The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 43

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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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Chapter 43
Zeros tightened his arms around the child as he murmured softly.
“Blue Fox Fire……”
“Huh? There’s a blue fox too?”
“There was. Or rather—it’s more accurate to say there used to be.”
Valen spoke.
“What do you mean?”
“They were annihilated long ago. All of them died.”
Hic, hic.
Miel, who had calmed somewhat in Zeros’s embrace through his warmth and gentle patting, lifted her head slightly.
[Have you settled down now?]
Miel trembled as she found herself face to face with him.
Just as she was about to scream again, she stopped short—realizing that his face wasn’t as frightening as she’d feared.
[Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think about how I’d look to a child. I’m usually invisible, after all.]
He was a beautiful man with blue hair that fell all the way to his feet.
Fox ears perked up on his head, and nine lush, magnificent tails swayed gently in the air.
“Feeling better now, little panda?”
“Y-yes……”
Miel nodded slightly at Zeros’s words.
[Panda?]
The translucent man tilted his head and blinked slowly.
Anyone could see the child was Bernear’s, so where did “panda” suddenly come from?
‘Is that some kind of recent humor?’
He watched them, puzzled.
“It’s brighter now, isn’t it?”
Miel nodded slightly.
“Were you scared when it suddenly got dark?”
“……”
Miel fidgeted with her fingers and lifted her head a little.
At a reasonable distance away, the translucent man still stood.
[You okay now?]
Miel nodded slightly, then her eyes swept across the enormously vast space before she froze.
She stared intently at a stone pillar in the corner.
‘Crack-crack-crackle.’
Something pale was stretching outward, stuttering like a broken circuit, sparking and twitching.
Miel’s head tilted slightly.
[You can see it too, can’t you?]
Miel blinked.
The child’s eyes began to glow with golden light. As they did, the scene grew increasingly clear.
Strange inscriptions covered the rough stone pillar, and a blue light flowed along them.
That light shot upward, crackling and sparking like static electricity.

At the hollow voice that echoed like an echo, Miel’s eyes widened.
[It’s far too old. It’s being corrupted from all sides within the Empire. With attacks coming from inside as well, it’s grown even more fragile.]
Without quite realizing it, Miel walked slowly toward the pillar and reached out her hand.
At the same moment.
A pale blue light spread from Miel’s fingertips and was drawn into the stone pillar.
Flash!
The pillar blazed brightly once.
Crack-crackle, crackle.
The beam of light grew thicker and shot higher, but only for a moment.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
“Aah!”
Sparks erupting in all directions sent Miel’s body tumbling backward. The instant the child’s eyes squeezed shut against the pain to come—
“Oops.”
Warm softness enveloped her from behind, and Miel froze.
‘It doesn’t hurt……’
Miel cracked open the eyes she’d squeezed tightly shut.
“You alright, little panda?”
“……Yes. It doesn’t hurt because mister caught me.”
“Yeah, that’s fortunate.”
“…Miel always wakes up by herself every day.”
Zeros paused.
He reflexively looked down at Miel.
For some reason, Miel was grinning with a loose, carefree expression.
‘What is this.’
Somehow his chest felt all fluttery.
Zeros deliberately ignored his thudding heart and nodded.
“Hehe.”
In truth, whenever Miel fell, she’d pick herself up with spirited determination, and when she was afraid, she’d squeeze her eyes shut and run as hard as she could.
It was the same when she first met Dreel in the mountains.
‘But then and now, it’s warm.’
She didn’t have to run away.
Miel felt an odd tingling sensation and twisted her small frame a little.
[It’s too much for her in a state where she hasn’t even undergone Awakening yet.]
Crack.
In the darkness, the stone on Miel’s forehead developed another fine fracture.
“This child is really…….”
Valen, who had been watching the entire situation unfold, trailed off.
He exhaled a long, sighing breath, emitted bright light, then regarded the pillar — which now looked unremarkable, as if nothing had happened — intently.
“But what did you do? Little one.”
“Nothing really.”
Miel blinked.
“He asked for help…….”
So she’d simply reached out on instinct. Even Miel didn’t quite understand why she’d done it.
The surroundings fell quiet.
“…Did Miel break it?”
“No, rather…….”
Zeros gazed silently at the pillar, then let out a soft laugh.
“It broke for a moment, then came back.”
“……! That’s good, right?”
“It’s good. Because our little one has become an all-purpose problem solver.”
“All-purpose problem solver?!”
“Someone who solves anything.”
Miel’s eyes grew wide.
‘Miel, all-purpose problem solver!’
All-purpose problem solver, Miel.
There was something oddly magnificent about the phrase, and Miel’s nose twitched upward with delight.
As Zeros watched the child’s shoulders puff up with pride, he glanced sideways at Valen, who had been silent.
[Did you meet Bernear yet? Little bear.]
Miel tilted her head.
“Bern?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
Oh no, I shouldn’t pretend to understand when someone’s around!
‘But I told Grandfather and the mister about it yesterday.’
So now it was okay to tell the secret? Miel’s head tilted slightly to the side.
[Bern Bernear. That witless hulk. You’re Bernear’s child.]
Who was Bern Bernear?
Miel blinked and shook her head.
“Miel isn’t Bernear’s child……. Miel is a baby panda looking for her mommy and daddy.”
Zeros went rigid.
The expression of Zeros, who was holding the child, grew slightly pale.
He’d just realized the child wasn’t speaking to him.
“……Little panda, who are you talking to?”
“Here.”
Miel pointed directly in front of him.
“…….”
Gulp.
“There’s a pretty fox mister.”
“……yes.”
“You can’t see it?”
I can’t see it either, of course!
Zeros Nordic, his face going pale in an instant, swallowed back words that threatened to burst from him.
In all his years of life, he had never seen anything like ghosts or spirits.
What he dealt with were curses, malice, and demons—not ghosts. That wasn’t his domain.
“But you said you saw something yesterday……”
“Something similar. I didn’t say I saw a ghost.”
“……!”
Miel’s eyes went wide as saucers.
“Then how……?”
“Who… who are you? Aren’t you scared?”
“Nope. You don’t look scary.”
Miel nodded, looking at the blue-haired man.
The man was watching them quietly, a faint smile playing at his lips.
“Um, who are you?”
When Miel asked, he smiled, his eye corners crinkling softly.
[Nox.]
The man answered.
“Huh?”
[Nox Noctes, they call me.]
“Nox… Noctes?”
“……!”
At Miel’s murmur, both of them stiffened slightly. Miel tilted her head in confusion.
“Mister, that name… could it be……”
“The name of the first head of the Noctes Family.”
Valen Noctes spoke.
“The first?”
“Yes, it means the first one.”
“The first!”
Zeros nodded at Miel’s words.
The founder of the Noctes Family.
One of the four noble houses that built the Empire, an ancient sorcerer who played a crucial role in succeeding in placing a protective barrier around the world using Boundary Stones.
Though certain limitations had arisen after a long time had passed, it was because of his bloodline continuing through to the present Noctes Family that they could use magic through mediums.
“So he’s here.”
At Valen’s words, Miel glanced sideways at Nox Noctes.
[I came here thinking I’d meet up with Bernear and settle things on that end, but it seems that’s not how it went.]
As Miel’s head tilted, Nox Noctes let out a small sigh.
[You’re awfully young. What exactly are Bernear’s descendants doing, sending out a little thing like you already?]
Blink-blink.
Miel stared blankly at him. There were almost no words she could understand.
“Little cub, are you hearing anything?”
“Um… yes. There is. Bern… he’s young here… sent out… to settle things…?”
Miel’s eyes spun as she racked her brain trying to convey the words tumbling out.
At Miel’s halting, awkwardly connected words, Nox Noctes’s eyes widened slightly.
“So.”
Zeros Nordic pieced together Miel’s fragmented words, his eyes hardening.
“That man told you, a young Bernear who can’t even control your own body, that you needed to settle something?”
Zeros’s gaze turned sharp in an instant.
“He’s telling a tiny little thing, someone who can’t even support herself, that she needs to do something—whether it’s a ghost or a human who’s lived for thousands of years? To a child?”

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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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