Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 468

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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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“What is that?”

Tasha’s eyes fixed on the badge in Kale’s hand as she approached.

“A House Heniatus badge.”
“…It doesn’t seem like an ordinary object, does it?”

She had never seen a badge vibrate like that before. An object that radiated neither magic nor spirit power, trembling on its own—it was certainly captivating enough to draw one’s gaze.
In that moment, Tasha caught sight of Kale’s smile.

A sly grin spread across his face.
The leisurely curve of his lips was absolutely brimming with mischief.

“Why do you want it?”
“No. Not at all, absolutely not, I don’t want it at all?”

The moment Tasha saw Kale’s smile, she severed all interest in the badge.
Kale observed her reaction, then turned his attention back to the badge.
The power sealed within it by my ability, ‘Embrace’, was extremely difficult for others to discern. Nearly impossible, in fact.
I gave the badge a gentle shake to quiet its vibrations, slipped it into my pocket, and spoke to Tasha, Merry, and the Dark Elves around me.

“This is a bomb. A time bomb.”
“…A time bomb?”
“Yeah. It’s still maturing right now.”

Merry immediately took a step back.
I hadn’t expected her to react that way, so I looked at her, and a voice like a navigation system emerged from within the black robe.

“I heard that the Young Master tells the great Raon to flee or destroy dangerous things when he sees them.”
“That’s right!”

Raon, dropping his invisibility, clapped his front paws together in agreement.

“Good Merry is right—when you see something dangerous, you have to flee or smash it to pieces!”
“Exactly. I believe that statement is correct. I stepped back because I cannot smash the Young Master to pieces.”

I couldn’t see Merry’s face hidden within the robe, but hearing the satisfaction mixed into her voice, I could only respond with a wry expression.

“…Yes. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”

I, Kale Heniatus, had been momentarily speechless because of Merry, and now I shuddered slightly.

La la la la~
A child’s voice echoed through the air.
I dug at my own ears.

“What kind of eerie place is this? Why do I hear such a cute little tune?”

La la la la~
A sweet child’s voice resonated from all directions.

“…Is there some kind of serpent here too?!”
Meow meow meow!
Meow meow!
“That’s a strange sound! I need to cover my ears!”

Vicross flinched violently and covered his ears, while the average nine-year-olds looked around in alarm.
The Underground City stood empty, with all the non-combat Dark Elves having evacuated. Water still flowed as I had seen before, and blue plants still flourished, yet the atmosphere felt hollow and desolate.

When a child’s singing voice echoed through that place, the group—already startled by the crimson serpent—tensed and scanned their surroundings vigilantly.
That was when it happened.

“It is a warning signal.”

Merry spoke calmly, like a navigation system.

“On days when dead mana smoke rises from the Desert, a warning alarm sounds throughout the entire Underground City starting thirty minutes in advance.”

I could see Vicross’s face turning the color of gochujang. I wanted to use a descriptor like “ripe tomato,” but his rapidly reddening face was unmistakably like red chili paste.
I approached Choi Han quietly and whispered.

“Choi Han, doesn’t he look like gochujang?”
“Pfft!”

Choi Han barely suppressed his bursting laughter. But soon he had to meet Vicross’s eyes blazing with anger.
Vicross’s face flushed crimson as his eyebrows twitched.

I had been deceived by the snake.
Vicross felt embarrassed at being fooled by something that wouldn’t have tricked even children, and he was sorry that the cats had nearly been in danger.
That’s why he had overreacted so dramatically to the warning sound.

‘…Was I laughing?’

He redirected that embarrassment into anger toward Choi Han.
Choi Han, receiving that glare, casually ignored Vicross. Kale Heniatus, feeling oddly guilty about the situation, quietly took a step away from Choi Han.
Even so, he asked Merry a question.

“Why specifically a child’s singing voice?”

Tasha answered instead.

“Sir, there are children in the city too, so if we had used a loud or ominous sound for the warning and they got startled, that wouldn’t be good, right? So we made the warning sound bright and cheerful. Isn’t that nice?”

Nice? It was far more terrifying.
A child’s singing voice in an empty city in the middle of the night—that was pure horror.
But Kale Heniatus couldn’t voice that sentiment. Tasha had spoken with an embarrassed expression.

“I recorded that song from when I was little and have been using it as is. Everyone said I sang well back then.”

Unable to share his impressions with the bashful Tasha, Kale Heniatus quickly shifted the mood.

Thirty minutes.
Once this time passes, dead mana smoke will rise from the Land of Death for several days.

“What’s the current state of the White Star? No, rather—where is he?”
“Ah, about that.”

Tasha began her report. At the same time, Kale Heniatus grasped the golden spinning top in his hand. Then the voices of the Wind Spirits reached him.

‘It’s been so long. Destruction, Chaos, Love.’

It hadn’t even been a day, yet they spoke of it being long.
Kale Heniatus began listening to both the three Wind Spirits and Tasha’s report.

“Currently, the White Star is investigating the center of the Desert with the Bear King, having divided their forces into two teams.”
‘That’s right, that’s right! And the Lion King wasn’t seen! The Illusionist wasn’t there either!’

Kale’s mouth opened.

“So the White Star and the Bear King are each dividing their forces and moving separately?”
“Yes. And we’ve also spotted several powerful individuals we haven’t seen before.”
‘That’s right. We saw several strong ones who weren’t affiliated with Dark, the Lion Tribe, or the Black Mages. They all seemed to possess unusual abilities. Chaos, destruction, love.’

Kale had a suspicion about who they were.

‘They must be the ones from Dark’s Second Secret Base.’

Members of Dark wore black night clothes bearing a symbol of a white star at the center surrounded by five red stars.
In the Second Secret Base village, Kale had observed quite a few individuals moving about who weren’t wearing Dark’s garments.

Surely some of them had come along.

‘The Second Secret Base seemed to be modeled after the Dragon Slayer Village. If that’s the case, the White Star must have drawn powerful individuals from across the continent to his village, just like the First Dragon Slayer did.’

Kale filed away the fact that the White Star possessed yet another force, and he wet his lips with his tongue. That was when it happened.

‘Chaos! No, urgent! Breaking news!’
“Young Master!”
‘Kale, we have a situation!’

Along with the Wind Spirit’s startled voice, he could see a whirlwind enveloping Tasha. She appeared urgent, as if she had just heard something from that wind.

“Young Master!”

And her lips curved upward.

“The White Star has fallen into the final trap!”

Her voice was urgent yet brimming with joy.
Kale turned his head. The Dark Elves, including Tasha, were all covered in dust. They were smiling.

‘Hehehehe! Destruction, chaos, backstab, frontstab, left and right stabs!’

The Wind Spirit, who had been maintaining a solemn demeanor, laughed with delight—loud, exuberant, and unrestrained. Tension and anticipation began to fill the air around them.

“What? What’s the plan? What’s this final trap?”

Only Bud, who knew nothing, looked around feeling left out of the anticipation. Merry approached his side.

“Before the White Star arrived, all the Underground City citizens created a trap together.”

In this operation, there was one thing that the entire Underground City population had worked on collectively.

“…What is that?”

Bud felt anticipation surge within him as well, and he asked Merry. Merry’s head, hidden beneath her robe, turned toward Kale Heniatus.
Bud’s gaze followed, landing on Kale Heniatus. Kale Heniatus did not answer Bud’s question and instead issued instructions to his comrades.

“Everyone, move.”

The White Star is clever.
He seemed foolish yesterday and today, but he is still shrewd.
Such a man is not discovering me in the desert right now. So where will the White Star and his right arm, the Bear King, turn their attention?

“This is the final operation.”

Kale Heniatus issued his command to those who were fully focused.

“Kill the White Star if possible. If that is impossible, destroy him.”

Bud’s eyes widened.
Destroy? The White Star? Or is there something else?
At that moment, Kale Heniatus’s voice continued.

“Another Underground Cavern. We will destroy that place.”

Bud’s mouth fell open.
Only then did he realize what trap these Underground City citizens had created together.
His gaze swept across the Underground Cavern where he now stood.

“…You created another place like this?”

Just to lure in that one White Star?
Bud’s eyes met Tasha’s, who wore a faint smile.

“It is not quite as large as this Underground City—about half its size. And it was not created because of the White Star.”

Over the years, the Underground City’s population had grown at a steady pace. While the Dark Elves naturally expanded their families in the comfortable environment, humans who fled from Dubori Territory had greatly influenced the population increase by settling in this Underground City.

Especially in recent years, as Dubori Territory became increasingly barren to live in, the Underground City’s population naturally swelled. In response, three years ago, they decided to construct a new Underground City in preparation for the future.

Of course, the current place was already massive in size, but the city’s residents—who had been forced to live in suffocating silence—desired spacious and comfortable surroundings.
Thus, even though the Underground City’s population density hadn’t yet reached overcrowding, the plan was naturally put into motion.
However, ultimately, the plan failed.
Tasha recalled that time.

‘Back then, the city’s administrative officials had quite the headache. Of course, that was before I met Prince Kale Heniatus.’

After meeting Prince Kale Heniatus, or more precisely, after participating in the Roan Kingdom War, the Dark Elves were able to move freely above ground.
The territory residents who had fled were also able to secretly breathe the outside air with the Dark Elves for a day or two.

“There’s an Underground Cavern that was left incomplete from before. We plan to use that this time.”
“Why was it left unfinished?”

At Bud’s question, smiles appeared on the faces of Tasha and the Dark Elves alike. Tasha answered Bud’s question briefly.

“We discovered it late during the work, but the ground there was prone to collapse.”

A glimmer of interest flickered in Bud’s eyes. When his gaze immediately turned toward Kale Heniatus, he could see Kale’s lips opening once more.

“Let’s go.”

With those words, the group that had been stationed in the now-empty Underground City began moving in different directions.

* * *

“Found it.”

The White Star’s lips curved upward. He personally raised his sole remaining right hand and swept away the sand.

Swish, swish.
The mysterious desert where sand turned red during the day and black at night—as the sand darkened by nightfall was swept away, the White Star could finally locate the entrance door hidden in black.
The enormous circular iron plate, forged from metal, remained firmly locked, revealing the depth of countless ages.

“Finally found it.”

A smile played across the face of Sayehr, the Bear King, who sat beside the White Star. Having split into two groups to search, they quickly converged the moment they discovered this place.
Sayehr turned to the White Star and asked.

“Can you feel the power of the earth?”
“No.”
“What?”

Sayehr’s brow furrowed immediately, but conversely, the White Star’s smile deepened.

“The powers that the Ancient White Star possessed until now—I couldn’t sense the attributes of those ancient powers directly. They were always hidden somehow, and only when the obstructions were removed could I feel those concealed powers.”

The White Star lifted his hand, which had been brushing sand away, and wrapped it around his opposite shoulder. Where an arm should have been, bandages were wound instead.

“The fact that I can’t feel the power of the earth right now means Kale Heniatus hasn’t obtained that power yet.”

Only then did Sayehr nod in agreement and run his palm over the exposed entrance. That too was his one remaining intact hand. Then his touch halted at a particular spot.

“It’s broken?”

The handle of the circular iron door was shattered. And around the iron door, remnants of chains that hadn’t yet fallen away still existed.
To anyone’s eyes, it was clear that someone had broken through and entered, while simultaneously the handle had been destroyed to prevent others from easily entering.

“They weren’t in the sky, nor on the ground.”

Kale, Choi Han, and Kale’s companions including the Dark Elf and Necromancer. They had searched the sky and various parts of the desert looking for them, but they never appeared.

“What remains is beneath the earth. The underground.”

Sayehr turned his gaze back to the White Star and asked.

“What do you want to do?”
“Open it.”

The White Star answered curtly, and Sayehr gestured to the subordinates around him. Several members of the Lion Tribe immediately approached and lifted the thick iron door that lay on the ground.

Screeeech—
With a spine-chilling sound, the iron door was completely lifted open.

“Oh.”

A massive circular passageway had appeared. It descended deep underground, shrouded in darkness that obscured what lay within.
Yet for a passage in a land devoid of human habitation, its size was remarkably substantial and appeared solidly constructed.
It felt unmistakably purposeful.

Sayehr asked White Star with barely contained excitement.

“Should we head straight in?”

That was when White Star’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“What is it?”
“Wait.”

White Star suddenly bent toward the ground, plunging his hand between the grains of sand.

“What are you doing?”

Without answering Sayehr’s question, White Star closed his eyes. His lips parted, and his voice emerged laden with bewilderment.

“…Why is dead mana seeping through the sand?”
“What? Dead mana? I don’t sense anything right now.”

Past midnight, another day had begun.
From the desert blanketed in black sand, wisps of dead mana gradually rose into the air. White Star detected this faint emergence first, its minute beginning perceptible only to him.
But soon he realized the rising dead mana was growing denser. At this rate, others would soon notice it, and for ordinary people, it would become quite dangerous.
A peculiar gleam flickered across White Star’s eyes, and he smacked his lips, murmuring to himself.

“If I play this right, it could work in my favor.”

That was when it happened.
Upon a sand dune, some distance from White Star.
Clatter, clatter.
A tiny skeletal monster made of black bone, indistinguishable from the sand, watched White Star intently.
No larger than a rat, the small skeletal creature remained motionless, its bones buried in the sand.
Yet the black light that occupied the space where its eyes should have been swiftly transmitted what it perceived to its master.

“White Star has arrived. He has torn open the entrance gate.”
“I see.”

Kale smiled at Merry’s report.

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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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