Strange Dragon – 111

Chapter 111 – Searching for the Chimera

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“Scouting? But that is dangerous.”
“I’ll be going with Hippolius, so it should be fine. Is that alright, Hippolius?”
‘Leave it to me!’

So saying, Hippolius happily leaned against me.
I petted Hippolius.

“Thank you.
“Hmm. Well, it’s true that we need information about it. Then I will help.”
“No, you should not come, Kelly.”
“Why!”
“Why? You don’t have any combat training, do you? And it might come to that.”
“Grrr.”

I couldn’t say clearly that she would just get in the way.
But Kelly seemed to understand, and so she did not argue.

After that, we all ate lunch.
As always, Ije’s food was delicious.

While we ate, I asked,
“By the way, Victor. Are you alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your health. You were bed-ridden not long ago.”
“I am not completely back to normal yet.”

Victor admitted honestly.
It was dangerous to insist that you could fight, when you were not in the best state.
If you fail to deliver on your promise, it could lead to the destruction of your whole team.
As a veteran Adventurer, Victor understood this very well.

“However, I can still fight.”
“What percent of your power can you use?”
“If it is just for five minutes, then I could use all of it. However, I would not be able to do much after that.”
“Your strength really hasn’t recovered then.”

Victor had suffered from food poisoning.
However, if he could fight at full power for five minutes, that should be enough.

“Yes, that’s right. I’m sorry about the trouble.”
“No, it’s no trouble as long as we know it in advance.”

If we knew how everyone could fight, then we could plan around that.
And if it looks like we cannot win, then we just have to retreat.

Once we were finished eating, I left the wolf cubs with Fio.
“Fio, Shiro. Please take care of them.”
“Okay!”
“Wuff!”
I patted the cubs on the head.

And then I headed out with Hippolius and Pii.

“Let’s go, Hippolius.”
‘Go! Do best!’
“I’ll be counting on you.”
“Kyuo!”

Hippolius breathed loudly from its nose as we walked.
As always, Pii rode on my shoulder.
Shiro would have likely been useful when scouting.
However, when against a Chimera, it might be too dangerous.

“Now that I think about it, I still haven’t taught you how to erase your presence, Hippolius.”
“Kyuo?”

When encountering the false demon bear, we had tried to do that and remain concealed.
Shiro and Fio had been able to do it well.
But Hippolius had not done it at all.

‘Hippolius erase presence!’
“Really? Then try to do it.”
‘Okay.’
“Kyuuuo!”

Hippolius cried and then started shaking.
Apparently, Hippolius thought it was erasing its presence.
However, it was not working.
In fact, all the shaking just attracted more attention.

“…I’m going to have to teach you.”
“Kyuo?”
“What you must do is…”

And so we talked while walking.

‘Hippolius will try it!’
“You won’t be able to do it immediately, so be patient.”
‘Okay!’

Eventually, we reached the field.

“Alright, now let’s trace the culprit who did this.”
“Kyuo!”
“Pii!”
“Where did it come from and where did it go? That is what we must find out.”
‘Okay! Hippolius will look.’
‘Pii too!’

Hippolius started to sniff at the soil.
Pii also hopped down from my shoulder and spread out on the ground, covering about two square meters.

‘Goat!’
“Indeed. Hippolius thinks it is like a goat. I thought so too.”
“Kyuo!”
‘Here! Over here!’
“Hmm? What is it, Pii?”
‘Can tell!’
“How?”
‘Magic energy! Traces!’

Pii returned to its spherical shape and shuddered.

“I see. So you can tell by the magic energy.”
‘Tell.’

Pii would often massage my head and shoulders.
When doing so, it would not only loosen my muscles, but also the soreness in my magic energy.
So it was extra sensitive when it came to magic energy.

‘A fragment is dropped!’
“Fragment?”
‘From body!’
“Hmm.”

Perhaps it was detecting hair and skin particles that were too small to see.
Pii was able to eat such things.

“That’s amazing, Pii.”
‘Pii, amazing!’
“Pii-pii!”

I petted the slime, and Hipplius also licked it excitedly, while Pii shook happily.

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