Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 402: How Dare You Stab Me in the Back? (5)

“Worth trying?”

The moment the cheapskate reacted like that, Cale made a firm decision.

‘There is no way I’m fighting.’

Why would he fight that Wanderer?

‘Why do you think I’m going through all this trouble right now?’

He was doing all this so that Wanderer and the Order of the God of Chaos would fight each other. Why would he go and fight that Wanderer himself?

He let out a faint snort.

‘Don’t go getting useless ideas.’

He conveyed his meaning to the cheapskate.

And then—

—Don’t smile.

He got scolded by the ancient dragon Eruhaben.

‘Mm.’

At present, Cale was moving while tied hand and foot and slung over Eruhaben’s shoulder.

Their destination was Duke Hinpa’s pavilion.

They were heading to the small island at the center of Lake of Tranquility.

—Heh.

Suddenly, the cheapskate laughed.

—Cale.

Then he spoke in a low voice.

—At times like this, your words usually come true in reverse.

What?

Cale’s face twisted beneath the bandages, but—

—KHAHAHAHAHA!

The cheapskate suddenly started laughing like a madman.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

It was similar to when Cale dumped out sack after sack of money to strengthen the Fire of Destruction.

—Cale. Hand over the money.

For the first time in a while, the cheapskate asked for an enhancement.

—You’ve already passed angels and you’re heading toward godhood now. So you should spend money like a god too. Hand over the money. I want to use power like a god too. Money is my very foundation.

And Cale—

‘What kind of nonsense is that?’

—lightly ignored him.

—......

He could feel the cheapskate drooping in disappointment, but Cale did not care.

His gaze shifted forward.

‘So the king is leading the Wanderer along just fine.’

Unlike how tense she had been before, King Tamahi had taken the lead and reached the island while guiding the Wanderer.

Cale, at the very rear, stole glances at the scene and took it all in.

Splash.

The moment the Wanderer stepped across the lake and set foot on the island, she spoke.

“What a mess.”

The pavilion where Duke Hinpa had stayed had exploded so completely that not even a trace remained, and the surrounding area was in utter chaos as well.

The garden, which had not been flashy but had been cultivated with a quiet, elegant atmosphere, looked as though a typhoon had ripped through it.

“...Collapsed.”

The surrounding pavilions were tilted, and most had caved in altogether.

The old-fashioned island where the Lan royal family had lived no longer existed.

“Yes. Just thinking about restoring it gives me a headache.”

King Tamahi was still speaking only the truth.

The Wanderer stared at the place where Duke Hinpa’s pavilion had been, then headed toward the nearest remaining pavilion.

A strange chill clung to her voice.

“It’s gone.”

A strange light flickered in her eyes.

“It wasn’t broken. It disappeared.”

The nearby pavilion had collapsed.

Half of the building was gone.

But nowhere was there any trace of the missing half. Even a few small bits of wood or the stones that had supported the pillars should have remained.

“......”

The Wanderer lowered herself.

Then she stretched out a hand.

“...Powder.”

What remained was only powder, with no recognizable shape left at all.

Powder broken down so finely that its grains were smaller than sand.

“This wasn’t a simple explosion.”

An explosion could not have produced powder like this.

All across the island, things that had lost their original shape had become powder.

“A power.”

Some kind of power had done this.

Watching the scene from a distance, Cale quietly glanced at the ancient dragon.

Twitch.

The corner of Eruhaben’s mouth twitched upward slightly, then dropped again just as fast. Then, feeling oddly self-conscious, Eruhaben turned his head a little—and met Cale’s eyes.

“......”

“......”

One human and one ancient dragon both pretended not to notice each other.

“!”

At that moment, Eruhaben’s gaze shifted toward the Wanderer.

Hummmm—

The Wanderer pulled a small orb from her robe.

“He should be arriving.”

The instant she said that calmly, a strange light flickered in Cale’s eyes.

King Tamahi had once said this about the Wanderers.

‘There have been two Wanderers I’ve met so far.’

Two of them, not counting So Hee.

‘Their strength was beyond anything I could judge.’

One more was coming.

That made three Wanderers Cale had met here in total.

Hummmm—

The air vibrated.

And with a bright flash of light, a magic circle appeared beside the female Wanderer.

It was a teleportation circle.

FLASH—!

When the bright light vanished, a man was standing there.

‘Hm?’

A slight frown formed between Cale’s brows.

Then the Ancient Tree spoke to him.

—He looks like her, doesn’t he?

The man who had newly appeared.

He bore a strange resemblance to the female Wanderer.

Almost like family.

“You came?”

The female Wanderer spoke to him in a rather familiar tone.

Then the man looked around.

“......”

And then his gaze stopped on King Tamahi.

“Oh no.”

The very moment the woman let out that sigh—

“Mm.”

Just as the ancient dragon Eruhaben flinched and swallowed a groan—

BOOM!

An explosion went off.

“Urgh!”

And King Tamahi let out a groan and rolled across the ground.

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty, are you all right?”

Martial Arts Master Cha Run and the head steward rushed over and helped her up.

“I-I’m fine.”

King Tamahi gestured that she was all right and got back to her feet on her own.

She was not visibly injured.

Gulp.

But her eyes shook as she swallowed.

A chill ran down the back of her neck.

—Cale, did you see that?

The Ancient Tree asked.

‘Yeah. I saw it.’

And Cale had seen it.

—It was fire.

Just as the Ancient Tree said, it had been fire.

The newly arrived male Wanderer.

The instant he pointed a finger at King Tamahi, flames had erupted in front of her.

—And then it was ice again.

And the female Wanderer had blocked those flames.

Because of that, an explosion had gone off in front of the king, and Tamahi had been thrown to the ground by the aftermath—but thanks to that, she had avoided being swallowed by the fire itself.

“Cho! I told you not to do that, didn’t I?”

The female Wanderer called out to the man.

The newly arrived Wanderer’s name was Cho.

Cho ignored her voice and kept staring at the king. Then he opened his mouth.

“Where is So Hee?”

Haah.

The female Wanderer let out a sigh.

“Cho. Calm down.”

“What exactly am I supposed to calm down about?”

At Cho’s irritation-filled response, the woman sighed again. Seeing that, Cho’s brow twisted.

“Ryeon. Isn’t it weird that you’re this calm right now?”

The woman’s name was Ryeon.

She narrowed her eyes as if she had expected this.

That expression only seemed to irritate Cho more, and he raised his voice.

“Hey. You know exactly what So Hee means to me!”

Ryeon remained composed.

Cho could not hide his emotions.

The two of them looked strikingly alike.

‘They look like siblings.’

Their figures were etched into Cale’s eyes.

‘One is ice, and one is fire.’

There was something strangely exquisite about it.

It seemed the two of them worked together.

“I know. To you, So Hee is—”

Ryeon stopped mid-sentence. She gave a quick glance around, but Cho paid no attention to that. Rather, he seemed irritated that she had stopped speaking.

“So Hee is what? Why’d you stop talking?”

“No, it’s just—haah. There are too many ears listening around us.”

Her words made Cho react.

“Ears? Where?”

Ha.

At that reaction, Ryeon let out an even deeper sigh.

Meanwhile, the corners of Cale’s mouth twitched upward before settling again.

‘Look at this bastard.’

Cale was here. Eruhaben was here. The people of the Lan Kingdom were here too.

There were five people here in total, yet Wanderer Cho said there were no ears here.

And that wasn’t even mentioning how he had attacked King Tamahi the moment he saw her.

—He’s hopeless.

Hearing that verdict from Sky Eating Water, Cale silently agreed.

“So Hee is practically my disciple! She’s the first one I ever found!”

“I know. That’s why So Hee followed you so well.”

“I know exactly how strong that girl is. And now she just suddenly disappears? To creatures like these? You think that makes any sense?”

Oh.

Cho was agitated, and Ryeon was trying to calm him down.

From the two of them talking, Cale could tell that So Hee was a deeply meaningful existence to Cho.

‘So that’s how it is.’

Only now did Cale begin to understand the situation a little better.

Why So Hee had stayed in the Lan Kingdom and worked there.

And why not one but two Wanderers of the same level—Wanderers so strong that even if the Heavenly Demon and Choi Han fought together, they still could not win—were so committed to this matter.

“How dare—”

Cho’s gaze turned toward King Tamahi.

“Ugh.”

Tamahi let out a groan.

FWOOSH—

Flames rippled around Wanderer Cho.

Like an aura.

—Oh.

Ignoring the reaction °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° from the cheapskate, Cale measured Cho’s energy.

‘About the same.’

That man was on the same level as that woman, Wanderer Ryeon.

“Cho.”

At that moment, Wanderer Ryeon looked at the terrified Tamahi and the others before speaking.

“It’s the God of Chaos.”

“...What?”

Cho, who had been glaring at the king as if he would kill her, slowly turned his gaze toward Ryeon.

“I think Duke Hinpa—no, the God of Chaos—betrayed us.”

“They did?”

“Yeah. I think a subordinate of the God of Chaos killed Duke Hinpa and took So Hee away.”

Cho did not question her.

He had always followed the judgment of his twin older sister, Ryeon.

Because for someone like him, quick-tempered and fiery by nature, Ryeon’s rational judgment had always been right.

This time would be the same.

If someone as cautious as Ryeon had identified the God of Chaos, that meant she was more than ninety percent certain.

“I think they went to the holy land.”

The moment Ryeon finished speaking, Cho closed his eyes.

The holy land of the God of Chaos.

“So, Primordial Night.”

“Yeah.”

Ryeon nodded calmly.

Cho opened his eyes again.

FWOOSH—!

The aura around him surged and flared even more violently.

He looked like a volcano on the verge of erupting.

It looked like blazing red lava was churning beneath him.

“How dare—”

A red light gathered at the corners of his eyes.

“How dare the God of Chaos stab us in the back?”

CRACK. CRACK.

Starting from beneath his feet, the ground began to blacken and burn away.

And through the cracks in the earth, flames roiled like lava.

“Huff—”

The head steward could hardly breathe.

Martial Arts Master Cha Run and the king were the same.

They staggered back.

That terrifying energy was only circling around Cho, and yet it was suffocating.

And that suffocating feeling was probably what it felt like to wander a desert unable to find water.

An oppressive force that made it feel as though everything would dry up and burn away.

“Mm.”

Eruhaben groaned and stepped back.

Naturally, while still carrying Cale.

‘His acting really is pretty good.’

The ancient dragon had lived a long life, and that much experience had made him a good actor too.

If Choi Han’s acting skills were floor level—no, underground—then the ancient dragon’s were sky-high.

‘...They really are strong.’

And Cale quietly observed Cho.

At the same time, he took in Ryeon as well, standing beside him as if none of this pressure affected her at all.

The two of them, who seemed to be siblings.

Ice and fire.

For some reason, Cale found himself imagining the sight of those two fighting together.

If two people who were complete opposites fought side by side—

‘That would be hard to deal with.’

It really would be.

One of them alone was someone Choi Han and the Heavenly Demon could not handle even if they joined forces.

But to fight two people like that together?

And if they really were siblings, they would probably work together perfectly.

‘Absolutely—’

Cale made up his mind.

‘Absolutely, I need to make those two fight the Order of the God of Chaos!’

That way both sides would get worn down!

Then, when the chance came, he could stab them in the back!

Cale made that decision with complete sincerity.

—Cale.

The ancient dragon cautiously sent his intent to him.

—We stay still and profit from it.

As expected, experience.

The ancient dragon had reached the same conclusion as Cale.

Out of all the many dragons, Cale always felt the most stable working with Eruhaben.

And after conveying his thoughts to Cale, Eruhaben looked at the two Wanderers and thought:

‘I need to get stronger.’

Even as a dragon, if he stayed complacent, it felt like he would not even be able to properly deal with a single Wanderer.

‘At this rate, I might end up humiliating myself in front of the kid.’

The kid. Raon.

He could not very well show Raon a dragon who was not great.

‘Stronger, huh—’

A dragon who had been born strong.

That was why Eruhaben had always wondered what method there even was for him to become stronger. But he had not forgotten the past.

Powder, or dust.

He had overcome being judged weak because of his attribute, and he had crushed everything by turning it all into powder and dust.

Things were a little different now, but—

‘Still, it feels like I’d lose.’

To those Wanderer bastards.

Maybe the ones who would end up facing them would be the Heavenly Demon or Choi Han.

Because they had aura.

‘So in the end, aura is the answer?’

It seemed that was the right path for dealing with Wanderers.

He thought of his disciple.

Rosalyn.

Then he thought of another human, Alberu Crossman.

Clopeh Sekka and Mary came to mind too.

‘Mm.’

For some reason, it felt as though they would awaken “aura.”

Rosalyn especially seemed certain to do it.

If that was the case—

‘I can’t fall behind.’

Eruhaben’s gaze sank deep.

A body improved as though he had regained his youth. The experience that had piled up all this time.

Aura, a power dragons did not possess.

Eruhaben studied that power carefully, separate from Dragon Fear.

‘Individuality and aura.’

In the end, it resembled a dragon’s attribute and Dragon Fear.

It was said that those qualified to become gods were Single-Born.

And if what they could possess was individuality—

‘They said dragons cannot become gods.’

That was what everyone said.

‘Doesn’t matter. Wanderers aren’t gods either.’

And what was so special about gods anyway?

A rejuvenated dragon.

There had probably never been such a dragon before.

Eruhaben was convinced that he could create another history, achieve something no one else had.

That was why he began to seriously consider how to become stronger.

‘Hm?’

Lost in thought for a moment, he flinched.

“Ryeon. Let’s go to Primordial Night right now!”

“Calm down first. We need a little more evidence.”

“We don’t need evidence. We just have to cut off that saint bastard’s head!”

“Haah. Fine. Just give me a little time first. It’s not as if we know Primordial Night’s exact location—”

“We know roughly where it is!”

“That may be true, but we still need to find the entrance.”

“If we tear enough things apart, the entrance will show up too!”

Cho was thrashing around, and Ryeon was trying to calm him.

In the middle of that, Eruhaben caught the important information and looked at Cale with a strange expression.

—Cale, what is it?

At his question, Cale slowly shook his head.

But Eruhaben did not miss the trace of unease hanging in Cale’s eyes.

—Is there something bothering you?

At that question, Cale shook his head again.

Eruhaben did not solve the mystery, but for the moment, after seeing Cale’s reaction, he turned his gaze away from him.

“No. If we go tearing things apart, we’ll die. Cho, if So Hee is alive, we need to save her. So we need to enter the holy land quietly if we want to make this even a little easier. And we need to pass this information on to the family before we go too. We can’t move recklessly on our own.”

“Ha. We can just smash everything to pieces!”

“Cho!”

“All right, I got it!”

Even while recording the two of them talking, Cale still could not shake off that uneasy feeling.

—Ah. Those two are going to be difficult.

That was how the Fire of Destruction reacted while looking at Cho and Ryeon.

—Why?

Suddenly, Sky Eating Water cut in.

And Cale slowly began to feel anxious.

—That fire. I think I could take it on.

In the end, Sky Eating Water had gone and said that it might really be able to fight that fire, and Wanderer Cho, after all.

—Yeah, I could try.

At those words, the cheapskate a