Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 206
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 206
“Oh my… Indeed. So this will be the last jar of candied petals, I’m afraid.”
The merchant Lion had gotten to know over the candied flower petals handed over the final jar and added a few more details.
The fruit he had loaded onto his wagon had vanished entirely the moment he looked away, and at least one person claimed to have witnessed a truly enormous bear devouring something in a frenzy at the forest’s edge.
The details differed, but the gist was the same.
A single bear was gobbling up every sweet food in sight.
“Hmm. That does sound serious.”
“So please be careful yourself, young master. I hear you frequent the forest.”
“Ha-ha. Right, I’ll be careful. Take care.”
Lion accepted the merchant’s concern graciously and moved on to the herbalist’s shop.
‘Still, though…’
Something told him this wasn’t just an ordinary bear.
Honestly, no matter how huge a bear was, could it really consume that sheer volume of food?
‘I do have a hunch about it…’
Still, there wasn’t anything Lion could do about it.
He hadn’t personally suffered any direct damage, and he certainly didn’t have the authority to mobilize resources to handle something like this.
‘Still, I ought to at least mention it to Rickshel when I get back later.’
Rickshel, who genuinely cared for the people of the territory, would surely come up with a solution.
With that settled in his mind, Lion entered the newly opened herbalist’s shop.
And barely ten minutes later…
“Siiigh…”
He came out with a long, deep sigh.
“Yeah. Figures.”
Of course there was no way herbs were being supplied properly in all this chaos.
Even if the rumor said the bear only targeted sweets, hardly anyone was going to take that at face value and go out herb-gathering.
Imports were the same.
Since the earlier wagon had been attacked by the bear, even without casualties, shipments were bound to be delayed or canceled.
More than anything, mercenary fees had probably shot up.
“Still, I did manage to grab a few decent things…”
Lion opened his bag and looked over his newly purchased herbs.
None were incredibly rare, but he had managed to pick up a reasonable selection of things not native to Asteri territory.
‘The quality’s not bad, either.’
Even the fine roots were intact, and the stems and leaves were fresh, likely harvested at just the right time when the plants were growing vigorously.
He suspected once the situation was resolved and things returned to normal, a much better selection would be available.
Why?
“To know herbs this well! Truly, you educated folk are different! We don’t have much stock right now, but this herb too…! And this one here, it’s hard to tell apart from a mushroom, but actually…!”
The shop owner had seemed deeply attached to his wares.
When Lion had recognized a few herbs, the man had even fetched a homemade herbal reference book and launched into an extremely enthusiastic explanation.
‘I was actually the one getting overwhelmed.’
Getting outclassed in sheer eccentric intensity was rare for him, but that fellow had been, well… genuinely ‘the real deal.’
‘Still, I guess my recent conduct has been a bit normal.’
It would be a problem if people started thinking he was a regular person just pretending to be an eccentric.
The day he heard someone wonder if his personality was finally sound enough to be given light tasks…
‘Brrr.’
Not ideal.
Did he need to do more character research?
Amid these idle musings, Lion headed home.
To be precise, before going up to his room, he made for Rickshel’s office.
“Oh, young master! Good day!”
“Good day. Have you been well?”
Jake was on guard duty.
Lion remembered him as an apprentice before; it seemed he was now a full-fledged member of the Asteri Knight Order.
“I’ve grown considerably, thanks to the family and the knight commander. Though still not at Varg’s level.”
“Is that so. Speaking of which, where is Varg?”
“That guy is…”
Jake hesitated with a thoughtful “hmm” before coming clean.
“Probably still running laps around the training grounds.”
Still?
Strange. Rickshel had certainly given Varg a grueling grind of a punishment—rather, training.
The reason was, in any case, his rudeness toward a ‘guest’ who had come to House Asteri.
In truth, they’d used that rudeness as leverage to keep him quiet about the contract matter, so the punishment had been in name only.
Yet he was still running laps at the training grounds?
Jake’s expression suggested quite a bit had happened on its own.
“I see. It can’t be easy for you.”
“Ha-ha-ha… For the family and a friend, this much is nothing. Even if I’m on the reserve list, guarding the young masters is an honor.”
Jake finished speaking and opened the office door for Lion.
And inside…
“…”
Rickshel, looking more haggard than usual, was buried under a mountain of paperwork.
‘Wow, he really is the spitting image of Grandfather.’
Right down to that particular aura.
Lion smiled somewhat awkwardly and stepped inside.
“You’ve come, Brother.”
“If you’re very busy, shall I come back later?”
“No. All of this is from a single issue, so it’s fine.”
“By any chance, is it that bear problem?”
“It seems it reached your ears as well.”
Rickshel let out a light sigh and nodded.
“It’s unprecedented, but it’s manageable.”
“Really?”
“Yes. We’re planning to mobilize the knight order and subjugate it soon. Any longer and I fear small businesses may go under one after another.”
…It was eating that much?
If the intel came through Rickshel, it was reliable.
“So I think it would be best if you also stayed out of Mimir Forest for the time being, Brother. Just in case.”
“Oh, come on, would it really go all the way in there?”
Unlike the other forests, it was no exaggeration to say Mimir Forest was practically attached to the Asteri mansion.
On top of that, Lion came and went as if it were his own backyard, so security was tight, and above all, Elvia personally kept a sharp eye on the area.
And furthermore.
“They say that bear loves sweet things, right? There’s nothing sweet in there anyway. At most, a few berries, and not even that many of them.”
“…”
At those words, Rickshel could only manage a very faint smile.
Lion felt a chill run down the back of his head at that ambiguous reaction.
‘Wh-what’s that?’
Lion’s mind began working faster than usual.
Rickshel wouldn’t make that sort of expression just because there were a few scattered berries.
Moreover, normally when Lion made such a complacent remark, he should have been met with a scolding.
‘…W-wait a minute.’
In a flash, a certain piece of information raced across Lion’s mind.
That being…!
“No way.”
There is something!
Something sweet and delicious, in spades!
“My sweet potatoes!!”
Lion jolted as if struck by lightning, then immediately burst out of Rickshel’s room.
“Sigh.”
Rickshel, who had anticipated all of this, let out a quiet sigh.
It was something Lion would have found out soon enough anyway.
Besides, with Elvia watching over him, Rickshel didn’t need to worry about a mere bear.
More than anything…
“It’s likely already over by now.”
Rickshel pulled a slip of paper he had slipped among the stacks of documents.
It was a report detailing the damage that had occurred in Mimir Forest.
* * *
“Aaargh!”
Upon arriving at Mimir Forest, Lion clutched his head and groaned at the devastating sight.
He’d half-feared it, but the place had already been cleaned out.
The ground, clearly torn up by bear claws, revealed not banana sweet potatoes but only sweet potato vines, slashed and scattered everywhere.
“M-my sweet potatoes…!”
Lion scrambled over the dirt in a daze, groping through the soil.
Of course, there was nothing.
…He had stored some away, and even transplanted a few into the labyrinth, but
“This was the place of origin!”
He had never told anyone, but it was one of the specialties Lion was quietly promoting.
More than anything, the family liked them so much that he had put them to good use everywhere since then!
Tears prickled at the corners of Lion’s eyes.
This felt emptier than when he’d logged into <In the World> and found all his characters gone.
And it made sense—<In the World> had been neglected for a long time, but he had been carefully tending these banana sweet potatoes himself!
“You… You bastard!”
Sorrow quickly turned to fury.
He’d never been this angry since possessing this body.
It was truly primal rage!
But since the culprit was a bear, there was no way he could demand any kind of restitution…
“…Wait.”
Lion jerked his bowed head up and began rifling through the surroundings with gleaming eyes.
Specifically, the bear’s claw marks and the traces around them.
[Bear Tracks]
—Tracks presumed to belong to a bear.
—Unbelievable! They’re staggeringly huge!
[Ruined Banana Sweet Potatoes]
—Whoever they are, they expertly picked out only the most delicious banana sweet potatoes, ate them, and vanished!
—They even discarded the stems as if they weren’t sweet enough!
A fresh surge of rage welled up inside him at the description, but he held it back.
Surely he could find a clue here.
Calming his simmering insides, Lion tenaciously gathered information.
And then… at last, he found it.
A very faint clue, between the bear’s prints.
[Faint Footprints]
—These are definitely human footprints.
—It’s almost as if the bear turned into a person and left an extra footprint behind?
Once he found one clue, more definitive ones began to surface.
[Beastfolk Fur (★★)]
—Danger! This is ‘Bear Beastfolk’ fur!
—Their fur is so incredibly glossy from eating so well!
[Uses — Painting, Alchemy]
“Ha-ha…”
Covered in dirt, Lion laughed, his shoulders heaving.
His eyes, visible through the dust, glittered sharply.
“Ha-ha-ha!”
Just as he’d thought! It was a Bear Beastfolk.
How a Bear Beastfolk, the kind only seen in the kingdom where the beastfolk lived, had come all the way here, he didn’t know.
He didn’t even need to know.
What mattered was.
“That I can hold someone accountable…”
For eating every single ‘sweet thing’ the townspeople had, and most of all, for eating his precious banana sweet potatoes!
Meanwhile.
“…”
Elvia looked down at her adorable… puppy, half-sprawled on the ground and laughing with glinting eyes.
‘I didn’t expect this level of reaction.’
The reason she hadn’t stopped that huge Bear Beastfolk from barging into Mimir Forest and stealing the banana sweet potatoes was, naturally, for the fun that would come afterward.
It posed no immediate harm to her puppy, and if used properly, it seemed it might also help create a ‘reasonably’ decent reputation for him.
‘…Well, it should be fine.’
Actually, more than anything, she’d simply let it happen because it had looked entertaining.
‘With that half-elf kid gone, it’s been terribly dull.’
She had definitely seen the young master hoarding the banana sweet potatoes and even heard him say he’d planted some in the labyrinth.
Besides, not all the banana sweet potatoes here had been eaten.
That greedy bear fellow, for all his gluttony, must have been a gourmand; he didn’t so much as touch anything tasteless with uncanny precision.
“Elvia.”
“Keh-hm. Yes, young master. You called?”
As if nothing had happened, Elvia composed her voice and expression and stood beside Lion.
“Tell Rickshel I’m going to catch this bear myself.”
And so, Lion’s Bear Beastfolk Capture Operation began.