The Cave King Will Live a Paradise Life -Becoming the Strongest With the Mining Skill?-

洞窟王からはじめる楽園ライフ

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Doukutsuou kara hajimeru Rakuen Raifu -Bannou no saikutsu sukiru de saikyou ni-

The Cave King will live a Paradise Life -Becoming the strongest with the mining skill?-

Author: Naehara Hajime

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“You have to be kidding…”

I couldn’t help but mutter as the royal palace filled with laughter.

The High Priest did his best to stifle his laughter as he repeated the contents of the royal writ.

“Through divine revelation, it has been decided that the territory to be ruled by Prince Heal will be…heh…the Sheorl Reefs!”

After that, loud, taunting applause and whistles could be heard.
And there was contempt in the expressions of the spectators.

…I am Heal.

The 17th prince of the Kingdom of Sanfaris.
And now, I was the man who had just been made the lord of a far off, deserted island.
The Sheorl Reefs.

I had very little magic ever since I was born, and had no particularly great skills.
And so I was ridiculed by my father and brothers and was seen as the shame of the court.

However, the biggest reason that I was looked down on, was my ‘crest.’

Every human came into this world bearing a crest.

It was the thing that gave its owner physical abilities and other gifts.

In the royal family, one could expect such dashing crests as ‘Sword God’ or ‘Magic King.’ And of course, they would have abilities that did justice to those names.

And while my brothers carried such stylish names, I had been given the crest ‘Cave King,’ and no one knew what its effect was.
Of course, my father and brothers treated me like a fool.

Apparently, God hated me very much.

Not only was I give such a crest, but during the ceremony where I was to be granted land, after having turned 15 and was considered full-grown…

The other princes and princesses sneered and chortled.

“Hah…a reef? Did you hear that? Well, it suits him very well.”

A thin man with red hair who was in his twenties…Balpas, the 11th prince, could not hold back his laughter.

He was 5 years old than me and had mocked me all of my life.

However, it seemed that I was so unfortunate in every way, that recently, his looks carried more pity than before.

On the other hand, the beautiful girl with long, olive-colored hair…Saria, the 9th princess, muttered questioningly.

“Oh? But doesn’t it sound like an interesting place? Sheorl Reef? I wonder where it is?”

While she was calm in her ignorance, there were others who were louder in declaring that they knew of no such god-forsaken place.

The Sheorl Reef…it was no wonder that few people knew of it.

It was a journey that took 10 days by ship to the south of the royal capital.

The Sheorl Reef was in the center of the great sea.

It was a route that no merchant vessels would pass through.
Even pirates would not approach it.

There was no visible shore for ships to dock.
There weren’t even any trees or plants…

It was just a giant rock.

A large man with a great white beard…my father, Louie.
The king of Sanfaris, stood up from his throne.

“My child…Heal, 17th prince.
I order you.
Take your post at Sheorl Reef, and govern the land!”

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Like that, I would leave the palace, which I had lived in for fifteen years.

In order to become the lord of a wasteland, the Sheorl Reef…

I was now heading to Sheorl Reef alone.

As the angry waves surrounded me, I rowed my boat forward.

To my post…well, this really was just a form of exile.

The ship that had taken me offshore had already turned around and was heading back to the capital.

They weren’t even going to see that I landed safely…

That being said, I was heading to some barren rock.
Sooner or later, I would be dead.
That was the obvious way to see things.

But I didn’t want to die.

And so, in spite of the shame it brought, I had asked my father and brothers to allow me to stay.
After all, receiving land didn’t necessarily mean that you had to go and live there.
You should be able to give some vague orders and send a representative to govern the place. 

However, all this talk of divine revelation was just for show.
They really wanted me away from court and as far away from them as possible.
And so they not only rejected my request, but forced me to go and live in my new lands.

Yes, my abilities were weak.

Still, I had done my best to study magic and politics in order to fulfill my duty as a prince.
All my other brothers did was flaunt the talents they had been born with and satisfy their own greed.

And yet, the result of all that was me being sent to a deserted island…

It had seemed very small from far away, but it was actually quite large for a human.

If it were flat land, you would be able to build several houses on it.
And it was about the height of a church tower you might see in the countryside.

Of course, you could not build houses here, as the terrain was like a small rocky mountain.

As the water splashed around me, I rowed the boat closer to the shore.

Well, here was my first problem…

I was scared that the waves could crash against my boat and eventually smash it against the rocks.

I had a month’s worth of water, food, and tools inside of the boat.

If I wanted to survive, I could not lose a single thing.

I had to find a flat area so that I could go ashore.

A good…ah, there.

However, it was very narrow.
It looked like my boat would barely fit in.

In order to slow down my boat a little, I used wind magic to create a wind that pushed from the front.

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The Cave King will live a Paradise Life -Becoming the strongest with the mining skill?-

 

However, the wind that I created was just a gentle breeze.

Yes…that was the power of my magic.
Most people would have been able to create a stronger gust of wind, but I didn’t have enough magical energy for that.

 

Still, I desperately continued to make it blow.

 

“Please…please…yes!!”

 

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The boat slowly slid up onto land.

Then I got off of the boat and tied it to a jutting rock so that it would not drift away.

 

“Phew…now, that’s one problem out of the way.”

 

There was no one here, but I still talked to myself.

Yes, it was to distract from how lonely I felt.

 

While I was looked down upon, I still exchanged a word or two with others before.

Besides, it also made a difference if you could at least see that there were other people around you.

But now, the only thing that I could see was the ash-colored rocks.

 

It was too late to try and return now.

The ship that had carried me was disappearing at the horizon.

 

I might have been better off disobeying the order so that I could be executed instead.

Well, no.
I didn’t want to die…

 

I shook the thought out of my head and began to carry my cargo out of the boat.

 

“I’ll need a safe place to store it…”

 

The food would be ruined if the rain or waves got at it.

I would also have to find a place I could sleep in.

 

“That cave looks like a good spot.”

 

I found a single empty cave in an elevated area.

It really was the only hole that I could even find.

 

And so I picked up a barrel and headed to the cave.

However, when I reached it and looked inside, a chilling scene awaited me.

 

Woah…

 

It was a small cave that perhaps ten people could have slept in.
And inside, were numerous skeletons.

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And they weren’t just human skeletons.
Some were from beasts and monsters.

 

Judging by the old tools and wooden boxes, they must have all been living here.

Had they been exiled too? Or did they drift from somewhere else?

Still, they must have eventually run out of food and water and then died.

 

You will meet the same fate…the bones seemed to say to me.

 

I didn’t mean to be stingy, but sleeping with the dead was not my thing.

However, there really wasn’t any other place to go.

At the very least, I would have to keep my supplies here.

 

“I guess I’ll just carry it all here for now…”

 

After some time, I managed to finish carrying everything.

Even though it was a short distance, it was very hard to walk on the uneven ground.

I would have to rest for a while.

 

And so I sat down inside of the cave and looked outside.

 

The sea from here looked incredibly beautiful.

Unlike the royal capital, the only sounds I could hear were the ocean waves and the seagulls.

 

What a wonderful place…no, no, that’s not right.

 

Right now, I had to focus on my survival.

 

I didn’t come here without thinking about that.

In fact, my intention was to be rescued by a passing ship.

And then I would hide and live somewhere where my father couldn’t find me.

 

So it couldn’t be any ships from my home country.

They all knew that I was not to be allowed to leave this place.

 

So, that meant I would have to rely on foreign ships or pirates…

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But even if they took me off the island, they would just sell me off as a slave.
That was obvious.

 

In the first place, this was not along any routes for trading vessels.
And it was much too far for fishermen to come close to.
Besides, it was also dangerous to come so close to the reefs.

 

“Hahh…what should I do…”

 

I only had a month’s worth of food and water.

As for water, I could use the barrel to collect rainwater.

That is if it even rained.

 

In an emergency, I could gather moisture from the air with water magic.

However, with my power, it was all I could do to make a few drops…

 

Perhaps I could catch fish for food.

I had a fishing pole.
However, it would be hard when the tide is high.

 

As for anything else I could do now, I could clean up the cave.

 

As there were bones and old tools everywhere, I would have to make this place a little more comfortable.

 

However, I didn’t want to be disrespectful either.

But then again, I couldn’t exactly offer them a proper burial here…

 

I picked up a pickaxe, that I had brought with me.

 

“I guess I could try digging with this…”

 

An amateur trying to dig into rock…maybe it would be a waste of strength…

 

<>

 

A voice suddenly rang in my head without warning.

 

“…What?”

 

And like that, my life in the cave began.