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

cloth had a map of the western part of the

see the edge villages of the

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

are the

of the candidates

precincts, including precinct

the

Clunk. Clunk.

was still shaking

entire map

in precinct 9 but has started to appear in other precincts

out the

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

the black

rain cloud appeared half a year

Plop. Plop.

raindrops were slowly

not know about this when it happened half

Princess's voice

is

year was a pretty

Church didn't tell

it would not be noticed by

big happened six months ago but nobody in

to look at

the Second Imperial Princess as

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

Imperial Palace already

“Yes ma’am.”

the First Imperial Prince and then the

Cale did the same.

Imperial 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

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed in

guess there are a lot

looking back at

the rain clouds to appear anywhere on the

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

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

Why does it only rain in these precincts

spoke in a

someone is controlling the

lot of people heard his voice as he spoke during a silent

is why it is the

after hearing

was coming back

Plop. Plop.

ended and the

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

the rain clouds were not a

Margrave in charge of

a

is why we sent people multiple times past the wall to investigate the cause

Marquis Helson.

to recall information about this man he received

He loathes politics and is from a Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of

to the Emperor

would not treat the Imperial

‘He’s a fitting character.’

perfect as a

a letter

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

but did not

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

was said to be known by everybody in the

‘Mm.’

a groan after recalling a piece of

< P.S. >

old priest had

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

was a

Margrave was a

current Margrave is aware of

Margrave

just keeping his grandfather's secret tightly hidden.

Church had a lot of power despite being called heretics and treated as a

are you

watched as Zero took

“Is that our mission?”

Zero after hearing

three members and one team with four members will all

is a success if we

“That’s right.”

appeared on

asked the Margrave another

of the cause? Do

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first place

air in the room instantly

people who had been anxious because of the

at each

Marquis calmly

you don’t

sank cold

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

Marquis pointed out the

finger was pointing

you can survive

smile appeared on the Marquis’

if you wish

Boom.

Marquis stomped

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

clouded over as he looked

aide who had stepped up was

to meet you, everyone. My name is

Fourth Imperial Prince opened

the aides for the

did so,

up toward

was only for an

Mary but

with such a

Margrave opened his mouth once

will start tomorrow!

like a soldier or a knight

of the candidates equally as if they were

“You are dismissed!”

area

and they want us to

shrugged his

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is going

grumbled as

“Tsk.”

Imperial Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at

Clunk--!

turned his