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

Chapter 40: The Sage, Sage Rill (3)

“M-my real identity?”

“Yeah.”

Leo replied nonchalantly, looking at Edwin’s suddenly serious expression.

“You’ve got clothes that look crazy expensive under that cloak, but nothing about you screams noble. So I’ve been wondering who you really are.”

Not like a noble? Then what does a noble act like?

‘He doesn’t mean I seem like royalty, does he?’

Caught off guard, Edwin stared blankly into the air.

‘How do nobles act, anyway?’

Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t really met any nobles at the imperial palace.

There wasn’t a single noble in the empire who would bother checking in on the powerless Third Prince.

‘Even the head maid and the senior maids were from noble families.’

But they were all gone now, dismissed long ago, and even back then, they were far too busy with their duties to spend time with him. They hadn’t been close enough to mingle with, either.

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

Leo shrugged as he explained his assumption.

“Someone like that might have business with Old Man Sage.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“What do you think? I figured you came to buy a medicine recipe from the old man.”

“Medicine? What medicine?” Leo blinked in surprise at Edwin’s reaction.

“Wait, you seriously don’t know? You came to see Old Man Sage and don’t know?”

“I just came because Rachel said he was the smartest man on the continent…”

Leo scratched his chin. “The smartest on the continent? Well, yeah, that might be true. Old Man Sage is the one who developed the cure for Scale Disease.”

“W-what?!”

Edwin’s shocked voice echoed through the forest.

“No way! Scale Disease is incurable! They said it can only be healed through holy power!”

Leo nodded like he understood. “Yeah, that’s the usual reaction. But he did make a cure for it. That’s why he’s called a sage.”

Edwin paused at Leo’s words, then frowned. “Then why are the people here still sick? Where’s the medicine?”

“He can’t make it anymore.”

“Why not?”

“The ingredients are missing. There’s a key component he needs, but it’s unavailable now.”

“What is it?”

“I don’t know either. Just that it only grows in the Holy Kingdom.”

“Then shouldn’t someone go and get it from the Holy Kingdom?”

“You know that’s impossible. The old man hasn’t left this village in years. Don’t you get what that means?”

“Still…”

Edwin recalled the faces of the patients he had seen in the village.

The thought weighed heavily on his mind.

“So the medicine really does exist, right?”

“Why would I lie? I owe my life to that medicine.”

“Wait, but didn’t you just say he can’t make it anymore?”

“There was one bottle left from before he came here. I drank it.”

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

Alone and infected, he’d been saved by none other than the old man.

“Sage is the one who saved my life. Though now it means I get stuck doing all this annoying work.”

Leo’s sudden confession left Edwin frozen.

‘He lost both of his parents?’

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

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

It was already hard enough losing one parent—he couldn’t imagine how painful it would be to lose both.

He wanted to say something comforting, but didn’t know how.

He already knew too well that poorly chosen words could end up causing more harm.

So in the end, the young prince chose to awkwardly change the subject.

“S-so you were infected too? And the medicine cured you?”

“Yeah. I got the disease, but I drank the cure before the flesh started to rot. That’s why I didn’t end up with any scars. Got lucky.”

“I see. That really is lucky.”

Unable to find anything more to say, Edwin just fiddled with his fingers.

Perhaps sensing the prince’s awkward mood, Leo started walking again.

“Alright, this is the last errand. Let’s wrap it up and go. If we’re late, the old man’ll start nagging.”

“O-okay!”

After walking in silence for some time, the two boys arrived at a small cave midway up the mountain.

Leo entered the cave, which glowed faintly inside, and picked up a small ore that had fallen from the wall.

“You need to dig up stones that give off a bluish-violet hue on the surface. Ones that look just like this. Got it?”

Edwin tilted his head as he looked at the stone in Leo’s hand. “But what kind of stone is this?”

“What do you think it is?”

“Hmm, it sparkles, so… a gem? I’m not sure.”

Leo shook his head as if he’d expected that answer. “Just because it sparkles doesn’t mean it’s a gem.”

“Then what is it?”

Leo turned his gaze to the glow shimmering deeper in the cave.

“It’s a magic stone. According to old man Sage, it’s a stone that drives mages crazy, and it sells for more than jewels.”

“Magic stone? If it’s a magic stone…”

Edwin had heard of them before.

‘A mysterious mineral imbued with magical power.’

Magic stones were the primary material used in magic tools.

They allowed even those without mana to benefit from magic, and were both expensive and rare.

No doubt, this was because the magic stones used as base materials were difficult to obtain.

“Old man Sage and I discovered this place. Even the villagers and those gatekeeper guys don’t know about it,” Leo said proudly, lifting his chin.

Edwin looked at him with admiration.

At the same time, he couldn’t help but feel skeptical.

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

Due to the scarcity of mines, the empire was heavily reliant on imported magic stones.

‘That’s right. I definitely heard the head maid say so once.’

He remembered overhearing the head maid talking to the maids who followed her.

‘About investing in mines or something—she said if a magic stone mine opened up, you absolutely had to invest in it?’

While Edwin was lost in thought, Leo brought over a pickaxe from the cave entrance.

“Here’s a pickaxe. I’ll dig from this wall, so you check the opposite side.”

“Ah, got it.”

Taking the pickaxe, Edwin clumsily mimicked Leo’s movements.

Fortunately, the cave walls were soft enough to break easily, even with Edwin’s weak arms.

With careful swings of the pickaxe, a magic stone the size of a baby’s fist tumbled down.

It felt as satisfying as plucking a ripe fruit from a high branch.

“Hey, I’ve got a question.”

“What now?”

“Why does Sage ask for magic stones? He’s a sage, not a mage.”

“Never asked. Not really curious either.”

“What? How can you not be curious? I really want to know.”

“Not me. I don’t have any use for it.”

Leo continued swinging his pickaxe with an indifferent look.

“I just do what the old man tells me. You’re the one who’s too curious about everything.”

“Ah, uh…” Edwin hunched his shoulders at Leo’s remark, then muttered softly, “Sorry.”

Leo paused mid-swing and turned toward Edwin.

Seeing the prince looking dispirited, he let out a sigh.

“Hey, Edwin.”

“Yeah?”

“My tone’s always kinda rough. Don’t take it the wrong way. I’m not criticizing you.”

Leo adjusted his grip on the pickaxe and started digging again.

“If you hang around that old man long enough, your tone ends up like this. I’d appreciate it if you understood.”

Edwin’s eyes widened.

No one had ever gone that far to politely ask for his understanding before.

People had demanded understanding, sure, but never asked for it so earnestly.

“So stop with that pointless ‘sorry’ all the time. Makes me feel like the bad guy.”

“O-okay. Sorr—”

Edwin caught himself mid-word and quickly corrected.

“Got it.”

His voice was noticeably brighter than before.

“Good.”

Leo gave a short reply and resumed swinging the pickaxe.

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

***

“Looks like we’ve got enough. Let’s head down.”

Before they realized it, a crimson sunset had settled over the sky above Luxen Village.

After checking the amount of magic stones they had mined, Leo decided it was time to pack up.

“So does that mean I passed the test?”

“Test? What test?”

“Well, Sage said I had to prove I’m not just anyone…”

Before Edwin could finish, Leo suddenly pulled him into a hug and leapt to the side.

“Waaah!”

Edwin screamed in surprise, and a small groan echoed nearby.

“Urgh, damn it.”

Edwin’s face turned pale.

Leo, who had leapt with him, now had a deep claw mark running down his right arm.

“A-are you okay?!”

“It’s not too deep. I blocked it with the axe…”

In that brief moment, Leo had used the axe strapped to his back to block the claws.

The handle had shattered into pieces.

“Not too deep?! You’re bleeding—!”

With trembling hands, Edwin checked the wound.

There wasn’t a lot of blood, but the area around the cut was turning pitch black.

It was poison. That much was certain.