The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 178

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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 178
***
“Olivier!”
Tiel ran to Olivier and threw her arms around his waist. Olivier embraced her warmly, running his fingers through her hair again and again.
“How have you been? It feels like ages since I’ve seen you.”
“Ages? We saw each other quite recently, when you came to the Asterian Mansion…….”
“Still feels like ages! When we were younger, I could see you every single day.”
Had Ferdi and Ludian been present, Tiel would have said, “That’s only because you were always showing up at the mansion unannounced.” But she kept the thought to herself.
Besides, Tiel herself was very fond of Olivier.
From the moment they first met, Olivier had been one of the few who genuinely cherished her. There was no way she could dislike him.
“By the way, are you doing alright? How’s your Ability?”
Olivier lowered his voice and spoke softly after releasing her. Tiel opened her mouth slightly and nodded.
‘So he already knew.’
Well, Olivier spent so much time at the Asterian household that he was close to everyone there—it would have been stranger if he didn’t know.
To reassure him, Tiel carefully exercised her Ability.
Flare!
Light rippled across her palm. She smiled broadly and spoke.
“See? I’m fine now. I’ll be able to use my Ability without strain during the festival.”
But Tiel quickly withdrew the light. Even as she spoke, an undefined dread had begun to creep in.
Now that she’d lost it once, what if it happened again? The fear gnawed at her, bit by bit.
Yet Tiel revealed nothing. She knew her family worried about her far more than she worried about herself. That was why she’d shown them the light in the first place.
To set Olivier’s mind at ease.
Olivier watched the light shimmer in her palm just as it had before, and beamed with genuine joy, stroking her hair.
“Thank goodness! I was so worried something else might go wrong. Of course, when I heard you were coming here, I thought the problem must have been solved.”
“Yes, it’s resolved. So the festival should go ahead without any issues.”
“I heard the Temple party will arrive soon. The festival’s really almost here……. Tiel, aren’t you nervous? It’s been so long since you’ve appeared before the Beastkin.”
“To be honest, I’m a little nervous. I know how the Beastkin of the empire see me now…….”
Tiel spoke carefully.
“But if not me, then no one else can do it. So I have to.”
Her voice carried a note of quiet resolve.
Olivier gazed at his cousin, who had grown so much, with affection.
His cousin who had carried far too many burdens on her small shoulders from childhood.
Without all of that, Tiel might have grown two spans taller by now.
‘But because of all those things, her foundation has only become stronger.’
Even if she never grew as tall, she learned to endure. She learned to rise again and again, each time she fell. Olivier considered these lessons more precious than gold itself, and so he harbored no regrets that Tiel had not grown as much as she might have.
“Yes, of course! I’ll help however I can. Tiel, you have to tell me if anything becomes too much. Wolfgang and I will always stand with you. The wind will follow your every step. All the winds will guide you to the right path…….”
Olivier murmured the Wind Blessing—the blessing of Wolfgang, given only to its benefactors and its members.
Yet he did not use his Ability. Nothing visibly changed around Tiel.
That was because Olivier and Wolfgang had long ago placed a protective Wind Blessing around her.
A gentle breeze slipped through the slightly open window.
***
“We have arrived, High Priest.”
The Holy Knight bowed as he spoke. The High Priest descended from the carriage slowly.
They had come not to the Eberard Estate, but to the highest hill in Arcadia, where Arcadia could be seen most clearly.
He stood atop the hill and gazed down upon Arcadia.
“Truly remarkable.”
The High Priest murmured.
From the chimneys of the village below, the scent of baking bread flowed endlessly, and young Beastkin splashed and laughed in the pond at the village’s center.
The Beastkin of Arcadia wore hats to shield themselves from the sun, and as dusk fell, they gathered their children and headed home.
A sight unimaginable even a mere ten years ago.
Yet all of this had been built and brought to fruition by two people: the girl with the Light Ability called Tiel and the Head of the Eberard household.
It could only be called a miracle of the deity Lysette. The High Priest steeled himself as he beheld what Tiel had built and accomplished.
‘Tiel’s Ability is genuine.’
Regardless of whether the Asterian kept interfering with the Temple’s work or carried themselves as though enmity with the Temple meant nothing—Tiel’s Ability deserved respect.
The High Priest firmly believed that Tiel could restore the balance of day and night in Crashion.
He was certain no one else could do it.
‘Patience is all that is needed.’
If they waited while steadying the people’s hearts with festivals such as this, the deity Lysette would answer their fervent prayers.
Through her daughter, her proxy, her faithful servant Tiel Asterian, she would reveal the way to defeat the Evil God and restore light to this land.
The High Priest stood upon the sunset-painted hill for a long while, gazing at Arcadia, then turned sharply and made his way toward the Temple under construction.
Since Arcadia’s restoration and Eberard’s reinstatement, a temple to the deity Lysette was being built in Arcadia according to the wishes of both the Temple and Eberard.
The Beastkin of Arcadia, who had witnessed the deity Lysette’s power most closely, regarded the construction of her temple on their land as a great honor.
‘The temple will be completed soon.’
They were in the final stages now. The statue of the deity Lysette was already positioned inside the temple, as was a sculpture fashioned after Tiel in her Snow Leopard Form.
All that remained was to carve the deity’s patterns on the temple’s exterior, and even that was nearly finished, so completion was truly imminent.
‘Perhaps it will be completed during the festival.’
The High Priest and his Holy Knights and Priests had decided to lodge in the still-unfinished temple during the festival, but since the building was nearly complete, there were no significant difficulties.
The carriage carrying the High Priest and the Priests entered the temple grounds in a line.
They descended and examined every corner of the newly constructed temple carefully, then began unpacking their belongings in a suitable room.
“When will you pay your respects at Eberard, High Priest?”
A Priest asked. The High Priest answered without hesitation.
“As soon as the sun rises tomorrow. Since I’ve come to Arcadia, I must pay my respects to the master of Eberard. And since I heard that Tiel is staying at the Eberard Estate, it would be perfect to meet her as well…….”
“Shall I send word of your visit to Eberard tomorrow morning?”
“Yes, please do.”
The High Priest replied. The Priest left the room to tie a letter to the leg of one of the temple’s well-trained sacred doves and send it off.
Not long after.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on his door again. The High Priest looked up from his preparations and asked.
“Please come in.”
The Priest who had just left to deliver the message returned, bowing his head as he spoke.
“High Priest, you have a visitor.”
“A visitor? At this hour?”
The High Priest’s brow furrowed. Someone calling without warning at this time was surely no ordinary guest of courtesy. Just as he was about to send them away…….
“It is Miss Rowen of Nestian.”
***
“Rowen Nestian has crossed the river and entered Arcadia.”
Karl nodded at Illum’s report.

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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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