A New Life In The Beast World-Chapter 67: The Village’s Future (3)

After they were done with food, Theo headed out to get water for the garden and Kiro, exhausted from hunting, landed up napping. Having this chance alone, Serena decided to go through her system shop.

A plan for developing the village into a resting stop for merchants had been forming in her mind after chatting with Theo. It would open up a trading route to the Forest City, giving them some protection.

The problem was that she was not a city planner. Sure, she could lead exploration and building temporary bases on newly discovered plants, but more permanent planning. That wasn’t something she had studied.

Thus she wanted to see if the system shop had any city planning guides. Maybe even some things about trading too even if she was a bit wary about spending her coins.

It was a risk, but she’d have lots to gain in the long run. And if she was lucky, developing the village might trigger some kind of mission allowing her to gain back the coins she lost and more.

Of course, she wasn’t going to get them right away. Only if Elder Samuel agreed to push forward with her plan. Her first task was getting him to go along with her crazy plan.

Then she could move into the planning phrase and get the guides she needed to help with development. If the system had them. Hence why she was checking now.

It took Serena several minutes to look for the guides and when she found them, she almost cried at the prices.

It would cost her 765 coins to get both the city planning guides and the business one. She questioned whether they were necessary before shaking her head.

They absolutely were.

Developing on such a big scale needed proper planning and understanding of future growth. Especially if Serena was going to make it a place for trade.

Cutting corners was only going to lead to future problems. Better to do this the proper way.

Once she was done confirming that the guides were available, Serena headed out of the hut. She spotted Theo walking to the garden with two wooden buckets in his hands.

She walked over to him and said, "I’m heading to the village center for a bit. Kiro’s napping inside the hut. I’ll be back soon."

"Sure." Theo nodded in understanding. "This is my last trip, so I’m probably going to take a nap too afterwards."

"Got it." Serena said before heading off to meet with Elder Samuel.

The council room was the hut Elder Samuel had taken Theo, Kiro and her to when they first wanted to discuss living in the village. Apparently it was used for all kinds of important chats between the village chief and the villagers.

When she got to the village center, Serena was careful not to go near the oak tree. She wasn’t ready to face the other beastwomen just yet, feeling a little awkward about what had happened earlier.

Thankfully, it seemed none of them were there. Likely still having food with their families. Serena soon got to the hut and found Elder Samuel outside the hut, chatting with a rabbit beastman.

"Ah Serena!" Elder Samuel greeted. "Nice to see you again."

"Likewise, Elder Samuel." Serena murmured, glancing over at the rabbit beastman. "I hope I’m not interrupting anything."

"Not at all." The rabbit beastman waved his hands. "I was just about to go after giving Elder Samuel a report on the walls."

Serena nodded her head in understanding.. "I see... Well, I’ll head inside first and let you two finish up."

"Sure." Elder Samuel agreed and with that Serena left the two beastmen alone.

She walked inside the small hut and took a seat on the matted carpet, waiting for Elder Samuel to come inside. He came in a few minutes later and quietly took a seat across from Serena.

He was quiet for a moment before he finally asked, "So what exactly did you want to discuss further?"

"I wanted to discuss plans to develop this village further." Serena explained. "In a way that won’t get the Forest City on your bad side."

"And that would be?" Elder Samuel questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"Trade." Serena answered. "The Forest City lacks a direct trading route, having to go through other cities. So, if we were to act as a resting point for merchants on their way to the Forest City, it would create a direct route for them. And rather than go after us for developing, they’d likely help us."

"Hmmm... It sounds good..." Elder Samuel mused. "But what about other cities? I doubt they’ll be happy losing the Forest City due to a direct trading route... They might go after us."

"That is true, but doing so would be bad on their part. The Forest City will be affected by this too and I doubt they will take it lying down." Serena retorted. "I know this is probably a lot to take in and we’ll need to look at it from all angles, but I believe this is the way to develop the Rabbit Village."

Elder Samuel’s ears flickered as he mulled over her words. He did want to develop the Rabbit Village further and make it better for future generations, but was it worth the risk?

He didn’t want the others to suffer from this.

Serena realized he was still on the fence about the whole thing so added, "What about discussing this plan further with the Council? This is a major decision that will affect the future of the village. Surely they should have a say."

"That’s true." Elder Samuel sighed. "However, they’ll want to see a proper plan. Otherwise, they won’t even hear us out."

"That works for me." Serena stated. "We can hash out the details now and then present the full plan to them."

"Alright, I suppose we can do that." Elder Samuel mused.

Serena smiled at his words and the two began going over her plan to make the Rabbit Village a resting stop with Elder Samuel occasionally filling in the information gaps for her.