Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 41

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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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“What—what is this?”
The physician’s face twisted in agony as he clutched his head. Something had just flown through the air and struck him hard.
The sharp pain made him glance frantically around, but he found nothing obvious to blame.
There were too many people nearby to identify the culprit.
“Damn it! I came out here to treat them, and this is how they repay me? Commoners, every last one of them…. Cursed….”
Muttering oaths under his breath, he continued massaging his head as the throbbing persisted.
“…Seles?”
“What?”
“…Never mind. It’s nothing.”
Cheyeon offered an awkward smile as he watched Seles standing vacantly with her hands clasped behind her back, as though nothing had happened.
‘You just threw that stone, didn’t you.’
He had witnessed in real time as she kicked a tiny pebble from the ground, sending it flying.
Remarkably, that stone struck the physician from House Elrsian’s head with perfect accuracy, and Cheyeon’s jaw fell open.
Whether or not Cheyeon marveled at her remarkable composure, the corner of Seles’s mouth climbed toward the heavens in unmistakable triumph.
“Only four of them?”
And one of them is a novice physician who’s just recently arrived, at that.
Seles observed the silver rings adorning the physicians’ hands and immediately discerned that they had not long been studying Medicine.
If the system hadn’t changed much since her time, those silver rings marked the beginners.
The Silver Ring was worn by those who had entered the House for less than three years. After three years, the color and design of the ring changed.
The reason for dividing people by such periods was simple.
It allowed for clear directives when large numbers of patients suddenly flooded in or urgent situations arose.
The work each person undertook varied completely depending on seniority and skill.
One couldn’t assign a critical patient to someone barely trained in Medicine, after all.
‘Yet….’
In a situation overflowing with critical patients, they’d sent only four physicians—and two of them wore the Silver Ring.
‘Though there is one more, I suppose.’
She spotted another physician, seemingly brought along as support staff, managing the line of waiting patients.
A woman appearing to be in her late twenties wore a Gold Ring on her hand.
A Gold Ring meant she’d been with the House for at least ten years.
‘Yet she’s doing that kind of work?’
Rather than conducting treatments herself, she appeared occupied with assisting her junior colleagues who wore the Silver Ring.
“Hmm.”
There were likely two possible explanations.
The woman was remarkably incompetent.
Even after more than a decade with House Elrsian, if she possessed inferior skills compared to physicians who’d recently joined, she might well find herself relegated to support duties.
‘Or perhaps….’
She’d fallen out of favor.
If she’d displeased her superiors, she might be treated as beneath her actual ability.
Seles leaned toward the latter explanation.
Why?
“Here, please take this with you.”
“Yes?”
The woman had hurried over to a man leading away an elderly mother who seemed barely conscious, pressing something into his hands—an herb used to counteract Bakula Poisoning.
“It appears the Bakula venom is making it difficult for her to breathe properly. She’s been poisoned.”
“P-poisoned?”
“It’s not critical right now, but if left untreated, it could become dangerous. Have her steep this herb once daily without fail.”
“Thank you! Thank you so much!”
As the man bowed repeatedly in gratitude, the woman quickly excused herself, clearly wary of drawing the other physicians’ attention.
What the woman did next proved equally captivating to Seles.
She quietly approached the father of a child another physician had sent away as beyond hope—the boy whose fingers had blackened with necrosis—and slipped him a slip of paper with a prescription.
“Don’t give up. His hand is badly damaged, but from what I can see, the nerves haven’t died yet. With proper treatment, he might recover fully.”
“Is that… truly so?”
“It will take time, of course…. But please don’t abandon hope.”
She even inquired where the family lived, promising to visit them soon.
‘There’s at least one who knows what she’s doing.’
Seles continued watching the woman as she hurried about.
She observed how the woman deftly identified what the other physicians had handled carelessly or overlooked entirely, and subtly conveyed treatment approaches.
“Herion! What are you doing?”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I just… couldn’t bear to turn the patients away empty-handed….”
“Don’t waste your attention on useless things. Just get these instruments organized properly. I’m swamped as it is… Tsk.”
“Right. Got it.”
The woman in the other healer’s employ hurried back from the patients and began arranging the scattered medical instruments in haste.
Watching this, Seles’s lips curved into a bright smile.
“She’s absolutely furious.”
“…? Seles, what are you doing?”
Cheyeon watched her with troubled eyes as she suddenly bent down to examine the ground.
“A stone.”
“Huh?”
“Looking for a stone.”
Maybe something bigger than the last one she’d thrown—a stone so massive it would crack her skull wide open!
“Seles, Seles!”
Cheyeon hastily stopped her.
If she threw another stone here, she’d really get caught.
Suddenly, all four healers rose from their posts.
In that moment, all four healers attending patients stood up at once and hurried toward something.
Seles and Cheyeon, who had been bickering back and forth, turned their attention in the same direction.
“Lord Creel, you’ve arrived.”
As a gaunt man in his early thirties appeared, the healers bowed and scraped without exception.
“Could that be…?”
“That’s right. He’s the head of House Elrsian.”
“Ah…!”
The waiting patients, too, gazed at him with eyes full of longing and hope—the unspoken wish that he might spare a glance for them.
“You’re all working hard.”
“Not at all, sir. It’s simply our duty.”
“That’s right. All of this becomes experience, becomes skill.”
Creel offered them a gentle smile and moved among them, patting each healer’s shoulder and speaking words of encouragement.
But his gaze never once fell on Herion, the female healer occupied with organizing supplies and belongings.
“I’d like to send more people, but with so many patients flooding to House Elrsian’s halls, the other healers are already stretched thin caring for them. You must all do your best.”
Only then did Seles understand something that had puzzled her from the start.
‘Why send only these incompetent fools to a place where the family’s healers’ abilities would be so openly displayed?’
There was no choice in the matter.
The Black Forest that had erupted in the capital’s entertainment district had left countless nobility wounded, and the crisis was severe.
They would surely have rushed to House Elrsian rather than this temporary clinic where commoners gathered, and the situation there was critical.
It was clear he had hastily assembled whoever was available to send here.
“…! Lord Cheyeon?!”
A moment later, Creel glanced around and spotted Cheyeon, his surprise evident.
Recognizing him as an acquaintance, he approached quickly with warmth in his greeting.
“What brings you to such a place?”
“One thing and another.”
“I should have come sooner. I would have liked to share a cup of tea with you.”
“Ha, you say frightening things.”
“Pardon?”
“Everyone knows the head of House Elrsian is busy. I couldn’t possibly monopolize your time.”
“You’re too kind. No matter how occupied I am, I always have time for you.”
Cheyeon, eyes narrowed pleasantly, continued to step back from Creel as he drew nearer.
“If you’re free now, perhaps we could share a cup…?”
“I’m busy.”
“Ah, I see……”
His face smiled, but his boundaries were unmistakable.
Watching quietly from beside him, Seles found this version of him rather surprising.
She had only ever seen him joke with mercenaries in taverns, his natural charm making strangers seem like old friends within moments. His guarded demeanor now was entirely unexpected.
“And who is the person beside you?”
“Just someone I met on business.”
“I see.”
Creel’s curiosity about Seles evaporated the moment he heard she was merely a business acquaintance.
Her shabby clothes made it clear she was not someone worthy of his attention.

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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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