Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 460

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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 102. My Heart, My Choice?

“Let me show you to your quarters first.”
“Thank you.”

Taylor smiled at Kale’s greeting and promptly led them to another room.
As we left the basement and moved toward our quarters, not a single person crossed our path in the corridors.

Creak.
The door opened, revealing a room arranged like a conference chamber.

“Here we are.”
“Thank you.”
“Not at all, young master. I shall take my leave.”
“Very well.”

Taylor retreated with the same discreet steps as before, distancing himself from Kale.

“Come in.”

Kale entered the room as though nothing was amiss, while the rest of the group—save Choi Han and the invisible Raon—followed with expressions full of suspicion.

Click.
Vicross closed the door, sealing us off from the outside, and then spoke.

“Why not the desert?”

Upon seeing Raon’s usual composed expression after dropping his invisibility and Choi Han’s calm face, Vicross nodded with a dissatisfied look.

“It seems Choi Han knows something too. Something must have happened.”
“I don’t know much either.”
“Is that so?”

Vicross took a seat beside Choi Han at the table, then turned to address Kale, who sat at the head.

“I understand we suspect the power of the final land exists in the Northwestern Region of Roan Kingdom.”

In that instant, the Dragon Hybrid’s body trembled—the only one present hearing this information for the first time.
Even amid the confusion, he recognized that he was hearing quite dangerous and secretive information, and he carefully opened his mouth.

“…Am I allowed to hear this?”

Vicross, receiving that gaze, answered with a blunt expression.

“What’s there to not allow?”
“Right. There’s nothing that can’t be done, as Vicross says.”

Kale Heniatus also expressed agreement with those words, and the Dragon Hybrid stared at him with an increasingly bewildered expression. But soon his gaze shifted to the average nine-year-olds surrounding Kale.
More precisely, his gaze moved to Raon. Raon, fluttering his wings and tapping Kale’s armrest with his tail—seemingly delighted about something—had his lips curled upward.
The Dragon Hybrid’s eyes could not tear away from that upturned smile.

‘Sigh.’

Kale swallowed a sigh inwardly as he observed the scene.
Without even asking, the answer seemed painfully obvious. Yet Kale could not simply continue observing the Dragon Hybrid.

“Young Master, did you come to Northwestern Roan rather than the Desert because you found the location of the Earth Power?”

He fixed his gaze on Vicross, who had posed the question. The one who had asked with urgency did not want to waste the passing time.

‘We don’t know when the White Star will return to the Desert. He might have gone there immediately.’

If that happened, the likelihood of the White Star discovering Kale’s absence would increase, and it would be natural for his pursuit to turn toward Northwestern Roan.

“Well, you see.”

At that moment, Kale’s mouth opened.
He looked at his companions seated around the table.

Excluding the average nine-year-olds and the Dragon Hybrid, there were only Vicross, Choi Han, and Mercenary King Bird Illis.

“Yeah, yeah. What is it?”

Bird regarded Kale with an expression of keen interest, seemingly delighted.
And Choi Han, knowing that he was the only one besides Raon who would come here, chose silence.

‘…Does the Marquis Sten House possess the power of earth?’

Yet Choi Han did not know everything.
Whether Kale had found the power of earth or not remained a mystery to him. He simply waited for Kale to speak, and soon enough, Kale opened his mouth.

“Who remembers the exact emblem of the Heniatus Count Family?”
“…What?”

Bud stared at Kale with a bewildered expression.
The symbol of the Heniatus Count Family was a golden turtle. He knew that much, but he couldn’t recall the exact pattern inscribed on the flag.

‘Who memorizes such trivial details?’

Yet this was Bud’s miscalculation.

“I remember, Young Master Kale.”
“I remember it, human! Next time I’ll make a pattern like that too!”
“I know it!”
“Hans taught me, so I know it!”

Choi Han and the children averaging nine years old answered as if it were nothing.

“I can certainly draw something like that.”

Vicross looked too annoyed to even bother answering such an obvious question.

“…Well, I can’t draw it, but I can explain it roughly.”

Even the Dragon Hybrid nodded cautiously.
Bud found himself at a loss for words.

‘…What? Am I the strange one?’

While he struggled to voice his true thoughts, Kale’s voice continued.

“Right. As everyone knows, the emblem of the Heniatus Count Family is—”
“Young Master.”

Vicross raised his hand to cut off Kale Heniatus’s words. Burd Illis had been listening to the discussion about the power of the earth when Kale suddenly shifted to talking about the Count’s House emblem, and now he waited to hear what Vicross would say next.
After all, it was Vicross who had been asking questions and prompting the conversation from the beginning.

“Why?”

Kale Heniatus asked Vicross with a sullen expression, and Vicross replied with a serious face.

“It is not the Heniatus Count Family. It is the Heniatus Duchy. The children are listening too, so we must use the correct title.”

Burd Illis was left speechless.
He wanted to ask if that was really the only reason for interrupting, but seeing the pride subtly radiating from Vicross’s expression, he had to keep his mouth shut.

‘…I should just stay quiet.’

In the end, Burd Illis chose silence, and soon Kale Heniatus looked at Vicross in exasperation before continuing.

“Anyway, the symbol of House Heniatus is a golden turtle, and it is depicted in the emblem.”
“I will show you! I am great and remember everything!”

Raon conjured the Heniatus emblem to float in the center of the table with magic.

Just as Kale Heniatus had said, it was an emblem with a golden turtle drawn at its center.

‘Yes, that’s it.’

Burd Illis nodded at the emblem he had seen several times before. At that moment, a hushed whisper reached his ears.
It was Kale Heniatus.

“What is the golden turtle carrying on its back?”

The golden turtle was carrying something on its shell.

“Human, I know! A stone, Stone Mountain!”

Raon answered excitedly, and Hong followed with an eager response.

“Hans told us! The stone placed on the golden turtle is Stone Mountain! And he said that stone is marble!”
“Correct! You are indeed clever!”
“The youngest is clever too!”

Burd nodded affirmatively as he listened to the children’s conversation.
The golden turtle of House Heniatus bore a marble mountain upon its shell.

‘The territory is quite famous for marble, after all. It even became wealthy because of it.’

It was customary to inscribe symbols and notable features of a region onto a family’s crest.

‘But why would that be…?’

Burd couldn’t understand why Kale Heniatus had brought this up as a topic.
That was when it happened.

“Ah. So that’s it…!”

Choi Han let out a low exclamation. Burd found himself nodding repeatedly as he watched Choi Han organize his thoughts, thinking ‘What’s with this guy now?’ but Choi Han himself was in no position to worry about such things.

‘He was definitely reviewing documents about the Northwestern Region’s noble families back then.’

On the day House Heniatus became a Duchy and the banquet was held, Choi Han had gone to a terrace in the corner of the Banquet Hall, where Kale was examining documents.

And those documents were records about the Northwestern Region’s noble families.
Kale was reviewing vast materials about all the families in the Northwestern Region, including Marquis Sten House, as well as a map of the Northwestern Region.

“Choi Han, did you catch on?”

Facing Kale Heniatus with a smile that crinkled the corners of his eyes, Choi Han slowly nodded, and Kale immediately spoke.

“The power of the land I possess can be said to be a kind of ‘stone’ power.”

It was Scary Rock, a name that sounded ominous from the start.
Just as Burd’s brow was about to furrow at another revelation, Kale’s voice continued.

“Among the noble families of the Roan Kingdom, only two have ‘stone’ or ‘rock’ in their crests.”

Burd thought something was odd about this.
Really, only two families?

“Only two noble families, called the Land of Stone, inscribed ‘stone’ in their crests.”

As Kale Heniatus said, the Roan Kingdom had been called the Land of Stone since ancient times.

“Moreover, aside from the Royal Court, there isn’t a single organization—and never has been—that uses ‘stone’ as their emblem besides those two families.”

The Merchant Guild, the associations—none of them used stone as their symbol.

“Is this mere coincidence?”

With those words, Kale Heniatus withdrew a small scrap of paper from the product. On what appeared to be a torn corner of an ordinary book, a single emblem was drawn.

“…A serpent?”

A crimson serpent reflected in Vicross’s eyes.

“Ah!”

And Burd Illis lightly struck his knee with his palm.

The red serpent came into view.
It was the emblem of a noble house.

That crimson serpent coiled around Stone Mountain, its jaws wide open as it glared menacingly at someone.
In the Roan Kingdom, that red serpent represented only a single family.
Burd Illis, who had been monitoring Roun as a prominent power within the Roan Kingdom, remembered it well.
Burd Illis gazed at Kale Heniatus while murmuring the family’s name.

“…Marquis Sten House.”
“Exactly. Only the House Heniatus and the Sten family use stone in their emblems.”

Was this mere coincidence?
The thought swept through Burd Illis’s mind once more.

“But here’s the thing.”

Kale Heniatus’s words were not yet finished.

“The Roan Kingdom is quite peculiar. Despite possessing vast territories, this kingdom alone is renowned for marble in the east and granite in the west.”

The emblem of House Sten was etched clearly into the eyes of everyone present.
Unlike Heniatus, the red serpent coiled around a stone mountain that was distinctly darker and deeper in hue—likely representing granite.

“Would there be a place where the stone’s composition differs so distinctly? And I’ve discovered one more fact.”

My murmured words seemed unusually loud, and in that moment, everyone’s attention converged upon me.

Knock, knock, knock—!
The sound of knocking came, and I rose immediately to open the door.

“Young Master, here is the item you requested.”
“Thank you, Marquis.”
“Think nothing of it. For Young Master Kale, this is hardly any trouble. Since you’re in the midst of a meeting, I shall take my leave.”

Taylor Sten quickly vacated the space, sensing the gravity of the room. I saw him out with a promise to pay my respects later.
Then I returned to the table and unfurled what I held in my hands.

The map rustled open.
A map spread before us.
The Northwestern Region—specifically, the geography of the area surrounding the Marquis Sten Territory at its center—was depicted in meticulous detail.
It was the second most detailed map ever drawn by House Sten, after their military maps.

I pressed my finger upon a location on the map.
Kale Heniatus pressed his finger on a spot on the map.

“There exists a stone mountain covered in granite within the Marquis Sten Territory.”

A mountain incomparably more treacherous than the Ten Finger Mountain where I had once met the Elves—a place renowned for its magnificent grandeur, composed entirely of granite with scenery so majestic it was legendary.
Yet due to its perilously steep terrain, sinister legends, and dangerous rumors, it had become a place where few dared to tread.

“That landscape resembles the stone mountain coiled by the red serpent, or so the tales say.”

A smile played at the corners of my mouth.

“And it is also a place where legend speaks of a red serpent that devours all invaders who attempt to seize the mountain.”

My composed smile turned toward my companions.

“What do you think? Does it ring a bell?”

A premonition came to me.
Just as he said, a single hunch had found its way to them.

“Kale, are we heading to this mountain?”

Choi Han voiced the hunch on behalf of the group, and Kale answered without hesitation.

“If there’s a place with the highest probability, we naturally have to check it.”

Creak.
Starting with Choi Han, the group rose from their seats. Those already standing alongside Kale seemed ready to head toward the mountain marked on the map at any moment.

“But before that.”

Kale shook his head.
He spoke firmly to the bewildered group.

“Let’s eat first.”

Kale, who had been hungry after starving for quite a long time, glanced at the children averaging nine years old before turning his gaze to Vicross.

“We can’t let the children go hungry.”
“…Well, that’s certainly true.”

Vicross shook his head without complaint and headed straight for the conference room door.

“Where are you going?”

At Burd’s question, he answered while turning the doorknob.

“To prepare food.”

Without hesitation, he headed toward the Marquis Sten Household’s restaurant just outside the door. His pace quickened as he grew concerned about On, Hong, and Raon, who had become grimy over the past half day.
Vicross gave no thought whatsoever to the Marquis Sten Household’s cooks, who would be startled by the visit of outsiders.
The group, who had been staring blankly at his swift movements, had to listen to Kale’s command to leave.

“Everyone get out.”
“Human! Should I leave too?”
“Yeah. Everyone out. Oh, except you.”

Kale gestured for the Dragon Hybrid to sit, then pointed toward the door for the others. I could see the Sten Marquis House butler approaching with a startled expression upon spotting Vicross.

“Ask that butler to show you to a place where you can rest.”
“Hey, rest? Isn’t time pressing right now?”

Kale ignored the grumbling Burd and closed the door behind the departing group without hesitation.

-Human! See you later!

With the butler’s arrival, Raon—now invisible—offered his farewell, leaving only Kale and the Dragon Hybrid in the conference room.

Creak.
Kale, sitting in the chair across from the Dragon Hybrid, opened his mouth as he looked at the Dragon Hybrid across the table.

“Like Burd said, we’re in a bit of a rush right now. So I’m giving you thirty minutes.”

The Dragon Hybrid unconsciously clenched both fists. Sweat beaded on his back. Regardless, I spoke to him in an indifferent tone.

“Do you know anything about the Red Egg?”

The Dragon Hybrid’s eyes trembled faintly.

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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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