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

a map of the western part of

see the edge villages of the ten precincts of the west

see the areas of the Empire that had turned black

the

the candidates

precincts, including precinct 9, had red marks on

where the dead mana rain

Clunk. Clunk.

was still

the entire

9 but has started to appear in other precincts as

looked out

well because they were in a high spot in

proof that the black mages were working

cloud appeared half a year

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were slowly

we not know about this when it happened half a

Princess's

true. This is

was a pretty long

Church didn't tell you about this either,

his head so that it would not be noticed by

big happened six months ago but nobody in the Empire’s capital knows

to look at

looking at the Second Imperial

to the Imperial Palace on a regular basis, your

already knows

“Yes ma’am.”

First Imperial Prince and then the Fourth Imperial

Cale did the same.

on his face as if he was an ice sculpture

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed in

lot of people who

looking back at

for the rain clouds

Royal Highness. However, the rain clouds thankfully have not left the ten precincts so far and the rain only

then heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

is weird as Mary mentioned! Why does it

spoke in

sounds like someone is controlling the rain

of people heard his voice as he spoke during a

why it is

turned after hearing a voice behind

was

Plop. Plop.

and the wind

sky that was slightly grey beyond the

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

determined half a year ago that the rain clouds

Margrave in charge of

Helson was a Marquis

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

Marquis Helson.

this man he received

the western part of the

to the Emperor

he would not treat

‘He’s a fitting character.’

perfect as a

Durst had sent a letter through the

Margrave does not have a family. His only family member, his grandfather

his mid-thirties but did

another family to feel the pain he felt losing his family and is determined to give his life fighting

be known by

‘Mm.’

groan after recalling

< P.S. >

priest had

grandfather had a secret relationship with our Fire of

was a hidden believer.

Margrave was

is aware

course, the Margrave is

He is just keeping his grandfather's secret tightly

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

why are you

Raon’s comment and watched as Zero took a

“Is that our mission?”

after hearing the loosely

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

the mission is a

“That’s right.”

appeared

asked the Margrave another

get rid of the cause? Do

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

sure you’ll be first place

air in the room instantly

who had been anxious because of the rain cloud were

looking at each other

calmly

don’t die,

air sank cold once

have that great and mighty

pointed

finger was pointing

survive

appeared on the

you wish

Boom.

Marquis stomped

candidates to their lodgings! You will be given areas

looked at the

aide who had stepped up was

everyone. My name is Eaen and

Imperial Prince opened his

aides

did so,

looked up toward the

only for

looking at Mary but turned away after noticing

at Mary with such a fierce gaze until he

Margrave opened his mouth once

start tomorrow! You will

soldier or a knight than a

all of the candidates equally as if

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first without any

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

his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

Haaa, this is going

grumbled as

“Tsk.”

Imperial Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish before giving the top aide, Eaen,

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at that

Clunk--!

turned his gaze and then