Chapter 10

Before building Hipporius's house, there was something I needed to investigate.

"Hipporius, bring the wood over here."

"What?"

"Let me check you for a moment."

"Okay."

I carefully examined Hipporius, touching him directly.

His skin felt squishy.

"You must have gathered a lot of wood and worked up a sweat."

It seemed there was a thick layer of fat under his skin.

This fat probably helps maintain his body temperature.

"Sure, it might be warm in the summer, but it looks like you'll get cold in the winter."

"Kyu?"

Hipporius seemed happy to be touched, wagging his tail cheerfully.

He even rubbed his head against me, so I took the opportunity to examine his face.

"Open your mouth."

"Kyu-oon."

"Your mouth is big. This part is the same as a hippopotamus..."

However, his tusks were short.

The tusks of the hippopotamus I know are supposed to be very long.

"Are the tusks of sea hippos smaller?"

"This is because he's a child."

Kerry, who had arrived without me noticing, said this.

He even put his hand into Hipporius's mouth with me.

"Whoosh."

"Kerry, Hipporius doesn't like it, so don't put your hand in his mouth."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

Kerry pulled his hand out of Hipporius's mouth without much concern and patted his head.

"This is how to distinguish between the young and adult forms of ground dragons..."

Kerry then taught me some trivia about ground dragons.

It seems the shape of their horns and the form of their tails are different.

"I see. So Hipporius is still a child."

"Kyu?"

"To accommodate his growth, it would be better to build a larger house."

Dragons grow slowly.

So it might not be necessary to worry about his growth and build a large house.

But just to be safe.

"It would be better to build a large house with good insulation."

I don't want Hipporius to catch a cold from drafts, since he doesn't have any fur.

"He should be fine, living in the cold sea and all."

Kerry said this, but just to be safe, it would be better to build a warm house.

I visualized Hipporius's house accurately.

It would be a house for a ten-meter-long Hipporius. I wanted a side length of at least thirty meters.

The ceiling should also be high.

The door should be large enough for Hipporius to pass through easily.

The floor also needed to support Hipporius's weight.

This would consume a lot of wood.

But since Hipporius had gathered a lot of wood, it would be manageable.

"Hipporius, help me gather stones."

"Got it!"

I gathered stones.

Since I had already collected most of the stones in the area when building the dormitory, I had to gather them from a bit further away.

Kerry and the other scholars, including Victor, also helped with the stone collection.

"Thank you. This should be enough."

"Kyu," "I'm glad we could help."

Hipporius and Victor smiled.

The geologist seemed interested in the stones and was observing them intently.

"There are a lot of volcanic rocks. There might be a volcano nearby."

"That mountain?"

"It's possible."

"I want to investigate the monsters living on the mountain. Let's go next time."

"Yeah, I also want to study the climate. I'll go too."

The climatologist said this. The scholars were excitedly making plans to investigate the mountain.

"The investigation will start after the base is completed and life is stable. Please wait a while."

Victor smiled and advised them.

It wouldn't be safe to let the scholars go on the investigation alone.

We don't know what kind of monsters might be there.

We need to form a party of adventurers to send them.

But the adventurers are also valuable labor for building the base and stabilizing life.

It's not easy to conduct a distant investigation.

"I understand. For now, I'll just investigate Hipporius and the nearby creatures."

"Thank you for your understanding."

By the time Victor and the scholars finished their conversation, the stones were gathered.

Stones are easy to use as building materials, so having more is never a problem.

With the materials gathered, I used my appraisal skill on all of them as usual.

I concentrated fully to grasp the large amount of information flowing into my mind.

It's very tiring, but it's a crucial step.

After appraising the materials, the next step was to build the image for the creation skill.

Hipporius's house was much larger than the dormitory, making it difficult to visualize.

Moreover, I needed to make it more airtight, so the image had to be more precise.

Once the image was solidified, it was time to activate the creation skill.

I used a large amount of magic power to build it from the bottom up.

To prevent the floor from becoming muddy during the rain, I used boards, just like the dormitory.

However, this time, the floor needed to support Hipporius's heavy body.

The structure itself needed to be changed.

For the adventurer's dormitory, I built several pillars and raised the floor off the ground.

This made it more resistant to rain and moisture.

While this structure was comfortable, it was difficult to support Hipporius's weight.

First, I compacted the ground to a certain extent and laid stones on top.

I didn't forget to use the creation skill to process the stones and make them flat.

After laying the stones, I arranged boards made from processed logs to create the floor.

From there, the process was basically the same as building the dormitory.

I built the walls, the ceiling, and the roof.

To ensure Hipporius could live comfortably, the house was not only larger than the dormitory but also had no partitions.

Therefore, I placed more and stronger beams to support the ceiling and roof.

Ideally, I would have used lighter and stronger metal beams, but since I didn't have any, I had to use wood.

Just to be safe, I used lighter and stronger wood as I went higher.

"Alright, that's it."

Finally, Hipporius's house was completed.