Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 380: It Must Not Have Been Enough (5)
Cale sat close beside Alberu and looked over the translucent screen he had opened.
“This is a mess.”
“My dear brother, after what we did, would it not be strange if it were not a mess?”
Alberu was smiling faintly, and for some reason he looked to be in a good mood.
Cale turned away from that smile with a dubious expression and shifted his gaze to the screen.
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<Crazy. The martial arts tournament is ruined!>
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The many communities centered around “NaSoJeol” were in chaos right now, not just the Lan Kingdom board but even the integrated board.
===================
<Hey, hey! The sky over the arena suddenly changed. What is that? What happened?>
What the hell is happening in the Lan Kingdom right now?
Only the sky above the arena turned dark crimson?
Did some kind of hell field open up or something?
-Crazy. It’s not a hell field. I’m evacuating right now.
-What? Explain properly.
-The Cooperative Alliance leader was a spy.
-Wow. Me, who was inside that arena, am the winner here.
-What was it like?
-Honestly, I didn’t really see it properly.
-Why?
-Because if I didn’t want to die, I had to evacuate lol
But Kim Hae-Yi and the Cooperative Alliance leader. Those two are definitely part of some huge quest element.
The main thing isn’t the Lan Kingdom successor. That feels like a clue to some massive episode instead.
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Kim Hae-Yi.
That name was gradually being mentioned on the main board.
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<The Strongest Under the Heavens Competition definitely has a hidden conspiracy!>
<White lines, dark-crimson clouds. What kind of skill is that?>
<Mysterious groups have appeared that even the King of Lan did not know about!>
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All sorts of thread titles were appearing.
Then one title caught Cale’s eye.
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<A video is up.>
A user who went to watch the match uploaded it. Damn, crazy. And they’re saying this is an NPC? How strong is that supposed to be?
Can users use skills like this too?
-Kim Hae-Yi? Who is that guy?
-Don’t know. I thought he was an NPC from a quest at first, but maybe not. Looking at it now, it seems like some kind of conspiracy is unfolding in the Lan Kingdom.
-The Cooperative Alliance is finished now, huh?
===================
He followed the video link.
KWAAANG! KWANG-KWAAAAANG—
A white line looked as if °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° it were about to plunge down and seal off the arena.
RUMBLE—
Dark-crimson clouds had formed, and after that the user had kept filming in a panic even while running out of the arena.
-“Crazy! This is insane!”
A great deal was packed into that one sentence from the user.
He saw the comments below it.
===================
-Damn. What’s impressive is you actually filmed this. Looking at it, this seems like illegal footage?
-Yeah, recording the Strongest Under the Heavens Competition isn’t allowed.
-Not even creators recognized by Transparent Co.?
-Yeah. Not even on the official channels.
-That bastard is being a nuisance. Everyone else is evacuating and he’s hanging in there as long as he can just to film. Tsk tsk.
-And you’re pretty impressive too, coming to watch that kind of video.
-Want to die?
-Yeah.
===================
“Oh.”
Watching the video, Cale let out a short remark.
“That’s fortunate. My face and Choi Han’s do not appear.”
By the time masked Cale or Choi Han, who had effectively fought So Hee, would have shown up, the ordinary people had already fled the arena.
The ones who had seen Cale, Choi Han, and Alberu were, for the most part, those who had remained in the arena until the end together with the King.
Moreover, both Cale and Choi Han had changed even their hair color.
From a distance, no one would know who they were.
“As for the Heavenly Demon, his face was exposed, but since that face was already public, it probably does not matter.”
“And me?”
At Alberu’s words, spoken with a grin, Cale smiled back.
“Would it not be good for Your Highness to show your face from time to time, for the sake of the future? After all, you are the future hero acknowledged by the sun.”
“......”
At the word hero, Alberu’s expression turned awkward.
It seemed he still disliked that word quite a lot.
How strange.
He wanted the position of emperor without hesitation, yet he disliked being called a hero.
I dislike both.
Neither emperor nor hero made Cale’s heart race.
Only—
idler.
Only those two syllables could make Cale’s heart pound fiercely.
Cale leaned back against the sofa.
“Our news must have reached the Five Colored Blood by now.”
As if responding to his words, Alberu spoke.
“The video was taken down.”
“Already?”
“Transparent Co. must have had it removed.”
Transparent Co. had the video taken down.
The meaning of that was simple.
“The Transparent Blood family will come looking for us.”
“They will look especially hard for the Heavenly Demon, since his face is known. What about you?”
In answer to Cale’s question, the Heavenly Demon, who had been sitting cross-legged opposite them with his eyes closed, opened his mouth.
“It does not matter.”
Whether it was the Transparent Blood family or the Wanderers. It did not matter to the Heavenly Demon who came looking for him.
“I have no intention of remaining here for the time being.”
The Heavenly Demon was a semi-NPC.
Once everything was settled, he would disappear from this Lan Kingdom.
“There is something I must confirm in the Demonic Cult.”
He planned to return to the Demonic Cult, organize the power he had gained this time, and train.
By the time the Heavenly Demon appeared again in this New World, he would probably be far stronger than he was now.
And on top of that, the Demonic Cult.
Under the Heavenly Demon’s sky, the members of the Demonic Cult would rampage even more fiercely at his side.
“Mm. Heavenly Demon?”
Alberu called to him awkwardly.
“Why do you ask?”
The Heavenly Demon, too, raised his manner of speech somewhat and showed a measure of courtesy to Alberu.
Alberu gave the Heavenly Demon, who still had his eyes closed, a bright smile.
“Later, when I establish my empire, what would you say to setting up a branch of the Demonic Cult in my land?”
The Heavenly Demon slowly opened his eyes.
“......”
He stared at Alberu, who was smiling cheerfully, then let out a short laugh.
“As expected of Kim Hae-Il’s elder brother.”
Then he closed his eyes again.
“I will consider it.”
“I hope your consideration reaches a favorable conclusion.”
Watching Alberu and the Heavenly Demon in turn, Cale shook his head.
It was absurd that neither of them seemed to have any doubt at all about whether Alberu could establish an empire.
“Why?”
When Alberu looked at him with a brilliant smile, clearly in a good mood, Cale smiled back.
“No. It is nothing. It is just that the friendship between Your Highness and the Heavenly Demon is beautiful.”
Tsk.
Alberu and the Heavenly Demon clicked their tongues at the same time and turned away from Cale.
Knock knock knock.
Just then, a knock sounded, and Choi Han opened the door.
He soon said to Cale,
“The Martial Arts Master has arrived.”
At Choi Han’s words, spoken after he had put his bamboo hat back on, the three rose from their seats.
Then, naturally, they split into two groups of two.
“Choi Han.”
Cale walked over to Choi Han. The Heavenly Demon was standing beside him.
“I leave it to you.”
At those words, the Heavenly Demon smiled and spoke.
“Interrogation is my specialty. Should you not be asking me instead?”
Ah.
After letting out a brief exclamation, he seemed to understand what Cale meant and said calmly to Choi Han,
“At least do not kill her before I interrogate her. It would be troublesome if she died.”
Grin.
The Heavenly Demon smiled, and Choi Han shook his head as if troubled.
“As if I would.”
He looked straight into Cale’s eyes.
“Please do not worry. I will bring back as much information as possible.”
The Heavenly Demon and Choi Han.
The two of them were now going to the deepest underground prison in the Lan royal palace to deal with the Wanderer So Hee.
Those two were the right people to extract information from So Hee.
Cha Run, the King’s teacher and Martial Arts Master, spoke.
“Here, you only need follow this person.”
A single attendant bowed to Choi Han and the Heavenly Demon.
The three left first like that, and Cale, after signaling with his eyes to Alberu, who was naturally standing beside him, said to Cha Run,
“Please lead the way.”
“Yes. This way.”
Martial Arts Master Cha Run began to walk toward a secret place within the royal palace, one secret in an entirely different sense from the underground prison.
*****
“Thank you for making time for us despite how busy you are.”
Cale spoke with a smile and then took a sip of tea.
Its deep, nutty flavor pleasantly filled his mouth.
“It certainly is noisy. Since becoming king, I do not think it has been this noisy in quite a long time.”
King Tamahi of Lan, too, responded pleasantly as she took a sip of tea.
At present, the capital of the Lan Kingdom was in an uproar.
Because of what had happened at the martial arena, all kinds of rumors were spreading.
In particular, the Strongest Under the Heavens Competition, which was supposed to decide the successor, had been suspended for the time being.
And the Cooperative Alliance, one of the Five Great Powers, was now being utterly devastated.
No matter that it was the largest of the Five Great Powers and composed of a great many martial artists, it could not defeat the royal house.
Moreover, the other four great powers were cooperating as well.
“So—can you tell me what exactly is going on here?”
King Tamahi spoke to Cale with a certain degree of formality.
She did so with a smile.
But beneath it there was a cold edge.
“Mm.”
Cale shrugged as if lost in thought for a moment, then looked at the King.
“Do you know the Blood Demon?”
“......”
The King did not answer at all.
But Cale did not miss her wavering eyes.
“Ah, perhaps the name here is Parang?”
The Blood Demon, head of the Blue Blood family.
And also the rank-four user in NaSoJeol, Parang.
“Mm.”
The King let out a low sound.
“Before the tournament, who was going to be the next successor?”
At Cale’s next question, the King let out a hollow laugh.
“It seems you have already guessed a fair amount. Why ask?”
It was, in effect, an admission that the Blood Demon had been the next successor.
To her, Cale tossed out the words as if casually,
“Parang disappeared, did he not?”
“...Well, that is—”
“We killed him.”
“!”
The tea in the cup in the King’s hand rippled.
“You know about the Wanderers, do you not?”
Cale only asked questions.
Looking at him, the King shut her eyes tightly.
“I did not know about So Hee.”
“That means you know the others. Were you being threatened by them?”
“I was a puppet.”
It was not a long conversation, but he could roughly infer the outline of what had happened.
And for Cale, this much was enough.
That was why he asked,
“Do you intend to break free?”
“I do. But it will not be easy.”
Cale gazed silently at King Tamahi, who spoke with complete frankness, then opened his mouth.
“Is it because of the royal consort?”
“!”
This time, Tamahi truly failed to hide her shock, and it showed clearly on her face.
“How did you—”
“The royal consort must be a follower of some god.”
“-!”
“And he must also be in a cooperative relationship with the Wanderers.”
“Hah—”
Faced with the King’s astonishment, Cale did not bother speaking in circles.
“I wish to meet the royal consort.”
“...So it truly was not the successor’s seat that you wanted.”
“Yes. I entered the tournament because I wanted to meet Your Majesty.”
“...And what do you intend to do when you meet the royal consort?”
At Tamahi’s question, Cale smiled.
“Whatever it is, it will be of help to Your Majesty.”
Rather than answer at once, she took a sip of tea.
She needed to calm herself.
Blood Demon.
Wanderers.
Royal consort.
She had never imagined all those words would come out of this man’s mouth so directly.
She needed to organize her thoughts.
And so she asked the thing she needed to know first.
“Who are you people?”
Their identities.
She did not even know that.
“We are—”
Cale looked at Alberu, who was leisurely drinking tea beside him, then turned his gaze back to the King and said,
“We are an alliance.”
“...An alliance?”
“I am from the Dark Kingdom.”
Cale pointed at Alberu.
“And this person is one who will become the king of another place.”
Not a king, but an emperor.
And though he did not yet have any territory to proclaim, still, he was a future emperor.
“W-what are you saying?”
For the first time, King Tamahi failed to hide her confusion and stammered.
“Haha, exactly what I said!”
And Cale smiled kindly.
As he watched all this while leisurely drinking tea, Alberu thought,
I should just stay still.
Whenever his younger brother started running his mouth, the safest thing was to stay still.
And—
This benefits me.
At Cale’s words, which were conveniently making him into a king all on their own, Alberu did not bother revealing the truth.
If Raon had seen it, he would have said the two of them were exactly alike, but both Alberu and Cale were serious.
Faced with the sight of two serious men, King Tamahi slowly opened her mouth.
“...The Dark Kingdom... and this one is a king......?”
“Yes. That is correct!”
After answering briskly, Cale repeated his request.
“I would prefer to speak calmly about the details after I have first met the royal consort. Ah. Even so, there is one thing you should know.”
The royal consort. He needed to meet the King’s husband and clear the quest as quickly as possible.
The Wanderers.
Those bastards would think, through the message sent by So Hee, that they were subordinates of the God of Chaos.
For the “cancer” to begin moving in earnest, Cale needed the power of a saint.
And he also had to save Choi Jung Gun.
“...Something I should know?”
“Yes. Something you should know!”
Cale spoke quickly and brightly.
“We are together with the sun’s hero, who will save New World! And the Dark Kingdom has risen to protect this world! Haha!”
Puh—
Alberu, who had been elegantly enjoying his tea, spat out the tea in his mouth.
A short while later, together with a King filled with confusion, Cale headed for the deepest part of the royal palace to meet the royal consort.
Naturally, while ignoring Alberu’s subtly dumbfounded gaze.