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 western part of

edge villages of the ten precincts

areas of the Empire that had turned black as

are the

of the candidates

including precinct 9, had

the dead mana

Clunk. Clunk.

was still

entire

precinct 9 but has started

out the

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

was proof that the black

first rain cloud appeared

Plop. Plop.

were slowly

about this when it happened

Second Imperial Princess's voice was louder

This is

year was a pretty long

tell you about this

would not be noticed

happened six months ago but nobody

look at

was looking at the Second Imperial Princess as she

Imperial Palace on a

Imperial Palace already knows

“Yes ma’am.”

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

Cale did the same.

on his face as if he was an

“Ha!”

Second Imperial Princess scoffed

are a lot

before looking

for the rain clouds to appear anywhere

However, the rain clouds thankfully have not left the ten precincts so far and

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

It is weird as Mary mentioned! Why does it only rain in these precincts before

in a

like someone is controlling the rain

of people heard his voice as he spoke

it is the

after hearing a

Margrave was coming

Plop. Plop.

black rain had almost ended and the wind was

sky that was slightly grey

blue sky... The two colors started separate from each other but the blue sky was slowly dyed by the grey color that spread

the rain clouds were not

charge of Precinct

was a Marquis of the

wall to investigate the cause but we haven't gained any useful

Marquis Helson.

started to recall information about this man he received from

is from a Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of the Empire

was deep not to the Emperor

meant that he would not treat the Imperial family

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as

had sent a letter through the team

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

mid-thirties but did not marry despite

he felt losing his family and

be known by everybody

‘Mm.’

held back a groan after recalling

< P.S. >

had added

For reference, the Margrave's grandfather had a secret relationship

was a hidden

was

the current Margrave is aware of that fact as well.

Margrave is not a believer.

his grandfather's secret

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

are you

and watched as Zero took a

“Is that our mission?”

toward Zero after hearing

with four members will all put finding the source of this dead

is a success if we simply find

“That’s right.”

twisted smile appeared

the Margrave

get rid of the cause? Do we get

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

be first place

in the room

people who had been anxious because of the rain cloud were now

each other warily or deep in

Marquis calmly

you don’t die,

air sank cold once

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

pointed out

finger was pointing past

survive through just because you are familiar with

smile appeared on

if you wish

Boom.

Marquis stomped his

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

he looked at the

who had stepped

everyone. My name is

Imperial Prince

aides for the

Marquis-nim did so,

looked up toward the

only for

Mary but turned

Mary with such a fierce gaze until he

his

tomorrow! You will

like a soldier or

candidates equally as if they were his subordinates who needed

“You are dismissed!”

left the area

even find any clue in half a year and they

his

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going to

grumbled as

“Tsk.”

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

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at that

Clunk--!

Fourth Imperial Prince turned