The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 115

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 115
“That’s it! I was standing under the light and I was fine, mister!”
Karl raised his hand as if he’d just remembered. Ilum and Ellen both turned to regard him with expressions of deep distrust.
“Fine, you say?”
“Yes, perfectly fine!”
“That’s only because you’re still young…”
“What if the Light Ability has some special power? Like in the legends, maybe it could…”
Ilum, his eyes dull and heavy, gave a tilt of his chin toward Eren.
“Take him outside for a moment.”
“Of course. Karl, come here.”
Eren hoisted Karl into his arms and carried him out. It looked rather like an uncle taking his nephew away. Iandros, watching them go, asked a question.
“Is that man Eren a relative of Karl’s?”
“Yes. Karl is the nephew of both Eren and myself.”
Ilum nodded. The others in the room were all somewhat surprised at this. And no wonder—Ilum and Karl bore no resemblance to one another whatsoever.
Karl had water-colored hair and sea-blue eyes, while Ilum was a man with white hair marked by black streaks and eyes just as dark.
Even that was hard to make out clearly in the weak light of the Luminescent Stones. Still, one thing was certain: Karl and Ilum shared no visible likeness.
Once Karl had been sent out, Ilum cleared his throat softly before speaking with care.
“Honored guests—might your visit to these lands have something to do with the legend of light?”
“It does.”
Ferdi nodded and answered frankly. Ilum looked at the boy as though he had expected nothing less.
Then his gaze shifted slowly toward the small girl. A creature so tiny and frail she resembled white sea foam.
A child so small and delicate one could scarcely imagine she possessed such tremendous power…
The people of these lands had once desperately wished for this child to come, for light to reach this distant place.
But now…
“On behalf of the Beastkin of this land, I must humbly beseech you: please do not bring dawn to these lands.”
Ilum bowed his head. The children stared at one another in bewilderment. Occasional murmurs of “Why?” and “Is this old man feeling all right?” drifted through the air, but Ilum chose to ignore them.
“As Karl has surely told you, we suffer from an illness of unknown origin—or perhaps a curse.”
“…”
“This curse may well claim the lives of all the Beastkin in these lands before long. But one thing is certain.”
Ilum spoke on.
“We have become bodies that can no longer survive in the light. We have adapted to darkness for so long—it is only natural.”
“But we still don’t know for—”
Ludian broke in.
Ilum answered him.
“No, we do know. Even the weak light of the Luminescent Stones causes our eyes pain if we face it too long. What then, do you suppose, would happen if we stood beneath the sun? I fear we would not endure even a minute before fleeing back into the darkness.”
It was precisely what Tiel had feared—and now those words were pouring from Ilum’s mouth.
“Therefore, I entreat you—honored one who wields the Light Ability—allow this land to remain shrouded in darkness.”
Ilum’s reason for sending Eren and Karl outside was simple enough. Had they stayed, they would certainly have urged him to use the Light Ability to bring dawn without hesitation.
But Ilum understood the truth. The Beastkin of this place could no longer survive under light. The coming of dawn would be the death of these lands.
Perhaps, he thought, if doom is coming anyway, it might be bearable to delay it just a little longer…
Tiel understood what Ilum was saying. The other children understood as well. Ferdi and Ludian were wrestling with whether to leave now, while Olivier and Clemens were already resigned to departure.
Then Tiel spoke quietly.
“I’ve had a similar experience before. I’ve seen things like dark spots or creatures of shadow…”
Back in Luminarie, when she met Iandros in his carriage. And later… in Iandros’s Subspace.
“They all vanished when they received my light. So perhaps the darkness consuming the bodies of the Beastkin here might do the same. Would you allow me to look at it—just once?”
Tiel’s golden eyes gleamed sharply in the reflected light of the Luminescent Stones. In a place as dark as this, her eyes should have been dimmed, yet they shone with unmistakable clarity.
But one could not sacrifice the lives of people as dear as family just to run an experiment. As Ilum was about to refuse…
Bang!
The door burst open roughly. The children started and turned. There stood Karl, the same Karl who had just left with Eren.
“I—Ilum, sir!”
“Karl, what’s wrong?”
The other children couldn’t quite make out Karl’s expression in the gloom, but Ilum saw it clearly. The boy’s face had gone deathly pale.
“Herod’s condition is strange. He’s going to… he’s going to…”
Karl’s voice trembled.
Ilum’s eyes squeezed shut. Herod was like an older brother to Karl—and Ilum’s son. His condition had deteriorated rapidly in recent days, and he had been laid to rest in his own home.
Karl had hurried to Ilum’s house to share the joyful news that a child with the Light Ability had arrived, only to discover that Herod’s condition had taken a sudden, severe turn.
Ilum turned to the children with a grave expression and asked for their understanding.
“I must go to him. Would you wait here for a time? We can speak later…”
“Wait.”
Ferdi stopped him. The boy glanced between Ilum and Karl, then spoke in a measured tone.
“We wish to accompany you. I swear we will not use our Ability. We only wish to examine the conditions of the Beastkin here more carefully, but if it troubles you, you are free to refuse.”
Ilum hesitated for a moment, then nodded. He could not allow them to visit just any of the Beastkin, but Herod was his son.
And from the way Karl spoke, it seemed Herod’s time was nearly at an end. Perhaps there was no harm in showing them his final moments.
“Very well. I shall guide you.”
Tiel held Ferdi’s hand and followed Ilum, watching his back as they walked.
Ilum seemed remarkably composed. Was it because he had witnessed the deaths of so many Beastkin up close? Or had he spent so long preparing for them all to die?
Tiel was still too young to know which was true.
***
“Herod!”
Karl yanked open the door and rushed in. Though it was too dark to see clearly, one could dimly make out a figure lying in a bed and Eren standing nearby.
Ilum closed the door carefully, making sure no light seeped in.
“…Herod.”
Ilum approached the bed and called his son’s name. The man lying there turned his head with great effort.
“…Father…”
His voice came in broken gasps. From those halting words alone, Tiel could sense how lonely a struggle he was fighting…
‘He seems like he’s about to die.’
Herod’s breath continued, but it was so shallow and faint that it seemed it might stop entirely at any moment.
“Yes, yes. It’s all right, Herod. Father is here.”
Ilum soothed his son. Tiel noticed his voice wavering slightly at the end.
Ilum was grieving.
He could not remain unmoved in the face of his son’s death—a son he had devoted his whole life to raising. Tiel’s mind suddenly turned to Thender Nestian. Would he have wept like this upon discovering her death?
‘No. He would not have.’
The grandfather Tiel knew would not have done so. She stepped a little closer to the bed.
At that moment, Herod’s trembling hand reached out and grasped Ilum’s.
Most of his body had already turned dark. Only his face retained its original color, though that too would surely fade soon.
In other words, Herod’s end was very near. Ilum carefully stroked his son’s face. It was rough to the touch.
Herod pushed his fragmented breathing forward and spoke.
“I heard… from Karl… that someone with the Light Ability has arrived…”
“…Yes.”
Ilum grasped his son’s hand in return, signaling that there was no need to say more. Herod managed a faint smile with his last strength.
“I would like… to see it. One last time…”
“…”
Ilum knew the truth well: the moment Herod was exposed to light, his life would end and his breath would stop.
And yet, he could not refuse his son’s final wish…
“…Tiel.”
Ilum turned to look at the girl. She nodded.
“…May I ask this of you? He said he wished to see—please, examine my son. And show him… light, one last time.”
Ilum’s plea hung in the air.
Tiel nodded, then stepped closer still.
And without hesitation, she used her Ability.
Whoosh—!
In the small palm of Tiel’s hand, the warmest light in all the world bloomed forth.
A land that had lost both light and name.
For this land, after so very long… light had returned.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————