Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 115
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 115
In an instant, excruciating pain assailed him.
It was worse than the agony that hit you the morning after running laps around the training ground and doing hundreds of squats with a heavy stone on your head.
Moisture welled uncontrollably at the corners of Varg’s eyes.
He had no time to spare for being moved—it just genuinely, brutally hurt down to the marrow.
He wanted to curse if he could, but he didn’t know any curses.
“Hraaah! Hraaaaaah!”
He had no choice but to scream.
As he wept helplessly, Rickson—apparently having misinterpreted the situation in some serious way—murmured somberly.
“To think you suffered so much in spirit… It is all my failure.”
“Huuuuuh…”
“Varg. You’re all right now!”
A thick hand full of calluses and small scars thumped Varg soundly on the back.
“Thankfully, no one was hurt, and no one died.”
Watching this, Lion covered his mouth with his hand.
‘Wow. That’s gotta really hurt.’
Varg looked on the verge of losing consciousness again.
No—as his Eclipse symptoms eased, his mind had apparently grown firmer, and he couldn’t even manage to pass out.
At this rate the kid was going to get himself killed!
Lion cleared his throat and opened his mouth.
“Ahem. Truly fortunate that you’ve recovered your senses so quickly.”
“Ah…!”
Only then did Rickson realize Lion was in the room, and he shot to his feet.
Thump.
Varg’s body flopped back onto the bed.
Then he barely managed to extend his thumb… which was probably the fullest expression of gratitude he could manage.
“Young master. I do not know how I can ever repay this favor.”
Rickson brushed himself off and rose as if nothing had happened moments before, then bowed to Lion with full courtesy.
“What did I do? It was all made possible by Varg’s strong will.”
Lion had certainly made the remedy, but if Varg hadn’t endured even a little longer, he would have lost his life then and there.
Rickson was deeply impressed by Lion’s words.
‘To have accomplished something this tremendous and still be so humble!’
The young master’s undertaking could not have been easy.
To date, there had been no recorded case of overcoming the Eclipse symptom.
When he had sought advice far and wide, hadn’t everyone simply told him to let the boy go peacefully?
Even the Family Head. Even other beastfolk.
No one had believed this child could overcome the Eclipse symptom.
Hadn’t his rampage also arrived even sooner than anticipated?
When his sword broke, Rickson had thought it was over.
‘From that point on, it was a situation where I could no longer merely restrain him and evade.’
But at that moment, the young master had appeared like a comet.
…Though, admittedly, he’d been rather literally like a comet.
“I, Rickson, shall never forget the young master’s kindness.”
“Haha, it was only what needed to be done.”
Lion waved his hand dismissively.
He knew well how much effort Knight Commander Rickson devoted to the family.
“If anything, I’m the one who should be thanking you. Haven’t you kept me safe from danger all this time?”
“That is.”
As Rickson started to reply, Lion waved him off again and held out the bottle of sikhye he’d set aside.
“Anyway, I only came to give you this.”
“This is…”
“A drink I made this time. It contains an ingredient Varg is fond of.”
At those words, Varg forgot his muscle pain and bolted upright.
“Could that be…”
“Yes. It’s made from barley.”
Varg’s face flared red, like a Salamander’s flame.
“Go ahead, try it.”
“I’ll enjoy it.”
“Th-thank you.”
Dazedly accepting the bottles, the two gulped them down at the same time.
Knowing Lion’s skill with food, Varg emptied the bottle in one go and smacked his lips at the sweet yet refreshing aftertaste.
“Ahh, it’s delicious…!”
The grains of rice that he chewed in the drink naturally brought back memories of that time.
‘This is cooked, and although the grain type seems to be rice…’
The fullness he’d felt then, and the bewilderment—his entire first encounter with the young master came rushing back.
And he thought, anew, that he was grateful to be able to recall that time.
Varg clutched the bottle tightly with both hands.
‘How do I repay a debt of having my life saved?’
Of course the young master would tell him to put such thoughts aside and focus on recovery, but Varg didn’t want that.
He wanted to be of help, somehow.
To become useful… and, if possible, to eventually serve as the young master’s escort.
‘Even if that’s a distant future for me.’
Still, if he kept striving, might he not one day become a resource who could assist the young master, even just once?
But!
Regardless, he wanted to give him something right now.
Varg mulled over his possessions, then suddenly recalled one thing and perked up his ears!
Right. He did have that!
* * *
“It’s both fascinating and very delicious. Uniquely, seeing the rice in the drink gives the impression it would also be good for restoring energy.”
[Cooking Experience Points increased by 10 percent.]
“Haha. I’m glad you like it.”
Lion recalled the amount of sugar that had gone into the sikhye and managed a smile.
He’d used less than in ordinary sikhye, but it still contained enough sugar to be excessive for someone aiming to build muscle.
‘And it’s all carbs.’
Still, if it was just an occasional drink, it was probably fine.
So thinking, Lion rose smoothly from his seat.
“Now that I’ve seen Varg in good health, I should be going.”
“I’ll escort you.”
“Hey. No need for that. I can manage on my own perfectly well, so please don’t concern yourself.”
“Even so…”
“Commander Rickson, your duty lies with the family, not with me. I helped with an entirely light heart, so please don’t attach too much significance to it.”
“Ahh.”
Rickson was moved once more!
What the young master Lion meant was: rather than repay the debt to me personally, devote your loyalty even more fully to House Asteri!
‘He isn’t even the heir, and yet his depth of heart is so profound…!’
Of course, that wasn’t what Lion meant at all.
“Anyway, Varg. I’ll come visit again, so rest well.”
Lion said his goodbyes and stepped out of the sickroom.
“The time’s gotten away from me already.”
The sky outside was already growing dark. The servants would all have left for the day by now.
“It’ll be hard to deliver it today.”
Lion looked at the one last bottle of sikhye remaining in his coat.
If possible, he wanted to give it to her freshly made, but barging into the apprentice servants’ dormitory at this hour would cause nothing but trouble.
Yes, it would be better to give it to her first thing tomorrow.
He was walking with that thought when…
“J-just a moment, young master!”
A timid cry rang out.
‘That voice.’
Lion turned back with a puzzled expression.
Someone who had no business being outside stood there.
It was Varg, who only minutes ago couldn’t move his body properly.
‘Did his body recover in that short a time?’
No matter how strong his will, without his body backing it up, achieving this much speed would have been difficult.
‘Wait, now that I look…’
He hadn’t noticed when Varg was lying down, but now that he was standing with his back straight, his height had… increased quite a lot!
Moreover, his body, which had always been lanky, now seemed to have acquired a certain thickness.
Could it be that his body had done all the growing it had missed during the Eclipse period at once, making the muscle pain even worse?
“Oof…”
Varg approached with wobbling steps like someone who had just finished a hellish leg workout.
His tail wagged gently, which, combined with his inability to say he was fine, made it seem he had come out on sheer grit alone.
“Hey, are you really all right to be out here?”
“Hehe. I-I came because I wanted to give you at least this!”
Varg respectfully handed Lion the object he’d been holding.
“Of course, I don’t think this repays the debt I owe you for saving my life! It’s just… it’s something I can give you right now.”
He mumbled on, insisting that the spirit energy he had given Lion last time had also been the best he could offer and that he had not been hiding this.
So, in summary, he simply wanted to express his feelings somehow…
Lion looked at the paper package in his hand.
It was about palm-sized and not very heavy.
It felt like there was something inside, but the wrapping gave no clue to its identity.
“What is this?”
“Ah, well…”
“Well?”
“Um… I don’t know, either.”
“Huh?”
“I’ve always carried it because it seemed important… But I thought it would be of more use to you than to me, young master.”
“Hmm. May I open it?”
“O-of course!”
Lion unwrapped the package without hesitation.
[Demonic Beast Baby Food]
-Seems good to give to a demonic beast that has hatched from an egg.
-When opened, nearby demonic beasts may become entranced by the scent and seek you out!
Ah, I’d wondered what this was. So it’s Demonic Beast Baby Food…
‘Wait. Out of nowhere, Demonic Beast Baby Food?’
Lion pulled up every scrap of information in his head.
At the pinnacle of Beast Taming stood two kinds of creatures.
Sacred Beasts, divine animals capable of using holy power, and their conceptual opposite, Demonic Beasts.
Demonic Beasts in particular could instinctively manipulate magic, and in terms of sheer combat power, legend had it that even a dragon would be outmatched.
Currently, both types had become existences no longer found in this world.
Sacred Beasts had vanished without a trace, and Demonic Beasts lived in the Demon Realm.
‘Which means none should exist in this world.’
And this was food for raising and taming such a creature?
‘Come to think of it, in the Shilling Shop as well.’
When he had browsed all the items sorted by lowest price, there had definitely been a Demonic Beast Food item in stock.
In that case…
‘Does that mean one exists here, and not just in the Demon Realm?’
Or was there a way to travel to and from the Demon Realm?
‘But how?’
The Demon Realm and this world were completely separated by the Great Barrier that Grandfather and the Saintess had created.
The presence of a demonic beast here was virtually impossible… but if it were possible?
The former case might not be a problem, but the latter would be troubling.
‘If things go wrong, that’s the outbreak of a second war.’
Lion thought that far, then soon shook his head.
Wasn’t this truly needless worry?
If there had been anything wrong with the Great Barrier, Grandfather would have noticed first.
And demons that slipped through small gaps didn’t pose much of a threat.
The real problem would be genuinely high-ranking demons.
‘Right. One or two demonic beasts could still remain in the world.’
After all, Varg himself was a descendant of a druid.
Druids possessed the skills of Spirit Communion and Beast Taming.
So even if Varg had something like this, the picture wasn’t exactly strange.
Furthermore…
‘He genuinely has no idea.’
Regrettably, Varg seemed to have no clue at all about this item’s identity.
Lion deliberated for a moment, then rewrapped the paper package and tucked it into his coat.
Partly because he was proud of Varg’s gesture, but also because——
—When opened, nearby demonic beasts may become entranced by the scent and seek you out!
——he knew that even if demonic beasts truly existed, they were not the wicked beings the world commonly believed them to be.
Because they inhabited the Demon Realm, they could of course be regarded as creatures to be vanquished, but——
‘They’re simply creatures with adaptability strong enough to live even in the Demon Realm.’