Chapter 64 – I went to gather some metal

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I left the base with Hippolius and Pii, and then we headed to the river.
Pii was perched on my shoulder and quivering.

‘What are you going to do at the river?’
“Gather some metal.”
‘At the river?’
“You can sometimes find iron sand in rivers.”
‘I see!’

Once we arrived at the lake, I used my appraisal skill on the surrounding area, including the rocks, sand, and mud in the river.
In the meantime, Hippolius entered the river with a big splash.
Hippolius really likes playing in the water.
Hippolius was a sea hippo child, so playing a lot was a good thing.

And so I watched Hippolius for some time until I finished casting the appraisal skill.

“Hmm. Hmm. There is more iron here than in most rivers.”
‘Really? Will you gather it?’

Hippolius ran towards me while splashing through the water and wagging its tail.

“Indeed… That would be good, but…”

Gather up the stone and sand that contains iron, and use them as materials and craft something made of iron with the crafting skill.
That would be one way to extract the iron.
However, even if the content rate was high, it was only relatively high.
It didn’t change the fact that the actual amount was quite meager.

The method was similar to extracting salt from seawater.
But compared to salt in seawater, there was even less iron in sand and stone.

The ratio of seat water and salt was something like a hundred to three.
However, the amount of iron in granite was more like a thousand to two.
And it flowed down the river while mixing with various other kinds of rocks.
And so the rate would be even lower.

It would then be necessary to gather a great amount of rock and sand in the area. That would be a lot of work.
And extracting all of the iron from so much stone and sand would require a lot of magic energy.

“Before we extract the iron, I think it would be best to craft something that can gather the iron sand…”

If I made such a device first, and extracted the iron after gathering everything, then I would be able to decrease the amount of magic energy depletion.

“Well, let’s go upstream for now.”

If there were a lot of stones and sand that contained iron at the bottom of the river here, that meant the source existed upstream.
It would be more efficient to start there.

“It is likely that we will find rocks containing iron, like granite and diorite near the river.”
‘I see! Theodore. Will you ride on Hippolius?’
“Well, if you don’t mind.”
‘Yay!’

Hippolius seemed very happy when I got on its back.

“Kyuo! Kyuooo!”

Hippolius squeaked happily as it started to walk along the river.
In the meantime, I used my appraisal skill on the plants grown near the river, as well as the rocks.

“There really are a lot of edible plants on this new continent.”
‘Are they delicious?’
“We have to eat it and find out.”
‘I see.”
…Splash.

Before I knew it, Hippolius had a large fish in its mouth.
Hippolius really was a good hunter.

‘Here, Theodore!’
“Are you sure? Aren’t you hungry, Hippolius?”
‘No!’
“Thank you. Maybe we can all eat it for lunch.”
“Kyuo!”

And so I put the fish away in my magic bag.

We then continued to move up the river, where it became narrower and shallow.
Also, the valley became more steep.

“Hmm. We’ve gone quite far up the mountain.”
‘Hippolius likes it when there is more water.’

Indeed, it was probably a lot more fun when the water was deep for Hippolius.
And Pii was shaking happily on my left shoulder.
It was a nice vibration that felt like a massage.

“Pii, you must be good at giving massages.”
“Pii?”

As we talked about such things, my appraisal skill suddenly detected something.
There was a lot of metal close by.

“Hmm? What is this? There is an ore vein in this area.”
‘Ore vein?’
“A place with a lot of ore.”
‘Amazing.’

In the old continent, I had once participated in a quest where we hunted monsters in a mine.
And I had used the appraisal skill there.
But right now, I was detecting even more metal than I did back then.

‘Did you find iron?’
“Aye. Not just iron, but all kinds of metals.”
‘Wow!’
“Hippolius, please go in that direction. It is not far off.”

I pointed to the right side of the river.
I was sure that the ore vein was just a short distance ahead.

‘Okay!’
“Let’s look for a place where we can climb.”

Currently, Pii and I were riding on Hoppolius as we walked through the valley.
The right side of the river that I pointed at was especially dangerous.
There was a boulder that was about five meters high and stood at a straight angle.

‘Okay! Look for a place to climb!’

So saying, Hippolius started to run straight towards the right side of the river.
But Hippolius showed no signs of looking for a gentle slope to climb up.

“He-hey, Hippolius.”
“Piiii!”

I couldn’t help but shout. Pii also shouted in surprise.
And then Pii desperately grabbed onto my left shoulder.

But Hippolius did not slow down, and continued to run towards the wall before jumping into the air.
While moving up, Hippolius kicked the stone wall and slammed its tail on the ground, and then dashed up the side of the cliff.

Next Chapter

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3 bonus chapters courtesy of SFcipher. Thank you so much!!

Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari Relaxing Slow Life on the New Continent Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life The Strange Dragon and the Former Choreman of the Heroes Party