Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 285

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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 61. Without Rhyme or Reason

Bone birds.
The largest of these skeletal creatures spanned roughly fifteen meters across.
Massive wings constructed entirely of bone unfurled into the sky.

The wings eclipsed the sunlight.
A shadow descended upon the Imperial Knights below.

“What is that—?”

Duke Hooten’s gaze lifted toward the heavens before snapping forward once more.

“Hehehehe.”

The moment the Duke withdrew his blade, the barbarian who had been held back by the rising wall of knights burst into laughter.
Tunka’s expression radiated pure amusement. Yet Duke Hooten could not bring himself to laugh in return.

Five in total.
Four smaller birds ascending alongside one colossal specimen at their center.

“Your Grace!”

An urgent voice called from behind—one of the Empire’s mages.

“The aura of supreme-grade mana stones! The bones are inlaid entirely with mana stones!”

The composure drained from Duke Hooten’s eyes, replaced by something far more dangerous—a cold, razor-sharp fury. He fixed his gaze upon Tunka, the barbarian who stared back at him with that infuriating smile, and spoke.

“Dwarves. Mana stones.”

A Dwarf must have assembled these bones.
I knew the face of the Flame Dwarf Tribal Chief. My superior swordsmanship allowed me to perceive what other knights could not—the Dwarf’s visage high in the sky, visible when I concentrated my aura.

How could the Duke of the Empire not recognize the face of a commander from the Indomitable Alliance?

A Dwarf Tribal Chief appeared—someone who had no business being here.
And skeletal warriors animated by magic stones, they said.
There was only one piece missing from this puzzle.

“A Mage.”

Fury ignited across Duke Hooten’s face.
The Wipper Kingdom was a place where magic had nearly vanished.
He wasn’t referring to any mage from that forsaken realm.

Duke Hooten’s gaze pierced past the barbaric warriors who had mocked me, searching beyond them.

“Breck dared to insert itself into this game.”

The Flame Dwarf Tribe had been captured by the Breck Kingdom.
The Flame Dwarves, weak to magical devices—could they have created such a creature without aid?
It was impossible without a Mage’s assistance.
Duke Hooten’s eyes lifted toward the walls of Maple Castle.

At the center of the ramparts.
A woman stood radiating her presence without restraint, conjuring mana that rippled through the air around her.

Rosalind. She gazed down upon Duke Hooten from above.

“Is this the will of Breck?”

Duke Hooten’s voice carried the force of his aura, loud enough to reach Rosalind atop the wall. His focus had already abandoned Tunka.

The Wipper Kingdom, wild and unhistoried like Tunka himself, held no terror for the Mogur Empire, built upon centuries of unwavering foundation.
But if Breck had truly entered this game, everything changed.

Duke Hooten caught the smile playing at Rosalind’s lips. With that radiant smile, she answered with refreshing clarity.

“We’re mercenaries.”
“What?”

As Duke Hooten found himself involuntarily questioning her response, Tunka’s voice cut through.

“I hired them.”
“…Grand General.”

Duke Hooten’s gaze shifted back to Tunka. Tunka grinned wickedly and tossed out his words as if to say, “So what?”

“I hired mercenaries. And I purchased the Dwarves from the Breck Kingdom.”
“Such semantics…!”

It was mere semantics.
Rosalind, cast out from the Breck Kingdom. Formally, she was now free from Breck. Moreover, if the Wipper Kingdom had purchased prisoners, then the Breck Kingdom had grounds—both legal and formal—to claim otherwise to the Empire. They could play word games, insisting they had not supported the Wipper Kingdom.

“You expect me to believe such semantic nonsense?”

Duke Hooten had begun speaking down to Tunka without restraint.

“Your Crown Prince started the semantic games first.”

Tunka gnashed his teeth and glared at Duke Hooten. A letter explicitly detailing slave trafficking—there was no worse semantic game than that.
Duke Hooten let out a scoff and spoke while looking at Rosalind.

“Rosalind. You, and the Breck Kingdom, will have much to explain to our Mogur Empire.”

The Breck Kingdom, which dared to support the Wipper Kingdom and draw its blade, would have to explain today’s events to the Empire and bow their head in apology.
Such was the weight of challenging the Empire.

Duke Hooten saw Rosalind’s smiling lips part. Her voice, infused with mana, resonated through the air.

“Prepare for attack.”

Duke Hooten’s expression hardened.
Simultaneously, the rapid sound of footsteps ascending the Stone Stairs of the City Wall echoed swiftly.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Robes that symbolized Mages.
Robes of every color began to appear atop the City Wall of Maple Castle. And they were already raising their mana, as if ready to plunge into battle at any moment.

No two robes were alike, and no two mana signatures matched.
Each stood upon the City Wall, having finished their preparations to unleash their maximum power in their own unique way.

Their numbers were few.
Yet the handful of soldiers remaining to defend the Wipper Kingdom swallowed complex emotions as they watched them arrive.
The soldiers from the Non-Mage Alliance who had risen to destroy the Magic Tower and kill the mages could not fathom how to react to the Wipper mages who had come to aid them.

The mages who had come to help felt the same way.
Though the mages belonging to the Mage Alliance at the Magic Tower had committed terrible atrocities, the terror inspired by the frenzied mob that slaughtered them still lingered in the mages’ minds.

Then it happened.

“Everyone, get your heads in the game!”

The staff officers overseeing the operation began moving throughout the City Wall. They were acting under the orders of Chief Advisor Herrol and Kale Heniatus.
Their voices reached the soldiers.

“The Empire possesses above-average magical prowess. And they outnumber us.”

The soldiers unconsciously turned their gaze toward the mages. And the moment they looked back at the Wipper mages, the staff officers spoke the same words from every corner of the wall.

“But here, we have the mages of Wipper.”

Those words were enough.

The greatest magical combat kingdom on the Western Continent.
Though it might be the Roan Kingdom now, it had once been Wipper. Wipper, which had possessed mages so formidable they were said to have no equal.
And those who knew this best were neither the Empire nor any other kingdom.

“We know their strength better than anyone.”

The soldiers of the Wipper Kingdom, the only ones who had ever fought those mages, knew it best.
The staff officers cried out.

“Everyone, maintain formation and focus!”

The soldiers immediately turned their gaze to the battlefield. There, Duke Hooten was glaring at Rosalind, who led the mages.

“Are you truly crossing a river from which there is no return?”

Duke Hooten spoke toward Rosalind, and crimson mana began to gather in her hands. She opened her mouth.

“What fool explains their strategy kindly to an enemy?”

Rosalind, bearing the face of a royal despite having abandoned the throne, spoke with unmatched arrogance. Simultaneously, a voice echoed in her mind.

-Rosalind! The human says to begin!

“Begin!”

Whoooosh—
Above the walls of Maple Castle, the highest-grade mana stones began to rise into the air, their waves rippling outward.

The mages from the Roan Kingdom had thus far coordinated their efforts meticulously, waging war according to strategy.
Yet this time, Commander Kale Heniatus had told them, nominally on “vacation,” something different.

‘Why not let loose and act freely for once? Watching Tunka, it seems the people of the Wipper Kingdom are strongest when they’re unrestricted.’

“He was right.”

One of the mages muttered to himself, recalling that moment.
Our Commander Kale—his words rang true.

Every one of them here had been a loner.

They had despised or been tormented by the work of the Magic Tower, so they withdrew from it, refusing to join the Mage Alliance, living in isolation far from others.
Yet unable to abandon magic, they had pursued their research in poverty and solitude.

Such individuals had gathered in the Roan Kingdom, coordinating their efforts to prepare for war.
They had abandoned the style they’d maintained their entire lives and spent over two years synchronizing their strength, gaining the power of a unified force, yet since the war began, they had never once unleashed their individual might freely.

But now they could.

Whoooosh—
The hem of the mage’s robe fluttered.
He raised both hands. His signature offensive magic departed from his fingertips.

Boom! Crash! Boom!
Explosions erupted in succession.

“Shield!”

The Imperial mages’ shields unfurled, blocking the incoming spells. Empire against Wipper. Hundreds against barely a few dozen.
But the soldiers witnessed it.

“Again!”

The moment Rosalind’s command rang out, I saw the fierce determination in the eyes of the Wipper mages as they rolled up their robe sleeves and prepared their next incantations.

There was no fear of the hundreds-strong Mage Battalion.
It resembled the spirit of Wipper’s warriors. The spells they had honed alone in exhilaration surged once more into Wipper’s sky.
In that instant, Duke Hooten cried out.

“Attack!”

The 2nd Mage Battalion positioned behind the 1st Battalion, which had maintained the shields, unleashed their follow-up ranged attack spells that they had prepared since the shields first rose.

“Tower, commence your assault!”

The high-ranking mages atop the Black Alchemy Tower unleashed their attack magic as well.

Boom!

The Empire’s spells detonated.
The magic collided with Wipper Kingdom’s spells, erupting in midair, the surrounding atmosphere trembling as wind swept across the battlefield.
Duke Hooten’s face twisted.

“…Dwarves…!”

Screeeech—

The beak of a creature composed solely of dead bone opened, releasing an eerie cry.
Like a bird dwelling in the depths of hell, the entity—constructed from layers of white bone—flew swiftly across the sky.

Deep within, concealed by the white bone where no eye could see, black dead mana pulsed like a heart.
A masterwork created by the Dwarf, Rosalind, and Merry.

A voice reached Tribal Chief Kanel’s ear through the communication channel.

-Block it.

The Tribal Chief raised his voice and yanked the reins of the bone bird.

“Charge!”

Crash!

The largest bone bird slammed its body into two of the black towers.

Boom! Boom! Boom—
Four more bone birds followed, each crashing into a black tower.

“Ugh!”
“Our mana is destabilizing!”

The high-ranking Mages atop the black towers had to steady their trembling bodies. But their offensive spells had already been disrupted or their trajectories twisted.

A total of six towers had been shaken.

Kanel quickly retreated from the two towers he had struck and turned his gaze toward the sole tower that remained unshaken.
The high-ranking Mage upon that tower was not casting any offensive magic.
He was merely maintaining a shield.
As if protecting someone was far more important.

Kanel’s eyes caught sight of the being shielded within—a Lion Tribe member.
A member of the Lion Tribe.

The Lion Tribe who had treated the Dwarves, the Flame Dwarf Clan, as though they did not exist in this world. I locked eyes with that very being.
Hair the color of golden manes fluttered in the wind.

“How dare these wretched Dwarves!”

The Lion Tribe member’s face was contorted with rage.
Tribal Chief Kanel recognized him.

Edrich, one of the leading candidates to become the next Lion King, and Gronika, who stood beside him offering her support.

Edrich and Gronika—they were the ones Kale had encountered when he stole the white crown from Clophe Seka’s mansion in the Northern Region.
Edrich, whose eyes had met Tribal Chief Kanel’s, bared his fangs.

“You think you can win with such crude trash? A Dwarf, no less! Do you have a death wish?”

Tribal Chief Kanel’s gaze was so fierce I could feel it burning into me, and without thinking, I gripped the leash in my hand tighter. Just then, Kale’s leisurely voice came through the communication crystal.

-That lion cub sure is loud.

Heh.
The corners of Kanel’s mouth lifted. As the Lion Tribe’s Edrich’s face twisted at that smile, Kale’s voice came through once more.

-Lions cannot fly through the sky. But you Dwarves are flying through it right now.

This time, the wings did not fail.
The results weren’t fully apparent yet, but Kanel was certain. Because I had heard Kale’s words announcing the beginning.

-When I give the signal, take flight.

That command reached Kanel in the sky and Rosalind on the ground.
Rosalind entrusted Tunka to the Knights Order for now, then her eyes met with Duke Hooten, who was heading toward the Mage Battalion.

Duke Hooten was watching Rosalind carefully.
Until now, Wipper had unleashed magic twice. Yet throughout it all, Rosalind had not cast a single spell.

Uuuuuuung—
However, red mana gathered increasingly around her.
A mesmerizing crimson light wavered as if waiting for the right moment.

‘And that barbarian is being careless too.’

Tunka, as if waiting for something, fought without conviction.

What could it be?
Duke Hooten unconsciously stroked his sword hilt—a habit he had when troubled.

‘Duke, I’m thinking of consuming Wipper starting with this incident, and if the opportunity arises, even the Caro Kingdom.’

Crown Prince Adin’s ambitions flashed through Duke Hooten’s mind.

‘Roan, Breck, and the Northern Region concern me. The Central Region should all belong to the Empire for peace of mind. So this time, we’ll sweep them away overwhelmingly.’

The Crown Prince desired an overwhelming battle and had prepared accordingly. Yet a strange sense of déjà vu washed over him.
A sensation that this would not be easy.

‘There’s something here.’

Rosalind, Tunka, Wipper, the Dwarves—they were all clearly waiting for something.
What could it be?

That was when it happened.

Rummmmmble—

The sky began to roar.
The clear heavens darkened.

Simultaneously, the crimson mana enveloping Rosalind surged skyward in an instant.

“Duke! It’s magic! Tremendous magic!”

What did he say?
Hutten’s face contorted as he gazed upward at the senior mage’s urgent words. The senior mage continued with growing desperation.

“It’s not the work of one person! There’s another one!”

From that sky, from where the black clouds were forming, an overwhelming surge of mana radiated outward.
It seemed as though all the mana in this region was converging toward that single point. The Empire’s mage found himself breathless before that power. It was a natural reaction.

It was a black cloud conjured by a Dragon.
The Black Dragon had created a cloud that resembled me, working in concert with Rosalind.

“We must flee!”
“What?”

The moment Hutten questioned him, Tunka came into view.

He was running.
No—he was retreating backward.
And Rosalind cried out.

“Deploy your shields!”

The mercenary mages, who had been prancing about as if ready to attack, all began unfurling their shields. Hutten opened his mouth.

“Evade! Raise your shields!”

Skeletal birds soared high into the sky.
I watched as they fled, as though remaining beneath that dark cloud meant death.

Tap.
Beside Rosalind, a figure clad in an ordinary brown robe appeared, concealed from head to toe.
His hand swept downward from the heavens.

In that instant, Hutten’s skin crawled. Imperial shields materialized one after another.

A deep rumble echoed.

The sky’s cry ceased.
And Hutten’s world—no, the world of all those present—was drenched in crimson.

A single streak of red.

Unlike the mere flash of ordinary lightning.

The true form of Destructive Fire.
It was not golden lightning tinged with red light.

It was blood.
Flames that mimicked blood descended upon the earth.

Boom!

The deafening roar shook the ground itself.
Into Kale’s mind, clad in the brown robe beside Rosalind, came Raon’s alarm.

-Human! Didn’t you say you’d use it sparingly! Are you about to collapse again!

Two small front paws braced against Kale’s back. Kale saw the shock in Rosalind’s eyes. He had told her something.

‘I’ll just use a small lightning strike, so you can adjust accordingly.’
‘Master, when you use Destructive Fire, you cough up blood and collapse.’
‘This time, I’ll only use a little. I can’t afford to draw the Empire’s attention by revealing too much of this power.’

Just a little, I thought.
A single small lightning strike—that’s all I envisioned.
Kale’s hands began to tremble.

‘…What is this?’

My body felt fine.

‘I only used a little?’

Kale had genuinely unleashed the smallest fraction of Destructive Fire’s power he’d ever wielded.
So he was merely hungry.
Yet the light from that inferno painted his entire vision crimson.

As if a curtain of blood had descended upon the battlefield, an intense scarlet pillar of devastation crashed down. And a heat like molten lava consumed the spring itself.
A suffocating force of destruction revealed itself upon the battlefield.

Then, the voice of Destructive Fire reached him.

-Hey, why use only a little? I need to earn my keep.

A being that possessed enough destructive power to transform the frozen northern Western Continent into a sea of flame. Destructive Fire, having truly reclaimed its strength, felt disappointed.

“…Insane.”

Kale’s legs nearly gave way beneath him in shock.
An overwhelming, unforeseen power struck everyone like a thunderbolt to the back of the head.

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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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