Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 352

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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 78. Tears

“…I’m exhausted.”

I tapped my shoulder with my hand.

Harris Village.
This was where I had arrived. Coming here alone in such haste might have caused chaos at the Lord’s Castle, but.

“It doesn’t matter. It’s not real.”

It doesn’t matter.
It’s not real. This is all fake.
I repeated this to myself, muttering the words as I gazed forward.

A massive stone wall came into view.

It was a wall built to separate the Dark Forest from Harris Village, and to protect the Heniatus Territory from the mutated monsters of the Dark Forest.

If.
If Raon were here with me.

‘Human, human! Are we going home? Can we see everything? I want to see it all!’

My lips twisted into a grimace.

“I should buy him an apple pie.”

I etched into my mind what I wanted to do after passing this trial, then stood directly before the stone wall.

Whoosh.
I gazed quietly at the small golden lightning blooming in my palm.

“…That’s strange.”

Cale’s Power. The golden light of Destructive Fire was certainly hovering above my palm, yet no matter how much I called out, I could not hear Cale’s Power’s voice.

Neither the Unbreakable Shield, nor the fearsome Jjangdol, nor the Voice of Wind answered my call.
All of them remained silent to Kale’s summons.

Kale lifted his head.

Whoooosh… whoooosh…
Wind swirled around his feet.
Soon his body shot upward into the air. As he climbed straight up the stone wall, a vast forest sprawled into view beyond it.

The Dark Forest.
The moment the verdant forest came into sight, Kale let out a quiet laugh.

“It’s still the same here.”

The Dark Forest before me was nearly identical to what I remembered.
My body moved swiftly to a specific location.

The cave entrance.
Having gathered the Voice of Wind there, Kale slowly stepped into the cave.
The book remained in his hand.
Kale’s mouth opened.

“…The first place where the White Star directly appeared in the final battle was the Heniatus Territory, and then, and then—”

Damn.
A curse slipped from Kale’s lips.
He opened the book.

The contents wouldn’t come to mind.

He flipped through the pages at random, guessing.

【The White Star invaded the Roan Kingdom starting from the Heniatus Territory, and subsequently the entire Northeast Region of the Western Continent. The casualties during this period were countless, and many heroes fell.】

The voice of my former team leader, Lee Soo-hyuk, echoed through Kale’s mind.

‘Hey, rookie. You remember anything you want to remember after seeing it just once, but you’re so terrible at remembering things you don’t want to remember, aren’t you?’

Kale walked through the cave passage illuminated by a magical lantern, flipping through the book.

I couldn’t focus on reading this book.
The contents of this book wouldn’t stick in my memory.

Crackle.
The page crumpled again. My frustration was mounting by the second.

“That insane Thief.”

Creating such a ridiculous test.
My eyes grew dark with displeasure.

Tap. Tap.
Only the sound of my footsteps echoed through the cave.
And with each step, my pace grew slower.

Certainly, the path from the Lord’s Castle to the Dark Forest, all the way to this cave’s entrance—I had run it faster than anyone.

But toward that place at the end of the cave. Toward Jjangdol Mansion, my steps grew increasingly sluggish.
What might be waiting there kept surfacing in my mind.

Of course, I knew it too.

That I needed to finish this test quickly.
I knew there were people waiting for me in reality right now.

“…But this isn’t right.”

My footsteps halted.
My voice was calm.

“This isn’t right.”

I clenched my fist. My face showed no disturbance. I raised my clenched fist and brought it down hard.

Thwack!

I struck my own thigh with my fist, my leg still planted firmly.
I spoke to myself.

“This isn’t right.”

My pace was slowing down.
Time was running out. I had so much to do. Yet here I was, coming to a halt.

This was not how Kale Heniatus—how Kim Rok-soo—should act.

Thwack, thwack!
I pounded my exhausted thighs with my fists, the ones refusing to carry me forward any longer. My expression remained impassive.

‘Kim Rok-soo, I… I’m telling you.’

The voice of my former team leader Lee Soo-hyuk echoed in my mind.
A voice I despised, yet could not forget.

‘Just stay quiet, sir?’
‘Quiet? Soon I’ll be quiet forever anyway, so what.’
‘…Don’t say such things.’
‘I hate it. Kim Rok-soo, Rok-soo.’
‘…Why?’
‘I’m asking you. You understand?’
‘…You’re telling me to live carefree?’
‘Hey, have you ever seen life work out the way you plan? No, I… *cough!* Anyway… I’m asking, I’m begging you. Rok-soo. Take my place. Watch my back.’

Damn it.
I straightened my body.
And I began walking again.
The pace that had grown sluggish and halted now moved forward with steady, unwavering rhythm.

The voices of people from other departments, whispered when they thought I wasn’t listening, drifted back like phantoms.

‘Hey. Kim Rok-soo, that cold bastard didn’t even cry when his benefactor died? How does he have no expression?’
‘…Who knows. Still, Team Leader Lee Soo-hyuk chose his successor well. Kim Rok-soo is incredibly competent at his job.’
‘Why else would they call him the cold-blooded Kim Rok-soo?’

With an expressionless face, I walked toward the end of the cave passage.

What I feared most.
I knew what it was, yet this time it was merely an illusion.

“So it doesn’t matter.”

I moved forward with those words.

Tap. Tap.
My footsteps fell at a steady pace, advancing unobstructed. And finally, I could see the end of the corridor.
Compared to the dimly lit magical lamps scattered throughout the passage, a brilliant light shone from the corridor’s end.

I walked into that light.

“It’s exactly the same.”

It was exactly the same.
It matched the final appearance of Jjangdol Mansion that I remembered.

So I stepped into the mansion with slightly more relaxed strides than before.

And one by one.
I opened the doors of the mansion.

“Ha, haha—”

And I burst into laughter.

“…Ha, truly.”

The laughter flowed out because it was genuinely absurd.
It was hollow laughter.

Saint Jack’s prayer room and bedroom.
Sword Master Hana’s bedroom.
Necromancer Mary’s study and bedroom.
Rosalind’s study.

Click. Click.
Each time I turned the doorknob and opened a door, my laughter grew deeper and deeper.
It was exactly the same.

The rooms of those whom Kale remembered appeared before him exactly as they had been.
Yet everything was subtly different.

On Saint Jack’s desk lay ‘The Sun’s Condemnation’—a divine artifact of the shattered mirror.
Sword Master Hana. Her sword rested neatly upon her bed.
In Necromancer Mary’s laboratory, one of her black robes lay alongside bone fragments of the Black Wyvern.
Upon Rosalind’s desk sat her magical staff and the highest-grade mana stone that Kale had given her—still unused.

Kale paused for a moment, flipping through a book.

【…Among those who suffered direct blows from the White Star and his subordinates’ devastating assault, the vast majority perished, their very bodies vanishing without a trace.】
【…Thus, graves for most of these great ones could not be erected. There was nothing left to bury.】

“Ha, ha-”

Kale’s hollow laughter echoed through the mansion, filling it completely.
His mouth opened.

“This is a tomb.”

This vast cavern beneath the Underground Dark Forest. It was a graveyard.

Click.
Kale opened the door to another room.

The rooms where the wolf boy Rak and his brothers dwelt stretched out before him in succession.
Kale gently touched the wolf king’s diary he had once given to Rak, then moved forward.

Click. Click.

Vicross and Ron.
The rooms of this fearsome pair came into view as well.

“Hah!”

Upon Ron’s bed. One arm remained. The artificial limb that Mary had fashioned for him. It seemed it had not vanished.
Kale finally closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

But soon he moved forward once more.

Click.
Next, I saw the room where Erhafen had stayed.
And then.

Click.

As Kale Heniatus opened the door, I saw the sword I had given to Choi Han. The blade was shattered, leaving only the hilt.

【The hero Choi Han was the one who suffered the most gruesome death. He charged directly at the White Star, volunteering himself as bait to separate the White Star from the others, only to vanish without a trace in the world when struck by the White Star’s lightning.】
【All that remained was the hilt of his sword.】
【I investigated the past of this hero, the youngest Sword Master, who made such a noble sacrifice.】

Rustle. Rustle.
Kale Heniatus turned the pages of the book.

【Strangely enough, except for his first appearance in the magic bomb terrorist attack in the Roan Kingdom Capital, where Kale Heniatus first revealed himself as a hero to the world, I could not find any trace of Choi Han’s past.】
【He seemed like a person who began his existence alongside Kale Heniatus’s achievements.】
【Of course, I hope you understand that this is merely my personal opinion and expression.】

Tap. Tap.
Kale Heniatus gently tapped my thigh with my fist.
My chest felt suffocated.

【Kale Heniatus. The heroes who walked alongside him—it was possible to trace at least some of their pasts.】
【But the stories of Choi Han and Raon Mir began with Kale Heniatus’s achievements and ended with his great achievements.】

Kale’s lips parted.

Who the hell wrote this?
What are these damned expressions?

Kale wanted to pour out words. But they wouldn’t come.

Sigh.
I drew a deep breath.
Once I confirmed that I could breathe properly, I simply closed my mouth.

Thud.
I closed the book roughly and moved on.
Now only one room remained.

‘My room.’

I headed to the top floor of the Jjangdol Mansion. Since I had used an entire floor as my bedroom, I climbed the stairs upward.
And finally, I came face to face with my own room.

“Sigh.”

I took a deep breath.
Tap. Tap. I moved forward, tapping my thighs with my fists.

The first thing I saw was the fountain pen and sword I had gifted to Basen and Lily.
Next, I saw the belongings of Count Derth and Countess Viollan.

They too seemed to have fought with such desperation.
So all that remained were these relics.

This version of me had brought the family’s mementos here as well.

I understood that sentiment.
To this space that only I knew in this world.
To this space where we had promised to spend time together after everything ended.
I understood my own heart in turning this space into a tomb.

“Ha! This is here too.”

I let out a bitter laugh upon seeing the video communication device I had used to contact Albert Crossman sitting on the table.

【Albert Crossman. He fell in battle fighting against the White Star, who had set his sights on the Capital.】

Tap. Tap.
I tapped my thighs again.
To move forward once more.
But my steps came to a halt.

I gazed up at my bed.

“…I’m going to lose my mind.”

I really felt like I was about to lose it.
Three piggy banks sat on the bed.
I didn’t need to ask whose they were.

Raon, On, and Hong.
The three children’s piggy banks were placed on the bed.
My hand, which had been tapping my thigh, froze in midair.

“…Damn it.”

I swallowed hard, suppressing the surge of emotion rising from my chest.

The piggy banks were half-full. I rummaged through my pockets.

“…Why do I have no money?”

I wanted to fill those piggy banks, but I had no money.
I sat down on the edge of the bed.

Tap. Tap.
This time, I tapped the cover of a book.

“How do I get out of here?”

My voice asking the question was calm.
But my eyes were bloodshot and my shoulders sagged with exhaustion.

The moment I feared most.
I thought that if I faced that moment, I would pass the trial.
That’s why I came all the way to the Heniatus Count Estate and Jjangdol Mansion.

I had retraced every trace.
Because that’s the only way I could move forward.
I had to go to the people waiting for me.

That was when it happened.

Whiiing— whiiing—

The sound of wind reached my ears. I turned my head.
It was the wind rattling against the mansion’s windows.
I approached and opened the window.

Whiiing— whiing—
The sound of wind drifted in.
The breeze swept across my face.

My expression grew peculiar.
The wind was blowing.
From above to below.
As if beckoning me to follow.

My weary face—
the exhausted expression my teammates had worried about—I spoke.

“Follow you?”

That was the moment.

‘Can you hear me?’

I froze.
It was a voice I had never heard before.

‘Can you hear me?’
‘Can you hear us?’
‘You should be able to hear us!’

It was not a single voice.
Suddenly, multiple voices echoed in my mind.
Voices of all ages and genders, each with their own distinct characteristics.

They were asking if I could hear them.
I looked down.

Tap.
His foot pressed against the window frame as he began to climb up onto it.

Whoooosh… whoooosh…
The wind blew from above downward.
It was as if beckoning to me. I turned to look back. Various traces and remnants came into view.

“This isn’t my future.”

I thought of those who existed beyond this dream called a trial, not the traces left here.

‘Can you hear me?’
‘Do you hear?’

The voices of entities still speaking to me reached my ears.
They grew increasingly numerous.

I had a sense of who the owners of these voices might be.

“The Wind Spirit.”

Even without anyone telling me, I was certain it was them.
I turned my head again and looked down below the window.
The ground appeared far below the rather tall mansion.

“Ugh, how bothersome.”

I couldn’t even do a proper landing technique.
There was no Choi Han to carry me.
And there was no Raon to cast a flight spell for me.

The corners of my mouth lifted. I threw the book I was holding backward.

Thud.
The book fell onto the bed.
At the same moment, I kicked off the window frame.

Whoooosh… whoooosh…
At the same time, wind began to wrap around his body.
Downward.
Voice of Wind enveloped his body as it plummeted rapidly downward.

I closed my eyes.

-You have passed the trial.

The moment I heard that voice, a familiar one reached my ears.

-Can you hear me?
-Can you hear me, Cale?
-You can hear me, right? Huh? Say something.

The Thief. Jjangdol. Cale’s Power.
I smiled at the voices echoing in my mind.

“I can hear you. Loud and clear.”

My voice sounded strangely light. But the moment I opened my eyes, I spoke curtly.

“No, if you’re going to create such a garbage trial— huh?”

I stopped short as soon as my eyes opened, about to complain to The Thief.

‘His eyes opened!’
‘He passed the trial!’
‘We were protecting him!’

Voices rang out. Their owners remained invisible.
I could see the golden spinning top in my hand. It no longer shone as it had before.

‘I’m so glad! Really so glad!’
‘Yes! We have someone to talk to! Yes!’

It was deafening.
Like standing in the middle of a bustling marketplace.

‘Do you have any idea how much effort I’ve put into protecting you?’

But Kale Heniatus paused at the voice of one spirit.
The spirits had been saying since earlier that they had protected Kale Heniatus.

‘Now that I think about it—’

Kale Heniatus sensed something was off about his surroundings.
A translucent sphere came into view.

A sphere made of wind enveloped both the urn and him.

Drip. Drip.
The sound of water droplets falling echoed through the air.
Kale Heniatus lifted his head. The flame sphere Raon Mir had created still burned with brilliant light.

“…Damn it.”

Kale Heniatus’s face contorted in frustration.
The Temple ceiling was gradually fracturing.

Drip. Drip.
Black liquid seeped from the ceiling and dripped downward.

Kale Heniatus bowed his head.

The Temple was quite a vast space.
Black liquid had risen to fill half of it.
Dead mana was flooding the Temple.

‘We’re holding it back, but it’s about to burst!’

The wind spirits cried out.

‘We’re protecting this Temple and Black Mountain right now, but Black Mountain is going to explode soon!’
‘If that happens, the sea will turn pitch black, won’t it?’
‘That’s not the problem! Everyone will die! That’s the problem!’

Three days. The Mercenary King Bud said I had to return the artifact to its place within three days.
Suddenly, my mouth opened without my realizing it.

“How many days have I been taking the test?”

How many days had I spent in the test?

-A week! You idiot!

Cale’s Power spoke in a voice full of worry.

-…I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would take this long. By the way, time flows differently in tests and reality.

The Thief conveyed her meaning carefully in a dejected voice.

…A week?
I recalled Cale’s Power’s answer and opened my mouth without thinking.

“…This is a disaster.”

The faces of Raon, Choi Han, On, Hong, and Ron all flashed through my mind.

‘That’s right! This is a disaster! Black Mountain is going to explode!’
‘The dead mana reservoir can’t burst!’

The voices of the Wind Spirits followed immediately, and reacting to them, I blurted out what had just occurred to me.
Black Mountain. The dead mana reservoir is about to explode.
Then.

“A sea of fire.”

Cale’s Power immediately responded to my words.

-Exactly! The moment you open your eyes, a sea of fire—you’re insane!

What are you saying?
I straightened my expression at Cale’s Power’s nonsense. But I couldn’t suppress the laughter that rose at the reality I faced once more.
It was not empty laughter, but full and genuine laughter.

Crackle. Snap.
Electricity of a golden hue began to surge across Kale Heniatus’s palm.

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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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