Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 271
To Young Master Lion.
Are you unharmed? I heard you endured a terrible ordeal.
Had I been at your side, this would not have happened. It was the oversight of this old servant.
If such a thing occurs again, please summon me without fail.
I will ensure it never happens again.
Respectfully, Elvia.
“…”
Lion read the unusually sharp handwriting and could only muster an awkward laugh.
This was nothing less than a protest from Elvia.
Which meant…
-This makes the thirteenth.
Exactly.
During the few days Lion had been recuperating in the Magic Tower, letters with nearly identical content kept arriving from Elvia.
“I expected her to be furious, even just from the first letter…”
A red-eyed crow, having ascended all the way to the Magic Tower’s top floor—higher than the clouds—solemnly placed the letter in Lion’s hand.
Since any crow that could breach the Magic Tower’s security and reach such a height was certainly Elvia’s familiar, Lion opened the envelope with the utmost caution.
Thinking for sure he was about to be scolded.
But he wasn’t.
‘I thought it was a simple well-being check…’
Because he had a guilty conscience, Lion summoned Elvia to the Magic Tower.
This was a setting where Elvia could move around without issue.
But—
‘She didn’t come.’
Instead, the moment he called for Elvia, the second letter flew in.
It stated she would not visit in person because she might cause a negative impact.
‘So when I went back, I figured I’d get chewed out…’
Ever since then, the familiar crow had been delivering letters almost daily.
As mentioned, the content barely changed.
It mainly consisted of worrying about his health and apologizing for not being able to look after him.
But by now, even Lion could figure it out.
In short, this was…
‘A way of saying, why didn’t you call me, and look at the mess you’re in now…’
Elvia must have been informed of the entire situation.
But, no matter what the situation was.
No, precisely because of the situation, the letters made it clear she should have been summoned all the more.
“Hooo.”
He could certainly tell how angry she was.
Lion turned his head to look at the crow.
The first time he saw it, each feather had shone with a sleek gloss, and its eyes were as captivating as a ruby…
-Do crows pant through their mouths?
After countless letter deliveries, its feathers were sticking out in all directions and its eyes were half-lidded as it panted heavily.
And it wasn’t just one, but four of them!
One had brought a letter, and the other three had carried various gifts in baskets.
Including the [Witch’s Bitter Taste] tea he’d had before, and an unidentified medicinal powder labeled as good for the body.
And also.
“Looks angry, right?”
-Wouldn’t you be?
Lion stared at a human-shaped cookie with a scowling face and bit the inside of his cheek, grinding his teeth.
“This is serious…”
Had Elvia ever expressed her emotions like this?
Never.
“I really can’t leave things like this.”
Lion took the still-warm cookie out of the basket, set it aside, and rose from his seat.
Thankfully, after a few more days and after taking that ‘special medicine’ Elvia had given him, his body’s recovery sped up.
‘The contamination, though… was still the same.’
He inadvertently glanced at his blackened hand, and Pooch, who was beside him, let out a whine.
“No. It’s okay.”
“Kiing…”
Pooch had been unusually dejected ever since reuniting with Lion.
Part of it was because they couldn’t go on excited walks.
-Right. Even for a Demonic Beast, how could a cub absorb contamination?
“Grrr!”
-I-I try to take your side and you throw a fit! Hey! Bring it on!
“Arf arf!”
What a madhouse it was.
In any case, part of it was because Pooch felt useless.
But seeing them bicker like that made him think things were probably fine.
Lion watched the pair duel over a tug toy, then gathered his clothes, got dressed, and put on his gloves.
Even within the Magic Tower, spreading word of his contamination could do no good.
‘Still, my body’s gotten quite a bit better.’
His senses returned, and his vision, which had been hazy, was back within a relatively normal range.
Of course, the internal injuries caused by excessive magic still hadn’t healed, so absolute rest was still required as scheduled.
‘I never knew nosebleeds weren’t always just from being tired.’
It felt like a different version of vomiting blood.
In any case, he could move around now, so it was acceptable to walk freely within the Magic Tower to some extent.
It seemed a notice had gone out to the other employees—or rather, the other mages.
Meaning.
‘I can make a gift to soothe her anger.’
Of course, using mana was forbidden…
Fortunately, Lion possessed quite a few talents he could use without mana!
“You two play. I’ll be back.”
Lion immediately took the elevator down through the Magic Tower.
And there…
“I-I’ve been waiting! Lord Lion!”
“Oh, isn’t that Lepios?”
A familiar face appeared.
Lepios was the rookie mage who had guided Lion’s way when he first entered the Magic Tower.
‘Seems he’s gained some experience in the meantime?’
Even though it hadn’t been a full year yet, a certain air of seasoned experience emanated from him.
“P-please, speak comfortably! More importantly, you remember me! Sob, truly, thank you.”
“What is there to thank me for? And it looks like your position has risen significantly…”
“It’s all thanks to your grace, Lord Lion!”
“My grace?”
What had I done?
I only received directions, didn’t I?
“Since that day, the Great Teacher has kept an eye on me and given me work that suits my aptitude. Haha, actually, even just that was an enormous help.”
“Ah-ha.”
Come to think of it, that made sense.
How many people in the Magic Tower must dream of having even a single conversation with Hoffman?
Thanks to Lion, Lepios had managed to make an impression then.
For an ordinary mage, it was an opportunity akin to a stroke of luck.
‘But seizing that luck was his own doing.’
Hoffman wasn’t someone to be taken lightly.
He was far from an easy-going superior.
Even if an impression had been made, had Lepios lacked ability, he might have been expelled from the Magic Tower eventually.
But hadn’t Lepios been recognized for that ability?
“But earning that position was due to your own skill, Lepios.”
“Hahaha… No, no. To me, Lord Lion, you’re no different from a savior.”
Lepios briefly recounted his own story.
He had been in the midst of agonizing whether to leave this place on his own, because adjusting to his department had been so difficult.
“I couldn’t see a way to make a living, and I couldn’t stand it anymore… But now I can properly do the research I want, and it’s truly wonderful!”
He added that he was currently heading the Magic Tool Technical Department.
“What kind of work were you doing before?”
“Ah… I did a lot of things, but to sum it up, it was a sales position.”
“…You must have had a very hard time.”
Lion comforted Lepios with the utmost sincerity.
For someone who loved to hole up in a room and research, surviving in a sales role could not have been easy.
Lion himself had managed it because he didn’t dislike meeting people.
“Come to think of it, I heard you also enjoy research, Lord Lion.”
Not knowing Lion’s inner circumstances, Lepios seemed to take it as simple empathy and chuckled.
“…That’s right. Would there happen to be a place where I can catch my breath?”
“Ah, you must have come out because the sickroom felt so stuffy, and here I was holding you up. Let’s go.”
Saying his reason for waiting here had been to guide him, Lepios respectfully escorted Lion and headed somewhere.
And that place was…
“Oh, the Magic Tower has a place like this?”
The Sky Garden, located on the upper-middle floor of the Magic Tower!
Situated below the top floor where the sea of clouds unfolded, it was a place of brilliant, clear skies and sharp sunlight, where various unique plants were growing rapidly.
“Please look around at your leisure. I’ll be waiting here.”
“Aren’t you busy with work?”
“I used the annual leave I’ve saved up for this mission.”
He even gave a thumbs-up, telling Lion not to worry.
…Was this okay?
‘Well, I did fill a spot on his schedule anyway…’
He didn’t have to go that far, did he?
Whatever, Lepios was better than an unknown mage, so Lion decided to just pretend not to notice.
Lion shifted his gaze and scanned the plants.
‘They’re all food.’
Corn, tomatoes, and winter carrots.
There were even apple trees and chestnut trees.
It was strange enough that they all grew at once regardless of the season… but something else was even stranger.
The fruits glittered like glass.
“Ah, those are preserved-food plants personally requested by Lord Petrick. Feel free to pick them!”
Lepios’s voice rang out from afar.
But grandfather had requested preserved food?
‘…Could it be because of me?’
Hadn’t he been sucked into all sorts of places recently?
The Labyrinth being a prime example.
He’d never confirmed such a space existed before, so that was probably it.
‘Hm, but they look like test subjects.’
It felt a bit wasteful to just snap off something growing so well.
Lion stopped in front of a chestnut tree and examined the ground.
Luckily, a few fully ripened chestnut burs had dropped off with a pop.
The problem was that the texture seemed genuinely like glass, as the sharp spines had stabbed into the floor, half-shattered in the process.
“Oh.”
But thanks to that, he could get the chestnut inside without difficulty.
Lion examined a chestnut that glittered like a brown perfume bottle.
[Glass-Bead Chestnut (★)]
-A Glass-Bead Chestnut with higher nutritional value and sweetness than a regular chestnut!
-It seems easy to store, since it doesn’t rot.
-The problem is, it shatters when cooked with ordinary methods.
Fortunately, Expert’s Eye read out basic information even without using mana.
‘Seems it’s only one-star because cooking it is difficult.’
Based on his experience so far, judging the Glass-Bead Chestnut, it was absolutely not a one-star ingredient.
Reflecting the sunlight and glistening, the Glass-Bead Chestnut gleamed brilliantly.
Moreover, the size itself was larger than an average chestnut.
“…This is good, isn’t it?”
He’d been looking for something just right to soothe Elvia’s anger, and this seemed perfect.
Without hesitation, Lion bent down to pick up another fallen chestnut bur…
“I’ll pick them for youuuu!”
Faster than a wind spirit, Lepios dashed over, recognizing the intent, collected the bur with magic, and placed it in Lion’s hands.
On top of that, in a state with all the spines neatly removed!
“Hahaha. Because your hands must not be hurt. Of course, I’m aware you have defensive magic cast on you. But just in case. Juuust in case!”
Ah, Lion realized something.
‘If I were to get hurt even a little…’
No matter what anyone said, Lion was the eldest grandson of House Asteri, wasn’t he.
In other words, a third-generation chaebol heir.
For Lion, it would just end with a brief prick of a finger, but not for Lepios.
It would likely be quite unpleasant, he supposed.
‘…Alright!’
Lion made up his mind.
Since things had come to this, he was going to fully embrace the third-generation chaebol treatment right here.
No, the eldest-grandson-of-a-mage-family VIP treatment.
‘If I’m not careful, Lepios’s job might vanish.’
This was probably why Hoffman had approved Lepios’s annual leave.
Meaning: don’t do anything stupid.
And well…
Honestly, it was a bit convenient too!