"Found it!" She pulled it out, patted off the dirt, and examined it.
Haeun saw it and asked, "Sis, don't tell me the thing you wanted to find is this Tangroot?"
"That's the one."
The Tangroot she referred to was round, about the size of her fist.
Hayoon held it to her nose and sniffed it.
There was a strong, pungent smell, similar to wild scallions.
But unlike wild scallions, which only had a few long roots at the bottom, Tangroot had their entire rhizome covered in fine hair like roots.
Yesterday when Hayoon said they were starting repairs from the eastern side, she immediately remembered that this slope had a lot of Tangroot growing on it.
If she were to dig alone, she'd need three whole days to harvest them all.
But since the beastmen were digging up soil anyway, she quickly wove some baskets and came here to collect the Tangroot.
Hayoon placed the Tangroot in the basket, then crouched down. While picking out the larger stones, she also gathered more Tangroot along the way.
"You come help too," she said to Haeun.
Haeun frowned instinctively. "Sis, you're not planning to eat Tangroot, are you? These things taste awful. They prick your mouth, and they stink. The smell lingers forever."
Hayoon replied, "If you eat them raw, they're spicy and the flavor is strong. Once we get back, I'll try preparing them a different way and see if I can make them taste better."
Even while speaking, her hands never stopped moving.
The beastmen dug from above while she collected below, and before long, she had already filled an entire basket.
Although Haeun disliked Tangroot, since Hayoon had asked, he could only sigh resignedly and start helping.
The other sub-beastman watched the siblings in confusion and asked, "How are you planning to eat those Tangroot?"
Hayoon answered, "For cooking."
The sub-beastman all shook their heads. "Can food made with that even be edible? I can't imagine what it would taste like."
Hayoon smiled without explaining further. "They'd just get thrown away otherwise, so I want to try first. Do you all want to bring some home too?"
"No, no. Nobody in our family likes the smell of Tangroot. Since you want them, I've got a whole pile here. You can take them all."
Hayoon's eyes lit up. "That's great! Thank you!"
The other sub-beastman quickly added, "I have some too!"
"And me!"
Watching Hayoon and her younger brother grunt as they stuffed Tangroot into the baskets, not only the sub-beastman, but even the beastmen felt conflicted.
She had never liked interacting with the tribe before. Could she have fallen and hit her head too hard...?
Soon, Hayoon had filled all five large baskets she had brought. Looking at her harvest with satisfaction, a joyful smile of abundance appeared on her face.
Immo was the leader of the sub-beastman in the tribe and belonged to an older generation than Hayoon.
Thinking about how Haeun was still growing, the calm and gently sub-beastman walked over to Hayoon and reminded her, "You can't eat too many Tangroot, or your stomach will burn with pain."
Hayoon noticed his kindness and nodded. "Mm, got it."
Immo added, "There's plenty of food in summer. Once the rain stops, I'll lead a group and we'll go gathering outside."
In other words, stop feeding your younger brother this kind of stuff.
But Hayoon failed to catch the hidden meaning behind her words.
Instead, she thought to herself that the people of the beast world were really simple and kind, even offering to take her out to gather food.
"Okay! Thank you, Aunt Immo!" Hayoon agreed happily.
Immo: "..."
Forget it.
They were currently staying at Minho's place, and this man was a warrior of the Ur-Shet Tribe .
They definitely would not lack food.
Normally, when everyone went out hunting or gathering, they only ate two meals a day.
If they got hungry at noon, they would just casually eat whatever they could find.
The entire Ur-Shet Tribe spent over half the day reinforcing the cave, and before the rain started, most of the work had finally been completed.
Hayoon was injured, and Minho had already spoken up, refusing to let her work for too long.
So at noon, she and Haeun were sent back home.
On the way, she stopped to find Minho and asked, "Can I cook dinner tonight?"
This time, Minho did not stand on ceremony with her. "Mm."
After thinking for a moment, he added, "You can use the tools and ingredients too."
Hayoon had been about to ask exactly that, so she smiled and agreed immediately.
"Okay! Then keep working. I'll head back and make dinner!"
With that, she carried a large basket of Tangroot while rode on Haeun's back, and left full of anticipation.
As for the rest of the Tangroot, she had already sent Haeun to bring them back earlier.
Thinking about the smell of Tangroot, Minho pressed his lips together.
Hayoon was a sub-beastman, so no matter what, her cooking should taste better than his... right?
At worst, he could just roast some meat himself to fill his stomach.
After finishing work, he transformed into a giant pure white python and rinsed himself in the river before slowly slithering home.
He had not been expecting much from dinner at all.
But while he was still some distance away from the cave, an incredibly domineering aroma of food suddenly rushed into his nose!
Minho subconsciously came to a stop.
Even his red vertical pupils contracted slightly as saliva uncontrollably began to gather in his mouth.
Using his sharp sense of smell, he carefully identified the scent once more.
Root stems and meat... it was definitely the aroma of food.
But he still found it impossible to believe.
In all twenty years of his life, he had never smelled food this fragrant before.
And the source of the aroma was actually right in front of his cave!
After eliminating every impossible explanation, only one possibility remained: Hayoon had made it.