Time Healer Ceres
Chapter 13
Chapter 13
<013>
I gave Agne a piece of my mind after she knelt and begged for forgiveness, and she had flown into a fit of rage.
It had been quite satisfying to mock her like that, but now that I was actually facing the debt documents, the settlement amount they demanded kept floating before my eyes.
“Tsk.”
Ceres clicked her tongue softly and fell into thought for a moment.
Wasn't there some good way?
Was there really nothing in this house that could be turned into money?
“Ah.”
Suddenly, an item came to mind.
“I wonder if that will fetch a decent price?”
Without a second thought, Ceres waved her hand quickly. Just like before, a rift tore through the air, and a black hole appeared.
After a moment, she pulled out a luxurious wooden box.
“Hmm.”
When she opened the box, a stone smaller than an adult's fingernail revealed itself.
The stone, which emitted a brilliant blue light, gave off a chilling coldness just by looking at it.
“Kai said it was something precious.”
『I got this from a monster living in the snowy mountains.』
『What is it?』
『A Magic Stone.』
If it was a monster from the snowy mountains, Grace knew it well.
She didn't know since when, but for a very long time, it was a massive snake known as the 'Ruler of the Snowy Mountain,' as large as several mansions combined.
The creature, which would come down to the village whenever it had the chance to devour people before leisurely departing, had been decapitated by Kainel, who had been determined to hunt it down.
『If it's a Magic Stone, shouldn't you give it to Alti?』
Grace knew very well that Magic Stones left behind by ancient monsters were extremely rare.
However, for her, who was not a magician, it was a useless item.
She had suggested it thinking that Artia, the Magic Tower Master, would be able to put the Magic Stone to better use.
『Why should I do that?』
『……』
But Kainel shook his head vigorously, as if he hadn't even considered the existence of Artia, the Magic Tower Master, in the first place.
『If you don't need it, forget it. I'll just throw it away.』
『Hey, I said give it to Alti.』
『I'm going to throw it away.』
『Fine, fine. I'll take it.』
『If you pass it to that Artia fellow behind my back…』
“Honestly, those two are equally petty.”
Whether it was Artia, who refused to give the Teleportation Magic Item to Kainel until the very end, or Kainel, who pointedly dumped a precious Magic Stone on her even though she had no use for it.
Ceres let out a silly laugh as she recalled the old memory, then looked at the Magic Stone with a fresh gaze.
“How much would this be worth?”
It was precious back then, but she had no way of knowing if it remained so now.
And besides the price, she didn't even know where to go to sell something like this.
“…A junk shop?”
This counts as junk, doesn't it? It's a Magic Stone that's three hundred years old.
『A-a junk shop? That's not right! Grace-nim! Ah, seriously! You really don't know anything besides healing, Grace-nim. I'm so worried…』
For some reason, she felt like she could hear her disciple's lamentations again.
“Maybe not a junk shop.”
She had spent her whole life only healing people and wasn't particularly savvy about the ways of the world. Such trivial matters had always been handled by others on her behalf.
Knock, knock.
At the sound of a knock, Ceres put the Magic Stone back into her Subspace.
Click.
The person who entered the room was none other than Antonion.
She had seen him playing with Yulia just a moment ago.
“Where's Yulia?”
“She's looking at a book.”
Seven-year-old Yulia was much smarter than she had expected.
She probably hadn't received a proper education, yet Ceres was truly shocked to hear that she had already mastered reading.
『Who did you learn from?』
『Books.』
『…You learned by yourself just by looking at books?』
『Yes.』
…She's a genius.
Since the child stopped eating the poisonous herbs, the time she spent awake had increased significantly. She had also put on some weight compared to when she was at the sanatorium.
The problem was that she couldn't use her ability to manipulate time on Yulia.
『The child is too young.』
If she were an adult who had already finished growing, it wouldn't have been a problem at all. The treatment would have been simple: just rewind the time of her entire body to before she had ingested the poisonous herbs.
However, for the still very young Yulia, those three years were a period where all her bodily tissues were undergoing significant growth.
Rewinding that period?
『It would be disastrous.』
The biological age and the age of the internal tissues would fall out of sync, which could lead to even worse results.
『Fortunately, I know the cure.』
It would take time, but since a cure wasn't impossible, she decided to treat the child through the standard route instead of taking a pointless gamble.
『And I have plenty of medicinal ingredients.』
The ingredients needed for the child's treatment were already piled high in her Subspace, so there was no need to go looking for them.
She felt grateful to Artia once again for creating the Subspace. This was because the ingredients required to treat the child's illness were quite expensive items.
Since many of the ingredients were things she could never hope to obtain in her current situation, it was highly likely she wouldn't have even been able to start, even if she knew the treatment.
“Where did all those medicinal ingredients come from?”
The problem was that there were people curious about the source of the ingredients.
Antonion was one, and the maid Jay also couldn't hide her bewilderment when she saw Ceres bringing out a bunch of herbs from goodness knows where.
“I gathered them myself.”
“Yourself? When?”
“A very long time ago.”
“……?”
It wasn't a lie.
It was just that 'a long time ago' meant three hundred years ago.
『Se-Seres-nim, I will brew it.』
『It's fine. Temperature control is important for this one.』
『Pardon?』
『I'll do it, so you go do your own work.』
Everyone was horrified to see Ceres brewing the herbs herself and tried to stop her, saying they would do it.
She was someone who almost never took the initiative to do anything, after all.
Of course, Ceres stubbornly brewed the herbs herself.
“When did you study herbalism?”
Antonion, too, couldn't let go of his suspicious gaze at first.
Ceres had suddenly started mixing and brewing herbs he had never seen before to feed them to Yulia; he couldn't just stand by and watch that while in his right mind.
『What are you doing! Are you crazy? How do you know what that is before feeding it to Yulia?』
『Is it crazy to give medicine to someone who's sick?』
『What kind of medicine is it?』
『Gupio leaves. They remove the toxins accumulated in the body. Sello Fruit replenishes weakened energy. On top of that, I mixed in dried Alzheiral Seeds and Kakas Leaves. Those two ingredients will work to remove the poison that has even penetrated the brain.』
『…Huh?』
『Do you want me to explain it again?』
『…No.』
He was skeptical at first, but since Yulia's condition was noticeably improving for anyone to see, he no longer doubted Ceres's treatment.
However, the question still remained.
Just when did his sister learn such things?
“A very long time ago.”
Antonion let out a long sigh as he saw Ceres give the exact same answer as before.
『What "long time ago" when you don't even have your memories.』
She was clearly hiding something, but he had no idea what it could be.
Antonion felt very confused whenever he looked at Ceres lately.
Was this person really the same sister he had known all this time?
『She does seem much better now, though.』
Before she lost her memories, just looking at her made his heart feel heavy and anxious.
As if to prove those anxieties, hadn't he eventually seen his sister try to take her own life?
But now, even when he looked at his sister, he didn't feel that kind of anxiety at all.
Rather, despite the numerous difficult problems lined up ahead, seeing his nonchalant sister made him feel quite peaceful in turn.
“So, what's your business for coming here?”
“…What happened to Aunt Agne?”
Antonion asked about his aunt as he saw Ceres change the subject, as if she didn't want to continue the conversation about the ingredients or medical techniques.
He had heard that Aunt Agne had been caught and was to stand trial, but he knew nothing about how things had progressed since then.
“The trial is over. She's going to prison for attempted murder and fraud.”
“Ah.”
So that's how it turned out, after all?
He had expected it.
Fortunately, Yulia hadn't died, but trying to kill a child with poisonous herbs was a major crime.
After learning that the reason for Yulia's poor health was the poison their aunt had fed her, Antonion had been speechless for a while.
He hadn't liked his aunt even under normal circumstances, but it wasn't that he never considered her family.
After all, she was the one who had looked after the siblings for a long time after they lost their parents.
Of course, it turns out that was all just to steal all the money from this household.
