Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 130
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 130
As Lion expected, Licht’s wariness flickered back to life only then.
‘Right. That man was from House Asteri.’
How many stories had he heard about House Asteri in the Temple?
How sharp their mages’ tongues were, how the Magic Tower channeled astronomical funds and personnel into research and development just to keep the Temple in check!
If they had donated even a quarter of that money to the Temple, they could have built more sanctuaries—yet!
He had heard it so often his ears had grown calluses: wouldn’t that have reduced more of the contaminated land?
‘So he had to stay on guard.’
Before, he hadn’t known the man’s identity, but now he did.
God’s Messenger or not.
No—even if the man had seemed to be something more than that, he must not let himself be dazzled.
Licht steadied himself and asked carefully.
“…Could you tell me who that person is?”
Lion was thoroughly satisfied with the markedly different reaction.
If Licht had been his student, he would have given him a prize or something.
‘Yes. This is the reaction I wanted.’
The saying “look before you leap” existed for a reason.
A habit of doubting, questioning, and judging for oneself like this was what made life easier later on.
“You don’t need to be so tense. You know this person yourself, Priest.”
“That means…”
Licht grasped the meaning at once and his eyes flew wide.
Among the people they both knew,
there was only one who could help.
‘Right.’
Rickshel Asteri.
His own younger brother, who had been patiently holding out and waiting all this time.
‘Under ordinary circumstances I’d have to ask his superior for help, but…’
Licht’s company—no, the Temple—was in no position to offer aid.
He would have to explain the situation, and that would mean Lion’s whole identity would be laid bare.
Of course, there was one trustworthy person: Ann.
But for the Theology Academy Head to sort out this whole matter…
‘That didn’t quite fit.’
Regrettably, the position of Theology Academy Head was not one that could handle a “Guest.”
Had the sanctuary itself been the problem, he might have been able to ask Ann for help.
In any case, as things stood, there was not a single person in the Temple who could help Licht.
Knowing that was what made Licht feel even more crushed.
Because without the brothers and sisters he believed in—and without the Archbishop—he could do nothing.
Even though he had ideals he wanted to realize.
‘Still, he did put up a decent resistance.’
Rome wasn’t built in a day.
And besides, luckily, he wasn’t entirely alone right now.
‘I’m here.’
Lion Asteri, a man who had been through the brutal grind of corporate life, was here.
Licht was caught between a rock and a hard place, but from Lion’s perspective, plenty of options remained.
And Lion was merely proposing the best one among them.
“Yes. It’s my younger brother.”
“That person would be… the heir of House Asteri. Rickshel Asteri.”
He had thought the man seemed out of the ordinary.
Licht murmured quietly to himself, then suddenly raised his head and looked straight at Lion.
‘If that’s the case, and he gets along with his brother, then why is his health so poor?’
The more he learned of the man’s identity and the more they talked, the more that question kept surfacing.
In truth, when he had first figured out the man’s identity in the sanctuary, he had immediately understood why Benefactor—no, why Lion Asteri’s body was in such a bad state.
Great nobility, House Asteri.
He had suspected that perhaps a succession war even bloodier than that of the imperial family was dragging on there.
If not that, then perhaps the mages’ doctrine of “those without ability receive no support” had kept the eldest son, who could not wield magic, from being treated.
But now, seeing him bring up his younger brother…
‘The look on his face wasn’t one of fear.’
Though Licht was somewhat inexperienced, he was quick at reading people’s emotions and hearts.
Understanding and empathizing with the sorrows and joys of the faithful was, after all, the most important virtue of a priest.
“It seems your brother has been doing well since that day.”
“Yes. Perhaps thanks to your care back then, he’s been well.”
At the mention of Rickshel, Lion couldn’t help smiling slightly.
That question made it clear.
Even though he hadn’t spoken at length because of the situation, the emotion contained in those words was unmistakably evident.
‘Family.’
In other words, it was the same kind of feeling he himself held for the Archbishop and his brothers and sisters.
If so, then really…
‘His life was fated to be short.’
A complicated feeling settled in his chest.
He even wondered whether convalescing at the Temple might help extend his vitality, even a little.
After all, the man was someone chosen by the God of Eternal Flame, Anyatras.
Honestly, if they spent time together, he felt he might gain some new insight.
This man was a true “God’s Messenger”—or perhaps something beyond…
‘No, let’s not think about that right now.’
Licht reined in his straying thoughts.
“In that case, should I officially invite Rickshel Asteri to the Temple?”
“Huh? No?”
Lion, instead, opened his eyes wide and shook his head.
“…Were you not planning to settle the matter decisively with the power of the Asteri heir?”
“Of course, that method also exists.”
Using power to crush all resistance, silencing everyone, and extracting Lion.
However, since the Temple hadn’t employed such underhanded methods first, it was only morally right that their side refrained from doing so too.
“That’s not the plan this time. My brother will be visiting the Temple strictly in his personal capacity as my family.”
Lion offered a brief supplementary explanation.
The plan was this.
An honored guest was, after all, a guest—the Temple could not compel them.
So once that honored guest declared they were leaving, the Temple had no means to stop them.
Of course, ordinarily…
‘They’d try to persuade him relentlessly.’
They would plainly use every honeyed word imaginable, everything they could say, to coax him to reconsider and to remain settled here in the Temple.
But did they not have a Licht in their midst?
“Priest, you need to do just one thing. You simply need to show an absolute intention to follow my will as the holder of the ‘Honored Guest Token.’”
“…Ah, I see.”
“Yes. If you do that, I’ll handle the rest nicely on my own.”
“…”
“Ah, and could you also give me a fountain pen and some paper? I need to send a letter.”
Just as he was about to ask how he intended to send a letter, Nature, who had kept his distance all this while, flew over, landed on the table, and raised his head crisply.
“This fellow is rather talented.”
“Oooh.”
Licht was… honestly startled.
He had never imagined that Lion could come up with this kind of method.
After all, Priest Licht’s general impression of Lion’s behavior had been exceedingly gentle.
Moderate, unhurried, a life of “what works, works; what doesn’t, doesn’t.”
Yet he wanted as many people as possible to be happy.
He had seemed infinitely generous, as if that were his way of life.
Wasn’t the matter with Peter the same?
On the surface, it had looked as though a smooth path toward becoming a formal priest had opened before him.
No more going hungry, a place to rest for life, plus access to healing through divine power.
For a commoner—especially one from an orphanage—it was a luxury tantamount to rising to glory.
Saying he didn’t want to become a priest could easily have been dismissed as a child’s tantrum.
But the man hadn’t dismissed it. He was someone who looked at the world with that much warmth and with such a careful eye.
And perhaps because of that.
Without realizing it, he had assumed that “a person this pure wouldn’t be able to devise any kind of stratagem.”
Just like himself.
He had thought the man would do his utmost for a good cause, but in the end, at the last moment, he too would be blocked just as Licht himself had been.
But that wasn’t the case.
‘Those eyes are…’
They were like a predator that had finished resting and risen to its feet.
The thought even crossed his mind that if a legendary hero were to reappear, they might show exactly this kind of bearing.
Licht clasped both hands together below the desk, as had become his habit.
“Understood. I will follow Benefactor’s will.”
He didn’t feel as though it would fail.
And at the same time, he also felt that he wanted to learn from watching that figure.
Even after this matter was settled.
‘…If possible, I want to see him often.’
Licht listened to Lion’s explanation and privately offered up that prayer.
* * *
And the following day.
The Temple, thrown into an uproar exactly as expected, convened an emergency meeting.
Archbishop-candidate Licht, who had completed the sanctuary overnight!
And the unidentified “Honored Guest” he had brought with him!
And lastly…
“I have come to retrieve my family.”
Even the guest’s family, who had come to take that honored guest back!
Any one of these would have been an enormous incident, but with them erupting back-to-back within a single day, chaos had erupted even inside the Temple.
“What are we to do about this?”
“Is the sanctuary truly functioning?”
“Yes. I have confirmed it for certain with my own eyes. The sanctuary is without doubt… no, it was functioning more beautifully than any other. At this rate, the extraction of holy water will begin shortly as well.”
Inside the meeting chamber, Ann smiled warmly and affirmed that the sanctuary had unquestionably been completed.
With the Theology Academy Head’s personal guarantee, no one could doubt that the sanctuary was complete.
So then, the second matter.
“Has anyone managed to discover the Honored Guest’s identity?”
“…”
At a senior priest’s question, the meeting chamber fell silent.
As expected, no one had obtained any information about the guest.
And as if to make matters worse, a person claiming to be the guest’s younger sibling had appeared and was insisting on taking the guest away.
“What is Licht doing about this?”
“Well, that…”
A formal priest scratched his cheek as he answered.
“He says that the guest overexerted himself yesterday and has fallen ill, so he is personally tending to him. We were not able to even attempt a proper conversation.”
“Hmmm.”
It was clearly a groan full of dissatisfaction, but no one could say anything more.
Because criticizing Licht at this juncture would spell the end of one’s own future in the Temple.
“Then where is this person who calls himself his family right now?”
“They say others are blocking him, but…”
The moment someone added that he was rampaging through the Temple interior—
“Y-you cannot do this!”
A commotion with clattering and banging erupted from outside.
Bang!
The door of the Temple’s meeting chamber flew wide open.
Then.
“…”
Varg, the red-haired boy who had flung the Temple’s door wide open in his master’s stead, glanced warily at the priests and then slipped behind his master.
Varg’s master raised his head and slowly moved his eyes as though checking every person inside the Temple one by one.
Though it was a trivial motion, even the senior priests were momentarily overwhelmed by that gaze and fell silent.
“I take it you all know by now, then.”
The noisy chamber grew quiet, and a chill spread through the air like a biting frost wind.
“Where, exactly, is my elder brother right now?”
Rickshel, who had come after receiving Lion’s message, asked icily.