Trash of the Count's Family

Shhhh, shhhh.

Jopis was elegantly drinking tea as she looked through the document Cale handed her.

Sniff sniff!

Cale was frowning at the puppy that kept circling around him and sniffing him.

‘Why is she acting like this?’

The shabby puppy whose eyes could not be seen because of her long hair continued to remain by Cale’s side while wagging her tail.

“…She’s cute.”

Choi Han who was sitting on the bed mumbled with a dazed expression.

It was at that moment.

Tap.

The puppy placed her front paw on Cale's shoe. She then looked up at Cale.

Choi Han found it to be extremely cute.

“…So cute.”

“Cute? She's very shrewd.”

‘What?’

Choi Han’s gaze moved in a different direction. He saw Bud who was still tied down even though he no longer had the gag.

Bud continued in a sobbing tone after seeing Cale and Choi Han’s gaze focused on him.

“Those five dogs were the reason I ended up like this. My goodness, for the Mercenary King to look like this…”

“…Five dogs?”

Cale mumbled and lowered his head.

Huff huff.

The puppy tilted her head as her tail continued to wag. Cale didn’t like animals very much, but this puppy was indeed cute.

Bud continued in his sad tone.

“The ones outside the window.”

Cale's gaze headed out the window.

This window located in the old room…

Normally, he should be able to see the green trees and grass outside the window that was locked because it was autumn and cold as they were under the mountain.

However, he saw something else right now.

“…A dog?”

He saw a dog outside this window that was decently high.

‘They look similar.’

The puppy that was looking at Cale with puppy dog eyes and her paw on Cale’s shoe looked similar to the dog outside the window.

However, the puppy outside the window looked a bit cleaner than this one.

‘Is it tall enough?’

Cale thought about the high window and looked out the window as he wondered how he could see a puppy.

“Mm.”

He saw two other puppies holding up the puppy at the window sill. There was another puppy next to them roaming around as if it was the lookout.

‘…They don’t look like regular dogs?’

The puppy feigning ignorance to everything by Cale’s foot didn't seem normal either. These five fluffy puppies seemed a bit special.

"I never said that I only had the mother dog.”

Cale turned his head after hearing Jopis's elegant voice.

“I was tricked by those cute children. I let down my guard down and……!”

Bud looked extremely upset. No, he seemed depressed.

“Ruff!”

The puppy by Cale’s foot barked once with an, ‘I have no idea what he’s talking about,’ type of expression before looking toward Bud and tilting her head to the side multiple times.

“Aigoo!”

Bud looked as if he didn't know what to do as he found the puppy to be cute but also could not hide his depressed state.

“Hmm.”

Cale crossed his arms and quietly watched them.

‘I was wondering how Bud was captured when Jopis isn’t that strong of a shaman.’

That had been a question on his mind ever since he met Jopis. How did she manage to capture Bud, a sword master and someone with an ancient power, as hostage?

Bud’s ancient power was something that allowed him to get a general idea of other people's powers.

Furthermore, Jopis was not a strong shaman. In fact, she was on the weaker side.

The fact that Bud ended up as a hostage to such a person made Cale think that Bud had been captured on purpose.

However, he could now tell that the ones to capture Bud were these long-haired dirty dogs and not Jopis.

Cale's hand started to move as he started to speak.

“That’s totally my style.”

“Ruff, ruff!”

petted the dirty

with a gaze that said he liked her. Human! I like those puppies too! Those puppies are smart!

the puppy with a satisfied

just stop talking. Nobody here

shut up. He heard Raon's voice in his mind at that moment. Hey Mercenary King! The human rushed here right away to save you! He even stopped talking to the

‘Really?’

finished

toward Cale while Cale started to frown wondering what was up with that

Tap.

document down on the table at

“What do you think?”

question and she immediately started

conditions, but…

gaze turned

are aiming

Kingdom become a strong nation with Elisneh the First at the

had created wide and well-maintained roads going North, South, East, and West… They

and other facilities for travelers along those

traveling to other nations, paying the Molden Kingdom a set fee every time they entered the Molden Kingdom

similar to a toll

pay to

low and charged based on the size of the party and the number of carts, making many small merchants use

guilds used the Molden Kingdom's roads because they were the fastest, safest, and had the least

Kingdom raking in a lot of money even at the low-cost toll, increasing the

Cale started to speak.

people should know most about

The one time.

one time Jopis almost defeated

the one who created the road maintenance plan that helped the Molden Kingdom grow

the politics and administration… People had thought that Elisneh

the original plan that

Jopis but the two sisters worked together to bring it to fruition… And Elisneh

of them are no

be said that both of

side to help her, the Molden Kingdom could probably quickly ascend to the Eastern

Jopis started to smile.

suppose I know about the roads the most. But giving the

are not asking for all of it nor is it a long-term contract. Furthermore, there are other venues that fund the

inns owned by the kingdom. The currency

all belonged to the kingdom, with them giving the small merchant guilds that built their homes in the Molden Kingdom permission to run the operations

amount was said to be more than the

Jopis started to speak.

roads as soon as the

did not end after blowing up

to speak in a graceful

also know about those Arm bastards whose f*cking heads we need to blow up.

a sip of tea before continuing

the Molden Kingdom’s ally, prevent the invasion from nearby kingdoms, handle arbitrations, and

give a portion of a couple years worth of toll if the Roan Kingdom

to do everything it says it will do?

Cale pointing at two

pointed at Bud and

the leader of the Mercenaries Guild, a large faction on the Eastern

information and assassin households who had been

“Aha.”

hands as she

the assassin household

speak

where you were significantly lacking in comparison to Elisneh during

his arms and stepped

their way here… He had modified this

result was the current document

would

Ron started to smile.

but above

nodded her

every area, but the worst was that damn money. There seemed to be nothing someone could do when they lacked

Click.

her teacup

headed toward the people in the

telling me, I

teacup as

the numerous small merchant guilds that the Molden Kingdom has given permission to operate the kingdom’s facilities

“Haha-”

in the cup rippled following Jopis's laughter.

I investigated that bitch. I learned that Arm was her source of money and her

if her pride had

expression showed, Jopis was quite

had wanted to turn the Molden Kingdom into a strong

grip as she continued

the Molden Kingdom's true small merchant guilds and

wrong to say that the Molden

Cale started to speak.

had been getting the money to build bases and quickly increase their forces. I guess

located in the Molden mountain range and Arm’s

Illusionist, Elisneh

benefit each

gaze away from Cale and looked at

money have

throw away

thing left

guess only

eyes sparkled as Cale started to

where

speak as if she was responding to

run a couple of the more important inns for that information and

responded with

my, oh my. I preferred having you being an assassin in the darkness. You're

scared at all. In fact, she seemed to be planning

what about

blankly

“Ah.”

nodded her head elegantly

Mercenary King probably doesn’t know because he was fooled by the puppies and was being held hostage. Should I ask

at