Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 237
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 237
[The ‘Expert’s Eye’ skill is temporarily strengthened.]
The mana stones piled in the lair rose into the air, surrounded Lion, and then spun around him as if dancing.
They matched his mana.
‘Ah, what on earth is this?’
Lion flinched, shaking his body imperceptibly.
Of course, he hadn’t intended this at all.
He had simply strengthened Expert’s Eye as usual,
hoping to pick up even a small clue in the lair.
And also because the dragon fossil was still there.
That was all.
Even as cold sweat ran down his back, Lion forced himself to remain calm.
It looked quite dramatic, but that was it.
No hidden guardian had jumped out, and no other magic circles had been triggered in sequence.
And then…
‘It’s because the target is mana stones…’
This pattern was quite familiar, wasn’t it?
Yes. It was similar to the flower pattern he had seen when he was first pulled into the labyrinth.
The difference was that back then he was alone, and now he had the Second Prince by his side.
And it was a bit too flashy…
He glanced sideways.
Lion looked at the Second Prince.
He was clearly trying to maintain a calm expression, but his pupils were trembling.
He was obviously deeply misunderstanding something.
Lion wanted to explain himself immediately, but he decided to just be shameless.
After all, he had promised not to ask!
‘Right. Now isn’t the time to worry about what he’s thinking.’
Lion calmed himself and let out a deep breath.
Though he had been flustered by the flashy display, he had also gained a fair amount of information.
First, this place.
For some unknown reason, it responded to his mana.
This might be due to the influence of the former Hero or his Grandfather.
And the mana stones.
‘There’s definitely a pattern, but…’
He couldn’t see it.
It seemed difficult to obtain information at his current level.
‘Should I use the staff?’
If he used the Asteri staff sleeping in his inventory, the ‘Expert’s Eye’ would certainly be strengthened to overflowing.
But—
‘It’s too risky.’
Hadn’t he felt it back then, when he examined the old bottle?
The backlash from viewing information he wasn’t supposed to see had been considerable.
At that time, Nature had opened its power and somehow offset it for him, but now, unfortunately, Nature wasn’t with him.
It was supposed to be a short trip to the imperial palace, and bringing Nature all the way here had felt too awkward.
‘Sssss…’
And something bothered him.
Even in <In the World>, the gimmick here wasn’t simply a matter of overpowering with brute force.
You had to check the monsters’ attributes, identify their weaknesses to overcome them, and even make gargoyles and golems crash into each other to destroy them.
‘Let’s just do what I can for now.’
Instead of using the staff, Lion drew deeply on the mana remaining in his mana circle.
[Due to the strengthening of the ‘Expert’s Eye’ skill, you penetrate some of the information.]
Fortunately, it seemed a decent choice, as the invisible things began to faintly reveal themselves.
Lion frowned at the subtle throbbing in his eyes and quickly read through the newly unveiled information.
[Old Mana Stone]
-A mana stone that has already been used once and has almost no mana remaining.
-A large amount of mana seems to be needed to restore it again.
[Broken Gargoyle Wing]
-Where did the body go? It probably broke.
[Broken Golem Fragment]
-Oh dear! The core is completely destroyed.
[Treasures of the Lair]
-Anything that glittered should have been here, shouldn’t it? Why didn’t the intruder take this?
And then…
[Dragon Remains]
-These are the bones of a dragon that departed this life long, long ago.
-Strange. Normally, when a dragon dies, they return completely to nature along with their mana, don’t they…
Flash!
As Lion finished reading the last passage, the Expert’s Eye skill ended.
His pupils, which had shone like a dragon’s, subsided in an instant and returned to normal.
At the same time, the mana stones in the air also fell to the floor with a helpless clatter.
As if nothing had happened.
‘Ugh, I’m tired.’
Mana still remained, but his eyes were considerably strained.
It felt like he had been pulling all-nighters for several days.
Lion blinked his bloodshot eyes a few times.
His eyes were dry, and it felt like the cornea was being scraped by his eyelids.
Fortunately, his blurred vision quickly recovered.
“… …”
And the Second Prince, who was watching this, had to do his best to manage his expression.
As Lion expected, the Second Prince was currently quite shocked.
Coming to the Dragon Lair through a painting was surprising enough, but the Lion Asteri in front of him, who had been groaning, suddenly transformed and used a strange skill.
As a result, the mana stones of the ‘Dragon Lair’ resonated with him.
What’s more, though he clearly seemed to be using mana, no flow of it could be detected around him.
‘He definitely possesses mana.’
Hadn’t he confirmed it with his own eyes?
The blood of Lion Asteri had unmistakably carried Asteri’s distinct mana.
‘… Is he not human?’
But if that were so, he’s quite human…
It didn’t take long for the Second Prince to reach this line of thought.
Of course, if Lion heard it, he’d find it absurd beyond belief, but with Kyle’s eyes and the information obtained, Lion’s power wasn’t something simple.
“Your Highness! It’s done. It seems we can escape sooner than expected.”
As Kyle was staring at Lion as calmly as he could, Lion Asteri, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly approached and proclaimed boldly.
“… By what method?”
“Hahaha. I’m not entirely certain, but would you care to hear my guess?”
It sounded more like certainty than a guess, but Kyle decided not to quibble and nodded.
Yes, what does it matter what his true nature is? His core has remained the same from our first meeting until now.
“Now, now. Hear me out.”
Ignoring Kyle’s questions and expression with all his might, Lion began to explain his near-certain hypothesis.
“First, regarding this lair. It seems there was an intruder before us.”
“Indeed.”
Kyle agreed and looked around.
There were many parts that were too unnatural to be attributed to weathering over time.
Such as the cleanly severed body of the golem, or the gargoyle’s body, which had vanished entirely except for its wings.
“Clearly, things like familiars created by the dragon must have been guarding the lair even after the master’s death.”
Lion rapped twice on the dragon’s skull behind him.
Kyle’s hand flinched and trembled.
They might have been extinct for a long time, but no one… would treat them like that.
Weren’t they objects of terror and reverence?
“But those intruder bastards took care of all those guys too, and they probably returned immediately after the battle ended, don’t you think?”
Lion felt a slight prick of conscience.
He’d just called them ‘bastards,’ but they were actually Lion himself, who was playing <In the World>, including his Grandfather, Petrick.
Sorry, Grandfather!
“… …”
Kyle nodded slowly.
It made sense.
If they hadn’t returned immediately, the treasures in this lair wouldn’t have been left intact.
And besides…
‘You can’t just call it running away.’
The Dragon Lair was surrounded by protective magic so solid that you couldn’t even see outside.
If so, the key to moving here must be the very painting they experienced, and the way back…
“I deduce that they ‘proved’ themselves. Likely, they proved their martial prowess.”
“Then.”
“Yes. I suspect if we prove our excellence in another way, it will send us back.”
Up to a point, it had been somewhat reasonable, but Lion’s conclusion was full of holes.
After all, he hadn’t said where this conclusion came from.
Was it from examining the lair with that special ability just now?
It was certainly surprising, but that didn’t make it an answer.
But—
‘The conclusion must be correct.’
And he wasn’t saying this to persuade Kyle in the first place.
From the moment he first used that ability, Lion Asteri had made up his mind.
To trust him.
Kyle struggled to suppress the corner of his mouth from twitching upward.
‘An unexpected situation, but not entirely bad.’
Should he say it felt like a line that Lion Asteri had subtly drawn had been erased?
He didn’t know if others had noticed, but Lion Asteri’s line was firmer than he’d thought.
He was kind to everyone, but he wasn’t someone who opened his arms to them.
Especially to someone like him, whose first impression hadn’t been very good.
It seemed he didn’t like revealing his true self.
And perhaps, to some extent, that was true.
So, thanks to this fortuitous opportunity, Kyle had received a rather large benefit.
What could he do? He should just cooperate as joyfully as possible.
“So you mean we should get our stories straight in that way.”
“Yes.”
Lion answered shamelessly.
The Second Prince had already told him, ‘I won’t ask.’
So Lion had no need to tell him.
“Understood.”
Fortunately, the Second Prince also quickly grasped Lion’s intention and readily accepted the proposal.
“Good. Then I’ll explain the real escape method.”
“Whatever I can do to help, I will.”
“Yes. As it happens, I need your power, Your Highness.”
Lion clapped his hands together with a sharp ‘clap’ and grinned.
“Please gather all the remnants of the familiars here.”
“… …”
From now on, he would begin ‘crafting’ with these remnants.
* * *
“… Haaaah.”
Rickshel Asteri opened the paper bird sent by the Family Head personally and let out a deep, deep sigh.
He’d noticed his brother and the Second Prince had been gone late into the night, but it seemed they’d gotten caught up in some matter.
Seeing the Family Head send a letter directly, the cause was presumably…
‘It’s my brother.’
The small mercy was that it didn’t seem very dangerous…
“If only I could believe that.”
Having watched his brother a little more closely than the Family Head had, Rickshel knew well.
His brother was someone who could perform the most dangerous acts even in the safest of places.
‘But what can be done anyway.’
Rickshel placed the Family Head’s letter inside his coat, let out another deep sigh, and then addressed the Marquis Bydantis, who was standing blankly in front of him.
“The Second Prince and my brother seem likely to be absent for a few days.”
“I see.”
“Therefore, we will likely have to fabricate their whereabouts. Will you cooperate?”
Even without reading the letter, Marquis Bydantis roughly understood what had happened.
It seemed Lion Asteri had clearly cooked something up.
“We’ll have to deceive the Empress’s eyes.”
“That would be the cleanest way.”
“As it happens, there are quite a few disappearances happening in the Imperial Palace, I hear.”
The two looked at each other and nodded dryly.
The goal was one: to prevent attention from flowing towards his brother.
The Second Prince?
That was none of their concern. He’d manage somehow.
In any case, to do that, it was better to divert attention with a bigger incident.
And so, the Heir of House Asteri and the Marquis of Bydantis ended up starting to uncover the full story of the disappearance case happening in the Imperial Palace.
Did they know?
That this disappearance case was actually tied to a fairly major affair.