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 edge villages

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

are the

of the candidates

the precincts, including precinct 9, had red

are the regions where the dead

Clunk. Clunk.

was still shaking

recorded the entire map

precinct 9 but has

looked out

a high spot in the castle. The half-transparent black shield was

that the black

first rain cloud appeared

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were

about this when it

Imperial Princess's voice

This is

a year was a

Cale, the Church didn't tell

that it would not be noticed by

this big happened six months ago but nobody in the

to look at the

looking at the Second Imperial Princess

been reporting the issue to the Imperial Palace on a regular basis,

Imperial Palace already knows about

“Yes ma’am.”

the First Imperial

Cale did the same.

there without any expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture while the

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed

are a lot of people

looking back

not be weird for the rain clouds to appear

have not left the ten precincts

then heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

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

in a nonchalant

someone is controlling the rain

heard his voice as he spoke during a

why it is

hearing a voice behind

was

Plop. Plop.

and

see the blue 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

ago that the rain clouds were not a natural

in charge of

a Marquis of the

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

Marquis Helson.

about this man he received from the

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

was deep not to the Emperor but to the

he would not

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as a

priest Durst had sent a letter

His only family member, his grandfather the former Marquis, met his

was past his mid-thirties but did

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

said to be known by everybody in

‘Mm.’

a groan after recalling a

< P.S. >

had added something as

grandfather had a secret relationship

He was a

was

Margrave is aware of that fact as well.

Of course, the Margrave is

his

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

why are you smiling like

and watched as Zero

“Is that our mission?”

after hearing the loosely asked question

members will all put finding the source

is a success if we simply

“That’s right.”

appeared on Zero's

asked the Margrave

get rid of the cause? Do we get first

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

sure you’ll be first

air in the room instantly

people who had been anxious because of

were looking at each other warily or deep in

Marquis calmly spoke

don’t die, that

air sank

mana. You all have that great and mighty power.

Marquis pointed out

finger was pointing

land is not somewhere you can survive

appeared on the Marquis’

if you

Boom.

stomped

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

as he looked at the aide heading over toward

who had stepped up was

is Eaen

Imperial Prince opened

determined the aides for the

Marquis-nim did

looked up toward

only

Marquis was silently looking at Mary but turned away

with such a fierce

Margrave opened his mouth

tomorrow! You will have one

Marquis seemed more like a soldier or a knight than a

the candidates equally as if they were his

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first without any

in half a year and they want us to take care of

shrugged his

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

is going to

grumbled

“Tsk.”

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 gaze and