The greenhouse for the herbivorous animals was operating smoothly.

Today, as usual, deer and rabbits had gathered at the warm spot near the greenhouse, so Lil put out some vegetables and fruits for them, making sure to cut them into smaller pieces for easy eating.

Since some of the animals wanted to take food back to their nests, Lil had also prepared baskets for them. Word had spread to other bases about these baskets, and it seemed that this winter, everyone would be able to get through without going hungry.

Lil had noticed that there was a particular rabbit that always took a lot of food back to its nest. It was a white-furred rabbit, apparently of high status among the rabbits. Lil didn’t pay much attention to it.

However, today, at the warm spot near the greenhouse, in addition to the white-furred rabbit, there were three baby rabbits.

Lil was absolutely thrilled by their overwhelming cuteness.

Upon asking, Lil learned that the white rabbit had been bringing food to a pregnant rabbit all along.

The baby rabbits were about two weeks old and had just started eating things other than their mother’s milk today.

The rabbits, whose eyes had only just opened, were tiny and adorable.

They were energetically scurrying around the warm spot, playfully pestering the deer. The deer didn’t seem to mind and let them play.

‘I brought them because they wanted to see the children. Can we raise them here, where it’s warm?’

The white rabbit asked, and of course, Lil immediately agreed. It would be terrible if they became weak due to the cold.

Since today was their first time eating something other than milk, they were very curious about the vegetables. To make it easier for them, Lil carefully tore up the soft parts of some lettuce into tiny pieces.

‘Yummy!’

One of the baby rabbits, still unable to speak properly, moved its mouth enthusiastically while saying how delicious it was. Lil was too overwhelmed by its cuteness to even speak.

After eating just a little, the baby rabbits were full. They curled up next to their mother and prepared to sleep. Lil felt like they could watch them forever.

Noticing the unusual event, the other divine beasts gathered around as well. It became a baby viewing party.

‘Rabbit babies are cute too.’

‘Should we increase our own numbers a little?’

Lil definitely wanted them to do that.

Watching the baby rabbits, Lil began writing in their journal. This was a task assigned by the kingdom—observing and recording the divine beasts’ behavior. The content was essentially a child’s picture diary, but since the kingdom knew Lil was a child, it wasn’t a problem.

However, because of “Michiru-chan’s” influence, Lil was unusually skilled at drawing. When Ian first saw their work, he was astonished.

Back when Lil lived underground, they would always pretend to draw pictures on the walls with their fingers, something they had once told Marron about. When Ian heard this, he had looked deeply sad. Later, he gifted Lil a bunch of art supplies, so now Lil often drew pictures of the divine beasts.

Lil had also sent a drawing of the divine beasts to Cookie’s older sister, whom they had recently started exchanging letters with, and received lots of praise for it.

After finishing their journal, Lil happily sketched a lot of baby rabbit drawings.

They were excited to watch the baby rabbits grow from now on.

As they sketched, the baby rabbits woke up, and everyone played tag together.

After playing until they were exhausted, Lil decided to ask something that had been on their mind.

“Hey, why don’t the lions, the Silver Wolves, and the bears come to the base very often?”

‘They have an important job patrolling the forest. Humans don’t go into the forest much in winter, but there are monsters, and it’s a vast area, so managing it is difficult,’ Kohaku explained.

Lil was impressed—so the knights weren’t the only ones protecting the forest. They decided they would make sure to thank them next time they visited.

Thinking about it, Lil realized that it was mostly the weaker animals who came to the base. There were exceptions, like the leopard and the tiger, but they usually just slept when they were at the base. Maybe they were doing their patrols at night.

“Everyone works so hard, huh?”

‘Even you have been working a lot lately, Lil. There aren’t many six-year-olds who work as hard as you do.’

That was true—writing journals and talking with the divine beasts was Lil’s job.

But it was such a fun job that it didn’t feel like work at all.

“I’m really happy.”

Lil smiled at Marron and Kohaku. They were grateful to the god who had given them the “Interpreter” skill.

“It’d be nice if the lions and the others could take a break and come play sometimes.”

Lil started thinking about ways to give the hardworking lions some time to rest—but no good ideas came to mind.