Trash of the Count's Family

TCF2-22

Shaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-

The black rain was as thick as the unexpected rainfall in the middle of summer.

Clunk. Clunk.

It also brought gusts of wind with it.

“The edge precinct black mages truly are skilled~”

Cale turned his head after hearing the melodious mumbling.

‘He’s smiling?’

The mercenary with disheveled hair was smiling while looking out the window. That made Cale think about his suspicions.

‘Is this bastard really a member of the Agents of Destruction?’

There were not many reasons to send a subordinate out of the capital no matter how many times Cale thought about it.

‘Hmm?’

Cale turned toward the Fourth Imperial Prince who was standing past Zero.

‘As expected, the trash demeanor is just an act.’

The Fourth Imperial Prince, who was looking out the window with quite a serious gaze, had both of his fists clenched. It was only for an instant, but he even cursed under his breath as if he was holding back his anger.

- Human! Will our team be okay? One was smiling like a fool before turning serious while the other was angry but suddenly chuckles and pretends to laugh!

As Raon mentioned, the two candidates had quickly hid their emotions.

‘The two of their emotions aren't the issue right now.’

Cale looked away from the two of them and looked outside.

Swooooooosh-

The black rain mixed with the wind and turned into something like a small storm.

And that storm-

Baaaaaang!

Slammed into the shield.

Crack.

A portion of the shield broke.

"Will this be okay?!”

One of the candidates became shocked and almost shouted to an aide to ask.

One of the aides stepped forward.

‘That person is the one who was speaking to the Margrave.’

Cale recalled that this was the last aide to speak to the Margrave before the Margrave left.

“Please don’t worry. There are over one hundred black mages in Precinct 9. In addition, they are all at least at the middle-grade level.”

The aide’s face was stiff despite telling them not to worry.

“This level of rain cloud is not enough to destroy it.”

The candidate who asked the question seemed a bit relieved after hearing the aide’s confident remarks, but Cale had a thought after hearing the answer.

‘What if it gets past this level of rain cloud?

Then what happens?

Will the shield break?’

Cale heard someone who had the same question as himself.

“Are there instances where it gets worse than this level of rain cloud?”

It was the Second Imperial Princess.

‘Hmm.’

The Second Imperial Princess had formed a team with two candidates who did not stand out much.

‘The team is set up so that the Second Imperial Princess would shine the most if they do their mission well.’

The aide closed her mouth for a moment at the Second Imperial Princess as Cale quickly came up with that assessment.

The rest of the candidates and their subordinates all turned toward her.

Clunk. Clunk.

The wind that seemed to be getting worse was slamming against the window.

Thankfully, there was no black rain hitting the window.

“Currently.”

The aide pushed up her glasses a bit as she responded.

“Currently, there are no rain clouds stronger than this.”

“...It sounds like there will be in the future?”

The aide sighed at the Second Imperial Princess's scary gaze.

“The rain clouds have slowly gotten stronger since the dead mana rain clouds first appeared, your Royal Highness.”

“Mm.”

Someone groaned.

"And the amount of time in between each instance of rain cloud has been getting shorter.”

“Is it impossible to determine the cycle of the rain cloud?”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.”

The Second Imperial Princess looked up at the ceiling for a bit before asking.

“What exactly is this rain? I've never seen something like this before.”

This was also Cale’s first time hearing about this.

‘This is different from the erosion methods the Church told me about.’

There were multiple methods of dead mana erosion spreading throughout Xiaolen, but there were some common symptoms.

‘The ground slowly turns black.

Or liquefied dead mana shoots up from underground in places where the foundation has lost strength.

Finally, river water polluted by dead mana flows down and erodes other pieces of land.

I’ve never heard of it being through rain clouds.’

The eroded lands did have dead mana fog but it was not something that moved.

“The Margrave should be explaining this for all of you, but I will give a short explanation because of the current situation.”

The aide walked toward a wall without a window.

Cale could see a long cloth that resembled a curtain on the wall.

The aide pulled at the cloth.

Chhhhhh-

“It's a map.”

a map

map of the western part of the

be able to see the edge villages of

had turned black as well as the current boundary of

the

the candidates

the precincts, including precinct

regions where the dead

Clunk. Clunk.

window was

the entire

rain cloud started in precinct 9 but has started to appear in

looked out

in the sky pretty well because they were in a high spot in the castle. The half-transparent black shield was repeatedly

was proof that the black mages were

rain cloud appeared

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were slowly

this

Imperial Princess's voice

This is a bit

was a pretty

tell

head so that it would not be noticed

happened six months ago but nobody

look

was looking at the Second Imperial Princess as she

the Imperial Palace on a regular basis, your Royal

already knows

“Yes ma’am.”

looked at the First Imperial Prince and then the Fourth Imperial

Cale did the same.

an ice sculpture while the Fourth Imperial Prince had his

“Ha!”

Princess scoffed

are a lot of people

looking back

would not be weird for the rain clouds to appear anywhere on the

have not left the ten precincts

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

mentioned! Why does it only rain in these precincts before it

spoke in a

like someone is controlling

lot of people heard his voice as he spoke during a silent

is why it is the

after hearing a voice behind

was coming back

Plop. Plop.

black rain had almost ended and the wind

sky that was slightly

grey and blue sky... The two colors started separate from each other but

determined half a year ago that the

in charge

was a Marquis

past the wall to investigate the cause but we haven't gained

Marquis Helson.

to recall information about this man he received

loathes politics and is from a Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of the Empire for generations.

to the Emperor but to the

that he would not treat the

‘He’s a fitting character.’

as a test

sent a letter through

not have a family. His only family member, his grandfather the former Marquis, met his death fighting against dead

was past his mid-thirties but did not marry despite

another family to feel the pain he felt losing his family and is determined to give his life

known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

held back a groan after recalling a

< P.S. >

old priest had added something as

reference, the Margrave's grandfather had a secret

a hidden

was a secret

is aware of that fact

course, the Margrave is not a

his grandfather's secret tightly hidden.

of power despite being called heretics and treated as

Human, why are

watched as Zero took a step

“Is that our mission?”

peeked toward Zero after hearing the loosely asked

teams with three members and one team with four members will

Does that mean the mission is a success if we simply find

“That’s right.”

smile appeared

the Margrave

we also get rid of the cause? Do

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

sure you’ll be

the room

had been anxious because of the rain cloud were now heated

looking at each other warily or

calmly

you don’t

heated air sank cold once

dead mana. You all have that great and

Marquis pointed out the

pointing past

dead land is not somewhere you can survive through just because

appeared on

that if you wish

Boom.

Marquis stomped

your respective candidates to their lodgings! You will be given areas to strategize

looked

stepped

name is Eaen

Prince

aides for

did so,

up toward

only for

was silently looking at Mary but

Margrave was looking at Mary with such a fierce

his mouth once

will start tomorrow!

like a soldier

if they were his subordinates who needed

“You are dismissed!”

the area first

any clue in half a year and they want us to take

shrugged his

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

Haaa, this is going to

grumbled

“Tsk.”

they

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at

Clunk--!

Imperial Prince turned his gaze and