Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 228

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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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The corners of Kale Heniatus’s mouth twitched upward.

-Human, there you go smiling like that again!
“That’s a strange smile!”
“He smiles like that when he’s excited.”

I heard Raon, Hong, and On speak in turn, but I paid them no mind.

Tap. Tap. Tap.
The crisp sound was Vicross brushing dust from his white gloves.
Though there was barely any dust clinging to them, each time that sound echoed, the faces of the five bandits kneeling before me drained of all color.

Yet there wasn’t a single cut or bloodstain on any of them.

“Hehehehe.”

Ron had simply chuckled benevolently before moving in a flash, grasping each of the five by the nape of the neck in turn.

“…I’m getting restless.”

Sword Master Hana had merely destroyed several trees nearby with her blade. Vicross was preoccupied with brushing wood dust from his white gloves and clothes.

Of course, the five bandits, their faces drained pale, were trembling as they gazed upon Hana’s aura—golden yet simultaneously releasing black smoke.

Vicross, now tidied up, posed a question to me.

“What shall we do? Shall we torture them?”

A strangled gasp escaped.
The sound of someone barely holding onto consciousness.
But I had no intention of heeding this bloodthirsty chef’s suggestion. I felt sorry for the five bandits, trembling so pitifully with fear.

Then again, with Hana, Ron, and Vicross here, I’d be terrified too.

I casually settled onto a nearby rock and addressed the five with a gentle smile.

“Don’t be afraid, alright?”

The five bandits averted their gazes from Kale, casting their eyes downward.

“Why are you avoiding eye contact? I’m not a frightening person. If you won’t look at me, we can’t have a proper conversation, can we?”

I had gone through the trouble of receiving Erhafen’s language magic—it would be wasteful not to use it.
At my words, the bandits’ wavering eyes immediately fixed upon me.
Then they saw a man with crimson hair, smiling.

‘That one is the most terrifying!’

These were bandits with at least a year of experience under their belts.
They had witnessed quite a few powerful individuals until now, but this transcended imagination. The bandits staring at their leader—this imagination-defying figure with crimson hair—were like candles flickering before a typhoon.

Among them, the bandit kneeling in the middle.

“You.”

I pointed at him.

“Yes?”
“Answer my question.”

I hate this. I really hate this.
If I answer wrong, my head might fly off.
The bandit trembled uncontrollably, blurting out words without thinking.

“M-me? B-but there are others here too. I’m only in my first year, so I know the least!”

I tilted my head to one side, observing the desperation in the bandit’s eyes.

“But it’s my choice, isn’t it? Do you dislike that?”

I asked without particular thought, prepared to simply ask someone else if he refused. With five of them here, I could question any of them.

“No, sir! Please, ask away!”

The bandit not only knelt but suddenly stretched both arms forward in a deep bow, shouting his response. I found him somewhat foolish, yet the fervent gleam in his eyes—the determination to answer my question no matter what—made me open my mouth.
I had already learned from Erhafen roughly where this mountain lay on the Eastern Continent. So I posed a different question instead.

“From now on, I will only overlook ten of the bad deeds your bandit stronghold has committed within the next month.”
“…Pardon?”

A question, then?
The bandit’s pupils trembled, but behind the red hair, I caught sight of Vicross slipping on a pair of new white gloves.

Before a massive stone pillar near the mountain’s peak.
From that place, a man’s anguished voice rang out.

“One! Two days ago, we ambushed a passing small merchant caravan and took everything they had!”

He shouted while glancing nervously at those around him.

“Two! We robbed all the money from passing travelers! There were many of them! Whether poor or rich, we took from everyone equally! We can’t even count it all! Three! When mid-tier merchant guilds pass through, we collect massive tolls! We practically strip them bare! We take their money even as the merchants weep!”
“These wretches are worse than I am.”

At the swordsman’s words, his hideous black scars covering his face, the bandit’s hands began to tremble violently. But under Kale’s gaze, he did not stop, crying out all ten of the worst deeds he could think of.

“Ten! We smashed the cargo wagons of a major merchant guild with logs! And we stole the money inside, then drank and squandered it recklessly!”

Then the bandit received Kale’s next question.

“Human trafficking or slave trading?”

The bandit answered reflexively.

“We don’t do that.”
“Why?”

Should we be doing it? The bandit’s pupils wavered before he finally opened his mouth.

“Because… our leader was born a slave.”

Ah.
A flicker of intrigue passed through Kale’s eyes for a moment.

“So whenever the Slave Trading Merchant Guild passes over the mountain, we beat them all to death.”

When Kale smiled, the bandit felt fear but stammered out a hasty explanation.

“The slaves are either freed or work at the bandit stronghold. Um, that’s supposed to be a good deed, so I didn’t count it as something bad.”

Kale Heniatus blurted out as he looked at the bandit.

“Strangely enough, you’re all bad people.”

So were the bandits evil or good?
The bandit made no sense to Kale Heniatus whatsoever. Yet Kale Heniatus did not stop questioning.

“Tell me everything about this place and the bandit stronghold.”
“…Yes.”

Click, click. At the sound of Sword Master Hana’s scabbard clicking, the bandit could not refuse anything.
The night passed and morning sunlight announced the arrival of dawn, beating down hotly on the bandit’s back, yet he felt only cold.

After hearing all the information flowing from his mouth, Kale Heniatus opened his mouth.

“So, you’re the bandit stronghold that controls this Lib Mountain. Your stronghold is called the Indomitable Bandit Clan Base, and your leader’s nickname is the Unyielding Ruler, is that right?”
“Yes.”
“Really, you can’t name things.”
“…What?”

Kale Heniatus ignored the bandit’s bewildered expression and fell into thought.

Lib Mountain.

The name of the mountain where this massive stone pillar now stood. I recalled Erhafen’s words.

‘It’s a mountain located in the Northwest Region of the Eastern Continent. I rarely have business on the Eastern Continent, so I didn’t know such a mountain existed. It’s an ordinary mountain. The kind where various merchant guilds and travelers occasionally pass through.’

At those words, I harbored a doubt.

‘But something’s strange.’

Like Erhafen.

‘This isn’t a dangerous place like the Dark Forest. So why was a stone pillar erected here? There are no monsters to be seen. In fact, except for this bandit stronghold, it’s a peaceful mountain. Something’s off.’

Kale shared the same thought.
Without monsters, people could traverse this mountain, and a bandit stronghold could be established here. Yet Jjangdol had erected stone pillars to avoid the monsters in this place.

‘…Has there been a change in the Eastern Continent since ancient times?’

There was no other clear answer to that.
Still, Kale felt somewhat irritated.

There was no helping it.
He pointed behind his back.

“So you’re telling me you touched this stone pillar to create a statue commemorating the clan leader’s birthday?”

The bandit’s eyes rolled nervously as he opened his mouth hesitantly.

“Yes, sir. We thought only the clan leader should stand at the summit of this mountain.”
“…I see.”

A bright smile crossed Kale’s lips.

The act of creating a statue of the clan leader.
Because of this, I had to listen to Jjangdol’s words, which only spoke of “sacrifice,” and cross all the way to the Eastern Continent. Moreover, the mental anguish was immense. How much had I worried that my home would disappear?

“…I need to shake this off thoroughly.”

The bandit shrank back at Kale’s smile, which suddenly seemed angry.

“I am a righteous person, after all. I cannot simply overlook those who do wrong.”

What nonsense was this?
Such was the bandits’ sentiment. They could see Kale slowly rising to his feet, bathed directly in the morning sunlight.

The bandits swallowed nervously at this inexplicable feeling, and Kale pointed behind them. The bandits slowly turned around.

Down below. The bandit stronghold located halfway up the mountain came into view.

“Lead the way.”

At Kale’s words, the five bandits’ faces crumpled in dismay.
He leisurely followed behind the trudging bandits, gently stroking Hong’s fur within his arms.

-Human, what now?

As Raon’s voice echoed in his mind, Kale answered with composure.

“I’ll need a residence on the Eastern Continent as well.”

The bandits’ shoulders trembled, their pace quickening, and Raon seemed delighted.

-Will Lib Mountain become our home?

Kale did not bother to answer.

* * *

Lib Mountain.
A rather substantial bandit stronghold situated midway up its slope. Sturdy wooden palisades stood before the stronghold, barring entry to outsiders.

Several figures appeared before those palisades.
A few bandits atop the palisade raised their voices.

“Who are these bastards? How dare you come to this place!”

Simultaneously, several others furrowed their brows and shouted.

“You treacherous dogs! Bringing intruders to our gates!”

The five bandits who had been moving since dawn every day to gather supplies—their anger flared when they saw these men had brought an outsider to the palisade without gathering anything. And they came with their heads bowed low, clearly terrified.
Anyone could see they had been frightened into bringing this stranger here.

Toot-toot— Toot-

With the sound of a horn, the bandit stronghold erupted into commotion. An outsider had never voluntarily walked into their base before. Yet the expressions of those standing atop the palisade were not urgent.

“Do you think you can assault our stronghold with that small number? Surely not, hahaha!”
“Look, there are already three who look old and weak!”

Ron, Erhafen, and Kale Heniatus’s eyebrows twitched slightly.

“Or are you trying to join us instead? Ahahaha!”

As more bandits standing atop the wooden palisade hurled insults, the faces of the five bandits grew increasingly pale.

“If you don’t want to die, kneel! Then I’ll spare your lives!”

Eventually, one of the five bandits opened his mouth in response to a bandit he recognized shouting from above.

“S-shut your mouths if you don’t want to die! You stupid bastards!”

It was a cry filled with anguish.

“W-what?”

The bandit on the palisade who had been shouting enthusiastically suddenly looked flustered. But he soon had even more reason to be confused.

“Ah, you understand nothing. Ugh.”

He wept.
The first-year bandit who had to converse with Kale Heniatus finally shed tears of sorrow. Drip, drip. Kale Heniatus patted the bandit’s shoulder.

“You cry quite a lot.”

Though exasperated by Kale Heniatus’s words, the bandit could not stop his tears. He had never encountered such terrifying people in his life.
He thought the clan leader was the most frightening, but he was wrong.

“Who are these people!”

At that moment, the person the bandit had originally thought was the most terrifying appeared.
The clan leader emerged atop the wooden palisade.

Kale Heniatus turned his gaze toward the palisade at the resonant voice that rang out loudly enough to shake the surroundings.

The clan leader of the Indomitable Bandit Clan Base, the Unyielding Ruler.
People called him that, he had heard.

No one knows his real name.
However, since he was born a slave, a slave tattoo mark remains on his right forearm.

‘And the Bandit Leader is incredibly strong. Of course, it seems he is not as strong as all of you.’

Kale Heniatus was curious about how strong someone who had been born a slave and become the master of quite a large bandit stronghold could be. However, the moment he saw the Bandit Leader, his brow furrowed.
Raon’s voice echoed in his mind.

-Human, doesn’t that Bandit Leader remind you of someone?

Yes. He reminds me of someone.
Kale Heniatus immediately sensed who that someone was.

“Oho.”

The Bandit Leader’s eyes gleamed.
He slung a massive axe across his shoulder, and a grin slowly spread across his face.

“Kahahaha! It’s been a long time since I’ve seen guys like this!”

His gaze swept precisely across Vicross and stopped at Kale Heniatus, who appeared to be the commander.

“I smell something.”

Wow.
He really does resemble him.
This bastard is that ‘Gae’.

The moment Kale Heniatus thought this, Raon’s voice resonated in his mind.

-Ah, it’s him!

Raon had finally recalled the same person as Kale Heniatus. And the Bandit Leader stepped on the wooden palisade railing.

“A strong smell!”

Shouting thus, the Bandit Leader leaped over the wooden palisade and plummeted down.

Boom.

A towering man stood nearly two meters tall, his massive frame scarred and muscular, with brown hair that splayed outward like a lion’s mane.
Raon’s voice rang out clearly in my mind.

-Tunka! Food! He looks like that idiot!

Kale Heniatus let out a laugh. It was so absurd that the laughter came naturally.
The massive man who had descended from the wooden palisade also laughed upon seeing him, his gaze fixed on Vicross and Sword Master Hana.

“Hehehehe, strong ones. Very strong scent.”

Kale recalled Tunka charging at Witira of the Whale Tribe, claiming he detected a strong scent. Back then, I had endured every conceivable indignity, like a shrimp caught between whale ribs.

I had traveled all the way to the Eastern Continent out of fear that my mansion might collapse because of this man who resembled that Tunka. Of course, I also came to gather clues about the Dark and the Judging Water.
Still, how anxious I had been about my house crumbling.

“Hahaha.”

Kale Heniatus burst into refreshing laughter.
I knew exactly what would work best with fellows like these.

Kale Heniatus extended his hand.
Thud. His hand came down on Vicross’s shoulder.

“Grab him and hit him three times.”

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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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