Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 9
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 9
That night, in the small hours before dawn, an aberrant noise rang out deep in Mimir Forest.
Shrrrk— Srrk—
It could have been the sound of a beast’s claws scraping the earth to hide its prey, or the sound of a sharp sword dragging across the ground.
The instant the wind swept away the clouds veiling the moon, a silhouette bent over in one part of the forest was revealed.
The man was digging at something without pause.
Inside the mound of dirt, where the damp soil underneath was exposed, something bluish about the length of a knuckle lay bare.
It resembled a finger…
[Finger Ginseng (★) acquired!]
-A plant known to resemble a finger, though its effects are similar to ordinary wild ginseng. Requires an extremely delicate gathering method.
-When properly simmered and consumed, it boosts energy.
[Uses—Food, Potion]
[☞Click to view the recipe.]
…To be precise, it was Lion Asteri digging up finger ginseng.
“Wow.”
Lion let out a short breath of admiration.
He had simply tested his tools on the first plant he spotted, but its performance was breathtaking.
“It makes that much of a difference?”
The gathering speed went without saying.
But he could also harvest plants far more delicately, perhaps because he didn’t have to dig through thick soil with his bare hands.
And that was not all.
Lion placed the finger ginseng into his inventory and surveyed his surroundings.
After crafting the hand hoe and sickle and arriving at the forest, far more things glittered before him.
With the tools and the awakening of his Cooking Talent, he had become able to gather things that were closer to actual food.
Even the items he gathered now appeared with at least one star as a baseline.
If he grew more accustomed to using the hand hoe, he would soon be obtaining 2-star gathering items as well.
And if that happened…
‘A 3-star potion. It’s completely feasible.’
“Then shall I dig up a few more until I’m used to it?”
Just then, a plant with a rather familiar shape caught his eye.
‘This is probably…’
Lion immediately cleared the surrounding vegetation with the sickle.
Shk!
The moment he lightly struck down the leaves and stems with the sickle…
[Banana Sweet Potato Leaf (★)]
-A sweet potato leaf that grew in the wild. It is slightly tough.
[Uses—Food]
[☞Click to view the recipe.]
[Banana Sweet Potato Shoot (★★)]
-A sweet potato stem that grew in the wild. Surprisingly tender.
[Uses—Food]
[☞Click to view the recipe.]
Just as he had suspected, it was definitely sweet potato.
Furthermore, as expected, he managed to acquire a 2-star gathering item without any trouble.
‘Then inside this…’
Lion set the sickle aside and immediately began to gently scrape away the surrounding soil with the hand hoe.
And sure enough, he spotted a rather plump sweet potato, which he smoothly pulled right out!
The result was…
[Banana Sweet Potato (★★)]
-As the skin is thick, it seems it should be thoroughly cooked before eating.
-Sweeter and softer than a standard sweet potato.
[Uses—Food]
[☞Click to view the recipe.]
[Roasted Banana Sweet Potato (★★)]
-It has been roasted to perfection! Be careful not to burn yourself when peeling the skin.
“…”
One came out raw, and the other came out roasted.
“Why is it roasted?”
[Through the blessing of a Lesser Spirit, you have obtained a perfectly roasted banana sweet potato!]
“It’s a fire spirit.”
The only spirits Lion had encountered so far were fire spirits. If so, it likely enchanted the hand hoe during its creation or while the iron was being smelted.
Spirits liked people who could see them, and they were quite prone to repaying kindnesses, after all.
He partly thought that, probabilistically, any edible foods might simply pop out roasted.
‘This is pretty good.’
Lion looked down at the piping hot sweet potato in his hands.
It had been roasted so thoroughly that a savory, sweet fragrance wafted into the air.
Moreover, perhaps because it was roasted, there wasn’t any dirt clinging to it.
“…Should I eat first?”
Now that he had the hand hoe and sickle, obtaining the ferns would not be a problem. Taking a snack break sounded good.
Lion settled himself onto a suitable tree stump and carefully peeled the skin of the banana sweet potato.
Srrk.
“How convenient.”
Certainly, because the skin peeled away as thickly as a banana’s, he was spared the annoying trouble of getting sticky sap all over his hands.
On top of that…
Gulp.
His mouth watered before he even took a bite.
The inside of the sweet potato within its skin glistened as if it had been brushed with honey, giving off a rich, sweet aroma.
Without hesitation, Lion bit off a large mouthful of the sweet potato.
“…!”
It’s hot!
But that was all the better.
The best time to eat a sweet potato was when it felt too hot to put in your mouth, wasn’t it?
Hoo. Hah.
The sweet potato yielded tenderly, steaming with a comforting warmth.
As he rolled it around in his mouth, the heat and sweetness mingled and surged against each other.
‘It’s delicious…!’
Against his teeth, it yielded as softly as a sweet potato mousse.
Perhaps because so much of its sweet sap had seeped out, there was less of the typical pastiness, and most importantly, the distinctive nutty savor of a staple crop kept it from being cloying.
You could compare the sensation to eating a regular sweet potato together with a sip of milk.
‘I should dig up a few more of these.’
Lion inwardly marveled as he devoured the entire sweet potato in an instant.
Having something sweet enter his system cleared his head, and the satiety left his stomach feeling comfortingly full, which was truly nice.
Looking around in that state, even the forest that had looked so gloomy and crammed with plants to gather appeared remarkably beautiful.
The birds sang as the sun rose, small animals nibbled on wild raspberries.
And delicious sweet potatoes!
“…I’ll gather the potion ingredients first, and then I’ll have another one.”
Tapping his moderately filled stomach, Lion finished his light test and immediately surveyed the area.
He was looking for the materials for the Mental Fatigue Recovery Potion.
“Ah, there they are.”
A cluster of ferns.
It was a spot he hadn’t dared to touch back when he gathered with his bare hands, as the ferns were mixed with weeds and were too tough to handle in their original state.
But now.
Shk!
Lion used the sickle to first mow down the surrounding weeds and clear the area, then began gathering the ferns with the hand hoe.
As a result.
[Red Sun Fern (★★) acquired!]
[White Star Fern (★★) acquired!]
[Blue Moon Fern (★★) acquired!]
He was able to obtain every one of the ferns, each with the full two stars attached.
“I should be good just gathering all the ferns in this area.”
There was a high probability that just one or two 2-star ingredients wouldn’t produce a 3-star potion.
Fortunately, perhaps because the ferns were primarily classified as herbs, they didn’t show up pre-cooked.
Lion didn’t stand up again until dawn had broken and the sun was climbing high toward midday.
“Alright. I’ve gathered more than enough, so let’s head back.”
Wiping the sweat beading on his forehead, Lion gazed with evident satisfaction at the ferns inside his inventory.
A thoroughly sufficient quantity of ferns was now safely placed within.
* * *
And at the same time.
“Haaah…”
Lion’s attendant, John, expelled a sigh deeper than the abyss.
It was the third day since Young Master Lion had received some order from the Family Head and left the mansion.
‘Whatever did he go to a smithy for?’
It was, frankly, a location he couldn’t comprehend with his common sense.
It was clear that the only thing the Family Head would demand of the Young Master was a potion, and he had heard that Head Maid Sylvia had provided him with potion-making tools.
So why on earth had he been sighted at a smithy, rather than the forest!
“It seems the Young Master has yet to return.”
“Ah, Head Maid.”
John respectfully bowed his head at the voice coming from behind him.
Head Maid Sylvia was another elder figure who wielded tremendous influence within House Asteri.
She had served longer than anyone in this mansion, and she was the person who handled every affair within the family more wisely than anyone else.
And that was not all.
Rumor had it that even the lucid and composed Family Head held Head Maid Sylvia in deep respect.
What could that statement possibly mean!
It meant that even the Family Head fully trusted and relied on the Head Maid.
“How long has it been?”
“He has been out for three days.”
“Heh…”
Sylvia did not pursue the conversation further, merely giving a faint smile.
Of course, her inner thoughts were far more complicated.
‘Our little Young Master isn’t usually like this.’
At first, she honestly thought he was just using Petrick’s order as an excuse to get away from the stifling mansion and rest.
Frankly, creating a potion that had an effect on Petrick in the first place was already a remarkable feat.
She had judged that anything beyond that was impossible.
She didn’t know much about potions, but she at least knew that good materials and talent had to come together to make one.
Hence, she’d assumed he was simply roaming about under the pretext of a plausible reason…
That wasn’t it.
“That scholar-type looks like the Young Master, so what’s he doing in a smithy?”
“I don’t know something. They say he’s making something?”
“Under that ill-tempered Millionth Mudu, they say he’s learning something to the point his nose bleeds?”
This was what Sylvia heard while she was out of the mansion purchasing goods.
That instead of simply running away——
‘I don’t know exactly what Petrick told him.’
In any case, he was racing all over the place busily to create a potion for Petrick to drink.
Frankly, it was rather admirable.
Sylvia recalled the potion she had seen in Petrick’s room several days ago.
‘…Though that doesn’t mean that sort of potion would work on me.’
In fact, her heart was unsettled precisely because she found it admirable.
It was all unnecessary hardship!
Wasn’t he a child she had been watching over since he was born?
Even on the many occasions he had been at death’s door.
Even after seeing generations of Asteri, Lion alone was Sylvia’s sore spot.
Perhaps because he had been mindful in his own way even while withering away mentally, it filled her with an utterly needless sense of pity.
And very slightly, ridiculously, she even began to feel a small sense of expectation… truly…
“Oh, Young Master!”
Just as Sylvia’s thoughts were reaching that point, John, who was beside her, scrambled frantically toward a figure approaching from afar.
It was Lion.
“Good heavens! What on earth happened to you to look like this!”
“It’s nothing.”
Sylvia made her way toward them at a slow pace. And then she became stirred without realizing it.
Because Lion’s appearance was a complete mess.
The first thing she noticed was his hands.
The two hands holding the sickle and hand hoe were dotted with blisters that looked painful at a single glance.
And that wasn’t all.
There were also bloodstains on his shirt, and traces that looked like burns scattered here and there.
“Good heavens, what is the meaning of all this!”
“I’ll get better if I put some ointment on it. I said I’m fine. Oh, Grandma Sylvia.”
Sylvia stared at Lion, who smiled brightly at her as soon as he saw her.
That sight looked so exactly the way he did when he was young that Sylvia’s heart ached with a pang of emotion.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had felt this way.
“Young Master.”
Sylvia called out to Lion with a slightly trembling voice.
“You heard it from Grandfather, right? Just wait a little longer.”
“…”
“I’ve got the ingredients now, so it’s really going to be soon. It hasn’t been a week yet, has it?”
“You obtained the ingredients?”
Without a word, Lion showed her the hand hoe and the sickle he was holding.
“That’s why I made these. Anyway, go rest. I’m fine, so go see to your own duties, John.”
Leaving behind Sylvia and John, who had frozen up in their fluster, Lion slipped straight into his room.
While John rushed off in a fuss claiming he simply had to bring him some medicine, Sylvia could only stand rooted to the spot, staring after Lion’s retreating figure.
‘Truly… he can make a potion of that level?’
She could hardly believe it, but the look on Lion’s face was that of someone brimming with certainty.
* * *
And that very night.
Sylvia looked at the potion sitting inside her room alongside a letter.
Lion had succeeded.