Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 238
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 238
Unaware of what was happening outside, Lion surveyed the wreckage at his feet.
“Do you intend to restore these?”
“Impossible. Their condition is far too poor.”
In truth, the state of the debris was ghastly.
The gargoyle was nothing but a wing, and the notoriously tough golem’s torso lay sliced clean through.
Fine. Suppose he could glue those back together somehow and make them usable.
But the biggest problem was the mana stones—the batteries meant to power all of this.
-They were used for a long time, after all.
“The mana stones are empty, you see.”
Lion bent down, picked up a mana stone, and tossed it lightly in his hand.
He recalled how it had risen a moment ago, resonating with Lion’s mana, only to plummet back to the floor the instant his mana cut off.
‘That means there’s barely a speck left inside.’
Just enough trace mana to register as a “mana stone” at all.
‘But for me to fill them with mana…’
That struck him as impossible, no matter how he looked at it.
There were several reasons, and the biggest one was that a mana stone’s capacity was absurdly vast.
If he let bravado get the better of him, he’d most likely end up with nothing to show for it and his mana completely drained.
“Then aren’t the mana stones unusable?”
-Of course I have to use the mana stones! If you don’t prove yourself properly, I’m not letting you leave, you know?
“No. I need to prove my ability thoroughly, so I intend to use every material to the extent possible. So…”
-Oh, so?
Struggling to maintain his composure, Lion went on.
“I’m thinking of synthesizing all the useless mana stones to remake them into a smaller mana stone.”
Synthesizing gems would work the same way it had a few days ago when he’d made the Cosmic Crystal.
What did worry him was that the alchemy cauldron had taken considerable damage…
‘Still, it’ll hold out a few more times.’
He would be synthesizing nearly empty mana stones, not mana stones rich with mana, so the pot wouldn’t crack or explode.
And truth be told, something else worried him even more than the alchemy cauldron.
“A sound plan.”
-As expected of a clever human who walked in here! I tell you, my eyes are never wrong.
…Right. That voice. The one Lion had been doing his absolute best to ignore.
The whole affair had begun when he’d strengthened Expert’s Eye once more.
As if to prove that this truly was a dragon lair, all sorts of information had finally begun to appear before Lion’s eyes.
And it had been from that very moment.
-Huh? I think our eyes just met?
He had become aware of a translucent something standing with its arms crossed near the dragon remains, watching him with an expression of lively curiosity.
Its way of speaking and its personality resembled those of someone just past adolescence, but—
The elongated build, like an elf’s. And features as clean-cut as his younger brother’s.
And above all, the sleek wings visible behind its back.
No doubt about it.
That was probably…
-No? Can’t you see me? Well, I suppose no one’s ever noticed my invitations before.
It was likely the form of the dragon who had once owned this lair.
‘I was already suspicious from the moment I saw the dragon remains.’
By nature, when a dragon lived out its full allotted lifespan, it vanished without leaving anything behind—
not the scales and hide said to be harder than any metal, nor even the bones.
Naturally, the “dragon parts” that turned up in the world were nothing but oversized wyverns or forgeries.
True, on vanishingly rare occasions a dragon that had actually been hunted down and killed did leave trophies, but…
‘Would there even be one or two real examples?’
After all, so much time had passed since their extinction.
In any case, dragon parts were that rare.
Yet here in this dragon lair, nearly perfect bones remained.
And right beside them stood an earthbound spirit—no, an Earthbound Dragon—gazing this way with eyes full of endless curiosity.
No, “gazing” was an understatement.
Whoosh.
Whenever the Earthbound Dragon sensed that its eyes had met Lion’s, it shot over in a flash and hung about oppressively, shifting its angle this way and that.
The one mercy was that—perhaps because it had been left here alone—it talked to itself quite a lot.
‘Thanks to that, I learned the way out of here from that fellow.’
More accurately, he had inferred it.
Why on earth had that Earthbound Dragon summoned him through the painting?
The reason was rather preposterous.
-Last time, those fellows proved themselves with splendid raw power.
-It was truly entertaining. Even though all my toys got wrecked.
-What are you lot going to do?
Saying this, it had swished over and even acted as if draping an arm around Lion’s shoulders.
Lion had to relax his eyes as much as possible and stare into empty space.
Contrary to his expectation that he wouldn’t feel a thing, a chill aura had touched his shoulder.
What’s more, it had carried an oddly heavy weight.
So the old ghost stories had been roughly accurate after all.
Not that he had the slightest desire to experience it firsthand.
-Still, you’d be better off watching me than proving anything.
-And this cursed human seems like a total lost cause…
Lion had ignored it thoroughly.
Shouldn’t he just approach it in a friendly manner, you ask?
Who cares if it’s a dragon—it’s still a ghost, and couldn’t it do him no real harm?
‘Well, I suppose you could think that way.’
But that’s only because you haven’t listened properly to that fellow’s soliloquies.
-Ah~ If you’d just acknowledge me, you wouldn’t be bored for at least a hundred years or so.
-I could truly treat you so well.
-I’ve gathered an enormous hoard of gems, you know!
…What exactly did that mean.
Even if the Second Prince managed to escape, Lion himself might not.
‘And from what I know…’
Dragons were said to possess a ferocious possessiveness over everything they owned.
In other words, he must not get entangled, under any circumstances.
Lion had a workaholic younger brother to look after, and two adorable companion animals as well.
‘Still, I can probably earn some points.’
According to the Earthbound Dragon, whenever it grew so unbearably bored it simply couldn’t stand it any longer, it would peek at the outside world through the painting.
And while peeking, it would pick out humans who looked, as it put it, “interesting” and bring them here.
-Before that it was elves or dwarves, but they’re not very entertaining anymore.
Exactly fifty years ago.
It had switched its target to humans, starting with the Hero.
A change in species wasn’t much of a clue in itself, but the Earthbound Dragon’s motive for its actions gave him a good hint.
This dragon was currently quite bored.
‘That figures.’
He didn’t know the reason, but this dragon was unable to pass on to the Underworld.
And on top of that, it seemed its feet were bound to this lair.
Playing house indoors gets old after the first time or two—how bored must it be.
What’s more, all its toys had been completely wrecked fifty years ago.
You’d think it would be angry, but the creature instead reminisced fondly about that time,
claiming it had been tremendous fun.
‘…Burning up all your toys for a moment’s pleasure.’
The other party was a dragon and even a ghost, so it had taken him a while, but Lion had managed to get a read on the creature.
‘It’s a dopamine addict.’
If that were the case, then what he needed to make became even clearer.
Calmly, Lion brought out his alchemy cauldron and poured the mana stones inside.
-For a human, those are fairly fine implements you’re using.
-They’re tempting.
The Earthbound Dragon loitered around Lion’s side once more and lightly ran its hand over the pot.
Of course, lacking a corporeal body, its hand passed right through the pot into empty nothingness.
-Hmph.
“…”
Without hesitation, Lion closed the cauldron lid and began synthesizing the mana stones.
One fortunate point was that the work proceeded far more smoothly than it had with the Cosmic Crystal.
“They’ve become much smaller.”
“Yes. It seems their remaining power has been compressed.”
What emerged from the synthesis was a condensed mana stone along with the dregs of mana stones so entirely spent that they had crumbled into powder.
“So, have you decided what you’ll make?”
“Yes. But I’ll keep it a secret until it’s finished.”
“May I ask why?”
“Isn’t it far more entertaining to reveal everything at the end?”
Lion grinned.
—Oh…
Put grandly, it was a “proof,” but in practice, all he needed to do was satisfy the Earthbound Dragon.
And satisfying a dragon whose every toy had been smashed was simple.
He just had to make it a new toy.
Preferably one that actually functioned.
As it happened, Lion had recently received a rather impressive gift.
Namely, Elvia’s brush.
‘As long as I have mana, I can give it physical form.’
Of course, with the Child Lock currently in place, he couldn’t make anything grand.
But if he simply shaped it into a palm-sized figure, that would be more than sufficient.
It would require a decent amount of mana, admittedly.
‘About this much mana stone should do it.’
Thankfully, hadn’t he just condensed the mana from numerous mana stones into a single new one?
Using that as fuel, it would be entirely feasible.
In any case, in order to accomplish that…
Scrape.
Lion began cautiously carving the golem fragments.
The most critical element was a sense of form.
Since it needed to be capable of walking on its own, he had to balance its weight carefully so it could at minimum stand upright.
He crafted sturdy legs that could support its body, then shaped the torso from other fragments.
It would have been difficult to do this out of thin air, but he had the perfect model right beside him.
The dragon remains.
Though only bones were left, they served as unparalleled reference material for sculpting a basic form.
-What, don’t tell me…
The Earthbound Dragon, which had been darting glances around Lion’s vicinity before settling itself right across from him to watch openly, examined the carving and the remains as though something had dawned on it.
“So you’re using that dragon as a model.”
-Me? Now that you mention it…
The Earthbound Dragon swiveled its head around in every direction.
Mountains of every kind of gem and gold coin were piled high, yet not a single sculpture resembling its own form existed here.
The dwarves had recoiled in horror, asking how anyone could dare carve the great being’s likeness, while the elves had no talent for such arts.
-Hmmmm…
Well, to be honest, it had thought it might be nice to have at least one.
But what it had pictured was a glorious likeness made of jewel or gold, bedecked in finery, a statue equal to its true size in reality.
So that it could show off to other dragons as well, wouldn’t it?
‘They’re all dead, though.’
It didn’t know the details, but it was aware that all of its kin had already left the Living World.
Which likely explained why no such likeness had ever arrived at this lair.
The Earthbound Dragon pouted.
-This isn’t as interesting as I thought.
There weren’t even any other dragons left to show it off to, and what’s more, it was being carved from golem fragments, making it shabby.
If he was going to do it properly, why not simply melt down those mountain-high stacks of gold coins and be done with it—why go through this trouble?
Of course, it was pleased that a beloved toy was being put to use again, but…
-…I don’t like it.
As if speaking for Lion’s benefit, the Earthbound Dragon loudly disparaged the work in progress.
Yet even while doing so, it neither left its spot nor took its eyes off it.
At that reaction, Lion grinned to himself.
Just as he’d expected, it liked this.
A dragon might be somewhat inured to loneliness, but the sheer weight of all those ages was impossible to ignore.
‘It’s nice to have a reliable toy to occupy yourself with.’
Lion continued to sort and carve out the forms by body part, further subdividing the sections that would become the joints.
That step alone consumed an entire full day.
“Why don’t you rest a little before continuing.”
“I’m fine. This is entertaining.”
And after another half-day passed, the models divided by body part came together into one.
And another half-day after that, the form grew even more distinct.
“…”
He called it entertaining and worked for two full days, going without food?
He had known of this from intelligence reports, but seeing it with his own eyes made him worry automatically.
The Second Prince sighed softly and glanced around his surroundings.
He would have to search this place himself and procure something edible.
Because Lion was different from him—after all, he himself had been trained to endure several days’ fasting.
-…But don’t humans eat?
-My lair has provisions too, you know.
And the same was true for the Earthbound Dragon.
Because in real time, this fascinating human was growing gaunt!
-…Is this okay??
For the first time, the Earthbound Dragon found itself worried about another being.