Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 23

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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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Instead, I crawled into the passage with a shuffling gait. As Kaige watched my retreating figure with an expression of utter disbelief, a small voice cut through the harsh wind.

“…I was just passing through.”
“Tsk.”

At the sound of Kaige’s disapproval, the Black Dragon’s back trembled slightly, but Kaige had no time to pay attention to it. The wind in the cave intensified and weakened in a three-hour cycle. Now was the point where the wind’s strength was diminishing. Of course, it would grow stronger toward the center.

Whiiiing.

“How ominous.”

For something called weak, the wind was still formidable enough. The Elderly Man who had lived for 150 years had supposedly approached the stone tower while piercing through this powerful wind.

I turned my gaze back toward the center of the cave. A vast underground space. At the heart of the vortex, where no wind seemed to blow, stood a stone tower half-constructed. Scattered stones lay beside it.

‘I need to rebuild those stones.’

Getting there was the problem; stacking the stones there would be easy.
I examined the shield protecting me and the wings that extended from it, wrapping around my form, then took a step forward.

Thud, thud. The harsh wind struck against the shield. Despite being a transparent silver shield, it produced a sound as though it were tangibly real.
At that sound, the Black Dragon, who had turned away toward the passage, glanced back to look at me.

“…Weak.”

From the dragon’s perspective, I was blocking the wind with my shield and wings, yet each step I took was labored. Wind that my shield and wings couldn’t block fluttered my clothes. And gusts seeping beneath the shield occasionally halted my progress.

But I pressed forward, one step after another. And the dragon’s eyes saw it.

I was smiling.
The weakest human in our group—trivial compared to that fierce wind vortex, weaker even than the cats that traveled with us—was piercing through the wind with a smile on my face.

The dragon had never seen a silver shield like that before. Never seen wings like those either. The dragon looked at its own wings. They were different. Extraordinarily beautiful. What was that power, the dragon wondered.

But the dragon quietly gazed not at the ornate, sacred shield, but at the smiling Kaige.

And Kaige, the object of that gaze, lifted the corner of his mouth in a slight smirk.

‘This is manageable. Quite comfortable, actually.’

The wind made my steps labored and sluggish, but compared to when Vicross nearly died learning swordplay from my father Ron, this was remarkably effortless. I realized once again that the best way to gain power was without suffering—the easier route was always superior.
Kale once again realized that no matter what benefit it was, the best thing was to gain it easily without any hardship.

When using an unbreakable shield, there was no strain on Pae’s body or mind. However, when it did break, there would be a brief moment of strain then, but right now it wasn’t at a breaking point.

I’m being pushed back.

The shield is pushed back by the wind but doesn’t break. In fact, Kale had anticipated being pushed back multiple times. That’s why he initially reduced the shield’s durability and expanded its size. After that, whenever he was pushed back, he planned to gradually reduce the shield’s size.

The shield turned out to do its job better than expected. Kale found that fact somewhat unsettling, but by the time they’d come halfway to the center of the whirlpool, he pushed aside any other thoughts.

When she reached the midpoint, she said a voice was heard. The book described it as the Elderly Man’s solemn voice.

Kale waited for that voice. Because that’s when the whirlpool grew stronger.

I regret it.

A voice came through. But something seemed off about it.

I regret it.

The elderly man is on the verge of tears.

Tsk tsk.

But I stopped clicking my tongue and paused for a moment.
But Kale stopped clicking his tongue and paused for a moment.

“One who possesses a familiar power, I wish you did not have this strength.”

“Huh?”

A being with a familiar power? The words had captured Kale’s ears. At the same time, the wind swept through the underground cavity even more fiercely.

Thump, thump, thump. The wind crashed harder against the transparent shield, creating sounds. But Kale’s expression showed no concern for it. Her vivid red hair fluttered in the fierce wind.

“Are you talking about an unbreakable shield?”

The only thing Kaige could associate with the word “familiar power” was this shield. She hadn’t mentioned such things to Taylor. Did he know this power? Did he know its master? Kaige’s thoughts began racing rapidly through her mind.

But for now, Kaige pressed forward. The wind had long since surpassed merely pushing against the shield.

—I am no different from a traitor to my comrades. I was a worthless wretch! *Cough*, I alone survived and grew old. How utterly shameful!

As Kaige took each step with considerable effort, the Elderly Man’s voice reached her ears from time to time.

—I always wished for everyone to survive. But my wish is already impossible to fulfill. Nothing but sorrow and despair! That is why I could not complete the tower.

“Honestly, how noisy.”

Kaige found the Elderly Man’s mournful voice irritating. Rather than grave and solemn, it was the wailing of someone half-dead. It was precisely the style she despised. A food critic would have been better.

She steadied herself against the force pushing her backward, channeling strength into her legs. As she took another step, the voice came again.

—Regeneration is a useless power. It can only protect me. It helps nothing. I am a maggot!

Kaige ignored the lamentation echoing in her mind. For her, the power to protect herself was what mattered most. Maggot or not—survival was all that counted.

Five more steps now. The center of the wind was not far.

Thud. Thud. Thud.
The sound of the wind’s gentle collision grew stronger, as if a human fist were striking down upon the shield.

‘It will shatter.’

Kaige thought that at this intensity, it might indeed break. More than being pushed back seemed possible. As she considered that she might even be cut, she realized something.

—Even when the wind cut my body like a sharp blade, I did not die.

The masters of ancient power certainly had much to say.

Kaige immediately crouched and reduced the shield’s size. Thud. Thud. The smaller shield had less surface area, but its strength increased. It now withstood the intensified force of the wind.
Kaige reached toward the transparent shield. Grasping the transparent handle on the shield’s interior, she pressed forward.

One step.

—Regeneration is a cursed power.

Two steps.

-My heart had always raced. Yet I could not run.

Three steps.

-Because I feared death.

Four steps.

-I had always been wounded, so I feared pain, and death—the end of that pain—I feared even more.

And finally.
Kaige took the last five steps.

Whoooosh—
A sound like falling rain filled the air as Kaige stepped into a space devoid of wind. The eye of the tempest. Beyond that serene sanctuary, countless winds howled and shrieked. Among those sounds came the voice of a sorrowful elderly man.

-I chose to live by abandoning my convictions.

With those words, the elderly man spoke no further.

“Tsk.”

Convictions meant nothing—survival came first. The old man talked too much for his own good. Kaige clicked his tongue and redirected the shield back toward his heart. The silver light that had enveloped him vanished in an instant.

He approached the half-built stone tower and crouched before it.

It was an ordinary stone tower. The kind you might find atop any mountain, with stones carelessly stacked upon one another.

Yet all the stones were blackened. Like the Man-Eating Tree. The ancient stones that had endured through the ages were different from ordinary ones. Just like this wind.

“Ugh.”

Kaige’s expression, which had been attempting to display aesthetic sensibility, turned flat. With annoyance written all over his face, he pulled gloves from his pocket, put them on, and began gathering stones to complete the tower.

Clack. Clack. Clack. The stones stacked neatly upon the tower.

It did not take long. Taylor had also accomplished this task with ease. Only Kaige, who waited outside rather than entering this space, must have been suffering terribly. In a place like this, as with all ancient power, one had to accomplish it alone.

“Easy enough.”

I picked up the final black stone and gently placed it atop the stone tower. That was the moment.

Whoooosh!
The black stones gradually turned white. At the same time, I rose to my feet and surveyed my surroundings.

The wind was slowly subsiding.

“…Huh?”

I heard the dopey dragon’s voice, but I ignored it and waited for the wind to die down completely. Then, with my arms crossed, I heard the Elderly Man’s voice. There was no avoiding it.

-I wanted to fight them. But I didn’t know I was a human weak to pain. They weren’t servants of the divine. I only realized that after they scattered and I was imprisoned alone.

The Elderly Man’s words pricked my nerves. I recalled what the owner of the unbreakable shield had said.

‘They claim to serve the divine, yet all the Dark Forest gave me was tasteless fare.’

Instinct struck. The instinct of having learned something I shouldn’t have.
A strong conviction seized me—this knowledge felt like something I’d have to carry alone for the rest of my life.
My brow furrowed deeper, but the Elderly Man continued. His voice existed only in my mind, and the dragon hesitated as he watched me standing motionless.

-I stacked stones. Hoping time would turn back. Wishing to find happiness. But I destroyed the tower.
-I hated my own selfish heart—abandoning my comrades and fleeing, only to be captured, yet still yearning for my own happiness.

“Sigh.”

I exhaled deeply. What a suffocating human he was. Frustration compelled me to speak.

“Selfishness is what makes you human.”

The Elderly Man’s voice cut off abruptly.

‘Is it over?’

Thinking this might be his final words, my expression brightened. But then a trembling voice reached me.

-Sob, my sister said something like that too. She was truly a good sister. More dependable than anyone. Sob, my dear sister. Sob!

…crying.

“This is maddening.”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Kaige’s shoe struck the ground with irritable precision. Standing on one leg, her posture was decidedly unrefined. Yet the Elderly Man who had wept moments before expressed his gratitude.

-One who bears a familiar strength. That crude manner of yours reminds me of my older brother. How I envy that attitude of yours, so utterly devoid of pretense.

And finally, the words he had spoken to Taylor—the words Kaige had been waiting for—spilled forth.

-Destroy it. Then you will ‘overcome’ your limits.

A smirk. The corners of Kaige’s mouth lifted. Her foot immediately lashed out without hesitation, kicking the stone tower.
Bang, crash, bang!
White stones flew, colliding against the floor and walls. The Dragon watching flinched, regarding Kaige as if she were strange, but at the sight that followed, the Dragon let out a gasp of wonder.

“Wow.”

The shattered stone tower.
Beneath it, white light rose and drifted upward. A shallow vibration resonated through the Cave, felt beneath Kaige’s feet. Then, that light poured toward her.
Kaige reached out and grasped the light. In that instant.
Whoosh! The light shot like an arrow into Kaige’s heart. The arrow of light that pierced through her heart spread its radiance and soon vanished from sight.

“Exhale.”

Kaige drew a deep breath. She then lowered her head and peered slightly beneath her shirt. The ornate shield that had been drawn upon her chest—its elaborate patterns had disappeared.
In its place, a crimson heart had been drawn.

Kaige could immediately sense it. The vitality coursing through her body.
This vitality would make the shield even stronger. And even if wounded, she would display regenerative power several times faster than an ordinary human.

It was not a superpower like the shield, but rather the innate physical strength of humanity. If the inborn regenerative power were so formidable, how else would it have persisted as an ancient force until now?
Kaige unfurled the shield.

“As expected.”

The corners of Kaige’s mouth lifted. The shield’s pattern had transformed into a heart. Yet it was not crimson—it was silver. She made the shield vanish and immediately moved forward.

“Hey.”

His footsteps carried him toward the dragon, who continued to stare at the ceiling as if oblivious to everything. Kaige crouched down and fixed an unwavering gaze upon the creature, his voice flat and measured as he cast his question like a stone into still water.

“Do you want to come with me?”
“…You are so weak that you require protection. But I dislike humans.”

The dragon answered thus, and its body gradually became transparent. It had cast an invisibility spell. Kaige snorted at the sight.

“Fickle creature.”

I was equally fickle, asking while pretending indifference, but this dragon was no less stubborn. Yet I could not turn away from one who had rushed to my aid.

I gazed impassively at the cave interior, now empty save for white stones, then turned and made my way out. Of course, I had to crawl on my way out as well. Once outside the cave, I stood in the grassland and repositioned the vines to their original places, concealing the cave entrance thoroughly.

Before I resumed walking, I spun around abruptly and opened my mouth. My gaze fell upon the grass-covered ground.

“I can see all the grass you’re trampling on.”

Four distinct impressions were visible, as if made by four hooves pressing into the earth. But they vanished almost immediately—it must have taken flight. I shook my head in exasperation.

‘So my family has grown after all.’

A deep sigh escaped my lips unbidden. It was painfully obvious that it would continue following me while cloaked in invisibility. How could a creature capable of wielding such advanced magic as invisibility be so careless? I had assumed all dragons possessed intelligence, but it seemed that assumption was mistaken.

After descending the mountain, I met Choi Han, who had been waiting, and could see the displeasure written across his face. He looked me over from head to toe before asking.

“Did you roll down the mountain, sir?”

Damn it.
My hair, disheveled by the wind, stood in wild disarray, and my clothes were a complete mess from crawling across stone and earth. I spoke to Choi Han with firm resolve.

“Oh, I rolled.”

Choi Han looked at Cale pitifully. Cale ignored that gaze.

And that night, Cale instructed the cats to deliver a letter. Stationery made with magic so the handwriting is unrecognizable.

“I secretly left it behind.”

It was a new hope for Priest Cage and his eldest son, Taylor.

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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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