Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 259
Lion realized something was off as soon as the carriage entered the old castle.
Whiiiiish—
Sob— sob sob sob—
“…”
First, the sound of weeping began to mix with the wind.
It was so mournful that he almost found himself straining to listen in spite of himself, but Lion deliberately ignored it.
Thanks to Tiamatrak, he had become an expert at tuning out strange phenomena.
- Ugh, what’s all that racket?
- Must’ve turned into a ghost not long ago. Honestly, humans are so weak-minded.
…The thought did cross his mind—was the mental fortitude of a human who had become a ghost because of some deep grudge really all that weak?
Fortunately in the midst of misfortune, a dense fog lay thick outside.
It was so heavy that the buildings nearest the carriage were only barely visible as they passed by.
The rusted front gate, the symbols of Dragnas that once represented its bygone glory—things like that.
Even those were half-destroyed or showed damage as if they had been hacked apart by a thick blade.
“The Imperial Court’s obstinacy.”
Before Lion could even ask, Petrick answered first.
Lion nodded.
As expected, it hadn’t been repaired because of pressure from the Imperial Court.
After all, this was exactly the sort of situation that would be all too easy to attack.
‘They must’ve thought something like, “What was the Imperial Court doing while the Grand Duke was being humiliated like this?”’
Had the Emperor been someone with a decent head on his shoulders, he would have taken advantage of it and spun it into propaganda for the Imperial Court, but…
Lion found himself thinking of the current Emperor and shook his head.
Well, if Kyle became Emperor, perhaps the treatment of this place would change a little.
Sob sob sob— wail wail—
“…”
Hadn’t the weeping gotten quite a bit closer?
Lion glanced sideways at the window.
And at that moment, he witnessed it.
A stark white handprint pressed against the window pane.
Before Lion could even be startled—
- Argh! Enough!
- Lion, I’ll go out for just a moment!
Perhaps Tiamatrak’s patience had reached its limit; she passed right through the carriage window and headed off somewhere.
And a moment later…
- Whew!
Tiamatrak returned with a refreshed expression.
And the weeping stopped.
So did the handprint.
“…”
Good job.
Still, the combo of weeping and handprints was a bit unnerving.
- I thought I was going to die of the noise!
Yeah. If you’d lived in a quiet lair your whole life and then suddenly had to listen to constant crying, you’d probably get pretty pissed off too.
And dragons were not renowned for their good tempers.
Tiamatrak’s personality wasn’t exactly… no, let’s stop that train of thought there.
‘But a ghost, huh.’
Lion stared out the now-silent window.
At first, the environment and atmosphere had left him with a negative impression, but it might not be so bad after all.
‘It’s perfect for gathering information behind Grandfather’s back.’
And with Tiamatrak around, they probably couldn’t do any harm to him.
He was right in the middle of those thoughts, looking out the window, when the carriage gradually came to a halt.
Slide.
“We appear to have arrived.”
“We arrived early. I thought the fog would delay us more.”
The carriage reached the old castle without any particular incident.
Lion stepped out and looked around.
‘There’s nothing here.’
Truth be told, from the moment he’d heard sobbing even outside the castle, he’d wondered if the interior might be packed with ghosts, but surprisingly, he saw nothing.
‘Well, if it were crawling with ghosts, the priests would have noticed first.’
Even if the priests couldn’t see ghosts directly, they would still react to the energy of the undead.
‘Though I don’t know about one or two.’
But what a shame.
‘Nothing beat a ghost when it came to gathering information.’
It felt like losing a valuable informant, so it was pretty disappointing.
Should he ask Tiamatrak to go bring that ghost back?
“If you’re done sightseeing, let’s head up.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lion followed his grandfather into the castle.
Unlike the exterior, which was no different from ruins, the inside felt lived-in, more so than he had expected.
It seemed some arrangement had been made so that other people coming here could stay the night.
‘Since Grandfather isn’t the only one who comes here.’
From what he’d heard, the Magic Tower dispatched people from time to time, and the Temple side seemed to travel back and forth to the Great Barrier as often as his grandfather did.
For now, however, whatever strings his grandfather had pulled, only the two of them were here.
“You may pick any room you like.”
“Oh.”
“But don’t pick one too far away.”
Saying this, his grandfather pointed out the room where he himself was staying.
As expected, it seemed to be the room that Grand Duke Dragnas had used.
‘Hmm…’
Lion deliberated for a moment.
If he chose a room too close to his grandfather, it would be difficult to move around freely, but picking one too far away would also likely provoke his grandfather.
“Then I’ll use this room.”
Lion pointed to one of the rooms.
Its door, though old, was adorned with quite antique decorations.
It wasn’t as lavish as the room the Grand Duke had used, however.
Perhaps it had been used by his child.
And Lion’s guess proved correct.
“The Grand Duke’s Son’s room. You have a good eye after all.”
“Ha ha ha. Whose grandson do you think I am?”
“You must be worn out from the journey, so rest well in your room. Don’t even think about coming out.”
“Oh, come on. Of course. I’ll stay put and rest like a good boy.”
“…”
You lie as easily as buttering your own bread, don’t you?
Petrick fixed a steady gaze on his trouble-making grandson as he slipped into his room, then sighed inwardly.
To be honest, he still couldn’t quite settle his heart.
It was only natural.
What guardian in the world wouldn’t want to stop their child from doing something dangerous?
It didn’t matter if it was for the greater good, or an important future.
Hadn’t the Elder Elf who had lived for nearly a millennium said the same thing?
Never sacrifice him.
‘Hoo. I may have been a companion of the Hero…’
But being a guardian was a first for him, which meant there were many difficult moments.
‘At any rate, I don’t suppose the boy will cause any trouble today.’
The hour was quite late, and this old castle was higher up than it looked.
Moreover, the distance to the Great Barrier was considerable, so getting a grasp of the terrain would take at least a few days.
Under normal circumstances, it was an environment where he wouldn’t be able to cause any trouble until the business trip ended and they went home.
But was his grandson an ordinary grandson?
He was certain to stir up something within a matter of days.
Still, surely it wouldn’t be today.
“Hoo.”
As Petrick heaved an audible sigh, Nature, who hadn’t yet gone into a room, flew over and circled around Petrick once.
The gesture seemed to say, “You really have your hands full.”
* * *
The moment he closed the door, Lion asked Tiamatrak,
“So what did you do to that ghost?”
- That crybaby? It kept sniveling, so I scared it into stopping!
Tiamatrak boasted about her heroic tale, adding facts he hadn’t even asked for.
To summarize, she had silenced the crybaby ghost, and the ghost, who had never seen anything like Tiamatrak before, had fled somewhere.
- But it was strange. It’s not easy for such a young specimen to remain as a spirit.
- Even if it lingered, it should have been altered by Demonic Energy long ago.
“It was young?”
- Yes. A little bigger than when you turned into a kid?
“Hmm.”
Lion nodded and looked around.
A young spirit living in the Grand Duke’s castle.
He couldn’t jump to conclusions about its identity.
It could be a young servant who had died unjustly and remained out of sorrow, or an unrelated spirit that had been lured in by the Demonic Energy.
However…
“Something’s definitely caught my attention.”
- What has?
Instead of answering Tiamatrak, Lion began examining the objects in the room one by one.
‘This one looks like it was brought in recently.’
Grand Duke Dragnas’s castle had already been reduced to a watchtower for observing the Great Barrier.
Perhaps because of that, the belongings its household members had used were disposed of without a trace.
Luxuries, of course, and even the frames that presumably had once held portraits.
Those empty spaces had been replaced with furniture for people on official business.
A wardrobe to hang clothes, a bed.
A desk to review documents.
It was hard to find any trace of the people who had lived here before.
But—
“That doesn’t mean there’s no way.”
Grinning, Lion pushed and pulled every piece of furniture against the walls to secure some gaps.
Then, pressing close, he began to comb meticulously over the walls.
- …?
- Doing weird things again…
Even Tiamatrak could only watch blankly, unable to pick up on anything.
Pooch was the same, but perhaps trying to imitate its master, it pressed its little black nose to the wallpaper and sniffed.
After running his hands over the walls like that for a long while, Lion found one trace.
“There it is.”
It was a mark that looked like doodling, about a single word’s length drawn horizontally.
He’d thought that no matter how many years passed and how much the furniture inside changed, it would remain as long as the wallpaper itself hadn’t been entirely replaced.
“Was the crybaby ghost you saw about this tall?”
Lion pointed to the highest mark and asked.
- Oh…!
Only then did Tiamatrak seem to realize what he had found and let out a sound of admiration.
- That’s right! Ah, so that’s why it remained!
- You said the Dragnas fellow or whatever was the master here, right? And there was a rumor that a spirit wanders around.
- Then that crybaby ghost is…
“Yes. Most likely his child.”
He didn’t know the details of Grand Duke Dragnas’s family circumstances, but there had to be a reason the Grand Duke’s Son’s room alone was kept spotless and well-maintained.
It must mean he was cherished terribly for some reason.
If so, he’d thought there would certainly be marks left from measuring height like this.
And fortunately, Lion’s deduction was correct.
‘He is a bit young, but…’
If it was the Grand Duke’s Son, he would know the castle better than anyone, and although Lion didn’t know what grudge kept him here, he seemed like he could be of help.
…Well, he’d know the details once he met him face to face.
“So, in that sense.”
Swish. Lion turned his head and looked at Tiamatrak.
- Uh…
“Bring him here.”
- …Who? That crybaby? Even though I drove him away?
- Do I have to figure out where he is?
- What if he runs away the moment he sees me?
But who else—no, what other dragon—is as useful in this situation as you?
Plus…
‘Hm. No.’
It was too soon to jump to conclusions on this one.
“Don’t tell me the great dragon is going to say she can’t find one little ghost kid?”
- But… I don’t like crybabies, and I’m not all that fond of kids either…
“Now, Tiamatrak. Listen carefully.”
Lion grabbed hold of Tiamatrak’s cool, opaque shoulders and reasoned with her.
“Isn’t this a good opportunity for you, too? Where else are you going to find a place as unusual as the Great Barrier?”
- W-well, that’s true.
“I’m going to be stuck cooped up in this room for a while. Won’t you feel bad for me?”
- …
Hearing that, she had to admit he had a point.
Before she knew it, Tiamatrak had begun to be drawn, spellbound, into Lion’s rhetoric.
‘Come to think of it, this means I can wander around on my own, doesn’t it?’
She could also look around here and there in the meantime.
Tiamatrak’s mind began to spin.
Watching the thoughts play out plainly on her face, Lion grinned to himself.