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 western part

the edge villages

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

the red

the

precincts, including precinct 9, had red marks on

are the regions where the dead mana

Clunk. Clunk.

window was still

the entire map in his

9 but has started to appear in other precincts as

out

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

was proof that the black mages

rain cloud appeared half a

Plop. Plop.

were

we not know about this when

Princess's voice was

This is a bit

year was a pretty

didn't tell you

so that it would not be noticed by others

but nobody in the Empire’s capital knows about

look at the

at the Second Imperial Princess

Imperial Palace on a regular basis, your

already knows

“Yes ma’am.”

Imperial Princess looked at the First Imperial Prince

Cale did the same.

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

“Ha!”

Imperial Princess scoffed

there are a lot of people

looking back

rain clouds

the rain clouds thankfully have not left the ten precincts

then heard

“...That’s odd.”

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

spoke in

someone is controlling

voice as he spoke during

why it is the

hearing a voice

Margrave was

Plop. Plop.

almost ended and the wind was no

could see the blue sky that was slightly grey beyond the

colors started separate from each other but the blue

determined half a year ago that the rain clouds were not a natural

Margrave in charge

a Marquis of the

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

Marquis Helson.

this man he

family that has been protecting the western part of the Empire for generations. He has a strong Knights

to

would not treat

‘He’s a fitting character.’

was perfect as a test

had sent a

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

Margrave was past his mid-thirties but did not marry despite being a

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

known by everybody

‘Mm.’

a groan after recalling a piece

< P.S. >

priest had added something

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

was a hidden believer.

Margrave was

is aware of that fact as

Of course, the Margrave is not a

He is just keeping his

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

are you

ignored Raon’s comment and watched as Zero took a

“Is that our mission?”

hearing the loosely

with three members and one team with four members will all put

that mean the mission is a

“That’s right.”

twisted smile appeared on

the Margrave another

also get rid of the cause? Do we get

“Pffft.”

The Margrave scoffed.

sure you’ll be

air in the room instantly

anxious because of the rain cloud were now heated

candidates were looking at each other warily or

Marquis calmly spoke

don’t

air sank

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

pointed out

finger was pointing

not somewhere you can survive through just because you

appeared

you wish to

Boom.

Marquis stomped his

lodgings! You will be given areas to

looked at

stepped up

My name is Eaen and I am

Imperial Prince opened his

aides for

Marquis-nim did so,

looked up toward the

only for

Marquis was silently looking at Mary but turned away after

was looking at Mary with such a fierce gaze

Margrave opened his mouth

will start tomorrow! You will

like a soldier or

as if they were his subordinates

“You are dismissed!”

area

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

shrugged his shoulders

“Hyung-nim, this is impossible!”

is going to be

grumbled as

“Tsk.”

if they were foolish before giving the top aide, Eaen,

“To our lodging.”

“Yes, candidate-nim.”

at that

Clunk--!

turned his