Chapter 139-140

Chapter 139 – They left!

The morning after the ship docked at our island, the crew boarded the ship once again in order to return to Sanfaris.

As they prepared to leave, Rienna spoke to my father and Balpas.

"There really is no need for you to rush."

"No. We too have things that we must do."

Answered Balpas. I could see that he was desperately trying to avoid someone's eyes.

It was probably Macha, who stood right behind us as she waved her hand.

But more than anything, father likely wanted to return to the continent as soon as possible because of the prophecy.

The world would one day come to an end. And only Sheorl would be spared…

It was very hard to believe such a thing. However, it was right about me. About someone with the 'Cave King' crest becoming the lord of Sheorl.

And as the king of Sanfaris, he must want to prepare for the coming disaster.

And so I said to them,

"If there is anything that I can do… I would like to help the people of Sanfaris."

"I will hold you to those words. An ambassador will be sent shortly. You should also choose one for Sheorl."

"Very well. But please send someone with a good understanding of the current situation here."

"Leave it to me. Farewell, then."

Balpas said as moved towards the ship. Father walked after him.

However, Rienna suddenly called out to him.

"Your Majesty. About the matter we discussed yesterday…"

Yesterday, after meeting Oren, Rienna and father had discussed something.

Had she asked him a question?

He answered.

"I've said it before, but Heal and I are now on equal standing. And so I will not interfere in his affairs."

"But…you are still his father."

"…Well, Rienna. What would you do if I objected to it?"

"I…I…"

"You wouldn't give up, would you? In that case, you should pay me no mind."

Rienna gulped and then nodded.

Whatever they were talking about…it seemed rather important.

Father then muttered as if to himself.

"Well, I would like to see the face of a grandchild… Balpas, aren't you going to take her?"

As Rienna's face brightened a little, father's gaze turned to Macha, who was still waving at Balpas.

"Hardly…"

Balpas said coldly, and he tried to make his way to the ship.

However, in the end, Macha grabbed him for a final kiss, and Balpas had to run into his room on the ship in order to escape her.

If this continued, Macha might just end up going with them. But Mappa managed to pull her back onto the docks.

And like that, the ship left Sheorl.

I sighed with relief as it disappeared into the horizon.

"Haah… At least there will be no war with Sanfaris now."

"I'm greatly relieved… The king and prince must have seen just how much you wanted to avoid it."

Rienna said as she stood next to me.

And then Baris said,

"However, this prophecy is very troubling. If it continues to be accurate, your father and the people of Sanfaris might have a change of heart…"

Yes. If Sanfaris experienced great losses, they may no longer see us in the same light.

Not only that. If something happened on a world scale, then who knew how our relationship with other countries would change?

"You're right, Baris. We will have to be ready for anything."

And with this renewed resolve…I decided to focus on mining.

However, it wasn't for myself. If the end of the world was approaching, then there was a lot we had to do in order to prepare. I would likely have to help not just those on this island, but people outside of it as well.

But was that even possible?

No. Sheorl alone was safe from the disaster. In other words…

—I had to continue to dig. Dig and dig and dig.

And so I grabbed my pickaxe and headed underground.

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Chapter 140 – There was a giant building?!

A few days had now passed since my father and brother left.

I was digging away in the caves.

Of course, this was after I took care of everything that was important.

First, there was Lopez.

According to Elto, Lopez was a special monster that could become a Demon King.

Demon Kings were able to make other monsters their thralls. It was similar to the taming skill that some humans had. Not only that, Lopez would eventually grow to be able to use an immense amount of power. Just as powerful as he had been when Oren brought him back with Necromancy.

And it was because he was such a monster, that Elto wanted to educate Lopez in a way that was befitting of a Demon King. Of course, she also said she wanted him to be raised to be gentle, so that he could live happily with the other residents of the island.

I had already left the raising of Fal the Fire Dragon to her, and so I decided to let Elto take care of Lopez as well.

Then there was the underground city.

According to Shiel, there were a lot of houses down there that would be comfortable to live in. This was because the slimes had kept the place clean. There was still a usable water system as well. And I thought it might be useful if our population continued to increase.

However, just as before, the place was crawling with Chimeras. And it was hardly an environment that you could call safe. And so I had Aries and the Cave Spiders capture them little by little, and then I tamed them.

～～～～～～

And so it was after dealing with all of that, that I found myself digging here.

The imperials that had been slimes had now gone to the surface, and so we were currently expanding in terms of buildings, farmlands and reclaimed ground. Baris was very reliable in giving out orders, and so there was no reason for me to interfere.

…It had been a while since I was able to focus on digging like this.

I was currently near the underground lake where Elto had been sealed away.

Here, I had seen a very curious glowing stone that glimmered in seven different colors. Even Shiel and the people of the old empire did not know about it.

Over the last few days, I had been digging a tunnel to this cave from the underground city. All the while, Mappa extended his railroad as he followed behind.

As we now had a lot of Teleportation stones, it might not have been necessary. But there was always a possibility that something could happen to make them unusable. And so this was mostly in case of an emergency.

Today, I was with Shiel, Taran, Fule, and Number 15. Borthion and the other dolls were also close by and keeping watch.

Amidst all of this, Fule was looking at the walls as her eyes lit up. Here, there were numerous stones that shone like rainbows.

"I've never seen anything like it… Let's get them all!"

"There's no need to rush. They're not going to run away."

I wanted to start digging immediately as well.

However, safety was more important than anything.

And so I made sure that there was no suspicious magic in the area.

"Nothing on the right…or the left… Well, I'll be the first then!"

Before the others could do anything, I swung down with my pickaxe.

"Hey, Lord Heal! That's not fair!"

Fule and Taran rushed forward and swung their own pickaxes.

The wall in front of us then crumbled away.

And the broken rocks were sucked into my Inventory.

When I checked the Inventory, I saw that I now had a lot of stones called 'Septium.'

So, that's what these rainbow-colored stones were.

Fule picked up a fragment of the Septium and asked me,

"It's so pretty… But what is it?"

"It's called Septium. According to the Encyclopedia, it's just a precious stone."

Just a precious stone. Fule looked very disappointed.

Well, considering the kind of things we had dug up in the past, perhaps it did sound too ordinary…

Still, this stone was not known to the people on the continent. And I was sure that it would be very valuable.

"It might be good for making rings. Anyway, maybe we'll find something else if we keep digging."

After that, we continued to dig until evening. Towards the north.

However, we got nothing but rocks and more Septium. There was nothing else that was new.

Even so, I was satisfied. It was fun.

If anything, I hoped that these peaceful days could just continue… It was with such thoughts that we returned to the surface.

"I wonder what's for dinner."

I muttered while looking at the World Tree.

However, Fule was looking in the opposite direction with a shocked expression.

"Lo-Lord Heal. That…"

"What is it, Fule? Huh!?"

As we exited the cave, I saw that there was now a huge building in front of the entrance.