Chapter 28 - 028:Last part
Anaria stared at the notification floating in front of her.
[Objective Progress: 2/3.]
"You’re kidding me," Anaria said.
The System remained silent.
She folded her arms and frowned. "I have sorted their food, preserved the grains and vegetables, taught them different ways to preserve meat, and even cooked for these people. What exactly is still missing?"
A moment later, another notification appeared.
[Preservation methods have been successfully introduced.]
[However, the food-saving process remains incomplete.]
Anaria frowned deeper. "What does that mean?"
[The village requires a structured system for organizing, storing, rotating, and protecting preserved food.]
"So teaching them how to preserve food isn’t enough?" Anaria asked.
[Correct.]
She looked around at the empty bowls scattered across the table and sighed. "You mean I have to do paperwork too?"
The System offered no response.
"Of course," Anaria muttered.
She turned toward the bear. "There is still something else that needs to be done."
The bear raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"
"If you keep storing food the way you used to, everything I just taught you will eventually become useless," Anaria explained.
The bear glanced toward the storage room. "What do you suggest?"
"Gather some people."
The bear nodded and immediately gave the order.
A short while later, Anaria stood in the storage room with the bear, the council members, and several servants. She looked over the piles of food, already imagining how much easier everything would be once the room was properly arranged.
"We need sections," Anaria said, pointing toward the supplies. "Fresh meat, preserved meat, grains, vegetables, and emergency supplies should all have their own places."
One of the beastmen frowned. "Sections?"
"Yes. Grain goes here. Vegetables there. Roots over there. Dried food in another area. Preserved meat somewhere else."
She pointed as she spoke, and the servants immediately began moving the supplies according to her instructions. Anaria reorganized the storage room, separating fresh meat from preserved food and placing the emergency supplies in their own section. Older food was brought to the front while newer batches were moved behind them, ensuring nothing would be forgotten until it spoiled. She also instructed the servants to keep the vegetables away from moisture so they would last longer.
The beastmen watched as the chaotic storage room slowly transformed into an organized space. One of them eventually asked why everything had to be arranged so carefully, and Anaria explained that mixing everything together made it easy to forget what they had. When another beastman questioned why they could not simply take whichever container was closest, Anaria pointed out that doing so was exactly how food ended up being forgotten.
The bear nodded in agreement. "That makes sense."
"See?" Anaria said, pointing at him. "Someone understands."
The other beastman looked offended. "We’ve always stored it this way."
"And you’ve always lost food this way," Anaria replied.
The beastman fell silent, while the servants continued following her instructions. For the first time, the storage room was beginning to look organized, and Anaria smiled faintly at the improvement.
"Now we’re getting somewhere," Anaria said.
A beastman then picked up a container and returned it to the place where it had originally been.
Anaria immediately pointed at it. "What are you doing?"
"Returning it to its proper place," the beastman replied proudly.
"That is not the proper place," Anaria told him.
"But it has always been there," he argued.
"Exactly," Anaria said. "That’s your problem."
The beastman stared at her in confusion, while another pointed toward the vegetables and asked why they had to be kept away from moisture.
"Because moisture makes them spoil faster," Anaria explained.
"But the Beast God gave us the food," the beastman replied.
Anaria stared at him for a moment before answering, "I’m sure the Beast God gave you a brain too. Please use it."
The room fell quiet for a moment before the bear turned away, clearly trying not to laugh.
Anaria narrowed her eyes at him. "You’re laughing."
"I’m not," the bear insisted.
"You absolutely are," Anaria said.
The bear cleared his throat and gestured toward the shelves. "Continue."
Anaria rolled her eyes but returned to work, continuing to organize the storage room while the servants followed her instructions. This time, none of the beastmen complained.
Once everything had been arranged, Anaria picked up several pieces of cloth and turned to the servants.
"We also need a way to know when each batch was stored," she explained. "Different knots can represent different storage periods."
She demonstrated it, showing them which knots represented old, newer, and freshly stored food. The servants quickly copied her.
"The oldest food gets used first," Anaria continued. "The newer food stays behind it so nothing gets forgotten."
One of the beastmen frowned. "Isn’t that unnecessary?"
Anaria looked at him. "Do you want your food to last or not?"
He immediately fell silent.
She then pointed toward the back of the storage room. "That section is for emergency supplies. Nobody touches it unless the village actually runs low on food."
"Why should perfectly good food just sit there?" another beastman complained.
"Because one day you might actually need it."
The bear nodded. "Just, do as she says."
The beastman reluctantly obeyed.
Anaria glanced at the bear and noticed that, for once, he wasn’t questioning everything she said. That was progress.
She looked around the transformed storage room. The grains, vegetables, preserved meat, and emergency supplies were now properly separated, while the servants knew how to rotate and manage everything without her supervision.
The bear walked through the room, inspecting the arrangement before stopping beside one of the containers.
"This could make the food last," he said.
"Exactly," Anaria replied and the bear just nodded
Anaria smiled faintly.
Just then the familiar notification appeared.
[Objective Progress: 3/3.]
Anaria froze "For real..."
She stared at the notification before her eyes widened.
[Primary Objective Completed.]
"Finally!" Anaria nearly jumped, but quickly straightened when several beastmen turned toward her. "I mean... finally, the storage room is organized."
The bear gave her a strange look but said nothing.
Anaria ignored him and immediately contacted the System privately.
"So, what’s the catch?"
[Primary Objective Completion Rewards.]
Anaria waited eagerly.
[Beauty Care Package ×1.]
She blinked. "Beauty products?"
Before she could complain, another notification appeared.
[Village Leader’s Trust has reached the required threshold.]
Anaria’s eyes brightened. "So I can leave?"
The System continued displaying her rewards.
[Fox Soothing Skill Recovery: +30%.]
Anaria’s eyes widened. "Thirty percent?"
[Fertility Restoration Elixir ×1.]
She stared at the notification in disbelief "...Excuse me?"
Then the final reward appeared.
[Spirit Fangs: +500.]
Anaria’s mouth dropped open. "Why am I getting so much stuff?"
[Rewards are determined by the importance and scale of the completed objective.]
"So because I helped them with their food, I get all this?"
[Correct.]
[The greater the task, the greater the reward.]
Anaria smiled proudly. "Okay. I actually did a great job."
Another notification immediately appeared.
[The greater the task, the greater the penalty.]
Her smile vanished "...What?"
The System explained that if she had failed, the unstable beastmen around Ravenfall could have lost control and attacked her.
Anaria slowly processed that information "So basically... I could have died?"
[Correct.]
She stared at the invisible System in disbelief. "You waited until I finished the task to tell me that?"
[The information was available.]
Anaria clenched her teeth. "You must be joking right..."
[Host’s statement has been noted.]
After taking a deep breath, Anaria turned back toward the bear and the council "I’ve done my part of charity" she said. "I preserved your food, organized the storage, and taught your servants how to maintain everything."
The bear glanced around the organized storage room before looking back at her "You have done more than I expected."
Anaria smiled. "Good. Then..."
She leaned forward slightly "Does that mean I’m free?"
The bear remained silent.
Anaria’s smile slowly faded "...Why aren’t you answering?"