The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 119

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

Chapter 119
The children were wandering deep in the mountains. It had already been two hours.
Unlike Illum’s promise that they’d reach their destination in an hour if they followed Carl, two hours had passed with no sign of the path ahead.
“Hey! You really do know the way, right?”
Ludian glared at the boy. He glanced sideways at Tiel, who rested in Ferdi’s arms.
If Tiel could have used her Ability, the children might have found the place where the sun rose without relying on Carl’s unreliable guidance.
But because Tiel had exhausted her Ability caring for the patients below, no one dared ask her to use it to find the way.
Besides, they didn’t know what kind of power would be needed to realize the Legend, so it was right for Tiel to conserve her strength for now.
“This really is the right way, I promise.”
Carl turned back and grumbled. A small torch burned in his hand—one Ludian had fashioned for him.
“If we go just a bit further, we’ll make it. Please trust me and follow.”
Ludian fell silent. They had no way of knowing where they were, so there was little choice but to trust him.
But if he’d known it would come to this, he would have brought at least one of the other adult beastfolk, not this little thing!
Ludian looked back at the other children. Ferdi and Iandros followed quietly, while Clemens kept turning to look behind them.
She seemed to be testing something, but Ludian paid it little mind.
After they’d walked some distance further, the uphill slope finally ended, and the ground beneath their feet leveled out.
Though the children couldn’t see clearly ahead, they could tell they had finally reached the summit of the mountain.
“It’s…… here.”
Carl stopped and murmured.
Tiel leaped from Ferdi’s arms. Ferdi carefully lowered her to the ground.
‘Is this…… the place from the Legend?’
Ferdi and Ludian simultaneously illuminated the space ahead with Flame. A massive Altar, hidden in darkness, was revealed.
The enormous structure was cracked and broken at its corners, fissures running through it. It looked like nothing but ruins. Tiel touched the Altar carefully, almost tenderly.
“It’s all broken…….”
Had it been broken from the start? Probably not……. Either someone had deliberately destroyed it with malice, or else…….
“Tiel.”
Iandros placed a hand on her shoulder. Tiel turned to look at him.
“It seems something must be done with this Altar.”
“That’s what I thought too. But Iandros—look at this. It’s completely broken and cracked. Do you think the Altar’s power…… still remains?”
“Remains or not, we have to try anyway. We didn’t come here with high expectations in the first place. Listen, Carl.”
At Iandros’s call, the boy, who had been staring blankly at the Altar, lifted his head.
“Don’t you know anything else? You’ve heard stories about this Legend day and night, haven’t you? So there must be some tradition passed down about how to restore the morning?”
“There’s no…… no such thing. All we’ve ever heard is that ‘someday, one will come to restore the morning to this land.'”
Tiel, who had been listening quietly to their exchange, gently grasped Iandros’s hand.
“You don’t need to worry. I…… I know how to use this Altar.”
Iandros looked down at her in surprise. Meanwhile, Tiel remained composed.
Once before, at the Asterian Mansion, Tiel had seen an Altar that looked similar to this one.
When she had stepped onto that Altar and used her Ability, it had responded to her power, and soon letters carved into the stone wall of the hidden chamber had appeared.
This Altar must work on the same principle. Without hesitation, Tiel stepped into the very center of the Altar.
In that instant, beneath Tiel’s feet, something gleamed and shone. The Altar had recognized its owner.
The Altar had recognized the master’s power.
Rumble—!
The Altar, which had been firmly rooted in place for so long, began to move. It jutted up from the ground with a violent lurch.
Tiel dropped where she stood, just as she had when she’d first stepped onto the Altar in that hidden chamber.
“Tiel!”
Olivier called out, his voice tight with worry. Tiel shook her head to show she was all right.
“The Legend says that one with the Light Ability restores the morning. So it will probably respond to your power. Use your Ability.”
At Iandros’s words, Tiel nodded. Then she pressed her palm against the hard stone floor.
The rough stone scraped her small palm, which still bore scars. The child caressed the cracked Altar like a tender touch before carefully channeling her Ability into it.
Tiel’s Ability was very faint.
This was because she had only recently awakened her Ability, because she was still so young, because she had carved away half her already weak power as if slicing a cake, using it to care for the patients.
And yet the Altar responded. This was the only place where Lucette’s power remained.
The strength of the Ability didn’t matter. As long as it was enough to awaken Lucette’s power, it was sufficient.
A faint, fragile light spread from Tiel’s palm, dimly covering the entire Altar.
Faint and feeble though it was, the light spread thin and gossamer-fine, soon enveloping the whole structure. Tiel’s pale face reflected in the glow, appearing almost translucent.
The problem began then.
The Altar had clearly responded to Tiel’s Ability, but it showed no further reaction.
The children, including Carl, were bewildered. If the Altar had responded to the light as the Legend promised, shouldn’t morning have returned by now?
‘So the Altar has weakened, and its power has faded.’
Iandros murmured, gazing at the cracked and broken Altar. Perhaps the Legend was too old, its power now exhausted.
Tiel, panicked, pushed more of her Ability into the Altar.
Her Ability was already depleted. Yet if she wrung herself dry, there might be more to squeeze.
She would drain the very Ability that flowed through her body, use it all…… The child instinctively knew how to pull her power to its absolute limit.
This method allowed her Ability to be used to its fullest, but it also consumed her own life force; those with Abilities generally avoided using it for this reason.
But Tiel was only seven years old. She used it instinctively, unaware that this method was eating away at her life force.
The Altar blazed with brilliant light. Tiel had poured her power into it with tremendous force. At the same moment, Iandros’s pupils contracted sharply.
“Tiel?”
Tiel was certainly exhausted. She shouldn’t have been able to use power like this…… Iandros watched her closely.
Sure enough, the small girl trembled, her body curling inward as she gasped for breath.
Just as Iandros was about to tell Tiel to stop, to not push herself, a strange voice reached her ears.
[Little one, the Curse laid upon this land has grown far too powerful…… you cannot do this alone.]
Who……? Tiel lifted her head and looked around.
But she saw only the worried faces of her older siblings and companions at a distance, and some knights; the voice’s owner remained unseen.
[The source of this calamity, the descendant of the one who caused it. You need the blood of Everard. Give them a chance to atone.]
“……Everard?”
Tiel murmured, dazed. Ferdi, Iandros, and Ludian—catching her quiet words—all spoke at once.
“Everard?”
“Everard is…… the Water House that was exterminated, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
Regardless of the others’ clamor and confusion, the voice continued slowly.
[This is the highest peak in Arcadia. The end of the water’s path. Everything began from here.]
Tiel felt as though that warm voice was gently wrapping her in an embrace. A faint warmth bloomed across her back, shoulders, and the backs of her hands.
Faint light is still light, and faint warmth is still warmth.
Not long after, the warmth vanished in an instant. As if drenched in cold water, Tiel’s senses rushed back. She turned to Iandros, her expression tinged with despair.
“You said Everard was exterminated…….”
Iandros nodded. Still keeping her hands on the Altar, Tiel murmured on.
“To end this, we need a descendant of Everard.”
But how?
Everard had been exterminated, their line cut off. And that was long, long ago…….
Silence fell upon the mountain.
***
After Tiel’s departure, the beastfolk began to convulse en masse. Some of them went rigid, while others foamed at the mouth and writhed in agony.
The moment Tiel’s power weakened, the force that had covered them grew stronger. It roiled within their bodies, greedily devouring their life force.
Illum tried to subdue them with the aid of the knights Iandros had brought, but it was no use.
In a situation where there was no cure, merely calming them had become meaningless.
All Illum could do was restrain them, keep them from harming themselves as they convulsed.
Illum felt a terrible helplessness.
And she prayed desperately.
She prayed that Tiel would return swiftly, that the gods would take pity on this land and care for these people, and that…….
‘Carl.’
…… that child would suffer no more hurt.
Everard had already paid the price for their sins.
At least, that was what Illum believed.

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