Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 101

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Heir or Not, I Just Want to Heal — Episode 101

Barg moved wherever his feet took him.
Wishful thinking versus harsh reality.
There was no food to be found anywhere inside the Knight Order.

Growl!

The more he thought about food, the hungrier he became.

“Sigh.”

Did he really need to go all the way to the Well?
He’d thought that once he became an apprentice knight, he wouldn’t go hungry.
He wouldn’t even have to leave the House Asteri!

“If you formally join the Knight Order, you won’t need to leave this place.”

It was a proposal that would tempt anyone.
And Barg had been even more enticed.
After all, he had nowhere else to return to.

‘If Rickson hadn’t saved me back then……’

Barg lingered briefly on the memory before shaking his head.
In any case, he owed a debt of life; someday he would repay the kindness.
And now, an opportunity had presented itself.
Recruitment into the Knight Order!
It wasn’t something given to just anyone, and his own nature was rather timid, but Barg was confident.
His strength was formidable—surely he could manage somehow?
So he’d answered with determined cheerfulness.

“I—I would like to join the Knight Order……!”
“All right. Then let’s get you changed and start the initiation ceremony.”
“……Yes?”

Rickson laughed brightly and set things in motion with efficient dispatch.
Before Barg had even recovered from his shock, he’d been assigned a personal Wooden Sword, given a dormitory assignment, received a brief orientation, and training had commenced.
All of this had happened less than a week after he’d given his answer.

‘Things were good back then……’

The training was brutal, but the food was delicious!
Moreover, no one objected even if he ate as much as his heart desired.
The other apprentice knights were quite kind as well.
He’d worried they might shun him for having come via recommendation, but nothing of the sort occurred.

“Huh? What’s the difference? If someone’s incompetent, they won’t last anyway.”
“Only those who can survive thrown anywhere are recruited here—so who cares if you came with a recommendation?”
“Yeah, yeah. Keep your spirits up. Just don’t run away.”
“Eat as much as you can while you have the chance.”

Rather, everyone encouraged him as if rooting him on.

‘They’re all good people……!’

Barg failed to catch the hidden meaning and spent the week in relative bliss.
Even the terrible muscle soreness, even the training sessions that left him gasping until he felt like retching—everything seemed sweet.
I can do this!
There was no discipline at all!
As long as you did your job well, nobody bothered you.
Better yet, meat appeared in the meals every single day.
In fact, he’d rarely had access to it before coming here.
Barg shook his head, recalling the past week.
Right. Even if he’d lost this time, dinner would still come, so there was no need to sink into despair.
Besides, compared to the past, missing a single meal was hardly something to complain about.

‘I have to plant myself here and never leave!’

Absolutely. Without fail.

“And I need to apologize to Jake too…….”

He’d lost control without meaning to and hurt him.
He’d need to be extremely careful about that.
If he wasn’t, something truly terrible could happen…….

“I should do more Meditation.”

With that resolve, he made his way back toward the Well.

Sniff-sniff!

Something fragrant drifted to his nose.

“Mm. Hm.”

What was that smell?
Barg focused all his senses on his nose and slowly searched the area around him.
A grain scent, faintly sweet and nutty…….

“This is……?”

Barg spotted something covered in shadow and approached it as if drawn by an invisible thread.
When he lifted the cloth slightly, he found it full of grain submerged in water.

“Barley?”

By the look of it, it seemed to be some variety of barley.
But why was barley soaking in water?
Barg swept his gaze around, and a single thought occurred to him.

“Could it be……!”

Had Lion done this for him?
Of course. After such grueling training, he wouldn’t simply be left to starve.
Lion must have provided food that was reasonable to eat while teaching him to learn survival skills on his own!
If Lion could have read that thought, he would have burst into tears denying it, but unfortunately, only Barg was here now.

“And it’s not even outside the Knight Order grounds…….”

Barg’s face suddenly brightened!
Meat would have been better, but then the meaning of the Initiation Ceremony would have been diluted, so he must have prepared grain instead.
Besides, other people wouldn’t be able to chew raw grain, but Barg could, couldn’t he?

‘Still, eating it right here feels a bit wrong.’

Barg glanced around quickly, picked up the basin full of soaked barley, and slipped into a secluded spot.
And…….

Crunch, crunch!

The sound of raw grain being chewed echoed for a moment. Then, after some time had passed.

“Hehe.”

Barg, his expression blissful, set the bowl and cloth back where they had been, patted his swollen belly, and returned to the Training Ground.
And then.

“Oh, there you are!”
“Hey. We were worried you’d disappeared. We’ve been looking for you.”
“Huh?”

A few apprentice knights who had wagered their lunch on Barg’s victory called out to him.
In their hands were dried meat and hastily roasted potatoes.

“Here. This is your share.”
“My… share?”
“Right. Usually newcomers wander around for a bit, and the senior apprentices prepare food for them to eat when they return. But we couldn’t see you anywhere, so…”

The apprentice knights apologized profusely, mentioning that the potatoes had gone cold.

“…”

Wait. Then what did I just eat?
Barg’s eyes went wide as he stared at the dried meat and potatoes.

“You didn’t already fill up on water from the well, did you?”

It wasn’t water from the well.
He’d poured all the barley-soaked water onto the ground.
The senior apprentice knights, catching something in his trembling gaze, forcibly pressed the food into his hands.

“We’re fine. You eat.”
“Go on, finish up and join us. We’ll get started on training.”

Barg watched as his seniors and comrades departed abruptly, and his face drained of color.

“Oh… what do I do?”

It seemed he’d stolen and eaten food that someone else had prepared.

* * *

A full day later, Lion returned to where he’d left the barley.
And then.

“Huh?”

He found the bowl empty.
Well, not entirely empty.
A few grains of barley remained in the bowl, and some of them were split and broken.

“A wild animal, then…”

He knew there were no animals living at the Asteri Family Estate, but this was clearly the trace of a wild beast.
Yet could something like a squirrel have consumed this much?
It was too much grain for a single bird, especially since it had been soaking in water.

“I don’t see any trace of spilled water.”

Lion folded his arms and surveyed the area.
Then.

[Barley Grain]
-Barley that was soaked but not finished.

Discovering the grain scattered across the floor, Lion moved slowly toward it.
Barley grains lay scattered about as if forming a trail.
When he ventured into a shadowed corner……

“Hmm?”

He spotted traces of barley grains that had been crushed or scattered.
Which meant someone had taken the basin containing these fairly heavy barley grains, drained the water, and eaten every last bit of it here.

‘If it were a beast, it would have dragged them away.’

He saw no such tracks.
So it had to be a person.
But could a human, even a hungry one, consume raw uncooked barley in such quantities?
Impossible.
Besides, any servant of House Asteri would know.
That nothing in the house—no matter what it is—must ever be stolen.
So it couldn’t be the work of a servant either……

“Something’s off.”
“Chirp.”

As if agreeing with Lion, Nature fluttered down and began inspecting the surroundings with dainty steps.

“Nature. What do you see?”

Nature searched the area quietly, like an eagle hunting prey, then suddenly darted forward and snatched something in her beak!
It was.

“……Hair?”

What appeared to be animal fur.
But it had a reddish hue to it.
Lion took the hair from Nature and examined it.

[Humanoid Hair]
-The hair of an uncommon Red Wolf Humanoid.
-The texture is poor. Could they be ill?

A humanoid?
And if it was a Red Wolf Humanoid—that clan was known to be the most resilient among all humanoids.
But from what Lion understood, Red Wolf Humanoids……

‘Barely existed anymore, as far as I knew.’

The reason Lion knew so much about wolf humanoids was his secondary character.
The race of his Druid character was wolf humanoid.

-The Druid is a wolf humanoid capable of learning both Spirit Summoning and Beast Taming simultaneously by harnessing the forces of nature.

This was the description that appeared when the Druid first debuted in In the World.
Since the setting required understanding animal speech and even direct communication with spirits, the Druid had been designated as an exclusive class for the humanoid race.
So even Lion, who cared nothing for stories, couldn’t help but know something about Humanoids.
But.

‘That’s a different matter entirely.’

No—Red Wolf Humanoids were hardly a common race to begin with.
Moreover, his grandfather had known the Druid’s true identity.
If there had been a Red Wolf Humanoid in the family, wouldn’t his grandfather have noticed first and protected them?
He wouldn’t have let them survive out here, stealing grain like this.
Which meant one of two things.
Either they were living with their identity hidden.
Or they’d wandered as a wolf and somehow drifted to this place.

‘Either way, I should meet them.’

The missing barley wasn’t a disaster—just needed to be cleaned again and soaked.

“How do I find them?”

He wasn’t certain of the details, but they clearly didn’t want their identity exposed.
Humanoids tended to invite troublesome complications after all.

“Wait!”

Lion jolted upright, struck by a sudden idea.

“There’s no need to overthink this.”

Lion already knew the answer.
Make a snack the Humanoid would love!
He didn’t know the exact reason, but that wolf was clearly starving right now.
And their health didn’t look good either.
That’s why they’d resorted to chewing on grain that’s hard to digest—survival, pure and simple.
They had to stay alive by any means.
So the answer was obvious: tempt them with something delicious.

‘Right. A wolf’s basically the same as a dog, after all.’

Lion nodded to himself.
Plain meat alone might not be enough, though—but really delicious meat? How could they resist?
They wouldn’t be able to.
Lion got to his feet at once.
And then…

“Eek!”

Barg, arriving late, caught sight of Lion carrying a large bowl as he hurried away.

‘Oh no! This is bad!’

Stealing someone else’s food was certainly a serious matter.
But stealing food from someone who appeared to be the Young Master of House Asteri—that was far worse!

‘I have to apologize right away—wait, where is he going? Either way, I should f-follow him.’

Missing training for a week would be a serious problem, but one had to apologize properly, didn’t one?

‘Forgive me, Captain!’

Barg glanced carefully about before cautiously trailing after Lion.
As discreetly and swiftly as possible.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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