Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 220
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 220
“…A-are you serious?”
Buck stared at the young master with a dazed expression.
Even for the young master, it was quite a long journey.
Because his hometown still had no warp gate, they always had to go through a large town nearby.
Whenever he went home, he always had to hire a carriage.
‘And besides, the guest from the Sword Mastery Family is here right now.’
“It’s fine.”
Lion grinned and pulled something out from his coat.
And Buck’s eyes, having recognized it, went wide as if they were about to pop out.
“T-this is a Warp Scroll!”
A Warp Scroll!
A special magical tool that could send you anywhere, from anywhere, to any place you wanted!
Everyone knew it, but only a very few could use it—a treasure among treasures!
Even most nobles wouldn’t use a Warp Scroll except in truly critical moments.
Some even said there were families that passed down centuries-old scrolls from generation to generation.
“N-no way…”
Buck swallowed dryly without realizing it.
“That ‘no way’ is right.”
“You can’t!”
Buck frantically threw out his arms and flailed.
“That thing’s worth so much…!”
“Yeah. It’s expensive.”
Lion nodded as if in agreement.
Warp Scrolls had been set as a very expensive item even in the game <In the World>.
In reality, it was also a very precious item that the Magic Tower could only produce a handful of each year.
But—
“But it’s fine. There were a lot of them.”
In Lion’s personal warehouse at the mansion, these Warp Scrolls were piled so thickly you could carpet the floor with them.
It was probably his grandfather’s sentiment—wanting him to be able to go anywhere and enjoy himself, since Lion had been unable to use magic until then.
Of course, far from traveling anywhere, Lion had barely been able to enter the library.
So a great many unused Warp Scrolls had piled up.
‘Well, I don’t intend to use them carelessly either.’
Anyway, Lion had plenty of time.
And traveling by carriage was also quite pleasant.
So naturally, he had no desire to use a Warp Scroll to arrive at his destination in an instant.
Besides.
‘…Because I don’t need to take a motion sickness potion every single time.’
If he took the potion, it would prevent warp sickness, but still, that memory… was truly unpleasant.
‘It was really awful.’
It was the sensation of being hung upside down while sailing a tiny boat across an endless sea for an entire week, all at once.
Lion shuddered as he recalled the horrible motion sickness from that time.
Anyway, the Marquis of Bydantis was visiting the mansion, and as soon as Rickshel and the Marquis finished their business, they’d also have to go to the Imperial Palace.
So he’d grabbed a Warp Scroll that was gathering dust in the warehouse.
“Let’s talk on the way.”
Lion stood beside Buck and tore the Warp Scroll.
Then an intricate magic circle appeared on the ground beneath them and in the empty air above their heads.
Shooo.
The two of them vanished in an instant.
Buck, who had been unable to move for fear of causing such a precious scroll to be wasted, screamed internally.
‘It’s teleportation! How can we talk on the way?!’
* * *
Shooo!
He closed his eyes and opened them to find himself in an unfamiliar place in an instant.
“So this is it.”
“I can’t believe I actually used a Warp Scroll…”
Buck muttered in disbelief as he looked around.
The entrance of a quiet rural village.
Birds chirped, and relatively low trees had been planted irregularly here and there…
It was definitely Buck’s hometown.
‘…It’s been a long time.’
There had been a commotion on the way, but now that they’d arrived, Buck’s heart felt oddly unsettled.
He had turned up so suddenly without even a letter, and with the young master he served, too—he never dreamed this would happen.
No matter how informally the young master treated him, he was still a person of such high station that Buck could barely dare to look him in the eye.
If anything went wrong, the blame would undoubtedly fall on Buck.
He had to keep his wits about him.
…And yet, even as he thought that.
‘Father…’
He couldn’t help but think longingly of his father, who ran the brewery all alone.
“This is the entrance to the village. The brewery is a bit further inside, so I’ll guide you.”
“Alright. Lead the way.”
Lion followed, pretending not to notice Buck’s expression, which seemed to hold a mix of emotions.
After a few steps, villagers who recognized Buck greeted him.
“Goodness, what brings you here without any word?”
“Come to see your father, eh?”
“Hahaha… Hello, everyone.”
Buck returned the greetings, though a little awkwardly.
Then they turned from the village road into an alley.
The dirt path, packed hard by countless footprints, showed that it wasn’t entirely deserted, and as they walked, the brewery came into view in the distance.
Buck stopped for a moment and asked.
“Um, young master.”
“What?”
“Thank you.”
“Hm? Ah.”
I see why he’s thanking me.
Lion stopped Buck, whose lips were twitching as if to object, and spoke first.
“I needed pomegranate wine right away, and I had the information that your father runs a brewery. That’s all.”
“But even the kitchen could…”
“They could get it. But I need quite a lot of wine.”
No matter how many high-quality ingredients the Asteri household had, they didn’t keep pomegranate wine in casks.
“And as it happens, you know the geography of this village. Our interests aligned, that’s all.”
“…”
Buck, who had become a full employee after a fairly short probation, understood exactly what those words meant.
It was to reduce the burden on a mere servant.
Even if their interests had aligned, if it had been truly urgent, they could have gotten the exact location from Buck and sent another quick-footed employee.
That alone would have been more than satisfying for Buck.
Because his father would have received the honor of having the Asteri family patronize his brewery.
‘…He’s a thoughtful person.’
But Young Master Lion had gone a step further than that.
He’d taken the opportunity to let Buck see his father once more.
‘Right. Let’s accept his kindness gratefully!’
And work even harder for House Asteri.
Buck resolved to do so and moved forward.
Meanwhile, Lion…
‘…I really didn’t think much of it.’
As he’d just said, it was simply that the person who came to mind was Buck’s father.
And it was also true that it was urgent.
‘Well, the misunderstanding seems to be cleared up, so that’s fine.’
It wasn’t something worthy of a huge thank-you, and it would be awkward if it became a burden.
And so Lion and Buck entered the brewery.
“Ah, Father!”
Buck shouted upon seeing his father standing in the distance.
A middle-aged man with a slightly bent back, approaching old age, turned around.
His eyes went wide, and he immediately ran over to them.
“Oh my, you came without even sending a letter! What’s the matter?”
He hugged Buck tightly and then checked him all over.
The worry that something might have happened was palpable.
“Goodness! I’m fine, nothing happened. And this time I’m here on business.”
“Business?”
Buck’s father finally noticed Lion standing beside him.
He studied him for a moment, then…
“Could that be… that person?”
He whispered to Buck.
“That person?”
“Yes. It is.”
Despite Lion’s mumbling, Buck calmly introduced Lion to his father as “that person.”
“Oh, young master!”
Buck’s father instantly understood the explanation and bowed deeply.
“Ha ha. No need to be so formal.”
“As written in the letters, you are kind. But what brings you here…?”
Looking at his son as if asking for an explanation, Buck quickly did his duty.
From why they’d come to what they needed.
“…And?”
“That’s all.”
“…”
Buck’s father tried not to show his bewilderment, but… his expression gave it all away.
‘Using that precious Warp Scroll for a reason like this?’
It was an action a commoner simply couldn’t understand.
‘Ah, right. That’s it!’
Buck’s father suddenly remembered a conversation he’d had with his son when he’d come home on leave.
That had been…
‘He said that the eldest young master was quite an eccentric.’
Actually, even in Asteri territory, such rumors tended to spread late in a rural place like this.
But what do you know.
After his son had left, the same story had reached this village.
That he was an eccentric, all right!
‘So it’s because of things like this.’
Having roughly figured it out, Buck’s father nodded.
To others, there was only the oddity.
‘But to me, he’s an irreplaceable benefactor.’
He’d let me see my beloved son one more time.
And above all…
He was the one who’d filled my lonely life with energy after sending my son off to the city.
“I’m not sure if it will be to your satisfaction, young master, but the pomegranate wine is over here.”
The place they arrived at was a small warehouse on one side of the brewery.
Buck’s father opened the lock with a thick key and casually began.
“Um, I heard you gave my boy a hint. Something about a drink made from malt.”
“Ah, right. How’s that going?”
“Actually, it was a truly tempting recipe, but I didn’t make it.”
“You didn’t?”
The brewery owner chuckled and opened the warehouse door.
Inside, rows of alcohol lined the shelves, bottled not for sale but as a hobby.
They weren’t very old; the oak barrels were relatively clean, as if they hadn’t aged much.
The brewery owner proudly patted the barrels with his palm, thumping them.
“Instead, I got the courage to try something new. These are the fellows right here.”
Not for profit, just the things I’d wanted to make.
Things I’d only vaguely dreamed of as a child, and then suppressed because the money felt too precious once I had a family to support.
“It’s really amazing. That I got the courage to start this hobby thanks to a young master I’ve never even met, not someone close to me. In fact, when my son told me to do something, I barely even pretended to listen.”
At my age, I even thought, why bother starting something new?
I worried that if something went wrong, I might have to live under the shadow of my son who’d worked so hard to go to the city.
He was the son I should protect forever, and I had no intention of shamelessly relying on his shadow.
But then it suddenly occurred to me.
Then every time my son visited his hometown on leave, I’d just be showing him the same boring scenery over and over, wouldn’t I?
A landscape with nothing new, where everything that existed was just growing old and decaying.
For some reason, I didn’t want that.
“An old man making a fool of himself, eh?”
“I think it’s wonderful. Buck, you have a great father.”
“…”