giggling, their hands busy. Roxy showed them how to rub the meat with the mixture, how to skew the chunks of venison and boar onto the metal rods, and how to set them over the fire slowly, so the fat rendered instead of charred.

Soon, the scent of roasting meat, herbs, and caramelized fat filled the fortress. It overpowered the vinegar.

It smelled like a festival.

The wolves sat around the central fire, turning their skewers. They laughed. They pushed each other.

Roxy sat on a log, watching them. She held a skewer of boar meat, blowing on it gently.

I did this, she thought, a warm feeling spreading in her chest.

She looked at the females. Sera was laughing at a joke Rax made. Her cough was gone for the moment. Her eyes were bright.

This was sustainable. They didn’t need a miracle baby to save them; they needed a change.

Kaelen stood at the edge of the firelight, watching his pack. He wasn’t eating. He was just observing, his face unreadable.

Vorn stepped up beside him. The Beta wolf wiped grease from his chin, his eyes narrowed as he looked at Roxy.

"Can we really trust this female, my King? Or is she fattening us up for the slaughter?"