The Baby Bear of the Black Fox Mansion - Chapter 57

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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 57
“So you’re saying you’re a hybrid of dragon and human?”
I wasn’t sure about that myself.
When Miel glanced at Drill, he nodded quickly.
[That’s right! Exactly that!]
“That’s correct.”
Zeros Nordic fell silent.
The story does hold together.
If Draconian were as dignified and powerful a being as all that, then certainly—a Binding Contract would be possible.
Though the binding force would be equally formidable.
“When did you become Draconian?”
“Hmm.”
Not understanding the question, Miel looked to Drill again.
[I don’t have those memories. That’s why I’m searching for my body—to find them.]
Drill, catching himself, stepped closer to Miel’s eye level and tried again.
[No memory. Looking for body.]
He held up two fingers at Miel’s height as he explained.
“…….”
His voice came out stilted and slow, like reciting from a textbook, and Miel’s eyes drooped back into that drowsy, sleepy-bear look.
Drill cleared his throat awkwardly and glanced away.
“No memory. Looking for body.”
“Mm.”
Zeros Nordic, arms folded, nodded in acknowledgment.
“A Binding Contract almost never breaks, though…….”
He pressed a hand to his forehead as if it all gave him a headache.
Growwwwl.
At the loud rumble, he froze.
When he glanced down, Miel’s cheeks had flushed pink.
“……The little bear gets hungry pretty often, doesn’t she.”
“She does. Sorry, I forgot.”
The sky had already grown quite dim.
He took out branches he’d prepared beforehand, skewered meat on them, sprinkled seasoning rather haphazardly, and began roasting them over the fire.
A savory aroma drifted through the air.
It wasn’t fancy fare by any means, yet Miel ate it with genuine relish.
After the child had eaten until her belly was round and full, she fell asleep not long after.
He tidied up the remnants of the meal and tossed more wood onto the campfire.
Whoosh.
Watching the flames grow larger, he draped a thick blanket carefully over the sleeping child and exhaled slowly.
“A Draconian…….”
His eyes narrowed.
If the child’s words were truly the case, it seemed like it would be a thorny situation in many ways.
“Since she doesn’t seem to be in any immediate danger, I suppose all I can do is let it be for now.”
The problem, if there was one, was that beings carrying the blood of dragons were exceedingly rare in this world.
A child with extraordinary power.
There were certainly several things to verify in Bernier.
He recalled a conversation they’d had some time ago.
* * *
“Jerry, what do you think about extracting the little one’s core? And—do you know what kind of ability that kid has? Sir?”
“Ability?”
Jerpeon’s brow furrowed.
“Yeah, you didn’t come along so you wouldn’t know. I went to some tomb with this old man. It looked like the Tomb of the First Noctis Patriarch…… am I right?”
“…….”
At Zeros Nordic’s words, Valen Noctis tilted his teacup in a nod.
Jerpeon’s brow drew tight. This was news entirely unknown to him—even that the First Noctis Patriarch had a tomb.
“This is something I know nothing of.”
“I didn’t tell you about it.”
“……What did you just say?”
As Jerpeon’s brow creased, Valen Noctis exhaled shortly.
“I simply didn’t think you were ready to know yet.”
“Ah, please, no more fighting.”
“I mentioned it to the Nordic boy before, but that child is a Border Child spoken of in prophecy.”
Jerpeon stiffened at Valen Noctis’s words. Zeros Nordic already knew this much.
“What does that mean?”
“Simply put, she’s like a savior of this world.”
The reception room fell silent at his words.
“What are you saying? She’s barely five years old.”
Jerpeon’s lips twisted skeptically as he narrowed his brow.
Zeros Nordic, arms crossed, let out a long sigh.
“You said that child is the one who can seal the Rift, didn’t you?”
“A Rift?”
Jerpeon echoed the question.
A term he’d never heard before. A story entirely new to him.
“You know of this already?”
“No, I don’t. What a Rift is, what the Other Side is—I only heard it casually from him when we went to the Tomb with the child this time.”
“?”
“He said that—that you’re a fixer who stands at the boundary and hears the tales of those from the .”
A being who sees all, for whom lies hold no meaning.
By the time Zeros finished his explanation, Jerpeon’s expression had grown rigid.
“What… are you talking about?”
He couldn’t fathom a word of it.
“Right! I had exactly your reaction the first time I heard it! A tiny thing like that acting as a fixer?”
“But it’s not something that doesn’t exist, is it?”
…….
At Jerpeon’s words, Zeros’s mouth shut tight.
They were born into the four great houses that bear up the Empire itself.
And yet… none of them knew of this. Prophecy, Rifts, the Other Side—none of it.
Which meant this was either an ancient tale, or one that had been deliberately kept silent.
“Then explain what this is about, will you?”
“It’s an old story. Something from thousands of years ago, written only in the Forbidden Scriptures.”
“So there was an age of chaos when darkness descended? And the Empire’s royal house and the four great families stopped it?”
“Yes.”
Valen Noctis nodded lightly. His statement wasn’t particularly inaccurate in broad strokes.
“The outline is this: at that time, this world and that world were pressed against each other. Creatures from that world invaded this one, and blood and death never ceased.”
“What is that other world? Exactly?”
“The Other Side. That’s what we call it. There exists an inverted world somewhere in the realm where we dwell.”
“The Other Side?”
“The rulers of the Other Side—you know them well enough. They’re what we call the Demon Race, and the Demon Beasts.”
If this world is ruled by humans and beastfolk and animals, that world was shaped by chaos, by Demon Race and Demon Beasts.
“The Bernier Barrier Technique is formidable.”
“Well…….”
“The founding patriarchs of our Empire, long ago, used the Bernier Barrier Technique as their cornerstone to divide this world from that one.”
Zeros Nordic paused.
True, there was never any clear description of exactly how or by what means they came to be called heroes.
“Invisible to our eyes, but that barrier still stands even now.”
He spoke.
“A barrier spread around our Empire. It’s also why humans maintain their Non-Aggression Pact with us.”
They trade little with one another, but neither do they seek to attack.
Should the barrier they’ve erected crack and crumble, neither their Empire nor the human kingdoms could emerge unscathed.
“And now, thousands of years later… it has weakened considerably. The ever-multiplying Demon Beasts and the poison spreading through our Empire are proof of that.”
Things that once could never breach it now seep through the Rifts forming in the barrier.
“Then why don’t the family lords handle this themselves? Why pin their hopes on that child?”
“I couldn’t say.”
Valen Noctis shook his head slowly.
“She’s said to perceive what remains hidden to us, but the method—I don’t know it.”
“Is that why you sent her back to Bernier?”
“Yes. A child of Bernier must grow in Bernier, learning the ways of Bernier.”
He released a short breath.
“Originally, the barrier itself was established with the First Bernier Patriarch as its center, channeling the vast Mana that Noctis could spread across the world, while Nordic remained within to purge the curses and Demon Beasts that lingered, and Argent foresaw the crises and struck down the aerial enemies Nordic could not reach. Humans maintained order and contributed a portion of their Mana.”
Zeros Nordic, arms still crossed, fell silent, and Jerpeon was at a loss for words.
The scale was too vast to truly grasp.
“Noctis is still channeling mana into the pillars scattered across the Empire, maintaining them.”
“……I’ve never heard anything about that.”
“Because I never told you.”
“Then who on earth has been…….”
Jerpeon trailed off, his mouth closing shut.
There was no need to press further.
All along, only one person had been away from the estate.
If not for his great-uncle, who had appeared so suddenly without anyone knowing he even existed.

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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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