Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 277

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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 59. Do You Want to Live?

Blanc Castle, closest to the Valley of Death in Breck Kingdom.
The prison within that castle.

Kale Heniatus walked through the prison corridor of Blanc Castle. He posed a question to Rosalind, who stood beside him.

“The Dwarves are doing well, aren’t they?”

Rosalind let out a hollow laugh at Kale’s composed inquiry.

Both the Bear Tribe and the Flame Dwarf Tribe had been captured as prisoners following their defeat. They were transported to Blanc Castle, near the Valley of Death—the Bear Tribe confined to the Underground Prison, the Dwarves held in the regular prison.

“Doing well, you say, my lord.”

Kale’s and Rosalind’s eyes met. She continued with a cool smile.

“They’re simply trembling in fear, uncertain when they’ll meet their end.”

Rosalind noticed Choi Han and Necromancer Mary, who had followed Kale, falter at her response, though she paid it little mind.
Choi Han had followed from the Eastern Continent, while Necromancer Mary had been summoned here separately by Kale.
Rosalind posed a question to Kale, her tone laden with doubt.

“Will you offer them a path to survival?”
“I wonder.”

Kale stood before a massive iron gate.

A small chamber where prisoners confined in each cell could be gathered in one place.
Though called small, it could accommodate several hundred people.

“You’ve arrived, sir?”

There was only one passage in and out of this chamber. Knights and soldiers stood before it, greeting Kale and his party with visible tension.

Rosalind commanded the knights.

“Open it.”

The Knights bowed their heads, and two Soldiers immediately pushed open the massive, thick iron door.

Creeeeeak—

As the door slowly opened, the cavern came into view.

Mages, Knights, and Soldiers appeared first.
Stationed throughout the cavern, they stood with solemn expressions, ready to engage in combat at any moment.

Kale Heniatus tore his gaze from them and lowered his eyes slightly.

-Human! There are so many Dwarves!

Dwarves, shorter in stature than humans, stood in formation and gazed at Kale Heniatus.
Raon’s voice followed.

-The Dwarves look absolutely terrified!

Not all of them, but most wore expressions of fear.

They had no choice.

This morning, they had all been shackled and dragged to this cavern. Confined in Prison in groups of around ten, they had been briefly delighted at the rare opportunity to see their comrades and kinfolk, but that joy was short-lived.

Something was amiss.

The guards who had been barking orders were gone, replaced by combat-trained Knights and Mages who watched them with grim vigilance.

Moreover, Soldiers stood interspersed among the Dwarves, their presence creating a murderous atmosphere that prevented even idle thoughts.

‘Something is about to happen.’

The Dwarves realized that something grave was unfolding for them today.

And at the culmination of that realization, they beheld two red-haired commanders they had not seen in ages.

Rosalind and Kale Heniatus.
Both were objects of hatred and dread to them.

The Battle of the Canyon of Death.
The Flame Dwarf Tribe staked everything on that battle. Thus, they showcased their wings and magical bomb launchers, leading all their tribe members directly into combat.
The elderly and infirm within the tribe remained at the encampment rather than the battlefield, where they displayed their craftsmanship, while all other adults took to the field.

‘Freedom was necessary.’

Kanel, the current Tribal Chief who led the Flame Dwarf Tribe, bit his lip.

To be precise, he wanted their abilities recognized by Dark, to establish their own territory. Thus, he desired to make even one corner of the Northern Region into Flame Dwarf Tribe land.

A pitiful tribe without the skill to craft magical devices.
The memories of being mocked among the Dwarves remained vivid. Thus, they strived endlessly, and now they could craft magical devices to some degree.

The result was the ‘wings’ they had displayed then.

Yet the wings crumbled in vain.

To Tribal Chief Kanel, that fact seemed to remind him that the Flame Dwarf Tribe were ultimately beings incapable of flight.

“Everyone has gathered.”

Kanel’s gaze turned toward the red-haired commander.
It was Rosalind.

Kanel’s gaze, filled with hatred rather than fear, turned toward Rosalind. It was a natural emotion for one who had led a tribe to defeat.

But when another red-haired commander opened his mouth, he felt fear more than hatred.

“Everyone, head outside.”

Kale Heniatus. He issued the command as he ascended a small platform prepared before the Dwarves.

The Breck Kingdom Knights, Mages, and Soldiers hesitated at that command, their eyes turning toward Rosalind. Their faces showed confusion.

No matter how strong Kale and Choi Han and Merry standing behind him were, the enemy numbered around five hundred. They might cause trouble by venting their anger at defeat.

Knights and Mages had gathered to manage this, yet Kale instructed them to leave.
Rosalind regarded Kale with a puzzled expression, but soon nodded to the representative Knight.

Tap. Tap. Tap.
The sharp, rhythmic footsteps echoed through the chamber. Soon, they all filed out through the sole exit.

Creak—

The iron door moved slowly, and finally, it shut completely.

Boom!

The inside and outside of the cavern were now utterly separated.
The Dwarves’ gazes drifted slowly toward the platform. In a cavern with nothing but rough stone walls, there was only one place to look.

The place where all eyes converged.
The place where the one who held their lives stood.

Kanel, the Tribal Chief of the Flame Dwarf Tribe, gazed at Kale Heniatus with fear in his eyes.

‘…The one who brought down the Dragon Hybrid.’

In truth, it was Choi Han and the Whale Tribe who had caused the Dragon Hybrid’s fall, but from the Dwarves’ perspective, Kale was the one who had orchestrated the conditions for that victory.

The power of the Dragon that the Dwarves feared.
The commander of those who had stood against that very Dragon.

If Rosalind had stood upon that platform, it would not have been frightening. She, too, was ultimately a being like the Dwarves—one who could not overcome the Dragon Hybrid.
But Kale was different.

The Dwarves’ gazes, led by Tribal Chief Kanel, fixed upon Kale.
The commander who wielded fire, water, and earth. He had made the Flame Dwarf Tribe his prisoners, yet had done nothing. He had merely watched.
And now, suddenly, he had returned.

What could he possibly intend to say?
As had happened with Dark, as they had suffered at the hands of the White Star and the Dragon Hybrid—would they be enslaved once more?
Or would death come now, without even the chance to become slaves?

In that moment, Kale’s lips parted.

“Do you wish to live?”

Tribal Chief Kanel’s pupils trembled.
No one spoke, yet unease rippled through the Dwarves.

However, Kale Heniatus offered no explanation to the Dwarves. He left their confusion intact and closed his eyes. In that moment, Raon’s voice reached him.

-Human! It’s time!

Kale Heniatus opened his eyes at those words and looked toward Rosalind. She bit her lip at his gaze.

‘Truly, here of all places—!’

Yet she quickly hardened her expression and retrieved a communication crystal, activating it.

Whirrrrrr—

The communication crystal vibrated.
And immediately after, the crystal’s display materialized across the rough stone wall of the cavern, massive and luminous.

“Ah!”
“…Huh.”

Some of the Dwarves stirred. Through their murmurs, a single voice resonated.

-The name of the Empire carries no lightness.

A handsome, broad-faced man with an affable smile appeared on the screen.

“…The Crown Prince!”

It was Crown Prince Adin in the midst of an address.

Dwarf Tribal Chief Kanel unconsciously tore his gaze from the screen and looked toward Kale Heniatus.
The Indomitable Alliance and the Empire. On the surface, they shared no connection whatsoever. Yet now Kale Heniatus had revealed the Empire’s Crown Prince to the Dwarves of the Indomitable Alliance.

The eyes of the Flame Dwarf Tribal Chief and Kale Heniatus met.

Ssshhh.
He could see Kale Heniatus smiling.

‘…I’ve been exposed! They knew everything all along!’

The Indomitable Alliance, Dark, and the Empire—there was no doubt that he knew of all of it.
The voices of astonishment faded away, the rustling sounds of movement ceased, and the Dwarves sank into profound silence.

-The Empire has strived for peace.

Through that silence, only Crown Prince Adin’s voice announced its presence.

Kale Heniatus gazed at the Crown Prince on the video communication screen. Within the image, he could see countless Imperial citizens watching him stand upon the platform in the Imperial Plaza.

The Imperial citizens waved Imperial flags, unable to conceal their rising emotions.

The center of the Western Continent.
Our proud Empire.
Yet of late, it seemed to be losing its strength.

The Sun God Church, Maple Castle, the collapsed palace, and the failed assassination of the alchemist Sub-Tower Master.
To the Imperial citizens watching their Empire stagger beneath all of these burdens, the Crown Prince spoke.

The Empire has strived for peace.

-This is because the Empire is the center of the Western Continent.

The Crown Prince, known for his affable smile, was not present in this moment.
With the smile gone, his countenance appeared cold instead, and with an expression more grave than ever, he addressed the Imperial citizens and the Western Continent, which would receive his speech.

-We have decided to reclaim the lost castle.

The lost castle.
Maple Castle.
The pride of the Empire, seized by the Wipper Kingdom under Tunka’s command.

As spring arrived, the Imperial Plaza gradually became engulfed in fervor.
The moment to reclaim their diminished pride, the Imperial citizens who still believed in the Empire slowly prepared to unleash their rising emotions. The Crown Prince spoke to them—no, to his enemies.

-The strong have no need to hide, nor reason to be cowardly. There exists only the rightful superiority of power.

Hoo.
My lips curled upward—the Crown Prince still didn’t know his enemy’s true nature.
Fair and square.

‘I should tell Lina and the Jungle Kingdom to wait a bit longer.’

I too loved fair competition and the advantage of superior strength.
In that moment, Adin wore his characteristic charming yet confident smile once more, speaking as the typical heir of the Western Continent’s sole Empire.

-From this moment forward, you shall experience firsthand the value of the Empire’s name.

Waaaaaaaa—
The roar of the Imperial citizens shook the Plaza.

The cry was so tremendous it reverberated through the space packed with captive Dwarves. Their gazes remained fixed on the screen displaying the Imperial Crown Prince’s face.

The Empire had declared war on the Wipper Kingdom.
This fact was seared into the Dwarves’ minds.

And so their eyes slowly turned in one direction. On the platform stood the Commander, composed and still.

Tap. Tap.

Commander Kale Heniatus descended slowly from the platform and drew closer to the captive Dwarves.
We stood at the same level.

But Tribal Chief Kanel’s face turned ashen.

A familiar yet alien aura emanated from the approaching Commander.
The aura the Flame Dwarves—slaves to Dark—had been forced to endure. The very essence of primal terror.

‘…Dragon Fear!’

The aura of a Dragon was felt emanating from me as I descended the platform. Yet Kanel could not dare speak of Dragons.

It was different from a Dragon.

Different from a Dragon, yet an aura comparable to one.
An aura never before experienced. And yet it suffocated—a terror so profound that to resist would mean death.

The commander descending from the platform came to a halt. He stopped directly before Tribal Chief Kanel, at the same level as the dwarves.

Kanel lifted his head and gazed up at Kale Heniatus.
This aura. Now he understood how this man had toppled the Dragon Hybrid, how he had subjugated the Indomitable Alliance.

The commander’s lips parted.

“Do you wish to live?”

The words, delivered with an aura unlike anything before, pressed heavily into the cavern, suffocating all within.

Kale Heniatus regarded the dwarf known as Tribal Chief. Already radiating a commanding aura in full force, I waited for the dwarf’s response.

And Tribal Chief Kanel responded.

Thud.

He dropped to his knees.

‘…What is this?’

I was taken aback by the intensity of the reaction, far more dramatic than anticipated.
The Tribal Chief’s face looked as though he might cry out. For some reason, it reminded me of that foolish guardian knight Clophe.

I hastily averted my gaze from the Tribal Chief’s face.
Yet to the onlookers, my action appeared as a terrifying commander coldly dismissing the kneeling Tribal Chief with utter indifference.

And so the kneeling Tribal Chief closed his mouth, which had begun to open.

‘Please spare my people.’

That was what he wished to say.

Judging by the atmosphere, this commander already knew of the Empire, Dark, and the Indomitable Alliance. For a tribal chief leading his clan, there was only one thing to hope for.
By kneeling before this human whose aura rivaled that of a dragon, perhaps he could preserve the lives of at least some of his tribe.

So he could only continue to gaze at Kale Heniatus.

Then, as my eyes swept across the dwarves before turning back toward the Tribal Chief, he thought his opportunity had come. Just as his lips began to part, I was faster.

“You all need to make something.”

The Dwarves—a race that created things.
Tribal Chief Kanel swallowed his fear at the aura resembling Dragon Fear and asked.

“What must we create?”

Was the Dwarf race destined to create something only to have it taken away?
Was there no freedom for them?
Despair flickered across Kanel’s eyes.

Commander Kale Heniatus spoke as he regarded Kanel and the Dwarves.

“Create wings.”

Wings.
The Dwarves froze at that word.

The wings they had crafted to achieve victory in the Canyon of Death.
But those wings had been torn to shreds and failed.

“You mean… those wings?”

The Tribal Chief asked again with a trembling voice, and as I observed him, I recalled a certain being.

Icarus.
A figure from Greco-Roman mythology—one who donned wings and soared ever higher toward the sun, only to fall in the end.

But I did not desire another Icarus.
Instead of waiting for the Dwarf’s answer, I called upon another.

“Necromancer Mary.”
“Yes, Kale Heniatus.”

Necromancer Mary stepped forward toward me, her entire form concealed beneath a black robe.
She asked me who had summoned her.

“What would you have me do?”

Kale Heniatus heard her question and surveyed his surroundings.
He saw the Dwarves and Necromancer Mary, and the cavern enclosed on all sides.

Yet Kale envisioned the sky beyond the cavern and answered her question.
What the Flame Dwarf Tribe and Necromancer Mary would create together.

“A phoenix of flame.”

The first battlefield against the Empire.
The sky.

An overwhelming force to dominate that realm.
Its genesis would be born from the hands of these defeated Dwarves and the Necromancer whom the Sun God despised.

Like the Empire’s Crown Prince, I too favored the overwhelming advantage of superior power.

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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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