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 of the

a map of the

villages of the ten precincts

turned black as well

the

the candidates

the precincts, including precinct

are the regions where the

Clunk. Clunk.

window was still

entire map

9 but has started to appear in other precincts

looked out

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

proof that the black mages were working

rain cloud appeared

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were

about this when it happened half

Princess's

true. This is a bit

was a pretty

Church didn't tell you about this

head so that it would not be noticed by

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

turned to look at

at the Second Imperial Princess as she

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

Imperial Palace already

“Yes ma’am.”

looked at the First

Cale did the same.

was an ice sculpture while the Fourth Imperial Prince had his fists clenched and was avoiding

“Ha!”

Princess

are a lot of people

looking back at

would not be weird for the rain clouds to

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

heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

weird as Mary mentioned! Why does it only rain in these precincts before

in

like someone is controlling the

voice as

is why it is

after hearing a voice behind

Margrave was coming back

Plop. Plop.

had almost ended and the wind was no longer

could see the blue sky that was slightly grey

but the

year ago that the rain clouds were not

Margrave in charge of Precinct

was a Marquis of the

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

Marquis Helson.

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 Empire is

was deep not to the Emperor

would not treat the

‘He’s a fitting character.’

as a test

priest Durst had sent a letter

member, his

but did not marry despite

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

was said to be known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

held back a groan after

< P.S. >

old priest had added

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

was a

was

Margrave is

course, the Margrave is not a

keeping his grandfather's secret tightly

despite being called heretics and treated as a cult, but it seemed to be

are

watched as Zero took

“Is that our mission?”

hearing the loosely asked question

with four members will all put finding the source of this

mission is a success if we simply find

“That’s right.”

smile appeared on

asked the Margrave another

also get rid of

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first place

air in the room

anxious because of the rain cloud were now heated

were looking at each other

Marquis calmly

don’t die, that

sank

candidates here should be familiar with dead mana. You all have that great and mighty power. However,

pointed

was pointing past the

land is not somewhere you can survive through just because you are familiar with dead

smile appeared on the

that if you wish to

Boom.

stomped his

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

looked at the aide heading over

stepped

everyone. My name is Eaen

Imperial Prince opened

determined the aides

did

up toward the

was only for an

looking at Mary but turned

was looking at Mary with such a fierce gaze until he turned

Margrave opened his mouth

mission will start tomorrow! You will have

Marquis seemed more like a soldier or

all of the candidates equally as if they were

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first

find any clue in half a year and they want

shrugged his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going to

subordinates grumbled as

“Tsk.”

as if they were foolish before giving

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at that

Clunk--!

Imperial Prince turned his gaze and