Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 122

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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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[Faster! Can’t you run any faster? More! More!]
“Aaaaaagh!”
“Uuuuugh!”
Hmm, they’re doing well.
After leaving Kainel’s study, Seres made her way to the Magical Training grounds situated within the Mountain Cave.
She nodded with satisfaction as she heard what sounded almost like screams of anguish echoing through the space.
She’d already heard that Herion had been supervising the knights’ training at this hour lately. More precisely, the Spirit King of Fire, Juberios, was putting them through their paces without mercy.
[You don’t plan to lose to those children again, do you! Are you going to throw away the honor of House Elrsia entirely! Run faster! Move those sluggish legs before I char them to ash!]
“Uuuuaaaagh!”
The Spirit King of Fire circled above the struggling knights, raining down small fireballs, a living embodiment of terror itself.
“Juberios.”
[……! When did you arrive!]
At Seres’ soft call, Juberios flew over at once and perched obediently on her shoulder.
It was hard to believe this was the same being who’d just been hurling fireballs everywhere with wild abandon.
“Where’s Herion?”
[She remembered she had a patient appointment and left earlier.]
“Why didn’t you go?”
[How could I leave these wretches unattended!]
Juberios’ fierce gaze turned back toward the panting knights still running below.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter if we’re apart anyway.’
As long as Herion wore the ring, Seres could summon Juberios from any distance. There was no problem leaving the Spirit King of Fire here on his own.
[Did you come to watch the training?]
“That too.”
[What are you all doing! The children have already made it past the snow ridge! Run faster, all of you!]
The moment Juberios glanced away, the knights who’d been subtly slowing their pace jolted at the rebuke and surged forward again with renewed speed.
“Juberios.”
Seres called to him softly as she continued watching the knights train. Noticing that her voice carried an unfamiliar tone, Juberios turned his gaze toward her with a puzzled expression.
[What’s the matter……? Wait—that!]
It was then that he spotted the Silver Bracelet encircling Seres’ wrist—more specifically, the emerald gemstone set into it. His voice rose sharply.
[It’s a Tamer Relic!]
“Ah, yes.”
At his exclamation, Seres recalled that she had another matter she needed to confirm with Juberios.
“Airien.”
[Squeak!]
In response to her summons, a small rabbit hopped into view, raising one paw in a gesture of greeting—*I’m here!*
[Hmm.]
“Do you know what this is? At first I thought it was a spirit, but it says it isn’t.”
It had made a cross with its paws to say no, though with such short arms it hadn’t formed it very cleanly.
[So it’s not a spirit, then.]
“Then what is it?”
[A fairy.]
“A fairy? What’s the difference between that and a spirit?”
That creature can make flowers bloom and all that. Isn’t anything that manipulates nature classified as a spirit?
[Spirits like us operate on a fundamentally different level. We channel the primordial forces of nature itself. That creature, on the other hand, was born with magical power—it’s an existence that wields magic.]
“Magic?”
So when it made flowers bloom and plants grow in that underground space, it was using magic? Not drawing out nature’s power the way a spirit would?
[Squeak!]
The rabbit, which had been playing with its ears, stamped its feet against the ground as if to confirm Juberios’ words.
“Then is Kkamangi a fairy too?”
[Kkamangi! Are you talking about that cursed shadow creature! You—you’re still keeping that thing around! Didn’t I tell you to get rid of it immediately! That’s no fairy—it’s a harbinger of bad luck, filthy and……!]
“All right, that’s enough.”
He rants loudly about things he doesn’t even fully understand himself.
“Can’t this one talk like you do? Is conversation impossible, the way it is with you?”
Though I manage fine enough without words, somehow I keep accumulating creatures that can’t speak. Kkamangi included.
[Well, it’s still a young fairy, so that’s why.]
As if displeased that Seres was changing the subject, flames flared up from Juberios’ body before dying down again.
[Rather than confining it to the bracelet, letting it see the world like this and interact closely with you will help it grow.]
[Squeak! Squeak!]
The rabbit stamped emphatically once more, as if strongly agreeing with what Juberios had just said.
“I don’t think I even need to raise it.”
The more it grows, the more flowers it’ll produce. I’m not actually planning to go into the flower business.
[Beep! Beeeep!]
Ah, it’s crying. The sight of it flopped on the ground, wailing like a little rabbit, was rather endearing. Cradling the creature like a petulant child, Seres drew out the reason she’d sought this place in the first place.
“By the way, about Enok.”
[Enok? Who’s that?]
Juberios tilted his head, puzzled. The name seemed familiar enough, but who was he again?
“You don’t remember? My disciple. The one I passed the Household Head position to.”
[Oh, that guy.]
The fact that Juberios, the Spirit King of Fire who ought to have been watching over the Household, couldn’t even recall Enok’s name suggested that Kainel had been right after all.
“He never formally received the Household Head position from you, did he?”
[That’s right. He never made a Contract with me. He passed on the Ring you gave him directly to someone else and left the House.]
“Why?”
Why would he leave the House? Of all people, he was the one most enthusiastically devoted to its affairs.
Anyone could see it—how much joy he took in healing others.
[That, I don’t know. I merely approved of the new Household Head candidate he recommended and made a Contract straightaway without any fuss.]
“You have no idea what became of Enok after that?”
[Since he never made a Contract with me, I have no way of knowing where he went or what he does. You know as well as I do that only information about my Contract holders reaches me.]
So Juberios truly knew nothing about it either.
[Why are you suddenly curious about that?]
Seres—or rather, Grace—had cared far more for her disciple than most would have realized, and Juberios, more than anyone, knew this truth well. Was she finally missing the boy after all this time?
“How likely do you think it is that Enok is still alive?”
[Huh?]
Juberios circled her rapidly, his eyes full of concern, as if checking whether something was wrong with her.
[What nonsense is that? How could that boy possibly still be alive now? It makes no sense whatsoever.]
“And me? Am I sensible?”
I’m still alive too, after all. Though my appearance has changed, of course.
[Hmm, you were always a stubborn one, so it’s hardly surprising that you’d take over someone else’s body by force and carry on living…….]
…….
[Actually, I think I’d better go check on those people!]
The moment Juberios saw Seres quietly rolling up her sleeves, he shot up into the air and vanished into the distance.
[Beep?]
Airien tilted her head at the sudden departure, wondering what had gotten into him.
“He doesn’t want his fur plucked.”
Seres clicked her tongue briefly and set the young rabbit back down on the ground, then sighed. She’d come all this way, but there was precious little she’d learned.
Watching Airien hop about the surroundings, nibbling at grass, Seres fell back into thought.
“If I at least had a photograph, I could file a request.”
If she could just ask the Sky intelligence organization to track down the person in a photo, things would be so much easier.
The problem was that Enok had absolutely hated being photographed.
Even when photography was first introduced and people began trading photographs among friends, Enok had never participated once. Now that she thought about it, his behavior had always been rather odd.
‘I suppose I’ll just have to give them a verbal description and commission them to draw a portrait to search……!’
……Wait a moment.
“Sky…….”
A sudden thought struck her mind, and Seres hurriedly rummaged through her belongings. A moment later, a Black Key emerged in her hand.
Two Black Keys.
‘Take them. Keep them with you.’
‘Why?’
‘I think Artia would want you to.’
That’s what Kainel had said when he gave her the keys not long ago. What had Artia told him that made him pass these to her?
‘And…….’
A few days earlier, she’d tried overlaying these two keys to locate the third one.
The magical map that appeared when the two keys were combined. The red dot marked on that vision.
‘It was a Temple.’
She’d been puzzled about why Artia’s key was there in the first place.
…….
The Temple where Artia’s key was kept.
The one who resembled Enok that she’d met in that Temple.
“Could this just be coincidence?”
Alti…….
‘Who exactly did you give the key to?’

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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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