Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 31

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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’s Not My Concern; I’ll Just Heal 31

Well, if it doesn’t work, I suppose I’ll just grab any book and go.

“Bring me something.”

Shortly after, Patrick’s aide arrived with a Potion Bag.
Lion was taken aback as he inspected the bag.

‘This is…’

Mental Fatigue Recovery Potions—wasn’t that what these were?
He’d made several batches after the first gift and given them away, so there must have been some left over that remained unopened.

‘But he just said there was no need to bring anything grand.’

He must have been worried after all.
Lion accepted the potions without letting a smile show.

‘At this point, I’d love it if something truly worthwhile came out—just for Grandfather’s sake.’

Alchemy, especially potions—he definitely had a gift for that.

“I’ll be going.”
“Be careful on your way, Brother.”

Lion pricked his finger with the needle that had been prepared, his heart light.

Prick!

Having been pierced by the needle so many times before, there was a slight sting, but nothing unpleasant about it.
Lion pressed his bleeding finger to the surface above the library door.

Whirrrr!

Just as he remembered, a circular Mana Circle appeared beneath his feet.

Whirrrrr!

…And then another new Mana Circle was drawn over it several more times.
Simultaneously, geometric patterns were inscribed on the library door, shining brightly.

“Huh?”

It hadn’t been like this when I entered in my memory.

Whoooosh!

“Urgh!”

Before he could even process the mystery, the ceiling and floor swirled like a vortex, and a shattering headache crashed down on Lion.
In an instant, his form vanished without a trace.
He could just barely hear the voices of people around him at the very end…

[You have achieved the ‘Library of Books’ Achievement.]
[Intelligence increases by 10.]
[You gain authorization to access all texts within the library.]
[Permanently increased Mana by 10!]
[A highly pure Mana Circle has been generated.]

‘What on earth is happening?’

Had the dizziness always been this severe?
Achievements? Mana Circles?
Amid a flurry of notifications, confusion clouding his mind, Lion lost consciousness.

* * *

At the moment Lion was engulfed in inexplicable light and sucked into the Labyrinth.
A tremendous tremor rippled through the Banquet Hall within the House Asteri.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

The ornate chandelier swayed like a pendulum, and the Magical Candles that had always illuminated the house brilliantly flickered pitifully.

“Kyaaah!”

The Noblewoman watching the ceremony through a Magical Orb let out a piercing scream and collapsed.
Unable to keep her footing against the tremendous shaking, she tumbled, her dress tearing at the hem.
Still, she could not maintain her composure and continued screaming.
The great trembling did not cease.

“What, what is this?!”

Terror was not limited to the nobility alone.
Against a calamitous shaking that rivaled a great earthquake, the house’s servants and all the mages of House Asteri fell into panic.

“War, is it war?”

The elderly scholars and mages who had not witnessed the ceremony’s progress suspected invasion.

“The, the Heavens have grown wrathful!”

The priests waiting outside for the celebration to end cried out to the divine and crawled along the ground.
And Priest Licht, who had felt the tremor while strolling through the Garden, was no exception.
The difference was that he understood precisely what had caused it.
Rather than panic or flee, Licht slowly closed his eyes, brought his hands together, and prayed.

“May no one be harmed…….”

Like someone who had foreseen this calamity.

* * *

After the commotion had subsided.
Fortunately, the surge of mana that erupted from the library soon quieted.
Patrick had immediately expended all his mana to cast Protective Magic across the estate, excluding the Labyrinth.
Thanks to this, the tremor ceased, and both nobles and servants escaped unharmed.

“All have evacuated safely.”
“Servants elsewhere are also unharmed except for minor injuries…….”

Knight Commander Rickson glanced at Patrick’s face.
In this situation, the one who was dead—or rather, had not escaped—was only one person.
Lion Asteri.
The eldest son of the house, who had come of age in his Coming-of-Age Ceremony today.
The young master whom the patriarch clearly cherished, though he pretended otherwise.
Yet Patrick Asteri’s expression remained entirely unchanged.

“Cross-reference the Banquet Hall visitor list, then verify once more.”
“Yes, understood.”

Rather than adding to the conversation, Rickson hurried away to lighten Patrick’s burden.

“Ricshel.”
“…Your orders, Lord Patriarch.”
“Ensure the healers tend to the injured, and arrange accommodations for the remaining guests. After that, I leave the matter in your hands.”
“What will you do, sir?”
“I’ll wait at the Labyrinth entrance.”
“…Lord Patrick, that’s dangerous. The Labyrinth’s current state is unknown.”

The Second Imperial Prince, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
His words were sharp and piercingly calm, yet undeniably true.
This was an accident that had never occurred before—not once in all their years.

“Dangerous?”

But what emerged from Patrick’s lips was a light laugh.
Both princes’ gazes, and Clarentia’s, fixed upon him.

“You’re saying I’m in danger over something as trivial as this?”

Patrick, remarkably, maintained his composure.

“I was merely concerned that this small household disturbance might have alarmed our guests—I never expected the distinguished visitors here to be rattled as well.”

He even seemed to reproach them for their bewilderment.

“Ricshel.”
“…Yes, Lord Patriarch.”

Ricshel bit his lip and lifted his head.
The reddening around his eyes betrayed the tears he held back.
Patrick placed a hand on Ricshel’s shoulder without a word.
With that solid weight came a tremor that made Ricshel catch his breath.

“Nothing will have gone wrong. Go about your duties.”

It was heavy.
A brief but unmistakable transfer of the patriarch’s burden onto his shoulders.
And in that moment, he understood.
He understood his grandfather’s frame of mind.

“I understand.”

Ricshel made his decision at once.

“I’ll help as well.”

The ashen-faced Second Imperial Prince quickly moved to Ricshel’s side.
The First Imperial Prince, who had done nothing but tremble until now, hastened to join them.
As everyone began to move toward their respective tasks.

“Lord Patriarch of House Asteri.”
“Lord Bydentis. Do you have something more to add?”
“Is there any possibility they’re still alive?”
“…”
“You think there is. I understand. I’ll help.”
“Why?”
“What do you mean?”
“From Bydentis’s perspective, it’s more profitable not to help our house.”
“I’ve arranged for the formal attire. And I don’t care for things to go awry. That will be all.”

Patrick watched the young lord’s receding figure disappear in an instant, then turned to leave.

“Hmm, that’s no ordinary insight.”

Elvia, who had slipped out from the shadows, opened her mouth.

“Not someone to underestimate, then.”
“Should we place a barrier around the Labyrinth?”
“Do it. Not a word of this can leak out.”

Patrick stood before the ruined Labyrinth and withdrew an old pocket watch.
One of the countless spells woven into the “Grand Mage’s Favor” was linked to this pocket watch.
A spell to track location.
As long as the person wearing the formal attire lived, he could always know where they were.
He’d placed it in anticipation of just such a contingency.

“So that’s how it gets used.”

One might call it Lion’s foresight.
Patrick smiled bitterly, his gaze fixed on the Labyrinth.
His grandson was alive in there, he was certain.

“I’ll restore the Labyrinth’s exterior now.”

Whatever lay inside, the outside at least needed repair.
That way, his grandson would have a way out when the time came.

* * *

At that same moment, deep within the Labyrinth.

“Sigh.”

Lion, bearing the weight of everyone’s concern, was perfectly fine—exactly as Patrick had predicted.
To anyone unaware of the true situation, the scene might even have seemed peaceful.
A verdant meadow dotted with flowers blooming in profusion.
A fair-haired man lying at ease, head pillowed on a book, arms folded across his chest.
To any observer, he looked like some bookish noble who’d come out for a picnic.

“This is maddening.”

Of course, the reality was nothing of the sort—it was only the appearance that matched. Lion ran his hands through his long hair, mussing it thoroughly.
The locks he’d so carefully combed lay in disarray once more.

In any case, in In the World, the Labyrinth was regarded merely as a skill farm.
It was treated like a dungeon, true, but one no one actually tried to clear.
Yet the moment Lion entered, the Dungeon Clear achievement had popped up, and now here he was.

It was the reward collection map—accessible only if you cleared any given dungeon.
A space where rewards could be claimed after completion.
While the layout of each Dungeon differs, the structure remains unchanged—sprawling grasslands in every case.
Collect the reward there.

[Would you like to break the Dungeon’s illusion?]

A prompt appears.

[Yes.]

Press the button, and the whole group gets sent outside.

“……At least I’m safe for now.”

If I can’t collect the reward, I’m trapped here forever—but at least I have time and space to think things through.
I seemed to have tumbled down from somewhere high, yet thanks to the Formal Attire’s protective effect, not a scratch on me.
A small mercy, that.
So let me think through this again, carefully.
How I fell here in the first place.

“Lion always came and went from this place without trouble. So then……”

What could have changed?

“First, it’d have to be Mana.”

1.
Just 1 point gained. Scraping together a pittance of Mana and suddenly arriving at the Reward Collection Map—that’s a leap.
Besides, my proper Mana Circle only formed after entering this Labyrinth.
If Lion had such noble bloodlines, the other direct and collateral branches would be traipsing through the Labyrinth’s depths like it was their own home.
Grandfather surely wouldn’t have hidden his treasure here.

Lion’s mind raced.
The Hero of this world.
The one who ended the war with Demons fifty years ago and vanished without a trace.

Suddenly reincarnated as the grandson of Patrick, the Hero’s comrade from fifty years past.
And the Labyrinth cleared with nothing but his entry.

If that’s the case……

The items my main character possessed were all custom combinations I’d made myself.
What if possession by reincarnation affected them in some way?
Then it would make sense.

Since it was created as a ‘Library,’ it would normally store books, but this Labyrinth was designed as a ‘Fortress,’ so it could store items as well.
If that were the case, and the items I originally owned were here…

“It might be judged simply as recovering something I’d entrusted to someone else.”

That raised another question.
What about the other characters?
Lion had unconsciously assumed that the Hero was his character.
The character had vanished, and he’d been reincarnated into this place in that very state—a natural assumption.
But now that he thought about it, Baek I-hyeon’s characters didn’t exist in the selection window at all.
Not a single one of those many characters.

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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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