Dad Came Back from a Deserted Island Chapter 14

Seeing the strikingly similar reactions of father and daughter, Kiki snorted before climbing onto Vivian’s head and proudly lifting its chin.

[That’s right! This body is a divine beast. Communicating with nature and finding the location of something as simple as a mine is child’s play!]

“It says it’s easy! It can talk to nature!”

[Not talk and talk! Communicate!]

“Ta… communicate!”

“Is that really possible?”

Despite the almost comedic exchange between the two—or rather, one human and one divine beast—Jean couldn’t bring himself to laugh.

His eyes and mouth were both wide open, as though he wanted to laugh at the good news but was far more stunned by what he had just heard.

[Of course it is. So from now on, make sure you treat me properly, human. If I am pleased with your hospitality, I may occasionally bestow my favor upon you like this.]

“Thank you so much!”

Jean sprang to his feet and scooped Kiki off Vivian’s head.

“As expected, His Divine Beastship is the best!”

Kiki’s mouth twitched as it complained about Jean daring to touch its noble body without permission.

When Jean even spun the monkey around in circles, just as he often did with Vivian, Kiki burst into delighted laughter.

“Oh. You like it.”

[Heehee… I, I do not! Did you really think this body would be pleased by something so trivial?!]

Kiki’s face turned red—though its black fur made it impossible to tell—and it let out a sharp squeak before wriggling free of Jean’s grasp.

“Gasp. Vivi, could you ask His Divine Beastship if Daddy offended him somehow?”

“Hmm… I think he’s okay! He looks like he liked it!”

The fact that Kiki wasn’t angrily denying it and was instead awkwardly smoothing down its fur seemed to prove Vivian right.

Jean briefly wondered whether it was disrespectful to find a divine beast cute, then cleared his throat and sat back down.

“Ahem. His Divine Beastship, I only know what kind of gemstone is in the mine and have only a vague idea of its location. I don’t even know its name. Can you still find it?”

[Hmm. If you don’t even know much about the mine, it probably isn’t producing particularly valuable gemstones. Tell me what kind of gemstone it is.]

Kiki answered indifferently, but then suddenly froze.

Jean was staring at it with eyes full of longing.

His lips trembled as he finally answered.

“……Diamonds.”

If he could obtain this one thing, his plan would practically be guaranteed to succeed.

 

***

 

The day before Jean de Lambert regained his memories.

“Damn. When things go wrong, they really go wrong.”

“What happened?”

Eduard, the merchant who had taken in the wandering Jean, had been frowning since early morning.

News had arrived that his longtime rival had acquired a diamond mine.

Unlike Eduard, who prided himself on running his business with some degree of conscience, he despised the man, who would do anything for money.

And now that very man has been blessed with such incredible luck.

Especially when the two were competing for an Imperial contract.

“A diamond mine? Could something like that really be discovered so secretly? If a new vein had been found, information should have reached you months ago.”

“They say it was discovered in an abandoned mine that had been discarded because it was considered unprofitable. No one expected anything from an ordinary vein, let alone diamonds.”

“Then it must have been an abandoned mine in his territory. Even so, for the information to reach us this late…”

“Exactly. They say it was discovered in Serenville.”

……That was everything Jean remembered about the diamond mine.

He had planned to investigate it properly, but on the day he was supposed to begin, a splitting headache struck and his memories returned, completely rearranging his priorities.

However, Serenville was the Empire’s most developed mining region, with more than twenty mines.

Even excluding those currently in operation, there were more than ten abandoned mines. He couldn’t simply buy them all without any information—not that he had the money to do so—and if he went poking around every one of them, it was inevitable that people would notice what he was after.

That was why he had been prepared to spend as much as ten years searching.

But if Kiki could really locate the diamond mine, it would save him an enormous amount of time.

“I was told the mine is somewhere in Serenville. Ah, Serenville is the name of the duchy where we live. Belouang, where we went yesterday, and this village are both under the Duchy of Serenville. If you look at this map…”

Jean spread the map out so Kiki could see it clearly and pointed to several abandoned mines.

“These, these, and this one probably aren’t it. They were only temporarily closed by their owners, so it would be difficult to call them abandoned. This one used to be a gold mine, so it’s probably not it either. Diamonds and gold wouldn’t come from the same place.”

This was the result of combining all the information Jean had gathered in Belouang the previous day.

“There’s also an abandoned mine around here. Though I suppose I can’t exactly call it nearby since we’d need to take a carriage to get there. Anyway, it probably isn’t that one either. None of the conditions for diamonds to form apply there.”

[Hmm. Then there are about six places we need to investigate. The ones farther away may take some time to check, human.]

When Vivian relayed Kiki’s words, Jean smiled and bowed deeply.

“Which ones are they?”

“Kiki! Your shoulders are going to fall off!”

Kiki’s previously raised shoulders immediately drooped.

 

***

 

Before Jean left, Vivian’s daily life consisted of little more than playing.

Jean, who was only a noble by name, had no intention of making her study from a young age like other nobles.

Peter, who had once been her playmate, was gone, but she had gained Kiki in his place.

Vivian had gotten her old daily life back.

“You know you’re not allowed to leave the garden, right?”

“Don’t worry, Daddy! I’m all grown up now!”

Jean couldn’t help laughing at the words of his daughter, who hadn’t even lost all her baby teeth yet.

After Jean left to clean the house, Vivian sat in the garden with Kiki and began picking flowers.

“I’ll make you a flower crown~”

[A flower crown?]

“Yeah! You make a crown like this with flowers!”

[Oh-ho. A crown! How fitting for a divine beast such as myself. Hurry up and make it!]

“Oh, come on. Don’t rush me.”

Her hands were surprisingly skilled as she gathered the prettiest flowers and carefully braided their stems together.

She was following the same method Jean had taught her when she was younger.

Even when she had been alone, Vivian had often made flower crowns while waiting for her daddy, so she had become quite good at it.

Kiki, meanwhile, kept giving her unsolicited opinions about which flowers looked better together.

“You talk too much, Kiki.”

[And you’re far too disrespectful!]

“Anyway, I’m done!”

[Oh, it actually looks quite good.]

“Hehe. Since your head is small, it was faster to make.”

Once the flower crown was placed on the tiny monkey’s head, Kiki looked so adorable that Vivian wanted to squeeze it.

Unable to contain her pride, Vivian suddenly hugged Kiki tightly.

[Kiiiiik!]

Kiki shrieked reflexively.

Yet despite the noise, it made no attempt to escape and simply remained quietly in her arms.

“Hehe. You like hugs too, don’t you?”

[I do not.]

“You’re sitting so quietly, though.”

[This noble body does not enjoy being held by anyone! It’s just that when I’m in your arms, I somehow feel…]

“Feel what?”

Kiki lifted its head from Vivian’s arms.

When their eyes met, Vivian caught a faint glimpse of a familiar face in her mind and slightly furrowed her brows before the image disappeared.

[I feel like I’ve been here before.]

“Huh?”

[Vivian. You’re a very strange human.]

“Are you insulting me out of nowhere?”

[Was your mother perhaps a member of the Imperial Family?]

“My mom? No. Imperial Family members are super important people. But my mom is my mom, and my daddy is my daddy.”

[Well, an Imperial Family member wouldn’t be living in a remote place like this.]

“You keep insulting me!”

Vivian and Kiki bickered for a while, but soon they were laughing and running around together again.

When Kiki insisted that they should wear matching crowns, Vivian made one for herself as well.

The sight of a little girl and a baby monkey happily wearing matching flower crowns and playing together was wonderfully peaceful.