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

had a map of the western part of

to see the edge villages of the ten precincts of the

that had turned black as well as

the

the candidates

precinct

the regions where the dead mana rain

Clunk. Clunk.

was still

the entire

has started

out

the shield in the sky pretty well because they were in a high spot in

that the

appeared half a

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were

not know about this when it happened half a year

Imperial Princess's voice was louder

is a

year was a pretty

the Church didn't tell you

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

ago but nobody in the Empire’s capital knows

look at the

was looking at the Second

reporting the issue to the Imperial Palace on a regular basis, your Royal

Palace already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince and

Cale did the same.

expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture while the Fourth Imperial Prince had his fists clenched and was avoiding the Second

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed

are a lot

before looking back at

for the rain

the ten precincts so far and the rain only

heard

“...That’s odd.”

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

spoke in a

someone is controlling the rain

his voice as he

is why it is

after hearing a voice behind

was coming

Plop. Plop.

ended and the wind

see the blue sky that was slightly grey beyond the

grey and blue sky... The two colors started separate from each other but the blue sky was slowly dyed

half a year ago that the rain clouds were

charge of

a

why we sent people multiple times past the wall

Marquis Helson.

started to recall information about this man he received from the

part of the Empire for generations. He has a strong Knights Brigade and his loyalty to the Empire is

deep not to the Emperor

he would not

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as

sent a

His only family member, his grandfather the former

current Margrave was past his mid-thirties but

felt losing his family and is determined to give his life

be known by

‘Mm.’

after

< P.S. >

had added

a secret relationship with our Fire of Purification.

was a

former Margrave was a

Margrave is aware of that fact

course, the Margrave is not a

keeping his grandfather's secret

called heretics and treated as a cult, but it seemed to be because they had hidden

are you

comment and watched as Zero took

“Is that our mission?”

toward Zero after hearing the loosely

right. The five teams with three members and one team with four members will all put finding the source of

mean the mission is a success if we

“That’s right.”

twisted smile appeared on

the

we also get rid of the cause? Do we

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first

air in the

of the rain cloud were now

looking at each other warily or deep in

calmly spoke

you don’t

heated air sank

here should be familiar with dead mana. You all have that great and mighty power. However, it will benefit you

Marquis pointed out

finger was pointing

is not somewhere you can survive through just because you are familiar with dead

appeared

that if you wish to

Boom.

stomped

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

looked at the aide

who had stepped up was approaching

everyone. My name is Eaen and I

Fourth Imperial Prince

the aides

Marquis-nim did so,

up toward

only for

was silently looking at Mary but turned away

Margrave was looking at Mary with such

Margrave opened his mouth

mission will start tomorrow! You will have one

seemed more like a soldier or a knight

equally as if they

“You are dismissed!”

left the area

half a year and

shrugged his shoulders in

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going

subordinates grumbled

“Tsk.”

as if they were foolish before giving the top aide, Eaen, an

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at

Clunk--!

Fourth Imperial Prince turned his gaze and then