Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 120
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 120
“I’m glad you’re all right, but… promise me you’ll say something the moment it gets too heavy. Understood?”
“Yes. Brother.”
Looking at Rickshel, Lion shook his head inwardly. The kid was so good-natured that he would never complain—that was his flaw.
The bags were obviously heavy, so rather than heading to a magic shop, they should stop by the orphanage first to drop them off, then go wherever else they needed to.
Lion quickened his pace.
He didn’t forget to put in the hairpin along the way, either.
“Oh! Well, if it isn’t the young masters! It’s been a while!”
As they approached the orphanage, the director, who had been outside with a few children, spotted Lion and Rickshel first and came over with a bright smile.
“Good heavens! Carrying such heavy bags…”
“Ah, I happened to make a beverage, so I brought some to share with the kids.”
“Good heavens…”
And he’d been unwell, too—yet here he was, being so kind!
Visibly moved, the director reached out.
“I’ll carry them. Please, let me.”
“Hey. It’s fine. I’ve managed this far. Let’s get inside. More importantly, I heard there’s good news?”
“Ah. You mean about Peter? Let’s go in, and I’ll explain.”
Amid the warm atmosphere, Lion arrived inside the orphanage.
He set the luggage down on the floor without ceremony, opened a bag, and handed out the sikhye to the children.
“Whoa, glass bottles!”
“Are they real?”
Fascinated even by the bottles, the children clutched them tightly in both hands and inspected them from every angle.
“But what’s inside?”
“There’s stuff inside!”
“It’s a drink made from rice. It’s called sikhye, and it’s sweet.”
“Whoa… a drink, he said!”
The children whispered among themselves.
They were brimming with anticipation at the prospect of trying something new.
Lion watched them with quiet satisfaction before giving a word of caution.
“Be careful, because if they break, you could cut your hands. All right?”
“Yes, sir!”
After their hearty response, the children bustled about diligently, passing the sikhye to one another.
A few who couldn’t hold back opened their bottles first, gulping down the sweet taste.
“Sweet! It’s good!”
“Sluuurp! It’s a little spicy! But it’s sweet, so I like it!”
[Cooking experience increased by 5%.]
A bit of an unusual reaction, but it seemed the sweetness won them over anyway.
“By the way, where is Peter?”
“Ah, about that…”
The director, who had also been sipping Lion’s sikhye with a surprised look, snapped back to attention at the mention of Peter’s name.
“It seems he’s been wrestling with a great deal of worry over the adoption.”
“Why? Were the parents strange people?”
“That’s not it. Rather, this time… they’re almost too wonderful, which is the problem.”
Too wonderful? What was that supposed to mean?
At Lion’s puzzled expression, the director offered an awkward smile and spoke.
“If you have the time, wouldn’t it be best to hear it from him directly?”
“You’re right. That’s probably best.”
Hearing it from Peter himself seemed like the right call.
Lion headed straight to where Peter usually was.
That place was, naturally…
the orphanage backyard.
Whenever Peter needed time alone, he always spent it back here with his back against the wall.
The one silver lining was this.
Glug.
At least now he was drinking Lion’s sikhye without hesitation.
Still, the way he was drinking it with such a lonely air…
‘He’s practically got the vibe of a guy downing soju straight from the bottle in a back alley.’
In any case, his worries were clearly heavy.
Grinning, Lion hid the box behind his back and sat down naturally beside Peter.
“How is it?”
“…I knew you made this. It’s good.”
Peter smiled at Lion and scooted over to make room.
“Sit here. You catch colds, so you have to sit somewhere warm.”
“Haha, I’m not that frail, you know.”
“Hmph! Every time I asked your little brother why you weren’t coming, he said it was because you were sick.”
“…”
Ah, so Rickshel had been looking after the orphanage well in my absence.
‘That kid…’
He pretended otherwise, but as expected, he was more sincere than anyone.
Lion gave an awkward laugh at Peter’s remark.
“Were you upset I couldn’t come often?”
“That’s not it. I knew you were genuinely sick.”
Peter said it with absolute certainty.
No, wait… why the absolute certainty?
“You look like someone who was sick.”
“…”
Lion tried to make an excuse but closed his mouth.
It felt somewhat unfair, but trying to explain would make the story far too long…
Fine. He’d just been sick.
“Still, I heard all about your news. I hear something good is happening?”
“…”
At that, a slow smile spread across Peter’s face.
It was the kind of smile that looked genuinely happy.
‘Seems he does like these adoptive parents.’
It didn’t look like a forced adoption. If it really were against his will, a smile like that wouldn’t have appeared.
“What kind of people are they?”
“…Kind, and very considerate. They’re good people. They told me I don’t have to call them Mom and Dad right away.”
Peter tried his hardest to speak about them as calmly as possible.
‘…Yeah, he probably couldn’t even talk about it in front of the other kids here.’
Peter was tender-hearted.
Out of consideration for the other children at the orphanage, he likely hadn’t been able to speak freely.
He’d have kept it to a simple “They’re fine. They seem like decent people.”
“They sound like good people.”
But here, in front of Lion, he could speak easily.
“Right? Oh, and also…”
Perhaps because of that, the voice that had been pretending at calm grew steadily brighter. His expression, too, turned into the bright face unique to a child.
He truly liked them.
In truth, the adoptive parents in Peter’s story were indeed deeply affectionate people.
They exercised the utmost patience and placed Peter’s feelings above everything else.
They’d even smoothly prepared all the tricky adoption procedures and paperwork.
‘Peter’s had a pretty rough time of it, too.’
The very fact that a child remembered all those details about the documents meant he’d been paying intense attention to the whole adoption process.
In any case, there were no issues with the adoption procedure itself.
If a problem had arisen there, the director would have tried to resolve it at her level.
‘So why is he still worrying?’
Lion listened quietly to Peter’s story, and only after a long while did Peter let out a sigh.
“So I started thinking that this time, if I get adopted, I might really be able to live well. And honestly, I also thought that if things go wrong, I could just come back. But…”
“But?”
“…The Temple.”
Peter raised the remaining sikhye, bottle and all, and gulped it down.
Kwah.
‘…That sikhye wasn’t fermented, was it?’
After a life-weary exhale that no child should have to produce, Peter leaned on the sugar high and let out the rest of the story.
To summarize it roughly…
“So you’re saying if you happen to have divine power, you’d have to walk the path of a priest?”
“Yeah. That’s what they said.”
“…”
Lion wore a complicated expression.
‘Is that right?’
So, regardless of whether Peter actually had divine power or not, was it the correct procedure for the Temple to just snatch the kid away entirely?
‘The Magic Tower doesn’t do that with its orphanages.’
There were occasionally children who possessed a talent for magic or who ended up walking the path of a mage due to a late-onset mana shock.
But did they separate those children from their parents or adoptive parents?
No.
‘They just provide support.’
It stopped at helping them enroll in a magic academy or gifting them magic tomes.
To take them away entirely and force them onto the path of a priest, as the Temple did, was absurd.
At least, from Lion’s perspective it was.
“What do you think about it? The Temple.”
“W-well, of course, everything that fed me and put a roof over my head until now was thanks to the Temple’s support. It’s true I survived because of that. So I’m grateful to God, too. If there hadn’t been anyone looking to adopt me, I might have considered it. But…!”
Peter clenched his small fists and made his opinion clear.
“I don’t want to be separated from them. Honestly, even now, I want to live at their house!”
Lion grinned at Peter’s words.
There. That settled it.
Whatever anyone else thought, that was Peter’s true feeling.
In that case…
Lion had a suitable method.
“It’s okay. Divine power probably isn’t something that manifests that easily. You’ve never had anything like that happen before, right?”
“Th-that’s true!”
Wondering if he’d gotten too far ahead of himself, Peter’s face flushed immediately.
“Nothing will happen. There’s a reason there are far fewer priests than mages.”
“Really…?”
“And even if something does show up, would they really separate you forever? You’d probably live like you’re commuting to an academy or something. Right?”
“…Yeah. You’re right.”
Peter nodded. Now that he thought about it, people had said being a priest was no big deal, too.
The strange unease in his chest gradually subsided.
It really did start to feel like it wasn’t a big deal.
Commuting was something he could handle just fine.
“More importantly, wanna see this?”
Ta-da!
Lion made the sound effect with his mouth and brought out the gift box he’d hidden behind his back.
“What is it?”
At the sight of the solid packaging he’d never seen before, Peter’s eyes grew wide as he examined it.
“Open it. Just lift this tab here.”
Once they opened the box together…
“…!”
Colorful blocks that could be fitted together were beautifully arranged, sorted by color!
“W-whoa…!”
“I made them since you said you were getting adopted.”
Lion even showed him the paper with illustrated instructions.
“It was my favorite toy when I was little. I hope you like it.”
“O-of course I do! I-I’ve never gotten my own toy before!”
“…”
Lion grinned at that.
“You can use them outside, too, but they’ll get dusty, so try them out in your room. I have to go check on my brother for a bit, so you play. Got it?”
“Okay! Thanks!”
Peter carefully closed the packaging again, then clutched the box preciously and ran off to his room.
With his worries gone and a gift in hand, he seemed to be in a very good mood.
Lion watched Peter return to his room with a pleased look before his grin slowly hardened.
‘Now I know exactly what kind of present to give.’
Lion dusted off his clothes and stood, and Rickshel, who had been at a distance, approached slowly.
“Brother.”
“Did you check?”
“Well…”
At Lion’s question, Rickshel dipped his head slightly and shook it.
“I can sense divine power.”
“You’ve felt it all along, haven’t you?”
“Yes. It is not a particularly mighty power, but if it properly blossoms, it should be enough to become a formal priest.”
As a 5th Circle mage, Rickshel could identify those who possessed divine power.
It was a heterogeneous energy fundamentally incompatible with mana.
“…Most likely, if things proceed as they are, this child Peter will unquestionably be forcibly inducted into the Temple.”
“Little brother.”
Lion gazed toward Peter’s room for a moment, then turned his head to look at Rickshel.
That expression was so earnest that Rickshel realized it instinctively.
‘He has a way!’
It was clear his brother had a rational solution in mind.
Full of hope, Rickshel answered with spirit.
“Yes, Brother!”
“Tell me, are you prepared to do something bad in order to do something good?”
“Pardon?”
Rickshel looked into Lion’s eyes once more.
The eyes he’d thought were composed were…
faintly, subtly, rolling back.
‘…Brother?’