Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 321

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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 set Sir Rex, the Cat Tribe Knight who was swallowing hard, down from his arms and took a step forward.

Thud.
With the dull sound of footsteps on stone stairs, Kale descended toward the dark entrance—toward the underground chamber.

* * *

Drip. Drip. Drip.
A dark corridor with torches positioned at regular intervals along the walls. Water droplets gathered on the rough, cave-like ceiling fell to the ground one or two at a time.

A space filled with nothing but the sound of falling water.

After descending the entrance stairs, the corridor that greeted us stretched straight ahead for quite some distance—a wide passage broad enough for carriages to traverse.

‘So it really was a secret passage.’

Choi Han moved at the front of the group, surveying his surroundings.
His brow furrowed.

The stench of death permeated the air.

Corpses.
That terrible, unwelcome odor—one he had encountered countless times in the Dark Forest and at Harris Village.

His eyes grew cold and distant.

-…Human, this smell-

Raon began to speak to Kale but swallowed the words instead. His plump paws clenched tightly, and his round face scrunched up in distress.

The cat’s front paws trembled as he walked along the corridor.

A familiar scent.
An old memory surfaced—that smell from when he had turned his back on his brothers, unable even to say goodbye without fear of making a sound, now crossing fifteen years of time to overwhelm him once more.
He barely managed to take another step forward.

-Human! There’s a person ahead!

At Raon’s words, Kale stopped in his tracks.

Two Knights, one Alchemist.

At both ends of the wide corridor, a Knight stood guard on each side. And the Alchemist was reading documents beside one of the Knights.

Tap.

Kale tapped Choi Han on the shoulder.
Choi Han moved forward without any particular reaction.

‘Dealing with the hunters is fine. But if we touch anyone within the Alchemy Tower’s territory, it will immediately become clear that we’ve infiltrated this tower.’

So we slip in and out as quietly as possible without disturbing anyone.

‘That way, we’ll have enough time to safely store the video and spread it to the Empire’s people.’

Choi Han thought, recalling what Kale had said.

True, this was the difficult way. If we simply knocked everyone out or killed them as we advanced, the tower would eventually discover the intrusion, but at least the work would be handled efficiently and quickly, wouldn’t it?
If we just knock everyone out or kill them as we go, sure, someone will eventually notice an intrusion at the Bell Tower, but wouldn’t the job still get done efficiently and quickly?

However, because that wasn’t the case, Choi Han was able to move with more sincerity than ever before.

A gust of wind blew through.
A gust of wind blew.

Wow, it’s definitely spring now—the air outside is getting warm.

The Knight holding the spear muttered, and the Alchemist looking at the documents grumbled.

“Thank goodness spring is here. Do you know how hard winter was? The cold wind kept coming in from outside, ugh.”

Kale Heniatus passed by the Knight and the Alchemists quite leisurely, taking in their faces.

Human! I’ll remember these bastards’ faces! I won’t let this slide! I won’t let the Alchemy Tower slide either! I made a promise with Merry to destroy it!

The six-year-old chattered away unusually loudly, but Kale Heniatus observed his surroundings blankly without any expression.

I soon passed the end of the corridor.
A vast space opened before me.
Then the Alchemist’s voice reached my ears.

“If you seal the entrance, there won’t be any ventilation, and the stench of these rotting corpses will reverberate through the chamber. Far more dreadful than winter winds, wouldn’t you say?”

…Damn bastard.
My face contorted.

An immensely vast Underground Cavern.
Beyond the northern passage we’d emerged from, passages stretched toward the east, west, and south.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

-…Human, I cannot bear to witness this.

I felt the plump front paws gripping my back.
Raon had seized hold of my shoulders.

Choi Han’s sword hand trembled violently.
The moment we entered the Underground Cavern, a descending staircase came into view.
His gaze was captivated by it.

Bones.

“U-!”

Gag!
Bilos covered his mouth.

Several meters below the railing where we’d emerged from the corridor.
Bones were piled like mountains.
Garments that had not yet fully decayed clung to the skeletal remains.

‘…These insane monsters!’

Choi Han’s body trembled uncontrollably.

How could a person,
how could a person commit such atrocities?

Countless piles of corpses.
And scattered throughout those grotesque mounds stood cylindrical vessels.

Each cylinder was filled to the brim with a black liquid.

Dead mana.

-…It appears the human created dead mana here.

I closed my eyes at Raon’s hollow voice, then opened them again.
I gripped my own hands tightly.

They trembled violently.

The rage threatened to consume me entirely.
My hands shook uncontrollably.

Bilos’s hands trembled as well.
Choi Han’s hands trembled as well.
One overwhelmed by horror, the other consumed by uncontrollable fury.
Their minds went blank with white-hot rage.

Then.

“Ugh…”

A stifled sob escaped from someone.
Choi Han and Bilos froze.
In that instant, mana enveloped our group.

“I’ve cast a soundproofing spell.”

Erhafen spoke to our party, and the knights in the corridor glanced back slightly.

“What? You didn’t hear anything?”
“I think I misheard. We’ve been hearing so many death screams that I’m hearing phantom sounds at random moments now. Hehe.”

The moment even Bilos frowned, a voice cut through the silence.

“I’ll slaughter those bastards.”

Bilos flinched, his body trembling as he turned his head.

I wasn’t visible.
Yet Bilos could clearly picture my fury.
Still, he could only lower his head.

The voice came from somewhere lower than where a human would stand.

“Kgh… hgh…”

Weeping echoed through the chamber.
Not loud weeping, but something far more anguished.

Sobs swallowed down again and again, a body convulsing as it heaved with grief—the weeping of the Cat-Human Lex.
Lex of the Cat-Human Race. It was his cry.

I lived!

The moment Lex saw the underground chamber, the moment he faced what he had only vaguely sensed but never actually seen, his entire body seemed to contort.

Whose bones could those be?

My brother? My neighbor? My friend?

Bang, bang!

The cat slammed its head against the floor. Red blood trickled from Lex’s forehead, scraped raw against the rough ground, but he writhed without regard for the pain.

“Ugh, argh!”

The crimson liquid, unable to turn invisible, stained the ground.
The red liquid was etched into the floor without becoming transparent.

Lex stood up on his trembling legs. Then, taking slow steps, he spoke.

“I-I’ll go down.”

His voice trembled, and blood dripped from his forehead with each step he took.
Choi Han could only stare blankly at the falling drops of blood.

Within the space enclosed by soundproofing magic, the enemies stationed at the corridor entrance paid no attention to him.
In this dimly lit space.

None of the enemies noticed the falling blood.
Rather, it was invisible to their eyes.

Choi Han found himself at a loss for words at this sight.

Because despair washed over him.
Sir Rex’s sorrow and despair stirred memories of Choi Han’s own past.

Then, Choi Han heard Kale’s voice.

“Come with me.”

At those words, Choi Han moved as well. He slowly followed the cat’s small footsteps.

The cat—Sir Rex—descended the stairs.
And finally, he reached the underground depths, the lowest point of the Empire.

Then mountains of bones came into view.
They had been dead for so long that nothing remained but skeletal remains.

Sir Rex slowly took in the entire scene. Blood trickling from his forehead reached his eyes, and he wept tears of blood.

‘Transform into a cat and escape!’
‘Yes. Youngest, you can do this.’

The voices of his older siblings still echoed in his mind.

Sir Rex’s lips parted.

“…I will kill them.”

I’ll kill them all.
What, when, how—none of it mattered anymore.
Yet I couldn’t bear to remain silent.

“…Crown Prince… Tower Master.”

I spat out the names of those who deserved death.
By now, even my tears had run dry.

“No.”

At that moment, Sir Rex froze at the voice. No—his body shrank back at the sensation of soft fabric covering his forehead.

I pressed a handkerchief firmly against what appeared to be Sir Rex’s forehead, where blood pooled at the surface.
Then, with indifference and simultaneous honesty, I spoke.

“The Crown Prince is mine to deal with.”

Unlike the rather tender touch binding his wound, my voice was rough and cold—and it gradually brought Sir Rex back to his senses.
Then another voice reached us.

“Kale Heniatus.”

It was Choi Han’s voice, and I answered slowly.

“I know.”

Know what?
Doubt flickered in Sir Rex’s eyes.
I crouched beside Sir Rex and whispered to him.

“Sir Rex, look at the highest point.”

The highest point?
Sir Rex’s gaze, which had been fixed on the bones, slowly lifted upward.

The Underground Cavern stretched endlessly high.
It was almost unbelievable that such a space existed beneath the Imperial Capital.
At the same time, I realized that being at such a depth was precisely why we hadn’t been discovered.

“…What?”

My gaze, which had been traveling upward, froze at a single point.
The highest point of the Underground Cavern.
Directly beneath the ceiling.

There, a protruding space resembling a terrace for watching a theatrical performance came into view.
A terrace enclosed in glass.

A place seemingly constructed to gaze down upon this very location.

The moment Sir Rex laid eyes upon that terrace railing, my voice reached his ears.
A voice mingled with joy and fury—terrifying, in fact.

“…Found you.”

I could see people crowding the terrace railing.
Heavily armored Knights, Mages, and Alchemists came into view.

“Weaker than me.”

As the Ancient Dragon Erhafen delivered his cold assessment, I fixed my gaze upon their center.
The Merchant Bilos cried out.

“It’s the royal physician!”

The royal physician whom Bilos pointed to was handing a wine glass to the center of their group. Erhafen, observing this, spoke with indifference.

“Dead mana.”

A wine glass brimming with black liquid.
The person drinking from it gazed down upon the Underground Cavern with leisure.

“…The Crown Prince.”

Sir Rex’s eyes trembled faintly.

Crown Prince Adin.
Seated in a wheelchair with his shirt unbuttoned, the wound upon his chest that Choi Han had inflicted was nowhere to be seen.

‘Drinking dead mana?’

A dark smile spread across my lips.

“Human!”

In that instant, Raon cried out in shock.

“That one, that bastard!”

Raon stammered, and when Erhafen said nothing, he blurted it out anyway.

“He’s become a dark mage!”

Bilos and Choi Han exhaled sharply.
Silence descended upon the space.

“Hehe.”

Everyone froze at the sound of laughter.
I was laughing.
It was laughter unlike my usual demeanor.

Regardless of how my companions viewed me, I simply gazed down at Crown Prince Adin and his subordinates.

Adin looked down at the area below the Terrace and spoke.

“It really is amusing to look down on others.”

His expression was composed.
I slowly stroked Sir Rex’s fur as I opened my mouth.

“Sir Rex.”
“Yes?”
“If you were to seize that bastard by the throat and drag him down here, to the very bottom of the Empire, wouldn’t that be entertaining? Don’t you think?”

Sir Rex said nothing and lifted his head.
Currently, he stood at the very bottom of the Empire. In his eyes, he could see Adin looking down at me.

And Lex felt the hand leaving his back.
Kale Heniatus rose from his seat and uttered a single phrase.

“Did you get it?”

The entire group answered his question.

“Yes.”
“We have it recorded.”
“Phew, by the Dragon’s grace. Phew.”

Kale Heniatus’s smile deepened further.
He opened his mouth once more.

“From this point forward, we split into teams and explore the rest of the Alchemy Tower’s interior. It would be ideal to locate the Tower Master, but we retreat if it seems dangerous.”

He emphasized the next point.

“And we record everything that happens. After that, we reconvene here.”

Kale Heniatus adjusted the video communication device in his possession as he spoke.

“Disperse.”

Choi Han, Merry, Bilos, and Erhafen each split off and scattered in different directions.
Kale Heniatus formed one team with Raon and Sir Rex.

Kale Heniatus spoke to Raon in a calm tone.

“Raon.”
“What is it, human?”
“Send word to Commander Rosalind.”

Sir Rex faltered.
Kale Heniatus’s demeanor had turned distinctly cold.

“Have the airship take off.”

Kale Heniatus summoned the airship to the Empire.

“And we’re going there.”

Kale Heniatus moved forward at a leisurely pace.

“We’re heading to the Terrace.”

Adin. I needed to see the face of that rotten bastard.
What it was.
How he became a dark mage.
How his body healed.

-Understood, human!

My body lifted into the air. It was Raon’s flight magic.
I quickly cradled Sir Rex in my arms, and finally reached the ceiling of the Underground Cavern.

I stood at an equal height with Adin. The wound across my chest had healed, but one of my legs was missing. Yet my divine power remained intact.

-Human, it really does seem like he’s a dark mage! But something feels even stranger. His life force is overflowing! How did he heal? It’s strange!

As Raon poured out information and my mind raced to process it, Adin’s mouth opened.

“There’s a rumor going around that Kale Heniatus is dead?”

The corners of my mouth twitched.

That’s right.
I’m rumored to be dead?

“Yes, such rumors are spreading. They began from the North.”

The Knight answered, and Adin savored the dead mana like wine before speaking carelessly.

“It’s a lie.”

Adin gazed into empty space.
But Kale Heniatus, standing before him, was meeting his gaze directly.

“Kale Heniatus wouldn’t die so easily.”

Crown Prince Adin shook his head firmly, as though deliberation was entirely unnecessary. His eyes fluttered shut and open again, as if sensing the dead mana churning within him.
With a languid, unhurried demeanor, he spoke matter-of-factly.

“Of course, since the airship exploded, he must have sustained injuries. That’s probably why Albert Crossman resorted to such an extreme card—death itself—to buy time for Kale Heniatus’s recovery.”

Kale barely suppressed a bitter laugh.

Injured? I wasn’t injured at all.
I’m perfectly fine.

“Before that, though, I should deal with Rowan first. Shake things up. Throw the board into chaos. Once that happens, dark magic will fade from everyone’s minds. Of course, many will die in the process.”

Crown Prince Adin smiled pleasantly at his subordinates, shrugging his shoulders as though to say it was regrettable but unavoidable.
Kale found himself grinning before this version of Adin.

This bastard—you’re the one who’ll be dead soon enough.
You shouldn’t be worrying about others.

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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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