The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 120

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

Chapter 120
“This doesn’t make sense. The heirs of Everard all died long ago…….”
Olivier murmured.
Not a single inhabitant of this land was ignorant of the fact that the Water House of Everard had been exterminated.
Extermination.
Every bearer of the Everard name had been wiped from existence. So where on earth were they supposed to find an heir of Everard?
“So it wasn’t going to work after all…….”
Ferdi muttered at last. Ludian nodded in agreement.
They hadn’t come expecting anything in the first place. Upon arrival, the situation was so dire that they’d grasped at straws—that was all.
“Tiel, you did well. Come here.”
Iandros extended his hand toward Tiel, who sat atop the platform. The light that had flooded it had long since faded.
Tiel’s strength was depleting rapidly. Without further delay, Iandros moved to bring her down from the platform.
Then.
“……Wait a moment.”
Clemens spoke. Iandros stopped mid-ascent and turned to look at her.
Clemens seemed to want to say something, her lips moving soundlessly. Olivier, growing impatient with her hesitation, pressed her forward.
“What is it?”
“Is there… anyone here who knows anything in detail about Everard? I mean, not just that they were exterminated, but…… what hair and eye color did they have?”
Families with Abilities possessed distinctive hair and eye colors.
Usually the colors reflected the nature of their Ability—Nestian possessed sharp, icy blue eyes like frozen water, while Asterian bore golden eyes that blazed like flame.
Occasionally, families like Wolfgang bore eye colors unrelated to their Ability, though such cases were rare.
At Clemens’s words, Olivier furrowed her brow and fell into thought.
“I don’t know…… I was never taught such things. Ferdi, Ludian. Do either of you?”
“We weren’t taught it either, but since Everard wielded the Water Ability…… wouldn’t they have possessed blue-toned hair and eyes?”
“Or maybe something completely unexpected like yours.”
Ferdi and Ludian answered.
“……Wait.”
Then Iandros opened his eyes wide as understanding dawned. Tiel, still kneeling on the platform with her palms pressed to its surface, did the same.
“Blue?”
“……Eh?”
Tiel turned her head to look at the boy standing a step away from the platform.
The boy they had met upon first arriving in this land. The one with blue hair and eyes like water.
“Karl?”
At Tiel’s call, Karl stumbled backward in alarm.
“Yes?”
“I don’t know what hair and eye color Everard possessed. Perhaps my mother or the other Heads of Household might know, but for now, we don’t…….”
Clemens continued, speaking carefully. The girl took another step toward Karl.
“So there’s no harm in trying, is there? Don’t you think so, Karl?”
“I… I don’t understand what you’re saying at all. A Water House? I’m…….”
Everyone in the chamber turned to look at Karl. The faint light spilling from the platform illuminated his expression of confusion clearly.
“I’m…….”
“No loss in trying. Climb up onto the platform.”
Iandros tilted his head in assent.
If it failed, so be it. If it succeeded, all the better.
From the brief glimpse they’d had of the patients earlier, most of the inhabitants here had brown or black hair.
‘Karl was the only one with distinctly unusual hair color.’
Which meant that if they needed to find the sole inhabitant carrying Everard blood among all these people, Karl—with his striking hair—was the most likely candidate.
If Everard blood truly flowed through Karl’s veins, the platform would recognize him as the heir of Everard.
Karl looked confused, hesitant. Olivier gave the boy a gentle push from behind.
“What are you doing? Hurry.”
“Karl, come here.”
Tiel called to him gently. At the sound of her voice, Karl steeled himself and stepped forward with determination.
Iandros helped Karl ascend onto the platform.
Once atop the platform, Karl crouched down. Now at eye level with Tiel, who knelt there.
Karl looked at Tiel and asked.
“If I am, perhaps, the heir of Ever…… I mean, the Water House…… could I restore this land?”
Karl dredged up a fragment of memory from his childhood. A memory not so very distant.
Karl could use an Ability.
He had first realized this fact very young.
He had merely thought of being thirsty when water droplets naturally formed in the air before him.
Afterward, whenever his throat felt dry or he was bored, Karl would often create water droplets to play with. He had not known that this was his ‘Ability.’
To the young boy, those droplets were merely a toy to ward off boredom.
But Karl could no longer use that Ability freely.
When Illum discovered Karl using his Ability, he sat him down and sternly impressed upon him a solemn warning.
‘You must never, ever use your power, Karl.’
‘…….’
‘Remember, you must never use your power. Fortunately, this place is so dark that no one will be able to see what color your hair truly is.’
Illum held Karl gently in his arms. Karl nodded within that embrace.
‘I understand. I won’t use it.’
‘That’s right, my good Karl…….’
After that, Karl never used his Ability before others. Because Illum had warned him.
But now.
Karl could instinctively sense it: that he might be the heir of the ‘Water House’ they sought.
Tiel shook her head at Karl’s question.
“I can’t guarantee it. But one thing is certain—if we do nothing, everyone will…… die.”
“…….”
“Karl, I want to try anything at all.”
“Understood. What do I need to do?”
Karl nodded. Tiel paused to think. The voice had only said that she needed the ‘heir of Everard’—it had told her nothing of what to do with him once she had him.
After a moment’s consideration, Tiel took Karl’s hand firmly and pressed both their hands against the platform.
Then she slowly began to use her Ability. Faint light seeped forth from Tiel’s hands once more. Beads of sweat formed on her brow.
Karl glanced sideways at Tiel. Watching her use her Ability, Karl…… decided to use his own.
Water began to flow from where Karl’s small palm touched. The clearest, purest water imaginable. Untainted, pristine water.
It had been so long. Since he had used his Ability before others.
The children watched silently. The knights did likewise. They held their breath, fearing even the sound of breathing might prove a disturbance, as they gazed up at the platform.
Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The platform responded once more. It rose, climbing higher. Precisely twice as high as before.
And then it happened. Tiel’s Ability and Karl’s Ability began to blend together.
‘……Huh?’
Tiel’s eyes widened. Beneath their overlapping hands, two forces were mingling. The purest water and the warmest light.
The two forces blended in harmony, sweeping across the platform. Then they began to pour over its edges.
The power beneath the platform had awakened.
“……!”
It poured forth. Water and light interwoven.
This was the highest peak in all of Arcadia. The end of the water’s path and the place where all things began.
When Tiel had used her Ability alone, she had managed only to cover the platform—but now that the two Abilities had merged, they swept across not just the platform but the entire peak.
The water cradled the light within itself as it flowed down the mountainside. Through absolute darkness where nothing could be seen an arm’s length ahead, the light-filled water carved a path.
The water found the channels—the dry, sunken riverbeds—and rushed into them. This land was crisscrossed with such channels. They were the traces of water that had flowed here long ago.
After Everard’s extermination and the theft of daylight, the channels had withered—yet the mark of the water that had once flowed remained intact.
And now,
Water flowed along the desiccated channels. Cascading like waterfalls, surging like waves. It dampened the earth like rain and dispersed into mist on all sides.
“……It was true after all.”
Clemens murmured, water rising to her ankles. The waters swelled at such speed they seemed about to engulf the entire land, yet they did not sweep away the children standing on the heights.
Nor did they sweep away the corpses of dead trees. Though these brittle remnants would snap at a touch, not a single one was harmed.
The water was never violent. It flowed with gentleness, cradling all things in its embrace.
Water had returned to the land of water.
And in that moment,
Golden sunlight slowly descended upon Tiel’s head…….

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