NOVEL NEXT Chapter 1503: Always Ahead
Soon, dinner was ready and everyone was called to the table. There were quite a number of them, so the dining area got extended to the living room's coffee table.
In Terran, there would be a television that they'd watch while eating. Sadly, for now, they could only watch each other.
Television was definitely in development though, but it wasn't the priority yet.
At this, Ansel looked at Beanie, who was across the table. "Lucky you, to have me as a view."
Beanie's eyes twitched. "You know I used to write mockumentaries for dudes like you."
"..."
The others just chuckled at their banter, before turning to watch the cute children. There was something just so cute about watching the kids eat, especially the babies, with their little soft cheeks puffed up while they chewed. Too adorable.
At the table, the babies were in their high chairs. Garan was next to Pepper, while Althea was next to Meatball.
Interestingly, while Garan was trying to feed his daughter, she seemed to be trying to take her little spoon from his hand.
Her tiny hands—which could only grab one of his fingers— were grabbing the spoon. "Peppaaah," she mumbled while she chomped on her food.
His eyebrows rose and he took an even smaller spoon they had on stock. This was very light and was made for the babies when they started eating by themselves. He handed it to her and she shakily took it.
It was awkward at first with the spoon shaky and facing the wrong way, but Garan patiently guided her.
Wiggle, wiggle
The adults soon realized what was happening and unconsciously stopped their eating, focused on the baby girl, trying to learn a new skill.
Althea smiled. "Oh? My little princess is trying to eat by herself?" "So amazing…"
Pepper giggled at the compliment, though it imbalanced the spoon so now its contents were all over the place again.
"Uwuuu…"
"Awwwe, it's alright."
Garan smiled and wiped the mess on the baby girl's cheek with her bib, encouraging her to try again.
She struggled to scoop anything and made a bit of a mess, but each trial was an improvement. Finally, the spoon (though only half full now) neared her mouth. Some dropped on her pink bib, but otherwise, some did land in her mouth.
"Yayyy!"
"Baby Pepper isn't a baby anymore! She can feed herself!"
"Wowwwowowow big girl Pepper~!"
The baby girl grinned, showing her few small teeth. She was definitely enjoying the admiration from the adults everywhere and melting their hearts.
Althea leaned down to give her daughter a sound smooch of pride, causing the baby to let out another toothless smile.
Meatball saw this and tried to grab the spoon too. Althea quickly got his own small spoon and they watched as Meatball tried and do the same.
He made a huge mess though. The bowl even toppled.
Meatball didn't see any wrong and just tried to scoop the food on his table.
Althea replaced the bowl, but they did not discourage him at all. Rather, they cheered for him a lot, trying not to show too much disappointment when he failed (because he'd definitely cry).
Baby Meatball worked very hard. His cheeks puffed in annoyance, but when he saw his big sister eating her second spoon, he looked back down to his own little bowl. With his little eyebrows furrowed in concentration, he tried again.
Eventually, a spoon with a few specs of food finally reached his mouth, and everyone cheered.
"YAY!!"
"Meatball is a big boi now!"
There were also a few cameras capturing the moment, as with how it was during the two's milestones. They had to preserve every memory, of course!
Anyway, dinner ended without any more chaos and the adults hung out to continue chatting. The children all went to play in their own areas.
Ansel groaned as he patted his stomach. "How many new people do you think we will receive tomorrow?" he said.
Instead of answering his question, Winona looked at his stomach, instead. "Now that you're a dad, are you going to earn a dad bod?"
Ansel flinched. His vanity was triggered, and he turned to look at his tummy, which was indeed bloated.
Althea ignored this and put the topic on track. "To be honest, it is more likely that we'd only get half, which I don't mind at all."
She allowed the allies to come on the mission, fully expecting they'd do their best to recruit more people to their own place. Rather, she told the soldiers to just go with the flow. Either way, they'd be making profits.
These territories also surrounded Alterra, basically shielding it. In a sense, they were like the outer walls beyond the outer walls. Alterra wouldn't do wrong by letting them grow stronger.
Regardless, Alterra would be the ultimate goal for many, to move in. Some people would improve and work, directly advantageous to the current territory, but their end goal would likely be to migrate to Alterra.
It was like how people from developing countries worked hard with their education so they could migrate to a developed one.
Of course, either way, Althea didn't mind. She would not mind them staying in their own territories and making it grow at all.
Althea, while she did make sure they'd be alerted if any questionable behavior happened in the other territories, didn't feel threatened at all.
Even if they grew, Alterra would grow faster—this was her confidence.
...
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A/N: For next year's stories, I have three options. Which one I'd end up writing in 2026 would depend on flow, inspiration, and the current market trends.
Other than the planet-building one, I have another apocalypse idea with cutie child MMC xD (MC was an alchemist/artefact maker in past life). It'll probably be another short story about 300-400 chaps in length.
The other one is more of an adventure one in the medieval world. MC is probably a merchant. It'll be long so psychologically I have to prepare lol
Anyway, I hope to see y'all in all of them~ xoxo