The Snow Leopard Baby of the Black Leopard Family - Chapter 72

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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 72
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The day of the Competition.
Carriages bearing the seals of each household arrived once more at the vast Plaza.
Those who descended from the carriages naturally took their places before their own family’s Platform.
The Heads of Household climbed onto the Platforms and stood tall, while the household retainers positioned themselves behind them.
Thus five families gathered in one place—all except Everard, the House of Water.
“Everyone has arrived.”
The Emperor surveyed the five families as he spoke. Just as when he had announced the festival’s opening, tens of thousands of imperial citizens surrounded the Plaza to witness the Competition.
Yet unlike when he had opened the festival, the Emperor this time seated himself at a distance from the Platforms.
A distance that seemed to have nothing whatsoever to do with the Platforms—that was where the Emperor’s seat had been prepared.
The Emperor of the Crasion Empire does not involve himself in the Hierarchy disputes between the other households of the Luminaries.
That is the ancient custom of Crasion, and no one has ever broken it until now.
Thus, even in a Competition that amounts to a Hierarchy struggle between families, the Emperor has no seat.
Once the Emperor withdrew and took his place, the Heads of the five families exchanged glances with one another.
Alpheus of Asterian.
Thender of Nestian.
Stefano of Wolfgang.
Claude of Iker.
Iris of Arne.
The five Heads of Household regarded one another. Sharp gazes pierced through each other, yet none took notice.
Ferdi and Ludian watched Claude, who stood tall as the Head of Iker’s household, and Sterling standing behind him, whispering between themselves.
“I’ll wager everything on Claude not stepping forward.”
“I’m betting the same way, so you flip a different card, Ludian.”
Tiel, who had been quietly listening to her two brothers’ conversation, finally seemed to understand something, opening her mouth slightly in an ‘ah’ of realization.
‘They’ve made a wager……!’
Because she already knew that Claude would never challenge the two Duke families in this Competition.
Yet that wasn’t because Claude was a coward, or his strength was hopelessly weak.
The current Hierarchy among the five families was a Hierarchy that had been maintained from long, long ago.
To break this Hierarchy is no different from making enemies of all four other families.
So there’s no way he would step forward rashly. Though it’s true that the status and Hierarchy between families can change through Ability competitions and combat, it has almost never actually happened.
Then, all the Heads of Household simultaneously swung their hands.
Fire blazed from Alpheus’s hands.
Sharp ice crystals formed in Thender’s hands.
Powerful wind gathered around Stefano’s hands.
A small bolt of Lightning flashed within Claude’s hands.
Beautiful, magnificent flowers bloomed in multitudes from Iris’s hands.
Yet instead of turning their Abilities against one another, they extended their hands forward and used their Abilities toward the very center of the Plaza.
Fire and ice, wind and lightning, and even leaves and petals that wrapped around all of it.
Five Abilities harmonized into one, creating a vast storm at the center of the Plaza.
A light groan escaped her.
Tiel squeezed her eyes shut and opened them against the wind. The wind was blowing so fiercely that she couldn’t keep them open properly.
Then, Cassius scooped Tiel up in his arms and held his enormous hand to her forehead, shielding her from the wind.
Thanks to Cassius, Tiel could watch the state of the Plaza without closing her eyes.
The storm of gathered Abilities grew larger and larger, seeming about to consume all five Heads of Household within it, but then—
Boom-!
It exploded without consuming anyone.
There is no challenger.
There is no victor.
Only, the five families will hold this position until the next Luminarie opens in three years.
The Heads of Household all descended from the Platforms without hesitation, as though the matter were concluded.
“It is finished.”
The Emperor spoke as he observed the five Heads.
All five Heads showed no expression on their faces, so to others it was impossible to know what they were thinking.
The Emperor observed the empty Platform for a moment, then gestured.
“Come up.”
The moment the Emperor finished speaking, Ferdi stepped forward. Tiel, still cradled in Cassius’s arms, opened her eyes wide as she watched Ferdi go.
“Brother Ferdi is going?”
“Yes, Ferdi is the Heir of the household.”
Cassius answered matter-of-factly.
Ferdi went out calmly and took his place tall upon the Platform that symbolized Asterian.
The Heirs of each family climbed onto their Platforms one by one.
Olivier stood upon Wolfgang’s Platform.
Sterling Iker, whom she had seen yesterday, stood upon Iker’s Platform.
Clemens, a girl still young but who in no way seemed weak, stood upon Arne’s Platform.
And upon Nestian’s Platform—
Hair of silver so familiar, eyes of icy blue that felt cold and piercing as frozen crystals.
Rowen Nestian, a girl whom Tiel knew all too well, ascended proudly to Nestian’s Platform.
Children who would one day inherit the position of Head of Household gathered in one place.
With Rowen and Ferdi, though there was Cornelia and Cassius, it was somewhat inappropriate to call them the next Heads—yet since this Competition was carried out by the young children who bore the future of each household, no one minded.
Five youths with still-youthful faces examined one another.
Ferdi and Olivier were leisurely and composed as though they had merely stepped out for a casual stroll, while Sterling seemed to glare at Ferdi with frustration, apparently having been scolded severely by his father yesterday.
Clemens of Arne was muttering something to herself with her eyes closed, while Rowen Nestian kept her lips tightly pressed together, glaring at Asterian.
Or rather, more precisely, at Tiel, who was held in the arms of Cassius Celestus Asterian.
……
Tiel did not avoid Rowen’s gaze.
Because she felt keenly that there was no longer any reason to fear Rowen.
Before Tiel stood Ferdi and Ludian, behind her stood Alpheus, and the small child’s form was supported and held by Cassius.
With so many people surrounding her like this, there was no reason to fear Rowen.
When Tiel did not avoid her gaze, Rowen, something like solid anger crossing her face, made a dismissive clicking sound and turned her head away.
At that disrespectful gesture, Thender’s expression seemed to stiffen for a moment, though it was only brief.
“The Heirs of each family have all gathered.”
When the Emperor opened his mouth, all eyes turned toward him.
The young boys and girls who had climbed onto the Platforms looked toward the Emperor.
“You understand the rules of the Competition, yes?”
The Competition for the young boys and girls is carried out differently from that of the Heads of Household.
Rather than directly pitting their Abilities against each other, they create Summoned Beasts with their Abilities and have them run a race.
Completing one circuit around the Capital City, the first to return to the Plaza is victorious, and there are knights stationed at each checkpoint, so cheating is impossible.
Since it is a Competition carried out by young children, it is ultimately a matter of form, and even if one wins the Competition, the Hierarchy of the families does not change.
Instead—
“Victory shall grant you one wish—whatever you desire, I shall grant it.”
By imperial authority, the Heir who wins the Competition may be granted whatever they wish.
Any wish was possible, so long as it caused no direct harm to each household or harm to others.
Each family’s Heirs nodded their heads in understanding.
Each showed an expression of their own resolve, yet Ferdi and Olivier seemed so composed and peaceful, as though they had merely stepped out for a walk.
“Begin.”
The moment the Emperor finished speaking, light firecrackers burst forth and colorful confetti scattered high into the sky.
The atmosphere was quite different from the Competition of the Heads.
With a flash—!
Each of the family’s Heirs unleashed their own Abilities in turn.
Fire burst from Ferdi’s hands in a whoosh, transforming into a leopard the size of an adult man.
Rowen swiftly created a Frozen Snow Leopard with her Freezing Ability, though it was considerably smaller than Ferdi’s leopard.
Moreover, when Rowen’s Summoned Beast was near Ferdi’s leopard, it kept melting away, so Rowen had to click her tongue irritably and reposition her snow leopard.
From Sterling’s hands emerged a young lightning horse, made from the electricity of this land.
From Clemens’s hands came a beautiful little bird made of flowers and grass.
From Olivier’s hands emerged a swift wolf, vaporous and transparent like the wind itself.
The Summoned Beasts created by the Abilities of each family’s Heirs all stood firmly before their respective Platforms.
It was time for the Competition to begin.

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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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