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.”

map of the

cloth had a map of the western part of

villages of the

the Empire that had turned black as well

are the red

of the

precincts, including precinct 9, had red marks

regions where the dead mana rain clouds

Clunk. Clunk.

window was

the entire

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

out the

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

that the

appeared

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were slowly

about this when

Second Imperial Princess's voice was louder

true. This is a

was a

Church didn't tell you about

would not be noticed by others after

six months ago but

look at

the Second Imperial Princess as she

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

Imperial Palace already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

Second Imperial Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince and then the

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 the Second Imperial

“Ha!”

Second Imperial Princess scoffed

a lot of

looking back at the

for the rain clouds to

the rain clouds thankfully have not left the ten precincts so

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

mentioned! Why does it only

in a

sounds like someone is controlling the rain

voice as he spoke during

why it

after hearing a

was coming back

Plop. Plop.

rain had almost ended and the

sky that was slightly grey

but the

that the rain clouds were not a

Margrave in charge of Precinct

a Marquis of the

people multiple times past the wall to investigate the

Marquis Helson.

recall information about this man

Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of

to the

that he would not treat

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as

sent a

family. His only family member, his grandfather the

his mid-thirties but did not marry despite being a

family to feel the pain he felt losing his family and

to be known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

held back a groan after recalling a piece

< P.S. >

old priest had added something

reference, the Margrave's grandfather had a secret relationship with our Fire

a

Margrave was a

current Margrave is aware of that fact

Of course, the Margrave is not a believer.

keeping his grandfather's secret

and treated as a cult, but it seemed to be because they had hidden believers all

why are you

comment and watched as Zero took a step

“Is that our mission?”

peeked toward Zero after hearing the

with four members will all put finding

the mission is a success if we simply find the

“That’s right.”

twisted smile appeared on

the Margrave another

of

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first

the room instantly

anxious because of the rain cloud

at each other warily or deep

calmly spoke

you don’t die,

heated air sank

dead mana. You all have that great and mighty power. However, it will benefit

Marquis pointed out

was pointing

not somewhere you can survive through

thick smile appeared on the Marquis’

that if you wish to

Boom.

stomped

aides guide your respective candidates to their lodgings! You will be given areas to strategize with your teams and all

eyes clouded over as he looked at the

stepped up

is Eaen and I am

Fourth Imperial Prince

determined the aides for the

Marquis-nim did so,

looked up toward

was only for an

looking at Mary

Margrave was looking at Mary with such a fierce gaze until he

his mouth

will start tomorrow! You will have

seemed more like a soldier or a knight

all of the candidates equally as if they were his subordinates who needed

“You are dismissed!”

area first

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

shrugged his

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

Haaa, this is going to be

grumbled

“Tsk.”

at them as if they were foolish before giving the

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at that

Clunk--!

Imperial Prince turned his gaze