Chapter 61

After the conversation with Matriarch, Cloudy was taken back to Titus's residence by Titus himself. Along the way, curious locals gathered to observe, prompting Titus to quickly carry Cloudy on his shoulders back home, leaving her with little time to explore the facilities in the settlement.

During Titus's hurried run, Cloudy overheard comments from the locals like, "That looks really scary," "Isn't Titus afraid?" "Such a strange appearance," and other simple personal attacks. She wasn't too bothered by this; what concerned her more was the possibility of being constantly watched while working in the settlement... something she did not appreciate.

Titus's home was located roughly on the eastern side of the entire settlement, on the outermost row. The structure of the house differed from the central houses, being a mix of wood and stone, appearing larger. Before Cloudy could fully observe the exterior, Titus pushed her inside, saying, "This is my home!"

"Wow..." Cloudy's exclamation wasn't due to the luxurious appearance of Titus's home, but rather... everything here was twice her size, as if she had stumbled into a land of giants. The ceiling was incredibly high, making Cloudy feel guilty, as Titus had to bend down every time he entered the small wooden huts in the caves.

"How do you like it?" Titus swung the house door open, allowing the outside light to come in. "Look at the bed, it's huge, right?"

Titus's house was about 70 or 80 square meters, with a remarkably large bed against the inner wall, taking up almost half of the room.

Aside from the massive bed, there was a wooden doorless cabinet on the left, filled with provisions and some tools. To better showcase his house, Titus removed a few large planks wedged into the wall, revealing a simple window in the room.

The floor was covered with processed animal skins, with no other items inside the house. Just a large bed and a cabinet filled with things, that was all Titus had. Cloudy approached the large bed, needing to use both hands and feet to climb up. The bed base was made of stacked stones, covered with hay, then various animal skins, with the top layer being a smooth and comfortable golden fur.

Without hesitation, she rolled onto the bed. Titus's large bed was sturdier than the grass beds in the wooden huts, so it wasn't as soft, but that golden fur was just too comfortable!

"Cloudy, do you like it?" Titus climbed onto the bed as well, sitting cross-legged and watching Cloudy wriggle on the bed. "We most."
"We're about to live together here."

"Love it!" Although Titus' house lacked many things compared to the cave, she could remake them without any issue. Most importantly, lying on this bed felt even more peaceful than in the cave... maybe it was because of the kindness shown by Matriarch and the others, which lessened Cloudy's wariness towards the settlement. She had originally planned that if she was given a hard time on the first day in the settlement, she would return to the cave that night.

Now it seemed she could comfortably stay for several days! She turned over, laid out on the bed in a big font, freely swinging her hands and legs, "A big bed is still the best! So comfortable!" Titus also lay down next to her, testing the size, "No problem, the two of us can sleep here, no need to make a new bed."

"What animal fur is this, so comfortable." Cloudy rubbed the golden fur beneath her, the texture was very close to rabbit fur, unlike any other animal skin she had touched before. "Is this from the prey Titus hunted?"

"No, I heard this is a very precious wild beast, a gift from my hunting companion before he passed away."

"Your hunting companion?"

Cloudy turned to the side, supporting her head with one hand, looking at Titus. Titus also mimicked her movement, both of them like classmates having a sleepover, chatting on the bed, "My first time hunting outside, I learned with a hunter named Garo, he's an excellent hunter."

She thought Titus would be a bit sad talking about this, but he seemed very normal, even smiling, "If he were still alive, he would like Cloudy too." Cloudy wanted to ask more about this old hunter, but Titus didn't continue. He felt there wasn't much to say about it, so he suggested they organize the things Cloudy brought over first, then go around the settlement together.

"Well... we need a table inside the house." Cloudy wandered around the house with her package, finally deciding that placing a table under the window on the right side was the most suitable, and adding two chairs. The clay jars she brought back were placed on the cabinet, along with the huge blue flower Matriarch gave her. According to Titus' explanation, this flower could be used for anesthesia or something similar: "But what if it withers?"

"It won't wither for a long time." Titus turned the flower around, revealing some creamy yellow tendrils behind the flower head. "Keep the roots in water, it will live for a very long time."

So the creamy yellow part was the root... Cloudy initially thought it was part of the flower. She picked a clay jar of similar size and handed it to Titus, "Then help me fill it with water, we'll put the flower in."

Following the instruction, Titus took the clay jar and rushed outside. Leaving Cloudy alone to tidy up at home, she stood.
At the entrance, Titus scrutinized the size of the room. The house area was impeccable, but unfortunately, due to the lack of furniture, some of the materials Titus had collected were piled up on the ground, making it look a bit messy.

Cloudy began to create her own list of furniture in her mind. Firstly, a work table was a must-have, followed by two large frames that could be placed indoors or outdoors. She had just hurriedly swept outside, noticing significant gaps between her house and those of other locals. Behind the house was a spacious area, with walkways on both sides of the house at least 10 meters wide, surrounded by tall grass. There was still plenty of space outside the house for further planning, but that could wait.

Inside the house, besides tables, chairs, and wooden frames, some soft furniture was also necessary. Before leaving the cave, she had specifically taken down the calendar from the wall and needed to put it back before she forgot. As for the map... Titus was the living rainforest map, so there was no rush to put it back.

Cloudy quite enjoyed the feeling of starting over with the basic construction, using her solidly learned skills to recreate existing furniture, which made her feel confident. Apart from furniture matters, Cloudy looked around.

The house was quite dusty, with significant dust accumulation everywhere except on the bed. Cloudy squatted down on the stone floor and rubbed it with her hands - very dirty indeed. The walls of the house were a mix of stone and wooden sticks, the ceiling was all wood, and the floor was raised with stone blocks, leading to very large gaps where more dirt and dust had accumulated.

While living in the cave and on the green slope, she didn't pay much attention to dust since the living environment was far from being called a "home." As long as she didn't bring mud onto the bed, she didn't worry too much about dust.

But in Titus's house, there was something resembling a "floor" that needed proper care.

If she wanted to clean, she would need a broom and water. However, before starting to clean, she needed to organize her belongings first. She placed her clothes and the animal skins she had brought on the bed. The down jacket and small pillow that Titus liked had been flattened after a rainy season, so Cloudy needed to sunbathe them to fluff them up again when she had spare time.

As Titus was tidying up the bed, he returned with water, along with a lot of wood. "This wood is for making a table for Cloudy. If it's not enough, I'll get more."

"I also want a slate for note-taking," Cloudy said as she took the water jug from him. "Do you have a suitable flat one for me?"

"Yes!" Titus replied, squatting down and then chipped off a piece from the floor, handing it to Cloudy.

Cloudy took the slate, looking at the extra groove on the floor. She wanted to put it back, but she might forget the time on the calendar if she delayed any longer, so she left it as it was.
When Cloudy was restoring the lunar calendar on the slate, Titus put flowers in a water jar and began trying to make a table by piecing together wooden boards. However, he lacked any talent in this area and after fiddling for a while, he only managed to make a makeshift bonfire pit with the wooden boards, which was quite unstable.

After Cloudy finished the lunar calendar, she started helping Titus. The two of them spent half a day hammering and sewing inside the house, and they roughly completed the tabletop of the table. The table legs couldn't be made temporarily because they needed to be secured with ropes.

"Do you want to go out for a stroll?" Cloudy stood up and stretched lazily. It was probably close to three or four in the afternoon now, still a long time before dark. What excited Cloudy the most was that even when it got dark in the settlement, she could freely roam around the village without worrying about being attacked by wild beasts.

"Where would Cloudy like to go? The area where I live is where the hunters are; there's nothing else here except houses."

"Just looking at the houses is fine!" Everything in the settlement was fresh and interesting to Cloudy. After all, it was a civilized society here!

...

Perhaps because the novelty had worn off or because everyone had many things to prepare, this time when Titus took Cloudy out, no one followed them around.

Cloudy still remembered a long time ago when Titus had taken her to a high place outside the settlement to look at it from afar. To the west of the settlement, there was a steep cliff. Before the rainy season, the upper part of the cliff was covered with red and yellow climbing plants, but now it was lush green, probably newly grown climbing plants, looking very beautiful and sparkling in the sunlight.

However, the wooden platform on the cliff was also covered by explosively growing vines, probably not yet cleared.

Cloudy remembered there was a very large water pool on one side of the cliff, which should be where the people in the settlement fetched water. Besides that, she also remembered a tall stilt house in the center of the settlement, which could be seen from Titus's front door, seemingly used for observing rain clouds.

At that moment, Titus was showing her the hunters' houses one by one. These stone and wood mixed houses all looked quite similar from the outside, some with dried grass or animal skins hanging outside, while others seemed uninhabited. "Are there hunters going out for hunting now?"

"The water accumulated during the rainy season hasn't completely receded, so there are no large-scale hunting tasks outside the settlement. Everyone is looking for food nearby." Titus pointed in a direction. "The hunters are over there today; in the morning, it seems they found a large swarm of insects."

Insects, well. Cloudy started to worry about her dinner.

After wandering around the area where the hunters lived, Cloudy felt that it was somewhat similar to the villages deep in the mountains, with a bit of human presence at specific times, but otherwise...
Very quiet, just like now, she could only hear Titus and her footsteps, along with some sparse bird calls, which made it feel a bit desolate.

"Everyone is busy outside, many houses need repairs after the rainy season. They are all looking for materials at the material factory," Titus said, looking around with a somewhat lost expression. "By dinnertime, it will be lively over by the tall buildings in the middle."

"Do we all eat together every day?" Cloudy felt a bit embarrassed, realizing that she felt deflated when she found the village not lively enough. If it got too lively, she would start to panic. Just a typical modern human problem...

"No, it's just that food is a bit scarce after the rainy season. Everyone gathers the food they have collected and distributes it together. It won't be like this after some time," Titus reassured Cloudy, patting her shoulder. "Don't worry."

It feels quite subtle to have a caveman from thousands of years ago comforting oneself about social anxiety... Cloudy nodded awkwardly, "O-Okay..."