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Chapter 455: Huge?

The morning after we made plans for dismantling the dragons, everyone gathered at my house in Canum.

「Thanks for inviting us. 」
Ash greeted me. She’s not exactly cheerful but a bit fidgety. Butler was spacing out behind her.

Dinosso, Shiva, Ash and Butler were added to the group along with the folks from last night.

Most kids in this world are already working once they’re old enough to understand things, though the jobs are mostly pretty relaxed, just busy during certain times, or working until their smaller tasks are done. Tina, Vac and En are leaning towards becoming adventurers in the future, so compared to other kids, they’re pretty much free. Still, a completely free day is rare.

Their friends also have the day off today too, so they’re going to play all day. It’s kinda nice to be able to choose fun with friends over novel things and delicious food.

It’s a bit worrying that Dinosso and Shiva aren’t around to watch over the kids, but they’ll be staying in Canum so it should be fine. Thanks to the traps I set up around town, I’d have at least enough time to get there if anything happens.

「Quite the crowd, huh? I heard you’re butchering some game for a meat feast… 」
Dinosso and beaming Shiva stood side by side.

Dinosso’s gaze went past Chris and Dean’s grinning face, stopping at Hauron.

「So he caught you too, huh… 」
Hauron slowly turned his face away.

「Ack, oy! What’s with that wording!? You’re making me anxious!! 」
「Fufufu, since I heard we’d be going to the northern lands, I dressed warmly, but it might be a bit tough to move around for the dismantling. Don’t worry, though, I brought a change of clothes, so it’s okay to get dirty. 」
Shiva was wearing pants, quite surprisingly.

She’s also carrying a large sack. It looks pretty light, so it’s probably full of extra clothes.

「Eh? Northern Continent!? 」
Dinosso jumped, then he turned to look at Shiva.

「Thanks for having us, Jean. 」
Shiva said with a smile.

I made sure to explain things to her first before inviting Dinosso. We’re definitely going to get dirty, so she needed to be prepared.

「Alright, let’s go~ 」
「Eh, wai ー whoa! It’s freezing!! 」
【Teleport】, and in a blink of an eye we’re already at the Northern Continent.

「I thought cold weather is perfect for butchering the meat. 」
The desert is also vast and wide but it’s too hot so we didn’t go there.

「Whooooaaahhh! This place is huge, so wide! Is that black thing over there the sea? 」
Dean stood at the edge of the cliff, excitedly staring out at the dark sea in the distance.

「This is my first time seeing the Black Mountain this close…! 」
Chris was in awe as he took in the overwhelming presence of the Black Mountain.

「What a refreshing view. 」
Ash also stood near the cliff’s edge.

As I stare at Ash with her ponytail blowing in the wind, I can’t help but feel my heart drop a bit. She’s making me nervous. Chris and Dean are heavy enough to stay put, but I’m not so sure with Ash. Won’t she get blown away? Will she be okay?

「… 」
Retze quietly scanned the surroundings and seriously inspected the ground.

We’re up on a cliff near the sea, with the Black Mountain looming behind us. I’m pretty sure this place is a fjord ー there are tons of jagged valleys, even a bit away from the coast. Maybe this whole area was covered in ice a long time ago?

「I requested that we’ll be alerted if anything weird shows up, so you don’t have to worry about keeping guard. 」
「I won’t ask what sort of being you requested to do that… I already have an inkling by now, after all. 」
Hauron sounded exhausted even though it’s still early. Low blood pressure?

I brought plenty of firewood for cooking and keeping us warm, and I pulled them out from 【Storage】and stacked them up in a spot that won’t get in the way while we’re butchering the dragon, considering it’s size.

Afterward, I set up a resting space by laying out a mat made from the skin of monitor lizard beside the stack of wood ー

「Even after you’re done draining the blood, some might still flow. Don’t set that up in low places. 」

Retze reminded me, so I hastily moved to another spot. I set it up near the edge ‘cause Dean and Chris were gazing at the scenery over there, but he’s right, it’s pretty low.

Since the wind is pretty strong, I pinned the corners of the sheet with stakes, then I propped the table and chairs on top. I then laid out planks and set a huge fire pit and a big iron grill on top.

「… 」
Butler started preparing the campfire.

「… 」
And there’s Khan, all bundled up in the warm cloak I gave him!

「It’s the first time I’m doing this, so there’s a lot of things I won’t know until we open that thing up. 」
「Seems like the dragons can also vary quite a bit depending on the individuals, so it can’t be helped. But this valley feels unsettlingly deep… Did I perhaps misjudge the size? 」
Hauron briefly perked up since his knowledge was needed, but he soon became worried.

「No, wait a sec, will you? This is definitely not the meat butchering that I imagined, did I take it too lightly? 」
Dinosso’s getting agitated by himself.

「Relax, relax, I heard it’s suppose to be tasty. 」
「There’s definitely something wrong other than it being tasty, right!? 」
「Dear, calm down, okay? 」
Dinosso’s been pressing me, so Shiva called out to him.

「Ack! Why are you taking out such huge knives!! 」
Dinosso spins around to face Shiva, only to find her smiling while carefully unwrapping and arranging large blades on the monitor lizard mat.

「Maybe it’s better to use spirit swords? 」
I tossed a straight log towards the other side of the valley so that it’d get stuck on the cliff. There’s a chain tied in the middle of the log, and the other end of that chain is right at my feet.

「I’ll tie this up here for now and hang the dragon down there. It’s gonna be dangerous so step back a bit ーalright, I’m taking the black one out for now. 」
We’ll do the red one if there’s still time.

「Wait…!! 」
「…So ginormous. 」
Dumbfounded Dinosso and Hauron.

「Whoa!! THIS is what you call Dragon!! 」
「It’s definitely bigger than any monster we’ve seen before!! 」
Dean and Chris, who were checking out the edge of the cliff just moments earlier, came rushing over with their eyes sparkling.

「Seeing it in person makes me keenly feel the limits of my imagination. 」
Retze looked at it closely

「There should be more species smaller than this one. 」
Khan seemed unconvinced

Hauron clutched his head beside him.

「So this is the difference between folks who’ve actually seen it and those who’ve just daydreamed about it based on legends, huh. 」
Retze compared Khan and Hauron with Dean and Chris, who were both squealing over the dragons, clearly over the moon.