Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 322

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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 71. Falling

“Then when are you planning to strike Rowan? You’ll target Gyre Territory first, won’t you?”

Kale Heniatus shook his head firmly at the Knight’s words to Crown Prince Adin.
Kale shook his head side to side at what the Knight was saying to Adin.

Human, those Knight and Crown Prince are thinking something ridiculous!

Kale moved closer to Adin.
Kale Heniatus moved a bit closer to Adin.

“Human, human! I’m observing inside the Terrace very carefully! Trust me.”

Kale stared at Adin through the glass barrier.
Kale Heniatus stared at Adin through the glass.

Crown Prince Adin’s complexion looked far too healthy.
Adin’s complexion looks unusually good.

“Your Majesty.”

The Royal Physician standing beside him spoke as he filled Bin’s empty wine glass with dead mana.

“Then who are you planning to send to the Eastern Continent?”

Why was that suddenly brought up?
Why are you suddenly bringing that up?

“Well…”

Adin offered an ambiguous smile, but meanwhile, a Knight watching him spoke in a stiffened voice.

“Your Majesty, are you thinking of going yourself? Don’t you still have the wounds left by that Sword Master?”

That referred to the wound Choi Han had inflicted.
That was referring to the wound Choi Han had left behind.

“Ah, this?”

Crown Prince Adin pointed to his chest.
Smooth skin without a single scar.

“Yes, Your Highness. From what I’ve heard, that aura’s properties are so vicious that treatment was quite difficult. Of course, you would overcome it all, but this humble one couldn’t help but worry.”

Pfft.
The Knight stopped speaking.
Crown Prince Adin had laughed. It was nothing like a warm, genuine laugh.
It was unmistakably a sneer.

“That Sword Master Choi Han’s aura is certainly vicious, I’ll grant you that.”

Crown Prince Adin inhaled the dead mana.
He felt no pain.
Rather, it felt bland.
He appraised Choi Han as if savoring the thought.

“In the end, he’s only half of what he should be.”

Half?
Kale Heniatus’s expression grew peculiar.

In truth, Choi Han was the one whose growth had been slowest compared to anyone else.
Or rather, it wasn’t that his growth was slow—other powerhouses had emerged and grown stronger, making Choi Han’s strength fade into the background.

Yet this man was strong enough to inflict pain upon a Dragon Hybrid.
And he was calling him half?

-Human, I understand now.

Raon’s voice reached me.

-I’ve figured out what’s strange about the Crown Prince.

Kale Heniatus paused at Raon’s unusually serious tone, then looked down at Crown Prince Adin’s hand.
An empty hand that wasn’t holding a wine glass.

Smoke rose from the palm of his hand.
That was aura smoke.

The thick aura smoke that only a supreme expert—one rank below Sword Master—could produce.
Kale Heniatus remembered that Adin was actually a supreme expert, not merely a high-level one, contrary to what was known publicly.

‘…But the color of the aura—’

Black?
The thick aura smoke rising from Adin’s hand.
Its color was as black as Choi Han’s.

Wasn’t that aura color supposed to be unique to Choi Han alone?
That’s what it said in the Birth of a Hero?

In that moment, Kale Heniatus heard the voices of both Adin and Raon simultaneously.

“Choi Han won’t work for me. Especially not for me right now.”
-That Crown Prince is different from before! Despair has become his attribute!

Despair? Choi Han?
Kale Heniatus’s mind began to race. There were far too many new revelations.

-I knew something was off! That’s why Choi Han’s despair was consumed! Choi Han isn’t pure darkness or pure despair! To realize this—I, Raon Mir, am truly magnificent!

Ha.
A hollow laugh escaped from Kale Heniatus.

The Crown Prince wielded despair?

-He must have drunk black despair! That thing Choi Han rejected—he consumed it! He’s devouring others’ despair and wielding it as aura!

Raon’s voice rang out with more fervor than ever.

-That’s worse than garbage!

He consumed others’ despair?

Black Despair. The cries trapped within it still echoed in Kale Heniatus’s ears.
Choi Han had wavered but rejected the Black Despair, and Raon and Clophe had pulled him free from its temptation.
But Crown Prince Adin had absorbed it?

‘Can black magic even absorb the Black Despair?’

Several complex thoughts flickered through my mind.
Then I reached a conclusion.

“…This is getting ridiculous, no matter how I look at it.”

My voice, shielded by soundproofing magic, carried through the glass toward Adin.
I was beyond anger—I was simply astounded.

“Haha, truly Your Highness is remarkable! Indeed, a half-blood cannot match Your Highness!”

The knight who had asked the question, along with the others, laughed in agreement with those words.
From outside the terrace, I watched the scene unfold while stroking the cat’s back as it rumbled with a growl.

Sir Rex was furious.
At that very moment, one of his subordinates spoke to Adin with a serious expression.

“Your Highness, it would still be better to send someone to the Eastern Continent. It is not fitting for Your Highness to go merely to face the Mercenary King.”

The Mercenary King? The head of the Eastern Continent’s Mercenary Guild?
Why was that man being mentioned?

“Allow me to go, Your Highness. I shall travel to the Eastern Continent and seize from the Mercenary King that power which could bring Your Highness a new life.”

A new life?
My expression shifted subtly.

‘So the Mercenary King possesses some power that could grant Adin a new life?’

Adin shook his head at the knight.

“Never mind. Dark will soon move to devour the Mercenary Guild.”

From what I knew, Dark on the Eastern Continent had taken control of the Underworld while deliberately avoiding the Mercenary Guild all this time. The Mercenary Guild’s influence on the Eastern Continent was that significant.

Targeting the Mercenary Guild?

What’s the situation on the Eastern Continent right now?
Kale Heniatus recalled Servant Ron, who should be at an inn on the Eastern Continent. He would need to contact him.

“Is that possible through Dark?”

Crown Prince Adin nodded at the Empire Mage’s question as if it were obvious.

“The White Star has been on the Eastern Continent for the past several months for that very purpose. That’s why the Tower Master is also there now, handling reports on the war and cleaning up afterward.”
“When will the Tower Master return?”
“Within four days, it seems.”

Ah.
I let out a sigh.
I had finally found it.
The thread leading to the White Star.

The corners of my mouth twitched upward.

-Human! It was good that you didn’t kill Adin! He’s spilling everything so easily!

My thoughts exactly.

“Once the White Star takes control of the Mercenary Guild, I can receive that power. Then I will have a complete body.”

The Royal Physician quickly bowed toward Crown Prince Adin.

“I eagerly await the radiant glory of Your Highness.”
“I look forward to that day with endless anticipation.”

His subordinates vied with one another to offer praise for Crown Prince Adin’s brilliant future.

“All power shall fall into Your Highness’s hands.”

Watching this spectacle, I made my resolve.

That power the Mercenary King possessed.
A power that seemed to possess healing capabilities great enough to grant new life.

“We need to get the Dragon a gift.”

Kale Heniatus felt small front paws tapping against his shoulder the moment he finished speaking.

-That’s right! Let’s shake down the Mercenary King first and give Grandpa the spoils! Human, you’re clever!

The six-year-old tapped Kale’s shoulder proudly, patting away.

Such is my fate.
Kale Heniatus exhaled a sigh. In that moment, Crown Prince Adin’s voice reached his ears.

“In five days, we strike the Southwest Border of Roun. Until then, I will focus on my recovery, but report all preparations to me.”

His subordinates bowed their waists with disciplined solemnity and cried out.

“We receive your command.”

Watching the scene, Kale Heniatus spoke dismissively.

“Their morale’s going to crumble, absolutely crumble.”

Before Roun fell to pieces in five days, these men’s spirits would shatter with far greater certainty.
Kale Heniatus watched as Crown Prince Adin handed the wine glass back to the Royal Physician.

“I’ll retire now.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”

*Click-clack.*
With the sound of wheelchair wheels, Crown Prince Adin entered the room beyond the terrace. A warmly luxurious interior came into view.
A somewhat warm and luxurious scene inside the room came into view.

But that view vanished as the Royal Physician drew the curtains closed.
Kale Heniatus turned slowly, gazing at the empty terrace and the drawn curtains.
Kale Heniatus slowly turned around, gazing at the empty Terrace and the drawn curtains.

“What is it, human!”
“Relay this to the group.”
“Tell the others in your group.”

Valuable intelligence fell into Kale Heniatus’s hands.

“For the next two days, search the Alchemy Tower thoroughly. Gather all evidence. And find every emergency exit.”

The attack on the Southwest Region border of Rowan would come in five days, and the Tower Master would arrive in four days.

“Three days from now. At night.”

More precisely, the night transitioning into the fourth day.

“We launch our assault.”

The plan crystallized in my mind.
Phase one: the Alchemy Tower and the Crown Prince.
Phase two: dark magic and the Tower Master arriving late.
If the White Star showed up as well, that would be a bonus.

“When we attack the Alchemy Tower, our primary objective is to destroy the City Wall and detonate all entrances to the Tower except this underground one.”

A rat trapped in a vial.
No—a rat with nowhere to flee but the subterranean hell beneath the earth.

Meow.
Sir Rex let out a cry.
Their predators would be waiting before the fleeing rats.

“Sir Rex.”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Did you gather the men I asked you to collect before? Can I meet them?”

Neighbors who bore the same scars as Sir Rex and had fought alongside him.
Sir Rex nodded, recalling Kale Heniatus’s order to assemble them.

“Is there something we should do?”

The Empire’s power and dark magic alike lay far beyond the scope of Sir Rex’s imagination—distant, incomprehensible forces.
Since he was the only one with any martial ability, he wondered what his scattered comrades, working across the Empire, could possibly accomplish in this coming war.

Kale Heniatus’s voice reached my ears.
Two days remained—excluding today.

“Of course. You all have to handle it.”

I had to move quickly.

* * *

That night,
figures moved covertly through the Slums of the Imperial Capital.
Each carried a small sphere nestled against their chest.

A recording device.
A sphere containing the footage Kale’s group had captured throughout the day.

‘I’ve staked my life on this.’

Etched into their minds was Sir Rex—his forehead wound reopened and bleeding, yet he spoke through gritted teeth without wiping it away.
His bloodshot eyes burned with intensity.

The eyes of those now dispersing through the Slums with the spheres were equally bloodshot, mirroring Sir Rex’s.
People who had been forced to send their brothers, families, and neighbors to the Alchemy Tower.

‘Not a single detail of the plan can go wrong. I won’t allow it.’

Sir Rex’s desperate words were branded into their minds like a scar.

Soldiers and Knights moved through the Capital that night.
Yet few Knights and Soldiers patrolled the Slums—there was little need to watch over a darkness so complete that not even magical lamps or oil fires illuminated it.

Knock, knock, knock.

One carrying the sphere knocked on a door.
Another slipped into a secret tunnel carved beneath the Slums.
Yet another rushed toward their family.

The Slums lay shrouded in absolute darkness, devoid of any light.
But that night, the place was consumed by silent fury and tears.

And the next day.

“Good day to you.”

The guard stationed in front of the Alchemy Tower wore an odd expression as he faced the visitor who had arrived in broad daylight.

“What brings you here?”

A man dressed in shabby but meticulously clean clothes offered the guard a smile.
The guard noticed the bloodshot eyes that contradicted the gentle, humble smile, but gestured with his chin for the man to speak.
Only then did the man bow respectfully and speak.

“I’ve come to meet my brother.”
“Your brother? An Alchemist?”

For an Alchemist’s younger brother, his attire was remarkably shabby.
As suspicion flickered across the guard’s face, the man forced a smile and spoke.

“Yes. My brother Honth, who entered the Alchemy Tower fifteen years ago.”

Honth.
At that name, the guard’s eyes wavered.

Honth, the Tower Master’s disciple.

‘…But he’s dead?’

The guard watched as another guard hurried into the building, then turned his gaze back to the man. And the moment he looked past the man’s shoulder, his spine went cold.

People in shabby clothes, all dressed cleanly and neatly, were approaching the Alchemy Tower. There were just over ten of them.
Their ages varied widely.
They spoke with gentle smiles.

“I’d like to see my younger sibling.”
“I really want to see my older sister.”
“I just wanted to see my daughter and son once. That’s alright, isn’t it?”

Fifteen years ago. There had been a steady stream of people coming to retrieve children they had entrusted to the Alchemy Tower. Each time, they were turned away with various excuses.
If they came from the Slums but were now living well, they were accused of trying to exploit their siblings and children, or of coming to extort money, and were driven away.

But they had never arrived in such large numbers all at once.

‘Of course, ten people isn’t exactly a massive force.’

The guard looked beyond the approaching group.
He could see the Capital’s citizens whispering and staring at this place. They had taken notice of the situation.

That was why the guard failed to notice.
He didn’t see the bloodshot eyes, the swollen faces, or the clenched fists that contradicted their smiling mouths.

Kale Heniatus observed the scene from a distance.

-Human! Rosalind will be here soon! All the Dark Elves are coming! And Clophe said the Holy Knights will arrive shortly too!

Kale Heniatus gazed at the Bell Tower, the tallest structure currently standing on the Western Continent, and opened his mouth.

“Now it begins.”

One and a half days remained until the battle.

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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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