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

cloth had a map of the

villages of the ten precincts of the west on

see the areas of the Empire that had turned black as well as

are the

the candidates

of the precincts, including precinct 9,

are the regions where the dead

Clunk. Clunk.

window was

the entire map in his

rain cloud started in precinct 9 but has started to appear in other precincts as

out the

in a high

proof that the black mages

rain cloud appeared

Plop. Plop.

were

know about this

Second Imperial Princess's

This is a

year was a pretty long

didn't tell you about this

his head so that it would not be noticed by others after hearing Eruhaben's

but nobody in the Empire’s capital knows

look at the

was looking at the Second Imperial Princess as she

been reporting the issue to the Imperial Palace

Imperial Palace already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince and then

Cale did the same.

still standing there without any expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture while the Fourth Imperial Prince had his fists clenched and was avoiding

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess

a lot of people

before looking back

weird for the rain clouds to appear

have not left the ten precincts so far

heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

as Mary mentioned! Why does it only rain in these

in a

sounds like someone is controlling the

lot of people heard his voice

it is

turned after hearing a voice

was coming back

Plop. Plop.

and the wind was no

see the blue sky that was slightly grey beyond the

two colors started separate from each other but the blue sky was slowly dyed by the grey

year ago that the rain clouds were not a

in charge of Precinct

Helson was a Marquis

the wall to investigate the cause

Marquis Helson.

information about this man he received from

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

loyalty was deep not to

that he would not treat the Imperial family

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as a test

Durst had sent a letter through the

a family. His only family member,

his mid-thirties but did not marry

he felt losing his family and is determined

was said to be known by everybody in

‘Mm.’

groan after recalling

< P.S. >

old priest had added

had a secret relationship with

a hidden believer.

former Margrave was

reference, the current Margrave is aware of that

Margrave is not

keeping his grandfather's

despite being called heretics and treated as a cult, but it seemed to

are

and watched as Zero took a

“Is that our mission?”

Zero after hearing the loosely asked question and

members and one team with four members will all put finding

a

“That’s right.”

twisted smile appeared on Zero's

asked the

get rid of the cause? Do we get

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

sure you’ll be first

air in the

had been anxious because of the rain cloud

looking at each other warily or deep in

Marquis calmly spoke

don’t

sank

You all have that great and

Marquis pointed out

was pointing

survive through just

thick smile appeared on the

you

Boom.

Marquis stomped his

will be given areas to strategize

looked at the aide heading over toward

who had stepped

everyone. My name is Eaen and I

Fourth Imperial Prince opened his

aides for

Marquis-nim did so,

looked up

was only for

Marquis was silently looking at Mary but turned away after noticing

at Mary with such a fierce gaze until he

Margrave opened his mouth

tomorrow! You will have

Marquis seemed more like a soldier or a knight than a

the candidates equally as if they were

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first without

They couldn’t even find any clue in half a year and they want us to take care of

shrugged his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going to

grumbled as

“Tsk.”

Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish before giving the top

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at

Clunk--!

Fourth Imperial Prince turned his gaze and then