Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 40

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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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“Why?”
“…Why what?”
“Why did you come looking for me?”
“Listen here.”
Cheiyan swept her tangled hair back roughly and let out a long sigh.
Was she really calling that a question?
“You knew this place was being influenced by the Black Forest, yet you went outside anyway? Have you lost your mind?”
“So what does that have to do with you?”
“What do you mean, what does it have to do with me! Of course—!”
Of course… of course…?
……
Cheiyan suddenly found herself at a loss for words and clamped her mouth shut.
When confronted with such a blunt question, she had nothing to say.
“Exactly.”
Why had she been searching for her so desperately in the first place?
“Hey!”
But soon, feeling an inexplicable sense of injustice, Cheiyan’s eyes widened again.
Haven’t we gotten close these past days? How many cups of tea have I eaten here because of you!
Aren’t we the kind of people who worry about each other? Is that not what we are?
“Seriously, this is too much!”
As her thoughts piled up, the injustice pressed down on her even more heavily, and words tumbled from Cheiyan’s mouth unbidden.
‘Is this what Julia does? Why is her lip pouting like that?’
Seres gave a light shake of her head as she watched Cheiyan.
Irritating. Yet somehow, pouting like a child at that age looks rather charming.
“Sit down. I’ll give you some tea.”
“…Tea?”
“Yes.”
Well, truthfully, she was a bit grateful.
The reason the girl had searched for her wasn’t hard to guess. Knowing full well, Seres had simply pretended not to notice out of awkwardness.
“…For free?”
“Suit yourself.”
“No! I’ll have some!”
Cheiyan, having stopped pouting just moments before, broke into a bright smile.
The way she smiled, showing her teeth, was undeniably beautiful.
“Lots of honey!”
……
Strange, isn’t it? She has a real talent for being troublesome, yet somehow… it isn’t unpleasant at all.
‘And…’
Looking at her, Seres kept thinking of someone else.
Was it because they were both Mage Tower Masters? Or did all Tower Masters naturally smile like that?
‘Alti’s smile was truly beautiful too.’
She was well aware of her own beauty and always cast her eyes downward with a knowing smile, much like this girl. Kaimel had found such displays unbearable.
“Drink.”
“Sure!”
Seres watched quietly as Cheiyan, her eyes crinkling pleasantly, took a sip from the cup of tea heavy with honey.
Feeling that gaze, Cheiyan tilted her head slightly to one side.
“What?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I was wondering why you weren’t asking.”
“Asking about what?”
“The Defensive Stone.”
Seres had expected her to ask about that the moment she walked in.
The Defensive Stone she’d received from the butler Colin.
She’d even prepared an excuse for it.
‘I’ll say I found it on the road.’
Well, that should be reasonable enough, shouldn’t it? What are they going to do if I say I found it on the road?
I already told her I lost the Mana Stone on the road, so there’s no rule saying I can’t find a Defensive Stone there too, right?
“Would you tell me the truth if I asked?”
“Yeah.”
“Without a lie?”
“No.”
……
For a moment, Cheiyan’s expression went slack.
What’s with all this confidence?
“Ha.”
That’s a talent too, I suppose. A real talent.
In the end, he let out a soft laugh and shook his head gently.
“So I decided not to ask.”
It’d be pointless to grill you about it when you’re not going to tell me the truth anyway, right?
“But there’s one thing you could answer for me, couldn’t you?”
“What?”
“Is there a mage among the people you’re close to?”
“You.”
……
At Seres’ casual gesture pointing to herself, Cheiyan’s eyes widened, and she kept smoothing down the corners of her mouth with her hand as they tried to curl upward.
“Besides you.”
“…There was one. A very long time ago.”
“Who? Are they still affiliated with the Mage Tower?”
“Dead.”
“What?”
“They’re dead.”
“Ah…….”
Cheiyan’s hand fell away from her lips, descending politely.
‘Did I get the Blue Stone from them too, along with the Defensive Stone?’
Cheiyan had plenty of questions, but she pressed her lips shut.
Seres’ expression as she spoke of death looked more impassive than ever, and that very impassiveness stopped her from saying anything.
That detachment seemed like a shield warning her not to touch the wound.
There was a debt to be paid for this Defensive Stone she carried, but for now, it seemed best to say nothing at all.
“Over here!”
“Hurry!”
“Someone from the Elscia Count’s House has arrived!”
While he sweated through the awkward silence, the street outside grew rowdy.
Peering out, she saw crowds moving urgently in some direction. No shortage of wounded people bearing various injuries.
“About time they showed up.”
“…The Elscia Count’s House?”
“Yeah.”
Though it had been resolved quickly, the number of those injured in the Demonic Beast attack was considerable. All the healers in the Capital were now out tending to the patients.
And now it seemed the Elscia Count’s House had finally dispatched people as well.
And now it seemed the Elscia Count’s House had finally sent someone.
“Those nobles really are slow to move, aren’t they?”
While the other healers worked hard, the Elscia Count’s House had dragged its feet and only now was making an appearance—and Cheiyan clearly didn’t like it, clicking her tongue repeatedly.
Her assessment of the Elscia Count’s House was plainly unfavorable.
“They get the most funding from the state too.”
“So? If they’re skilled, don’t they deserve more money?”
“What good is skill if common people don’t know them from trash?”
……
“They’re nothing but greedy parasites obsessed with money——”
Smack!
“Ow!”
Mid-complaint, Cheiyan’s expression went blank as a hand struck her forehead hard.
“Why did you just hit me?”
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to.”
It’s true.
Her hand just went out on its own. At Cheiyan’s words against the Elscia Count’s House.
Sorry. That’s just instinct for me.
“Ugh.”
“…Hey, I’m the one who got hit, so why are you cursing?”
“I don’t know. I’m irritated.”
Seres stared at the hand that had just struck Cheiyan, her brow furrowing deeply.
Whether the Elscia Count’s House lost face or not—what was that to her?
‘This is a sickness too, a sickness.’
It irritated her.
It grated on her nerves.
Damn them all! Why were they spouting such garbage?
She bolted to her feet.
“Seres? Where are you going?”
“…to see just how abundant the madness is around here.”
“What?”
Right. Let’s get a proper look at exactly how much of a mess this is, shall we?
* * *
“Next.”
“Um, excuse me… Healer, my mother still seems to be having trouble breathing…”
“That’s just her age. The Healing is complete. Don’t you see all the people backed up behind you?”
“But still…”
“Next!”
At the irritated cry of the physician, the man supporting the elderly woman finally retreated in silence.
Each step the old woman took seemed to demand great effort; her breathing was rough and labored.
The makeshift clinic had no end in sight—throngs of people stood in line, waiting for their turn.
The damage from the Black Forest incident had drawn such crowds to the temporary clinic that it was packed shoulder to shoulder.
“Next.”
Of all the stations, the one drawing the largest crowd was where the physicians of the Elscia Count’s House were stationed.
Hoping to be seen by someone from the Elscia Count’s House—renowned for skill and normally impossible to see—patients gladly endured the exhaustion of the long queue despite their pain.
“Healer, how is my child?”
“….”
“He’s going to be all right, isn’t he? Please…”
The father’s face was flooded with anxiety as he looked at his child, whose fingertips had turned black with death.
Only a splash of Bakula venom had touched him, and it had come to this.
Surely he wouldn’t lose the use of his hand forever?
“I’ll need to amputate up to the wrist.”
“…What?”
“The necrosis has already progressed quite far.”
“Necrosis? Do—do we need to cut it off right now?”
“Yes.”
“Is there… is there truly no other way?”
At the words of amputation, the man’s face went ashen.
A torrent of thoughts raced through his mind in those brief seconds.
His child was still so young—was he meant to live his whole life without a hand? He had to decide this instant?
And not just the blackened fingertips, but the wrist too had to come off!
“Healer, surely there must be another way…”
“Next.”
“…What?”
“Next patient.”
“Wait, please. The treatment isn’t finished yet.”
“If you don’t like my methods, go elsewhere.”
“What do you—! I simply needed time to think! So please—!”
“Next!”
Turned away without even finishing treatment because of a moment’s hesitation, the man stared at his child in his arms with a hollow expression.
He wanted to cling to the physician, to beg for help, but the cold gaze that would not even acknowledge his presence left him with nothing to say.
The man’s eyes reddened as he tightened his arms around his child.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
It was then.
Without so much as a glance at the departing patient, a groan suddenly burst from the lips of the physician still seated.

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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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