Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 127
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 127
Flames spread over the faintly trickling water, engulfing Licht and the entire spring in a single blaze.
Though the fire was massive enough to swallow a small cabin with ease, it wasn’t hot at all.
Rather, it was as warm as the embrace of a mother you longed for.
The flame continued to climb up Licht’s hand, surging along the contours of the delicate carvings,
and eventually flowed right into the black hole from which the spring water emerged.
It looked so natural, as if this were the way it was meant to be.
‘Wake up.’
Licht didn’t lose focus. He kept striving to awaken the Unfinished Sanctuary.
The moment cold sweat trickled down his fair face—
Thump.
As if responding to Licht’s Divine Power, the entire Sanctuary pulsed gently.
It was being accepted.
The Sanctuary, which had only ever received the Divine Power of the Archbishop and the Saintess,
was accepting a new Divine Power.
“…”
A faint smile crept onto Licht’s face.
Fortunately, the first step was a success.
Now all that remained was to properly distribute his strength within the scope of his granted abilities so that he could fully awaken this Sanctuary.
‘I had to do this. No, I would do this.’
Perhaps this was his true first step, not as a mere ‘Archbishop Candidate,’ but as the person named ‘Licht.’
‘I was the only one who didn’t know the Archbishop had fallen asleep.’
Licht’s hands, clad in white gloves, trembled.
He understood well the hearts behind his older brother and sisters hiding this fact from him.
Hadn’t they looked after him, the youngest, so meticulously all this time?
“Don’t worry about this kind of thing, our youngest.”
“We’ll take care of things and make a good world for you.”
“…”
He knew.
They probably hid it even more because they knew he thought of them as more than just siblings.
They hid it to the best of their ability, fearing he might be emotionally wounded or become terribly anxious,
or that it would interfere with his work.
Out of a wish that he wouldn’t suffer, even a little.
But…
‘It was frustrating.’
He didn’t know if a priest who serves God was allowed to harbor such feelings.
Licht even felt awkward for having these emotions.
But it was frustrating.
The simple fact that he had been kept in the dark.
He found his protected self utterly pathetic.
Even the way he turned the arrows of these feelings onto them out of pointless shame.
He felt like hiding in a mouse hole.
And so, he grew all the more desperate.
Maybe this wasn’t a ‘great cause.’ No, it was clear this wasn’t a great cause.
He might have attached a plausible reason… but yeah.
He just—
‘He wanted to show them.’
He wanted to show his older brother and sisters, and the sleeping Archbishop, that he wasn’t just someone to be protected.
Thus, he resolved upon this minimal act of rebellion: completing the Unfinished Sanctuary on his own terms.
Licht bit his lip and grinned.
“…”
Lion, who had glanced over at the sight, averted his gaze entirely and stepped aside.
He wasn’t entirely sure why, but judging by the expression, it seemed Licht was taking his own first step forward.
‘Well, the first one was always the hardest. Mm.’
For instance, the moment you took the training wheels off a bike.
The moment when you thought someone was holding onto you from behind, but then you suddenly realized you were riding all by yourself.
When you looked back and saw that no one was there, terror did strike.
But you still couldn’t stop your feet.
The fear that you might fall if you stopped played a part…
but there was also that sense of liberation you felt once the hands that were reluctantly controlling your speed from behind finally let go.
The coolness of the breeze from riding a little faster, the wide-open view, the trees and landscaping zipping past.
The blue sky, the wind brushing your cheek.
The kind of things that were scary and hard until you tried them, but exhilarating and fulfilling once you succeeded.
The kind of emotions that made you want to grab anyone and shout, ‘I did it!’
All of those things wove together to create a sense of accomplishment.
That feeling was so addictive that you fell deeply into it before you even knew it.
No matter how many times you fell afterward, you never again wished for someone to hold your bike from behind.
What if you got tired?
Well, you just got off for a moment, rested, and went again.
“Well, it’s all so vivid right now, I doubt he needs to hear that sort of talk.”
Lion eyed the water that had overflowed from the spring and was now spreading through the channels.
It was a spectacular sight.
“Guess looking around is a lost cause, huh?”
“Peeep.”
Nature wore an expression that said, ‘Too bad, we could have scored all kinds of things,’ as it flew up onto Lion’s head, settled in, and made a nest.
It had liked the hot spring water, but this water didn’t seem to suit its taste.
That made sense, since Holy Water and Spirit Water possessed different powers.
Then again, maybe the little guy was reminded of Elvia.
The two had seemed to share quite a few things in common.
‘I guessed that meant a witch and a spirit weren’t necessarily incompatible.’
Or maybe Nature just didn’t care much about elemental affinity since it was the Spirit King?
‘I wasn’t sure.’
Anyway, every time a single drop of spring water splashed onto a plant, the colorless plants, which had been as stiff and hard as stone, began to stir with life.
Lion thought it looked like paint being applied to a black-and-white sculpture.
“…Paint?”
In that instant, click. A lightbulb went off in Lion’s head.
‘Like paint?’
Lion shot to his feet and surveyed the interior of the Sanctuary.
Now that he looked, wasn’t this place exactly like a sheet of white paper?
‘Come to think of it, they had said this was like an unfinished labyrinth.’
That also meant its purpose wasn’t fully fixed, making it free to be modified.
And the medium for that modification was this Holy Water. In any case, Divine Power was acting here like a life force.
He didn’t know the principle behind it, but within this Sanctuary…
Maybe. Just maybe.
He could use this Holy Water to make this place a little more perfect.
‘If I considered this Unfinished Sanctuary itself to be the sketch, and that spring water to be the paint.’
Lion glanced rapidly at Rickshel, then stood in front of a tree.
The tree was parched and brittle, likewise failing to radiate any vitality.
“Sorry. I’ll just cut a little.”
Lion used the carving knife in his tool set to slice off a bit of the bark.
As expected, the bark was so dry and brittle that the slightest wrong touch threatened to crack and crumble it like a fragile cookie.
‘I’d take it slow.’
Lion began carving cautiously with the knife.
First, he made the most of the bark’s grain to create a pair of wings.
Then, drawing on his experience making blocks for Petrick, he carved a body into which the wings could be fitted, cutting grooves and slotting them in.
Click.
Fortunately, the grooves meshed together perfectly. Though a bit fragile, it didn’t look like an ordinary breeze would break it.
‘And finally…’
Lion twisted some thin fallen leaf stems to make antennae for steering, and little legs to rest on.
[Butterfly Model (Incomplete)]
-A model of a butterfly made from fragile materials.
-The unique texture of natural materials remains, creating a distinctive feel.
Considering it was made from such ambiguous materials, it had turned into a decent butterfly model.
‘I was worried it might get classified as something weird because I made it from tree bark…’
It seemed it had narrowly passed as a butterfly.
Well, it wouldn’t have mattered if it turned out to be something else… but a butterfly was nicer to look at.
Lion let out a sigh of relief and took out his brush.
Now that the model was done, it was time to launch into the proper experiment.
‘Though calling it an experiment was a bit much.’
Lion filled a potion vial with the still-faintly-flowing water, then dipped his brush into it with a plop.
Once the bristles had absorbed enough water, he controlled the moisture by squeezing them gently against the lip of the vial.
If it was too wet, the fragile model could collapse on the spot.
And then…
“Hoo.”
Even more carefully than he had carved, he began to apply the brush to the model butterfly.
Just as if he were laying down paint to be absorbed.
And then.
Saaaa—
The transparent water was absorbed cleanly.
“…Huh?”
And that was it.
“Peep, peep.”
Nature rustled its wings atop his head.
“Ah, you’re saying it still needs a bit more?”
“Peeep.”
Come to think of it, the butterfly model did seem to have become a little glossier, as if a coating had been applied.
Lion wet his brush again as before and applied more brushstrokes, layering on the color.
Then, the gloss gradually intensified, and at some point, even the word ‘Incomplete’ that had been stuck to the back of the butterfly model disappeared!
He continued the work like that a few more times, building up layers as if painting a watercolor, until…!
Flutter.
The butterfly model, which by all rights should have shown no movement at all… moved!
Then its colorless body shifted to a vivid blue, its wings fluttered, and it took off toward the sky.
“…!”
At that incredible sight, Lion could only stand there, mouth agape, still holding his brush.
He’d tried it on the off chance it might work, and it actually had.
[You have invented the Sanctuary Butterfly (★★)!]
-A water-attribute butterfly that drinks from the Sanctuary’s spring and distributes that water to the plants.
-A special environment and a drop of creativity. What more could you need?
[You have invented a special object in a special space!]
[You have gained a massive amount of bonus experience in all talents used in the crafting!]
[Woodworking has reached Apprentice Lv.6!]
[Painting has reached Apprentice Lv.4.]
And furthermore…
[You have made a great contribution to the completion of the ‘Unfinished Sanctuary’!]
[The God of Eternal Flame, Anyatras, takes notice of your good deed.]
[You may walk the Path of the Priest at any time if you wish.]
Even God’s gaze, no less.
‘Um…’
Fortunately, maybe out of consideration for the current situation, he hadn’t been granted a priest’s Divine Power right away.
‘While I’m truly grateful for the attention…’
…Anyway, I wasn’t in urgent need of Divine Power right that moment!
Besides, I didn’t even know what would happen if I held Divine Power and Magic Power at the same time.
Lion shook his head vigorously.
‘Let’s snap out of it.’
Of course, what he’d done was quite unique, but strictly speaking, what Lion had made was not a ‘living creature.’
Hadn’t the notification window called it an invention, a special object?
So, later, when Licht woke up and asked what this was, he could just play dumb or say it was a tool designed for watering plants, and…
“Right, I should see how much water this butterfly distributes, first.”
Performance had to come first.
He needed to check how much area a single butterfly could cover.
Lion turned around to look for the butterfly that had fluttered up into the air.
And then.
He witnessed that a significant portion of the butterfly’s flight path had already turned a vivid green, as if pigment had been scattered there.
“Hmm.”
So, the butterfly’s effect was quite… excellent!
Perhaps ten of them would be enough to cover this entire Sanctuary.
‘I’d gone and made a springfly instead of a sprinkler.’
…Eh, who cared.
Now that things had come to this, should I make a few more?