Chapter 25: Making Ourselves at Home

The sun rose high in the sky, a faint growing light illuminated the inside of the cave home. Its warm rays bathed the residents in its glow. It was the start of a new day. Vault and Harmony let out a groan, before crawling out of bed from under their new animal roommates.

They worked together to prepare a breakfast for all of them to enjoy. Once ready, they gave them a gentle shake to wake them up, so they could eat together. Once finished, Harmony questioned Vaults about needing any help with getting her new equipment ready.

She was getting a bit excited about how it would turn out, but she also wanted to help in any way she could. Vault, on the other hand, expressed his desire to get a new bed. He did not want to experience another lousy, and uncomfortable night’s sleep. Harmony agreed with him, but Eunice switched out with her for a moment to give him an earful.

There was a bit of back and forth between the two of them, until Felicia chimed in about the importance of getting a good night's rest. They could have the best equipment, great stats, but if they were too fatigued, then they wouldn't be able to make smart decisions. They might just end up collapsing on the battlefield, right when a fight breaks out.

It would also have an impact on their training regiment. Eunice finally decided to allow them to go out for part of the day, in order to gather more supplies for a new bed.

The three of them had gone back and forth about different recommendations for materials. Felicia tried suggesting using tree bark as a bed, but Vault pointed out the main issue being splinters. Eunice even suggested getting more moss and leaves, but the rookie crafter had a better idea.

They decided to return to the healing spring pond area where they had found the deer. They brought their new companions along of course, and together the four of them were able to hunt down their prey in quick succession.

The wolf was especially good at getting the jump on deer. Most likely because it was their natural predator. The bat was also surprisingly helpful. She would always fly up into the air, and survey the area before circling around where the deer could be found.

It really was like she knew what they were trying to do. The two of them made great additions to the team. The wolf also had a good sense of smell, and was able to point them in the direction of more medicinal herbs around the spring.

He also helped them gather more fruit. It's like the two of them were natural scavengers, or had a lot of experience under their belts for gathering resources. It makes a lot of sense how the two of them were able to survive together on their own.

It was still a strange pairing in their eyes. A little bat riding on top of a wolf with a sword on his back, was just a weird sight. She figured, one would have tried to eat the other one by now, but they seem like good friends. After they spent a few hours hunting and foraging for supplies, they all returned back to their cave home.

Vault got to work right away upon arrival. He turned many deer pelts into blankets and pillows. They had also gathered wood by cutting down trees that he used to build a makeshift bed frame.

He threw them into the fire and activated his crafting skill. After his usual intense crafting ritual, he had made two different kinds of beds. One was a large basket bed big enough to hold the wolf and the bat. He used a deer pelt to cover it, and also created a large pillow to use as the surface. It wasn't that softest, but it was better than nothing.

The quality was most likely affected by his low tier crafting skill. The other bed was meant for people, or whatever him and Harmony are in this world. It was large enough to fit two people on it, had two pillows, one big blanket, and deer fur for the surface. It was nice, warm and a little bit soft, but not perfect.

It was still 100% better than sleeping on a pile of leaves and moss. He used the wood to create a bed frame to hold it up above the ground. How well that would be able to support their combined weight, Harmony was not sure.

Harmony studied the two beds and the detail that went into them. She ran her hand along them and smiled. “You did a pretty good job with these. By the way, why did you only make two?”

Vault started sweating profusely and avoided eye contact. “Uh…You know… One for the animals and one for…Us…”

His face turned bright red when those last words left his mouth. She stared at him blankly before turning back to the beds then back to him. “I thought we were going to have the wolf sleep with us in our bed, like a dog.”

He just turned to her and blinked. “What?”

She put a hand to her chin as if she was deep in thought. “Maybe we should have, like a little bird cage, something for the bat to sleep upside down in. I remember seeing somewhere that they like to do that.”

For a minute there, Vault thought she was going to say they should sleep in separate beds. Not that he had necessarily had an issue with it. but he had grown comfortable with…He didn't have a good excuse. He just hoped she wouldn’t ask.

He just watched her continuing to prattle on about random ideas she had for their sleeping arrangements and for the pets beds. He couldn’t help, but smile at her. “You know, I really like you.”

She paused for a minute and turned to him. “You're not so bad yourself. It's fun hanging out with you.”

She gave him a goofy grin and he blushed a little while smiling at her. Eunice suddenly switched out with Harmony. She marched up to his face with a cold expression.

“Stop stalling and start working on our equipment.”

Vault was brought back to the harsh reality of having to deal with Eunice. “Yes ma'am.”