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

of the western part

the edge villages of

could see the areas of the Empire that had turned black

are the red

of the

including precinct 9, had

where the dead mana rain

Clunk. Clunk.

was still

the entire map

rain cloud started in precinct 9 but has started

looked out

pretty well because they were in a high

that the black mages

appeared half

Plop. Plop.

were slowly

about this when it happened half a year

Second Imperial Princess's voice was louder

This is

a year was a pretty

Cale, the Church didn't tell

would not be noticed by

big happened six months ago but nobody in

turned to look at

Second Imperial Princess

the Imperial Palace on a regular basis, your Royal

Imperial Palace already

“Yes ma’am.”

Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince and then the Fourth Imperial

Cale did the same.

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

“Ha!”

Princess scoffed in

lot of people who

mumbled before looking back at

the rain clouds to appear anywhere on

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

heard Mary’s

“...That’s odd.”

mentioned! Why does it only

spoke in a nonchalant

like someone is controlling the

his voice as he spoke during a

is why it is

hearing a voice

was coming

Plop. Plop.

rain had almost ended and the wind was no

see the blue sky that was slightly grey beyond the

sky... The two colors started separate from each other but the blue sky was slowly dyed by the grey color that spread

that the rain clouds

charge of Precinct

a Marquis of

multiple times past the wall to investigate

Marquis Helson.

started to recall information about this man

Margrave family that has been protecting the western part of the Empire for

was deep not to the Emperor but to the

meant that he would not

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as

had sent a letter

only family member, his grandfather the former Marquis, met

mid-thirties but did not marry despite being

the pain he felt losing his family and is determined to give his life fighting against dead mana.

known by

‘Mm.’

held back a groan after recalling a piece

< P.S. >

old priest had

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

He was a hidden

was a

the current Margrave is aware

Of course, the Margrave is

keeping his grandfather's

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

why are you smiling like

Raon’s comment and watched as Zero

“Is that our mission?”

after hearing

teams with three members and one team with four members will

mean the mission is a success if we simply find

“That’s right.”

appeared on Zero's

the Margrave another

of the cause?

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

you’ll be first place

in the

had been anxious because of the

were looking at each other warily

calmly spoke

you don’t die, that

sank cold once

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

pointed out the

pointing past

you can survive through

thick smile appeared on

if you

Boom.

Marquis stomped his

areas to strategize with your teams

clouded over as he looked at the aide heading over toward

had stepped up was approaching

is Eaen and I

Fourth Imperial Prince opened

determined the aides for the

Marquis-nim did so,

looked up toward the

was only for an

Mary but turned away after noticing Cale’s

Human! That Margrave was looking at Mary with such a fierce gaze until

opened his mouth

will start tomorrow! You will have

more like a soldier or a

as if they

“You are dismissed!”

left the area first

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

his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

this is

subordinates grumbled as

“Tsk.”

Prince Noi looked at them as if they were foolish before giving the top aide, Eaen, an

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

was at that

Clunk--!

Fourth Imperial Prince turned his