Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 68
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 68
“Hm.”
A rough spirit?
Sure, I’d met spirits with unusual personalities, but never one with outright aggression.
‘Had something changed over the last fifty years?’
Maybe the demon invasion had damaged nature so badly that some spirit had a grudge, or…
“It is truly a worst-case scenario, but one should always have a contingency. And your body is frail besides.”
Tialli looked at Lion with sympathy.
Lion Asteri’s potential was indeed staggering.
But his body was terribly weak. By the look of it, his lifespan seemed short as well.
They say the world is fair.
How could they have given such a talent a body this fragile?
‘I should at least avoid shortening what remains of his life.’
That was why Tialli had given him the warning—so he could prepare for the worst-case scenario in advance.
“I see. I’ll use it gratefully.”
“Yes. Please be careful.”
“Pardon? Yes.”
“When you walk, watch both sides and your feet carefully.”
“…”
“And if someone tempts you with nice things, don’t follow them.”
“…Please don’t worry.”
To Tialli’s eyes, Lion must have looked like a child who had only just learned to walk.
‘Well, anyway, this is good.’
If I could now form a spirit contract without a spirit-user’s help, there was no reason to hesitate.
‘I can just go in with Grandfather.’
With the continent’s sole archmage at my side, there would be no problem even if a greater spirit—or something beyond—appeared.
How rough could a spirit possibly get in front of an archmage?
“Then I shall take my leave.”
“Thank you so much for the gift. If you ever need more spirit water…”
“Heh. I will accept it gladly. Ah, I should go pay my respects to the Asteri family head now. Then…”
Relieved to have delivered the Elder’s gift, Tialli took leave with a noticeably lighter expression and exited the room.
Click.
The door closed, and the footsteps seemed to fade away…
Peek.
“Master. You’re all right?”
Freyania opened the door again and poked her face in to check on Lion.
“Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Whew! I couldn’t hear a thing from inside—I was so worried!”
Silairon must have cast a soundproofing spell.
Seeing something like that, it really was useful.
I wouldn’t have to ask someone else for these everyday spells every time.
“If you had said something happened, I was going to go straight to Sir Tialli and demand an explanation.”
“They seemed like a good person.”
When Lion mentioned that he had been given a large quantity of spirit stones along with fairy dust, Freyania’s eyes went wide as saucers again.
“Whaaat? Fairy dust!?”
“It is good, right?”
He already knew its value well enough, but Lion asked again just to confirm.
“Of course it is! That’s a prize personally bestowed by the Elder—ordinary elves don’t even get to lay eyes on it! A half-elf like me even less so!”
After that, she glanced furtively around the room.
“Elves normally have no interest in objects that belong to others, but this is different. Absolutely! Use it quickly, and if you’re going to use it late, never let anyone see it. Understood!?”
“Understood.”
“And don’t tell me too much either! Who knows what I might be tempted to…”
I had my reasons for trusting her enough.
At the very least, Freyania wouldn’t entertain reckless thoughts before she learned alchemy in full.
And the type of person who told you not to trust them like that…
‘Is, surprisingly, the safest.’
After that, Freyania went on issuing stern warnings, insisting that she herself didn’t want to know where he hid it.
“I mean, I will be curious, but!”
“Sure. If there’s any left after the spirit summoning, I’ll let you know.”
“Oh! Seriously… Ahem. Then while you’re deliberating, I’ll study potions some more. Salamander’s in good condition right now anyway…!”
Having subtly advertised once again that she was a spirit-user, Freyania told him to think it over and excused herself.
‘Well, I don’t need to think it over.’
Lion had already made his decision.
He would go to the labyrinth and summon a spirit.
Lion recalled the information about spirits he had gathered while playing the game.
Environment, assistants, mental strength, time.
They were all essential elements for summoning a spirit.
But there was one more.
A secret tip that others didn’t know.
Namely, possessing an object the spirit liked.
A representative example was a spirit stone.
Using the greater spirit stone Tialli had given him as a gift would be more than sufficient.
But Lion had no intention of bringing the spirit stone.
Because he knew something even better.
Swish!
Lion took out the spirit water he still had and examined it.
Three-star original spirit water.
The spirit water he currently had was fairly high-grade, but…
‘Isn’t it about time I tried my hand at a four-star in alchemy too?’
The first taste of four-star he’d had was tailoring.
Even then, he had only assisted Andrie’s work, so strictly speaking, it wasn’t a four-star piece made solely by Lion’s skill.
But what had the effect been like?
‘Incredible.’
Thanks to that, he’d been able to stay safe inside the labyrinth.
And now Tialli had conveniently given him even better materials.
Greater spirit stones.
“It’s worth a try.”
It didn’t matter which spirit appeared, but since things had turned out this way, wasn’t it better to prepare the materials properly?
Spirit water made from these greater spirit stones—that was it!
‘Greater spirit stones already have outstanding effects, so if I refine them into spirit water…’
It would produce twice the effect.
Top-grade spirit stone.
He could even aim beyond that.
“Though if you asked about success or failure…”
The probability of failure was distinctly higher.
There were plenty of reasons.
First, the spirit water wasn’t an existing recipe—it was a special recipe Lion had created himself.
And Lion’s rank was still at the “Skilled” tier.
Normally, he shouldn’t even have been capable of making an original recipe at all.
But—
“What fun is a challenge if you don’t risk getting burned?”
Doing only what you could absolutely succeed at wasn’t a challenge.
Wasn’t taking on the risk of failure what made it a challenge?
“All right. Let’s do this.”
Lion grinned broadly for the first time in a while.
* * *
And so, for several days afterward, a sound like firecrackers going off didn’t stop coming from Lion’s room.
Boom!
Crash!
“Oh my, what’s that noise?”
“Shh. It seems the young master’s been struck by inspiration again!”
“Has he? Then we mustn’t disturb him.”
The servants nodded at each other, whispering despite the racket.
One of the effects of Young Master Lion regaining his health and looking after his family was peace of mind for the servants.
They had once worked trembling in an atmosphere where they were constantly on thin ice, but at some point, that tension had vanished!
And that wasn’t all.
Days ago, during the mysterious billowing cloud incident, he had been the first to step forward and do something about it, resolving the situation in an instant.
And what had he asked afterward?
“Are any of the servants hurt?”
His first worry had been for none other than the mansion servants!
“Truth be told, before that, he was sickly and had some odd quirks, so I…”
“Oh dear. How did I fail to recognize how wonderful he is?”
They had even gone so far as to blame themselves for looking at Lion through tinted glasses.
The atmosphere in the mansion had unmistakably changed.
“Come now, let’s not stand around—let’s fetch the young master some snacks.”
“While we’re at it, we should prepare some for the little young master and the marquis as well.”
“What about the guests?”
“They said they’re leaving this afternoon… Shall we prepare packed lunches?”
The servants thus united in purpose and vanished…
Click.
The door opened.
And inside…
“Urrghh.”
Lion crawled out unsteadily, looking like something undead, making a sound that was either laughter or groaning—hard to tell whether from agony or joy.
And in one hand…
[Lion’s Special Spirit Water (★★★★)]
- The first masterpiece created by an alchemist improving at a frightening pace.
- Once any spirit-user or spirit tastes this spirit water, they can never go back.
- Upon consumption, restores a great amount of a spirit’s vitality.
- Upon a spirit-user’s first consumption, permanently increases spirit affinity.
- When used with a special item, activates a set effect.
It was spirit water that looked somehow different from anything he had made before.
It was the same in that bubbles rose whenever it was shaken and the color shifted moment to moment.
But if you looked more closely, when the bubbling bubbles rose to the surface, they burst as if setting off a tiny explosion, then sank back down.
Almost like small comets.
“I did it.”
It had been a bit of a struggle, but fortunately he’d finished before the elves left.
Now all he had to do was take this to his grandfather…
“You were overdoing it again.”
His grandfather Petrick already stood in front of the door, not even bothering to hide his displeasure.
“When did you get here?”
“Just now. I had a moment.”
In truth, he had been checking morning and evening when Lion’s work would end, but he couldn’t say so.
‘I mustn’t pressure him unnecessarily.’
It was a slightly different mindset from the past, when he had found it embarrassing to speak up.
“So. Are the preparations complete?”
Lion had already sent word through Elvia before he began crafting the four-star spirit water.
“Yes.”
At Lion’s confident answer, Petrick gave a soft smile.
In truth, Petrick was quite pleased with the situation.
He’d become a grandfather without even realizing that his grandson had talent for spirit arts.
What’s more, he’d heard that Lion’s talent was, by all accounts, at a level that transcended humanity.
When the high elves had looked at him as if asking how such talent could have been left to rot, he’d wanted to go hide somewhere—unbefitting of an archmage.
‘I thought I’d watched over him carefully and looked after him well…’
He had been severely lacking.
Lion might even have harbored a great deal of resentment inwardly.
All those days he had struggled because he lacked magical talent—hadn’t his real talent always lain elsewhere?
Alchemy, and he cooked well. His aesthetic sense was outstanding.
And as he’d sensed at the party… his speed at administrative processing was superb.
He’d surely never done that sort of work before, yet he handled it as naturally as a veteran.
Those images kept surfacing in his mind, and for the last several days he hadn’t managed to sleep properly.
‘If only I had hired a spirit-user back then!’
‘If only I had opened another path for him sooner!’
It was because of regrets like that, which could never be undone.
…Of course, even if he went back to that time, Lion would have been in no condition to do anything properly because of Mana Shock.
Regrettably, even Petrick the archmage had a tendency to let his reason go numb where his grandson was concerned, so that fact never quite reached his conscious mind.
But now, this time.
Hadn’t Lion asked him to accompany him into the labyrinth for the spirit summoning as his “guardian”?
What could that mean?
That he was the person his grandson—whom he cherished like the apple of his eye—trusted above all others!
‘Yes. If I haven’t done enough until now, I simply need to do better from here on.’
Outwardly, his expression was as composed as always, but Petrick’s resolve was more fervent than ever.
He absolutely wanted to be of help to his grandson!
“If you’re ready, let’s go.”
With his determination set, Petrick headed toward the labyrinth together with Lion.