Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 389

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

The four directions of the Mogur Empire.
In Bud’s mind, he envisioned the Imperial Army currently stationed in the capital being torn apart in all four directions, swiftly subduing the enemies in an instant.

‘As expected.’

Things really were different when traveling with this man!
A peculiar fervor ignited in Bud’s eyes as he gazed at Kale Heniatus.

The Mogur Empire.
It was practically a nation without an Emperor at present.

In a sense, it might appear that Kale Heniatus was helping a being called ‘Sir Rex.’ But if that were the only reason, Kale Heniatus would not have stepped forward.

Before coming here, Kale Heniatus had spoken words to Choi Han, Raon, and Bud.
Bud recalled what Kale Heniatus had said.

‘It is said that one who possesses the sky-attribute Ancient Power must consume dead mana.’

Bud had asked about that statement.

‘Why? Why is dead mana necessary?’
‘I don’t know the exact reason either. But I suspect one of two possibilities.’
‘What are those two possibilities?’

Bud remembered Kale Heniatus’s answer.

‘Fuel or a restraint.’

Dead mana could be the fuel that allows the use of sky-attribute Ancient Power.
Or it could be a restraint that prevents the immense sky-attribute power from raging and destroying the body.

Returning to reality, Bud watched Kale Heniatus’s mouth slowly opening.

“Does everyone agree?”

Agree?
Bud immediately opened his mouth.

“Of course!”

Stabilizing the Empire’s internal affairs, which could descend into civil war, was indeed an important matter.
But moving Bud was for another reason entirely.

‘Dead mana. I have to eliminate it!’

The Four-Directional Alchemy Towers.
I needed to gather up all traces of black magic and dead mana that would be there.

‘Kale Heniatus surely participated in this endeavor not only to stabilize the Empire but also with that objective in mind.’

Bud smiled as he watched Kale turn his gaze away indifferently at his own exclamation. Then he looked at the others who were affirming Kale’s words.

But soon Bud’s smile froze.

“I don’t like it.”

It was Sword Master Hana.

“I cannot accept this.”

At her words, confusion appeared on Bud’s face.

‘She was pleased just moments ago when I said we would fight.’

Why was she saying she couldn’t accept it now?
Bud could not comprehend it.
His eyes turned toward Hana.

‘…There’s no information at all about her personality or tendencies.’

The Mercenary Guild had extremely limited information about Hana.
In that moment, Kale’s mouth opened.

“…We should hear Sir Rex’s opinion and the thoughts of others as well.”

The approval of Sir Rex, Ray the Alchemist, and Saint Jack—those three absent from this gathering—was essential for executing this plan.
Kale Heniatus fixed his gaze on Hana, who had been the first to voice her opposition.
She wore a broad smile, and he tossed his question at her casually.

“What’s wrong? Not satisfied?”

Bud’s eyes widened.
Not satisfied? What did that mean?

But Kale answered his unspoken question immediately.

“You’re supposed to handle the strongest ones from the south, so are you unhappy about being assigned the north instead?”

Laughter burst from Hana’s lips once more.

“Ha, haha!”

After laughing for a while, Hana answered calmly.

“That’s right. My hands are itching. I thought I’d get more than one battlefield. That’s my share.”

Her voice was composed, yet her eyes gleamed with the unmistakable demand to grant her wish. Kale met that gaze and answered her.

“Finish the north quickly and come back.”
“…What?”

To Hana’s questioning response, Kale gave a light shrug.

“Clear the north first, then come to whichever battlefield you want—east, south, or west. That works, doesn’t it?”

Hana fell silent for a moment, then nodded.

“I like it.”

She looked at Kale Heniatus and Rosalind as she spoke.

“So you really intend to serve as advisors?”
“This is an imperial matter, after all.”

Kale Heniatus answered without hesitation, and Rosalind smiled softly as she spoke to Hana.

“Your older sister does know how to support well.”

Hana pretended not to hear what Kale Heniatus and Rosalind said, waving her hand before rising from her seat.
Screech.
With the sound of the chair scraping, she left her place and headed straight for the door.
After positioning herself before the door, she turned her gaze toward Kale Heniatus and Rosalind. These two were essentially the heads of all these current affairs.

Hana’s mouth opened.

“Kale Heniatus, the moment I received word that you were coming here, I came immediately.”

Sir Rex, Ray Stecker, Saint Jack.
All three were far too busy stabilizing the internal collapse caused by black magic and the Imperial Palace.

“The other three asked me to come.”

So I came.

“To make the judgment.”

I came here as their representative.

“We’ve already decided to suppress the rebellion as quickly as possible. And if your plan seems most reasonable, we’ll choose it. We’ve made full preparations to suppress the rebellion.”

The recent battle that took place in the Mogur Empire Capital was largely due to the strength of Kale Heniatus and his companions.

So now we must demonstrate it.
The people of Mogur, the Sun God Church, the true Alchemists.
The power of these three.

“We will participate in the destruction of the Four-Directional Alchemy Towers. We’ll have troops prepared.”

And we will be victorious.
After that victory, Mogur will finally return to a blank slate, freed from the schemes of black magic and the Imperial Palace, and will be able to attempt anything.
At that time, we will repay the Roan Kingdom and Albert Crown Prince with both the price of the transaction and our debt.

Of course, that would be impossible within a short timeframe.
At minimum, ten years. Mogur Empire would be lost for far longer than that.

‘Well, that’s neither here nor there.’

I set aside my wandering thoughts and recalled what I needed to say.

“And about the debt.”

No, that wasn’t right.
I corrected myself.

“And, I will repay the favor you’ve shown me.”

Kale Heniatus and his companions hadn’t helped merely as people of the Roan Kingdom.
Both I and Jack understood that better than anyone.

I was at least a person of conscience.

Click.
I slowly turned the doorknob.
Behind me, I heard Kale Heniatus’s voice.

“Rosalind.”

I stepped out through the door, and Rosalind spoke to everyone.

“One week from now. We’ll begin after that.”
“Understood.”

Thud!
With my response, the door closed.
A brief silence settled over the Crown Prince Palace bedroom.

“Ooh.”

Bud, breaking the silence, took a swig straight from the bottle and let out an exclamation.

“Sword Master Hana is quite straightforward!”

Kale Heniatus and Bud’s eyes met. In that instant, Kale flinched. Bud’s gaze burned with intensity.

“Excellent! You’d be perfect as the Branch Chief of the Mercenary Guild’s Western Continent branch, expanding beyond the Eastern Continent! Strong, straightforward, and truly mercenary-like!”

What nonsense is this?
Kale dismissed Bud.
Hana as the Mercenary King? Or a Branch Chief of the Mercenary Guild?
It was utterly absurd given her temperament.

As Kale turned away from Bud, his gaze collided directly with Rosalind’s.

“Young Master.”
“What is it?”

Rosalind asked with a subtle smile.

“You said you were going to shake people down for money?”

Kale answered with a serious expression.

“Shake down? I’m simply going to collect what is owed to me.”

Rosalind tilted her head and pointed to her side.

“But Raon said you were going to steal—no, shake them down?”
“That’s right! Smart Rosalind! That face of his was definitely the face of someone going to shake them down!”

At Raon’s excited words, Rosalind nodded along with a smile. Delighted by her warm agreement, Raon began chattering about what had happened on the Eastern Continent.

“We encountered the White Star, but this time we landed a blow! Ah! And there was a Mage next to the White Star!”
“…A Mage?”

Watching this exchange, Kale flinched at the glint in Rosalind’s eyes.
Regardless, the Young Dragon and the Mage continued their conversation.

“Yeah! A Mage! A nasty fellow with incredible magical prowess!”

Flutter, flutter.
Raon’s words, spoken with unbridled enthusiasm, embedded themselves in Rosalind’s ears.

‘Incredibly skilled at magic? So much so that even a Dragon would say that?’

Rosalind slowly opened her mouth and asked Raon.

“More than me?”

The fluttering wings came to a halt.
But soon, Raon answered Rosalind with a serious expression.

“Teeny! Really just a tiny bit! Rosalind! You’re strong too! Plenty, very strong!”

A smile played at the corners of Rosalind’s lips. In the end, Raon’s words meant that the Mage was just slightly stronger than Rosalind.
Raon burst out urgently to Rosalind, who was simply smiling.

“Really, Rosalind is smart! A genius!”
“I know.”
“Right! Rosalind is a genius, yeah?”
“I’m a genius.”

Raon looked at Rosalind, who nodded calmly contrary to his expectations, with a puzzled expression and couldn’t continue speaking. Then he rolled his eyes and glanced at Kale, but Kale swallowed hard and averted his gaze from Rosalind.

‘She’s going to grow stronger.’

I had a conviction that Rosalind would soon become even stronger than she was now.
Rosalind was someone with more ambition regarding magic than anyone else, to the point of targeting the Tower Master position.

Screech.
I stood up from my seat.

“Human, going?”

Raon had been looking at Rosalind but suddenly approached me.
The others also finished their meal and stood up.
It was time for everyone to go about their tasks.

“This is the location of Singten Merchant Lord’s secret mansion.”

Rosalind handed me a map.

Singten Merchant Lord.
This was the person from whom I needed to collect payment.
Rosalind watched as he carefully tucked the map into his pocket and asked.

“Young master, it was one billion counds, wasn’t it?”
“No, I think I need to extract one billion five hundred million.”
“…What?”

Suddenly, the amount had jumped by five hundred million.

“Human, what are you saying?”
“Are you drunk?”

When Raon and Bud looked over in surprise, I pretended not to hear and walked past Rosalind toward the window.
Officially, no one was in the Crown Prince Palace, so all the windows were covered with blackout curtains that let not a sliver of light escape outside.
As I passed Rosalind, I spoke.

“Don’t you need mana stones to practice magic?”

Rosalind’s eyes widened slightly before returning to normal, and she asked playfully.

“Free of charge?”
“It’s repayment for taking on Empire matters all this time. And it’s an investment in the next Tower Master.”

Her smile deepened.

“I look forward to it.”

I didn’t bother responding to that.
Instead, I gestured with my eyes, and at Rosalind’s signal, all the magical lights in the bedroom extinguished in an instant.

In the darkened room.
Whoosh.
I drew back the blackout curtain covering one of the many windows in the bedroom.
Though it was night, the view of the Imperial Capital appeared, with lights twinkling here and there.

Squeak.
The window opened with a soft sound.
Today, there were no patrol guards stationed outside the Crown Prince Palace.
Therefore, no patrollers existed to detect movement in the darkness.

“Bud, Raon, Choi Han, and myself. The four of us will make this trip.”

A gap in the window, opened just a finger’s width.

Whoosh.
The wind of the Mogur Empire Capital swept inside.

I slipped my hand into my inner pocket. Rosalind’s low voice reached my ears.

“The Sinten Merchant Guild, known to be aligned with the Imperial Palace, is currently keeping a low profile. Especially the Merchant Lord—he’s secluded himself completely.”

The Sinten Merchant Guild, which had been attached to the Crown Prince’s faction.
Now that the Imperial Palace had crumbled, the Sinten Merchant Guild found itself in a precarious position, like a candle before the wind. They remained withdrawn, merely observing the situation and waiting to pass through it unscathed.

“Of course, the Merchant Lord is at the secret mansion marked on the map.”

And Frigia, who belonged to my Information Organization, along with her subordinates, had already grasped all of this.

“Furthermore, the Sinten Merchant Lord is currently sending financial support to the Imperial Family members cooperating with the Southern Alchemy Tower.”

Hmm.
Bud let out a small exclamation of admiration.
He had thought it would be a simple merchant guild receiving payment, but it seemed this would be quite a significant operation. He focused his attention on Rosalind’s words.
At that moment, a small voice reached his ears.

“…Kale?”

Choi Han looked at me with a rather bewildered tone.
Bud turned his gaze toward me at that voice. As the Sword Master’s aura directed itself through his eyes, my face became clearly visible even in the darkness.

“What? What’s wrong?”

And he was startled.
I was smiling.

“Ha, haha—”

I finally let out a laugh and withdrew my hand from my inner pocket.

I had reached into my inner pocket to retrieve the map, but my hand touched something else first.
At that moment, wind blew in through the open window.

What my hand touched was a golden spinning top.
In that instant, wind swept in and spoke.
No—the voice of a Wind Spirit reached me.

‘Hello? I can finally talk to you! You’re that amazing friend who fought the White Star in the Capital last time, right?’

One of the Wind Spirits from the Western Continent spoke to me warmly.

‘A human who can hear our voices! That’s incredible! Oh, right! Since you fought the Black Mages, I’ll tell you!’

The Wind Spirit spoke cheerfully.

‘Some Black Mages were heading north!’

North?
I found that strange.

‘They said they need to meet the Whale Tribe! There’s apparently some clue about land there. And the White Star is going too, they said?’

Suddenly, another Wind Spirit chimed in.

‘That’s right. We both heard it. There’s a clue in the place where the Whale Tribe lives.’
‘Right?’
‘Yeah. So within a month, the top-tier Black Mages from the Four-Directional Alchemy Towers are supposed to attack the Whale Tribe.’
‘Exactly! The Black Mages said this clue would be the final key for the White Star!’

…What?
What the White Star was searching for was surely the earth-attribute Ancient Power that would complete him.
Yet as I listened to the Wind Spirits speak, my expression grew increasingly peculiar.

Why, you ask?
That bastard, the White Star.

‘What am I chasing after here?’

There’s no clue there.
In the Korean records left by Choi Jung-gun, the Whale Tribe Land was not a ‘clue.’

“Ah.”

In that moment, a thought flashed through my mind.
And so I began to laugh.

“Why are you laughing, human?”

To Raon’s question, I answered brightly.

“A good idea just came to me.”
“A good idea?”

Yes. A good idea.

Right now, my group needed time.
Time to find the power of the last remaining land.
Along with the strength to prepare for destroying Dark bases and battling Dark, the Lion Tribe, the Bear Tribe, and the Cat Tribe Soldiers.
And time for Choi Han to become a Dragon Slayer.

“Should we pull off a deception?”

After a brief silence, Raon broke it with a shout.

“Human! So you were laughing because you wanted to deceive them!”

Whether Raon marveled at his own realization or not, I said what I needed to say.

“Clophe Seka.”
“Huh? Human, why are you looking for that crazy guardian knight?”
“Get in contact with him.”

And I called for Choi Han.

“Choi Han.”
“Yes, Kale Heniatus.”
“Is there any information about the Whale Tribe in those records written in that language called Hangul?”

Five seconds.
Choi Han remained silent for exactly that long before opening his mouth.

“Yes, there is.”

I recalled the records carved into my mind.
The records left behind by Choi Jung-gun.

The land where the Whale Tribe dwells.

【If you head toward the northern end of the Western Continent, beyond the sea there exist massive chunks of ice. Originally, no one lives there.】
【I introduced that place to the Whale Tribe.】

I asked Choi Han.

“What kind of place is it?”
“A land with nothing, sir.”

That’s right.
It was merely barren chunks of ice with nothing else.

I smiled and spoke.

“I need to set a trap.”

Let me lay down a trap that will distract the White Star elsewhere, one that will steal his time.

The relocation of Lord Sherit’s Castle.
The destruction of the Mogur Empire’s Alchemy Tower.
The White Star searching for the Whale Tribe Land.
The Cat Tribe Soldiers battle and the destruction of the Dark base.

One by one, new plans took shape in my mind.
I spoke to my companions.

“I need to deceive the White Star.”

A proper deception, through and through.
I had made my decision.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————