On the dragon's back, the group chatted.
Alya was telling Shadow what had happened to the party after Shadow left.
Shadow listened quietly.
Gauss, meanwhile, began trying to teach the dragon beast Hefis about Draconic.
If they had to find the human best suited to teach Hefis Draconic in this world—or even expand the search to include every species—Gauss might well be the most suitable person right now.
Not even a true dragon could compete with him.
He had good reason to be confident. First, his own command of Draconic was already quite advanced. He had reached Intermediate Dragon Language, and it was plain to see that he would become a master of Draconic in the future.
Second, he also had dragon blood in his veins, which made dragon beasts instinctively feel close to him.
Third, and most importantly, with White Egg's help, he had developed a mysterious telepathic connection with Hefis.
As long as he made some kind of physical contact with it, Hefis could roughly understand what he was trying to convey.
So even if Hefis couldn't understand Draconic, he could use their telepathic connection to convey the same meaning at the same time. If he just kept repeating it, even a blockhead like Hefis ought to pick up some Draconic, right?
As for whether it could actually cast spells after learning a little Draconic, that would be the next step in his plan.
Gauss thought he had done a pretty good job raising Hefis. Lately, both its mind and body had started to develop.
As long as he and Hefis both worked toward becoming stronger, it had a chance to advance from a dragon beast into a true dragon.
As Shadow chatted with Alya, she watched Gauss, who was engrossed in communicating with Hefis in a stream