Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 153

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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 35. Rolling Down with the Vines

“Hahaha, what an admirable attitude. I’d like to chat more, but time is short.”

Crown Prince Adin passed by Kale Heniatus with a hearty laugh and a regretful expression. Kale bowed respectfully, and Adin spoke to him in a casual manner.

“I hope we’ll have a chance to talk at the banquet later.”

Not at all.
I had no desire whatsoever to converse with this Crown Prince.

‘I should just stay quietly on the terrace.’

I watched the receding figure of Crown Prince Adin and made a silent vow.

After this investigation concluded, a banquet would be held to welcome the envoy delegation and simultaneously commemorate the end of the year.

I had already decided that during that banquet, I would retreat to a corner of the Terrace and remain as silent as a dead mouse.
Just then, Raon’s voice reached me.

-Human, that Crown Prince bastard seems to be as strong as that cowardly Vice-Captain.

Interesting.
A smile played at the corners of my lips.

Crown Prince Adin.
He was someone who valued alchemy and orchestrated various schemes from the shadows, yet that grinning fool was an upper-tier Knight.

That’s what was known.

‘But they say he’s peak-tier?’

Vice-Captain Hilsman had grown stronger over time and reached a state of mastery even among peak-tier Experts. For Adin to be at that level meant he possessed considerable talent.

‘How interesting.’

I had read several passages about the Crown Prince in “The Birth of a Hero.” However, I didn’t know as much detail as I did about Choi Han or Alberu.
In the volumes I had read, Crown Prince Adin had never emerged as a main character.

Kale Heniatus found Adin quite intriguing, given how much the man seemed to be hiding.

‘But intrigue alone doesn’t justify drawing closer.’

I resolved to make a quick transaction and slip away.
It was then that Raon spoke to me through our mental link.

-Human, human! There’s someone over there who carries the scent of our family!

My heart sank.

…What?
Family?

I was taken aback.

Another Dragon?
Another Dragon?

I concealed my alarm and hastily scanned the Imperial delegation that had come to greet us. Simultaneously, I opened my mouth.

“Erhaben.”
“…What is it, Young Master?”
“Are there people here similar to you? I mean, like you?”

I turned to look at the Ancient Dragon Erhaben. His eyes held that familiar expression—’what nonsense is this unlucky human spouting now?’
Then Raon’s voice reached me again.

-Human, isn’t that one a Cat-Human? The one with red hair at nine o’clock.

My gaze shifted toward nine o’clock. A Knight with crimson hair came into view. Erhaben followed my line of sight, then chuckled softly and spoke.

“Young Master, the little one told you, didn’t he?”

The family members the Black Dragon Raon had sensed were On and Hong.
The Ancient Dragon spoke with evident interest.

“Hmm, quite a strong one at that.”

The Gold Dragon Erhafen stepped forward half a pace and positioned himself directly behind Kale Heniatus. Only after securing a distance close enough that others couldn’t hear did he whisper into Kale’s ear.

“The Cat-Human Race, by nature, rarely reveal themselves to the world. And they are specialists in assassination.”

While the Cat-Human Race was quite well-known on the Eastern Continent, they were not as widely recognized on the Western Continent as a demi-human species.
They lived in secrecy, evading the eyes of others. Moreover, they excelled at assassination, concealment, and information gathering.

Erhafen spoke in an intriguing whisper.

“I wonder who they’re hiding to kill?”

…Do I really need to know that?
A chill ran down Kale’s spine at Erhafen’s whisper. I’d acquired yet another useless piece of knowledge.

‘Forget it.’

I decided to forget about it.
But things had taken an odd turn.

“This is where Young Master Kale Heniatus will be staying.”

A servant of the Imperial Palace, now assigned to attend to Kale, pointed to one of the rooms in the palace directly adjacent to where Crown Prince Alberu resided.
The servant then introduced himself and his companions.

“Please feel free to call upon me for any miscellaneous tasks or errands. These individuals are the knights assigned to the palace where you will be staying.”

Five knights bowed their heads in simple greeting.
Among them was a Cat-Human with red hair. Had I not known, I would never have realized they were Cat-Human.

Ugh, seriously.
I deliberately ignored that Cat-Human.

“Since you have escort knights accompanying you, we have not stationed additional guards at the entrance. However, should you desire more, please let us know and we will arrange it immediately.”
“No. There’s no need for additional guards.”

I declined the servant’s offer.

“Then please call upon us should you need anything.”
“I will.”

Kale dismissed the servant and opened the door to his bedroom, stepping inside. At the same moment, Raon’s voice reached his ears.

-Human! There’s someone lurking on the ceiling above the bed! I’m watching him! Oh, he’s hiding as skillfully as the sculptor who created that enormous rabbit. Quite impressive!

I expected as much.
Kale’s expression remained impassive.

Despite the Imperial Palace housing countless rooms where the Crown Prince could have stayed, Kale had deliberately been assigned to a palace adjacent to his. This differed markedly from the Crown Prince’s secretaries, who were all stationed in the palace where he resided.

‘Adin must have been curious about me.’

The Crown Prince would have been curious enough about Kale to risk the danger of having a member of the diplomatic delegation monitored.

‘Because I extinguished the fire in the Jungle.’

It was Kale who had single-handedly extinguished that fire in Jungle Zone 1.
According to the original narrative, a shaman from the Eastern Continent should have extinguished it much later, but Kale had done so instead.

‘Now that I think about it, that’s suspicious too.’

Now that Kale was aware of the cooperative relationship between Dark and the Empire, that shaman from the Eastern Continent seemed equally suspicious. How could a shaman have extinguished a fire that even magic couldn’t put out?

What if that shaman belonged to Dark?
What if this entire incident was a collaboration between the Empire and Dark?

What if all those supreme-grade magic stones the shaman discovered had gone directly into the hands of the Empire and Dark?

‘How dreadful.’

It was a rather horrifying scenario.
Yet it wasn’t an implausible one either. After all, the shaman had subsequently earned considerable respect and seamlessly infiltrated the Jungle.

‘It’s one of the Empire’s specialties.’

Planting spies.
If the shaman had indeed become a spy, then the Jungle would have fallen into the Empire’s grasp before long.

“Sigh.”

Kale Heniatus exhaled a shallow sigh and spoke to Choi Han and Erhafen.

“Let’s go.”
“…Now?”

Kale responded to Choi Han’s bewildered expression.

“To exchange currency. And I heard Bilos is in the Empire. I should visit my old friend.”

Kale spoke deliberately loud enough for the hidden observer to hear. He wrapped a robe around himself and tossed masks to his companions.

“Wear the robes and masks so we can move discreetly.”

Kale Heniatus led Choi Han and Erhafen out of the palace.
Of course, with the Crown Prince’s authorization, they passed through the Imperial Palace’s main gate without difficulty, though the process was tedious.

‘Surveillance is attached, though.’

While listening to Raon’s chattering explanation about the surveillance personnel, Kale Heniatus leisurely made his way toward the Flynn Merchant Guild’s Imperial Capital branch.

* * *

In the capital of the Mogur Empire, near the Central Square, stood a rather impressive building.
That building was the Flynn Merchant Guild’s Imperial branch Number One.
Kale Heniatus’s expression brightened.

“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, Young Master. It’s truly delightful to see you here.”
“I’m equally pleased to see my old friend like this.”

Bilos instructed his staff.

“I won’t be taking any more guests today.”

Then he spoke to Kale Heniatus.

“Please allow me to show you to my office.”

The three of them—Kale Heniatus, Choi Han, and Erhafen—followed Bilos into a corner room on the second floor of the Flynn Merchant Guild. Kale Heniatus asked Bilos in a joking tone.

“This isn’t your room, is it?”

An ordinary second-floor chamber. Bilos grinned wickedly and pushed aside the bookcase along the wall.
A staircase descending downward appeared.

I settled into a chair positioned in the small underground chamber and spoke.

“You live in a smaller room than I expected?”
“It’s a fine room—frugal and quiet.”

Bilos answered my jest with humor of his own. But the Flynn Merchant Guild’s illegitimate son quickly moved to the matter at hand.

“I found him.”

An Alchemist who doesn’t reside in the Alchemy Tower.
I sipped the tea Bilos had brought and asked.

“What kind of man?”
“An Alchemist famous in the underworld, they say.”

The underworld.
It existed in every city, every nation one might visit.
But where the Alchemist was famous mattered little to me. So I asked once more.

“So what kind of man is he?”

Bilos smiled faintly and replied.

“A good man who is bad.”

I could glean several things from those words.
So he works in the underworld, making him a bad man—yet he’s good?

Bilos gazed at me in silence and recited the information about the Alchemist. Choi Han furrowed his brow at the details. The information differed from what he’d anticipated.

Yet after Bilos finished his explanation, I spoke only after several seconds had passed.

“That works.”

It was adequate.
For someone to use, a person who was moderately good and moderately bad was preferable.

Kale Heniatus spoke as if tossing the words aside.

“I should go see right away.”
“Already?”
“Right now, sir?”

Bilos and Choi Han expressed their surprise in turn. Kale Heniatus stared at the astonished Choi Han, and when Choi Han faltered under that gaze, Kale Heniatus’s mouth opened.

“Choi Han.”
“Yes. If you’re going, I will accompany—”
“Friend.”

A brief silence fell. Kale Heniatus frowned as he looked at the dazed Choi Han.

“What are you doing?”
“Sir?”
“Change your clothes.”

Ah.
When a dumbfounded sound escaped Choi Han’s lips, Kale Heniatus removed his robe and then stripped off the formal jacket beneath it.

“Bilos.”
“Y-yes!”

Bilos, who had simply been watching in confusion, answered with a start. Kale Heniatus gave him his instructions.

“Tell me more about that Alchemist fellow. Bring the documents too. And Bilos, you must have a mansion where you stay, yes?”
“…I do, sir?”

Kale Heniatus nodded at Bilos’s response and pointed to himself.

“Send me some wine there.”
“…Pardon?”

Kale Heniatus did not answer the bewildered Bilos, instead turning his gaze to Erhafen, who had been standing quietly with a smile on his face all this while.

“Erhafen.”
“Yes, Young Master. Shall I switch the two of them?”
“Yes.”

Kale Heniatus nodded in response to Erhafen’s question, gesturing toward his own hair and Choi Han’s.

“Oh, I thought you were a Knight, but you’re a High-Rank Mage!”

Bilos let out a small exclamation of admiration, nodding repeatedly. He now understood Kale Heniatus’s strategy in disguising such a precious High-Rank Mage as a Knight.
Kale Heniatus flashed a grin at Bilos, who was staring at him, and Erhafen cast magic on both Kale Heniatus and Choi Han.

Shortly after, Bilos descended to the first floor and issued instructions to his staff.

“Prepare some fruit and food. Bring out wine as well.”
“Right now, sir?”

Bilos nodded with a pleased expression to the bewildered staff member.

“Well, my old friend the Young Master has arrived. We should at least share a light drink. Choi Han.”

Bilos addressed a man with black hair and black eyes whose face was concealed by a mask, revealing only his eyes. Beneath Choi Han’s robe, the distinctive leather armor of a Knight was visible.

“There’s fine wine at the mansion where I’m staying. Bring some of it back.”

Sending a Knight on a wine errand—one might expect anger, but the one called Choi Han simply bowed his head quietly and, receiving directions from Bilos, departed the building.

A voice echoed inside the mind of the black-haired man.

-Human, only one is following you now! The rest are still concealed near the Flynn Company.

One would be easy to handle.
Kale Heniatus walked with light steps toward Bilos’s mansion. Upon arrival, he showed the butler the text inscribed on the back of the map.

“I shall show you the way.”

Kale Heniatus followed the butler into Bilos’s Study. Soon after, the butler left, and Kale Heniatus, now alone, gazed out the window.

“Second floor.”

The Study was on the second floor.
Shortly after, a figure in a robe left the second floor.

-Human, the one who was following us is still at the mansion’s front gate!

I nodded and slipped out of the mansion with Raon through Wind’s Sound. I headed toward a place that existed everywhere, like the underworld itself.

The Slums.
My steps carried me toward the Slums. Beneath the robe, my hair spilled out—white as snow.

* * *

Knock, knock, knock.

Someone rapped on the door of a crumbling house.

In the darkest corner of the Slums, where even sunlight dared not venture—a desolate ruin shunned even by the poor themselves. The crumbling buildings occasionally served as refuge for wild beasts and vagrants fleeing the rain.
Among them stood a house on the verge of collapse.

Knock, knock, knock.

But after knocking for some time, there came no answer. The one knocking sighed and struck the door harder.

Bang, bang, bang!

Ugh, for heaven’s sake! Just go away!
A grumbling voice came from within, and moments later, the weathered door creaked open.

Creak.

Through the gap, a middle-aged man with a weary face appeared. He hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“…Who are you?”

The one who had knocked bowed respectfully to the man. Seeing this gesture, the man’s expression grew uneasy as he opened his mouth.

“…Why has the Priest come to this place?”

The man called the Priest.
With his long white hair tied back, he wore a plain white priestly robe.

Kale Heniatus opened his mouth with a gentle smile. Raon spoke in his mind.

-There’s no one around us.

At the same time, I spoke.

“I came here because I want to destroy the Alchemy Tower.”

The man—the Alchemist’s expression changed.

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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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