Chapter 55

Chapter 55
Chapter 55: Never Mind The Heir, I’ll Focus On Healing

The herbs that hit the earth were in far worse shape than the ones I had just gathered. Furthermore, because they were half-buried beneath piles of soil, the total harvest I managed to salvage was drastically lower than my initial haul.

‘Such a waste…….’

I understood all too well what Lion Asteri had meant. Hadn’t all my exhausting labor gone down the drain simply because I threw a childish tantrum?

Freya’s lips pushed out in a pout.

“Even if I pick them up again, it’s completely useless.”

At this rate, I figured they would all end up in the refuse bin rather than ever being utilized for alchemy…

Abruptly.

An immaculate Aqua Rosemary materialized right in front of my vision.

“……!”

It was genuinely bizarre. They were the exact same flora, and the harvesting method had been identical. Yet how on earth were the specimens Lion Asteri plucked so pristine? There were no abrasions from rough handling, nor had any vital sap been squeezed out by careless blades.

“How on earth did you do… that?”

Freya inquired, adopting a much more polite inflection this time.

“You really don’t know?”

“I haven’t the foggiest. What’s your secret?”

“You simply have to harvest them with sincerity.”

“…….”

He was spouting absolute nonsense. It sounded precisely like the tired old tale about scoring top marks purely by studying standard textbooks. In terms of sheer sincerity, hadn’t Freya also poured her heart and soul into this for an entire week? Yet it hadn’t worked!

‘It has to be a lie.’

Is he deliberately withholding the truth from me? Freya’s cheeks swelled up like a poisonous dart frog’s.

‘Should I just resort to kidnapping him after all?’

I had hoped to avoid such extreme measures since he was the eldest grandson of the prominent Asteri lineage, but this situation was becoming untenable. Exactly. What if I simply abducted him for a month, extracted every scrap of knowledge I required, and then sent him back? All I would need to do was signal the underlings I had stationed nearby in advance.

No, that wasn’t right either. What if I had a salamander unleash a cloud of specialized gas to render him unconscious before dragging him off…

While I was deep in contemplation.

“Come here.”

Lion Asteri had already closed the distance by a step and gestured for me to approach.

“……!”

Was he finally going to give me a proper explanation? He should have done so much sooner!

Pulling down the brim of my pointed hat, I hurried over, only to find…

“What is this?”

It wasn’t an alchemical herb at all.

“Isn’t this… just a food ingredient?”

“Observe closely.”

Lion began to instruct in a gentle, subdued tone.

“There is no need to march in with a hoe and tear herbs from the earth right from the start.”

His voice possessed such a calming cadence that Freya found herself instantly drawn into his guidance.

“You must first comprehend the inherent texture of the plant and determine the proper method of gathering it.”

Each one was entirely distinct. Mushrooms, leaves, roots, and fruits all possessed unique structural properties. Some sprouted directly from the loam, while others required careful excavation. Some demanded a clean slice, while others needed to be gently plucked from trailing branches. Understanding the underlying principles of each was mandatory to keep damage to an absolute minimum.

“…….”

It wasn’t information that was entirely foreign to me. It was simply a lesson I had heard whispered in the distant past—the exact same counsel my mother, the veteran ranger, had once given me. She taught that one must never carelessly wound the living essence of nature.

Decades had passed since those days, causing me to forget the teachings unconsciously. After lingering in the bleak underworld, completely detached from the natural world, the memory had vanished entirely. Seeing plants in their natural, unadulterated state was as rare as spotting a celestial star in the black market depths, where everything was pre-processed and stripped of life. Street weeds were perpetually ground beneath the filth of the city, and indoor decorations arrived trapped in rigid vases, leaving me unable to tell whether they grew from the soil or dropped from the sky without consulting reference tombs.

Yet, standing here, it felt as though I was finally beginning to grasp the truth. Not through cold, academic knowledge, but with the very same spirit I held when listening to my mother back then.

As I listened to his mesmerizing words, Lion plucked one of the fruits he had been lecturing about and tossed it into his mouth. The crimson fruit vanished with a soft pop, releasing an invigorating aroma that instantly awakened my olfactory senses.

‘That looks delicious…….’

Come to think of it, I hadn’t enjoyed a single snack within this forest today.

‘Should I sample one as well?’

Freya reached out, plucked a bright red fruit, and was just about to bring it to her lips when—

*Thwack!*

“Ow!”

“Do not.”

*Roll, roll, roll-*

A crimson fruit, far riper and more tempting than the one Lion had chosen, bounced away across the dirt.

“Hey, no!”

That was entirely unfair! He had just eaten one himself!

“You need to inspect your targets carefully before consuming them.”

Before I could voice my grievance, Lion scooped up the fallen fruit and resumed his tutorial.

“Look closer. Doesn’t the shape differ just slightly?”

“Now that you point it out…….”

Sure enough, the stem structure on the fruit in Lion’s palm and the one that had dropped to the ground bore subtle discrepancies.

“You must examine everything thoroughly before ingestion. Even within the exact same clearing, entirely different species can grow side by side. Here, try this one instead.”

He was treating me precisely like a young child…

Realizing that arguing would take far longer than simply complying, Freya accepted the alternative fruit offered by Lion and bit into it.

*Pop!*

It burst across her palate like a fresh pomegranate, releasing a rush of rich juice akin to sweet grapes. It quenched her lingering thirst and satisfied her sugar cravings all at once!

‘Just how does Lion Asteri possess knowledge of all this?’

I was a half-elf who had walked this earth for far longer than that youth, yet vast realms of existence remained entirely unknown to me. Furthermore, a glaring chasm existed between the sanitized descriptions found in books and the dynamic reality of nature. Because these things originated from the living earth, their forms and textures were endlessly diverse!

Freya took another eager bite. I hadn’t even realized a fruit could taste this magnificent! The delightful popping sensation paired with the tender seeds hidden within was divine. If these were crystallized in sugar, they would undoubtedly become a massive sensation. Why on earth was nobody else aware of this?

Perhaps it was because hazardous look-alikes carried potent toxins, mirroring the exact mistake Freya had nearly made moments ago!

‘As expected of Lion Asteri. His powers of discernment are truly remarkable.’

Perhaps kidnapping him really was the most viable course of action after all.

*Munch.*

Freya kept devouring the fruit while plotting her cunning scheme.

“…….”

Meanwhile, Lion simply supplied the petite half-elf with small portions of fruit and watched her in silence.

‘Is she consuming far more than I anticipated?’

I had only offered a single taste test. Yet she seemed to find it vastly more palatable than I had imagined.

‘Was she suffering from starvation?’

I certainly never expected the mysterious figure who routinely shipped alchemical potions up from the underworld to behave quite like this. When I first encountered those concoctions, I envisioned a rather grim and brooding individual, but witnessing her in person revealed someone who didn’t appear all that formidable. Had I known her true disposition, I might have slapped a ‘Good Job’ sticker on her evaluation report.

‘Is she being subjected to harsh exploitation down in the underworld?’

Unlikely, seeing as she possessed the freedom to travel upward…

Ah, who could say. At any rate, she didn’t strike me as a threat requiring intense paranoia. Granted, Elvia had warned me, ‘Even if he appears remarkably easygoing, he hails from the underworld, so you must never drop your guard’…

*Glance.*

From Lion’s vantage point, however, she looked thoroughly helpless. Only moments prior, had Lion not intervened, she would have been bedridden with violent cramps and a severe stomachache from consuming a toxic look-alike.

“As expected…”

“……?”

“This simply won’t do.”

Freya, having polished off every edible fruit within arm’s reach, wiped the sticky fruit juice from her chin with the back of her hand and made a resolute internal decree.

‘I am definitely going to kidnap him.’

No more, no less—just for a single month! Wouldn’t it be simple enough to invite him as an honored guest of the underworld and construct an environment every bit as luxurious as the grand Asteri estate?

“Lion Asteri!”

Freya leveled her index finger directly at the youth.

“You shall become my—”

At that precise instant, just as she prepared to summon her loyal salamander…

“That would prove rather problematic.”

A chilling, glacial voice echoed out from the surrounding shadows…

Freya vanished into thin air without leaving a single trace.

*Thud-*

Only the empty woven basket and the garden hoe Freya had been clutching remained abandoned on the soil.

“Oh dear.”

Observing the sudden empty space, Lion displayed a mild, unbothered expression of displeasure. There was an old local superstition claiming that those harboring malicious intent within Mimir Forest were routinely snatched away by the resident witch. A newly fabricated rumor, no doubt.

Regardless, though the details remained hazy, it appeared the half-elf had ultimately entertained unholy ambitions.

“I suppose I shall head back early today.”

Lion scooped up the ownerless basket and gardening tool, turning his back on the clearing. If the situation had already been resolved, Elvia would undoubtedly forward the outcome to him later.

She wouldn’t actually execute the intruder, would she?

—

Deep within the subterranean dungeons of the Asteri household.

“……Should we put an end to him?”

“Immediate execution is not permitted.”

As the muffled voices of a man and a woman drifted into her consciousness, Freya slowly fluttered her eyes open.

‘What on earth is transpiring here?’

Freya struggled to process the sequence of events. She had firmly decided to abduct Lion Asteri, and in the span of a single heartbeat, her entire field of vision had plunged into pitch darkness before surrendering to a heavy, artificial slumber.

When her consciousness finally returned, her physical surroundings had completely transformed. She was now bound tightly to a rigid chair, completely immobilized… and surrounded by an intimidating gathering of individuals.

Freya instinctively suppressed the urge to shriek, instead darting her gaze rapidly around the room. Brilliant silver eyes gleaming out from the dimness… accompanied by chilling, hypnotic purple magic eyes that locked onto her position.

‘Ah.’

She realized the truth with sudden, terrifying clarity.

The reigning heir of the illustrious Asteri family.

Rikschel Asteri.

He had personally intervened.

*Gulp!*

She had always assumed the glowing tavern rumors regarding healthy sibling relationships among high nobles were pure fiction, but this proved otherwise…

‘No, wait!’

It defied all logic for noble siblings to maintain genuinely warm bonds within the boundaries of common sense. Even standard aristocratic families endured vicious, continuous bloodbaths over inheritance rights, did they not? And this was the preeminent, magic-wielding Asteri bloodline. Even if one entertained the far-fetched notion that they hadn’t murdered each other yet due to the overwhelming shadow of Archmage Petrik Asteri, there was zero reason for them to coordinate seamlessly on hunting down petty trespassers.

‘Even so, a window for escape must still exist.’

Rikschel Asteri, the crown heir, accompanied by a female spellcaster acting as his subordinate whose combat capabilities remained completely unknown. Those two alone constituted a massive crisis, yet the absolute apex predator of the household hadn’t even revealed himself yet.

That individual was Petrik Asteri.

The reigning patriarch of this domain. Had the old monster appeared in person, her existence would have been erased from the world without leaving behind even microscopic dust.

Therefore, prior to that worst-case scenario unfolding, she needed to rationalize her innocence to the absolute fullest extent possible. Yes! She hadn’t harbored any genuine malice regarding a violent abduction anyway! Even if an abduction crossed her mind, she could easily claim it wasn’t a brutal kidnapping at all, but rather a sincere request to take him on as her personal mentor!

And thankfully, she hadn’t managed to complete the spoken sentence “I will kidnap you” out loud!

Indeed, fortune favors the bold even when the heavens collapse upon them!

“Um, excuse me! I sincerely believe a profound misunderstanding has taken place here!”

Freya blurted out, utilizing the most delicate, trembling vocal pitch she could muster.

“You’ve finally rejoined the land of the living.”

“More importantly, a misunderstanding, you say?”

“As anticipated. Shall we simply execute him now?”

The conversation was running entirely past her defense points.

Very well, she would simply press forward with her prepared narrative.

“I was merely overcome with such intense jealousy and awe toward Lion Asteri’s exceptional innate talent that I desperately wished to receive his instruction…”

“It stretches credulity that someone seeking a humble mentorship would simultaneously position concealed subordinates along the outer perimeter of the sacred forest.”

“Th-that was merely a precautionary measure for emergencies! I truly possessed no nefarious intent—!”

Of course, she had possessed entirely nefarious intent. Her blueprint involved nabbing him, locking him away in the most opulent suite the underworld had to offer, and forcing him to dedicate every waking hour solely to advanced alchemy.

Yet, technically speaking, she hadn’t executed the plan yet.

As she scrambled desperately to construct workable excuses in her mind—

-Did the intruder genuinely position hidden underlings?

The overhead chamber lights flared to life, illuminating a formidable figure emerging amidst a rolling tempest of overwhelming magical pressure.