Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 60
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 60
Ahem.
Embrog cleared his throat.
It was time to achieve his true objective.
“If you would permit it, I would also like to offer a personal gift.”
“A personal gift?”
“Yes. One moment.”
Embrog gestured to Endairon, whom he had kept waiting behind him.
“You can see spirits, can you not, Archmage? You must have received the Elder’s arrangement.”
“I did.”
Petrick briefly recalled the spirit magic the Elder Elf had cast on him.
“Now, with this magic, even a non-elf like yourself will be able to see spirits clearly.”
“I already perceive their forms adequately through magic power.”
“Ahaha… I can see them too, thanks to Beast Taming, but it is still better when they’re vivid.”
“Honestly, Young Master. You never miss a chance to grumble.”
…Well, it wasn’t an especially pleasant memory.
“I can perceive them well enough without it.”
“I apologize if I was rude.”
“Never mind. So, what connection does that water beast have to your personal gift?”
At Petrick’s blunt question, Rickshel, seated beside him, turned his head.
“Lord Patriarch.”
This was a predicament.
He had relayed the message, certainly, but because the Patriarch had come in haste, Rickshel hadn’t conveyed the specifics.
Meaning he had not mentioned the rather shocking detail that ‘a young male elf is trying to take my older brother away!’
‘What exactly did I tell the Patriarch?’
Probably something along the lines of… that his brother appeared to have an aptitude for spirit arts.
‘Was this my blunder?’
He had assumed that the Patriarch would surely grasp the situation from that much alone.
If he had, would he have asked a question like that…?
Rickshel thought about cutting off the flow of conversation even now.
But true to his elven nature, Embrog was quick.
Embrog began to speak as swiftly as a flowing stream.
“I am a high-ranking spirit mage who trains talents in the use of spirit arts within my own country. This child is my partner, Endairon, whom I have raised from a lesser spirit.”
“…”
Petrick leaned back in his chair and folded his arms.
His expression betrayed absolutely nothing of his thoughts as he listened.
“As you know, the lands where elves dwell are quite far from the Human Empire.”
“They are.”
“Consequently, by the time we arrived here, many spirits below the intermediate level had unfortunately fallen behind in our village. But it could not be helped. At the time, a state of emergency had arisen from our perspective. However…”
Perhaps it would be best to show him directly at this point.
Embrog released the waiting Endairon to act freely.
And then.
[The Upper Water Spirit Endairon has taken a great liking to you!]
Endairon strode over to Lion, who had been listening in silence, and…
Plop.
The spirit planted its enormous face on Lion’s thigh, chin first, and began to look up at him with stolen glances.
Exactly like a large dog hoping for a pat!
Its tail swayed gently.
It even shot up gurgling water droplets the way puppies whine.
“…”
Lion dropped his hand beneath the table and rubbed Endairon’s chin and head vigorously.
He had meant to hold back, as long as possible… but the little giant had a stalwart build, was unexpectedly quite cute, and the texture was so fascinating that he couldn’t help himself.
Naturally, everyone’s attention fixed on the sight.
Even the elves reacted with disbelief.
“Unbelievable…”
“Lord Endairon?”
“How could someone so haughty ever…?!”
In truth, the upper water spirit Endairon did not have a gentle disposition, like a family dog.
It was as fierce as a wild wolf, aloof, and untamed.
Above all, it was endlessly indifferent to anyone weaker than itself—didn’t even spare them a glance.
And yet…
It was acting cute toward Lion Asteri?
“…”
Even Petrick Asteri looked slightly startled.
He had been briefed, but for an upper spirit to behave like that…
It was something he had never once heard of or witnessed.
Only Embrog pretended not to see it and continued speaking.
“When I went belatedly to retrieve those spirits, I found that someone else had already been helping the children… Yes. That person is none other than Lion Asteri here.”
“I see.”
“Did you happen to know?”
“Know what?”
“What else, that he possesses such an extraordinary talent for spirit arts!”
Before he knew it, Embrog’s face had flushed red with excitement.
His words came faster and faster.
“I guarantee, Lion Asteri is someone with the potential to become the greatest spirit mage in history. To a degree that even a high elf could not dare to rival…”
He went on.
“The result would likely be the same no matter which spirit you introduced. Have you seen Freyania’s Salamander? No, that creature, well…”
Faster than anyone, utterly unlike any elf…
“That is enough!”
At last, it was only when Petrick Asteri put magic power into a stern rebuke that Embrog’s paean to Lion came to an end.
‘I let it go on so I could hear my grandson praised, but it would never have ended.’
Petrick knew the full situation as well.
He had heard that his grandson Lion—whom he would not feel pain even if he put him in his own eye—possessed a special talent for spirit arts.
But he had simply let it play out, curious to see to what degree…
‘Of course, if this were a private occasion, I would have continued to let it go.’
Regrettably, this was not a private occasion.
“Ho-ho. I became a little excited there.”
“…”
“A little?”
“Ahem.”
Sluuurp—
As if the whole affair had left him feeling refreshed, Embrog took a sip of tea and returned completely to his original complexion.
It was almost enough to make one wonder whether the phrase ‘thick-skinned’ had originated from just such a situation.
“In any case, I wished to express that Lion Asteri’s talent is one for the ages—a prodigious gift that appears once in a hundred years… no, perhaps once in a thousand.”
“…”
“Which is why I find it strange. Why would the Elder’s colleague not have informed us elves of his grandson’s outstanding aptitude?”
Truly, that was the case.
Humans and elves had long gone without exchange.
Because of the elves’ insular culture.
It was not that relations were poor, never that.
And above all, this was Petrick, who bore the modifier ‘colleague of the Elder.’
If his grandson had possessed such talent, would the elves truly not have helped?
Starting with the Elder herself, they would have pitched in wholeheartedly.
“Did you truly not know?”
Embrog asked in a calmly settled voice.
“Of Lion Asteri’s talent?”
“…”
Here, Petrick had no words.
The truth was, he genuinely had not known.
If he were to make an excuse, it had been roughly three months since Lion had ended his bedridden life and begun moving about.
And in that time, Lion had already proven himself to possess talent in numerous fields.
The greatest of them was precisely alchemy.
The ‘Hero’s Potion’ was proof of that.
But it was not a matter to lay bare before this elf.
As Petrick maintained his silence, Embrog let out a low sigh.
“Good heavens, do you mean you truly did not know?”
This was the great Archmage under heaven.
Petrick Asteri.
Colleague of the Elder Elf.
And yet he had not recognized a lump of gold placed right before his eyes.
‘It does not seem as though he lacks interest.’
If he had lacked interest, Embrog would have concluded that Lion Asteri had been neglected.
And frankly, that would have made Embrog’s own task quite a bit easier.
“…”
For the first time in a long while, Petrick Asteri was at a loss for words.
‘It is indeed my oversight.’
Such was the nature of being a grandfather.
While doing this and that for his grandson, if he glimpsed something he had failed to do, he would wonder why he had failed to do it.
He would regret not noticing sooner.
This occasion was no different.
“…Of course, given the environment, such a thing is entirely possible. Spirits are scarcely visible in the places humans inhabit. Ahem… But has not a fine opportunity presented itself?”
“A fine opportunity?”
“What would you think of sending him to study abroad?”
“To the land of the elves. My grandson, you mean?”
“Yes. Naturally, he would be given the highest level of treatment and lack for nothing. That is my personal gift.”
Ordinarily, Petrick would have rejected it outright as nonsense with a single stroke.
But Embrog’s earlier words snagged at him.
Am I, by fussing over him too much, blocking Lion’s path forward?
Would spirit arts not be better for protecting his body than alchemy?
Thoughts such as these.
It was only the very slightest hesitation, yet at least two people perceived Petrick’s inner conflict.
Embrog, and Rickshel.
‘To think he would be this conflicted.’
It was clear that the fellow’s cunning tongue had prodded some part of the Patriarch.
In truth, the words were difficult to label as false.
Yet if one were to ask whether the Patriarch had ever neglected his older brother’s talents, the answer was absolutely not.
Even after the mana shock, the Patriarch had never stinted in his support for his brother.
Unconditional trust and endorsement.
And unstinting support.
Thus Rickshel wanted to say that the Patriarch need not feel guilt, but…
Regrettably, saying so now would only backfire.
At that moment.
“Excuse me. I am sorry to interrupt your conversation.”
Lion lifted the hand he had kept beneath the table.
His fingertips were wrinkled and damp from stroking Endairon, but mercifully, no one commented on it.
“Yes. Young Lord Lion. Do you have a question?”
“Regarding studying abroad.”
“Yes.”
Petrick answered a little slowly.
“I thought it might be a matter for the person in question to decide.”
“…Th-That, yes. Naturally, your own thoughts are most important. But you must know that the quality of education there is far higher than here.”
“Of course, I do not doubt Embrog’s words. Just as House Asteri is most renowned for magic, the same principle must apply there.”
“Indeed! How exceedingly clever!”
And intelligent, to boot!
Truly, if he could have his way, Embrog would have bundled him up in a wrapping cloth and spirited him away outright.
“However.”
Lion smiled as though the situation was awkward.
His expression alone made it clear.
It was a refusal.
Embrog’s smile gradually subsided.
“Yes, I had anticipated this.”
The truth was, he had predicted all of this.
Ever since he realized how close Lion was to House Asteri, he had been planning around the possibility of defeat.
But—
Embrog’s eyes flashed.
“Then how about this? I shall urge the matter of studying abroad no further. However, as a first step toward exchange between humans and elves, let us exchange Young Lord Lion’s alchemy and Lady Freyania’s spirit arts.”
“Exchange? What do you mean by that?”
“Please do not misunderstand. An exchange it may be called, but it merely means teaching one another a single skill, amicably.”
“…Pardon?”
From a short distance away, Freyania, who had been listening, felt her eyes widen.
She had been crouched quietly to herself, and suddenly a pumpkin had rolled in, vine and all!
Embrog offered further explanation.
He said it was an excellent method from both the standpoint of cultural exchange and from that of safeguarding the ‘secret methods’ Lion possessed.
[And it will certainly be a worthwhile experience for your descendants as well. There will be much they can observe and learn from one another.]
Rickshel suddenly recalled the Elder Elf’s voice from back then.
‘She intended to steer things this way from the very start.’
Of course, if it had come to it, that elf would have tried to take his brother away entirely—but the one known as the Elder Elf had likely thought ahead to this point.