Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 510

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

“Choi Han.”
“Yes.”

Kale Heniatus suddenly veered to the right, abandoning the path toward the mountain peak and sprinting forward.
Choi Han, who had been pursuing him, widened his eyes at the words spilling from Kale Heniatus’s lips.

“There’s someone isolated, apparently.”
“…An enemy?”
“Unknown. However.”

Kale Heniatus, who had paused briefly, pushed through the undergrowth and spoke again.

“But likely a survivor from the Ranger Unit.”

It could be a hidden enemy or an injured ally left behind.

‘Bud wouldn’t abandon an injured comrade like that. Neither would the Elves.’

Because of this, Kale Heniatus’s pace quickened even further.

‘Hmm.’

Kale Heniatus felt a slight strain on his body in that moment.
Having already expended considerable power simultaneously channeling the Stone Serpent and Destructive Fire, his physical condition was clearly far from optimal.
Of course, Kale Heniatus believed he could endure quite a bit thanks to his heart’s vitality.
However, the Ancient Powers seemed to judge otherwise.

-You haven’t rested properly this entire time. Remember that.

The husky voice of Voice of Wind, the Thief, reached his ears.

-If you expend more power now, you may not be able to muster the strength needed when the next battle demands it.

Kale Heniatus readily accepted that counsel. So he maintained his current speed rather than accelerating further.

‘The Thief is right. There will come a moment when I need my strength. I must preserve it for then.’

If a battle broke out with the White Star’s subordinates who had infiltrated the Roan Kingdom, it would be a four-way conflict in total.
In one of those confrontations, I might need to exert considerable strength.
Therefore, I had to think strategically based on the power I possessed.

“Lord Kale Heniatus. If we continue in this direction, I’ll take the lead and carve a path through.”
“Very well.”

So I yielded the vanguard to Choi Han.
Shink—!
Choi Han stepped forward and drew his sword.
From some point onward, the terrain around us became filled with dense undergrowth reaching up to our waists and thick forest.

Whoooosh—
Choi Han’s blade cut through the vegetation without hesitation, advancing at a rapid pace.
Then my eyes sharpened.

Whoooosh—
A refreshing breeze blew directly toward Choi Han and me.

“Choi Han, stop!”

Choi Han seemed to sense something as well, immediately halting and turning to look back at me.
Both our expressions hardened.

“Lord Kale Heniatus. It appears to be a cliff.”
“Yes.”

Suddenly the undergrowth thinned, and the sky became visible beyond the dense forest.
That meant there was a cliff beyond this forest.
My spinning top vibrated in my hand.

‘There’s a cliff ahead! A cliff!’
‘Chaos, destruction, despair! But I still hear groaning! The breathing is still faint!’

I walked forward slowly, step by step.

“They’re here.”
“…A survivor, you mean?”
“Yes.”

A Ranger Unit member would likely know various methods to survive while evading enemies, and those methods would likely be unconventional.

Kale Heniatus emerged from the forest.
A cliff face appeared directly before him.
Choi Han, who had followed behind, surveyed the surroundings and spoke.

“There are no distinctive traces, sir.”

No signs of anyone—enemy or ally—passing through the area were visible.
In that moment, I lowered my body.

“…Kale Heniatus, sir?”

Then I bent my gaze toward the cliff.
Choi Han approached in surprise and could see me smiling.

“Found them.”

My gaze, murmured softly, fixed on one location. Choi Han followed my eyes to the same spot.
A sheer cliff face. In the middle of it, a single bloodstain was visible.
It was a bloodstain one would have easily overlooked without deliberately searching for it.

And beyond that bloodstain, slightly lower, two trees grew from the cliff face.
I heard the Wind Spirit’s voice.

‘There’s a cave hidden by leaves! It’s below those two trees! It’s just big enough for one person to enter!’

There was a cave concealed by the trees with remarkable cunning.

‘Chaos, destruction, discovery! Someone seems to be inside!’

I opened my mouth.

“There’s a cave large enough for one person hidden beneath those leaves, according to what I’ve been told.”
“So there’s a survivor there.”
“Yes.”

My lips curved upward.

“Quite the remarkable individual.”

To erase all traces so thoroughly that even Choi Han couldn’t detect them, then descend the cliff, slip into the cave, and hide?
It was no easy feat without considerable skill.

“We head there.”
“Understood.”

Kale Heniatus rose to his feet and gazed down the cliff face.
How was he supposed to reach that opening?
Should he use Voice of Wind?
Should he summon Raon?
Kale’s mind grew tangled with possibilities. But he couldn’t afford to deliberate long. Time was of the essence.
He would need to channel Voice of Wind more powerfully than before, creating an effect akin to flight magic. Kale made his decision and opened his mouth.

“Choi Han.”
“Yes. Please, get on my back.”
“…What?”

Turning, I found Choi Han offering his back, gesturing for me to climb on.

“…Why?”

I found myself speaking without thinking, and Choi Han responded with a puzzled expression.

“The cave isn’t far—it looks like only about twenty steps down. Wouldn’t it be wasteful to exhaust yourself using Ancient Powers unnecessarily?”

Choi Han was right. The cave’s position wasn’t distant, and squandering Ancient Powers on something so trivial would indeed be poor judgment.
I leaned forward slightly, peering down the precipice below.
The cave wasn’t far, but the cliff face was steep and towering. One misstep meant oblivion.

“…You’re just going to climb down bare-handed?”
“Of course.”

Choi Han’s gentle features creased with mild exasperation at my continued questioning. He urged me forward.

“Let’s go! We’ll be quick. Twenty steps won’t take more than twenty seconds.”
“…Yes, okay.”

Kale stammered, “Uh, uh,” before finding himself hoisted onto Choi Han’s back.

‘…This should be fine, right?’

It was only a fleeting thought.

“Uh, uh!”

My body lurched suddenly as Choi Han moved.
He advanced toward the cliff without hesitation, his body propelling forward relentlessly.
With each stride toward the precipice, it seemed as though we might plummet at any moment.

‘Good grief!’

My body instinctively recoiled.

“Going down.”

The instant Choi Han uttered those brief words, I felt myself dropping downward.

‘Whoa!’

Without thinking, I gripped Choi Han’s shoulders tightly.
I hadn’t achieved my hundred victories yet—I refused to forfeit my dreams by plummeting off a cliff.

“…Hm?”

But my jaw dropped moments later.

Crack. Crack. Crunch!
The sounds were Choi Han’s hands and feet embedding into the cliff face. I stared dumbfounded as his feet sank into the stone.

The cliff was like soft mud.
Choi Han descended methodically, driving his hands and feet into the rock face or gripping it with his palms as he made his way down.
Watching this, I found myself thinking:

‘…This is actually quite stable.’

As always, Choi Han’s back was reliable.
And true to Choi Han’s word, I reached a cave in the blink of an eye.
The cave was just large enough for an adult to stand and enter, exactly as the Wind Spirit had described.

“Then, I’ll go in.”

With those words, Choi Han pushed off the cliff he’d been standing on and landed inside the cave.
I, riding on his back, posed no burden whatsoever.

“Oh, that’s quite impressive—”

I opened my mouth to praise Choi Han but stopped short.

The cave wasn’t deep at all.
From the entrance, I could immediately see the cave’s end.

Over Choi Han’s shoulder, I could see a figure huddled at the cave’s end.
Choi Han’s voice reached my ears.

“…Appears to be a Rat tribe member.”

The figure at the cave’s end was small in stature—even shorter than Mueller, the half-Rat tribe Dwarf in the Heniatus Territory.
No other race could be that diminutive.

“W-who are you!”

The Rat tribe member struggled to rise, his injured leg splinted with branches.
Looking closer, I could see his side was also wounded—dried blood and cloth wrapped around the injury were visible.
His complexion was pale, and he watched us with wariness.

‘…A Ranger Unit member!’

But my expression brightened.
Bud had said something about this.

‘The Rat tribe member. That bastard holds the line at the very rear, enduring to the absolute end. He’s the best at escaping. Even his communications went dark.’

And this was that Ranger who single-handedly accomplished the work of a hundred soldiers.

“Choi Han.”
“Yes.”

Choi Han took another step forward.
Only once he ventured deeper into the cave could I dismount from his back and set my feet upon the cavern floor.

“Oh, don’t come any closer!”

Yet the rat-like creature cried out in panic at our approach.
He withdrew a small dagger from his garments and gripped it tightly as he spoke.

“If you come near, oh, if you—damn it all! I’m the weakest one here! Curse it! Just don’t come any closer!”

…Something about this fellow seems rather peculiar.
My expression grew cold at the rat-creature’s behavior. However, since he was someone who could provide valuable information and I needed to reach the Mercenary King with haste, I spoke.

“We were sent by Bud. We’ve been searching for the Ranger Unit members. We’re on the same side.”
“…What?”

Toward the startled rat-creature, Choi Han withdrew something from his garments and cast it to the ground.

Clang! Ting-ting-ting—
It was a small metal badge.
Upon seeing it, the rat-creature slowly opened his mouth.

“A Mercenary Guild member’s badge.”

What Choi Han had thrown was a badge denoting membership in the Mercenary Guild.
It bore an authentic mark that only guild members could recognize.

‘When did he acquire something like this?’

I wondered when Choi Han had obtained such an item, but I was grateful it had worked out so well.
The rat-creature would now believe we were allies.

“Sigh.”

Yet the rat-creature collapsed to a sitting position.
Then, with a vacant expression, he murmured incoherently.

“Of course the Mercenary King wouldn’t send proper people! Ugh! Look at that, look! That one being carried down the cliff—he looks so pallid he’d collapse with a single poke! Alas, what a cursed fate!”

…What did he just say?
Kale Heniatus’s expression darkened.

“The one being carried looks so docile, and he appears young too! Alas, what a cursed fate!”

Kale Heniatus now had solid ground beneath his feet, so he descended quietly from Choi Han’s back.
Even as he did, the rat-like creature continued his lament.

“Good heavens! He managed to crawl down the cliff somehow, and it seems he found me! Alas, what a cursed fate! Such a feeble, dull-witted fellow! Bud, you bastard! You scoundrel!”

He paused his lamentation and spoke to Choi Han and Kale Heniatus.

“Hey, you feeble, dull-witted ones. I don’t recognize either of you—are you rookies? Well, you must be. I know every face in the Mercenary Guild, every single one! Kekeke! I need to know all the faces so I can avoid the scary ones! That’s my secret to survival! Kekeke!”

This creature was a chatterbox.
He pointed at Choi Han first.

“What’s your name? Even if we’re escaping, you came to rescue me, so I should thank you properly. For that, we need to introduce ourselves first.”

Choi Han’s mouth opened.

“Choi Han.”
“…Hmm? That’s a familiar name I’ve heard somewhere before.”

The rat-like creature tilted his head.
Then his eyes met Kale Heniatus’s. A smirk twisted across Kale Heniatus’s lips as he spoke.

“I’m Kale Heniatus.”
“Insane!”

The rat-like creature involuntarily struck his own head with his fist.

“I’ve even seen his portrait! Insane, insane, insane!”

Choi Han and Kale Heniatus.
Kale Heniatus in particular was someone currently conducting numerous operations closely with the Mercenary Guild, so while ordinary guild members didn’t know him, the leadership certainly knew his appearance and name.
The Ranger Unit had also received basic information about Kale Heniatus before this operation.

‘If that red-haired fellow is Kale Heniatus, then the stern one beside him must be… the Swordmaster…! That, that fearsome swordsman!’

The rat-like creature moved his splinted leg frantically.

Thud!
He collapsed flat against the cave floor and cried out.

“Thank you for saving me! Heroes! My pain clouded my judgment! It’s an honor! Please, just let me live! I swear I’ll repay this debt with every fiber of my being!”

His voice boomed with such force that it seemed impossible he was the same creature who’d been gasping weakly moments before.
When the cave fell silent despite his desperate pleas, the rat-like creature cautiously lifted his head.

Ah.
His eyes met Kale’s, and he watched the man’s lips part.

“Choi Han. Take him. Then we head straight for the Mercenary King.”

The rat-like creature shrank back as Choi Han lifted him with a gentle yet composed demeanor. The pain in his leg and ribs vanished the moment he glimpsed Choi Han’s sword.
But the instant his eyes met Kale’s again, his mouth fell open involuntarily.

A sinister grin.
His lips twisted upward with pure malice.
The moment he saw Kale’s smile.

“I’m sorry! I’m just a hopeless wretch by nature!”

The rat-like creature unleashed another desperate apology.
But Kale spoke quietly.

“Mouth. Closed.”

The rat-like creature covered his mouth with both hands.

“Choi Han, let’s go. Can you carry both of us?”
“Yes. Right away.”

Kale’s gaze turned toward the cave entrance.
He could get the explanation from the rat-like creature on the way.

* * *

“Huff, gasp, gasp—”

Bud’s breath came in ragged gasps, his chest heaving to its limit.
But I couldn’t stop.
A voice reached me from behind.

“Hey. I’m leaving you behind.”
“Are you insane?”

I immediately scowled, my irritation flashing at such a ridiculous suggestion.

“…Haa.”

Shallow breathing sounded from behind me.
Drip. Drip.
I could hear the sound of blood droplets sliding down my shoulder and striking the ground.
It was blood that had seeped out while I was staunching the wound.
My shoulder was becoming soaked with it.

It wasn’t my blood.

“Hey. Gren Puff. Don’t you dare lose consciousness. If you do, I’ll kill you.”
“Haa… understood, damn it.”

Gren Puff’s blood was soaking through my back and shoulder.
I quickened my pace.

“Bud, sir!”

The Elves gestured urgently for me to move faster.
Not a single one of them looked presentable.
I was no different, and everyone’s appearance was in shambles. Yet their expressions remained resolute.
They continued forward with each step.

The enemy—the monsters—were pursuing from behind.

Bud drew in another breath and quickened his pace.
He thought of one person.

“…Kale Heniatus.”

Come quickly, you bastard!
But Bud couldn’t let those words escape his lips.
Instead, he spoke something else.

“…Don’t come. Please.”

Don’t come.
There are monsters here.
No—there are monsters.

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