Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 120

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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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Pad. Pad.
Pitter-patter-patter.
Pad-pad.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter-patter!
“……?”
Seres was walking down the Temple corridor after leaving the spring’s chamber when she heard something following her. She turned her head.
But there was nothing in her line of sight.
Lowering her gaze slowly, Seres found her face filling with question marks.
“…A rabbit?”
A very small baby rabbit was looking up at her.
It seemed to have been following her since the forest where the spring was. A rabbit that lived there, perhaps?
“Go back to your home.”
Seres spoke those words and turned to walk on.
Pad.
Pitter-patter.
“…….”
But as soon as she took a step, she heard it padding along behind her again.
Only then did Seres sense something amiss. She stared at the rabbit intently.
“Could it be…….”
Fixing her gaze on the rabbit with deep green eyes, Seres uttered a single name.
“Airien?”
The name that had been imprinted in her mind when she’d dipped her hand in the spring moments ago.
The name bound by contract to the bracelet.
Airien.
[Squeak!]
At Seres’s call, the rabbit lifted its tiny arm with a jerk.
“…….”
When she’d first spoken that name, a warm breeze had blown, so she’d assumed this Tamer Artifact had no tangible form. After all, the powers contained within Tamer Artifacts came in all varieties.
But now…….
“…It’s a rabbit.”
What exactly was this creature?
From the way it had made flowers bloom just now, it seemed connected to nature somehow.
“Don’t tell me you’re a spirit too?”
[Squeak.]
The rabbit shook its head emphatically and made an X sign with its paws.
This creature’s way of expressing itself was remarkably clear.
“If you’re not a spirit, then what are you?”
Seres gazed at the rabbit looking up at her with those bright, intelligent eyes, then exhaled a short sigh.
‘Why does it feel like more and more animals are gathering around me?’
Or maybe Kamuy couldn’t really be counted as an animal in the usual sense?
Seres extended her bracelet toward the rabbit and spoke.
“Come in.”
Before the words had fully left her mouth, the rabbit’s form grew hazy and vanished in an instant.
Instead, the jewel on the silver bracelet Seres wore gleamed with an even deeper green than before, rippling continuously.
‘I’ll have to ask Juberios about this later.’
She needed to find out what it was.
Surely Juberios, the Spirit King of Fire, would know more about such things than she did.
‘I wonder if the others will be surprised.’
They wouldn’t know about the Tamer Artifact yet. She hadn’t told them.
Remembering that fact, Seres scratched her cheek.
‘But honestly, I never expected to become the artifact’s master.’
She decided the others didn’t need to know. So she hadn’t mentioned today’s events to Colin the butler or anyone else at all.
Seres looked at the bracelet on her wrist and clicked her tongue lightly.
How was she supposed to explain this rabbit to the others?
“Should I just say I caught a rabbit in the mountains and brought it back?”
At Seres’s murmur, the green jewel rippled violently. It clearly didn’t like being described that way.
Pad-pad.
Pause.
When she reached the end of the corridor, Seres found herself stopping in her tracks.
“So this time, at our Temple…….”
“Yes. That would be best.”
A few priests walked past her, speaking among themselves.
“…….”
Seres stared blankly at one of them. Her mouth fell open.
She raised a hand and rubbed her eyes. Perhaps something was wrong with her vision.
‘This doesn’t make sense…….’
This… this truly didn’t make sense.
‘Why is he there?’
As the priest receded into the distance, Seres nearly called out his name without thinking.
‘Enoch…….’
The name of her disciple, who should have died long ago.
* * *
Bang!
Long after Seres had departed, Kainel’s door—which had remained shut tight within the Duchy—swung wide open.
Kainel, who had been lying on his bed like a corpse, didn’t even bother to check who it was.
There was only one person left who could burst into his room without knocking.
“Hey.”
And just as he’d anticipated, Artia’s voice followed, dripping with irritation.
“Get up.”
At his summons, Kainel didn’t budge at all.
Thud!
“…You want to die?”
Only after taking a kick did Kainel finally open his mouth, which he’d been keeping firmly shut.
“If you don’t want another one, sit up right now.”
“Get out.”
As Kainel tried to lie down again, Artia sent a spell hurtling toward him without hesitation.
Finally, Kainel sprang up from the bed and grabbed Artia by the collar.
“Do you really want to die?”
Even as she saw the murderous glint in his eyes, Artia let out a snort of laughter.
“Why? Think Seres would be lonely without you, so you want me to send you there?”
“……”
At the mention of Seres’ name, the strength drained from Kainel’s grip, and he released her.
“…You’re really not bothered by it?”
“By what?”
“Seres being gone.”
How… how can you smile right now?
No matter how much time has passed……. The more time goes by, the harder it gets for me.
Artia, too, had looked deeply sorrowful at Seres’ funeral.
But there was none of the hollow emptiness that consumed him.
Though she’d always been one to shed tears easily, not a single drop had fallen, and instead she’d shown something like an unwavering resolve.
“Right. If anything, I should be more upset than you. I can never see her again.”
“What?”
At the sight of Artia’s bitter smile, Kainel’s brow furrowed deeper.
“Never mind. You’re keeping the key safe, aren’t you?”
“What key?”
“The Black Key.”
Suddenly overwhelming exhaustion washed over Kainel, and he collapsed onto the bed.
Why was she bringing up the key all of a sudden?
“You know? That key only has true meaning when all three are gathered together.”
“…You’re insane.”
He already knew that Seres had died with the key in subspace. Why was this madwoman spouting nonsense? There would never be a time when all three keys came together again.
“I gave my key to someone else.”
“…Someone else?”
“To someone Seres would definitely want to meet later.”
“Why do you keep talking such nonsense.”
Artia took a step closer to Kainel, who released a long sigh.
“You find it.”
“Find what?”
“The key. Make sure all three come together.”
“…….”
Kainel stared at Artia as if she were mad, then rolled back onto the bed. He had no desire to engage with her any further.
“I don’t know which one you’ll meet first…….”
Artia let slip words that remained cryptic to the end.
Kainel covered his eyes with his arm and forced himself to seek sleep that wouldn’t come.
* * *
“Hmm.”
Seres sat in contemplation, staring at two keys before her. Kainel had entrusted her with the Black Key that very day.
‘It seemed like something Artia would want.’
‘He had something to tell you.’
What had Alti said to Kainel?
What words would make him give me his own key?
After a long moment of studying the two keys, Seres picked them up.
She turned them over in her hands, then pressed them together.
Flash!
A faint image materialized before her.
A map created by magic.
And at one point on that map, a red dot blazed with light.
“Where is that?”
So that’s where Artia’s key was located.
Studying the map carefully, Seres could roughly discern the location.
“A Temple?”
If the position hadn’t changed much since long ago, it had to be where the Temple stood.
“Why is Alti’s key there?”
Seres gazed at the red dot marked on the map, unable to hide her bewilderment.

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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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