Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 241
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 241
Lion simply passed out.
The motion sickness had been worse on the way back than on the way there.
There seemed to be some other reason as well, but he hadn’t had the chance to figure it out.
How much time had passed since then?
He found himself lying in the recovery room of the Asteri house, which he used almost as often as his own bedroom.
“Ughh…”
Lion let out a groan and lifted his eyelids.
His whole body ached as if he’d been thoroughly beaten.
‘I was fine in the Dragon Lair, though…’
After groaning for a while, Lion bolted upright, startled by his own thought.
A dragon!
The dragon had definitely been missing from the painting.
Which meant…
-You’re awake.
“Haaaaaa…”
Lion covered his face with both hands and let out a deep, deep sigh.
Why did bad premonitions always come true?
He stared at the creature that had absolutely no business being anywhere near his room.
Earthbound Dragon.
‘Her name… Tiamatrak, wasn’t it?’
Anyway, the creature was watching him from outside the window,
her eyes full of intense curiosity.
-You sighed at me just now, didn’t you!
“I did. What are you going to do about it?”
-…Well, I don’t intend to do anything!
By dragon standards, that kind of attitude from a human was downright insolent, but what could the Earthbound Dragon do?
At most, she’d just be annoying.
In fact, just by answering her, Lion saw her expression completely relax into a grin.
‘But why is she outside the window?’
It looked like she couldn’t come in…
Lion forced his body, which creaked like a door with worn-out hinges, to get up and walk to the window.
-As expected, I have a good eye for people, don’t I?
“How did you follow me?”
-A predictable question, but you asked very well!
Maybe because she was itching to talk, the Earthbound Dragon described her journey in great detail.
Perhaps because she was a ghost, her voice came through clearly even through the window.
To summarize…
She said she hitched a ride.
On me.
When Lion asked how she’d hitched a ride, the Earthbound Dragon gave an answer like ‘It just worked out,’ on the level of ‘Urhil teaching Varg.’
-And you noticed too, didn’t you? The very…
“Quiet. Quiet.”
Lion already knew what would come next, just as she said.
But he didn’t want to face it right now.
Then something more surprising happened.
-Mm? Mmph!
Her mouth had actually been sealed shut!
The Earthbound Dragon’s eyes went wide and round.
Lion was just as bewildered, but his troubled mood was slightly greater, so he managed not to show it.
Lion silently rescinded his command to be quiet.
At that, her mouth unblocked.
-Pwah! Wow, you can already do that? You’ve got talent!
-Anyway, I used your body as a medium. And I definitely paid the price.
-How’s the gift? You like it? An ordinary human would be blown away.
“…Actually, thank you for that timely gift.”
She just had to poke at the part of his mind that was troubled.
Lion wondered how to deal with this overly energetic dopamine junkie in a giant body, then shook his head.
Truthfully, it was vexing that she’d used his body as a lair without permission, but she’d paid a pretty hefty rent.
That was why various parts of his body now ached as if they were breaking.
Mana Growing Pains.
‘A new Mana Circle has formed.’
So was this the 3rd Circle?
It was very ambiguous to call it that.
What should he call it?
‘It feels like one was simply transplanted…’
If the Mana Circle that Lion originally possessed and could develop was the Asteri mansion, then the circle given by the Earthbound Dragon felt like a vacation home.
But it was so enormous and luxurious that it was a vacation home so grand that Lion, who’d been granted it, couldn’t fully use it.
-I took inspiration from that brush.
-Because it’s dangerous for a child to use. Mm-hm.
“…”
So, this Mana Circle probably had a Child Lock on it too.
-Still, isn’t it good that you can use it in an emergency?
-In a pinch, I could pop in, save you, and pop out. Right?
-…And as a reward, I could get a very, very brief breath of fresh air. Say, a week?
That last part was probably her real aim.
Lion deliberately chose silence.
The Earthbound Dragon gauged Lion’s mood and subtly changed her terms.
-Four days…
“…”
-A-alright. One day! How about one day?
Lion had just realized something.
This Earthbound Dragon had to follow his commands.
‘And she must have known it when she came.’
To be precise, it was clear that even at the risk of subordination, she’d judged the outside world to be full of more fun and delight, and thus she’d accepted subservience for the sake of enjoying new content.
-Fine! One hour! That includes parking you in a safe spot!
I’m not a carriage, so why would I be parked?
Still, the terms weren’t bad.
Among the things Lion currently possessed were several so valuable they could save his life.
A prime example was the Spirit Sword Fragment the Second Prince had given him.
It was a one-time extra life.
But think about it.
Would that actually resolve the situation?
It wouldn’t.
Even if he could be moved to a ‘safe place’ through his grandfather’s staff,
would a body that had already experienced death once be able to move immediately?
Probably not.
Even if by a one-in-ten-thousand chance he moved by superhuman mental strength, the psychological shock would be immense.
In that situation, if the Earthbound Dragon put his consciousness to sleep and moved in his stead?
‘A dragon’s mental strength is tremendous.’
Of course, she wouldn’t be able to use her original power, but she could probably get Lion back to the mansion.
‘Though I don’t know what she’d do in the meantime…’
-Oh? Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not a bad dragon!
-You know dragons can’t lie, right?
“I’ll consider it positively.”
-Great!!
She answered spiritedly.
How to put it? She was tall as a beanpole and must have lived an immense age, but her mental age seemed like an elementary schooler’s.
A lower grader, at that.
-…This human. You’re thinking something insolent, aren’t you?
-Anyway, we’re going to be together for about a hundred years, so take care of me. My name is Tiamatrak.
While he’d been lying unconscious, she must have gathered all his personal information.
After finishing her self-introduction, Tiamatrak started chattering again.
He’d been in bed for about two days, and the pain he felt now would subside within a week at most.
She added that going to a place or taking a potion effective against pain could speed up recovery.
And then.
-Oh, I locked up the map over there.
“Map?”
-You didn’t know? It’s been fluttering around you since you left the Lair.
A map?
When Lion turned his head in the direction Tiamatrak’s finger pointed, sure enough, there was locking magic on the drawer.
-It kept trying to do something to you, human— no, Lion.
-Ah, I had no choice but to borrow your body for this, so don’t complain!
Just as Lion was about to ask about the map.
Click.
Without a knock, the door opened straight away.
If there were people who could enter Lion’s sickroom this readily…
“You’re awake.”
“Grandfather.”
Looking far more worried than usual, Petrick and Elvia entered the ward.
From their expressions, they seemed to already know everything.
‘…She said she locked up the map.’
They must have seen Tiamatrak when she briefly ‘borrowed’ Lion’s body.
-Those two are also the ones who chased me out of the room.
-Of course, normally they’d be just a mouthful, but they seem quite fond of you, Lion, so I let it slide.
-I definitely didn’t lose in a fight!
You lost in a fight.
Even as a dragon’s soul, before an 8th-Circle Archmage and a Witch, she would have had to tuck her tail.
“How is your body?”
“Haha… Nothing except being stiff and sore.”
“That’s a relief. And that creature?”
“I sense its presence outside the window.”
Elvia answered on Lion’s behalf.
-Hmph. Even though you can’t hear my voice.
So Elvia could sense Tiamatrak’s aura.
Probably because she was a Witch, though he didn’t know the exact mechanism.
“Hoo…”
Still, Petrick let out a sigh of relief seeing his grandson moving around just fine.
Truthfully, he didn’t know how shocked he’d been a few days ago.
He had expected some big trouble when Lion went to the Dragon Lair.
But that was the extent of it.
Petrick shifted his gaze to the drawer with the powerful locking magic.
‘But that’s nothing…’
When Petrick pressed the dragon, he’d received the answer that it was just an incomplete map.
First off, since dragons couldn’t lie, that was probably true.
If so, then setting aside the future, it wasn’t something that would cause serious harm to his grandson right now.
‘Rather, that creature itself is the problem.’
To come back with a dragon’s soul.
‘And it even took up residence, at that.’
He’d heard the general situation from the dragon that had inhabited his grandson’s body.
‘In the Empire, few would notice…’
But if people from the Elf Country came, it would certainly create a difficult situation.
More precisely, those elves would surely pester his grandson.
Just like that dragon.
‘…As I thought.’
Petrick made a decision and spoke gravely.
“Lion.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”
Sensing the shift in his grandfather’s mood, Lion thought, Here it comes.
Clearly, the map in the drawer had been discovered.
He would be asked why it had been fluttering around him.
And if he answered wrong…
‘It’ll all come out like a string of sausages.’
For example, the fact that touching the Hero’s items let you see certain memories.
And his brilliant grandfather might very well connect the letter from the Second Prince with this situation.
Had it finally come?
He was just considering whether to exercise his right to remain silent, when—
“Wouldn’t two pets be enough?”
“…Pardon?”
-P-pet? What? You’re calling me an animal? This body?
Unable to hear Tiamatrak’s voice, Petrick carefully chose words that wouldn’t hurt his grandson as he continued.
“Of course, the mansion is large enough to keep hundreds of pets. If you wish, we can provide a place for that. However, combining them is not an easy matter.”
“Combining?”
“Yes. Originally, demonic beasts and dragons don’t have good compatibility.”
-You have a demonic beast? No wonder you’re so good at handling them.
-But why do you keep something that sheds fur everywhere?
From what Tiamatrak said, that seemed to be true.
But a pet, of all things…
‘Ah, well, that makes sense.’
Grandfather had no idea that creature had a human form.
Elvia also only seemed to know its approximate location.
“And a Spirit King, not a demonic beast, would surely be able to see a dragon in soul state, just as you can.”
Petrick did his best to persuade Lion.
And his point was quite reasonable.
It meant the existing ones might get hurt.
“Hmm.”
Lion agreed with that.
It wasn’t intentional, but if the other two disliked the creature, it would be awkward to keep her around.
Or he’d have to keep her a bit apart, like now.
‘From what she said, the connection to the Lair didn’t seem completely broken, either.’
Certainly, in Tiamatrak’s endless stories, things like ‘You can return to the Dragon Lair together’ had come up.
Of course, the part that followed— ‘But you can’t come back out’— was the problem.
That meant he could send only Tiamatrak back there.
“You’re right, Grandfather.”
-Human? Lion? You’re not actually planning to exile me back to that boring Lair, are you?
“Yes. So, quickly, that dragon—”
“I’d have to get permission from the two of them!”
“…Pfft.”
As if she had expected this, Elvia covered her mouth with a fist behind Petrick and let out a chuckle.
At any rate, Tiamatrak’s interview began.
And at the same time.
“Masterrr! I’m back!”
Freyania also arrived at the mansion, a little bedraggled after finishing her long business trip.