Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 227

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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 Can Wait, But I’m Going to Heal — Episode 227

Leaving Sontip visibly flustered by his own voice, Lion entered the Blacksmith’s Forge naturally and examined the Crystal.
Just as the murmurs outside suggested, the Crystal bore not a single blemish.

‘No wonder the Dwarves are in trouble.’

Not that he hadn’t anticipated this situation.
Once the Alchemy Cauldron showed damage, he’d sensed this wouldn’t be easy.
Which is precisely why he’d entrusted it to the Dwarves.
Weren’t they the most knowledgeable people in this Village when it came to gems?
If they couldn’t succeed, it meant the Crystal couldn’t be polished by ordinary means.
And Lion’s prediction had proven correct.
They had failed.
But in failing, they’d given him something valuable: a clue.

“Even if it’s just speculation, it’ll help in our current predicament. Go on.”

At Lion’s words, Sontip nodded and opened her mouth.

“It’s a fairy tale that any Dwarf knows. About the ancient ‘things created by the Dwarf King’…….”

The story itself was a fairy tale crafted so that even children could understand the Dwarf King’s greatness.
The Dwarf King could make anything with a snap, but among his creations, certain materials proved especially troublesome.
Hot-tempered as he was, the Dwarf King would stubbornly attempt such work alone at first, only to fail, and later sought help and counsel from others to overcome the difficulty together.
This gem was the same.

—The hardest and most brilliant gem in all the world thumbed its nose at the Dwarf King’s hands!
—Hmph! I hate Dwarves as small-minded and hotheaded as you!
—Wounded by the gem’s words, the Dwarf King wept and fled into the forest.
—And it was there he met them.
—The most beautiful and noble Spirit in all the world, one who could wield every Element!

“A Spirit?”
“Yes, that’s right.”

Sontip recited the next part of the tale without pause.
To summarize from that point: with the comfort and aid of that ‘Spirit who could wield every Element,’ the Dwarf King succeeded in polishing the gem.
From that day forward, Dwarves held Elements imbued with Spirit power as their finest materials, passed down through the generations.
Just as Mudu had claimed his place at the Blacksmith’s Forge, which held a Fire Spirit’s power.

“……Ah.”

But here was the thing.
That Spirit.
Didn’t it seem familiar?
Lion turned his head to regard the small bird perched on his shoulder.

A start.

Nature flinched visibly, then averted its gaze.
While everyone else listened to Sontip’s story, Lion spoke in barely a whisper, ventriloquizing the question.

“You had a past like that?”
“Chirp.”

Nature, whose gaze had been evasive, finally heaved a long sigh and stared into the distance with a wistful expression.
It was the look of someone recalling, ‘Well, such things did happen in my younger days.’
And also the look of embarrassment at having heard one’s own history recounted through another’s lips.
Somehow her plump cheeks had flushed a rosy pink.

“So… if this jewel is truly the same one from that fairy tale, I’m afraid it would be beyond our current capabilities.”

It was a remarkably clear-eyed conclusion from a dwarf who would ordinarily hammer away a hundred times, a thousand times, until success came—but it made sense.
The first reason was plain enough without explanation.
Spirits.
In the modern age, dwarves could typically sense the presence of a spirit, but they could not communicate with one.
He suspected the fairy tale had simply emphasized the Dwarf King’s extraordinary abilities for the sake of the story.
And the second reason.

“After all, that was merely a tale about the Dwarf King.”

The Dwarf King was revered by all dwarves, but most considered him a creature of fiction.
Even among dwarves who loved a challenge, none would waste themselves on something without grounding in reality.
There was too much else to do.
Lion watched the dwarves exchange glances of mutual defeat, then turned his gaze last of all to Sontip, who had raised the matter in the first place.

‘She’s the one most disappointed,’ he thought.

Sontip, who had brought this knowledge to Lion, was the one among them least able to hide her letdown.
She’d said she no longer made works of her own craft, but she was a dwarf all the same.
Gem-Cutting Tools she hadn’t touched in ages, a jewel like nothing she’d ever seen—it was exactly the sort of thing to draw out passion that had been lying dormant.
Mudu, too, had heard the tale through, and it seemed he could not help but sigh inwardly.

‘I wanted to see Mother’s hands at the jewels again. What a pity.’

When Mudu was young, his mother had never let go of her craft.
So each time he and his brother would compete in making things alongside the other children in the Village, and when he returned late, he would find his mother polishing gems—a memory both peculiar to dwarves and warm to Mudu alone.
A fragment of the past, unique but tender…… yet.
One cannot beg someone to do the impossible, no matter how much one wishes it.
Most of all, the jewel’s owner seemed to have accepted defeat.

“Is that so? Truly a shame.”

Lion made a show of disappointment as he recovered the Crystal.
The dwarves who practiced gem polishing as their trade showed their own regret, but they did not stop him.
Without even a mark to work from, there was no way to polish it.
Least of all in the Asteri Territory, which was not their own workshop.

“If you should ever come to the Bydentis Territory at a later time, might we be permitted to attempt it once more?”
“Yes. We shall endeavor to sharpen our skills until then. After all, haven’t our techniques grown quite refined of late?”
“Fair enough. Should opportunity arise, I’ll call on you again.”

He meant it as a small comfort—a vague promise to visit someday.
But Lion did not leave it at that.

“Now then, this gem polishing you speak of—might I try my hand at it? Suddenly I’ve grown curious.”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve taken an interest in this, then?”
“Just now. Is there perhaps a dwarf here who can teach me well?”

The dwarves looked at one another, then brought their short arms together in an embrace, pressing their foreheads close.
Whisper, whisper.

“Come to think of it, he was rather unusual when we met before.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case….”
“And he said he was friends with Mudu.”

They lifted their heads briefly, glancing once at Lion and once at Sontip, before pressing their foreheads together again.
The collision was so dynamic that when their foreheads struck, it produced the sound of a watermelon cracking—but being a dwarf, he seemed entirely unfazed.
Presently, once the urgent conference had concluded, one of the dwarves cleared his throat and replied.

“Ahem, if it’s a matter of instructing a beginner, our Sontip is just the one for it.”
“Yes, that’s right. We’ve all learned from Sontip.”
“Come now, Sontip—do show the young master, won’t you?”
“No, no—we ought to step aside and let you take over!”
“Quite right! Shall we head to the tavern?”
“Mudu, we’re counting on you to tidy up!”
“Y-yes…….”

The dwarves, as though bound by some silent accord, spoke their awkward pleasantries in turn, then departed the Blacksmith’s Forge swiftly on their stubby legs.
In an instant, silence fell upon the forge that had moments before been abuzz with noise.

“Oho ho…… where did those rascals suddenly get such a notion…….”

Mudu’s mother, clearly flustered by the situation, wore an awkward smile as her face flushed crimson, and she jabbed her elbow sharply into Mudu’s belly.

“Oof.”

Mudu, clutching his stomach from the sudden blow, seemed to grasp what had transpired and quickly opened his mouth.

“R-right. There’s no dwarf quite like our mother. I’ll vouch for that.”
“Oh, is that so? Well then, if my ‘friend’ Mudu says so, it must be true.”

Lion deliberately emphasized the word friend as he gazed at Sontip.

“Then would you consider teaching me a technique or two?”
“My goodness, what’s with the formal speech all of a sudden?”
“Even a moment’s instruction makes one a teacher, after all. Ha ha. And you’re the finest blacksmith in our territory—Mudu’s own mother.”

As with all mothers, praise for one’s child melts the heart.
Sontip made no attempt to hide her laughter, breaking into warm chuckles, then retrieved an apron hanging in the forge and tied it on.
It was clearly one from Mudu’s collection of aprons, and judging by how pristine it was, he must have managed to prepare things somehow before his mother’s arrival.

“Well then, let me gather what we need. You and Mudu just make yourselves comfortable and chat.”

With that, she headed off in another direction to make her preparations.
The moment his mother disappeared from view, Mudu leaped onto a chair in the forge and locked eyes with Lion.

“You odd fellow!”
“Hmm?”
“Damn it, thank you!”
“…….”

It seemed Mudu had climbed atop the chair to say something, but it turned out to be words of gratitude.

“I haven’t done anything worth thanking me for.”
“Tch! Don’t play dumb with me. I know everything.”

Everything about what?

“You can already cut and polish this crystal!”

Mudu whispered as quietly as he could manage, in case his mother might overhear.

“But you’re letting me and my mother have the credit anyway, aren’t you?”

Lion, who had been straining to hear the words spoken at barely more than a breath, let out a genuine laugh.

“I’m not?”
“Wait, you’re saying you can’t?”
“That’s right. Half yes, half no. I simply don’t know yet.”
“But you can do it?”
“Yes. Though I’ll need the help of a skilled Gem Polisher to make it work.”
“……Ugh. This time, even I can’t wrap my head around what you’re saying.”

If he could do it, why claim he couldn’t?
It made no sense, yet this eccentric had never been wrong before.
And one thing was certain.

“So you really do need Mother’s help, then?”
“Yes. I’d like her to teach me the fundamentals properly.”

There was not a trace of dishonesty in those words.
Lion had figured out how to work with the Crystal.
This time, at least, he could pull it off without flaw.
Because he was planning to use an item he’d seen at the Shilling Shop.

“Ohoho, have you been waiting long? Shall we begin the lesson?”
“Yes. I’ll do my best to learn.”
“Such spirit in a young man! Now, let me teach you the proper stance first.”

Sontip taught Lion the fundamentals of Gem Polishing and refinement with all her heart.
And Lion……

“……My goodness?”

He followed along with remarkable concentration.
Even Sontip, who had trained many Dwarf apprentices, was astonished at the level.
Soon, polished gems began to pile up beside Lion—gleaming and smooth—and Sontip’s passion rose to her very scalp.

“Goodness! I’ve never had a student pick it up so fast!”

She’d found a student worth teaching!

“This next step is rather difficult—shall we try it together?”
“Yes!”
“Ohoho!”
“Hahaha!”

Mudu, watching the two of them, shook his head slowly.
He could feel how the two of them must look to others.

“Tch.”

Yet his heart wasn’t troubled at all.
It had been a long time since he’d seen Mother’s face shine so bright.

“Hmph.”

Mudu wiped his face roughly with the back of his hand.
Perhaps it was seeing Mother’s radiant smile after so long, but his eyes kept—no, his nose kept streaming. Sniffling away, Lion continued to hone his fundamentals.
With each sniffle as background music, Lion kept grinding and polishing.

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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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