Inside the Gaea Chamber of Commerce home base (i.e. Farm Villa #2), the group was preparing to do a minor celebration, waiting for the rest of the team members to get back home.
At this time, other than the children, there were only two other adults in the house, one of whom was Harold, who looked awkwardly at the mountain of mana cookies he made while dazed in worry.
In the past few weeks, his success rate had improved to about 50%, so he ended up with a lot of stock. He sighed, packing them up in containers, and putting some in the space.
Anyway, the boss alone could consume huge amounts of these when she was experimenting, so he wasn't worried anything would go stale.
Harold was left to care for the children. They were a bit superstitious and didn't want to expose the children to the funeral, so they stayed at home.
As for the others, they were all attending the funeral. By estimate, it should be done by now and they should be going home in about an hour or less.
Realizing this, he immediately shifted to prepare for a meal. He knew everyone would be hungry but, at the same time, he couldn't make too heavy or overly savory food either because he was certain they hadn't eaten anything heavy since the ar began.
"Do you need help, Daddy?" a little voice sounded by the door and he turned to see his daughter and Horus looking at him. He smiled and patted their little heads. "Go and do your homework," he said. "Ask Auntie Winona if you have any questions, she's very smart."
"Okay~" the two kids yelled, scurrying back to the living area where all the children were staying during this period.
The kids went back to their seats next to Winona who, at this time, was smiling, poking the babies' stomachs and making them giggle, showing off their adorable toothless smiles.
She couldn't possibly work properly knowing her friends were at war, right? She really wanted to go with them as well. It was just that her grandmother threw a tantrum, yelling if she went to war, she would die.
The old woman threatened to go out the wall to follow. Winona knew that although a lot of it was due to selfishness, her grandma's tantrum was still partially in care of her, so she didn't push it.
So at the peak of the war, she could only hang around the children while they waited for news.
It was a tense couple of hours, and she felt itchy from stress. If she didn't have the babies with her, it was estimated she'd be red from her own fingernails.
Now that the war was over, Althea was still busy—with Althea sending a letter that they were Okay—and Winona decided to wait for their return alongside the children.
Now, she was even helping the older children with their studies, which was a welcome distraction if she was to be honest. Holding the twins, she guided the kids about some basic arithmetic. Winona was an extrovert and had a way with words, so she actually made quite a good teacher.
When they ended, she allowed the kids to take a breather and go to the playground outside. They celebrated, with Horus carrying baby Theo with him, leaving Winona alone with the cuddly babies.
It was just that, a bit later during playtime, Winona noticed that they were biting their toys more often. In fact, she had long noticed that the babies were drooling a lot more, even Pepper, but they were babies so she didn't think too much about it at first.
"Nono, don't do that…" Winona said, gently prying Little Pepper's drool-wet hands from her mouth. She also took out another rattle from Meatball's mouth.
"You shouldn't put just anything in your mouth," she said, very seriously. "Don't be like your mother, okay?"
This went on for a while until Winona was genuinely concerned they'd come home poisoned someday.
Harold, who had cleaned everything and already set the table, came out and saw their particular love for eating strange things.
He looked at the babies in thought, but he couldn't say anything because the aether letter in his space had heated up.
"Ah, it's a letter from boss," he said, making Winona—and the babies, by extension—turn to him. He cleared his throat to read and he couldn't help but grin at its contents.
"The meeting is over. We'll be home soon," it said and it made Winona brighten. She looked at the babies who were obviously antsy to move.
"Let's go meet your mama now~" she said. The world 'mama' seemed to have excited the two babies and their mouths made cute 'o's followed by giggles.
"Ah, so cute, so cutee~"
"Your mama is sooo awesome~" she said, tickling their tummies and making them giggle.
Winona looked at the two adorable cuties laughing and felt relieved in her heart.
They had been extremely quiet when the war was ongoing. They didn't even cry, they just looked like they didn't have any energy to do anything at all. It was extremely heartbreaking.
Now they were giggling loudly, as if they understood.
"Okay, let's go greet them~" she said and the babies' eyes dilated and their cheeks seemed to flush with excitement.
Winona's heart was soft as she placed them on the stroller at the side of the room. She then prepared to go to the pantry room to get the baby bottles and other necessities for the trip.
It was just that when she turned—literally two seconds after she stood up—she saw Pepper suddenly crawling to the door several meters away. And Meatball… he was floating as if swimming like a frog towards the exit.
Winona blinked, rubbed her eyes, and stared again.
Pepper was still by the door, this time close enough to touch the door leaf, while Meatball was still 'swimming' though not very well.