Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 129
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 129
“…”
Licht stared at me for a long moment, and only then did I realize something had gone wrong.
‘What the—?’
Had they spotted the demonic beast egg?
If not the egg, the butterflies?
Something must have changed for them to react like that.
The problem was, there were far too many things I could get caught on.
‘Wait. Stay calm.’
Lately I had been living without having to read anyone’s mood, but once upon a time I had been famous for my tact.
Social tact, that is.
Watching a superior’s face, you could tell they were displeased—but was it because of me, or the report I delivered?
Or was it the CEO who gave me the task to begin with?
Figuring that out and smoothing over their mood was a subordinate’s duty.
Unfair as it was, what could you do? That was the K-corporate culture I had lived in.
Maybe that was why…
‘Hmm. It’s not the butterflies.’
I methodically eliminated the candidates one by one.
First, the butterflies and the egg weren’t an issue.
If they had seen a butterfly, their gaze wouldn’t be fixed on me. And the egg was at an angle that made it hard to notice.
‘In that case, something about me… Ah.’
Only then did I realize one thing, and I gathered a fallen lock of hair between my fingers and lifted it.
“Ugh.”
This was unfortunate.
I took out the hairpin clipped into my hair.
Just as I suspected, it came away in my hand—its effective duration must have expired.
‘Does time flow differently inside the sanctuary than outside?’
Maybe because the environment had been adjusted to be ideal for plants, I hadn’t noticed the passage of time.
‘If my hair color is like this, then my eye color must have come back too.’
That meant there was nothing left to do but wait for Licht’s reaction.
Still, I held my head high.
I might have hidden my identity when I first went to the orphanage, but that hadn’t been with any intention of infiltrating the temple, had it?
If anything, the one who had pulled me in was Licht.
That was surely why they stood there like that, gaping, unable to say a word right away.
“…”
Still, weren’t they a bit too shocked?
Licht stood frozen, almost like a torso statue.
Had anyone else seen them, they’d have said someone should throw spring water on them.
‘Well, it is a major incident.’
Even if they weren’t hostile, the temple and House Asteri were practically rivals.
And now, a direct descendant of House Asteri—
the eldest son, no less—had come to this sanctuary and helped complete it?
This was no longer a problem that could be resolved with “good intentions.”
No matter how good-natured the Archbishop and Licht’s siblings might be, the temple was still an organization that needed to expand its influence.
And from the temple’s perspective, how could they exploit this?
‘They’ll absolutely try to use me as leverage.’
Even on a cursory thought, there were exactly two stances the temple could take.
One: pin me outright as a spy from the prestigious mage house.
That way, the whole thing could end with me taking all the blame and facing disciplinary action.
And two:
The media play.
“The direct eldest son of the prestigious mage house was actually God’s messenger!”
“Perhaps his divine power surpasses even his magic?”
There was more than enough possibility they would spin it that way.
Of course, no matter how it played out, Grandfather wouldn’t stay quiet, but…
‘Frankly, that’s exactly why I’m this calm.’
Anyway, the point was, that was how these things normally went.
Prioritizing profit was obviously the norm.
And for someone in the position of Archbishop Candidate like Licht, they naturally ought to choose the practical option…
But Licht seized my wrist and cried out.
“W-We must hide you!”
“Pardon?”
“Fortunately, I was the only one who saw your true appearance, Benefactor. Which means full concealment is possible.”
Wow. The word “concealment” coming out of a priest’s mouth hit with devastating force.
“You will not reveal my identity?”
“Would that not cause you great trouble, Benefactor?”
“It would.”
“Then of course I must not reveal it.”
“…”
Right after proposing a cover-up, they came back with such an untainted, righteous answer, one after another, and it made me a little dizzy.
‘Uh…? Wait, so the one jaded by society is…’
…me?
How could this be!
I’d thought living after the possession had washed away a lot of the grime from my soul, but apparently I hadn’t reached the genuine article.
‘Well, of course the genuine article is the right one.’
Helping a person who needs it.
Because that person showed me goodwill first.
‘An Archbishop Candidate really is just a candidate.’
I felt my jaded heart get just a little purified.
“This isn’t the time. I’ve just thought of a method!”
To summarize, Licht’s method was as follows.
“So, you’re saying we pretend I fell into the water?”
“That’s exactly it.”
The story: while watering, Licht had tripped and fallen into the water channel, and worried they might catch a cold, I had lent them my hooded priest’s robe, bundling them up tightly before they came out.
The other priests might find it odd, but they’d be too focused on the very fact that water was flowing abundantly in the previously unfinished sanctuary, which made it a good excuse to gloss over things.
And on top of that…
‘Technically, this is holy water, isn’t it?’
It had to be fantastic for the body, right?
When it came to things good for you, consuming them was better than not, and trying them was better than not.
Of course, overdoing it was bad, but when else was I going to get a holy water rinse?
You got to try things like this at times like this.
In that sense, it was a pretty decent method.
“Let’s do that.”
I even had the necessary supplies on hand.
Two watering cans’ worth of holy water. That was more than enough.
I didn’t hesitate, though before I dumped the water over my own head…
“Nature.”
“Peep.”
I evacuated Nature, and handed my bag to Licht.
Then—
Splaaaaash!
It was, essentially, the Holy Bucket Challenge.
* * *
In the end, Licht’s plan could be called a considerable success.
When I, soaking wet with holy water and hood pulled low, emerged from the sanctuary, the commotion outside was immense.
“Oooh, the sanctuary is complete!”
“That a Candidate, not even the Archbishop, completed it…!”
“What a magnificent feat!”
There was a huge… crowd of onlookers!
Not just ordinary priests, but even the high-ranking priests remaining in the temple had gathered.
‘How in the world did they find out?’
I peered out from beneath the hood pulled down to the bridge of my nose toward the sanctuary, and as Licht answered other priests’ questions, they whispered softly.
“The flow of divine power is concentrated here. Likely any priest who senses divine power would have noticed.”
With that, Licht took the lead and cleared a path.
“This was not accomplished by myself alone. Without the Honored Guest, I would not have even been able to attempt it.”
“…”
Uh, I don’t think you needed to say that right now?
Isn’t this just drawing more attention?
“Oooh, the Honored Guest!”
“Messenger of God…!”
No, Licht must know what they’re doing.
I just did my utmost to keep my eyes narrowed and my hood held down.
Agitation invited mistakes.
Just keep as still as possible.
“However, the Honored Guest is greatly drained of mental energy at present. For their sake, could you kindly set aside questions about the sanctuary and clear the way?”
“Ah…!”
“Of course! Absolutely!”
The priests stepped aside, and the holy knights who guarded the sanctuary naturally fell in beside Licht and me and began escorting us.
“Shall we escort you to a guest room?”
“No. There is a security issue, so we will go to my room first.”
“Understood.”
“Ah, and if a guest comes looking for the Honored Guest, please escort them to my room as well.”
“Yes.”
The holy knight bowed to Licht and me and exited the room.
Only after meticulously checking the room again, right down to the last corner, did Licht let out a sigh of relief.
“…Phew. Benefactor. It is fine now.”
“You’re pretty good at this, aren’t you?”
“That may have been the greatest lie of my entire life.”
“Strictly speaking, there wasn’t any lie.”
I towel-dried my hair with the cloth Licht had handed me and chuckled.
“Please don’t tease me. My heart is still pounding.”
Licht clasped their hands together tightly as if in prayer—and seemed to mean it.
“Ah, I will lend you my own clothes.”
“Thank you.”
They weren’t as good as what I wore at home, but they were ordinary clothes made of decent fabric.
So you don’t just own priest robes?
But if they were giving me civilian clothes…
“Am I, by any chance, supposed to run away?”
“To be honest, I am keeping that in mind.”
And how did you intend to handle the aftermath?
I fixed Licht with a look that said as much.
The Honored Guest Token had clearly indicated that I was God’s messenger.
And if that Honored Guest were to vanish from the temple without a trace?
Wouldn’t they have no choice but to hold the one who gave out that “Honored Guest Token” accountable?
“That is…”
Licht let out a deep sigh and sat down in front of me.
“In truth, this is the first time I have committed such a great act, and I do not rightly know how to proceed. Should my brothers and sisters find out, or should the Archbishop even catch wind of it…”
Licht cradled their head in their hands with an expression that was the textbook picture of a youngest sibling in trouble, wailing in agony before dropping their forehead onto the desk.
To my eyes, they looked just like a new hire who had caused a major incident and couldn’t bear to report it to their boss.
“Hmm…”
The truth was, I knew the methods.
Honestly, I had even more ways to slip out quietly by myself.
‘But they went this far to help me.’
They’d confirmed beyond doubt that Licht wasn’t a bad person.
And if that was the case…
Since I’d already entangled Marquis Bydantis and Rickshel, wouldn’t it be fine to nicely entangle the leading Archbishop Candidate and their younger sibling as well?
‘Being rivals doesn’t mean we have to stay on bad terms forever.’
Good terms were a good thing, weren’t they?
Then, later, when my little brother became head of the family, we could all even go on vacation together!
However—
‘If I just keep helping this kind priest unconditionally, they’ll keep giving everything away without any conditions.’
Being kind was good, but when someone was too kind and only ever gave, it was easy for the recipients to start taking it for granted.
And if something went sideways just once?
The disappointment would be immeasurable, wouldn’t it?
If you wanted a reasonably healthy relationship, you had to be careful on both sides to avoid those feelings.
So it was better to put it this way.
“Licht.”
“Yes?”
“Since things have turned out this way for both of us, would you like to make a deal with me?”
“A… deal, you say?”
At the word “deal,” wariness crept over Licht’s expression.
Before, they hadn’t known I belonged to House Asteri, but now they did.
Living in the temple, they’d inevitably absorbed biased information.
The Prestigious Mage House!
Cold-blooded, calculating, self-centered, selfish, incapable of thinking of others, without a drop of blood or tears…!
Well, a few of those were true.
“Yes. My goal is to leave the temple without my identity being exposed. I am a direct descendant of a prestigious mage house, after all.”
“…Yes. You are.”
“Help me do that. In exchange—”
“In exchange?”
“I will call someone who can clean this up neatly.”
I grinned like an eccentric.