Trash of the Count's Family Vol 2. Chapter 504: The Prince and the Father (9)

STEP.

Cale approached.

The Wanderer Mujeon stared at him as if he found the whole thing absurd.

What is going on?

Second Brother had said so.

He had said that soon, their eldest brother, the third Emperor, Dragon King, would finish his business in the Demon World, return, and help them.

...Something happened.

Unlike his flustered appearance, Mujeon reached a clean conclusion.

Cale Henituse knew about him.

He had information on the Wanderers of the Five Colored Blood family.

Therefore, Mujeon decided on a course of action.

I kill him.

Keep him alive and extract information?

There was no need for that. If he brought that bastard’s corpse back, they could find out as much as they wanted.

And if killing him proved difficult.

I run. I have to deliver the information to Second Brother.

Cale Henituse was approaching at a leisurely pace.

Unlike him, Mujeon sensed the Sword Master moving nimbly into position behind him.

STEP. STEP.

Cale Henituse approached.

From what he had heard, Cale had defeated the saint of the Order of the God of Chaos, stopped a god’s descent, and the Wanderers Cho and Ryeon had seen that situation and evacuated.

Cho and Ryeon said Cale Henituse was strong, but.

Well.

He had heard that Ryeon, in particular, had strongly insisted on Cale Henituse’s strength, but in the end, that was just the answer of someone who had failed her mission.

And they probably got scared and ran after seeing the God of Chaos trying to descend.

Mujeon judged the Cho-Ryeon siblings, who made such a ridiculous fuss over caring for each other, to be weaker than him. Well, supposedly, they were extremely strong when they joined forces. But since he had never seen that, he had no reason to believe it.

And Ryeon, who wielded ice, was definitely weaker than him if she was alone.

If I drag this out, it’ll become troublesome.

However, Mujeon did not look down on Cho and Ryeon.

Those two were certainly strong. They would probably be even stronger if they attacked together.

In other words, Cale Henituse and his group were quite strong. To prepare for any unexpected situation, he did not assume he could keep Cale Henituse alive and extract information from him.

So.

Once.

Just once.

He would pour in his maximum power and attempt to kill Cale Henituse.

If that failed.

When the enemies are thrown into confusion by that attack, I run.

Mujeon thought of the sword sheath hidden beneath his robe.

I won’t give him an opening.

Cale Henituse was approaching with ease.

He must be looking down on me because he defeated Cho and Ryeon.

That human, who underestimated him, was truly pitiful.

“Ha! Are you, of all people, trying to fight me right now?”

For that reason, Mujeon played along so that this human would look down on him even more.

“How dare a mere mortal human! How truly ridiculous.”

Hahaha!

He laughed at Cale to his heart’s content.

STEP.

Then he, too, walked forward to meet him.

“I will give you a chance.”

Seven steps.

That was the distance between Cale and him.

“I will ask you. From whom did you hear information about me?”

STEP.

He took another step forward.

He sensed the black-haired Sword Master behind him take a step closer as well, but he pretended to ignore it with ease.

Now, one step.

If Cale Henituse took just one more step toward him, he would be within range.

Within the range where he could kill that bastard.

“I don’t want to tell you.”

Cale Henituse mocked him and leisurely took one step forward.

Yes.

STEP.

Five steps!

The instant he realized that, Mujeon’s body moved as quickly as lightning.

His hand was already reaching for the sword sheath at his waist, hidden beneath his robe.

SHING.

The sword was drawn in an instant.

But there was only a hilt. There was no blade.

The sheath had been empty.

However, that empty sword.

That was Mujeon’s sword.

ROOOOOSH—

Water surged up from the sword.

Several meters of water shot up all at once, then instantly formed a blade.

ROOOOOSH—

If he had simply made a sword out of water, he would never have reached Transparent-grade.

“Waves, rise!”

ROOOOOSH—

A wave was contained within the sword made of water.

Waves always existed in the sea.

But no one could predict the irregularity of those waves.

The third Emperor, Dragon King, had seen Mujeon’s sword, which contained waves, and accepted him as his sworn younger brother.

Because waves always exist in the sea.

Yes.

Now, standing on the sea, I am, just as eldest brother Dragon King said, a wave that always exists.

And the wave now contained in this sword was not a gentle wave.

It was a massive wave that looked as if it would swallow anything.

ROOOOOOOSH—

The blade grew abnormally long and large.

It became a wave that would crash down on a person, on an entire ship.

To that wave, a human five steps away was nothing.

And my younger brother’s wave is sharp.

As the Dragon King had said, Mujeon’s wave was a “sword.”

What was the essence of a sword?

To cut.

His wave looked like water, yet it contained the essence of a sword.

It was sharp.

If that sharpness touched Cale Henituse, not only would his entire body be covered in wounds, but the wave would cut his body apart.

“Lord Cale!”

“Young Master Cale!”

Choi Han and Archie’s urgent voices rang out across the deck.

Mujeon did not react to those voices at all and swung his sword while looking only at Cale Henituse.

Because carelessness could not be permitted.

SHING.

He sensed the black-haired Sword Master charging at him from behind, but ignored him.

Because once a wave rose, it did not stop.

“Raise your shield!”

Choi Han shouted.

But the tip of the sword containing the wave had already reached right before Cale.

It was then.

“Young Master Cale, you must not destroy the ship!”

When Archie’s shout reached everyone’s ears.

“Hahahaha! The sea is coming!”

And when Cale burst into laughter as if he were delighted.

“......!”

Mujeon felt the deck beneath his feet shake violently.

No, the ship was tilting.

“!!”

However, he had no room to worry about the tilting ship, or about the sudden shaking that threw off the direction of his sword tip.

Beneath the ship.

The water’s surface.

No, even farther below that.

Yes.

The sea.

He sensed a certain power gathering in the sea.

Because his individuality was water-attribute waves, Mujeon could not fail to know it.

And it was only an instant.

The moment he sensed it.

The sea, Cale, had already finished every preparation.

ROOOOOOOSH—

A wave rose.

It was a real wave.

This place where countless pirate ships had gathered.

Shark’s pirate ship, positioned at the center of it all.

The sea rose toward that pirate ship.

CREEEAK, BANG!

CRAAAAASH—

The countless pirate ships around them tilted or shook.

However, the pirates, who had been groaning in all sorts of ways until just moments ago, could not say a word and clamped both hands over their mouths to stop even the groans that tried to escape.

“.......”

“.......”

Only now did everyone feel it.

The pirates and the naval soldiers alike had spent their entire lives traveling across the sea, so they could feel it more clearly than others.

The rippling water’s surface, the sea around them that they could currently perceive, was strange.

And that sea was moving according to one person’s command.

The sea beneath countless ships.

This rippling sea, which was like the ground to them, belonged to someone.

That was true terror to them.

“.......”

The pirates trembled.

A single wave rose endlessly, extremely quickly.

That enormous wave, a wave like a tidal wave that surged high enough to cover the moonlight and starlight—

“Ah—”

Looked down at Mujeon himself.

Yes. That wave was looking directly at him.

The sea that surged high enough to cover the sky—

“Eat.”

The instant Cale’s single word fell,

It crashed down toward Mujeon, toward his wave-sword.

It’s coming...!

The sea was coming toward him.

Perhaps because it was night, the seawater was pitch-black.

The moment Mujeon saw that sea, he realized he could not win.

Because a mere wave did not amount to even a handful of the sea.

I have to run—

Yes. He had to run, even now.

Goosebumps rose all over Mujeon’s body.

He knew this sea better than the pirates did.

Because the sea was water too.

And because the third Emperor, Dragon King, controlled the sea.

It’s different—

That was why he could accurately perceive it now.

Cale Henituse was not controlling the sea.

It was water.

He was controlling water.

His own wave was water too, so if it touched that enormous wave, it would be devoured.

That water was something that swallowed anything, just like the sea.

H-How—

Because he possessed a Transparent-grade individuality, and a water-attribute one at that, he could properly perceive this situation, yet he could not believe it.

Why is it stronger than mine—

Cale Henituse’s water had surpassed Transparent-grade.

Was it Five-Colored-grade? It looked like it could even defeat the Three Emperors—

But he had no time to judge that.

He turned around.

He saw the black-haired Sword Master.

That bastard was not the problem.

Mujeon hurriedly moved his feet.

He had to avoid that wave.

But if it could be avoided, it would not be a disaster.

CRAAAAAAAAASH!

The wave swallowed the flagship.

The ship was instantly devoured by the sea.

Those watching the spray shoot upward froze without even thinking of breathing.

ROOOOOOOSH—

Because around the clustered naval force, beyond the countless pirate ships encircling them in a ring,

Waves surged up.

The night sea, surging high enough to cover the sky, was looking down at them.

As if it would miss no trick they tried to pull.

“.......”

“.......”

Everyone held their breath, imprisoned in a prison of the sea, and watched the only moving wave.

The enormous wave.

The flagship that had disappeared beneath it.

CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER—

CLATTER CLATTER—

Chains made of water surged up above the sea’s surface.

Chains as enormous as ships.

CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER—

Those chains headed back into the sea.

Two chains had already bound Mujeon’s entire body underwater.

“Ugh, cough!”

Mujeon was suffocating.

Even though he possessed a wave attribute and had been free underwater.

Now, that sea only restrained him.

Water was not on his side.

CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER—

More chains approached and bound his entire body even tighter.

He was suffocating in the sea.

It was a fear he had not felt in a long time.

CLATTER CLATTER—

One more thin chain approached him.

Then it wrapped around his neck and dragged him down into the sea.

“Ugh, ah—”

Even though he wanted to speak, he could not.

It dragged him instantly into the deep sea, then lifted him back up and shook him again.

He could not resist.

Because even if he created a wave, this greedy sea would devour it anyway.

CLATTER CLATTER CLATTER—

The spray settled.

In the place where the flagship had been, enormous chains surged up again.

“.......”

There, Mujeon hung limp, unconscious.

And.

ROOOOOSH—

Shark’s pirate ship surged back above the sea’s surface.

Wrapped tightly in chains.

And on top of it were Cale and his companions. Even Pirate Shark was there, wearing a blank, soulless expression.

—Human! I put a shield around the ship so water wouldn’t get in! What would we have done if I had brought the Heavenly Demon even a little later?!

No one but Cale heard the invisible Raon’s voice.

Instead, what they saw was the gaze of the person who had created the sea prison with a calm expression, looking at them.

“.......”

“.......”

The allied naval soldiers.

The enemy pirates.

When not a single person could easily open his mouth.

Cale asked in an indifferent tone.

“Are you going to keep fighting in this sea?”

This sea.

Everyone understood the meaning of those words.

The sea their ships were on right now did not belong to them.

The person before their eyes.

“...Th-The master of the sea—”

That person was the master of the sea.

CLATTER. THUD.

One or two pirates dropped the weapons in their hands.

THUD. CLATTER. CLATTER CLATTER.

And the pace grew faster and faster, until countless pirates lost their will to fight.

Cale took that sight in while listening to the voice ringing inside his head.

—Oh.

It was the Water that Devours the Sky.

—I’ve become incredibly strong.

Yeah.

Cale pretended to be calm, but inwardly, he was a little flustered.

He had poured in a great deal of power all at once in order to capture a Transparent-grade Wanderer with an individuality.

But that great deal of power was even greater than he had expected.

So he had captured him far more easily than expected.

Most of all—

“I’m not tired?”

He was not tired.

—That’s true. You’re still perfectly fine?

Heart’s Vitality, the crybaby old man, was puzzled as well.

Cale newly realized just how much stronger the Water that Devours the Sky had truly become.

Only now did he perceive what it meant to reach a level capable of facing the third Emperor, Dragon King, who possessed a Five-Colored-grade individuality.

Cale’s lips curled upward without end as he thought that all the suffering he had endured to grow stronger had been worth it.

—H-Human! What kind of scam are you going to pull? Tell me, then!

Raon spoke urgently.

“!”

“!!”

The pirates trembled even more at Cale’s crookedly raised smile.

And Pirate Shark, whose eyes met Cale’s.

“...Th, ah, th—that—!”

When he could not even speak properly.

STEP STEP.

Cale approached him.

Shark trembled, desperately trying to avoid looking past Cale’s shoulder at Mujeon, who was unconscious and trapped in chains of water.

Cale smiled and said to him,

“Shark. Let’s go to your house.”

“...Ye, yes?”

“No. It isn’t your house anymore.”

“Ye, yes?”

“My house.”

Yes.

Before heading to the central sea, Cale thought he should prepare {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} an intermediate base he could return to at any time.

After going through all this trouble, would it really be so wrong to take a pirate bastard’s house?

“...Yes?”

To Shark, who asked back blankly with a soulless face, Cale explained kindly.

“My house. Island 19, I mean. Guide me on the way to my house.”

Cale showed him a bright, refreshing smile.

—Human, that really looks like the crown prince’s smile. But are we getting another house?

He let Raon’s words flow lightly past him.