Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 75
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 75
Elvia grasped Lion’s meaning at once.
‘I know nothing about it, so you handle it.’
But don’t kill them—and to make sure they could never follow again, the young master had worked a little scheme.
He would pass them off as “bandits.”
“Just so. As it happens, if ‘some adventurer’ were to capture bandits for us, I can’t imagine how delighted the count would be.”
“Quite. I do hope they’re caught and punished ‘until they repent of their crimes.’”
“Yes. Though of course it won’t be us doing it.”
Count Lungen was a noble with pro-Asteri leanings.
That meant these men, whatever anyone said, would have no choice but to become bandits by force.
And whoever stood behind them would never be able to step into the open.
From Count Lungen’s perspective, he’d gotten a simple chance to make an even deeper impression on House Asteri. He would probably be quite pleased.
‘The crime of daring to target Young Master Lion deserves death.’
But because our kind-hearted puppy had stepped forward, it ended at just this.
Meanwhile.
‘If they did it knowing he was an Asteri, they should bear the proper responsibility.’
Lion had said it before: he didn’t consider himself a good person.
Of course he tried to live a decent life.
But he wasn’t so far gone as to feel sorry for thugs who’d tried to kill him and let them go.
‘This time it’s me. Next time, who knows.’
There was no guarantee.
The next target might not be him—it might be Rickshel.
“There may yet be bandit attacks, so it would be best to depart a little early.”
“All right. Let’s leave.”
After they broke camp, the carriage soon set off.
One day passed, then a second.
A full day after Lion entered the town in Lungen Territory, a total of three days had gone by.
And then.
“Good heavens…”
“Wh-what in the world is that?”
The villagers who lived on the outskirts of Lungen Territory stared, mouths agape, at the extraordinary sight.
“Shh. Don’t make eye contact.”
“Pretend you didn’t see. Pretend you didn’t see.”
Dozens of ruffians were trussed up like dried fish, roped together and dumped unceremoniously in the middle of the village.
Worse, they looked utterly resigned, as if even trying to resist had failed.
Their appearance suggested they’d been thoroughly beaten, and their clothes looked as though they’d grabbed any rags they could find, just like bandits.
“What on earth is this?”
“A-a raid?”
“If it were, look at their faces.”
“Goodness, they’ve been beaten black and blue.”
“Shouldn’t we… call the guards?”
Just as the commotion was growing louder.
“Stand aside!”
The soldiers Count Lungen had dispatched came swarming in.
And the man who appeared to be their captain shouted in a somewhat stilted tone.
“Good heavens! To have captured bandits who were attacking villagers! Whoever could have performed such a virtuous deed? Was there no witness at all?”
Naturally, there were no witnesses.
Because they’d suddenly materialized in the village square.
“Captain! It appears the benefactor who captured these men was not seeking a reward!”
“Oho! To think someone went to such lengths for the village’s safety! We must find this anonymous adventurer—no, this great man—and ask the count to reward him handsomely! First, drag these wretches away!”
“Yes, sir!”
From there, everything unfolded exactly as Lion had foreseen.
Count Lungen, who had received a covert message from House Asteri in advance, began spreading the rumor that an “anonymous adventurer” had raided the bandit hideout!
“There were bandits?”
“Well… apparently there were?”
“And there were that many of them?”
“Good heavens. They’ve truly done a great service.”
Fortunately, people focused on the number of bandits, not on the adventurer.
“Wow, that could’ve been really serious. Right?”
Wearing the “My Spitting Image” hairpin as a disguise, Lion said it with a perfectly straight face.
“Indeed. If we’d run into them, who knows what might have happened…”
Andrie returned awkwardly with a hearty laugh.
He hadn’t witnessed the ruffians firsthand, but Andrie had his instincts.
He was more than aware that all of this was Lion’s doing.
But—
So what?
Surely our Young Master Lion must have had good reason.
“In any case, it’s none of our concern.”
Andrie said it quite firmly and gathered the luggage.
The problem was resolved for now, so all that remained was to prepare to take the teleportation gate.
Elvia returned after finishing the last procedures and asked,
“You heard all the precautions, yes?”
“Yeah.”
The precautions were obvious.
Don’t move around too much while traveling through the warp gate.
Anything outside the magic circle won’t be warped with you.
And people with bad luck might experience a bit of motion sickness…
Well, that much was to be expected.
It was his first time ever riding a gate, so it might feel unfamiliar, but ultimately it was about the same as “don’t stick your hand out the window of a moving car,” wasn’t it?
The price was high, but warp gates were a remarkably stable means of transportation.
“Now then, we’ll be departing.”
Lion stepped into the warp gate.
Inside a single enormous chamber, countless magic circles were drawn all the way up to the ceiling.
And that wasn’t all.
Mana stones and devices that assisted the circles flickered at regular intervals, as though connected along a circuit.
“Wow.”
Andrie was spellbound, busy examining the room.
Well, a sight like this was bound to be startling.
‘For me, well…’
Perhaps because he’d experienced the labyrinth first, it didn’t move him all that much.
Still, it did feel like setting out on a journey, which was rather pleasant.
As Lion stood at the exact center of the gate, an attendant activated the warp gate and said,
“Now. Please close your eyes in case of any possible dizziness.”
Everyone, Lion included, closed their eyes, and soon bright light filtered through their eyelids.
“Then, have a pleasant journey.”
With the attendant’s final words, a sensation of weightlessness came over them…
“Now! You may open your eyes.”
A different attendant’s voice reached them.
“A-already arrived?”
Andrie opened his eyes first and looked around.
“Good heavens. Dear me. We truly arrived in the blink of an eye!”
Andrie lavished praise, saying it was truly revolutionary, calling it an inspiration.
Hearing that, Lion slowly opened his eyes…
‘Oh.’
He saw buildings of a completely different architectural style.
It was certainly outstanding in terms of efficiency.
‘And my head seems fine.’
He’d worried the warp gate might somehow dispel the effect of “My Spitting Image,” but fortunately the disguise hadn’t come undone.
Well, how many nobles must travel using these warp gates?
Among them, there were surely more than a few who wore disguises.
“It seems we’ve arrived properly.”
Lion lowered his gaze to the sword at the attendant’s hip.
‘So Mudu was telling the truth.’
Most teleportation attendants were mages.
And yet even this mage was wearing a sword…
This was unmistakably the territory of House Bydantis.
“Everyone, please change your clothes first. The weather is cold.”
Come to think of it, the temperature was noticeably lower than in Asteri Territory.
Lion hadn’t felt it thanks to his clothes, but seeing Andrie swiftly pull a thick coat from the luggage made it clear: it was definitely cold.
“Here, Young Master, please put this on first.”
Travel clothes alone would have sufficed, but walking around like that was bound to draw strange looks.
Lion obediently stepped out of the warp gate to change.
And then.
“…Ugh.”
He felt a tremendous wave of nausea unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
The ceiling and floor swayed like waves; his stomach churned.
Enough to bring up everything he’d eaten last night and this morning…
“Urgh.”
His stomach was bad. Very bad.
‘No way…’
Lion sank down right there and covered his mouth.
The nausea was so overwhelming he couldn’t form another thought.
“Oh dear! The young master has come down with motion sickness.”
The teleportation attendant lowered his brows sympathetically and exclaimed as though pitying Lion.
His bad feeling had been right.
“You can’t move in this state. There’s no medicine for warp gate sickness, you see.”
Warp sickness.
The affliction that supposedly struck only one in millions—and Lion had drawn the short straw.
“…Oh dear.”
Even Elvia looked at a loss.
Which meant there truly was no medicine for it.
‘This… is… damn it.’
Why did it have to be me?
On top of that, Lion even possessed the Mana Allocation skill.
He’d never imagined he could get motion sickness from a mana-powered warp gate!
“The reservation at a nearby inn…”
“In that case, move there and rest…”
Thump.
As he listened to the attendant and Elvia discussing something, Lion lost consciousness and fell asleep, as though passing out.
It was truly a day when his stomach felt worse than the worst hangover of his life.
* * *
Lion opened his eyes late that afternoon.
“Young Master.”
“Nngh…”
“Are you coming to?”
“I think I might live now…”
After sleeping and waking, his body was surprisingly all right.
Not that he’d call it his usual condition, but still…
“Still, it’s a relief you recovered quickly.”
Normally, they said, some people suffered motion sickness for two or even three days, let alone one.
“First, please try drinking this at least. It’s a local specialty, Snow Mountain Honey Tea.”
Lion accepted the honey tea and drank.
The hot, sweet liquid went down, but… it didn’t have much effect.
“…Before I go back, I’m making motion-sickness medicine.”
As Lion muttered with resolve, Nature, who had been occupying the spot beside him all the while, pecked insistently at his thigh.
“The spirit seems to have been very worried. It stayed by your side the whole time without leaving for a moment.”
“You were worried?”
After handing back the barely touched tea, Lion gave Nature a light poke, and the little creature chirped shrilly as if angry.
By the look of it, it had been quite worried indeed.
And…
‘I’d guess I recovered from the motion sickness this fast thanks to this fellow.’
Lion looked at the notification that had been visible since he woke.
[Status ailment continuously recovering due to the effect of your companion spirit ‘Nature.’]
That must have been why it had stuck right by him the whole time he slept.
In that case, hadn’t it drained a lot of its strength?
He inspected it…
“Peep.”
It fluttered its short wings, as if to say, Did you think that much would sap my strength?
And then… flump.
Its strength seemed to leave it and it sank down on the spot.
Just as he’d thought.
Without the spirit mage supplying power, how was Nature supposed to recover its strength?
“Elvia, could you hand me my bag?”
“Here it is.”
Lion took out the “Lion’s Special Spirit Water” he’d brought along precisely for times like this.
In truth he’d made quite a lot before the journey, but he hadn’t given it any yet.
He was worried that if its palate grew too refined, it might become picky about ordinary spirit stones.
But now…
‘I can’t not give it some.’
The moment it saw Lion bring out the spirit water, Nature opened its beak wide and chirped.
At the sight of it urging him to hurry up and hand it over, Lion…
Gulp!
Drank it first himself.