Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 108

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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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The Successor Doesn’t Know, But I’ll Take a Healing Break — Episode 108

Lion gazed at the display with genuine admiration.
He knew Patrick was a Grand Mage and understood the breadth of his power, but witnessing it unfold before his eyes gave it a different weight entirely.

“You’re not exhausted, are you?”
“It feels good to limber up after so long.”

And indeed, he looked considerably refreshed.

‘Come to think of it, Elvia enjoyed this too.’

As that thought crossed his mind, Patrick explained how to lift the sealing and the precautions that came with it.
Among them, the danger of being drawn into a maelstrom of Mana and——

“Should anything go awry, flee the Labyrinth at once. I’ll answer for what comes after.”

It was the worry of a grandfather fearing his grandson might come to grief.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

Lion smiled crookedly, tucked the Mana Stone into his pack, and set off toward the Labyrinth without delay.

* * *

Rickson scrutinized Barg’s condition carefully, as Lion had instructed.
And he disclosed everything he had hidden away.

“Eclipse Syndrome? You mean……?”

Barg, a beast-kin with virtually no knowledge of his own kind, was deeply startled to learn the name of his illness.

“That’s right.”
“…”

Barg’s pupils trembled with unease.
If the Commander’s explanation held true, then the sickness that came over him whenever moonlight touched his skin, the way he couldn’t keep pace with training he’d mastered just yesterday — all of it stemmed from this Eclipse Syndrome.
And worse still……

‘I’d die?’

While harming countless others in the process?
Barg was afraid of death.
He had only just begun to be treated as a person, to fit in among those around him.
Jake, in particular — whose palm had been torn open — tended to him without so much as a complaint.
When he hurt, Jake worried for him. When food appeared, Jake would slip an extra portion his way.
When Barg faltered in training, Jake simply patted his shoulder as if to say it was natural, offering awkward comfort.
And the Young Master — what of him?
Such kindness, such delicious food, was new to him.
The joy of giving, the understanding of it — everything was new.
That’s why he’d made it his purpose to repay them someday. But now he was told it couldn’t be done.
Barg was afraid of death.
No, death itself didn’t frighten him.
It was the loss of what he had gained that terrified him.
The thought of destroying it with his own hands, of crumbling away — he couldn’t bear to imagine it.
In that instant, Barg’s pupils dilated and his eyes grew sharp.

“Barg.”
“Yes.”

Fortunately, he still snapped back to awareness the moment Rickson called to him.
Barg lifted his head slowly, meeting Rickson’s gaze.

“Commander. I don’t… I don’t want to hurt anyone!”

So perhaps instead.
Before the words could form on Barg’s lips, Rickson seized his shoulders in an iron grip.

A sharp intake of breath.

The force was so overwhelming that his dulled senses snapped into focus.
Barg’s clouded reason lurched suddenly back into clarity.

“There is a way.”
“A… way?”
“Yes. Young Master Lion appears to have found some solution for you. Until then, you must keep your wits about you. Do you understand?”

Barg had much he wanted to say.
The fear that if he lost consciousness before then, he couldn’t foresee what damage might follow.
The dread that if the method failed and he spiraled into rampage regardless, what would become of him.
And the guilt—knowing how much those around him were worrying.

But he said nothing.

Yet he remained silent all the same.
Rickson’s hands on his shoulders were unbearable—the grip was too strong.
It hurt, and it was desperate.
Barg clenched his fists hard.
His nails, sharpened now like a wolf’s, dug into his own flesh, but the pain brought his mind into even sharper focus.

“I understand.”

He had to survive by any means, to endure.
One more day in his right mind, one more day clinging to the thread of reason—that was all that mattered.

* * *

But the world does not bend to intention alone.
The crisis came not long after Lion entered the Labyrinth.

“Commander!”

Jake, who had been watching Barg at Rickson’s request, came running with a face gone ashen pale.

“Barg—Barg is—!”

The first signs of rampage were already showing.

A heavy silence.

Rickson’s expression darkened.

‘Too fast.’

It had not been long since Young Master offered his solution.

‘It was fine just days ago.’

The condition had accelerated far more rapidly than expected.

‘Damn it.’

Rickson clenched his fist and pushed himself to his feet.
Not a complete rampage yet. So then…….

‘I’ll have to use that method.’

It was what Lion had conveyed through his attendant.
If the problem arose sooner than expected, Barg would be sent to Mimir Forest.
And no one else would be allowed to approach — the forest itself would be controlled.
And finally…….

‘I would face him directly to keep him from attacking anyone.’

The strength of a rampaging wolf-born flares explosive for just a moment.
The problem is that he loses reason and thrashes about with lethal intent, and his body charges forward like the undead, heedless of damage to himself.
In other words, Rickson — who must subdue him while avoiding inflicting unnecessary wounds — cannot endure for long either.

‘Still, I have to hold on as long as I can.’

While managing the strain on Barg’s body.
Rickson took up his sword and rose to his feet.

“Sir, Captain…… Is Barg…… all right?”

Rickson looked at Jake.
The boy was chewing his lip nervously.
Truth be told, Rickson didn’t know either.
He was simply buying time.
But…….

“Yes. He’ll be fine. That’s why we’re sending him to Mimir Forest right away.”

He lied.
Jake was the one in the Knight Order who had been so attentive to Barg’s care.
Moreover, though Barg was something of a sore spot, Jake was to Rickson like a son as well.
There was no need to let him see him falter.

“Yes. I understand.”

As Jake finished his bow and turned to leave.

“I will lend my aid.”

The door opened, and someone stepped inside.

“Young Master!”

It was Ricshel.

“It’s dangerous. We cannot know when he will lose his reason.”
“I have the family head’s permission.”
“……!”

Rickson’s eyes widened at Ricshel’s words.
The family head and the eldest young master, and now the heir himself……!
This was something that should never happen under ordinary circumstances.
The entire House Asteri was mobilizing for a trainee knight.

“Truly, I don’t know how to repay such kindness…….”
“You misunderstand.”

Ricshel spoke in his characteristic, cold tone.

“I am merely using the House Asteri’s knights to test the measure of my newly acquired strength. You simply offered a favorable opportunity.”
“……!”
“So there is no debt of gratitude for you or that apprentice knight to repay. Rather, I should be thanking you.”

Ricshel finished speaking and offered a faint smile.
Rickson’s eyes grew red as he watched.
The young master had just formally declared that he bore no burden on their account.

“Now, show me the way.”
“……I shall lead you, sir!”

He swallowed back tears that threatened to spill and set himself in motion.
In Rickson’s mind, House Asteri was a great family.
Tremendous achievements, treatment without discrimination.
He had lived believing it an extraordinary honor merely to serve the heroic Marquis Patrick Asteri.
But now…….
The Asteri were growing, taking another step forward.
He did not know precisely what it meant, but something about serving as a knight who protected them set his heart ablaze.
It was different from mere honor.

‘How proud I am.’

Rickson made a silent resolve.
For this pride, he would give his body and soul.

* * *

When the moon began to rise.
Lion entered the Labyrinth with the sealed Mana Stone and walked toward the Lake.
He crossed the dark forest without lighting a fire, and when he reached the Lake, the moon’s reflection shone brightly on its surface.

“Nature.”
“Chirp.”

Lion stepped onto the water without hesitation, as he and Nature had arranged beforehand.
Normally he should have sunk straight through…….
But Lion’s feet left small ripples as he floated upon the surface.
It was thanks to Nature’s aid.
The sensation was strange, but he had to move quickly.
He needed to gather as much Lunar Essence as possible before the moon set.
Lion walked to a place where leaves did not obscure the moon and cast no shadow.
Then, just as he had prepared beforehand, he placed Luminous Stones around the Lake and scattered Luminous Stone powder to connect them.
It was a formation similar to, but slightly different from, one used for spirit summoning.
Finally, he stood in the center of the Luminous Stones and placed the empty sealed Mana Stone there.

“There.”

This way, he would receive far more moonlight than in the shadowed forest.
The moonlight hanging in the sky and the moon’s reflection on the water.
The Labyrinth was rich with Mana, so it would surely be rich with lunar essence as well.

‘Now comes the final part.’

Lion raised the Key he held and inserted it into the Barrier.
It was sealed tight so that nothing could invade or escape…….

Click.

The sound of a key turning in a lock echoed through the air.
Lion stepped back from the Mana Stone a few paces, and…….
The unsealed Mana Stone rose higher than his line of sight, floating effortlessly into the air.
In response, the moon reflected on the lake’s surface gleamed all the brighter.

Whoooosh!

Then the Mana Stone began greedily devouring every trace of energy around it.
The Labyrinth’s Mana, the essence of nature, and even the moonlight itself — all of it.
Like a covetous dragon sweeping up beautiful jewels of every color with unbridled hunger.
The interior of the Mana Stone filled rapidly once more.
The empty, severed pulse beat again with life.
Colors swirled together within it, but the lunar radiance burned most vivid of all.
Lion sat down hard on the water’s surface and watched.

“Quite beautiful, actually.”
Chirp.

It was as if the entire night sky had poured down into the stone.
Countless starlight of every hue, the deep black of night, and the bright silver of the moon.
Unlike the calm water around it, leaves near the lake’s edge danced in wild spirals, swirling through the air.
The fresh scent of grass rose and filled the lake itself.
The Mana Stone, greedily absorbing the surrounding energy, finally began to sink slowly back to earth as the moon waned low.
Lion rose and caught it in his hands before it could touch the water.
The Mana Stone still thrummed with restless energy, hovering faintly above his palm and humming softly.
And within it…….

[Moonstone (★★)]
-A Mana Stone infused with Lunar Essence through a special method. It possesses nearly identical properties to the Lunar Essence itself.
-Fine cracks run through it as if it might shatter at any moment, yet it still glimmers faintly, like a beating heart.
[Uses- Alchemy, ??]
[☞Click to view recipes.]

Blue-white energy writhed within its depths.
Though incomparably lower in rank and potency than the highest-grade Mana Stone that had been there before, and marked with cracks as though it would shatter at any moment…….

“All the better.”

[You have learned an easier method of transmuting Moonstones!]

“Hm?”

That was unexpected.
The method for creating Moonstones more easily simply materialized in his mind!

‘With this method, I can generate Moonstones at my own pace later on.’

Each Moonstone carried a considerable cost to produce.
Premium-grade Mana Stones were expensive enough, but…….

‘The labor costs…….’

He’d needed his grandfather’s help — no one else’s.
But with this newly learned method, slow though it was, he could produce a steady supply of Moonstones.
‘First, I’ll make a tonic from this one.’
Lion walked out of the lake with Nature and carried the Moonstone to the alchemy cauldron, then…….
Without hesitation, he ground it hard with a mortar and pestle!

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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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