Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 312

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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? I know nothing of such things. Let me just focus on healing. Episode 312

The secret to the fast food we all love—’X Morning’—is that the bread and all the ingredients must be perfectly standardized in shape.
A round, fluffy bun dusted with seasoning, topped with a savory patty of identical proportion.
The cheese drapes appetizingly over the edge, yet never dirties the hands of those rushing through their mornings.
The whole thing was designed to be eaten in one hand, effortlessly.
The real trick is that even the basics deliver an addictive flavor that wins over ordinary palates.

‘Man, that looks delicious…….’

Remembering the taste of the mortal world for the first time in ages, my mouth flooded with hunger.

Lion quickly combined the patty, egg, and cheese, recreating the fast food I’d tasted a handful of times before.
Since it was my own “nostalgic meal,” getting the appearance right wasn’t difficult.

“Wait.”

Lion paused just before covering it with the top bun.

‘……If I’m going to eat anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go all out?’

A morning fast food.
Perfect for a rushed breakfast. Or a quick late-night snack.
It fills you up, and honestly, the taste is pretty solid at this level.
But hasn’t everyone felt it?

‘Your stomach’s full, yet something’s missing…….’

There’s definitely satisfaction, and yet something oddly dissatisfying remains.

Whoosh.

Lion took a bite of the incomplete Labyrinth Bulgogi Morning, bun still off.

“Hmm. Just as I thought.”
-Tasty?
“No. It’s actually missing something.”
-Huh? Your cooking was delicious even with just a scrambled egg??
-Your palate’s gotten too refined, hasn’t it? Though that’s a good thing, of course.
-If it’s not tasty, should I eat it?

That’s the real reason, isn’t it?
Lion laughed softly at Tieramatrak’s words and set the food down.

“Just wait a bit. Let me make a proper Lion-style Labyrinth Bulgogi Morning for you.”

Right. Since I’m making it anyway, wouldn’t it be better to go big?

‘While I’m at it, I might as well tailor it more to my taste.’

Lion cooked the base ingredients, flipped the round, golden egg, and pulled out additional materials.
And among them were.
Lettuce, tomato, beef.

-You carry meat with you?

……I grabbed it just in case, but I never thought I’d use it so quickly.
Anyway, hash browns and other side items I’d considered adding.
Various ingredients began emerging until one couldn’t tell if this was a Labyrinth or a fast food kitchen.
Then Lion minced the sausage patty Alex had prepared along with thin slices of beef.

“Let’s make a fresh marinade too.”

Lion went to the storage jar and retrieved soy sauce.
Soy sauce and sugar, along with tart berries, mixed together and then stirred into the beef patty before cooking.

Sizzle!

He placed it on the scorching pan and pressed down firmly as it cooked.
Then—thunk.
He casually laid a quality slice of cheese on top, and the patty was done.
It had transformed from a sausage patty into something more like a handmade burger patty, but this would suit the palate better.
……Because it tasted like cheese bulgogi!

“Yes. That’s the smell.”

The rich, intense aroma that rose when soy sauce caramelized.
A patty brimming with sweet and savory flavor!

“Since we’re already going overboard, let’s caramelize some onions too.”

He cooked the onions until golden brown and sweet, then buttered the halved English Muffin beside it and toasted until crisp.
He removed the muffin—toasted first—and layered fresh lettuce on top, then tomato.
Then he flipped the patty with its melted cheese bubbling away and—slap—placed it down.

-If you’re making a greedy sandwich like this, why not add one more patty?

“Oh, a double patty?”

……Fine. The freshness of a morning meal left the building long ago anyway, so let’s go double!
Lion accepted Tieramatrak’s suggestion and added another patty.
The visual of melted cheese wedged between the meat was absolutely striking.
And finally, he layered the caramelized onions—darkened to a rich brown—on top and covered it all with the muffin bun……!

[Labyrinth Bulgogi Morning (★★★★)]
-By utilizing ingredients crafted by various master artisans, you have created one harmonious dish!
-Eating this in the morning to start your day would surely invigorate you from sunrise to sunset!
-Thanks to the fresh vegetables and the flavor of the onions, even a twinge of guilt seems to fade.
-Upon consumption, Strength and Vigor increase by 2 for the day.
[※Warning※ Excessive consumption may cause sudden changes in body weight.]

-Ohhhhh……!!

A rather impressive bulgogi burger had been born.
Fortunately, thanks to the English Muffin that maintained the morning concept, it had barely squeaked by with the “Morning” designation.

‘Thank goodness I left out the mayonnaise.’

Lion swallowed his saliva and pulled out paper to wrap the bulgogi morning.

-How strange. You’re making quite a lot.
-Are you planning to share this with people outside the Labyrinth?
-Just mind your own business.

“I’m giving you one though, aren’t I?”

-Oh. Really? I get to eat one too?

“That’s why I heated it with a Spirit Stone.”

The response shifts immediately.
Funny creature, that dragon.

‘And I’ll need to ease him into burgers first—that way he’ll help me tackle the grilled fish afterward.’

Lion grinned to himself and finished wrapping everything with practiced efficiency.
In truth, Cooking granted experience points just from the making—but when many people ate the food together, the gains multiplied.
Perhaps it was because the memory lingered in so many minds.

“Right, let’s get this delivered.”

As soon as Lion signaled his intent to send the packaged food outside the Labyrinth, the mountain of burgers vanished.
They’d likely arrived at the Labyrinth entrance by now.

‘They’ll be watching—they’ll make good use of it.’

Lion nodded with satisfaction, imagining the experience points that would soon flow in, and settled into a seat.

“All right. Now shall we actually eat?”

It was eleven o’clock—a bit late for breakfast.
Yet hardly a poor time for a hearty meal like this.
Lion distributed burgers to the three beside him, then took a large bite of one stacked with two patties.

“……!!!”

Wow.
This was something else.
His eyes squeezed shut as the sheer happiness flooded his mouth.
He nearly wept with it.

‘Since the ramen. That’s the first time since the ramen.’

He made perfect Korean cuisine often enough that the wonder had faded. But these in-between dishes—these hybrid interpretations—hit him fresh every time.
That was the trick: the taste that learned culinary doctors had engineered to capture the Korean palate and satisfy the belly.
The earthly flavor born from their meticulous hands, crafted with singular devotion.
And now, upgraded beyond measure into the Labyrinth Bulgogi Morning.

“Really is delicious.”

And then—

[The Labyrinth Bulgogi Morning activates.]
[Strength and Vitality rise by 2 for one day.]

“I’ll take all the help I can get when we cast the net.”

Lion washed down the richness and oil with deeply brewed hot tea, finishing the meal with grace.

“Well then, shall we get to the real work?”

* * *

And at that very moment,
in the room prepared at the Asteri Family Estate, Boaresia sat quietly, gazing out the window.
The moment Lion Asteri vanished, a weight of helplessness crashed back over him—almost mockingly so.
Yet it felt different than before.

“Tiali.”
“Yes, Elder. I am listening.”
“How might I come to be accepted by Lion Asteri?”

Now there was a clear objective.
Lion Asteri was undoubtedly the hero of this new Chaos Era.
And if he were to become that hero’s ally, he would certainly be able to meet the Hero of the previous age.
No—he was certain of it.

‘That child has already discovered that he exists within the Great Barrier.’

Boaresia himself had barely pieced together this information from his friend’s careful hints.
There had to be some way forward.
After all, wasn’t Patrick procuring rare items of all kinds in order to make this a reality?

“Pardon me, Elder, but would it be permissible if I asked a question rather than awaited an answer?”
“Go ahead.”
“Is your reason for becoming an ally born from your friendship?”
“It is.”

Boaresia affirmed it as though it were obvious.
Otherwise, how could he have even conceived of entering within the Great Barrier itself?

“Is it for the sake of your friend’s rebirth?”
……

Boaresia did not answer.

“Then that is not it.”

Tiali gazed upon the Elder and exhaled silently within herself.
Though she did not know all the particulars, she understood the broad shape of this situation well enough—Ricshel Asteri had explained it to her.

‘It is because of the Natural Flow.’

In the tongue of the Elves, the Natural Flow.
And in the speech of men, what is called the Chaos Era.
That phenomenon was coming to pass.
And perhaps the scale of it would depend on what became of the Elder’s friend—or rather, the one presumed to be his friend.
And Lion Asteri, in all likelihood, would be…….

“Tiali.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“I miss my friend terribly.”
……

She knew. She knew how dearly he cherished that one, and how deeply he had sorrowed at his loss.
She, who had served as his guard, had witnessed it all.

“If my friend has been changed…….”

If, unable to endure within the Great Barrier, his spirit had withered and crumbled until he became like that enemy from fifty years past.

“Then I would see my friend off with my own hands. I have no wish to leave it to this spawn of the Asteri line.”

Tiali averted her gaze for a moment, then spoke from the position of a loyal subject.

“I would now answer your earlier question. If the Elder harbors such thoughts, you cannot become an ally to Lion Asteri.”
“I know. Yet I find myself unwilling to change my mind.”
“Is it because you doubt Lion Asteri’s strength? That he cannot restore what has been lost?”
“Hah. Yes. That too has weight.”

Boaresia let out a laugh—the first genuine one in some time.
His guard captain Tiali seemed rather preoccupied with Lion Asteri.
Understandably so.
He was precisely the sort of man from whom even an elf could not turn away.
He possessed a somewhat peculiar temperament, certainly, but he radiated enough goodness to more than offset it.
And above all, he was virtuous.
That was the problem.
Boaresia understood this clearly.
Demons were not creatures one could treat with soft hands.
Whether born as demons from the start or transformed into them later, all of them were the same.
There was no way to turn back the clock for them.
To stand against them, one needed not pity, but unwavering resolve.

“Did not the results of such weakness lie within the Great Barrier?”

The Hero had carried out his assigned duties with quiet consistency.
To any observer, his convictions appeared ironclad.
Solid. Reliable.
A man who seemed to know nothing of defeat—or so it appeared.
But it was not so.
He was indecisive; his sword-arm had gone soft; and even facing demons, he could not help but wonder if there might be another way, turning the question over endlessly in his mind.
From an elf’s perspective, it was infuriating beyond measure.

“It is a matter separate from weakness.”

The problem, as Boaresia saw it, was that Lion Asteri and the previous Hero bore the same soft flaw.
He could not allow the same sacrifice to be demanded twice over.
Even if his friend could not be reborn… even if he should fade away entirely.

“This is precisely why we must walk together.”

Rather, Boaresia would shoulder the burden himself, so that no stain would touch the other’s soul.
He harbored no doubt that this was the role of those who remained behind.
And so—

“I must return home briefly to earn some additional points. I’ll be back around evening.”
“Pardon?”
“You needn’t follow. Rest yourself comfortably until I return.”

Before Tiali could so much as reach out and ask him to wait, Boaresia vanished without a trace.

“But—”

Tiali’s outstretched hand fell uselessly, and his ears drooped in dismay.
He had gone off alone again.
And with a firm misunderstanding of Lion Asteri hardened in his heart.

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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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