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

able to see the edge villages of the ten precincts of

turned black as

the red

of the candidates

precincts, including precinct

where the dead mana rain

Clunk. Clunk.

was still shaking

recorded the entire map in

rain cloud started in precinct 9 but has started to appear

looked out

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

proof that the black

rain cloud appeared half a year

Plop. Plop.

were

did we not know about this when it happened half

Second Imperial Princess's

This is a

was a

Church didn't tell

his head so that it would not be noticed by

big happened six months ago but nobody in the

turned to look

Second Imperial

to the Imperial Palace

already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

at the First Imperial Prince

Cale did the same.

expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture while the Fourth

“Ha!”

Princess scoffed

guess there are a lot of people who knew

mumbled before looking

the rain clouds to appear anywhere on

left the ten precincts so far and the rain only falls in these

heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

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

in a nonchalant

is controlling

people heard his voice as he

is why it is the

after hearing a voice behind

was coming back

Plop. Plop.

black rain had almost ended and the wind

blue sky that was slightly grey

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

determined half a year ago that the rain clouds

Margrave in charge of

a Marquis

past the wall to investigate the cause

Marquis Helson.

about this man he received

from a Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of the Empire for generations. He has a strong Knights Brigade and his

not to the

not treat the

‘He’s a fitting character.’

as a

had sent a letter through

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

his mid-thirties but did not marry despite being

losing his family and is determined to give

said to be known by

‘Mm.’

groan after

< P.S. >

had added something as

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

was a hidden

Margrave was

current Margrave is aware of that

Of course, the Margrave is not a

his grandfather's

lot of power despite being called heretics and treated as a cult, but it seemed to be because they had

Human, why are you smiling like

and watched as

“Is that our mission?”

Zero after hearing the

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

Does that mean the mission is a success if we simply find

“That’s right.”

appeared on Zero's

the Margrave another

rid of the cause? Do we get

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

be first

in the room instantly

who had been anxious because of the rain cloud were

at each other warily or

calmly spoke

don’t

heated air sank

all have that great and mighty power. However,

Marquis pointed out the

finger was pointing past

can survive through just because you are familiar with

thick smile appeared on the

that if you wish

Boom.

Marquis stomped

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

eyes clouded over as he looked at the

aide who had stepped up

to meet you, everyone. My name is

Fourth Imperial Prince opened his

the aides for the

Marquis-nim did so,

up

was only

Marquis was silently looking at Mary but turned away after noticing

with such

Margrave opened his mouth once

mission will start tomorrow! You will have one

soldier or a knight than

he treated all of the candidates equally as if they were his subordinates who needed to complete

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first without any

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

his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

is going

subordinates grumbled as

“Tsk.”

Imperial Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at

Clunk--!

Prince turned his gaze and