Now that they knew the town wasn’t as far away as they’d imagined, the family of five was in no hurry to leave immediately.
The man driving the cart yesterday had made it clear that an adult walking at a normal pace would take about an hour to get from the village to town.
Their farmhouse was still some distance from the village, and with three children in three-year-old bodies, they would only be slower.
If all they wanted to do was take a quick look at the town and come straight back, that would be simple enough.
But that obviously wasn’t the plan.
They wanted to find out the prices of flour, salt, eggs, meat, and eventually seeds and tools.
On top of that, they still didn’t even know how the different coins they had were supposed to be used.
Their first trip was bound to take some time.
So early that morning, Arthur cleared the table and gathered together all the sheets of paper they’d been using over the past few days.
Right on top was Clara’s record of their food supplies.
“Let’s start with this.”
Arthur pushed the paper toward the middle of the table.
Lucas had assumed they were going to prepare things for tomorrow’s trip, so he looked confused when his father suddenly brought out the food records again.
“Aren’t we supposed to be getting ready to go to town tomorrow?”
“That’s exactly why we’re looking at this.”
Arthur tapped the paper.
“If we don’t even know what we’re running low on, how are we supposed to know what to buy when we get there?”
Lucas thought about it.
That made sense.
He moved closer.
Clara had been keeping records for several days now.
On the first day, all they’d been able to tell was roughly how much flour or oats they used for a single meal.
There hadn’t been enough information to estimate how long anything would last.
After several days, however, the records were finally beginning to mean something.
How much oatmeal they used in the mornings, when they ate flour, how many beans they’d used, and how many onions were left—Clara had written everything down one entry at a time.
It wasn’t perfectly precise, but it was enough to give them a general idea of how quickly they were going through their food.
Helena brought over the sack of flour.
“Start with this?”
“Yeah.”
Clara immediately took out the small wooden cup they’d been using to measure their food.
The moment Theo saw it, he came over too.
“It’s been washed.”
Arthur was looking through the records and glanced up.
“What?”
Theo pointed at the wooden cup.
“I washed it after we used it yesterday.
It’s dry too.”
Arthur looked at his son’s serious expression and nodded.
“Good.”
Theo seemed satisfied with that answer.
Lucas couldn’t help saying,
“We’re not even about to eat.”
“But it’s going to touch the food.”
Theo’s answer was perfectly matter-of-fact.
Lucas opened his mouth.
Then he closed it again.
Fine.
There was nothing wrong with the cup being clean anyway.
Helena opened the flour sack, and Clara used the same wooden cup they’d used during their first inventory to estimate how much flour remained.
Arthur helped count.
When the final cupful had been poured back into the sack, Clara looked at the number she’d written down a few days earlier and added up everything they’d used since then.
“It’s about right.”
Arthur looked at her.
“What’s about right?”
“The amount we recorded using matches what we have left.”
At the very least, that meant their method of keeping track wasn’t too far off.
Lucas immediately asked,
“So how long will it last?”
This time, Clara didn’t answer with I don’t know like she had on the first day.
She put the records from the past several days together and studied them carefully, counting slowly with her finger.
“If we keep using about the same amount every day…”
She paused.
Arthur didn’t rush her.
Only after checking again did Clara continue.
“The flour should last around ten more days.
But we don’t eat only flour every day, so it’ll probably last a little longer than that.”
Lucas’s first reaction was relief.
“That’s not too bad.”
Arthur didn’t answer immediately.
Ten days sounded like a decent amount of time.
But there were five people in the family, and that estimate assumed their flour consumption didn’t suddenly increase.
If they needed to make more food one day, or if some of their other supplies ran out first, they would naturally start using flour faster.
More importantly, they couldn’t wait until they’d eaten the very last bit before thinking about getting more.
“What about the oats?” Arthur asked.
They took out the oats and estimated the amount again.
They’d had more oats than flour to begin with.
Although they’d been eating them regularly in the mornings, there was still a fair amount left.
Clara compared the amount with her records.
“The oats should last longer than the flour.”
“And the beans?”
“We still have some in the bag we’re eating from.”
Then Clara deliberately pointed toward the smaller cloth pouch they’d kept separate.
“But those don’t count.”
Lucas glanced at it.
“The ones we’re saving for planting.”
“Right.”
They had agreed on that from the very first day they’d checked their food.
No matter how tight their supplies became, the small amount of beans set aside for planting couldn’t be eaten unless they had absolutely no other choice.
They still didn’t know when the right planting season was or whether they would be able to clear the land behind the farmhouse in time.
But once those beans were eaten, they wouldn’t have anything left to plant.
Arthur moved the small pouch farther away.
“Keep those separate.”
Helena checked the onions next.
There hadn’t been many to begin with, and they’d used two over the past few days.
Now only a few remained.
She picked one up and examined it.
“This one won’t keep much longer.”
The outer layer was already starting to soften.
Arthur took a look.
“Use the ones that are going bad first.”
Helena nodded and set that onion aside.
Once they’d checked everything again, the atmosphere around the table felt a little lighter than it had during their first inventory.
But not by much.
At least they weren’t completely clueless anymore.
They weren’t going to run out of food tomorrow.
But they didn’t have nearly enough to sit back and stop worrying for an entire month either.
Arthur picked up Clara’s records again.
“So when we go to town, food is still the first thing we check.”
Clara immediately took out a fresh sheet of paper.
“Should I make a list?”
“Yeah.”
She sat up a little straighter.
“What goes first?”
“Flour.”
Arthur barely had to think about it.
Clara wrote it down.
Flour.
“Then salt.”
Salt.
Helena thought for a moment.
“Let’s check the price of oats too.”
They still had some at home, but since they were already making the trip, it made sense to find out how much they cost.
Clara added another item.
Lucas waited beside them for quite a while.
When no one mentioned the thing he cared about, he finally couldn’t resist reminding them.
“What about meat?”
Arthur looked at him.
“Didn’t you already ask about that yesterday?”
“You said we could look.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t look today.”
Lucas visibly relaxed.
Clara naturally added another line.
Meat.
Then she looked up.
“What about eggs?”
Helena nodded.
“Add those too.”
They didn’t have chickens of their own, and they had no idea who nearby might sell eggs.
Since people bought things in town, there was no harm in checking the price.
Clara wrote:
Eggs.
Arthur suddenly remembered something else.
“Seeds.”
Lucas paused.
“We’re buying seeds already?”
“Looking first,” Arthur said.
“We don’t know what people grow here or how much seeds cost.
Since we’ll already be there, we might as well find out.”
Sooner or later, they would have to do something with the overgrown land behind the farmhouse.
The man they’d met before had even mentioned that if they wanted to plant anything this year, they should start clearing the land soon.
But farming wasn’t as simple as turning over the soil.
Without seeds, nothing was going to grow.
Clara added seeds to the list.
“What about tools?” she asked.
Arthur looked down at his hands.
The tools they had were pitifully few, and some were old things they’d found tucked away in corners of the farmhouse.
If they really intended to clear the land, what they had now certainly wouldn’t be enough.
“Check those too.”
Another item was added.
Tools.
Lucas looked at the growing list and suddenly realized something.
“Are we buying all of that?”
“Who said we’re buying it?”
Arthur looked at him.
“The first trip is mostly for checking prices.”
“Nothing at all?”
“That’s not what I said.”
Arthur thought for a moment.
“If we really need something and the price is reasonable, we can buy it.
But until we understand what our money is actually worth, we’re not spending it carelessly.”
With that, he brought out the coin pouch they’d counted the day before.
The moment it landed on the table, Theo instinctively shifted a little farther away.
Lucas noticed immediately.
“You still think the money is dirty?”
Theo corrected him seriously.
“I don’t think it’s dirty.”
“Then what?”
“A lot of people really have touched it.”
Lucas found himself with absolutely no argument against that.
Arthur ignored them and opened the pouch, taking out several different coins.
“We don’t need to bring all of it tomorrow.”
Helena agreed.
This was all the money they had.
There was no reason to carry every last coin with them.
If they somehow lost it on the road, they’d have nothing left.
“But we don’t know how much to bring,” Clara pointed out.
She looked at the coins on the table.
That was the real problem.
If they knew how much a sack of flour cost, they could simply bring enough money for what they intended to buy.
Unfortunately, one of the reasons they were going to town in the first place was to figure out what these coins were worth.
Arthur found the whole thing rather troublesome.
In the end, he settled on the simplest and safest solution.
“We’ll bring a few of each kind.”
They would take several coins of each size and color.
Once they reached town, they could watch how other people paid for things and slowly figure out how the currency worked.
The rest of their money would stay at home.
Helena found a small piece of cloth, wrapped the coins they planned to bring, and tucked the bundle into a secure place inside her clothing.
Theo watched the entire process.
Only after she’d finished did he ask,
“The money isn’t going with the food, right?”
Helena held back a laugh.
“No.”
Theo relaxed.
Lucas rested his chin on his hand.
“Are you going to inspect our hands tomorrow too?”
Theo considered the question.
“We need to wash them before we eat.”
“Where are we supposed to wash our hands outside?”
That question actually stopped Theo.
He frowned and thought for a long moment before looking at Helena.
Lucas immediately said,
“The water is for drinking.”
“We can wash our hands with it too.”
“Then bring an extra jug and carry it yourself.”
Theo looked down at his small arms.
He went silent.
Arthur finally burst out laughing.
“We’ll bring water, but it’s mainly for drinking.
If we need to eat something, we’ll find a way to clean our hands first.”
Theo didn’t look entirely satisfied, but he accepted the compromise.
Next came the food they would bring for the journey.
That question made the entire family fall quiet for a moment.
Helena couldn’t cook anything complicated.
Over the past few days, simply getting meals onto the table had involved slowly figuring out what they could make with the food they already had.
Now that she was suddenly expected to prepare something portable that would still taste fine after it had gone cold, she honestly had no idea what to make.
Helena knew that perfectly well herself.
“Don’t look at me.”
She spoke before anyone else could.
Arthur had just started turning toward her.
He stopped.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“Your face did.”
Lucas let out a laugh.
Clara lowered her head, trying to hide her smile.
Arthur sighed.
“I was only going to ask if we have anything we can bring as it is.”
Only then did Helena seriously consider the question.
In the end, they decided not to attempt anything complicated.
They would eat a proper breakfast before leaving tomorrow, bring some simple food they already knew they couldn’t ruin, and take enough water for the road.
Once they reached town, if they saw something inexpensive and easy to eat, they could check the price of that too.
“So we’ll have to get up early tomorrow,” Arthur said.
Lucas immediately asked,
“How early?”
Arthur looked at him.
“Earlier than usual.”
Lucas’s expression became slightly complicated.
His mind certainly didn’t mind getting up early.
The problem was his three-year-old body.
Over the past few days, he often still felt wide awake at night, only to lie down in bed and have absolutely no idea what happened afterward.
Clara had clearly thought of the same thing.
“Just go to bed earlier.”
“I know.”
Lucas agreed quickly.
Theo suddenly asked,
“So who’s going to be the one who can’t wake up tomorrow?”
Lucas immediately looked at him.
“Definitely not me.”
Clara spoke slowly.
“You were the last one up yesterday.”
“That was yesterday.”
“And the day before.”
“…”
Lucas stopped talking.
Arthur found the exchange amusing, but he hadn’t forgotten the most important part.
He picked up the list Clara had just written and read through it from beginning to end.
Flour.
Salt.
Oats.
Meat.
Eggs.
Seeds.
Tools.
They wouldn’t necessarily buy all of those things tomorrow, but they needed to find out the prices if they could.
They also needed to watch how people in town used the different coins and, ideally, figure out how the currency system worked.
There was a lot they needed to learn on their first trip.
But there was nothing they could do about that.
Ever since arriving here, they’d had to learn almost everything from the beginning.
How much food they used for a single meal.
Where the nearby roads led.
What a single coin could actually buy.
None of that knowledge had magically appeared in their heads just because they’d been adults in their previous lives.
Arthur put the list back on the table.
“That’s enough preparation for today.”
Then he looked at the three children.
“Don’t wander too far this afternoon.
Go to bed early tonight.
Tomorrow, if any of you get tired and can’t keep walking, say so.
Don’t force yourselves.”
Lucas opened his mouth.
Arthur looked directly at him before he could say anything.
“Especially you.”
Lucas silently swallowed the words I won’t get tired.
“Got it.”
Clara’s shoulders shook as she tried not to laugh.
Theo, meanwhile, was still thinking about something else.
“What about the cloth?”
Arthur didn’t understand.
“What cloth?”
“The one for my shoes.”
Arthur: “…”
Lucas covered his face.
“You still haven’t forgotten about that?”
“Why would I forget?”
Theo looked genuinely confused.
“What if there’s mud?”
Arthur stared at his youngest son’s serious expression.
In the end, he surrendered.
“We’ll bring it.”
Only then did Theo nod in satisfaction.
And so, alongside the money, water, food, and list of things whose prices they needed to check, the Bennett family’s preparations for their very first trip to town gained one more item— an old piece of cloth specifically for Theo.
As for whether it would actually have a chance to be used tomorrow…
Arthur sincerely hoped not.
Compared with taking care of three exhausted children, he really didn’t want to spend the trip worrying about a pair of muddy shoes too.