Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 123
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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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“Sigh.”
A long breath escaped from Ersi’s lips. Before him lay a Green Healing Potion he had obtained not long ago.
A cure that eliminated Magi.
Ersi ran his hand over his face again and again, exhaling one long sigh after another. The more he thought about it, the more tangled his thoughts became.
“How in the world?”
No matter how much he puzzled over it, he could not discover why this potion was currently in circulation.
He had even gone so far as to plant someone discreetly within the Elrsia Countess Family to investigate, but unfortunately had obtained no useful information.
Only one thing: he had heard that the woman who had recently assumed the role of family head proxy in the Elrsia Countess Family might be connected to this new cure.
‘Wasn’t she called the daughter of the Drow Marquis House?’
Seres Drow.
By now, there was no one in the Temple who did not know that name. Nearly everyone in the Temple knew that the owner had appeared at the identification ceremony for Tamer Artifacts.
He suspected the entire Capital would soon be ablaze with gossip about it.
The Imperial Court was working hard to keep it hidden, but was it really something that could be concealed? There were far more than one or two people keeping a keen eye on Tamer Artifacts.
“Should I meet her?”
If she was indeed the one who had provided this potion to the Elrsia family, he had far too many questions. How had she come to know of it? Who had taught her the formula?
Knock, knock.
“Yes. Please come in.”
Moments later, the door opened and a young priestess entered.
“Ersi, a visitor wishes to see you.”
“A visitor? Who is it?”
“That is…….”
Before the young priestess could finish speaking, someone abruptly thrust her face through the gap in the doorway.
She appeared to be in her late teens, with violet eyes and platinum hair that were particularly striking.
“Who are you, if I may ask?”
A face she had never seen before—was this truly the visitor who had come for her?
“…….”
At Ersi’s question, the woman—Seres—fell silent for a moment. The instant she saw his face up close, the words fled from her again.
‘Ah…….’
Anyone could see this was Enok. Even his voice was identical. How could she ever forget that voice? That voice which had always chased after her, constantly nagging her.
Even after she had awakened in this body again, the echo of his voice would often reach her ears, like a habit ingrained in her.
“Are you the one who came looking for me?”
Watching him ask the question with those eyes that seemed far too innocent for his years, Seres exhaled a long breath.
‘Don’t jump to conclusions yet.’
This was simply impossible. There could be people who resembled each other in both appearance and voice.
There was only one thing she needed to confirm now. After thanking the young priestess who had guided her and sending her outside, Seres stepped closer to Ersi.
“What I came looking for is a key.”
“A key?”
The light in Ersi’s eyes, which had been gently tilting his head to one side, wavered for a moment. A certain object he had long forgotten suddenly flickered to mind.
‘It couldn’t possibly be……?’
Ersi quickly shook his head and brushed away the thought. After all, there was currently only one being who knew about that key.
The key this person was speaking of had to be something else. He smiled with his characteristic gentleness and asked again.
“What key are you referring to, if I may ask?”
“This one.”
Clink.
“……!”
At the sight of the Black Key gleaming in Seres’s hand, Ersi’s mouth fell open involuntarily.
“How is that…….”
At his words, which had escaped him thoughtlessly, Seres’s eyes flashed. His tone had been one of recognition—he knew this key.
Having come to the Temple earlier with two keys, Seres had begun searching for the remaining final key. Of course, she had asked permission from the Temple, mentioning that she was looking for someone.
‘May I ask who this person is that you’re looking for?’
‘I don’t know myself.’
‘Pardon?’
‘It’s someone my contracted being wishes to meet.’
‘A contracted being……!’
The power of a Tamer Artifact, one might say—they had agreed readily.
The eccentricity and willful, filthy nature of the beings that dwelled within Tamer Artifacts was a fact widely known to many people.
‘And the most representative of such beings is Juberios himself.’
Perhaps it was thanks to the cantankerous temperament he had displayed all this while.
As if fearing that one must never upset the mood of a Tamer Artifact, the High Priest who had received her had readily permitted her to tour the Temple freely.
Beep?
Seres turned away slightly from Airien, whose large eyes blinked incessantly as she asked when she’d ever said she was looking for someone, and quietly drew out the two Black Keys she carried.
Immediately, the Transparent Map appeared before her eyes once more. The young priest guiding her showed no particular reaction, as if she couldn’t see it at all, and simply followed at her side.
‘So it really is invisible to everyone else’s eyes.’
The map was said to be visible only to those who held the key. The map itself shifted its form constantly, drawing real-time images of the surroundings as they drew closer to where the keys lay, guiding the path ahead.
Following the map’s guidance led her to this place—right outside Ersi’s room. And it was there she met someone who resembled Enok.
“Do you know about this key?”
“Where did that key come from?”
Ersi’s gaze, which had seemed far too gentle to have ever held a sword, suddenly glinted with a sharp, dangerous light.
Seeing that expression, the corners of Seres’s mouth lifted. It was a gaze far too familiar.
The eye of Enok, who would draw his sword before anyone else when faced with an enemy—the look of her own disciple.
“I asked where you stole it from.”
Ersi’s expression grew even colder.
That key belonged to Master. There was only one way to obtain it, as far as he knew.
Did she dare to desecrate the remains of the dead?
“Why are you so curious? Do you even know what this key is?”
Seres found herself speaking to him in a somewhat playful manner.
‘Ah, so that’s why Kainel asks me these kinds of questions all the time.’
She thought she understood that feeling now.
‘He left behind words for me.’
‘Words? What words?’
‘Why? Are you curious? Why are you curious? You, who don’t even know who Artia is?’
Recalling how Kainel had teased her with those words back then, Seres let out a laugh.
“I don’t like beating around the bush, so I’ll ask straight out.”
…….
“Enok.”
……!
“Do you know that name?”
Seres didn’t really need to hear his answer.
The blank, slack-jawed expression on Ersi’s face—the chill suddenly draining from his demeanor—was answer enough to her question.
“You, you…….”
Enok……
How long had it been since he’d heard that name? No—before that, how does this woman even know that name?
“Who are you?”
“Me?”
Seres stepped closer to Ersi, and her smile deepened.
“Your master.”
“What?”
“If you’re Enok…….”
Seres quietly rolled up her sleeve.
“Then let’s spar for a bit.”
* * *
“Um…….”
“What? Lower your guard?”
“Oh, no!”
Shake-shake!
Ersi, who had been kneeling on one knee and watching Seres’s expression carefully, quickly raised the hand he’d been about to lower.
‘What, what is this…….’
Ersi, his legs folded, could not tear his gaze from Seres, who sat before him.
That arrogant gaze that seemed to regard all things in the world with ease.
That cool smile, playful yet capable of tearing into an opponent at any moment.
‘Master.’
How was he supposed to accept this figure, so strikingly similar to someone he knew?
‘Could it really be…….’
Ersi shook his head vigorously. He had watched her die with his own eyes, standing right beside her. It was he himself who had laid her body to rest. He had even presided over her funeral.
‘But this appearance?’
He knew right away the moment she struck him just now.
Ah, Master.
…it was her.
“How is this possible?”
“What?”
“Why are you alive? You should have been reduced to dust long ago, nothing left of you but bone—and yet here you stand before my eyes.”
“That’s precisely what I’d like to ask you.”
Ersi gazed steadily at Seres, his eyes fixed on her violet pupils.
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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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