Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 442

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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 98. Holding Your Breath Won’t Help

Brown hair swayed in the wind.
A quiet rural farmhouse on the outskirts of Dubori Territory. Though the desert lay nearby, sparse vegetation still managed to grow in scattered patches.

Whoooosh—
Yet barren land untouched by human hands also existed.

Whoooosh—
A single gust of wind swept through that desolate place.
The owner of the swaying brown hair reached back and pulled an ivory-colored hood deep over their head. The brown hair disappeared from view.

-Human! The mana disturbance is growing worse!

I bit my lip hard.

“Kale Heniatus.”

Choi Han, with his light beige hair, ran alongside me.

“Increase our speed.”
“…Yes.”

Whiiiing—
The Ancient Power ‘Voice of Wind’ extending from my hand enveloped the dye-magicked Choi Han and me, along with the invisible Raon, accelerating our pace.

-Human! I see the central small city ahead!

My eyes turned toward the small city where the Lord’s Castle stood.
It was also the location of the entrance leading to the Land of Death desert.

-The closer we approach, the more severe the mana disturbance becomes!

That meant the White Star—or the consequences of his actions—existed there.

‘And likely that Illusionist or whatever they are as well.’

I held the golden spinning top, yet still heard no voice from it. Descending the mountain and heading toward Dubori Territory, I remained rational, though impatience gnawed at me.

Whoooosh—
That urgency accelerated the wind’s speed, enveloping the two men and the dragon.

‘About 600 meters now.’

Roughly 600 meters remained until the City Wall encircling the Small City. Soon I would be able to scale it.

“Cross the City Wall as swiftly as possible.”

Kale Heniatus issued orders to Raon and Choi Han while observing the soldiers stationed atop the City Wall.

‘On the way here, both the territory’s residents and those soldiers appear no different from usual.’

Far too serene to be an illusion. The soldiers appeared as they always did—languid, indolent, yearning for leisure.
Not a trace of tension was visible.

‘And remarkably.’

My gaze turned westward into the distance.

‘The moment we enter the territory, the flames vanish from sight.’

Not a single flame that had blanketed the Land of Death was visible.

‘Is this also an illusion?’

An Illusionist.
Though the identity remained unknown, if all of this was the Illusionist’s doing, their power would be formidable indeed.
Kale Heniatus felt a headache forming at the emergence of this new adversary, yet he pressed forward.

‘Now 500 meters!’

Soon I would arrive at the epicenter of all these events.

“Ugh!”

That was the moment.
My footsteps halted.

“…Raon?”

A child’s whimper echoed through empty air. Kale Heniatus’s eyes darted frantically toward the space around him.
Then he saw a single point distorting.

Crackle, crackle.
As if a stone cast into a lake rippled its surface, the air warped at one spot, and Raon’s form flickered in and out of visibility.

“What’s wrong?”

Kale Heniatus was bewildered by the sight, and in that moment, Choi Han extended both arms to embrace the invisible Raon and rushed toward a blind spot beyond the City Wall soldiers’ line of sight.
Kale Heniatus followed, watching as Choi Han, still cradling Raon, extended one hand toward him.

“Why are your hands trembling?”

Choi Han’s outstretched hand was quivering noticeably.

“Just a moment.”

Choi Han asked for Kale Heniatus’s patience, then laid Raon down on the soft grass nearby.
Crackle, crackle. Raon’s form still shimmered, and Choi Han spoke to him gently.

“Dispel the invisibility magic.”
“N-no! The great Raon Mir cannot lose!”

Though his speech was slightly halting, Raon’s cry came through surprisingly coherent. He curled his body and summoned black mana.
Tap. A hand settled gently on Raon’s back.

“Raon, dispel the magic.”
“…Understood, human.”

At Kale Heniatus’s touch and firm voice, Raon reluctantly dispelled the spell.
The crackling sound ceased, and Raon appeared in his usual form, his snout jutting forward defiantly.
Even so, Kale Heniatus noticed Raon’s front paws trembling finely.

“Is it from mana disruption?”

Kale Heniatus asked, observing Raon’s condition, and Choi Han spoke.

“Look at my hands.”

Choi Han’s hands were still trembling faintly.

“I wield aura, but having reached this level of mastery, I can sense mana to some degree through estimation. Perhaps Kale and other ordinary people—those who don’t handle mana or aura—wouldn’t perceive anything at all right now.”

Crunch. Choi Han clenched his fist, then opened it. The trembling vanished instantly.

“The mana currently distributed throughout the air is in considerable disarray. The tremors of wandering mana are intense enough that even a swordsman like myself can feel them.”

His gaze turned toward Raon.

“Those who handle magic like Raon would experience it far more severely.”

The soldiers guarding the City Wall, the territory’s residents, and Kale felt nothing because they couldn’t sense mana.
Kale’s gaze also shifted toward Raon, and the young dragon suddenly spread his wings wide and declared boldly.

“Ah, no! The great Raon Mir does not tremble before mere mana disturbance!”

If only he hadn’t stammered through that declaration, Kale might have believed him—but the young dragon simply lacked the talent for deception. He turned his gaze toward the City Wall.

“The mana disturbance seems particularly severe starting about 500 meters from the City Wall.”
“Indeed. I suspect the mana will be in even greater chaos once we enter within the City Wall.”

Kale and Choi Han exchanged glances before simultaneously looking at Raon. The moment Raon met their gaze, he cried out urgently.

“I’m coming with you! I’m great! I can do this!”

But then, faced with the intensity in both their eyes, his shoulders drooped and he spoke timidly.

“…Fine. The not-so-great Raon Mir will wait outside. I’ll just sit here unable to do anything. I’m… not… great….”

Choi Han found the sight pitiful, but he couldn’t infiltrate the Small City while maintaining invisibility and bringing along Raon, who would struggle against the mana disturbance.

‘It must feel like severe motion sickness.’

Choi Han roughly estimated the level of pain Raon would experience when using magic.

‘…Either way, this is serious.’

The inability to infiltrate the castle with Raon would undoubtedly deal a significant blow to Kale’s group.
It would be difficult to evade the enemies’ sight through invisibility, and moreover, without the ability to execute teleportation in dangerous situations, they could find themselves in a predicament with no way forward or back.

‘But we can’t avoid entering the castle either.’

Just as Choi Han’s mind began to grow complicated, Kale’s voice reached Raon, who was still muttering to himself.

“Losing to mere mana distortion… I am not great… Even Grandfather and Rosalind couldn’t overcome mana distortion of this level… This can’t be… It’s not mana distortion but nearly a mana chaos state… The great Raon Mir can’t do anything… This is shocking.”
“What do you mean you can’t do anything?”

Raon’s head snapped toward Kale. Kale gazed at his and Choi Han’s hair in front of Raon, whose invisibility had been dispelled.
Raon’s magic hadn’t all been dispelled yet.
The hair-dyeing magic was still maintained.

“The dyeing magic is still intact?”
“Of course! I am great! I can maintain one type of magic!”
“Is that so?”
“…Human! Why are you smiling like that again?”

Kale didn’t answer Raon’s question and lightly tapped Choi Han’s shoulder.

“Let’s climb over the City Wall. We have much to do.”

* * *

The figure wearing an ivory hood pulled deep over their head stood in the shadowed corner of an alley, surveying the surroundings.

“Kale.”
“Quiet.”

Kale silenced Choi Han and methodically committed every detail of the landscape beyond the alley to memory with sharp eyes.

“There’s the Lord’s Castle.”

During the journey over the City Wall to this alley, I hadn’t spotted anything unusual. It was identical to when I’d visited the Dubori Territory before.
However.

“Yes, that appears to be the Lord’s Castle. And on the way here, we didn’t encounter a single Knight or Mage.”

I encountered soldiers of the Dubori Territory, but not a single knight among them.

“…What do you think?”
“The epicenter of the mana disturbance appears to be the Lord’s Castle.”

Choi Han and I pressed ourselves against the shadows of the alley, our gazes fixed on the Dubori Lord’s Castle.

The Lord of Dubori—infamous for his cruelty, so vicious he drove his own subjects to flee into the desert.
Perhaps due to his greed, the Lord’s Castle was adorned with elaborate carvings far grander than the territory’s size would suggest.

“Kale, something is wrong. The road was empty on our way here, but at the castle entrance and the desert entrance—”
“I know.”

My gaze turned westward.
More soldiers than usual were visible at the desert entrance. The castle entrance was the same.
Still no knights in sight, but these soldiers bore an unusual sharpness and rigidity—nothing like the typical Dubori Territory soldiers.

Who were these soldiers?
The answer was easy to deduce.

“They appear to be White Star Faction subordinates disguised as soldiers.”
“Right.”

I nodded in agreement with Choi Han’s assessment, lifting my head.
At that moment, the group of soldiers from the desert entrance moved toward the main road outside the alley where I was hiding.

“They’re coming.”

In a flash, Choi Han and I switched positions.
Without Raon’s invisibility magic, I had to contort my body and squeeze into the shadows each time the soldiers approached—stealth was useless when my physical abilities were so vastly inferior to theirs.
Kale’s concealment ability was useless; compared to Choi Han and those soldiers whose physical abilities were on a completely different level, Kale hid himself in the shadows, crouching his body as small as possible.

Damn it!

Choi Han kept his hand on his sword hilt, holding his breath as he observed the soldiers’ movements.
With his hand on the hilt of his sword, Choi Han held his breath and watched the soldiers’ movements.

About ten soldiers were gradually approaching.

“Hm?”

A few of them stopped in their tracks.

“What is it?”
“Huh?”

The soldiers’ gazes snapped toward a single point.
Their attention shifted to an alley branching off from the main road.

Something black appeared.
The soldier gripping his spear tensed his hand.

Caw, caw.
Caw, caw—

“Where did these crows suddenly come from?”
“Ah, I was startled when I saw that dark shape.”

The sky was crystal clear. A handful of crows that had appeared out of nowhere circled above the soldiers’ heads. One or two landed on the wall where the alley began, while the rest dispersed lazily in various directions, their wings beating steadily.
Then one or two of them perched on the wall where the alley began, while the rest leisurely flapped their wings and scattered in various directions.

The Soldier, who had been watching a crow perched on the wall groom its wings, let out a scoff and relaxed his grip on the spear.

“Right. Probably a dead animal or something. Last time I saw an eagle and nearly jumped out of my skin, but now it’s just crows.”
“At least crows are better than eagles, aren’t they?”
“True enough.”
“Ahem! Everyone, stay sharp!”
“Ahem, ahem! Everyone, snap to it!”

The soldiers who had been chatting quickly closed their mouths at the senior soldier’s words and straightened their posture.

“Yes!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Yes, Grand General!”

Caw. Caw.
The crow on the wall cried out as it watched them go, and a crow that had flown off into the distance returned, descending into the depths of the alley.
A crow on the fence wall cried out at the sight of it, and a crow that had flown far away returned and descended below the alley.

In the shadowed depths of the alley.
The raven descended onto the shoulder of a man crouched in the darkness.

“Kale Heniatus.”

From the raven’s beak came not a cry, but a familiar voice.
Kale Heniatus’s lips curved upward, his gaze turning to the raven perched upon his shoulder.

“I have met with Raon Mir.”
“It has been a while, Gashan.”

Gashan, the shaman of the Tiger Tribe. His ravens had flown into the territory and finally reached the place where Kale Heniatus stood.

“I heard about the Illusionist.”

As Kale Heniatus listened to the grave voice of the elderly man, a gust of wind brushed across his cheek. He gripped the golden spinning top tightly.

“From what I observed through the ravens, it appears to be an illusion indeed.”
“How do we break the illusion?”

Kale Heniatus rose from his seat as he posed the question. His eyes met those of Choi Han.
The two had just overheard the soldiers’ conversation.

‘Today the Lord will host distinguished guests for a grand banquet!’

Choi Han’s mouth opened.

“These distinguished guests appear to be those we seek.”

Then came Gashan’s voice. The method to break the illusion.

“First, we must find the Illusionist. Kale Heniatus, shamans and illusionists employ power in similar ways. We do not use mana.”

Shamans.
Those called the mages of the Eastern Continent were different from true mages.

Caw, caw.
Kale Heniatus watched as ravens gradually descended throughout the Dubori Territory. The raven upon his shoulder spoke.

“Unlike Mages, Illusionists harness the raw forces of nature as they are. To do so, they require a medium.”

Gashan and the other Illusionists wielded the power of nature through various natural materials as mediums.

“Things like staffs or talismans. Particularly potent natural objects work exceptionally well.”
“Are you saying the Illusionist operates the same way?”

Hehehehe.
Gashan’s laughter echoed through the air.
I could easily picture the large, white-haired elderly man laughing with a menacing grin.

“Lord Kale, find the Illusionist and his medium.”

Then.

‘Kale, Kale! I spotted something strange inside the Lord’s Castle!’
‘Underground of Lord’s Castle confirmed. Dozens of pits have been dug.’
‘Ah, really! I was about to tell you!’

The Wind Spirit’s voice reached me. Simultaneously, Gashan spoke.

“And when you find them, destroy them. Both the Illusionist and the medium.”

Caw. Caw.
Amidst the cries of crows, the whispers of spirits continued unabated.

‘Anyway, there were tons of rats inside those pits! It looks like they’re creating tunnels beneath this fiefdom?’
‘Those pits span the entire underground of this small city where the Lord’s Castle stands!’
‘Suspected White Star Faction presence inside the Lord’s Castle. Must raid and destroy. Chaos, destruction, speed.’

Then Gashan’s voice followed.
I recorded both pieces of information in my mind simultaneously.

“Oh, and by the way, that Illusionist likely has creatures under his control just as I do. So always stay vigilant. You never know where the enemy’s ears might be.”

My lips parted.

“Choi Han, underground.”

Choi Han’s sword immediately drove downward toward the ground.
Crack!
The earth beneath where the two stood erupted and overturned.

Squeak, squeak.
From the churned soil, Choi Han pulled out a small rat. The creature bore no injuries, but the moment its eyes met his gaze, it lost consciousness.
At that moment, the Wind Spirit spoke to Kale.

‘And there was a person standing in the center of those pits beneath the Lord’s Castle! They were controlling the rats!’

That person must be the Illusionist.
Kale’s lips parted.

“I’ve already been exposed.”

Both my existence and Choi Han’s.
Kale’s hardened gaze turned toward the Lord’s Castle.

* * *

At that very moment.
In the Underground of Lord’s Castle where the Lord of Dubori resided—the place that had served as a prison—dozens of pits lay scattered in complete disarray.
From the center of those pits, a figure opened their eyes and spoke.

“I’ve been caught.”
“So? It doesn’t matter.”

The White Star adjusted his mask and spoke to the Illusionist.

“After all, both Choi Han and Kale Heniatus have entered this city, haven’t they? The young dragon doesn’t seem to be here.”
“That’s correct. Everything is proceeding as expected. I’ve confirmed Choi Han’s face, so casting an illusion on him should be simple.”

The White Star gazed at the rat that poked its head slightly above the pit’s edge. He opened his mouth as he thought of Kale and Choi Han.

“This time, a rat within a trap.”

The White Star smiled with satisfaction as the situation unfolded according to his will for the first time in a long while.

* * *

At that moment, Kale Heniatus was laughing silently.

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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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