Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 64
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 64
“Ahh!”
She had no idea at all how it worked.
But the two liquids mixed and produced a transparent brown.
Bubble, bubble.
And yet that characteristic bubbling stayed exactly the same.
Lion had clearly shown her everything without hiding a thing…
“Here, thanks for the help. I’ll handle the finishing touches now.”
“Ah, yes!”
Freyania took a step back and watched Lion’s finishing process.
The liquid inside the cauldron gained a sticky resistance, then loosened back into water—over and over.
In between, Lion’s arms trembled faintly, as though the work demanded considerable strength.
And at the moment it turned clear again.
Lion quickly transferred the liquid from the cauldron into the distillation device and let out a short shout.
“Extract.”
Fwoosh!
The distillation device flashed small, and a copper-colored, semi-transparent liquid began to fill the potion vial!
“Nice.”
Lion lifted the first completed potion and shook it side to side, just as he had done with the Spirit Water Concentrate.
As he did, plump little bubbles rose, and the potion’s color shifted with every sideways motion.
It went transparent, then flared vermilion, then turned copper again.
‘This was plenty good already, but it was still missing one thing.’
And that was.
Lion picked up the Water Spirit Stone he hadn’t used yet and dropped it straight into the potion with a plop.
“Eeeeeek!”
A bizarre noise escaped Freyania, who had been watching the completion in a daze.
Spirit stone or not, why on earth would you drop a rock into a finished potion…?
“Huh? What?”
But it seemed he hadn’t just tossed in any random spirit stone.
The spirit stone Lion had added caught in the middle of the vial, almost as if it were serving as a filter!
“Master, why did you put that in?”
“Well, I wanted to try using all four elements?”
More precisely, the Water Spirit Stone was meant to envelop the other strong elements and bring them into harmony.
But explaining that point by point… would only raise more questions about how Lion knew it in the first place, so he held his tongue.
‘Besides, Freyania will figure it out someday while making her own.’
At any rate, Lion gazed at the completed spirit water with satisfaction.
[Lion’s Special Spirit Water (★★★)]
-A potion that both spirit mage and spirit can drink!
-Boosts our little one’s vigor—a nourishing snack for the spirit mage!
-Its carbonated sensation, like bursting stars upon drinking, is highly effective at aiding digestion.
[You have created a potion that did not exist in the world!]
[You have achieved the ‘Lost Puzzle (1)’ achievement!]
[You obtain 3,500 Shillings.]
Because he had made something never seen before rather than following an existing recipe, a new achievement had appeared.
And that wasn’t all!
[You have become a teacher and shown your disciple a new path.]
[The ‘Disciple’s Diligence’ bonus applies, granting additional experience!]
[Alchemy Proficiency has reached Skilled Lv.3.]
‘Oho!’
His level had jumped this much within the Skilled tier!
This was genuinely surprising.
Gaining a few levels at Apprentice versus a few levels at Skilled involved vastly different experience thresholds.
At the Apprentice stage, you might need to brew a hundred potions to gain one level; at Skilled, it took at least ten times that.
Yet the Disciple’s Diligence effect had kicked in and triggered an experience bonus…
‘Taking on a disciple might not be half bad.’
With a feature like this, it was well worth it.
Lion was mulling that over, glancing back and forth between the potion and the system, when—
“…Incredible.”
She’d lost count of how many times she’d been astonished already.
She realized that her master’s alchemy was on a level she could never dare to imitate.
She had even taken part, had asked about every single thing that puzzled her, and her master had answered rather kindly—yet she hadn’t grasped it at all.
In other words, she couldn’t even perceive what realm he occupied.
The spirit mage side, on the other hand, was clearly measurable.
First of all, spirits were divided into grades, and her master had succeeded in communing with a Greater Spirit in a single breath. If he were to pursue that path, even conservatively…
‘He could contract with a highest-grade spirit.’
He might even summon an Ancient-Class Spirit, the kind only the Elder could call forth under special circumstances.
The so-called ultimate realm.
Freyania judged that Lion Asteri’s talent could certainly reach for it.
But alchemy?
‘I can’t see it.’
What would one even call the pinnacle of alchemy?
Creating the legendary elixir that the Hero had carried fifty years ago?
Or producing a deadly poison that could contaminate a great river with a single drop?
That was what Freyania had always imagined as the ultimate end of alchemy.
But…
She had the feeling that might not be it.
Perhaps he would casually whip up something far greater, as if it were nothing.
A sense of anticipation bloomed.
‘And a person like that is my teacher…’
It was an opportunity gained through coincidence piled upon coincidence.
And he was still only a provisional teacher, at that.
This was an opportunity she had to seize.
One of those chances that come only a few times in a lifetime.
No—it might be a once-in-a-lifetime chance!
Freyania stood before Lion and bowed her head deeply.
“You are amazing, Master! I will serve you with my utmost effort from now on!”
“Huh?”
Only then did Lion return from the sweetness of experience points to reality, and he asked back awkwardly.
‘Did I really teach her that well?’
Truthfully, he hadn’t done much.
In the end it was, Here, like this, just do it by feel.
How come you can’t do this?
…Hadn’t he been worrying about exactly that—becoming the kind of irresponsible genius teacher?
“As you just saw, I’m not particularly talented at teaching.”
“It’s more than enough. I just need to figure things out further!”
“I’ll probably keep telling you things this same way in the future?”
“As long as you tell me—no, even if you just show me… no, no! Just looking in on me from time to time is more than enough, so please take me as your formal disciple!”
Well… if she was that earnest about it.
‘Definitely not because of the experience points.’
Honestly, who wouldn’t want to keep someone nearby who praised them so lavishly for doing well?
The start had been a little unpleasant, but it was all smoothed over now.
“Fine. Then I look forward to working with you.”
“Thank youuu…!!”
Freyania was so sincerely moved that tears even welled up in her large eyes as she expressed her gratitude, but…
“Yikes.”
Unfortunately, Lion’s room was now so filled with clouds that she was no longer visible.
Lion gathered up the potions he’d made and stepped outside.
“Let’s hand out the potions first.”
“Yep!”
Snorting with determination, Freyania began to move briskly.
* * *
“What sort of discourtesy is this, on the very first day?!”
“S-sorry… urrp!”
“Is it really so hard to conduct yourselves with a modicum of decorum? Honestly! I can hear elven prestige crashing to the ground from all the way over here…”
Embrog was utterly dumbfounded when he heard what had just occurred.
He’d let them off, and they’d gone and made this kind of mess?
‘No, no.’
Under normal circumstances.
That is, if this had happened back in the Elf Kingdom, it would have been resolved quickly.
There were plenty of remedies, and plenty of spirit stones—so they’d have calmed the spirits first, canceled the summons, and then sent the troublemakers on ten laps of forest patrol duty, and the problem would have been clearly settled.
But now.
There were no spirit stones.
‘Even if there were, they’d belong to that half-elf.’
Embrog pressed firmly against his throbbing forehead.
Nothing to be done now. There was no choice but to swallow his shame and quietly wait for the situation to pass.
At least the Greater Spirits weren’t running wild. That was a relief.
If they had been…
‘It wouldn’t be just clouds like this…’
A storm would probably be raging inside House Asteri.
If that happened, the exchange, Lion—everything would be over.
Moreover, he couldn’t even imagine how furious the Elder Elf would be.
Embrog shuddered.
The Elder was gentle and cheerful in disposition, but once angered, she saw things through to the bitter end.
That was why she, in the body of a king, had personally marched into all-out war against the demons.
“…Haaah.”
No, this wasn’t the time to sink into brooding.
Embrog shook his head once and asked.
“How many spirits are currently causing serious trouble?”
“Five Lesser Spirits, one Sylph, and one Undine.”
“Inform their contractors. Tell them to dismiss the summons.”
“Pardon?”
“B-but if we do that…”
If a summon was dismissed in an unfamiliar place, the contracted spirit might be lost.
And if the bond still lacked intimacy, the spirit might leave forever.
“If we leave this as it is, the clouds will spread to the town. When that happens, even if House Asteri silences it, the Human Empire will step in.”
Of course, that wouldn’t actually happen.
The master of this place was none other than Petrick Asteri.
But the political power structures of the humans were facts that even Embrog didn’t know.
Which was why he was moving somewhat extremely.
“…”
And the other elves didn’t know those facts either.
“It can’t be helped.”
Embrog murmured bitterly.
He was an elf who loved spirits without reservation.
Why else would he be so fervent about training the next generation of spirit mages?
But entanglements with the Human Empire had to be avoided as much as possible.
The elf who understood Embrog’s heart and intent shut his eyes tight and bowed his head.
“Then I shall instruct the masters of Sylph and Undine to dismiss their summ—”
Bang!
Before the words even finished.
The firmly shut door flew open.
“Ah, everyone’s in here.”
“…!”
And the person who entered was none other than Lion Asteri.
‘This is awkward.’
It wasn’t that he disliked Lion’s visit.
On the contrary—Lion had come of his own interest, so it was a situation that should be welcomed with open arms… except.
The circumstances were poor.
And had they not just made a painful decision?
Embrog himself was in a foul mood; how much worse must it be for the other elves?
At worst, the sparks might fly toward an innocent Lion. So he needed to send him back out first.
“Young Lion. I’m truly grateful that you sought us out, but the current situation is…”
“That’s exactly why I came.”
“What do you mean, that’s why you came?”
“How many people are in here right now?”
Lion waved his hands back and forth…
“…!”
The Lesser Wind Spirits gathered their strength, parted the clouds, and opened up the view!
“Wh-what in the world!”
“Hoh.”
Despite the grave situation, the elves’ mouths fell open as they witnessed with their own eyes that a human could possess such outstanding spirit affinity.
In the meantime, Lion counted the elves in the room and handed out the potions.
“It’s nothing special. I just thought it’d be good for you to drink right now. It’s a potion-slash-beverage with digestive benefits.”
“…Well, young Lion, I’m truly grateful that you’ve concerned yourself with our situation, but unfortunately, even if a spirit mage recovers, the spirits won’t regain their senses right away.”
“I know.”
“You know?”
“Miss Freyania explained it to me.”
Only then did Freyania enter Embrog’s field of vision.
“Then why did you tell us to drink it right now?”
When he asked, unable to comprehend, Lion simply smiled.
“The damage is already done. Just humor me and give it a try.”