Chapter 24 – I talked about my hopes for the island!!
And so we decided to release the kobolds and listen to what they had to say.
“I see… In other words, his parents were in the battle at sea and…”
Ash the kobold nodded with a pained expression.
All the bodies and remains of ships that floated to the island yesterday.
So they really were from a battle between kobolds and orcs after all.
“The enemy had one hundred great ships…and we only had thirty that were hurriedly put together. We didn’t stand a chance against them. This is the only ship that wasn’t destroyed…”
And then the younger brother, Haine, continued.
“Seeing that she had no choice, Her Majesty the Queen also joined the battle and used her magic. However, in an attempt to save the life of the newborn young one, she put him in a magic box and entrusted me and my brother with his protection.”
“But then our ship was also sunk…”
“And then the box drifted off to this island.”
Ash and Haine nodded at me.
On the other hand, the kobold baby just looked at me oddly.
So in other words, Ash and Haine were this baby’s real guardians…
After all, the parent had entrusted them with his care.
“In any case, I’m glad that we found you.”
I said as I carried the baby with my hands and walked up to Ash and Haine.
“See? They are your friends…uh…”
However, the baby jumped back onto my chest and hid inside of my shirt.
Then it looked up at me and whimpered sadly.
“Oh, boy…”
And so I explained what had happened to Ash.
“…I’m the one who opened the box. And now it seems like he won’t calm down without me.”
Ash and Haine looked at each other in disbelief.
“Co-could it be…but the magic was cast by Her Majesty…how could he open it?”
“But brother, it’s even more ridiculous to believe that it opened on its own… After all, I sense great magic within him… More than Her Majesty even…I do not want to admit it, but it is more than double. More than ten times as powerful… Yes, he may look human. But it is just a disguise.”
But I am human!
…I wanted to say it, but they had a point. If you just looked at how much magic I had, it exceeded what humans were supposed to be capable of.
Sweat poured from Ash’s forehead as he turned to look at me.
“Um, that box…it was locked with magic by our Queen Noia. Most of us kobolds of the Tibris tribe have low magic and cannot use it. The royal line was the only exception, as they could use advanced magic…and yet, you broke it…”
Ash turned to Hain and the other kobolds as if wanting their opinions.
As if in reply, the kobolds nodded firmly.
Then Ash turned back to me and bowed his head.
“Lord Heal… I understand that this may sound insolent, but I must make this request. Will you please raise the young one?”
“Me…?”
“Yes… Her Majesty said that she wanted someone who was skilled with magic to raise her child in her stead. And that whether or not the person was worthy, would be determined by their ability to open the magic box…”
Erevan heard this and muttered with disgust.
“Tsk… What kind of parent would do that? Even if they can use magic, how many people would take care of someone’s child without receiving anything in return?”
“You are not wrong. And so we were meant to offer many treasures from the Tibris tribe as payment…”
Ash looked angry, which made it obvious what had happened to the treasures.
“So that’s also at the bottom of the sea…”
Thanks.
He can get those treasures easy… The same way he reclaimed land.
That would be more than good enough! That way he could make a large island out of a small island and then a continent. The soil? He has sand. Fertilisers? There’s plenty of seaweed and creatures in the sea that can be turned into fertiliser meal. The princess has the stigma of a farmer. One tree seed would be enough to plant forests. And from them take wood. They have limestone. Just burn it and they have quicklime. Then pour water over it and there is slaked lime. Plus sand and they have cement. And if he dug into the volcanic ash layer, he could make Roman cement, which hardens even under water. He has ores of gold (gold coins), silver (silver coins), copper and tin (bronze coins). This island belongs to him. So he can proclaim independence. A military? Golems. They don’t sleep, they don’t eat, they don’t need pay. They just fight until they fall apart. The MC alone has such magical power that it could freeze the sea hundreds of metres away and no ship would come near. And they could fight on ice. The advantage of their own terrain. Not to mention that his fireballs would make charcoal out of ships and crews.