Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 45

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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 or Not, I Just Want to Heal — Chapter 45

The revised contract was compressed into two main points.

—The Witch Elbia’s movement would be restricted to the vicinity of the Asteria Family Territory, though the scope could be temporarily expanded through consultation with Lion Asteria.
—Should Lion Asteria find himself in danger, all the above terms could be disregarded, and Elbia would devote her full efforts to securing his safety.

“The contract terms have certainly improved… but it’s still disadvantageous for you.”
“Not at all. This is enough for me.”
“Hmm.”

Lion gazed quietly at the parchment.
Even so, this was nothing more than trading the worst for the merely terrible, wasn’t it?
It remained a profoundly unfair agreement.
After a moment’s thought, Lion picked up his fountain pen and added a clause below the contract terms written on the parchment.

—In the event of Lion Asteria’s death or disappearance, this contract shall be terminated.

“…….”

Elbia’s expression made clear her displeasure, but Lion remained unmoved.

“If the contract persists even after I’ve lived out my days and died of old age, that would be rather odd, wouldn’t it?”

Lion deliberately framed the scenario as one where he’d lived a full natural lifespan.
If he’d mentioned Mana Shock or accidents in the Labyrinth, Elbia would surely have refused.

“……Very well. I shall accept it.”

Elbia sighed and bit her finger, letting her blood drip onto the parchment.

Drip, drip-drop—

As the witch’s blood fell upon the parchment with a dull sound, the magic circle drawn within it shone a dark crimson.

“I should shed some blood too, shouldn’t I?”
“There’s no need for you, Young Master. This is my contract, after all.”
“…….”

Wait—normally both parties sign a contract, don’t they?
Still, Lion chose not to press the matter.
If Elbia said it was done, then it was done.

“Shall we move now?”
“No.”
“……?”
“First, you should finish your meal, Young Master. We can move once your basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter have been met.”

Somehow she seemed to be acting even more willfully than before.
But Lion preferred it this way—it felt more like the true Elbia.
Lion nodded and took a bite of the sandwich Elbia had brought.

* * *

The day after Elbia secretly visited the Magic Tower.
Naturally, the Magic Tower was in an uproar.
A critical problem had emerged with one of the Tower’s most significant projects—the Hero’s Potion reconstruction initiative!

“You heard about it? That potion, remember…….”
“Yeah, I heard. There was a defect in it, right?”
“If they’d sold it as-is, it would’ve been a disaster.”

The fortunate part was that Hoffmann had caught the flaw during a final inspection and scrapped the entire production plan before it could move forward.

“But how did he notice it?”
“No idea. The rumor is someone screamed that night?”
“I heard Ricksell tipped him off, supposedly…….”
“Hey, hey! Ahem!”

They were chattering away like this when
one of their fellow mages suddenly jabbed them in the ribs.

“Seems like you’re enjoying quite the conversation.”
“Gasp!”

Hoffmann had appeared.
The mages fell silent and bowed awkwardly.

“Stop spreading nonsense and get back to your work.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Especially—don’t discuss anything contentious here or elsewhere in the Magic Tower.”

It wouldn’t have been strange for him to hand down a stern reprimand, yet Hoffmann was oddly lenient with them.

‘Thank goodness…….’
‘He’s in a good mood, it seems.’

The mages bowed quickly and tried to slip away.
But then.

“And think again about who in the Asteria Family has the deepest expertise in Alchemy.”
“……?”

With that, Hoffmann passed through their ranks and continued on.

“What…… did he mean by that?”
“Who in the Asteria Family is most skilled in Alchemy?”
“Lion’s been making potions lately, hasn’t he? In fact, he even gave us some Fatigue Recovery Potions not long ago.”
“No way!”

Hoffmann boarded the lift that would take him to the highest level, listening to the mages chatter among themselves.

“……Good grief.”

Ricksell? That made no sense at all.
Of course, Ricksell was a genius among geniuses.
Had he studied Alchemy seriously, perhaps he might have identified the problem.
But.
Not in such a short span of time. It would’ve been impossible.

“If it hadn’t been for that boy…….”

The very thought made his head spin.
Hoffmann pressed a hand to his chest and recalled the previous night when everything happened.
He’d returned to the Magic Tower because he remembered leaving some documents behind by mistake.
That was when he noticed, oddly enough, that lights were on in the restricted area—off-limits to all but authorized personnel.
A place where no one but him should ever enter.

‘Could it be… from another Magic Tower?’

Hoffmann picked up his staff and stepped inside.
And he found it.
Someone in the act of switching out potions and materials!

Crack!

Before he could cry out, Hoffmann unleashed Lightning Magic at the intruder.
But then—!
The spell didn’t touch them at all.
Though Hoffmann was renowned as a Healing Magic specialist, his offensive sorcery was also rated among the finest. Yet here he couldn’t land a single blow?
It was impossible.

‘Then the intruder’s power must match Grand Magus Patrick’s. Or exceed it.’

Gulp.

Hoffmann swallowed hard.
If this went wrong, he was prepared to chant a prepared spell that would obliterate the entire top level of the tower.
And yet.

“It would be wise not to do anything rash.”

The intruder said only that, then continued with the switching as if Hoffmann wasn’t there.
But that wasn’t all.

Step, step.

They approached and placed a sheaf of documents into Hoffmann’s hands.

“What is this nonsense?”
“Take a look.”
“…….”

Now sensing something amiss, Hoffmann examined the documents.
And he understood.
That the potions they’d been developing all this time harbored a fatal flaw.
And there—a recipe containing the solution!

“What in the world—!”

Hoffmann forgot the intruder’s very existence, racing through the recipe with fevered intensity.
Certainly, approached this way, the efficacy would pale beside their current formula, but with more development and research, the possibilities were boundless!

“How could you… how did you….”

Who on earth would do such a thing?
And in secret, no less?

“I’ve merely delivered it. The rest is your responsibility.”

The intruder who had broken into Hoffmann’s study—Elbia—answered calmly and moved toward the exit.
The disguise was flawless, the voice modulated so thoroughly that no trace of gender could be detected.
All her master wished for was precisely this.
If she left now, the matter would be resolved cleanly.
But then.

‘Hmm.’

Something didn’t sit right.
Lion’s good heart certainly resonated with her.
But there was no reward in it.
Goodness is usually an act without expectation of return.
Yet Elbia hoped Lion would gain something from this.
Elbia was not the sort to act out of pure virtue—Lion might be, but she was not.
What goodness could a witch possibly have?
She moved for one reason alone: the man called Lion.
As Elbia hesitated for a moment, Hoffmann fired his question immediately.

“Who on earth are you? Among those who know of this plan, there is no one else commanding a subordinate of your caliber. Which means…….”

Hoffmann faltered and lowered his staff.

“……Are these the instructions of the family head?”

It was a reasonable deduction.
The Asteria house, a celebrated family of magic, was the only place capable of commanding a mage of Elbia’s caliber at a moment’s notice.

“Hush.”

Elbia raised a finger to her lips.
She seemed to wrestle with something for a moment, then smiled.

“If you dig any deeper, you’ll see blood.”
“…….”

Hoffmann fell silent at the sincerity in her voice.
She was clearly on his side.
That much was certain.
If she weren’t, he would already be dead.
She was that formidable.
This oppressive aura—it didn’t belong to a mortal, did it?

“My master instructed me to conduct this operation in secret, but…… he didn’t forbid me from saying this much.”

The stranger muttered to herself, then spoke as if bestowing a favor.

“Checkup.”
“……A checkup?”
“That’s all I can tell you. Well then.”

Elbia made no attempt to hide her laughter as she melted into the darkness and vanished.
In an instant, the laboratory—sealed to all but authorized personnel—lay empty, its floor scattered with discarded solutions and documents bearing fatal flaws, creating an air of disorder.

“Who in the world orchestrated this?”

The clues were not abundant.
An unknown master.
Alchemy.
And the stranger’s parting word: “Checkup.”

‘A checkup, you say…….’

A health inspection?
A single face surfaced in Hoffmann’s mind.
Golden hair tied back, amethyst eyes, skin white as fresh snow.

‘Could it be. Lion Asteria?’

Lion.
Yes, it was certainly Lion.
Every thread in Hoffmann’s mind suddenly unraveled.

“Ha, haha. Lion, of all people.”

Lion had learned of the Hero’s Potion project just today.
Which meant that in those brief moments alone in the laboratory, he’d seen nothing but the equipment there and produced this result.

“Another genius is born…….”

Hoffmann stood for a long time in the open device when he reached the top floor.
At the time, he couldn’t understand why Lion had done this in secret, but thinking it through carefully now, there was a clear reason.
Ricksell Asteria.
He hadn’t wanted to covet that child’s position as heir.

“……Remarkable boy.”

Once he’d grasped that much, even the fastidious Hoffmann Asteria couldn’t help but subtly wish to make Lion’s brilliance known.
Whether directly or not, he wanted the firstborn of Asteria to have his achievements spread far and wide.
Of course, Lion himself, resting comfortably at home, knew nothing of it, but in any case, rumors began to drift quietly outward from the Magic Tower.

* * *

And so.

“This is fresh information from the Asteria Family Territory.”

That rumor flowed into the Information Guild through discreet channels.
The Information Guild.
An organization that gathered everything happening across the entire Empire, then sold it for appropriate payment.
In simple terms: everything from the private affairs of street rabble to the corruption of the great and powerful nobles in high places.
In the Empire, information was power.
A mid-level administrator of such a guild naturally couldn’t be treated poorly anywhere they went.
Even standing beside nobility, no one dared handle an Information Guild administrator carelessly.
With but one exception.
The administrator carefully passed the information they had written directly to someone.
The corner of the parchment they were holding had grown damp with sweat, crumpled and wrinkled.

“My apologies. Next time I’ll wear gloves, or…….”
“Quiet.”

The administrator fell silent at once, eyes darting as they glanced sideways at their counterpart.

Gulp.

They swallowed involuntarily, throat dry.

“…….”

During the stretch of quite long silence, only the sound of pages turning could be heard.
Never make a sound. Never get caught red-handed.
The administrator kept their head bowed, obedient as a mouse, remembering the guildmaster’s warning.
There was a reason why this grand Information Guild administrator was so tense, and even personally delivering the information.
It was simply that the person before them…….

‘A master of the Underworld.’

Someone who knew the face of the Underworld’s leader and received orders directly—the right hand of command, and a mad alchemist who controlled the Underworld’s capital at will.
The half-elf Freyana.

“Isn’t this just rumor?”

Freyana scanned through the documents and, having lost interest, flicked them down onto the table with the back of her hand.
The Information Guild official gathered the papers again.
Still, this was not an unfavorable response.
There were stories that crossing Freyana’s mood meant burning to death without a soul knowing—or a bird.

“Yes, I also believed it was merely rumor, but…….”

The official steadied his trembling voice and drew a small bottle from his breast pocket, setting it on the table.

“What is this?”
“A beverage that Lion distributed when he came to the Magic Tower.”

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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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