Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 260
-So this is free time, then?
“That’s right.”
-Though, of course, without a body, you couldn’t exactly experience it.
Lion pretended to mull it over for a moment, then raised a single finger.
“An hour should be enough to see everything I want, right?”
-I’ll, I’ll be off then!
Having finished her calculation, Tiamatrak shot off somewhere like a bolt of lightning.
And then, just before the hour was exactly up.
-I’m back!
Sniffle… sniffle…
She returned, dangling from one hand a small ghost, presumed to be the Grand Duke’s Son, who had been the young lord of Dragnas.
The Grand Duke’s Son was ceaselessly shedding tears.
Transparent droplets fell to the floor with a plink-plink before vanishing as if shattering.
At a glance from Lion, Tiamatrak set the Grand Duke’s Son down gently on the floor.
-…!
The instant he was free, he swiftly put distance between himself and Tiamatrak and hid behind Lion.
The hand clutching Lion’s trouser hem was cold and weightless.
“Could you be…”
-I didn’t! I didn’t do anything this time!
-I only scared him before!
Perhaps feeling a sense of injustice herself, Tiamatrak reenacted the threatening pose from that occasion.
Honestly, the sight of her raising both hands and opening her mouth wide wasn’t particularly frightening.
It wasn’t as if she carried any draconic majesty.
-But he keeps crying, you know?
“Alright. Wait over there for a bit.”
After sending her away, Lion carefully bent down to meet the Grand Duke’s Son’s eyes.
‘…He really is a ghost after all.’
Unlike Tiamatrak, who looked far too pristine for an earthbound dragon, the child’s body was unmistakably that of a dead person.
And no wonder—the part of him that had sustained the fatal wound was gaping wide open, and the surrounding clothes were soaked in blood.
The palpable sense that this was truly someone who had died left a bitter taste in his mouth for no good reason.
“Are you the Grand Duke’s Son of Dragnas?”
When Lion asked calmly, the Grand Duke’s Son nodded.
The sniffling and tears continued, but it seemed that communication was possible, at least.
“I am called Lion Asteri, grandson of Lord Petrick Asteri. Would you happen to know my grandfather?”
His grandfather and the Grand Duke must have encountered each other before.
After all, the Hero’s party had been considerably indebted here.
And it was probably his grandfather who had connected the Grand Duke and the Hero.
Otherwise, it would have been difficult for a Hero of adventurer origins to meet the Grand Duke face to face.
Nod, nod.
Fortunately, the answer was affirmative.
The Grand Duke’s Son, as if reassured by the name ‘Petrick,’ began to speak.
The problem was…
‘Hmm… I can’t hear him.’
In contrast to Tiamatrak, whose will came across as clearly as a voice, the Grand Duke’s Son’s voice was utterly inaudible.
It was a curious thing.
The sound of his crying was so perfectly audible.
-For the record, I can’t hear his voice either!
-It’s normal not to hear it. The fact that the kid is lingering as a soul at all is incredible.
-You’d have to be at least on my level to remain as a soul.
I see.
‘Well, nothing to be done.’
Still, the fortunate part was that he could clearly understand Lion’s voice.
After pondering for a moment, Lion began to write some words on a piece of paper left in the room.
[Yes.] [No.] [I don’t know.]
After laying out the paper with the three options in a row on the floor, Lion immediately asked:
“You can hear my voice well, yes? May I ask you a few questions?”
Having caught on to the purpose of the paper, the Grand Duke’s Son pointed to ‘Yes.’
“Is there anyone else like yourself here?”
This time, he pointed to ‘No.’
After that, Lion asked a few light questions.
Whether it was dangerous when demons appeared, whether he was frightened of the dragon’s soul.
And whether he had been close with the Grand Duke in life, among other things.
Each time, the Grand Duke’s Son answered, and gradually his tears subsided.
“You’re quite astute.”
At Lion’s praise, the Grand Duke’s Son stopped crying and smiled faintly.
It was probably because the loneliness he had felt for decades had been somewhat alleviated.
From far off, Tiamatrak chimed in with an ‘I know that feeling~.’
Seizing the moment when the mood had lightened, Lion discreetly asked a question.
“By any chance, are you searching for the Grand Duke?”
The Grand Duke’s Son hesitated a moment, then answered ‘Yes.’
“You clearly stated that there is no one like yourself here. Then, do you know where he might be?”
This time, it was ‘I don’t know.’
As if he had a great deal to say on the topic, his mouth moved wordlessly, but his voice didn’t carry.
Aware of this himself, he let out a deep sigh.
Judging by his expression, that had probably been true when he first became a ghost, but now he seemed halfway resigned.
‘Hmm…’
Setting aside the pity of the Grand Duke’s Son’s situation, one fact had become clear.
The Grand Duke, who had become a demon and led everyone down a path of ruin, might still exist somewhere as a ghost.
Moreover, that location was probably quite a dangerous place.
‘And there’s no way he’d be… in a sound state.’
Merely the information that he might exist was difficult for Lion to act on.
Just then.
“Ah.”
The Grand Duke’s Son pointed to ‘No’ and nodded.
He meant that it was perfectly fine if Lion couldn’t help.
And then their eyes met.
As if to say, it’s alright to ask other questions.
Was it because he had endured decades as a soul? The Grand Duke’s Son was remarkably composed.
‘No, wait. Come to think of it…’
The Grand Duke, the boy’s father, had been a man of considerable righteousness, so perhaps his son simply took after him.
‘This is, well…’
He might have to discreetly ask his grandfather about it later.
‘No. Or maybe Kyle?’
Lion recalled the events at the hotel.
When it came to matters concerning souls, wouldn’t the Second Prince be of more help?
“I apologize. Would that be acceptable?”
After securing the Grand Duke’s Son’s consent, Lion asked a different question this time.
“It’s somewhat in the distant past, but after the great barrier was erected, did the ‘Hero’ ever come this way?”
In truth, it wouldn’t be a pleasant memory for the Grand Duke’s Son.
Chronologically, he would have been killed by the Grand Duke’s hand and become a ghost first.
Which meant he might have witnessed the Hero vanquishing his father as a spirit.
‘And this kid loves his father.’
Not just love—wasn’t he still searching for his father even as a ghost?
If so, he likely didn’t harbor particularly warm feelings for the Hero.
As expected, the Grand Duke’s Son’s eyes wavered.
Was he angry after all?
Just as that thought crossed Lion’s mind.
The Grand Duke’s Son’s expression brightened with startling intensity.
And then, without hesitation, his finger moved straight to ‘Yes’!
‘…Brightened?’
Could even the most forgiving person really react like that?
‘No. Wait.’
In a flash, a certain conjecture struck him.
From what Lion had observed in Story Mode, the entity named Hero was considerably good-natured.
Meaning, while he had continued to walk the path of a Hero, it was a path riddled with considerable inner turmoil.
Could someone like that have come near the great barrier merely for…
‘I doubt it was just for the barrier.’
There was still far too little information to confirm this.
But this one thing he could ask.
“Do you know where he went?”
The Grand Duke’s Son’s finger moved.
From ‘Yes.’ To ‘I don’t know.’
‘Hm.’
Perhaps the place where the Grand Duke was and the place the Hero had visited were one and the same.
“Thank you for granting me your valuable time, Young Lord. The hour is late today; could I trouble you to visit again tomorrow night?”
In truth, he wanted to set out that very moment with the Grand Duke’s Son leading the way to explore the castle, but the conditions weren’t right.
First and foremost, mutual communication with the ghost was impossible.
Of course, going through Tiamatrak would probably make it work somehow…
‘But he still seems frightened of her.’
Even if the soul was decades old, he felt queasy about the idea of tormenting a child for no good reason.
When morning came, he planned to make some ‘word cards’ at least.
And also…
‘First, I should have a look around with my own eyes.’
The Grand Duke’s Son had spent far more time as a soul than as a human.
So, thinking it best to wait until the night deepened a bit more before heading out, Lion was lost in thought when—
“Peep.”
Nature peeped as if troubled.
“Huh? Nature, what’s…”
Lion couldn’t finish his sentence and broke out in a cold sweat.
There was a point he had forgotten.
Most children love animals.
And a child who had spent decades in loneliness would be even more curious about an animal.
Nature was a Spirit King, but its appearance was that of a fluffy yellow chick.
And it seemed that… spirits and ghosts were separated by only a hair’s breadth.
The proof was that the Grand Duke’s Son, who had vanished from Lion’s sight before, now suddenly popped up from the ground and was staring so brazenly at Nature.
“Peep, peeep…”
Nature, seemingly quite burdened by the Grand Duke’s Son’s gaze, turned its head this way and that to avoid it.
It probably wasn’t that she disliked the child; she likely wanted to help her master have a peaceful exploration.
‘…Ah? Could the reason I see souls be…?’
Strictly speaking, was it because they were of a similar essence?
That would make sense.
And… it seemed like there might be a way to resolve things using Nature.
“Nature. It’s okay with me.”
“Peep? Peep!”
Nature tilted its head at Lion’s decision, but then, as if it understood, it nodded solemnly.
And then, with her beak, she gave the Grand Duke’s Son’s finger a light peck!
“Huh? No, I didn’t mean for you to peck him and scare him off…”
Startled by the sensation of the peck, the Grand Duke’s Son’s finger recoiled.
But, astonishingly.
He giggled!
There was no sound, but he was unmistakably laughing just like that.
-That’s way better than the crying!
-A little sting probably feels good, you know?
-That fellow couldn’t even interact with objects before.
Tiamatrak, who had at some point distanced herself, now came over and whispered in his ear.
“Come to think of it…”
Lion had never been a ghost himself, but he would have welcomed the sensation too.
Being ignored once or twice is a terrible feeling—hadn’t the Grand Duke’s Son been unable not only to converse with others but to interact with them at all for decades?
“Peep. Peep!”
After playing with the Grand Duke’s Son for a moment, Nature fluttered back and made wing-flapping, foot-tapping gestures at him.
-She says she’ll go take a quick look around.
-Any place that’s dangerous she wouldn’t be able to enter anyway, she says.
Indeed, the places the Grand Duke’s Son’s soul could go seemed limited.
And Nature was, first of all, a Spirit King, and it was also connected to him by his mana.
Besides, if it came down to it, he could simply re-summon her to his location.
Of course, that consumed an enormous amount of mana and wasn’t something he normally did, but now that he had Tiamatrak’s circles, it was by no means impossible.
‘Not a bad idea, actually.’
The two would scout the outside, and in the meantime, Lion would inspect the interior.
“Nature.”
“Peep.”
Nature spread its wings wide and puffed out its chest valiantly, as if to say not to worry.
Lion gently stroked Nature’s head and said,
“If it seems dangerous, just come straight back. Understood? And if need be, you can use up all of my mana.”
Nature’s expression turned peculiar.
“Hm? No, it’s because I’m worried. What if you get hurt while I’m not with you?”
“…Pweeep.”
Nature replied with a somewhat sour look long after Lion had finished speaking.
-She’s asking if you have trouble putting yourself in someone else’s shoes?
Well…
It was true that he did tend to have trouble with that.