Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 194

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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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News arrived with the rising winter sun.

【We, the Indomitable Alliance, solemnly declare our claim to the Unfrozen Lands.】

The Northern 3 Nations, the Bear Tribe, and the Flame Dwarves—the alliance of three nations and two races bore the name “Indomitable.”
With that declaration, the late winter of the Western Continent began to burn hotter than ever before.

Beep beep beep—

A torrent of urgent communications flooded in, and the news reached the tent where Kale Heniatus and Pen stood.

-The Mogur Empire expresses regret and pledges to work toward peace on the Western Continent!

The expressions inside the tent darkened.

Peace from the Empire?

“Bullshit.”

Many flinched at Kale’s words. Yet none dared to rebuke him for it.

‘…It’s like looking at my master.’

Count Ecrus felt an inexplicable pressure emanating from Kale—as though he were gazing upon a sovereign of his domain.

Beep beep beep— Beep beep—

Yet the reports continued to pour in.

-The Caro Kingdom is closing all auction houses and gambling establishments!

The Caro Kingdom had begun to hold its breath.

-Two duchies in the North and the Allied Cities offer their praise for the Indomitable Alliance’s righteous cause!
-The duchies near the Empire and the Free Cities have chosen neutrality, declaring their support for the Empire’s peace efforts!

It was chaos.

Kale rose from his chair after a brief moment of reflection.
Clunk. The small sound made everyone react with heightened sensitivity. Count Ecrus also stood and asked Kale a question.

“Your Highness, was the Roan Kingdom aware of the Bear Tribe and the Dwarves?”

Count Ecrus pressed the question, then hesitated. It was because of the piercing gaze in Kale’s eyes.

-Human, why do you let that slide? You’re truly kind-hearted. I see through your act. Sigh, I need to work harder myself.

I ignored Raon’s earnest voice. I knew well enough that I was quite the ruthless one. That’s precisely why I remained silent.

Because I needed to exploit him thoroughly later.
I suppressed a wry smile at the sight of Count Ecrus faltering under my gaze and responded with aristocratic composure.

“I was not aware.”

The brief answer echoed through the tent.
That was when it happened.

Whoosh.
The tent flap was drawn back, and a figure appeared.

“Your Highness, what is the matter?”

It was Gashan, the white Tiger Tribe member still in his berserk state.

Tiger Tribe. Bear Tribe.
Those two words began to surface simultaneously in the minds of everyone in the tent. Morning sunlight streamed through the parted tent opening.
But with Gashan positioned before me as I stood, that light did not reach me.

That was why my red hair stood out so distinctly.

“Your Highness, what is the matter?”

Kale slowly opened his mouth to answer Gashan, who was asking once more.

“It is nothing of consequence.”

Beep—
Amid the emergency communications, I continued speaking calmly.

“We simply do what we were meant to do.”

My gaze turned toward Prince Pen.

“We are strong enough.”

The moment those words left my lips, Prince Pen understood what he needed to do.

Four kingdoms and one tribe united. And now the Tiger Tribe as well.
Variables had emerged, but we were not weak.

Then his course of action became clear.

He was the one representing the Breck Kingdom here. Prince Pen opened his mouth.

“All mages handling the video communication—record every piece of information being transmitted. And report our current progress. Count Ecrus.”
“Yes, yes!”
“I heard there are still magical bombs remaining. Resume the operation.”

He repeated the words I had spoken.

“Everyone focuses on their assigned task.”

After those words, Prince Pen looked at me. His sister Rosalind’s voice echoed in his mind.

‘He is someone you can trust—no, someone you cannot help but trust.’

Pen recalled his sister’s words as he watched my lips part.

“Your Highness, I shall take my leave as well.”

Pen nodded, and I stepped out of the tent. As Prince Pen watched me disappear into the light, he found himself unconsciously touching his throat at the sight of my composed and confident bearing.

‘Now I can breathe.’

As the pressure emanating from me faded, Pen could finally draw in the cold morning air. Yet despite the chill, his heart began to race with urgency and intensity.

And the tent where Kale and his companions stayed was equally tense and urgent.
But there was no conversation.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Kale’s index finger drummed against the armrest.
He recalled “The Birth of a Hero.”

【The Bear Tribe is cunning.】

This is irritating.
Now Kale truly felt it.

Volume 5 of The Birth of a Hero had ended.

What was beginning now was a future even I didn’t know.

That reality seemed to persistently gnaw at my own stubborn nature, and my head began to ache. I pressed my fingers against my temples repeatedly.

“Human, does your head hurt? Where does it hurt?”

Since only the group was present, the Black Dragon dropped its invisibility and paced beside Kale. Gashan, who had been sitting quietly, watched this and slowly opened his mouth.

“Flame Dwarves, you say? I’ve never heard of such a dwarven race before.”

Kale had also never heard of Flame Dwarves.
In fact, aside from Mueller, the rat-human hybrid, I had never properly met a true dwarf.

That’s why my mind was in turmoil.

A race specialized in crafting things.

The factor that had been complicating my thoughts flowed from my lips.

“There’s more.”
“Pardon?”

Gashan asked back, but only then did my mind feel as though it was coming into focus.

The Wyvern Knights. Dozens of ships.
If dwarves were to slip between them, the very nature of the northern invasion through sky and sea would transform.

There was more.

Kale was certain there was one more element.
He could not think otherwise.
Because he knew the truth of Paern Kingdom’s guardian knight family.

He knew the truth hidden within Lake of God’s Tears. Paern Kingdom, which despised the flowing river and had transformed it into a lake to monopolize it.

‘Paern is not a place of honor.’

Kale opened his mouth.

“We return immediately.”
“Yes, understood.”

Choi Han answered calmly. Among them, Choi Han was the most composed. Yet at Kale’s next words, Choi Han’s eyebrows rose slightly.

“Rak, have you given it thought?”

Rak? Thought?
Choi Han looked toward Rak as unfamiliar content emerged. The boy who had shown the most anxiety since earlier—Rak hesitated under the concentrated gaze before lowering his head deeply.

Rak immediately understood what Kale was referring to.
The words he had heard last night when the group leaped off the cliff.

‘Until I return here again, I need someone to guard the Canyon of Death.’

The Canyon of Death held no fear for him.
He had grown strong to protect, and he continued to grow stronger still.

Yet he did not wish to be alone.
For Rak, who had never known solitude, he needed someone to be the source of his courage. Whether family or younger siblings.
Rak remained lost in thought, his head bowed.

I wish to return together with everyone.

I clearly didn’t want to be alone, yet those words wouldn’t come out easily.
Why was that?

That was when it happened.

“Spit it out.”
“Pardon?”

Rak lifted his head.
Words he’d heard before.

After his first rampage, when he’d first sought out Kale Heniatus to offer thanks and ask him to look after his younger siblings. Back then, Kale had told him those words when he was hesitating.

‘Spit it out.’

And then he’d continued.
Just like now.

“That’s right. When you’re having a conversation, you just need to look straight ahead like this. Had you forgotten?”

Had I forgotten?
Those words struck Rak deeply.
Back then, he’d stammered out his request to Kale.

‘I-I am the eldest brother.’
‘I must care for my younger siblings.’
‘And I am a nephew, and also a younger brother.’
‘So I must take revenge.’

Kale had answered those words.

‘Wolf warrior.’

Wolf.
The word surfaced in Rak’s mind.

“Kale Heniatus.”

Choi Han, who had been silent, rarely stepped forward and interjected into the conversation. Rak was like a younger brother to him.

“Why?”
“May I ask what you told Rak?”
“I told him to watch over and guard the Canyon of Death until I return.”
“…Alone?”
“There will be a few mages from the Breck Kingdom for emergency communications. But yes, he will remain alone among our group.”

Choi Han alternated his gaze between Kale, who answered while staring only at Rak without even glancing at me, and the quiet Rak. After a moment of hesitation, Choi Han’s lips parted.

“He is a child who has experienced much loneliness.”

Rak was a boy who had endured profound loss.
He had experienced the massacre of his family, those around him, and an entire village.
Now that such a child had finally found some peace, he needed to grow stronger, but Choi Han did not wish for his heart to become barren as well.

Because his own had.
Choi Han felt his own heart growing desolate. That was why even a single drop of water to moisten the heart was precious. He hoped Rak would not become as lonely as he was.

In that moment, Kale looked at Choi Han.

“So Rak is alone?”
“…What?”

Kale turned his gaze back to Rak and spoke to the fifteen-year-old wolf tribe boy.

“You have family. You have a home to return to, and a new homeland as well. Are you lonely?”

The wolf tribe values family above all.
Yet above all else, a wolf must come to understand.

‘Oneself.’

A wolf king is one who knows their own existence.

“Rak, are you lonely?”

Those words reached Rak’s ears differently.

Are you still afraid?
Do you wish to settle into comfort?
You speak of wanting to grow stronger, yet why have you become timid and indecisive like before?

Rak looked directly at Kale Heniatus.

“I will stay.”

In that moment, Rak saw Kale Heniatus smile gently for the first time today.

“You have grown.”

Rak found no words to speak.
Only.

“I trust you.”

At those words of trust, he bowed deeply. As he straightened, a worn and blood-stained leather journal appeared before him.

“It is the diary of the last Wolf King.”

…The Wolf King?
Rak’s heart raced.
His uncle—the Tribal Chief of the Blue Werewolf Tribe who had died facing the Wolf King. The memory of his uncle surfaced.
And simultaneously, a single thought emerged.

‘Why are you giving this to me?’

Yet a voice like magic dispelled his doubt.

“I trust you.”

Those words from Kale Heniatus. Entranced by them, Rak accepted the journal. The worn texture met his fingers.
Rak held the journal precious.

After seeing that appearance, Kale Heniatus gave an order.

“We return.”

I had to return to the Roan Kingdom.

* * *

A fiefdom close to the capital of the Roan Kingdom and marking the beginning of the Northeast Region within the kingdom.
Wheelsman Territory.

Eric Wheelsman, the heir of the Wheelsman Count Family, walked out of the conference hall with an awkward smile.
Behind him, the voices of Northeast Region nobles drifted through.

“No matter how prestigious the Heniatus Family is, can they really order people around during this emergency?”
“Indeed. And they summon Kale Heniatus instead of the Count himself. A man without even a title. Unbelievable!”

The Northeast Region of the Roan Kingdom had no supreme leader of Duke or Marquis rank. Because of this, it was fractured into competing factions.

There was the noble house of Eric Wheelsman’s Count Family, united around the Northeast Region. Representative examples included the Northeast Coastal Area, where Amir and Gilbert were located.

Beyond that, there existed factions following the Duke and Marquis nobles of the Southeast Region, Northwest Region, Southwest Region, and the Central authority respectively.

“And I don’t understand why the Royal Court says nothing.”
“Indeed. If they come by ship, it would be through the Northeast Region. Well, they won’t be coming through the sky, will they?”

Among them, the nobles belonging to the Southeast Region and Central factions spoke the most.
Normally, no male noble would dare speak to a Count this way. But now that it was an emergency, they instead relied on the Duke they followed and acted boldly.
Their faction had to seize control of the Northeast Region’s momentum.

Eric had anticipated this situation and let it pass. Rather, the silent Northwest Region and Southwest Region factions seemed strange.

That was odd.

The Sten Marquis House of the Northwest Region, led by the abandoned eldest son Taylor.
The Geyler Duchy of the Southwest Region, centered around Prince Antonio.
The nobles following those two houses kept their mouths shut with serious expressions. They even seemed slightly frightened.

What was this?

Though it seemed strange, Eric, still holding the status of a prince, quickly left the conference hall. As he closed the entrance door, a noble’s complaint reached his ears.

“They praise the Shield Prince, and now he acts up in this urgent time.”

It was a jab at Kale Heniatus.
Eric Wheelsman finished closing the entrance door and furrowed his brow.

‘How on earth is this all unfolding?’

Count Derth Heniatus had gathered the Northeast Region nobility.

‘Let us establish our center of power.’

The nobles responded to those words.
War—that word also meant an opportunity for new power and influence.

Yet the Count’s Household, which had gathered these nobles, had sent Kale Heniatus. After learning this fact, Eric Wheelsman couldn’t sleep. He no longer seemed to be a reckless fool, but Kale Heniatus remained a source of worry for him.

So he sent one letter a day, but received no reply.

Consumed by mounting anxiety, Eric Wheelsman finally approached a member of the Heniatus Family standing at the entrance of the grand hall.

“Vice-Captain Hillsman, when will Prince Kale arrive?”
“I’m not entirely certain, Your Highness.”

The Vice-Captain’s unhelpfully leisurely response gave Eric Wheelsman a headache. He recalled Amir, the young lady of the Ubar Family who oversaw the Naval Base.

‘Prince Eric, you needn’t worry about Prince Kale. I’m actually looking forward to this.’

Her gaze had been sharp, as though she awaited war itself.

“Ugh, seriously.”

Eric Wheelsman ran his hand through his hair, unable to hide his unease.

“That bastard Kale, what is he—!”
“What about me?”

Eric Wheelsman’s body went rigid.

Tap. Tap.

The sound of shoes striking marble echoed through the hall. Eric turned his head.
Kale Heniatus walked in leisurely from the entrance.

His usual unhurried, composed demeanor.
That slow gait suited him better than anyone.

Kale passed by Prince Eric, who sent lengthy letters every day detailing his anxieties about the impending war.

“We’ll talk later.”

Eric turned around at Kale’s parting words, watching him go.

Something had changed.
He couldn’t pinpoint exactly what, but he sensed something different about Kale.
That feeling made it difficult for him to speak.

Of course, Kale was relieved to escape Prince Eric’s anxious rambling. He grasped the grand door handle of the tournament hall directly. It was a massive door.
A knight stationed at the entrance hurried forward and spoke to Kale.

“Your Highness, allow me to do that.”
“No, I’ve got it. I’ll do it myself.”

Kale pushed with all his strength.

Creeeeak—Boom!

A thunderous sound that reverberated throughout the entire tournament hall.
Kale strode through that deafening noise and entered the tournament hall.

Tap. Tap.

In this moment, only Kale walked across the marble floor. The gazes of the Northeast Region nobles poured toward him.
Kale looked down at them seated in their chairs.

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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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