Chapter 2: A Big Meeting!

On the day after Camus and her crew joined our community, I arranged a meeting with the leader figures of the island. We held our meeting at the large table stationed at the foot of Yggdrasil—a round table of white marble crafted by Baris and the other monsters to hold big meetings.

We sat down in a circle. Baris and Riena, naturally, were present. Erivan looked disgruntled, while Furay chided him about his attitude. Though they couldn’t speak, Taran, Ciel, Starkers, and Riale were here as well. Last but not least was Camus, one of our new Sheol citizens.

I had arranged this meeting because I wanted to discuss the future of this island. To start, I wanted to talk about the general direction we would steer this island towards—matters concerning the island as a whole, like construction projects we wanted to start or how we were going to divide the labor. We also had to discuss what we should do about Camus’s wrecked ship.

We started off with the topic of what we should build or make next.

“That’s a good question,” mused Riena. “We’ve made most of the facilities and tools we need for our everyday life.”

Like she said, if we only wanted to survive, the island was already well equipped for that. Water, an essential resource, wasn’t a problem because we were pumping the underground hot spring water to the surface. We had plenty of water for drinking and other purposes. The hot water was also pumped to the baths on the surface, so we could bathe ourselves whenever we wanted.

As for food, we had ample reserves. There was a vast underground cold room, where we stored fish and monster meat. We had also constructed a farm at the foot of Yggdrasil with the soil that the cave spiders produced. With the aid of the sunstones, which accelerated plant growth, we could speed up our harvest when we needed to. Yggdrasil also had similar effects on plant life, so I was sure we would be able to enjoy the literal fruits of our labor in the near future.

The island used to be a barren, rocky place, but the farm and Yggdrasil had added the lush emerald of leaves to the environment. And now, the landscape is scenic and breathtaking, I thought with a hint of wonder.

Baris concluded, “Hmm... In that case, the only matter on hand is repairing the broken walls and towers that the leviathan destroyed a while ago.”

“I guess...” I looked round at everyone else. As I expected, no one offered any new opinion to the mix, presumably because they felt that things were already good enough.

There was one exception—Camus seemed like she wanted to say something. Perhaps she was being reserved because she was a newcomer.

I prompted her. “Hey, Camus. You’ve seen our island. Have you noticed anything that we should change?”

Her head jerked slightly in surprise. “I...only came here yesterday. I’m not in a position to give out any criticism.”

“That may be the case,” I replied patiently, “but we asked you to join our meeting because we want your input and the opinions of the orc race as a whole.”

“Still...”

I had assumed she would be quite vocal about her opinions, but it seemed that, as the successful leader of a powerful tribe, she knew when she should take a step back and allow others to take the reins.

“Chief’s askin’ for yer opinion,” Erivan grumbled, folding his arms. “Speak up if ya have somethin’ to say.”

Riena persuaded Camus gently. “Miss Camus, we will be neighbors from now on. Please be more open with us.”

“You two... Thank you.” Camus bowed earnestly before she began, “The ships on this island are what bothered me.”

“Ships, huh...?” I said. “You make a good point; we don’t have any respectable sailing vessels at the moment.”

Our only methods of sea travel were the boat I had used to travel to this island, the smaller boats of the orcs, and the rafts which the goblins had crafted under great pressure in terms of time and resources. We had dismantled the relatively large ship which the goblins had arrived on, and Camus’s enormous warship was far from seaworthy.

Baris had actually brought up his plans for ships before. He had mentioned that he wanted to eventually build ships so that we could trade to gain resources and goods that weren’t available on Sheol. However, practically none of us had the knowledge or skills of a shipwright, so we had set such plans aside for the time being.

Camus looked at the surrounding landscape as she continued, “All of you are right. This island is prosperous enough that you can lead comfortable lives. So, you could argue that you don’t need ships, and I’d have to agree. But I do think that you should construct a place to tie up ships from the outside world, or your own fishing boats.”

I hummed. “A wharf, hm?”

Thinking back, transporting the crew and baggage from Camus’s ship had taken a lot of effort. We had to make many return trips in our boats. At the moment, Camus’s warship was anchored at a slight distance from Sheol Reef. We didn’t have piers or wharves where ships could moor, nor did we have facilities for ship repair.

On that thought, I continued, “You’re right, making our coast more convenient might be a good idea.” I paused. “For example, if we’d had areas where we could tie up more rafts and boats when the goblin ship sank a while ago, the rescue mission would have been much more efficient.”

Baris nodded immediately. “I agree. Considering that we might trade one day, it would be best if we had facilities where we can load and unload ships swiftly. As for the warship... Now that we have a steady supply of lumber from Yggdrasil, it might be better to repair it than dismantle it.”

“Hmm... Yeah, let’s go with that.” I turned to Camus. “Camus, can I put you in charge of designing the harbor?”

“M-Me?” she stammered, surprised.

“I know a few things about harbors, but I’m sure that you’re much more knowledgeable about that kind of thing. If possible, I want you to decide the details of our wharf.”

She fell into thought with a frown of concentration. After a moment of silence, she let out an audible exhale. “Understood. But—no, ignore that. I promise that we’ll do a fantastic job if you leave it to us. My tribe is capable. I’m sure of it.”

I could see the determination on her face—but then, she glanced over at the sea with wavering eyes. Maybe she’s wary of being involved with the ocean again.

“Okay, then, onto the next topic...” I placed two golden stones onto the table.

Most of the others didn’t show much of a reaction, but Camus was slightly startled. “Is that...pure gold? Those are pretty big,” she observed.

I shook my head. “No, they’re called risestones, and they’re necessary for monster evolution.”

Riena, for example, might have a humanlike appearance now, but she used to be an ordinary goblin. Risestones allowed the user to evolve their bodies according to their desired appearance and abilities. One of Riena’s original goals had been to gain arcane talent. As a goblin, she couldn’t manipulate mana, and therefore couldn’t cast spells.

When I had first discovered a risestone and shown it to the goblins, Baris had revealed that they had heard about the stone before. In fact, it had even appeared in their myths, and the ancestors of hobgoblins—goblins with burly statures—were goblins who had used risestones to evolve.

“The evolution stone...” Camus whispered, but then she laughed heartily. “That’s absurd. I figured that numerous treasures were buried beneath the cave on this island, but nah, such fairy tale stones can’t be real.”

With a solemn expression, Baris murmured, “Fairy tale... That must mean the Corvus tribe have heard stories of it as well.”

“We sure have. It actually has to do with my own tribe. Legend says our ancestors started off as orcs who were hopeless swimmers, but then, they used the evolution stones to adapt better to water.”

“These are the exact evolution stones you are talking about,” Riena declared. “I evolved with one of these as well.”

Camus’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, you mean you were once a goblin?”

“Yes! I was in a race against death due to a curse back then, but thanks to this stone, I managed to extend my life span.”

The taller woman sized Riena up with disbelief. “You sure look like a human to me... Oh, but your ears are too long for a human, huh. Still, can such a legendary item really exist?” Her doubt was evident.

Erivan harrumphed in displeasure. “Hah. She’s not gonna believe us no matter what we say. Look at me, for example. Deep down in my heart, I thought it was absurd until I saw our princess evolve with my own two eyes.”

“Weeell...” I turned to face Furay, who was sitting at one corner of the table. “I suppose we should start things by watching over Furay’s evolution, then. Furay, are you sure about this?”

The small goblin girl had wished for the ability to use magic due to her admiration for her father’s strength. She would have to evolve to gain it, which was why she persevered in the mining shafts with me for a long time. Her efforts had borne fruit, and she had finally unearthed a grand total of three risestones—two were laid out on the table before me, while Furay had the final one.

Furay had claimed that one was enough for her, and entrusted the remaining two in my care, asking that I use them for the benefit of the island. The leviathan’s attack had happened almost immediately after her discovery, so she had put off her evolution for a while. She had mentioned that she needed time to come to terms with it, so perhaps having the extra time was actually a good thing for her.

Erivan leaned down to meet Furay’s eyes and asked, “Furay, ya made up yer mind?”

“Mm-hmm.” She nodded firmly. “I want to use magic too. I think I’ll be a bigger help to Lord Heale and everyone else.”

Her father gave her an encouraging nod in return and patted her shoulder. “I’ll always have yer back. If yer gonna use the stone, ya gotta work even harder to help everyone, ’kay?”

“Of course!” She turned to look at me with a bright smile, giving me a big nod. Then, she took out her risestone from her pocket. “Okay, here goes nothing...”

She clasped both hands around the risestone in prayer. The next moment, a blinding light flowed out and engulfed her. Once the light subsided...

“Ohhh!” chirped an excited voice. “I think I’m...taller?”

The person talking looked no different from an energetic human girl, and she wore a black pinafore dress. Her voice was identical to Furay’s, and her crisp, lively tone matched too. It must be Furay.

She seemed to be around the same height and age as me. That makes sense. I’m pretty sure I heard Furay is fifteen like me and Riena. Her long blonde hair was tied into two pigtails at both sides of her head, and she had large eyes that were slightly upturned at the tips, just like the Furay I knew. Okay, I definitely have the right person.

Furay was looking over at her hands and feet when Ciel stretched out his body before her like a mirror. When she saw her reflection, she gasped. “Wow!”

Baris hummed. “She has a humanlike appearance, just like the princess... Interesting, she ended up looking a bit like you as well, Lord Heale.”

“Well yeah, the first person that pops up in my mind when I think about magic would be Lord Heale.” She shrugged. “Ah, but if it granted all my wishes, I should be able to do something else as well!”

Furay shut her eyes and squeezed them tight. Then, she was engulfed by light, just like when she evolved. When the light faded away, the petite Furay we were familiar with was standing there.

“All right! It’s a success!” she cheered.

Everyone’s eyes were as round as saucers.

I was the first one who managed to find my words. “Wait, does that mean you can transform into either form at your will?”

“Looks like it. I wished that I’d be able to move as nimbly as possible. My original form’s better for agility, so yeah. Okay then...” She shut her eyes once again and was enveloped in a cocoon of light. This time, she appeared in her humanlike form.

“I see, you can switch freely,” I muttered. “That’s a new discove—” I broke off, realizing that Riena had closed her eyes as well. “Ah.”

She seemed to be testing whether she could switch like Furay and... Yep, she can. The tiny Riena I once knew was standing in front of me.

“Y-Your Highness!” Baris gasped. “You can return to your original form as well?”

Riena nodded. “Yes, that seems to be the case.” She looked down at her hands and legs. “Wow...” She sighed, half in wonder and half in wistfulness. “I used to be so small.”

If I remembered correctly, the risestone entry in the mineral encyclopedia had mentioned something along the lines of changing to a new body. Hm, so this change can be reversed at any time, huh?

As if to back up that theory, Riena transformed back into her human form. As she looked over her body again, she addressed me. “Lord Heale, it seems that I can return to my original form even if I didn’t make that wish when I evolved. I couldn’t use magic in that form, so the structure of my body must have reverted too.”

“Huh. That’s definitely news to me.” Everyone must have felt somewhat put off by the fact that they’ll look different after their evolution. But if they can switch at any time, they wouldn’t feel so reluctant.

Furay twirled around in a circle before grinning brightly at Erivan. “Well? How do I look, Dad? I’m cute, right?”

Erivan had a slight frown on his face. “Uh... Yer a little thin. If possible, I think it would’ve been better for ya to be more buff. Yer my daughter, so ya should have this much at least, ya know.” He pointed at his sturdy arms proudly.

“Boasting about your muscles again?” Furay sighed and looked away, her lips slightly pursed. “I can use magic now, so who cares?”

“I suppose. Yer taller than before, and probably stronger too. But if I was the one evolvin’, I’d definitely wish to become a giant. Yer too puny like this.” He patted her slender shoulders.

Furay let out a long, exasperated sigh, and muttered with a bigger pout, “Why do you measure everything by how big or small it is...?”

Ah, I see. Riena mentioned that she pictured me when she wished to become a mage. Furay must have pictured a human as well, since she often saw me using magic.

Everyone looked at Furay’s new appearance with joy, but there was one person who was dumbfounded.

“N-No way...” Camus breathed. “A goblin turned into a human...and can even transform back!”

Next to her, Starkers was spurting out blood from his nostrils like he had when Riena evolved. Uh...is that because Furay has a greater total surface area of exposed skin now that she’s taller?

As I cast a healing spell on Starkers, I asked Camus, “Do you believe us now?”

“Y-Yeah.”

She was finally convinced that our risestones were the real deal. Well, more like she has to believe us after seeing Furay evolve and Riena returning to her goblin form.

I addressed everyone once again. “So the next question is, what should we do with the remaining two risestones?” I paused. “Personally, I want Baris to use one.”

Hearing my proposal, Baris knitted his brows together. “I would be honored to have the opportunity. However, now that we have new residents like Lady Camus, I believe we should take our time to reconsider the candidates that would bring the most merits to Sheol.”

I nodded. “I agree. And I still think you are our best choice, Baris.” I turned to the others and explained, “I have a few reasons, but the main reason is Baris’s crest, <Sorcerer King>. If he evolves and gains arcane talent, there’s a high chance he could become a mage to surpass me and Riena. We don’t have enough magic users on the island, so even after thinking about it again, Baris is the one I nominate.”

Wielders of <Sorcerer King> could manipulate an unfathomable amount of mana at once. Even in Sanphales, people with this crest were few and far between, and it was one of the most powerful crests in existence.

Riena voiced her support. “I agree with Lord Heale. I think Baris should use one.”

Erivan quickly followed suit. “No complaints from me. I know it’s kinda rude to say, but Baris is pretty ancient...” He shrugged. “Well, yeah, I want him to live a long life. None of us can even read without this guy around.”

Taran, Starkers, and Ciel nodded in their own unique ways as well.

“No one else has <Sorcerer King>, so yep, I think Baris is the best choice,” I concluded. “Ah, but maybe one of the orcs might?”

Camus shook her head. “We’ve never had anyone with that crest in our tribe, and that remains true to this day. I’ve heard of the might of <Sorcerer King> as well. If he’s able to evolve into a body that can use magic, he definitely should.”

“I see... Hey Baris, looks like everyone agrees.”

The shaman replied with a slow nod. “In that case, please allow me the honor of using one.” He placed a hand against his chest. “I swear that I will make myself useful to you and everyone on this island, my lord.”

“All right, one candidate down,” I said. “As for the other one...”

“Before we go any farther, how about we ask about the crests of the orcs?” suggested Baris. “It might help us decide.”

Camus raised an eyebrow. “Our crests? Well, as I mentioned, the ancestors of our tribe evolved to adapt better to the ocean. Most of the crests we are born with are related to the sea too.” She slid off the glove on her right hand, revealing a glowing emblem with a design that reminded me of a dragon. “My crest is <Sea Serpent>, a crest that can control ocean currents and wind...or so people say.”

I blinked. “Does that mean it’s actually different?”

She pulled up her glove once again and replied, “In reality, at best it can only summon a slight ocean breeze and manipulate a cup’s worth of water.”

Baris inclined his head slightly. “<Sea Serpent>... I admit, I have never heard of it before, but I believe it is worth looking into.”

“I mean, like anyone else would do in my shoes, I tested out all kinds of stuff. But it didn’t turn out to be anything special.” She paused. “Anyway, neither I nor the other orcs have crests that can benefit a lot from evolving. You’d probably have better luck with other people.”

Hm, is Camus being reserved again? But there is the chance that she truly thinks that. “I see... Okay then, does anyone else have any ideas? You can nominate yourself or other people.”

One hand shot up into the air without a moment’s delay—it belonged to the half naked dude, Starkers.

I gazed at him. “You...want to evolve, Starkers?”

He nodded profusely. Hm. He’s a master blacksmith, but he can’t use magic, so if he evolves... “Starkers would be a good choice,” I said aloud. “If he can use magic, he might be able to make better tools, weapons, and facilities.”

Everyone else at the table nodded.

But then, Furay raised a question. “I’m not against it or anything, but one question. Is Starkers even a monster?”

Realization dawned on me. “Oh...”

The risestone was a stone that evolved monsters. It likely wouldn’t be effective on races that didn’t fall into that category.

There was a good chance that Starkers wasn’t a monster, because he was the only one I couldn’t tame on this island. A taming contract could only be formed between a human and a monster. I’d suggested it to Starkers before to make life easier for him in the tunnels, and he had given me permission, but the contract had failed.

Furthermore, in human mythology, humans and dwarves had started off as the same race who had later on moved to separate settlements. I wasn’t sure how other races viewed dwarves, but we humans, at least, hadn’t ever considered them monsters. That being said, I actually don’t have any confirmation that Starkers is a dwarf. I only assumed that because of his stature and smithing skills.

Riena chose to ask Starkers directly. “Mister Starkers, you...are a human, right?”

In the face of this question, Starkers fell silent for a while before he inclined his head quizzically. He seemed to have no idea what race he even was.

Erivan gave the stout man a consoling pat on his shoulder. “Can’t do much if ya can’t use it. Let’s pass it on to someone else, aye?”

Starkers, however, shook his head over and over, strongly expressing his protest.

With an exasperated face, Erivan chided, “Oi, ya ain’t a toddler, ya know. Yer a respectable adult. Don’t ya feel ashamed?”

But Starkers actually started wailing and bawling uncontrollably like a child. Tears streamed down his eyes, and he was sniffling. He probably has a lot of wishes he wants the stone to grant, like gaining the ability to talk with us all... I can understand his reaction.

Gently, I tried to reason with him. “At first, I thought that trying it out wouldn’t be any harm, but on second thought, we don’t know what will happen if a non-monster uses it. It’s too dangerous.”

Starkers gasped. It seemed that my concern for him had gotten across to the man. I didn’t know whether he fulfilled the conditions, but I didn’t want to risk it. What if there were malicious effects? That would be awful.

He let out a sigh and folded his arms in front of his chest before nodding a few times, as if to say, “Oh well.”

“If Starkers truly can use it without any drawbacks, I’d agree too, but there’s too much uncertainty...” I let out a sigh of my own. “Any other options?”

There was a moment of silence as everyone mulled over the question. I was expecting Erivan, Taran, or Ciel to volunteer themselves, but that didn’t happen.

Figuring that we weren’t getting anywhere, I muttered, “In that case, let’s ask everyone else for candida— Hm?” I noticed that Baris was raising his hand. “Oh! Do you have an idea, Baris?”

“Yes. I think that putting it off to a later date is worth considering. As with Her Highness, this stone doesn’t just evolve monsters, but can also save someone’s life.”

Baris was referring to the period before Riena’s evolution. A curse used to eat away at her life span, causing her undue suffering. I had lifted the curse itself with a purgestone and extended her life with turtlestones, but her remaining time had been pitiful compared to her rightful life span.

That was when I had unearthed a risestone, which had changed everything. Riena had used the stone at once, and evolution had granted her magic as well as a longer life. In other words, evolution could also drag a person back from the brink of death.

I placed a hand on my chin. “Ah, I get it. We can save it for an emergency, huh?” I had once discovered a dragon orb, which could resurrect the dead. Though the risestone wasn’t quite on the same level, it might be a good option to have when someone was in danger. “That’s definitely worth thinking about...”

Riena nodded. “I agree. Either way, we aren’t in a hurry. Perhaps we might find someone else who is extremely eager to use it if we ask around.”

“And we can’t rule out the possibility that we might find more stones surprisingly quickly,” added Furay.

Hearing that, I came to a decision. “Yeah, you’re right... Okay, thanks for your input. Let’s put this to one side for now.”

Everyone nodded.

I continued, “Now that’s out of the way...” I handed one risestone to Baris.

“Thank you.” He accepted it gratefully. “Well then...” He stood up and lifted the risestone high into the air.

A brilliant flash of light took his place. Once the light subsided, what we saw...

...was Baris, who looked completely unchanged.

I let out a subconscious “Huh?” Everyone else tilted their heads quizzically as well.

Furay was the representative who voiced the doubts in our collective minds. “Uh, Lord Baris, you kinda...look like you haven’t changed at all.”

“Strange.” He creased his eyebrows. “I’m certain I wished for magic and a longer life span...” Ciel stretched his body into a mirror in front of Baris. “Ahhh, thank you, Lord Ciel.” He inspected his reflection. “Hm. Indeed, my appearance itself is identical.”

That was when Erivan let out a loud “Oh!” of realization. He continued, “I think, uh, his head’s shinin’ a little brighter than before.”

Baris shot a glance at Erivan’s head. “I believe our heads are equally ‘smooth,’ General...” He then tilted his head, puzzled. “But, well, I agree, this is slightly odd. The princess and Furay were different.”

Furay asked, “Hey, did you wish for anything other than magic and a longer life, Lord Baris?”

The shaman hummed in thought. “I did hope to be frightening when I’m angry so that I can stop the young ones from their mischief. None of them will listen when I scold them, you see.”

Ah, I’m not that surprised. He’s always grinning and smiling, after all. He’s also quite a gentle soul, so he’s not that intimidating when he’s trying to be stern.

That gave Furay an idea. “Maybe something will happen when you’re being strict, then.”

“Hmm. In that case, I shall give it a try,” he muttered. “Hmph!”

The world turned dark in an instant.

“Wh-What’s going on?!” I blurted.

An unfathomable darkness was all that I could see, and something was closing in on me, making all my hair stand on end. When the murky shadows retreated, a terrifying silhouette was left behind.

The figure that stood there was a giant with a muscular build that not even Erivan or Camus could hold a candle to. The outward corners of its eyes were pulled eerily high, and it smirked at us boldly. Sinister wings as black as tar stretched out from its back, many times its own height.

A dreadful mythical creature floated to the surface of my mind. A demon... The thing before me seemed to match the description perfectly.

Riale yelped at the terrifying sight and buried their head into my chest, trembling. From behind me, I heard the sound of a goblin child wailing in panic.

Another child screamed, “Wh-What’s that?!”

The demon-like creature turned its head to the children. “Hm? Why are you crying? It’s me.”

The children ran as quickly as their legs could carry them, sobbing even louder.

Nervously, Erivan asked, “H-Hey, are ya Baris?”

The demon-like creature’s deep, ghastly voice echoed in our ears. “Yes, General. I am indeed Baris.”

Oh, he really is Baris. He looked like the embodiment of malice, but what spooked me even more was his aura that made me feel as if I were looking into a bottomless abyss.

Furay was stroking the shivering Taran as she said, “Lord Baris, you’re banned from taking on this form! You aren’t just scaring the children, you’re scaring everyone!”

“Am I that frightening?”

He probably intended to sound normal, but it came out more like a threat. Everyone was shaking as we nodded in unison. Ciel stretched out his body once again and took on the role of a mirror.

Baris rasped, “Hmm... Oh, Lord Ciel, thank you.” He leaned forward—only to exclaim loudly, “Wh-What is this thing?! A demon?!”

There was a thud as Baris collapsed onto the ground. He got such a fright from his own appearance that he had lost balance. Weeell, I mean, he turned into the most frightening sight he could imagine. He must be more affected than anyone else.

But he immediately climbed to his feet and transformed back into the Baris we were all familiar with. He cleared his throat. “Apologies for the unseemly sight.”

Wow... The power of the risestone is no trifling matter indeed. He looked scary, but his aura felt even scarier. That might be the special ability he gained. You know, the power of intimidation or something along those lines.

Baris placed a hand to his throat, clearing it a few more times before talking in his usual tone. “That aside, I shall try casting a spell.” He raised his hand before his chest and lifted his index finger. “Fire.”

He had once mentioned that he had spent some time delving into the study of magic, so as long as he could manipulate mana, he should be able to cast spells right away.

Everyone let out a “Ohhh!” of excitement as a flame manifested on his fingertip.

“My word...” Baris whispered, voice shaking with emotion. “Unbelievable. To think that such a day would come...” Tears formed at the corners of his eyes, about to overflow and spill down.

I had only seen him cry once throughout all the time I had known him—when Riena had collapsed during my first encounter with the goblins. Back then, he had wept out of frustration and sorrow, but now, a brilliant smile lit his features.

Riena gently placed a hand on his shoulder. “Congratulations, Baris.”

The others followed suit and offered their own words of celebration for his evolution.

Smiling from ear to ear, Baris bowed gratefully. “Thank you, all of you. I promise that I will make myself useful to everyone. Oh, I need to invest a lot of effort into studying magic as well... It seems that I still have many things to do in my life.”

Later on, I heard from someone that Baris said his body felt much lighter after his evolution. To be specific, he could walk without the aid of his cane, and even sprint. Though his appearance hadn’t changed one bit, his body had most definitely regained its youth. He had also mentioned that he used to look older than his actual age to begin with, so this must just be the same body he’d had when he was younger...

In any case, Baris’s lifelong dream had come true—he could finally use magic!

Chapter 3: Back to the Mines!

While everyone else had gone their separate ways to tackle the tasks we allocated during the meeting yesterday, I was deep down in the cave tunnels. Of course, I was here to dig.

It had been rather hectic recently—preparing for the leviathan’s arrival, getting hurt in the battle, and so on. Roughly a week had gone by since I’d last come to the mining shafts.

“I can finally mine again...” I sighed in contentment.

I had been itching to dig for the past week. In fact, whenever I saw other monsters holding pickaxes, I had trouble sleeping on the same night.

But it wasn’t solely to sate my personal desires that I wanted to mine, of course. Mining was vital for the development of this island. The risestones we’d used yesterday, the Yggdrasil seed, the sunstones that accelerated plant growth—I had discovered them all in the cave tunnels. Valuable minerals with even more powerful effects might still be buried here. We also needed a substantial amount of stone for construction projects.

I’m not trying to sound haughty or anything, but I’m our most experienced miner. I hesitated before correcting myself, I think. I had taken a peek at Taran and the post-evolution Furay earlier, and their mining speed had increased in leaps and bounds. During the few days I had been out of commission, they had been busy polishing their skills.

“I can’t afford to be complacent...” I muttered to myself before turning to my two companions. “I’m counting on you two as always, Riale, Ciel.”

Next to me, Riale barked with their usual cheer. “Woof!”

Riale’s crest was <Clairvoyance>, an incredible crest that didn’t just allow them to see things far away—they could also sense items of interest in their vicinity, and had a sixth sense for the emotions of other sentient races. In fact, the pickaxe I was holding at the moment was made of mithril, a precious metal that Riale had discovered. There was a chance that they might find something intriguing once again.

As for Ciel, who hopped behind me, he was my constant companion no matter where I went. He was the supervisor of the slimes that transported the minerals within the tunnels, and he was my reliable comrade who would pass on my instructions to everyone else if the need ever arose.

“Okay then, let’s get started.”

Wasting no time, I brought down my pickaxe on the rock wall. With a deafening clang, the entire wall collapsed. <Cave King> granted me abilities that elevated my mining efficiency by an incredible extent. Not only that, but it even highlighted the areas where I should dig, and, further, granted me Night Vision, which allowed me to see clearly even inside the dark cave. The monsters under a taming contract with me shared these gifts as well, so everyone could mine safely and effortlessly.

“Yeah, this is what I’ve been missing... Nothing can beat this.”

As I swung my pick, I could feel the corners of my lips creeping higher and higher on my face. Mining was the purpose of my life that I had discovered in Sheol Reef. The rhythmical sound of metal against rock was music to my ears.

Suddenly, loud barking disrupted the pleasant song. It was Riale.

“Hm?” I looked down. “Something the matter?”

Riale had raised their petite, black nose high in the air and was sniffing something. Did they detect some kind of strange scent? Hmm, I don’t sense anything off as a human, but who knows? They continued to wave their nose in all directions before finally gesturing in one direction with their paw.

At first glance, it only seemed to be a plain rock wall. I didn’t sense any mana in that direction either.

“Is there something over there?” I asked.

Riale nodded.

Okay, there must be an unknown item on the other side of this wall that caught their attention. Considering Riale’s previous discoveries, it might be something valuable.

I heeded the kobold’s request and started digging as directed. After three swings, what appeared wasn’t more gray rock, but an avalanche of numerous skeletons that rolled onto the ground.

Shocked at the sight, I jumped slightly on reflex. However, when I got a closer look at the bones, I discovered that they didn’t seem like human bones. They were small and delicate, and the most striking feature was the beaks on the skulls. Bird skeletons.

In size, they were much smaller than the killer birds. They were roughly the size of the pigeons that occasionally flew into the garden of the royal palace. Huh. Were they eaten as food, leaving only bones that were thrown into one place?

But...that’s strange, because these skeletons are whole. The skulls and wing bones were left intact, which was why I figured out they were birds so quickly. Normally, one would sever the heads and wings to process them separately during cooking. It’s more likely that living birds were buried alive for some reason. They don’t really smell rotten, but maybe Riale sensed their stench?

Surprisingly, Riale didn’t seem too interested in the bones themselves. The kobold squeezed through the gaps between the bones and dug out a round object.

I knelt down. “What’s that? A rock—No, an egg?”

Upon closer inspection, the shape of the item reminded me more of a white egg than a gem. The chick inside must have died by now, so it’s probably a fossil. Hmm...but it doesn’t seem stony like a fossil should be. Since it didn’t break even though it was buried under all those skeletons, it must be relatively hard.

Riale lifted the object and offered it to me.

“Thanks, Riale.” I stroked the baby’s head. No matter what this is, Riale gave it to me, and that alone makes me happy. “That aside...” I turned the object in my hand and observed it. “The more I look at it, the prettier it seems.”

The egg sparkled brilliantly as I looked at it from different angles. It was pure white, without a blemish in sight, as if it were a gem crafted by nature. Its surface was so smooth that it couldn’t possibly be a fossil in my mind. Maybe I should keep it and store it as a plain jewel, not an egg.

I scanned my surroundings for similar eggs, but I didn’t have any luck. However, I did spot shards that seemed to be eggshells. They were a stony gray and had been utterly crushed, retaining none of their former glory. As a test, I touched one. Its surface was gritty like rock, and, lying nearby, I spotted the tiny skeleton of a chick that had yet to see the world.

“Maybe this egg was special,” I muttered aloud.

That aside, why are there so many bird skeletons in a place like this? I don’t know whether they were wild or domesticated, but one thing is clear: they were buried alive due to some unknown event. I’m curious about their species. Maybe I might find some clues if I dig around here.

“All right!” I stood up vigorously. “Time to do some digging!”

Riale replied with an adorable “Yap!”

I stowed the egg fossil into my coat pocket before getting right back to mining.

Unfortunately, I didn’t end up finding anything related to the birds in the surrounding rock.

Chapter 5: Lending a Listening Ear!

We suspended the harbor construction and devoted all our energy into gathering the scissor crabs. We were in luck—the tides worked in our favor and pushed the swarm towards Sheol, where Riena, Furay, and I used ice spells to freeze the washed-up crabs.

The crabs were so numerous that I honestly didn’t think we could finish fishing them out and transporting them within the span of one day, but I shouldn’t have underestimated my comrades. The cave spiders threw their silk into the ocean and hauled up piles of crabs at once, while the slimes carried them in an organized manner. Thanks to them, we were done at night.

According to Baris, there were at least three thousand crabs. Wow. Of course, that was only the number we had managed to collect. Most of the swarm either sank into the ocean or were washed away by the currents. Still, we had a great haul. In fact, we couldn’t fit them inside our current cold rooms, and most of the crabs were still outside, frozen and stacked into towering piles.

It was already late at night, so we decided to have dinner and call it a day. I’d expand our cold rooms tomorrow.

Food was always best when fresh, so we dined on the scissor crabs right away.

“Wooow!” I exclaimed. The pot in front of me was at least ten times bigger than our standard pots. Inside it, bright red scissor crabs were submerged in boiling water. The salty scent of seawater mixed with the rich aromas of crab meat into a tantalizing mixture that permeated the air.

There wasn’t just one of these pots—numerous large pots were boiling away beneath the boughs of Yggdrasil.

Riena was standing next to me, and she explained, “Scissor crabs are big, so cooking them in the pots we’ve been using so far was a challenge. That’s why we asked Starkers to make big ones.”

Starkers was present as well, and he was already gorging noisily on the tender meat of the scissor crab legs. It clearly tasted heavenly, because with every gulp, a blissful expression took over his face. The scissor crab leg was at least the size of a cow’s leg, so it was very satisfying.

I gulped. I couldn’t stop my mouth from watering.

Riena ushered me to take a seat and fetched an iron plate of cut-up crab meat. “Here, Lord Heale! Please have some!”

“Ohhh!” My eyes lit up.

“I stewed it with fish and murder bird bones. I hope you like it.”

“You did?” My expectations rose even higher. “Okay then, thanks for the food!” I grabbed a scissor crab leg with my bare hands. Up close, the thickness of the leg was around the width of my face.

I took a big bite. The moment the meat entered my mouth, its juices gushed out and its delectable flavors bombarded my senses. The meat was so tender that it melted on my tongue. “Whoaaa...” I let out an unintelligible moan.

Riena chuckled. “How does it taste?”

“...It’s delicious. It doesn’t feel like I’m eating meat. It’s so silky that I feel like I’m drinking soup.” I brought the leg closer to my face and took one big bite after another. The meat was gone in a flash. “Ahhh... That was so good.”

“I’m glad to hear that! There are still plenty left, so have as much as you want!”

I let out a satisfied sigh. “I will. I feel like I’ll never get tired of eating these. Riena, don’t hold back either. Eat your fill.”

“Yes!”

At my strong insistence, Riena started helping herself to the crab meat as well. Boisterous chatter filled the night air—the other monsters seemed to be delighted at the heavenly taste too.

But one group’s silence stood out like a sore thumb with their silence. The orcs led by Camus. They were taking nibbles of small fish that had been stewed with the crabs, but they completely avoided the main ingredient. Seeing that, the cave spiders incessantly gestured and pointed at the crab meat, urging them to try some, but the orcs refrained.

Camus finally spoke up in the gloomy atmosphere. She seemed to be in low spirits, but she tried to sound as cheerful as she could. “Well, it’s a feast, so let’s try some. The meat looks so juicy.”

One of the orcs sported a despondent expression as he replied, “We only cowered in fear behind everyone else... We didn’t even help with pullin’ them outta the sea...”

The other orcs nodded. “He’s right,” one of them added. “We haven’t done anything to deserve this food.”

Camus persisted. “But they offered it to us, and we can’t be so rude, right?”

The orcs hung their heads. When they finished the fish, they muttered, “Thanks for the food.” They stood up as a group and promptly put away their tableware. They then made their way back to the piles we hadn’t finished transporting yet.

Erivan had been watching, and he scowled. “What’re those guys doin’? All of them are so big and muscly, but they barely ate anythin’. What, do they have somethin’ against crabs?”

Looking worried, Baris said, “Their bodies will give out if they don’t eat more. I hope they don’t fall ill...”

The general stood up from his seat. “Right? And why’re they so depressed when the rest of us are partyin’?! I’ll go tell them to come right back!”

Furay grabbed her father’s hand, stopping him. “Ugh, why are you always like this?! You need to give them some space right now!”

“B-But...” Erivan protested.

Casting her eyes down, Furay continued, “They can’t get back on their feet that quickly after losing so many of their friends and family... We should know that feeling better than anyone else, Dad.”

Erivan looked away. “Hmph, fine.” He fell back onto his seat with a thud. Furay had managed to persuade him, but he still looked grumpy. “But if they keep that up, they’ll start spreadin’ the gloom to us too. How’re we gonna have any fun then?”

On the other side, Camus went up to the orcs and asked them to come back, but all of her words fell on deaf ears. Seeing that she was getting nowhere, she walked off alone onto the beach and disappeared into the darkness.

I frowned. “Riena, I’ll go over and talk to Camus for a bit.”

“Please do. I am sure that what she needs more than anything else right now is a patient listener.” She clasped her hands together.

I gave her a determined nod. I stood up from my seat and chased after Camus. At the end of the trail, I found her sitting down on the beach lined with glowstone torches. She was staring into the shadowy, distant sea, and she looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.

I plopped down next to her. “Camus... I’m sure you don’t need someone like me telling you what to do, but maybe your crew just needs a bit more time to come to terms with everything.”

“I’m sure they do, yes. But it’s more than that...” She chewed on her lip. “The losses we suffered this time may be on an unprecedented scale, but it’s not the first time we were forced to bid a brutal farewell to many of our comrades at once. We were thrown into hopeless situations countless times, but we always conquered them together.”

Her eyes wavered as she continued in a low voice, “It’s different this time. Fear of the ocean is rooted deep within us all. The ocean that we loved and were loved by now seems like the gaping maw of a monster ready to swallow us whole...”

Her fingertips were trembling slightly, and she turned away from the sea, as if she didn’t even want it in her sight.

She took a deep breath. “If we lost in a battle, I’m sure that we would’ve accepted the outcome. But no. This time, in the literal blink of an eye, before we could even process what was happening, everyone died.” Her eyes wavered, and between sobs, she choked out, “It’s all my fault... I don’t deserve to be their captain.”

I didn’t know what to say.

Camus had guided her orc tribe for over twenty years on the violent, unfriendly ocean. She must have both experienced and conquered hardships that made mine pale in comparison. But even a veteran captain like her had been brought to her knees.

I wasn’t in a position to give her advice. The best I could do for her was to offer my company when she was down and help her when she needed me.

Mind made up, I finally said, “Sorry, Camus. I also don’t know what you should do. But I want to help you find a solution.”

She wiped tears from her eyes. “Thank you, Lord Heale.” I couldn’t even imagine the extent of her frustration and sorrow—only someone in her shoes would understand. “Since we’re living on this island, we can’t be selfish. I know that Sheol functions because everyone plays a part, and we can’t avoid the ocean just because we don’t want to approach it.”

“That’s not true. There’s the cave and the farm as well. You don’t have to force yourselves to go into the sea.”

“Even if we have the choice now, we might need to one day. What if we’re the only ones around when someone’s drowning? We can’t just watch.”

“Ah...” It would be a crippling handicap during an emergency, and that’s what she’s worried about.

Camus turned around and glared defiantly at the ocean once again. “We need to overcome our fear.”

“In that case... Maybe you can start by fishing along the coast or on small boats,” I suggested.

“Yes. And then, we can slowly progress from there and get farther and farther away from land... The first step will be construction work in the harbor area since that’s close to the sea.” She nodded to herself. “We’re the most suitable people for this job, so we should do the heavy lifting for the project.”

“I see. Well, Riena and I will stick near the sea for a while. If your crew watched us take down the scissor crabs today from the cave, our presence might help them maintain their composure.”

“Thank you. That would be a great help.” Camus bowed gratefully, but there was still a hint of anxiety in her mannerisms.

I offered a hand to her. “This must be a trying time for you, but let’s overcome our obstacles together.”

“Yes...!” She held my hand in a firm grip and squeezed it.

“Okay then, how about we get back to dinner?” I stood up. “Erivan and the others said that you definitely need to eat more.”

“Great plan.” She nodded and gave me a smile. “To tell you the truth, I love scissor crab meat.”

“Then you need to eat to your heart’s content!”

We headed right back to the feast area, where Riena welcomed us with a warm smile. “Welcome back! You came at a perfect time, the crab fat soup is hot off the stove!”

“Crab fat!” Camus’s voice was bright with excitement. “That’s one of my favorites!”

Riena’s smile broadened seeing Camus regaining some of her spirit. “That’s great to hear. I’ll fetch some right away, so please, take a seat, both of you.” Suddenly, she frowned slightly, looking puzzled. “Um, Lord Heale, what is that on your shoulder?”

I blinked in surprise. “On my shoulder?” I followed her gaze. I saw a tiny white bird with a yellow beak and red eyes that were fixed on my face. “A...bird?”

The bird stuck its tongue out and licked my cheek.

Camus leaned forward to take a better look. “A seagull? Hm, but it’s too small. It might be a fledgling, though.”

I thought it was a seagull at first too. That was the first species that came to mind on seeing its white feathers and yellow beak. But when I considered it a little more, it didn’t seem to match up. Seagulls had gray wings, but this little chick was mostly white from head to toe. The tips of the feathers on their wings and tails were a bright yellow. Its eyes were red like rubies, and it also had long feathers on its head.

“It can’t be a seagull...” I muttered. “But it kind of looks like one.”

Seagulls were frequent visitors to this island. Perhaps due to the decrease in murder bird attacks recently, we saw them everywhere on Sheol, so they were a familiar sight now. Due to my familiarity with them, I was pretty sure this bird wasn’t a seagull. Plus, I don’t think a seagull could ever be this friendly. The white bird was rubbing its body against my cheeks.

I reached out and held it in a gentle grip, tucking it into the crook of my elbow in front of my chest. Riale appeared out of nowhere—where did they run off to earlier?—and hopped into my arms as well. They started frolicking with each other. Oh... They’re so cute together. I felt a loopy grin worm onto my lips.

“Either way, I’ve never seen such a bird before,” I commented.

Riena stared at it curiously. “It also reminds me of a pigeon... Baris, do you recognize it?”

She was right—it was round and fluffy like a pigeon. But aren’t white pigeons extremely rare?

Baris hummed in thought. “I admit, I have never seen such a bird before either. It is quite difficult to identify the species of a fledgling, though. But it is quite round and puffy, so the closest bird I can think of is a pigeon.”

There was a note of admiration on his face as he added, “It’s hard to believe that a bird traveled all that distance from the mainland to a remote island like this. Their ability to migrate long distances is incredible.”

Camus placed a hand on her chin. “Huh, you’re right. We don’t see pigeons that often on the sea, so it must be from the mainland. Did it get lost?”

“Perhaps.” Baris nodded. “Likely, its parents made a nest on Yggdrasil. I’m still in disbelief that they managed to fly all this way.”

Now that he mentions it... I hadn’t seen any other pigeons since my arrival at Sheol. Like I mentioned earlier, we only had two main types of birds around here—seagulls and murder birds. Recently, though, I had started spotting normal migratory birds.

The tiny white bird pecked Riale’s cheeks lightly. It’s so cute... There were two warm, fluffy little creatures in my arms. This is bliss. I’m the happiest man in the world right now.

But someone didn’t seem to share my opinion. Erivan, who was munching away at a scissor crab, said, “Either way, that’s good news. We have new ingredients. Roast pigeon meat isn’t bad at all.”

Furay looked appalled. “Dad, can you stop thinking about eating everything you come across?”

“I can’t believe that’s your first reaction!” Camus huffed. “Nobody could ever bear to eat such a cute little birdie! Right?!” With a radiant smile, she reached for the tiny bird. Unfortunately, the bird dove into my shirt.

Camus probably meant it to be the brightest and warmest smile she could manage, but in my eyes, she also reminded me of a hunter that spotted prey.

She sighed. “Jeez, you’re so tiny, but you already have the mind of an adult. That bird must have felt shy in the presence of my irresistible charm!”

“Uh... That’s probably the furthest thing from the truth...” Furay muttered.

“Hey!” Camus yelped indignantly.

Meanwhile, I was trembling. The bird was tossing and turning against my chest, and its feathers were extremely ticklish.

“Hey, that tickles!” I tried to suppress my laughter. As I moved, something caught my eye. “Wait...” There was a white shard on the ground, almost like the fragment of a cracked egg. “No way... Riale, where’s that egg you found today?”

Riale responded by lightly tapping on the bird’s wings, coaxing it to come out of my shirt. The kobold then patted the bird’s back as if to introduce the critter to me.

I was speechless. I wouldn’t be this surprised over a normal egg hatching, but the egg that Riale had found wasn’t normal in the least. “Are you saying that this bird hatched from that egg?” I asked incredulously before shaking my head. “N-No, that can’t be...”

I didn’t know how many years that egg had been buried inside the rock. However, I highly doubted that it would have ended up so deep in only a year or two. To my knowledge, eggs would spoil within three months.

For a while, I was utterly bewildered until a voice echoed inside my head as the bird rubbed its body affectionately against me.

“Tameable monster detected. Tame?”

“Monster...?” I muttered out aloud and looked around me instinctively. I had already formed taming contracts with Riale and our new comrade Camus. In other words, there were only two living beings that were untamed within the vicinity: Starkers and the small bird.

Starkers probably wasn’t a monster, since I couldn’t form the contract with him before. Which meant that my crest must be referring to the little white bird.

That wasn’t the end of it. When I focused on my senses, I realized that the bird’s innate mana levels were dramatically higher than the orcs nearby.

If it was a monster egg, I suppose it does have a chance of surviving such conditions. The bird flew onto my shoulders even though it only hatched recently, so it doesn’t seem to be a normal bird.

In my arms, the white bird and Riale stared up at me quizzically. Ah, my reaction must have made them anxious. I stroked them both gently to reassure them. “Sorry about that. Um, are your parents...” I broke off.

Judging from the evidence so far, it was almost a given that the bird had hatched from the egg in question. Which meant that its parents weren’t around. I couldn’t completely rule out the possibility that they were alive, though, because the bird’s egg had survived even in such harsh conditions. I’d feel guilty if I tamed it without getting permission from them...

Riena smiled as she looked at the bird. “Perhaps it thinks that you’re its parent, Lord Heale. I hear that some species of birds imprint on the first living being they see. How about you give it a name?”

I hesitated before nodding. “You might be right.” It was completely attached to me and Riale, so it probably thought that we were its family. I guess I’ll tame it for now and watch over it until it matures a little more. I can dissolve the taming contract whenever I want. I can reconsider after it grows up and can make decisions on its own.

“Do you want to live with us?” I asked the bird.

The bird raised one wing enthusiastically.

“I see.” I smiled. “You’re very welcome here. Okay, now, I need to come up with a name...” What would be a good name? Hm, when it’s with Riale in my arms, they look like siblings. I guess I’ll give them similar names, then. “Rale... No, I want something that sounds softer... Marle, Melle... Ah, I like the sound of Melle!”

Hearing that, the bird unfurled its wings. It seems to like “Melle.”

“Nice to meet you, Melle!”

As if responding to their new name, Melle gently pecked my face. Once again, we had a new addition to our community.

As rain pelted him, Baris said slowly, “The description seems accurate. After all, she managed to change the weather repeatedly. That must be it.”

“Yeah, I think so too.” I smiled wryly. “Riena, I think we have enough evidence now.”

Riena snapped out of her daze with a start and immediately stopped the rain. “I-I’m so sorry! I lost my composure.”

I shook my head. “It’s not your fault, anyone would be surprised in your shoes.”

When she wished for sunny skies, there would be sun. When she asked for rain, her summons would be answered. It was a power that was unheard of and simply ridiculous for any mortal, earth-dwelling being. There might be some limitations, but being able to use it even once a day was already impressive.

Baris cleared his throat. “In conclusion, Her Highness can revive shriveled plants and change the weather as needed with her powers.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. I cast a wind spell on everyone present to dry our clothes as I added, “And thanks to her, the grape seedlings are thriving once again.” While I was at it, I also extended my magic to Riale and Melle, who had gotten wet too since they had been frolicking nearby.

“Th-Thank you very much, Lord Heale,” Riena said sheepishly. “With this many saplings, we should be able to start up a large vineyard.”

Baris nodded. “Many of our tribe fancy liquor. If we can cultivate grapes and make wine, I’m certain it would make yet another improvement to everyone’s lives on this island.”

That wasn’t all. When we begin trading in the future, wine might be a good trade commodity. Erivan and Camus had praised the wine in the cave tunnels as exquisite.

“All right, then let’s give it a try,” I declared.

Baris and Riena both nodded enthusiastically in reply.

Chapter 7: Gathering Materials!

I hummed in thought. “I see. In that case, cultivating our grapes on rising ground would be best.”

Riena nodded. “Perhaps it’s because of our limited technology, but the teachings our ancestors passed on to our tribe were that we must situate our grape vineyards on a slope. Apparently, it allows for better exposure to the sunshine and will help prevent the soil from becoming too moist.”

The sunshine, huh...? That reminds me, the sun seems a little intense lately. Is that all right? But I guess the intensity of the sun is a completely different thing to worry about. I agree that we should build a knoll.

“I see,” I said. “In Sanphales, many of our vineyards were on gentle slopes as well. I’m not very knowledgeable about agriculture, but there must be a reason why everyone made that choice. Hmm, but we don’t have any rising ground on this island...”

Most of the land area of the island was flat reclaimed land. We did have Yggdrasil, but if we constructed a vineyard on top of it, I had the feeling that it might have undesirable consequences when the tree grew bigger.

Offering the map of the island to me, Baris said, “That was why I thought that building a knoll at the foot of Yggdrasil might be our best course of action.” He had added a small hill to the bottom of the tree.

One thing intrigued me about his drawing, however. A line stretched out from the knoll he’d drawn towards the harbor on the other side of the island. I traced it with my finger. “What’s this?”

“It’s a small river. I propose that we make a canal as well. It will make farming and transporting baggage easier.”

“Oh, I see. Sounds like it’ll be very convenient. But what about the water?” The answer came to me instantly. “Ah, you’ll use the hot water from the underground hot spring.”

“Yes, I shall ask Lord Starkers to extend the water pipes. They will stretch to an artificial lake on the knoll, and the water in this lake will be directed into the canal. However, this is only a request from those who miss the rivers of their homeland, so it is strictly optional. After all, our slimes are very diligent postmen.”

The goblins had originally dwelt in an inland forest, and I could understand their yearning for the sights of their homeland.

“No, if it’s to do with anyone’s homeland, it shouldn’t be neglected,” I said firmly. “Let’s make a river as well. But, hmm...” I summoned up my inventory in my head. I seemed to be running low on rock. “Looks like I used too much rock to build the harbor... I’ll go collect what I need first.”

Other monsters, like Furay and Taran, mined as well, so if I spent one entire day digging, we should have enough materials by the end of the day.

“Understood.” Baris bowed. “The farmwork has settled down for now, and the orcs are leading the construction of the harbor, so I shall dispatch idle goblins there to help you.”

“That’d be great. Okay then, I’ll be off.”

With that, I returned to the underground tunnels.

When I arrived, I saw that the slimes were already hard at work, carrying one lump of rock after another. When I wasn’t underground or nearby, the slimes would assemble all the minerals in the warehouse we had constructed in the cave.

Whenever I was present, however, the proceedings were different, because I could automatically store the debris in my inventory with <Cave King>’s abilities. The slimes spotted me and hopped over to me right away. I got to work in silence, storing all the rocks and minerals they brought to me.

More and more slimes crowded around me in a big swarm. “Wow... That’s a lot. Those two must be competing again,” I muttered to myself as I walked in the direction the slimes had come from. As I headed deeper in, I could hear the clanging sound of metal, as if someone was engaged in a sword fight. “I knew it.”

I approached the source. There, I saw Furay and Taran right next to each other, swinging their picks at full speed as they vied for the title of best miner. “Hey you two, how are things going?”

“Ah, Lord Heale!” Furay chirped. “I saw the wine place earlier! How did you even find it?”

“I have Riale to thank for that,” I replied. “That little kobold always tells me right away if there’s anything buried in the rock.”

In response, Riale stood up on their two feet, placed a paw on their hip, and raised their chin proudly.

Furay nodded. “Makes sense, that was what happened with the mithril too. Riale, we’re counting on you today.”

“Woof!” Riale replied energetically. Taran reached out her pedipalps to pat the kobold baby on the head. At first, Riale had been scared of Taran, but they had grown completely used to her. Though Riale was still somewhat tense around Erivan.

I turned around to face Riale, Melle, and Ciel, who had followed me. “Okay then, let’s get to work, shall we?”

Furay raised an eyebrow. “Of course, you’re gonna join our competition, right?”

“Yeah, I happily accept your challenge.”

Thus began another day of mining. I joined Furay and Taran, and we formed a line as we speedily tackled the rock wall.

As we dug, Furay said, “You know, I think it’s been a while since we last had a competition between the three of us.”

“Yeah, you’re right. It might be my first time competing against you two since your evolution, Furay.”

During our previous competition, Furay had still been in her goblin form. Right now, she was in her humanlike form, and when she wasn’t practicing magic, you could always find her engaged in a mining competition with Taran in the shafts. Whenever I was on the surface, Taran and Furay usually took on the position of supervisor inside the caves.

“Mm-hmm.” She paused. “Hey, don’t you think I’m somewhat different from before?”

“Huh? I mean, yeah, you have a different appearance now.”

“Mm, but I want to ask you for your opinion of me now. Has something changed?”

“Um...” Furay’s a young maiden, so I should be a gentleman and praise her in a respectful way. “W-Well, you seem to have matured in many ways.”

“Ah, I know that I look different,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone. “Not that, I mean as a miner.”

...Oh. I felt ashamed of myself for getting so nervous about saying the wrong thing. “As a miner... Hmm, I guess you seem to be faster?”

In terms of speed, she was almost toe-to-toe with Taran, who could mine with four arms at once. However, even before her evolution, Furay’s speed had been increasing by the day. Her current pace wasn’t that much of a dramatic increase.

I frowned. “No, sorry, but I can’t tell. Do you feel unwell today?”

“Nah. It’s more that, well, whenever I swing down my pickaxe, I feel like my mana levels are increasing...”

“Your mana levels?” I stilled. “Even when you’re not mining mana minerals?”

Mages of a certain proficiency could sense the movement of mana, and in Sanphales, we had called it “mana sensitivity.” Observing Furay carefully, I found she was right. I could feel her mana levels increasing bit by bit whenever she dug into rock. Though the increase was minuscule, it was definitely there.

I considered the possibility that she had come across mana minerals and was automatically consuming them. However, I couldn’t sense the mana signature of mana minerals in the direction she was digging.

My eyes widened. “Y-You’re right...!”

“I am? I dunno why, but no matter what direction I dig in, I feel that my mana’s going up.”

“Huh. Maybe your crest changed as well when you evolved.”

“What? You mean, my <Miner> crest changed?”

“Yeah, there’s a high possibility... We should get Baris to check it right away.”

Furay’s eyes lit up in excitement. “O-Okay! I’ll be back soon!” She ran towards the surface.

I guess I’ll dig up more rock while I wait for her to come back with her results. “She might’ve gotten a crest that’ll increase her mana whenever she mines or something...”

If mining boosted her magic, Furay might become even more enthusiastic about it. Then, eventually, her abilities in both mining and magic might surpass mine.

“Can’t let her leave me in the dust.” I nodded and psyched myself up. Taran vigorously bobbed her body up and down, as if in agreement.

As Furay’s rivals, neither of us could be complacent. For a while, we single-mindedly swung our pickaxes. When we got to a certain point, though, Riale’s ears perked up, as if they had noticed something.

I crouched down. “Hm? Did you discover something again, Riale?”

Riale nodded.

“Got it. I’ll try digging around.”

This time, I didn’t detect any flow of mana. I probably don’t have to be too guarded. A Shield should be enough. But just as that thought crossed my mind, Unit Fifteen came over with its orichalcum shield. There’d been situations like this a few times before, so perhaps the golem had learned what Riale’s reaction meant. Either way, the fact that it comes over immediately is a big help.

I manifested Shield. Without hesitation, I dug in the direction Riale had indicated. The wall gave way to a hollow.

The next moment, spider silk wrapped around my waist.

“Huh...?” I widened my eyes, speechless at the sight before me. There wasn’t any ground below—just a bottomless pit. “That was close... Taran, you really saved me there.”

Taran waved her body sideways slightly, as if to say, “Don’t sweat it.”

Riale and Melle, intrigued, tried to peer into the pit, but Ciel stretched out his body and stopped them.

I frowned. “It’s good that we’ve got Shield, but we don’t know whether we can climb back up if we fall, so it’s better to be careful.” Not to mention that something might be lurking at the bottom... I had to suppress a shudder.

Hmm, but there don’t seem to be any mana signatures at the bottom of the pit, I noted. Straining my ears, I could hear a distant splashing. Water seemed to be streaming down from the other side of the pit, and it reached all the way to the bottom. Ah, it’s probably an underground river. It might be connected to the sea. That aside, I nearly fell in just now. Phew, that was close. Actually... Since water’s pouring in, maybe it’s not just connected to the sea—maybe we’ll dig into the ocean if we keep going on the other side.

“No, wait... What’s that?” I squinted at the starting point of the stream of water. There seemed to be glowing blue stones embedded in the wall, and water was pouring out of them. “Is water coming out from those stones?”

With further scrutiny, I realized that the cavity on the opposite wall was filled with a significant number of what looked like the same blue stones. The rest, however, weren’t glowing, nor were they emitting water.

“Are they...the same thing? In that case, maybe it’s a type of stone that manifests water.” Okay then. What to do, what to do... Should I dig in a circle around the wall to make a path there? Or...

“Hey Taran, do you think you can drag those over with your spider sil— Oh.” Taran scuttled across the wall and arrived at the other side in the blink of an eye. “Ha ha, I shouldn’t have expected anything less from you. Okay, we don’t need all of it, so let’s not be too greedy. Can you take half of that for now?”

At that, Taran weaved a bag-like object with her silk, collected the stones in it, then climbed back.

“Thanks, Taran.” I peered into the bag. “What in the world are these?”

Wasting no time, I took a blue stone into my hand and stored it in my inventory.

Aquastone: A stone that produces water.

“Ah, so it really is a stone that makes water. Well, well, what a discovery.”

In other words, if you have this stone, you can even drink water in the desert... But I guess it’s not that useful on Sheol, since we already have our baths and the ability to collect water with magic. Oh, but hold on. With these stones, we can produce water wherever we want, which would be perfect for the artificial river. We won’t need to ask Starkers to do all that extra work extending the water pipes from the underground hot spring.

It would be pretty interesting to make waterfalls or other water features with this. And if we store some on ships, we wouldn’t have to worry about a lack of fresh water during the voyage.

I nodded to myself. “Yeah, this will be useful. Good job, Riale.”

Riale scratched their head sheepishly, as if to say, “Nah, it was nothing.”

I found myself smiling slightly as I said, “Wow, you’re already acting like an adult with all your body language. All right, for now, I’ll put these away.”

After storing all the aquastones, I checked my inventory and saw there were a total of forty-five. That’s pretty grand.

“Okay then. Next, I should make a signboard here to warn people to stay away. Unit Fifteen, can you keep watch on this area—” I broke off. The ground was shaking. “Huh?”

The shaking only intensified with time. There was a deafening rumble.

An earthquake? But I quickly rejected that idea. No, it’s different. Clearly, something with a tremendous amount of mana is charging in this direction at an incredible speed.

I focused on my senses, and the “object” was coming from the left side in the opposite wall. It was at around the same elevation as us. If it continued its charge, it would end up on the opposite side of this pit eventually. It was too fast—we couldn’t escape.

“Don’t move, everyone.”

I manifested Shield and ordered Unit Fifteen to hold up its own shield to prepare for whatever it was. The earsplitting sound only got closer and closer. Finally, it broke through the far wall, and...

“Oh!” My eyes widened.

...what appeared was a creature that looked like a towering green lizard. I only had a rough idea of its size, but it had to be bigger than an elephant.

When the lizard met my eyes, it looked surprised, but it immediately cast its eyes down. A bottomless pit stared back up at it. It looked up at me again and let out a loud shriek as it fell down.

“Heeeeelp!!!” Its desperate scream gradually grew distant.

Taran reacted on the spur of the moment and used her silk to catch the lizard’s tail. However, she ended up getting dragged across the ground, perhaps due to the lizard’s hefty weight. Unit Fifteen and I clung to Taran’s feet to steady her.

“A-Are you okay, Taran?” I asked nervously.

She didn’t respond. Or perhaps she simply couldn’t respond because of the strain.

“Ciel, get help!” I yelled.

Ciel had already been on the move even before I called out my instruction. He hopped up the mining shaft. Riale, meanwhile, was trying to hold down Taran’s foot with their tiny body. Everyone was doing what they could, but at this rate, we would all fall in. It might be a bit late, but should I cast a wind spell at the bottom of the pit? No, but if I let Taran go, she’ll be dragged in almost instantly. What should I do?

As I was agonizing over the situation, Melle flew into the pit almost nonchalantly.

“M-Melle! No, come back! It’s dangerous!”

Despite my protests, Melle turned around to give me a big reassuring smile before soaring down the pit. Then, something strange happened.

The spider silk suddenly loosened up.

Seeing that, Taran quickly pulled up her silk. Then, as she hauled, what appeared before us was a magnificent bird shrouded with crimson flames like a cloak.

I shook my head and looked again. No, that was just a trick of the light. The cute, petite Melle was holding the lizard’s foot in their beak as they flew over, flapping their wings noisily.

“M-Melle?” I stammered. Their body is tiny, but they managed to lift a lizard the size of an elephant...? I already knew Melle wasn’t a normal bird, but it was still unbelievable.

Clinging on for dear life, the lizard finally leaped onto the ground where we stood before collapsing onto the ground with a thud. Its chest moved up and down as it panted to catch its breath. “Y-You really saved me there...”

I hadn’t spared it any thought earlier since it had been an emergency, but the lizard was certainly speaking in a language I could understand. However, the movements of his mouth—probably a male judging by his voice—didn’t match up with the words he was producing. Furthermore, I sensed the activation of magic from the lizard, and I realized that he was communicating with us through magic.

As he spoke, Melle flew over until they were right in front of my eyes. There wasn’t even a hint of fatigue about them, and in fact, they even seemed a bit shy due to the praise from Riale, Ciel, and Taran.

I took another look at the green lizard. He was indeed enormous. His proportions were short and stout, but he was likely several times bigger than an elephant. Green scales, glittering like emeralds, covered his entire body. His eyes were even more dazzling than gold, as if someone had placed a shard of the sun itself into his orbs.

“Ah...” When the lizard finally regained his breath, he bowed slightly to us. “First things first, thank you. The name’s Roydon.”

“H-Hey there, Roydon. I’m Heale. And the monsters with me are Ciel, Riale, Taran, and Melle.” I gestured to each of them in turn.

When I was done, Roydon bowed gracefully, a gesture that seemed a little out of place on a bulky lizard like him. “Man... I can’t thank you guys enough.” He sighed. “Digging a new tunnel for a new discovery is great and all, but it sure is dangerous...”

“A new tunnel?” I blinked. “Did you dig here from somewhere else?”

“Yeah. Took me a month to get here from the north. Was expecting to arrive at my destination after a few more days of digging, but...” He shrugged. “Never thought I’d meet anyone in a place like this.”

“I’m just as surprised as you are. I can’t believe I came across someone underground who I can communicate with...”

And he even said he came all the way from the north and ended up here after digging for an entire month... Incredible.

He looked at me. “You’re, uh...a human, right? I heard your kind has been increasing in number recently on some continents.”

“Yeah, I am. What about you?”

“Me? I’m an earth dragon.”

“An earth dragon...”

In my homeland, Barleon, they were a species considered long extinct. They couldn’t fly, but had the ability to breathe out an all-consuming, unstoppable inferno, and were once hailed as the strongest creatures aboveground. Ah. We saved someone very distinguished...

What he said next, however, took me by surprise. “By the way, do you guys have anything you want to sell? Or would you like to take a look at my wares?”

I blinked dumbly at him. “Wares?”

“Yeah. I’m a merchant, you see. That’s why I was digging a tunnel to the settlement of the southern earth dragons.”

“I see...”

It seemed that earth dragons traded among themselves like humans did. I realized now that there was a gigantic bag on Roydon’s back, and it seemed to be put together with scales. On what must be his waist was something that looked like a belt, and small bags dangled from it. He certainly looks like a merchant with that outfit. But, hmm... I don’t think we have anything that a dragon would want.

“We’d love to do business with you,” I said, “but what should we do about our currencies? Is bartering all right with you?”

“Of course. You saved me from a crisis, and I want to thank you too.”

“Oh, you really don’t have to feel obliged. We did what anyone else would have done in our shoes. That aside, chatting in a place like this would be pretty uncomfortable. How about we head up and talk over some food?” I suggested.

“That’d be great, I’m famished. Thanks for the offer.”

We led Roydon to the surface. During our journey, the monsters we passed by all seemed surprised at Roydon’s size, but since I was with him, no one put up a fuss.

“Hm?” Roydon sounded intrigued. “Goblins and orcs... I heard that the animosity was mutual between humans and monsters, but you guys are living together, huh?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “We all get along here.” Though I had to agree that it was likely a rare sight outside this island.

While we exchanged idle chatter, I led Roydon near to Yggdrasil. Everyone was surprised at our newcomer, but Roydon was more shocked than anyone else, his eyes wide and mouth gaping. “Wh-Wha... Oi! That’s!”

“Hm?” I tilted my head in question. “You mean... Yggdrasil, the tree here?”

He nodded, speechless.

“When I was digging in the mining shaft you saw just now, I found a seed,” I explained. “Yggdrasil grew out of it when we buried it in soil.”

“Y-You...planted a Yggdrasil seed?” he asked in a daze.

I was taken aback by his reaction. “Y-Yeah. Well, I guess we did accelerate its growth with a thing called a sunstone.”

There was utter silence as he stared up at it mutely.

I waved my hand in front of him. “H-Hey, are you all right?”

He snapped out of it with a start. “Ye...ah. Don’t mind me. I just didn’t expect that such a thing still existed in this world.”

I couldn’t blame him for his reaction. Anyone would be stupefied if they saw a tree as tall as a mountain. In fact, when the residents of Sheol saw it for the first time, we all thought we were dreaming.

Roydon, however, seemed to be moved for one more reason. “They say my continent used to be overflowing with Yggdrasil trees in the past. But now, we don’t have a single one left... Even worse, our continent is now a barren land with only rocks in sight. You can’t even find a single flower growing there.”

“How did that happen?”

He sighed. “It’s due to the war between dragons that has lasted for millennia...and it’s still ongoing. That’s why I’m making trips back and forth between my homeland and the south, where some nature still remains, so that I can get my hands on plants.”

“I see...”

A war between dragons, huh...? I guess I can see why the environment was so devastated. In the myths of Sanphales, there were several accounts of cities that had been burned down by a single dragon. From what Roydon was saying, there must be a lot more dragons participating in the war. To a human like me, it was impossible to imagine what that looked like. It must have been like hell itself.

I decided to change the topic. “In any case, please take a seat and relax for now. We have all the time in the world to discuss business after a meal, don’t we?”

“Oh!” He perked up. “That’d be fantastic. I can’t wait for the food.”

For now, the first thing on our list was to enjoy a meal together.

“Whoa! I’ve never seen such big crabs before! And, these are murder birds, aren’t they?!”

The sound of vigorous munching and chewing echoed out at the foot of Yggdrasil. Roydon was wolfing down food with gusto—he ate entire giant roast murder birds with single bites and munched on boiled scissor crabs whole in their shells, almost as if he were devouring fruit.

I stared at him with wide eyes before exchanging glances with Baris, who sat next to me and looked just as stunned.

“I must say, this is my first time encountering such a monster,” he said slowly.

“Same here.”

In between mouthfuls, Roydon told us about his homeland. The continent he lived in was called Elute, a desolate land. There were tens of thousands of dragons living there, hailing from a great variety of species, each of which was engaged in some conflict with another.

Sanphales Kingdom was the most powerful entity in Barleon. Human cities in Barleon tended to interact with each other in some way, at least. Unless it was wartime, Sanphales merchants could be found everywhere, even in the cities of other nations. Thus, in Sanphales, you could get a hold of information from all around the continent.

Furthermore, we recently started maritime trade with other continents, so we had opportunities to learn about continents beyond the ocean as well. Naturally, I had always paid close attention to such information. However, as far as I knew, earth dragons like him didn’t exist on any of the continents I’d heard of. In fact, all dragons are thought of as extinct, not just earth dragons. And of course, I’ve never heard of Elute either.

Baris nodded. Then, he frowned as he added, “But since he is an earth dragon, he must belong to the dragon race.”

“Yeah. He’s a mythical beast just like the leviathan...” Well, I mean, we’ve already come across a leviathan, so we really shouldn’t be surprised to discover that dragons aren’t actually extinct.

Together with a handful of other monsters, Riena lifted a whole roast murder bird onto an enormous board and carried it over.

“There is still plenty of food, so please eat as much as you want!” she said cheerfully.

“Oh? Thanks a million! I’ve only had preserved food lately, it’s been ages since I last got to eat such fresh and delightful food...” He sighed in contentment. “On that topic, this purplish-red liquid tastes great.” Along with his meal, he chugged down wine from a barrel. “Ack, my head’s getting a bit fuzzy.” He hiccuped.

I must say, it’s hard to imagine that earth dragons are mythical creatures when I look at Roydon... I don’t know how to describe it, but he’s like a middle-aged human uncle. All that aside, though, eating as much food as he wants is perfectly fine, but it’d be terrible if he drinks too much and throws a fit. He doesn’t seem to be familiar with the concept of wine, or even alcohol in general, and I don’t want him to get the wrong idea and think that we poisoned him.

Okay. I’ll stop everyone from serving him liquor and get down to business.

“Hey Roydon, can I take a look at your wares now?”

“Ah, thanks for the reminder. Gimme a minute.” He stood up with a grunt. He was a little unsteady on his feet as he retrieved his merchandise from the bag on his back.

“My word!” Baris’s voice was filled with admiration. “What a rare collection you have here.”

He had everyday commodities, like a giant jar; weapons, like swords; and even objects that looked like art made with glass. Every item he brought out was roughly three times the size of what a normal human would use. They must have been just right for Roydon.

Looking at the jar, its design and decoration were stunning. It was almost transparent, and it shimmered under the light. Hmm, a lot of his wares are either red or green, I noted. The jar aside, all of his tools are too big for the residents of Sheol. I guess only our larger golems could use them.

Meanwhile, Riale and Melle were wriggling in and out of the jar, using it like a giant toy. Starkers walked over at a brisk pace, and there was rapture on his face as he gazed at a giant hammer that seemed to be made from glass.

I stared at his wares with wide eyes. “Amazing... I’ve never seen any objects like these before.”

“Right?” He puffed out his chest proudly. “After all, all of these are made from the scales of fire dragons or green dragons. I can guarantee that they’re some of the most durable and heat-resistant wares you’d find in the entire world!”

“Dragon scales?!” I exclaimed. “Huuuh...!”

Actually, now that he mentions it, the leviathan scales were transparent like glass too. Starkers refined them into the lenses of glasses, and earth dragons must have similar techniques as well. I see, they don’t just fight because the other dragon races are a source of food—they also use the entire carcass for a variety of purposes.

As someone who doesn’t know anything about the war, I’m not in a position to comment, but I feel a little conflicted. But I understand that as living beings, we need to take other lives to survive, just like we do on the island.

“I also have wares like these.” Roydon rummaged through the jute bag fastened at his hip and began to pull out large round items, one after another. “Dragon eggs! All of ’em are tasty treats even when eaten raw!”

My eyes widened. “Dragon eggs, wow... That’s impressive.”

“Yep. The biggest one you see here is a fire dragon egg. The other ones that’re a tad smaller are wyvern eggs. They’re good raw, they’re good fried, they’re even good boiled.”

So dragons even eat other dragon races’ eggs... Ah, but I’ve heard that some species of birds eat the eggs of other kinds of birds, so maybe it’s a natural thing to do. “I-I see... Out of curiosity, do these hatch?”

“Hm? Yeah. If you don’t keep them cool enough, they’ll hatch right away. Most of these eggs would hatch with only a tiny bit of heat.”

Quite the tenacious little things, huh?

Baris said, “I know of wyverns. If I remember correctly, they’re monsters with torsos around the size of horses’, yes?”

It was difficult to say whether wyverns were classified as dragons or not. Even after the point in human history when it was thought that dragons were extinct, wyverns had apparently survived for a long time, and there were tales of these monsters attacking humans. Perhaps that was how they’d earned their infamy as hostile monsters among my race. However, there hadn’t been any witness accounts of wyverns for a thousand years, and humans believed that wyverns had gone extinct as well.

Roydon nodded. “Yeah, that’s the one. They’re also the staple food for us large dragons, and, well, they’re yummy.”

Baris gave a wry smile at the dragon’s words before turning to me. “I have heard of an old legend that says wyverns will become attached to their caretakers if you start raising them as hatchlings. I believe buying a handful of them would be a prudent choice.”

I hummed in thought. “I see. Once they mature, they can carry us around as they fly.”

At the moment, the only resident of Sheol who could travel by air was Melle. The goblins and orcs couldn’t. Wyverns would be great additions to our community—they could serve as lookouts in the sky, and make it easier to travel to and from Yggdrasil’s summit.

“You’re not gonna eat them?” asked Roydon, with a mystified look on his face. “I mean, sure, to each their own, I guess. They’re all fresh eggs only around two months old, so if you heat them properly, I’m sure they’ll hatch in the blink of an eye.” He searched through his bag again and took out more eggs. “Okay, I have one fire dragon egg. As for wyverns...there are thirty of ’em. Well, how about it? Do you want them?”

I nodded. “I would love to have them, but what should we offer in exchange?”

“Hmm...” He paused in thought. “If possible, I want branches and leaves of this Yggdrasil tree. Ah, and do you have any other plant-type stuff?”

“We also have a few types of fruit available.”

“Nah, fruits are usually tiny. In that case, I’ll just take the Yggdrasil branches and leaves.”

I blinked in surprise. “Is that really enough?”

“Remember what I said earlier? Plants are invaluable to us dragons. You know how you humans blindly worship, uh, what was it again...gold? To us, it’s just as precious.”

“Huuuh...” Considering this, and what he said about the eggs earlier... He wasn’t exaggerating about the state of his continent. The war must be so relentless that there isn’t even a moment of peace for grass to start growing again.

“Ah, and as thanks for earlier, I’ll give you the fire dragon egg for free.”

My face lit up. “Really?” But then, I furrowed my eyebrows. “But...”

Baris nodded, expressing his agreement about my doubt. “Unfortunately, we are unsure whether fire dragons are classified as monsters. Furthermore, can we really keep such a dragon in check?”

Roydon scratched his head. “I dunno about the monster thing, but in general, dragons think the first living being they see is their parent, and they’ll listen to their parents, so you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Ah, okay.” I nodded. “In that case, can we have the fire dragon too?”

“Gotcha. Are you interested in anythin’ else?”

“Huh? Um.” I gestured at the items he laid out. “This...isn’t everything you have?”

“Nope, I also have ores and minerals inside this bag. It’s an arcane tool we call a compression bag, you see. All the stuff I gathered when I was digging that underground tunnel is stored and compressed inside here.”

“Huh, I never knew such an item existed...” I muttered. That reminds me, the orichalcum equipment I discovered underground was made up of more orichalcum ingots than they looked like. Maybe the technique used to forge them is similar to the enchantment on that bag.

“But, well, there’s a limit to how much I can stuff into it.” Roydon shrugged. “Ah, sorry, but this bag isn’t up for sale. If I don’t have this thing, I might be stuck underground forever.”

The compression enchantment piqued my curiosity. “Just asking, but is it possible for you to teach me compression magic?”

“Unfortunately, we don’t learn spells from other dragons. The knowledge just suddenly appears in our heads at some point. So I dunno how to teach you.”

“That’s a shame... But knowing that such a branch of magic exists is already invaluable information. Thank you.”

“Sorry I can’t help you there. Well, it’s not much, but I’ll give you all this compressed material in exchange,” he said as he fished out what seemed to be several small pebbles.

He then informed me about each material. Rock, soil, gold, silver, gemstones... They were all materials we possessed as well, nothing unusual. However, as an island with a barren rock landscape, we were relying solely on the cave spider’s manure for soil. There wasn’t nearly enough, and we were dying to get our hands on more soil to expand our farm. We were also in the process of accumulating rocks to build our knoll, as well.

“That’d be a great help. We were actually short on rock at the moment,” I said. “Especially soil, since we don’t have any of that around here.”

“Oh, really? Glad to hear that! Well, it’s easy to return these to their original size. You just have to wish for them to decompress. Take it all, though, not just the soil and rock! Even if I keep all this, it’d just get dumped with all the rest, and we’ve already got so much.”

“You sure?”

“Totally. Gold and silver aren’t good for anything except ornaments and accessories to us, so yeah. Take them as a token of my gratitude for the food.”

“Th-Thanks. We’ll give you food and water for the rest of your journey. You can take as much fish as you want. We have plenty of that.”

“Whoa, thank you! Well, well, I guess I can head right home after this!” He laughed heartily and took a swig of his wine.

I inclined my head in question. “Hm? Weren’t you heading to the southern settlement of your kin?”

“Yeah, I was planning on stocking up on some lumber over there. They don’t have other dragon races over on their end, so they’re interested in other dragons’ eggs and scale products, but, well...they look for every opportunity to rip me off.” He shrugged. “I’ve already gotten what I was looking for, so I’m gonna head back now.”

“I see.”

“Thanks to you guys, I should be able to cut my journey short by ten days or so. Hey, if it’s all right with you, can I come again? I want to tell my comrades too, if you don’t mind.”

“We’re fine with that,” I said. “In that case, we’ll leave that pit as it is... No, I guess we’ll build a bridge to be safe.”

“That’d be a great help. Next time, I’ll bring over more stuff that even creatures of your size can use.” He chugged down the last of his wine.

He was very efficient after that. After promptly exchanging commodities with us, he finished packing up right away.

Waving his hand merrily, he left us with the words, “I’ll come back again, and I’ll make sure to bring more eggs, so look forward to it!”

With that, Sheol had found our first trading partner.

“And he’s off...” I muttered to myself. “That aside...” I cast my eyes down at Riale and Melle, who must have been tired—they were dozing off on Ciel’s body. From next to them, Riena was gently stroking the two babies. She was almost like a motherly goddess, and I couldn’t tear my eyes off her.

However, there was something that was nagging at my thoughts—what had happened with Melle earlier. What in the world was that strength they displayed just then? I can’t believe they managed to lift a creature as huge as Roydon with their tiny body. Melle doesn’t have any crests either, so it must be their innate strength at work...

But Melle is still a baby, and I can’t communicate complex things with them yet. Well, either way, they’re obviously a bird with incredible strength. Maybe it’s the nature of the monster race they belong to. That wouldn’t be strange, since there are unusual monsters out there, like the cave spiders on this island. For now, there’s no point rushing anything. I should watch over their growth patiently.

That reminded me, Furay’s crest seemed to have changed as well. According to Baris, it was still named <Miner>, but there was more to its description now. Whenever she mined, she would gain mana.

My <Cave King> had gained new abilities according to my proficiency levels, and it seemed to work like that for Furay as well. Or perhaps her evolution was what granted her crest this new ability.

Now our guest had left, we decided to build a bridge with spider silk across the pit where we had discovered the aquastones. While we were at it, we widened the cave tunnel to make it easier for Roydon and his kind to travel through with their impressive size, and we also dug out a cavern on the side of the tunnel, for them to use as lodgings.

Chapter 9: Taking On the Ocean!

That evening, as always, we were digging into our meal at the foot of Yggdrasil.

It was at this moment that Camus chose to come over and suddenly bow to me. “Thank you, Lord Heale. Thanks to you, my crew’s trepidation towards the water has faded tremendously. It’s hard to believe that only yesterday, they were even reluctant to enter the baths.”

I shook my head. “No, the credit goes to Erivan’s quick thinking and how you seized that opportunity, Camus. Either way, we’ve finally taken a step forward. The knoll and harbor are complete. It was a fruitful day.”

“Right,” she replied with a big smile.

The lake was insignificant compared to the ocean, but it must have taken them a lot of courage for the orcs to try swimming again.

During our conversation, Baris approached. “Lord Heale. May I have a moment of your time?”

“Hm? What happened?”

There was a solemn expression on his face as he said, “I have a request.”

“Go on.”

“Yes, my lord. To tell you the truth, approximately ten goblins wish to head to Barleon.”

I inclined my head. “Does that mean they want to return to their homeland?”

“No, that is not the case. You see, there is a fishing village populated by the Ossey tribe, another goblin tribe. That was where we prepared our ships for our journey to seek out a new land. However, some of our kin were left behind in that village.”

“I see. Some of your people are still in Barleon, then.”

“Yes. In addition, we lost sight of some of the ships in our fleet early on in our journey, and there is the possibility that they returned to the Ossey village... Or at least, that is what I hope.”

“In other words, you want to go fetch everyone there.”

“Yes, my lord. The ship that Lady Camus and her crew arrived in is magnificent. I believe it can make the journey back to Barleon once it is repaired.”

I nodded emphatically. “Of course I support that idea. I’m sure the repairs won’t take too long either. But...” I hesitated. “I don’t think ten sailors are enough to manage a ship of that scale.”

“You need at least fifty,” Camus agreed. “On top of that, the vessel is large, which means it has many sails, so the crew will need a lengthy period of training before they can steer it properly.”

Baris creased his eyebrows. “I assumed as much, and I told the group that it would be impossible in the short term. However...”

Casting her eyes down, Camus muttered, “If we drag it out for too long, some of your tribe might choose to leave Ossey.” Sorrow clouded her features.

She shared the same worries. After all, the orcs had also left behind their families and kin back in Barleon. She continued, “When the leviathan attacked us, some of the ships of our fleet also managed to narrowly escape. If they managed to survive the encounter, I’m certain they would head to the village that serves as our base in Barleon.”

That rang a bell in my head. “Ah, is that the village you mentioned before? Where your tribe leave your children and elderly behind?”

“Yeah. The majority of the village population are orcs that live on the land, but we gave them money to look after our kin. It’s close to Ossey, actually.”

Camus had said that she wanted to go find them and bring them to Sheol. Since the goblins and orcs are still in Barleon, I agree, it would be best for us to send a ship there, but it’s not feasible at the moment.

After a moment of silence, Camus turned to me, and determination burned in her eyes. “Lord Heale. After the repairs, I will lead my crew and set sail immediately. I owe all of you a great debt for accepting us into your community. We’ll sail to our base and Ossey, then take everyone back with us.”

I hesitated. “I understand where you’re coming from, but...at the same time, I feel that it’s still too early for your crew to tackle the sea again in their state. Even if you force them to go against their wills, it will not end well.”

“That’s...” She faltered, before falling silent.

Baris broke the standstill. “Rather than being afraid of the ocean,” he said, “I feel that...their fear stems from their apprehension of the leviathan, correct?”

Camus nodded. “The leviathan’s dead, and I’ve told them that many times. I even showed them the corpse. But then, everyone starts saying that, no, there must be more than one.”

Baris hummed in thought. “In that case... As long as they know that a leviathan attack is nothing to fear, they would conquer their dread, yes?”

“As in, we can defeat a leviathan? But according to Lord Heale, that abomination is...” She hesitated.

We had only barely managed to wrest a victory from that beast’s grasp after everyone on the island came together as one. Even if I was present on the ship, there wasn’t any guarantee that we could defeat it once more.

However, Baris said patiently, “You don’t have to defeat it. You only have to survive its attack without any casualties or damage. There is a saying passed down in my tribe... ‘Fight bear with bear, and fight tiger with tiger.’ We have a supply of leviathan scales, don’t we?”

“Oh...!” I recalled our battle with the mythical beast. Neither magic nor normal weapons had worked against its scales. Our harpoon managed to piece its scaleless abdomen, but magic had been utterly useless.

Baris continued, “That isn’t all we have. There are robust metals on this island, such as orichalcum. We only have to construct a ship that won’t sink even if you encounter a leviathan.”

His statement opened my eyes. “That’s brilliant.” It was true, this island was overflowing with robust and sturdy materials. With those in hand, building an unsinkable ship wasn’t impossible at all.

Camus nodded enthusiastically. “Even a large beast like a leviathan can’t swallow that warship whole. As long as it can’t damage anything, we’ll survive without any issues.”

“Indeed,” Baris said. “Of course, realistically speaking, building a ship that will never sink is a difficult task. However, that is not the point. What’s important is how much reassurance we can give to the crew.” His logic was sound.

“Ah, that reminds me.” I perked up. “We also have more dragon eggs we bought from Roydon. If we hatch them and assign them as guards for the ship, I’m sure everyone would feel much safer, right? Even if a leviathan does appear, these scouts will give you plenty of warning.”

Baris added, “Another thing we can consider is making golems that can swim and sending them as escorts of the ship. If there is no wind to propel you forward, the dragons and golems can also give you a boost by pushing you.”

“On top of that, with aquastones on board, you won’t have to worry about running out of fresh water,” I said.

Camus nodded to herself. “A sturdy ship, powerful escorts, and an unlimited supply of water, huh? It’ll be a very luxurious voyage.”

I smiled. “And I think there’s still plenty of room for improvement too. All right... Camus, alongside your project to adapt your crew to the ocean again, could you draft up some plans for upgrading your ship?”

“Of course.”

This marked the beginning of our full-scale efforts to prepare for Sheol’s first voyage.

Camus was an efficient woman—the very next day, she came up to me with a ship blueprint in hand. At a glance, it seemed to be filled with details for the upgrades she had in mind.

I spread out the blueprint on the round table at the foot of Yggdrasil to look over it. “I see, so you plan to reinforce the hull, deck, and masts with orichalcum plates.”

Beside me, Camus nodded. “Yes. And on top of that, I’ll piece together a layer of leviathan scales.”

“Now that sounds like a ship that’s practically unsinkable.”

Both of the materials she mentioned were not just incredibly durable, but also remarkably light. They wouldn’t impede the vessel’s sailing speed. On top of that, she also added a few improvements in terms of food storage, such as installing a cold room with ice.

“Well, that’s the gist of the improvements to the ship itself,” she said. “Next up is asking you to make our escort golems. As for the orcs, I’m thinking of taking baby steps. I’ll try to convince them to go fishing on boats for now.”

I nodded. “I think that sounds brilliant. Hmm, but we’ll need to talk to Starkers about the use of orichalcum and scales.”

We still have plenty of orichalcum available, but is there enough to cover an entire warship with the stuff?

“In that case, let’s go ask our good pal Starkers,” she said. “He should be at the forge right about now.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

We immediately headed to the forge with the blueprint in hand. There, I approached Starkers.

“Hey, do you have a minute? I want to ask you something.” With the drawing as reference, I used gestures to communicate our plans with the orichalcum plating to Starkers.

The man listened patiently, nodding enthusiastically as I explained. Okay, seems like the amount of orichalcum and scales we have isn’t an issue. All that’s left...is the question of whether we have the technology to achieve it.

Once I finished my explanation, I said, “So yeah, that’s what we’re considering. What do you think? Is it doable?” Maybe it’s a silly question. I mean, Starkers was the man who managed to direct the water of the underground hot spring to the surface. I’m sure it’ll be a piece of cak—Huh?

For once, Starkers was folding his arms with a frown on his features. The creases between his brows only deepened after a long stretch of silence. Then, he picked up a twig and started drawing something on the ground. However, almost immediately, he shook his head as if to say, “That’s no good,” and he scratched out a part of his drawing with his twig.

Huuuh... This seemed to be a project of such a high difficulty that it had even stumped Starkers, our engineering expert. I looked him over. Is it just me, or does dense steam seem to be seeping out of his head...?

My mind wandered, but my eyes were glued to the drawing on the ground. My intrigue wasn’t exactly caused by its novelty. Rather, I was surprised at how detailed and meticulous it was. Starkers isn’t just a blacksmith and a musician, he’s even an artist, huh...?

The aristocrats of Sanphales had constantly vied for superiority against each other in the fields of music and art, but Starkers’s skill was a cut above all the artworks I had seen so far. Furthermore, those who were crowned as champions in these fields tended to only be blessed with talent in either one, not both, but Starkers had it all.

Due to his superb skills, he easily conveyed what he wanted to tell me through his artwork. The drawing depicted a leviathan biting a ship. I see... Apparently, a patchwork of small plates wouldn’t be much help—the ship would still fall apart.

Camus crouched down. “You mean... Even if the plates are intact, the hull wouldn’t make it, right?”

Starkers nodded. Then, he drew an arrow stretching out from the drawing before working on a new one at the other end. This time, a leviathan tried to bite a shiny hull, but its teeth snapped. If we wrapped the hull with one enormous orichalcum plate, even a leviathan literally couldn’t make a dent in it. However, Starkers pointed at the forge and shook his head.

I glanced at our forge, and the ship in the distance. “I see. So our facilities at the moment aren’t good enough.”

It would require a tremendous amount of orichalcum to make a giant plate that could envelop the towering warship, but the problem wasn’t with the supply, since we still had plenty of material. Unfortunately, though, we didn’t have a mold to pour it into, at least not on this island.

Was it even possible to melt down such an incredible amount of orichalcum at once, in the first place? I had watched Starkers working on it before, and compared to iron, it seemed like orichalcum needed to be heated for much longer. That must have been one of the reasons we couldn’t craft a large sheet of the stuff.

Camus nodded. “Personally, I don’t think we have to go this far, but our pal here is saying that the ship isn’t safe enough without such measures, no?”

“Should I call him a perfectionist, or a craftsman who takes pride in his work?” I mused. But something caught my eye. “Hm? Starkers?”

The blacksmith was looking at me. He clapped his hands together and his expression lit up—an idea must have come to him. He beckoned for the two of us to follow him, and he led us to the pile of orichalcum ingots, which was as tall as a building, or maybe even taller.

I tilted my head quizzically. “That was sudden. What is it?”

Starkers pointed to the furnace nearby. It wasn’t all that big compared to the mountain of orichalcum. I really don’t think we can fit all this orichalcum at once. But then, it hit me. “No, wait... Oh!”

“Hm?” Camus glanced at me. “Did you find a good solution, Lord Heale?”

“Yeah. But Starkers, melting the orichalcum might be easy, but crafting with it would be rather strenuous, won’t it?” I asked worriedly.

In response, he thumped his puffed-out chest with his fist.

“You’ll take care of the rest, huh...?” I muttered. “Got it, let’s give it a go!”

He nodded before instructing the large golems to carry the orichalcum ingots to the dry dock where Camus’s ship rested.

We didn’t have a furnace large enough to melt all the metal at once, but that problem was simple enough—after all, I had magic. Of course, though I could melt them, I couldn’t cast them, but Starkers was claiming that it was possible for him.

I chased after Starkers, who marched towards the dry dock. On our way, Starkers seemed to have thought of something, because he communicated with a slime through gestures. After receiving his instructions, the slime hopped off towards Yggdrasil.

The ship of the line was already resting inside the dry dock we were heading to, ready for repairs to begin at any time. We had drained the water, fully exposing parts of the hull that would usually be hidden beneath the sea, so we could repair the bottom of the ship. When we wanted to return it to the ocean, we could just open the water gates to let water flood in until it was sea level.

I marveled at the structure. Though I had piled the rocks to make the basic form, the builders who had shaped it into the magnificent facility before me were Camus and her crew, and I was thoroughly impressed.

Starkers went to the bottom of the dry dock and supervised the golems as they set down the load of orichalcum. He started swinging his hammer around, almost like a warm-up. When he was done, he turned to face me and pointed at the giant pile of orichalcum.

“That should be my cue to bring on the fire... Okay, here goes nothing.”

I nodded to him, and promptly blasted Fire Wall at the orichalcum. Fire Wall was a basic spell that was inferior to Fire in terms of intensity. However, it made up for its lack of power with its vast range and lengthy duration.

When the orichalcum started to melt, Starkers used a pole to stretch it out like honey before sprinting at top speed, wrapping it around the ship as he went. He was attempting something remarkably sophisticated—he would lather the hull with the molten orichalcum and hammer it into shape before it cooled.

He moved on to the next stage. With awe-inspiring speed, he swung down his hammer at the hot orichalcum. I had to be honest—he was so fast that all I could see was a blur. His was as fast as a bird suddenly swooping down from the sky to seize its prey. Before my eyes, he shaped the orichalcum to match the curves of the hull.

As he worked, one after another, the cave spiders made their way into the vicinity. Taran was there at the front of the procession, and they positioned themselves along the upper edge of the dry dock. From where I was standing, they seemed to be lined up at regular intervals along the top of the dock walls.

“Hm?” I tilted my head in question. “What are the spiders doing?” My eyes widened. “Oh!”

All the spiders aimed their silk at the ship at once. Large golems pulled on the silk strands simultaneously, and the ship was slightly suspended off the ground. Aha. They’re allowing Starkers access to the bottom of the ship that was resting against the ground. Starkers proceeded to cover the bilge, which was shaped a bit like a soup bowl.

As he worked, the original pile of orichalcum grew smaller and smaller as he hurriedly covered the hull with the metal. Finally, he turned to me and pointed at a nearby bucket of water. It must be a signal for me to use water to cool the orichalcum, which was still hot and reddish-black.

I cast a water spell on the metal. The next moment, a golden and shiny ship filled my vision.

Camus’s eyes lit up. “Wooow! That’s impressive!” she shouted excitedly.

I can’t believe he managed it. We don’t have any respectable facilities around, but he still crafted such a splendid coating, and in no time at all! “As always, that guy’s a miracle worker...”

Starkers gave me a big thumbs-up and raised his chin proudly, as if to say, “How about that!” He wasn’t finished, since he turned to the large golems and gestured instructions to them. At last, he waved at me and Camus, signaling that he could take care of the rest.

Looks like he doesn’t need our help anymore. I nodded back. “All right, I’m leaving it in your hands,” I told him. “As for us, Camus, shall we prepare for some fishing?”

“Let’s do that. I’ll go call the orcs over.”

“Please do. And I’ll make those golems as promised.”

“Okay.”

We parted ways, and I headed to one of the piers to craft golems that could move in water. One of <Cave King>’s abilities was Automaton Creation, which allowed me to make moving automata with heartstones as their cores. It was a versatile skill—I could customize the automata’s shape, materials, or even embed them with arcanestones infused with magic, allowing them to cast spells. At the moment, I had nine heartstones and the same number of arcanestones, loot I had scavenged in the wine storeroom underground.

“I can make nine golems with these...” I muttered aloud. “Let’s make one as an experiment first.”

Since they were going to be aquatic golems, perhaps a fishlike form would be best. The bigger the better in this case, but I have the feeling a rock golem would literally sink like a stone... Yeah, I should consider our abundant iron or our sturdy orichalcum. I’ll use orichalcum, add in an arcanestone infused with the Shield spell, and shape it like a fish roughly the size of a shark. Let’s go.

I activated the skill in my mind and not a moment later, a stunning golden silhouette of a fish shimmered inside the water. The “fish” poked its head out of the ocean. Of course, it didn’t have any eyes or mouth.

“All right, first golem complete!” I scrutinized it. “Good, it can float and swim in the water without issues.”

As if to respond to my comment, the fish—no, the shark-shaped golem started swimming in circles in the ocean. If I followed the naming convention with our other golems, it should be Unit Sixteen.

“Looks like it’s a big success. I’ll give it an arcanestone later and boost its mana levels so that it can cast Shield whenever necessary. Okay, let’s keep going and make them all!”

Ah, hold on. Making nine shark-type golems might not be the brightest idea. It’s probably better if three of them are amphibious, so that they can help out on the ship as well. That would mean making six aquatic golems...

Hmm. Hey, I think I should spice it up a bit with one golem. Maybe not a shark-shaped one, but something bigger. Much bigger, actually. Say, around the size of a whale. It’ll be a waste to use orichalcum for that one, but we have loads of iron, so it should be enough. Wait, why stop at whale-sized? Why not make one as big as a leviathan? I cracked a wry smile at my own thoughts. Now that’s going too far.

“I guess I’ll make one a little bigger than the ship itself. That should be fitting as a guardian.”

Mind made up, I set to work immediately. In the blink of an eye, a colossal mass of iron lifted its head out of the water.

“Whoa, you’re huge!” I craned my neck to look up at it. “Hello there, Unit Seventeen. Nice to meet you.”

With a loud splash, the towering Unit Seventeen dove back into the ocean, spraying me with water.

“I think I went a bit overboard with this one. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be a good deterrent against scissor crabs, at least.”

I continued with my golem crafting. In the end, I crafted two giant whale-type golems, four shark-types, and two humanoid-types. That meant I had one pair of heartstone and arcanestone left over, but I was thinking about saving them just in case we needed them for something else.

Not long after I’d finished my crafting, Camus showed up. “Lord Heale, I’ve brought them over!”

“Hey, Camus!” I waved to her. “You have perfect timing, I just finished preparations.”

A crowd of orcs trailed after Camus, and there was still anxiety on their faces. As a demonstration to them, I instructed the golems to raise their heads above the water. I heard a few frightened yelps. Some of the orcs were intimidated by the giant whale-type golems.

I immediately introduced the golems to the crew. “These guys are on our side. They’ll protect us at sea.”

The relief was evident on their faces.

Camus turned around to face her crew. “You’ve also gotten a brief look at the ship. A ship of iron is already awe-inspiring, but we have a warship covered with orichalcum! How can such a ship ever sink? There’s even more—we’re going to cover it with leviathan scales on top of all that.” Her unsaid message was, That’s why we can sail safely. “And these golems will protect us from the sea itself... Sailors, are you still scared of the sea after all this?”

Silence. None of the orcs replied.

In the rational part of their mind, they must be aware that these were the safest conditions one could ever ask for. However, the traumatic memories from their devastating defeat against the leviathan must still have weighed heavy on their hearts.

Camus must have realized that, because she said, “For now, let’s just try some fishing in the boats today. We’ll be inside the breakwaters with all these guards. It’s pretty much the same as going into the lake last time, isn’t it?”

This time, the orcs nodded mutely.

Camus and her crew then proceeded to row out into the ocean, and started fishing as planned. As she had mentioned, they were fishing inside our breakwaters, where a swim back to shore wouldn’t even take two minutes. Even if the unexpected happens, it should be fine...right? I mean, I’m keeping watch, and Riena has come over to check on things too.

The young woman in question was gazing at the orcs. “They actually look somewhat happy,” she said in a hushed voice.

“I think so too. I can even hear some laughter.”

Though they still hadn’t fully conquered their traumas, the orcs actually seemed to be finding joy in fishing. As sailors, they had lived on the ocean, and many of them must have liked fishing as a hobby to begin with. From the looks of this, I think they’ll soon regain enough confidence to feel assured even at a farther distance from shore.

A thought popped up in my mind. “A change of topic, but Riena, how are Fierle and the other little ones doing?”

Fierle and the newborn wyvern babies were still resting on their cushions, and they had to eat with the help of other residents.

“They’re all doing very well. Actually, I think they’re growing a little too rapidly... It’s only been a few days since they hatched, but all of them have doubled or even tripled in size compared to the first day.”

My eyes widened. “Th-That fast?”

“Yes, and they have a healthy appetite for fish as well. At the rate they’re going, I have the feeling that they’ll grow bigger than us in less than a week.”

“Maybe rapid growth is a trait of dragons...”

Now that I thought about it, there wasn’t much mention of dragon hatchlings in the myths I was familiar with. Roydon had mentioned that the dragons fought with each other every day, so perhaps this maturity rate applied to all of their subspecies.

I hummed in thought. “That’s good news. I was thinking about having a few of them on board the ship as guards.” That way, they’d even have aerial security. Now...it’s just up to the orcs. But considering how they’re enjoying fishing, I’m sure that they’ll—Hm?

A whirlpool had abruptly appeared on the open sea.

I squinted at it. “What’s that?”

The moment those words left my lips, a pillar of water erupted from the ocean surface. Something emerged.

“A leviathan?!” the orcs shrieked.

The creature that appeared was indeed enormous. It even had an elongated body like a snake and a fiendish face. But clearly, it wasn’t a leviathan, since it had no scales and was many times smaller than the real deal. The body that rose out of the ocean was, at most, around the height of our watchtowers.

“What nonsense are you all spouting?!” Camus roared. “That’s a giant merray! We’ve defeated these monsters thousands of times!”

It seemed to be a marine monster, and not too powerful or rare in Camus’s eyes. The orcs quickly regained their wits—is what I would like to say, but they didn’t. The giant merray opened its jaws wide, and its howl was all it took for the orcs to scramble as they paddled desperately back to land. A handful of them, in panic, dove into the ocean and were struggling as if they had forgotten how to swim.

The monster itself fell swiftly at the hands of the goblin guards, who shot it down with a ballista bolt from the shore. However, the panic of the orcs didn’t subside at all.

“We can’t let this go on!” I yelled. “Rescue the drowning ones!”

Riena and I went to save the orcs with the help of the goblins who’d been waiting on land. The goblins paddled over in boats, while we who could use magic cast wind spells to nudge them back onto the reclaimed land.

A while later, when the rescue operation was finally over, we were all back on shore when Camus came over, her shoulders sagging with defeat.

“I’m so sorry, Lord Heale.” She bowed.

“No, it’s not your fault.” I shook my head. “I was too careless...”

“It’s not your responsibility,” she insisted. “I never thought they would be intimidated by a mere giant merray.”

I chewed on my lip. “That must be how deep their fear of the leviathan runs.” When faced with a giant snakelike monster, it was only natural that their first instinct was to think back to the leviathan.

Camus looked utterly lost, like a sailor without a map at sea. “Everyone should know that they’re safe now, but...none of them would listen to my words.”

“Camus...”

A realization dawned on me. Perhaps the orcs’ reluctance to return to the ocean wasn’t out of their trauma or fear. As sailors, as people who lived at sea, Camus and her crew must know that it was a merciless place to begin with. But time after time, they’d managed to conquer the violent, unforgiving beast that was the ocean, because they had a powerful, charismatic leader like Camus. Now, in their eyes, Camus was a weak and feeble captain—and that was the heart of the problem.

If it weren’t for the life-changing encounter with the leviathan, from my interactions with her, I had the feeling that Camus should have been a more confident, assertive captain. The leviathan, however, had dealt her a crushing blow. She had said it was her fault that she had lost so many of her comrades; maybe it was her guilt that made her speech somewhat passive and hesitant when she addressed her subordinates now. Perhaps seeing their leader in such a state was the reason the orcs couldn’t recover their confidence either.

“It’s because I’m so weak...” Camus bit hard on her lip and clenched her fists. “I’d be more useful dead than alive.”

Riena frowned. “Miss Camus...” She reached out and gently held Camus’s hands. “I... When my family and kin were killed, I was the same. The only thing I could do was run. And because of that, I think I can empathize with you somewhat. I was so bitter, so angry at my own powerless self.”

She closed her eyes briefly, before gazing into Camus’s eyes with determination. “But when I was drowning in self-loathing, Lord Heale told me that he wanted me to be his companion. And I shall say the same to you now, Miss Camus. I want you to be my comrade. We need you. So please don’t ever put yourself down like that again! You are never unworthy!”

Camus’s eyes widened. “Riena...”

I nodded. “That’s right. Plus, you’re not weak at all, Camus. It was only the leviathan that was superior to you in strength.” As I talked, I reached into my pocket and took out a golden stone—a risestone. “So you only have to become stronger than a leviathan. This stone should help you.”

She cast her eyes down at it. “That’s...the evolution stone.”

“Use this and evolve into the monster you want to be. Into a monster that won’t lose to the leviathan in a contest of strength...into a monster that can protect all your people.”

“B-But it’s a very precious stone!” Camus stammered. “I’m a newcomer here, and I don’t deserve it!”

I shook my head. “You’re already one of us, Camus. And if you’re using it to bring back all our families, it’ll help everyone.”

“Lord Heale...” She shut her eyes for a while in silence. Then, she slowly opened them and nodded. “All right. I’ll use it.” As she accepted the stone from my hand, she asked, “Should I pray for the ability to use magic, like the others who have evolved here?”

“I think that’ll be best. We also have mana minerals that can increase your mana levels. Other than that, it’ll be great if you can unlock the true strength of your crest.”

“Thanks. To tell you the truth...I’ve always wondered about it. I always thought, ah, if only I could use the full powers of <Sea Serpent>... Then, even the most ruthless oceans wouldn’t terrorize me.”

Her crest, <Sea Serpent>, was a crest that was fabled to manipulate water and wind. On paper, it seemed to be a powerful crest. But according to Camus, it wasn’t all that strong for her—the best she could do was summon a breeze.

She continued, “If evolution helps me wield my crest at its full potential, I’m certain that our voyage would be much easier. I’ll try praying for my crest too.”

“Well, Riena and Furay’s crests changed, so I’m sure that the stone will grant your wish and evolve your crest as well.”

“That is what I hope. I will pray...for a strength that will help me protect everyone.”

Camus raised the stone into the air with one arm. Light gushed out of the stone and enveloped Camus like a cocoon.

When the light faded away, Camus was still there. At a glance, she didn’t seem different at all.

She blinked, looking at herself curiously. “How did it go?”

Ciel stretched out his body like a mirror for her. She leaned in and observed her reflection. “Oh? I...seem to be even more gorgeous?”

I think she looks completely unchanged, but, well, she knows herself best.

“But that’s not the important part.” Camus raised her arm and faced her palm at the ocean.

Gradually, the currents stirred, and water climbed high into the sky like a waterspout. The column grew bigger and bigger until it was tall enough to pierce the clouds, and Camus’s eyes widened in shock. “N-No way...”

I quickly gathered Ciel into my arms and held Riena’s hand as I shouted, “C-Camus! Stop! We’ll be blown away at this rate!”

“Ah! S-Sorry about that!” She hurriedly faced her palm at the waterspout. It dissipated in an instant, as if it had never existed in the first place.

I patted down my ruffled hair and said, “Well, it looks like you can use the legendary powers of your crest now.”

“Right. But...it’s definitely much more mighty than even the descriptions I heard before. Perhaps I didn’t just unlock the full powers of my crest—it increased in strength as well.”

“Unfortunately, we don’t have any way to check that.” I sighed. “But clearly, it’s not a normal crest, just like Riena’s.”

Camus hadn’t managed to wield the full powers of <Sea Serpent> before, possibly because it wasn’t very compatible with the body of an orc. Because of that, we had no way of knowing whether this was her crest’s rightful power or an enhanced power due to her evolution. But Camus had prayed earnestly for abilities that could earn her a victory even against a leviathan, for abilities that helped her protect her people. Her crest must have grown stronger to respond to her wishes, at least in my opinion.

“Yeah...” She clenched her hand into a determined fist. “Either way, with this, I can face the ocean once again.”

I nodded. “In that case...” I retrieved a heartstone and arcanestone from my inventory. “Okay, I still have one of each... Camus, can you and your crew assemble at the warship in the dry dock tomorrow morning?”

She blinked in surprise. “Sure, but why?”

The orcs should have witnessed Camus’s waterspout from a distance. That was a good foothold, and I wanted to give them one more encouraging push to boost their confidence.

“I have a plan,” I said mysteriously.

“Got it.” She nodded before walking over to the other orcs.

Riena looked puzzled as she asked me, “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to demonstrate Camus’s power to everyone.”

“I see. Hmm, but shouldn’t that waterspout just now have been enough?”

“It is a display of her abilities, but there’s a more striking and profound way to hammer it into her crew’s hearts.”

After seeing that Camus had left the vicinity to rejoin the orcs, I headed towards the open sea and crafted a certain golem.

“Sorry for giving you this role, but I hope you’ll be a good training partner tomorrow.”

When I was done, I left the area.

The next morning, Riena and I headed to the warship to see that the orcs were already waiting for us.

Camus stepped forward. “Lord Heale, I’ve brought everyone here.”

“Thanks. Well, you see, I was thinking that if everyone actually gets back onto the ship, it might help open your eyes and conquer the fears in your hearts somewhat.”

“Huh?” She tilted her head quizzically. “I mean, yes, it might be helpful.”

The warship was still in a dry dock—it wasn’t drifting on the ocean, so it wasn’t too different from being in a building on land. But it seemed to spark some nostalgia for the orcs, and they started reaching for tools like ropes and brushes. This ship, after all, had been their home.

Okay, the first step is complete. Next, I’ll have to be a bit forceful. Camus and her crew need this shove if they want to move forward. Furtively, I raised my hand at the shore.

The water gates opened.

“Wh-What?!” the orcs yelled in alarm. They didn’t have the time to make any further comments, because the sudden flooding of water rocked the ship, and they all scrambled to cling onto masts or the top edges of the hull. It must be a learned reaction from all their years on the ocean.

But I wasn’t quite done yet.

Without warning, the ship was dragged towards the direction of the ocean. None of the orcs had expected this sequence of events, and color drained from their faces.

Camus’s crisp voice rang out like a knife cutting into the discord. “Everyone, hang on tight! This mighty ship won’t sink from a bit of jostling!”

“Y-Yes, Captain!” the orcs replied in shaky voices.

Abruptly, the ship stopped moving.

One of the orcs tried to lean out from the gunwale. “W-We gotta get outta here!”

“Don’t dive in!” Camus barked. “We don’t know what’s down there, it’s too dangerous!”

The orc in question snapped out of his panic as realization sank in.

Camus gave out instructions calmly. “In the vast ocean, the only safe place is your own ship... Everyone, don’t lose your head. Raise the sails! Shooters, get into your positions at the ballistae!”

“Aye aye, Captain!” chorused the orcs as they acted as instructed. It was an emergency, and everyone was scrambling to get their jobs done.

Finally, preparation to set sail was complete. I shouldn’t have expected anything less from the veteran crew—they had raised all the sails in under ten minutes.

“Captain! We’re ready!” an orc reported.

“Bravo. All that’s left is to get into the sea with the help of my <Sea Serpent>.” She paused, and her eyes widened. “Wait... That’s!”

There was ferocious splashing of water in front of the warship, and what soared out of the frothing sea—was the leviathan we had once defeated.

“A leviathan?!” The orcs were stupefied.

Naturally, it was an artificial leviathan. Its true identity was a golem I had crafted yesterday to resemble the leviathan. Though its body was made from stone, I had taken great care to mimic the leviathan’s form, scales, eyes, and nose. Most importantly, the golem was identical to the actual beast in size, and that was convincing enough.

My plan was to help the orcs conquer their fear through this golem. It was also the culprit that had dragged the ship into the ocean. I had even equipped it with an arcanestone infused with the Fire spell, and it could spew out fire from its mouth. I was supplying it with my mana, so if my calculations were correct, it should have the ability to blast out a column of fire around the same size as the real deal did.

It didn’t waste any time—it turned to the heavens and spouted a colossal inferno from its maw.

“Ahhh!!!”

Like I expected, the orcs shrieked in panic. But one voice was even louder, overwhelming the symphony of fear and dread.

“Everything will be all right! I will protect you!”

It was Camus, who alone stepped forward and pointed her palm at the leviathan. In response, the golem aimed its blaze at her.

“Riena,” I said in a hushed voice. “If anything gets out of hand, you know what to do.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Riena could manipulate the weather, and she could easily summon torrential rain to put out the fire. We could use Shield too, so even a nightmare scenario was salvageable.

The column of fire approached, roaring into our ears. Camus, however, didn’t even take one step back. She manipulated seawater to meet the fire head-on. The stream of water was incredible, almost as if she had manifested a great waterfall at her whim, accomplishing a feat that even magic couldn’t. It must be the power of her <Sea Serpent>.

Fire clashed with water, sending steam erupting out with a deafening and explosive bang. Camus pressed on, summoning a waterspout, and aimed it at the leviathan. The torrent of swirling water engulfed the leviathan and launched it high into the sky, before flinging it away into distant waters.

“She did it!” Riena cheered.

The orcs were watching the scene with wide eyes.

“Act now!” Camus yelled. “I’ll summon wind to push us back to the harbor!”

She aimed wind at the sails—likely another power of <Sea Serpent>. Violent gales lashed the sails, propelling us forward. Thanks to them, the ship managed to reach land almost instantly. One after another, the orcs made preparations to climb ashore. It seemed that their urge to return to land still lingered.

Camus bowed at the orcs sincerely. “Everyone, just once more. Please, follow me to the sea once more. I promise—this time, I will protect you all. So...give me one chance, that’s all I ask. Come with me.” Her voice was commanding. Reassuring.

Even then, the orcs were silent. But after the seconds ticked by, some of them exchanged looks before nodding.

One orc stepped forward. “Please raise yer head, Captain. I’ll be frank. The scariest and saddest thing to us was...the fact that you stopped being the captain we knew and looked up to.”

All the orcs nodded at his words.

He continued, “But it’s our fault that you were pushed to such a state... If yer willing to start anew, Captain, we want to follow you.”

“Everyone...” Camus looked over her crew, eyes wavering with emotion.

“Captain! We should be the ones asking you! Please give us a chance to follow you again! How can we call ourselves the Corvus tribe if we’re separated from the ocean?!”

As one, the orcs all bowed to Camus. Tears formed in the corner of Camus’s eyes, and soon, they overflowed, tracing trails down her cheek. The other orcs, equally tearful, gathered around her.

Camus stood tall and proud as she said, “Let’s do this. Let’s take on the sea together again, just like we always have.”

Her crew all shared determined nods.

Chapter 11: Fighting with Our Pickaxes!

For the following three days, I single-mindedly dug away underground to replenish my stock of stones. And today, I would do the same.

“All right... Time to start digging!” I declared.

“Yes, my lord!” the others replied vigorously.

I was in the middle, with Furay to my left and Taran on my right. Together, the three of us swung our pickaxes in unison.

This time, it wasn’t a competition—instead, we were cooperating, using the strength of our numbers to efficiently gather rocks. We dug at the same pace, creating a tidy tunnel as we went. If I wanted to make the biggest lighthouse possible, I needed an incredible number of rocks. Furthermore, I needed more lime for mortar and iron for building iron pillars. Thankfully, the latter two materials were among the items Roydon had given me, so I had a good head start. Either way, my main goal was still the same: gathering rocks.

The three of us weren’t the only ones mining. Recently, many of the monsters in Sheol had been taking part. Even Starkers was here today, swinging his pick nearby. However, too many people digging would pose a risk if we all dug in different directions, because our guard golems would be shorthanded. Thus, most people were digging in small clusters, just like Furay, Taran and me.

The three of us were good mining buddies, and teamwork came naturally to us. Everything was proceeding smoothly, and I’d already added a great deal of stones in my inventory. Maybe I should start building the lighthouse the day after tomorrow.

As we dug, Furay asked me, “Lord Heale, you mentioned your father before. He has a crest called <High King>, right?”

Perhaps due to the fact that we had been mining shoulder-to-shoulder for days on end, Furay recently liked to chat with me often. Well, calling it a “chat” was perhaps a little inaccurate—most of the time, Furay talked about Erivan while I listened patiently. Today, however, she seemed to want to hear my story instead.

“Ah, I did say something like that, didn’t I?” I said. If I remember correctly, when I mined with Furay for the very first time, I talked about my father. To be honest, now that I had completely gotten used to life on the island, my father was already starting to become a distant memory to me. In truth...a part of me wanted to forget about him.

“His crest sounds impressive, so he must be a great man, but what kind of person is he?” Furay asked.

“Weeell... He’s an incredibly strict person.”

I couldn’t say this to Furay’s face, but my father wasn’t a man who was accepting towards monsters as a whole. And knowing that man, it was easy to imagine he would be displeased if he ever learned that I’d been tenacious enough to survive to this day.

Wait. Is that really how he’d react...? I recalled my conversations with my father back in Sanphales...or perhaps I should say the lack of them. I couldn’t really say I knew the man, now I thought about it. We never had many chances to speak in the first place—or rather, he never bothered to speak to me. On the day I was granted my fief, among all the mocking and laughing that had broken out when my domain was announced, there had been one man who hadn’t even batted an eyelid. And yes, that man was my father.

I had only assumed he would be prejudiced against monsters because most Sanphales citizens were. My father hadn’t ever personally voiced his opinion. Now that I thought back, the only way I knew how to describe my father was a strict man. Nothing more.

“A strict person, huh...? Hey, between my dad and yours, who’s harsher?”

I paused. “Erivan, well, often smiles and laughs, so not him. Plus, he’s actually quite kind, isn’t he?” My impression of my father was a man who was just as callous and uncompromising towards his own family as he was with strangers. Erivan’s type of strictness was rather different.

“Ohhh... Is he always yelling at people, then?”

“No, he’s not like that either. But I can tell you one thing. He never smiles, that’s for sure.”

That’s right. Now that I take my time to reconsider my father, he wore a mask of perpetual apathy, and he would never let emotions get the better of him. At his core, he was a cunning man who always acted for the profit of Sanphales. Huh. If he ever finds out that I’m still alive and living in a community of monsters, I wonder how he’ll react. At worst, he might order my execution.

That being said, in name, I’m a governor of Sanphales, and I technically haven’t lost my status as a prince. Furthermore, this land was assigned to me by an oracle. I have full power over the laws and regulations within my domain, so if I say that there’s a law that permits humans to live with monsters here, I...guess it shouldn’t be an issue? And I mustn’t forget the fact that we’re the most remote place possible. Sanphales wouldn’t gain much from sending the army here, so there’s a very low chance of my father suddenly launching a full-scale invasion here.

Before he acts, he’ll try to gather information about Sheol in any way he can before making a decision about what to do with this island. Though...I can’t rule out the possibility that he might try to threaten us with his military might.

No matter what he ends up deciding, the best thing to do is to give him the impression that this island is difficult to conquer. Even if we don’t truly have the power to back it up, as long as we’re able to keep up a formidable, menacing appearance, we might make him think twice before invading. And actually, a tall lighthouse would be a good way to do that.

Furay hummed in thought before muttering in a low voice, “I’m kinda surprised.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I mean, you smile all the time, Lord Heale. You know, I’m actually quite charmed by your smile.” She stared at me with a straight face.

“F-Furay...” I felt a little shy hearing a comment like that from her, especially since she didn’t seem to be joking.

She paused before adding, “But maybe not your smile when you’re mining. It doesn’t really reach your eyes, and it’s kind of scary, to be honest.”

I blinked in surprise. “I-It’s that scary?”

Her reply was immediate. “Yeah.”

Ah. Maybe I’ve regressed to my expression at the beginning, to the face that scared Riena, Baris, and Erivan when I first met them... I need to be careful from now on. I swung down my pickaxe as always, but this time, something wasn’t quite right. Hm? The sound seems to be...echoing back from beyond the rock wall?

Furay noticed as well, and she traded nods with Taran. “Lord Heale, usually, when sounds echo back like this, there’s a cavity nearby.”

“Yeah.”

I cast Shield around us. Unit Fifteen reacted swiftly, marching forward and raising its physical shield to protect us. Seeing that everyone was ready, I swung down my pick.

The rocks gave way, revealing a pitch-black area beyond. The next moment, numerous red lights appeared inside it, suspended in midair. Almost immediately, the red dots stretched out into red lines that rushed towards us.

“Is something attacking us?!” Furay exclaimed in panic.

We were safe; the Shield spell around us blocked the red light beams upon contact.

I squinted into the cavern. “Are those...golems?” I launched one Fire spell after another towards the red lights. The flames ignited the bodies of the source, illuminating the area and revealing the identity of our enemies.

“Huh?” Furay was stunned. “Floating...rocks?”

Inside the mechanical room were countless drifting rocks. Or rather, round, rocky spheres. They were completely black, and had holes in their centers, which was where the red light was flowing out from.

“There’s so many of them...” I said in a low voice. “More importantly, how are they able to fly?”

There were dozens—no, around a hundred of them. Are these another type of guardian golem?

While we spoke, my fire spell engulfed the floating rocks. But the fire didn’t seem to deter them, because they were already aiming their light beams at us again.

“If fire doesn’t work...” I cast Freeze. I could encase them in ice and investigate them slowly.

Chilly, white fog surrounded most of the floating rocks and froze them. “Hooray!” Furay’s cheer echoed out inside the chamber. However, in the blink of an eye, the glowing holes sucked up the ice. Even worse, the red light shifted into blue light, and this time, they aimed blue light beams at us.

“Wait...” My eyes widened. “Could it be...?” The blue light beams clashed with my Shield spell and turned into a coat of ice. “These things are reflecting my spells?”

“I’ll help, Lord Heale!” Next to me, Furay thrust out her two hands and cast a lightning spell at the rocks. But the same thing happened once more—they absorbed the lightning. This time, the lights shifted to yellow, and the rocks fired yellow beams at us.

Furay’s eyes grew wide. “They’re copying our spells?”

“Looks like it. Not only that, but they’re absorbing the mana of our spells too.” With my mana sensitivity, I could tell that they had consumed our mana and were storing it inside their bodies.

“Does that mean magic doesn’t work against these guys?”

“I can’t tell for sure... They might reach a limit eventually if I keep using magic, but...” The problem was that I had to fight while keeping up the Shield spell, which meant I couldn’t solely dedicate all my mana to attacking. Even if I had plenty of mana reserves, what if the rocks absorbed all of that mana and hurled them back at us?

I promised everyone that we’d all put safety first. I should consider retreat just in case... Suddenly, my pickaxe trembled. “Hm?” I looked down and saw it was Ciel, poking at the pickaxe in my hand. “What’s wrong? Does my pickaxe bother you in some way?”

“Oh! Are you telling him to smash those things with his pickaxe?” Furay asked.

Ciel wobbled his body up and down in agreement.

“I see... Since we’re up against rocks, pickaxes would be the best tool, huh?” I said. I never thought the day would come when Ciel would voluntarily make proposals to us. Perhaps he had learned and grown after all our time together. “All right, let’s go and smash them the traditional way. Unit Fifteen, guard the entrance.”

Unit Fifteen nodded and poised with its shield at the ready. Just in case, I cast a Shield on the entrance.

“Okay then,” I sucked in a deep breath, “Furay, Taran...and Starkers?”

Starkers had appeared out of nowhere and had gotten in line with the rest of us, hammer in hand. With an expression brimming with confidence, he gave us a firm nod. Is he going to fight too? I mean, I know he has incredible physical strength. I guess we’ll find out.

Now that Ciel had hopped onto my shoulder too, I called out to the rest of my teammates. “I’ll cast Shield around each of us, but stick close. Let’s go!”

“Yes, my lord!” Furay yelled.

We all lifted our pickaxes and charged at the rocks. With a ferocious battle cry, I swung down my arm. The rock crumbled noisily before tumbling down onto the ground.

Is it my mithril pickaxe that’s effective, or is it <Cave King>? Ack, it doesn’t matter. The point is...

“It’s working!” I yelled.

Immediately, I repeated the same motion on the rock next to my first target, and it also crumbled with one hit. All right! This is pretty much the same as normal mining.

“Okay, how about the rest of us?” As I fought the rocks, I looked out of the corner of my eyes at the others.

“Hurgh!” Furay yelled. She seemed to be struggling somewhat. She’d only managed to take down one rock after three swings.

As for Taran, she was smashing one rock after another in a flurry with her four pickaxes. As soon as she was done, she immediately hopped into the next cluster of rocks and started mowing them down. She was under the protection of Shield, so I didn’t have to worry about her getting injured, but she was making full use of her agility to nimbly and elegantly dodge all of the light beams.

Huh. You know, it’s actually the first time I’ve seen her in battle. Taran usually seemed gentle and mild, but in battle, she wore a different face—she almost seemed like a whole new person. Okay, technically, she isn’t a “person,” but right now, she’s acting in a way that befits her intimidating appearance. So far, Taran had the most fallen rocks to her name.

I can’t let her overtake me like this...! Now then, how is Starkers doing? I scanned the surroundings. Huh? Where did that guy go? Ah, there he is!

Slightly in the distance, I spotted someone under the concentrated fire of the light beams from several rocks. Sheesh, I told him to stay close...

Sweeping down the rocks as I went, I made my way towards the man. Gradually, I got a better look at him and what he was doing. He was actually rummaging through the debris of fallen rocks. I knew it. He isn’t here to fight—he was intrigued by the rocks themselves.

But the next moment, he proved me wrong, because he suddenly lifted his hammer and smashed a drifting rock into pieces at godly speed. All I saw was a blur. Then, he started inspecting the new pile of debris he had made. I take that back. Like I initially suspected, he’s a strong fighter on top of all his other talents. He seems very interested in the rocks, though. Does that mean these are valuable constructs?

At a glance, they seemed to be made from black rock, but upon further inspection, the material also reminded me of glass. From time to time, I spotted a golden gleam and something shiny inside. I paid closer attention as I destroyed them and discovered that at their center were golden stones and something that looked like crystal balls. It was likely one of these was the source of the light beams.

The golden stones I knew of already were risestones or arcanestones, and in this case, the latter seemed more likely. Are these golems after all, then? When I looked even closer, I realized a familiar blue stone was hidden behind the golden stone. Ah. That must be a heartstone.

Perhaps this encounter had brought us good fortune, since I’d be able to craft new golems with these—nearly a hundred golems with arcanestones, in fact. They would be a great help as security and manual laborers. What I didn’t recognize was the crystal ball. I’ll look into these when the battle is over.

I scanned our surroundings. The army of a hundred golems had been cut down to a pitiful number. I had defeated a dozen or so, but Taran, who had gotten much farther into the chamber, had taken down most of the crowd. Furay had also just finished dealing with her share. As for Starkers, when I looked at him, he was easily juggling away with around a dozen crystal balls.

Nodding to myself, I said, “All right, they’re all down on our end. As for Taran, only a handful are left—ah, she’s done.”

Taran had just finished taking down the last rock on the far side of the chamber and was waving her four picks at me.

“You’re the best, Taran!” Furay waved back.

I joined in, waving my pickaxe in admiration for Taran’s valiant efforts.

But then, without warning, the ceiling opened up behind Taran. A colossal drifting boulder appeared from within.

“What in the world...?” I gasped, staring at the boulder that was at last ten times larger than the rocks we had faced.

Furay’s eyes were wide. “I-It’s huge...! Is it their boss?”

Taran reacted instantly. She leaped onto the boulder and slammed her pickaxes at it at a speed too extreme for my eyes to keep track. But she didn’t even make a dent in the thing.

In response, the central hole of the boulder widened. It looked like an eye. I could sense a tremendous amount of mana amassing inside.

“Taran, get away!” I shouted. Not a second later, Taran hopped down.

We didn’t get so much as a second to catch our breaths—the entire boulder was bathed in white light, and with a roaring sound like thunder, an explosion of light and lashing wind expanded out from it.

“Furay, Starkers!” I called out. “Over here!”

“C-Coming!” Furay yelled, scrambling over with Starkers.

We clustered as one so that I could enhance Taran’s shield as much as possible. Thanks to our quick reaction, we managed to fully block the blast from harming any of us. However, the wind was ferocious, and it threatened to toss us around even with our Shield, so I pumped in more and more mana to weather the storm.

The same couldn’t be said for Taran—she couldn’t stand her ground and, inside her Shield, she was sent rolling towards us like a ball.

“You okay, Taran?!” I shouted.

She immediately climbed back onto her many feet and shook her body up and down. Oh, phew. She isn’t hurt. Okay, is the entrance all right? I turned my head around, and Unit Fifteen seemed to be safe too.

“What an explosion,” I muttered to myself. The boulder’s amount of mana is enough to rival mine from a while back. Hmm, but it’s not an explosion of fire. Is it holy magic?

Furay nodded. “Yeah, and the bad news is, that just now was a wide-area spell. If it focused its attack on one of us... Yikes.”

If it fired out beams like the rocks we had defeated earlier, I wasn’t sure how long my Shield could last. Furthermore, Taran’s attacks had been completely ineffective.

“Taran, was it too tough?” I asked.

She nodded with frustration.

“I see...” I frowned. In terms of speed and pure strength, Taran was superior to me, but even she hadn’t managed to break the big boulder. I might be better at handling a pickaxe than her, but it would still be difficult to crack the boulder, nonetheless. “If it has a weak point, it has to be the glowing part in the middle... The problem is, we can’t get any closer.”

If it launched an attack like earlier, even if Shield could protect us from injuries, we would still be blown away.

Furay commented, “But that thing sure is taking its sweet time to attack us... Ah, it’s glowing again.”

This time, it must be preparing its light beam attack. “Furay, Starkers!” I barked. “Get behind Unit Fifteen! I’ll cast a Shield, but Furay, manifest your own on top of it!”

“Yes, my lord!”

They both obeyed my instructions immediately. As for Taran and I, we exchanged glances and nodded. Taran put down all her picks on the ground before scuttling over to me. I climbed onto her back, and she started racing faster than a horse towards the boulder. She’s so fast! Without the picks, she could dedicate more of her legs to running. I guess that gives her a speed boost.

The boulder wasn’t idle—it shot out its light beam in response. Huge pillars of light smashed into the ground behind us, and it was closing the distance, aiming faster than we could run. Moments before the next one could pierce us, Taran leaped high into the air. She landed far away from the light beam, but a new one aimed at us almost instantly.

Taran’s movements from here on were nothing short of incredible. She hopped right, she hopped left, she hopped onto the ceiling, onto the walls...almost as if she could bend the rules of nature to her every whim. Just as you’d expect from a spider!

The boulder couldn’t keep up with her movements and had trouble aiming its beam. On the other hand, the passenger clinging onto Taran’s back—me—was desperately trying to suppress my nausea. We kept up the game of cat and mouse, and eventually, the boulder gave up on its beam attack.

“Now!” I yelled. “Taran, let’s go!”

At my call, Taran dashed at full speed towards the towering boulder. Mere instants before its eye could flash again, Taran leaped high into the air.

“Huuurgh!!!” I cried, swinging my pickaxe with all my might, my aim set on its glowing eye.

With a grating noise, it cracked like glass, and the giant boulder crumbled immediately. The rumbling sounds it produced were deafening, almost as if I had taken down an entire stone building. As rock debris rained down on the ground, Taran landed nimbly with me on her back.

“We did it!” I cheered. “Taran, I knew you could do it!” I climbed down and high-fived one of her feet before I showered her with praise. “What a powerful enemy we faced... If not for your speed, Taran, I wouldn’t have ever gotten close enough to it.”

In response, Taran tapped her palps together, almost like a clapping motion. At the same time, the assistant’s voice echoed inside my head, announcing that my skills would be enhanced. Hm, I probably fulfilled some sort of requirement by defeating that thing.

“Expanded range of automatic storage. In addition, you may now use this ability even outside caves, but limited to mined material.”

That means... As an experiment, I tried storing the fallen debris around us. Until now, the maximum range I had was roughly two or three footsteps from my standing position. However, with this upgrade, the range was several times what it had originally been. That’s an awesome upgrade. I can even store things outside the cave now!

A voice rang out from behind me, snapping me out of my thoughts. “Lord Heale, Taran! That was amazing, you two!” It was Furay, who ran over and high-fived with me before giving a big thumbs-up to Taran, showing her admiration towards us.

“You did a great job too, Furay,” I said. “And...good, you don’t seem to be hurt anywhere.”

“I’m all right. Starkers and Mister Ciel are fine too!”

At the entrance, Unit Fifteen was waiting, and it wasn’t alone—other monsters waved to us as well. They must have arrived and started spectating our battle at some point. I could hear applause—they were celebrating our victory.

Hold on, where’s Starkers? I whipped my head back and forth. Ah, there he is!

Starkers seemed to be gathering the black rock shards. Is he going to make something with them?

“I’ve gotta say, though, that thing was way too big,” Furay said. “The debris it left is like a small mountain.”

“Right. I’m really curious who made it...” I don’t even know whether it was the work of an intelligent race, actually. It could be natural.

I stared up at the ceiling where the boulder had come out from. Even with the help of Night Vision, however, the space there seemed to be empty. I couldn’t see anything even after careful scrutiny. It must have been lying dormant there for a long time. The little ones weren’t strong enough to defeat us, which was likely why the big one came out. It would have been a near thing if they all attacked us at once from the start... I’m so glad we found out early on that magic doesn’t work.

I really need to thank Ciel for showing me the way. I crouched down to gather Ciel, who was jiggling on the ground, into my arms. “Ciel, thanks for telling me that magic wouldn’t work. You were a great help.”

Hearing that, Ciel shook his body happily. He even seemed to be bowing to me humbly. Is it just me, or...is he becoming more expressive as time goes on?

“Okay. Now, I should look into the stones and crystals,” I muttered.

I had already stored the materials around me, so all that was left was to check my inventory. Heartstones, arcanestones... Yeah, I’ve found these before. Since heartstones were the cores of golems, the black floating rocks must have been a type of golem. The light beams were likely spells cast using the magic inside the arcanestones.

But then, I came across three unfamiliar terms. First, I retrieved a black shard from my inventory. “Resistone...that’s new.”

Resistone: Stone with natural resistance against magic. On ingestion, it will grant a living being resistance to magic.

I figured it was such a type of stone since magic didn’t work. And wait. By “ingestion,” you mean...?

“It is edible.”

“It’s edible?!” I exclaimed. “A stone is edible?!”

Furay tilted her head in question. “Huh? What do you mean?”

“Uh, apparently this black shard has resistance against magic, and, uh, it’s edible.”

“...For real?” Furay took the black shard into her hand. She felt for its texture and sniffed it. However, it felt smooth and hard like a crystal, and weighed around the same too. It didn’t seem edible at all.

But then, I spotted Starkers in the distance, who opened his mouth wide and sunk his teeth into a black rock, crushing it like hard candy. Wow. How hard are his teeth? Hmm, maybe it’s surprisingly brittle?

“We can eat this thing...” Furay muttered, and her eyes lit up with curiosity. Rising to the challenge, she brought it closer to her mouth. But she immediately shook her head and put it down.

I gave her a wry smile. “Furay, even if we do try to eat it, we should at least wash it with water first. We could even crush it with a tool before attempting it.”

“You’re right... If we grind it down, it wouldn’t seem so much like a stone anymore, so it wouldn’t be all that off-putting.”

But I can’t believe it’s possible to gain magic resistance through eating these things. I would have preferred it to be something we can “consume” on command like mana minerals. Oh well. Either way, it’s going to be very useful for making golems, and to offer better protection to everyone.

A thought occurred to Furay, and she frowned. “Wait. The big guy you defeated just now looked like it was a slightly different color, wasn’t it?”

I nodded. The other blackish debris I had scavenged from the last big boulder was a different material, and it had been exclusive to it.

Black Iron: Harder than iron and has high heat resistance.

This was the material that had withstood Taran’s attacks. Though it wasn’t all that fancy, considering its attributes, it would be useful for a variety of things. For example...maybe cookware?

“It seems to be a material called black iron, a hard metal that’s resistant to heat,” I replied.

“Black iron, huh...? What were those round crystal balls, then?”

Soakstone: A stone that can absorb and store a set amount of mana.

“They’re soakstones, which can apparently absorb magic,” I answered.

“Huuuh, another miracle stone, hm?” said Furay. “So that’s why magic didn’t work against these guys.”

I supposed this one wasn’t much of a surprise either. The assistant hadn’t said that resistones could render all magic null, so it was probably the combination of that and the soakstones that had blocked my spells. The crystal ball of the big boulder seemed to be several sizes bigger than the rest, but it was still the same kind of rock. Though...it had been reduced to splinters, a mere shadow of its former self. Maybe its size affects the amount of mana it can absorb.

Furay looked around the chamber. “Wow, though. Look at the amount of debris everywhere.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot. I guess the first thing on our list is to store it all.”

Armed with all these materials, I could craft even more golems with greater strength to serve as reliable guardians during mining and on the surface. All the golems besides Units One to Fifteen had joined Camus and her crew, so we were actually a little short on golems at the moment. This was perfect.

With the help of our slime postmen, we spent a while after the battle gathering all the materials in the chamber.

Chapter 12: Making a Sculpture!

“Whoa! There’s so much stuff!” Erivan exclaimed as he looked up at the mountain of rocks piled up at the foot of Yggdrasil, where I’d heaped the five types of stone I harvested from the floating round golems earlier.

Baris looked just as stunned. “I have grasped the basic function of each one, but I must say, I still find them surreal.”

We were currently holding a meeting at the round table beneath Yggdrasil to discuss how we were going to handle these stones. My first suggestion was that we should eat the crushed resistones. However, everyone was rather reluctant—with the sole exception of Starkers, who was munching away merrily.

Deciding to set an example for everyone else, I picked up a fragment and bit into it. “Gah...” I could feel my face scrunching up. With one bite, a tangy bitterness filled my mouth.

All the monsters watching were sweating nervously. Of course, none of them followed my example. In the end, I decided to rely on Riena’s talents. I asked her to experiment and come up with a good recipe to make the stones more agreeable.

After my tasting session, Baris turned to me. “Setting aside the flavor of the resistone, with this much material available, we should be able to craft a respectable number of golems.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “We can start branching out from our usual transport and security golems. But for now, the first thing on the list is still security golems.”

We had just come across a chamber with numerous hazardous golems, after all. We could never have enough security golems around. Furthermore, I wanted to start a division of aquatic golems like the ones I made for Camus and her crew, to be positioned around Sheol. The waters around Sheol Reef were filled with perils, and it was better to be safe than sorry when it came to dealing with satan clams, scissor crabs, and giant merrays.

The most important factor to decide when creating golems was the magic I would assign to them—the spells I would imprint into their arcanestones. I had assigned Shield to all the golems I had made so far. That was probably the best choice for our upcoming golems.

Hmm, but is it? Come to think of it, what spells were those floating golems enchanted with? Their attacks looked like some kind of light beam, but I’m not sure. Actually, how were they able to float in the first place? None of the stones that made up their bodies had floating properties... One thing to note is that the number of arcanestones I scavenged was around two hundred, roughly twice the number of heartstones. Does that mean each golem had multiple arcanestones? That would mean one arcanestone could be dedicated to the light beam spell, while the other was dedicated to the floating spell.

A floating spell, huh? If I knew this spell, it’d open up so many doors for crafting. Oh well. For now, let’s go with the innocuous option. Safety should always come first.

Mind made up, I said, “Personally, I’m planning on crafting a handful of golems that can use the Shield spell. I’ll add soakstones and resistones to them to grant them magic resistance. These golems will be small, and they’ll serve as guards for our mining monsters.”

Everyone nodded in response.

“I think that’s a solid plan,” Erivan said, “but it’d be nice if we had a few more of those on the surface. Ten of our goblins also left on that ship with Camus, so we’re a bit short on hands for lookouts.”

“Of course, I want to station some of these security golems on the surface as well,” I agreed. “I also plan on adding one more upgrade to fend off invaders.”

“Another upgrade?” Erivan raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah. I’m thinking about implementing another arcanestone to each and enchanting them with flashy warning spells to deter our enemies.”

It would be a waste of our arcanestones to only enchant them with superficial spells for the sole sake of intimidation, however. I would choose spells that would make these golems useful soldiers during an emergency. The golems I had crafted so far were purely defensive—they were only armed with shields, whether magical or physical. Technically, I had crafted them to be capable of wielding the standard equipment a human would use, but I hadn’t really explored that ability yet.

“I see,” Baris said. “That means they can help hunt murder birds and satan clams.”

“Exactly.” I nodded. “I’m also going to craft aquatic lookout golems, and it might be a good idea to embed them with offensive spells so that they can catch fish. Does anyone else have any ideas?”

Straightaway, Erivan’s hand shot up in the air. “I sure do!”

“Erivan.” I nodded in acknowledgment. “Go on.”

“Could ya make one more gigantic golem? Somethin’ bigger than Yggdrasil!”

With a frown, Riena interrupted him. “While I understand your liking for grand things, General, what are we going to do with such a golem?”

“U-Uh, ya know...” His gaze swam.

Riena looked at him with disapproval. “Not to mention that it will block the sunlight, and might collapse our reclaimed land with its weight.”

Baris nodded. “The heavier the golem, the more damage it will cause to the stone blocks of the reclaimed land. It’s not a realistic proposal.”

“Y-Yeah, I figured...” Erivan scratched his cheek and chuckled sheepishly.

I did think there was some merit in his proposal, though. “No, I was actually thinking the same thing, Erivan.”

“Huuuh?!” everyone exclaimed as their eyes widened in surprise.

Even Erivan, the man who made the same proposal, had the same reaction. “Ch-Chief! Yer way too nice sometimes. I know yer tryin’ to stand up for me, but—”

“That’s not why.” I shook my head. “I think it will be useful.”

“Useful?” Erivan tilted his head quizzically, and so did everyone else.

“When I was talking to Furay, I had a thought.” I hesitated. “What would humans do, especially ones from Sanphales, if they ever came across our island?”

Frowns weighed heavily on the monsters’ expressions.

Erivan was the one who broke the silence—he didn’t mince his words. “I don’t mean any offense by it, but knowin’ how humans are like, they might try to attack us.”

“Yeah, that’s very possible,” I agreed. “But at the same time, very few humans are willing to take on enemies they think they can’t beat. So, what do you think we should do?”

There was contemplative silence this time as everyone wrung their brains for plans.

In a subdued voice, Baris said, “Would the best course of action be...to make our enemies hesitant about attacking us?”

“Yes. Whenever Sanphales considers invading somewhere, they have to scout out the enemy walls and towers,” I said. “If the structures in place are significantly advanced or imposing, they would sometimes retreat and scrap their plans of battle.”

It didn’t seem to make sense to Erivan. “I get that, but...” He tilted his head, puzzled. “What does that have to do with a giant golem?”

“It doesn’t have to be a golem. Something like a lighthouse would work too. Say, Erivan, if you ever saw a man-made structure taller than even Yggdrasil, what impression would you get?”

He paused. “I’d be amazed. Ah, I see!”

“Anyone would be left in awe, and a certain amount of trepidation, towards the people responsible.”

There was a wide grin on Erivan’s face. “The bigger the better, then!”

I nodded. “Exactly. In human mythology, we have many stories about towering statues. Our nations and cities made them not just as decorative symbols, but also as a way to display how prosperous, to outdo their competitors. The grander these structures are, the greater the impression they leave.”

Riena hummed in thought. “That makes sense. If we ever saw such a statue in the settlement of another tribe, the general would definitely be surprised.”

“Indeed.” Baris stroked his chin. “Everyone would all open their eyes wide like the general did, and shout, ‘It’s huge!’”

Erivan muttered under his breath, “Are ya pokin’ fun at me?”

“Now, now.” With a wry smile, I placated Erivan before getting back to the topic. “Humans are always wary of things bigger than ourselves. But like everyone else said, situating it on land would be inconvenient, and it’d be a risk if it ever collapses. That’s why I set my sights on the ocean.” It might also come in handy during the lighthouse construction, or if the lighthouse was ever on the verge of falling over. “What do you guys think?”

Everyone chorused their agreement.

I nodded. “All right! I’ll make the aquatic golems first and then make the giant one right after!”

We continued brainstorming for a while, and we came up with a few more practical ideas, such as fire-fighting golems with water spells and blacksmith golems armed with high heat resistance and fire spells. I decided to make these alongside the security golems, but just in case, I kept aside thirty heartstones, sixty arcanestones, and some other materials in case I ever needed them.

Once the land golems were complete, I went to the shore to craft aquatic golems that I then sent into the ocean. The golems I made this time had a different design from the ones I’d made for Camus. When I asked Starkers for advice, he had drawn a few fishlike illustrations, so I based the new ones off his diagrams. They were still shaped like fish, just like before, and were similar to sharks in size. The difference was their larger fins and their ability to climb ashore. I had also embedded them with lightning spells, so they could catch fish too. They do look a bit silly when they stand on their fins on land, though.

Next up was crafting a towering golem in the ocean. Well, not quite “in,” because only its feet would be in the water. Everything above the part that corresponded to a human’s ankle would be exposed. Together with the central figures on the island, I traveled by boat to a place slightly offshore from the reclaimed land.

Erivan, sitting in the boat next to me, asked, “Chief, have ya already decided what kinda statue it’ll be?”

“Mostly. It will be, well, a statue of an imposing and mighty man.”

“In that case...” Erivan paused. “How about a statue of me?”

Furay scowled. “Dad, what are you thinking?! That’s embarrassing, and more importantly, aren’t these types of statues meant to be modeled after the most influential member of the tribe?!”

“A-Ah... Then, how about this? The body’s mine, but the head will be Chief’s.”

“No!” Furay said firmly, shooting down her father’s idea. “That’s creepy!”

But uh, I don’t really want to make a statue of myself either, I’d feel awkward too. And I’ll be honest, I can’t really picture my own face and body in my mind...

Furay was persistent in her objection, and Erivan eventually gave up, albeit reluctantly. I actually felt some pity for the man, since he had been the one to propose it. His majestic muscles were his pride, after all. And I couldn’t argue the fact that Erivan had an intimidating appearance, which made him the perfect monster to model the statue after.

I paused. “In that case, how about we model only its body after Erivan? As for the face, I’ll just choose something that seems to fit, like all the statues I see in temples and shrines. Does that sound like a decent compromise to you, Furay?”

“Well, yeah, I suppose.” She was finally convinced.

Erivan wept tears of joy as he yelled, “Ch-Chief, I’ll never forget my debt to ya until the day I breathe my last! I’ll strike a magnificent and dignified pose right now!”

I smiled. “Please do.”

Delighted, Erivan stood before me with his axes in hand and took a pose that emphasized his burly physique. Okay, I’ll make a colossal golem standing in the ocean that’s identical to him. Unfortunately, though, since it’s a golem, it’ll end up changing its pose if it ever moves.

Now then, what materials should I use...? Well, it’s mostly for intimidation purposes, so I’ll use stone, since it’s going to be just as tall as Yggdrasil. For its bulging muscles, I’ll use gold. While I’m at it, I should also toss in a couple of arcanestones to allow it to use fire magic and Shield. The axes will be iron or some other common metal, and its eyes will be clusters of glowstones... That way, it should serve the purpose of a lighthouse too.

I paused my train of thought. Ah, am I being too greedy? Can such a golem even stay upright? But, I mean, it’s not going to move unless it really has to, so I’ll make its legs thicker so that it’ll be more stable. If it doesn’t work out, I guess I can always modify it to be smaller. That being said, it’ll be dangerous if it topples over. It might cause a large wave on impact, and I’d need to bounce that away from shore with magic. We should be fine, though, since I’ve evacuated all the boats in the area and all the citizens from the coastline.

As I manifested the Shield spell, I began preparations to craft the golem. I selected the materials for the golem with my crest. “Okay, all that’s left is sculpting its form.” Lastly, I closed my eyes and ordered my crest to model it after the man before me.

However...

“Stop right there, Starkers! Don’t get in the way! I’m the model of that statue, not you!”

By the time Erivan’s voice barked out, I had already activated the skill.

When I opened my eyes, I let out a dumb, “Ah.”

What I saw wasn’t Erivan, but a man who must have run in at the last second—Starkers, who rolled his eyes back into his head and raised his two hands to make victory signs.

A large, blinding sphere of light flashed on the ocean surface before subsiding, revealing a towering statue. A towering statue of Starkers rolling his eyes back and with his hands raised in V signs.

A cry of grief threatened to split the heavens. It belonged to Erivan.

I could only stare up at the Starkers statue, flabbergasted. What? What in the world is this thing?!

On the other hand, Erivan must have thought that nothing could be done to salvage the situation, because he collapsed onto the floor. I immediately told him that I could modify the golem’s looks. But before I could say anything else, there was a commotion over on the reclaimed land, and I turned around.

I was greeted with the sight of countless monsters. The goblin children were making a ruckus over the sudden appearance of the Starkers golem. In response to the noise, the Starkers golem moved from its victory-sign pose to strike all kinds of bizarre poses. It boasted its muscles, it...uh...showed off its manly cleavage slightly, and it blew kisses at its audience.

The spectators seemed to be entertained by its movement, and the children cheered merrily at the Starkers statue. Faced with such a sight, Erivan could only mutter two words before falling silent. “I lost.”

Furay breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, it’s a good outcome for me, I guess, since a giant statue of my dad would be really awkward.” She seemed to be one of the supporters of the Starkers statue. Her words were like pouring salt on a wound, and Erivan froze in shock.

On this day, the second symbol of Sheol—after its predecessor, the Yggdrasil tree—was born. Its default pose was, of course, relatively solemn. I had asked it to raise its axes high above its head. However, its eyes were still clearly rolled back into its head, and its jaw still hung slovenly slack.

Chapter 13: A Pitch-Black Sky!

I stopped digging and turned to Furay and Taran. “All right, I think it’s about time we grab lunch.”

“Gotcha!” Furay chirped. “I wonder what’s on the menu.”

“I’m sure that Riena and the other chefs will do a wonderful job.”

We chatted as we returned to the surface. One of the rules on the island was that all the miners had to rest on the surface at noon. It seemed like an ordinary day as we approached the cave entrance.

But that was when a deafening roar echoed out.

“Wh-What was that?!” I yelled.

It sounded like an explosion. Is someone doing some kind of experiment? The next moment, unarmed monsters filed into the cave.

Upon seeing me, one of the goblins shouted, “Ah, Lord Heale! The sky, it’s...it’s pitch-black!”

I frowned. “Pitch-black? Is it another swarm of murder birds?” Something similar had happened a while ago.

“No, it’s nothing like that! I swear, a patch of the sky in the distance is completely dark, and it’s heading this way!”

I didn’t know the details, but clearly, it was an emergency. I could hear the ringing of the bells that our golems were equipped with.

When I marched out of the cave, I was greeted with a darkness that reminded me of night. I froze at the unbelievable sight. “Wh-What is that?!”

A patch of dark sky had painted over the sun, blocking it out completely. And this dark, inky segment of sky was rushing towards us, as if it was eager to engulf our island as well.

I had never seen such a natural phenomenon before. In the corner of my vision, I spotted Riena, who was sprinting in my direction. She seemed to know more than I did.

“Lord Heale, we’re in trouble!”

“Riena! Do you know what that is? Wait...!” My eyes widened.

The Starkers golem I had only just crafted was spewing fire at the black sky. When the inferno made contact with the black patch, it ballooned into a roaring fireball, and dark smoke filled the area around it. The explosion earlier must have been the golem’s work. Starkers—the man—looked pleased as he watched. He raised a fist, as if to say, “Go get them!”

When I had first made the Starkers golem, it had admittedly seemed a little questionable, but when a blazing inferno was shooting out of its mouth, the statue felt like a majestic ally, standing tall and proud.

However, even the golem’s flames didn’t bring back the azure sky. The hole was filled immediately, and the black sky continued soaring our way. Good, that means it’s not invincible. But...what in the world is it made of?

Riena shifted her gaze from the Starkers golem to me. “Those are locusts! Monster locusts called devilhoppers!”

Stunned, I exclaimed, “Devilhoppers?!”

One would find them in Sanphales as well, deep in the forests. Each monster was around the size of a human head, and their agility was something to behold. As omnivorous creatures, they would appear on our fields and eat everything there—our crops, our livestock, and our people.

To us humans, they were a terror comparable to wild boars, or wolves. What made these monsters different, however, was the mucus they spat, which could melt down living creatures and plants like acid. They disliked hard matter, and they were infamous for their habit of turning their food into goo first.

But this makes no sense. “Are you sure they’re devilhoppers?” I asked.

Unlike murder birds, devilhoppers normally didn’t attack in swarms, especially not giant swarms like these. Not to mention that we were in the middle of the ocean.

I shook my head to snap out of my daze. Though there were several questions burning in my mind, I had priorities to attend to. “Furay, Unit Fifteen!” I yelled. “Stay here and guard the entrance! Even if they make it this far, don’t let even a single one of them inside!”

“I won’t!” Furay promised as she cast Shield at the entrance. Unit Fifteen marched forward, lifting its orichalcum shield as it stood on guard.

Evacuation seemed to be mostly finished—Baris must have arranged it right away. The harbor was now filled with golems and armed monsters. Our giant crossbows and ballistae were also moved into their positions.

“Taran, take me and Riena to that watchtower!” I commanded as we climbed on.

Dutifully, Taran darted like lightning from the cave entrance to the harbor, where I saw the goblin general.

“Erivan, status report.”

“Chief!” He greeted me. “Evacuation’s done, no one’s left behind. The only ones around would be the Starkers golem and the aquatic golems.” He paused. “Well, if those things really are devilhoppers, the golems should be fine. Their mucus isn’t the type that melts rocks and metals, if I remember right.”

“Right.” I paused. “Though I wish we could all take refuge as well...” I found my eyes drawn to the sky, and I spotted a group of murder birds frantically soaring through the sky to escape the devilhoppers. They were swallowed by the swarm instantly.

Riena nodded gravely. “It seems that we do not have that luxury.”

“Yeah. If we let those things reach Sheol...” I shuddered. The locusts would leave Yggdrasil and our farm utterly devastated in their wake, and Sheol would return to a barren island devoid of all greenery. I looked at all the faces before me. “Yggdrasil and the farm are Sheol’s treasures. We must—no, we will stop those creatures with our own hands.”

Everyone nodded without a word. With a deafening roar, the Starkers golem shot out a pillar of fire. A loud explosion left our ears ringing as it pierced the devilhopper swarm like a stake.

This was my cue—I raised my voice. “Everyone, to your stations!”

At my command, the monsters began their respective preparations for our attack. There was still a decent amount of distance between us and the swarm. I could put off manifesting a Shield spell around us until they were a little closer. With that in mind, I decided to put all my efforts into offensive spells first—I would cast at full power. I thrust my palm at the black sky and aimed.

But there was a problem. The swarm was unimaginably large, filling an entire region of the sky, and I wasn’t sure where to aim. No, I can’t afford to waste any time. The only thing I can do is hurl as many spells as I can at it.

My first choice was Fire. A roaring fireball lit up its surroundings like a lofty bonfire, expanding as it crashed into the swarm. Its size even surprised me, the caster—the crimson flames filled my entire vision. Upon impact, the flames transformed into a blinding flash that painted over the whole canvas of the sky. After a short delay, the island was shaken by thunderous booms and lashing gales.

“Ya got ’em!” Erivan yelled out in the wind. “Our chief never disappoints!”

But when the light, smoke, and ashes died down, the sky was still dark as devilhoppers covered it like a curtain.

“Am I dreamin’?!” Erivan gripped his head, his eyes wide with shock. “Even that spell didn’t work?!”

I didn’t know how many I had taken out with that spell, but the swarm was still very much thriving. Looks like our enemy is a tough one...

At once, Riena spoke up. “Lord Heale, let’s try what we did last time.”

“You mean, summon rain and thunder?” I asked. It was the strategy we had used during the scissor crab invasion. Lightning spells had better range and destructive power inside the water. We could do the same thing this time—we just had to aim at the sky instead. I nodded. “Good plan, let’s go!”

“Yes!” Riena stood next to me and faced her palm skywards as well. “I shall begin!”

As soon as the words left her lips, the already black sky turned a shade darker. Instantly, I could feel humid air flowing in our direction. The obsidian cloud steadily expanded to envelop the entire devilhopper swarm, and heavy rain poured down like a veil. Sheol, however, remained completely dry. It was as if she had drawn a dividing line—on one side was a storm, and on the other was a clear sky. Riena did a splendid job—it was likely even magic couldn’t achieve such results. Her crest, <Jörd>, was incredible.

“You’re the best, Riena!” I yelled. “Now it’s my turn!”

I poured all my mana into a lightning spell and unleashed it upon the devilhoppers. The black patch of sky fell down like a crumbling wall.

“Good, it’s working!” I nodded. “Riena, cast your lightning spells too!”

“I shall!”

Riena quickly joined me, providing her aid. Blinding white light flickered across the swarm, and one after another, the monster corpses fell into the ocean. The unnatural darkness of the sky cleared away, and though it was still somewhat gloomy, it was the normal lighting of a rainy day.

The two of us poured in every drop of mana we had, and under our combined hail of attacks, the army of devilhoppers fell apart in no time at all. As the sky grew brighter, a tall wave swept towards us, possibly due to the impact of the countless bodies. When the devilhoppers had finally disappeared from sight, the heavy clouds cleared away, as if they had never been there to begin with.

“Yahoo!” Erivan cheered. “I never expected anythin’ less from ya, Your Majesty!”

“I didn’t do anything!” Riena bowed to me humbly. “It was only possible because of Lord Heale’s magic.”

I shook my head. “No, Riena, you were vital to our success.” She managed to summon rain to cover such a large part of the sky... It’s not the first time, but it still seems surreal.

Erivan walked forward, and he seemed puzzled. “I gotta ask, why the heck did those things appear here? We’ve been gettin’ a lotta annoyin’ visitors lately—those scissor crabs too.”

Baris hummed in thought. “Perhaps the monsters nearby flock to this island because there is no other land in the vicinity. We have thriving greenery here as well, which must make it even more attractive.”

I found myself agreeing with Baris’s theory. But there are still many unanswered questions. From what I know about devilhoppers, they shouldn’t move around in such grand swarms. And I’ve never heard of them traveling across the ocean like that. Not to mention... I frowned as I looked at one of the devilhoppers that was now flying towards us, a survivor of our lightning storm. The goblins beneath the watchtower aimed their arrows at it right away, shooting it down.

“I’m not sure, but...they seem a bit too big,” I said in a low voice as I gazed at the falling locust. I had heard that devilhoppers were normally the size of a human head, but the specimen I was looking at seemed much larger.

“Ah, looks like there’re a few tenacious ones,” Erivan muttered. “I’ll go hunt ’em down with the golems.” He promptly headed off to deal with the flying stragglers.

Now that the worst was over, I had time to think. The devilhoppers seemed to have a clear destination in mind. Considering the angle they had been advancing in, it must be Yggdrasil. There probably wasn’t anything strange about them being attracted to vegetation. But at the same time, the invasions seemed to be growing more frequent. The leviathan, the scissor crabs, then these devilhoppers.

I didn’t have a clue as to why, or what exactly was attracting them here, but I had the sinking feeling that even more powerful invaders were on their way. The idea of being attacked by human nations, especially Sanphales, was scary, but the threat of nature was even more prominent. Either way, we had to upgrade our defenses further.

Until now, I had thought that I was going overboard with our defense mechanisms, such as the Starkers golem. But who would have predicted that invaders which overpowered them easily would appear so soon? I shouldn’t just focus on amassing raw power. To deal with enemies like this, I’ll have to use my brain a bit more, just like we did this time. Baris was a shrewd man, but perhaps Sheol required a specialized tactician who was better versed in the art of warfare.

I was quiet for a long time, engaged in my thoughts. That was when I noticed Riena in front of me. She was peering into my face worriedly. “Lord Heale, are you feeling unwell?”

“No, I’m fine.” My eyes widened. “Wait, that thing in your hand is...”

“Yes!” She beamed at me with a whole, somewhat charred devilhopper in her hand. “It’s a whole grilled devilhopper. It’s just as tasty as murder bird meat!” She offered it to me, still holding on to its legs.

“Y-You eat these?!”

“We do! They’re nutritious, and I’ve eaten them since I was a child! We have a new supply of food now.”

“I-I see... Uh, I’ll try them later, thanks.”

Riena had a brilliant smile on her face, but I really couldn’t bring myself to eat these things. As for the monster residents of the island, however, all they saw was a grand feast. When I looked around, I saw the others were retrieving the devilhopper corpses that had washed up. Starkers was already helping himself to a whole devilhopper, munching away happily. Raw.

It certainly doesn’t look appetizing, but maybe it tastes good? Oh well, it’s still a valuable source of food. Let’s freeze them and store them underground.

The next moment, I heard a goblin shout, “There’s a whole other lot of them!”

I turned my gaze to the ocean once again and furrowed my eyebrows. A swarm of devilhoppers around the same scale as the precious one was advancing towards us once again.

“These things again?” I muttered. “Riena, can you summon rain?”

“Yes!” She lifted her palms up to the sky. But no matter how long we waited, no rain answered her call. “Huh?”

What rained down on the swarm wasn’t water, but glaring sunlight. Fire flared up, spreading across the swarm. The devilhoppers pelted down onto the ocean.

“Did you burn them, Riena?” I asked.

“N-No, the only thing I asked for was rain. I can’t summon such powerful sunlight with my cres—” She broke off as she seemed to focus her gaze on something behind the burning swarm. “What?!”

I followed her line of sight, and there, I saw a dazzling, golden bird gracefully soaring across the sky.

Chapter 14: The Arrival of a Guardian!

I gaped at the sight. “What in the world...is that?”

A giant bird was flying towards us, burning the surrounding devilhoppers to a crisp on its way. Its body shone like the sun, almost as if it was made of fire itself. Human myths had records of legendary monsters known as firebirds, and the bird looked similar to those depictions.

“The hell is that thing?!” Erivan exclaimed, before commanding the monsters present to brace for combat. “Keep yer guards up, everyone!”

“Erivan, wait!” I said hurriedly. “I’ll try talking to it first!”

“C-Can we actually communicate with that thing?”

I chewed on my lip. “That’s what my intuition is telling me, yes.”

For the past few days, I had felt that the sunlight was more intense than before. It hadn’t brought unpleasant heat, however. It felt more like the gentle warmth of a hearth. Now, that comfortable sunlight was stronger than it was ever before, likely due to the presence of that bird. That was why I couldn’t imagine it being hostile to us. Even when it flew past the Starkers golem, it didn’t stop to attack the golem. What was even more mystifying, though, was the fact that the Starkers golem hadn’t attacked the bird either.

The bird soon stretched out its wings gracefully before gliding down in front of me. Its red eyes, however, were fixed on something else. On Fierle, the fire dragon behind us. No​​—on Melle, who was riding on Fierle’s head.

I had a bad feeling about this. In the back of my mind, I had slowly been coming to the realization that Melle wasn’t any ordinary bird or monster. Though their egg had been buried in the rocks for a long time, they had still hatched safely. They had managed to hoist up Roydon with a strength that didn’t seem right for a tiny bird. Furthermore...the sunlight had started growing stronger right around the time Melle had hatched.

I addressed the bird. “Who are you?”

“I am Elysion of the phoenix race. I have come to fetch the scion of our royal family.”

“Phoenix”...? We’ve got another enigmatic visitor here... After our encounter with a leviathan and a dragon, we had gradually grown used to seeing obscure creatures showing up. More importantly, who do they mean by “scion”? No, that’s a silly question. It must be Melle, who they’ve been staring at this whole time.

“Do you mean Melle?” I gestured to the baby bird.

“Yes. This noble fledgling is the only offspring of our royal family. In truth, I had long thought that they were lost to time.” Elysion turned to the chick and lowered their head reverently. Melle tilted their head in question, and they seemed completely lost.

Okay. So, according to Elysion, Melle is phoenix royalty. “In other words, you mean that Melle is this...‘phoenix’ too?”

“Yes. They are the only child of our king—the sole child born from a union between him and a bird that lived in the world of the ground. We phoenixes are only permitted to mate once in our entire lives.”

I...think that means they can only lay one egg? “I see,” I said. “You mentioned that you’re here to fetch Melle. Where are you going to take them?”

“I shall bring the child to a place where they can receive the proper education of a sovereign in preparation for the eventual day of our king’s passing. They shall then rule over the heavens for all eternity.”

“You wish to educate them, even though they are still just a newborn?”

“Physical age does not matter to our race. After all, we can change our appearance as we wish.” Light enveloped the bird, and their silhouette shifted.

When the light faded away, Furay exclaimed, “A-A human?!”

I doubted my own eyes. No longer was a bird standing in front of me, but a human girl with rainbow-colored hair spilling down her back.

Elysion knelt down before Melle. “Your Highness. I beg that you come with me.”

But Melle was cowering in fear, because in the girl’s hand was a golden birdcage.

I could feel a frown taking over my expression. “Are you planning on locking Melle up in a place like that?” My tone was harsh.

How long had it been since I had last spoken out of anger? I couldn’t dull the edge in my voice as I recalled the caged monster that I had failed to protect back in the palace.

In an unruffled tone, Elysion replied, “It is our duty to protect our royalty eternally, so that their blood would never be lost again.”

I walked forward and placed myself between her and Melle. “Melle doesn’t want to go with you. They’re already our family. We won’t let you take them away.”

Riena, Furay, Erivan, and all the other monsters stepped forward to surround Elysion. Riale and Fierle marched in front of Melle and growled at Elysion in warning.

“...Family? Is that true, Your Highness?”

Melle offered no reply to Elysion’s inquiry. We didn’t even know whether Melle could understand our speech.

However, Elysion’s eyes widened a fraction. “My word... We cannot go against the decisions of our royalty. Be that as it may...” She turned to me. “Lord Heale.”

This girl knows my name? I hadn’t introduced myself yet, so by all rights, I should be a stranger to her. Then again, she seemed to know what Melle was thinking even though there was no reply, so perhaps she could read minds.

She continued, “You require the permission of our king for one of our kind to descend from the heavens.”

“How do we get that permission?”

“You must erect an altar in the sky. There, you will carry out the appropriate ceremony to request the descent of our king and ask for permission for the royal fledgling to live below the heavens. Our king will answer your summons and appear before you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What if I say no?”

“Our king will likely take his child back to the sky with force,” she answered with a grave expression.

Chewing on my lip, I said, “All right. In that case, should I head up into the sky with you, then?”

“No. Under the mandate of our king, I have come to this land to bring back his child. My deepest apologies, but I cannot take any of you with me, and I must not aid you in the altar’s construction.”

“In other words, we need to get up there by ourselves,” I muttered. If that was the case, I could just ask Fierle and the wyverns to carry us up into the sky. They had already grown to the size of cows, and they were capable of flight now.

Elysion must have the ability to read minds, because she warned, “Even if you borrow their wings to fly, it is meaningless unless you build an altar.”

I looked up at the sky. Even if we had the ability to fly, it was impossible to construct a floating altar up there. “What are we even supposed to do, then? Where exactly does the sky begin, in your eyes?”

“Well... If I were to use something you have as a reference, please look at that tall tree.” She gestured at Yggdrasil. “I am certain that our king will answer if you pray at a height that is twice that of its canopy.”

“Twice as high as...” I frowned. “So, you want us to build an altar up there?” The floating golems I had fought flashed across my mind. If I knew the right spell, I could have used arcanestones to construct a floating altar in the sky. But I didn’t, so the only thing I could think of was to build a tower and erect an altar at the very top.

Seeming to have read my mind again, Elysion added, “Altars are structures of faith. Faith is zeal, and faith is passion. Our king will only answer with disinterest towards short-lived and insincere constructs.”

“So we need to build it with all our spirits, just like how humans build shrines, huh? But as you can see, an island of our scale will have difficulty building such a tower.” I asked for her wisdom in a roundabout way.

“...My deepest apologies, but it seems that I must take my leave.” She looked apologetic. “But allow me to make one statement. Humans have achieved similar heights with the lone power of their own race...so it is not impossible.” Light swelled around her and began to engulf her. “There, the humans besought that we phoenixes lend them our power. However, their prayers went unanswered, because the tower collapsed before they could meet a phoenix. But you are not alone on this island—I am certain that you can manage it with your comrades’ aid.”

Then, she disappeared along with the light.

Furay rubbed at her eyes several times. “Um, was I dreaming?”

Riena was blinking in a stupor. “I must have had the same dream...”

I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t a dream...”

At this rate, Melle would be snatched away from us. To me—no, to Riena, to Riale, to everyone on this island, Melle was an irreplaceable part of our family. If it was what Melle wished for, we would happily give them our blessings for their departure to anywhere in the world, whether it be the other side of the sky or the bottom of the ocean. However, what Melle wanted, at least for now, was to stay with us.

Riena nodded. “Melle is our precious family.”

Furay nodded as well and added solemnly, “It’s still too early to think about becoming a ruler or whatever. Kids are supposed to play games and live a carefree life.”

Erivan slung an arm around her shoulder. “Exactly what my daughter said! Kids should monkey around until they’re much bigger. Furay used to hang out with the guys and wrestle with them until only a few years ago!” He grinned.

“H-Hey!” Furay yelped indignantly. “Y-You didn’t have to tell everyone!” She gave her father a piece of her mind by lightly punching him over and over.

While that was going on in the background, Baris turned to me. “A phoenix this time, I see... I have never heard of such creatures before, but then again, the visitors to this island always bring surprises with them.”

“An altar and a ceremony...” I schooled my face into a serious expression. “Baris, I will need your help.”

There was a deep frown on his face, but he nodded firmly. “Indeed, the art of prayer is my area of expertise. However, I admit, it is my first time even hearing of an altar dedicated to phoenixes, never mind building one...” He closed his eyes briefly. “But I shall do everything within my power.”

“I’m counting on you. Together, we will protect Melle.” I will never let anyone lock them away in a cramped birdcage like that.

I clenched my jaw before turning to all the monsters present and making a declaration. “Please listen, everyone. From this moment onwards, we have a new goal that we must achieve at all costs. We will build a tower that will climb up into the sky itself.”