Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 55

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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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Kale Heniatus felt the weight of their stares upon him and slowly rose to his feet.

He had been cheering for Witira as she sent Tunka flying, but when he realized the knights might be injured, he panicked and unfurled his shield to protect them.
In doing so, he had positioned the shield’s inner surface toward himself rather than the knights. Fortunately, the knights escaped unharmed, but he had inadvertently saved Tunka in the process.

Kale rose with an air of composure, though in truth he had no choice. His legs had gone numb from crouching for far too long.

“Ah.”

He stumbled slightly. Kale’s brow furrowed. A sharp cramp seized his left leg.

“Young Master!”

Amir rushed forward in alarm. Paseton, startled, grabbed Kale’s arm. But Kale gently pushed the hand away and straightened himself. Amir approached him with an urgent expression.

“Young Master! You didn’t have to exert yourself like that. Why did you?”

Why indeed. Kale had no desire to either. It was simply necessary.
If the Investigation Team members were injured, it would become problematic. Right now it was merely a brief disturbance, but if Tunka hurt the fiefdom’s administrators, the situation would escalate dramatically. Tunka needed to return to the Wipper Kingdom on schedule.

‘Otherwise, I lose.’

Amir approached, his face full of concern and distress as he examined Kale.

“And why are you completely drenched? Are you alright? You’re already recovering from an illness. What if you catch a cold! Young Master, really!”

At Amir’s words, the Whale Tribe members Paseton and Witira flinched. Witira in particular bit her lip as she studied Kale, recalling how her tail had soaked him completely. She remembered that crouching figure looking up at her.

Then the three of them heard Kale’s voice. He spoke in a slow, weary tone.

“As long as no one was injured, that should be sufficient, should it not?”

His voice carried no warmth—tinged, if anything, with irritation. And indeed, Kale was irritated. His entire body was soaked and uncomfortable, and all he wanted now was to escape from these people and rest.

Paseton lowered his head, while Witira glanced around. The devastated coastline lay before them in ruins. She bit her lip once more. Amir hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“…Young Master, I find you difficult to understand. Truly.”

Kale Heniatus closed his mouth as a situation similar to the one at the Capital Plaza began to unfold. He was simply tired of it all.

Amir turned her gaze away from Kale, who stood in silence. Two Whale Tribe members. As her eyes settled upon them, they grew calm, yet anger crystallized within them.

“Who are you two?”

This land belonged to the Roan Kingdom, but it was Ubar—her family’s territory. Amir had no intention of letting the disturbance that occurred here pass unaddressed.

“And you, Bob.”

Amir fixed a sharp gaze upon Tunka, who stood in a daze.

“Who are you?”

None of the three readily opened their mouths. For reasons unknown, Tunka’s vacant expression began to cloud with worry, while Paseton was considering what to say. And Witira—she grew increasingly ashamed as she looked upon what she had done.
Then, a sound reached Amir’s ears.

“Achoo!”

Kale Heniatus felt an itch at the tip of his nose and coughed, then wiped his face with his hand before lifting his head. He opened his mouth indifferently at the sight before him, and spoke to those whose gazes had turned toward him, as he always did.

“Let’s head back for now.”

No one objected to his words.

* * *

After recounting the full details of all that had transpired, Kale Heniatus left Amir’s mansion and glanced at the three standing behind him. Witira, Paseton, Tunka. His gaze collided with Amir’s as she followed them out.

She looked at Kale Heniatus once, then spoke firmly to Tunka.

“You must leave by tomorrow without fail. Consider yourself fortunate that this ends with exile.”

Amir commanded Tunka to depart this place immediately by tomorrow. It was clear he was not a fisherman, and he had been the cause of the conflict.

“As for you two, any further disturbance will result in appropriate punishment.”

The Whale Tribe siblings bowed their heads to Amir with composed expressions. Kale Heniatus gazed intently at the siblings who concealed their lineage as descendants of the Whale Tribe’s royal blood, then turned his gaze away.

“Young master, you seem to be coming down with something. You should head inside quickly.”
“Of course.”

Amir’s gaze sharpened as he observed Tunka, who had been standing vacant since earlier.

“Repaying kindness with enmity.”

Kale Heniatus spoke gently to Amir.

“That’s precisely why we’re exiling him.”

Tunka’s exile—it was the matter Kale had discussed with Amir.

“Young master Kale Heniatus, you truly are something.”

Amir had heard from Paseton that Kale Heniatus had saved his life, and that he had been caught up in this incident entirely without fault.

“Miss, it was nothing.”

Kale Heniatus wore a benevolent expression.

-Didn’t you ask me if I could beat Tunka?

Kale Heniatus dismissed the Black Dragon’s words lightly.
After reassuring Amir several times that all was well, Kale Heniatus turned his gaze briefly toward Tunka. Tunka was also looking at Kale Heniatus. That fellow had been vacant since earlier. No—he seemed troubled.

Ancient power.
The sole force that the tribespeople, who rejected magic, recognized beyond their physical strength. Because the innate power of human nature itself had been transmitted, they regarded it as a blessing.

Kale Heniatus gazed at Tunka without particular emotion.
A reckless fool like that. That’s why he became a hero, but by volume five, he shows signs of self-destruction.

The Whale Tribe member approached Kale Heniatus. Witira spoke cautiously.

“Is it truly alright if we come along?”
“Where else would you go? I can put you up for a night.”

Kale Heniatus climbed into the carriage and commanded the Whale Tribe siblings to follow. As he closed the carriage door, he reflected.

‘Tunka will return to the Wipper Kingdom anyway.’

Kale Heniatus and Kim Rok-soo were the type to avoid forming deep bonds with those they couldn’t communicate with—different from relationships they sidestepped because they might grow complicated.

‘Should I contact the Crown Prince?’

If I asked the Crown Prince to bring back the honey-filled beehives left in the Wipper Kingdom, how would he react?
Since we were of the same ilk, the answer was clear.

He would be absolutely delighted.
And I thought it would be splendid if Kale gathered those honeycombs and spent his remaining years in comfort.

Upon returning to the Mansion, Kale had to greet many people: Vice-Captain Hans and Vicross, the Vice-Captain, ten wolf children, On, and Hong.
Hans approached bustling with energy, but upon seeing the faces of the Whale Tribe siblings, he momentarily opened his mouth before hurrying forward again.

“Young Master, are you alright? I heard the news.”
“I’m fine. And you—just show those people around.”

Kale entrusted the two Whale Tribe members to Hans and turned to face Vicross. As always impeccably groomed, he frowned deeply upon seeing Kale’s condition. Observing Kale covered in stone dust and dried seawater, he spoke to Mess, the eldest of the wolf children.

“Heat the water.”
“Yes, sir.”

Mess answered calmly, then approached Kale.

“Young Master, I heard you nearly suffered grave injuries caught in those people’s battle?”

Kale answered truthfully, aware of not only Mess but also the wolf children staring at him intently.

“Not at all. There was no danger of injury.”
“…I understand.”

Though the bright and innocent wolf children seemed unusually subdued, Kale let it pass. He watched them move with military precision to heat the bathwater and prepare for service, then turned his gaze to Vicross. The moment their eyes met, Vicross spoke to him.

“Young Master, let’s get you cleaned up first.”

Sensing Vicross’s firm resolve not to tolerate this filth any longer, Kale nodded quietly. He was about to head toward the bathhouse when several people stopped him in his tracks.

“My lord.”
“What is it?”

It was Paseton and Witira. Paseton had called out to me, but Witira spoke first.

“Would it be acceptable if we visited you later, after you’ve rested a bit?”

As the Whale King’s blood relatives, the two siblings occupied a position equivalent to royalty in this nation. Yet they concealed their royal status. In truth, there was no need to hide it—humans would never know the Whale Tribe had royalty anyway.
Even so, while people knew the Whale Tribe existed, few understood them in any detail.

“Come tomorrow.”

I turned away from them and began walking. As I moved, the Black Dragon’s voice reached me. The Black Dragon had been particularly talkative since earlier.

-You were coughing. Will you be able to move tonight? Shouldn’t you rest? Why do you make me worry like this by being so frail! This is frustrating, human.

I’m the one who’s frustrated. I watched those who wouldn’t believe me even after I’d reassured them countless times, and decided to seize this moment. That night, I told everyone I was ill and needed to sleep, and no one was to visit. Then I spoke to the Black Dragon.

“Let’s go.”
“…Understood for now.”

I set out with the Black Dragon toward the Islands off Ubar Coast, escorted by On and Hong.
Tonight, I moved to extend the duration of several Whirlpools that would vanish within a week to last a full year.

-I don’t understand why you’d do this when you’re not even well. A superior dragon’s mind cannot comprehend this.

I answered the four-year-old’s complaints dismissively.

“It has to be tonight.”

Tomorrow, the mages from my Fiefdom would arrive. Then it would be far more difficult to move freely. Tonight, I had to handle everything at once—the water from the puddle I’d discovered by chance and all the Whirlpools.
I observed the bright flames still burning above the Central Island, then descended on an island quite distant from there. It was where the second-strongest Whirlpool existed, after the one at the Central Island.

“Sigh.”

And I exhaled at the sight before me.

-Why did that bastard swim all the way here? No, more than that—why is that bastard even here? I don’t understand.

The Black Dragon’s absurd voice echoed across the island where Kale Heniatus had descended with him. The island itself was deserted, yet standing in the whirlpools before it was a single figure.
The whirlpools churned so violently that from the sky above, no human presence could be discerned.

“Is this bastard truly insane?”

The night after the new moon—a moonless darkness. Watching Tunka plunge into those whirlpools, I pondered what madness drove him to such recklessness.

Then Tunka emerged from the whirlpools, eyes gleaming as he waded toward the coastline.

“Just as I thought! I knew it!”

Tunka fixed his gaze upon me as he approached.

“So you’re not just some bored wanderer either. I definitely caught a strong scent nearby. A mage, perhaps? How did you manage to fly through the sky?”

Tunka’s eyes gleamed as the word “mage” left his lips. For him, mages were creatures to be fought first and questioned later—or simply killed if they proved weak. He viewed mages as a blight upon the world. He strode toward me with purposeful steps.

“Is the noble mage ignoring my words? Hmm?”

Tunka could see me exhale a weary sigh. I spoke to him curtly, as if tossing aside an afterthought.

“I’m thinking.”

How should I handle this ignorant fool?

‘Should I crush him now, or find a way to use him?’

I was deliberating precisely that. I fixed my gaze upon Tunka, who stood directly before me, ready to strike at any moment.

“What are you thinking about? Ignoring me like that?”

The instant those words left Tunka’s mouth, I reached my decision. And I acted.
Both, then.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

Tunka’s defenseless body flew backward, plunging directly into the seawater below. The whirlpools coiled around his form.

“What in the—!”

Despite Tunka’s formidable resistance to magic, the whirlwind’s assault made it nearly impossible to maintain clarity. The relentless gale, churning together with seawater, dragged him down like quicksand, suffocating and inescapable.

Kale advanced toward Tunka, whirlpools swirling in both his palms. *Splash. Splash.* The sound of his footsteps against the seawater echoed across the battlefield.

He looked down at Tunka, now submerged in the water by the sudden onslaught. No matter how colossal one might be, eventually there came an opportunity to look down upon them.

“Mages can never possess the power of the ancients.”

Tunka felt the wind enveloping his body dissipate and looked up at Kale.

“You, a warrior—surely you understand what that means?”

The innate strength of humanity itself.
Tunka had heard tales of the ancient power, but this was his first time witnessing it firsthand. After a long pause, he finally spoke.

“…Then you’re not a mage?”
“That’s right.”

Faced with Kale’s resolute answer, devoid of any hesitation, Tunka posed another question.

“Then how do you know about the Non-Mage Alliance?”

The more Tunka observed this nobleman before him, the more peculiar he seemed.

‘Yes. This one is strange.’

A man who responded without hesitation even when spoken to in casual terms.
A human who strove to save others despite his own suffering. Certainly, a powerful scent lingered nearby, yet this strange one bore no such overwhelming aura himself.
And with each passing moment, increasingly peculiar powers revealed themselves. A man who had tried to save him.

Tunka had never encountered anyone like this before.
Yet Kale’s next words stirred his thoughts once more.

Rather than answering Tunka’s question, Kale posed one of his own.

“Are you perhaps thinking of destroying the Magic Tower?”
“What? Destroy what?”

Tunka’s eyes widened in shock. His expression screamed the question: How did you know that?

Destroying the Magic Tower. It was one of the plans the Non-Mage Alliance had been orchestrating from the beginning. Kale continued, watching Tunka’s astonishment.

“If you’re planning to destroy the Magic Tower, could you maybe… not destroy it completely?”

Tunka found himself blurting out his true thoughts without thinking.

“…You madman, what are you talking about?”
“Oh, and make sure to drive out all the mages from the Magic Tower too.”

Only after hearing Kale’s next words could Tunka finally define what he was. Kale smiled at Tunka, a thin smirk playing across his lips.

The Wipper Kingdom, victorious in its civil war, had grown—only to see its momentum crumble rapidly. Instinct had overwhelmed reason in the form of magic, but without reason, it was nothing but a beast.

Kale’s mouth opened, his plan crystallizing: to seize the very essence of reason that the beast had abandoned.

“I’ll buy that Magic Tower. What do you think?”

Tunka’s lips curled upward into a smile. He looked up at Kale, who gazed down at him.

“This guy is completely insane.”

Tunka had found his definition of Kale.

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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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