Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 278

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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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Kale lowered his head and met the gaze of the figure standing before him.

“Can you do it?”

Kanel, Tribal Chief of the Flame Dwarf Tribe. In the eyes of the kneeling dwarf was reflected the image of the smiling commander.

A glance.
The dwarf’s gaze shifted toward the empty stone wall where the Crown Prince’s face had once been visible, now vanished.

‘I know Crown Prince Adin is in a cooperative relationship with Dark.’

So there was a time when he feared Crown Prince Adin, who had once sought to manipulate the Western Continent in cooperation with Dark and the Indomitable Alliance, but that time was no longer.
The dwarf Kanel turned his gaze back and slowly bowed his head.

Thud.
His forehead touched the cold stone floor. The Tribal Chief spoke calmly.

“I will do it unconditionally.”

I can do it. I will succeed.
To survive, one could not give such an answer. It had to carry something more.

Kale’s brow furrowed slightly as he observed the solemn dwarf Tribal Chief, then quickly relaxed.

‘Why is he being so dramatic?’

He could have simply answered that he would do it—why speak with such solemnity while striking his forehead against the ground?
Though Kale found something unsettling and odd about it, he attributed it to the dwarf Tribal Chief’s personal peculiarity and placed a hand on his shoulder.

A tap. Tribal Chief Kanel felt goosebumps rise at the chill of the hand placed upon his shoulder. Before those goosebumps could even fade, an emotionless voice reached his ears.

“I sense your will to survive. Do your best.”

The dwarf bit his lip.

‘Is mere willpower truly insufficient after all?’

Phoenix.
I didn’t know exactly what the commander meant, but it felt like our survival depended on creating it.

‘I have to save my tribe members first, whether I become a slave again or not.’

Then, the commander’s voice reached me again.

“Though they were enemies, the wings created by the Flame Dwarf Tribe were remarkable.”

Remarkable? The wings we made?
The Tribal Chief hesitated and slowly lifted his head. His eyes met Kale’s.

“They will dominate the skies of the battlefield.”

In the space where everyone had stilled their voices, Kale’s words descended among the dwarves.

“By the hands of the Flame Dwarf Tribe, this time create true wings—genuine ones.”

With those words, the Tribal Chief saw the hand lifting from his shoulder.
The commander had not spoken to the Flame Dwarf Tribe about becoming slaves, nor about any other future or direction.

He had only asked whether they wished to live and what they must create going forward.

Perhaps because of that. Tribal Chief Kanel felt these two questions branded into his mind with crystalline clarity. Without even looking at the dwarves around him, he could sense their hearts. So as the commander turned away and his back receded from him, Kanel asked.

“Is it enough if we simply create?”

What dwarves had done their entire lives.
Work they had done while oppressed by Dragon Hybrids and the Dark, while scorned by other races.
Could they survive by doing only that?

The dwarves watched the commander’s back. The commander walked toward the common entrance and spoke.

“The superiority of dwarves over other races lies precisely in their ability to ‘create.'”

The commander did not make a promise saying ‘create and I will spare you.’ Yet at his following words, Tribal Chief Kanel clenched his fists tightly.

“I wish to see the power of craftsmen.”

Master craftsman.
One who pioneers a path in a single field.
One who knows how to inscribe their life upon that path.
Such a person was called a master craftsman.

‘…Not a slave, but a master craftsman.’

The Dwarf Tribal Chief slowly straightened his bent knees and rose to his feet.

Creeeeak—

The chamber’s only entrance opened once more.
Kale Heniatus stepped out through the door that Choi Han had opened. Rosalind and Merry followed in his wake. As they departed, soldiers, knights, and mages who had been waiting outside filed in, and the door slowly closed behind them.

Creeeeak—Slam!

The Dwarves watched Kale’s retreating figure as he walked steadily forward into the distance, their eyes following him until the door shut completely.

Meanwhile, Kale had no time to look back at anyone.

“Rosalind.”
“Sigh, yes.”

Rosalind looked at Kale Heniatus with a sigh, her gaze clearly expressing disapproval—as if to say, ‘You’re undertaking such a massive endeavor without a word to anyone?’
Kale Heniatus cleared his throat at that look, withdrew documents from his pocket, and spoke to Rosalind and Merry.

“These documents contain information regarding the ‘Phoenix.’ I’ve outlined my thoughts roughly, so I’m entrusting this matter to you and Merry.”

Hmm.
Rosalind let out a soft exclamation of admiration and glanced at Choi Han.

‘When did he prepare documents in advance like this?’

At Rosalind’s gaze, Choi Han offered a subtle smile and withheld his response. Seeing that, Rosalind shrugged her shoulders, thinking there was something more to this, and spoke to Kale Heniatus.

“I should be going now. I have much to do. There are also matters to settle with Witira.”

Merry also quietly stepped beside Rosalind and continued.

“Kale Heniatus, I’m going too. There’s much to do if I’m to create the Phoenix.”

Since the two were no longer needed, I waved them off casually and quickened my pace.

While the two headed toward the exit of the prison, I turned in the opposite direction, descending deeper into its depths.

The section of Blanc Castle Prison where the most heinous criminals were held.
The Underground Prison.

I passed through corridors lined with underground cells.
Iron bars came into view.

And beyond those bars, I saw figures with bound hands and feet. An entire level of the vast underground prison was completely filled.

Grrr, grrr—

Sounds like beasts crying out.
I gazed at the creatures behind the bars, glaring at me from the darkness beyond the torchlight’s reach, and drew a crooked smile.

Yet their stares could not bind my steps.

I walked to the very end of the underground prison.
The final cell, positioned directly at the corridor’s terminus.
The moment I approached the iron bars, I lifted my leg.

Bang!

My foot struck the iron bars without hesitation. To any observer, it would have seemed like the act of a ruffian, but here there was no one save the imprisoned, Choi Han, the invisible Raon, and myself.

The guards and soldiers waited outside the underground prison.

“…What is it?”

A voice echoed from the figure suspended against the wall of the cell’s end. It was a voice cracked and parched.

I saw the Bear Tribe leader glaring at me from the darkness.

The Breck Kingdom and the Roan Kingdom had not tortured the prisoners they captured. However, they had restrained the enemy’s leadership in a way that made escape seem impossible.

‘A middle manager, they said.’

The one leading the Bear Tribe in the Canyon of Death was supposedly a middle manager. Kale recalled Rosalind’s words.
She had shared information she’d gathered from the Northern Kingdoms with him.

‘The Bear Tribe has a king as their ruler. The Northern Kingdoms haven’t seen him, but they say there’s a managerial class beneath him that leads the Bear Tribe.’

Grrr, grrr.
Kale let out a quiet laugh at the sounds echoing throughout the prison.
They were the bestial cries of other captured Bear Tribe members.

As if to threaten Kale, as if to show they were still formidable, they howled away.
Yes, they howled.
Kale heard the cries of frightened beasts. So he spoke to the middle manager, the leader of these imprisoned Bear Tribe members.

“Do cunning creatures who mimic warriors actually look like warriors?”

The howling stopped abruptly.

Cunning race.
This was what the beastkin called the Bear Tribe among themselves.

Kale looked at the manager and conveyed his words to all the Bear Tribe members in this underground prison.

“I asked Tribal Chief Kanel if he wanted to live, and the Tribal Chief knelt before me and pressed his forehead to the ground.”

The manager’s pupils trembled.
Tribal Chief Kanel. That Flame Dwarf Tribal Chief whom the Bear Tribe had despised. That Tribal Chief had knelt before Kale.
It surely meant he was begging for his life.

“I gave the Flame Dwarf Tribe something to do.”

The atmosphere among the Bear Tribe changed. They thought to themselves.

‘The Dwarves have been given a chance.’

A chance to live.
They could only think that way. But Kale had never promised the Dwarves their lives—he had merely given them orders.
Kale felt the atmosphere growing uncertain and continued speaking calmly.

“Your king may seem to have abandoned you.”

The Bear Tribe showed no signs of disturbance at those words. The Bear Tribe Manager especially remained unmoved.

‘A loss.’

The Bear Tribe was a species that could grow stronger through sheer numbers. The king that the Manager knew would never come to rescue the Canyon of Death Bear Tribe at a loss to himself.

He was an existence that desired only the land where the Bear Tribe could live—a kingdom.
That was why the cunning Bear Tribe harbored no expectations of aid from their brethren.

Kale Heniatus knew this as well.

“But here’s the thing.”

Did the lack of expectation mean they wished to die?
Being cunning creatures, they would understand better than most.
That dying like this would be a meaningless death. The Bear Tribe—those who understood better than anyone that they could not die this way.

So Kale asked.

“Since when did the Bear Tribe possess honor? Loyalty?”

Tap. Tap.
Kale Heniatus approached the iron bars. He pressed his face close to them, staring at the Bear Tribe Manager bound to the wall beyond the bars.

“You are neither the Wolf Tribe nor the Lion Tribe.”

Not the Wolf Tribe who sacrificed themselves for their pack and family, nor the Lion Tribe who possessed pride in their very tribe and noble integrity.

The Bear Tribe Manager could see Kale Heniatus clearly, standing beneath the torchlight, unlike himself in the darkness. Along with the Sword Master standing behind him.

“You are the Bear Tribe.”

The corners of the Manager’s mouth lifted.
Not the Wolf Tribe, not the Lion Tribe—the Bear Tribe. Cunning yet strong, the species most capable of survival.

“Think by instinct.”

Kale instructed the Bear Tribe to think according to their instincts.
The Bear Tribe Manager’s parched voice echoed through the Underground Prison.

“What appears when we follow our instincts?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”

The Bear Tribe burst into laughter. He muttered to himself.

“Soon.”

Kale said he would know “soon.” That meant the Bear Tribe would soon find an opening to escape.

‘No, not an escape. He’s not the kind of man to let them live so easily.’

The Bear Tribe Manager’s thoughts were accurate. Kale had no intention of letting them live comfortably. Yet it was certain that something different from now would occur.
The Bear Tribe spoke to Kale, who turned away as if departing from the iron bars.

“I will wait. In the meantime, I will think according to my instincts.”

It was formal speech.
Kale offered the Manager a smile before exiting the Underground Prison. Unlike when he entered, no beast’s cry could be heard.
Yet the gleam in the eyes of the Bear Tribe, each scheming to survive, shone far more vividly than before.

Kale intended to use them.
Choi Han, who had remained silent, asked Kale as he emerged from the Underground Prison.

“Kale, are the Bear Tribe becoming bait?”

Kale answered Choi Han with different words instead.

“You’re quite cunning, aren’t you?”

Choi Han and Kale’s thoughts aligned perfectly.

-Human! They’re too large to be bait! The Bear Tribe is large!

At Raon’s words, Kale shook his head.

Because I’m large, I’m bait.
Because I’m so visible to everyone, I’m bait.

Being visible to the Bear Tribe King’s eyes was sufficient.

“Kale, where do we go now?”

Rather than answer Choi Han’s question this time, Kale spoke to Raon instead.

“Raon, dye magic for me.”

At those words, Raon exclaimed.

-Are we going to see that uncouth Tunka now?

It was time to visit the Wipper Kingdom and see Tunka.

* * *

“…You’ve come.”

Kale was taken aback by Tunka’s tone of voice.

Upon arriving at the Wipper Kingdom Palace where Tunka resided, Kale removed the hood of the robe he wore to conceal his priestly vestments and immediately saw Tunka, whose physique had grown even more imposing.
Yet something seemed odd about Tunka’s expression.
But something seemed off about Tunka’s expression.

Human, that’s the kind of expression that moves even Tunka!

I found it bewildering to see Tunka standing before the teleportation circle where I had just arrived, his expression touched with emotion. A creature the size of a house wearing such an expression was unsettling.
Kale Heniatus was taken aback by Tunka standing in front of the teleportation magic circle where he had arrived, wearing a moved expression. It was creepy seeing such a massive creature make that kind of face.

What was surprising was that Tunka, on top of that, was dressed in a far more Grand General-like outfit than before and exuded a neat and refined atmosphere.

But Tunka approached Kale, who had just teleported in, leaving his subordinates behind, and spoke to him.

“…So you really came alone.”

I’m not alone, am I?
Choi Han is behind me, and even though the Dragon is invisible, he’s still here, isn’t he?
And there are more coming?
Kale Heniatus was taken aback by Tunka’s words, which didn’t match reality. Yet Tunka continued speaking his mind.

“The moment the Empire’s Crown Prince declared war, you came rushing first to help me.”

The Jungle said they’d attack the Empire immediately, but I told them to wait for a moment, didn’t I?
Kale’s expression grew weary, but at the same time, he realized that Tunka—calling him “that Crown Prince bastard”—still retained his essential nature.

But that weary expression soon crumbled.
Tunka grinned so brightly he looked foolish. His smile was exactly like a shonen manga protagonist’s, and he spoke with vigor.

“Thank you. You’re truly my best friend!”

What is this situation?
Kale let his true thoughts slip out.

“…It seems you’re misunderstanding something right now.”

Pfft.
Tunka let out a deflating laugh, his eyes glistening with emotion as he spoke.

“How shy you are.”

That’s not it.
I’m not shy at all.
Kale was utterly exasperated.

-Human! Tunka has become… somewhat decent! He recognizes that kind humans are kind and easily embarrassed!

Kale was truly at his wit’s end.

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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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