Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 362

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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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“Crown Prince! Why are you frowning? I, the great one, will learn that smile too! And then I’ll show you the White Star!”

Raon Mir twitched the corners of his mouth, attempting to mimic the smiles that Kale Heniatus and Crown Prince Alberu wore. But beneath his chubby cheeks, those twitching corners conveyed neither dignity nor malice.
It simply looked adorable.

—Ahem.

The Crown Prince’s smile faded completely.
Behind Raon Mir, I could see the face of the Ancient Dragon Erhafen, regarding me with an odd glint in his eyes.
In that moment, a voice broke the peculiar silence.

“Now then, about that…”

It was Burd Illis.
He had already produced a second bottle of alcohol and was gulping it down while grinning wickedly.

“We used magic, didn’t we?”

Burd’s palm gestured respectfully toward the magical communication channel through which Alberu had appeared.

“The Mercenary Guild Central Headquarters must be in absolute chaos right now, wouldn’t you say?”

He spoke with the ease of someone discussing another’s problem.

“The Mercenary King isn’t there! The highest-ranking Mage isn’t there! And I know that elite members of the Dark are lurking nearby, watching! But!”

*Gulp.*
A sip of alcohol disappeared into Burd’s body.

“But! Magic was detected, is what I’m saying! And not just at some point in the tunnel leading to this archive—no, right! Smack!”

He spread both arms wide, gesturing toward the Record Archive and the Library.

“Magic was detected right at the center of this archive! In all of Mercenary Guild history, there’s never been an intrusion like this, has there? This is an extremely critical situation!”

Clink.
The bottle settled against the floor.
Burd’s gaze shifted toward Kale Heniatus.

“My friend, what do you think the Mercenary Guild would do?”

Kale Heniatus answered plainly.

“They’d come charging in like madmen. Their elite forces, armed to the teeth.”

In that moment, Alberu’s lips parted.

-…Was this place supposed to be off-limits for magic?

Alberu saw Burd, his face flushed with drink, grinning and nodding.

“Yes, Your Highness! That’s right! They’ll all come charging in soon! Kahahaha!”
-This, this mad-

This lunatic!
Alberu swallowed the curse, unable to hurl insults at someone he’d just met.

The elite forces stationed at the Guild’s Central Headquarters were essentially the Mercenary Guild’s core military strength.
They would come rushing here in alarm?

A smile gradually bloomed across Alberu’s bewildered face. His lips opened, and he spoke as if tossing the words aside.

-Then we should begin now.

His gaze turned to one side.

-That three-way battle you mentioned.

Servant Ron. He met the Crown Prince’s eyes with a subtle smile.

“Indeed, Your Highness. This is the perfect moment to announce the revival of the Molan Family. The Dark operatives will surely detect the Mercenary Guild’s elite forces moving and follow in their wake.”

Burd’s laughter erupted even louder at the sight.

“Kekeke! They’re coming in fifteen minutes, but we have plenty of time! I honestly can’t tell anymore if I’m the normal one or if everyone else is insane!”

It was essentially the same thing as saying everyone but himself was abnormal, but no one paid attention to his words.
Everyone was remarkably composed—almost unnaturally so. Kale Heniatus was the epitome of this leisurely confidence.

He checked his body as the heat gradually drained from it, then buttoned himself back up. Vicross released his shoulder and opened his mouth.

“But didn’t you say only the Mercenary King knows how to get here?”
“Hehehehe.”

Vicross saw the Mercenary King smiling as he met his gaze.

…Was he insane?
Watching Burd grin foolishly, Vicross felt deeply uneasy. Regardless, the Mercenary King continued.

“Do you know what’s directly above this place we crawled through the underground tunnel to reach?”
“Ah.”

Vicross realized he no longer needed to ask.
Above this vast library stood the First Mercenary Guild Branch, a three-story wooden structure.
As Burd introduced this location, he had also mentioned something.

‘And that space will explode if anyone tries to infiltrate it using force.’

Vicross’s gaze turned toward his father Ron and Kale Heniatus. Kale rose to his feet and spoke.

“So they’ll try to break in within the next ten or five minutes?”
“Hehe, to be precise, they won’t be able to break in here. They’ll all be waiting either at the cabin where the underground tunnel entrance was or at the First Guild Branch above this Record Archive, won’t they? I gave those orders to my staff officer long ago.”

More precisely, most of the elite forces would head toward the First Guild Branch.
They would deliberately lead the Dark members here.
And the remaining few elite members—excluding the Mercenary King and the highest-ranking Mage—the strongest ones left at the Central Headquarters would secretly move toward the cabin with the underground tunnel entrance to avoid the Dark members.

“Excellent.”

Ron displayed a benevolent yet satisfied smile. He approached Burd, extended his hand to him sprawled on the floor with a bottle of alcohol, and spoke warmly.

“Don’t worry and leave it to me.”

Bud grasped that hand and pulled himself to his feet. In that moment, a gentle voice like the warm breeze of a sunset spring reached his ears.

“I’ll make sure to destroy it properly.”

A groan escaped Bud’s lips.
At the same time, he muttered under his breath.

“How are we supposed to move all these records?”

Of course, despite the casual tone of his words, his eyes were fixed on one direction. Kale Heniatus let out a quiet chuckle at the sight.
A cunning and resourceful one, that’s for sure.

Kale Heniatus’s gaze followed Bud’s toward the same spot.
From there, the platinum-haired Ancient Dragon spoke at a leisurely pace.

“Would it work to move them into my subspace?”

Tens of thousands of books.
An Ancient Dragon could move that much into their subspace or anywhere else in a short amount of time if they so desired.

“I’ll do half! Great Raon Mir’s subspace is vast! Raon Mir has many subspaces besides apple pie subspace!”

Raon Mir fluttered his wings and announced his presence.
That was the moment.

Weeee— weeeeng—

The ceiling.
Everyone’s gaze shot upward.

It wasn’t a sound from within the Record Archive. It was a massive alarm blaring from beyond that thick ceiling.
The alarm spread deeper into the archive, engulfing the space itself.

“They’ve arrived.”

All eyes converged on Bud.

“The elite guild members have shown up.”

There was no way an alarm would sound just because a Mercenary Guild member had arrived.

“If an unauthorized intruder approaches the wooden building, an alarm sounds and sends a signal to this archive.”

Unauthorized intrusion.
There was only one answer.

“It seems the guild members brought those Dark bastards along quite carefully.”

Dark.
They had come together as well.

Burd smiled.
That smile became the signal.

Vwoooom— vwooom—
Black mana began to ripple around Raon.
And around Erhafen, platinum-hued particles shimmered silently.

Kale Heniatus watched this sight and picked up the video communication device in front of him, surveying his surroundings.
Choi Han, On, and Hong positioned themselves behind and beside Kale.

-Are you going to blow it up right away?

Kale lowered his gaze and answered Alberu on the screen.

“Yes, we must.”

A question followed his straightforward answer.

“However, Your Highness.”
-What is it?
“I hesitate to ask such a question in the midst of all this urgency, but…”

Kale’s calm voice resonated.

“Why did you contact me?”
-…Sigh.

Alberu exhaled deeply. He was exasperated by this man’s behavior—only now asking what he wanted. The nobles of the Roan Kingdom trembled with fear or anticipation whenever he contacted them.
Yet this man before him treated Alberu like some bothersome older brother from next door.

But Alberu had something to say, so he opened his mouth.
His voice was calm.

-A rebellion might break out in the Mogur Empire.

After a few seconds of silence, Kale Heniatus’s mouth opened.

“…Pardon?”

What did you say?
What’s happening where?

-The Empire’s territory is quite vast, isn’t it? Apparently, several imperial family members are forming factions with nobles who follow them. It looks like roughly three or four factions will emerge.

Currently, in the Mogur Empire on the Western Continent, the Emperor and Crown Prince were imprisoned, leaving the throne vacant.
Sir Rex, the Saint, and Sword Master Hana occupied the Empire Capital and the Imperial Palace, slowly expanding their influence and building a foundation for themselves. But the other imperial family members had no intention of allowing that foundation to be established.

Crown Prince Albert gazed at Kale Heniatus with a subtle smile.

-Why are you pretending to be surprised? Wasn’t this all expected?

At that moment, Kale Heniatus smiled in response to Alberu.
He answered calmly.

“It’s just slower than I thought.”

I didn’t expect them to gather forces this slowly.

“I’ll need to visit the Empire.”
-Yes. You should go and help Sir Rex.

The gazes of Kale Heniatus and Alberu intertwined, their smiles deepening.
Sir Rex, the Sun God Cult twins, Kale Heniatus, and Alberu had been waiting for this situation. Otherwise, why would they have focused solely on cleaning up after the Empire?

“I’ll destroy everything first and contact you.”
-Yes, destroy it well.

Kale Heniatus and Alberu could see the Mercenary King Burd Illis staring at them with a bewildered expression, but they had no time to concern themselves with him.

“I’ll take half! The great me can do it all, but I’ll concede half to Grandpa!”

Uuuuuuung—!
The moment the vibrations in the air around Raon reached their peak, Kale could see black mana shooting away from Raon’s side toward the Record Archive.

“The little one says the funniest things.”

Snap!
The Ancient Dragon Erhafen’s fingers collided, and with a crisp sound, the platinum light vanished.
And as a result.

“Oh.”

Burd could see the Record Archive now empty, with only bookshelves remaining.
He looked at his companions, who showed no surprise whatsoever, with even greater astonishment.
Regardless, Kale made a request to Raon.

“Invisibility, please.”
“Understood, human!”

Raon’s invisibility magic extended toward Kale, On, Hong, and Choi Han.
Kale opened his mouth as he watched his body gradually becoming transparent from his feet upward.

“I’ll contact you again.”
-Do that.
“By the way, Your Highness.”

The Crown Prince was about to end the video communication when he looked at Kale.

“Why are you dressed so formally today? There’s no Royal Court event scheduled, is there?”
-Ah.

The Crown Prince glanced at his own attire and spoke calmly.

-The Central nobles have been crawling around lately, wondering if it’s worth maintaining relations.

Kale could see Alberu smiling with what Raon had described as an evil smile.

-I need to sort some things out.

Kale Heniatus didn’t ask what that sorting entailed. Something told him it would be better not to.
And he faithfully followed such instincts.

“Yes, take your time.”
-Well, I’m not planning to kill anyone or cause serious harm.

Click.
The video communication channel cut off.
Naturally, Alberu had ended it.

Tch.
Kale deliberately pushed Alberu’s parting words to the back of his mind.
Two figures moved past him, pressing ahead.

Ron and Vicross.

“Father.”

Ron turned his gaze toward the voice beside him, looking at his son.

Vicross, who had crossed the continent as a child, had never learned assassination techniques from him.
Ron had deliberately refused to teach him.
This had been the case even in the Eastern Continent before the Molan Family fell.

To pass the Molan Family to his son, he should have taught him assassination techniques first, yet Ron had instead insisted on physical training and taught him greatsword mastery.

‘I understand now.’

Ron finally grasped why his past self had acted that way.

Reluctance.
A deep unwillingness to pass the Assassination Family to his son.

Now his son lived primarily wielding greatsword techniques rather than assassination or torture methods, and above all, he spent much of his life cooking.
Ron found solace in that fact alone.

Thus, as Ron aged and his son Vicross had grown into a robust young man, I met his concerned gaze with an impassive expression.

“In this day and age, it would be nice if there were villains who beat up only the wicked—villains with a sense of justice, so to speak.”

Only then did a faint smile appear at the corners of Vicross’s lips.

“It suits you. The Molan Family.”

His tone was utterly bleak, and the smile that formed was equally dim.
That was why they were a family that resembled each other.

“Raon.”

Ron called out to Raon and pointed toward the ceiling.
It was the beginning.

* * *

“This is maddening.”
“Keep quiet.”

One of the Mercenary Guild’s elite members fell silent at the captain’s words. The captain looked at the figure standing beside him and spoke.

“…The tail followed us properly, didn’t it?”
“Yes, they followed us well.”

The captain’s anxious heart settled somewhat at the news that the Dark members had followed them well.
Yet his heart was still pounding fiercely.

They were absent.
The Mercenary King and the highest-ranking Mage—the two who could be called the Mercenary Guild itself, or its head—were nowhere to be found.
And in such a situation, the Mercenary Guild’s personnel records archive had been breached.

An old three-story wooden building.
The First Mercenary Guild Branch.
The elite members of the Mercenary Guild surrounding it were filled with tension.

“Captain, could it be Dark?”
“…Don’t make rash assumptions.”

The captain sternly silenced the member’s words.

‘Is it Dark? But Dark is keeping us under surveillance? Who on earth could it be?’

But unlike the serious demeanor with which the commander had silenced his subordinate, his mind was in turmoil.

It was a situation where it seemed there were only days left before the Mercenary Guild and Dark would engage in all-out war.
The Record Archive gets ransacked at a time like this?
It was terrible.

“Commander!”

He turned at the call of his subordinate.

“Reinforcements have arrived!”

Elite members arriving in haste.
Mercenary Guild members came rushing toward him.
As if every mercenary in Resting City had come, countless figures approached with weapons in hand.

“Things will be much better with them here!”

Despite the subordinate’s cheerful voice, the commander spoke with tension etched across his face.

“All units, heighten your vigilance—”

But the commander’s words trailed off as he issued the order.

Rummmmmble—

He lowered his head.
He looked down at the ground.

It was trembling.
The earth was resonating.

And the epicenter was—

“Damn it!”

The commander’s gaze fell upon a three-story wooden building.
He shouted.

“Everyone, fall back!”

Beneath the wooden building.
The Record Archive existed dozens of meters below the surface.

The tremor had definitely originated from there.
Yet that vibration pierced through such an enormous depth and reached the surface?

“Evacuate now!”

The commander’s voice shattered the air as he seized his subordinates on either side and pulled them backward.
This was no mere precaution.

“Move!”

Figures in black garments burst from the wooden building.
They were members of Dark who had secretly infiltrated the structure, following the elite Mercenary Guild operatives.

The Mercenary Guild and Dark.
In the moment both groups desperately fled.

BOOM!

A tremendous explosion shook the air.

And the people witnessed it.
Two figures descending lightly onto the wooden building’s roof as it shot upward and slowly crumbled below.

A man with hair turned silver and a man wielding a colossal greatsword.

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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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