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

be able to see the edge villages of the ten precincts

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

are the

the

precincts, including precinct 9,

the regions where the

Clunk. Clunk.

window was still

recorded the entire map

in precinct 9 but has started to appear in other precincts

out

could see the shield in the sky pretty well because they were in a high spot in the castle.

was proof that the black mages were

appeared half a

Plop. Plop.

were slowly

about this when it happened half a year

Second Imperial Princess's voice was louder

is

year was a

didn't tell you about

it would not be noticed by

ago but nobody

turned to look at the

was looking at the Second Imperial

the Imperial Palace

Palace already

“Yes ma’am.”

Imperial Princess looked at the First Imperial

Cale did the same.

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 Princess's

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed in

are a lot of people who knew

mumbled before looking back at the

be weird for the rain

right, your Royal Highness. However, the rain clouds thankfully have not left the

heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

as Mary mentioned! Why does it only rain in these

spoke in

someone is controlling the

a lot of people heard his voice as

is why it

after hearing a

was

Plop. Plop.

had almost ended and the wind

see the blue sky that was slightly

separate from each other but the blue sky was

a year ago that the rain

Margrave in charge of Precinct

Helson was a

why we sent people multiple times past the wall to investigate

Marquis Helson.

about this man

part of the Empire for generations. He

deep not to the Emperor but to the

that he would not

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as a test

priest Durst had sent a

family. His only family member, his grandfather the former Marquis, met his death fighting against

his mid-thirties but did not marry despite being

pain he felt losing his family

known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

after recalling a piece of

< P.S. >

had added

had a secret relationship with our Fire of

He was a hidden believer.

was a

reference, the current Margrave is

course, the Margrave is not a

He is just keeping his grandfather's secret tightly

been thinking that the Church had a lot of power despite being called heretics and treated as a cult, but

Human, why are you smiling

comment and watched

“Is that our mission?”

hearing the loosely

right. The five teams with three members and one team with four members will all put finding the source of this dead mana rain cloud as top

the mission is a success if we simply find the

“That’s right.”

smile appeared

the Margrave

of the cause? Do we get first

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first

the room instantly

had been anxious because of the rain cloud were

each other warily or deep in

calmly spoke

don’t

air sank cold once

mana. You all have that

Marquis pointed

finger was pointing past

not somewhere you can survive through just

smile appeared on the Marquis’

that if you

Boom.

Marquis stomped

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

he looked at the

stepped up was

is Eaen

Fourth Imperial Prince

the aides for the

did

looked up

was only for an

Marquis was silently looking at Mary

looking at Mary with such a

Margrave opened his mouth once

tomorrow! You

more like a soldier

all of the candidates equally as if they were

“You are dismissed!”

the area first without any

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

his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

is going to be

subordinates grumbled

“Tsk.”

them as if they were foolish before giving the top

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at that

Clunk--!

turned his gaze and then