As soon as the adventurers left, the children sent an envoy of builder ants to the forest of bats with a nice golden necklace with lightning and fire enchantments. Both at level 300.

For a second, the children thought that they might get a higher level, but then the linen cape they had originally enchanted burst in flames. That had put a stop to their experimentation for the day.

The 100 builder ants left. Five to carry the necklace and the other ninety-five as an escort and to fight to protect the treasure if need be. It was decided that there were enough builder ants that even if all the escorting ones died, it wouldn’t hinder their projects. Even if Theanore had protested that their lives were precious too.

But faced with the choice between builder ants and worker elves, Theanore chose the builder ants, in the end. The ants couldn’t speak and had shorter lifespans either way. The little nymph had selected the ones who were reaching the end of their lives, just in case they didn’t make it back.

With the adventurers being in charge of the trading of the enchanted items, there was no use for the stall anymore. So, Theanore had the ants make a storage shack for their enchanted wares in its place. They even used the wood of the stall for the door of the shack. Out of respect to the birch tree which they had to cut to make the stall.

A couple of days passed and half of the worker ants returned, herding two boar-sized hamsters. Theanore immediately went to hug the nearest hamster. It nuzzled her snout against Theanore’s neck, making the little girl giggle. There was a note attached to the hamster’s neck.

Greetings Theanore,

I give you two pregnant hamsters. These were the calmest and smallest that I had. I hope you like baby animals because these two fine ladies are due in two months from now.

With love,

Dungeon core Alina.

“We are going to have babies!” Jumped up and down Theanore, startling the hamsters. Luckily, the ants were there to stop them from running away. Theanore passed the note to Crassus, who passed it to Marinus after he read it. The merman frowned.

“What if these two give birth to only girls? Alina should have sent us a male hamster too.”

“We can trade her something for a male hamster later,” said Theanore, hugging a hamster. “I wonder what else Alina has. It has to be something fluffy and squishy!” Said Theanore and Tania gave her more options.

Dungeon core Alina has given the following selection of animals which are both fluffy and squishy:

Alpaca;

Tedsby;

Angora rabbit;

Panda;

Tonkin snub-nosed monkey;

Chinchilla;

Squirrel;

Goat;

Sheep;

Pallas cat;

Fluffy cow.

“We have to pick the most useful of the bunch, Thea. We have limited space for more livestock. Tania, which animals of the list are livestock?” Asked Marinus, and he watched as Theanore’s face fell. If they left the selection to her, she was going to fill up the grotto with all these animals. The builder ants were digging into the mountain, but so far, they haven’t made a new cavern. More of a half of a tunnel.

The livestock animals are as follows:

Alpaca;

Angora rabbit;

Goat;

Sheep;

Fluffy cow.

The Goat, sheep, and fluffy cow can give milk, but I suggest you stay away from the cows for now as the bulls, the male cows, are very violent. The alpaca and the sheep are very mild-tempered. Goats can live outside on the mountain’s cliffs.

“We should take the goats,” said Crassus. “They wouldn’t need to be looked after in the grotto itself. For inside the grotto, we can take a few angora rabbits. They are very fluffy, Thea.”

Theanore chewed on her bottom lip. She had only 400 mana. A herd of goats, if she bought one ram and three goats, would exhaust her mana. Then she wouldn’t have any mana left for bunnies.

But milk was tasty. She could do with oatmeal every day instead of only when they went to the village. And the goats could live outside. The ants could make them a nice pen where they could go during the night.

“Four goats, Tania. Please and thank you.”

The goats, three females, and one male appeared and Theanore got a message.

Thank you for your purchase, little munchkin. Send me some milk and cookies someday, ok?

“You bet!” Said Theanore as she moved to hug the nearest goat. It had a white coat and brown eyes. It licked Theanore and then all the goats went climbing the mountain over the grotto.

“Ants, line up!” Said Theanore and an ant appeared.

“Build the goats a large pen for them to sleep in. Keep it without a door so that they can come and go as they please.”

The ant scurried off and more followed it. Now the only thing the children could do was wait. They oversaw the building of the pen, all from stone and fallen branches.

That night the pen was complete and Theanore went in the pen to show the goats that they could go in as well. The builder ants have made a staircase to the cliff where the goats grazed, so Theanore had no problem getting there.

The goats pranced inside the pen and Theanore exited it. She gave them each a goodnight kiss, the goats taking turns to press their heads at the open doorway of the pen.

There was one thing that needed to be improved. The goats shouldn’t be made to go down to the watering hole during the night. Before Theanore went to bed, she ordered the builder ants to make a hole in the stone of the cliff and to fill it with water, a bucket at a time.

That night, with the murder muffins pressed against her, Theanore dreamed of hot milk with ginger and fresh oatmeal. She cuddled the murder muffins closer to herself. She would give them some milk too.