Time Healer Ceres

[Can’t you run any faster?! Faster! Faster!]

“Aaaargh!”

“Gah!”

Hmm, they’re doing well.

After leaving Kainel’s office, Ceres headed for the magical training grounds hidden within a cave in the mountains. Listening to the screams echoing through the cavern, she nodded in satisfaction.

She already knew that Herion had recently been overseeing the knights’ training around this time every day. More accurately, it was the Fire Spirit King, Jubelios, who had been whipping the knights into shape.

[You’re not planning to lose to those brats again next time, are you?! Are you trying to disgrace the Ellesia family?! Move those lazy legs! Before I burn every last one of you to a crisp!]

“Aaaagh!”

The Fire Spirit King was terror incarnate as he circled above the stragglers, pelting them with small fireballs.

“Jubelios.”

[—! When did you get here?]

At Ceres’s quiet call, Jubelios immediately flew over and settled obediently on her shoulder. It was hard to believe this gentle creature was the same spirit who had been mercilessly bombarding the knights only moments ago.

“Where’s Herion?”

[She remembered she had an appointment with a patient and left first.]

“Why didn’t you go with her?”

[How could I leave those fools behind?]

Jubelios shot a fierce glare at the knights, who were still running while gasping for breath.

Well, it doesn’t really matter if they’re apart.

As long as Herion had the ring on, she could summon Jubelios whenever she needed him, no matter the distance. Leaving the Fire Spirit King here alone wasn’t a problem.

[Did you come to watch training?]

“Among other things.”

[What are you all doing?! The others are already at the snowy mountain! Move it! Run!]

The knights, who had secretly eased their pace while Jubelios was distracted, immediately flinched and broke back into a sprint.

“Jubelios.”

As Ceres continued watching the knights train, she called out to him once more. Sensing something unusual in her tone, Jubelios turned to her with a puzzled look.

[Is something wrong...? Wait, is that...?]

Only then did he notice the silver bracelet around Ceres’s wrist. Or rather, the green gem set into it. His voice instantly rose.

[That’s a Tamer relic!]

“Oh, right.”

At his outburst, Ceres remembered there was one more thing she wanted to ask Jubelios.

“Airien.”

[Pii!]

At her call, a tiny rabbit popped into view and raised one paw as if proudly announcing its presence.

[Oh?]

“Do you know what this is? At first, I thought it was a spirit, but it says it isn’t.”

It had crossed its little arms into an X to say no... (or at least, she assumed that was the case.) Its arms were so short they hadn’t even managed to overlap properly.

[That’s right. It’s not a spirit.]

“Then what is it?”

[A fairy.]

“A fairy? How’s that different from a spirit?”

This one could make flowers bloom. Didn’t that make it a spirit? I thought anything that manipulated nature was considered one.

[It’s completely different from spirits like us. We wield the primal forces of nature. That little one was simply born with magical power.]

“Magic?”

So the flowers blooming and plants sprouting in that underground chamber had all been magic? It wasn’t drawing on the power of nature like spirits did?

[Pii!]

The rabbit, which had been idly fiddling with its ears, suddenly stomped its feet as if to say Jubelios was right.

“Then is Sooty a fairy too?”

[Sooty? Don’t tell me you mean that darkness’s spawn! You’re still keeping that thing around? Didn’t I tell you to throw it away?! A fairy? As if! That thing is ominous and filthy...!]

“All right, all right.”

You make such a fuss every time when you don’t even know what it is yourself.

“Does it always communicate like this? Can’t it talk like you do?”

It wasn’t like communicating with it was difficult, but somehow, she kept ending up surrounded by creatures that couldn’t talk. Sooty was the same.

[Hmph. It’s only because this one’s still young.]

As though annoyed that Ceres had changed the subject, flames briefly flared around Jubelios before dying down again.

[Keeping it locked inside that bracelet won’t do it any good. It needs to see the world and interact closely with you like it is now. That’s how it’ll grow.]

[Pii! Pii!]

As if to prove Jubelios right, the rabbit chirped enthusiastically.

“I don’t think it needs to grow, though.”

Won’t it just make even more flowers bloom? It’s not like she was planning to sell flowers.

[Piii! Piiii!]

Ah, now it’s crying.

Still, watching it throw itself onto the ground and bawl was oddly adorable. Cradling the rabbit to soothe it, Ceres finally brought up the real reason she’d come here.

“Anyway, about Enoch.”

[Huh? Who’s that?]

Jubelios tilted his head. The name sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it.

“You don’t remember? My disciple. The one I handed the family over to.”

[Oh, him.]

Seeing that Jubelios, the Fire Spirit King tasked with protecting the head of the family, couldn’t even remember Enoch’s name, Kainel must’ve been telling the truth.

“So he really never officially became the head of the family?”

[That’s right. He never made a contract with me. He passed the ring you left him on to someone else and left the family soon after.]

“Why?”

Why would he leave the family? No one had been more devoted to family matters than he was. Anyone could see that he had genuinely loved treating people.

[I don’t know either. I liked the child he recommended as the next family head well enough, so I just made the contract without giving it much thought.]

“So you really have no idea what happened to Enoch after that?”

[I never made a contract with him, so there’s no way for me to know where he went or what he’s doing. You know better than anyone that I only receive information about my contractors.]

In other words, Jubelios didn’t know anything either.

[Why are you suddenly asking about him?]

Jubelios was aware how much Ceres... no, Grace had cherished her disciple. Was she suddenly missing the boy?

“What do you think the chances are that Enoch is still alive?”

[Huh?]

Jubelios flew a quick circle around Ceres, looking her over as if checking whether she’d lost her mind.

[What nonsense are you spouting? How could he still be alive? That’s impossible.]

“What about me? Do I make any sense?”

I’m still alive, aren’t I? Granted, I look different now.

[Hmm. Well, you were always absurdly stubborn. It wouldn’t be that strange if you took over someone else’s body and kept on livi—]

“......”

[I-I should go keep an eye on those punks!]

The moment Jubelios saw Ceres quietly rolling up her sleeves, he shot into the air and vanished into the distance.

[Pii?]

Airien tilted its head at the sight of Jubelios fleeing, seemingly wondering what had suddenly gotten into him.

“He doesn’t want to get his feathers plucked.”

Clicking her tongue, Ceres set the baby rabbit back on the ground and let out a sigh. She had come all this way, yet she’d learned almost nothing.

As she watched Airien scamper around the training grounds, happily nibbling on grass, Ceres slowly sank into thought again.

“If only I had a picture, I could at least put in a request.”

Things would be much easier if she could ask the Sky Information Guild to track down the person in the photograph. The problem was that Enoch had always hated having his picture taken.

Even when cameras had first become widely available and taking pictures with friends became all the rage, Enoch had never once participated. Looking back on it now, that was rather strange.

I could always describe what he looked like and have a portrait drawn for the search...

...Wait.

“Sky...”

A thought suddenly flashed through Ceres’s mind, and she hurriedly searched through her clothes. A moment later, she pulled out two black keys.

“Keep it.”

“Why?”

“I think Arti would’ve wanted you to.”

Those were the words Kainel had spoken when he handed her the keys not long ago. What exactly did Artia say to him that made Kainel entrust his key to her?

And...

A few days earlier, she’d tried putting the two keys together to locate the remaining one. When joined, they produced a magical map.

And on that map was a single red dot.

The temple.

She’d wondered why Artia’s key was there in the first place.

......

The temple where Artia’s key was located. And the person she’d met there who looked so much like Enoch.

“This can’t be a coincidence.”

Artia...

Just who did you give that key to?

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