Trash of the Count’s Family – Chapter 519 – Late (4)

He didn’t know the enemies had so many soldiers.

“My apologies, your highness!”

The Lord of the Stan territory. Taylor Stan was bowing toward Alberu Crossman.

“Why would it be your fault?”

Taylor started to frown after hearing Alberu’s calm voice.
But Alberu was actually thankful to Taylor.

“I heard that you already had the first battle. Thank you for safely getting past it.”

There was a short first battle prior to Alberu getting here.
Lord Taylor Stan had defended against the enemies through the battle.

“The White Star does not seem to have any intentions of fighting as he attacked for a bit before withdrawing.”

Taylor recalled the first battle.
The White Star’s forces had scoped them out as if they were making sure the food was seasoned properly.

“They then started to bring over more troops! Because of that, because of that-”

Taylor could not continue speaking.
Alberu started to speak instead.

“That must be why there are so many enemies here.”

Taylor clenched his eyes shut.
However, Alberu was looking forward, past the walls.
He could see the enemies that the White Star had brought over.

He started to list the enemies by group.

“…The Bear tribe, are those Arm members over there? Swordsmen and mages. There are quite a lot of them.”

Boom. Boom. Boom.

The ground shook every time the Bears in their berserk transformations moved.
They each had a weapon in their hands as they slowly marched toward the walls.

They did not rush.
There were many strong individuals behind them.

‘Are those the strong individuals who were supposedly in the second secret base?’

Alberu recalled the information Cale told him about Arm’s second secret base.

“…Your highness.”

He heard one of his vassals speak in a low voice.
Alberu sighed as he knew what the person was trying to say.

“Yes. The Bears and those bastards are not the biggest problems right now.”

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Those bastards who were shaking the ground and slowly approaching as if they were sieging the central city in the Stan territory were not the problem.

“There are many unknown individuals in the rear.”

There were a large number of people stationed behind the approaching enemies as well.

‘The black mages I can tell.’

Alberu started to speak.

“Marquis Stan. Have you figured out who those people in the rear are?”

They didn’t know the identities of the people in the rear.
Those people who were all wearing different colored robes did not all seem to be black mages.

This was especially the case for the people who seemed to be wearing grey robes that reminded him of priest robes who were giving off odd auras. That made him feel as if they should not approach them without a plan.

“I’m sorry, your highness. They must have used teleportation magic, as the enemy numbers suddenly exploded and we weren’t unable to figure out who they are!”
“That makes sense. I understand.”

Taylor had said that with remorse but ended up feeling an unexplainable feeling after hearing Alberu brush it off as if it was nothing.

‘…They’re different.’

Taylor had been able to see how Cale fought from a distance when he had gone to Mogoru.
This was his first battlefield with Alberu.

The two of them were similar but different.
It was as if they were siblings.

Taylor could not continue his thoughts very long.

“Your highness! Please look over there!”

It suddenly started to become chaotic above the city walls.
One of the generals subconsciously shouted in shock.

“Shit! The White Star can control the wyverns as well!”

The wyverns appeared as the mages and the unknown people in grey robes moved to the side.

Screeeech-
Screech- screech-

The screeching wyverns moved forward once the White Star gave the signal.
Black mages and knights were on the wyverns together.
This was possible because these wyverns were larger than normal wyverns.
All of them were black as well.

The White Star got on the only white wyvern in the group.

The vassals on top of the city walls started to raise their voices.

“The ground battle was already an issue, but now an aerial battle! What should we do-”
“The wyverns attacks are a problem, but…! There are mages on their backs, black mages! It’ll be bad if they cast spells inside the city walls from the air!”
“What shall we do? We need to come up with a plan right away!”

They were as loud as a busy supermarket.
Everybody was raising their voices and busy shouting their thoughts to one another.
However, none of them were able to come up with a good solution.

Marquis Taylor watched this for a bit and opened his mouth to speak before closing it back.
He had a thought, but he could not say it out loud.

However, there was someone else who ended up sharing the same thought.

“…Just like the battle at the Henituse territory!”

The battle at the Henituse territory.

Everybody stopped talking for a moment after hearing that.
The Roan Kingdom had already fought against and defeated wyverns once.
It was during the first battle against the northern Indomitable Alliance at the Henituse.

“That’s right! If young master Cale casts his shield as he did back then-!”
“Let’s contact young master Cale immediately!”
“That’s right! Why don’t we contact Commander Cale right away?”

Taylor started to frown.

This was not it.
This was not what he had been thinking.

It was at that moment.

“Silence!”

Silence instantly filled the area.

Everybody was looking toward Alberu Crossman.
However, their gazes quickly turned elsewhere.

“People in charge of the battlefield should not be acting like this!”

They could not face Alberu’s fiery gaze and his calm but stern comments.
Alberu turned his head.

“Captain!”
“Yes, your highness!”

The Mage Brigade Captain lowered his head.

Alberu was said to have significantly invested to grow this Mage Brigade.
They had left a small number of people in the capital while the rest of them came here with Alberu.

Alberu asked the captain a question.

“Can you protect the castle with a shield?”
“…I believe it will take some time! We need to create many magic circles in order to create a shield at young master Cale’s level!”

A large shield that was big enough to protect the entire castle would require time to create the magic circles to support it.

Taylor and the others started to frown.

Screeeech-
Screeeeeech- screeeeeeech-

The wyverns were still screeching and heading their way.
They could see the large black wings that seemed to get closer every time they raised their heads.

This was bad.
What could they do?!

The chief executives quickly started to think.
It was at that moment.

“Alberu Crossman.”

A loud voice echoed through the battlefield.
The voice was coming from the white wyvern’s back.

The crown prince was in the castle while the enemies were outside.
The White Star who stopped about halfway between the two forces looked at Alberu as he started to speak.

“Alberu Crossman.”

He called for Alberu again.

“T, that! How dare he say his highness’s name like-!”
“How can dare be such an arrogant person?!”

Some of the old vassals raised their voices in anger, but the White Star continued to speak as if they could not hear them.

Both allies and enemies could hear his voice.

“Fighting will only lead to destruction. Why don’t we have a chat?”

Alberu’s gaze instantly started to sparkle.
However, his vassals turned pale.
They walked up to Alberu and quietly whispered to him.

“Your highness! You cannot trust that man!”
“It makes no sense that he wants to chat!”

Taylor strongly urged him against it as well.

“I’m certain that he is trying to draw you out and take you hostage!”
“That’s right! We must return to our defensive formation and not chat with them!”

A chat between Alberu and the White Star?

That was unbelievable.

Of course, there were times when leaders would have short chats on the battlefield, but that was only possible when the leaders believed the other leader was somewhat trustworthy.
But this was none other than the White Star.

This bastard had done all sorts of terrible things.
Would a bastard like that really just want to chat?

“Think about everything that man has done, your highness. He may be calling you out while saying he wants to chat and negotiate… But he’ll definitely do something dirty if you go out.”

Taylor strongly emphasized his opinion.

“Furthermore, our role is to resist for as long as possible. I’m sure you’ll agree with at least that much, your highness.”

Resist until Cale’s group gets there.
Hold ourselves back even if we want to fight.

It was because the White Star’s forces were strong.

“I don’t think there is a need to head out of the sturdy walls and walk into the enemy’s trap.”
“That’s right. Marquis Taylor is correct, your highness. You can send one of your vassals as your representative, but you cannot go out yourself.”

It was at that moment.
They heard the White Star’s voice again.

“I don’t think you should take too long to make up your mind.”

Screeeeeech Screech, screech.

Multiple carriages appeared on the same path where the wyverns had been on the ground.

“Soooob.”
“Sniff! P, please-”
“S, save us. Sooooob.”

There were wooden cages where luggage should have been.
There were people imprisoned inside those cages.

“T, those crazy bastards!”

Marquis Taylor’s expression instantly changed.

He started to frown and clenched the ledge he had walked up to.
His two hands were shaking.

The White Star sneered before continuing to speak.

“These are your citizens that my subordinates just captured. I’m sure some of them are from the Stan territory.”

The vassals started to frown.
They had wondered why the first battle had not been very fierce, but they seem to have attacked a small village away from the Lord’s Castle in order to capture the residents living there.

“…It’s my fault.”

Taylor lowered his head.

He had not thought about the other residents nor the rest of the kingdom’s citizens because he was busy defending against the White Star’s subordinates’ sudden attack.
But the fact that he had no time to think about them because he was busy guarding the Lord’s Castle was just an excuse.

‘…I am the leader of the northwest region.’

The fact that he was the leader of the northwest region’s nobles meant that he had the responsibility to protect their lands.

Taylor wanted to smack his own head.

‘…Cage. Is that why you went out of the castle?’

His close friend Cage had stealthily left as soon as the battle had started, saying that she had something to do outside.
However, he could not continue his thoughts about his close friend.

‘What can we do?’

Taylor could not raise his head.
The White Star continued to speak.

“If you are a crown prince who loves the citizens of the Roan Kingdom, shouldn’t you save your beloved citizens?”

‘We lost.’

That was the only thought on Taylor’s mind when he heard the White Star’s comment.

‘We lost before we even fought.’

“…Ha. My goodness.”
“…Shit.”

The vassals were gasping as well.
How could the crown prince and the future king decline a negotiation when the enemy had his citizens as hostages?

That could not happen.

The vassals realized that they could only be dragged around however the White Star wanted now.

‘We lost.’

They had lost a battle of the minds before their forces even fought.

“T, that damn bastard!”

One of the generals could not hide his anger and shouted.

“Hahaha.”

There was someone who was laughing at his comment.
They all turned their heads.

Alberu was laughing.

He was quietly looking at the White Star on his wyvern.

“I can see you better now than you are closer.”

They were at a distance where he could somewhat make out his features now.

“So that’s what the White Star looks like.”

‘It’s odd.’

The only thought in Alberu’s mind after seeing the White Star’s face was that it was odd.

‘My ancestor was the ancient White Star?’

Alberu did not like the fact that the ancient White Star was his ancestor.
On the other hand, this White Star was someone who wanted to be like Alberu’s ancestor and become him.

‘How funny.’

It was very funny.
He opened his mouth to speak.

“Bring me my helmet.”
“Your highness! Personally going out is-!”
“Do you want me to ignore my citizens?”

The vassal was at a loss for words after hearing Alberu’s question.
Alberu mischievously commented to the vassals who were looking at him.

“I’m just going to go out like this if you don’t bring me my helmet.”

The vassals’ shoulders flinched.

“You don’t want my damn head to be blown off, do you?”

Smirk.

Alberu started to smile.

He was speaking more coarsely than normal, but that made his intentions clear to his vassals.

“Here it is, your highness.”
“Thank you. Marquis Stan.”

Taylor Stan who had his head down took the helmet from his subordinate and handed it to Alberu.
Alberu calmly thanked him.

“…It was nothing, your highness.”

However, Taylor still could not raise his head.

Pat.

Alberu put his hand on Taylor’s shoulder.

“You are the only one who can lead this castle now.”

Alberu quietly looked at Taylor who had his head down.

Taylor Stan did not look good.
He had led the troops from the front during the first battle, so his clothes were a mess and his body was covered in injuries.
He had apparently been hit by an arrow as well. That was probably why he had bandages tightly wound around his side.

“…Marquis Stan. Snap out of it.”

Some of the chief executives approached Alberu.

“Your highness. The castle will not fall.”
“Okay.”
“…Young master Cale will be here soon.”
“That’s right. The situation will change as long as he gets here.”

Alberu laughed and responded to them.

“It’s not good to rely too much on one person. You shouldn’t expect one person to fulfill multiple people’s responsibilities.”

The smile disappeared from Alberu’s face.

“You see, I… I am someone who knows how to do my part.”

Taylor’s head slowly started to rise.

Pat, pat.

Alberu patted Taylor’s shoulder twice as he removed his hand.

“You do your part too.”

Alberu then headed toward the tightly closed castle gates.
The gates opened and he raised his head after heading out with the Knights Brigade.

He could see the white wyvern.

‘…Mother.’

Alberu thought about his mother.

His left hand tightly clenched his helmet.

He recalled something his aunt Tasha told him in the past.

‘You’ve inherited your mother’s talents. This item allowed your mother to live in the palace. This will hide you.’
‘Nobody, no living beings will be able to find out about your power.’
‘It’s different than the magic item that dyes your hair. This is an item that hides your power. Anyway, you will be free if you carry this and the dye magic accessory with you.’

He also recalled something he told Cale.

‘I’m not fighting.’
‘You absolutely won’t fight?’
‘…Of course, I will step up if something happens to the Roan Kingdom or the Roan Kingdom’s citizens.’

He recalled what Cale had said.

‘Alberu Crossman. Your highness, your existence is meant to be.’

‘Mother, aunt. I am already a free person who is meant to be here.’

He looked toward the white wyvern and started to speak.

“Come. If you want my life that is.”

‘Whether my life is your goal or if you want something else…

‘Come.

‘I will be waiting.’

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26 Replies to “Trash of the Count’s Family – Chapter 519 – Late (4)”

  1. Athena

    I believe he’ll have to reveal his ability to the world here. I’m kinda sad but excited as well. I hope it all will end well

    Reply
  2. Another Human

    I’m so scared about the chapter title is “Late” 🙁 I hope Alberu is okay, Cale.. please hurry safe your hyung 7□7

    Reply
  3. Why care about citizens

    sigh… why is it that there are no authors that make protagonists immune to these worthless strategies… hostage strategy should me most useless one if you have little brain – simply because there is no reason to trust enemy, especially since he’s using such a low tactic… in such situation one should ignore hostage and prioritize capturing/defeating enemy

    Reply
    1. DisappointedRightArmist

      You sound so ignorant I cant even. The reason hostage situations work here is because the leader of a people cannot ignore hostages. Do you think when bank robbers have hostages in a bank the SWAT teams just storms in their guns ablazing, lighting the place up? That’s be the best way to kill all the robbers, probably kill some hostages too, but it’d end the hold-up right? Nope, life and leadership doesn’t work like that.

      It will negatively impact the populaces opinion of him. They will think he is willing to sacrifice a few for many, but the thing is if you sacrifice a few now, what to keep him from doing the same over and over again in the minds of the people. It’s not that the people themselves are important, White Star is holding public opinion hostage over Alberu.

      Alberu can choose to act the enemy as a method of freeing the hostage, but that can be easily misconstrued as abandonment he needs to both be offensive while trying to formulate a plan to rescue.

      Reply
      1. PleaseHaveaPlan

        Does it really sound like one? I don’t think so, do you know how easy it is to get hostages for a large group of criminals or the military? I assure you that in wars both sides can have several hostages if they want, be it soldiers or the enemy population, have you ever seen a war stop because of this with one side completely surrendering, stopping attacks, and letting the enemy act as they wish? not to mention that if having hostages was so effective and powerful, every conflict would have and the same would end when one side has hostages with the other being unable to do anything because if you do something considered offensive, 1 hostage will die.

        For example, a war breaks out between the Potato Kingdom and a huge terrorist group, as big as a kingdom, called Cucumber, Cucumber has hostages from the Potato Kingdom, which it acquired in various ways, Cucumber sent an undercover force to the Potato Kingdom and kidnapped some people, or Cucumber lures these people to them, now Cucumber sends a message, demanding to hand over all or several commanders, leaders and important people of the Potato Kingdom, and they will exchange them for the hostages, would you do that? If so, now the Batata Kingdom will lose several of the leaders, commanders, and people specialized in managing and coordinating large groups of people, or the only ones capable of doing essential tasks for the functioning of the kingdom, now it will take months or years to put others in their place, and the cucumbers can attack the Potato Kingdom, which will have its chain of command and leaders all disorganized and still have hostages, now hostages of higher status to use as hostages and/or collect information by torture, or rather the demand is, we will send troops to city A, if the troops do not return or are attacked, we will kill the hostages, and repeat endlessly until the cucumber group steals the entire Potato Kingdom.

        In your SWAT example, you are using a small group of bandits who are already surrounded, at a disadvantage, and fighting against a much superior force that is the entire nation, they will negotiate to try to get out alive or try to flee, but usually, they surrender because the authorities will try to tire them out prolonging the negotiation until they are exhausted, in addition to it being practically impossible to flee no matter what they ask, besides not asking things that are absurd, like asking the leader of the nation to enter alone at the risk of becoming the new hostage.

        But in the case of a large group that is not on the defensive or overwhelmed and the side with the hostages uses them to gain a lot of advantage by asking absurd things, becoming practically untouchable to do anything, is something completely different, nations rarely negotiate with them, having a policy of not negotiating with terrorists because the act only makes the situation worse by strengthening them in addition to encouraging the action of taking hostages by other groups, generating an infinite cycle unless you can guarantee the protection of each individual among millions spread over a vast area, one side will lose the war because of 1 or 10 lives, or the hostages will die because one side does not compromise, or the enemy may decide to demand much less for the hostages because one side does not compromise, but the act of negotiating for something less absurd may result in the deaths of some of the hostages as cohesion.

        I hope that what Alberu has done is because he has a plan and he doesn’t really give in to the condition, but it is all planned, after all, how do you know if these hostages are really from the Kingdom? what if they catch Alberu and use him as a hostage? it will only get worse, he may be strong, but I doubt he’s a Sword Master, while the other side has White Star, who is much, much stronger than a Sword Master.

        Reply
  4. Elysia015

    I can see your point, but you see, Alberu is someone who care deeply about his soon to be empire and his people. He can’t ignore the hostage. Yea it’s low tactic from every villain that used it.

    Reply
  5. ayyooidk

    > “You don’t want my damn head to be blown off, do you?”

    akkfjff i see that alberu really was impressed by jopes’s(??) wayvto speak

    Reply
  6. zaneia_15

    Right, Raon once praised him and said that he is strong. If he reveals his identity as a dark elf and made them victorious wouldnt that slowly make them accept his existance? I hope things turn out well 😔

    Reply
  7. 999th follower of caleism

    I’m so mad about the useless vassals. Like, what? You want to dump all your responsibilities to Cale one person?

    I remember Eruhaben wish “dont take his kindness for your advantage.” He knows there will be some people like them. 👿👿

    Reply
  8. Astro

    alberu’s time to shine. he really is one of the future heroes. he was always a super important background player who was in charge of taking advantage of cale’s messes and tying up loose ends, as well as gradually expanding their influence. i’m so glad to see this awesome character finally take center stage and see more of his wit, intelligence and strength

    Reply
  9. Cale is precious

    The two of them were similar but different.
    It was as if they were siblings

    well they are 🤣🤣🤣🥰

    They were as loud as a busy supermarket.

    this sentence ruined my whole serious mode 😂😂

    “It’s not good to rely too much on one person. You shouldn’t expect one person to fulfill multiple people’s responsibilities.”

    yesss tell them hyung nim 😤

    Reply
  10. PleaseHaveaPlan

    Really? It’s beautiful and touching, but seriously? if the king goes to the front of the battlefield whenever the enemy has hostages, then the Roan Kingdom will never win a war, how easy is it to kidnap people when you have an army and use low tricks? A great army only needs to kidnap a few people from somewhere in the enemy kingdom and that’s it, it’s impossible for a kingdom to protect all its citizens, especially when the enemy uses a sneak attack first and you don’t know where they’re going to attack in a huge kingdom, it just doesn’t have enough soldiers and knights, the enemy can just send something like 40 or 50 soldiers in a dispersed way to infiltrate some distant village with few guards, and that’s it, kill all the guards who would be outnumbered or not even needed, do it stealthily, kill a smaller number of guards at night when leaving, they can kidnap a few people there, now just take them out of the village to some place like a forest, a cave outside the village where there is no patrol, and use mages to teleport them anywhere, now just use them as hostages in the war that is going to happen or that is going on, the next kidnapping would be more difficult because now the village is on alert and may close all doors, prevent all entrances, and put more guards/mages in place, in addition to starting to investigate and go after the culprits, but it doesn’t matter, the first kidnapping is enough.

    And another thing, are you sure that these hostages are really from the kingdom? what if they just put soldiers or their own people in cages and pretended to be hostages of the kingdom? They should have retreated all the citizens of the nearby villages to the big cities the moment they saw the invasion of the enemies in the territory, already foreseeing a big confrontation, and also gathered the soldiers of these villages to the big cities, while sending spies and observers, with means to send messages, like flying animals/creatures capable of carrying letters or communication equipment, to keep an eye on the enemy troops, and if enemy soldiers and troops just magically appear (teleport) near one of these big cities, the city would inform the other cities or the main city, which would also send soldiers via teleport to defend if needed, playing this game of sending troops via teleport back and forth between both forces until they stop due to lack of mages or something like that.

    Of course, there are other ways, for example, if you see that the enemy has more mages and the potential to use teleport, you retreat all your citizens and soldiers to a single large city, so you don’t have to send soldiers up and down via teleport, and you only have one point to defend, hoping that such a large city has measures for situations like this, where it has to house a large population, have a lot of food in stock, or be able to teleport the food from the other city with the population to the large city. … ok … I got too excited and wrote a whole book… what I mean in short is, the king goes to the front of the battlefield unprotected because of some hostages, it’s beautiful, it’s touching, but it’s extremely stupid, and then what? what if they catch the king and now he’s the hostage? the damage the enemies will do will be much bigger than a few hostages, it could be the whole kingdom falls or a good part of it, will the soldiers attack if the king is hostage? the nobles will act?

    I hope this criticism of mine is unnecessary and that there is some big strategy and plan behind it, because Alberu may be strong, but I don’t think he is a sword master, and not even a sword master would be able to deal with White Star for 1 minute unless it is Choi Han, so I hope it is some super plan and that normally Alberu would not turn himself in because of some alleged hostages.

    Reply
  11. my bf krs!cale shirt Button

    Someone ruins my mood again and again 😤😤 i cannot accept Someone hate MA ALBERU BOI OR CHOI HAN ESPECIALLY KRS!CALE🙄…

    WELL ALL KRS!CALE ALLIES AND BIG FAMILY IS MY FAV THO

    Reply

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