Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 658

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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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“Huff… huff…”

Rak, who had been breathing heavily, froze like a statue. For a moment, it felt as though the ground beneath his feet was collapsing—he nearly forgot to breathe altogether.

“Y-Young Master—”

He had learned from Rosalind on the way here that Kale Heniatus had lost consciousness. Surely, just like in the previous battle, he would be lying there pale and drenched in blood.
Rak’s mind conjured up that unwelcome image naturally, yet he still rushed here in panic at Choi Han’s request.
And then he faced the reality before him.

“…I-I never imagined—”

He had never even conceived of a scene like this.
Rak’s hands, clutching the orbs, trembled violently.

A bed placed in the office.
Kale Heniatus lay upon that oddly mismatched piece of furniture.

A pallid complexion.
Clothes stained with dried blood, darkened to a deep crimson.
Dried blood and dust caked across his face and body.

“Why, why is his body like that… w-what is happening right now?”

And cracks covering his entire body.
Kale Heniatus was fractured all over, like a shattered orb. Moreover, countless wounds both large and small covered his skin.
Cracks and wounds.
The mere sight of these two things made it difficult to breathe.

“Indeed. What is it?”

Kale Heniatus turned his gaze toward Dragon Mila with an expressionless face.

“I’m reassembling the vessel, sir. You mustn’t move too much.”

She gestured toward the left side of Kale’s body, indicating half of his form.

“Look, see? The left side is almost entirely gold and wounds connected by beige lines, yes?”

Just as she said, half of Kale’s body was being mended—the gaps between gold and wounds sealed by beige lines of Mila’s mana.

“Since the side with the heart is most critical, I’m prioritizing that first. Teacher, just wait another thirty minutes or so. Then it’ll all be finished. The beginning is difficult, but the final touches go quickly.”

She smiled brightly, and I nodded while glancing at Rak.

“She’s treating me.”
“N-no, Young Master—this, this can’t really be called treatment, c-can it—”
“Are you alright?”

Rak’s face contorted as I asked him a question while barely finishing my own sentence.

‘Whether I’m alright isn’t the problem here!’

He had so much he wanted to say that he nearly bit his tongue, but then he saw Raon.
Raon was laughing with tears streaming down his eyes, fluttering his wings frantically in distress.
My gaze shifted toward Raon.

“Are you alright?”

Raon sniffled, and seeing me ask if he was alright while meticulously examining him from head to toe, he suddenly cried out.

“H-humans are stupid idiots!”
“…What idiot?”

My expression turned displeased.
Even as I made that face, Raon cried out again to me, who was carefully scrutinizing his eyes and expression.

“Humans are stupid! Idiots! All of it!”
“…Hmm.”

I pondered for a moment, then glanced at Mila’s sorrowful smile before nodding.

“You’re right—I was being a stupid idiot this time.”
“Human! At least you understand! Humans are stupid idiots, so, so!”

Raon, unable to approach me since I was still being stitched together, buried his face in the bed right beside mine and cried out.

“So from now on, trust me with everything! I’m doing an absolutely amazing job right now!”

Raon’s wings fluttered with excitement.
Raon buried his face in the bed and shouted loudly, his voice muffled.

“If you do that again!”

Raon’s two front paws trembled as he gripped the bedsheet.
If Kale used that power again.

“I’ll lock you up in my human castle! Of course I’ll feed you! I’ll give you meat at every meal! I just won’t let you move outside the bed!”
“Oh.”

At Kale’s exclamation that suddenly reached his ears, Raon froze. It was a sincere sound of admiration.
Raon lifted his head in surprise, and on the bed, round tear stains remained where his face had been.

“Y-you, human! Don’t tell me you actually like being locked up in the castle, unable to do anything, and only getting three meals a day?!”

…Well… yes. I do kind of like it?
Kale recalled his days of leisurely idleness.
But before he could answer, Raon looked at him with eyes burning with a different kind of fervor and poured out words in rapid succession.

“Human! What about farming? I promised kind Vicross we’d plant apple trees together! I’ll make you apple pie! And aren’t we going on a world tour? I want to go on a world tour!”

Kale’s pupils wavered.
A world tour. That word somehow sent a chill down Kale’s spine. But he was fully prepared to gladly match Raon’s rhythm.

“You all should do what you want to do.”
“That’s right, human! It’ll be fun if we do it together!”

It was then that Kale quietly took in Raon’s bright appearance as he grinned.

-Kale, are you awake?
-Oh, finally! You’re finally awake!
-The vessel is being restored by the Dragon too! It should be fine now!
-But this Dragon is really amazing! Absolutely incredible! We can definitely buy expensive food for a Dragon like this!

Kale let out quiet chuckles as he heard the Ancient Powers’ voices trembling with emotion.

“Um, Young Master.”

Rak approached Kale hesitantly, his gaze fixed on the cracks spreading across Kale’s body as beige mana gradually filled the fissures.

“Choi Han asked me to deliver this to you, Young Master.”

Yet Rak hadn’t forgotten his purpose.
He carefully unwrapped the cloth concealing the orb.

“It came from a monster. According to Choi Han, it’s called a Yeouiju. This is—”
“A Yeouiju?”

Kale’s expression brightened slightly. Regardless of how long he’d been unconscious, the fact that Choi Han, Raon, and Mila were unharmed meant at least one unranked monster had fallen.

Rustle.
As the cloth fell away, the orb’s true form was revealed in full.

-Can I speak now?
“Huh?”

A bewildering moment.
The moment the cloth obscuring the view was removed, someone who had been silent suddenly spoke.

“What?”

Kale’s face contorted in confusion.

“…Am I still delirious?”
“No! Human, this is real! Don’t pass out again!”

Raon’s words suggested he was indeed in his right mind.
Kale’s gaze returned to the newly revealed orb.

“But, human! What is this?”
-Is it really you?

Inside the orb, Lee Soo-hyuk sat in a chair, staring directly at him. Behind him stood Kim Rok-soo and Choi Jung-soo in a circle, while Park Jin-tae was pushed far back, craning his neck and struggling to get a better look.

“…Ha!”

Kale was exasperated.

“…The Orb of Fate has this kind of ability?”

He recalled what the God of Death had suddenly said.

‘Human, do not think it is the end.’
‘For connections may be rewoven in ways you cannot foresee.’
‘Bonds are unknowable entities that even the laws of this world cannot comprehend.’

Kale’s lips parted.

“This damned god….”

Despite his words, one corner of his mouth quirked upward.
The expressions of the three people across the orb shifted in peculiar ways.

-…It’s you.

Laughing yet crying. Each wore an indecipherable expression all their own.
Choi Jung-soo had been covering his mouth with his hand from the moment he saw Kale, but now he repeatedly wiped at his eyes.
Lee Soo-hyuk wore a gentle smile, yet his gaze remained deep and contemplative as he observed Kale within the orb.

And Kim Rok-soo.

-…Ha.

With an expression both similar to and different from Kale’s, he exhaled a sigh of exasperation.
Choi Jung-soo muttered in a hushed voice.

-So that’s what he’s like in his daily life… No, perhaps even worse than that?

He spoke to no one in particular, his gaze fixed on empty space.
Unlike Choi Han, Lee Soo-hyuk’s appearance had changed drastically—his hair color, his features, everything—yet as he looked upon Kale, whose eyes alone remained identical, he opened his mouth.

-Rok… it seems you’re having quite a difficult time.

He could not bring himself to call out Rok-soo’s name.
While his gaze had been fixed on Kale’s form, he had glimpsed the Young Dragon and two others who should have existed only in imagination.
Before such figures, he could not casually address Kale, whose appearance differed so starkly from Choi Han’s.

Lee Soo-hyuk, Choi Jung-soo, Kim Rok-soo.
The three fell silent, unable to continue speaking.
Mila, Raon, and Rak felt curiosity stir within them, yet the atmosphere forbade hasty words, so each attended to their own tasks.
Only Mila hastened to complete the binding process, her gaze fixed upon the orb with an enigmatic expression.

Then Kale’s lips parted.

“They are people who lived in the world where the Sealed God’s trial unfolded.”
“Human, what do you mean by that?”

Kale had never spoken to his companions in detail about the Sealed God’s trial.
He turned his gaze from his astonished comrades toward the other companions within the orb.

“How much time has passed there?”
-Not much time has gone by.
“As expected.”

Kale nodded, recalling that time here flowed roughly three times faster than there.

“It seems the Orb of Connection has become the medium through which contact was established.”

Lee Soo-hyuk, observing Kale speak with such composure—his entire body marked with gold and wounds, appearing as though undergoing treatment, yet showing no sign of pain—slowly opened his mouth.

-Yes, it seems-

That was when it happened.

Crash—! Crash—!

A tremendous roar echoed forth.
Kale’s gaze shifted.

“Draw back the curtain.”

The terrace window had its curtains drawn, blocking the view outside.
While I was recovering, Mila had kept the curtains closed, leaving only a gap for Raon to slip through, so I could focus on what was happening here rather than the situation outside.

“Come.”

At my words spoken once more, Raon hesitated.
I spoke to him.

“I won’t push myself like that again now. I promise.”

At the word promise, Raon finally summoned his mana.
Whoooosh—
The curtains swept open, and the landscape beyond the terrace window came into view.

Roooaarrr—

The sky bathed in golden light.
A massive Gold Dragon and a white monster bearing a lion’s mane were locked in combat.
Golden dust and the Gold Dragon collided endlessly with the white monster’s shield, unleashing thunderous booms.

“Human—”
“Young master, that’s currently—”
“Teacher, allow me to explain.”

I kept my gaze fixed on the window despite the voices arriving in succession. My eyes captured every detail of the lion-dragon’s form.
My lips parted.

“We’ll have to talk later.”

My gaze turned toward the orb.

“See you later.”
—I wish we could help if we could.

Lee Soo-hyuk nodded with a bitter smile.
There was much to discuss and many things he wanted to hear, but the other side’s situation was far too dire for that.

-I can’t let myself get distracted.
“Instead, please watch.”
-What?
“…It might be a monster I’ll have to face someday.”

With those words, Kale made a request to Raon.

“Raon. Can you hold onto this orb for me? And show me the battle.”
“Got it, human!”

Raon, who knew Kale’s secret. He was someone I could trust with everything.
Kale turned to his companions and spoke. His eyes had grown cold and sharp once more.

“Please explain what’s happened.”

That was when it occurred.

Beep beep beep—beep beep—
The video communication device in one corner sent out an emergency signal.
Raon startled and picked up the video communication device. It was connected to their allies in the Eastern Continent Sedez Kingdom.

“Human, I’m connecting it!”

The video communication device connected immediately, and Ron’s contorted face appeared on the screen. He was drenched in sweat, having apparently run in haste.

-Young Master Raon—

Ron, who had been looking for Raon, fell silent for a moment upon seeing Kale, then closed and opened his eyes.
With a noticeably calmer expression, he spoke again.

-Young Master. I have something to report.

There was no time for pleasantries.
Ron felt anger and sorrow at Kale’s pitiful state, yet joy and relief at seeing him awake, and he opened his mouth to speak.

-I have information I heard from the Cat Tribe Chief.
“What is it?”

Kale observed Ron, whose unusual attempt at composure seemed awkward compared to his normal demeanor.

If the Temple’s doors open, we will all perish, or so I’ve heard.

The Temple’s doors.
Just as Ron spoke those words, Kale’s expression hardened as well. I looked toward my companions in the room. They understood it was their turn and began rapidly sharing whatever information they possessed.

As I listened to what had transpired during my unconsciousness, I closed my eyes for a moment.

“…Young master.”

Rak hesitated at my anguished expression and took a step closer.

“Mm.”

Mila smoothed her furrowed brow and concentrated further on her work. She was nearly finished with the right side now.

“Human….”

The moment I heard Raon’s trembling voice.

“Heh.”

A small chuckle escaped my lips.

“Raon.”
“What is it, human?”
“What was the information Erhafen gave you about the monster?”

Even while fighting, Erhafen had occasionally relayed information about the monster to Raon.
I asked once more about that information I had heard through Raon moments ago.

“He said its shield is incredibly sturdy and its strength seems to exceed even a dragon’s. And he said he hasn’t discovered any special abilities yet.”
“Not that.”
“… Not that?”

Raon tilted his head before suddenly clapping his front paws together and exclaiming.

“Guardian…!”

The unranked Monster Lion Beast had been continuously telling Erhafen.

‘…Kill them… Kill the powerful intruders….’

Like a guardian protecting something.
Rak exhaled the words like a sigh.

“…The Temple’s door.”

Now, no one in this office remained ignorant of that monster’s true identity.
Rak continued, organizing his thoughts.

“Young master, are you saying that monster is a guardian protecting the Temple’s door where the Sealed God resides? And if that creature dies, the Temple’s door opens?”
“That’s the most likely scenario.”

He turned his gaze toward Ron on the video communication screen.

“Finish up cleanly, and come slowly.”
-…Yes?

When Ron was bewildered by the instruction to come slowly, Kale withdrew his gaze from him with those words.

“Raon.”
“Huh? Yes?”

Raon, who had been fretting over whether he could kill the lion-dragon monster and what to do if the Temple opened after its death, was startled by Kale’s composed voice and looked toward him.
Kale, still in the process of being stitched up and lying still, gestured with his chin toward the upper garment jacket that Raon had removed and set aside.

“Retrieve a cracked jar from my spatial pocket there. Handle it carefully.”

He looked toward Mila.

“You can mend the jar’s cracks, can’t you?”
“…Teacher, I’m currently working hard as it is.”

Under Kale’s unwavering gaze, Mila felt an inexplicable chill run down her spine.

‘…What is this? Why do I feel like I need to work myself to exhaustion?’

Though Mila had resolved to do her absolute best, her spine felt oddly cold. Yet she soon dismissed it as her imagination and opened her mouth.

“I don’t know what kind of jar it is, but if I can mend dishes, why couldn’t I mend a jar?”

Now was the time to do everything I possibly could.

“Teacher, once you mend the dish, we’ll try after that.”

At Mila’s resolute answer, I nodded with a hint of gratitude and turned my gaze toward Raon.
That was when it happened.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out—unfamiliar to this world, yet achingly familiar to me.
I looked out the window again.
A colossal black Bone Dragon appeared, with three people mounted upon it.
One wielding flames bright as the sun.
One shrouded in a violent black aura.
One aiming a gun at a monster.
A smile bloomed at the corners of my lips. Raon, seeing that smile, was about to cry out that it was a scoundrel’s smile, but instead broke into a bright grin at my next words.

“Raon. Tell everyone I’ve awakened.”
“Understood, human!”

Raon nodded so vigorously his chubby cheeks trembled, and he summoned mana.

* * *

In the midst of fierce combat.

-The human has awakened! He told me to tell you he’s awake!

Erhafen, Alberu, Choi Han, Rosalind, and the others who received Raon’s message all let surprise and joy flood across their faces.

“…This bastard.”

Alberu lowered the gun he’d been holding for a moment. He exchanged glances with Rosalind, Choi Han, and the Bone Dragon.
They all held back the surge of emotion welling up inside them.
Then, Raon’s voice reached them once more.

-The human has a message.

Raon’s voice was bright and excited. He was absolutely delighted to relay Kale’s words at this very moment. His joyful tone reached his companions.

-We’re executing the plan now.

Raon conveyed Kale’s words exactly as they were.

-The plan has a single objective.

Alberu’s gaze turned toward the office.
Rosalind closed her eyes quietly, wreathed in blazing mana, and focused on Kale’s words as Raon relayed them.

-To eliminate both the White Star and the Sealed God in one fell swoop.

Choi Han’s composure vanished as his lips curved upward in something between a smile and a grimace.

-First, we draw out the White Star.

Crack.
The Gold Dragon ignored the fissures spreading across his skin and focused on Raon’s voice.
His gaze remained fixed on the lion-dragon.

-As the first step.

Ancient Dragon Erhafen found it amusing that he felt reassured by the words of a human so much younger than himself, yet he waited for what would come next.
Then Raon’s voice reached him.

-Golden Dragon Grandfather! Play dead!
“What?”

…What did he just say?
Erhafen’s eyes widened.

“Heh.”
“Hmm?”
“Mm.”

As Alberu, Rosalind, and Choi Han each reacted to the first plan that had just been revealed, Raon’s cheerful voice came through once more.

-Golden Dragon Grandfather, or at least pretend to be unconscious!

Raon was serious.

-The human said so. The White Star must be watching nearby!
-Golden Dragon Grandfather! Hurry up! Play dead! Pretend to be knocked out from taking a huge hit from the lion dragon’s shield!

Finally, Erhafen, who had been listening quietly, blurted out a single word.

“…What?”

Erhafen’s brow furrowed deeply, and he burst into laughter as if utterly exasperated.

“Ha, haha-”

Suddenly pretend to be unconscious? Pretend to be dead?
The absurdity of it all.

“…So that bastard really has woken up.”

Erhafen finally felt it sink in—Kale Heniatus had regained consciousness.

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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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