Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 13

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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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When she knelt and offered a few words of apology, Agene blazed with fury.
It was satisfying to mock her thoroughly before leaving, but now that she faced the debt documents, the settlement sum they’d proposed hung before her eyes like a phantom.
“Tsk.”
Seles clicked her tongue lightly and fell into thought.
Was there any way to turn this around?
Was there truly nothing in this run-down place worth any money?
“Ah.”
Then, suddenly, she remembered something.
“Would that fetch anything?”
Without further deliberation, Seles flicked her hand swiftly. The air fractured as before, and a black void opened before her.
A moment later, what she pulled from it was an elegant wooden box.
“Hmm.”
As she opened it, a stone smaller than an adult’s fingernail came into view.
The luminous blue stone radiated such cold that merely looking at it sent a chill through the air.
“Kainels said it was precious.”
‘I got it from a monster that lived on Snow Mountain.’
‘What is it?’
‘A Mana Stone.’
A monster from Snow Mountain—Grace knew exactly which one.
For longer than she could remember, it had been called the Ruler of Snow Mountain: an enormous serpent, large enough to rival several manor houses combined.
The beast descended into the village whenever it pleased to devour people before departing serenely, until Kainels—who had long harbored a grudge against it—severed its head.
‘Shouldn’t you give the Mana Stone to Artia?’
Grace understood well enough that a Mana Stone left behind by an ancient monster was extraordinarily rare.
But for someone like her, who wasn’t even a mage, it held no particular use.
She’d only suggested it thinking that Artia, the Mage Tower’s master, would make better use of the stone.
‘Why should I?’
‘…….’
But Kainels shook her head firmly, as though she hadn’t even considered the Mage Tower’s master.
‘If I don’t need it, forget it. I’ll throw it away.’
‘No—give it to Artia.’
‘I’m throwing it away.’
‘Fine, fine. I’ll take it.’
‘If you slip it to Artia without my knowing…….’
“Both of you are equally petty, I swear.”
Whether it was Artia, who had never given Kainels the Teleportation Magic Item until the very end, or Kainels herself, who had brazenly shoved this precious Mana Stone onto someone who had no use for it—
Seles laughed idly as the memory surfaced, then regarded the Mana Stone with renewed interest.
“How much would this fetch, I wonder?”
It had been valuable once, but there was no way to know if it still commanded such a price.
And beyond the question of price, she had no idea where one would even sell such a thing.
“…A junk shop?”
Wasn’t this essentially junk? A Mana Stone from three hundred years ago?
‘A junk shop? No, no! Madam Grace! Goodness, Madam Grace, you really know nothing except Healing! I’m so worried! …….’
Somehow, she could almost hear her disciple’s lament again.
“Not a junk shop?”
She’d spent her entire life healing people and had never been worldly about such matters. These small practical details had always been handled by others.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of a knock, Seles quickly returned the Mana Stone to the Subspace.
Click.
The one who entered was Antonien.
She’d seen him playing with Yulia just moments before—what was this about?
“Where’s Yulia?”
“Reading a book.”
Seven-year-old Yulia was surprisingly sharp.
It was truly astonishing that she’d already mastered her letters without any formal education.
‘Who taught you?’
‘Books.’
‘…You taught yourself by reading books?’
‘Yes.’
…A prodigy, surely.
The child no longer ate the Poison Plant, and her waking hours had increased markedly. She’d even put on weight since her time at the Sanatorium.
The problem was that she couldn’t use her ability to manipulate time on Yulia.
‘The child is far too young.’
If she’d been an adult with growth already complete, it wouldn’t have posed any difficulty whatsoever. She could simply rewind all bodily time to before the Poison Plant was consumed, and the treatment would be finished cleanly.
But Yulia’s three years were still so formative—a period when every tissue in her body was undergoing substantial development.
To rewind that period?
‘That would be catastrophic.’
Her chronological age and the ages of her tissue would fall into discord, potentially producing far worse consequences.
‘Fortunately, I know the proper treatment.’
Though it would take time, healing wasn’t impossible, so instead of attempting some reckless gambit, she decided to treat the child through orthodox means.
‘And I have sufficient materials.’
The medicinal ingredients needed for the child’s treatment were already stockpiled abundantly in the Subspace, so there was no need to search for them.
She found herself grateful anew to Artia for creating the Subspace. Many of the materials required for treating the child’s condition were exceedingly expensive.
So many of them would be nearly impossible to procure given her current circumstances that she likely wouldn’t have dared begin treatment at all, even knowing how.
“Where did all these ingredients come from?”
The problem was simply that there were people curious about the source of these materials.
Antonien and the maid Jay alike couldn’t hide their bewilderment at seeing Seles arrive with such an abundance of unfamiliar medicinal herbs.
“I gathered them myself.”
“Yourself? When?”
“A very long time ago.”
“……?”
It wasn’t a lie.
Only that “a very long time ago” meant three hundred years prior.
‘M-Mistress Seles, please allow me to prepare it.’
‘Never mind. Temperature control is crucial for this.’
‘Pardon?’
‘I’ll handle it. You attend to your other duties.’
They all protested in alarm at the sight of Seles personally decocting the herbs, insisting they do it instead.
She was someone who almost never volunteered to do anything.
Of course, Seles stubbornly proceeded with brewing the herbs.
“When did you study herbalism?”
Even Antonien couldn’t shake his suspicious expression at first.
He couldn’t simply sit by and watch as Seles suddenly began mixing unfamiliar herbs and attempting to feed them to Yulia.
‘What are you doing? Have you lost your mind? Do you know what that even is before giving it to Yulia?’
‘Is it mad to give medicine to a sick child?’
‘What kind of medicine is that?’
‘Gufioh Leaf—it draws out toxins accumulated in the body. Seloah Fruit restores depleted vital energy. I’ve brewed those together with Altzhairar Seed and dried Kakhas Leaf. Those two ingredients will work to extract the poison that’s infiltrated even into the brain.’
‘…What?’
‘Could you explain that again?’
‘…No.’
Though he’d been uncertain at first, he could see plainly that Yulia’s condition was improving visibly, so he no longer doubted Seles’s treatment.
Yet questions remained.
When on earth had his sister learned such things?
“A very long time ago.”
Watching Seles deliver the identical answer as before, Antonien exhaled a long sigh.
‘She claims to have lost her memory, yet speaks of ancient times.’
Something was clearly being hidden, but he couldn’t begin to fathom what.
Lately, observing Seles had left Antonien thoroughly bewildered.
Was this truly the same sister he’d known all these years?
‘Though she seems far better now.’
Before her memory loss, merely looking at her had caused suffocation and unease.
And hadn’t he even witnessed that anxiety made manifest—his sister attempting to end her own life?
But now, watching her, that anxiety didn’t surface at all.
Rather, even though countless difficulties loomed ahead, observing his sister’s serene composure somehow made him feel utterly untroubled as well.
“So, what brings you here?”
“…What happened to Aunt Agene?”
Seeing Seles redirect the conversation away from ingredients and Healing, unwilling to continue that discussion, Antonien asked about his aunt.
He’d heard that Aunt Agene had been captured and would stand trial, but he had no idea how things had progressed since.
“The trial concluded. Attempted murder and fraud—she’s headed to prison.”
“I see.”
So it comes to this after all.
I’d suspected as much.
Yulia hadn’t died, thankfully, but attempting to kill a child with Poison Plant was a grievous crime nonetheless.
Once Antonien learned the truth—that his aunt’s poisoning was the reason for Yulia’s frail constitution—he found himself unable to speak for a long while.
He’d never been fond of her, true, yet he’d never stopped considering her family either.
She was the one who had cared for him and his sister during those dark months after their parents’ death, after all.
Even if, as it turned out, she had done it all to steal every last coin this household possessed.

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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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