Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 109

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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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“I hear they’ve developed a new medicine to replace Holy Water.”
“A new medicine?”
She didn’t know what it was, nor did she need to. She wasn’t even curious!
What mattered now was that another source of income had dried up.
“These people…….”
Now they were even going around with some substitute family representative in tow?
“Tch.”
She’d disliked him from their first meeting.
The image of that child standing carelessly before her, spewing barbed remarks without hesitation, remained vivid even now.
He’d best stay quiet and simply disappear.
“Where are all the recruits right now?”
At Tailo’s question, the subordinate who had been standing quietly to one side hastily offered an answer.
“Likely in the dormitory, sir.”
“Have them all assembled.”
“Yes, understood.”
Watching his subordinate hurry out, Tailo rose from his seat as well.
“What will you do about this, sir?”
The Knight Commander’s face twisted further at his aide’s question.
“What will I do? I need to make it clear what’s gone wrong here.”
With that, Tailo swiftly exited his office.
* * *
“What is all this?”
“Resignation Letters.”
“Resignation Letters, I see…….”
Seres stared at the papers stacked across her desk, barely suppressing a stray laugh that threatened to escape.
They really did manage to pull off every possible spectacle.
“R-Resignation Letters?!”
Unlike the composed Seres, Herion, who had been sitting quietly beside her, made no effort to hide her shock.
Just moments ago, Knight Commander Tailo, the Vice Commander, and several veteran knights had come pouring into the office and piled something on the desk.
When she heard that it was Resignation Letters containing the opinion of all the knights to leave the house, Herion leapt from her seat, forgetting all about her injured state.
“Ugh!”
Of course, the price was pain.
Herion let out a small whimper as agony shot through her legs and arms.
“I told you to rest. Why do you keep coming to the office?”
As Herion sat back down with the aid of secretary Juno, Seres clicked her tongue sharply.
Though the swelling in her face had nearly subsided, her broken arm and twisted leg still hadn’t recovered well.
‘I could turn back time and fix it.’
But it was Herion we were talking about—not just anyone. She couldn’t simply deceive someone so well-versed in Healing Arts the way she could others.
That girl would pester her relentlessly, following her around asking what medicinal herbs she’d used, their exact properties, where they could be cultivated, and when the harvest season was.
In any case, Seres turned her attention back to those responsible for reducing Herion to this state, and picked up one of the Resignation Letters from the desk.
“Your reason?”
The reason was obvious enough, but she might as well hear it.
“Do you not know why, my lady?”
“No. I’m asking because I don’t know.”
“We’ve heard that you will no longer be distributing Holy Water to the knights.”
At Tailo’s words, Seres nodded lightly with an expression that said she’d expected as much.
What secretary Juno had mentioned a few days ago seemed to be true after all.
‘It appears the Knight Order is connected to the procurement of Holy Water. There are reports that some of the distributed supply has been redirected into circulation in the marketplace.’
‘I see. We’ll know for certain if we wait and see.’
‘My lady?’
‘If that’s true, there will be a reaction soon enough.’
And here they were today, doing exactly that.
How predictable they were in their behavior. It was almost refreshing.
“Cutting off the distribution of Holy Water—the very lifeblood of knights, second only to the sword itself—isn’t that a show of contempt toward us? There’s no reason for us to remain in a place where we’re treated so poorly.”
Well, he wasn’t wrong about that.
But for knights who’d already received their commissions to come trooping in like this to resign all at once—wasn’t that rather embarrassing?
‘Then again, ordinary nobles would panic at such behavior from their knights and back down.’
If knights who’d served a house suddenly left or departed, word spread quickly that something was amiss with that family.
They’d be marked as a house with poor knight treatment, unfit to maintain knights at all.
No knight wished to enter such a household anymore. Among the knights themselves, it had become an unspoken rule.
Naturally, the nobility had no choice but to take notice when the knights wielded their Resignation Letters—their reputations hung in the balance.
A knight who swears loyalty and protects his master?
Those days were long gone. Now you’d only find such things in fairy tales.
“You want proper treatment?”
“It’s only reasonable.”
Knowing full well how things stood, Knight Commander Tailo’s lips curled into an unmistakable sneer.
There was only one move Seres could make now.
If they didn’t want their household to become a disgraced clan abandoned by all its knights, they would have to meet her demands.
“I understand.”
Sure enough, affirmation spilled from Seres’s lips.
“Then let me tell you what we’re asking for…….”
“Before that.”
Tailo, thinking he’d seized the advantage and about to launch into a litany of grievances, never got the words out.
“I need to know something.”
“What do you mean?”
“How capable you truly are.”
“What are you saying?”
“Unless I know that, how can I offer treatment befitting your worth?”
“…Are you saying you want to test us right now?”
“Yes.”
…Ha.
Tailo let out a hollow laugh.
“What’s your measure of judgment? Will you take up a sword yourself?”
“Well, that wouldn’t be without merit.”
Though the outcome would be far too obvious, wouldn’t it?
“I have others prepared to do it in my stead, so don’t worry.”
Knight Commander Tailo’s brow furrowed sharply.
He seemed desperate to find fault with something, anything.
“Why should we do this?”
There was no reason they had to comply.
They already held the sword. There was no obligation to follow her will.
“If you pass the Test I set before you.”
“If we do?”
“Then I won’t interfere in the Knight Order’s affairs anymore. I’ll grant everything you want, naturally.”
“Seres!”
At her words, her secretary Juno stepped forward in protest.
“That’s unreasonable. You’d accept everything?”
For Juno, who had uncovered most of what the knights had done, such terms were utterly unacceptable.
Even if the Countess’s household earned the stigma of being abandoned by all its knights, this had to be stopped.
“Juno.”
But the head of the household, Herion, caught him back.
She shook her head gently, signaling him not to interfere. As if to say: trust in Seres.
‘She must have some plan.’
Herion simply smiled softly, saying nothing more.
Though it hadn’t been long, the Seres she’d come to know was not one to act without reason.
…….
Meanwhile, Knight Commander Tailo fell into thought.
It wasn’t a bad offer.
He didn’t know what the Test would be, but if they passed it, the Knight Order could return to its former way of life—wasn’t that the deal?
Honestly, there was no telling when that secretary might find something else to hold over their heads.
‘And we can’t keep pulling out the Resignation Letter card every time.’
Settling this cleanly now didn’t seem like a bad option at all.
“However, if you fail the Test, you’ll follow the household’s orders without question from that point forward.”
“What is the Test?”
“If I told you beforehand, where’s the sport in that?”
“You could ask us to do something unreasonable.”
“I will tell you one thing, though.”
“One thing?”
“Those you’ll be facing are…….”
Seres drew out her words for a moment, then broke into a smile.
“Students.”
“…Students?”
“Students from the Academy who are learning Swordsmanship.”
The Knight Commander let out a hollow laugh.
They wanted him to fight a bunch of children?
Had his pride been wounded so deeply that his mind had begun to crack?
“Why? Do you dislike it?”
“…I’ll do it.”
He ground his teeth, but ultimately nodded.
Even if he won, it would be a shameful match that earned him no glory—but the compensation that would follow was not insignificant, and there was no reason to refuse.
A sound of fabric shifting.
“Then sign, please.”
Seres handed him a sheet of paper as though she had anticipated all of this.
It was a contract containing every word of the conversation they had just had.
It stated that if the Knight Order failed to pass the Test, they must comply with any demand without protest.
Of course, it also spelled out the reward the knights would receive if they passed.
……
After reviewing the entire document, the Knight Commander signed at once.
Seres took the paper and rose from her seat, a satisfied smile on her face.
“Then everyone, follow 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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