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

a map of the

the edge villages of the ten precincts of the west

the areas of the Empire that had turned black as well as the current boundary of

the red

of the

including precinct

regions where the dead mana rain

Clunk. Clunk.

window was

entire map

has started to appear in other precincts as

looked out the

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

that the black mages were

cloud appeared half a year

Plop. Plop.

were slowly

know about this

Second Imperial Princess's

This is a bit

a year was

Cale, the Church didn't tell

it would not be

big happened six months ago but

to look at

at the Second Imperial Princess as she

to the Imperial Palace on a

Palace already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

Second Imperial Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince

Cale did the same.

any expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture

“Ha!”

Second Imperial Princess

are a lot of people who

mumbled before looking back

would not be weird for the rain clouds to appear anywhere

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

heard

“...That’s odd.”

mentioned! Why does it only rain in

spoke in a

someone is controlling the

of people heard his voice as he spoke

it is

hearing

was coming

Plop. Plop.

almost ended and the wind

sky that

two colors started separate from each other but the blue sky was slowly dyed by the grey

the rain clouds were not a natural

Margrave in charge of Precinct

Helson was a Marquis of the

is why we sent people multiple times past the wall to investigate the cause but we haven't

Marquis Helson.

about this man he received from

the western part of the Empire for generations. He

deep not to the Emperor but to

would not treat the Imperial

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as

sent a

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

but did not

didn't want another family to feel the pain he felt losing his family and is

be known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

a groan after

< P.S. >

old priest had added something as

grandfather had a secret relationship with our Fire of

was a

Margrave was a secret

is aware of that fact as well.

course, the Margrave

He is just keeping his grandfather's

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

Human, why are you smiling like

Raon’s comment and watched

“Is that our mission?”

peeked toward Zero after hearing the

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

a

“That’s right.”

smile appeared on

the Margrave

also get rid of the cause? Do we

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be

air in the room instantly

been anxious because of the rain cloud were

at each other warily or

calmly spoke

you don’t die,

sank

here should be familiar with dead mana. You all have that great and mighty power. However, it will benefit you to

Marquis pointed out

pointing

you can survive through just because

thick smile appeared

that if you

Boom.

Marquis stomped

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

over as he looked at

who had stepped

you, everyone. My name is Eaen and

Fourth Imperial Prince opened his

aides for

Marquis-nim did so,

up toward

was only for an

looking at Mary but turned

with such a fierce gaze until

his mouth once

mission will start tomorrow! You will

seemed more like a soldier or

if they

“You are dismissed!”

area first without

and they want us to take care of

shrugged his shoulders in

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

Haaa, this is going to be

subordinates grumbled

“Tsk.”

Noi looked at them as if they were foolish before giving the

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at that

Clunk--!

Fourth Imperial Prince turned his