Hen na Ryu to Moto Yuusha Party Zatsuyougakari, Shintairiku de Nonbiri Slow Life. - Chapter 27

Chapter 27 – Gathering Rocks

As I gathered more rocks, I gave orders to Shiro.

“Shiro, go and watch the area over there.”
“Woof.”
“Thank you.”
“Woof!”

In order to become close with a Demon Wolf, it was best for the human to become the boss.
Normally, the human who tamed them would be the boss. However, Fio was just a child.
And Shiro was like an older brother to Fio, a kind of guardian.

So even though he was tamed, it was difficult for their relationship to be reversed.
It would be stressful to both Shiro and Fio.

It wasn’t just Demon Wolves, but wolves in general were more comfortable being under the protection of a boss.
However, in cases where there is no boss, they would have to become the boss and protect others.
Just like Shiro was doing now. It was a lot of pressure and could be stressful.
Especially for a young wolf like Shiro.

And so I decided that it would be best to act as a boss around Shiro.

As I continued to gather rocks at a good pace, Hippolius came running while crying, ‘Kyuo-kyuo.’
And so I moved towards Hippolius and petted him.

“Ah, Hippolius, did you finish gathering the wood?”
‘I finished!’
“Thank you. That’s a big help.”
“Kyu.”
“We’ll be finished up here as well in just a minute, so wait for us.”
‘Hippolius will help.’
“Thank you.”
“Kyu!”

Hippolius squeaked happily and then splashed loudly in the river.
Upon seeing this, Fio looked at me with bewilderment.

“Theo-theo!”

Fio was asking if Hippolius was alright.
With the way that Fio had lived, getting wet meant dying.
The river was very cold even during the summer. And so it was no wonder that she was worried.

“It’s fine. Hippolius is a sea hippo.”
“Sea hippo…”
“Yes. A sea hippo. They usually live in the water, so getting wet is nothing.”
“Woof…”

Fio sounded impressed.
She looked at Hippolius splashing in the river with great respect.

On the other hand, Hippolius seemed completely oblivious of Fio’s gaze.
Hippolius was growing more and more excited.
As he was a sea hippo, being in the water must make him very happy.

Even at the deepest point, the river was only a meter deep.
It would probably change greatly depending on whether or not it rained, but during normal days, it was possibly shallow enough to walk through.
In order to confirm this, I turned to Fio and Shiro.

“Fio, Shiro. Do you know when it last rained?”
“Woof!”
“Woof!”

Fio and Shiro tilted their heads in unison. They were likely trying to think back. It was cute.
And so I patted them on the head.

“Ha! Ha! Haha!”

Shiro’s tail wagged and his tongue stuck out as he panted. He then told me that it had rained ‘a while ago.’

“Mmm… Sun out eight times.”
“You mean the sun came up eight times since it rained?”
“Yes.”
“Did it rain a lot?”
“Little.”
“I see. Thank you.”

I would have to tell the Climatologist later.
If it was raining just a little eight days ago, then the water in the river would not have increased by much.

As we talked about such things, Hippolius continued to splash around in the shallow river.
It seemed that he had forgotten about helping and was just playing now.

But Hippolius had worked hard to gather trees.
And he was still a child hippo. No, a child sea hippo. He should play when he wants to.

And so I continued to gather rocks.
It was an adult’s job to work while the kids played.

“Fio and Shio. You two can also play if you want.”
“Awoo?”
“Woof?”

Fio was picking up rocks, and Shiro was patrolling the area as they looked at me with a puzzled expression.
Shiro was a demon wolf, so it could not be helped.
If working made him more calm than playing did, then that was fine.

However, Fio was a human, not a demon wolf.

“…We’ll have to play together later.”

And I would play with Shiro at the same time.

“Ah, that’s right. Fio, Shiro. Why don’t we go for a walk?”
“Woof!”

Shiro looked like he wanted to go. Walks really were important for demon wolves.
However, Fio tilted her head and said, ‘walk?’
Due to the taming skill, Shiro could understand what I meant, even if he didn’t know the word.
But the taming skill didn’t work on Fio.
Fio only understood words that she already knew.

“Let me see. I mean that we can all walk together.”
“Why walk?”
“Because we have to make sure that there is nothing strange happening in our territory.”
“Territory!”
“What do you think? Fio and Shiro.”
“Yes!”
“Woof woof!”
“Alright, then we’ll go and take a walk when we’re finished gathering rocks.”

And then Fio and Shiro wagged their tails happily.
Now that we had decided this, I wanted to finish gathering rocks as soon as possible.

And so I quickly threw the rocks into my magic bag.
Fio had also worked hard to gather rocks. Shiro’s watchfulness was also impressive.

“Well, I think that should do for now. I’ll put the rocks down and…”
Just as I was about to say ‘we can go for a walk’…
“Kyuuoooo!”
Hippolius cried in a loud voice.

“Oh? What is it? Hippolius?”
“Kyuo.”

With a smug expression, Hippolius picked up a very big rock, no, boulder.