The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 121

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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 121
“……Damn it! The spots are spreading too fast. At this rate…….”
Illum murmured as he examined the condition of the girl in his arms. The spotted marks had already spread up to her neck.
Soon the marks would consume her entire body. Illum’s hands trembled as he held the girl close.
There was nothing he could do.
All he could do was hold the hand of one writhing in agony. A terrible helplessness suffused his entire being.
‘Is this it, then? Is this land finished?’
Illum bore spotted marks on his body as well. Fortunately, they were not spreading as rapidly as in the others, but soon the marks covering his body would advance swiftly, consuming him entirely.
Moans echoed from all directions.
Screams of anguish pierced the air at intervals. They were the cries of those who had lost loved ones.
It was nothing short of pandemonium. A despair heavier than darkness descended upon their heads.
This despair, this darkness……
seemed as though it would never lift…….
“I, Illum!”
Someone called to him. Illum tore his gaze from the girl’s face with difficulty and lifted his head.
His eyes widened.
“How…….”
Fresh morning sunlight spilled across Illum’s astonished face.
Rays of light stretching from beyond the Hill illuminated the beast-folk.
They were all people who had lived only in darkness, yet without a thought of shielding themselves, they gazed transfixed at the rising sun.
The light was so bright their eyes threatened to fail, and yet they could not look away.
Then.
“Look, look there!”
Illum turned his head again toward the sound. The place people were pointing to was a Canal that had dried long ago.
One used long ago, back when this territory flourished under Eberard’s Reign.
The Canal, now completely dry. Yet water was flowing through it. Water so shallow it was barely perceptible, and yet unmistakably real.
The water’s surface gleamed like jewels in the sunlight, countless scintillations dancing in dizzying brilliance.
Illum stood transfixed by the sight, then reflexively drew the girl in his arms close.
He shielded her skin from the light with his own body, keeping her from direct exposure.
The beast-folk here suffered from a disease that killed them when exposed to light.
The coming of morning was miracle enough, but he needed to move these people indoors where light could not reach them.
“Eren! We must move the patients!”
“I’ll help!”
Eren hoisted an unconscious beast-folk onto his back. Illum removed his own shirt to shield the girl’s face from the sun’s rays.
The other beast-folk’s reactions split into two: some hunched low like Illum and bolted indoors, while others remained seated, gazing dazed at the rising sun.
“Even if it blinds me…….”
Someone murmured.
Illum felt a deep kinship with those words. The beast-folk here had waited far too long for this sight…….
But then.
“Look! The spots—they’re disappearing!”
Beginning with someone’s cry.
“It’s true! The spots are fading!”
“Child, are you coming to? Child!”
“Impossible, this can’t be, this is truly impossible……!”
Cheers erupted from everywhere. Some murmured in disbelief.
Illum hesitated a moment, then carefully lifted the shirt covering the girl’s face.
“……!”
The spotted marks were indeed fading slowly. In that moment, a face flashed through Illum’s mind.
A girl so small one would scarcely believe her a carnivorous beast-folk.
One whose white, soft hair had grown damp with sweat as she wielded her Ability with sincere devotion to help these people.
A small girl whom it seemed God had carefully gathered the warmest light in all the world and lovingly shaped into being.
The beast-folk here suffered from a disease that killed them when exposed to light.
But Tiel’s light did not take their lives.
Rather, it swept away the curtain of darkness that had shrouded them, and erased the spotted marks that had spread across their bodies.
Illum raised his eyes to the sun, revealed for the first time in centuries. It shone so brilliantly it threatened to blind.
Yet it did not hurt. He could gaze upon it for minutes without pain. As though…… it were the light Tiel had created.
‘She did it.’
The child with the Light Ability had brought morning to the Land Without Morning.
A legend that had kept the beast-folk rooted to this land for so long settled deep within his heart.
Sunlight fell equally upon Arcadia.
***
‘I did it.’
Tiel murmured softly. The palm of her hand pressed against the Platform tingled. Her gleaming golden eyes reflected the morning sunlight.
Carl stared dumbfounded at the morning sun.
Living as he had in darkness all this time, his eyes should have ached, yet he could not blink, lost in the sight of the rising sun.
“How…….”
Carl had imagined this sight many times before.
This very scene: the morning sun rising beyond the Hill, and all the beast-folk of this land, himself included, rushing out to behold it.
Though he could not see the sunrise with those he had once imagined beside him, somehow an overwhelming warmth surged up and seized his chest.
Morning had returned to Arcadia. Now this land would be able to reclaim its lost name as well. The beast-folk would no longer have to live in darkness, and the spotted marks…….
“What about the spots?”
Carl quickly rolled up his sleeve. Light caused the marks to appear. But there were no marks on Carl’s body.
“The spots…… they’re gone.”
Carl murmured. Olivier’s voice followed in similar wonder.
“This can’t be…… I knew Tiel was remarkable, but not like this……”
The girl brushed her coarse gray hair behind her ears and gazed at her cousin.
Clemens did the same, reflexively gripping Olivier’s hand tightly.
The youngest daughter of Asterian, Tiel Asterian with her Light Ability—her power was far more…… extraordinary than they had imagined.
If word spread that this tiny seven-year-old had brought light to this land…… how would the other Houses react?
‘Mother’s judgment was right.’
Clemens closed her eyes slowly, then opened them. Her vivid green eyes held both the morning sun and the small girl glimmering beneath it.
Ferdi, Ludian, and Olivier remained relatively composed. They had already experienced just how extraordinary their sister’s Ability was.
Yet even so, Ludian could not contain his excitement and rushed toward the Platform, while Ferdi made no effort to hide his smile.
Tiel looked immensely proud. Ludian could not quite bring himself to step upon the Platform, only reaching out his hand to touch it.
“Tiel!”
Shimmering water rippled across the back of Ludian’s hand and flowed down. Tiel turned her head to look at him.
“Brother…….”
And she broke into a radiant smile. A rosy flush colored her soft white cheeks.
Iandros stepped closer. Iandros, standing beside Ludian, looked at Tiel and laughed softly.
“I knew long ago that you were remarkable, Tiel…… but you truly do surprise me every time.”
At his praise, Tiel laughed with delight and added:
“Since Carl is safe, perhaps the other beast-folk below might be safe in this light too. Let’s go down at once! We must check on them!”
Tiel sprang to her feet. As the palms of Tiel and Carl separated from the Platform, it moved once more.
Rumble!
The Platform began to descend slowly. Tiel lost her footing and swayed in place.
“Oops!”
Tiel tumbled down with a splash. Water sprayed lightly around her. Alarmed, Ferdi, Ludian, and Iandros leaped up onto the Platform.
“You should have been more careful!”
Iandros was the first to catch her. He cradled the girl gently in his arms, chiding her softly.
The girl, now soaked, wriggled in Iandros’s embrace. Tiel smiled sheepishly.
“I didn’t realize…….”
“You’re drenched. Now my clothes will be completely wet too…….”
“My clothes have been wet since earlier. Your clothes also, since you were standing near the Platform…….”
“When did you become so quick-tongued…… Tiel Asterian?”
Iandros gave her a playful look before gently pinching her soft cheek and releasing it. Tiel, delighted, hugged his neck firmly.
Morning sunlight fell upon their heads. Reflected in the water droplets, the whole world sparkled like stars in a night sky.
Rumble.
The Platform, now fully descended, moved no more.
When they first came, there had been a step between the ground and the Platform, but now it lay buried deep in the earth as if perfectly merged with the ground itself.
Carl rose and looked at the Platform. It seemed like it had completed its purpose and retreated to rest.
The three boys, who had not once lost their footing even as the Platform moved, carried Tiel and made their way forward. Carl lingered in a daze for a moment before hurrying after them.
As the children and the knights walked, water splashed in all directions. The sound of sloshing was loud.
Yet none of them complained about their drenched pants.

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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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