Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 2
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 2
Scribble, scratch.
Petrick Asteri, Marquis of House Asteri, was handling documents as busily as ever today.
Knock knock—
That is, until an attendant entered with a knock and handed him a certain document.
“…”
The more he read, word by word, the more the marquis’s expression hardened into ice.
“Not even worth reading further.”
Fwoosh!
The marquis used his magic power to burn the document to ashes.
“That brat still hasn’t come to his senses?”
“Yes… they say he has done nothing but pull up grass ever since he woke.”
“Anything else?”
“He still seems unable to sense Magic Power.”
The attendant answered, wiping sweat from his brow.
For the eldest grandson of the great mage family House Asteri to be unable to sense mana was a serious problem.
Ordinarily, mages undergo mana shock and awaken by age eight, or ten at the latest.
It was said that the direct line of House Asteri, famed for their exceptional talent, awakened even at age three.
Indeed, what of Marquis Petrick, standing here now?
He possessed such prodigious talent that rumors claimed he used levitation magic at his first-birthday doljabi.
But… the eldest grandson, ‘Lion’?
His talent was so wretched that even past twenty, he could feel no magic at all. No flow whatsoever.
Since mana shock kept coming, perhaps he might awaken someday… but it was only natural that Marquis Petrick’s patience was slowly reaching its limit.
House Asteri did not accept those without talent as members of the family.
That rule had not changed before the war, nor after it.
In truth, the only reason he had been tolerated until now was that Marquis Petrick had been especially fond of Lion.
But this was already the third time…
When the marquis’s gaze fell upon him, the attendant’s body shrank back.
A mere ordinary person could not dare withstand the gaze of an archmage estimated to be 8th Circle or higher.
An instinctive terror bloomed, to the point that he wanted nothing more than to flee.
“Anything else.”
Anything else… he says.
The attendant drew a deep breath, then let it out carefully.
“His health is fine, and his memory seems unimpaired.”
The attendant answered cautiously, gauging the marquis’s mood.
“Tch. Leave.”
After the attendant exited, sweating profusely, Petrick let out a deep sigh.
“…Sylvia.”
Shrrk.
From the empty darkness a figure emerged.
An elderly woman impeccably dressed in a uniform.
Petrick’s most trusted right hand. Sylvia.
“For you to summon me, you must be quite worried.”
Petrick Asteri did not answer, but the deepening furrow between his brows suggested it was true.
“I knew well enough that the boy was researching this and that, trying to overcome the shock…”
Petrick muttered, pressing his fingers firmly against his brow.
“This time it’s too much. Herb gathering, of all things… and he has barely risen from his sickbed.”
“Might it be that he finds it burdensome to keep receiving the family’s support?”
“Nonsense…”
No, was it really?
“You have always been terribly strict with him outwardly.”
At Sylvia’s calm words, Petrick’s expression immediately grew grave.
After some time had passed.
“Sylvia.”
Sylvia, his right hand, inclined her body.
“Command me.”
“Find out what in the world that brat is doing right now.”
Petrick’s insides seemed to be in no small turmoil.
Sylvia observed Petrick quietly, then smiled faintly and asked,
“Shall I also tell him to come see you?”
Even if he pretended otherwise, the family head had always been fond of Young Master Lion.
Perhaps all the more so because the grandson was sickly.
But the indifferent young master had behaved like this the moment he rose from his sickbed…
“Tell him that if he dawdles again this time, I will tear up every last weed on the estate!”
“I shall convey it exactly.”
Only after Sylvia’s form had wholly vanished into the shadows did Petrick mutter to himself.
“This ill-mannered whelp. If his body is well again, he ought to come to his grandfather first. Has he been pulling up grass for weeks on end?”
* * *
At that same hour.
Pluck!
[Acquired Aqua Rosemary.]
Pluck!
[Acquired Coriander.]
The Mimir Forest, a woodland of the marquisate not far from the Asteri mansion.
A young man, gaunt and visibly bearing the marks of illness, crouched upon the ground.
With neatly tied golden hair, eyes that shone like amethysts, and pale skin, he looked every inch the young nobleman.
Incongruously, however, his hands were caked in dirt and stained with the sap of plants, and his unblemished cheeks held only beads of dust-mingled sweat.
Pluck!
[Acquired Star Anise Root.]
The young man pulled the plant with trembling, quivering hands.
He—Baek Yi-hyeon, and now Lion Asteri—wore a faint smile.
‘Herbs appear just from pulling them up. This is heaven!’
Already a month had passed since he had entered the body of Lion in the world of <In the World>.
Naturally, he had panicked at first.
A different world. And the world of <In the World> fifty years later, at that?
What was more, he had played <In the World> passionately, but he had never focused much on the main story, so it was no different from being dropped stark naked onto bare ground.
‘Although it’s fortunate that the memories of this body remained, along with the fact that I’m the eldest grandson of House Asteri—a “prestigious mage family” even I had heard plenty about.’
And this ability.
Expert’s Eye.
While taking a walk to get a grasp of the situation after waking in this body, he had seen an herb patch gleaming and glittering, and when he tried pulling one up…
The herb had come into his hands with absurd ease.
[Aqua Rosemary]
-Unlike ordinary rosemary, this herb carries a vivid scent of the sea.
-When consumed raw, it tastes as salty as swallowing seawater.
[Uses - Food, Potions]
[☞Click to view recipes.]
[Novice Herbalist (1) Achievement Progress 1/100]
Along with a notification that the achievement was in progress.
He had nothing else to do, so naturally he followed the notification and gathered herbs.
After pulling up about a hundred herbs that way, he realized something.
[Novice Herbalist (1) Achievement Complete!]
[Acquired 1,000 Shillings!]
That achievement rewards existed!
[Once enough Shillings are accumulated, the Shilling Shop will open.]
And that a dedicated shop existed, too!
Everything after that was just as it was now.
Achievements existed, and completing them gave money.
Then, obviously, he ought to complete every achievement he could get his hands on, using every scrap of knowledge he had. How could he not?
“How much have I gathered?”
Lion opened his Inventory and checked the accumulated funds.
“Already 20,000 Shillings.”
Twenty thousand Shillings.
He didn’t know whether that was a lot in the Shilling Shop or not… but Lion felt newly moved.
‘Rewards that come back in proportion to your effort!’
Lion clenched his fist tightly.
How much had he suffered at his company all that time?
Doing the work, keeping an eye on every glance exchanged among his coworkers, never being allowed to bring on junior staff, and instead of having his effort recognized, they even stole his achievements…!
It was dizzying to recall now.
It was a wonder he hadn’t burned out.
At any rate, the fact that fair compensation for his labor came back to him was a greater comfort than he could say.
“Ahem.”
Lion reined in his feelings, which had grown agitated for no reason.
Anyway, given the concept of a shop, it seemed he would need to hold at least a hundred thousand Shillings before the shop opened.
Until then, he could simply keep using his talents to complete achievements.
“If I play this right… I could make a decent living anywhere, couldn’t I?”
Lion also knew that he could be expelled from House Asteri at any time.
The eldest son who could not sense mana—people would think him an utter imbecile.
“Still, I should stick around until I get kicked out.”
Even if he sensed mana later, it was obvious his talent still wouldn’t be enough to properly use magic.
If so, then being weeded out from a prestigious mage family was already a given.
Very good.
‘The next family head will be my younger brother anyway.’
“Well, to do that, I do have a bit of work to get done first though… Hm?”
Lion placed his hands on his hips and muttered, absently glancing around.
But then…
Gleam!
‘That’s—!’
A patch of grass that glittered especially brilliantly entered Lion’s vision.
It shone so intensely that it almost felt like it was producing its own light.
He knew it instinctively.
‘This one’s big.’
Gulp.
Lion swallowed, knelt before the plant, and began gently digging the surrounding soil away with his hands.
His already dirty hands became soiled again, but he paid it no mind.
In Lion’s eyes, that herb was as good as gold!
Once the roots had been sufficiently exposed, he grasped the herb with one hand and pulled it up——!
Shwoop!
With an exquisite sensation, the likes of which he had never known, a herb rose from the earth!
What was more, even uprooted, it still shone like gold!
[Red Sun Fern (★)]
-Its tips are red and curled like the sun. Unlike ordinary ferns, it can be eaten raw.
-Rumor says that consuming it by a special method clears stray thoughts from the mind.
[Uses - Food, Potions]
[☞Must reach Alchemy Apprentice Lv. 4 to view recipes.]
[‘Three Stars!’ Achievement Progress 1/3]
“Yes!”
“Young master.”
It was just as he had expected.
An achievement awarded for successfully gathering three types of rare-grade herbs in <In the World>.
‘Three Stars!’
Since it clearly demanded more detail than ordinary grinding, it would surely give Shillings on a different order from before.
On top of that… whether thanks to his talent,
he could just tell that it would yield quite
an excellent performance if made into a potion.
“Young master.”
“Huh?”
He had assumed one of the usual attendants had come, but a different person stood there.
This person was certainly…
“Sylvia?”
Yes. Head Attendant Sylvia.
A person who had served House Asteri for decades.
To Lion, she was practically no different from a grandmother.
[Lv.?? Sylvia]
Well, it didn’t matter.
“See this?”
Lion thrust the still-gleaming fern forward.
“Hmm…”
Sylvia smiled kindly and examined the herb.
‘A top-quality herb.’
Its Magic Power was intact, and its roots showed no signs of damage. It must have been harvested with great care.
By those hands, delicate as fern stalks…
“A clean herb.”
“Look closely! It’s shining.”
Sylvia found Lion quite pitiful.
How could she be fooled?
He was surely under severe mental strain to be saying such things.
Sylvia took out a handkerchief and wiped the face and hands of Lion, who was like a grandson to her.
‘Still, it is a relief that he seems happy.’
Yes. What did it matter if he couldn’t sense mana?
If the young master was happy, that was all that mattered.
Yet why did it wrench her heart every time she saw him?
Even though the family head and she herself as his aide looked after him, how vast must the void be, growing up without parents?
“You can’t see the light?”
“I cannot.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Haha, guess only I can see it.”
“…”
He was clearly making an excuse.
He must feel too ashamed to face the family head.
Sylvia felt certain of this.
Of course, for Lion’s part…
‘If even Sylvia can’t see it, then I really am the only one who can.’
He really had been checking whether she couldn’t see it after all.
“His Lordship is greatly worried. Please return now. With this much effort, His Lordship should find it quite commendable.”
At the word ‘His Lordship,’ Lion’s gaze finally lifted from the herb.
‘I doubt it.’
From his memories, and from what little game knowledge he retained, Petrick was a thoroughgoing meritocrat.
The superior takes all.
That was an iron rule he did not break, even for family.
His financial sponsor——no. The family head. Petrick Asteri.
Affection-grinding Target No. 1.
‘I do need to go see him, but I wasn’t quite ready yet, you see.’
Until he had obtained this very herb, that is.
‘The materials are roughly gathered now, so shall I start currying a little favor?’
What was he going to do with the herbs?
Naturally, he planned to craft a potion.
Because as things stood, potion crafting was the only gift that could produce the best and most outstanding result.
“Sylvia, old mother.”
“Yes, young master.”
“Tell my grandfather I’ll come see him around lunchtime tomorrow. And… could you procure a few things for me?”