Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 316

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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 Not; Healing Shall Be My Pursuit — Episode 316

After hearing the full account, Lion exhaled low and slow.

“So the Archbishop and Boaresia are still fighting, is that what you’re saying?”
“Indeed. According to his men, they’ve never seen him this enraged before.”
…….

Goodness. The Archbishop.
Lion had known the man possessed a gift for needling people, but quite how thoroughly he’d managed to fray Boaresia’s patience was something else entirely.

‘The way he is, he probably kept irritating him the whole time they were at it.’

In any case, for a priest who supposedly served the divine, his tongue was sharper than any viper’s.
And true to Lion’s expectations—

“Given how inflamed the situation has become, there’s no telling when Boaresia might frenzy and march on the Asteri Family Estate.”

The Marquis Bydentis appended his remark in an even tone.
Though Lion noted that despite the apparent calm, one of his hands gripped the sword hilt at his waist.
In any case, they viewed this as an emergency serious enough to come running.

‘But even so, do they really need to come in such numbers……?’

Ricshel answered Lion’s unspoken question swiftly.

“I counseled against it, brother. But it is the Family Head himself who is directly overseeing the situation, is it not?”
“That’s true.”

Lion was well aware of that fact, which was precisely why he hadn’t felt any real sense of alarm.
Besides, he had plenty of other matters demanding his attention.
All told, this hardly seemed worthy of such overprotection—

‘……Wait.’

Lion’s gaze fell upon one figure who had remained unusually quiet.
He should have been speaking first and loudest of all, as he normally did.

“Oh my! Why are you staring at me so intently, sir?”

Jack threw an exaggerated gesture, spreading his hands with an expression of feigned ignorance, but Lion’s eyes had gone cold and still as a winter sea.

“Ha-ha. Surely I had to come, no? We are ‘colleagues’ who write letters of recommendation for one another, are we not?”

Jack pressed his point without flinching before Lion’s cutting gaze.
In short: colleagues had to come, naturally.
And with that reasoning, he’d subtly goaded the others into joining him.
The two who were considerably more decent than Jack had swallowed the bait whole.
Jack?
That scoundrel…….

‘I know him well enough.’

This miscreant cared far less about colleagues or any such notion than he did about sheer curiosity.
What exactly Lion intended to do with the thing he’d given him.
Why, the man had consented to it all too readily.
He’d been watching the whole time, waiting for his opening!
In times past, this could well have become quite a precarious situation.
Things Lion preferred to keep hidden could have been exposed.
But.

‘So this is how it plays out, is it?’

Lion chuckled and clapped his hands once.

“My, coming all this way for my sake—how reassuring! Now I can leave the rest to you without worry!”
“……Pardon?”

Lion blithely ignored Jace’s lukewarm tone and outlined his plan in broad strokes.

“I’m about to undertake some rather important work, and if you’ve come this far, wouldn’t my plans go considerably less awry?”
“Quite right.”
“I concur.”

Ricshel, having grasped what Lion was scheming, quietly clamped his mouth shut and stepped back.
He understood well enough that his interjection would do more harm than good in this situation.

‘More than that, brother……’

Since when had he acquired such brazen audacity—surpassing even Jace?
He worried he’d lose track of how many times more he’d fall for his brother’s tricks.
Whether Lion noticed Ricshel’s anxiety or not, he continued speaking.

“So I’ll ask you all to keep watch! Our fastest should station themselves near Boaresia, and the Marquis Bydentis can guard the entrance—that should suffice. Of course, if you’re pressed for time, you’re free to leave……”
“I shall do as you suggest.”

The Marquis Bydentis was the first to agree, offering a faint smile.

……

By then, Jace—who had meant to stay close and watch what Lion was up to—found himself at a loss for words.
Truth be told, well.

‘Half of it went as intended.’

For all the back-and-forth, he’d made Lion Asteri acknowledge it himself.
That he and the others were ‘comrades.’

“Sigh. What choice do I have? I’ll take the front line, gather what intelligence I can, and report back.”

Jace let out an exasperated sigh as if to say he’d been thoroughly duped, and left his post first.
The rest of them, too, moved according to Lion’s instructions.
Jace would take the vanguard, nearest to Boaresia.
The Marquis Bydentis would guard the doorway.
Ricshel and the Crown Prince would cover the space between.

‘Though sending the Crown Prince still feels like a mistake.’

The moment someone tried to voice this, his face would fall……

“In any case, I’m in your hands!”

Lion entrusted security to his self-proclaimed comrades one last time, then slipped into the room.

A slight commotion had arisen, yet the disposition proved remarkably complete.

Now what remained was.

So we’re finally starting this, huh?

“Yes.”

Lion stood before the bedside drawer that had remained locked until now.
He’d stored three items inside it.

The Hero’s Sword obtained from the Grand Duke’s Estate.
The Token of Eternal Flame acquired through the Archbishop’s provocation.
And finally.
The object Jax had handed to him.

‘Jax said it was a Fountain Pen.’

A broken one, he’d added—one that couldn’t be used in any ordinary way.
There seemed to be something else he wanted to tell me about it, but he hesitated slightly, so I told him it was fine.

‘I’ll find out once Story Mode ends.’

-Phew! I’m shaking all over.
-You won’t stay down for good, right?
-If you do, I’m just taking over your body. Got it?

Calling threats like that encouragement was rich.

“I got it. Don’t worry.”

Besides, nothing major should happen.
He’d made various preparations specifically to avoid an emergency situation.

‘With luck, maybe it’ll just end with a nosebleed?’

Or perhaps just mild vertigo.
If Lion had only reached the rank of Master Craftsman, it might have been worse—but he’d climbed straight to the Master level the moment he achieved that threshold.
And on top of that, he had the mental fortitude and Mana he’d gained from the Mana Elixir.

“It’ll be fine.”

At least, he didn’t think he’d incur a Penalty.
Lion smirked to himself.
Besides, even if things weren’t fine, he’d invested resources into this Story Mode.

‘Might as well squeeze every bit of value out of it.’

Otherwise, wouldn’t the vast wealth of House Asteri be such a waste…!

-There you go again, calculating your return on investment.
-Look after your own body, will you? Your body!

Tieramatrak complained that even if it wasn’t fun, Lion should at least take care of himself first—but Lion only chuckled quietly as he turned the key in the lock.
This was different from the Map situation.
Somehow, his intuition felt good about this.

Click.

The key slid into place, the lock disengaged, and the drawer swung open—

[Entering Special Story Mode.]
[This memory cannot be skipped.]

An alert appeared, slightly different from usual.
Lion wore a smile of resignation.
And lost consciousness.

……
……
……

“……Are you listening properly?”

At the sound of that crystal-clear voice, Lion’s awareness snapped back.
A voice unfamiliar yet strangely familiar.
This was…… the previous Archbishop, the Saintess.

“Ah, sorry. I was a bit tired for a moment.”

Contrary to Lion’s conscious will, his body moved naturally, as though following some predetermined script.

“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard? Surely you could spare even a little time……”
“I’m fine. Let’s continue. Where were we?”

At the Hero’s words, the Saintess released a deep sigh but pressed on with her explanation.
From the content of the discussion, it seemed…

‘We’re right after the war ended.’

Now that he thought about it, the surroundings were quiet, and the Saintess wore robes identical to those the Archbishop now donned.
As Lion assessed the situation, the two continued their conversation.
The topic centered largely on what to do with the Great Barrier once the war concluded.
And something else they discussed unspokenly, yet held foremost in their minds.

“Are you truly certain about this?”
“This method is the safest. The Great Barrier as currently conceived will have limited duration. It will likely collapse before the Mana fades.”
“But…… there’s a child who follows you.”
“Lukenes is a mature child. I trust he’ll understand, even with a farewell.”
“Then wouldn’t it be better to tell him now, beforehand?”
“No.”

The Saintess rejected the proposal in her characteristically soft yet resolute voice.

“This is information that must not leak until the very end. So, as with everyone, I must keep this secret from Lukenes as well.”
“……All right. I understand.”

A brief silence followed.
The Saintess appeared to have made her decision.

‘Perhaps this is what the Archbishop is so fixated on.’

The Great Barrier truly did harbor a secret.
That secret was likely…… sacrifice.
More precisely, it required the Saintess’s own life force.

‘That was strange, now that I think of it.’

No matter how much it was a collaboration between grandfather and the Saintess, for such a vast barrier to remain solid for decades…

“If the worst comes to pass. If the Core Heart becomes unstable, I’ll go in myself.”
“Hero.”
“You know as well as I do. I’m the right fit. Besides, I——”
“……I understand. But that would be the absolute worst-case scenario. You understand that, yes?”

……And from that conversation, I’d gleaned one more crucial clue.
The Core Heart. That was the reason the Hero existed within the Great Barrier.
Perhaps the Hero himself had become the magical stone sustaining the Great Barrier from within.
If that were true, could I safely extract the Hero from inside?
……Brooding over it now wouldn’t solve anything.

‘I’ll have to enter the barrier and verify it with my own eyes first.’

One thing was certain: I was grateful I hadn’t hastily accepted Boaresia’s proposal.
Even if it meant forfeiting a Hidden Quest, I’d have to refuse.

‘That Elder Elf would find some way to deal with the Hero, barrier or no barrier.’

After that, there was almost no further conversation between the Hero and the Saintess.

‘……Is it over already?’

Though I’d obtained fairly important information, for a three-part Story Mode, it felt somewhat lacking.

‘No, wait.’

They’d called it a Special Story Mode, after all—there had to be something more.
I didn’t force my consciousness to stay alert; instead, I simply observed the ‘story’ unfold.
In the meantime, the Saintess left the room, and the Hero’s body rose from his seat and moved toward the bed.
He set down his sword—it seemed he meant to rest.
I felt the strength drain from the body gradually.
Under normal circumstances, I should have awakened as the Story Mode ended.
But…….

[Activating Special ‘Story Mode: Experience’.]
[You may now move freely within the room.]
[The time limit is short. Refusing the flow may result in severe penalties.]

As expected. The exception had occurred.
I felt my consciousness synchronize with the Hero’s body.
I flexed my hand open and closed—the sensations registered clearly.

“I thought as much…….”

It was genuinely extraordinary.
But there was no time to be startled by the new development.

‘They said the time limit is short.’

And if I wasted it like last time, I’d incur a ‘severe penalty’.
Then I had to act at once.
Whatever clues I could find—I needed to absorb as much as possible and finish before time ran out.
I—
No, the Hero rose and slowly surveyed the surroundings.
His eyes glimmered with an otherworldly light.
Just like when the Expert’s Eye activated within Lion.

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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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