I Became the Emergency Food Supply of the Bear Family - Chapter 52

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 52

At the news that Ber had awakened, Anna rushed through the castle gathering people and bringing them back.
Before long, Ber’s Room had filled with the companions who’d departed for the capital, along with Ribe and Anna.
“Um…? Why is Perdi here too?”
Ber tilted her head in bewilderment at finding him in her room. At that, Perdi burst out loudly.
“Because you—!”
He cried out but then fell silent, releasing a sorrowful sigh.
“You collapsed. You couldn’t possibly have stayed in the dormitory like that.”
“…What?”
Collapsed? Me? She had no memory of it. As Ber blinked rapidly, Alexei nodded and spoke.
“You fainted in front of the Infirmary, Miss.”
Alexei grasped his collar with trembling hands, adding another word.
“You were even coughing up blood.”
“It seems you’ve lost your memory of the incident.”
A voice suddenly rang out from the doorway. Pallas, who had appeared unnoticed, approached Ber slowly.
“Pallas, is Ber all right?”
“Yes. To speak plainly, she’s fine.”
Pallas answered Theodore’s question immediately. Then, examining her as a physician would, he placed a hand on Ber’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“There’s nothing wrong at all. If anything, she’s become healthier. Ber, how does your body feel now?”
“…There’s nothing particularly uncomfortable. In fact, I feel like my insides have gotten lighter somehow.”
Despite Ber’s answer, concern filled the faces of everyone surrounding her. Ber smiled uncomfortably and spoke.
“I’m really all right, okay? I don’t remember fainting, but I’m truly fine. You don’t believe what Pallas says?”
Though she herself found the situation bewildering, it seemed most important first to reassure everyone. Pallas seconded her from beside her.
“We examined the blood stained on Alexei’s clothes, and it turned out that what you coughed up was Dead Blood. In other words, it’s blood that doesn’t matter if it leaves the body—indeed, it’s better that it does.”
“B-but then why did Ber lose consciousness?”
“Exactly. And besides, after arriving at the castle, Miss didn’t regain consciousness for two whole days!”
But at Pallas’s explanation, Louie and Alexei resisted, unconvinced.
Ber was equally startled by Alexei’s words. Two days after arriving at the castle… That meant I’ve been unconscious for at least four days total.
As the atmosphere refused to clear, Pallas let out a sigh.
“This is what happens when you don’t explain everything from the beginning. Do you understand?”
Pallas spoke as though scolding, looking at Theodore and Ribe.
“We can hide it no longer. Make your decision here and now.”
“…”
At Pallas’s firm words, Theodore and Ribe exchanged glances before slowly nodding.
“I’m truly sorry, Ber. We’ve kept something from you all this time.”
As if taking up Ribe’s words, Theodore spoke next.
“Ber. Within you dwells the Spring Power.”
“…Pardon?”
Such an unbelievable statement.
“You are the Incarnation of Eostre.”

***

Now only four remained in the room: Theodore, Ribe, Pallas, and Ber.
Even as Pallas chased everyone out of the room, saying they needed to talk among themselves, Ber kept her expression blank with shock.
‘What kind of sudden nonsense is that.’
It deviated so wildly from the original story that she wondered if she was still dreaming. Because the Incarnation of Eostre was Anya.
Knowing the progression of the original, she had written to the old couple to help Anya prepare shelter. If one tried, it might be possible to change the predetermined course. But the “Incarnation of Eostre” setting that formed the core of Anya’s character was not something she could change through her own efforts.
“Father, I don’t understand what you just said. Arctic rabbits being close to the power of Eostre is just baseless superstition, isn’t it?”
“I thought so too.”
Pallas answered instead of Theodore in response to Ber’s question.
“My thinking changed when I saw you. I witnessed the Spring Power that exists within you.”
“You witnessed…it? You mean you can actually see the Spring Power?”
“As a Grand Mage, I can perceive it directly with these eyes. By the circulation of power, you should be able to see it now too.”
Ber lost words and opened her mouth at Pallas’s matter-of-fact answer. Pallas sighed again and continued his explanation.
“Since you don’t remember, let me explain. I’m told you found a dog collapsed beneath a tree and brought it to the Infirmary. Immediately after, you coughed up blood and lost consciousness. And you must have dreamed someone’s dream.”
How could he possibly know that? Ber could only stare at Pallas.
“The being who appeared in your dream—you healed them and collapsed. And you regained consciousness four days later. The fact that you remained unconscious for such a long time means your target’s illness was quite severe. Or perhaps it was a congenital condition.”
A severe illness—congenital, even. Those were the exact characteristics of the lung disease Kaien suffered from in the story. And the one who appeared in the dream was the same person…
“The beast-human you healed will now be freed from illness. A full four days, it was. From the loss of power alone, you can be certain. The Spring Power completely cured your target’s disease.”
“…Completely…cured?”
Ber furrowed her brow as she asked. Something felt off.
“Yes. The power of Eostre is the Spring Power—a healing force that can breathe spring into anywhere.”
“But—but the power of Eostre is supposed to turn something back to spring, isn’t it?”
Yes. The ability to turn or fast-forward a specific target’s time to spring. Such a limited power—which is why Kaien had kept Anya bound. To continually turn back the lung’s time forward.
“Turn back?”
“Yes, I heard it was the power to turn back to spring or fast-forward…”
Ber attempted to explain further, but Pallas only tilted his head as if hearing it for the first time.
“It’s rather different. According to tradition, the goddess Eostre is said to possess the power to breathe spring into frozen earth and grant spring as a gift to the frozen.”
“…”
Ber’s hands clenched the bed sheet.
What’s happening? The settings are completely different from the original story.
Had I been mistaken? No, that couldn’t be. Pallas must be the one who’s confused.
“Ber.”
Calling the girl’s name as she spiraled into panic, Pallas placed a hand on her shoulder.
“If you possess the Spring Power, any illness—even a Curse—can be healed. Just as Ribe was freed from her Curse.”
“That’s right.”
Then Ribe, who had been silent until now, approached Ber.
“It was you who healed me, Ber.”
“What? But your Curse was cured by Pallas, wasn’t it?”
“Healing Magic cannot dispel a Curse. And you should remember—didn’t you have a dream that day too, when you healed Ribe’s Curse?”
Ber’s words caught. It was exactly as Pallas said. On the day she succeeded in Humanization for the first time, she had dreamed. The dream of dead Coco.
When she had thanked Pallas for removing the lady’s Curse, how had he reacted? Surely…

“No. It was all because of you.”

He had said such things.
“The power of Eostre has the characteristic of Resonance with its subject. It seems that right after using a great power, you can glimpse the other’s heart through dreams. That’s one of the traits I’ve discovered through observing you all this time.”
Though a long explanation followed, Ber still stared up at Pallas with an unconvinced expression. Pallas sighed and glared at Theodore and Ribe.
“This is all your fault. Always delaying and putting it off—now everything’s become tangled.”
“…I apologize.”
Theodore and Ribe bowed their heads together. Pallas muttered that this wouldn’t do, then clicked his tongue in annoyance.
“This is unbearable.”
As if to say he was done with it, he slowly extended his index finger. His finger cut sharply through the air, and a line appeared across his wrist.
A red line appeared on his pale wrist, and soon crimson droplets formed along it, blood beginning to drip steadily.
“P-Pallas!”
Ber cried out with a blanched face. But Pallas remained calm.
“A wound like this is nothing to worry about. Because the Incarnation of Eostre stands before me.”

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