Chapter 11
By the time the morning light had fully brightened the surroundings, Seydin was inspecting the medical storage and the medicines prepared by the healers. This was the result of Rozen, suddenly put in charge of his seniors, nervously guiding her.
And after checking the current situation, Seydin immediately came to a conclusion.
“This is a complete disaster.”
The healers weren’t even checking Luan’s condition. They were simply following the commands of the “great holy power user” and preparing whatever medicine he ordered. As a result, all the medicines were harsh and aggressive. She couldn’t entrust the terminally ill male lead to such people.
“I want to wring all their necks… but no, I have to hold back.”
Seydin narrowed her eyes and glanced around. The ones sneaking glances at her like frightened chihuahuas didn’t seem to be evil—just too obedient to Luan’s orders. And too comfortable with thoughtless work.
After finishing her assessment, Seydin stepped out of the medicine storage and abruptly stopped. She then addressed the trembling healers standing behind Rozen.
“Let’s head to the herb garden. Surely there’s something you’re good at, right?”
“…Pardon?”
“Didn’t I mention earlier? I learned a magic crafting technique using mana stones to aid His Majesty’s recovery. It allows me to convert dark magic into healing magic.”
“Ah… I see.”
The healers exchanged glances. The herb garden was a place for lower servants to gather herbs—not somewhere they themselves were supposed to go wielding pickaxes. But none of them dared ask, “Why should we go there?”, and just glanced around awkwardly.
Seydin, in a dignified tone, continued.
“I know how to boil and harden herbs to create mana stones. Back in the Kingdom of Hereis, I used to personally gather herbs from the garden.”
“How… hard that must’ve been.”
“Yes. The royals would say I was just a powerless princess trying desperately to amplify her mana, but in truth, I only wanted to care for His Majesty. Those cruel dark mages never understood my noble heart.”
“As expected, Princess, you and His Majesty…”
“That’s not it!” Seydin suddenly shouted. “Why do they always twist my words?!”
She took a deep breath, calmed herself, and continued with a sweet smile.
“Mana stones generally have hard cores and thick shells, which makes it difficult to imbue them with my mana. So I usually used low-grade mana stones for healing. My mana’s a bit weaker than the average dark mage’s, you see…”
“I see…”
“Then I thought—what if I made the mana stones myself? You know there are two types: the ones extracted from real monsters’ hearts, and the ones created by dark mages using their own mana.”
“Ohhh…”
“The ones I make myself have softer cores and thinner shells, which makes them easier to infuse with mana.”
With a chuckle, Seydin raised her hand for emphasis and smiled at the wide-eyed healers.
“Of course, it’s labor-intensive. Making one I’m satisfied with isn’t easy. Carrying a pickaxe around and working in that herb garden…”
She closed her eyes tightly. Then, opening them with a sparkle, she looked at the healers and said:
“But now, I don’t have to worry anymore! Because you’ll help me, right?”
“…?”
“I know that during your apprentice days, you learned to distinguish between herbs grown with monster fluids and ordinary ones.”
Seydin’s hopeful tone made the healers cough awkwardly, trying to feign illness.
“Cough, cough! This old man’s body can’t move without a cane anymore… I’ve no strength like I had during my apprentice years…”
“R-Rozen! Tell the Princess about our condition. Cough!”
Rozen, watching them feign weakness, narrowed his eyes.
“Liars…”
Seydin, who saw through their act just as clearly, snorted quietly.
No wonder—they were in perfect health. While their salaries were meager, they stayed in the healer profession because of the excellent benefits. Since they prepared medicine for the Emperor, they also received top-grade tonics—drugs that would extend life and boost strength in ordinary people. Unfortunately, those tonics didn’t suit Luan.
So these healers weren’t typical elderly folks.
“If this were a game fantasy instead of a tragic romance, their stats would look like this—‘Healers Hiding Their Power,’ all with level 999.”
Seydin narrowed her eyes.
She imagined them as cunning slackers, all perfectly fit, hiding behind the title of “senior healer”…
She didn’t fall for it. Instead, she picked up the ladle Rozen had previously thrown and tapped it against her shoulder as she spoke:
“I know your herb-picking skills are exceptional. As someone who learned healing myself, I know that identifying herbs is the foundation of all healing.”
“T-That’s true, but…”
“Of course, the servants who gather herbs likely know some basics. That’s why you haven’t had to do it yourselves, right?”
“Yes, yes…”
“But! Now that I’ve been appointed as your superior, I won’t tolerate that anymore! Boiling and solidifying herbs into mana stones isn’t something a regular servant can do.”
“P-Princess, herbs grown with fluids and waste from monsters in the ‘Forest of Shadows’ are rare. And although His Majesty does take potent medicines, he hasn’t had any severe side effects that require large quantities of those herbs…”
Rozen, not wanting to defend the others but genuinely curious, cautiously raised a question.
In the Empire, “mana” was a tricky topic. Revering divine power, the Empire was uneasy with the concept of mana. But mana was extremely effective at enhancing the medicinal properties of herbs.
Especially monster fluids and waste from the “Forest of Shadows,” near the entrance to the Demon Realm, made for excellent fertilizer. Herbs grown there were often used for Luan’s potent medicine, though thankfully, such herbs were still in low demand due to the limited side effects.
But Seydin knew differently—she knew Luan’s pain would worsen. Soon, demand for those herbs would rise. And she would need more of her homemade mana stones to soothe him.
Hiding that thought, Seydin smiled and said:
“Of course, I know His Majesty’s pain isn’t too severe yet. But being a healer means being prepared. Come on now—think about it. Our work sparkling in the morning sun!”
The healers were left speechless. Dumbfounded. But only Rozen looked up with admiration.
One year into working as a healer for the great descendant of God, she had finally met a superior worthy of respect.
Rozen fought back tears, touched by the princess’s professionalism, which matched her angelic looks. Meanwhile, the other healers, sensing things were going wrong, muttered,
“S-So… you want us to… gather herbs?”
They were close to tears. They had obediently prepared Luan’s medicine all this time, building up their strength on the leftovers—and now they were being sent to do manual labor…
But Seydin just looked back at Rozen and cheerfully asked:
“Exactly. You catch on quick. Now, Rozen, where are the pickaxes?”
Rozen rushed off and returned with a pile of dusty pickaxes from beside the herb shed. While his seniors silently screamed, “You traitor!”, he just grinned and handed them over to Seydin.
“Princess! Here they are!”
Gracefully nodding in thanks, Seydin handed out the pickaxes to the stunned healers, saying brightly:
“You’ll have to dig well. The herbs used for mana stones have deep roots.”
“P-Princess…”
“Don’t worry. Even if I was appointed by His Majesty himself, I have no intention of slacking off.”
She smiled sweetly. She was the only one capable of making sure these fully buffed salarymen didn’t laze around.
And so, hiding her inner scheming, Seydin lifted her pickaxe and shouted, leading her loyal subordinate Rozen:
“Now! Everyone! Let’s go!”
“Oooooh! Let’s go, seniors!”
Rozen shouted joyfully, fluttering after the princess in her sweeping dress. And the “seniors,” now practically enslaved, followed behind, clutching pickaxes in their muscular arms hidden beneath thick robes.
Looking like they were headed to their doom.
ha ha ha ha ha ha. Their doom? More like work~