The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 208

Author: Asternkm

My master looked at me in silence.

As if asking why I was looking for my father through him.

“Well, listen, Master. You said I could finally go out, so I went home for the first time in a long while, and guess what? So much has changed over the past fifteen years!”

My master barely seemed to be listening as he grabbed my arm and let his energy flow into me. He was probably checking whether there had been any major changes in my body over the past week.

With his other hand, he was stuffing the bread I’d given him earlier into his mouth. Looks like it was good.

“I barely managed to reunite with Mehen, the people who used to take care of me have all gone off to live their own lives, and on top of that, the guy I wanted to see the most didn’t even recognize me?! Hah, seriously. It’s ridiculous.”

“That can happen to mortals.”

“Are you taking Pession’s side right now, Master?”

When I glared at him, radiating a chilly aura, my master fell silent for a moment—then went back to eating bread.

His cheeks, puffed out from being stuffed full, were kind of cute.

“Anyway, in the middle of all that chaos, there’s one fact that’s the most absurd of all. My dad still hasn’t come home after leaving! Can you believe that, Master?”

“……”

My master swallowed the bread and made a strange expression.

It was the face of someone who had no idea what to say to satisfy the heart of a disciple who was far younger and even of a different race.

“He hasn’t come back for fifteen years. Fifteen years.”

“I see.”

“That’s all you have to say?”

When I stared at him as if to stab him with my eyes, my master closed his mouth with an awkward look.

“Don’t you feel sorry for me, Master, having no dad?”

“Anyone hearing this would think you were an orphan.”

“It’s basically the same thing.”

“…You’re not even curious about your real father, are you?”

“I’ve never even seen him. Why should I be curious?”

When I made such an openly unfilial remark, my master fell silent again, looking dumbfounded.

“Hah.”

Surrounded by people who always revered him, my master was weak to this kind of argument.

“So? Please find my dad for me, Master.”

And he was especially weak to a stubborn youngest disciple.

When I looked up at him with a pitiful expression, bewilderment surfaced on his face.

I think he’d made that same expression when I’d hit him in pain before.

That look of what did this little thing just do to me?

“Why do you think I would grant your request?”

“Because you like me, Master.”

“Hah.”

“No?”

“……”

My master let out a hollow laugh as if at a loss, but then froze at my confident words, as though he’d been punched.

Anyone seeing this would think I’d actually hit him.

The fifteen years that felt long to me and like a fleeting moment to my master.

During that time when we’d never been apart, I’d learned more about this great archmage than I’d expected.

That he was far more affectionate than he appeared, and that he truly cherished other mages.

That he hadn’t taken disciples for so long because all his previous disciples had met tragic ends.

That the treatment which saved my life came from experiments meant to save the disciple he’d cherished most.

And that the reason he’d been able to save me at all was because he’d shared part of his own essence with me.

Even though it made him weaker.

So if I pushed, it would work! It would work! It had to work!

“Come on, Master. Please do it~.”

When I clung to him shamelessly and begged, my master looked at me like he had no idea what to do with me anymore.

“What do you think I am?”

“Master?”

When I tilted my head, my master let out a silent groan.

“A great archmage? An immortal?”

“……”

The worry on my master’s face deepened.

“Aren’t you afraid of me?”

“Do you want me to be afraid?”

“……”

My master hesitated.

Faced with my eyes, full of certainty that I knew the answer, he couldn’t say anything.

If he truly wanted me to fear and revere him, or to worship him from afar without ever daring to speak to him again, that would be one thing—but—

“Master?”

“……”

As if unsure of what he himself wanted, my master stared at me for a long time before sighing.

But why was he looking at me like I was some kind of walking disaster?

“But you banned me from using large-scale magic!”

“Yes. Such magic would put too much strain on your body. Your body right now—”

“I know. You cut away the rotten parts, regenerated them, and barely stitched me back together. If I did something like that, all the wounds would burst open and turn into a complete mess.”

Which was exactly why I’d come to him.

My master pressed his fingers to his forehead when he met my unwavering gaze.

“…Fine. I’ll do it.”

And at last, I wrung out his declaration of surrender.

****

“This is strange. I’m pretty sure I heard my master say he’d help me, so why am I doing this?”

This place was an auction house—specifically, the auction house owned by Spherom, where the Domel Auction, the largest one held to celebrate the Founding Festival, was currently taking place.

I was dressed up nicely and drawing plenty of attention, but my mood was absolutely awful.

How did things end up like this?

I mean, my master did say he’d help me find my dad.

There was just one condition.

“To use magic on that wide a scale, I’ll need the Sky Tower’s help. However, since someone broke it and damaged part of the Sky Tower and the Infinite Library, you’ll need to bring me an artifact for the repairs first. Then I’ll help you.”

“Who broke it?”

“Your dad.”

“……”

Dad, seriously…….

As his child, I couldn’t just pretend this had nothing to do with me.

Thankfully, maybe out of a sense of guilt, my master at least told me where I could get the artifact.

The problem was that this so-called “artifact” came from the black market.

When the words black market came up, Mehen clearly hesitated.

“We have tickets to the Domel Auction, but we don’t have black market tickets.”

“Why not? Mehen, is that really all you’ve got?”

“That’s because the black market mainly deals in illegal goods.”

Stolen items, human trafficking, and even slave trading—something strictly forbidden in Albrecht—were said to take place there.

Why would Master tell me to go to a place like that?

Well… what would he know? He probably just knew the artifact was there.

On top of that, the mages were already grumbling about having to go outside, so everyone raised their hands in support of my suffering.

“If someone took the magic I developed over 53 years, of course you should do this!”

“I spent 102 years researching mine…….”

“Mine was only 30 years, but still, the essence of my magic…….”

The Sky Tower mages were clearly still not in their right minds.

Anyway, there was now only one possible way to approach the black market.

“There’s a rumor that the black market reaches out to the biggest spender who sets the highest bid at the Domel Auction. Let’s use this chance to see if it’s true.”

And so, here we were.

Attending the Domel Auction under the vague身份 of “representative of the city of El Sionel,” not as a mage, and not under the name Halbern.

“The guest list is impressive.”

“It is the Domel Auction. They say another lost masterpiece by Lord Grander—stolen and only recovered after 432 years—is going to be auctioned.”

“…What even is that?”

Rena laughed softly and lightly smacked my shoulder, saying our young lady really needed to study art. It hurt.

“They’re also auctioning the Devil’s Violin that once belonged to the legendary violinist Lord Niccolo. Are you interested?”

“Nope.”

Any violin I bought would just make the violin at home jealous and unusable, so that was out.

Uuung—

Aether insisted it wasn’t jealousy, just a perfectly reasonable claim that it was superior, but I ignored it.

Anyway, my plan today was to buy whatever my bank account would allow.