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Chapter 7 – Land
Hippolius returned, and put both of its front legs on the stern.
And since Hippolius was so heavy, the ship began to tilt over.
“Hippolius, don’t put your weight on the ship.”
‘Okay.’
Hippolius moved away obediently.
“Are you finished eating?”
‘I’ve had enough.’
Hippolius said, and then placed a large fish on top of the stern.
It was larger than the average man. And it was flapping around wildly.
‘You can eat it, Theodore.’
“Are you sure? It’s not your dinner?”
‘Hippolius is full. Theodore, eat it.’
“Thank you. But I won’t be able to finish it myself, so we will all share it.”
“Kyuru!”
Hippolius cried happily.
After that, everyone worked together to cut up the fish. And then Kelly approached us.
“Kelly. Is this a new type of fish?”
“No, I recognize it. It should taste very good if you eat it raw.”
“Raw?”
“Yes, raw. However, be careful of parasites. But they are visible, so just avoid them when you eat.”
Kelly didn’t just know a lot about monsters, but also fish.
And so we took her advice and tried eating it raw, and it was indeed delicious.
What we didn’t eat, we stored away in the magic bag.
Since we didn’t have too much food, it was a great help.
Now that Hippolius had joined us, the sea voyage went very smoothly.
From morning until night, Hippolius pushed us, while taking breaks in between.
And after eating, it would bring us fish.
Even after we escaped the windless part of the sea, Hippolius continued to push the ship.
This, of course, meant that my daily job involved watching Hippolius push.
Hippolius would also regularly ask to be petted, and so I would comply.
Thanks to this, we arrived much earlier than expected.
As for Kelly, she spent most of her time at the stern, observing Hippolius.
25 days after we departed from Cariari.
The voice of the Adventurer who was on watch duty echoed throughout the ship.
“Land hoooo!!!”
And then everyone rushed towards the stem of the ship.
After advancing a little farther, the rest of us were able to see the continent as well.
It was richly covered in trees. And I could see birds flying.
And in the far, far distance, there were high, snow-capped mountains.
“It is clearly a very big continent.”
“Indeed. The mountains are so high.”
Small islands usually had small mountains.
We continued on for a few more hours, until we were close to land.
But we would not land yet. We needed to find the right spot to make our base first.
We would want a river in order to have drinking water.
And it would be easier to move the ship closer if the sea floor wasn’t too shallow.
Victor and the geologist discussed the matter as they searched for a place to set up camp.
And then after two hours, they finally decided on a place.
It was by a large river.
The river was deep and had a gentle current. At first, we even wondered if it was a channel.
Once it was decided, everyone disembarked.
It would have probably been better to have a few people stay on the ship, but everyone missed solid ground too much.
Still, it would require many boat rides for everyone to land.
And that took a lot of time.
As Victor and I were the first to step on the dry land, we decided to do some light scouting.
“Where will you build the base?”
Somewhere that’s not too close to the river. I’m thinking about making it near that hill over there.”
“Yes, there is a possibility of flooding if it’s too close to the river.”
And if we wanted to grow crops, it would have to be even farther from the sea.
If things went well with developing the land, this spot might become a port town in the future.
That would mean that you would need space near the river for loading and unloading.
And they would have to build a storage house as well.
“Well, perhaps it’s too early to think about a future where everything is going well.”
“No, it’s important to think about the future.”
You had to put the future into consideration when building the base.
“First, we need a place for everyone to sleep.”
“A house per person?”
“Surely not… It would take too long, and we don’t have the materials.”
“In that case, we should build about five large houses and have four people live in each one.”
“Yes.”
As we talked about such things,
“Kyu-kyu.”
Hippolius was standing next to me as if this were the most natural thing, and then the monster started to whine.
Even after coming out of the water, Hippolius looked very much like a hippopotamus.
However, Hippolius looked more like a young hippopotamus than an adult one.
That being said, its body, from head to tail, was still nearly 10 meters long.
Its limbs were short and its head big.
But unlike a hippopotamus, it had a long, thick tail and horns on its head.
“Do you keep warm by having lots of fat?”
Monsterologist Kelly asked as she inspected it.
However, Hippolius never seemed to acknowledge her presence.
“Kyu-kyu-kyu.”
“What is it? Hippolius?”
‘Where is Hippolius’s house?’
“You want a house too?”
‘I do.’
Hippolius was part of the reason that our voyage was a success.
And so if it wanted a house, then we should make one.
“Victor. Would you mind if I built a house for Hippolius as well?”
“Of course, not. We might all be dead right now if it weren’t for Hippolius.”
And it was decided. We would be building six houses.