Dad Came Back from a Deserted Island Chapter 17

“Phew! Phew-oo!”

“My lady, you need to purse your lips a little more!”

“Phew-oo! Pfft. Ah! It tore again!”

On her third day of trying to play the grass flute, Vivian looked crestfallen as she held up the torn blade of grass.

“Whiiine. Anne, show me how you do it one more time.”

“Of course! Now, watch my lips and my fingers carefully.”

Anne slowly began playing Vivian’s favorite children’s song.

Behind the two, who had now grown almost as close as sisters, Kiki was staring intently at a white butterfly.

“Keek-keek!”

Seeing Kiki squeak at the fluttering butterfly, one might have thought it wanted to hunt it.

But when the butterfly fluttered away and Kiki immediately ran over to Vivian, looking for Jean, it was clear that wasn’t the case.

“Huh?”

Vivian had no idea what was going on, but after Kiki insistently urged her, she excused herself from Anne and went to find Jean.

“Daddy!”

“What is it, Vivi?”

Jean poked his head out from the storage room on the first floor, where he had been sorting through their belongings.

“I don’t know. Kiki told me to bring Daddy!”

“His Divine Beastship? …Don’t tell me!”

Jean hurriedly set down the box he was holding and rushed outside.

Kiki was standing majestically on the back of the sofa.

[Worship me!]

“He says to have a toast.”

“Could it be ‘worship’?”

“Yes! That’s it! How did you know?”

“If he called me for what I think he did, then Daddy really has to do it.”

[Hahaha! Your daddy knows a thing or two, after all, Vivian. Now, repeat my words to him without changing a single word.]

“Hahaha! Your daddy knows a thing or two, after all. Vivian, now repeat my words without changing a single wor—”

[Not that!]

“Not that!”

Unable to contain his frustration, Kiki clawed at the back of the sofa before clearing his throat and hurriedly returning to his dignified pose.

[Anyway, a butterfly from the northwest heard from a cockroach over there that there is a mine that produces glittering powder, though it is neither gold nor silver.]

“From a cockroach…”

Jean had imagined Kiki communicating directly with the earth when it said it could learn things through nature, but the surprisingly practical method made him suppress a laugh.

[The minnows living in a nearby stream also said that glittering powder sometimes floats downstream. Since there are no reports of anything like that elsewhere, it would be a good idea to visit the mine in the northwest.]

“If it’s northwest, I think it was the Dohajyu Mine… Ah!”

Jean narrowed his brows as he thought deeply, then his mouth fell open.

“Jyu! Jyu was in the name. I think the name had ‘Jyu’ in it! Now that we’ve narrowed it down to one place, I can remember it a little better!”

Kiki tilted its head.

What a strange human.

Not only did he already know that there was a diamond mine.

There was also an inexplicable certainty about the future in him.

Had he been hiding something?

The divine beast narrowed its eyes.

Well, it didn’t really matter.

Vivian was the one who had awakened Kiki, and Jean was someone who would never hurt Vivian.

Whatever his secret was, Kiki didn’t care—

[Kyah! Put me down!]

What did matter, however, was that Jean was now lifting Kiki high into the air with a face overflowing with joy.

[Put me down! You insolent creature!]

Kiki screeched, but Jean, excited at the thought of becoming the owner of a diamond mine, couldn’t hear a word of it.

It was a shame.

 

***

 

Buying the Dohajyu Mine was almost laughably simple.

The mine owner, unaware that the abandoned mine contained diamonds, even lectured Jean that it was a mine that should be sold rather than purchased.

He asked several times whether Jean was truly planning to buy such a worthless mine.

Knowing there were diamonds beneath the earth, Jean felt a stab of guilt.

But he could only comfort himself with the thought that if he didn’t buy it, the mine would eventually belong to a merchant rumored to deal in people as well as goods.

Since a mountain couldn’t simply spit out its own gems, he had to hire new miners.

And once he began paying for all the other expenses, his hands trembled.

He had no trouble covering the costs after selling some more jewels, but this was the first time Jean had ever spent such a huge sum entirely of his own accord.

‘I never felt this kind of burden when I paid using my benefactor’s name.’

Has that man always carried this kind of weight?

Thinking of the benefactor he missed dearly, Jean fell into a brief melancholy.

‘I have to succeed if I want to see him again.’

His benefactor, Eduard, was a merchant said to be the wealthiest man in the Empire after the Emperor. In Jean’s current circumstances, he couldn’t even approach him to offer a proper greeting.

Once he had the respectable title of diamond mine owner to his name, he might be able to find an opportunity to meet him.

With renewed determination for the future, Jean dismounted from his horse.

After putting the horse in the stable and unloading the bundles, he felt their considerable weight.

They were all snacks for Kiki and Vivian.

The fact that he could satisfy the divine beast capable of finding a diamond mine with nothing more than lumps of sugar made him wonder if this was really all right.

‘I should treat him even better.’

If Kiki knew, it would surely praise him as a truly admirable human, Jean thought as he opened the door.

“Daddy’s home!”

“Daddyyyy!”

As the sun began to set, Vivian came running from the sitting room, where she had been waiting all afternoon for Jean to return.

Her light pink hair, tied up high on both sides, bounced adorably as she ran.

“Why did you come home so late!”

Jean walked on with Vivian dangling from his thigh, where she had wrapped both arms tightly around him.

“Daddy was late because he had something important to take care of. I’m sorry, Vivi. Did you miss Daddy a lot?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Oh, no. Daddy was wrong. Vivi was waiting for Daddy, and I came home so late.”

“That’s right. You were wrong!”

“Hahaha.”

Jean scooped Vivian up and rubbed his face all over her soft, warm cheeks.

“Eee.”

Though she made a displeased sound, Vivian didn’t push him away, and Jean nearly teared up.

How long would she keep running to him like this, saying she had missed him?

What would he do when the day came for her to meet a man she loved and leave his arms?

He wanted to see Vivian grow up healthy and happy, smiling brightly—but at the same time, he wished that day would never come.

“What did you do while Daddy was gone? Were you learning to play the grass flute with Miss Anne again today?”

“Mmm-mm.”

Vivian shook her head.

Hadn’t her goal been to play an entire song on the grass flute?

She clasped her little hands together and whispered into Jean’s ear.

“I was talking to a cat.”

“Huh?”

When Jean failed to understand immediately—which was only natural—Vivian added another explanation.

“Kiki’s gift!”

Jean still looked puzzled.

Only then did Vivian realize.

‘Oops!’

She had never told Daddy what Kiki had promised to give her.

 

***

 

After Jean left to sign the contract for the mine, Vivian stood in front of her little monkey with one hand on her hip and her arms crossed.

[What is it, Vivian? What is with that insolent posture and those eyes?]

“Kiki! Why didn’t you keep your promise?”

[What are you talking about?]

“You said you’d give it to me! That!”

[What.]

“Oh, come on. I want to talk to butterflies too!”

After hearing that Kiki had spoken to the butterfly, Vivian belatedly remembered the ability Kiki had promised to give her.

Being able to talk to butterflies—wasn’t that exactly like a princess from a fairy tale?

Yet Kiki was shameless for a divine beast that had supposedly failed to keep its promise.

It merely glanced at Vivian once before casually grooming its fur.

[I already gave it to you.]

“When?!”

[When I awakened. Naturally.]

“But why can’t I understand the doggies passing by? I only hear them going ‘woof, woof.’”

[Because you had no desire to speak with them. You will only hear them when you genuinely wish to communicate with them, Vivian. If you could hear them all the time, wouldn’t you become confused?]

“Huh? Is that how it works?”

[Yes! You don’t even understand the depth of my consideration, yet you dare question me… Vivian! Where are you going without listening to me?!]

The moment Vivian heard that she already possessed the ability, she ran outside.

Unfortunately, there were no butterflies in sight, but there was a cat lying in a sunny spot, enjoying an afternoon nap.

It was an impressive tabby, its glossy fur suggesting it had been well-fed.

“Butterfly!”

The cat didn’t answer.

“Um… Cat?”

The cat still didn’t answer.

“Kiki, you liar! I can’t talk to it!”

“Meow!!” [Ugh, you’re so noisy!]

Just as Vivian began stomping her feet in betrayal, the cat’s eyes snapped open and it scolded her.