Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 499: The Prince and the Father (4)

“Row! Row harder! Kahahaha!”

The pirate smacked his lips.

“It’s been a while since a rabbit showed up!”

Hyenas wandering in search of prey while avoiding creatures like lions, tigers, and elephants.

In places without predators, hyenas were the strongest. Because of that, all the prey had now hidden themselves or fled.

“Heh heh. That ship is ours!”

Which meant the hyenas would soon have to fight one another.

In the middle of that, they had discovered a single ship moving all alone, with no flag whatsoever.

That was definitely a rabbit!

“It must be fast.”

Judging by the fact that it had made it this far, that ship was certainly quick.

However, the pirates here were fully prepared to welcome that ship, which had avoided the lowest-grade pirates only to wander into hell in the end.

“Kahahaha! It’s ours!”

“We have to row faster than those damn bastards!”

“Hoohoo. We’ll take our time. While those idiots clash with each other, we can clean it out.”

SHAAAA—

SHAAAA—

Many ships pushed forward, each cutting through the water.

All of them were aiming for the ship they had discovered for the first time today.

How about it?

Good!

Some pirate ships formed temporary alliances with one another through hand signals.

“Kahaha! Foolish bastards! In the end, breaking ahead fastest is the answer!”

The captain of the pirate ship at the very front mocked those following behind him and pushed for even more speed.

Slurp. As he licked his lips with his tongue, there was only cruelty in his expression toward the herbivore that had dared to set foot in the hyenas’ territory.

“Huh? Boss! S-Something’s weird!”

But the ship that had been coming toward them at neither a slow nor fast pace—the ship with no flag, nothing at all, not even any proper sailors in sight—

Something about it had become strange.

“I said it’s weird!”

“Shut up! I know that too, you bastard!”

What was that?

The morning sunlight in the sky was unusually hot.

The sea was clear, without a single patch of mist, and there was no breeze at all, so still that sails were unnecessary.

“What the hell are those bastards?”

But mist had suddenly appeared around that ship.

And it was extremely dense mist.

“Boss, what should we do?”

“Damn it, shut up for now!”

The captain wondered what he should do.

But even while he was thinking, the ship was still being rowed very quickly according to the order he had given earlier.

“Hrk!”

And in the time the captain spent thinking, the rabbit ship was approaching them at incredible speed.

So quickly it was bizarre.

In truth, the ship could no longer even be seen clearly.

A mass of mist was coming toward them.

And that mist was growing wider and wider.

What is that?

This was strange.

Something was strange.

“Boss!”

The subordinate beside him seemed to feel that same ominousness.

But—

“Boss! The ships behind us are catching up!”

After hearing the subordinate at the rear, he could not retreat either.

He had stepped forward with confidence. He could not tuck tail and flee without even clashing once.

The moment he acted that way, this ship’s reputation would hit rock bottom.

“Damn it, boss! Let’s just go!”

The subordinate beside him seemed to have reached the same decision.

“Fine! We’re going!”

The captain made up his mind.

“We’ll just probe them, and if it’s no good, we’ll run!”

“That’s right!”

Was there anything special about a pirate’s life?

You just gave things a rough probe, and if it seemed bad, you immediately ran!

The captain thought he only needed to avoid the worst.

“Let’s go!”

“Row! The captain says we’re going!”

SHAAAA—

The speed of the rowing picked up once again.

“Just probe the mist, just the mist, then we go! You send the signal to the rowers! If the probe looks bad, we run immediately!”

The captain still took the minimum precautions.

And so, they rowed hard.

“Oh. Boss! The ship stopped!”

The approaching ship stopped.

“Kahahaha! Looks like they’re trying to run!”

When the mist ship stopped, relief filled the captain. Strong people would never stop their ship like that!

“Still, don’t let your guard down!”

The captain shouted boldly and approached the mist ship.

And the moment his pirate ship touched the mist—

“Damn it! Those bastards went in first!”

“The mist must not be anything special. Let’s speed up too!”

The ships following behind also surged forward with vigor.

Dozens of pirate ships.

As the hyenas either charged toward a single prey, watched, or looked for an opening—

As they tried to catch up to the ship in the lead—

“......”

“......”

Silence descended on the pirate ship at the front.

Mist.

It began the moment the bow touched that mist.

The mist suddenly spread and swallowed the pirate ship.

But neither the captain nor his subordinates, nor anyone on the ship, could say a word.

“U-Uh—”

No. At first, they tried to speak.

But proper language would not come out.

The mist was so dense it seemed ready to cover even the sun.

And within it, an intangible aura pressed down on them.

It felt as though they were being suffocated.

It felt as though some enormous being was looking down at them.

They could not move.

They could not speak.

If they did—

No, they could not even form such a hypothetical thought.

All they could think about was breathing in and out and enduring this moment.

SHAAAA—

They heard the sound of water being cut.

The pirate ship had stopped, so they knew this was the sound of the mist-covered ship passing by.

However, not a single sailor, not even the captain, could raise their head toward the approaching vessel.

SHAAAAAA—

The mist grew even thicker.

Breathing grew even harder.

To be precise, it felt as though even their breathing was something allowed by someone else, as though they were being ruled.

SHAAAA—

The mist ship moved farther away.

But the pirate ship could not escape the terrible silence.

They clearly felt a certain gaze looking at them as the mist ship passed by, but they did not dare look back.

They merely bowed their heads lower and hunched their bodies further.

SHAAAAAA—

At last, the sound of the ship cutting through the water grew faint.

And once the mist had passed over the pirate ship—

“...Hrk, haa—”

The captain inhaled and could finally exhale comfortably.

“Hrk, hah.”

Once he began breathing properly, his breath came even faster.

Only then did he realize that he had been curled up on both knees.

His entire body was drenched, and his forehead was covered in sweat.

Drip. Drip.

Cold sweat ran down his cheeks and fell to the floor.

Sweat stains marked the wood of the deck, along with trails of saliva that had dripped from his mouth as he barely managed to breathe.

“......”

He finally, truly barely, raised his head.

Then he saw his subordinates still curled up and trembling.

Even though the tremendous aura that had covered them had vanished, they still could not even raise their heads. The captain did not find them ridiculous.

He understood them far too well.

Instead, because he was the captain, he mustered the courage to look behind him.

The mist ship was advancing toward the numerous pirate ships that had been coming at them.

And in the path that ship passed through, every pirate ship had stopped.

Not a single ship dared move.

SHAAAA—

The mist ship crossed the water.

The captain silently watched it.

“B-Boss, a-are we going to be all right?”

A subordinate, still curled up, barely turned his gaze sideways to look at the captain.

At that trembling voice, the captain spoke without giving him so much as a glance.

“Hey. Didn’t you feel it?”

“Y-Yes?”

The reason the captain had been able to overcome his fear, stand, and look at the mist ship.

“Feel what?”

The captain gave his stupid subordinate the answer.

“There was no bloodlust.”

“Ah.”

A sigh of realization escaped the subordinate.

When the mist ship passed them—

The gaze directed at the ship and the aura that constricted their entire bodies.

There had been neither killing intent nor threat toward them anywhere in it.

It had simply looked at them.

It had simply passed by.

And yet, because of that single aura covering them, they had not been able to move an inch.

What did that mean?

“...A new ruler has appeared.”

The captain wiped the sweat from his forehead and stared at the mist ship moving farther away.

A ship that devoured and ruled its surroundings merely by existing and emitting its aura.

The master of that aura was surely the master of that ship.

The captain found that flagless ship terrifying enough to give him chills, and he barely opened his mouth.

“...Contact the commander.”

He had to inform the commander of his island.

“Tell him another predator has entered. And—”

He swallowed before speaking.

“And this one is no joke. It might be above the bastards in the central sea.”

“B-Boss, no matter what, the central sea bastards have numbers and large forces. To rate one ship that highly—”

“Then have you ever, in your life, been so scared just because something approached that you couldn’t even look at it and bowed your head? Do bastards like us, who live as pirates, bow our heads that easily?”

“That’s—”

“And were we the only ones who bowed? Damn it, look over there! They’re all like that!”

This was truly not something they could take lightly.

“Can’t you tell just by looking? It’s a disaster! That ship is a disaster!”

A being one must never approach. A being one must hold one’s breath and endure until it passed.

Only the disasters nature created upon the sea were like that.

The captain, who had endured long years on the sea, judged that ship to be such a disaster.

“...Turn the ship around. We’re going straight back to the island.”

“Hey! Contact them now! Fire a signal flare!”

And the other pirate ships realized it as well.

The island where the great general stayed.

And Islands 2 through 18 beneath that.

While a total of eighteen islands were fighting in the central sea, the route leading into that central sea lay before them.

News of the mist ship passing through that route began spreading in every direction at incredible speed.

Beware the ship without a flag.

Beware the ship wrapped in mist.

It is a disaster.

And at that time—

“Human, this is comfortable! Archie, sleep a little!”

“Noona, your mist is amazing too!”

“It’s nothing special.”

The average ten-year-olds circled around Cale.

Cale looked at the pirate ships that could not even dare approach their ship and smiled in satisfaction.

“As expected, bluffing is the best.”

He was not tired!

Even when he used power, his body did not hurt!

He was not pouring out aura to oppose a god, and all he had to do was use a moderate amount of aura for a long time, so this was extremely comfortable!

As Cale felt satisfied, the Heavenly Demon spoke bluntly.

“It seems quietly passing through is no longer possible.”

Cale flinched at those words.

Crown Prince Alberu, eating the cookie Raon had given him, calmly continued.

“We do not need to deal with small fry.”

Crunch.

His gaze turned to Cale after he bit into the cookie. Alberu asked quietly,

“If possible, we are going to make the sea into our force anyway, are we not?”

While they were rescuing His Majesty, as a side matter.

Instead of answering, Cale gave a grin, and Alberu returned it with a gentle smile.

Then Alberu asked Ron,

“Ron. Is Island 16 our first destination?”

“Yes.”

The route from Solafla Port toward the central sea.

Until reaching the entrance of the central sea and the island where the great general stayed—

There were several places that could serve as intermediate bases.

“There is Island 16, and another island, Island 19, but Island 16 is said to be the most stable midpoint. It is also maintaining neutrality in the war. Therefore, after reorganizing at Island 16, I intend to find the optimal route to the island where the great general stays.”

“Good. It seems best to go as quickly as possible, without wasting time on useless things as we are now.”

While Ron and Alberu exchanged a conversation about what lay ahead, Archie, who had been quiet, tossed out a question.

“Then are we not eating Island 16?”

Ron silently looked at Archie.

Archie slowly avoided Ron’s strangely bloodthirsty gaze despite the fact that Ron was a human weaker than him. Only then did Ron answer, still wearing a benevolent smile.

“Island 16 is very large. If we want to occupy that island, it will take too much time.”

“Ah, well. Yes.”

Archie answered roughly and slowly turned his gaze away.

At that moment, the Heavenly Demon looked beyond the horizon and murmured,

“I wonder if we can truly go quietly.”

His gaze moved to Alberu and Cale.

Reflected in the Heavenly Demon’s eyes one after the other, the two met his gaze, but they said nothing and merely smiled.

“You are exceedingly insidious.”

The Heavenly Demon said only that, then looked back at the sea as though he had no further interest.

SHAAAA—

No more pirate ships approached the mist ship.

Because everyone who had touched the mist trembled and confessed their fear.

After seeing them unable to even dare look at the ship, no one could charge in easily.

*****

However, that news was laughable to someone else.

“A disaster?”

Pfft.

The moment one man saw the report, he let out a laugh and tossed the paper toward his subordinate.

“They saw one measly ship and called it a disaster. Must we really react like this to the words of bastards who can do nothing but pirate?”

“I apologize.”

He snapped at the subordinate, who lowered his head.

“Well, I suppose we’re pirates too, aren’t we?”

Tap. Tap. Tap.

As his fingers drummed against the armrest, his face was so full of irritation that he looked on the verge of exploding.

“Island 19! How long must we remain stuck on Island 19? Island 18! If only it were eighteen, I wouldn’t be like this!”

Island 19 could not attend the generals’ council.

The man known as “Shark,” the master of the nineteenth island, simply could not endure it. He wanted to rise to eighteenth and gain the title of general.

The name pirate did not suit him.

“All the others are called generals, so why can’t I, when I’m stronger, have that name? Why am I a pirate?”

Looking at him in his rage, the subordinate swallowed the words that nearly came out of his mouth.

That would be because all we do is pirate, so we’re pirates.

If he said that, he would be beaten.

Pirate Shark spoke.

“Hey. Island 16. How does it look?”

“The Sixteenth General is still staying in the castle.”

“Ha. We need to draw that crazy bitch outside.”

Shark looked down at the map as he spoke.

“Her younger brother is setting sail, isn’t he?”

“Yes.”

“You conveyed the operation properly?”

“Yes.”

“I said I would kill any bastards who don’t follow it.”

“Yes. Everyone will carry it out properly without fail.”

Shark tapped the map.

“We capture that younger brother and draw that crazy bitch out. And while that happens, we devour Island 16. Understood?”

“Yes. However, will it be possible to capture the Sixteenth General’s younger brother? And facing the Sixteenth General will not be easy either.”

“...Hey.”

Shark’s gaze sank deeply.

He stared intently at his subordinate as he spoke.

“The Third General has sided with us. Are you trying to go against that person’s will?”

“N-No, sir.”

The subordinate answered, trembling.

“That’s right. The Third General is someone who controls seawater. He said he would soon call over the Dragon King, a senior member of his family. He said the Dragon King is one level stronger than him. Once that person arrives too, the tide will lean toward the Third General. We just need to use that. Understood?”

“Yes, yes!”

“Get out. Check my instructions again.”

“Yes!”

The subordinate hurriedly went outside to carry out his orders, and Shark, left alone in the room, recalled his meeting with the Third General.

“There is someone in our family called the Dragon King, one who controls the dragon of the sea. He is stronger than the great general.”

“He has finally agreed to come help us soon. So you help me dominate the entrance to the central sea.”

Dominate.

He liked that word very much.

“...Though I don’t like crawling under the Third General.”

Still, if he could kill the Sixteenth General, who went around playing the righteous general, it would be a profitable deal.

“I should ask when that elder called the Dragon King will arrive. He said he’d be here soon, but there still hasn’t been any contact. I need to know whether he came and they just didn’t tell me. Tsk!”

Shark smacked his lips as though Island 16 were already in his hands.

“What kind of person is this Dragon King elder?”

“...He possesses godlike power, but he wanders freely. Among the elders of our family, he is one of the three strongest.”

Remembering his conversation with the Third General, Shark snorted.

“What god?”

He did not believe those words.

Even so, when he thought of the Third General, a man who did not spout nonsense, he felt anticipation deep inside.

He hoped that, by the end of this war, his side would win.

*****

“Human, is that Island 16? It’s huge!”

Cale looked at Island 16, which was considerably larger than the islands they had passed so far, then turned his gaze away. He looked at another large island slightly farther away, but still within sight of the nak