Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 59

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

Kale Heniatus arrived at the nearest village close to the Dark Forest and descended from the carriage. Harris Village. His first impression upon seeing it was simple.

“It’s all blackened.”

More than two months had passed. Harris Village remained shrouded in darkness. I lowered my gaze to the ground. Black ash still lingered upon the earth.

I looked ahead. The Vice-Captain’s bitter voice reached my ears.

“Everything has burned.”

I turned my gaze toward Vice-Captain Hilsman.

“Where did you say the graveyard was?”
“I will locate it.”

It had been a while since I saw Vice-Captain Hilsman so composed, but there was no other choice.

The Great Stone Wall. Harris Village, standing before that stone wall leading toward the Dark Forest, had been completely incinerated into blackness. Where houses once stood, only skeletal frames of charred wood remained, and everything existed merely as traces.

“The aura of fire is strong here.”
“You can sense such things?”
“Even so, I am of the Whale Tribe.”

Witira answered with a slight smile, but her eyes soon grew clouded. However, I had no time to concern myself with her. I moved forward, approaching the children who had yet to descend from the carriage.

“Mess.”
“…Young master.”

Mess, the eldest of the wolf children, stood frozen while gazing upon the village. I could well imagine his reason. They must be remembering their homeland now.

“Do you know why I brought you here?”

Mess could not answer my words. He had not yet heard from me why he and his siblings had come to this place. The butler Hans was not here, nor was Vicross, and the escort soldiers had been minimized to a streamlined group, within which they found themselves.

Mess gazed at me with questioning eyes. The young master whom Rak had instructed him to serve spoke with leisured composure, arms folded.

“I’m going to have a considerable amount of money coming in very soon.”
“Pardon?”

At this sudden mention of money, Mess’s expression turned blank, as did the children who hadn’t yet descended from the carriage. Kale Heniatus continued without concern for their bewilderment.
The Magic Tower and the Jungle Queen. With those two, I would accumulate an enormous fortune. And I would grant my fiefdom access to maritime trade routes.

“So I intend to use a portion of that wealth to restore this place into a proper village once more.”

The word “village” embedded itself in the children’s ears.

“And I plan to build a villa where you, I, and my companions can gather and enjoy ourselves together.”
“…I’ve heard the Dark Forest is dangerous.”
“Are you speaking in earnest?”

Kale Heniatus looked around as he posed the question back to Mess. On and Hong were descending from the carriage, and somewhere above, the Black Dragon would be soaring. And the Whale Tribe was approaching the well covered in ash.

“Will it be stronger than you as you grow?”

His indifferent voice reached the young wolves.

“I made a promise to Rak that I would care for you well. If that is so, then you will need a space where you can live as wolves ought to.”

In the moment a bright smile graced Kale Heniatus’s lips—as though there were no difficulty whatsoever—a cool breeze swept between them. As black ash mingled with that wind and scattered far into the sky, his voice filled the space once more.

“I shall forge that land for you. So that you will have grown magnificently by the time Rak returns.”

Kale Heniatus furrowed his brow as he regarded Mess and the young wolves.

“Answer.”
“…Yes, yes!”
“Yes!”

Dissatisfied with the children’s tepid response, Kale Heniatus left with a displeased expression. Mess watched him depart toward the Great Stone Wall, then turned his head. His younger siblings were looking at him.
Mess opened his mouth.

“…Let us grow.”

With those words, Mess surveyed the village. Perhaps this blackened village would one day become as warm and comforting as the hometown he remembered. Though his younger siblings did not answer his words, Mess could see in their eyes that they shared the same resolve.
They were the same wolves, after all.

Unaware of the wolves’ resolve, I tapped against the Great Stone Wall.

“Quite thick.”

I turned my head. The sole stone door embedded in the Great Stone Wall. Beyond that door lay passage to the Dark Forest. Of course, Choi Han had not used this door. He vaulted over the ten-meter height with ease.

“Is the Dark Forest beyond this wall?”
“Indeed.”

I glanced at Witira as she approached. Her azure hair and eyes had both been dyed brown, and her face had transformed into a hazy, forgettable impression. Yet her voice remained as beautiful as ever.

“The view beyond the wall is obscured, but given that it’s a mysterious region, it must have quite an unusual appearance, yes? I wonder if the wall is sturdy.”

With a subtle smile, Witira lightly pressed her index finger against the wall. Yet that finger sank straight through it.

“…Haha.”

Witira laughed awkwardly, her expression troubled.

As expected. A truly fearsome race. I pretended not to notice and turned away. These long-haired siblings were still inexperienced at controlling their strength on the surface. I quickly changed the subject.

“Similar.”
“Pardon? Similar to what?”
“What lies beyond. You said it would have an unusual appearance.”
“Ah.”

I shrugged at Witira’s soft exclamation and turned from the wall to continue speaking.

“The Dark Forest is just like any other forest—simply a forest.”

I spoke to her as she fell into step beside me.

“But what dwells within is different.”

For reasons unknown, the Dark Forest frequently spawned mutated plant species and mutated monsters. The monsters were easily distinguished by their grotesque forms, entirely unlike ordinary beasts, but the plants—though superficially similar in appearance—possessed properties that manifested as poison or toxic gas.

‘And among the monsters, I’ve also seen creatures that typically appear on the Eastern Continent.’

That was why it remained a mystery. This Dark Forest was the only place where traces of the Eastern Continent were visible.

“Master Kale!”

I nodded toward Vice-Captain Hilsman at his call, then turned to Witira with instructions.

“Look after the children for me.”
“Of course. There are quite a few young beastfolk here.”

Witira watched me quietly as I exhaled a sigh, my expression clearly exasperated by her remark. I paid her no mind and approached Hilsman.

“Let’s go.”
“Yes, sir.”

I set out toward our destination with only Hilsman in tow. We arrived shortly after.

“We’re here.”

A place where countless graves stood erected—where Choi Han had buried the people of Harris Village.
Hilsman stepped back from me and took his position alongside the soldiers. His eyes remained fixed on me. It was surprising that I had come to Harris Village at all, and even more surprising that I had sought out the graveyard first.

The Vice-Captain quietly withdrew to grant me solitude. Of course, I paid him no attention whatsoever—indeed, I spared him no thought at all—as I gazed upon the graves and spoke.

“…It’s remarkable he didn’t lose his mind.”

It was remarkable that Choi Han had not gone mad.
Though considerable care had been taken, most were merely earthen mounds. In place of proper gravestones, flat stone tablets bore the names of the deceased. I counted the number of graves.

Choi Han had buried every corpse beneath these mounds with his own hands.

I often pondered this. The deaths of the people of Harris Village, preserved in written text. Characters used as a device for the protagonist’s awakening. Was that truly all there was?

‘I don’t think so.’

Lately, I had begun to suspect there was more to it. The reason was simple.

The Dark Forest, the mermaids, the annihilation of Harris Village.
These three elements had presented me with a certain hypothesis. Yet this was a matter I would either convey to Choi Han through Rak when he arrived, or perhaps pass on to Choi Han himself should he come alongside Rak.
The Harris Village matter was not my domain—it belonged to Choi Han.

“Vice-Captain Hilsman.”
“Yes, Young Master.”

Instead, I fulfilled my duty as a member of the Heniatus Family.

“Later, make sure you properly tend to these graves here. They’re far too shabby as they are.”
“…Yes, sir!”

I patted Vice-Captain Hilsman’s shoulder as he answered with vigor, then glanced at the soldiers. They quietly retreated a step, and I kept my hand on Hilsman’s shoulder as I whispered to him.

“You understand, don’t you?”

A flood of emotions crossed the Vice-Captain’s face. He recalled the night from two days ago—that evening when we were camping during our journey, when I had summoned him urgently to my tent. That was when it happened.

‘I’m going into the Dark Forest.’
‘Pardon? Sir, you’re still recovering—why would you venture into such a dangerous place? The criminal from Harris Village surely isn’t in there. Surely you don’t need to go that far for Choi Han’s sake—’

Before Hilsman could finish speaking, a small black dragon appeared before his eyes. He had no idea how shocked he was in that moment. But that wasn’t the end of it.

Meow.

The cats that had been meowing softly soon took human form. They were the Cat Tribe. And when he saw the woman summoning an enormous whip and the man drawing a sword wreathed in water tornadoes, the Vice-Captain experienced true shock for the first time in his life, his skin crawling.

‘Don’t worry.’

And at the center of them all, Young Master Kale smiled with such ease—it was both comforting and shocking, all at once. A shock in the best possible way.
Over these two days, Hilsman had steadied his resolve. He knew he was the type who thought only of one thing: making the Captain his ultimate goal. But he understood now.

“Yes, I understand, Young Master.”
“Good.”

I turned away from Hilsman without hesitation. He immediately followed after me. Then my voice reached him.

“I trust you.”

Hilsman’s fists clenched at those words. He had once thought that becoming the Captain of the Knights Order would be enough for his entire life with the Heniatus Family. But these past two days had sparked a different thought. He voiced it to me.

“…Young Master, I will become stronger.”
“Do as you will.”

Kale answered without concern, and his mind grew considerably more at ease with the thought that Vice-Captain Hilsman would handle the complicated aftermath.

Thus, the following dawn, quiet and still. It was the hour when several soldiers stationed in Harris Village made their rounds.
With the Vice-Captain’s patrol route altered, no sentries appeared near where Kale stood. He positioned himself before the Great Stone Wall, touching his magical pouch as he spoke softly to his companions.

“There are only two swamps in the Dark Forest.”

In such a vast forest, only two swamps existed. Kale’s eyes met Paseton’s, and he continued with unhurried confidence.

“One is where monsters dwell. The other is a place where nothing can survive.”

He posed a question to Paseton.

“Paseton, you said the mermaid’s poison seemed to be highly concentrated, didn’t you? Then which one would it be?”

Paseton answered with a tense expression.

“It seems likely to be the swamp where nothing can survive.”
“Correct. The odds are high it’s that place. We’ll head there first.”

If it wasn’t there, we would proceed next to the other swamp teeming with monsters. That route would be more convenient anyway.
At that moment, Witira, who had been quiet until now, gazed at both sides of Kale’s torso with an expression full of concern. After hesitating, she finally spoke.

“Won’t the children be in danger?”

On and Hong were clinging to both sides of Kale’s body.

“You said the Dark Forest is dangerous, Young Master Kale. And if it’s a swamp where nothing can survive, then surely the poison or the swamp itself must be dangerous.”

As Witira continued speaking, she sensed something odd. The feline children. The silver cat On’s tail was swaying with delightful excitement.

“Places with many such dangers are our specialty. And we don’t get hurt.”

The felines were naturally cautious, which made them adept at exploration. Witira noticed On’s reaction differed from her expectations and looked toward Kale. Her eyes widened slightly.
Kale’s lips curved upward in a subtle smile. The other red cat, Hong, grinned along with him in response. Both wore rather mischievous smiles. Hong spoke with genuine excitement.

“I’m going to get stronger today. It’s fine!”

The moment to cultivate the Poison Fog had arrived.
A safe opportunity had found its way to Kale, who desired safety and tranquility for children who wished to grow stronger. Kale spoke to Witira.

“It’s a good opportunity.”

If executed well, the Poison Fog would be potent enough to even addict the Whale Tribe.

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