Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 250
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 250
The day before.
“Brother.”
Rickshel, who had finally finished his work at the imperial palace, returned to the mansion.
Lion welcomed his brother warmly after not seeing him for so long.
“Are you all right? How is your body?”
“I’m fine. You must have had it rough.”
It was probably because of me that he was forced to run around with extra work added for the Emperor’s Birthday.
And on top of that, he ended up digging into that imperial incident this time.
‘I feel a bit sorry about it.’
I should make him some nice treats later when I have time.
The apple pie I made not long ago sounded good.
‘Urhil was satisfied with it too.’
I had brought him the apple pie from that time, minus the sleep powder, and he’d eaten it very well.
He’d even greeted me the next day, saying it was delicious and that it hadn’t made him especially sleepy.
His constitution was apparently unfazed by that level of blood sugar spike.
“Not at all. I didn’t do much of anything. And…”
Rickshel lowered his voice to a whisper.
“The Archbishop said he sent Priest Licht this way. Did nothing happen with him, either?”
…I had forced him to sleep, but only very briefly, and Elvia had safely gone on leave during that time, so truly nothing had happened.
“Yeah. Nothing happened.”
Strictly speaking, there had been a problem, but Lion didn’t need to make his brother, who had come back from difficult work, worry over such a trivial thing, so he absentmindedly lied.
[A penalty is assessed.]
[Remaining penalty: 3 → 2]
Huh?
Lion smoothly shifted his gaze and looked at the penalty notification.
A new alert had appeared in the penalty window that had been silent all this time.
And yet Lion’s body was perfectly fine.
There was truly not the slightest change.
“Brother?”
“Oh, Tiamatrak just called me for a moment.”
-What are you talking about? I was sitting still?
[Remaining penalty: 2 → 1]
“Ah, that dragon soul.”
“…She’s a good one.”
-Well, I do have a good personality.
Lion was sweating internally at the rapidly decreasing penalty.
Ah, this, could it be…
‘Is it a lie countdown?’
But why had nothing happened yet?
In that moment.
“Brother. Are you truly all right?”
Rickshel, who had keenly read Lion’s emotions, asked again.
“Of course. Ah, you must be hungry. Did you eat dinner? Shall we eat together?”
[Remaining penalty: 1 → 0]
Along with the final alert, the penalty window that had been blocking Lion’s view slid away and vanished.
Amazingly, nothing happened!
While a relief, it was also an unsettling development.
“Yes. I came straight here to have dinner with you, brother.”
“Good. Home cooking is the best. Let’s hurry.”
And so the day passed without incident, and the next day arrived.
-Hiiik! Human! Lion! Wake up, quick!
Lion woke from sleep because of Tiamatrak’s fussy voice.
“Nnnngh…”
Feeling that his eyes wouldn’t snap open readily today, Lion burrowed into the wide bed and snug blankets.
The bed, several times larger than his own body, felt especially cozy today…
‘…Wait.’
Something was strange.
Lion rolled his body once or twice on the bed.
No matter how big Lion’s bed was, normally if you rolled this much you’d reach the edge.
But…
He fumbled around.
He still felt near the center, nowhere near the corner of the bed.
-I said, wake up fast!
Something was wrong!
Only then did Lion snap his tightly shut eyes open and push himself up—
Floof-thump.
His head was too heavy, and he flopped straight forward.
‘Am I dizzy? That’s not it, though?’
If not that, did he have a fever?
He had a history of coughing up blood, so maybe the penalty was the type that caused physical problems.
Lion groped his forehead and cheeks with his hands.
Fortunately, he didn’t have a fever,
but… his cheeks felt squishy?
“…Eehng?”
That wasn’t the only thing!
The voice that had just slipped out unconsciously was considerably young for Lion’s voice.
Realizing that something had gone firmly wrong, Lion immediately pushed himself up and tried to get off the bed as usual, but swayed again.
The bed was too high!
Fortunately.
-Whoops. This works too.
Tiamatrak swiftly threw a cushion where Lion was falling, so nothing serious happened.
Of course, even if he’d fallen hard, he would have bounced right back up.
Lion immediately dashed over to stand in front of the mirror.
And soon after.
“Haaaaaah…!”
This was absurd.
He let out a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose with short, cute fingers.
-You turned into a little kid?
“Yeah.”
He had gotten younger.
Not by just a couple of years—he seemed to have de-aged by about fifteen years.
If there was any relief, it was that only his body had regressed while his physical condition remained the same.
However.
[Due to the current penalty, all abilities cannot be used.]
[Growth is restricted.]
This was probably the real nature of the ‘de-aging’ penalty.
Since he had seen so much through sheer stubbornness, it meant the growth from that time would be restricted.
[Remaining time: 71 hours 59 minutes]
Fortunately, the time remaining until the penalty ended was displayed.
“Peep.”
“Nature. Pooch.”
But the demonic beast and spirit he’d already tamed were unchanged, probably not included in that category.
‘That’s a real blessing.’
Otherwise, he had no idea what might have happened.
And mana.
Lion closed his eyes and sensed the mana circle within his body.
The flow had stopped, but the circle itself remained unchanged.
If so, he wouldn’t have to suffer mana shock either.
“Phew. So it turns out it’s not just Elvia who’s on leave.”
-Hmm, I don’t know how it happened, but you seem to have figured everything out?
-But you’re really fascinating, you know. How do you get younger?
-Among humans, aren’t there many who think this is a dream?
Tiamatrak seemed to be getting a dopamine rush even from this situation.
Well, where else could you see such a spectacle?
‘Still, it’s a penalty, so no further abnormalities should appear.’
The problem was that he had to live in this form for three days.
The penalty trigger mechanism was probably the ‘lie’ I told yesterday.
‘Then, must I not lie during the penalty period?’
He needed to test this.
In case he accidentally lied and the time swelled endlessly.
After much deliberation, Lion uttered one sentence.
“I must absolutely never cause trouble from now on.”
-Huh? Suddenly telling a lie that won’t even come true…
Ignoring Tiamatrak’s incredulous expression, he looked at the penalty window…
[Remaining time: 71 hours 58 minutes]
“…!”
It was fine.
At least he didn’t seem to need to watch his every word and action.
Of course, it was best not to lie, but wasn’t living life a matter of needing a few white lies now and then?
Especially in a case like Lion’s, even more so.
If he said everything outright and put other people in trouble, how could he face them?
‘And it’s probably best not to get caught in this form if possible.’
It was just too perfect for creating misunderstandings.
It was a situation he couldn’t simply brush off.
Even if he tried to explain, he didn’t know how to explain this.
‘No matter how I think about it, it’s best to hole up in the Labyrinth.’
Lion clenched his two fists tightly… but.
If things were that easy, it wouldn’t be a penalty, would it?
Lion was caught very easily.
In fact, it was inevitable.
Even if he directly avoided Rickshel, there was no way to avoid the eyes of the staff stationed throughout the mansion.
And thus, Lion.
“…”
“…Did you not clearly tell me that nothing had happened, brother?”
He was brought captive to Rickshel’s room.
Lion had no choice but to sit in a chair customized for children and endure Rickshel’s gaze completely.
Just as he thought that with Rickshel, he might somehow be able to talk his way out of it.
“Lion!”
Rickshel’s door burst open, and Grandfather entered.
He was surely supposed to be attending to external business—how had he come?
“No, this appearance is…! Is your body all right?”
Unlike his usual self, Grandfather examined him all over with a quite flustered expression.
Probably because he was reminded of the mana shock from Lion’s childhood.
“Grandfather. I’m all right.”
Lion deliberately put on an even brighter smile to reassure him.
“Tiamatrak says it will be fine after three days.”
-That’s right. That’s right! We agreed on that story!
“Huuu… You do not know the cause either?”
“That is…”
As Lion hesitated to answer, Rickshel spoke up in his place.
“If brother is safe, is that not enough, Head of the Family?”
“…Yes. Rickshel is right.”
“Hahaha… Were you worried?”
“I could not help but worry.”
Petrick was submerged in various sentiments as he looked at the shrunken Lion beaming a bright smile at him.
First of all, Lion as a child had never smiled like that.
No, it was more accurate to say he couldn’t.
He was a child who spent more time in pain than not.
It hadn’t been just mana shock.
Apart from that, Lion’s body had been like a flame on the verge of going out at any moment.
‘If only he could have smiled like that when he was little.’
Petrick felt a bitter taste in his mouth for no reason.
Of course, independent of this emotion.
“Stay by Rickshel’s side for the three days.”
“Pardon?”
“I will take good care of brother. Head of the Family.”
Even though he hadn’t said much, Rickshel was already accepting it.
‘L-Little brother?’
No, no matter how much his body had gotten a little smaller, wasn’t this unnecessary?
“Grandfather. I haven’t actually become a real child, you know…”
“You have become a real child, that is correct.”
“No, my mental state is still an adult’s…”
“Is that so? Then can you climb onto the bed by yourself?”
“It’s a little hard, but I think I can… can’t I?”
Lion defended desperately.
“Tiamatrak or Nature can also help.”
“Peep, peep.”
At that, Nature, who had silently stayed by Lion’s side until now, crossed its wings to convey denial.
“Brother. Do not worry. I will read you books so you won’t be bored, and we will eat together, and I will also join you in sand play in the garden.”
“…”
So I’m telling you, I’m not a child?
Just as he was about to retort, Lion closed his mouth.
Rickshel’s expression was quite flushed with excitement.
‘…All right.’
Lion accepted his fate of being babysat by Rickshel and regained his composure.
At that age range, he might indeed have wanted a younger sibling at least once.
Only, since it was realistically impossible, he would have never let it show.
‘And if it weren’t for Rickshel, I would have had to explain this situation too.’
In fact, because the reason was a ‘penalty,’ Lion had accepted it easily, but the physical age regression was a tremendous event.
Moreover…
‘Strictly speaking, it has more connections to demons than to divine blessings.’
Fanciful tales about offering another life to regain youth or bathing in young people’s blood were still rampant in this world.
“…What shall we do about Priest Licht?”
No matter how much Lion had helped the Sanctuary, from a priest’s perspective, wouldn’t he judge this as no ordinary matter?
“If you mean that priest, it seems you need not worry.”
“Huh?”
“Well… for that person, would he care at all what appearance you take, brother?”
“…”
“…?”
Not just Rickshel, but even Grandfather wore an expression that said, ‘How could you not know that?’
“Are you not already the Messenger of God to that person, brother?”
Hmm…
In that case, it was better not to meet him, for a different reason.
That is, if he didn’t want to get dragged off to the temple.