Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 219

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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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Successor or not, all I want is healing. Chapter 219

In any case, I was relieved to hear a name I recognized.
The Head Butler didn’t catch the two servants whispering to each other and set off at once to find Elvia.
Or rather, he tried to.

“Is there something troubling you, my lady?”

If only Elvia hadn’t appeared so abruptly just then.

“Gasp!”
“Not again—so sudden!”

The servants jumped at her appearance and scurried off to their duties in a flurry.

“??”

Only the Head Butler seemed to notice nothing odd.
And no wonder—Bydentis the Marquis was equally unpredictable in his comings and goings.
He’d grown so accustomed to people vanishing and reappearing without warning!

“Ah, how fortunate the timing. Actually, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you about……”
“Me, my lady?”

Elvia gazed at the Head Butler with a serene smile.

‘A simple-minded fellow,’ she thought.

Well, she’d been bored a moment ago, and this would do nicely.
He seemed the type she could toy with, and judging by his temperament, even if she indulged her whims somewhat freely, trouble was unlikely to follow.
And if something did go wrong, she could always make that part ‘disappear.'”
All in all, he was a serviceable plaything.
Whether the Head Butler knew her thoughts or not, he launched straight into his purpose.

“The thing is……”

He believed he’d explained it clearly enough, but his account had been quite lengthy, so to summarize:

“You want me to teach you how to manage the estate, then?”

Nod, nod—the Head Butler bobbed his head earnestly.

“Hmm.”

Elvia tilted her head thoughtfully, resting a finger against her chin, and pondered at her leisure.

‘Old memories,’ she mused.

Elvia hadn’t managed the household matters well from the start either.
She couldn’t have; it was only natural.
Elvia was a witch.

Crash!
Boom!
Creak!

Elvia recalled those days for a moment.
Back then, her inability to control her strength meant she’d destroyed more than half the estate more times than she could count.
Had the head of House Asteri not been a fairly accomplished mage across generations, it would surely have ended in disaster.
Compared to that, the Head Butler’s anguish was rather endearing.

‘What was it again….’

Right. Back then, a certain servant had told him something from somewhere between bewilderment and exasperation.

“Perhaps we should start by organizing the tasks you can handle perfectly.”

Yes. She’d said exactly that.

“…Perfectly, you say?”
“Precisely as the word implies.”

Elvia had added her explanation with considerable kindness.

“Start with the easiest matters and work through your list gradually. That way you’ll spot the gaps, and we can focus training on those weak points.”
“Ah, I see…!”

Sound logic.
If anyone else had heard it, they might have said, “Isn’t that just common sense?”
But the Head Butler was different.
With bright, eager eyes, he’d listened to every word Elvia spoke.

“Next, you should review the fundamentals of tasks you cannot yet perform. If you wish, I can teach you directly here.”
“Would that truly be possible?”
“If you’re willing, Head Butler.”

It was free labor, after all.
Elvia swallowed the rest of that thought.

“Then I shall ask it of you.”
“Of course. Shall we begin with the dishes?”

Both smiled brightly.
The servants watching from afar trembled with unease.
Elvia, who’d become the power behind the throne the moment she arrived at this manor, now had even the Head Butler of a swordsmanship clan at her command!

‘We… we should keep our distance….’
‘Surely the next head maid will be Elvia herself.’

The servants hastily finished their duties and fled the floor as though escaping for their lives.

* * *

While the Head Butler and Elvia enjoyed their intimate working hours, Marquis Bydentis was resting in the guest chamber to recover from his journey.
Lion had settled at his desk for the first time in ages.
Before him lay paper, a pen, and books scattered in abundance.
It was an image that ill-suited his usual conduct.
Lion himself felt the strangeness of it.

‘When was the last time I sat properly like this?’

Certainly not since the possession.

‘Before the possession, this was my daily life.’

Well, except back then there was a bit more clutter, a tumbler filled with strong coffee, energy drink cans overflowing from the trash—all the scattered things a company employee needed to ‘survive’—but still.
Regardless. The reason Lion was sitting here now was…

“Because of this creature.”

Lion tapped the bottle of pigment with a light touch.
Truth be told, the Recipe had come together easily after just a few examinations as expected.

‘The Recipe itself has no problems.’

The only issue was that the cost-to-benefit ratio was slightly unfavorable.
It was natural that new materials were expensive, but this was on a different level altogether.

“So I need to put in three different gemstones, each a different color…”

Well, House Asteri would have no problem with it, and even Bydentis shouldn’t face difficulties up to that point.

‘But it doesn’t seem feasible for mass production.’

Besides, no matter how much wealth one possessed, gemstones as a resource were finite.
Bydentis seemed to want to make a purchase, but I doubt it’ll work out.

‘Well, that’s something to think about once I finish anyway.’

So the Recipe was complete—but why was Lion still sitting here?
That was because…

Whoosh.

Lion picked up his pen and stared at the material list hovering before his eyes.

[Place an Aquamarine Infused with Dawn’s Dew. 0/1]
[Place a Diamond Tinted with Fresh New Shoots. 0/1]
[Place a Ruby Pickled in Crimson Pomegranate. 0/1]

The gemstones came with conditions attached.
For ordinary people, they would seem remarkably abstract.
How could one possibly infuse, tint, or pickle gemstones?
Yet Lion wrote down the methods without hesitation.
The nib, heavy with ink, scratched briskly across the paper with a faint sound, and each time he turned the page came a soft rustle.
Sometimes it was writing, sometimes diagrams.
After some time had passed, a simple Recipe took shape beneath Lion’s hands.

“Let me see…”

Lion glanced over the Recipe he’d written.
It’d been a while since he’d done this sort of thing, but he thought it had come together quite cleanly.
Back when he was a junior employee, he used to draft reports by hand before writing them formally to prevent mistakes—he never thought that would prove so useful here.

‘…I really did do all sorts of things at the company.’

Writing reports by hand when the world was like this now… No, forget it. There won’t be such work anymore anyway.

“Anyway, this is done.”

Lion rolled up the Recipe, tucked it away, and rose to his feet.
Now that he was prepared, it was time to begin the groundwork.
The first place he needed to go was…
The Labyrinth.

“Oh, that’s right.”

But before that, he needed to pick up some gemstones from the storage room.

* * *

“This spot suits me well.”

Upon arriving at the Labyrinth, Lion headed straight into the forest.
This grove, thick with trees of modest size, seemed perfect for setting up his preparations.
That something being—

Flap!

Lion drew a waterproof cloth from his sleeve and spread it open.
It was the same cloth he’d used back when treading soybean paste blocks.

‘So this is what waterproof means.’

If he hung this cloth from a tree, he’d be able to gather dawn dew far more easily—and in considerable quantity at that.
Quite a lot, indeed.

“Nature, Fus. Will you help me?”
“Peep!”

Nature fluttered up with a flutter and used wind to lift one end of the cloth, carrying it to the tree.
Apparently finding it an amusing game, Fus quickly clamped the opposite end between his jaws and pulled taut.

“That’s right. Fus, stay put there.”
“Grrrrng!”

Fus made a rumbling sound, whether from joy or something else, and planted himself firmly in place.
He’d grown since then—the way he dug in with both front and hind legs cut quite a martial figure.

‘…Adorable.’

In Lion’s eyes, of course, it was nothing but cute.
Suppressing a smile, Lion secured the cloth tightly to the tree with rope for the final touch.
Once all four corners were tied to suitable trees, a low-slung canopy took shape, its center sagging gently inward.

“Perfect. Now I just need to place the Aquamarine here at the end…”

Done.
Tomorrow morning, he’d come early and process the Aquamarine.

“Next, then…”

Lion moved on to the next location without delay.
The Mimur Forest.
Wasn’t it the very best place to find freshly sprouted shoots?
Lion wandered through the Mimur Forest as if it were his own home, carefully harvesting fresh sprouts from branches that had only recently broken bud.

[Fresh Shoot Sprout (★) obtained!]

“Weaker than I thought.”

Lion concentrated harder, plucking the shoot with careful fingertips—tap.
Gently, as one might harvest tea leaves, tap by tap.

[Fresh Shoot Sprout (★★) obtained!]

This time, he’d obtained a higher-grade sprout.
The sensation beneath his fingers felt softer than silk itself.
A distinctive green fragrance filled the air.
Though small and delicate, it carried a vitality that felt entirely genuine.

‘Let’s use it as is.’

Normally he would have used purified water from the hot spring, but it seemed a shame to let that fragrance be masked.
Lion rinsed the fresh shoot sprout in cold purified water, then steeped it whole in several alchemical solutions.

Whoosh.

The leaf-shaped sprout dissolved like spun sugar, and in its place emerged a liquid—thick and verdant, with a clarity that spoke of concentrated vitality.

“Now, to add…….”

Splash!
Lion dropped a diamond into the solution to tint it, and that was that.
And the final ingredient.

“Pomegranate.”

There was pomegranate in the estate’s kitchen, but Lion turned his steps elsewhere.
Specifically…….

“Young Master? What brings you here?”

He stood before Buck, who was no longer an apprentice but a full servant now.

“Buck, are you busy at the moment?”
“Sir? Is something the matter?”

Buck searched for the young master’s intent.
Every now and then he’d ask about how his father’s brewery was doing, but this was the first time he’d asked if he was busy.

‘Ah, does he need knowledge about that?’

While not quite an expert like his father, Buck answered with solemn determination to do his best to help.

“I’ve just finished the important tasks, Young Master.”
“Good. I had something I wanted to ask you about.”
“I’ll do my best to answer anything.”
“Does your brewery happen to make pomegranate wine?”
“Pomegranate……wine?”

Not grape wine, but pomegranate—it was unusual, certainly, but the question itself was more straightforward than Buck expected.

“Yes, we do. We also produce wine from various other fruits.”

In fact, ever since Buck had mentioned that beverage the Young Master had made during his last leave, his father had been constantly experimenting with something new.
Though the brewery’s main business was beer production, they were well-equipped to also produce wine.

“Would you like to see your father?”
“Sir?”

Buck was taken aback.
To see him? Well, yes—he hadn’t seen his father since that last leave.
Though they lived in the same territory and he could visit if he wanted, without access to a warp gate like the nobility, it was difficult to meet except during his leave.

“Y-yes, I would like to see him, but…….”
“A day trip would be fine, wouldn’t it?”
“Yes. If it’s just a matter of meeting him……but.”

Was that even possible? The words lodged in Fus’s throat, refusing to emerge.
The Young Master before him had broken into that peculiar smile again, his eyes alight with an intensity that made thought itself seem reckless.

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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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