Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou - Volume 20, page 18
"Nice to meet you, too. My name is Erich."
"Erich-sama, huh?"
No matter how you look at her, Lulu doesn't look older than five years. She seems pretty level-headed for her age and she looks happy while talking with Erich-nii-san, but for them to not only make such a child act as village chief, but also repel serpent attacks...
"Oi, geezer."
"We had no choice─! Our village chief is the only person in our community who can use magic! Even for us it was a very painful decision to make!"
Eru glared at Ney, causing him to explain with all his heart that he'd done all of this himself, if only he could.
"Just form a guard unit out of adult men!"
"They have their hands full with the evacuation! Besides, if they got injured or killed by the serpents, who would till the fields in their place? We are already doing our very best and our village chief understands this as well..."
It appears this village is a lot more cornered than we thought. Even Eru couldn't refute this anymore.
"It's alright. I will repel them."
"Now listen, that's a great thing to say, but what about your wand, little lady?"
"Wand? What would I use a wand for?"
"""""......"""""
We ended up speechless once more. Unbelievably, this girl doesn't even possess a wand.
I think she's a prodigy as a magician, seeing how she possesses the mana of an intermediate magician at this age, but since it's still only intermediate, her spell power drops significantly without a wand.
The little girl faced the serpents by herself and without a wand. It's not that she can't actually defeat the serpents as an intermediate magician, but now I've finally understood why she could only drive them away.
"Vice-village chief."
"We don't know how to make something like a wand. There weren't any wands in the luggage we managed to bring with us in the past either!"
Following Eru, Burkhart-san was the next to give Ney his straight opinion, but Ney firmly objected. But, even if they brought wands with them, there wouldn't be any guarantee for them to last across 10,000 years anyway, I suppose.
"It's alright! I will repel the serpents!"
Her sense of duty seems to be on fire despite her being so young. However, there's no way we're going to leave the serpents to her now that we're here.
I stepped in front of the serpents in her stead.
"Ah, I'll take care of them."
"You will, Mister? Will you be alright?"
It appears she's using her magic mostly on instinct rather than having taught herself how to do it. She didn't even realize that Doushi, Burkhart-san, and I are magicians. I guess she doesn't grasp the concept of gauging the strength of other magicians.
"It's fine. These old guys and I are magicians."
"Really?"
Lulu looked at us full of curiosity.
Maybe she's seeing magicians other than her for the first time.
"Well, it seems like we'll have to teach her the basics from scratch. But, that can wait for later."
Burkhart-san hid Lulu behind his back while Doushi and I took the frontline.
"Erich-sama?"
"He's my little brother, but he's an excellent magician, so it will be fine."
"If you say so, Erich-sama."
Lulu came to terms with it upon Erich-nii-san intervening in our favor. As I've always thought, the persuasive force of a handsome guy is tremendous.
"It looks like there's many of them, but in the end it's just measly serpents."
Serpents only look like dragons. But, it's not that much of a challenge to defeat them. I mean even Wilma calls them efficient prey as they got delicious meat.
"Earl Baumeister, I shall assist you as well!"
"Doushi, it'll be troublesome to collect the corpses, so please pull them towards yourself."
"We're going to have a serpent barbecue today!"
Doushi and I drew the serpents to us as close as possible. Burkhart-san readied his magic in preparation for something going wrong. Eru also took his combat stance just in case.
"Vel, that's actually quite a few of them..."
"Serpents are weak, so please don't worry. Their huge numbers won't help them."
"As expected, magicians are incredible. I hear the fishermen are scared of these beasts."
For Erich-nii-san, a normal, civil official, it's only natural to be scared if several serpents with an overall length of more than twenty meters approach him.
We're just used to this because we've already faced so many of them in the past.
"Doushi, haven't their numbers grown?"
Compared to the beginning, I feel like the number of serpents rushing our way has grown...ah, maybe they think the prey has increased with us being here now as well. Moreover, they landed on the sandy beach boldly without even trying to run away.
"There are ten of them right now, so we can each defeat five!"
"Got it."
I froze ocean water into a huge lance, and threw it into the mouth of a serpent. The lance completely penetrated the serpent's head in one blow, causing it to die instantly and collapse on the spot. If you strike their afterbrain, they'll naturally die right away, no matter what sort of creature they might be.
"My turn is next!"
Doushi clad his body with a Magic Barrier, approached a serpent with Flight, and punched its head with his mana-laden fist. That alone was enough for the serpent's head to cave in, resulting in the beast crumbling on the spot.
Next, he delivered a kick in passing against the neck of a serpent with his foot clad in mana. The neck shattered easily, and the serpent died on the spot.
Because we attacked after pulling them in, the shore in front of Doushi and I was dyed crimson with serpent blood. Moreover, most of it was Doushi's work.
"A─aah."
"Eh? Is there some problem?"
Seeing the terrible tragedy on the shore, Burkhart-san sighed.
"Their heads were torn off because serpents are so brittle!" Doushi made excuses.
"It would be fine if this was a group of strays, but their nest is close-by, so the blood will draw over more of them."
"Now that we have already started, we might as well annihilate all of them!"
"Doushi, is this the proper way to say it?"
"Serpents come in big groups anyway! I will welcome them to the best of my ability!"
For the next hour, Doushi and I fought hard to subjugate the huge number of serpents attacking us.
* * *
"There's way too many of them for dinner."
"They sure came at us in big numbers. It'll be best to not send out ships in the south for a while..."
In the end, Doushi and I defeated 28 serpents. At present, the cooks, who we took with us, were cutting up the meat for dinner, but going by the fact of no further attacks coming our way, I guess we have annihilated all the serpents in this region.
"I don't know how serpents live, but they might simply remain hidden because you two are too strong for them. There's no guarantee that there exist no other nests," Erich-nii-san pointed out calmly.
"We'll only run magic airships for a while."
I wouldn't be able to bear watching ships getting attacked by swarms of serpents. For a while, people shouldn't be able to move between the islands of the southern archipelago, if they don't use magic airships.
"We should explain the circumstances to His Majesty. The Kingdom doesn't have any free large airships, but we'll get him to send more medium and small airships our way. Fortunately, the number of airships in active duty has increased."
This time Arnest had gone out to excavate an underground ruin in the Baumeister Earldom, claiming 『I will join the survey if you find something』, but it's a fact that we've found more airships thanks to all his excavations.
At first it was a huge problem to get enough personnel to move the airships, but the royal air force took over their training. The employment of air force members also went up, causing the children of nobles to rejoice over the increased number of possible jobs.
Some high-ranking nobles started to run their own magic airships while others increased the number of airships they were already operating. They hired veterans and got them to train the young folks and the children of their retainers.
"A huge number of small airships operate inside the Kingdom. It looks like the government wants to use the bigger airships as means to stay in touch with the south and east. New continents and the development of uninhabited islands has also become a possible goal."
Proceeding with the development in the south increases the national power of the whole Kingdom. Given that the Kingdom has encountered a new potential enemy in the demons, they've become frantic about accelerating the development.
The Empire might move on its own as well. Peter and I are friends, but our personal friendship has nothing to do with the relationship between our nations. Since the Empire might employ plans to outwit the Kingdom, we must do what we can while we still have time right now.
"We will hunt in the monster domain of this island as a test while also using it as an opportunity to explore the area."
If it contains precious monsters and produce like the Demon Forest, there won't be any need to liberate it. We could simply build an adventurer town over here and set this as an island for adventurers.
"There's also a limit to how much you can reclaim after liberating it. Especially considering the big mountain on the island."
"Before that, the escape of the residents comes first."
No further serpents should show up today anymore, so we must migrate the people off the island. The southern archipelago has some places which are currently under development, so it should be okay to make them settle there and support their lives for a while.
Given their experience in sugar cane cultivation, they'll be immediately usable as a work force.
"For the meat of serpents, who used to be such a threat, to be so delicious..."
Because we caught a huge amount of serpents, we also offered some of it to the sailors and villagers. The inhabitants of this village were extremely happy that they could fill their stomachs for the first time in a long time.
Since it was possible for serpents to show up at any moment, we would temporarily suspend our exploration and transport them off their island. Being happy over the prospect of leaving this place, the villagers ate the grilled serpent meat while chatting happily.
"I think we will have them move to some place on the southern archipelago."
"That should be fine."
They should be able to quickly grow accustomed to their new environment since it'd be similar to this.
I ate my dinner while consulting about this with Erich-nii-san, but there was one thing which bothered me.
"Wendelin-sama, please have another serving of meat."
"Sure, thanks."
"Wendelin-sama, you are a great magician, aren't you?"
"You think so?"
"Lulu does. Lulu couldn't even defeat a single serpent by herself."
Probably because I defeated the serpents in her stead, Lulu got oddly attached to me. Doushi also defeated serpents, but he isn't overly popular among children to begin with. Burkhart-san prepared his magic just in case, but in the end he didn't shoot a single spell.
As a result, I got myself a five-years-old stalker.
"Hahaha, popular, aren't we Vel?"
"Even though Lulu has the makings of a magician, she's still an intermediate level and doesn't possess a wand. Her mana couldn't keep up with the increased attack frequency of the sea serpents, so she might have lost, if she had tried to take on the serpents back then."
"And that's when you appeared as her savior, eh? The power of your magic is on a different level, so it's only natural that you were able to save her and her people," Erich-nii-san remarked.
Also, he casually disregarded Doushi's participation in this. Then again, it's not like it's necessary to deliberately point out that Doushi isn't popular with children just to earn myself a glare from him.
"Vel, you're popular with all sorts of women, aren't you?"
That blasted Eru... just because it's not about him... I'm gonna remember this, dude.
"Wendelin-sama is married?"
"Yeah, several times at that." Eru light answered Lulu, saying whatever he wanted about other people's affairs.
"It's only natural for a great magician of Wendelin-sama's caliber. I will also become a magnificent magician and be a good wife for Wendelin-sama." Lulu declared with a broad smile.
"......"
At present, she's a cute little girl, but once she grows up, she'll probably turn into a beauty. However, right now she's no more than a girl that ought to be protected rather than one that I could love.
"I hear this girl has no family."
Earlier Burkhart-san apparently questioned the vice-village chief about the details. Originally Lulu used to be the only daughter of a fisherman. But, her father was soon eaten by a serpent after she was born, and immediately afterwards, her mother passed away from sickness, too.
Lulu had thus lost her entire family, but because she possessed mana since birth, she was inaugurated as village chief according to the village rules. The position of village chief is assigned to magicians with combat abilities while the actual duty is carried out by the vice-village chief, so I guess the post of village chief is more of an honorary position.
"There's no need to turn a magician into your village chief at your new home."
If it's over there, they won't get attacked by serpents anymore, so it'll be better to leave the management of the village to the vice-village who's already experienced at the tasks of a village chief.
However, this created a problem. It became unclear who would bring Lulu up, now that she finished her duty as village chief.
『Earl Baumeister-sama, we cannot teach magic to Lulu. Please take care of her.』
Lulu has already lost both her parents. She doesn't have any relatives among the villagers and her duty to repel the serpents with her magic is over as well.
Accordingly, the vice-village chief asked me to take care of her so that she'd become a splendid magician.
"Umm..."
"Sure, we will gladly take care of this matter," Erich-nii-san agreed before I could even say anything.
"Erich-nii-san?"
"There's no reason to refuse, is there? Lulu-chan will become an outstanding magician, so it won't pose any problem to shelter her at the Earl Baumeister House, will it?"
Erich-nii-san is a gentle, handsome guy, but he's also excellent as a noble.
"If other nobles hear about the existence of a magician child without relatives, they'll fight over her, you know? Things might become quite terrible for Lulu-chan, if that happens."
It's certainly true that she could suffer her whole life if she's taken in by some weirdo noble. Much more so because Lulu is a woman.
"Fortunately, Lulu-chan is already respecting you, Vel."
And I also saved her. When she declared she'd become my wife, the villagers and sailors all looked happy. Rather, come on, I want at least one person to object to this...
But, I guess that's asking too much... They cannot say anything to me as Earl, I suppose.
"Wouldn't it be fine if you think of it as taking care of a daughter for a while?"
Erwin suggested it very easily, but even on the next day, she remained stuck to my side. Given that it couldn't be helped, I directed the villagers' relocation while having her train her magic.
The villagers loaded their luggage on the magic airship. Meanwhile I contacted Roderich through the MHCD, before transporting all of them to the designated pioneer village.
Because we needed several roundtrips, Doushi, Burkhart-san, Erich-nii-san, I and Eru remained on the island. For the sake of possible further serpent attacks and to start exploring the island once more.
"Lulu, lift the third by one level."
"Okay."
"Lift the fourth by a level as well."
"Okay."
"Lower the seventh by one level."
"Okay... aahh!"
I had Lulu do a training method I came up with, but since she's a child, she quickly failed. This training method is about lining up ten pebbles in front of you and making them all float up at eye height. Moving stuff with magic is the basics of the basics, and this training method utilizes that.
The pebbles have numbers assigned to them, and if I tell her to raise one by a level, the designated pebble is to be raised around 50 centimeters above the eye line. If I tell her to lower it, the designated pebbles is to be lowered around 50 centimeters.
It's a training method similar to a simple game, but it's unexpectedly difficult.
Because there are ten pebbles, it's difficult to maintain all of them at the same designated height. If you're unfamiliar with this like Lulu, you'll quickly neglect the control over all the pebbles the instant you try to move a single pebble according to instruction.
"It doesn't go all that well."
"Everyone has problems with this at the start."
"You too, Wendelin-sama?"
"This is something I invented, but even as the inventor, I was initially bad at it."
I taught this to Agnes and her friends as well, but as might be expected, the three were no good at this at the beginning either. If you can continue doing this exercise for an hour, you've reached a high level of skill. Burkhart-san surprised everyone by doing this for around three hours without any trouble at all. Doushi also surprised everyone, but in the opposite way, since he couldn't even keep this up for ten minutes.
"Now then, time for a break."
"Lulu is fine."
"Lulu, magic isn't anything you will master in a day. Training is important, but you must also take breaks properly."
"Okay, Lulu understands."
Once I got to know her a bit better, I quickly found out that Lulu is an honest and cute girl. As I talked to her and taught her magic, I felt like I was dealing with my own daughter.
