Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 50

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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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Yet Kale Heniatus peered out through the small porthole of the vessel.
The whirlpools he witnessed in person were entirely different in their oppressive presence. The churning seawater’s hue was far from transparent. White and azure danced across the surface, deepening into a navy so dark it resembled the night itself as it spiraled toward the vortex’s heart.

‘If I get caught in that, I’m simply dead.’

I recalled the new magical bombs I’d stored in the enchanted chest at my lodgings. Simultaneously, I shifted my gaze forward. Among countless islands both large and small, the smallest island came into view.

“Young Master, that’s the island! The whirlpool in front of that island is the most terrifying one! If you get caught in it, you’ll simply have to bid your final farewell to this world! Hahahaha!”

The Fisherman was remarkably bold. Oblivious to how the Vice-Captain’s face had grown even paler, the Fisherman continued speaking. I suppressed the rising nausea and listened to his words.

“There used to be a legend that the whirlpool was created by a thief who stole something from the gods, but oh my!”

The boat tilted slightly. I watched seawater splash against the porthole and swallowed hard.

“Goodness, the boat nearly capsized. Boy, you need to row properly.”
“My apologies, Father.”

The Fisherman and his son were remarkably composed.

“So as I was saying, Young Master.”
“Listen here.”

I finally raised my hand to silence the Elderly Man and spoke firmly.

“First, let’s reach that island, then you can talk.”
“Lord Amir said the same thing! We’ll get there shortly.”

The Elderly Man rowed with practiced skill. The swaying, precarious vessel deftly shifted its course, evading the whirlpools. I observed every single one of them.

‘The traces of wind expelled by Wind’s Sound.’

Like spinning tops. The ancient power, Wind’s Sound, periodically generated spinning tops and spun them with tremendous force. As time passed and each top—each whirlpool—exhausted its strength, it would hurl a new one.

“Y-Young Master. I-I should be protecting you. Ugh.”

I ignored the Vice-Captain’s faltering voice and gripped the boat’s railing with both hands. I had no intention of drowning.

And finally, Kale set foot upon the stone-laden ground.

“We’ve arrived. The journey was smoother than usual.”

The Fisherman’s son nodded at his father’s words. Kale gazed past the shoulders of the father and son.

“Ughhhh.”

The Vice-Captain looked as though he might not survive, writhing in the throes of seasickness. Kale nudged Vicross’s arm beside him and gestured toward the Vice-Captain. Vicross’s brow furrowed, and he drew white gloves from his inner pocket before approaching the Vice-Captain.

The moment Kale saw those white gloves, his shoulders tensed slightly.

‘Those are the gloves he wears so they don’t get soiled during interrogations?’

Vicross’s white gloves—how many pairs he possessed was unknowable. Having witnessed their existence firsthand, I turned my gaze away from the Vice-Captain and Vicross, surveying the Central Island instead. Along the island’s coastline, devoid of sandy beaches, stones lay stacked in heaps. Turning my gaze slightly inland from the shore, a small forest came into view. Though calling it a forest was perhaps generous—it was more accurately a rather expansive garden. They had said it would take roughly an hour to explore.
The coastline of Central Island, which had no sandy beaches, was covered with piles of stones. Turning your gaze slightly inland from the shore, there was a small forest. In fact, it was more accurate to call it a fairly spacious garden rather than a forest. After all, they said it was a size you could explore in about an hour.

“Yes, young master.”
“Continue with that thief’s story from before.”
“Keep telling me about that thief story from before.”

At Kale’s words, the Elderly Man tore his gaze from his son mooring the boat and pointed to the sea route they had traveled. Before Central Island lay a massive whirlpool.

Once upon a time, there was a thief said to have faster feet than anyone else. It is said that his footsteps were so light and careful that even as he ran across the sea, not a single ripple disturbed the water’s surface, nor did a single drop of water splash up.

Wind’s Sound was right. Of course, running across the sea was a bit of an exaggeration.

Anyway, that thief stole something, and it’s said that it was an object belonging to a god. The thief took it and jumped off the coastal cliff at the Cliff of Wind right ahead of here. So both the god’s object and the thief disappeared from the world, and after that, it’s said that Whirlpools formed along this coastline.

The elderly man, whose face was etched with wrinkles as deep as his sun-darkened skin, offered a gentle smile.

“They don’t anymore?”
“If it truly were a god’s object, why would that god torment humans rather than simply retrieve what was theirs?”
“If it truly belonged to a god, why would that god torment humans instead of retrieving his own possession?”

It was not a god’s object. It was human power. And so no god could possess it.
It was not God’s possession. It was the power of humans. Therefore, God could not have it.

“Then I’ll take a look around the Central Island and come back.”
“Yes, I’ll wait here for you.”

At Kale’s words, the Elderly Man went to his son, and the Vice-Captain sprang to his feet.

“Young master, I too, ugh.”

And he bowed his body again. Kale clicked his tongue and gestured for Vicross to approach. Vicross came closer. Kale whispered to him.

“If you’re Ron’s son, you’re not ordinary either.”
“And?”

To Vicross, who showed not the slightest hint of confusion, Kale patted his shoulder and spoke.

“You keep the Vice-Captain in check.”
“…Can you manage alone?”
“What danger could there be here? Besides, you know my shield, don’t you?”
“Have a safe journey.”

Vicross assented to Kale’s words without any particular reaction. That’s why I brought Vicross along. For now, I needed to keep someone by my side. A strong one without great obligation to protect me. And someone I could command.
Vicross was perfect.

“I’ll be back soon.”

Kale headed toward the forest of the Central Island.

“If there’s danger, shoot the shield up immediately.”
“Young master, I’ll follow right after you, ugh.”

He dismissed their words lightly and entered the forest, speaking simultaneously in a low voice.

“What do you sense?”

The Black Dragon’s voice reached him.

“As you said, there’s something beneath the Whirlpools in front of this island. It felt similar to that power from the cave we visited before.”

When the heart gained its vitality. The Black Dragon was referring to that moment. Kale strolled leisurely through the forest. There was no reason to look around the forest anyway. He had come here incidentally, primarily to confirm the Whirlpools.

‘I need to scout the terrain since I’ll be flying in at night.’

Kale Heniatus asked one more question.

“There’s no one else here, right?”
“No one.”

Apart from Kale’s group, the Central Island was completely deserted. Only then did my anxiety ease. The whale pod I’d witnessed yesterday had been weighing on my mind.

“But there are corpses.”
“What?”

My steps froze in place. I furrowed my brow and stared into empty space, where the Black Dragon suddenly materialized from invisibility and spoke.

“When I was surveying the island earlier, I spotted three corpses on the opposite side from where we docked the boat.”

Corpses? That was something I hadn’t anticipated. I took three steps backward, away from the direction of the island’s far side. Something about this felt like it would lead to misfortune. Yet the Black Dragon continued steadily.

“But those corpses weren’t human.”

I raised my hand to shield my eyes. If they weren’t human, their appearance must have been unusual. But the fact that they weren’t simply animals or creatures of a specific type meant—

‘They resembled humans but were distinctly different.’

There could be only one answer.

“Were their hands and feet deformed?”

The Black Dragon nodded vigorously at my question.

“Exactly! Their hands and feet were shaped strangely. Like fans.”

Webbed appendages. The mark of merfolk.
Whale pods and merfolk. A sense of foreboding mixed with suspicion welled up inside me. They shouldn’t have appeared this early.

‘No, wait.’

I corrected my thinking. The conflict between the Whale Tribe and merfolk—it had a history far older than human struggles. Yet in “The Birth of a Hero,” it only surfaced when Choi Han became entangled with the Whale Tribe.

Kale called out to the Black Dragon.

“Hey.”
“…Don’t call me that.”
“Then what should I call you?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”

What was that supposed to mean? Kale thought the Black Dragon, who had been studying letters recently, would soon choose a name for itself. He gestured ahead with his chin and continued walking.

“Is there no one ahead?”
“No living creatures. The sea is the same.”
“Then guide me.”

I supposed I needed to see the mermaid’s corpse. Of course, I preferred to avoid anything dangerous.

“You go first.”

Kale sent the Black Dragon ahead and headed toward the opposite side of the Central Island. After passing through a small forest and arriving at the far side of the island, I furrowed my brow.

“…It’s real.”

As expected, they were mermaid corpses. Precisely, I could see three bodies with broken necks. Along with them lay twisted limbs. Kale, who had only seen descriptions in books until now, furrowed his brow at the actual appearance of the mermaids before me.
The corpses were desiccated like mummies. Yet mermaids’ forms differed greatly from humans.
Their hands and feet bore webbing, and their skin resembled that of fish covered in scales. And instead of ears, they possessed gills.

“Why aren’t you getting closer?”

The Black Dragon questioned Kale, who observed from a distance. To the Black Dragon, Kale spoke curtly.

“It’s frightening.”
“…True. I forgot. Weak human.”

The Black Dragon nodded and approached the mermaid corpses. Then it began muttering to itself.

“They appear to have been crushed and killed in a single blow. And they haven’t been dead long. Also, I see red blood beneath the webbing on these corpses. They too seem to have been stained with blood during combat.”

Whales. The Whale Tribe had definitely killed the mermaids.
The Whale Tribe, possessing numbers as scarce as dragons. Yet they were the strongest beings in the sea. That was how they could protect the ocean realm from the mermaids.

The mermaids wished to establish a kingdom within the oceanic realm. However, the Whale Tribe could not tolerate the division of territory within the sea. It was due to the nature of marine ecological species that required migration.

‘Although the Whale Tribe was small in number, they were strong, so the mermaids could not freely pursue their ambitions. But then they suddenly began to grow stronger.’

As mermaid power strengthened and the Whale Tribe found themselves in dire straits, Choi Han appeared and took their side. That was the extent of Volume 5’s content.
Kale told the Black Dragon they should leave and turned away from the mermaid corpses.

“Is it alright to leave them like that?”
“Yes.”

Mermaid corpses did not decompose on land. They simply dried out. Decomposition could only occur in the sea. And as decomposition progressed, the stench would spread through the water, drawing the mermaids to find the bodies.
So the Whale Tribe must have deliberately left them here.

‘I should handle this quickly and leave as well.’

There was likely only one Whale Tribe member. Had there been two, they would not have left the corpses on land and instead would have gathered more mermaids for a proper battle. Being alone, this was a precaution.

Kale returned to where the ship was moored and spoke to his companions.

“Let’s go back. There’s nothing more to see here.”

The Vice-Captain’s face, which had looked like he might survive, turned pale once more, but Vicross simply answered flatly after purchasing quite a few fish from the elderly fisherman.

“We’ll have grilled fish for dinner then.”
“Sounds good.”

Returning to the Mansion and enjoying a hearty dinner of grilled fish, Kale waited for time to pass. And finally, when darkness settled over the small Coastal Village visible beyond the window, he retrieved a diving suit from the magical box Bilos had given him and put it on.
Standing on the windowsill where the Cliff of Wind and the waters before the Northeast Region were visible, Kale spoke to On and Hong.

“Guard the house well.”
“We won’t let anyone in.”
“Have a safe trip.”

Kale gave a cursory nod in response to the young kittens’ farewells and looked toward the Black Dragon. The Black Dragon regarded him with a confident expression and spoke, tossing the words out casually.

“Flight.”

In that instant, Kale’s body lifted into the air.

“Let’s go.”

At Kale’s command, the Black Dragon took the lead, and Kale followed in flight. Cradled in Kale’s arms as he soared through the heights, invisible to the eyes below, were the magical bombs.

Today, Kale intended to strike with swift precision and vanish without a trace. By the time people rushed out in shock, he would already be gone—like a silent wind dispersing into nothingness.

The Black Dragon’s specialized variant of the magical bombs was set to detonate in ten minutes.

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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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