Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 31
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 31
Well, if it didn’t work, he’d just have to take any book.
“Bring the item.”
Soon, Petrick’s aide brought a potion pouch.
Lion checked it and flinched in surprise.
‘This is…’
It was the Mental Fatigue Recovery Potion.
After the first time he’d gifted it, he’d made more several times. It seemed Petrick had kept some and hadn’t drunk it yet.
‘He said there was no need to bring anything that elaborate earlier.’
He must have been worried after all.
Without letting his smile show, Lion accepted the potion.
‘At this point, I hope I get something decent, if only for Grandfather’s sake.’
He truly had a talent for alchemy—especially potions, after all.
“I’ll be going now.”
“Take care, brother.”
With a light heart, Lion pricked his finger with the prepared needle.
Sting!
Maybe because he’d been pricked by needles so many times before, it stung a little but didn’t feel unpleasant.
Lion placed his bleeding finger on the library door.
Whirr!
Soon, as he remembered, a circular magic circle appeared beneath Lion’s feet.
Whiirr!
…and around it, several more new magic circles were drawn on top.
At the same time, geometric patterns were etched onto the library door and shone brightly.
“Huh?”
It hadn’t been like this when he’d entered in his memories?
Flash!
“Urgh!”
Before he could register his doubt, the ceiling and floor rippled like a vortex, and a splitting headache crashed over Lion.
Soon, his figure vanished without a trace.
He thought he might have heard some nearby voices at the very end…
[Achievement ‘Labyrinth of Books’ completed.]
[Intelligence increases by 10.]
[You gain the authority to read all books within the library.]
[Permanently increases Mana by 10!]
[A high-purity Mana Circle has been formed.]
‘What… is going on?’
Was the vertigo always this bad?
An achievement? A mana circle?
Amidst the numerous notification sounds, Lion felt a pang of doubt before losing consciousness.
* * *
The very moment Lion was enveloped by the mysterious light and sucked into the labyrinth.
A massive tremor reverberated through the banquet hall of House Asteri.
Rumble!
The splendid chandelier swayed like a swing, and the magic candles that always brightly illuminated the house flickered pitifully.
“Aaaah!”
A noblewoman watching the ceremony through a magic orb collapsed, letting out a piercing scream.
Unable to control her body in the tremendous shaking, she fell, tearing the hem of her dress.
Yet she couldn’t maintain her dignity and continued to scream.
The massive shaking would not stop.
“W-what’s happening?!”
It wasn’t just the nobles who were terrified.
Faced with a shaking as tremendous as a massive earthquake, not only the household servants but even the mages of House Asteri were all thrown into a panic.
“War, is it war?”
The old scholars and mages who hadn’t been watching the ceremony suspected war.
“G-God is angry!”
The priests waiting outside for the party to end cried out to God and crawled on the floor.
And Priest Licht, who had been strolling in the garden, felt the tremor as well.
If there was one thing a little different about him, it was that he precisely recognized the cause of this tremor.
Instead of being surprised or running away, Licht slowly closed his eyes and clasped his hands in prayer.
“May no one be hurt…”
As if he had foreseen this situation.
* * *
After the first wave of commotion passed.
Fortunately, the waves of magic power emanating from the library soon subsided.
This was because Petrick immediately used all his magic power to cast a protective spell over the entire territory, except for the labyrinth.
Thanks to this, the earthquake stopped, and the nobles and servants were safe.
“Everyone has evacuated safely.”
“The servants elsewhere are also safe except for some bruises, however…”
Knight Commander Rickson glanced at Petrick’s face.
In this situation, the one who was dead—no, the one who hadn’t escaped—was just one person.
Lion Asteri.
The eldest grandson of the family, who had come of age today.
The young master whom the Family Head cherished deeply, even while pretending otherwise.
Yet Petrick Asteri’s complexion didn’t change at all.
“Check once more against the banquet hall entry list.”
“Yes, sir.”
Instead of adding more words, Rickson quickly moved to lighten Petrick’s burden.
“Rickshel.”
“…Speak, Family Head.”
“Help the injured receive treatment from healing mages and arrange accommodations for the remaining guests. I entrust the resolution of this matter to you.”
“What do you intend to do, Family Head?”
“I will wait before the labyrinth.”
“…Marquis Petrick, it is dangerous. The current state of the labyrinth is unknown.”
The Second Prince, who hadn’t uttered a single word until now, opened his mouth.
It was a fiercely cold remark, but it was the truth.
It was an accident that had never happened before.
“Dangerous?”
But what escaped Petrick’s lips was a light laugh.
The eyes of the two princes and Clarentia fixed on Petrick.
“Surely you’re not saying I am in danger from a minor issue like this?”
Petrick surprisingly maintained his composure.
“I worried that the guests might have been startled by the small disturbance at home, but I did not expect the distinguished guests here to be startled as well.”
He even showed a rebuking attitude, as if asking why they were so bewildered.
“Rickshel.”
“…Yes, Family Head.”
Rickshel bit his lip firmly and raised his head.
The rims of his eyes were tinged red, as if he were holding back tears.
Petrick placed a hand on Rickshel’s shoulder without a word.
A subtle tremor along with a heavy weight was felt, and Rickshel swallowed his breath.
“Nothing will have happened, so do your duty.”
It was heavy.
It felt as if he had been handed just a tiny fraction of the Family Head’s weight.
And at the same time, he understood.
What sort of heart his grandfather was doing this with.
“Understood.”
Rickshel immediately made up his mind.
“I will help as well.”
The pale-faced Second Prince quickly stood by Rickshel’s side.
The First Prince, who had only been trembling until now, followed suit, as if not wanting to lose.
Just as everyone was moving to do what they could.
“Family Head of House Asteri.”
“The Family Head of Bydantis. Do you have more to say?”
“Is there a chance he is alive?”
“…”
“You think there is. Understood. I will provide assistance.”
“Why is that?”
“What do you mean?”
“From the standpoint of Bydantis, it would be more beneficial not to help our house.”
“I have a clothing reservation. And I dislike it when plans go awry. Well then.”
Petrick watched the young Family Head’s figure as she suddenly vanished, then moved his own feet.
“Hm, that is no ordinary insight.”
Elvia, who had followed closely from the shadows at some point, spoke up.
“She is not an opponent to be taken lightly.”
“Shall I cast a barrier around the labyrinth?”
“Do so. Not a single piece of information must leak out.”
Petrick stood before the ruined labyrinth and took out an old pocket watch.
This was because one of the many spells cast on ‘Archmage’s Parental Devotion’ was linked to this pocket watch.
A location-tracking spell.
As long as the wearer was alive, their location could be known at any time.
It was something he had placed there just in case…
“So this is how it gets used.”
Should he call it Lion’s foresight?
Petrick stared at the labyrinth with a bitter smile.
His grandson was definitely alive inside there.
“From now on, restore the exterior of the labyrinth.”
He might not know about the inside, but at least the outside had to be repaired.
So that his grandson would have a hole through which he could somehow emerge.
* * *
At that moment, inside the labyrinth.
“Hmm.”
Lion, upon whom everyone’s worries were focused, was perfectly fine, just as Petrick had expected.
In fact, it was so peaceful that someone unaware of the situation might have thought so.
A lush green lawn and flowers blooming in profusion here and there.
A blond man lying leisurely with his arms crossed, using a book as a pillow.
Anyone would think he was a book-loving noble young master out on a picnic.
“This is insane.”
Of course, the reality was different, but that was only how it looked.
Lion roughly tousled his long hair.
The hair that had been carefully combed neatly was now a mess, as usual.
“Achievements like those popping up mean I cleared the labyrinth.”
He had no way of knowing what he’d done to clear it.
Anyway, in <In the World>, the labyrinth was treated as a simple skill source.
Meaning, while it was treated as a dungeon, it was a dungeon no one tried to clear.
But the moment Lion entered, a dungeon clear achievement popped up, and he arrived here.
“It’s even the reward collection map.”
Lion, who had once played <In the World> obsessively, knew exactly where this was.
The so-called reward collection map, which you could enter after clearing any dungeon.
Although the composition differed from dungeon to dungeon, the format of a sprawling grassland remained unchanged.
Accept your reward here.
[Will you shatter the dungeon’s illusion?]
This message would appear.
[Yes.]
And by pressing the button, the entire party would exit.
“…At least it’s safe.”
If he couldn’t claim the reward, he’d never be able to get out of here, but for now, he was guaranteed a place and time to think.
It definitely felt like he’d fallen from a high place, but perhaps thanks to the suit’s effects, he wasn’t hurt anywhere.
That was a relief, at least.
So, let’s think about this again, slowly.
How he had ended up suddenly dropped here.
“Usually, Lion came and went here without issue. So then…”
What could have changed?
“The first thing is obviously magic power.”
He’d gained
a mere 1.
Arriving at the reward map just because he gained a tiny sliver of magic power was a stretch.
On top of that, the proper Mana Circle was formed *after* he entered this labyrinth.
If Lion’s genes were that noble, other direct and branch family members would have been coming and going from the end of the labyrinth as if it were their own home.
There was no way Grandfather would have placed treasure here.
“Magic power can’t be the reason.”
Back to square one.
‘What was I thinking before I entered the labyrinth?’
He’d been thinking about the treasure and reminiscing about his main character’s items.
“…Wait a minute.”
Something’s strange here?
Lion’s mind spun rapidly.
The Hero of this world, Hero.
The very Hero who vanished after ending the War Against the Demons fifty years ago.
‘Grandfather was Hero’s closest aide. What if the treasure Grandfather hid belonged to Hero?’
And himself.
Suddenly possessing the body of Petrick’s grandson, a comrade of Hero from fifty years ago.
And the labyrinth being cleared just by entering, without any particular reason.
‘Come to think of it, the time I possessed him was also around his first coming-of-age ceremony.’
It was a stretch, but didn’t it fit eerily well?
If so…
“Could it be that these are actually my items?”
The items on his main character were ones he had personally combined.
If the possession had somehow influenced that?
Then it made sense.
‘Since it was made into a “library,” it usually stores books, but because this labyrinth was designed as a “fortress,” it could also store items.
Then, if the items originally owned were here…’
“It might simply judge it as reclaiming what was left behind.”
Then another question arose.
What about the remaining characters?
Lion unconsciously thought of Hero as his own character.
The character had disappeared, and since he’d possessed this world in that exact state, it was a natural assumption.
But, now that he thought about it, ‘Baek Yi-hyeon’s characters’ hadn’t existed in the selection window at all.
Not a single one of that vast number.