NBAA Vol. 1 Bonus Chapter
BONUS CHAPTER – Our First River Romp
“Right, let’s go fishing today.”
“Arf?”
On a certain day, in the cave he made his home, Reito suddenly had this idea. His partner, Ullr, looked at him, curious.
There was a reason behind this sudden desire to fish: living surrounded by nature, Reito recalled that he used to fish fairly often in his past life, so he wanted to try doing it in this world too.
“I need tools to fish though…a pole and hooks too…”
Reito was thinking about what to do, when Ullr barked with energy.
“Woof!!”
“Eh? You want to catch fish too? That’s fine, but…”
Reito was perplexed, as he had no idea how the wolf Ullr could catch fish.
Thinking of checking out the location first, Reito and the eager Ullr left the cave and headed to a nearby river.
◆◆◆
“ — blub blub…!?”
“You can’t swim!?”
Several minutes later, Reito saved Ullr from drowning.
Ullr had jumped straight into the river, with full confidence — only to sink like a rock.
Reito sighed, then came up with an idea.
“If you can’t swim, say so first! Geez, you sure are a handful…okay, I’ll teach you to swim, so let’s go in the river together. Let’s start with the breaststroke.”
“Woof!?”
“What? Dog paddle? You absolute fool!! You’re not a dog, you’re a wolf!!”
“Woo…of…?”
Ullr was intimidated by Reito’s stern glare. Overwhelmed, he started obediently practicing the breaststroke.
“Haf, haf…!!”
“No, no, no!! You won’t be able to go forward if you move your legs like that!!”
“Whiine…”
“No complaints!! If you can reach the opposite shore, I’ll cook any meat you want tonight!”
“WOOF!!”
“Good!! Yes, like that!!”
Reito swam next to Ullr, like a strict yet passionate trainer, instructing him as he did.
It seemed impossible at first, but little by little Ullr was getting the hang of swimming breaststroke.
Eventually, Ullr managed to swim 10 metres and reach the opposite shore. Reito embraced him and cheered.
“You did it, Ullr!! You can swim!!”
“Woof!!!”
Reito congratulated his partner’s success.
Their initial goal of fishing completely forgotten, they returned to their cave dwelling.
Ullr briskly hopped back on land and started walking. Reito stood up too to catch up with him, but—
“Owowowow!!!”
“Woof!?”
The boy suddenly yelped in pain. Surprised, Ullr turned back and saw Reito on the ground, holding his legs.
Ullr ran back to Reito. He had started heavy exercise — Ullr’s swimming training — without warming up, so his legs paid the price.
Reito, a grimace of pain on his face, spoke to Ullr.
“How could I forget it…in order to learn to swim, there is one thing more important than anything else…”
“Arf…?”
“Before swimming…always do your warm-up…”
“Woof….”
Ullr’s bark sounded like a dejected sigh.
In the end, they had to wait for Reito’s legs to become usable again before they could return to the cave.