Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 264

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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 Uncertain, So I’ll Focus on Healing — Episode 264

Patrick answered calmly.

“Indeed. The Saintess’s power hasn’t wavered here—the Barrier is far more solid than anywhere else. How did you know?”

He was genuinely surprised.
Without sufficient knowledge of Contamination and practical experience, it would be nearly impossible to discern such a thing.
The area itself was already heavily tainted by Demon Magic.
The Great Barrier kept it perfectly isolated; without that, the Contamination would spread far beyond its current bounds.
Yet his grandson had grasped this truth at a glance, despite setting foot in the Great Barrier for the first time.

‘Did the dragon tell him?’

It was possible, but unlikely.
Even a dragon, it seemed, labored under considerable constraints while existing as a mere spirit.
Patrick recalled the presence of Tieramatrak that had inhabited his grandson’s body not long ago.
It had been loose and unhurried—tension itself seemed a stranger to it.
The dragon’s manner of speech, by Patrick’s standards as a man who had spent his entire life among the nobility, bordered on cavalier.

‘And yet, that presence was not to be dismissed.’

Even Patrick and Elvia could not afford to lower their guard in its wake.
Of course, the fact that it dwelt within his grandson’s body compounded the unease—
Still.

‘A being of such magnitude could not even measure a fragment of its own power.’

So this Contamination must have been detected by Lion himself. But how had he confirmed it?
In that moment of wonder—

“Ah, it’s the soil.”
“The soil?”

Lion bent down and scraped at the parched earth, scooping up a handful of dirt.
The dark soil he held was brittle and dry.

“It’s drier than the soil in the previous areas.”
……

Patrick’s experience offered no explanation for this.
Moreover, if he’d deduced the situation merely from the ecosystem—

‘Wouldn’t the previous areas have been in better condition?’

Even among the toxic plants, life sprouted and grew.
In whatever form, vitality persisted.
But not here.
It was wasteland. Nothing met the eye.
No toxic plants. Nothing whatsoever.
Rather than respond, Patrick waited for Lion’s explanation.

“When was the last time it rained in the Great Barrier area?”
“……Indeed. I see.”

Rain never fell in the Great Barrier region, no matter how thickly the clouds gathered or how deeply the fog settled.
It was a consequence of the area’s peculiar nature.
And yet, the soil near the Great Barrier was not merely damp—it was thoroughly saturated.
In some places, it was swampland, sucking one’s feet down with each step.
He’d concluded it was simply due to heavy contamination and a high concentration of Demon Magic.
As a mage himself, he sensed it too, and the priests had said the same thing.
But it seemed his grandson had drawn a different conclusion.
And there had to be a reason why he was raising the subject at all.

“So you’ve figured something out.”
“It’s peculiar how only this land remains so dry. I suspect there’s a reason the Previous Archbishop’s essence has been so well preserved.”
“You’re saying that it’s not merely because the Saintess’s Holy Power was preserved well enough to limit contamination—but that through some mechanism, even her Holy Power itself has been kept intact.”

Such hypotheses hadn’t gone unproposed over the fifty years.
The Great Barrier was one of the only collaborative undertakings between the Temple and the mages.
Setting aside their mutual dislike, maintaining and strengthening the Great Barrier was something akin to their shared mission.
And yet.

‘Every investigation ended in failure.’

Even in the last large-scale survey, ten years ago, they’d found nothing.
How many mages and priests had been mobilized then.
Patrick surveyed the desiccated region of the Great Barrier with a gaze heavy with conflicting emotions—a place he’d seen countless times before.

‘There’s nothing here.’

Digging the soil yielded only dust-like earth, and even the occasional structures or stones offered no clues whatsoever.

Before he could assume Lion possessed some exceptional power, there remained the question: what had brought the Hero here in the first place?

‘Perhaps I’m reading too much into this.’

All manner of thoughts crowded his mind.
Yet when one of those many hypotheses emerged anew from his grandson’s lips, something long resigned in his heart kindled again.

“Then what would you have me do?”

It was that small spark that made Patrick ask the question with a touch more eagerness than usual.
The shift was so subtle that others might have missed it entirely.

‘Ah.’

Fortunately, Lion—who read his grandfather’s expressions with sharp attentiveness—caught it.

‘How much it must have weighed on him.’

His grandfather had considered the Hero a friend.
And while the attachment to his other companions perhaps hadn’t been quite as deep, it ran in a similar vein.

‘This land must have been a thorn in his side.’

More precisely, he must have resented himself—a man wielding the immense power of the 8th Circle, yet unable to determine the fate or whereabouts of his closest friend.

‘If only he’d been alone, it would have sufficed.’

But his grandfather had always carried responsibilities.
A house. An Empire.
A wife. A daughter. And grandchildren.
And even the mages who looked to him alone.
His duty to those around him had forced him to hold back, unable to pour everything into the search.
And…

‘For all his strength, Grandfather was no reckless fool.’

You’re stubborn enough not to turn away, even when things get sharp, aren’t you?
But I’m different.
Lion grinned and continued his explanation.

“I’m not certain, but among good medicinal roots, many work that way.”

Lion brushed the earth from his clothes—it fell away like desert sand—and stood.

“They absorb and accumulate all the nutrients from an entire mountain to fuel their growth. So we need to find it.”

Something that’s draining all the vital energy from this land.
It must be somewhere beneath the ground.

“Turn over this land for me.”
“In the last survey, we didn’t even find traces of plants, let alone roots.”
“Exactly. So we need to dig deeper.”
…….

Would digging a little deeper actually solve anything?
Lion caught the doubt on Patrick’s face and simply smirked.

‘Too much to explain.’

In truth, he’d discovered something else just moments ago.
While Tieramatrak was behind his grandfather making excuses, Lion—seized by a hunch—had examined the ground with an expert’s eye.
And he’d confirmed it.
Something beneath this earth was glowing faintly.

‘Like medicinal herbs.’

But the range was impossible to gauge.
Light was emanating across the entire stretch of low-contamination land.

‘Though I can’t tell if it’s spread light or something else.’

So what choice did he have? Check it all, one piece at a time.
Truth was, it would’ve been tedious work, but Lion could’ve managed it alone.
Even if it took time, he surely would’ve found an anomaly eventually.

‘Like in the Labyrinth.’

But unfortunately, time was running out.
Which meant resorting to more drastic measures.

“I’ll handle the rest.”
……Huh.

He’d always known his grandson caused trouble on a massive scale, but wasn’t this going too far?
Using Earthquake Magic to overturn the earth was hard enough, but controlling it without touching the Great Barrier’s mana was a different order of difficulty entirely.
And then there was restoring the land to its original state afterward.

‘Normally, it’d be impossible.’

But if the one doing it were Patrick…
An 8th Circle Grand Mage, then it was a different story.
And clearly this troublemaking grandson knew that fact well.

“You’re putting me to excellent use.”
“Haha… you’ll help, won’t you?”
“Are you aware that if I fail halfway through, you’ll face serious consequences?”
“Failure… in the middle of it all?”

Grandfather?
Patrick received a look that said such a thing was absurd, and simply closed his mouth.

“Well then. Since you understand, come take a look.”

Patrick stepped forward in front of Lion and gauged the scale of the area.
At this scope, a simple calculation wouldn’t suffice.
Even for Patrick, this was work that required considerable effort.

“It will take some time. In the meantime, don’t step in front of me.”

Lion withdrew to the rear as instructed.
Then Patrick drew Mana from empty air like ink, and began tracing Magic Circles with both hands.
As one pair of Magic Circles was completed, his fingers immediately began drawing a second pair.
The four Magic Circles in total grew steadily larger, until they filled the entire parched region.

‘……Extraordinary.’

Now I could truly understand how Grandfather had been able to construct the Great Barrier.

“From this point forward, the Magic Circles will lift the earth to a certain depth. Four times in total. You must search within that span.”

Lion nodded at the additional explanation that anything beyond this would risk touching the Great Barrier’s magic and thus could not be done.

“I’ll manage it.”
“Lion…… you needn’t succeed.”

Grandfather seemed half-convinced, half-doubtful.
It was reasonable enough—he had surely spent considerable time examining this place himself.
But still.

‘The more I hear words like that……’

“The more I want to succeed?”
“……You really are something.”

Patrick couldn’t help but laugh softly.
The way he acted indifferent while burning with competitiveness was strikingly reminiscent of the Hero—the one who had fought alongside him in the past to save the world.
After this Great Barrier, it was possible that present thoughts might become truth.
One thing.

“You’re like me.”

Patrick had no intention whatsoever of handing his grandson over to the world.
What he was doing now was merely an act born from curiosity—curiosity that belonged to Lion, and to Patrick of Asteri as an individual.

“I’ll begin.”

Patrick swept his arm as though conducting, lowering one of the Magic Circles to the ground, then lifting it upward.
And then.

A deep rumble echoed.

Remarkably, the earth broke apart in perfect rectangular sections and rose into the air with exact precision and depth!
A piece large enough to contain an entire Village!

“Hmm, this is merely the depth the investigation team had already confirmed.”

Patrick, who had cast the Magic, affixed another Magic Circle to the ground with an indifferent expression, then lifted it skyward.
And once more.
So the third Magic Circle soared heavenward as well.
Even Patrick of Asteri, renowned throughout the land, was beginning to sweat at his brow, his jaw clenched tight with strain.
Maintaining three Magic Circles without a proper staff was no small feat—nothing short of extraordinary.
Tieramatrak, watching from the side, could feel his pupils dilate at the sight.

A low hum echoed through the air……!

Light began to bloom steadily brighter in Lion’s eyes.
The brilliance was nearly blinding, yet he still couldn’t discern the exact location.
But.

‘It will work.’

By the time his grandfather’s fourth Magic Circle was raised, whatever lay hidden would surely reveal itself.
If not, Lion suspected the solution would be as simple as tearing the earth apart.

“Grandfather. I’m counting on you for the final Magic Circle.”
“Hnn!”

Patrick, with a sharp intake of breath, managed to lift the fourth Magic Circle.
In that instant.

A tremendous, ear-splitting roar tore through the earth…….

A sound unlike anything before—deafening, all-encompassing.
From the ground. From the sky.
Thunder cracked.

‘A curious thing indeed.’

It had been fifty years of investigation.
A decade ago, the great excavation had not pierced the entire land this deeply, though parts of it had reached this very depth.
Back then, nothing had appeared.
But now…… it was different.
Something was there.

‘Why?’

Patrick clenched his teeth to maintain the Magic Circles, his mind racing.
And unbidden, a single phrase his grandson had spoken moments ago surfaced in his thoughts.

A type that drew sustenance for growth.
Yet contamination in this land had been minimal for fifty years.
Then where on earth was it drawing such nourishment from?

‘No.’

That was not for him to verify.
Patrick opened his Mana Circle to its fullest while keeping the earth elevated, and spoke.

“Lion! Go and see for yourself!”

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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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