Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 51

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————

“It looks even more terrifying at night.”

Kale Heniatus gazed at the largest whirlpool churning beneath his feet and voiced his observation. Even as he did, a thought crossed his mind.

‘That madman Tunka is absolutely insane.’

How did Tunka come to possess Wind’s Sound? After drifting to the Central Island and his condition improving somewhat, he began taking interest in these whirlpools.
Volcanic regions, frozen wastelands, deserts—he loved throwing himself bare-handed into all of them. So wasn’t it natural that he wouldn’t simply overlook the sea’s whirlpools?

Tunka thrived on danger. No—he was obsessed with it to the point of madness. That’s why he was called a madman.

【”The sea is new to me. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”】

With just those words, he’d hurled himself bare-bodied into the whirlpool below. Of course, Kale Heniatus had no intention of doing the same.
He’d come prepared with a wetsuit and all the necessary equipment in his pockets.

“Is this the place?”

At the Black Dragon’s question, Kale Heniatus nodded in response and surveyed his surroundings. The rural seaside village was indeed shrouded in darkness now that night had fallen.
The sea beneath was even darker. Yet it was loud—the sound created by the whirlpools. Even if it grew louder, the villagers wouldn’t immediately turn their attention here. They would gradually sense something amiss and grow curious.
Kale Heniatus turned his gaze from the sea toward the Cliff of Wind.

Kale Heniatus pushed the book’s contents to the back of his mind and spoke to the Black Dragon.

“Let’s begin.”
“Understood, human.”

Black mana flowed from the Black Dragon’s stubby front claws.

Hum.
The magical bomb responded to the mana, beginning to vibrate gradually.

The magical bomb currently cradled in Kale Heniatus’s arms was not the Secret Organization’s bomb mentioned in books one and two.

‘A magic bomb of a higher caliber.’

In the latter half of Volume 3 of “The Birth of Heroes,” the Mage Alliance of the Wipper Kingdom, cornered at the edge of a cliff, began developing tools to kill the Non-Mage Alliance one by one.
One of them resembled the magic bomb now held in Kale’s hand.

Mana condensation—the primary material of magic bombs that splits into multiple fragments and detonates in response to the creator’s mana. A bomb that explodes repeatedly.
Though less powerful individually, the successive detonations made it ideal for lethal purposes.

Kale praised the Black Dragon.

“You seem quite remarkable for creating this.”
“Indeed. I am a great and arrogant dragon.”

More black mana flowed from the dragon’s stubby foreleg, seeping completely into the bomb.
A low hum resonated. Kale felt the magic bomb vibrating in his arms. He lifted his gaze. A moonless new moon night. Kale had timed it perfectly for this moment.

“Be careful. Don’t get hurt.”

The Black Dragon ascended higher into the sky, wrapped a shield around Kale, and bid him farewell.

Click.
A small sound came from within the magic bomb.

Kale released the bomb from his hand. Simultaneously, he fastened the breathing apparatus attached to his wetsuit. A magical device capable of sustaining breath for five minutes.
And moments later.

Boom! Boom! Crash!

The bomb detonated, and Kale plummeted vertically, enveloped in a silver shield. The night wind rushed fiercely across his face.

As dozens of smaller bombs exploded, the whirlpool lost its force and ceased spinning properly. Kale unfurled the wings of his shield.

Whoosh!

The shield struck the sea, and Kale plunged into the water. He immediately donned his goggles and descended beneath the surface. His body fell downward with the speed of an arrow.

Crash, boom! The bombs continued detonating as the whirlpool weakened further. The currents displaced by the explosions brushed against Kale’s shield and silver wings. Yet he descended safely to the seafloor.

Boom. Kale Heniatus swung his shield to deflect the final explosion with ease and walked across the seabed.
Central Island. The massive Whirlpools that dominated the waters before that small island.
The Whirlpools had originated from a tiny spinning top trapped beneath an enormous boulder.

A spinning top that had been rotating endlessly for centuries.

A colossal boulder appeared before Kale Heniatus’s eyes. The kind of rock that would simply crush a person to death if it fell on them.

【Tunka had realized that the Whirlpools originated from beneath this enormous boulder and tried to seize it. It was smaller than the boulder he’d lifted from the north. But he couldn’t lift it.】
【’Then I’ll just smash it.’】
【So Tunka shattered the boulder.】

Kale Heniatus stared at the rock and thought.

‘Tunka, you absolute madman. You actually destroyed it?’

Shaking his head beneath the waves like Sun Wukong, Kale Heniatus approached the spinning top that rotated with only a portion of its form visible beneath the boulder.

In that moment, just as it always happened when I obtained ancient power, I could hear the voice of the power’s owner.

-Damn bastards!

Oh. This owner’s language was quite crude.

-What crime is there in stealing something those dogs created by sacrificing people? They say they’re returning it to the people? Garbage! Why do such worthless things possess power!

The owner of Wind’s Sound and the legendary thief who stole the god’s treasure from this village—The Thief. She had not stolen a god’s possession. She had merely stolen from the Temple.

She had drowned in the sea with both her feet bound to this enormous boulder. The Thief, who possessed the fastest feet and moved in silence, could only die this way.

A superpower that manipulated wind. Unlike mana, she herself was the wind. Even after her death, she became a spinning top and exhaled wind.

-Water like this! If it were my friend’s light, I would burn it away!

Kale Heniatus’s expression became strange as he retrieved the item he’d brought to extract the spinning top from beneath the boulder.

‘Light? Could it be…?’

-Do you know why lightning is terrifying? Because it strikes once! Once!

Kale Heniatus recalled the final power he could obtain: “Destruction’s Flame.” To acquire it, he would need to pass through a massive inferno. Of course, with an astronomical sum of money in hand.

A sudden thought flickered through Kale Heniatus’s mind.
An unbreakable shield, wood. The vitality of the heart, wind. Wind’s Sound, water. Destruction’s Flame, fire.
An unsettling unease crept over him. Kale Heniatus hesitated for a moment—should he take this spinning top or not? But then.

Beep—beep, beep—

The alarm on his diving suit alerted him that only three minutes remained. Kale Heniatus decided to deliberate later.

‘I need to extract it quickly.’

He began digging with his hoe. Kale Heniatus started excavating the seabed around the massive boulder that imprisoned the spinning top, its surface reinforced with magic to razor sharpness. The enchanted hoe carved through the seafloor with ease.

‘Why resort to brute force like Tunka and shatter the rock?’

Simply dig beneath it. A smirk played across Kale Heniatus’s lips. After several strokes of the hoe, he could finally see the spinning top completely. He reached toward it and, at last, grasped it in his hand.
A sharp hiss. Gripping the spinning top as it rotated, Kale Heniatus stepped back several paces from the boulder. A low rumble. The rock, which had been delicately balanced by the top, tilted slightly to one side.

—If stealing what I took is a sin, then why do those who possess everything tell lies to humans and claim they are guiltless? The world is rotten. A corrupted world where those with power consume everything.

The world was always rotten, after all.
Kale Heniatus cleanly dismissed The Thief’s words and lowered the spinning top in his hand to the ground.

The owner of Wind’s Sound desired only one thing.
Liberation. And that was destruction.

Crack. The spinning top shattered into fragments beneath Kale Heniatus’s feet.

Eeeeeee—

A piercing ultrasonic wail reverberated through the sea. The spinning top had broken. Wind poured forth from within. The wind enveloped Kale Heniatus.

—You are one who regenerates. Like me, do not be captured. Do you understand?

One who regenerates? Was it referring to the vitality of the heart? Kale Heniatus’s brow furrowed slightly. In that moment, the final words reached him.

—Be free.

Whoooosh.
At the same moment, a white wind enveloped Kale’s body. The wind swept across him from head to toe. It would have stopped at his feet.

‘Hmm?’

But the wind lingered near my heart. Thump. Boom, boom. Suddenly my heart began pounding violently.

‘Ugh.’

My heart was beating so hard it ached. I tapped my left chest with my right hand. Air bubbles escaped from my slightly parted lips at the respirator.

‘What is this?’

Suppressing the groan threatening to burst forth, I curled my body inward. That was when it happened.
Whoooosh. The wind flared with light once more, then descended swiftly to my feet and traced a pattern. A whirlpool design appeared on my ankle, barely visible between my wetsuit and diving shoes. It too shimmered silver.
That too was silver.

Only then did I feel my heart stabilize.

‘Could it be that the vitality of my heart also strengthened Wind’s Sound?’

The question lingered, but I couldn’t afford to dwell on it. Beep, beep— the alarm sounded again, warning that time was running short.
Yet this much time was sufficient.

I activated Wind’s Sound. Wind began swirling around my feet. I rolled my feet slightly.

Swoooosh!

In an instant, my body cut through the seabed and surged forward. The whirlpool before Central Island had vanished. I raced across the remaining whirlpools.

‘The other whirlpools will disappear within a week.’

But I intended to maintain those whirlpools for a year. They recognized Wind’s Sound—their master—precisely and created a path for me.

My destination was the Cliff of Wind.

Before the stone wall gradually coming into view drew any closer, I kicked off the seafloor with all my strength. My body shot upward.

Whoooosh— The sea breeze welcomed Kale Heniatus as he resurfaced above the water. He stripped off the hood of his wetsuit.
Beep— The alarm signaled the end of five minutes. Kale turned his gaze toward the Village. One by one, quite a few lights were coming on.

“I need to hurry back.”

Since I’d told Hans not to wake me unless it was a matter of life and death, he wouldn’t come calling lightly. Still, it was better to return quickly.

Kale swam toward the Cliff of Wind. At the base of the cliff, large and small rocks jutted upward. So I’d heard that those who fell to their deaths from the Cliff of Wind had their corpses torn to shreds.

Kale approached one of the rocks that resembled a lion’s head. A smile played at the corners of my mouth as I spotted what lay behind that largest boulder.

A small cave appeared.

‘Found it.’

After Tunka obtained Wind’s Sound, he encounters an opportunity here. It was an opportunity not particularly necessary for him, but it would be useful ‘material’ for Kale Heniatus.
When this material meets the material that Rak will later obtain, the Jungle Queen will have no choice but to make a deal with Kale Heniatus.

‘The Queen will have to save the Jungle, after all.’

Kale swam carefully between the rocks and approached the cave. Since it was a new moon, the cave entrance was dark, but it didn’t matter. As soon as I reached my destination, I climbed out of the water and sat at the cave’s mouth.
And I gazed up at the sky beyond the cave.

‘It’s time for him to arrive.’

As if reading my thoughts, the Black Dragon’s voice reached me. But it came from inside my head.

-Weak human, you’re unharmed.

The Black Dragon only spoke directly into Kale Heniatus’s mind in one circumstance. A chill ran down my spine. I slowly turned my head toward the depths of the cave.

When there was an unknown presence nearby, the Black Dragon spoke into Kale Heniatus’s mind.

-But there’s a living creature in this cave. It’s dying now, but fortunately, it’s not a corpse like the ones you fear.

Skreeeech. Skreeeech. The sound of something being dragged echoed from deeper within the cave. Kale Heniatus hesitated.

‘Should I just jump back into the water?’

Should I ask the Dragon to take me home instead?
Screeeech. Screeeeech. Screech. But the dragging sound grew more urgent, and before Kale Heniatus could even finish his thought, the creature inside the cave revealed itself. Kale Heniatus stepped one foot back into the water.

The thing that appeared spoke in a trembling voice.

“P-please… save me.”

Ah. A sigh escaped Kale Heniatus’s lips. The speaker reeked of salt. The smell of the sea.
Surely not.

“I… I have things I must do alive.”

Dragging mangled legs behind, a being with human features crawled toward Kale Heniatus.
Where the flesh was torn, a sickly green liquid clung to the wounds, causing blood to pour forth continuously. This was the work of a mermaid’s attack.

“P-please—”

A Whale Tribe member.
With long hair disheveled and bloody hands crawling toward him, that beautiful human was from the Whale Tribe.

-Weak human, did you catch a cold? Your face is pale.

The Black Dragon’s voice reached him, but Kale Heniatus barely registered it. He felt as though he were witnessing a scene from a horror film he’d once watched come to life before him.
An injured, dying member of the Whale Tribe appeared before Kale Heniatus.

—————

This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

—————