The Prince’s Nanny, Her Specialty Is Assassination - Chapter 40

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 40. The Sage, Seiji Rill (3)

“My, real identity?”

“Yeah.”

Leo looked at Edwin, who suddenly had a serious expression, and spoke nonchalantly.

“Under that cloak you’re wearing incredibly expensive-looking clothes, but you don’t act like a noble at all. I was wondering what kind of guy you really are and where you came from.”

I don’t act like a noble? What does acting like a noble even mean?

‘Though it doesn’t sound like he’s saying I look like royalty either.’

Flustered, Edwin stared blankly into space.

‘How do nobles behave anyway?’

Come to think of it, he had no memory of meeting other nobles even in the Imperial Capital.

There wasn’t a single noble in the Empire who would personally visit the powerless 3rd Prince to inquire about his well-being.

‘The former housekeeper and the main mansion maids were all from noble families too, but.’

The maids who had now been dismissed were busy people with their own duties, so Edwin never had the chance to hang around with them. They weren’t close enough to hang out together anyway.

“At first, I thought you might be the son of some successful merchant guild.”

Leo shrugged as he shared his speculation.

“Someone like that would have business with Elder Seiji.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

“What do you think? I thought you came to buy Elder Seiji’s medicine-making formulas.”

“Medicine? What medicine?”

Leo looked surprised at Edwin’s reaction instead.

“Hey, are you really asking because you don’t know? You came looking for Elder Seiji, so why don’t you know?”

“No, I just heard that Rachel was the smartest person on this continent…”

“The smartest person on the continent? Well, that might be true.”

Leo said while stroking his chin.

“Elder Seiji is the person who created the cure for scale disease.”

“What, what did you say?”

Edwin’s shocked exclamation echoed throughout the entire forest.

“That’s impossible! Scale disease is an incurable illness! I heard it can only be treated with divine power!”

“Yeah, I knew you’d react like that.”

Leo nodded as if he understood the prince’s reaction and replied.

“But he created that impossible thing, which is why he’s called a sage, isn’t it?”

Edwin paused for a moment after hearing Leo’s words, then frowned.

“Then why are the people here still sick? Where’s the medicine?”

“He can’t make the medicine right now.”

“Why not?”

“Because he doesn’t have the ingredients. According to Elder Seiji, there’s an essential ingredient needed to make the medicine, but he can’t obtain it right now.”

“Wh-what is it?”

“I don’t know what it is either. Just that the ingredient can only be found in the Holy Kingdom.”

“Then can’t we just go buy that ingredient from the Holy Kingdom right away?”

“You know we’re not in a position to do that. The elder hasn’t left this village for several years. Don’t you understand what that means?”

“But still…”

Recalling the faces of the sick people he’d encountered in the village made him feel uneasy.

Edwin spoke in a hesitant voice.

“The cure really exists, right?”

“Why would I lie about that? I also saved my life thanks to Elder Seiji’s medicine.”

“What? But you just said the medicine can’t be made.”

“There was medicine that the elder had made before coming to this place. There was exactly one bottle left, and I drank it.”

When Seiji first met Leo, his parents had already died from the disease.

It was none other than Seiji who saved him when he was left alone with the illness.

“Elder Seiji is my life’s benefactor. Thanks to that, I’m always stuck with troublesome tasks like this.”

Edwin froze in place at this sudden confession about the past.

‘Both his parents have already passed away.’

He too had lost his mother long ago, but his father was still alive.

The problem was that his father had absolutely no interest in him whatsoever.

Losing even one parent was this difficult, so how hard would it be to lose both?

He wanted to offer some words of comfort, but he didn’t know how.

Edwin already knew that hasty consolation could actually cause more hurt.

In the end, the young prince chose to awkwardly change the subject.

“Th-then you were sick too? You got better after taking the medicine?”

“Yeah, I did get the disease, but I took the medicine before my flesh rotted, so no scars were left. It was fortunate.”

“I see. That really was fortunate.”

Edwin couldn’t find anything more to say and just fidgeted with his fingers.

Perhaps noticing the prince’s uncomfortable mood, Leo started walking again.

“Come on, this is the last errand. Let’s finish quickly and go. If we’re any later, the elder will lecture us.”

“Y-yeah!”

After walking in silence for a while, they arrived at a small cave located on the mountainside.

Leo went inside the cave that emitted a gentle light and picked up a small ore that had fallen from the wall.

“You need to mine stones that have a bluish-purple glow on the surface. Exactly like this one. Got it?”

Edwin looked at the stone in Leo’s hand and tilted his head.

“But what is this stone?”

“What does it look like to you?”

“Um, it’s sparkling, so is it a gem? I’m not really sure.”

Leo shook his head as if he’d expected that mundane answer.

“Not everything that sparkles is a gem.”

“Then what is it?”

Leo continued while looking at the blue sparkling light inside the cave.

“It’s a magic stone. According to Elder Seiji, it’s a stone that mages go crazy for, and it sells for more than gems.”

“Magic stone? A magic stone means…”

Edwin had heard about magic stones before too.

‘A mysterious ore imbued with magical power.’

Magic stones were the main material for magical tools.

They were extremely expensive and rare, allowing even people without magical power to enjoy the benefits of magic.

Surely it was because the main ingredient, magic stones, were hard to obtain.

“Elder Seiji and I discovered this place. The villagers don’t know about it, and neither do those gatekeeper guys.”

Leo said proudly, lifting his head.

Edwin looked at him with admiring eyes.

However, he also felt somewhat doubtful.

‘I definitely heard that magic stone mines are extremely rare in the Empire.’

The Empire was particularly dependent on imports for magic stones due to the scarcity of mines.

‘Right. I definitely heard the housekeeper say that before.’

He remembered hearing the housekeeper talk about such things with the maids who followed her.

‘Something about mine investments, saying that if a magic stone mine was discovered, they should definitely invest in it?’

While Edwin was lost in thought, Leo brought a pickaxe that was placed near the entrance.

“The pickaxe is here. I’ll mine from this wall, so you check the opposite side.”

“Oh, okay.”

Taking the pickaxe, Edwin clumsily imitated Leo as he watched him mine the stones.

Fortunately, the cave wall was soft enough to crumble easily even with Edwin’s weak arm strength.

When he carefully swung the pickaxe, a magic stone about the size of a baby’s fist fell out with a thud.

He felt as satisfied as if he’d picked fruit from a high place.

“Hey, I have something I’m curious about.”

“What now?”

“Seiji, why does he want us to bring magic stones? Just because he’s a sage doesn’t mean he’s a mage.”

“I didn’t ask. I’m not particularly curious either.”

“What? How can you not be curious? I’m really curious.”

“Not really. It’s not like I’d have any use for knowing anyway.”

Leo continued swinging his pickaxe with an indifferent expression.

“I just do what that person tells me to do. You seem to have too much unnecessary curiosity.”

“Ah, that…”

Edwin shrank his shoulders at Leo’s words and soon muttered quietly.

“Sorry.”

Leo stopped his pickaxe work and turned to look at Edwin.

He confirmed the dejected prince’s face and let out a sigh.

“Hey, Edwin.”

“Huh?”

“My way of speaking is naturally a bit rough. So don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not criticizing you.”

Leo readjusted his grip on the pickaxe and began mining ore again.

“If you stay next to that old man all the time, your speech is bound to get rough. I’d appreciate it if you understood.”

Edwin’s eyes widened at Leo’s words.

No one had ever asked for his understanding so politely before.

Though there had been times when understanding was demanded of him.

“So please stop saying that damn unnecessary sorry all the time. It just makes me feel like the bad guy.”

“Okay, sor—”

Edwin reflexively started to say sorry but immediately corrected himself.

“Got it.”

Edwin’s voice was much brighter than before.

“Good.”

Leo gave a brief response and then started swinging his pickaxe again.

Soon, only the sound of metal striking stone echoed through the cave.

* * *

“This should be enough, so let’s head down now.”

Before they knew it, red sunset light had settled over the sky above Ruxen Village.

Leo checked the amount of magic stones they had mined and started packing up, saying it was time to go.

“So did I pass the test?”

“Test? What test?”

“Well, Master Seiji told me to prove that I’m not just anyone…”

Before Edwin could finish his sentence.

Leo, who had been standing beside him, suddenly grabbed Edwin and leaped away.

“Waah!”

As the startled Edwin screamed, a small groan came from beside him.

“Ugh, damn it.”

Edwin’s face instantly turned pale.

Leo’s right arm, which had grabbed him and leaped, had large claw marks on it.

“A-are you okay?”

“It’s not that deep a wound. I blocked it with my axe…”

In that brief moment, Leo had apparently blocked the claws with the axe he carried on his back.

Though the axe handle had been shattered to pieces.

“Not that deep? There’s blood, blood…”

Edwin checked Leo’s wound area with trembling hands.

There wasn’t much blood, but the wound area was turning black.

This was definitely poison.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————