Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 48

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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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Originally, I hadn’t intended to shatter the whirlpool. I’d planned to resolve it using my shield and the vitality of my heart.

‘But that was before the Black Dragon arrived.’

With him here, why should I exhaust myself unnecessarily?
After feeding the Black Dragon, On, and Hong generously before sending the satiated seven-year-old heteromorphic creatures outside, I received my first visitor.

“I’m not sure what you stole, but you’ve certainly made quite the impression.”

It was Bilos.

“I’ve become rather famous lately, haven’t I?”

Bilos shook his head helplessly at my words, looking perfectly healthy despite my earlier complaints. In his eyes, he saw me—supposedly injured—drinking alcohol without hesitation.

“Indeed, Your Grace. But are you certain you should be drinking?”
“There’s no need for me to hide the truth in front of you, is there?”

Bilos chuckled and refilled my empty glass. Then he produced a magical box.

“The item you requested. We’ve received the items you returned.”

I’d returned the items I’d borrowed through Choi Han. I caressed the new magical box I’d received and looked at Bilos.
Where should I use the golden badge? I’d already decided on one use for it.

I’d decided to buy time.

The genuine threats to the Roan Kingdom—or rather, threats to the central-northern nations including the Breck Kingdom—those beings who would descend when the northern knights arrived. For that moment, I’d decided to buy time.
To be precise, I’d actually decided to buy time to escape not just from them, but from the Empire at the center of the Western Continent, the Mage Slayer, the Jungle Queen of the south, and everything else. If I were alone, it wouldn’t matter, but now there were people within my domain.

“Bilos.”
“Yes.”
“Do you engage in trade as well?”
“I don’t trade myself, but I’ve certainly come to know about it recently.”

Bilos was certainly a merchant. He was remarkably quick with information.

“The Western Continent is on the brink of explosion, and that’s when merchants find it easiest to make money.”
“If there’s profit to be made, merchants will come running.”

Bilos appreciated how well Kale understood merchants. And he appreciated even more how Kale cut straight to the point without unnecessary preamble.

“The Wipper Kingdom will be turned upside down soon. You’ve already guessed as much, haven’t you?”

Bilos nodded. The Wipper Kingdom was currently a place where tensions between mages and non-mages had reached their peak.

“So I’m wondering what to profit from in that moment. Your Highness, what do you think will be most profitable?”

Kale answered immediately to Bilos’s subtle question.

“People.”

The Mage Alliance will lose the civil war. And the Magic Tower will crumble. So what becomes of the remaining mages?
Not all mages die after the civil war.
The Western Continent’s greatest producer of magical devices. That place held many mages who kept their distance from power and politics. Yet after the civil war, they would lose their footing.
Crown Prince Albert Crossman was the one eyeing this opportunity. And the one emerging as the figure to rebuild the Magic Tower in a new location was the supreme-class mage Rosalind.

Bilos was remarkably quick to understand.

“You believe the mages will fall into ruin.”

Kale didn’t particularly answer.

The mages had to be ruined. They simply had to be. That was the direction the Wipper Kingdom needed to move toward its future.
But Kale didn’t place much significance on such matters.

What he wanted was something else entirely.

The Wipper Kingdom—the Western Continent’s greatest producer of magical devices and simultaneously the place that manufactured the finest magical devices. Kale needed what would remain after the civil war.

“The moment the Magic Tower crumbles, tell me immediately without fail.”
“…May I ask the reason?”

Kale shrugged his shoulders. And answered lightly.

“You’ll understand when the time comes.”

The Magic Tower.
I would purchase it.
The Magic Tower, now covered in irreparably damaged magical devices from the civil war—I knew how to acquire it. And Alberu would have no choice but to accept my actions.

“I’m looking forward to it.”

At Bilos’s words, I nodded in agreement. I too was anticipating this.
By acquiring it, I gain time. Time to protect against danger. Of course, it would be extraordinarily expensive.

‘It’s not even my money, is it?’

Witnessing the wicked smile spreading across my lips, Bilos’s anticipation heightened.

“Then I’ll be in touch.”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”

I saw off my first guest, Bilos. And then I welcomed my final guest. Or rather, they forced their way in.
I was gazing absently at the terrace window I’d left open when I caught sight of the intruder and flinched.

“What is this?”

A palm-sized mud figure waddled across the terrace window toward me. On and Hong, nestled in my arms, trembled in terror. The mud figure’s face was quite horrifying. In truth, it resembled a zombie more than a doll. At that moment, the Black Dragon spoke to me, transmitting words directly into my mind through magic.
The mud golem’s face was quite terrifying. In fact, it looked more like a zombie than a golem. At that moment, the Black Dragon spoke to Kale Heniatus. The Black Dragon conveyed its words directly into Kale Heniatus’s mind through magic.

“Ah.”
“Oh.”

The Mad Priestess.
Mad Priestess.

Kaige.

At that moment, the mouth of the clay doll—which had no eyes or ears, only a mouth—opened.

“As expected, you’re perceptive, Prince Kale Heniatus. This is a doll connected to my consciousness. It’s disposable—I can only use it to listen and speak.”

I glanced at the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon spoke to me through my mind but did not become transparent. It seemed to have realized that while it could hear the mud figure, it could not see it.
Just how powerful is this being? I found myself suddenly curious about the Dragon’s strength. However, I could not dwell on it long because of what the mud figure was saying.
Just how strong is he anyway? Kale Heniatus suddenly became curious about Dragon’s power. However, he couldn’t dwell on it for long because of what the mud golem was saying.

“We depart the Capital today. Prince Kale, you surely dislike us contacting you like this?”

Correct. A perfect assessment.

“Still, Taylor wishes to convey something to you.”

The Mad Priestess Kaige relayed the wishes of Taylor, the eldest son of the Sten Marquis House.

“‘Prince Kale, when I reclaim my rightful place—no, when I ascend to a station even higher than that. At that time, I shall repay this debt of gratitude,’ he wishes me to tell you this.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“I understand.

The grotesquely formed mud golem and Kale faced one another.

“Still, when I and Taylor both obtain what we desire, we need at least one place to share that news with.”
“Do as you wish.”

At those words, the mud golem’s lips curled upward in a grin before it slowly began to dissolve. Witnessing this, On and Hong pressed themselves even closer against Kale.

“Then I wish you good health, Prince Kale.”

The mud golem finally vanished without a trace. The Black Dragon observed this spectacle in silence before speaking to Kale.

“Then shall I take my revenge at that time?”

When the cast-aside eldest son, Taylor Sten, becomes master of the Sten Marquis House, the current Marquis and Benion Sten will face the Black Dragon’s wrath.

“Yes. Do as you wish.”
“Good.”

The Black Dragon heard from Kale about the circumstances of the Sten Marquis House and determined the time for vengeance.
When Benion Sten and the current Marquis are at their most wretched and despairing. At that moment, the Black Dragon wishes to make them suffer even more, drive them to madness, and then kill them.
The Black Dragon flapped its wings with evident satisfaction. Truly a bloodthirsty creature.

Kale spent a grueling night listening to the Black Dragon’s imagined revenge narrative as though it were a lullaby. And the next morning, he stood before the carriage at the break of dawn.
Rosalind, Choi Han, and Rak came to see him and his party off. Kale regarded these three with a reluctant expression.

“Lord Kale, if that mage appears, order the Dragon to kill him immediately. Not like me, cutting off a useless arm—tell him to blow his head clean off right away.”

Choi Han had been spouting bloodthirsty remarks since morning.

“I’ll definitely grow stronger and come back! In the meantime, listen well to what the young master says. Think carefully about what I mentioned before. Your futures depend on it. We need to become stronger now.”

Rak, surrounded by his ten younger siblings, fumbled through his assertion. Meanwhile, Rosalind was whispering with the Black Dragon inside the carriage where others couldn’t see, though her voice was too quiet for Kale to hear.

“Dragon, this is a textbook for the Roan Kingdom language, and this is one for the continental common tongue.”
“Thank you, human. I am great, so I learn letters quickly.”
“Indeed. You are great, Dragon. I do hope you choose a magnificent name for yourself.”
“I will ask someone to give me a name.”
“…I see what you mean now, Kale.”
“Hmph.”

Kale didn’t understand what they were discussing, but he watched with an uncomfortable expression as Rosalind gazed at the Black Dragon with satisfaction, then spoke to Choi Han. Until now, Choi Han had been explaining to Kale how to survive.

“Kale, and if you land one strike first and then run away, your chances of survival increase. Also—”
“Enough of that useless talk.”

Kale spoke indifferently to Choi Han, who closed his mouth.

“Don’t get hurt yourself.”
“…Yes, I will make sure of it.”

Disliking the sight of Choi Han’s virtuous smile, Kale boarded the carriage. At that action, Rosalind descended from the carriage.
Kale felt the weight of On and Hong, as well as the invisible Black Dragon sitting on his lap, as he spoke from the carriage window to his butler Hans.

“Let’s depart.”

The moment those words ended, the employees standing outside the mansion bowed to Kale. He couldn’t understand why they would neglect their duties and come all the way to the front of the mansion to see him off. They had insisted on coming to bid him farewell despite his telling them not to.

“Young master, I hope you return safely!”
“I hope to see you again next time.”
“It was an honor to serve you.”
“I look forward to the day we meet again!”

Dreadful sentiments. Kale had not the slightest intention of returning to the Capital. He indifferently waved his hand dismissively and drew the carriage curtain shut.
That action was the signal to depart. Kale’s entourage, now with two additional carriages compared to before, left the Capital and headed toward the Northeast Region.

Ubar. Toward that place with its sea swirling for centuries, Kale journeyed.

* * *

“Ugh! It smells like salt! Is this the sea?”

Hong, the red cat, sniffed the air while peering through the slightly open carriage window. Kale nodded absently at her remark and accepted a small, round object from the Black Dragon—something no larger than a fist.

“Is this the mana condensation separated from the bomb?”

The Black Dragon nodded in response to Kale’s question.

“Indeed. We can now create magical bombs anew.”

Pleased by this affirmation, I threw open the carriage window fully. A refreshing sea breeze swept in, revealing the vast expanse of the Northeast Sea. Countless islands dotted the waters. The Northeast Sea was abundant with islands.
On, the silver cat, gasped in wonder.

“Oh! The cliffs are absolutely magnificent!”

The sheer coastal cliffs inspired awe while simultaneously exerting an overwhelming sense of pressure. The carriage traveled along a road formed by these towering cliffs.

I gazed toward the distant “Cliff of Wind,” said to be the most breathtaking vista in the Ubar Territory. Across from it lay several small islands.

Between the cliffs and islands, swirling whirlpools churned in the sea—several of them. These vortices were the culprits that rendered the waters before the Ubar Territory so perilous.

‘The Mage Slayer discovered the “Sound of Wind” after drifting onto one of those islands.’

A man regarded as a cunning savage. Superior even to Rak, the Blue Werewolf and future Wolf King, he was acclaimed as possessing the greatest divine power on the Western Continent. The tyrant Tunka.

‘All I need do is obtain it before he does.’

According to the novel’s progression, Tunka still had considerable time before arriving here. I gazed across the vast sea with contentment, confident I would not encounter Tunka. As long as I avoided him, this journey would be worry-free.
As I gazed out the window with ease, something far beyond the horizon caught my eye.

“Hmm?”

I rubbed my eyes. Yet what I saw remained unchanged.

“…Is that a whale?”

A massive pod of whales soared through the sky, spouting water as they passed before the Northeast Sea and headed northward. Kale Heniatus unconsciously clutched the materials for his magic bomb in both hands, seized by an inexplicable unease.
Whales primarily inhabited the northern seas. The Whale Tribe was no different. They had only ventured south during their war with the merfolk.

‘They’re probably just passing whales, aren’t they? There are so many whale pods heading north. Surely not… it can’t be, right?’

The Black Dragon’s voice echoed in Kale’s ears like a distant reverberation.

“I sense a powerful force.”

That echo struck precisely at the core of Kale’s consciousness.
Moments later, when Kale descended from the carriage upon arriving at a small village just before the Cliff of Wind, his face was deeply furrowed with worry.

“Young Master, are you feeling carsick?”

Hans approached with his question, and Kale shook his head.

“No. I’m just anxious.”
“Ah, well, the coastal cliffs are quite steep, so it’s natural to feel a bit uneasy. But our coachman uncle is a veteran, so you needn’t worry.”

Dismissing Hans’s earnest but unnecessary reassurances, Kale extended his hand toward the approaching figure.

“It has been a while, Amir.”
“Indeed, Young Master Kale.”

Amir greeted Kale and his entourage with her characteristic serene smile.

A small coastal village in the Ubar Territory. Without any particular development, it had quietly sustained itself through fishing alone—but now, more people than ever were arriving at its shores.
The village’s appearance changed with each passing day. Yet soon, it would undergo a transformation far exceeding that pace. Tomorrow night, Kale was scheduled to detonate his magic bomb deep within the sea.

But before that could happen, something that should never have occurred did occur. It began with a report from a knight to Amir. The knight approached hurriedly and spoke in hushed tones.

“My Lady, the castaway has regained consciousness.”
“Oh, is that so?”

A castaway?
At that word, a particular person suddenly came to mind.
As Kale’s brow furrowed with an ominous premonition, Amir, observing his expression, kindly offered an explanation.

“A few days ago, while conducting coastal reconnaissance and investigating nearby islands, we rescued someone who was adrift. It seems they have now awakened.”

It felt ominous.

“At that moment, when the man lost consciousness and was about to be swept into the whirlpool, I wondered what to do. Then I recalled what you did in the Plaza, and I decided I had to save him.”

Amir spoke to Kale Heniatus.

“A human life is precious, is it not?”

Kale Heniatus took a long moment before answering the question.

“…Yes, it is.”
“As expected, I knew you would answer thus, my lord.”

Kale Heniatus did not register Amir’s smiling face at all. Instead, the description of Tunka from “The Birth of a Hero” kept flickering through his mind.

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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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