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

map of the western

to see the edge villages of the ten precincts

that had turned black as well

the

the candidates

the precincts, including precinct

the regions where the dead mana

Clunk. Clunk.

window was still shaking

the entire

but has started to appear in other precincts as

looked out the

shield in the sky pretty well because they were in a high

was proof that the black

first rain cloud appeared half

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were

not know about this when it happened half a year

Princess's voice was louder

true. This is a

year was a pretty long

the Church didn't tell you about this

would not be noticed by others

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

look

Second Imperial Princess as she

the issue to the Imperial Palace

Palace already

“Yes ma’am.”

at the First

Cale did the same.

Prince was still standing there without any expression on his face as if he was an ice sculpture while the Fourth Imperial Prince had his fists clenched and was avoiding the Second Imperial

“Ha!”

Princess

a lot of people

mumbled before looking back at the

be weird for the rain clouds to appear

clouds thankfully have not left the ten precincts so far and the

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

does it only rain

in

is controlling the rain

a lot of people heard his voice as he spoke during

it is

turned after hearing a voice behind

was

Plop. Plop.

ended and

could see the blue sky that

but the

half a year ago that the rain clouds were

in charge of Precinct

a Marquis of the

we sent people multiple times past the wall to investigate the cause but we

Marquis Helson.

started to recall information about this man he received from the

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

to

meant that he would not treat the Imperial family

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as a

had sent a letter through the

not have a family. His only family member, his grandfather the former Marquis, met his

past his mid-thirties but did

felt losing his family and

be known by everybody in

‘Mm.’

back a groan after recalling

< P.S. >

priest had added something as

For reference, the Margrave's grandfather had a

a hidden

Margrave was

the current Margrave is aware of that fact as

course, the Margrave is not

He is just keeping his grandfather's

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

Human, why are you

comment and watched as Zero took

“Is that our mission?”

hearing the loosely asked question and

teams with three members and one team with four members will all put finding the source of this dead mana rain

is a

“That’s right.”

smile appeared on Zero's

the Margrave

we also get rid of the cause? Do we

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be

in the room instantly

anxious because of the rain cloud were now

looking at each other warily or

Marquis calmly spoke

don’t die,

air sank cold

with dead mana. You all have that great and mighty power. However,

pointed out

finger was pointing

land is not somewhere you can survive through just because you

smile appeared on the Marquis’

if you

Boom.

Marquis stomped

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

looked

aide who had stepped up was

to meet you, everyone. My name is Eaen and

Imperial Prince opened

determined the aides for

Marquis-nim did so,

up

only

Marquis was silently looking at Mary but turned away after

with

his mouth once

start tomorrow! You will

Marquis seemed more like a soldier or a knight

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

“You are dismissed!”

the area first

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

shrugged his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going to be

grumbled

“Tsk.”

Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish before

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at

Clunk--!

Prince turned his gaze