Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 318

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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 70. Where, Oh Where, Are You Hiding?

“…I can’t reach him.”

Moreover, my video communication channel with Crown Prince Alberu remained disconnected.
He wasn’t deliberately avoiding my calls. Simply put, he was already “on another call.”

‘What in the world is he doing that keeps the video communication channel perpetually engaged?’

I ultimately postponed the matter by leaving a single message.
After all, it was genuinely advantageous for me if people believed I was dead.

“Raon, send messages to the others pretending to be me as well.”
“Got it, human!”

Raon nodded vigorously with a mischievous grin, and I rose from my seat to survey my companions in the tent.

Erhafen, Merry, Choi Han, Saint Jack, Vice-Captain Hilsman, and the Dark Elf Tasha.
Rosalind and Ritana were absent. They had remained in the Jungle to oversee the reconstruction efforts and assist with my disguise.
Of course, Dark Elf Market Leader Obante had also stayed behind to help them alongside the Dark Elf warriors.

“Young master, it seems the Crown Prince has caused quite the stir?”

Tasha approached me with a sly smile, and Merry followed in her wake.
I shook my head as I watched Tasha’s grin deepen each time I made an irreverent remark about the Crown Prince.

She was teasing me.
Tasha was clearly delighted to mock both me and my nephew Alberu.

I let the jab pass lightly and turned my attention to Erhafen.

“Why?”

Erhafen posed the question impassively in response to my gaze, and I answered with equal composure.

“I need you to disguise me.”

Ha.
With a deep sigh, Erhafen rubbed his forehead. Then, muttering to himself, “I suppose I’m living out my declining years in misfortune,” he summoned platinum-hued mana.

“Well, how shall I change it? Just say the word.”

Oh.
Kale Heniatus thought he was witnessing the true majesty of a dragon, and decided to make full use of the ancient dragon who had offered his services so readily.
He pointed to Hilsman, himself, and Choi Han in turn.

“Brown eyes and brown hair, if you please.”
“…All three of you?”

Erhafen hesitated and asked for confirmation, and I nodded without much thought. Since I had to move through the Slums and various parts of the Imperial Capital, it was better to be as inconspicuous as possible.
Especially since the Empire didn’t have many people with brown-toned hair.

“Yes. Wouldn’t that draw less attention?”
“Indeed.”

Snap. Snap. Snap.
The ancient dragon’s fingers clicked three times. In an instant, my eye color and hair color changed. His casting speed was far faster than Raon’s.
Just as I was satisfied with the result, Raon’s voice rang out.

“You look like brothers!”

What?
I turned my head. Hilsman, his face oddly excited, exclaimed.

“Young master and I now have the same hair color, so we look like brothers! Hahahaha! I am the great shield-”
“Enough.”

I wanted to silence Hilsman.
Whatever he’d been doing, the Jungle people who had been around him were looking at me with strangely altered expressions.

I turned away from Hilsman and looked at Choi Han. He was quietly gazing at a mirror, running his fingers through his hair.
Well, since he’d come over from high school, he must have dyed his hair a few times.

I stood up from my seat.

“Erhafen.”
“What is it?”
“Teleportation.”

A deep sigh escaped me.
Erhafen rose from his seat with that sigh and began constructing a teleportation magic circle.

“Young Master.”

I turned my head toward the voice calling out to me as I observed this.
It was Saint Jack.

“May I take my leave?”
“Yes, you may.”
“I see.”

Jack quietly retreated at my response. His words had grown noticeably sparse since the Jungle campaign ended.
He seemed to have much on his mind. Particularly, ever since I showed him the first page of the black book containing information on dark magic, he had become even more taciturn.

I gazed at Jack, who appeared lost in thought, and touched near my pocket.

‘What should I do with this book?’

The dark magic tome.
Market Leader Obante had said that by looking at the first page, one would know whether they were its true master or not.

‘That’s not my concern.’

For now, I appeared not to be the master, and I accepted it without question. The reason was simple.
It contained the clues I needed right now, and I couldn’t hand it over to anyone else.

Everything except the first page was merely a mundane introductory manual describing how to become a novice dark mage.

“Young Master.”

I turned my head at the voice calling me once more.
This time it was Merry.

I glanced at the black-robed figure who seemed hesitant and flinching, along with Hilsman and Choi Han, then spoke bluntly.

“You don’t need to disguise yourself either. We’ll just change the color of your robes later.”

Necromancers were incapable of disguise magic and dye magic.
That’s why they had lived their entire lives unable to hide the spider-web-like veins bulging across their skin.

“That’s not it—”

Merry shook her head.
Only then did Kale Heniatus tilt his head to one side, studying the black hood intently.
If not that, then what was the matter?

She hesitated before asking.
Merry had been speaking in that mechanical manner less frequently these days.

“In this matter with the Empire, do you think I’ll be important?”

What else could I say?
Kale Heniatus nodded lightly, and at the sight of him nodding, Merry’s fist clenched slightly.

The Sage of Death. The King of Death. The Underground City.
There had been so much information gleaned from Market Leader Obante. Yesterday, I had been too preoccupied with absorbing power to think clearly, but now that the moment had come to face dark magic in the Empire itself, my thoughts had grown heavy.

Merry listened attentively to what Kale was saying as he nodded.

“When have you ever not been important?”

Merry unclenched her fist.

Throughout the war, there had never been a single comrade unimportant to Kale Heniatus.
Why was she asking something so obvious? Hadn’t everyone come here because they had all done their part?
Even Choi Han, who was now winning against people, was saying such things, and Kale Heniatus found it absurd.

“And what does the Empire have to do with the King of Death?”

Of course, the clues about the King of Death written in the dark magic tome had helped me conceive of a new strategy, but that was merely the extent of it.

Kale Heniatus recalled yesterday as he stood silently before the black-robed figure. The words Market Leader Obante had spoken flashed through my mind.
He spoke, tossing the words out casually.

“Do you wish to become the King of Death?”

Merry recalled the figure who was like a master to her.

The one she had known as the Sage of Death was apparently the King of Death.
One who had reached the pinnacle among those with the darkness attribute, who must overwhelm black magic and simultaneously understand all aspects of the darkness attribute. Such a person was the author of the book she had studied.

Merry had known none of this.
Did she wish to become such a person?

“…No.”

Though I wish to become overwhelmingly stronger.
Merry shook her head.

“That’s fine.”

Merry saw Kale Heniatus nodding with indifference.

“…Is that truly acceptable?”
“Of course it is.”

Kale Heniatus answered without hesitation.
It was true that Merry had been able to step forward as a Necromancer thanks to the Sage of Death, but she had done her part well enough thus far, so wasn’t she already fulfilling her duties as a disciple?
Moreover, if she lived while saving people, wasn’t that enough? What more could be needed?

Kale Heniatus waved his hand dismissively.

“Just take the Market Master’s story as something that happened, nothing more.”

Dark Elves were even more timid around the Dragon than Elves, treating legends and such with excessive reverence. The best approach was to let it pass through one ear and take only what was necessary.

Merry’s fingers fidgeted beneath her robe.
Tasha, standing beside her, patted Merry’s shoulder and spoke.

“That’s right. I’m also hearing about grandfather’s story for the first time. It’s ancient history, ancient history. And it’s something only Dark Elves who’ve taken the Market Master position would know, right?”

Tasha recalled the legend of the Necromancer who had fought to the bitter end in the Desert of Death, one of the Five Great Mysteries, and perished there.
Her grandfather’s words that Merry had inherited that power.
In that moment, Tasha thought of only one thing.

‘I’m grateful for what the King of Death did, but Merry shouldn’t die like that, taking attacks from all her enemies.’

That was all she thought. Whether it was selfish or called her wicked, there was nothing she could do about it.

Why had she sought out her grandfather and overturned the Market Master’s Office, insisting she had to help her nephew Alberu, who was left alone in the Royal Palace? Why was she helping Merry now?

Regardless of what others thought, she simply wanted to live together with them.
With a refreshing smile, she waved her hand just as Kale had done.

“Why worry about such things now? Let it go.”

She couldn’t burden someone who had lived so diligently all this time with talk of being a king or anything like that.
That was Tasha’s thought.

Merry remained silent for a moment, then nodded. Again, her voice flowed out as smoothly as the Navigation itself.

“I simply love our Underground City. And I love our neighbors.”

Kale nodded in agreement.
In his view, the Underground City was a good place. A very good place indeed.
In that moment, a presence interjected into their conversation.

“Right! Underground City is good!”

It was the Dragon.
Raon flew over and fluttered his wings beside Merry.

“And our home is good too! Merry, you can’t become king!”

Raon spoke with considerable solemnity.

“Look at the Crown Prince! Kings are busy! Good Merry still has so much to see with me! We promised to see it together!”
“That’s right, Raon. Of course, this king and that king are different, but I still have many things I want to see outside, and many things I want to do together with all of you.”

The black robe nodded with more vigor than ever before.
Merry had her own path, her own desires, and her own future.

“I wish to prevent dark magic from creating despair any further.”
“That’s right! Merry, I feel the same way!”

Raon Mir, delighted by her resolve, pulled out an apple pie and handed it to Merry.

“We’ll destroy the Alchemy Tower.”
“Exactly! Merry, you’re so clever!”

Sigh.
Kale Heniatus shook his head at the sight of the excited Raon Mir and exhaled a long breath. Then his eyes met Erhafen’s.

‘Are you putting me on hold right now?’

The ancient dragon’s gaze, fixed upon me with magic unfurled, brimmed with exasperation and irritation.
Kale Heniatus quickly opened his mouth.

“Ahem, let’s head to the Empire.”

Kale Heniatus quietly stepped onto the teleportation circle and whispered to Merry, who followed beside him.

“Do you want a dark magic grimoire?”
“I have no need for it. I am magnificent.”

As the teleportation blurred my vision, I caught sight of the black robe with shoulders thrown back proudly.

“That’s right! I too am magnificent, and so is Raon Mir!”

Kale Heniatus teleported to the Empire with an amused laugh.

* * *

And upon arrival.

“K-Kale sir—”

Why is this happening?
Kale Heniatus grabbed both his arms and stared at his trembling hands with a bewildered expression.

“K-Kale, sir.”

But he understood the person holding onto him well enough, seeing the urgency in their expression.

“Bilos, it’s been a while.”

It was Bilos, the illegitimate son of the Flynn Merchant Guild who resembled a piggy bank.
When Kale and his party moved to the Imperial Capital, they went not to the Slums nor to Valentino’s residence, but to Bilos’s Secret Mansion.

Kale recalled how Bilos had contacted him asking if he was truly dead, and he reassured the trembling man.

“It’s fine. You saw the message I sent earlier, right?”

Of course, it was the message Raon Mir sent.

“I’m not in pain. It’s all just rumors—”
“That’s not it, sir!”

Huh?
Kale Heniatus studied Bilos carefully as he cut off his words.
Bilos spoke with an expression of great confusion.

“…In that message just now, I heard you were coming to capture the Crown Prince. That you would destroy the Alchemy Tower, well, ahem, completely destroy it.”

Ah, Raon Mir.
I could vividly picture what he had written to Bilos.
Just as Kale’s face was about to contort.

“But something is strange!”

…Strange?
Kale Heniatus looked at Bilos as if urging him to speak quickly.
Among Kale’s people, he was perhaps the fastest to receive information from within the Empire.

Bilos spoke urgently.

“He’s not in the Capital!”

What?

“Young Master, the Crown Prince—no, only the Crown Prince cannot be found in the Capital!”

What do you mean?
Kale Heniatus’s mind went blank for a moment.

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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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