Chapter 28 – Gathering Rocks 2

The boulder that Hippolius was carrying was hardly small.
It was about a meter in diameter and half a meter thick.

“A-are you all right?”
“…Auu.”
“…W…fu…”

Upon seeing how shocked Fio and Shiro were, Hippolius said,
“Kyuo!”
With a smug expression.

The horn on Hippolius’s head stabbed into the boulder in order to support it.

“Won’t your horn break if you do that?”

While it was just an estimate, the boulder was likely the same weight as water of the same volume.
A typical dragon would not be able to carry it. Either their neck or horn would snap.

‘I’m fine!’
“I-I see. But don’t push yourself too hard.”
‘Okay!’

And then Hippolius went walking off, with the boulder still pierced by the horn.

Our base was just a little higher than the river.
And while the slope was gentle, it was still going upwards.
But Hippolius climbed it steadily.

Still, I walked right alongside Hippolius in case they got tired.
Fio and Shiro did the same.

When the boulder arrived at the base, the others who were waiting were very surprised.
But Hippolius just ignored them and dropped it heavily on the ground.

“Kyuuo!”
And then let out a great cry.

So it had been very strenuous work for Hippolius after all.

“That’s amazing, Hippolius.”
‘Is Hippolius good?’
“Aye, you are.”

I scratched Hippolius right under the jaw.
And not just under the jaw, but the rest of their body as well.
In fact, Hippolius had sweated a lot.

“Wow.”
“Wuff.”

Fio and Shiro were looking at Hippolius with deep respect.
And then Fio copied me and petted Hippolius.
And Shiro licked Hippolius’s feet.

“You really are a dragon, Hippolius.”

Kelly had been working on something, but she stopped what she was doing and came running towards us.
And then she started inspecting the boulder and the horns.

“I don’t see a single crack in the horn. Theo, look.”
“Aye. Hippolius seems to be a lot stronger than I thought.”
“Theo. It’s not just the horn. Look at this boulder. It’s very hard. I’m shocked that Hippolius could pierce through it.”

While Hippolius’s horn was pointed, it was not sharp.
It was probably similar to a cow’s horn.

“How did this horn manage to break through the rock?”
“Indeed. It was probably with magic.”
“Magic? Theo, you must tell me more.”

As Kelly’s eyes began to shine, I decided to explain it to her a little.

“Do you remember that Hippolius was releasing magic from their horn while gathering wood?”
“I do remember, but that was just enough magic to cut the root of a tree. That’s completely different from breaking a rock.”
“Hippolius just wasn’t using their full strength when cutting the tree roots.”
“Is that true, Hippolius?”
“Kyuo!”

Rather boastfully, Hippolius informed us that it had not been serious.

“Wuff!”

And then Hippolius licked Fio’s face.
Fio looked quite happy,

“So, Theo. Are you going to dig the well now?”
“No. We’re going for a walk first. Because I want Fio and Shiro to know what the border of our territory is.”
“Wuff!”

Both Fio and Shiro wagged their tails happily.
There was still time until midday.
So we could go on a walk, eat lunch, and then make the well and bathing area.

After I explained this to Kelly,
“Then I will go too.”
“Ah…”
“What, Theo? Do you not want me to?”
“I don’t mind if you come. But do you really think that you can keep up?”

Kelly was a scholar. And she did not look like she had much energy at all.
And so I did not think that she could keep up with a demon wolf.

“But isn’t Fio going too? Even I wouldn’t lose to a child.”
“I see. Then you should come with us.”

And then I turned to Fio and Shiro.

“Now, let’s go for a walk then.”
“Woof!”
“Woof!”

Fio and Shiro replied cheerfully.
Next to them, Hippolius was sitting quietly and shaking their tail.

“Do you want to come too, Hippolius?”
‘I go.’
“Aren’t you tired? You can rest here if you want.”
‘I’m not tired.’
“All right. Then come with us.”
“Kyu-kyuu.”
“Woof!”

I told the other Adventurers in the base that we were going on a walk, and then we set off.
Hippolius was in the front and started to run.
While Hippolius had been fast at sea, it was no different on land.

After seeing Hippolius run, Fio and Shiro would occasionally glance towards me.
They were probably wondering why I wasn’t running in the lead, as I was the leader of the pack.

“Don’t worry about that. You two can run as well if you want.”
“Woof!”
“Wooo!”

And then Fio and Shiro started to run as well.
Fio was running properly on two legs.

“Hippolius, Fio, and Shiro. Let’s not stray too far from the base.”
‘But why?’

Hippolius stopped running and returned in order to ask me this.

“Because Victor and the others are out on an investigation. It would be bad to decrease our fighting force at the base.”
‘Okay.’

And then Hippolius started running again.
Sometimes Hippolius would slow down, so that Fio and Shiro could catch up.

And so I slowly followed after them.

Next Chapter

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