Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 241

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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 I Know Nothing About – Let Me Just Heal Chapter 241

Lion collapsed where he stood.
The nausea on the return journey had been far worse than on the way there.
There seemed to be some other reason for it as well, but he had no time to identify the cause.
How much time had passed since then?
Lion found himself lying in the Recovery Room of House Asteri, a place he used nearly as often as his own bedroom.

“Ugh…….”

Lion groaned, forcing his eyelids open.
His entire body ached as though he’d been thoroughly beaten.

‘I was fine in the Dragon Lair…….’

After groaning for a while, Lion suddenly sat up, startled by his own thought.
A dragon!
There had definitely been no dragon in the painting.
Which meant…….

-You’re awake?

“Sigh…….”

Lion covered his face with both hands and exhaled a long, deep sigh.
Why did his bad premonitions always come true?
Lion stared at the thing that absolutely should not exist in his room.
An Earth-Bound Dragon.

‘Its name was…… Tiamatark, wasn’t it?’

In any case, the creature was watching him from outside the window.
With eyes absolutely brimming with curiosity.

-You just sighed because of me!

“I did. So what?”

-……Well, not that I’m planning to do anything about it!

By dragon standards, such an attitude from a human was remarkably irreverent, but what could this Earth-Bound Dragon possibly do?
At most, he’d be a nuisance.
The mere fact that Lion had deigned to respond to him had already wiped away his scowl, and now he was grinning widely.

‘But why is he outside the window?’

It seemed he couldn’t get inside…….
Lion rose to his feet with a creaking sound, as though his joints were as worn out as old hinges, and moved toward the window.

-See? I really do have a good eye for people!

“How did you follow me?”

-A predictable question, but you asked it very well!

The Earth-Bound Dragon’s mouth seemed eager to speak, so he explained his entire journey to Lion in great detail.
Perhaps because he was a spirit, his voice carried perfectly even with the window between them.
To summarize…….
He had latched on.
me.
I’d asked how it got attached in the first place, but the Earth-Bound Dragon just gave me an answer like “It just worked somehow?” — the kind of thing Urhil would say while teaching Barg.

-And you noticed it too, didn’t you? Right there…….

“Quiet. Quiet.”

Lion knew the rest of what he was about to say without hearing it.
But he didn’t want to face it directly right now.
That’s when something more unsettling happened than he expected.

-Hhm? Mmph!

His mouth literally sealed shut.
The Earth-Bound Dragon’s eyes went wide as saucers.
Lion was equally flustered, but the turmoil in his heart was just unsettling enough to keep him from showing it.
Lion mentally took back his demand for silence.
Then, just like that, his mouth came free.

-Phew! Wow, you can already do that? You’ve got talent!
-Anyway, I used your body as a medium. And I made sure to pay the price for it.
-What do you think of the gift? Like it? Most humans would be over the moon about it.

“……Honestly, I’m grateful for the timing.”

Of course he’d have to touch that tender nerve.
Lion found himself wondering how to deal with this oversized, dopamine-addicted bloodlust incarnate, then quickly shook his head.
True, it was galling that he’d simply made Lion’s body his own private lair. But he had paid quite the hefty entry fee.
Which was also why Lion’s body ached all over, like it might fall apart.
A Mana Conduit.

‘A new Mana Circle appeared.’

So was this a third circle?
But that felt far too ambiguous to say for certain.
How could he describe it?

‘It just feels like something grafted on…….’

If the Mana Circles Lion naturally possessed and could expand were the Asteri Family Estate, then the circle this Earth-Bound Dragon had given him felt like a vacation home.
A vacation home so enormous and lavish that Lion couldn’t possibly use all of it.

-I took inspiration from that brush.
-Too dangerous for a kid to use. Right, right.

“…….”

So this Mana Circle probably had a Child Lock on it.

-But it’s good you can pull it out in an emergency, yeah?
-If things get rough, I could always slip in for a moment and pull you out. Right?
-……And as compensation, I’d just get a teensy bit of fresh air too. Like, a week or so?

That was definitely the real goal.
Lion deliberately chose silence.
Sensing Lion’s mood, the Earth-Bound Dragon hesitated and shifted tack.

-Four days…….

“…….”

—Yes, that’s right. How about one day? One day work for you?

I’d figured it out just moments before.
This Earth-Bound Dragon—he has to obey his master’s commands.

‘And he knew that coming in, surely.’

More precisely, it was clear he’d accepted subordination despite the risk, because the outside world held far more entertainment and pleasure, and he wanted to enjoy new experiences.

—Understood! One hour! And I’ll have you parked somewhere safe by then!

I’m not a carriage, so why would he park me?
Still, it wasn’t a terrible arrangement.
Among the things Lion currently possessed were a few items good enough to save a life.
Most notably, the Fragment of Sacred Sword the Second Imperial Prince had given him.
One life’s reprieve.
But consider this.
Would that actually solve anything?
No.
Even if, by some miracle, Grandfather’s Staff could transport me to a ‘safe place.’
A body that’s already experienced death once wouldn’t move immediately.
It would probably be impossible.
Even if some superhuman willpower pushed it to move, the psychological shock would be devastating.
But if that Earth-Bound Dragon put his consciousness to sleep and moved instead?

‘A dragon’s mental fortitude is extraordinary.’

He couldn’t use his full power, naturally, but he could manage to bring Lion back to the Estate.

‘What he’d do in the meantime, though… no idea.’

—Huh? Why are you looking at me like that? I’m not a bad dragon!
—You know dragons can’t lie, right?

“I’ll give it positive consideration.”

—Great!!

He answered with surprising cheer.
What could I say? He was tall as a beanpole, had lived for an incomprehensible span of years, yet his mental age felt like a primary schooler’s.
Lower grades, even.

—…This human. He seems to be thinking something disrespectful?
—Anyway, looks like we’ll be together for about a hundred years now, so let’s get along. My name is Tiamatark.

He must have figured out who I was while I was lying there.
After introducing himself, Tiamatark started rattling off various pieces of information.
I’d been lying down for about two days, and the pain I felt in my body would fade within a week at least.
He added that visiting a place with potions effective against pain might speed recovery further.
And then.

—Ah, the map—I’ve locked it away over there.

“The map?”

—Didn’t you know? It’s been hovering around near you since we left the Lair.

A map?
I turned my head in the direction Tiamatark’s finger pointed, and sure enough, a drawer had a locking spell cast on it.

-You’re still human…… No, what are you trying to do to Lion?
-Ah, I had no choice but to borrow this body, so don’t complain!

The moment Lion was about to press further about the Map.

Click.

The door swung open without so much as a knock.
Only a handful of people could enter Lion’s hospital room so freely…….

“Awake, I see.”
“Grandfather.”

Patrick and Elvia stepped inside, their faces etched with worry far deeper than usual.
From their expressions, it was clear they already knew everything.

‘……They must have heard about the Map being locked away.’

They’d surely seen Tiamatark, who had briefly ‘borrowed’ Lion’s body.

-It was those two who drove me out in the first place.
-Normally they’d be a quick snack, but they seem rather fond of you, so I let it slide.
-I didn’t lose on strength, not at all!

He’d lost on strength.
Even a dragon’s soul would have to tuck tail before an Eighth Circle Archmage and a witch.

“How’s your body? Any pain?”
“Haha…… Just a bit of soreness, nothing else.”
“Thank heavens. And that creature?”
“I can sense its presence outside the window.”

Elvia answered in Lion’s stead.

-Hmph. Can’t hear its voice though.

Elvia must be capable of sensing Tiamatark’s aura, at least.
Perhaps it was something only a witch could do, though the exact mechanism escaped Lion’s understanding.

“Sigh…….”

Patrick breathed out a long sigh of relief, watching his grandson move about without incident.
He hardly knew how frightened he’d been just days ago.
He’d anticipated trouble when Lion went to the Dragon Lair—serious trouble.
But it never crossed his mind anything could go this far.
Patrick’s gaze shifted to a drawer sealed with powerful locking magic.

‘But that’s hardly the main concern…….’

When Patrick pressed the dragon for answers, it claimed the Map was merely incomplete.
Dragons cannot lie, so that much would be true.
If so, then whatever its future significance, it posed no immediate danger to his grandson.

‘The real problem is the creature itself.’

The fact that Lion had extracted a dragon’s soul.

‘And worse—it’s taken residence.’

I learned the general circumstances from the dragon that dwelled within my grandson’s body.

‘If it were the Empire, fewer would notice…….’

Should people from the Elf Kingdom arrive, it would surely create a troublesome situation.
More precisely, those elves would pester my grandson relentlessly.
Just like that dragon.

‘……As I thought.’

Patrick came to a decision and spoke with measured gravity.

“Lion.”
“Yes, Grandfather.”

Lion caught the shift in his grandfather’s tone and sensed this was coming.
He’d certainly discovered the map in the drawer.
Now he would ask why it had been hovering around him.
And if he answered wrong…….

‘Everything will unravel like a string of sausages.’

For instance, touching the Hero’s belongings would reveal certain memories.
And Grandfather, keen as he was, might well connect the letter from the Second Imperial Prince to this very situation.
Here it comes.
He was wondering if he should invoke the right to remain silent when——

“Would two pets not be sufficient?”
“……I beg your pardon?”

—A pet? What? Me an animal? This body?

Patrick, unable to hear Tiamatark’s protest, chose his words with utmost care to spare his grandson any hurt.

“Of course, the estate is spacious enough to keep hundreds of pets. If you wished, we could arrange such accommodations. However, cohabitation is not such an easy matter.”
“Cohabitation, sir?”
“Indeed. The compatibility between beasts and dragons is not naturally good.”

—There’s a beast here? No wonder the training went so well.
—But then, why keep that fur-shedding thing?

Tiamatark’s words proved him right on that score.
But a pet…….

‘Ah, well.’

Grandfather had no idea that creature wore a human form.
As for Elvia, she knew only his general location.

“And if it were not a beast but a Spirit King, it would surely be able to see a dragon in soul form just as you do.”

Patrick pressed his case with every argument he had.
And his reasoning was quite sound.
The existing ones might well take offense.

“Hmm.”

Lion conceded the point.
Not that it was his choice, but if those two came to dislike him, keeping him would be awkward.
Otherwise, he’d have to keep him at a distance, just as things stood now.

‘Hearing this, it seems the connection with the Dragon Lair hasn’t been severed after all.’

Certainly, among Tiamatark’s many tales, there had been mention of things like “you can return to the Dragon Lair together.”
Of course, the problem was what came after: “but you won’t be able to come back out.”
That statement meant Tiamatark could be sent over there alone.

“You speak wisely, Grandfather.”

-A human? Lion? Surely you don’t mean to exile me back to that dreadfully boring Lair again?

“Yes. So hurry and send that dragon——”
“We’ll need both their permission first!”
“……Pfft.”

As though she’d anticipated this turn of events, Elvia covered her mouth with her fist from behind Patrick and let out a stifled laugh.
In any case, Tiamatark’s interview had begun just like that.
And at the same moment.

“Master! I’m here!”

Freyanya arrived at the estate after a long assignment, looking slightly disheveled from travel.

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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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