Chapter 184

A squad of twenty archers, each carrying a large backpack and a recurve bow, curiously watched the beast-eared girl and the beastkin young boys.

"Miss Mina, should we continue traveling? Do you want to rest for a bit?" Aiden asked, turning his head.

He had received orders the night before to set out early in the morning as soon as dawn broke. Following the markers left by Miss Mina, he had led the squad march all day and had finally encountered their escorted targets.

"Yes. Let's rest. We should set off early tomorrow, and we should reach Sedona City by evening." Mina nodded, noticing that the children were too exhausted to continue traveling.

"Alright, I'll have everyone set up camp and cook some wheat porridge for everyone."

Aiden immediately gave instructions to the soldiers to establish their camp. While they were on the outermost edge of the Forbidden Mountains, vigilance was still necessary—carelessness could be fatal.

Mina, for example, would scout ahead several kilometers to shoot and drive away any wild beasts. Otherwise, the children and the elderly and injured would be easy prey for the wild animals.

Upon hearing they could rest, the beastkin children cheered, and many of them collapsed on the ground, their faces showing signs of pain. After walking for four days straight, even at a slow pace, they were utterly exhausted.

Mary and the elderly beastmen looked warily at Aiden and his team, gathering the children together and asking Helen about them.

"Helen, are those people knights of the nobility?" Mary asked quietly.

"They're probably considered that," Helen said after some thought. "However, adults usually refer to them as soldiers; knights are rare. For example, Mr. Aiden is a knight."

"Soldiers? Knights are rare?" Mary was somewhat puzzled.

In her understanding, the number of knights was directly related to the strength of a noble family. Was the noble Helen mentioned a very weak one?

"Alright, don't worry about that. We'll be in Sedona City tomorrow, and then everyone can witness the wonders of the city firsthand." Helen reassured everyone.

"..." Mary could only nod. It was too late to say anything now; the nobles had sent knights directly, and even if they wanted to leave, they couldn't.

"I'll go help and see what food has been brought." Helen said with a smile. For her, and for all the beastkins in the castle, the most anticipated time of day was mealtime.

"Eh?" As Helen took a couple of steps, the hem of her dress was grabbed again. Without needing to look back, she knew who it was—no one else but Hazel, who clung to her all the time.

"Sister Helen, I want to see too." Hazel's childish voice piped up.

"Alright, let's go."

Helen said affectionately. This little deer-eared girl had been very clingy when they were in the tribe. After not seeing her for a few days, Hazel followed her every step, afraid she might leave again.

Before they even arrived, the smell of wheat porridge reached them. Hazel's eyes widened as she fixated on a large iron pot in the distance.

"Mr. Aiden, do you need any help?" Helen's voice arrived before she did.

"Ms. Helen. No need, we'll have it ready soon." Aiden quickly shook his head.

"Thank you so much." Helen said gratefully. Having someone come to escort them was truly moving.

"It's no trouble; it's what we're supposed to do." Aiden replied with a shake of his head.

"Grrr…"

Hazel's cheeks flushed red as her little stomach growled. She quickly hid behind Helen.

"Hahaha… It'll be ready soon, just wait a bit longer." Aiden said with a smile.

He took an iron box from his backpack, scraped off a layer of mud with a military knife, and pried open the mouth of the iron box. A rich meaty aroma spread out in the surrounding.

"What is this? It smells amazing." Helen asked curiously while looking at the iron box Aiden had opened.

"This is military canned meat, still a semi-finished product. I brought it along for testing this time." Aiden said as he poured all the meat from the can into the wheat porridge and increased the heat to cook it together.

Mina knew what military canned meat was. She had been following Lucas around and was familiar with many things, especially those related to the military.

According to the young master, military supplies are a decade or twenty years more advanced than civilian ones to ensure that the full extent of the resources in Sedona City isn't fully known to outsiders.

For example, military canned meat is a step up from ceramic canned meat in terms of storage, transport, and nutrition. It is said that many methods were tested for sealing military canned meat, and in the end, the young master suggested temporarily using a layer of mud.

The research department had produced dozens of military cans to test their storage capabilities. Since Aiden was about to go on a mission, they decided to bring some along to test transportation and the impact of environmental changes on military canned meat.

"Alright, time to eat."

Aiden stirred the porridge and called out to the longbow team members, "Get your food boxes out and let the kids eat first."

The longbow team members took out their iron food boxes from their backpacks, placed them in front of the large pot, and stepped away.

A big ladle of porridge with a bit of meat was served into the food boxes, making the beastkin children's mouths water. They all looked at Mary, waiting for her approval.

"Go ahead and eat." Mary said with a helpless smile. She was quite hungry herself.

"Here, Grandma Mary, this is for you."

Helen handed the porridge to Mary with a light smile, saying, "It's very delicious. There will be more after you finish."

"Mm." Mary nodded silently, grasping the iron spoon with her rough fingers. She turned to look at the children, who were happily sharing a food box between them.

"It's delicious, so delicious. The meat tastes amazing."

"Mm-hmm. This is even better than Grandma Mary's wild vegetable soup."

"Is there more after this? I can eat a lot more."

"..."

The innocent voices of the beastkin children made Mary smile. She took a spoonful of porridge and put it into her mouth, her murky eyes suddenly brightened. At sixty-five years old, she was experiencing such a delicious taste for the first time in her life. She thought to herself that the food in the beastkin royal palace must taste like this.

In Mary's impression from childhood, all the world's best food was gathered in the beastkin royal palace. Now, she felt that what she was eating was not worse than the food in the palace.

Of course, all of this was just Mary's dream. She had never tasted the food from the beastkin royal palace; she came from a remote little mountain village in the beastkin kingdom.

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