Just as the door opened, Katherine suddenly moved two of the statues and forced them to close again.
"Too bad. It's already almost nighttime. You three need to take a rest before going in."
Katherine forcefully dragged both of the girls out of the cave and back to the entrance, with Alex following behind.
"Mom! We aren't tired, okay?" Sophia complained as she tried to go back inside.
"Yeah, we can still go on——"
"Am I your mom or not?"
Both girls fell into silence, grumpily sitting down on the rock floor as Katherine began setting up camp on the flat, barren ground.
"Look at Alex. He understands and helps me. Unlike you two ungrateful brats just sitting there doing nothing."
"Hmph!"
Alex awkwardly scratched his head as he was the only one who wasn't in a rush to explore it.
"Come on guys, Mom is doing it for our sake... Hey Mary, isn't your leg already super tired?
And Sophia, you already used a lot of mana lighting up the cave. We got two entire days to explore it.
The faster we set up camp, the faster we get to sleep and explore the cave tomorrow."
After a short silence, the two girls finally let go of their grudges and helped set up the camp.
A few minutes later...
With the camp fully set up, the three began eating the sandwich that Katherine had stored in her pocket.
"Mom, are we going to eat this for the entire trip?" Mary curiously asked as she took the first bite.
"Obviously not... We're going to go hunting tomorrow morning before we explore the dungeon."
Hearing Katherine's plan, all three of the kids got a little excited, even more excited than exploring the dungeon.
"Really? We're going to go hunting?" Alex asked in excitement, as he always wanted to try it out.
"Yep. Our meals tomorrow depend fully on what you three could get from the forest."
"But we didn't see any animal on the way here." Sophia quickly pointed out as she thought back the whole way in the forest.
"That's because they are hiding from us. I can clearly see where they are hiding.
You guys just need to be ready to throw your spell at them. Don't worry about finding them."
With all four of them finished eating the sandwich, Katherine pulled out a giant wooden bathtub out of her dimension again.
"Mom... Can I just shower when we get back home——"
"I don't want to sleep next to a stinky bug. Get inside, or I'm going to throw you in."
Alex reluctantly took off his clothes, with the other two girls already fully naked, sitting on the small little ledge in the bathtub.
Even though it was called a bathtub, it was just a giant wooden bucket—the same one they used back in their hometown.
With the water filled up, Katherine cast some spells, making some sort of invisible barrier before undressing herself.
"It's so satisfying to lay in hot water after so much walking today... Sorry, Mom, you're right."
As Sophia finished talking, she was suddenly hit by a splash of hot water.
"S-Sorry."
Both of the girls bowed down in apology, as they didn't expect Alex to be hurt over something like this.
"Mom, I'm fine. It's not that big of a deal..." Alex stated as he closed his backpack.
Although the leggings were surprisingly comfortable, he didn't really want to wear them, especially how feminine they made him appear.
"Hmph, you two are lucky... If I see you two do this ever again, there's going to be big trouble."
"Sorry, Alex."
Both of the girls apologized again, showing their sincere faces towards him.
"Let's just go to sleep now."
As Katherine poured all the water out and put the bucket back into her dimension, the four headed back to the camp.
With the same old tent as the last camping trip, the four picked the same place in the bed, with Alex surrounded by Katherine and Sophia.
But this time, all four of them quickly fell asleep as they were just too tired from walking the entire day.
---
The next day...
As Katherine woke up early to prepare for work, she suddenly felt something bumping on her thighs.
Looking down underneath the blanket, she could see Alex's head resting on top of her chest, with his hand grabbing onto her waist.
More importantly, Alex's legging made it extremely obvious what was bumping onto her leg.
"How is he always so turned on in the morning? Is this just a kid's body growing?"
Katherine thought to herself as she gently put Alex back down on the bed before getting up herself.
As she walked out of the tent, her mind suddenly went in the wrong direction, making her face blush red.
"What are you thinking? He's your son, you idiot. Stop thinking about something that will never happen."
Katherine murmured to herself, feeling a little guilty for even considering using Alex to satisfy herself.
"Stop being a dirty whore, Katherine. You're already an old women. Think what Sophia and Mary would think of you.
Think of how scandals it would be for that to happen. Everyone around you would be so disgusted by it."
After calming back down, Katherine took out three glass cups and began unbuttoning her clothes.
With the same routine, she quickly filled all three glasses with her breastmilk before putting them into the pocket dimension.
"When did I care about what other people think? No, no, I need to stop thinking about this."
Katherine quickly shook her head as she went back inside the tent before flipping the blanket back up.
"Wake up! It's time to wake up piggies!"
All three of the kids slowly opened their eyes as they rested on the bed.
"Mom! My leg is so sore!" Mary complained, trying her hardest to get back up.
"Same! My leg can't move an inch," Sophia complained, as she could barely move her leg.
As Katherine looked over to Alex, he was the only one who already sat up from the bed.