The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - 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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Episode 13
“What?”
“Burn this for me, would you?”
“The flower……?”
“Jeri, take that and go. Now.”
In that moment, Serniel spoke.
Jerpeon narrowed his brow at his wife, glanced at Lisar sleeping behind her, then lowered his gaze to Miel.
A tense silence, brief as a held breath, swept between them.
“I said go!”
…….
The moment Serniel raised her voice in a way unlike herself, Jerpeon withdrew a single Leaf from his inner pocket.
As he slipped it between his index and middle fingers, it burst into flame at once, becoming pure fire.
Jerpeon took the flower from the child and set it alight.
Whoosh—!
The flower burned away to ash in an instant.
Silver ash, fine as powder.
It flew at Serniel in a heartbeat, wrapping around her body.
……!
“You—what in the world are you—!”
Jerpeon’s eyes widened sharply, and Serniel gasped in alarm.
Watching an invisible shimmer of light cling to Serniel, he turned to the child at once.
He needed to make sure there was no danger.
Hup.
But in the meantime, Miel was already crawling across the bed with perfect composure.
The child thrust an Orb straight into Serniel’s gaping mouth.
“What are you—!”
“Ah…….”
Plink.
Of course, as she refused, it slipped free and fell.
As Miel fluttered both arms and tried to climb back down from the bed, Jerpeon scooped up the fallen Orb while cradling the child, then set Miel down on the bed.
“If I feed her this, it will work?”
“Yesyes.”
“Right.”
Having set Miel down, Jerpeon pushed the Orb into Serniel’s mouth.
It was the moment Miel’s head lifted.
“Shh. Just a moment.”
Jerpeon covered Miel’s eyes with his hand.
The last thing Miel saw was Jerpeon bowing his head toward Serniel.
“What are you—mmph!”
Sudden silence fell.
In the darkness screened by his palm, Miel tilted her head in confusion.
Before long, light returned to the world.
“Done.”
“You wretches—what in the world are you—!”
Crash—!
Miel’s eyes blazed gold, and the ash clinging to Serniel seeped in, then burst outward in a flash of blinding light.
In the instant Jerpeon reflexively pulled Miel close, the world darkened in stark contrast to the erupting brilliance.
Light permeates.
At the same moment, both bodies collapsed to the floor.
* * *
Hello! Greetings!
A village full of despair and pure white snow
Welcome to the eye of the dead grave!
When they opened their eyes again, the two of them stood at the entrance to some village.
A signpost written in an unknown tongue stood planted at the village entrance.
All around them stretched a world of snow, pristine white, covering everything.
‘Success!’
Miel’s eyes sparkled.
In the old days, Miel used to become a cat in dreams, but today, fortunately, she was human.
“This place is…….”
Jerpeon tightened his arms around Miel, drawing the child closer against his chest.
He drew a long breath, surveyed his surroundings, then slowly lowered his gaze to look at the child nestled in his embrace.
The cold was fierce, and the small body trembled, curled in on itself.
Jerpeon stripped off his outer robe and wrapped Miel snugly in it before pulling the child close again.
“Where are we?”
“A dream!”
“A dream……?”
Jerpeon’s brow furrowed.
“Can you explain what you mean?”
“A Curse has memory, they say.”
“A Curse? You mean my wife has been cursed?”
“Yes, yes.”
“……But the sorcerers said Curse magic wasn’t part of her affliction.”
In the first place, he couldn’t fathom what “Curse Memory” even meant.
‘If it’s a dream, does that mean she’s dreaming right now?’
Was it something like a Lucid Dream?
It was all beyond his understanding.
“You’ll catch glimpses of the Curse’s ancient memories. Find the origin point and resolve it, and you’ll be free.”
Miel recalled those words.
‘I have to find the beginning and fix it.’
The small child clenched her tiny fists tight.
“How do we get out of here…….”
“Mother! (Mother!)”
Jerpeon, who had been watching in silence, went rigid.
Someone had rushed past the two of them.
It was a small child speaking in an incomprehensible language.
Jet-black hair.
Crimson eyes.
And equally pitch-black horns, along with bat-like wings just as dark…….
“A Demon……?”
Could it really be one of the Demon Race?
A creature that existed only in the oldest dusty tomes.
At this impossible sight, Jerpeon sucked in a sharp breath.
‘…What is this place?’
The moment the grinning child’s feet touched the ground of the village—
Whoosh—!
A circular Magic Circle bloomed beneath the child’s feet.
“……!”
Jerpeon’s eyes widened.
A Magic Circle.
An ancient one at that.
The forbidden sorcery humans used to summon demons…….
‘Why is this here…….’
Overwhelmed by a series of incomprehensible events, Jerpeon’s mind reeled.
“No…. Mother!! (No…. Mother!!)”
“—-!!”
The child screamed, and someone came running, shouting something, reaching out toward the child.
Splash—!
But with the light of the Magic Circle, their vision spun violently.
“Ugh.”
Jerpeon and Miel squeezed their eyes shut, unable to see anything through the glare.
“A small child……?”
At a voice that suddenly rang out, Miel—who had been pressing her tiny hands hard over her eyes—lifted her head slightly.
“Is this what a ‘Curse’ is?”
“Who are you guys? (Who are you guys?)”
The landscape had changed.
This time, it was a dim room.
The room was crowded with people.
In the center, someone held a book open, and within the Magic Circle stood the Demon child who, just moments before, had been grinning broadly as it dashed into the village.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Just so, my lord.”
“That creature—it’s asking who we are to it.”
“Oh! Does the young master understand it?!”
“The summoner himself can communicate after all!”
The young demon child’s brow furrowed as he listened to the exchange.
To the boy, anything but the summoner’s words was unintelligible noise.
Words without meaning were nothing but sound.
“I summoned you. Make a contract with me and fulfill my wish.”
It’s pointless. I don’t make contracts with the likes of humans.
“I summoned you, I’m telling you!”
I refuse. Send me back.
The boy who had been running toward his mother so innocently now replied with a hardened face, as though he were a different person entirely.
Jerpeon’s expression stiffened slightly as he watched.
‘This place…….’
It felt familiar somehow.
He swept his gaze across the surroundings in silence, then turned his attention back toward where the crowd had gathered.
They seemed not to notice Jerpeon and Miel at all.
Despite standing plainly in their midst, no one so much as glanced in their direction.
“Little bear.”
Questions piled up in his mind without end.
He lowered his gaze to resolve at least some of the bewildering questions that churned through his thoughts, then hesitated.
Miel was watching them in silence.
Her golden eyes, gleaming brighter than usual, did not blink once.
“You…….”
“Why are you refusing? Aren’t you beings who, when summoned, make contracts by staking the summoner’s lifespan and fulfill the contractor’s wishes?”
Jerpeon, who had been about to say something, furrowed his brow at the words flowing before him and looked straight ahead again.
What appeared directly in their field of vision was only the demon child.
The others surrounding the demon child—only their backs were visible.
Lifespan?
“Yes. I’ll give you my lifespan. If you want, you can take the lifespan of everyone here!”
Not a bad gift from your mother.
The demon child spoke quietly.
What do you want?
Master.
……?
“I want my brother’s honor dragged through the dirt, want him isolated and driven to despair, wanting him to die by his own hand! So that I…….”
Exhilaration began to creep into the boy’s voice.
“I can become the Master of Noctes.”
……!
Jerpeon’s eyes went wide.
“An excellent black fox, you say? How ridiculous! That black fox will never set foot in Noctes again. Black will become the symbol of inferiority!”
Whoosh!
The moment the words ended, a fierce wind swept through the indoor space.
It was a bitter, freezing wind that howled relentlessly through the depths of winter.
With the howling north wind and heavy snow came the vision shifting once more. Yet Jerpeon could not bring himself to close his eyes.
The face of the man who turned his head, speaking with a savage expression…….
It was a face he knew far too well.
Red hair. A red fox.
In the history of Noctes, save for the first Master of Noctes, his was the face of the Master of Noctes most revered as the greatest.

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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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