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

Chapter 42 – The Second Night

When I stepped out of the bathing house, Hippolius, Fio, and Shiro were waiting for me.
Fio and and Shiro were riding on top of Hippolius’s back.
It was nice to see how close they were now.

“Kyuo!”
“Wuff.”
“Wuff.”
“You were waiting for me? Thank you.”

I petted each of them one at a time.
But as I was doing so, I suddenly wanted to check the sewage tank.
Now that everyone had taken a bath, the draining system had been used.
And since this was the first day, I wanted to confirm that everything had gone well.

“I’m going to look at the sewage tank. You wait here.”
“I go too!”
“Wuff.”
“Kyuo.”
“Thanks.”

Apparently, Fio, Shiro, and Hippolius wanted to come as well.
Once we arrived at the tank, which was in a lower place than the rest of the base, I opened the lid and looked inside.

“Hmm. Seems like it all flowed properly.”

In three or four days, it would become full.
And we could not dump it back into the river like this.
I would have to hurry and make another tank that could process the water to the point where it could be released into the river again.

“It must be my main priority.”

I tried to think of how I could make this processing tank.
It would be a very complex system indeed.

As I mused over such things, I heard Fio’s voice going ‘Wuff-wuff.’
When I turned to look, I saw that she was grabbing on to Hippolius’s tail.
And Hippolius was wagging its tail.
Both of them seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I was happy to see it, but then I saw that Hippolius’s tail was starting to move a little faster.
I suppose Hippolius was getting very excited.

And then Fio was flung off of the tail and went flying into the air.

“Wufff…”

I ran in order to catch Fio, but I would not make it in time.
However, Shiro was closer to her, and also started to run. Shiro was fast, but even he wouldn’t make it in time.

And so I was sure that Fio would be injured.
However, with a ‘Wufff!’ Fio landed right on her feet.
And after sliding on the dirt with her shoes, she stopped. She had not fallen at all.
Her physical ability was quite impressive.

“…Amazing.”
“Kyuo…”

Hippolius’s tail drooped sadly, and with obvious regret.

“Fio. Are you alright?”
“I fine! Wuff!”

Fio ran back to us and then grabbed Hippolius’s tail again.
Apparently, she wanted Hippolius to wag its tail again.

“…It’s dangerous, so you better not.”
“Wuff.”
“Besides, the sun is setting, so we should go back.”
“Okay.”

And so we returned to the base.
Fio continued to grab onto the tail and laugh, ‘Kya-kya.’

“Now, I think it’s time to sleep. Are you tired?”
“I fine!”
“Wuff!”

Fio would still not let go of Hippolius’s tail.

“What about you, Hippolius?”
‘I’m not tired!’

Apparently, they wanted to continue to play.
However, the sun had already set.
While we had lights, it was a waste of fuel. And so it was best to sleep after sundown.

“In any case, let’s go back to the house.”
“Kyuo!”
“Go back!”
“Wuff!”

Before entering the house, I wiped Hippolius and Shiro’s feet.
And then Fio wiped Hippolius’s tail.

Once we were done, Fio took off her shoes, even though I had not taught her to do so, and entered the house.
Perhaps Kelly had taught her then.

“Yes, it’s better to take off your shoes until we have proper beds.”
“Yes.”

Until then, we had to all sleep on the floor.

“Now that I think about it, I have to make beds as well.”
“Beds?”
“It’s like a table that you sleep on. By the way, how is the smell?”
“Smell?”
“When you were all in the bath, I burned an incense that had quite a stench.”
“It fine!”
“Wuff.”

Apparently, Fio and Shiro were not bothered by any smell.
That was good to hear.

“Fio, Shiro. I also washed the blankets. What do you think?”
“Soft!”
“Wuff!”

Fio and Shiro spread out the blankets and rolled on them.

“So comfortable.”
“Wuff-wuff!”

Both of them seemed very happy.

“That’s good.”

I laid out my own blanket on the floor.
And then Hippolius laid out the tip of its jaw on my blanket.
While it was a big blanket, it was too small for all of Hippolius to fit on it.
And so this would have to suffice for now.

“Perhaps I should make a big blanket for you as well.”
“Kyuo.”
“While it is summer time, the nights can be a little cold. Are you cold now?”
‘I’m fine.’
“I see. But let me know if you do feel cold.”
‘Okay!’

When I lay down, Hippolius pushed its jaw towards me.
Hippolius was still young, and wanted to be coddled. And so I petted Hippolius as much possible.

“Kyuo!”
Hippolius opened its mouth, and so I petted the inside of the mouth and tongue as well.
And eventually, Hippolius fell asleep.
As Hippolius had worked all day, it must have been very tiring.

I turned to look at Fio and Shiro.
Fio was already asleep.
Just like last night, she looked to be comfortably asleep while being wrapped in Shiro’s fur.

Both of them had said that they weren’t sleepy.
But they must have been tired after all.

They took a bath after a long time, and warmed up and became clean.
So it was no wonder that they were sleepy.

“I better sleep too.”

And so I fell asleep while petting Hippolius.